After four funerals, finally a wedding

So much craziness in the world right now. It felt good to be at a gathering last weekend that was a celebration of life and not a funeral. It was the recognition of a same sex couple who are in love and committed. Sadly, not a legal marriage as this state (on the wrong side of history) will not allow it at this time. We'll see what the Supreme Court decides later this year.

It hits close to home for me as a family member is in the same situation with her partner. America has many problems, gay marriage should not be one of them.

It was a beautiful ceremony full of song and life and cute ring bearers and flower children. When I was looking at the program, I saw there were poems of Andrea Gibson's being read. "Who is going to read her poems?" I wondered to myself.

Well I got the answer.



That was the surprise they pulled on most of us. All I'll say about it is that friends have connections. It was amazing.

It was an honor to be invited to see my friends unite and commit to each other publicly. One day soon, it will be legal.

Working at home

Took on the unenviable task of cataloging my record collection this past week. A lot of dust. A lot of memories. Lost a lot through downsizing and a basement flood. Kept a few records that show flood damage, should probably replace them at some point. The work involved a lot of bending and peering at serial numbers. Put it all onto the Discogs online database, which is fairly simple to use. Most of my collection was already in there so all I had to do was punch up the serial number. Many of my Beatles bootlegs are on file, as were my weird Uruguayan imports.

Discogs is also a place you can sell your records, but I have no plans on doing that. A lot of the vinyl does have an assigned value based on previous sales, if there have been any. The prices do seem to fluctuate quite a bit so I can't take their value too seriously. It is good to have a tangible file of my collection available that gives forty years of my life more context than simply putting it all on a spreadsheet.

When I finished the records my wife asked if they took CDs as well, so I ended up putting them all in too. This was a bit easier as most of what we have had a bar code, so searching was very easy.

She brought over a lot of interesting discs from the olde country. I do believe we now have the largest collection of records from The Pastels in the United States.

If we catalog the books, she gets to do that, it's too close to work for me.

Shouting at me because she's a deaf widow?

I AM MRS. SONIA WILSON, A DEAF WIDOW TO LATE ROBERT WILSON FROM SEATTLE
WASHINGTON,USA. PRESENTLY IN ISRAEL RECEIVING TREATMENTS, I AM 61 YEARS
OLD, I AM NOW A NEW CHRISTIAN CONVERT, SUFFERING FROM LONG TIME CANCER OF
THE BREAST,FROM ALL INDICATION MY CONDITIONS IS REALLY DETERIORATING AND IT
IS QUITE OBVIOUS THAT I WON'T LIVE MORE THAN SIX MONTHS, ACCORDING TO MY
DOCTORS,THIS IS BECAUSE THE CANCER STAGE HAS GOTTEN TO A VERY BAD STAGE. MY
LATE HUSBAND WAS KILLED DURING THE U.S. RAID AGAINST TERRORISM IN
AFGHANISTAN, AND DURING THE PERIOD OF OUR MARRIAGE WE WERE UNABLE TO
PRODUCE A CHILD.

AFTER HIS DEATH, I INHERITED ALL HIS BUSINESS AND WEALTH. THE DOCTORS HAS
ADVISED ME THAT I MAY NOT LIVE FOR MORE THAN SIX MONTHS, SO I NOW DECIDED TO
DIVIDE THE PART OF THIS WEALTH, TO DONATE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH
IN AFRICA, AMERICA ASIA, AND EUROPE. I PRAYED OVER IT, I AM WILLING TO GIVE
THE $8.6MILLION DOLLARS, TO THE LESS PRIVILEGED. RIGHT THE THE FUND IS
DEPOSITED WITH A SECURITY COMPANY IN USA. I AM OF AWARE THAT THERE ARE LOTS
OF SCAM IN INTERNET, I SWEAR TO YOU WITH THE NAME OF OUR LORD THAT THIS IS
NEVER A SCAM.YOUR HELP WILL SAFE MANY LIFE IN THE WORLD, LET GOD TOUCH YOUR
HEART TO HEAR MY CRY.

LASTLY, I ALSO WANT YOU TO ASSURE ME THAT WHEN YOU RECEIVE THE FUND IT WILL
BE USED FOR THE SAID PURPOSE. MAY THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS THE LOVE OF
GOD AND THE FELLOWSHIP OF GOD BE WITH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY I AWAIT URGENT
REPLY.


