Get a theme song

Get a mission statement, 

then get a theme song.

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For we all know that music has a powerful way of affecting our very moods.

It need not matter whether it's of the Rocky anthology, James Brown "I Feel Good", or Chariots of Fire instrumental variety.

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As long as you have a song up in that headspace. A siren song to walk in step to every beat to the very soundtrack of your life.

To walk through the doors leading to that unnerving interview.

To dance along with that heavy thinking.

To join the explosive expressions of your personal experiences.

To provoke fond memories of nostalgia.

To soothe and relax you from the stresses of life,

 or to motivate you to do grand things with great love.

 

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Perhaps choose a song with a powerful climax,
the powerful drum fill from Mr. Collin's "In the Air Tonight" comes to mind,

or one that's as tranquilizing as Debussy's impeccable Clair de Lune,

then create a feel-good playlist.

 

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Whatever you choose, make sure it has the power to get you out of bed and singing in the morning.

For when the words fail,
music speaks.

All is well in the world, and today this is my piano-tapping, no better words for a theme song.

Go forth now,
getcher eye of the tiger on.

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China plate in a shooting gallery

Oh, the devil within you

on a day such as this.

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With those wild sparks in your eye,

and the fireworks in your heart.

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There's a sharp smell of a blaze of change,

and a burning hunger for the sweet embers of opportunity.

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There is indeed a bit of flame and smoke about these parts,

and I watch as the fire's kindle slowly turns to glow.

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Setting the frostbound heart ablaze

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to feel the heat in hearth,

and rise in the wake of a searing sea of flames.

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To reign in a time of candied possibility,

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and to feel the warmth

of all that is well in the world again.

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If the world is cold, make it your business to build fires.

-Horace Traubel

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For unto the aliens, ninjas, and cowboys, a fire breathing babe was born

I invite you to please read the following in your finest Spaghetti western voice

The West is alive and well,
even today.

 

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 And while living beneath the open blue sky can certainly have its hardships for us here down on the Western frontier, we've gots us a mighty fine troop of fellow comrades on this here fire-spinning ranch.

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We've the kind of team that work and sweat together by the light of day, and feign sleep by night to ensure a smashing-good performance for the good showgoers and onlookers.

Together in cahoots, we charmed up a twisty-tale of adventure, mystery, love, and some good old slapstick funnies. All to ensure an epic storyline for the rousing crowds that we gave a lick and a promise to this year.

Then we took that faithful journey, the kind of journey where you don't exactly know if everyone will make it home in one piece. 

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Yes, that sojourn was made way back in August, all the long while to the Burning Man Festival for we had some big nuts to crack.

Yessir, my fellow brothers and sisters set forth to burn the breeze and deliver one helluva fine show to those nice citizens of Black Rock City, the namesake for the fleeting city admist the normally desolate region.

We've a fine story to tell.

A tale of plot and characters like rowdy, ruthless, goodfernuthin' cowboys about as crooked as a Virginia fence, playing both sides of the law for riches and a fist full of dollars.

A fable of fearless ninjas hard pushed enough to let nuthin' come between their undeniable love,

and a memoir of hell-fired, noble aliens in a relentless and untamed search for justice by good rights.

 

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And so the story goes, that late one Saturday eve just before the sun slanted down in the West, us ash-hoppers gathered to show those nice folks how a fire-breathing lovechild, born out of true, unrestricted love, and free from hate, was brought unto this here world.

Yes folks, once upon a time, when the air was thick with mesquite and dust storms, on a night that can only be wrapped up in one which-i-ma-call-it... declarative sentence.

Gawddamn!

Many thanks to my fine as cream gravy, fellow teammates and conclave staff, and 'specially to our fearless leader, the "Jenneral" for making sure that no one ever hung up their fiddle, and fer getting us to the flinders of that there playa.
 
 Ladies and gents, courtesy of Kp Wedman at Black Rock City, Nevada, I give you your 2012 San Diego Fire Conclave performance.

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San Diego's Taste of Downtown 2012: A Ringo Schwag-away

Prepare your tastebuds for the excitement that awaits at San Diego's biggest tasting party!

