Thrihyrne

evannichols and I watched a video via Netflix titled "The Mystery of Eels" found via Nature. I'm delighted to let you know that it's available online here via PBS. While the narrator's voice wasn't ideal in terms of tone, nuance and the like, the narrator is a writer and artist, and as it turns out, this documentary is based on a book he published once this 'finding out more about eels' project became bigger than anticipated. Or it seems that it became larger than he'd anticipated. James Prosek is a naturalist and other things, and what struck me about the documentary was how engaging it was. Evan and I had selected it because 1) it was live streaming and 2) neither of us knew much of anything about eels. But because this guy James has an artistic approach to the topic, and brought in so much in the various locations (New England, New Zealand, Japan), I found myself quite surprisingly moved and it was poignant. Evan was similarly engaged (though with the narrator's not-made-for-narrating-voice, he'd apparently wanted to bail at first) for many of the same reasons. While it is a documentary about eels, it's mostly about people's interactions with them, lifetimes spent studying them, generations of people revering them and them taking on symbolic capture or freedom.

All of that to say: highly recommended. :)

And in very exciting news, I completed my first original fiction story. It's not the first one I started, but it's first one to be finished. YAY!! I know it will need some serious editing; this was definitely a first pass and was started months ago as a fic for the Harry Potter community. I veered away from that pretty quickly, but I'll need to be sure that the flow and pacing and characterizations are consistent since I worked on it off and on (a lot off) for the past 9 months or so. This gives me hope for returning to my monk fic, which was last summer's project, but hey. My printout is in its binder, ready for me to get back to it for a Grand Re-Read to remember all of the characters and probably take it in another direction as I didn't like what was going on where I'd stopped it.

I returned last night from a 5-day (including basically 2 days of travel) whirlwind trip with evannichols to Harrisonburg, Virginia. This was a 'business' trip, to go through a large closet of my belongings that have been there since 2005 when I was filing for divorce from my to-be-wasband and my stepdad came to Nashville and we got a small U-Haul trailer and moved all of my belongings from Nashville to Harrisonburg. Since then, I've moved to Verona, VA, to 2 other locations in Harrisonburg, and various places in Portland. Now, at last, I'm stable in a wide variety of ways, including my residence. So it was time.

This was also the first time I'd seen my mother and stepfather since my acrimonious departure in fall of 2011. Since then, I've had a 180° turnaround in relations with my mother (I've never had long-term issues with my stepdad) and we've been communicating much more regularly. Still, I was a bit unsure about whether or not there might be awkward questions, or awkward expectations, and to my relief, there simply wasn't any. It was a very busy and purposeful three days, but there was also a fabulous reunion element to do with the choir I'd sung with in Staunton. We had lunch with a couple of my dear friends, there was a massive hug-fest and introductions of Evan to, well, everyone. Not only that, but my dear friend persephone100 came down to stay for a day and visit and assist. She also got to go 'shopping' for free through my stuff! So many items went to a happy new home. :) Heaps of things will go to a new home eventually, as the Harrisonburg Goodwill got another motherlode of my stuff that I simply wasn't emotionally tied to.

So now we're back, having checked 3 bags on the return flight, and shipping one rug and one plastic bin via UPS. That's it. All the rest was recycled/trashed/given away/scanned. What a relief, and a harbinger of this amazing life I lead now and plan to have for years. Now Evan knows I have a past! He had a super-saturated experience of people and places and proof that I really have received a tremendous amount of written correspondence since 1986. It's good to be home, and to return to my current life, which is a gift unto itself.

... well, here it doesn't pour all the time, but there's a good chance you're living in Portland. But I'm writing about the amazing and grateful fact that I have yet another interview for another 1/2 time position! It's for a development assistant position with a downtown church. I had a preliminary chat while walking to my bus yesterday morning, which made for a very non-conducive pre-interview conversational environment (but it was the only time we could talk) as the bus I catch is on a very loud and busy street at a loud and busy intersection. I'll meet with them on July 6th. I'd be thrilled to be able to have two half-time positions, if I could make it work. I don't honestly know how long I'll be on assignment out in Beaverton, though it sounded like at least a two-month gig. Guess I'll see over time. But, yay!

I'm still a bit weirded out about enjoying my early mornings so much. Some of it has to do with the fact that it's pretty much the only time the house here is quiet, but I also realize that I'm able to get a fair amount of things accomplished in the early hours. I've been sleeping quite soundly, and am definitely still in a very vivid dream cycle. Quality sleep goes a long way toward making my general anxiety levels much lower. Having a paycheck in any amount is also helping. ;) I also did some affirmations and visualizations while jogging yesterday. The author of the book I'm reading recommends that one be relaxed and restful while doing those, but I figure that the more often I do affirmations and consciously have positive thoughts about myself and my situation, the more I'll believe them. Which is a very good thing.

After hemming and hawing, I've decided to undo the sleeve of my complicated cardigan and start over. It will be worth it in the long run for the pattern to go in the correct direction, plus my decreases to shape the sleeve were off, so I can get them right for the length that I want. So I'm going to treat myself to episode 7 of Game of Thrones while I undo 2 weeks worth of knitting. :P

I used to write. A LOT. I've been on a bit of a hiatus for, well, almost 6 months now. I'd like to get my toes wet again, so if anyone would like to give me a prompt for a short story, please do. Fandoms for this re-intro into writing are Harry Potter, Tolkien, Slave Breakers, Wraeththu, and even my own original fic with my monks. I really do want to finish that, and I plan to-- just need to re-read it and remember where I was going! Actually, if you want to prompt for a short original fic, that's fine as well. I write anything from G to NC-17 (please specify), slash, and if you would specify characters of interest and/or pairings and some kind of scenario, that would be helpful. Don't know quite when I'll have something to produce, but I'm hoping that a prompt or two (or many!) will get my juices going again. To my delight I recently out of the blue had a review for a Ron/Draco I wrote several years ago; what a joy to discover people are still reading my stories.

For those with a holiday today, I hope that you are enjoying some doubtless much needed downtime. ♥