shadesofmauve | Entries tagged with holidays

I got a lot done, but not as much as I wanted. Really, I can just copy and paste that sentence and set it to auto-post every Monday and it'll be true, except for the weekends where I get nothing done. :P

I'm feeling much less stressed than I was, though, which is good! My shoes are ordered and I have an appointment set up, E and I finished almost all of our Christmas shopping in one marathon consumer event yesterday, I shelved all studio thoughts until the new year, and the Giant End of Year Project at work had its budget shifted so it's now next year's problem.

That leaves the last bits of Christmas shopping, a bit of Christmas shipping, a gift for the Mass Effect Secret Santa (probably art, this time -- how strange!) and working on fanfic.

E and I did a massive shopping trip yesterday, and actually had quite a lot of fun doing it, which was a pleasant surprise. I like shopping on occasion, in the right environment -- downtown, the market, street festivals -- but E could really do without no matter what. We covered downtown, a trip to Lacey for the game store, and three precision-strikes at the mall without getting cranky, and bought things for each other, as well (not secretly -- he picked his dress shirts and I picked my skirt and we're both quite happy).

Saturday I went to the tree farm with my family, which was basically an excuse to pet animals, since ten minutes before we left my folks informed me of a very cool stream team rent-a-tree thing and I decided to do that instead. It was a really good animal-pettin' time, though -- three dogs, three draft horses, and two ponies.

I'll pick up the rent-a-tree on Thursday, since I'll have wheels for my shoe appointment. Basically you buy a baby doug fir in a pot from a wholesale nursery (in your neck of the woods,

caladri) and after the holidays are over you drop it off and Stream Team plants it in an environmentally useful space. Pretty nifty, and as an extra special bonus, the guy at the wholesale nursery said he'd be willing to sell me three dwarf red osier dogwoods (cornus s. 'kelseyi'), even though they don't normally sell to the public. Apparently "I'm really excited about this plant!" is pretty persuasive. :D

Note for

emony42: This cultivar only grows between 2 and 3 feet high, and it's going in the triangulish bed outside the kitchen -- the one that's already prepared. So it's not like I'm making more work for myself, much. Okay, I have to move a snowberry. I think. But that'll move to another area that's already prepared, so the chances of these plants dying in the pot while I tear out blackberries, lawn, ivy, and my hair is very, very small.

Yesterday was less social than the few previous, which meant I only called three people and had two over (

emony42 and her husband R). Lyns and R came by to visit and drop off her alarm clock, which is one of those sunrise-simulating ones, so I can test it to see if I'm willing to drop the money on one.

I tried it this morning, and I DID actually wake up a bit more thoroughly than for my phone alarm -- but I also woke up enough to remember it was my day off and I could go back to sleep, so my morning was still shot. Oops.

We chatted about all sorts of things -- among others, my dreams of spending money I don't have on some kind of media machine that would let me play my (perfectly ripped, exhaustively tagged, beautifully organized) FLAC sound files from my PC over my living room speakers*, and hopefully allow for netflix and such as well. I'd been thinking of a purpose-built computer, but L&R suggested an Apple TV, which turns out to be a hell of a lot cheaper and do everything I want.

Except.

It requires the PC's from which it streams music to be running iTunes, and I won't allow iTunes on my machine. I hates it, precious.

Still, now I've got an idea of the type of thing I should be shopping for, so I'm looking at competitors. I almost wish I'd asked E for something like that for Christmas**, but too late now. :P (E gave me an anniversary present, then told me he'd take me shopping for my Christmas present because he didn't have any idea and he knows I'm picky**. Since we just happened to be standing right outside the REI at Clackamas Town Center when he told me this, I now have a really AWESOME biking rain jacket that I won't be able to use for a few months).

