all we need is a box to live in

So what if Greece is economically unstable if you lived in this house?!

I found it on Airbnb somehow. Maybe it was on their popular page? Can't really remember 10 minutes later.

We don't need much more space than this in life. Especially if we can spend that much of it outside!

If/and/or/when Ely James and I move to Palm Springs, I want to build this there.

"Gotta make sure there's no one living close enough to raid the kitchen!" -Ely James

replace face

I will have a hallway of these someday:

I found them through the blog doorsixteen. I have been reading her blog for so many years that I cannot recall how I ever came across it. She just put out some 'products' on a website called society6. I have products in quotes because they are her designs on products that the site offers. While perusing around I discovered replaceface.

Then there are these:

These would look kinda awesome on our turquoise couch. I'd have to make sure that Ely James did not fall asleep and drool on them.

more zombies

My love has been at this music thing for quite some time but says he is tired of being thought of as the dumb drummer. I don't know that he is actually thought of in this way, he just thinks that people do. I believe that people just think he's short a few marbles. All drummers are, right? I've always said that it's unnatural to be able to do that many things all at once.

It really comes down to a society being raised with Animal, the drummer, on our screens and in our hearts. He's crazy and not too bright but, a damn great drummer!

I think it's hard for people to realize that Ely James has the ability to do more than just hit things with sticks. It's hard for even him to realize it.

He needs to realize it. For reals. Cause this...

...is awesome!!

After this song came out, I googled 'Zombie Elevator.' Apparently, there are some Brazilians that are famous for pranking people in the elevator with zombies!

A whole other kind of awesome. It's even better with the ghost girl in the elevator.

Ahhhhhh!! Indeed.

to keep my loved one...

...warm. So below:

is a jacket from this past Winter. Which is when I started to write this post. For reals. It was during that weird time where Spring was supposed to be happening but wasn't. There was all this warm weather. Then cold weather. So, it seemed ridiculous that I was searching for warm jackets for Ely James but the darn weather was so confusing that he tore his jacket up. Literally. He tore his jacket into pieces thinking that he didn't need it anymore. I wish I had some pictures of what it used to look like. It was worn out and covered in safety pins to fix holes. He even had the elbow patched with a bandana. Ely James loves his bandanas.

In our hood, bandanas (or handkerchiefs) can be a dangerous accessory. When Ely James first moved in with me, he got schooled by a local teenager that told him to be careful about the bandanas he wears. You know, cause of that Snoop Dog song about crips (or do I show respect? Crips, I meant) and the left side and stuff.

Ely James wears his bandanas on his right side. Ok? After getting this lesson from the kid on the block, he took to wearing an American flag bandana. As a joke. Sort of. Although, this American "pride" could get him in bigger trouble, perhaps.

I couldn't help but look into this bandana business further, of course. As most things that have become fashionable, there was once a true purpose to the item. Obvi, a bandana was for protection from the elements-during the Cowboy and Indian days. Here is the most thorough thing you will ever read about what cowboys may or may not have worn.

Apparently, during the Gold Rush there were just a bunch of men hanging around out there. Men still like to cut it loose and dance, even if there are no ladies around! I found on wikipedia that the man with the red bandana was the female role at the sqaure dances. This turned into a big gay thing, I guess.

Certain colors now mean certain things-or that you, the wearer like certain things done. So, to be honest, those Bloods and Crips are dirty kinky bastards and they're into fisting and anal sex. Wow.

This all became gang related due to the system. The prison system-back in the 70's. I read that prisoners in California were given bandanas as part of their uniform. They had no idea what they started-the system. A new prisoner was given a choice. A blue hankie or a red hankie. I can't believe there was even an option. For anything. "Do you want a red hankie or a blue hankie?" asked of the man in jail for murdering his mother. "Your friend over there picked the red one and that guy, that you hate cause he banged your sister, picked the blue. What's it gonna be?" What dolts.

