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Stained glass #3: cardinal
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Stained glass art
Jan. 5th, 2025 11:41 pmBehind a cut because I don't know how big it will look: stained glass Axolotl, which is a word my autocarrot loves to capitalize idek
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I wrote a thing!
Jul. 20th, 2020 12:25 pmhttps://themighty.com/2020/07/anticipatory-fear-disability-covid-19/
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Our brains aren’t really built for extended periods of upheaval and uncertainty. I’ve seen people mention “COVID brain” — the dip in higher-level thinking because the brain is focusing on staying alive, the brain fog that comes with prolonged stress, the shattered feeling of having too many worries — basically, the effect of a worldwide pandemic on everyone’s mental health.
And all I can think is “welcome to my life.” Because for me as a disabled person, this is nothing new.
(read more...)
VC6 is live!
Jul. 19th, 2020 02:55 pmI think I said something here about a Virtual Choir I sent a video in for, and I'm delighted to say the final product is now live!
From the early pandemic lockdown in March until who knows when, choirs have been unable to meet in person -- which is quite stressful for anyone like me who uses music to de-stress. Eric Whitacre, an American composer who has done "virtual choirs" in the past, where singers record individual performances and send in their video and all the separate videos get mushed together to form an ensemble, decided to do one for the pandemic and current social upheaval.
So he composed "Sing Gently", and put out a guide track video (himself conducting, and audio of the piano accompaniment plus a quartet of one person per voice part) as well as practice videos of each part separately, and we who participated practiced and then recorded and sent in a video of us singing (while watching the guide track and listening using headphones).
When submissions closed two months ago, there were 17,572 singers from 129 different countries. There's a wide range of ages and of nationalities -- truly a global community! -- and everything from experienced vocalists to first-time singers, and even several videos using sign language.
The end result is ... incredible. Beyond words. I don't take credit for any of it (I'm just 0.005% of the choir) but I'm glad I'm a part of it.
(And no, I haven't found myself anywhere, though I do have at least one doppelganger!)
Video for Sing Gently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InULYfJHKI0
Also... CBS Sunday Morning piece about it (from this morning): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS0ioMnVdHw
NPR All Things Considered article from last night: https://www.npr.org/2020/07/18/892634271/singing-in-the-dark-times-eric-whitacres-virtual-choir-takes-on-new-meaning
From the early pandemic lockdown in March until who knows when, choirs have been unable to meet in person -- which is quite stressful for anyone like me who uses music to de-stress. Eric Whitacre, an American composer who has done "virtual choirs" in the past, where singers record individual performances and send in their video and all the separate videos get mushed together to form an ensemble, decided to do one for the pandemic and current social upheaval.
So he composed "Sing Gently", and put out a guide track video (himself conducting, and audio of the piano accompaniment plus a quartet of one person per voice part) as well as practice videos of each part separately, and we who participated practiced and then recorded and sent in a video of us singing (while watching the guide track and listening using headphones).
When submissions closed two months ago, there were 17,572 singers from 129 different countries. There's a wide range of ages and of nationalities -- truly a global community! -- and everything from experienced vocalists to first-time singers, and even several videos using sign language.
The end result is ... incredible. Beyond words. I don't take credit for any of it (I'm just 0.005% of the choir) but I'm glad I'm a part of it.
(And no, I haven't found myself anywhere, though I do have at least one doppelganger!)
Video for Sing Gently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InULYfJHKI0
Also... CBS Sunday Morning piece about it (from this morning): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS0ioMnVdHw
NPR All Things Considered article from last night: https://www.npr.org/2020/07/18/892634271/singing-in-the-dark-times-eric-whitacres-virtual-choir-takes-on-new-meaning
A list of things
Apr. 9th, 2019 07:06 pm1. Still alive. More or less.
2. Finished my cactus bunny. It's frickin' adorable. Next up: prototype of a doll I'm designing. It is a person in a wheelchair, but more of a centaur-esque hybrid than a person and a separate chair, because really my chair is my legs. Concept art on my instagram.
