a fond farewell to a friend (that friend being 2004)

hello,
i have been meaning to catch up for a while now, and so what is about to follow will just be a random collection of badly-linked thoughts. i apologize in advance for that and give you a free skip-class-pass, should you choose to do so.

it snowed here last week (or was it 2 weeks ago?). i haven't seen snow, much less driven in it, in years. i went outside in the snow and took pictures in my pajamas. good times.

i've been taking the train to work in the mornings. i love saying that - taking the train to work. i suppose it's not really a train - it's the DART light rail - but it feels oh-so-much like a train (only cleaner) and it does run on tracks. that's enough for me. i don't have to fight an hour and a half of traffic (each way) to get to work in downtown Dallas, and i have time to read (Paula, by Isabel Allende) or knit, which is the perfect way to assure no one will try to talk to you on the train, even though no one does anyway - it's like what john hannah says to gywneth paltrow in "sliding doors" about no one talking to each other on the tube because everyone thinks everyone else is some kind of nutcase or psychopath. i promise that if you have knitting needles in hand and a scarf in progress, people will definitely think you are a nutcase.

i read "confessions of an ugly stepsister" last week (or was it the week before? time, time, slipping away...). it was actually, in some ways, better than "wicked" (both are written by gregory maguire). next i'll be moving on to "fast food nation" and "the art of travel." oh, the joys of getting books for christmas.

last but by far not least, the wait for the new album is almost over! THIN THREAD will be released online on Tuesday, January 11th and will be in stores in Houston, Austin, and Dallas the following week. it was a mad dash to get the artwork and the mastering done in time, but thanks to the kind folks at Crystal Clear Sound here in Dallas, all has worked out in the end, as it nearly always does.

so with that, i leave you in peace. 2004 was such a strange year. i don't even know how to characterize it, good bad or otherwise. my life has altered beyond recognition from how it was on january 1 of 2004. i no longer know where i call home. i have zero idea what city, country, or state i will find myself in in six months, and no way of even guessing. but at least i still have my guitar, my voice, my thoughts, and my desire to keep pushing and trying to attain ... what? recognition? fame? not really. i guess all i really want is just enough security to keep doing this for a while longer, if this is what i am meant to do. thanks for the part you play in making that dream a reality.

happy 2005!
vanessa