Settler words&music in S'ólh Téméxw, (leanpub.com/upsun) living where privilege meets precarity in MST country. she/her/they———– Novels: Midnite Moving Co., Upsun; Sweep Off Those Waves coming soon, Hair Sinister after that. —Restore All Indigenous Lands!
I tried once before to write a song about the backstory of griffins, but I think this one will work out better, being in a minor key. Lyrics when they come to me. On track for a 14 song month, per FAWM.
Church today. I am not feeling very inspired, but I’ll feel differently after church. Oh, yeah, I forgot… we’re rehearsing.
Gonna go to Gateway, yes indeed
Gonna take that ride
Gonna go to Gateway, yessirree
Gonna take that ride
Maybe I will hit the jackpot baby
Find my ticket among the stars
Maybe I’ll keep my head down baby
Wiping tables in the Blue Hell bar…
Gonna go to Gateway, o yeah
Gonna take that ride
Gonna go to Gateway, unh hunh
Gonna take that ride
Maybe I will meet some aliens
Find some fancy tech that’s o so rare
Maybe I will take a loser trip
Spend my last minutes fighting for air
Gonna go to Gateway, understand
Gonna take that ride
Gonna go to Gateway, that’s the plan
Gonna take that ride
Can’t call this plan courage
when it’s the only option that I’ve got
I’ll do cause I have to, the day is coming fast
I’ll find out what I get for what I bought.
In a spectacular outburst of insanity, I may buy a takeout/café. It’s in a part of Edmonds that is very dead for restaurants, but in about three months the new rec/community center will open and there will actually be more traffic. I’ll be talking to the current owner on Monday. It’s a really good deal for the kitchen equipment though… looks like it’s all going for about 30 cents on the dollar.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND The Impossible, but not if you’re scared to drown. The lead child actor, Tom Holland, is so good that it is obvious he will have a long and illustrious career, and Naomi Watts and Ewen McGregor are simply wonderful as the parents. It’s about the Boxing Day tsunami.
The gun lunacy in the US just boggles n croggles me. From CNN.com:
According to the FBI, in the entire country in 2011 there were just 201 justifiable homicides committed with guns by private citizens. There are over 300 million guns in America, which means that about 1 out of every 1.5 million guns was actually used for lethal self-defense. According to the National Weather Service, your chance of being hit by lightning this year is a mere 1 in 1 million.
The paucity of training in statistics and how to understand them is obviously part of the NRA strategy. If you scare someone, they are at a disadvantage for staying rational. It’s a fact of the human brain. In fact, the ability to force one’s brain into staying rational while scared out of your tiny mind is one of the things that distinguishes humans from critters. Not everyone is so gifted, though.
I came up with another lovely line for my notebook last night. “Darwin backed into a meatgrinder and assembled something from the chunks” (with respect to an ugly critter from a video game, but could be more widely applied… Jeff is playing Borderlands II and there’s some UUUUGly critters.)
SO TEMPTED to go with Tammy to New Orleans in March.
This was overdue, almost, since I’m supposed to be singing it this month.
Edited May 2015 for midi and pdf.
A Beacon Celebration midi, you’ll need to download and play outside this stupid wordpress ick.
Beacon birthday song
To think that it all started with committee work
These decades past
Some now here assembled came and did not shirk
And they had a blast
We are trying to help the world
All the little boys and girls
And the ones who aren’t sure which they are
Growing their theology
Becoming all that they can be
Knowing in their lives they’ll wander far
And Beacon will be part of who they are
All the controversies now seem very small
When we look back
It’s a miracle that we are here at all
With all that flack
Boards and staff in panoply
Ministers and homilies
Days when the presenter failed to show
Visits to the partner church
Pledges paid or in the lurch
Always wondering if we would grow
As if our wishing somehow made it so.
But it is no joke
We fight oppression’s yoke
Whether in the soul or on the street
What you think is true
Is shown in what you do
And sharing truth is really why we meet
Here’s to Beacon’s 30th, now raise a glass
And toast us proudly
Maybe all our dreams have not yet come to pass
Still we sing loudly
We can set up anywhere
Little but somehow we share
Knowing that our giving shows our love
The future holds its mystery
As we toast our history
And the peace that we’re all dreaming of.
One of them sounds really interesting and is right around the corner.
Today I’m reading Taleb’s Antifragile, applying for some more jobs, and trying to scrape some songs off my phones. It’s so much easier to think it up than write it down.
