Get it together

I didn't write a post yesterday. I had a really rough day at work and just didn't have the capacity to be creative. So I'll tell you what happened. At least once a day I find myself saying, sometimes audibly "what the fuck was (insert name here) thinking?" Yesterday a customer decided to throw their poop covered toilet paper on the floor next to the toilet rather than in the toilet. I cannot understand why that happened. What on earth would make someone want to expose the world to their poo. the person that will then be creating their lovely hand crafted beverage had to pick up their poopaper. I deal with a lot of wretched behaviors at my job but this really was a cake topper. so instead of blogging I drank wine and tried to forget that I have to go back again today. Get it together people!

Lil' Miss. Muffet was not being rude...

There are a number of ways that the Internet has “ruined” my life. I used to be an avid letter writer and haven’t written one in years, I pretty much know what everyone is doing all the time #football. I used to love making bets with friends about song lyrics or the name of the offbeat actor in a movie and waiting a long while to find out the answer. No mystery or anticipation anymore, we have the answer in our hand in a second. The number one way that the Internet has ruined my life however is the knowledge that spiders are everyfuckingplaceIgo.
I suppose there hasn't been an influx in spider population more today than existed in my general surroundings for the last 34 years but goddamn. Every day there is some new story solidifying why spiders have earned their creeptastic reputation. I’m not someone who has ever been particularly terrified of spiders, though I also didn’t run out to see Arachnophobia. I try to let the little ones do their thing and get rid of the bugs that annoy me endlessly like mosquitoes and house flies. I have friends who hate them with a passion and hate me a little bit for not killing every eight legged beast I’ve come across.

Today one of my friends posted an article about a Giassgantic Spider City and it ruined my life. 

I visited Baltimore twice while this monstrosity of fear was being constructed. There I was eating at the Cheesecake Factory with a bunch of Girl Scouts and  later a visit to learn about my sorority's best practices having a grand ol’ time. Meanwhile, working hard like Fraggle Rock's Doozers, these wretched monsters were creating webbing so strong that it caused structural damage. My biggest concern, yes even more than the hundreds of thousands of spiders, is how this web was not noticed before it reached the size of three American football fields. I have walked into a web so thin it was basically transparent and after dancing around whilst slapping my face and head vacuumed my entire house and stripped all of the bedding.THREE HUNDRED YARDS OF WEBS! What the actual fuck?

Thank you Internet (and the workers of the Baltimore Wastewater Treatment Plant) you have ruined my life.

I recognize that spiders are everywhere and that they help our Eco systems but thanks to the Internet I now know that there are puppy size spiders that catch and eat birds with ease.

I NEVER would have looked that shit up in Encyclopedia Britannica because it would have grossed me out far too much. Thanks to the Internet though I know I will soon see a video of a spider shuffling into a Starbucks to order a Pumpkin Spice Latte and then eat the barista who created it. Internet +1, Cassie’s nightmares 0. 

Click, Click, Click, Click Camera

Are you tired of where you've gone?
And you think you might belong
In a moment when you step out of the rain?
And you've ended up in someone else's frame?
And they're memory now is never quite the same
And they never even thought to ask your name

Take another picture with your click, click, click, click camera

A few weeks ago on the internet there was a post going around to name your top ten live music experiences. I posted mine and almost immediately thought of changes I would have liked to have made. Friends commented on concerts we had seen together and I couldn't believe they didn't make my top ten.  It made me really think about music and how music is sometimes the narration of our memories and sometimes serves as the sound track. Sometimes one live show can change your life or at least your mood for a little while. Music is a wonderful addition to our stories and I know I’m not the only one who has heard a song a completely created a music video montage in their head. When I hear music I feel it. I hold the sadness and celebrate they joy that these musicians have chosen to share with me more deeply than many people I know, I think I get that from my pops. Somewhere along the way I feel out of love with music. I stopped listening to new bands and rarely went to a live show. Listening to music became too hard. Wanting to burst into tears on the bus is not the way that I like to experience music. One of my best friends challenged me to fall back in love with music. She couldn't believe me when I said I rarely listened to music and basically told me to get my shit together and start listening to music again immediately. After getting to Seattle I started looking to music to help me fall in love with music again. Bishop Allen recently put out a new album and came to Seattle for a show and there was no way I was going to miss it.
I was nervous about the hipster douche bag quotient that might be there but was psyched to see the band anyway. It was a great venue and despite some sound issues that were out of the band’s control they rocked through it. I was there dancing alone, sure a few people were rocking back and forth but I was surely the only one really giving it my all. I was full of energy and in those moments when the dark purples and bright oranges were leaping from the stage and into my veins I could not have felt happier or more in love with music. No I was not on drugs when I hear music I see it in color. My friend that went with me said I dance just like Claire, Molly Ringwald’s character in the Breakfast Club without knowing that it was one of the best compliments that I ever could have received.

After the show the folks in the deliberately clashing outfits, big hats and ironic lives scattered and my friend and I went to sit at the bar and finish our drinks. I talked with the bar owner about Snake Whiskey and our various adventures in South East Asia. 

 Slowly the members of the band trickled out. We talked about living in The North Country in New York, immigration and long distance relationships, fracking and what bullshit it is. We drank Rainer and said cheers to shots of Jamieson and I got tell them that they made me fall in love with music again. What an amazing experience I was able to have. Sitting at a bar, in a city I love, shooting the shit with one of my favorite bands. I first heard of Bishop Allen when I saw Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and fell in love with the soundtrack. Bishop Allen was on my first international flight with me. They were the soundtrack to many trips into Seoul including the first one which was when I met the woman who will soon be my wife. They played while I walked for miles and miles clearing my head and I had the opportunity to tell them all of that. I said, “Thank you for helping me fall in love with music again” and one of them said “That is an amazing compliment thank you for listening.” A truly awesome night that I know I will never ever forget to put on my top ten list of best live music experiences. 

Challenge accepted

Last night my roommate and I had a Halloween party at our place here in Seattle. It was a pretty small gathering but it we laughed a lot, played my new favorite game Anomia, and had a true Fireball Friday. I made my Ursula costume using only a glue gun and let me tell you it was much heavier than I had anticipated. 

A beautiful Sea Witch

Today is the start of NaBloPoMo National Blog Posting Month. I have accepted the challenge from my roommate to participate and get back to blogging by writing a blog post every day this month. I love writing and I always really love to blog. The unfortunate thing that happened for me is that I let the internet take my power. I stopped sharing my thoughts because my words were used as a weapon against me and it hurt me deeply. What I have discovered with social is that it has ruined many of my relationships. A decade ago it might have taken me years to find out that a sorority sister was a raging racist or that a camp friend would support me to my face and spout homo antagonist rhetoric when I wasn't around. Now thanks to memes and angry status updates I get to discover these sad realities while I check my news feed and drink my morning coffee. So I’m taking back power. I like being open and sharing my life with my friends and family. I am sharing them to let people know they are not alone. I am sharing them to keep folks updated on my life and my adventures. I am sharing them because I need to fall in love with writing again. Happy November let the adventure begin.