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| 2010-01-09 19:35 |
| One or the other, not both |
| Public |
 ditzy |
| cooking |
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I've always made morphing soups -- soups that change with new ingredients. This New Year's Day. I cooked the traditional collard greens and blackeyed peas (greens for folding money and peas for coins) with cornbread alongside. Yum. When I reheated the peas, I added rice to make Hoppin' John, but it was bland, even with the hambone for added flavor. Tasty, but bland, you know?
Hm. Too late for onions and such, so I added a can of Rotel, and then, Hey! a couple of shakes of Adobo powder I had stashed away.
You all see where this is going, I'm sure. Came home from the Horizon, ready for nice hot soup, and got nice hot soup instead. Tasty, but I think one shake of Adobo would have been just right.
I think my sinuses are permanently opened.
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| 2010-01-09 07:59 |
| Heh |
| Public |
| meme |
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India Foxtrot Yankee Oscar Uniform Charlie Alpha November Uniform November Delta Echo Romeo Sierra Tango Alpha November Delta Tango Hotel India Sierra, Charlie Oscar Papa Yankee Alpha November Delta Papa Alpha Sierra Tango Echo India Tango Tango Oscar Yankee Oscar Uniform Romeo Lima India Victor Echo Juliet Oscar Uniform Romeo November Alpha Lima. 0:) Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Mike Echo Mike Echo.
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| 2009-12-07 21:36 |
| Lots going on |
| Public |
 tired |
| Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus - White Christmas |
| family |
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I've received some lovely snowflake cookie virtual gifts! I'd better post to say, "Thank you ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) rebelliousrose, scatteredlogic, and shiv5468!"
As I mentioned last month, I have been having two computer issues which might or might not be connected -- the laptop is locking and freezing, and my keyboard is flakey, with the cursor jumping all over, to other tabs and windows. As you can understand, this has severely limited my ability to post or write anything (including emails to tech support. Ptui).
I've been busy working my day job, and even though I've had about a month off from Horizon Theatre while we were dark before Santaland Diaries and Madeline's Christmas open this month, I've still been busy at the Shakespeare Tavern with the Christmas Sale Table. Good music performances at GSU and by the Atlanta Youth Symphony.
The big news, however, is that my youngest son got married last week! They wanted it to be "low key" (his words), which meant he didn't want us to tell anyone. At all. This, of course, made for much more conversation once it got out. Silly boy. The ceremony was held at the Shakespeare Tavern, which is gorgeous all decorated for A Christmas Carol. My family came from Birmingham, and his dad was there, and his two main music teachers. His friend played Bach on the cello, and it was just right. One of his friends posted pictures on Flickr, and I've grabbed this to share. I'll put others up once I can brighten them (wish the laptop would co-operate).
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Rick & Isil
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| 2009-10-31 21:46 |
| I've gone to the dark side |
| Public |
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My name is Ann, and I play Zoo on Facebook.
I've been doing a lot of other things since I last posted... looks at Recent Posts, and realizes that I haven't actually posted content since very early this month. Ooops. Let me see (looks in Outlook)...
October, by venue
Shakespeare Tavern
three Shakespeare plays (As You Like It, Richard III, and Macbeth). Usually I work the volunteer sale table, which has been doing very well, thank you. Our best selling items are insult buttons "Thou painted maypole" "Rascally sheep-biter" and "Thou thorny hedgehog", Shakespeare playing cards (one deck is all insults, and the other is themed quotes, and Shakespeare mugs - love quotations, and insults. Notice a continuing theme? Lend Me An Ear, a benefit performance of vintage radio theatre by the three main acting unions (AEA. SAG, and AFTRA), which is one of my favorite events every year. We had experienced capable volunteers, but needed more. Suzanne has noted that for next year.Captains' meeting and potluck. Lots to discuss about starting recycling, and we have to assimilate welcome the new captains. And always, we have food!
And, not in October, but day after tomorrow, is our first Tavern Talk of the season.Horizon Theatre
Box office for three weekend performances of Third (good show, I watched it twice, and brought Rick, Steve, and his girlfriend the second time).