Back to Ely James and his ripped up leather jacket. He took a piece of it and wears it like this:

Now, can he wipe his nose with it? Not so much but, it looks hot and no little punk shithead can give him any trouble for it!

carjacking

I don't have a car but, if I did, I'm sure I would find this ridiculous thing useful:

Weird. Where do I find this shit? I don't even know. I have saved blog posts from ages ago and there is no system of keeping track of what I was even searching for at the time of finding anything.

Oh, and just to know, if I had a car now-it would be this:

Just sayin'. Maybe it would fit Ely James' drum kit. Maybe not.

Not far off from the car I dreamed of in high school, actually:

Amazing how one's taste does not change. I guess that makes me boring? Predictable? Oh well.

Reading the wiki page about the Corrado, it says that it was conceived to be the successor of the Porsche 944.

It's all starting to make sense. I am seeing the pattern. Here is the car I ended up with in high school:

My mother gave it away right after I finished college. I can't blame her. I had moved to Queens-where I really did not need it and it just sat in her parking lot.

I do miss her though. The car. Not my mom. Well, I miss my mom but only because I'm lazy and never leave the city to see her. Her name was Sydney. Again, the car. Not my mom. Named after the red headed crazy bitch from Melrose Place. Seemed appropriate.

Wonder where she is now. The car. Not Sydney from Melrose Place.

overwhelming enough on land

I remember going to see a Franz Ferdinand show in Williamsburg many many years ago. I stood in line to enter a huge space that was called Volume on North 13th Street. I went with my sister. The minute we walked in she grabbed my arm and told me we were staying right there-by the door. "There are only 2 exits!" she informed me.

I have never been comfortable at a show since. The thoughts of fires, stampedes and such consume me every time. I had never even thought about it until that fateful show with my sister. Funny thing is, that venue closed-for that very reason. Exits. Not enough of them. Damn, my sister's smart.

So this:

...is making my stomach churn. The wonders of Coachella will now be taken to the sea. You and +2500 other music revelers can be stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean together. Well, it's not really the middle of the ocean. It is only going a day or two out from Florida.

I have never, in my entire life, ever wanted to take a cruise. For fun. So dumb. Boats are for transporting. Like trains, plains and automobiles. I would take a boat from here to Spain or something, if it were the cheaper option and I had all the time in the world.

I don't love boats. Or water. Or bridges, for that matter. Boats do this:

And this:

Plus, who could forget this:

Did you know that throwing a whole bunch of dirty people on a boat can spread sickness? No? Well, it can. The most hilarious news article title. "Sickness puts the ooze in cruise." Think about it. A whole boat full of people drinking. A lot. How much shit can a boat contain? Seriously.

Ew.

Let's just break down the potential cost of possible sickness and sinking. Mm'ok?

Total cost for 3 day cruise to Bahamas

• Airfare from NYC to Ft. Lauderdale Jet Blue round trip (as of 7/21/12) $300 
• Room to share with 3 other idiots (bunk beds??) $500
• Service fee (this includes gratuity tips) $200
• Drinks for me (if say, 12 hours a day of drinking, I drink a beer an hour and the beers are $7) $250
• Drinks for Ely James (he says he would drink 3 beers an hour!) $756

$1250 for me. $1756 for Ely James. $3000 for us both to go together and be stuck on a boat. With drum circles and shit. Funding a right wing organization.

Our 2010 trip to Coachella

• Round trip airfare for 2  from NYC to Palm Springs with convertible car included: $800
• Coachella VIP passes (thank you ohmyrockness) FREE!!
• Camping for 2 inside the Coachella campgrounds: $110
• Two nights at the ACE hotel, newly opened: $178
• Drinks (only had about 10 each of their $7 heinekens in the course of 3 days but drank plenty of margaritas at Las Casuelas) ???
• Having the freedom (sort of) to come and go as we pleased: fucking priceless

Maybe $1200 total for the both of us. Plus it looked like this:

Through researching for this post-I found that there are tons of these cruises.

