gypsygirl

I've rearranged almost all the furniture in my loft and my poor dog doesn't know what to do with it. She's figured out where her bed is, at least.

I'd been thinking about doing this for a few weeks now. I have new housemates, and the one directly below my "office" (it's an attic loft, spaces are designated by furniture arrangements) has been running the bathroom extractor much more than the previous one. The roof vent for the extractor is right above the office, which means that when it's running, I can't record. So I'd been thinking of moving the office to the space catty-corner from where it had been, which just happened to be the "bedroom"; unfortunately, it couldn't be a straight swap, because there's a column in the office corner that makes that space smaller than the rest of the corners, so I had to move three corners... bedroom to "dining room/spare bedroom"; spare bedroom to office, dining room to open space in the middle of the loft, office to bedroom.

While I was going to be moving stuff around, I figured I'd try to make myself a better recording booth. Several months ago I built a frame for a booth out of 1" PVC pipe. It looked ok just by itself, but when I covered it with soundproofing blankets it got a bit saggy. It ended up being a glorified dog house for Lucy. Then I had another idea. Pegboard sheets (I can get 2' x 4' sheets at the hardware store) covered with acoustic foam tiles, attached in pairs with binder rings (which I had been using to hold up the blankets in the first booth). The tiles came at the end of last week, and I finished attaching them to the pegboards Friday afternoon. I used adhesive spray, but I think I'm going to have to go back with a hot glue gun, because a few have already come loose. I'll need to test it first, though, to make sure it won't melt the foam.

I started off with eight pegboards, which made a 4' square. On the floor inside I laid four interlocking rubber mats (like you see in children's playrooms), but once I had the four panel pairs up around it, and the mic inside, I found it a bit cramped, so I added the final two mats (which I'd been saving for blocking knitting projects) to make a 4' x 6' little room, and hung two of the sound-blocking blankets across the spaces between the pegboards.

I'm quite chuffed. I need to get a small table, and a second monitor to go with the secondary keyboard and mouse I already have, so I'll be able to leave the laptop outside the booth, but still be able to read off the screen, and control it from inside. And maybe a little stool instead of the chair.

I do so dislike having to play "takesies backsies" at baby showers, but I just didn't manage to finish the sweater. I'd be further along if I hadn't noticed a mistake two nights ago and frogged back to fix it. Still, baby isn't due till July, so hopefully I'll have it finished before then. And the shower was a fun way to finish a work day, even if all the men did congregate in one corner as if the rest of us had cooties (you'd think they'd have outgrown that by now!).

I've decided on Sense and Sensibility for my next LibriVox project. I'll do Anne's House of Dreams after that. I do wish Anne of Windy Poplars were out of copyright. It's one of my favourites in the series. Darn you, Lucy Maud Montgomery! You should have written faster!

Now that Gypsy is over, I've been able to get some serious recording done. Tonight I finished the last two sections of a biography of Padre Pio for Ignatius Press, and the last two chapters of What Katy Did, which I'm doing for LibriVox. Now I have to decide on a new LV project. I'm wavering between Sense and Sensibility and Anne of Green Gables.

Now I'm off to knit. I hope to get the body of the little sweater finished tonight. Then just have to do the sleeves by Thursday!

I've finished the little dress from the Dale book, and it turned out soooo cute!! I'm really pleased with it. I bought some little pewter clasps online to use as buttons.

The shower is next Saturday, so it's pretty good timing.

I've started the next project. I was originally going to do one of the sweaters as a cardigan and the other as a pullover (the pattern has instructions for both), but before I started I read through the cardigan pattern and saw that it's knitted in the round and then steeked. I've never done steeking before, and while I do want to try it, I figured a gift item wasn't the best test piece, so I'm going to do two pullovers instead and save steeking for another day.

I'd be twice as far along, only I realized a couple of rows below this that I'd mis-read the pattern and was starting the rows in the colour-work graph at the wrong place (I'd started the first one in the right place, but then was going to the far right at the beginning of each new row, instead of back to the same starting place), so I frogged it and started over. Much better now. The one thing I don't like about this pattern so far, is that there are a couple of rows that involve three colours of yarn. It's orders of magnitude tanglier than just two.

At LV I recently finished The Sky Is Falling by Lester del Rey, another sci-fi story. My next project is What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge. I'd wanted to do it a couple of years ago, but someone else started a solo version before I could get to it, so I put it off and did What Katy Did at School instead. The other project has since been completed, so I feel like I can do mine without stepping on anyone's toes.

