Archive for the 'Us' Category

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It takes four socks for two Sock Monkeys to be friends.

Published on July 18, 2009 by Corinna Carlson | 11 Comments

Ever since we started to make Sock Monkeys because we didn’t have money for gifts Christmas 2004 we are constantly pleasantly surprised at the level of love people have for them when they arrive in the mail or we hand one over by handmade hand. When people do things like take their monkeys travelling with them on extensive journeys, or enjoy taking loads of photos just because, and hang out with them regularly, take them on road trips and day trips, the list goes on and on – it blows our minds. Let’s just say that neither of us saw any of the joy that is making Sock Monkeys coming, it is beyond flattering for us and we love hearing people talk about their monkeys like they’re part of the family like the very first Monkey we ever made good ol’ Dr. Vegas complete with jealousy gimp mask and pinned on tail is part of our family. He’s more to us than just a router guard, but that job does keep him warm in the winter.

A few months ago our close friend Phaedra went on a European journey that is still going but for the sake of the story I will leave it at European journey. One of our best buddies C.J lives in England so before she left I said “hey if you get a chance you should go see C.J” She was headed to Italy but hey why not just throw it out there, plus they both have our Sock Monkeys. C.J and I talk over email multiple times a week so at some point I mentioned we had a friend heading over near his side of the pond. As luck would have it Phaedra ended up in London, C.J lives near London, low and behold soon there were plans for beers and a Monkey Meet-Up. Mr. Bate and lady friend to their Monkey, Lester P. Mason were also in the original meet up plans but they were unable to make it.

The four of them, Phaedra and Bobby along with C.J and Joe Pepper Jones met at a pub. Never in one trillion years would either of us EVER even have considered people actually meeting over having one of our Sock Monkeys, if that doesn’t make you feel good about yourself and what you are trying to put out into the world I don’t really know what would. We were both and still are flattered beyond belief that two people who didn’t know each other and had really only communicated through comment threads on some posts on this here blog, ended up drinking beers and having shits and giggles and making new awesome friends.I have been given permission by them both to use their photos in this post which was totally nice.

Bobby & Joe Pepper Jones

Mr. Hixon, Bobby & Joe Pepper Jones

Joe Pepper Jones & Bobby

Joe Pepper Jones, Bobby & Phaeds arm.

Phaeds & Bobby

This Tornado Loves You

Published on June 4, 2009 by Corinna Carlson | 10 Comments

We saw Neko Case at The Vogue last night, Middle Cyclone tour.

The Vogue.

Up until yesterday I had avoided writing the word epic anywhere and I had also avoided saying it. I knew it would happen just like it did with fail, damn catchy one syllable words.  When I can only vomit so many words into what we all now know of as status updates these annoying words do come in handy. If you think fail is bad let’s just hope you don’t have to put an EPIC in front of it like I did last night.

waiting.

waiting.

Now I do admit, after having just seen her FRONT ROW CENTER the ordeal that was getting my tickets or my PAID stamp rather does seem a wee bit trivial. And it was my forth time and all. Adam’s fifth as he saw her with The New Pornographers.

my new shirt.

Three different sets of information told me that the will call would open at five. And back on March 3rd when I bought the tickets Adam had the audacity to not only put the idea in my head but convince me that we could get front row. I was upset it was open seating I don’t like open seating I don’t like festival in a park setting seating. I bought tickets early off her site because I am an insane fan like that and so they went through Etix.com and I’m not upset with anyone in particular it just turned into this epic adventure trying to maintain my place in line, FIRST, and get my tickets. I got there only thirty minutes before I thought will call was going to open.  I was extremely excited there was no way I wasn’t going to be able to go straight from the front of the will call line to the front of the have tickets line and make front row, or so I thought sitting there until five o’clock came there were people starting to arrive but there was NO WILL CALL.

Paul

Meanwhile I am totally stressing out, thankfully I took two extra milligrams of clonazepam which must have helped because it turned out will call didn’t open until six and I didn’t put a cap in anyone’s ass, and who CARES that I was there at 4:30pm anymore stuck, FIRST, in the bull shit will call line.  FINALLY very nicely and patiently we Etix.com people were given the correct information as they were under the same incorrect impression as I was. Will call would not be open until six, I still wasn’t impressed, whatever, I just spent three months with Adam planning different strategies on how to get front row no biggie.