3. Either I've been having more drastic reactions to low blood sugar, or I'm just noticing it more, but holy crap does my mood plummet if I go too long without eating. Today I was deep in lethargic anhedonia (not sure how much is depression and how much is blood sugar) and i had to force myself to eat because I knew food was good but I wasn't hungry and nothing sounded good, so I shoved food down and then twenty minutes later was feeling a lot more human. It's a little frustrating having to think of foods, because I don't always get hunger signals. And because I can't get stuff out myself, I need to remember to have sides leave something out where I can get it but the pets can't, and then I have to remember to eat it and also hope it still sounds good.
4. It doesn't help that my roommate tends to cook uber-healthily, and sometimes the "roast chicken and/or roasted veggies and/or sautéed kale and/or roasted potatoes and/or plain quinoa" gets a little ... boring. I'd rather have that than the polar opposite, and I'm in favor of generally eating healthy but with exceptions. And when I've forgotten food so nothing sounds good anyway, "oh hey i could have plain almonds for a snack" is kind of ... less appealing than usual. (Almonds are okay but not my favorite nut, and they're better salted; these are basically tasteless wood). It has the appeal of sawdust. And I have a voice in my head saying I should be eating super healthy anyway because that's the only way to keep my weight down or whatever, but it's a lot easier to eat when I actually want to eat.
5. I've also been in a funk lately. No energy to speak of, no enthusiasm for anything, no desire to crochet or read. I have theoretical desire to watch stuff on Netflix but that ends up not happening. I don't know how much is situational stress (chair, aide issues, generally not having reliable comfort) and how much is my depression changing its presentation and how much is blood sugar stuff. I should probably talk to my doctor, because there might be a medical issue behind it. I've had depresssion a long time, but it mostly manifests as self-hate and lack of energy, not lack of desire.
6. My iPad may be dying. Boo.
7. What is it with people doubling down on racism o.O There is a designer on Rav who makes really pretty stuff who is now on my never-buy list for being a total asshat. Short summary: she designed a shawl with a racial slur in the name, tried to openly circumvent the automated "no racist language" filter while mocking said filter, persisted in re-uploading it with problematic names, and is now claiming persecution.
Longer version, content warning for racial slurs (largely Rroma-related) --
( Read more... )
Anyway, where was I...?
8. Duolingo streak is up to 933. Woo. I'm thinking of trying again to tackle German. (Advantage: I have some stuff already ingrained. Disadvantage: that stuff is from twenty years ago, so is wildly out of date as well as rusty. Also, Spanish, which I'm lazily refreshing, is more useful around here.)
9. My side K has never seen Princess Bride. I am making her watch it soon. I keep wanting to make references to it (we were talking about something the other day that reminded me of Vizzini logic, a "something is X and also not-X" type of joke argument; I do not think [thst word] means what you think it means; something being mostly dead) and then remembering she wouldn't get it.
10. I am also going to have her watch Into the Woods -- the good one of course, not the recent abomination of which the ONLY redeeming value is Chris Pine's Shathering in "Agonny", and I still can't fucking believe they didn't include the reprise augh -- but that's less urgent. Also I don't actually own the DVD of it. Yet. I look for it at every library book sale (they have dvds and cds as well as books). One of these days it will be mine ... mwahahaha.
2. Finished my cactus bunny. It's frickin' adorable. Next up: prototype of a doll I'm designing. It is a person in a wheelchair, but more of a centaur-esque hybrid than a person and a separate chair, because really my chair is my legs. Concept art on my instagram.
3. Either I've been having more drastic reactions to low blood sugar, or I'm just noticing it more, but holy crap does my mood plummet if I go too long without eating. Today I was deep in lethargic anhedonia (not sure how much is depression and how much is blood sugar) and i had to force myself to eat because I knew food was good but I wasn't hungry and nothing sounded good, so I shoved food down and then twenty minutes later was feeling a lot more human. It's a little frustrating having to think of foods, because I don't always get hunger signals. And because I can't get stuff out myself, I need to remember to have sides leave something out where I can get it but the pets can't, and then I have to remember to eat it and also hope it still sounds good.
