Monday, October 31, 2011

Eat, Drink and Be Scary

Everyone is a moon and has a dark side, which he never shows to anybody. - Mark Twain


Happy Halloween!
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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Champagne and Schlitz

When things are good, they're very, very good.

I had the unusual experience of riding on a private jet this past weekend. A Lear 60. Beautifully appointed leather seats, a bar stocked with crystal decanters. It turned a four-hour trip by car into a 35-minute jaunt with G force.

It was quite the thing.

And the next day, I was back on the bus, commingling with humanity on Route 43.

That has come to be the very definition of my life - lavish penthouse parties juxtaposed by cold pints of cheap beer in neighborhood watering holes.

And I love both ends of the strata equally.

Over time, I've come to learn that life isn't about getting what you want, but rather, a finite experience that teaches you to want what you've got. By some standards I don't have much, but I feel incredibly, incredibly blessed.

Between my endlessly quirky (but usually hilarious) family, my loyal, dazzling friends, and a variety of professional and personal endeavors that allow me to flex my talents and pursue internal growth - I have a lot for which I'm thankful.

And that includes the highs and lows of my life.

The past few years have taught me to embrace whatever the universe throws at me - sometimes it's the wallop of an unexpected bill, other times it's a spectacular invite to experience how the other half lives.

These challenging lows let us appreciate the good stuff. They allow us to stay grounded.

They keep us real.

And the amber waves of awesomeness? The fireworks that erupt in a stolen kiss. The crisp 'pop' on a bottle of well earned bubbly. The opportunity to whisk away somewhere far to earn some new passport stamps.

I'm grateful for those moments, too.

They offer just enough sparkle to keep this girl plodding through the hard stuff.

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Friday, October 21, 2011

Shameless Self Promotion

I am not above using my social media channels to promote my work.

Especially when it involves highlighting my colleagues' amazing dance moves - and a curtain call of 5:30 a.m.




The LIVE UNITED Dancers hit the floor of Studio A at Local 12 for Dance Party Friday with Bob Herzog.

I prefer to leave my dancing shoes at home, but I was happy to pitch for the office and the campaign, which ends October 28.

Do you believe in education, income and health in Greater Cincinnati? We'd love your support.

It's easy to give online - whether you can give five bucks or $50,000, every contribution helps United Way make an impact in people's lives across the region.

And heads up - I'm getting those roots touched up this afternoon. My vanity can simmah down.

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Thursday, October 20, 2011

The Hardest Word

I'm beginning to think goodbye is one of the hardest things a human being can say.

It's one thing for us to say goodbye in grief. Heart wrenching, all encompassing pain washes over us when saying that word to someone who's left us - both in old age and in youth - earlier than we expected.

Life is a continuum of cycles, and birth and death are a part of that process, regardless of how difficult it may be.

Some may disagree with me, but I think saying goodbye to the living is an even harder task.

When we close doors on a relationship, we finish a chapter on an experience. We say goodbye to a moment that brought us camaraderie, comfort, joy.

We say goodbye to someone who likely made us a better person.

The act of saying goodbye to someone we care about is made more difficult because we know they still experience, they still think, they still dream out there somewhere in the universe, and yet we are not a part of those experiences, thoughts and dreams.

It's hard to say goodbye to someone who we believe we'll never see again.

And that reality has a way of making us feel woefully alone.

Rather than wallow in the grief of goodbye, I do my best to pull up my britches, rely on my strong bonds of support, and dream of the future.

The future says hello.

Hello to new opportunity. Hello to relationships yet to be forged. Hello to adventure and experience and new depth and the promise of a gilded future.

Hello only happens with goodbye.

I'm ready.





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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Kentucky For Kentucky

I am proud to call the Bluegrass State my home away from home.

Of my 34 years of life, I've lived almost 16 of them in Ohio. Kentucky falls at second place with a grand total of ten glorious years.

I say glorious years because it was in those years that I earned a college degree (Go Cats!), celebrated two NCAA basketball championships (Go Cats!) and learned how to drink bourbon (that deserves a Go Cats!, too).