I had never participated in a plan of this sort before because I normally arrive around half way through the opener of concerts on account of my headaches not on account of being rude although I understand that it is rude.

Enter here, Jessica and Sara both within close proximity of each other and because of this we start to plot together and I explain my situation, Jessica who was the first of the two to arrive sits at the front of the has tickets line with Sara and says she will save me a spot which was of course the awesomest nicest thing ever BUT I had too much adrenaline running through me to really calm down about the whole fiasco because even when will call opened there was a bunch of us standing there with print outs from Etix.com and they had NO tickets for us and had to go find people.  WHO wants to deal with that when you’re excited, and you got there super early. I am NEVER doing will call or not going through ticket master again it was just not worth the money saved with the stress added to my already anxiety filled body.

Had it not been for Jessica and Sara arriving exactly when they did I’d likely NOT have been able to have kept my first place in line and I thank them A LOT. Sara and I are already Facebook friends. When it came down to it, including Adam the four of us worked together for the first four front and center seats it was pretty remarkable to have gotten them.  I don’t think I will ever go that extent for open seating again I’ve seen her enough times now.

The show itself was sensational. My only complaint about front row is that I couldn’t see their shoes so until they walked off stage I didn’t noticed that Kelly Hogan had to die for red heels on and Neko had on Black Cons.  I don’t dress up anymore for her shows, I did for the first one but she always comes out in black pants or jeans and some kind of t-shirt or black top.  She doesn’t seem to be a dress up kinda gal.

It was really nice to hear a completely new set and arrangement, having seen the Fox Confessor tour or variations of it three times this set was very refreshing, I enjoyed the older songs added and the songs off the new album were prefect.  It was nice to hope, to wonder what, and want her to play certain songs and not having the faintest idea of what was coming, like the first time.

There are more photos on my Flickr.

Beaver Hunt 2009

Published on May 3, 2009 by Corinna Carlson | 20 Comments

Last Thursday my Yoga instructor Sandra told me that there was a new beaver down at Lost Lagoon, a rescue beaver, and that I should go and see it, I asked where it was but she started in on a beaver voice about the beaver because a crowd of Yoga attendees had gathered around to hear about the beaver and left out where around lagoon he/she was hanging or I missed it which I probably did. And of course it wasn’t lost on any of us that said beaver could have already made his/her way over to Beaver Lake, just one body of water north of Lost Lagoon.

swans.

raccoon.

mallard.
© abcIV

oh honey you're so funny.
© abcIV

pondering.

us.

Yesterday we went on a mission to find the beaver but we came up short we did not see the beaver. We did see;

  • birds
  • an ant
  • turtles
  • mallards
  • Canada geese
  • swans
  • other types of ducks
  • raccoons
  • a heron
  • horses; and
  • a bald eagle

Sincerest apologies if I have missed any animals that we saw, literally. We realize those aren’t the only animals that exist down at Lost Lagoon.

goose.
© abcIV

fountain of the lagoon.

BEAVER ALERT.

I am always looking for times to work on taking photos so I did take some standard photos of the regular animals we saw and so did Adam we have to trade back forth on the camera which is a pain in the ass but there are worse things in life.  [his photos in this post will all be credited to abcIV]

swan.

leaves.

flowers.

mallard.

This photo that he took is the creepiest shit ever he said “I knew you’d love it when I took it” well, I do love it but it is still creepy. Just add some night goggles make it night and that is straight out of Silence of the Lambs that IS Buffalo Bill coming for me. And the funny thing is that the photo following I don’t even know he has taken the creepy photo I am just annoyed because I don’t have the camera.

creepiest shit ever you fucking freak.
© abcIV

steeealth.
© abcIV

It started to rain on the mission so we didn’t get photos of the baby Canadian geese and the baby ducklings. They were adorable but we were on mission Beaver Hunt 2009 anyway.

melting.

practice

My allergies didn’t bother me till later when we got home it was nice of them to hold off on the inevitable attack. I am SO IN LOVE with my Neti Pot. [more on that at a later date]

my last season Ked.

the edge.

