untidy revelations

Oy!

2008-11-10T20:52:00.004-05:00

Well, the folks at National Novel Writing Month weren't kidding when they said it's hard to catch up once you get behind! I'm over 3.000 words behind now, and by tomorrow even more! I have to write tonight! It's one-third through the months and I'm nowhere near one-third to 50,000 words.

::sigh::

But first, dinner...

an excerpt...

2008-11-07T02:04:00.003-05:00

From the book in progress. It's entirely likely that this, along with mush of the rest of it, will be re-written once the first draft has been completed.

___________

She continued, “They were printed with blank pages at each end, and it was on these that family trees were recorded. Many people also kept their most important papers safely folded away inside the book. They are rare these days and extremely valuable. Not just valuable because they are worth a lot of money, although that’s true-- but because the information in them often exists nowhere else.”

Emily had a way of discussing dry topics like bibles and paper so fervently, and with such interest, it was impossible not to get caught up in her excitement. The three of them sat and waited as she donned a pair of white gloves and rustled through a sheaf of papers that looked very dry indeed. They were all wondering when she was going to pull out one of these family bibles.

Instead, Emily drew three yellowed sheets of paper on which the brown ink had nearly faded away. She carefully spread them out on the table so they could all see them, and removed her gloves. “These three pages were tucked away- not in a bible, but in an early edition copy of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of the Species!”

She paused dramatically to let this soak in. When she saw they were all staring blankly at her, she sighed, and continued. “This book was one of the breakthroughs that led to modern scientific study as we know it. The man who wrote these pages was a scientist! It was his bible, you see?”

“O-oh!” the three let out nearly in unison.

___________

it wasn't even close.

2008-11-05T11:02:00.003-05:00

President Elect Barak Obama!
What an amazing Election Day (and we even knew who won before midnight for a change). You should have heard Brooklyn last night!! Horns honking, people were in the streets celebrating and whoo hoo-ing for several hours after the announcement was made. An epic victory.

It's exciting to see intelligence, reason and compassion come out on top.

EVERYBODY WINS!

2008 Time for Change

2008-11-04T15:09:00.003-05:00

Ahhhhh. I just voted, with no lines, no waiting. OBAMA!

2008-10-29T15:14:00.003-04:00

Incidentally, I should mention that I did have good birthday, despite the following day having been poor! Spoke on the phone with my Mom and Beth and Kelley; lots of well-wishing from brothers and others, too. Later, I had a happy hour beer with Kim before her internship at the theater, then I went to Beast and saw friends. Ben met me there for dinner and gave me the above antique cigarette package, from 1878. He had made it into the beautiful card pictured above; the writing on the back even more lovely than the design on the front.

Thanks, everyone! :)

the culprit

2008-10-29T12:03:00.000-04:00

holding it~

2008-10-28T15:25:00.003-04:00

Update: Heat in apartment fixed, furniture successfully delivered and set up. Alas, the absurdity continues.

This morning, post-pee, a smallish plastic container of lotion fell from wall shelf into still-flushing toilet. Reached intrepidly into nasty freezing bowl to retrieve, but too late-- bottle surprisingly disappeared from view! Attempted coat-hanger to retrieve with no luck. Rushed out in pouring rain to hardware store for proper plunger. Result: continued failure and out $7.99 for unhelpful plunger.

Man sent by landlord with bizarre plumber equipment (some sort of vertical snake-in-a-pole with revolving handle), also had no luck. Thirty minutes later: he returned with additional man, much equipment. Currently have toilet on its side, on the floor (after sawing apart amid flying sparks!). Much mess. Water everywhere. Total nightmare.

Also: currently needing to pee again!

Welcome to year 38.

Leg the uglydoll

2008-10-24T14:20:00.005-04:00

the scrolling wall, complete.

(Most likely, more things will wind up on that wall. Little things in gold frames, oddments, etc. But the painting is finished at last.)

moomins hibernate.

2008-10-24T13:46:00.003-04:00

This week started off wretchedly- nothing was working out, timing was all off. Puzzle pieces mismatched.

It has gotten better and better, and things have been falling into place, but today a stumbling block! Nothing so important, just irritating, and my fault. We were expecting a furniture delivery (new living room furniture- we got rid of the futon couch last night); the place told us between eleven and two o'clock, but they would call an hour ahead of time. Well, I hadn't got the call (so I thought) and jumped in the shower. Of course, this was exactly when they arrived and they only waited fifteen minutes and my phone was in the other room, so I missed them! Oh, if only they'd have hit the buzzer! Turns out my phone volume was way down, too, which was why I missed the first call. So, probably have to wait until Tuesday to have a place to sit our asses down in the living room, unless by some stroke of luck the delivery folks have time to come back later today.

