kinda world, kinda jazz, kinda bluegrass. but definitely very cool.
so i don't consider myself too much of a suzy homemaker, but sewing, well...it's somewhat of another form of art to me.
this week i was at the international quilt festival. all i can say is wow. lots of gray-haired ladies in denim shirts, lots of sewing machines that can practically cook breakfast for you (though i still love my singer touch and sew!), some excellent teachers, some strange ones, and tons of ways to poke, burn or dye yourself strange colors.
my first class was 'making it easy with jackie.' you know, quilting really doesn't seem all *that* hard - at least the sewing part. you just have to be pretty picky about seam width and how you cut stuff, i guess. maybe they just make it seem easy to get you suckered in. ;) my class on contemporary patchwork quilts found us coloring for four hours in a freezing cold room. and i couldn't even leave early like everyone else because i was recruited into being a teacher's pet and i had to wait for everyone to turn in their evaluations. :p that night we went out to dinner and collapsed into bed exhausted. (you wouldn't think that we would be so tired, but i know i was getting up two hours earlier than i usually do!)
day two started with fabric collage greeting cards. this i can do. fussy-cutting out designs from fabric and adhering them to cards, following by stamping and embossing. my kinda stuff. after lunch, my last class was on rotary heirloom quilts. since it was a lecture, she made sure she let us know it was okay if we worked on handwork - so i did. (i'm hooked on this grandmother's flower garden thing...) mostly it was the author of the book talking about how to make sure that your quilt survives through generations. it was a lot about documentation, and which patterns seem to be passed, but i learned some stuff that i hadn't considered - like looking for genealogy information on quilts. hm. something to consider when i gear back up into that hobby again. there was also a pattern she in the book called morris garden - i think that's going to be something i'm going to work on eventually. after class, the marketplace opened. it took a full six hours to cover the whole place (three that night and three the next day). talk about huge!
one thing i noticed was that oriental patterns and such were very popular. in fact, i bought silk dye and paint. i'm such a scarf-aholic, i figure i can make my own. they also talked about overdying silk and rayon shirts to make them different colors. seems simple enough, and perhaps something easy enough to do and sell in the booth. we'll see. i also bought miscellaneous stuff - stamps to work on grandmother's flower garden on my own, some nice scissors, some fat quarters, a large piece of silk with a beautiful painting that's a remnant from a vintage obi panel. i suppose i should blame rick for the fact that a lot of the stuff i picked up turned out to be japanese in design. i'm tuned into that kind of stuff as i look for inspiration for his sumi-e painting.
on the way home we stopped by ikea. now *that* is a dangerous store for me. i think i got the last can of the blue stain that they sell. it's being discontinued, i guess, and i love that color. i also found a set of drawers that has a top (kind of like something you'd see from closetmaid - except at about 1/3 of the price). I think I'm going to start accumulating them for my study. You can see what's in them, and the drawers are even big enough to put full-sized scrapbook pages in - a must for me.
mood: tired, don't-wanna-work
music: dido/life for rent
i ran errands today over lunch. i really do try to avoid main campus when i can because it's difficult to get around. one errand had me running into the memorial student center (msc) though, so it was unavoidable.
funny how just being back in a setting puts you back into a frame of mind. (happens when i go home too - slip back into feeling like i'm in high school again.) today i almost felt like i was in college again, running between classes...except i was wearing heeled boots, skirt and the rest of the clothing that makes up business dress. ah, to wear tennis shoes, jeans and sweatshirts again. sometimes i miss college.
"karma (KAHR-ma) noun
1. In the Hindu and Buddhist religion, a person's action (bad or good) that determines his or her destiny.
2. Destiny; fate.
3. An aura or atmosphere generated by someone or something.
[From Sanskrit karma (deed, work). The word Sanskrit comes from the same
Indo-European root.]
