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I did a major trimming of the reading lists today -- close to 150 accounts and communities. I simply cannot keep up anymore. I'm not sure I'll be able to adequately follow those who are left, and I can't promise to post more than a couple times a week myself, if even that. Apologies to everyone, and no offense meant; as I said in my previous entry, I feel bad for losing track of friends. I think my era on LJ may be entering its sunset, but perhaps it's just a phase (yesterday I had the thought that I wanted to completely unplug and leave all virtual communication behind for a while -- those familiar with Sunnie in her natural state will know how utterly unlike me that is). You're welcome to stay tuned, and maybe I'll be back. :) I'm doing well, though. The apartment is coming together (we'll have another big push Monday and possibly Tuesday, if needed, to get everything done), with new grown-up furniture and everything. I'll have pictures once I manage to get everything in place. It's going to be beauuuuuutiful. Ta for now -- I have to get back to work. Tomorrow is the worst day of the year for us, so wish me luck! Tags: administrative, apartment, lj, work
i am:  okay
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I cannot seem to keep up with LJ anymore (and DW, of course, by extension). I try, but I'm checking the site maybe every three days lately. I'm sorry -- this makes me feel like a bad friend, and very out of touch with people that I care about (you guys), but there's nothing for it. Maybe I'll get back into the swing of things, but for now I'm struggling with it. I am on Facebook and Twitter more often, but that's mostly because they take very little time and I can still dash off an update between doing other tasks. The in-depth updates are still here, so I'm missing out on a lot. Forgive me if I can't keep up with things. I may have to trim my reading list down, but it won't be today... no time for it. Life, for the most part, is very good for me right now. I'm moving up to a 2bd apartment in my same building this week (anyone is welcome to drop by this coming Wednesday or next Monday & Tuesday to help, should you be so inclined), purchasing some new (not hand-me-down!) furniture for once in my life, working a lot, getting out to see people occasionally, performing and travelling. I'm working on improving my physical health and pursuing my spiritual development with an intensity of interest that I haven't felt in years. I have love, and chosen family, and friends, even if I don't get to see most of them as often as I would like. I AM still planning on visiting several of you in October on my Boston/Cape Cod trip, so don't think I'm giving up on that! I'm really looking forward to it, and will be emailing those of you who offered crash space and expressed interest in seeing me. We'll work something up. I can't wait! What is new with you? What would you have me know about what you're doing these days? Anything you're curious about--with regards to what's going on with me--that I can answer or explain for you? Tags: navel-gazing, rambles, state of the sunnie
Current Location: the grand 1bdr bachelorette pad (not for much longer!)
i am:  contemplative
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) fvinnash and I were trying to make s'mores in the oven tonight. The directions say "Broil (High heat) with baking rack 2 notches down from the top...for approximately 5-10 minutes". She set the oven for 7, then went downstairs, and I wandered out of the room momentarily. At about 4 minutes, I started smelling smoke. I dashed back into the kitchen, saw flames on the marshmallows, yelled "PATTY! FIRE!" and then blew out the (rather pretty, actually) blue flames. She yelled "TURN OFF THE OVEN!" as she was running upstairs (but I was way ahead of her!). Once we silenced the smoke alarm, set up a fan in the kitchen, and could stop laughing, we explained to her husband what had happened, dumped the still-hot mess into a nearby pan:  ...and set up another batch, which we watched CAREFULLY this time:   For the record, they're really good. Just be careful when you're cooking them... Tags: cooking, flickr, friends, portland, recipes, silliness
Current Location: Portland, OR
i am:  giddy
listening to: Imogen Heap - Just For Now
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Thing 1: I appear to have developed more kidney stones. My last ones were 4 and a half months ago, and I did a CT scan last week to see if I was in the clear, which apparently I'm not. It's about the same size as my last one (3mm) so my doctor is consulting with a urologist this week to decide what to do about it. In the meantime, I think I'm going to resume carrying the Percocet with me when I leave the house. YAY. Thing 2: has to do with the IUD, so... ( the guys might not want to read this part, aka HAY GUYS ITS GIRLY BITS TMI TIME )Okay, guys it's safe again. Honestly, for all the medical foolishness going on at the moment, I'm really doing well. I've got some travel plans in the near future, things are calming down at work (project-wise if not call-wise), my gardening is going well, I'm getting a fabulous newer apartment soon, and I have some new things I'm doing that I'm not quite ready to share yet, but they're bringing me a great deal of peace. Can't really complain all that much. Tags: iud, medical, pcos, rambles
i am:  content
