Sculpted Yarns

Checking in...

2009-04-08T11:00:00.003-04:00

Okay, so it is April, and I haven't posted sine December... I *thought* the worst was over, and in a way it is; but in January everything sort of all started sinking in at once. I had a lot of things go down last year, some I had control over, some I didn't, but the bottom line is that they happened. It is a lot to deal with. So I've been taking things one day at a time.

I ended up auditioning for a new musical thinking I needed to be around people, and I wanted to be involved but didn't want a big part, because I knew I wasn't focused enough for anything larger. I ended up with three small parts. I was right about not being able to handle anything larger, but in the end, we got through it. That show closed last weekend, and we are scheduled to do an original cast recording next week, which is super cool, especially for me being the Musical Theatre geek that I am.

One of my "best friends" (for lack of a better term for him right now) threw me a surprise party for my birthday, which was really nice, and there was a great turnout for it, and a number of people have told me they were sorry they couldn't make it. It was really nice, and unexpected (hence the "surprise" part...) The next day I had a Dr's appointment, which turned into 6 days of being poked with needles amongst other things (the timed bleed test was the worst). Turns out my platelets were low, dangerously so. Part of that 6 day stint, was 3 out patient day treatments at the hospital to get my platelets back up, and on the last day, they were up in a "normal range." they are still monitoring me, and at last check they were down again, but not dangerously so, but there were factors at play that didn't make the Dr surprised they were down.. so more monitoring before the medicine can be pulled back. I feel fine. I felt fine before, I was just bruising really easily and I don't tend to bruise, and I had red spots all over me, especially on my legs, I later learned were called "petechiae." I could tell the treatment was working when they started disappearing. Scary stuff. But they have been able to eliminate some of the more serious potential causes, so that is a silver lining.

Spring is here, and the outlook is good, much better than last year at this time at least. I'm looking forward to Summer and seeing friends, and maybe doing some traveling. I bought tickets to a U2 concert in the fall... so that is definitely something to be looking forward to.

are we there yet?

2008-12-22T20:29:00.002-05:00

Wow... yeah... it's been a year... strangely enough I feel pretty good. My head feels clearer than it has in a really long time. But first, let me update you on the last three months.. since I haven't blogged since October..

The night of the Vice-presidential debate, October 2, I went over to a friend's house to watch it, as I don't have TV right now, and he had T-voed it.. while I was there I ended up asking him to the Michael Bublé concert I think I mentioned in a previous post. He agreed and we went to the concert the following evening.. it turned out to be a nearly perfect first date.. we've been friends for nearly 3 years, but I'm still learning about him, and he really surprised me that night.. we've been dating ever since... taking things slowly.. which is really nice.. During October we attended a lot of plays and a fundraiser for our local arts center. Towards the end of the month, I was told that my father's chemo had stopped working, so I took a few days and went up to see him. Early November brought performances of a show I'd been in rehearsal for, and shortly after that closed was Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was hard. My father seemed much weaker than he had even a couple of weeks earlier, and that saddened me. Mom thought it best if I stay in a motel rather than at the house, which was probably better for my psyche, but I'm not sure if it was better for my dad or not.. that weekend while at a movie with a friend, (My dad had taken to going to bed as early as 7 pm) I fell going up the aisle to the restroom during the movie.. I wiped out.. faceplant and all.. my upper arm took the brunt of the fall, and fortunately it was nearing the end of the film.. I didn't realize how much pain I was in.. and once I'd returned to the theatre from the restroom, didn't pay a lot of attention to the film, and probably nearly passed out.. but didn't.. I went straight to the store afterwards and bought frozen peas to go on it since they don't puddle like ice does.. drove home the next day..

A week later, while I was carrying laundry downstairs to wash, I fell down about half my staricase, because my arm was still hurting me, I tried not to injure it further by landing on it again.. my elbow got caught, and I did another faceplant.. this time I'm surprised I didn't break my nose or something.. more iced peas.. the following night I returned home to find that my house had been broken into.. the police think it was kids looking for some quick cash, they went straight for the bedroom, and they did a number on it... lost some money and some jewelry.. mostly of sentimental value.. (like 4 of the 5 rings I made in February... and they got the "breakup earrings") My new beau was very good through all this.. he helped me clean up the glass cover the broken window, and change the locks, and has told me I'm not allowed to climb any trees, ride any motorcycles or horses....We had a really great time together at my office Christmas Party, which was on the 12th a Friday, that Sunday, I learned my father had passed away.... that party seems like an eternity ago now.. he was really good then too though, he came and got me out of the house and tried to cheer me up.. took me shopping at Target, and to dinner, we watched a DVD and before he left he asked if I were going to be all right that night, and that I should call him if I needed him, that he didn't mind..

Most of my cousins made it in for the Funeral, so that was a good thing.. seeing everyone together at once..something that will be even more rare in the future. The funeral was nice, as was the internment. We all went to dinner together and several of us had breakfast together the following morning as well. I stayed through the rest of the weekend and got to see some friends in addition to taking care of some stuff.

I think I'd be a lot more upset if I hadn't gone through all the other crap that has happened this year. I'm either worn out cried out and numb, or all the crap made me stronger to be able to deal with this or some combination there of.. I do know that new Beau has been a great help to me, and he keeps passing these "tests" and if he can deal with me like this.. in good times, it should be smooth sailing.. but I would like some time to test that theory.. but the cloudy head from the summer is gone, the intense emotional roller coaster is as well... I hope that is a sign of healing for sure.. and while there are no guarantees that next year won't be crap filled as well, it would appear I'm better equipped to deal with it now..

Happy Holidays everyone and have an especially Fabulous New Year.. I know I'm going to try...

Let it Be...

2008-10-10T10:01:00.003-04:00

Sometimes you just have to quit fighting things, and just let them happen... you might be pleasantly surprised..... :D

more on this to come...

Floating Along...

2008-09-28T14:07:00.005-04:00

I'm still here.. I'm a mess still and I keep wondering when that is going to improve.. then I realize it has improved.. I'm in a much better place now than I was 6 months ago, 4 months ago, and even 2 months ago.. heck, I'm better than I was two weeks ago.... But I'm still a mess... My head is clearer my focus is better (and not just because of new contacts/glasses) and I'm feeling a lot better about things and myself.. but I'm not as clear and focused as I should be normally... time and patience I guess...I'm not crying every day anymore.. and the emotional roller coaster is slowing and less intense. I'm happier more of the time, and able to talk about certain things now without tearing up or having that all too common this spring/summer searing knife feeling in my chest..

The show was very good for me.. the cast bonded well, and were a great support net for each other, which I really needed. And my character gave me a lot of confidence in areas that were needed as well. AND being around people was a tremendous help. I have my weakest moments when I'm home alone and lonely.. I don't miss the EX. I do miss having someone here, especially someone to help me with stuff. (Which the EX wasn't always so good at, but he did help out with stuff) I get overwhelmed with things I need to do, but that could be the lack of focus coming into play, and just general weakness from the whole ordeal. I need a vacation.

Photo of the Cast of The Art of Dining. I'm in the Eggplant and Black dress.

I've really been in the mood to dance... I'm not talking going out to a club and dancing.. I'm meaning in someone's arms.. you know the romantic kind like in the old movies.. (that isn't missing the EX talking either, because he never did this kind of stuff..).. I'm feeling starved for romance..(part of this might be coming from me wearing dresses everyday since sometime during the summer, but they help me feel better too.) I "won" tickets to a Michael Buble concert coming up soon, and maybe that will help cure then yen for dancing.. or at least subdue it some. I'm not the biggest Buble fan, but do like that style of music. {****Edited because a girl has a right to change her mind****} if the concert doesn't help, the annual arts ball is rapidly approaching... I'm very much looking forward to it this year.. I'll be able to stay and dance there, which I haven't been able to do in years past due to said EX. AND I have a VERY CUTE DRESS for this year's event.

I'm confidant the healing will continue, and maybe I'll be able to get on with everything with new focus and new perspective soon.. even more than I've already found.

I love you, my friends... Thanks for being there.

the world's a stage...

2008-08-07T00:41:00.003-04:00

It's amazing what the theatre can do... I've been particularly blue the last week or so, residue from the crap that has been going on all Spring.. And tonight I went to the theatre to consider auditioning for a play. It is a show I'd wanted to do, but after everything that has been going on, I wasn't sure I wanted to or was ready, so I went in thinking I'd observe, and decide and audition tomorrow if I decided that way.. I got there, before auditions started, walked out on the stage, and was upset for a brief moment.. Went to the rest room to collect myself for a moment, and returned to the house, as the others arrived. I filled out the form, and gave it a whorl.. The moment I set foot on the stage for the first read, everything melted away.. I've had this happen many times before.. Arriving to rehearsal and the stresses of the day disappearing.. It is actually part of why I do theatre, it is part of what caused me to reassess my relationship this Spring... But I really didn't expect it to calm and recenter me as much as it seems to have done tonight.. My mind feels clearer, my focus seems to be a bit more there, and I'm not feeling as wound up as I have been of late. I don't know that I had the best audition that I've ever had, but I don't know that that matters, I was relaxed, and did what I know to do.. And just got through it even the reads they wanted us to do cold... It felt good. It felt natural, and I feel more centered than I have in ages..so in some ways it was probably a very good audition.. I hope this calm is a sign of healing, and will still feel this way tomorrow... emotions have been raw of late, I'm doing well, but I've definitely been aware of the invisible contusions from the last several months... My friend Catherine was pushing me to go to auditions thinking it would be good for me, like getting back on the horse once you've fallen off.. I'm glad she did. I love my theatre family, they're wonderful, and feeling even better is fantastic...

Now I'm listening to the Cure, who I haven't listened to for ages, and that seems to be helping as well. Ahhhh it is good to be getting back to me...

Men Behaving Badly

2008-07-21T12:05:00.003-04:00

So yeah... there's this guy you see... and as he's moving his stuff out of his ex'x house... he tells her he's engaged.... no joke.. this actually happened.....

Butterfly.. But some days are better than others.

2008-06-21T22:43:00.001-04:00

In May, I ended a 14 year relationship. It was time. We still love each other and probably always will given the time and history involved.. We just weren't IN love anymore. That and there were other problems. In some ways, maybe it shouldn't ever have gotten off the ground, but it did, and I don't have regrets about it. He never really "swept me off my feet" as the saying goes, and I guess I had convinced myself that that was a Hollywood/fairytale convention and didn't really exist... But I saw the looks friends and relatives gave each other on their wedding days.. And I didn't have that.. I knew I didn't have it, but thought there were other things about the relationship that made it good.. Was I "settling"? Perhaps. Don't get me wrong, he is a great guy, he loved me, and continues to love me but not fully in ways that I needed. We both have our issues and from that were not as good of a match as we could have been.

During the time we were rehearsing for the show earlier this year (seems like ancient history now), I started seeing parts of myself I hadn't seen for YEARS. Decades almost. Feelings, and things about me.. And I wondered where they had been, since I'd forgotten or hadn't really noticed they had left. Basically, I was realizing I was unhappy, but hadn't really known that I wasn't happy. I was stagnant and complaisant.. I started to realize that there was probably more out there for me...

I was torn, tormented by these feelings. I had a 14 year relationship to assess. WAY longer than a lot of marriages these days... I sill loved him and didn't want to hurt him, but I needed to do what was best for me. I spent a good two months trying to get my head around it. The rollercoaster that was my emotional state was overwhelming at times. I did a lot of avoiding him, not knowing what to say, since I wasn't ready to discuss it, and needed to have a "plan" in case he walked out the day it was addressed. Financials were probably the scariest part. Can I make it on my own financially?

In the end, it got brought to light by a present he brought me. He was never a present for no reason sort of guy. I didn't mind that, but this out of character gift at this moment kinda put me over the edge. See he knew something was up because of the way I'd been acting, but didn't fully know what, hoping it wasn't him, but thinking it probably was... In essence he'd had time to prepare. (Since it wasn't the total shock to him that I was preparing for..) Anyway, it started the discussion, that ultimately a week later brought on the break.

We're still friends, right now we're still roommates (although he is on the couch now) there is some awkwardness since post-breakup he has already started seeing one of my "friends." (that is another story which I'm not going to broach here.. It isn't messy, it has helped me move on.. But I don't want to deal with her right now.) We have an estimated date for him to move and that is where most things stand right now.

I feel like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon..and that I've been living under a rock for who knows how long.... This event has totally brought to light my flaws, and things I need to work on about myself, I'm a perfectionist, I hold myself to an impossibly high standard, and from that, I beat up on myself mentally. I realize that now. So I was probably not the easiest person to live with given his own personal baggage and issues. I've been doing a lot of soul searching and trying to discover how I got to this point, and trying to find some confidence and self-worth.. Especially for this scary next phase I'm going into. And how to live and deal with it. Basically I REALLY want to get healthy for the next chapter for me. SO I can have a healthy foundation for the next relationship, whenever that may arise.

I have learned a lot over the last month or so.. A lot about me, a lot obout WHO my friends are, and that I have lots of friends and that by and large, People do like me.. People like me in ways I had no idea about. Some of them have been extraordinary in helping me get to where I am now. I'm far from healed, but am worlds better than I was even two weeks ago. And with that, I'm kinda finding out about myself in the process, and that I am worthwhile. And for that I'm quite thankful.

Some of the things various people have told me about myself or how they perceive me include: (and these are all from different people)

Gorgeous!
Warm
Warm Spirited (two people)
Classy Bitch (have to understand the symmentics of this one.. He means bitch in the woman sense, not in the Bitchy sense..)
A Lady (this was meant not just as a name for a woman.)
Smart
Funny
Creative

The last three I knew but it was nice to hear.. The others though.. Some of them threw me for a loop, (Gorgeous???!?!?!) but have helped me get to a better place... That yes there are people who care about me.. I've had several people give me "mom" advice.. (even had one give me a condom lecture for when I do start dating again.. LOL) and I've started to believe some of it for myself... Even that I can be and am gorgeous.. So this butterfly is emerging for the next phase not without bumps in the road still.. But we're getting there..

I'm alive...

2008-05-16T00:21:00.002-04:00

been a rough couple of months.. I'm coming out the other side now though.. been doing a lot of assessing, and soul searching, and I'm starting to carve the boulder I've apparently been living under.... It's been a roller coaster, but I think I'm feeling really good now..not that there may not still be some coasting left, but I feel better now than I've felt in at least two months, probably longer, and that is a good thing, and I'm grateful...especially to those who know what has been going on, and to those who've listened...most of them don't read this blog, but the ones who do... THANKS... to those who don't know, I'm not quite ready to talk about it... but I'm here, and working on getting happy...and I must say, I've got some incredible friends, and I love you all.

for your viewing pleasure...

2008-04-05T19:48:00.001-04:00

my favorite photo from the show...

Maybe I'll post some more later, there weren't a lot of good ones... but I like this one.

Into the Wild/Woods

2008-03-23T00:42:00.002-04:00

"In ‘Walden’, Thoreau says “I went into the woods not to escape life, but to discover that I had a life worth living”." --Emile Hirsch in an interview about "Into the Wild". I'm quoting Emile, quoting Thoreau here since I haven't actually read "Walden"... yet..plan to now though. But this quote in some ways mirrors some of what I've been feeling about my "Into the Woods" experience. The connection comes from the fact that I watched "Into the Wild" this week with some friends. It is one of the best films I've seen in a very long time. The cinematography is gorgeous, and there was a lot in the film that touched on nerves, at least for me...and I've been thinking about it a lot since I saw it.

How the quote relates to what I've been feeling, has to do with getting back some spark of soul that was kind of deadened in me in "the layoff year." The show has helped me feel alive again. Not just the sense of accomplishment of doing a big role, this big role, but in ways regarding life in general. It's difficult to put into words....it was and continues to be an eye opening experience.

That said, I'm taking on another new challenge, by designing the set for the next show. The Tech Director is actually directing the show, but he is going to work with me as I design the set for the show as well. It's a 2 person show, and a lovely show too.. so I'm looking forward to that challenge as well. I spent a lot of the day looking at one of his scene design books to see what ideas might strike from that. I'll probably read the script again tomorrow, before I start sketching anything out to let all of it incubate for a while. We had a good meeting yesterday though, and a lot of the things he'd started to suggest I'd already thought about, so I kind of feel like we are on the same page there. Yay for new experiences and challenges.

.. and home before dark...

2008-03-17T21:41:00.003-04:00

So the last 6 weeks have been something of a whirlwind.. and while I want to talk about teachers and families and some other stuff.. I need to back track before getting to those posts..

So remember the workshop I went to back at the beginning of February? Here are some of the results.. the rings produced over the 4 days by my studio:

This retreat is at a 4H camp out near the coast, and it is seriously like going to camp with a bunch of artistic adults.. it's awesome! The "cabins" have bunk beds, but are carpeted and the bathrooms are more like hotels.. so it isn't so bad. The food was better this year than it was last year, but it was still very heavy fare.. There were 2 ceramics workshops and a woodworking one with Roy Underhill.. one of my friends too that one, and had a ball. My instructor was Tim Lazure who teaches at ECU. Our studio laughed all weekend.. we had a fun time together, here is the motley crew of us:

Most people in there had some ring experience going in, I went in having NO idea how a ring was put together.. and this is what I returned with:

The class averaged 4-6 rings apiece..two of my rings are double banded so they took more time.. the one in the left corner and the 4th one from the left was the other. the far right one, has patterning on it that makes it look like a tree trunk, so it ties in with my "Into the Woods" endeavors...Speaking of which, the show is over now, it was a fabulous experience, and a lot of work, but I'd do it again in a moment. I loved it, even with all the uphill battles we went through with one thing and another..(actor changes, illnesses, injuries...time, schedules..) anyway, here is a backstage photo of me and my "husband" (he wanted a "happy" photo of us since all the on stage ones they took at photocall, were moments we were supposed to be unhappy/mad with each other... I don't have copies of those yet.)

Which kind of brings me around to the family business..I sort of touched on it in the last post, but really theatre people become family. It's difficult to explain for anyone who hasn't experienced it.. and yes, there is disfunctionality there some just like in biological families, but in the end something happens and that shared experience through rehearsals, and performing before an audience, where everyone has to depend on and trust everyone else to make it through, does something to everyone like magic. Some moments are of course more magic than others, and some shows are more magic as well.. but really there's nothing like it. And to me some of my theatre family members are the best kind of family to have, some fade with time but you do get to chose who you get to keep around in your family. Mine's a big family, I've been doing theatre for a long time. One of my earliest theatre family additions came four hours to see the show... She hadn't seen me perform in a really long time, since it has been close to 20 years since I've performed where she lives. (yikes! I'm feeling old at that statement.. by the way, I had a birthday last week..so I've grown little older and hopefully grown a little wiser.) They really enjoyed the show. She was lucky enough to see the original cast on Broadway. I'm glad, and it was nice to have old theatre family there with brand new theatre family, since this show made several happy additions to that family. We had another family member come the second weekend, I hadn't seen him in person for about 6 years.. he is doing some national tours after getting a degree in theatre, so for him to tell me how impressed he was with my performance, that meant a lot to me, since I've not known him to give false compliments. One of the shows we did together we watched a DVD of "Into the Woods" at a cast party, and now here we are many years later, and several of us from that show are IN "Into the Woods" it was a neat moment to reflect on that with him. This show means a lot to me, even more so now, and the people do too.. and to quote from another favorite composer/lyricist team. "There's a special kind of people known as Show People..." they certainly got that right...

