Warhead On Legs

( 日本語 )

( Русский язык )

FUCKING B7 CHORD.

Other than that, Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye is a pretty easy song, really.

Every once in a while I think Sherlock is right, and I want to cock my head at people and ask Dear god, what is it like inside your funny little brains? It must be so boring. Getting into all the myriad sources of this over the last 24 hours would take too long. But really. Is it nice in there? Peaceful, quiet?

As far as yesterday's kerfuffle I have decided that rather than be irritated by someone who doesn't know how to hold himself proper to the pose/stance/movement, I'm just going to use this to remind myself that if I want to kick that much ass, I have to work for it. And be more efficient at my workouts. Hip-drops hip-rolls kicks of various kinds chest and shoulder isolations back straight tailbone tucked soft knees aligned body parts. And just from being irritated over all of this has made me hold myself better, so something positive there. Just because it can be done doesn't mean it should be done casually, improperly, or in a vacuum.

... Although dancing in zero-g would be kind of sweet. I think. There, I cannot say, having never tried to.

It's a bit like me saying no one can bend their fingers proper to a B7 chord, when probably a few hundred guitarists do it every day, just because I haven't practiced properly to do it. Even if it is a fucking annoying chord.

And god knows there are covers and comics and other drawn images of people that defy the laws of nature and create ridiculous expectations in people about their bodies. Those would make great examples for such an article. I would be much happier if people would use them instead.

There was a question in here about the "Canadian shack" explosion I saw all over network and then I decided I was better off not getting involved as far as saying things with words. I did do some reading and some digging, and now I'll be over here working on my now much delayed SPN fic and other stuff.

Also, if you know me and Anna together at all and in any way, go read this. Seriously. This shit is old and tired and people need to stop fucking hurting my friend.

I am crawling under the internet and not coming out for a few days.

( 日本語 )

( Gaeilge )

There. Somewhat more focus today. And it helps to actually switch the keyboard back to English before I attempt to type in English.

Oof. Check-in post today. Somewhat updated my Amazon wish list, at least with a bunch of shinies. Did not attempt to dig up a Tron guitar strap. I do not need a Tron guitar strap, I do not need to already go shopping for backup guitars I can haul around Dragon*Con if I really want to, although the idea of perching outside the Walk of Fame and just noodling on the guitar for anyone who wants to listen is kind of amusing. Especially since it's likely to be either British Isles folk songs or Classic rock, both of which people are likely to recognize and be able to sing along to. Of course, thinking about this right before bed led to the terribly ridiculous thought of what if [X film star here] hears this and starts singing along, at which point I decided I was too silly for wakefulness.

Did manage, after a couple of days of not making my sleep schedule work, to get up and get my damn jumping rope in, along with my dancing. Did not manage my core exercises, so that's something to work on tonight. Slowly getting my schedule slammed back into place again, two steps forward one step back. Not being distracted by Sorcerers on TV is a good thing. And I suppose the rest of this is mostly for check in.

Meme of entertaining still up, somehow I have writing to do again. Two Yuletide stories done, one more to re-read the canon for and then do, and next chapter of Juke Joint Jezebel to finish and post. I have the rest of the SciFi thing that still needs a title to draft up and then send over to my Mixer, I might try and push and get that done in the next day or two. I know how it's going to go, it's only a couple days' worth of scenes anyway. More awkwardly, I have outlines to start laying out for next year's editing push, and that's harder than I want it to be.

C'est la vie. I also have a couple fun ideas for Once Upon A Time fic and so on and so forth, so there's that. I can intersperse work with play. And I'm in a particularly strap on the shitkickers and get to work mood, which isn't a bad thing.

Something I didn't mention last night which might also be the cause of some of the hyper, I ended up crouching over a notebook and my guitar scribbling down tabs for The Unforgiven (Metallica) in hot pink pen last night. Apart from the surreality of Metallica tabs in hot pink pen, there's something uplifting about being able to listen to a song, grump about the tabs being all wrong, and then just write down notes in tablature form to fix it. I haven't fixed it yet, but I'm still working on it. The hard part is trusting that my ear is good enough to be able to at least figure out better tabs. Then again, from what I hear, they could hardly be worse.

