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Good Things
Feb. 8th, 2015 10:03 pmFinally getting to hang out with buddies Aspen and Chris again! It's been far too long. But we're introducing Chris to Fringe, so it's all good.
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Feb. 2nd, 2015 08:44 pmYesterday the good thing was that, while I do not care to watch the Super Bowl myself, it always makes me think of my buddy Josh, who used it as an excuse to make some fabulous cheese dip. So I told him that and we had a nice conversation--first one in a while. The Super Bowl brings people together!
Tonight's good thing: it's dumb and petty, but as I'm making another batch of soda it occurs to me that when Mom'n'Dad leave, I can get rid of the coffee pot on the counter. That thing's always in the way. Hooray!
Tonight's good thing: it's dumb and petty, but as I'm making another batch of soda it occurs to me that when Mom'n'Dad leave, I can get rid of the coffee pot on the counter. That thing's always in the way. Hooray!
The Life Experience ~ Summer '14
Sep. 22nd, 2014 10:55 pmWhat I Learned Since The Summer Solstice:
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childthursday really exists! AND SHE IS AWESOME- SO IS HER WIFE
- Piano dissassembly is an undertaking fraught with peril, what with the large number of wires under high tension.
- African wild dogs have gorgeous coats.
- The cilantro wars are a bit one-sided: 90% of people can't taste the particular aldehydes that mimic bleach (read: POISON)
- Fifty Shades of Grey is even more awful than I thought, so that not even a good sporking can make me an antifan.
- The first regular African-American character in a Saturday morning cartoon show was Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats.
- While I love watching horror movies, playing horror games is apparently one degree too close for my fragile amygdala.
- But, as it turns out, I love watching horror game playthroughs by other people.
- It is upsetting when the deserts of Southern Utah have a layer of green over them.
- There is a Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago!
- Even if they have much higher mass, sub-brown dwarf stars are generally roughly the same radius as Jupiter, due to complicated interactions of various pressure factors.
- THERE IS SUCH A THING AS A CANDY BAR STUFFED WITH CAKE MIX
- Astronauts do drop stuff all over the place when they come back from a stint in space. (As somebody said, "NOBODY GIVE HIM A BABY.")
- T-rex's puny arms were still attached to tons of muscle and could probably take you apart pretty easily.
- Amercan police departments have somehow turned into terrifying supervillain organizations.
- Terrifying, racist supervillain organizations.
- It's important to get the correct generic brand of your Fukitol unless you want to enjoy days of simulating life on a pirate ship.
- The Tinker Bell movies actually might have better messages than the books, what with the way Tinker Bell herself is a straight-up mechanical engineer in the movies, rather than a "pots-and-pans-talent fairy" of the books. Dude, she can be girly AND an engineer!
- I apparently do very well teaching toward gifted kids, and less well teaching toward other kids. I tend to forget that not everyone can keep up. STORY OF MY LIFE.
- There are varying categories of anemia depending on how the shortage of hemoglobin comes about--either impaired production, increased destruction, or straight blood loss.
- The water level of the Chicago River is lower than that of Lake Michigan and has to be kept that way with harbor locks, because of some big engineering stunt to reverse the flow of the river back in the day. THE TRIUMPH OF MAN!
- I still love point'n'click games.
- There are tons of extremely interesting methods of alternative construction available if one wants to, say, build a cost-effective eco-friendly hobbit hole at some point.
- The most intriguing of which seems to be earth-sheltered building at the moment. HMMMM ...
Achievement!
Sep. 6th, 2014 08:14 amGuys, guys!
childthursday is now a doctor! With a PhD and everything!
Thought you ought to know, since she's worked hard on it, and her dissertation is what led us to meet. So! High-fives to her!
childthursday is now a doctor! With a PhD and everything!Thought you ought to know, since she's worked hard on it, and her dissertation is what led us to meet. So! High-fives to her!
Chicago Photos!
Jul. 5th, 2014 11:05 pmSo! Chicago was pretty fun to visit, I must say. I only spent a couple of days there, but they were pretty enjoyable even if god DAMN my feet hurt.
