Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year's Eve!

The fall always seems more like a new year to me, but this year, with the job ending and all, I guess it does feel like a new beginning more than usual.

My resolution is only to go forward without fear. That's it. I will continue to do everything I can, every day, to support my family, to nurture my children, to love my husband, to stay healthy, to help my friends, to foster peace.

Looking back on the last two years, they have certainly been dramatic! And not in a good way! But I have learned a tremendous amount, made many new relationships that I am lucky to be able to maintain, gained confidence in myself and my skills and found realms of interest that are entirely unexplored, very exciting! I would like to work in social justice, environmental activism, peace, civil rights, politics. I could not do any of that without the experience that I garnered at the church. For that, I say Thank You.

I wish them success and health. I wish them more connection with one another, more understanding of each other's point of view and freedom from fear.

And in fact, I wish the same to you, dear readers, wherever you may be.

May peace prevail upon the earth.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Oh, dear, that was a long time!

You can probably guess at the level of busy going on here in lovely cold-hot-cold SoCal these days. I was just telling my mom it feels like we have increased our activities by a factor of 5. It may not be true, but it's definitely truthy.

DD's school play rehearsals have increased from once a week to twice. The Cub Scout Den is trying to get their Webelos Badge before Christmas (I need to get DS to plan a week of meals and such). Two activities have fallen away (skateboarding and drawing) but other things involve homework and such.

And so, dear reader, we are not going out East for Christmas this year. Which makes me wistful. But we really need a break from EVERYTHING and will take one. I have quite a store of overtime saved up and won't have to use any vacation days (saving them for Spring Break). Time to hang out, to play games, to stay in our PJ's, to bake together, put a log in the fireplace, all sounds really good. I will miss the people, but not the frenzy. Next year, peeps! And see you for a good long summer vacation!

Speaking of summer, it looks like I'll be furloughed again and my freelance job has sold the business to someone in Long Beach so who knows what that will mean. I'm certainly not driving to Long Beach to pick up DVD's! I will make a big effort to ingratiate myself with the new owner, though.

On the potentially more money front, however, I am involved with a group which is going to offer some Website Development workshops in the area, some possibly even to organizations which are seeking someone to provide and post their content for them, which would be something I would LOVE to do on a freelance basis, so any good thoughts that way would be very greatly appreciated!

Today was DS's 4th Grade play, "Geology Rocks!" He did a great job! DSC_0069

Great thanks to all the teachers and parents who worked so hard! My contribution this year was very minimal, but at least visible to the human eye. DD's year, I had my friend J to help me make 14 black vests for the costumes, which was very intimidating but with help totally doable.

I am knitting along on a semi-secret project and another totally secret project so no pictures so far of that but I did spin some pretty yarn: Troublemaker 1

IMPORTANT NOTE: Both of the above photos were taking with my well-beloved Stepfather's Nikon D50 DSLR, for which I am extremely grateful!!

Peace.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Our Screenplay

"Forsaken", a spaghetti western/horror feature written by my husband Jeffrey and me has made the Finals of the 2010 Page International Screenwriting Competition!!

OMG!!

Congratulations, Sweetheart!!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Remembering 9/11

I just read the story of a guy who survived, who tried to help and did help in a tangible way, taking an Orthodox Jewish woman home to Brooklyn. And it brought back some of the feelings I had even from the West Coast.

I was home with my 5-week old son and his 2 year old sister, my husband had been listening on the radio to Howard Stern and came out to tell me that the first Tower had collapsed. My first thought was that there was some sort of terrible structural problem. Then we turned on the TV. And didn't turn it off for days. We were watching when the second Tower came down. We were watching it over and over and over. What I remembered so vividly tonight is all the people who had lost someone wandering around downtown with pictures of their loved ones, "Have you seen this woman?" "Have you seen my son?"

We all waited breathlessly, stunned, for someone, anyone, to come out, to be rescued, to be found alive under all that rubble. For someone to show up at a hospital hurt but alive. For one of those lost to be found. But we were disappointed.

That Friday we had a special church service where I sing and I stood and sang "America, the Beautiful." To this day, when I get to that last verse I cannot help but tear up, no matter where, no matter when.

