Sing and dance and shout

As usual, the photo is pointless. I just thought that the clouds looked neat.

Anyway, the title. For years, whenever I've heard Sousa's Washington Post March my brain has sung "I'd like to sing and dance and shout now". I don't know if it started out with a children's program (more likely) or my own weird brain, but that's what the song says.

I wish it said that to everyone.

I think it would be great if we could hear a song and just sing and dance and shout if we felt like it. Without weird looks, without recriminations... just sing and dance and shout.

Wouldn't that be good? Wouldn't that make life easier?

Ok, maybe not everyone lives in my musical world. But we're all too serious these days, and that makes most of us unhappy. So sing and dance and shout when you can. It makes things better.

Even if it's just in your head.

Actual new pointless photos

The problem with Dad having a cat named Bob (the tabby that you sometimes see on the blog) is that I sometimes think that Tom here should have been named Jesus. Then the other cat could be Jesus' Brother Bob...

Everybody needs a bit more Arrogant Worms in their lives, I figure.

One thing to note about the picture, by the way. It's hard to see here, but this cat is on a leash and wearing a harness. We used to let our cats roam free during the day when I was a kid, but I'm very much against it now. Free range cats kill millions (no, I'm not exaggerating) of birds, and often have much shorter lives themselves because of fights, illness, and injuries. Check out Cats and Birds for some good reasons to either keep your cat indoors or only let it out tethered and supervised.

On another note, Tom's a handsome dude, isn't he?

I'm going to do a couple of quick scheduled posts after this of a couple of things in the yard (once again, I didn't keep too many of the photos that I took yesterday. Thank Whomever for digital when it comes to bad photography), but here's one to start off with.

I'm honestly not entirely sure what this is and I'm too lazy to find out, but I thought that the speckled pattern was kind of cool. On the photography side, I love the bokeh I get from this lens. Cameraphones just can't do that.

Yet.

I'm sure that they will at some point.

Anyway, scheduled posts and then lunch. Type at you later.

Pointless photos of the day:

 Not in a blathery mood right now (no reason; just Saturday, I guess), so have some cellphone shots instead.

First, Tom the 14 lb cat tries to overbalance a chair. If you're sitting in it when he decides to jump on the back, you feel like you're headed through the window.

Next, Tom demonstrating what a good job the Turkey Brothers are doing of destroying the drywall as they jump up to the basement window. They've also managed to take down the curtain, as you see.

 This one? Bob just being Bob.

He's a bit of a poser, all right.

Finally, my coworker Kathryn and her dog PJ demonstrating some of the instruments we bought at work for use with our music playground.We got a $2000 grant, and let me tell you that it's fun ordering a whole whack of percussion instruments and not being the one to pay for it. Hard to tell from this angle, but there is a LOT of stuff on that table.



Ok, that's it for now. Maybe some blather tomorrow. Or at least tea...

Christmas: finally over

But first: David Bowie. Of course I had to mention him. Diehard fans will roll their eyes when I say that my fondest memories are of the Thin White Duke period, but when you consider the fact that those songs came out when I was an impressionable teenager who didn't know much pop music beyond what was on AM radio (please tell me that I don't have to explain AM radio...), I think that I can be forgiven. Obviously I discovered the vastness of his other work later. One thing I hope that people will remember is that yes, he was a showman. Yes, he shocked people, BUT THE MUSIC WAS STILL FANTASTIC. How many other showmen/shockers can even approach that?

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My two fans will know about this time of year for me, but for those new to the program I should say that every year my brother and sister-in-law act as my art supply enablers by giving me a gift card to go out and buy something new for myself. Usually it's already been spent by now since I generally try to get out early and hit the Boxing Day Week sale and get as much as I can out of it, but this year for a multitude of reasons it just didn't happen. On Sunday, though, we finally had a decent day (the day before had been bitterly cold. Go figure. It's Alberta in January) and I decided that I was in the mood for shopping.

I've mentioned this before, but I have a general philosophy about gift cards. Since a gift card has been given as I gift, I try to avoid buying practical things with them and instead go for the I kinda want that... arena. It can be hard since it goes against the grain in my normal life, but hey. It's a gift. Treat it as a gift.

