Found a new test on a random website – what goddess are you?
Big surprise here – I’m Hestia.
Yeah, I know – my home is my nest, I like a cosy environment, I worship a hearth goddess, blah blah blah.
So tell me something I don’t know.
I am feeling wretched.
Just what you all needed to hear, I know. Fortunately it was a nice quiet day at work; got tons done, not too much stress, and I escaped fairly quickly. Fairly quickly apart from carrying Tequila back up the stairs when he followed me down. And after I had to walk back to the shop and pick up the Lady Grey tea I’d bought earlier, since I’d run out at home.
Must have warm bath, watch Buffy, go to bed and sleep well tonight! We have another NSW game tomorrow night, and everyone’s keen; I want to be on my game and roll as many sixes on my Force die as possible. We don’t usually game at night any more, so this will be novel. Hopefully it will be warmer than today. They were predicting five centimeters of snow this morning – well, we didn’t get it, but damn, if precipitation fell from the sky, it would be white all right. It’s Beltaine next week, but it feels like November.
I don’t want to be sick again, damn it…
I heard a fantastic rendition of a Beethoven cello sonata on the way home last night, and I said to myself, “I could do that” – the operative word being could, of course, not can. It simultaneously thrills me and depresses me to know that if I practiced, I could be really, really good. If I get this teaching job it will free up a lot of time, which I intend to partially fill with regular practice sessions.
I’m still awed about Devon. What will she look like when she’s six? Thirteen? Twenty-one? What will her first word be? What will be her favourite colour? What will her laugh sound like?
Debra called me the other day and said, “Are you having baby pangs?” Heck, yes. Every time I see her four-month old daughter Elspeth, as a matter of fact. I’m fairly certain it will be the same way with Devon. I even dreamed last night that my oldest friend Annika was pregnant, and she looked fantastic. We used to joke that the three of us (Paze, Annika and myself) would all be pregnant at the same time. I think my subconcious is dredging that up and throwing it at me now that Paze is non-pregnant.
Babies – wondrous creatures who require much care and feeding. I know darned well that we can’t afford one right now, time-wise or financially. I’m trying to change careers, and my husband Ron has just started work again, after all. People keep telling me that it’s never a “good” time to have a baby with a preachy, syrupy tone, and it irritates the hell out of me. If you can’t approach a life-changing decision like introducing another member into your family unit who will be completely dependent upon you for several years with responsibility (financial or otherwise), then what business do you have doing it? It drives me up the wall that dogs require licenses, but they’ll let anyone have a baby. Anyway, we don’t touch on the subject very often, because it’s a bit sensitive all around. Our own families both have their opinions on the whole idea, and I think we’re both a bit afraid of what it will do to our own relationship (which has taken a beating over the past year anyway what with all the financial trouble and job-less-ness). We’ve made a tentative date to talk about it again at the end of this year. A lot can happen in a year.
Ever seen a pregnant woman play the cello? Probably not. Go ahead, laugh. Most of the people on the cello chat board I frequent who are mothers have said they had to play “side-saddle” for the last few months of their pregancies. Women at the turn of the century used to play like this. Instead of holding the cello between your legs (so unladylike!) you sit sideways in your chair, knees together and to the left, turning your torso to the right while leaning the instrument against your left shoulder as usual. If that sounds uncomfortable it’s because it is, and it plays havoc with the physics of cello-playing as well. If it’s your only solution, though, heck, I’d take it too!
Okay, all of you who keep e-mailing, stopping by, and calling: Paze and Jeff are the proud parents of a baby girl called Devon Julia Preston LeBlanc! She was born on Tuesday night (sneaky, aren’t they?), mother and baby (and father too!) are doing just fine; they�re staying in hospital for a couple of days just to be sure everything�s okay, since Paze’s last few months were so closely monitored. They’re planning an official meet-Devon day instead of having dribs and drabs of people streaming through their place, which I think is a marvellous idea.
Congratulations to all three!
They put me in the second chair last night at orchestra. I like the seat; I hate the responsibility implied. Our section leader is away so they moved Walter and I up from fifth and sixth to first and second for a few weeks. Eep! Well, it will make me practice the Beethoven if nothing else. The Minuet & Trio is all over the fingerboard and quick, damn it. I can coast through anything decently except demonically fast 3/4 time…
I also tried my cello bow last night for the first time in three months. Right after the last concert in January I picked up a really cheap student viola bow for about $40 and tried playing with that instead. The frog is smaller (the handle, folks, the handle) and while it’s a couple of inches longer than a cello bow and the weight distribution is slightly different, overall it’s a bit lighter. It works quite nicely for me; it’s easier to handle, and I can create a smoother sound with it. Going back to the cello bow last night was disastrous! So it’s back to the viola bow. I’ll have to sit further away from my stand partner though, so I don’t stab him like I almost did last night. (Can’t you just see the headlines?)
Just when you thought it was safe:
Michael Williams, a Republican candidate for the 5th Congressional District seat, has a novel plan to fully fund NASA: Tax science fiction.
Williams proposes a 1 percent “NASA tax” on science fiction books, science fiction comic books, space sciences books and any other space-related literature.
The tax would also apply to “space, space-related, and science fiction toys, puzzles and games,” Williams said in a listing of his platform.
Where does it end? Do we pay a science fiction tax on our Doritos because they have Episode Two likenesses emblazoned on the bags? Will they stalk the streets at Hallowe’en and slap a tax on kids wearing a collection of boxes and foil pie plates? Kids who want a telescope? Movie soundtracks? Innocent book clubs in need of refined germanium who gather to discuss zone purifiers!?
Ugh. Read the whole article and learn more about Williams’ brilliant campaign ideas, if you dare.
I don’t know whether to thank Scott or not for bringing this to my attention.
Well, that was interesting. I detest walking into a situation where I’m not prepared, and since this whole thing was non-disclosure protected (lots of espionage in the computer game world, I understand) no details could be released to me about this project to help me prepare. So I walked into the recording room cold. It was fun; no denying that. My partner was an absolute scream who made me cry with laughter. The main problem with the five female roles, though, was that they were female stereotypes as opposed to the ten male international characters. Granted, they were stereotypes too, but at least my partner could play with accents. I had to play up the stereotypes, which gave me much less room to improvise and basically left me pretty unengaged. They had fun fooling around with my voice, making me sound about a hundred pounds heavier than I am for one character, and I must admit I had a good laugh when they played back a couple of other characters that I had nailed dead on. All the same, though, as much fun as the exercise was, I wish I’d been given more than three catch-phrases for each role to record as a test, and I really wish I’d seen visuals for all of them.
In other news, we anxiously await the official good news of the birth of the new daughter of our upstairs neighbours and very dear friends Jeff and Paze! They’re at the hospital today, and they’ve sworn to tell no one the name of this child until she’s born, which has left the rest of us with no choice but to call her The Peanut. Poor kid; it’s going to stick. It will, however, be nice to be told the name that will be on her birth certificate! Watch this space for news as soon as there’s news to be released…