I have moved my blog!

Folks may visit my more recent posts at http://www.hedonisticpleasureseeker.wordpress.com

It's Blog Against Sexism Day

Feminists have a vision of women, even women, as individual human beings; and this vision annihilates the system of gender polarity in which men are superior and powerful. This is not a bourgeois notion of individuality; it is not a self-indulgent notion of individuality; it is the recognition that every human being lives a separate life in a separate body and dies alone. In proposing “the individuality of each human soul,” feminists propose that women are not their sex; nor their sex plus some other little thing—a liberal additive of personality, for instance; but that each life—including each woman’s life—must be a person’s own, not predetermined before her birth by totalitarian ideas about her nature and her function, not subject to guardianship by some more powerful class, not determined in the aggregate but worked out by herself, for herself. Frankly, no one much knows what feminists mean; the idea of women not defined by sex and reproduction is anathema or baffling. It is the simplest revolutionary idea ever conceived, and the most despised. –Andrea Dworkin, Righ-Wing Women. “The Coming Gynocide.” 1983

Sex Bomb

Tom Jones, now When I told my friends and family I was seeing Tom Jones in Atlantic City they all rolled their eyes and said, "You've got to be kidding." Well folks, I went, and he was AWESOME. Now I know why they call Tom Jones - - excuse me, SIR Tom Jones, as he's been knighted - - "The Voice." Some ladies threw their panties onstage that night but he just ignored them; he no longer plays to that campy image. He doesn't need to; his voice is THAT GOOD. When he covers a song, he does it better than the original. He has an awesome band and an awesome arranger, whoever he/she is. So, if you have a chance, check out his tour schedule and just go, go!!!!

Recovery

Crazy kid swimming in 55 degree water It took a day to recover from the Grammy's. My daughter took advantage of the fact that she was in southern California in the middle of February and insisted on a swim. Being the Hedonistic Pleasureseeker, I don't dip my toe into anything cooler than eighty degrees, so took a pass. Flying home into an oncoming blizzard was a rude awakening. I did my calculus homework on the plane.

The 2006 Grammy Awards

Grammy Awards Ceremony 2006 So how did I end up at the Grammy's last week, backstage no less? I suppose I could title this post "Adventures in Online Dating," but given my newly single status, if I take that approach nearly every one of my blog posts will have the same title. So here is what happened. I was on doing my online dating thing and saw a guy who looked JUST like my ex. His profile even sounded like him. So I sent the guy an email stating essentially, "Hey, you're just like my ex! Good luck with that!" and thought nothing more of it, since he was not local, plus I figured if I wanted a guy just like my ex, I could just swallow my pride and drive 5 minutes up the road to see him. But this new man wrote back and a friendship ensued. I flew out to see him and we really hit it off. He's in the entertainment business and invited me and my daughter to see the Grammy's with him. Concluding this might be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I felt no guilt about pulling my daughter out of school and flying to Los Angeles to see both him and the show. He had us put on the staff of the production company producing the show. Our jobs: Stay the heck out of the way! The Grammy Awards is a major, major production; I was absolutely blown away by the size and complexity of it. The above photo doesn't even capture the whole stage. Putting this show together can be compared, possibly, to having 15+ rock concerts squeezed onto three stages during a three-hour timeframe. The logistics are mindboggling. Grand pianos were lined up like sardines backstage. There were HUNDREDS of stage hands, all dressed in head-to-toe black, constantly moving things around. Because my daughter and I were ostensibly on staff, we were able to go anywhere on or around the set: The stage, backstage, downstairs by the dressing rooms, the VIP rooms, the production office, and the "green carpet," just by flashing our credentials. We were there the day before the show, watching rehearsals, sitting in the seats reserved for the rock/movie stars (I sat in Paul McCartney's and Madonna's chairs, while my daughter ran to the Black Eyed Peas section and sat in Fergie's chair). It was a thrill to be within spitting distance of some major superstars: I brushed elbows with Springsteen, McCartney, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and U2's Bono, and saw Nicole Kidman and Mariah Carey up-close on show night. While U2 was rehearsing, we were under the transparent part of the stage looking up at Bono's feet. I sat there thinking, "I can't believe I'm sitting here on the floor checking out Bono's ass." Later on, when we put my daughter to bed in one of the VIP rooms, my new lover and I ran into the room next door for some private time. I loved the sneaky thrill of it. (hey, I AM the Hedonistic Pleasureseeker, so I just had to add this to the story, oui?) I'll never hear McCartney's "Helter Skelter" quite the same way again!!! When showtime finally came, we walked the "green carpet" and had the best seats in the house (on the camera stand). What did I wear? A black, witchy, long-sleeved knit dress and knee-high stilletto boots. The show was, of course, glorious. When we walked out of the arena after the show I had the original video tapes of the show in my purse. I eventually had to give them up though . . . (and yes, if anyone out there is asking, we DID get T-shirts!!!)

Half Moon Bay, Jamaica

Beautiful Half Moon Bay, Jamaica! I kept this photo from my old blogging days because it brings back so many beautiful memories.