I really liked the idea of having a made-up world where I could place songs and build a story. The execution is a little less certain. The first three went fairly well because each was designed to present one character's situation and therefore didn't need to depend on anything that went before. As I imagine conflicts and interactions happening, however, it gets more difficult to write a song without dragging in too much back-story while, at the same time, making the point of the song clear.

( Context and lyric )

I think it is the first Christmas where I gave every family member a donation to a charity I thought meaningful to me, and they did the same back (different charities)! Except maybe Josh; Christmas with him is tomorrow so I don't yet. Most of the donations went to international development/aid, environment and animals. The living room yesterday at my brother's was filled with World Wildlife Federation stuffed animals to comfirm various adoptions - mine was an Emperor Penguin! Meercat next year? The caribou was really nice too, and the loon was outstanding.

However, I am also materialistic, and really looking forward to hooking up the new WII and WII Fit! Thanks, Phil.

Christmas went well.
(I think that much of my dread of the day comes from not wanting to be involved in the kind of drama that ensues when things go wrong. If sauce for the dessert doesn't turn out right on a normal day, people shrug and do without or have something else; if that happens on Christmas it becomes a horror story passed across generations. Each non-perfect moment gets magnified into an insult or an embarrassment. Ptuii!)

A highlight this year was having a conversation with one young woman, a university student, who I usually only see once a year at this time. Her musical tastes now include David Francey, Ray Davies, and The Handsome Family. Yay for eclecticism.

From the toy-store perspective, I now have a bunch more books, including three by Jasper Fforde, one on finger-style guitar as applied to some folk/roots music, other fiction, and a Galaxy Quest DVD to replace the video tape that died while eating our old VHS player -- or vice versa.

The trip home was something of an annoyance even as a passenger, with rain and fog and the concern that we might encounter the freezing variety at some point. It was more stressful, I'm sure, for Jane driving, but we made it without actual problems.

Now for the 353 days of not-Christmas.

And a mountain of fiber to go with it!



I'm so excited! It was a great present, and a great Christmas! I'll make a more detailed post sometime after Chris' mom flies back out. She's awesome, so I don't want to ignore her all night. :P

SPINNING WHEEL!

A note to people who write non-fiction books: not all of your readers are complete dummies.

When I pick up a technical book, I usually know something about the topic even though I'm looking to increase my knowledge. If the author is obviously getting it wrong grammatically, factually, and conceptually while dealing with the simple bits in the introduction, it's unlikely that I'll trust the writing enough to ever read the advanced part.

A POLL: So what are your current favourite boardgames? Or what WERE your favourite boardgames as a child?

On the way to meet Allison and Jodi for a Christmas lunch yesterday, I came across these carol singers. They were chatting with each other about what song to sing next but when they noticed that I was taking a photo of them with my iPhone, they immediately posed for this picture. :-)

They started singing a few moments later, and they were really good!

Read the rest of this entry »

Mirrored from Debbie's Blatherings.

I hope you are having a very happy holiday season, and I wish you a wonderful 2010!

Since family gift-giving is focussed on international causes this year, the Garthson Leadership Centre has chosen to support a local cause in lieu of holiday cards and gifts to clients and colleagues. I value organizations that work to create a desired future, and change the conditions that are keeping its community or planet in a less than desirable state.

This year's charity is The Stop (http://www.thestop.org). The Stop works to increase access to food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds health and community and challenges inequality. From its origins as one of Canada’s first food banks, The Stop has blossomed into a thriving community hub where neighbours participate in a broad range of programs that provide healthy food, as well as foster social connections, build food skills and promote engagement in civic issues. Among the busy initiatives are community kitchens and gardens, cooking classes, drop-in meals, peri-natal support, a food bank, outdoor bake ovens, food markets and community advocacy. In 2009, The Stop opened The Green Barn, a sustainable food production and education centre with a 3,000-square-foot greenhouse, commercial kitchen, classroom, sheltered garden and composting facility. School visits and an after-school program offer hands-on opportunities for children to learn about the food system. Underlying all of The Stop’s efforts is the view that food should be a basic human right.

...I gave blood today.

