88F - 65F : Sunny
Sep. 25th, 2017 10:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zhelanaI woke up early, at 8am, to find a place to take Jack to be quarantined. My mom's vet said they offered that service, so Jack and I made the trek over there. It's really not close. I mean, mom lives 15 minutes from me, but this was 15 minutes in the opposite direction from her. Jack was hiding behind my legs while I filled in paperwork. The woman was like "where's the dog?" and I was like "he's right behind me," so she looked again and went, "goodness this tiny thing is supposed to have hurt someone?" You see my point. She said usually when they have dogs for quarantine it's like boxers, or pit bulls, or dobermans. She's never had a 15lb dog in for quarantine before. She had to physically drag him away from me, which I'm afraid hurt him because she had one of those leashes that just loops over the dog's neck and tightens on his neck instead of attaching to a collar. But eventually he started walking and I cried as he went away.
I came home and went back to bed, but I never managed to get back to sleep. Miss Darden, from the PRRC called me to find out how I was doing a month past graduation. I told her about Jack, and that I was worried the guy might try to sue. She gave me a number for legal aid which will work with you depending on your income. I think we have lawyers we've paid for through Kevin's work, though, which we've already paid for if we need them. Miss Darden said she'd call me again closer to graduation day to see if I wanted to be in the ceremony, but she's done calling me for check ins. I can call her if I need her though, and she made sure I had her extension. I can also call them if I want tickets to something they may be able to get them. I almost missed her call. I saw that the VA hospital had called me, but I assumed it was a reminder for my Thursday appointment. Well, then I got the reminder call for the Thursday appointment, and thought it weird that they would call me twice, so I checked my voicemail, and was pleased that it was Miss Darden.
I rolled out of bed again at noon since I decided I'd eat lunch before golf. I ate a peanut butter sandwich and cried when I got jelly on my computer, and no one immediately shoved his head in there to eat the leftover jelly. Then I went to golf, where I hit approximately 25 shots on the driving range, almost all of them rolling pathetically along the ground and not going up in the air at all. This was a special day at golf because Hines Ward, a super bowl MVP for the Steelers, was there. He works for CNN now, and the head people from CNN all picked a charity to spotlight on the channel between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Well Hines picked BlazeSports, so he was out there today playing golf with us. Because of this after an hour we moved onto the course. Kevin the instructor (as opposed to my Kevin) went with me, and picked all my clubs and helped me track the balls (I kind of lose them in the sky and can't remember where they fell...). I hit my first shot 100 yards, which, yanno, is 75 yards longer than I've ever hit anything before, but after that I was just hitting balls rolling along the ground again. But here's a picture of me with Hines Ward.
Anyway, it was a lot of fun to actually play golf instead of just staying on the driving range. And the area we were playing in was very pretty, although they had lost over 100 trees in the recent tropical storm we had. We only played 3 holes, and then we went in for dinner. We had sandwiches and potato salad (and salad, but with caesar dressing so I couldn't eat any).
I came home and spent some time with Kevin. Rogue REALLY likes the borg cube she got from this month's loot pets. Like, we were squeaking that plus her previous favorite toy, and she was picking the borg cube every time. She also woke me up with it a few times, which normally she doesn't do that with toys. So I guess I'm glad I didn't give it to Jack to destroy, but I feel kind of guilty that I didn't give him any kind of a toy. Then I kind of kidnapped Rogue and locked her in my office with me. The cats are in here too. Aaron is curled up in Jack's usual spot, but Aggie is hiding in the closet. She did spend some time against my chest though.
I think I've made two decisions that might help my sanity. First is that I'm going to intentionally write 0 words in October. Hopefully that will get me over my burn out and I'll be able to start November strong and spit out a novel for NaNo. The other decision is that in November I'm going to count every word I write - even words in this blog, even though they aren't fiction. I just... I don't think my brain will let me push on in any other way. At any rate, I'm still planning to go to write ins on Tuesday and Thursday nights in October, I just don't plan to write. I'll have my laptop and internet connection, so I mean, I can do other things on the internet while I talk to people at the write ins. Maybe I'll start counting blog posts already in my word counts.
I looked at the weather report in order to make the title of this post and found that it is still supposed to be over 90F on Wednesday when I was supposed to go to the zoo and work as a greeter. I decided to cancel that, and sign up for a shift in October when it will be in the 70s. We're supposed to start getting more seasonable weather on Sunday (hey that's my birthday!). That means high 70s, and still not sweatshirt weather, but at least it won't be 90 out anymore. I also signed up for a shift at the aquarium on the day of Red Tower, which I guess means I'm not going to that, but I was kind of leaning towards not going anyway. They're not having any classes. I guess this means my next event is Jour D' Amour in February. I'm alright with that. I don't need to go to a million SCA events anymore. Honestly, the meetings are more fun, and archery practice lets me shoot things monthly, which really if I wanted to shoot more often than that, I'd go to Sol Haven's archery practice, or I'd go shoot archery with BlazeSports every week. Clearly, I don't want to that badly. Although honestly, I may ask Bill if there is teaching at archery, because if I could get someone to watch me shoot and tell me "this is what you're doing wrong," that would be kind of good and I might consider waking up early for that, at least a few times.
Speaking of BlazeSports, swim team is this Saturday, which, I'm sure the Jews on my list are already seeing the problem - it's Yom Kippur and since I skipped out on Rosh Hashanah, I really feel like I ought to go. Also I signed up to go to the break the fast after services. Because I can't make it this month, and didn't make it last month, I cleared out my schedule for next month, which meant cancelling an aquarium shift (which is why I added the one on Red Tower - I need to be going twice a month to get my guest pass next year). I need to be doing a better job of getting hours at the zoo, too, but honestly, it's hot, and I don't have khaki shorts.
I got an email today that my 3rd volunteer gig, the reading to an elementary school student, is set to start on October 3rd. So hopefully that will go better this year. That seems kind of last minute to be telling me about it, but I guess it is what it is. They still haven't told me what time I need to show up. I'm hoping for some time in the afternoon, because my poor little brain.
