Wednesday, November 30, 2005
snow falling on ... not cedars
Just a quick post, since I'm still on company time. Just wanted to share how nice it is to be sitting at my computer, watching the snow fall outside my window. Big fat flakes and just enough wind to make them dance. Lovely.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
SNOW!
First snow of the year. After a couple of days of rain, it was lovely to wake up and see snow. Not enough, though. Want more.
Been a busy week. Went out for drinks with some of the crew last Friday. Went out for sushi today with Ethan. Man, that canyon effect wind tunnel will kill you. Good sushi, though and always good conversation.
I'm working on a new project with a group at the Unitarian church. More later as it develops.
Choir continues to be great. Two weeks ago we sang this super fast song in Batak (I think) where half of the verses were nonsense syllables and the other half made sense, but in a language I did not understand. Then this week we sang "Deep Peace" which is beautiful and low, sonorous and smooth. By the end you felt utterly peaceful and happy. So much fun.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Catching up IV...Halloween
I had this brilliant idea for Halloween. I really love to dress up and give out candy, but you don't get trick or treaters in an apartment. Susan and I solved this in Philly by sitting outside on our stoop and handing out candy, but that was not feasible in my current apartment. While pondering solutions, my friend Tilly commented that her dog always freaked out on Halloween, what with all the kids ringing the doorbell. Tilly's got a great house in a local neighborhood, so we agreed to swap. I brought the candy and carved the jack o'lantern, she picked me up, set up a space for me in front of her house and even built me a fire. I headed her trick or treaters off at the pass and handed out candy. Her dog spent a peaceful night. And we both felt we got the better end of the bargain.
I reused a costume this year since I had little time to plan with other stuff going on. So here's me as the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.
Which I think catches us up...whew.
Catching up III (wedding edition)
I left Friday (10/28), at an obscenely early hour in the morning, to fly - once again - to the East Coast, this time for my friend, Kim's, wedding. I got to spend some quality time during the day with my folks, which was very nice. Susan drove down that evening and arrived in the nick of time for all the chicks to head out for a round of haunted mine golf.
You heard me right... HAUNTED MINI GOLF! It's like chocolate and peanut butter, why had no one though to put these things together before. It was STUPENDOUS! You got a glowing ball and a glow stick necklace that ID'd if you wanted to be scared or not. There were no overhead lights, lots of spooky sounds and body parts and scary lights. The holes had glow sticks so you knew where to aim but not what might be in your way. And there were kids hired to play 'ghouls' who would sneak up and try to scare us. They got us a couple of times, but by the end we were all just laughing at each other, swapping stories and screaming occasionally for the fun it.
Saturday was Kim's wedding, which was Renaissance themed. Susan and I wore our feste clothes. My mom wore a lovely blue outfit Susan had procured for her and my dad went as a monk. The ceremony was outdoors. The day was pretty, but chillier than expected. The wedding went off with almost no hitches. The food at the reception was delicious and the mulled cider was also quite welcome. They served Virginia wines, which I though was a really nice touch.
That night, I went with my mom, sister and a couple of their friends to see Celtic Woman at Constitution Hall in DC. The group was new to me. They are like Enya, but there are several of them. There was an amazing fiddle player, very pixie-like, who danced around the stage. The music was very lyrical and beautiful.
You heard me right... HAUNTED MINI GOLF! It's like chocolate and peanut butter, why had no one though to put these things together before. It was STUPENDOUS! You got a glowing ball and a glow stick necklace that ID'd if you wanted to be scared or not. There were no overhead lights, lots of spooky sounds and body parts and scary lights. The holes had glow sticks so you knew where to aim but not what might be in your way. And there were kids hired to play 'ghouls' who would sneak up and try to scare us. They got us a couple of times, but by the end we were all just laughing at each other, swapping stories and screaming occasionally for the fun it.
Saturday was Kim's wedding, which was Renaissance themed. Susan and I wore our feste clothes. My mom wore a lovely blue outfit Susan had procured for her and my dad went as a monk. The ceremony was outdoors. The day was pretty, but chillier than expected. The wedding went off with almost no hitches. The food at the reception was delicious and the mulled cider was also quite welcome. They served Virginia wines, which I though was a really nice touch.
That night, I went with my mom, sister and a couple of their friends to see Celtic Woman at Constitution Hall in DC. The group was new to me. They are like Enya, but there are several of them. There was an amazing fiddle player, very pixie-like, who danced around the stage. The music was very lyrical and beautiful.
Catching up II
The adventure continues...
Through an extremely fortuitous set of circumstances, I discovered that Sarah Vowell (she of *Partly Cloudy Patriot*) was to be speaking at a local college. My friend Cari lent me her car (which considering she's got 2 kids under 3 is way above and beyond the call of duty) and I drove out to see Sarah who was wonderful, as usual. In memory of Rosa Parks, she read an essay she had written about Rosa and then some new stuff and old stuff I hadn't heard before. In the Q&A that followed the reading, I asked if she had a new book in the works. She declined to answer on the grounds that talking about it would mean she would need to actually start work on it. I bought her new book (*Assassination Vacation*) and had her sign it and guess what? She remembered meeting me when she spoke at the NCC in Philly. Yay! I think I floated rather than drove home.
