{"@attributes":{"version":"2.0"},"channel":{"title":"If I am not for myself who will be,","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/","description":"If I am not for myself who will be, - LiveJournal.com","lastBuildDate":"Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:26:06 GMT","generator":"LiveJournal \/ LiveJournal.com","image":{"url":"https:\/\/l-userpic.livejournal.com\/54331372\/5711508","title":"If I am not for myself who will be,","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/","width":"100","height":"100"},"item":[{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/27510.html","pubDate":"Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:26:06 GMT","title":"I Must Be Doing Something Right","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/27510.html","description":"Today I got told if I don't like this country then I should move to Europe. I haven't heard that statement in thirty years. The last time I heard it I was in college and having a debate with student from the MidWest about the Viet Nam War and the draft. I guess my liberal socialist views are still as volatile as ever though I never thought that being opposed to war and the damage it does and wanted to help those who need assistance were that radical. But I guess in today's American climate it is considered un American.

When I responded to this remark, I was told I was being self-righteous, condescending and offensive. I thought I was too old for this. Why did I let myself get dragged into all this new political shit??","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/27510.html?view=comments#comments","category":"politics"},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/27302.html","pubDate":"Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:11:49 GMT","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/27302.html","description":"This is already turning into a very strange day. Work is the polling place for the homeless and people are climbing over each other to either vote or get Social Services. I thought I would hide upstairs in my cubicle. BUT they are refurbishing some cubicles and we have drills and hammers going. On top of that, they are preparing for the fund raising dinner on Thursday and the color copier is going non-stop and giving off fumes that have given staff headaches for days. Now they want to know what I am going to do with the furniture that is being displaced.

Could be a good day to put on my headphones and just do mindless data entry.

On a good note...I GOT A NEW iPOD TOUCH!

I do have a good weekend to look forward to. I am off work at 3 on Friday and don't have to return until Tuesday morning. We have Veteran's Day off! Duh! Cowboy Mouth on Friday night in Petaluma. I hope <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> got the tickets. And Cowboy Mouth show on Saturday in San Francisco. I got those tickets in my bag. Definitely going to be a good weekend.
I have the tickets for Saturday's Cowboy Mouth show.","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/27302.html?view=comments#comments","category":["cowboy mouth","work"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/27027.html","pubDate":"Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:03:45 GMT","title":"COWBOY MOUTH TIME","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/27027.html","description":"It be Cowboy Mouth time. I need to buy the tickets for the show on Nov 8. Who is going? Let me know so I can get the tickets on Monday.","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/27027.html?view=comments#comments","category":"cowboy mouth"},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/26701.html","pubDate":"Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:17:41 GMT","title":"Cowboy Mouth, Cowboy Mouth, Cowboy Mouth","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/26701.html","description":"New CD Fearless is out! But I haven't gotten it yet! Its coming.

New website is awesome and they are even selling some new t-shirts.

I love Cowboy Mouth

In other news I am through with Jury Duty. He was guilty of the DUI no doubt about it. So why did he waste the tax payers money","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/26701.html?view=comments#comments","category":["cowboy mouth","jury duty"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/26480.html","pubDate":"Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:20:18 GMT","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/26480.html","description":"ARTWORK
Well the VooDoo Shoppe 12X12X12 are done. All the quilts are completed and I am just waiting for <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> to complete the photography and up loading of the pictures.

I have finished the last top that was on the dress form and my first piece from John Marshall's beautiful Japanese silk, its a scarf. Now I still have about 8 yards of this 14\" wide fabric. I've have begun a large stash bag to hold all the VooDoo Shoppe quilts and have two other scarfs started.

My donation to the SAQA auction is now up on their website. Its on page 6. And I have an idea for a new Cowboy Mouth (well really a Fred LeBlanc) quilt that is banging around in my head.


MUNDANE WORK
I'm back working full time. I have a second 1\/2 time position with my organization. Now they knew in May that this position was available. But would they confirm it....NO and would they let me keep my benefits....NO So now they have to redo all the paperwork to reinstall my benefits. But I was not qualified to be their HR person!!!

So now that I am working full time I have to find the time for all this sewing. OH Yeah, they have asked me at work is I would create a piece for their annual silent auction.","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/26480.html?view=comments#comments","category":["cowboy mouth","work","quilting","creativity"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/26324.html","pubDate":"Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:00:12 GMT","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/26324.html","description":"It has been one month since my employer decided that instead of laying me off they would provide me with a half time position. So I now work from noon to 4 or there abouts. I would prefer if I could work in the mornings and then have the afternoons to myself but I am trying to work around this.

