A new, little black toy....

Well, I did it. I invited an ipod Nano into my life. It has a shiny black coat and tiny as the runt of a litter. It eats very little and sings whenever I request. All my faves too!! If Sarah-dog knew how smitten I have become with my newest pet, she'd be very jealous. So we won't tell her, will we?!?

I tend to go kicking and screaming into new technology. But, I also have learned from experience some (not all) things are just worth the effort and change it takes to incorporate tangible, new fangled items along with a new way of doing things.

The itunes software itself if a dream come true. My olde computer with its retro-fitted cd burner used to takes about a half hour to burn a compilation cd. Even then it only did it successfully about 60% of the time. Tonight, not without some idiotic moments of trying to figure out how to move songs into a burn-list, I got a list together, clicked "burn" and turned aside to get something pressing done. Not 5 minutes later, I turned back and there was my play list on the screen and my cd drive was dormant. I figured I screwed something up badly. To be sure, I closed itunes out, took the disc I tried to copy to out and put it back in. Up came the burn-list again. I still figured it was there on screen from my previous attempt. Even when it started playing song One, I dismissed it as playing it from my hard-drive. There was no way, a cd could have been burned in less than 5 minutes. Before throwing it away, I decided to try sticking it into my Bose for a quick check. There it was! Song one, "Charlemagne's Hometown" by James McMurtry filled the air. Then the White Stripes, "Truth Doesn't Make a Noise" poured out. It was nearly a religious experience, to have such great and sure doubt, then to be reversed to faith.

Last night while staring at an empty music library file, I had to decide what song I would inaugurate 'itunes' with. Just like when I picked Elgar's 'Concerto for Cello' to be my Bose player's first sounds. I picked Tracy Chapman's, "Change." About the next thing I did was purchase Joan Osborne's, "One of Us" and the Trogg's, "Love is All Around." It was so lovely to be thinking about favorite music. Not just favorite cd's, but down to the very best songs. The ones that make me feel energized, or thoughtful, or soothed, or even sad. Cause and effect. I am delighted with this 'favorite' aspect of my Nano along with the size, the shiny-ness and simplicity. It is inviting the very best of something into my life. Something I did not consider till it was in front of me.

When ordering one of these things from Apple, they give you the option of having a 2-line engraving put on the stainless steel-looking back. I paraphrased the last 2 lines of one of my all time favorite poems, William Ernest Henley's, "Invictus." To fit into Apple's limited space, I had to drop the "I am"(s) at the front of each line. This is what is engraved on my new musical toy:

Master of my fate
Captain of my soul

It is impossibly small to contain 1000 songs. I have decided there is some element of magic involved in all this...the same magic that allows jets to get off the ground and light bulbs to turn on :o) There is only so much I am willing to give of myself to technology. The rest will remain wonderous and awe inspiring for me.

I am gobsmacked! Took this picture and Many more equally oooh-inspiring photos on the cold but sunrise intensive weekend morns. I just picked up my 2 rolls of film and am doing a Happy Dance at what I got. p.s. NOT digital. NO enhancements or adjustments made to this photo. Will post more later 

If ya like Opera....

Oh, my goodness! First things first. This is the first time I have figured out how to insert a picture into the text portion of my blog. I still have not figured out how to post a link. Win some. Lose some.

Okay, now for what I really came here for. Last week or so I got an email from the Met highlighting a couple of newly released cd's. The cd to the left (gawd, I hope it is still there when I publish!) was one they were highlighting. I am going to take a leap here and recommend this cd before it ever shows up on my doorstep. Such is my confidence in Ana Maria Martinez and Steven Mercurio to put together a winner. Ana Maria, I believe is now a regular at the Houston Opera. Before that beside starring in operas around the country and Europe, she traveled extensively with Andrea Bocelli as his soprano sidekick. She has a rich and beautiful voice. Not grating like some sopranos can be (to my ears). Steven Mercurio consistenly brings out the best in orchestras and musical arrangements. And he tossed me flowers at Hyde Park, but I digress (hahaha). Given the great talent involved, there is no way this cd could be anything but Very Good. Check it out!

Boldly going where....

Boldly going where this woman has never gone before: I am (sweaty palms and all) going to be switching over from this here original Dell computer of mine from 1998, to my new puter tonight or tomorrow. I've acutally got the new Dell plugged in and fired up (sans internet connect). I am fretting that the set-up internet stuff that I had to SKIP will cause me grief in the future. How will this all turn out? I dunno. I am a genius :o) but not a computer genius. This may be the last anyone hears from me. Ever.

