spiralmissy

Even Burlesque is bigger in Texas....
Pack your pistols and your pasties-it's gonna be a wild ride!

Come see featured performances by Miss Exotic World 2005 Michelle L'Amour from Chicago as well as Austin's own Burley-Q sweethearts and festival co-founders, Kitty Kitty Bang Bang.

Friday, May 15th & Saturday, May 16th
Emo's (630 Red River)
Doors Open @ 8pm, Show starts @ 9

Tickets: $15 General Admission/$25 Reserved Seats
(available at Waterloo, Sound on Sound, End of an Ear OR ONLINE www.ticketweb.com)

Anybody interested in volunteering for the TXBF, in exchange for FREE ADMISSION, should message me directly.

OK, I know I have been absent from the Austin Poetry scene since Nationals, but I will be going to this event and so should you!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
- You will get something.
- What I create will be just for you.
- You might not like it.
- It'll be done sometime this year.
- I'll need to know your favorite two colors, and a word you love.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to repost this in your journal. (Edit as necessary)

No purchase necessary. Participation required. Void where prohibited. Batteries not included. Offer ends 2-15-09

Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a heterosexual marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

Your result for The Greek Mythology Personality Test...

Orpheus

33% Extroversion, 80% Intuition, 100% Emotiveness, 57% Perceptiveness

Take The Greek Mythology Personality Test at HelloQuizzy

Here is something we could all use from time to time.  Here is your unsolicited chance to have me tell you precisely why I adore you!  
(well, i guess you kinda DO have to solicit it, but, you get the picture)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's the I love you meme and I tell you why you rock meme-Yay!
Reply with your name and I'll tell you something I adore about you.
Afterwards, copy and paste this into your own journal, so I may do the same!

Give me the chance to let me tell you why I think you are so awesome, please!

This is an addicting little game that you can play - as if you do not waste enough time on your computer already!
www.freerice.com

The more multiple choice vocab questions you get right, the more rice that gets donated through the UN (in association with poverty.com).
Have fun, but do not blame me for any ensuing addictions!  Just tell folks you are helping feed the hungry....

Come start a new chapter in the AUSTIN POETRY SLAM history books this Wednesday as we move to our new weekly home venue at THE SCOOT INN, 1308 E. 4th Street.

How to get there: from I-35 Northbound access road, take 4th street east a few short blocks and you'll find the Scoot on your left, corner of 4th and Navasota. 320-004 is their phone number.

Check out the Scoot at: http://www.myspace.com/redsscootinn.

So, new spot, but the same Austin Slam you've grown to love like we were your loyal pet beagle.

8 pm showtime, open signup, five judges from the audience, and $100 in cash prizes.
Hosted this week by Andy Buck.

Come support Austin poets and the Austin poetry scene.
as well as your friend - me!

~missy

I did not realize I had been away from LJ for so long - the new job and some other things in my life have totally taken over and I am not attached to the computer as much doing fun things anymore (like my grand MySpace plan that never happened - theme weeks, etc....maybe from now on).

Life has been crazy but great.  Working at BookWoman - a small, independent Feminist, LGBT bookstore that ROCKS the Austin community.  Unfortunately, as has been the case with all such stores, business has been hard and it is hard to compete with big box stores and online shopping.

The thing is - it's true.  You can get the books we sell quicker and probably cheaper online.  But, the thing that makes BookWoman (and other stores like it) so fantastic is the community.  In one day @ BookWoman I have conversations running from poetry to polyamory, gay marriage to alternative menstral products. 

The people that come in and interact range from teen goth girls to sex workers to lesbian couples who have been together for over 20 years.  There was a woman who came in who used to be an escort for women who received abortions and abortion providers right after Roe v. Wade.  How is that for some living history?

So, we are trying to motivate the community to save this Austin literary landmark.  We put up a very quick and basic website that is undergoing continuous design, check it out here www.savebookwoman.com

I will keep trying to post updates, but this has taken a lot of my time and mental energy.  Have not written or practiced poetry in weeks.  And I need to practice for quarter-finals which are in a week (11/14).  oh yeah, BTW, I made the QF.  How exciting!  Really, it was more out of diligence and attendence than skill, but I will take what I can get :-)

I just got a phone call from the job I really wanted and really thought I had not gotten.

The last I had heard the store was going to check references and then offer second interviews. This was a couple of weeks ago.

One of the managers called and I was totally preparing myself for the "we had lots of talented applicants and it was a really hard decision" conversation.

But to my surprise - I WAS OFFERED THE POSITION!!!!!

I am floating on air, so excited. This job will be great for me and I think that I will be great for this job!

Have I mentioned how much I love Austin?  Because this is such a cool city, and we have the best bookstore EVER (BookPeople), I got to meet and greet and shake hand with and get a book signed by President Bill Clinton.

But I collect signed books and have quite the collection of political books - including Barack Obama, John Kerry, Jimmy Carter, even out NJ governer JIm McGreevey.  This Clinton book is the crown jewel to my collection. 

Now I am not really a celebrity-monger etc.  and most of the time I am like, - wow that was cool.  Let's move on.

