Apparently, iCloud is going away. I have been asked nicely many times by my Wesley if I would please organize my files on my computer so they can be backed up to dropbox.

Most of my documents to have their organized folders. The issue is always of course, my music files. Because of iTunes and because people send me them multiple times, I do have duplicates, probably triplicates and quadruplicates too.

I also have to organize my convention repertoire. Sometimes I like to group my accompaniment music by convention and sometimes I like to group it by person. Waily waily waily! I'm hoping to figure this out before Balticon. If not I'll still have my Balticon music. Sadly I'll have to take some of it as paper. I've quite grown to like how easy it is to take my collection around with me on the iPad. It saves about 7 pounds on luggage weight.

In other news: for those of you going to Balticon I will have Play It With Moxie Live! CDs with me as well as my Courting My Muse solo album. I will not (alas!) have the new Three Weird Sisters album with me--there are some last minute tweaks to mixing and packaging occurring. And my new solo album releases in October. I will also have ribbons: I Ate the Pomegranate!, 'M' is for Magic Missile, and Acolyte of the Machine. (The album is plural 'Acolytes.') I hope to see you at Balticon!

Katie, Betsy, and I play Friday night! Woot!

Love,
Mary

At some point I decided I didn't travel enough in the spring. I felt like I was hibernating somewhere around January and not really waking up again until May. As the title indicates, I no longer feel that way. With a few rare exceptions, I enjoy every trip: convention, house filk, recording sessions, etc. But, there are also conferences I attend as part of a teaching organization I enjoy being a part of. Sometimes there's a gig or two I agreed to do back when the schedule seemed more spacious. Put them in the schedule and suddenly there are no free weekends until mid May.

There is a part of my mind that nags the rest of me when I try to steal a moment of relaxation or piano practice. It hisses, "How dare you have fun when you told thus and such you would do this for them! Didn't you see their email the other day?" And I realize, I am really starting to active dislike this little killjoy voice. So I am essentially mad at myself. Mad because I am not more organized, more productive, better at saying 'no,' mad when I read, mad when I don't, mad when I update my journal, mad when I have 'neglected' it etc. Mad at myself for being such a drag to hang out with in my head.

I've always been crappy at fully embracing relaxation. Shivasana in yoga is challenging for me. And I really can't go completely into a focused head space right now. The best I can do is count to four on inhales and exhales for the duration of the time we are supposed to be restoring our minds. It is difficult to be fully present for anything that feels like it's 'just for me.'

I took a walk today, but that wasn't enough. I've got to get back in the gym so I can keep strengthening my chest muscles. I could have fit it in my schedule, but when the nagging voice started, I just shut it down quietly and said, "I will sit down and read essays from This I Believe instead.

*sigh* Alright. I've written enough. Back to work.

Wow! I hit the gym for the first time since Consonance. But, this time I hit it with a plan in mind. I exercise regularly: walking, hatha yoga, yin yoga, YourShape workouts on XBox. These things have been integrated securely into my daily routines since I realized how puny I was getting 9-10 months ago.

But, I didn't do the one thing I really needed to--build chest muscles.

Last summer, I wanted to get back in shape, so I started swimming at our neighborhood pool with Simon. One evening we came back, and my shoulder began to hurt worse and worse. I was really afraid it was a rotator cuff injury, because the pain was a bit like that. But, the shoulder part got better quickly. The pain in the muscles on the left side of my chest didn't. I started back to yoga class, and eventually asked my instructor about it. I just couldn't do chaturangas anymore. It wasn't a matter of weak triceps. I was crumpling to the mat before they even got a chance to engage.

It turns out my collar bone on the left side was badly out. Putting it back in was rather painful since it had been out for close to a month. This year, it has popped out on a regular basis. I thought that eventually it would heal enough and stop doing that. But, every now and then, I realize it is out again and have to have it realigned.

Wesley pointed out that I need to strengthen my pectoral muscles: bench press, incline, decline, butterflies. These are exercises I did regularly when I worked out in the gym, but are not easily done from home without a workout bench or weights. Weights can be improvised from soup cans if you need to I guess, but you have to be able to lay down on a surface that allows you to get your elbows below your torso. Hence gym.

Anyway, today I went and did that thing! I feel great. I focused on chest exercises and squats/lunges. And I would insert little 5 minute runs on the elliptical trainer in between completions of major sets of exercises.

And I forgot the other reason I love to hit the gym. I don't know if it's the endorphins or what, but I always feel like I stride the world cloaked in power afterward. Yep. Got a little swagger in my step, folks! Raaaaaaaarh!

I am currently being digested by taxes. Actually, my time is being digested by going over charitable donations, deductions, mileage, etc. Bleh. I think I'll get my life back soon. In the meantime, a nice big storm is brewing outside my window.

Love to you all!