I have disciplined myself to get up at 8 and go into the studio. I don't know if it is the schedule or that I am just in a creative place but I have completed 9 of the VooDoo Shop quilt and #10 will be completed by this evening. I have the designs for 11 and 12 in my head and hopefully by the end of the summer this series will be completed. In the mean time I have also completed two jackets and a blouse. I have a blouse sitting on the dressform waiting for me to complete it and I have promised <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> that I will make her a jacket. There is lots of left over fabric from the VooDoo Shoppe series that I would like to make in to bags.","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/26324.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/26065.html","pubDate":"Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:54:16 GMT","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/26065.html","description":"Life has taken a definite down turn. I will be losing my job soon. Don't really know how I feel about that other than paralyzed. I can't seem to think or do anything. I haven't even walked into the studio in two weeks. I seem to be walking around in a state of borderline depression.

Yes I have a roof over my head, food in the frig and a wonderful man who loves me. But I have never had to really depend on anyone else to pay my personal bills and it is making me feel uncomfortable. The feminist in me demands that I pull my own weight. So how do I do that as an unemployed woman approaching her senior years. The prospect of having to apply for jobs and go on interviews is turning my stomach. I expected those days to be over.

I don't yet know when this job will actually end. Perhaps everything will look better once I have that date.

Boy I really do feel like blowing up a wedding!","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/26065.html?view=comments#comments","category":["work","life"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/25789.html","pubDate":"Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:29:56 GMT","title":"Rejected Again","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/25789.html","description":"Well the Shekinah quilt has been rejected by the Woman Made Gallery in Chicago. Out of 195 submissions they only chose 25 and mine was not among them. Oh well I guess I just keep on keeping on and eventually get invited to something else. They tell me that after a while you get immune to the rejections but right now it doesn't feel so good.","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/25789.html?view=comments#comments","category":"exhibiting"},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/25523.html","pubDate":"Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:46:48 GMT","title":"Having a Good Year So Far","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/25523.html","description":"My work is on display! I have finally gotten it out of my studio and out to the world. And I am finding more places to get my work shown.

First, the soft sculpture box is now on display at the Latimer Textile Center http:\/\/www.latimerquiltandtextile.com\/html\/current_exhibits.html<\/a>
the interesting thing is that this show which I was honored to be in just because it was an invitational event by someone I consider a mentor has turned out to be quite the talk of the art quilt community. There is a CD-ROM of the participating pieces that will raise money for the Latimer Center and Habitat for Humanity. So I can officially say that I am published.

The second soft sculpture box which I made for the San Francisco Jewish Community Library's \"Israel at 60\" art show came out better than the first one. I used a stiffer stabilizer and it stands up much better. Of course I did less intense beading on this one. I used my \"burned\" fabric to depict pomegranates, figs and trees and they are outstanding if I do say so myself. This piece is now at the library and goes on display April 1. Opening reception is April 13, 2-4pm if anyone wants to come see the show and talk to the artists.

I am also participating in the online Count Down To Peace Calendar
http:\/\/pages.suddenlink.net\/w2la_design\/peace\/index.htm<\/a>
I'm June 7, 2003

I have found a new organization, Women's Caucus for the Arts, that I believe will be much more of a fit for me. True feminists who are actively getting women's art out into the world. They get my work and don't worry about if my corners are crisp or if my binding is done correctly or that I put my backing on after I finish quilting. I have joined the Northern CA chapter which includes members from SF and the East Bay as well as further north. I missed their last big exhibit as it opened just as I joined but I got to attend the opening and was blown away by it....WOW! Women On War. I have already said that I not only want to participate in the next exhibit but I want to work on setting it up. This will give me a great opportunity to learn about curating exhibits, something I think I will like doing. In the mean time I have submitted a piece to their exhibit to raise money for UNICEF.
http:\/\/wcaartwavesinternational.blogspot.com\/2007\/12\/stitched-then-burned.html<\/a>

And finally I got my meeting with Cowboy Mouth and although I don't think they understand what I was doing I got feedback from them and permission to use any lyrics that they own. The means I probably can't use the songs written by Poppy but that's OK there is plenty for me to use. I have now completed 6 quilts. Five are based on the original CD cover, one is of a New Orleans lamp post because Fred tells me that they are very important in representing the city. this one has a line from Crazy Bout Ya. I am going to do at least one more based somewhat on the original art work but it will vary in that I want to see if I can add a New Orleans balcony to the picture. After that I have another design with multiple lamp posts and several with just masks.

I also started a vest that I will be giving to Barbara as a 70th birthday gift. and I want to do some panels with the \"Landscape in Decay\" work on it. Lots of silk flowers and leaves.

