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So.
I was late for choir yesterday morning, BUT I made it, and had a good time (and got to sing the soprano 1 line in one of the songs - Whee!).
I'm starting to figure out why singing christian music ticks me off so much.
Because it's not the singing that ticks me off. The christian music we do is *beautiful*. We do a Brams piece ("The Lord is my Shepard") which is peaceful and lovely and has gorgeous chord progressions and everything. We sang through a Mehndelson (I've just spelled the poor fellow's name wrong) piece today that finished on a fabulous finale of overlapping runs on the theme of Alleluia. It's such a thrill to sing.
So the music is not a problem. I quite enjoy the music.
What I don't like is the assumption that 'christian' and 'sacred' are synonymous. As in that *any* sacred music is, by its nature, christian music, or that "non-denominational" means "applicable to all religions".
Or that everyone refers to their deity/ies of choice as singular and male.
(Granted, given that damn near *every* even-vaguely-religious person I know outside of the Pagan community is Abrahamic of one stripe or another, perhaps this assumption shouldn't surprise me).
Anyway. What I'm not-very-subtly getting at here is that it's a little bit wearing.
I don't get hit with christian privilege all that often - at least (possibly due to growing up in a nominally christian house-hold) it doesn't smack me in the face all that much - but when it does...
Two or three people in my choir - including the director - are also the directors of various church choirs around the Ottawa area. About half of them are involved in a church, somewhere, even if all it means is that they show up twice a year and maybe make something for a bake-sale every now and then.
... Occasionally I just want to jump up and yell "For the love of what *I* hold sacred, will you *please* drag your heads up out of the mire of your self-absorption for fifteen freaking seconds and notice that I'm here???"
I am remarkably angry about this situation.
:-P
On a more creative note: I spent yesterday afternoon making jewelry (while watching "Erin Brokovitch") for Naamah's save-the-carnivores charity auction.
I made "Howl For Me" out of hematite balls and flat ovals of gray jasper (it's got these slashes of black through it - very neat-looking). It's a double-strand necklace. The outer strand has the jasper on it, and has a silver (sculpy) crescent moon pendant on it (which I may have to tweak a little, we shall see). The inner strand is hematite balls accented w/ silver coloured (nickel, I suspect) balls, and is in a choker-style - about 12.5" - which means that whoever bids on it, will need to have measured their neck first to make sure it will fit.
"Hunter's Moon" is red shell chips accented w/ hematite balls and black pearls. It has a black crescent moon pendant on it. It also has a howling coyote (I couldn't find a wolf) charm near the clasp at the back. (I want to get another one such charm to attach to "Howl" in the same way).
"The Pack" is a two-strand turquoise bracelet with one of those howling coyote charms hanging from it every inch or so. (Six in total). The bracelet has a magnetic clasp because, otherwise, it would be a real pain to get on and off. :-) (I think it's my favourite).
I'm fairly happy with how they turned out. :-)
Now I need more crimps. :-)
While I was a Sassy's yesterday (between choir and home, picking up the gray jasper and the charms) I also picked up a string of slightly-buttery amber chips.
So now I have all my pride-colours sorted out. :-)
red shell, amber, green aventurine, turquoise, lapis lazuli, & amethyst. Yay. :-D
So I can play around with that today. :-)
I stopped in at Michael's, intent on getting some sodalite balls (originally "Howl For Me" was going to be blue and silver, rather than black and silver) I picked up a wodge of bits and pieces (hoop-earring forms that can be used to make wine-glass identifiers, for example), a silver (coloured) leaf pendant (which they also have in gold-colour, which might make a nice present for somebody), a little bag of key-ring rings and a spool of very narrow black ribbon.
Using the ribbon and four of the key-rings, I made myself a little, tiny flogger. Well, floggette. ;-) It's rather cute, I think, and could be hung off the strap of my purse without anyone being the wiser. ;-) Not that it will be. ;-)
We'll see if I ever actually use this thing, mind you. :-)
Friday night was the annual loan-agreement signing chez my mother's. We also had dinner, and I gave her her birthday present.
A chocolate brown camisol and a tiger's-eye and pearl necklace (which I had re-strung on proper beading wire that lunch-hour).
I really like making jewelry. It's surprisingly satisfying, and doesn't take that long. ;-)
(So, yeah... it's basically filling my need for instant gratification. ...What? :-)
Anyway. Tonight is Louis' T-party -- <*blink*> I think that turned into a pun. Woops...
Right. party. So Teh Husband and I shall have an early dinner (Around 5pm) so that I can head out and be down town for 7pm (and home again by nine, for sweet, sweet sleeping).