Last July I started going back to yoga classes regularly and discovered that I had slowly become decrepit over the last six months of not going regularly. My back was constantly out, and that pulled shoulder actually turned out to be a popped collar bone (not broken) and also constantly came out of alignment.

It occurred to me recently while reaching up to a high shelf for shampoo that my shoulder doesn't hurt when I do that any more. Also, I've figured out why (in addition to a badly made mattress) my back has been going out so much. I was over-compensating for my tendency to externally rotate my hips by internally rotating them every time I lay down to go to sleep at night. (I don't do that anymore.) In general I feel much better, and while there have been the aforementioned epiphanies, most of the well-being has manifest as slow improvements in strength and flexibility over the last 8 months.

My favorite yoga classes are the yin classes. This style of yoga features staying in each pose for a very long period of time during which one is propped up on cushions, blocks, etc. so that the muscles don't tense. You stay there staring at the edge of your endurance. More and and more it feels playful and fun, although initially it felt like staring down into a black precipice which promised great pain.

I'm a little addicted to yin yoga. That's why I hate sitting in chairs when we go to various cons. I love the space at the back of the room where you can still hear all the music, and talk with people but have plenty of room to sit in the floor and do weird contortions. Happy Happy Happy!

But, yin does not build strength or endurance. Or pep. So, I'm walking more and trying to make sure I go to the active yoga classes which used to be my favorites until I gained weight. Arm balances are no fun once you have stacked on 15 pounds. (I've lost 5 of those pounds since Consonance on the Scary Draconian Space Food Diet, but that last 9-10 pounds is taking forever. Forever = longer than two weeks. *grins*)

I think it is also time to regularly go to the gym on Mondays and Friday and actually pump iron. I love working out with free weights when I go out of town. It makes all the difference between snappish insular Mary and soothing yet energetic Mary.

Thank goodness for LONGER DAYS!

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO weirdsister!!!

I may put something more formal (and organized, let's hope!) on my blog but here I'm just brainstorming a bit. So far,I'm planning to go to these conventions:

STEAMFest with Play It With Moxie, April 14, 2012
Balticon 2012, May 25-28, 2012
Chicon 7, August 30-September 3, 2012
OVFF 28, October 26-28, 2012
WindyCon 39, November 9-11, 2012

Don't ask me about 2013 yet, although I have been strongly encouraged to attend Conflikt. (And I'm going to try very hard to make that happen.)

There are others I really want to go back to, but I need to get this CD done and out first. (There's a lot of CD-related traveling happening too.)

I want to return to GenCon, FenCon, and Boskone. I Really want to revisit these conventions, because they were wonderful experiences for me when I attended them years ago. We shall just have to see. Maybe 2013 will be a good year for visiting these. It's a bit of a pipe dream at the moment, but I definitely want to go back to the British filk convention too! Ooh, and Capricon too. (It's in my birthday month. *grins*)

Originally posted by smallship1 at This is nice

I bloggeth!

http://magnusretail.com/blog/2012/03/how%E2%80%99s-that-solo-album-coming-along

Back when I was preparing for Duple Time I went ahead and packed two evening gowns. I've become accustomed to dressing up a bit when I perform. On Friday night for opening ceremonies I was not sure what to wear though. Would I look too hoity-toity if I dressed up? Would I look like I didn't take it seriously enough if I didn't? What would I feel best in?

So, I peeked in at the main concert room and there was a vision and inspiration: realfranklin tall, dark, and handsome in a tuxedo with white gloves on! So, I ran back to my room and changed into a long black dress. One is wise to take dressing cues from Franklin.

He was a debonaire, well-spoken, handsome, and courteous Master of Ceremonies the entire convention. After my yoga class on Saturday, I really appreciated that he let us all know that Talis's concert would start in five minutes. His introductions were flattering, and he let all of us on stage know discreetly when we had about 5 minutes left.

Also, there was the elegantly-presented post-concert cappucino. Twice! And thus Duple Time was saved from a post-apocalyptic blues. You should be very very grateful to your toastmaster. ;-) As long as there are ravens drinking cappucino in the hotel, the empire . . . (Yeah, that sounded better in my head.)

Now I'm at home getting to listen to his CD, Seven of Mine! over and over. :-) Simon and I have especially enjoyed the bonus track at the end, but "Three Ravens" delights and his translation of "Sam's Song" into German is lovely and poignant. I really enjoy his deep resonant singing voice and wish I could have heard more of it at Duple Time. Ah well. I just need to travel more!

Love to you all!
Mary

And if I keep refusing to post to live journal until I've written a con report, I may be a while. I do have some pictures from Duple Time 2012 and the travels in England afterward. I just need to upload those to flickr.