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I think I'm going to take a small trip to Portland mid-June (14-16ish) to visit fvinnash. She works during the day on two of the three days I'd be in town, so I'd have time to catch up with others, too... hoping to see meme_morgan and james_watts, copperwise (and maybe I can meet orizarising too!), tanuki_green, allegroconmolto, dave256, and, umm... I know there are others I would love to see, but it's late and I had a nap earlier and my brain is fuzzy. ... In other news: here, my latest adventure in haircolor!   (O hai I dyed my hair purple.) I lost my real camera somewhere. I'm mourning it. Until I find it (hopefully in the move -- oh yeah, I took the 2bdr apartment, I'm moving early July sometime) or can replace it, all you get is iPhone pics. More to come later on the apartment upgrade. I can't wait! Tags: apartment, friends, hair, iphone, moving, portland, travels, vanity
Current Location: the loft
i am:  bouncy
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I'm having a lot of fun with folia, a gardening website with nifty tools and tracking and, yes, even some social networking. I've added all of my various plantings, which you can see here, and I've been keeping my updates and plant photos there rather than talk about nothing but green growing (and not-so-green wilting) things here all the time. In case you don't want to click through to my latest garden journal entry, I'll sum up: * My peas are the most successful thing I've got out right now. I noticed this morning that the two still indoors may be dying, but I have four more in more permanent pots outdoors 24/7 now, and they're doing great. * I've now killed 4 of the 6 zucchini plants, so I'm starting two more * My basil is a lost cause, so I caved and bought a 4" start from Carpinito Bros (also chives. I think I started them too late.) And I bought a tomato plant, to put in the raised bed garden I have planned at a friend's. * My potato bucket is showing sprouts. Yay! I may get tubers after all. I'm going to try to get up and at least pot up the basil and chive starts I got so that I can put them outside when it gets nice (the weekend) and bring them back in when the weather gets nasty again (every other day, it seems). I haven't yet started putting together the raised bed, but we have the supplies, we just need the time to do it. (The only real problem with taking the 2br apartment I talked about? Losing my balcony space. No more garden right outside my door... sigh.) --- This weekend is the final Medieval Women's Choir concert of the season, at St. James Cathedral. The theme is 'A Peaceable Kingdom', "songs of praise and peace from medieval Italy", and will include all of the songs we recorded a few weeks ago for our upcoming CD. brandywilliams loaned me a jump drive with the photos I took during our days at Bastyr, and I'm pleased that I managed to capture a few really good ones. This is my favorite of the bunch, because it really shows the bright colors on the windowsills:  --- And in case you didn't see my tweet today: "Dear friends, I <3 you all, but if you're porting your tweets to FB (&/or LJ/DW), I'm prolly going to stop following you on all but 1 place." (And yes, I see the contradiction between saying this and reposting it to both LJ and DW, but this is the only time you'll ever see me do it.) Because I want to keep track of more than just people's Twitter messages, I'll probably be dropping people only on Twitter -- I can scroll on by the LoudTwitter posts here without complaint. Yes, I realize this probably makes me a bit curmudgeonly. It happens from time to time. In the same vein: if you currently follow me both on LJ and on DW, feel free to remove me one of the two places with no offense taken (or both, if that's your preference). I don't anticipate any content posted solely to either service, for now. --- Bedtime for me if I'm going to get up to pot those plants and work on my composing. Night! Tags: container gardening, flickr, medieval women's choir, twitter
i am:  cold
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I've been in my apartment for 14 months now. I love where I live! My building is nice, my landlady is great, the location is awesome... but squeezing all of my stuff into a <600sq ft 1br/1ba apartment (a big step down from the 3br/2ba 1400sq ft condo) was tough. I gave away, threw away, and donated quite a bit of my belongings, but still had to put half a dozen boxes in bennybot's basement for storage, and I still feel crowded (though admittedly a lot of that is due to the presence of a 6' LoveSac in my living room). There's a 2br apartment coming open in my building in early July. It's just 3 doors down from my current place, so moving wouldn't be too terrible. It's about $250/mo more than my current unit, and the layout differences are nice -- more windows (including one in the kitchen!), a larger bathroom, and, well, the extra bedroom. (I can't tell if the living room is larger, but it is large. My current one is pretty big too, though) But affording it... aye, there's the rub. Now since my divorce I've been pretty casual about my budget -- obsessive about keeping the balance sheet, but not caring much about where it's going. I use up my discretionary funds without a whole lot of discretion, really. I go out to eat, I support my hobbies (gardening, shinies, and still some occasional BPAL/soap), I buy gifts, I travel, and I even put some in savings. I can afford to do this in cash, but I do sometimes