I'm hoping to squeeze in a long, luxurious bath (YAY!) and a massage from Teh Husband (YAY!) between now and then. :-) (Hey, I've got seven hours 'til dinner starts. I'm sure I can fit them in). :-)
I'd *also* like to get writing the actual Scene scene in my BDSM story.
I am, however, a little unsure as to how to proceed.
See, I've done something that is potentially very unlikely.
By which I mean it's potentially very unlikely given that the sub in question has more than enough experience to know *way* better than to let herself do this.
She is taking a more-or-less unknown Top to her place of residence to play, without having negotiated anything first.
At least not beyond a few accurate guesses on the part of the Top as to what the sub would like.
Now, see, as the author, I know that everything is going to be fine. They're literally tailor-made for each other and they're going to have a blast, even though it's the Top's first time doing this in Real Life (as opposed to chat-rooms).
BUT Karen, the sub, doesn't know that.
And Angela, the Top, doesn't know that.
Angela is just marveling at her astonishingly good luck at having the woman she's been fantasizing about for three months actually turn out to be interested - VERY interested - in getting together with her Right Now.
And Karen is... behaving in a way that I want her to, and in a way that she's definitely enjoying, but not necessarily in a way that suggests she's got the whole 'self-preservation' thing down pat.
Which after fifteen years of subbing? You'd think it would come as second nature. At least to someone as emotionally well-balanced as she is.
Now, I realize that everyone slips up on occasion, and it's not like no-one outside of the Kinky Crowd ever picks up at the bar for an evening of fun and games at home.
And it's not like the person they picked up couldn't be a raging psychopath intent on killing victim #37 that night.
That said, even when you know your partner is safe (or at least know it enough to decide to take them home(?)), if you know that your partner is going to hit you - and that you're going to enjoy it, possibly enough to enter an altered state of consciousness - it's generally a good idea to establish when 'enough will be enough' before you start the foreplay.
Which, in my story, has technically already started and is going pretty damn well.
Now, Angela does want to do a good job, so she'll probably ask about safewords and all that as the evening progresses, but there will be things she might not know about, and I need to figure out how to get those things established before Karen is naked and on her knees with a stranger who only sort of knows what she's doing.
Suggestions?
Please? :-)
I was late for choir yesterday morning, BUT I made it, and had a good time (and got to sing the soprano 1 line in one of the songs - Whee!).
I'm starting to figure out why singing christian music ticks me off so much.
Because it's not the singing that ticks me off. The christian music we do is *beautiful*. We do a Brams piece ("The Lord is my Shepard") which is peaceful and lovely and has gorgeous chord progressions and everything. We sang through a Mehndelson (I've just spelled the poor fellow's name wrong) piece today that finished on a fabulous finale of overlapping runs on the theme of Alleluia. It's such a thrill to sing.
So the music is not a problem. I quite enjoy the music.
What I don't like is the assumption that 'christian' and 'sacred' are synonymous. As in that *any* sacred music is, by its nature, christian music, or that "non-denominational" means "applicable to all religions".
Or that everyone refers to their deity/ies of choice as singular and male.
(Granted, given that damn near *every* even-vaguely-religious person I know outside of the Pagan community is Abrahamic of one stripe or another, perhaps this assumption shouldn't surprise me).
Anyway. What I'm not-very-subtly getting at here is that it's a little bit wearing.
I don't get hit with christian privilege all that often - at least (possibly due to growing up in a nominally christian house-hold) it doesn't smack me in the face all that much - but when it does...
Two or three people in my choir - including the director - are also the directors of various church choirs around the Ottawa area. About half of them are involved in a church, somewhere, even if all it means is that they show up twice a year and maybe make something for a bake-sale every now and then.
... Occasionally I just want to jump up and yell "For the love of what *I* hold sacred, will you *please* drag your heads up out of the mire of your self-absorption for fifteen freaking seconds and notice that I'm here???"
I am remarkably angry about this situation.
:-P
On a more creative note: I spent yesterday afternoon making jewelry (while watching "Erin Brokovitch") for Naamah's save-the-carnivores charity auction.
I made "Howl For Me" out of hematite balls and flat ovals of gray jasper (it's got these slashes of black through it - very neat-looking). It's a double-strand necklace. The outer strand has the jasper on it, and has a silver (sculpy) crescent moon pendant on it (which I may have to tweak a little, we shall see). The inner strand is hematite balls accented w/ silver coloured (nickel, I suspect) balls, and is in a choker-style - about 12.5" - which means that whoever bids on it, will need to have measured their neck first to make sure it will fit.