I learned how to win at Keeneland ($1 exacta or trifecta box with an extra horse), got hooked on Hot Browns at Ramsey's (yay, fire trucks! $1 beers at the original location) and OD'd on "Mayday Pie" from Missy's Pies and royal iced cookies from Magee's Bakery.

I ate vegetarian at Alfalfa's, and I have a very funny story about how a bouncer let me in to Marikka's once upon a time.

If you've never been to Kentucky, then you really have no idea how awesome a state it really is.

And that's why the Kentucky For Kentucky campaign is trying to finance a "kick ass" Super Bowl commercial.


Three good ol' Kentucky boys are trying to crowd source enough money to get primo advertising placement during the 2012 Super Bowl.

You can read more about the Kentucky For Kentucky project and make a contribution here, or check out their Facebook page.

As a proud graduate of the University of Kentucky, this is something I can get behind.

Kentucky has a lot that makes it awesome. Let's tell the world about it.

Go Cats!

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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Running Rage

So, I might actually be 38 pounds down, not 28 pounds.

According to my "Stanford," my scale is at least ten pounds heavier than the one he has at home, and his is a fancy biometric scale that cost a bazillion dollars.

I'll keep my cheap version, but I am relishing the thought I might be down a bit more than I expected.

The clothes are falling off me, including my stretch lycra running skirt. When I started running in June, I felt like a sausage wearing a teeny, tiny tube top around my waist. Yesterday, I had to constantly tug at it to ensure my white bum didn't streak all of CBD.

I am about five pounds away from my coveted camel hair skirt, and probably 20 pounds away from my prom dress.

The one I wore in 1995.

Glory be.

Monday morning was a little bit more manic than usual. Unable to sleep beyond 5:20 a.m., I decided to forgo stewing in my skivvies and instead strapped on the sports bra and the Merrells.

Where some runners prefer to soak up the peace of their surroundings, my paces hinge entirely on what's playing on my iPod Shuffle.

The playlist usually includes some Lady Gaga and Ke$ha because I am unabashed about my adoration for all things POP.

My running tunes are also peppered with Weezer, Tom Petty, ELO, The Rolling Stones and Eminem.

What pushed me through the last half mile, though, was Courtney Love's wailing angst on Hole's Violet.



They get what they want. And they never want it again.

And then this blue-eyed, fair-haired chick pounded it out to some Tupac. Because California knows how to party (even though the video makes the Left Coast look like Beyond Thunderdome).



For me, running is very cathartic. Between the outdoor space, the crisp air and the constant drums and bass on my iPod, I'm able to mull on situations that unnerve me, opportunities I want to seize, and relationships that need some tending.

Some folks like to meditate to experience their moment of zen, others watch The Daily Show.

I run.

Last Sunday marked my longest run, at 4.5 miles (the last 1.5 was peppered with a few brief stretches of walking). This coming weekend, I'll put in five miles.

There's something very powerful about overcoming what appears to be a monumental challenge measured in miles.

And with each week, I push my body to do more, and my soul realizes it's just as powerful, too.

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Monday, October 17, 2011

Still Rockin' Car-Free

Cincinnati is desperate for comprehensive public transportation.

I should know - I gave up my car almost ten months ago.

Want to know how the car-free lifestyle could enhance your quality of life? Check out the Ignite Cincinnati presentation I gave in May (when I was almost 30 pounds heavier, no doubt a benefit of ditching the car).




And if you want to help with No on Issue 48, click this link to sign up to volunteer, donate, or learn more about how Issue 48 will dramatically impact the city's potential for economic growth for the next ten years.
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Friday, October 14, 2011

Spell Checker

I have a confession to make:

I am not a perfect speller.

Despite my anal grammarian ways and my celebration of all things accurate, the fact is, I sometimes spell poorly.

My brain seems to be hardwired with a predisposition for phonetics. I can't tell you how many times I've initially spelled words, sometimes even the most simplest ones, horribly wrong. "Door" becomes "Dore." "Month" becomes "Munth."