use my credit cards, too. If I move up in my apartment, I'm going to have to cut back on most of that, so I tried to make up a budget last night while I was at work, based on my recent spending. Yeah. Ouch. There is no reason that a single person needs to spend $350/mo on groceries (my average for the past 3 months). I'm appalled. Especially because I throw away a lot of stuff when I clean out the fridge, because I have cooking-ADD and things tend to go bad before I use them up. And don't get me started on my other spending. If I'm going to do this, I'll have to really buckle down and pay attention to where my money is going, and try to learn to buy what I need and use it up rather than deciding to cook something new for which I don't have the ingredients. (My budget took into account still paying the same on my credit cards -- which is 4x the minimum payment -- but not using them except for true emergencies, which is probably the best idea anyway.) Ultimately, I think I can afford it, if I'm mindful. I told the landlady I'd give her an answer on the 2br by Monday. I can take the rest of May and all of June to practice and get used to it. I really want more space. I'd love to have my computer in a different room (NOT the bedroom) and living room windows I can keep open all summer without worrying. Man. It's so easy to spend like crazy when you're not thinking about it. Time to start paying attention. Tags: apartment, budget
i am:  embarrassed
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 Image by treedork on FlickrI spent half of Friday and most of Saturday and Sunday in the chapel at Bastyr University, recording material for the next Medieval Women's Choir CD (due out sometime this fall). One might expect a group of 60 adult women (ranging in age from mid-20s to 70+) to be able to be focused and work hard, but even the most dedicated group can get unruly sometimes, so I was expecting Margriet to have to rein us in occasionally, but that never happened. We stayed on task and even finished early, and did a fine job of it, if I do say so myself. I'm very proud of the whole group, and I can't wait to hear the CD. The picture above is of some of the the stained glass windows in the (decommissioned) chapel -- they are gorgeously detailed, lining both sides of the tall, narrow(-ish) space (and the ceiling is pretty neat too). I spent a great deal of our time in the chapel staring at the colored shadows and light being cast on the deep recessed windowsills by the afternoon sun, but my iPhone could only capture this and this, so I had to search out someone else's picture from Flickr to show you. While I was trying desperately to accurately photograph it with the iPhone, I spied brandywilliams with her point-and-shoot camera, and she was kind enough to let me try to take a few pictures that she'll email to me later. They looked like they turned out well, so I'm crossing my fingers. --- Talk of cameras, of course, makes me grumble again about having lost my own point-n-shoot, a Canon PowerShot SD40 that was barely a year old (it has to be here somewhere, but I've torn up the apartment looking for the last month, to no avail). I'm wondering if it's not time to plan to invest in a digital SLR (and classes or books on how to use it properly). I was grumbling a bit at the auto-focus of Brandy's camera, because I really wanted to be able to set things up more finely, but I knew I wouldn't be able to do it with the auto settings. The trouble is, I don't know the first thing about the dSLR camera market, what's good and what isn't, and just from a quick browse on Amazon I know I wouldn't be able to afford something fancy, but I would want something that can take me a ways and not limit me right off the bat. I wouldn't mind getting something used if it was still in decent shape. Am I looking for the impossible? (probably, as always) -- One last note: from here on out I'll probably be cross-posting to both Dreamwidth and LJ. Since 99.9% of my DW read list is made up of LJ friends, feel free to remove me here or there (with no hard feelings, 'course) if you don't want to see dual posts. (I promise they won't all be as long as this one.) - The "tl;dr" version:1 - Hey, I made a CD last weekend! And wow, aren't these windows shiny? 2 - I want to buy a digital SLR camera but don't know where to start. Help! 3 - Crossposting DW<-->LJ. Tags: cameras, dreamwidth, flickr, lj, medieval women's choir, music
i am:  sore
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I have my Boston/Cape Cod trip planned for ~Oct 7 through Oct 16 of this year (yes, I know, planning way ahead. Is necessary.). I haven't bought my plane tickets yet, but I'm seriously scoping out airline sales right now -- I'm thinking a red-eye on JetBlue is probably the best way to go. I'll have a few days in the city, and then a week-ish in a condo in Hyannis (I think?). I'm planning to rent a car, and need to start thinking about hotel rooms in Boston itself. I am already planning/hoping to see pieces2puzzle and her boy out on the Cape, bliss279 in North Attleboro, and prunesnprisms, shadesong, Driley-not-on-LJ, idonotlikepeas & girlgonemad, jpallan & crschmidt in Boston itself, but anyone else nearby who wants to visit with me had better speak soonishly or risk missing out. :) (If I've already talked to you about getting together but didn't list you here, it's because my brain has flown away to find its fortune elsewhere. No offense meant!) So, because I like to have all the information in one place... a poll! Poll #1391554 Boston, Oct ~7-16