Knitting wise I have made two purses, well one was knit and one was crocheted. I knit a pair of fingerless gloves that I love. I will definitely do more of these. I am now knitting a scarf that looks like a cobweb of tubes though it really isn't. It is taking a long time as it is thinner yarn then I am use to working with and therefore goes much slower.

I have submitted two of the Cowboy Mouth quilts to Quilting Arts Magazine's challenge for their 2009 calendar. There will be so many entries that I am sure that I don't have a chance but what the hey! I have also submitted my Shekinah quilt to the Woman Made Gallery in Chicago for an exhibit that they are doing that is open to Jewish Women. We will see!","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/25523.html?view=comments#comments","category":["art quilts","cowboy mouth","art"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/25252.html","pubDate":"Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:12:56 GMT","title":"Three Days And Counting","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/25252.html","description":"In three days, <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> will go to the Oakland airport and get on a plane to LA where we will attend a rock show ont he Sunset Strip. After the show we have to find our way (without a car) back to the home of our adorable friend <\/a>jhyanmar<\/b><\/a><\/span> and then to LAX for the return flight to SF. We will be attending the concert in SF the following night bring a group that totals about a dozen. I am hoping for a meeting with the band in San Francisco. I have quilts to show them that I have created based on their CD cover but I have not heard if and when that will happen.

But I am feeling guilty because the 'old man' is going in for an angiogram on Wednesday and will have to stay overnight in the hospital. So I am feeling like a \"bad wife\" for being excited about my trip and not showing concern for his health. I feel like to be a \"good wife\" I should give up my trip and stay home and worry about him. Now <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> ,his daughter, says I'm bring silly cause he will be fine but she has a stake in all this since it is her trip too.

Now I know he has had this procedure three times before and was fine each time but this weekend I learned about three separate acquantances who were admitted to hospital in the last week with pneumonia, one was released after several days, one died unexpectedly and one is dying. Is this and omen? I am worried about this and and feeling conflicted.

I want this week to be pure fantasy. I want <\/a>comixologist<\/b><\/a><\/span>'s arrival in California to be uneventful and that there be a good visit with the real family and that we all be able to join with her for an all Cowboy Mouth extravaganza with no down moments. I want to be happy and excited and be able to:

throw my hands in the air, find my heart, find my soul, and scream as loud as I can, and dance like my life depends upon it,

I want to not care about what's buggin me, ....... I don't want to give a damn about Wednesday and I don't want too worried about Thursday.

BUT, I can't. This is the man that I have lived with for 40 years and I should be caring about him and his health.

So what do and how to act?","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/25252.html?view=comments#comments","category":["cowboy mouth","health","love ones"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/24943.html","pubDate":"Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:11:10 GMT","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/24943.html","description":"It's been an interesting week.

I have sent out the pictures of the second VooDoo Shoppe quilt to several people. The CM manager said it was \"beautiful\" but I think that was so much platitude. I don't think they quite understand what I am doing. Not sure I know what I am doing. But there are all sorts of ideas for the quilts that are popping in my head.

Lyrics in place of the beaded rays making one for each song that I think is relevant:
Home
The Avenue
New Orleans
VooDoo shoppe
The End of Canal Street

Covering the rays with tulle
Making one with the mask as the primary focus
Doing a larger quilt and cutting it up into \"tiles\"

I have shown the quilts to several quilters even some who do not understand my work and each time I have gotten a response that tells me that they are getting emotions and feelings from the quilts. This is interesting to me as I didn't think that the quilts came out looking anything like my usual work.

Now I am told by quilters far more advanced than me that my quilts should always have an underlying essence that will show a connection to my other work and I didn't think that was true of these quilts. what seems to happen is that I start working on them and five or six hours later I pick up my head and there is a quilt almost finished.

Met for lunch on Saturday with a quilter whose opinion I value. She is not yet at that \"professional quilter\" stage though she is closer than I am and has actually begun to sell many of her works. She looked at the quilts and told me that she had no doubt that it was my work. That it isn't what I usually do but the essence of my work is definitely there and if she had to pick out my work in a gallery she would know that it was these pieces. So I guess it is going well.

This same quilter has an entry into some of the top quilters in No CA, particularly, Judith Content, president of SAQA and Therese May, one of the top named art quilters. she tells me that they are both interested in me and my work and want me to be encouraged to do more and to begin entering my work for consideration in shows at SAQA. All I know is that Therese has been very friendly to me at all the meetings I have been at with her even when this other quilter is not there. And Judith keeps looking at me when I present at a meeting the way a mother looks at her child and is approving of how I preformed. At the last SAQA meeting she did not butt in on anyone's presentation but when I presented she spoke up and asked me to tell the group about John Marshall. That floored me...these were fiber people... how would they not know the ultimate expert in all things Japanese Fiber. But when I finished telling these people what I know of John, Judith just leaned back and shaking here head and smiled at me like I had just passed the ultimate test.

