Today has been a lovely, quiet sort of day. Nothing too exciting happened at work, which is always preferrable on a Friday when the last thing any of us wants to do is deal with something urgent. I even managed to clear off a sizable space on my desk, just for the heck of it. My desk at work is organized by the pile system, mainly because it is huge and available shelf space is limited, and piles are easier to see than stuffing things in drawers and out of sight.

It’s been a grey and chilly day, although I cannot complain one bit – we, at least, have sun and calm weather down here in the Sacramento valley. My dad emailed the rest of the family to say that my little sister (who lives up in Seattle, and thus is right smack in the heart of that horrible blizzard that’s been pounding the Northwest this week) has no power, and a tree came down and took out the back window in her car. Of all the reports of downed trees, and downed power lines, and houses smashed and airports closed and tiny airplanes picked up and tossed around like toys from the wind, if the most they got was a broken car window, I am thankful.

We had a highly nutritios dinner consisting of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches, toasted under the broiler, and watched two episodes of Battlestar Galactica (last week’s and this week’s) and Richard sat on the futon and worked on story revisions while I sat on the loveseat, surrounded by cats, knitting. This weekend is nearly upon us and it will be a busy one, and at some point I really ought to try to get some baking done, but for now, it has been nice to just sit back and let the day go by, quiet and calm and still.

Tis the season for Holidailies

You know how, a week or two before a big event hits, it all suddenly comes crashing in on you – the enormity of everything you still have yet to finish, and the rapidly shrinking amount of time between now and then, and the stress and the anxiety? I think today was that day. Not so much for me; but it sure seemed like it was that day for a lot of people around me. Everyone is a little more irritable, a little more prone to snap at people, a little more prone to take offense. We’re all tired and worried and trying to narrow our focus so we don’t have to think about everything that looms over us at the end of the year and eventually, it all just gets to be a little too much.

So here is the thing that you have to consider, when this happens. If you do not get that perfect gift bought and wrapped before whatever gift-giving holiday you celebrate, will the world come crashing to a halt? If you do not bake every single traditional holiday goodie this year, will your family fall apart? If your holiday cards get sent out late, will people refuse to open them? It’s all the small things like that that get us all wound up and so wrapped tight by stress and nerves that that is all we can think about.

It doesn’t make it any easier, sometimes, to disentagle oneself from all the expectations we heap on our own heads. But sometimes it’s good to get a little reminder; a little perspective. Take a deep breath. Remember to breathe. Let life go on.

Tis the season for Holidailies

Dear Internet,

It’s time, once again, for the annual end-of-the-year wrap-up letter, which works in lieu of an actual entry today, mainly because there really are things in here I didn’t talk about in the journal, for a change. Not, mind you, that I was trying to actively hide anything; more that I was just lazy and unmotivated to write and let a lot of things slip through the cracks.

First, the usual job update. Nothing too exciting to report here. We’re both working at the same place we worked last year and we’re both still quite happy about it. I know that seems so incredibly boring compared to years past, but hey, that’s life.

Richard spent a lot of this year writing, trying to flesh out a more comprehensive draft of the novel he wrote during last November’s National Novel Writing Month challenge. He took a break from that to whip up another novel for this year’s NaNoWriMo, and also took a few breaks to toss out a few stories here and there to see which ones stuck. A few actually did – including his short story “Indications”, which was published in Pseudopod. He also appeared on “Insight”, a locally produced show on Sacramento’s National Public Radio affiliate, to chat about his writing (specific to that whole wacky NaNoWriMo thing that apparently baffles those cute radio folk).

And while he’s been heads down over his computer writing up a storm, I’ve been heads down over my needles, knitting madly. I produced a rather large lace shawl in sixteen days, earning myself a gold medal for the Knitting Olympics (tens of thousands of knitters took part. We may be weird, but we’re growing in number and we are armed with sharp pointy things). I discovered that knitting seven pairs of the same pink socks to raise money for charity is not nearly as fun as it sounds; and walking 39 miles for that charity is even *less* fun, but I did it anyway. I made myself a lovely cabled cardigan and wore it all over Ireland. I had fun making lace shawls and stoles and goofy hats for store samples for two friends. Oh, and I also had my first submitted pattern published in the December issue of Magknits.

