Great Little Stories

If you're free, follow me...follow me!!

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 01:57:00 +0000

(Bonus points for knowing where the subject line came from.)

I started a tumblr.com blog. It's pretty obvious that I don't have the attention span or spare time to post frequently enough on this blog these days, so for right now the easy format of tumblr is going to work best for me, I think. I'm not shutting down Great Little Stories, because I feel like I'll still have some great little stories to tell, whenever they strike me.

Speaking of which, remind me to tell you about the time I met Willie Nelson last month.

The new blog will be more or less focused on my Dancing Lemur-related things, so expect to see lots of photos and things about music...with probably some other randomness from my various interests thrown in.

Anyway, if you're still checking in over here or still have me in your feed reader, come on over. I'd love to have some followers (I think I have a grand total of one right now), and if you have a tumblr, I'd love to follow you...feel free to leave your url in the comments here and/or over there.

Facebook Tip of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:41:00 +0000

Scenerio: You're at a concert or watching a big sporting event/important episode of a TV show/big awards show. Since you know you have like-minded Facebook friends, you like to give updates on the setlist/complaints about the bad ref calls or GO TEAM! exclamations/reactions to what's happening.

What not to do: Fill up your entire page and therefore my entire feed with an exhausting series of separate status updates.

Instead: Make one post that you're at the concert/watching whatever, and give your running commentary in the comments. Anyone who is interested or watching too, will converse with you there. Really. I promise.

Reduce Facebook clutter.

This message brought to you by a mentally tired Dancing Lemur, who just wants to keep up with her friends on Facebook without having to wade through, "I can't believe what just happened!!" and "Yeah, that's how you do it, team!" messages all the time.

The end.

Everyone is just waiting

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 17:12:00 +0000

Anyone out there?

There comes a point in an unintentional blogging hiatus where the "coming back" post becomes less and less approachable. Do I pretend I never left and just jump back in? Or do yet another "Sorry! I'm sure you didn't notice I was gone, but I was and I've been VERY BUSY and now I'm trying again!" posts?

I'm going to go somewhere in the middle. Because it's already obvious that I've been missing by that November date on my last post. I'm not going to lie, though...I can't say I've missed blogging. It's true - I've been busy: helping with another blog and other things for that same band, doing lots of photography, and I've brought my focus in this new year back to writing longhand, even delving back into some poetry and creative writing. It's been a LONG time since I've done much creative writing. I'm also on a reading binge: I'm on book 2 of the Game of Thrones series (which I'm enjoying more than I expected), and systematically digging through a VERY LARGE pile of "to-read" books that I stacked together not long ago - that's my bedtime reading. Right now it's Flannery O'Connor. Oh, and I do have a real full-time job that demands 40ish hours a week of my time.

I even accidentally took a long break from Twitter, and found I didn't miss that much either. I started back in the last couple weeks, but I'm considering a big revamp/unfollow/actually use groups and columns in Tweetdeck project soon. In my spare time. (Side note: if you haven't upgraded your Tweetdeck to the new one, DON'T. The new one sucks a lot. I had to do a computer reformat and got stuck with the new one.) But I have missed those of you I communicate with primarily via Twitter or blog comments. So if you haven't removed me from your feed reader or bookmarks because of my delinquency, I'd love to hear from you and how you're doing. :)

I will share one of the most remarkable things I've seen on the internet. I've shared this on my Facebook page a couple of times, but I just can't stop watching it. Seriously, watch the whole thing (it's about 7 minutes long). It's beautifully edited and filled with wonderfully unique and beautiful people. I just think it's perfect!

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Autumn Splendor

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:55:00 +0000

Every now and then I get my act together to enter the I Heart Faces Photo Challenge. This week's theme is Autumn Splendor, and I thought immediately of a fun shoot I did in the mountains last weekend.

How To Do: The Facebook Edition

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 02:29:00 +0000

(Good Southern girls will probably totally get this post title. The rest of you think it's a typo.)

I'm emerging from an unintentional semi-retirement from blogging, basically to toss a rant at you about Facebook. And not in the way you think.

(BTW, in the last couple of weeks I've gotten several +K Klout thingies for blogging, which cracks me up considering my delinquency. I don't fully understand Klout, but both the irony and the crushing guilt are not lost on me.)

I know we all love to hate Facebook. We complain about the changes without looking for positives. We complain about the complainers, because change is inevitable. But we keep on using it, because we just. can't. help. it. We use it to see pictures of our friends and their cute kids, to keep up with birthdays better than any calendar ever could, to stalk exes and crushes, to keep track of musicians and performers we admire, to spread the word about events and causes, and--let's face it--for sympathy when things aren't going our way. We've all used it for one or more of these things.