On top of this (which is mostly annoying me because it was my fault), we have been without heat since it's gotten cold, and our landlord is out of town, so it's goddamn freezing in the whole apartment.

Not a very great post, after so much time going by with none, but the need to rant is always such a motivator, huh? Ha ha! Otherwise, all is well. November is just around the corner, during which I shall embark on the adventure of >NoNoWriMo, otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month, to which I look forward. I've been researching and fleshing out characters for a story I began five years ago, but never got past chapter one, which has since been dropped in favor of a better beginning. The new beginning, along with the rest of the story, has only been put into outline form, as the whole point of NaNo is to begin and complete 50,000 words in a thirty day time period.

Well, back to work and trying not to freeze. (It's amazing how cold 55-60 degrees can feel when you're indoors!)

October!

2008-10-11T10:57:00.003-04:00

Some abstracts of my new studio in my new apartment with Ben:

wall above computer, no art on walls yet

The wall above the Queen Anne (and Leg the UglyDoll!) in progress

Get to work!

And, some images of the Atlantic Antic last weekend. Warren, Kim and I shared a booth and hawked artistic wares on the folks at the street fair.

Kim at the tables with all of our collective wares

As you can see, I've been very busy with the resin and photos lately...!

A close-to of some necklaces

New this autumn: belt buckles. Available in my Etsy shop...

More to come, but there's an update on what I've been busy with over the past month or so. On the way, eventually: images from the trip Ben and I took to Rhode Island in late September.

"Reckless Example"

2008-10-11T10:55:00.002-04:00

It can't be about me; I spell it Lizzie...

Seen in the tunnel entrance to Prospect Park last weekend.

S A L E

2008-09-17T09:13:00.005-04:00

I shall soon be moving into the House of Ben, and we had a superbly successful moving sale Saturday last-- the weather held without rain, and many walkers of the Avenue stopped to look, and to buy. (The photo above shows only a fraction of the myriad what-not 'twas for sale, as I hadn't a chance to snap a photo 'til afternoon.) A busy and fun day-- whirlwind purge of duplicates and extras before the the merging of our two homesteads.

Only a few boxes remained at the end so I have far less to pack than before, and we have a good start on saving money for a new couch, sorely needed.

post script: I'm happy to report that a few thing didn't sell (things which I'd marked pricey on purpose), so I got to keep tham after all. You know, there are some things that, once you see people looking at them like they are worthless, you just don't want to part with, despite trying to pare down.

McCain

2008-09-05T10:32:00.003-04:00

*sigh* The RNC: frat party to GOP supporters and oligarchs alike. Whoo hoo!

Not even worth much in the way of typing, but...
(1) [Sen. McCain] "...and get this country back on the road to peace and prosperity."
Really? With Four More Years of same? Who got us into all this mess? The Republicans have, after all, held 20 of the past 28 years in Washington. He has plans to "shake up" Washington DC. If he has problems with the way things have been running, why has he sided with Bush on just about everything? Is he now re-negging on the past 8 years? It simply underscores that the people in that convention hall are the ones who would be there no matter who was nominated; there is no application of reasonable thought. "When he says he will "stop leaving all our country's problems for some unluckier generation," does none of the audience realize he can only be referring their party, especially under GW Bush?
It seems as ever, all a GOP candidate need do, ultimately, is say "Democrats will raise taxes!"

(2) [audience, chanting] "USA! USA! USA!"
Hmmm... Do they mistakenly think that they are at the Olympics, or some other venue in which this country is in competition with others? Do they not realize that both parties are, in fact, of and for the USA?

UGH.

Miserable Palin.

2008-09-04T15:33:00.006-04:00

The RNC speeches were baseless, devoid of fact or reason, and generally nausea-inducing. Giuliani is more desperate than ever (and such a tool)! Hard to watch the speeches; embarrassing that so many were there with their hateful BOOs and misplaced applause and cheering. Sadly, the GOP has done very well by appealing to culture-clash points and derision.

I'm pasting the following bullet points on Palin here (courtesy of MoveOn.org), just because they ought to be widespread. Book-burning. Really? So sad. Please let not a single Hillary vote go to the GOP on account of this wretched woman-- er, bulldog.

