Observations on Art 7.16

No matter what I do I still always consider myself a painter first, a painter before anything else. Even as I spend most of my time on photos I still love to dabble in my paints just mixing one color or shade with another than dabbing some on an old canvas to see if I like it or if it is worth saving. Just a couple days ago I had lunch with my fav art guy who is going to get me some samples of a new Atelier acrylic that supposedly is easier to blend and comes in 75 colors and shades. I'm so excited because honestly I like to play with paint as much now as I did when I was a little girl with watercolors.

After my last post it came up that I can't seem to paint and do any serious photo work at the same time. My brain just doesn’t seem to function that way at all. To me photography is a much more externally generated art while painting is created internally. What I mean by that is that when I take a photo I am showing you what I see with my eyes. It may be distorted, modified, or transformed in some way but it is still what I actually saw and my brain has little to do with it. When I paint I am showing you what my brain sees which is a totally different and sometimes scary thing. I paint in abstract because I sometimes see the world in abstract which is something I won’t even try to explain now. What is strange is that my eyes see a simple world of b&w while my brain sees a colorful world yet totally distorted. Like I said hard to explain so I'll leave it to the shrinks.

As I said before my painting can involve days of isolation and a lot of tequila, nicotine, and caffeine with little if any food. I get in a zone where I'm totally into the painting and nothing else. It's what I do. For the first time in awhile I seem to be in the mood to paint. Not play with my paints but seriously paint something. It's a feeling I haven't had in almost two years now but it feels different in that I don't feel the need to run off to the liquor store to stock up on tequila and cigarettes. Not that I won’t be heading there but in ways I feel like a muse now lurks in the back of my brain and that inspiration replaces the need for some things. I was never one to feel inspired because inspiration seems such a random thing which always points you in the direction you were already heading anyway. It's also a fickle beast that comes and goes at its own time and place, usually when you least expect it. In the end it's best just to go with the wave and not try to force it because it simply goes where it will.

Things seem to change even as they remain the same. See what comes of it.

Keep in mind that I started this before my last post or what I'll call my 'insanity' post. So if it seems a little confusing no worries, my brain is confusing. Actually I have been writing this over so many days now I have no idea what it means.

The Good Natured - Skeleton

Observations on Art 7.12

Artists, particularly painters, as a group can be self-centered, arrogant, vain, egotistical, and in some instances simply brilliant. But hiding beneath that favorable surface lays a secret. A great many of them are just insane and I'm not even talking about myself. Of my own favorite painters Van Gogh and Picasso were debatably insane while Goya and Pollock suffered from depression. There is even a term for it, outsider art or art brut was first used by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created in an insane asylum.

The idea of a 'mad genius' actually goes as far back as ancient Greece, where Socrates dismissed any poet "untouched by the madness of the muses." Socrates warned that such poets are doomed to find their "sane compositions never reach perfection, but are utterly eclipsed by the inspired madman." In Phaedrus Plato wrote that artists were bestowed with a divine madness, and Aristotle was in all probability the first to connect creativity with depression.

In 1991 Dr. Arnold M. Ludwig, a psychiatrist at the University of Kentucky, did survey of 1,000 famous 20th-century artists and writers, comparing their mental health with those of normal professions. Ludwig discovered that artists and writers had two to three times the rate of psychosis, suicide attempts, mood disorders, and substance abuse than did successful people in business or science. Freudian psychiatry offers an explanation in the theory that people who are creative are much more in touch with their unconscious which makes them more creative which makes them think in crazier ways which makes them more creative. God, no wonder we all need therapy.

Once again I have taken forever to get to my point of writing this. I have been in a very artistic mood this week to the point that I was thinking about painting something. Always my dark guardian angel Ash took it upon herself to remind me of what I'm like when I paint. Pretty much it involves days of isolation and copious quantities of tequila, nicotine, and caffeine with very little or no food at all. Totally immersed I will paint until that moment comes when I stand back and realize that one way or another it's finished. Hopefully what I saw in my head is on the canvas because one time I did take a scissors to a painting and I have been known to burn others.

So those thoughts led to all the insanity thoughts which led to this post. I started to write a post about art and my thinking of painting again but I finished this post first so when it seems I'm out of order here, well, just another sign of my insanity.

Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds

(Love the coloring of that vid.)

Observations

I never watch The View but this is worth a look just to hear Whoopi Goldberg ripping Michele Bachmann this morning for signing "The Marriage Vow, A Declaration of Dependence Upon Marriage and Family", a requirement for earning the Iowa conservative group The Family Leader's endorsement. The pledge states that homosexuality is a choice, requires opposition to Sharia law, and supports the banning pornography. No I'm not going to say a word about that pornography part.


Link

Observations from the Coffee Shop 7.11

"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?"
Mahatma Gandhi

I started this post with that quote because it pretty much sums up my feelings and thoughts on war. Problem is no matter how much we would like war to be a thing of the past it will always be with us. The fall of the Berlin wall saw the 'end of war' until it didn't any longer. World War II was finally the end of war in Europe because it was just to terrible to ever let it happen again. After a millennium Europeans had finally learned their lesson until the former Yugoslavia exploded into the pieces of which it had been patched together after World War I, the first 'war to end all wars.' The history of every great empire, religion, nation, or people is drenched in blood. It may sound overly cynical but it's just a fact of human existence. Sometimes history haunts as well as teaches.

So why did I even bring this up? A couple days ago I posted a photo of a woman soldier in Afghanistan who is one of the first serving with the Army Special Forces (l). I was totally surprised when I ended up getting a couple of emails questioning why I was 'glorifying' war. I said she made me feel proud and I still feel that way but I thought maybe I should explain myself a little better. I'm proud because I see a woman doing the job she wants to, whether you agree with it or not, and in the process proving a woman is able to do any job a man can do. It's as simple as that.

As for glorifying war, read the opening quote.

Now I’ll get ready for the email that says I hate men. I’m sure I can count on my brother for that one.

Observations from the Window 7.9

I had been saying how I thought I needed to re-charge somehow and last weekend seems to have helped some but may have had one unintended consequence. I have always been a morning person, I should say a dawn person. I love the sunrise so much more than sunset, the light and color being totally different as the sun pushes into the sky. If you ever look at my flickr you will find that most of the few color photos in it were taken at the shore at dawn. I just love the solitary feeling of sunrise and I always found it to be my artistic time of day. Maybe not literally but mentally in that I think better, clearer, and come up with better ideas.

Since I moved to the Village I've gotten away from the dawn more and more. Maybe it's the influence of the VQs or maybe just it's being so much busier than I once was but most days I find myself staying up later and sleeping later than I had before. That changed a little this past week when I found myself awake, totally awake, at 4AM and loved every minute of it. One day I even had coffee on the roof as the sun came up. I'm not sure if it's a temporary change or I'm reverting to a previous life, as always time will tell.

As much as I can be a tech-geek I love books, real paper books and magazines. I like to hold them in my hands and feel the paper while I read. I like big glossy photo magazines printed on coated paper. That being said I want a Kindle and I want it bad, well I want the Kindle to play with but I want the app for my netbook. I think I need to do some Amazon shopping. One book I want to check out is Power: Portraits of World Leaders by Platon (Photographer) with the text by New Yorker editor David Remnick. It is the portraits of 150 world leaders shot over a year at the United Nations. Platon is staff photographer for the New Yorker, and recipient of the World Press Photo Award and National Magazine Photo Portfolio Award.

A couple days ago a new shaved ice stand opened just a couple blocks from the gallery. It gets all its fruit from the Greenmarket at Union Square and it's so damn good but I can't figure out why anybody pays $3 for frozen flavored water when the dude at the corner is still selling it for a buck. Maybe buying it from temporary wooden stand makes it better than buying from a vendor with a cart. I'm thinking I might have to open an alcoholic shaved ice stand. I'll just use flavored vodka instead of juice.

And so it goes.

Observations

I don't often do this but I saw this photo today and I had to share it. I can't tell for sure who took the shot so I can't give proper credit but I'll post a link to the article. I'm not posting it because it's a technically perfect shot or because it's anything different. Really there isn't anything at all special about it other than the content itself.

