My friend, Margaret Fisk, has a blog she occasionally posts in. She set up a mailing list so people who are interested can read it when she posts and not be frustrated by how long it is in between posts. Anyway, her most recent post, which you can read at Stray Thoughts of Margaret Fisk, is about her reading list. She's asking for help in choosing what she should read next. I wasn't too helpful, having only read one of the books on her list.
But, it led me to writing about what I'm reading now. That got to be really long, so I decided to post it here. I'm reading Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. I read Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic several years ago. Due to our financial situation, I only recently acquired the remaining books that are out in paperback--Bitten, Stolen, Haunted, and Broken. She has one more out, No Humans Involved, but it's hardcover, so I have to wait for the mass market version before I can read that one.
What makes this all interesting is how I don't like werewolves, vampires, etc., etc., etc. Really, I don't. Or--maybe--I didn't? I love these books. I can't put them down. I'm reading when I should be doing something else. A friend, knowing my taste, said I probably wouldn't like the werewolf books. Most likely because of the violence. But the violence made so much sense with the world she created and the characters in the world, that it wasn't a problem. I probably would have liked them less if the violence wasn't in there because it would have felt like she'd held back from her true imagination.
And then there's Buffy. I refused to watch it when it was on. I didn't get it, and I understand why. I didn't see it from the beginning. I came into a random episode and had no clue what was going on. Then my son shoved it into my hands and made me watch season one. I was hooked. I've watched it all the way through three times since then. He mentioned he and his wife are watching them again and it's made me feel like it's time to go for a fourth go-round, at least with my favorite episodes.
And then there's Lynn Viehl's Darkyn series. I love her writing, but I'm way behind her output. I have at least one StarDoc and two Darkyn books on my shelf. I mention them, though, because the Darkyn are her version of the vampire myth and I love it.
So, what's the point of this seemingly rambling post? I learned, yet again, not to discount a genre, a type of book, or other any general category, just because I've had one or two bad experiences with it. What makes a good story is the combination of writer and subject matter. Different writers will deal with the same subject in totally unique ways. So, while Laurel K. Hamilton or Anne Rice's take on vampires don't thrill me, Kelley Armstrong and Lynn Viehl's do.
I think, in general, people do themselves a disservice when they stick to only one genre, or only a few favorite authors. One thing I used to do, that I don't do as much anymore, is pull books off the bookshelves at random and see if they look interesting. That's how I found a lot of the authors that are now my favorites. But when the money got tighter and tighter, I started sticking to trying to keep up with my favorite writer's books. I think I want to alternate or something. I think it's important for a reader to branch out. And even more important for me, as a writer, to go beyond what I usually read and am most comfortable with.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Music
We had such a great musical day on Sunday. Dr. David Cheriwen, is a Cantor of Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Minneapolis and conductor of the National Lutheran Choir. He visited one of our local Methodist churches for a Hymn Festival/Concert. The choir members of the local churches were invited, so Paul and I took advantage. It was amazing.
He did mini organ solos to introduce each hymn. Then we sang the hymns. In between, members of the church read reflections on living a godly life. It was set up kind of like an old-fashioned English lessons and carols service. We brought the house down with Every Time I Feel the Spirit. It was so much fun.
Then on Sunday night, we were invited to join one of our fellow choir members and her husband for a piano concert hosted by the local Steinway Society. The pianist was Joyce Yang, 2005 Silver Medalist in the Van Cliburn competition. It was amazing. I'm always astounded by excellent pianists, probably because I can't even come close to doing what they do. I can play the notes, in correct rhythm, if the piece is simple enough. But I was never taught good technique, so, for example, I don't know how to bring out one line, with the rest as accompaniment.
I love days like that. They're definitely worth writing about.
He did mini organ solos to introduce each hymn. Then we sang the hymns. In between, members of the church read reflections on living a godly life. It was set up kind of like an old-fashioned English lessons and carols service. We brought the house down with Every Time I Feel the Spirit. It was so much fun.
Then on Sunday night, we were invited to join one of our fellow choir members and her husband for a piano concert hosted by the local Steinway Society. The pianist was Joyce Yang, 2005 Silver Medalist in the Van Cliburn competition. It was amazing. I'm always astounded by excellent pianists, probably because I can't even come close to doing what they do. I can play the notes, in correct rhythm, if the piece is simple enough. But I was never taught good technique, so, for example, I don't know how to bring out one line, with the rest as accompaniment.
I love days like that. They're definitely worth writing about.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Man, Am I Out-of-date, or What?
I was tooling around the web, looking at blogs I enjoy. I opened up Tambo's blog, Tamboblog, and saw her moon phase widget. I remembered that I used to have it on my blog and I liked it. So I thought I'd just pick it up and put it on again. No way! They've changed things so much that I'm reading the code and it's gibberish. I can see I'm going to have to learn advanced HTML all over again. Things change so fast in the online world, but I'm looking forward to challenging myself to put stuff back on my blog. I'll figure it out, but it's going to take a bit more time than I have right now, as I have to go make dinner and get to choir rehearsal. It just seemed weird to me that something that was so easy a couple of years ago has become harder, just because I haven't looked at it for so long. Thought I'd write about it, but I think this is going to be "Out-of-date--Part One". The idea is sticking in my brain, tickling it, saying that there's more to be said here--more general stuff, as opposed to specifically about the blog. So, I'm going to think on it and see what pops out--later.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
A Quickie Dinner
I've unpacked my cookbooks since we moved. I'm enjoying making a lot of old favorite recipes. This one is NOT low-fat, low-calorie or healthy, according to current nutritional standards. It's worth making for the occasional splurge. Plus, I don't eat a lot of it at one time. And I pair it with good, healthy stuff. It's a pasta sauce that's made by infusing cream with lemon zest and crushed red pepper flakes. I serve it over those crab & shrime ravioli you can get at Costco. I eat about 3 ravioli, because they're really filling. You don't need a lot of sauce for three ravioli, so I cut the recipe in half. Next time, I'm going to make a quarter recipe, which should still be plenty of sauce for that amount of ravioli.
Here's the recipe--Spicy Lemon Pasta Sauce (based on a recipe from The Top One Hundred Pasta Sauces by Diane Seed)
The sauce:
1-2 cloves of garlic, finely minced. Use however much makes it taste the way you like it. Judge by the size of the cloves, as well as the amount. I've seen large garlic cloves that are easily as much garlic as two small cloves.
1 tablespoon of butter
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes. You can use 1/4 teaspoon, if you like it spicy, like I do.
The zest of one lemon. You can zest the lemon with a zester and leave it in strings or mince it, depending on your tolerance for eating cooked lemon peel. Be sure not to get any of the bitter white pith that's just under the skin of the lemon. Save a little zest to sprinkle over the top after it's done.
1 cup whipping cream. (I've tried several different ways to make lower fat dairy products work, but they tend to burn too easily.)
Salt, to taste.
Melt the butter. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Saute briefly, just to get the oils out for a stronger flavor. You shouldn't cook them longer than a minute and the garlic shouldn't get darker than golden brown or it starts to taste bitter. Pour in the cream and add the lemon zest. Turn the heat down. Watch it carefully to make sure it doesn't boil above a simmer or it will tend to boil over. Stir it occasionally as it cooks. It takes about 45-50 minutes to thicken and get a good flavor. If it gets too thick, stir in a bit more cream. Just before serving, taste it. I usually end up adding a tiny pinch of salt. Literally a pinch--I take my fingers and pick it up between my index finger and thumb because that helps me keep from putting too much in. This doesn't need very much and it's easy to shake too much from a salt shaker.
6 crab and shrimp ravioli. Cook according to package directions. Time them to be done when the sauce is finished. Drain. Put on a plate and drizzle the sauce over the ravioli.
I like to garnish this dish with snipped chives or Italian parsley, in addition to the reserved lemon zest, just to give the dish some color. All that white pasta and lemon yellow sauce can be kind of boring-looking on the plate.
Since this dish is so rich, I serve it with a very simple salad, like mixed greens with a bit of balsamic and olive oil. It's summer and there are good tomatoes around, so I might toss in some tomato, to give it more color. Grilled veggies would also be good. Or, if you don't want any additional fat in the meal, steamed asparagus is wonderful with this.
Mangia!
Hmmm. . . it just occurred to me that I could try making the infusion with stock. Thicken it with a cornstarch slurry. Then put in a tablespoon of creme fraiche to give it the proper texture and dairy flavor. I'll try that next time and let you all know whether it works. I'm always trying to figure out ways to keep the flavor and texture of my food, but make it as healthy as possible for everyday meals. Come holidays or special occasions, I splurge. A Weight Watcher leader once said that we could have ten meals a year to eat what we wanted. Her point was that if you splurge every day, it's not special and it makes you fat. Saving it for truly special occasions makes it truly special and doesn't make you fat. So, this is one example of my love-hate relationship with weight, food, good nutrition, and so on.
Here's the recipe--Spicy Lemon Pasta Sauce (based on a recipe from The Top One Hundred Pasta Sauces by Diane Seed)
The sauce:
1-2 cloves of garlic, finely minced. Use however much makes it taste the way you like it. Judge by the size of the cloves, as well as the amount. I've seen large garlic cloves that are easily as much garlic as two small cloves.