Recently watched the new-ish version of Sense and Sensibility (I think it was part of that Austen series they showed on Masterpiece a year or so ago, but I missed it then). I really liked it. Well enough to buy a copy for my library. None of the others in the series impressed me that much, and I will keep faithful to the earlier versions I already own (P&P w/ Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, Persuasion w/ Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root). Not to say I no longer like the Emma Thompson version of S&S, though.

We're doing Gypsy at the WCT. I tried out for one of the stripper roles, but got cast as Miss Cratchitt, the secretary in the New York scene. Should be fun... I'm onstage for two scenes at the end of act 1, and the rest of the time I'll be able to read, play cards, relax back stage. Reminds me of Christmas Carol.

Note from Hugh:
Dear LibriVox supporters, friends, volunteers:

Two weeks ago we sent out a request for donations towards a $20,000 fundraising campaign. We outlined why on this post (with a number of questions answered in the comments thread). You responded with generosity, and we can now close down our campaign.

So:

Thank you!

We got to our target so quickly it warms our hearts. Not only did people donate, but this campaign also allowed many many people to express their appreciation for all the hard and wonderful work done by LibriVox volunteers.

We won’t have to talk about money again for a few years. Instead, we’ll get back to working hard to fulfill our mission, which is:

To make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet.

So: Thank you again.

For those curious:

Campaign Details:

We raised $23,000 from 433 donors, in 13 days, averaging $1,769 in donations from 33 people every day. We had a couple of big donors, who gave a few thousand dollars each, and many more smaller donations which all add up to: everything we asked for. Thank you again.

LibriVox Details:

This money will help support our efforts, which so far have resulted in the following:
* 3773: Total number of projects
* 3227: Number of completed projects
* 470: Number of completed non-English projects
* 31: Total number of languages
* 28: Number of languages with a completed work
* 1498: Number of completed solo projects
* 3549: Number of readers
* 3347: ...who have completed something

Total recorded time: 66472509 seconds, or 2 years, 38 days, 20 hours, 57 minutes, and 37 seconds. Total of 66978 sections.

Have I said thank you? Well: thank you again! Oh, and a very special thank-you to our friends and supporters at the Internet Archive, especially Jacques and Brewster, who managed the donations for us so that we didn't have to worry about setting up paypal accounts and all the rest.

And now, back to making free, public domain audiobooks.

All the best,

Hugh McGuire.

So thanks so much to everyone who contributed!

For the first time in its 4.5 year history, LibriVox is asking its supporters for money.

Chances are, if you're reading this message on my blog, you've heard and possibly enjoyed some of my LibriVox recordings, Pride and Prejudice, or Anne of Green Gables, or perhaps the Scarlet Pimpernel.

I'd ask that you consider supporting LibriVox in this donation drive to allow us readers to continue providing you with audiobooks. Every little bit helps!

Here's Hugh's message:

Dearest LibriVox listeners, volunteers, & supporters:

For four-and-a-half years, LibriVox volunteers have been making audiobooks for the world to enjoy, and giving them away for free. We've made thousands of free audiobooks that have been downloaded by millions of people; our site gets 400,000 visitors every month. To date, all our costs have been borne by a few individuals, with some generous donations from partners. However, these costs have become too big.

See below to FIND OUT HOW TO DONATE (Or, keep reading!).

LibriVox needs your help.

We're asking for donations for the following:

• to cover hosting costs for our website, including: the site you are reading now; the forum; the wiki; the catalog; but NOT including the audio files which are hosted by Archive.org
• to redesign the site and improve its accessibility
• to make the LibriVox catalog easier for listeners to use
• to make the management software easier for admins to use

Your donation will support the work of our volunteers.

Our fundraising goal is $20,000. After we reach it, we'll shut down our fundraising campaign. And we hope we can make it another 4.5 years without having to bother you again!

HOW TO DONATE:

1. Visit the Internet Archive donation page (the Internet Archive, a registered US charity and friend of LibriVox, is managing our fundraising campaign)
2. Select a donation method (Justgive.org, Paypal, or Check)
3. Be sure to write: "Donation for LibriVox" along with your donation (otherwise we won't get the donation!)
4. Don't forget to write: "Donation for LibriVox" along with your donation!

About a year ago, I bought Lucy a new bed. It lasted intact for about three months, I think, then she started ripping out the bottom and strewing the fluff everywhere. It got a little more ripped one time when she was staying with E's dog, Huxley. I think they decided it was a tug toy.

Poor bed.

I'd had it on top of my bedside mat so she wouldn't be sleeping on the wood floor, but it just wasn't pretty. I kept intending to make a sort of quilted bottom for it, to replace the torn one, but I never got around to it. Last weekend I happened to be in Tractor Supply Company and saw a pretty nice sheepskin-ish bed for not too much, so she finally has a bed with a bottom again.