Weekend box office with no show scheduled. Peaceful, but the Little Five Points Halloween parade was that afternoon, and I could hear them assembling in the front parking lot. I can only see the side parking lot, so Woe. Pleasant day, though. Harold, who plays is Crumpet the Elf in Santaland Diaries was there for the parade, Kate, house manager and also props was in to work on props, and assorted other Horizon denizens came in. Horizon is dark until Thanksgiving wekend when Santaland opens, and in mid-December, Madeline's Christmas will start. I'm enjoying the present quiet and downtime, even though I don't get paid if I don't work.Theatrical Outfit
Volunteered for and watched a light, deft, beautifully done production of Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, with five actors playing everyone. The stage was painted with grid lines as if in a globe, and nearly bare otherwise. Furniture, and rolling carts were steamships, and trains, and an elephant with the help of black bustled and hatted stage hands -- cheerful, and witty.The Rialto Attended the Georgia State University Orchestra, who played Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance (the light fun one, not the graduation standard), Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet: Suite No. 2, and Brahms' Symphony No. 4 in E Minor. Rick had the viola solo in the Prokofiev, and I was very proud and pleased.
Red Cross Midtown
One platelet donation -- a triple! They halted the use of electric heating pads for us poor frozen donors, but now they have space heaters, so I was warm, and comfy, and had a very nice nap, thank you.
And, in non-venue news,
My oldest arrived in Iraq for his third tour. They all live in a CHU (which scans nicely for yellow submarine) a containerized housing unit, usually two to a CHU, and he has internet access there, and doesn't have to go stand in line and take turns.
This week, I met with a young woman from Mad Housers, a truly cool group of people who take action to deal with homelessness by building very small shelters out of plywood. No charge to the new resident, and the Mad Housers leave them alone once they're moved in. This is a very informative newspaper article about them, all about the huts, and heating and the legal issues. Good people. http://madhousers.org/ajc20021016.htm The girl who met with me to go look for possible camps near where I work and live had her baby along in a carrier, and is a violinist. We know many of the same people, which amused both of us.
My father would have celebrated his 100th birthday today.
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| 2009-10-10 22:19 |
| "He's getting a bit frisky" |
| Public |
| silly |
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Stephen Fry. Rare parrot. New Zealand. Glee.
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| 2009-10-10 19:17 |
| Calling on the Internet Brain Trust |
| Public |
 curious |
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I'm sure you have all heard of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, that says we all have needs that we want to be fulfilled. First, come the need for food and shelter, air, sleep, sex - the physical needs. Once those are taken care of, we then have safety needs (security of various types), then love and belonging, esteem, and then self-actualization.
Now, way back, I read of another hierarchy, but of ethical, moral, or spiritual growth. I've seen it in religious writing, and also in books about child development. What makes us grow morally? What are the stages? It starts with being "good" for fear of punishment (a child who knows she'll be spanked if she takes a cookie, and moves up through stages of doing right by your family or your group, or nation, or even the world.
I cannot remember the name of this concept, or specific words to Google successfully. Do any of you know what I'm talking about?
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| 2009-10-04 20:35 |
| Continuing full moonness |
| Public |
 good |
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So, I'm upstairs in the office at Horizon, setting up for this afternoon's 5:00 show, everything going smoothly to set up the Will Call box office downstairs at 4:00, and a couple of apprentices sail in wanting to set up house and concessions for the show. They said Kate, the house manager had sent them up for the keys. Odd, she usually has her own. I sent them on their way with keys, and shrugged, figuring they were in early and bored.
A while later, going on 2:30, in comes one of the apprenti with a cell phone, saying "Kate wants to talk to you." Odd again.
Kate: (coldly) Are you upstairs?
Me: (cheerily) Yes, of course.
Kate: (ominously) And what time does the show start?
Me: At 5:00. It's Sunday.
Kate: ... ... ... ^&%#@#$&^)(&_(&*_)^&R%^$#@@
Too many shows, too many days. The Saturday matinee is at 3:00. Sunday is at 5:00.
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| 2009-10-03 10:57 |
| Topic Overload |
| Public |
| awake |
| tavern |
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I have Topic Overload -- a result of only posting once a week. Maybe I should break all these down into distinct posts.
My BossLady and the health care debate
Third at Horizon
Weird night at the Tavern last night. I'll start with this one.
Opened with only one volunteer for the house, one on the door (that was me) and the bar volunteers.