4. It doesn't help that my roommate tends to cook uber-healthily, and sometimes the "roast chicken and/or roasted veggies and/or sautéed kale and/or roasted potatoes and/or plain quinoa" gets a little ... boring. I'd rather have that than the polar opposite, and I'm in favor of generally eating healthy but with exceptions. And when I've forgotten food so nothing sounds good anyway, "oh hey i could have plain almonds for a snack" is kind of ... less appealing than usual. (Almonds are okay but not my favorite nut, and they're better salted; these are basically tasteless wood). It has the appeal of sawdust. And I have a voice in my head saying I should be eating super healthy anyway because that's the only way to keep my weight down or whatever, but it's a lot easier to eat when I actually want to eat.
5. I've also been in a funk lately. No energy to speak of, no enthusiasm for anything, no desire to crochet or read. I have theoretical desire to watch stuff on Netflix but that ends up not happening. I don't know how much is situational stress (chair, aide issues, generally not having reliable comfort) and how much is my depression changing its presentation and how much is blood sugar stuff. I should probably talk to my doctor, because there might be a medical issue behind it. I've had depresssion a long time, but it mostly manifests as self-hate and lack of energy, not lack of desire.
6. My iPad may be dying. Boo.
7. What is it with people doubling down on racism o.O There is a designer on Rav who makes really pretty stuff who is now on my never-buy list for being a total asshat. Short summary: she designed a shawl with a racial slur in the name, tried to openly circumvent the automated "no racist language" filter while mocking said filter, persisted in re-uploading it with problematic names, and is now claiming persecution.
Longer version, content warning for racial slurs (largely Rroma-related) --
( Read more... )
Anyway, where was I...?
8. Duolingo streak is up to 933. Woo. I'm thinking of trying again to tackle German. (Advantage: I have some stuff already ingrained. Disadvantage: that stuff is from twenty years ago, so is wildly out of date as well as rusty. Also, Spanish, which I'm lazily refreshing, is more useful around here.)
9. My side K has never seen Princess Bride. I am making her watch it soon. I keep wanting to make references to it (we were talking about something the other day that reminded me of Vizzini logic, a "something is X and also not-X" type of joke argument; I do not think [thst word] means what you think it means; something being mostly dead) and then remembering she wouldn't get it.
10. I am also going to have her watch Into the Woods -- the good one of course, not the recent abomination of which the ONLY redeeming value is Chris Pine's Shathering in "Agonny", and I still can't fucking believe they didn't include the reprise augh -- but that's less urgent. Also I don't actually own the DVD of it. Yet. I look for it at every library book sale (they have dvds and cds as well as books). One of these days it will be mine ... mwahahaha.
Also posted to my instagram ...
Mental health artwork, positive for a change:
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The brainweasels are being held at hay -- bro for lack of trying on their part -- by the sheer amount of birthday love floating around me. I still don't quite feel entirely person-y, hence the light grey aspect, and I don't know how long this will last, but for now I am actually okay.
Which is a kinda weird feeling...
Mental health artwork, positive for a change:
( Read more... )
The brainweasels are being held at hay -- bro for lack of trying on their part -- by the sheer amount of birthday love floating around me. I still don't quite feel entirely person-y, hence the light grey aspect, and I don't know how long this will last, but for now I am actually okay.
Which is a kinda weird feeling...
So I've been in crappy headspace especially the last week or two, and then I ended up doing An Art about how I felt. Which came out remarkably well given that my iPad program is meant for doodling, not arting, so there's no transparency/opacity options and no layers and no zoom (which is especially fun given that I'm working in bed with my glasses off using a blunt tipped stylus).