I am not good and speedy enough to catch the good shit yet but the swans are horny fuckers right now and I was running around the Lagoon while one male chased a female down running across the water sort of like Jesus [in movies I've seen] would and tried to copulate with her but she was NOT in the mood he backed off pretty quick which was annoying because I wanted to see them get it on.

creepy DEUX.

swans.

Made another VLogBlog busted out the Guitar Hero and I warmed up on expert to Schism, Tool and I’ve never even passed that song on expert and I fail at 98% but I’d watch it anyway. We’ll film a song I rule at on expert soon enough.

“And don’t think everybody’s going to choose your side” *

Published on January 7, 2009 by Corinna Carlson | 38 Comments

You know how some things happen in your life things that are really big, bad big, the sorts of things that don’t go away that you have to simply learn how to live with?

I’ve been learning to deal with one of those situations for almost a year now.  Since my hospitalized break down last March I have come further as a person and learned more about life and myself and human behavior than I ever could have in a class. But the truth remains in no particular order that 2008 was in the top three worst years of my thirty-one years to date.  And the beginning of this year has shown that I’m not there yet, that things need to be said so I can for real move on, for real LET GO because it isn’t that I haven’t moved on, it is that every time something happens in relation to a decision that changed not just my whole life but my husband’s too, it is only ever talked about in bits and pieces or in gossip circles.  There is so much misunderstanding and judgment already in regards to what I’m about to write about that this is by far the hardest post I have and probably ever will write on my website. I simply can not go on with this blog or as a writer if I don’t come out with my side of the story. I can handle people making the decision to not like me or judge me if you know the truth but I’ve realized I’m simply not strong enough to handle the fear, judgment and loss of so many things and people that are important to me without speaking my piece.

Back in 2003 I met a woman and it just so happened through university that Adam knew her too.  We had a volatile friendship from the start, I found her to be sort of like The Weekly World News we drifted apart and back together when after years of trying, she got pregnant.  Now my point is not to bash her but even she will admit she suffers from many mental illnesses and was not in a healthy relationship with the father, never has been.  We spent almost every day together, Adam and I were the first people to meet the baby who were not family, and we spent a Christmas with her and her new family right after her father passed making it all about her because Christmas is not my thing but we cared deeply for her and still care for the baby. But there were issues right off the bat, issues with her and the baby.  Adam and I grew concerned and so did my psychiatrist. I started to talk to my friend from high school another recently new mother who was floored by what I was relaying to her because I knew bad and wrong shit where going on with this baby but I was afraid to do something, she told me she’d have already called Child Protection Services.  My shrink encouraged me weekly to call Emergency Medical Services.  With what we knew, if the child was harmed, we could have been criminally charged and partially liable for not reporting to CS.

And with that after making the hardest decision I have ever made in my life, after all the unfair and unwarranted shit I have taken for doing the right thing I am going to tell you that based on all the information we had, all that I had witnessed, all that we had witnessed together and based on things she had stupidly written about on her own blog, all printed off and shown to my shrink, it had reached the point that I could not for my own humanity wait any longer.  I called EMS, who advised me to immediately call the Ministry of Children, who were adamant that we had done the right thing by calling.

She can say that I deserved all the horrible things she did to me because in her eyes we attacked her child.  She can’t understand that we did the opposite, that nobody would wish to bring this storm on themselves unless it was the only thing left to do to keep that child safe. We have a number of friends with children, all good parents; they stood by us when at first they didn’t understand and could really only think of how horrible that happening to them would have been but they’ve seen what we’ve gone through with this and support us in full.

I’m terrified of being judged even more by posting this, but it almost killed me last year and still via harassment in various forms causes a lot of grief when I find myself weak and let it in. I need to write and I won’t let this hold me back any more, I took the high road for a very, very long time, and I don’t see this as stepping back it is stepping forward, because through all the pain and insurmountable heartache and loss this one fateful call has caused us, I don’t regret making that call and there is nothing on earth that could make me.

* lyrics property of Natalie Merchant