Pretty BIG-n-Ugly Ruts

Today couldn’t have been better. Sleeping in past noon, copious amounts of bacon and hot tea, fresh snowfall to watch out the window, yoga and cuddles with T and reheated Chinese food for dinner. OH boy! And the best thing of all! A mention about a piece from the most recent Deadbeat Club on author Scott Westerfeld's blog! That just about made my weekend, week and month. For those of you who have not read the "Uglies" trilogy, it is time to head out to a bookstore this instant (preferably a smaller, non-chain one but whatever floats your boat) and pick these lovely books up. They are delicious and fun but also get your brain working in the most mysterious ways. You can also watch the video book reviews we did about the Uglies trilogy here:


DBC24, March 2006 - Prettification of America, Part 1
If you had the chance to be prettier and live in a special city with other pretty people, would you? Book review of Scott Westerfeld's "Uglies" and "Pretties" series of teen books.

DBC24, March 2006 - Prettification of America, Part 2
Part 2 of the DBC book review of Westerfeld's "Pretties" and "Uglies." Frightening montage about America's obsession with becoming perfect. Perhaps being ugly is a revolutionary statement?

It is funny how your life can be totally in the toilet in many respects and then along comes a new curveball and everything seems new and fresh once again. When we are young (I feel like Carrie Bradshaw opening with this tacky line), we have so many exciting possibilities and our lives are full of hope for whatever tomorrow may bring. Why, then, as we age, do the possibilities seem to grow farther and fewer in between? Is this just part of the aging process? Our lives and minds grow narrower and we find mates and produce spawn and live in our little separate boxes repeating the daily grind day in and day out until one day we retire and start counting the days until the whole thing is all over? Uh oh, this is sounding bitter.

It all started Friday. As usual, the girls and I were having our Friday lunch out. And as the minutes and then the hours ticked by, I realized my life had managed to enter a gigantic rut. Granted, I am one of those people who likes to constantly be doing new things, meeting new people, exploring new ideas and hitting the road as often as possible. A desk job is hard for me to stomach, especially if there is no hope of change, activities or new ideas around some far off corner (you need to have something to look forward to). Perhaps I require too much change and renewal. Perhaps it is one of the reasons why I move so often and then complain about not having any roots or connections in a place. But what is a girl to do when there are no mysterious corners upon her horizon? When there is nothing new, strange or unusual to look forward to beyond that Tuesday night dance class she loves so well? Well, that is just no good.

This is what we discussed at lunch noon Friday. S was morose despite the fact that she was getting ready to go on a week vacation to warmer climates. She was in the midst of the pre-trip jitters which encompass you when you realize all the loose ends you need to tie up before you can escape properly. A and I were sad to think of life at the Offasty without S. So we made ourselves feel better by ordering three lunch specials (kick ASS frittatas with avocados) and, since they were out of Chai, some kick ASS St Pattie's Day green mocha thingamagiggies. Yum. Then we took some green cupcakes and green dusted sugar cookies back to the office where there were some other members of the Offasty who required a sugar refueling session.

And then, low and behold, like a whisper from someplace mysterious, I got an email with a super cool, but possibly top secret opportunity in my In box! Since it might not actually come to fruition, I will just say that it is a collaborative project with two artists I totally dig and respect and would love to work with. Additionally, it involves some things I hold dear: storytelling, VT tales, obsessive people and places off the beaten track and vlogging. And now I will shut up but first I will say one last thing. When you least expect it, there you are. When life seems to hold no hope or options and everything tastes like old dried, unbuttered toast, along comes something juicy and exciting that you are dying to sink your teeth into. Maybe this does not always happen but, more often than not, it does. It happened to me this weekend and it happened three months ago when I met a swell fellow. So fellow rut-dwellers, have hope! Chins up!

The second signs that the rut was shaking off were later in the evening when I went to Radio Bean to see Nest Material play (video coming later). They were doing a stripped down set sort of a la Velvet Underground (minus Nico). The night was dark and frigid, the streets were full of St Pattie's day revelers, the Bean was packed and the music was moody and perfect. I filmed them and got some cool light effects with the camera on slow exposure. The music couldn’t have been a better fit for the evening. Also, a girl in my dance class, Sarah Dawn, played her sexy cabaret style tunes earlier in the evening. It was fabulous to see her in this entirely different capacity (different from sweaty cabaret dance class that is). Ran into some people I knew at the show and had one of those strange dawning moments when you realize, "Oh, I am finally getting the hang of Burlington, VT. Cool!"

Then A and I headed to Metronome to see The Jazz Guys play (video also to follow) some kick ass pop tunes interspersed with hilarious melodramatic and confrontational chit chat from Mr. Herb van der Poll, the band's fearless leader. For instance, "You sir, in the green shirt, what's the last book you read? Don't you read? What are you, stupid or something?" and other such gems. That guy has no fear. A and I danced to our hearts content and I got to do some more filming and run into some other people. Man, I dig this whole small town thing! Much as I miss Northern California, it is nice to shrink down your place of reference and take some time to know all the little itty bitty parts of a place.

All in all, a fabulous weekend which involved much uploading to YouTube (you can see my videos if you search for "evadeadbeat"), too much surfing of the web, some late night TV watching, late nights, late mornings, minimal amounts of staring out the snowy window and general good rut escaping devices. Just remember, when you least expect it, there it is.


PS I didn't realize that ruts are so pervy! See the definitions below:

• The breeding period, as in deer.
• a period of sexual excitement of male deer and other animals, corresponding to the period of estrus in the female.
• A period of concentrated mating; the mating season. Often used with reference to males.
• is a general term that refers to the breeding period of mammals, especially the deer, elk and moose. During the rut, males exhibit specific behaviors to establish harems or to attract females to mate with.

Here are some other artists who have been stuck in ruts and lived to tell the tale:

Wow! Apparently, I have a syndrome, the Stuck In A Rut syndrome, otherwise known as SIARS - for real!


Let’s have a look at the Pro’s and Con’s of being stuck in a rut:

Pros:
It’s comfortable
It doesn’t take much effort
You know what to expect
It’s easy to surround yourself with like-minded people
There’s less chance of making a mistake

Cons:
It makes life boring and predictable
You feel that life is passing you by
It can leave you wondering where your life has gone
You could look back and wonder about the what-if's
It can be scary even thinking about breaking out