An epiphany

Wow. After not having practiced on my poor dear harp since mid-July (only a month, is that all it's been?), I finally dragged it out of its case and tortured it for a while. And I actually HAD FUN!

Amazingly enough, it had gone sharp over most of its register. Up till now, it's been pretty consistent most of the time about going flat. But these harps are quite sensitive to the weather, and we've had some pretty odd weather lately.

Did my finger exercises, then I rebelled. My harp teacher, the first couple lessons, had assigned me two easy pieces, a Breton dance and "Brian Boru's March." The Breton dance, I have no recording of; Brian Boru I have several, so I can listen to it and hear roughly how it should sound. But neither of them has grabbed my interest. I have a habit of jumping in over my head in anything I do, and trying things that are way too advanced for me. So I've been very good, with my harp, about not trying to walk until I could run.

Until now, that is. I finally took out the sheet music for "Carolan's Farewell to Music." The legend is that it is the last piece Turlough O'Carolan composed before he died, and one legend even has it that he played it *on his deathbed*. Well, I'll believe that when someone shows me the evidence.

Another thing I've read is that Carolan's pieces are among the most sympathetic for the harp, written so that they can be played without head-scratching, swearing, kicking the cat in frustration, etc. That, I can agree with. Although it was tentative, not without problems, and nowhere near as attractive a sound as it could be, I did manage to get about the last half of the melody produced in a manner that could be recognized as "Farewell to Music." And what a great feeling!

Even better, I'm excited about practicing again. I want to go see how much my fingers remember... In the other two pieces I've been working on, my teacher and I have been noting down fingerings, and this one I left completely blank. We'll see what happens when I pick up the harp in a few minutes.

In other news, I put the first chapter of my NaNoNonsense up for review at Critiquecircle.com. Ulp! Posting it at Fictionpress.com is one thing, reviews are rarely anything but fluffy over there. But at CC, this is a community dedicated to writing. What have I done? It won't come up for review until 14th September, so I've got a long wait ahead of me. And I've already started planning *this* year's NaNoNonsense, in spite of at least 3 meetings that month, plus moving back to France.

Currently reading: "The Torment of Others," Val McDermid. Can't find anything else in the house to read, so I'm hitting this one again even though I've read it once and it's a memorable book.
Currently hearing: Carolan's Concerto, played by the late Derek Bell. Wow.
Current cat activity: I'm not telling this time. Take a wild guess...
Current NaNo word count: still stuck at 27161 typed. Haven't picked up my pen in an age.

Pictures!!!

Wow, I just discovered I could actually post pictures here now. Isn't that special? I'm sure it's completely made your day. Anyway... in a post many months ago, I promised you a picture of a wire-strung harp. Now I can actually make good on that promise!

The harp shown here is a reproduction of the "Brian Boru" harp currently living in Trinity College Dublin. Legend would have us believe that this harp actually belonged to Brian Boru, but as it has pretty firmly been dated to about 400 years after his death, that can't be true.

This particular reproduction is one designed / made by Andre Schubert of Klangwerkstatt Markt Wald in southern Germany. Andre also runs "make it yourself" workshops throughout Germany, as well as one in Ireland, so that people who want to get sawdust in their hair, on their glasses, between their teeth, and in various other odd places can do so. Great fun! (making the harp, that is, not getting sawdust everywhere)

The Brian Boru harp is 90 cm / 36 inches tall and has 27 strings, the lower ones wound and the upper ones steel. Theoretically I could have had blades installed, but I decided I would have enough to worry about just trying to learn to play the silly thing without blades. It's not a bad instrument; OK, it's not a Witcher harp, but neither is the price! The harp I'm drooling over: http://www.harpanddragon.com/trinityharp.htm. I think the only way I'll be able to get something like that is to make it myself. Unfortunately, the decorated Witcher Brian Boru in the link has been sitting on the sales floor for at least 3 years. If I had an extra 10K sitting around, it wouldn't be there anymore!

What are blades? A modern concert harp (you know, the 2 meter tall gilded monsters) has synthetic or at least non-metal strings that are controlled by pedals to allow playing accidental notes: the black keys on the piano. The "folk" harps strung with synthetic or non-metal strings have levers which can be used to change the length of the strings to give the harp the accidentals. Wire-strung harps need blades, which simply touch the strings, as opposed to levers which move the string. Why? Metal is less extensible than the synthetics and doesn't stretch well, so a lever would be a good way to break a string. Without the blades, levers, or pedals, all a harp player has is the white notes on a piano. Which limits the repertoire to an extent. Now, aren't you glad you asked???