The thing that makes a con report fraught for me, is that somehow in one post you want to do justice to every wonderful person you met, every interaction, every moment, and you won't. So, maybe over the course of a few of them I will. I tend to recall conventions in little bits and bobs. So, I will post a couple of paragraphs now, and then let more emerge in subsequent posts.

First, a big thank you to Keris, who initially invited me to Duple Time 2012, and Hilary and Donna, his family. I would also like to thank Soir, fleetfootmike, bardling, and oreouk who all wore multiple hats including guest in one case and accompanist/harmonists in all all cases. deborah_c, Rick, and vaurien were wizards at the sound board and very much appreciated by everyone who heard or was heard.

I had a right lovely band during my concerts: ladyat, fleetfootmike, and (on Sunday) micktim. They were telepathic, sexy, and virtuosic. My only regret was not getting to jam more with them. I thank them from the bottom of my heart for sharing the stage with me. I much prefer to not have to be there by myself. :-)

I also got to have several long, happy, cozy conversations with the_gwenzilliad. I had very much hoped to get to see her even a little bit, and I'm smiling delightedly as I write this. We not only got to see, talk, and sing with each other at the convention, but also got to tour the Tower together. And Gavin came with! Oh my goodness. He was always a cutie. But quite the handsome young man now. I love you both very much, Gwen. :-) And Consonance is soon! Twice in a year. That rocks.

So, there are so many lovely people that I have met and added to one or more forms or social networks. And I would like to mention them in forthcoming posts. Generally, I want to be better about posting here and writing physical letters. *waves to vixy and Peter Ellis.*

I just converted my entire filk book to a pdf, because The IPad perches pretty nicely on my keyboard stand. That saves 7 pounds in luggage right there! I also made my two Duple Time set lists into pdfs. Le petite filk books!

Hee!

(This was Brenda's idea, by the way. She rocks!)

Hi all,

I am pretty much recovered from GAFilk. What a fantastic convention! I have really enjoyed looking filkerdave's convention pictures as well as eponasr's and spambrian's. A couple of people have sent me videos and video links. Also I have listened to a fair number of recordings. All of this is good, as I generally remember GAFilk later as a series of flashbacks rather than a clearly recalled event.

It was one of the first GAFilks in a long time in which I got to hear most of the guests either in performance or in rehearsal, and one of the first in a long time in which I got to the Saturday and Sunday night filk circles.

We had Moxie rehearsals on New Year's Eve, and both the Wednesday and Thursday before GAFilk. As a result we felt very prepared and able to actually attend and enjoy the convention and excellent company therein!

meltatum didn't get to come to GAFilk this year, but I want to thank her here for the very cool Moxie band buttons she made for us. Thanks, Mel! Some of her and her songwriting partner Dene's wonderful songs were published in the GAFilk songbook. (My sweet husband did an excellent job on layout I think.) I always say it in the editor's corner, but thank you again to everyone who sends in submissions to the songbook. It wouldn't be a songbook without your works. And I appreciate it on a personal level, because it gives me a chance to really study your songs from the inside out.

I thought the convention as a whole ran very smoothly and kudos to the concom and hotel staff for that! We shared the hotel with a biker convention, and there was a lot of mutual curiosity between the two groups. I know the dealer's room made some extra sales, and we might have a new participant or two show up in the future based on conversations in the consuite.

This was honestly the most relaxing relaxacon I've ever attended, and while I mentioned 'recovering' at the beginning of this post, really it's more a matter of shifting gears. (I really liked the GAFilk gear!) It's a very busy late winter full of travel arrangements, set lists, and another CD to release. (Three Weird Sisters: Third Thyme's The Charm, woot!)

I said 'another' because we had our Play It With Moxie CD release party the Friday of GAFilk. It went quite well, and we have now paid for the cost of packaging, duplicating, and royalties. I don't know if you have checked our website, but surrdave and also spambrian have posted not only interviews with band members but general music-related discussion. It has some excellent content. Speaking of which, I owe surrdave some answers to his questions. Jessica, Benny, and Sampson have some things to say to the public! I love my Moxieketeers!

I want to say more and include more specifics, and I will--in another post. Love to all!

Hi all,

I just wanted to check in and let you know I am still in the world -- just not online much. The GAFilk Songbook ritually consumes me every year. I'm doing a couple of Play It With Moxie arrangements too. And then there's Christmas prep and the winter concerts I attend or play in. Whee! It's an interesting time of the year. I hope you are all doing well.

Oh, and here's some coolness! Teresa and I met with Greg to see if we can get the Three Weird Sisters CD done in time for Consonance. It's looking like it's possible, but there's much work to be done. I think I'm actually finished with my vocals and piano, although my "Witch of the Wood" vocals may need a little scrubbing. (Like those notes to gleam *grins*)

Overall, I am excited, optimistic, and willfully avoiding being overwhelmed.

How are you guys doing?

