A Day in the Life of a Fat Cat

When I was younger, I always wanted a pet. A cat. A dog. Heck, I would’ve settled for a lizard for all I cared.

But we’ve been renting homes since I was little, and often we weren’t allowed to have pets. Then, finally, when I was in my senior year of high school, I finally got the courage to ask our land lords if they’d reconsider. All I wanted was a cat. S/he would be fixed and declawed. We’d pick him/her up from a rescue center. Any damage would be fixed at our own expense.

Well, I was pretty convincing. (And adorable.) They caved and we got Molly.

Puss and boots. Geddit!?

Unfortunately, Molly and I don’t often see eye to eye (more on that later). We’re sort of like siblings. I’m the older one that picks on her all the time. She’s the younger one that runs to mommy to tell on me. She’s definitely the favorite.

*sigh*

But either way, I still love her and it’d break my heart if she wasn’t around anymore. Plus, she’s sort of part of the family now. I guess I’m stuck with her.

Now, the first thing you need to know about Molly is that she’s fat. I mean, really fat. She weighs in at 16 pounds.

Not the most lady-like of positions, but this is how she likes to relax.

Now, before anyone grabs their pitchforks, I swear she came to us like that! She hasn’t gained a pound since we’ve gotten her. She doesn’t even eat a lot, actually. She’s just not a very active cat. She’s super lazy.

Case and point.

She gets mad if she doesn’t have her box lid to lay in. And if you forget to put it up on the bed? Whoaaa, buddy. She will not stop meowing until you do!

Another favorite roost is this one. She loves hanging out on top of the recliner. And if she tries to get up there while you’re sitting in it? Well, hold on! She doesn’t mind rocking the boat…

She’s also very picky. She doesn’t eat chicken, steak, or any of the normal things that cats go for. You know what she does like? Doughnuts. Coffee. Bread. Butter. Cheese. The only normal thing she eats besides her dry cat food is tuna. But don’t worry, we don’t give her a lot of that other stuff because she has a sensitive stomach.

But one this she does love is…catnip! She gets a little frisky sometimes, but mostly she just lays around looking stoned, like this:

You just can’t deny that this is a beautiful picture. Money shot right here. (Not to toot my own horn or anything…)

And like any good sister, I find my own ways to torment her.

This blog post brought to you by Office Max…

My Favorite American Artist: Thomas Cole

Ever since I was younger, I’ve been a fan of Greek and Roman art, as well as the High Renaissance. American art just never captured my attention. It always felt as though it followed in the footsteps of the Italians or the French, but never did as good of a job.

That is, until I met Thomas Cole. Or, rather, until I met his paintings.

He was born at the turn of the 19^th century and, ironically, he was born in England. He moved here with his family when he was 17. After little success with portraits, he moved on to landscapes and truly found his niche.

It was by accident that I discovered him, really. It was one of those last minute decisions that you make on a whim. Oh, I have to turn my topic in tomorrow for this 10 page paper that isn’t due for another three months? *flips pages in book* I like…THAT ONE!

Believe it or not, this approach has served me well over the years. I either have very good taste, or I’m just easily fascinated by the people I happen to choose. I’m going to go with the former.

The thing I like best about Cole isn’t the rolling country scenes that he known for, although that’s certainly part of it. My favorite thing is the grand scale of some of his paintings. It’s as if you’re viewing the countryside through a wide angle, panoramic lens. He seems to squeeze so many minute details into one piece of work. You can look at one of his paintings for hours on end and still notice new bits of brilliance that escaped you before.

After choosing Cole as the artist I would focus on, I had to choose a painting. Unable to stick to just one, I chose a series called The Course of Empire. (Which, in a way, was cheating, because it has a very Greco-Roman feel to it.) It’s made up of five painting that – you guessed it – depict the different stages than an empire goes through during the course of its lifetime. I think they need little explanation, so please see the paintings below.

The Savage State

The Arcadian or Pastoral State

The Consummation of Empire

Destruction

Desolation

What did you think of the series? Aren’t they inspiring!? I’d love write something based off of the scenes in these works of art.

Do you have any favorite American artists? Is there a particular style or genre of writing that you avoided for a long time because you never liked it, but have finally found something worth investing in?