Currently reading: Red Storm Rising, Tom Clancy. I swear he recycled the opening scene for one of his other books (insurgents destroy a Soviet/Russian site out in the middle of nowhere), but I can't remember which one.
Currently hearing: Blue Bells of Scotland, The Corries. No, not the Corrs, the Corries. These guys were Scots and proud of it. I've put together a new iTunes playlist of all the tunes in my library that celebrate, commemmorate, or mourn Scots or Irish battles, historical events, and so on.
Current cat activity: sleeping.

Singin' in the rain, just singin' in the rain

Actually, I'm not (singing in the rain). That would be very scary indeed, at least for the neighbors. But it is raining outside. It was thundering for a while, which would explain why the cats are cowering under the nearest large piece of furniture.

I was down on the Riviera this past weekend and the first few days of the week. I had a meeting in our offices down there, so why not take the weekend as well? Especially, dahling, as I still have the house down there... Yeah. Well. Damp and mildewed and nowhere near the glitz and glamour that can be the Rivera. But it was good to get back there again. I can feel myself slipping more and more back into the French culture and environment, even though I still have four more months to go here in Germany. My German is fading, oddly enough. Is it because I don't have the patience to use it, or because I've been so cranky and impatient lately that it hasn't felt worth it? Good question. Unfortunately, my French now has overtones of German in it, so there are a number of people in France who have a very hard time understanding me. (A friend in the French office told me recently she could tell I was using German a lot during the day... I had written her an e-mail in French, and apparently I had the verb at the end of the sentence like a good German speaker put.)

Wow, look at how much can change in a bit over three weeks, since my last entry here. The first time I was in London, Christmas of 1999, I spent 5 hours standing outside King's Cross/St Pancras in the middle of the night. Long story, but there it is. Nearly every time I go up to London, I go through Russell Square on the way to or from the British Museum. I've taken the Number 30 bus. Last time I was in London, just a month ago, I went shopping on Edgeware Road and went through the Edgeware Road tube station. I imagine all of us who visit London frequently but don't live there have sat and looked at our TVs or newspapers or magazines with the same expression of shock that we'd have if we saw one of our good friends bleeding in public. It's creepy, it's spooky, and it's damned infuriating!

Why Edgeware Road? Are they trying to stir up the Muslim community, make them decide they've been oppressed and need to shake off the yoke of British imperialism? Was it just chance that it went off there? Or did that bomber know exactly what he was doing? The couple of hours I spent on Edgeware impressed me with what a vibrant, cohesive, active COMMUNITY it seemed to be, just 12 days before the attack. What is it like now?

And boy, talk about spooky. While I was in Nice airport, I picked up a new paperback. Nothing surprising there, except for the fact that I put it back on the shelf two or three times before I decided to buy it. According to Amazon.com, the hardback was published in the US in January 2005. However, the author is a Brit, so it was probably out in the UK before then. What is it? "At Risk", by Stella Rimington, the former head of the UK intelligence service. Why do I put in the detail like publication date? Because if you didn't know better you'd think it was one of these "ripped from the headlines" thrillers that come out right after an event. Let's just say that "Islamic" terrorism is aided and abetted by a homegrown cleanskin, and homemade explosives are involved. Brrr. At the same time, I'm glad it's a weekend so I can stay up late to finish it.

Currently reading: At Risk. 'nuff said.
Currently hearing: Bach, Brandenburg Concerto #1. Earlier had the Bach cello sonatas on, with Yo Yo Ma playing. Man oh man. I've wanted for several years to learn cello as well as harp, and lately I've been eying a second-hand cello in the window of the local music shop. If I do it... Well, let's just say my second purchase will be the score for the cello sonatas! I've loved them since the first time I heard them.
Current cat activity: hiding. The thunderstorms are back.
Current harp activity: I had a lesson! It actually went pretty well. Unfortunately, work and travel conspired and the poor dear has been living in its case for the last couple of weeks. Maybe tomorrow... I'm still stuck on the same pieces of harp music my teacher gave me nearly a year ago. One of them is an extremely lively Breton dance. Unfortunately, I'm still playing it to sound like a Breton funeral dirge. Someday.

Whinge whinge whinge 2

Yeah, I'm whinging again. Seems to be a semi-permanent condition.