But I didn't have any of their cookies afterwards. I've got way too many cookies at home.

Garrison Keillor recently posted some of his thoughts on Christmas.

The part that caught my attention was here:

Unitarians listen to the Inner Voice and so they have no creed that they all stand up and recite in unison, and that's their perfect right, but it is wrong, wrong, wrong to rewrite "Silent Night." If you don't believe Jesus was God, OK, go write your own damn "Silent Night" and leave ours alone. This is spiritual piracy and cultural elitism and we Christians have stood for it long enough.

Saturday, I refered to the fact that I had located a purveyor of suitable cookware, yet some--dare I say most of you assumed I was referring to illegal substances. I simply don't understand where all your minds are!

I'm predicting that fall will end and winter will start while I'm composing this email.

We decorated cookies yesterday at bigbumble's house. I brought Monica along, as she'd heard about this ritual for many years and she was curious about it. Dropped off Xmas gifts and picked up X-mas gifts, which I've been really good about leaving unopened on the kitchen table.

Today I mailed off the gifts to the remaining family, and now my X-mas obligations are fulfilled for the year.

This afternoon I have an appointment to get my blood drained at the Red Cross--it's a gift that nobody actually wants! YAY!

And the north pole is just eight minutes from pointing as far away from the sun as it's going to this year. I can actually see outside to a uniformly grey winter sly and and the snow-filled ravine that I think has Mallets Creek at the bottom of it. I assume that's why they call this the Mallets Creek library branch.

Six minutes until astronomy geeks and pagans can celebrate the winter solstice, when the sun's declination is imperceptibly lower than it was a minute earlier and imperceptly lower than it will be a minute later.

Three minutes...Two minutes.

THis is so exciting. Maybe if I'm really clever I can post this at the exact minute.

Uh HAPPY SOLSTICE!

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?

Bought a house.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Some of them, and probably.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No.

5. What countries did you visit?

Canada.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

A second solo canoe.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

I don't focus on the date much.  I'll remember Inauguration Day, though.  And Aug 4-10 when we went to Quetico.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Probably planning the Quetico trip.  Or maybe building my workbench.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Well, getting a job would have been good, and I didn't.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Just small stuff.  Biggest thing was spraining my wrist on the Quetico trip.  Brought home to me that solo trips into the howling wilderness had best be approached with caution.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Probably the new kitchen.  Finally the counters are tall enough.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Well, Kip was great :-)

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Nobody I know personally--but I'm not real happy with Republicans in government right now.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Buying the house and other house stuff, definitely.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

The house.  The Quetico trip.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?

Hmm.  _Fireflies_ by Ocean City

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?

about the same

b) thinner or fatter?

Fatter, probably.

c) richer or poorer?

Depends on how you look at it.  Less cash, more house, emotional matters about the same.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Canoeing!  Camping and singing and playing.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Mooching around the internet when bored.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

Visiting family :-)  Gaming like mad things :-)

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?

I'm happily involved in a long standing monogamous relationship, but I'm flattered by your interest.

22. How many one-night stands?

No.  Thanks anyway.

23. What was your favorite TV program?

Toss-up between Carnivale and Bones, both of which I watch on DVD because I don't have a TV.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

Nobody I know personally.

25. What was the best book you read?

I read a lot.  I have kind of a vague memory, so I lose track of when I read what.  I finished _On The Origin Of Species_ this year; it was pretty good.  

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Probably Girlyman.

27. What did you want and get?

An iPod Touch

28. What did you want and not get?

A Congress where Democrats actually acted like Democrats and also got things done instead of throwing their constituents under the bus trying to compromise with people who won't compromise.  But I'm not bitter or anything.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?

Probably Up.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

We went out to dinner: sushi at Kalamata and dessert at the Outback.  Kip gave me presents--mostly books.   The rest is none of your business :->

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

A good health care bill and a good climate change treaty.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

Comfort and utility: fashion be damned!

33. What kept you sane?

Well, I was never under that much pressure, except when we were trying to close on the house.  I guess Kip kept me sane. 

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Michelle Obama.  I think pocketnaomi is right on this one.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?

