Thanksgiving, Choir Class Concert, Advent and a Review

This has been a busy week around here!

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday. Practical reasons really: no one has Thursday off and to eat a tradition Thanksgiving dinner at 7pm is just wrong and bad in so many ways, plus I'm unwilling to cook it all all by myself, which is what would happen if we did it on Thursday. Dante was so excited! We mad toilet paper turkey napkin rings on Friday and on Saturday he asked about every 5 minutes when the guests were arriving. It was pure torture. For him and us. We invited our new friends the Pillai's, whose daughter shares a desk with Dante at school. They are of German/Sri Lankan/Canadian extraction. And we invited our foodie and kitchen guru (Holger Kahl from Poggenpohl designed and built our kitchen) and his family. Turns out his son is also Type 1 diabetic! An Australian friend sent us a wonderful collection of readings curated by Seth Godin (A Thanksgiving Reader), which we attempted to do (the Germans went on strike!) and it was lovely. It includes quotes and brief passages by the likes of Khalil Gibran and Native American prayers and such.

And will wonders never cease? The food was all hot when it landed on the table and it tasted delicious!!

The next day, yes, on a Sunday morning, was the Hannover Chorklassenkonzert (Choir Class Concert). We had to be at rehearsal at 9:15 and pick up one of his classmates on the way. Ugh for the early start. But the whole thing was wonderful! The program encourages schools to designate one class per grade as the Choir Class and music and singing play an important role in the character of the class and the singing is integrated into the lessons as well. Dante loves it, I'm so glad he was chosen to be in that class. His singing skills have improved dramatically! For all the exposure to and learning about music and instruments that happened at Ecole Koenig they always sang songs that were too low and pretty much just shouted the whole time! Not so here! Yay! The concert itself was actually quite good. There were 3 schools represented. The other schools had a couple of grades each, but Dante's is the only Choir Class in his school. It was really interesting to see how well they sing
together after having done so a few years. Dante still pretty much looks like a deer in the headlights,
but he said it was fun, so....

This year we are doing all the activities. Germany makes a lot of Fall and Winter activities integral to childhood and Dante's just at the right age to appreciate everything. There was the St Martin's parade, where the kids make lanterns and parade through the streets sing the lantern songs. Now we have the Advent Calendar, where he gets a treat or a mini-present everyday and in a couple of days St Nicholas comes to give the kids goodies or coal. We also have an advent wreath that we light every evening, and we've put up most of the decorations. The Christmas tree will go up this weekend. On the 13th is Santa Lucia, who brings The Kids in Scandanavia and Verona, Italy presents. He's getting totally spoiled. But the poor kid has so many activities and so much homework that there's not much time for playing!!!

And now, comes the plug for my most recent poetry review. Last Spring I wrote a LOT of reviews for Star*Line (the journal of the SFPA) and my agreement with the editor is that I can use those reviews for Amazing Stories as well after a period of exclusivity. That's cool, because Star*Line pays me (a token) whereas Amazing Stories does not (yet). So, when I went on hiatus prior to the end of school for Dante, our vacation in Italy and the end of our sojourn in Paris and move to Germany, I still had 2 reviews from S*L that hadn't yet appeared on Amazing Stories. I completely forgot about them, because my hiatus extended into Fall and in fact just ended about 3 weeks ago with my return to posting at Amazing Stories. ANYHOO, the 2nd and last of those reviews appeared last week Tuesday (which is the new Wednesday - which was my posting day). It is a review of Carolyn Clinks ever morphing poetry collection entitled "Much Slower Than Light". It includes 3 full poems in audio read my moi.

Daydreamer

My son is a daydreamer. Or maybe he's just a 4 year old genius concocting the next earth-shattering invention(s). If his Lego vehicles are any indication, it might be the latter, but I'll reserve judgement.

I lead with this because I'm happy I can claim it with relative certitude and that I'm not blogging about how my son was instead diagnosed with something (more) serious. You see, his perfectly wonderful and well-meaning teachers (and his classmates as well) had noticed his trips to La-la-land were pretty frequent and came sometimes at very odd moments. They called my husband and I in for a meeting to ask us if we'd noticed anything (well yes, but never thought anything of it) and to suggest we may want to ask a doctor about it and see if it's something more serious than going off to Outer Space.

