#wangday

[wanglove852]

テスト-3

[betsiwithani]

The Wang

It's been a bit since I last wrote.  In the in-between I have been writing and compiling and listening and finding more songs, my own and not.  It's been very comforting.

This past Saturday was an event near and dear to my little heart - WANG DAY.  Centralized around the art of Frisbee-ing, the game of Wang is apparently played elsewhere on the planet, but I only know it from this local shindig, so Wang is much more to me than a Frisbee.

Which is good, cos I can't really throw a Frisbee.

That's a lie.  I can throw a Frisbee, but with total directional abandon, which is not a desirable trait.

I play music, but at least that process welcomes directional abandon. 

So I do that instead.

The party of the planet is a bi-annual event held at Lake Taghkanic.  The Pagnanis are this amazing family made up of 4 equal parts, and they organize this great day of frisbee, food, friends and incredibly awesome music.  Everyone brings a dish.  Some people bring instruments.

This time was particularly cool on both aspects.

I am a practicing vegan. I say it that way because I don't live 24/7 by the Vegan Bible, but I aim to. I jive with the whole animal rights thing, and also just happen to feel my best when I'm not consuming dairy - plus it's gross when you think about HOW milk is made.  Like why the cows give milk to begin with and how we perpetuate that condition via chemicals and machines.  And as far as slaughtering, I really really really detest the farming practices of large production farms.  Disgusting.

I, unfortunately, work in an environment where I may have to order a pig or other animal for consumption by a client, and therefore just doing the paperwork to me feels like signing a death certificate.  That is less than desirable.  But it is part of my job and part of the American culture.

Poor piggies.

So, I aim to not consume any dairy, meat, egg, or other products of animals.  I am on track 90% of the time.  I have a hard time resisting some seafood (shrimp!).  I also falter on items with last-on-the-list no-no ingredients (milk derivatives, egg whites) from time to time, but for the most part, "meat" itself is gone from my diet and for that I am happy.

We have chickens at home and they are honestly the happiest chickens, and they lay lots of eggs that would go to waste anyway, so I locavore-rationalize it and allow myself the protein.  And I kiss the chickens when I can to thank them.

I really think Chad is a saint for dealing with the whole thing, cos some nights I'm okay with scrambled eggs and other nights I'll start tearing up when he gets the carton out. ("Those poor little chickies...")

And he just goes along with it regardless. (He's a keeper).

ANYWAY...

Wang Day.

There was vegan stuff to eat!! Lots of fruit platters, vegetable platters, I brought Greek Dip but left a separate container that I could have sans cheese and yogurt...and I had some shrimp (shhh).

Marilyn and I were a pair from the get-go, and there was a smattering of other artists (Chris (a guitarist), Tim (a mandolinist), a bassist that I got the name of 3 times and can't remember (and it was an UPRIGHT that I got to PLAY OMG although he played it much much better) and of course, Simon and Mike Pagnani on a random guitar, banjo, accordion, fiddle). 

It was pretty incredible.

NTS: House of the Rising Sun with glock is amazing.

On a small break for some food, Marilyn and I sat and watched the goings-on of Wang, and listened to some other musicians making some music (that's kind of what we do), and talked about our thoughts on writing and traveling (she's getting ready to go to Europe - gah!) and playing music and the love of the art.  We had some introspective thoughts.  I commented on my favorite Joni Mitchell song, "The Last Time I Saw Richard", and her ability to make the barmaid come to life for me.  Marilyn said she's always heard to write what is going on, write the truth.

That can be really hard.

But we do it.

Or we try to.

And that's how albums are made.