Facebook is not going away.

Personally, I run the majority of my photography side business on Facebook. It's easy to access a lot of people, I've undeniably gained business from the exposure of tagging friends and clients in photos their friends like, and I can interact with people easily and on the go. Plus, it will never get old to get the notification that someone is using one of my photos as a profile picture - I confess to loving it. It's no wonder the photography website I started (and this site) have gone neglected; it's all I can do to keep up with shooting and editing, and then the social media side of the business.

So yeah, I'm on there a lot; and I frequently (like right now) reach a point of utter frustration with the clueless lack of basic online etiquette on Facebook. I think I keep hoping people will figure it out, or someone will tell them, but I remain disappointed. So, since I have my own soapbox here on the internet, I decided to tackle it here. I suppose we can call this:

My Top 5 Facebook Pet Peeves

1. Caps lock does not make you more emphatic. It makes you be ignored. This is an issue that I thought was all but eliminated by the evolution of email etiquette, but clearly I was wrong. WRITING IN ALL CAPS IS ANNOYING. See? And that's just one sentence, not an entire post. It comes across as yelling, it's actually harder to read, and I've actually hidden people because of it. Stop it.

2. Just because you have a digital camera or camera phone does not mean you have to upload every single photo on it. Using Facebook as your personal photo dumping ground is obnoxious. Uploading every blurry, indistinguishable photo from every event/activity you're a part of and tagging God and everybody is unnecessary and ticks off people. I'm not saying you have to do extensive photo editing - just cull out the ones that are bad. You wouldn't believe how many photos I delete to keep the good ones when I'm editing my sessions. Basic rule of thumb that I use: if it's not the type of photo you'd want to see of yourself online, leave it out. Yes, that includes: people making weird faces, otherwise great photos of people that are too blurry to see, and those incredibly dark and grainy stage photos. I'm really not trying to be a snob; online pics don't have to be perfect, but use some common sense.

3. I live in NC. As much as I would love to attend your fundraiser in North Dakota, it's just not likely. Be conscious of your audience. At any given time I have literally 15-20 events hanging out in my events list that I'm basically ignoring because they don't apply to me at all. And if I've gotten 15 irrelevant invitations in a row from you, I start hitting "ignore" whenever your name pops up with an invitation...so that means I'll miss it if something appears that's actually local. This also goes for: inviting me to your Pampered Chef party, even though we haven't spoken in person in 15 years; asking me to vote for your adorable kid that I didn't even know you had in some online photo contest; posting photo after photo of heart-breaking animals waiting to be adopted...500 miles from where I live.

4. If you are a business, organization, or band, I should not have to send you a friend request. Facebook has Pages for a reason - use them! They are ridiculously easy to create and manage, you can have multiple administrators, and you don't have to log into a separate account to run it. You are losing a a huge potential audience: most people want to keep up with you and quickly hit that "like" button to do so; having to send a friend request is an undesirable extra step. Additionally, following a business does not necessarily mean I want them following me, which they would be as a friend. I have definitely gotten to a business' page and found the "Add friend" and just clicked off of it, deciding I don't care THAT much about a business.

5. Shared Facebook accounts are unnecessary. Facebook is free. It will always be free. There is no reason for a couple to have a joint account, e.g. "JohnandJane Smith." It's annoying to never know who is posting or who you're talking to. And/or it's annoying that you have to clarify "This is Jane now! I totally agree with you!" If you're really that worried about who your significant other is communicating with, you have larger issues than Facebook.

Okay, that's all I have. For now. I'd love to hear your own pet peeves, on Facebook or other social media platforms.

The Grab Bag: Week 5

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:55:00 +0000

Last week, I had a conversation with a friend about writing poetry. I mentioned that I used to write a lot, a million years ago, and that I really should get back into it. And recently, I really have missed taking the time to sit down and write...not for an audience, just for myself. As much as I adore the technology that surrounds me, I truly miss putting pen to paper; I'm actually setting a goal for myself starting October 1 - write something every day, in a notebook, with no minimum or maximum time limits.

So I decided to make today's Grab Bag a similar assignment. Find paper - a cute blank book, a page out of your kid's notebook, or even a piece of white paper out of your printer - and just write. Write a letter, whether you send it or not...could even be a letter to yourself. Write a poem. Write a memory. Start a short story. Write anything that isn't a grocery list or something similarly mundane.

If you decide to turn your writing into a blog post, I'd love to see a link in the comments. If not, at least comment and say you did it and how it went. :)

The Grab Bag, Week 3

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:17:00 +0000

For this week's Grab Bag assignment, write about a time when you have made a change in your life. It can be big or small, have a positive or negative outcome, or whatever...but it should be a time you made a conscious change (as opposed to something happening externally that brought about change).