I broke that philosophy a little this year since I really did need some more workable fixative, but otherwise what you see up there is what came out of my wants this time. From... whatever order I pull up the links... you'll find Koh-I-Noor Magic pencils because I'm a five-year-old; Liquitex Pools, Puddles, & Drips, which contains paints, pouring medium, string gel, and two completely useless canvas boards (yep. Someone's planning on getting messy); Staedtler watercolour crayons because I somehow didn't have any even though I have scads of watercolour pencils, and some cheap-ass acrylics because a) I'm not much of a painter and b) they were on sale. Oh, and my travel mug is in there partly to keep the fixative can from falling over and partly to remind myself that I also made a stop to buy tea.

And why tea, when I'm still working my way through my Christmas stash? Well, mostly because I wanted to check out their matcha make travel mug since I've never tried making matcha and it seemed like an easy way to get into it. Apparently I'm not the only one who's had that idea, though, since I see that the thing's sold out even online. Ah well, something to keep in mind for later. It wasn't a wasted trip in the end anyway, because I was out of two of my regular favourites so I got refills while I was there.



Of which teas? I'm afraid this post is long enough for a work day now.  I'll end with a quick look at me at work back in 1995. Yes, I've been here that long. Longer, in fact. You kids get off of my lawn.

Random post

As in, I have no idea what it'll be about.

This is my new favourite version of Carol of the Bells, though.

We could talk (briefly, since I have to get back to work) about this year's winner for Inappropriate Use of Christmas Music, I guess. This time around it's Coke  -- at least I think it's Coke. I haven't paid that much attention -- for its choice of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). Advertising folks, that is NOT a song about getting the family together around the Christmas tree to enjoy a fizzy beverage. It's about losing a lover for whatever reason and wishing s/he'd come back. Total, total misread there, boys and girls.

It's a song I'm actually pretty tired of anyway. All those years of Darlene Love on Letterman just really set in fatigue for me. I know, almost sacrilege, but what can I say? I'm not much for pop versions (geez. Pun completely unintended) of Christmas as it is. I you are, however, here's the non-sodafied, remastered Darlene Love version of A Wall of Sound Christmas.

Later, folks.

The flowers that bloom in the spring...

Tra la!

Oh wait. Some of you don't have the same music in your brain as I do. Gimme a sec...

Here you go -- from Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. I chose a clip with the dialogue that comes before the song so that maybe it's a bit more understandable to those of you who don't know the operetta.

The youth choir that I was in as a youth (um, duh) put on abridged versions of G&S. In the Mikado I was, of course... Koko, the (idiot. Well, that's oversimplifying, but you get the direction) Lord High Executioner. The one who gets to marry the ugly old lady that they talk about in this song. Yay? Oh, it was good fun, actually, but the fact that I never once got to play a female character in all of the productions that we did was a bit hard on an insecure teenage girl. It was only due to a shortage of boys, but still. The one time that I was supposed to be female (Ruth, in Pirates of Penzance) our director became ill and it never happened. Figures.

Aaanyway. That was an awfully long aside when I only wanted to explain the post title. These particular flowers are in bloom right now, and that makes me happy because they're the first wildflowers around here that are. Early Blue Violet (Viola adunca). Even though these are in the yard and surrounded by plant litter (and blown-in garbage, of course), they're still wild. They showed up probably before I was born, they faithfully come up every year, and we're happy to let them.

Tra la.

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Sorry I missed the Saturday post that I generally make when I'm in at Dad's, but I came in later than usual and then we ended up taking a trip to the local trade fair in the afternoon.

Small town trade fairs can be fun, even if in this particular rural centre they come with a lot of farm-related things that this townie has no interest in. As a kid I always loved trade fairs because of the stuff. You know, the giveaways. The pens, the key chains, the stickers, the balloons; basically anything that any company was giving away I'd collect because I could. Occasionally some of the stuff was useful, but most of it -- except the pens -- hit the garbage can within days of being brought home. But still. Free stuff, right? Who can argue with free stuff?

I still generally try to grab at least a pen when I go to a trade fair because you can always use a pen, but I have managed to restrain my stuff-collecting impulses over the years.

This year's show was a bit politics-heavy because we're having a provincial election and of course all of the candidates needed to be there (and incidentally? Way to have no class, Wild Rose. Bringing those inflatable stadium thingies that you bash together to make noise -- thundersticks, apparently --because you know that the kids will all want them? There's more than one reason that I wish you would just vanish. Even though Danielle Smith managed to get rid of herself), but there were still some interesting things to look at. I bought a grand total of nothing even though I'm sort of in the market for a purse and Phil's Fudge Factory makes reeeally good maple bacon fudge (seriously), but I did, naturally, pick up one or two things. You have to, or you just don't feel like you've been there. This time around, a key chain from the Town that has a tape measure on it, a key chain from Corrections Canada (not entirely sure why they were there. Recruiting, maybe. Employees, I mean, not more criminals) that has an emergency whistle on it because the one I got from a pile driving company a while ago is showing some wear, a couple of cards from businesses that might be useful work contacts, and a whack of catalogues from companies who would love for me to either host parties for them or become an associate to find people to host parties for them.

