A "G-Rated Journal" That Even My Mother Can Read (because she does!)
Effervescence is a state of mind. It's about choosing to bring sunshine to the day.
Every person I meet matters.
If it's written down, I know it (If it's not written down, I don't know it)
If it's color-coded, I understand it (If it's not color-coded, I don't understand it)
Read/Post Comments (2)
Daddy-do and me, 2010
My Links
My Blessings
My Project Lists
My Resume
My Twitter
My Photo Website
My Flickr
My TwitPic
My Household
My SCA Biography
My Bardic Pages
My Blip.TV Videos
My YouTube Videos
My Band & CDs
My FriendFeed
My Bookmarks (del.icio.us)
My Ravelry Profile
My Blip.fm Station
My Amazon Wishlist
My Media Collection
My LibraryThing
My Food Lists
Podcasts I Listen To
Cast-On: Brenda Dayne, Wales
KFI AM 640 On Demand: Bill Handel, Leo Laporte, Neil Savaadra, and Wayne Resnick
Chivalry Today: Scott Farrell (Sir Guillaume)
The Lions Road: A Weekly SCA podcast
Administratia
eMail me
Journal Home
Subscribe to this Journal
Add my RSS feed to your RSS Reader
Now For Your Regularly Scheduled Journal
First, a little bit of internet amusement (read: video links):
http://www.maniacworld.com/squirrel-obstacle-course.html - Yes, a squirrel running an obstacle course.
http://www.bagbybeowulf.com/video/index.html - A very moving example clip of a guy who performs Beowulf, complete with a reconstruction lyre or harp from Anglo-Saxon archeological evidence
* * * * *
Now For Your Regularly Scheduled Journal
First Some Numbers - I was curious today to look at how often I wrote in my journal over the past three years.
2005: Apr (3), May (31), Jun (7), Jul (32), Aug (31), Sep (27), Oct (17), Nov (17), Dec (5)
2006: Jan (2), Feb (6), Mar (10), Apr (10), May (3), Jun (11), Jul (6), Aug (9), Sep (1), Oct (4), Nov (5), Dec (1)
2007: Jan (5), Feb (7), Mar (3), Apr (5), May (2), Jun (0), Jul (1), Aug (11), Sep (11), Oct (10), Nov (4)
I averaged almost 19 posts per month in 2005, just more than 5.5 posts per month in 2006, and not quite 5.5 posts per month in 2007 so far.
Gee, I've been neglecting my story-telling!
* * * * *
The Adventures of the Week -
My Music Research Progress - I last left off having had Apprentice Night dinner w/ the boys (fellow apprentices) and the girls (the peers). I had looked at my music-research project and decided I should be picking a song every two days, with the intent that after 2 weeks I'd have 7 solid pieces to choose from, and I could whittle it down to the 3 I plan to use. Having done nothing on my music research this week, everything hinges on picking these pieces this week. Hop to! Don't be lazy! Get on it!
Work Things - I had several lunches last week, out with Patrick (Pierre) and Mark (Philip). It turns out that Pierre works on the floor below me, in my building. I have only one more week (and 2 days) left in this job, and I havd to admit there's some minor panic setting in. I did get paid for eight-days-work on Friday's check, and I'll have a 10-days-of-work plus another 2-days-of-work check in the next several weeks, so I'm not completely broke. I'm just completely ready to have a full-time permanent job, dang-nab-it-all.
Fighter Practice night - On Wednesday, I got to have dinner with Bruce and Nate at my favorite Persian restaurant near LAX. From there we went over to our baronial fighter practice, where I enjoy another casual round of "More String, Better" with Amya. I've been spinning lately with my "drawer-pull spindle" that Lynn made for me, and the new jewel-tone merino and silk blend that Ellen gave to me. I'm intending to use the finished material as a double-ply, lace-weight yarn to learn to knit a lace pattern into a scarf for myself. I've never knit any lace, but I've been playing with learning to knit recently. And after seeing all the knitted goodness people can create, I'm really ready to play with it myself.
I love having portable, no-brain-needed projects in my car or in my bags, for those times when string projects are for filling my fingers while I'm socializing and enjoying some down-time from thinking. And it's been colder lately, so a scarf sounds scrumptious.
