No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on December 17, 2011

And all through the town were people bustling up and down.

Well, really the malls which I am planning to avoid at this point since we are up to the crazy part of the season.

Hard to believe in one week I will be at my parents house getting ready to celebrate Christmas with my family. But the reality is setting in as I have to pack today and tomorrow since Peter and Ariel are leaving Monday to go visit Shana. Caroline has school all this week so we have to stay here.

There will be celebrations in various places we frequent. Some I have to make food for, others are providing the food. So I am going to get my bake on.

I have presents to wrap and things to do that need to be done before Monday. I have finished the laundry and now onto the packing.

I’m making a list and checking it twice. Not to figure out who has been naughty or nice but to make sure I have everything I said I was going to do.

Hope y’all are having a good holiday season.

I am grateful for everything that is done up to this point.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 16, 2011

Rephrase, it was a brick yesterday. I got it to work but lost both data and photos. And somewhere along the way, my photo library got lost but I found it. So my address book is kaput among other things I seem to be missing. Then there is the missing 6.5 gigs of memory that went poof halfway through all this which made backing things up even more exciting. I still love my apple products but am not too happy with the last update on various i-Things. (And No, I don’t have Lion. That’s on the list for today and I just hope I have enough room on this computer to put it on. Right now I have 5.45 gigs free and I am hoping to get some more stuff off the hard drive onto the terabyte drive for a little more breathing space.)

Ariel comes back home today so there are a couple of things I need to do to prepare for her arrive and month long stay or at least the weekend since she and Peter are off to Jacksonville on Monday to go to the opening week of Shana and Tim’s theater. They have a blog for it entitled Sun-Ray Cinema. They are opening with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Caroline and I will be heading to Atlanta on the 23rd and will be meeting up with Peter and Ariel there. Caroline’s school is going right to the 23rd and they only get a week off for holiday break along with January 2nd so they are back in school on the 3rd. We have some things planned for the break.

Have I reviewed Tintin? Short un-spoiler version, what a ride. That film had me holding my breath at times. I had to remind myself that it was a cartoon. And if you know your Tintin, there are a lot of loving nods to the original work including a cameo for Herge. Worth seeing on the big screen and in the 3-D which worked longer for me than usual.

Next on the list, Sherlock Holmes. I just hope it lives up to the first one that was quite a fun film. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is on my list too. I also see Alvin and the Chipmunks in my future along with We bought a Zoo.

X-men 2nd Class (not the official title) is starting to be green-lit. They are at least as far as getting a script in line and most of the actors have said that they have talked to the PTB about what they would like to see/do in the film.

Today is a little complicated but it will all work out in the wash. Speaking of, I need to do the laundry today (goes off an adds that onto her list of things to do).

Who thought it would be a smart idea to create a game based on puppy poop? The Doggie Doo commercial just is so off putting.

So list to start with and then mark things off as I do them. First on the list is getting Caroline off to school.

I am grateful for moments to remember.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 13, 2011

One of the fun things about being a crafty person with a lot of different ideas is figuring out how to execute those ideas. And in doing so, one learns a lot of different skills that you end up using on another project.

Now within the next year there are a couple of skills that I want to learn and hone. They are skills that I either know next to nothing about, have the basics, or know how to do but haven’t done it.

The first involved yarn. I have one stitch down for knitting. I can cast on with the best of them but I can’t read the charts and I can’t purl (only knit). So I want to expand what I can knit.

The second involves yarn too, I don’t know how to crochet. And I have a love of those little dolls that everyone is making these days. I have some silly ideas that I would love to execute.

The third involves drawing, which I have to say I have been avoiding. I need to just doodle and draw and mess around with pen and paper and stop comparing my drawing to my professional friends work. I can draw. I have to believe that somewhere in me is the ability to translate what is in my head and put it on paper so others can see it. I got a couple of books that are doodle heavy.

The fourth involves getting my art work out on the net and selling it rather than just showing it. This year proved I can build things that people are willing to buy. I need to stop figuring out what people want and build what I want since those things that I built that were close to my heart are the things that sold.

The fifth involves getting more people to read me on Tuesday for Crafty Tuesday. I would like to have an audience for this. I toyed with having another blog for the crafty things only and I am still on the fence on this.

The sixth involves teaching Caroline the things that I know. She has an interest in it now so I should teach her while she is interested. Also her legs are now long enough that she can use my sewing machine.

The seventh is to get ready for an art show waaay before the art show. So DragonCon prep starts Jan 1st 2012 rather than in July when I turn in the paperwork. I want to have new pieces done for Farpoint and LunaCon rather than rushing to get there.

So there are my goals for the next year in the crafty department.

I am grateful for other crafty people who teach me things.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 12, 2011

I read a New York Times article that points out one of the problems of believing everything on the Internet even with checking. David Carr wrote an article today in the New York Times entitled “When Truth Survives Free Speech.” You can read the article here. I’ll wait for you to read it.

Bloggers as journalists is a very old argument. Some journalists are bloggers but not all bloggers are journalists. Some bloggers have a serious agenda which they push by finding things that fit their point of view. There are bloggers who are trying to be balanced and give both sides of an issue to be examined. Honestly when you get down to it what Ms. Cox did to Mr. Padrick, it is down right scary. She, through manipulation of the Internet, destroyed his reputation to the point that it effected his business and his personal life.

The sad thing is that I have seen this before and more times than I care think about. Maybe not on this scale, but within the realms of fandom I have witnessed people get totally trashed without reason or rationality and later it is found that the evidence against them was fabricated in some way to prove how bad a person they are. That black mark seems to come back years later and haunt them again and they are back to defending themselves again. Some just throw up their hands and walk away from the whole thing. Others stay and fight.

There are people on the Internet that aren’t very happy with me. They would, if you give them a chance, tell you how bad a person I am and how I am a racist, an anti-Semite, homophobic and half a dozen other things that make me the scum of the earth. I know that I am none of the above and the people that know me in person also know the same. But some people have decided that I must be a bad person based upon heresy.

If the Internet is to be believed, Peter is much worse and things that happened 20 years ago still are marched back out and chewed on and sent back. Peter’s advantage is the same as Mr. Carr’s, [quote]Then again, I’ve got some institutional muscle when it comes to how I’m perceived on the Web. [/quote] copyright David Carr 2011 but there are some many out there that don’t. Frankly I don’t think I do at this point so I am careful about my reputation on the Internet since people do google me on occasion for different reasons.

Just something to think about the next time you check someone out on the Internet.

I am grateful for the real people who act responsibly on the Internet.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 11, 2011

Today we are going into New York City to see a screening of Tintin. That’s happening pretty early so after that we plan to do a few things that we try to do every year before Christmas.

First on our list (since the film is at the Ziegfeld) is to go see the tree at Rockefeller center and watch the ice skaters. Seeing the tree is easy. Getting a decent picture with the tree is much harder. Yes, they have managed to make some of positions where you use to go and get your picture taken now “professional” areas where they want you to pay for the privilege of getting a photo.

The windows down 5th avenue which can be a challenge but Caroline is getting taller.

FAO Shwartz is one of the few stores on our list. It is fun to go in and see what they have for sale and the What-Not Muppet section is a must visit for us.

There is something about the hustle and bustle of the holiday season in New York City that is unique to NYC and we plan to go and enjoy it.

I am grateful for Holiday Cheer in NYC.

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