We did a few pretty exciting things this year. The biggest one, of course, was that we finally took our honeymoon trip to Ireland. We spent three weeks there, most of it soggy, and had an amazing time. We took a ton of pictures and wrote all about it (entries for the Ireland trip start here). We launched Daikaijuzine, an online magazine of science fiction, fantasy, poetry, and more. Richard is the Editor-in-Chief, and I’m the Managing Editor, mainly because I am one of those wacky people who enjoys editing, and obsesses about proper spelling and grammar (in other people’s writing). The first issue was launched in September and our next full issue will be published in March, and will features stories by renowned fantasy writer Tim Pratt and New York Times bestselling author David Wolverton.

I’m still in the church choir, since tenors continue to be in very short supply. Ah well. On the plus side, our choir joined a few others and sang Haydn’s Theresienmesse in April. There were a few hundred of us singers, and it was quite fun. I also recently joined an all-women’s choral group and am enjoying getting to sing as a woman (I’m an alto) instead of as a man (since I am usually a tenor) for the first time in years. Our most recent concert earned rave reviews. Yes, I am still a bit giddy about that. And while I’m no longer one of the rotating piano accompanists (since the church finally hired a full time accompanist), I am still in charge of the recorder group, so get to do non-singing music from time to time as well.

The nerd-foo remains strong in our household. We made our usual pilgrimage to Dragon*Con, the country’s largest science fiction and fantasy convention, held every year in Atlanta, Georgia. We had a wonderful time attending panels hosted by writers and actors from some of our favorite shows. We both got to celebrate our nerdiness even more in October when Richard got to see one of his favorite writers, Neil Gaiman, speak in Berkeley, and later on that month, we both got to see Terry Pratchett, another favorite, speak in Petaluma, California.

It hasn’t all been fun and games this year. Health wise, this hasn’t been a great year for Richard – no small comfort that the doctors told him it’s been the worst year they’ve seen for everyone with asthma. Despite continuing the allergy shots, my sinuses still are doing their best to kill me. And of course, there was the matter of my Dad’s little lengthy detour into the hospital, first for the emergency six-way bypass surgery, and then for several weeks of therapy after he suffered a mild stroke. He’s doing amazingly well now, but it was a pretty scary time for the whole family and we have all told him that he is not allowed to do that again. Because. You know. That will work.

And finally, the requisite update on the four-footed members of our household. After losing Rebecca in 2004 and Allegra in 2005 I was a little nervous about how this year would shape up, but so far everyone’s health seems to be holding up well. Sebastian continues to get louder with age (much like a fine whine. Ha ha ha! Okay, I’ll stop now). Tangerine seemed to be a bit under the weather earlier in the year, and gave us quite a scare by sneaking outside and staying out for two nights until we found her, but she’s finally decided that feeling poorly is just no fun, and seems to have shaken whatever it was off. Zucchini remains convinced that we are plotting his demise, and continues to lurk, suspiciously, just out of sight. Rosemary contiues to cart her little stuffed dragons all over the house and arrange them in complex patterns we have still yet to decipher. Azzie remains as deeply fascinated by water faucets, the DVD player, and closed doors as he has always been. And Checkers – the tiny little tortie we adopted in March – feels compelled to share her (numerous) opinions with us by squawking, or occassionally flinging sparkly balls at us, much to our continued amusement.

So that’s it. All things considered, it’s been a pretty good year. Here’s hoping 2007 brings more (and also a bit less) of the same.

Tis the season for Holidailies

The holiday crazy is far from over, so I should not relax too soon, but somehow it felt right to just heave a huge sigh of relief after the weekend was over. All that’s left, performance-wise, is the cantata for the church, but that is far less pressure than the concert this weekend. I suspect that has a lot to do with the fact that the music is significantly easier to sing, and there are one heck of a lot more than just seven of us doing the canata.

Part of the reason for letting myself relax just a bit, though is that now that rehearsals are done, I can resume going to the Monday Night Knitting Group, at least for a few more weeks. So that’s what I did last night, and I went to the Tuesday Knitting at the Library tonight, and it just felt like it was this little oasis from all the busy I’ve been dealing with lately. Monday night I made good progress on the shawl, mainly because at the end of the table where I was sitting, the topic of conversation mainly focused on pregnancy, and since I have never experienced it, nor do I ever intend to, I could just let the conversation wash over me and nod and smile and just focus on knitting lace. It was, actually, quite nice. As for tonight’s knitting group, it was a small crowd, but it was nice to see some familiar faces and just knit and chat and not think about anything complicated except the pattern coming together under my fingertips.