Sunday is my birthday, and that means talking to my aunt and trying to convince her just to get me amazon gift cards, while she comes up with a million things I absolutely do not want and says, "what about this? what about that?" I think we finally settled on socks. Hopefully she doesn't find a way to fuck that up, but she was already trying to convince me on socks that stop at the ankles pretty hard, which I will never wear because I hate socks that stop at the ankles. Honestly, I appreciate that she wants to buy me a present, but I don't understand what her thing is against buying me what I ask for? My parents make things easier. I send them a link, and they order it. My sister will get me an amazon gift card. That's all the presents I expect.
I've been listening to the radio to try to find a song to add to my collection on the first (I always add a song to my collection on the first of every month. It keeps me up to date with modern music and stops me from getting too bored with the music I have). Unfortunately, I really don't hear anything new and clever this month. Does anyone have any suggestions? (Send youtube links!) I like pop, hate rap, and really hate rap in my pop. Some favorites include Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Pink, and Lady Gaga. I particularly like listening to songs with a good message.
I miss my puppy.
I came home and went back to bed, but I never managed to get back to sleep. Miss Darden, from the PRRC called me to find out how I was doing a month past graduation. I told her about Jack, and that I was worried the guy might try to sue. She gave me a number for legal aid which will work with you depending on your income. I think we have lawyers we've paid for through Kevin's work, though, which we've already paid for if we need them. Miss Darden said she'd call me again closer to graduation day to see if I wanted to be in the ceremony, but she's done calling me for check ins. I can call her if I need her though, and she made sure I had her extension. I can also call them if I want tickets to something they may be able to get them. I almost missed her call. I saw that the VA hospital had called me, but I assumed it was a reminder for my Thursday appointment. Well, then I got the reminder call for the Thursday appointment, and thought it weird that they would call me twice, so I checked my voicemail, and was pleased that it was Miss Darden.
I rolled out of bed again at noon since I decided I'd eat lunch before golf. I ate a peanut butter sandwich and cried when I got jelly on my computer, and no one immediately shoved his head in there to eat the leftover jelly. Then I went to golf, where I hit approximately 25 shots on the driving range, almost all of them rolling pathetically along the ground and not going up in the air at all. This was a special day at golf because Hines Ward, a super bowl MVP for the Steelers, was there. He works for CNN now, and the head people from CNN all picked a charity to spotlight on the channel between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Well Hines picked BlazeSports, so he was out there today playing golf with us. Because of this after an hour we moved onto the course. Kevin the instructor (as opposed to my Kevin) went with me, and picked all my clubs and helped me track the balls (I kind of lose them in the sky and can't remember where they fell...). I hit my first shot 100 yards, which, yanno, is 75 yards longer than I've ever hit anything before, but after that I was just hitting balls rolling along the ground again. But here's a picture of me with Hines Ward.
Anyway, it was a lot of fun to actually play golf instead of just staying on the driving range. And the area we were playing in was very pretty, although they had lost over 100 trees in the recent tropical storm we had. We only played 3 holes, and then we went in for dinner. We had sandwiches and potato salad (and salad, but with caesar dressing so I couldn't eat any).
I came home and spent some time with Kevin. Rogue REALLY likes the borg cube she got from this month's loot pets. Like, we were squeaking that plus her previous favorite toy, and she was picking the borg cube every time. She also woke me up with it a few times, which normally she doesn't do that with toys. So I guess I'm glad I didn't give it to Jack to destroy, but I feel kind of guilty that I didn't give him any kind of a toy. Then I kind of kidnapped Rogue and locked her in my office with me. The cats are in here too. Aaron is curled up in Jack's usual spot, but Aggie is hiding in the closet. She did spend some time against my chest though.
I think I've made two decisions that might help my sanity. First is that I'm going to intentionally write 0 words in October. Hopefully that will get me over my burn out and I'll be able to start November strong and spit out a novel for NaNo. The other decision is that in November I'm going to count every word I write - even words in this blog, even though they aren't fiction. I just... I don't think my brain will let me push on in any other way. At any rate, I'm still planning to go to write ins on Tuesday and Thursday nights in October, I just don't plan to write. I'll have my laptop and internet connection, so I mean, I can do other things on the internet while I talk to people at the write ins. Maybe I'll start counting blog posts already in my word counts.
I looked at the weather report in order to make the title of this post and found that it is still supposed to be over 90F on Wednesday when I was supposed to go to the zoo and work as a greeter. I decided to cancel that, and sign up for a shift in October when it will be in the 70s. We're supposed to start getting more seasonable weather on Sunday (hey that's my birthday!). That means high 70s, and still not sweatshirt weather, but at least it won't be 90 out anymore. I also signed up for a shift at the aquarium on the day of Red Tower, which I guess means I'm not going to that, but I was kind of leaning towards not going anyway. They're not having any classes. I guess this means my next event is Jour D' Amour in February. I'm alright with that. I don't need to go to a million SCA events anymore. Honestly, the meetings are more fun, and archery practice lets me shoot things monthly, which really if I wanted to shoot more often than that, I'd go to Sol Haven's archery practice, or I'd go shoot archery with BlazeSports every week. Clearly, I don't want to that badly. Although honestly, I may ask Bill if there is teaching at archery, because if I could get someone to watch me shoot and tell me "this is what you're doing wrong," that would be kind of good and I might consider waking up early for that, at least a few times.
Speaking of BlazeSports, swim team is this Saturday, which, I'm sure the Jews on my list are already seeing the problem - it's Yom Kippur and since I skipped out on Rosh Hashanah, I really feel like I ought to go. Also I signed up to go to the break the fast after services. Because I can't make it this month, and didn't make it last month, I cleared out my schedule for next month, which meant cancelling an aquarium shift (which is why I added the one on Red Tower - I need to be going twice a month to get my guest pass next year). I need to be doing a better job of getting hours at the zoo, too, but honestly, it's hot, and I don't have khaki shorts.
I got an email today that my 3rd volunteer gig, the reading to an elementary school student, is set to start on October 3rd. So hopefully that will go better this year. That seems kind of last minute to be telling me about it, but I guess it is what it is. They still haven't told me what time I need to show up. I'm hoping for some time in the afternoon, because my poor little brain.