Undoing the damage done during the Bush Administration.

36. Who did you miss?

My mother.

37. Who was the best new person you met?

Not settling on any one person at the moment.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:

I'll tell you two: 1) Chisels are very versatile; it's all in the angle. 2) there is almost always someone worse off than you are--and sometimes you can't help, but sometimes you can.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

"Boat-builder like chocolate / Boat-builder like diet Mountain Dew / Boat-builder very simple soul/ With big warm fuzzy open heart / And boat-builder like you."

The putting up and decorating of the Christmas tree has been rather protracted this year. We have nine month old kittens and thought we shouldn't jump into tree-trimming lightly. The tree was assembled with no great problem. They ignored it -- mostly. Friday evening I added half a dozen non-breakable ornaments, just right for kitties to play with (and actually placed for that purpose). They swatted the ornaments and watched them swing, but otherwise were just fine with it.

Then we added the garland. The sparkly, gold, bead garland. Apparently this is to kittens as cocaine is to humans. Subtle, well concealed guerrilla warfare ensure that occasionally emerged as street fighting. We negotiated around things for a while, and settled for keeping the garland well up the tree. It survived, only somewhat pawed, until this morning. Then it was just all too much. As I sat here typing, out of the corner of my eye a stealthy figure approached the tree.. Three seconds, one squawk and a flash of orange later the tree lay humbled on the ground.

We're debating whether we should even bother, but will give it one more go. Life with kitties is never dull.

There is apparently a proposed law in Oklahoma to force women who have abortions to complete a 10 page survey with their doctors. CNN's take is here.

Now completely aside from the fact that even if the data is posted in the aggregate and nobody can tease out details about an individual woman, and even if the questions were re-written to be neutral instead of hostile, this would still impose a pretty significant time-burden: it's a 10 page survey.  At a minute per page that works out to 10 minutes more per abortion.  Which is going to mean that Jane Doctor, who used to be able to do, say, 16 abortions in a day, can now do only 12.

Hey presto, reduced access to abortion.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Necessary cost, reluctantly accepted, for the greater good of providing information that improves public health?  I might believe that if the survey collected information about access to birth control, birth control method used, support for birth control use by community, information about birth control available in school and from other sources, etc, which as far as I can tell, it does not.

However, one thing that kind of caught my eye in the article was this:

A Democratic former state legislator called the law "abusive and invasive."

"Nosy neighbors with some effort could identify or, even worse, misidentify these women who answer these questions," said Stapleton.

I just read someone's advice that increased exposure is needed in order to keep snow white. My mind visited various types of lewd and lascivious behavior on the part of a prince and assorted dwarfs before fully accepting that:
1) "snow white" was not capitalized, and
2) the post was about photography.

Whee! My favorite pot is still available for $30. I can get it online for $30 plus shipping or find it at an outlet mall between me and Lansing. I'll make do with my Emergency Substitute pot for now (which will then be demoted to Emergency Backup Pot) until my next trip to Elderly Instruments.

Internet Good.

I was reading a Wikipedia article and came across a sentence that struck me a bit funny. I thought, if I repeated it with the subject left blank, what word would people assume should be there.

"________ started in Italy at the end of the 16th century ([...]) and soon spread through the rest of Europe."

Are they talking about war, plague, devastation, locusts, or something else?

( The real quote )

OK, so I was making some of my customary Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Krispie treats to distribute to family. And while mixing the chips into the final batch, I broke the handle off my very nice Revere Ware saucepan/pot. AAARGH!!!

Don't know my own strength!

I guess it's off shopping once I'm offline.

Watching old episodes of the Muppet Show, then listening to mp3's on the computer can put weird ideas in your head.

Like listening to quadrivium singing "Just Deserts" and imagining her as a guest on the Muppet Show. And realizing this song would only fit if Miss Piggy had caught Kermit flirting with Mary. And suddenly a duet between Mary Crowell and Miss Piggy singing "Oh Darling, sweet Darling I'm gonna kill you. Oh darling, my sweet darling you're gonna die" seems perfectly natural and in place.

WIth a HAY_YAAAHH at the end of the segment.