Ta Da!

As you can see, I have seen the Pirates III trailer, and now you can too! :-) That, and I'm not totally an idiot when it comes to computers. Almost, but not quite!

My first day as a Profressional Dog GRoomer went well; it started out with a slow morning; they scheduled me two dogs and one cancelled, and then got a little busier with three dogs in the afternoon. Only one of them was a bath and brush, and the others were wiggly!

After that, I had orchestra rehearsal, and didn't get home until after 10 at night. 'Tired' doesn't even begin to explain it. :-/ I slept hard, though, so today I'm ... sort of rested (maybe too rested?) and cleaning and practicing before work at the OG.

I'm trying to decide if I should fix my lunch now or after I get home from work ... tomorrow is right out because I'm up so early to get to work that the prospect of sleeping in vs. making lunch is already a lost battle.

Not much else to report. I'm convinced that Rimsky-Korsokov likes to torture cellists, as Scheherezade is one of the most annoying orchestral pieces I've played in a long time. It's not hard like 'Ooo, that's fast! better practice my fingerings!' but more like 'whoa, that's a lot of string/position changes in a very short time .... and it's fast!'

It'll come, it'll come ... just not easily and not pleasantly! o.O

Stay Frosty!
Caitlin

It's too early.

So I've checked IMDB, and the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency has been unlocked. It is not a movie, as I had previously though, but a television series listed as 'Comedy/Drama/Mystery' by the same guy that did 'The Talented Mr. Ripley'. I have a good feeling about this (even though Mr. Ripley didn't exactly leave me with warm fuzzies, if you know what I mean).

I have an early morning rehearsal for our concert on Sunday, which is why I'm up so early. >_< Never did like mornings. Going to have to get used to them, though, with my new job (eeee, start Tuesday!!). Thankfully though we're getting into spring so 1. It'll be brighter earlier and 2. It'll be warm!!! :-D Nothing like getting up early early in the morning to be dealt an icy slap in the face. gr, me no likey winter!

The writing endeavors have slowed up a bit, with the sudden appearance of hte dreaded Writer's Block. I *know* what I want to write, how I want to edit, where I want things to go, but for some reason all that comes out is crap crap crap. I'm going to try a few things to throw this block out of the way (would normally set the writing aside for a few months or however long it took, but I'm determined here!). I'll be submersing myself in other creative endeavors to jumpstart the juices (knitting, drawing ... I'm currently trying to devise a pattern for knitted Dice Bags, and already have some potential customers) as well as trying to continue to write. I started a bit about some RP characters of mine, little stories to try and budge the block, so we'll see how that goes *grrrr, block!*

Oooo, the sky is already getting lighter! :-) It's matching the flames under my kettle as my hot-cocoa awaits! Talk later!

~Gyda

Yay Movie Goodness To Come!!!

So I am highly anticipating the release of two movies that ... won't happen for a while.

First is The #1 Ladies' Detective Agency, based on the series of the same name by Alexander McCall Smith. I *love* this series! His style of writing is so fresh and descriptive, it's almost like I'm there in Botswana (and in this cold weather that's a double blessing!). The characters are deep and intruiging, especially Mma. Ramotswe. I cannot wait for this movie to be released! For some reason, though, its page on IMDB is locked ... :-(

The second I just found out about today ... apparently Steven Spielberg has been chasing the rights for this and finally got them, and will be releasing the first of hopefully a series in 2009. What is it, you say? Why, The Adventures Of Tin Tin! :-D It's actually a French cartoon, and is very big in Europe, but I remember watching the English-dubbed version when they played it on Nikelodeon. My, how I loved it! It's also a detective story about a young guy -- Tin Tin -- and his dog Snowy (a pure-white Wire-Haired Fox Terrier, by my guess) and the cases they solve as a reporter and trusty canine sidekick. It's on YouTube, if you're curious. :-)

The good news is that by the time they're released, I should be in a stable financial situation enough to see them opening night. *knocks on wood* :-D

world, here I come *gulp*

So I have a little more than a week until I graduate. I have a job all lined up, I'll be calling tomorrow to find out when exactly they want me there. I'm getting really really excited and at the same time really really nervous.

Why does it seem that midnight is the best time dwell on one's insecurities and the greater obstacles of life? Huh.

One of my biggest hangups still is details. I have been trying very very *very* hard to get over this, but it seems to be a deeply rooted part of me that just can't get it. Whether it's just inexperience that I'll overcome with time, or something that will forever hinder me, I don't know at this point, but I'll groom and snip and brush and snip some more FAR longer than I would like until I cannot see or find anything, call the instructor over, and invaribly have something I need to fix. The instructors assure me that I'm fine, I'm being too hard on myself, that experience will change this, but knowing me and my past, I guess I'm not ready to tell myself to 'let it go' quite yet. Tomorrow I'll go in with the singular goal of getting my dogs groomed on time and checked ONCE before they go.

I find I've been gravitating towards my more spiritual side. I've been so lax these past few months, trying just to make it from one day to the next, and now I find myself saying little prayers to the gods and trying to imbue the calmness of Buddhist teachings in my everyday life to help me transition from part time student to full time adult. I have yet to break out my Yoga DVD or do some serious meditation, but it will come. I feel like I'm such a disctractable, flighty person at times and need something to really ground me.

Due to a blast of insight from a weapon known to some as a 'clue gun' I have decided to go back and polish up "Zanadie" for publication before "Alchemist's Child", as it was pointed out that an unknown author would have better luck with a standalone novel than a trilogy. Yeah, I'm a novice, could you tell? ;-) Still going to edit Alechemist, as well as work on the sequal, but for this month (National Novel Editing Month) I'll be putting my focus back on Zanadie.

It's so interesting visiting this work after having set it down for nearly a year, especially when the main character ends up with a rather sizable role in Alchemist. It's wonderful to see how her character changed and matured in the two books, and going back I'm seeing how I can better accentuate this. I've realized that I never gave her an age, so now I have the joy of figuring out timelines (numbers! math! evil!!!).

Kire's zonked out behind me on the chair. She's gotten in the habit of standing ON TOP of the BACK of the chair and putting her feet on my shoulders, and then just standing there, as if reading the laptop computer screen from her perch. Such a cat, except that she's not. :-p My friend described her as a "cat, mixed with a deer, that is somehow a dog". I can't really disagree. I took her to PetSmart today to get food, and she was really well behaved. :-)

Anyway, I think I'm through divulging my demons and angels for the night. Take care, everyone!

~Gyda (and the comatose catdogdeer)