St. Nicholas Day package!

Many thanks to my friend Franklin for the St. Nicholas Day package from Germany! It arrived late because Canada Customs held it for inspection. The box also contained St. Nick packages for Allison and Jodi; I'm seeing them on Monday evening, so I'll pass their St. Nick's gifts to them then.



This year, I'm make a concerted effort to take some solid time off around Christmas time. As a freelancer, I've found that although my time is more flexible than those with office jobs, in a way it's more difficult to take time off. Why? Because anytime I'm not working (or any paying assignment I turn down), I can't help but think that I'm NOT earning money, and then I feel guilty and can't enjoy myself. Another factor is that I love my work, so it's too easy to justify why I do so much.

What I need to remind myself: I -need- that downtime to refuel. So I'm taking some time off to spend time with friends and family but also to take some days off to do nothing but nap, read and have long soaks in the tub (preferably with a dog-eared and well-loved paperback).



It's easy to get sucked into the stress and panic of Christmas prep, but this year I'm trying hard to avoid that. I'm likely not going to have time to mail out many Christmas cards this year, but that's ok. Instead of trying to wrap all the gifts at the last minute, I'm doing a few at a time so I can actually enjoy the process, with Christmas music playing in the background; my current favourite is David Francey's Carols For A Christmas Eve.

And whenever I find myself getting too cynical or stressed about the holiday season, I take a deep, slow breath (believe it or not, it helps). And then focus, just for a moment or two, on some of the many things in my life for which I am deeply grateful.

A related Blatherings post (esp. for those who, like me, sometimes tend to get cynical and/or impatient about the holiday season): Scrooge Moments.

Speaking of people for whom I'm grateful...



Above: My Uncle John. I took this photo at a Christmas party at my cousins' place recently. At the same party LAST year, my uncle had a heart attack and my cousin saved his life with CPR. He ended up having a quadruple bypass heart operation.This is the same Uncle John who came out to Relay For Life earlier in the year.

This year when I greeted him at the party, he promised me he planned to stick around this time. And he did. :-)




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Meeting Ryan Couldrey

Most of the people I work with live in other countries and often other timezones. It was the same with Inkspot. Even when my contacts work locally (i.e. in Toronto), our interaction tends to be online only. Even though I very much appreciate the convenience of e-mail, it's always great to be able to meet some of these people in person.

Last night I finally met Ryan Couldrey. Ryan interviewed me for blogTO at the beginning of this year and partly as a result of that, I'm now writing for the site. :-) Anyway, Ryan's just as cool in person as he is in e-mail, and I encourage you to check out some of his online projects, like:

Shuriken Diaries: his new webcomic (he does the writing). I like this more and more with each strip.



Photendo: his photo blog. You can also check out his photos and comics on his Flickr page, including his Larger Than Life set (hey, I might be involved in a photo shoot for this set!).

I also picked Ryan's brain about photography, including tips on how to photograph my paintings with the limited lighting equipment I currently have.

Speaking of talented friends...

I was doing some fact-checking with Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff for a GAfilk program book bio, and discovered that their current CD (scheduled for release next year, possibly in the spring) has a pretty impressive list of guest musicians! Tentatively titled "Moëbius Street," the album's guest musicians include:

Tony Levin (who has recorded with Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, among others) on bass
Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel) on drums
Victor Gonzales (Santana) on bass
Scott Irwin (Avalon Rising) on drums.

If you're not familiar with the Bohnhoffs, you should go over to CDbaby and listen to samples from some of their CDS.

Aliens Ate My Homework, for example, has soundclips from their parodies.

Retro Rocket Science: Another great parody album.

Manhattan Sleeps (my favourite Bohnhoff CD) is a compilation of their original songs.



Woohoo! I can't wait. Maya and Jeff are the guests of honor at GAfilk, by the way! And I just noticed from a site announcement that the Super Secret Guest for the January convention is Peter Beagle, acclaimed author of fantasy fiction such as The Last Unicorn, A Fine and Private Place, The Folk of the Air, The Innkeeper's Song, A Dance for Emilia, and Tamsin.

Other GAfilk guests: Toastmaster - Brian Richardson, Interfilk Guests - Brobdingnagian Bards. GAfilk is the Georgia Filk Convention and takes place in Atlanta, GA on Jan. 11-13, 2008. You can find out more info at the GAfilk Web site.