Richard and I have been watching the miniseries The Lost Room the past two nights, and alternately shaking our heads with amusement, or bemoaning the fact that this thing could have been so much better. The story idea has a lot of potential, but it seems like the editor must have been out sick during the final draft of the script, and so it comes across as a bit clunky and weak. We’re continuing with it til the end, mainly because there are only three parts to it so it’s not as if we have to invest a huge amount of time, and also because sometimes it is really nice to watch a show where very little thought is ever required. Compared to our usual television watching (Battlestar Galactica, Dr. Who, House, that sort of thing) inane TV is a nice change.

Tis the season for Holidailies

Things that make me very happy today.

• Chai spice, and hazelnut, coffee creamers (I may never go back to regular creamer again!)
• Our new living room arrangement (I love it. Richard loves it. The cats love it. I am even rethinking my intense need to get new furniture because I love the new layout so much)
• The batch of polenta I made this morning, currently cooling in the refrigerator and destined to become the base for what should be an incredibly delicious lasagna for tonight’s dinner
• Anticipation of an evening spent with yarn and pointy sticks and good friends.
• Starting the week with a review (reprinted below) of our concert that is better than anything we could have ever dreamed.

New vocal ensemble Vox Musica delivers masterful program
By Edward Ortiz – Bee Arts Critic
Published 12:00 am PST Monday, December 11, 2006

It’s a shame that some extremely enjoyable holiday music rarely gets played the rest of the year.

For who could argue against hearing Gustav Holst’s sublime “In the Bleak Midwinter” or “Silent Night” anytime?

The seven-member female vocal ensemble Vox Musica made that argument a valid one with a superb performance of holiday choral music Saturday night at Sacramento’s St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

This new vocal ensemble (they performed their first concert last spring) is a welcome addition to the music scene, and they proved it by delivering the goods on a smartly selected program by director Daniel Paulson. Choosing vibrant and temporally relevant works by six living composers to counterbalance choral masterpieces proved a smart move.

The highlight of the evening belonged to the ensemble’s performance of the harmonically complex “A Nativity,” by Englishman John Tavener. This provocative work uses its first soprano as the starting point from which other voices join in to sing dissonant notes. The ensemble connected with the haunting nature of the work, and the pliant singing gave it intense color.

Also noteworthy was “Ave Maria” by the Venezuelan composer Cesar Alejandro Carillo. The ensemble sang the dissonances of this work with a delicate touch that deepened the profundity of this evocative piece.

Among the area premieres was a work by Bay Area composer Kurt Erickson. The ensemble sang his “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” with punch and vigor. This is a rhythmically forceful work that is refreshing for the way it blends two older songs.

Some of the better performed works were older ones, including Tomas Luis de Victoria’s “O Magnum Mysterium” from the Renaissance period. Here Paulson directed his singers towards a joyous interplay of polyphony and homophony.

And it’s hard to imagine that the group’s expressive and tonally focused turn on Holst’s classic “In the Bleak Midwinter” has been done any better.

Tis the season for Holidailies

This morning was the Christmas pageant at the church. But because there was no rehearsal scheduled for the cantata, and because after last night I desperately wanted a chance to sleep in, we skipped church this morning and decided to be just a little lazy instead.

I woke up before Richard did, and decided to let him sleep a bit longer. So I slipped out of the house and took the recorder music to the church to pass out parts to the two players I knew would be there and would want them to practice before next weekend, and then I picked up pumpkin spice lattes and pastries at Starbucks and came back home. I was intending to surprise Richard with breakfast in bed, but he was up by the time I came back home, so instead we ate breakfast downstairs, where it still smells gloriously like pine and Christmas.

There were things on my To Do list from yesterday that never got done, but I decided they could just wait. My one nod to productivity was to go through my address book and compile a list of everyone we need to send Christmas cards to, and fire off a few emails in the hopes of tracking down street addresses so we know where they can be sent. Otherwise, I spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon either poking around online, or surrounded by cats in bed, knitting.

We drove down to Richard’s parents’ house this afternoon for the annual decorating of the tree – although this year it wasn’t just me climbing back behind the tree to hang ornaments in an attempt to counterbalance the weight of all the stuff in the front. When we were done, the tree looked lovely – very colorful and sparkly and exactly like it should. There was dinner and sparkling apple cranberry cider and chatting and friendly critters demanding pets or attention or someone, anyone, to please-please-please throw the ball, and it was a very nice and relaxing way to finish the weekend.

