Chicken Butt

Squeal piggy squeal

Nephew the First (NtF) was diagnosed this morning with swine flu. My sister brought him to the doctor for his cough. Poor kid has bronchitis and tested positive for the flu. Ever since her call I’ve been very aware of the throat and lungs. I call it psychosomatic, but maybe hypochondriac is more accurate. I only saw him for about 90 minutes on Sunday and we didn’t cuddle.

I really want to buy him a piggy bank or Webkin pig or something swine-y. Also, if my other nephews make it through without catching it I should make them “My brother had swine flu and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!” shirts.

Are you suggesting that coconuts migrate?

It must be time to watch Holy Grail again. The phrase “unladen swallow” has been buzzing in my head since last night. I think the DVD is in my possession. On my birthday I got a box full of movies I loaned out three years ago. All very good movies I recommended to a friend for a solo trip to Hawaii. They were stolen during a flight between islands. I was thrilled to have them back and have watched all except Crash, Elf and The Ref since their return*. I had lamented their absence on many occasions. I was especially happy to rewatch The Station Agent, Four Feathers and The Fifth Element. Should I admit something? (We’re all friends here right?) I now have two copies of XXX (with Vin Diesel)**. It was on sale and I needed it. Would someone like my extra copy?

In other news, a co-worker has discovered the joy that is xkcd. I saw him walking down the hall with a printout and he was itching to share. There is something joyful in xkcd, even at it’s most cynical.

* I still feel a bit of a twat for agreeing to replacements, but it was ~ 13 movies. Only one they could not locate and I said not to bother was History of Violence. Of course I saw it at B&N last week and now have an itch to see it again. I’ll have to Netflix it. (Possible future post: Why is it that LoTR actors are stunning in LoTR and never quite so good in other films? Is it the story? The cinematography? The director? Viggo is lovely as Aragorn and okay in everything else. I do adore Karl Urban in Star Trek though. He is such a good Bones.)

** How can I love a movie with such horrid dialog? Memorable Quotes page on Monty Python movie makes me chuckle and want to watch again right now. The Memorable Quotes on XXX makes me uncomfortable and ashamed of how much I enjoy it.

More thoughts on writing versus Writer

I thought about my sporadic urge to be a writer quite a bit this weekend.

I also want to work on the production crew of a major movie some time. I want to do a job to get my names in the credits, like Assistant to the Assistant PA or set building. I’d love to see what it is really like to make a movie. But I'm not going to move to LA or Montreal and try to break into the movie business. I want Oprah to grant me a wish so I can take a six month sabbatical from my real life and be a movie production grunt for a while. I think I want to be a writer in the same way. "Poof!" I'm a writer, I'll just pound out this novella and wrap it all up nice and tidy in a few months, get published and then, "Poof!" back to real life. Which is ridiculous, of course it is. I’m not even sure the published part is really important. I’m always drawn to the NaNoWriMo event, and that isn’t about publishing, it is about finishing a novel. I know this, but I love reading so much, I want to participate in the whole scene, not just the audience role.

One thing that attracts me to writing is the process of critique and discussion of the craft. I get excited about writing workshops and stories about mentors. It makes me homesick for the good parts of being a painting major. Chatting with a teacher at the studios about broad concepts and specific techniques was lovely. Critiques were great if I had finished my piece and wasn’t ashamed of myself for extreme procrastination. It would be so cool to go back to that environment now, with better discipline and an appreciation for that freedom and opportunity.

That might be the key: nostalgia. I read a lot of blogs by writers about writing. I read a lot of craft blogs too, but haven’t found many artists’ blogs. Actually, I have a lot of artist blogs bookmarked, but isn’t much activity on them or they are badly written or boring to me. Maybe I’ve glommed onto writers because they are there, active, well-spoken and entertaining.

I want to be a writer (Or Navel-gazing again)

I read a lot about writing today. The Morning News has an essay by a student of Annie Dillard and two related links in the links in the Weekend Edition of Headlines:

1. Annie Dillard and the Writing Life by Alexander Chee
2. Becoming a Writer by Junot Diaz
3. Why I Write by Stephen Elliott

When I read essays like these I want to be a writer. I want to learn to craft words that change how people perceive their world. There are so many things wrong with that ambition I’m not sure where to start:

• I don’t know much about technicalities of writing. I looked up gerunds while reading the Chee piece. I have to think twice about what adverbs are and cannot diagram a sentence. I remember my sixth grade English classroom and taking my turn at the board to make marks around sentences. I even remember that it wasn’t very difficult. I just don’t remember what any of it means. I could fix this. I could read some books about it.
• Writers write. Usually from an early age writers write out their hopes and fears. Writers write no matter what. It is a persistence compulsion. This is not me. I wish this was me.
• When I read about technical business of writing (narrative voice, structure, moving time) I lose enjoyment of reading.
• When I try to think of a story I’m blank. Maybe I could write non-fiction. I like to research things. I’m not very good at follow-through. I’ve started to write out details and results from my hunts for assorted information. Most of those posts never make it past draft status. Does anyone want to know what I learned about making pettiskirts (with source links)? Maybe when I get some pictures of my attempts I’ll fill it out with that info.