Sunday is my birthday, and that means talking to my aunt and trying to convince her just to get me amazon gift cards, while she comes up with a million things I absolutely do not want and says, "what about this? what about that?" I think we finally settled on socks. Hopefully she doesn't find a way to fuck that up, but she was already trying to convince me on socks that stop at the ankles pretty hard, which I will never wear because I hate socks that stop at the ankles. Honestly, I appreciate that she wants to buy me a present, but I don't understand what her thing is against buying me what I ask for? My parents make things easier. I send them a link, and they order it. My sister will get me an amazon gift card. That's all the presents I expect.
I've been listening to the radio to try to find a song to add to my collection on the first (I always add a song to my collection on the first of every month. It keeps me up to date with modern music and stops me from getting too bored with the music I have). Unfortunately, I really don't hear anything new and clever this month. Does anyone have any suggestions? (Send youtube links!) I like pop, hate rap, and really hate rap in my pop. Some favorites include Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Pink, and Lady Gaga. I particularly like listening to songs with a good message.
I miss my puppy.
The Vietnam War: A film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick
Sep. 25th, 2017 10:36 pmorangerfulFinally got around to watch the first episode of The Vietnam War, the new Ken Burns documentary on PBS. It is all streaming for free on the PBS website and after watching the first episode, I can already say this should be required viewing for everyone.
I'm not sure about you, but we never even got to the Vietnam War in history class. I think we may have glossed over it one year, when summer was fast approaching. It barely got a mention, probably because it would have been far too complicated to explain in a matter of days to a bunch of teenagers ready to be done with school.
The first episode is long, almost 90 minutes, and it is entitled "Deja Vu" (1858-1961). The story of Vietnam's long struggle for some kind of freedom is laid out and what a mess it was. The episode switches back and forth every few minutes to footage from the war, creating eerie parallels and a sense of all this has happened before, and all this will happen again (and again, and again). It was pretty much like watching someone dig a hole, yet they are standing in the hole while they did it, totally oblivious to that fact and then, after that hour and a half is over, you are looking up out of that hole going "oh...shit" because there is not way out without making a mess of things.
I have to applaud all of the people they interviewed for being so honest. Some of the statements made so far were kind of shocking, and you can tell by the look on the people's faces as they say them that they know what it all stemmed from looking back, but at the moment those feelings were real, that horror was real, that desire to fight was real.
It feel so far away and so recent. This is one of those moments in history that we tend to ignore because it was so messy, but it is also a point in history that changed the United States forever. Burns made a comment in an interview that many of the problems we are wrestling with now along party lines start here.
Anyone else watching?
I'm not sure about you, but we never even got to the Vietnam War in history class. I think we may have glossed over it one year, when summer was fast approaching. It barely got a mention, probably because it would have been far too complicated to explain in a matter of days to a bunch of teenagers ready to be done with school.
The first episode is long, almost 90 minutes, and it is entitled "Deja Vu" (1858-1961). The story of Vietnam's long struggle for some kind of freedom is laid out and what a mess it was. The episode switches back and forth every few minutes to footage from the war, creating eerie parallels and a sense of all this has happened before, and all this will happen again (and again, and again). It was pretty much like watching someone dig a hole, yet they are standing in the hole while they did it, totally oblivious to that fact and then, after that hour and a half is over, you are looking up out of that hole going "oh...shit" because there is not way out without making a mess of things.
I have to applaud all of the people they interviewed for being so honest. Some of the statements made so far were kind of shocking, and you can tell by the look on the people's faces as they say them that they know what it all stemmed from looking back, but at the moment those feelings were real, that horror was real, that desire to fight was real.
It feel so far away and so recent. This is one of those moments in history that we tend to ignore because it was so messy, but it is also a point in history that changed the United States forever. Burns made a comment in an interview that many of the problems we are wrestling with now along party lines start here.
Anyone else watching?
87F - 65F : Sunny
Sep. 24th, 2017 09:45 pmzhelanaToday animal control came to our house and told us that the delivery driver complained to them that our dog bit him. Although it was clear that he had not been bitten and had just sustained a minor scratch, because he claimed he had been bitten there was nothing anyone could do, and our dog has to go to quarantine, at our expense, for 10 days. This happened once to my mom's friend and it cost her $300. I don't have $300 lying around! I mean, yeah, things just got a bit better with Kevin's promotion, but not enough better to take a $300 hit our first half-month of it. We're still playing catch up. There are two trees down in our yard since the hurricane, and we can't pay to move those, we both needed new tires because of nails that had them completely flat, and we put that on a credit card we can't pay off, And I just don't know what to do.
Kevin is busy writing negative reviews of his employer. I wish I thought they'd get him fired.
I'm fighting off panic at the price tag, and anger that the animal control agent said he clearly wasn't bitten but there's still nothing they can do and anger that he is slandering my dog (but my dog probably does not have legal standing in a court to sue him - which Kevin won't let me consider doing anyway). And desperate sadness because my dog is going to be locked away with no one to love him, and he's not going to understand why he doesn't have even his sister with him for the first time in his life. And I'm afraid if he's in quarantine they won't be able to let him go outside throughout the day. And basically, my poor dog, who did nothing but try to make a friend he thought was playing with him.
Otherwise, I was supposed to go to the zoo today for gorilla day, to do arts and crafts activities with kids. I emailed two people to ask where to meet and neither of them got back to me, so I didn't go. I did wake up to check my email on time to have gone, but I didn't go. I'm really annoyed about this because it means I either need to spend more time in flamingo plaza as a greeter, or I have to find other events to sign up for. I should probably look in next month to see when these events might be. Yeah now I'm signed up for something called "Boo at the Zoo" on the 21st. If I don't get enough hours by then, I'll finish up then. It's by the orangutans which I actually know something about having studied them as an anthro major in college.
I don't remember if I mentioned this here or not, but 23andMe is doing a study of people who have been treated for either depression or bipolar disorder, and in exchange for your DNA they'll send you a free ancestry and health report. So I mailed off a vial of my spit to help with that study and find out whether I should be chasing this Polish guy or the English guy on ancestry.com. There are also rumors in my mother's family of some Native American ancestry, which it will be interesting to find out of that is true or not. If you've been treated for bipolar disorder, you can click here to get in on the same deal I did - but time is running out. The depression study is already closed.
I opened a loot pets box today to see if I'd get some kind of a toy I could send with Jack to quarantine, but Kevin wound up really liking the toy inside it (which was a borg cube), so we gave it to Rogue, who will not destroy it instead of Jack, who will.