1 tablespoon of butter
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes. You can use 1/4 teaspoon, if you like it spicy, like I do.
The zest of one lemon. You can zest the lemon with a zester and leave it in strings or mince it, depending on your tolerance for eating cooked lemon peel. Be sure not to get any of the bitter white pith that's just under the skin of the lemon. Save a little zest to sprinkle over the top after it's done.
1 cup whipping cream. (I've tried several different ways to make lower fat dairy products work, but they tend to burn too easily.)
Salt, to taste.
Melt the butter. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Saute briefly, just to get the oils out for a stronger flavor. You shouldn't cook them longer than a minute and the garlic shouldn't get darker than golden brown or it starts to taste bitter. Pour in the cream and add the lemon zest. Turn the heat down. Watch it carefully to make sure it doesn't boil above a simmer or it will tend to boil over. Stir it occasionally as it cooks. It takes about 45-50 minutes to thicken and get a good flavor. If it gets too thick, stir in a bit more cream. Just before serving, taste it. I usually end up adding a tiny pinch of salt. Literally a pinch--I take my fingers and pick it up between my index finger and thumb because that helps me keep from putting too much in. This doesn't need very much and it's easy to shake too much from a salt shaker.
6 crab and shrimp ravioli. Cook according to package directions. Time them to be done when the sauce is finished. Drain. Put on a plate and drizzle the sauce over the ravioli.
I like to garnish this dish with snipped chives or Italian parsley, in addition to the reserved lemon zest, just to give the dish some color. All that white pasta and lemon yellow sauce can be kind of boring-looking on the plate.
Since this dish is so rich, I serve it with a very simple salad, like mixed greens with a bit of balsamic and olive oil. It's summer and there are good tomatoes around, so I might toss in some tomato, to give it more color. Grilled veggies would also be good. Or, if you don't want any additional fat in the meal, steamed asparagus is wonderful with this.
Mangia!
Hmmm. . . it just occurred to me that I could try making the infusion with stock. Thicken it with a cornstarch slurry. Then put in a tablespoon of creme fraiche to give it the proper texture and dairy flavor. I'll try that next time and let you all know whether it works. I'm always trying to figure out ways to keep the flavor and texture of my food, but make it as healthy as possible for everyday meals. Come holidays or special occasions, I splurge. A Weight Watcher leader once said that we could have ten meals a year to eat what we wanted. Her point was that if you splurge every day, it's not special and it makes you fat. Saving it for truly special occasions makes it truly special and doesn't make you fat. So, this is one example of my love-hate relationship with weight, food, good nutrition, and so on.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Been Reading
This has been interesting. I've been reading a lot more lately. I'd forgotten what a pleasure just reading to enjoy a story is. So often, when a person starts writing, especially writing fiction, you start reading to anlyze the book. What works. What doesn't. Or worse, to critique a book--the writer should have done this or that and it would have been better.
But I've been just reading. No analysis. No critique. Just enjoying the story. Getting lost in it. Letting it become my world for a few hours. And it's wonderful. I heartily recommend any writer who has forgotten what it was about books that got them writing in the first place relearn reading for pleasure. Turn off the editor and just enjoy.
The ironic thing is reading for enjoyment makes my fingers itch to be writing my own stuff. My brain starts thinking of characters and what's going on with their lives. I start seeing the world around me from their perspective, not mine. A sure sign storytelling is imminent.
That reaction doesn't happen when I analyze or critique a book. It's probably because when I'm analyzing or critiquing, it's too similar to parts of the writing process. It feels too much like working on a book, so it pulls me away from my own stories. It also spoils the pleasure of reading the story.
I'm beginning to think that unless I'm looking to learn a specific technique or studying something a particular writer does especially well, I should analyze and critique my own stuff. And read the books I buy strictly for pleasure. After all, I bought them because I thought they'd have a good story inside. If I'm looking for how to write stories or what could be better, I'm missing that good story.
But I've been just reading. No analysis. No critique. Just enjoying the story. Getting lost in it. Letting it become my world for a few hours. And it's wonderful. I heartily recommend any writer who has forgotten what it was about books that got them writing in the first place relearn reading for pleasure. Turn off the editor and just enjoy.
The ironic thing is reading for enjoyment makes my fingers itch to be writing my own stuff. My brain starts thinking of characters and what's going on with their lives. I start seeing the world around me from their perspective, not mine. A sure sign storytelling is imminent.
That reaction doesn't happen when I analyze or critique a book. It's probably because when I'm analyzing or critiquing, it's too similar to parts of the writing process. It feels too much like working on a book, so it pulls me away from my own stories. It also spoils the pleasure of reading the story.
I'm beginning to think that unless I'm looking to learn a specific technique or studying something a particular writer does especially well, I should analyze and critique my own stuff. And read the books I buy strictly for pleasure. After all, I bought them because I thought they'd have a good story inside. If I'm looking for how to write stories or what could be better, I'm missing that good story.
Friday, September 14, 2007
April
April slipped by with nary a post from me. In June, our church had a Sunday dedicated to reports of our trip to New Orleans, which took place in April. I had started this post, but never posted it. Instead, I turned it into my contribution to that Sunday service. Months later, I'm checking out my blog, which I'd like to resurrect and found the original draft of this essay. I decided to finish and post it. Maybe I'll even manage to keep my promise to myself to start posting regularly again.
I'm not sure how to relate what happened in April. First there was the Easter season, with lots of extra music, rehearsals, etc. That was wonderful. As a musician, I love the big religous holidays because there's so much great music written for them.
Then, right after Easter, we went to New Orleans. Easter is a season of contrasts--the rejoicing of Palm Sunday, followed by the sobering week before the crucifixion, followed by more rejoicing as we Christians celebrate the resurrection. New Orleans is a study in contrasts, too. I think that's the main impression I brought back from there.
There's the desolate neighborhoods with brick shells that used to be houses next to empty concrete slabs where the house was completely destroyed. Some lots have grass and nothing else left. No trees, flowers, nothing but the grasses that are the first things to start to grow back. Contrast that with the neigborhoods we drove through after taking the ferry across the Mississippi. They hadn't been touched. They looked like middle-class and upper middle-class neighborhoods anywhere. They were lush with the greenery that grows rampant in the area. There were no boarded up, empty stores. You could find a grocery store to go to.
Yet, there was a spirit of hope, too. Some neighborhoods had the same destruction, but every so often, you'd see a renovated home with people living there. It takes a lot of courage to go back and live in your house. Think about what it must be like to be the only people on your street with a home. Every time you leave or come back to your house, you drive by reminders of those who may never be able to come back. It wasn't just the homes and stuff they lost. It was family, friends, their community.
We went with members of our church. We spent a day and a half painting the sanctuary and new preschool classrooms of Gethsemane Lutheran. We painted part of the small dormitory. People who come from all over the country to help will be able to stay there. We planted new landscaping, which helped make the church look a bit less desolate.
We sang. Most of the people were choir members. We were part of a Musicale put on at Grace Lutheran to help raise funds to repair their pipe organ. Someone took two of the destroyed wooden organ pipes and made a cross for them. It sits in the narthex and is a testament to their resilience. They have a map of where people have come to help. People from all over the country are represented on that map.
We sang again. Our choir director is also a harpsichordist. She accompanied us on a harpsichord built by the organist of Grace Lutheran. St. Mark's escaped the devastation of Katrina, but its members did not. Yet there they were, diminished in number, but huge in spirit, helping each other recover from what they'd experienced.
We ate. There's a contrast for you. The members of Grace cooked dinner for us. It was amazing, topped off with that irresistible Southern guarantee to cause tooth decay, homemade pralines. On Sunday, our council president directed a bunch of us in a very California-style brunch. Great food, there, too. I keep forgetting to email her and ask for the recipes.
But it wasn't all work. We had time to walk around the French Quarter. Somehow, a small part of me felt a bit guilty playing when there was so much work to be done. Yet, playing is as important as work. Another contrast, but one we often forget in our supercharged Silicon Valley life. It's different in New Orleans. They have a different pace of life. If the kitchen crew isn't ready, you wait for them. If that means church is a half hour late, you just have more time to chat with everyone. And the pastor simply cuts bits of the service so it doesn't run over too long. Pastor Lisa got a bit carried away with the cuts--she almost forgot that all-important ritual--passing the offering plate. If your waitress needs to tell her story, a coworker grabs the heavy tray and lets her talk. Out here, she'd probably get fired for chatting so long with the customers.
It was the French Quarter Festival, an annual street festival they have every year. We spent some time listening to the music. But somehow, we managed to miss the jazz and get the pop stuff. Yet, on the streets, the street musicians sang and played the jazz New Orleans is famous for. You can't walk through that part of town without hearing music.
We went to the famous Cafe du Monde for beignets. Do not go to New Orleans without having some. Diets be damned. They're worth every calorie and it's open 24 hours so you can't say you couldn't find the time. As we walked back to the hotel to get ready to leave, an old guy started playing Amazing Grace on his trumpet. It was gorgeous and I couldn't help but sing along. He started singing a capella after playing one verse on the trumpet. I sang softly as we walked past. He smiled and gave me a thumbs up sign. It was a fitting end to the trip, somehow.
