Month: July 2012

Lovely housefilk

Tom, Peggy, Dina, Cindy and Brian C in attendance.  Singing and playing in the lovely sunset on the back deck.  NOMMY Food, everybody brought food and I made chili.  We’re thinking of rehearsing up 8 or so tunes.

I tried calling the band Band From Argo but Cindy said, “You are never allowed to name anything!” (a FREQUENT SGA reference).

Now I want to call us the Puddlejumpers.  Another SG universe reference AND we call our local swimming hole the Puddle AND we are Vancouverites who all came from elsewhere (like Atlantis) but it’s home now, and wet.  Or we can always fall back on Family Compact, Ruth’s all purpose band name.

Spoon-billed sandpiper chicks, family visit, other

These English birds are critically endangered.  However if you watch this video, the only thing that will be endangered is your ability to survive the cute.

Family visit went really well.  Me happy. We laughed, we bonded, we toured the garden.  As far as we’re concerned if Katie’s beau makes her happy (which seems evident “I’m gaining weight… I know I’m happy”  BF: “Well there’s always that gym membership you paid for and don’t use”) and they speak to each other lovingly and respectfully (which so far they do) nobody is going to complain.  They are now living together, and candidly I am very happy about it.  (“Don’t the young people marry these days?” I remember Grandma saying).

Saw Keith yesterday.  His response to a five minute long rant by the business owner where he worked was “I quit”.  I hasten to add that it was a five minute rant that combined racism and misogyny in such a toxic stew that he felt compelled to leave. (“If he had kept his comments confined to my shortcomings with respect to this customer transaction I could have sucked it up. But telling me that we should stop serving customers of a particular ethnicity?  blecchh.”) I am VERY proud of him.  He’s off finding other work now, and reaffirming old ties with previous employers.

On the ferry trip outbound to my folks’ place I sang and played Otto on the uppermost deck for a while, and three people thanked me afterwards, including somebody specifically calling out the Tapioca Song (and she ASSUMED I WROTE IT.  SCORE!)  But what really did me in was the little  girl in the pale pink dress who scooched up next to me and was trying to sing harmony along with me under her breath.  I wanted to pick her up and stick her in my pocket, but I’ll just have to content myself with noting one of the more beautiful memories of the last while.

 

Seven failures of the American government, as sponsored by the American electorate

Seven failures of the American government, as allowed by the American electorate

 

  1. Reconstruction turned out to be a long term plot to incarcerate and disenfranchise American citizens
  2. Using predictable attacks on American soil as an excuse to lock down and infantilize an entire country
  3. Failing to heed Eisenhower regarding the military industrial complex
  4. Kleptocracy is now established as the permanent setting for government
  5. Not comprehending that America was founded as a country of free men, not free Christians
  6. Media driving and not reporting the news
  7. Lack of meaningful and results based education + inexpensive distractions = incompetent electorate

One thing and another

There are kestrels nesting across the alley, and DARWIN’S BEARD do they make a lot of noise when they are peeved.

Jeff is an evil, evil, man; without much effort he got me addicted to ER, and there’s ONLY 15 seasons of that. (Keith, sitting in for a while, “Clooners gotta Cloon” with respect to the unholy young looking George Clooney, who takes three facial expressions and plays them hard.) So far my fave character is Haleh, with Drs Greene and Carter in rapid close order.

Jeff, Keith and I are catching up in Breaking Bad and should be caught up to the new seasons (they are calling it seasons 5 and 6 even though it’s two lots of 8 episodes each, coming out at different times). What an intense show; but when it’s funny it’s truly gutbusting.

Hosting a housefilk on Saturday. SO looking forward to it!

Everytime I think there can’t possibly be another sign of the apocalypse, Eris run amok in my metaphors & slimes the goalposts.

New Baddies in the Midnite Moving Co. universe. The Nosoi! The demonic embodiments of human illness.

“Like a human plague!?”

“Cue comment about all your ex-boyfriends.”

I’m thinking of offering Atheist Tarot Readings. Would anybody buy that? How about Steampunk Tarot readings? Well, sheesh, forget I mentioned it.

Gotta go outside and turn the keys over and spray the other side of them now. Got a lovely assortment of steampunkin keys.

I hope you all have a lovely day, it looks like it’s going to be a good one.

Saturday housefilk Lazy Sunday

Sunday wasn’t actually 100% lazy, we put the awning back up in the back deck. They did SUCH A SH*TTY JOB of power washing. Water POURED into the house and soaked some rugs and wrecked some laundry soap. Jeff exposed me to ER, which I never got to watch because Paul and I didn’t have cable for most of the time we lived together.

Saturday, the housefilk was totally amazing; Jeri Lynn and Jeff came up from Seattle and so there was CELLO and BASS and DULCIMER AND 12 STRING and BANJOLA and OCTAVE MANDOLIN and 6 STRING and OCARINA and BODHRAN and we sang played ate drank mint tea, rinse repeat, until almost 11 pm. THANK YOU TOM AND PEGGY FOR HOSTING, my place next Saturday. Cousin Lexi was there and she choked with laughter when we played a Habitrail named Klein.