This coupled with the comment made by Kevin and Andrew, the costume con guys to <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> that her mother was \"on the cutting edge of brilliant.\" This is making my head spin.

I plan to send the photos of the VooDoo Quilts to Marion Coleman and Joanell and see their response.","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/24943.html?view=comments#comments","category":["art quilts","saqa"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/24781.html","pubDate":"Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:45:18 GMT","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/24781.html","description":"Got paid today and so I will be purchasing tickets for the Cowboy Mouth Concert. Show is December 14 at the Independent in San Francisco. I will buy tickets for <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> , <\/a>comixologist<\/b><\/a><\/span>, lucy me and the old man. I don't think anyone other than Lucy is planning to pay me back. Everyone else should go to http:\/\/www.independentsf.com\/<\/a> to get their tickets.

Cowboy Mouth will be performing at the Roxy in LA the night before so anyone in that area should check them out. They are also going to be at Crystal Bay Casino in Nevada on Saturday night. I'd really like to get a road trip going. Lucy will say she has to stay home because of the new cat so she is out. We promised to have <\/a>comixologist<\/b><\/a><\/span> back to her mom's on the 15th and it might cause problems if we don't but I really want to do this. I wonder if <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> would pay for these tickets if we do pull this off. After all I would have to pay for a hotel room (if we can find one). I don't know if the old man would agree to drive 3 1\/2 hours for Cowboy Mouth. (Rolling Stones yes but Cowboy Mouth not yet) If <\/a>comixologist<\/b><\/a><\/span> came along she could help with the driving and that might get him to agree. I wonder if there is snow on those roads??? We will have to work on this.

I have completed two of the VooDoo Shoppe quilts. The first quilt didn't come out looking the way I wanted but it became the \"beta\" version on which I tried out several techniques to see if they would work. The second came out awesome. The time and energy it took to do the embroidery on the water soluble stabilizer was well worth the time. And the lamp structure was much more realistic. I am SO much happier with it. I will be making another one on orange fabric which I hope will come out well enough for me to submit it to Quilting Arts for their 2009 calendar challenge.

I am hoping to meet with the band when they are in town and I plan to ask for permission to use some lyrics in some of the other versions. I want to make between 10 and 15 of these at 12\" square and then put them together with a border that is embroidered with Fred's \"rant\" (see previous entry).

However, this weekend I have to begin working on my piece for the annual Jewish library piece. If I do a box that will be 6 individual quilts in one and that will take time which I don't have as they usually want pictures by the end of December. I need to decide if the Israeli flag will be on the front or the inside. Right now I am leaning towards the inside.



<\/lj>","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/24781.html?view=comments#comments","category":["art quilts","cowboy mouth","plans for the coming year"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/24150.html","pubDate":"Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:07:42 GMT","title":"Cowboy Mouth","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/24150.html","description":"Cowboy Mouth is coming to town!  Friday, December 14.  Its official, the Independent has put it up on their website.  Tickets go on sale this Sunday.  <\/b><\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> says that she wants this as her birthday celebration. <\/b>

So whose joining us?   I think we can actually get Poppa to come so we areprobably 4 at this moment.  If \"[info]\"<\/a>koala_motchi <\/u><\/b><\/a>
can get into San Francisco in time I will add her to my purchase list.  There will be room in the inn for more out of town guests as Grandma will probably not be coming into town until the next week. 

I am busy working on my VooDoo Shoppe art quilt series and hope to have at least two done by the time they get into town.  I am planning on asking for a private audience with CM to show them what I have done.

You're seeing Cowboy Mouth from New Orleans, Lousiana tonight.  And that means one thing and one thing only, throw your hands in the air, find your heart, find your soul and scream as loud as you can and dance like your life depends upon it.  Because tonight ladies and gentlemen you life does depend on it.  Are you with me?  On the count of four, I don't care what's buggin ya, I don't care what's bringin ya down, I don't give a damn about yesterday and I aint to worried about tomorrow.  The only thing that matters is right here and right now....Are you with me?<\/font><\/b>
<\/blockquote>","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/24150.html?view=comments#comments","category":"cowboy mouth"},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/23840.html","pubDate":"Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:28:08 GMT","title":"Just Wanted to See If I had Read Many of These","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/23840.html","description":"From <lj user\"koala_motchi\">