All the bar volunteers were there on time (thank goodness for Amy, Karen, and Larry), so the other volunteer took the house and I took the door (tickets and programs). We were six down from the expected number of volunteers, with a house about 2/3 full.
Another volunteer got in about 15 minutes after House Open, so I greeted her gladly and she went on into the house. All seemed fine, til Debbie (ass't stage manager and seater) bussed a table. What? Volunteers are both at the back wall, standing, not moving about. I waved at them and one came up, complaining that she hadn't been able to get the other one to budge from the back wall and help out. I'd noticed that when the other one had volunteered before, and Debbie said. "Let her tear tickets. If she's going to stand in one place, at least it'll be the right one. " Great idea. I go to the back. "Have you ever worked the door? " "Once" "Well, you're going to again!" I guess she's the anti-JRT. Some are Jack Russell Terriers, and cannot work the door because they cannot stand in one place. She's the opposite.
I had spreadsheet work to do, and didn't watch the show (although it's a lovely meringue fluff As You Like It). Four volunteers arrive two hours late (car overheated in bad traffic) half through Act I, and come into the house from the kitchen. Glad to see them, clean up will be much better. They sneak back in to see the rest of the act.
Next, Laura followed by Debbie come to tell us that a woman and several children went to the kitchen restrooms during the show. What? The curtain speech always, ALWAYS says to go out to the lobby restrooms. Turns out they'd tried to go out to the lobby but the anti-JRT sent them to the kitchen. Argh. Suzanne had to do damage control during intermission.
I had the Sale Table, since we finally had enough to work the house, but no sales. Well, one person bought a bookmark before the show (when we weren't open) and paid the front bar for it.
And those are the weirdnesses I know about.
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| 2009-09-26 07:38 |
| Here he goes again |
| Public |
 indescribable |
| family, iraq |
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Oldest son has left for his third tour in Iraq. It'll be different this time -- he's now an officer and in the Signal Corps, rather than enlisted Infantry, and he'll be on a base, not living in a tent or shipping container, but it's still Iraq.
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| 2009-09-24 18:18 |
| A no-sparklies Meme |
| Public |
 hungry |
| food, meme |
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Here's the deal:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.
The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle Tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush (I think so, at a hole in the wall Turkish restaurant. I point and say "That please")
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters (however you serve them, I'll eat them)
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (separately, not together)
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float (ick - root beer)
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (yes cognac, no cigar please!)
37. Clotted cream tea (clotted cream on scones, not in tea)
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (seems profoundly pointless)
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk (goat cheese?)
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more (not YET)...
46. Fugu (Don't like the odds)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (OMG - Hot doughnuts! sold 'em for fund raisers, too)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (hate special sauce)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini (gin is nasty)
58. Beer above 8% ABV (Mmmm)
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin - this confuses me, Kaolin is something you put in pottery glaze... no?
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (mmmm)
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini (separately, not together)
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (ewwwww)
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor (lobster many times, but not Thermidor)
98. Polenta (and jes' plain ol' Grits, mmmm)
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake
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| 2009-09-22 18:24 |
| Back in the pasta place again |
| Public |
 full |
| Frank Sinatra, still |
| dsl, weather |
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I called BellSouth support (you were on the money, Molly), and they broke the news that the DSL would be out yet another day -- estimated 6 a.m. tomorrow. And the very nice young man told me that since it had been out over 24 hours, that I should call billing and get a credit. Woo.
Chicken Alfredo tonight. Maybe the credit will cover the meals out.
It's pretty outside now - blue sky and a few small puffy clouds.
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| 2009-09-21 18:58 |
| Woe, I say |
| Public |
 grumpy |
| Frank Sinatra |
| weather |
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DSL went out this morning before I went to work, and now Support says it'll be tomorrow afternoon. I'm eating Salmon Florentine (yum) in a restaurant with Wireless, but how will I cope in the morning? W O E.
This has been an amazing amount of rain over the past week, and according to the Weather Service, we had about 10 inches overnight, when we were already in a flooding state. We had another 2 - 5 inches during the day on top of that. I'm lucky that DSL outage is my worst problem. I got to work and the power was off, not to come on until after 11:00. It went out again a little before quitting time. I'm bringing a camp lantern tomorrow, darnit.