What is it with skyscrapers? I mean, they look awfully pretty, yes. But to someone who is used to a large sprawling suburban valley surrounded by mountains, they also look like an attempt to give some kind of shape to a flat place. Plus, I'm not used to buildings that take up whole blocks (even small, non-Salt Lake City blocks). But maybe it was just my TOO MANY HUMANS reaction kicking in.
And so many of them are named after companies. Which is just ... telling, I guess.
I like this one just because it's some weird hybrid, and the older one on the left has the nickname of "The Gothic Rocket."
( More Chicago Photos )
The best part of the trip, though, was getting to meetchildthursday and Jess! I have known childthursday for quite a while online, and have gotten to watch her meet and form a relationship with Jess through her writing. It was wonderful to finally see her face-to-face, and to be able to celebrate their marriage with them!
(Whenever partygoers asked where I was from, I answered "The Internet!")
( More Photos, Including The Most Magnificent Cake Ever )
Anyway! That's all for this time! Mini Addy's adventures turned out to be pretty photogenic, too, so they'll be up next! Stay tuned!
What is it with skyscrapers? I mean, they look awfully pretty, yes. But to someone who is used to a large sprawling suburban valley surrounded by mountains, they also look like an attempt to give some kind of shape to a flat place. Plus, I'm not used to buildings that take up whole blocks (even small, non-Salt Lake City blocks). But maybe it was just my TOO MANY HUMANS reaction kicking in.
And so many of them are named after companies. Which is just ... telling, I guess.
I like this one just because it's some weird hybrid, and the older one on the left has the nickname of "The Gothic Rocket."
( More Chicago Photos )
The best part of the trip, though, was getting to meet
childthursday and Jess! I have known childthursday for quite a while online, and have gotten to watch her meet and form a relationship with Jess through her writing. It was wonderful to finally see her face-to-face, and to be able to celebrate their marriage with them!(Whenever partygoers asked where I was from, I answered "The Internet!")
( More Photos, Including The Most Magnificent Cake Ever )
Anyway! That's all for this time! Mini Addy's adventures turned out to be pretty photogenic, too, so they'll be up next! Stay tuned!
Adventure!
Jun. 27th, 2014 02:26 pmHey, guys! Guess who got married?
What? No! No, it's not me. The correct answer ischildthursday, who was finally able to get married a few months ago--and now she's having her wedding bash, and I am TOTALLY going. I'm off to Chicago this weekend to toast the happy couple! I'm only spending a couple days, but I'm looking forward to meeting her* and her lovely lady and having a party and eating cake and maybe doing some tourism. And yes, I plan to take pictures.
Anyway, don't do anything nuts without me, y'all! See you after the weekend!
*I love how the internet works. "My friend of many years got married! I'm going to go meet her for the first time at the party!"
What? No! No, it's not me. The correct answer is
childthursday, who was finally able to get married a few months ago--and now she's having her wedding bash, and I am TOTALLY going. I'm off to Chicago this weekend to toast the happy couple! I'm only spending a couple days, but I'm looking forward to meeting her* and her lovely lady and having a party and eating cake and maybe doing some tourism. And yes, I plan to take pictures.Anyway, don't do anything nuts without me, y'all! See you after the weekend!
*I love how the internet works. "My friend of many years got married! I'm going to go meet her for the first time at the party!"
I've already got a reputation here at the Space Place. Every time I'm introduced to someone, they say, "Are you Jordan's Friend?"* Perhaps this means he's been talking about me. I think that's good news.
Anyway, just to add a thin layer of anonymity to this, I'm not gonna name the actual facility. Let's just say it will be the Space Place That Will Remain Super Secretly Nameless, But Totally Has:
Anyway, my job is in education presentations to K-12 school groups, so I get to work with the sphere, dome, and the secret bonus third option for schools to far away to drive all the way to Space Place, Skype + Magic Educational Remote View. All of these use simulation programs to check out stuff like What's In The Sky and The Sun Is A Mass Of Incandescent Gas and Plate Tectonics and so forth. I've spent the last few days watching presentations in each of these media. It looks like a goddamn ton of fun, though I suspect the first time I try each one myself will be TERRIFYING.*** But first I've got to learn all the equipment, so next week I get to futz with the software and maybe make the eyeball follow patrons and see if any of them know that the secret is to run around it until it explodes into coins. It should get easier when the school year ends in a few weeks and I'll have time to do that. Later on, probably starting next school year, I get to travel to schools and demonstrate Cool Science to them.