Kevin is busy writing negative reviews of his employer. I wish I thought they'd get him fired.
I'm fighting off panic at the price tag, and anger that the animal control agent said he clearly wasn't bitten but there's still nothing they can do and anger that he is slandering my dog (but my dog probably does not have legal standing in a court to sue him - which Kevin won't let me consider doing anyway). And desperate sadness because my dog is going to be locked away with no one to love him, and he's not going to understand why he doesn't have even his sister with him for the first time in his life. And I'm afraid if he's in quarantine they won't be able to let him go outside throughout the day. And basically, my poor dog, who did nothing but try to make a friend he thought was playing with him.
Otherwise, I was supposed to go to the zoo today for gorilla day, to do arts and crafts activities with kids. I emailed two people to ask where to meet and neither of them got back to me, so I didn't go. I did wake up to check my email on time to have gone, but I didn't go. I'm really annoyed about this because it means I either need to spend more time in flamingo plaza as a greeter, or I have to find other events to sign up for. I should probably look in next month to see when these events might be. Yeah now I'm signed up for something called "Boo at the Zoo" on the 21st. If I don't get enough hours by then, I'll finish up then. It's by the orangutans which I actually know something about having studied them as an anthro major in college.
I don't remember if I mentioned this here or not, but 23andMe is doing a study of people who have been treated for either depression or bipolar disorder, and in exchange for your DNA they'll send you a free ancestry and health report. So I mailed off a vial of my spit to help with that study and find out whether I should be chasing this Polish guy or the English guy on ancestry.com. There are also rumors in my mother's family of some Native American ancestry, which it will be interesting to find out of that is true or not. If you've been treated for bipolar disorder, you can click here to get in on the same deal I did - but time is running out. The depression study is already closed.
I opened a loot pets box today to see if I'd get some kind of a toy I could send with Jack to quarantine, but Kevin wound up really liking the toy inside it (which was a borg cube), so we gave it to Rogue, who will not destroy it instead of Jack, who will.
Tags:
Names
Sep. 24th, 2017 12:04 amzhelanaWhat would you name your kids if you have any?
Astrid May for a girl, I don't know about a boy. Kevin likes the name Astrid, and I do too, but it's really his choice. May is my middle name, my mother's middle name, my grandmother's middle name, and my great-grandmother's middle name. So it's really important to me to keep that.
( the rest )
Astrid May for a girl, I don't know about a boy. Kevin likes the name Astrid, and I do too, but it's really his choice. May is my middle name, my mother's middle name, my grandmother's middle name, and my great-grandmother's middle name. So it's really important to me to keep that.
( the rest )
90F - 64F : Sunny
Sep. 23rd, 2017 11:33 pmzhelanaI woke up just in time to eat breakfast before I had to leave. Today's adventure was the zoo event. I got to the volunteer check in table and they sent me to the room where the mascots would be dressing so I could guide around a mascot. I waited until an hour after my shift started, and the guy for the flamingo costume never showed up, so I went to get Sarah, who told me to just go in and enjoy the event. I talked to one of the docents somewhat about the elephants and their plans to expand the elephant area and maybe get a bull so they can have baby elephants. This led into talking about pregnant Qinu the beluga at Georgia Aquarium.
There were stations to get wine, beer, and food all over the zoo. I wound up getting one cup of sparkling mango wine, and then eating the food. It was good. I couldn't eat two of the things because they had seafood, but I got some steak, and a piece of a taco and some donuts. I discovered that it's impossible to see the gorillas with wheels - there just isn't a ramp onto the observation platform. So that made me sad, especially as there was someone with a microphone talking about gorillas up there, and I would have liked to listen.
I wound up watching the elephants for a long time, and the sun bears, and the pandas. The sunbears were clearly distressed that it was past time for them to be off exhibit and behind the scenes doing whatever they do there. They were pacing in front of the exit to their exhibit and occasionally jumping up on it like "let me in!" I kind of understand - it was 90F and they're black bears. But they're from Malaysia, certainly they should be used to hot weather? The tortoises were off exhibit with a sign that said "even Atlanta can be cold to a tropical animal. Check us out starting in late spring" - did I mention it was 90F out? Certainly that's not too cold for anything that has an outdoor enclosure in Atlanta?
I started driving home, and Kevin called to tell me he'd ordered me dinner from someplace we'd never eaten at before. So, I came home to dinner, and when I answered the door, the dog ran past me, and jumped on the guy with the food. He started jumping and screaming, which of course makes the dogs think he wants to play, so they're jumping and barking too. I collect my dogs and my food, and start to close the door and he's out there with his pants leg pulled up yelling "ma'am, ma'am!" so I peek out the door and he says "do you have the peppers?" I have absolutely no idea what he's talking about and he keeps gesturing to his leg asking for peppers. I finally say, "I have no idea what you want," and he says, "fine then I'll call the cops!" Since there was not a mark on his leg anywhere, and I have no idea why he wants peppers unless maybe he wants me to pepper spray my dogs, I tell him, "you do that then," and kick the door closed. Why do people who are afraid of dogs take jobs as delivery drivers? Honestly, get a job as a cook or something where you don't have to interact with people or dogs if you're afraid of dogs. Anyway, I'm seriously stressed out because I don't want him to report my dogs to the police.
There were stations to get wine, beer, and food all over the zoo. I wound up getting one cup of sparkling mango wine, and then eating the food. It was good. I couldn't eat two of the things because they had seafood, but I got some steak, and a piece of a taco and some donuts. I discovered that it's impossible to see the gorillas with wheels - there just isn't a ramp onto the observation platform. So that made me sad, especially as there was someone with a microphone talking about gorillas up there, and I would have liked to listen.
I wound up watching the elephants for a long time, and the sun bears, and the pandas. The sunbears were clearly distressed that it was past time for them to be off exhibit and behind the scenes doing whatever they do there. They were pacing in front of the exit to their exhibit and occasionally jumping up on it like "let me in!" I kind of understand - it was 90F and they're black bears. But they're from Malaysia, certainly they should be used to hot weather? The tortoises were off exhibit with a sign that said "even Atlanta can be cold to a tropical animal. Check us out starting in late spring" - did I mention it was 90F out? Certainly that's not too cold for anything that has an outdoor enclosure in Atlanta?
