[the subconscious machine]

Mah Birfday

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:26:22 GMT

I turn 28 in 10 days.

I WANT A KICK ASS DIGITAL SLR.

My second option is new tattoo work. I'm looking at porfolio's, I feel I am quite due for some SERIOUS ink.

Wish lists are boring, so donate to my PayPal.

Dancing

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:14:51 GMT

I love this video, it makes me laugh and cry at the same time it's so beautiful. I loved his first video too, but this one is even better.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

If the imbed doesn't work, go here.

Watch it in HD, it's worth the load time.

WhereTheHellIsMatt.com

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:57:13 GMT

I'm trying to be calm.

I can't do it anymore.

I've been functioning without a real camera for over 6 months.

I'm about ready to sell my fucking soul for a camera.

I should stop messing around, because I've known since I was 15 that I should just commit.

I NEED THIS. Just to get started.

I'm about to explode.

Tom Waits Tour Dates

Mon, 05 May 2008 20:41:56 GMT

Tom Waits released his summer tour schedule this morning!!

I'M FUCKING PSYCHED!!!

This year I won't have an 8 hour drive on my hands. I'm absolutely doing the Houston date, Dallas too if I can swing the time and money.

Tour - Orpheum
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 @ 9:00 PM
Phoenix, US

Tour - Orpheum
Wednesday, June 18, 2008 @ 9:00 PM
Phoenix, US

Tour - Plaza Theatre
Friday, June 20, 2008 @ 9:00 PM
El Paso, US

Tour - Jones Hall
Sunday, June 22, 2008 @ 9:00 PM
Houston, US

Tour - Palladium
Monday, June 23, 2008 @ 9:00 PM
Dallas, US

Tour - Brady Theatre
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 @ 9:00 PM
Tulsa, US

Tour - Fox Theatre
Thursday, June 26, 2008 @ 9:00 PM
St Louis, US

Tour - Ohio Theatre
Saturday, June 28, 2008 @ 9:00 PM
Columbus, US

Tour - Civic Auditorium
Sunday, June 29, 2008 @ 9:00 PM
Knoxville, US

Tour - Moran Theatre
Tuesday, July 1, 2008 @ 9:00 PM
Jacksonville, US

Tour - Saenger Theatre
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 @ 9:00 PM
Mobile, US

Tour - Alabama Theatre
Thursday, July 3, 2008 @ 9:00 PM
Birmingham, US

Tour - Fox Theatre
Saturday, July 5, 2008 @ 9:00 PM
Atlanta, US

May Show!!

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:06:34 GMT

Save the date ATX bitches!!

Come see me shake my stuff in TWO performances, a duet with the lovely and FAB-U-LOUS Erin GoBraughless, the other solo!

I think I may perpetually use the dancing GIR icon for burlesque posts simply because I find it so fucking funny!! ;)

Valentine

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:58:57 GMT

As a general rule, I'm pretty anti-Valentine's Day, I've never expected anything of it other than misery and injury. It was somehow always a VERY BAD DAY for me for about 5 years straight, and in no way were any of the very bad things romantically connected in any way. We're talking fires, illnesses requiring hospitalization, car accidents, power outages, etc.

The Bingo kids and Preservation Hall Jazz Band have managed to find a chink in my armor.

Thus, I present you all with THE ULTIMATE FRENCH QUARTER VALENTINE!!

A video from the PHJB and Clint and Ronnie doing the song "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" that will be dispersed to inboxes everywhere on Valentine's Day. It's a companion video to "Complicated Life" for their eventual release of Made in New Orleans: The Hurricane Sessions.

DOOOOO IIIIITTTT!! You know you want to!! :)

The Complicated Life video:

Happy Howlidays!!

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 12:20:46 GMT

HAPPY HOWLIDAYS!!

Ruger sez "Mom, I hate you for making me wear these to amuse yourself. BAH HUMBUG!!" ;)

I worked all day today, so my apologies for no mass text messaging or earlier LJ post.

To the jackasses who came out tonight and tipped shitty or not at all: I HOPE SANTA TAKES A HUGE FUCKING DUMP AND THEN EJACULATES ONTO IT IN YOUR STOCKING NEXT YEAR!! Fucking wankers.

In other news, my mom got me a sushi making set this year. While I have certainly expressed my desire to learn how to make sushi before, most of that was when Andy and I would spend $100+ a week on sushi. Now I'm not sure how much I'd really use it. I guess I need to get (yet another*) boyfriend who loves the fishy goodness as much as I do.

