Friday, October 31, 2003

Things falling in the night

I almost forgot to mention that I saw a meteor fall to earth the other night. I was driving that dark, still un-urbanized section of the 101 freeway near the Marin/Sonoma county line. The sky was quite dark, though it was only 6pm. Suddenly, right in front of me, it seemed, a falling star. No, much bigger than a falling star! It had a bright tail and seemed to glow blue-white.

The next day, I was browsing craigs list to see if I could read what's upcoming in Austin, and found this on a message board. I don't know why it's on the Austin board.
Leah Brooks at 9:48 AM

Highlight the blank space for the answers...

What do you call a skeleton who won't work?

Lazy Bones

How does a witch tell time?

 She looks at her witch watch.

What surgery does a vampire doctor perform?

 Fly by night operations

What did the ghost buy for his Haunted House?

 Home Moaner's Insurance

Thursday, October 30, 2003

Genetic Transformations

OK, here's some strange, strange stuff. The Beverly Hills "Healing Center" now offers this service:

DNA Activation

Our world is changing and so must our bodies to be able to keep up with the events that are about to occur. This activation will prepare you for the Harmonic Concordance (See Below) by adding 16 additional molecules to each DNA strand and activate your DNA from 2 to 12 strands.

From a physical standpoint this will create the ability to stay younger longer and reverse the effects of aging on a cellular level. This powerful physical and energetic healing is done by directly linking into Source while Brook consciously shifts ones brainwave patterns.

I really don't know how these people sleep at night. I don't know how much they bilk you for the on-site DNA activation, but:
"We have now added a remote DNA Activation service for those of you that don't have time to come in or aren't local. The price is $220.00."



Leah Brooks at 11:55 AM

Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Real history

It is refreshing to see that lovely eastern building and beautiful autumn colors on the site - it is so "olde-fashioned" and quaint.

We have some history in California, too, really we do! it is just a bit tainted, and to be honest, not very old. Here is a picture of a roadside attraction (a fake ghost town) in the town of Angels Camp, where we drove through a few weekends ago. Notice what the 49s are up to these days.


Leah Brooks at 10:38 AM

Yankee influence

This blog of Leah's gets better and better with unexpected and interesting revelations, perceptions and discoveries that I look forward to. However, it is so California! I just felt a strong urge to inject some New England into the scenery.
Here is a picture taken a few weeks ago in Collinsville, CT. You can see the leaves were just staring to turn. This is another one of those factory-mill towns that are remnants of the 19th century in New England. This shot was taken about 100 yards from the old building where my current community band rehearses. This band was really a great find for me. The "book" has really tough arrangements of old marches, not the washed down high school band stuff, and of course a variety of jazz and concert band fare. In typical New England fashion, it claims to be the current iteration of a band that played there in 1849, although few of the original members are still active, or around to verify it.



And here is a tree in Vernon, Connecticut.



R.G. Brooks at 8:54 AM

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Hot October

The sky is clear blue, so blue that you can taste its clarity. The autumn angle of the sun makes for sharper colors as it hits the hills and trees.

Then, I look out the window and the blue is tainted with grey, and there's a yellowish cast to the light. It's smoke! and it's coming closer, over the ridge and spilling down into our valley. The acrid smell of it finds its way into the building.

Within a few minutes, the view is gone. The hills are mere silhouettes in blue-grey, and the light is masked. There's a wildfire in Nicasio today, and they say we are in no danger.
Leah Brooks at 4:30 PM

Monday, October 27, 2003

Get doused

It's always scary when the late summer/fall heat in California combines with those harsh Santa Ana winds. I am watching the news of fires in Southern California - having just been in San Diego, it feels somehow closer.

link
Leah Brooks at 5:05 PM

Harmony seekers

Like most bloggers, I take a look from time to time to see how many readers I have at this site - actually, it inspires me to keep on writing when I see that 3 or 4 people have taken time out of their day to peruse the site. What I find most fascinating about the people that wander to my cyberplace is that many of them have done a search in google or yahoo for "harmonic convergence".

