* The audiorecordings I made this week were far from perfect (in spite of a gabillion takes), but I know more about working with Audacity than I did at the start of the week. So, win.

* That is, I've at least moved an inch on the iceberg. I need to spend some more chunks of time figuring out the optimal setup for the mic and the volume-related settings...

...but, and this is a good thing, it's something that can wait. Which is a nice feeling compared to Wednesday, when I was itching so hard to work on the audio projects that I could barely concentrate on other things ahead of them in line.

* Listening to the results: I was definitely overthinking some of those lines, and am correspondingly vexed that I couldn't afford to spend more time trying to get them right. [Diminishing returns, other things on the list, etc.] That said, I am also pleased at some of the multiple inflections I was able to come up with, and that's something that will improve with practice. Which in turn will help me musically...

* Every year, I usually find a new song and/or artist to geek over thanks to Les Enfoires. The 2010 CDs arrived in my mailbox this week, and I am loving Gregoire's "Ta Main" [English translation of lyrics] The original video is beautifully conceived and directed, she's a fascinating woman in her own right, and it pushes both my dancing and writing buttons: it's a song that makes me want to grab a partner and sway to it, and it's a scenario that makes me want to write about what happens afterwards...

* I also dig the video to Toi and Moi [English translation]. A neat story behind the video: apparently Gregoire's first CD was crowdfunded, and many of the people who joined him in the video were co-producers of the album. Which, considering the sheer range of people in the video -- including a father dancing with his daughter, an Asian man bowing to the lens, and various other folks bouncing around and twirling along with varying levels of (dis)comfort and abandon/reserve -- it's just so cool and fun to see (especially since it reminds me of some of the better parties I've attended over the years...).

* Speaking of getting caught up in the making of things: Episcopal Priest Barbie! I adore this on so many levels. EPB's creator had originally dressed a Barbie with a few outfits for a Sunday school class. Then, when a friend received a new parish assignment...

"I thought, 'I don't have time to make her one of her own; I'll just send her Episcopal Priest Barbie for her farewell gift,'" said Fisher. "But then, when I sat down to start to package everything up, I thought 'What if I added this? What if I added that? What if I made this? It would just take one more day.'"

One more day turned into 100 hours of painstaking labor, and "before I knew it, it was Episcopal Church Barbie-High Church Edition," Fisher said.

Complete with portable sacristy! *glee* [Background note: I used to work for a cathedral. Think of it as the prop trailer + dressing room for the theatre of an Episcopal service and you'll get an idea...]