VirtualSound’s Neighborhood

i am once again feeling all too listless - which when you actually look up the dictionary definition ('having or showing little or no interest in anything; languid; spiritless; indifferent') is quite miserable.... for some reason i had always used the word as meaning unbalanced, without direction, brimming with energy and ideas but unsure what to do with it.

its a miserable feeling either way. i had thought this summer it was just the weather that was making me feel rootless and ready to wander. now its the winter i know its this weather, but its also so much more. i am bored and i feel lazy and i just cannot find anything of interest. its miserable and dis-spiriting. and the grey london skies probably don't help much either.

and the thought of braving the crowds to go christmas shopping (ugh), and the wind (so cold! i am not sure when i turned into quite such a wuss about the weather...). and i am terrible one for cause and effect, i cannot abide doing something if i can't see how it twists back in down the road, it makes shopping less than fun nowadays...

and i guess the worst part is that i just don't know what i want or where i want to be. its so much easier if there is a clear goal, even if you don't reach it its something concrete towards which you can spend your time working. without some goal you, well, listless. there are not even baby steps to take.

i suppose i just want something to throw myself into whole-heartedly. which seems an ominous request to make, but then again, i never did have much sense in that arena.

i had a fantastic weekend - a few of my former colleagues from gaza come over to london for the weekend (they had some extra time off for eid) and i spent most of the weekend with them. being dragged around oxford street (not my favourite place at this time of year with all of the christmas tourists!), but also going to see priscilla queen of the desert (fantastically fun on stage! i need to find a copy of the movie to watch sometime, probably when i am back in the states...).

and going to the winter wonderland german-esque christmas market in hyde park, being treated to an afternoon of tennis at O2 (thanks K!), a lovely indian dinner with an unrwa crew, an evening out at one of my favourite places (this fantastic brazilian dance bar which is just about enough to make you forget how miserable and wet it is here right now), somehow having enough sense of direction to walk halfway home before finding a cabbie to take me the rest of the way!

a lovely morning-after brunch with the crew, nothing like a full-cooked english breakfast to kick start you in the morning, the lion king matinee (a must for all! the costumes are spectacular and the dancing in the costumes is amazing, such fun!), and then a nice thai dinner to round out the day and weekend.

it was lovely and spoiling and just so nice to see scott and jodie. i hadn't realise how much i missed them and the rest of my friends and colleagues there. its hard just to switch it off. i may have left, but its two years of my life where that was pretty much all i had. you can never just leave it.

but, the week and the adventure continues on. i continue by bout of being homeless tomorrow by trekking across town with all of my accumulated possessions to K's flat. i don't know what i would have done if sam hadn't been out of town and so okay with me just taking over his place... and as always staying with K will be a treat, I'll even be able to cook again!! (sam in all of his certified bachelor glory owns 4 plates, 2 glasses, 4 knives, 4 forks and 4 spoons.... its been an interesting 3 weeks....

and know i suppose i need to buckle down and deal with the holidays. christmas shopping and the like, how joy-fully not fun. i could also probably do with some gainful employment... hmm.... i suppose its best to have goals for the new year after all!

Well I'm not a great reviewer of movies but here it goes.  I wanted to go and see a movie at the Crest in North Seattle.  They have $3 shows anytime of day and they usually are pretty good.  They are a few months after the first run so they do pick the better ones.  So not much planning ahead I headed over and the movie I wanted to see had already started and I remembered the movie clips for The Invention of Lying and I thought this is going to be terrible and didn't really want to see it but it was in the right time frame, I was there and it was playing.

So it was different then what I thought it was going to be, I thought everyone would be lying and it wasn't that way.  The movie is based in a world where no one has any concept of lying and everyone tells the truth and very bluntly and matter of factly too.  It was so crude in some spots everyone in the theatre would giggle with delight or that uncomfortable laugh when you know shouldn't.  The main character is titled by a blind date as the short fat man with a stubby nose, who is about to lose his job as a screen writer.  Eventually this character says something that isn't, thatis how he tries to explain to his friends (his lie) and the great discovery it could be.  I wasn't liking the movie much but it was different so it kept me entertained but then when it all changed and he says something that isn't and how he started to change his life and the life around him, that is when I started to like the movie.  Oh now that sounds kinda bad huh?...Well anyway...

At one point the darn movie made me cry, his Mom was about to die and the doctor told her a matter of factly you will have another heart attack in a few hours and it will be painful and you will die and you will be gone and it will go black and your life is over.  She was so scared, her son Mark (the main character) told her she was going to a happy place where she will see her husband and all of her friends and she will have a mansion in the sky.   It was the sweetest part of the movie.  All of the hospital staff in the room wanted to know how he knew that and were very happy.  Well it all snowballed and they told people who told people and everyone was surrounding his apartment. 

As you have figured as I did in the movie they didn't have any concept of God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  So he came up with the Man in the Sky and wrote out two sheets of rules of how to get your own Mansion in the sky.  There is a lot more to the movie and I haven't told you several side stories like the romantic interest, his friends, his work and how it all turns out but it was a funny movie overall and I did like it and it ended the right way wasn't sure if it would.

So I would give the movie a 7 out of 10 score.  I would recommend seeing it but for adults only.  If you want to go to the Crest Theatre( with Landmark Theatres) here is the phone number for their address and movie times. 206-781-5755 press 1 for the Crest.

DD 

First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!

The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.

A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.

Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.

On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.

And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!

~ daisy

 

As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.

The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.

When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.

It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.

Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.

As always, thanks for your patience.

~daisy

Well I can't seem to blog about whats going on now until I get caught up.  I love getting all the pictures with our digital camera but haven't been so good about getting them into albums.  They all seem to be stuck in the computer filed under my pictures but are spread out over several computers.  I wish I had taken the memory card thats in the camera and took it to the photo store and got some prints but now they get erased so we can get more pics.  So this is a fun way to keep them organized and so we can remember. I just got to get them blogged or get at least a few of the best pictures saved.  I don't think the kids look at my blog yet but they might someday and hopefully will enjoy that I tried to keep the memories for them. 

This group of pics below is of Ben's first time playing basketball on a team.  He played at the YMCA, he had a great coach, coach Reed.  He said his top 3 rules were to Have Fun, Have FUN, and HAVE FUN !  Ben had fun, even though at first he wasn't sure about playing.  Ben was one of the tallest boys.  I don't remember all of the boys names but I do remember Miles, he was really good, and still would pass it to Ben even though he knew Ben might not catch it.  Ben just kept getting better and better. Ben is going to play again this Fall starting at the end of November and goes through March and I think he gets to play on Coach Reeds team again with Miles. 

You can also see Dave working from home lounging in the front yard.  He loves working from home.  I think he has lost over 30 pounds since these pics were taken, he will probably not like these but I love them, he looks so happy. 

Ben is playing video games with our neighbor friend Chris, friends Treyvon and Miles. 

                                                Click on the pics to make them larger. 

Go forth and fill your libraries with media.

Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.

~daisy

I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.

I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.

Cheers,

daisy