Open to: Friends, detailed results viewable to: FriendsI'm coming to Boston & Cape Cod! Do you want to hang out with me? Can I potentially crash at your place for a night? I will have 3-5 days in Boston before I go to Cape Cod. What should I see or do while I'm in the city? Tags: friends, polls, travels
i am: optimistic
listening to: Beauty's Confusion - The Wrong Way
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Last week I finally managed to get my LED light grow box started, with the loan of a soldering iron from carminerose. It made holes larger than my LED lights, but was the quickest and probably easiest way to put 100+ uniformly-spaced holes into my 3-gal Rubbermaid container:  .  .  I'm smack in the middle of spring concert season (Bone Poets and Medieval Women's Choir both have recording sessions and shows in the next month, plus I still have two pieces to write for a friend's project) so I figured that if I didn't start planting this morning I never would. First I affixed the lights to the lid with a hot glue gun (and I may have melted a wire or two in the process, since half a dozen of the lights no longer work), then prepared two dozen Jiffy mini peat pellets and four of the (two dozen) origami newspaper pots I folded last week while at work, and got started. In the process, I realized is that a 3gal Rubbermaid container is small. But then again, so is my garden space, so it's probably best to keep myself to a limited quantity, at least to begin with. I organized the peat pellets into egg cartons and used the Tetris method to fit as much inside the box as I could, and still had to leave two of the newspaper pots in a separate box on a side table:  .  .  I planted chives, tom thumb lettuce, scallions, sugar snap peas, bush baby zucchini, and basil. I still need to plant my edamame, but I accidentally left my seeds at seattlejo's house. And I think if I had been more prepared (i.e., had more loose potting mix at home, instead of just a 1/4 bag left over from last year's garden) I'd have done more of the newspaper pots, because I really like the idea of using them. Maybe for my 2nd round of plants... Expect more pictures, once things start to sprout (if I can ever find my camera, that is!) Tags: container gardening, crafty bits, flickr, seattle
i am: pleased
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The show with Vixy & Tony (and Betsy!) and Marian Call (and Colter the drummer!) was totally excellent tonight. We absolutely packed Wayward for a 3-hour rockin' jam session. tfabris is to thank for my participation in this venture, since he asked me a couple months ago if I'd be interested in playing with them and hoping I'd also play on "some" of Marian's songs (tonight I counted my playlist for Marian at an even dozen songs, either singing or playing, not counting the honest-to-god impromptu jam session encore that was pretty much the best thing ever). I'd recorded with Vixy & Tony, of course, but never actually had a chance to even see them in concert because of my dratted work schedule, and I was a bit unsure of my ability to satisfactorially do what he was asking -- sure, I could reprise the parts I wrote for the two songs on Thirteen, no problem, and probably learn a few new pieces, but also potentially improvise parts, live and on stage? Erk, I dunno... I soon discovered that playing with Tony and Vixy is a joy -- they are the most appreciative audience ever, even in rehearsals. I had oodles of encouragement from both of them, and from my dear stealthcello (ever my improvisation coach) too, and found that I could do it, and more than that, it could be fun! I did spend quite a while over the last few weeks transcribing and composing violin parts, but once we got in front of an audience I found myself using those only as reference points in case my mind blanked. So, in short, I had a blast. If you were able to come, I hope that was evident -- I always have a great time on stage, and this just gave me new confidence in something I didn't know I could do. That confidence helped me in Marian's encore, when she and Colter decided on a cover of a song that neither Tony nor I knew. I was fine with taking a breather, but Marian waved me back up in front of the audience and said "it's just in D, it's easy, you'll be fine!" and... I was. More than fine. What fun! Special thanks to Super Sound Man skydancer, Super Barista elocinnuala, and all my friends who endured the pestering and came to see us -- as ever, I didn't get to say hi to everyone I wanted to, but know that your attendance is very, very appreciated. I hope we helped create a bunch of new Marian fans tonight. She's fabulous and deserves them, and I told her that I hope she'll call me to play when next time she's in town. Tony and Vixy can also call me anytime -- I can't promise anything with my schedule being what it is and Bone Poets starting to ramp back up with our new stuff, but I'm thinking we'll be able to work something out, sometime. :) (I came home and collapsed for a while afterward, then got up and had a post-midnight dinner, four ibuprofen and a lot of water -- must stave off the post-concert-hangover -- read up on everything I missed during rehearsal today, wrote this rather rambling entry, and now I'm going back to bed. And I'm going to sleep in comma dammit!) Tags: friends, music, performing, seattle
Current Location: almost in bed!
