As usual for the spring season, I have shaved my beard, but this time I didn't shave all of it. I shaved the sides and kept a goatee, which I don't usually do. I think it looks okay, vaguely sinister perhaps, and kinda trendoid, but it suits the shape of my face better than I thought it would. However, maintenance is a pain (mowing the lawn AND trimming the hedge), and I'll probably shave it completely in a month or so.
As usual, thesis is the primary focus of my life these days. I've gotten to a good milestone, I've finished the experiments (pretty much), and now I enter the final stage of integration and writing the whole thing up. I'm just starting to feel a little of the excitement of the last leg, the sprint to the finish line.
I doubt that this will all be done by the end of April, which is the deadline for graduating in the June ceremony, but I'll try my best and see how close I can get. The thesis defense is the big hurdle, can you imagine defending your work in front of three of the best specialists in the world? I'm looking forward to having it over with!
Feeling the pressure from the Soundstage 7 situation and life in general, I have started seeing a shrink again. For those of you who know my history, this is a major achievement all by itself. His name is Mike Elkin, and he's actually very good, which is a pleasant change from some others. He has a web site (link will come soon), and I do recommend him for people who need an expert who can teach you to do self-therapy, which is really what he does. I feel better, and I'm hoping to continue the healing and growing process.
I have been having fun brewing mead. I've bottled two batches of cyser (made with apple juice) and I have two batches of straight honey mead in the tanks. I've tried flavoring one of them with orange zest and juice, which ought to be really yummy (no one I know has ever tried making orange mead). We'll see what happens!
I have been to some good parties, like Bobby's party for his girl Anat's birthday, and dice games for Even Day (2 Feb) and Leap Day (29 Feb). I've gotten together with old friends like Lugh, Camilla, and Marek. My lover Lee and I are getting along okay, although not seeing each other as often as before, and we went quarry exploring around Cape Ann which was fun. Video entertainment has included the Farscape season finale, Run Lola Run, City Of Lost Children, Elizabeth, and Almodovar's Tie Me Up Tie Me Down. I've been having regular viewings of new Futurama episodes, I think it's the best thing on TV these days!
We also built up some fences around the farmyard and garden, using metal gratings which Bella and Raven had trashpicked. I admire their resourcefulness, they have very little money to work with, but they're making the farm grow very nicely.
I helped with the sheep and goats too. These farm ungulates have the unfortunate combination of being both stupid and paranoid, and it usually takes a lot of work to get them to do the right thing. The goat that is pregnant (twins, from the size of her!) needed her hooves trimmed, so we had to manuver her out of the pen and up the ramp to the trimming platform, while she was resisting all the way, and the other goats were trying to get past her (I guess they wanted treats).
Also the sheep needed to be coaxed and herded out of their pen into the yard. This was like a comedy routine! They insist on going every direction except the right one, even though they like being in the yard, with room to run and grass to nibble on. The lambs are really cute, with their Antic Like Behavior (tm). They run around and "poing" a lot, bouncing up with all four legs. Their wool is fine and nappy, and the lanolin is apparently very good skin lotion. I might come back at shearing time (May) and help then too, if I can get the time.
Shoveling manure out of the goat pen was a smelly and strenuous chore. (I had to admit that it's not too different from working on a thesis.) It will be better if we can rig a hatch or something in the fence; as it was, we had to lift each shovelful right over the fence to dump it in the wagon. Then we took it to the newly planted orchard and spread it around the little sapling trees. Someday there will be nice apples here!
With chores done, we fired up the kitchen stove, which is a grand old wood-burning behemoth. We discussed "knocking off" a bunny for dinner, but turns out they already had a bunny slaughtered and skinned in the freezer. Rabbit stew is very flavorful and tasty, and low fat too! I contributed a bottle of mead, and it was a fine feast.
The food was great, though! I persuaded Heidi Schmidt to cater some basic food, she made a wonderful variety of breads, and guacamole (excellent). Sally Powers brought hommos and pita breads to dip. Steve Gisselbrecht made some of his fantastic chocolate creations. Wow! Lyman and I brought loads of corn chips for dipping, and peanuts for munching and throwing the shell around.
Anyway, Wayne the bartender tapped a fresh keg of Guinness, which made
all the trouble worthwhile! Lots of people showed up (I would guess
around 40 all told), and we had dart games and hang out sessions until
very late. We even did a little step dancing, and Shawn brought a
bodhran (Irish drum) and played along, although that all was low key.
Thank you to everyone who helped make the party happen!
Happy springtime to one and all,
Wil