Requiem for the Spacemarshmellow

Life is chugging along, I'm busy as always. Got lots of random good things happening!

It turns out that I will be sailing in nationals this summer!! I'm really excited about that. There's zero chance we'll win (doubt we'll even place), but that's mostly because we're not professional racers. We do it for fun. Just the chance to compete is really thrilling.

Through the combination of doing a crapton of yoga, bellydancing and cutting a lot of meat out of my diet, I've managed to drop 9 pounds in about a month and a half. Yay! Hopefully I'll be back down to my goal weight in time for my cousin's wedding this July. I've also managed to cut caffeine and most of the high fructose corn syrup out of my diet too. I feel really great, healthy and alert.

Jon got into gradschool and will be moving much much closer to me sometime in July. Can't wait to have him just 3 hours away by car! We'll be doing some apartment shopping for him in two weeks, hopefully we'll find something good.

My house is going well too, even though it's in a state of insane roommate flux. (Is the flux insane? are the roommates? both?). Just replaced the air conditioning unit. My dining room is almost done, just need to hang a few more things, fix the lighting fixture and hang some shades. Hopefully I'll get that done so I can post pictures soon. I've only owned the place for two years, at least one room should be done by now, right?

That's about all I can think of for now, I'm off to bed so I can start another busy day bright and early!!

Life here is nice. Nothing really major has been happening, which is sometimes a good thing.

The house is full of fat cats, good food and good company. I work on my lawn, I clean, I nap and read and cook.

Gotta start knitting more, I'm worried I'll have forgotten how.

There might be some fluctuation in the roommate situation coming up, we're gonna have to see how that pans out and where people end up. Needless to say, I might have a room available in the not too terribly distant future.

Side note: why is patio furniture so freaking expensive? I'm trying to furnish my downstairs patio, and if I get what I want I'm not gonna be able to afford anything else for quite some time. Grumble.

I'm very much looking forward to this summer and this fall. Good things are always on the horizon!!

My toothbrush misses its friend. Such quick times together, shoved in the same glass, part of the same routine for what seem like moments. And then gone, empty, with only floss to talk to.

Anyone know which is more environmentally "good": using the hand dryer in a restroom or using the paper towels? Towels go in a landfill but the dryer uses electricity. Any ideas?

alternatively titled: another reason I love my boyfriend is that given enough data, we both eventually come to the same conclusion.

Jon and I went to the Transiberian Orchestra. We were both *very* excited. Who wouldn't love rock orchestra!?!? Unfortunately our opinion of this event was entirely different when we were leaving.

Our story unfolds.

It took place in a small stadium / arena venue, very similar to where I have seen many many concerts. It started, and I was immediately blinded with green laser lights. Slowly, I began to realize something was off, just not quite right about the whole thing. And then the female violinist started headbanging. "Wow", I thought "she must be really good to be able to play while flailing around like that". Then I started thinking how impossible it would be for me to run, while headbanging and play the viola at the same time. I'm not 100% sure I could even sit down and then stand up while playing. But I'm not a professional, she's had years of practice, and electric violins are smaller and lighter than traditional violas.

Waiiiitttt ...... ELECTRIC instruments. All naivety left. I jabbed Jon in the shoulder. "PSST!!! Jon!! I'm no expert here, but shouldn't electric instruments have ... I dunno .... cords??". His reply "there's no technical reason they couldn't be wireless". Ugh, he was missing my point.

But was he right? I started thinking about all the concerts I've ever been to, and all the shows I've run sound for. No, all electric instruments I've ever seen have been plugged into something. This stage had NO cords. Cleanest stage I've ever seen.

And other things were off too, the only person with a monitor speaker was the keyboardist, who really shouldn't need one at all. And the sound sounded too crisp, too digital. I've seen incredibly good bands in venues like this, and their sound has never sounded this good, it's always been slightly ... muffled, echoey. Acoustics and all.

Then chimes appear in the music, but there are no chimes on stage!??! WTF?? Why play a sound effect when you're supposed to be a damn orchestra??

I look over at Jon again. Good, he's not clapping. Wait!! What if he's not clapping because I'm not clapping?? What if he's really really enjoying and into this!! I start to worry a bit.