First, I went to his pediatrician, the doctor here in Paris who knows him pretty well. She said she had no expertise in this area, but that the description called to mind Absence Epilepsy, which, in case you are, like me, clueless, is where the brain takes a break from connecting synapses for about 10 seconds or less. Apparently, it can develop into more serious forms of epilepsy.  So, she called another doctor to ask for a recommendation of a pediatric neurologist that speaks English. She made an appointment for us with her (at the American Hospital in Neuilly) and also an appointment for an EEG to be done at the public hospital in Neuilly a week prior. Unfortunately, the appointment with the specialist was for in a month's time at 18:30 (6:30pm) because she only does consultations on Wednesday evenings.

In the meantime, our son went off for 5 days and 4 nights on Classe Verte, the annual overnight field trip to spend time more involved with nature. He came home totally energized and the teachers said he was a different boy there - attentive, engaged and excited. He still wants to know when the next Classe Verte is!

The EEG test itself was a bit of an adventure in and of itself, but my boy was brave and tried hard to hold it together, even though people touching or messing with his head/hair is something he can't abide. He fell asleep during the test (which I guess is ideal) and the administer said there was no sign of absence epilepsy or anything else unusual. Phew. But we still had to go see the specialist with the scan/results.

Because both hospitals are outside of Paris (even if only just a bit) and very close to one another, I arranged to go to pick up the results of the EEG immediately before our consultation with the neurologist. The radiology desk closed at 5:30pm so we arrived around 5. Waited. 20 minutes. Only to be told the scan couldn't be found. I will spare you the rant about how unfriendly and unhelpful the woman was, raising her voice as if I were deaf and would understand French better that way. I eventually discovered that the doctor who administered the test wasn't in the hospital and I would have to call the next day to try and track the scan down. All she could give me at that time was a general results document. Great. So, I'm supposed to go to the neurologist sans scan?!? Yup. That's what I did. At least the results were negative!

We arrived at the American Hospital 45 minutes early and were told that the doctor was running late. OK, well I was prepared - I'd brought dinner for Dante at least and we had lots of books because we'd visited the library just before embarking on our odyssey. Little did I know we'd wait for 4 and a half hours to see the neurologist! We were the second to last people to see her and the secretary had gone home. The security guard wanted to lock up, but kindly said he'd come back later. The specialist said she'd had an emergency and was terribly sorry but glad that we'd waited. (Well, what choice did we have? It's too hard to get in to see her!)

The doctor had him do some standard things to test his symmetry and what-not. Walk on tip-toe, on his heels, toe to heel in a straight line. The latter he couldn't do, because he was laughing so hard. He thought the whole thing was hilarious. Because naturally, he'd reached Slap-Happy. Better that than desperate because he should've been asleep for an hour by then! Needless to say, she thought he seemed like a perfectly healthy boy with better than average language skills (speaking 4 languages as he does), with no other detectible abnormalities. She would have a look at the scan at a later date and if necessary we could come in again.

Luckily, we caught a bus immediately, but it was still almost 11pm when he was finally asleep. I decided to let him sleep in, instead of going to school on time the next morning. And it was a good thing, he broke his record by sleeping until 9:00am!

I'm exceedingly relieved that he's just, like his mom and his dad before him, a daydreamer.

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StarShipSofa Stories Vol. 2 and other news

So, in addition to being my father's birthday (Happy Birthday, Daddy!!!!) and my friend Sandra's birthday as well (Happy Birthday, Sandra!!!) today is the launch of my favorite podcast's 2nd Volume of "Best of" StarShipSofa stories. These are Science Fiction stories that ran on the show this year, since Volume 1 came out. There are some great authors represented including Gwyneth Jones, Nancy Kress, Jeff VanDerMeer and my friend Larry Santoro. A slew of great artists have illustrated each story and Dee Cunniffe and Skeet Scienski have done a wonderful job with graphics, layout and the cover art. Can you tell how much I love that this book is coming out? Have a look at the promo video and more detailed information on contents and how you can buy it here and see for yourselves. Of course, Volume 1 is equally as awesome and if you missed that one you should buy both!! :-)

News on other fronts:

Dante turned one year old!!! We spent a week in Italy with the Nonni (that's grandparents to those who don't speak Italian) and had some relatives over on the day with a cake and everything. I actually gave Dante little bits of the yellow cake part of the cake. The first time he's had anything sweetened with sugar! Of course, he loved it and wanted more, more, more! He got some lovely presents from various people over the last few weeks - thank you everyone, so much! I'll add a picture of us with the cake later...