The Grab Bag - Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 02:46:00 +0000

This week's prompt is over on Follow That Dog, and it's a great one! Go check it out!

Reminder: last week's post will remain open indefinitely...you never know when you need a little prompt to boost your writing brain!

Listening Room Wednesday - Mat Kearney Album Review

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 04:30:00 +0000

The One2One Network was kind enough to give me the opportunity to review Mat Kearney's new album, Young Love. I'll admit that prior to Blissdom, I wasn't terribly familiar with Mat Kearney, outside of a song or two. But his set at Blissdom was awesome, so I was eager to listen to this new album.

I love Mat's voice! He has so much talent and energy...it's no surprise that he was a hit with the (mostly) female blogger population at Blissdom. (In fact, these pics are less than great because it was hard to find a position in the crowd to shoot from easily.)

I've listened to Young Love several times now, and I'm really loving the entire album. Mat has a unique sound and is a talented songwriter. The first song, "Hey Mama" had me instantly tapping my foot along with the percussive beat - it's catchy but not in an annoyingly pop-y way. (I should know...I was recently listening to normal radio w/ some teenagers at work and wanted to remove my ears.) Other favorites on the album are "Count on Me," which includes a children's chorus, and the bouncy "She Got the Honey." I also love the slower, acoustic last track on the regular album (I also have "Seventeen," which apparently is included as a bonus track on downloaded versions of the album), "Rochester," which really showcases Mat's storytelling abilities. Mat intros "Rochester" with a spoken explanation that the story is his father's...I love, love, love learning where songs come from, and knowing a little about this one gives it extra depth.

Oddly, the one song that doesn't do much for me is "Seventeen," the aforementioned bonus track, which will likely end up being the radio-popular one or something. But then again, it will probably grow on me the more I listen to it. There's really not a bad song on the whole album!

So click above and check out Young Love from Mat Kearney! Support singer/songwriters - buy cds, go to shows! :)

*Disclosure: I received a free download copy of Mat Kearney's Young Love album from One2One network in order to review it.

The Grab Bag - Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:03:00 +0000

See this post for an explanation. And then participate, and grab the button. It's that easy!

The Grab Bag Writing Prompt - Week 1

Let's keep it simple this first time out. Think about the most memorable birthday you ever had and write about it. See if you can remember the guests at the party, what your cake looked like, what happened, etc. Note that I said most memorable, so it won't necessarily be the best! I'll be adding my own entry below; I'd love to read yours, so link to it in the comments!

Introducing: The Grab Bag!

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:53:00 +0000

Followthatdog, over at From Stage Dives to Station Wagons, and I have come up with a plan for shared weekly writing prompts. We've both been feeling a little uninspired in the blog-writing section of our lives. We've all been there - our real lives have too much going on to sit down and write very often, but what IS going on is ultimately so mundane that it's not even good to write ABOUT. And boom, it's a blogging slump. Y'all know I'm the queen of that. :)

So, starting today, welcome to The Grab Bag: Writing Prompts for Bogged-Down Bloggers. We'll be alternating who comes up with the prompt, and we even made a little button you can snag for your own blog (over there on the left, grab the code). We're calling it the Grab Bag, because the prompt could take any form - maybe a photo prompt like I tried to do a couple months back, maybe object-based, maybe fiction...you just never know!

I'm taking the first round, so check the next post and grab this week's prompt. I'd love to go read what all of you write, so please make sure to come back and leave a link to your post if you do one! Pen to paper writing is encouraged, too, whether you blog or not...but I'd love for you to comment and say you did so!

Check It Out!!

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 02:24:00 +0000

So...I've officially launched my photography blog. Because, you know, logically since I barely have time to post on THIS blog, I should up and start a second one, right?? Regardless, go check it out and follow me. And leave some comment love. I'm so needy, I know.

Here's a link to the first real post: Katie.

Wake Up Happy

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:25:00 +0000

Last week, I was talking to an old friend online (old as in, I've known her forever, not a commentary on her age). It happened to have been kind of a crappy day, so I was feeling a little down, but we talked for a while about various things before signing off for the night. Before we said goodbye, she said something that stuck with me: "Hope you wake up happy tomorrow."

It's exactly what I needed to hear on that day. And it's something I wish for myself and for all of you, every day. Not to go all cheesy, but no matter how awful or depressing or stressful today is, we get to start all over again tomorrow. And maybe tomorrow, we'll wake up happy. After all, to quote one of my favorite Big Daddy Love songs, happiness is a choice.

Here We Are Again!

