Brendan and I are in Napa, California. We spent the day touring San Francisco with my aunt and uncle and I am in love with that city. There are several creative writing MFA programs there, so that will be a top pick once I start applying. I plan to apply next year for programs starting in 2011. I'm going to apply to schools all around the country. What's considered "good" writing is so subjective, I don't want to limit my choices in the beginning in case I don't get in to very many programs. The Creative Writing MFA Handbook recommends applying to 8-12 schools, or more if you can afford it.

Tomorrow we set out for Manila to visit our friend Silas. It's 263 miles from here, and we don't usually try to go that far of a distance in one day. But we're going to try and just camp somewhere if we don't make it there before dark. The fact that we're staying up this late isn't going to help us get an early start tomorrow, but eh. It's nice to have free and unlimited access to the internet here at my cousin's place, and we'll leave when we leave. That's not the most profound thing I've ever said.

Two or three nights in Manila (depending on if we get all the way there tomorrow), one night in Florence, OR, one night in Portland, OR (reminder to self: call Portland cousin and friend), and then we're in Seattle! We're getting so close now I feel like I can practically taste Seattle. I really love Seattle. I miss it. Not just Seattle, but all our friends, and my family. I miss my mama and daddy. I miss my sister and Katie. I can't wait to see everyone, and I can't wait to visit some of our favorite neighborhoods and restaurants and parks. I just wish we had a home of our own to come back to.

I don't post here often enough, so I thought I would say hey. Hey! I'm alive and well in New Orleans, Louisiana, where Brendan and I are living until the end of February. We decided to stay to improve our busking skills and take advantage of the huge numbers of tourists that will be here for Marti Gras next month, not to mention to enjoy Marti Gras ourselves. When we leave here we will slowly be making our way (hitchhiking) to Seattle via southern California. We expect to arrive in the Seattle area mid-April.

This busking thing is interesting. Brendan and I keep asking ourselves all sorts of questions about what exactly we want to be doing and there doesn't seem to be one clear answer. It's hard for me to be perpetually excited about busking. Sometimes I would just as soon simply call myself a tourist and vacationer and travel with that mindset, and sometimes I want to go back to Seattle now and live and work there again and then just enjoy a vacation in Europe this summer (we already bought the plane tickets to Germany). And sometimes I'm really excited about busking and the people we inevitably meet when doing that and the great stories we acquire (both through making up stories to tell and because of the people we meet). For now, that sometimes excitement is enough to propel me to keep our trip as is (that is, stay in busking mindset and go out on weekends), but not enough to make me go "Yeah! Let's go out and busk every day for 4-8 hours! Whoooooooo!"

There's this problem of stasis. I feel like it haunts me in life. I claim to want change and to want to try new things, but my actions speak louder than my claims and they show that I like things to be comfortable and familiar. And since I claim to want something other than that, I feel sort of uncomfortable even in familiarity. So the overarching question of this trip seems to be: What do I really want? What do we (Brendan and I) really want? Should it be so hard to answer?

My very good friend issued a challenge to write a haiku every day for the month, and I did not step up. But haikus seem to be everywhere. There is a geurilla art project in New Orleans on St. Claude where there are over 50 haikus silkscreened onto over 100 signs and posted all up and down that street and a few other streets. I haven't been fortunate enough to see it, but I heard about it and it reminded me of what my friend is doing. So here's a haiku, from me to you:

Snow surrounds us here
Enveloping us within
Warm house, cozy drinks

Go Wisconsin.

Brendan and I are going to stay in New Orleans for a few months and try to get really good at busking. This seems to be a great place to learn and while the process will be hard and filled with unsuccess, we'll come out better at the end. We're thinking we'll stay through Marti Gras (brief interlude in Wisconsin for Christmas) and then somehow jet to the San Francisco area for a writing conference called Potlatch 18 where Ursula K. Le Guin is a featured guest.

This is good. We like it here and like feeling somewhat settled. Jocelyn's group of friends are good people with similar interests to ours, though they're all med students. I'm still offering to send postcards to anyone who sends me their address, whether in a comment or by emailing me at stina.pederson@gmail.com.

Have you been reading our blog? Shame on you if you haven't. Go to www.andjuggling.com to find the link. The website will be up...someday. I hope.

Love,
Stina

http://buskingjourney.blogspot.com/

Our busking blog. We had a little taste of what our traveling experience will be like and we've done some blogging about it. Hitchhiking is awesome.

We are almost done with building our stilts and it is hard work but the payoff is totally going to be worth it.

Here's to a completely new lifestyle.