I know I'm getting ahead of myself in the 'major purchase planning' department -- I still don't have a housemate, though there's a guy lined up to sign a lease on Friday. I think it's displacement activity for the studio, really. Since the city halted my plans to make a BIG change to my house, I'm trying to figure out all the little ones that would make the house nicer -- new speakers, better music access, new TV stand, new couch cover, etc. I'm not actually buying any of it; just day dreaming.

Now it's time to wrap E's package (both less money and WAY less practical than mine from him, but I think he'll like it!), do some dishes, and start sketching my New Year's cards. :D I'm excited for tomorrow, mostly because I get to see E, Kiyoko, and

madalchemist's reactions to their presents (I love seeing anyone's reaction, but those are the three I'm excited for this year). I went from being excited about getting to excited about giving years ago, and I have to say it's a great feeling... though I do sometimes stress that my own pickiness about getting will screw up someone else's excitement in giving (see footnote two, again).

ANYHOW: On to wrapping! AND BELUGAS!

And maybe, just maybe, I'll get my little bro to whisk me away to the parental household early enough today that I can take a luxurious Christmas Eve BATH!***

Merry Christmas!

*Especially when I get NEW living room speakers. I... kinda killed the set I had when I moved in to the house. I have this awesome ancient JVC tuner, see, and it's fully capable of blasting out speakers at volume mark 3 or 4. So now I'm using the old set from the bookshelf system I had in college, and they're decidedly meh.

**It's really kind of embarrassing. E gets wonderful, wonderful gifts for me; he really does, but one Christmas he and dad BOTH got me new PC speakers (I returned both and got one even nicer set; better speakers and I wasn't playing favorites!) and last year he got me a bathrobe that I exchanged twice (I wanted long; then it didn't fit quite right... but it's still the bathrobe E got me in my head). I can understand him being a little worried.

***My house has no bathtub. At this point I wish I'd remodeled the bathroom instead of slaving away on plans for the studio. Arrrrgggh.

We were all at a solstice music party until last night -- E and I didn't get home 'til one. We're going to another music party in Portland tonight, and no one is functioning on all cylinders this morning.

This morning E called me:

E: Hi! What's the plan for heading south today?

Me: Well, what time's the party start? Do you have the invitation?

E: Yeah, somewhere here, I just... Did I ever tell you about all the wrapping? Rather than pay exorbitant prices for shipping, I rushed the stuff for the kid's in it's own box and... [happily goes off into totally random play-by-play of CD burning and package mailing for FIVE MINUTES]

Me: Uh. Hun? Not that this isn't totally fascinating, but what time does the party start?

BF: Oh! The invitation -- I have that. 7!

Me: Good. You can tell me aaaall about wrapping in the car. *resolves to nap in the car*

Not three minutes later, my father calls...

Dad: I was just calling to find out... um... I dunno... I just kinda wondered... um. It was a late party last night.

Me: Yes. Yes it was.

Dad: So I figured we'd head down to Portland at...

Me, before he copies BF's wrapping monologue: We're taking separate cars; we'll see you down there, what did you need, again?

Dad: Well, I wondered what guitar E (BF) is bringing, because if he's bringing the electric one, I think I have all his audio cables and i need to know what cables he needs because that...

Me: Why don't you call HIM?

Dad: Oh! Okay. I was just... I think I just wanted to know... I forget.

Me: See you in Portland!

And for bonus silliness, this conversation happened after a particularly excellent jam at the party last night:

Dad, to E: This party is fantastic! Let's move it all 120 miles south and do it again tomorrow night!

E: Yeah! But *whispers* these people won't all fit in the car, so let's not tell them.

Dad: It's okay, we'll use new ones!

I have THINGS to write about! It's rather difficult to remember what they are, though, because it's day two of the Cramps From Hell,* and I've lost all desire to do anything other than curl up with cocoa and try to convince the kitties to be living heating pads (cats are the perfect temperature, if you can get 'em to sit still). Yesterday my good knee was acting up, which added frustration, but it's being reasonable today.