Because the ultimate contrast for me was that we went to help, yet they helped me more. They had every reason to whine about their lives. They had every reason to be angry with God or lose their faith, as many people do when faced with tragedy in their lives. But these people, not just those we met at the various churches, but even people like the waitress I mentioned above, who we met while exploring the rest of New Orleans, had a spirit and faith that humbled me. They put my life, which as many of you know, has been a struggle the past three years, in perspective. And I think their expression of faith helped when, near the end of April, Paul's mom died. They showed me how important it is for people to tell their stories, to share the important things that happen to them. Those stories, full of the richness of spirit they all expressed, are the main thing I bring back in my heart.
I'm not sure how to relate what happened in April. First there was the Easter season, with lots of extra music, rehearsals, etc. That was wonderful. As a musician, I love the big religous holidays because there's so much great music written for them.
Then, right after Easter, we went to New Orleans. Easter is a season of contrasts--the rejoicing of Palm Sunday, followed by the sobering week before the crucifixion, followed by more rejoicing as we Christians celebrate the resurrection. New Orleans is a study in contrasts, too. I think that's the main impression I brought back from there.
There's the desolate neighborhoods with brick shells that used to be houses next to empty concrete slabs where the house was completely destroyed. Some lots have grass and nothing else left. No trees, flowers, nothing but the grasses that are the first things to start to grow back. Contrast that with the neigborhoods we drove through after taking the ferry across the Mississippi. They hadn't been touched. They looked like middle-class and upper middle-class neighborhoods anywhere. They were lush with the greenery that grows rampant in the area. There were no boarded up, empty stores. You could find a grocery store to go to.
Yet, there was a spirit of hope, too. Some neighborhoods had the same destruction, but every so often, you'd see a renovated home with people living there. It takes a lot of courage to go back and live in your house. Think about what it must be like to be the only people on your street with a home. Every time you leave or come back to your house, you drive by reminders of those who may never be able to come back. It wasn't just the homes and stuff they lost. It was family, friends, their community.
We went with members of our church. We spent a day and a half painting the sanctuary and new preschool classrooms of Gethsemane Lutheran. We painted part of the small dormitory. People who come from all over the country to help will be able to stay there. We planted new landscaping, which helped make the church look a bit less desolate.
We sang. Most of the people were choir members. We were part of a Musicale put on at Grace Lutheran to help raise funds to repair their pipe organ. Someone took two of the destroyed wooden organ pipes and made a cross for them. It sits in the narthex and is a testament to their resilience. They have a map of where people have come to help. People from all over the country are represented on that map.
We sang again. Our choir director is also a harpsichordist. She accompanied us on a harpsichord built by the organist of Grace Lutheran. St. Mark's escaped the devastation of Katrina, but its members did not. Yet there they were, diminished in number, but huge in spirit, helping each other recover from what they'd experienced.
We ate. There's a contrast for you. The members of Grace cooked dinner for us. It was amazing, topped off with that irresistible Southern guarantee to cause tooth decay, homemade pralines. On Sunday, our council president directed a bunch of us in a very California-style brunch. Great food, there, too. I keep forgetting to email her and ask for the recipes.
But it wasn't all work. We had time to walk around the French Quarter. Somehow, a small part of me felt a bit guilty playing when there was so much work to be done. Yet, playing is as important as work. Another contrast, but one we often forget in our supercharged Silicon Valley life. It's different in New Orleans. They have a different pace of life. If the kitchen crew isn't ready, you wait for them. If that means church is a half hour late, you just have more time to chat with everyone. And the pastor simply cuts bits of the service so it doesn't run over too long. Pastor Lisa got a bit carried away with the cuts--she almost forgot that all-important ritual--passing the offering plate. If your waitress needs to tell her story, a coworker grabs the heavy tray and lets her talk. Out here, she'd probably get fired for chatting so long with the customers.
It was the French Quarter Festival, an annual street festival they have every year. We spent some time listening to the music. But somehow, we managed to miss the jazz and get the pop stuff. Yet, on the streets, the street musicians sang and played the jazz New Orleans is famous for. You can't walk through that part of town without hearing music.
We went to the famous Cafe du Monde for beignets. Do not go to New Orleans without having some. Diets be damned. They're worth every calorie and it's open 24 hours so you can't say you couldn't find the time. As we walked back to the hotel to get ready to leave, an old guy started playing Amazing Grace on his trumpet. It was gorgeous and I couldn't help but sing along. He started singing a capella after playing one verse on the trumpet. I sang softly as we walked past. He smiled and gave me a thumbs up sign. It was a fitting end to the trip, somehow.
Because the ultimate contrast for me was that we went to help, yet they helped me more. They had every reason to whine about their lives. They had every reason to be angry with God or lose their faith, as many people do when faced with tragedy in their lives. But these people, not just those we met at the various churches, but even people like the waitress I mentioned above, who we met while exploring the rest of New Orleans, had a spirit and faith that humbled me. They put my life, which as many of you know, has been a struggle the past three years, in perspective. And I think their expression of faith helped when, near the end of April, Paul's mom died. They showed me how important it is for people to tell their stories, to share the important things that happen to them. Those stories, full of the richness of spirit they all expressed, are the main thing I bring back in my heart.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Even busier, if you can believe that.
OK, so here I am singing in three choirs and working and walking and doing all the stuff you have to do in life. What happens? The leader of the group Paul sings in that I wasn't singing in emails me to say he had an opening in the alto section. Wondered if I wanted to sit in and see if it works out. I did. And so now I'm singing in four groups. It's so much fun. And because I'm now singing 5 days a week, my voice is getting better. The voice is like any other set of muscles--working out helps it.
I'm still walking every day except Sunday. I probably won't walk tomorrow. Paul's getting a rare Saturday off. We're going to spread out the errands and chores over the weekend so we can have some time just to do something fun. I don't know what that will be, but I imagine it will involve lunch or dinner out and a walk and maybe a simple bookstore browse. We'd go to a movie, but there's nothing out we want to pay movie ticket prices to see right now.
Sunday evening we're going to a local church that does a Messiah Sing. They put together a small orchestra and the audience is the singers. We sing any part we want, including all the solos. It's the only time I get to sing the tenor solos at the beginning. But I sing the alto parts in the choruses. Sometimes I sing the bass parts up an octave. I don't sing the soprano stuff, though. It's too high because I never sing up there anymore.
I'm almost finished with my prayer shawl. I have a foot left to knit. Then I have to put the fringe on and I'm done. I should finish this weekend, a week before the deadline. It's going to be a good trip. We're looking forward to it. Even if it is in the 80s and humid this time of year. Bad for my sinuses and they took the teeth out of Sudafed, so it doesn't work as well. (sigh)
Once I'm done with the prayer shawl, I'll have a bit of time I can use for writing. Once I'm done inputting music into my computer for rehearsal CDs and transferring my part to my MP3 player, I'll have that time free for writing. The problem is I'm starting over with one of my choirs because we just started a whole new set of music. It's all good, though, because I have most of the stuff done for next year's concert, so I won't have to do it then.
I've given up trying to write in the blog on anything like a set schedule. I know that means I don't have many readers, but that's the way it goes. Maybe things will settle down more later in the year, if we manage to move out on our own again. Somehow, I suspect that being able to set our own schedules and have an office will make it easier to find time to write.
I'm still walking every day except Sunday. I probably won't walk tomorrow. Paul's getting a rare Saturday off. We're going to spread out the errands and chores over the weekend so we can have some time just to do something fun. I don't know what that will be, but I imagine it will involve lunch or dinner out and a walk and maybe a simple bookstore browse. We'd go to a movie, but there's nothing out we want to pay movie ticket prices to see right now.
Sunday evening we're going to a local church that does a Messiah Sing. They put together a small orchestra and the audience is the singers. We sing any part we want, including all the solos. It's the only time I get to sing the tenor solos at the beginning. But I sing the alto parts in the choruses. Sometimes I sing the bass parts up an octave. I don't sing the soprano stuff, though. It's too high because I never sing up there anymore.
I'm almost finished with my prayer shawl. I have a foot left to knit. Then I have to put the fringe on and I'm done. I should finish this weekend, a week before the deadline. It's going to be a good trip. We're looking forward to it. Even if it is in the 80s and humid this time of year. Bad for my sinuses and they took the teeth out of Sudafed, so it doesn't work as well. (sigh)
Once I'm done with the prayer shawl, I'll have a bit of time I can use for writing. Once I'm done inputting music into my computer for rehearsal CDs and transferring my part to my MP3 player, I'll have that time free for writing. The problem is I'm starting over with one of my choirs because we just started a whole new set of music. It's all good, though, because I have most of the stuff done for next year's concert, so I won't have to do it then.
I've given up trying to write in the blog on anything like a set schedule. I know that means I don't have many readers, but that's the way it goes. Maybe things will settle down more later in the year, if we manage to move out on our own again. Somehow, I suspect that being able to set our own schedules and have an office will make it easier to find time to write.
