Gratitude 25: I got the loveliest taste of Autumn yesterday when the temperature dipped to about 64. I skipped the bus and walked to work instead.

Gratitude 26: Jason and I have both been extraordinarily busy with work lately. But we made time to have dinner together yesterday and again today. I will be happier once this week is through, but in the meantime, I'm grateful for the time I have.

Lots of things on my mind this morning.

-- For one, Olive's legs seem to be getting worse. It's certainly not to the point of debilitation, but it's quite noticeable (especially after she's just woken or stood up) that she can't take more than six or seven steps without wobbling over. Her back right leg especially seems to be very, very weak. She doesn't seem to be particularly bothered by it-- she's still playing with the other two (albeit more tentatively than before, and she's pouncing Mim right now), but it's a shock to see her dragging herself a step or two upon occasion. On the plus side, she seems to be getting her appetite back and she's more lovey than she was before (I think she loves spending mornings in the bedroom with mommy and daddy). So, anyhow... watch and wait, watch and wait. It's safe to say, though, that she'll never be a kitty who can manage stairs with ease. This cat, I tell you. Always something. Something expensive.

-- Gratitude 23: I am glad that Noxman and Mim are largely without problems and totally healthy.

-- I don't know if many people are on LJ on Sundays, so I'll reiterate: my next three sales in the Etsy shop are going to go, 100%, to a friend of a friend who's in desperate need. liminalia has the deets.

-- Anna & Brad's wedding reception was lovely. Delicious food, fine company. We even made some new friends. (Jason appears to have a British twin in all but likeness. They juggled lemons together for about an hour, while we womenfolk cooed on and on about how they looked like kittens or dolphins playing.)

-- Gratitude 24: I am glad it didn't rain on Anna's wedding day! Beautiful weather, indeed.

-- J & I are switching phones soon. Verizon doesn't cover his workplace, but Sprint does. Sprint also has a much better family plan, including data/internet access. I think I'm switching to the Intercept soon... a big step up from my Razr. Fancy.

-- BPAL UPDATE. Okay, I am giving in and buying another bottle of Mabon. I am down to the dregs of my 2004 bottle. I also really want a bottle of Wildfire, as I have cherished my dregs of that bottle for 6 years as well. Harvest Moon will probably be a decant, and I'll buy the bottles I want after my next update when cash is a little more flush. But whee, excited.

-- Today: more resin work. Finishing custom orders. Watching Dorian Gray. Scrambling together paperwork for a tax adjustment meeting with my SIL.

Y'all, I have been feeling profoundly BLECH in the last few days. My body is flippin' out on me, I'm tired a bunch, and I frankly don't have the energy for the vast majority of the morons freaking out about the "WTC Mosque" and round twentybillion of "Obama is a Muslim 'cause I believe he is." My brain? It has not been in a calm place lately. I think I am going to impose on myself no Facebook and more limited Twittering until I don't feel the need to smack someone for ignorance through the intertubes. Anyhow.

18. I am grateful that I've at least been pretty productive in the studio. Getting things accomplished helps.

19. I am grateful for the eloquence of Keith Olbermann, who made me cheer during his Special Commentary on Park 51.

20. I am grateful for the ability to research and access facts when our prevailing media outlets have overwhelmingly been following a "it's okay to erroneously report so long as there's discussion!" path. Journalistic integrity, where have you gone? Oh right. To the comedians, I forgot for a minute.

Tonight is Annabean's wedding reception. Can't wait! In that spirit:

21. I am grateful for my Annabean, who has been an unfailing support since high school. She is most awesome, and deserves all the joy that the universe can heap on her.

Also, my dreaming about Faire has begun! As in actual dreaming, though this morning, I've spent about an hour tallying up how much it would be for me to plan out the lovely forest green outfit I was wearing in the dream. Probably something like $130-- I want to get a U-top with Persian sleeves from L Rose Designs and a matching 25 yard skirt from Tribe Nawaar. And maaaaaaybe a tassel belt. Which reminds me, I gotta get talk on my gahwazee coat rolling. In any case, I have a couple of major things to pay for before I purchase a green costume, so that's on the backburner, but I think it'll be a lovely shade on me when I do.

In any case, weather permitting, I'm planning on faire on Sept 5th & Oct 16th... though if local peeps are going on other days that I'm not working at the shop, I might try for three. I love faire so.

[12 & 13 were friends-only.]

14. I am grateful for the leniency to create my own schedule. I've been feeling totally out-of-whack for the last week, and it's been a godsend to be able to take a nap when my body decided to shut down.

15. I am grateful for Netflix on-demand. 'Nuff said.

Olive is back. She's woozy and tired and the vet suggested quarantining her for seven days instead of the usual one or two. She got the full princess treatment and has several days of pain meds, to boot.

