More later.

I had this big post on arena rock all scribbled out here on an index card (Levenger, of course). Spontaneously came to me earlier this evening, after Bee sent me some “Dust In The Wind” on YouTube. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t so spontaneous, then. Whatever.

But you know what? I’m not gonna post it. Like the arena rock era itself, the moment has passed. However, Shannon’s classic TMCM Journey / Steve Perry sequence is immortal, in my memory as well as my heart, so I’ll leave you with that.

It’s been a blurry two weeks. So blurry that I’m reaching out for arena rock. But it’s a good kind of blurry. Lots of writing, both paid and to-be-sold-later and to-be-given-to-patient-artists things. Slow going, but making progress.

Watched GARDEN STATE. Twice. Was charmed. Working my way through Christmas gifts. That’s knitted Christmas gifts, don’t you know. And speaking of which, let me introduce you to the BEST YARN STORE EVER:

Brooklyn General Store

Because I don’t have enough hobbies in my life (actually, for much more Deep and Meaningful for Art and Craft and Witchery reasons, but I won’t carry on about all that at 2:30 am), I’ve decided to give in and spin. As in, spinning. As in, make my own yarn.

Yes. I know. Don’t start with me.

You’re probably not going to believe this, but Leland has been gently pushing the big wheel thing on me for a couple of years now. Like comics, I’ve resisted due to time and, now, disposable income restraints. But, like comics, my resistance slowly wore down, then snapped. The fact that one of the coven girls is a spinning freak master didn’t help.

So off I went to get a drop spindle. Small steps, all that.

“You have to go to Williamsburg,” the Coven Spinning Freak said. “Williamsburg is the only place that carries drop spindles.”

“Oh, geez,” I said. “At least I can hit up Trader Joe’s on the way home.”

But it was not to be. I don’t know how I found Brooklyn General online, but I thought, “Hrm. Red Hook. Yarn. I love Red Hook, I love yarn.” And I waylaid myself to what has turned out to be the biggest, baddest craft joint this side of my beloved Great White North. (And there are a lot of badass craft joints up there, lemme tell ya.) I mean, short of P& S Fabrics on Lower Broadway, may she rest in peace.

Fabric. Notions. Buttons. Ribbon. Patterns. Of course, yarn. Notebooks, for crying out loud. Brittany double-pointed sock needles (which are the best needles in the world for reducing hats because they’re shorter and thereby less sticky-outy-pain-in-the-ass). And — the most precious resource of all for crafters here in the city — space, and lots of it.

Oh yeah. And they had drop spindles and roving, thus saving me a trip to Williamsburg. So I called up the Coven Spinning Freak and I squee’ed. I wish I could show Midori this place because she would absolutely keel over.

Coven Spinning Freak taught me how to use my spindle the next day. My yarn was pretty sad, but I’m told it was exceptionally non-misshapen for a first outing. I was fairly patient with it all around until we got to the Andean Plying thing, whereby I wanted to cry. (OK, so not really. But I don’t have the brain cells for these kinds of shenanigans right now!)

Speaking of all things witchy, I was delighted to discover that Judy, founder of my tradition, has a substantial Wikipedia entry. That’s good fun. If you look real close, you can spot a picture of Judy and I on my bookshelves.

The yarn store could be really bad for my productivity, what with being a short subway ride and my favorite Brooklyn nabe and right next to an excellent pizza joint and the Best Yarn Store Ever and all.

Speaking of which, I’m not getting anything done on my script at this point, so I think I might as well go watch a few more arena rock clips and hit the hay.

Our friends Ali and Josie came over last night for some seasonal festivities…

Also on the docket: caramel apples, toasted pumpkin seeds, hard cider, shortbread.

Before the girls came over we were watching “Even Scarier Movie Moments, Pt. 1″ on Bravo (read: even scarier than the “100 Scariest Movie Moments,” apparently). #29 on the list: CAPE FEAR remake. No fair, I say. That movie was so disturbing, it defies classification. It’s certainly not a horror movie…

What was #1? A CLOCKWORK ORANGE? Sheesh! We turned it off long before then. Leland is not a boo movie fan.

