So I was posting about the virtual cat and other stuff— after my post I sat down to watch something on my computer and knit, but then off to my right I started seeing flashing pictures of a young girl, just off to my right. I started screaming and my roommate came down and said, "Get off the computer and go to bed NOW." They were indeed hallucinations. I'd had 4½ hours of sleep in 48 hours and my poor brain was simply wigging out. I'd felt I was fine because everything in the world seemed fine and I was 'fully functioning,' only… I wasn't. My brain was beyond exhausted. I'd been given a prescription for a few sleeping pills since I've had some difficulty sleeping, so I went into the next room in a bed all cozy with Stan (the real cat), took my sleeping pill, and tried to go to sleep. About half an hour later I was still awake, so I went upstairs to Julia and told her I was failing in sleeping school. She told me to go back to bed and just keep relaxing and it would come. And it did.

So for the next several days, I'm going to unplug at 7:00 and get my body in bed, with the medication, at 9:00. No excuses. (well, except for tomorrow, which is Julia's birthday party, but it will start at 6:00 and I can feign tiredness even if I don't have it, at any point. Anything now to save my sanity!)

But a ghost kitty would be neat!

There's a TV show called Portlandia that debuted earlier this year on IFC, the Independent Film Channel. I hadn't heard of it until talking with Jen, and so I downloaded a couple of episodes while with her in Eugene. It's terribly self-aware, and if a viewer hadn't lived in Portland in recent years, I'm not sure that s/he would get the many inside jokes of living in this particularly self-aware city. But as someone who has, I found many of the skits hilarious because they're so true. One of them is about a penchant for stores and individuals to decorate things with images of birds, especially in a solid cut-out fashion. I'd remembered seeing that in some stores on Hawthorne from when I was here before. So when on my first night back, I saw a store called Branch Birdie with two bird mobiles in the window, I laughed aloud. I got a picture of it this morning:



This won't necessarily be funny to anybody else, but if you've seen the show and the skit, perhaps you, too, will get a giggle.

In other exciting news, one of my former Portland Opera buddies who I'll be seeing tomorrow for a walk around the Hawthorne area, he was looking on Craigslist for a job for himself in retail when he saw a post for a position at a yarn store! Good friend that he is, he told me about it and I sent off an email this morning, including not just my qualifications, but also a couple of pictures of me in that incredibly complicated thistle-patterned cardigan I finished not long ago. Fingers crossed!

I've been writing some about this potential new career to do with getting involved with the aging/retirement community, the upcoming approach of the large Baby Boomer generation in this, and my personal desires and drives to be doing something fulfilling and that is an intuitive use of my skills. Yesterday I had an information-gathering meeting with the Residential Life Director at one of the retirement centers here in town (I'd written to one, then called and left a message because the person was out of town for a week, but I've heard nothing). I wasn't sure how the meeting would go, but it was an absolute delight and I came away feeling all the more certain that I'm on the right track. She has the kind of position that I think I would be exceptional in, in that she's a liaison, listening ear, concierge and conduit between the independent residents and the management of the institution. I was asking pretty specific questions about computer use and support for residents and she helpfully filled in the picture for me. The kind of hybrid position of training with working with the aging community and low-grade IT support doesn't really exist, and it might be too narrow of a concept. She did indicate that it would be a very welcome volunteer position that I could create, were I to be staying in the area. I think that once I've relocated I'll do this same kind of information-gathering at as many facilities as I can get into, though it definitely helped here in that mom knew someone who is in an independent living apartment there and she greased the wheels by providing this person's email to me. Still, if I can reinforce again and again that I'm not looking for employment, I'm information gathering (as well as hoping to volunteer) I should be able to continue finding out more and more about what the various environments and cultures are like, as well as upcoming needs and how these institutions are planning for the influx of people who are far more tech savvy than they have been in recent years. What was most wonderful was being able to really talk with someone about respecting this group of people who in many ways are shunted off by society.

I then was picked up by this women my mom knew and I went to her apartment where we talked, got to know each other, and I started the process of helping her to make a clone of her hard drive so that she has a back up before also potentially helping her to upgrade her operating system. Like me, she's a long time Mac user, and a very savvy, living-life-to-the-fullest woman. I think I may end up disappointing her when I let her know that I'm going to be heading out to the northwest! But I'll help out as long as I can.

Don't know that I've mentioned this, but we have another house guest, a former colleage of my mother's who's spent time here before more than once. He's on sabbatical from his university in NJ and will be here for the semester, staying in the room across the hall from my parents. So it's a full house! He's quite laid back, a perfect house guest, and I know my mom is enjoying having him help out in her lab.

The post wouldn't be complete without yet another picture of yet another knitted project- I don't have buttons for the Mystery 80's Cardigan™ so I haven't taken pictures yet, but there was enough yarn left over for me to make a scarf, which I've given to my mom.

