santa claus is coming in a big black cadillac!!!!

we had the chango jam where we got to see little micky, her amazing 80 yr old roadie mama isabelle, ruben, jaime & daria, & others. at the school christmas show the next eve, we got to see my new boss mr m dancing & candy cane twirling like a parade majorette, dressed in high christmas dorky fun as mr gingerbread man. the guy will do anything to make the kids happy. james crouched in the sound area w/the great soundguy dwight as the 2nd-4th graders performed. mine came out & did their two elvis numbers. here is an awesome pic of two of my elvises (there were four).

how it worked out was we studied elvis's moves, his facial expressions, how he sang, how everyone either wanted to go out with or be elvis, then we had "elvis auditions" in class. every third grader that completed the audition (two ran off "the stage," which was simply the middle of the classroom) got to be part of the elvii show crew. as you can see, these two excelled in the costume department, & one, the jailhouse rock elvis, in the poses. the other, vegas elvis, did the mike & arm swing moves at showtime. all was cool, a bit strange mebbe, but great fun tho james reported some in the back row looked petrified w/stage fright. we'd had several sessions about how to overcome that, but i guess if you're only 8 yrs young & haven't been much on a stage, it's gonna happen... vacation has started & all is swell. happy holidays. :)

don't think the magic's gone

i got the best possible news & decided to make a video: https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipOUDlV0j1ji_0FOvKjS935mkatqw-jlFg0F6jaP

let's get ready to jingle & rock! "rockin' around the christmas tree at the christmas chango jam..."

here's the updated flyer. if you are nearby, please come to the show! manuel's (big manny's) high school's music program appreciates the support, plus it will be a great eve to pre-celebrate the holidays!

my sweet baboo, & sister, too

thanks to the u.s. gov (and childhood, teenagedom, & adulthood), my sweet baboo has had struggles. realization of these led to his decision last month to seek assistance. 24 days later, thanks to my sister, driver angie, i was able to travel to the nevada desert to visit my sweet baboo. we had such a nice time. here are pix: james & i times many, james posing on his balcony, then sister angie & i at omega mart las vegas & calico ghost town, & finally, back home with the mammal children. this was the first time my sister & i had a trip together, just the two of us. this made the whole adventure doubly special. may your holidays be gentle.

chango chango chanGO, chango chango chanGO

life is still on. am going to a different type of mtg now. got to the dump AND antique store. james has been "organizing" our booth, which means i spent 90 mins today beautifying it. "he's a man," said the lady who works there. i used to bristle at such statements, but some generalizations do seem truth.... i go to rx next fri. am curious what the numeros will be since stopping animal foods 2 mos ago. what effect will that have? will i be anemic? somehow in danger? when i find out, i will report here, if it be useful to readers... it's been interesting figuring out how to re-eat. the best foodstuffs i've found or already knew: 1) nutritional yeast (tastes like cheese, but research the types bc some contain phytoestrogens); 2) black salt (adds a meat-like funky umami flavor to stuff); coconut oil (slobber slobber); beans, the fabulous fruit; polenta; and, unfortunately, oreos. the "cream" in the middle is nothing but chemicals. nutritionally, this isn't good, but from the point of view of one trying not to each food that once had a face, it works for now... winter is coming here, bitterly cold winter... in the agida & soul-sickness department, nov 5 americans elected satan so they could save on groceries, yesterday a sad-&-ancient-looking mike tyson fought a human sh*tstain in a likely fix for beaucoup bucks, & seems even more than ever like idiocracy is the way of the day... so to quote ken nordine, "how are things in your world?"

loving ppl

is expensive!!!! mama says, it's just money. (if you have it, that is.) i can be lonesome & loaded or beloved & brokeish. i guess the latter is the one i'll keep going for!!!

hokelly smokelly!!!!

look what i just found!!!! Dusk Devils on Bandmine

three topics

1. health & illness

2. music

3. husband

so re numbero uno, trying to remove popcorn piece from maw, i used a nifty plastic toothpick, a device i'm new to, which i should have noted resembled a tiny sword, & accidentally but deftly stabbed my tender gum flesh, resulting in an electric shock & much blood. the spot was darn swole for some time, morphing into terrible head illness (i've noted here life'd be better if only for my head, & too bad i can't get around w/o it). jaw, gums, teeth, ear, throat, tonsil, the only things that didn't throb were my nostrils & eyeballs. after a very quick trip to the lone star state & worrying myself near to death about barometric pressure cabin changes that might possibly cause the infirm coconut to explode, i made it to the dentist.

"i hevv never seen this," the elderly european gent clipped. "your tooth iss goood... but the root iss infect-ed."

i called to moan to dearest father about this, thinking it something special. "oh yes," he said. "i've had two of those."

ah! heredity! also... stupidity! (in my case.)

now am on a hefty regimen of old-school antibiotics. the evil stabbing toothpicks are out front of the house in our curbside free little library, which has turned into the curbside free little junk stop. let some younger or smarter person deal with them. i am now swore off the things for life.

re music... there has been none w/james tho we WILL HAVE THE CHRISTMAS CHANGO JAM THIS YEAR!!!! YAAAAAAY!!!! i "play" each day at school, wonderful school, at which we sing patriotic songs each morning. ("john brown's body" is october's morbid tune -- it's so cool to teach little kids about him, let them decide that yes, he had the right idea, but he went about it the wrong way.) then the transition songs: now working w/littler ones -- which, how did i know would be so fun? --- i come up w/tunes on the fly all the time, & they jump right in, singing & dancing & moving along. how was i to know what a great little kid teacher i'd be?? how swell & rewarding it would be to teach little kids?? i just love it!!!

then their clean up songs: "linus & lucy" followed by "the pink panther."

boy, i just love these little kids, & this clean & safe school, & the fellowship amongst the adults. plus i get to still see many of the middle school kids, former students, as they wait for the bus at our school... who knew such a great job was waiting just one mile from this casa? every day as i drive to work (3 minutes!), i want to pinch myself. how did this happen???

topic 3: my husband, hurricane james, whom i love so very much, has an annoying habit of leaving, then losing his phone, or not charging his phone, or yaddayadda. fortunately, because i have this new job (3 minute drive!!), this impedes my life only a crumb. the house is so clean & quiet while he flies around this or that place in smellay & socal. i eat & write & watch on tv whatever i want.

however, we DO miss him. there is no james crashing & banging & singing & braying & smiling & grouching around the house, no stomping down the steps, no bb guns or potato guns firing into the arroyo, no booms from the basement like something from you can't take it with you, no cigarette smoke, no cigarette ashes, no messy piles & nests all around the house, basement, little house, & porches, no clomping steps & late-night singing & strumming & guffawing & crying & joke-yelling & cussing.

the animals lay forlornly across the couch, peering at the door. "where is daddy?" they seem to say.

i get into magic bed & all the covers are neatly arranged, instead of the usual seeming tornado-aftermath that is there.

i can complain, but i won't. my cousin in tx just says, "you gotta roll with it. life sucks, but you gotta look for the good moments." (i really have so many.)... and mama says, "there's no one like him." that is so true.

but tonight i will get into the soft, silent bed, the lovely smart bed with massage & adjustable head & foot & silky sheets & pillows, & without my hurricane here, even with my best intentions of reading or watching a show sordid or edifying, or playing a game, or exercising or meditating, i will drop off to sleep. just. like. that.