amanda palmer is a freaking rock star.

Seriously.

Her show was amazing, full of energy. Her opening act / back up band, Nervous Cabaret, were out of control. Sexy, sexy music. We were at the TLA, in the balcony, and twice she came to stand in the exact spot where we were sitting. She spoke to us briefly, and we just sort of stared in awe. She is gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous, in person.

I bought one of the guys in Nervous Cabaret a beer, then asked him to give Amanda a copy of Imprimatur for me. He agreed, and later handed it to her on stage. I watched her flip through it briefly before starting her set. That was surreal.

I still haven’t been able to formulate sentences to express all the things I wanted to say about her show. But it was nuts.

In the meantime, some video:

Ask Amanda
Mrs. O

(search some of the other Philly vids, too – there’s a great one of Amanda covering “That’s Not My Name”)

And some pictures on Flickr.

 

we tend to bruise easily bad in the blood

thankfulness update

So I’ve been keeping up with the thankfulness updates each day, which has been a good reminder for me to keep my frustration in perspective.

Day 3: Today I am thankful for Kendall, who enjoys a good political shouting match – it’s his birthday!
Day 4: Today I am thankful for my awesome friends, who make me feel valued and supported every day of my life.
Day 5: Today I am thankful for the gift of artistic ability – I’m not sure why I have it, but I’m glad I do.
Day 6: I am thankful today that this day, like every work day, will have an end.
Day 7: Today I am thankful to get some perspective.

And I just came out of a brief sit-down with my manager to talk about some ways to bring on positive change in our department (and our company). I think it’s a good thing.

In other news, the work on Imprimatur has been going really well.

I have about 15 copies of the book bound already, and another seven that are ready to be bound tonight. The remaining 18 still need to be halved so they’re the right size, but I’m aiming to get those done by the weekend. I’m definitely going to meet the deadline this time (assuming I don’t lose my fingers in the next two weeks to an unfortunate hacksaw accident or something).

I need to find a new project to work on!

thankfulness, day 2

I am thankful today for my amazing, talented and intelligent girlfriend, who makes me laugh by saying things like “Hannah von Bismarck” (when she really means Bridget von Hammersmark).

Robert Lee Brewer of Poetic Asides posted a non-poetic challenge on Facebook today: update your status each day between now and Thanksgiving to reflect something you are grateful for. I’m taking him up on it, as I think it’s a wonderful thing to do.

Today I am thankful for my son, Jacob, who can make me feel better, no matter what has happened to me.

(more photos of this amazing person here.)

mushroom invasion

My backyard has been positively overrun with mushrooms. This is only a small portion of my backyard:

They really have taken over the yard, thanks in part to a dead tree trunk that’s about 6′ tall. They’re covering the root lines immediately around the trunk, and they’ve spread into the opposite side of the yard, and into my smaller flower beds as well.

They’re also growing out from under my house:

The mushrooms definitely have a fishy smell, and it’s disgusting.

They’re a little creepy.

I did some reading, and found that mostly I should just leave them alone. But it’s hard, because they smell incredibly bad. And as they die off, they turn black, and the smell gets worse. Sigh.

Anyone know what kind of mushrooms they are?

it should not have taken me this long.

I just read Amanda Palmer’s blog from 10/29, which is an Open Letter to Robert Smith (of the Cure, for those of you unfamiliar).

Yes. In every way, yes.

I haven’t been a fangirl since – well, to be honest, probably in about 10 years. Of course I still went to concerts and got excited about them, but I haven’t been that touched by music in ages. And now, suddenly, I’m preparing to see Amanda next week, and I’m all nervous about it. The fangirl seems to be resurfacing.

And so I’m going to do something incredibly nerdy and youthful and selfish, something I’ve been loosely planning for a month but now I’m going to attempt to make it elaborate:

I’m going to make Amanda Palmer a copy of Imprimatur, a finished, gorgeously bound copy, and I’m going to write her a fan letter, a real fan letter, and I’m going to put them both in an envelope with a picture of myself and my email address, and I’m going to decorate the envelope, and I’m going to find a way to give it to her.

And I’m not going to apologize for being a fangirl, and I’m not going to feel self-conscious about it, and I’m not going to pretend that it’s not a big deal, because it is. It definitely is. She is smart and talented and amazing and beautiful, and watching Donna leave her concert last year, I saw the energy that was contagious and infecting, and I want that energy, and I can’t wait to have it.

And I’ve been listening to WKAP for the past few weeks, listening to “Leeds United” over and over again, listening to “Runs in the Family” over and over again, and I’m so. freaking. excited. And I don’t understand why I suddenly felt like I needed to grow up and be an adult and not let myself get excited about music in that totally immature fangirl way.

holy what-the-f

Kudos to WordPress, for their excellent selection of “Possibly Related Posts.”

Last week, I wrote this blog entry, in which I discussed a posting in my Civil Rights class that bothered me for what I see as it’s inherent racism.

WordPress kindly created a single “Possibly Related Post” – and it links to this blog, which is as far from where I am as you can possible get.

Just curious: how is it that these posts are in any way related?

Zoinks.

progress!

So I decided that I would take a day this weekend and dedicate it to writing projects.

First I caught up on my critiques over at the ChopShop, the virtual workshop that Donna initiated for our artist friends who can’t always manage to get together face-to-face. There was definitely some good stuff happening over there.

Then I got started on an essay about sexual identity, for an anthology that sent out a call for submissions. The anthology will be forthcoming from Seal Press, and it’s currently titled And Then It Shifted. They’re looking for work, loosely, from women who used to be in relationships with men, but now are in relationships with women. Of course, as with any form of discussion around sexual identity, the criteria for the anthology is not tight, and there’s plenty of room for interpretation. Anna spotted the call for subs and sent it over to me, and I’ve been thinking on my topic for awhile. I started a sort of disjointed narrative memoir this morning, and I’m working to run some common threads through it.

After writing about 1000 words of that, I decided all the sexual introspection was a bit much, and I needed a break. So I set out to work on Imprimatur, and made some excellent progress this afternoon. I’m still aiming for a tentative release date of December 15, but I’m very much in the testing phase – so today, I tried my hand at Japanese Stab Binding, and I freaking love the results:

You can see a few more photos of the results over here.  This is the first attempt, and I’m still working out the details, but I’m really pleased with the idea of it, and it was much simpler than I thought it would be.

I’m going to fine-tune the manuscript tonight, and start running copies tomorrow. Whew.

My first goal for the book is to have a copy available for the Amanda Palmer concert next week; I’d love to give her a copy of the book.

And then my goal is to bind at least five per night, with some significant binding sessions taking place over Thanksgiving weekend. I think I can, I think I can…

Up next on the craftiness list: making Christmas presents. It’s infinitely more satisfying than buying bulk-produced goods in a department store, and Donna and I have picked a super fun gift to make this year. Pictures to come later!

well, that was disappointing.

So we went with Christie.

I mean, I can’t say I’m surprised – Corzine has sucked for the past few years, and clearly most of the people in this state agree. But I’m disappointed nonetheless: Corzine offered us some wonderful chances to level the playing field in terms of Civil Rights in this state.

And of course, Maine was disappointing too – Prop 8 was upheld, and now marriage equality is off the table in that state.

I mean, it’s disheartening. It’s discouraging. But it’s not the end, by any means. We’ll keep fighting.