I'm interviewing a possible renter Friday. I thought I had two possibilities, but it turns out the woman who was "entertaining a job offer" was actually "Entertaining the idea of not bombing the interview," so she's out.

I haven't figured out my studio dilemma, but I have a few steps in mind before I do anything else -- figuring out the exact property line and getting someone to come out and see whether it's even possible to move my awesome rhodie.

E and I got the last of our gift shopping done this this weekend. I hate wrapping packages, and since I did a lot of the choosing (and buying) he offered to wrap them all. The only thing I have left to do is finish the darned

masseffect Secret Santa. It's been giving me trouble for weeks (I think I picked the kind of arc that works well long form, and it's making a crappy short story). Last night I thought of an art thing I could do instead that would be really fun -- but I should've started it weeks ago.

Work went form lackadaisical last week to swamped this week, and I'm still not sure how.

Friday evening we're going to a Solstice party with the Oly trad music crowd, then Saturday we're headed to Portland for the Z's "We're still here!" music party, which will be a bit more hectic and eclectic. Sunday we'll come back up by way of my Graunt'n'Gruncle's, and then Monday... Monday will be a blessed break from social engagements. At least until dinner.

*Seriously -- I was looking up info on pain scales today after a conversation with

tersa, and realized that based on descriptions (how well I was able to focus, breath patterns) yesterday was a 5 on the 0-10 scale (with waves of 6). WTF BODY? (Also, WTF, understanding of 0-10 pain scale? Why didn't they give me the one with all the explanations on it** when I was in the hospital? That stuff's helpful -- I would've guessed 3).

**Points if you catch the typo in the chart!

In my family Thanksgiving is a multi-day food and drink extravaganza spent with people I've known all my life or who've known me all of theirs -- My parents, my brother. My dad's best college friend DZ, who married one of mom's college roommates, AZ. Their three kids, all younger than me and all almost adults now. Beth, who lived with mom and AZ (the year after she stopped dating my dad. I think).

This year we're down at the Z's, enjoying their fancy remodeled kitchen. Which brings me to the point of the post, which is explaining why I keep adding "Like SAVAGES" to everything I say about Thanksgiving 2012.

See, the Z's had a bit of a plumbing catastrophe in the second floor bathroom, and their tiny, cramped, terribly designed kitchen was the victim. Vast amounts of money later they've worked strange and occult magics in their kitchen, and the same tiny floor area has been totally transformed into a space that's more functional, more friendly, and just all around more awesome. Of course Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday to christen a new kitchen with, right? But they also have this fancy new grill, so they decided to cook the chicken outside, and told my folks that.

Shortly afterwards, my parents turned on the radio and heard an ad or story or something, with a stereotypical new york jewish grandma complaining about her kids, thusly:

"Of course they always want to do everything at their house. 'Oh, it's no trouble, ma, come over here, we'll handle it.' Every time! And they spent all this money on a new kitchen. Thousands of dollahs! So we go there for Thanksgiving, in this NEW kitchen, that cost thousands of dollahs, and what do they do? They cook the turkey outside! On a Fi-re! Like saaaavages!"

And that's just too good to ignore, especially when you've been drinking since noon.

Not that we binge. No. Shots are for amateurs and people who haven't had 'afford good wine' as their raison d'employment for twenty years. Turkey Week drinking is an endurance event.

It turns out that wine-and-friends-and-oh-yeah-the-Zs-have-a-hot-tub is EXACTLY what I needed for the week when I started realizing that pretty much everything in 2012 has been going wrong. It's been more than excellent, it's been like a mental health miracle. And now I'm going to stop rambling because THERE IS A HOT TUB, and later -- or now -- there will be port.

Maybe now.

Do you pair ruby or tawny with a hot tub?

I don't feel like filling a year end meme, but if you care to read my meandering introspection, jump to the bold subject that interests you most (or bores you least).

