Welcome!

Debbie Ridpath Ohi reads, writes and illustrates for young people.

**PLEASE PARDON THE CONSTRUCTION DUST. My website is in the process of being completely revamped, and my brand new site will be unveiled later in 2021! Stay tuned! ** 

Every once in a while, Debbie shares new art, writing and resources; subscribe below. Browse the archives here.

Instagram Twitter Facebook Youtube
My other social media.

Search DebbieOhi.com

You can also Search Inkygirl.com.

Current Projects

 

 

Search Blatherings

Use this search field to search Blatherings archives, or go back to the Main Blatherings page.

***Please note: You are browsing Debbie's personal blog. For her kidlit/YA writing & illustrating blog, see Inkygirl.com.

You can browse by date or entry title in my Blatherings archives here:

 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - 2010+ (current archives)

Login
I'm Bored Bonus Page
Downloads

Entries from October 1, 2008 - October 31, 2008

Friday
Oct312008

I'm going to be in the Toronto Santa Claus Parade, woohoo!

Goldfish

I got a letter in the mail today saying that my application to participate as a Marcher in The Santa Claus Parade has been accepted. And guess what? I'm going to be a GOLDFISH! Is that cool or what?!?

And no, I have no idea what goldfish have to do with Christmas or Santa or winter. But I don't care. I've always wanted to be in The Santa Claus Parade, yay! I won't find out what my Marching Goldfish costume looks like until I arrive on the morning of the Parade, but supposedly it will fit the measurements I sent them with my application.

THANK YOU to Alison George for passing her Santa Claus application form to me!

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

p.s. Thanks for all the Halloween feedback. I went out and bought some more candy. I'd love to see pics of anyone's pumpkins, decorations, etc. -- feel free to post your URL. I'll take some pics as well.
Friday
Oct312008

Neal Stephenson in Toronto, Halloween candy survey

Neal Stephenson and Mark Askwith at Ryerson Theatre in Toronto

I had no idea that Neal Stephenson writes out his books by hand using a fountain pen. I think my hand would fall off after just a few paragraphs. Anyway, I have a post about the event up on Inkygirl, for those interested.

I'm excited about tonight. It's the first time I'll be handing out candy at Halloween at my own house since I moved to Toronto over 20 years ago. I've put up some Halloween decorations, and I'm stressing out about running out of Halloween candy before the end of the night. Sure, my neighbors said we don't tend to get many trick-or-treaters because of our location, but what if there's a sudden surge of trick-or-treaters this year?

Pumpkin drawing

What if some little toddler dressed up in an oversized Winnie the Pooh costume ends up on my doorstep after I've handed out the last chocolate bar?!? I've been looking over my Halloween stash and doing calculations in my head, trying to figure out how many chocolate bars I should hand out to each child to minimize the chances that I'll be left with a pile of candy at the end of the night but also avoid running out too early.

Halloween loot -- including a TOOTHBRUSH

And that brings me to my Halloween survey. What are you planning to hand out tonight? How much candy do you give to each child? Or are you planning to turn off the lights and just pretend you're not home? Will you be at a Halloween party instead? Or just ignoring the event altogether?

I'll resume my OVFF report soon.
Thursday
Oct302008

OVFF highlights (part 3)

OVFF highlights continued...

Photo by Allison Photo by Allison

Getting to wear my mom's kimono to the banquet. I didn't know how to tie an obi so I sewed one on the night before we left for Columbus, and used VELCRO as a fastener. Velcro isn't exactly traditional, but it worked. I'd like to think Mom would have been amused.

Photo by Walter Photo by Walter

Seanan's demonstration of how a Cone Snail devours its prey. Seanan knows WAY too much about poisonous animals.

Photo by Walter Photo by Walter

Mary Crowell's song, "First Time Out In A Thong."

Watching the crafters in the corner.

Photo by Walter Photo by Walter

Performing Starsoul in open filk with Brooke Lunderville.

Open filk on Sunday afternoon and evening. All the open filks were fun, but I enjoyed Sunday's filk the most. The atmosphere seemed more laid-back. Sunday's afternoon jam was WAY fun -- this is one of my favourite kinds of circles, where everyone's just playing and singing along for the pure fun of it.

Photo by Walter Photo by Walter

Hearing Erica sing Elektra's Song (by Chris Malme).

Hanging out with Erin and Rand in our hotel room. Loved hearing Erin sing. We also got in some serious girltalk.

