ladykatza

So daecon and I have long had a thing against Valentine’s day. Even prior to our being together, I never expected much more than a single flower and a box of chocolates. (I’ll take chocolates just about anytime, though) This year, however, I was alerted to a troupe called Big City Burlesque was having a show. It just HAPPENS to be on the same day as Valentine’s. I had been wanting to see them for a while now, I’ve always been fascinated by the artistic side of the “strip tease”. Sooooo, I bought tickets and told the hubby we’re going out that night. We had already splurged a bit on dinner at a hibachi place earlier in the week because we had a gift certificate.

I also tried to interest some friends. Most couldn’t get baby sitters, the rest were out of town, or SO’s not interested. That’s fine, since I figured I’d run into people I know anyway. I was more than correct on this one. We ran into one of daecon’s old high school friends, who also plays a a local “personality” at conventions and Ren Fests. He ended up sitting with us. We also ran into Ace Talkingwolf, another local personality that’s pretty much trying to start up the steam-punk scene in Atlanta. We went to Manuel’s Tavern with them afterwards and had a nice, long catching up.

In any case, the show was not just burlesque, but also vaudeville. No one was actually dressed up in black-face, but they did have a BIG BLUE GENIE, who also doubled as the “Strong Man”. The show itself was entertaining, but far from polished. Some of the girls had very polished routines, others didn’t. I think the ballerina and miss peacock were my favorites.

The two BIGGEST problems I had with the show were 1) wardrobe malfunctions and 2) lighting. I had a conversation with my Mom some time ago about this sort of thing. She pointed out that Hollywood has made our expectations of such things very high. People are so used to the perfectly polished image that anything less so is “Sub Standard”. Even so, the two problems I listed above could have been better. Having an expectation of the costumes being done for a dress rehearsal would have been good to hammer out problems. As for whoever was doing the lighting? I hope they aren’t getting paid, and even so, I’d fire them and get someone who knows how to point a spotlight.

All in all, I was entertained. Which is the point, really. I got to meet some of the girls afterwards and they are quite nice. I loved the fact that none of them were stick figures. In fact, many of the girls were quite voluptuous and some older. The theater was standing room only. I’m hoping with more money and exposure, they will have the ability to improve the quality of the show.

Try and try again.

That seems to be my motto when it comes to vegetable gardening. I’ve had two attempts at veggies since I have lived in this house. The first attempt was a commando style where I planted a few things here and there in the few bright sunny spots. Logistically, this was not the greatest of ideas. All the things I planted in pots on the back porch did great. Anything in the yard was overtaken by weeds or pests. In some cases I just plain forgot where I put stuff.

So, I skipped a year. LAST year I tried a traditional row type bed in an area that I thought might actually get enough sun. I was off by a good bit, because I wanted it closer to the house and not further away. This one tried to do well, but again, I got overwhelmed by how labor intensive it was and everyone else in the house is like plant kryptonite. Second try, fail.

Nuts.

Well, when were were in the apartments in Kennesaw, I did a pretty successful container garden. I did some lettuce, tomatoes, and bell peppers with pretty good success. Recently, I found out about a method called square foot gardening. Some guy came out with a book in the early eighties, I think. You can read most of the book here. Well, this actually may be just what I was looking for. I have a very small area on the side of my house next to the driveway that gets about 7 hours of direct sunlight a day. The ground itself there is not conducive to tilling and planting because of drainage. BUT a raised bed like you use in a square foot garden would work just fine. And it is higher off the ground so I won’t strain my back as much. And I can build my first 4 foot by four foot planter, add dirt and plants, for less than 100 bucks. That’s 16 squares to plant in. And it will be right next to the front door and the driveway, where I walk by ALL THE TIME.

I’m a bit excited about this, can you tell? The other great thing is I don’t have to worry about watering restrictions because food gardens are exempt. And because I live in Georgia, our growing season is phenomenally long. Not as awesome as California or Florida, but close. I am also trying to curb my obsessive nature and keep it simple. I will only do one planter box. IF it works out well, I will add a second one later. Two would be the max. After that I run out of full sun space options and have to look at cutting down trees.

I’m going down to visit Mom and Dad this Saturday and I plan on hijacking Dad’s workshop to make the planter. With his help of course.

So here’s hoping the third time will be the charm.

This past week was my short work week, so I had four days off. Wednesday night I went to Kip and Jen’s, but they had left for some Ohio convention early and it was just Ben. Considering I was already in a dark mood, I felt slighted. But it was just me. It also didn’t help that the antibiotics I was put on seem to give me a headache.

Thursday I canceled company plans and had a night in. A good bit of that was spent with daecon. :D Yes, it was some much needed us time. Friday we finally got to visit with D.J. and Rhonda and see there boy, who had a rather traumatic entrance to life. He is doing very well. A strong and strapping young lad. Rhonda was definitely looking a bit stressed out. I told her to not be afraid to call me or visit because support networks are key.

Saturday I iron-manned it. I didn’t get to sleep that night and instead of canceling our visits that day, I went about in a dazed sort of manner. This also meant that I spend a day in the sunshine. The world is so bright when you’ve seen only night time for so long. Simon and Felicity were with us to see Eddie’s twin girls. And then we met up with a friend whom I hadn’t seen in 2 and a half years. She had gotten divorced, remarried, and had twins in that time.

In my circle of friends and acquaintances, daecon and i were one of the first to have children. We lost touch with a great number of people because our inability to go out and just the fact that we had children kept them away. Now that so many are having children of their own I find that I’m being reached out to for advice, but mostly just a sympathetic ear. This is an odd turn of events for me, but I like it.

Meeting back up with Janel has been great too, because she has a similar mix of techie/geek/hippie as myself. We started discussing the amount of sunlight that she has in her backyard and I offered up some seeds from last years attempt at a garden. I also offered my help, since she is very close now. I felt they were greeted with a good bit of enthusiasm. Of course, its also made me start pondering what to plant in my front flower beds this year.

All in all it was a very lovely weekend, though I’m still tired from staying awake so long on Saturday. So, I will be heading to bed now.