P.F. Chang’s, Being a Granny, Haterade, Moodvane Reflection and Other Things That Have Been On My Mind And In My Digestive System

Welcome to Grannyville, Moodvane! Thanks, it’s great to be here. What was up with me last night? After celebrating a friend’s birthday at Blue Martini (I know, right?) and then having dinner with my mom and her beau at P.F. Changs (again I know), I got home at 10 p.m. and dropped straight to sleep. So, I never made is over to Zoo Bar to check out Viva Le Vox. I guess it’ll have to wait for another time. I’ve been feeling pretty miserable about what I wrote earlier in the week about Robbie Hazen & the Riot. They’re talented and actually very, very good at doing something that, as I said before, doesn’t fall within my musical interests. I don’t even know how to mentally process certain types of music. so it makes little sense for me to discuss them, especially in reference to what does make sense to me. Musical preference is all a matter of opinion and determined by how much you connect to an artist’s material. I am always looking to be taken slightly beyond the peripheries of my normal experiences, and so that informs my tastes. Speaking of my tastes…

It’s true, I drank the pop music haterade in my early ’20s and I don’t listen to radio. I dislike a lot of popular bands and artists like Coldplay, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kings of Leon (poor Jess had to sit with me as I complained my way through this concert), Regina Spektor (vomit), MIA and on and on and on. Many many smart, in-the-know people disagree with me about this, but the only argument that I can make is that this stuff either annoys me or just plain old leaves me cold. The real issue is that… Read more

I Wish That I Could Go Out Into the World Tonight, But…

fatigue and self-preservation prevent me. Instead, I’m undertaking a very risky Betty Crocker adventure. I bought cod at Publix the other day, and I’m attempting to cook it according to the very first recipe that came up on Google for the search term “cod recipe”. How creative, right? Well, it looks like a good one.

Since Sweet Bronco and I live right around the corner from Gateway movie theater, we are going to go and see The Hangover after dinner…even though I’m in a bad mood and feeling very tiffy toward the Sweet One, who ticked me off and then proceeded to wash the dishes in the close proximity to me while I cooked and then, even after I banged the silverware drawer to express my frustration, went to read on the couch while I slaved over a hot stove. Oh well, what can I do? Appealing to my nicer side when I’m in a bad mood is a pretty futile effort anyway. I just chalk it up to the gap of understanding that exists between all human beings, no matter how close. If he didn’t have the capacity to tick me off, I’d really be worried.

PS. Please don’t be jealous of my talent for resizing photos.

Inkpen’s Weekend In Fire Island

Whether you’re venturing home from low tea or high, amble with care on this The Boulevard in the wonderfully remote, gay town of Fire Island. We had four injuries in my house alone — a trip and fall knee injury, a poke in the eye from a tree, a slip and fall down the stairs and a foot injury with origins unknown. Beware, you labor day boys and remember, no white after Labor Day. Hugs and kisses on the cheek, Inkpen.

Much like spending lazy afternoons wandering without a care (carelessness is the most important part) through the winding streets of Paris or driving across the United States, one of Inkpen’s lifelong travel dreams (one she’d forgotten she’d held dear to her heart) was to weekend in Fire Island. Well, finally, dramatically and fulfillingly, it has come to pass. What a weekend she had with her whole little heart in her throat!

Above: Inkpen and her bro. No, they aren’t twins, but there is a genetic freakishness in the physical likeness among our clan.

Fire Island Gallery. Enjoy!

Introducing The Bodhi File – Puppy Therapy Teaser

Puppy Therapy Available Here at Mood Vane. On the upper right-hand corner of the home page, you can find a link to therapeutic pictures of the cutest puppy on Pla-pla-planet Ear-Ear-Earth.

Social Networking — your bedroom window is open

Inkpen can’t stop thinking about the topic touched on in a recent, thought-provoking Sun-Sentinel article that her mother, the little one, read to her. The story reports on Palm Beach County teachers who posted or had others post potentially questionable content on their Facebook pages. The story turned Inkpen’s full attention back to a topic that she has been thinking about on and off for some time.