Heavy Multi-Tasking - Thursday Gary came over for assistance with a painted-fabric project, and Jon Thomme came over to help me finish the baronial newsletter. It was truly a test of my multi-tasking skills: To help Gary get the waste fabric sewn to the linen; mix the egg wash to treat the linen; sew the waste fabric to the folding chairs so Gary could paint the wash and then use a hair-dryer to dry the whole pice; set up a work area for him to paint his student's scarf; finish typing the Baronial council meeting minutes on the computer so Jon Thomme could proofread them; set up the kitchen so Gary could treat the finished piece with vinegar (to set the color) and rinse everything with some warm water and soap, then dry the piece again; work with Jon Thomme to get all the Kingdom and Baronial events on to the website and newsletter calendars; help Gary cut all the pieces of the scarf apart; sew the scarf together and flip it right-side out, iron it, and hand-stitch the end; send Gary home; finish the calendars with Jon Thomme, and send him home. Then I worked on finishing more of the newsletter until late, then sent myself to bed.
Organizational Things - On Friday, I finally got all my Google Calendars all updated. Now I'm strongly contemplating putting away my old system of using a "compact planner" (Day-Runner, Franklin Covey, etc.) and moving to an 8.5x11" three-ring binder. Google Calendars have Printouts that show my various calendars in different colors. There's nothing that makes me happier like color-coding! And having everything synched online, in color, accessible by my cell phone browser, *AND* printed in color makes me REALLY happy.
Then at home, I finished the rest of the newsletter until 2:30 am or so, when I realized that the final proof-reading while tired was an inefficient technique, and sent myself to bed.
Newsletter Done - Saturday I got up refreshed, finished proof-reading, and had the newsletter published on line by 10 am on December 1st. I'm aiming that all of 2008, I want the newsletter published 1-2 days *before* the first of every month, but I'm pleased that for 2007, all but one of my newsletters went out *on* the 1st of the month. [Last month's was one day late, but ah well.]
Baronial Yule - Once the newsletter was done, I drove 20-minutes east and picked up Nate from where Ellen was at a dance class (since where they live is about 45-50 minutes north of me, this split the difference). Nate hung out at my apartment with me while I got everything ready for going to the Baronial Yule party, and then we went shopping. We picked up some challah (braided egg bread) and some lunch groceries (cheese, fresh fruit, and lox) and packed it all together with the cookies I bought in the morning, and headed off to the event.
SCA Yule parties are primarily Christmas parties, with some other traditions thrown into the mix. Religion itself is mostly avoided in the SCA, although in winter it's hard to avoid the desire to give one another gifts. I'd missed an opportunity to sing my song from two years ago at Yule, but that song should give you a better sense of the blended holiday concepts that I think of, when I think of celebrating Yule in the SCA.
But this year, I decided I really wanted to do some cute Chanukah decorations on my table at the party, mostly because lots of my local friends were away at KWAR. So I had a wonderful time sharing lunch with over a half-dozen friends. We shared challah and cream cheese and lox, carrots, apples, chocolate, and grapes to tide us over until the dinner feast. Some of the Inn of the Crimson Spade folks set up in a side room, to host gaming and snacks. I wandered around selling Kingdom Calendars and taking photos. Strangely enough, no one entered the bardic competition this year, but a wonderful solution was decided. Since the gentleman who was the Bard of our barony involved his household all year and they also sang and entertained us, the Baron asked the Bard to select his successor from their household. Our new bard is his lovely wife, and she'll do beautifully in the role. I'm going to work with both of them to create some published collections of works from the Bards and the people of our Barony, hopefully in time for our Arts and Archery event in February. I really look forward to seeing even more musical and bardic development and celebration in our barony over the next year.
During the feast, I had a fantastic time chatting with my friends Todde and Mora, as we contemplated religion and family, community, philosophy, history and tradition, and personal application of inspirational philosophy. I love my friends!
The only downer was that we had to clear the hall an hour earlier than we thought we would, and the feast ran long enough that the dancing and music had to be cancelled. Fortunately, Damien and Finella had joined me at my table while waiting for the feast to conclude, so even though they came out just for the music and dancing, I still got to visit with them for a good hour and a half or so, before we all packed up and left.
Post Event - Five of us were hoping to go bowling (something we attempted after SCA events in the past), but the line was out the door, and we ended up at an apartment, hanging out and playing a game together. Tristan had to go home after a while, but neither Nate or I had anywhere pressing to be. So we played two games late with Ben and Erika, then they gave us blankets and pillows to crash out in the living room for the night.
