Something I bet I am not alone on

Networking craziness!

Do you log on to the net and spend time that could be used seeking out weird entertainment on useless pseudo networking?
I do way too much.

I check my Yahoo mail, Hotmail and Google mail. The GMail tells me who is after me from
MySpace, Facebook, Tribe, RenSpace, Google Groups. The Yahoo keeps me up to date on who may be after me in Yahoo groups, on Pure Volume and Unsigned. Hotmail shouts me out if there is action on Friendster and LinkedIn. I have pretty much dropped the last two due to overlap.
Yes-the overlap is incredible. My youngest sister is on MySpace and Facebook. So are the other members of the band. Some of them are also on Tribe RenSpace, Renforums and NE Rennies. We also have a band only Google group.
Yes, there are people I meet outside of those circle, but with my friends sending me notes, comments, writing blogs and writing on my walls, how much time to I really have to meet anyone new? What time is left for actual networking? I have to check for new pictures of my niece on my sister's Facebook and MySpace...I do this pretty much every day. I accept new friends and reply to questions and comments for the band on MySpace, Tribe, RenSpace, unsigned and purevolume before I go to our Google group and relay pertinent messages that aren't for the general public there. I check my own MySpace and deal with the questions, comments, and of course, surveys there. It goes on and on.
Luckily, now I just hit my StumbleUpon link to get my surfing started

Yes, that's why I haven't blogged since January.
Yes that is why my web page still says under construction as my domain expiration approaches.
Yes, that is why I probably won't put the links in for all of those locations.


Yay! Technology of communication?

Where am I?

I was full of good intentions when I started and here it is 2008 already!

What the heck happened?

Music making, feasting, riding around in the car with a picnic basket, shopping - all the ordinary stuff that gets me off track.

Last week I made the cutest top for my niece and that pic should be here tomorrow. I forgot to bring it to take a pic before it goes to Alaska.

How Television has RUINED me (Part 1)

I am sure this will be a multi-part series, if not a blog of it's own one day.

In today's Episode I was innocently walking to the T when I noticed a formation of geese flying overhead. Before you could shout out Rankin-Bass! I was singing (in my head) "When the Goose is Flying High" from the Little Drummer Boy.

RUINED!

Getting Bent(o)

aka Frustrated Artist Does Lunch

With no space, time or inspiration to paint theses days I have had an unattended itch to make stuff. You'd think that clothes, ads and promotionals stuff would sate it, but no. That's practical in a real practical way. But now I have discovered artistic bento. I knew about the fancy boxes, since you can get bento meals at sushi places, but I didn't know about the crazy, creative world of bento out there.
So, I have been looking at pictures of bento lunches from traditional to way silly on a lot more sites than I would have thought existed and now I am building them too. Unfortunately I have no pics of today's fabulous South Park box I made for Dave.
Cartman, blue sky, trees...wait-it's food! It's fun, creative and plenty silly. My lunch has star shaped purple pancake, a star onigiri on a field of brocolli and some fish cakes, not so cool, but cute. I also have cute boxes on the way. Making a fun lunch daily will offset that initial expense too. even Steven.
Pics in the future
Yay!

Home planning - Medieval style

This is inspiration for a future tent.

I am a newbie to the SCA. Still haven't even joined, but I like the academic part, and I love costuming and sewing and building. It is really like a club that puts on a Medieval movie, er, High School Play, every few months. Even though it's not perfect, the players have fun.
Since I am working the Turkish/Ottoman/Middle Eastern end of the spectrum, I want to work out a bedouin style tent. Fairly simple design, no complex sewing. Most importantly it will pack up pretty small for its square footage and still be a canvas tent. Heck, it'll be better than a pop-up with a canvas cover thrown on it any day!
I already have 4 really rough painter's tarps that were originally destined for other things that will be heading to the tent department. One was painted black earlier in the summer to provide more shade, and that worked so the rest will be headed down that road as well.
My plan is to sew those all into one hunk and reinforce any place poles go with leather. The paint we used on the first tarp was a watered down latex that was applied imperfectly with a roller. No prob,. it looks rustic and it was still able to do that cotton fibers swell to = waterproof in the rain, so it won't even get any waterproofing.
I have an assortment of fabrics for inside decor as well as carpets. Just need a relaible bed.