I started driving home, and Kevin called to tell me he'd ordered me dinner from someplace we'd never eaten at before. So, I came home to dinner, and when I answered the door, the dog ran past me, and jumped on the guy with the food. He started jumping and screaming, which of course makes the dogs think he wants to play, so they're jumping and barking too. I collect my dogs and my food, and start to close the door and he's out there with his pants leg pulled up yelling "ma'am, ma'am!" so I peek out the door and he says "do you have the peppers?" I have absolutely no idea what he's talking about and he keeps gesturing to his leg asking for peppers. I finally say, "I have no idea what you want," and he says, "fine then I'll call the cops!" Since there was not a mark on his leg anywhere, and I have no idea why he wants peppers unless maybe he wants me to pepper spray my dogs, I tell him, "you do that then," and kick the door closed. Why do people who are afraid of dogs take jobs as delivery drivers? Honestly, get a job as a cook or something where you don't have to interact with people or dogs if you're afraid of dogs. Anyway, I'm seriously stressed out because I don't want him to report my dogs to the police.
travel plans percolating...
Sep. 23rd, 2017 12:20 pmorangerfulhas anyone been to Costa Rica recently?
Brainstorming a "Girl's Trip" for February and this was my friend's suggestion (and it is for her - she is a Mom of two and I suggested we get away for a few days so she can just have some time to herself and leave the kiddos with Dad).
I mean, I've been practicing my Spanish for a few months now! Duolingo says I'm 50% fluent so that should at least be able to get us to a hotel and airport...and the library LOL (because every foreign language teaches you how to ask where the library is!)
Anyway, if you've been to Costa Rica and have any tips/tricks, let me know!
Brainstorming a "Girl's Trip" for February and this was my friend's suggestion (and it is for her - she is a Mom of two and I suggested we get away for a few days so she can just have some time to herself and leave the kiddos with Dad).
I mean, I've been practicing my Spanish for a few months now! Duolingo says I'm 50% fluent so that should at least be able to get us to a hotel and airport...and the library LOL (because every foreign language teaches you how to ask where the library is!)
Anyway, if you've been to Costa Rica and have any tips/tricks, let me know!
Crush
Sep. 23rd, 2017 01:36 amzhelanaWrite about your first crush. Who was it?
I don't recall ever having a crush on anyone I knew in person, because I seem to have always recognized that that way lay sex, and I wasn't interested. I did have a celebrity crush on Jonathan Brandis, and his character Lucas Wolenczak from seaQuest DSV, which was probably my first and only crush in a way that you'd actually think of as a crush.
( the rest )
I don't recall ever having a crush on anyone I knew in person, because I seem to have always recognized that that way lay sex, and I wasn't interested. I did have a celebrity crush on Jonathan Brandis, and his character Lucas Wolenczak from seaQuest DSV, which was probably my first and only crush in a way that you'd actually think of as a crush.
( the rest )
90F - 66F : Sunny
Sep. 23rd, 2017 01:07 amzhelanaI woke up at 2 this afternoon because Kevin woke me up taking a shower. He was working from home and apparently decided the way to deal with this was to wake up at the moment he had to be at work and then take a shower on his lunch break. We got subs from Jimmy John's which I was able to shove in my mouth just in time to walk out the door.
Stop one was my therapist's office. Traffic made me a little late, but since it was apparently a 60 minute appointment instead of my usual 30 minutes, that was fine. We talked about goals, and talked about writer's block. She basically wanted me to look at what I have accomplished instead of what I haven't accomplished.
I came home and talked to Kevin for half an hour before heading out to my father's house. I got to my father's house a little early and he was in the shower, so I entertained myself with his dog until he was ready to go. Tonight's adventure was the Temptations and 4 Tops concert. Of course it's more like Temptation and 4 Top because only one man survives from each group, and they've filled their ranks with younger men. I thought the concert was alright, but the 4 Tops for some reason were singing everyone else's songs. I mean, I know you could fill an hour with 4 Tops hits, but for some reason they played Mack the Knife, and My Way and several other songs that I didn't even know that weren't their songs. My dad was pretty disappointed, and he wasn't alone - people were leaving the concert in droves. Our entire aisle emptied out before the end of the concert.
I got home at midnight, and talked to Kevin for an hour since the dogs woke him up barking when I walked in the door. I immediately took my meds, as I had forgotten both at lunch and dinner (since I never ate dinner), and I was starting to go into withdrawals. I'm still clenching my jaw and pretty uncomfortable, though it's starting to get better.
Stop one was my therapist's office. Traffic made me a little late, but since it was apparently a 60 minute appointment instead of my usual 30 minutes, that was fine. We talked about goals, and talked about writer's block. She basically wanted me to look at what I have accomplished instead of what I haven't accomplished.
I came home and talked to Kevin for half an hour before heading out to my father's house. I got to my father's house a little early and he was in the shower, so I entertained myself with his dog until he was ready to go. Tonight's adventure was the Temptations and 4 Tops concert. Of course it's more like Temptation and 4 Top because only one man survives from each group, and they've filled their ranks with younger men. I thought the concert was alright, but the 4 Tops for some reason were singing everyone else's songs. I mean, I know you could fill an hour with 4 Tops hits, but for some reason they played Mack the Knife, and My Way and several other songs that I didn't even know that weren't their songs. My dad was pretty disappointed, and he wasn't alone - people were leaving the concert in droves. Our entire aisle emptied out before the end of the concert.
I got home at midnight, and talked to Kevin for an hour since the dogs woke him up barking when I walked in the door. I immediately took my meds, as I had forgotten both at lunch and dinner (since I never ate dinner), and I was starting to go into withdrawals. I'm still clenching my jaw and pretty uncomfortable, though it's starting to get better.
Forgotten Masterpiece Friday: Alberto Nepomuceno, Serie Brasileira
Sep. 22nd, 2017 10:00 pmdrplaceboIt's Forgotten Masterpiece Friday!
Heitor Villa-Lobos is often thought of as Brazil's first great nationalist composer and credited with bringing the sounds of Brazilian folk music to the concert hall. Far less well known is the man responsible in many ways for making Villa-Lobos's career possible, the conductor and composer Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920).