Dinner Parties - Sunday morning Erika, being the amazing hostess and Cook of the Inn that she is, whipped up French toast and coffee for all four of us, then I drove Nate home and headed back to my place. I had a lovely, restful, and lazy morning at the house, then picked up Kim (Amya) for a dinner party and textiles shin-dig over at Nathan's. Nathan has a reputation as a really good cook, and we discovered on Wednesday that Kim had never had a Nathan-dinner. So I have to give kudo's to Nathan for allowing me to continue organzing and throwing dinner parties at his house (giggle), which then his roommate Nate always takes further by inviting all the other friends who love to come over for Nathan dinners.
This one turned out to be Kim and me, Ellen, Nate, Nathan, Erika, Cynthia, and Catherine. I brought my camera with me this time, since we never have photos of Nathan's dinner parties, and I'll definitely share pictures with you more later. The boys (Nathan and Nate) got to entertain six lovely ladies, and we ladies got to have a lavish meal presented by two amazing men. I love my friends!
Kim and I got completely trounsed by Nate at a game of Risk (a Lord of the Rings version), and we plan to set him up for a re-match sometime very soon. Ellen and Kim and I got to have a wonderful afternoon of "More String, Better" together, although it was difficult to keep one of the kitties from batting at Ellen's spinning. I definitely need to consider trying my hand at supported-spindle spinning next, and am really thankful to have another textiles peer to inspire me further at my own textiles work.
Finally, everyone headed out and I drove Kim back home (she lives near me), and stumbled in late to my apartment, to find my roomie was finally back from KWAR. The house definitely could use some clean-up, and I really have to land a full-time job in the next week or so, then it's lots of music research and study for me for the next whole month.
Apprenticeship Thoughts - I've been trying to explain what "Apprenticeship" means to me, to some non-SCA people lately. The best description I can come up with is that I've gone into a self-study Graduate program, with a Doctoral sponsor. Tonwen (Rae) is my Faculty Advisor as I pursue my Grad work and my Doctoral thesis, so right now I'm just getting started in my grad studies. I'm fairly certain this grad work of mine will be centered around Spinning and Textiles History as one emphasis and Music Composition and Music History for the other emphasis, but just like any grad student, you always might find yourself somewhere else completely at the end of your Doctorate. So, time to hit the books and get on my grad work!
* * * * *
More Photo Albums Loaded - And the albums I completed last week included:
http://www.cayswann.com/v/Friends/2006/adjin/
A cloak for Philip, made by Adrienne
http://www.cayswann.com/v/Friends/2006/Hogwarts06/
Hogwarts Party in 2006
I was going to wait to announce the Hogwarts 2006 photos until after I completed the Hogwarts 2007 album, but after looking at how infrequently I post nowadays, I thought I'd show what's done so far.
* * * * *
Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Kim - I'm so glad you live nearby!
http://www.maniacworld.com/squirrel-obstacle-course.html - Yes, a squirrel running an obstacle course.
http://www.bagbybeowulf.com/video/index.html - A very moving example clip of a guy who performs Beowulf, complete with a reconstruction lyre or harp from Anglo-Saxon archeological evidence
* * * * *
Now For Your Regularly Scheduled Journal
First Some Numbers - I was curious today to look at how often I wrote in my journal over the past three years.
2005: Apr (3), May (31), Jun (7), Jul (32), Aug (31), Sep (27), Oct (17), Nov (17), Dec (5)
2006: Jan (2), Feb (6), Mar (10), Apr (10), May (3), Jun (11), Jul (6), Aug (9), Sep (1), Oct (4), Nov (5), Dec (1)
2007: Jan (5), Feb (7), Mar (3), Apr (5), May (2), Jun (0), Jul (1), Aug (11), Sep (11), Oct (10), Nov (4)
I averaged almost 19 posts per month in 2005, just more than 5.5 posts per month in 2006, and not quite 5.5 posts per month in 2007 so far.
Gee, I've been neglecting my story-telling!
* * * * *
The Adventures of the Week -
My Music Research Progress - I last left off having had Apprentice Night dinner w/ the boys (fellow apprentices) and the girls (the peers). I had looked at my music-research project and decided I should be picking a song every two days, with the intent that after 2 weeks I'd have 7 solid pieces to choose from, and I could whittle it down to the 3 I plan to use. Having done nothing on my music research this week, everything hinges on picking these pieces this week. Hop to! Don't be lazy! Get on it!
