Session sketches

I went to an Irish music session at the Tranzac last night. It was the first I've attended since before last summer. When the session started again last fall, Urban Tapestry prep for our Atlanta concert took up too much of my time to keep up whistle practice as well, plus I was wary of aggravating my tendinitis.

Last night I opted to just listen, to see what tunes the group was playing these days, but mostly because I missed hearing the live music. It seems like ages since I ventured into my first session, not knowing anyone. I'm still far from competent; learning new tunes and keeping them memorized takes time, and I already have so much going on in my life. But I love the music; you may not know it to look at me, but there must be a bit of Irish in my blood somewhere.

:-)



As I listened, I also did a few quick sketches. It's a challenge, since people are always moving. It's good practice, especially when I'm drawing someone from a perspective that's somewhat unusual (especially the fiddlers!). I decided to use pen instead of pencil so I wouldn't be wussy in my drawing (y'know...draw a bit, erase a bit, draw a bit, erase a bit, etc.), not to be afraid to make mistakes.

Most of my sketches turned out horribly, but I've posted a few here that I didn't mind so much. I might take one or two and work them up in Corel Painter in the next while.


Anyway, it was good to be back. I'm going to try to attend these regularly from now on, even if I don't always play. Last night, there were mostly fiddles at first, with a couple of Irish flutes, a guitar, an accordion, and a concertina. Some occasionally pulled out a whistle and played that instead.

The slow session (which is meant for beginners or those who want practice playing tunes slower than normal) went from 7 pm through to 8:30 pm, at which point the intermediate and advanced playing began and the music picked up, toes started tapping.

If you'd like to find out more about the Tranzac sessions, please do check the Web site, maintained by yours truly.

Eva and Crystal have posted their report from GAfilk!

Below: Part of a story that my sister wrote and illustrated for the Jan/Feb issue of Chirp magazine.





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Will Write For Chocolate, LJ icons, and a fitness follow-up

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated. In addition to the strip, the blog has also been updated. Topic: "Miss Snark, bookmarks and revision." I'm sending out a free Will Write For Chocolate bookmark to everyone who posted a writer's resolution for the New Year in an earlier WWFC blog entry.

I've been gradually working my way through the list of people who signed up for for free LJ user icons from three years ago. Feel free to add your name to the end of the list if you'd like one and haven't had one drawn for you yet, but be warned there's no guarantee when or IF I'll ever get to your icon. I'm doing this for FREE, eh? See the linked LJ post at the beginning of this paragraph for rules and other disclaimers.

Here are a few I've drawn recently:





Thanks for all the fitness resource advice! I strongly agree with those of you who said they found that aiming for weight loss wasn't nearly as a good motivation as fitness and health reasons.




As a result of your posts, I've joined the Healthy Fen Livejournal Community (thanks for the link, mdlbear, and to Mew for starting it!) and The President's Challenge (thanks, jwordsmith). I especially like the latter because it's very straightforward...log the type, length and intensity of the physical activity, and you see your "points" accumulate.

From jwordsmith:

"You can start of with really low expectations (do something active five days a week) like me, or you can log more strenuous activities. They assign a points value to each activity and you can challenge yourself to better your last week's number, or to reach assigned levels to win 'awards'. It's making me realise that I am NOT as active as I thought I was. And, since I like filling in the little stars, I'm more likely to pop out for a walk, or onto the treadmill, or heck, dance with the kids for 15 minutes here and there, just to rack up some more activity points! There are some odd categories of activity listed (and missing) and it may be possible to add them, but I haven't found that out yet. My motivation? For the first time it's not about losing weight. I'm 34 and had my cholesterol checked. It was on the high side of normal and I reckoned now was the time to do something about it. Exercising for the good of my heart (and the people it holds) is MUCH easier to do than exercising to try to lose a small lump of lard from my hips."

Mdlbear also showed me the Gmaps Pedometer, which looks like a very cool tool for figuring out how far my regular walking/running routes are. I tend to be a pedometer destroyer so have given up trying to use one.

