Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"We're in the process of creating a planetary nervous system." -- Jon Udell, "The Network Is The Blog"

First, a reminder: The Homespun Ceilidh Band will be performing on Saturday, 23 July, at the Virginia Scottish Games in Alexandria, Virginia. We'll be performing at the Fiddle Tent after the fiddle competition -- probably around 14:45, but we could start any time between 14:00 and 16:00 depending on how many folks compete in the contest, so aim to get there earlier if you want to be sure to hear us. (A few more details in a previous journal entry, and note from one of the comments that if we start early enough -- as is quite likely -- you can watch puzzledance dance afterwards.) If you've been to this event before, two notes: a) it looks like the weather might not be as oppressively hot as usual, and b) I understand that the fiddle tent will be in a new location, closer to the fieldhouse, so check where it is in case I'm right.

Second, a meme (via lillibet), which I'll leave naked of a cut-tag because it's so very short. The instructions: "Go to the 23rd post you made on LJ, pick the fifth sentence and reprint it." (Yes, this is clearly a riff on the "nearest book" meme.) My result:

"Got home and called the ... uh ... mortgage broker? ... the guy the realtor told me to call about borrowing money."

Third, a status-and-immediate-plans note: I was woken too early yesterday by the sound of chunks of plaster from the ceiling upstairs hitting the floor over my head; did get back to sleep for a couple more hours, then got up to try to Be Productive and take care of Important Things that have been on my to-do list for Too Long. I got as far as spending a few hours desperately searching for a crucial page of notes I need, and then the heat and my body's usual fatigue problems sat me on my ass again. Failing to turn lying-quietly-with-eyes-closed into actual sleep (or even really-restful-waking-rest *sigh*) I wasn't terribly useful the rest of the day. I did get a little bit of my LJ backlog read (how is it that every time I get caught up, the next time I pay attention I'm a week behind and missing posts beyond the "?skip=1000" barrier again?) after I gave up.

I'm trying again today, to deal with urgent stuff with or without the important notes (eek!), and I guess I really need to get past my phone-shyness issues and try to get roofers to come out for estimates. I'm going to try not to push myself too hard because I want to be in decent shape to perform on Saturday. I'm going to take a bunch of things I've been just sliding forward on my to-do list, and push as many as I can afford to until after Pennsic, because I've got some things that Really Must Be Done between now and Baitcon, and then there's getting ready for Baitcon and a mere most-of-a-week between returning from that and going to Pennsic, so I have to budget time for Pennsic prep.

Let's see if I can manage for the file server backup to be on the right side of Pennsic. Urk. The long-overdue set of updates to my web site will have to be after Pennsic sometime. Likewise for the much less important goals of reading the 5th Harry Potter book (I've given up on reading the 6th in time to still be able to find all my friends' spoiler-cut-tagged LJ entries afterwards) and seeing Sith.

So communication from me will probably be spotty for a few days, at least. If I get caught up on the Badly Overdue Stuff and have a few extra hours of feeling halfway decent, I'll try to get to some of the things I've been meaning to write about here for the past week and a half. But I'm not gonna make any promises now.

Finally, a link to a photo that bio-geeks and equestrians may find entertaining. (I wanna see slow-mo footage of that horse running.)

Hmm. I think I'll hand this off to the 'at' daemon instead of making it a wee-hours post...

Ugh. I think that's enough confronting-my-telephone-related-discomfort for now. I need to do something at least sortakinda relaxing for a little while as I resettle my brain and psych myself up for the next set of phone calls I'm dreading. *sigh* Let's see if I manage to get back to it by 17:00.

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Really hope it doesn't rain tonight. :-( Any of my friends within easy striking distance of Baltimore have a long ladder and a convenient way to transport it? Being able to take a look at the roof myself might be reassuring. Or give me a renewed sense of panic. I don't know which ... obviously.

Right now I feel pretty ooky. Some of that is continued poor sleep. Some of that is the heat and humidity (I've got some window AC units going, but they just take the edge off). And some is probably a psychosomatic reaction to phone-stress. Bleah.

Anyhow, I crossed a few items off my to-do list. I get to feel virtuous.

[Edit: Just after I posted that, I got an "URGENT PLEASE CALL" email from my auto insurance provider, so I didn't get any unwinding time or manage to get ahold of a roof-repair outfit. :-( Okay, I'm going to mostly call it a day and focus on relaxing a little, getting ready for tomorrow, and (unless I either fall asleep or start feeling really crappy) driving down to Arlington later tonight. Hmm. Maybe the evening television news is not the right soundtrack for this plan.]