Work Things - I had several lunches last week, out with Patrick (Pierre) and Mark (Philip). It turns out that Pierre works on the floor below me, in my building. I have only one more week (and 2 days) left in this job, and I havd to admit there's some minor panic setting in. I did get paid for eight-days-work on Friday's check, and I'll have a 10-days-of-work plus another 2-days-of-work check in the next several weeks, so I'm not completely broke. I'm just completely ready to have a full-time permanent job, dang-nab-it-all.
Fighter Practice night - On Wednesday, I got to have dinner with Bruce and Nate at my favorite Persian restaurant near LAX. From there we went over to our baronial fighter practice, where I enjoy another casual round of "More String, Better" with Amya. I've been spinning lately with my "drawer-pull spindle" that Lynn made for me, and the new jewel-tone merino and silk blend that Ellen gave to me. I'm intending to use the finished material as a double-ply, lace-weight yarn to learn to knit a lace pattern into a scarf for myself. I've never knit any lace, but I've been playing with learning to knit recently. And after seeing all the knitted goodness people can create, I'm really ready to play with it myself.
I love having portable, no-brain-needed projects in my car or in my bags, for those times when string projects are for filling my fingers while I'm socializing and enjoying some down-time from thinking. And it's been colder lately, so a scarf sounds scrumptious.
Heavy Multi-Tasking - Thursday Gary came over for assistance with a painted-fabric project, and Jon Thomme came over to help me finish the baronial newsletter. It was truly a test of my multi-tasking skills: To help Gary get the waste fabric sewn to the linen; mix the egg wash to treat the linen; sew the waste fabric to the folding chairs so Gary could paint the wash and then use a hair-dryer to dry the whole pice; set up a work area for him to paint his student's scarf; finish typing the Baronial council meeting minutes on the computer so Jon Thomme could proofread them; set up the kitchen so Gary could treat the finished piece with vinegar (to set the color) and rinse everything with some warm water and soap, then dry the piece again; work with Jon Thomme to get all the Kingdom and Baronial events on to the website and newsletter calendars; help Gary cut all the pieces of the scarf apart; sew the scarf together and flip it right-side out, iron it, and hand-stitch the end; send Gary home; finish the calendars with Jon Thomme, and send him home. Then I worked on finishing more of the newsletter until late, then sent myself to bed.
Organizational Things - On Friday, I finally got all my Google Calendars all updated. Now I'm strongly contemplating putting away my old system of using a "compact planner" (Day-Runner, Franklin Covey, etc.) and moving to an 8.5x11" three-ring binder. Google Calendars have Printouts that show my various calendars in different colors. There's nothing that makes me happier like color-coding! And having everything synched online, in color, accessible by my cell phone browser, *AND* printed in color makes me REALLY happy.
Then at home, I finished the rest of the newsletter until 2:30 am or so, when I realized that the final proof-reading while tired was an inefficient technique, and sent myself to bed.
Newsletter Done - Saturday I got up refreshed, finished proof-reading, and had the newsletter published on line by 10 am on December 1st. I'm aiming that all of 2008, I want the newsletter published 1-2 days *before* the first of every month, but I'm pleased that for 2007, all but one of my newsletters went out *on* the 1st of the month. [Last month's was one day late, but ah well.]
Baronial Yule - Once the newsletter was done, I drove 20-minutes east and picked up Nate from where Ellen was at a dance class (since where they live is about 45-50 minutes north of me, this split the difference). Nate hung out at my apartment with me while I got everything ready for going to the Baronial Yule party, and then we went shopping. We picked up some challah (braided egg bread) and some lunch groceries (cheese, fresh fruit, and lox) and packed it all together with the cookies I bought in the morning, and headed off to the event.
SCA Yule parties are primarily Christmas parties, with some other traditions thrown into the mix. Religion itself is mostly avoided in the SCA, although in winter it's hard to avoid the desire to give one another gifts. I'd missed an opportunity to sing my song from two years ago at Yule, but that song should give you a better sense of the blended holiday concepts that I think of, when I think of celebrating Yule in the SCA.
