life is a crazy train. you can have ozzy sing it or have someone else in your head sing it, but life is a crazy train. i have been up working on a research project and had to take a break and change gears on the said crazy train.

before the researchin' hit fullspeed this week, i had checked out a book at the library. something that i could read the way we were taught to read. i don't know about you, but i grew up loving every detail that a writer gave me. i wanted to know the color of her skirt, what was for dinner, what the room was filled with and if the pigtails didn't exactly match in height. you get to graduate school and it is the 'closeread' bizniz. wtf? *get the gist, get the gist, another book done, grab the next one, another one bites the dust, hey, hey.*

anyway, i started another roadside attraction by tom robbins and the library receipt tells me that my goal is to finish it by 2/17/09. i have to finish it because a girl needs something to read on the train and i am already in love with tom robbins. i worked on the project, organized the studio more (i will try to take more photos tomorrow, since it is too small to get as far back as i need to take the 'big picture' shot.) and loved on tom robbins while i made this just for him. oh, and for me and my orange walls.

"The most important thing in life is style.
That is, the style of one's existence-
the characteristic mode of one's actions-
is basically, ultimately what matters.
For if a man defines himself by doing,
then style is doubly definitive because
style describes the doing.

The point is this.

Happiness is a learned condition.
And since it is learned and
self-generating, it does not depend
upon external circumstances
for its perpetuation.

This throws a very ironic light on content.
And underscores the primacy of style.
It is content, or rather the consciousness
of content, that fills the void.
But the mere presence of content is not enough.
It is style that gives content the capacity to absorb us,
to move us; it is style that makes us care."

Amanda in
Another Roadside Attraction


i knew this. i have lived by this, but now i can quote someone else. i was once reprimanded and scorned for being happy so when i read this passage, i was filled with so much (more) happiness and validation. sorry, buster, but happiness is a nonsin.

in honor of happiness and my three-year journey in blogging, i am doing a prizey drawing. tell me what makes you happy and how you get your happy on.

baby, lay it on me real thick and talk happy to me.


(i will assign numbers to each entry and put them in an egg basket and draw a number in two weeks from today on valentine's day.)