Summertime Fun Updates

So crazy month came and went and I’ve been spending the final weeks of August completing various projects. I got my level one certification with Katrina, started working on BATS items and Fall Equinox, and completed writing and sending in more reviews for Witches & Pagans magazine. Also been hard at work in trying to get my tarot business up and running. So far things are slow but steady.

The big news? Well, I learned how to crochet a few months ago. There was a particular thing I wanted to learn how to make so two of my fiber friends muddled through and taught me how to do it. And the amazing thing is that it’s stuck. I’m making thing after thing after thing and actually enjoying it. So, go figure.

In the Studio

Kender spent some time in his studio yesterday. He’s been rather melodious lately and it’s been great to hear what’s been rolling around in his head. The new tune was great but he really wanted to add vocals. So, I turn to him and told him the words that the song sorta kicked up in my head. He tried to run with it but it didn’t sound right.

Instead, I told him to let me give it a shot. So, we recorded a bunch of snippets of me singing and the result is “Make Me Bleed”. Go listen and be gentle please. This is my first attempt at singing since womens’ choir in college.

Perusing the Shelves

I was poking around on a website called Shelfari and found that they took pictures of Neil Gaiman’s library. Other author’s writing spaces and libraries fascinate me, so of course I gotta check out those images through to see what he keeps on his shelves.

I start clicking on the thumb nails to expand the images to their large size. That’s when I come across this:

DIYP Article Up: Review of Scrivener

This week, I wrote a review of my favorite writing application, Scrivener. If you own a Mac and are serious about writing in any capacity or genre, I highly recommend you get this application. It organizes your thoughts and has a built in revision tracking system that can keep up with all your drafts. It makes writing fun! Go read my review and see what else I had to say.

I can’t believe I just did that…

Amazon.com makes it really easy for you to create tons of new wishlists. Over the past months, I’ve accidentally created several new lists while thinking I was telling their system to just display my one and only wishlist. Today I decided to delete those empty lists (I like running a clean social network).

Well, I thought I clicked on the first of 3 empty lists… and then… realized to my horror… that the first thing that got deleted was my SIX FREEKING PAGE amazon wishlist that I had since 2000 or so. Everything gone. Never to return.

Needless to say, I now have a clean slate to fill. Anyone got any pagan, tarot, paper arts, young adult, fantasy/scifi, or horror books, DVDs, or industrial/techno CDs you’d like to recommend? Comment away and I’ll link them up to my new “Massiv Wish List”. This is your chance to help influence my book habit in 2009.

Meet the New Smudge

We picked my new Macbook up tonight. I was excited and just couldn’t wait a day. So, I rushed home from my acupuncture treatment and immediately hopped into the JackRabbit. Kender deftly drove all the way down to The Mac Store in Clackamas. Thanks to his skill, we got there with a few minutes to spare.

I knew that my friend Ducky transferred to this store awhile ago, but I never figured that I’d be seeing him. But as I pushed open the doors there he was… sitting behind the Support Desk. I pretty much ignored the sales guys (no offense, guys) and walked up to him with a big grin on my face and said, “Gimmeh Macbook!” He smiled back and waved his finger at me in that “I’m on the phone, give me a second” way.

Kender wandered around the store as I waited. He tested out the speakers and played some songs from across the room, just to verify that the speakers in the new lines were, indeed, louder. When he was off the phone, Ducky took my order. We caught up on life, current events, and general geekery. It was good to see him, it’s been awhile. And it felt like old times. Ten years ago, when I first arrived to PDX, he and his store sold me my first 12″ Powerbook. And now… here we are… with him selling me the latest body model for my Smudge.

Once we got home, kender took a few posterity pictures of me and my new beloved. I’ve done the whole “photograph the first unboxing” thing with my first iMac, Sage. But I decided that after owning about 10 different laptop systems, I really didn’t need to do that with this system. It’s not that big of a deal to me… more like this system is just a shiny new body for my existing Smudge.

Instead, we set to work on swapping the 250 gig hard drive that came with the system with my powerhouse 320 gig drive. And now, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen… welcome to the new smudge: shinier, faster and with more memory. And with a backlit keyboard *squees*

Here’s to many more years of use with this new system.

Squee…Geek Lurve

Kender traded in his remaining 2008 vacation hours for cash. We decided to use that money to fuel my geek by getting me a new Macbook. It’s been 3 years since my last computer purchase. On the scale of things, I’m ahead of the curve. The money hit our bank account today. While I’d LOVE to go to The Mac Store right now and pick up Smudge’s new body, I’m busy today. Kender offered to let me go alone but I know he wants to be there to see me bounce and SQUEE and huggy box. So tomorrow, I get a shiny Macbook. Yaaaaaaaay!!1!1111!11BBQ.

I’m now looking for a new home for my current black Macbook. In chatting with some friends, I decided to include this selling point:

System used by “semi-famous” author to write story published in anthology with Neil Gaiman.