hiiiiii. ugh, i'm tired. the past couple of weeks when i haven't been around lj at all have been really excellent times. anabelwumpkins was here for a lovely visit and then i was in utah which turned out to be beautiful and i loved it and then inkjunket and hominidj were here for more fun times and it has all been great but when i top that off with the late night drive to the airport and stella vomitting on our bed in the wee hours of the morning, i'm just tired.

i have a ton of pictures from the utah trip to share but it will probably have to be tomorrow since i need to dedicate this morning to getting back on track with my various projects i was working on before all this. vacation is over. i do not approve.

and now if i don't get right in the shower, i'll probably fall asleep with my face on the keyboard. so here i go.

i'm off to salt lake city this morning! i can't quite believe i'm about to get in a car and drive for 8 hours, but... i am. i'm all packed up, mixes made, some deathly hallows and some podfic to listen to on the way. i am indeed taking I80, the boring route through wyoming. i'll let you know how that goes.

anabelwumpkins's visit was so lovely, save for travel delays on both ends. we had good times around our neighborhood and denver and sang together at church on sunday. man, i miss singing with anney. nothing else like it.

and now i get to see my parents tonight! if i ever leave. i suppose i should get on that. i think i'll be twittering from the road (when i'm stopped, of course) if anything interesting happens. not really anticipating that so much, but you never know.

see you in salt lake!

forgot to say in my last post, i have 3 dreamwidth codes free to good homes. just let me know if you want one.

<3

anabelwumpkins is here! and asleep upstairs. she had quite a day - twelve hours of travelling, delays included. it should not take that long to get from boston to denver. but she's here now! yay.

thanks to people who voted in the highway poll. i'm pretty sure i'm going to take I80 through wyoming, which is what the vast majority of you selected. it did give me pause, though, that the majority of people who live around here and have been on those roads before chose I70. but i get to take 70 on the way back, when i can make rach drive through the mountains and close my eyes during the scary parts.

i continue to read as though i am not a fannish serial monogomist. star trek, merlin, bandom, due south. i am enjoying it but still feeling a little floaty and rootless. it's odd.

here are my favorite things i've read recently -

thing-thing by sinsense. frank/gerard high school au. omg, i love this story, friends. so hilarious, so teeange boy real, and also so sweet and fairytale-esue. and there is some excellent art and music to go with it.

play and record, held down together by snakevsladder. pete/mikey high school au. hmm, do we sense a theme? i've read this basic story before - geeky quiet mikeyway and soccer star jock boy* pete wentz just trying to make it work. but this is well done and long and satisfying.

inhabiting by gigantic. chris pine/zachary quinto. my favorite of this pairing so far. excellent dialoque, subtle and sneaky and pretty much captivating.

and now i'd better go get dressed so i'm ready to have exciting visitor times... when anney gets up. :)


*ok, so maybe it was different in your school, but in mine, the soccer players were not jocks. i have to suspend my disbelief for all such pete/mikeys. no one went to our soccer games, no one cared about the soccer players (who were actually some of the cooler guys in my class, imo, and not at all jockish), and they certainly didn't have cheerleaders. you?

anabelwumpkins is in the air! delayed slightly, though, so she'll be getting in right after midnight. which is actually kind of late for me these days. because i am an old lady? yes.

i went to boulder today to meet with myrtle about the monteverdi edition of which i just finished a draft and my repertoire list. i came back from boulder with a whole bunch of loot, including:
-a new pair of the same flip flops i've been wearing for the last three summers which have word down so much they were no longer miraculously comfortable and supportive
-a pair of keen shoes that are more comfortable than they are attractive which is not always how i roll. but my feet have been feeling kind of messed up lately, so. we'll see how this goes.
-a giant score for spem in alium. myrtle saw it on my rep list and decided i really should own it and so gave me hers. i am pretty psyched about this. it's a piece for 40 different parts so it is rather unlikely i'll ever conduct it and thus was not likely to purchase it for myself. however, i love tallis and all that enlish renaissancey stuff and i'm very happy to own it.
-another nerd score, a framed poster of a page of the old hall manuscrpit. myrtle said she gave it to me bc she knew i would know what it was. of course! what early english choral nerd wouldn't?
-a heaping pile of octavos myrtle is getting rid of for whatever reason. including some good stuff for women's chorus.