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 01:37:00 +0000

I should probably start officially taking writing sabbaticals in the summer. Specifically July, when I know my work life kicks up so insanely that I come home at night and just die. As in, I have energy to goof around on Facebook and then pass out, and that's about it.

This post isn't going to make any sense and is going to ramble. And yet has enough things to impart that I don't want to make it bullet points. Or call it musings like I usually do. So anyway.

Have you ever had one of those days where one half of your life (in my case, the online/social media side) is just kickass, and the other half (in my case, the IRL part) just sucks? I'm kind of having one of those weeks. It makes me more thankful than ever for the people I "know" through the internet, even if I've never met them. You know who you are.

Related: I've got something brewing with a blogger I've read for a long time, related to a joint project of weekly writing prompts. If the stars align, it will start next Tuesday, so stay tuned. We are both really excited and are already finding renewed energy and inspiration about keeping up with the ol' blogs just from the idea of it, so I hope you'll all find it useful too. Tuesday. Mark your calendars.

I'm also kicking up the "maybe I actually CAN make a side business out of this photography stuff" side of my brain, and I've started a whole separate photography blog. I'm not linking to it yet, because literally all I've done on it is create it and add a domain, but rest assured, I'll be plugging it as much as possible as soon as I get it really going. Don't worry, I'll still be posting photos here, or I'd NEVER have any content. ;)

Finally, a friend of mine up and started blogging this week, and he's an awesome and hilarious writer. He also happens to play the banjo in Big Daddy Love, so you can probably expect some insight into the brain of a musician along the way. Do me a favor and go check his site out: Lonesome Banjo Chronicles. And leave comments. Both on his post and mine, because we all like the little boost a comment gives us, and this is my blog so I can be selfish, so ha.

It's been a busy week, but I've missed writing and I've missed reading. I've almost caught up on my feed reader, and it didn't seem right to not be posting here too. So tell me, what's the news with you? Tell me something good. Or funny. Or interesting. Or stupid. Whatever.

Dream Camera

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 20:17:00 +0000

So, I suppose I really need to expound upon the last mini-post on the blog.

Almost exactly 3 weeks ago, we were at our good friends' house for S' first birthday. See? Look how freaking cute he is!

Oh, and I HAVE to include a cake-face photo.

Anyway, I took pictures (obviously), because I just. can't. help. it. (My poor friends, always putting up with me and my camera. My camera and me? What's proper when it's an inanimate object? Anyway.) And then we left the birthday party and went to a Big Daddy Love show in Boone, NC. Nothing new there, either, we see like 10 shows a month or something. And I take their pictures a lot too. Poor guys.

So I take about 10 photos (none of which turned out at all, because it was ridiculously dark in there) and my beloved, trusty D60 started popping an error. That would not go away. I popped the card in and out, I took the lens off and back on...nothing. I google. Oh look at that, a common D60 thing that happens. I might have been freaking a little bit. I finally gave up and put it away. Took it to the camera store the next day (after trying to do the recommended ways to fix the problem on my own), because we still have a service plan on it. Kissed it goodbye (not literally, although I may have cried on the way home. Because I'm poor and couldn't afford new Dream Camera yet). To get me through its time away, because I do have some actual photo shoots lined up soon, plus summer camp to get through at work, I borrowed my dad's new camera when they got back from vacation a couple of days later. His was better than mine, so yay! Took some decent shots at the Big Daddy Love show in Beaufort, NC (full set on my Facebook page, which you should totally click "like" on as long as you're there).

I was perfectly happy with the temporary solution, and continuing my savings path toward buying Dream Camera by December. AND THEN.

I unexpectedly got a work bonus that, added to what I had already set aside toward the purchase, allowed me to buy Dream Camera MONTHS earlier than expected. I'm still adjusting to it, but it is crazy fast. And the RAW files are gigantic (like 20mb each), so I still need to get larger SD cards than the 8s and 4s I have, but for now I'm just dumping the cards and editing as fast as I can.

But hey, worth the effort, because the photo quality is A.MAZING. And the photos in low light? MORE AMAZING. I just shot its first bar/venue show last night, but I've barely started working on them. Will likely post when I get some worthy of doing so. There's...hardly any noise/grain! It's...awing, really. So yay!! Um, photographer for hire!

Some of the first photos:

Christmas in July

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:37:00 +0000

Thank you, unexpected work bonus!

Look Over There!

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 16:40:00 +0000

I am a slacker. I am also riding in the car and a little bored. Here is a picture of a bomb squad robot.

A Post About Posting

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 03:38:00 +0000

Appropriate title for what I just noticed is my 250th post, no?

