dissonance

Caring hurts

Everyone has heard me vehemently vow to never cross the thresholds of MySpace or Facebook.  I just think they're shallow, egotistic wastes of time.  Ok, maybe so is having your own blog, but at least I'm not subjecting everyone to animated cursors and gifs jumping to the tune of "umbrella-la-la-eh-eh-eh-ah-ah-oh-oh". 

I'm actually part of a quasi-social networking site called Ravelry that I am severely addicted to.  Ravelry is a site for knitters and it's not just about social networking. It's pretty much the best resource for projects, project management, learning, as well as meeting other people who are into "the fiber arts" (gawd, I just really outgeeked myself there).  And that's why I can be behind something like Ravelry and not MySpace. Because it has a point.  Plus the UI is just gorgeous and slick.

However.

Something has happened so that despite months, no, years of stubborn-ness I just may break down and dive into the dregs.

My cousin sent me an invite.

My wee cousin, who is 6 years younger than me, the one I babysat almost every weekend during my own childhood and adolescence, the one I have a soft affection for because she reminds me of me sometimes, my cousin with the wee dimples and unruly hair.

My baby cousin is on MySpace and she is writing things like: "Don't worry I don't bite, I just nibble" on her profile!!!

Ok, so she's 22 now and should be able to take care of herself and it's not my place to be all protective of her and besides she invited me so she's well aware of what she is sharing with me so I should be able to still happily decline her invite and be blissfully ignorant of whatever she is portraying on her page, be it innocent or mildly inappropriate or girls gone wild.  So really, should just sit back and stick to emailing her.

Oh who am I kidding?  Hells no I'm not sitting back!  So today folks, I'm on MySpace. I'm not sharing my profile with anyone, I'm not friending or testifying for people, or listening to your favorite band (besides, they suck).

But if you see the profile of a wee girl with dimples and unruly hair suddenly become super boring you know you are witnessing the force of a Cousin who Cares*.

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UPDATE:  So I joined and just checked out her page.  Jesus Mary and Joseph, my corneas are burning and I'm now blind. Not because it's got inappropriate pictures but it's got to be one of the worst abuses of page layout customization. 

A fine example of irony:  I rant and rant about why I hate My Space, I join it because of my cousin, and then her page turns out to be exactly THE REASON WHY I HATE MY SPACE!

She's safe from me ever prying into her life again, even upon invitation.

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

This bread is bananas, literally.

And it is da shit, figuratively.

If you have basic baking ingredients and a few ripe bananas, I highly recommend giving this banana bread recipe a whirl.  No mixer needed! 

And then serve with butter. Or Nutella. Or butter AND Nutella.  And then you can call that mixture "Buttella".  Or "Nuter".  Or maybe you call it butter and Nutella because "Buttella" and "Nuter" both sound unappetizing and slightly obscene.

TITP

Wowee T in the motherfuckin Park!

3+ days of the rock n roll lifestyle but instead of champagne we had lager and instead of stilettos we had galoshes. Sounds glamorous no? 

The weather wasn't so bad for most of the weekend but it poured down about 3 seconds before we got our tent up. Luckily, Craig got a Flash tent so it only took us about 3 seconds to get it pitched.  You guys have GOT to check out the video. It was totally worth every penny (of Craig's money).

The event itself was just nothing like I've ever experienced before.  I'm sure people who have gone to Coachella already know what I'm talking about, the amount of people everywhere! I have to admit, I did freak out a little bit one night on our way back to the tents.  But I read somewhere like 80,000 people attended and to see it all at once, that should send anyone's heart aflutter.

Of the bands we saw, my favorites have to be The Fratellis and Maximo Park.  I've seen them both in smaller concerts but they are still so great to see!  Paul Smith, the lead singer of Maximo Park, has such stage presence and command of the audience. And the Fratellis are from Scotland so they had incredible enthusiasm from everyone in attendance.  Honourable mentions to The View and Bloc Party.

It was exhilarating, new, liberating, exciting, friendly, boisterous, dancey, drunken, eye-opening, and memorable.

But thank fuck that's over for a year!

It was dirty, muddy, loud, overwhelming, crowded, expensive, batshitinsane, and exhausting.

Everyone should go at least once.

New album created with pics

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And before y'all think I've forgotten where I'm from, Happy belated Fourth of July!

The Americans, Cheryl, JD and me representin' at a pub called the Oatsheef.

They think his name is Greg

Craig's coming out to the states around Christmas.

You know what that means... Meeting the parents!

eek!

Ok, not really eek, 'cause he's awesome and so how could they not love him for making me so happy?

Anyway, he thinks he needs a little more than that on his side so he's making an earnest effort to learn how to use chopsticks.  Here he is at a sushi restaurant in London. Not bad eh?

Thursday night we're finally off to T in the Park!  The weather forecast seems very sketchy but hopefully we will not be swimming in mud like the poor folks at Glastonbury last week.