In addition, I'm also making more of an effort to take the stairs instead of escalators and elevators. I've been to the gym twice this week and am more diligent about doing my stretches and crunches every day (hey, I can log the time on The President's Challenge!).

Links O' The Day

Stikkit: virtual Post-It notes. (Thanks to Jeff for the link!)

Australian man puts his life for sale on eBay: !!





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Squirrels, exercise, cartoons and books

Here's another poem by Dave Alway, written in response to one of my Blatherings last year when the squirrels absconded with my heart-shaped birdfeeder:

A Quatrain for a Frustrated Squirrel Hater He was athletic, dark and artful, That horrid, long-tailed Sciuridae, He feasted on my lovers' symbol — And then stole my hanging heart away! — Dave Alway, 16-February-2006

After an indulgent holiday season and much good German chocolate (thanks to Franklin, Eva, Crystal and Rafael!), I've decided to get back to regular exercise. Went to the gym late yesterday afternoon...the hardest part is getting there; I always feel great afterward. So I'm opting for a new strategy: get my gym stuff ready in the morning, so I have no excuse later in the day. I prefer exercising outdoors over the treadmill, but it becomes more of a challenge with sidewalks made uneven with slush and ice.

I find that I tend to be more motivated to stick to a regular schedule when I monitor my progress. Does anyone out there know of a good (and preferably FREE) online fitness-oriented site where users can log their workouts and chart progress? Or how do YOU motivate yourself, in terms of regular exercise?



Above (my Daily Doodle): I drew this in Corel Painter with the Artists Oils & Blender brushes (girl) and Chalk brush (shadow). I purposely made the head a little misshapen; I thought it added to the slightly skewed (in a "wait a second, that's not right") atmosphere.

Some of you may have noticed that I removed my old search function (a Google search) from Blatherings; it turns out it wasn't picking up terms that were linked. Which brings me to my next question for all you technogirls and technoboys out there...can you recommend a good site search tool that is relatively easy to install? Preferably one you've used yourself?

All suggestions appreciated!

RECENT READS:

	Secret of the Sirens by Julia Golding. I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book at first because I'm not a huge fan of talking animal books (or at least I wasn't, but I keep finding talking animal books I do enjoy) but the Big Bad Guy in this story was deliciously evil. Good book for younger readers, with lots of action and suspense. First in a series, and a first novel for the author...I look forward to seeing what else she writes. This book has been nominated for a Cilip Carnegie Medal (awarded by children's librarians in the UK for an outstanding book for children and young people).
	Farewell Summer by Ray Bradbury. This is the sequel to one of my favourite children's books of all time, Dandelion Summer. I was initially thrown by the different tone and style of this book, plus I found that it lacks some of the "feel good" vibe I so enjoyed in the first book; it seems to be told with more of an adult spin than a child's viewpoint. Still, for anyone who enjoys Bradbury's lyrical writing style, it's a good read; for me, it's like reading a fine book of poetry.
	**Revenge Of The Witch (The Last Apprentice)** by Joseph Delaney. Yikes. I had only read a few pages on the weekend, decided to read a few more last night. Except those few pages turned into "just a few more," and I ended up reading last night WAY longer than I had intended. I loved this book and was delighted to discover that it's only the first in a series. I'm already angsting about whether to wait for the softcover of the next book, or to spring for the hardback edition. Some excellent storytelling here, and I adore Patrick Arrasmith's eerie illustrations at the beginning of each chapter. NOT for late night reading when you're home alone with an overactive imagination...

Link O' The Day

Cupcakes Of Catan: "Cupcakes of Catan is a a totally edible, fully functioning, utterly playable, all vegan, mostly organic, completely cupcake version of the original boardgame, Settlers of Catan." (Thanks to Mary Ellen for the link!)

Cool Tools by Kevin Kelly. "Cool tools really work. A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. I am chiefly interested in stuff that is extraordinary, better than similar products, little-known, and reliably useful for an individual or small group."
(Thanks to Jeff for the link!)





