Weekend plans

I'm packing this weekend, thank you very much, and I thought I would indulge in some prayer, a few goat sacrifices, a couple of healing crystal arrangements, and maybe a seance if I can fit it in. There's a jealous little twit out in the Atlantic named Irene, and I didn't invite her to share our rental house off of South Carolina. Although the Weather Channel says Irene is miffed and is going to stomp off on her own and go north without making landfall, I don't believe it. I know what that chick is like. I just know she's going to show up on the island in a hat with feathers and a little overnight bag. And then we'll have to endure those longwinded stories of hers. You know, the ones that just go on and on and don't make any sense but leave the listener feeling completely exhausted? That's Irene. Stormy little twit.

My sunburn has faded to a barely noticeable tan. I may be exceedingly fairskinned, but I don't burn easily.

Far more noticeable than my tan is my post-Retreat depression. I so miss Wisconsin. I so miss the fun people. I cannot believe how many of my friends live in other states. It's been like this for years -- I don't have many friends here. All my best friends live in New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Colorado, Florida, California, Texas, Michigan, Illinois.... any place but here. Thank heaven for the gals who crop at the Maple Grove Inn every month -- without them, I would be a hermit 10 months of the year.

Oh, before I forget -- my newest musical obsession is Sarah Bettens. I'd never heard of the band she was in before this solo effort (k's Choice), but while I was in Wisconsin, I heard one of her songs. I was in a lovely old Appleton restaurant with Tricia, Pat, Tim, and Robin. We were having a bit of a drink when this song came on the sound system. I was very quiet during that outing, anyway, so after one chorus, I dived through my purse to write down the lyrics for a later search. I did have the presence of mind to ask those there if they knew who that was. No one had ever heard the song before, but Tricia agreed with me that it was, indeed, lovely. We asked the bartender if she knew -- was it a CD on the sound system? Or something else? The bartender didn't know.

I finally searched the lyrics on Google (I tried iPod.com at Tim's urging, but man, I don't own an iPod, so I don't understand the website and never found a search-by-lyric feature), and came up with this girl, Sarah Bettens, who seems extraordinarily well-traveled and experienced. I wish I had heard of k's Choice before, if their music was anything like Bettens' solo effort. The song we heard was "Follow Me," and it was truly a very insistent piece of music. According to Amazon.com, the CD "Scream" doesn't come out until the 23rd. ARGH. And furthermore, Amazon doesn't even have the little snippets of songs to listen to as they usually do. But there's a piece on Bettens' website.

Frankly, I like "Follow Me" better, but that may be because I'm on a stupid dial-up and it takes forever to hear a single piece of music.

I called a couple of radio stations today to ask if they had the advance CD or a single, but I'm the only person around who's heard of her. Check her out as soon as you can. The music is absolutely undeniably melodic, and the lyrics are just poetry. In the way that I simply must hear more, she reminds me of Rachael Yamagata and Anna Nalick. She really shouldn't be ignored.