YOUR'S IN CHRIST.

MRS. SONIA WILSON

Jumping on bandwagons

Businesses change hands or open and close all the time. Such is life in any day and age. In my twenty five years in this city I've seen a lot of shops come and go - I've also seen a lot sustain themselves and grow. Some of these places I try to frequent as much as possible. There are also some I've never been to. The week I've had the opportunity to go to three establishments I've walked or driven by many times. It's like I've made new friends.

The Short North Tavern has been in its location for at least thirty years. There seems to be a very loyal following of regulars taking part in the cheap drinks. The place has real dartboards, which tells me they have an established and older crowd. The food is cheap and plentiful, but you do not go there for the food. A two dollar happy hour gin and tonic will definitely make me return.

Another place with real dartboards is the Char Bar. How it's kept it's location in the highly developed area right next to the new Hilton astonishes me. It's a rather seedy but charming dive bar with a great window for people watching those on High Street or going to the Convention Center. I'm not sure on drink prices, but I plan on hitting their patio for one of their Long Island Ice Teas when the time is right.

After driving by it on my way home for the past twelve years I finally stopped in Thurn's. They've been in business for aver 130 years. Hours are odd, but that's because they cure their own meats. And what meat it is! The very friendly guy behind the counter gave me a slice of their pastrami that was outstanding. It's aftertaste lingered on the ride home so pleasantly I almost turned around to get more. Next week I'm getting a loaf of good rye bread to go with that pastrami.

There are always new places to go in this city, but sometimes the fun in life is finding what's been here and enjoying what everyone else has for years. These are they places that make Columbus a great place to live.

Subject line - My Intent

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Ghanaian citizen and it happened that my family had a Gold concession, though we are into small scale mining, But we want to sell (350kg) of Gold that we have in stock in order to purchase mining equipments.

The equipments we need for now are excavators, bulldozers and washing machine for our mining work and we are willing to put up our gold dust for sale at a very good local price for us to be able to purchase these equipments. The fact of the mater is that, whoever we will hand over this product to sell on our behalf, will also be the person to manage all subsequent shipments of gold we hope to send overseas.

I want you to take up this process and be in the position to manage this transaction for us villagers. The brand of machinery we need is CAT/CATERPILLAR.

The good thing is that, whatever price we give to you is what we will expect to be use to purchase the machines, whatever you are able to sale above our selling price will be shared among you and me.

Let me hear from you as soon as possible to know how we can move forward.

Best Regards,

Francis Acheampong.


Does this mean Francis and his buddies are going to come over and landscape my property?

There were pictures I did not click on, not even the dog

Hello Dear,

How are you doing today? am Mattew and i must tell you how delighted i am to send you this mail. Am a single parent from Chicago,and i hope you don't get angry at my little note, I have been a widower for the last couple of years, After the death of my wife some years ago, i decided to move on in search of a partner.And I hope we can get to know more about each other! A friend of mine found his soul-mate through this medium. I like us to get acquainted via the exchange of mails as it takes time for people to compose an email and say a little about themselves. I have a son and a Labrador retriever as family and will like to know more about. Attached with this mail are my pictures for your perusal. I look forward to reading your mail. Here is my email ( gold018@outlook.com ) God bless and have a nice day.

Regards Mattew

Beyond Language

Last Sunday, the Columbus arts community lost one of its most talented members. Gina Blaurock was an artist, poet, and my friend. Her unexpected passing has left many of those who knew her gutted and in shock. She created her own jewelry and sold it in many places including Gallery Hop and Comfest. She wrote and performed poems that were insightful, wickedly funny and magnificent. Her work for the Columbus Arts Festival Word is Art Stage committee was valued and diligent. She won the poetry contest at the arts festival, twice. Last year Louise Robertson needed a last minute poet to do a lengthy set and Gina came through with a performance that was mesmerising, and did it all from memory. That was Gina, she was clutch.

Her brain contained a jukebox of songs, mostly from the eighties, she never needed a lyric sheet. During poetry slams, we went to her for the poets’ scores before using a calculator. When she and I sat together during open mics, we were bad influences on each other and giggled the whole night with snarky commentary. Steve Brightman took the only picture of us that I could find. We were rarely this serious when we sat together.