Mass Effect Fandom has been one of the defining points of 2011, which is odd since I haven't been a part of any fandom for over a decade. I dove in because I was inspired/upset by a disability issue that hit me much more strongly than I expected. I've met some really cool people (hi,

masseffect!), jump-started my flagging creativity, and gotten more involved in broader social-justice-in-media discussions in numerous venues.

It's also been one of the most disappointing parts of the year, since my particular issue... isn't fairing so well. It's strange to not actually share the excitement about the upcoming conclusion to the trilogy I'm a fan of. I'm still interested in seeing parts of it (especially side character development; I've always preferred character-driven fiction over plot-driven, so the fact that I care more about characters than the end of the world should be no surprise) but I'm not enthused. The story I care about isn't happening there anymore; it's happening in my head.

...and I've been writing the story in my head. I've learned that I CAN write that much, that people seem to like it, and that I can turn fiction into a vehicle for things I think are important without turning into an author rant. It feels like options opening up. Now, when I have an idea worth writing, "can I do this?" won't be the thing stopping me. I know I can, and I know roughly how.

By the time it's done it will have taken at least a year of consistent work. That will make it my most time-intensive creative project yet, claiming the record Quartet has held since 2005 (the four paintings of Quartet took about nine months).

I also think my writing has improved, though strangers are the better judge of that.

I've realized I'm a sucker for instant gratification feed-back. It works for me as a motivator. If I hadn't been posting fic chapter by chapter I'd have abandoned the story months ago. I suppose it's a weakness I should try to get over, but meta-gaming my own weaknesses seems to make for better results, so until I discover a secret trove of willpower, I'll just find ways to get feedback at regular intervals.

Creatively, it's been a good year. I haven't done nearly the things I want to do, but I'm moving again. I've let some old over-worked ideas lie fallow to focus on new things. Experiments are happening, ideas are fermenting in the compost pile of my brain. It's a promising feeling.

I've been trying to abandon the perfectionism that says something isn't worth working on unless it's going to be great. Fandom helps, as does the Creativity Challenge and the discussions around that (thanks,

stasia), and all of you who give me that feedback I so adore -- which encourages me to let go of perfectionism long enough to post absolute crap on LJ, so that I can get crit, so I can keep motivated.

I know it's a battle I'll have to keep coming back to, but at least I'm fighting on the right side at the moment. I'm still working on the problem of making time for art when I feel like art is play and should come last. I may try a stricter 30-day type challenge sometime in 2012 to try to break that.

I played a lot of music this year, though it doesn't really feel like it. Pinniped continues to get better and try new things, at our own slow pace. I don't really feel any pressure for it to go faster, which is fine by me. As long as we're growing, I'm not worried about the kinds of gigs we are or aren't getting or how soon we can make a CD. I don't think I'm growing as a fiddler as fast as we're growing as a trio, but after almost twenty years of playing music, I'm okay with the fact that my enthusiasm for personal practice is cyclical.

I got more done on my yarden than I'd expected to (patio! Raised bed! Tree!), and less done on my studio. Most of the hold-up is due to indecision. I knew what I wanted for the yarden; I'm still perfection-paralyzed with making decisions about the studio. I've finished other, smaller house projects, though, and hopefully I'll make more progress on the big one now I've pinpointed the culprit.

On other fronts, year-end summaries don't seem productive. Work is work, family issues are family issues, my sweety is not really food for the blog (though I have to say, we've butted heads less this year than ever before, and he's been far more supportive of my random creative endeavors than I'd ever imagined -- I suppose since he's working on a full-fledged conlang for no particular reason, he's too geeky to throw stones). In 2012 I'll have a few more hours at work and therefore a bit more money, which is nice, but the only thing I really need to deal with on my end is that I've gotten absolutely awful about getting up early enough to get to work on time. THAT has to change to accommodate the new hours.

In short -- No life-changing events, but I'm not stagnating. I'm pretty sure I even leveled up in at least two areas (writing and wiring. Apparently I sort skills alphabetically), which is a pretty great feeling. There are things I need to be better about, as there always are, but I'm looking forward to the New Year.