These are the top one-hundred-six books most often marked as \u201cunread\u201d by LibraryThing\u2019s users. As usual, bold what you have read, italicise what you started but couldn\u2019t finish, and strike through what you couldn\u2019t stand. Add an asterisk to those you\u2019ve read more than once. Underline those on your to-read list.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina<\/b>
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22<\/b>
One Hundred Years of Solitude*
Wuthering Heights<\/b>
The Silmarillion<\/i>
Life of Pi : A Novel
The Name of the Rose<\/b>
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey<\/b>
Pride and Prejudice*
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities*<\/b>
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
War and Peace<\/b>
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler\u2019s Wife
The Iliad<\/b>
Emma*<\/b>
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations<\/b>
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged<\/i>
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha<\/b>
Middlesex<\/b>
Quicksilver
Wicked : the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West<\/i>
The Canterbury Tales*<\/b>
The Historian : A Novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man<\/b>
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World<\/b>
The Fountainhead<\/i>
Foucault\u2019s Pendulum
Middlemarch<\/b>
Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus
The Count of Monte Cristo<\/b>
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange<\/i>
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King*<\/b>
The Grapes of Wrath*<\/b>
The Poisonwood Bible : A Novel
1984*<\/b>
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility*<\/b>
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park<\/b>
One Flew over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest*<\/b>
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D\u2019Urbervilles
Oliver Twist*<\/b>
Gulliver\u2019s Travels*<\/b>
Les Mis\u00e9rables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay<\/b>
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Dune<\/i>
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela\u2019s Ashes : a Memoir
The God of Small Things
A People\u2019s History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse Five<\/i>
The Scarlet Letter<\/b>
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon*<\/b>
Oryx and Crake : A Novel
Collapse : How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
The Confusion
Lolita<\/b>
Persuasion*<\/b>
Northanger Abbey<\/u>
The Catcher in the Rye<\/b>*
On the Road*<\/b>
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : An Inquiry into Values<\/b>
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity\u2019s Rainbow
The Hobbit*<\/b>
In Cold Blood : A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield<\/b>
The Three Musketeers<\/b>","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/23840.html?view=comments#comments","category":["books","reading"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/23578.html","pubDate":"Mon, 01 Oct 2007 01:03:06 GMT","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/23578.html","description":"Been an interesting weekend.

I spent most of Saturday working on the VooDoo Shoppe quilt and I really don't like the way it is coming out. Good thing I want to do 9-12 versions cause I have already started and stopped 2. But I think I have to start over again. It is just not coming out the way I expected.

Took <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> to the optician to finish her eye exam. Her pressures are 16 and 17 and the doctor said don't worry about it until it gets to 22, but Alvarado would never let my pressures go above 14 and hits the ceiling when mine get near the 20's and I've had several eye surgeries for this.

The good news is I go a new pair of glasses. Round, plaid tortoise shell that <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> says makes me look like Harry Potter. Well Harry with blond hair. I now have two pairs of glasses that are so very different from each other that they make the kind of statement I have always wanted my glasses to make. And Steve paid for these. Thank You Steve!

I spent all of today on-line doing my driving school. Stupid studies and a very stupid test but I got 85% so who cares. Yep, I got a ticket. Went thru a red light 7 seconds after it turned red cause the car in front of me was slow in making its left turn and I got caught on the camera. 7 seconds cost me more than $400. I hope the city of San Francisco uses that money wisely!

OK so now that is done I have to go back to figuring out what is wrong with the quilt and how to do it over.","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/23578.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/23427.html","pubDate":"Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:19:03 GMT","title":"5768","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/23427.html","description":"I have the beginnings of a cold not the best way to start Yom Kippur. Fasting sick sucks! But I get a Cowboy Mouth concert call tonight.

But I'm late with this years New Year's wishes so here goes.

May you all be inscribed and sealed in the book of life for sweet year.

To any and all who I may have offended over the past year, I am terribly sorry and I will try and do better in the coming year. I continue to strive to be better adapt socially but the years seem to be moving much too fast for me.

But I keep trying.","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/23427.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/22916.html","pubDate":"Thu, 19 Jul 2007 21:47:58 GMT","title":"Bits and Pieces in My Life","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/22916.html","description":"They tell me that most young women don't like their mothers. So what happened with me? Did I do something right or something wrong. Is <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> suppose to like me or hate me? Cause I think she likes me. We seem to be getting along really well of late. (Did I just jinks it by talking about it?) Of course she still tells me that when I am really old she will not take me into her home....she's going to put me in an old age home and never visit. But I think that is just a threat.

<\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> took me to have my ears pierced for my birthday. I now have 7 holes in my ears and the left ear is driving me crazy. I think I am irritating it with the headset from my iPod but I can't give it up. I am so itching for new earrings.