Namaste (greetings) from India, the last stop in my trip in Asia. This week I've selected words originating in the ancient Indian language, Sanskrit. The word Sanskrit literally means refined or perfected."
ah, sanskrit, language of yoga. i much prefer the meaning of 'namaste' that i learned from madeleine l'engle - 'i salute the god within you.'
okay, so maybe it's just cold to me - for me anything below 70 qualifies - but the high yesterday was just a few degrees above 60. it's definitely the start of fall, even though it'll be in the 80s again later this week. see, in texas during the fall, we have these cold/warm/cold/warm/cold/warm/etc. fronts that roll through. so one day it'll be close to 90, the next it'll be 40 for a high if you're lucky. (as my dad says, if you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes!) this goes on until the middle of december, so we'll have 70 degree days close to christmas. then, after new years, it's freezing cold (40s, 50s if you're lucky) until at least the middle of march. then we're all defrosting and warm again.
example: am: snowing. noon: raining. 3pm: 80 degrees. this was a spring day (yes, one day) back in 97 or so. weird, neh?
this weekend was good, though i discovered that i really need to start working out again. i spent all day saturday helping to paint the upstairs room for the youth group. i'm still stiff. as crazy as the colors are, though, i think it's going to look really cool. :) that afternoon i worked a bit more on my dresser and then helped the so's mom clean out her side of the garage/work area. (okay, so maybe i'm a little selfish - more room for me to work too!) is it weird that i spend more time over there sometimes than he does? chalk it up to his mom and i being good friends, i suppose. (you ever wished you could marry someone's family?) ;)
yesterday, said so's mom and i worked a bit more on the booth. we moved things around again and opened it up a bit more. punishment for wearing pants to church? i got to climb up on the ladder and hang christmas lights. i really do think i have a phobia about aluminum ladders. i'm afraid if i lean too far one way or the other, me and the ladder will come toppling down. heavier ladders don't seem to have the same effect. hmmm...i wonder what the name for that would be - alumiladiphobia?
i'm headed out of town tonight to the quilt show down in houston. three whole days away from a computer? i might just have to take the laptop with me - the internet connection part of it might be iffy though. i think of everything, i'm really going to miss chatting with one of my friends. we've gotten into the habit of catching up with each other daily - i'm going to go through withdrawals!
i feel very very stupid. I've been wrestling with permissions and why i couldn't write files...and i figured it out. They already existed...
*sigh* at least now i know.
maybe this weekend will work out after all. i finally got my check from the university reimbursing me from the trip i took at the beginning of this month. then they cancelled the it staff meeting on monday. which wouldn't be that bad except that they were trying to move it to 9am. i'm usually just leaving the apartment at that time. needless to say, i prefer it at its 2pm regular time. ;)
mood: oh so happy and relieved!
music: the echoing green (redemption / oxygen (trinity sight mix) / liberation)
i've spent most of this morning working on a flash movie...that should have gone out nearly a month ago, but it's been held up. ahem. <insert dean rant here>
i've come to realize that, while cool, this is really rather tedious. you can't move a bunch of stuff at once - you have to go in and move stuff around one by one. maybe i just don't have the patience.
but i have a job. it's friday. it's sunny and supposed to be warm. i talked to my mom last night. life is still good.
mood: mellow
music: dido/life for rent
definitely, today was a much better day. i think i may have picked up a new freelance job, and things were just generally better.
i'm still hyper though. called my mom and she got to hear about my week. she was sympathetic, but now i have to key back down again after all my ranting. *sigh* being angry is hard work!
earlier this evening i went to this month's ecw program on angels and saints in clay. the woman was really interesting to listen to...and the stories she told about some of the figures that she made was fascintaing. i guess part of it is all the research into art history and tradition that she has done before creating the figures of saints, and biblical people.
current mood: hyper
current music: i've listened to zohar/onethreeseven most of the day and it's stuck in my head, but currently - silence.
uh, yeah. moving on. life's been busy. tonight's performance at the retirement home went well. i really think that i'm starting to mesh with the bluegrass group i jam with. getting used to playing in front of people helps, though i still get that whole "i feel like i'm going to pass out" feeling because of nerves. but it's getting better. if i don't think about the fact that people are watching me, i'm okay.
Next week is the international quilt festival. no, i don't really quilt, and like i need another hobby, but it seemed like it might be fun, even if i am the only one without gray hair and not wearing a denim shirt. it's an excuse to get outta town, hang with the so's mom and friends, and just do girl stuff.
i need to make some friends who are girls. i just make friends too easy with guys.
mood: tired. depression recovery.
music: various - Fischerspooner, Leiahdorus, Dido/life for rent (the latter my default recently)
this afternoon, the boss came in and let me know that the dean didn't like the scrapbook that i've been taking pictures for for the last year...and that took me about 24 hours of work to complete.