It's a quick fix when pounding away on a keyboard. It's an embarrassing error if it's not caught before I hit "send."

Years and years ago, I scored miserably on my grade school spelling tests. I may have been able to read newspapers at five-years-old, but it took me well into my teen years before I felt pretty comfortable with my spelling mastery.

My post-college years as a journalist gave me an expansive vocabulary. Expansive enough to have been acknowledged by two ex-boyfriends who each said they were uncomfortable with the variety of words that peppered my vernacular.

Let me say it again. This girl doesn't date dummys. Er. Dummies.

But we're talking about spelling mistakes, aren't we?

The earnest and impassioned 5chw4r7z has long argued that spelling accuracy is for the birds, at least where social media is concerned. For the most part, I agree with him. The penultimate point of social media is to be accurate and well informed; brevity is the first priority.

OtR gadfly and attorney Casey Coston always seems to catch me making the most egregious errors - on Facebook - and usually when I'm posting about something related to intelligence. It is the most hilarious occurrence of errors, and sometimes I wonder if my brain and fingers are having a joke at my expense.

Well played, synapses. Well played.

I have an incredible understanding of words and meaning. I also understand how important Spell Check is to the written word - my written word. If you're wondering, yes, Blogger has spell check. I use it religiously.

The thing is, some of the world's most influential writers were horrendous spellers. William Faulkner depended so heavily on his editors for typing, punctuation and spelling corrections. One editor said the errors were so numerous that they were never really certain if The Sound and The Fury was completely corrected.

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway were horrible spellers, too. The former's This Side of Paradise was called "one of the most illiterate books of any merit ever published." The latter, who started as a newspaper reporter, was repeatedly criticized by newspaper editors for his horrible spelling.

Jane Austen and I share similar spelling foibles.

Just about a year ago, British researchers shed light on her miserable spelling mistakes. She once called one of her teenage tomes, "Love and Freindship," and was also infamous for replacing "scissors" with "scissars."

Simple errors, but the understanding still transcends.

And that's the ultimate point of writing, right? To have our opinions, emotions and ideas understood?

As a copy editor, I am belabored by errant apostrophes, too many uses of "has been" and the dreadful Oxford comma (and on this third point, it's okay with me if we agree to disagree). As a writer, I concentrate on the sharp use of words. I like George Orwell's rules for writing - nickel and dime words are far better (and sometimes well more expressive) than a ten dollar term.

Word.
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Monday, October 10, 2011

Requiem Rising

I love my neighborhood.

So when one of the most chivalrous gentlemen I know invited me to a meeting about the restoration of historic Emery Theatre in Over-the-Rhine, I practically jumped at the chance.



This Walnut Street treasure is right down the street from my home. I walk by the Emery every day, and yet I'd never had a chance to go inside this gem, locked up like a priceless storehouse.


The thing about the Emery Theatre is that it is acoustically pure, one of only four historic theatres in the country that can boast such superior dynamics - the most prominent one being Carnegie Hall in New York City.


A building like this would be impossible to recreate, what with the cost of the materials and the time it would take to build such a theatre.

It is up to us to preserve this spectacular venue and return it to the community, allowing Cincinnati's cultural outlets to take advantage of the space.

Built in 1911 thanks to funds from Cincinnati philanthropist Mary Emery, the Emery Theatre was once home to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and a rehearsal space for the Cincinnati Ballet. World-renowned artists have performed on the stage, including Russian ballet dancers Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova.

And I belted out a few bars of "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" on Sunday evening.




The Requiem Project, led by Tina Manchise and Tara Lindsey Gordon, is taking on this restoration project with the goal of reviving the Emery Theatre into a space used for film, theatre, music and dance.

Painted Ceiling In The Emory's Washroom Facilities

The Requiem Project is hosting a spectacular preview event of the Emery Theatre on Friday, November 11 (11.11.11). The evening will include a tour of the magnificent space, installations from more than 15 local artists, and a signature concert performance by acclaimed band, Over The Rhine.