( 日本語 )

( Gaeilge )

I so suck at updating my journal regularly these days. Admittedly, regularly for me anymore is three times a day, each with a language lesson, but there you go. And so, I present for y'all's amusement, a conversation from last night between Me and Also Me (played by guitar teacher Amber):

Me: ... these tabs are wrong. Seriously, listen to that. What the hell is that doing. That's not the solo for Unforgiven...
Amber: All right, put it away, do a couple rounds of Wish You Were Here and House of the Rising Sun, just the chord changes, and then you're done.
Me: But these tabs are wrong. Right, chord changes, yeah, I need to work on those.
Amber: You realize you've been playing for almost forty minutes now without your fingers hurting.
Me: Oh, shut up.
Amber: Just saying. Also, you're remembering why you love this. You should remember this more often.
Me: And stop grinning.

So, yeah. And then I went and updated my Amazon Wish List to include some music equipment, effects pedals and a portable amp and tab books and so on. Tab books that, according to some reviews, are horrendously put together, but they're the only tab books available for The Unforgiven and at least it's a start? I can pick it out by ear otherwise. And then Anna also got me the Celtic Fakebook for Yule and I sat and picked around on Star of the County Down and Tha Mi Sgith. Which I have now found a gorgeous version of here and I do not have it on mp3. This must be rectified.

Yuletide stories are uploaded! Or, well, almost uploaded. And I picked up another pinch hit which will require a complete re-read of some very good books. Which makes, um. Three Yuletide stories, which isn't quite the maximum I've done pre-frenzying on the Madness thing, but hey.

I am... for as weird and exhausting a week as it's been, I am surprisingly calm. And bouncy. My musician Also-Mes would like to remind me that this is because music, while not as essential for me as it is for my sister-courtesan, is good for me. Music, I suppose, and being on time with my writing projects, dear god. And having almost finished a knitting project, the boyfiend's arm-warmers, and having had the house problem very much demystified (did I mention how awesome Syn is? Because she is) and generally, for all that this week was crazy, it ended up being good and productive. And I infected someone with Plunkett and Macleane. Mua ha ha ha ha.

I have way, way too much shit to do this weekend. And have revised my to-do list to reflect all the shit I have to do, bolding the stuff I want to get done this weekend. I don't even know if that's all of it, I need to go back through the last week's worth of entries and check in post and see if anything else jogs a memory. I am a freaking busy girl and going slowly insane, but I am also incredibly happy. I figure that's a pretty good trade-off.

( Deutsch )

My head hurts. I just spent the last hour or so thinking in English and Spanish simultaneously. Which was gratifying in the sense that it took me remarkably little time to slip into thinking in Spanish, and all I had to do was double-check some of my vocabulary, but then there was also some trying to translate things into French, which was harder, and argh. And now German. I am so, so out of practice at thinking in two languages at once.

On the other hand, I'm actually somewhat gratified at being out of practice in thinking in two languages at once rather than being out of practice at thinking in/speaking Spanish itself. Which I still am, but I feel much more confident in my ability to get it back. It really is under there, lurking, it's just that I have no occasion to speak it anymore because no one in my at-home household speaks it fluently.

Still need a random languages icon. Oh, and now we're moving to French. Owmybrain.

Argh. Okay, so, some of the chaos has died down at least, but there's still a pile of stuff to do at work and now fewer people do do it, so we're still going nuts. Meanwhile I have multiple languages stuck in my head and while the environment is in English so I probably won't burst out into random other languages at any point, it's still confusing. Ok, no. This does make me feel better about my ability to hold several languages in my head at once.

Something that doesn't involve me babbling about languages. Still have no idea if I'll have internet when I get home or not, and it doesn't look like I'll be able to get much writing done for at least the next couple of hours. This is somewhat dismaying. I guess I'll get a lot of writing done when I get home if that's the case, but still argh. Mostly argh because if we're not going to have internet I'd like to know now so I can get the whole online course thing done while I'm at work. Ugh. Maybe I'll call later today and ask, when the boy might be likely to be up, and when I still have time to do the rest of the first lesson. I am, though, liking the format of this online course thing.

