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What went before: So, sewing group was fun, though perhaps a little short. I got to meet Carty McFly, a utility cart complete with wheels and enormous googly eyes. The official start time is 5:30 and the library closes at 7, so clean up was happening 6:30ish. However! We had a good group, especially for a first time. Two crocheters, two knitters, one quilter, and yours truly on the needle and hoop.

The cats were trying to get the Northeast Committee Cat on the phone when I got home, but technically Happy Hour was not late. In point of Actual Fact, it was Exactly on Time.

Still raining. And cold. Too cold.

Everybody stay safe; I'll see you tomorrow.

#

Wednesday. Raining. In case anybody cares, I'm really tired of rain. And? I accept no responsibility; the weather gods are NOT jealous of my lovely new sun chair.

Breakfast was cottage cheese and toast. Waiting for my second cup of tea to brew. Lunch -- I bought some chicken tenders which need to be baked and then parceled out into the freezer, so I'm guessing chicken and veggie will do.

I? Am a Very Tired Woman.

I have a Generated Letter from Maximus, which is charged by the Federal Government to make sure that Medicare is Following The Rules. Maximus makes it Very Clear that they are only interested in The Rules. Which means they're ignoring the substance of my appeal, as Martin's Point before them. So, I'll be calling the state insurance bureau today and see about getting an advocate. If there is no advocate, then I guess it's the papers.

<grumble>Just what I wanted to be doing with my time</grumble>

The gentleman I spoke to about painting my garage is supposed to stop by today and stare at the project under discussion.

I need to renew my library card, which if I'd known, I coulda done that yesterday.

There are three cats sleeping in my office, and one cat on the back of the couch, attempting to influence the flow of random event.

And that's what's happening here.

What's happening there?


rolanni: (Default)

What went before:  That? Was a very tight bit of storytelling, disguised as an aimless ramble.

And I might have not gone to see it if I had realized it was her farewell to Lou Reed.

Tuesday. Damp and warm. Trash and recycling have been escorted to the curb.

Breakfast was half a raisin-bran muffin and cottage cheese (I didn't get cottage cheese yesterday, since Shaw's does not carry my Preferred Sort). Lunch -- eh.

Last night's movie (Laurie Anderson's "Heart of a Dog") was Interesting; a little long for me, though I would be hard-put to cut anything. Well, maybe a few of the disorienting visual episodes, though, from what I know of Anderson's music, they're probably meticulously timed for maximum...something. Also, I was tired when I got there, so the "too long" could easily have been me, not the film.

The Colby professor, Dr. Katie Altizer (boy, they're making PhDs young these days), Applied Music Instructor and Collaborative Pianist, gave a talk based on the good parts of a much longer paper she'd written on the film. Her husband and baby were there to support her. Theater One wasn't packed, but nor was it empty.

Apparently these Cinema in Conversation episodes happen every now and then. I missed the first one, but there are three (?) more upcoming, so I suppose I should check the website.

Today, here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory, I'll be -- anybody? -- yes? Yes, you, in the yellow headband. Ah. Indeed, one's duty to the cats, but also? Yes, person with the green hair? Yes, thank you. Writing. I made a Huge Breakthrough, and suddenly the Ideas are Flowing. So, yanno, yay.

I -- what was that? What was the Huge Breakthrough? Oh. I know what the book's about. Which I often don't, so that's kind of interesting, if you happen to be interested in what the inside of my head looks like.

So, a boringish day hereabouts.

Who's having excitement today? Tell us all about it.

#


Ooh. Just heard an interesting story from Alan Hunter, hosting Classic Rewind, about Billy Joel, who apparently said in an interview (somewhere, somewhen, Mr. Hunter's recollection being unclear on the point -- and understanding that I'm paraphrasing the paraphrase), that you start out making music, and you're young and you have to strive, and you get a little single-minded about it, and you don't notice the passage of time, because you caught up in what you do; you don't notice that it's not only event that passes. I (Billy Joel) look at my pictures from Madison Square Garden, and I think, "That's not right. I got old."

