Astraea

OH, I get it. I hadn't planned on asking there because I figured they'd push me to buy a new machine from them instead (rather than sending me to the competition!), but perhaps they'd be able to recommend, or at least give me tips on whether buying from C-list is The World's Worst Idea/how to evaluation machines if I go that route. i'll try it; it's a good tip, thanks. I just thought maybe someone had dealt with repair shops in the past and might know if there were any good or any to avoid.

I didn't know Joann sold secondhand/refurb, cool. Then again, I guess I never asked when there... Thanks.

I know some of you here sew, so I thought you might know-- anyone familiar with good sewing machine repair shops in the area? I'm looking for a place that sells secondhand machines. Everything I've read says "go used/vintage" as the older machines are more durable, but I look at Craigslist and am completely lost, so I figure my best bet is to buy from a store that sells used machines-- then I'll know what I'm getting and that it works, even if I have to pay more (as I'm not really sure how to evaluate a machine or anything, nor what a good price is, though I could probably figure out the latter just from looking through listings). I just haven't a clue where to start; I've looked at YP.com but a lot of the places don't have websites so it's hard to check them out without actually going. So if anyone could recommend a place (or has a better idea-- maybe buying on C-list isn't the hot mess I imagine it'd be?), I'd appreciate it. TIA.

Yes, I'm trying that and hoping it works... but these days I'm starting to feel a bit sore in the knees (a big part of my mom's problem, besides all of her autoimmune disorders, is really bad arthritis in her knees) and it scares the shit out of me. Still, I'm not giving up my high-impact dance and running and cardio until I absolutely have to. I insist on living in a state of denial as long as I can, lol.

Hrm. Glad to see I'm not the only one who has mixed feelings about aging. I feel like I've both changed for better and worse, some of it due to age and some of it due to circumstances. I don't really feel older... part of me still feels college-age. When friends from high school get married and have kids, I feel shocked because we're so young... then I realize we're not. But then I'm afraid to be one of those people who try too hard to hang onto their young days. I look young so I can somewhat get away with dressing younger (and I'm in far better shape than I was even a few years ago, due to working out), but eventually I know I'm going to start looking like a fraud. And I already find that on some message forums, I'm one of the oldest people, and then I start wondering if I'm getting into the realm of "this is inappropriate for someone of your age; stop hanging out with/dressing like kids and grow up already." And then, too, I feel like I have the potential to be more fun these days even though I have less of a chance of having people to be fun WITH (I've had few opportunities to make friends in adulthood so most of my friends are those from college and we're scattered all over now). I feel like I wasted my young years not having fun, and soon I'll be too old. (My mum has a lot of health problems that started when she was about 40, and who knows if I'll inherit them. So part of me feels like I may only have 10 years left to really live before my health goes down the tubes too, and that's a big part of what bugs me about aging, that it's entirely possible I won't have my 50s and 60s and beyond to go running around doing stuff like many people do, because I could end up like my mum, in pain most of the time and barely able to walk, etc.)

