Monday, December 31, 2012

Final Day of the Year

I always spend the final week of each year reflecting on our planet's most recent journey around the sun. This particular circuit around Sol was a good one for me, primarily because this year Jeanine and I bought a home together, and then got married. Also, for the first year since 2009, nobody in my family died.

This is my 61st blog post this year, at least on this site. I only managed 28 posts this year on my music blog. Still, 89 separate posts is a fair amount. This has been my main creative output this year, and I still feel like I could really be increasing my creativity in other ways. Something to look forward to over the coming year! On the consumption end of the spectrum, I figured out that I read 15,090 pages this year. That's slightly over 54 books, and doesn't count any online or magazine reading. I can't really compare that to previous years, since this is the first year I've been nerdy enough to sit down and figure it out.

Christmas went well, and the kids were happy (which is really what this holiday is about, isn't it?). There were plenty of colorful lights in our neighborhood too, and we got some good rain last week. As I type, it has gone back to being cold and dry, with no rain in the immediate forecast.

I still have another week off. Tonight, I'm heading up to Oakland to see Neurosis play. Happy New Year's Eve to all.

Currently listening to: Misery "Lore"

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Deluge, But No Doom

Willow has now ceased to worry about the world ending. A big sarcastic "thank you" goes out to the media and popular culture in general for scaring kids (and gullible new age adults) everywhere.

I've worked my last night of 2012, and now I'm back on a daytime schedule for a couple of weeks. Sometimes it's easy to make the transition, and sometimes it is hard. Take for instance this morning: I've been awake since around 2:30. It wasn't so bad though, because there was a thunderstorm to keep me occupied. The rain was pretty ferocious at times too, pelting the roof and gurgling in the gutters. Every so often, the room would light up, followed by the distant rumble of thunder. Eventually, I gave up trying to go back to sleep and got up. Currently, I'm watching the sky shed darkness as a seemingly endless stream of crows glides by overhead. A couple of them have alighted on nearby power lines, and one is attempting to wake up the neighborhood. They seem to like the persimmons on the neighbor's tree. So do I, and since many of them hang over the fence into our yard, we have a good supply.

Currently listening to: Crows, the burbling of the fish tank, the gurgling of the gutters, and the ringing in my right ear (I think I have a touch of tinnitus, possibly precipitated by a Wovenhand gig a couple of years ago).

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Incinerated In Our Atmosphere

Last week ended with a really spectacular Geminid meteor shower. Every other time I've gone out during a so-called meteor shower, I've seen maybe one or two meteors. This time, I saw at least thirty. Thursday night at work, I was out behind the camp buildings with some of the teachers, facing the darkened field. The sky was mostly clear, and sparkling with little blinks of flaming grit. We didn't stay out for too long at a time. It got too cold to stand in one spot, so occasionally I went back in to warm up. The teachers eventually went to bed, but I stepped back out every hour or so and watched some more. One more reason to love my job.

This week is the last week of camp before the holidays. I'm reading "The Neon Bible" by John Kennedy Toole. For years, I thought that "A Confederacy of Dunces" was his only book, but no, he wrote this one too, when he was only 16. I was a bit dubious about starting it, but I needn't have worried. It's quite good. It helps that it's written in the first person, and that the character is a kid. Being so close to the age of the character, he managed to capture the voice of the protagonist quite well. Too bad Toole chose to end his own life.

Currently listening to Michael Tanner/Plinth "Witch Elder" I've been discovering too much good music online lately, so much that I'm starting to feel overwhelmed by it all.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Friday Agenda


Friday Agenda, originally uploaded by Corbie.

You can lead kids to water, but apparently it's hard to prevent them from drinking.

I don't usually make it to the Friday meetings at work, but I often get a good laugh out of the agenda items. This one was no exception.

Currently listening to: Crippled Black Phoenix "Live In Bern 2012 A.D."

Saturday, December 01, 2012

Calisoga Bunk Mate


Calisoga Bunk Mate, originally uploaded by Corbie.

As we wait for the third of three storms to hit, I'll take advantage of the calm between the storms to bring you this little photo of a poor, misunderstood creature who was just trying to come in out of the wind and wet.

This particular Calisoga Spider figured he'd warm himself by crawling into the bottom bunk. He probably considered that since he is such a handsome fellow, the fifth grade girl already occupying the bunk would welcome him.

This turned out not to be the case. Like the frog and the beetle I'd had to evict from the cabin earlier in the week, I had to convince Mr. Spider that the woodshed was a comfortable alternative. I walked around with him for awhile before I had time to get him down there though, since I still had to oversee bedtime for the campers.

I hope he is happy in the woodshed. Like other members of the infraorder Mygalomorphae, he breathes with book lungs, which due to their placement on the underside of the abdomen, make it easy for him to drown in a relatively small amount of water, so letting him go outside in the middle of a storm wouldn't have been very nice.

Currently listening to: William Basinski "The Disintegration Loops"