• Palin recently said that the war in Iraq is "God's task." She's even admitted she hasn't thought about the war much—just last year she was quoted saying, "I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."

• Palin has actively sought the support of the fringe Alaska Independence Party. Six months ago, Palin told members of the group—who advocate for a vote on secession from the union—to "keep up the good work" and "wished the party luck on what she called its 'inspiring convention.'"

• Palin wants to teach creationism in public schools. She hasn't made clear whether she thinks evolution is a fact.

• Palin doesn't believe that humans contribute to global warming. Speaking about climate change, she said, "I'm not one though who would attribute it to being manmade."

• Palin has close ties to Big Oil. Her inauguration was even sponsored by BP.

• Palin is extremely anti-choice. She doesn't even support abortion in the case of rape or incest.

• Palin opposes comprehensive sex-ed in public schools. She's said she will only support abstinence-only approaches.

• As mayor, Palin tried to ban books from the library. Palin asked the library how she might go about banning books because some had inappropriate language in them—shocking the librarian, Mary Ellen Baker. According to Time, "news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor."

• She DID support the Bridge to Nowhere (before she opposed it). Palin claimed that she said "thanks, but no thanks" to the infamous Bridge to Nowhere. But in 2006, Palin supported the project repeatedly, saying that Alaska should take advantage of earmarks "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."

art deck-oh!

2008-08-21T12:08:00.005-04:00

electrodeck

Above is the deck I painted for the Apache Skateboards/Humble Collective "My Way" skateboard art show at Humble Gallery. I sent it off by Fedex yesterday-- nothing like pushing 'til the last minute, but it's been just too busy lately! The opening is tonight, so if you're in Santa Fe, go check it out.

b u s y .

2008-08-13T00:11:00.005-04:00

Sometimes, it's a good thing to be too busy to have much free time. Sometimes, when you're working on far too many projects, it can be good-- because it forces you to focus; forces you not only to find a way to finish things and to be creative about it, but also to have sudden and visceral responses to all the many layers in your life. This is useful, if somewhat vexing.

It can be a road to clarity.

It's interesting: Ben is my strongest association with that word, clarity, and I don't think it was a concept I ever gave much thought to outside of visuals, or in the context of writing or designing. But it has come to be such a crucial concept, a big picture thing.. (At least, in theory-- achieving the attainment of same is easier said than done, naturally.)

It calls into my mind the Thoreau bit: "Our life is frettered away by details. Simplify. Simplify." (That one reminds me of my dad.)

Hmmm...
Tonight was another sky of mad contrast- a great LIGHT in the west while a big dark storm brewed over the trees on the slope, off toward the park, at sunset. But the sky never really did open up. Not really. Dylan was playing in Prospect Park tonight. I'd entertained the idea of crashing, of listening on the lawn. I felt relieved when the thunder struck, because I knew I had to WORK. But then it didn't rain more than two minutes.

I worked anyway. (I didn't really have much of a choice.)
I'm curious how the show was. It'll be a story I hear from others; a good one, as it never did rain out.

Common enough occurrence, isn't it?

2008-08-06T15:48:00.003-04:00

a dark storm sky against the light in the west

Fifth Avenue North, Park SLope, Brooklyn. Taken Sunday, August 4.

work work work

2008-07-31T23:54:00.006-04:00

Hi. It's late and I spent the whole of the day on the TLB site, after all- didn't animate anything or work on jewelry (though it's only midnight, so I shall do that now- prep for resin-pouring).

I feel like sharing a sneak peak at the site, anyway- as it's ALL I've worked on for the past couple of days, and it's coming along quite nicely, I think. (edit: it's live now)

have a look----> the site

balance, upset

2008-07-31T13:38:00.003-04:00

Had one of those days yesterday in which I got so much done, it was almost absurd. But today I just couldn't wake up! Slept incredibly late, and I need to have another getting so much done day! (I will). I don't seem to have gotten back on a sensible schedule since my return from Upstate, the farm.

Today (what's left of it) is for animation and for resin jewelry. I will make up for late-sleeping.
I will work into the night.

l a t e r :
I have been working at the Tara Lynne Band materials all day. They have now a blog, and an updated MySpace page. Web site will (hopefully) be finished by the end of next week. I have also to update the KE Haas Salon site, on top of about 8 or 9 other projects which will be ongoing for a few weeks at least. Whew! Busy.

l i s t m a k i n g

2008-07-23T22:19:00.012-04:00

Today I did a drawing of a rutabega (see above). A magic rutabega. (More on why later...) Oh. Oops-- turns out I've been spelling it wrong, according to Mirriam-Webster. It's rutabaga!