Yay!

Today was a beautiful day! After weeks of cold, rain, sleet, snow (yes, sleet and snow in C. Texas!! Not constant, but still), we had a warm, sunny day; warm enough for t-shirt and shorts, during the warmest part! A perfect day for a little yard work.

About eight years ago, our next door neighbours planted a few bamboo shoots along their back fence. Needless to say, there's bamboo everywhere now. Last spring I was going out every two or three days to cut down the new sprouts that were coming up all over the yard.

I'd been meaning to thin out the thickets along the back fence for ages; there's a rosemary bush back there that's completely hidden in the thicket, and a pretty little tree that's all but surrounded, but it was hard work with a hand saw, so I never did too much.

Until today.

Another thing I bought while I was at TSC last weekend was a reciprocating saw (cashier had the nerve to ask me if it was a Valentine's present. Hmpf! Yeah, sure, Valentine's present to myself, maybe!). We now have a mountain of bamboo in the yard.

E and I are planning on using some to make gardening stakes (for tomatoes and such). Not sure what we'll do with the rest. If you're in Central Texas and could use some bamboo, drop me a line!! Free to a good home!

The back fence looks much better now. You can get to the back gate without resorting to a machete, you can actually see that there's a tree back there, and there's still enough bamboo to provide shade and privacy.

Gosh, look, there's a door back there! And a tree!

The brown patch in the middle of the bamboo is the poor rosemary bush, which is half dead, but we're hoping, if we trim it back and stake it down a bit, it'll re-root and grow back this spring and summer.

E also suddenly remembered that she had a picnic canopy that was sitting around gathering dust, so she offered me the use of it so I could have semi-covered parking for my scooter. Great fun putting that up, because by that point, the temperature had started dropping again and a fairly brisk wind had picked up. Always the best time to put up tents, when it's blowing a gale!

Finished recording the latest Ignatius book today. Just need to proof-listen the last section and upload it. Those long sections were a challenge, though, even divided up into three recording sessions each.

So New Year's Eve I was getting ready to head out to Beth and Marcel's 4th yearly karaoke bash when I found that my car wouldn't start. My poor car is fourteen years old, and it's been going downhill for the past year or so, dying at intersections, juddering, etc. Now, it's dead. It might be resurrectable, but at fourteen, I really don't want to put more money into it. On the other hand, I'm not quite ready to buy a new car right now. I'm trying to pay off my school loans, and getting further into debt isn't part of my plan. So, instead of a car, I got me one of these:

Granted, mid-winter is probably not the best time to start riding a scooter, but I'm still having fun.

I recently finished my recording of Dayspring by Harry Sylvester for Ignatius Press. It's already up on their website, and I've started a new recording for them, The Eternal Woman by Gertrud Von le Fort. It's considerably shorter than either of the other two books I've done for them, and I'm nearly halfway through already. The only difficulty with it is the length of the sections; only four of them but two are about 20 pages and the other two are upwards of 40. That's over an hour of recording for those last two sections. I've had to divide them into three so that I don't blow out my vocal chords.

I'm also currently recording The Sky is Falling by Lester Del Rey for LV, another scifi, since I had such fun with the Mack Reynolds one I did for the SFFAudio Challenge.

The library book sale was last week. I went on opening day this time ($5 entry) because last year I couldn't find any knitting books and I was hoping to get a better choice this time. There still wasn't a whole lot, but better than last year. In addition I got a few books of poetry, some mysteries and some scifi. I also picked up a few baby books for a friend.

I've started a new LV project, Ultima Thule by Mack Reynolds. I'm doing it for the 4th Annual SFFaudio Challenge. It's a short novel, so I hope to have it finished within a couple of weeks.

Left the window cracked in my car a couple of weekends ago and got rained on, and though it's nice and dry now, it still smells. I may go through an entire bottle of Febreeze to get the smell out. The car has been living on the roof of the parking garage in the sunshine with the windows cracked while I'm at work, hopefully that'll help too.

Finished stage managing Woman in Black this weekend. Dressed as a dead cowgirl for this year's Masquerade Ball (which for once actually fell on Hallowe'en!). I'm hoping to get some more photos from the others who were there, but for now there are a few on my Masquerade Ball page.

Have been able to get more work done on my recording projects since the end of the show. I've been putting a bit more effort into Dayspring (had been concentrating mostly on Clara Vaughan before); the chapters on that one are much longer than any others to date - I have to make sure I have a glass of water handy or I won't make it through.