Friday, March 09, 2007
I used to have time to post
I used to have time to post almost every day. Now, I hardly ever post. I'm just busy. I have three rehearsals a week, plus singing in church almost every Sunday. It's Lent, so we have midweek service on Wednesday. One of my rehearsals is on Wednesday, so we leave church and walk across to practice. Luckily, the choir rehearses at my church. Makes things easier and we pretty much only miss the warmups. Not a problem; we warm up singing in the church service.
I've been typing my handwritten material into a computer file. Once I get it all typed in, which means I can read it in chronological order, I can put it into the manuscript and move on to the next part. I don't write in chronological order. My handwritten drafts are a mess of arrows and numbers pointing to places where I need to rearrange sentence and paragraph orders so they make sense. Anyway, I'm enjoying getting some work done on the WIP, even if I'm not writing new material right now and my progress bar is staying the same.
I started a prayer shawl yesterday. One of our former intern pastors heads two congregations in New Orleans. Some people from our church, including us, we hope, are going down after Easter to do some work for their people, worship with them, and we're bringing however many shawls people make as a gift from us to them. I think most people tend to think things are getting better, since so much time has passed since Katrina. But it takes a long time, a lot of money, and a lot of work to fix things after a disaster of that magnitude. It's nice to be able to do something, even if it's small like making a shawl to help them remember prayer--both theirs and that others are praying with them.
It's a busy week for the orchestra. Tickets are almost sold out for Sunday's concert. I'm looking forward to the concert. We're taking season ticket renewals, too. I've been living with my phone stuck in my ear last week and this week. It's way cool.
My mom's birthday was this week. We had a very small celebration, but it was fun.
I've been typing my handwritten material into a computer file. Once I get it all typed in, which means I can read it in chronological order, I can put it into the manuscript and move on to the next part. I don't write in chronological order. My handwritten drafts are a mess of arrows and numbers pointing to places where I need to rearrange sentence and paragraph orders so they make sense. Anyway, I'm enjoying getting some work done on the WIP, even if I'm not writing new material right now and my progress bar is staying the same.
I started a prayer shawl yesterday. One of our former intern pastors heads two congregations in New Orleans. Some people from our church, including us, we hope, are going down after Easter to do some work for their people, worship with them, and we're bringing however many shawls people make as a gift from us to them. I think most people tend to think things are getting better, since so much time has passed since Katrina. But it takes a long time, a lot of money, and a lot of work to fix things after a disaster of that magnitude. It's nice to be able to do something, even if it's small like making a shawl to help them remember prayer--both theirs and that others are praying with them.
It's a busy week for the orchestra. Tickets are almost sold out for Sunday's concert. I'm looking forward to the concert. We're taking season ticket renewals, too. I've been living with my phone stuck in my ear last week and this week. It's way cool.
My mom's birthday was this week. We had a very small celebration, but it was fun.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Writing & Other Stuff
I don't have a lot to say about writing. Just that I've started working on my WIP again. I'm currently catching up on typing in the handwritten stuff. It's actually very helpful in that it makes me focus on what I wrote, which is helping me get back into the story.
I didn't walk this morning because it was raining pretty hard. It's stopped for now. If the sun stays out, I might go ahead and walk this afternoon. Otherwise, it's a mall walk this evening with Paul.
This week is an easy one. We only have two nights of rehearsals. I had Ladyesong on Monday. And church choir was after the Ash Wednesday service. Then we did the last hour of Funtimes Singers. So, we ended up with Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights off.
I guess I'll be working on getting files and software loaded on the notebook for a while. I don't want to put too much on until I get Vista loaded. It hasn't come yet, which is no surprise. I hope the software I use the most will work with Vista. I don't want to have to replace it. That gets really expensive.
I'm getting the music entered in the computer. It's so time-consuming and it's tedious, so it goes really slowly. But I'll get rehearsal CDs done in a couple of weeks, I think. I know I'm going to have a lot to do for the orchestra, though, so that may mean taking longer to finish the music.
I didn't walk this morning because it was raining pretty hard. It's stopped for now. If the sun stays out, I might go ahead and walk this afternoon. Otherwise, it's a mall walk this evening with Paul.
This week is an easy one. We only have two nights of rehearsals. I had Ladyesong on Monday. And church choir was after the Ash Wednesday service. Then we did the last hour of Funtimes Singers. So, we ended up with Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights off.
I guess I'll be working on getting files and software loaded on the notebook for a while. I don't want to put too much on until I get Vista loaded. It hasn't come yet, which is no surprise. I hope the software I use the most will work with Vista. I don't want to have to replace it. That gets really expensive.
I'm getting the music entered in the computer. It's so time-consuming and it's tedious, so it goes really slowly. But I'll get rehearsal CDs done in a couple of weeks, I think. I know I'm going to have a lot to do for the orchestra, though, so that may mean taking longer to finish the music.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Music, Walking, Gaming
My life seems to be mostly about music these days. I have a rehearsal almost every night. One of the women in one of the groups I sing with called me to see if I wanted to sing in a quartet. The song is one of my favorites, Georgia on My Mind, but I want to look over the music before I commit to it.
I'm working on inputting Ladyesong music into my computer so I can make rehearsal CDs. I hope they're helpful to everyone, even though it's just the notes and rhythms, no words. My plan is to do individual tracks of each part and one track with everything put together. I just hope it all fits on one CD. I guess I'll see how it goes this time and learn from anything that could be done better a different way.
I'm still walking. I haven't lost any pounds, but my wrists are smaller. My shoulders are getting bony. My pants are way too big in the seat and thighs, but not in the hips, so I can't fit into smaller ones yet. I need new shoes. I've walked this pair to death.
I spent the day with one of my sons yesterday. We had coffee. Ran a few errands. Had lunch at Togo's. Those of you who don't live around here need to have a Togo's sandwich if you ever visit this area. They're really good. I bought a couple of simple games. A version of Tetris, which I've enjoyed since the original Nintendo system introduced it to an unsuspecting world. And Jewel Quest, which I originally found on Gamehouse.com What I like about it is that as the boards get harder, you have the option of skipping and moving on, or playing it out. If you run out of lives, they start you with five more, but you don't have to start the game over. You just lose all your points. I don't care about points, so that's not a problem for me. Then I played the next bit of Final Fantasy XII, which I have to play at his house because I don't have a Playstation and TV. I try to go over about once a week and make a bit of progress on that game. David's been really getting into video games as a break from school and he's starting to get me going again.
Tomorrow my hubby and I are going out to dinner and a movie as a late celebration of Valentine's Day. We haven't picked out the restaurant, yet. But we're going to see the new movie with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. It's about music, too. Perfect for us.
It sounds like all I do is fun stuff. That's true, because I love my job, too. So fun is fun, work is fun and I have a really great life. All I need is a decent place, that will allow my cat, that I can afford to rent and I'll be all good.
I'm working on inputting Ladyesong music into my computer so I can make rehearsal CDs. I hope they're helpful to everyone, even though it's just the notes and rhythms, no words. My plan is to do individual tracks of each part and one track with everything put together. I just hope it all fits on one CD. I guess I'll see how it goes this time and learn from anything that could be done better a different way.
I'm still walking. I haven't lost any pounds, but my wrists are smaller. My shoulders are getting bony. My pants are way too big in the seat and thighs, but not in the hips, so I can't fit into smaller ones yet. I need new shoes. I've walked this pair to death.
I spent the day with one of my sons yesterday. We had coffee. Ran a few errands. Had lunch at Togo's. Those of you who don't live around here need to have a Togo's sandwich if you ever visit this area. They're really good. I bought a couple of simple games. A version of Tetris, which I've enjoyed since the original Nintendo system introduced it to an unsuspecting world. And Jewel Quest, which I originally found on Gamehouse.com What I like about it is that as the boards get harder, you have the option of skipping and moving on, or playing it out. If you run out of lives, they start you with five more, but you don't have to start the game over. You just lose all your points. I don't care about points, so that's not a problem for me. Then I played the next bit of Final Fantasy XII, which I have to play at his house because I don't have a Playstation and TV. I try to go over about once a week and make a bit of progress on that game. David's been really getting into video games as a break from school and he's starting to get me going again.
Tomorrow my hubby and I are going out to dinner and a movie as a late celebration of Valentine's Day. We haven't picked out the restaurant, yet. But we're going to see the new movie with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. It's about music, too. Perfect for us.
It sounds like all I do is fun stuff. That's true, because I love my job, too. So fun is fun, work is fun and I have a really great life. All I need is a decent place, that will allow my cat, that I can afford to rent and I'll be all good.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
New Stuff
I had an interesting weekend. Remember I said I was saving up for a laptop? Well, we went into the Sony store just to do research. Yeah, right. Windows Vista just came out. They had a great deal on their XP machines. So, I went to the ATM, checked my finances, and got a sweet Vaio notebook at a super discount. What's amusing is that I got the discount because the computer had XP Pro on it. And if I was willing to wait 2-4 weeks, I'd get Vista Business for free. I'll end up with the same computer I could have bought, had they had any Vista machines in stock, but I got a substantial discount--all because I can be patient and don't have to have the latest and greatest immediately.