I have software that will take the thoughts of my old friend and put them into my new friend. I will then abandon my old friend like used tissue...not really, it is going to my sister and her family's place. They smoke. Maybe then it will wish it treated me better lately....

I've Got A Hot Date...

I've Got a Hot Date…

on Saturday night. After a couple of months being apart, we have decided to get back together again. I just been too busy to arrange an outing, even though I know it would have been, well, hot. Thing is, if I forget to chlorinate it for a couple of weeks, I start thinking about cooties that might be in there now escaping the dose of chlorine I finally get around to tossing in the water. So that makes me a little reluctant to want to jump in and it becomes even easier to forget about chlorinating because it starts sinking into the background of my 'things to do.' And then so much time goes by, I become sure that there are very angry cooties in there by now. So then changing the water is the priority. But if I am too busy with work, that gets put on hold. We have this vicious circle of a relationship. But, gawd, when it's good, it's very good. When I don't have so much work that decadent, leisurely activities can be part of my life, we sometimes go out 7 days a week. Champagne! Merlot! Sliced oranges!Perrier! and a dreamy blue light that creates an ethereal ambiance on these cold, black winter nights in Alaska. I already know exactly what I am going to wear. The fresh, cold water in there now, will be perfect by 7pm, Saturday. Don't call. I'll be busy! :o)

Work fades into freedom....

I feel like a freed prisoner. The surroundings are identical (I work at home) but the ambiance is another planet. The choice between focusing on a page of numbers and letters and relaying that information from my eyes to my fingers in speeds only humanly possible and now the choice to choose what to look at and do and think and feel with unencumbered parameters. There is always a neutral zone in the shift between being exhausted from weeks of working non-stop (meaning working and going to bed, working and going to bed…) and the stunning change of atmosphere that freedom brings. It is almost like a confusion, an awakening, for so much has to be suppressed during these marathon work sessions in order to turn off the place my thoughts want to fly and where they must stay to get the task done. It is confining, like a prison of the mind along with the prison of being tethered to the computer where I work. But that is the nature of any job that is indeed, a j.o.b.
My mantra is:
"At least I get to work at home and am my own boss."
The other stuff is just details.

I was in the midst of work-a-palooza when the trip to Italy came to fruition. Now, it has floated to the top of my agenda, even sidelining a new computer which sits to my left collecting dust, its mind empty of any of my thoughts of Me, for now. March is just around the corner. And February, I will be palooza-ing with work, yet again.

The plan is to spend the two weeks in Italy with only a carry-on bag, for easy toting on and off trains we are taking to Rome: Venice: Verona: Florence. I have in the past, always packed for about 3 trips for every one trip. It is going to take all of three months to wean myself off that over-packing mindset. Yesterday I bought a super-lightweight, rolling bag. It's burnt-orange. IF I were to buy a groovy Honda Element, it would be this color…Anyways, I am planning my packing way ahead of time. I just ordered some packing helpers from Magellan's; packing cubes I can stuff and then place into my super-light, burnt-orange, roller-bag.

I also got a sturdier new camera bag. Peer pressure and memories of a sore shoulder had me actually considering purchasing a d.i.g.i.t.a.l. camera for this trip. Mine weight about 5lbs. That weight triples after an hour of toting it around. I just can't do it. I can't go digital. I should fill the camera bag with 10lb.weights and start carrying it around with me everywhere I go…

I have dug out my Italian language cd's and travel books. So far I have read that in Florence, the audiences are very vocal, with self-appointed ring leaders of discourse or jubilance expected to be present at various operas and such. We are going to see Bocelli in Puccini's Messa di Gloria for all 3 performances. This is going to be interesting for the audience reaction alone.

Also, it looks like Becs and I are going to be able to attend an opera in Venice's renowned, "La Fenice Teatro." There is a rare (I read online it has never been staged in modern times) Meyerbeer opera happening while we are there.

So, I need to learn Italian, learn to pack light, learn about Meyerbeer's opera, learn more about Florence, Venice (her museums and Murano in particular, for a more enlightened visit this time) and Rome. Verona is olde hat for me :o). I could use the whole 3 months just on the packing thing, so I better get started…