I haven't posted in awhile. I've been very busy with various part-time jobs. My regular credit union job, ASMing Charlotte's Web at YTN (which closes today), mowing a lawn twice a month, being an extra set of hands for a mom in West Seattle once or twice a week, and selling stuff on Ebay. Plus I've been trying to get appointments for my eyes and teeth while I still have a bit of coverage for those things. And I think I'm about to be successful at selling my disappointing Chevy Malibu.

And that is all I have time to say.

Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test ...

English Genius
You scored 100% Beginner, 93% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 100% Expert!

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!
Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!

For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.

I haven't posted in rather a long while, and my last post was just an ad, so here's an actual blog.

I'm at work right now, at the credit union, and it's lovely slow here. Apparently this is what summers are like. Our members are either on vacation or too busy with their kids or maybe just enjoying the finally nice weather. I certainly don't mind. It gives me time to do this, check my email, play Mythos, test my vocab at freerice.com, and basically just putz around.

Brendan and I borrowed "Charmed" from my supervisor and we are trying to get through all 8 seasons before we leave in October. We just finished season 2. It's good, though not as insightful or clever as BtVS or other Joss Whedon shows. But it's not Joss Whedon, so I shouldn't be surprised. We've also been playing basketball a lot lately. I'm getting better the more we play, though Brendan still beats me by upwards of 40 points. Sometimes both courts at the park near our place are being used, but then we can usually join in with whomever is playing, thereby fostering positive relations with our neighbors. Go Beacon Hill!

I have a part-time nanny/househelper gig now. I go out to West Seattle a couple times a week or so to either watch a 7 and 9 year old, or help the mom with whatever tasks she assigns me. Last week this meant a morning filled with soup-making and gardening, so that was easy and fun. The nine year old makes the kid-watching part more of a challenge. She can be really fun but also very defiant and bratty and occasionally makes me not want to ever have children.

I learned how to knit! So far I've just made hats (oh, and a pair of leg-warmers), but I'm going to try and make socks next. Neal and Lena have both been very helpful in my knitting endeavors. I prefer knitting to crocheting, but I think that's partly because I have knitting buddies and good knitting patterns, and I never really followed patterns with crocheting. Also, knitting in public sparks conversations with strangers. An old woman several weeks ago stared ardently at my knitting and said she wished she knew how to knit and was it hard to learn? and oh how very nice that I know how to knit. A man named Tony on Mercer Island said he used to crochet and would like to learn how to knit and he told me I should read Dune because it's very good.

I'm getting better and better and juggling. I just need to remember to practice a little every day. I'm diligently trying to get rid of things. I have a posting for some doll outfits on Craigslist that finally got a response, so hopefully those will be gone soon. I have some still-in-the-box barbies I will probably trying selling on Craigslist too. And I'm mowing Trina and John's lawn every other week. I love making money by doing outdoor activities and tasks.

I just started reading "Changing Planes," a book of short stories by Ursula LeGuin. And I just finished reading "The Good Fairies of New York," a book Brendan's parents gave him for Christmas. It was very enjoyable. Oh, and this is to Meredith: if you are going to attempt a Jane Austen novel and have previously been unable to really get into them, I encourage you to try Northanger Abbey. It's by far the most comical of all her books and the main character is delightfully flawed.

I miss having a pet. Last night when Brendan and I were walking home from the park, there were two small dogs on the corner a street up from our apartment. They were so friendly and loveable and adorable and one of them had such thick curly fur it felt like petting a sheep. Speaking of farm animals, the Evergreen State Fair is once more coming up and everyone should come root for me at the Apple Pie Tasteoff. One of my previous pies is pictured on the Contests page of the fair website. I'm not sure what my pie will look like this year, but you can bet I will again attempt to win the "Best Presentation" ribbon. Have I ever mentioned I LOVE the fair? I think I will enter some other food categories this year. $$ prizes, for those, though the amount is trifling.

Last night I dreamt my brother was competing in the jumper class in a horse show and I was so surprised by this because he is a dirt-bike racer and I wondered how he and Naomi found the time for her to teach him to ride. And then there was a monkey going over the jumps with him. My whole night was filled with vivid dreams like that, which is unusual for me.

This weekend will be busy and fun. Nikki's birthday party on Friday, Alissa's housewarming on Saturday, and maybe Pride stuff on Sunday? I don't know yet. Tomorrow is laundry day at my parents' house, and good quality time with my mom. And maybe tonight Brendan and I will see an animation fest movie in the U-district. I hope we do.

Farewell for now.

I'm scrambling for ways to make additional moola, so here's a plug for one attempt:

This is from the Magnolia Chorale concert on Saturday.

