The other night, Charles and I went looking for a fuse for the heater. The heater crapped out during this cold snap - brilliant! Our first stop was Orchard Supply Hardware. Their stock in fuses and breaker boxes were all in a locked case with a sign that said "All staff must walk breakers to register #1 for purchase." Or something to that effect. Across the aisle was another locked case with various electrical tools like wire strippers and pliers and the same sign. Mind you, none of these were terribly expensive items. When stores lock things up, it usually relates to theft or potential crimes. So the question is, what crimes are being perpetrated with breakers, fuses, and their related tools? Anyone?
Side note: Striking out at OSH, we went to Kragen in search of the elusive 3 amp ATO fuse and ended up buying a variety 40 pack as our only option. If anyone needs an ATO fuse, just holller!
After a couple nights of cranking away on the computer, I finally have pretty much all of my inventory online for your perusal. Check it out at www.steelheadstudio.etsy.com.
Local folks can email or call me to save on shipping and see a friendly face!
Last night at CrossFit, we worked on deadlifts. The amount of weight used in lifting is relative to each person, of course, and sometimes we'll reference bodyweight as in able to lift your own self. Last night we did seven sets of three reps each, adding weight each time. Around the 5th set or so, the coach asked if we were close to bodyweight yet. I asked "Where are we at?" to which he replied 133. I said, "Ha! you're funny. Thanks, though. We'll need another 20 pounds or so for that." I told him that I have deceived many into thinking that I am lighter than I really am.
Moments later, I wished I could have responded somewhat differently as I truly do not care about numbers. I've never owned a scale, and only work with how I feel and how my clothes fit. A societally conditioned response, I guess. That aside, I realized on the drive home that while I may have been 20 pounds lighter 20 years ago, I still wear the same size clothes. How much muscle is 20 pounds? Geez, I must have been a wimp in high school.
I haven't been all that inspired to blog lately. Part of me thinks Facebook is stealing some of that energy away, and, as usual, I'm just busy as all get out. It doesn't mean there isn't the usual mayhem in this brain. Anyway, here goes...
As is often the case with being busy, there is the desire not only for unrestricted time, but for mental space to tackle fun things outside my daily scope including (but not limited to): scrapbooking, arranging music, playing cello, learning the tabla, playing with photography, dancing, and generally living it up. There are so many fun things to do in the world, I don't know how people pick just one or two. I'm a generalist, and society favors the specialist, but that's another post for later. In any case, sometimes the only way I can see digging into something like music arranging (at which I am a novice) is to remove myself from the daily distractions, submerge myself in beautiful environs, and set to it. What's that spell? R-E-T-R-E-A-T.
A week at the beach. A week in the redwoods. A week in the mountains. The other important part? A select handful of like-minded individuals who can all spark off of each other. I spend enough time in my own head, and while I value my quiet time, I also value the dynamics of proximate creative energy. I miss art school, what can I say? I can also see taking a week in some lovely, remote location to dive deeper into disciplines I work at on a daily basis. Nothing to do but T'ai Chi, yoga, and meditation. Sounds like bliss to me.
In addition to being a dreamer, I am also a perennial optimist, which means I think this retreat thing is totally doable. If you're reading and you're salivating over the idea, let's chat.
Now that Steelhead Studio is back in action, I knew I wanted to do a couple of holiday shows this season. The RISD Holiday Art Sale is always fun and I've participated almost every year since its inception. So that show was a given, but I was out of the circuit for any other shows. Fortunately, I know people who know people, and was put in contact with the San Jose Woman's Club, who were holding their third annual Holiday Bazaar.
I had only recently heard of the SJWC and had a chance to visit the space on a previous occasion. I had the same reaction that my friend Jack did: "Who knew this place was here?" It's a beautiful old hall that they are actively restoring. Unfortunately, the show did not get very much foot traffic. However, I did better than I expected...because I know people. And they know people.
I've lived in San Jose for over 10 years, but have mostly kept to myself. I know the neighbors on either side of me, and that's about it. About a year ago, my parents moved to the Naglee Park area (not far from me), and they are all about the neighborhood. They first relate by number: I'm on 13th, or I'm two doors down from the Dahlbergs. There are fire pits, median buddies, camping trips, and soon there will be bocce ball tournaments. So, in that year, the new San Jose residents have met way more neighbors than I have in 10 years.
The San Jose Woman's Club is also in the area - walking distance from either of our houses. I actually felt like part of the greater downtown neighborhood by participating in the show, and also spoke in terms of numbers: I live down on 9th Street. I met people new to me, but not my parents, and pretty much spent the weekend as "Linda's daughter."