And this is exactly what it feels like, thank you Messrs Hunter and Joel. Steve and I used to talk about the artists who had the privilege of living the "Life of the Mind," never realizing that we, too, were living such a life.

Steve never fully understood, I think, that he was no longer 30, and he couldn't come to terms with the fact that he couldn't lift That Thing anymore -- what was wrong with him? -- and I'm surely no older than 40, though a tired 40...

Some time back, I saw someone else talking about suddenly realizing that he was 70, but only felt, say, 40, and that, suddenly, some of the things his parents had done when they were old, made sense to him.

Random thoughts -- assemble!

Or, perhaps, random cats, assemble.  Much more restful.  Yesterday afternoon's cat census:

 

 

 

 

 

Today's blog post title brought to you by Billy Joel, "Still Rock 'n Roll to Me"


Sunny Thursday

Thursday, April 10th, 2025 11:17 am
rolanni: (Default)

BUSINESS FIRST!  Diviner's Bow by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, the 27th novel set in the Liaden Universe® of their own devising (ignore Amazon; it doesn't know how to count) premiers at #13 on the Bookscan new release bestseller list!

We couldn't have done it without you, so! Give yourselves a hand!

#

What went before ONE: The snow is melting nicely, and I've sketched in the beginning of a scene, and washed my robe, which may need to get washed again, considering the amount of cat fur still clinging to it. On the other hand, fur is warm amirite?

I was listening to the Spectrum Channel on Sirius, and the host was discussing the new crop of artists who are up for inclusion in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, which is one of Sirius' Big Things. This year INXS is on the list (I mean, why isn't INXS already in the Hall of Fame?), and the host, who is not someone who goes out of her way to speak ill of people, mentioned that she was pleased with the inclusion of INXS, and then said, "You know, I do try to separate the art from the artist -- in my business, you sort of have to -- but I don't think I'll ever forgive Neil Gallagher of Oasis, for his acceptance speech. You remember the one -- Mike Hutchence (of INXS) was giving the award and Gallagher, in his speech said, "Has-beens shouldn't be giving out [fucking] awards to gonna-bes." That, said mine host, and she wasn't wrong, was cruel. It was, in fact, ungracious, and then, she added, "A year later Mike Hutchence was gone, so I hope Neil Gallagher felt good about that. Anyway! Here's INXS -- "

Wow.

So! I guess I'd better empty the dishwasher and start warming up my soup for lunch.

How's everybody doing at the half-way mark on the day?

What went before ONE-point-FIVE: Just thinking about the acceptance speech thing, and -- I'm going to be giving an acceptance speech in a little over a month.

Mine's better than Noel Gallagher's.

Just sayin'.

What went before TWO: I'm not really sure what I got done today. Bits of this and pieces of that.

Got some correx entered -- oh. I had to rewrite a scene to make it plain that Val Con's being sneaky, for those who may have forgotten his core values.

Spent some time looking for something that I never did find. I hate that. And now I need to practice my speech again (trying to do this long enough so that it's more or less committed to memory by the time I actually have to stand up on a stage and speak), and do some ASL review. I'm of the opinion that the days aren't long enough, because it can't be that I'm wasting time. Sigh.

Everybody stay safe; I'll see you tomorrow.

#

Let's see. Thursday. Sunny and bound for warm. Last class of ASL Session One this evening.

Breakfast was potatoes fried with onions, cottage cheese, and grapes. Lunch will likely be a fish sandwich.

ASL review this morning. There's a load of laundry washing, because the basket was full and it offendeth me.

I have more correx to input, and some more scenes to draft by hand, so it's not like I lack for occupation.

So the book I'm reading is The Dreadful Duke, by Grace Burrowes, in which Our Hero is a sculptor. He's been doing this for a long time, and as he was in the position of having to do art in exchange for money, he has worked long hours and demanded much of himself. When the story opens, the second thing we are told about the man is that his hands hurt. And this remains an undercurrent of the story, that one's art may be beloved, but it will in the end break you.

This brought to you by, my hands hurt.

What's everybody doing today that's fun?

Below:  The Long Back Yard, this morning; obligatory cat pics


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