Two posts in two days! Your cups runneth over! :-)
I just saw the new (actually the first) promotional video for my favorite podcast StarShipSofa. It's very cool. And since I do narrations for the show, you can see my name up in lights! Here it is:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
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!
--------------
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!
--------------
Friday, January 01, 2010
Christmas and New Years eve 2009 in Italy
Here I am sitting in a train on the way back home and writing this post on my new iPhone. How cool is that? Ok, well lots of people have been doing this for years but I was never able to afford a laptop or other such things. So I guess I've finally entered full geekdom at the ripe age of 40! But now on to business:
Some of you may know that I was concerned about going to Italy for Christmas this year with Dante so little.
The midwife was all doom and gloom about everything that could go wrong. So there was that to worry about. Clearly he's too young to fly, so we had always intended to take the train. A long trip: 11 hours. But just in case we had bought tickets early knowing we could get a refund if we ended up staying home. I was having nightmares about all the stuff to drag along and how provisional the set-up would be.
But we couldn't have been more wrong. I had seen that he was doing better And better with activities and since I'd figured out how to get him to sleep easily at home I decided we should risk it.
Aside from some anxiety that we would miss our connection in Munich due to delays or that it'd be super stressful with kit and caboodle, the trip was amazingly easy and restful. Dante was peaceful and our seats were great. We'd reserved the infants compartment, which is specially designed to accomodate a carriage. We had it to ourselves. From Munich however it was just a regular compartment, but again it was just us. We made the connection no stress at all!
We stayed with Magnus' parents as usual, but thankfully they'd moved the huge wardrobe into another room so M's tiny room had a bit more space for the 3 of us. His mother had fixed up the crib that had been in the family since M's grandmother slept in it and it is beautiful. Here's a picture:
They had also moved one of the sofas into the spare room so i'd have a comfy place to feed Dante.
Since we arrived a few days before Christmas Dante had a few days to get acclimated before the hordes arrived. He did great! I was so relieved. The only trouble we had was that he had real difficulties burping, and he'd cry and cry if he was still hungry, which makes it impossible for him. Our solution was for Papi to do the burping. Oh, also, he went through the third developmental/growth spurt and so he had a couple of days fraught with crying fits. But it wasn't unbearable.
Because everything was so new and exciting he was awake a lot. But that also meant that he slept well at night. Phew!
People were very respectful and I didn't have to pass him around. He was generally very tranquil and happy. He laughed a lot. He also discovered his hand and his eyes can now track things without moving his head. :-)
In 6 hours now we'll be home, so i'd say a very successful venture! Yay!
Oh and Happy New Year to one and all!
Some of you may know that I was concerned about going to Italy for Christmas this year with Dante so little.
The midwife was all doom and gloom about everything that could go wrong. So there was that to worry about. Clearly he's too young to fly, so we had always intended to take the train. A long trip: 11 hours. But just in case we had bought tickets early knowing we could get a refund if we ended up staying home. I was having nightmares about all the stuff to drag along and how provisional the set-up would be.
But we couldn't have been more wrong. I had seen that he was doing better And better with activities and since I'd figured out how to get him to sleep easily at home I decided we should risk it.
Aside from some anxiety that we would miss our connection in Munich due to delays or that it'd be super stressful with kit and caboodle, the trip was amazingly easy and restful. Dante was peaceful and our seats were great. We'd reserved the infants compartment, which is specially designed to accomodate a carriage. We had it to ourselves. From Munich however it was just a regular compartment, but again it was just us. We made the connection no stress at all!
We stayed with Magnus' parents as usual, but thankfully they'd moved the huge wardrobe into another room so M's tiny room had a bit more space for the 3 of us. His mother had fixed up the crib that had been in the family since M's grandmother slept in it and it is beautiful. Here's a picture:
They had also moved one of the sofas into the spare room so i'd have a comfy place to feed Dante.