The Dell computer has been taken to the local "PC fireman," who seems to be quite competent. "Oh, yeah," he said on reading my Denglish(TM) description of what it had done, "sounds like a Master Boot Sector error. Have it up and running in no time. How does tomorrow sound?" I had expected it to take a wee bit longer.

But... I got a phone call from him this afternoon, when he had thought he could have it back to me, and it seems there's a little problem. He sucked all the files off and archived them, re-loaded Windows, re-loaded all my data files (Yay! I am SO happy. Can you say, "IT professional's kid didn't do a back-up" ?), and tested it. It seemed to be doing OK, but then it threw some other Blue Screen of Death, different from its first one. This is not a good sign.

On the positive side: on August 8 I reach the "6 years in Europe" milestone. The 5-year mark passed without celebration last year, mainly because when it came around I was in a VERY bad mood and didn't feel like slaving in the kitchen to feed the people I work with.

It's very interesting; I had talked to several long-term expats, and a common them was that the 5th year is perhaps the hardest of them all. I'll agree with that! Although there have been some bumps along the way during this, the 6th year, it pales in comparison to last year.

Hey, is there anybody at all out there? Drop me a line. Leave a comment. Do something. Please???

Before I forget: GO, LANCE!!!!! Yeehah, he's back in the yellow jersey!

Currently reading: just finished Lion of Ireland, Morgan Llewelyn, about Brian Boru, the first true High King of Ireland. Man, she tells a good story!
Currently hearing: CNN, from the living room.
Current cat activity: Sophie, trying not to fall asleep. Charl, lying in the hall trying to persuade me to put down the computer and come rub his fat tummy.

Whinge, whinge, whinge

So the tornadoes didn't get me, but the jet lag sure did!

I'll tell you, PrivatAir is the way to fly. To refresh your memory, only 48 seats on an A319, with 4 flight attendants. And the flight was not completely full, either. Quite nice. I don't remember whether they did the standard safety announcement, although I think they did, but the announcements from the flight deck were practically non-existent. Boarding took maybe 10 minutes, we pushed back, and were in the air fairly quickly. By 1030 Dusseldorf time and 0330 Chicago time they were pouring wine to precede lunch. Definitely the way to travel.

But then came the return to harsh reality... the flight from Chicago to Kansas City on United Express, on a Canadair CRJ. The only similarity between the two flights was that each plane only had two seats on either side of the aisle. We didn't even start boarding until half an hour after we were supposed to have pushed back, and there was absolutely no explanation given of the delay. Then we sat, and sat, and SAT on that bloody plane while they tried to figure out where the luggage was supposed to go. YOu'd think the ground crew had never handled a CRJ before, or something.

No problems with jet lag while I was in Kansas, not surprisingly, but coming back was tough. I am only now, two weeks later, starting to get back on my normal Central European clock.

Other whinging: My new home computer threw a Fatal System Error and has given me the Blue Screen of Death for the last 10 days or so. This is not amusing. Dell Tech "Support" tried various things over the phone with me, and finally reached the conclusion that we would have to format the hard drive and reload Windows. And guess who doesn't have a back-up... even though her father worked in IT for years and years??? Well, thankfully my NaNoNonsense is backed up.

And there's another thing. Dell Technical "Support". ISN'T!!!! My German is quite good to fluent, but it doesn't help when I get nothing but Eastern Europeans on the line. Can you imagine talking about computers with someone, when you are both speaking your second or third language? And they're only open from 8 in the morning to 6 at night. Which, for those of us who work, is slightly not convenient. I suppose that here in this male-oriented culture there is always a little wifey at home who does all of the scutwork while Hubby is out earning the daily bread. But for those of us who don't HAVE a little wifey, what in the HECK are we supposed to do??? There are only so many times I can take an afternoon off to call Tech Support.

And I've been playing/working with computers for over 20 years now. I'm not afraid to get into the BIOS and change settings. The command Format C is not frightening, just frustrating. I've taught myself HTML, Javascript, and some VBA. And if I have problems figuring out the instructions from Tech Support, what is it like for poor little wifey who doesn't have the faintest idea how the computer works?

And yes, I'm sorry, but this is a male-oriented society here. The assumption is repeatedly made, when I answer my office-mate's phone or when someone comes by to see him and he's not there, that since I am female I MUST be his secretary. Umm, no. Can you not TELL that I am not a native speaker of German? Why on earth would this company import someone to be a secretary???

The time frame for my return to France has now been firmed up, and it's sometime in November. I'm afraid my irritation with Germany and the German system is rising in inverse correlation to the time remaining until I move back to France.

