20 things I love about Dave Clement

Dave and me. Photo by Beckett Gladney.


Less than a week to FilKONtario, woohoo! Allison, Jodi and I are hosting a Tolkien/fantasy theme circle on Friday night; hope to see some of you there. We are excited about the Urban Tapestry DVD, which will be auctioned off to raise money for the convention.

This DVD contains edited song videos from our concert at The Gathering of The Fellowship in December, a Tolkien convention held in Toronto; the DVD also contains a photo slideshow. Many thanks to John Durno (Allison's husband), who did an amazing job at putting together this project. The DVD will not be for sale, but donated to one or two Interfillk auctions in addition to the auction at FilKONtario.

I'm also very much looking forward to a visit this week from my friend, Dave Clement. A while back, I posted my list of things I love about Allison as well as Jodi. I figure it's about time I posted...




Dave and me playing music a couple of years ago.

20 things I love about Dave Clement

His singing. I love the texture of Dave's voice: warm, chocolately, velvet, wraps around you like a hug. Check out songs like Canadian Lady, Windego or Fisherman's Wharf on this page of sample soundclips, for example (or click here). You can also hear him singing on our first CD on "Sex and Chocolate".

His optimism and benevolence.

His chili. Last time Dave was visiting, he made his famous chili, which Jeff declared to be the best he's ever tasted. Dave has promised to make more this time, and our mouths are already watering.

His generosity.




Chef Dave cooking chili.


His courage. Dave's courage manifests itself in so many ways and situations too numerous to list here. But here's a more direct example: A mugger once made the mistake of attacking Dave and his wife, probably thinking them easy target because of their age and Dave's blindness. The guy didn't count on them fighting back, especially Dave whalin' on him with his white cane. The would-be thief ended up fleeing sans money. :-)

He has a cool house! The Bhigg House is one of my favourite places, a house with personality, rooms with cool names/themes, and wonderful people.

His encouragement of other performers, no matter what their level of talent. See this citation when Dave was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame.

He's a good writer.

His storytelling abilities. Can't wait until his first book comes out...

His appreciation of chocolate.

His ability to connect like-minded people with each other.

His guitar-playing. He's one of those musicians whose instruments seem to become a part of them when they perform.

Not to mention the other instruments he plays, like penny whistle and drums!

He's a steadfast friend and a good shoulder to cry on.

His wholehearted enthusiasm for life. Tom (Dave's music partner in Dandelion Wine), about Dave: "Dave decided to go bowling with us one day. I was quite skeptical about this until he stepped up, threw a strike, and sat back down. This was after I had just thrown a gutter ball. I have never doubted his ability again and he has done everything from riding a bicycle while playing his guitar to shooting pool at an RCMP barracks."

His tact and sensitivity.

His very cool music partner, Tom Jeffers.

His love of folk music.

His love of reading. He and I trade tips on audiobooks.

His hugs. If he could bottle these up and sell them, he would be a zillionaire. And the world would be a much happier place.

If you want to find out more about Dave, check out Dandelion Wine's Web site (managed by the talented Beckett Gladney).

March 2004 comments: Read | Post | LJ

two sentences

A while back, I came across the online journal of Bob Zangas, a Marine reservist who had already served a five-month tour in Iraq when he volunteered to return as a civilian to help train Iraqis in the technology they needed to become journalists. I liked his journal, which had interesting detailed descriptions of his daily life that included his personal thoughts, lots of photos.

While surfing for publishing news yesterday, I was shocked to come across a week-old article containing the following: "Blogger Bob Zangas, 41, Marine Reservist and father of three, has been killed in an ambush outside Baghdad. His funeral is today in Pittsburgh."

People die every day in the news, and I did not know the man. But from reading his online journal, I knew that he played guitar and sang, liked to run, adored soft ice cream, and other small details about him that turned those two sentences into something more personal. According to his sister, Bob was supposed to come home in June.

From Bob's final entry:

"I know it is not my money that I am giving away and I am not interested in receiving thanks. But it points out to the fact that this is a society that is in desperate need of everything. It is like pouring a cup of water out in a dry desert. The water disappears and you are left with the feeling of 'did it do any good?' Sometimes the answer is 'yes.' Sometimes the answer is 'no.' Sometimes you wait for the flower to grow. I donít mean to sound depressed because I am not. I am enjoying this work immensely. It is very gratifyingÖas long as the flowers grow eventually. I have hope that they will."

March 2004 comments: Read | Post | LJ

a day in the life

Jeff, at the cottage on the weekend.
Yes, that's ice.


Today's entry is part of a collaboration for Wordgoddess. Assignment: "A day in the life."

