Back in the Saddle Again

For me, writing requires melancholy.  It requires a certain sadness, or emptiness, a longing for something more.  It seems I’ve only been able to write when it is present.

Three years ago everything changed.  I met the love of my life and as I welcomed him in, melancholy let itself out.  At first I didn’t miss it.  I was so happy and spending time doing new things and sharing my life with this amazing person.  But, as time has gone on I’ve longed for the dark place that allows me to put words together to form beautiful sentences.

While I do not hope for infinite sadness, I do hope to hone my skills in writing while in these happier times and to fully take advantage of the lower times.

On a lighter note…

So…I use to have a blog hosted by Posterous and they went a bye, bye.  It was great looking back at my posts; seeing where I was at the time, what I thought was important, or funny.

Now, new blog!  I will post all of my older blogs, with the date and then add a bunch of new and I hope entertaining ones.

Happy reading!!!

What’s Your Type?

People often ask me, “What’s your type?” Meaning type of man I’m interested in.  I think back on all the boyfriends I’ve had and all the guys I’ve dated and find some common themes.  Most of them were smart (sometimes the dumb ones can be fun J), funny (that’s a must), artsy (I love creative people) and soulful (makes me use my brain).  I have dated men who had all of these qualities (those are my fav’s).

Looks aren’t that important to me.  I don’t want to be with a pizza-faced Cyclops, but what’s on the inside is what counts in my book.  Speaking of books…I love it when a man is educated.  I don’t mean college, I mean when he reads and learns and furthers himself.  That is super sexy.

Speaking of sexy…what I think is sexy is; tattoos (makes me melt), motorcycles (go faster please), muscle cars (the louder the better), individuality, respect, creativity, confidence, ambition and laughter.  The thing I find most sexy though is truth.  When a person can take off all the masks and just be; that will turn me into a marshmallow.

Turn offs are arrogance, obsession with money, pretenders, guys who’s favorite band is Green Day (really?), liars and people who can’t handle sarcasm.  I was with someone for a long time who didn’t get the whole sarcasm thing and I hurt his feelings a lot by things that I said.  After awhile I realized he was a wuss and needed to put on some big boy pants.  I don’t have any time for people like this.  They will get absolutely nowhere with me.

Here are things I know about myself; I’m smart (I’m working on not correcting grammar, like when a person uses an adjective instead of an adverb), I love to read, I want to be a ninja (not likely, so I take a martial art instead), I love to help people out, I’m funny and sharp-tongued to a fault, I’m incredibly loyal to all of my homies (you mess with them, you mess with me), I write and take pics every single day, I’m outgoing and  can be very loud.

I’d say don’t get too hung up on your “type” though.  I have been surprised by certain someone’s at times for turning out to be something other than what I thought they were.  If a guy asks you out, a guy you normally wouldn’t be interested in, take a chance.  I’ve dated men who ended up being really great friends and still are to this day.  Put yourself out there, with everything you do.

A New Level

At times it’s easy to let our emotions get the best of us and lash out (by us, I mean me).  I made the mistake (I now realize) of posting a hate filled blog about someone I know, pointing out all the things I didn’t like about this person.  Originally, I had no plans on posting this rant, just wanted to get it out through my writing.  I should’ve just deleted it when I was finished, but I left it on my laptop.  I also didn’t listen to my instincts, which I usually do, that told me not to make these feelings public.

I’m unsure of my reasons for even posting it.  Actually, that’s not true.  It wasn’t so much to point a finger at one person in particular, but more to show what I stand for.  Realizing this I removed the blog and decided I should write something more positive about things that are important to me.  I don’t like to be angry and don’t want to put negative vibes out there.  So, sorry to those of you who had the misfortune of reading that message.

Besides the obvious things that are important for most people; family, friends, health, etc…the thing that is most important to me is treating others with dignity.  You will go through your life not agreeing with others about their beliefs or the way they look at the world.  You don’t have to like it, or even respect it, but accept the fact that we are all entitled to our own beliefs (even the person who was the subject of my rant).  I need to start listening to my own advice.  The advice where I tell people to not let their emotions (the crazy ones) guide them and make choices when they’re irate.

Two of the reasons I got upset with this person are; they said homeless were “losers” and said something derogatory about Hispanics (I wasn’t present for the latter).  I was filled with rage, especially about the Hispanic remarks (for those who know me know why) and allowed this persons opinions to affect me.  Not cool!  The simple fact that I don’t have an iota of respect for this person should have been a good reason not to allow their comments to make any impression on me.