Anyway. Good times.

… and can you believe I’m not spending hours and hours deciding what to pack?

Me neither. I am notorious for taking three hours to pack to go anywhere, agonizing over what to bring to read and to knit and to write on and to write with and to listen to and on and on and on. And maybe a month ago, I just sort of gave up. I mean, it just wore me out. I’d get all exhausted… and finally it dawned on me: what am I doing this to myself for? Life’s too short.

Anyway. The big prep this time around involved taking the afternoon off today for a rare trip to Best Buy to pick up the gizmo that makes the iPod work with the radio. And I did a little last minute shopping for Leland’s birthday (which is on Tuesday of next week, ahem ahem) too. He likes to play this game called “I know what you got me for my birthday, ha ha ha.” Only he totally doesn’t this time. I guarantee it. How do I know? Because I thought of them all by myself. Okay, okay, I admit it: they were impulse purchases. I didn’t get his birthday story done on time so I was feeling the burn. Ah, well. It’ll just be a little late.

While I was at B&N, I picked up the 2008 Tarot Reader, which is notable for at least two reasons:

1. This year is the book’s swan song. Editor of awesomeness Kate Brielmaier has taken the next steps along the path. She was exceptional to work with and I will miss her.
2. I am featured on the back cover this time
3. I actually updated my bio and it actually makes mention of my Wiccan affiliations

Okay, three reasons.

I’d completely forgotten what I’d submitted for articles this time around, and when I saw them, I daresay I was pleasantly surprised. I think they’re my best of all the Tarot Reader pieces. Also while at B&N, I looked for WEIRD TALES 345, which features my interview with Jacqueline Carey (you can indeed read it at that link on the website too). Unfortunately, it wasn’t there. The latest issue of Cthulhu Sex Magazine was there, mind you, but not WT 345. This left me scratching my head. Funny how the world turns in ways you might not expect.

Have a look at the cover of WT 345. Stephen is really getting the gorgeous on with these cover designs. Love the F-holes! But of course I would.

What else? Scrapbooking and art journaling nerds who happen to be wandering by should have a gander at the AlphaStamps Halloween Collection.

Lastly, in the “and the hits just keep on coming” department, we’ve got the Bohemian Gothic Tarot on the way from Magic Realist Press (for a really huge clear picture that will make you drool, click here). I just heard Karen’s voice on a Tarot School teleseminar the other day. She was calling in from Prague and it was just so cool to put a voice with the name of the lady responsible for birthing so many amazing decks.

Now, which deck am I going to take with us tomorrow? Hrm…

Wow! I just might have to send this lass a piece of fan mail.

Everyone has their hobbies, and one of post-workday-wind-downs is leafing through craft, paper fetish and creativity websites, then printing out the awsome tutorials I find. I have a whole system at home for saving all of this stuff, as I do it so often. Because there’s never enough time in my day, I’d not yet dug into the sprawling, dazzling, delightful art object that is DIY planner.com. I’m not sure how it happened, but on this sleepy (yeah, whatever) Friday-late-afternoon-into-evening, I got sucked into the vortex.

Jaymi Elford is there. She is artistic. She is prolific. She has a lot to keep you busy. And, for the love of all things holy (note: for some of us, that’s pretty much everything), she has her own Tarot wiki.

Hey, Jaymi! I think you’re neat!

Well, it’s not really a secret, I’m just subtle, or something. But. The Wild Hunt, one of the better blogs on that old religon, has me listed in their links as a Pagan blog. Which, while not the full story, is not at all untrue.

This tickles me, it really does.

Sometimes these girls come along to remind me to get out of my own box. Feels like a lot of them have been kicking around lately. Such as:

SJ Tucker

You know those girls? You know?

If not, get out of your box, I do implore you…