I attended a wonderful concert with Magnus the other day. Thomas Quasthoff singing selections from his recently released 2nd jazz CD. He's a classical singer of amazing quality and we decided to treat ourselves to this concert to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. I intend on writing a proper review in English and in German, but haven't found the time yet.


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HELLO! Hello? hello? ello? lo?

Is there an echo in here?!? There surely must be since I haven't written a post since New Years, it seems! Wow. Well, maybe this will be the first of many new posts. We'll see...

An update:

My son Dante continues to occupy most of my time. He's adorable and fascinating and funny. And I'm smitten.

I'm continuing to teach, and in January I started teaching again, full-time, so to speak, meaning that I managed to get all of my pupils and a couple of new ones to commit to coming on one of 2 days per week. I'm now teaching Monday and Friday afternoons and usually into the evening. I have a babysitter who watches Dante in the Living Room while I teaching down at the other end of the apartment. It works pretty well. I'm considering changing Fridays to Thursdays, so that we can have a long weekend and I won't necessarily have to reschedule all the lessons.

I recorded another story for PodCastle in March and neglected to blog about it - "Love Among the Talus" by Elizabeth Bear. A nice little story that you can listen to here

They've asked my to record another story for them and Tony from StarShipSofa has also asked for a recording, this one by Gwyneth Jones! I'll be sure to blog more about them when I've finished and when they air.

I had an audition rehearsal with a local cabaret a cappella group here in Hannover called Ferrari Küßchen, which went pretty well. It would be a big commitment, but a great opportunity and something different for me. It would definitely get me out there singing, which is what matters to me at this point. :-) It's not a done deal yet though. We are going to have more meetings/rehearsals, and Magnus, Dante and I are going to spend a performance day with the group to see what it involves. I probably wouldn't start performing with them before January anyway. I'll keep you posted!

So, I'd say that's enough for now! If you are still around drop me a comment, and let me know! Thanks!

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Going back to work

Hi my friends!

Dante is now a full 2 months old! My, how time flies. It seems like the last 2 months of pregnancy (and pregnancy itself) were interminable and now, when I'd like to savor each moment, it just flies by in an exhausted blur!

Anyway, on the recommendation of my midwife, Sabine, and a bit of impatient pushing from one of my pupils (the one I trade lessons for massages with), I started teaching again a couple of weeks ago now! Sabine thought that I needed something besides Dante in my life, to do something for me. Her daughter, Charlotte, comes over on Monday afternoons and I teach for an hour, get a massage and then teach another pupil for an hour. It's pretty awesome. Charlotte is great with the Li'l Poet and I get some quality me time and professional, adult time.

I had originally thought I would start teaching all my pupils in December, but I've decided I just can't. I don't want to be away from Dante that much! :-) Besides, December is a crazy month anyway and short with Christmas, so I've decided I'll start again in January. I hope it works out. I have 8 people and a massage I need to fit in. Hopefully I'll manage on 2 days: Mondays and Fridays, when Charlotte can come. Magnus may be able to take over on Fridays, when he can get away from the office.

So, that's my update. Here the most adorable picture of the Li'l Poet:

Introducing (finally) The Li'l Poet

Yes, I'm finally raising my head from the depths of new motherhood to introduce my baby to the world!

His name is Dante, after the Italian poet. He was born on Oct. 3, 2009 at 2:06am. He weighed in at 4115g or 9 lbs and 55cm or 21.7 inches at birth. A big boy! In the meantime he weighs about 10 1/2 lbs (5330g).

We had a bit of a rocky start, but only mildly so. Dante got a little faint of heart after 12 hours of first phase labor (and all ready to start pushing!) and required an emergency C-section to enter the world safely. Not what I had hoped, but I'm very glad that he's otherwise healthy.

He developed a bit of jaundice too, which made him a very sleepy boy (I called him my little rag-doll for a couple of weeks), and a lazy eater. We had to feed him formula and I had to work to increase my milk supply, but after 2 weeks we went cold turkey and are breast-feeding exclusively, yea!!! He's been doing very well ever since. He cries quite a bit, because he's easily overwhelmed and overtired and doesn't want to sleep, but hopefully he'll work that out soon. The trade-off is that he's always been a good sleeper at night, usually just rousing to nurse once in the middle and managing two 4/5 hour sleeps.