Love,
Mary

This one feels like . . . Celtic Western? The rhythm suggests horses, although there are none to be found in Sekorah Above the Mists (one of Wesley's d&d campaigns.) But, it has a folk feel to the chords. (Maybe it's just Western folk.) [Played it again. Definitely some klezmer there with the 'umm cha-cha um cha' accompaniment.]

The balleto or ballett form has a a 'Hey Nonny No' or "Fa la la' nonsense line in between lines of text that make somewhat more sense. I have not researched this to the nth degree, so please do not quote me. I just remember learning about it in music history class. It's also called a 'Fa-la.' And mine is by no means a text book representative of such. But it's fun!

[Also, I used the special pre tag and put the words in courier, so the chords actually line up.]

( A Balleto for Rupus (a variant Fa-la) )

So, I've tried. I can't be in denial anymore--especially having read so many tributes to Chris. He is really gone. I was really looking forward to getting to see him again at Duple Time in February, and now I never will. After reading Randy's announcement in Facebook, I started googling, hoping it would turn out to be a mistake. It wasn't. While googling I found the Filk Hall of Fame entry for him. It makes an effective eulogy.

I met Chris at my first GAFilk and a couple of them after that. But the last time I saw him was probably in 2005 at Glasgow for World Convention. It was always fun talking with him in person, but I knew him mostly online from live journal. (When Wesley, Simon and I lived down in Mobile during Wesley's residency, live journal was my main form of social interaction with friends. Everyone we knew well lived miles and miles away.) I always loved Keris's live journal comments on my entries and those of others. Someone mentioned his groan-worthy puns. Yes, I was graced with a few of these.

Like Lissa, I got a call from him a couple of years ago mentioning possibly being a guest at UK. I too was very excited--even when it didn't work out for that year. I knew that it was a possibility. It made me work harder and start trying to memorize sets instead of just a song here and there. And then I he contacted me again about 2012. I was so excited, and I am still thrilled. I very much appreciate being invited to go to England and visit across the pond. I just really wanted to see Keris when I got there.

I'm sorry for all of us that did get to meet him, because a wonderful guy is gone from our lives. I'm even sorrier for those who never got to meet him.

Apparently, I never posted this. Go figure. It was written in late April or early May of 2011

( Massacre Anne )

Posty posty posty! I have no idea what I am about to write. But, hey that hasn't stopped me before, so it shouldn't now. Part of the paralysis is caused by thinking of all the substantial updates I need to make. So we'll start with allusions to those.

Firstly, last weekend I had a very productive trip to San Jose where I recorded six tracks of music with mysticfig and got to visit with him, Maya, and meet their amazing and cool youngest child, A. A lovely visit with wonderful people!

I have so many thoughts (good ones) about how much I learned about recording and hearing the difference between the ribbon mic and condenser mic. I am very very very happy with how this album is sounding. I hope to get back out there before March, but my convention and miscellaneous travel schedules are looking pretty full.

( What songs did you record, Mary? )

First, let me make it clear I am not abandoning live journal for a spiffy blog. I've been wanting to have a place where I can geek out about music in a more professional capacity. This journal is eclectic, and it's easily found with a google search and all that. But, it's not supposed to be Just About Music. It's a way of connecting thoughtfully with my friends here. I may crosspost some things from the other journal here, but not everything.

I wanted something that was not all about my private life and quirky long thoughts. (Live journal's for that.)
I wanted something that was more than just "Yo guys! I have a new show at the Local Wossname. Y'all come!" I have reverbnation, twitter, Facebook, and Steampunk Empire for that. In fact if I want to say short, shallow things online or make simple announcements, I am wealthy in potential venues.

But, if I want to post about epiphanies I've had as a result of being a music teacher AND a parent of a 12 year old, I would like to make such a post available on a musician blog. In short (too late for that I guess,) it's a topical blog.

That said, we've moved the archives from my website to this blog, so it may look a bit like the local-show-at-the-Wossname sort of site until I've had a chance to write more essays. So, I've written an entry about scratch tracks to get things rolling. http://magnusretail.com/blog/

Teresa Powell set it up for me. She rocketh mightily!

I took much longer on "Pas De Deux" than I probably should have. But, after I recorded the vocals and piano which only took one or two takes each, I decided there ought to be a celestial descant. It's just that sort of song. Also, in the campaign story, "Pas De Deux" occurs immediately after Moxie is restored by a performance of the existence choir with Mathias conducting. (Moxie played the Machine and gradually got stronger throughout the performance. The Machine giveth and it taketh away and sometimes it giveth again.)

For some idea of what I'm talking about see lyrics here and End of the Campaign Final Installment. (I unlocked the latter post.)

I am very excited about this album. There are so many stories I've wanted to have a record of, and cannot completely do justice to with just a keyboard and vocals. CDs are so much fun, because you get to get conceptual and musical input from others! (Yay Jeff!)