(no subject)

At heart, I'm more than a little bit of an introvert. The last three weekends in a row have been full of going out and seeing people. Windycon, Midwest Fur Fest, Thanksgiving family dinner, an anime night with serinthia, a visit to see folks in Chicago combined with a board game night down there, another night of gaming at Rockhead's here in Kenosha, a jaunt to Elgin for company and food... Holy cripes! This dog has been all over the place! No wonder I haven't had much time to write here, take or post pictures, or get caught up on the house.

My store of people-energy is also a little bit depleted. It looks like this is going to be a quiet weekend spent largely by myself, and I'm mostly looking forward to it. I have anime with Serin again on Friday night, but Moira will be out of the house visiting Mocha that night and I'll probably get home first. Then she's going out on Saturday to connect with a few people at a craft fair in Chicago during the day and will probably be gone late into the night again, so I have the house to myself.

The Renegade craft fair sounds like something I'd love, but I'm going to give it a pass this time. Instead, I'm going to work on the large list of things to do that's been accumulating. I need to:

• Write Ebay copy
  
• Take pictures for Ebay
  
• Clean the catboxes
  
• Catch up on laundry
  
• Catch up on all the mail
  
• Catch up on bills and my ledger
  
• Contact Gateway in Kenosha to see about an appointment with a career advisor
  
• Straighten up around the house again

I also owe a few friends various things. For one, I need to burn a DVD with pictures from Washington for savant_da_rat and ankhorite. The three of us also talked about sending them some other pictures and then getting together on the phone so we can look through them as a group and talk about them. That sounds like so much fun and I'm really looking forward to it!

I need to get some pictures from Windycon to sabrinageek, though I really don't have more than a few. Sorry!

I need to write a note to a work-friend who lives in Washington state who emailed me last week and I haven't caught up with yet. I can be so bad with email.

A couple people gave me questions for the questions meme a little while ago; I want to write answers for them.

And last (for this post) but not least, I owe a few people some very warm thank yous! First, to vandringar: thank you so much for the CDs you sent me! Readers, Van posted a list of CDs he was interested in selling. Then, after I'd already looked at the list and considered emailing him to buy a couple, he emailed me to tell me that I could look through the list and pick the ones I wanted and he'd send them to me and pick up the shipping himself. The box arrived just before leaving for the convention. He sent me fourteen albums, including some of his own choosing! Just look behind the cut and see! Thanks Van.

Second, while I was at Midwest Fur Fest with rileybear67, she gave me a birthday present: a personally-woven camera strap! Let me tell you, readers, this is such a beautiful gift, and so perfect for me! She even used colors of thread that she cleverly had me pick out many, many months prior without telling me what they would be for, or even that they were being incorporated in something for me. Thank you sweet one; I love it so much! And I love you.

Third, my dear moiracoon gave me my birthday present. Though it arrived in the mail rather late, the wait was worth it. I have to tell you how lucky I am to have two people who know me so well; Moira had also given me a camera strap for my birthday! Still, they're two very different gifts. The one Moira gave me is made by a small company called Souldier that primarily produces guitar straps from vintage fabric and recycled seat belts. This one uses the same vintage fabric that Neil Young uses for his guitar strap; black with white doves and peace symbols. Thank you dear one; I love it whole-heartedly! And I love you.

Now one of the hardest things to do when I get ready for a photo-trip will be to decide which strap to put on my camera! Pictures of all three of these gifts are ( behind the cut. )

I am grateful to have friends who think of me. And I am lucky indeed to be loved in such a way by such special people. Thank you all!

So, this weekend will probably be largely spent recharging with some time to myself. I always feel so peaceful after having some time to do what I will at my leisure. Life continues to be good in general; I hope things are well for all of you too.

(no subject)

I know I've mentioned the guitar I want to sell before, but since I'm about to put it up on Ebay in the near future, I thought I'd mention it one more time. I definitely want to sell it prior to Christmas, as I'm king of hoping people buying presents will net me a higher price. Heck, maybe you know somebody who wants a guitar for Christmas/Yule/what-have-you. It also looks like I'm going to need to sell my drums if we're moving to an apartment.

But first, my Fender is a made in Mexico standard strat. It's in like-new condition as I barely played it at all. The serial number puts the manufacturing date around 2000. I even have all the hang tags still in a pocket of the gig-bag it's in. Looking online and on Ebay, it's probably worth around $300, plus the shipping. I'd be happy to take $250 from someone I know, shipping, if necessary, included. I like it when things are easy. It's black with a white pick-guard; pretty basic looking. It's a good guitar and in mint shape; I guess I just never really liked the sound of electric. I am probably going to keep the amp to use with my theremin though.

So I have drums that should go too. They're kind of a mixed bag. I have one set of Pearl drums, in a completely gorgeous blue tiger-skin pattern that I just adore! There's a kick drum, a floor tom, and a mounted tom. Oh, one of the drums has a tear on the skin. The best way to fix it, I've been told, is to just superglue it to the shell and make it as flat as possible. I also have another set that I can best describe as kind of trashy. I paid $50 or $75 for it, I think. It's a kick drum, a floor tom, and two mounted toms as well as a snare. All three toms are missing the lower metal hoops to hold their resonant heads, so they only have the batter heads (the ones you strike with the sticks).

I have a few cymbals, though no cymbal stands for them except a high-hat stand. I put a regular cymbal on the high-hat stand because I don't have any high-hat cymbals. But I do have two high-hat stands, which would go with, as would all the symbols, a drum key, and whatever else there is. I'm thinking about $300 for the lot of it. If you know someone who may be interested, let me know! I'm going to put it on Craigs List soon, and maybe ask for a little more; I'm not sure.

I'm really going to miss having drums. I liked playing with them a lot.

(no subject)

After hearing an except on NPR a while ago, I started listening to Atoms, Motion, and the Void tonight as I was going through the mail donwnstairs. I'm not too sure about the first episode, so try the 2nd if it sounds at all interesting but you're not sure. It's similar to the sort of thing I was hearing on the radio. It's also provided me with a new quote that I adore so much.

"'I'm a very old man;' I said, 'I have very little interest in reality.'"

That, and 'corn-monger'.

Fantastic. Perhaps the idea of pod-casting is finally old enough that I've found one I want to listen to.

I also finished reading Momo, by Michael Ende. Another loan from cranberrynomiko, I liked it rather a lot, and the tone of it has made me feel even more solidly that I must lend her a copy of Julie Andrews "The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles". In seriousness, that was one of my favorite books as a child. I read it numerous times, and I think it continues to make a difference in the way I look at the world.

Well, finally done with all the mail. I'm going to catch up a bit on money and bills so I can write the rent check that I was supposed to drop off yesterday.