Karmin in Concert

This post is a late one, but hopefully I’ll be back to my usual schedule soon.

Yesterday I told you that I went to see Karmin in concert on Saturday. It was amazing! This was just another point to add to my long list of reasons why I love this duo. If you’re unfamiliar with them, check out this post I wrote a while back for some history. If you’re lazy (and I wouldn’t blame you if you were), then all you need to know is that Karmin is made up of Amy and Nick, who got their start on YouTube and got famous covering Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now.”

Well, the day started off with sweltering temperatures. I went with my two BFFs and we wandered the grounds of the Spiedie Fest for a couple of hours. (For those of you who aren’t in the know – which is about 99.8% of the world – a “spiedie” is specially marinated chicken thrown in a hot dog bun, sub roll, or piece of bread. Pretty simple, but oh-so-delicious.) We got in line around 5:30, and the concert wasn’t supposed to start until 7:00.

So, we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally they let us in. And we waited some more.

At 7:00 on the dot, a 13 year-old-girl got up on stage and began performing. She was pretty good, but her vocals weren’t super strong. Still, she had a great stage presence and she really didn’t sound that nervous. I believe she sang original songs, because I didn’t recognize any of them. The crowd started getting restless and didn’t really respond well to her, except for clapping at the end of each song. I felt bad because we were all hot and tired and just wanted to see Karmin, which wasn’t her fault at all. But she finished out strong and got one more performance under her belt, which is all that matters.

Then we waited some more.

Apparently they were having technical difficulties because it took them over an hour to set up the equipment. I think it had to do with the mics. When they finally came on after 9:00 (they were supposed to start at 8( we were all so relieved and super excited!

They started off the concert with a brand new song. I don’t know what it was called, but it was awesome. It was another rap and I just remember thinking the lyrics were really great. Something closer to the harder raps that she does like “I Told You So.” I’ll be looking forward to getting that one.

Then they sang every song on their album, save for “Brokenhearted,” which is their biggest hit to date. At this point my one friend, who hadn’t really heard much of them before this, turned to me and said, “This just made me a fan of them.” She really, really enjoyed them and loved all of their songs. I’m going to give her my CD to download the next time I see her. I love converting people into fans of the things I love with such a passion.

Amy: “Some people say, ‘Amy, you’re hogging the spotlight. This is a duo. What about Nick?’ And I say, they’re absolutely right. There’s an awfully handsome man up here. It’s his turn to sing.”

And here’s Amy stepping to the side and letting Nick sing. These two are so adorable together.

Next, she asked who could rap to the song “Look at Me Now.” I raised my hand because I’ve practiced so hard to get most of those lyrics down. I can’t do the entire song (read: the really fast part in the middle gets me every time), but I can do a good portion of it. She asked who wanted to come up on stage and do the song with her and I promptly ducked down and out of sight. Sorry! Too shy! The girl who went up did a good job, but she was a little overwhelmed I think – and rightly so! It was a fairly big audience and those lights are bright. Amy finished out the song – flawlessly, I might add – and the girl went back to her spot in the crowd with a big grin on her face.

Next, Nick told us that he was really sorry about the wait and thanked us for being so patient while they got it figured out. In return, he asked us if we wanted an extra song…

“YEAH!!!!”

So they sang their cover of Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass,” which is another favorite of mine.

They had us sing the beginning to their song “Brokenhearted” without any music playing, and we sounded awesome. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must’ve felt like for them to experience something like that when, just about a year ago, they were making homemade YouTube videos of themselves and posting them online.

What a rush that must be.

Amy sang “Brokenhearted” and they exited the stage, thanking us for being such good singers and promising to come back soon. I hope they do!

My friends and I scurried around to the side of the stage hoping that they’d come over and do some signings (there were no backstage passes like we were hoping there would be). And guess what? They did! They were super gracious and took pictures, hugged, and signed everything that they could. I even heard stories that their manager kept trying to usher them out of there, but Amy kept ignoring him, ha! When I got a chance to say something to Amy, I told her that they did an incredible job – she was so thankful and really appreciative of that.

