Yes, I'm A Freak - It's Blogapalooza

I was in the mood to post recently, but didn't really have anything to say. I was looking over my page, and noticed what a long list of categories I have. And it came to me ... I'll do the annual (?) Category Update, with a little blurb about each thing on the list.

Okay - I suppose the 'blather' category can come at the end (if the middle doesn't cover it).

In knitting news: I went back to work on the sweater this week. Hopefully I'll keep steadily at it, and maybe get it done by ... umm, spring? Sigh. Oh well. I wasn't too keen on the last pair of socks I started, so I may scrap them and start a new pair. I decided some time earlier this year that life's too short and uncertain to waste time on projects I've truly lost interest in. It's a hobby - for fun. Not something (else) I have to force myself to do.

I haven't thought about whether I'm doing any Christmas knitting this year, but if I am, I'd better get busy planning that.

SCA: This is the time of year that my post-Pennsic glow (if there was one) is waning, and I start forgetting about the whole thing till next year. Bad idea. This is the very time of year to keep motivated on long-term projects, and if I did, I'd be very happy with myself next year. So I'm going to plan to work on some of my projects at least once a month throughout the winter. Some of the things I want to do:

• make some more (better) garb


• decorate the garb I have - embroidery and such


• make my tent cover


• make a new top for my shade pavilion


• hmm, I'm sure there are some more things, but that's a good start

Gardening: Well, I started strong this year, but was disappointed in my follow-through. But the good news is, since I decided to start treating gardening as work-in-progress, as an experiment of sorts, I'm not too angsty about it. I learned a lot from this year. I lost steam about mid-summer, and didn't maintain my plants and things well. I especially lost it after Pennsic - I stopped watering things, and being August, it kind of did them in. Nothing really ever recovered. I also didn't plan my fall plantings as I'd have liked - I'd wanted to plant some of these gorgeous mums I'm now seeing at the stores, but I didn't plan a space for them, so I don't know where to put them. And I wanted to plant some bulbs for spring flowers, which I also haven't done (although I don't think it's too late for that). There are still some things I need / want to do before serious bad weather - mark where my perennials are, so I don't disturb them next spring when I want to start digging around in the flower beds; prune the roses; trim the shrubs out front; clean out the planters; and clean up the pond. Those things I hope to do soon, to at least get prepared for next season.

Weaving: I haven't done any weaving in way over a year. But it's something I'm still very interested in. I'd like to continue learning about tapestry weaving, but to do that now, I'd probably have to start over in my 'tutorial book' I bought last year. Well, it'll stay on the wish list for awhile yet.

Tyler: Tyler's doing great. He had a wonderful time on vacation, running around on the beach. He seemed to do well on the trip there and back, despite it's length. I just had him to the vet's on Saturday for a T4 check (testing his thyroid to see if his current medication needs adjusted), and they told me his levels were perfect, so his meds are fine. He's lost some weight though, and is getting kind of bony. I know part of that is aging (he'll be 14 next month!) but I'm going to work on bulking him up a little without letting him get too fat. I'm adding a third snack / meal to his day, consisting this week of a half-cup of whole wheat pasta and some mozzarella cheese. We'll see how that does for him. I'd also like to start taking him out more for exercise - as I mentioned, he did great on the trip, wanting to run around and seeming very energetic. Here he just lays about all the time, but I think he truly just gets bored because we don't do much - it's my fault we don't go for walks and outings anymore. As long as he still feels like it, keeping him active can only be good for him. Unfortunately, I waited till fall when the weather will be turning bad - but we tend to have relatively mild winters here, so hopefully if I ever get started, there will still be lots of exercise to be had in the coming months.

Embroidery: I have several embroidery projects I'd like to get back to. One is the embroidery on the pirate coat (a separate entry). Another is some embroidery on garb (mentioned in the SCA entry). I want to finish The Dread Reverend's Sea Chameleon favor, as the only person who has one right now is Berg, and I certainly thing the Commodore deserves one at least as much, if not more. Maybe over the winter months.

