Giant Life Update
Home Life: Pretty good. Nothing substantial to report.
Schedule: OMG. The next two months are gearing up to be very, very busy. Still trying to see if J can get off of work for a wedding at the end of Sept, and I need to schedule the annual Hocus Pocus viewing party. Am going to miss out on
lapinetrose's spooky tea party because I will be in Gettysburg on Halloween weekend. Very sad about this.
Kittens: Finally sucked it up and ordered cloth diapers for Olive. She's become very, very incontinent as her muscles weaken. I figure diapers with disposable liners will be preferable to steam cleaning our carpet twice a month and constantly following her around with a bottle of Nature's Miracle. Plus then she'll be allowed back in bed at night, which is her favorite thing ever. They should arrive in the next three weeks or so, and until then, I will be jury-rigging some baby diapers for her. Also, we're contacting the vet about getting anxiety meds for her. As her incontinence increases, so does the likelihood we'll have to bathe her more frequently, and she gets really worked up. If anxiety meds pre-bathtime will increase her quality of life, that's what we're gonna do.
Renfest: Oh man, it's upon us! I'd really like to go Sept 3rd to see the Baebes, but time (and budgets) are in short supply right now. So we'll see.
Earthquake: So, we had one. My first! I was in the bathroom, cleaning and waiting forbelladonnastrap's arrival, and everything started violently shaking. It's a mark of East Coast apartment living that my first thought was "our noisy upstairs neighbors finally got a Wii," and then when the cats ran and hid, I walked outside and watched the windows on the buildings shake. Considering no one actually got hurt, I'd say it was kind of a fun experience, though it was alarming at the time, 'cause I had no idea what was going on. Now I know what it feels like. I got a chuckle out of an NPR story that detailed six geologists were having a conference at the time of the earthquake, and even they didn't initially realize what happened, considering how rare quakes are over here.
Dancing: Danced at the Inappropriate Hafla! Flissy and I were robots. We danced to Daft Punk. We have vowed not to do choreography next year. All pictures by Stephen Saucier.
I also guested in Kallisti's number as none other than Carolena Nericcio herself... Kallisti's piece was poking fun at one of the current debates in bellydance right now. Oneira was the super gothy bellydancer. Flissy was the neo-Victorian/circus-y one. And Amy was the steampunk one. The joke was that they were all doing the same choreography, just in different clothing. Which is, you know, exactly what 99.99% of bellydancers who claim to be goth/steampunk/whatever dancers do. The clothes are an aesthetic, and though you may be fusing elements of other dances (ie, strobing, pop & lock, umm.... crazy aunt dancing, etc), you're basically just performing fusion bellydance, not some Brand New Style. I show up as Carolena, dole out the skirts and zills, and they become Kallisti, dancing ATS. It was fun. I also loved Lilam's piece ("shark merkin" is now a thing) and Lyra's 'dressing up the zar' piece included a dolphin mask. It was WTFery, and I loved every minute.
Work: I took most of today off because I needed it. I have been in the studio until past 2am more nights than not lately. I will be doing a small update of PMC pieces next week (and more Faery Tears), and then Halloween in a few more weeks. I also have to do some custom orders, but I am trying to budget my time reasonably.
Tattoo: As long as Hurricane Irene doesn't stop me, I'm heading down to see Liaa on Saturday to have her sketch me and work on concepts for the tattoo. I also need to start toning up my tummy, 'cause it's for real now.
Spirituality: It's been a quiet month, probably because my energies have been directed elsewhere. I still have a very pretty altar going on, though it will get leaves and more autumnal touches as we draw nearer to Mabon.
Autumn Swap: I am going to post sign-ups for the annual Autumn Swap in early September. There are significantly fewer peeps still on LJ this year, but I'm still gonna try.
Sierras Trip: A few weeks ago, my friend Colleen called me and asked me to come for a week to the CA cabin that's been in her family for decades. At first, I could only think of all the reasons I couldn't. Giant update going up. Olive. Blah blah blah. I literally could not conceive of taking time for myself. But the universe gave me a kick in the pants and I eventually stopped making excuses and finally said 'thank you, yes, I will come.'
