Pho-nominal

Pho

Pho-Bac

The wonderful, fragrant, healing rice noodle soup of Vietnam is a Seattle staple. Than Brothers has 10 restaurants in the Puget Sound area that serve up this ambrosia seven days a week from 10 am to 9 pm. Each bowl of beef or chicken or pork pho (pronounced "fuh") comes with a little plate of bean sprouts, fresh basil, a lime wedge, some peppers and a small cream puff. Everything except for the cream puff gets added to the soup. I don't use the hot peppers. I do squirt some brown (hoisan?) sauce into my bowl, though.

Than Bros. does a brisk business in this well-worn room. All of the ripped aqua booths and off-white tables were full at 2:45. Most of the customers were young guys in their mid to late 20's slurping down their hearty $6.25 large bowls. I had a medium, $5.75 serving of chicken pho. Truth be told, I much prefer the beef, but I felt a cold coming on and wanted to stave it off with a Jewish mother-meets Vietnam home remedy. My bowl did not disappoint. Best cheap meal in the city, if you ask me. AND, it is wheat-free. Something very important to me these days.

Pho - pronounced "fuh". There's a pho place in Bellevue called "What the Pho?" Wonder how many Eastsiders get the joke?

Tax Time

OK. Time to do the taxes again. Time to pull out the mental floss and dissect the strangest period of my life.

Once again, I am remembering this journey I've been on that has taken me from Boston to Taos and Angel Fire, New Mexico. From Reno to the Crystal Hot Springs. From Wallingford to Portland and Missoula, Montana.

This journey has lead me from financial independence to desperate dependency. From confidence and triumph to nearly living out of my car. A newly-stocked apartment was dismantled and my belongings abandoned. I said goodbye to a wonderful kitty and hello again to two fluffy Lhasa Apso nephews.

I've lost friends but found my voice again. No longer on the airwaves, I have stood on stages and sung with a power I'd forgotten I possessed. I've witnessed and felt the repair of something I thought was un-fixable. I have trusted my inner voice and have been lead to people who assisted me along my path. I have spent what little money I have on some frivolous trinkets like blue boots and purple rings that have become very dear to me. My sense of reason and caution have fallen by the wayside. After 25 years, former band mates have reentered my life and I have reminded them that music is what connected us.

Having lost nearly all of my material and superficial attachments, I found a flame that burns voraciously within. It has kept me going throughout all of this transition. It has rekindled forgotten passions and is gingerly nudging me along a fresh path. New friends, attracted to this flame, are also helping me along my way. My body's chemistry feels like it has changed. I can no longer eat wheat. Cookies, dear sweet chewy soft cookies have become the enemy of my intestines.

My life this past year cannot be summed up by a couple of W2 forms and balance sheets. The bureau of employment security's meager checks have been a lifesaver when I have been close to death's door and far too distracted to even think about how to pay my bills. The federal government's itchy palm is looking for cash back from me from my unemployment checks. Good luck with that.

2010 was a year I never anticipated. I had no clue my life would undergo such an upheaval. Perhaps I created all of this drama on my own. But, I am pretty sure I had help. Make that Help, with a capital H.

Last Chance for Romance Tonight

I thought I was on my way to stardom, that's for sure. The Grantville Holiday Inn, in Grantville, PA. The band was given 3 hotel rooms during our stay and I never had to share my room with one of the guys. We lounged by the swimming pool and ate in the hotel restaurant.

Here I am in December of 1979 with my very first band, Rhythm Transfer. We're doing a cover version of Donna Summer's Last Dance. The extended disco version. And, I introduced the band. The end of our 3rd set of music. We used to do 4 and 5 sets a night. And we repeated Last Dance at the end of the 5th set. How I tried to make this tune "fresh" when I sang it. Especially when I sang it for years and years. But, oh how I failed! However, in 1979, the song was still new enough for me to enjoy. I don't know how pop artists can make their songs new after they've done them for 10, 20, 30 years. What's the secret? Maybe they find joy in the audience's faces? Maybe they remember the happiness the song brought to them at the time? By 1980 I was totally burned out on singing "Last Dance". Yet, I sang it onstage until at least 1983.

Violated and Hacked

For a while, now, something hasn't been quite right while I've been on Facebook. I've thought I was communicating with one person but it seemed that person was not quite the same. The English was too good. The sentence structure was all wrong. I hoped to believe one thing, but I knew something was amiss.

I awoke with a name in my head the other night and put 2 and 2 together. Ah ha! This man (born and raised in Quebec) had the background, the education and the all of the information about me to pull off this dastardly deed. Plus, he has a very, very dark side. He has a very violent nature. But, I had no idea he was obsessed with me. None! Until the other night. I noticed he was ALWAYS on Facebook whenever I was, yet he never, ever commented or posted. He is a lurker.

A couple of months ago, I got an email to download a podcast from someone I thought I could trust. That podcast took forever to load. And, I listened to it. Immediately after I finished, the man messaged me, asking if I enjoyed the podcast. I couldn't help but wonder how he knew I had JUST finished listening to it. And then, other weird stuff began to happen. I would type something in my computer and it would not show up immediately on the screen. The letters would appear, one at a time, a few seconds after I had typed in my words. Weird.

Once I finally figured out who was playing this cyber game with me, I immediately "un-friended" him. About 2 minutes after I did it, my screen became dark and then, came back with the fonts and images larger. It looked weird. I became suspicious and rebooted. A few minutes later, I rebooted and the screen still looked strange. So, I took the laptop to a repair shop. After a quick check, they determined that some kind of "malware" virus had been installed, and that my keystrokes had probably been tracked. My hard drive had been corrupted.

Thanks, Brad. You sick fuck. You need professional help.

Working on the Podcast

Future Frontiers Radio

How does that sound? I've (hopefully) registered a domain name and have a wonderful new friend helping out on website creation. Last week, I learned all about technicalities involved in creating a podcast. Equipment needed, websites to visit for support and what 'drivers' to download. I am pretty overwhelmed at the moment. My target date for the first show is February 21st, just 19 days from today. YIKES!!!!! I am nowhere near ready. Have so much to do before then. I have contacted publicists, however, and have received books from seasoned authors who would all be great guests.

What is Future Frontiers Radio?

My 'promotional positioning statement' is: Big Ideas that Break Boundaries.

Essentially, cutting-edge science (physics, neurology, astronomy,astrophysics, biology) as well as consciousness and meta-physics explained to a very curious non-scientist, such as myself. I wanted to do the show after conducting so many pre-interviews for Coast to Coast AM and being continually frustrated that the hosts on the show were not having the same conversation I was having with the guests. I always liked the journeys they took me on (or vice-versa) MUCH better than the roads the host traveled down on the air. I have a different angle. My angle. What I am not, however, is the type of person who can ramble on and on about herself. This will not be a show about ME. This will be a show about ideas. The big ideas.

Hopefully there won't be too many more bumps or bruises before I get it on the air.

I'll let you know when and where Future Frontiers Radio makes its debut.