While I admittedly owned a gun at one time and I am a fan of good combat/war photography I am in no way a fan of guns nor am I pro-war. I am far from either and actually the older I get the more anti-gun I become. I am posting it because I looked at this photo of a woman on the far side of the globe and I was proud of her. I have no idea who she is and I doubt very much we would agree on anything at all but I am proud of her. I think that In her own way she is doing as much for equality in this country as the first gay couple to be married in New York.

Other than that I'll let the photo speak for itself.

Female Special Operators Now in Combat

Observations from the Coffee Shop 7.7

Today are the debt ceiling and budget talks between President Obama and Congressional leaders but I don't think anything will come of it yet. The Republicans seem to be itching to take the country over the proverbial cliff just to prove Obama is a lousy president and make sure he doesn't get re-elected. They don't seem to mind the prospect of taking the rest of the world's economy along down for the ride.

What I don't understand is why we don't see more in any mass media about a constitutional answer to the debt ceiling game of chicken they seem to be playing. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution states “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.” Many leading economists, the Treasury Secretary, and even a few Republican Senators think this gives the President the authority to do anything necessary to ensure the nation's debts are paid. Basically he could say the Congress won’t pay the bills so I will, yet we don't hear a thing about it in any of the major media outlets.

This might not sound good, and I'm sorry if it pisses anybody off, but one thing I'm totally tired of is seeing and hearing rich white men with perfect teeth and tans tell us that we all have to sacrifice while they hand the richest Americans bigger and bigger tax cuts. I saw last night that some schools will be going to 4 day school weeks this year because they can't afford to keep the schools open for 5 days a week and yet we hand billions and billions to oil companies, corporate farms, and banks.

Honestly I don't know why some people just can't wake up and see what is happening before we end up a third world country taking handouts wherever we can. Below is a kind of CliffNote of The Rachel Maddow Show from June 27th that for me says it best.

"In 2005, four Republican senators decided to bring back something called PAYGO, basically a rule that says if the government spends something, it has to compensate for that somewhere else in the budget....
And even though four Republican senators, including John McCain, had supported legislation to do that in the past, when President Obama said, “OK, I will do this thing that you want,” those same Republicans decided that they did not want PAYGO anymore....
The idea of Congress setting up a bipartisan blue ribbon panel to work on bringing down the deficit was an idea Republicans had signed on for. Seven Republican senators co-sponsored legislation to establish that sort of commission last year....
And then when President Obama said "I like this idea of yours, let‘s go forward with this" those same seven Republicans decided they were against it....
Same thing on cap and trade. Democrats wanted to just ban certain levels of pollution in the air, but Republicans said, no, no, no, we have to use the market, Cap and trade was the Republican idea. Republicans were for it. Then, so was President Obama. So, now, Republicans are against it....
Democrats wanted to require that businesses cover all of their employees. Republicans said, no, no, we Republicans, we like bumper stickers about individual responsibility.
So, their counterproposal, the Republican idea on health reform was that business would be required to cover all their employees, but individuals, individual responsible, individuals would be required to get insurance.
The individuals mandate, Republicans were for it. Then so was President Obama. So, now, Republicans are against it....
Republicans were for terrorism trials in the United States when George W. Bush was president. Then so was President Obama, so now Republicans are against it.....
During the Bush presidency, the current Republican leaders in Congress voted 19 times to increase the debt ceiling by a total of $4 trillion. But now, they have discovered a desire to take a stand on this issue....
The kind way to understand this is shameless, craven, unprincipled partisan hackery."
She finished with, "Given the choice between thinking of them as that evil and thinking of them as just disgusting, I would rather think of them as just disgusting."

Observations from the Window 7.6

Really nothing exciting here. As I vegged on the deck recovering from the pig roast on the 4th I was tweeting some quotes that I thought were fitting for the day. I was amazed at how they all still resonate today, some even two hundred years later. Anyway I thought I would put them all together in one place so here they are, all in one place. The first is a Sinclair Lewis quote that has been one of my favs for years.