i guess what i just don't understand is *why* he didn't bring this all up when i showed it to him before i was finished. i just really...there's no words to describe how much this upsets me. my boss tells me not to take it personally - that it's not a comment on my skill level as a graphic designer or anything. yes. this i grasp. not everything is square in the book. he made the comment that some of the stuff was "loose" because it wasn't squared up with the edge of the page. uh. no. it was meant to be like that. thank you.
so, here's this week's big non-revelation: the dean is a control freak with no communication skills. he can only tell people what he doesn't like. he is unable to communicate what he wants in the first place. you'd think after my four-month-approval-even-though-the-whole-thing-was-finished experience with him and mays' home page, i would have realized this and run screaming. but, alas.
you know, i just switched banks not too long ago, hoping for free business checking. you know the saying that nothing's free? this is true. i'm beginning to realize the reason that checking at washington mutual is free is because they're using an antiquated system that, when you use your debit card, doesn't place a hold on your money. oh, and when you use your debit card, it takes them up to 7 days to update your online banking. hello. welcome to the 21st century where i can bank with a credit union and have up to the minute access to my account balance. yes. really. things post in as little as half an hour...maybe faster!
i think i'm just going to close my account and move back to my original bank. $5 a month is a small price for peace of mind in knowing that if i check my balance, it's right.
it's probably a bad thing that i'm a web person trying to use online banking anyway. bad bank: takes close to 5 minutes to login, has to refresh a bunch of images, so it takes about 30 seconds to load a page. good bank: 3 seconds. tops.
winner: function over beauty. at least when it comes to banking. i just want my balance and info and that's *it*.
i don't often have things slip into my mind, but i must have stayed in an alpha state a bit longer than usual. guess that means i'm not awake yet. anyway, today's poem, which has also taken up permanent residence under 'poetry'.
fall morning
As I step out the door
I notice the humidity.
Turning to find my keys,
the soft sound of rain greets my ears.
That explains it.
Door locked, I walk downstairs,
open my umbrella,
walk under the crazy downspout of water
someone put over the sidewalk,
and get in my car.
I plug in my iPod and push play -
Norah Jones, an apropros choice
left over from last night.
Wipers push rain-stuck golden leaves
into little piles,
which when I pull out of the driveway
scatter off my windshield into the air
like so many yellow butterflies.
As I drive, affirmations run through my head.
Footwear and hair,
boots and curls,
both wise choices.
I love the hiss of tires against wet road.
i tell lots of people that i've inherited my great-grandmother's knack for african violets. now, there's proof. you can find pictures - here.
i love getting mail. i love getting e-mail. i hate catching up with it when i've been gone for several days in a row. for some reason, people think that things should be elevated to "urgent" status if they haven't heard from you in a while.
but i think i'm caught up...
slides and polaroids
i finally got the slide printer...and the polaroid 669 film. and while i was in the camera shop, one of the guys gave me some large prints of the blue angels. i felt really stupid because when he handed me the envelope, they were stuck to the top part and i couldn't see them. so here i was wondering why he was giving me an empty padded envelope, and he was looking at me like i was some kind of moron. third time, i finally saw the pictures and pulled them out. i think he was impressed that i knew they were the blue angels. riiight. like i wouldn't know who they were, growing up as i did so close to nas miramar - top gun. i even thought about going into the air force just so i could fly. too bad my vision's so horrible. they'd never take me.
i remember driving down 15 and 52 with my face pressed to the car window so i could see the planes doing touch and gos on the runway...and marvelling at the blinking lights against the stars in the night sky as they circled overhead at night, waiting their turn to land...
one of the random songs coming across my mp3 player. (leiahdorus, for those who wish to know)
it's been a quiet weekend. lots of web work and frustration. mostly it's due to the fact that i can't get something to work...and i've gotten it to work before. *sigh* but at least i'm getting paid to figure it out.
it rained this evening. no, wait. it poured. aside from the flickering of lights, it was so nice to hear the rain and thunder outside. the weather's been cooler here too. beautiful, really, and just the perfect temperature for driving around with the windows down - which i did on the way back from austin on friday. :)
this week i have a fiddle lesson, which i haven't really practiced for. the past few weeks have been pretty crazy. all i've wanted to do is sleep when i get home. at least i'm a lot more familiar with 'sally ann' than the last time i was there. oh well, at least my fiddle instructor is pretty laid back. that's probably why i enjoy this so much - no pressure or heavy sighs when i show up not much better off than the last time i was there.