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| 2009-09-20 17:30 |
| It is *still* raining! |
| Public |
 nostalgic |
| books |
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Back to a drencher now, instead of drizzling. I've stayed inside all day long, sorting through books and papers. So far, I have two boxes of books that I do not want anymore, and I hope to increase that. My bookshelves (seven units, if I include the built-ins bracketing the fireplace), are filled and overflowing; one layer if hardbound, and two and three layers per shelf if paperback. Some authors I used to read over and over, but haven't picked up in years, and I am Not Interested anymore - easy decision. On the other hand, I have a box full of Agatha Christie, which I haven't re-read in ages, but I still have fond memories. My father and I were the only mystery readers in my family, so many of these are books I gave him through the years, and then when he died, I took them back. Hm. Now that I put it that way, I'll be keeping them. Oo, and I've found authors I'd been wanting to re-read, such as Elizabeth Moon and Barbara Hambly, and now I can get the series books all in order. You cannot begin a reread if you're missing books in the series.
When I moved here,, four and a half years ago, one of my sons had to supervise because I had no more days off and had to work that day. To make matters worse, I had to work two 10 hour days that weekend, and then faire started, and I had no days off until I'd been here three months. I just randomly emptied boxes of books onto the nearest shelf, without any organization, to be able to walk across the floor, and it's been gnawing on me. I like to be able to go directly to a book I want, or to browse with intent knowing what flavor I want, and I haven't been able to do that. I'm not finished, not even nearly, but it's progress.
I need daylight to work in, I seem to be constitutionally incapable of this sort of work in the evenings. Lack of focus? Lack of light? I dunno.
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| 2009-09-16 21:44 |
| How far can you go? |
| Public |
| contemplative |
| rain |
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Elizabeth Moon blogged today about her grown son, who is autistic, wanting to take college classes. Her final sentence, "We’ll never know how far he can go until progress stops," reminded me.
Many years ago at my church there was a grown man who had Down's Syndrome. He had his own apartment, donated to church each week, and was teaching himself American Sign Language. He had a large book with illustrations and explanations that he carried everywhere. And I wondered who had the mental shortcomings. He was teaching himself a new language -- even though he was slow about it, he knew infinitely more of it than Ms High IQ me. So, who had the mental disability?
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Saturday, I went to speruoc's moving sale getting some Renn-type CDs I'd been wanting. She's moving to Kentucky near family -- I'll miss seeign her around the Tavern volunteering. Then, on to work at the Horizon Theatre, where I found Jennifer (the Chief Operating Officer) and her husband trouble-shooting to fix the phone system which had shut down when they installed new computers and hooked them to a wireless network. Just at noon, when the box office officially opened, they'd fixed the problem, and the phone lines started hopping. I had emails and phoned complaints about the problem, and of course, the usual flurry of calls for tickets. By 2:00, we'd sold out (Third by Wendy Wasserstein), and the phones stayed fairly busy, which makes us all happy. After work, over to the Virginia-Highlands Market where a friend (also a Tavern volunteer) had a booth. Got some bluebird photocards, and a cast iron frog wall hook. Forty years of giving some sort of frog to my sister for her birthday or Christmas makes me jump (so to speak) on any new frog I find. A running joke is a lot of work.
Today is the Volunteer Appreciation party at the Shakespeare Tavern, 25th anniversary as a company, and 20th on Peachtree Street. It's a potluck this year (am bringing bean salad as my part) rather than bought food, since we decided to use our earnings to cover the first quarter of recycling at the Tavern. I'll have to leave early to go to the GA State Orchestra concert. Rick has the viola solo in Vaughan Williams' Fantasie on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. After enjoying that, back to the Tavern for As You Like It. Whee!!
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| 2009-09-10 22:14 |
| Awfully funny, and sadly true |
| Public |
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Here is a little song celebrating our position at #37 in the world in healthcare.
We're #37
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| 2009-09-06 14:54 |
| Seduced by images of tidiness |
| Public |
 productive |
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I was swept away by the vision of having everything put away and findable, and just bought a 4 drawer cabinet instead of a 2 drawer. Now it is in my car, and I cannot get it out by myself. Must get someone to come carry it in.
I think this three day weekend of house work might end up with worse clutter (for a while). Drat.
