Bisbee Arizona

Bisbee Pirate Days was the last Arizona stop before the New York leg of the Blackstrap’s Ecstasy Book Tour. The event was wonderful, the bookstore hospitable, and the town of Bisbee, adorable! This was completely worth the four-hour drive into Southern Arizona from Phoenix.

Similar to Jerome, artists and antique dealers reclaimed the former mining town of Bisbee. I love these little towns. In contrast to the bustling, commerce-centric ideals of Phoenix, Bisbee is slow, and friendly and fun. It boasts having the “most perfect year round climate”. It lived up to the motto while I was there. So much cooler than Phoenix though slightly humid, I was actually a bit chilly at night.

I really do not know where to start in explaining the town. We drove in and again much like Jerome worked our way up narrow winding streets with barely a yield sign to direct traffic. I didn’t see a single traffic light! It reminded me of home, in upstate New York. It is much easier to get turned around in Bisbee thought. While Jerome is essentially one winding street up the mountain, Bisbee has a few branches that twist on to one another. Our hotel was blessedly on the main road and at the top of the shopping district.

The Inn at Castle Rock is a lovely 1800’s era hotel and I absolutely recommend staying there if you visit Bisbee. A warning from the start, the parking is severely limited. Carpool if ou intend on going in a large group. The rooms are very small, but in a cozy sort of way, not like a living in a broom closet sort of way. Each room has a private bathroom and plenty of storage space. Our room was quaintly decorated in a Coca-Cola theme; not my favorite, but still Americana cute. None of the rooms have the typical modern hotel frivolous amenities like a television, or an office work area. This is a classic old west set up. There is a very welcoming family room with a television and comfortable seating on the second floor, and a kitchen area with a microwave and fridge, fresh fruit, snacks and coffee. Both areas are open at all hours and completely complimentary. Most of the time, we saw hotel occupants and locals lounging on the verandah or the sitting area on the first floor. If you do need to connect to the modern world, there is free wi-fi. JD made fair use of that while Max and I hit the after hours pirate events.

Day or night there really is a lot to do in Bisbee. From a tourist perspective, the shops and mine tours are absolutely worth a look. Locals have a plethora of friendly bars and restaurants. The town does cater to its artsy denizens but it is family friendly as well. About half the bars welcome families well into the evening. We had to visit Old Bisbee Brewery to seek out Vanessa (my contact for the Pirate Days) and it was the best of the bars, for certain. The brewery has seven of its own ales. Max and I tried two of them. I am sad to say I do not recall the first one, but we fell in love with the Mountain Lime. If you do go I recommend trying the Flight. It is a ring of cordial sized glasses of the seven locally brewed ales. It is a great way to sample and see what you like. When you do make a choice, buy the Growler to take home! A large glass Old Bisbee Brewing Company jug, filled with your choice of beer only costs $16.00. It made a great souvenir to share when we arrived back in Phoenix.

So, I covered accommodations, entertainment of the liquid variety, how about food? Keep in mind you are paying mid-range restaurant prices for quality vittles and nothing near fast food, and you will do fine. We ate breakfast on the second day at Sully’s Café. I wouldn’t say it was a disappointment, but if any of the other places had been open, I think we would have chosen elsewhere. The food was decent for basic ham and eggs. The home fries left a bit to be desired though. Service was reasonable, but you could tell, locals visited to shake off a hangover or for coffee talk. Not horrible, but there are much better places like Screaming Banshee Pizzeria. Max and I were drawn to the pizza place for the rum tasting, and JD was drawn to the idea of pizza and wings for dinner. The rum was mildly disappointing having had the best of the three choices before and not liking the other two at all. The food more than made up for it though. Fresh is the word. Banshee pizza does lean on the gourmet pizza side of the line, but not in the “this is not a pizza” sort of way. It is classic toppings, pepperoni, sausage, veggies, but of a gourmet quality. The cheese was fantastic and gooey without being like a second sauce. The chicken wings were not typical, but again, still great. I am pretty sure they were a Pirate Days special too; Jamaican jerk style flavor. They were very tasty! The atmosphere at Banshee was again a sort of small town bar and grill with an artsy flair. As the evening wore on people mingled and chatted on the porch until the wee hours.

