hermit mode

Mark and Rand at GAfilk.


Heading back into normal work schedule now, and I will be making my fiction writing a priority this year. Some side-effects:

I won't be Blathering as often.

I plan to force myself to go into a kind of hermit mode. I will be ignoring the phone while I am writing. I will be gradually weaning myself off the habit of -always- being online. Nonfiction writing gives me the excuse to always leave my Web browser open ("It's for research, you know!") and checking mail every 10 minutes. I was becoming interrupt-driven, not a good environment for a writer of any kind.

I won't be posting or reading in Livejournal except for rare occasions. It doesn't mean I don't care about my friends; it means that I am going to opt for other types of contact that won't require typing or mouse-clicking (phonecalls, online voice chats, talking at conventions, visits).

If you have important life information to share, I will only find out if you tell me yourself (even in a group e-mail), or if I hear it from someone else.

I will still be checking e-mail, of course, but have given up on in-depth e-mail conversations until my arms are better. I realize that I will be drifting away from "the loop" and likely miss out on all kinds of fun, but my writing career has to take priority; if I end up flaming out in a deluge of rejection letters and have to look for other work, I need to know that at least I gave it everything I had.

Wish me luck. :-)



Christo and Adam at GAfilk.




Amanda and Zoe.

January 2004 comments: Read | Post | LJ

gafilk (part 3)

Me and Erica and Jodi. Photo by Terence.


More info about Andrea's and Tom's new baby:
Matthew Corwyn Dale Algeo
Weight: 7 lb, 7 oz
Length: 21 inches

Congratulations, Andrea and Tom and Nicholas!

GAfilk personal highlights continued...



Bill Sutton.


- Seeing Carla Ulbrich again.

- Being there when Rand introduced Joe G. to Scott Snyder, and the ensuing guitarfest.

- Hearing Scott Snyder do "Media Momma", one of my personal favorites.



Christo.


- Watching Gary Ehrlich's face as I gradually approached him in the open filk circle, flute poised over my shoulder like a club, as he sang a New Arms For Debbie-O. :-)

- Chatting with Amanda Snyder at the Suttons' while the others were working or shopping.



Scott Snyder.


- Kisses from Zoë.

- Hall chat with Gretchen and Bill Roper.

- Hearing Becca Allen sing anything.



Menu from The Waffle House (I had never been
to a Waffle House before).


- Seeing Rand drop his pants for Interfilk (photo from Terence's GAfilk photo collection).

- Adam as an Interfilk wench.



Howie and Bill during the closing ceremonies


- Bill Sutton in his black cowboy hat, leather jacket and shades. Wish I had thought to take a picture. :-(

- Dancing at the Saturday night banquet. Seeing Chris Conway leap into action on the dance floor when they started playing "The Alien Jellyfish Song." I don't know how to dance and don't usually do it in public, but I couldn't resist because of the wonderful music and the people who were there. :-)



Interfilk quilt.


- The Interfilk auction, always entertaining and inspiring.

- Second breakfast with Rob, Larissa and Heather.

- Finding out that Andrea Dale's water had broken during my last day in Marietta (Amanda saw it on LJ). Much excitement!



Joe Raftery.


I loved the fact that programming did not start until noon. This served two purposes, as far as I was concerned: it gave me the option to sleep in if I wanted without fear of missing anything, and also the option of more hanging out time if I woke up early anyway (which was usually the case).



Persis, Terence and Erica.


LOVED the relaxacon atmosphere of the convention. Sometimes I attended the programming, sometimes I lounged about with friends... there was never any pressure to do either.

One of my favorite activities during the convention was to wander through the hallways, stopping by various pockets of conversation, dropping by different filkrooms and listening for a song or two before moving on. You really get a sense of the whole convention that way: the people, the music, the atmosphere.



The Suttons' cat, Furball


Can't wait until next January. :-)

For those who missed them, here are some GAfilk Blathering entries that I've already posted:

/archives/002265.html
/archives/002266.html



Mary teaches Rand and Adam (and the rest of the
audience) some yoga moves.

January 2004 comments: Read | Post | LJ

gafilk (part 2)

Chris Conway.


Second post today (here is the first)...

Here are Terence's GAfilk photos.

Here are a few more of my personal highlights from GAFilk:

- Walking into a filk room and having Mary Bertke yell "GET OUT!!!!" at me. Turns out she was doing a version of The Lady and was feeling a bit nervous about me hearing it. :-D I loved her version. (Mary's comments)

- Learning about Scotch from Mark Osier and Steve Simmons.

- Hearing Blake Hodgetts do his Star Trek title song.

- Seeing Chris Conway ("christo" on Blatherchat) again. What an absolutely wonderful, talented, funny, interesting guy. Got a kalimba lesson, thoroughly enjoyed playing the flute on "Alien Jellyfish" during his concert. Chris was an early riser like me, so we ended up having breakfast together several times.



Jodi and Chris.


- Dinner with Daniel Glasser on Thursday night; Daniel was the first person I ran into when I arrived in Atlanta. It was nice to have the chance for some quiet conversation before the convention officially began.

- Photographing Ellen Weingart.

- Chatting with Brenda Sutton in the car on the way to their house.

- Meeting Robert Aspirin (author of Myth Adventure series, co-editor of Thieves World series, otherstuff). We were recruited for the "My Filk" panel game show together; the other person on our team was David Brim. Our team sucked at the game but we had fun. My most embarrassing moment: not being able to remember the first line of "The Lady". :-D



Dave & Rika.