so, yeah, totally scored. :)

oh! and now rach is home and it's dinner timez! maybe i'll be back later with mcr high school au recs and highway decisions, etc.

so on tuesday, i'm driving to salt lake city. and i have to pick a route. i could take I80 through wyoming. it would take 7.5 hours and it looks dull as shit. or i could take I70 though colorado and utah. it would take 8.5 hours and go through the rockies, so it would be pretty much gorgeous. however! i am afraid of heights and while i can competently drive through mountainous terrain, it makes me very tense. also, on our way back, rach will be with me and she and i will be spending a night in moab, so we'll be taking I70 then. all the same, the I80 looks barren and boring. so... wise flist, which would you choose?

I80 or I70

Poll #1417087 mighty good road
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

two roads diverged...

rebooted

so, you know how rach and i are going to moab for a night? it's to celebrate our third wedding anniversary. which is today! being married to rachael is... kind of exactly like it was before we were married except i have memories of a beautiful party, a pretty ring, and still more confusion over what to call her when i meet new people. which is to say, it is completely awesome. ♥

ok, i was going to make a post in my usual blithery fashion but then i watched a video of a jonas brother dancing in a untiard and heels and now i just don't think i have anything to say.

so... anyone been to salt lake city? we're going there at the end of the month and we've already been totally surprised to find out that it's full of really exciting-looking vegan restaurants and also relatively gay-friendly. i'll be at a conference for much of my time there, but then there will be a weekend with rach and my parents all there... what should we do that's fun? anyone have any suggestions?

first, obviously, bandit lee way!!!!! i was hestiant about the name until hearing that it was a girl. god, they are huge adorable weirdos and that is going to be the most awesome kid ever. <3!!!!!!!!

i've been a little absent for the past few days because i've been spending my self-limited on-line time reading heaven help us. man, it was everything i wanted it to be. and sucked me right back into the mcr love. more <3!!!

before that, though, rach and i had a staycation over the long weekend. the only bad thing about that was that it had to end. it was so much fun, to be in our space, with everything clean and pretty, relieved from worrying about chores and responsibilities. we had a completely fabulous, restful, restorative two days.

which included a little hike at castlewood canyon near castle rock. we'd never been down there before and i was really impressed with how green it was. and we took some photos of our hike.

( rocks! and us. and distant mountains )

briefly, some things:

1. i had not realized that the star trek movie was exactly what was missing in my life. i agree 100% with all the criticisms about the pathetic lack of women and omg the miniskirts, but i also LOVED it. when it was over i just wanted to stay in the theater and watch it again. oops.

2. we are having a staycation today and tomorrow. we cleaned the house and did all our chores yesterday so today we can enjoy and lounge about (now that we're back from church) and go and do things like hike and barbecue and all that. this also means that i'm about to put away my computer for a while and pretend that i'm on vacation without it. be good while i'm gone? or... something more interesting than that.

man. any of you massachusetts types complaining about the cold weather, i would gladly trade my 90s and oppressively sunny denver days for yours. i couldn't sleep last night for the heat. well, the heat and my cat being an asshole. we've opened the window next to my side of the bed, but we don't open it very far at night. so chloe climbs up next to me on the edge of the bed and contemplates her chances of making the jump. if the curtain's in the way or the window's not open enough, she just sits there and growls. last night she attempted it but didn't make it. she landed in my pile of books and stuff near the bed and growled some more then jumped back up, right in my face, and tried again. not conducive to sleeping.

i feel a little fannishly lost right now. i'm mostly reading merlin, following bandom, rewatching due south, reading a little hp here and there... but i'm not in the thrall of any particular thing. i feel like this is a natural part of a fannish cycle and it's probably for the best, since i have so much work to be doing. but i'm missing the thrill. i feel like it makes me a little boring on the internet, too. but i think that's a natural part of being all productive. which is so awesome that i will take the boring gladly.