Then I did a second one, and it also came out better than I expected.
I'm thinking of doing a blog thing solely for art relating to chronic physical/mental illness, like these and, but I can't decide what platform :/
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Then I did a second one, and it also came out better than I expected.
I'm thinking of doing a blog thing solely for art relating to chronic physical/mental illness, like these and, but I can't decide what platform :/
( Read more... )
Update, mostly involving me being a dork
Jan. 20th, 2017 02:46 pma) been kinda off-grid lately -- mostly health stuff (migraines, random heart palpitations that have no apparent cause at least yet but yes I do have a doctor appointment because this is a new thing, and stuff like pain keeping me awake last night until after 6am so I only got three hours sleep and the next day or two are going to suck) -- if I've missed anything important in your lives please link / summarize / tell me where to look?
2) I had a dream the other night where I got to meet Lin-Manuel Miranda. He was very tolerant of me glomp-hugging him. idek.
iii) I "lost" all of Wednesday to writing up my newest knitting pattern, Freedom of Hattitude -- knitting drama seems to inspire me.
( backstory )
D) I also made a hat for a friend. Loom knit, a smidge too small because I couldn't find the right loom, so worked in twisted rib (e-wrap+purl) for stretch.
V) ...and once my brain recovers from last night's painsomnia, I want to play with brioche loom knitting. Fear me. Or don't; whatever
2) I had a dream the other night where I got to meet Lin-Manuel Miranda. He was very tolerant of me glomp-hugging him. idek.
iii) I "lost" all of Wednesday to writing up my newest knitting pattern, Freedom of Hattitude -- knitting drama seems to inspire me.
( backstory )
D) I also made a hat for a friend. Loom knit, a smidge too small because I couldn't find the right loom, so worked in twisted rib (e-wrap+purl) for stretch.
V) ...and once my brain recovers from last night's painsomnia, I want to play with brioche loom knitting. Fear me. Or don't; whatever
Crafty goodness
Nov. 28th, 2016 08:43 pmI have finished a Hat! Even sewed the button on myself mwahaha.
(The yarn is sparkly, which doesn't show up well in the photo. It's also a pita to work with and I'm not planning on ever buying it again, despite the pretty,)
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(The yarn is sparkly, which doesn't show up well in the photo. It's also a pita to work with and I'm not planning on ever buying it again, despite the pretty,)
( Read more... )
In which I am somewhat internet famous
Oct. 19th, 2016 12:17 pm...or at least Ravelry famous.
So, okay: there has been this gigantic tempest in a teapot about sheep designs. Item A: a cute hat design with sheep, which became fairly popular. Item B: a different designer made a matching cowl, with an added alpaca but mostly very similar because matching, and released it as a pattern. Cue indignation because designer B didn't get designer A's permission and therefore stole her work. (It would have been apparently okay to have done it as a personal project but how dare she release the instructions!) Not helping was the fact that Designer A was working on her own cowl. Also not helping was the fact that designer B released the pattern and headed off to Rhinebeck, thus allowing for indignant "it's been a while DAY how have you not taken this down yet". As well as "I'm buying the cowl from the REAL designer" when Item C, designer A's matching cowl, got released. (It's worth pointing out that A started out free but changed to paid; item C is a paid pattern; item B was released for free.)
Relatedly, Designer A released a sheepy Christmas ornament pattern and, when someone pointed out a similar pre-existing pattern, designer A made a fuss about taking her pattern down to respect copyright.
Some of us watching this whole thing got kind of eye-rolly about how much fuss was being made. So I commented, in one of my forums, that I was tempted to do my own design with (sheep)(sheep)(tall alpaca)(sheep), in the approximate shape of a hand with the middle finger raised. A Paint-drawn mockup ensued.
Then someone pointed out that I should make the pair of sheep loop like boobs, and the alpaca like a penis, just because lol. So I did a Paint mockup of that. And then charted it out. And then wrote up a PDF. And then added it to rav. Explicitly under a Creative Commons Atteibution license allowing for unlimited use, distribution, modification, imitation, etc.
