Farewell March

March was a month of backwards stepping and frustration, but some of the issues, fortunately, have been worked out, and I’m hoping that April will be punctuated by forward motion.

The good things were:

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke – This novel moved slowly at some points, but overall, it was a clever and enjoyable romp through the re-establishment of magic in England. The ending wasn’t as strong as I had hoped it would be, but the characters were memorable and well developed, and I do look forward to a second volume. Mostly, I’m interested in the fate of John Childermass, the character that’s most compelling to me due to his somewhat ambiguous nature.

One Cello X 16: Natoma by Zoe Keating – This album has been on heavy rotation. It’s become the soundtrack for steampunk imaginings, and I’ve been using it as inspiration for my foray into the unnatural aging of objects. (I’ve been playing mostly with tea-dying and patina solution)

The Subtle Emergence of Spring – We’re still having periodic snow showers in Denver, but there’s a blanket of green forming on the ground, and the critters have come out to play. My allergies are acting up, and I’m constantly living in a benadryl haze, but at least there are signs of life.

Today I saw a falling star

Good night Arthur C. Clarke. May your eternal dreams be filled with stars and may your legacy be preserved to inspire wonder in future generations.

The Circus March

I fell asleep and woke from dreams to the sound of Christoph cooking dinner and humming the circus song...and I wondered exactly who wrote that creepy song in the first place.

Wikipedia is my friend.

The song is called Entrance of the Gladiators, and it was written by a Czech composer as a military march.

Imagine falling backwards in time to a vision of Czech soldiers marching to battle with that song as their soundtrack. And people wonder why circuses are sinister...

Six Word Memoir

I was tagged by Princess Haiku to write a six word memoir, and so I have...

Into the labyrinth
Always quietly dreaming...

I'm not going to tag anyone specifically, but if you want to participate, the rules are here:

1. Write your own six word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post.
4. Tag more blogs with links.
5. Enjoy

Zoe Keating

Zoe Keating is my current musical obsession, and I just wanted to share.

There's actually a better version of this particular video available via itunes under the Pop!Tech podcast, and you can link to it directly from www.zoekeating.com

Monday Ramblings

The sun was out for most of the day, and it made me long for springtime...rather unfortunate considering that it's only January, but it gives me even more reason to look forward to a small vacation that I have planned from the 23rd to the 27th. I'll be flying out to California to visit my dear friend, Jen, and her lovely daughter, Ish. I have no idea what's on the agenda, but I'm sure that we'll come up with some sort of mischief.

My resolutions are all in line at the moment. I've been to the psychologist twice, and I'm pleased with the way things are going. I've been making small goals and meeting them despite outside pressures, which is the direction I need to be moving towards. I've done yoga three times a week, and I had an appointment with an endocrinologist last Wednesday. No verdict on that visit, and I think I won't really have any answers for at least another 30 days while they do all of their mad experiments on my blood.

This evening, Christoph and I watched Batman Returns, and I think it may be the first Batman film that I actually enjoyed. It was grittier than the other films, and I'm looking forward to the next installment. I also like the idea of Maggie Gyllenhaal playing Rachel Dawes as I'm not much of a Katie Holmes fan. I also found it rather interesting that Liam Neeson played the role of the big, bad meanie while Michael Caine was Alfred. I will always and forever think of Michael Caine as the dark and twisted puritan...

Celebrating a Life

I stumbled across an interesting website called Self Portrait Challenge, and I want to play, but my first image deals with grief instead of joy.

The monthly theme for January is Celebration, and I haven't been feeling the spirit of the holidays. In this season, the colors were less vibrant and the confections were less sweet. They were darkened by the loss of my grandmother and my step-mother and a little piece of myself.

My step-mother had two Maltese puppies at home. When she was in the hospital, I brought her this bear because it was the closest thing I could find in the gift shop to a soft, white puppy. She was agitated, and more than anything else, she wanted to go home. She held onto this bear until she died, and I can't look at it without shedding tears. It will always remind me of her, and I treasure it for that reason. The memory of lost love ones is a celebration of their lives.

Cephalopods vs. Mankind

Interesting factoid of the day:

According to The Little Book of the Sea, the biomass of all individual specimens of cephalopods added together, now exceeds that of humanity as a whole.


In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming...but not for long...Cultists take note.

2007, The Year Without A Summer

For me, the defining moments of this year involve mental and physical illness, sorrow, and death chased by death. It's been one of the darker times in my life (though there have been others), and I can't say that I'm walking into 2008 unscathed and without any scars to bear. I am, however, choosing to view myself as a tarnished piece of silver that may be more interesting than something shiny and untouched by life...at least, that's what I'm hoping for.

My resolutions for 2008 are as follows:

1. To regain control of my mental and physical health. I've already scheduled appointments with both my doctor and a psychologist to help send me on the right path, and I've been keeping a pen and paper journal that allows me to exorcise some of the uglier demons that are camping out in my head.

2. To practice yoga or some other kind of exercise at least three times a week. This goes along with my first resolution, but it needed to be a bit more specific. I was doing this during the beginning part of the year, and it helped significantly.

3. To learn to take time for myself and to draw personal boundaries so that others won't leave me completely drained of vitality. No has done this purposefully, but there have been a lot of needy and broken people in my life, and to a certain degree, I'm needing to step back from the role of caregiver.

I'm not sure how I'm going to accomplish some of these goals, but I know that 2008 is a year for healing and creating.

Sweeney Todd

Thank you, Tim Burton, for making such a splendid film. I'm completely smitten, and I'm craving meat pies. *grin*