The Myth & The Majesty

I have a Halloween tradition that started with the girls' house on Utah. We sat down and watched "Phantom of the Opera," drank wine, and handed out candy instead of going out, either bar-hopping or party-hopping. And it was a fantastic night. Since then, I've done the same thing every Halloween. Today's marathon will be kicked off by the Phantom. Yay. Then, "Boondock Saints." The sequel was released yesterday -- limited release, nowhere near here -- but I think a viewing of the original is in order to commemorate the sequel. [If I'm really lucky, it'll end up in Minneapolis or Chicago sometime in the next month or two...] Then, an actual Halloween movie ... And a reminder of a good friend. Unavoidable with this one. Finally, with a deep breath ... Tomorrow: chick flicks so I can recover.

... Well, sort of. I'm back at the B -- of course -- and had to chuckle when I walked in right behind another regular. (Seriously. Here more than me.) It's a good weekend for a lot of things. The holiday it contains makes it a good weekend to be social; the weather looks like it could be a good one for holing up at the house and avoiding people. The fact that I have nothing set in stone means that I could get a lot done ... It also means I could end up accomplishing nothing. Yeah, that really shouldn't be an option. It used to occur a lot more often than it has lately... The shift started when my computer died. It's weird. This removal from internet access thing has me strategizing my time a bit more -- something that definitely needed to happen. The process has gotten streamlined; every time I hop on, I spend some time getting caught up on email, some time blogging, a little bit of time on Facebook. Heck, sometimes I even show up with a list -- "Things I Must Look

There's a four-foot-tall candy corn costume in the Admiral's cube entrance.

Aside from the fact that there's still a small lurking chance I'll end up in China at the end of November. And aside from the fact that I actually want to go to China, partially because it'll be an adventure and partially because I can't convince my brain I've done enough traveling this year (which is a lie) and partially because that means my first-ever project will be starting up ... And aside from my wandering sentences. Aside from all that, I'm starting to get really excited about the things coming up for the remainder of this year. And starting to hope that said start-up will get just a little delayed. I know it's not good business practice to hope for such things, but, well ... There's just so darn much going on. I don't want to miss it all. Take, for instance, this woman . She just released a cookbook ... like, yesterday ... and in her ensuing book tour, she'll actually be in Minneapolis. Minneapolis! It's right there. I could actual

The upside to my desktop's death a month ago has been that now I'm going through my recovered files with a fine-toothed comb. So I'm finding some fun pictures and playing with them as I can. By the way, if you click on the xkcd comic above yet today, you may be thrown off a bit by the current layout (whether or not you're familiar with the site). Anyway, I've been playing with some of my pictures. Like this one. I look a little ghost-y here (couldn't fix that one, sadly), but it's still fun. And perhaps more "me" than I care to admit. No alterations made to this one. I have no idea where this picture came from, either. Just happened across it. (It's that guy's birthday today. Happy birthday, sir!) One of my favorite Jon photos with some selective highlighting. Yep. Still miss him.

Back at the B for a little while before tango. It's a good day to be here -- cold, rainy, very fall-like. There's a fantastic discussion about sightseeing on the West Coast going on a few feet away (I support eavesdropping if it means learning about new places to go see) and the scenery wandering around the store is better than I knew Wausau had. What? It's one of those slightly-off kinds of days. Work was uneventful in that Friday kind of way. I spent my lunch listening to three men talk about pregnancy (which was a perspective I hadn't heard much of before -- it was actually quite enlightening ... and entertaining). Mia Sorella sent me a link to a K-pop music video, firmly planting K-pop on my "Things I Will Never Understand" list. And it's not just the language barrier. Tomorrow, the Admiral and I (and M-Kay and her guy, in their own vehicle) are headed to Minneapolis for a housewarming party (at E-Train's ... That's probably enough half-hearted

Relaxing in the Minneapolis Sculpture Gardens October 11, 2008

My first real run-in with girl power, as far as I remember, didn’t happen till I was 21 years old. There may have been instances before that, but it wasn’t until I was in Russia that I really caught one. While we were digging holes for fenceposts at a school in St. Petersburg, the man in charge of the renovation kept trying to stop me from helping dig holes. Suddenly, the empowered girl inside me rankled. I was just as capable as the guys doing the work. As with so many things in life, I found out later that my gut reaction was a bit off the mark. It turned out that the gentleman was more concerned about the fact that I was sitting on the ground; it is a Russian superstition that a woman who sits on bare ground will become infertile. Yep. That one caught me off guard. The cover story for Time magazine this week is “The State of the American Woman” and examines, in essence, the lasting effects of women’s lib. It seems that, while we have more power than ever before, we are less happy; w

Twice at work and two strangers since. I must look crabby today. I've had people ask me what's wrong or tell me to cheer up. I admit, I was tired earlier -- but I promise, I was just squinting. Apparently that makes me look angry. Yes. It's that eventful a day.

