I'm signed up for four courses now. Astronomy and Sociology this semester -- a math course and a humanities course in the Fall. If we have enough money for it, I might bump that up to finish the two general electives I still need that semester as well. There's a digital photography course that looks interesting, and a graphic arts one.

After that, I think I'll apply for transient student status at SPC. I'm hoping I'll be able to do that for two semesters, as I'll still need two language courses that, obviously, can't be taken simultaneously. I really want to take ASL, which is not offered as a distance learning option at BCC. But if that doesn't work out, there's always Spanish, which is offered, and just going to SPC as a transient for the public speaking class to finish the degree and move on to the next.

It was amazing. Sets, costumes, music, story, were all amazing. It was so worth it. Even Shawn enjoyed it.

There were parts of the story that annoyed me, especially from a feminist standpoint (and especially when people tout it as having a "girl power" theme). Also, there was a bit of cognitive dissonance having read the book - that is so very, very different, in every important way. But I was still in awe, enchanted, and amazed. I got teary twice. And I was buzzing after.

And I really, really want to see it again.

I'm not one to usually get disappointed over not getting something or not being able to afford something I want. But when I found out Wicked was coming to Orlando but was sold out, I was really bummed. I missed it when they came to Tampa last year, and was disappointed then, so this was a double dose of it. But, in the end, I did my sulking and moved on, per usual.

Shawn kept checking Ticketmaster, though, and when they opened up a matinée show on the day after opening night... we got tickets. Way in the back, but still -- Wicked tickets!

That was more or less all of our grocery money for the week (almost $30 in fees), but, really, Wicked > food. I've already started singing Popular around the house when no one else is home.

I've felt a little bit of wandering for a while now. We're not doing fertility treatments. Freelancing has come to a standstill. We've been focused on house-hunting the past few months, but the house we fell in love with fell through, so we're signing another 7 month lease.

So I've been thinking about "what next?" a bit. I pondered signing up with a temp agency and seeing what popped up, that way I could just take day jobs and not worry about missing days off with Shawn. There's transportation issues, though, and it's not really necessary, or what I really want. It'd just be a job. Yarn money and paying of credit cards. I still might do it at some point. But for right now, I'm doing this instead:

I was going full time when we moved. I filled out a bunch of transfer forms to go to SPC way back then, but I figured out the amount it was going to cost me to apply and send all my transcripts, I could pay for a class or two, so I never went through with it. Then I was going to do virtual classes with BCC and just drive over there for whatever tests came up over the semester when we got a car. Well, that was a year and a half ago, and I kept stalling over the "what about the public speaking requirement?" issue, and finally this week I've just decided I'd put that last and figure that out when I came to it.

Seems a good use of a tax return, eh? Only a gazillion credit hours away from my MLIS.

We had a really long, nice day out yesterday, and made some great finds:

Fortunato's Italian Market, Central Ave., downtown St. Petersburg has the best pizza I've found yet in Tampa Bay. Mario's in Clearwater is good, as is Azzuro's in Largo, and Gino's in Palm Harbor. But Fortunato's? I was in heaven.

Schakolad, just a block away from Fortunato's, has some amazing chocolates. Their white chocolate pretzels are perfect. I was less impressed with the chocolate peanut butter cups, but I've yet to really love those had out -- my great aunt's version spoiled me. There's a Schakolad in SoHo Tampa if you're on that side of the pond.

Prime Outlets Ellenton is not much father south than going over the Sunshine Skyway, and just off the highway. We went to get Shawn some new sandals, and for me to check out the Lane Bryant Outlet. No joy on one, much on the other. I found a lovely bra that fits me perfectly for $9, and a pair of sleep shorts for the same. There were tons of great deals, and I happened to walk in on an extra 10% off day. It's very worth the trip if you generally like LB clothes. We also stopped at Kilwin's -- I hadn't seen a Kilwin's in two years! Not since Lin, Shawn, and I went to the art fair in Downtown Melbourne. I love, love their lemonade. Their chocolates not so much. I will have to try their fudge at some point, though. It's fun enough watching them make it to be tempting.

Our last point of interest was far in the other direction -- the Jo-Ann Etc. at Citrus Park up Veteran's in Tampa. It seemed like a sewer's heaven to me, and the scrapbook section did seem a bit larger than ours in Dunedin (or the St. Petersburg store), but the knit & crochet section seemed just the same -- much larger in space, but that was because everything was more spread out, not because there was necessarily more variety in the yarn or needle selection. They're all much bigger than the pitiful University location (on Fowler), though. I did find some Moda Dea superwash wool that I haven't noticed at Dunedin, but it could be I don't specifically look for yarn there anymore. Hopefully I'm not so disappointed by the AC Moore in Tampa Palms when it opens.

Also, Crazy Buffet is crazy expensive. Shawn seemed to really love his food, though. (I don't do Chinese, so I just knitted and watched.)

The waves off the Sunshine Skyway were gorgeous, and the sound of the Grand Prix in St. Pete was just disorienting. Tampa Bay? Is amazing.

I twittered that my MT upgrade actually went through without a hitch, which was true, and it wasn't. I didn't realize until posting yesterday that I had a bug. I could still post, but I was getting an error -- something about being date_based and unblessed. So, feeling insulted, I searched for a fix.

Luckily, Dan has the answer. So if you're slow to the upgrade party but have been an MT person for a while, you may get this bug, but it's extremely painless to solve thanks to people smarter than I am.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled monthly updates....