Here are some pictures from the hospital and home:

Quick Updates

I'm finding sitting at the computer very uncomfortable these days. It's so easy to get sucked in though! :-)

Today one of my Science Fiction poetry readings has aired on StarShipSofa. It's "Clone Assassin" by Lyn C. A. Gardner.











StarShipSofa Stories Vol. 1 will be released in Hardcover! You can acquire your very own copy in the following formats: paperback, deluxe trade paperback, Hardcover, Kindle, and FREE ebook. Just follow the link.









Tomorrow, 1 October, is Support Our 'Zines Day an event masterminded by Damien Walter, a SF writer for the Guardian Blog! If you are a reader of or listener to Science Fiction and Fantasy literature, show your support of the industry by subscribing to a genre magazine (in print or digital) and/or donate to any number of podcasts, websites or authors dedicated SFF.

Still no little Dante, except in my womb... Small signs that his birth is getting nearer though. Any day now, sweetie!


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The Home Stretch

Long time no see! Yes, I apologize for going radio silent just as I've entered the Home Stretch of pregnancy. No, Dante hasn't been born yet. He's much too comfortable in there! My Mac Mini decided it had had enough (force feeding, I guess) and refused to start up. I took it to the Apple Hospital and they got it to work again. Unfortunately, there are random bits of software which are missing, so random programs don't work properly. I'm clueless about these things, so I think it'll probably be about 18 years before I stop getting random error messages. My friend, Meredith, formerly of the CtK choir in Frankfurt suggested a Big Mac might help. Maybe it's worth a try? ANYWAY...

I have a couple of things to report on:

The Final Wedding Performance

My friends Isabel and Jens asked me to sing for their wedding on 5 September. They chose Laudate Dominum from Mozart's Vespers. We had agreed that if I really wasn't up to it, I could cancel. I felt fine, and my voice was fine, but breath management was weird. I was concerned, because I needed more oxygen than I needed air to sing this piece and my body would get all stressed out by the end of it. Luckily the church was big and the balance with the organ was such that I could sing louder. Strangely, that seemed to help. I "wasted" the air I needed for oxygen's sake and the whole process was more efficient. There wasn't quite the dynamic variation that Mozart suggests, but you know what? I sang well, the bridal couple and several guests were moved, and that's what counts, no?

StarShipSofa Stories Volume 1

The first official Anthology of StarShipSofa's Aural Delights Audio Magazine is available for purchase at Lulu, a print on demand publishing house. You can also download a free ebook version of this fantastic collection of stories. Have a look at the book, which is styled after those wonderfully campy 50's pulp Science Fiction paperbacks, complete with advertisements from 50's magazines interspersed between the stories and original artwork for select stories. Click here. From there you can decide whether you'd like to purchase the book from Lulu or download. In any case, you can also donate to the StarShipSofa. As I've mentioned before, I've narrated countless stories and poetry for the SSS and Tony Smith has become a friend. Three of the stories I narrated for the podcast are appearing in the Anthology. If you listened and liked those stories or narrations you might like to have them in print and you can help out by purchasing the book. All proceeds will go toward production costs of the podcast.

Pregnancy

Officially the due date is 13 October. My doctor has gone back and forth a couple of times whether it should be the 6th or the 13th. She's now convinced it should be earlier than the 13th anyway. She declared that from 22 September she'd no longer consider it a premature birth and Dante is welcome to make his appearance. Being pregnant is definitely getting tedious and I'm so curious to meet my little boy. I've been remarkably free of problems worse than elephant feet and cankles due to water retention. I've started with acupuncture to ease the birth and next week the doc will set some needles to help with the swollen legs and feet. I wouldn't have thought, but these needles are much more uncomfortable than the ones they stick in your face for hayfever! I'm trying to rest a lot, and not over-do it. Not sleeping too well these days. Tomorrow we'll have another consultation and ultrasound at the hospital and perhaps set a last date when they'll induce if he's gotten too comfortable in there. Magnus and I will have birthing class on Saturday. Next week some friends have organized a baby shower for me. I think we are pretty much organized and anything we don't have yet won't be tragic.

That's it for now. I'm planning on reviewing a wonderful Dance production I went to recently, but I'll do that in a separate post.

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