After a ridiculous fifth-element style solo, Jon leans over and asks "how in the world can she hit those notes while running around like that??". I must have looked confused, because he gave me a strange look then went back to watching.

Then the male violinist jumped up and did the splits in the air while playing. I guess they thought a backflip was too unbelievable. Jon put his lips very close to my ear and whispered as quietly as he could "Sandra, I don't think they're playing". The look I gave him must have been very effective because he quickly followed up with "that's what you've been trying to tell me since 15 minutes in, isn't it". I nod and smile effusively. Good! It's not just me.

We both watch, both horrified and amused as the laser light show, rock orchestra complete with fiery explosions comes to an end. Our opinions were confirmed in the latter half of the show, they definitely were not playing. They probably knew how to, but they just weren't, and they were barely trying to fake it.

The conclusion we came to wasn't that the music sounded digital, it was that it sounded too processed, too produced, like someone had just hit play on the CD, which is probably close to what happened. We're not sure if we're more offended that they didn't think anyone would notice, or if they thought we'd all notice but wouldn't care.

Transiberian Orchestra is like a monster truck rally, or like WWF wrestling. It's supposed to be loud, it's supposed to be "awesome" but it certainly isn't real or and certainly doesn't have any credible value whatsoever.

Some talented people recorded that music in the first place. It's just a shame we didn't see those people perform.

If anyone heard through the grapevine that Jon and I are together, it's very very true and I'm incredibly happy.

The reason we didn't make this common knowledge is because it's still long distance and we wanted to figure things out a bit, and get to know each other in a "we're a couple" capacity before involving large groups of friends.

I'm sad we didn't get to make the big announcement to everyone ourselves, and we're sorry if anyone feels out of the loop because they didn't know sooner.

That being said, we'll be in Dallas starting Christmas eve and would love to see everyone who is in town!!

And here I was, thinking I'd have more free time in the fall now that the sailing season is over. I was going to knit more, and read, and bake bread and maybe even sleep in some days.

Then one day I find myself working 12 hour days so that I have time to take care of a sick friend, get my house repaired and visit someone I'm crazy about who just so happens to live 1500 miles away.

That being said, I live on the beach, have two adorable kittens and an amazingly hot boyfriend who likes to lend me books.

I suppose busy isn't synonymous with bad. Life is good in these parts.

I just realized I hadn't made the Big Announcement. I'm now a proud kitty mamma of two 10 week old girl kittens, named Nell and Lilly. I've had them since they were 7 weeks old, and it's really amazing how much they learn and grow in that short amount of time.

I'll post pictures soon!!

It all started with a plumbing problem, when they had to cut open some drywall to see pipes, which turned out to be fine. The problem was the roof, which is now fixed. Anyhow.

I figured while I was getting that drywall repaired, I'd also fix this ugly bit above the sliding glass door that leads out to my porch. The world's greatest contractor (if anyone needs house fixing in Maryland, I can't recommend THe House Surgeon enough) suggested we could skim coat it. "It would look the same, and be cheaper, even if it is a bit of a shortcut". I decided that no, I wanted to fix things the right way, so let's go ahead and cut open the drywall. Thank goodness I decided that.

When the drywall was cut open, we found that a major support beam to my house had been slowly rotting away due to the fact that my vinyl siding was poorly flashed around an upstairs window, and so every time it rained, water was pooling around the beam. Great.

To quote my friend Dave, "that beam looks like it just came out of a fireplace". Ugh. not good.

Both the header over the door and the girder which provides support for that wall are rotten. And the rot has extended to the subfloor of the room above (my bedroom), so all of those need to be replaced.

To replace major support beams, my vinyl siding needs to be removed, along with the wood behind it. They'll then jack up my second story from inside my first story, and remove the rotten beams. They'll then replace everything, put the wall back on and then jack my house back down.

Yay. I'm currently waiting for the contractor to get here to look at my wall and give me an estimate. I'm probably going to pass out when I see how many zeroes this will require.

"Hold this for me?", I asked as I handed him a folder and started towards the restroom.

Upon my return he informed me that he'd be right back, as it was now his turn to use the facilities.

My obvious, logical response to this, which I yelled down the hallway, was "What?!? I don't get to hold something for you!??!.

Yes, I wanted to die. Yes, watching me put my foot in my mouth is a spectator sport. No, I will never be speaking again.