I have almost everything ready for gifts tomorrow -- I'm missing one order, and that package is out for delivery, so it should arrive in time. I'm even wrapping things. I usually hate wrapping and I'm a big fan of brown paper bags, but I decided to use up the last of the paper so I don't have to store it anymore.

E and I went downtown to the toy store today and got the last gifts we needed for littles -- his god-children and my twin cousins. I don't usually get cousins anything, but they're five and they'll be joining us for Christmas dinner. (I thought they'd be at my grandparents, which is why I didn't have anything yet).

The sun is shining, my living room is clean, and I have a functioning computer again. Yay!

Even better? Lyns took my hard drives home yesterday and fired 'em up. She says it looks like only the boot sector is bad, and she should be able to save all the data. There may be some missing audio files as well, but I'm not too worried -- the ones that are AWOL are all ripped from CDs I own. Replacing them will be tedious (they were part of my exhaustive tagging project), but doable.

It's a holiday mackerel!

I don't have drives-and-data back yet, but the weight's off my mind. Now, to put on music and finish wrapping things, and call E's mum (which I've never done before, funnily). Then it'll either be art or video games until we head to my folks' house for dinner.

We'll be back over at my parents' for packages and stockings Christmas morning. It should be extra fun this year, because my friend Kiyoko is joining us. I don't remember if I've mentioned her much here -- Kiyo and I were room-mates for about five months in college, and met my family then. She came back to visit a handful of times, and I've been to Japan and visited her once. She finally worked out a way to do more English study this year, and she's been in the states since April. She lived with my parents up until september, when she moved to auburn to go to community college there, and she's back for the holidays! :)

I would have happily had her live with me -- she was a wonderful room-mate -- but I have to charge rent on my extra rooms to make my mortgage payment, and my parents just offered her the chance to be an extra kid. :)

Sometimes I worry that I come across quite badly on the internet, usually due to lack of audio or visual clues (most commonly, reading someone wrong and responding innapropriately). I may need an appology icon that says "I'm not (callous/entitled/awful etc), just occasionally very dim."

Luckily, many have the same problem.

In other ARRGGGGHH news, it's time for the almost-obligatory pre-giftmas panic. This year it gets compounded, because I have no ideas for anybody (except for the relatively time consuming fandom projects). I love gift-giving when I have a good idea, but it's a chore otherwise. Luckily things are finally crystalizing.

The other holiday deadline is New Years. I'd like to get my New Years cards out before New Years day, this year. ~~Or at least in January~~. Last year they were more "Happy end of the first fiscal quarter" cards. I want to send a New Year's basket to E's folks, as well (okay, it was going to be a christmas basket but there's no time. I love New Years).

I have a chapter to write this weekend, too. Between that, the MESS thing, and the fact that my new tablet should arrive today, it looks like I'm spending the weekend at the computer. ~~Except for getting a tree oh mon dieu dans qui je ne crois pas WHERE DID ALL THE TIME GO?!~~

This morning I lost my wallet. I thought I'd left it on the bus, and called the transit office with no luck. Within three hours, though, I got a call from the local highschool -- the wallet had apparently jumped out of my bag while I was walking past the school to city hall, and a student had picked it up and turned it into the office. Thank you, mystery student! It really brightened my day -- more so than if I hadn't lost the wallet to begin with.

In particular, it helped balance out the frustration about the unfortunate amount of race-fail* going around the internet this year in re: Halloween. It's very dispiriting to realize A) that cultural mockery is common enough in halloween costumes that the Culture-not-costume campaign needed to happen at all, and B) that so many people jump on the "you shouldn't be offended' band-wagon. I had no idea the insulting costumes were so damn prevalent -- chalk one up to having an above-average, awesome social circle, I suppose. Cultural stereotyping would never be an acceptable costume choice among my circle of friends. I'll readily admit to having probably over-stepped the appropriation line a time or two -- I certainly didn't mean to, but it can be hard to judge where appreciation crosses over. Most of the examples in question are issues of outright mockery. The meme mocking the campaign is one I can not enjoy.