But this year, I decided I really wanted to do some cute Chanukah decorations on my table at the party, mostly because lots of my local friends were away at KWAR. So I had a wonderful time sharing lunch with over a half-dozen friends. We shared challah and cream cheese and lox, carrots, apples, chocolate, and grapes to tide us over until the dinner feast. Some of the Inn of the Crimson Spade folks set up in a side room, to host gaming and snacks. I wandered around selling Kingdom Calendars and taking photos. Strangely enough, no one entered the bardic competition this year, but a wonderful solution was decided. Since the gentleman who was the Bard of our barony involved his household all year and they also sang and entertained us, the Baron asked the Bard to select his successor from their household. Our new bard is his lovely wife, and she'll do beautifully in the role. I'm going to work with both of them to create some published collections of works from the Bards and the people of our Barony, hopefully in time for our Arts and Archery event in February. I really look forward to seeing even more musical and bardic development and celebration in our barony over the next year.
During the feast, I had a fantastic time chatting with my friends Todde and Mora, as we contemplated religion and family, community, philosophy, history and tradition, and personal application of inspirational philosophy. I love my friends!
The only downer was that we had to clear the hall an hour earlier than we thought we would, and the feast ran long enough that the dancing and music had to be cancelled. Fortunately, Damien and Finella had joined me at my table while waiting for the feast to conclude, so even though they came out just for the music and dancing, I still got to visit with them for a good hour and a half or so, before we all packed up and left.
Post Event - Five of us were hoping to go bowling (something we attempted after SCA events in the past), but the line was out the door, and we ended up at an apartment, hanging out and playing a game together. Tristan had to go home after a while, but neither Nate or I had anywhere pressing to be. So we played two games late with Ben and Erika, then they gave us blankets and pillows to crash out in the living room for the night.
Dinner Parties - Sunday morning Erika, being the amazing hostess and Cook of the Inn that she is, whipped up French toast and coffee for all four of us, then I drove Nate home and headed back to my place. I had a lovely, restful, and lazy morning at the house, then picked up Kim (Amya) for a dinner party and textiles shin-dig over at Nathan's. Nathan has a reputation as a really good cook, and we discovered on Wednesday that Kim had never had a Nathan-dinner. So I have to give kudo's to Nathan for allowing me to continue organzing and throwing dinner parties at his house (giggle), which then his roommate Nate always takes further by inviting all the other friends who love to come over for Nathan dinners.
This one turned out to be Kim and me, Ellen, Nate, Nathan, Erika, Cynthia, and Catherine. I brought my camera with me this time, since we never have photos of Nathan's dinner parties, and I'll definitely share pictures with you more later. The boys (Nathan and Nate) got to entertain six lovely ladies, and we ladies got to have a lavish meal presented by two amazing men. I love my friends!
Kim and I got completely trounsed by Nate at a game of Risk (a Lord of the Rings version), and we plan to set him up for a re-match sometime very soon. Ellen and Kim and I got to have a wonderful afternoon of "More String, Better" together, although it was difficult to keep one of the kitties from batting at Ellen's spinning. I definitely need to consider trying my hand at supported-spindle spinning next, and am really thankful to have another textiles peer to inspire me further at my own textiles work.
Finally, everyone headed out and I drove Kim back home (she lives near me), and stumbled in late to my apartment, to find my roomie was finally back from KWAR. The house definitely could use some clean-up, and I really have to land a full-time job in the next week or so, then it's lots of music research and study for me for the next whole month.
Apprenticeship Thoughts - I've been trying to explain what "Apprenticeship" means to me, to some non-SCA people lately. The best description I can come up with is that I've gone into a self-study Graduate program, with a Doctoral sponsor. Tonwen (Rae) is my Faculty Advisor as I pursue my Grad work and my Doctoral thesis, so right now I'm just getting started in my grad studies. I'm fairly certain this grad work of mine will be centered around Spinning and Textiles History as one emphasis and Music Composition and Music History for the other emphasis, but just like any grad student, you always might find yourself somewhere else completely at the end of your Doctorate. So, time to hit the books and get on my grad work!
* * * * *
More Photo Albums Loaded - And the albums I completed last week included:
http://www.cayswann.com/v/Friends/2006/adjin/
A cloak for Philip, made by Adrienne
http://www.cayswann.com/v/Friends/2006/Hogwarts06/
Hogwarts Party in 2006
I was going to wait to announce the Hogwarts 2006 photos until after I completed the Hogwarts 2007 album, but after looking at how infrequently I post nowadays, I thought I'd show what's done so far.
* * * * *
Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Kim - I'm so glad you live nearby!
Read/Post Comments (2)
Previous Entry :: Next Entry
Back to Top
