The Life Experience ~ Winter '16

[bloodyrosemccoy]

What I Learned Since The Winter Solstice

• The Mythbusters Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage did not get along. Which the media is treating as a surprise, when really it seemed pretty apparent from the show. This is, of course, just the impression I get from watching it, but Jamie doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who gets along with ... most people. Not that he's not extremely cool. He just seems less than sociable.


• Cat hormones are powerful stuff.


• My sense of sci-fi was shaped rather strongly by the Star Wars "Tales" books. Which still hold up quite well--most of the stories are damn good.*


• Also, I am apparently totally used to the unspecial editions of Original Flavor Star Wars--as evidenced by my watching my Special Edition DVDs and being extremely disoriented by them.


• It is possible to not only do steampunk elves well, but amazingly well. Looking at you, Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor.


• Self-cleaning litterboxes are pretty useful, but sometimes your cat might pick fights with the one you buy.


• Contact lenses are better when you've got liquid to revitalize your eyes through the day


• Mass Effect is a good game--which I knew--but it's also a really smart game.


• Mormon temple interiors look surprisingly like assortments of vaguely-Victorian living rooms.


• Lucy likes having her pin feathers scratched, unless they're still sensitive or blood feathers.


• Female great horned owls sound slightly higher pitched than males, at least assuming that hooting owl in the cottonwood trees is one.


• This particular brand of Fukitol supplement apparently doesn't keep me off the hypomania.


• Sleep paralysis doesn't necessarily mean that you're half-awake; it can be a dream and still have all the symptoms.


• I have discovered something shocking about myself, and I must confess it all to you: I am an axis-inverter. Not just the Y-axis; I intuitively invert the X-axis. At least in Xbox games. I AM SORRY, OKAY?


• Astrology is horse shit, but I didn't realize how desperately complicated the horse shit was.


• SHARKANOES ARE AN ACTUAL FOR REAL THING


• There might be nitrogen ice volcanoes on Pluto! No word on whether it is full of ice sharkanoes.


• David Bowie did not have heterochromia; he had a permanently blown pupil (aka anisocoria), supposedly from a fight he was in.


• Caroll Spinney and Jim Henson not only met in Salt Lake City; they specifically met in Kingsbury Hall! Which he realized when he made an appearance at Kingsbury Hall recently. He was pretty thrilled to realize he was back where he'd started.


• Gravitational waves are detectable!

*Except Dannik Jerriko. It's a source of serious annoyance to me that the impressively well0put-together plot of Tales from Jabba's Palace hinges on the machinations of that self-impressed stuffed shirt of a snot vampire and his fucking prose poetry slams.

Comments

[spiffikins]

The Goblin Emperor is a *stellar* novel!

[acrossthelake.livejournal.com]

*throws horns* Hell yes it is. Also, Mia, we still need to sit down and talk about the conlang in depth.

I myself am a chronic Y inverter, but X axis inversion is a new one on me. What makes it easier for you, if I can ask/you actually have an answer?

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

When it's a stick control, I think I'm 'locating" the control behind the protagonist's head, and their head is the pivot. So when I swing the stick left, their gaze aims to the right.

I've found a few games that offer X-axis inversion and it makes life much easier on me. Portal did on the Xbox, but Portal 2 didn't, so man, I was completely fouled up there.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I know, right?

There are a million things to recommend it, but she had me at "uses 'thou' correctly."

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

Now I know about sharkano and this is the greatest and most terrifying thing.

Astrology is indeed complicated. And not always good at disguising the bullshit aspects.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I feel that it is never good at disguising its bullshit aspects. ;)

But yeah, its complexity is astounding. I looked into it in order to do some worldbuilding and ... DANG. I guess it's had enough time to build up some impressive weirdness.

[dark-phoenix54.livejournal.com]

Sharkanoes. Great. Something else to worry about.

[kelkyag]

Cat hormones are impressive. I gather one of your cats went into heat for the first time? It makes for some alarming behavior changes.

Contact lenses sans liquid ... ummm, ow?

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Whoops, didn't finish that line! It was "liquid to replenish your eyes through the day."

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

And yes, Astro's appointment to get spayed came a few days too late, so it was quite a weekend. Poor cat would prowl the house yowling for sexy toms every fifteen minutes or so. Got so bad that she started writing NC-17 Supernatural slash fiction before it was over.

[kelkyag]

Sympathies! Houseguest cat went through heat while she was with me (and apparently twice more at her permanent home, as they didn't realize how fast that cycle could happen), and it was a frustrating experience for all involved.

[hrhleia.livejournal.com]

I also relied on Tales and other EU novels to shape my Star Wars headcanons, and that guy always annoyed me too. I kept wishing one of the bounty hunters would take him out.

Thanks for sharing your learning with us!

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I kept wondering if my impatience with him was due to being in elementary school and maybe not appreciating him. But nope, he just won't shut up about his damn soup.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

I was so excited when I learned about the Sharkano. SO COOL!