With over 50 participating San Diego restaurants and establishments hailed from the friendly neighborhoods of East Village, the Gaslamp Quarter, the Financial District, and Horton Plaza, you can sample fare from a tried and true favorite, or give the new hotspot a go!

The generous folks over at McFarlane Promotions have been darling enough to throw some schwag this here way, so I've a pair of giveaway tickets to the 20th Annual Taste of Downtown.

That's right ladies and gents, these are absolute freebies!

It will cost you the A-mazing price of nothingness to win this here pair of tickets for you and your usual suspect.

or you can use your winnings to:

make peace with an enemy

impress a colleague

dazzle a date

connect two friends who have never met

have a Valentine's Day in October

thank your mother for putting up with you

take a finicky kid (or grown-up) to try new foods

hob nob with downtowners

The Taste of Downtown event is set to take place this Thursday, October 11, 2012 from 5-9pm!

To see participating event flyer, click here:

Tickets are valued at $30 apiece in advance/$35 at the door and can be purchased here:

Or you can win them for FREE by adhering to the following:

Rules

1).  Follow this blog (by clicking the 'Join this site' icon in the left sidebar of this blog).

Alternatively, you can click on the 'Follow' link on the far left side of the (nearly black) navigation bar located at the very top of this blogsite. 

If you're already following, a hundred-thousand thank yous! Just follow the next step to enter.

2). Leave a comment describing which San Diego restaurant you are longing to check out

That's all folks! 

A couple of muy importante details:

Prizes are limited to those in the San Diego region as they are indeed hard tickets, printed and ready for hand delivery.

Winners will be automatically generated via Randomizer.org

Contest begins now and ends one week from today on October 5, 2012 at 5:00pm

Winners will be notified here on the eve of October 5th.

Get ready to savor the flavors of downtown San Diego! 

Good luck!!!

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San Diego Restaurant Week - Old Venice

Should hunger strike midday, and you've no time for munching,

take a trip to Old Venice for a quick bit of lunching.

With its all white decor, and a heaven's aroma,

you'll find yourself snug in the heart of Point Loma.

Being bathed in all white, you may think if you might,

it's a swank bit of space with its twinkling light.

If the fancy gives way to expect a bill that's sky high,

you'll be pleased for it won't cut into your money supply.

For a featured lunch menu at only ten dollars,

two filling, rich courses that may leave you to holler.

Immediately, you'll be served a hot, fresh, 

bread-stuffed basket,

take delight in the tearing for tisket and tasket.

Course one was a salad of gourmet greens and pineapple,

an ensalada venicia, my smile turned happy-go cackle.

Course two arrived, steaming hot, chipotle and spicy,

I was pleased and quite stuffed to the gills oh so nicely.

For frown as you may at the cost of dining aplenty, 

During Restaurant Week, you can feast 

for quite under a twenty.

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Venture Much? Alchemy's Dinner with Six Strangers

For adventure dining at its finest

have a looksie

here:

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Tonight... We Dance on the Fire Playground

This eve, my birthday celebration...

The new playthings will make their debut into the fire realm as some insanely beautiful friends and I  dance beneath the bridge, beside the water, and just above the earth.

I've to break in a new set of fire fans...

...and a hot date with a spanky, new fire orb

Not sure if I've entered the leagues of pyromaniacs, but I'm quite certain I'm well on my way.

A lovely way to follow up on an evening seated at the swanky cheese bar.

Here's to another circumsolar journey around the great firey star in the sky above.

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Holy shitskamutzski, someone is reading my blog!

Egads! I've surpassed my 20,000 views mark!
That means somebody's actually reading my babblescript here, and it's not just my mother! Please forgive me as I gush a little from this slight milestone after setting my sights on this web log nine months past.

Many moons ago as a firecracker of a young lass, I was a writer, a journalist for the local college. I took to writing not solely as a means of a paltry income, but as a way to report the truth and to serve as my own creative outlet for self expression.

Back then, I traveled about with a clipboard fastened securely beneath my arm's grip in a very Lois Lane type of fashion, ready to take pen to paper at a moment's notice should a writing opportunity strike. The process from jotting, to editing, to publishing, was untimely at best.