Listen, it’s okay to get mad at somebody.  You don’t always have to be even keeled and laid back.  It’s also good to stand for something!  But, it’s not good to turn into a raving lunatic when someone else doesn’t share your same views.  Like when my mom starts a sentence with, “On Fox News this morning…” or when my brother in law goes goose hunting.  I’ve learned to bite my lip in certain situations.  It makes for a much more pleasant atmosphere.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to be me and I’ll call somebody out on certain things.

I’ve come to terms that all I can do is be the best person I can be.  That includes first and foremost being the greatest mother.  Also, a good daughter, sister, friend.  I recognize every day how fortunate I am to have the family I do and friends that are patient with me with all of my idiosyncrasies.  Because of these reasons, it’s important to me to give back to whomever I can in this world.

Not all of us grow up with two loving parents and not want for basic things like food and clothes.  Not everyone is encouraged in their lives and has someone to tell them they can accomplish anything they put their mind to.  Not everyone can hold their head up high knowing that they have made good decisions in their lives.  For these reasons, I feel that those of us who are able need to help those who are not able to help themselves.  The absolute greatest gift you can give someone else is fostering self reliance (think Jesus and fish).  And it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

I know it’s hard at times to not get wrapped up in your own problems or busy schedules.  I know sometimes when you see someone pan-handling you think, “I’m not giving that person my hard earned money.”  I know that some people are fearful of things that are new to them or afraid of things they don’t understand.  I’ve been there.  Here’s what’s amazing though; if you get out of your comfort zone a whole new world opens up for you.  You see a bigger picture and you reach a new level of consciousness.  And the best part is you appreciate more all that you have in this life.

 

Galactic Pizza

In an attempt to make asses out of ourselves at every restaurant in Minneapolis, Anna and I headed to super grubbin’ Galactic Pizza today.  I actually thought the lunch would be pretty low key until Anna told our server, Drew that it was our first date.  She wishes!

Galactic is really chill with a retro vibe.  I love the tables, lamps and crappy chairs in the corner.  And their new 3D menus are groovy.  I did get a tad bit of a headache after looking at them, but that also could’ve been the hunger.

They have a great variety of pizzas for vegans, vegetarians and you carnivores out there.  It was difficult to decide what to get, but then I saw garlic and decided on the Second Harvest Pizza, which Anna and I split.   It was very tasty with tomato, garlic, basil and topped with Daiya.  I realized while I was eating it that I am so in love with garlic that I could, along with peanut butter and chocolate, live on them solely it if it were possible.  Hey, idea for pizza; garlic, peanut butter and chocolate.

We were both hesitant on ordering the vegan strawberry cheesecake, but thought we’d give it a whirl.  Another surprise, totally awesome!  It actually tasted somewhat similar to real live cheesecake.  I hope Anna didn’t notice that I ate most of it.

Our service was great too.  Drew seemed slightly entertained by our jokes, raucous laughter and my use of the Spanish language.  Gracias Drew!  And the food came quick too, albeit there was only one other table in there.

Bottom line…eat there!

Hard Times

Hard Times Café is not for the faint hearted.  For starters the place is dirty.  I’m not talking the tables need to be wiped off, I mean more like a hazmat team should be deployed.  I’m not a germaphob either, but dude, get a bucket and sponge.   Do not use the bathroom.  I mean it!  Go anywhere else but here.  Not only is the john disgusting, it smells like pee.  Cleaning it wouldn’t help either.  I think the only solution would be one of those guns that shoots fire.

Anyone who has been there knows the rules, look at the menu, write down order with name and price and pay with cash only.  That’s all good.  The bad part was waiting an hour to get our food.  My friend, Anna and I have no problem carrying on a great conversation, but when you are hungry and it’s been 60 minutes you start to get quiet and give death stares.  The cook is lucky he was so cute.

First, Anna ordered a tasty vegan cranberry orange muffin, for herself.  Little did she know I would scarf down some of it while we were waiting.  Seriously, I almost passed out from hunger. She then had vegan b&g (that’s biscuits and gravy)with a fake sausage thing.  I ordered the seitan gyro, but was jealous of Anna and her b&g, so really didn’t enjoy my choice a whole lot.  Poor gyros didn’t stand a chance.  I’d give it a 6 out of 10.

The best part of Hard Times is the great people watching.  We sat at the bar deal and reminisced about when we were in our twenties and knew everything.  Anna liked to watch the college boys…as they were leaving (ahem) and I enjoyed trying to figure out which sex certain people were.  Oh, another great thing, it’s way cheap and most of the food is wicked good.  That muffin that we shared was majorly delicious.

If you can get passed the nastiness, it’s worth a trip.  Be sure to bring plenty of cash (taking home baked goods is a grand idea) and quarters for parking.