I have seven Toluu invites. Contact me somewhere with your email address if you want one.

What is Toluu?

Toluu is a utility that makes it easy to discover the feeds your friends read and find your new favorite feed. You import your feeds and then your friends can easily see what you actually read. You can also find others who have similar tastes in feeds as you do and discover feeds you may find interesting. It is quite simple.

So far I'm not impressed, for three reasons: I'm only matching with one person, probably because of the overall lack of members. Secondly, it emails me updates from people who have contacted me, but who I have not contacted back. The only way to get rid of this appears to also get rid of the updates from the people you have contacted back. And lastly having to manually import every time I add a feed is a drag and I'm not much of a bookmarklet person. I'm assuming the first two will improve over time, and the third might be less of an issue for most people whose feeds remain fairly static.

I guess I might also be less impressed because I already share articles from feeds I like, and that I think my friends will like via Google Reader, which is further aggregated to FriendFeed and from there to Facebook. So, mostly I'm just wanting to use Toluu to find new feeds, but no joy... yet.

The St. Pete Times is running a vote for the best local bands (Rebekah Pulley) as part of the the tbt "Ultimate Local Music Guide". You can vote (for Rebekah Pulley) once a day between now and May 10th with your phones by texting your choice (TBT5) to 78247. You'll get a "half off entry" to see the Showcase at Skipper's message back.

If you don't already have a favorite (Rebekah Pulley), now is a good opportunity to familiarize yourself with the scene.

About every 5 years since I was 13 or 14 I've come across some new artist that totally opens my mind to a new way of thinking or being. Some bit of musical therapy. There are other artists that I adore, that I think are amazingly talented (Allison Crowe and Dar Williams leap to mind). But for some reason these end up standing out as a way to positively channel my energy and emotions.

First was Stevie Nicks. I remember hearing Gypsy one day on the radio and just being absolutely floored. I was stunned silent for hours. It was as if the song brought my identity home to me. It brought me independence, understanding, a place to come home to when things were hard. It was the first time I understood that I was who I had to rely on, and that I needed to love myself first. That fear was normal, but able to be walked through. I kept seeking Stevie Nicks songs for a long time after that, and most of them hit me in the same or similar ways. Many still do, and that goes for all the songs that have been musical therapy to me.

About five years later I found Tori Amos. Tori gave me a way to feel. Emotions that had been so incredibly blocked were freed and given voice. If I couldn't give them my own voice, my own words, I could learn through repetition, the way a child learns to read by being read to. Each album tuned me more and more into myself for years. Liquid Diamonds almost broke me. (Sometimes we have to be broken to rebuild.)

Then, in a twist of fate, while at a Tori concert in Melbourne, an Andrea Florian sampler disc was left on our windshield. It was vulnerability, forgiveness, acceptance, and humility in a box. It helped me heal so many relationships in my life. Being able to admit that I couldn't do everything, that I couldn't fix another's wounds, well, that was a lesson I was in desperate need of at that point. And learning that some things are More than I Am, well, it changed how I took on the world, how I looked into the past, and how I related to others in major ways.

And now, heading into my 30's, I've found someone new. We went to see Amy Steinberg at Sacred Grounds (I had an amazing Venus Envy single shake) last night after I heard Exactly on Cast-On and fell in love. I'm not sure it's possible to capture last night into words. I'm still sorting it out. I'm feeling a new sense of community... connection... trust? That has been missing. The crowd was wonderful, and the show was just so vibrant with a very real and present back and forth dialog. I am not a person who makes eye contact easily but when eye contact was made last night I could not look away. I am not one to speak up, but even in uncomfortable situations, I did. There is a quality to the music, and also to her being that I was brought nearly to tears so many times, only to laugh them away. And that is really life isn't it? I am being taught to let go. To listen.

If this is what people feel in church.... I get it now.

She's playing at Press 2315 in St. Pete on Friday. I have a standing Friday engagement so I won't be there, but highly suggest it. You can listen to a lot of her tracks on Last.fm, but the live experience eclipses it in ways beyond words.

I know I'm breaking my once-a-month posting streak, but I'd been thinking of writing a political post for ages. And then Kate went and said it way better than I ever could:

So, yeah, like so many women discussed in the aforementioned posts, I felt like I couldn't admit out loud that I really liked Hillary and was sincerely considering voting for her. All the cool kids hate Hillary! I'm not supposed to vote with my lady parts! What am I thinking?!?

(The whole post is great. Go read it. Really.)

I'll add the caveat that I actually ended up not voting. I'd be ashamed of myself if it weren't for the fact that Shawn and I were canceling each other out, both on the property tax amendment and on the primary candidate (well, that and the fact that my vote for primary candidate wouldn't have counted anyway -- thank you Florida legislature!). I was going to go anyway, but vacation lasted a day longer than planned (we only had hotel money for two nights, but opted to sleep in the car one night rather than going home). So I, unexpectedly, wasn't here to go.

But the blatant misogyny (mostly on the part of the media) in this election season has really been bothering me for months now. Almost as much as the unwitting sexism by people I've spoken with. But I've been in enough anti-feminist debates (mostly with people who don't have a clue about the feminist movement, historically or currently) lately that I just haven't had the energy to address it the way I've wanted to (one conversation about rape fantasy is my quota for life, thanks). So I really appreciate Kate's ever-present way of putting things so eloquently and logically.

I am just so in awe, so inspired, and so hopeful by this election. On top of all of the things that make her a good candidate -- a visually prominent female role model of substance? Yes, please!