While it is certainly understandable that school systems would be concerned about teachers posting questionable personal content in the public realm, the issue goes much deeper. Younger generations of web users — or anyone who engages in social networking — are opening their personal lives, interests and preferences to the world. Mainstream discourse labels activities that most young, middle class Americans consider fairly normal — such as drinking alcohol, cursing, wearing flirtatious clothing and partying really really hard in your 20s — as shocking, prurient and character defining.

If such prudish standards of character are taken seriously, what young liver of life in the digital camera-social networking age, from Miss USA to presidential assistants with a past, doesn’t have a “questionable” stamp on some behavior that he or she once engaged in? More than that, who really cares anymore? Given the number of videos out there, probably half of the female population under 30 has appeared on Girls Gone Wild.

Is it a good time for young-internet savvy people to start defining what’s offensive and what’s not for themselves? Inkpen is very interested to know how other people really feel about this. Like, have you ever edited a profile or switched it to private for fear of some kind of exposure? Do you feel like that curtailed your self-expression? Do you care?

One of the things that Inkpen thinks is so great about social networking sites is that they publicize the inner worlds of many people, bringing to social reality formerly inexpressible personal dimensions. Before such sites existed, it was probably only writers, journal keepers and perhaps artists in other disciplines who lived with that other dimension of self, the one that could be put on a page or canvas.

Social networking sites and blogs leave many people who are unschooled in the art of self revelation vulnerable to criticism and overexposure. Inkpen thinks that maybe it’s time we all started making room for our fuller, more obviously flawed selves. Thoughts?

Shout Out

Hi Adam. I heard that you own a very profitable trucking company. This is moodvane, and you are very welcome to rest here during the afternoon coffee breaks that you probably don’t have. Thanks for stopping by.

Love,

Inkpen Shmee

They Got Moranned! From a Cruise Line? For the rest of their lives?

Getting “moranned” is like getting banned, except for that you’re getting banned from a cruise line…for life. This USA Today story about the Morans, a Cleveland couple that complained its way into getting banned from Royal Caribbean cruise line, is just about the funniest thing Inkpen has seen all week. Besides the fact that their last name is just one letter off from “moron”, there are two good reasons why this story tickles Inkpen’s toesies: everyone knows a person or couple like the Morans, most likely the kind of people whom you’d give up long-cherished life goals to avoid having to talk to for 15 minutes, and how extreme would these people have to be to stand apart from the hen-pecking, buffet lovers that generally frequent cruise ships? Aren’t cruises like vacations for imaginationless people who don’t like to move around? I seriously hope that a video of the Morans complaining to a young, career-thirsty reporter from a Cleveland TV station emerges soon?

Looked for one…couldn’t find it, but I found this interesting video while I was searching:

Lime green is all I’m gonna say about that video.

What we learned today: There’s nothing worse than hearing, “You got moranned,” cause you know that, kinda person that you (likely) are, whatever’s wrong has gotta be your own fault.

Sweet Bronco made me something he’s calling chamomillio estevez tea, so that’s exciting.

Manor Lanes and Kicking it Low Key with Big Wave Surfing Films

Sweet Bronco and I have been kicking it pretty low key these days. Last night we went to Manor Lanes and bowled in the mid-100s (awesome) and shared one pitcher of what Mickey Blue Eyes calls “bee” (Yuengling). Here’s the funny clip from an otherwise mediocre romantic comedy:

We’ve also been chillin’ on the couch a lot and watching the big-wave surfing film Riding Giants, which I highly recommend. It’s amazing to see the upper limits of human bravery. I’ve never even considered being a fraction as brave as these people. Can’t wait to watch Billabong Odyssey. Big-wave surfer Mike Parsons shows you why:

TooMuchInformation? U R not alone – David Brook’s column on forgetfulness

If you have a minute, check out David Brooks’ New York Times column “The Great Forgetting”. It’s NYT’s most e-mailed story today. It seems to have struck a chord with others as it did with me.