Hangin in there
Been a while, thought it would be good to update this thing with what's been happening lately. At the very moment i'm pretty tired and feel like i'm finally fighting what everybody else has been getting over, so i feel pretty bleh and want to go sleep early tonight. Other than that, things have been pretty good.
This last weekend i spent my days biking to and from georgetown taking a little two day course on mig welding for sculpture and whatnot. That was pretty fun and fairly informative. I made some decorative brackets to hold a shelf on the second, project day and will put some pictures of those up in my gallery's misc section eventually. I think i might put the shelf in below my window and put some plants on it, once i get my room all cleaned up again.
I think it's been since i last wrote here, that i moved from the basement to one of the upstairs rooms here at the bcc. That's been pretty exciting, having normal walls, and big ol' windows facing out over downtown. The light in the morning is really helping me wake up and face the day, especially on workdays when i'd much rather just roll over and not think about commuting and sitting in the office. Stupid work, but that's just another 2 months, and then i'm gone.
Gone on the trip, and i'm getting so excited about that these days. I've been to rei too many times and have spent some ridiculous amount of money acquiring a full set of camping equipment that should, hopefully, last and work and be just what i need for this trip and any others i want to take for years to come. So now i have a good tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, cookset, stove, all that good stuff. I still gotta figure out what front rack and panniers to get, and then start packing things up and seeing what i'm forgetting. I know i'll miss something and have to pick it up in portland or wherever as i go along. Just last weekend i thought of how i should carry some extra bungee cords, straps, rope, stuff like that for fastening things to my bike.
Corrina and i recided to enjoy the nice weekend and bike out to magnolia and loop around the hill. On the way out, we needed to gimick something together to hold the water bottle we were bringing, cause i didn't have a pannier onboard, just my saddlebag. Anyway, the ride was wonderful, including this wonderful park overlooking the sound, downtown, the islands, west seattle, the olympics, it was wonderful. We even saw a pair of bald eagles swooping over elliot bay as we snacked on the bananas and almonds we brought.
Then that evening i went with zane to go see a set of irish music performances, which was also amazing. This was put on at some catholic school further over in wallingford, and was a meeting of the irish pipers association, so many of the performances were on the uillean pipes. This was the first time i'd ever seen the uillean pipes played live, and i can say that it was spectacular. The performers were of the highest class, and the pipes themselves were quite amazing. Such a contraptionish instrument. Then zane and i talked about ideas for creating cascadian nationalistic music, fusing together the traditional roots of our music here and creating something new, modern and political for all of cascadia.
I had an idea for a cascadian flag the other day. Rather than going all fancy with acorns and waves and sunbursts like so many motifs i've seen proposed, we should go much more simple and traditional. It is a flag afterall. In that light, we go with the design adopted by so many revolutionary nations, the tricoloure of france, but with the pattern blue-green-gold, for the ocean, forests and plains of cascadia. I think it would work.
Coming up, this wednesday i'm going to the house in the woods to see caitlin off to vashon with the other housemates at her going away dinner. We've been trying to hang out or do something for a while now, but it never really seems to work well. Not sure why that is, but opportunities are running low now with her leaving off to the farm. Guess i'll have to go take a trip out to vashon and visit. Should be a good bike ride, gotta get the training in, and should be nice to get out of the city for a while.
Then this weekend is the big bcc house cleanup. Excitement, i'll get my closet finally, once we get all the junk out of it. Plus cleanup of the fridge, shed, yard, side of the house. So, sunday evening and monday there'll probably be a giant free pile of stuff available here at the bcc.
Also saturday, in the evening, there's the quarterly club party for aikido. That should be entertaining, going over and hanging out at carter's place. Eat some pizza, talk with folks, drink some beer, watch people play video games. Always good to have the opportunity to socialize with the good aikido peoples.
There's a couple from aikido getting married in almost a month now. That's pretty weird, i think. I've always, since the time i was doing karate as a kid, thought it somewhat taboo to date people you do martial arts with. Not entirely sure why that is, maybe i think that doing martial arts is more than a social event, and shouldn't be treated the same as other activities like that. Then again, i've seen myself, in my current training, being more social with fellow club members. Suppose it's fine so long as you can keep proper focus and attention while training.
Getting married, though... I have a couple other friends getting married, and know others who have not that long ago. It's rather strange to me, so far away from the reality of my life. I can't really see settling down, with another person, with thoughts of forever because i can't even settle down with myself for very long. And let's not even start about another person. Guess i would rather be stuck at this end of the spectrum than having been married with a child in high school. That surely would be a lot more life altering than just being lonely. Oh well, i'm not dead yet, so there's still time.
That's about all for now. Think i'll tuck off to bed early tonight and see if that helps this bit of a sore throat and whatnot. Hopefully it's just the weather and recouping from biking so much further this weekend than usual. Or maybe it's something and i'll be able to take a couple days off work. That wouldn't be so bad. Certainly enjoyed last friday when i did. Stupid work.