So, I don't know what it is about upcoming blogging conferences that makes me totally freeze up/make my life crazy and NOT FREAKING POST anything worthwhile, so that the first post that a potential new reader, having received my card at said conference, sees is some sort of crap like this. (Hi, potential new reader! This is me and my usual sort of drivel. This post has no photos. That is unusual, as you will see if you keep reading. But if my drivel makes me seem more "real," then yeah, we'll be the best of friends, please to stick around.)

So. Yeah. I'm in Asheville, NC, one of my very favorite cities. I've actually been here all week for work, but tomorrow get to transition to Type A Parent Conference! I LOVED this conference last year (not least because it was the beginning of my beloved Beverlies), and I'm excited to be here again. If you're there, find me and say hi!

Keep Smilin'

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:05:00 +0000

Nine mile skid on a ten mile ride, hot as a pistol but cool inside.
Cat on a tin roof, dogs in a pile,
Nothin' left to do but smile, smile, smile!!!!
--from "He's Gone," by Grateful Dead

Last weekend, Taper and Meggitymegs and I went to Smilefest, which is only about 30 minutes from our house. Smilefest started as a tribute to Jerry Garcia, soon after his death...it used to be up towards Asheville, but has been at this campground since last year, and it's awesome. It was hot as all hell...Megs and I decided that we must be getting too old for this whole camping the heat gig. But still, it was an awesome time, with awesome music...I love that it's a very small festival (I think there were around 1000 people there), and kids running everywhere, and just very laid back and fun overall.

We ended up camping with a bunch of tapers (no, Taper isn't the only one I know), and we formed a compound of tents, pop-up cabanas, and tarps. We were right at a pole that had electricity and potable water, which was convenient. Especially considering one of our group brought an extension cord, power strip, box fan, AND speakers we could hook up to our phones for music.

Yep, we were roughing it, all right.

Our campsite, affectionately known as Cabanapyland

From Cabanapyland, we could hear all the music from the two stages, which was perfect since on Saturday Megs and I declared it Too Hot to Move, and listened to most of the day from camp chairs right under that canopy, beer in hand. But both the sets we heard and the ones we saw were amazing...I'll be sharing some new bands we heard on upcoming Wednesday Listening Rooms. Oh, and I know you'll be shocked by this, but...I took pictures. Just a few. Fine, I took 800, that I then culled down to just over 150 keepers. I might have a problem. Oh well, here are some of my faves.

Jackass Flats

Doby

Lots of hula hoops. I can't hula hoop for crap, so I admire those who can.

Kids have SO much fun, just playing in the huge grassy area.

The crowd. Seriously, this is as crowded as it gets, and I love it.

Pilot Mtn at sunset, over the stages

Larry Keel

Sol Driven Train

Loved these decorations in the trees. They hung bottles up, too.

Karl Denson's Tiny Universe

Jenny Keel. This was at a backstage jam, so it was pitch black.

Jay Sanders

Big Daddy, Steve McMurry

Picture It: Week 2 (Creative Writing Prompt)

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Mon, 30 May 2011 04:00:00 +0000

You know what the best part of having my own blog is? I'm my own boss, so if I miss my own deadline of responding to my own prompt, I can't fire myself. So yeah, I'll do mine tomorrow (when I have the day off! Whoo!), but I wanted to go ahead and post up this week's.

I also decided I won't close comments on them (not that any of you did last week's yet either)...if someone stumbles upon the posts and wants to participate later, have at it! Anyway, onward.

Week 1

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Picture It: Week 2

Ireland 2011 Photoessay #5: The People (and the Blogger!)

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Wed, 25 May 2011 00:06:00 +0000

Over 10 years and 5 Ireland trips, we've made some great friendships and met so many people! Our very first trip, we met the H's while we were eating dinner in a pub.

We even went to M and R's wedding, about 5 years ago, I think it was?

This trip, I was excited to meet JanMary, whose blog I've been reading for a while now. I found her blog when she commented on someone else's blog post (I don't even remember whose site it was now!) and mentioned N. Ireland...I ended up emailing her and figuring out we know a lot of the same areas! She and her family live closer to Belfast, but have a cottage up near Giant's Causeway...it worked out perfectly that they were there our weekend in N. Ireland, so we met for Sunday lunch.


L-R, my mom, me, JanMary, and her 2 youngest kids

The youngest, who I shall call Squidnose from now on. ;) He's so cute!


JanMary's middle girl - isn't she beautiful??

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I have to include this one because it's such a funny story. On our way out of Dingle, we ended up taking a drive through the country to a harbor. This guy came out of the house, drunk as he could be - at 10am. I wisely returned to the car and my book, but my dad ended up getting ensnared in the guy's house...Taper had to go retrieve him, and briefly thought (based on the dude's increasingly erratic behavior) that they might have to fight their way out. We finally convince him to remove his head from our car window, and my dad insists on a picture. Dude insists on a pitchfork or whatever that is, because...of course he does. I'm glad to be alive to write this, really. But I guess it's good we have this picture to remember the experience by!