So I got on a plane and went. I like air travel significantly less than I used to (I seem to be getting more instances of motion sickness as I get older), but for the most part it was OK. The stewardess on the way out was hilarious ("If you are traveling with a child, or someone who acts like a child, first apply your own oxygen mask, and then place one on your husband..."). We had really rough turbulence most of the way. (And on the way back, we descended into Salt Lake City so rapidly that both the girl next to me and I grayed out.)
But the cabin was beaaaaaaautimous. Colleen & Jim were my hosts, and we saw a gorgeous 2,000 ft tall waterfall, ate ice cream from the local ice cream joint, had lunch in the shadow of two mountains in Sierra City, and attended a county fair (at which the bellydancing was horrific!). Somewhere, Jim has a picture of me staring down a soft serve ice cream cone which was distinctly phallic in nature. Colleen and I also went on a beautiful horseback ride around Bear Lake and Long Lake, and our guide pointed out all the local flora-- pride of the mountains, mule's ear, primrose, foxglove. My horse, Bronco, was a fat teenager whose saddle kept slipping, and I had to keep correcting to sit square, which resulted in big ol bruises on the backs of my legs. Add to that, there was still snow in the mountains! All of the locals went on about how the winter was the worst in memory-- the snow didn't even start melting until June. It was totally amazing.
Evenings were quiet and relaxing: we watched movies and Jim cooked delicious dinners. It was a good time, and I am incredibly glad that I silenced my inner worrywart and went.
The mountains near Bear Lake.
Our guide on horseback.
Bronco.
The horses of Reid's stables
The Sierra Buttes
Shinyshinyshiny
That last pic is of a souvenir I bought... when we were in Sierra City, we happened upon a little dusty clothes shop where the owner had two dogs-- one big malamute mix, and one tiny blind pug. He also had a little table of pendants, where I spotted it. Labradorites, amethyst, and sterling silver. FOR $40. I snapped that baby up. It's perrrrrfect for dancing. And it has great energy. I love it.
I think that's all that's fit to print for right now. I'm just glad that I had a moment to sit down and get up to date. Time has been precious of late.
Schedule: OMG. The next two months are gearing up to be very, very busy. Still trying to see if J can get off of work for a wedding at the end of Sept, and I need to schedule the annual Hocus Pocus viewing party. Am going to miss out on
lapinetrose's spooky tea party because I will be in Gettysburg on Halloween weekend. Very sad about this.Kittens: Finally sucked it up and ordered cloth diapers for Olive. She's become very, very incontinent as her muscles weaken. I figure diapers with disposable liners will be preferable to steam cleaning our carpet twice a month and constantly following her around with a bottle of Nature's Miracle. Plus then she'll be allowed back in bed at night, which is her favorite thing ever. They should arrive in the next three weeks or so, and until then, I will be jury-rigging some baby diapers for her. Also, we're contacting the vet about getting anxiety meds for her. As her incontinence increases, so does the likelihood we'll have to bathe her more frequently, and she gets really worked up. If anxiety meds pre-bathtime will increase her quality of life, that's what we're gonna do.
Renfest: Oh man, it's upon us! I'd really like to go Sept 3rd to see the Baebes, but time (and budgets) are in short supply right now. So we'll see.
Earthquake: So, we had one. My first! I was in the bathroom, cleaning and waiting for
belladonnastrap's arrival, and everything started violently shaking. It's a mark of East Coast apartment living that my first thought was "our noisy upstairs neighbors finally got a Wii," and then when the cats ran and hid, I walked outside and watched the windows on the buildings shake. Considering no one actually got hurt, I'd say it was kind of a fun experience, though it was alarming at the time, 'cause I had no idea what was going on. Now I know what it feels like. I got a chuckle out of an NPR story that detailed six geologists were having a conference at the time of the earthquake, and even they didn't initially realize what happened, considering how rare quakes are over here.Dancing: Danced at the Inappropriate Hafla! Flissy and I were robots. We danced to Daft Punk. We have vowed not to do choreography next year. All pictures by Stephen Saucier.