The calm before the Giant

2008-02-27T23:20:00.004-05:00

Tonight is my last night off probably before things get crazy into high production mode (read:many intense late nights). This weekend will mark "double tech" which for those of you non-theatre folks is a day of necessary but often frustrating and tedious work. It's the day they set the light and sound cues for the show, and the actors go through what is known as cue-to-cue. In which, you jump from one cue to the next, sometimes, but not often skipping entire scenes of a show, often skipping entire entrances and exits... you really have to be paying close attention to know where you are.. and there is a lot of standing around waiting for adjustments of things and all that.. that all happens before dinner.. it is a LONG afternoon. Then after dinner (potluck) we do the first run of the show with lights and sound.. this is a LONG day for a normal show.. this show is SONDHEIM.. this show is LONG the director is estimating a runtime ( with intermission,) that is going to be close to 2:45.... After Double tech, we start adding props and costumes and makeup and then the show opens.. we still have MUCH work to do. Tomorrow we do the first full run off book..we'll see how that goes, it is always a struggle, what you know at home, sometimes disappears when you get it into stage context, and people tend to use their scripts as crutches, but you can't really start to act until they are out of your hands.. I've essentially known my lines for a couple of weeks, but because of blocking and stuff like that have been carrying my script around too. Tomorrow I'll probably have a cheat sheet for my entrances and exits. I don't leave too often, but we haven't run it enough for them to be in my head yet. This show is broken into 72 scenes, and then some of those have additional "french scenes" in them. (French scenes are shifts in characters interacting within a scene, to become mini-scenes within a scene it comes from moliere) so there is a lot to keep up with here, since I'm only not in 19 or so of them. I got through Act 1 without much trouble the other night, and that is the more difficult act for me, but that being said, my lines in act 2 tend to be "peppered" rather than conversations like they are in the first act, and so while fewer of them, sometimes this is harder since you REALLY have to pay attention..

For those of you who are familiar with the process this one has been even more intense.. we got our new director (who I think is fantastic, and had really jumped right in and taken the bull by the horns on this one) two weeks after the first read through. We were supposed to have been learning music during that time but the scores weren't in, and the vocal coach was sick, and so were many of the cast members, so not a lot got done in that time. This as I said before is Sondheim.. the legend.. the music is beautiful and very deceptive.. for anyone who's ever said Sondheim isn't easy.. I can now attest to that first hand. I love his music, I love this show.. but boy, it is not what it at first appears, and the lyrics are a bear to learn, but they are brilliantly written. I love his cleverness, always have. Everyone has been working tremendously hard (hence no knitting or pottery, although I do have a post about a ring workshop I need to write with photos) and except for a few minor things, we seem to have been making great progress at each rehearsal..but this is community theatre, and people have jobs, and school and families, and other circumstances out of our control...so it has been difficult to have everyone there all at once to work. (hopefully that will change this weekend, it HAS to) And this one is one that is really an ensemble work. I love ensemble shows, the casts always seem to become a big family from the shared experience, that doesn't quite get to the same level in a show that isn't as ensemble based (but it still happens on some level).. this one is no exception.. everyone is working really well together to get through this, and when we get through it, and we will, there will be even more bonding going on, that for me, is part of what I really love about doing theatre, the people and the process, the energy it creates, the making something come alive and telling the story to the audience. Yes it is hard work, don't let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise, stage actors earn their pay. But it is a lovely way to work.

Artistic new year.

2008-01-20T15:06:00.000-05:00

Okay, so lots of exciting things coming up for me in Artsland.. After waiting a week for the results of the auditions, I was cast as the Baker's Wife in "Into the Woods" although it is really an ensemble piece she is considered to be the female lead. I'm really excited about this, since I've wanted to do this show since 1988. (I was hoping for this role or the Witch) It is going to be a lot lot lot of work, Sondheim shows aren't easy, but I think they are worth it. I think we have a good strong cast assembled from what I saw of the auditions and from the people on the cast list who I already know. We're getting a new director and none of us has met him yet, which is a little daunting. We're going to be learning music for a while before he gets here.

In addition to that, I'm going to do that arts retreat I did last year, only this year I'm not doing pottery. The pottery I would have done, is with Ken Sedberry, and I had a workshop with him in August, since there were only 3 of us, we got a lot out of it, and this workshop is essentially 3 days, so I wouldn't be getting too much new material out of him at this point. If more time had passed maybe.. but not 6 months.. the other ceramics studio is hand building and figurative, which my work doesn't tend to be (and since I got the role in the show, I'm not sure how much clay dust I want to be breathing while I'm in rehearsal for a heavy singing role) So, I'm going to be taking a ring making workshop with Tim Lazure who teaches at East Carolina University. I'm looking forward to it, mostly so that I can maybe in the future incorporate some small scale metal work into knitting/fiber projects, or into my pottery pieces. But making rings might be really cool too. It's just such a great retreat, I've been looking forward to it all year..

And finally, so you have a photo for your viewing pleasure, here are the socks I' presently working on.

This is the azure sock pattern from the current knitty. The yarn is Panda bamboo wool in the Color Ultramarine. The flash brought out the color pooling more than it looks in real life. The yarn mostly looks tealy green, with some flecks of other color init. It is really soft and I like how it knits up, although it is easy to split if you're not paying attention. I'm almost done with the gusset increases now, but haven't taken any more photos yet. But they may get put on hiatus soon, with everything else kicking into gear..

Into the woods it's time to go...

Happy New Year!

2008-01-02T21:46:00.000-05:00

I finished these on Sunday night.. I love them.. :)

So I started the year with socks and ended the year with socks. I need to get faster at making socks, because I love wearing handmade socks. Currently I'm trying to decide which sock pattern I want to knit next, with which previously stashed sock yarn.

Go See Sweeney Todd.. it is GREAT!!! I was a little scared of what they were going to do with it. I have a few things I'd have like to have seen done differently, but all in all, it was quite good. It is Bloody, so it isn't for the squeemish. (unless the Squee is for Alan Rickman or Johnny Depp of course ;) ) I need to see it again in the theatre before it goes away though..

Back to work today it was hard to get back into the swing of things but at least it is Wednesday, so it is a short week... but no holidays until Good Friday... and hopefully there will be a lot going on between now and then.. ;)

pottery and knit update

2007-12-27T18:03:00.000-05:00

I forgot to show you the Pomatomus update...

and the finished "platter" from the workshop. (the swirl one isn't finished yet)

it bowed some in drying, but it turned out cool.

stripey scarf

2007-12-27T17:26:00.000-05:00

Happy Holidays. I'm thankful for a few days off. It's been a long year, good, bad, and busy.

Been thinking a lot about the family of my pottery acquaintance who was murdered in October. (she was stabbed by a homeless man while trying to find a shelter for him, she worked for meals on wheels, and was attacked at the church where they were preparing the meals, the other lady who was also stabbed and survived is home now, and recovering. the man is in jail awaiting trial) But my heart goes out to her family who are having a Christmas without their mother, or their wife... needlessly.. She was one of my cabin-mates at the pottery retreat I went to back in February. That paired with the VA Tech killings this year... Had it been during my college days, I might have known some of those kids.. a large percentage of college bound kids from my graduating class in high school went to Tech since it was only 45 minutes away (one if not both of those guns was purchased in my home town)....my heart goes out to those families as well, and the families of the other victims of this recent violence... There is a lot of crazy violence these days... scary... I hope next year will be better, or that something will be start to change in a positive way.

Personally I can't complain. We had a good year at the office and I got to do some good work. I'm excited about the upcoming theatre season both on our season tickets, and what is on the slate for the community theatre productions. We're getting a new director, since our previous one has been promoted. I don't know if they have hired someone yet or not. Auditions for the first show are supposed to be right after the first of the year, so we'll see..

Here is the scarf I'm working on at the moment. It's Noro Silver Thaw two skiens that I'm making stripes with. Some of it is pooling weird, but we'll see what the overall effect is before coming to any conclusions. (I feel like the section I'm on now had hotpink cool-aid spilled all over it from the general hue of that part) there are some more areas of that yellow green coming up so that won't look so out of place eventually. It's kinda fluffy itchy from the angora that is in it..

the last few weeks...

2007-11-11T20:44:00.000-05:00

Knitting

Black & White Ball

Pottery Workshop

with a little help from my friends.. ;)

2007-09-28T23:53:00.001-04:00

142.5

Sill here..

2007-09-22T17:11:00.000-04:00

For any knitters not on Ravelry yet, here is what I've been working on...

It's Pomatomus from Knitty

but only kinda.. since for the last two weeks or so I haven't had time for any knitting. I've been in tech rehearsals for a show I'm running lights for, and production mode for that show, which ends tomorrow, and have been doing some stealthy secret projects as well. which may be revealed at a later date.

We've finally had a little rain, but the water restrictions are still in tact and about to get stronger, so no felting has been done yet. I'm very much looking forward to some semblance of some fall weather.

10 to go

2007-08-13T00:11:00.000-04:00

progress photos..

Long side

end side

we had a week of 100+° weather 104° on several of the days, and what am I doing knitting WOOL... I must be insane.. we had a really busy work week too, but I did find some time here and there to knit, since this is to be felted it knits up really quickly.. that and it isn't on size 1's

Did go to pottery some this weekend, didn't accomplish too much except making some big messes, which I then got to clean up.. that's what I get for being so busy in July that I didnt' get in there much...

waiting for fall to arrive. Got the college theatre season brochures recently (the ones we go to sometimes anyway) and both are doing shows that I really want to see this season. Ones which don't get done often at all, whose music I like and haven't seen staged before... We must keep them on the radar and try to get to them. One is a Charles Strouse show (most famous for Annie) about Superman.. and the other, a little known Kander and Ebb show which was Liza Minelli's Broadway debut, (if I'm not mistaken...) "Flora the Red Menace". Both have songs in them I've used for auditions before. One of them is also doing Hello Dolly, which, I've never seen on stage, so that might be a treat as well.... things to look forward to with the cooler weather.

Lucky

2007-08-07T11:22:00.000-04:00

I can't believe my luck. When I started thinking about doing this bag with a verigated yarn, I wasn't 100% sure it was going to pool the way I wanted it to, and then I briefly thought about trying to figure out how to work the pattern from the middle of the base, so the color pool would continue properly up the long sides of the bag, since the pattern continues there. I soon realized that was insanity, and I decided to just do it as written. I had after all unwound all my Noro skeins to match up color variants, since this pattern calls for double stranding... that was insane enough..there are only a few places in the yarn where the colors don't match up directly, and then they end up blending into the next color properly, just a bit further on. My desire for the color to be the same at the edges of the base worked out though, I can't believe my luck here. LOOK!

The yellow edge is the ending edge, and it is already starting to go orange, and I have started the new rounds (after picking up stitches and all that) so that the yellow edge was the first knit in the round, so that by the time I got to the orange edge, the yarn had already gone orange. WWWEEEEEEEEEEE! I know the pooling stripes on the body will be smaller than they were on the base, but it seems to be working out kind of how I'd envisioned it. I like it when the plan comes together!

PS. the color here is a little better than the previous photo, but still isn't really accurate.

WHEW!!

2007-08-05T18:17:00.000-04:00

July= out of town family wedding, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie, visiting relatives, seeing "What the Butler Saw" in Williamsburg, seeing "The Laramie Project" here in town, lots of overtime at work, dealing with finding contractors/repair people for some house issues, the 5th year anniversary of buying said house.. et cetera

This weekend, We've had the main part of the house repairs done, and I attended a Pottery workshop.

I love workshops, you get to see how different people work, pick up new ideas and new things to try, and just get a fresh perspective on things. This one was no exception and we had a good time. It was nice that it was small, although he did a lot more demos and we did a lot less hands on stuff than I was anticipating, but I think I learned some good tips for improving my work. He left pretty much all the stuff you see in the photo for us to divide up amongst ourselves and finish glazing and such. The center is getting the BIG carved platter, and the faceted vase in front of me. (striped shirt) Individually, I received the Pitcher in full view, the smaller "zebrea bowl" (which is the one with the porcelin base with the stone ware stripes) (qeltic aka "Lola" got the Stoneware base with porcelin stripes next to it. the opposite of mine) We all got one of the smaller stoneware bowls and all have mugs that aren't pictured. I will probably only bisque fire the "zebra bowl" so that the colors stay. He wood fires his work, but we only have an electric oxidation kiln at the center. I did throw a bowl, in the style of, but not as big as the one you see in the photo here. My bowl started out bigger than it ended up, but when I tried to do the rim technique he's shown us, I messed it up, and ended up taking almost two inches off the top to "begin that part again" as it were. So now, I have a BUNCH of things that will need to be glazed and fired. since I'd been saving some of my bisqued pieces for the workshop.

Lest anyone thinks I've stopped knitting, I did a scarf in the last two weeks for a co-worker who was leaving and going to colder climates. (no photos there. I didn't manage to get any before giving it to her) but I've started the Noni Prism Bag. (the large one.) here is the start of the base.

The color isn't really correct here, but it is Noro Kureyon color 182 a rainbowish color palette and Cascade 220 color 4002, which is kind of a charcoal gray. I was hoping for a stained glass kind of look, and so far, the base hasn't disappointed me, although I'm aware that when I start the body of the bag in the round, the color pool "stripes" will be more narrow.

Siliness

2007-07-02T21:18:00.001-04:00

You Are the Thumb

You're unique and flexible. And you defy any category.
Mentally strong and agile, you do things your own way. And you do them well.
You are a natural leader... but also truly a loner. You inspire many but connect with few.

You get along well with: The Middle Finger

Stay away from: The Pinky

What Finger Are You?

air brush

2007-06-15T21:29:00.000-04:00

My first trial of the airbrush glazer is a success! Here are the results.. my ever favorite Floating blue over white, although this is a darker clay than I normally use. I actually think this might have been the earthenware low fire clay, which I fired to cone 6 (oops) so it warped slightly, but I'm still happy with the results. The little swishy ribbon on the side is actually an indent in the clay, not just a glaze effect. It was one of the techniques we learned at that workshop.

Edited to add: I forgot to give the dimensions of this bowl. It is about 5.25 inches tall and 8.5 across at the top rim.

texture and tea

2007-06-14T21:30:00.000-04:00

Here is the latest teapot. This one is made from red clay, and glazed in a cone 6 ketchup red glaze fired in oxidation. (I still haven't glazed the elephant teapot. He hasn't yet told me what kind of glaze he wants to have.... ) anyway, Teapot:

The bricky red color on the handle, spout and lid, is mostly clay body with a minimum of glaze on it. I coated the whole thing in glaze and wiped some of the glaze off on those places so the texture would hold up better. I'm pleased with the results and will probably use this technique again.

I'm glad David Hyde Pierce won the Tony for best leading actor in a musical. The awards were pretty boring overall since The coast of Utopia won most of the play category awards, and Spring Awakening won most of the musical category awards. Not that perhaps they weren't deserving, but it makes for a boring evening of award viewing. I'm still not a huge fan of the score from Spring Awakening though. It was refreshing when Julie White won her tony for Best leading actress in a play. She was a joy to watch, as it came pretty unexpectedly to her, since she was in the running with the likes of Angela Lansbury, Venessa Redgrave, Swoosie Kurtz and Eve Best... steep competition. Christine Ebersole won for leading actress of a musical one of the only musical categories Spring Awakening didn't have a nomination in.

I do want to know what was up with letting Fantasia sing though.. she was good, but that isn't the point, she has gone into The Color Purple as a replacement, and gotten very good reviews, but The Color Purple was part of last year's awards. They did give a special Tony to the theatre where Color Purple started, but still... what's up with that, when Legally Blonde which was up for some awards, including an actress in a best Leading actress in a musical category, and best book, and scores of a musical... WHY not let them perform?? especially after telling them they could, then rescending the offer.. It may be a fluff piece, but if it gets some young people interested in going to the theatre great! At least it isn't a juke box musical.

Work is still Insanely busy, been working lots of evening hours and stuff like that, but we are having a better time at the office lately. And we've been doing some good work, which is a great thing.

July is shaping up to be even busier than expected. I now have a job to do for my cousin's wedding, which I'm happy to do of course. And our annual visit to see my aunt and uncle is falling in July this year too... I'm ready for the "vacation"

of theatre and learnings...

2007-06-06T12:24:00.001-04:00

Time for a content worthy post. Life is crazy, but it is time..

I'm rooting for Curtains at this weekend's Tony Awards. I've been a fan of Kander and Ebb's music for a long time, and while I haven't actually seen any of the current nominations, I have to pull for this show, as it is the last of their collaberations, since Mr Ebb sadly passed away in 2004. I like David Hyde Pierce from his Frasier days, and like the idea of the script, or at least what I know about it, so here I am rooting for them.

I have heard the cast recording of Spring Awakening, and selections from Gray Gardens, the forerunners in the musical competition, and neither excites me terribly at the moment. Especially since I have seen a staged production of the play Spring Awakening the musical is taken from, and am finding it hard to believe it is this "joyous" musical some of the critics have called it. I am looking forward to seeing their musical number to see though, maybe it will change my opinion. I've no doubt it will win some big awards, as the Drama Desks tend to be a fairly good Tony gage, although they include off-broadway, which the Tonys do not.

I'm a little annoyed that they won't be allowing any numbers from Legally Blonde to be performed, as apparently, you have to be nominated for the big "BEST" award to get to do musical numbers at the Tonys, and while Legally Blonde has been nominated for a number of awards, BEST new Musical is not one of them. (I'm sure it is a "fluff" show, but it could be a fun fluff show) Personally, as someone who loves theatre, but rarely gets to NYC but does attend touring productions, I'd rather see scenes from the plays, and musical numbers from ALL the shows that got significant numbers of nominations..(or at least nominations for best actor and actress and stuff like that as well even) It would inform me more about the shows and maybe get me to New York to actually SEE some of them. While I appreciate the actors and their speeches, I'd rather see the airtime go to the SHOWS. The network had similar ideas, and they are in a tiff with the Tony people over it. The network wants better ratings for the Tonys, which I certainly think this would help with. BUT.. They also need to realize theatre is a very specific market, and only a limited number of general Americans outside of the city have seen or even heard of most of these shows. (another argument for the scenes/musical numbers over the speeches-- raise their awareness and interest by showing this stuff...) They need to think about too, that for theatre people, in some ways the Tonys are treated like the "Superbowl." What I mean by that is, often times, it is an event that people get together to watch in groups, especially community theatre groups. The Tony website even promoted that until last year. They had places to talk about what you were doing for your Tony party. (I've done one myself most years for the last 8 years or so, I don't have the time this year to fool with it, but I will be watching) That needs to be taken into account when the network is looking at the ratings, parties mean perhaps fewer TVs tuned on, but that doesn't correlate to people necessarily. I'm not naieve enough to think that it has Superbowl level viewing, because it doesn't. But I'd venture to say the ratings show lower than the viewer count. This is such a niche market to begin with, but casual viewers might tune in if the numbers and scenes were there, over speeches by actors who by and large middle America doesn't know, sorry actors, that's the way it is unless you've done some film or TV work..(I'm a theatre geek and I'm pulling for David Hyde Pierce...).