Boy, do I feel better now. Maybe I'll go try to scrawl some more of my NaNoNonsense.

Currently reading: Stalking Horse, John Francome. Not bad.
Currently hearing: nothing. My old computer doesn't have iTunes, and I'm too lazy to go put in a CD.
Current cat activity: sleeping. They are cats, after all.

Gee, Toto, I think we're in Kansas?

You would think that I'd be excited about going to the US on the company dime, wouldn't you? Especially since those of us who fly from headquarters here in Germany fly business class, and it turns out... wait for it... that the best connection to get from here to Kansas is via ORD on the Lufthansa / PrivatAir connection. Which is an A319 with only 48 seats. Man, are we livin' the good life! And considering that my colleagues going to Kansas from France are flying coach through FRA and ORD, I shouldn't be whinging.

But I am. I don't want to go. 13 hours trapped on a plane with my boss? No thank you. And Kansas City in the middle of tornado season? Who dreamed this one up? Probably the same one who scheduled a meeting for North Carolina last fall in the middle of hurricane season. That would be the meeting that only lasted one day instead of two because, golly gee, they had a hurricane come through. Who woulda thunk it?

Well, I'm taking my NaNoNonsense on board with me, and hopefully I'll be able to get at least some writing done on it. Hey, I've got another 3K words typed! That brings me up to a whole 27K and change. Not bad for the 50K I had planned to write last November. And I've got my newest toy, my new iPod, all loaded and ready to go. 7 days and 11 hours worth of music? I should be able to find something to listen to. As long as there's not been any fights breaking out between the musicians: Willie Nelson, Placido Domingo, Sam Ramey, Pavarotti, U2, The Chieftains, The Corrs, Chris LeDoux, and more Irish / Scottish musicians than you can shake a wire-strung harp at.

And speaking of... I think my harp teacher has finally given up on me. Haven't heard from him in ages. I don't blame him, he'd probably prefer a student who actually practices once in a while. Haven't gotten the poor harp out of its travel case since, gee, April? Maybe when I get home from Kansas. IF I get home from Kansas. Adios, amigos!

Currently reading: Hidden Prey, John Sandford. Not bad, although perhaps a bit contrived. He's a good author, though.
Currently hearing: nothing.
Current cat activity: sulking in the front hall next to my suitcase. Not surprising; they sulk whenever I leave.

Don't like the weather?

Just wait five minutes, and it'll change!

Must be a slow blog day if I'm reduced to whinging about the weather, eh? Last weekend it was horrendously hot and steamy here. At least for me it was. My comfort zone tops out at about 26C, although I can tolerate pretty darned cold with no problems. But it was close to 30 last weekend and no breezes, nothing.

Now, though, is a completely different story. The last three days at least have been alternately raining, anything from a light drizzle to "can't see across the parking lot" downpours, hailing trying to change to freezing rain or snow (and the next town uphill from here got snow yesterday!), to bright sun, and back through the rain again. With quite a good wind going most of the time. I think it was supposed to get up to about 12C today.

Yes, I know, spring is a very changeable time, but this changeable?

Currently reading: Red Rabbit, Tom Clancy. Again. I think this is about the third or fourth time.
Currently hearing: nothing. Didn't turn iTunes on tonight, shame on me.
Cat activity: Sophie, sitting in the hall and trying to convince me to give her smoked salmon. Charl, turning himself inside out on the ironing board. He hasn't tipped it over yet...
NaNoNonsense status: still where it was the last time I reported here. I am seriously starting to hear the clock ticking in my head. Argh!

Just in case you don't know what NaNo is, it's for all of us (and you know who you are!) who have always said "Someday I'll write a novel". Well, someday is here! Sharpen your pencils, make sure there's ink in your fountain pen, get all the cat hairs off the keyboard, and as the clock strikes midnight on the first of November, sit down and WRITE! The goal is 50,000 words by the time the clock strikes midnight on the last day of November. Can't write outside November and have it count. NaNo is short for NaNoWriMo (http://www.nanowrimo.org), which in turn is short for National Novel Writing Month. Which is short for "it's already the 20th of November and I only have 10,000 words done and the in-laws are coming for Thanksgiving and the house is a mess and the kids just..." etc. Man, am I glad I don't have in-laws and I don't celebrate Thanksgiving.

If (hah! There's no one reading this, let alone reading my NNN at fictionpress.com) you're reading my NNN, don't get too attached to a lot of the characters. I'll warn you right now, several of them are marked for death. But their deaths will serve a purpose.