The town of Bisbee exemplifies in my mind how things should be. People take the time to do things and to do them right. Nothing is a slapdash job. Life is slow but steady not lazy but comfortable with little need to rush into anything. Time is valuable to the people of Bisbee is the assumption that can be made by looking at the care that goes into attending to their town, preparing their food, and welcoming their guests. I do not think it is any different than what the town used to be, but they have taken a different spin on it. The miners who once ran this town were salt of the earth, hard working men and women. They had to look out for themselves. While most people did not tour a mining town, people did pass through on business and for business to boom care must be in all that you do. In a way the pendulum has swung for this town, but has not changed course to drastically. The miners came to make something of themselves by taking from Earth’s offerings. The artists are here to care for the wounds left by this but make a living just the same. Bisbee would not be what it is without the work of both types. I hope to take a bit of this hard working mentality with me wherever I travel and in everything I do.

Track Your Time

Track your time. For those who work a drone job in the nine-to-five world our hours are clocked, calculated and compensated. We know if we read that pay stub at the end of the pay period we will see tangible evidence of the energy expelled during that time. Time, our time, has a value, based upon an agreed standard between employee and employer. Is time, not tracked, worth as much? Is energy expelled and not monetarily rewarded still valuable? That is up to he who expelled the energy. So, are you worth it? In so many ways society tends to take for granted the labors of those who do not punch a clock.

When I was a full-time housewife and stay-at-home mother, I did not track the time it took to make meals, clean house, maintain finances, heal the sick, mend items, grocery shop, chauffer, and attend to the plethora of other tasks required. I wish now that I had. To have tangible evidence of just how much energy used in that time would be very motivating in the times when I feel I am not doing enough. In the grand scheme and purpose of the universe, it might be that was the most important job.

A few years ago, I began working for a small business owner. Kathy ran a thriving online storefront selling books and other items. She taught me the value of time. It was the first job I had ever had that demanded I demonstrate how I valued my energy. Kathy required that I track my hours at home as well as in the office (her home); how far I drove, how much money spent on supplies and how to save time and costs. She taught me that everything has value. As a small business, every penny counted. Kathy explained how an ounce and an inch can make a difference in the cost of shipping items out. She explained how she planned her driving to diminish second trips and unnecessary distance. I am grateful to Kathy for so many reasons but her value placed on time most of all.

Today, I apply the lesson Kathy taught to everything I involve myself in. I have a very basic spreadsheet that I open as soon as I turn my computer on in the morning and it is the last file to close before bed. I do not work ‘normal’ jobs. I do not receive monetary compensation all the time from all of my work, but it has a value. The volunteer work I perform for various groups and organizations is valuable to the events and projects they maintain. The housework I complete has value to my friends and family who live or visit with me. My writing hours may not pay off right now, but with dedication those hours may become the most valuable to me personally. I track the hours I put into dance and classes even outside the classroom or performance venue. All the behind the scenes hours count toward that final product the world has privilege to see. I am on the clock as I type this, because it cost something; time and energy! I will never gain back the time and energy, but somewhere, down the line I hope to gain compensation of some form.

Compensation, a word on that; recompense does not have to be monetary, though it is the intent that in some way the return will support my person and if possible my family and household. Much as an internship does not pay the student for work submitted, but in turn offers training in the field he is trying to enter into professionally, some reimbursement takes the form of information without monetary cost. On the flipside of information trade situation, I offer free rehearsal time for two hours every week in my home studio to my most dedicated students. The students receive a free lesson that is fast-paced and challenging. I receive stunning examples to display the work (students) my classes produce. It is advertising with no monetary cost. Trade is often the most profitable option in the current economy and often more valuable than the not so all mighty dollar. Trade, of goods or services, offers both parties the ability to give directly from their personal value system and for each to think about the value of the trade. Volunteer work offers the chance to leave our mark on events and projects and often free or low cost access to things we might not have otherwise been capable of affording. Energy is a resource we have personal command over and complete control over access.

Lack of compensation should be assessed with equal scrutiny! If you are spending more than you are making the system is not working. Do not devalue your work, doing so devalues the work of others in turn. In the years, I have done work with event planning groups I have discovered that emotion costs can get quite high. In tracking hours on a project I makes notes as to how much stress it caused and how much thanks I received. In cases where stress, drama and dealings with easily bruised egos over shadowed the gratitude I count the project as a loss. While I cannot regain lost energy any more than lost money, I can add value to the lesson if I make a promise to myself not to fall into that situation in the future. It only remains a loss if nothing is learned. Evaluate stress and drama in accordance with all parties involved however. Was it only on the part of the other that trouble occurred? This is part of the lesson. If a larger portion of the issues involved your approach, be assured it will happen again. If ultimately the projects that continue, or are projected, to cost more than the return, it may be time to let those projects go.