i am: ecstatic (but exhausted)
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I have the excellent fortune to have fallen in with fabulous musicians in this town: suddenlynaked, siouxiequeue, stealthcello and all of the concerts and travels with Gaia Consort/Bone Poets Orchestra members, recording with tfabris and vixyish, working on jonah777's projects, the Eastside Symphony and the Medieval Women's Choir... all of it stretching my creativity in ways I could never have imagined 10 years ago. Sometimes those contacts lead to exciting new experiences. Such was the case when Tony emailed me last month, asking if I'd be interested in reprising my parts on "Mal's Song" and "Persephone" (and maybe bits on a couple others) for a show they were opening at Wayward Coffeehouse. He also asked if I'd be interested in playing for the main act, a singer-songwriter named Marian Call. I'd heard Marian's name around, but had somehow missed her music. I listened to a few tracks, then immediately purchased her entire catalog. Her songs are clever and fun, with interesting harmonies and great lyrics. If you somehow missed the track I posted last month, or the video I posted a few days ago, go back and check them out. You'll be glad that you did. We'll be at the Wayward Coffeehouse, this Saturday night, March 28, starting at 7pm. Show opens with Vixy & Tony (with Betsy and me). Hope to see you there!  Tags: music, performing, seattle
i am: excited
listening to: Marian Call - The Volvo Song
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About a month ago, I shared a song by Marian Call, because I was just starting to learn her music in anticipation of the shows I'm privileged to be doing with her and tfabris & vixyish (this week! formal announcement to come, probably tomorrow). Marian and Tony and I had a lovely rehearsal this afternoon, and at one point we all clustered around her laptop as she showed us a fan-vid that's been made from one of her songs, "In The Black". It's really nicely done.
(The song is one of my favorites of hers, and I'm thrilled to be playing it with her on Saturday. As a friend said about Marian's music earlier today: "...it doesn't go where you expect it to go, but after it does, you're glad it did, y'know?")
(apologies for any weird formatting -- the embed is messing up the post somehow.)
Tags: music, tv, youtube
i am: pleased
listening to: Marian Call - In The Black
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 My sweetheart did a wonderful thing and got me tickets to Cinematic Titanic for my birthday. We started out with dinner at Red Robin (my choice -- was craving a good hamburger) and then went down to the King Cat theatre for the show. There was a bit of silly crowd warmup, including Frank singing the theme song from his proposed Saturday Morning Superhero Action-Adventure Animated Cartoon Show called "Convoluted Man" ( it's on YouTube, of course), and then the movie, The Blood of the Vampire (official CT YouTube trailer), a terrible 1960s movie set in nineteenth century Mexico, filmed in the Phillipines. The cast was fabulous; the riffing was almost too thick sometimes, with five people on stage, but it was always very funny. ( This person was apparently just a few rows behind me and has a much better review of the whole night, I can't really express the awesomeness as well as it deserves.) I didn't take the opportunity to browse the swag table before the show (silly me) and attempting to fight through the crowd to get to it afterward was an exercise in frustration, so we left, and I'll just order the DVDs online. Because, oh yes, I will own these. (From a few minutes spent browsing on BrownPaperTickets, there appear to be approximately 18 seats left, if you want to attend Saturday night. It looks like they've only got far-flung singles, though, nothing where two (or more) people could sit together. Still, it's a small theater, and I highly recommend you see this, if you were ever a fan of MST3K.) Thus continues my birth(day) month celebrations, in fine form. Tags: aron, birthday, good things, tv, youtube
i am: giddy
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