Music

Literally.

... please be assured: no one is completely devoid of value.

And I have a mission for 2013.

Saw this and immediately thought of all of you.
"♫ Scottish Music- Auld Lang Syne ♫"

From very early days, I was taught to sing as a way to improve my speech (because I was partly deaf), and by the time I was in college I was an accomplished classical soprano (but nowhere near "professional" of course). Anyway, I loved to sing, and did so at every opportunity throughout most of my life.

I have been deep in home-improvement projects of late—mostly painting the interior, although there’s plenty of outdoor work that needs attention as well. The very short days make that difficult to get to, however; by the time I’m done with work, the sun is low enough in the sky that I’d barely get started before it faded enough to make it time to stop.

The big project—and topic of discussion for the three of us—has been how to celebrate the solstice this year. We’ve celebrated it the past couple of years, but this is our first opportunity to go all out. I suggested a Scandinavian pagan theme for the festivities, which was warmly received, so we all have been exploring ideas. It’s been a lot of fun, learning about ancient customs and thinking about which ones to use.

There is another holiday tradition that I sort of fell into; and I would be greatly remiss if I were not to continue it this year.

Because I can’t seem to stay with a substantive topic long enough for it to make it through editing...


YouTube linky

I imagine nearly everyone who’d bothered to look at or listen to a news report yesterday knows that Robin Gibb died.

It is 2-1-12, and I imagine Rush fans worldwide are celebrating this auspicious day. For my part, I will spare those of you who might have encountered too many references to/vids of 2112, and instead offer up one of my favorite instrumentals.

This isn’t as out there as last year’s holiday song; it’s just a smile-producing, upbeat version of one of my favorite Christmas songs, so I want to share it.

How did I not learn of these musicians sooner? Guess there is a downside to not browsing YouTube regularly.

Here’s a cool interview with Joss Whedon that ranges from Dr. Horrible to Firefly, Buffy, and other interesting stuff. We are all big Dr. Horrible fans, and it’s good to know the project is progressing, even if glacially.

I didn’t think such a thing was even possible. But dude, you did it.

I’ve been spending way too much time sitting in front of my computer, so—even though I owe all of you seven, and several other people, email—after I finish this it’s going to be shut down for the rest of the weekend.

Before I go, I’d like to share this vid that a dear friend brought to my attention. It is just lovely:


Thank you, friend! I hope everyone reading has a good weekend.

I could pretend I don’t know how it happened, but I certainly wouldn’t be fooling myself. Our resident Wolf was in Belarus during their election in December, and when I started hearing reports about the protests, I started stressing (even more than the stress I already had from our holiday schedule, ballet and karate schedules, my fiscal woes, and trying to run the household alone). Sure enough, he (and his big camera) were in the thick of the happenings; but fortunately, he left before things turned ugly. I’m hopeful he’ll say more about that himself here, so I won’t continue in that vein.

A girlfriend and I celebrated her birthday and rocked the new year in down in Seattle, spending the day doing touristy stuff and enjoying a Dusty 45s show that night. The tickets came with a generous food and/or liquor credit, which we didn’t know about. Seeing as we’d had (excellent) room service at our hotel, we drank ours. She was recuperating from a throat bug, but I was feeling fine and didn’t want anything to be wasted ... so I drank the remains of her (not as good as it sounded on the menu) ginger vodka martini. Then we shared a second bottle of champagne—I did mention we’d had a bottle in our room, kinda–sorta with dinner, right? She urged some precautionary zinc on me upon our return to the hotel, which I obligingly accepted (this involved no sharing of germs).

Three days later, I awoke to discover that microscopic bricklayers had filled every nook of my sinuses, and had tapped in to my energy stores to accomplish the feat. Bereft of energy, in pain if the hair on my head moved, I quickly took to bed. I was even too tired and brain–fogged to knit, even just plain stockinette stitch (I have three pairs of slippers like these to knit and felt). I lost count of the number of blankets it took to keep me warm. I was confident, however, that I’d bounce back fairly quickly.

The next day, I awoke to pain in my right ear, which spread to my left by the time night fell.

I still haven’t completely bounced back, but I am doing much better. My ears are still mostly under water, but my head no longer hurts. However, I’m also still easily dizzified, so I’m trying to take it easy (no driving, and certainly no karate!). A recent conversation with a different good friend covered a lot of interesting musical ground, though, prompting me to turn on my speakers and try to enjoy some tunes. I’m sure it’ll all sound better when my ears are fully clear, but I wanna share today. Mr. Bill, Uncle Warren, I hope either or both of you are around for an assist or two.