The Comicon

The con was so much fun. i got several pieces of great comic art, some good deals on books and met lots of fun people. This is (from left to right) Kyle Strahm (independent comics artist from KC), Jimmy (Johnny's little brother), Johnny, me and my chins, Chris Samnee (an artist from St. Louis) and Brian Hurtt (another artist from St. Louis.)

Jimmy and Johnny hanging out at the con. Aren't they some good looking boys?

Weekend in KC

i went to KC last weekend with Johnny to attend the Mo-Kan Comics Conspiracy, an event for nerds of the comic book type. Friday night we hung out with his best friend, Dustin, better known as D Mott or Professor Awesomer. D Mott's working on a music education degree. He's a percussionist. Here they are, jammin on the couch. And who should be playing KC that night but my favorite musician, Mike Dillon?! i got a "no chins" picture this time!

Unicycle

Mark's mom, Betty, got Noah a unicycle for her birthday. We decided to name the unicycle "My First Concussion", and she thought of myriad ways to work it into the hilarious movies that she and Levi and their friends make. None of us could ride the thing, but i almost pulled a muscle laughing at Mark try. She had so much fun posing that it was worth putting all those pads on her. i ordered a book that has directions and i'll send it to her this weekend. Also, when i have more time, i'll post the video of her practicing her acceptance speech for the day she wins the Universal Unicycle Rider's Championship. Hey, just because i can't walk and chew gum at the same time doesn't mean she can't! The girl's got spirit!

The Zoo

Going to the zoo is one of those things that i always forget how much i like it until i get there. Noah suggested it and i wish we'd had about 2 more hours to see everything. There's always next time, though.

The cheetah was hiding in the shade, but began to strut back and forth once she realized she had a crowd. Noah said the big kitties were her favorite. Mine too. This meerkat was chillin' like this and we got the biggest kick out of his relaxed pose. All 3 of us (Mark, Noah and i) laughed and laughed at him.

The obligatory flamingo:

This rhino cracked me up. It looked like he (she?) was saying "No, i'm fine, really. i'll just lay here with my face in the mud. Don't mind me. i'm really comfortable. No, no, it's OK." i knew how that rhino felt! Noah, after seeing the rhino's ginormous doo-doo exclaimed, "And you think YOU have colon problems!" Tee hee. She knows me.

The sea lion did some awesome tricks. This is about the point in the day at which i commenced to feel as though i were having a heat stroke. "No, no. i'm fine. Don't mind me. i'll just stand here and die of heat stroke." (Even Johnny's taken to calling me Eeyore sometimes! i've got to work on my rep!)

Blue Dome Diner

These blogs are posting in reverse order of how they occurred, so this is Saturday morning breakfast at the Blue Dome Diner downtown. She's laughing at herself for making "food art" out of the little packets of Smucker's. She thinks she would make good advertisements for them. i agree. Who could resist this smile?

This sunny shot of the two of us has replaced the soap-eating Sam as my wallpaper on my computer at work.

Tsunami Sushi

Tsunami is the hip and trendy place to eat sushi. It's a little (pronounced WAAAAYY) over-priced, but the atmosphere and clientele are fun and there's gorgeous art on the walls. i knew Noah would get a kick out of it. It's become sort of a tradition to take her out for sushi. It's always on her "to-do" list. i suspect, from the amount of sushi she eats, that she likes the idea of eating cosmopolitan, "city" food, something she knows will make her parents go "EWWW!!!" more than she likes the actual fish. She's a free spirit, that one.

This adorable little mohawked guy was our sushi chef. He had no trouble understanding what Noah was saying (rare!) and was really nice. She asked for a sample of the salmon and then of the eel and he prepared her tiny little works of art for her to taste. She didn't like the eel, even though it had on what i refer to as a "seatbelt", that strip of seaweed they use to tie the fish to the rice sometimes. How can you not like sushi with a seatbelt?

Here we are, caught in a rare moment of actually eating our food. She kept it simple and went with the salmon roll. i got something called the Maui roll and a Shiitake roll. We always get edamame, too. Oh yeah, and we got calamari this time because she'd never had it and i thought, "Well, it's fried. Surely she'll like it!" She did.

She loves the whole experience, even though we always have to get her some french fries and chicken to round out the meal. And she's about like me with the ol' chop sticks. (Insert funny comment here.)

Isn't she beautiful?

Nothin' Spells Lovin' Like Swingin' A Cousin

There aren't any words so i shan't try to come up with them.

Live Music

About a month ago we went to see a band called The Flaming Lips. They're from Oklahoma City and they're pretty famous nationally, so it was quite a big deal to have them playing in Tulsa. They're quite famous for their live shows and it started out with their lights on stage descending so that it looked like a space ship was landing: Then, the lead singer emerged from the top of the spaces ship in a giant bubble and walked around on top of the crowd in the giant bubble. The pictures were taken with my camera, so they're not professional quality, but if you look close, you can see that this a dude in a giant bubble.

About a week ago, we went and saw Mike Dillon play. Josh, i know i've mentioned this guy to you before. He's my favorite musician to see play live. He's a percussionist who just does insane things and is SO FUN to see play live. He's in about 8 different bands. This particular band was called Mike Dillon's Go-Go Jungle and was made of Mike on percussion (vibraphone and various other things), Go-Go Ray from KC on set, and some bass player. Here's my cheesy-3-chinned fan pic of me with Mike D. This was downtown at a bar called Exit 6-C. Johnny took all the pics in this particular segment.

Thinking of you with fondness

i saw this the other day and saved it to my hard drive because it reminded me of Josh and the Stinky Butt Jokes days. i can still hear his voice, "You know what your problem is? You need to wash your BUTT." For some reason, we all thought it was hilarious. Ah, memories.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Kayyam

You all know me well enough to know that i've rarely lived sans cat. Several weeks ago, i put the word out that i was ready: i needed a kitty to make my place really feel like a home. Robin, like the good friend she's turned out to be, has called me every time she's heard of a cat that needs a home. Yesterday she called on the way home from the vet to say that they had a cute grey kitten. i called the vet and went to meet the cat on my lunch break.

i fell in love.

She's so sweet, all purry and friendly. Naturally, though, a vet charges an "adoption fee", and this vet wanted $65.00. Mind you, this is a ROCK BOTTOM price for all of a cat's shots and a spay. Still, i'm a woman on a budget, slowly clawing her way out of debt.

Enter Daddy.

i emailed him, begging for $65.00 so i could have this cat! Yes, i did. i pulled the "You know i NEED a cat, Daddy!" card. Of course he agreed and last night i went and picked her up. She is sweet, yet spunky. She doesn't claw the couch. i had forgotten how badly cat farts stink.

Oh yes, and i named her the Rubaiyat of Omar Kayyam (an ancient, famous book of Persian poetry that i've never read) or Rubai (pronounced Ruby) for short.

Thank you, Daddy! She completes the Aaralyn's Apartment Experience!

Me too!

i'm trying to do a blog like Josh and Shannon, just so i can share pictures of me and my life with my family. i'm still trying to figure out how it works exactly. Here's a picture of me and Robin from a few weeks ago when we went to see Kathy Griffin. She's a comedian. She wasn't funny and we left after about 20-30 minutes. Her entire act consisted of saying how much she loves gay people and then making hateful comments about people who live in Hollywood that i don't care about like Lindsay Lohan. i love gay people, too, but i don't see the humor in saying it every 5 minutes. But she was cute! And i've heard she can be funny, maybe she was just off that night.

My apologies but also my honor to look so very like Vivian, my hero and the greatest woman that ever lived.