Photo by Walter Photo by Walter
Sib's improvisation workshop. I was too busy trying to avoid being assassinated to take any photos, sorry.

Photo by Walter Photo by Walter

Singing Magic In The Air to Sue and Tom (part of our wedding present to them earlier in the year) and seeing them make up actions.

Seeing Katy and Steve again. It's been way too long. Loved their concert.

Photo by Phil Mills Photo by Phil Mills

Toyboat's concert, especially watching the star performer above.

Getting my hair braided (a bit of it, anyway) :-).

To be continued...
Thursday
Oct302008

Guest Concerts (OVFF report, Part 2)

Photo by Phil Mills Photo by Phil Mills

My OVFF report continues...

The Guests of Honor at OVFF were Annie and Tim Walker. I first met Tim and Annie when Urban Tapestry were guests at the UK filk convention in 2000 and saw them perform with Phoenix. At OVFF they performed as Wilderwood, accompanied by friends (see Annie's LJ post for details).

Photo by Walter Photo by Walter

I've seen Annie in rocker chick mode before (wild hair, black leather) and loved how much energy she poured into her performance. At OVFF, she was in Wilderwood garb but put just as much enthusiasm and joy into her singing.

Photo by Walter Photo by Walter

My strongest musical memory of Tim was when he performed a hilarious Elvis style song. He plays a huge number of instruments and has a voice that makes a fangirl melt at the knees.

I picked up "Dancing Through The Past," Wilderwood's newest CD. For some reason it won't play on my laptop :-( but I'm going to bug Allison or a Jodi for a recording from theirs so I can feed my Wilderwood fangirl soul.

Photo by Allison Photo by Allison

Becca and Graham Leathers were excellent Toastmasters. Allison, Jodi and I were paying special attention since we're going to be Toastmasters / Filk Waifs for the first time next year at FilKONtario! I loved the interaction between these two during their concert.



So great to see these two again! And Graham's jacket tastes just as good as when I first met him years ago.

Photo by Walter Photo by Walter

Graham has a new CD out, by the way: GRAHAM LEATHERS BEARS ALL. :-D And I also enjoy a CD by Becca's group, Riverfolk, which gets regular play in our home.

Photos by Walter Photos by Walter

Sibylle Machat was the Interfilk Guest this year. I first met Sib when Allison, Jodi and I were guests at Filkcontinental in Germany some years ago, and was immediately drawn to her wonky sense of humor and contradictory extrovert/introvert personality (we have a lot in common that way); we've been friends ever since. Hearing that she was the Interfilk Guest at OVFF was a huge factor in my deciding to attend the convention.

Photo by Walter Photo by Walter

I'll continue my OVFF report soon.

Photo by Walter Photo by Walter

Above: Spot, Jan DiMasi's Ball Python. Jan was the Honored Listener guest at OVFF, and started traveling with Spot a little while back.
Tuesday
Oct282008

Barracuda, music and friends (OVFF - Part 1)

Filk circle at OVFF

I woke up this morning hearing "Barracuda" in my head this morning, and it's the fault of Michelle Dockrey and Jeff Bohnhoff.

But I digress. Got back home from OVFF last night. Allison, Jodi and I had a fantastic time. It's been years since the three of us have attended a convention at which we had zero commitments. Next year, our only filk convention as a group will be FilKONtario and we'll be busy Filk Waifing, so it will likely be at least a couple of years before we'll have a relaxed weekend like this.

Lounging

We took advantage of the situation, therefore, to have a wonderfully low-key few days. I had a huge amount of fun just wandering around the convention catching up with friends I haven't seen in a very long time. I loved the creative atmosphere -- everywhere you looked, there were people writing and playing music, involved in needlecrafts, drawing, and conversations of all sorts.

Sunday filk circle

I opted to leave my heavier camera at home and just take my little point-and-shoot. It was much easier to carry around but wasn't nearly as good as my Rebel for low-light conditions. As a result, I didn't take nearly as many pics as I usually do, but you're bound to see a ton start appearing in Walter's Flickr account eventually, plus many others. I'll be gradually uploading some of my photos to my Flickr account over the next few days.

Toronto group

Part 1 of my personal highlights (I'll cover guest concerts in a future Blathering):

- Stroll with Andrea, outside in the sunlight and fresh air one afternoon.

- Monopolizing Sib while she was taking a brief break from her Interfilk Guest duties.

