Well, well.....it has been about a month since last I posted.....I have had out of town guests almost every week in July, except for last weekend when we had a family emergency in Dallas; my most beloved and wonderful Grandmother (age 96) was hospitalized and then put into hospice; she is slowly shutting down and leaving us. And I have been very sad. She taught me so much! And she has always believed in my dreams even when I didn't---encouraging me to sing and make up songs and do theater and to write and to love movies and the beach and.. and.....well, she is the most pleasant and happy woman in the world despite so many hard times and I hope I have somehow learned a little about being as pleasant and passionate and active and funny and a great hostess and....I just cannot do her justice. Let this picture from her "tween" years express her fun-loving nature and sweet disposition (we think this is from 1921 or so, when she was 10? or 11? Not too much older or younger but hard to know....) It is the best photo ever!
(Note: Okay, I will go enroll in a computer class right away; I really don't know how to get this photo NOT to have lots of pixels or get it UNDER the text, etc etc...oh well.) To my few friends who read this (sorry I don't know how to do "links" yet, either...) well, I will try to keep you up on news of Grandmother in the coming week.

I found this today during a search for my high school diaries and journals (hoping to participate in a "Get Mortified" event, but more on that aspiration later.....) yep, and I found this little scribbled note that I copied out of The Doomsday Dictionary, probably whilst I was listening to the Smiths or something:
"Thanatos (also, death instinct)-- One of two primal instincts attributed to man, the other being Eros. The function of Thanatos is to restore higher organic organization to a simpler, pre-vital state. In this, Thanatos is expressing a tendency evident elsewhere in nature for organization to run down into a greater simplicity.
The laws that regulate the compromise are obscure."

I think I left something out of the full entry, but this is all that I selected. I still love the final sentence: "The laws that regulate the compromise are obscure."

This is my attempt at some postcard art for this swap thing----my first ever attempt at participating in a bit of blogosphere hoo-haw---actually, I have already sent out most of the "art" attempts (look, I just like mail)....harumph. I am not great in the realm of visual art. Just like the time when this fancy Theatre de la Jeune Lune director once scolded me, "Aiiyee! Noooo! You are pure comedy!!" when I was suposed to be doing an exercise in high drama for a theater full of acting students, well, again I feel that "I've failed!" feeling. Of course now, years later, I am happy to at least have been pure comedy for one fleeting moment in my life, even if it wasn't at the appropriate moment...so maybe I will feel some sort of satisfaction later at having attempted to participate in an online swap of mail. Still, I sort of feel as if I am a lonely ol' friendless spinster who has to sign up on blog posts just to get any mail at all.....oh, what a maelstrom of emotion am I this rainy Monday! But I can't help it---je suis pur comedie!(opps on the spelling?)

So, here is a photo from 1987; Haven is on the far left in her Smiths shirt (de rigueur for us then)...Stacy is sweet, as always, in the pink and then me, giant oaf with hair covering face (I felt this was supremely fashionable at the time.....)
Below is another photo of us, now 2007, at the same Flag Pole Hill in Dallas,TX at our 20 year high school reunion...I am so happy I don't wear my hair in my face now...we all look sorta hot still, which is nice.....And I think my friends have had pretty good adventures since high school. Me, not so sure. Still reeling from the fact that the guy who wanted to divorce me, mr. total ass-lack-of-compassion and "oh, I changed my mind about kids but haven't told you for over 6 months how I feel and, instead, am being passive aggressive about it and won't respond to your attempts to do anything to save this marriage", that cocksucker has a really nice girlfriend (poor girl) and I am shitty all alone still and probably won't get to have a family, one of my big dreams...I can't even get my butt in gear to organize another band. Chepo is too busy but I wish he could give me tips on what to do to start one; I was pretty lucky the last time and everything just fell into place...Well, what started as musings on a high school reunion has turned to simmering rage over an ass of a failed marriage and depression over no creative outlets. Whoo-hoo! I better chipper up, have to be a nanny in about an hour.....

PUT A PET IN IT
I don't know how to make a title for a blog posting, but if I could I would title this "Put a Pet in It". You may wonder, "Why? Why title this 'Put a Pet in It'? Doesn't Kerri love her pet and pets in general?" Well yes, yes I do love my pet and pets overall, as a general rule. However, I don't know how I feel about the prominence of pets in advertising these days. Sure, I could give Faith Popcorn a run for her money as a "Trend Predictor", so I knew pets were the way to go ages ago,... not to mention that in one of my journals in the early-to-mid 1990's I had already predicted that there would soon be a pop-dance hit song using samples from the music of India/South Asia (uh, think "Toxic" by Britney Spears, among others)...oh, yeah, and I predicted peanut butter being packaged in the same manner as stick lard/shortening YEARS ago.....anyway, thus, it is not too surprising that pets are running rampant in advertising these days. But I continue to be slightly disturbed by a recent television advertisement for Haverty's furniture that features creatures on couches and beds and pillows....you do not want to spend the ridiculous amounts of money that Haverty's would have you spend on a couch and then just allow your white, long-haired, freakily-fuzzy puppy to loll about on it.....would you? Is this how we take care of our belongings in America today? Please, put a little blanket down on the cushion first, protect that investment. In fact, join that craft revolution out there (the one that makes you think you are getting a finely handcrafted item that will last forever and be an heirloom piece, only to discover that some stoner just used fancy glue to rig it together and it falls apart after one gentle handwashing....) Oh, I am getting off topic. And I have to get off the computer now and actually work. But, please, remember:
Weave yourself a decent little throw or diligently sew a quilt for your pet before allowing him or her to lollygag about on your furniture!!! Thanks.
More trend predictions coming soon as well as my dissertation, "The History of Rick-a-Rack and It's Impact on Economic Success in the Craft Realm Today".
Sayonara!
ps. Note that I yet again am unable to post a photo at this time! Go me! Whoo-hoo!