Over time, no matter how much energy is expelled in the learning process of gain and loss, at some point balance happens. Balance also does not last. Nothing is stagnant and that is good. I am constantly learning how to balance my time and energy budget; some years are better than others. There are projects I am still waiting for a return on. There are projects that ended in an unexpected deficit that the lesson will be the only recompense. There are more and more projects though, that even through trials and glitches have come out more profitable than anticipated. That is the best part of this process. There is no glass ceiling, unless I make one in my thinking. There is no getting fired only finding a position more suitable. The rewards are not always immediate or clear but no matter the debt left, it will be repaid. Always track your time and energy. This is your best method to view how much work you put out. It helps to make decisions concerning future projects. It helps to decide who to work with on the future projects you do decide to work on. It helps you see your faults in dealing with people and situations. Weeks, months, even years past, I have looked back at timesheets and laughed (or cried) at how naïve my view of a situation was.

This is the point I state my opinion; nine-to-five jobs are overrated and undercompensated. I like knowing that I earned the payment I received. I like learning how to make that compensation ever more profitable by learning through mistakes and adjustments in thinking. “Normal” jobs do not reward forward thinking nor educate based on poor judgment. “Normal” jobs punch the clock at a set pay rate the same for every person in the same rank; whether he stands in a space and breathes the air, or runs his mind and body through the motions feigning a hardworking attitude, or creates new ideas and methods, takes risks and makes choices that save the company time and money. This may be the primary reason most people feel the jobs they are in are soul-sucking moments that they will never get back.

I am not making oodles of money, nor do I live a great big house on the hill, but with effort I know I could and that is the most important point. The time and energy that I put into a project, overtime, will multiply to equal success in however I envision success. As housewife and mother, I envision my success as a happy comfortable, welcoming home; an intelligent, polite and healthy family. As business woman, I envision success as making the next year earn more than it cost. As a dancer, I have well educated, confident students. As a writer, I have words I am proud to share with others. In event planning, I am pleased most with an event that covered its costs and allowed other and myself to experience enjoyment. Money is wonderful, but success is not only measured in dollar signs. I live in a comfortable happy household, the people around me are typically entertained and never bored, I go to sleep every night blissfully exhausted, and eager for the next day’s games. And it is, as so often I say in other subjects as well, all just a game. It is all about the Monopoly Money and when the game is over, all the pieces are returned to the box no matter how much anyone compiled during the course of the game.

The items listed in Kathy’s store serve a value lesson as well; all of the items are cast offs scavenged from estates and secondhand stores. Everything has a value to someone and you should be the most valuable item on your list. Please, check out Kathy’s stores and my stores and classes on writing and bellydance. I am, of course, a fan of fair trade for most items, services and lessons. Please, do not hesitate to make a deal!

www.amazon.com/thekatsmeow

www.ioffer.com/stores/thekatsmeowstore

www.amazon.com/80sixed

www.ioffer.com/stores/80sixed

Balance

This is my last calm weekend until all manner of events spanning the next four and a half months! Today is also the most motivated I have been in a very long while. So, the bookshelves are dusted and arranged; all furnishings knick-knacks and surfaces are polished and shiny; old clutter is weeded; compost is full and refrigerator is unfuzzy. Jessica and Shaun mentioned that this is not what a dead weekend should be for. I disagree, when else will I have a full day to take care of much needed expulsion of dirt and disarray?

Before heading to Bisbee this weekend for the Pirates of the High Deserts festival, I am optimistic that I will complete the task of listing stacks more items in my 80Sixed stores on Amazon.com and iOffer.com. Weeding the stacks always feels great and can often be quite profitable. I am a scavenger, primarily, and I am not ashamed at the amount of money saved and made due to this. Listing items is a Zen art for me. It appeals to the library trained cataloger and archivist. It is a project with an end. It has creativity and logical thinking; research; understanding economics; and marketing. Do the words written for each listing count toward my writing word count goal?

While the online store work, writing and housekeeping appeal to my hermit side, I do not mind the adventure of book signings, workshops, classes and performance events. Planning the events has become more appealing though as the years pass. I love writing press releases, meeting with vendors and venue proprietors, contacting media and coordinating participants. Younger, prettier and more energetic individuals are welcome to take over the frontline jobs that the public gets to see. So while I am looking forward with much excitement to the next few weeks of book signings and performances it is good to have a balance.

It is not all work this weekend though we will be grilling and movie watching all evening on Saturday and possibly Sunday too.

Monday Munchings!

Every Monday I cook for dear Max. He loves everything I cook, which is rare for me because most people are not big fans of my cooking. I really can't screw up a crock pot recipe though and Max has the most epic stainless steel crock pot. It is the perfect bachelor cooking tool, and I am great with it too!