To be honest, I don't understand how party-style selling is still such a big thing, especially in the online store age. Not my lifestyle, I suppose. I also don't understand how Tupperware gets away with being so expensive, but obviously they do so what do I know?

The one thing I didn't get? A pen. I forgot. Dad got one and he offered it to me, but I have other pens. Still, though. I forgot a pen? I must be slipping.

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There's enough words to last a while, but one last thing before I probably avoid drawing today. I was surprisingly gutted to hear of Jonathan Crombie's death. Not because I was one of the apparently thousands of girls who has a crush on him as Gilbert Blythe (although he was a near-perfect Gilbert Blythe, speaking as someone who grew up on the Anne books), but because he was so young, so talented, and had so much potential. Reading about him yesterday made him seem like a really neat person, too. Just goes to show that you can never tell what's going to happen in life, I guess.

Enjoy it while you've got it. He seemed to.

Hopefully quick post of the day:

I'm watching you.

Erm, yes, upside down because that's how I was holding the camera.

And without make-up and windblown because it was the weekend when I took this and I'd been outside for a bit.



I'm so not into this selfie stuff...

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Ever fall in love with an album that's famous more or less for just one song? Falco 3 was like that for me. I mean, the radio was all over Rock Me Amadeus, but there was a time when I had the whole damned record memorised. I don't anymore, but it wouldn't take long to get it back if I tried.

I mention this because my latest earworms have been from from an album by an 80s band from Quebec that had one English hit. I loved the whole album, though, and it's driving me freaking nuts that I can't remember enough about either the band or the record to be able to search for it.

Of course, driving me nuts is, as a friend used to like to say, more like a short putt than a drive.



Ah well. Something tells me that I'll be diving into my old store of cassettes (yes, cassettes) just to satisfy my olf tendencies. Until then, go back and listen to Falco. Hey, it's cheesy but it's still a fun song.

Back to work now.

So, what shall we talk about?

The weather? The fact that I'm currently listening to Josh White in a hopefully not-futile attempt to get my brain off of Sousa marches (yeah, I don't know either. Maybe too much Monty Python over Christmas)? The fact that milk chocolate, no matter how high quality, is always going to be somewhat of a disappointment when what you really want is dark chocolate?

Nah, let's talk tea. We haven't done that for a while.

Christmas having just passed, of course I have new teas. Today's was Uncle Lee's oolong with ginseng. Not bad at all, but I have to tell you that I've got so used to loose teas that it felt kind of weird to use a bag. Not in a tea snob kind of way; just a this is a little different.

Back over Christmas I was drinking a vanilla almond rooibos tea from Whispering Wind out of Alix. I'd love to tell you anything about them (the tea was pretty good), but it seems that they're not very internet-savvy. A very inactive Etsy shop was the best that I could do. Too bad, really.

So let's move on to the extremely internet-savvy. The last few days have found me trying out the teas from DAVIDsTEA Winter Collection, which overall has been a hit. The Apple Custard is, for me, saved by the coriander from being yet another apple tea (I'm becoming more and more aware that I'm a spicy tea person over a fruity tea person). Bubbie's Baklava was maybe my least favourite, but that's least out of a pretty good group and it's still a tasty tea. It just didn't seem that out of the ordinary, is all. Cocomint Cream should not work. It just shouldn't. Mint and coconut? Strange. Strange, but awfully good, and I managed to use up all of my mint-based tea remnants during this last cold (which has almost passed, thank Whomever) so the timing's right to have a new one. Sugar Plum Forest was a great surprise. With a name like that I was expecting overly fruity -- and, obviously, sweet -- but instead I got cardamom, cinnamon, clove... I'm such a clovehead... um, yeah. It's more like a mulled wine than anything, and I do like me some mulled wine. Lastly, the Vanilla Chai is a very nice tea, but as I've ranted (slightly) about before, I wish that they wouldn't call teas like this chai. Yes, I know that chai basically just means tea, but the word chai in this part of the world generally has specific (specifically Indian) connotations. Just adding cinnamon and ginger to a black tea does not a chai make.

It's still good, though. And as I said above, the whole collection is a hit. Nice job, tea people.





