ghosts are good company

i have a challenge between making this blog [my] “family friendly” and making it… about much of my life. but i guess since folks wouldn’t know me very well at all without knowing this, i spend the vast majority of my social time engaged it trans community activism and/or at the “local queerlady-owned sexuality boutique” – “a sex store even your mother would love.”

partially i bring this up because they (the rubber rose, the store mentioned above), just hosted the annual traveling roadshow that is the sex worker’s art show. i’ve been four out of the last five years now, and this year i had the most fun (even though nomy lamm wasn’t on the tour), largely because carly and lea (see above queerladies) made it such an awesome environment.

i attribute the environment mostly to lea and carly, even though the show was at a different venue, because it had the same spirit of delight, enthusiasm, and wonder that makes all of the rubber rose’s events awesome. still, it was missing as much of a feeling of power (youtube, sound) as some of their past events. the show was at a different venue becauuuuse the rubber rose has permit Issues. due to their being an “adult business” apparently there is a whole laundry list of things that are not allowed in their performance space. which drives me crazy.

ah, well. if you haven’t missed it yet, go see the art show. and if you’re in the area, go give the rubber rose some money. because i can’t. because i still don’t have a job. awesome!! oh: and official no-go on amsterdam today. double-awesome.

here is a story of conjunction.

first, to set things not-so-straight, i grew up with a big love for drew barrymore.

secondly, i’ve been meaning to post about juno since we saw a screening of it just after buttoning went down (i guess this part was foreshadowed by my shirt in the last entry). i was all about juno mostly because kimya dawson is all over the movie and she’s my favorite musicmaker and hopemonger, but i also enjoyed ellen page in it – although i think she had more character in hard candy and more wonderness in wilby wonderful – juno just seemed a little contrived. anyway. yay ellen page is the moral of this paragraph.

thirdly, roller derby. of course.

so whip it? i think so. there’ve been murmurs about this movie for a while, but now it seems like all parties are go and shooting will happen in texas this summer. banked track. pretty tantalizing.

i decided to backpedal – um, skate backward – with my skating practice. i’ve been going to boot camp with the san diego derby dolls off and on, but having trouble there because i’m Just Not Good Enough. so i decided (on the recommendation of a skater who used to live in s.d. but has recently moved down from san francisco…) to try out the Adult Skating Lessons at skateworld. they’re shorter, cheaper, and more geared to people my level – and also a totally different kind of workout! we were doing a “scissor” thing around the rink, where you use your legs to move your feet out and in without lifting them up? and ow, my thighs. i don’t get this much of a thigh workout just striding.

so that hurts. but also, i managed to fall down and kick myself pretty hard in the inner-thigh. no wonder derby’s hardcore, if i can injure myself this much just on my own. i haven’t worn my skatetown shirt to the rink yet (it was a “paulie bleeker is totally boss” day, so orange – but different orange), but i hope to soon.

and i did actually skate backward today! woo!

there’s been discussion lately about “yo” as an organically developing gender neutral pronoun, but none of the discussion that i’ve seen really addresses race or class issues, which i find… fascinating… especially considering the demographics of the communities contriving other gender neutral pronouns so far.

(note my not addressing it either? i’m just bringing it up for people to think about what connotations “yo” has in their minds.)

i’m still an epicene “they,” myself, and damn anyone who tries to tell me that it’s grammatically incorrect. they seem like probably the people who would make sad faces at me if i took “it” instead, and if they want to find something 1) grammatically correct 2) not dehumanizing 3) that flows well in language, i welcome them to go ahead – and tell me when they’ve found it.

odd. i’ve been applying for jobs like a job-hunting machine, and one way i’ve been experimenting with to try to get attention, etc., is by trying to be more personal with my cover letters. surprisingly, or not, the only one i’ve heard back from (since starting my hunt in earnest on tuesday) is the company with whom i was the most casual. we’ll see how it plays out… here’s hoping.

on tuesday my mother and i went to disneyland. we had a surprisingly delightful time. i know that politically, maybe not so much with disneyland, but… it’s fun. they’re nearing the end of their wildfire heroes salute so we decided to go – and i’m always a fan of wintertime at disney.

for christmas, my mother surprised me with a sister for aviva alexander. i decided (predictably?) to name her beatrice bartholomew, after the “darling, dearest, dead” love of lemony snicket. i decided that this trip would be nice for her first pictures.

perhaps the best thing during the trip happened while we were on tom sawyer island. there were two adorable kids charging around with their dad – maybe three and five? the five-year-old was wearing an awesome punk shirt.

another kid, maybe four, was there with his dad, and i just happened to be there at the right time to overhear, as the other family headed off, “do you know who that is? on his shirt? come on, you know, daddy has that shirt! it’s sid vicious!!”

there was also a group of pirates on the island, singing sea shanties. of all the ways to be an ambiance musician, it might not be the worst. they got to heckle the audience, and make… family friendly references to rum?

anyhow, twentysome more pictures and a bit more narration can be found in the flash gallery i put together here. extra credit if you can find the ghost of puck in one of the pictures! ♥

[[i just came back to add tags to this, because i forgot earlier... i was quite glad to realize that i already had a "pirates" tag.]]

i am first on the waitlist still, but nowwww the program leaves in less than a month! so chances that i’m going look very. slim.

which leads me to: do i want to graduate in six years but with this awesome gender and sexuality program last on my transcript? or do i just want to freaking graduate already, by taking whatever at evergreen this spring?

the latter is quite appealing (except that the only program that really excites me is this one? but.)… i could still go to amsterdam, it would cost the same (evergreen would want tuition to put it on my transcript anyway), and i could have a college degree. wouldn’t that be nice.

p.s. jaci, there was no way for me to refrain from stealing your boat (garage) for this post. i love you.

it’s me! it’s 2008! it’s a new domain for a new year! … or something.

at any rate, greendinosaur.net is much more cuddly than buttoning, i find. because dinosaurs! that are green! so good.

more later, i’m sure. once things have been updated a bit all about.