( pic below the cut )

I don't know whether it's the meds I'm on or if I'm just back to being in a really active dream cycle, but I've really had a super-active dreamlife of late. Included in recent nights: being back at Portland Opera, living with a former roommate from when I first lived in Nashville back in 1992, and working back at Nashville Opera. Last night was about something altogether different, but sadly it's escaped me. It may well be the medication, but since I'm pretty focused these days about both information-gathering here as well as plans for my relocation, it's probably no wonder that my mind is working a lot at night.

My stepdad and I were supposed to be driving to southwestern Virginia to Petersburg today around 3:00 to get there for an organ recital my mom was playing, featuring exclusively pieces written by women composers. Well, with the hurricane, much of the power has gone out throughout Petersburg (where my mom went yesterday morning to practice and spent the night), so the AGO (American Guild of Organists) group who had invited her to give the recital said that they'd need to reschedule. I feel really sorry for my mom; she's been working on this for several months, plus with her teaching work schedule, it's going to be quite difficult for her to reschedule. All of that said, I don't mind not spending several hours on the road today to and from the recital. I'm going to do some research into various MSW social work programs, hopefully do some writing, take the dog out for a walk- it's very windy, still, but not raining- have a good long chat with my best friend out in Eugene, and get ready for the week. Between an earthquake, the nearby hurricane, and my computer stuff, I'm ready for an 'average' week!

Normally I never post this often in a day, but an LJ friend asked about this earthquake whose origin was about an hour or so away from me to the SE. I was here at the house on the computer when the house shook for 30 seconds or so and I did have a bit of a freak out at the time, but when I went downstairs to ask my stepdad if he'd noticed that major rumbling (at first I thought maybe our large attic fan had dislodged out of the window or something) and he said he hadn't noticed anything. But it must have been this earthquake. I've been in a couple of tornadoes, but this was new! The 'burg seems to be just fine, though; I was just at the downtown library and we seem not to have suffered much damage. Doubtless it will be the news topic for tomorrow's paper, though.

Don't know about you, but LJ wouldn't even load for me for 2 days!! I'm hoping beyond hope to get this posted, see how you all are doing and things like that before it goes missing again. ::shakes fist:: I've been thinking a lot about this whole future career thing and after several conversations and long emails with people am rethinking the master's in social work. Not that it wouldn't be helpful, as any master's would be, but that one is kind of notorious for being underpaid out in the world, and it may behoove me to go ahead and start working out in the field, somehow, somewhere. I am thinking about getting at least a certification in gerontology, as they offer that at the local community college. It might not be a huge help, but it'd be something since there's nothing in my background that reflects an interest in working with the affairs of the aging. Food for thought. I may also audit a social work course or two at JMU this fall, it that works out; I'll be having lunch with the head of the social work department in mid August, so I'll see what happens then.

In very exciting news, I was able to upgrade my operating system on my aging Mac for not a large financial investment. I'm so very, very happy. Thus far I'm able to continue using my older applications, though I'm sure that won't last forever. Hopefully long enough for me to get into this next phase of life, somewhat settled (wherever that may be), employed for six months or so, and then maybe think about finally getting a laptop. Though I do love my Mac mini.

I'm going away on another fairly short trip with my parents, leaving Sunday the 31st and returning Monday August 8th. We're spending a short 72 hours in Maine (South Thomaston) with a former not-exactly-colleague of my mom's who has a house up there, and we'll also of course see the grandchildren (my nieces and nephews), including my younger brother's newest — Boaz — who was born on July 2nd or 3rd. I'm not good with dates. But he's the most recent of the brood. I'd hoped that the adorable little Dell laptop that I took with us to Canada last summer would be fixed, but it hasn't even been picked up from my mom's office by the computing department. That said, mom will bring her iPad, so doubtless I'll check email and LJ a few times, so I won't be totally AFK. I'll work on my original fic and I'll definitely need to bring a couple of books. Need to go by the library tomorrow to rectify that situation! I will be typing up the latest in my monk story and posting that before I leave, for those reading along. Must say I'm looking forward to getting out of the heat…

Last Friday my parents and I watched "Mao's Last Dancer," an engaging film that tells the true life story of a boy selected from his rural Chinese village to go to Bejing and trained as a dancer. Of course there's more, as he comes to the U.S., and I won't mention more except to say that Chi Cao, the lead, is amazing. If you enjoy watching dancers, especially male ballet dancers, you'll love this. He's incredible. There's a great interview with him here. For whatever reason this has brought back memories of my own life, since until I was about 16½ I really believed that I'd grow up and be a 'ballerina.' I did dance 3-4 days a week until that age, but circumstances changed and I focused more on singing. Not that I would ever have been good enough to be a professional dancer, but I was decent.

After 9 months of lying dormant, I've picked up my original fic again. Some of you are on that filter, so if you see something you've not seen in ages, that's it! It's been long enough that before I continue on (I wrote about 6 pages and posted them, but am pausing), I'm re-reading the story and writing down attributes of the main characters on index cards, as well as the vocab I'd created for the khorite world they're in. My challenge is simply to tell the story without any kind of intended audience in mind. With my fanfic, I knew the audience. This is different, and of course there's a part of my mind thinking, "Hey! This is unique! It could go to press in one form or another someday…", but I'm trying to hush that voice down and just let the characters speak. Always a challenge.