I did get my glasses finally but they couldn't do the lenses the way I wanted. So now I have two square lenses with minimal orange and red frames. I still find myself taking off my glasses to read but that may be just habit.

I have a new pain! By mid-day every day I get a numbing feeling and then severe pain in my left hip. From experience I suspect that it is some type of nerve damage but I'm not sure. Guess I will have to as the Doctor when I see her next. In the meantime there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it except crawling into bed at about 5pm and lay flat on my side for an hour or so. Painkillers seem to have no effect on this. Interestingly, my knees have not been giving me much trouble. I guess my body can only handle one severe pain at a time. By about 3 everyday I can barely work. Getting old is a BITCH. someone please shoot me and put me out of this misery.

I have been working for the last 5 months on a soft sculpture for the show that Larkin Van Horn is curating in Oregon next year and it is now finished. Proud that I could actually do this on the first try although it is having some issues about standing up straight. After all the manipulations that it had to go thru for me to sew all the quilt lines, appliques, bindings and beads it isn't quite as stiff as it started out. but since the design has a big hole at the top, I have been able to stuff it with tissue paper and that has helped it to stand up. It is a stylized version of a charity box. You know the boxes you see on cashier's counter that you put coins in for some good cause. This one is used to raise money to plant trees in Israel. Since the show is \"Proud to Be Green\" I figured that it was a good concept. It took hours to bead it. I truly hate doing beading but nothing beats beading for impact and it looks fabulous. Don't know if I can put a picture on LJ as Larkin may not want the items to have been published before. She is in the midst of moving so I will have to wait before asking.

Cowboy Mouth was suppose to do a tour in California but it seems to have been cut back to only LA. Boy am I bummed. In addition, we had been considering going on a cruise in January where they are preforming but Jana has sent us a note about reserving a hotel room for her kid's bar mitzvah. Does your niece's son's bar mitzvah trump an anniversary trip on the Simple Man Cruise? I guess so. Bummer! Guess there will be no special celebration of our 37th anniversary. All the money will be spent on the f--king bar mitzvah. Boy I am feeling old and so tired of doing the right thing all the time. When is is my turn to do what I want!","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/22916.html?view=comments#comments","category":["cowboy mouth","life in general","quilting"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/22685.html","pubDate":"Fri, 25 May 2007 20:47:42 GMT","title":"Memorial Day Weekend","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/22685.html","description":"In one 1\/2 hour I get to leave work and have a four day + weekend. And this is my birthday weekend. I turn 61 on Tuesday. (When did I get that old!)

What will I do this weekend? I have no idea. <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span>'s friend <\/a>nobody_674<\/b><\/a><\/span> is moving out of the house that <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> moved out of three months ago. The roommates don't want me or <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> there helping him move but what the H--l it is my birthday weekend and I can do what I want, them's the rules of birthdays. So we will see what we can do. Ooohh, I might piss some people off. I'm just in the mood.

Other than that there seems to be no plans at all for my weekend. What I really want is my new glasses but I am not going to get them. And Cowboy Mouth is not playing anywhere near enough to do a road trip. So just about anything else will have to do. Hey <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> lets go buy earrings or maybe we should just get some new piercing. What'ca think? Unless you have a better idea. I want to do something that won't make me feel \"Old, Blind and Feeble\"","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/22685.html?view=comments#comments","category":"birthdays"},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/22384.html","pubDate":"Thu, 24 May 2007 23:19:32 GMT","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/22384.html","description":"Ordered new glasses this weekend. Was having a tough time because I really didn't like anything. Then I found the rimless frames. Something I have never been able to get because my lenses have always been too thick. But not anymore. Lets hear it for modern science. So I have created a pair of glasses that have thrown the Optical store into confusion. I am getting one round lens and one square lens with red and orange temples and bridge. I think that it will certainly make people stop and think. <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> says that I need to have the round lens tinted red and the square one green because some indie comic character has glasses like that. Don't think that is my style. Now I just want to get them already. I really want them for this long weekend so I am praying that they will be ready by tomorrow.

<\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> says she is doing research on places to get additional piercings in my ears but I don't know if that is going to be my birthday present or not. If it is I'd really like to get it done on early this weekend so that I can have the rest of the weekend to have them heal without having to worry about answering phones.

Damn, my hip is still bothering me. I thought it would have stopped by now. I'm getting use to my new desk space but it is definitely too quiet up here. There is more of a feminine energy up here. I guess I just got use to the macho atmosphere of the downstairs where the clients and most of the staff are veterans.

Have to work late tonite as there is a graduation and I always go to these events and would be missed if I don't show. Totally forgot about it this morning and am really not dressed properly for the event. Oh well!