Quilting: This is one of those hobbies that I'd like to have time for, but never do. I mentioned in knitting that I'd learned the difficult lesson of giving up on projects that were no longer 'getting it' for me. I'm about to that point with the Tolkien quilt. It's at least 10 years old, and I've just really lost interest in it. I think if I could scrap it with a clean conscience, it would free me up to do some other useful things. I would like to make a scrap quilt; I got a book awhile back full of patterns for scrap quilts made with 5" squares (so it's easy - you cut all your material into 5" squares, then you can choose any pattern from the book and you're all set for it). I spent an entire weekend some time ago cutting all my large, accumulated fabric stash into 5" squares, and have added to it since - I could probably make several of these at this point. And this type of project (if I don't over-engineer it) could easily be completed in a couple of weekends. So perhaps that's something I'll think about getting done this winter as well.

Poi: I'm still practicing! I had a wonderful evening on the beach in North Carolina doing some solitary poi with glow-sticks on the poi balls. It was around sunset /dusk, and I was actually standing in the swash zone, with the income waves washing over my feet. It was magical. I plan to continue working on poi, although I haven't learned anything new in quite awhile.

Travel: Well, the NC trip was a success (despite some dark spots which I won't go into here). I cannot WAIT to go back. So my vacationing for this year went really, really well. The only thing I want to do differently next year is plan a spring vacation - whether it's NC or some place else - because as it stands now, my only two 'real' vacations fall at the beginning of August and the end of September - too close together, with that hideously long stretch of 10 months in between.

Shenanigans: We haven't had many of these for awhile. We had the one wild porch party this year, but that was about it. We have our annual Samhain party coming up, but I've been getting lazy and not really wanting to turn it into an overnighter / weekend event anymore. I'd rather have something more quiet. Wild raucous parties are fun - except for having to deal with the aftermath the next day. I wish someone else would host the party; then I wouldn't have to worry about that part of it.

Project: Pirate Coat: I've done nothing with it since before Pennsic, except wore it in the surf in North Carolina and got saltwater on the bottom. :o) Which was planned. I need to remove the temporarily-sewed-on cuffs and finish the embroidery on them; and then do the embroidery on the rest of the coat. I ought to think about starting that soon, because that's going to be a winter-long project.

Sewing: Yeah, I don't even know why this category is here. I don't make much of anything that wouldn't fall into the SCA or Quilting categories. Fact is, while I enjoy the idea of homemade things, I don't really much like sewing.

New House Project: While the original house that spawned this category is old water under the bridge, I haven't deleted the category because it's kind of a never-ending dream of mine. I'm back on it, at least temporarily. As I've said many times before, my house is simply too small for the people who reside here throughout the month. We desperately need a bigger house. The problem is (a) affording it, and (b) figuring out how to unload my house in this market. But I'm currently re-obsessed with a house I first noticed a year and a half ago, which is still on the market, recently changed realtors, and on which they've significantly dropped the price. I have an appointment to go see it tomorrow. I really love this house (what I know of it) and it would be perfect for us - 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a living room, family room AND rec room; 2 acres; an in-ground pool; just gorgeous. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

And that brings us to recipes, which I've only ever posted once. That's only because it was my mom's recipe, and so not copyrighted. But I muck about with recipes all the time. Maybe over the winter I'll see fit to post some new ones.

Well, I guess that's about it - and certainly covers the blather. That's my life in a nutshell right now: desperately trying to figure out a way to afford a bigger house, and fit my many hobby dreams and wishes into my life. Winding down into the cocoon of autumn, and thinking a lot. But that's a post for another time.

Poipalooza; Job Blues; Knitting Resumes!

It's back!! I got the 3-beat weave back. No one probably remembers this ripple in my life, but awhile back I had to take a poi break because I was having a lot of pain in my left shoulder. This was only about a day after I finally figured out the 3-beat weave (a cool looking but allegedly beginner move that had eluded me for some time). A few days later, I tried it again and had totally lost it. But my shoulder was still hurting, so I extended my break.

I just recently began working with poi again, and my shoulder has totally recovered. (or had ... who knows if I'm going to do it again) And, I finally got the 3-beat weave back. I also got all the "simple turns" back (I had lost those too, for awhile). I lost a couple of other moves I have to re-work, but figured out at least one new one ... so it's a kind of one step forward, one step back kinda thing.