Watch on Sunday and see for yourself. For more info on the Tonys and to see the nominations, you can visit: http://www.tonys.org

Okay changing topics now.

I went to a really great multi-day pottery workshop during the winter. I didn't feel like I got a ton out of the actual teaching at the time. I pushed myself to do some things I personally hadn't done before, but overall, didn't get a lot of "new teaching" since I had seen most of it before, even if I hadn't directly applied it. The instructor's work, I like a lot, but there are things about it, I'm just not going to do in my own, and that is ok. Part of what made it so great was the people, and the atmosphere, and getting away, and all that. Going into it I thought I could get a lot out of this instructor, and as it turned out I didn’t feel like I did, but not through any fault of his. But it was about pushing myself to the next level, which I felt like I did do, or started to at least, even if the techniques weren't new. See, where I generally work, I'm one of the better throwers, but my work is by no means, perfect. I still have a lot to learn. Here, I felt like I was one of the worst throwers, so there was the incentive to push yourself, and sometimes that is what it is about. (plus the clay we were using was very different to what I'm used to and I didn't like the results I was getting, still don't but using that clay has helped my throwing the stuff I do like.) The reason I bring this up, is that I've gotten some information on who may be teaching next year, and my informant considers this potter a "god" and I'm looking at their work on line and thinking, "Why?" I respect and value the informants opinion, and realize there may be something to it I'm not seeing in images on line rather than seeing it in person, but one thing I've learned over the years, is that there IS something to be learned here. Maybe there is, in fact MORE to be learned from this person whose work appeals to me overall less. Maybe there is something behind it or some technique that can be applied to my own work, that does take it to the next level, and keeps it from looking like this potter's work, since, I don't WANT my work to look like theirs anyway. What's the point in that? There are things to be learned. Guess I need to start saving my dollars to get back there next winter...

THEATRE

2007-05-29T13:15:00.000-04:00

I saw this on a friend's site, and since the TONY awards are coming up quickly, here are my results....

You scored as Supporting Role, You are the Supporting Role. You know you're just as good as the lead...it's only time, right? Keep it up! You'll get your chance to shine.

Supporting Role

70%

Stage Manager

65%

Chorus

65%

Lead Role

65%

Techie

60%

Costume Designer

55%

Which type of Theatre Person Are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

and taking it again...

You scored as Lead Role, You are THE lead! NO-one else comes close! BUt you better watch that ego...What goes around comes around pretty quick.

Lead Role

85%

Supporting Role

75%

Stage Manager

65%

Chorus

65%

Techie

65%

Costume Designer

50%

Which type of Theatre Person Are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

Spring Flowers

2007-05-09T13:37:00.000-04:00

Life is insane.. here's a photo from flowers from my garden.. more update later....

tea for two...

2007-03-14T22:40:00.000-04:00

This is actually my second teapot. The first one hasn't been bisque fired yet. It was started at the workshop I went to last month, but I finished it in the studio here. It holds between 10 and 16 oz of water. ( I wasn't sure if the cup I checked the fill water in was 12 or 16 oz.) I'm pleased with the way it came out.

My life has been CRAZY busy for the last month or so.. work has been REALLY busy to the point that many nights I've brought stuff home with me, in addition to play rehearsal and tap and pottery classes. The play is in performances now, and we'll finish up this weekend. I'm having fun with the cast, but will be happy to have some time to breathe again. In the meantime, I've had a birthday, my cousin had her baby, my uncle is cancer free (now we just need my dad to get there). No knitting has been happening. I have done some pottery, and thought a lot about some other artistic endeavors, but not much has been put to paper, but I did finally make a signature stamp for my pottery. ( a mere 2+ years after I started thinking about doing it) I've been thinking a lot about mixing media, not in the collage sense, but thematically or illustrating or using graphic and printmaking techniques on the clay. I'm very out of practice drawing wise, so I've been considering the drawing journal again, and trying different illustration techniques and seeing what materializes. Several months ago, I did a portrait one evening and it didn't turn out too badly, but I do need to get back in the swing of things.

We did get to go out for Indian the weekend before my birthday. It was a place about 45 minutes away, which is still closer than going to Raleigh for it.

Knitting Update..

2007-02-16T23:54:00.000-05:00

My life is CRAZY Busy right now. Work is really busy, play practice is in full swing (we open in 3 weeks) Tap class started back this week, as did pottery class.. in addition to the retreat I went on last weekend.. then I had 2 calls for new freelance this week. BUSY BUSY BUSY... I still have to finish the cuff on my socks.. hopefully in the car tomorrow on the way to Raleigh to see Light in the Piazza and for "Valentines" Dinner. But additionally I've been working on Northern Lights. This one is harder to work on a lot since it is a charted pattern, and only my second fair isle, so I have to pay attention. (I've got the palm side memorized for now, but the back is a pay attention place.. and since I'm doing them two at once on two circs, I have to pay attention to where I am) anyway, here are some progress photos..

The color on the first is a little better than on the second, the real color is redder than the first and not as red as the second. Maybe I'll have them done before June.

In other news, The teapot is drying and should be bisque fired in the somewhat near future. We didn't forget all our tap steps over Christmas Break, the play seems to be coming along, I have to go to my cousin's wedding the weekend the next Potter Movie comes out, but I'm thankful they aren't getting married the following weekend, which is when the next and final book is coming out. Sunday I hope to go to an organ concert where the woman is going to improvise to the silent film of "Phantom of the Opera" I heard her concert last time she was in town, and it was great, so I'm looking forward to that. OH! I've been informed I've won 2 Addy awards. The banquet isn't until next week, so I don't know if they are gold, silver or what.... I only entered 2 pieces, so that is pretty good return I'd say. I think they let people know early in some cases to make sure they come.. So next week will be busy too. Late march things should slow down a little... after the play is over..

Pottery Camp

2007-02-11T21:21:00.000-05:00

I got to go to Pottery Camp this weekend! Actually, it was a retreat called "Cabin Fever Reliever" and was held at a 4H camp near the coast of NC. (we got to sleep in bunk-beds and all, but fortunately the bathrooms were in the rooms and not a latrine down the trail) It was COLD but fortunately the weather held out and it was pretty at least. Our main activities were indoors in a pottery studio though, 4 days of it. There were 4 studios of 6 that were offered that were held this session; of those 2 were clay based, one metal work, and the other photography. The clay groups shared information, and I'm really happy they did, as we got a lot of useful information out of both instructors.

There were 8 people in my immediate studio, and we bonded pretty quickly. Everyone was really nice and those of us staying on site worked in studio in the evenings after the presentation and group activities. We had a bunch of skill levels in the studio, and I think we all learned from each other as well as from Don Davis our instructor. We were mostly throwing techniques in our section, and Lana Wilson's section was hand-building. They made some beautiful layered texture boxes. (all of the instructors were fun in the group activities.) Our biggest challenge was a large pulled handle for a teapot. We all made other things, but most of us went home with teapots. I've tried pulling handles before, but this was my first successful one, and a big one at that. I also threw some lids on my own for the first time, and threw those off the hump which was a new technique for me as well.

Anyway, here is a photo of the put-together but un-finished in the detailing, teapot shortly before it got packed up to take home, where it will be finished.

We used two new kinds of clay for me. A red earthenware, and this one the teapot is in, which says it is a brick red. I'm interested to see what it fires up like, because right now it has a yellowy tint to it. The red earthenware was sticky and had really sharp grog in it, and wasn't a lot of fun to throw, but this Brick Red clay is nicer, still a bit sticky though. I can't wait to finish this and see how it turns out.

Cousins..

2007-02-04T14:46:00.000-05:00

Teddy had a visitor this weekend..

Pam and Kris came to visit us this weekend and they brought with them Teddy's cousin, Bear. (Kris took the "Family portrait shot" of all of us, and I don't have a copy of it yet.)

We had a really great time, saw "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and did the yarn shopping and bookstore going in Raleigh. They toured the Arts Center, where Kris took loads of photos, and Nicole joined us Friday night for dinner and knitting. It was great to see them in person.

The opening song in DRS was different than what any of us were expecting. They cut the one they used on Broadway and have a different one on the tour. We're wondering if it is pared down because the cast may be pared down for the tour, or if there is another reason for it. The original makes reference to several characters which are likely chorus types in the show, and here the main dancer chorus was 4 girls and 4 guys..but there were other chorus types in the show too, but probably not as many as in NY.

Bought some lovely inky blue malabrigio yarn, (color called taureg) and a shawl pin thingy. I'm not sure yet what the yarn is going to be. I worked on my socks a lot this weekend, and am just over an inch into the cuff. I did some work on Northern Lights this weekend, too, but only 3 rounds or so, so not a lot of progress there, to many distractions for that fair isle pattern to get too far.

I've been given a really cool opportunity for a neat workshop next weekend. I'll post more about it when I know more and know for sure if it is a done deal or not.

Busy Season

2007-01-06T16:19:00.000-05:00

Lots has been going on throughout the holidays. Traveling in November and December, in additition to normal at home holiday stuff. We hoseted a holiday party, and I got a new boss, when my old one gave up some responsibility at work for health reasons, and then decided to leave the company alltogether after the new boss had been there for a few weeks. I was recognized for 10 years of service to the agency, (even with the layoff and re-hire) which was really nice, I wasn't expecting that, but it included a bonus check which is appreciated. Work has gotten really busy too, but I'd rather be busy than bored.

Here are some formerly promised images before I get too far into this.. The more or less finished feather vase, the feather lines didn't come out completely, but you get the idea. I really want to get peacokck feathers to put in this vase though.

Next we have a project I did one of the days I took off when I was supposed to be cleaning for the Christmas party... a topiary. It took the better part of an afternoon, but I'm super pleased with the results, even if more of the glue ended up on my fingers than on the topiary I think, and hot glue hurts sometimes.

The niece and nephew at Christmas.. aren't they cuties? They were really excited for Santa to come.

And one of our Christmas presents from my mom. She got this chiar reapolstered for us. The guy did a great job on it, and he thinks the chair is over 100 years old. All I knew was that my grandmother had it at her house and then my parents had it reapolstered when I was in jr high and it was in our house since then, and now she has had it recovered again for us. I got to pick the fabric, so that was great, since I feel like I have some big people furniture now. Most of our stuff is hand me down stuff from when I was in College, and still has "other people's" coverings on them, so nothing is entirely my taste. (maybe one day when I win the lottery that will change. ;) ) She actually got 2 done for us. The other one is boxy and from the 1940s similar fabric colors although the print is circles. I like the striped one better, but they are both great.

Next we have the more or less finished Hoover (the edging hadn't been done in this photo, but the knitting was through FINALLY! since it had been on the needles in various forms since APRIL) I love the way it looks, but won't be doing any more double knit items for a while. It was given to it's recipient when we were in VA for Christmas, even though he was born in November. I hadn't finished it until just before Christmas, so needless to say there wasnt' any Christmas knitting done for this year.

Next we have my November/December Pottery project, they were a process.. Textured trees, they are reminiscent of Dr Seuss, and Hooville, or the dancing mushrooms in Fantasia. I started them after seeing a tree decoration I really liked in a catalog, and thinking they might be good for gifts, but they look so fun as a "forest" that I may have to make some others as gifts for a later date. They look nothing like the tree that was the original inspiration, and maybe oneday I will get to make one more like that, but these are fun and full of movement, which the photos don't necessarily show the best. They also turned into a project in texture, that was heavily influenced by the Kathy Triplett workshop I did in the fall.

After Hoover was finished I got to start on a pair of socks. I was able to work on them at a new year's day party at a friend's house where I actually got quite a bit done on them. (but on size 3 needles, progress takes a while.) At this party, I got to meet a friend of our host, who it turns out, not only went to Design school with me (graduating during my first year there), but also works at my semi-local yarn store. (at least the one I prefer to go to) And I'd seen her there the Friday before when I met up with Yorkie, on her annual visit to the states and the in-laws. Anyway, Denise brought along her knitting and worked on a dishcloth (the Mason Dixon one on the Peaches & Creme Ball Band) while I worked on my toe up socks. I'd really only brought them along to knit on in the car in the travel time to and from Raleigh, but since there was another knitter there, we sat and knitted and chatted away. Not a bad way to start the new year. Although I haven't had a lot of opportunity to do any more on them this week. But Teddy wanted to model the progress.

The yarn is Koigu K some number of P's and an M. one of the balls has a lot more of the red purple in it than the other, but the funny thing is they seem to be pooling similarly opposite. That is where the one is pooling the darker red purple, the other is pooling the lighter blue. it is kind of funny and cool at the same time. Once side of the sock is more obvious for this than the other.

In other news, I auditioned for and was cast in the upcoming musical at the theatre. The show is a musical version of the ugly duckling story called "HONK!" it won the Olivier award in London as best new musical the year it came up for it (sometime in the 90s) (the Olivier is their version of the Tony) It never came to Broadway, I don't think. Anyway, everyone in the cast is some sort of animal, with the majority of the cast some sort of bird. I'm playing a hen, but that is about all I know at this point, since it has been 2 years since I read the script, and rehearsals don't start until tomorrow, so I don't have a script yet. I'm not one of the big principals, I do know that. This is a good thing, given that work is still slated to be kinda crazy for at least another few weeks. (theatre is stress relief though)

Went to the latest gallery opening last night, which kicks off the 50th anniversary year for the arts center, and there was some AMAZING naked raku pottery in one of the shows. I got to meet the artist, but didn't get much insight into how to get the desired results, but with nkaed raku, as with regualr raku it is a lot of trial and error. But now at least, there is an example at least for a little while, in the gallery of a finish I want to achieve with some of my work.

That's enough for now. I'll try and update again before February, but I've been bad about it lately.

Christmas Christmas Time is here...

2006-12-20T23:06:00.000-05:00

Since all the "cool" knitty kids are doing it I thought I'd post this Christmas meme I got it from marymac who got it from our buddy across the pond Peri and several others have posted it as well.. Anyway, here it is:

NAME: mtwelovett

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Eggnog, but only one glass or so, and only at christmas, I do like hot chocolate at other cold times of year... I do miss my grandmother's custard (drinkable.. so it was eggnog-like)

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrapped usually, unless it is something of some odd hard to wrap shape

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? colored, although sometimes solid colored is nice, like all blue and green, or something like that.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No. it't too high up in the trees to obtain ;)

5. When do you put your decorations up? This year, shortly after Thanksgiving since we had a Christmas party at the house.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? hmmm... VA smoked ham biscuits, we generally only eat these at Christmas and Thanksgiving....

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Dancing around to the 8-track of the Carpenter's Christmas Album, or listening to the reel to reel christmas tape my dad had.. we danced to the Carlie Brown Christmas Record too, but that was at a friends' house.... that or decorating the Christmas tree at my grandparents' house with all the cousins then going with them rollerskating and having a sleepover in my grandmother's living rooom with all the cousins (there were 8 of us 9 if my second cousin came)

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Don't remember... it just sort of happened I guess...

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? one when we were kids, but now only if we are visiting someone we won't see the next day.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? mini tree has mini glass ornaments, with a wire star on top the bigger tree has a mix of glass ornaments, bear ornaments, and other "arty" ornaments. also with a star. I have some disney and character hallmark ornaments I've collected over the years, but we didn't hand those this year.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it if I don't have to be someplace in it.

12. Can you ice skate? I could a long time ago, haven't tried recently, but I guess I still can. Spent a lot of my early days on roller skates, and could at that time ice skate.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Zack the Black Seal (sealion actually) that was a handmade stuffed animal from a craftshow. he's at least 36" long and 24" tall, very well made. Got him from my grandparents in the mid to late 70's and I still have him.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? catching up with friends that you may not see or hear from the rest of the year.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? hmmmm...pumpkin pie at Thanksgving, but Christmas... I guess I have to say my grandmother's oatmeal cookies, but cookies in general.. oh and toffeee... mmmmm

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? baking cookies

17. What tops your tree? mini tree: wire star, other tree wire / beaded star

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Both. I like picking out gifts for people but I like getting prestents too.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? I like a lot of Christmas Music. some of the faves include Little St. Nick, Have yourself a merry little Christmas, It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, Angels we have heard on high, Carol of the Bells, Go tell it on the Mountain....

20. Candy Canes… Yuck or Yum? small ones yum. big ones are too much.

Happy Holidays

Bad Blogger Photo update

2006-11-30T10:08:00.000-05:00

Since I've been a bad blogger lately, here are some photo updates for you.

From the last Raku firing: (I didn't get the best results at the firing, I had a couple blowouts, and some of the glazes went really weird, I will post a better photo of the feather vase though..eventually)

This piece will hang once I get it on a cord. It is modeled after a brown one my Grandmother had from probably the 60's that if I had to guess came from the Williamsburg pottery. She had a series of animals.. a tiger and a lion as well, the lion hangs in my kitchen now...

here is the feater vase in the reduction:

one of two masks I did:

and on the knitting front.. the ever endless Hoover has been the biggest time eater recently, since it HAS to be fiinished now that the baby it is for is here. But I'd started "My So Called Scarf" in Crystal Palace Musique in colorway Lagoon:

And a photo of Robert and I at the Art Auction Masquerade Ball. I did buy some art in the silent auction, the piece I wanted in the live auction went over my spending limit though.

more Raku business

2006-10-26T22:10:00.000-04:00

Before we get to the Raku, I love this little vase, and you didn't get to see it properly before...

These three are my firings from last night's raku fire. Two of the pieces use a new glazing technique I was trying out. I'm happy with the results, although the second glaze we've discovered melts at a highter temperature, so didn't melt all the way, and was still producing texture, which is cool, but not the overall desired effect. I'm not unhappy with them, but would have liked for that glaze to have worked right. They are going to tweak it some before the next firing though.
Click on the image to see inside the pots

Here is a closeup of the bowl that was on the left in the previous shot.
Click on the image to see inside the pot

Closeup of the one on the right in the trio photo...

The inside of the middle one... This glaze is called Hawaiian Blue, and is quite lovely.. but is the one not melting completely. When it is correct, it will still produce these lovely colors, but won't be as bumpy textured, although will be more matte finish than high gloss... which is part of what I like about it.

I work in advertising, and do outdoor boards all the time, but not often do I get one I designed from scratch... this goes with the ball materials which is happenining this weekend. This is a "poster" board meaning it is still put up with a bunch of sheets of paper put together instead of vinyl like a lot of them are these days... it has rained a bunch since this one went up, so it looks a little worse for wear, since I didnt' get it photographed before the rain came... but here it is...

We're looking forward to the event, it is going to be fun.

And finally for Halloween: Here's a friend's mask in the Raku Reduction bin...