Can I just say right here, right now, that I hope they never, ever change. It’s so important to me that the people in the entertainment business that I look up to are humble, gracious, kind, and appreciative of their fans. I don’t care how much talent you have – if you’re not a good person, I can’t fully support you. Too many actors and musicians and artists think they can act like they own the world when, really, we’re the ones that give them that power.

Right. Soap box.

Anyway, that was my experience meeting Amy and Nick from Karmin. It was a perfect way to end the night, especially because I got to spend it with two of my best friends. If everything goes right (read: if I bribe the right people), I might actually get to go see Karmin again in a couple of weeks.

No, I’m not obsessed. I’m just…enthusiastic.

Did you ever participate in a talent show or contest? If so, have you ever had a less than stellar crowd? Have you met any of your idols? Were you disappointed by their behavior, or were they everything you’d hope they’d be?

Wandering Bard: Italy (Pompeii)

Pompeii was one of the most incredible and surreal places I’ve been to. Not to mention one of the strangest.

Just in case you’re unaware (or have forgotten your high school history class – and there’s no shame in that), Pompeii is a city located in Italy. More specifically, it’s a city located at the base of Mount Vesuvius. That name should sound familiar.

Mount Vesuvius is the volcano that blew its top in 79 A.D. and literally buried both the town of Pompeii, and its cousin Herculaneum. The stones, ash, and lava flows killed roughly 16,000 people and hid these towns for hundreds of years.

Here’s the unassuming entrance:

But, little do you know the secrets hidden within this quaint little town.

First, there’s the sacrificial alters (for animals only):

The dog, it seems, is a brave fellow.

Then there are the bodies. The picture below is a just a cast, but you can see (in horrifying and realistic clarity) how so many of these people died. This particular person was huddled in the corner, unable to escape the hot has that descended upon the town.

Then there’s this lovely shot that I took:

It doesn’t seem like much, but I guarantee it was also deadly. The caption I put on Facebook for this photograph seems to sum it up pretty nicely:

“The Pompeiins were very smart and ingenious people…except for two things: They lived at the foot of a volcano…and they used lead pipes.”

But the biggest (and dirtiest) secret of all is put right out in the open. If you know what you’re looking for, you should have no problem discovering it. (Why do I have a feeling Natalie/Natalie’s husband is going to love this part?)

If you’re new in town and don’t know where to go, there are clues all over the place to point you in the right direction:

(And, yes, that’s exactly what it looks like.)

Then there’s the sign:

This is a sign warning of a Lupanare. That’s the Italian term. You might be more familiar with the word “brothel.” It was referred to as a Lupanare (the base of that word being “lupus,” which is Latin for “wolf”) because the women used to howl to get the attention of their customers.

Then there’s this beauty:

Imagine doing the deed on that thing.

Not sure what you want? Don’t worry. They had a menu:

The vendors outside the walls of Pompeii sold all sorts of trinkets that probably are not appropriate to bring home to the kids. Nonetheless, they were pretty funny.

And although it completely shocked me when I realized some of the places that were within the walls of Pompeii, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. History happened here. A tragic history, yes, but one that you can feel in your bones when you’re there. It was an amazing experience.

Enter a totally embarrassing five year old picture of me standing in front of Mount Vesuvius (in one of the nerdiest shirts I owned at the time, no less).

Ever been to Pompeii? Ever seen a place as explicit as this one? What’s the nerdiest shirt you own? (I’ve stepped up my nerd-game recently. Now my nerdiest one is definitely the Doctor Who shirt I ordered just the other day…)

Mushroom Foray #2: The Hunt for Black Trumpets

If you read about my first experience with a mushroom foray, then you’ll know about my odd obsession with mushrooms. I won’t embarrass myself by raving about them again.

Instead, I’ll just tell you all about the second foray I went on!

Our goal this time around was to find some black trumpets. They were supposed to be pretty easy to spot. They looked like trumpets. And were black. But – spoiler alert – we didn’t find any.

But the actual act of foraging for ‘shrooms is only half the fun anyway. I love it because it feels like a treasure hunt. I feel like a pioneer or a Native American. It’s nice to just wander around in the woods and get away from society for a while. Plus, I always learn so much on these trips. And I’ve met some really cool and interesting people.

