A Note on U2, Jewel Does Joni, and Connecting Through technology

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - U2
I love this album. Love it. Their albums have been hit or miss for me for a while (well, since Zooropa, to be honest), where I haven't pissed myself out of excitement at every track as I've almost done since the release of War, The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum, and Achtung Baby. But this one, well, if I was a music critic, I would be the first to say it's far from perfect, but as a fan... it works. My friends are flying all the way to Vancouver to see them in a couple weeks. I am so jealous. I need to see U2 someday.... it's my destiny, damnit!

Oh, got the new Rolling Stone, with "the masters" or whatever on the cover, and Joni is there... but the write ups are done by other musicians, and if there is any more proof needed that Jann Werner has a vendetta against my Joan, this seals it: everyone has cool people writing their thing, but Joni's is by.... get this... JEWEL! FUCKING JEWEL!?!? I thought she was back living in that fucking van of hers again or something. I can see the office at RS now: "We better mention Joni... let's give her to Jewel. Remember "A Night Without Armor"" And then gaffaws across the old boys' club....

So I forgot to mention that Rachel found out about the blog! This must have been a week or so ago, but it slipped my mind. It was one night, and I was downstairs playing Pet Store with the girls. Rach was on the computer, doing some banking or something and I kept yelling at her to come into the other room and see how cute the pet store was - Keryn got all her stuffed animals and set them out, and her cash register and made these pretend spiders and snakes. So anyway, I finally came in here to get her and she was reading the blog and was saying "who is this? Is this you!?!?!?" so I just said "yeah, it's my blog" and then she proceeded to say "I don't know if I like this, mentioning me and the kids on the internet" and she was really sorta grouchy about it. So I just said "I'm not posting pictures, I use fake names, what's the big deal?" She said that anybody who knew us, or her family or whatever could figure it out in a second, and my reply was that how would they ever find it, and who cares if they did. And then I was already in this big melodramatic mood anyway (I can't remember why, but I was all poor poor pitiful me all night prior to this), so I just got snippy and then later on she started joking about it, calling herself Rach, so then I couldn't stop laughing.
So, I don't think she's read it since, and she still calls herself Rach on occasion. You know, it's interesting, this blog business. I initially started it because I seem to love the humdrum, and the mundane, and the daily patterns of people's lives. I love connecting. The internet has been invaluable to me. Since I got my first computer in 97, I've connected with such an array of people. The first people I connected with were from a chatroom on IRC. It was the night Princess Diana died, and I went into this room, #40 plus (picked 40plus because although I was only 27, I wanted to find nice people, older people, people who weren't going to ask me a/s/l or if I was horny tonight). So I went in there and met Elouise, this woman from Nova Scotia, who I just connected with. She was a teacher on disability (she has crohn's disease and MS), married to a principal, and she was the sweetest person. So we hit it off, and through her, and I got all weird and obsessed with chatting on the internet. Every night, as soon as Rach would go to sleep, there I would be, sitting up until 3:00 a.m., chain smoking (I still smoked then), drinking pot after pot of tea, listening to music, and talking to these people. They included an agorophobic woman in Pennsilvania, who I helped coach through a move to Florida, a 3 times married woman in Nashville, a libertarian race car driver/actor, an older convenience store manager from Nashville whose cousin was the groundskeeper for Loretta Lynn, my good buddy Tig, who was a male nurse in Hawaii, his sister who was a designer in Seattle, and there were many more. However, the closest one from that era was Keryn, who was from Winnipeg. While we loved chatting on the internet, we were both freaked out to tell people where we lived, and we were actually freaked out to talk to each other, since we lived a mere 9 hours apart. Both our parents gave us the warning : "How do you know who they are that you are talking to? They could be in jail!" LOL, in fact, to be funny, the first time she sent me something in the mail, she put the return address as Stony Moutain Penitentery. She was an X-Ray tech in Winnipeg, married, mother of 2 boys, and was, I dunno, maybe 10 yrs older than me. We've sadly sorta fallen out of contact, as happened with many of my internet people, but she does have one of our puppies - When Daisy had puppies, I sent her pics, and they loved one so much, they paid to have it flown to Winnipeg. That night, when I called to see if it arrived safely, it was so fucking cool to talk to her kids and have them thank us for giving them the puppy... connections that would never have happened without the internet. You know, I miss her. She will be the one person besides Margo that I tell about the blog... LOL, she will think it's insane, but whatever.
I also had my Joni Mitchell friends. I joined the Joni Mitchell discussion list back in 98, and it was heaven to find kindred spirits. I made many friends there, and when Joni did her art showing in Saskatoon in 2000, many flew down. It was there that I met my dear, wonderful friend from Boston, Judy, who I still talk to, and who is like an older sister. Also, I love my friend (what to call him - let's call him.... Rico - he'd get a kick out of that). Rico lives in Florida, and while we have never met, I consider him to be a close friend. So, anyway, this ramble is about the possibility of connection.
Well, I should get ready for bed, and another fucking work week. The weekend was too fast - i feel sad it's over... sigh. Keryn said tonight, when I told her "tomorrow, mommy and daddy have to go to work" she looked all alarmed and said "well... welll... you have one more day and then you stay home again?" and I mean, how do you say "no, FIVE more days honey..." Oh I miss them so much when I am at work.... Oh, I think we've become the type of parents we used to mock....
Ok, on a totally different note, why does my ICQ need upgrading? It won't let me log on without upgrading... stupid thing, I don't talk to anyone on there anymore anyway...
Anyway, better run, sounds like money/marbles/a shoe/the cat/any or all of the above are in my washer at the moment, so I better find out what's making the house shake.
Have a good Monday,
xo
JT