g

Dennis is teaching me piano. I'm still in the very beginning stages. It's actually ridiculous how I can't recall any notes from playing cello. But we're in the now. And we're trying to learn the G key now. I was perfectly fine with A, B, C, D, and E for both hands. They had to throw in F and G. I can hardly play Tumbling In The Leaves with is only a couple measures. Why can't I be a prodigy such as Tori. It's moments like these where I wish I had pushy parents that enrolled me in something musical and made me stay put.

Another problem I have is timing. Dennis suggests I use the metronome. I say that it confuses me and I find it tricky to play with. I find myself off beat and tripping over my fingers.

Patience. They tell us in dog training we need patience. I don't have very much of this. I'm praying for the day I am fine with practicing Leaves over and over without wanting to quit.

I'm also debating recording a video of these silly practice sessions. Just don't laugh to my face.

old man river

Yesterday my back was messed up. Today it hurts worse. It's almost humorous to watch me do simple tasks. Anything from putting on socks, sitting or getting out of a chair or even walking. My back has locked up in the past. In one incident I even threw a remote control at Jamie when I lost all movement in my arm due to a back spasm. It was one of the funniest things to see. But today it hurts. The pain won't go. I took some meds, but I think I need a 2-hour massage. Maybe a spa day is in order. Who's coming?

take a trip on a rocket ship

Yesterday was the release of Comic Book Tattoo, a comic book collection of over 50 stories, inspired by Tori Amos songs. Over 80 artists from every style and genre contributed to this beautiful book. It's stories bring new meaning to already wonderful songs. The pictures and story lines are beautiful.

The book is huge. It's a coffee table book to the max. You don't have to be a Tori fan to appreciate these comics, but it doesn't hurt to be one either. I did want the hard cover, but that was a little pricey, so I stuck with the paper back.

It's interesting how the book came to be. A good friend of hers, Rantz, brought up the idea. They'd been friends for well over 20 years now and they both had influences on one another. He introduced her to the world of comics and she wrote a song about him (Flying Dutchman, "They say your brain is a comic book tattoo and you'll never be anything..."). He introduced her to Neil Gaiman as well. The idea came up about a year ago - she let the artists have free range of all creative - no censorship whatsoever. Go Tori.

Below is a photo of Tori at Comic Con - this huge comic convention. Her dress is bangin.

c is for cookie

All I know is - I love my baby because he buys me Eileen's cookies. Monster is my favorite and I could most likely eat one everyday.

fast times

How do things happen as fast as they do? I feel like I rarely have time to sit down and write anything. This time, I do have a little rest period. It's been a lazy day of nap time with Dennis, the gym and walking Kora. To give you a quick update of my life of the past 7 months....

Many of you already know I moved in with Dennis. It's amazing. I love spending time with him and I can never get enough. We keep making improvements with the house. It's coming along. I wish I had endless money. I want hardwood floors. But we don't plan on staying here forever.

We got a dog! Kora Ginger. Some say it sounds like a stripper name. I don't care! She's a cattle dog/husky mix. She is quite shy and we are breaking her of that. She starts training classes tomorrow. Wish her luck!

We went to South Lake Tahoe for Nez's birthday. It was beautiful. Sans the smoke from fires. I thought it would be more upscale than it really was, but to pause the comments of sounding like a snob, I will stop there. One evening we had an international cook-off, representing all continents...I was Antarctica. Mine was a disaster. Who knew baking cookies in a different altitude would alter the results? I would post photos, but there ended up being well over 1000. They're available on Facebook.

Our next trip will be Portland. I've always wanted to visit.

The trip after that will be a Mexican cruise. I'm not a big one on cruises, but with the right mixture of people, it will be good times.

If you haven't seen Batman, see it. It's so dark and smart.

Mamma Mia wasn't as wonderful as I'd hope it would be. Who would ever think to cast 007 as a singing role?

I'm going to start to prepare for a race from Omaha to Lincoln. It will consist of 7 people, with running an average of 7-13 miles. They will for sure be taking me out of there in an ambulance.

That's enough rambling for now. I miss it. I will post more.