"Hunter's Moon" is red shell chips accented w/ hematite balls and black pearls. It has a black crescent moon pendant on it. It also has a howling coyote (I couldn't find a wolf) charm near the clasp at the back. (I want to get another one such charm to attach to "Howl" in the same way).
"The Pack" is a two-strand turquoise bracelet with one of those howling coyote charms hanging from it every inch or so. (Six in total). The bracelet has a magnetic clasp because, otherwise, it would be a real pain to get on and off. :-) (I think it's my favourite).
I'm fairly happy with how they turned out. :-)
Now I need more crimps. :-)
While I was a Sassy's yesterday (between choir and home, picking up the gray jasper and the charms) I also picked up a string of slightly-buttery amber chips.
So now I have all my pride-colours sorted out. :-)
red shell, amber, green aventurine, turquoise, lapis lazuli, & amethyst. Yay. :-D
So I can play around with that today. :-)
I stopped in at Michael's, intent on getting some sodalite balls (originally "Howl For Me" was going to be blue and silver, rather than black and silver) I picked up a wodge of bits and pieces (hoop-earring forms that can be used to make wine-glass identifiers, for example), a silver (coloured) leaf pendant (which they also have in gold-colour, which might make a nice present for somebody), a little bag of key-ring rings and a spool of very narrow black ribbon.
Using the ribbon and four of the key-rings, I made myself a little, tiny flogger. Well, floggette. ;-) It's rather cute, I think, and could be hung off the strap of my purse without anyone being the wiser. ;-) Not that it will be. ;-)
We'll see if I ever actually use this thing, mind you. :-)
Friday night was the annual loan-agreement signing chez my mother's. We also had dinner, and I gave her her birthday present.
A chocolate brown camisol and a tiger's-eye and pearl necklace (which I had re-strung on proper beading wire that lunch-hour).
I really like making jewelry. It's surprisingly satisfying, and doesn't take that long. ;-)
(So, yeah... it's basically filling my need for instant gratification. ...What? :-)
Anyway. Tonight is Louis' T-party -- <*blink*> I think that turned into a pun. Woops...
Right. party. So Teh Husband and I shall have an early dinner (Around 5pm) so that I can head out and be down town for 7pm (and home again by nine, for sweet, sweet sleeping).
I'm hoping to squeeze in a long, luxurious bath (YAY!) and a massage from Teh Husband (YAY!) between now and then. :-) (Hey, I've got seven hours 'til dinner starts. I'm sure I can fit them in). :-)
I'd *also* like to get writing the actual Scene scene in my BDSM story.
I am, however, a little unsure as to how to proceed.
See, I've done something that is potentially very unlikely.
By which I mean it's potentially very unlikely given that the sub in question has more than enough experience to know *way* better than to let herself do this.
She is taking a more-or-less unknown Top to her place of residence to play, without having negotiated anything first.
At least not beyond a few accurate guesses on the part of the Top as to what the sub would like.
Now, see, as the author, I know that everything is going to be fine. They're literally tailor-made for each other and they're going to have a blast, even though it's the Top's first time doing this in Real Life (as opposed to chat-rooms).
BUT Karen, the sub, doesn't know that.
And Angela, the Top, doesn't know that.
Angela is just marveling at her astonishingly good luck at having the woman she's been fantasizing about for three months actually turn out to be interested - VERY interested - in getting together with her Right Now.
And Karen is... behaving in a way that I want her to, and in a way that she's definitely enjoying, but not necessarily in a way that suggests she's got the whole 'self-preservation' thing down pat.
Which after fifteen years of subbing? You'd think it would come as second nature. At least to someone as emotionally well-balanced as she is.
Now, I realize that everyone slips up on occasion, and it's not like no-one outside of the Kinky Crowd ever picks up at the bar for an evening of fun and games at home.
And it's not like the person they picked up couldn't be a raging psychopath intent on killing victim #37 that night.
That said, even when you know your partner is safe (or at least know it enough to decide to take them home(?)), if you know that your partner is going to hit you - and that you're going to enjoy it, possibly enough to enter an altered state of consciousness - it's generally a good idea to establish when 'enough will be enough' before you start the foreplay.
Which, in my story, has technically already started and is going pretty damn well.
Now, Angela does want to do a good job, so she'll probably ask about safewords and all that as the evening progresses, but there will be things she might not know about, and I need to figure out how to get those things established before Karen is naked and on her knees with a stranger who only sort of knows what she's doing.
Suggestions?
Please? :-)
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