Recent pottery

2006-10-18T23:16:00.000-04:00

recent pottery cone six, purple glaze:

Raku kiln opening:

Hawaiian Blue vase:

Snowman back:

Together (with snowman front)r:

of textures and Terra sig...

2006-10-08T19:59:00.000-04:00

Lots has been going on. I had a great audition last week for "Lion in Winter" but wasn't cast anyway. I must not look 61 ;) that's all I'm saying on that right now. The last two weeks or so, I've been having trouble with people messing with my pottery on my shelf in studio. Not really malicious messing, but messing nonetheless. That is, I've come into studio to find my pots that were on my shelf covered up where no one should have come into contact with them, uncovered and pinched in. The neck of a bottle was grabbed and squeezed enought to have hand prints indented into the clay. The vase the following week had similar finger marks at the lip. Both of these were more or less fixable, but the point is, I shouldn't have to fix them. #1 rule over at the theatre, IF IT'S NOT YOURS DON'T TOUCH IT!!!! Some other people need to know about that one too.

Anyway, I picked up my Art that I purchased back earlier in the summer. The show finally came down. I love it, although I'm still not sure where it is being hung in my house, it's in the living room right now. The new shows that were hung in it's place at the Arts Center, had their opening on Friday night. The Art runs the gamut from watercolor to whirleygigs, photographic to abstract. The opening included a reunion style dinner with chicken done several different ways, collards, green beans, rolls, sweet potatoes, and of course dessert. After dinner was the premier of the Signature Dance Company. They did a 30 or so minute piece in homage to the artist of the biggest show that was opening. (the abstract stuff) I know 4 of the six dancers, have taken classes with two of them, and the other two work at the arts center, and some of them helped choreograph "Wizard of Oz" for us back at the first of the year. I'd seen just seconds of dance from the company here and there, so I really had no idea what to expect for this, and let me tell you, they blew me away! The piece was fantastic!! The emotion that poured from their youngest member alone, who is 18, was incredible! We're very fortunate to have them as a part of our arts community.

One of the other shows which opened friday is from ceramic artist, Kathy Triplett, who is known for her tile work as well as her teapots. I spent the weekend in a workshop with her. Most of my recent pottery work as you know, have been wheel thrown pieces, and what you may not know, is I tend to strive for a really smooth surface. Kathy's workshop was all about handbuilding, and texture. A definate departure from what I have been working on. But part of what I like about knitting is the textures, so it isn't a foreign concept to me at all.

Saturday was mostly about making different textred tiles. We did some mugs and handles too. Today was mostly about glaze and Terra sigillata finishing techniques. We used most of the techniques on our tiles that we had made yesterday, and I got some great ideas for some future projects...possibly even some to try on raku, which our first firing for this session is Wednesday. (we're having two firings this time, since the class is so large, and so many don't know what the process entails.) the tiles won't be fired for at least a week probably, so we'll have to wait on the results, but we had some great starts to them. I'm looking forward to the results.

No photos this time, as I only took photos of Kathy and her work, and didn't ask permission to post them, but you can go to her website which I linked above to get an idea about her work, although they are even more amazing in person. Come back later for photos of my work from this amazing workshop.

Northern Lights Start

2006-09-17T20:37:00.001-04:00

Here is the progress I've made on my Northern Lights Fair Isle mittens.

They are going to be seven colors when all is said and done, the remaining 4 colors are sitting under what I have knit, and the pattern is off to the left, although I'm not using their color palette. Most of this has been done between light cues for Neal Simon's "Proposals" which I'm running lights for at the theatre right now. I doubt I'll finish them next weekend, but you never know. They are going faster than I thought, but would be going a lot faster if I wasn't having to untangle yarn all the time. That is the worst thing about fair isle, the yarn gets all tangled.

got some freelance to do, so this will have to suffice for now.

(the cigar gloves are done, except for the weaving in)

Art

2006-09-11T11:23:00.000-04:00

The Arts are not a easy way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly is a way to make your soul grow for Heaven's sakes. Sing in the shower, dance to the radio, tell stories, write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.

Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country, Daniel Simon (ed.),

Seven Stories Press, NYC, NY

quoted from ArtsRamble

More on this to come...

The results are in...

2006-08-24T22:41:00.000-04:00

We're pleased overall.

That brown color at the front claimed to be ketchup red.. didn't come out that way, it mottles nicely, but the yellow that was on that one completely ran off!!! Weird. Won't be using that one too much. That blue on what will be known as the "glub glub vase" was supposed to be a purple color, but I love it, and it does go lavender over white. there were some places that went more lavendar than others. It is called "Glub glub" vase for the cool sounds that you can make with it when you put water in it. The highlights you're seeing is from the sun going down coming straight into the studio windows.

Spread out view on the table.....

When in doubt, floating blue over white is the way to go! Always have good results with this combination... although it seems that this white produces slightly different results (more cobalt blue) than the satin white I've been using. It goes on the pots thinner too.

And the swirl vase you've been waiting for.... (this is the opposite side than the side that was picured last time)

Unfortunately, the bowls I was planning on donating to the art auction have glaze flaws, still usable, but not appropritate to donate to the auction now. There are a few alternates here though that may work, but I have another month or so before the paperwork has to be turned in. The auction isn't until the Friends of the Arts Centre Masquerade Ball on October 28. Should be loads of fun.

Bakers Dozen plus one

2006-08-21T19:12:00.000-04:00

So over the weekend, I was in the pottery studio. I was in great need of my pottery fix, since we had been out of town the last two weekends, so I had only been on Thursday nights over those weeks. I had amassed a great collection of pieces that needed glazing. (Plus I needed to get them off my shelf to make room for my raku bucket so I can start re-claiming that caly before class begins on the 6th) But first... progress on cigar gloves for Robert :

The fingers knit up really quickly, but I have to have Robert around to keep trying them on since he has long fingers, so if he is gone, or asleep it is no good knitting on them. They shouldn't take too much longer to finish though.

So here is the mass of pots I had to glaze:

and spread out on the table:

They had mixed some new cone 6 glazes and hadn't done a glaze fire since, so the majority of the bowls got the standby that I know I like the result of which is a white base and an overcoat of floating blue. (all the recent pot pictures have been this combination) I did use the purple they mixed on 4 pieces including the vase you see at the front of the first photo. And one bowl got the "ketchup red" and "yellow" tested on it, it was the smallest worst thrown piece, since I'm funny about reds and yellows, and we don't know how these are going to come out. I didn't want to "waste" one of the better pots with an unpredictable glaze color. (I like purple enough that it was worth risking a few more pieces) They should have come out of the kiln late this afternoon or will early tomorrow, but I won't see the results until Thursday proabably. The red and yellow bowl, and one of the ones with the purple didn't make it into that firing either, she had a pretty full load with my other stuff in addition to the other open studio users.

the other piece I worked on glazing was more on this piece:

This initial coloring was painted on the bone dry greenware (that means it hadnt' been fired at all yet) these are underglazes, and here it has been through the bisque firing, and in this case, they are a velvet finish, which means they aren't shiny, and to me, they have a feel kinda like a shammy cloth. Anyway, I took some glaze chalks that I have and made some other swirleys on the pot, a green similar in hue to the chartruse that is on there, and a blue green to "sketch up" the torquoise ones, and then I added the blue green to the interior of the pot. These chalks mark very much like chalk on a sidewalk which was the look I wanted. After that I sponged on some clear glaze, mostly to keep the chalk from smearing and to set it, but it will make the vase shiny in the end. This didn't make the firing either, as it is a cone 04-05 which goes to a much lower temperature than the others. We'll see soon how they turn out.

Understudy becomes the Star!

2006-08-18T19:29:00.000-04:00

So WAY back last fall I guess it was, I was participating in Secret Pal 5 with the knitty board. For whatever reason, my pal flaked, and didn't fufill her end of the deal, so I was assigned a replacement pal, an "understudy" if you will, which is what she decided to call herself. Really she was the upstream pal of the girl who flaked, and so got left out of the equation. Her first package in November was awesome, and as the round was pretty much over by that point, I didn't really expect a lot. In the package, she sent a really neat faire isle pattern, which I had been wanting to try, and as it was a felted project, mistakes would be minimized, so making faire isle less daunting. I tried it out and LOVED it. (will definately be doing more off that)

Sometime after the first of the year, when it was still coldish out, I received another great package. It seemed my understudy had been under the weather for a while, and this package was really neat too. Lots of Harry Potter themed patterns and yummy spices and recipes. I think that was in the midst of trying to finish Clapotis.. again, it was a great package and I wasn't expecting anything else as she had out done herself on both packages, and the round was long over.

I didn't participate in SP6, but am now participating in SP7 (and CASP2), so when Robert came to pick me up, and told me I had a package at the house, my first thought was that it was one of these pals. But it turned out to be Understudy, with a Third TOTALLY UNEXPECTED Package! when he told me where the return address was from I knew it was she, as I had figured her out in chat a few weeks ago from something she happened to mention.... so I get home and open the box to all this goodness, and am truly overwhelmed! She REALLY out did herself.

so without further adieu:

so everything was in the bag, which is a canvas bag, and way cool, since my grandparents had a lot of these bags (larger) growing up to cart stuff to the lake, and to the pool and whereever, and I love them. BUT not only is the bag cool in that regard, but here is what I was wearnig today

inside the bag lots of goodies...yarn for Baby Bobbi Bear with his pattern, a faire isle sweater she knit herself (I'm hoping it will fit Bobbi when I'm done) ...

...some kind of chocolate I've never seen before from Paris (Michel Cluizel), a really cool color wheel with a booklet on selecting color palettes for things like faire isle, an index card notebook, a plastic case with a stitch counter, pins for blocking, hand cream stuff, a tin with stitch markers and a guage/needle sizer, with a lovely note on a faie isle card. and this really really lovely artfibers yarn called golden Chai which says itis 100% golden tussah silk..

Thank you Understudy! Despite the lenth of this post, I'm feeling rather speechless..

Cigar gloves

2006-08-18T00:39:00.000-04:00

here is the start of the Cigar gloves knitty pattern I'm knitting for Robert so his hands dont' freeze when he is changing out the tags on Tuesday nights in the freezer section.. they have three half fingers, so that the glove won't obstruct what he is doing, but it should keep him warmer overall.

And teddy showing off the progress a little later (he was patiently waiting in the car while we stopped for dinner on the way to see my Dad)

they are further along now the stripes are in and I've portioned off the thumb and pinky holes to holding yarn. Now we're at the point he will have to continue to try them on more frequently becasue the fingers I will be knitting will be longer than normal..he has really long fingers.

Should have some good pottery photo updates soon. I have about 15 bowls to glaze. they made some new glazes, and I'm waiting on test tiles to see what they look like to decide if I want to use them or not...so stay tuned.

Socks Bowls and Secrets

2006-08-01T13:57:00.000-04:00

My Socks are DONE! So they were on the needles for about a year, but I did put them down for a while, then once I got back to the pattern and deciphered it, finishing was a breeze. Here they are in all their wool glory... I won't be weraing them until the weather cools off some though, as it is 100° today.

I received a lovely package from my CASecretPal on Saturday, here are it's contents:

Lovely wool, a tape measure, hot chocolate mix stitch markers, and some free patterns.

Here is a "vignette" of the stitch markers:

And here is some more of what I've been working on in the pottery studio. There is actually a lot of bowls and things getting ready to be fired now, so there will be upcoming photos, unless something happens to them in the kiln.... but for the time being:

The glaze messed up on this one, but otherwise it turned out well. the last photo is it from the side so you get a better idea of it's shape.

Stay cool!

Warm fuzzies

2006-07-28T21:28:00.000-04:00

This arrived on Wednesday.

Lovely lovely angora yarn, so soft and squishy. The temperature was in the 90s and so the candles were smelling and the chocolate (not pictured) was all melty and yummy. My Wonderful SP had the foresight to put it in it's own plastic baggie though. it was a Green and Black Bar, and now I know what everyone has been raving about. It is really good, and I even shared with Robert. (and there is still a little in the fridge, since I had Jazz class that night) Thank you my wonderful SP, I can't wait to decide what to make with this lovely yarn.

In other news, made some really nice bowls this week, lets hope they make it through bisque fire and glazing without any trouble. Have some travel coming up but only weekend jaunts but it is a change of scenery, and we will get to see family.

Renewal

2006-07-17T21:35:00.000-04:00

So we had our summer quarterly art opening the other night. The main exhibits this time are sculptural and one of the shows is a juried show with an indoor section and an outdoor one. The juror for the show also has a show up in one of the other galleries and he happens to be one of my professors from the first college I went to. (I was in Art school for two years before transfering to Design school) I suspected he wouldn't remember me since he had a teaching assistant who did the everyday stuff and most of the critiques and things, but he did give us some lectures and critiques. I figured, since it was 15 years ago, the only way he *might* remember me was that I was in the same class with his son. Even though I didn't see a lot of this instructor, he did have a lot of influence on me, or I got more out of him and his TA than I did some of the other instructors there, and have thought about him and that class more often than most of the others. Although I did get a solid foundation at that school, and don't regret any of the courses I took, especially the ones that didn't transfer. Most of those classes were invaluable to me in Design school. He left the school about the time I did and started teaching at one that is about 45 minutes from where I live now. His son was the last student I spoke to that spring as my dad and I packed up the volvo after my last semester there as I was transfering to the other school in the fall. We had both been art majors and had several courses together, granted most of them were "survey" type classes whith loads of people in them, but his dad's class had been a bit smaller, and so we were on speaking terms. I'd often wondered what happened to him.

Fast forward about 7 years... I started doing some work for the local playhouse, first by designing posters and then on the acting scene. When I went to the building for the first time, one of the sculptures that was up caught my attention and I looked at the artist information on it... it was by this professor...a connection..
turns out, he is also a friend of the current exhibit curator, although this would have been for that juried show that year, so the museum curator wouldn't have selected the work.

Fast forward some more (about 8 years) to the present. This show. The professor was coming to the opening to present the awards, and I learned his son was coming as well. Didn't know if he would remember me either, since I figured his did would,n't, but it turns out he did remember me. We had a nice chat, a little about school and a little about what we've been doing since, and exchanged e-mail addresses. He is an art professor like his dad, although I think he is more 2D media where his dad is more 3D. They both seemed thrilled that I was still "in the field." I guess it didn't really occur to me how many art students like theatre students don't stay with it, since there are so many and so hard to make a living. It was a nice new prespective, so even as a graphic designer I'm still, however remotely, practicing art. (and then there are all the hobbist hours of theatre, pottery, knitting, and whatever else I'm making at any given time) The work in the professor's exhibit is lovely, abstract, with a connection to nature hard to describe so I won't try.. and completely reasonable. I'm going to purchase one of them.

Anyway, it was really great seeing both of them, and listening to what the juror had to say about the juried works. I always learn from these things, even if I'm nto agree with their opinions, and sometimes it sheds light on things I'm thinking about or grappling with artistically or otherwise. Here is a photo of me and my college art schoolmate at the opening.

Sockies

2006-07-04T19:52:00.000-04:00

Okay so, I've had these on needles for about a year, It is the Queen Kahuna Crazy Toes and Heels pattern (toe up two at once socks on circular needles) I love fact that it is toe up and two at once, but let me tell you, the pattern is convoluted, TOO MUCH Information and not organized in the best fashion. (which is part of the reason it has taken me so long to get to this point, I never seemed to have the time or focus to wade through the information enough to figure out the information I needed, since this is my first real pair of socks) SO, after chatting some about socks the other night in Knitty chat, I pulled them back out, and found I was almost to the heel turn, and so I did wade through the pattern and look where I am now:

And they do fit pretty well, now I just have to finish the top part, which is easy, and voila, socks! The yarn is some German brand (label not in front of me, starts with a "K" I think) they are self striping and wool. Needles are US #1.

The pattern is pretty easy once you have the information you need from the book of a "pattern". When I do socks again, I will definately use this method, as there arne't any stitches to pick up and I do love the fact that it is two at once. I will post better pictures when I have some better light to do them in.

42?

2006-06-20T09:19:00.000-04:00

So, I saw this on Pam's Blog (Trillian42) and thought it was interesting so I took the "quiz" too... I had to break a THREE way tie in the end (looks like Between Cultureal Creative, Existentialist and Postmodernist...) so there is margin for error on this, but it is interesting on some level.

You scored as Postmodernist. Postmodernism is the belief in complete open interpretation. You see the universe as a collection of information with varying ways of putting it together. There is no absolute truth for you; even the most hardened facts are open to interpretation. Meaning relies on context and even the language you use to describe things should be subject to analysis.

Cultural Creative

69%

Existentialist

69%

Postmodernist

69%

Romanticist

56%

Idealist

50%

Modernist

50%

Materialist

44%

Fundamentalist

31%

What is Your World View? (updated)
created with QuizFarm.com

So I went in and saw what I would have been if I had chosen the other one I debated on in the tie Breaker, this would have been the result there;

Cultural Creative.

Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.

So, in last place of the three, was Existentialist, and here is what they say about that... Existentialism emphasizes human capability. There is no greater power interfering with life and thus it is up to us to make things happen. Sometimes considered a negative and depressing world view, your optimism towards human accomplishment is immense. Mankind is condemned to be free and must accept the responsibility.

I do think the first two are closest to my beliefs, and I did debate between the two answers for the tie breaker, so there is only a marginal difference there, which could amount to semantics ;)

Summertime

2006-06-19T19:57:00.000-04:00

I know, as usual, it has been a while since I've posted. Sorry, we've been busy bees of late. Weekend trips and parties. (Tony Awards) and seeing old/new Friends.

But first, I must give a shout out to my SP7 who sent me these lovely goodies:

THe tea is delightful, and the chocolate is too. Manos is one of my favorite wool yarns and she sent me two lovely skiens of it. THANKS Secret Pal!! I must also mention my Cheap Pal as well, since she sent me postcards, some lovely notecards and an orange peeler with some hot coacoa mix in my favorte brand which I don't have pictured. Thanks to you too!!! I'm sending out some fun stuff to my pals as well, but I can't tell you what here or it will spoil the surprise for them.

Since I haven't poseted any pottery lately, here are some recent pieces. I've been haveing some problems with some of the glazes, so a couple of the pieces are not looking as good as they should, even though my bowls are getting a lot better. This is a recent bowl, and my first attempt at a plate.

Robert and I went to the beach to see his old roommate and his family this past weekend, here is a photo of us on the beach at dusk. We had a fun weekend, and so did the family. It was only the second time the kids had been to the beach since they live in Kansas.

We like to visit zoos and aquariums in our travels and so we visited one of the NC Aquariums while we were at the beach, this was the one at Fort Fisher, there are three in NC apparently. Since we are members of the zoo in my hometown, and they are AZA affiliated, we thought we might get a discount at this aquarium, not only did we get a discount, but it was FREE for us to get in, which was a pleasent surprise. The first area you go into is a arboritum area with plant and animal life, lots of turtles and frogs and yes, alligators, I'm not posting any of those photos, but I did get some fun pictures of them. Here are some of the more interesting shots I got in the rest of the aquarium though

This fish actually posted for the photo, it swam up against the glass and stayed there for me to take a couple of shots, this one came out the best, but it was quite funny. It was in the same tank as the photo after it...

