some aural gluttony and general exhilaration for all you guys

Music is great. There's no other way really I can describe it because it strips my linguistic articulation down to the very bare bones. There's precious few other ways to say 'I love you' than with those words.

Today I've been having an opera overload. I think I loved opera before I ever really loved anything else. It washes you clean, just like the blues; they wash you clean too and fix all your bad thoughts.

I'm making my mommy a CD for mother's day and all. Ultimate expression of love! Feast your ears!

So yeah what else can I say. Lie on the floor and listen to it. Rachmaninoff. Eric Clapton. Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison. Chopin. Tosca. La bohème. Don Giovanni. Faust. Van Morrison. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Robert Johnson. Muddy Waters. Howlin Wolf. The Black Keys. Noah Gunderson. Mozart. Marillion. Schubert. Bach. Bachinaal (ha). 

So here's for all you guys. You rock my socks. 

my living room yesterday morning

Edit: Oh yeah and I've been making a playlist of music I find it good to write to. Clears my head:

 http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF9A81B40F5E35E07

COMMAS ARE ALLOWED TODAY BECAUSE IT'S SUNDAY AND THEREFORE A DAY OF REST. 
COMMALESS LENT 2012

The Suck in the Liffey

Here's a little visual interlude for y'all. As the description says....it makes a cool sound. I recorded this last Wednesday at about 8.45 am. It was a very windy day.

It's the curve of the corner of the famous Ha'penny Bridge and Ormond Quay. 

The Suck in the Liffey from Biblical Bather on Vimeo.

It makes a cool sound :)

Haiku About How My Hands Are Smaller Than Schubert's

Peggy over at Poetry Jam suggested that we write about our limits. The prompt took my fancy so I decided to go with it.

The poem has to do with the photo.

<----------

The reach and webbing just
short of Schubert's -
my hands - red and straining.


Here's another photo of where I wrote it. Handwritten manuscripts (or whatever they're called) are kind of cool aren't they?

'Going Freelance'

Borrowed from Computer Arts.
I thought it appropriate.

Well. 

After a fairly eventful 2 days I have decided to do the push for freelancing for keeps this time.


I might as well use the time that has been given me - and I do nothing if not that. Or try to anyway. 

So I skimmed through about six inches of the boyfriend's Computer Arts magazines (note to self: buy the poor boy a subscription). 

There's a good bit in there about freelancing and it's not Americanised the way Freelanceswitch and other places seem to be. So if you're in the running from this side of the pond I might suggest consulting resources that aren't online.

Quick aside: Computer Arts is a beautiful magazine. And there's currently a bi-monthly special on typography (more about that later. I hope.). 

So I set up an oDesk account and took some grammar tests to show I wasn't lying. oDesk is cool like that in that the contractors can gauge the worth of their freelancer. Clever. 

I then applied for two jobs & shall keep you updated. 

I'm now checking out DirectFreelance and Elance. 

At the end of the day I would argue that the Internet is the future. I've been repeatedly advised to contact people I know and look for work and yes of course I'll do that. I might as well. 

As they say: it's not what you know it's who you know. 

I'm feeling positive about this and of course will keep you updated on my progress. And who knows perhaps in a few years these blogposts can be used as a guide for newbies. 

ANOTHER POST WITHOUT COMMAS

BROUGHT TO YOU BY LENT 2012

Pictorial Account Of The Weekend

design for life

This first photo is of the plan my friend made me. We all know what a fan I am of the six week plan so here we go. 

A piano bootcamp of epic proportions. I need to do this if I'm going to be hitting Shostakovich by December (although I'm thinking of ditching his piece because I'd only be playing it for the sake of saying I can play Shostakovich. I think the piece itself is a bit rubbish actually. Watch it on youtube here if you want). 

She's had stories in Clarkesworld & Fantasy Magazine and has just been nominated for a Rhysling award so I suggest you check out her site for a hit of brilliance. 

The rest of the photographs I have on display today in this little gallery of awesome are the pictures from my notebook drawn by my cousin and friends with whom I spent Saturday night. It was a really fun night :) I didn't look at them today because I like surprises. 

Links and Reminders: No-Wave Magazine - Fuselit - Snake-Oil Cure - ESC zine - Medulla Review

this is how the sentence diagramming is going

Note on the sentence diagramming. I didn't even know it existed there a while ago and any help would be greatly appreciated! No really! 

Another note just on how stuff is going generally. It's sunny and there's blue skies and apparently this makes me a very happy Jessica indeed. 

Who knew. 

A very nice lady is reading the *&!ck!n* manuscript (which has been cut down into novella-length which kind of suits it actually) and this has made me realise that perhaps I over-do the editing thing and should just let things lie. I made an open plea on Twitter for someone to read it and take it away from me and she answered :) I told her in an email to burn everything & that included the manuscript but I don't think she's gonna. 

Submission notices and reminders that could be of interest to other people.

1. No-Wave Magazine in Canterbury are looking for submissions. They're cool because they're interested in the visual impact of a piece as well as the content. Seeing as I love typography a *lot*...this sounds exciting. Pity I can't use photoshop...
2. Fuselit is a British journal (weyhey for this side of the pond!) that is just stunning. I mean LOOK at it. The 'spur word' for their next issue is AMAZON and they accept stories that are 1000 words max. The last issue had Kristine Ong Muslim in it. She's a very nice lady. I have Smaller Than Most on my Kindle app(lication) on my trusty Android. 
3. Dr Hurley's Snake-Oil Cure is a place I really like because it is a cool idea and I love quacks.  I've been meaning to throw things at them for ages now. They're gonna be having a print edition soon. 
4. ESC zine are open for a short window of time to submissions. It's an independent publication in Dublin which is dedicated to making literature and visual art accessible to everyone everywhere always. All the information is here. 

and then:

**TWO VERY IMPORTANT THINGS**

A sci fi group I'm in on Scribophile is having a competition about creating a parallel universe. Seeing as I appear to be living in one most of the time I'll be interested to see how it goes. 

For the love of Jehovah I have to remember to submit to the New Irish Writing thing in the Irish Independent. I mean come ON. It's published on the last Saturday of every month. Don't exceed 2000 words and you can email your entry to newirishwriting@independent.ie. 

and finally:

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING OF ALL

Transference is viewable to the general public in Volume 3 of Issue 2 of the Medulla Review. 

.......I'm going to stop drinking tea and out now into the blue sky and sunshine. Slán.