I've been busily setting up the computer. I really don't like doing all that stuff because it's tedious, but when I'm done, Paul and I will pretty much have our own computers to use. It's been getting harder to share because I'm telecommuting to my new job. Paul and I both are inputting music for rehearsal purposes. And we were starting to have more time when both of us had things we needed to do on the computer, but only had one computer to use.
The organ recital was wonderful. I heard a lot of music that was different from what I've heard in the past. I usually hear organ music as part of the church service, so the music is pretty traditional. This was a lot of different styles, since the pieces were from all around the world. The organist chose a lot of the pieces to show off the wonderful organ our church bought about a year and a half ago. One piece had no pedal part and another was just for pedals. Fun evening.
We took our kids out to breakfast last weekend, too. We hadn't all gotten together since Christmas. We had a good time, as usual. We didn't do anything special. Just chatted and caught up on each other's lives. Teased and joked and ate great food at one of the few really fantastic breakfast places in the area, the Country Gourmet. They have a place in Mountain View, but we usually go to the Sunnyvale store because it's closer.
I've almost got my new notebook set up so I can write with it. I need to go turn off all the automatic junk, starting with the annoying grammer checker, that makes MS Word such an irritant. I don't want my computer to interrupt my work because the software geeks think I need help formatting a simple business letter. By tomorrow I can write away from home, which is how I get most of my work done. I think it's partly that if I'm not home, I'm not looking at all the other things I "ought to be doing" or "could do instead". If I take my stuff and go away, I can focus better. Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain the rest of the week. So, no walking for a few days. (Sigh)
I'll try to mall walk on Friday night. And I should be able to walk over the weekend, either mall walking or doing my usual outdoor walk. I think I've lost a few more pounds. My jeans are loose in the thighs and seat, and they don't stay up around my waist. These are my new, smaller jeans. I'm happy with that.
I've been busily setting up the computer. I really don't like doing all that stuff because it's tedious, but when I'm done, Paul and I will pretty much have our own computers to use. It's been getting harder to share because I'm telecommuting to my new job. Paul and I both are inputting music for rehearsal purposes. And we were starting to have more time when both of us had things we needed to do on the computer, but only had one computer to use.
The organ recital was wonderful. I heard a lot of music that was different from what I've heard in the past. I usually hear organ music as part of the church service, so the music is pretty traditional. This was a lot of different styles, since the pieces were from all around the world. The organist chose a lot of the pieces to show off the wonderful organ our church bought about a year and a half ago. One piece had no pedal part and another was just for pedals. Fun evening.
We took our kids out to breakfast last weekend, too. We hadn't all gotten together since Christmas. We had a good time, as usual. We didn't do anything special. Just chatted and caught up on each other's lives. Teased and joked and ate great food at one of the few really fantastic breakfast places in the area, the Country Gourmet. They have a place in Mountain View, but we usually go to the Sunnyvale store because it's closer.
I've almost got my new notebook set up so I can write with it. I need to go turn off all the automatic junk, starting with the annoying grammer checker, that makes MS Word such an irritant. I don't want my computer to interrupt my work because the software geeks think I need help formatting a simple business letter. By tomorrow I can write away from home, which is how I get most of my work done. I think it's partly that if I'm not home, I'm not looking at all the other things I "ought to be doing" or "could do instead". If I take my stuff and go away, I can focus better. Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain the rest of the week. So, no walking for a few days. (Sigh)
I'll try to mall walk on Friday night. And I should be able to walk over the weekend, either mall walking or doing my usual outdoor walk. I think I've lost a few more pounds. My jeans are loose in the thighs and seat, and they don't stay up around my waist. These are my new, smaller jeans. I'm happy with that.
Friday, February 02, 2007
New Blogger and Other Stuff
I've switched to the new Blogger. It's not a lot different from the old one, but I see I have to redo my sidebar. Luckily, my template stuff is saved in a separate folder on my computer. It's weird, though, Wednesday when I switched, the sidebar and everything was the same. Oh, well. I needed to edit and update it anyway. My problem is finding/making the time to do it.
I'm writing along and staring at the new compose screen. There's a title bar at the top of the create post screen. And a space to put a label at the bottom. I have enough trouble coming up with titles. I have to do labels, now, too? I think I'll pass unless someone begs me to collect all my posts about one subject or other into a group. (Please don't beg me. I hate that kind of tedious stuff. (grin))
I've walked to Peet's yesterday and today. I had errands near there this morning. It's two miles one way, plus today I added the walk to do the errands. I need new shoes. I've walked this pair to death this year. I found the same size and type of shoe online for about half off, so I'm going to get two pair and alternate them. It's better for your shoes and your feet to do it that way, anyway. I'll get twice the wear out of the same amount of money, too. Good deal.
I've been reading and doing some of the suggestions in Barbara Sher's new book, Refuse to Choose. It's about the flakes of the world who can't seem to settle on one thing to spend their life on. She calls them "Scanners", not "flakes". A lot of the material is helping me to figure out how to get what I want to do done without having to figure out what to give up. It's a good book, if you're one of the people who thinks committing to doing one job for your whole life is like a prison sentence, since you have so many interests and things that you want to try.
I'm really looking forward to this Sunday. Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Saratoga is offering a free organ recital. The organist is playing a program that features music from around the world. From what my friend Barbara, who's heard him, says it will be great. It's at 7:30. If you're anywhere near the San Jose area and looking for something fun and free, you're welcome to come.
I'm writing along and staring at the new compose screen. There's a title bar at the top of the create post screen. And a space to put a label at the bottom. I have enough trouble coming up with titles. I have to do labels, now, too? I think I'll pass unless someone begs me to collect all my posts about one subject or other into a group. (Please don't beg me. I hate that kind of tedious stuff. (grin))
I've walked to Peet's yesterday and today. I had errands near there this morning. It's two miles one way, plus today I added the walk to do the errands. I need new shoes. I've walked this pair to death this year. I found the same size and type of shoe online for about half off, so I'm going to get two pair and alternate them. It's better for your shoes and your feet to do it that way, anyway. I'll get twice the wear out of the same amount of money, too. Good deal.
I've been reading and doing some of the suggestions in Barbara Sher's new book, Refuse to Choose. It's about the flakes of the world who can't seem to settle on one thing to spend their life on. She calls them "Scanners", not "flakes". A lot of the material is helping me to figure out how to get what I want to do done without having to figure out what to give up. It's a good book, if you're one of the people who thinks committing to doing one job for your whole life is like a prison sentence, since you have so many interests and things that you want to try.
I'm really looking forward to this Sunday. Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Saratoga is offering a free organ recital. The organist is playing a program that features music from around the world. From what my friend Barbara, who's heard him, says it will be great. It's at 7:30. If you're anywhere near the San Jose area and looking for something fun and free, you're welcome to come.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
No Complaining Day
I had a weird thought the other day. I'd had a day where I was talking to a lot of people. I noticed that most of the conversation was about what's wrong with their lives. I'm not talking about problems they're working on solving. I'm talking about whining and complaining about things they can't do anything about. I do it, too. So I suggested to Paul that we should have a "No Complaining Day". And I wondered if people would have trouble finding things to talk about, if they couldn't complain. I think we all need to "get over ourselves" and find reasons to be grateful for the good things we have. But, that's just my opinion. YMMV, as they say online.
I'm still walking. I think I lost a whole pound in the last two weeks. It's winter and super cold. I suspect my body is hanging onto the fat to keep warm. I don't know if that's scientific, nor have I ever seen any research on it. But thinking that makes me feel good, so I'm going to keep thinking it. And keep walking.
Today is one day I don't have a rehearsal, but I have music to do every day. Practicing the songs I'm singing is the main thing. But I'm also working on putting the Ladyesong music into my computer so I can burn rehearsal CDs for everyone. I hope they'll help people, particularly those who don't read music, hear their parts and learn them accurately. It's so hard to do that when you don't have a way to listen to your own part, without the other parts muddling up the works.
Last night the San Jose Chamber Orchestra celebrated Barbara Day Turner, the founder and music director's, birthday with a fundraiser. It was one of those milestone birthdays, so they called it "Maestra's Milestone". Good food. Lots of cool people. Fun entertainment that included a bit from a concerto for harp that will be premiered in May. And a humorous look at the birthday girl's life, put together by one of the board members. All in all, it was a great evening.
I'm still walking. I think I lost a whole pound in the last two weeks. It's winter and super cold. I suspect my body is hanging onto the fat to keep warm. I don't know if that's scientific, nor have I ever seen any research on it. But thinking that makes me feel good, so I'm going to keep thinking it. And keep walking.
Today is one day I don't have a rehearsal, but I have music to do every day. Practicing the songs I'm singing is the main thing. But I'm also working on putting the Ladyesong music into my computer so I can burn rehearsal CDs for everyone. I hope they'll help people, particularly those who don't read music, hear their parts and learn them accurately. It's so hard to do that when you don't have a way to listen to your own part, without the other parts muddling up the works.