- Adam English's reaction when Emily Raftery and Marilisa Valtazanou performed Emily's song about distressed zebras in the open filk circle.

- Chatting with Emily in the hotel lobby near the end of the convention.

- Seeing Bill Sutton play flute.

- Finally getting to meet/hear Mich Sampson. Incredibly talented woman, love her sense of humor. Got to hang out a bit with her, Marilisa and David after at the Suttons, which was fun.



Adam and Rand.


- Lunch with Terence Chua on Sunday. He reminds me a lot of my husband in the morning in that it takes him a bit to wake up. :-) Really enjoyed our conversation.

- Mary Crowell's red dog slippers! Wonderful to see Mary again; what an incredibly talented individual. I got a kick out of seeing her teach yoga moves to Rand and Adam onstage. :-)

- Poetry from Dave Alway.

- Chatting with Bill Sutton in the car on the way to the hotel pick up Mich, Marilisa and David.



Terence wearing his "What the heck are you doing taking a picture
of me just after I woke up and do Allison and Jodi have to put up
with this too" expression.


- Being in listener mode enabled me to wander from filkroom to filkroom with feeling any pressure to perform. I opted to leave my flute in the hotel room because my arms were a bit sore.

- Brief chat with Cat Faber on Monday morning. Really want to have a longer conversation sometime.

- Small filk on Sunday night, especially sitting near the center of the room during jazz improvisation sessions.



Trace, Brenda and Howie.


- Watching Adam English do a sketch of 2-year-old Zoe Snyder.

- Wearing Gwen Knighton's hand-knit slippers that I won in the Interfilk auction.

- Seeing Dave Rood play trumpet. This guy doesn't just play the trumpet; he coaxes it, caresses it into producing the most amaaazing music. (is it getting hot in here or what?)



Gary and Sheryl.


- Massages! For the record, I don't like getting massages at cons from people I don't know or aren't very comfortable with. I have found that hand/arm massages from friends, however, help a great deal re: coping with tendinitis soreness. So many thanks to Melissa, Rand, Howie, Jan, and Rob for their help on the weekend! :-)

- Hanging out with Erica Neely for an hour or two one afternoon, just chatting in her hotel room.

- Callie Hills and her bass flute addition to "The Lady" as performed by Daniel and Melissa Glasser.

- Hanging out with Mark Osier. It's been a long while since I've seen him at a filk convention.



Rand in a suit!


- Getting a dance lesson from Mark Osier and Amanda Snyder at the banquet.

- Jodi and the GAfilk House Band. Holy cow, were they ever good! I know that Jodi enjoys working with Urban Tapestry, but I also know how much she misses doing jazzstuff. I was bursting with pride and admiration, watching her do her stuff with Blaise, Dave, Brian(?) and Mary.

- The version of "Sex and Chocolate" that the above did at the banquet and in one of the smaller open filks on Sunday night.



Mary braiding Melissa's hair.


- Candy from Maya! :-) Very cool candy-coated chocolate with different flavors of candy coating, made by the Jelly Belly people.

- Seeing my friend Rand. Don't get to see him nearly enough because of our schedules, and even though he was understandably busy with Interfilk guest duties, we did manage to hang out a bit.

- Visiting at the Suttons after the convention. Brenda's chili. Walk with Amanda and Zoe. Discovering The Wiggles.

( to be continued...)



Emily and me.

January 2004 comments: Read | Post | LJ

home

Last night's weather: snowstorm and -21 degrees.


Congratulations to Andrea and Tom on the birth of their son Matthew Corwyn (7 lb 7 oz) yesterday! I was still on the plane when he was born so wasn't home when Tom called.

I got home from Atlanta last night... what a temperature change! The day before I was out running in the Suttons' neighborhood wearing a T-shirt and track pants. Arrived home to find a snowstorm and airport shuttles running 2 1/2 hours late.

Waited outside in the cold for the bus for a while. When the shuttle finally arrived, some people waiting in line (and not waiting in line) shoved their way to the front in a panic... I started out as 6th in line when I first lined up, but the bus filled up completely before I got to the front. When I asked when the next shuttle would arrive, I was told it might be a couple of hours. Called Jeff again and updated him on the situation; he offered to come pick me up, and I decided to go back inside and have dinner at the airport while I waited.

Home now, but still need to unpack, catch up on work and a week's worth of e-mail. More on GAFilk later, but let me say I had a *fantastic* time, both during and after the convention; I have already signed up for next year. Really missed Allison this past weekend, though. :-(

Many thanks to the GAFilk concom, and to the Suttons for their wonderful hospitality.

More later, but here are a few photos for now:



Jodi and the GAfilk House Band, who were amazing
at the Saturday night banquet. LOVED seeing Jodi singing jazz,
her natural element.




Mark Osier in a hall filk on the last day of the convention.




Rand and Adam singing the Hockey Monkey Song
at the closing ceremonies.




Me with some of the Brits (David, Mich, Marilisa),
the Snyders, and Bill Sutton in front of the Suttons' house.

January 2004 comments: Read | Post | LJ

leaving for GAFilk

Leaving for GAFilk today; I plan to arrive ridiculously early at the airport in case there are long lines going into U.S. Customs and Immigration. I've decided to leave Calvin (my laptop) at home, but may post occasionally via other people's Internet access and Guest Blatherers. :-)

Have a good weekend, everyone!