This last weekend i spent my days biking to and from georgetown taking a little two day course on mig welding for sculpture and whatnot. That was pretty fun and fairly informative. I made some decorative brackets to hold a shelf on the second, project day and will put some pictures of those up in my gallery's misc section eventually. I think i might put the shelf in below my window and put some plants on it, once i get my room all cleaned up again.
I think it's been since i last wrote here, that i moved from the basement to one of the upstairs rooms here at the bcc. That's been pretty exciting, having normal walls, and big ol' windows facing out over downtown. The light in the morning is really helping me wake up and face the day, especially on workdays when i'd much rather just roll over and not think about commuting and sitting in the office. Stupid work, but that's just another 2 months, and then i'm gone.
Gone on the trip, and i'm getting so excited about that these days. I've been to rei too many times and have spent some ridiculous amount of money acquiring a full set of camping equipment that should, hopefully, last and work and be just what i need for this trip and any others i want to take for years to come. So now i have a good tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, cookset, stove, all that good stuff. I still gotta figure out what front rack and panniers to get, and then start packing things up and seeing what i'm forgetting. I know i'll miss something and have to pick it up in portland or wherever as i go along. Just last weekend i thought of how i should carry some extra bungee cords, straps, rope, stuff like that for fastening things to my bike.
Corrina and i recided to enjoy the nice weekend and bike out to magnolia and loop around the hill. On the way out, we needed to gimick something together to hold the water bottle we were bringing, cause i didn't have a pannier onboard, just my saddlebag. Anyway, the ride was wonderful, including this wonderful park overlooking the sound, downtown, the islands, west seattle, the olympics, it was wonderful. We even saw a pair of bald eagles swooping over elliot bay as we snacked on the bananas and almonds we brought.
Then that evening i went with zane to go see a set of irish music performances, which was also amazing. This was put on at some catholic school further over in wallingford, and was a meeting of the irish pipers association, so many of the performances were on the uillean pipes. This was the first time i'd ever seen the uillean pipes played live, and i can say that it was spectacular. The performers were of the highest class, and the pipes themselves were quite amazing. Such a contraptionish instrument. Then zane and i talked about ideas for creating cascadian nationalistic music, fusing together the traditional roots of our music here and creating something new, modern and political for all of cascadia.
I had an idea for a cascadian flag the other day. Rather than going all fancy with acorns and waves and sunbursts like so many motifs i've seen proposed, we should go much more simple and traditional. It is a flag afterall. In that light, we go with the design adopted by so many revolutionary nations, the tricoloure of france, but with the pattern blue-green-gold, for the ocean, forests and plains of cascadia. I think it would work.
Coming up, this wednesday i'm going to the house in the woods to see caitlin off to vashon with the other housemates at her going away dinner. We've been trying to hang out or do something for a while now, but it never really seems to work well. Not sure why that is, but opportunities are running low now with her leaving off to the farm. Guess i'll have to go take a trip out to vashon and visit. Should be a good bike ride, gotta get the training in, and should be nice to get out of the city for a while.
Then this weekend is the big bcc house cleanup. Excitement, i'll get my closet finally, once we get all the junk out of it. Plus cleanup of the fridge, shed, yard, side of the house. So, sunday evening and monday there'll probably be a giant free pile of stuff available here at the bcc.
Also saturday, in the evening, there's the quarterly club party for aikido. That should be entertaining, going over and hanging out at carter's place. Eat some pizza, talk with folks, drink some beer, watch people play video games. Always good to have the opportunity to socialize with the good aikido peoples.
There's a couple from aikido getting married in almost a month now. That's pretty weird, i think. I've always, since the time i was doing karate as a kid, thought it somewhat taboo to date people you do martial arts with. Not entirely sure why that is, maybe i think that doing martial arts is more than a social event, and shouldn't be treated the same as other activities like that. Then again, i've seen myself, in my current training, being more social with fellow club members. Suppose it's fine so long as you can keep proper focus and attention while training.
Getting married, though... I have a couple other friends getting married, and know others who have not that long ago. It's rather strange to me, so far away from the reality of my life. I can't really see settling down, with another person, with thoughts of forever because i can't even settle down with myself for very long. And let's not even start about another person. Guess i would rather be stuck at this end of the spectrum than having been married with a child in high school. That surely would be a lot more life altering than just being lonely. Oh well, i'm not dead yet, so there's still time.
That's about all for now. Think i'll tuck off to bed early tonight and see if that helps this bit of a sore throat and whatnot. Hopefully it's just the weather and recouping from biking so much further this weekend than usual. Or maybe it's something and i'll be able to take a couple days off work. That wouldn't be so bad. Certainly enjoyed last friday when i did. Stupid work.