Ch-ch-changes and stuff

I blew through the entire month of May without a blog post. As they say in British Parliament, SHAME!

A few updates and changes. My computer died, then got all Lazarus-y and came back to life. I spent maybe two or three weeks computerless, relying on my Droid to help me satiate my email, Facebook and Twitter addictions. Then, one day, I came home and a little voice (GOD???) told me to plug in my computer and "just see what happens." It was a laptop miracle! It started up, the battery charged, and I immediately backed up EVERYTHING onto a portable 500 gig hard drive in case it was just going to be a 10-minute miracle. But so far it is still working ok... I mean, the period is still missing (am still copying/pasting the ".") and the screen still flickers on occasion, but I've been treating it very gingerly and so far it has responded by staying alive.

Remember how I said I was going to move out of my current place? Yeah, that's not so much happening anymore, much to the dismay of my neighbor down the hall in #4 who's had his eye on scooting into #3 the moment I turn the key and say goodbye. Oh well, he's pretty cool so hopefully he can wait another year, which is how long I'm staying. Turns out my landlord next door is still in his house too, with the "for sale" sign still out front. It's leaning a little.

Finished up A Grand Night for Singing at Swift Creek Mill Theatre on May 22. What a fun show! And great people. Such a pleasure. I hope I get a chance to work with some or all of them again.

[Gotta pause here to give Franklin some attentxssaz[ko7yt65 <-- he says "hi"]

Went to MN for a couple weekends in May, the first was for my godson Adam's baptism (still working on uploading all the pics but here are a few; the third is Adam with his parents, Eric & Melissa).

Robbie came with me for the second trip over Memorial Day to visit some family & friends. Got to see my friends Maureen & Mac who were up from Phoenix and my Grandma Katie who has moved to an assisted living facility. She'll be 90 in September.

The highlight of June so far has been my brand new air conditioner that Robbie so graciously installed for me. While I am willingly putting off central air for another year, at least I now have an AC that works properly. And has a remote control.

I have a few drawing and glass projects that I want to get underway... the latest glass creation was stylized initials for Adam. I really want to try to create some pieces based on the Motawi tiles (see earlier blog post). I need to get going on a drawing for a person who won it in last year's Fairy Tale Ball silent auction and contacted me last month to tell me she was the winner. Better late than never! She wants a portrait drawn of her two Sheltie dogs, which will be fun. I've never drawn a dog(s) before.

Finally, a little humor captured on the way to visit Robbie's family in Gloucester last weekend:

Happy "almost" Summer!

Random miscellany

Nothing much to write about but feeling the urge to write. Trying to keep as still as possible directly under the ceiling fan which is on high because I'm resisting the urge to turn on the A/C in the FIRST WEEK OF APRIL. Oh, Richmond.

Does anyone else think the pollen is out of control this spring?? My red car is now a kind of yellow color. And my nose and eyes are a kind of red color. Kind of like that red bar in the graph to the left -- if you can't read it, today Richmond's pollen count was at an 11.4 on a 12 point scale. AHHH-CHOOOO Looks like we might get a little relief tomorrow.

The period key on my laptop keyboard came off a few weeks ago. For awhile I was able to press the little raised plastic thingy and it would work. It doesn't anymore. So how am I typing all these "." you ask? I copy and paste them each time. I'm kind of getting used to it. Also, my laptop is having an issue with its power source. This same problem happened about a year and a half ago. It got to the point where the A/C (different A/C) connection that the cord plugs into in the back of the computer somehow got separated from the motherboard (or something) and subsequently wouldn't charge the battery. A year and a half ago my computer was still under warranty so the nice Dell repairman came to my home to fix it.  The computer is no longer under warranty, and I'm having the same problem. It's kind of a slow computer death. Wiggling the cord helps for awhile, but eventually the motherboard connection will break completely, then the screen will go dim, then completely dark (cue Chopin's Funeral March). The hard drive is also nearing capacity, not to mention laboring to work, and the poor thing takes about 10 minutes just to start up. All this is to say that, while she's given me a good run (got 'er in aught-6), it's time to start shopping for a new laptop.

I am also shopping for a new home. My landlords next door have put their house (at left) up for sale because they are moving to the West End (in my landlord's words, "the land of plastic menus and nightmares of Cheesecake Factory") so their son can go to a good middle school. They don't really want to move there but are doing so because of their son's education. What a shame that they have to leave the city for that to happen. So, since I've been saying for awhile now that I want a bigger place, I put in my notice that I will be vacating in a few months. I really have enjoyed living in my charming little 1BR Fan apartment. But it's time to move on up (probably not to the East side though... hoping for the Museum District).

I'm flying to Minnesota in a few weeks for my best friend's son's baptism. I've been asked to be his godmother. I'm a newbie in this role so I hope I don't screw up. I'm really looking forward to meeting him. He was born about 6 weeks early and is now a handsome little heartbreaker.

A Grand Night for Singing at Swift Creek Mill is going splendidly. I have contemplated renting a harp of my own so that I can keep my fingers nimble over the summer until rehearsals start for Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming... and maybe get a wedding gig or two while I'm at it. A decent lever harp rental (like the Lyon & Healy Ogden model at right) from Virginia Harp Center is under $100/mo.

Hm..... a new computer, a new place to live, a godson, a harp, and a pay cut at work. This will be an interesting next few weeks!