Today I’m going to have lunch with Dustiny (I am joking with his name) and I’m looking forward to it as I am already planning to order Butter Chicken with extra cilantro.

Today I am baking biscotti and working on some other money making stuff. Also since I’m in the mood, more song notation. (It goes much faster when I am not forcing myself).

Everybody have a lovely day!

Friday teh 13th o noes.

Today the horror of the landlord’s minion coming to pressure wash the back deck, which will probably disassemble, it’s so rickety (or at least parts of it are).

Last night the horror of the evil across the street black and white cat whom I narrowly missed ejecting from the house. He came in and started fighting with Eddy, who has taken to guarding the cat door with Margot sitting about three metres back from him. Margot is showing signs of developing a healthier regard for her skin than has been evident previously.

Saw Brave yesterday with the kids and Katie’s beau, who was much distracted by the transmission on his month old car crapping out. I really enjoyed it. Lovely animation with some awesome sight gags.

Had a fucking uninspired and oversalted meal at Ihop yesterday, but Tamara’s company more than made up for it. We caught up (it’s been AGES since I saw her, like 10 years or something equally ludicrous) and LAUGHED our faces off. She looks radiant with health and enthusiasm and that is a special privilege to be around.

Too hot to bake today so I’ll go off and do other business related things, god knows there’s a list a mile long. I’ve already practiced and I’m just finishing up the instrument case for Otto so it will be ready tomorrow. I need to find some upholstery tacks.

Lunch happened dinner didn’t.

Thank you LTGW for a superb lunch and the even more amazing and gratitude inducing pep talk afterwards.  You da man, I loves you, blah blah blah woof woof.

On another subject entirely….

After many years of sober consideration, aided by being up Too Fracking Early, I have come to the conclusion I should no longer use LOL.  Instead, this serves as a public notice that if you have amused me with your ideas and posts and pix and whatnot, I will in future being SVQ – Snickering Very Quietly.

Today, Lunch with Tamara, movie with the kids.  Me happy!

Long and McQuade solved my closure problems!  For twenty bucks I got 10 feet of 2 inch gluebacked black velcro.  Also more straps, guitar cleaner, and OF COURSE I FORGOT TO GET A HEADSTOCK TUNER, the one thing I actually NEEDED from the store. Estupido, muy estupido.

Lovely to talk to Tammy (different Tammy) this morning.  She saw Gaudi’s Holy Family in Barcelona, happy sigh.

 

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon quote

To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be place[d] under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality.

Various

Work continues on the instrument case.  I cleaned watch parts yesterday and handcrafted 5 steampunkins from modelling clay.  Who knows when it will be cool enough to actually bake them. We did a shop and I found out that the MacStation wants 200 DOLLARS to replace the battery in the MacBook.  I just about seized having checked prices on line for a third of that.  Jeff was quietly unsparing in his mockery, but dang.

Housefilk at Tom and Peggy’s yesterday – to my amazement nobody had heard Lady Miss B’s “It’s Just so Nice When Someone Knows Your Name,” which in my opinion is a filk follower for “Slimfast and Methadone” which is my meditation on the vagaries of fame – although I would have to say that “Nice” is funnier by a wide margin.  So I sang it and Tom snagged a copy of the lead sheet.  Denise and Nikki as always WANTED TO SING ROUNDS.  So gosh darn it, we did.   They also had a tune about a cow and a dragon, and an Eric Bogle song about the ruination of the English language which convulsed all present with laughter and admiration (Silly Slang Song, PDF from Ericbogle.net), and a perfectly vile little number entitled “If I had a Penis” which was also hilarious.  And we all brought something to the table, Keith even sang Willie Boy and K., Shad’s daughter, sang one tune and played Zelda music on the ocarina, which is only going to make sense to a gamer.  Paul had to skate off early to work but it was good to see him as it was the first time since the funeral. Keith and K. had both gone to FanExpo so they traded pics on their respective camera phones (it’s always good when the kids get along). Shad as always cued up lots of Echo’s Children tunes (K singing along, as it was ‘the soundtrack of her childhood’) and Tom tried to stay awake and noodled (Tom is working six days at his new / old/ recycled business).  We did a little bluegrass too.  And of course, EVERYTHING goes better with bass.  Tom and Peggy whomped up awesome food and I am a better person for it.

With friends like these, one lives in pleasant anticipation of what further delights beckon!!!

Blah to rah!

I’ve had a blah couple of days  but that’s all going to change because HOUSEFILK.  You know, the thinks wot make like worth living.

I am learning three new songs, one by the Dandy Warhols, one by Tears for Fears, and one by Lady Miss Banjola.