When I picked the name for my blog, I was thinking about four-part harmony, and about the clash and then the melding of my artform with the internet. I was NOT thinking much about the event that I remember first appearing into public consciousness in the 80's sometime, when the planets were supposed to be in alignment and that soon all humankind would come to its senses. (I'm guessing that didn't happen yet.)

I actually remember that harmonic convergence, because my friends threw a party to celebrate it. Well, I WAS living in San Francisco at the time. It seems to me I have a photo of us (very pre-digital), sitting on lawn chairs in Noe Valley. There were no planets lined up behind us.

Anyhow, apparently many people are still thinking about the planetary event, or at least are looking for meaning in the spheres. If you are one of those, can you email me and let me know why? or what has inspired you to search the internet for the big H.C.?
Leah Brooks at 9:51 AM

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

No, I won't be jumping

Stella returned from New Zealand with fabulous stories about her adventure travel, including bungee jumping and sky diving. Although I love roller coasters and hiking along high cliffs, I am not drawn to either of these "sports". The thought of hurling myself from high points towards the ground, with my possible demise promoted by gravity, seems quite the antithesis of "sport". Especially the bungee experience, where your suicidal leap is thwarted at the last split second.

But New Zealand itself does sound great. We'll have to put it on the long list of places we would like to visit. From the sound of it, the country benefits by not having too many people around to muck it up.
Leah Brooks at 9:15 AM

Monday, October 20, 2003

Quick trip to the Southland

I went to San Diego this weekend for a Lead School - everything you ever wanted to know about singing Barbershop lead, given by Kim Hulbert, the best lead in the business. It's been a while since I've been down there. A group of friends from our chorus flew to Orange County and drove down. I was surprised by the massive overdevelopment along that stretch of the coast. I don't know why I was surprised - it's the same everywhere. There are just too many people!! all trying to live in the same place. When we drove to through California and Nevada recently on our way to Utah, I was struck by how much open space there still is in this country. (of course, it was while crossing the Mojave Desert) Yet we cram ourselves into these areas right on top of each other. If only someone would invent the transporter (like in Star Trek) so that we could live anywhere... and the added bonus would be that we wouldn't have to mess up the scenary with these ugly highways, either.
Leah Brooks at 9:17 AM

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

It's ele-mental

How does a team stay mentally focused on a goal, even after a bad break? Watching the Cubbies last night, and how the team just fell apart after the Marlins broke through in the 8th inning with 8 runs!

Seeing what happens to performance under pressure is always fascinating (even though the loss was heartbreaking). The faces of the team, the body posture of the fans, everyone just seemed to deflate, as the opposing team danced and bounced with renewed spirit. True champions must be able to keep hope alive, despite curses, bad luck, a good opponent, whatever befalls them. Let's just see what happens tonight.
Leah Brooks at 10:50 AM

Monday, October 13, 2003

Gold Country Getaway

We went up to Calaveras County with Glenna & Jennifer for the weekend. Their neighbors rent out a cabin near Arnold, California. (Yes, I know. what timing for a town named Arnold.)

We got to do some great hiking along the beautiful Stanislaus River and in the Calaveras Big Trees State Park along Beaver Creek. The dogs got to romp in the water and the weather was perfect. The leaves haven't turned yet at that altitude, but you could feel the coming fall in the evening's crisp air. A pleasant surprise was the town of Murphys, with its cute and curious shops and collections of art.

Calaveras is famous for Mark Twain's story about the jumping frogs, and we met up with a few of them (see photos).
Leah Brooks at 2:32 PM

Thursday, October 09, 2003

Peachy

I wonder how long it will take to get a hold of one of the new 20 dollar bills, to be distributed today? And how did they decide on "peach" as our national currency color?