The 2012 Mayhem Cruise

Monster of Rock Cruise

ShipRocked 2012

Rock Legends Cruise

Finally, the only cruise that I actually knew existed before delving into all this.

NKOTB Cruise

Just imagine it. A whole boat full of NKOTB fans. Looks something crazy eyed like this:

Ahhhhhhhh!!!!

I wonder who will guess the correct numbers, onboard the SS Coachella, for the following events:

• falling off the boat
• getting kicked off the boat (by authorities)
• getting kicked off the boat (by an angry person)
• getting gastronomial whatever
• overdosing
• sneaking in an under aged child
• sneaking in a pet (snakes on a boat?!!)
• bottle cuts (or is it a glass free zone?)
• sexual conquests
• cigarette butts consumed
• etc. etc. etc.

was it slow for you?

Above is the tree I see on my walk home from the G train after dark. Whenever I see it, I cannot stop staring at it. I wish it were outside my window. There is something romantic about certain street lighting. This is the ultimate.

In other news, the facebook told me that this happened 1 year ago today. Then when I got to work, I was told that two of my boss lady's stores opened on this day. Seven and five years ago. Hmmm. Weird.

Not much has happened in that year with the officialness of Adarae. I have to file taxes again. I do hope that in the next year, more will come of it-so I can feel some sense of accomplishment. Of my own. Not of my boss lady.

Should I celebrate tonight? Nah. It will just be Ely James, Sweet Baby, #2 and me on the couch watching Sons of Anarchy. That's all I really need!

The shop was sort of updated a few days ago...

snoozing is for losers

One of my oldest friends, meaning I've known her a long time-she's not old, gave us a sofa. There are several pictures on this blog of this sofa. Well, not of the sofa really. It's always background noise.

It's vinyl. It's turquoise. It's awesome.

There was a lot of drama around the giving of this couch, as there is with anything involving this friend. She offered it to me many years ago when she broke up with her fiance. I never had the time or resources (renting a truck required) to get a damn couch-no matter how cool and free it was.

She then revoked the gift by moving into an apartment with the couch. She needed it. I didn't complain. You snooze, you loose.

After she was evicted from that place, she moved all of her things to her father's garage in Connecticut. The gift was offered again. However, I still lacked the time/resources to now go all the way to Connecticut to pick up a 'free' couch. So, there it stayed. For a couple more years.

When my previous boss lady was closing up shop, she needed to rent a truck and bring the contents of the store to...Connecticut! So, I jumped at the chance to get in on that truck.

My friend had since moved to San Francisco so the arrangements to pick up this gift were all done via text message. She told me her father was in Florida but that would not be a problem because the garage opened by a security code.

What she did not tell me was that her father had changed the code. That they were having an argument. That he didn't want anybody in his house. So, there we were just waiting outside a garage in Connecticut with a rental truck hoping for some resolution other than leaving empty handed. Which is almost what happened if Ely James had not gotten involved. He called my friend and pestered her until she thought of a number her father could have changed the code to and viola! We opened the garage doors to see a vinyl turquoise couch. That was soaking wet. Wah wah.

We brought it home anyway. Aired it out. Left the cushions on the fire escape to bake in the sun. Had a home that smelled of dusty mold for a few weeks. Fun times. Worth it. Totally worth it.

The point of this long story is that #2 came along.

We placed her crate next to the couch. There really is not much room up in this studio. One day while I was at work, Ely James did not latch the bottom of the crate before leaving for a rehearsal. #2 tried real hard to escape that crate but could only get a hold of the couch. Damage was done.

Now what? In our hood there is an upholstery place. We thought about finding out how much it would cost to get it repaired. In the end, we decided we didn't really care. No one comes over. There's no room for company! Then I found out that this exists...

I think it exists mainly so people can make weird things like this:

Also works for this:

Good enough for us! Probably before the life of this couch ends, more of it will be covered in duck tape. Just sayin.'