On the bright side, I've moved an old desk my father made for the children when they were small .. well , all right, I didn't move it, Steve and Rick came up and did that for me yesterday. Anyway, the desk is out of the sunroom/office, and in my bedroom. I've moved all the sewing gear into the sunroom area, where the light is good, and now I can use the table in the dining area to actually serve meals on! Having a wireless network is opening up all sorts of possibilities now that I am not limited to the physical site of the DSL line.
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| 2009-09-02 21:07 |
| Remember Wake Up Cat? |
| Public |
| giggly |
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Wake Up Cat is the popular name for Cat-Man-Do a wonderful YouTube. Go! Watch, even if you saw it before. There used to be three videos, but now there are more - Glee!
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| 2009-08-29 21:02 |
| Thinking thoughts |
| Public |
| pensive |
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I seem to have dropped my pattern of weekly posts. I think of all sorts of things I want to talk about and converse with people about while I'm at work, doing something tedious but not engrossing, but when I get home, by the time I fix dinner, scoop the litter box, do laundry and the kitchen. and catch up on LJ and the rest of the Internet, I'm sleepy and it's time for bed. Also, lately there are fewer and fewer posts on LJ, and many of those folks don't comment elsewhere. I don't mean when I friend an author or someone who is a public writer, but it's very annoying when a person initiates friending me and then apparently doesn't read anything I post -- as if they are saying, "We can be friends as long as I am the one making all the decisions about what we talk about." Meh on that. When I friend someone, I saying that I am interested in what they have to say about all sorts of stuff.
This week, my oldest son and his wife were able to come to Atlanta for a couple of nights while he's on block leave before going to Iraq. This is his third tour, and he says he'd really rather see someplace new. He's an officer now, and no longer in the Infantry, so it will be different. We (James, Christie, Stephen, Rick, Isil, and me) got to go out for pizza his first night, they spent the next day with his dad, and then they had lunch with me before he left. A good, if brief visit.
This month, I've spent three nights doing office work at the Tavern, posting and adding volunteer hours in time for the Board meeting and then the Volunteer Appreciation party, which will be Sunday, September 13th, but last night I finally got to see this year's mounting of Reduced Shakespeare. My face hurt I was laughing and smiling so much. It's fluff, but well done fluff. froofie had delivered home grown tomatoes from whyvette, but I was tired and left them behind, so the ASM got them. Wah!! No harm done, since no one knew if I'd be back in less than a week. I'll only get to be at the first half of the party -- Rick has a big solo in the GSU Orchestra concert that afternoon, so I must be there. He'll go off to grad school and wherever they will hire him soon, so I need to listen as often as I can.
Am still trying to decide about going to DragonCon. Lois McMaster Bujold is a guest and I dearly love her books, but it's expensive and crowded. *frets*
Today was a rare quiet day at Horizon. We're dark a couple of weeks before the next show, Third, opens (tempest_gypsy is stage managing it) so the phone was quiet and they'd forgotten to leave a project to work on. Yay! I caught up on podcasts, had a good chat with staff who were in for a bit, and generally soaked up the calm.
Many of you are pagan or atheists, but this is my blog, and it's an essential part of who I am. Tomorrow, I'm going to visit my old church. I live too far away now to be a member and participate, but I miss them. There is a lot of stereotyping about Christians, and suburban churches, and Episcopalians, but this church was one of the most welcoming place I've ever been. Not gushy or full of signing you up, but accepting of people in all their differences and I loved the place. The congregation was about a quarter to a third black; we didn't say African-American because many were from Africa, and others from the Caribbean. It happened naturally and in a matter of fact manner -- we were all Episcopalian, and all lived in the area served by that parish. We had many income levels, and I never felt less of a member because my kids qualified for reduced or free lunches. No one ever snubbed a mother whose kids had atrocious hair cuts or wore inappropriate clothes to church -- they were just glad the kids were there. Same thing when one member was sent to jail for embezzlement (I think), or another family whose son was busted for theft, in both cases the rest of the family were still essential parts of the community. I haven't found that in the intown churches near me. They're all too pale, even though I'm sure they'd welcome people of color. It's just that there are very few. Also, the church I've been attending is much more homogenous in income, even though very diverse in sexual orientation. I feel like the one who makes it diverse, and a small income is something that is often treated as a bad moral choice. Anyhow, I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
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