Word began to spread online about her death on Wednesday afternoon. The grief was deep. Writers’ Block had its open mic that night which quickly and rightfully turned into a poetic wake for Gina. Many of us gave sweet eulogies and reminisces about how much she touched our lives. It was a necessary thing for us to do, but it just touched the surface of our sorrow. Poets who have not been to the show in ages came out to pay tribute. When I was talking to Scott Woods and Louise after the show, we thought that she is the first of the regular and long time Writers’ Block poets to die, and why did it have to be her? We were all supposed to get old together.

Today was the service. I met her brother and mother, who were both understandably still in shock. Neither of them really knew how much Gina affected the communities she lived in. She really knew how to compartmentalize her life. Vernell Bristow has been a great help to her family and she delivered a well thought out and appropriate eulogy. I bought a red balloon and asked her brother if I could put it by the altar. One of Gina’s most endearing poems quoted 99 Luftballoons. There were a lot of poets in the room, and a couple who traveled from Chicago and Washington DC to be with us. A lot of love was in there.

I was not aware of how strongly Buddhist Gina was, neither was her brother. But he told a very touching story about how he contacted a local Buddhist temple for help and it was amazing that over a dozen of their flock came to celebrate the life of a complete stranger to them. The head explained to us what was happening then they chanted, then she sang a couple of lovely hymns in a powerful voice none of us expected to hear. It was a beautiful celebration.

I hope that somehow her writing is found, kept and preserved. She only put out one chapbook about ten years ago and there’s only one poem of hers on youtube at this point.

Here is the link to it.

It would be a profound disservice for her work to be lost and undocumented. I wonder if there is a way an executor or steward of her literary estate can be appointed to keep her poems alive? A quality book published with the proceeds going to her Niece could be a great way to honor her. I do not want her voice to disappear and I suspect there are others who feel the same. I did mention this to her brother and think after all the love her saw for his sister from people he did not know that he understands.



We’re going to miss her so much, I cannot believe she is gone.

Stan Freberg 1926-2015

He was one of the great audio artists of our time. Stan Freberg was a pioneer, a creative and innovator for over seventy years. I'm sure I first heard his work on the Doctor Demento show, but probably was introduced to him even sooner through a radio commercial or one of his numerous voice works in a cartoon.

I have no idea where to start. St. George and the Dragonet? Day-O? United States of America? John and Marsha? You can find it all on youtube.

This is the classic. A pinnacle of his work.



Later he would produce and write a very successful series of television commercials that featured his son Donovan. Freberg also appeared on Roseanne as Mr. Parkin and worked with Weird Al Yankovic on his television show.



The world is less funny today, less thoughtful and brilliant. One of the good ones has signed off.

Making it 1985 again

Readers of this blog know I've been on a constant updating of my sound system project for a couple of years.

I knew the weak link to the system was the amplifier. Even with the clarity of sound, the power was quite low and the system would cut itself out if the volume got too loud. Sometimes I like it loud, but this was a loss I could accept.

My son is on spring break this week so I'm watching him for a couple of days so instead of doing laundry I took a look at my thirty year old Onkyo TX-15 this morning. The only problem is that one of the phono input channels drops out. Opened it up, looked at the connection, tried cleaning it and getting the dust out of places there should not be dust, closed it up and hoped.

It sounds very good, I do have to say the separation is better with the Lepai amp. but I'll take the volume over that any day. Also have the FM if I ever need that. Still working on the AM reception. Plus, I went to Best Buy and picked up a cord similar to this and I can plug in my iPod or laptop to the system. Sweet.

All that's missing is a cassette deck!

Verdict: so far so good, but I'm keeping the Lepai just in case.

Easter remembering

When I stand next to him now, my chin touches the top of his head. He does not stop growing. Puberty and all of its graphic descriptions is here. Something else I find myself being so woefully unprepared to face, not when he's not quite capable of letting us in on his feelings or needs.

Hints of facial hair, blemishes on his skin, morning tents, where did the time go? Was it last week when he was scooting around in the kitchen, chasing an empty jar of mayonnaise?

He still embeds himself into my side. Seventy one pounds of jutting bone and body has some very sharp spots. I wonder if he knows how tall he's getting.

His feet are stretching out so much than in another year or two he can probably fit into my own shoes.

Some days the future seems less uncertain that it is. I'm not quite sure how uncertainty translates into the cluelessness that magnifies how unprepared I feel in providing for his life as an adult, and the question I think all parents face, not just the ones of special needs children - what happens to them after I'm gone?