Tis the season for Holidailies

I made up a list of things I wanted to get done today, and was actually pretty happy to have made it through nearly half of them. The beauty of making lists is that no matter how much is left on them when you are done, you at least have the satisfaction of a visible notification that you did accomplish something that day, even if you had to divide some silly little chore into three list items just to make it seem like more. And the way this week has gone, the sheer fact that I was able to run two loads of dishes through the dishwasher, and one load of laundry through the washer *and* the dryer this morning was actually pretty good.

We decided to do a Starbucks run for breakfast, and then swung by my parents’ house to help my dad install a new garage door opener. This turned out to be far more complicated than any of us had imagined, but after an hour or so – most of which i spent inside chatting with my mom because it turned out to be a two-person job and Richard seemed to be having too much fun getting to play with power tools with my dad for me to interrupt – we finally got the machine hooked onto the ceiling. The remainder of the task involved splcing wires for the remote and installing some lights, but my dad didn’ t need us for that, so we headed home to try to get through a few more chores and inhale some lunch before Richard’s parents arrived. I even had time to write up the arrangement of “He Is Born” for the recorder group (in four parts, complete with descant – my first time actually arranging music instead of just transcribing it, so I am crossing my fingers and my toes that it actually sounds okay once we play it) before giving up on the rest of the list to whip through another few rows of my sister’s lace shawl.

We all headed off to Sacramento almost immediately after Richard’s parents and sister arrived, and easily found parking, which turned out to be a good thing since at that point it hadn’t started pouring rain, like it did a few hours later. We found a Japanese restaurant for dinner, although I had to pretty much inhale mine because by the time they finally brought out our food I only had about ten minutes before I was supposed to be at rehearsal, in preparation for the concert later in the evening.

The rest of the evening was kind of a whirlwind. We ran through the few songs where there were problem spots, and then headed off to a little room in the back, since they started to let people in. By the time we came back, the room was nearly packed, which made us all just a bit giddy to see. The church we rent out to use for practice and concerts is located right next to the Convention Center in Sacramento, where they were holding performances of The Nutcracker this weekend. Plus I guess this is also the weekend there were a bunch of art gallery events, and a few other large performances, all in the same area, so to get that kind of turnout – especially considering the weather turned pretty dismal by the time we started – was nice to see.

The concert went really well. There were a few weak spots, especially during the second half, but I know that most of the time this sort of thing is only obvious to the performers, because we’re the ones who know how it should sound, despite the fact that it might actually sound just fine to everyone else. Overall, though, it was wonderful. It felt good to be part of something like this group, singing with the other women, sitting together in our little dressing room before the concert, and during the intermission, practicing, closing our eyes to visualize the notes coming out just so. The composer of one of our most challenging pieces attended the concert and when I chatted with him afterwards, he seemed quite pleased with how we had done. I suspect it’s always difficult to hear someone else perform your work, never knowing if they will do it justice, but he said the moment we started singing our first piece, he relaxed, because he knew we would be able to do his song just right. And we did.

We all stayed to clean up, including all the performers’ respective boyfriends or spouses, who all apparently grasped the fact that if they ever wanted to get out of there, they would have to pitch in too (the part of being associated with a performer that they never tell you about!). And then we finally left, navigating through the rain and the streets that were now finally empty of all the crazy pre-performance traffic only a few short hours before.

Richard and I swung by Ben & Jerry’s for some celebratory ice cream (and I would like to take a moment to note here that their Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream is divine) and now we are home. It is cold outside, and still raining, but I have turned on the fireplace in the bedroom, and as soon as I finish this, I am going to go find myself a cat or three (shouldn’t be too hard in this house) and change into my pajamas and curl up in bed and go to sleep with Christmas Colours in my dreams.

Tis the season for Holidailies

I donated blood this morning. No, actually, I donated platelets; they gave me back whatever it was that they didn’t want. I even did a triple this morning, since apparently I am just chock full of so many extra platlets I won’t miss three times as many as they might normally take. I did this first thing this morning, which meant I had to get up an extra hour earlier than I normally do, in order to get to the book center by 7 am for my appointment. In retrospect maybe I should have thought more carefully about that scheduling, since tonight was our dress rehearsal and I did not actually get home until after 11pm, but I figure it’s better to get this kind of thing over with as soon as possible in the day. Also, I always use platelet donations as an excuse to have a donut (since they give them away for free there) and donuts are far better as morning food than as food for any other time during the day.