I find it remarkable that blogging today allows for an instant expression of spontaneous thought. In a moment, one can commit thoughts to pixels and publish instantly for the worldly masses to view in this modern day form of unrehearsed writing.

 Why blog?

Because I find it messy and collective, grueling and self-satisfying, challenging and rewarding, because it  is a sanctuary in which to practice positive thinking. Blogging has actually transformed the way I see the world. More importantly however, I blog because I 'm a colossal fan of the written word.

Oh, how I miss the old handwritten letters and snail mail of days past. Remember those tiny folded notes adorned with scribbled bits and traces of artwork from your school days of yesteryear ?

I find this to be the closest I can get to to writing aloud.

Blogging has provided a safe place to heal, a refuge for self-reflection, a retreat for growth, a means for change, and a habitat free from harm in which to seek and find confidence.

I find myself feeling rather comfortable with what I know (and what I don't know) these days. Unusually confident, having well walked away from the sensation of stage fright from clicking on "Publish Post" as I did in the early days of blogging. More importantly, this hard-earned confidence has swelled over into my actual life.

I think committing to this blog has been one of the best decisions I've made for myself.

These days I've closed the door to a former chapter in my life and have slammed open a new one with my head held up high. Only now, this new door is made from pure, gleaming, looking-glass, allowing for a clear picture of what lies afoot.

To date, I've survived my layoff, and have walked away from a rewarding career in forensic science. The lyrics from the classic Beatles song 'She Came in Through the Bathroom Window' come to mind,

"and so I quit the police department".

I've well come to terms that the corporate rat race is not for me.

Today, I'm stepping through and beyond that luminous glass door to move forward onto this new path in life. My very own red brick road, not the yellow one that everyone told me to take remember?

refresh your memory here

I'd like to take this moment to send a proper thank you to anyone who may have stopped by these parts to have a look around my posts which have consisted almost entirely of short, wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am snippets of fervor and schmoop, to my lengthy rants and/or odes to cheese, food, restaurant reviews, whimsy, poetry, musings, explorations and the like.

Stay tuned for all that lies ahead, my new lifepath is paved with cheese and there's lots of brewskis and wine along the way.

I suggest you buckle up, it's about to get real topsy-turvy as I slip in through a new bathroom window of sorts.

Thanks for making sense of nonsense with me, and heaps of thank yous for reading, readers.

Such is life, enjoy the ride.

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It's the Great Pumpkin Ale Charlie Brown!

 The pumpkin beers have harvested!

Tis' the season for spiced, nutmeg, chestnut, cinammon, and the ginger additions to the maltiness of your brew.

 or what I like to call bottled pumpkin pie

A small number of brown-bottled beer options:

in order from my greatest to least favorite

Kuhnhenn All Hallows Ale

copper, pumpkin color pour, on the nose: cinammon, allspice, brown sugar, delicious with a nice, malty finish

Fisherman's Imperial Pumpkin Stout

very dark brown in color, non overpowering muted pumpkin aroma, complex flavor sweet, molasses, light chocolate notes, mildly bitter with a sweet finish

Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale 

clear, light orange-colored with gold body, subdued aroma with slight butterscotch, wheat beer based, liquid pumpkin pie

Dogfishhead Punkin' Ale 

full-bodied brown ale, with a hint of spiced herb and pumpkin (great for cooking)

South Hampton Pumpkin Ale 

 Amber colored, aromatic, thick malty base, slightly nutmeg and pumpkin spiced

Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale 

Belgian White ale, no pumpkin scent, slightly spiced with touch of pumpkin

Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale 

 clear copper orange pour, Budweiser with a hint of pumpkin

Why not throw a pumpkin ale tasting party, with the big beautiful orange gourd eats in tow?

Pumpkin plays especially well with any of the following:

pork with a pear reduction sauce

roasted butternut (root vegetable) squash 

spiced dishes

roasted rich meats and stews

Don't forget to pour a tall glass of sweet ale such as Pumking and add a scoop of vanilla for a delicious dessert!

Cheese tip:

  For a warm-bellied treat, try a pumpkin ale with with the nutty, sweetness of a cave-aged, mountain Gruyère, or pair with the eggy, richness of a French Comté as a suitable companion.

Whatever ales you, enjoy!

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