December 20, 2005 The Holiday
Tom and I are going to Tahoe for Christmas and then we will be back in the city for NYE. Looking forward to some time off. It sure has been a stressful year.
We finished bricking in the fireplace and framing the top for the drywall. Happy to say that things are moving forward- the drywaller is coming in Thursday to do around the fireplace, Nate is going to finish the electrics and then we can have the inspector in after Christmas. After it is approved we can have the bathroom drywalled, and then it is just Tom P's finishing woodwork (cladding the posts, finishing the pocket doors, doing the trim). It will be a little while until we can have the floor guy come, but hopefully we will have a front room to sit in within the next few months. Also- it looks like our contractor is going to do the front of the house (repairing the leaky steps)
soon too. So buy us a beer when we are out cuz we's gonna be broke!
Got the second to last session completed on my tattoo. I can't believe it but there is only one left. Looks like I will have to start on my ankle after that. Then, no more- I swear!
December 7, 2005 Work
Just found out that I still have a job. Some people I work with don't - and that sucks. So I guess I am working for Adobe now. So weird. I think it will be good though.
November 22, 2005 Permits / Capoeira Competition
We just got the permits to finish the work on the front of our house. Finally! So now we need to brick the fireplace facade (this weekend) and get the final inspection for moving the wall and the sink upstairs. Then it is just cosmetic work and some electric stuff and we are done! Tom P., who is doing the woodwork found us some real nice reclaimed walnut wood which we are going to use to clad the beams in what was the load bearing wall. We are going to turn it into shelving with lighting. Once the drywall is finished we can make the pocket doors, paint and then get the floors refinished, do the trim and then we will actually have a usable front room and bathroom upstairs. Looks like we will have the front of the house repaired as well (it is covered under the permit). We have water damage so parts of the steps and front landing need replacing as well as the wall that holds up the end of the garage. After this work is completed we can finally paint the front of the house and get rid of the ugly railing. I'm sure the neighbors will be thrilled when we finally plant something in our front garden. They have been staring at debris, bricks and sandbags long enough. We are definitely going to take a break when this work is done.
The capoeira competition was a few weeks ago. It was pretty fun- although exhausting to have a batizado and competition in the same day. When I watch the video I can notice that we all look tired. I am still working on posting all the video to my capoeira website, but I have my games posted. Here is a benguela game with Joe, a Sao Bento game with Cat, a benguela game with Cat, and a Sao Bento game with Joe. There were only four of us in our level, and a few of my games got cut off on the tape but this is what I have. Anyhow, I won 2nd place in my level, which was pretty cool, although the whole thing is really based on a few minutes of games in the end. I enjoyed the competition though and it's cool to finally be an orange cord and to cheer my friends on too.
November 3, 2005 Batizado/Jogos Competition
This coming weekend is my Capoeira batizado and competition. Mestre Camisa arrived yesterday and we started out Capoeira workshops. Since going to England I've been a bit out of shape, so it has been intense this week, training every day to prepare for the events.
I was also pretty wiped out last Friday from getting 4 (yikes!) hours of tattoo work done. Yep, I finally have started color- the blue of the water is done and it was really painful this time. Maybe because I wasn't in the best frame of mind, or maybe it was because it covered so much of my back - and all the most painful parts- the side ribs, the tailbone/butt and the spine. Needless to say I was in a state for about 24 hours after. I even was out of it over Halloween celebrations (and Marcia's, my Capoeira teacher's birthday party- which was a blast). I felt better and rested on Sunday in preparation for this week's grueling training schedule.
Not much has happened with the house- still waiting for permits for the front, and the plumber moved the pipes for the bathroom sink (EXPENSIVE!) but he can't put the sink in until the new wall is built and the electrics are re-wired. Tivian is supposed to be on that now. Hopefully things will finally get rolling now. I'm tired of showering in the dark!
November 1, 2005 Back from the UK
Got back from England/Scotland about a week ago and Tom comes home tomorrow (yay!).
We flew into Newcastle, and Tom's mum picked us up from the airport. His father, brother Sam, and Sam's girlfriend Emily drove up from Leeds to meet us. We tooled around Northumberland for a few days and then Tom, Sam, Emily and I prepped for a 7 hour car journey to Oban, Scotland. We then took a ferry to the Isle of Mull where we rented a log cabin overlooking the ocean.
Restricted to car journeys due to Tom's broken ankle, we drove around Mull to take in the scenery and to have a mini-safari. We also took the ferry to spiritual Iona, where Tom braved a walk to the clear water beach, past the famous Abbey. We also had a lovely creme tea at a B&B on Iona- scones, creme and homemade marmalade! The rest of the time we sat around the cabin, warm and cozy by the wood burning stove, playing Scrabble and cards or creating our entry in the log book (Tom, being immobile, spent a lot of time on these great illustrations, while I wrote out the text).
We spent 5 days on Mull before driving down to Bristol for our friend Vicky's wedding party. This was a celebration of epic proportions. The party started at 1:00 and we got back to our B&B at 2am. It was a laugh and real nice to see some old friends.
We left Bristol the next day (all of us slow and hung over) for Oxford, to have lunch with Emily's parents. Tom and Sam's parents met us there as well. We then stayed a few days in Oxford at Emily's family cottage. Emily's grandmother was a screen actress in the 30s and 40s so the house if full of amazing artifacts, including her Tony award she won in 1979. The next morning, Tom and his parents drove me to London Gatwick for my return flight home.
October 12, 2005 Macromedia's Final Party
Macromedias last party- was fresh and fun. Got to hang out with my girls which made me very happy.
Birthday party with Royce at Medjool was fun too, although most of the peeps were hung over from the Macromedia party.
Tattoo went really well. Got the shading done in the scales. Took three hours- damn. Still have like 3 appointments booked. We made some clear decisions on the color (next session) which I am happy about.
Capoeira video party at Casa Hobbs went down without a hitch. Was dope to see it again. Will be getting the March performance DVD soon so we will have to have another video night. Fun fun.
House construction is somewhat paused due to permits. We need to get some plumbing and electrical permits before we can rebuild the walls (extending the bathroom and putting in the sliding doors). Hopefully the front of the house work will get under way very soon. Hope to Buddah we have enough money for all this shit!
Now Tom and I are off to the UK (with the poor guy on crutches- yikes!) - Yorkshire, Leeds, Northumberland, Mull (Scotland), Bristol (for the wedding), London and back home again by the 25th.
Then I get to find out if I have a job or not. Yay!