All of this linkage means that this took longer than I meant for it to. Back to work for me. Tealess at the moment, though. I finished my morning's mug-worth ages ago...

Thursday Eve

Title? Well, Hugh Laurie wished his twitter fans a happy Thursday, which of course brought up the very predictable flurry of "why you take X out of Xmas" semi-literate comments that make a person wonder how any celebrity actually manages to stay on social media for more than five minutes before wanting to smash any and all technology. It's especially astounding with that particular account, since so many of his followers don't seem to get it when the COMEDIAN and actor (and musician and whatever else I need to add for the Hughheads) is making a joke...

Today's photo, by the way, is the closest you're getting to a Christmas tree from me. I told you that we weren't going to have one, courtesy of the Turkey Brothers, and we don't.

Can't say that I miss cleaning up the mess anyway. We'll try for one next year, though.



And no doubt spend a lot of time cleaning up the mess.

Anyway, I feel like I should be trying to blather something to make up for the lame posts of the last few days, but I'm not sure what I have. Well, I do have a cold, but that's been going on since about last Thursday so by now it's not exactly newsworthy. I've been taking otc meds, which have taken the edge off, but that's about it. I suppose if I took the full dose it would help more, but that would mean a whack of acetominophen and that's so completely unnecessary -- and potentially bad for a person's liver -- that I just don't want to do it. Edge off is fine, then.

What else? Well, what with the hospital stuff and using this excuse to get my diet (which wasn't horrible, but could have been better) a little more up to par, I've lost a bit of weight and it all seems to be from my fingers. Seriously. One of my newer pinkie rings (which, admittedly, was a tad big to begin with) now fits most of the way onto my ring finger. Do I smell a reason for more new toys, then? Possibly, depending on the finances. Luckily for me I prefer silver anyway, so picking up a cheap ring or two won't be a big deal. Not giving up on the infamous rolling ring, however. Even if it ends up moving to my middle finger.

You needed to know all of this, of course.

Lastly (for the moment), if I'd had time yesterday I definitely would have made mention of Joe Cocker's death. Sad, that. He was an acquired taste for me, for sure, but once it hit there used to be nothing better than coming home from work, putting my head between the speakers of my old bookshelf stereo (which sat on the floor, in case anyone was wondering if I actually crawled up on the bookshelf) and blasting through Delta Lady or She Came in Through the Bathroom Window. The man was definite proof that it's not so much the instrument you have as what you can do with it, and I spent a fair amount of time at work yesterday with a Joe Cocker soundtrack.

And there's a good excuse to wrap up with my personal all-time favourite. I've linked to it before, but I'm going to again. And I hope that, in the lead-up to the Big Day, my two fans are also feelin' alright (must... not... fix... spelling... gah).



See you later.

I think my blog is confused

It's been a long time since there have been daily posts here. Back in the day that was normal, but there's only so many topics to blather on when you have a years-old blog, and eventually everything becomes so cyclical that it doesn't seem worth attempting anything daily.

Plus, I'm lazy.

Oh well, this current phase will be over as soon as I'm able to get back to my normal activities. Enjoy it while you can.

If it's enjoyable at all, that is.

So what's on my mind today? Oh, not much. I suppose I could give you a bit of a kitten update, since Bob's recently picked up a fairly weird habit.

Facecloths.

Yep, he's picked up the habit of facecloths. Mostly when they're damp.

It's like this: you wash your face in the morning, then a few minutes later you find the wet cloth in the middle of the living room. Or you're doing something with the bathroom door open -- say, brushing your teeth -- and you suddenly hear the garbage can, the toilet brush, or the spare roll holder (or the trifecta) being knocked over by a certain Bob on his way to grabbing the facecloth. Or you're sitting in the living room and in chugs (yes, chugs. Best description I can find for that sort of determined movement) a Bob carrying a facecloth as though it was the most important prey a kitten could ever find...

All I can say is that I hope this is a short phase. It's kind of annoying to have to go facecloth hunting several times a day.

Tom, on the other hand, surprised both Dad and me by hardly being yelled at at all yesterday. Must be some sort of weird shift in the stars or something.

Speaking of stars, did any of you go out to watch the Geminid shower peak last night? I forgot until I was already in my pyjamas, but Dad got out early enough this morning to see a few. If you didn't get a chance to meteor watch yesterday it's still worth a try tonight or for the next couple of days, since the Geminids go on for a while.

And speaking of stars obviously leads me to today's rock, only because I can't help but think that many of the people who believe in the power of rocks also believe that the stars guide their lives. And sorry to those who think that I'm being snide about the whole thing, but I just, just can't buy into stuff like that.