i must say, my boring week has been really productive so far. this seems to bode well for my summer. and yesterday i had a physical therapy appointment followed by an acupuncture appointment followed by a reflexology appointment. i'm feeling pretty groovy. and i ran into friend rachel on campus and we made dinner plans. so that was awesome. she's only here from hawaii for a few more days so i'm really pleased rach and i got to spend some time with her.

tonight is rach and my only free evening together this whole week. much as i love everyone, i really hope no one tries to make any kind of plans with us. i want to cook dinner at home, catch up on our shows and just generally chill out. the weekend involves two concerts, a party, and a church service. so friday night in pyjamas in front of the tv sounds just right to me.

also. greta? solo album? what?

who has two thumbs and passed her last score reading???

i feel like lj is the blogging site who cried wolf. i just don't get so nervous anymore. all the same, if the ljpocalypse does finally come, you can find me at insane and greatestjournal by the same name. as always, i hope that doesn't happen.

we're back in denver, as of late last night. it is definitely good to be home, good to sleep in our bed, good to see our cats. chloe has been incredibly snuggly. which is quite a treat.

our friend john was trying to tell us that after living here for 3 1/2 years, we should be starting to think of ourselves as coloradans or denverites or whatever. um. nope. i mean, i don't dislike denver. i just am not of this place. things feel more right to me when i'm in new england, even if i've grown to love and appreciate some things here. i still feel like a visitor. i still notice things that are strange to me. i still miss "home."

but home is also this house. which is a mess. and school and work, which need my attention rather urgently. i need to plan for church this sunday and women's chorus this monday. i haven't picked a program yet! yikes. much work to do. but i may let myself have another hour of relaxing in this space before i get back to the grind. relaxing and trying to set up wifi with our new computers so i can stop mooching from the neighbors.

also, i'm thinking of doing another year of photos. it was fun, i've taken a whole year off... haven't entirely decided yet, though.

me and inkjunket on new year's eve. photo by mmm_cake. <3

hi. happy new year! i've been off lj for a bit, since we've been jaunting about and my computers have been occupied with trying (and largely failing) to talk to each other. i kind of want to stab them both in the face right now. old computer (miranda) will not cooperate with the transfer process and new computer, who i have named greta and generally love, is now doing some seriously annoying stuff like not running my client and randomly freezing. i am going to have to step away momentarily so i don't throw anything expensive out the window.

so we've been in boston and swampscott and williamstown and somerville and providence and northampton and worcester. it's been great to see so many loved ones but now i am tired and starting to feel ready to go home. as always when we're away, i miss our bed and our cats. not necessarily in that order. and i miss the part where we don't have to be in a different city almost every day. i have a ton of work to do when we get home, though, so it's not going to be all relaxing and cuddling with the kitties. sadly.

we had a really nice new year's eve/day. we went to inkjunket and hominidj's house, along with scottxwl, powerfulkatrina and C, and eventually anabelwumpkins. we ate lots of good food, watched some dog whisperer (with and without pete and ashlee) and, my favorite part, played lots of scottxwl's guitar hero. like, lots. inkjunket and i stayed up til 4:30 am playing. she was on drums and i was on guitar and we rocked it. and we played more the next day when we set up our band, cheese sauce crisis. it's a very good thing that i don't own a wii or any such thing or i would never, ever get anything done in my life ever again. i was an instant addict. and every day i just want to play again. i actually got to play some rockband last night. which made me very happy. better music, but i didn't like the control as much. that may just have been our friends guitar-thing, idk.

also on new year's day, we made lucky new year foods. black-eyed peas and soy bacon (we decided that soy pork is as lucky as animal pork) went into a tasty hoppin' john that we ate with sauteed smokey kale and cornbread. all lucky foods. and rach made a circular orange chocolate chip cake and baked a coin into it - which inkjunket got in her slice. so. we've done what we can, culinarily speaking, to bring us all luck in the year to come. but also it felt good to be eating well - and together - on new year's day. it has to be better than the year we deep fried cupcakes.