Aug - Sept 2006

September 30, 2006 18:45 hrs

Well, I see my server is down today so I won't be posting this in as timely a fashion as I imagined.

Today was visitor's day at the KPRNA. Every two years they open their doors to show the community what exactly it is that they do here. The preserve is jointly owned by K-State University and The Nature Conservancy. It serves as a biological research center operated by the university's department of biology. Tours of the station can be booked anytime, but on visitor's day you can just walk in and grab a tour or take a hike at will. They do maintain a couple of nature trails that are open to the public year-round, but visitor's day takes you back stage. I've been meaning to go each time it's rolled around since we moved here but this is the first time I've been able to follow through on that desire (it happens the same weekend that I am usually in Michigan at the writer's retreat).

The station maintains a herd of about 300 bison. Naturally the bison is a big tourist draw so that was the first outing I took. It was still early, still chilly and since the bison tour takes a couple of hours, I thought it would provide a good overview of the whole place (which it did). Other than making sure the animals don't contract any diseases that might endanger the entire herd or neighboring cattle, they pretty much keep their hands off the bison and let nature take it's course. They only have so much space so they do cull the herd each year to keep it a manageable size and they do monitor genetics and introduce outside genes to the gene pool—in fact I was just told a story about a bull they brought in to diversify the herd. Seems the bull with the much-prized sperm had only been 'milked' to procreate in the past. Up close and in person he has no idea how to mount a cow and the yearling bulls are beating him up. City boy!—They are magnificent beasts. I cannot fathom the numbers that they used to run in and truly cannot fathom how we managed to drive them to an all-time low of barely 1000 animals left in the entire country. Sometimes my forefathers piss me off something royal and I just want travel back in time and kick some hiney.

The video they were showing is cancelled due to equipment failure, but on such a gorgeous day who wants to sit inside and watch TV? There are several hikes, a hay-ride and a barn full of displays and animal presentations. I change into shorts for the hike up to butterfly hill to see the wildflowers. They are winding down now for the fall and the Monarch's really haven't made a showing yet, but the grasses are beautiful and the views are to die for. I finish the day with a stop at the scenic overlook to look down on the preserve. I may have to become a member of the Friends of the Konza because I would like to go again when it's not quite so crowded.

On a more casual, less structured note, two movies over the past couple of days. 28 Days Later and the re-make of the Hills Have Eyes. 28 Days was reminiscent of the Omega Man, but British and done much better. I have a tendency to shy away from re-makes, but my co-worker insisted I'd enjoy it. He's never seen the original. I remember my ex-husband and I seeing the original and how creepy it was to go out to the desert afterward and try to have a normal good time we'd have when we'd go to El Mirage. The guys would tear up the desert on their dirt bikes and we girls would shoot rifles, aiming at whatever we could find for targets (which in the desert is surprisingly a lot). Bottles, cans, old tennis shoes, a refrigerator. There's no end to the crap people will dump off in the wilderness when no one is looking. Eventually the scare of the movie wore off, probably due to some high mixture of drugs and alcohol. Amazing the memories the re-make brought back. And it was good, the re-make that is. Better in fact than the original. Same story but better makeup and weapons. Of course I did have to watch it while it was still light out. I get too jumpy if I watch scary movies alone in the dark so I plan my viewing to finish while there's still some light left to the day. Keeps away the imaginary demons. Now if I could just do something about the real ones...

September 25, 2006 20:33 hrs

Today was just randomly absurd.

September 20, 2006 22:25 hrs

Started a new book last night, Lisa Gardener's Alone. Yes, I am still towards the end of Augusten Burroughs' Magical Thinking, but he comes off as just another whiny gay guy so I don't feel guilty about not sticking with it. In fact, I may not even finish it. Too bad, I really thought Dry: A Memoir was so good.

Today's movie was A History of Violence. I'm just sorry I waited so long to see it. Excellent story...and they didn't Hollywoodize the ending.

My mother will be so proud. I got her birthday gift shipped out so early that I didn't have to pay through the nose for expedited shipping.

September 18, 2006 18:00 hrs

I saw the best movie today. Must Like Dogs. The dialogue was snappy, snappy, snappy. The jokes were funny. I thought the casting was perfect. The fact that I'd sleep with Diane Lane in a heartbeat or that John Cusak could make me forget I'm a lesbian had nothing to do with liking this movie so much—I think. You can read my review here.

September 17, 2006 11:00 hrs

I've had much opportunity lately to be on the sober side of a group of drinkers as opposed to the three sheets to the wind side. I've been to bars before in my sobriety, but that was back in LA where the bars I went to sober were also the bars I used to habituate when I was drinking and therefore my focus was more on going to an old haunt and not soaking up some suds instead of soaking up the atmosphere. Here in Kansas none of the drinking establishments have any of my old baggage (except the baggage in bottles behind the bar) and with most of the baggage gone from my head, it's refreshing to have that compulsion to medicate via Chivas Regal gone.