After the blood donation, during which I read most of Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story (which was a bit disappointing since it seems to be merely a rehash of several of his other books, most notably Rose Madder, instead of a unique plot) it was off to work, where I discovered that the huge gift basket from the rental agency that owns the building our office is in had arrived. So all throughout the day we rummaged through the basket, pulling out all the goodies. It’s the kind of basket that could feed a small family for several days, assuming that the family was willing to exist only on cookies, candy, and a selection of deliciously flavored hot chocolate mix.

I did not go home after work. I did not want to have to deal with traffic coming back to Sacramento, so instead, I had a small dinner by myself at a nearby restaurant, thus giving myself enough time to finish the rather uninspiring and predictable book I started this morning, and then camped out at a nearby Borders to sip hot chai and accept samples of gingerbread latte, and work in a few rows of knitting on my sister’s lace shawl.

Rehearsal went well, all things considered. It is frustrating sometimes to realize that I have worked so hard on one song, only to start losing my place on another song I thought I already had nailed. There are a few places in a few pieces that are weak, overally, for the group, but we went through every single song, and except for a rather last minute decision to switch from the German translation to the (much easier to pronounce because we are all beyond exhausted) English translation in one song, it went smoothly. I’d have gotten home earlier, but the last song was where several of us kind of fell apart, so we sat around the piano and went over the messiest parts over and over again until they clicked.

I have a million things to do tomorrow, before I have to be back at the church for a last run-through before our concert, which is probably for the best, because if I am busy, I will not have time to be nervous about what is coming.The director has told us that not only will a reviewer from The Sacramento Bee be there, the composer of one of the most challenging pieces will also be attending. Plus it appears that for this concert we have already sold more tickets than the group’s ever brought in before, and that does not even begin to address the number of people we know will be buying the tickets at the door.

Tis the season for Holidailies

It has been kind of a slow and not very useful sort of day today. I had a doctor’s appointment this morning which turned out not to be what I thought I was going in for (yet another example of why it is I am beginning to suspect rather strongly that the Women’s Clinic at this particular medical facility is run by brain-damaged hamsters because seriously, shoudn’t the people setting appointments know whether or not they actually *do* the procedure I needed before they scheduled me to come in and waste my time?), and then I followed that up by getting my allergy shots. I continued on to work, where I currently lurk in a dark cave that is my area, because at this time of year I must close the curtains or the sun comes directly in and blinds me, which might be cozy and warm, but is not exactly conducive to doing anything productive. Lunch consisted of eating Chinese food around the conference table while we watched a sligthly distorted feed through the video conference system and tried very hard not to doze off because despite the fact that it has been bitterly cold at night, it’s been bright and sunny during the days and the heater at work seems to be doing its best to try to broil us slowly and the worst of it is that none of us can figure out how to reset the darn thing.

There was polenta for dinner, just for the heck of it (although it was topped with red sauce and cheese, so it looked far more complicated than it really was), and later on there was toast with peanut butter and honey because as lovely as polenta pizza is, it’s not as filling as one might hope. There was also choir practice tonight, and I am looking forward to the return of the second tenor more than I can possibly say, because the choir has expanded to about twice its size as people have come in for the sole purpose of singing in the cantata, and there is only so far one determined little tenor can go before she starts going a little loopy from the effort of having to balance against that large a group.

And after it all, we came home to a house that smells marvelously like pine, and I suppose I should be sitting down at the piano with my music and the practice CD, going over my songs for the concert on Saturday but right now, I am tired and not in the mood to have anything more to do with notes on a page, and so instead I am going to go downstairs and watch Grey’s Anatomy, and turn the lights on on the tree, and let the rest of the day trickle away however it wants.

Tis the season for Holidailies

This morning I put on my new black jacket and my new black shirt, and I drove off to the CBS station in Sacramento, where I met up with the rest of our little musical ensemble. We practiced nervously in the green room (which, by the way, is not remotely green at all) and put on painted silk scarves to add just a touch of color, and avoided checking ur watches at all until they came to get us. And then we all marched out, single file, to the studio and lined up on a giant map of the Sacramento area (there were jokes made about traffic being backed up due to black shoes in the middle of the freeway) and there were sound checks and cameras began to swoop in, and then suddenly they turned to us and introduced us, and the director looked at us and we all took a deep breath and then we opened our mouths and we sang.

Tis the season for Holidailies