Words on the Page

a freelance writing resource.

Weekend Recoveries

What I’m reading: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
What’s on the iPod: Keep Yourself Warm by Frightened Rabbit

You know it’s been a good weekend when you come back to work to recover fully from it. We spent the weekend at the Scottish Irish Music Festival – literally. We showed up at the convention center sometime around 11:30 Saturday and came home for food and sleep. The bands were amazing, and the variety of music was just right.

Saturday we walked into a dark, packed hall. High winds weren’t the cause, though they should have been. An accident, a transformer, and three hours of darkness – I doubt the cause. The winds were up to 50 mph.

Still, the show went on. Amid vendors with emergency lights or flashlights, bands took to stages and sang without instruments in some cases, without any microphones in all cases. Blessedly, the power came on by 12:45 and we were back in business.

There were Gaelic lessons, whiskey tastings, dance lessons, and of course, the booths. I managed to find a gorgeous hand-painted leather journal. Maybe just buying it was inspiration – I have three poems in mind that I’ll work out and record in it.

We hung out at the kilter’s tent (USA Kilts) and chatted with friends and the owners quite a bit, then finished off our weekend at Molly Maguires. We’d missed what they affectionately call “St. Practice Day” at one of the pubs (amen – a little too kitschy for me), but any time you walk into this place, you get a conversation or a good time (usually both).

Today lots of work. I picked up new clients last week and I have plenty to keep me out of trouble. I have a kid moving home this week to commence her job search on this side of the state, so I want to get a lot out of the way so I can spend some time with her the day she arrives. By the way, if you know of a good starter position for a newly minted Comm Media major, she’s willing to relocate for the right offer. Her concentration is on video editing and marketing – real marketing, not sales.

I’m hoping for a slow day, but expecting anything but that. That’s fine. It beats endless idleness and the nervousness that goes with it.

How was your weekend? What’s your week looking like?

14 responses to “Weekend Recoveries”

  1. Devon Ellington Avatar

    Has she researched production companies? Both indies and those who do commercials? There are dozens of them, both in Philly and NY, and she might have luck there.

    Weekend was more chaotic than I'd like, but I'm home, dealing with more snow, and trying to catch up.

  2. Wendy Avatar
    Wendy

    Sounds like you had fun this weekend. I'm jealous. We had to say goodbye to an old friend-my vacuum cleaner. I loved it. She didn't suck, which was the whole problem. I went to replace her, but there's not much for options in our area. I did get something, though. Hopefully this one can be my trusty friend as well, because I do love to vacuum.

    I did get to spend an afternoon playing a few rip-roaring games of wack a mole with my son. Quite fun. There's no better way to get out your frustrations than to bonk some plastic moles on the head.

    This week will be computer fixing week. I have some parts coming in a few days for my laptop, my desktop and the old pc my son uses. Time to do some upgrading.

  3. Cathy Avatar

    Wendy-don't mean to find humor in your loss, but LOL!!! 😀

    My weekend was spent on work-but it's for me work to roll out the rebirth of my personal blog and some reports for my business blog. Making up for caretaking a good part of the last two weeks-so I didn't mind.

    One fun thing I hadn't anticipated in cooking all the meals while Mom rehabs (she loves to cook-and hey, I won't stand in the way), I have tried a bunch of new recipes. It's been fun.

    Oh, and I bought a new desktop computer that will be delivered in early March.I have high hopes for March.

  4. Lori Avatar

    Devon, great suggestions. I'll send them along to her. I've been so busy working I haven't had time to help her narrow her job focus. This week, perhaps.

    Wendy, that's probably the only time you DO want something to suck! LOL Try yard sales. You'd be surprised how often you come across a really good machine at a yard sale.

    And I'm buying Whack-a-Mole. It sounds like great therapy!

    Cathy, I'm glad to see you getting back into your groove. 🙂

  5. Eileen Avatar

    Lori, I am totally jealous of your weekend. I got a little fix yesterday listening to some live Celtic music here in Annapolis (Celtic Crossroads). But it just leaves me wanting more. Busy week ahead – I was on vacation earlier this month and February is a short one, so I have lots to cram in before month's end.

  6. Lori Avatar

    Eileen, any weekend with Celtic music is a good weekend. 🙂

  7. Eileen Avatar

    What's this festival you went to? Was it in Philly?

  8. Lori Avatar

    It was the Mid-winter Scottish Irish Music Festival, Eileen. In Valley Forge.

  9. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I spent part of the weekend celebrating with the dogs (my one and two that belong to my sister). Why? One is the canine star of a film Roger Ebert just named as one of the Top Art Films of 2010. An extra round of doggie treats were had by all. All dogs, not me. E-mailed my sister and b-i-l (the filmmaker) who are in Paris. They called within the hour, well into a bottle of champagne.

    The rest of the weekend was divided between cleaning and organizing a letter writing effort to try to save the neighborhood grade school. Got part of a small work project done, too.

  10. Lori Avatar

    Paula, that sounds like you. Yes?

  11. Anne Wayman Avatar

    Lori… great festival, good for you. I love it when the power goes out and stuff still continues.

    Hugs

  12. Eileen Avatar

    Lori, I think I'm going to have to put that on my calendar for next year. That would make a pretty easy day trip from where I'm located.

  13. Paula Avatar
    Paula

    Yeah – that was me. I had a call come in just before I hit send and forgot to put in my name.

    You knew it was me with the cleaning, work, and lack of fun, huh? Or was it the dog sitting? (Doggies go home tomorrow, weather permitting – ice and snow falling tonight.)

  14. Lori Avatar

    Eileen, here's the link. It's usually in February:

    http://www.eohebrides.com/

    Anne, it was such fun. 🙂

    Paula, I figured! I recognized your writing style and some of the things you'd been talking about -schools, sister, dog…. 🙂