Still, people should always be allowed to make themselves look like assholes. And everyone else should be allowed to call them on it. And then they're allowed to get all indignant.

Thus the circle continues.

(My costume this year is the mask in my icon, plus switching my wool coat out for my wool cloak.)

*Of course, any amount is unfortunate.

Current Mood: contemplative

( Many of you will be aware of the Seasonal Apocalypse happening at the Washington state capitol, a mere five-minute saunter from my house. )

Wait! I feel a song coming on!

On the first day of December, the governor gave to me
A menorah and a nativity

On the second day of December, the governor gave to me
An atheist manifesto
A menorah and nativity!

On the third day of December, the governor gave to me
Somebody stealing
the atheist manifesto
A menorah and nativity!

On the fourth day of December, the governor gave to me
National attention for
Somebody stealng
the atheist manifesto,
A menorah and a nativity!

On the fifth day of December, the governor gave to me
A fest-i-vus pole!
National attention
for somebody stealing
the atheist manifesto,
A menorah and nativity!

On the sixth day of December, the governor gave to me
A moron from Kansas
A fest-i-vus pole!
National attention
for somebody stealing
the atheist manifesto,
A menorah and nativity!

On the seventh day of December, the governor gave to me
Threats of damnation from
Th moron in Kansas
A fest-i-vus pole!
National attention
Somebody stealing
An atheist manifesto,
A menorah and nativity!

On the eighth day of December, to the governor I plea;
Free the public buildings from
Threats of damnation from
The moron in Kansas
the fest-i-vus pole!
National attention
Somebody stealing
the atheist manifesto,
Restore our Secularity!

NB: this song addressed to the governor only because it was her well-meaning by foolish behavior that started the whole chain of events.

Current Mood: silly

I'm disqualified from hosting a Singles Awareness Day party, my normal February 14 past time, and Erik isn't even here to DO anything with. To be fair, he did offer to break up with me noisily and messily in the airport (and get back together when he gets back) so that I could host the party while he was gone. So thoughtful! We decided not to, though, because it was late at night and there wasn't enough audience at the security line to make it worth the effort.

Still, even if he is far away, there's a lot to celebrate...
After today, the guy on capitol way selling gigantic vulgar cheap pink stuffed animals will be gone! There IS a light at the end of the tunnel!

I agree with

kehrli that a somewhat slower 2008 would be lovely, and with

westrider that I'm, to put it mildly, a bit jazzed to see the back of 2007 and get into 2008. Though, to tell the truth, the later part of the year treated me rather well, it got off to such a rocky start it left a lingering bad taste.

And what about 2008?

Art.
Music.
Comics, finally, because I'm On A Mission From God*.
A few more mornings like this morning wouldn't be too bad, either...mmmmm.

Those aren't resolutions so much as wishes and intentions, and I have no problem with that.

Now, I'm going to do something to my hair, put on a ridiculously sparkly dress, and take Erik contra dancing until midnight. New years rocks.

*He Called me! This afternoon! On the phone! Take that, unbelievers - Lets get some peace on this muthafuckin earth!

Current Mood: content
Current Music: Ways to Love - Jason Webley

I got a pony, and a panserbjorn, and a kitty, and jammies!

Also, it are all snowy out there!

Current Mood: silly

I hope everyone is gearing up to a good new year and has a lovely day tomorrow. I wish this regardless of religion - just have a good day. Please? Peace on earth. Don't kill anyone.

I'm atheist, so don't worry that I'm pushing anything on you. And if you think I should be, read

kehrli's Christmas rant, because it's just about exactly what I think.