For this specific foray there were two options. The first was the lower (easier) trail. We’d stay pretty close to camp and just walk around the woods nearby. The second one was the upper trail. This involved an apparently death-defying ride in the truck and a harder trail at the top of the hill. Dad and I decided it’d probably be safer to do the lower trail for our first time!

And this time we were smart enough to bring along a basket. Here’s our first find:

These are called Indian Pipes (everyone at the foray was calling them Indian Stovepipes, but it’s the same thing). And guess what? They’re not actually mushrooms! They’re non-chlorophyll  plants. Believe it or not, they’re related to rhododendron, dogwood, and wintergreen. They don’t need sunlight to survive and tend to thrive in moist areas (which is why they’re often mistaken for fungus). These are kind of funny looking ones – most of the ones I’ve found on the internet are pure white.

Next up I found this cute guy. He’s called an Eft.

After looking up some information about him, I found out that an “eft” is a life-stage (considered a juvenile) and that this is actually called a red spotted newt. He’s pretty cute!

The only other mushroom I found was this thing:

Nothing spectacular to me (and definitely not edible), but the president of the society seemed pretty excited about it. Not sure what it is, but I collected it anyway!

Everyone on the lower trail seemed to be finding mini-mushrooms. Everything was so small! There were no black trumpets and nothing else edible. We were kind of disappointed, but I had fun searching anyway. The only other find we had was this cool bright yellow mushroom:

Everyone on the upper trail seemed to come back with gargantuan sized mushrooms. They were kind enough to share with us though.

The next two pictures show the two different types of sulphur shelf, which is edible. This is also called chicken of the woods because – that’s right – it tastes like chicken!

Here’s a picture of the same mushroom all cooked up. I can attest that it tasted like chicken! It has that same plain-ish taste, and the stringy texture of chicken meat. The only difference is, this is a bit more watery (which makes sense!).

Someone also found jack-o-lantern mushrooms. These are actually poisonous (they won’t kill you, but it won’t feel good) and glow in the dark. How cool is that!?

They found a few other mushrooms, but I don’t know what they were:

But the best part, by far, was the food. Oh, my God. It was so yummy. Here’s a picture of my plate:

That thing at the top was some sort of taquito with mushrooms inside. Down below that was a mushroom fritter (the chef made up the recipe the night before!) with some crazy interesting mayo concoction on top. The kielbasa to the right of that was the best I’ve ever had. Then there was the pasta salad with mushrooms, and the various dips with mushrooms. The pepper at the bottom was stuffed with provolone and prosciutto.

I ate good. I ate so good.

I also got to try black trumpets that they had left over from the year before, but I didn’t think to take a picture of them. They were yummy too! Not too much flavor and fairly small. I think they’d be good to try if someone didn’t particularly like the texture of mushrooms. If you look at the picture of my plate, all the way to the right, there’s a white dip with bits of black in it. That had black trumpets in it.

So, over all, not a super successful foray. But it was really fun! We’ll definitely be going on the next one. Hopefully we’ll have better luck.

What do you think? Have I convinced you to go on a foray yet? Did any of that food look good to you?

Wandering Bard: Spain (Córdoba)

Back in May, I did a post on La Alhambra, a group of palaces built by the Moorish people in Granada, Spain back in the mid to late 1300s. My awesome blogging buddy Julie Glover left me a very excited comment – I had mentioned Córdoba, she said. Apparently, her aunt was from there and Julie would love to visit some time.

Your wish is my command!

Here’s something to gaze at while I give you a little history lesson. Córdoba is a city in southern Spain and was – at one point in time – one of the largest cities in the world in terms of its population. Having been under Islamic rule for quite a while, it was only in the mid 1200s that it came under Spanish/Christian rule.

Shortly after, new churches were built within the city. However, some mosques were actually converted into churches, such as the one that goes to this bell tower.

This is called the Great Mosque of Córdoba, and it actually has a more interesting history than that. It was first a pagan temple. Then it was turned into a Christian church. Then it was converted into a mosque, and later a new mosque was built on the same site. Following that, it became a Roman Catholic church.

Whew!

