Month: January 2014

2013 in Music

In 2013, I purchased 1840 individual MP3 files (17.3GB) which is over 161 hours of material. Of that, the majority (1437 files, 14.5GB, 134 hours) is what I classify as “Spoken Word” (AKA Big Finish and other audio adventures). What with Doctor Who turning 50 in 2013, I wound up purchasing quite a few Big Finish (and BBC Audio) stories. And enjoyed pritnear all of it. 🙂 (I was also fortunate in that the audiobooks for Ben Aaronovitch‘s first three novels were on sale this year, so I bought them and they’re all well done, too.)

But, on to the music, which is what I wanted to focus on in this post. I wound up adding a couple of new genres to my mix: Zydeco and R&B. This summer at one of the Downtown Troy concerts, the folks and I enjoyed the music of Creole Stomp, so pop and I bought a couple of their CDs after the concert. The R&B (which is a very loose description as the music covers a variety of genres) is for the Janelle Monáe albums I bought.

Janelle Monáe and Fleur Mainville are probably my two favorite additions to my music collection this year. It’s great adding females to my collection and these two ladies are both gifted singers/songwriters/performers. It was thanks to a tweet by Anita Sarkeesian (of Feminist Frequency fame) that I even heard of Janelle Monáe. Turns out Monáe has been working on a story about an android who falls in love with a human and all of the excitement & adventure (including bounty hunters, zombies, etc) that entails. There’s 3 albums thus far and I’ve enjoyed all three.

While doing Yet Another Pointless search for more MacKeel stuff, I found out about their fiddler, Fleur Mainville, doing some solo albums. It didn’t take much listening for me to realize I needed to add her to my collection. Indeed, her piece “Bedlam Boys” immediately found its way into my “Most Favorites of All” playlist (5 star songs). She even has a Christmas album that I had to buy too. Heh.

Oddly enough, I only bought 2 Christmas albums this year – the other one was the Cincinnati Pops album Christmas with The Pops. Just as well – I managed to NOT get all of my Christmas music listened to this year. Maybe I’ll do better next year!

Other new albums include Daft Punk‘s Random Access Memories, the soundtrack to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (along with the Neil Finn single “Song of the Lonely Mountain”), albums by Midas Fall and My First Tooth, the songs of Kaila Picard (and I backed a crowd-sourced music video of hers, too). Oh, and thanks to the tap dancing that Amy, Rachel, and I saw this summer, Train‘s “Hey Soul Sister” had to become part of my collection. (I even bought a copy for each of the girls, too. Hey, it was on sale for only $.69 at the time and the girls are worth it – LOL – and then some!)

I have quite a few “regulars” that I always buy new albums, no matter what. Well, maybe Lady Gaga isn’t there yet, but I did finally buy Born This Way. (Well, I did love “Americano” in Puss in Boots, so it was inevitable.) Pet Shop Boys had two new albums, Ricky Martin had one, Enter the Haggis had one as well. I also got the most recent Gaelic Storm album and Garbage album.

2013 started out very well, musically, when my folks gave me money to buy Neil Innes‘ complete Recollections set for my birthday. It’s pretty obvious from my last.fm statistics that Neil is my favorite solo artist (with Kirsty MacColl coming in second). But not only is it his solo work, but also his work in The Bonzo Dog Band, The Rutles, Monty Python and GRIMMS that I love. So yeah, I had to get that compilation (which also came with a little autographed note – whee!) I’ve come a long way from hunting down rare Innes/Python/GRIMM/Bonzo albums at record collectors conventions! The things you do when you’re 16!!!

Anyhoo, a great year in music with lots of new stuff from my old favorites AND some new favorites to watch out for. 2014 has started out very strong with regards to music since I spent some Amazon gift cards on new (old) music – Hank Williams, Roger Miller, The Beach Boys – gee thanks Sirius (which mom has for her new car – heh)! Hope that 2014 is a great year of music for all of you!

2013 in Books

I had wanted to write two posts this January covering the books I’d read this year and the music I’d bought. Well, the month is quickly moving, so I’d best get a move on if I want to do this!