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
Sinclair Lewis

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." Abraham Lincoln

"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."
Thomas Jefferson

"Liberty, once lost, is lost forever."
John Adams

"If tyranny and oppression come to this land it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."
James Madison

"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."
George Washington

"The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government."
Thomas Paine

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety"
Benjamin Franklin

So there you have three of the loves of my strange life in one easy to read package. History, politics, and quotes. I often think the wingnuts should read the quotes of the people they are so fond of quoting. For what it's worth that was your history lesson for today. Don't say they didn't warn you.

Observations from the Road 7.4

So my 4th of July weekend at home draws to an end with my return to the Village postponed until morning so I can enjoy my family, the Phillies, and all the leftover pig roast beer just a little bit longer. It was an awesome long weekend with just a touch of sadness at the realization that all we kids are finished with high school, really the realization that none of us are kids anymore. Still that can't take away from just how awesome a weekend it was.

I was so into recharging the brain that I didn't even bother getting myself a New York Times Sunday morning although I was tempted to get one later in the day just to sit by the pool and be a smart-ass. But I decided against it and played the good daughter, sis, and pseudo hostess all day. And a long day it was. Sunday began early, with the pig roasting on a hot humid morning, and it continued well into Monday morning with candles burning in the garden and a small fire on the deck. I finally crashed around 1:30 Monday morning and eventually found myself sleeping on the deck just like old times.

Dumb luck made the weekend just a little more special as my cousin Tess just happened to be visiting from the other coast. Tess is a year older than me and it has been years since I last saw her so Friday night the two of us and my brother went out to do some catching up. As I’m always thinking I came up with a photo idea involving Tess and her dad's totally awesome Ford Mustang that we shot on Sunday morning. Last I saw her the girl had tats but nothing like the complete body art she is sporting now and, just an observation, she looks hot. Looking at the photo later made me think that if my sis is my mini-me I might just be Tess' mini-me, just not so mini.

So in the end I did some swimming, some tanning (don't laugh!), re-bonded with my cousin, and spent a lot of time with my family. Along the way I drank too much cheap beer, ate too much pork, and accidentally fired a bottle rocket in the direction of a police cruiser that just happened into my line of fire. OK, so I wasn't the perfect hostess all the time. I did very little thinking about the Village, politics, or even art. I just vegged, recharged, and had pretty much the kind of weekend I was hoping for. I even added to my bucket list as Tess and I concocted a plan to cruise the left coast on Harley's one day.

Sometimes the t-shirts are right, life really is good.

Finally let me wish you a late happy 4th of July. Hope it was a good one with lots of alcohol and fireworks though I hope they weren’t combined in any way. That’s how police cruisers get shot up this time of year.

"Freedom is the right to write the wrong words." Patti Smith

Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA, Live in Paris

Observations from the Coffee Shop 7.1

It has been a week since the vote in Albany and the buzz in the air has begun to die down a little, replaced by a feeling more resembling a hangover. We haven’t lost that feeling I can only describe as comfort or joy that the thought of what happened still brings. Just that time brings the realization that there are still so many states where not only is a gay marriage not legal but it is actually constitutionally banned. So much yet to be done. I'm also sure it will all change again in a few weeks when the law takes effect and the first weddings take place in New York. I already know of one wedding I might be attending but for the record, no, the VQs currently have no such plans.

It's been a gorgeous couple of days in the Village but I'm totally ready to get out of town for the weekend. I don't know why but I just feel like I need a couple of days to re-charge the brain and body. It's that time of the year when I normally spend a week at the beach house in Stone Harbor, just vegging on the deck, drinking Corona, and hanging at Fred's, something that just didn't happen yet this year. But Sunday is my sister' big grad party slash pig-roast and that should do the trick just fine. Hopefully the weather holds but I have been informed there is a heat advisory on for central PA. this weekend. Than again drinking cold Corona while I float around the pool doesn't sound at all bad either.

Going into Toronto today the Phillies are at the half way point of their season with a record of 51 wins and 31 losses. The new question seems to be can they not only return to and win the World Series but along the way can they break the team record of 101 wins in a season. Over the past few years they finish the regular season much better than they start it so anything seems possible. On Sunday Cliff Lee will attempt to become the first major league pitcher to throw four shutouts in a row since the Dodgers' Orel Hershiser had five in a row in 1988. He is already the first Phillie pitcher to have three in a row since Hall of Famer Robin Roberts in 1950. Also on Sunday the All-Star Game lineups are announced and in all likelihood Halladay, Hamels, and Lee will all be in the starting rotation for the NL team. I might actually have to watch this one but I hate all-star games in any sport.

