Drummer's Corner of the World

Oof... it's Monday morning (barely) already... where did the weekend go??

I remember having "spare" time... I really do. But there certainly was none to spare this weekend!

Friday after work, it wasn't raining and the grass seemed reasonably un-soggy, so I came straight in, changed into yardwork clothes and managed to get the front yard mostly mowed. Also discovered that I have baby robins in the crotch of the apple tree, so I gave it a fairly wide berth after momma bird cussed me out for getting too close to her babies. Walked over and had a lovely chat w/ the elderly couple next-door... they're getting ready to be traveling for awhile, so I'm glad I got to visit with them before they left town.

Saturday was a blur of rotating dogs in and out (I have my two, plus a foster dog who's on crate rest and has to be leash-walked, plus Barry and Sally's girls were visiting for the weekend) while doing laundry and random bits of housework. I did spend some time just hanging out in the yard with the dogs, which was nice. We've had such a wet, chilly spring that the occasional moments of sunshine are worth treasuring. Did some work on the fire department's website, practiced guitar for awhile, and went to bed at a semi-civilized hour so I could get up early on Sunday.

( Sunday got busy... children's museum, zoo, and my first run w/ the local fire department... all back here behind the cut! )

So now I'm finally relaxing! Doing some paperwork for work that I would normally do tomorrow, but I have a vacation day tomorrow! Hip Hip Hooray!! If the dogs will let me, I'm going to sleep late, then I'm probably going to work on the fire department's website for a good chunk of the day. I have most of the info I need, and my target go-live date is the end of this month. And now one of the guys wants a website for his business. Eep. I don't need to actually sleep, right? 'Cause that's about all the "spare" time I have left!

Saturday was cloudy and about 8 degrees warmer than had been threatened... we started the day at 52 and cloudy and the temps dropped a bit over the course of the morning, but the rain held off other than a bit of really heavy mist about 2/3rds of the way through the course. I met up w/ a couple of work friends at the office and we carpooled downtown, lucking into a parking space that wasn't either too expensive or too far from the festivities.

By "starting time" I think we were still several blocks (and probably 20,000 people) from the actual starting line, but that was okay... we were there to have fun, not to set any speed records. :-) Spent a lot of the race reading the signs on various other participants' backs... especially poignant was the family walking in memory of wife/mom/sister/aunt who had lost her battle during the last year and who couldn't have been more than mid-30s. Seeing all the people wearing "Survivor" shirts really brought home just how many people this awful disease affects.

Lots of folks dress up for the race, so there were men in hot pink mohawks (and at least one guy with a bright fuschia beard), lots of bright pink feather boas and some really entertaining hats (the best were the baseball caps all "decorated" with different fancy bras), plus a lot of themed t-shirts ranging from the humorous to the serious and in-between ("Got Boobs? Get 'em checked!").

Pictures are here 2011 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and that's a public gallery... no Facebook login required.

Thanks again to all my friends who supported my walk this year! I was thrilled to be able to raise $675 for a good cause!

Oh yeah... the shopping... there was a lot of Race for the Cure merch for sale for those who were willing to brave the somewhat claustrophobic conditions in the merch tents, with (according to the tags) "at least 22.5% of the price" being donated to the Komen Foundation. I'm not a big fan of pink (that's an understatement) but they had a nice long-sleeved black t-shirt w/ a flock of gray ribbons running across it, led by just one of the ribbons in signature pink, so I picked up that, a pair of logo sock (which I'll wear for next year's walk) and an "Imagine life without breast cancer" armband.

My online friends have really come through for me in this fundraising campaign for my first ever participation in Indy's Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Can we get a little farther before morning?

It's gonna be cold and wet in the morning. Thanks to you guys, I'm over the $300 mark for donations, but I'd certainly feel warmer in the morning if we could push that to $500. :-) Donation Page

For those of you who've donated already... thank you so much!! Every time one of those "One of your friends has donated" emails shows up from komenindy.org, I get warm fuzzy feelings.

For those who haven't donated... can a few of you spare a few dollars? I know some of you can't afford to donate. Trust me, I totally understand that mortgages and groceries and car repairs are vital.

I promise this is my last post about this, at least 'til next year. :-)

(Update: While I was writing this, more donations came in and my total is $365 now! Rock on!!!)

Pre-reg for FilKONtario closes on Monday!

That's only a few days away. Do you know where your registration is? (And if not, why not? Go! Register now!!)

It's gonna rock, after all!