I'm very lucky to have such loyal customers, even if they already are friends and family. It's not like they have to buy anything, but they do anyway, and I appreciate it greatly. They also refer their friends and family, and that's pretty much how my business has been for over 15 years. Very few customers are strangers. I remarked to Charles last night that I think it's pretty fun that there's this "club" of people in the know. The cool kids are wearing Steelhead Studio, doncha know. Hee hee.
In other neighborly news, Charles took me to Aqui's for dinner after we closed shop on Sunday, and we ran into a friend from The Choral Project, who happens to share the same birthday as me. Hi Wil!
As a San Jose woman, I may have to investigate this club further. In the meantime, if you're in the San Francisco area on December 6th, you can see me in my other holiday show at Fort Mason with the RISD Alumni. I might know some people there, too.
A couple weekends ago, I had the great fortune to perform with the Star Wars: In Concert production. They hire local talent for the choir, and I know people who know people. We did a Friday evening and Saturday matinee in Sacramento, and two shows on Sunday at the HP Pavilion. What a ride!
Friday, we checked in and got our official performer's badges, met some of the other singers, and waited for our call. With this sort of venture, there's a lot of hurry up and wait. After hitting a few spots in the music, we lined up, and went on stage for our soundcheck. Lots of necks were craning, checking out the enormous set. We filed in and found our spots. Mine was right behind one of the light towers. I could barely see much of anything. Neat! The Maestro checked our entrances, and that was that. More waiting....waiting...then we lined up plenty early, and our stage manager (that's right - ours) led us on. Plenty of nervous energy filled the back of the stage where the choir awaited the drop of the curtain.
Have you ever heard the theme for 20th Century Fox live? Right after the THX theme rumbled us in our seats, the brass and percussion charged ahead to open the show with the familiar fanfare. The crowds were going bonkers already. Then the orchestra went right into the main Star Wars theme, while the audience watched all sorts of newly edited clips on the huge, specially constructed LED screen. After the theme, there were some ominous Darth Vader sounds, then jets of steam/fog at the front of the stage blasted upward, which was also our cue to stand. It was pretty motivating, I have to say. Anthony Daniels (aka C-3PO), the charming narrator, made his entrance and set the story in motion. The choir then sang their little hearts out with the third number, and sat quietly for four more numbers, enjoying the orchestra from right on stage. For the eighth number we were up again, adding texture and color to the whole sound with our dramatic, yet wordless chorus. At one point, our voices all came in on a middle C. On the same downbeat, great plumes of fire jetted from the front of the stage. Fire! Woohoo! We could easily feel the heat from the back, and could only wonder how it felt on the Maestro's podium. Then the Imperial March closed the first half.
We were able to watch the second half of the concert in the audience, and were treated to lots of lasers, on top of everything else. I've always enjoyed this music, but have honestly gained a new appreciation of it from sitting behind the percussion. I could witness the complexity of the score first hand, and see all the detail and care that went into creating it.
Who knew that the triangle part was so important to the Dark Lord's theme song?
Backstage, we had the additional treat of several visits from Anthony Daniels. He was very gracious, posing for group pictures and signing autographs.
Matt brought his very nice light sabers with him, and we ended up goofing off in the parking lot after Friday night's show. With the lighting conditions, we ended up with some really fun pictures. Here are a couple of my favorites:
While in the Sacramento area, a few of us stayed overnight at Britta's parents' place in Roseville. They treated us to a lovely nightcap of cider and scotch, homemade pumpkin cake and shortbread. I slept surprisingly well for being in a bed not my own, and woke to an equally lovely breakfast of homemade muffins and baked eggs. It was quite the Bed & Breakfast experience and we were all grateful for the hospitality to help us through the long weekend.
Here's Juanita, Matt, and me at the HP Pavilion, showing off our badges:
On Sunday, we had about three hours in between shows, and the gang surprised me with a little birthday celebration in front of the Pavilion. Charles lugged a banana cake over and met us there.
Oh, and to cap it off, we all got paid for the Star Wars gig (which put me at a personal record for five jobs at once - heh!) A big thanks to everyone who made this weekend possible!
These things always take longer than I think they should. In any event, after a long stretch of neglect, I have finally updated my webpage: www.steelheadstudio.com. In fact, it's been so long that all sorts of fun new options have become available in the meantime, like Facebook pages and Etsy, on which I opened up a shop.
New studio? Check. New webpage? Check. Online store? Check. Supporting my house husband in the manner to which he's become accustomed? In progress...
I'm slowly getting my studio business back up and running from the move. Part of the plan includes selling on Etsy, for which I already have/will have/half have a PayPal account. Allow me to explain:
I trust my good memory, and my good memory tells me that I set up a PayPal account for Steelhead Studio a long, long time ago. Logically, I would have used what I will call email A for this purpose. This was long ago enough that my passwords were kept in strange and mysterious places to which I no longer have access, so I dutifully followed their procedures to recover said password. One process includes verifying various numbers attached to the account, like phone and address.
