I’m planning a trip to Victoria in April to visit with my mother. Since announcing it, one of my dearest friends (the tiny lady who lives in my iPhone most of the time, with whom I am in constant conversation) and I have decided to revive our musical project and make attempts to record during my stay. I am over the moon about this! We wrote often together over the last few years for our own pleasure and never really entertained the idea of bringing it to fruition, so this is just wonderful.

I’m so excited! Even to just have a record of our collaborations, it’ll be so great. We have 8-9 songs completed and 2-3 more in early development :)

I want to begin designing knitwear and knitting again, as I feel like I might have a bit better handle on my work schedule, now. I’m slowly plugging away at that Reece sweater for Alex. It’s been a long, long time coming, and there’s still a long way to go. I wish very much I could knit faster, I think he’s lost all hope of getting it at all!

I’ve combed out my dreads completely now, oh how strange it is to have brushable hair!

Lately I’ve been overwhelmed with how happy I’ve been lately. I have a home that fits (most of) my few worldly possessions, I have a husband who loves me, makes me laugh and works hard, and two cats who love me very much. I have my many hobbies (drawing, painting, knitting, spinning, dyeing, analyzing music at length and then writing about it), and I have two jobs that I love. I make banners and copy write/edit for television and radio station websites in the area, and I work full time at a music store with the best boss I’ve ever had. I’m also constantly making lists and looking forward to what I’m going to do next to further myself in this or that arena.

Life is pretty good for me lately, because I try to make the days better for myself. Winter is dreary and we all know that, so today I’m wearing a dress and some lipstick while I bounce around the house doing laundry and working. Simple pleasures, I think, are the key to being happy in whatever circumstance you’re in.

As for you lovely LSG folk, I’m thankful for all that you do, for helping me personally and for raising over $45,000 (at the time of this posting) for disaster relief in Haiti. I’m amazed and heartened by such a great movement of hearts and resources toward the tragedy.

The Antlers – Hospice
Self-Released March 3rd, 2009

Opening with the otherworldly, grainy keyboard and delicately raised voices Hospice quickly narrows into a dreamy, quietly whispered confession. Coming into the full grit of the album – the dynamics will shock you awake and surround you with the heaven I’m sure the angels who lent their voices to Silberman strive to convey in his falsetto. Released March 3rd, 2009, having taken nearly  two years to come to fruition, Hospice has been well worth its long gestation. The deeply personal nature of the material hints that perhaps the recording process had more to it than just getting it out in as few takes as possible.

Lachrymose and heavy-hearted, yet always pressing onward, the lyrics are meaty and hard to swallow. While blogging about the process of writing the album, Peter Silberman posted drawings and photographs of Sylvia Plath. Upon further reading, the songs “Sylvia” and “Atrophy” go further in depth about her two attempts at suicide from the point of view of a bystander reaching out to her, perhaps her husband Ted Hughes, before they separated a year before she died.

Puncturing to the heart of our feelings about death, sacrifice and letting go, the themes transcend all circumstances, lending themselves to each individual. Each glorious, epic outpouring of devotion and each hushed admittance of guilt carry you along on the way, preparing you for the build and release of the next track.

Mournful, ghostly wails and paired with compelling progressions and dusty static bust beyond the bereavement and lullaby-like lamentation into the exhilarating, heartening splendour of the full band and the acceptance that comes with grief. A well-balanced, beautiful release, Hospice is one not to be missed.

A video from my personal favourite track on the album, “Two”.

It was wonderful to be around loved ones and be silly and laugh and enjoy company. I woke up this morning after much wine, gifts, fudge and festivities with a stuffed up nose and scratchy throat, and despite all my wishes for it to go away, I’ve resorted to drinking NeoCitran so fast my salivary glands are going into overdrive.  Tonight, and for the next week, I’m going to make plans for the New Year, which is coming up faster than I can think.

New Years’ has always been my favourite holiday of them all, and I can’t wait for this one.

Merry Christmas, folks.

A good friend of mine was informed that my neighborhood thinks he’s a pedophile. Let me explain.

In an effort to get some exercise, because he works from home, he has taken up walking in the mornings, just after six am. His route takes him past my house, down the road on the side of the middle school grounds to the neighborhood on the other side. He arrives back home before school begins. Today a man belonging to the maintenance staff at the school told him that people think he’s crazy because they see him walking every day past the school, in the cold, with shorts and a long coat on. Like a pedophile.

I want to say, that on behalf of my friend, I’m absolutely disgusted at the fact a wonderful father to two beautiful little children can be accused of being a pedophile because he walks the same route every day in the cold, wearing whatever feels comfortable to him.

I’m appalled to live in a place where grown men minding their own business walking down the street now have to completely avoid routes near schools to prevent these thoughtless and demeaning assumptions from being made. I hate that we as a community are alienating each other because of fear like this.

Too long have my thoughts lingered in unposted obscurity! Much has happened in the last few weeks of which I will be glad to recount!

Since I last posted, I got a new job to supplement the income from my current job. I’m doing banners and simple graphics, as well as site updates to seven radio station and two television stations in the area. The work is easy, fun, and I can do it from my little..