And yes I do love my Phillies.

Now you know this is nothing like the tunes I listen to but it is the 4th of July weekend and I have the sad suspicion I’m going to be hearing more of these tunes than Lady Gaga at the pig-roast. May as well prepare myself. Than again maybe I'll have to hijack the tunes at some point.

Toby Keith - Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue

Obervations from the Village 6.28

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin (or sexual orientation) but by the content of their character."
Martin Luther King Jr.

This is the 42nd anniversary of the Stonewall riots that took place after a police raid on the Stonewall Inn in the Village. I was born over a dozen years after the riots and I never really knew that much about them. I did know it was the moment when the modern gay civil rights movement was born but honestly it was as far away from my life as the Vietnam War was from my hate of our current wars. As a teenager I had my own battles to fight and didn't realize that I could do so only because of something that happened years before at a spot only blocks from where I now live.

I stood outside the Stonewall a couple nights ago, my minor celebration of the passing of New York's gay marriage law, and decided I needed to know more. If I felt the need to be there shouldn't I know why? I'm not going to get into the whole story of the riots, there is plenty to read online, but a maybe a little background. In the scheme of history it isn't all that long ago but at the time gays were classified as subversives by the U.S. government. The names of people arrested for public indecency, which included men holding hands or women wearing men's suits, were published in newspapers. Being gay was actually considered a mental illness.

On June 27, 1969, the NYC police force raided a popular Village gay bar, the Stonewall Inn. Raids on gay bars were commonplace, the Stonewall itself was raided just a week before, but this night something was very different. For whatever reason the subversive, indecent, psychopathic gays fought back and a movement was born. The city was stunned that the normally docile gays had turned into what the Village Voice called the "forces of faggotry." In the days that followed a pamphlet was printed and handed out on Christopher Street that in ways could be considered the first gay declaration of equality. Rather than add it here I posted it separately just before this post along with a link to the full episode of PBS's recent "American Experience, Stonewall Uprising" which is well worth watching even if it is at times disturbing as hell. (link)

Nicholas Edsall wrote "Stonewall has been compared to any number of acts of radical protest and defiance in American history from the Boston Tea Party on. But the best and certainly a more nearly contemporary analogy is with Rosa Parks' refusal to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in December 1955, which sparked the modern civil rights movement."

In the end it doesn’t matter who started it, it doesn’t matter why it started, it probably doesn’t matter what really happened those nights. All that matters is that it happened.

Observations

Here is a link to watch the complete episode of PBS's "American Experience, Stonewall Riots" which aired not too long ago. The American Experience site says, “The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world.”

Below is the text of a flyer handed out on Christopher Street in the days following the Stonewall Riots:

"Get The Mafia and Cops Out of the Gay Bars

The nights of Friday, June 27, 1969 and Saturday, June 28, 1969 will go down in history as the first time that thousands of Homosexual men and women went out into the streets to protest the intolerable situation which has existed in New York City for many years --- namely, the Mafia (or syndicate) control of this of this city's Gay bars in collusion with certain elements in the Police Dept. of the City of New York. The demonstrations were triggered by a Police raid on the Stonewall Inn late Friday night, June 27th. The purported reason for the raid was the Stonewall's lack of a liquor license.- Who's 'kidding whom here? Can anybody really-believe that an operation as big as the Stonewall could continue for almost three years just a few blocks from the 6th Precinct house without having a liquor license? No! The Police have know about the Stonewall operation all along. What's happened is the presence of new "brass" in 6th Precinct which has vowed to "drive the fags out of the Village."

Many of you have noticed one of the signs which the "management" of the Stonewall has placed outside stating "Legalize Gay bars and lick the problem. Judge Kenneth Keating (a former US Senator) ruled in January, 1968 that even close dancing between Homosexuals is legal. Since that date there has been nothing legal, per se, about a Gay bar. What is illegal about New York City's Gay bars today is the Mafia (or syndicate) stranglehold on them. Legitimate Gay businessmen are afraid to open decent Gay bars with a healthy social atmosphere (as opposed to the hell-hole atmosphere of places typified by the Stonewall) because of fear of pressure from the unholy alliance of the Mafia and elements in the Police Dept. who accept payoffs and protect the Mafia monopoly.