Talk about an eclectic building.

Maybe you’ve never heard of this building before – at least you think you haven’t. Chances are, if you’re into architecture or art history, you’ve seen this shot at some point in your life:

This building has what is called an arcaded hypostyle hall. That sounds complicated, but it’s not. “Arcaded” simply means arches (as you can see in the picture), and “hypostyle” just means that the roof is supported by columns (hypó meaning ‘under’ and stŷlos meaning ‘column’). The famous red and white striped arches are made of limestone and brick, except for the section you see above. They were a little short on cash, apparently, so they just painted the red parts in here to make it match.

The columns are made of jasper, onyx, marble, and granite. In the picture below, you can see that one of the artists signed his name on this one!

Our guide then took us to the Street of Flowers, which provides a classic view of the bell tower.

And that was a little slice of Córdoba for you! Hope you had a great time!

There you go, Julie! Hope you enjoyed it. Can’t wait till you get to go there for real! Did everyone else enjoy the trip? I know I did. I don’t want to go to work now.

How I Survived the End of the World with Starkid

It started out with sheer disappointment. It was October 2011 and Team Starkid was going to be going on tour. They had never done this before. Who knows if they would do it again? It was an experiment to see if it would work out. I wanted tickets so bad. But I’d have to find a way to New York City. Find a place to stay. Find a way for my BFF (and fellow Starkid) to get a couple days off work (which was pretty much impossible at her last job). And actually scrape together a couple hundred dollars to do it.

No chance.

The date to buy tickets came and went, and I was surprised by how sad I felt. I mean, I was really, really sad. It was the kind of disappointment where you shake your head and say, “What was I thinking? That could’ve been a once in a life time opportunity.”

So, I sat by and watched YouTube videos of the concert. I bought the DVD. I think I was unbearable for at least a couple of weeks, wishing that I could’ve been there. Talking about it every day. Playing their music over and over and over again.

Not that those things aren’t daily occurrences for me anyway.

Enter Spring of 2012. They had another tour planned. This time it was going to be for the West Coast. Great. There goes any hope. As much as I’d love to hop a plane to go see them in California, there’s no way that’s happening.

But wait! What do you mean they’re coming back to a few cities on the East Coast? They’re going to be in New York City again!? But…but it’s so expensive. I don’t know if I can do that. Wait – what was that? Silver Spring? They were there last time too. Hang on a second – isn’t that near Baltimore? I have a friend in Baltimore who happens to have a very, very comfortable couch.

To make a long story only slightly shorter, I threw caution to the wind and ordered tickets. And not just any tickets – Golden Idol VIP tickets. Now we’re talking!

So I planned the trip. We’d arrive in Silver Spring in time for the concert, then we’d crash on our friend’s couch and spend the rest of the weekend with her, touring Baltimore and catching up (it’d been six months since we last saw her).

Perfect!

And you know what? It was perfect!

Here are some pictures from the concert. I know that most of you have no idea who these people are, but just revel in my bliss with me, ‘kay?

Golden Idol VIP tickets meant we got to get their autographs!

Charlene Kaye was their opening act and she was seriously amazing.

The premise behind the show was that the Starkids accidentally woke up/angered a Mayan god and brought about the beginning of the Apocalypse. Oops.

Here’s the Mayan god.

Even though it is very, VERY hard for me to choose my favorites, there are two Starkids that really jump out at me. This is Dylan Saunders (who you may recognize from the Watsky post I did a while back) and his voice makes my head go fuzzy because he’s so amazing.

And this is Lauren Lopez, whose Draco Malfoy character is literally the funniest thing I’ve seen in my entire life. I laugh EVERY TIME I see it.

“What do you mean I missed the end of the world?”

Our night ended with seeing this little beauty – a batmobile limousine!

I have some videos, but I figured most of you just wouldn’t understand the context or the songs. Plus the crowd was LOUD and you couldn’t really hear them sing. Plus it was going to take 20+ minutes to upload and, well, I’m just not that patient…

Part deux will be coming up on Wednesday, where I’ll show you guys the rest of my weekend. Here are a few hints of things to come: jellyfish, Picasso, Greek pizza, and beehive hairdos.