Aging Rappers, and Aging Me.

Recently, I took a few days off of work. I had been feeling rather tired and bitter, and it was time for me to pull my mental state back together. My job is a great source of self-esteem for me, but sometimes it also make me feel terrible about myself. This phenomenon is called "Time To Take A Break Before They Force Me".

My skin is brightly tanned, the weather has been drizzly, and I am caught up on my magazine reading (except for the current issue of NYLON, where Avril Lavigne is on the cover, because it just feels like something I should protest). With the royal baby hogging the airwaves, and a week until Sara D arrives from Oklahoma (!), I foraged out of the house for things to keep me busy. Coffee and breakfast and strange vegetarian Indian brunch places in the deep northeast were great, but the most wonderful thing I did was tease my hair up into a giant bun, pulled on my plain black jumper, and went out on a weeknight to see Ali Shaheed Muhammad from A Tribe Called Quest DJ-battle against Maseo from De La Soul. NBD, right?

In my early 20s, I used to go watch a lot of rap shows, and I would walk away at the end of the night feeling a little bummed. When a rapper that I had loved in 1993 would walk out onto the stage with a little salt and pepper in their hair, I used to feel so disenchanted. I guess it was like I was watching my own youth slip away as well.

Now that I am in my thirties, I don't care that if someone is a little slower, or a little greyer up top, I am just plain thankful that guys like Maseo and Ali Shaheed Muhammad care enough to still be out there performing. Like being able to watch Picasso pick up a brush and take it to paper, it is truly awe-inspiring to watch an artist that has already perfected their craft.

I stood in the crowd with all of the classic rap-show cliches: the guy with a backpack full of records that he hopes the artist will sign, the girls that have no idea who or what De La Soul is, the dread locked dudes that dance way too hard and sweat all over everybody, the guys that are wearing a Tribe hoodie over top of a De La t-shirt. I looked around me, and it was clear to see where I fit into the cliches. No shame in it, these rappers are aging, and I'm aging, too. I now proudly belong to the thirty-somethings that have loved rap since they were ten years old, and wouldn't miss a show like this for the world.

~sarah p.

Who You Gonna Call?

I've always been a pretty firm believer in science. Mostly, it seems, there is a basic, logical scientific explanation for just about everything on the planet. However, last week, as my co-workers and I watched a office chair whip itself around the room gleefully, through an observation window of the dead doctor's building we just move into, along with the growing general uneasiness I feel when I am in the building alone, I'm starting to realize that I might need to re-moralize.

~sarah p.

Girl, Don't Tempt Me.

~sarah p.

p.s This is totally me this summer:

The Summer So Far.

This has been a strange summer, guys.

There were horrible, city-ruining floods. Many people are still not back in their homes. Even though we are a tough city, we really took a blow. I got a "natural disaster" day off of work, my first one since I entered into the full-time work force ten years ago. I am a panicky person, so this scared the shit out of me. I was four blocks from the flooding, and despite advisories to stay away, would have to keep going back to stand by the water and look toward my house. I would count the steps from the water to our front door. Then I would go back three hours later and do the whole thing again, just in case the numbers were vastly different. We were under voluntary evacuation, so I volunteered to stay in my house.
In the evening, I was finally able to relax for a few minutes, even though the phone was ringing off the hook with kind friends and family, offering well-wishes, and a place to stay if the need arose. Nenshi asked that we cool it on the electricity (and right now, what that guys says, goes), so I turned off all of the lights in the house, made myself one of my famous Hawaiian Punch slushies in the dark with a hammer and a few baggies, and foil-packeted some dinner into a small bonfire in my yard. I also sorted out my vast candy collection, which is since not-so-vast.
The next morning was much better, I only walked to the water once, and brought as many supplies, and as much food, as I could carry. There were a million more Calgarians down there, all willing to help. Again, I love this city so, so much.

What else? There have been numerous visits to Korean Karaoke bars. Soju is the nectar of the devil, but it is so blindingly delicious. We went to Stampede early in the morning this year, porked out on fair food until noon, watched the Superdogs, porked out a little more, saw Nenshi (but I was too shy to tell him that I love him), and went home. We went to the most fabulous patio party and drank spritzers until the stars came out.

Although I may feel a little waterlogged, the garden looks fabulous this year. The roses are out in full bloom, and the lawn has never been greener. We have a very hearty strawberry patch, with tons and tons of little green berries, waiting to ripen or get stolen by the squirrels.

I can blather on all day, but we all know that all people want nowadays are tons of photos. Without further adieu, here is a peek at my summer so far:

Hope your summer is wonderful!
xoxo
~sarah p.