dragonflypurity loves cd baby!!

I have been a faithful CD Baby customer for a while now; each time I buy music from them I am more & more impressed with their speedy service and awesome selection of independent artists. For example, this is part of the the email I received when I placed my latest order (please note my comments are enclosed in **'s):

“CD Baby loves DRAGONFLYPURITY!!

Your CDs have been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow. **WOWEE...satin huh ?**

A team of 50 employees inspected your CDs and polished them to make
sure they were in the best possible condition before mailing. **don't I feel special ?**

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over
the crowd as he put your CDs into the finest gold-lined box that
money can buy. ** my cd's have been blessed...oohhmmmm**

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party
marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of
Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in
our private CD Baby jet on this day, Thursday, March 24th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did.
Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year". We're all
exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!! **customer of the year!!! yeay!!!***”

After reading that, I felt a smile come across my face that filled me with genuine satisfaction (which is so seldom for post-purchase evaluations nowadays <- you can see my marketing background shining through, can't you?). Not only that, if you are a return customer, they will ship you a free cd along with your order...free: imagine that!! That fact alone (well, also coupled with that cute email campaign), how could I not want to buy something from them again?

it’s like losing a friend I never had

There are a few blogs which I have grown quite attached to over the past few years. I read them semi religiously and without even realizing it, it's like friendships somehow emerge from text. If I don't hear from them for a while (i.e. "WHAT??!!! No post in over a week!???"), I wonder if they are ok. If they are going through a particularly hard time in life, I empathize and send them positive energy via email or any comments section they may have. In addition, much like true to life amigos, the writers of these beloved blogs have never ceased to make me laugh, cry, smile, and ponder things in life which would have gone by unnoticed on my radar otherwise.

With that being said: recently, when I went for an update on one of my favorite blogs of all time, I found it has ceased to exist. It almost floored me. (I am trying so hard not to use any names here and am finding it hard !!) I am still in shock, as I still find myself typing in her domain and finding an error reading "access denied". Oh, well...What else can I do but just send her oodles of positive energy and well wishes? **sniffle sniffle**

Hmmm..Maybe she’ll start another one I will stumble upon? Gotta believe she can’t leave the writing alone!!!

for those wondering, i'm still alive...

After yet another debilitating sinus infection, a massive hangover which lasted a full 24 hours, and a week long break from work, I am back in action! I have nothing of real value to say - other than it's good to be alive & healthy again.

Matter of fact, I woke up this morning smiling (which is a rarity to me because I am NOT a morning person). Why you ask: Because I will be attempting to take up yoga again (this time at a yoga studio near my work in the a.m. hours). It's been almost a year since I last tried and I feel like an utter slug without my back bends and sun salutations. This time, I plan to stick with it , starting off low commitment: going at least once a week for a two hour session.

Anyway, Last time I checked I was able to do the Plough and shoulderstand but couldn't quite get the crow.

HAH! I just checked and almost fell on my face. Sigh, I have alot of catching up to do huh ?

What I like about this studio is the vast array of yoga classes they offer. Most interesting on the yoga calendar: Tantric hatha yoga...ohh la la!!!

How can it be that I am outta my mind, oozing, sneezing til my stomach muscles are sore, too tired to eat type of sick...and yet, I still have enough energy for a freaggin' cigarrette? Bottom line: I've been smoking waaayyy tooo long and it's starting to catch up to me. **wheeze ** cough *** achooo!! ****

my personality revealed ?

I tend to stay away from personality tests most of the time, but with work slowing down, I got sucked in to this Personality Disorder Test via Kerry. It helps pass the time.

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Low
Schizoid:	Low
Schizotypal:	Low
Antisocial:	Low
Borderline:	Low
Histrionic:	High
Narcissistic:	Moderate
Avoidant:	Low
Dependent:	Moderate
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Low
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! --

My reation? Geesh, just because I answered that I rarely like being alone, suddenly I am labeled dependent...

i missed the memo on this one

While glancing through today's edition of the RedEye this morning, I came across an article about a traveling anti -war exhibit making its way across the nation named “Eyes Wide Open”. In essence, the exhibit is a series of over 1,000 empty military boots, adorned with name tags of fallen soldiers and/or personal items of those soldiers which were donated by their family members. Adjacent to the expansive field of boots, there is also a wall of remembrance honoring the thousands of Iraqi citizens which lives were taken from them due to the war. This also was eye opening to me, as they displayed the names of over 11,000 people. Talk about the makings of genocide, huh?

When looking at the pictures, I sadly remembered that each pair of shoes signified actual men and women who died for our country. In my minds eye, I filled up the vast rows of empty shoes with human beings and saw it would represent an army of some third world countries. The nicest thing about the exhibit, however, is the fact that when people visit the exhibit, they are allowed to leave flowers and personal notes to the fallen...almost like a memorial service.

As I researched more, I realized that the exhibit started in Chicago in Sept. 2004 and somehow, in someway, I missed it all...drats. I would loved to have at least seen it in person- with my own eyes - as opposed to in photographs appearing on the net and in news publications. It just doesn't hold the same effect.

For those of you interested in seeing the exhibit for themselves, "Eyes Wide Open" appears to be showing all over California, Oregon, and Washington throughout March and April 2005. And if you go, do me a favor & leave a red rose right in the middle of the field for me...