The problem with sushi as a home prepared meal is that you can't just make it and plan to have leftovers. It needs to be eaten within 12 hours (really, more like 3-6), or it becomes complete crap. Even the veggie or cooked rolls need to be consumed in that time window or the rice becomes hard and nasty. I'm guilty of my eyes almost always being bigger than my stomach when it comes to the tasty fishies, so I'm a bad solo sushi chef. Not to mention the fact that sushi grade raw fish isn't exactly cheap, so I'm not going to spend it if I don't KNOW it will get eaten.

I guess I need to start throwing sushi dinner parties. I have no real way of procuring fresh tempura flakes though, which is my fave way of adding crunch other than sesame seeds in the rice. And my favorite secret ingredient to round out a roll, masago, isn't exactly cheap.

Santa didn't bring me what I really wanted, which was a quality Digital SLR Camera**. Both of my PaS digis have died, one takes photos that produce some fantastic ghostly/melting effects, the other had its lens smashed to one side. I've since decided to stop messing around with point and shoots, I'd ideally like to get into photography as at least a paying hobby, if not an actual career. My cameras and I, that's the ONLY thing I've stuck to for over 15 years. When I bought my new phone, I took the camera quality into account as my second most important feature. All of the photos you have seen from me in the past 4 months are from my camera phone. I've been that long without an actual camera.

Excuse me while I go cry over that fact. I feel so naked. Even if you don't see them, I'm always taking photos. Ask my mom, ask Andy.

Add to my savings for the aforementioned camera if you feel so inclined.

Especially those of you who are only reading this because you like to see me naked. Imagine the possibilities with a fabulous new camera!!

*If you don't love sushi, and I mean REALLY love it, as in would eat it every day, our dating life would be very short.

**It's not professional equipment, but it's enough to get me back into the swing of things, save up for new lenses and a new body if I get enough business. BTW, I'm probably a Canon whore for life, their cameras have treated me so well since I was 13. I <3 Canon.

Happy Holidays!!

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:51:59 GMT

The Noisician Coalition and Flanagan's Pub Wish Y'all a Very Noisy and Drunken Holiday!!

Watch it. It's HYSTERICAL!!

Yep, ladies, that's my husband. I guess that technically makes me Mrs. Flanagan Noisician Claus from afar. *LOL*

Noisician Coalition on current.com!!!

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 10:58:02 GMT

Follow the link if the embed doesn't work. :)

Aaaannnddd, the Noisician Coalition MySpace if anyone is curious. I miss being able to bring the noise whenever it was called for!

Sharky the Pit Bull (Again)

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 11:15:14 GMT

Such a great ambassador for the breed. :)

"Nobody Wanna See Us Together" *LOL*

Sharky and his chicks at 4 months.

The vid for which he gained YouTube popularity:

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 08:45:38 GMT

This post is of a beautiful video from the New Orlean's Summer of 2005 featuring some of my favorite hometown musicians and characters. I don't know why I didn't post this before now, I've seen this video at BINGO! shows and posted en mass in various places online.

I guess I just hoped that posting it at a less popular time would help convey how much this song and video mean to me. This isn't a mass post. Listening to this is something personal that touches me at such a level that I find it difficult, if not impossible, to talk about.

Don't listen to me, listen to this:

Clint Maedgen
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
The New Orleans BINGO! Show
Fiorella's
Liquidrone

Sunday Secrets

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 07:29:05 GMT

These Sunday Secrets are the best I've read in a while.

Spread the PostSecret love.

Try Netflix FREE for a month

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:00:32 GMT

Every year Netflix sends me these little trial offer cards to give to friends who don't currently have Netflix. You sign up and get a free month, and you can cancel service with them if you don't like it. You do have to have a debit/credit card to sign up, but as long as you cancel before they end of the trial, they won't charge you. Netflix is crazy reliable and run by super-nice people, they won't dick you over.

Anyway, I have FOUR codes for trial offers. First four peeps to comment get the codes. Comment with your e-mail address.

The offer expires October 31st, so you have to sign up before then.

Final Bonneville Update

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 01:04:58 GMT

The boys didn't make it into the 200 mph club, but they did go faster than Hurricane Katrina's winds. The top run was 162 mph, that's about 180-185 on asphalt.

They did 5 runs yesterday, all without incident, but they noticed in the last 2 that they were losing speed but upping the rpms. Turns out that they wore out the super charger blades, they were no longer getting any boost. The super charger was fairly small this year, so they've decided to go bigger and better for next year, they're also going to change out the rear end. But they successfully pushed the car that they built to the limits of what it could do. They'll tweak and adjust and try again for the 200 mph club next year.