Since we arrived a few days before Christmas Dante had a few days to get acclimated before the hordes arrived. He did great! I was so relieved. The only trouble we had was that he had real difficulties burping, and he'd cry and cry if he was still hungry, which makes it impossible for him. Our solution was for Papi to do the burping. Oh, also, he went through the third developmental/growth spurt and so he had a couple of days fraught with crying fits. But it wasn't unbearable.
Because everything was so new and exciting he was awake a lot. But that also meant that he slept well at night. Phew!
People were very respectful and I didn't have to pass him around. He was generally very tranquil and happy. He laughed a lot. He also discovered his hand and his eyes can now track things without moving his head. :-)
In 6 hours now we'll be home, so i'd say a very successful venture! Yay!
Oh and Happy New Year to one and all!
Christmas and New Years eve 2009 in Italy
Here I am sitting in a train on the way back home and writing this post on my new iPhone. How cool is that? Ok, well lots of people have been doing this for years but I was never able to afford a laptop or other such things. So I guess I've finally entered full geekdom at the ripe age of 40! But now on to business:
Some of you may know that I was concerned about going to Italy for Christmas this year with Dante so little.
The midwife was all doom and gloom about everything that could go wrong. So there was that to worry about. Clearly he's too young to fly, so we had always intended to take the train. A long trip: 11 hours. But just in case we had bought tickets early knowing we could get a refund if we ended up staying home. I was having nightmares about all the stuff to drag along and how provisional the set-up would be.
But we couldn't have been more wrong. I had seen that he was doing better And better with activities and since I'd figured out how to get him to sleep easily at home I decided we should risk it.
Aside from some anxiety that we would miss our connection in Munich due to delays or that it'd be super stressful with kit and caboodle, the trip was amazingly easy and restful. Dante was peaceful and our seats were great. We'd reserved the infants compartment, which is specially designed to accomodate a carriage. We had it to ourselves. From Munich however it was just a regular compartment, but again it was just us. We made the connection no stress at all!
We stayed with Magnus' parents as usual, but thankfully they'd moved the huge wardrobe into another room so M's tiny room had a bit more space for the 3 of us. His mother had fixed up the crib that had been in the family since M's grandmother slept in it and it is beautiful. Here's a picture:
They had also moved one of the sofas into the spare room so i'd have a comfy place to feed Dante.
Since we arrived a few days before Christmas Dante had a few days to get acclimated before the hordes arrived. He did great! I was so relieved. The only trouble we had was that he had real difficulties burping, and he'd cry and cry if he was still hungry, which makes it impossible for him. Our solution was for Papi to do the burping. Oh, also, he went through the third developmental/growth spurt and so he had a couple of days fraught with crying fits. But it wasn't unbearable.
Because everything was so new and exciting he was awake a lot. But that also meant that he slept well at night. Phew!
People were very respectful and I didn't have to pass him around. He was generally very tranquil and happy. He laughed a lot. He also discovered his hand and his eyes can now track things without moving his head. :-)
In 6 hours now we'll be home, so i'd say a very successful venture! Yay!
Oh and Happy New Year to one and all!
Some of you may know that I was concerned about going to Italy for Christmas this year with Dante so little.
The midwife was all doom and gloom about everything that could go wrong. So there was that to worry about. Clearly he's too young to fly, so we had always intended to take the train. A long trip: 11 hours. But just in case we had bought tickets early knowing we could get a refund if we ended up staying home. I was having nightmares about all the stuff to drag along and how provisional the set-up would be.
But we couldn't have been more wrong. I had seen that he was doing better And better with activities and since I'd figured out how to get him to sleep easily at home I decided we should risk it.
Aside from some anxiety that we would miss our connection in Munich due to delays or that it'd be super stressful with kit and caboodle, the trip was amazingly easy and restful. Dante was peaceful and our seats were great. We'd reserved the infants compartment, which is specially designed to accomodate a carriage. We had it to ourselves. From Munich however it was just a regular compartment, but again it was just us. We made the connection no stress at all!
We stayed with Magnus' parents as usual, but thankfully they'd moved the huge wardrobe into another room so M's tiny room had a bit more space for the 3 of us. His mother had fixed up the crib that had been in the family since M's grandmother slept in it and it is beautiful. Here's a picture:
They had also moved one of the sofas into the spare room so i'd have a comfy place to feed Dante.