Did I push away my Christian friends or did they push me away, or was it all within the natural progression of things? Did we drift apart because I began spending so much time with Brendan, or did I deliberately avoid them for fear of judgment? And if the second is the case, wasn't it judgmental of me to assume they would judge me? And is it right that there is such a negative connotation to the word "judgment"? Yes, yes there is. Unless one's profession is judge, one needn't judge. One could discern, determine, calculate, comprehend, recognize, observe, notice, be on the wary, understand, all without judging. It wasn't all me. Some judged and found me guilty.

I have something that's viral and just "has to run its course," sayeth the doctor. I can't remember ever being knocked out for this long. Aside from a couple of rehearsals, I haven't left the apartment since Friday evening. I can't see an end to it, that's the worst. See that unicorn, in my userpic? If that were me holding its face in my hands, I'd be asking it to plunge its horn right into my stomach in order to rid me of the nasty worms eating me from the inside out. The unicorn would readily do so and I would be well again.

This is fun--

Google image search the answer to each prompt, then pick a picture from the first page of results.

( See mine... )

Just finished "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything." Too drastic of a subtitle, I think, but an interesting book. I used to read books like "Why You Believe What You Believe" because I think I always had a lot of doubts about what I believed. I don't know what I believe now. "Shun the nonbeliever. Shuuuuuunnnn. Shuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnuh." (See Charlie the Unicorn.) I believe in unicorns.

I'm going to buy dye and color my hair. Nothing drastic, and actually it's possible this won't happen. But I think I will. I want a change, ever so slight, and I don't want a haircut.

Gotta go return this book before it gets any later. Watching more "Angel" later. We're on season II thanks to a wonderful new co-worker who owns all the seasons and is lending them to us.

Here's all the info you need to know about the show I'm stage managing--Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas. Thanks, Tabassam, for reminding me to get this posted!

Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas
"We are not wholly bad or good
Who live our lives under Milk Wood"

These lines from Dylan Thomas's last work capture the essence of the story. Under Milk Wood explores the lives of the people of Milk Wood, from their sleeping to their waking life. From unassuming Mr. Pugh who fantasizes about taking Mrs. Pugh's life, to Mary Ann Sailors who praises the Lord who made porridge, this story reveals the hidden relationships that inform and guide our lives.

Cast includes: Becky Chong, Lena Eivy, Michelle Flowers, Collin Fredinburg,
Brynne Garman, Patricia Haines-Ainsworth, Aliya Hashemi, Alyssa Kay, Maridee
Slater, Brendan Weinhold and Rikki Wynn.

Directed by Nikki Przasnyski
Presented by Ray Burley Productions

Performance dates: October 5-October 7, 2007

Times: Friday at 8pm, Saturday and Sunday at 2pm and 8pm
Venue: Studio Stage at Youth Theatre Northwest
8805 SE 40th St.
Mercer Island, WA 98040

Pricing: $10, $7 students, seniors and starving artists, $1 off if you bring
a nonperishable food item (to be donated to Northwest Harvest)

Ticket information: 206-783-3173 or < rbp@shadowpuppet.net> or
< www.BrownPaperTickets.com/event/19730>

If you click on this, it helps my character gain experience. *Pushes glasses up nose in supremely geek fashion*

http://world6.monstersgame.co.uk/?ac=vid&vid=114296508

Plus you can play too, if you want.

I made a pie and entered it in a contest last Saturday at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe. It was a two-crust apple pie and its secret ingredient was maple syrup. It had a bunny face on the top and the bunny's whiskers were made out of apple peel. Out of approximately 13 two-crust apple pies, mine came in 5th, which meant I got a ribbon. Only the top five got ribbons. It is yellow and I am proud of it. I also got a ribbon for "Best Presentation" because the theme of the fair was "Be Somebunny: Hop to the Fair!" and I knew this and catered my decoration towards it. That ribbon is rainbow colors and beautiful, but it's my little yellow ribbon I feel I really earned.

And then yesterday I made lasagna for the first time and it is yummy. I suppose it is hard to go wrong with tomato and vegetable sauce and noodles and cheese, but I am still proud. I don't often spend long amounts of time preparing meals, so I feel accomplished.

Plus, plus! they want to see me for a face to face interview at Verity Credit Union, so I wasn't just imagining that the phone interview went well. The branch I'm applying to work at is housed in the Amazon/Pacific Medical Center complex, which is really a world, so I could walk to work. I hope I get it.

And, and! Brendan and I are going to Wisconsin in a month and we're taking the bus and we'll see fall colors and then family.

And we're going camping this weekend. Life is quite well in my neck of the woods.