Last night the San Jose Chamber Orchestra celebrated Barbara Day Turner, the founder and music director's, birthday with a fundraiser. It was one of those milestone birthdays, so they called it "Maestra's Milestone". Good food. Lots of cool people. Fun entertainment that included a bit from a concerto for harp that will be premiered in May. And a humorous look at the birthday girl's life, put together by one of the board members. All in all, it was a great evening.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Blogging
I suppose it's only natural that when you blog, eventually you'll write about blogging itself. It's an interesting phenomenon, this blogging thing. I'm noticing that many of my posts have been sparked by what I've read on someone else's blog. This is one reason I think blogging has become a kind of conversation, not just individuals musing about stuff and hoping other people will care about their musings.
I think the conversation aspect is also why people enjoy getting comments from people reading their blogs. Blogs have a connection between people that writing essays for traditional publications don't have. In traditional publishing, pre-blog days, you waited to see if maybe someone wrote to the editor about your essay. When you write a blog, you get instant feedback when people comment on what you've written. Today, though, even traditional publishing has that more immediate connection because usually you can email the writer directly. A lot of writers have blogs, too, and you can read more there and comment.
This all seems obvious, now that blogging has become so common. But blogging is such a recent phenomenon that it boggles my mind how quickly it's become a part of our culture. No surprise to me that us social creatures will glom onto any way to try to communicate with each other. Sometimes I wonder, though, if we're really communicating because, as with every type of communication, there's what we think we wrote, what we wrote, and what you read.
Stuff
I walked an extra day this week. Paul worked overtime and I didn't want to sit at home this morning. So I meandered off to El Paseo and had coffee at Peet's. That's two miles each way. I didn't push for speed because this wasn't supposed to be a workout, yet it only took me 50 minutes to get there. That's a ton faster than my normal walking pace of a year ago, and a year ago I wouldn't have been able to make it at all. I've come a long way since I started walking and that's a good thing.
I normally don't write fanfic. But I have one that won't leave me alone. It's in a world who's creator has said it's OK to do fanfic and I'm not going to post it up anywhere or anything. It's just for me to play with. The idea includes some types of writing that I've never done before and they're not needed for my current WIP. So, I decided to explore this idea and these writing techniques as a reward after I finish my work on 50 Ways for the day. It's a just for fun thing, and I'm always up for fun stuff.
Other than that, things are pretty much the same around here. Paul and I are celebrating the first paycheck of the new job by going out to dinner. It's kind of a ritual thing we do when he starts a new job. We hope this is the last one for a very long time. We have tickets to a concert tonight, too. We're not sure we're going because it's about 30 miles away and he's worked six days this week. A late night may not be in the cards. If he's too tired, we'll give the tickets to one of our sons and just enjoy a quiet dinner and maybe a browse in a bookstore.
I think the conversation aspect is also why people enjoy getting comments from people reading their blogs. Blogs have a connection between people that writing essays for traditional publications don't have. In traditional publishing, pre-blog days, you waited to see if maybe someone wrote to the editor about your essay. When you write a blog, you get instant feedback when people comment on what you've written. Today, though, even traditional publishing has that more immediate connection because usually you can email the writer directly. A lot of writers have blogs, too, and you can read more there and comment.
This all seems obvious, now that blogging has become so common. But blogging is such a recent phenomenon that it boggles my mind how quickly it's become a part of our culture. No surprise to me that us social creatures will glom onto any way to try to communicate with each other. Sometimes I wonder, though, if we're really communicating because, as with every type of communication, there's what we think we wrote, what we wrote, and what you read.
Stuff
I walked an extra day this week. Paul worked overtime and I didn't want to sit at home this morning. So I meandered off to El Paseo and had coffee at Peet's. That's two miles each way. I didn't push for speed because this wasn't supposed to be a workout, yet it only took me 50 minutes to get there. That's a ton faster than my normal walking pace of a year ago, and a year ago I wouldn't have been able to make it at all. I've come a long way since I started walking and that's a good thing.
I normally don't write fanfic. But I have one that won't leave me alone. It's in a world who's creator has said it's OK to do fanfic and I'm not going to post it up anywhere or anything. It's just for me to play with. The idea includes some types of writing that I've never done before and they're not needed for my current WIP. So, I decided to explore this idea and these writing techniques as a reward after I finish my work on 50 Ways for the day. It's a just for fun thing, and I'm always up for fun stuff.
Other than that, things are pretty much the same around here. Paul and I are celebrating the first paycheck of the new job by going out to dinner. It's kind of a ritual thing we do when he starts a new job. We hope this is the last one for a very long time. We have tickets to a concert tonight, too. We're not sure we're going because it's about 30 miles away and he's worked six days this week. A late night may not be in the cards. If he's too tired, we'll give the tickets to one of our sons and just enjoy a quiet dinner and maybe a browse in a bookstore.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Walking and other stuff
Walking is becoming a bit of an addiction, I think. I get grumpy if I can't walk. That's a good thing. I discovered I can walk to the mall that's two miles away, have coffee, and walk home without any problem. That's a total of four miles. I don't think I've ever been able to walk that far this easily. It's cool.
I'm thinking that good days to update this blog are Tuesday, Friday, and over the weekend, since those are the days I don't have rehearsals and stuff. That way I won't be taking time away from practicing music and writing in order to write in the blog. So, I don't think I'm sticking to my original plan of writing every weekday, not that I've been doing that recently, anyway. It's just that I'd thought of trying to get back to that original goal. My life is much busier now, though, and I don't have as much time to blog. A busy life is a good thing, so I'm happy with making that change. It's doable, so I'm more likely to do it.
I'm settling into a good routine for my new job, my music, church, and family stuff. I don't like rigid schedules, but a general routine is helpful because it allows your brain to think about more important and interesting things than, "When am I going to do this or that?" I started a to do list in my little calendar. I don't always get everything done, but I expect that and start with the most important things first. I put things on my to do list that are fun, rewards for doing the not-so-fun stuff. I'm not rigid about it, though. Sometimes I do the fun things first and sometimes I only do the fun things. But sometimes I eat dessert first or go out and get dessert instead of dinner. Life's too short not to enjoy as much of it as you can, as long as you don't become a total hedonist and ignore your responsibilities completely.
I'm thinking that good days to update this blog are Tuesday, Friday, and over the weekend, since those are the days I don't have rehearsals and stuff. That way I won't be taking time away from practicing music and writing in order to write in the blog. So, I don't think I'm sticking to my original plan of writing every weekday, not that I've been doing that recently, anyway. It's just that I'd thought of trying to get back to that original goal. My life is much busier now, though, and I don't have as much time to blog. A busy life is a good thing, so I'm happy with making that change. It's doable, so I'm more likely to do it.
I'm settling into a good routine for my new job, my music, church, and family stuff. I don't like rigid schedules, but a general routine is helpful because it allows your brain to think about more important and interesting things than, "When am I going to do this or that?" I started a to do list in my little calendar. I don't always get everything done, but I expect that and start with the most important things first. I put things on my to do list that are fun, rewards for doing the not-so-fun stuff. I'm not rigid about it, though. Sometimes I do the fun things first and sometimes I only do the fun things. But sometimes I eat dessert first or go out and get dessert instead of dinner. Life's too short not to enjoy as much of it as you can, as long as you don't become a total hedonist and ignore your responsibilities completely.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Things are Humming Along
All of my music has started back up. Paul has one group that won't start for another week. I've joined another choir, one Paul sang with over Christmas. It's called "Funtimes Singers". I need to get back in the habit of posting concert dates and info, in case any local folks are looking for something fun to do.
It looks like spring is bustin' out with show tunes. Two of my choirs are doing a lot of show tunes this season. It's going to be fun. The music for Funtimes isn't going to be too difficult, which is a good thing, since Ladyesong looks like there will be some super challenging stuff and lots of memorized music.
I like my new job a lot. It's another musical thing, in a way. I'm taking care of phones, ticket sales, and miscellaneous office work for the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. It looks like music is going to play a bigger part in my life, now that my kids are grown up and I have the time for it.
Writing may seem like it's far from my life, but it really isn't. I just haven't been blogging about it much. This past year I've been writing the occasional blog entry, emails, chatting, and doing lots of journaling. Lots of words have left my pen, but not much fiction. I'm not super upset about that. As I look back on it, there are a lot of good reasons more journaling got done than fiction writing. It's not important what they were. What's important is that things are now working better and I can focus on fiction more this year than last year. I knew it would work out this way. I just didn't know when. It's kind of ironic, in a way, that it all changed right at New Year's, since I try so hard not to make resolutions or changes at New Year's, mainly because doing it is sort of expected.
Anyway, I have a lot of typing of stuff I wrote by hand to do. And then I can write new stuff. It will likely be a couple of weeks before the word meter moves. I have a tendency to lose words, not add them, when I type stuff in. I don't change the progress bar when the word count goes down. I just wait until I've added more, as I always do. We'll see.
Still walking. When I started walking to the shopping center, it took me 45 minutes each way. Today it took me 35 minutes to get home. So, I'm walking faster. I wonder if the cold weather is partly at fault. I walk faster to stay warm. In any case, I'm enjoying my walks and coffee and private time to write in my journal.
It looks like spring is bustin' out with show tunes. Two of my choirs are doing a lot of show tunes this season. It's going to be fun. The music for Funtimes isn't going to be too difficult, which is a good thing, since Ladyesong looks like there will be some super challenging stuff and lots of memorized music.