Ooof. Again, for my own edification, things I still need to do: music theory coursework and I got 100% on my quiz, call home about the internet. Walk down to the stationary store and pick up some other color gel pens and I got a nifty notepad case for a legal pad! It is gorgeous and made by local Ashvillains. Scrounge around at work for a bigger binder for all my CS things. Check in, write write write, guitar practice, Japanese, maybe finish the dishes. Make lunch for tomorrow. Frame wife. Blame Guildor. Augh.

( Deutsch )

( 日本語 )

I got headphones today! And Thor. But mostly, headphones! Which means I can practice all the guitar I want, at any hour of the day I want, and not bother anyone! This makes me so happy you guys I cannot even. All your chords are belong to me.

I am deeply, grumpily uncomfortable with the system with which we conduct a death penalty case in this country. I also have enough issues with the justice system as it is in this country to fill at least a 15-page essay, so that is all I have to say about that, here.

Checking in occurred. Why is it not Friday yet, again? Cleaning did not occur on account of having dinner and getting headphones, but it really needs to. At least my radius and my guitar corner needs to migrate somewhere that is not in front of the gaming books. Or the gaming books need to migrate. Something. Maybe I'll re-organize this weekend, since the boy will be out all tomorrow evening. Maybe I'll consult the boy on what he wants to do. I also need to, again pick up the craft room. Which mostly consists of packing up my costume parts, admittedly, since they all just got sort of tossed into the doorway.

I'm too tired to be eloquent tonight. If anyone has a language they want to weigh in on here with the issue of names, polite phrases, and so on, feel free! This is the sort of thing I think about in my spare time, folks. That and Hey, those were the first couple notes of Little Green Bag, I bet I could pick that out on the guitar. Why no, I have no life.

No, wait, fuck that. I have a life. I have a rich and full life in which I hold down a job that helps pay for the rest of it, a budding career as a rock star fairy princess, SEVEN languages running around in my brainpan, a damn good writing career so far and a lot of novels under my belt, and a number of craft related hobbies at which I do not suck. I like my life. Fuck this "I have no life" shit, I have a damn good life. It just takes me some very strange places very quickly, if only in my head.

( Deutsch )

So, when I was in school, as millions of other students did I had a lot of 3-ring binder folders, some of which I decorated. The one I was particularly proud of, and might actually still have somewhere around here, was decorated in that sort of kidnapper chic letters cut out of magazines way. On one side it had the lyrics "The less I need the more I get / make me chaste but not just yet / it's a promise or a lie / I'll repent before I die" and on the other side it had "I dressed my maids as Amazons and rode bare-breasted halfway to Damascus". I don't remember what it had in the inside, I might have to dig it out if I still have it and see.

I just got a few folders for a 3-ring binder to hold my music, one for whistle tunes, one for guitar tunes, one for whatever else I decide to put in its own category. Maybe fun stuff like the Fairie's Aire and Death Waltz. But now I need music/rock/awesome theme quotes to go with it. Any ideas, people?

Oof. I keep clicking on news articles and it keeps making me depressed, because it's all about how the rich in this country are getting richer off of, well, everyone else. I don't even want to be rich. I'd like to be middle class. Except the middle class doesn't seem to exist anymore.

Happier things. I made a list of links to guitar tabs of classic rock type songs I want to learn, including the Iron Man riff, House of the Rising Sun, The Unforgiven, Voodoo Child, um. Stuff. Even if Voodoo Child requires copious wah wah pedal. Picked up some lozenges for the boy, still haven't managed to get down to Chevron for monofilament but probably will after lunch and unpacking the yarn that just landed. First, eating. Because my stomach is chewing on the neighboring organs.

( 日本語 )

I have a goddamn electric guitar. A Squier Strat, but it's a goddamn strat-type electric guitar. Victory is bloody well mine. It was $80 after tax. It also is missing two strings, probably could use all the strings replaced, and needs a cord and an amp of course. But the pickups work, five way switch, three single coil pickups and two humbucker settings. The only thing fracking up the knob tuners is dust. And I need to learn how to string an electric guitar anyway. My shopping list, for my own purposes: strap, strings, gig bag, spare cord?, amp, capo for the acoustic, could probably use a number of spare picks just to keep around. Noise-canceling headphones for the not annoying the entire apartment complex.