Looks like I'm not going to the SCBWI conference in NYC, by the way. I'm saving up my money for the August conference in L.A. instead. My filk conventions this year: GAfilk and FilKONtario. Possibly OVFF, but that will depend on finances.

Thanks for all the tree advice!






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Looking for voice-over talent?

I've always been in awe of my multi-talented friend and music partner, Jodi Krangle. So many people complain about their work but don't do anything about it. Unhappy in her old job when I first met her many years ago, Jodi has worked very hard to learn the skills she needed to get to where she is today.

In addition to being the creator and maintainer of the fabulous songwriting resource, The Muse's Muse and being an expert at Internet promotion, Jodi is also a wonderful singer and songwriter with a bunch of Pegasus Awards and Award nominations including a Best Song award for The Lady.

Anyway, Jodi is now doing voice-over work. If you (or anyone you know) are looking for voice talent for commercials, story readings/author promotion, documentaries, podcasts, training videos, station ids, telephone answering systems, cartoons, jingles, etc., you should check out her voice-over info and demo page.

After talking to Jodi about her voice-over work, I've grown a lot more conscious of the voice talents I hear in commercials and other venues. I'm especially picky about voices when I'm listening to an audiobook; the wrong type of voice can really interfere with my enjoyment of the story. I also find that if a voice is TOO recognizable, it can also interfere. As much as I adore Patrick Stewart's voice, whenever I hear him narrating a documentary I can't help but immediately think, "Hey! What's Captain Picard doing here?"

So I'm curious about the rest of you: how conscious are YOU of voice-over talent? And who are your favourite voices?

Anyway, visit Jodi's new voice-over talent page to hear her demos, and please do spread the word to anyone you think might be hiring voice talent.

I'm heading off to Calgary to visit my friend Cathy this week, so will be mostly offline until next Monday. Outside of family, Cathy's known me longer than any of my other friends. She moved out to Calgary a while back, and I've missed her a great deal. I've been out to visit her once before (see photo below); this time, we're planning to do more hiking in the mountains.

Have a great week, everyone!

Links O' The Day

Flaming squirrel ignites car in Bayonne: thanks to Joey Shoji for the link.

Top Lakeland restaurant serves up Peking duck-style squirrel pancakes: thanks to Dave Weingart for the link. His subject header read "Soylent Green is Squirrel!" :-D






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Virtual birthday party!

Happy birthday to my friend Allison today! You're welcome to join the virtual birthday party, which is in full celebratory progress. Just a few of the current events:

antonia_tiger's cabaret! She is also providing some background music re: another video and says "as actors doing music videos go, who cares if he's really playing the guitar?"



gnomedude brought a troop of gnomes! The gnomes are doing Allison's laundry and marking her math tests as well as renovating Jodi's basement.

khaosworks brought a Cyberman voice changer helmet for Jodi, negatives for this batch of photos for Allison, and for John: "A remote control for Debbie. Sadly, the mute buttons don't work"...I did read that, Terence! :-D John likes the remote control and asks if it will work for a wife, too.



thatcrazycajun brought 10 lbs. of calorie-free Toblerone and a 1 lb. bag of Godiva coffee for Jodi, a Lego Mindstorms kit for John and a Roomba vacuum robot for Allison.

steviebomb brought a lovely ascii cake.



Eva Van Daele-Hunt writes: "Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag!
Happy Birthday to all three of you! For your entertainment, I would like to force everybody present to join in a traditional German birthday song - it is a round:
Viel Glück und viel Segen
auf all Deinen Wegen
Gesundheit und Frohsinn
sei auch mit dabei.
Everybody now: One - two - three: . . ."



damedini brought (for all) a BIG bottle of fabulous champagne, a cake made by the Robuchons in Paris (Valhrona chocolate, natch!), a selection of French cheeses chosen by an expert (with baguette and crackers) and fresh fruit. "Jodi gets a private chocolatessen as an addition on her house. And a chocolate version of a spa mud bath. John I don't actually know: he gets a classic Wurlitzer jukebox loaded with all his favorite tunes. Lights and chrome, of course. Allison I send off to a fabulous spa for a weekend of total relaxation, from which she will be driven in a classic Rolls Royce (Silver Cloud maybe?) to a marvellous restaurant where all her friends, family and the best dinner of her life await."

catalana brings hugs, songs and cake. "I even promise that, in honor of the birthdays, I will play exclusively songs where no one dies...which may make it a *short* concert, but it's the thought that counts, right? *grin*"



blueeyedtigress is pouring drinks for everyone, including a chocolate martini for Jodi and a large goblet of strawberry wine for Allison.