I get off two hours early tomorrow and I am taking off Tuesday as it is my birthday but I really have nothing planned.","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/22384.html?view=comments#comments","category":["swords","work","birthday"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/22204.html","pubDate":"Thu, 17 May 2007 22:55:27 GMT","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/22204.html","description":"Spent the last two days sorting boxes and boxes of office supplies. The supplies have all been sorted and stored. Mostly it is stuff we really don't need. Although Swords now has enough paper clips and binder clips to last the next five years. Amazing.

Bending and reaching and lifting, I have thrown my hip into distress. I AM IN PAIN and this is the third day. I can barely sit in my office chair. I would go home but I used up all my sick time with the eye surgery and my boss is MIA at the moment so I can't get any sympathy. In actuality there is no one in this part of the office today. The Grant Manger is out on vacation and all of Development is out sick. Jong, our IT is out fixing stuff and as I said the boss is MIA. It is unbearably quiet. The good news is that I found an on line radio station that I really like, Pioneer Radio. They even play Cowboy Mouth. Works for me.

I have my new prescription and I am going to order new glasses on Saturday. Although, they say that they may have to change the prescription again in two or three months. These will be my first new glasses in a several years. I want to get something really different. I am feeling my age, as I usually do at this time of year just weeks before my birthday, and I want to do things to make me look less like a \"old, blind and feeble old lady.\" The staff here say that they don't believe that I am going to be 61 but I look in the mirror and I definitely see my mother. Not a good sign.

It is a fine line between trying to look fresher and more \"with it\" and looking stupid 'cause I am trying to be too young. So the reddish hair color and the haircut are working but clothing is difficult. Everything looks entirely too old fashion and I am too old to wear my jeans on my hips, I may even be too old to be wearing jeans but I don't know what else to wear. I am certainly too old for the shorter tops that expose skin every time I raise my arms.

Oh I never posted about Mother's Day. It was great. Thank you <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> you made it special. I know that I forced you to spend way too much on The Dinner Party but I think that you looked through the book. I love my Freddy Frog and he cheers me whenever I pick up my head from my keyboard. But best of all was <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span>'s music file. Blew me away. That was awesome! (Anyone curious as to what I am talking about check out <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span>'s posting of 5\/13. I am very lucky to have such an offspring, even if all lunch foods were missing from the frig this morning. I know that I lucked out on the important stuff.","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/22204.html?view=comments#comments","category":["age","mother's day","work","pain"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/21874.html","pubDate":"Fri, 11 May 2007 22:21:08 GMT","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/21874.html","description":"So they cut open my eye and put in a new prescription lens. But they can't give me a new prescription for my glasses for another few weeks so I'm back at work with blurry vision. Headaches and vertigo prevail!

I arrived at work on Monday and found that they had moved my desk to the second floor. I miss the testosterone flooded environment of the first floor. Lots of macho men to do every little thing this \"little old lady wants done\". I feel more exposed up here, and so much further away from the clients. It is so quiet up here.

They want me to organize the office supplies and I am finding that each department has been hoarding stuff. Stuff is beginning to show up in my file room already even though I don't have the furniture to store it.","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/21874.html?view=comments#comments","category":["swords","work"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/21757.html","pubDate":"Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:49:35 GMT","title":"Panic Attack","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/21757.html","description":"I started this morning with a panic attack. I couldn't get an answer from the ol' man so I called <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span>. Now I know that a mother is not suppose to lean on her children for these type of things but I was not thinking straight. I seem to have my annual blues. I am feeling very old. My body has begun one of its breakdown modes. The arthritis in my feet has acted up and this is making me have difficulty and pain when walking. I also have a cold which is causing coughing spells and not allowing me to sleep for a number of days. All this is being complicated by the fact that I am suppose to have cataract surgery on my eye tomorrow. If I cough during the surgery I could destroy my eye. I am being told that if I need to cough during surgery (yes I will be awake) I have to tell the doctors, they will remove all instruments from my eye allow me to cough and then put the instruments back. Huh?

They also tell me that I have a chance of getting an infection in my eye. I have to put two different antibiotic drops in my eye for the next two days and wash my body with an antibacterial soap before the surgery. I know that this is only the \"what ifs\" that they have to tell you about but I am panicking that I will be the one in a thousand who will get the infection. Oh and they also said that while removing the lens it could fall back into the eye and adhere to the retina requiring additional surgery. Nice!!

Things are even more complicated in that because of the surgery, I can't take any pain killers. I can barely walk or drive the car.