CLOSET OFFICE CLUBHOUSE HIDEY-HOLE(tm)

That’s right folks. What used to be a large fibre storage closet now has lowered shelves for small tables (one for computering, one forwriting/drawing) – but do not fret! The fibre is all safe and sound and organized and packed neatly away. The closet walls are now covered with my favourite sketches I’ve done, special tissue paper, letters, books and pictures that I love. It’s perfect. It could use more colour, though, I know, but we rent and are therefore unable to paint the walls – otherwise, I’d choose a bright aqua colour, buy a bright red chair and paint the shelf-tables a happy yellow.

I’ve had a birthday! December 3rd I turned 22 years old. It was relatively uneventful, and just a sweet day. For my birthday I received a cookbook of suppers (I love trying new suppers – tonight we had baked chili with a cornbread biscuit crust which was amaaaazing), the Friday Night Knitting Club book, some chocolates, a bread machine which is going to make us fatties and spoil us on any store bought bread for the rest of our lives and a Kindle! The Kindle was kind of an impulse purchase on behalf of my husband who saw them online a week before my birthday and was completely at a loss of what else to get me. I do not fault him for his decision! :P I love it, it’s handy, and fun and easy to read from and load books onto and I adore it.

So lately I’ve been busy learning my new awesome job, continuing to work sporadically at my old movie store job, and playing with my new toys.

Until.. DISASTER STRUCK.

In the last week my laptop had taken a rapid decline, was shutting off, making grinding noises, getting hung up, just all around being a angsty old machine. It was unreliable, a pain in the ass to type on, and just a piece of crap. I backed up all my information on my external hard drive and poised myself for the worst.

My inlaws, without my knowledge went out and bought me a new laptop, better than anything I’ve ever used before, and perfect for what I need to do, and would like to continue doing in the future. Christmas came early for me this year, and booooy did it come in en force! I’m really excited about all the things I can do with a fancy slick machine like this. I’ve never been so spoiled in my life!

As for knitting, I’m plugging along on a sweater for Alex, my only Christmas knitting this year. It’s slow going in plain stockinette, in plain DK weight, in plain brown. Did I mention it was kind of plain? It’ll look dashingly handsome on him, I know, I just wish we’d chosen a yarn that had some kind of subtle variegation to add a little bit of interest, like a kettle dyed effect of some sort. I can’t wait until it’s finished. I’ve modified the pattern to make it fit him just ’so’ – I hope it all works out.

My list is coming along very slowly. I’ve quite nearly succeeded in cooking only vegan food in the last month, aside from my comfort food of rice+mushroom soup. I need to catch up with my weekly album goal by a couple, but that shouldn’t be hard. :)

So, to begin my (re)discovery of my love of music, I’m trying to listen to a new (to me) album every week. I’ve been wanting to hear this one in particular for a while.

Electric Owls – Ain’t Too Bright

This was a pretty sweet album. I originally heard of it through Last.fm, when the first track of the album, Magic Show, popped up on my recommended music stream. It was so catchy, I had to hear more – and this compulsion to hear more hasn’t happened for me very often with recent music so I went with it.

Now, the video isn’t all that hot, it’s just something a Youtube user cobbled together, but listen with your eyes closed if you have you. Awesome. I want to say the whole rest of the album rocks in the same way, but it doesn’t. It’s still worth listening to, but Magic Show is definitely the stand out track for me.

Next Week: Passion Pit – Manners

I’m a compulsive list maker and so, to spur myself on to blog, and to get me doing things, I made my list! I’ll edit this post as I work on it, blogging about updates to what I’ve finished.

Movies/Books/Music
Watch all of IMDB’s top 250, (64/250)
Listen to 52 new (to me) artists albums and write commentary on each (1/52)
Make a list of 20 fiction novels I wish to read, and read them. (0/20)
Read 3 novels in French (0/3)
Read 7 classic novels (0/7)
Read or write or listen to music for an hour before bed everyday for a month(0/30)
Organize all of my music by rating and genre.
See a play
See 8 bands live.

Knitting/Art
Make a large cross stitch
Complete the Artist’s Way.
Master Photoshop
Complete NaNoWriMo
Complete Project 365
Sew and embroider a really frilly 50’s housewife apron.
Finish my Moleskine journal and buy a new one, find time to write, fill 2 more. Be able to write about normal things again, could work with the artist’s way.
Stay up all night painting, drawing, listening to music, eating good food and waiting for the sunrise.
Organize all my flickr photos by tags, into sets, into collections. Join more groups.
Embroider on a new set of hand towels
Finish my rag rug
Choose an image and rasterbate for the wall
Finish the body parts series of paintings
Sew couch cushions and pillow covers
Knit 1-2 afghans/5-10 dishcloths.
Finish scouring my BFL fleece
Finish washing my alpaca fleece
Comb alpaca fleece
Comb BFL fleece
Organize the fibre closet with shelving or labeled bins
Update and organize my entire stash on Ravelry (yarn and fibre), include where each yarn can be found.
Make one ATC per week for 3 months and find a group to swap with. (0/12)
Work out the math and design 3 sweater patterns.
Spin the yarn for one of my sweater designs
Knit the handspun sweater.
Start a folder on my computer full of images that inspire me to decorate, draw or paint things.
Make upgrades to my spinning tools
Begin an ongoing sampler of knitted stitch patterns.
Begin an ongoing sampler of embroidery stitches.
Attend Rhinebeck
Finish all my current WIPs before starting new projects (excluding the afghan). Current WIPs include 2 sweaters (Wicked and Reece), Clapotis.
Set aside one hour every Saturday to dedicate to painting and/or drawing only, and maintain this for two months or more.
Knit a shawl I can be proud of and wear often
Spin and knit only from stash

