The Griffon song is coming along nicely

It’s a backstory song.  Griffons go back to pre-Hellenic times, but where did they come from?  Well, since it’s a lion on the ass end and an eagle on the front end (with tufty lion ears) , but has four feet (claws front, paws back) obviously there’s some seeeerious miscegenation goin’ on.  A lion and an eagle did the wild thang, but why?  How?  and what happened to the baby?  And what did the parents say?  (Hint.  Lions okay with it “My family can never be too big!”  “Huh, never figured I’d have flying grandbabies!  Kewl!”  Eagles, not so much, which considering teen pregnancy eagle mom popped one bigass egg, is no surprise.  “It looks like prey.  Gonna eat it.”  “Throw it out of the nest and let the carrion crows have it!”  “Mom! Dad!  As soon as she’s fledged the lions will take her in, so just leave her alone!”) 

Also, and I have no idea WHY, but I’m working on yet another tune about Lady Godiva.

I have now sung the zombie song for Jeff, Keith, Paul and Tanya

and Tanya’s comment was RECORD IT AND SEND IT TO BATTERY.  So I wills, I wills.

Next up.  Griffons (with bonus Hippogriff reference).

After that, 10 more in a dozen song song cycle of mythical, undead, fictional and legendary creatures.

Including:

Fairies

Vampires

Werewolves

The Phoenix

Pegasus (which the filk awards are named after, so I’d best be careful) with bonus Bucephalus and unicorn references

The children of Loki (with bonus visit from the west coast ogress from First Nations Legends)

Mermaids (or are they?)

Argus (the dog who waited for Odysseus and died upon his return to Ithaca)

Graboids

and either the Kraken or the Cadborosaurus.  I’m thinking Caddy.

The Church of Filk

If we want a better Unitarian church, we should look into the future and see filk for what it is. 

If we want a church that is friendly to the chemically sensitive (please no stinky cologne or perfume on Sunday!) and allergy prone, we should look to filk.

If we want a church that openly welcomes transpeople and polypeople and disabled folks and people who aren’t neurotypical and gay people and people who shred the gender binary with incy mincy knives, we should look to filk.

If we want a church that invites the wee-est in the room to help in worship, we should look to filk.

If we want a church that gets that sometimes people just need to go eat, or lie down, or look after their animal bodies, so that rationality can return to the discussion, we should look to filk.

If we want a church that is radically egalitarian and is always looking to dissolve barriers under a barrage of good planning and lots of hugs, we should look to filk.

If we want a church where music is, first last and always, the vine that holds it all together, and where learning and love and respect are what the vine is growing in, we should look to filk.

wrote this on the way back from Conflikt

Here they come (Left 4 Dead in Zombieland)

Here they come
by the threes and fours
Here they come
got my shotgun, my ammo
Here they come
better clear the doors
Here they come
reloading, reloading, reloading
Here they come

Before this I was a weak sister
before this I had never fired a gun
before this I cried at a blister
before this I’d never killed anyone

Chorus

Before this I had the reputation
of not really being all that exciting
before this I never would have wagered
I would soon say “I’m going down fighting!”

Chorus

Before this I didn’t even know ya
Now side by side we blast em all ta hell
Isn’t it strange and it just goes to show ya
Who will survive? nobody can tell

Chorus

Now I have drained the cup of human sorrow
But I’ll fight on though I feel so bereft
I may not have today, let alone tomorrow
(Spoken: Nice shot!) There’s two more on the left

Chorus and fade

Arrived safely at Seatac Holiday Inn

I’m registered under Rivett if anybody cares.

Ziva performed like a champ, and purred as she clicked over 300000k.

I am very happy to be here.  Now I’m going to have a bath and soak my poor aching back and select what tracks I’m going to attend.  Woot !  I am here!  People recognize me! I’ve worked out the chords for Blues for Dumuzi (Nancy Freeman song) since I got here.  All my clothes are put away and the music stand is up….

sundry oddments

Jeff is laughing at Margot who is playing with plastic bags he’s brandishing as he does the garbage.

Nominating committee meeting last night.  Things gelled and we got stuff done and I thank them all for forgiving me. I was wandering off getting daughter Katie her money for rent (I was thinking of what a stupid thing this is to say publicly but I had a reason for being late for a meeting I was hosting!).

Work continues to be interesting, challenging, stimulating and that little bit shy of flat out overwhelming.  My boss dragged me into an interview yesterday, but don’t worry, he didn’t have to damage the carpet, I love interviews.  I probably wouldn’t if I had to do more of them, but I want to head crap off at the pass and being present at interviews is one of the fastest and cheapest ways of doing it.

I am not at all well prepared for Conflikt and I’m being all anxious about the border crossing.  It’s LUDICROUS.  Really I should just prepare for sitting at the border for a while.

So I’ll pack in the morning and get there about check in time.  Hope Ziva behaves.

Whadda weekend

Saturday was running around and working on music and then at four pm Paul and I went off to join Tom and Peggy and Cindy at the housefilk at the home of Michael and Susan, who PUT ON A FEAST OF HOBBIT PROPORTIONS and hospitality likewise, and greeted our every song with warm demonstrations of happiness that we would come into their (unbelievable, amazing, fabulous) home and play LIVE MUSIC with a BASS and MANDOLIN and duelling 12 strings.  Like that.  We sang and played for six hours and then talked politics and honestly, if I didn’t have to make soup the next day for church (which didn’t work, but fortunately the loaves and the fishes did their things) I wouldn’t have wanted to leave.  SO many beautiful books on the walls, books to the ceiling, books up the stairs. Ah, me.  Felt like home, anyway.

Then Sunday where we went to Kobatfalva in our minds, which is our partner church in Romania.  They are amused to know that we are rich and have no church, and they are poor (I mean subsistence farmer poor) and have a bell tower on THEIR church (which we helped pay for, mind you).  Then a 3 hour congregational meeting which I won’t talk about because I’m still processing. I also made biscotti and brought half to church and half to work.  Ministry, folks, it’s all about ministry, and ministry without food is no ministry at all.  Primates is primates.

Figured out how I’m going to frame the 13th February homily.  Bwa ha ha is all I will say.   

Then I cleaned up the kitchen so Jeff won’t go BLEAUGH when he gets home from Victoria today, and went to work.  Not a restful weekend, but a good one, and my back is KILLING me with those stupid chairs at church.  Grr.

A reminder

Sometimes we need somebody to relight our candle.  I was able to do that for somebody recently and it didn’t take anything from me, but it had a very heartening effect on someone else, thus the happy feeling I have today.

We watched a wonderful little movie last night called The Last Word.  Sometimes you see a movie and it fits the psychological moment you’re in perfectly, and this was the case.

Singing and churching this weekend, but first, brekky for broter.