JT did the final run yesterday and did 78 mph, much to the amusement of the rest of the team. Andy did a final run this morning, but only managed 130 with the worn out super charger. They're currently cleaning the car, and then heading out for a well-deserved night on the town. They'll head back to New Orleans tomorrow afternoon, and yes, they are physically driving the car back as well. The super charger obviously doesn't effect the car's legal performance on the interstate. ;)

The first trip to Bonneville for the New Orleans Racing Team was a fantastic success!! For a team of guys who have never done this before and a driver who had never raced before, this is an amazing accomplishment!! Everyone at Bonneville knew who they were, where they came from and the story of the car and were all incredibly supportive of the team.

I'm SOOO Proud of Them!! And you all should be too.

Now go drink at Flanagan's and give the boys your support so they can buy that new super charger for next year. :)

Updates from the salt flats

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 18:25:08 GMT

The boys had their first accident today at 11:30 a.m., nothing major. Andy spun out in the qualifying round for 150 mph, doing 162 mph. The spin just started as he was passing through the timing gates, so he ended up going through them sideways. He spun about 4 times, all 4 wheels on the ground, and managed to not hit a damn thing. Not the timing lights, not a cone, not a marker. He immediately drove back to the pits and then back to tech inspection to make sure nothing had been damaged in the car. Tech passed him again and told him to go get back in line to give it another go, saying "You're new at this, this is how you learn."

They made adjustments to the car, they put the smallest pulley on the super charger as they hadn't realized how much boost it was giving. When he spun out it was giving him 7 lbs. of boost, he was in 4th gear and at 4,000 rpms. They also taped up the grille.

The in car camera shows Andy being a cool cucumber, according to the crew he was just casually looking around while he spun around. *L*

It's all good news and they're back in line to give it another go.

When the pictures of all this are uploaded, they'll be in their photographer Amy Jet's Flickr before they're anywhere else if anyone wants to keep tabs. There's nothing from Bonneville there yet, but there is a number of galleries of the car and crew and work on the car before they left for Bonneville if anyone wants to peruse.

God speed the Stinkin' Linkin from the great city of New Orleans!!

The Stinkin' Linkin Update

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 06:42:07 GMT

I actually talked (as opposed to text msg) to Andy this afternoon as he stood in line to get licensed to proceed with the short track trials in the SL.

In case you didn't know, they actually DROVE the car out there, it wasn't towed on a trailer. They drove it the 2,000 miles. In 48 hours. With no sleep because the crazy bastards didn't give themselves enough time to get out there and actually stop along the way with all the adjustments they had to make to the Lincoln on the way out there. Andy says it was one of the most painful and exhilarating experiences of his life.

He says they are getting lots of support from the Bonneville staff and other teams, everyone thinks the project is an awesome idea and are being supportive and helpful.

They passed the tech inspection, which means they are cleared to race the 3 short track trials.

They run 3 trials on the short track, building up to around 175 mph. The 4th and last trial on the long track, the big one, the 200 mph and over one, can only be attempted if they make it through all 3 short track trials.

The short track is 3 miles long. Andy has to get it up to speed by the 2 mile marker, and keep his speed for a 1/4 mile, that's where they record the top speed in each trial.

From what he told me, the first short trial his recorded speed has to be between 100-125 mph, the 2nd between 125-150 mph and the 3rd between 150-175 mph.

If they make it through all 3 short track trials, they move on to the long track. The long track is 6 miles long. The car has to get up to as far above 200 mph as it can and hold steady before the 4th mile mark, and stay that way for a full MILE. That's where they record the speed in the long trial. That leaves the engine wide open for a full 18 seconds.

KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED EVERYBODY!! :)

If everything goes smoothly, they should be running the long track on Friday.

I'll post updates as he calls, they're busy bees.

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:41:15 GMT

I'm a bit beside myself here. You have all been so responsive and amazing in responding to my plea for help that I don't know what I could do to thank you all. I just hope I mixed you all strong and tasty drinks that led to wildly fun (if blurry) nights out that you will always cherish. :)

flemco and project_mayhem (luv u, got your VM) reposted my PayPal bit on their personal journals, which was completely unexpected. I thank you boys, and I am so happy that I could make such an impression on you not only as a bartender, but as a human being. I appreciate it more than you can imagine.

As for my generous, complete stranger benefactor from Seattle, I won't disclose your identity unless you want me to, but I will be e-mailing you soon.

I am truly blessed to have friends as amazing as all of you. I know I don't say it often, but I try and not take you for granted, as self-absorbed as I may seem.

I love you all.

