movement and repose
Feb. 19th, 2011 02:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grinninfooleI have been meaning to post for the past week, but I haven't made the time, despite staying up late. Well, no more. Surely you, my myriad readers, are desperate for news of me, so here it is.
I moved into my new space last Saturday, so it's been a week. It still feels a bit strange, but I'm adjusted better than I feared. I feel rested when I sleep, and I like the space, though it still looks new to my eyes, and so this still feels like a bit of an adventure. I must keep making time for making it mine. There shall be a place for everything, and everything shall be in its place, but I shall first have to find all the things, get rid of stuff I no longer want, and then find places for the rest. I can do it, but I must keep plugging away, and not just allow piles to acrete. F found the change in dad space weird for a couple of days, but now she's got it figured out.
One good thing is that I'm so far succeeding in developing a habit of exercising when I get up in the morning. I hope to end the year feeling strong and healthy and confident. I had a look at the online schedule for my old dojo, as I'm thinking of starting Aikido again in the spring, and I was shocked to see that Kanai sensei had died seven years ago. I know I have been away for a while, but damn....
Scattershotness:
I'm helping to organize the Paint and Pixel Festival in April. It's a new event to showcase the many great artists in the wilds of western New England. I have managed to hook a couple of headliners, but now I need to follow through on spreading the word so folks actually buy some tables. I don't have any money in this, but I'd like it to become a success. I took this on because I kind of miss the fun of organizing 5Con, I'm looking for new things to do to reinvent myself, I figure it will look OK on my resume, and the organizer is smoking hot. (And happily married, so there's nothing in the offing there, because I'm done with that dance, but apparently I'm still susceptible to the prickings of my libido. :)
I have some friends who are apparently struggling to pull themselves from the slough of despond, and I haven't heard much from them of late. You guys know who you are. I'm pulling for you. Call when you can.
(It's quite windy with gusts up to 50 mph; earlier there was a <i>thunderstorm</i>. In February. Frakking global warming.)
I made really tasty stew tonight. M and I had some after we watched Fringe. It feels good to watch a new show and be current on it. Fringe isn't my favorite show, but it's really well done, and I'm impressed by how well written and structured it is.
I have seen some season 1 Deep Space Nine episodes recently, because M borrowed them from a friend, and is watching them with her inamorata. I had forgotten just how strong that show was, and how well characterized it was, right from the start. I'll probably say more about this later.
M and I are going back east to visit my family tomorrow. I plan to interview my dad about his life, before he either dies or becomes so senile he won't remember anything. I hope I haven't left it too late.
Carla Speed McNeil has finally published a new Finder book, called Voice. It's about Rachel Grosvenor, now a young woman, and her struggle to earn formal acceptance into Clan Llaverac. Things have gone wrong, and she needs Jaeger, but he's not around, so she has to go find him. It's superb. Man, she really is amazing comics creator and SF writer. With the possible exception of Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, this is the best creator-owned, one person writer/artist comic currently ongoing. if you aren't reading yet, start now.
I'm going to start sleeping, myself.
Good night everyone.
I moved into my new space last Saturday, so it's been a week. It still feels a bit strange, but I'm adjusted better than I feared. I feel rested when I sleep, and I like the space, though it still looks new to my eyes, and so this still feels like a bit of an adventure. I must keep making time for making it mine. There shall be a place for everything, and everything shall be in its place, but I shall first have to find all the things, get rid of stuff I no longer want, and then find places for the rest. I can do it, but I must keep plugging away, and not just allow piles to acrete. F found the change in dad space weird for a couple of days, but now she's got it figured out.
One good thing is that I'm so far succeeding in developing a habit of exercising when I get up in the morning. I hope to end the year feeling strong and healthy and confident. I had a look at the online schedule for my old dojo, as I'm thinking of starting Aikido again in the spring, and I was shocked to see that Kanai sensei had died seven years ago. I know I have been away for a while, but damn....
Scattershotness:
I'm helping to organize the Paint and Pixel Festival in April. It's a new event to showcase the many great artists in the wilds of western New England. I have managed to hook a couple of headliners, but now I need to follow through on spreading the word so folks actually buy some tables. I don't have any money in this, but I'd like it to become a success. I took this on because I kind of miss the fun of organizing 5Con, I'm looking for new things to do to reinvent myself, I figure it will look OK on my resume, and the organizer is smoking hot. (And happily married, so there's nothing in the offing there, because I'm done with that dance, but apparently I'm still susceptible to the prickings of my libido. :)
I have some friends who are apparently struggling to pull themselves from the slough of despond, and I haven't heard much from them of late. You guys know who you are. I'm pulling for you. Call when you can.
(It's quite windy with gusts up to 50 mph; earlier there was a <i>thunderstorm</i>. In February. Frakking global warming.)
I made really tasty stew tonight. M and I had some after we watched Fringe. It feels good to watch a new show and be current on it. Fringe isn't my favorite show, but it's really well done, and I'm impressed by how well written and structured it is.
I have seen some season 1 Deep Space Nine episodes recently, because M borrowed them from a friend, and is watching them with her inamorata. I had forgotten just how strong that show was, and how well characterized it was, right from the start. I'll probably say more about this later.
M and I are going back east to visit my family tomorrow. I plan to interview my dad about his life, before he either dies or becomes so senile he won't remember anything. I hope I haven't left it too late.
Carla Speed McNeil has finally published a new Finder book, called Voice. It's about Rachel Grosvenor, now a young woman, and her struggle to earn formal acceptance into Clan Llaverac. Things have gone wrong, and she needs Jaeger, but he's not around, so she has to go find him. It's superb. Man, she really is amazing comics creator and SF writer. With the possible exception of Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, this is the best creator-owned, one person writer/artist comic currently ongoing. if you aren't reading yet, start now.
I'm going to start sleeping, myself.
Good night everyone.
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no subject
Date: 2011-02-19 03:54 pm (UTC)ETA: Just figured out what you were listening to. Yanni at the Acropolis was an amazing concert. That violin solo in the second piece just by itself was badass as hell.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-19 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-19 05:06 pm (UTC)In fact, I typed the title correctly, and I have added the artist, Andrew Bird, to the note. He's an odd duck, but his music is like nothing else I have heard. M and I went to see him at the Calvin once, because she's a huge fan of his.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-19 05:21 pm (UTC)Usually Yanni is exactly that. "Live at the Acropolis" is an exception because New Age Crap becomes something really cool once you take out the synthesizer and the whale song* and replace it with a full orchestra. I'd recommend tracking down the concert first (it aired on PBS long ago), and then if you like it, feel free to borrow my CD for iphone-y purposes.
Really it's an exercise in... hmm, contextual transposition I guess. One of the things I've actually been enjoying about youtube lately is you can find a lot of people performing acoustic covers of popular, overproduced autotuned dreck that's on the radio now and the stripping out of the wall of sound element and ESPECIALLY the goddamn autotune improves the music a lot. (prime examples - check out Pomplamoose and Carolina Chocolate Drops.)
Same thing going the other way. I've been surprised to find that once you eliminate the electric keyboard and saxaphone and replace it with, say, a metal band and a trumpet, "lite" jazz actually becomes listenable rather than the loathesome Weather Channel and cocktail party background noise it currently is.
And then of course, there's the crazy world of mashups. I don't think you're quite the type to enjoy Girl Talk (you have to have at least a basic appreciation for hip-hop), but you might enjoy THRU YOU
/musicgeek
*mostly kidding about this, but only in this case