- Artsytalk with Vixy. We aim to catch up on each other's art goals and progress (but inevitably end up talking about other stuff in our lives as well).

Nerd Ninja Doll wishes he had a mouth

- Erin Bellavia's decadent and totally addictive salty caramel chocolate chip cookies. My Nerd Ninja Doll (see above) was very sad that he didn't have a mouth.

- Listening to the hallway filk circle on Sunday night, especially Mary Crowell and Teresa Powell.

- Ice cream at the North Market. Thanks so much to Jim and Andrea for taking us!

- Seeing Stone Dragons do their first OVFF concert!

Tom and Sue with Nerd Ninja Doll

- Brooke Lunderville's reaction when I gave her a handmade sock monster. I only started making these this past weekend (I made two). I'm not a great hand sewer, so the little guy was sort of lopsided with less than neat stitching. He had also caused me problems because I kept making mistakes as I got distracted while listening to the wonderful concerts, so had to unpick stitches a LOT. But Brooke's obvious delight made it all worth it. :-) Sadly, I forgot to take pics of either of my two sock monsters before I gave them away. The other one went to Sib.

- Breakfast with Larissa. I woke up way too early one morning and went wandering down to the hotel restaurant, hoping to find someone to chat with. Happily, Larissa had woken up even earlier than I did! Great conversation. I love Larissa's frank honesty and benevolent outlook.

- Introducing my Nerd Ninja Doll (made by Ryan Couldrey, see Ninja-Dolls.com) to some of my friends, like Sib:

Sib with a Nerd Ninja Doll

You can see other Nerd Ninja Doll portraits in my Flickr set (I'll be uploading photos over the next few days)/

- Seeing Wild Mercy perform. I'd never seen them perform before, and they were pretty amazing.

- Mini Irish session on Sunday afternoon. Thanks to Mary for starting this. I -so- need to practice before the next one!

- Watching Allison get a haircut, courtesy France.

- Seanan McGuire. I just wanted to pack her up in my suitcase and take her home with me.

- Seeing Andy Eigel take a Pegasus Award for his song, "Uplift." All the nominees in the category were deserving but Andy's wonderful song has been nominated many times before but never won.

Pegasus Awards banquet

- Dinner conversation at the Pegasus Awards banquet. Unlike many weddings where you're seated with people you don't know very well and have to endure smalltalk, conversations at filk conventions are rarely boring. Especially at the table where Walter and I were sitting! Conversation ranged from musical creativity, AI and computer programmed music, copyright issues, Tolkien scandals and Babylon Five. And HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE PUNS from Blind Lemming Chiffon.

Allison, Erin, Walter and Jodi's Legs

Kudos to the concom and the amazing guests for helping to create such a wonderful weekend. I still have to unpack and a ton of catching up to do, so it will likely be a few days before I'm able to post a more detailed con report. Autographedcat has been kind enough to compile a list of OVFF-related entries here.

Meanwhile, though, I had to share the lyrics to an Evil Song written by my friends Vixy and Jeff; apparently Vixy wrote it ages ago and finished it recently with Jeff's help. They sprung it on me at the Dead Dog filk on Sunday night with the help of Maya. It was a brilliant performance, but I'm still going to get my revenge. :-)

Anyway, here are the lyrics....

DEBBIE OHI
Lyrics: Michelle "Vixy" Dockrey and Jeff Bohnhoff
To the tune of "Barracuda"


So this ain't the end - I saw you again today
Chatting in the hallway
Smile like the sun - photos of everyone
    and blogs - her daily logs!

   CHORUS
    You looking oh so harmless and sweet
    I bet you gonna ambush me
    You'll have us down, down, down, down on our knees
    With laughter-- Debbie Ohi

Back at the con, we were all on for Toast
You set your phasers on 'roast'
So right, so wrong, your little song of fame
...and middle names.

    CHORUS
    And if the real facts won't do the trick
    You're gonna make up something quick
    Your little lies, lies, lies, lies, lies are gonna stick
    Oooh, Debbie Ohi

BRIDGE
Let me tell you what she will do
Write down deep dark secrets on you
She'll draw you in her cartoons, too

Her inky heart will never rest
Dark as Swiss chocolate
Don't you mess with this girl-- silly, silly squirrels.

    CHORUS
    And if the real facts won't do the trick
    Nope, she's gonna make up something quick
    She'll make you laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh until you're sick
    Ooooh, Debbie, Debbie, Debbie Ohi

Ohhhhhh, Ohi