Wasn't exactly sure what to do with this assignment because I haven't really had what I consider to be a "typical day" since I first experienced severe tendinitis a year ago. I have up and down days, a couple of setbacks, and what I do on each weekday depends heavily on the state of my arms. What follows is what I consider to be as close to "typical" as I can get these days.

But back to the assignment...

I wake up at 7:30 a.m. with a vague sort of headache which I figure is one of the side effects of the anti-inflammatories I have been taking for the past few weeks. I gingerly stretch out my right arm a bit; there is a twinge, but nothing major... looks like it's going to be an okay day in terms of pain as long as I'm not stupid. I tend to think of each day having a certain number of "arm points," a budget of potential activity before real pain sets in. As I heal, I get more points to work with. In the beginning, I didn't even have enough to hold a book (which majorly sucked).






First thing I do is take a pill, an anti-inflammatory. I take 400 mg of ibuprofen with food four times a day. Then I'm in my office with my headset on, using ViaVoice to research, write and upload my daily publishing news column for Writersmarket.com, Market Watch (note that you only see a partial column unless you're a subscriber). This can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on how much prep I did the day before and how much has been happening in the publishing world. I've been writing this daily column for over two years now.

Even though I use voice-activated software, inevitably a certain amount of mouse clicking and typing is involved, as well as some frustration. Some days ViaVoice garbles what I am saying more than others. Here is an example of a short ViaVoice session. Because of the manual typing aspect, I have to force myself to take breaks from the keyboard every 20 minutes or so. These days if I'm not careful, the pain gets bad enough that I have to stay off the keyboard the rest of the day to avoid risk of another setback.



View from my home office window this morning.


Today I'm lucky and my Market Watch session seems to go ok. I even update Inkygirl, my weblog for writers. I have some breakfast.

Next, I do my arm exercises. I exercise my left arm using a hammer, rubber band, and a styrofoam ball using techniques shown to me by my physiotherapist with the purpose of strengthening gradually recovering tendons. My right elbow is still recovering from a sprain as well as tendinitis, so I'm limited to some basic stretching exercises. Which hurt.

While I am doing my arm exercises, Jeff comes out of the bedroom, goes to his home office to check e-mail. I finish up and take a shower. When I get dressed, I opt for wearing blue jeans for the first time in a month (woohoo!) instead of track pants, which are easier to pull on and off with one hand. The jeans take some extra effort but no pain and I feel much less baggy. :-)

I make a feeble attempt to catch up on some e-mail. There are 1710 e-mail messages sitting in my Eudora in-box, and this number does not include filtered messages. While I catch up on 10 messages, seven more arrive. It takes mouse clicking to open each message and position the cursor to reply, one of the reasons it's a challenge to keep up.

I leave for my physiotherapy appointment. Jeff has already left to meet with one of his computer consulting clients.



Getting an ultrasound treatment.


One of the physiotherapists gives me an ultrasound treatment. In theory, high-frequency sound waves are vibrating tissues deep inside my arm, creating heat that draws more blood into the tissues, which supposedly helps healing. Once my elbow sprain heals, I will also resume the rest of my physiotherapy treatment for tendinitis, which can include soft tissue massage as well as electrotherapy.



Michal, one of my physiotherapists.


I have lunch at Queen Mother Cafe with my friend Parki. He always orders the ping gai; I sometimes get adventurous and try other menu items, but inevitably end up lusting for ping gai instead.

Back at home, I focus on my fiction writing. This year was supposed to be the year when I got two completed novel manuscripts to my agent, putting my magazine article writing as a lower priority; that was before my ice skating accident. Now I will be ecstatic if I can get *one* novel finished. Trying to do fiction writing with ViaVoice can be agonizing. I desperately yearn for the days when I could type as quickly as I could think, blissfully unaware of the luxury, the freedom.

Today I work on a short story project I am doing with my friend Michelle; this story is for a DAW anthology.
We are still in the planning stages. When my arms start getting tired, I go for a walk. I used to run and go to the gym, but these days can't manage it until my elbow sprain is fully healed.

I do some more work but my arms get tired more quickly; I'm nearly out of "arm points." If I push things now my arms will be worse tomorrow instead of better, so I decide to stay off the keyboard the rest of the day. Reading is OK for a while if I prop the book up on a pillow and turn pages carefully.





I have dinner almost ready when Jeff comes home. My cooking is pretty limited these days because of my inability to easily open jars, chop and slice, stir anything substantial, lift anything heavier than a glass of water, and use a can opener. I rely a lot on frozen convenience foods which can be just stuck in the oven, as well as ready-to-eat salads and pre-chopped vegetables. If I've used up my arm points already at this stage, I can't even manage this; I'm in much pain. If that happens and if Jeff is too tired to cook or it's late, we end up ordering in or eating out.

