| Random Interest |
[Jan. 30th, 2008|09:48 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home office | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  curious | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Carmina Buarana, 'Oh, Fortuna' | ] |
Things I want to learn more about:
Evolution of yeast varieties in history, both natural and cultured (I think ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2) curtorama can certainly help me with this)
Non-Newtonian fluids (besides cornstarch in water)
Carbon nanotubes (ryeth gave some to deerslayer for Christmas last year. How COOL is that?!?)
String theory
Stem cells and their medical uses (my nephew is headed to the lab in grad school)
Jungian archetypes in the Norse pantheon (or should I say de Laszloian, since she interpreted Jung for us lesser mortals)
How these things will help me with my writing (other than the archetypes) I have no idea.
But hey, Stephen King says a good writer never stops reading... |
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| Vinfengi |
[Jan. 23rd, 2008|02:49 pm] |
You know, writing about the Icelandic Norse is much harder than re-enacting them... |
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| Postcards from the Edge of the Mobius |
[Jan. 21st, 2008|01:33 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  pensive | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Vivaldi, "The Four Seasons" | ] |
Hi again, it's me, back from the dead. Again. Again-again. lol.
I apparently have a serious bandwidth problem. As in, I can only focus on one large thing in my life at a time. Well, besides the daily job of raising my children, being a wife and mom, etc. etc.
For many years I put every extra ounce of me into the SCA, and it was the other love of my life. Until I had to stop, because I went back to work. Couldn't focus on two loves at once.
Then I put every extra ounce of me into my job, and it was the other love of my life. Until I got laid off. Can't focus on work I don't do anymore.
Now I'm putting every ounce of me into writing, which is the TRUE (other) love of my life.
I've had book projects going for years, that I put off to do the other things. Perhaps I was scared, because if I fail at the BIG one, who am I, really?
Linear Girl. That's who. (No really, that's what people call me. And it's true.) I really need to learn to multi-live a little bit better.
But whenever I leave behind one part of my life to start a new one, I never really leave it, because of the family I found along the way. I miss my SCA family. I miss my work family, those that are still left (and that's not many, sadly enough).
The interesting thing about being a writer full-time...it's a very solitary endeavor. No new family. Yet. I suppose I could join a writer's group. But I already have lots of family I don't keep in good-enough touch with.
I guess I'm not as introverted as all that. |
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| Munich |
[Mar. 16th, 2007|11:38 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Josh Groban "Oceano" | ] |
So, in the last month since I posted, I've spent another week in Sweden for work, then spent last week in Munich.
Munich is such an amazing city. It's in the heart of the Bavarian part of Germany. Very clean, almost no crime, great German cuisine (can you say WEISSBIER?) incredible architecture.
Yes, I actually did work the entire week, but tried to take bits of time here and there to wander the city.
So, here's where I was standing one week ago today.
It's the old Parliament building in the Marienplatz in the old part of Munich, which is all cobbled streets and walking areas...
More later. |
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| Kamikaze Karaoke |
[Feb. 4th, 2007|07:59 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  pleased | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Carly Simon, "You're So Vain" | ] |
So, I went on my first karaoke run Friday night, in Raleigh in a place called 'Playmakers'. It was packed, and I was SO terrified. There was this really great guy who DJ'd the songs and Emceed in between. You had to sign up to be able to sing, and let me tell you, the list fills quickly.
So, in my anxiety, I slammed a couple of beers and picked a song I knew really well, Sarah McLachlan's "I Will Remember You".
First, I screwed up and signed up twice. You aren't allowed to put your name on the list a second time until you sing the first time. I 'fessed up and told the DJ, who saw I was a noob, was really sweet, and just pushed my second song down the list a bit.
Soon, it was my turn.
I was awful.
The screen froze, so I just kept singing as I knew, then forgot the interlude and got my timing all off. I couldn't hear the music because the crowd was so loud and raucous.
Everyone was really nice afterwards, saying "oh, you did great", but I knew I sucked. So, I scratched out my name, went and sat with my friends and slammed a couple of kamikazes.
Some of the people who sang were worse than I was, but I had to give them big props for even getting up there. Some of them were fabulous. This one woman sang Janis Joplin's version of "Me and Bobby McGee" and DAMN she was great!
Okay, then liquid courage set back in, and I went back up to sign up. The list was full. My hero the DJ (wish I'd gotten his name!) said "It's okay honey, I'll just put you back in where you were."
By this time, I have a pleasant buzz, the crowd has thinned a little (it was 12:30), several people were dancing near the stage, and everyone was really relaxed.
For my second song I picked Linda Ronstadt's "Blue Bayou".
I blew the place away, or at least everyone acted like I did (maybe they were all drunk, who knows?)
But I do know my timing was much better, I could hear the music, and threw my heart into it like I was onstage in Vegas.
The best thing was, the DJ gave out a blue raffle ticket to everyone who sang, for a prize of a $50 bill. And I WON!
So, my new addiction: karaoke. Next week, I'm going to sing "At Last" by Etta James. |
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| Round and Round She Goes... |
[Jan. 28th, 2007|11:45 am] |
Once again, I got too busy living to write about it...Sweden was dark, but wonderful, in spite of the 70 mph windstorm. God loves me to have invented Swedish coffee...( http://www.mcn.org/a/zoegas/ )...because jet lag for four days SUCKS.