Anyway, this pretty thing is called Ocean Agate or Orbicular Jasper, usually depending on clarity. If it's translucent people tend towards the agate, and if it's not, towards the jasper. Mine's a bit on the translucent side.

Agates are silicates sometimes associated with volcanic stones, and often found in geodes where they can be deposited when mineral-rich pockets of water get trapped in some substrate or other. As the water evaporates it leaves behind the agate.

Apparently (according to the internet, which... well, you know), ocean agate/ocean jasper is only found in Madagascar. I wonder if it likes to move it move it?

Um, I haven't actually seen those movies, if you wondered. I've certainly heard the song ad nauseum though. Easier to handle than Let it Go by a long shot.

Ok, magical mystical time. Short version, because I can't really be bothered. Relieves stress, calms nerves, brings joy to life, physical healing stuff blah blah blah. It's good for meditation, as is apparently EVERYTHING.

Will someone explain to me why so many people follow this route? I really simply don't get it.

Ah well. I suppose that it's mostly harmless.





You just have to remember to bring your towel, I guess.

Pointless cat photo of the day:

Dressers are fun.

These shots have been from two weeks ago. I'll be seeing them tonight. I imagine that at the rate that kittens grow, they'll have a little trouble fitting in that narrow space under my dresser now.

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Another short workday post, but I do have a couple of things to say. First, to the follower tools who waited in line for a day for an iphone whatever (yes, I know what it is, but if you only knew the depths of my uncaring...), jeeeeesus. Really? We haven't got over this crap yet? And I'm certainly not going to apologise for calling you follower tools. You're followers, and you're tools. Well, I suppose I am sorry -- that you're follower tools. The world certainly doesn't need more follower tools. Especially ones who will line up for a phone.

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Now to something more serious. I was pleasantly surprised by the results of the Scottish referendum. That makes it sound like I was against Scottish independence, but I really don't have a horse in the race. I can't even claim Scottish heritage, unless you go way back into antiquity when the tiny fraction of my ancestry that's Irish was probably going back and forth trading, invading, and most likely procreating. What I don't really get is the idea of nationalism coming before economic stability.

I mean, yeah, sure, be proud -- within reason -- of where you were born. I'm happy to have been born in Canada. I'm happy to be Canadian. But the reality is, if I'd been born in Scotland I'd be happy to be Scottish. If I'd been born in Croatia I'd be happy to be Croatian. None of us have any control of where we were born, and putting pride of accidental place over the fact that the (Western, at least) world is moving towards less trade barriers and trying its damnedest to avoid another financial collapse just makes me think that you're not really considering things.

Quebec has thought about separating (and by the way, big hearty boos to those PQ members who thought it would be a great idea to take advantage of the Scottish referendum and show up there, say a bunch of stupid things, and start planning their next attempt). Texas talks about separating. Heck, even here in Alberta we have separatists. None of it would be of ANY advantage to any of us. Nous vivons ensemble, if you want to put it a bit more romantically. Which I honestly don't, actually. Romance shouldn't have anything to do with it at this point in our history.

Sigh. So much for a short post. Back to work, then. And if you want to hear rather than read Gordon Lightfoot, try this link.

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Edited to add: arrrr. Sorry I fergot, me scurvy mates. Hope ya be havin' a fine Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Pointless photo of the yet another evening shift:

It's an insect. On a house. Because sometimes you just gotta be an insect on a house.

Or should that be sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug? Ah well, whichever.

So, yeah. Covering another evening shift. The short staffing this summer has made things interesting, and not in a good way. It's not that there's anything wrong with the evening shift; it's just that I'm not used to working it. It seems wrong in my brain. Like it's past my bedtime or something.

Ah well.

Again.

I don't really have anything. Again. What I do have is a desk full of slightly weird things. I stopped at a grocery store on the way here to pick up some lunch? dinner? why isn't there a brunch word for mid-afternoon, anyway? Where was I? Oh yeah. I stopped at a store and kind of got distracted. The plan was lupper (or whatever) and maybe a snack. What I ended up with was peaches, mixed nuts, the aforementioned meal-thingy, chocolate toffees, tic tacs, and lychees.


Well, you certainly can't resist the lychees when they're right at the front door, can you?

Or maybe you can, but I can't.