But I'm definitely re-obsessed, which is a good sign. I often become temporarily obsessed with something, only to lose interest in a short time. The fact that I have returned to poi after letting my shoulder get better, and still feel the same obsession with it, leads me to believe this is really something I'll stick with. And that's cool, because it's so much fun !!!!

But the job blues continue. But I don't really want to get into that tonight, so I'll save it for another time.

In more better news, however, I went back to work on the sweater tonight! I didn't get a lot done, but I did do a row or two (I'm on the back now, where the rows are twice as long, so it doesn't go as quickly). But it's nice to be back to work on the sweater.

And the best news of all ... my annual trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina is in only 10 DAYS!!! I. So. Cannot. Wait. (and I'm seriously hoping for no hurricanes!!)

Catching Up

Haven't posted in awhile, thought I'd play catch-up.

I haven't practiced poi since last Saturday when I learned the 3-beat weave. I developed a pretty bad pain in my left shoulderblade area. It just feels like just a sore muscle, so I thought it was from whacking myself too many times, too hard, with the poi in that area, or maybe from the new and unusual movement of my arm. I decided to take a break. But the pain hasn't gotten any better in almost 5 days, so I'm not sure that's what it was. If it was that, I would have thought it would have started showing some improvement by now. It's hard to tell - I'm plagued by random aches and pains anymore. I tried a heating pad for awhile last night, and it helped, but only as long as the heating pad was on it. As soon as I moved it came back. I'll have to try some other stuff here over the next few days and see if I can't clear it up, because I miss my poi!

I have done no knitting in weeks! I must be in another knitting slump. That's okay, though - that sometimes happens in the summer. I'm sure I'll get back to it soon, although I'd like to get that sweater done before too much longer. And make some more socks! I'm also going to have Christmas knitting to start thinking about, if I plan to do any. Haven't decided about that yet.

Oi, Christmas - that's something I'd like to start on any time now. Not because I really think that Christmas should be such an extended, commercialized monster that goes on for months. But because waiting till the last minute is always a pain in the butt. I'd really rather start early and have nice relaxing time of it. Of course, I stopped going out shopping for Christmas years ago, and do all of my shopping online now - which alleviates the stress, except when I wait too late to order stuff and have to pay exorbitant amounts of money for 2-day shipping to get the stuff in time!

Part of my problem is that I never know what to get anyone. I guess I'm just not that creative in the gift-giving department. Greg can buy me a whole slew of Christmas gifts without ever once asking me what I want, and it's always cool stuff. Me, I can't seem to think of anything to get anyone without them telling me specifically what they want - and most people never will tell me anything they want. Well ... one of my goals for the year was to simplify things more, so I suspect I can start with this whole Christmas thing. Simple, thoughtful gifts, instead of the commercialized feeding frenzy it often deteriorates into when waiting too long.

Which brings me back to knitting - knitted gifts are always nice, because I get the bonus of enjoying the act of knitting them, and the recipient gets a hand-made gift. But that only works if I leave myself enough time to do the knitting.

In other news ... we planned a porch party for this weekend. Used to have these all the time, then kind of stopped, and haven't really had one all year. I decided it was time for one, before summer was over. Potentially there will be Midnight Drunken (R) shenanigans, with pictures to follow. I'm considering a game that's a combination of croquet, horsehoes, and cornhole. We'll see.

Not much else going on ... I've been exhausted for the past two weeks, and doing little to nothing in the evenings after work. I couldn't figure out what was causing this till Greg pointed out something - Tyler's got this itchy allergic reaction thing going on again, and is waking me up throughout the night with his scratching and chewing. When I started paying attention, I noticed that usually by 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. he's waking me up, and once it starts, it goes on every little bit the rest of the night. That means that I haven't gotten a good, full night's restful sleep in about 3 week (because I never sleep entirely well when camping). No wonder I'm tired! I never know what to do about Tyler, though - this has been an ongoing problem for years and years, and even after a very expensive trip to an allergy specialist vet an hour away, there was no solution. Making him sleep on the floor isn't an option - he'd never stay unless I put him in a crate, and the he'd probably whine and howl all night, because he'd be pissed about that. This dog's never had to sleep in a crate, or anywhere without me (except when I'm away and he's being dog-sat) since he was a puppy. Even when he was recovering from surgery and couldn't get on the bed, we slept on the living room floor with him, instead. Spoiled? Yeah, I don't want to hear about it.