Tonight I'm going for 3 hours of training so that I can co-lead a citizenship class as offered through the local literacy council where I was leading the informal conversation classes. While I've been thinking primarily of doing an Oxford course to be certified to teach English o'seas if I go that route, it's come to my attention that there is an ESL program here at JMU. I think their focus is on domestic teaching, but I think I would be doing myself a disservice not to check it out.

And, one day late, but a very Happy Birthday to my very dear cim_halfling. So glad I was able to sing to you and chat this weekend! ♥♥

While I do have more minutes than I used to on my phone, I'm going to be changing next month and 'regressing' back to fewer, so I'm getting back into the habit of doing most calls on the weekend, which are free. That's my plan for today, having already spoken to one friend and plans to speak with another two before the day is out. I'm also scheduled to have a physical at the plasma center; since I went off of my meds earlier this year, my psychiatrist had to say I was okay to donate again and apparently I get to have the physical again as well. That's fine; I'm just ready to start having some spending money once more.

The week just got away from me: I attended one documentary film showing with my parents, attended two free Baroque concerts, had my first week with the literacy conversation class, did a lot of knitting, and went to a pure Pilates class yesterday for the first time in... a long time. I am hurting today, both my abs/core muscles and my shoulders/arms (we used a 4 pound medicine ball as part of the class). This feeling has been exacerbated by mowing the lawn this morning with our non-self-propelling mower, and then taking Taffy out for a long walk. The walk was mostly fine until we came across a dog that wasn't restrained in any way. They got along, but I was physically holding on to Taffy's harness, holding her, pulling her away as she jumped and pulled against me to get to the dog. Way too much physical activity involved in me at 120 pounds trying to get the 65 pound wiry dog to go where I want her to go. So I took some ibuprofin once we got home.

This afternoon I'm going to type in my first fic I've written in months and even have somebody signed up to beta it. Yay! And I wish that ink were free so I could print out my monk story from last year to re-read it all, see where I was, and decide where I want to go with it. Toward an ending would be nice. :P I wish that by watching Game of Thrones I would be inspired to my own high fantasy, but instead, I'm just enjoying watching it. I've put in a request for it as an audiobook via interlibrary loan so I can get the full effect of this huge story. Being a Tolkien buff, I'm hoping this series won't be too daunting in terms of geography, peoples and names.

The second sleeve on the cardigan is really coming along; may be done by next week. I have yet to start on the sugar-glider, but soon I won't have any other knitting projects, which is a very strange place to be. Yet another reason to have spending money! Although now that I think about it, I have another project that I last worked on during the England choir tour last summer, and I really should finish it…

Tomorrow morning I'll get to sing a lovely piece by Hildegard of Bingen with a soprano whose voice I simply adore. We really do sound like one voice as we sing the one line together, and I hope that it goes off as well as it sounds when we've been rehearsing. We'll both be more nervous than when we rehearse, but it is summer and there simply aren't that many people in the congregation. Still, it could be quite magical.

For spending money these days I've been trying to donate plasma twice a week at a very nice facility here in H'burg. The issue is that normally my iron is fairly low, so I have to work really damn hard to elevate it. I was lamenting this to one of my WFS friends who suggested (if I was open to the idea) of actually communicating with my red blood cells while meditating or otherwise in a quiet mind space and asking them to release more iron into my system. I believe that stuff like that works, and I must say- I passed the iron test both Thursday and Saturday. So in addition to the usual (loads of spinach, supplements, eating citrus fruit with meat as vitamin C helps with iron absorption), I commune with my red blood cells.

( almost as good as finding someone who writes fanfic )

For those who are mothers, who take care of their mothers, have ever been mothers of any type, I hope that you have or have had a lovely day today. Since it's a topic very relevant to my own life and my own past, if you'd care to, send a special compassionate thought to those mothers who are estranged from children and/or stepchildren due to addictions in their lives. Today can be a rough day for a lot of women.

This is what happens when I have loads of time to myself and I'm being productive. :P Indulgences for today:
☞ Several hours of sitting on my fanny watching silly shows and knitting. I've finished the back of my Girl Friday sweater already!

☞ Relaxing solo and finally actually relaxing because my stepdad brought over a space heater so our room is a comfortable temperature.

☞ Both a really yummy salad for lunch (spinach, carrots, hard boiled egg, sandwich meat and grapefruit pieces) and a can of tomato soup made with whole milk.

☞ A wonderful phone conversation with emansil_08.

☞ Geeking out to a great documentary, "Helvetica," which came out in 2007 to correspond with the 50th anniversary of that particular and insidious typeface. I was such a font whore when I first got out of college, but I've learned to tone down.

And now I think Austin and I are going to watch "Burn After Reading" and then I'm planning on an early bedtime.