R.I.P. to all the fallen

another page turns toward higher education...

Today was a milestone in my life...I actually applied to gradute school and filed my FASFA! After 4 long years of being homework and lecture free, I have decided to once again join the masses of intellectuals in classroom learning....I know its strange, but I feel like my mind is turning to mush without any intellectual stimulation. So, wish me luck in getting in...


here I come!!!

recentering dragonflypurity

mmmm mmm good

When times get rough for me, to clear my head I enjoy baking, cooking, and cleaning until all my worries, anger, or sadness simply melt away. In the past, I used to drive for many miles at a time aimlessly too, but with the cost of gas so high in the Midwest nowadays, and more importantly, my newfound freedom I have found in living on my own, I can get my head right with other means....mainly by being the mexirican betty crocker!!

Needless to say (as you can imagine from my last few posts), I have been doing a hell of alot of baking, cooking, and cleaning the last few weeks. Over the course of the last week alone, I have made pernil for some family members (see picture above), baked a homemade apple pie, roasted chicken with lime, lemon & pepper - just to name a few. And unlike most people my age- rather that getting my groove or party on- I spent my Saturday night on my hands and knees scrubbing clean my self cleaning stove until it shined like a star.

On a side note - what the hell are those self cleaning stoves even for if they fail to even clean themselves as stated? I tried on several occasions to use mine - which wasn't incredibly dirty or crusty to begin with -to no avail. In my opinion, it's a useless feature which we pay top dollar for only to have the use that fumy stove cleaner spray anyways, wait 2 hours, and scrub til your hands get those deep wrinkles in them for being wet too long…just like the other non-self cleaning stoves.

hmmm...just a thought...

i've said it time and time again

I must have a bull’s-eye on my arse, because I get screwed by the city every chance they get. Recently, it was regarding that ticket I received for no city sticker on my car days after my car was broken and the sticker was stolen (what an asshole of a cop - giving me a ticket even though I had a notice on the windshield stating my sticker was jacked). I had to fight tooth and nail to get it rectified...It took me a whole six months to get that fine lifted (matter fact, it was just lifted about 3 weeks ago).

Now, I received a moving violation (which was my fault). Like any good Samaritan with their license held ransom by the city- I duly paid the City of Chicago the $75 fine to get it back. On Friday, when my license was mailed back to me, I was ecstatic. Visions of being able to go to night clubs, bars, and even buying a six pack at the local store without having the embarrassment of pulling out my ticket to gain admittance paraded through my mind. That was until I opened the envelope to see a gentleman by the name of Sashuki smiling back at me. They sent me the wrong license!!! To make matters worse, when I called the city's clerk to complain, I waited an astounding 45 minutes only to be received by an incredibly RUDE clerk telling me, in essence, that I was a liar trying to scam the city and that my ticket wasn't paid, doubling my fine. After incessantly arguing with her, she finally realized I was right. Supposedly they had credited the wrong complaint number. Now, I have to take valuable minutes out of my lunch break to go downtown to fix the situation. Hopefully, my license is still on file and it will be somewhat quick to resolve once I get down there...but still, what a ROYAL pain in the behind. Am I right ?

my mini ipod random 10..Pulaski day edition

1. Madeleine Peyroux "Don't Wait too Long"
2. De La Soul "Shopping Bags (she got from you)"
3. Kanye West "Spaceship"
4. Pharcyde "Passin' Me By"
5. Queen Latifah "Close your Eyes"
6. Monsoon "Generation Unloved"
7. Wyclef ft. Prodigy of Mobb Deep "Rebel Music"
8. Dilated Peoples "This Way"
9. Sia "Where I belong"
10.Roots Manuva "Witness (1 Hope)"

vent time 101

I should be getting ready for bed - preparing myself for another long week of hell at work...but I have got a lot on my mind. Ever since Thursday morning, when I saw a dead woman (who I originally thought a man) dead on the corner of my block, my mind has become full of thoughts which seem never-ending. Even though I am no stranger to death, seeing it strewn about my block first thing in the morning - a life taken so violently for no apparent reason, has played havoc on my soul. I can't sleep well, gray & depressing poems have been pouring out of me faster than I can write them, I have been smoking like a chimney, and my budget is in the triple negative digits for the second month in a row...

On top of it all -I feel old. I found my set of first gray hairs recently...which my mother proudly yanked 3/4 of. Now they appear alfalfa like on the top of my head -long enough to urk me, disappearing before I can yank them out.

I will never forget today

Dedicated to the cat who got his hat turned back on the corner of my block this morning

Redemption song
March 3, 2005

Splattered blood
Falling to the sound of the sun rise
Flying above - a bird sings his song
As blood stains concrete corners
Spilling into rose bushes
Whose flower petals are no longer white
Their buds of life smell of death

The chalk line of his body
Leaves the living with many questions
Many which have no answers
leaving just the abyss his life has become
I know him not
This young cat
But he is my neighbor
His skin once brown like mine -proof he’s family
I can’t help but mourn for humanity
as I walk past the yellow tape
tears flow freely for his soul
and for the faces of them before him
I say a prayer as I pick a blood stained rose
And place it in my hair

May he find the redemption on the other side
which escaped him in life.