Nemo and Dori!!!

The outside of the aquarium had a kind of botanical garden surrounding some ponds as well, with an area to attract local birds, and of course there were turtles and seagulls around the ponds. I even got some photos of some dragonflies, but not up close enough to make them worth posting. If only my new lenses had arrived in time for the trip. I had ordered some new lenses for my digital camera. I was finding the focal length not to my liking as much as I had hoped when I first bought it, and additional lenses was a lot cheaper than a new camera that still might not have all of what I wanted. So, I bought a wide angle lens, and a telephoto lens. The telephoto lens would have come in handy at the beach, since there were some shots that could have been better of the kids, since they were running off down the beach. But I have it for next time. In the meantime, here is a photo using my new Telephoto lens, I know you can't really tell anything without a comparason photo, but maybe I'll post that later. In the meantime, enjoy some of the back garden.

and the herb garden..it isn't all lemon mint, but it sure seems like it in the photo. The urn actually contains basil, the tomato cage has a tomato plant in it and there is cilantro, and oregano nearby, there are some lanbs ear plants here and there, and not pictured is thyme, rosemary and about 4 different kinds of lavendar, a rosebush and some nasturshums. I think that may be it for the herbs in that area of the yard.

And Teddy being silly while Robert watches TV... oh that bear..

Hoover blanket

2006-05-24T09:49:00.000-04:00

Here is my second attempt at the Hoover Blanket. I had gotten about this far initially and frogged the whole thing, as it had some twisted stitches and a few other mistakes, mainly in the join of the purple to the other colors. I hand't meant to frog the entire thing, but only frogging some of a double knitted item, was more of a challenge than I had anticipated, so the whole thing got ripped out. With the "starting over" I realized that the color join would work better if I used the purple on the first two stitches of the interior on each end. (so that the end result is a purple stitch on each interior edge on both sides) before "joining" the stripe color. That seems to be working much better, although it still isn't as neat as I might like for it to be, but it seems to be getting neater as I go along, so maybe it is something I can mask or block out later. (I hope) The other change I've made is instead of doing single row stripes, I'm doing double rows. With the crazy color combination I chose, I felt like the green and torquoise would visually vibrate too much together with single rows. I'm doing both sides at once, and that is tedious enough, I can't imagine trying to do this slipping stitches every other stitch as the instructions say to do. So far, in this encarnation, I still have the sides seperate. (no twisties --YAY)

In other news, I'm running lights for a production of The Glass Menagerie. This show was the first show I did Tech for many many years ago. (Then I was on the backstage running crew) I'd forgotten how much I like some of the language in the show. Some of the imagery Williams paints in the dialogue and speaches Tom has. I got to go up in the catwalk to help gel and focus some of the lighting instruments before the show opened. That was pretty cool. I'd love to watch a show from up there sometime, but doubt that will happen.

I'm glad we've had a real spring this year, the weather has been lovely without really hot days, and lower humidity before the heat and humidity of summer engulfs us. So much of the time in recent years we seem to have gone from winter to summer bypassing spring altogheter. So we've been able to get some gardening done (weeding mostly) without the opressive summer heat. (aren't I glad I don't live in LA or FL???) Now the season does seem to be gearing up, and we have already been to 3 cookouts, and have plans most weekends in June already penciled in. Our big boss has decided to let us off an hour early on Fridays between Memorial Day and Labor Day, I'm thinking that is a good thing, and might get me in the pottery studio some then, since they are open til 9 on Fridays. We are also hoping to get some vacation time in, but I'm not giving detalis at the moment in case one of my down-stream Secret Pals (hello out there if you are reading) is reading trying to see if I may be the one sending them things.

Photo update of late

2006-05-02T20:23:00.000-04:00

Our friendly "neighborhood" Llama butt....

These are the mystery flowers in my backyard. I planted them a few years ago, and I can't remember what they are. Anyone have any thoughts on what they might be?? They are very delicate, and definately not meant for cut flowers, but they are very sweet.
We spent the weekend doing other yard work and we planted some herbs and some other flowers that birds, butterflies and hummingbirds like, and I got my first sighting of the yellow finch of the season. They will be a lot more of them around once the echinacea bloom, they love the seeds it produces.

Here are Robert and I with our friends Cass and Amber who tomorrow at about 8am are starting their hike of the Applachain Trail.(I dont' know why Robert refuses to smile, he hates having his photo taken..) they are hoping to do the whole thing by sometime in the fall.

Here is another photo from their going away party, this is the elder son of my pottery instructor, (hopefully the younger has been born now, his wife was ready on Saturday, but her official due date isn't for another two days) Anyway,he was too cute, with his balloon trailing him.. Aren't the old gas signs cool??? Our hosts for the party collect old advertising art, especially metal signs.

When we went up to VA for the funeral, we went to the Zoo, as we like to do when we are there, and in addition to enjoying the zoo animals, we were able to enjoy some of the natural habitat animals as well. Here, as I was taking photos of the lovely folwer, I managed to catch a bee in motion there too.

There were a lot of chipmunks running around, and this one was one that was kind enough to sit still long enough to be photographed. Most of his comrades, were chasing each other around and in and out of foliage, so they were harder to capture "on film" than this one. We did see a huge one under a car in the parking lot but there was too much shadow in that one.

Looking closely while sitting on a bench nearby we saw this newt/Salamander/lizard creature scamper up the stump. After several failed attempts, I finally got one that was remotely in focus. He was a speedy thing.

And now for the front end of that Llama from the beginning of the post...

I do still need to take photos of the finished Clapotis, but havne't gotten around to that yet. Soon... soon... soon...

Odds and Ends

2006-04-24T09:57:00.002-04:00

I've been bad about posting recently. Not that there hasn't been stuff to post about, I just havne't posted.

Robert and I celebrated our anniversary, I've PAID my taxes, I finished Clapotis, went to an out of state family funeral, saw cousins I hadn't seen in a long time and their kids some of whom I'd never seen. Started the Hoover Blanket, had some friends who had close relatives die as well, did some gardening, decided not to audition for the next show, signed up for pottery (which starts this week FINALLY) and bought season tickets for musicals in Raleigh, came down with Strep thraoat with 102.6° fever. Feeling better now, but still on medication.

We also have some friends here who have quit thier jobs, sold thier house (and are now debt free) who are getting ready to embark on a hike of the Appalachain Trail. How cool is that? They had wanted to leave in March, but thier house didn't sell as quickly as they had hoped. Now it has, and they are leaving soon. Not something I have great asparations to do, but it is pretty cool, and they are going to do it. They will be missed around here, but they are off to bigger adventures.

One of the last remaining reminders of the Flood of '99 is now history as well. The Mall that was flooded and served as a constant reminder in it's derelect abandoned state, has finally been torn down, now when TV crews come to town from the bigger market of Raleigh, they will have to focus on something else other than this deserted mall, and the "dying" city with it...because it is just off the highway into town this is where they generally did their reports when they came to town regardless what the story was about. Progress... Actually we're getting a fair amount of new construction around here these days, so hopefully that is a good sign for the economy around here, which is in great need of a boost.

Up to...

2006-03-28T21:22:00.000-05:00

Here is some of what I've been up to, I wasn't able to knit as much backstage as I had hoped, as I was assigned to dresser/makeup duity for the Scarecrow's quick changes into and out of Oz, and was on set change duity in the second act with into and out of the witch's castle numerous times....

The Clapotis photos are from over a week ago, I'm in the decrease sections now, and have completed the first two repeats of that, so 5 more to go, plus secton 5 of the pattern and then it will be done.

I played a Crow in the first act and we got to sing and dance with the Scarecrow when Dorothy discovers him. He's a great kid, and very talented, I really enjoyed working with him. The Blonde I had worked with on a couple of shows before, but it has been about 7 years, I think she was glad to be back, and the other lady had a kid who was a munchkin, and her husband got really involved with the tech side of things helping to build the sets, and was on the fly crew during the run. Turns out, she used to work with Robert, and is from "his neck of the woods." Small world. Met alot of other interesting people during the show too. (I mean with a cast of 50, how can you not?) I'm looking forward to getting to know some of them better in the future, we need more interesting people around here.

The show was sold out for the entire run, and seemed to go over well. The Cast & Crew bought a brick for the lobby of the facility (sponsorship kind of thing) to commerate the first show. And I had a friend visit from out of town to see the show, it was good to see her, however briefly.

Pottery classes are finally starting back in a few weeks, I'm more than ready, I need the outlet. Work is having it's days, and other stuff is still... eh.. but not as bad as it was a few weeks ago.

Mission accomplished

2006-02-26T15:03:00.000-05:00

Secret Surprise!

2006-02-25T18:04:00.000-05:00

I thought my Understudy pal from SP5 had flaked too, and since I hadn't heard from her in ages, and SP6 is well underway, (even though I'm not participating) I'd kind of written the whole thing off... then this morning, Robert brings me a package (after answering the door to some "door to door preacher types") it was from my long lost understudy pal. What a SUREPRISE! (I guess it may have been delivered yesterday and since we hadn't used the front door, didn't see it)

Here's a photo:

It contained Grydffendor red Cascade yarn which could be used for any number of Gryffendor knitting projects that were included in the notebook at the back of the photo (with the photo of the trio) crossstitch thread in Gryffendor colors (not pictured) for the Gryffendor scarf bookmark. A Skien of Noro Silk Garden (there are purples in there too, but you can't see them in the photo) and some yummy spices. REAL vanilla bean from madagascar, two kinds of exotic cinnamon, and mulling spices, a hazlenut chocolate bar, and some Raspberry preserves, to go with some recipes that were included with the notebook.

THANK YOU SECRET PAL!!!!! I hope you are feeling much better.
(The package had been delayed due to some health problems.)

COZY UPDATE: almost finished, should be finished this evening.... gotta go knit.

LIFE UPDATE: things are slowly getting better... time will tell.

Winter UGH

2006-02-19T14:16:00.000-05:00

I'm having a hard time right now, most of it I really don't want to talk about on-line here, so I won't, except to say that winter is not helping matters any.

Fortunately, the Knitting Olympics is helping somewhat. Here is my "Day 7" progress on Cozy:

It's about half finished. (I'm about halfway through ball 3 of 5 balls of yarn.)

I'm still not sure I love doing lace, but it is pretty, and I like how the color is that of the Torino Olympic Logo, and the pattern abstractly looks like the logo too... a happy accident at any rate.

Pretty Pretty

2006-02-03T18:23:00.000-05:00

Lookie what arrived today:

This is my Pacific Berries colorway of Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb for my very first Clapotis, (see link below someplace) I'm THRILLED with the color, it didn't even look this pretty in the photo I picked it out from.

The silk for the Knitting Olympics hasn't arrived yet, hopefully tomorrow... and I hope to be just as pleased with it, as I am with this selection.

In the meantime, I must finish this project, from the pattern my Understudy pal had sent. I'm up to 4 and a half repeats of six, and then have to do the strap so it really shouldn't take that much longer before felting.

So that is a nice start to the weekend.

On Your Mark...

2006-02-01T21:13:00.000-05:00

I've been in desperate need of a creative outlet lately. Motivation is low, I have several Freelance and other projects hanging over me, some are on hold for lack of information or waiting for the powers that be to get back to me sort of thing. The Education Coordinator doesn't come on board at the Impreial Centre for another two weeks, (I've met her she is very nice AND knows how to knit.) but with that, who knows when pottery classes will acutally begin again.. rumor around Christmas was it may be April. Even though I'm in the Wizard of Oz, I'm in the chorus, and too tall to be a munchkin, so there is little stage time, which equates to little rehearsal time, at least at this stage, and lots of down time during the actual run of the show. What's a girl to do??? Join in the "Knittng Olympics" of course.

The concept was created by Yarn Harlot on her blog, and the long and short of it is, you pick a knitting project that is somewhat of a challenge for you, you cast on during the opening ceremony of the Olympics and have your project finished by the closing ceremony. (the idea is to knit while watching the games) apparently there are over 2,000 knitters who have joind in this game, and teams are being formed and such. I've joined Team Knittyboard. (see the button in my sidebar)

Since I haven't knit lace before, I've chosen a Knitty pattern called Cozy it is a pattern I've been wanting to do since that issue came out. The lace pattern is kind of snowflakey, or at least that what it reminds me of, I've selected a lovely aqua silk yarn to make it in. Here is a photo of the yarn:

(I bought mine through kpixie, where I "borrowed" this image from too. Go there they have lovely stuff.)

I've also decided that I finally want to do Clapotis as well, from the same issur of Knitty, and all my knitty buddies have made theirs, so I'm going to try to have that one finished by the end of the run of Wizard of Oz on March 26. I've ordered yarn for that one too. I LOVE the way the pattern runs in one direction and the color runs in another on the photos in the pattern, so to insure I got that effect, I ordered the same yarn as what the designer used, but in a different colorway. (Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb, my colorway is called "Pacific Berries" and is Blue, Blue Purple, and Raspberry colored. You'll have to check back to see what that one looks like though. ;) ) This yarn is 50% silk, 50% wool. I'm looking forward to both projects. (and they will be done just in time for warmer weather..go figure.)

I'll try and remember to post progress photos as I go along. All you knitters, why not join in??

4 things...

2006-01-28T18:26:00.000-05:00

I've been Tagged by Trillian42

4 jobs you have had:
Artist/Graphic Designer
BBQ sauce maker, labeler, bottler
Bagel Sandwich Maker
Shoe sales person

4 movies you could watch over and over:
Singin in the Rain
Pirates of the Carribbean
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
The Producers

4 TV shows you love to watch:
Black Books (new Brit com discovery)
My Family (another Brit com)
Kim Possible
Antiques Roadshow

4 places you have been on vacation:
Ohau, Hawaii
Martha's Vineyard, MA
London, England
Williamsburg, VA

4 websites you visit daily:
The knitty Coffeeshop
The-Leaky-Cauldron
earthlink web mail
yahoo

4 of your favorite foods:
Cheese, most kinds, especailly sharp ones
Berries
Baggettes or other French style bread, like petit pain rolls
did I say cheese?

4 places you'd rather be right now:
throwing pottery
on stage
dancing
London

4 places you've lived
Roanoke, VA
Greensboro, NC
Raleigh, NC
Rocky Mount, NC

4 bloggers you are tagging:

Qeltic
SaintJay
LaBean
Clothesknit

Pre-opening Photo Tour

2006-01-18T15:49:00.000-05:00

Wanna see what is opening up here this weekend??? They are still putting finishing touches on it, and the "Really Grand Opening" will be in March. (which is when our show opens, and the planetarium will start its programming, and all sorts of other touches will have been finished.) But I was able to go on the donor tour yesterday, and continuing with my construction progress photos, I took more yesterday. It is amazing what they have done just in the month and a half since I was last in there. I can't believe this is HERE!!!

Anyway, I'm in the chorus for "Wizard of Oz" We had our first read through on Sunday, and we held that in the Studio Theatre in the Education wing, which is where we will be rehearsing until a lot closer to opeining the show. (you'll see that below.) I'm also very much looking forward to the pottery studio opening back up. I'm very ready to get back into the swing of that. In addition, they will be adding to the programming dance classes, although no tap classes yet I don't think. There is a lot to be excited about and come see, so on with the tour.

first we come to the signage that will be over the ticketing desk. The "logo" on the sign is the main one for the facility, and is the "silhouette" of the building from the parking lot side.. more or less. We have on site, the only 3 legged water tower left in at least Eastern NC, and possibly the state or even further.

The main building is a renovated Tobacco Warehouse, of the Imperial Tobacco Company. There were a lot of historic elements they had to keep for preservation, and such. They commissioned a "gate" by an artist to help tie in the tobacco part of things, and this is one side of it. (the main part isn't fully installed yet) but you can sort of make out the tobacco leaf motif in the rail.

The Gallery opens on Saturday, with the annual Juried art exhibition, and so the show is in the process of going up. Here is a peek at the gallery space with this exhibition being installed. (The people wandering around were part of the donor tour.)

One of the things the Children's Museum is very excited about is getting their animal habitats back, which they really haven't had since the flood in 1999. (The other very exciting thing for them is the State-of-the-art Planetarium, the only one of it's kind in the Southeast) but back to the animals, here is the touchpool. They started introducing life to it yesterday, and will have a lot more in it on Saturday.

On to the Education Wing. This is where the classroom space for the facility is located, this building was the old library here in town, the new library is just up the hill within walking distance of the Imperial Centre.

This first shot is of the glaze room in the pottery studio. The pottery studio is new construction that was added on to this building. Pottery is currently the biggest draw of the class room programming. With classes held for kids as young as three, all the way through adults classes and open studio time. In recent years, one of the highschools has held some of their pottery classes at the Arts Center. I don't know if this is planned to continue, but the new facility is only about a mile from the "temporary" facility we have been in since the flood.

Thnis is is the Dance studio. There are bars and mirrors on both the long walls. I'm looking forward to taking some dance classes myself. We have a dance troupe that is callling the facility home, and they will be teaching classes as well as choreographing the musicals. So I've had the pleasure of meeting two of them already.

Next we have the Studio Theatre, this is the "black box" space that will also be used as a multipurpose room, for film and lecture series, like I said above, we are rehearsing in this space for the musical, so the tech director can have set building and what not (tech calls) in the theatre and shop while we are rehearsing, to utilize the parents of the munchkins and stuff like that. They are hoping to have some ballroom dances and stuff like that in this space as well. It is the old children's room from when the building was the library.

And now we get to the main stage. The first two photos are taken from the stage. The first, shows the gallery, and the main seating as well as the pit, the light grid in the house, and the pretty wood panneling. The grid is where the orange is. The "gallery" is like a side balcony, and those seats are movable. The gallery is actually on the lobby level, so that is the level you enter the house on, Handicapped seating is here, as well as at the front of the house, which is accessable by elevator.

Next we have a main house shot. There are two levels for the lighting/sound booth. One pretty much on gallery level, and the other level is for follow spot and things like that. (you can see the windows at the back of the house)

And now from the back of the house, in front of the booth, we have a view of the mainstage. I've been told the main proscenium is soft goods, so I'm not sure how that is going to work yet, or how much they are going to mask, but obvously they aren't installed yet. They were still painting in here, which is why the house seats are covered. I'm not sure how much other stuff is left to do, but it is looking great! We are really looking forward to using the facility. down in the pit, you see an orange square. This is where the pit load in door is open (for larger instruments.) What you are seeing there is the hallway with the dressing rooms and such. There is a greenroom and a few private dressing roooms on the main stage level.

Well there's the tour for now... Ribbon cutting on Saturday at 10, with activities going on all day. The Wizard of Oz will open on St. Patrick's Day.

Christmas Season Photos

2005-12-26T21:46:00.000-05:00

My Sister-in-Law with her kids when we visited them for Christmas.. aren't they cute?

This is my fave tree from Stonewall the house from about 1830 that I worked at for the holidays. The Arts Center Decorated it for Christmas. The white stuff is Cotton plants (dried) and some of the baskets have apples and bread in them... there were white lights on the tree as well, but it didn't photograph as well with them on.