Health/Fitness
Get fit enough to run 5k without stopping. (possibly going with www.c25k.com)
Be able to run 10k, then if possible, a half marathon.
Be able to do 50 sit-ups in one minute
Be able to do 15 non-wussy push ups in a row
Lose 3″ on my waist.
Get a yoga tape and practice every day for 21 days. (0/21)
Buy Sarah Kramer’s Vegan Cookbooks, be strictly vegan for a month to see if I could do it.
After my bicycle is tuned up and the weather gets better, I will bike to work every day
Finish brushing out dreads and use apple cider vinegar and baking soda to wash my hair for six months.
If we move to Saskatoon, try out for roller derby.
Phase coffee out of my life in favour of speciality teas
Buy another tea machine
Drink only water, coffee (no more than 2 cups a day) or tea for one month.
Begin taking a multivitamin daily

Skills
Learn about the stock market and invest.
Buy a bread maker (or learn to make bread by hand) and bake a loaf of bread weekly for 3 months (0/12)
Buy a quality D-SLR and learn to use it properly.
Get a piano (or keyboard) and teach myself piano again.
Buy a violin and learn to play.
Learn to reupholster furniture, restore a chair or ottoman.
Learn to hoop
Learn to make jam/jelly from fresh picked berries.
Get my full driver’s license
Complete my Master Spinner level 2
Complete my Master Spinner level 3
Find out what I should be doing for a career and take steps toward it (apprenticeship, upgrading to enroll in post-secondary, entry level job, whatever)
Build a plein air box.
Learn how to make bowls, cups and tea pots out of clay and make a set.
Become proficient with a supported spindle.
Take charge of my unconventional education by finding resources with information that interest me and avail myself of them.
Learn to knit two-at-a-time socks
Pick up the guitar again, play regularly (weekly) for 2 months, learn a new song.
Learn to grow veggies and plant a vegetable garden
Collect and learn the properties of 30 medicinal herbs to make remedies from. LIST (0/30)

Finances/Purchases
Move out of Cold Lake (to Saskatoon?)
Save $20/pay
Buy a brand new furniture set
Become a homeowner
Buy flowers every Friday for a month. (0/4)
Start a big jar for saving change instead of accidentally vacuuming it up.
Buy a china cabinet and start collecting special pretties (only possible if we’re in a bigger house)
Buy a pair of leather shoes that can be re-soled and will last me years and years.

Habits/Miscellaneous
Post on the blog at least once weekly for 3 months
Choose a new red lipstick and wear it every day for 2 weeks.
Organize all my computer files (not music, photos or video)
Knit 7 reusable grocery bags (0/7)
Eat only home-cooked food for one month.
Participate in self-portrait Thursday for 52 weeks (0/52)
Get up at 7am every day for a month. (0/30)
Keep entire house within five minutes of guest-readiness for a month. (0/30)
Complete my novel and begin another.
Send out Christmas cards to family and friends.
Identify 100 things that make me happy
Go geocaching, find 15 caches.
Decorate the house with the seasons.
Go camping at least once
Get portraits done of my husband and I

All of which I’m going to try to complete in 1001 days (2.75 years) – by Thursday, August 16th, 2012.

Wish me luck, and if you make your own list let me know ^_^

Since I last posted, my word count has doubled and I feel as though I’m running out of steam. I’ve found wonderful and exciting new ways to procrastinate, like watching music videos on YouTube that I would be embarrassed to admit to, learning to thread my eyebrows and jail-breaking my iPhone. I’ve done a little in the way of plot development, and have been concentrating on fleshing out what I have written. Perhaps it is time for another round of rough outlining on the page summary sentences of various scenes to boost my productivity and give me something more to write.

I’m now going to read a bunch of other people’s blogs and learn their strategies for getting past this stuckness. I’m not procrastinating still, I swear! >_>

I like to surprise myself by doing what I never thought I could do.

I uploaded the updated first draft, and there’s a link to the right, let me know if you’d like the password to check it out :). It’s looking like it’ll turn out to be a really heart-wrenching story, all told.

I had the day off, and managed to hit my word goal for the day in two hours, and that seems to be my average time as of late. I’m 10% complete and it was easy, I just have a feeling things are going to be a little bit more difficult for me as I continue. There are going to be more characters, to be sure, I’ll need them.

Anyway, if you do take the time to read it, let me know what you think, I’m really interested.