And, you know, then I spent most of the evening noodling around on the guitar. Oops. But the Elf Lord left his Peavey little amp here, with the cord, so now I can make a horrible racket if I so choose. Which amuses me way more than it probably should. We put on two new strings, tuned the whole thing from last to first string, tuned it AGAIN because the guitar missing a few strings meant the whole thing was a bit confused, poor Bastard (yes, I'm testing out names for the guitar, shaddup. My acoustic is my Baby, and the other one... dunno.) and then we tuned it a third time after the Elf Lord adjusted the bridge setup a bit. And I learned some about harmonics, how to restring an electric guitar (dead simple) and some about what the twiddly knobs on the amplifier do.

You guys, I cannot even tell you how stoked I am to be doing this. I AM SO EXCITE. IRON MAN RIFFS WILL BE MINE. OH YES, THEY WILL BE MINE.

Still don't know the May I Help You riff.

Russian, actually, now that I look at the chapter layout, looks eminently do-able within a couple of weeks, if I do type it all up ahead of time. The rules, that is. Nine grammar points of which four are simple one-exercise things and two are review things, one is a long-ass time telling thing which will probably take the longest, and I can't remember which category the other two fall in. All in all, I'm at the I can't believe I'm doing this stage. Hi! My name is Jag, and I'm an overacheiver. How you doin?

( Русскйи язык )

In retrospect, I really should have just moved on to the next book of Japanese. Rrgh. Other life lessons learned over the past few days? Pike 90s make crunches so goddamn much easier. Ooh. New plan. Start the new (ish) Japanese book tonight, then make time over the weekend to review the problematic stuff left in the old book. Maybe that'll work better. And I can ponder why reviewing for long periods of time bores me to the point of massive belligerence. Learning psychology how do you work.

I'm actually managing to both make a whistle quiver and remember to blog pretty frequently. This is a minor miracle. I even uploaded a picture to the blog for my profile picture, for a profile picture that's more relevant than my usual one. The whistle quiver is almost half done, and pretty soon there will be pictures of that as well. Or at least, it's almost done bar the strap. I have yet to figure out what I'm doing as far as straps go for it. Internets, help me decide! Do I do a giant macrame friendship bracelet type thing, or do I just cut a longish strip of leather or cloth and sew it on? Do I embellish it or do I keep it plain? I could use shaker tape, I guess. Help!

And now, I bring you a scene from last night's guitar playing, and a bizarre example of why I'm much kinder on myself when I'm not talking to myself in my own voice.

Me: PLAY ALL THE THINGS.
Amber (Also-Me): Start with your scales.
Me: Awww...
Amber: Scale practice is good for you. Here, we'll start with a C blues scale. Yes. That's good, you're getting better. One more time. Now go to a D, I know you hate it, but try.
Me: *plays her scales like a good girl*
Amber: See? You are getting better. So there. Now let's try some chords. Remember your posture.
Me: *plays chords*
Amber: Start with your As. A, Am, A7, do you remember A7? Okay, do that again. And again. And we'll skip B for now and move on to C. Look, C7 is easy. So we'll do that three more times, and then do just the As and the Cs...

I swear, I'm a lot nicer to myself when I'm not talking to myself in my own voice, when I'm using a character to do it. Admittedly, she's written to be a coach and music teacher and so on, but it's kind of funny. That said, I managed the first four or so lines of Somebody to love almost at speed last night, and the biggest reason why it wasn't at speed was because I was trying to play quietly so the boy wouldn't wake up. And that said, ow my goddamn fingertips.

I also have this urge to make jewelry out of guitar picks.

Right. Lunch, work, too many damn projects, but at least the sample's almost knit. Then I go back to friendship bracelet samples, and dick around with my whistle case. Today looks at least relatively light in terms of incoming, despite the deceptively large number of boxes. Maybe I can kick my own dumb ass into doing the filing I so desperately need to do. Heh. Probably not.