thank goodness for small favors

[gurdonark]

I see the more maudlin of my bought-for-a-dime-and-posted-on-ebay sheet music offerings have sold now, confirming my belief that sheet music, particularly of sheet music of a certain, shall we say, "I can't imagine why", will sell on-line. It's sort of the E! Entertainment Network theory--if you make one, people will actually watch a documentary on the making of the movie "Dirty Dancing". Kitsch is a funny thing--marketable kitsch is like Justice Potter Stewart's statement about pornography--I can't quite define it, but I know it when I see it.

One of my fifty cent purchases at Saturday's library used book sale was Sunset's book on Crafts for Children. Lately, I feel as though if I am ever to learn more craft-oriented skills, I am going to have to go to the proverbial square one. This book has some cool things--like a hawk kite with soda straws--that are within my limited ken. I wish Texas had a Sunset Magazine, California's wonderful magazine about where to put one's potted plants on one's back patio and such magazine. Its travel articles did novel things like imagine that sometimes one might wish to stay in a hotel room costing less than three hundred dollars--unlike the Los Angeles Times, which seemed to think that every traveller wished to spend his or her retirement savings on a single
five day trip.

I want to use my "new found" time to get more of the little things on my personal to do list done. The cool weather is energizing, somehow. I feel that work demands have put me behind on getting pragmatic day to day stuff done. It would be nice to have that caught up feeling--I don't think I've really had it for months.

I used a leftover birthday gift certificate to get an ambient album by Paul Vnuk, who is one of the two members of the group Ma Ja Le. This is really good stuff--synthy pulsation mixed with the sound of rainfall. I usually am not much for "natural found sound", but this one really works. Lately I've gone back to ambient music listening while I work. It seems very calming somehow. I need to expand my ambient listening list a bit. I'll have to see if I can't track down some more artists to add to my collection.

I'm trying to remember now what sin I committed that led to this morning's bout of insomnia. Did I max out on diet Cokes? Am I worried about the bad news I got last evening? Am I just filled with excess energy? I don't know. But at least the pre-dawn silence is a moment when I can think about anything and nothing, and that's a sort of blessing in itself.

Comments

[auntiesiannan.livejournal.com]

I wish Sunset did a New York/East Coast publication (Sunrise? Then you could be Noonday, I guess). I enjoy their gardening books and such. I think I may have had one of their children's craft books as a kid--does the one you bought have a paper hand puppet on the cover?

For travel articles I have always liked Conde' Nast Traveler, which we call "Condescending Traveler" in this house. Or at least I do, since J. never read it. Lovely articles. I remember a great one where they had some jaded New York writer follow Emo Phillips around Walt Disney World.

[marstokyo.livejournal.com]

You know, Robert, you should just take a little workshop somewhere on some craft area that interests you. You'd be amazed how much better and faster you can learn something with hands on demonstrations etc.. Books are fine, but you can't beat watching it actually being done, and following the instructions with the help of a teacher right there.

[gregwest98.livejournal.com]

My daughter would love to do a craft seminar for you. She's only nine but she is always up for spreading the knowledge around. She often drags her friends into such events and they end up creating a grand mess along with some pretty grand creations.

We have an old chest that my wife's mom insists in an antique and as such, won't let us put it in a garage sale. So we have stowed all the craft supplies in it and put the TV on top of it. My daughter sees that as her little world and the drawers are almost always open with her in front of it. There is usually a project in progress on the floor in front of it. She would be more than happy for you do join in - she'd even invent a project too. I haven't let her see those pictures of MarsTokyo's messy table for fear she'd want to go to Baltimore and join in the fun.

But you'd have to agree to wield the vacuum cleaner after you finish. I'm getting tired of it.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I think you're right. I will look into this.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I can't remember as I sit here in my office, but I think it's the same one.

CN Traveler is a fun read, but it's definitely at the other extreme--jaded folks living on journalists' salaries writing as if they stayed in luxury hotels when it wasn't a comp....that would make anyone jaded, come to think of it.

I guess I'll never be a SATW member :)

[cathla143.livejournal.com]

I also enjoy the pre-dawn silence, and sometimes do my best thinking in that solitude. Unfortunately, though, I end up getting way too little sleep and feel like a zombie for a long while afterward.

bad news?!?

[nacowafer.livejournal.com]

I hope everything is alright...

And thanks (yet, again) for all your sympathetic words. I'm such a mess!

I will third the notion that taking a class will do wonders to help you learn a skill. I tend to see how-to books as supplements, for ideas and reminders, not as primary instruction. Perhaps that's just the way I learn, but I need to see a real live (hopefully left-handed) person doing it. I need them to watch me and point out when I'm doing things right and when I'm confusing the issues. I took a one-day workshop at the art museum in collage, and I learned the most fabulous thing--how to cut out images with a razor blade so that you have a beveled edge. It's fab! The secret is holding the blade at a 45-degree angle...Really makes a collage (I'm completely serious). I never could have gotten that very first step on my own. And the book binding class I took was such fun. Even my creative writing class was really helpful. Perhaps it's the feedback you can get from an instructor. I guess you don't really need a class, just a kind, talented soul to show you.

Re: bad news?!?

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the kind comment. I have a relative who's having a medical issue, but it looks like things are okay for now, but we'll see. I'll go to Arkansas for a visit this weekend.

I have only taken one class since law school, other than interminable numbers of legal seminars. That class was in business writing, and was very useful.
It was at UCLA extension. A community college or crafts school or Fun Ed or even parks department crafts class, particularly if it's in one or two sessions, might be very good. I usually learn from books (I'm kinda independent about how I learn), but I do feel the need for lectures on craft stuff and some hands on how to.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Yes. I slept until 8:02 today, which is not good at all!

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Sign me up. I"m sure I could learn a lot from your daughter, and I'd even teach her how to vacuum.