I'm making a point of going out with workmates at least twice a month, more if I can afford it. I enjoy their company and I've learned more about them in the past two months than I have in an entire  year of working side-by-side. Sometimes more than I should—or perhaps want to—know. Which got me wondering if I was a "normal" drunk when I drank (and by normal I don't mean not an alcoholic, but average as far as across the board behavior and effects on memory, etc.). I wonder if the people who tell me things when they're tipsy remember the next day that they've told me whatever bit of information it is that they've imparted. I know for sure that I never (or rarely) did. Which means I have a whole new role to explore now and that is attempting to be the person who doesn't know what you don't remember you've told me. I believe my acting skills are up to the task...

September 11, 2006 20:29 hrs

Gosh! I'm not sure if this is a Narcissism is... or if it's just plain rudeness. How can you leave on a 3-day business trip and not tell your partner?

Bonnie and I had a great birthday celebration. We were going to color her hair, eat pizza and watch videos. She got brave and did the hair color before I arrived. I brought the pizza and wings and DVD's. She'd already seen one of the titles (Take the Lead) and gave a thumbs-down to the horror title (Silent Hill) so we watched Just My Luck, a little bit of Lindsay Lohan fluff. Yeah, it had it's moments, but somehow it will never compete with a classic Tracy/Hepburn flick. Why can't they make screwball comedies the way they used to make screwball comedies? Is it the actors? Is it the writing? Is it—gasp—the audience? Two weeks from now I'll barely remember a single scene, but I can probably quote dialogue from Adam's Rib in my sleep.

I'm still fighting this awful cold. I'm sure I'm having such a time kicking it because I'm so damn depressed. Doesn't help that the only thing on TV today is 9/11 remembrances. I think I'll take some cold medicine and read myself to sleep.

September 09, 2006 17:00 hrs

In the interest of only cluttering up this blog with the most egregious of her transgressions, I invite you to visit the Narcissism is... page...frequently. If you recognize yourself, you might want to rethink your ways.

It's a rainy Saturday in Kansas. We're only supposed to get an inch spread out over the whole weekend, but that's what's in my rain gauge already. It's been so wonderfully pleasant all week, and not just because Judi's been gone for most of it. Autumn appears to have shoved Summer out of the way in favor of balmy days that hover around 80° and cool nights. The windows have been open 24/7 for a week and the temperature and humidity are perfect. As long as the wind doesn't pick up and start blowing the rain into the house, this is how it will remain.

I got sucked into another foreign film on IFC this morning. I'm not sure if the film is Italian, Spanish or of South American origin. One review on imdb.com talked about it being of Argentine origin and that the political subtext to the main story of a dance company preparing a new production deals with the turmoil in that country. It sounds about right so I'll go with that. From what I gather, one of the financial backers of the production has a dancer protégé that he wishes to see dance in the company. He loves her, she doesn't love him. And mind you, I did read the subtitles as best I could but all the yummy dancing and incredible stage production made it difficult to keep up with the text. If you get the chance, it's worth watching. Edited 10/4/06--Can't believe I didn't give you the title of the film: Tango (1999 and according to IMDB Argentine in origin).

It's Bonnie's birthday on Monday. She'll be off to Nebraska for the week so I'll have cat & house duty over there. Tomorrow I will likely grab some food and a DVD or two and head over to her place to celebrate her special day. I'm looking forward to it very much. Hmmm...I wonder what I should get for entertainment. Too soon for Snakes on a Plane to be out, I wonder what's available? Don't know that we really want to watch United 93 since she already shares her birthday with a national tragedy and I don't think The Lake House comes out until later this month...must do a little web searching...

September 06, 2006 18:01 hrs

I've been doing a lot of reading and a project I've been kicking around a while is a booklist for this blog so you can see how I occupy my mind when I'm not working (full time and still loving almost every minute of it), socializing (one of the guys at work is in a band and I am starting to go out with people from work to either hear him play, hear some other local band play, or darn it, just to hang out with my mates), or blogging (of which there's been darn little, but as you can see I'm trying to change that). Here it is folks: Books I've Read.

September 05, 2006 14:15 hrs

Btw, I did have a lovely holiday weekend, in spite of having a nasty late-summer head cold. Saturday my neighbors & I got together with a bunch from my work and ate at the Little Grill, a Caribbean institution near Tuttle Creek. When we arrived, there was a dog outside trying desperately to get inside. He didn't belong to anyone dining inside so I got on my phone and called the two telephone numbers that were listed on his tag. Within fifteen minutes someone was there to escort him back home. Apparently he's somewhat of an escape artiste.  Sunday I took some time to myself and went to Topeka. I missed Snakes on a Plane during it's brief run in Manhattan, Kansas and I did not want to miss out on what I expected to be the high camp experience of seeing this movie with a whole mess o' people. So I had a lovely dinner at Red Robin (a restaurant I've missed very much from my So Cal days) and then took myself off to the Hollywood 14 (ALL STADIUM SEATING!) to see the new classic that is Snakes on a Plane. Fortunately I was not among the usual mild bunch of Kansans and there was much audience participation. Cat calls of "snake bait!", "snake chow!", and the whole theater chanting with Samuel L. Jackson when he utters the immortal line, "I've had it with these mother-fucking snakes on this mother-fucking plane" (a line which owes it's existence to the blogosphere) put a big-ass smile on my face all the way home.

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