On the other hand, I spent 45 pre-dinner minutes singing religious Christmas carols to my 91 year old great grandma, and it was magic. You could just barely hear her chiming in, an echo of the voice you could hear on the radio in southern Oregon when she was in her twenties. For that smile, I'd sing about smiting the infidel and be happy about it (Line drawn at actual smiting).

So merry Christmas.

Current Mood: content
Current Location: Medford, Oregon
Current Music: The Friendly Beasts

As observers may have noticed, my last few weeks have been ~~a yummy flambe'd shitfest~~ a bit of a roller coaster. I spent most of Wednesday feeling like the victim of a drive-by-relationship; that the experiences normally spaced out over more than a year had just rushed by in a week and a half, throwing me to the curb with multiple lacerations (It is important to note, dear protective readers, that the other party wasn't driving; he was sitting on the other side of the street wearing the same slightly concussed expression).

It was a truly surreal experience.

Yesterday the hit-and-run turned around, picked us both up, and gave us cocoa. And the car. So that overextended metaphor is promising.

But even that is not surreal enough. I might not have my faith in the universe restored! QUICK, UNIVERSE: WHAT ELSE CAN YOU GIVE ME?

Bast*: How about a cat?

Decaf, whom I haven't seen in months, was waiting for me at the bus stop. She walked me the block home, was there bitching when I had to be on the phone, and thoroughly enjoyed the fact that all the humans were happy.

Decaf: I IS MONKEY-IN-TEH-MIDDLE!**
Me: I'd hug you, but I'd have to sit on the cat.
Decaf: PET ME, BITCH!
Me: Why is she sitting on YOUR lap, kneading MY leg?
Decaf: I R BDSM KITTEH. YOU WILL CALL ME MISTRESS.
E: It's kitty menage a trois.
Decaf: I CAN HAZ MENAGE A TROIS! VRY SPCIFC TYPE: TWO HUMENZ, ONE ME. DESERVING OF YOUR WORSHIP: I IZ IT!

But wait! A kitty and a boy might not be enough! All cannot be right with the world while my dad is in his shit-hole work situation...Oh. A new job...where? Yes sir, MR DIRECTOR SIR!

But what about

madalchemist? His temp term will be up soon, and...Dad calls...talking...OH! CONGRATULATIONS,

madalchemist!

I'm now heading down to southern Oregon to celebrate Christmas, but I honestly have no idea what more the season has to give me. If anyone reading this is thinking about shopping, and me - donate to the heifer project or something else cool. Help

kehrli pay of the credit card. Seriously - I am not in need.

*

q13_exe, we all know I'm strong in my faith of you as my personal lord and savior, but cats rule themselves, and are guided only by Bast. I think we probably agree on that one...

**I do not believe that all cats speak in capslock, but there is no doubt that Decaf does.

Current Mood: giddy
Current Music: I'm On My Way - Proclaimers

NANCY GAVE ME A PONY!

Note to self: Do not ride pony in the office while the Xerox man is here.

Current Mood: Slightly manic
Current Music: All the Little Horses

The first sentence of the first post of each month. I particularly enjoy April, which was an underappreciated sentence at the time I wrote it.

Enjoy the next 360 deg revolution 'round the sun. Bomb? Today was my last day at chris barnes design. There should be a percussion instrument where, when the percussionist whacks it, it goes "GRONK!" and eats him. Um... I think some of my characters have been getting it on behind my back. My feet go pad-pad-pad on the grass and slappity-slappity on the sidewalk. FiddleTunes was an emotional roller coaster. So, if all goes well on the ticket buying front I'll be off to Japan in September for two weeks. While sitting around playing mexican train...So, I've had occasion to say some rather critical things of my mother's family, but for the record, let us all remember that no matter how offbeat and irrational my grandfather can be, none of his branch of the family gets shouting-drunk in public, especially when they have kids to take care of.Y'know how one occasionally hears a gal bemoan the fact that she'll never find a man like her father, and one immediately starts thinking along the lines of 1950s male-dependency Electra complexes, and please, can't we have a little imagination? Saturday morning, still sick and running late to meet westrider at the Seattle Center.