There is a mighty thunderstorm occurring RIGHT NOW! A beautiful summer storm, following several hours of that tinged purple sky and flashes of heat lightning. Gorgeous. (And I left the wine bar just in time so as to enjoy this storm from my front room, and not have to walk through the downpour!)

Ben is in Philadelphia for some meetings, he left this morning. I shall wake early tomorrow to catch a plane up to Rochester. Looking forward to seeing the family! And: meeting the new pup, Wolf; seeing the new barn, the redecorated kitchen, and the farm in green in general. I hope it doesn't really rain all weekend, as I'd like to swim and go riding (horse and bike!). We'll see. Will take lots of photos. Meantime there are a few from Fire Island up on Flickr now.

recent readings
* The Places that Scare You, Pema Chodron
* The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard
* Lighthousekeeping, Jeanette Winterson
* The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway
* The Wapshot Chronicle, John Cheever

recent viewings
* The Dark Ages (The History Channel)
* The Spiderwick Chronicles
* Mary Tyler Moore, (eason one)
* Moonlighting (pilot- oof!)
* A Picture of England (wonderful series, with David Dimbleby)
* Barbarians (series, with Terry Jones)

lately listening
* Girls and Boys, Ingrid Michaelson
* Music for Airports, Brian Eno
* LOTR Complete, Howard Shore
* s h u f f l e

"Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs"

2008-07-21T09:42:00.002-04:00

Now that's a fantastic subject line.
The body of the email was pretty mundane, although its closing lines are equally poetic, in their way. To wit:

"Find me there and tell me a bit about your dreams.
Waiting for your answer"

Who writes this stuff? It makes you wonder how many among us (perhaps they give their job description as Internet Marketer?) are making their living in the industry of SPAM?

out of the fire..

2008-07-14T19:40:00.003-04:00

Fire Island, that is.

One full week out there and you completely forget that feeling in your lower back that arises from being in front of the computer machine all day! Alas, after a single work day, it begins to creep back up the spine. I feel fairly certain I've caught up with everything, but some emails from last week and weekend seem to have disappeared into the ether, so if you sent on e to me and haven't yet heard back, send another post haste!

Hmmm. I thought a bit of typing might be cathartic, but it appears I'm not ready.
More later.

shelter, swelter or soak.

2008-06-30T15:50:00.002-04:00

Those were the primary options over the weekend, but we had a good one of it anyway. A roving wander took us through Vinegar Hill , DUMBO and into the Heights on Saturday, finally trapped in air conditioning with beer and a Mets game as the torrents began in earnest. Tasted and bought some delicious things at the New Amsterdam Market on Sunday before being caught in another downpour on Mott street.

I've been missing Pi lately. Being a cold water fish, he never did care much for summer (I sometimes put ice cubes in his tank to melt and give him some relief from fish soup conditions). Oddly enough, he's still in the freezer, awaiting a proper burial. At Coney, later in the year, I think-- where Tres was also ceremonially laid to rest.

the Solstice has come and gone

2008-06-23T11:04:00.002-04:00

Thanks to all who made their way out to Red Hook last week, whether for the opening or since. The collection from the opening (minus the pieces that have sold, of course) are still at Metal and Thread, along with myriad other lovely things, so do stop by if you haven't yet.

It's dark dark dark in Brooklyn today, and it puts me in mind of Winter days. This year, I shall be looking forward to the month of November, if for only one reason: a strange thing called NaNoWriMo. I've signed up already and it certainly sounds like heady fun.

digital

2008-06-20T02:05:00.004-04:00

The problem of email (how or if it will be manipulated back into Pandora's box, or at least made to fit in one's Inbox); Texting; the omnipresence and simultaneous nonexistence of Blogs; IKEA: "if you build it and provide transport, they will come"; an hallucinatory human-sized bird cage; horse-porn as a tool in an Election year;

Moreover:
(from previous asides)
Were the Hulk's pants similarly affected by radiation, for there is otherwise no passable reason for "suspension of disbelief" (an ongoing problem still not tackled in 2008)--
and
How, in the future (read: now) everything is affordable, excepting the cost of living (eg: furniture; air conditioners; hi-def anything; iPhones; and external hard drives-- nearly free).