Next up: the cemeteries! Yes, really. Yes, I AM excited about it. You'll see!

New Feature: Picture It (Creative Writing Prompt)

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Mon, 23 May 2011 02:33:00 +0000

At Blissdom in January, I took a creative writing workshop (I wrote about it briefly in my Blissdom post). It was so nice to get back into some creative writing, and I've been toying with ways to make myself do more of it. What better way than to get you guys involved, too?

I plan to post a photo every Sunday night/Monday at midnight (hopefully one taken during the previous week), and then encourage you, fair readers, to write about it. It can be fiction, nonfiction, memoir, humorous, whatever...and then come back to this post and leave the link to your story in a comment. Going to read everyone else's stories and commenting on them is encouraged! Maybe I'll even create a button you can put on your blogs...

I'll post my own in a separate entry. ~~I'll close comments on this Sunday night, in preparation for the next week's prompt.~~ Update: decided I'll leave comments open indefinitely, for my fellow procrastinators. :)

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Picture It: Week 1

Down on the Farm

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Thu, 19 May 2011 21:49:00 +0000

This past weekend, we were honored to be invited to the wedding of our friends J and R, who we've gotten to know as part of the Big Daddy Love family. J and R had a gorgeous and tremendously fun wedding day/evening, with three bands and lots of love, friends and family, dancing, and celebrating. There were several of us running around with cameras, so of course I'm going to share my photos here.

The whole day was at R's family's farm, so surroundings included fields, animals and trees. The air threatened rain all day, but the downpour held off until the ceremony was over.

The ceremony itself was under a beautiful tree, carved with R and J's names within a heart. Daniel and Ashley from BDL played an acoustic version of "Lovelight" (you can listen to it from this show) as J entered the site.

Presenting...Mr. and Mrs. C!

Daniel and Ashley started "Lovelight" again, and were joined by Joey and Brian. Then they broke into "Hometree"--the perfect song for this setting! (It includes the line, "My wife and I got married underneath that tree;" it's on that same show I linked to up above if you want to listen.) The bride and groom could help but dance.

Now: let the party and the rain begin! The stage was this incredible old general store facade on the front of a large covered building. Perfect setting for the bands, and the inside was perfect for the food and hanging out. They also covered the whole area in front of the state with tarps, so we all stayed fairly dry (if muddy). The kids had a ball in the rain and mud, though, and no amount of rain could put a damper on the festivities. There was music and dancing until nighttime, followed by a HUGE bonfire...and then a lot of us camped out on site.

Enough babble from me - just a few more pics...you're welcome to check out the whole set on Flickr, or on my Dancing Lemur Facebook page. :) There are many others that are my faves, but I am reluctant to post pics of people without permission.

The Vaguely Threatening, Infamous and Still Unsolved Hashbrown Incident of 2001

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Son of Claw) — Fri, 13 May 2011 22:31:00 +0000

Greetings GLS fans! She Who Dances With Lemurs has been ~~foolish~~ nice enough to allow me to collaborate with her on a blog post to tell one of our favorite stories from Ye Olde Days of College. Oh man. I LOVE this story. Ok, let me get on with it. **CAUTION** Bad Language (i.e. curse words, and many of them) are used in this post. I apologize for offending anyone in advance, but it's kinda necessary for authenticity.

From dancing_lemur: I'll be making my notes in italics. Green ones, just because I can.

Prologue
"Who is this Sarah Son of Claw and how does she know Dancing Lemur?" You ask. We were college roommates during her senior year of college. Because we were totally awesome roomies, we are still good friends nearly 10 years later. Nowadays I spend my time training to titillate and educate the masses in Latin, and in my spare time I enjoy chasing around my four cats and my 18 month old daughter.

Sarah is awesome. I've been trying to convince her to blog for a long time, and when you read this post, you will understand why. Be sure to do lots of commenting to help me with this endeavor.

Part I: The Setting

It's 2001. Like a Space Odyssey, but totally on the Earth. In a dorm room. But a really nice dorm room, with a kitchenette and a closed door to the hallway. In our PJs at 6:00 p.m. in the evening. With our cat. Ok, the cat is another story.

I'm about 99% sure that Sarah is wrong. She was in a dorm room, but I was out at the library or a study group or something. It's also 11:00pm, and I'm on my way home from said studying group.