It is hard to let our dream of America be "undimmed by human tears" when we think of this terrible tragedy that happened to all of us, some more than others. But we must. We must continue to be a country of laws, a country of tolerance and acceptance, a country of love and diversity. A country of true freedom and liberty based on our Constitution.

Oh, beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years.
Thine alabaster cities' gleam undimmed by human tears.
America, America, God mend thine every flaw.
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law.

Peace.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Don't make a sound!

9-year-old just turned off the TV on Saturday morning to READ.

Move along, nothing to see here...

Peace.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

What do I do now?

So I'm confronted (in a nice way) with a sort of request that I figure out what the hell I want to do next.

And I don't really know.

Over the course of my life so far, I've wanted to be a lot of things, some more practical than others. Sign language interpreter, opera singer, a bunch of things. Lately, since my job is partly a webmaster position, I've thought about being not a website designer but a content provider, a writer for sites, something like that. But it has been brought home to me that I really don't KNOW anything. I'm a decent writer and high-information political junkie with a little experience with CSS and HTML but nothing huge. I do plan to take a course in HTML in the next year, but that doesn't seem like a dream, you know?

I would like to write for maybe a radio station website (I love radio) or a political campaign or political website (Talking Points Memo internship sounds really great right now; unfortunately it would involve getting an internship at my advanced years and moving my family to DC with no visible means of support). There are certainly areas I am excited about and would like to write about. But, again, I don't have a PoliSci degree or anything, I'm just a self-taught occasional political blogger that no one reads.


And yet I feel as though this might be my chance to choose something new to do, something that would keep me interested and passionate until the end of my working life. Which isn't that far away, realistically speaking. Relatively.

So is now the time to go back to school? To look for an internship or training program? To throw everything up in the air (again) and see where it falls? The last time we did that it was for my husband to come out to L.A., which has had its ups and downs, but the kids are incredible and we are at least functional at this point.

In my heart of hearts, I would like to be able to stop struggling so hard and spend a few years becoming a Master Spinner, write a book and teach spinning and spin forever and ever. Yeah. I know. But that is because I have always wanted to stop doing anything tedious and just do interesting fun things. I'm basically lazy, after all.

Perhaps it's time to decide what I DON'T want to do and at least eliminate some options. I do NOT want to be a lawyer. I do NOT want to go back to secretarial work unless it's a dire emergency. I do NOT want to choose what I'm doing just to make money and not to feed my soul. Which argues for staying with what I do now, as although it is not perfect, does offer a path to some fulfillment most of the time. I do NOT want to go into the ministry (ha!).

I think I need to think some more...

Monday, July 19, 2010

Vacation 2010

I shall refer to it that way to encourage the Multiverse to not make me take a furlough again next summer.

At any rate, having a lovely time!

We started out in Essex, Vermont for my brother's wedding:

DSCN1534

It was luxurious, fun, cold, hot, relaxing, nourishing and wonderful!

Congratulations, C and M! Hope you're having a fabulous honeymoon! And great thanks to my father for the amazing experience, especially the chance to get us all together. What a gift!

Then we moved on to New Jersey where I took no pictures, what is the deal with that? Oh, one:

Kids and NJ grandparents

Hope somebody took pictures later...mom? Doug?

Then the kids went to Pennsylvania with dad, where they still are and I came home to my (hopefully? possibly?) annual recharging time at home with the dog. I'm about ready for some people now, you can come back!

However, uninterrupted time to work on big projects--Girl Scout Troop film, cleaning out dressers, reorganizing spinning fiber and catching up with Doctor Who--really great!

Taking the summer off from most of my job is a mixed bag, certainly, especially for the bank account, but it's only money, right? Time with family, time with spouse, time with children, time with dogs? Priceless.

May peace prevail upon the earth.

Monday, June 14, 2010

The Upside

Today is my first day off in...three weeks.

It is also my first day off of two months of days off.

Which is good and bad, as you can imagine. But I will focus on the good! Because today is Pajama Day at our little house! No one is getting dressed until it's time to go swimming this afternoon. Oh, except for Daddy who does in fact have to go to work. Sorry, Daddy!