WebTV. *slinks away in shame*

Old thread resurrect! ~ What piercings do you currently have? Regular lobe piercings: 2 in left, 1 in right (started out as a single left piercing) Industrials: 1 each ear Nostril: left side ~ Are there any that you plan to get in the future? And why haven't you gone out to do that yet? I'd like to have conch piercings in each ear-- two in each side (imagine the folks who get multiple helix piercings and put a single spiral barbell through all, but think of it in terms of a conch piercing). I haven't done it yet for a few reasons... 1. Funds 2. Lazy (would be a "project"-- I'd have to see my piercer and discuss jewelry, order said jewelry, go in and get pierced, wait for piercings to heal, then insert final jewelry...) 3. Time. Not sure if I feel like spending another year-plus healing cartilage piercings (the industrials were done within the past year-and-a-half or so and I'm still just a bit tired of having long-healing piercings). ~ Are there any piercings that intrigue you but feel you cannot have done (impossible, not if you want to keep your job, or just bloody unlikely)? I'd love to do my lip-- right in the center-- but that might just carry things too far as far as employers and parents and who-knows-who-else complaining. Not to mention my dentist-- my teeth, etc. are bad enough on their own. and, well, ick factor... I know the gunk that comes out of new piercings and I do NOT want that in my mouth, ew ew ew! Also a bit intrigued by nipple piercings, but not sure if I'm intrigued enough to actually get them (seems like they'd be a huge pain to heal, for one)... and I'm not sure I could ever take my shirt off in front of my piercer! ~ What are the inspirations behind the piercings we have, choose to get, or yearn for with all our soppy hearts? They're nifty? ~ Are there any epic stories of note involving the process or aftermath of a piercing that you would like to share with the other children? Not really, but I always tell people that industrials just aren't as bad as everyone says. Before I got my first one I was terrified because I'd read so many accounts that they were just so painful-- from people who were no strangers to piercings, from people who said if they'd known how much the actual piercing and healing would hurt they never would've done it, etc. And, well, I'm a total wuss for pain. Then I did it... and... I was like, "is that it? Really?" I mean, yeah, it hurt, but damn, not that much; the pain was pretty much over as soon as the piercing was done; the healing didn't hurt unless I bumped it... I just... didn't see the big deal. Got the second one done, was scared again in case the first had been a fluke... nope... still no huge deal. ~ What fashion of jewelry do you commonly use in said holes? Are there any particular favourites? Meh, I'm relatively boring. In part because I'm just too lazy to change jewelry out very often. The industrials still have the straight bars they were pierced with 'cause I've not gotten around to getting anything cool for them. Nose is usually just a plain jeweled stud (I keep losing the stones out of these and have just taken to buying tiny Swarovski crystals at the bead shop and epoxying them in, rather than buying a whole new nose screw), though I love the Indian-style nosepins, but they tend to be either expensive or small-gauge or both. The trend these days seems to be teeny-gauge jewelry more and more as well so it's getting harder to buy cute stuff at the store-- 22 gauge? Really? Lobes are... well, whatever I feel like, relatively boring for easy maintenance, but again I'm lazy so I might keep the same earrings in for months, and sometimes during dance competition season I'll take the out and never get around to putting them back in until competition season is over... I do love the way I look in dangly earrings but only wear them sometimes (not low-maintenance! lol)

Hrm. I wonder if there's something with the guitar itself? Although if you didn't get it secondhand or anything, you wouldn't think that was the case. I wonder if someone at a guitar shop might not be able to give you an idea, though, if you haven't tried that yet. (I'll ask just about anything at the guitar shop. I have no pride whatsoever, lol. I pretty much walk in: "Good morning, I'm a complete idiot. What the hell kind of capo do I want, since there are like 50 billion of them out there???") (This is why I stick to acoustic for the moment. I came to guitar from classical music/violin and such and I'm amazed at how much it's like a completely different ballgame. I figured I should learn to play the damn thing before I start trying to wrap my head around things like amps and effects, oh myyyy, or I'd be totally lost. And then I'll probably have to have someone show me all about it. *headdesk* And then... once I know... I take over ze world. Or something. ) {I keep wanting to ask you-- your username, Tron like the movie, or something else?}}

