Hello friends, to say " It's been awhile" would be a huge understatement! I will do my verbose best to keep this to a minumum while hitting the main topics. This past summer saw many changes and marked the beginnings of some ends and the ends of a some beginngs….The most profound event was the passing of my mother the last day of July this year.She was a formadable woman and just missed her 89th birthday by about a week. If you recall, I was down to florida last year for her 88th birthday, but some gut feeling told me that she was not to make it to the next one.I had kept daily contact with her in the assisted living place and witnessed her mental deteriation over the past year.When she wasn't able to utter more than an " I love you" over the phone, I realized that I had to get to see her one last time if I was going to.The visit was emotionally wrenching but true to form I internalized it untill I got back to Atlanta where upon I got fairly sick. It figures. There's a lot of family history that I suppose will never be resolved but I'm so grateful that things were good between my mamma and myself. I think that she knew I was there to say my goodbys because she was gone within a month after I saw her. It was an incredible visit and I don't regret making it. Although she wasn't able to speak, she seemed to know me and smiled a LOT. I had the foresight to pack a huge box of family picures that weren't in any cronological order. I would sit with her and put out pictures at random and you could see her eyes light up when she recognised a person *especially* pics of my da who has been gone for 16 years! came back home exhaused but grateful that I had gotten to see my mom one last time. While I was there, I told my brother to brace himself for moms death , that it would not be long in comming. I also told him that I was saying my goodbys on that trip and to wrap his head around the fact that I wouldn't be back for her funeral. I hve only talked to my sister once since mom's death and my brother a couple of times. He informed me that mom had not included me in her will but that did'n surprise me because my brother was exeutor of her will and I'm fairly sure that he had her change it long after her mind was putty. I have to put that all behind me and move forward now. I had little contact with my siblings before moms passing and I expect little in the future. Some things never change and that's ok too..In September my brother did catch me off guard by dropping my nerly unannounced on the way back from their "vacation home" in north Georgia. It was a visit that I had been trying to have for years while mom was alive but in the 15 years that they'd been vacation ing there they never had the time to stop by on the way back to Florida…now suddely a little over a month afer mom passes they just decide to pop in with no warning…I must confess I had to restrain myself to be a good host. But when he began blatheing about Adam and myself coming to be with them for Christmas I was too stunned to say anything more than : "Uh sure we'll talk about it." I was acttually thinking to myself " WTF are you F****** joking??" I had already told my partner that mama wouldn't be in the ground for more than five minutes before someone would expect us all to hold hands and sing freeking Kumbaya! As IF. I don't know how I'm going to let him know that THAT ship sailed 35 years ago when mama gave me the choice of "either coming home for Christmas without the boyfriend, or not coming home at all"……Well I guess you know what my decision was….Some things never change…and that's alright…

SOme things HAVE changed though!…In September I hit the one year mark of my kicking a nasty perscription drug habit that was literally killing me. I truly think that if I had not quit the Ritalin that I would have been dead before my mother….Another GOOD change is that afer moms passing, something was unleashed and after over a 2 year hiatus, I began writing comedy again…If you know me you may remember that 2 years ago I did a few auditions at some comedy clubs but was not really focused enough to pursue my dreams at that point….Well….this October 9th after months of trying to get my foot in the door, I performed one of my routines on open mic night at a popular comedy club here in Atlanta. It was cathardic to say the least and as corny as it sounds, I felt as though my mom was somewhere cheering me on…even if some of the material was pretty vulgar by her standards! Now that I've gotten my foot in the door there, It will be much easier to get booked there again! The place is called " The Laugung Skull " comedy Club Midtown and you can check out their web page if you'd like…it's : http://www.vortexcomedy.com You can also keep in touch on Facebook because I'm pretty active on there. Contact me if you want to look me up and I'll help you find me alright. I've made it a little difficult to be found there because I don't want me snooping meddiling sister-in-law all up in my business as she had a tendency to do! I would dearly love to get caught up with all of you but to be quite honest, I'm seldom on the Tribe anymore as I had to choose the easiet outlet for communications and I realized that whereas the Tribe will always hold a special place in my heart, the time consumed here( writing blogs for instance) was taking away from creative time and time with my partner Adam… by the way we just shared our 10th anniversary this summer…we are now officially an old married couple! We drive each other bug-s*** crazy at times but I can't imagine sharing my live with anyone else…Alright you can all stop throwing up or weeping now….I am out of here for the time being, but you are all in my thoughts constantly!

Much Love , Peace and Bear Hugs! Loki