Oh and the frosting on the cake is that my iPod is acting strange. It doesn't seem to want to hold a charge and it froze this morning. Why now? My only hope is that if I let it run down and then plug it into the charger it will revise itself. Please!!!

I need to go find a dark place to have a crying fit.","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/21757.html?view=comments#comments","category":"aging"},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/21462.html","pubDate":"Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:56:29 GMT","title":"Making My Day","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/21462.html","description":"The Brooklyn Museum is opening a wing especially established to display work of Feminist Artists. How cool is that. Someone has endowed them with the money for this specific purpose. They will be opening a Global Feminist Art exhibit on March 23. On that same day they will be opening up the PERMANENT exhibit of the Judy Chicago Dinner Party. After a 30 year struggle this monumental art installation will finally have a permanent home. YES!!!

(OK so I admit that I am an old 2nd wave feminist. I say this loud and proud.)

And Judy Chicago will be at the Brooklyn Museum on March 24 for a dialog. Oh how I wish I could be there for that. But now the decision would have to be Judy Chicago and the Dinner Party in Brooklyn, NY or Freddy and Cowboy Mouth in San Francisco. No, <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> you don't have to worry I will be practical and stay in San Francisco for Freddy.

But oh how my heart says go to NYC. And that is interesting as I have not had the desire to return to my roots in a very long time. I have been feeling like there was nothing left for me in Brooklyn and then this comes along.","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/21462.html?view=comments#comments","category":["brooklyn","cowboy mouth","nyc","judy chicago","the dinner party"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/21087.html","pubDate":"Mon, 12 Mar 2007 23:12:58 GMT","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/21087.html","description":"Spent two hours this morning waiting for the doctors to get it together. I finally had to tell them to just make a decision and give me a date for the surgery. Just amazing, they're the ones who four months ago said it had to happen and they needed the time to figure out scheduling all of the necessary doctors. But I get there today when they were suppose to schedule it and sit down and discuss it with me and they look at me like I'm nuts. Jeez, even my file consisted of ten pieces of paper rather than 24 years of examinations. Get it together folks or I might not let you cut open my eyes one more time. And of course the Big Shot Glaucoma Specialist still doesn't know when he's in town. Are you a physician or a tourist??? OK Jorge, you know that I love you and would let anyone else puncture or cut my eyes but you. I know that it is the joy of your life to get to do that....especially to me.

So I guess I get to do all the things that I wanted to do but had put on the back burner until I found out about the surgery date (which is scheduled for April 25 by the way). Cowboy Mouth concert, Marcy Tilton at PenWAG (but her workshops are all filled!) I had signed up for Judith Content's workshop at PenWAG in May...hope I will be well enough to be able to get down to Saratoga for that event.

Haven't been sleeping well and am always tired and not interested in work at all. But work is not letting me go. I have posted 6 new jobs in the last week. I usually only post one a month or so. I guess I know what they are planning on doing with the $1.6 million that they got from an anonymous donor. They even tell me that they will be moving me upstairs to be with the rest of Administration. But I like working in the middle of Emergency Central. Homeless Vets screaming cause they don't know how to talk in doors is so much more stimulating than the \"dead silence\" of administrative types. Since I won't be walking in the front door, I wont be climbing over \"the guys\". First I move out of the position at Treasure Island where I had daily direct contact with residents, to Emergency Central where the vets all know the \"crazy old lady who drives a Cruiser with a stick\" to where I will have little or no contact with the clients. OH well, my job description does say Operation Management and HR not Client Services.

End of my day and I am out of here.....","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/21087.html?view=comments#comments","category":["eyes","doctors","work"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/20923.html","pubDate":"Wed, 28 Feb 2007 21:36:31 GMT","title":"The VA Has Made A Decision","author":"dragon_momma","link":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/20923.html","description":"So is money a good enough reason to hang on to the ol' man? I wonder. I suppose he is harmless enough and certainly is very helpful around the house. So what if he has fallen in to the patterns of a \"grumpy ol' man\". Maybe now that the VA has approved him for at least a 50% disability and he will be getting extra money each month he won't be quite so grumpy. Now all he needs is a room of his own. with <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> returning home he's lost his family room again and it is a little too cold for him to hang out in the garage.

Hey <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span> I think you might be getting that new laptop sooner rather than later.

With the goddess doll and the red hearts done I guess I can't procrastinate any longer and am going to have to get started on that 3D piece. Don't know what is stopping me.

Must remember to record ANTM tonite before I go out or I will miss the first episode. How did I ever get started on this inane show. Curses <\/a>ryuutchi<\/b><\/a><\/span>","comments":"https:\/\/dragon-momma.livejournal.com\/20923.html?view=comments#comments","category":["money","family"]}]}}