Well, none of them matched.
I thought it would be very strange, but possible, that maybe they corresponded to an account that my lovely friend Britta set up for me to assist in my horrible, horrible hospital bill from March of '07 (neatly sidestepping around healthcare discussion, and...ok). Those numbers didn't add up either. I emailed for support and received a very polite, but not terribly helpful response that didn't seem to understand the part about things not matching up. Already did those steps, thanks.
I tried calling and found probably the best automated attendant I've ever dealt with. She seemed to be able to verify who I was, that I had an account, and that there was even money in it!
Still couldn't log in.
I put this on the shelf for a couple of months and moved on to things I could comprehend.
Today, feeling particularly motivated after a fun filled weekend and a three-day work week, I tried calling PayPal again. Again, the autobot worked very well and seemed to acknowledge who I was. I gave my cell number at first and she didn't recognize it. But when I gave the correct phone, she asked if I wanted to add the other number to my account, and asked what kind it was. Pretty impressive, I thought. Anyway, not wanting to be swayed by her charm, I stayed on the line and asked for an agent.
The live person I talked to was just as pleasant as the the autobot (and about as formal). He found info for email A, but instead of being connected to any of my phone numbers, it was connected to The Choral Project, with whom I used to work very closely. Um...OK. Weird. He assured me that I could create a new account using email A and that it would work. Fine. No problem. That's what I'll do.
I went through the steps to create a new account, then entered my bank account number which was already in use by another account WHAT??? I knew it. I knew it! Grr.
Then it occurred to me to try logging in with email B. I was able to follow the steps about matching associated numbers (so nice to see familiar numbers this time) and reset my password. I have no freaking clue why I would have set up an account for studio with email B, but there it was. Oh, and to make it more confusing, the "primary" email for this account is email A. Login with B, but get contacted through A.
Charles and I spent all of Labor Day weekend playing, which is unusual
for us. It felt a lot like a vacation - sleep in a little, but not so
much that you'll miss anything, get breakfast together, and venture out
into the world to see and do things. Aaaahh.
Saturday We started with quick jaunt up to San Francisco to check a martial arts supplier's latest shipment. Charles picked up a long-handled broadsword, then we headed back south towards Woodside. I had heard about Kings Mountain Art Fair for many years from my good friend Sheila, Princess of Power, but this is the first time the space-time continuum was open for my attending. We very much enjoyed strolling through the redwoods, admiring the artwork, and remembering why it would be nice to have money. I think most of you know I'm not really driven by income (why else would I have four jobs by choice, none of which make me rich?) but this was one of those times where I realized it would be really fantastic to be able to support other artists and have unique and beautiful things in our home (and then be forced to upgrade the home to support the unique and beautiful things...see how that works?). Anyway, some of the works we really enjoyed were from Susan Dorf, Jane Kiskaddon, Sharon Spencer, Curtner Art, and Dharma Works, whose work we absolutely must have in ze lobby of our kung fu school...eventually.
The free shuttle got us from our parking spot to the fair, but then we opted for the short hike back to the car when we were done. We had a light dinner at home, then headed over to Unwined to hear our favorite jazz combo, and found some other friends with equally good taste :-). I enjoyed a glass of chocolate infused port, and managed to maintain some decorum in not licking the glass clean.
Sunday We were up and out the door early to take advantage of the Asian Art Museum's first Sunday of the month free admission. Lots of other folks had the same idea, including two tour buses. We took BART up to SF with another couple, and two steps out of the station found the incredibly long line. We were still able to get in to see the Samurai exhibit though, and maybe could've used some of the incredible armor to work our way through the crowds. The exhibit featured over 160 works from the Hosokawa family collection. Everything was in incredible condition. We took a lunch break on the patio in the perfect weather, with very reasonable food. The next hour was spent wandering through Indian, Persian, Thai, and Chinese art, by which time our brains had just about exploded. And that was only the third floor. I would love to go back and spend way more time just on the various Indian deities, maybe with a sketchbook in hand, too. All four of us seemed to move at about the same pace, and were ready to tap out about the same time, which made the whole experience even easier.
We took BART home, barely resisted naps on the way, and were careful not to spill any brains. Our friends dropped us off, and we had a micronap, then headed out with Miss J to see Ponyo, Hayao Miyazaki's latest creation. What an utterly charming and adorable movie! If you're in the mood for something beautiful and refreshing to lift you out of your daily challenges, then check it out.
Monday Today we stayed local, walking downtown to the Tapestry Arts festival. They tried a new layout this year. I'm not sure what to think, but it definitely seemed smaller and I noticed a few regulars missing. No surprise there, times being what they are. We enjoyed our outing nonetheless, then went home to relax, run errands, and gear up for the week.
