alonewiththemoon: Drumlin Farm Banding Station 2016 (Default)
It seems to be the thing to be doing, so my 2009 in a handful of points:
  • started 2009 with my foot still in pretty wretched shape, but by Feb or March the alcohol injections finally killed off that nerve in the ball of my foot, and slowly I've come to be able to count on my feet to be there for me once again.  I still have some resculpting to do (that's really how it feels, like I am rebuilding the way my ankles and feet work) and I'm still not 100 percent pain free but I'm optimistic that to a large degree I can change what nature and nurture dealt me and have strong functional feet again.
  • lost a fair amount of weight but more importantly gained a lot of strength in my legs and core.  I feel I have a lot more power in my movements now, whether it's dance or yoga or just daily activity.  I like this and I am determined to keep it.  It's hard work but it's rewarding.  On a related note, with the exception of the last two weeks or so, I've been happy with the diet I've created for myself--not diet in the sense of weight loss program, but diet in the sense of well rounded nutrition, food that tastes good and sustains me. 
  • Danced in a variety of different venues, and in the process have been sounding out what is important to me as a dancer in terms of my goals and ideals.  Definitely a work in progress, some lessons are not always so pleasant, but it's part of being an artist.
  • Lost my ferret Ianto, but that was tempered by being so glad that we were able to give him a good loving home in the evening of his life.  He was such a sweet fellow, with his little Ianto prancing walk.  And his loss meant that we were in the right place at the right time to give a home to Edgar, who is quite the endearing character and brings us much joy.  Little Sisiutl has stayed a constant, deepening her bonds with me and welcoming the new guy along with us.
  • Got a Zipcar membership and started driving regularly again, for the first time since 1995 or so.  It's been very freeing and liberating, and nowhere near as scary as I thought it would be.  I've enjoyed driving a variety of different cars through Zipcar, and I've equally enjoyed not having the responsibility of car ownership.
  • Took the kind of plunge I'd been promising myself I would do for *years* and applied for a new job which represented a step up in my career--and got it!  The whole process went so smoothly it was like a dream, and clearly meant to be.  I'm very happy in the new job, while grateful for all that I learned in the old job.  Executive Assistant may not seem like a glamorous or important sort of career, but trust me, all your companies, non-profits, universities, etc would fall down without talented and intelligent people providing structural support.
  • Held Raks Spooki IV--I can't believe it has now happened four times!  I made a leap of faith that the market was still there even in this economy and moved to a larger theatre, and my faith was pretty justified.  Lots of thoughts for how to run next year's!  As always, the variety of creativity and talent on display in the show was humbling to me as the organizer.  I'm very proud to be able to put on this show.
  • Bought an iPod Classic, which seems like a small thing, but I am loving it so it bears mentioning.
  • Set in motion the process of renting regular studio space in a quiet place, something I have been deeply craving for a long time.  The studio is part of a small artists' community and I am excited about the synergy of that as well.
For 2010, I essentially just want to keep on track with the things I've been doing well.  I need to be a little better with keeping up with foot exercises.  I am really looking forward to utilizing that studio time.  We will have our tenth wedding anniversary in 2010.  I want to get out to more concerts, live music of any style that strikes my eclectic fancy.  I definitely want to travel outside of the Boston area for dance workshops more often.  I want to keep learning more about mixology, and get brave enough to start making drinks up, drinks that actually taste good.  In the end, perhaps none of those things are individually that important, but in sum they equal the process of building my life onward and upwards, improving what I can and accommodating what I can't.

Happy New Year, everybody!  May the triumphs and joys of the past year continue to sustain you, and may those you have lost live on as beautiful memories within.
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alonewiththemoon: Drumlin Farm Banding Station 2016 (fruityoatytrio)
Drove to JP and back in the dark rain during rush hour to pick up Sissy's meds. It made me very glad I do not have to drive like that every day. Part of my trip was the route I would take to work if I were to drive to work, and honestly with the traffic I don't think it takes any longer to get there by bus. And it's significantly less frustrating.

