In December of 2008, a ceramic raccoon and ransom note were left on my back porch. The mystery remains unsolved. Today, the raccoon prankster strikes again!
Wonder Boy was out watering the yard and suggested I go check out the far corner of the yard. We’ve planted some bulbs back there so I thought something new was sprouting and he just wanted me to check it out. Oh no.
Wonder Boy and I spent all winter whining away about the lack of good shows coming to Cincinnati. We wondered aloud why we didn’t live in Nashville, Louisville or Chicago. They were drawing all of the great shows.
Then all of a sudden, the flood gates opened and it was like manna falling from the skies!
The discovery this week really was Free Energy. We went to Mates of State as total posers — we knew nothing of their music but went because we trusted the taste of friends we knew going. In the end we thought they were okay. Their guest trumpet player, however, was phenomenal.
Opening for Mates of State of Free Energy. Love. They are a throwback to 70s rock. Think the Rolling Stones meets The Darkness meets Thin Lizzie. Think ridiculous stage presence that surpasses there minimal experience. They have one CD out and if it indicates what they are capable of, I am excited.
Almost as excited as I am for the rest of the concerts this summer!
I did my civic duty by going down to the courthouse to appear as a trial witness. I found my way to the building and stood in a long line to go through a metal detector. Next, I went up the elevator and found the prosecuting attorney standing outside one of the courtrooms. She let me know our trial was running late due to a murder trial. (!)
I sat down on a pew-like bench with one of the four other witnesses. Things I learned:
He was much more conservative than I, which is fine, but I think it’s funny that he caught on to this by asking me what newspapers I read and I said none. How do you get your news he asked me and I said NPR and The New Yorker. He pulled out his book.
While waiting to get called into the courtroom again, waiting for a murder trial to finish, a little old lady in handcuffs was escorted into the courtroom. Also during this time I saw at least three people escorted by me in striped pajamas. I didn’t even think they did that anymore!
Just when I thought we were about to be sent home and the trial rescheduled for another day, we got called into court. We all sat through the trial and it was fascinating. The judge’s position was interested me especially. In some ways her job was so important and in others so mundane. She basically just asked the defendant in the case before ours (not the accused murderer) a long series of questions so he could plead guilty.
When our case finally started, the defendant was escorted up in front of the judge. He pled guilty, which meant that all five of us who were there as witnesses would not be speaking.
The man who I had witnessed getting beat up had an opportunity to speak for himself during the trial. That speech said so much.
The crime I witnessed was based on hatred directed from one person to another. One person was black and one was white and they were both equally racist against each other. When the man gave his speech, he made the comment “these people” several times, thereby discrediting him to several people in the courtroom — you could see it on their faces.
After everything was completed, myself and the four other witness went to collect the money the city pays you for appearing in court. (Lest you get super exciting about this, it was $6 and I paid $10 for parking.) While waiting for our fees, I struck up a conversation with one of the other witness – not the one I had talked to earlier – who was definitely a gun-toting, card-carrying conservative. (He told me as much.) We both agreed that what we had witnessed many weeks before was two people showing each other equal hate.
“I wish I could have helped intervene on the actual crime more,” the other witness said. “But who knows who started what and I am pretty certain they were both at fault.”
I know I wouldn’t agree with that man on many things, but on that we were in complete agreement.
For a while there I was “training” for the triathlon. With only 1 week notice, my partner had to bail due to a broken foot! Stepping up to the plate: Wonder Boy!
With his only training for the race being one 26-mile-long bike ride the weekend prior, we canoed 6 miles, walked 6 miles (running without training was an impossibility) and biking 18 miles. Despite all obstacles, we did great and are really proud of finishing so well!
In efforts to grow professionally, I’ve been teaching myself more about digital assets, specifically how to make movies. (To be clear, none of this knowledge has been applied professionally.) For now, I’ve been making movies on the terrible iMovie, simply because I have access to it.
Movies are a fun little venture. So far I’ve been making promotional videos for the animal clinic at which I volunteer, Ohio Alleycat Resource & Spay Neuter Clinic. In blatant self-promotion of what I’ve made, you can see all of the videos at the YouTube channel I created for the clinic (I made every video in the channel).
Here are a few of the videos of which I am especially proud.
The video of Elliot helped him get adopted!
This video of portly Maude features Wonder Boy’s music.
The kitten ones are just fun to make.
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