Sunday, May 28, 2006

Oh, the pressure!

I've been told I must update. Umm.... what's the haps?

Yesterday went to a party at Stacey's. She's looking pretty good considering she got konked in the head with a baseball bat last Monday. Yep.

Tori and Audra were practicing their swings close to where Stacey was bending over working on fixing a piece of equipment. Somehow their positions shifted a bit and Stacey's head ended up within Tori's range. She caught it on her forehead just above her right eye. She was lucky it didn't get her in the nose or eye socket. But it did give her a concussion and a nasty shiner. She's supposed to be taking it easy but that's not her style. It's Memorial Day weekend after all.

It was a fun party. Mostly their friends from softball so there were a ton of kids there. After a great dinner we all played softball, kids against adults. They whooped us. We left not too long after the game ended. I talked to Stacey this morning and she said the party lasted until about 11:30. Long day!

Jim and I have been workiing on getting the workshop cleaned up and organized. We're s l o w l y getting things moved into the trailer. There's just way too much crap to go through. We put this off for too long. But it feels good to get things moving.

I've been practicing the uke a lot lately and I'm showing some improvement. Jim bought a pickup for it so now I'm amplified. Oh yeah! Right now it just sticks on the outside but we're going to install it permanently on the inside. I really like how it sounds. Jeff sent me some great sites that have a lot of songs and chord progressions. I've been spending a lot of time on those.

Tonight I'm going to open mike. I don't think I'll perform, though. I'll just go to listen and hang out with the Odiens. Tomorrow Stacey and Brendan are coming over. I'm going to help B make a dragon for a school project.

Ok, Kyle, how's that?

11 comments:

vivage said...

Thank you Kyle for riding her butt to update!

Poooooor Stacy, my eyes are watering just thinking about getting smacked in the head with a baseball bat. Owie.

Maybe you'll have to join the Canarys with your uke playin?

Donita Curioso said...

I didn't join them. I watched from the audience and was very impressed. They sounded great!

Yesterday Paige went to a Yamato drum corps practice. They're having their version of band camp this weekend. Yamato is one of those elite drum corps. I don't know much about it. She wants to join up and go on their tour this summer. That's about $2300. EEK! But it would be a really cool thing. It just might not happen this year. Last night she spent the night with them. When I dropped off her stuff she told me she really liked the whole attitude of the group. Much more mature and professional than highschool band. She said the music is pretty hard. I'd love for her to be able to participate but that's a chunk of change. We'll see.

Today Stacey and B came over to start the dragon project. We sat outside in the side yard and sculpted under the jacaranda tree. Brendan is a bundle of boy energy. Trying to get him to sit still and stay focused was a challenge at times. Still, he did really well. We got a good start on the dragon. Tomorrow I'm taking everything to their house to work on it some more.

Today is our 24th wedding anniversary. That's 24 years married, 33 years together. Tonight we're going to go out for dinner. Happy Anniversary, Jim! I love you!

vivage said...

What's the dragon project?

Man, you guys have been together a long time! I thought we were a long time couple! 20 yrs married and 27 together.

Only you guys, Lanny and Robin (remember Lanny?) and us have been together for decades. All of our other friends are mere babes in the woods in terms of staying together.

Donita Curioso said...

Yeah, I remember Lanny. He was a doll.

I really love the fact that Jim and I have been together for so long. I love having so much shared history.

The dragon project. Sounds sinister. The Dragon Project starring Clint Eastwood and Lucy Liu. Or it could be a Chinatown revitalization project. No, my 8-year-old nephew is doing a report on dragons. I'm helping him make one out of air-dry clay. It's about 18" long. We spent a lot of time making the wire armature. I did most of it but B really jumped in there and did some wiring. Then we covered it with the clay. It was hard finding a way to balance the whole thing. It really wants to take a nosedive. Tomorrow we'll add a second layer of clay and sculpt the finer features. Wednesday we'll paint. We also made a nest with eggs and some chunks of meat. Apparently the dragons cover their eggs with meat and breathe fire on it to cook it. The meat keeps the eggs warm and when the babies hatch they eat it. They have to eat the meat or they won't acquire the ability to fly.

I'd never worked with air-dry clay before. I really like it. It has a nice texture and it stays workable for just the right amount of time. I'd like to do a little experimenting with this stuff.

Jim said...

I love you too, Sweetie!

vivage said...

Very cool that you have a nephew who's an expert on dragons. The makings for a fine Fantasy reader later! So it's the meat and not the mate that keeps the eggs warm! Learn something every day!

Donita Curioso said...

Whew! The dragon is done. It took 4 days. The air-dry clay didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. It's just not strong enough to make a piece that big. The legs flexed too much and the clay cracked. I had a roll of Rigid-wrap so I covered the dragon with it. Rigid-wrap is gauze impregnated with plaster of Paris, the same stuff they use for casts. It worked really well. I sculpted the finer features out of clay and then covered them with Rigid-wrap to secure them.

Yesterday we painted the dragon. I barely had enough red paint to cover the whole thing. But it's done and it looks pretty good. Just don't bump his horns and teeth. They may fall out.

My ukulele is wired! Jim installed the pick-up permanently. I really like how it sounds. I've been practicing a lot and I'm getting better at making difficult chord changes. The fingertips on my left hand are numb.

The director of the Yamato group told Paige her fees could be waived if Jim and I go along on the tour and help with the driving and the cooking. Um...ok... We'll look into it. Tomorrow is another practice so I'll go down there and get all the details. I don't think Jim will want to do it but I probably will. It will be a 3 week marathon multi-state tour. It's big chunk of the summer but I'd be happy to do it if it means she can participate.

Tonight we're going to a comedy show in L.A. Jim has a gig tomorrow, Kyle is coming here on Sunday for band practice. He's bringing Spiral with him. The kitty boy's gonna get tutored.

Donita Curioso said...

Hey, neato! She hasn't ordered any in a while. I guess sales have slowed down. We just got another order from a store in Napa. Not exactly rakin' in the big bucks but it's better than nuthin'.

The tour starts the last week in July. Yeah, Dean, you're right. It's a good deal. All other expenses would be paid. It would be a lot of work but I think it'll be fun. When I take Paige to practice I'll talk to the director and get all the details.

The show we saw tonight was Acker and Blacker's Thriling Adventure and Supernatural Suspense Hour. It was pretty fun but I like the Trucker show better. It was presented as a radio show with the actors all holding scripts. Andy Paley wrote the songs (great songs!) and directed the band. Gruber was in it, too (with his clothes on). They always have a different line-up of actors and tonight the cast included Andy Richter. Afterward we went out to the House Of Pie with Andy and Gruber. Another fun night.

It's late!

Brother Atom Bomb of Reflection said...

You know, your responses to your comments are as long as some of your blog entries. I'm just sayin' that you could post them as blog entries, even though they seem more like responses to comments to you.

qsssb--how a snack cracker feels when it has a cold

Donita Curioso said...

I know, I know, I know...

vivage said...

I love Andy Richter.