We are probably studying. Or eating Cheese Its. Perhaps it was chocolate pudding and gingersnaps (Food of Champions). Or trying to get rid of the copious amounts of cat fur on our blankets/clothes/life. We are not 1) drinking; 2) high; or 3) have altered our sense of reality in any way at all. It's a pretty quiet and typical day in the room.

To this day, Cheez-its, chocolate pudding, and gingersnaps are 3 of my favorite foods. I also vouch for the fact that we are not drinking or otherwise engaged in mind-altering activities, unless you consider lack of sleep and study-related brain mush. Perhaps it was midterm or exam season? I don't remember.

Part II: Rising Action
There is a knock at the door.

There was me at the door.

Part III: Climax (This is the Aforementioned Bad Language Section-Be warned!)

I get up to answer the door. I open the door. I look down. I step back. Conveying my mild concern, incredulity, and not-so-orthodox upbringing I say without skipping a beat: "What in the goddamned hell mother fucking shit is THAT!?" (Author's note: Dancing Lemur will need to put in the exact quote, I think it had even more curse words)

Dancing Lemur, surprised, looks up from her computer and says, "What's what?"

Together we investigate a little more closely, because frankly, I had no idea what it was.

My memory: I get off the elevator and head towards our room. As I approach, I notice a mysterious light brown mound in front of our door. Confused, I unlock our door and call Sarah, and ask if she knows what's going on. She comes to the door, peers out, and says what I recall to be "What in the goddamned hell kind of shit is that???" But her version of that is funnier so let's go with that one.

We get closer. I poke it with my finger. "Is that....................hashbrowns?!!"

Yeah. It's hashbrowns. In the shape of a rectangle. On our doorstep. Like someone went to WaHo (Waffle House...geez nubes), put their tasty hashbrowns into a to-go box, then emptied said to-go box onto our doorstep. Who does that!? And WHY?

We were most intrigued by the obvious care taken to arrange them on our stoop. And also why someone would waste good late-night hashbrowns in such a ridiculous way. Because it's not at all as if someone dropped a container and didn't clean it up - this was...premeditated. (dun dun DUUUUUUUN)

We look right. We look left. No likely suspects. We look at each other. No, we are not pranking each other. Ok then. We look up at our door, which has this cryptic and somewhat threatening message:

Ok. So let's recap, shall we? We've got a knock. We've got hashbrowns in a perfectly rectangular shape on our doorstep. We've got "sleep with the fishes" oh-so-helpfully inscribed on our door. So yeah. What the fuck!?

We've also got me wondering how Sarah didn't hear anything while this was happening, since I WASN'T THERE. I am so cracking up at our different memories of this. We've also got a cat (not your, um, typically allowable dorm animal), so I remember that our aforementioned exhausted brains were spinning to "OMG, someone knows and is going to tell on us and that's why they mentioned FISH, because CATS LIKE FISH! Or you know, maybe, death threat. Ack!"

Part IV: The Dénouement (yeah, we're into literature if you didn't figure that out already)

We polled our neighbors. We IMed our friends (yes we are old, but that is what we did back in the old days). We waited for The Hashbrown Harasser to make his or her appearance. And waited. And no one stepped forward to let us in on the joke.

The Hashbrown Harasser! Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! We even - no really - filed a report with the RA. Mostly because we didn't want to be accused of messing up the hallway, I think, but I guess just in case things escalated to...bacon and eggs? I'd also like to point out that we took pictures, because we were also laughing hysterically at the entire situation. And thank goodness we did, or we wouldn't be here telling this story now. Way to go, College Me, and your planning blog posts LONG BEFORE even having a blog!

And we're still waiting. Maybe we weren't the target of HH's wrath. Maybe it was just a case of Mistaken Doorstep Hashbrowning, because that's a thing. I guess it is now.

The End

Valete omnes! ('Bye all!)

Don't mind Sarah, she is a Latin geek. I respectfully suggest that her future blog not be in Latin, because she is hilarious and we would all like to be able to read it. So the time has come: if you are the Hashbrown Harasser, step forward. Bring some closure to our hilarious (if disparate) memories of the incident.

A Short Play About the End of the World

noreply@blogger.com (dancing_lemur) — Wed, 11 May 2011 03:07:00 +0000

Or: A Short Play About Bitchiz and Hoz
Or: Why I Have the Most Amazing, Hilarious Damn Friends on the Planet
Or: Jesus Has Returned, and You Have to Marry Nathan Lane

Taper and I frequently go to a local bar/restaurant to grab dinner. Tonight we decided to go there to meet a friend, and thank God we did, because it resulted in hands-down, the best exchange in my history of Facebook.