I am on a two-month furlough from two of my three jobs (they are all at the same place) which hurts the bank balance, but not the psyche, I hope. I shall knit and spin and clean and watch Doctor Who and spend time with my family (near and far).

What was I doing working the last three weeks every day? Vacation Bible School!

20100611_36

Which out of the 7 I've been involved with was absolutely one of the top 2 and possibly the best. In some ways it was the easiest, even though I used to have a smaller job. But the kids and youth were the most engaged I've ever seen. The teachers were all at the top of their game. The Director (congratulations, A!) was terrific and creative and fun. And on top of it all, I got to spend a lot of time with wonderful people (A, J, K, this means you!!) and get paid for it. What's better than that?

20100611_151

Kids are good. DD on swim team, DS trying valiantly to get to the next level so he can join her. We are looking forward to our trip to Vermont/New Jersey/Pennsylvania in a couple of weeks. The dog is cute, the fridge is full, the house is a mess but I will fix that.

20100610_97

20100609_36

Coffee time! Have a great day!

May peace prevail upon the earth.

Friday, February 26, 2010

A Quiet Week, considering

DD has been at camp all week with school.

No fighting.

But I miss her! Lunchtime today, she will be home, filled with new experiences and stories to tell, yay!

Meanwhile, DS has been in despair with the missing of the sister. "The house is not the same." "Can I stay up till she gets back?" Too bad he won't remember not to pester her. He's planning to give her a PRESENT.

In work news, no news is good news, I guess. There will be another (unpleasant? nonevent?) meeting next Tuesday after which I think it will all go away at least until this time next year. Or not.

I've been fibering for the Ravelympics, though and finished projects for both of my events:
Sock HockeyFirefly socks complete Firefly socks, 2-ply BFL dyed by Twisted Fiber Arts in Firefly colorway and

Flying Camel Spin selfish closeup
Navajo plied Shetland from Spunky Eclectic in Selfish

I think I meant to 2-ply that, but ended up wanting to N-ply, which I really enjoy. I would do it more, but to get a true sock yarn, the singles are SO thin, it takes forever, like lace.

I didn't ever work on the sweater yarn, too much stress at work to do a big project, but I feel like I did accomplish something considering all the circumstances.

Today I will start the sweater yarn and watch both the long and short programs of the Ladies Singles. I know the results, but I hear the performances were amazing so I don't want to miss them!

May peace prevail upon the earth.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

"I'm ambivalent."

A phrase my parents taught me when I was barely speaking, I guess to amuse their friends. It must have been funny, though!

But I am a bit.

The last ten years were the first ten years of motherhood, which has been just the most amazing experience of my life. My children are thriving, intelligent, healthy, a joy to my life and cause of much consternation (of course).

The last ten years have been something of a political and social awakening, however, and not for good reasons. The Bush Years, starting with the Supreme Court appointment of the President, through the worst terrorist attack on American soil, through the heartless reaction to Hurricane Katrina, straight on through the things we are still learning about torture and politicization and pointless war. I became a high-information voter, a blogger, a writer of news (with a left-leaning bias, admittedly), and a videographer by necessity to stop my head from exploding.

My relationships have had their ups and downs but seem to be going in a good direction. I have certainly clarified what I think my purpose is here in the world and in my community. And I have come to many conclusions about how I would like my life to be going forward.

So, although I am not making any resolutions to break and be disappointed in myself (honestly, haven't we done enough of that?), I do have hopes for the Tens or the Tweens or whatever they are:

  • I hope my children turn out well-adjusted and find something that they are passionate about to do.
  • I hope everyone around me knows how much I love them.
  • I hope my marriage grows in love and friendship
  • I hope that the people in power in our country find a way to be truly compassionate, to work for the common good, to remember "the general welfare" is in our founding documents, to shine some light in the dark places that will shame us, but sterilize us as well.
And I hope for you, my dear readers, that your Tweens are healthy, happy, joyous, fulfilling, fun, challenging and whatever you want them to be!

May peace prevail upon the earth.