I remember the first time that I had lychees fairly vividly, actually. It was when they were pretty much new to mainstream grocery stores here, and obviously the one I was in wasn't having any luck getting most people to try the weird-looking things. I mean, at the time if your typical Alberta WASP had heard of lychees at all, they were something you got in a can filled with overly-sweet syrup. This store was so desperate to move the non-moving produce that they'd stationed a poor teenaged staffer at the lychees, offering samples and showing people how to peel them. I had one. It was good. I bought some. And I've kept buying them.

Sometimes marketing works all too well. But at least lychees are mostly good for you.

I think.

Isn't everything in the produce section good for you?



Ah well. Again. Back to work for me. And probably some lychees, because that mesh bag ain't staying closed all night, I can tell you.





I'm pretty sure that everything in the produce section is good for you...

Pointless spider on a flower of the day:

Wait a minute. Who am I to say that the spider is pointless? It may be having a very pointed life for all I know.

It is on a flower, though.

Probably the reason why this group of spiders is sometimes called the Flower Spiders. That's my guess, anyway.

Speaking of guessing, who's already guessed that I have nothing?

It's one of the hazards of posting at work, I suppose. Work happens, and then when there's time to blog you have that moment of wait. I think I may need a topic. Does anyone have a topic?

I don't have a topic.

I do have a rock in a cage around my neck. Well, the chain's around my neck, really. The rock in a cage is hanging from the chain. The chain and the rock are both in this post -- today's rock is the one on the upper right. Leopard skin jasper. And why am I telling you this? Sadly, and Whomever help me, I'm in the mood to buy rocks again.

This time I blame the shopping channel. Yeah, I've been watching jewellery shows again, and for the most part they've been laughable. It always puts me in the I prefer real mindset, unfortunately, and that makes me think of what other rocks I might like to have dangling from my neck.

I don't need any more rocks just now. And I really should do my best to convince myself not to stop at the rock shop on my way back from Dad's on Tuesday. Can you tell that it's probably not going to work?

I can't help it. I like neat rocks, and they're kind of fun at work.

Speaking of which...



I'll try to have an actual topic tomorrow. That's not a promise, but it's also not a rock. You know, for what it's worth.

Probably not as much as a rock.

[/silliness]





Oh, and just because I can, pointless earworm of the day.

Aaand she forgets to blog

I guess I'm a bit (a bit? A bit? Seriously, a bit?) out of practise these last couple of weeks, but I really did forget about the whole blog thing and now my lunch hour is nearly over. However, do enjoy this pointless photo of dragonfly sex that I took this morning at work.

Hmm. Work. That might give us (me 'n alllll the voices) a quick topic. What have I done at work this morning, then?

I checked twitter and the work blog. Oh, and e-mail. I flipped the calendar page (by the way, did everyone have a happy Calendar Flipping Day yesterday? I have somewhat of a thing about flipping calendar pages. Just ask my father, who only ever seems to flip one of his. I fix that for him. Every month.). I checked my personal e-mail. I tweeted some info on how to get to us while the road construction buggers things up all summer. Yes, the whole entire summer. I went for a walk with a couple of others to look for a nonexistent grebe nest and ended up taking pictures of bug porn instead. I answered prep questions from the person who's running our day camps. I looked at my previous tweets, realised that I'd made a little mistake, and decided that it was probably too late in twitter timeline land to bother correcting it. I answered a question about how to get rid of a group (charm, tiding, congregation... also, apparently, a collective, although it's not on the linked list) of magpies (answer? You probably don't. They're too smart to be scared away from anywhere for too long if they really want to be there). I had lunch. I answered  a couple of more questions while I had lunch. There was also a dog involved in there somewhere. No, not the puppy. He hasn't been to work much lately. And there was tea.

And I've spent altogether too much time with this song going through my head. To those who know it, I'm truly sorry for the link. Just don't play the music file and you should be fine.

Anyway, that'll be it. I had to go take pictures of a moth (yes, had to), and now I need to see if any of them are good enough to be used as part of a display thingy.

Yes, thingy.



Going now.

Pointless photo of the day:

Ok, I don't really have time to post on my brief lunch break (my writ's gimped up anyway. Long story), but I did have to at least make mention of the news that Richie Havens has died.

I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I was a huge Richie havens fan, but I did see him live once at a folk fest and it was an unexpectedly astounding experience. The performance itself was incredible, but by a weird coincidence it was helped out by the weather. It'd been a dull, rainy day that managed to be a dull, threatening-to-rain evening. Things held off until Richie's final notes died off, then we all got completely soaked. I know he had absolutely nothing to do with the whole thing, but the fantastic music followed by the fantastic drenching was a pretty surreal experience.