Scene: we pull into the parking lot and the only open spot nearish the restaurant is next to this:

It's one of those giant billboards pulled by a truck. Logically, I take the above photo (wouldn't you??) and post it to Facebook as we enter the restaurant. Then the following comment exchange happens, and I laugh until I cry. At the table. Taper and our friend think I'm insane, but whatever, I think THESE PEOPLE are the awesomest.

**Names changed to protect the hilarious. You know who you are**

DG: You parked next to a yellow Xterra? 

Me: Ha! Well played.

DG: At least they spelled judgment right.

SM: what that is cray..... ... that is really  going to freak some people out! 

DC: So not this Saturday but the next? Good, maybe after the rapture traffic won't be so bad.

DC: Why do Europe and Africa have to burn first?

Me: I think that's just American optimism. 

KM: excellent, then I can stop paying my credit card bills... 

 DC: Nope, 11th commandment: thou shalt not abandon thy finances 

DC: OMG OMG OMG I just went to the site........it's all MY fault !!!!

DC: PDF file: "Gay Pride: Sign of the End"   sorry everybody. 

Me: Dude. I can't believe you gave them website traffic. 

DC: it's like a horrible accident...... i had to look. 

AB:  Thats my Bday. Should I be worried.

DC: Yes......for you are the AntiChrist 

Me: AB, if you need to worry, at least you know to blame DC. 

DC: Can I copy your picture Jen? 

KM: But  if I don't go to their website, how can I mock them when they say  things like "God has planned to give up the world to gross homosexual  and lesbian activity" ?  Apparently this is the Rapture.  Jesus has  returned, and you have to marry Nathan Lane.  For  the record, they also state that Jesus was crucified on April Fool's  Day.  That would really be the ultimate joke, wouldn't it?  "I died for  your sins.  April Fool's!" 

BC: Jesus... how is that family oriented! 

BC: No, AB... NO 

DC: Oh and don't the proven mathematics of the idea: May 21 is exactly 722,500 days after April Fools Good Friday. 

Me: DC, of course, copy away

BC: i wanna go to the website....

DC: Holy shit. I've been counting down until that day on my profile, not knowing that it was the end. I AM A PROPHET. 

BC: teeheehee 

DC: It's better than Hawthorne and Melville put together. 

Me: KM, I will be using that one, about marrying Nathan lane. Too funny! 

JM: There's a huge billboard on university from the same peeps.

KM: Jenny, feel free.  I also would like to copy your photo, but I plan to wait until May 22 :) 

DC: I like KM 

BC: you would like KM. she's awesome

KM: aw, thanks!  I have to say, this whole comment thread is cracking me up :)

DC: How many do you think will show up at church the next day? 

RG: I like both DC and KM...this entire comment thread had me cracking up!

Me:  Me too KM, I'm cracking up over here!

BC: I  mean... what is the sermon like after that date? "Well folks... Jesus  must've been distracted yesterday.... BUT the end is coming soon!" 

KM: Either that or "well, nobody was Raptured.  Apparently everyone on Earth had it wrong..." 

BC: hahaha

Me: Or the preacher is the only one left. "Dammit!" 

DC: they just recalculate 

KM: ‎"wait, where did all the gay people go?  Heaven?   Dammit!" 

Me: Hahaha!!

BC: lol 

DC: Who the hell do ya think decorated ? Michaelangelo?

BC: i can't laugh anymore! stop it! I'm closing this thread forever!

DC: ever see an Angel without a 6-pack?

Me: Oh my God, I love you guys.

KM: omg. michaelangelo. I am literally crying I'm laughing so hard.

DC: No, we didn't go to heaven, just had to go home and put on a new outfit.

DC: for the party

Me: BC, nooo! I need the laugh!

BC: (that website has a countdown! bahahaha)

Me: I hope y'all know I'm blogging this sh*t.

CK: This is wonderfully hysterical!!!! More, more!!! ;)

DC: i know BC! it's like a fundementalist New Years in ......OMG..... EndTimes Square. hahahahahahahaha

KM: please do

DC: where's my trophy for that one bitchiz?????

BC: you lose the trophy by saying "bitchiz"

Me: I refuse to look at the site!

KM: do it Jenny... do it!!!

Me: I dunno, bitchiz bringing end times...

DC: Jenny, please blog

BC: do it do it do it

Me: As soon as I get home!

KM: ha! call it "A Short Play About the End of the World"

Me: Totally!!

CT: Gonna be a short month...I thought february was bad...

BC: call it, "A short play about bitchiz and hoz"

Me: Subtitle

BC: hell, let's just write a book!

Me: I think we just did.

DC: ‎*exhausted*

End Scene

The best part? By the time we left the restaurant, the truck was gone. Wherever it is, thank you to whatever insano spent the cash to make my entire night hysterical.