But seriously, I saw him and as I got closer in line to where he was standing looking so dapper in his casual slacks and jacket, without a tie, etc.  I went fucking weak in the knees.  giddy like a fucking school girl.  He shook my hand and and said the requisite "Thanks for coming.  Nice to meet you." 

 think I said something like "GACK" or "Thank you"  I forget because I think I blacked out.  The nice people I met while waiting in line since 6:30 this morning had to help me down the stairs.  I was dizzy and faint. 

I was not prepared to actually be able to talk to him and shake his hand.  When Jimmy Carter came, we were herded through and saw him through a velvet rope where we watched him sign books like a caged animal - and smile and wave now and again.  It was wierd. This was way cooler!

Anyone with a 2 year old, a husband and a roommate/sister knows the value of absolute silence at 9:30 in the morning.  I keep telling myself that if I could just wake my lazy ass up at 7am instead of 9 when Aubrey wakes up, and pry myself off of Warcraft before 2am, that I could have a lot more private time!  My body does not listen to me.

Over the weekend I got a MySpace bulletin from our local feminist bookstore saying they were hiring.  I am desperate to work a little, but not so that I would need to put Aubrey in a regular daycare. 

I used to think - "hmmm, this stay at home stuff is awesome.  play with your awesome child.  keep the house manageable.  i'll have time to read.  i'll have time to write.  i'll have time to catch up on all the seasons of TV i have never watched (i have all of arrested development on dvd, have never seen one episode)."  FALSE!

First of all, moving to Texas and not knowing anyone outside my household was really hard.  harder than i ever thought it could be.  for the last 8 years i have lived and worked on a college campus, so meeting people and making friends was super-easy....part of my job. 

Second, children who pretty much will stay where you leave them at 6 months BECOME MOBILE!  So, a lot of my day involves me saying, "No, Aubrey, please don't climb the cat.  Aubrey, we don't stick cell phones in the toilet.  Aubrey, it is not nice to poke Mom in the ass with Mr. Potato Head.  No, not the cat either."  And, to be honest, Aubrey is a pretty laid back, low-key child.  But still takes a lot of energy.

Digression:  We are such bad parents.  Aubrey started learning normal words - colors, numbers, letters, mom, dad, etc.  Some of her other first words: rainbow, pirate, octopus, damn it,  fuck, fucking, butt fuck, gay (she was chanting this at one point - and NO, we do not use this word as a pejorative in my house, we were actually describing someone's orientation), frog, dolphin, cat, dog, etc.  Brian and I are already trying to figure out how we are going to handle the principal's phone calls.

Anyway, a job at this bookstore would give me the chance to get paid while being around, talking about, and selling books on women, by women, about women, etc.  It would make me feel like more a part of the Austin community.  It would give us some extra spending cash, and let me save up for my the tattoo work i want done on my back.  It would also give me the chance to meet more people and make more friends.

That is actually one thing I am really happy about.  Over the last month or so, I have really forced myself to get out and meet new people.  I have met some folks through this whole poetry thang, and went to my first party this weekend.  how exciting!  i know i sound lame, but it was a big step for me.

ok, well, aubrey is up now thanks to the air conditioner guy ringing the doorbell, so i gotta go, for now.

send me lucky vibes for the bookstore job!

~missy

I have lived in Austin, TX for over a year now.  OK, really Cedar Park, a suburb north of Austin, but it sounds so much better when I say I live in Austin....and really, I spend more time in the city than out sometimes, soo....

anyway, i knew when we went house-hunting here that i could live here the rest of my life.  these people were MY KIND of people.  Cowboys and hippies, punks and yuppies, all living in (mostly) peace and harmony here.

and, coming from the east coast, people are so nice here.  from day one, i have just noticed a much more relaxed vibe - not pretentious (most of time) like Amherst could be - which had more of a PC/liberal gestapo (one to which I mostly ascribed, but no tolerance for dissent is facism no matter how CORRECT the gestapo is). 

And the culture scene here far surpasses, in my opinion, what was available in the Philly/Wilmington/Newark area (not that there are not people trying - go Team DW?)

But, finally, I feel that I am completely AT HOME in Austin.  Today I went grocery shopping, and half expected to see someone I knew, however vaguely.  While I did not, that feeling, that half expectation, signalled for me a true transition to being an adopted Austinite.

You wanna know another sign that this was where we were meant to live?  There is, less than a mile from my house, a DELAWARE SUB SHOP.  Now, Delaware is not usually renowned for their subs, although they do have some great deli's (what I would do for some Cappriotti's right now - yum).  The owner of this mini-chain right here in Central Texas just happens to be a kindred DE ex-patriot.  Who knew?

OK, so I am new to LiveJournal (I know, way behind the times), and it already seems like folks have abandoned it long ago.  I am used to MySpace, but as one of my friends so astutely observed, it seems like most people on MySpace are, like, 10 years old.  No harm in having TWO internet addictions, right?

Anyway - Life is teh suck right now because my Air-conditioner decided to DIE on an AUGUST day in TEXAS!  WTF? So, yes in 96 degree heat, Aubrey and I are a little friggin warm.  Brian is at his bi-weekly game and Kim is working, so we are left carless to fend for ourselves. 

Which means, several cold showers.  And not even for the GOOD reason.

~missy