To Wausaunians and visitors to the area: The release party was last night and I missed my chance to advertise -- BUT. Now I can say with absolute certainty -- if you're into dark beer, go to the Red Eye and try out their newest seasonal, The Witching Hour. A porter with a hint of pumpkin and spices, it's easily one of the tastiest beers I've had in recent history. Full of flavor but surprisingly not overpowering. (My biggest fear was that I was going to take a sip and immediately think, "Augh! Pumpkin!") While you're there, grab some food, too. Not so much as a push for their menu, but because you shouldn't be drinking any of their brews on an empty stomach. Just one more thing to add to the fall lineup!

Because today, I'm thinking about mountains. (Taken somewhere in the Tetons, August 2005)

Some pictures from Vegas ... Starting with our hotel. My first impression, during my wanderings the first night before my friends appeared: the Empire State Building from behind a castle. A view from the top of the Stratosphere Tower (at roughly 900 feet above the city). Looking straight up at the Tower. There are three thrill rides up there. And it seems much, MUCH higher when you're actually on one of them. (Totally. Awesome.) A view of the "New York skyline" from one of the walkways over the Strip. Something about this cracked me up -- probably because I had actually walked past the real buildings only three months earlier. So there are some of the parts of Vegas that didn't stay in Vegas.

Focus, Ashley. What was it you were going to do today? Clean. Bake. Go to the library so I could see Mia Sorella's Beijing photos. And how much of that have you gotten done? Well, her pictures are beautiful. And I've done a little cleaning. I still need to bake a cake, though. Hm. Yes, I think it's safe to say that today hasn't been QUITE as productive as I had hoped, but I am feeling much, much more human now. It's amazing what a little removal can do for a person. And while I'm going to go to a housewarming party tonight and break that familiar-people-fast thing I've got going, I'm okay with it. I don't think I'll stay too long, though. I've missed having this kind of time to myself. It's been pretty awesome. And I have another day and a half before I really have to return to reality. Hm. Maybe I'll make a flan...

[Hey, we've grown!]

Weekend! Oh, I'm happy to be here. Happy to be at the B (again), happy to be thinking about sleeping in, happy to be able to enjoy actual daylight hours tomorrow ... This weekend I'm removing myself from society to a certain degree. I have a lot of catching up to do, far too many things that have fallen by the wayside in the last six weeks. My apartment is at it's worst; I have roughly 1,461 pounds of laundry to do (and I live alone!). Something is making my fridge smell funny. Lots of work to do. Am I up for it? Well, to be honest, probably not. But I can make a pretty good-sized dent. That's good enough for the weekend. In the meantime, I'll let my brain wind down a bit, call my mother, maybe eat something tasty but fattening, and enjoy my evening. Live is good.

Things that are making today great: - An open table at the library for me to use. - Dinner with E-Train in a little while. - A picture that provides proof that Neubs is getting some use out of her French martini kit. - Really long dangly earrings. While it's distinctly possible that I am easily impressed, it's making for a pretty good day.

Well, I'm back at the B, using their glorious wi-fi. One of these days I'll get sick of this. In the meantime it's getting me out of my very messy apartment and therefore preserving my sanity. Oh, and it lets me post pictures for all the world to see. Like this one. I rarely put pictures of people up here (trying to feign some kind of privacy) but this picture cracks me up every time I see it. So hopefully it can do the same for you.

My, how the tables have turned. Yesterday: perfect fall day. Today: eleven straight hours of snow, and it hasn't stopped yet. Yes, this is the Midwest, where the weather doesn't care what you think -- it's going to do what it wants to do. Like a spoiled child. Yeah, you heard me. Spoiled. Child. I won't really complain too much. I like snow. I'm just not sure how I feel about snow before Halloween ... Even though I woke up to it on the 1st and I know RC's been hit pretty hard already. Hmm.

It is a perfect fall day out there. Perfect. I just got back from a trip to an orchard just north of here with a few of the Table. Today's the kind of day where you need to bundle up just a little bit so that the breeze doesn't get to you -- but the sun is shining and the leaves are just about right, so you don't really notice. It's a bit of a pity to be inside and I don't intend to stay long. Then I can make my run to the grocery store and go home again, maybe rake some leaves and be glad it's not snowing yet. Bake something, if I really get ambitious. Yeah. It's a good day.