A friend in college who was (which means, no doubt, that everyone thought I was just copying her but really she was just the catalyst). It was never really something I thought about before... I've always identified as hippie more than anything, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense, like why I preferred to wear dark colors as a kid and started writing angsty poetry around the age of ten (STEREOTYPES UNITE! lol) and have always had a slightly darker outlook and sense of humor and (add a few more stereotypes here). Now I just call myself "hippie with a goth streak" although my look can vary from day to day (and I've found that whichever one I identify more with on any given day tends to depend on my mood...). Really I fit in lots of places (although I probably fully fit in nowhere). I can be in jeans at the mall Monday, dressed nice for church Tuesday, done up fancy for some big to-do Wednesday, looking like I belong in a head shop Thursday, cleaned up nice for the office Friday, gothed out on Saturday, and done up for a Highland games on Sunday, and rock it all perfectly comfortably (I've wondered before if people might call me a poser or two-faced simply because I CAN switch around so much and pull out different parts of my personality to fit the situation at hand, but none of it's fake, just different facets of me brought to the forefront). My music preference tends to be the same-- I'm getting a reputation at work among my coworkers because they never know what they'll hear on my Pandora Radio-- classical to choral to Celtic to electronic to metal to goth to oldies to Celtic punk (and when I'm by myself I feel free to go more esoteric like Middle-Eastern and other stuff that would REALLY get me weird looks). I can go from Paganini to Daft Punk to Manson to Pink Floyd all in the same day, lol. I'm still more likely to listen to the Beatles than Bauhaus, and probably more likely to gravitate toward metal/industrial than some true goth music, and to be honest I spend more time in jeans and t-shirts than *anything* else (mostly because I am too lazy to put any effort into it when I am dragging my arse out of bed at what my night-owl self considers to be a ridiculous hour most days). Unfortunately this means that on my "goth" days my style tends to be what I call "Lazigoth"-- "I'm wearing black and I have black eyeliner on, dammit, and that's good enough." I aim to get better at that, though, though I can't promise to not commit the sin of under-accessorizing-- I tend to never take off my religious necklace, will wear one pair of earrings for months at a time, and very rarely switch out my rings/bracelets/whatever.

Nope, just moving your hands further up the fingerboard. Even smaller guitars still use the same tuning. Although it's entirely possible there's an effect you can add as well (I play acoustic at the moment and haven't really touched electric so I know nothing about effects and such). Do you have an electronic tuner? Those make tuning really, really easy. It's possible your tuning is just off-- I managed this the other day. I had the instrument in tune with itself, it was just an entire half-step flat, lol, and that's what I get for just tuning everything together by ear without using a pitchpipe or keyboard to tune to the actual correct notes.

How much of a commitment is this? Both for singing with the choir and the writing they need done? (I see them as two separate issues.) The first is the singing-- how badly do they need you? Are you the only one who can hit the notes, sing on key, pick up the music quickly, whatever? That is, if you start with them and then get a job and are unable to sing with them anymore, are they totally screwed because they haven't got the horses to pull it without you? If that's the case, then you may want to not commit... unless you can be somewhat noncommittal with them and just let them know you may not be a permanent fixture-- if it's something where the rest of the section might just need a bit of help to get off the ground and might be able to swing it if you have to go later, it might work out. Or encourage them not to pick music that might hinge on your range/ability to sing difficult material/whatever so they can still do it even if you need to leave the choir. (Rehearsing during the day on weekdays? I think I can see why they're hurting for singers!) The other issue is the composition. How quickly do they need this music? Are they wanting it for May? Are you getting paid for this? (Ten songs seems to me to be a lot of work for a volunteer thing-- especially if you're expected to come up with original stuff as opposed to just arranging. It's one thing if they're asking if you have stuff already written that they could sing, but if they're commissioning new pieces...) What do they plan to do if you do not write for them-- that is, are they super-stuck if you don't agree to do it, are they going to get someone else, are they cool with going without, what? This is something you could possibly do even with a job, as you can work on it at any time of day you want. But if they need a lot of material quickly, that's a bit of a strain, especially if it's a style you're not used to writing in. How are you at writing on demand? Can you possibly agree to do a few of the pieces but not all of them that they need so it's not such a load? I agree that it could be a great opportunity BUT I don't think you should give up job opportunities for it or run yourself into the ground-- especially if they're not paying you.

Thanks, everybody! The DGN (welcome) Questions 2.1 ™ © Formerly the "S.D.G.N.W.Q.P.S." The Standard Detroit Gothic . Net Welcome Questions Polls and Suggestions 1.7b Gender? Female Work? Yup! School? Unfortunately, no. Still paying off the first one. Kids? Nope Married? Nope Single? Yep. Hobbies? A lot of music, Highland dance, working out, general geekiness. How Did You Find / hear about DGN? Google. How did you pick your DGN name? It's Greek-- it means "star," sorta.

I know this is old, but-- I've been using justinguitar.com. If you're interested in fingerstyle, I've also liked the exercises on guitarnick.com. Is your guitar nylon-string or steel? (I'm not very familiar with Harmony guitars, but the few I've seen have been classical.)

Thanks! Glad to find a local group!