Ain't too proud to beg

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 09:01:53 GMT

I don't actually expect anyone to use this, but hey, it's worth a shot. Maybe I have some anonymous, ridiculously rich fan out there who would like to give me thousands of dollars. A girl can dream, right?

I got my final bill from the hospital for my broken ankle today. $1,024.15
On top of the fact that I haven't been able to work for 3 weeks. I KNOW I won't be ready to run behind the bar at the end of this coming week, so I'm going to try to earn my keep by doing something at least part time that is slower paced, like hostessing. If they'll let me. I have my doubts. If not, I'm looking for a new job, even for my temporarily gimpy state, now that I can walk-ish without a crutch in the splint boot.

My 27th birthday is this coming Wednesday. Despite the violence, I wanted to go home for my birthday. That isn't going to happen. I'll be home for Halloween come hell or high water. But if anyone wants to send me just a dollar or two in celebration, which will unfortunately go towards helping me with bills, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks chris2342

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 02:15:13 GMT

This is so badass!!! The entire population of Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines performing the Thriller dance sequence. This is the kind of prison I'd want to end up in if I had to, one with a sense of humor.

Chris Roberts mentioned on CNN

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 08:09:48 GMT

I didn't get to see the actual broadcast as I don't have cable, but someone mentioned on the neworleans community that Chris' murder was mentioned on Anderson Cooper's 360 yesterday (July 16). I can't find a clip yet, but here's the excerpt of dialogue from the transcript:

(full transcript of 360 here)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The floodwaters long gone, New Orleans is drowning in murder.

(on camera): Do you feel safe here in the city here now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not really.

KAYE: Jeannette Kelly's (ph) boyfriend, Christopher Roberts, was shot and killed just last month on Father's Day. Police say someone stole his motorcycle and Roberts took a bullets to the chest. His killer, like too many here, got away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that some people have lost their humanity, have no appreciation for life. And I don't know. It's a really sad reflection on our society.

KAYE: The couple had evacuated for Katrina and moved back last December with their new baby girl. They wanted to help rebuild, just like their neighbor, filmmaker Helen Hill, who was shot to death in January by an intruder who was never caught.

After hear murder, Kelly says she and her boyfriend put bars on their windows and bought a gun. They thought that would keep them safe.

The week Helen Hill died, there were 11 other murders, prompting New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to make this promise.

RAY NAGIN (D), MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: We will put all of our resources to focus on murders and violent crime, everything we have.

Bullies & Birds

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 03:28:04 GMT

The pit bull Sharky with his baby birds:

Here's the link to a follow up where the chicks and Sharky are napping, with the chicks on top of Sharky: Nap Time: 3 chicks & a Pit Bull

Apparently, fowl and bullies get along exceptionally well, because here's two other videos I found via YouTube that are just too cute not to share.

Baby duck and pibble:

These two look like they are positively the best of friends, who knew a duck and dog could play together like this? I love how half the time the duck is the one who has the dog pinned. *LOL*

The Reality

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 11:24:45 GMT

The reality for my friends in NOLA, those who have left, and those who want to/think of leaving.

Living outside of New Orleans doesn't fix it.

You still feel it in that soul, the soul that you may not have originally had that attaches itself to your heart.

I wish I could say it gets easier if you leave, but it doesn't, or at least it hasn't yet. I'm almost 8 months gone and it still hits me just like I was there, except I'm not and instead I'm surrounded by strangers and feel such a severe lack of community (physically) when things like this happen that it makes me want to come home. It's a viscious fucking circle.

Even though I'm away, I live every day with a tiny lead weight in my heart, a persistent fear that I'm going to get that call/text/e-mail again. That someone I know is dead or that an acquaintence is dead or a friend is dead or one of my best friends/family is dead or my husband is dead.

Leaving home doesn't stop it, because you can't take home and everyone you love with you when you leave.

Chris Roberts

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:37:56 GMT

May there be much booze, motorcycles and love where you are now, my friend.

I hope the afterlife is as thrilling a ride as this one was.

The Truth About Pit Bulls

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 10:41:36 GMT

Noise Parade part Deux

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 09:58:02 GMT

In case you missed it, my non-weekend warriors, and are too lazy to scroll back on my journal. :)

Noise Parade, Lundi Gras 2007

If you are in or are the subject of the photo, feel free to copy, keep and modify to your heart's content, though I appreciate a link kickback.

If the shot isn't of you and has nothing to do with you, Please ask my permission before you hotlink, copy or modify the image. You won't like me when I'm pissed. I promise you it is an extremely unpleasant experience.