LauraCatoe.com

It’s done; we’re homeowners/slumlords.

There was, of course, last minute ulcerating developments. (”What? I’m supposed to have an owner’s insurance policy in place at the closing? But I’m not the owner until after the closing!” and “Huh, that figure right there - the one that represents the amount of money we’re getting to do improvements… it’s about $5,000 less than it was supposed to be - why is that?”) And, of course, the owners managed to find something else to make us give them more money (but only $50 more, so I could almost laugh as I wrote the check).

But it’s over; it’s done. Hallelujahpraisethelord.

The art openings at JSU are always on Tuesday evenings. Kris works on Tuesday evenings. Jimmy is allergic to art and live music. So if Jaimie and I go to an art opening at our alma mater, we are there together alone. It means that no one at JSU ever sees us with a male companion. You do the math.

But I’m hoping this Tuesday will be different. There’s a Senior Show (always a favorite), and Kris and I are closing on the duplex that afternoon. (There, I said it. I’ve been avoiding saying it so as not to jinx it. But now it’s said.) Kris will be cancelling half his day to make the closing, so I’m hoping he’ll tag along with us to the opening. And usually, he’s the antihistamine to Jimmy’s adventure allergies, so maybe all four of us will be there for once.

Tomorrow is the Relativity opening. I was at my parent’s house last night, so I rifled through all my old printmaking stuff to find something to put in the show. I really didn’t want to put something so old (1999) in the show, but the imagery will be familiar to my church so maybe it’s cool. I still tried to come up with something today anyway. And I sorta did, but I think maybe it’d be better for the MiniWorks show at JSU (that I’ve meant to enter since I graduated but never have).

Jaimie called with a question about hanging the show tomorrow and I told her about picking up an old print. “Oh, you mean one we did of the tables?” We did so many prints during our tenure with the Shaw-man � at least 15 designs, not counting monoprints. And she guessed correctly: it’s a print of a bunch of X-acto cuts on one of the design tables, with a woodcut overlaid on top of it.

I was like “Dude, how did you know?”

And she was all “Dude, I know your body.”

The Core is putting on an art show this Saturday. It will be the 5th one we’ve done, the last one we do as The Core, a ministry of Vineyard Gadsden. If we do another one, it will be as The Created, a non-profit organization affiliated with Vineyard Gadsden.

This is the first show to not be named with a verb (Emerge, Transform, Resonate, Rejuvenate), but it will be the 3rd show in a row to start with an “R”: Relativity. This is also the 1st show where we didn’t design flyers or get a banner or a write-up in The Times.

And I have no idea how much art we will have; I haven’t seen any of it. I miss Heather and AJ. And Jesse and Brandy. And Andrew.

I’d like to do something new for the show, instead of just using something I’ve already made. But I have 3 days, so chances of a new piece are seeming kind of slim.

Am I too literal?

Sonically speaking, I’m totally lovin’ the new Nelly Furtado cd Folklore. Lyrically, less so. Her songs are like poems, and I guess I’m more of a story song girl. I went and read her lyrics and I’m like “whoa, Nelly, what are you talkin’ about? what does that mean?”

Does this make me too literal? That I can’t just let the songs be vague, that I want to know what things stand for, what the metaphors are, what the story behind it all is? Is this the same trait that causes me to watch sitcoms and cartoons and wail “but that would never happen like that”?

The Life & Times reporter, Joshua, is working out his notice; he’s moving his fam to California. With budgets still tight, the head honchos can’t promise the Lifestyle editor when a replacement reporter will be hired. So for the foreseeable future, I’ll be going out to shoot “feature photos” to fill the space in Mondays and Tuesdays where stories would normally go.

I’m cool with this cause it means I get to leave the office.

My first adventure was during the first week of March. I decided to drive down to Horse Pens 40. I figured I’d get a nature shot and write a caption about how you can hike for $3 and it takes about an hour, yadda, yadda, yadda. I called Jaimie to see if she was working that day (she wasn’t) and asked if she’d go with me. You never look as silly taking pictures of things if someone is with you.

We trekked to HP40 and oh, no. Everything was drab cause nothing was blooming yet. All the rocks, all the pine straw. Gah, no dimension whatsoever. Then we walked past these dudes practicing climbing moves or something. And Jaimie, complete star that she is, made me go talk to them.

I called my editor and said “hey, guess what: I got climbers and they say there’s a climbing competition on March 20 - it’s topical! it’s newsy!” I was stoked.

I waited till I got back to the office with the proofs to tell her I didn’t just find climbers. I found hot climbers.

From left: Mark Kubas, Gabe Heredia, Mark Whipple. Nice fellas from Kalamazoo, Michigan.

The guys agreed to have their picture taken and explain what they were doing, and they didn’t even roll their eyes at the number of times I said “cool” and “neat.” I admit it - I know zilch about climbing or “bouldering.” But I really do think it’s cool that they came down from Michigan to climb at HP40 and it is neat that climbers all over the country know about this spot in my (metaphorical) backyard.

Cyndi (the Life editor) saw this pic and started razzing me for taking shots of a guy without his shirt on. “Just tell Kris it was in the line of duty.”

“You know, I’m not even sure I got one of just him. I know I got a lot of the guy in the yellow shirt cause of the contrast against the rocks…”

And then she flipped to this one.

Cyndi mocked fanning herself.

We gaped a little.

“Look at those muscles.”

“Rippling muscles, I might add.”

Joshua got up and walked over to see what the fuss was about.

“Hmph,” he noted.

In the end, Cyndi decided to run one of Kubas and one of Heredia, but no Whipple. Our female readers may never know what they missed, but I couldn’t let this shot go to waste.

I like that the shots refer to an upcoming event. Hopefully, more pix will do the same. Maybe I can get a CPA working on taxes to run in April. Anybody know any hot CPAs?