In the evening, Jeff shows me the photos he took on the weekend when he was at the cottage. I was originally supposed to go, but we decided it was probably best if I stayed home; I had an Urban Tapestry practice with Allison and Jodi instead. The photo at the top of this page was my favorite.

March 2004 comments: Read | Post | LJ

poll: online journals

World's Cutest Urban Tapestry Fan
The Suttons' grandson wearing an Urban Tapestry
" Sushi and High tea" t-shirt. Cuuute! :-)


I've been posting Blatherings for about seven years now. Some years, I've only posted a few times a month, others I've posted daily. I have found the archives useful from time to time when I want to look up information like the date of a particular event, or the name of someone I met once years ago at a convention.

I don't post Everything in my journal, though I'm sure some people assume I do. It surprises me how many people assume that an online journal is an accurate reflection of what goes on in someone's life. It may be the case for some people, but unless the author makes a habit of posting frank and personal updates constantly throughout the day, every day, a lot of life complexity is going to be filtered out.

I've never been a huge fan of overly-detailed journals which focus exclusively on external micro-events (e.g. "I woke up at 6:12 a.m. and I had breakfast and then my cat hacked up a hairball as big as my head and then I cut my toenails and called my friend Sophia and then I read the newspaper..." etc.) unless they are unusually well-written or include interesting descriptions of food. :-)

Then again, it surprises me what some people do post in their journals with the false assumption of privacy. I always assume that anyone I write about will eventually find out what I have written, even if the page is password-protected or a "locked entry" ( here's an example of one Livejournal user whose so-called locked entries were reposted as public entries).

I originally began Blatherings to keep in touch with distant friends, but have since come to prefer more traditional methods for maintaining contact with friends. From my Web statistics and private e-mail messages, it's clear to me that far more people lurk than post comments. Which is fine, of course. I tend to do that as well, these days more because of physical limitations.

I can't claim I post entirely for myself; if that was the case, then why not keep a completely private journal? With an audience in mind, I post for different reasons, including: venting, writing exercise, summarizing an event for my own archives, self-therapy, and creativity inspiration. And sometimes out of curiosity or research for a potential article (I promise not to use any real names or post URLs without permission)... hence the following survey.

Questions for all those who have online journals of one sort or another...

How long have you been posting?
Why did you start your journal?
Are you basically happy with it?
(Is it achieving what you had originally hoped?)

Feel free to answer in your own online journal instead of the message board, but please do post a URL so I can find your entry.

March 2004 comments: Read | Post | Livejournal

booklust

My friend Parki at the cottage.


I've been doing a lot more reading lately.

Read Valley Of The Horses by Jean Auel in two days, also finished Timeline yesterday. Was about to eagerly head off to buy the next book in the Auel series when I realized that if I keep up this reading pace, I'm going to run out of room to store my books as well as spending a lot of money on books I likely will not read more than once.

It was, after all, the desperate need for more office space that motivated me to move huge piles of my books to be packed up and stored; doing this after an evening of repetitive mouse work was what set off my original tendinitis last March. The books I had been moving are still sitting, like guilty vandals, in one corner of our living room because we have no more room in our storage locker. As for the locker, it is already bursting with boxes of books and bike gear and snowshoes and a plethora of perturbing knickknacks. The locker needs a thorough purge, of course, but Jeff has been too busy with work and I haven't had a set of properly working arms for a year.



I took this photo of a cottage sunrise
one misty morning a few years ago.


Storage space is one of the main reasons we may eventually move into a house. We need more bookshelves! I hate throwing out books. Okay, I hate throwing out anything, but especially books. I would make a terrible bookstore owner because every sale would be somewhat traumatic ("arg! you can't take my last copy of Freddy The Detective!"), and it would give me too much of an excuse to accumulate more books.

Anyway, I decided to turn to the Toronto Public Library. I don't use libraries nearly as much as I should, I'm ashamed to say, especially since several of my friends are librarians and my sister designed the Toronto public library card for young patrons. In any case, I've put a bunch of books on hold, including the next two Jean Auel books as well as Wrapt In Crystal by Sharon Shinn (thanks to Lissa for the recommendation!). If I like any of them enough to read more than once, I will buy it.



This photo was taken a few minutes earlier. Amazing how
quickly the light changes, and how completely it
alters the feel of the lake.


More hints re: mystery filker photos from yesterday:

Photo #1: she has been nominated for several Pegasus awards, plays penny whistle and guitar, some harp (possibly other instruments I don't know about).

Photo #2: also a Pegasus nominee, has done just about everything from professional acting to bald eagle research, and he will be at FilKONtario in a couple of weeks.

March 2004 comments: Read | Post | LJ