Thursday, August 20, 2009

Massive Update!

Alright. I'm a bad blogger right now. You all knew I'd be busy, and I have been. I've also been brain dead. I've been meaning to blog.. really I have. Something will happen, and I'll think "I should blog this" or "I really need to update them..." but then I find myself in bed not having done it.
So quick sum up of my life right now.

Went to Highland's Ranch Highland Games Festival.
It was fun. Clan Blair (thats us) was the uhh... whats the word I'm looking for.. Honored Clan. Yeah that works. Basically it means we got to walk at the front of the parade. Not that I walked. I don't do parades anymore.
I got to see Scott, a fellow clan member. It was good to see him. As soon as he heard I'm moving to England his eyes got all big and you could see the wheels turning then the "Hmmm there are things I shall have to have you send me."
I have been hearing that statement a lot recently.
I did not get to see My EMT. Yes, I said MY EMT. Whose name is escaping me right now. Short story is that he is one of my Festival Buddies. Meaning when you've done so many of these over the years you tend to see the same people, and develop friendships with them. You never see them any other time of the year, and everything is nice.
Apparently he was there on Sunday when I was there on Saturday. He asked after me.
It was the Clan's Annual General Meeting (AGM for short) which meant members of the clan from all over the country came to attend.
I will admit, I preferred it when it was just Scott, his father and his brother, my mother and myself. Much more relaxed. Quiet, and just.. much nicer.
There is a running joke that every year at Highlands, I end up asleep under one of the tables. This year it did not happen. But hot damn you can sure bet I was exhausted enough that I looked longingly at the nice soft grass under one of the long tables and wished to be laying there. But Scott would never let me live it down. Not that I let him live down the Yellow boxers with Blue Seahorses. (Long story... but basically... he has finally learned how to sit in a kilt after all these years)
I only went the one day and didn't stay till close. It was worth it though, as I obtained my final Fidget.
What is a Fidget you might ask?
Well, it's a stone.
And as Curtis will call it "damn stones I keep finding everywhere."
The story of the Fidgets goes back many years, to when I was still in Highschool. Katte Beth taught me to drive as we were driving up to the Mabon Music Festival (The Ren scots were there doing the event)
There are many stories from that weekend, including Katte Beth's 4 year old daughter scrambling my eggs. (If I cannot have children in the future it will entirely be Jenny's fault. She knows this. We laugh about it.)

But here is the best photo I can find right now of what a Fidget is:

The ones we have are colored glass from a glass maker.
But, Katte Beth and I in our Witchy ways got our stones and blessed them at Mabon.
The first one we obtained is a Celtic Knot Heart. (which, you cannot get the same hearts we had, as the individual who made them has changed the design)
That, is to bring love into your life.
The second fidget is that of a Claddagh.
That, is to bring marriage into your life.
The third and final stone is the Family Tree (tree of life) (it used to be a celtic 4 knot, but you cannot get them anymore)
That, is the Family stone. To bring a safe and secure family.

These stones you are to sleep with. Only one at a time.
I had the first 2 stones, but I did not have the 3rd (hey, when I bought my stones I was 16 and not even thinking about marriage! okay I might have been 17?)

As I am leaving the country we needed to get me my last stone before I left.
Luckily, our stone guy was there! Huzzah!
I have my full set. I am happy.

Moving forward
Last weekend,
Mother of Mine was out of town and I was attempting to write. I couldn't get a thing written on Saturday and was feeling quite like the failure.
So I decided to do something productive.
I did some dyeing.
I am SO glad I did. As it is absolutely gorgeous. I will post photos soon.

Work:
Work has been... interesting. Good days and bad days. I'm still in training but I'm taking calls on my own, and slowly not having to ask for help on every call. See... I can learn things. We are already starting to see my fellow class members dropping in number. 2 quit this week. Once School starts, there shall be more.
As long as I can get through September, I'll be fine. Thats all I'm really going to say on that right now.

Misc:
Most of my spare time has been spent working on various Asylum things. Just doing things behind the scenes to drum up more business. I also reopened a group on Ravelry for my yarns, and so far.. no stalkers. This is good.

I have a custom order which will be fun and exciting, and I'll be working on a new Base, which is already drumming up interest. This makes me happy.

Writing:
I feel like a fail there. Work has been zapping my brain power, and when I do get some time to write, I generally can't. I don't think I'm going to make the deadline. But that doesn't mean I'll give up on the novella.
Who knows, mayhaps one of these weekends I'll get a burst of inspiration and finish it. I'm only... half way there?



So.. interesting little happenings today.... This is how my day started:
I was downstairs in my kitchen (which has line of sight to my front windows) and I heard a bang, and then I saw a flash of light.
My first thought was “hmmm car backfire.” my second thought was “I didn’t see a car.” my third thought was “not walking outside right now.nope.” I heard sirens, but they sounded really far off, and isn’t that uncommon a thing for me to hear. (I live tucked behind a very busy main road, so I can sometimes hear sirens and such when they are flying down Academy)
So I continue about my morning routine and 10 or 15 minutes later I’m walking out the door. The entire time though I was thinking how odd it would be if I had to leave a message at work saying “yeah I’m gonna be late, one of my neighbors was shot.”
What can I say, I have odd thought processes.
Then I back out of my parking spot, and immediately see a cop car, and a cop talking to one of my neighbors. Now, this was down and to the left of my house, but incidentally coming from the direction I thought I saw the flash come from.
When I get to the T intersection of where the cop car is, I see two other cop cars. I inch past them as it was a tight squeeze and I leave the neighborhood. So, after about 20 seconds thought, I turn around. There was no way I was going to be able to chill at work without knowing what had happened.
I talk to a nice female officer and she informed me that one of the neighbors reported that someone was banging on their door. They were searching the neighborhood, but found nothing, and the flash I saw was most likely them. (Hmmm didn’t hear the sirens until after the flash… so that doesn’t seem right.)


Well... I am half way done with my work day. I've got to decide on the dyes I want to order next, and all in all... just survive.

Later peeps!