In Knitting news, YES I have been knitting...
This

Became this after felting (sorry for the blurry photo, but it was a gift and I can't re-photograph it)

a close up of the how the twisty color yarn felted...

This

Became This after felting

This is Robert and I at Hotel Roanoke, where my cousin was staying for Christmas, in front of one of the MANY trees they had on display, this was the judges' choce for first place (there was a people's choice too, but I didn't like it nearly as much)

This is the period Santa we had at Stonewall one of the weekends this year. He is the father of a friend of mine from the theatre.

christmas madness.

2005-12-17T10:30:00.000-05:00

I'm not posting photos right now, not becasue I don't have them, but because I don't really have time to mess with them right now. But I did want to update since so much has been going on.

What I didn't/couldn't tell you on December 1st was that not 30 minutes before I was scheduled for my Imperial Centre visit, I was offered my old job back. I knew that the artist they had kept in the layoff was resigning, but Robert had warned me not to get my hopes up about them asking me back, so it was kind of a surprise for both of us when they did. I was pretty much in shock when I got to the Imperial Centre. I have since acceped the offer, and will continue on where I was with benefits and things, (read: one more year and I get three weeks vacation!!!!!) I do have mixed feelings about it, but

1.) it is in town so no monster commute
2.) it is in my field.
3.) I know what I'm in for as I know the "games" certain people there play already
4.) the pay is better than the part time stuff I've done this year
5.) I'm already familiar with the clients and the "games" they play
6.) It is a more normal schedule than trying to work part time and do freelance work to stay afloat
7.) any freelance work I do now is extra money, rather than extremely necessary to stay afloat.
8.) I might actally be able to take a vacation. (not working is very much NOT a vacation)
9.) I won't smell like vinegar when I get home (but I will have to deal with office politics again --see #3)
10.) I can stop worrying about when and where I am next working, if I will be able to pay bills next month and that sort of thing, although with the cost of heating increase around here, there may still be a "pay bill" worry, as I am not looking forward to seeing what that is going to be like. Sweaters and Blankets for Christmas!!
11.) I figure it will look better on my resume, since they were willing to hire me back.

I learned this year, that a lot of agencies are as bad or worse than this place is, and there are definately worse places to be. I learned there are a lot of thankless jobs out there, and most of the people doing them don't get paid nearly enough. (You couldn't PAY me enough to be a professional secretary/assistant-- the stuff they have to put up with and take care of is immense.) I have wondered many times over the year, how anyone that makes minimum wage survives on that income. I was lucky that most of my odd jobs this year paid more than that, but it was sad because it was at times still pitiful pay, not that I wasn't thankful to have it at all. I have learned I need to keeep on top of the programs even if the agency doesn't so If I find myself in a situation like this again, I am more prepared, ditto for keeping my portfolio up to date.

I finished my stint at the BBQ sauce making place yesterday, I'll miss the people, and the lack of office politics, and getting off between 2:30 and 4. but not the repetitiveness of it, and smelling like vinegar. This weekend is the last weekend for "Stonewall: at home for the holidays" as well, so come Monday, my "official" start back date, I will have one job, and one semi stedy freelance job, and a couple of occasional freelance gigs. The one job will be a tremendous help. as it will mean my schedule will become more normal again, for which I am VERY thankful.

Now I just have to finish getting ready for Christmas. :) Happy Holidays!

A Good Day...

2005-12-01T22:28:00.000-05:00

Bizarro day all the way around, I'm too exhausted to talk about it, but here are some first looks at the new arts center and theatre which I got to see today... BEAUTIFUL!!! I'm so excited about it...

The one with the beautiful wood is in the renovated part of the buildings, and it is in the art gallery area, the glass doors you are looking at are the entrance to the gallery shop actually. The other image is from the top of the house in the theatre, there were workers everywhere we went today trying to get this place finished.

More later.. I took a ton of photos...

SP Success.

2005-11-16T19:39:00.000-05:00

Okay.. so Today after an icky day with a sinus headache and all that... I get home to find my first "official" Secret Pal package for this round (which started in September and was scheduled to end this month) This is from my "Understudy Pal" as my original pal flaked... I call it the first official package because some of my chat buddies acutually have sent me "RAK" kinds of packages (thanks MaryMac and RobinCat :D).

Anyway, here is what she sent: The pattern is for a really neat intarsia felted bag, and the yarn will be great for that pattern. The silver box at the front had chocolate truffles in it. One was raspberry and the other was some kind of spice thing... but was delightful... the purpple thing is a handmade washcloth and in the front left is a bath bomb, which is from England that the SPers have been chatting about, so now I get to find out what it is they've been chatting about. It smells lovely. THANKS Secret Pal.

I had some other stuff I was going to talk about, but I think I will save that for another time.

Pleathora of Photos from the Past Three Weeks

2005-11-02T16:39:00.000-05:00

In addition to the red raku bowl found in the previous post below. Here are two more of my Raku Results.

My throwing skills are getting better, and the feet on these pieces are inspired by Jamie Kirpatrick (I hope I'm spelling that correctly) who lives in Raleigh, and who I took a workshop from in May. I got a lot of good tips from him, and he puts feet like these on many of his current pieces, although these could not be mistaken for his work.. I've got a long way to go before I'm as skilled as he is. (and he doesn't generally do glazed Raku, he does more pit firing and other similar effects where the clay is more "naked" that is to say, not glazed.)

On our trip to Roanoke, we as is usually the case went to the zoo, which is on the Blue Ridge Parkway, there is a "nature walk" to get to the entrance of the zoo, which you can see in the archives of previous posts is on a "mountain" top (hill really, but called a mountain) anyway, this was taken along that route.

The ever moving construction of the theatre:

Where the glass is open is where the walkway bridge thingy is going to attatch the theatre to the rest of the buildings. This week it looks like they are cleaning up on the grounds in this area to begin this walkway. (not shown in this image, but will be soon)

And finally, a backstage photo of the women in the Cast of "on the verge" which I was asked to come into a week before opening. That is me on the right, Samantha in the middle and Shannon on the Left.

Illusive Red

2005-11-02T14:22:00.000-05:00

Here is the Red Raku Bowl. Much of the outside is a similar red color. Here you can see the blue-green part though. I need to get a better photo of it though, since this one has a lot of hard shadows in it, so you don't get to see it properly.

I need to remember we did a lot of reduction on this one, and had painted on glaze, rather than dipped, in 2 coats letting them dry between them... hmmmmm what other factores were at play here?? The initial reduction was done wtih the bowl in normal sitting postition, but when I moved stuff around, before putting in more combustibles, I set it on it's side. If I'm not mistaken the blue green line on the exterior was where it was sitting in the ash, but the interior of the bowl doesn't have this marking, so maybe that isn't where that effect is from, or the interior just got more oxygen or something...

More photos to come soon. :)

Alive, but crazy

2005-10-28T10:23:00.000-04:00

I'm still on the planet I pormise. Been having BUSY times of late. I was asked to join a cast of a 4 person show a week prior to opening when another actor flaked, so that is where my evenings have been... thank goodness it was turned into reader's theatre, as this play is not particularly easy to memorize in the best of conditions. It is one of those plays that is essentially about the language that it uses... lots of $5 words. It opened last night to a small house that was comprised mainly of students, and I'd wager many having never attended the theatre before... lots of rudeness going on.. talking and whatnot. one was playing a game on his cell phone or soemthing the whole time given the glow coming from his area. The show is FUNNY, but you have to be sharp to "get" a lot of the jokes and references... they didn't... hopefully the audiences tonight and tomorrow will be better.

All this started 2 weeks after being asked to be a Moderator on one of my favoirite forums (that is HUGE in membership) I'm honored, but am definately still learning the ropes there. I haven't really been there in a week becasue of the show, and I miss them. My other forum, I haven't been to either though, and I miss them too. In the midst of all this, I am freelancing in THE office again this week, and am scheduled for some days next week as well...(so there go the afternoons I get when I'm jsut doing the BBQ sauce thing) and last weekend was the Raku firing. We had some awesome results... the illusive RED paid me a vistit. Big time. Red is a color that is difficult to achieve with Raku, and I have a bowl that turned out almost entirely red. How cool is that?? photos to come. When I have a chance to upload them. We had really good results this time, the weather was good, and I think only one thing blew up (not mine this time, although I was scared for that bowl...) and a few things crack... but since raku isn't food safe anyway... the cracks can be "decorative" as well.

I think that may be all the big news at the moment.

blogging updates

2005-10-10T14:37:00.000-04:00

Today I updated and FINALLY put links in the sidebar of some of the blogs that I read or look through. Many of these knitters I have "met" through the forum (coffeeshop) and or chat room through knitty.com a very talented group I must say.

I have some new theatre pics that should be coming soon, and will be travleing this weekend, so may have some nice photos to share next week. (hopefully there will be some foliage, but I'm not holding my breath at this point.)

We went to see Wallace & Grommit and the curse of the Were Rabbit on Friday... LOVED IT... will definately be purchasing it when it comes out on DVD, but Robert and I have been big Wallace and Grommit fans for more than 10 years now.. GO SEE IT it it lots of fun for the whole family. :)

YUMMY yarn

2005-09-26T00:00:00.000-04:00

Went to Raleigh recently to purchase yarn to spoil my SP with. I can't show you what she is getting, but look what followed me home:

It is Manos del Uruguay one of my favorites in 116 colorway. The color was so me, and too pretty to pass up. I have 3 skiens of it, now I just have to decide what it wants to become. I'd love to find enought to make a sweater or something but that might require not paying the mortgage and that probably isn't a very good idea, although a nice wool sweater for the winter months may be a necessity if the prices of gas keep rising. sheesh.

theatre progress

2005-09-24T23:30:00.000-04:00

Well they are still moving along, and pretty soon we probably wont' be seeing any more exterior construction. I can't wait to see the inside of this place!!!

Here is the street facade I've been showing most. The glass isn't in yet, but it is getting close to the final look.

They still have some work to do on the front. There is a really neat walkway (inclosed) that will connect the theatre to the main building. Construction hasn't yet begun on this part.

and now for the other side facing the courtyard/sculpture garden. I'm not sure that I have posted this side before, but this is one of the first decent shots I have of it overall.

That is the main update for today from here.

They got me figured out...

2005-09-22T20:56:00.000-04:00

This couldnt' have been any truer... this was one of my big Teenage Crushes.

Your 80s Heartthrob Is

Michael J. Fox

Who's Your 80's Heartthrob?

(Imperial Centre pics update to come later. )

Two for the price of one!!!!

2005-09-14T23:02:00.000-04:00

Two posts today.

Here are the pictures I didn't upload earlier:

Sock progress, or fashion for the bear... oh he is such a ham...

And "august" progress on the Theatre. (they are further along now this photo is about 2 weeks old now. Need to go take pictures again.)

oh and I threw an awesome bowl tonight :) Why I throw raku bowls and vases I haven't figured out yet since they aren't food safe nor can they hold water for extended periods of time. But I like the forms I guess.

Enjoy

Relief

2005-09-14T13:43:00.000-04:00

I was hoping to have some photos of the volunteer work I did on Sunday, but the guy who was taking pictures hasn't e-mailed them to me yet, so words will have to suffice.

Sunday Robert and I joined in the renovation/restoration effort of several local churches, (and the community theater, who we were called through) to make several historic homes habitable for some victims of Katrina. We are getting 9 families locally that I know of. These houses are part of the Mill village, an area of small homes from around 1900-1920 or so that housed workers and their families of the cotton mill that was here in town. They are small cottage like houses. Really cute when they are restored. This area has been a renovaation project here in town for several years. Some are complete and inhabited, and some are still needing various amounts of work. There is a gentleman here who owned a number of them, and has donated them to the red cross for these hurricane victims, as our community remembers Hurricane Floyd all too well. (and we are still recovering from it in many ways. Hence things like our new thater facility. that has been over 6 years in coming.-- The 6th anniversary of the flood is this week-- and other community restoration projects seem to be getting underway now too.) Anyway, Robert and I went and helped paint. There were lots of volunteers there, so there was lots of painting and carpentry and other things happening as well. I'm not sure what the time frame is for having these homes ready, but I heard that one family is already here, having relatives here in town to begin with.

We are getting light rain from Ophelia, and may get some wind later, but we are on the edge of the projected path. We really need the rain, as the river is way down. They aren't projecting anything major here, but we have candles and flashlights in place just in case.

Last week I freelanced in the office where I was laid off last year. That was really weird, especially on the first day. Overall it was pretty uneventful, which was good since there may be more projects in the future. The place is eerily quiet, but there were a number of people out on vacation since it was connected to the holiday weekend. I kept to myself mostly since I didn't want the "pity looks" with the "awww how have you been?" stuff. I know they mean well, but what am I supposed to say, "gee I've been great, looking for non-existant jobs in the area and commutable distance, while you've had a job all year." ??? I have been pretty fortunate to get some decent freelance, but that only goes so far, and then you start stressing about where the next bill payment is coming from. I ended up seeing most of the people there anyway, the ones I wanted to see as well as the ones I really didn't. Only a few were persistant with the questioning. One, who knew I had been freelancing fairly consistantly in Raleigh for a while, was asking if I were still going there? (Well let's see... I'm working here this week... what do you think??? not that I said that, but you can bet I thought it.) (they haven't needed me for a few weeks now, they are "restructuring" and not exactly sure what they are doing or when they are doing it... is the story they seem to be sticking to.) Yes, the whole thing can get frustrating. And I really didn't mean for that to turn into that kind of rant.

Tonight is pottery. That is, if we don't get rained out from Ophelia. I'd love to put handles on the vase I threw last week I think.. will definately need help pulling the handles, everytime I try it, I end up pulling it apart. hopefully it isn't too dry to do that. Trimming it will be interesting... it is kind of tall.

I guess that is about all I have to report at the moment. Hopefully I'll have some photos to post soon.

time flies

2005-08-30T17:12:00.000-04:00

EEEP! It is almost September and I haven't taken my "August Imperial Centre Update Photos yet...

It's been a weird month, and a definate emotional rollercoaster. I've been playing phone tag still with my Raleigh/London friend, hopefully we will get to see one another soon. We just keep missing each other, and I haven't been in Raleigh as much this month, (which has been okay with gas prices being what they are) but that also brought on some of the no-work anxiety, and so there was a week or so that was a big depression. SO as a result of that, Robert had a friend who needed help at her BBQ sauce business, and I needed to get out of the house and do SOMETHING, so I've been working part time for her helping make, label, bottle, and pack the BBQ sauce. It is easy work, very repetitive (but there are 3 different flavors and 2 sizes) but there is NO OFFICE POLITICS which is a wonderful thing, and the other good thing is, if I have freelance to do, or am needed in an office freelancing, I just let her know, and that is that... (Freelance pays a lot better...) So since that has started I've had a number of freelance gigs come up as well mostly ones I've been able to accomplish at home in the evening. It wouldn't even be bad if I could have this job in the am (we are generally done between 2 and 2:30) and then have one or two freelance projects a week. I could survive on that.

Pottery started last Wednesday night. It was GREAT to be back with the clay buddies, and some other friends have joined the class too.. so it was great to see them as well. I will enjoy seeing them each week. One of them came over after class, and stayted until almost midnight!! It was late, but it was great to hang out with her, we don't see nearly enough of her.

We also got to take a trip to see my Aunt and Uncle in Williamsburg one weekend. They have a "revival" theater company of one they started in the 60's. The purpose of the revival is to raise money for a scholarship in the name of one of the other founders of the theater company who is now deceased, and who taught theater to Highschool Students for many years. The show this year was George Benard Shaw's "Candida" and it was wonderful. (My uncle does the sets and my aunt does the costumes generally.)(in the last few years they have done "Long Days Journey Into Night" "Copenhagen" and "A Delicate Balance" each was quite good in its own right, and most have been in conjunction with the Virginia Shakespeare Company's Season) The highlight though, was meeting another fellow founder of the "Wedgewood Theater" who was there to see the show as well, and we were all staying with my aunt and uncle. This lady was quite fun, and I am sorry I had not met her sooner. We had a ball talking to her, and I am hopeful we will see her again in the future.

So that is what I've been up to... Hopefully there will be some photos to show soon.

Secret Pal finale

2005-08-09T21:41:00.000-04:00

I recieved my final package from Secret Pal 4 yesterday. My wonderful pal turned out to be kakegoddess. She lives about an hour from me, so maybe we'll be able to actually meet up at some point. She sent some lovely yarn in a peony kind of pinky color that is a cotton blend, and really soft, and a green wool. Some really cool swirly washcloths that she made herself. A lovely sketchbook and some very fun postcards. Thanks kakegoddess, you are the best!!!!

Here is the photo:

But in addition she actually drew this card for me. (for any non Potter fans, this is Hermione knitting. :) Really cool)

She is very talented. :)

I haven't been knitting a lot this week. I have been working on some pottery. I threw a really nice BIG bowl on Saturday, unfortunately, when I went to trim it on Sunday, I runied it. The edges were too dried out and brittle (they were pretty thin) and it broke. I threw a couple of other bowls though, not quite as big though, since it had taken me a while to do the first one. I had hoped to have some finished before visiting my aunt this summer, since she gave me her pottery tools last year, but unfortunately they havne't been fired yet, and so glazing them before the weekend is out, and we are visiting them this weekend. I could take some Raku to her, but the vases really shouldn't hold water becasue they are still pourous, and that would be less functional for her. I guess it can wait until Christmas.

It's Too Darn Hot

2005-07-27T20:30:00.000-04:00

For the last 3 days temperatures have reached 100 degrees. That and the humidity has us all pretty wilted. I'm looking foward to the weekend when it is only supposed to be in the upper 80's! That should feel like heaven. Not only that, but we are having a friend visit who we haven't seen in about 2 years, she is stopping in town on her way to see some other friends next week. And after she leaves, I am supposed to call another friend who I've recently been back in touch with (thanks to the bombings in London... not that I want them to happen, but something good came out of it for me) and we are supposed to get together soon. I haven't seen him in several years either, and haven't spent a lot of time with him in close to 10 years. He was on my study abroad trip to London 10 years ago, and one of the stations that was in the recent bombings was the primary station we used while we were there. It was really scary to think about, and since he still does the program a lot of times, I called him to see if he was there and allright. We live an hour away from each other, but our schedules never seem to meet up, and this prompted me to contact him. He isn't doing the program this year, but was set to go to London between the two recent bombings, in fact the second bombing happened while he was enroute back to the states. I'm happy that I am back in touch with him, and it is one of those friendships where you just kind of pick up where you left off.

In one of my last posts, I mentioned the Harry Potter book release and reading. Here is a photo taken about 12:15 am on the day of the release, just before we started reading. We had our faces painted at the bookstore, my friend got Dobby, who is looking a little green, and I got an owl. We were "sorted" into Gryffendor House... and in the spirit of the title of this post, the bookstore was HOT... too many people too little air. We had bought a King Cake from New Orleans for the occasion as well. We thought it would be approproate for "The Half Blood Prince" and the traditional king cake/Mardi Gras colors are Gold Green and Purple, which were also the colors of the book. The boook is great, and I'm still not posting any spoilers.