I like my new job a lot. It's another musical thing, in a way. I'm taking care of phones, ticket sales, and miscellaneous office work for the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. It looks like music is going to play a bigger part in my life, now that my kids are grown up and I have the time for it.
Writing may seem like it's far from my life, but it really isn't. I just haven't been blogging about it much. This past year I've been writing the occasional blog entry, emails, chatting, and doing lots of journaling. Lots of words have left my pen, but not much fiction. I'm not super upset about that. As I look back on it, there are a lot of good reasons more journaling got done than fiction writing. It's not important what they were. What's important is that things are now working better and I can focus on fiction more this year than last year. I knew it would work out this way. I just didn't know when. It's kind of ironic, in a way, that it all changed right at New Year's, since I try so hard not to make resolutions or changes at New Year's, mainly because doing it is sort of expected.
Anyway, I have a lot of typing of stuff I wrote by hand to do. And then I can write new stuff. It will likely be a couple of weeks before the word meter moves. I have a tendency to lose words, not add them, when I type stuff in. I don't change the progress bar when the word count goes down. I just wait until I've added more, as I always do. We'll see.
Still walking. When I started walking to the shopping center, it took me 45 minutes each way. Today it took me 35 minutes to get home. So, I'm walking faster. I wonder if the cold weather is partly at fault. I walk faster to stay warm. In any case, I'm enjoying my walks and coffee and private time to write in my journal.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Happy New Year!!
I don't do resolutions, so don't expect to see a post about them here. You'll have to move on to someone else's blog for that.
Here's an update on the ongoing drama that is my life. First, Paul loves his new job. It's working out great. Benefits start after only one month on the job. I see new glasses, dental work, and routine medical stuff on our horizon, finally. I can find out how to handle the health issues that have kept me from working the past few years. I am going to have to find the "dreaded day job", as artistic types call the money work that puts a roof over their heads and food on the table so they can devote some time to their art. It's just too expensive here in CA to rent a place on one average income.
I hope to finally get a notebook computer sometime this year. I'm doing some part-time work from home for a friend. It's not a lot of money, but if I save it up, I should have enough for the machine I want before the year is up. And when I get that regular job, I can add some of that money to the PT income.
I'm still walking. I was up to 3 miles on the track. After Paul started his job, I started walking to a local shopping center for coffee. It's about 3-1/2 miles, total. It surprised me how easy the walk is. I'm thinking about walking a different direction to a coffe place that's 2 miles, one way. At least while I'm not working and have the time to do it. I don't know what my current weight loss is or my blood pressure. I started walking mainly hoping to lower the blood pressure, so we'll see, come February, whether I succeeded in that. The last time I was on a scale, which was a few weeks ago, I'd lost 33 pounds. Not bad for a person who wasn't trying to lose weight. I used Christmas gift money for much-needed new clothes. 4 sizes smaller. I'm happy with that and, while it would be great to keep losing, I'd be fine with maintaining for a while.
I didn't post for the last couple of weeks because of the super busy holidays. We had the regular stuff everyone does, plus four choirs between us to do rehearsals and concerts and stuff. It was great!! Then it was kind of a letdown because they all took a break. We needed the break, but I still missed it. It's all starting back up again this week and I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to be singing in three groups this spring. The music looks like it will be challenging and fun.
Last, a recipe, sort of, to start the new year with. It's not a recipe as much as a technique. I've been experimenting with braising these days because all the cheap cuts of meat need long, slow cooking to be tender. And that's what's been on sale. I'm looking for really simple stuff, so I started experimenting with that pot roast recipe I posted a while back.
I got a large pork shoulder roast on sale a couple of weeks ago. I had them cut it into two smaller roasts. I decided to try to do one like Pork Carnitas and the other like BBQ Pulled Pork. So, I kept the idea of putting the roast on a bed of sliced onion and cooking it at 400ยบ F. I added one large can of enchilada sauce for the Carnitas and two regular-sized bottles of BBQ sauce for the Pulled Pork. Next time, I think I need to double the amount of enchilada sauce so there will be enough to spoon on the filled tortillas.
I cooked them on two different days using the same technique. I put them in for an hour. Then I turned the roast and spooned sauce over the top. I cooked them for another hour, turned and spooned sauce over. I stirred the sauce in the pan, too, so it wouldn't be as likely to burn. The last couple of hours, I did the turning, spooning, and stirring every half hour. Because I wanted shredded meat, I cooked them for a full four hours. If I'd wanted to slice it, I'd have only cooked them for 2-1/2 to 3 hours.
To serve them, I used two forks to shred the meat. I put beans and cooked rice in the enchilada-flavored pork, but next time, I'm serving the rice separately. I thought the rice flavor covered up the pork flavor too much. I served the enchilada filling in whole wheat tortillas. I made sandwiches out of the BBQ Pulled Pork, using ciabatta rolls, rather than softer hoagy rolls. The BBQ sauce really soaks into the bread, so you need a hard roll or it will get soggy and hard to eat.
Both were excellent and better left over, as long-cooked dishes often are. Both of these are wonderful winter dishes. The oven keeps the kitchen toasty warm while you cook dinner. Mangia!!
Here's an update on the ongoing drama that is my life. First, Paul loves his new job. It's working out great. Benefits start after only one month on the job. I see new glasses, dental work, and routine medical stuff on our horizon, finally. I can find out how to handle the health issues that have kept me from working the past few years. I am going to have to find the "dreaded day job", as artistic types call the money work that puts a roof over their heads and food on the table so they can devote some time to their art. It's just too expensive here in CA to rent a place on one average income.
I hope to finally get a notebook computer sometime this year. I'm doing some part-time work from home for a friend. It's not a lot of money, but if I save it up, I should have enough for the machine I want before the year is up. And when I get that regular job, I can add some of that money to the PT income.
I'm still walking. I was up to 3 miles on the track. After Paul started his job, I started walking to a local shopping center for coffee. It's about 3-1/2 miles, total. It surprised me how easy the walk is. I'm thinking about walking a different direction to a coffe place that's 2 miles, one way. At least while I'm not working and have the time to do it. I don't know what my current weight loss is or my blood pressure. I started walking mainly hoping to lower the blood pressure, so we'll see, come February, whether I succeeded in that. The last time I was on a scale, which was a few weeks ago, I'd lost 33 pounds. Not bad for a person who wasn't trying to lose weight. I used Christmas gift money for much-needed new clothes. 4 sizes smaller. I'm happy with that and, while it would be great to keep losing, I'd be fine with maintaining for a while.
I didn't post for the last couple of weeks because of the super busy holidays. We had the regular stuff everyone does, plus four choirs between us to do rehearsals and concerts and stuff. It was great!! Then it was kind of a letdown because they all took a break. We needed the break, but I still missed it. It's all starting back up again this week and I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to be singing in three groups this spring. The music looks like it will be challenging and fun.
Last, a recipe, sort of, to start the new year with. It's not a recipe as much as a technique. I've been experimenting with braising these days because all the cheap cuts of meat need long, slow cooking to be tender. And that's what's been on sale. I'm looking for really simple stuff, so I started experimenting with that pot roast recipe I posted a while back.
I got a large pork shoulder roast on sale a couple of weeks ago. I had them cut it into two smaller roasts. I decided to try to do one like Pork Carnitas and the other like BBQ Pulled Pork. So, I kept the idea of putting the roast on a bed of sliced onion and cooking it at 400ยบ F. I added one large can of enchilada sauce for the Carnitas and two regular-sized bottles of BBQ sauce for the Pulled Pork. Next time, I think I need to double the amount of enchilada sauce so there will be enough to spoon on the filled tortillas.
I cooked them on two different days using the same technique. I put them in for an hour. Then I turned the roast and spooned sauce over the top. I cooked them for another hour, turned and spooned sauce over. I stirred the sauce in the pan, too, so it wouldn't be as likely to burn. The last couple of hours, I did the turning, spooning, and stirring every half hour. Because I wanted shredded meat, I cooked them for a full four hours. If I'd wanted to slice it, I'd have only cooked them for 2-1/2 to 3 hours.
To serve them, I used two forks to shred the meat. I put beans and cooked rice in the enchilada-flavored pork, but next time, I'm serving the rice separately. I thought the rice flavor covered up the pork flavor too much. I served the enchilada filling in whole wheat tortillas. I made sandwiches out of the BBQ Pulled Pork, using ciabatta rolls, rather than softer hoagy rolls. The BBQ sauce really soaks into the bread, so you need a hard roll or it will get soggy and hard to eat.
Both were excellent and better left over, as long-cooked dishes often are. Both of these are wonderful winter dishes. The oven keeps the kitchen toasty warm while you cook dinner. Mangia!!
Friday, December 15, 2006
News!
Ok, so Paul didn't get the job I mentioned in the last post. He got the one he interviewed for last week. Good job for him as it's his favorite type of work. It starts after the holidays. It's not a temp job, so all's good here. It's the best Christmas gift we can imagine. Maybe next year we'll manage to be celebrating in our own place. That's our next goal.