Since we arrived a few days before Christmas Dante had a few days to get acclimated before the hordes arrived. He did great! I was so relieved. The only trouble we had was that he had real difficulties burping, and he'd cry and cry if he was still hungry, which makes it impossible for him. Our solution was for Papi to do the burping. Oh, also, he went through the third developmental/growth spurt and so he had a couple of days fraught with crying fits. But it wasn't unbearable.
Because everything was so new and exciting he was awake a lot. But that also meant that he slept well at night. Phew!
People were very respectful and I didn't have to pass him around. He was generally very tranquil and happy. He laughed a lot. He also discovered his hand and his eyes can now track things without moving his head. :-)
In 6 hours now we'll be home, so i'd say a very successful venture! Yay!
Oh and Happy New Year to one and all!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Lord Dickens' Declaration - benefit for Spider and Jeanne Robinson
Hi everyone! Trying to get this done from Italy has proven rather difficult, so I'm just going to cut and past the information gleaned from my buddy Matthew Sanborn Smith's blog. It's about the wonderful writer, podcaster and narrator Spider Robinson and his wife Jeanne. She is sick, and they have little money to pursue all the available options for treatment. Please continue reading:
"I need your help.
"Quickly: Science Fiction author Spider Robinson's wife Jeanne is fighting cancer and they're both fighting to pay the bills. 100% of any money used to purchase Larry Santoro's excellent e-book, "Lord Dickens's Declaration," will go directly to the Robinsons. Here's the link: http://www.starshipsofa.com/shop/lord-dickenss-declaration/
"Dec 31st is the last day that people can buy Larry's story. I'd like to end the fundraiser with a bang. Let's get the word out all over the web to let people know on December 30th, there's only one day left to help. Why December 30th? Because if there's only one day left people won't put it off and say, "I'll do it later. I still have time." Make sure you link to the purchase page!
"If you've got a blog, please use it. Tell your friends that are into speculative fiction ahead of time and ask them to blog as well. And let's ask the big boys to mention it, like BoingBoing, Gaiman, Scalzi, VanderMeer and whomever else you can think of. One last big push to help some good people in a bad situation.
"Please tell me what you've done here, even if it's just sending some e-mails or tweets. Or post a link here to your blogpost. And if you happen to get a confirmation from someone like Cory Doctorow, then the rest of us won't all be bothering him for the same thing.
"A few minutes of your time is all I ask and it could make a huge difference for the Robinsons. Thanks!"
A clickable link: Lord Dickens's Declaration
"I need your help.
"Quickly: Science Fiction author Spider Robinson's wife Jeanne is fighting cancer and they're both fighting to pay the bills. 100% of any money used to purchase Larry Santoro's excellent e-book, "Lord Dickens's Declaration," will go directly to the Robinsons. Here's the link: http://www.starshipsofa.com/shop/lord-dickenss-declaration/
"Dec 31st is the last day that people can buy Larry's story. I'd like to end the fundraiser with a bang. Let's get the word out all over the web to let people know on December 30th, there's only one day left to help. Why December 30th? Because if there's only one day left people won't put it off and say, "I'll do it later. I still have time." Make sure you link to the purchase page!
"If you've got a blog, please use it. Tell your friends that are into speculative fiction ahead of time and ask them to blog as well. And let's ask the big boys to mention it, like BoingBoing, Gaiman, Scalzi, VanderMeer and whomever else you can think of. One last big push to help some good people in a bad situation.
"Please tell me what you've done here, even if it's just sending some e-mails or tweets. Or post a link here to your blogpost. And if you happen to get a confirmation from someone like Cory Doctorow, then the rest of us won't all be bothering him for the same thing.
"A few minutes of your time is all I ask and it could make a huge difference for the Robinsons. Thanks!"
A clickable link: Lord Dickens's Declaration
Monday, December 07, 2009
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:
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:
Friday, November 20, 2009
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:
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:
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