The 19th century Brazilian musical establishment was extremely conservative. Rio de Janeiro was the musical center of the Americas at the time, ever since the Portuguese royal family arrived in 1808 and brought the court orchestra along. But European musicians, both composers and performers, predominated in Brazilian art music for most of the century; even native-born composers looked mainly to Europe and tended to be surprisingly insulated from the folk and popular music heard around them. Antônio Carlos Gomes became the first composer from the New World to achieve success in Europe, and was considered the equal of Verdi during his lifetime -- but while he drew on Brazilian literature for his operas, the operas were sung in Italian and the music was entirely within the Italian tradition.
Enter Alberto Nepomuceno, one of the earliest iconoclasts in Brazilian music. He spent the first 21 years of his life in the northern cities of Fortaleza and Recife, far from the urban centers of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In 1885, he made his first visit to Rio de Janeiro, performing as a pianist and presenting his compositions for the first time; these compositions included a set of art songs with lyrics in Portuguese. Despite the trend in Europe toward vocal music sung in the composer's own language, Nepomuceno's choice to compose Portuguese-language vocal music was seen as verging on scandalous. Nonetheless, he won recognition as a virtuoso pianist, and with the help of friends in Rio de Janeiro, he departed for Europe in 1887 to study composition and conducting, first in Rome and then in Leipzig and Vienna. While in Vienna, he met and married a Norwegian pianist who had been both a student and a family friend of Edvard Grieg; after the wedding they moved to Bergen and lived in Grieg's house for several months. Grieg, a leading proponent of musical nationalism, encouraged Nepomuceno to draw inspiration from his own country's folk music.
Returning to Brazil in 1895, Nepomuceno quickly became one of the country's leading conductors. But as a composer, he continued to face criticism for bringing elements of folk and popular music into his own music. He was attacked by other classical musicians for continuing to write Portuguese-language vocal music, for borrowing percussion instruments from Brazilian popular music, and even for associating with popular singers and songwriters. He stood firm in his convictions, insisting in a letter published in one major newspaper that "a people that does not sing in its own tongue has no mother country." His reputation suffered; although he was occasionally able to program his own music in his concerts as a conductor, very little of his work was published during his lifetime. None of his orchestral music was programmed by a conductor other than himself until the last few months of his life, when Richard Strauss conducted one of his opera overtures during a South American tour. Still, he gained some adherents, and began the process of bringing the sounds of Brazilian folk and popular music into the concert hall. And in 1913, despite publishers' resistance to printing his own music, Nepomuceno was able to convince one Rio de Janeiro publisher to accept some piano pieces by a then-controversial student composer. That student was Heitor Villa-Lobos, and those piano pieces were his first published music.
This week's piece, Alberto Nepomuceno's Serie Brasileira, is a suite of four descriptively-titled movements depicting various aspects of Brazilian life. It was composed during his time in Norway and premiered in Rio de Janeiro in 1897; but despite Nepomuceno's stature as a conductor, the piece would not be published until 1959, almost 40 years after his death. When the piece premiered, it was savaged mercilessly by conservative critics, who were especially shocked by the use of the güiro and other folk percussion instruments in the last movement. The first movement "Alvorada na serra" (Dawn on the Mountain) uses part of the northeastern Brazilian folk song "Sapo Jururu" as its main theme, though played in a much slower tempo than the song is normally heard. The second movement, "Intermédio," is a maxixe, a Brazilian dance distantly related to the Argentine tango and the direct ancestor of the samba. The third movement "A sesta na rede" (The Siesta in the Hammock) and the fourth movement "Batuque" draw heavily on Afro-Brazilian music. "Batuque" is sometimes performed as a stand-alone piece; its title refers to a dance of Cape Verdean origin as well as to a Brazilian martial art that was a forerunner to the modern capoeira.
Movements:
I. Alvorada na serra
II. Intermédio (8:49)
III. A sesta na rede (15:05)
IV. Batuque (19:43)
Heitor Villa-Lobos is often thought of as Brazil's first great nationalist composer and credited with bringing the sounds of Brazilian folk music to the concert hall. Far less well known is the man responsible in many ways for making Villa-Lobos's career possible, the conductor and composer Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920).
The 19th century Brazilian musical establishment was extremely conservative. Rio de Janeiro was the musical center of the Americas at the time, ever since the Portuguese royal family arrived in 1808 and brought the court orchestra along. But European musicians, both composers and performers, predominated in Brazilian art music for most of the century; even native-born composers looked mainly to Europe and tended to be surprisingly insulated from the folk and popular music heard around them. Antônio Carlos Gomes became the first composer from the New World to achieve success in Europe, and was considered the equal of Verdi during his lifetime -- but while he drew on Brazilian literature for his operas, the operas were sung in Italian and the music was entirely within the Italian tradition.
Enter Alberto Nepomuceno, one of the earliest iconoclasts in Brazilian music. He spent the first 21 years of his life in the northern cities of Fortaleza and Recife, far from the urban centers of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In 1885, he made his first visit to Rio de Janeiro, performing as a pianist and presenting his compositions for the first time; these compositions included a set of art songs with lyrics in Portuguese. Despite the trend in Europe toward vocal music sung in the composer's own language, Nepomuceno's choice to compose Portuguese-language vocal music was seen as verging on scandalous. Nonetheless, he won recognition as a virtuoso pianist, and with the help of friends in Rio de Janeiro, he departed for Europe in 1887 to study composition and conducting, first in Rome and then in Leipzig and Vienna. While in Vienna, he met and married a Norwegian pianist who had been both a student and a family friend of Edvard Grieg; after the wedding they moved to Bergen and lived in Grieg's house for several months. Grieg, a leading proponent of musical nationalism, encouraged Nepomuceno to draw inspiration from his own country's folk music.
