Eanna

Who was it wrote about the uses of adversity? My speaking voice continues to sound like hell, but by really concentrating on technique lets me sing around whatever crud I've got, so I'll come out of this with miles better technique (presuming I don't have to have my larynx removed or something equally preposterous). I tackled several "hard" songs this evening and only had problems when I started daydreaming. Monday morning I go in to the ear nose & throat Dr. - we'll see what he says.
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I'm pleased to report that I am now a PADI-certified Open Water Diver. I completed my four open water dives over the weekend at Lake Pleasant on the Diver Down II. I have an unhappy history with cold water, so it took a lot of loin-girding before I could make that first big stride into the 61-degree lake. No rental suit is going to fit perfectly, and mine was a little loose on top - consequently more cold water got in and my body heat never really warmed it up. But it wasn't too bad, as long as I had some task to concentrate on. The first day - dives 1 & 2 - we seemed to spend a lot of time on the surface. Those of us with "floaty feet" laid back and played otter in the sun.

Lake Pleasant is an artificial desert lake, created by a dam, so there's not much to see below. Some people saw bass (there was a bass fishing tournament that weekend, as well as a car show and a boat show), but the most exciting thing I saw was a dead tree, standing where it had grown before the area was flooded. (Several people on the second day claimed to have seen two bass, one eating the other and both dead. That sounds like some Mideaval sign of coming Apocalypse, but since I didn't see it myself I'm not going to quit my day job.)

Sunday morning started out choppy, with the wind raising whitecaps on the lake, but we found a sheltered area near the boat ramp and after awhile the wind died down; visibility was good both days, about 20-25 feet. My "floaty feet" almost kept me on the surface this time, but for the efforts of our fearless instructor Frank pulling me under. By the end of dive 4 we'd stirred up the silt at the bottom enough to reduce visibility to arm's length. I felt sorry for the group that followed us, having to do their dives 1 & 2 in that soup!


P.S. The timestamp is a little under 3 hours west of AZ this evening. The server must think I'm in Hawaii now!
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The Army has been running an ad on ESPN this afternoon, offering a free badass recruiting video to all callers - as long as you're a U.S. citizen and male. Hello? I thought institutional sexism in the military went out with the 12-hour girdle! Dammit, I didn't want this video until they told me I couldn't have it because I'm a woman! What kind of man-secrets does it contain, that I'm not allowed to view? Do the men who request the video have to swear an oath not to reveal them?

And what gets my goat is that they're running these during the World Figure-Skating Championship. Figure skating! Don't ask, don't tell, eh?
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My copy of Dear Sad Goat resurfaced this morning - it had been sneakily hiding in the bookcase, amongst the other books. However, now my photos from Iceland have fallen into the interspatial rift, and just when I was starting to get organized.

The globe mallow are coming to the end of their bloom cycle, and the hollyhocks and fairy duster are taking over.
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What's puzzling me about Blogspot is it keeps timestamping my posts as if I were two time zones further west. What, do they think AZ stands for Alaska?
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I'm getting keyed up about my Open Water Diver certification this weekend. Oddly, I'm primarily nervous about getting to the Lake Pleasant Marina in time for the 7:30 start, given that I haven't exactly been springing out of bed mornings lately. Fortunately, ADOT reports no road closures or construction delays between here and Lake Pleasant for the next few days (other than a few miles of the 202 on the return, for repaving with rubberized asphalt). And now I must go and practice with my dive tables.
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Drove out to Encanto this morning for my 11:00 set and afterwards wandered around the Folk Fest. I picked up a CD by Saggio and Barbara Ruth featuring crystal bowls and Native American flute, very calming.

Overall I didn't enjoy the festival as much as a should have - apparently I'm not coping with my loss of voice as well as I thought I was. Well, my physical is on Friday so we can start getting to the bottom of this nonsense. I'm holding out hope that it's my thyroid, because I know that's treatable.
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I HATE WEEDING!

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Wow! Everything's in bloom out back, including some penstemons I bought last year at Boyce Thompson and haven't seen in bloom yet. One of them has huge, light pink flowers, almost as big as a foxglove. The tomatoes have taken a hit from this sudden heat almost as soon as I put them out, but there are 15 left and I think about a dozen should make it. The irrigation system definitely needs some help - I'm getting way too much drip at the faucet and the water isn't getting delivered to the end of the line where the corn is.

1001 Nights has gotten old again (I'm halfway through book 3), so I'm putting it aside to read Steven Brust's The Lord of Castle Black. I'm intrigued by the cover. Why does Morollan look like he's suffering through a requirements review with a long-winded systems lead and no coffee?
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It seems a few words of explanation are in order, since not everyone on my mailing list is familiar with blogging. A blog is an on-line journal or diary, usually maintained by one person, often devoted to a particular topic (for instance, Sailor Moon, or the presidential election). Go to Blogspot, the site that hosts Stardust County Rag, to browse other blogs or start your own - the Blogspot interface is really easy to use.

While it's possible to run a blog like a message board, I'm not doing that with SCR because administering it could quickly turn into a time-consuming hassle. That doesn't mean that I don't want to hear from people; but I do have a life away from the computer. If you've got a blog or a journal, let me know!
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Did a short hike today: Treasure Loop Trail out at Lost Dutchman. There's a brief steep section, and some unmarked braiding, but overall an easy trail. A great view from the top of Apache Junction and whatever those moutains are just west of the Superstitions. Going back down the north side of the loop there was a welcome breeze, and a scattering of Mexican gold poppies.

I made a disappointing trial of my Sony Vaio, the 3-lb laptop that I bought for writing. Took it out in the sunlight at the top of the trail - the screen was pitch black. After getting back home and while talking to the tech on the phone, I discovered how to set the relative brightness of the screen while running on batteries. Turns out the factory default was 1 (on a scale 1-9). Oops. Now it's looking much better.

Anyway, I got a start on a story this afternoon, did a little gardening, played the piano. The jury's still out on this compressed work week. I like the 3-day weekends, but the 9-hour days leave me with eyes like fried eggs.
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So Dish and Viacom are both acting like dickweeds. At least Viacom provided a warning that their channels were going to be yanked - or at least they tried to, before Dish censored their crawl with a black box across the bottom of the screen. I may have to switch to *shudder* cable in order to get back my prime source of news, John Stewart.
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Testing, one, two three.
Italics
Bold
Welcome to my new blog. We'll see if this goes the way of every other journal I've tried to keep.
I just glanced out the window and saw a house finch picking seeds off one of the rosemary bushes. Does that give them herbal-fresh breath?
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