This week, beef stroganoff!

The recipe is from Cooks.com and while there is more prep work than more crock pot dishes it is so worth it!

A-Muse

What would the world be, if we all told our favorite television program, video game, radio station, book, magazine, or other consuming rather than creating pass time to shove it. For a day, a week, until that mind numbing, time killer was no longer a habit, but a seldom desired treat.

It is not only food, clothing, gadgets, cheap plastic jewelry and dust collections that we over indulge on today. Entertainment is worse than bad food with even less nutritional value. Why are we doing this? Why are we wasting precious mental resources on nonsense that does not nourish us? Why are we so content to binge on empty calories of brain candy?

Instead, a challenge; find a partner, because no addict does it alone, someone you trust and who trusts you. Tell this partner that for one month you are going off the grid, no device beyond necessity. If you need music while you work on projects; attend a band practice, park concert, or karaoke night, or pair with a partner with musical aspirations. He could work on his creativity while you work on yours. Support the creativity of others close to you rather than some plastic disc from an equally plastic performer. Need a break from your creative work, ask if you can watch, edit, assist your partner in crime.

In honor of all month long challenges, I place this one. Be someone’s muse, ask that they be yours, for thirty days. Keep one another on task, having fun and off the entertainment drug. I think of this because I do not think my students and creative friends realize, when they tell me I motivate them, I am equally motivated, by them. If not for students, I would not dance as much. If not for writer friends, I would not drive to make that next chapter on time. If not for weekly practices, I would not know what I know with respect to a blade.

Thank you and good luck all!

Motivation

Who does it for you? Who really gets you going? Really gets the blood pumping or the mind racing?

Motivators! Who are yours?

I have a very difficult time finding the will to do anything for personal gain without something or someone to keep me on task. I live for friendly competition and verbal rewards. Without my dance students I would not put the effort into dance that I do. Without my workout buddies I would sit about like a lump. Without writers around me, I do not write as well. Even so much as cleaning the house does not require a helping hand as much as a motivational word or kick in the pants.

So, I ask, who motivates you? Find him if you have not, hug him if you have. Maybe you can return the favor by motivating him in something he is reaching!

Arizona Corsairs Raid the Arizona Renaissance Faire

Ecstasy, what is your profession!

Arr! Arr! Arr!*

The Arizona Corsairs raided Pirate Weekend at the Arizona Renaissance Faire. Ship Ecstasy made a grand showing as usual, but then, I am bias. Some memorable moment, in quotes.

The weather is just menopausal. – Sharon

This was in response to the flashes of warmth and sunshine between the freezing bouts of hail, sleet and snow, a bit strange for Arizona weather? Yes. We thought so too. Sharon is from AdeebA Korsana’s Sunnyslope classes and a new member to ship Ecstasy.

I think I got somethin’ in my teeth, could ya get it out for me? THATS F*CKIN TEAAMM WOORRK!!! – Casey

Yes. Ecstasy’s carpenter/ Kaylee, did in fact pick gunk out of her captain’s teeth. Now that is loyal crew, right there.

I have never been with a captain before. – The Prince (kissing Blackstrap’s hand)

That is probably why you are still alive, boy. – Blackstrap (in retort)

Not the first royal to meet with Blackstrap’s wit in response to advances. It really is not wise to charm a pirate, even less so a captain, least of all Blackstrap.

*Of course, it is the quote at the top of this post that made the biggest impression. Several members of the AZ Corsairs entered the Pirate costume contest. Only one placed, Captain Blackstrap, with the stunning aid of her crew. In the “Best Arr!” portion of the event instead of being the typical lone pirate and saying arr on her own, she summoned the immortal words of Leonides. The return call from at least a dozen loyal pirates came with as much vigor to make any troupe of Spartans or pirates proud. That is how a captain says arr!

So much of Ecstasy is about teamwork, loyalty, friends, and fun! Ecstasy is the brightest, sexiest, most talented ship in all the Arizona Corsairs, but then, again I may be bias.

Huge thanks to Commodore Max for gifting Blackstrap a beautiful pirate compass. The gesture was both sweet and sarcastic, and always much appreciated.

Blaze, nice try on sneaking through the city gates with the royal procession.

J.J.M. Czep and the crew of Ecstasy are excited to announce that on Saturday, April 2^nd, the last weekend of the Arizona Renaissance Faire, Blackstrap’s Ecstasy books will be available for signing and purchase at The Book Shop. At this point, there may only be ten copies available! Czep will sign pre-purchased copies.