So anyway, I guess it's time to get off my duff and get ready for work. Party pictures Sunday!

Beaver River Regatta; and Poi Success!!

Yesterday we went down to Bridgewater Landing, where my brother docks his boat, for the Beaver River Regatta. We had a really good time. We got to take the boat out, and this time nothing went wrong. We had a nice ride up and down the river, dropped anchor for awhile and played a little music, then came back in the evening for the regatta parade.

Playing modern-day captain.


Navigator Ashley.

Going into Montgomery Lock.



Inside the lock.

The dam that made the lock necessary.


Music pirate.
Yeah - no explanation necessary.


The boat decorated for the regatta.


Bridgewater Landings decorated up for the regatta.

In poi news ... I LEARNED THE 3 BEAT WEAVE!!! Yeah, that's a big deal. You see, the 3 beat weave is supposed to be a beginner's move, yet it's very impressive looking in it's own right, seems to be a staple move in most poi-routine videos I've seen, and it's an important step in learning more advanced moves.

But for the first few days I was trying to learn it, I just could not get it. Not even a little bit. I was beginning to despair of ever progressing in my poi spinning if I couldn't learn this allegedly simple move. In some forums I was reading, people were saying they'd learned this move in a day or even a few hours. I was going on a week and couldn't get it.

Yesterday I wasn't even really planning to work on it, but I'd started doing a simple forward spin in split time (left and right poi spinning in opposing circles, one poi up when the other's down, sorta thing), and then started crossing them over. Simple as that is, I'd only ever done the crossovers in same time. As soon as I started doing that, I realized that was the "2 beat weave" that was the precursor to the 3 beat. So I stood and did that for awhile, while picturing the tutorial videos in my mind. Watching those tutorial videos over and over and over, even when you haven't been able to begin learning the move yet, seems to be a really good thing to do ... it's like training your mind to 'know' what to do so it can then tell your muscles what to do, before you've even physically done it yet. While standing there doing the 2 beat weave and picturing in my mind what my arms should be doing, I was just suddenly able to start doing it!

It took about 20 minutes of practice to begin to get it set in my mind to where I can purposely replicate it, and not just have it happen almost 'by accident.' It's still pretty sloppy, and I can only seem to maintain it for 10 seconds or so before I lose it - but I can do it, which means I'm sure I'll get better at it and progress from there.

So yeah - it was a very big deal to me.

I'd learned a couple other tricks this week too - despite feeling as if I'm not really making much progress, I guess in a way I am - I've managed to learn something new almost each day this week. Maybe in a few weeks I'll know enough moves well enough to put together a little routine, tape it, and post it somewhere. Yay me.

Poi-licious

Yeah, I couldn't stay away. I managed not to play with my balls ... umm, tennis balls ... until late tonight, after dark, but then Greg whipped out his staff ... okay, this conversation is just degrading. Let me try again.

When I got interested in poi, Greg decided to start working with staff again, with the goal in mind of eventually working up to fire staff. He's done staff work in the past, just never lit. The staff, that is.

So, Greg got out the staff, and I couldn't resist, and got out the poi. Cool thing I learned: practicing poi in the dark (with non-glowing poi) is really interesting. I couldn't see them, so I had to do everything by feel. It was an excellent exercise in understanding how the movements are supposed to feel, not just look. I think I'll incorporate some after-dark practice into my routine on a regular basis.