We've been super busy, since between the two of us, we're in four different choirs. Last week and this week are the two busiest for us. We've had rehearsals or concerts almost every night, and a few in the daytime, too. It's fun. For us, doing music kind of makes the holiday season extra special. So, it's been a good year for that.
We're still walking. I have no idea how much I weigh because I don't have access to a reliable scale, right now. But the jeans I bought are four sizes smaller than the ones I used to wear. I'm up to three miles in an hour, five days a week. The only thing I'm doing, really, is trying to walk at a challenging pace, which means gradually speeding up. My next goal is to add another lap without adding more time. There are people who walk a lot faster than I do, so I know it's an achievable goal.
I've decided to try a different approach to getting the writing done, once we're finished with super concert season. I'm going to reward myself for working on 50 Ways by playing with an "indulgence". It's something I want to write just for fun. I have some things I want to try, but they don't fit into 50 Ways, my current WIP. It will be a way to stretch my writing ability without waiting for a project that needs those types of scenes. We'll see how it goes, but it's going to be a bit before I can start because right now my life is so busy. The other thing I want to do is to post more regularly and let anyone who might still be reading this know how it's going.
We've been super busy, since between the two of us, we're in four different choirs. Last week and this week are the two busiest for us. We've had rehearsals or concerts almost every night, and a few in the daytime, too. It's fun. For us, doing music kind of makes the holiday season extra special. So, it's been a good year for that.
We're still walking. I have no idea how much I weigh because I don't have access to a reliable scale, right now. But the jeans I bought are four sizes smaller than the ones I used to wear. I'm up to three miles in an hour, five days a week. The only thing I'm doing, really, is trying to walk at a challenging pace, which means gradually speeding up. My next goal is to add another lap without adding more time. There are people who walk a lot faster than I do, so I know it's an achievable goal.
I've decided to try a different approach to getting the writing done, once we're finished with super concert season. I'm going to reward myself for working on 50 Ways by playing with an "indulgence". It's something I want to write just for fun. I have some things I want to try, but they don't fit into 50 Ways, my current WIP. It will be a way to stretch my writing ability without waiting for a project that needs those types of scenes. We'll see how it goes, but it's going to be a bit before I can start because right now my life is so busy. The other thing I want to do is to post more regularly and let anyone who might still be reading this know how it's going.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
I Hate Figuring out Titles for my Posts
I'm considering numbering them. lol I want to try to post more frequently, now that I'm getting out of the funk I was in for the first part of the year. We'll see how that goes.
Writing, Writing, Writing--
I figured out why I wasn't writing. I needed to do what my friends Sheila (PBW)and Holly did a while back. A lot of the blogs I read, whether by aspiring or published writers, are very focused on the publishing industry and how hard it is to get published. How hard it is to write to that standard. How hard it is to whatever. It's a very negative and discouraging message, especially with my current financial situation. It became too easy to think about needing money and how hard it is to earn it by writing. I needed to step back and evaluate my thinking, so I stopped reading blogs and stuff for a while.
If I'm tinking about needing money, I start to feel guilty about writing. I feel like I'm wasting time I should be spending figuring out how to bring money into the house--now. The picture painted of the publishing industry by people who write about it makes it seem like it's hard to focus on what you want to do--write--once you start to sell. Because there's the sales numbers and building "buzz" and working to create a career. But you can't build a career on one book. You have to keep writing more. And it seems like a lot of published writers are crazily being obsessive almost to the point of not having a life outside of their writing and career. I don't want to live that way. I like doing a lot of other things and I'm not willing to give everything up to be a writer. (Or to be any one other thing, either. But that's a subject for a different post.)
Another aspect of it is that worrying about whether the WIP might or might not be publishable or sell stops my creativity cold. I start judging the work almost before it's on the page. The best way for me to do my best work is to just write it. Put aside all thoughts of publication, money, sales, career, etc. I don't know how that will work when I finally do sell something, but the time to worry about that is later. After it happens.
These thoughts led me to is back to the WIP. I need to focus on the current project. I need to focus on writing the book that's in my head, getting that story on the page. That's it. To do that, I've decided to limit my blog reading and other internet stuff, so it doesn't overwhelm me. And not read blogs or do internet stuff until after the day's writing is done. So, if I don't post often to your blog, don't think it's because I don't read it anymore. I just don't read as often. I have to take the same attitude Sheila once posted about: Protect the work.
Other Stuff
Everything else is pretty much going along the same as it has been. We've learned that David and his team will find out at the con whether they came in first, second, or third. That's in LA the first weekend in November. So, I wish them the best and hope they come in first. :)
Writing, Writing, Writing--
I figured out why I wasn't writing. I needed to do what my friends Sheila (PBW)and Holly did a while back. A lot of the blogs I read, whether by aspiring or published writers, are very focused on the publishing industry and how hard it is to get published. How hard it is to write to that standard. How hard it is to whatever. It's a very negative and discouraging message, especially with my current financial situation. It became too easy to think about needing money and how hard it is to earn it by writing. I needed to step back and evaluate my thinking, so I stopped reading blogs and stuff for a while.
If I'm tinking about needing money, I start to feel guilty about writing. I feel like I'm wasting time I should be spending figuring out how to bring money into the house--now. The picture painted of the publishing industry by people who write about it makes it seem like it's hard to focus on what you want to do--write--once you start to sell. Because there's the sales numbers and building "buzz" and working to create a career. But you can't build a career on one book. You have to keep writing more. And it seems like a lot of published writers are crazily being obsessive almost to the point of not having a life outside of their writing and career. I don't want to live that way. I like doing a lot of other things and I'm not willing to give everything up to be a writer. (Or to be any one other thing, either. But that's a subject for a different post.)
Another aspect of it is that worrying about whether the WIP might or might not be publishable or sell stops my creativity cold. I start judging the work almost before it's on the page. The best way for me to do my best work is to just write it. Put aside all thoughts of publication, money, sales, career, etc. I don't know how that will work when I finally do sell something, but the time to worry about that is later. After it happens.
These thoughts led me to is back to the WIP. I need to focus on the current project. I need to focus on writing the book that's in my head, getting that story on the page. That's it. To do that, I've decided to limit my blog reading and other internet stuff, so it doesn't overwhelm me. And not read blogs or do internet stuff until after the day's writing is done. So, if I don't post often to your blog, don't think it's because I don't read it anymore. I just don't read as often. I have to take the same attitude Sheila once posted about: Protect the work.
Other Stuff
Everything else is pretty much going along the same as it has been. We've learned that David and his team will find out at the con whether they came in first, second, or third. That's in LA the first weekend in November. So, I wish them the best and hope they come in first. :)
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
I'm B-a-a-a-a-ck
Blogger tech support has been very helpful and I can now post on my blog again. YAY!!
Woo Hoo!! David and Chris and Ann and Michelle and Andrew won a finalist's spot in the D&D contest. I don't know if they won first, second, or third, but two of them are going to LA for the convention to show off their video and have a great time with other role players. Congratulations to all of you. You done good!!
I'm walking 10 laps on the track, for 2.5 miles. On the trail, I'm doing one loop, which is about 2.25 miles, but it's a slight upgrade, with two small hills to get up to the bridge across the creek. So, it's a bit shorter, but as much of a workout. I decided to add some distance because I'm at about the top speed I can go at my current weight without getting strain on my knees. Current weight loss: 31 pounds
I looked over the manuscript of my novel. And I'm working on finishing up the first three chapters. Then I'm sending them out for critique and moving on to the next section. I have a good friend who offered to give me a daily nudge to help me stay focused. So far, she's been wonderful and patient with my start/stop efforts. I'll get back to the daily discipline, one little step at a time.
I'm enjoying my two choirs. We're gearing up for Christmas and I have a nice variety of music to sing this season. Paul is singing in church choir and he's found a couple of other groups to sing with, too. He's enjoying the variety of music, too.
And Paul has another job nibble. We'll see if this one works out. If we can get some money coming in, life will be extra blessed, instead of ordinary blessed. :)
Woo Hoo!! David and Chris and Ann and Michelle and Andrew won a finalist's spot in the D&D contest. I don't know if they won first, second, or third, but two of them are going to LA for the convention to show off their video and have a great time with other role players. Congratulations to all of you. You done good!!
I'm walking 10 laps on the track, for 2.5 miles. On the trail, I'm doing one loop, which is about 2.25 miles, but it's a slight upgrade, with two small hills to get up to the bridge across the creek. So, it's a bit shorter, but as much of a workout. I decided to add some distance because I'm at about the top speed I can go at my current weight without getting strain on my knees. Current weight loss: 31 pounds
I looked over the manuscript of my novel. And I'm working on finishing up the first three chapters. Then I'm sending them out for critique and moving on to the next section. I have a good friend who offered to give me a daily nudge to help me stay focused. So far, she's been wonderful and patient with my start/stop efforts. I'll get back to the daily discipline, one little step at a time.
I'm enjoying my two choirs. We're gearing up for Christmas and I have a nice variety of music to sing this season. Paul is singing in church choir and he's found a couple of other groups to sing with, too. He's enjoying the variety of music, too.
And Paul has another job nibble. We'll see if this one works out. If we can get some money coming in, life will be extra blessed, instead of ordinary blessed. :)
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