That Thursday (we're at Oct 27th now, for those who are keeping up), I went to my New Member Orientation for hOurCar, which is a TC based carshare program that I've joined. I'm hoping that car share will meet my driving needs and obviate the need to buy a car. There are two car hubs near me and both are in downtown Saint Paul. I take the bus to the hub (or go from work), pick up the car, run my errands and return the car. I pay a low monthly fee, and a per hour/mile fee and they pay for gas, insurance, maintenance, parking, etc. The fleet is all Priuses. The hybrids are pretty cool. It's wild to sit at a stop and hear the engine quit and have that be okay because the battery is still working. I made my first big grocery run with the car on Saturday. Worked out pretty well. We'll see how well this whole thing works over time.
Through an extremely fortuitous set of circumstances, I discovered that Sarah Vowell (she of *Partly Cloudy Patriot*) was to be speaking at a local college. My friend Cari lent me her car (which considering she's got 2 kids under 3 is way above and beyond the call of duty) and I drove out to see Sarah who was wonderful, as usual. In memory of Rosa Parks, she read an essay she had written about Rosa and then some new stuff and old stuff I hadn't heard before. In the Q&A that followed the reading, I asked if she had a new book in the works. She declined to answer on the grounds that talking about it would mean she would need to actually start work on it. I bought her new book (*Assassination Vacation*) and had her sign it and guess what? She remembered meeting me when she spoke at the NCC in Philly. Yay! I think I floated rather than drove home.
That Thursday (we're at Oct 27th now, for those who are keeping up), I went to my New Member Orientation for hOurCar, which is a TC based carshare program that I've joined. I'm hoping that car share will meet my driving needs and obviate the need to buy a car. There are two car hubs near me and both are in downtown Saint Paul. I take the bus to the hub (or go from work), pick up the car, run my errands and return the car. I pay a low monthly fee, and a per hour/mile fee and they pay for gas, insurance, maintenance, parking, etc. The fleet is all Priuses. The hybrids are pretty cool. It's wild to sit at a stop and hear the engine quit and have that be okay because the battery is still working. I made my first big grocery run with the car on Saturday. Worked out pretty well. We'll see how well this whole thing works over time.
Catching up
So - It's been a really busy few weeks. I'll try to catch everyone up. The weekend before Halloween weekend was terrific. My friend Liza had a bonfire party at her house. It was great, really low key. Had a few beers sitting around a roaring fire (which I got to poke often, yay!). Talked with friends from work. Toasted the Most Stale Marshmallows Ever.
Following that I attempted to conquer the Trail of Terror (say it in the scary voice) with Renee and her husband Donal. But by the time we got there, we were confronted with a three hour wait plus they could not guarantee we'd be able to do all the haunted stuff. So we came back the following day about a half hour before it opened and managed to be about 20th in line. The haunted house was AMAZING! Super scary and really long. Renee was the brave one who agreed to go first. I took the chicken position of middle. There were these long dark passages where I clutched the back of Renee's coat and Donal clutched the back of mine. The spooks were really good at finding new places to hide. And they made sure to scare everyone. Sometimes they would wait for Renee to pass just so they could get me. After the big haunted house, we went through the smaller haunted houses that surround the big one. The small houses are themed (like Phobias and Clowns). I was in the lead for Clowns and it was super freaky. There's also a Haunted Hayride, which was much less scary. But the girls sitting in front of us screamed their heads off anyway.
The Trail of Terror trip (say that five times fast) was ostensibly for work (though really we just wanted to go). See - my museum is working on a new exhibit about the science of fear and, on Monday and Tuesday, Renee and I participated in a brainstorming workshop. So COOL. The haunted house experience added a lot to our perspective on what was scary and how fear feels. I love brainstorming.
Following that I attempted to conquer the Trail of Terror (say it in the scary voice) with Renee and her husband Donal. But by the time we got there, we were confronted with a three hour wait plus they could not guarantee we'd be able to do all the haunted stuff. So we came back the following day about a half hour before it opened and managed to be about 20th in line. The haunted house was AMAZING! Super scary and really long. Renee was the brave one who agreed to go first. I took the chicken position of middle. There were these long dark passages where I clutched the back of Renee's coat and Donal clutched the back of mine. The spooks were really good at finding new places to hide. And they made sure to scare everyone. Sometimes they would wait for Renee to pass just so they could get me. After the big haunted house, we went through the smaller haunted houses that surround the big one. The small houses are themed (like Phobias and Clowns). I was in the lead for Clowns and it was super freaky. There's also a Haunted Hayride, which was much less scary. But the girls sitting in front of us screamed their heads off anyway.
The Trail of Terror trip (say that five times fast) was ostensibly for work (though really we just wanted to go). See - my museum is working on a new exhibit about the science of fear and, on Monday and Tuesday, Renee and I participated in a brainstorming workshop. So COOL. The haunted house experience added a lot to our perspective on what was scary and how fear feels. I love brainstorming.
food automata
Check me out. Last Friday, staff were invited to participate in a workshop about making food automata. I had such a good time. You can meet my happy fish automata at this website. You can see me gluing a cracker in the second photo down on the right. Or check out the video. I appear about halfway through.
http://www.dicemice.com/works.html
http://www.dicemice.com/works.html
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