In the Knitting front Teddy really wants an I-pod, and he thought my knitting was earphones for him. I'm using the crazy heels and toes toe up two socks at once method, and I tell you, this is the only way to go. I think I messed up the cast on, but otherwise, this way rocks!!! You knit them together, so they finish at the same time. No waiting around for the second one to be done. It is a pattern by Queen Kahuna and may be found here: Queen Kahuna Creations

On the theater front, (scroll down to compare where they were a month ago) Here is the side/back view

and the side front view, the taller part is the fly gallery near the procenium that you could see in the former photos, same basic angle for this photo, only more of the building is up now. It is really coming along.

I've been listening a lot to the score for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, it is so much fun. The great thing this year is the 4 major contenders for the Tony awards that were given out in June, are all hits, something that hasn't happened very often in recent years. I'm hoping it is a trend that will continue. I'm very much looking forward to the fall when we get the release of not one but two movie musicals. (well one of them is in December, but it will still be this year) Rent, and The Producers (yes they are making another movie of it, this time of the musical more like it is on Broadway. I love the Original with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, but the musical is so much fun too and differs story wise from the original film.--And Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick are brilliant just as Zero and Gene were.)

On the work front, I registered with a local employment service at the end of last week, sent out some other resumes, and this afternoon got a call to come in and freelance for tomorrow and possibly Friday (and who knows from there) for the place I was freelancing in Raleigh before.

Well that's about it for now. Stay Cool.

Drained

2005-07-19T12:18:00.000-04:00

It is Hot and Humid here (wlecome to Summer in North Carolina) so I feel as wilted as flowers in my garden look.

Work situation is up in the air again. The freelance has dried up more or less at the moment. (although I do have some freelance lined up for the fall, but that isn't helping me right now)... and I haven't had the energy to start looking for full time employment again yet. The constant freelance apparently lulled me into a false sense of security. But I do have a few checks that should be coming my way still.

For anyone who hasn't yet read the latest installment of Harry Potter I won't post any spoilers, for those that have, I feel a bit drained from that as well... what a rollercoaster.

There is so much that needs to be done, and I have little energy to do any of it at the moment.

Retro

2005-06-30T23:01:00.000-04:00

On Knitty we were talking about a pattern that was very 80's and so we started posting photos from that time in our lives...here are mine..

I was fond of hats... here is one of my faves, although the photo isn't the greatest.

This was the morning we left for our first trip to Europe (I'm on the far right... black trenchcoat and all)

This was definately big hair for me, although it pales in comparason to some....

One of my favorite photos ever, I was in a play (Good News, set in the 20s)...

Prom 89, I couldn't find my scan of my Jessica McCllintock dress from 88. I had much bigger hair that year, and it was curly for the prom at least.

Another fave photo, My date was a dear friend of mine who I'm still in touch with, although he does sometimes fall off the planet for months on end.

Enjoy!

going up...

2005-06-16T21:14:00.000-04:00

So I had to go by the Arts Center tonight to turn in a list for the upcoming fundraiser, and so I went by the Imperial Centre on the way to the next errand.. and in 6 days this is what they've accomplished...

From the backstage side:

(that dark elevated "catwalk" area between the two brick buildings in the background is where I took last weeks photo from. )

and from the procenium side: (this is closer to the view of last week's photo):

How exciting is that??? I wish I were around during the day to watch them work some... maybe I'll go by and see if they are working this weekend like they were last weekend.

AND I got home from work today to find a Secret Pal Package mailed from Raleigh this time... last time it was from SC, Myrtle Beach area I think it was.... sneaky Secret Pal.. but she loves me... I got really really yummy kiogu yarn :))) and strawberry wild berry jam to go with it. MMMMMMM... can't wait to try it. also a book and a nice card with poppies on it, as well as a funny card she found antiquing. Thank You Secret Pal. I must find a lovely project for this yarn... but I can hug it in the meantime.

In other news, I've been importing my massive CD collection into my computer in preperation for an i-pod purchase. (that may be a while though) I'm trying to organize things, and I'm having fun going through and rating all the songs. It is time consuming, but is fun since I'm hearing things I haven't played for a while. (I'm also realizing how much music I have---I could start my own eclectic radio station-- but also, because of the compolations I bought to try and get all of my 45's on CD --pre i-tunes mind you--I have a lot of repeats, so there are songs to cull too... kajagoogoo must have made more money in the 90's than they did back in the 80's. Too Shy appears on a good portion of the 80's comps I own... )

Glad it is almost Friday.. :)

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like....

2005-06-10T22:25:00.000-04:00

A THEATER!!!!!!

So I'm driving by the site for the first time in a few weeks last weekend and the steel structure was up!!! Here is a photo from today, when the board memebers got to visit the site, (so that we can talk about it better for the upcoming fundraiser) and It's AWESOME!!! It is so Cool to finally see this coming together.....This picture is from the second story cat walk (connecting the Art Galleries with the Children's Museum) that can be seen on previous site photos I posted. Obviously the theater wasn't finished enough for us to tour that part of the site, but WOW! you can see the stage, the pit the fly and where the rails are going to be... and see that HUGE crane in the background???? That signifies that the theater walls are going to be arriving soon. They are poured concrete and will be slid into place, so it should go up pretty quickly from here. They have a ton of work left to go though, and really only 6 months left to do it.... Below ia a photo of me and the President of the Friends of the Arts Center, in our hard hats. The building behind us is the old library, (the new library can be seen through the theater structure to the left in the top photo) which is going to be classroom space, and this particular end will house the clay classroom, kiln room and the black box theater space.

(I REALLY need to lose some weight. UGH.)

I'm pleased with the results of the Tony awards last weekend. I was VERY pleased that it wasn't a clean sweep by Spamalot. They did win best Musical, best director of a musical and best supporting actress in a musical, but each of the 4 big nominees in the theater categories won something, so I was happy since there were a lot of worthy contenders this year, unlike some recent years. I really like the score for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, it is such fun. It didn't win much, only Best leading actor in a Musical, (for the Steve Martin role from the film) but what a role! Light in the Piazza took 6 of it's 11 nominations. I've only listened to the cast recording once so far, through tinny computer speakers, so it may not be a fair assessment, but it isn't my favorite. Don't get me wrong, it is well written, and verly lovely in places, if not bordering on operatic, but it isn't overly hummable... at least not on a first listen. I will of course listen to it more closely, but that was a first impression. The premise of the show reminded me some of the composer's grandfather's (Richard Rodgers) only collaberation with Stephen Sondheim, "Do I Hear A Waltz?" Which I think is a charming score, but it didn't play particularly long on Broadway, and is more or less unknown to most people.

I'm very overdue for my blog THANK YOU to my secret pal. Here is a photo of some of the lovely items she sent in her first package.

The background is a lovely scarf she sent, the purple thing with the heart on the front is a photo album, now I can put my theater snapshots someplace!! The Yarn is Merino wool and so hugable. and The color so lovely. There was also yummy chocolate, and a cardinal windchime which is on my porch. and see the Awesome Card in the photo?? I think she drew that herself. I am not so talented in the marker rendering category... you Rock Secret Pal. Thank you so much, and I'm sorry it took me so long to get this posted.

Photos & Pottery

2005-05-30T13:10:00.000-04:00

Here are photos from the last several weekends as promised....

The firing was in the instructor's back yard, here is the kiln set up and process. The Glowing Red and yellows... yes it is that hot.... they open the kiln

remove the hot pieces...

and place them in a "redction bin" which for us is trashcans wtih mostly burning pine straw in them

Here are some of my raku results...

(not everything on the table is mine

The following weekend was the saggar firing and pit firing and throwing workshop. I learned a lot here is an image of the saggar bucket before the firing and before we closed it up. We topped it with another bucket, sealed the seams with clay, and poked holes in it before it went into the kiln. the String and pinecones were soked in some sort of salt and chemicals to leave coloration on the pieces.

and some of the results...

And from our trip to the zoo...my favorite, the Rad Pandas...this one is called Sophie...

And the view of my hometown Downtown, from the mountain top where the Zoo is located...

Anyway... enjoy... more later...

Use the force...

2005-05-23T21:25:00.000-04:00

I like Star Wars, really I do. I'm not one of those people that can tell you every intricate detail of everything about it, nor can I tell you all the lesser characters names, or their planets, or all the different names of all the different spacecraft, I know there is the Mellinium Falcon, and the Death Star, but the rest is kind of a blur. I saw Star Wars in a Drive-in theater in my parents VW Camper (with them and my brother who, being so young, promptly fell asleep in his footie pajamas) when it came out. So when my friends wanted to see the latest installment this weekend, I was game, but not frothing at the mouth or anything... (save that for July and the next book installment of Harry Potter...which is released the same night as the opening of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie... whose bright idea was that??? not a smart marketing move, since a lot of their audience will be spending the weekend READING!!!, but I digress... ) I've seen all the other Star Wars movies in the theater except for Episode 1, which I have only seen in part on TV. I really liked Episode 2 where you started to see things piece together. So I was looking forward to seeing how it played out and tied up the loose ends to get back to Star Wars. I wasn't disappointed. I still can't tell you the intricacies of the story, but I know the jist of it all, and the whole thing is a total visual spectical, but man, it was pretty amazing. (Don't read any further if you don't want any spoilers, just in case)

Yoda Rocks even more than he did in the last one, although I felt bad when he thinks he has failed. But to take a sympathetic character in Annikan and see the transformation to Vader, and have it make as much sense as it does... Woah!!! I was amused by the guy telling the other guy (see??) to take care of R2 and C3PO knowing they end up a little shabby in Star Wars... Nicole was impressed by the parallel in the scene where Annikin kills Dukku (I think it was) to the scene in Return of the Jedi, with Luke, but it had been so long since I'd seen that one, it was lost on me sorry to say... I feel like I shuld go back and watch the original three now.

2 weeks till Tonys... not sure who is going to win. I hope it isn't all Spamalot. I'll be bored with it if it is.. I'm hoping that Light in the Piazza and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels take some awards too. I love the Producers, but that was a really boring Tony Awards night since all the suspense was gone, since it was pretty obvious what was taking the awards that night. (although I already had tickets for a month later, so I was still pretty happy)

Discovered tonight that my new radio station does post a song playlist on line, which was helpful today when there was a cool song that they played that i wanted to know what it was...

I'm alive...

2005-05-18T20:45:00.000-04:00

I've had a busy last couple of weeks. After the gig at the church, and the run of the show, I have been freelancing an hour away at a really cool place, that I would like to be full time for. It's an hour away from the house, so there is drive time, but I don't mind the drive, especially with cool music, and we have aquired a really cool radio station around here fairly recently, which is definately a good thing. They don't talk much (especially during morning commute.. they actually play MUSIC ... what a novel idea... ) and they don't play a lot of commercials, and they play pretty much everything..not the same 50 songs or so the usual top 40 stations play.. you really don't know what is coming next. It's a good thing really... I'm hearing stuff I haven't heard for years.. the other morning they actually played "3 is a Magic Number" from Schoolhouse Rock!!

The last 2 weekends have been pottery workshops and firings. The first was Raku and we got some great results although the slip peeled off the pieces I was going to naked raku before it ever went in the kiln, so I ended up peeling the rest off and glazing them instead. Last weekend was Saggar and Pit firing techniques, which produced some nice results, but we only really got blacks and whites, and not much color. I learned some great throwing tips though that I'm anxious to try out. Just from the information I do think it will help my technique a lot. Pictures of the firings will come shortly, I haven't had the energy to set them up for the web yet, but thought I'd post since I hadn't for a while.

MUSIC!

2005-04-26T14:28:00.000-04:00

SO I realized I've bearely said anything about music here on my blog, except for the occasional comment on American Idol... (which I'm starting to lose interest in.) I haven't bought anything really recently since I don't really have an income at the moment aside from the pitiful unemployment check...) I was listening to Satellite radio today on the TV (we get sirius with our TV satellite package) and they were playing a song from "Spamalot" which is a big hit on Broadway right now. It was the first track I'd heard from it, although Robert informs me that it is actually from a previous Python sketch or movie. Not being the biggest Python fan, it passed me by. I realized that the Tony nominations should be coming out next week, and I'm not even sure what is elegable since I haven't been paying attention. So I'm not sure what new is out there either...

I watched the Brit awards on BBC America about a week ago and discovered a few new bands there. I've always been a fan of Brit pop anyway, and now is no different. I already knew I liked Franz Ferdinand, although haven't purchased the Album yet, but found Keane and McFly amongst others especially interesting as well. (I wonder if they got the McFly name from the Back to the Future movies?) Scissor Sisters cleaned up at the awards, I would like to hear more of them before deciding about them. I kind of liked the song they sang at the awards, but wasn't blown away by it. (even if they did use jim Henson's Creature Shop creations for their stage show)

Also about a week ago I went to an organ recital at the Church where I was temping. The Organist was Dorothy Papadakos, and she was a lot of fun. The program included a seires of dance songs from Shall we Dance, to a Greek traditional dance, and a Latin one as well... on the organ.. it was neat. She did a 40's and broadway medley which included In the Mood. The organ isn't a theater organ, but she certainly made it sound like one. Robert felt like he should have been in a ball park. We got to meet her afterwards, she was very nice, but I didn't get to talk to her as much as I would have liked, there were a lot of people wanting to talk to her. She has written a Broadway Musical called "Pompeii" and it will have it's first performances in Willmington NC this fall, and if all goes well will go to Broadway from there. Lawrence, the church organist was given a copy of the promotional CD for the show, and he let me listen to it. It was great. I'm hoping to be able to get to Willmington to see it. It would be great to have seen it before it gets to New York, especially if it does well, and from what I heard of it, there doesn't seem to be any reason as to why it shouldn't do well.

Lights

2005-04-23T11:41:00.000-04:00

I'm running the light board for the current Playhosue show-- "The Miracle Worker." This is our first show with our new tech director. The set looks great. This is by far the most complex lighting I've run the board for, but that may be the show more than anything else. The new TD's a nice guy but is still warming up to people. Every now and then I get a glimpse that assures me he will fit in once he gets comfortable with everyone. The show got a neew cast member two days prior to opening. An older gentleman who has never been on stage before who is a season ticket holder. HE is quite charming, and seems to be enjoying it.... and we're enjoying having him around. Last night was opening night and the show looked good, and the audience really enjoyed it.

I'm sad that Anwar was cut from American Idol this week. With he and Nadia both gone I'm losing interest pretty quickly since they are both more talented than Scott and Anthony. (not that I'm saying neither of them have talent, because they do, but I feel like they both should have gone home before Anwar and Nadia.) Of those who are left, I'm hoping Scott will be the next to go. His personality, or lack there of, really turns me off him.

Pottery studio is on the slate for this afternoon, before the show this evening. I'm hoping to get a few more pieces done before the firning that is 2 weeks from now. (I'm taking a workshop the following weekend, so I have to have some pieces for that as well, and I haven't decided what is going where yet. fortunately, it is all the same claybody, so I will just have to pick and chose.)

There havne't been any new job postings for a while, but now I'm done with the temp job at the church.. I'm hoping there will be more postings this week.. or maybe I'll start hearing from the places I've already had interviews.. it is about that time now.

Catching up...

2005-04-15T20:30:00.000-04:00

Ive been a bad Blogger. So, here is what I've been up to... in the pottery studio.... the lighter colored clay items are raku clay some of which have colored terra sig worked into them, others later got underglaze added. These will be Raku fired in a few weeks (The one on the far left blew out it's base in tbe bisque fire... it wasn't dry enough. This photo is actually a few weeks old, (that's DSO in the background) and my taller vessle throwing techniques have improved... so I'm pleased.

My Super Secret Pal SaintJay sent my final package the other day.... here are the images. She has been great, and definately made my first secret pal round enjoyable.

for this round I had been sending to Clothesknit, here are some images I can finally show you of the tulip I made and felted for her, since Tulips are her favorite flower.

In other news... I'm sorry Nadia was eliminated from American idol this week. (she DID make a poor song selection though) I'm so ready for Scott Savol to be gone though... (since Anthony actually did well this week finally) Although (and I've been arguing with my friend Nicole about this,) I think Bo should have been eliminated by even SUGGESTING to sing Freebird, much less actually singing it... That is so the bad cleché cover band joke.... I still think Nadia is way more talented than a few of the guys who are left though.... I hope someone gives her a break.

I have new respect for the clergy. I've been working at a church for about a week and a half in a temporary capacity filling in for an administrative secretary who fell and broke her wrist. (which is mostly why my life has been crazy lately) In that time, in addition to working on a PC (I'm a mac user) using Publisher instead of my usual Adobe Creative Suite, trying to get the "normal" church publications done including their monthly newsletter (none of which I'm familiar with, re-designing one of them), there have been THREE funerals!!! It has been crazy... these people never get a day off it seems. (and I have new amusement for "Keeping Up Appearances" ;) )

We're under 100 days in the countdown to the next Harry Potter book, and the good films that we are excited to see this year are about to debut in the theaters.

I've had several interviews recently, they all seemed to go well. No offers yet though. In at least one of the interviews though they told me I was the first one they were interviewing... so we are playing the waiting game... all the places have their pros and cons... I'm trying not to pick a favorite though. I did send a resume off to "The Mouse" (but so did a million other people probably) I think it would be a fun job doing graphic design for them (plus they now own the Muppets, and produce shows on Broadway--can you say DREAM JOBS?)... but it is a VERY BIG LONG SHOT. They won't hire me if I don't apply, so what do I have to lose?

Robert has discovered e-music and loves the subscription service they have. It's mostly smaller label things with a lot of world music and whatnot. Perfect for him. He is excited because he will be able to replace a lot of his Music collection he sold off for financial reasons a few years ago at a fraction of the cost. They have some things I'm interested in as well, but I'm not buying anything at the moment. Problem is, with things like Brodway Cast Recordings I WANT the cover art and liner notes which you don't get with these services. It would be nice if they put themm in .pdf files or something so you could have the information from a downloaded album... it's only a matter of time I'm sure.

I think that is about all the big news at the moment....

What am I working on?

2005-03-24T15:31:00.000-05:00

This :

This mitered scarf out of Kiogu (is that spelled correctly?) wool yarn. I'm thinking of making it double sided but having the other side in a different colorway. Maybe the greens I was looking at before. It was so difficult for me to decide on the colors for this... It isn't perfect, I'm learning about this technique as I go pretty much. It is fun though, and it isn't as tedious as a normal garter or stockingette stitch scarf.

I've bought some sock yarn, but don't have the needles for it right now. (since the stores in town don't seem to carry anything smaller than a 5 and I want circulars in a 1, 2, or 3. and the yarn store in Raleigh was out of them when I was last there.)

Blog-A-Thon

2005-03-23T16:32:00.000-05:00

So My friend Nicole (Queltic) from Jeweled Web has tapped me for the Blog-A-Thon. Here are the rules followed by her questions to me.

Here are the rules for this Blog-a-thon. I'll offer to interview the next how many ever people to respond to this post that will follow these rules:
1. Leave me a comment saying "interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions here. They will be different questions than the ones below.
3. You will update YOUR blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
That's it... and be sure to send me your email address so I can let you know when to come back here for your questions!

