Monday…yeah, I guess it is…

Nothing like meeting and interviewing 6 5 4 3 job candidates in different buildings after a 1-hour whirlwind meeting to make me feel scattered.  I did pull it together, though, and I think I did a good job of interviewing.  I tend to dress a little more on the “business” side of business casual when I have interviews. Partly that it’s easier for me to stay on time if I wear a watch, and I get self-conscious if I’m wearing a watch without rings.  Maybe that’s just me….

Anyway. Black slacks, red v-neck top, black banded watch, garnet and gold rings.  And a really good song  by Marian Call.

Music Monday: Good Morning Moon (with finger puppets)

From Marian Call comes this perky and upbeat video.   She’s introduced it in concert as the song she wrote for a NASA “write a song to use to wake up the shuttle astronauts” contest. It didn’t win, but it’s a perky wakeup song.  It’s Monday.  Have some perky.

(Update: embed isn’t always working but you can go to http://youtu.be/o-tiQxSg-4s for finger puppets!)

Music: Alright, okay, I give in

I haven’t done a music post in while, so here’s one.  As mentioned on twitter I went to Norwescon this year.  I liked much of the music in the concerts, but this one by Vixy & Tony touched in me in particular.  It’s not recorded yet.  All I have is a cellphone video someone uploaded to YouTube from the con.

Alright, okay, I give in
I can’t fight and I can’t move and I can’t win
I’m staring at the pages ’til I hate every letter
And there’s always someone else who has already said it better
And the lines all come out crooked and the words are upside-down
And there’s never any room to turn around

 

Any resemblance to how a blogger might feel (“there’s always someone else who has already said it better”) is, of course, intentional.

It’s just another new year’s eve

Hope you are warm, safe, and happy.

Happy Solstice

I’m in North America – Seattle, specifically. We currently get 8 hours of sun a day, and will for the next few weeks — but slowly we’ll start getting more.

This is The Christians & The Pagans, by Dar Williams.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year I offer a couple funny songs about Thanksgiving:

:)

Go Away Stalkers

Online harassers are being discussed again (or maybe it never stopped).

I don’t have a solution.

I do have a rockin’ dance track for it, though.

To quote the artist:

“Go Away God Boy” was written in roughly three hours, after a telephone call with my friend the poet Mia Nutick, also known as the Wicked Fairy Apologist.  Mia had had the misfortune to attract an online stalker on her BLOG.  While not uncommon for most of us, her situation had yet another layer of weirdness to it:  this particular stalker was convinced — and wanted Mia to be convinced, as well — that he was Jesus Christ.  The real thing.  Not just a zealous person wishing to convert others to Christianity.  No, no; he went way beyond that.  He was also apparently pretty rude, as the only reason Mia had ever acknowledged his presence, and thereby attracted his attention, was in defending her friends from his unprompted criticism.  In the course of our phone call, Mia related the short version of the sordid tale to me.  To conclude, she said, “I think that the issue is somewhat resolved now, but I’m still asking all of my friends to send as much ‘Go away God Boy’ energy in his direction as they can!”

Lyrics, downloads, and more are here.

Friday Fun

Here’s something to make you smile Friday, courtesy of Beth Ditto:

What are looking forward to this weekend? If it’s not your weekend, what are you looking forward to when you get there?

Independence Day

For those in the US, my favorite “freedom” song, Garth Brooks’ “We Shall Be Free“.

….and a different turn on the idea of “Independence Day” by Bruce Springsteen.  (The song begins about 3 minutes in.)

Hope you all have a good day, wherever you are ;)

Clarence Clemmons

If you didn’t know who Clarence Clemmons was, well…you’ve got a treat ahead of you.

Clarence was a sax player.  A singer.  The “Big Man”.  He’d played American football in high school and college.  At a reported 6’4″ and 260lbs (or more) he was technically obese, but it wasn’t seen as a failing.   (Partly due, I’m sure, to being a man, and partly due to him being muscular.) He also had a reputation as a storyteller, which he showed in his book Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales.

But he’s best known for the Springsteen songs he performed classic solos on, like this one.

Clarence recently died of a stroke.  Good-bye, Clarence; you will be missed.

Music Monday: Tanglewood Tree

…featuring New York Times Bestselling author Seanan McGuire (blonde) with Vixy (redhead) & Tony (guitar), Betsy Tinney (cello) and Amy McNally (violin).  Recorded at a bookstore event for Seanan’s first novel Rosemary and Rue.

(Music starts about 30 seconds in.  A studio recording of  Tanglewood Tree with many of the same performers is also on Seanan’s latest CD.  Song lyrics and chords are here. Late Eclipses is Seanan’s first book to hit the New York Times list.)

Happy Music

It may not seem like a day for it, but today I want something to perk me up and make me smile.  Today, that’s Tom Smith.

(Click the song title to go to a page with the lyrics.)

Tom’s a self-employed musician who mostly sells music at sci fi conventions, which is to say, he’s broke. If you like the music, feel free to buy some – plenty of downloads for sale at http://tomsmith.bandcamp.com/ (most albums for $8US)  plus CDs at Tom Smith Online.

(More music posts here.)

Happy Valentine’s Day

Wishing you hugs & love today — whether you’re hugging your pet, your stuffed animal, a friend, a lover, a child, or all of the above!

Today I had lunch with the man of the house. Now I am smiling at the white roses I picked up yesterday and about to dive into my (American) tax return.

Interviews, Interviews

I’ve been getting more job interviews lately.  Researching the companies I’m interviewing at and other interview prep is taking a fair amount of time.   One place I interviewed at Monday has called to arrange a second round next week, which is a hopeful sign.

I am still not getting full lung function, but albuterol, Mucinex, and the humidifier are helping.  Doing an aerobics tape in the morning seems to make me feel better for the rest of the day, and the fact that I can (instead of collapsing with a major coughing fit after 5 minutes of warm-up) is a good thing too.

We’ve had some nice sunny weather lately, inspiring me to prune roses and cut down some blackberry canes.

The man of the house is making dinner – steak, mushrooms & peppers, and potatoes.

I’m also enjoying SJ Tucker’s new single:

How’s with you?

Things to Read

This is kind of a mishmash ;)

If you’ve seen comments about “dickwolves” and PAX and wondered what it was about, JetWolf has a nice summary.

Author Seanan McGuire addressed why fixing the US healthcare system is so terribly, terribly important this week.  Seanan has discussed why she needs health insurance here and here.

Seanan’s new CD, Wicked Girls, is available for ordering at CDBaby.

Alternet has a well-done piece by Judith Matz on “Why dieting makes you fatter”.  It references Linda Bacon’s Health At Every Size study, Traci Mann’s survey of diet studies, and other research.   If you’ve been into fat acceptance a while it’s mostly things you know, but it’s good to see getting wider play.  It might also be a useful “FA 101″ piece.

A 3-part Q&A with Linda Bacon is over at PyschCentral, too.

Ragen at Dances With Fat has a great post on respecting others’ choices while discussing Fat Acceptance and HAES.

Anything else?

Dancing to “Baby Got Back”

From Ragan of Dances with Fat comes this competitive dance number set to Jonathon Coulton’s version of “Baby Got Back”:

Whether you are going dancing tonight or not, I hope you enjoy the video.  Best to all for a happy new year!

Partridges and A Pear Tree

You may have to be a certain era (The Partridge Family) to get this, but from the computer of Alison Bechdel comes this little video.