From the news:
"The most obvious change is that the greenback now features colors like blue and a pinkish-orange hue that the government calls "peach."

It is the first time in almost 100 years that a mass-circulation U.S. note has prominently contained a color besides green and black."



Leah Brooks at 12:01 PM

Come on out

Although I know that it's politically powerful and most effective to come out by sitting people down and just telling them, I have never been that (pardon the expression) straightforward in my approach. Generally I figure that people will "get" what they see in front of them, and if they don't, shame on them. In order to come out to my parents, I brought home my college girlfriend and made no secret about sharing a bedroom with her. The message was received loud and clear.

I have always thought it's strange that there is no end to the coming out that we must do. Everytime I meet someone new or enter a new group, there is the worrisome task of "how" and "when" to let people know. It's very tiresome. My preferred technique is to bring Barbara along and give her a nice kiss and hug when everyone is looking.

October 11th is National Coming Out Day. How about let's reverse it this year. Straight people: give someone a break and tell them that you already know they are gay or lesbian.
Leah Brooks at 9:15 AM

Wednesday, October 08, 2003

Sporting chance

I've found that throughout the recall as well as other times when the media disturbs me, my eyes tend to linger on the margin of the newspaper where the sports results are printed.

Now, I've never been one of those sporty women. I have a lingering knowledge of sports teams that simply comes from having grown up with three brothers in my family. Indeed, I did attend two Giants games this year, and last year I did watch the World Series. But generally, I could go a year or so without ever tuning in a game on TV. I might see the odd Olympics event when it comes around, or a tennis match if the Williams sisters are battling it out, but really, I never ever read the Sports section.

But here we go: when politics gets weird, or when the liberal "bubble" in which I live seems to be running out of surface tension, I suddenly find myself with nothing else I want to read in the local rag, but SPORTS! Here's a safe place where we can put our interest and passion! If our team loses, not to worry, there's always another game, or at least another season!

With the state vote turning out the way it did, I'm thinking I may have to host Monday night football games at our house, and buy scalped playoff tickets, or maybe even go to some basketball games this year!!
Leah Brooks at 4:40 PM

Tuesday, October 07, 2003

My dogma chased my karma

I like the idea of the karmic cabinets. We have to be careful of what we're storing in there, and it's important to make sure that everything we need for the future has been put away ahead of time.




Leah Brooks at 11:57 AM

Monday, October 06, 2003

A Dream

A backstage look at how karma is created. ?
Meredith Brooks at 9:10 PM

A Dream

Had a dream this weekend that is hovering around, wanting to be figured out.

I was in a large room with a high beamed ceiling. It was mostly empty, but around the room, built into the walls, were large cabinets. The people in the room, some of whom I knew, were coming and going into the room, and frantically stuffing things into the cabinets - photos, books, items, what have you. Every once in a while, the door of the room would close and no one could open it. At that time, those left in the room would hold hands and form a large circle. Everyone would turn on their tape recorders. Then, a voice would address each of us, one at a time. The voice would tell us about our future. However, the voice could only use words that were available by proxy of the items that were in the cabinets. If there was no item that held the meaning of the word needed by the voice to describe our future, then the voice would stop, and start up in another language. Each cabinet was a different language.

After the session ended, we would listen to our tapes and try to figure out what items were missing. Sometimes the languages were ones that we could recognize, and sometimes they were alien languages from another planet.

We needed to include things in the cabinet that were personal, not just books full of words. We were looking for photos of people we knew, and personal items of value.
Leah Brooks at 11:45 AM

Wednesday, October 01, 2003

Movie Drought

We have been so busy with our trip and everything else, that we have not seen nearly enough movies this summer.

There is a growing list of ones we plan to see:
Pirates of the Caribbean (just for Johnny Depp).. guess we'll have to wait for the DVD.
Under the Tuscan Sun
Thirteen
Lost In Translation
Dirty Pretty Things
Matchstick Men

Leah Brooks at 12:05 PM