In summation, it's been yet another strange roller coaster year, I write really long sentences, and I need to stop starting journal entries with "So."

Current Mood: full

In 2008,

Skellington1 resolves to...

Take

bluwyngz busking.
Find a new conculture.
Go to the comic strips every month.
Give up reading.
Cut down to ten bicycles a day.
Connect with my inner bellingham.

"Give up Reading" is one of the most hillariously wrong things ever, but my favorite is definitley "Get in touch with my inner Bellingham." It makes so much sense! But it'd probably be bad for my continued employment...

Current Mood: silly

TSO Saturday, Part the 1st: The Snow Came Down
Saturday morning, still sick and running late to meet

westrider at the Seattle Center. The roads were clear, the snow was falling, and Trans Siberian Orchestra was playing the Nutcracker as it was meant to be played -- with Electric guitars*. I was filled with the christmas spirit, so I let everyone into my lane when they asked, even if they were being dorks. I was rewarded for my good behavior by having the Mercer exit show up on the left side of I-5, perfectly situated for the lane I was in.**

TSO Saturday, Part the 2nd: This Christmas Day
Peter and I walked out of the Center in the snow, and found a Thai restaurant where we splurged on Holy Basil Batman! and the Tower of Appetiser (not leaning). It was really nice to see Peter -- we need to do things more often, now that he's working days. We eventually holed up at Zinjaro until concert time, and I talked my voice away. Peter had to be my screaming proxy during the concert.

And oh, the concert. Utterly fantastic. I wondered, going in, if the show, especially the snow part of the show, could possibly have the same effect it had last year, given that I knew it was coming and the real thing was happening outside. It did. You could feel the crowd sigh as it started to snow. It was a powerful moment.

TSO Saturday, Part the 3nd: A Mad Russian's Christmas
By the time I dropped Peter off at the ferry and got over to Emily's it was about half an hour after midnight. It too me another half hour, standing in the cold, trying to get my reynaud's fingers to work my cell phone, to find out that Em wasn't home by 11:30 as she'd said she'd be, but 7 blocks away and full of vodka. I rescued her and four of her trashed friends, got everyone at least to within walking distance of their homes, and finally crawled into bed around 2:30. The high point? No one vomited. Not a small mercy, under the circumstances.

And that, children, is why I'm still sick this week.

*If Tchaikovsky were alive today, he'd agree with me on this one. Especially in Trepak.

**It is an under appreciated fact that Seattle exits actually switch sides of the freeway depending on on your driving karma.

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: Christmas Nights in Blue - TSO

One of the key benefits of poncey-French-press coffee culture is that you never find yourself trying to operate the twenty-three buttons of your host's Fifth-gen Neutron Micro-ray Javalizer with Addded Settings for Your Convenience (tm) before you've had your morning coffee.

Grind. Wait. Plunge. Pour.

This, I can deal with.

All the guys and my mother are out at a pretty-waterfall place with cameras. They left about seven, and I'm regretting that I stayed. I was afraid my feet would freeze numb and I'd be a drag, and I'm trying to preserve some energy for contra-dancing tonight. Part of that plan was sleeping in, but that was nixed when mom woke me up to give me car keys (not her fault - I was freezing and sleeping lightly). I'm glad she did, because I had her take my camera. All the boys get cameras to play with, she should too.

Now I have at least a good hour before the rest of the household starts to wake up, my second cup of coffee, and a fire in the fireplace that started on the second try with only minimal prayers to Varzi.

Hmmm...I should paint Varzi, but then I'd have to leave the fire. Playing computer games in front of the fire sounds much better than painting in the kitchen.

Oop, Jono's up earlier than expected. Morning, world.

Current Location: West Linn, Oregon

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