Thursday, August 31, 2006
let's go to the bahamas!!
hey everybody... looks like summer is over for most of you in north america... but not for us along the southern coast! it's still hot as hell. hot hot hot!!
and for those of you in saudi arabia and brasil, etc etc... well it's almost always summer for you, huh? things are getting back to normal here in houston, texas... school just started for the kids and college kids (yeah! less of a line at the coffee shop during the day!)
if you're a big fan of morrissey like i am, well, we're having morrissey karaoke night at guava lamp, where i do my debaucherous little show every sunday and wednesday. it's this sunday, sept 3rd. we're giving away $100 too to the best singer. so if you need more info about guava lamp or morrissey night, just email me.
ok! off to the islands!!
i flew into ft. lauderdale to meet jason before getting on the ship. it's the last flight, i'm afraid, that i'll have my trusty flask to carry on board to keep the flying jitters away. cause when i'm drunk, turbulance means nothing to me.
this is jason and his new, hunky man michael.
i am still amazed at the amount of construction that goes on in miami. everytime i go (and i'm there a lot!) there's new buildings.
your typical house-on-the-water scene in miami.
time to take michael to the airport so he can fly home to new york.
the world's longest goodbye...
finally! i'm on another adventure! let's gooooooooooo!!!!!!
the next morning i woke up in the bahamas.
perfect
i picked a hammock and crashed out with a huuuuge mai-tai and a good book.
jason laid in his hammock for so long he got hammock-disease.
somebody needs a tan. ( i'll get plenty of a tan and a burn later!)
it was actually really warm bitches.
jason gets all sexy in the water. where's michael when you need him? oh wait, that's what we'd talk about the rest of my trip... michaelmichaelmichaelmichaelmichael. o my god my boy jason is in love.
nice farmer's tan tito
i didn't know that i came to the bahamas with michael jackson/mother teresa...
goin' back to the main boat.
goodbye bahamas.
off to jamaica!!
alright kiddos... see you soon... next update- the ship and jamaica!!
see you later habibis dialis xoxoxoxoxo
- Thursday, August 31, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
ok!! indiana part four... the goodbye.
the quick news. i finished my next book, the canopic garden. i'm very excited about it. it kicks my ass. i think someone else jumped in my body and wrote it for me. i'm certainly thrilled. now we just have to get the illustrations done and get it printed.
here's the last leg of my indiana trip... and next week i'm gonna take you to the bahamas and jamaica. xo
i thought this shirt was really appropriate to wear to ryan's after-hours party.
and another one especially for my mother.
"toddicus, you've had a bit too much."
look who's talkin'.
adorable jd.
oh boy.
whatchu talkin' about willis?
no ma'am.
the next morning (uh!) i jumped in my pimpin' convertable pt cruiser (rental, fo real) and headed to anderson to pick up my family and take them to our hidden cottage at yellow creek lake in northern indiana.
this is the scene of how patient i had to be while we piled my aging family into the back of an outdated van. bless. my mother is the redhead with a little less patience than i.
in the way to yellow creek lake we passed through wabash, indiana. yes, just as the sign says, the first electrically lighted city in the usa.
driving through the blasted rock into wabash. when i was a little kid my granddad told me that the reason it was called "Wabash" is that the native americans would take their misbehaving children to these very walls and bash them into it while they screamed "wah! wah!". i believed it until i was about 13 years old.
the famous wabash river.
"he's farmin' you guys." they don't say "y'all" in indiana.
country folk.
and if you read indiana the island then you'll know this cottage as the one i used to run to after doris told me ghost stories all night. walnuts!
view from the back of the cottage.
the slide they're building by our cottage. omg.
i will do my best.
this is the the tree. yes, "the the tree." we wanted (as kids) to be very specific about at which tree we were to meet. this tree you can literally walk right up and chill in. it'd been 14 years since i climbed it.
this is what happens to a tree 20 years after you carve your name into an upper branch. it said "todd + angie best friends". so, kids, don't carve into trees, k?
had to get my picture in the tree for old time's sake. you can't really tell, but i'm really high up!
later on my family and i headed up to mentone, indiana to have a meal at teel's. again, i haven't been here in 14 years.
here we have 3 generations of my family. counterclockwise from me you've got toddicus, my aunt becky, my uncle david, my granddad carol, my grandma ruthie, my kick-ass mom, and my great aunt "doody".
mentone, the egg basket of the midwest. and that's me next to a giant juevo.
back at yellow creek lake i spied a bunch of purple martins caring for their young.
this is where i used to catch turtles.
if you've read the poems in the "preview the book" or indiana the island, you'll recognize this cemetery as double pine cemetery. one of the pines has since fallen. (from the poem when graveyards held the canopy of my youth.)
