Busy (at last)

The last two weeks have been blissfully busy. I went on a trip to Tulsa, to visit with Spike, Namek and Nate while making photos and talking about the new project Spike is working on with his son-in-law David. It was great to see everyone. Tulsa is a smaller city, it seems, with a much more depressed economy than Atlanta but it was very nice at the house everyone had converged at for the weekend. There was the dog vs skunk incident, in which everyone lost, on my last night there. The four dogs were roaming unleashed in the field at the end of the afternoon walk, when they saw a skunk and took off after it before anyone could stop them. Casualties were inevitable. One deceased skunk. One seriously injured dog that had to be taken to a veterinary clinic. The three other large dogs to bath twice. One sleepless night. Once I was home again, I could not wait to wash skunky laundry.

Sunday was a day of extruded meat products and heat. We went to Tunes From The Tombs at Oakland Cemetery to see friends play and lunch was Pallookaville corn dogs. We also had the pleasure of seeing Kurt, who was there from Athens, GA for the festival. Good music but punishingly hot. There were tents over the musicians but not place to hide from the sun for those attending except for a few trees. Sunday was one of the hottest days this far into summer, so I got a bit over-heated and dehydrated there. We chilled out with Sandy and the furry creatures at The Grassy Knoll for a couple of hours. On our way home, based on Chaz and Sandra's recommendation, we picked up dinner to go at Delia's Chicken Sausage stand. What we had was good, but they neglected to include any of their cheese sauce with the potato wedges (with cheese sauce included) that we ordered. This was a sadness because the beer-cheese sauce was one of the reasons we wanted to try Delia's food.

Once home this week, I got a great freelance gig for the week in midtown at a place I love. Wish me luck. They kept me on board all week. I go back on Tuesday. I had to check in at the revenant job only one night last week for a few hours. This new job is desperately needed and tremendously appreciated. Now, I just have to learn their corporate procedures and culture.

anticipation

One day til I depart to the southwest. It is still unusually cool this week so I thought it might be a bit of shock in much warmer temperatures in Tulsa but the weather there looks about the same as Atlanta for the weekend temperatures. I am also trying to figure out how little I can bring with me to make the trip as easy as possible. No tripod. No lights. Just a few clothes and my camera is all I am planning to bring so that everything can fit in a carry-on bag. I need a better shoulder bag too. My purse is small - not very useful for a trip. Kisa_Bastet is taking me to the airport on Thursday morning.

I am spending the morning following up possible work leads and trying to establish new connections. I am also trying to remember to drink more water and hoping that I do not have a UTI while I am away from home. I have started having hot flashes and night sweats that wake me up, lying in wet sheets so I have to lie on top of covers until I start freezing from the sweat evaporating. Then I go back under the sheets until I wake up sweating again. I am getting better at just sleeping through it but last night I kept waking up worrying about work and money. I have no unemployment benefits and no health insurance and an emptying bank account. I still have rent and bills to pay.

I am hopeful that this trip will do me a world of good just to be busy. My hands seem tied here and I feel like a caged beast in an empty cell. This is mostly a symptom of the lack of activity.

visitations

I am finally considering what to pack for my brief trip to Tulsa this week to visit Spike and Namek and Nate. We'll be talking about Spike and his son-in-law's latest project and how I might be involved in it, from photography to website design, to just giving my opinion. I'm a bit anxious about how useful I will be but I am also looking forward to visiting old friends. This will also be my first visit to Tulsa, so I can add that city to the list of places I've been to in the United States afterwards.

I made the mistake of telling my mother about the visit beforehand. The first thing that sprang to her mind and out of her lips was that I will be in tornado country. I will guess that chances are quite small that I will be there in the path of a tornado while I'm there but I know my mother will be worried about that during my entire visit.

And this is a photo of Spike from his visit to Atlanta last March.

Thor!

MonsterMustDie and I went with FunLisa to see Thor last night. I will not say Thor was the best movie ever made but it was good. Parts were quite predictable, but the art direction was very good and, visually, it went very deep into me. I dreamed of settings like those in the movie all night.

There is no work tomorrow, so I plan to sleep late and do website tweeking and reworking in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, it is hot tonight, I am sweating, and my vodka tonic is broken.

UPDATE:

My mother phoned to 1. postpone our already-belated Mother's Day + Monster Birthday dinner til next week (which means I'll miss Tunes From The Tombs at Oakland - though MonsterMustDie will be there Saturday to represent) and 2. let me know my barely-employed cousin with three children and an unemployed junkie husband were evicted from their house today.

And then, MonsterMustDie fixed my drink.