I also guested in Kallisti's number as none other than Carolena Nericcio herself... Kallisti's piece was poking fun at one of the current debates in bellydance right now. Oneira was the super gothy bellydancer. Flissy was the neo-Victorian/circus-y one. And Amy was the steampunk one. The joke was that they were all doing the same choreography, just in different clothing. Which is, you know, exactly what 99.99% of bellydancers who claim to be goth/steampunk/whatever dancers do. The clothes are an aesthetic, and though you may be fusing elements of other dances (ie, strobing, pop & lock, umm.... crazy aunt dancing, etc), you're basically just performing fusion bellydance, not some Brand New Style. I show up as Carolena, dole out the skirts and zills, and they become Kallisti, dancing ATS. It was fun. I also loved Lilam's piece ("shark merkin" is now a thing) and Lyra's 'dressing up the zar' piece included a dolphin mask. It was WTFery, and I loved every minute.
Work: I took most of today off because I needed it. I have been in the studio until past 2am more nights than not lately. I will be doing a small update of PMC pieces next week (and more Faery Tears), and then Halloween in a few more weeks. I also have to do some custom orders, but I am trying to budget my time reasonably.
Tattoo: As long as Hurricane Irene doesn't stop me, I'm heading down to see Liaa on Saturday to have her sketch me and work on concepts for the tattoo. I also need to start toning up my tummy, 'cause it's for real now.
Spirituality: It's been a quiet month, probably because my energies have been directed elsewhere. I still have a very pretty altar going on, though it will get leaves and more autumnal touches as we draw nearer to Mabon.
Autumn Swap: I am going to post sign-ups for the annual Autumn Swap in early September. There are significantly fewer peeps still on LJ this year, but I'm still gonna try.
Sierras Trip: A few weeks ago, my friend Colleen called me and asked me to come for a week to the CA cabin that's been in her family for decades. At first, I could only think of all the reasons I couldn't. Giant update going up. Olive. Blah blah blah. I literally could not conceive of taking time for myself. But the universe gave me a kick in the pants and I eventually stopped making excuses and finally said 'thank you, yes, I will come.'
So I got on a plane and went. I like air travel significantly less than I used to (I seem to be getting more instances of motion sickness as I get older), but for the most part it was OK. The stewardess on the way out was hilarious ("If you are traveling with a child, or someone who acts like a child, first apply your own oxygen mask, and then place one on your husband..."). We had really rough turbulence most of the way. (And on the way back, we descended into Salt Lake City so rapidly that both the girl next to me and I grayed out.)
But the cabin was beaaaaaaautimous. Colleen & Jim were my hosts, and we saw a gorgeous 2,000 ft tall waterfall, ate ice cream from the local ice cream joint, had lunch in the shadow of two mountains in Sierra City, and attended a county fair (at which the bellydancing was horrific!). Somewhere, Jim has a picture of me staring down a soft serve ice cream cone which was distinctly phallic in nature. Colleen and I also went on a beautiful horseback ride around Bear Lake and Long Lake, and our guide pointed out all the local flora-- pride of the mountains, mule's ear, primrose, foxglove. My horse, Bronco, was a fat teenager whose saddle kept slipping, and I had to keep correcting to sit square, which resulted in big ol bruises on the backs of my legs. Add to that, there was still snow in the mountains! All of the locals went on about how the winter was the worst in memory-- the snow didn't even start melting until June. It was totally amazing.
Evenings were quiet and relaxing: we watched movies and Jim cooked delicious dinners. It was a good time, and I am incredibly glad that I silenced my inner worrywart and went.
The mountains near Bear Lake.
Our guide on horseback.
Bronco.
The horses of Reid's stables
The Sierra Buttes
Shinyshinyshiny
That last pic is of a souvenir I bought... when we were in Sierra City, we happened upon a little dusty clothes shop where the owner had two dogs-- one big malamute mix, and one tiny blind pug. He also had a little table of pendants, where I spotted it. Labradorites, amethyst, and sterling silver. FOR $40. I snapped that baby up. It's perrrrrfect for dancing. And it has great energy. I love it.
I think that's all that's fit to print for right now. I'm just glad that I had a moment to sit down and get up to date. Time has been precious of late.