Playing music on the streets of Portland

My band, All the Apparatus, has been stuck inside recording our new professional record with producer, David Eaton, at Jam Box studio for the better part of February and March.

So ghetto, right? Love it.

Last Saturday we finally got back out on the streets to perform and I fell in love with the art all over again. Nothing's better than causing an enormous crowd of people, old and young alike, to simultaneously begin dancing in the busy streets of downtown Portland.

I couldn't get up high enough to showcase the sheer size of the crowd. Dang.

In Memoriam: Rue McClanahan

I realize it's been over a year since my last blog entry on this, my own personal blog, but I thought it fitting to blog my dismay over the passing of yet another of the world's funniest women. Rue McClanahan, who played saucy vixen Blanche Devereaux on the hit TV series The Golden Girls, died from a brain hemorrhage, a.k.a. stroke, on June 3 at the age of 76.

After Estelle Getty's passing in 2008 and Bea Arthur's passing last year, Rue's passing makes recently-repopular octogenarian, Betty White, the last standing Golden Girl. While Rue was in the hospital after bypass surgery and suffering a minor stroke a few weeks ago, White sent her a card that read, "Dear Rue, I hope you hurry up and die so I can be the last Golden Girl left. NOT KIDDING!" and Rue thought it was hilarious. In considering the reality of this second, fatal stroke's tragedy, White remarked, "Rue was a close and dear friend. I treasured our relationship. It hurts more than I ever thought it would, if that's even possible."

Hope your happy now, Betty! (j/k, love you!)

Rue, you will be missed! Thank you for being a friend and stay golden!

In Memoriam: Bea Arthur

On Saturday, April 25, the world became a little less funny when iconic comedienne Bea Arthur took her final bow at age 86. The indelible character she created, Dorothy Zbornak, in “Golden Girls” helped to bring all the laughs, the tears, and the loves that have continued to bring the landmark series new fans 17 years after it originally went off air.

My new Singer Genie 354 sewing machine!

I just bought the coolest sewing machine.



I was searching on craigslist and came across this beauty. She's portable, looks simple to use (we will shortly see just how simple), and has the greatest 70s flower power design on the front and inside the hand wheel (aka the spinny knob on the right side of the machine).

Susan, her former owner, was a lovely woman from just-past Mililani, with a friendly and talkative dog, a friendly and talkative daughter, and an American flag windsock. She was gracious enough to sell me the Genie for a mere $25.

There is one thing that has yet to be tested and fixed: the bobbin winder is said to be malfunctioning. Susan gave that it was a recent ailment and, if worse came to worse, I could invest in a separate bobbin winder (or just wind by hand).

I am going to look into the CITO sewing class that Stephanie is taking and see if I might join her. This recent investment may just have been fate.

Skating is FUN!

I really want to skate more.
I really need more practice.

Thank you Anna for the rad picture!

TWITTER, cause I REALLY need to UPDATE my BLOG but never do!

Yeah, I haven't updated in FOR-EV-ER!
It's so sad because the videos in my old posts are gone and my blog looks pathetic whilst I've had an office job for six months and part of that very job involves checking blogs! Ah!

So, lately I’ve been discovering all the awesome things that can be done with a little thing called twitter you all must have heard about by now.

What it is:
Basically, just a web application that allows you to update your status, but in so many ways.

What I like about it:
You can update your status via text message (by texting to 40404). You can also choose to have other twitterer's status updates texted to you and text replies directly to people (by putting @username at the beginning of the text).

Most recently, I discovered that you can send pictures to a related-connected thing called twitpic, which is a great way to utilize all those dang-weird things I take phone pictures of throughout my day.

So, what I'm saying is:
Sign up with twitter so I can publicly stalk you (or entertain you) when I get bored!

Updates on the fun I had in New York soon to come...

Dear Ryersons, Merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself Card

Hope this makes you wet your pants a little.

Merry Christmas Ryersons!