My favorite Zipcar Mundorf the Mazda was apparently so seriously injured that he's gone for good :-( But he was replaced with Mallek the Mazda, so that's not too bad. A neat thing about Mallek, apart from having a name that sounds like a Cardassian, is that even when you are driving in automatic, there's an indicator telling you what gear the car is in (it can be driven in either manual or automatic mode). I'm pretty sure Mundorf didn't have that. Seems to me like that might be a good training aid for learning to drive manual, should I be taken with the desire to do so.

Finished watching the Paul Schrader remake of Cat People last night. What a seriously flawed film. It had really luminous moments, but those were usually followed by clunky scenes that made you look for the guy and his two robot friends in the bottom right corner. The leopard autopsy scene is especially hilarious, as the leopard is clearly breathing and occasionally you can see its paws twitching. On the other hand, Nastassja Kinski's natural feline grace is compelling, and she threw herself into the part. It was almost like there were two different movies going on, a serious art film and a bad B movie. Here is a non-shocker from the IMDB page: "By his own admission, director Paul Schrader says that one day he got so stoned on set that he refused to come out of his trailer. A whole day's filming was lost." I hated the ending, with its message of female sexuality is dangerous and animal and will destroy men so man must keep it caged and contained and mute. Feh. I gather the original ends differently, I wonder if it's any better.
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alonewiththemoon: Drumlin Farm Banding Station 2016 (fruityoatytrio)
I drove a Prius ZipCar today (with NPR on the radio, of course), it was pretty sweet!  Not that I have huge experience with lots of cars, but I was impressed by how well it handled.  It's one of the further cars from my house, pushing a mile, but between liking how it felt and the fact that ZipCar charges less per hour for a Prius, I will definitely use it again.  And a mile walk after sitting and driving isn't really a bad thing anyway.

Now off to Norwood for a birthday dinner for my brother in law.  I liked driving but it will be nice to be a passenger again.
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alonewiththemoon: Drumlin Farm Banding Station 2016 (fruityoatytrio)
Today I drove to the Fresh Pond Whole Foods at 5pm, and lived to tell the tale!  I am unstoppable!
;-)
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alonewiththemoon: Drumlin Farm Banding Station 2016 (Default)
I drove!  On the highway, even!  Fast is fun!  I took out my first Zipcar for a spin today, a Nissan Versa named Verdad (yes, they name all their cars).  It was a nice car, and I found that driving really is like riding a bike, you don't forget how to do it.  I feel totally confident in my ability to drive all over the place now.  Yay!

Gloucester is nice.  We spent the afternoon there yesterday.  On the advice of the info center person, we did not go to Dogtown (unspoken subtext on her part:  "we are so sick of having to go rescue lost tourists, please just don't").  However, we did get the contact information for a couple of people who do historical hiking tours of Dogtown, and that sounds pretty awesome.  We'll find out how much it costs and see about getting a small group together later in the summer.  Instead of Dogtown, we went to a couple of local museums to get a feel for what Gloucester is all about.  At the Cape Ann Museum we happened upon an excellent photography exhibit by Charles A. Lowe, who had been a photographer for the Gloucester Daily Times from 1957-1981, when he passed away relatively young.  The exhibit pieces were selected from the year 1975 and were arranged in chronological order, so you could really get a sense of a year in the life of the town.  He was an excellent photographer, clearly somebody who loved the camera for the vertité art it could produce as much as for its recording of history.  Really there was no better way to get a feel for Gloucester.  After that we strolled down to Cape Ann Brewing Company, where we expected to get some pub food and a beer for me.  The beer was successful, a nice doppelbock, food less so as what they had was bags of chips and pizza from a local place.  It was a nice atmosphere though and we conversed with the bartender and one other customer.  All in all, a happy lazy day by the sea.
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