(I also note that today is a holiday. Happy Martin Luther King, Jr Day to all of you! May there come a time when everyone will start out at the same level playing field as each other. The cynic in me thinks “yeah right” but the optimist in me has hope.)

2013 saw a record number of books read (70, beating 2008’s 65) since I started keeping records in 2001. Here’s hoping I’ll have as successful a summer as I had last year.

New (and notable) Authors that I discovered in 2013 include Jo Nesbo, Gillian Flynn, Tamora Pierce, Hugh Howey, Alex Grecian, and Scott Lynch.

My sister got the entire family into Stieg Larsson in 2010 and has now followed it up by getting us into Jo Nesbo. His detective, Harry Hole (pronounced closer to “holy” than “hole”) is an interesting character. His female characters are often proactive and kick ass, which is nice to see. But try not to get too attached to the secondary characters – Nesbo has no qualms about offing the people we love. (The George RR Martin school of character writing, perhaps?) I am caught up with all of the Nesbo books which have been published in the US. (So still need The Cockroaches, I guess.)

Although I might someday reread the Harry Hole books, I decided that once was enough for the Gillian Flynn books that I checked out this summer. I think it was Greg McElhaton who introduced me to Gillian’s books. I started with Gone Girl and then followed up with Sharp Objects and Dark Places (all three are stand-alone books – it’s not a trilogy). Those aren’t my usual style of books (psychological drama? Not sure how to describe them) but I wanted to continue reading to find out what happened next. I think I liked Dark Places best of the three, but I’d be hard pressed to say why that was.

I love The Devil’s Panties and Jennie Breeden, the cartoonist for the series, loves Tamora Pierce books. So I decided to see if my library had any of her books electronically. I wound up checking out her Beka Cooper trilogy: Terrier (read in 2011), Bloodhound, and Mastiff. Not sure why I didn’t follow up back in 2011 after reading Terrier, but I’m glad I tried her out again. I’ve now got Alanna on order from the library to expand upon my Tamora Pierce reading. I think lately I’m just in the mood for books which either star female protagonists or at least have strong females in lead roles in books.

In addition to Jo Nesbo, my sister introduced me to Hugh Howey and his Wool Omnibus. Her library had all 5 of the novellas/novellettes separately, but mine had the omnibus. So although she discovered the series first, I finished it first. (She can wait a LONG time for books since she’s sharing them with all of Minneapolis. My books come from a larger pool of libraries and with fewer patrons. Go figure!) The first Wool story is very much of the sort of science fiction story that I think of when I think of “anthology science fiction.” And that’s actually a compliment. That he was able to take his original premise and continue it to a much bigger world was impressive.

I really got into Jago and Litefoot from Big Finish Productions this year and so Victoriana was appealing to me. No surprise, then, that I picked up The Yard by Alex Grecian. It tells of the early days of Scotland Yard and the development of the Murder Squad. I liked the characters right away and think he does a nice job with the female characters as well (though there just aren’t enough of them IMO). The Black Country was a good follow up novel and I’m looking forward to more stories with these characters.

I first heard of Scott Lynch when someone on Twitter or Tumblr had pointed to his LJ post on why he had a black female single mother who was a pirate. Hell, anyone who writes a character like that has to be in my collection! This particular character doesn’t show up until his second novel, Red Seas Under Red Skies, so I started with The Lies of Locke Lamora. Unlike the other books I mentioned above, I decided this series is more than just a “read from the library series.” I’ve only purchased the first book, but I’ll get the other two books (including the recently released Republic of Thieves) when they come out on sale. (Yeah, I’m a cheap-wad.) In addition to fascinating characters and strong females, the stories often involve some really clever sting (or several stings) which I always love to see developed (and sometimes love to see them crash and burn).