The x-rays showed definite abnormalities in her spine. About three, maybe four, of her vertebrae are developmentally malformed. The vet said that he sees that from time to time in dogs, and it's called Wobbler's Syndrome, but this is the first time he's seen it in a cat. He's going to show the x-rays to some of his specialist colleagues just to make sure that there's no cause for alarm, because otherwise it's a watch-and-wait sort of thing. She could stay as-is and have a great quality of life. Things could get worse and require drugs or surgery. Nothing is definite, so we just have to watch her.

Still, I'll pick that over a spinal infection any day.

Bean is going to be given the honor of staying in our bedroom with us, and being transferred to the studio when I'm working so she's not alone all day. She's got a shaved belly and a little lion's paw where they had to shave one wrist in order to insert an IV.

11. I'm grateful for a really thorough, gentle, and patient vet who treats Olive like our four legged child, and not just any ol' cat.

10. I am grateful to have in-laws that I really and truly enjoy being around. We may not line up ideologically about a lot of things, but they are genuinely nice people who love having me as part of their family. They have treated me with respect and love from day one.

Happy 62nd birthday, Mr. Gary.

-- STILL not getting LJ notifications. I've been checking a few times a day for comments at LJ inbox, but I am getting REALLY cranky about this.

-- Anyone know how I can get my Firefox to keep resizing constantly in Windows 7? You know how you can resize things using cntrl & + (bigger) or cntrl & - (smaller)? Well mine is constantly changing itself when I scroll. It's also making me really cranky, and I can't figure out how to make it stop.

-- Good but busy weekend. Friday: dinner with my brother and his girlfriend. They didn't leave until 6 the next day. While I love them bunches, my social energy has been really limited lately, and it's left me totally drained. From there we went immediately to Charm City Tribal, and it was lovely to see Eugenia again!

-- Sunday was helping Anna find wedding makeup, then going for a walk with Jason around old Ellicott City, purportedly one of the most haunted towns on the East Coast. And it's true, the town really does have a strange energy to it. Old energy-- Civil War memories combined with something I can only term capriciously fae. I want to take up a ghost walk there soon and get a storyteller's perspective on the haunted attractions: Oak Lawn, The Patapsco Female Institute, Lilburn (which no kidding looks like a castle, complete with a stone battlement). Old Ellicott City is sort of like the land that time forgot.

-- Jason had his CGMS meeting this morning. I had to get up early for that. I sort of feel like I barely slept at all this weekend, and so today it's like I'm mentally swimming through maple syrup.


Gratitude (including yesterday's catch-up)

8. I'm grateful I don't work at the shop on Mondays, 'cause otherwise I'd be more of a mess today.

9. I'm grateful to be living in a state with such rich history, and a seemingly endless amount of storytellers, historic trails, and things to see.

7. PUUUUUUMPKIN PANCAKES. The best thing about Saturday. With market spice tea.

OMG.

Whoo boy, having a morning. My brain is pretty chilled from yesterday, but my body is still in full-swing anxiety mode. My skin is all prickly and my heart is hammering a mile a minute. (Long story short for those not on my flist: the state wants me to pay back a $12,000 scholarship because I haven't filled out a service interview. Because they keep sending it to a misspelled address that does not exist. And no one can rectify it until next week.)

I am trying to chill enough to get down to work, but I'm definitely having a rough time of it.

Anyhow. Breathing, breathing. Could really handle a hug right now.

6. Gratitude: as totally stressful as this situation is, I am grateful that I did get a college education. I might be resentful to paying back $$,$$$ in student loans because my parents refused to let me go to the college that offered a full scholarship, but in the end, I have a degree, which is important should I need to job search again in the future.

5. I am grateful for my dance teachers. Whether they taught a multiweek course or a workshop, I am grateful for the work they put in to teach. Last night, I went to marinatempest's ATS fundamentals class, as her stunt-hands, since her thumb is still not up to zilling. (And, as Carolena drilled home with us, if you ain't zilling, you ain't dancing ATS.) It's one thing when you're watching someone you don't know teach. You can take for granted a lot of the work they put in to their teaching, I think (especially for the bigger names in the dance world), because you just assume it comes naturally. But it really isn't that way-- some people are excellent teachers, but competent dancers. Some people are amazing dancers but can't break down technique or choreo very well at all. To be both (as I think marinatempest is) is a freaking artform all its own. It's about balancing the actual dancing, which (at least for me) is such an in-the-body experience with all of the cerebral qualities that are required of breaking down and teaching the dance.

So thank you, my teachers, for crafting a learning environment that's both supportive and challenging. For answering questions that I've never even considered. I have such respect for anyone who formally teaches this dance because it is very much a responsibility to teach well. To have lesson plans. To deal with emergencies as they arise. To still be every bit as polished and knowledgeable anyway.

In related news, OMG TribalCon looks so good this year! Zafira, Zoe Jakes, John Compton, Sera, Donna Mejia? I am DEFINITELY going to try to go. Whereas other cons I've attended in the past seem to be going straight into the circus fusion realm, I'm really excited that TribalCon is offering a solid mix of dance technique, music instruction, and tribal history. So, Atlanta in February. Hopefully I can swing it, financially. I'm certainly going to try!