Returning to Brazil in 1895, Nepomuceno quickly became one of the country's leading conductors. But as a composer, he continued to face criticism for bringing elements of folk and popular music into his own music. He was attacked by other classical musicians for continuing to write Portuguese-language vocal music, for borrowing percussion instruments from Brazilian popular music, and even for associating with popular singers and songwriters. He stood firm in his convictions, insisting in a letter published in one major newspaper that "a people that does not sing in its own tongue has no mother country." His reputation suffered; although he was occasionally able to program his own music in his concerts as a conductor, very little of his work was published during his lifetime. None of his orchestral music was programmed by a conductor other than himself until the last few months of his life, when Richard Strauss conducted one of his opera overtures during a South American tour. Still, he gained some adherents, and began the process of bringing the sounds of Brazilian folk and popular music into the concert hall. And in 1913, despite publishers' resistance to printing his own music, Nepomuceno was able to convince one Rio de Janeiro publisher to accept some piano pieces by a then-controversial student composer. That student was Heitor Villa-Lobos, and those piano pieces were his first published music.
This week's piece, Alberto Nepomuceno's Serie Brasileira, is a suite of four descriptively-titled movements depicting various aspects of Brazilian life. It was composed during his time in Norway and premiered in Rio de Janeiro in 1897; but despite Nepomuceno's stature as a conductor, the piece would not be published until 1959, almost 40 years after his death. When the piece premiered, it was savaged mercilessly by conservative critics, who were especially shocked by the use of the güiro and other folk percussion instruments in the last movement. The first movement "Alvorada na serra" (Dawn on the Mountain) uses part of the northeastern Brazilian folk song "Sapo Jururu" as its main theme, though played in a much slower tempo than the song is normally heard. The second movement, "Intermédio," is a maxixe, a Brazilian dance distantly related to the Argentine tango and the direct ancestor of the samba. The third movement "A sesta na rede" (The Siesta in the Hammock) and the fourth movement "Batuque" draw heavily on Afro-Brazilian music. "Batuque" is sometimes performed as a stand-alone piece; its title refers to a dance of Cape Verdean origin as well as to a Brazilian martial art that was a forerunner to the modern capoeira.
Movements:
I. Alvorada na serra
II. Intermédio (8:49)
III. A sesta na rede (15:05)
IV. Batuque (19:43)
89F - 66F : Late night thunder
Sep. 21st, 2017 10:32 pmzhelanaThe bad decision train left at 4am, with me too tired to stay up until noon, and with too little sleep available to wake up at 11, so I didn't get to temple this afternoon. I did temporarily wake up at the appropriate time, but then I was like "there's no transliteration in the books and you stumble too much to say the prayers, so you won't get anything out of it anyway, and you'll have to park across the street which will be a hard and painful walk and your back will hurt before you even start standing up to pray. So I talked myself out of it and went to sleep.
Kevin called at 11 and said he was done with work for the day because he has to work Saturday. Then when I woke up at 2 he still wasn't home. Apparently he called Brian and wound up going out to lunch with him, and decided I wouldn't know because I'd be at tmeple, so he didn't tell me he wasn't coming straight home, and I was very nervous by the time he came home. Now he has two days of working from home, plus he gets to get off early on Friday (next Friday I think not this Friday), to make up for the hours he did work today.
We talked a little bit, then I went to Panera to meet Tia and Klepto. I wrote over 1000 words on my Star Trek short stories, and then started reading DW for about half an hour because my brain was just not having any of it. My brain had better get over this not having any of it by November because I'm relying on a successful NaNoWriMo to finish my goals for the year. I think it'll be better when I have a novel I'm writing instead of the short stories. I hope.
Came home, read LJ, read my bat mitzvah portion over again - the first half of it came easier, the second half came harder for some reason, even though I know most of the words in the second half of it. Read my Bible, and generally prepared for the end of the day.
Anyway, Shanah Tova to the Jews, and Happy Mabon to the pagans, happy Friday to the rest of you.
Another Friendzy
happy fall multifandom friending meme!
Kevin called at 11 and said he was done with work for the day because he has to work Saturday. Then when I woke up at 2 he still wasn't home. Apparently he called Brian and wound up going out to lunch with him, and decided I wouldn't know because I'd be at tmeple, so he didn't tell me he wasn't coming straight home, and I was very nervous by the time he came home. Now he has two days of working from home, plus he gets to get off early on Friday (next Friday I think not this Friday), to make up for the hours he did work today.
We talked a little bit, then I went to Panera to meet Tia and Klepto. I wrote over 1000 words on my Star Trek short stories, and then started reading DW for about half an hour because my brain was just not having any of it. My brain had better get over this not having any of it by November because I'm relying on a successful NaNoWriMo to finish my goals for the year. I think it'll be better when I have a novel I'm writing instead of the short stories. I hope.
Came home, read LJ, read my bat mitzvah portion over again - the first half of it came easier, the second half came harder for some reason, even though I know most of the words in the second half of it. Read my Bible, and generally prepared for the end of the day.
Anyway, Shanah Tova to the Jews, and Happy Mabon to the pagans, happy Friday to the rest of you.
Another Friendzy
happy fall multifandom friending meme!
101 Update
Sep. 21st, 2017 12:10 amzhelanaProgress This Week
Go to 30 meetings - Went to a dance practice tonight
Post 100 situations prompts to AO3 - Another one is posted.
Fill a second 100 situations with a different fandom - Wrote 2 more prompts
Learn 30 new things through wikipedia - I learned about Brezhnev's legacy.
Take golf lessons - one more week in the books.
Listen to 90 other podcasts - I listened to an episode of Backstory on myths and legends in American history.
Read the entire Bible - Still in 2 Kings
Go to 30 meetings - Went to a dance practice tonight
Post 100 situations prompts to AO3 - Another one is posted.
Fill a second 100 situations with a different fandom - Wrote 2 more prompts
Learn 30 new things through wikipedia - I learned about Brezhnev's legacy.
Take golf lessons - one more week in the books.
Listen to 90 other podcasts - I listened to an episode of Backstory on myths and legends in American history.
Read the entire Bible - Still in 2 Kings
92F - 65F : Sunny
Sep. 20th, 2017 11:19 pmzhelanaI woke up inexplicably at 8 this morning. Despite this, I did not go to PSWC. I was pretty lazy until time to go to my dentist appointment. I spent some more time in bed, and on the internet. Then I went to the dentist. It was not as horrible this time as last time. At least, I didn't leave bleeding and crying. I set up a return appointment, and an appointment with the actual dentist (the VA one person does cleanings and another person does X-rays and other stuff). Every time I go in this woman "discovers" cement on my teeth from my braces that I had 20 years ago. And tries to scrape it off, each time unsuccessfully, but with lots of the scraper skipping off of it and going into my gums.