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Books make me happy

Holy toledo, when I posted my survey about weird obsessions, I had no idea how many of you shared weird obsessions with me! Plus a bunch more obsessions, of course.

Your obsessions included luggage, guitars, computers, books, stationery, art supplies, office supplies, blank notebooks, posters and pennants, coins, books, board and card games, notecards, writing utensils, gnomes, tea pots, teacups, tea, beads, dragons, cats, other mythical creatures, transformers, slash, bookmarks, colourful socks, cross-stitch patterns, t-shirts, tote bags, Magic cards, stuffed animals, parenting, nicely designed software, railway stuff, family genealogy, old tools, Tom Swift, Filmation's animated Tarzan series, filk, nice paper, knives, crayons, stickers, wool, frisbees, theremins, Frances Drake, coffee cups, shower gels, Frank Lloyd Wright design, historical costume, filkstuff, and musical instruments, among others.

And books, of course, but I'm sorry, that doesn't count as a WEIRD obsession.

:-)

My first job after graduating from university was with Toronto-Dominion Bank; I was a programmer/analyst (I programmed in COBOL (!)). I remember going out with a co-worker who seemed interesting and fun until I brought up the topic of books on our first outing, and asked what kinds of books he liked.

His reply shocked me:

"I'm not really into books," he told me.

Our blossoming friendship quickly shriveled soon after that, and I admit it was my doing.

The idea of NOT enjoying reading is so foreign to me that I can't imagine having much in common with anyone who feels otherwise. I love books. I love the idea of them, the texture of the paper, the sound the pages make as they're turned. Libraries and bookstores make me happy.

SURVEY: What have you read OFFLINE (i.e. print publications, not online) in the past 24 hours?

My answer:

- Finished Secret of the Sirens by Julia Golding.

- Started The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch, by Joseph Delaney.

- Read parts of the January 8th issue of Publisher's Weekly.

- Browsed Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann.

Some more GAfilk follow-up:

Just in case some of you aren't aware, my friend Walter is posting GAfilk reports in his Livejournal.

Also, Crystal of Summer & Fall has a Livejournal; they are planning to post a GAfilk con report soon.



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Illustration Friday, lip balms, and obsessions

Today's quickie cartoon above is for Illustration Friday. This week's theme: "Superhero," and my cartoon is in honour of parents everywhere. To post a comment specifically about the cartoon in Flickr, please click on the image above.

I helped out at my sister's this past week while she was doing school presentations, and was (as always) amazed at the amount of stuff she has on her plate. In addition to having to meet her writing and illustrating work deadlines, she picks the girls up at school AND takes them to a zillion school activities before and after school AND does homework with them AND (at the same time, somehow) plans meals and does food shopping and cooks for the family and does housecleaning AND does fun stuff with them. And somewhere squeezed into this hectic schedule, she still manages to find time to work out/exercise, read, and get some quiet-time for herself. Then when Kaarel comes home after working all day, he still always summons the energy to help with household chores, clean up after dinner, help the girls do homework, etc.

*whew*

How do you parents do it? I feel incredibly lazy in comparison.



The other topic for this Blathering is one of my lifelong obsessions (other than chocolate, that is): LIP BALMS. Some women go ga-ga over shoes. My weakness is lip balms. The above photo shows my current faves. The Vanilla Spice was part of a Christmas gift from Jodi. The Savannah Bee Mint Julep was an impulse purchase at the Columbus airport just before coming home. The Acacia Blossom Lip Honey was a decadent purchase at a closing-out sale of a local toiletries shop. The Burt's Bees lip balm is the only one readily available in my neighbourhood.

SURVEY: What's YOUR weird obsession? Y'know, an item that makes most other people raise the eyebrows and wonder about your sanity?

Link O' The Day

Wohba: Fascinating and amazing stuff here, including videos. WARNING: potential time-sink! For example, check out these incredible sand sculptures! (Thanks to Jeff for the link.)





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