London in 36 hours was an awesome blur...Curto definitely made some memories as well as losing several...lol...(more on that later). So much we missed, but took a tour bus and rode by unbelievable places like Number 10 Downing, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, etc. Ate in Chinatown, club-hopped in Soho, climbed the dome at St. Paul's Cathedral, toured the Tower of London, the crown jewels and National Armory, walked by Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben, toured the Churchill Museum and underground warrooms.
Ate fish and chips, steak and ale pie, raisin pudding with toffee sauce, and drank pints in pubs on Whitechapel Road. Rode the tube, stayed in the hotel where Jimi Hendrix was found dead (had I known previously, I might have opted to change hotels), and walked in Hyde Park. And more. In 36 hours....whew!
This is me, jetlagged, no sleep for a week, freezing my ass off, and loving every minute of the 400-and-however-many steps it took to get to the top of the dome at St. Paul's:
So, now my parents are back in NM safely, after having spent great quality time with the grandkids. And my house is, of course, cleaner than it's been since last time Mom came...with Amy's generous contribution, of course. Curto comes back from 2 weeks in Brussels tonight (I'm sure with more stories).
I got to go visit Bald Head island Friday night and yesterday. It's an incredible place in which to spend 18 hours, wish I could've stayed forever.
Again, whew!
I'm back home now, hopefully for a month or two, before I take off anywhere again.
More pics of London in next post...
So, a good friend turned me on to the 13th C. poet Rumi. Just beautiful:
http://www.khamush.com
and the noted Rumi translator, Coleman Barks, who went to UNC, among other places:
http://www.colemanbarks.com/
I really believe if Muslims would follow the Sufi way, the bombing would stop and maybe our world would achieve some semblance of peace.
I recommend Barks' book 'The Essential Rumi' as a good place to start.
Here's another great link, I love Dr. Pinkola Estes' work. No matter what your cause may be, I think her essay has relevance:
http://www.kporterfield.com/healing/estes.html
More later! |
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| Getting Ready... |
[Jan. 10th, 2007|04:11 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  creative | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Dan Fogelberg, "Stolen Moments" | ] |
Trying to get ready for curtorama and I to leave the country. So much to prepare! The house, the kids' stuff, the lists for Mom and Dad, shopping, packing, cleaning, and I STILL don't have my Christmas decorations all put away yet...
Curtis leaves Friday, I leave Saturday, and we'll meet up in London next Friday night. We're going to see everything we can, since we only have 36 hours. I figure I can sleep on the plane. Or, years from now in my rocking chair.
I love a new adventure!
So, once in a great while I meet someone who reminds me of what I'm forgetting to do in my life, things I need to be a whole person. Recently I met a friend like this, someone who inspires me. What I've been missing, what I set aside this past year, is my art, my soul, my sacred. I set aside my music and my writing, let my shrine get dusty.
Don't get me wrong, the work I've been doing has helped me grow in several new directions, and I've learned many things, one of which is that I didn't appreciate Curtis, the kids, my time at home as much as I should have. Do we ever fully treasure what we've got when we've got it?
I've gotten to travel, meet wonderful new people from all over the world, and prove to myself that I haven't lost the ability to adapt.
But, I forgot to feed my soul, and it's hungry. It's been growling for a while.
"To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour."
William Blake |
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| Welcome to 2007 |
[Jan. 1st, 2007|09:50 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  mellow | ] |
Happy New Year, everyone. I hope you all have a wonderful, successful, happy year filled with love.
I'm not going to make any New Year's Resolutions this year. I don't keep most of them anyway.
Instead I'm just going to keep my Life List updated, and keep endeavoring to check things off. My Life List isn't bound by one year, so it removes that whole deadline pressure feeling. It's a living, breathing, dynamic thing.
A sample of what's on my life list:
Re-certify for scuba
Dive the Wall in Grand Cayman
Dive the Blue Hole in Belize
Go to Iceland, stand at the site of the 1000 A.D. Althing
Visit England (the list of things to see is too long to write)
See Stonehenge, Hadrian's Wall
See the Book of Kells (the real one) in Ireland
Go to Rome, stand in the Coliseum
Go to Hisarlik, see the site of Troy
Go to NYC, visit the World Trade Center site
See a live Broadway production ON Broadway
Learn to Speak Swedish
Re-learn French
Continue learning Spanish
Write a novel. Or at least finish one of the 6 I've started
etc.
Do you sense that whole travel theme?
I split the list into three categories: Stuff I want to have, stuff I want to do, people I'd like to meet.
The stuff I want to have is almost non-existent. I'm pretty lucky there.
The people I want to meet is much harder:
The Dalai Lama
Stephen Hawking
Colin Powell
Steven Jobs
Steven King
I can think of many more, but don't need to list them all. The problem I have is that many of the great writers, inventors and leaders I would love to meet are already dead.
Anyway, hope everyone is having a pleasant beginning to 2007! |
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| Yeah, Well.... |
[Dec. 31st, 2006|10:18 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Cruxshadows, "Seraphs" | ] |
In 2007,  idonealuv resolves to... Overcome my secret fear of sagas.
Ask my boss for a daoism.
Give up green chilis.
Go to the libertarians every month.
Eat more celts.
Find a new pennsic.
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