Thank goodness it's Saturday....

[fajrdrako]

The event of the day was going to the fitness club for my 'orientation' session. This consisted of a woman named Jody (in a bright yellow shirt) teaching me and another newcomer named Sarah how to use the weight machines.

I was impressed.

We tried each one of them. None were terrible at first, but by the twelfth repetition it was pretty gruelling.

After the orientation I used a cycling machine for twenty minutes, or more; I was reading and forgot to watch the time.

Then I walked home. It's hot - very hot - I think Beulah told me it was thirty-six degrees Celsius, and I don't know what that is in Fahrenheit, but it's hot. Somehow, I don't feel the heat as much when I'm walking. Maybe I should worry about sunstroke or something. I hate wearing hats.

There's something about the city in the summer: everyone seems so happy just to be outdoors. The Bluesfest is going on, so everywhere you go downtown you hear live music. I stopped to listen for a bit at the Rideau Centre.

~ ~ ~


Once upon a time I heard a recording I'd like to get my hands on. There was no music on this tape; it was the sounds of an old sailing ship at anchor. You could hear the waves, the ropes, the creaking wood.

I couldn't find it in the CD shop. I looked on amazon.com - amazon.ca is hopeless, and indigo-chapters is worse - and couldn't find it. Does anyone have any idea what it might have been, and where I might find it?


~ ~ ~

The baby budgie was chirping loudly this afternoon, greatly to my relief.

His brother hatched and didn't survive: I found a little corpse in the cage when I cleaned it this morning. You know what was worst? The books had told me that newborn baby budgies are ugly, but this little guy wasn't ugly at all. No feathers, of course, none of that elegant budgie plumage, but he was cute, in his newborn-bird sort of way. Tiny, vulnerable-looking. A little like a rubber chicken with big eyes, if you imagine one that's only about an inch long.

Rest in peace, little guy.

I couldn't help thinking of the lines from Sandman #8, "The Sound of Her WIngs", that I've quoted before and will no doubt quote again, at the scene where Death comes for a baby.

"Is that all I get?" asks the baby.

"You get what everyone gets," said Death. "A lifetime."


~ ~ ~


I felt like shopping idly. I felt like reading or surfing the web. I felt like anything but writing. At the same time, I'm dying to work on my story, and finish this draft. Why does this procrastination happen? Why did I suddenly feel the need to play with icons, or do anything but work on the story that I really want to work on?

I don't know.

I'm going back to the story now.

~ ~ ~

Comments

Ugh...

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

38 C is about 99 F. Holy fried frijoles, Batman.

Re: Ugh...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I suspect Beulah was talking about the humidex, not the actual temperature. In any case... damn hot.

Ship Sounds

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

(I don't know how to cut and paste, or I'd have quoted your passage here.) You might try looking at the Omega Institute website, which would be nice anyway, and look for links to ambience tapes. Hm, where else... perhaps Barnes & Noble, which is bandn.com; also, perhaps Sounds True, which is a longshot but might provide some other links to explore. Good hunting! I've heard of this tape also, but can't think of where (or, possibly I actually heard it, somewhere). Aha -- just thought of one other place: Smithsonian.com, try the Smithsonian Institute's gift shop.

Re: Ship Sounds

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tips - I'll try them! They sound like interesting websites anyway. I did recall that "Singing Pebbles" bookstore on Main St. has New Age music and nature sounds CDs, but I suspect it's the usual variety - lots of Dan Gibson and aboriginal stuff, but not my boat.

To cute and paste: highlight the text you want to quote. Hit control-c (together). Put the cursor in the message window where you want the quote to go and hit control-V. Voila!

If you want to be fancy, I can tell you how to put it in italics, too. (g)

Re: Ship Sounds

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I did recall that "Singing Pebbles" bookstore on Main St. has New Age music and nature sounds CDs, but I suspect it's the usual variety - lots of Dan Gibson and aboriginal stuff, but not my boat.
----------------------------------------

Like that! And it took me only four tries!

Here's a thought: when you run out of search avenues on your own, go to Singing Pebbles and ask them -- they'll have a wider awareness of the possible points of access, no?

Thanks for the tips on cut/paste... how do I do italics?

(There was just a SNAP!!! of lightning/thunder right owverhead... lovely! Hope the storm doesn't knock out the phone lines, tho'.)

italics

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Okay, take the bit of text you want to italicise. Say....

Mon-El visited Clark Kent in Smallville.

I'll put it in square brackets, but you need to put < for [ and > for ], okay?

So type the brackets around the letter i at the beginnig of the italicized phrase:

[i]Mon-El visited Clark Kent in Smallville.

And at the end you put the same thing only you put / in front of the "i":

[/i]

So altogether it looks like:
[i]Mon-El visited Clark Kent in Smallville.[/i]

only with carats instead of square brackets.

Mon-El visited Clark Kent in Smallville.

make sense? Try it!

Tiny Budgie Gone

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I was so sorry to hear this. It must have been very hard for you. No, I can't imagine such a little one could be "ugly" -- that's such a useless word, when it comes to describing physical appearances, I think. "Odd," yes, or "surprising," but... ugly? nah.

I send you (and the little one, on its way) soothing hugs. We'll remember him.

Re: Tiny Budgie Gone

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It was sad, and disappointing. I will certainly remember him. Firds are fragile creatures - probably some sort of cosmic balance to compensate for their strong personalities.

[acampbell.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry about Budgie II. Wonder what went wrong?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry about Budgie II. Wonder what went wrong?


Maybe Wisdom just didn't have the concentration to keep two little guys fed? I don't know what went wrong, or if I could have cared for him better.