Also, I really want to know what the receptionist's job is there though because when I asked him to check me in he's like "check in at the automatic kiosk" and when I asked him to check me out he's like "check out is around the corner" So what the fuck is your job dude? You're working awfully hard at not working there.
If I had had brains, I would have brought my laptop and went to a coffee shop, but I don't have brains so I came all the way home, and sat online for an hour then talked to Kevin for an hour, then went back to Decatur to go to the SCA meeting. There was a business meeting at the beginning of the meeting, where we talked about upcoming events, most of which I am not going to. I don't think I'm going to any more events this year, actually. I may change my mind and go to Red Tower in 2 weeks, but they aren't having any classes, and I don't think I can shoot long enough to make that a whole day activity. So, I don't really know what I'd do with myself.
After the meeting we had some dancing. I danced with Ximon, and Justina danced with the dance Mistress, but I don't remember her name. Also this cute little 3 year old girl danced with Justina and they were adorable. The list of dances for 4 people is small, and I think we did most of them.
Then we went out to dinner at Imperial, where I had a burger and Mac and Cheese. Never again with that mac and cheese. The top was burned, and I made the mistake of stirring it so the burned pieces mixed in with the good pieces, and it was just disgusting. I picked at Deborah's french fries, which were better. We talked about travel, and the military, and I'm not really a fan of discussing the military. It's a thing that happened, and I'm glad it did, but I'd rather not talk about it. They were talking about family members who refused to talk about military service though, and I was like "sounds about right!" For what it's worth, my grandfather, who was a mine sweeper in north Africa never spoke about it either. Until he got Alzheimer's and thought he was living it.
L'Shanah Tova, y'all.
Also, I really want to know what the receptionist's job is there though because when I asked him to check me in he's like "check in at the automatic kiosk" and when I asked him to check me out he's like "check out is around the corner" So what the fuck is your job dude? You're working awfully hard at not working there.
If I had had brains, I would have brought my laptop and went to a coffee shop, but I don't have brains so I came all the way home, and sat online for an hour then talked to Kevin for an hour, then went back to Decatur to go to the SCA meeting. There was a business meeting at the beginning of the meeting, where we talked about upcoming events, most of which I am not going to. I don't think I'm going to any more events this year, actually. I may change my mind and go to Red Tower in 2 weeks, but they aren't having any classes, and I don't think I can shoot long enough to make that a whole day activity. So, I don't really know what I'd do with myself.
After the meeting we had some dancing. I danced with Ximon, and Justina danced with the dance Mistress, but I don't remember her name. Also this cute little 3 year old girl danced with Justina and they were adorable. The list of dances for 4 people is small, and I think we did most of them.
Then we went out to dinner at Imperial, where I had a burger and Mac and Cheese. Never again with that mac and cheese. The top was burned, and I made the mistake of stirring it so the burned pieces mixed in with the good pieces, and it was just disgusting. I picked at Deborah's french fries, which were better. We talked about travel, and the military, and I'm not really a fan of discussing the military. It's a thing that happened, and I'm glad it did, but I'd rather not talk about it. They were talking about family members who refused to talk about military service though, and I was like "sounds about right!" For what it's worth, my grandfather, who was a mine sweeper in north Africa never spoke about it either. Until he got Alzheimer's and thought he was living it.
L'Shanah Tova, y'all.
game rambles
Sep. 20th, 2017 11:14 pmorangerfulYeah, I made a Senua icon. I'm obsessed. Deal with it.
I can already feel the gaming hangover setting in - anything else I pick up to play I'm like "Ugh, this is not as emotionally engaging as Hellblade!"
I did pick up Witcher 2 again. I do enjoy that game but I can't play it when Tim's daughter is around because the Witcher does love to get it on with the ladies. The sex scenes are pretty explicit, even if they are a little ridiculous since the graphics are not top notch (the game is several years old). I need to read the novels, Tim has all of them, and they seem like fantasy I could actually get into.
If you are in need of a spooky game for October, we just finished Layers of Fear and it was CREEPY! Tim could hear me screaming from downstairs because there were so many jump scares and startling moments. I actually made Sylvia control the character because I was too terrified. It says to play with headphones on but I couldn't even play with the lights off LOL. It doesn't have a whole lot of replay value but if you can get it for $10 or less, it's worth it.
We are going to see "IT" tomorrow after work. Which means it will be a long night because the movie is just over 2 hours LOL. Oh well...I may have failed to mention the run time to Tim. Shhhhh
I can already feel the gaming hangover setting in - anything else I pick up to play I'm like "Ugh, this is not as emotionally engaging as Hellblade!"
I did pick up Witcher 2 again. I do enjoy that game but I can't play it when Tim's daughter is around because the Witcher does love to get it on with the ladies. The sex scenes are pretty explicit, even if they are a little ridiculous since the graphics are not top notch (the game is several years old). I need to read the novels, Tim has all of them, and they seem like fantasy I could actually get into.
If you are in need of a spooky game for October, we just finished Layers of Fear and it was CREEPY! Tim could hear me screaming from downstairs because there were so many jump scares and startling moments. I actually made Sylvia control the character because I was too terrified. It says to play with headphones on but I couldn't even play with the lights off LOL. It doesn't have a whole lot of replay value but if you can get it for $10 or less, it's worth it.
We are going to see "IT" tomorrow after work. Which means it will be a long night because the movie is just over 2 hours LOL. Oh well...I may have failed to mention the run time to Tim. Shhhhh
PSA: Library Jobs !!
Sep. 20th, 2017 02:26 pmorangerfulCome work with me! My library system is hiring Library Associates. All you need is your bachelor's degree in ANYTHING and fantastic customer service skills - though a willingness to do storytimes would also help in most cases.
Click here for details
Feel free to share with anyone you know who lives in Maryland and is job hunting. This is a great gateway position into public library work! (Outside of Maryland is fine too, but it is expensive to live here so just know that going into it)
Click here for details
Feel free to share with anyone you know who lives in Maryland and is job hunting. This is a great gateway position into public library work! (Outside of Maryland is fine too, but it is expensive to live here so just know that going into it)