I think my craving to “be a writer” is just another way I’m looking for complements.  I have sometimes been casually praised for my writing and I want more. I want to turn a slight talent into a gift, into genius. Freshman year my teacher Peter told me he liked one little swirl on a painted sketch for a project in Drawing 101. I became a painting major on the strength of the one complement. (This is a slight exaggeration, but still true. I was disillusioned by Graphic Design and the Photography department was a political nightmare. There was also no portfolio was required to become a painting major. They took anyone.)

What I want is to be a great writer without putting in the work that must be done to get there. Once again reality puts the damper on desire. THPTPTH!*

So where does that leave me? Same place I started but with a belly-lint filled post on writing.  I’ll continue to live vicariously through Karen (You rock star!) and write here on Chicken Butt and live my life. I know my writing has improved since I started this blog. I don’t think I slip into a writerly voice anymore. I could still use a better editor than myself but who couldn't?

Oh, and go read the linked essays above if you haven’t done so. Especially the first and third.

*This is a Bill The Cat style razzberry. Calvin & Hobbes style adds a B: THBPBPTHPT!

Knock wood

Halloween costumes are in progress. So far I’m on track (I think). Three weekends left before school parades and H day. My goal is to finish all costumes on time without pulling any all-nighters.
Status:

Pirate vest: In Progress - needs buttonholes and buttons
Pirate pants: In Progress - needs waist elastic stitched, leg elastic waiting for boot cover completion
Pirate boot covers: Not Started
Pirate shirt: Not Started – considering buying adult pattern instead of altering child pattern
Pirate head scarf: Not Started
Snowman costume: In Progress – Fleece pieces cut
Snowman hat: In Progress – needs new band w/ flower. needs glue touched up to black from sizing changes. Should fit now, smaller felt hat glued inside too large top hat.
Ballerina tutu: Not Started - materials purchased.
Ballerina top: Not Started – probably needs embellishments to shirt sis will buy/find
Dark Fairy skirt: Not Started, materials purchased, ruffler foot bought, test gathering in progress.
Dark Fairy top: Not Started
Dark Fairy wings: In progress – wings purchased, need modifying if there is time

Ugh, so now that I wrote it out I don’t feel as impressed with myself. Maybe I’ll work on the boot covers so I can finish the pants too. I’d feel better if I had anything completely finished. At least this year I’ve got patterns for everything. Which is less stressful, but not as exciting either. It is frustrating figuring out what sewing instructions and unclear diagrams mean.

The pink chiffon and satin for Sis’s ballerina tutu arrived today. It will take time to get together, but once I figure out proper adjustment for the ruffler foot to gather 3-to-1 it should go pretty smooth. I will install my first invisible zippers for the snowman suit and do not have a special invisible zipper presser foot. I found this tutorial for using the standard zipper foot to sew invisible zippers, so I should be okay. Until this week I didn’t even know there was a specific foot for invisible zippers.

A huge thank you goes to Karen, who bought the snowman pattern in Canada and shipped it to me here in Illinois. Burda Fashion doesn’t sell it in the USA. Burda also doesn’t include seam allowances in the patterns. Both these things are very strange.

Apropos nothing, I read People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks this weekend. It was very good. I wonder why I let it sit on my to-read shelf for so long. (Please do not point out the correlation of reading a novel in three days to my costume progress. I do not acknowledge the implied causation.)

Blimey!

Today I gave away a book I’ve had in my car trunk for months.* I originally bought that copy of Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow, to give to a cousin on Christmas Eve. Then Dad and I skipped the festivities in Madison due to bad driving weather. The lovely metal measuring cups intended for the grab bag exchange migrated quickly into my kitchen. The book languished unread on my shelves.

I eat lunch in restaurants most work days (okay, every work day). Since I read at lunch I end up having many bookish conversations with restaurant employees. A young manager at Olive Garden and I had several conversations about reading. He wants to start reading, but wasn’t sure where to start and never gets around to it. I recommended a few things based on some books he liked. That evening I decided I’d give him my extra copy of Little Brother. Today is the first time I’ve seen him since. He said he has been working nights. I hope he enjoys it. I’ve now given away three copies of that book. Or is it four? It’s one of the books I grab now for literacy drives where you donate books at the book store counter.

*I tried to write boot instead of trunk but I just couldn’t do it. I love my MINI Cooper, watch way too much British TV drama and sometimes call my condo a flat, but I cannot use boot instead of trunk. Not naturally anyway. There is some kink in my mind that goes wonky if I try.