I got back the moves I'd lost yesterday, so that was - as I thought - just a minor flux. I was much encouraged after tonight's practice

As for unpacking and whatnot ... yeah, not so much. I haven't unpacked a single damned thing out of the truck since I came home last Saturday. Can we all say "Slackass" with a capital Slack. Oh well. It'll get done ... eventually. Probably before Saturday, as we're off to my brother's boat for the Beaver River Regatta. To fit us all in the truck, I have to unpack it. (grumble grumble)

That's about it for now. I think I'm off for some more after-dark poi practice.

Rambling

I've been back from Pennsic for five days, and I'm just now starting to think about going back to 'normal life.' I had a really hard time adjusting out of this vacation, for some reason. My truck isn't unpacked yet ... the house is kind of a mess ... it's been rough.

Tonight I plan to start getting some stuff done. 'Plan,' anyway. We'll see how that works out. Part of my problem is that I've been exhausted every night this week, so tired I can barely move or keep my eyes open from about 2:00 in the afternoon until about 8:00, when for some reason I tend to get a second wind. Since that's the same schedule I was on at Pennsic, maybe that's all it is - a carryover from vacation. There, I blamed it on the weather - in the hottest part of the day I'd get sleepy and want to take a nap. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't, but either way I never felt really awake again until something after 8:00. But I have to break myself of that here - that schedule just isn't going to fly now, and it's causing me to get nothing done.

Despite the tiredness, the only thing I have been doing in the evening is practicing poi. But I think I'm going to take a break for a day or two. I was doing fairly okay with it, but yesterday I seemed to have a regression - things I'd already learned I suddenly couldn't remember how to do. I think it's just a matter of letting the lessons sink into my muscle memory. I used to go through this with fiddle. I'd be trying to learn something new, and I'd play it a lot, and only half get it ... then I'd take a break for a few days or longer, and when I'd come back to it, even after not playing for awhile, suddenly I'd "have" whatever the thing was I'd been struggling with before.

At least I hope it works that way with poi - if not, I'm going to be starting all over! That's okay, but it's a wee bit discouraging because I don't seem to be doing very well with it. But I'll give it some more time and see how things go. It's only been five days! It's a whole new skill set, can't expect to learn it in less than a week.

So that's where I'm at ... trying to ramp up the energy to start unpacking, cleaning up the house, and getting back on track. The knitting's still packed, so I haven't done any of that either. It'd be nice to get my sweater done in time for cooler fall weather - which will probably be in about 6 weeks. I might be able to do it.

Rayne's Addiction

This poi bug has bitten hard. I'm totally enthralled and completely obsessed. I've been practicting every morning before work for a little bit, then every night after work for half an hour to an hour.

Apparently I'm no genius at this (something I suspected from the start). It doesn't just come 'naturally' to me. I've read on forums where people learned (allegedly) beginner moves in an hour or two, that I'm still working on after several days. But I'm not worried about it. I also read on said same forums that everyone's different, and just because you don't pick something up immediately doesn't mean you can't eventually be good at it. I've had no experience with this type of thing. To quote my friend Wren, for most of my life the sole purpose of my body has been to tote my head around. I'm not a physically oriented person at all. The most physical thing I used to do on a regular basis, many many years ago, was horseback riding, which required good hands, but held mostly stationary and close to the body. That's the very training I have to now try to undo to learn poi.

Greg mentioned, and I agree, that anyone who had any prior experience in a 'movement discipline' - dance, martial arts, etc. - would probably find this far easier at the outset. So - no biggie. I'm just working with a slight handicap, but I'm confident that in time I can learn what I want to learn.

And the important part is, I'm having a ton of fun, and it's already making me more body-conscious. I already notice myself moving differently, holding myself differently. People at work even remarked on it, though they blamed it on my relaxing vacation. I don't think that's what did it. I think it's because I've got poi on the brain right now, and somewhere in the back of my mind I'm constantly thinking about it - and it actually affects the way I stand and move. Interesting!

Even if it's nothing more than exercise and a fun eye-hand-body coordination experiment, it's still a blast, and for now I'm totally addicted. I know I've had tendencies in the past to get completely absorbed in something for a period of time, then eventually completely lose interest and never care if I pick it up again. This could well go that way, too. Time will tell.

For now, I've got 20 minutes before I have to get ready for work - I think I'll go hit myself with some tennis balls!