Well, Nicole and Justin got married yesterday -- and today's the party! Much fun will be had by all, I'm sure ... Especially if the weather cooperates and the snow holds off. I don't know how lucky we'll get, though. It's kind of funny. E-Train's wedding was this same weekend last year and they had perfect weather. Absolutely perfect. Seventies, sunny most of the time, wedding on the river. But, well, you can't expect that to happen two years in a row. This time we're bundling up. Justin recommended dressing for the weather, not the reception, and I think that was fantastic advice. Anyway! I should be at home, getting a few things together for tonight. Emphasis on "should." I've been out since sometime mid-morning, running errands and such instead, including this current stop at the B ... again ... for Internet access. I have been here enough in the last week that every -- EVERY -- employee recognizes me now. It used to just be a few of the

... just east of the Midland exit (#170, I believe), there's this. I don't know. I don't get it, either.

I have, on numerous occasions, professed my love of the ranch here. It's still true. I still love the ranch. It was, in fact, stage 2 of the Great Western Trek (stage 1 involved a rapid-fire stop in Sioux Falls) and the beginning of a true vacation. And it was awesome. Wisconsin is a beautiful state, but what I miss the most -- and it took me months to place the feeling -- is wide open spaces. WIIIIIIIDE open spaces. They're wonderful. But it's not just the openness. There's a somewhat surreal quality, especially if you've spent most of your time in cities or heavily industrialized areas. There's a feeling of timelessness ... That there are things here more ancient than you can imagine. That there's ground that has never seen a human footstep. Animals that still wonder at these strange upright mammals. That in one hundred years those places will still exist and those animals' ancestors will still wonder. [Rule #2: If you open a gate, close it. Rule #

... from the Storm chunk of my Great Western Trek. Have I told you yet that I love Photoshop? Because I love Photoshop. I went for a nice long walk while I was there, taking ... hundreds of pictures, actually. Like this one. And this one, somewhere near the lookout. And this one, in my favorite amphitheater. ... And a foot picture, because I can't help myself. This one comes from the brand spanking new lodge. Okay, this isn't from Storm. This is the Keystone Wye Bridge, which has some familial significance. I was just thrilled to get a decent picture while *ahem* driving toward it. There may be more to come from other stages ... But here's a start for once!

I don't think I ever fully realized how much time I spend on my computer (not at work, since that's my job description, but at home) until I had to go elsewhere in order to have Internet access. Let me tell you -- it's been a learning experience already and I'm only a couple days in. Yesterday I crashed a table at the B again. I had originally intended to hit the library (I love the free wi-fi options in this town) but the B had something the library didn't: hot coffee. And yesterday, a day it rained from sometime before I woke up till sometime long after dark, demanded a hot drink. DEMANDED. So I set up shop again after ordering my mocha from the kid whose name I should definitely know by now -- the one who doesn't even ask if I have a membership anymore -- and enjoyed my warm, cozy bookstore time. It was an improvement over my why-must-I-wear-four-layers-in-my-own-house? time, which soon followed. Tonight maybe I'll turn the thermostat up jus

You know, I had gotten used to living in a drought-ridden area. No rain. Little snow. Disappointingly cold weather with nothing to show for it. Now, I live in a place where the Weather Channel has the confidence to declare a 100% probability of rain on a somewhat regular basis. It's rainy and cold outside and I have to admit -- that makes me happy. I love fall. I love the colors and the weather and the need to wear slippers again. I love curling up in my big dish chair with a cup of tea and a book or my knitting. I love being able to bake without the house getting swelteringly hot. It's a good feeling.

I did it. At last. I cancelled service with my highly unsatisfying Internet service provider. I won't tell you who it is here, but if you move to the area I have someone to advise against. Just so you know. This is all kind of funny ... Now I have a rather nice television but no cable or antenna, and a brand new computer but no Internet. However, I have a decent collection of movies and lots of nearby wi-fi hotspots. So there. And I'll probably have Internet service again soon, or at least soon-ish. In the meantime, I haunt the B for my connection -- and to avoid the bustling crowds gathering for the Packers/Vikings game. Not that I'm completely disinterested in the game (believe it or not, there's a lot of curiosity on my side) but I really, really don't feel like jumping into the rabid throngs for this one. Just one of those things.

I am ... Finally feeling more relaxed. Finally feeling like I've got my head on straight. Not overly excited to be back from vacation. Sore. Surprisingly rested. Thinking about the hundreds -- HUNDREDS -- of pictures I took over the last week. Hoping I can find free wi-fi in this town without too much trouble. Excited about the fall weather. Really excited about the fall colors. Needing to unpack. Wondering where I put my winter coat last spring. Contemplating the meaning of life in terms of lunch menus. Starting to realize how much catching up I have to do. Oh, it's going to be an interesting week.