Yesterday was completely derailed by a low key Katie thang followed by me coming back home and folding up in a ball. Yes, I can haz post Conflikt letdown, happens every year, now I am expecting it. It is time to do things. I have THIRTY FOUR airs, songs and melodies on my new phone that I haven’t transferred into my lifetime list, so at this point I am way past two hundred and fifty songs. I still haven’t written words for the Beacon birthday song, and that is starting to be RATHER PRESSING given that I’m supposed to be rehearsing and performing it within the month. Churchy stuff awaits in bucketloads, may the completely value neutral laws of physics help me. My room awaits. Excited talk with Jeff about a business idea awaits. Putting stuff on eBay awaits. Finding homes for the instruments I will never play awaits. Or maybe just plain getting rid of the musical instruments I will never play awaits. Finding a fricking job so I have some options awaits.
However I have made breakfast and consumed it, and I am going to make myself some tea and take on the day with a little more enthusiasm now that I have some protein on board. Oh, and I guess I should get dressed?
Saw this and loved it GRRRREAT SOUNDTRACK.
Trying… to summon …. enthusiasm. GLERK.
… Or I should say squawking, according to Jeff.
I bought and brought back two packs of specially blended tea from Friday Afternoon, the Serenity blend and the Inara blend. The Serenity blend is extremely tasty (I’m consuming it right now) and the Inara blend we’ll have to wait to drink. Jeff and I have both now quit coffee so I’m looking for less caffeinated beverages to enjoy. It was Friday’s daughter who was the littlest filk wench. TTTO Away in a Manger
The littlest filk wench no corset she has
She jumped into the wenching with verve and pizzazz
With hair all of gold and eyes of bright blue
Just try not to bid when she’s gazing at you.
Mom’s in the dealer room all unawares
how her girl’s superpowers she now freely shares
The littlest filk wench said “LET’S DO THIS THING!”
and Douglas and J. heard the coffers ka-ching.
Seanan McGuire took the stage for a bid
Showing how a fan’s name she had cleverly hid
She said “and he might die quite horribly”
And the littlest filk wench cried “NO SPOILERS!” with glee.
She said “SAY ONE HUNDRED!” and the adults all quailed
We all came with a budget and once more we failed
Twas all for a good cause and we all shared a laugh
But how I wish I’d gotten that girl’s autograph!
I’m home, I had a good time although I slept too much. CD Woodbury, Blind Lemming Chiffon, the fabulous Tinneys in all incarnations, the Bohnhoffs who were as always entertaining and play to a very high standard indeed, Cindy (((hugs & your stuff got back home okay!))), Creede, Andrew (!?), Gary, Tamsen, Juliana, Douglas, Roberta, Beth, baby Miles, L’il Audrey the terror of the filk wenches (a seven year old girl VOLUNTEERED to be a filk wench and PWNED us as mewling noobs), Harold the soundgod, Jen, Jeri-Lynn & Jeff happy sigh, and Frank of Frank Hayes disease fame, Aislin the bard, many other babes and tots than Miles, Kitt the glorious (her style is classic from her cloche hat to her sensible but pleasing pumps), the row of crafters along the back of the main hall, including a man hooking a rug, Cheshire Moon (the best band of them all for the sound balance voice.violin.strings), and of course Shawna, and especially Autumn, whose signing enriched the stage performances with such joy and fluidity. All these things come flying through my mind.
I got many compliments on “Grateful” which is no surprise as it is a good song, definitely in the same ballpark as “The Evening News”. I will definitely perform it at GAFilk if I am spared.
And there was a bawdy filk. I am always SO happy to wander into those.
I went to bed at 10:45 (after walking to Mordor and back which is what these verkockt hotel corridors feel like) and now if I don’t get downstairs I’ll be late for the twofers. Don’t feel like moving, let alone singing.
… having gotten Ziva out of the krankenhaus. She is running as well as she ever has, and with 196 kilometres of highway driving, it’s remarkable how she purrs.
I’m going to unpack to the extent I need to and get me a steak. I am very very hungry, and I probably should get some coffee too as I didn’t drink any yet today and my head is pounding.
Glorious weather on the way down, the sun shone. Traffic in Seattle was meh as always, but the drivers here are more polite on average than Vancouver so I had to mind my manners and not weave in and out. That means picking a lane. Border crossing was trivial; slower than I would have liked but uneventful.
She has broken up with Kyle. He’s probably going to end up with Izzy. Good thing they didn’t have kids or I’d have something else to be cut up about.
Still waiting to hear what the damage is on Ziva. If I do not have a vehicle I am not going to be able to go to Conflikt and that screws up Cindy, who was hoping to borrow my vehicle to get her instruments back to town. Heavy sigh.
If I do have to cancel I’ll donate my membership to a deserving person and cancel the hotel room.
Heavy heavy sigh. I was hoping to have the car packed by about 10 this morning….
On the plus side I made Choc Chip Cookies for Jeff.
Can’t really go to Conflikt like that. She’s in the krankenhaus.
So stoked. Tomorrow I’ll be packing and printing sheet music and getting the car checked over for a trip.
Today, I watched Life of Pi and LOVED IT.