I've obviously not forgotten it.

Here's Freedom. You knew I'd have to link to it.

That's it for me today.

I... have nothing

I've been a bit self-distracting this morning, and it's not going to lead to much of a blather. I've also been listening to a fair amount of old (we're talking 20s and 30s old here, folks) blues and jazz, and it's put me in kind of a funky mood. You know what I mean, I hope -- sort of a they don't make music like that anymore combined with you kids and your loud music these days. If you think I'm going over all music snob today you're wrong, though. I'll probably end up listening to AC/DC on the drive home, if the hard rock station on the car radio is up to its usual playlist.

Of course, I could always change the channel. I'm weird about that, and I admit it. I have a whole bunch of presets so it's not like it would be difficult to find something different to listen to, but I somehow never seem to bother.

I should say, however, that I often drive with my windows open (yes, even down the highway. I'm not a big fan of air conditioning in cars because it's so drying), so maybe I don't change stations just because I can't even hear the radio much of the time.

But, erm, that's not why you called.

Why did you, again?





See: post title. I really don't have anything today. Kind of just wrapping a few things up here so that I can hit the highway early enough to get my own place in some sort of shape before going back to work tomorrow. I don't seem to have got much done in the way of my own stuff during this week of housesitting, but that's so normal I'm not even sure why I typed it. I always come here with big plans of using the quiet to get things done, and then I end up doing silly things that have nothing to do with anything useful.

Inertia's a wonderful thing, I suppose.

Anyway, back to the grind tomorrow. I'll be leaving before Dad gets back from the airport, I expect, so here's hoping that the cat hasn't got any surprises planned in the few hours that he'll be alone. I wouldn't put it past him. He is a cat, after all.



And this is coming from someone who likes cats, remember...

What's in my ears today

Yes, this is a pointless photo of the side of my head. Taken with my 3DS, since I feel a bit odd using the work camera for silliness like this. And don't you love how artfully I'm backlit?

And why is this here?

Weird mood.

Tends to happen when I get some sleep.

And yes, there will be no bricks thrown at my head today. Thank you to those who were willing to perform that service, though.

I suppose that the weirdest thing about this particular silliness is that there is absolutely nothing noteworthy about the jewellery you see. Blue-something-or-other stones (they were a gift, and I can't remember what they are. I'm mostly wearing them because they go not too badly with my grandma's blue topaz pendant and ring. Which, for some reason, you don't see in this picture of my ear...) in a silver setting so in need of polishing that it looks antiqued, amethyst studs that don't go with anything else I'm wearing but for some reason were in the same jewellery box cubby that the blue things were, and a silver wire cuff that I got back in university.

Yep, my ears lead an exciting life.

So does my blog, apparently.

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I have a new favourite thing. I haven't tried it yet, but the video instructions alone have made it my new favourite thing. I'm not sure if I should share it with you (oh, I probably will),  but the reason I'm mentioning it here is that it's a simple, fairly nerdy thing but everyone around here that I've shown the video to thinks it's a pretty neat thing too.

I love days when my nerdity is vindicated.

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Ok, one more thing in this mixed bag of a post. Hey, I missed a few days. I'm allowed to have some bottled-up thoughts.

The music's on in the office today. Wheat's on holidays, and it's not unusual for me to have the internet radio on when I've got the place to myself. Not that Wheat would object to the music, really; it's just that this way I don't have to make sure that my choices suit both of us. Today it's a combo of blues, adult alternative, and sixties pop, which has sort of been my go-to for the last few weeks. It gives me a fair amount to sing along with.

Yes, sing along. I sing along with the radio, and not subtly. I chair dance, as well. Also not subtly, although I think it's probably a little bit impossible to chair dance subtly.

I like to sing. I sing to myself like other people mumble. Erm, also not subtly on that one, as I've been told. Not obnoxiously, but maybe a touch louder than a lot of people would. I mean, we're not talking concert volume here -- just enough that people can easily tell what song is currently in my head when I walk down the hallway.

I think that more people should do that, actually. Don't you think that the world would be a better place if we all carried around a slight public hint of our life soundtrack with us?

Well...

Maybe it would depend on the soundtrack, I guess. And it might get a little old after a while.




It'd be amusing as heck for a little bit, though.

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That's going to be it, especially since the largest part of my lunch hour has been taken up by this nonsense. I'll stop typing now, then.

Bye.





Oh, you really thought that I was going to forget? Nah. Here it is: my new favourite thing.

Just don't put your eye out, ok?

