(no subject)
Jul. 12th, 2010 11:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluecastleTime for an update on all things me. Trust me, this won't take long! Being doped up on headache pills I hope it's somewhat coherent!
Had a nice couple of days with my friend-who-lives-in-Denmark and his wife. Their visit just happened to coincide with the local big-time arts festival, so I met them Thursday afternoon and we did a couple hours of wandering through the booths in the hot summer sunshine. Then they took me back to where they were staying ... the townhome of my friend's home town music teacher who now lives here just outside of the University. He grew up in North Central Pennsylvania, and this woman was his choir director. They showed me pictures, and it looked like "That 70s Show" meets "Glee!" Trust me, I may never unsee those floral dresses the girls wore! Adorably, he's about 50, but he could still remember the choreography from some of the numbers there were pictures of. Never say the arts don't have an impact!
His teacher made us all dinner, and then forced us to watch "The Blind Side." I hadn't seen it, so it was nice to see from that perspective. I think my friend would have rather spent the evening some other way, but it was okay. His Danish wife was more than a little confused by American football... and his teacher kept trying to tell us we missed the first part of the movie (she was back and forth clearing up the dinner dishes) and not really believing us that we had. She figured that out eventually ... but then hilariously kept announcing "THIS IS A FLASHBACK" whenever there was one.
Day two, I met up with them midday to do some more of the festival, and then have lunch before they were back off North where they're staying with his best friend who still lives in their hometown. It was a nice time, but I kept thinking it was more "spending time together" than really "visiting" if you see the semantic difference. It's not like we talk that much anyway, he being a TERRIBLE correspondent. Things perked up a bit in that department when I added IM to my work computer, and sometimes now he'll IM me while he's puttering around making dinner. I do tend to hear from him more when they're planning a visit to the states and he needs something from me, but we'll see what happens going forward.
All of which doesn't take away from it being a nice visit and a chance to spend some time together...
Elsewise, there is not much to report yet about my friend with the bookstore. Last week was one of her really busy times of the year what with a giant arts festival just outside her door. She posted a message up on Youtube the other day saying she'd hoped Monday (today) to get her head together and start exploring options with lawyers and realtors and the like. So stay tuned. I expect there will be more info. forthcoming this week. I have little hope that the current location can be saved. She says she thinks the landlords feel they're doing her a favor by pulling the plug on a non-sustaining business proposition -- which, you know, you have to at least say is a valid response to a rentor who is so behind in their rent. There's another meeting Wednesday night, and the Solidarity Facebook group was at 2,555 members last time I checked.
I want to get down there and throw a little money her way, but I just haven't made it yet. Had thought I might get down there today, but with this headache I don't see that happening. Perhaps I can slip downtown tomorrow around lunchtime, and then drag my book haul back to the office on the bus...
Writing away on the longfic. It's a TERRIBLE first draft, and I don't quite know how to get it where I want it to go... but I will keep plugging away. Frankly, me starting this thing two months before it's due is a miracle all its own self. On the positive side, there are all kinds of themes percolating below the surface which I'm hoping I can shine up and make lovely when I get around to the second draft part of the writing. It's hard to imagine Jack a decade or so before we first see him in that 1999 Fragments flashback, but sort of fun to create that time for him as well.
Had a nice couple of days with my friend-who-lives-in-Denmark and his wife. Their visit just happened to coincide with the local big-time arts festival, so I met them Thursday afternoon and we did a couple hours of wandering through the booths in the hot summer sunshine. Then they took me back to where they were staying ... the townhome of my friend's home town music teacher who now lives here just outside of the University. He grew up in North Central Pennsylvania, and this woman was his choir director. They showed me pictures, and it looked like "That 70s Show" meets "Glee!" Trust me, I may never unsee those floral dresses the girls wore! Adorably, he's about 50, but he could still remember the choreography from some of the numbers there were pictures of. Never say the arts don't have an impact!
His teacher made us all dinner, and then forced us to watch "The Blind Side." I hadn't seen it, so it was nice to see from that perspective. I think my friend would have rather spent the evening some other way, but it was okay. His Danish wife was more than a little confused by American football... and his teacher kept trying to tell us we missed the first part of the movie (she was back and forth clearing up the dinner dishes) and not really believing us that we had. She figured that out eventually ... but then hilariously kept announcing "THIS IS A FLASHBACK" whenever there was one.
Day two, I met up with them midday to do some more of the festival, and then have lunch before they were back off North where they're staying with his best friend who still lives in their hometown. It was a nice time, but I kept thinking it was more "spending time together" than really "visiting" if you see the semantic difference. It's not like we talk that much anyway, he being a TERRIBLE correspondent. Things perked up a bit in that department when I added IM to my work computer, and sometimes now he'll IM me while he's puttering around making dinner. I do tend to hear from him more when they're planning a visit to the states and he needs something from me, but we'll see what happens going forward.
All of which doesn't take away from it being a nice visit and a chance to spend some time together...
Elsewise, there is not much to report yet about my friend with the bookstore. Last week was one of her really busy times of the year what with a giant arts festival just outside her door. She posted a message up on Youtube the other day saying she'd hoped Monday (today) to get her head together and start exploring options with lawyers and realtors and the like. So stay tuned. I expect there will be more info. forthcoming this week. I have little hope that the current location can be saved. She says she thinks the landlords feel they're doing her a favor by pulling the plug on a non-sustaining business proposition -- which, you know, you have to at least say is a valid response to a rentor who is so behind in their rent. There's another meeting Wednesday night, and the Solidarity Facebook group was at 2,555 members last time I checked.
I want to get down there and throw a little money her way, but I just haven't made it yet. Had thought I might get down there today, but with this headache I don't see that happening. Perhaps I can slip downtown tomorrow around lunchtime, and then drag my book haul back to the office on the bus...
Writing away on the longfic. It's a TERRIBLE first draft, and I don't quite know how to get it where I want it to go... but I will keep plugging away. Frankly, me starting this thing two months before it's due is a miracle all its own self. On the positive side, there are all kinds of themes percolating below the surface which I'm hoping I can shine up and make lovely when I get around to the second draft part of the writing. It's hard to imagine Jack a decade or so before we first see him in that 1999 Fragments flashback, but sort of fun to create that time for him as well.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-07-12 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-12 08:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-12 08:36 pm (UTC)First drafts are allowed to be terrifible.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-12 08:43 pm (UTC)She just posted a donate and get an art postcard fundraiser. So we'll see where things go from here...