We at the Homophile Youth Movement (HYMN) believe that the only way this monopoly can be broken is through the action of Homosexual men and women themselves. We obviously cannot rely on the various agencies of government who for years have known about this situation but who have refused to do anything about it. Therefore we urge the following:

1) That Gay businessmen step forward and open Gay bars that will be run legally with competitive pricing and a healthy social atmosphere.
2) That Homosexual men and women boycott places like the Stonewall. The only way, it seems, that we can get the criminal elements out of gay bars is simply to make it unprofitable for them.
3) That the Homosexual citizens of New York City, and concerned Heterosexuals, write to mayor Lindsay demanding a thorough investigation and effective action to correct this intolerable situation."

Observations from the Window 6.26

It's a day after the still unbelievable vote on gay marriage and the Village is a bit on the giddy side. It doesn’t hurt that it is also the end of Pride week with all the parades and dances taking place yesterday and today. With Ash out of town I really wont get to any of them but I can still feel the buzz in the air. It’s kind of funny how Ash and Chloe, my two friends most likely to actually get married, were out of town when the whole vote went down. I think I got a "what's happening" text about every five minutes Friday night.

The last couple days have been like a dream come true, even if it's a dream more for others than for myself. I still can't put into words how it felt, how it feels, maybe I never will be able to. I should admit that yes I cried and it had nothing at all to do with allergies. It was the realization that two of my best friends, along with so many others, could marry if they wanted to. It was, is, such a totally awesome feeling that I never want to forget it.

Last night I took a walk to the Stonewall Inn just to be able to say I had been there this weekend. Even 24 hours later there were crowds of people outside celebrating. The Stonewall is only a few blocks from our apartment in the West Village, possibly the gayest part of the city of New York. I'd be willing to argue it is the gayest neighborhood in the US but the folks at The Advocate magazine don't even have New York on their recent list of the top 15 gay cities in America (l). Seriously Cleveland is number 12 and no New York? What's up with that?

As I stood outside history swirled in my head. Almost 42 years to the day after the riots that led to a movement that led to Friday night's vote. The first Gay Pride march took place in New York on June 28, 1970 to mark the first anniversary of the riots with Los Angeles and Chicago holding marches the same day. I can't even imagine how many cities hold marches today. In 1999 the Stonewall and the surrounding area were designated a National Historic Landmark. During the dedication John Berry said "Let it forever be remembered that here, on this spot, men and women stood proud, they stood fast, so that we may be who we are, we may work where we will, live where we choose and love whom our hearts desire." And than came Friday night’s vote.

Damn, I think my allergies are back.

Robyn - Dancing On My Own

Sunday morning update - Marriage is for the most part a religious issue while control of marriage is primarily a state one, so as much as I would love to see it I don't honestly think the U.S. will ever have a gay marriage law in every state. What I don't understand is why we can't have a national civil union law that gives any two people all the benefits of marriage? France continues to vote down gay marriage, but has no problem with civil union. Time to 'evolve' a little bit faster.

Yes!

Such an awesome night. After all the writing I have been doing I feel like I should say something but I find I have no words. By a 33-29 vote the New York Senate legalized gay marriage and at 11:55 PM Gov. Cuomo signed the bill into law. It will take effect in thirty days.

People are fond of using the words 'history was made' but tonight in the state of New York history was in fact made. For the first time a Republican controlled legislature legalized gay marriage. Just think about that for a moment. Washington be damned, sometimes anything is possible.

I just don't remember the last time I felt this good that sex wasn't involved. Quite honestly I don't even want to get married but it still feels so damn good. The scenes from the Stonewall Inn, the texts, tweets, emails, and phone calls from friends and family are all combining to make my head spin tonight. I'm sure I'll have more to say once it all sinks in but for now I'm going to enjoy the champagne.

However I do want to take a moment to refute a rumor going around about me. It is so not true I cried in public. It was just allergies.

Awesome night, just a totally fucking awesome.