The Ladies' Parlor, Overlooking Walnut Street

Prior to the preview event, attendees can enjoy special dining and cocktail options based on different ticket price. A $350 ticket price carries an invitation to a seated dinner at Eden Flower Boutique, unveiling of architecture plans and a ticket to Over the Rhine's holiday show.

A $200 ticket includes cocktails and a light supper at the Emery, complete with a gallery showing of Emery photographs at ArtWorks, and Over The Rhine's latest CD, "The Long Surrender."

A $75 ticket allows you to explore Emery Theatre prior to the performance.

All ticket holders are invited to after parties in the neighborhood.

Marble topped cubby holes where patrons would store top hats during performances

The Requiem Project event aims to be a significant fundraiser and first opportunity for the community to see the Emery and learn how their talents and treasure will be needed to finish this significant undertaking.

For more information on the Emery Theatre and the Requiem Project, please click here. To learn more about the event, please click here or watch your social media channels for more information.


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Friday, October 07, 2011

By The Numbers

It's amazing to see how some folks arrive at this blog.

By far, the most read blog post on KRM is this one, which clearly details my love of all things grammar. I am anal about punctuation, word usage and spelling. It's just how I'm hardwired. Sue me.

Apparently I'm not the only one who wants to know the difference between sneak peeks and sneak peaks.

A couple someones visited today by Googling my given name. For so long I tried to keep my blog life and my personal and professional identities separate; I guess when you've been blogging for over seven years, you can't avoid the melding of your real life and your online properties.

Hence why I started redacting all the raciness from my blogging five years ago.

Someone from Youngstown (Go Canfield Cardinals!) arrived at the blog today after Googling "f*ck kasich." They were taken to this lovely, springtime musing. I hoped they enjoyed it.

I still mean every word, John.

A couple searches today for "Indian Garb" and "people of India."

One late night search last night for "wart between toes." Sounds like you've got a problem, dude. I have no idea how to help you out.

Somebody from Maryland really wants to bring back the Filet o Fish (did it go somewhere?) based on their Thursday evening searching. And someone in Myrtle Beach, SC is seeking information on "redneck costume ideas."

From Myrtle Beach? I think you've probably got a lot of inspiration in the neighborhood, buddy.

One person was seeking information on my favorite bar in the D.C. area. PX Lounge. Should you be in the Beltway area sometime soon, I highly suggest you check it out.

And probably my favorite search - "dsl lips."

My, I don't know what to say.

I don't how you, dear reader, arrived at my blog, but I am grateful you are here.

Have a kick ass weekend.

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Thursday, October 06, 2011

Taking Applications

I love a good Halloween party.

Any occasion that allows me to put on a costume, try out an alter ego and celebrate one of the freakiest holidays on the calendar, is a good occasion in my book.

In three weeks, Cincinnati's superheroes (well, maybe not that superhero) are returning to the Hall of Justice for a celebration like no other.

The Hall of Justice? What? You think I'm talking about Union Terminal?



Nope, I'm talking about Hanna Barbera's Super Friends Hall of Justice.
Comics Wallpaper: Superfriends - Hall of Justice

If you think they look similar, that's not a coincidence.

But I digress.

I am a host of the event that aims to support Enjoy The Arts, which helps bring the arts to children and youth who would otherwise not get a chance to experience them. It's a really worthy cause, and I am happy to direct folks to the event.

I hope you can join us. Click here to buy tickets, and then don your tightest tights and sexiest unitards.

I plan on dressing as Lois Lane, what with my roots in journalism. I'll be sporting some brown hair, chunky glasses and a press pass, and I'll be carrying a microphone, asking folks if they've seen Superman.

Which leads me to my question (prompted by my friend, the lovely Christina) - who wants to be my Superman? She says I should take applications to see who wants to join me as Lois Lane's favorite superhero.

Or maybe I should just search for Superman at the event.

Could turn out to be a hot, hot story.

See you there!

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Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."




"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

RIP Steve Jobs.
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Monday, October 03, 2011

Shamelessly Stolen From Facebook

This is the kind of thing I think about sometimes.

"At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend or a parent."
~ Barbara Bush



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