Whee! At this time two nights from now, I should be in open filk at Capricon, or possibly having a fast concert set run-thru with harperjen and sweetmusic_27 before decamping to open filk for the rest of the evening.

For most of the weekend, you'll be able to find me in the Capricon Cafe, where I have a set on Friday afternoon and where I'll be running sound for most of the other sets on Friday and Saturday.

Saturday night, we have Semi-Feral Mercy: Trouble Comes in Threes! (We decided that if Jen and I are "Half-Wild", then Jen, Amy and I are just Trouble. :-)) There will be harp! There will be fiddle! There will be guitar and percussiony bits.

We'll be doing songs you've never heard Wild Mercy perform! We may even be doing songs that we've never heard Wild Mercy perform (see earlier comment about a concert run-thru on Friday night... this would be why :-)). After all, we have to take advantage of having our very own fiddler, which doesn't happen nearly often enough, so we may go back to our roots and do actual traditional Celtic tunes. (Ooooh... aaaaah...)

Whatever happens, it will be fun, and you should totally be there!

(Oh, yeah... bring your voice, 'cause there will be singalongs.)

Home from Wild Mercy rehearsal, where we were picking our set list for Capricon. Taking advantage of having sweetmusic_27 there, it's a very fiddle-heavy set. :-)

Thinking back over 2010, I'm trying to give it the benefit of the doubt and remember the good stuff as well as the crappy stuff.

( the year that was... )

( and the year to come... )

There's more stuff that could go in both lists, but I think that's the most important bits.

May the new year treat us all with grace and compassion, and may everyone accomplish what they're hoping for in the upcoming year!

So... originally I had scheduled gallbladder surgery for the day before Thanksgiving, because the surgeon thought it would keep getting worse and therefore shouldn't be put off. But, you know, he's a surgeon and it's his job to cut. Me... I haven't had even the slightest twinge from the gallbladder since the first week in September (when it landed me in the emergency room for an evening), and I'm just not sure I really want to go through surgery for something that may or may not continue to be a problem. So I cancelled the surgery. In hindsight, this was a good thing, 'cause that freed me up to take a Semi-Feral Mercy gig this coming Wednesday, so Jen and I will be playing from 7-10pm at the Plainfield Claddagh. W00t!

Three hours. Damn. That's a lot of music. That's a lot of music without being able to rely on Barry's guitar chops or Sally's percussion. Hmmm... So there's been a lot of guitar practice in my week (and I have the ouchy fingertips to prove it!). Tomorrow, I drum for church in the morning, then Jen and I rehearse in the afternoon. Wednesday is the gig. Thursday, Thanksgiving at textdeviant's, for which I promised to make chocolate pastry cake. This could be complicated, since I won't get home 'til late on Wednesday, and the cake needs to set up overnight before being served. Meh. I'll figure it out. Sleep is overrated, right? :-)

Tuesday, I had a guy out to quote swapping my (existing, brought from prior house) heat pump and thermostat in to replace the plain A/C currently in the house. I'd have to have a new heater coil too, and the price turned out to be totally reasonable. Not something I can afford right now, but definitely something that can be planned for, and it will get me closer to not needing the blasted propane, since the heat pump can provide heat until temps are down to about freezing. I also acquired a Comfort Furnace freestanding ceramic heater which is currently heating the entire upstairs, and Thursday I came home early and met the chimney sweep, who gave the chimney and Buck Stove a thorough cleaning and pronounced them safe for use. So even w/out swapping out the heat pump, I may be able to get through this winter w/out paying for propane (I spent $1600 on propane last winter... I can't do that again!!). Haven't had a fire yet, but I did bring a good selection of damp firewood onto the back porch so it can dry out.

I've scheduled several shifts to work Christmas at the Zoo. Unfortunately, shortly after scheduling, I got an invitation to a drum event on one of the same evenings, so I may try to shift my schedule around. Currently scheduled for four shifts... Saturday, Dec. 4, Saturday, Dec 11 (this is the one I may reschedule), Tuesday, Dec. 21, and Thursday, Dec. 30. Working as fire pit monitor all shifts, 4:30-9pm, so come warm up and hang out w/ me if you come to the zoo on any of those evenings! :-)

I'll also be drumming for the UUI Winter Solstice again, which will be on Saturday, Dec. 18, this year, with a repeat performance on Sunday afternoon at the women's prison. Then I leave on either the 22nd or 23rd for a few days in Mississippi w/ the family for the holidays.

For now, I think I'll practice some more guitar. Learning cadhla's "Wicked Girls" for the gig. Yay!