Now: Ravelry has a "hot right now" ranking of patterns that are being looked at right now. I was curious to see if I could get my design in the top 20 list.
So I watched as it climbed... third page of hot-right-now sorting ... second page ... first page ... top 20 ... past the Item A hat ... past the Item C cowl ... into the top 5 ...
Right now, it is the top fucking pattern in the HRN list.
*glee*
(Link for posterity, image NSFW: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/menagerie-2 )
So, okay: there has been this gigantic tempest in a teapot about sheep designs. Item A: a cute hat design with sheep, which became fairly popular. Item B: a different designer made a matching cowl, with an added alpaca but mostly very similar because matching, and released it as a pattern. Cue indignation because designer B didn't get designer A's permission and therefore stole her work. (It would have been apparently okay to have done it as a personal project but how dare she release the instructions!) Not helping was the fact that Designer A was working on her own cowl. Also not helping was the fact that designer B released the pattern and headed off to Rhinebeck, thus allowing for indignant "it's been a while DAY how have you not taken this down yet". As well as "I'm buying the cowl from the REAL designer" when Item C, designer A's matching cowl, got released. (It's worth pointing out that A started out free but changed to paid; item C is a paid pattern; item B was released for free.)
Relatedly, Designer A released a sheepy Christmas ornament pattern and, when someone pointed out a similar pre-existing pattern, designer A made a fuss about taking her pattern down to respect copyright.
Some of us watching this whole thing got kind of eye-rolly about how much fuss was being made. So I commented, in one of my forums, that I was tempted to do my own design with (sheep)(sheep)(tall alpaca)(sheep), in the approximate shape of a hand with the middle finger raised. A Paint-drawn mockup ensued.
Then someone pointed out that I should make the pair of sheep loop like boobs, and the alpaca like a penis, just because lol. So I did a Paint mockup of that. And then charted it out. And then wrote up a PDF. And then added it to rav. Explicitly under a Creative Commons Atteibution license allowing for unlimited use, distribution, modification, imitation, etc.
Now: Ravelry has a "hot right now" ranking of patterns that are being looked at right now. I was curious to see if I could get my design in the top 20 list.
So I watched as it climbed... third page of hot-right-now sorting ... second page ... first page ... top 20 ... past the Item A hat ... past the Item C cowl ... into the top 5 ...
Right now, it is the top fucking pattern in the HRN list.
*glee*
(Link for posterity, image NSFW: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/menagerie-2 )
I made some art, based on how I've been feeling lately (and a revelation of sorts that of *course* crappy sleep is going to make me feel crappy)
I did post to my tumblr, and if anyone wants to reblog it I would be delighted. (My username is ysobelflp, and at this time it's the second most recent post)
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I did post to my tumblr, and if anyone wants to reblog it I would be delighted. (My username is ysobelflp, and at this time it's the second most recent post)
( Read more... )
Random observations on a Friday
Dec. 27th, 2013 03:05 pm* I am craving lots of water today. Given that I am not normally a water person (I tend to prefer teas), I suspect this says something about my dehydration levels
* According to my Christmas presents this year, people seem to think I like things which are a) fuzzy, b) penguiny, c) yarn-related, or d) purple. This ... is not wrong :D
* Crochet gingerbread houses: still the best. ...and I don't think I posted the post-decoration pictures here, so let me fix that by adding some pictures ( behind the cut )
* plan for next year's crafty Christmas project: reindeer hat. Just because.
* According to my Christmas presents this year, people seem to think I like things which are a) fuzzy, b) penguiny, c) yarn-related, or d) purple. This ... is not wrong :D
* Crochet gingerbread houses: still the best. ...and I don't think I posted the post-decoration pictures here, so let me fix that by adding some pictures ( behind the cut )
* plan for next year's crafty Christmas project: reindeer hat. Just because.
