Northern Cross

by Warren Hatch

Teach me the Northern Cross, you say, kneeling,

and I touch collarbone on each side of your neck
and following my fingers you turn, mapping galaxy
with the curve of bones. Find the milky Way first;
face west, and spread your arms north and south,
I say. You breathe deep once and your neck arches,
your head then in the crook of my arm, east, here
in August and after midnight. Then, this is Deneb,
and this is Altair, mapping those blue-white stars
to the softness and awakening hardness of flesh.
These stars of Cygnus and Aquila, swan flying
after eagle, south and west. Follow my hand;
trace their spreading wings, the chill dewfall,
arc of swan's neck along ribs and medial line;
you know the stories of swans. And this Vega.
Your spine arcs. Oh, you say, rising to the star,
another eagle swooping in Lyra, faint trapezoid
like one knee bending away from the other. Oh.
You see we will have a daughter who will watch
an eagle hunt, stoop, devour prey. Oh, she says;
you see the cross, have always known your way
among these stars at the top of summer sky,
the great hunting birds, their stories bone-
deep and white in the arc of pelvis.

Blarney. Blarney B Stone.

Once upon a time, there was a girl. Her name was Chutney.
Chutney learned, very early on, that it was always best to tell the truth.
Sometimes she did so quite liberally.

One day, Chutney was walking through a cave, a Damsel Cave.
She saw all sorts of terrible things - gross boys canoodling with dumb girls, crumbs on the counter, and lions and bears.
Combined, all of these atrocities were just too much for little Chutney to handle; she thought she was going to burst. After all, she had to live in said cave.

Long story short, she didn't. She actually got married, instead.
As a matter of fact, all inhabitants of the Damsel Cave did, come to think of it...
On each of their wedding days', they each did a "hip-hip-HOORAY!" for they didn't have to live with girls anymore.

The end.

Sheer Strength of Will.

In the time that I first had the impression to blog until the moment that my internet finally restored connectivity and allowed the page to load, all artistic drive flooded out of my system and left me with this overly frustrated lump in sweat pants and a tight tee-shirt, aimlessly sprawled on the couch. Now that's what I call a true artist. Maybe even a true waste of time.

Meow.

[1:26:41 PM] Ruthie K: Everytime the young gentleman would write a letter or send an owl she felt a glimmer of hope

[1:27:01 PM] Ruthie K: She would climb out of that deep dank and dirty place in her soul and shower.

[1:27:12 PM] Ruthie K: Unfortunately, the effect wouldn't last very long.

[1:27:16 PM] Kelci Sagers: Send an OWL! Hahaha

[1:27:50 PM] Ruthie K: She lost all of her friends, except for the owl that carried the correspondence between the two love stricken young persons

[1:28:14 PM] Ruthie K: Then one day, the young lady received word that the young gentleman was returning to her!

[1:28:59 PM] Ruthie K: She leaped for joy, which resulted in all of her crusty grimy clothes disintegrating, forcing her to a realization of how disgustingly dirty she was.

[1:29:12 PM] Ruthie K: The young lady decided it was best to shower.

[1:29:17 PM] Ruthie K: And she did.

[1:29:27 PM] Kelci Sagers: The end?

[1:29:29 PM] Ruthie K: The End.

Perhaps? Maybe? Yes?

I've been thinking... (a dangerous past-time! I KNOW!)

Have you ever:

• Noticed that when the person you're dating sings to you, it always sucks half as badly as it does after the relationship is long past?
• Drawn connections between your life and those of the characters in The Great Gatsby?
• Written a sincere love note past the age of 15?
• Completely infiltrated a strangers profile? Just because you could?
• Wished your hair was so long, it got caught in the vaccuum?
• Purposefully tried to take ugly pictures of yourself because it'd be easier than ones that look good?
• Had a crush on someone, solely for their mind?
• Wanted to live outside the US for more than a year or two?

I almost feel like I should ask if anyone is actually out there and reading this, like Julie from Julie and Julia... Haha, don't worry, I won't. But if you want, feel free to answer these... I won't mind.

One Bad Badger.

I have so much homework I should really be doing, right now... and obviously am not. :) But! I had a couple of thoughts that I wanted to jot down, really quickly:

1. Tegan and Sara are almost too cool to be true.
2. If I could, if I were brave enough, I'd start a band with a sound a lot like theirs.
3. I can't wait to chop my hair off!! I'm going boy-short, this next time. :) Four more years, I think? 
4. Zoning out... sucks. Know what's even worse? When people take advantage of your dreamy state to do terrible things like "jumper cables" to you. Not funny!! They HURT!
5. The lit theory class that I'm in, this semester, is so disgustingly cool. Like... I leave the room and am on such a nerdy high, every time. Makes me question myself sometimes, haha.
6. For that same class, we're each reading/assessing various novels... I'm reading Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam -- I'm super stoked, to say the least!! It's this really intimate look at Middle Eastern culture... but in the Western Hemisphere! Wooo! Um, sounds pretty graphic/gritty/intense. Right up my alley. :)
7. "Badger" is totally the word of the day.
8. I realized, today, that I actually have a goal of, someday, ruining an entire group for someone... For example, say that we always listened to Dashboard together? And after you could never listen to them without thinking of me... Yeah, I wanna be that girl. But only sometimes.

Au revoir! <3

Geranumo!

Step into the ring, Pig Face?
The choice is already gone,
You've said yes without words.

An eternity of wrestling matches,
Pokes by chasing cactus,
Bruises in the shapes of various zoo animals...
Whimpers of pain and giggles of thrill,
Girl, are you really sure this is for you?

Don't worry, he'll always make it up.
The Antique Road Show will always have re-runs,
You will never be without a game to watch...
He'll always have a place for you in his arms.
Have no fear, Pig Face,
This love isn't going anywhere anytime soon.  

With all that meat and cheese,
Was "no" ever a possibility?
No, no I think not.

New Semester, New Stress

Yeah, yeah. As the title so wonderfully states, with this new semester, new stressors have tagged along. Seriously, sometimes I question if things will ever be simple, again. Merberur.

Anywho, one good thing definitely came out of the yuck!! :) I started finding some of my favorite things to fill the empty corners of my mind with. Sometimes I forget how wonderful the littlest things of life can really be... It was nice to indulge in simplicity for a while. :) So much so, I wrote a blog about it, haha.


What, you ask, did I come up with? You say you want to experience them as well?? Oh, just you wait, here they come! 

1. A little while back, Ben sent me a jump drive with some videos and pictures of him and his companions on it... Needless to say, they were an instant mood brightener. He's so stinking cute. Just gotta say it. Nothing beats being loved by the world's biggest nerd. 
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo 

2. I updated my playlist. I know, I just uploaded a new(er) one not that long ago... but I had to do it over. It was a must. The best medicine I've found to get rid of serious stress is to sing/dance. As obnoxiously as possible. Most all of the music on the playlist is exactly what I jam to when in these moods... They're so fantastic for breaking them, I can't even explain. Oh wait, yes I can. Try it and you'll see what I'm talking about. :) 

3. This may or may not come as a surprise to some of you... but my last favorite thing to do is parouse various fashion oriented sites. :) I found this super cool new blog/page. You should probably check it out: http://fierceandnerdy.com/


Anywho, just in case you DON'T check it out, they had this scooter on there s(on the left) that I'm seriously considering as my very first family car. We'll see if my dream of owning a four-seater Vespa will ever come true. Sigh.