So yeah, lots of books read this year, some new authors discovered and added to my “must read more by” list. Read both of JK Rowling’s non HP books and liked them (though I preferred the mystery). Read Lord of the Flies and Ethan Frome, The World of Poo (not Pooh), Dance for the Ivory Madonna (which not only had a male black lead but also a main character who was a fat female – the titular Ivory Madonna), and A Slight Trick of the Mind (soon to be a motion picture with Ian McKellan as an elderly Sherlock Holmes). Read two of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Novellas, Ripple Effect and Nothing O’Clock. And also got two new (for me) Lois McMaster Bujold books under my belt (Spirit Ring and Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance). All-in-all, a great year for book reading!

2014 has started out very strong. Five books done thus far (though two were started before 2014 began). Have a new author for this year in my collection: Laura Lam, who’s written Pantomime and Shadowplay. Loved Pantomime so much I bought it and the sequel. Currently reading the sequel. I shall continue trolling for new authors and books via my Twitter feed and other sources, so I expect to find even more female protagonists who kick ass in 2014.

May you all enjoy reading some wonderful books this year!

Interesting Start to the Year

We were very fortunate to have a long Winter Break – two full weeks. And then Mother Nature decided that wasn’t enough. Heh. Today was our third calamity day for 2014 and the fifth for this school year. And I ain’t complaining! I love unexpected days off (and today was a particularly unexpected one).

January 2nd was a very snowy day and I got a number of photos from my folks’ veranda, one of which I’ll share below (once I pick it). So we spent the day inside and enjoyed each others’ company. (I’d originally planned to take the kitties to their annual appointment, but decided to change it to another day.) A friend of Amy’s and former student of dad’s came around despite the crappy weather (he and his family were on their way to Chicago, but decided after the drive to Troy to give it up and return to Pleasant Hill). We had a nice time visiting with them. And then mom and Amy went to the post office and dropped me off at the Chinese place so I could get us lunch. It was a lovely snowy day.

Sadly, the 3rd was Amy’s last day with us, so we spent the morning just watching her. Heh. We got her off to the airport and she arrived home safely. Her luggage took longer, but she was finally reunited with it in the late evening. I also made my way home and got to spend the weekend (and the past 3 days) with my kitties.

Well, actually, Saturday I spent the day with the parental units. Mom and I attended WeightWatchers (ouch – up 5lbs from before the holidays!) and then the three of us had breakfast at Bob Evans. Then we went to see Catching Fire (the second Hunger Games movie). Mom and I were impressed with how faithful it was to the book. Dad isn’t really a fan of this style of story. (Postapocalyptic just isn’t this thang, I guess.)

Sunday was supposed to be the next big snowstorm followed by ultra-cold temps. Well, the snowfall wasn’t all that big, then it turned to rain. Still, I spent the day making soup and baking bread. It was lovely. The ultracold temps did come and turned the wet into ice and the rain into snow. And thus school was closed Monday. And then Tuesday.

By Tuesday afternoon, I was getting cabin fever, so I put on double/triple/quadruple layers and walked to the post office. Amy’s birthday gift to me (the game Ticket to Ride) showed up. Yay! I returned home with all of my appendages doing just fine.

Last night the school called to say we would be on a 2-hour delay this morning. So this morning I was up an hour later than I normally would be, and getting ready for work. And then they called again to say that, due to poor roads, school would be closed again. Whee!

I figured the main roads wouldn’t be as bad as the country roads and by 11am, I headed off to Piqua to go watch The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug for a second time. Turns out Piqua can show it in High Frame Rate. No more going down to Fairborn for HFR! Whee! I followed it up with a late lunch at Red Lobster. I also baked my first focaccia bread today (after making the dough yesterday and letting it proof today). Photo also included below.

So anyhoo, my Winter Break is now over (probably! Hopefully the salt could finally melt the ice on the streets!) and tomorrow I can be a responsible adult again. Heh. Till then, however, I’m gonna sit in my comfy chair with my kitty (Lucy right now) and veg out. Hope y’all have had an interesting start to 2014, too!

Here are the two photos I promised!

Snow on Jan 2
The patio doesn’t look as inviting when there’s several inches of snow on the furniture!