Leftover hobbies

I used to teach singing. Oh, wait. I got paid for that. Maybe it doesn't count as a hobby, then. I did, however, also have a children's choir that I didn't get paid for, so the hobby thing still applies somewhat.

I did those things.

Past tense.

I'm not likely to do them ever again, as far as I can tell.

It's not that I didn't enjoy them. Well, the teaching bit got a little old, but that was partly because I was doing it on weekends after a full work week (as full as a part-time job gets, anyway) when I just wanted to not be working.

That, and the vocalises. Spending your Saturday mornings listening to vocalises and other exercises and marking theory papers is about as fun as it sounds.

Anyway. The point of this was that I did do those things, but I don't now.

The problem is that the leftovers don't just go away once you're done.

My room -- and former studio -- at my father's place is filled with music. There's a filing cabinet full of choral music (as well as all the binders that I'd put the currently-used music in) and a shelf full of teaching stuff. And that's not even mentioning the pile of books on the piano.

Um, yeah. My bedroom at my father's place is full of music AND a piano. And it's not like it's a big room, either.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what to do with all of it. With the exception of the piano, although I suppose I think of that, too. I'm not saying that I'd get rid of it all, especially since I still use a lot of the books for my own personal singing, but the old Conservatory books aren't doing me much good anymore (and wow, is their website ugly), and the choral music is being wasted just sitting there.

I feel a bit guilty about it just sitting there, to be honest.

And while I feel guilty, the cat is thinking "why are you taking photos of music on your unmade bed, doofus? And why is there a duck behind me?" I'm not entirely sure on both counts, really. I do at least know that the photo on the shelf is the U of A Mixed Chorus, circa late 80's, of which I was a member.

I'm standing behind the duck.

Um, anyway. About the music. I'm thinking very seriously about donating the choral music to the church that lent me practice space when I still had the choir. I don't think they have a junior choir at the moment, but they might in the future. A lot of the music -- especially the holiday pieces -- would do for the adult choir, anyway. At any rate, the music's more likely to get used if it's out in the community, so it sort of makes sense.

I think.

Maybe I should phone them first. You know, rather than dumping a few boxes of music and running.

As for the rest... oh, I don't know. I suppose I'll find something when the time comes that I need to find something. It's just too bad that leftovers don't automatically poof away when the hobby's no longer a hobby, is all.

And as for the cat? I'm assuming that he'll keep being judgemental. It seems to be his forte.





And as for the duck?...

Pointless question of the day:

How do you suppose Blue Oyster Cult feels about the fact that a whole generation of us think of Don't Fear the Reaper as More Cowbell?

It was on the radio yesterday as I was driving home from work, and even though I know the song well my first thought was still MORE COWBELL!!!

Wheat says that they'd probably just be happy to still have some social relevance.

That could be true.

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I've just turned on the music since I'm alone in the office. It's probably kind of silly to turn it on when I'm leaving in about a half an hour, but I needed to wake my brain up after spending the morning reading through programming material and it seemed like the way to go.

I don't want to imply that I'm only allowed music when Wheat's not here, which I suppose the above sort of sounded like. Wheat's as into music as I am, so it's not generally a problem. I find, though, that I usually only turn on music when he's here if I'm doing something that specifically requires music to keep the short attention span in line. Something repetitive with my hands, or something like that. Otherwise I keep the music off mostly to keep myself from singing. It's bad enough sharing an office with someone who's constantly (if silently) singing along with the voices in her head, I figure, without putting up with her singing along out loud to the internet radio.

And it happens.

It happens without me even realising it, really. Music's my usual form of muttering to myself.

Hands up if you've already figured out that I've got nothing today? Really? That quickly? I'm that predictable then, I suppose.

Right now Eddie Vedder's singing You've Got to Hide Your Love Away on my current mix. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's not unpleasant, but it's not the Beatles.

Ah, and here's the Beatles. They must have known that I missed them.





Hands up if you think I should stop typing before this just becomes a list of What's Playing Now?

Yeah, me too.

Later, all.



All two of my two fans.

Pointless photo of the day:

Having a bit of a headachy day but don't feel like whinging about it (for a change. Yeah, I know), so I think I'll just pass on the blatherage for today if nobody minds.

And since I get the only vote on whether anyone minds...

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Sad news about Whitney Houston. I can't say that I was ever a huge fan (and to be honest, there's one hit in particular that can send me running from the room. No point in saying which, though), but she was undoubtedly talented and it's always too bad to see someone like that not make it through.