wildflowers. thought they were pretty. i know, gay, right?
this is where the first church of god stood in indiana. it's in front of the old graveyard.
the first church area from the other side.
toddicus of the corn.
my awesome mom got a swing in before we left the cottage. i better look that good when i'm 62.
ok. funny thing. this is my grandma's deaf and blind dog. i hit a crazy bump and the dog got all freaked out. next thing you know, it shits all over my poor gran, and my god if it didn't stink so bad. so we had to clean up my gran, get the dog calmed and cleaned, and then out of the van for a walk. so i snapped this shot of my poor gran and her ailing pooch from the drivers seat. annie (the dog) wouldn't pee (and they weren't about to let her back in until she did) so i got out until she did and snapped some shots.
ok. let's gooooooooo!!!!!
the only real thing to see when driving through alexandria, indiana.
and finally, i'm back in indianapolis. whew!
ryan and i went to my favorite place to eat in indy, bazbeaux's pizza! (the downtown location) i looove that painting.
my old friend scott works at bazbeaux's. hey scott! woot!
after din, ryan and i headed down to the metro for my last night in indy.
finally, a smoke.
precious april.
i miss you guys!
maria lights up...
eddie and me.
god bless the straight boys.
o daddy!
i'll getcha back straight boy.
the boys and me.
maria couldn't be any luckier.
going home time...
goodbye indy.
ok kids, next update will be another loong one... lots of the caribbean to show ya and some fun miami shots as well... and yes, i promise new poetry soon. now that the book is finished, i can start posting the outtakes.
love y'all
xo
toddicus
- Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
weee!! indiana part three!
hi everyone! i'm back from the caribbean, florida, and skinny dippin' in mexico (wait til you see those pictures! lol!) here is a hodgepodge of part three of my indiana trip. enjoy enjoy enjoy.
i stopped by brunette, a wonderful salon in broadripple, indianapolis to see my friend christine, the owner. she was preparing for a big hair show that night. this would be a great self-shot for my myspace page lol.
then i had a fantastic breakfast at 3 sisters cafe. i really miss eating here.
i walked past white river to see the ducks.
hey there quacky quacks. mallard ducks. pretty common in indiana.
the males have the blue/green heads. this one (the brown one with the little bit of blue on the wing) is the female.
dad!! dad!! wait for me!
then i cross the broadripple rainbow bridge.
broadripple during the day. at night it turns into its own little "6th street" like in austin. live bands, stupid girls, lots of beer and puke.
bought these totally you-know-what glasses at future shock. this is the car the rental company gave me. a pt cruiser convertable. how appropriate.
next i drove downtown to massachusettes avenue and visited the owner of
masoma, kiki gianakos.
toddicus and kiki!!
looking towards downtown from masoma.
the scottish rite cathedral.
otro iglesia.
omg i used to live in this house!! if those walls could talk... lol
later i went to my old stomping grounds, camp chesterfield, and saw this really rare
black squirrel with a tan tail!
he caught me snapping photos!
as y'all know from my news archives, camp chesterfield is a neighborhood dedicated
to spiritualists. it's a place of worship and psychic energy.
a typical street in camp chesterfield.
there were many wonderful summer flowers in bloom.
look at this cute chipmunk! we don't have them in south east texas : (
he caught me looking...
...and ran into his hole.
when i lived in indy i used to see this church all the time.
since it was almost the 4th of july, ryan and i decided to blow some shit up. oh yeah, i'm back in indy now. i'm blonde, leave me alone.
we started getting covered in burned gunpowder, etc.
my dorky ass lighting a bottle rocket.
we started finding things to blow up, like this candle.
and then this mug full of water. kaboom!
i started to get a bit tipsy.
hee hee.
my legs. mmm-hmmm. yep.
remember the first picture where i have on that ridiculous hair-thing and i told you that i'd be going to a hair show this night? well, the girl looking into the camera with the long hair is christine hazel, the owner of the salon. and here are some fun pictures of her show!
the amazing kristi lee from the bob and tom show on q95.
i'm thrilled!!
i'm delighted!!
and i can magically zap your hair back to it's boring state if you fuck with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!
can't talk right now... i'm too busy being fabulous at a hairshow.
me and tony... he used to sort of manage my unmanagable band, dead mr. sunshine. i looove his shirt.
ok guys, there is one more indiana update coming up later this week. and then next week we'll have pictures from my caribbean trip, and then... the first two poems from my new book will be available... for free, of course.
love ya'll mean it.
xo
toddicus
ps - hi salim.
- Tuesday, August 08, 2006