To move the party along, birthday boy unkbar brought a a cooler full of bottles of Woodchuck cider, and of Guinness.



unclechristo brought happy birthdays and "Andromedan knee hugs all round. (elbows, of course for John)" Also some pretty spacey videos. :-D

zencuppa brought two one-hour massages, two transporters, plum wine, and "your favorite chocolate in noncaloric form."



mvt brought a treehouse to read in for Allison, a spell for Jodi "so she can game and filk on the same day," and a Hoka for John.



kinder1of5 brought a cake and masses of chocolate, plus a big bottle of black Batida from her and Michael, and also sang a birthday song:

"Heute mag es stürmen, regnen oder schnein,
denn du strahlst ja selber wie der Sonnenschein,
heut ist dein Geburtstag, darum feiern wir,
alle deine Freunde freuen sich mit dir,
alle deine Freunde freuen sich mit dir

WIE SCHÖN; DASS DU GEBOREN BIST;
WIR HÄTEN DICH SONST SEHR VERMISST
WIE SCHÖN; DASS WIR BEISAMMEN SIND
WIR GRATULIEREN DEM GEBURTSTAGSKIND!!! "

lord_korak snuck into the party at 5 am to drop off some Innis & Gunn for later but promised to be back later with "appropriate virtual gifts."



crystalfall brought birthday greetings and said re: Filkcontinental (filk convention in Germany) this past weekend:

"You [two] and Debbie were sorely missed!!!!! Although we had a really good time with Dandelion Wine and Heather Dale - at least they are Canadian, too ... ;)
Dandelion Wine actually sang Jodi's "Lady" - and once more moved us to tears with this stunning song. And Nemsi and Anke did "I love the Morning" together - it was Nemsi' first spot, and he was so wonderful as a morning-hater!!! And as an encore Dandelion Wine did the Hockey Monkey song, and you should have heard the whole audience shouting this song while doing the hand jive.... Maybe if you listen very hard, you can still hear the echo across the ocean..."



little_cinnamon brought "a new 5-part arrangement for us to sing, and lots of chocolate for all!"

traveller42 brought many happy returns and Guinness.



The party ends TOMORROW, so there's still time for you to join in. :-)



And congrats to Margaret Davis and Kristoph Klover on being invited as next year's guests at next year's Filkcontinental in Germany!

I was delighted to be able to hear/meet Kristoph and Margaret at Consonance earlier this year. Both are super-nice and incredibly talented musicians. I also worked with Kristoph by e-mail while I was recording a flute part for Seanan McGuire's Stars Fall Home CD. I remember thinking that he was a quiet, serious type. When I met him in person, however, I found out I was WAY wrong.

:-D



You can find about more about Margaret and Kristoph, plus hear samples, at their Web site.

Birthdays, music and squirrels

Photo by John Hall.

Happy birthday to Jodi! And also to John Hall! John has pics from Urban Tapestry's visit to Rochester up on his Web site, for those interested.

The shots above and below are from our house concert at John's place in Rochester.


Photo by John Hall.

Those who know Jodi, John or Allison (Allison's birthday is this Wednesday) are welcome to participate in a virtual birthday party that I'm current hosting in my Livejournal. I love the Internet. Where else can you have birthday party guests arriving from Germany, Singapore, England, the U.S. and Canada?



I have a new blogTO post about my CIBC Run For The Cure experience.


Photo by John Hall.

This photo below was taken in the Strong National Museum of Play, at an exhibit with a sign that said something like "What would YOU eat?"


Photo by John Hall.

Speaking of squirrels, a *@#&$ squirrel has managed to dig up my rosemary plant. I could be benevolent and say that the squirrel was reminding me to take in my rosemary before frost, but I suspect its motives were far less kind.

Grrr....



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