Focaccia!
My first attempt at focaccia! It looks (and smells) wonderful!

Goodbye to my Douglas Adams Year!

On Jan 1, 1971, at 12:16am, I came into the world. So for the past year, I was 42 years old. And I often wondered, in a solipsistic way, maybe Douglas Adams’ question is something along the lines of “What age will Trina be when she …?” “How old will Trina be when …” (put in your own humorous or not-so-humorous fill-ins for the blanks). With, of course, the answer being 42. But since the universe does NOT revolve around me (I was 99.9999% sure this was the case), I got through the year with nothing untoward happening.

So anyhoo, we’ve been having a fabulous time with Amy in town. Mom and I had Baking Day on Christmas and dad worked on his Christmas toy for family members (a gragger – nice and loud and fun). Thursday (Boxing Day) I wrapped presents. Friday was the busiest day of my time off.

I started Friday morning with a doctor’s appointment. (I’m quite healthy – whee! – and 19lbs lighter than my last appt.) Then I headed off to mom & dad’s for the family gatherings. We first went to Uncle Bob’s (mom’s side) at Indian Lake. It was good to see my cousin (currently living in Texas) and her girls again. Hadn’t seen her oldest in a couple of years. We had a lovely afternoon of food and fellowship.

We then headed back home to refill on cookies and then headed off to Aunt Becky’s (dad’s side). There was even more food and fellowship there (and I was surprised that I was hungry after the Anderson gathering). We left from there to go pick up Amy at the airport.

Amy’s flight got in early, but they had some tarmac wait time. Still, we were hugging her around the time of the original arrival time. Yay! Once home we chatted for awhile before finally getting to bed.

Saturday morning was our “Christmas.” We had Egg McMikey sammiches (dad’s specialty) and opened our stockings. Then present opening occurred. We know how to do present opening! It was after noon before we finished. Heh. Lunch was hamburgers and mac&cheese.

We took a walk that afternoon since it was going to be the warmest day Amy was in town. Since it wasn’t really Christmas, Mojo’s (a local bar) was our destination. We had drinks and snacks and then tottled back home.

Sunday included lunch at Harrison’s in Tipp City with friends (we wanted to show off Amy) and then some resting and relaxing. Monday included a shopping trip to Kohl’s where I got a new watch band and a WeightWatchers approved scale for under $5 (yay Kohl’s Bucks!)

Yesterday (New Years’ Eve) I popped home to check on the kitties and then mom, Amy, and I went to the Y for a Zumba Gold class and a line dancing class. We were the only folks who showed up, so we claim that we were the best students that day. 🙂

Our evening plan was to go to The Filling Station for NYE along with mom’s BFF Debbie and her hubby, Ben. When we got there around 6:30, they asked if we had reservations. Mom had TRIED to get reservations earlier in the week but they claimed then they weren’t taking reservations since they were having a live band. Thankfully, since we didn’t want to sit on the side of the bar where the band was, they had room for us. All but dad ordered the prime rib special (which wasn’t all that special) and dad had fried shrimp.

Mom, Deb, Amy and I played games (Pass the Pig, Zombie Dice, Euchre) while we waited for 2014 to show up. Part of the cover charge fee paid for party favors and champagne. They were running out of favors when they got to us, and the champagne may not have even had grapes, let alone alcohol. Still, we graggered the new year in once midnight hit.

We returned home around 1am and then mom and I prepared for breakfast: Eggnog French Toast.

Today was my birthday (no, duh!) so we started off with a great breakfast of eggnog french toast and bacon. Mmmm! Then I got to watch my parade. Love those folks in Pasadena – they always give me a parade. Lunch was pork and kraut and mashed potatoes and apple sauce. My cousin, Patty, joined us for lunch. We then had cookies and conversation. Uncle Doug and Aunt Charlene joined us after awhile and we continued eating and chatting.

Now I’m typing this up and looking over at my birthday presents. Whee! I think we’ll get to those soon enough!

Happy New Year to all of you! May 2014 be a great year for you!