And now for the Questions Nicole had for me:

1. What theatre role would you most like to play?
There are several, but one of major ones is Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd. (in part where my user name comes from) Angela Lansbury originated the role back in the 70's and it's a great part, but then, I want to play several of the roles she has had over the years.

2. If there was a catastrophe and you could only save 5 items from your VAST music collection, what would they be?
You are so EVIL asking me to pick only 5 from my collection....

Peter Gabriel's Passion (soundtrack from "The Last Temptation of Christ") because of the soothing qualities it has on me, but that may be in part to circumstances around when/where I first heard it. (and no it wasn't in the theater seeing the movie, although I have seen the movie.)

Tears For Fears Seeds of Love it has gotten me through some tough times, and still has good qualities. (and you did say it was a catastrophe)

one of my 80's music compolations (cheating I know, but like I said, you're being evil...maybe I'll have to make my own from my collection for this occasion. Definately containg "fun" songs from bands like Simple Minds, INXS, Talking Heads, U2, Blondie, Adam Ant ;), and plenty of one hit wonders.)

I can't possibly pick just one broadway cast recording... There are too many that I love too much and it depepnds on the mood as to which one(s) I would pick, so I'd have to make a collection here as well with my favorite show tunes... probably the big production number songs... Stuff that makes you want to sing and dance. The shows would range from the classics to the modern day.

And for the last, (cheating again) I'd have to make yet another compolation of Big Band and swing music. Glenn Miller, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Jordan, Frank Sinatra amongst others... with maybe some Squirrel Nut Zippers and Big Bad VooDoo Daddy thrown in for good measure.

3. What would be your "dream" job?
Working with the Muppets or Designing posters and things for Broadway Shows

4. Where in the world would you MOST like to visit?
I'd love to spend a lot more time in England and Scotland, but I've also said I'd like to take a cruise on the fjords of Norway, there is a building in Istambul I'd love to see, and sometimes I think I'd like to visit certain parts of Japan.

5. What celebrity would you MOST like to interview (living or deceased)?
Jim Henson or Saul Bass (although Saul isn't really a celebrity)

Okay, well that is me... next....

Instant Replay?!?!?!?!

2005-03-23T16:08:00.000-05:00

So apparently there was some screw up wtih the voting number graphics on the TV screen last night during American Idol. Tonight they get to do it all over again. (and we have to vote again since they are throwing out all of Tuesdays votes) What an ineresting turn of events. Almost all of the performers really "brought it" last night. Let's see who can do it again tonight, who can grow from the feedback of last night..(Obviously they aren't going to be changing songs though) who improves from already haveing done it on live TV before, and who doesn't.... Basically I'm really curious if the people I thought were the best/worst last night will be the same people tonight. It could alter my voting pattern tonight. I have pottery class toinght which doesn't get out until 9, so I'll have to tape the show even though I'll get home hopefully in time to see Carry perform. (gee, are they even going in the same order tonight???) Who knows...

I think it will be Nikko or Makayla going home this week though.

Springtime for Teddy

2005-03-21T12:06:00.000-05:00

I finished this scarf a few weeks ago, and Teddy has stolen it.. He claims he did it so as not to get pinched on St. Patrick's Day, but he hasn't given it up yet either... Here he is out in the garden with it on.

and up close

The yarn knitted up like a field of daisys. The little white areas have yellow centers that may not be apparent on the photos. The other colorways knitted up to look like Butterflies, or flowers but on other backgrounds....I saw it in a denim blue color (which Queltic bought) and a red. all of which had white "flowers".

Been doing some other knittting/felting, but part of that is for my Secret Pal, and it is taking longer than I anticipated... sorry for the Delay SP if you're reading this. I hope to finish it up soon.

This is the week for regional judging of the Addy Awards.. Keep your fingers crossed please.

I'm happy with the finalists in American Idol. A little sad Mario quit, but I didn't think he was going to WIN, but happy Nikko is back. It is going to get tough though, since there are so many good finalists, and not a lot of ones I really don't like as there have been in years past.

Job hunt is frustrating at the moment, but I'm plugging along.

Pottery is going well. I have had further success with the wheel, so I'm very pleased wtih my progress. It's not perfect, but things are much straighter than they were, and I'm able to throw taller things now (probably between 6 and 12 inches) Photos to come soon.

Birthday Adventures

2005-03-13T20:08:00.000-05:00

So, Thursday was my Bithday. Nothing terribly eventful during the day. I got some lovely PM's from some friends on the-leaky-cauldron.org. It was nice to know some of the people whose posts I enjoy, also enjoy mine. Mom came and took Robert and I to The Outblack for dinner, we ran into Betty-Lou and Lisa who I uesd to work with at the agency. Lisa is gone now too. We exchanged some job lead information, since she is a copy-writer and I am a designer, we're not competing for jobs. After getting home and hanging out doing the usual evening routine, we went to sleep as usual only to be awoken by a banging on the front door minutes before 2 am. Now we live in a nice older neighborhood, not too far from the downtown of our small city. Go a few blocks in any direction and the neighborhoods are somewhat questionable, but I don't tend to feel "unsafe" at my house... but banging on the door at 2 am is another story. ... We looked outside thinking it might just might be our friend who is moving back to town... nope. No car or anything out front ... and the banging contiinued... we called 911... (the police station is only a few blocks away...) after calling 911, I looked out the back window, and there was a police car at my neighbor's house out back. We went downstairs and peeked outside.. it was indeed a police officer... There had been a string of car breakins in the neighborhood and one of ours was included. (it was one that hadn't been running though, and it was locked, unlike some of my neoghbors') We were outside with the police and my neighbor until about 2:45 and found it difficult to get back to sleep afterwards...

Got up the next day, Robert was at work, I looked out the window and my trunk was most definately not as it had been the previous night when we went back to bed... so I had to call the police again... Apparently they had apprehended the suspect between 3 and 5 and since he had a record, and confessed, was behind bars. (although had left the police with a string of reports to make since there were a lot of other cars that were broken into.) But it gave us some peace of mind to be able to spend the night in Raleigh one night this weekend for further Birthday celebrations. The rest of the weekend I spent in the pottery studio. :)

I think I got it...

2005-03-11T17:57:00.000-05:00

Teh next Raku class starts this coming week, but I've already started throwing Raku clay for the class. Saturday I threw 2 vases that were taller than 6 inches out of one piece of clay!!! then Tuesday I threw one that was at least 8 inches from one piece of clay ... all of them are straight and I think it has finally clicked in!!! YAY!! I plan on going to the studio tomorrow too..

Here are some photos from the last Raku session that I never posted.

This was a Slip Resist Method that utilized blue Terra Sig, and the black coloring is where the smoke got through the slip to color the clay body

This is one of my penquins, they suffered some mishaps, but he still turned out cool.

These are heart boxes, one is using a copper raku glaze and the other is the slip resist method.

Yesterday was my Birthday... and we had an eventful night...not of Celeberation though... I'll try and post about it later, I've got to run right now.. :)

Shows and Secret Pals

2005-03-04T20:40:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't posted a lot of knitting stuff recently. One, I haven't been overly productive in that vein of late, well not stuff I can show you right now, since what I have been knitting is something of my own design but it is for my secret pal first, cause I'm making one for her, so in case she is reading...I'm not showing... On the other hand, I have the greatest secret pal!! this actually came last weekend, but I'm finally getting around to posting about it now. It came all wrapped up like this:

(the yarn was loosly wrapped in the pretty floral paper it is sitting on.)
and opened to this:

The yarn is wool and yummy. What a fantastic color! Just perfect. and 3 Skiens! Thanks SP :) I can't wait to find the perfect project for it. Maybe even one of the felted bags from the pattern book she sent. This is the book I wanted, I've been eyeing the houndstooth pattern ever since I saw it in a magazine back probably in the summer. The other goodies are more of those fantastic Hazelnut prelene chocolates, and some fabulous Tea, in Wild Orange, and Cammomile. (Havne't actually tried the camommile yet, but if it is half as good as either it smells or as the orange is, it will be great)

Let's see... Sent out more resume packages this week, but that's all I'm saying there, not to jinx any of it.

I'm disappointed that Aloha and David were kicked off this week on American Idol. Neither of them performed particularly well this week, so I understand why they were, but I think both are more talented than a few of the ones who remain (but there are ones who are better who still remain). They all are going to have to "kick it up a notch" though if I'm going to remain interested. I thought the boys did well this week, but this was the girls' week to be ho-hum... any more of that and I'm really not going to care.

Our show ended last weekend. Had a good run, and strike went smothly and we were done shortly after 6. A lot of the stuff was stock though so we just had to take it down and put it away. Anyway, here is a photo from the show.

and one of the cast after a dress rehearsal (out of costume)

Addy Awards

2005-02-27T11:48:00.001-05:00

I only entered one thing in the Addy Awards this year. (they are the advertising awards and they are judged on three levels. local- for an area of a state, in this case eastern NC, regional-we are in region III which constitutes VA, NC, & SC (thre are 14 regions), and national, which is self explanitory. Those awards are in June, but the judging will be at the end of April.) Our local awards were held Friday night.

Here is what I entered:

This was a poster for the Playhouse Community Theatre I did as "freelance" work & it is one of my favorite comedies. (It's about a shy Englishman who is taken to a country lodge in Georgia, and since he doesn't want to interact with people, his friend tells the lodgers that he is foreign and doesn't speak English. This makes him interesting to them...and they get more than they bargained for...including some locals who don't like "foreigners")

I went to the awards knowing that I had achieved a "Gold" award at the local level. The company I had interviewed with were the ones collecting entries, and so they even had shown me what I was up against in my category. It was another poster that I really liked, and felt like it was "Gold" worthy too. Turned out, it was, so we both won "Gold" but then I was also awarded a "Judges' Award of Excellence" which I think is the same kind of thing I won a few years ago with antother poster only then it was called a "Special Judges' Award" At any rate, this is a pretty "big deal" as far as the awards go, since essentially it is created by the judges' for things that aren't eligable for the actual "best of" awards because of the categories they are in. (at least that is how it was explained to me, so in a way it is almost cooler than a "best of" because it was created just for me... they don't HAVE to give it out.--Looking at the rules, I'm not sure if my category was or was not eligable for the "best of" awards, but either way this award was a credation for my work. and it was the only "special" award given.)

What's next? Because I won "gold" my work is forwarded free to me to the regional competiton, (silver winners may forward their work too if they so desire, but must pay the entry fee themselves) I looked on-line and the Third district Judging will be March 25-26 in SC. So I have about a month to wait. The last poster that did this well, actually won a silver at regional, and I forwardded it to Nationals, but it didn't place. I think this poster has a pretty good chance at placing someplace at regionals too. (they allow silvers to be forwarded because obviously the judging for this kind of thing is subjective to the the judges opinions, and sometimes silvers on one level place differntly on another because the Judges are different, but the competition gets tougher the higher level you get to, so even a silver at regional is pretty impressive.) In the long run it may not mean a lot, but for now it *might* help me find a job, but in the very least, I get a boost of confidence in my abilities, and bragging rites, since the agency that laid me off only placed silvers at local this year.

Keep your fingers crossed for regionals. ;)

Board Meeting

2005-02-21T15:17:00.000-05:00

Since I have a board meeting today, I figured I'd share some photos of our new facility that is in the works. We lost our arts facilities in the flooding that happened after hurricane Floyd in 1999, it's been a long time getting to this point.

See that hole in the ground? That's going to be the theater. Hurrah! The buildings in the background are going to be the rest of the Arts Center which is gallery space, and arts classroom and programming spaces, as well as the Children's museum which is like a science/nature museum and it is going to have a planetarium in it as well. The only one of it's kind (technology wise) in the south east apparently. (They're really excited about it)

Here is the length of the Old Tobacco warehouse that is being restored/renovated for this project.

Here is part of the other side of the facility. (by the way, that is the only 3 legged water tower left in North Carolina, and they aren't sure how many others are still in existance anywhere else.)

And the other part of the back. This is going to be a HUGE facility. We're all really excited about it. There is another structure that isn't in these photos that is where there will be studio space for painting, and ceramics I think it is... it has been a while since I've seen the plans, and they change fairly regularly at this point.

There is lots of fundraising to be done still for outfitting the place, but they have to be done building by the end of the year or we lose a lot of goverment funding like FEMA money. I'm proud to be a part of what is going to be such a nice facility. It has been a tough road since the flood, but this seems to be a silver lining from that dark cloud.

PS

2005-02-18T16:52:00.000-05:00

So I got 15 out of 24 on the American Idol prediction, not bad considering some of them I don't think we ever saw until the other night. I must say, Jaclyn was ROBBED! I guess they figured she is really young and can and may come back. I hope she does I was rooting for her already. I was dissappointed about JP, but it wasn't as big of a shock to me as it was to him based on the group performances. I relly liked him too.

I'm definately looking forward to getting down to the meat of it though. I'm excited about Anwar, Constintine, and David in the men's category, and Nadia, Carrie, Jessica, and Janae in the female one. I think Makala is talented, but I havne't decided about her yet. She reminds me of a young Barbara Strisand, although I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not.

Opening Night

2005-02-18T16:34:00.000-05:00

It's Opening Night for the show I'm running the light board for. I think it will be a good show. They've been running well the last week, and have been pretty solid. The audiences should enjoy it, as it is a well scripted show crafted to be funny on many levels, and our audiences like a good comedy.

I spent 14 hours at the thater yesterday. I went over around lunchtime to help put some finishing touches on the set. Painting and molding mostly. Stuff like the chair rails. Late afternoon we had an artistic descision go awry. The finishing technique that was being used to give the set an aged look, had one of the actors come in and ask, "Who set the set on fire and then put it out?" We were all hoping that it would appear different and better once the stage lighting was on it. Not the case. SO the Director, Stage Manager and I stayed after the run to "fix" it. Fortunately, it was helped by softening the offensive areas by sponging on more of the background color. We were lucky this was able to fix it, and that was all that was needed. Unfortunately, it still took us until 2:30 am to do so. I'm so glad I only live around the corner from the theater. Driving a longer distance would have been really dangerous with as tired as I was.

After getting home, Robert who had woken briefly, let me know that I had won an Addy Award. They had called while I was at the theater. The awards banquet is next Friday. I only entered one thing so I know what it was for, and when I called the lady back, she told me it was a "gold" and was pretty adamant that I should come to the awards. So I'm wondering if there is more to it, or if she has a contact she wants me to meet. This will involve getting someone to cover my light board operation for the night though, since there is a performance that night. The good news is that it is an easy show to run. There are only 3 looks, and it doesn't change a whole lot. I feel bad since I made a commitment to the show (not thinking about when the awards were), but since I'm out of work, it will be a good oportunity to network. The Director is thrilled, (since it is a poster I did for her that won) and isn't concerned about me missing the show, so I guess it will be allright.

Idol predictions.

2005-02-16T10:42:00.000-05:00

First of all let me say, I'm in no way connected to the show, I'm just a fan, and want to share my predictions which are solely my opinion (with some input from my friend Nicole).

Based on who they have focused on up to this point, and the names they dropped last night on the show, and who was left in the top 44, here is who I think are the top 24. (with * by who from that I think may make up the top 12) Please forgive spellings (I know I'm going to really mess up some of the names) and in some instances I don't remember last names. I'm not sure if they are going to be doing "Wild Cards" this year, but there were about 6 names of people we (My friend Nicole and I) kind of liked that were in groups that were cut last night. My suspicions are that the ones they havne't shown up to this point probably aren't going to be in the top 24, so based on that, here's the list, We'll find out tonight how close we were, at least for the top 24.

Girls: Carrie Underwood*, Janae C*, Vonzell Solomon, Tammy Nash, Jacylin Crum*, Makala Gordon*, Lindsay Cordenelli, Jessica Sierra*, Nadia (not sure of her last name but she has the afro)*, Rachel Leslie, Gina (not sure of her last name, but she was in Janae's trio), Faith Galewood. (Wild Cards if there are any: Rashida Johnson, Carrie Zaruba, and Jennifer Todd -- I was really sorry to see her cut, I really wanted to see her compete) (Carrie, Jacylin, Makala and Nadia being my top pics at the moment)

Boys: Jamar Jefferson, Mario Vasquez, Matthew Kester, Anwar Robinson*, Constintine M.*, David Brown*, Jud Harris, Anthony Federov*, Scott Savol*, John Ceca, Bo Vise, Jamie Paul Koehler* (Wild Cards if there are any: Danny Steward, Desmond Meeks, Ross (the crooner with the hat)) (although this is the tougher of the two competitions I think, and in that Jamar, and Mario sill could be top 12 I'm less fond of Scott since his personality kind of puts me off him, but we've seen more of him so he got the "*" becasue of that. We haven't seen much of John or Bo so they could still play a factor too.)(Top pics here for now are Anwar, Constintine, and David -- with a soft spot for JP as well)

As for the top 12, we'll have to wait longer for, and of course, my opinions could change once we hear them sing some more, and I'm not really thinking about the "cute factor" which may help some of the guys/gals along by getting a lot of preteen and teen vote solely based on looks, yes it is a singing competition, but it happens.

I do think the competition overall is a lot tougher this year than in the past, it may have to do with the age limit being bumped up, but a lot of the really good talend where the women are concerned are really young, with two of my top choices being 16. The age thing has helped the men's competition though. Either way, the young ones will have to put on more mature performances if they want to stay in the game with the more experienced ones. I don't see that as a problem for Jacylin or Makala since they both had very mature stage presences. (at least while they were singing ;) )

Valentines Day!

2005-02-14T17:41:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

I got a package in the mail today from my Super Secret PAL!!!

She sent me Hazlenut Chocolate (MY FAVORITE!!!) and a lovely reverse bloom washcloth in a lovely tealy color (and a funny card about a grumpy candy heart engraver.) THANK YOU Secret Pal, you really made my day it is cold and wet here today, and I was feeing kind of frustrated with the job hunt. So getting good mail made me smile. :) Here's the photo

Robert participated in Valentine's day today too. (for one he had to get up at 4 am to be the vender receiver today at the store since the normal one was scheduled to be in the floral department today...yippee....) But he gave me a lovely hand crafted broach that is made of wire and pearly beads that is in the shape of a heart. (I had picked it out at a coffee house we went to on Saturday night in lieu of chocolate.)

I'm running lights for the show I had auditioned for in January. We had Double Tech yesterday. It went fairly smoothly, but that is mostly because there aren't that many cues. The director has already been joking that in order to be in the booth for this one you have to be able to knit, since the stagemanager is up there too running the sound board and she doesn't have a lot of cues either, so there will be some down time during the show to knit. I've got some fun yarn that will knit up to look like a field of daisys. I think it is going to be a fun spring scarf. tonight they are adding costumes, and most of the props. there are some doozy costume changes... so we may be there a while tonight. (The director had wanted to give them tonight off as it is Valentine's day, but the school needed the auditorium tomorrow night, so we have a night off then. Unfortunately Robert will be working, but we'll have SnB, and watch American Idol.)