Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

So here's the video I was trying to turn into an animated LJ icon:

The icon version is smaller than the full 100x100 pixels allowed, with fewer frames than I would have liked for a smooth animation, and I had to trim a lot of frames before and after the yawn so it loses the "oh, just a picture of a cat -- wait, it's moving" effect at the start and turns into one of those annoying constant-motion images. If I can figure out how to set different delay times for different frames, I'll try to put the long pause back in at the start that way. [Thanks, redaxe.]

So I guess the image embedded in this entry is subject to improvement and may no longer match this text if I'm successful. And, uh, if any of y'all with real Photoshop/ImageMagick/GIMP/etc. chops wanna show off how much better at this you are than I am, I'll happily make the original 3GP file or the separated JPEG frames available for you to play with -- all the more so if you think you can describe what you do well enough for me to learn from.

"Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?' Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand." -- from the Book of Bokonon which in turn is from Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., who died yesterday.

[On a happier note: happy birthday to vvalkyri!]

This afternoon is the trial of the idjit who smooshed my car. I'll find out around 14:00 whether I need to show up as a witness. I'd like to be there anyhow to see what happens, but I kinda hope I don't need to testify feeling as sleep-deprived and brain-fuzzy as I do right now.

I'll try to post details about the various events this weekend soon, but at the moment the computer I'm using is as slow as molasses at a picnic in February, so I'll come back to that later.

I did not get a call telling me to come to the courthouse at 14:00. I did get a call just before 15:30 from the prosecutor telling me that the guy who totaled my car had been found guilty and sentenced to sixty days in jail, the maximum sentence for what he was charged with.

She also said that the photos I took, which I gave her a copy of on CD last month and which she printed out and introduced as evidence this afternoon, were a major factor in convincing the judge to impose the maximum penalty. Apparently they were the difference between "okay, some cars got damaged," and "wow, those cars are crushed".

So even though my presence was not required today, I feel like I did my part.

Tomorrow evening there is a free recorder + gamba + harpsichord concert in Baltimore that it looks like I'll be able to attend (plans are a little vague; the important bit is getting to see aliza250 while she's on this coast, and the concert is one of our options for something to do).

Saturday afternoon, I'm hoping to be performing with Thrir Venstri Foetr / Three Left Feet in Marching Through Time, a multiple-period (spanning a couple thousand years, roughly), multiple-reenactment-group military history showcase at Marietta Mansion in Glen Dale, Maryland ... if I manage to arrange transportation somehow.

(I'll be skipping a recorder workshop that I'd wanted to go to, to play with 3LF instead -- I mention the workshop here because I recall at least one local friend being at least a little interested in it. I'll also be missing a birthday party. ... unless, of course, I fail to find a ride to MTT but a ride to one of these other events suddenly appears.)

Saturday evening, I'm supposed to be performing with The Homespun Ceilidh Band at the Greenbelt Arts Center in Greenbelt, Maryland ... assuming I manage to arrange transportation somehow.

Sunday afternoon, I may be again performing with Thrir Venstri Foetr / Three Left Feet in Marching Through Time, at Marietta Mansion ... if I can arrange transportation.

The following weekend, 3LF is playing at a wedding; the weekend after that, HCB is playing at the Southern Maryland Celtic Festival, I think the weekend after that HCB or a subset thereof is performing at Riversdale, and then a week later is a recorder-club meeting, followed another week later by 3LF performing at the Maryland Faerie Festival. I've no idea yet whether I'm booked for anything during Balticon the next week. It looks like I have a free weekend at the start of June ... I'll post about those other events in more detail; in the meantime, here's the info about this weekend's events.

I hope to see some of you here and there this weekend!

... And, of course, er (*cough*) ah, if any of y'all can help me out with rides hither and yon so that I can actually show up at some/most of these events, please do let me know. I'll be travelling with two guitars, a rifle-case full of woodwinds, and, if possibly, a double bass. I'll be starting out from southwest Baltimore, though with enough advance warning I may be able to arrange to start out from Arlington instead. Thanks. (dglenn@panix.com, 919-649-5862)