I'm gonna have FUN here.
By the way, as you may expect, this place is full of nerds. Silly mustaches abound, one guy was telling me about the comic he's working on, I'm not gonna say who but ONE of us is trying to sell a YA fantasy novel and is (re)writing one about Doctors! In! SPACE!!, and I am pretty sure D&D groups figure into the weekly event schedule. There's even one guy who has been to Kenya, so even if we aren't talking strictly about NERD stuff, we still have things to connect on. I think I will do well here.
Plus, seriously, y'all, this gift shop. I am going to own more science bullshit than will fit in my house. I am okay with this.
*Except for the guy there who used to be my acting teacher back when I was, like, twelve. He knows me as "Mia." I know no one cares, but this guy was great back then, and it's a huge kick to talk to him again.
**Yes, second. Seriously, fuck that piano.
***The other "new" guy, who's been working in Concessions for years but is now graduating to an Edumacator, got to do his first ever presentation yesterday. Poor dope did well but was clearly flying on an adrenalin high.
Anyway, just to add a thin layer of anonymity to this, I'm not gonna name the actual facility. Let's just say it will be the Space Place That Will Remain Super Secretly Nameless, But Totally Has:
- Exhibits like Guess Your Weight On Other Planets, moon rocks, interactive simulations of planetary orbits, planet surfaces, and some kind of Rube Goldbergy exhibit with springs and levers and balls and dinging bells that you can interact with,
- A giant spherical screen in the lobby that can project rotating simulations of each solar system planet and climates and tectonics and so forth (and also, because it is programmed by supernerds, has a Death Star mode and an OMG WTF GIANT EYEBALL MODE like you've just run into the second scariest thing in Super Mario 64.**),
- A dome theater,
- Crazy science demonstrations, and
- The most unbelievably awesome gift shop ever. No, seriously, you guys. I am buying all my presents from this place from now on. Have a wedding? Birthday? Housewarming? Xmas? YOU ALL GET MYTHBUSTERS SCIENCE KITS, DAMMIT.
Anyway, my job is in education presentations to K-12 school groups, so I get to work with the sphere, dome, and the secret bonus third option for schools to far away to drive all the way to Space Place, Skype + Magic Educational Remote View. All of these use simulation programs to check out stuff like What's In The Sky and The Sun Is A Mass Of Incandescent Gas and Plate Tectonics and so forth. I've spent the last few days watching presentations in each of these media. It looks like a goddamn ton of fun, though I suspect the first time I try each one myself will be TERRIFYING.*** But first I've got to learn all the equipment, so next week I get to futz with the software and maybe make the eyeball follow patrons and see if any of them know that the secret is to run around it until it explodes into coins. It should get easier when the school year ends in a few weeks and I'll have time to do that. Later on, probably starting next school year, I get to travel to schools and demonstrate Cool Science to them.
I'm gonna have FUN here.
By the way, as you may expect, this place is full of nerds. Silly mustaches abound, one guy was telling me about the comic he's working on, I'm not gonna say who but ONE of us is trying to sell a YA fantasy novel and is (re)writing one about Doctors! In! SPACE!!, and I am pretty sure D&D groups figure into the weekly event schedule. There's even one guy who has been to Kenya, so even if we aren't talking strictly about NERD stuff, we still have things to connect on. I think I will do well here.
Plus, seriously, y'all, this gift shop. I am going to own more science bullshit than will fit in my house. I am okay with this.
*Except for the guy there who used to be my acting teacher back when I was, like, twelve. He knows me as "Mia." I know no one cares, but this guy was great back then, and it's a huge kick to talk to him again.
**Yes, second. Seriously, fuck that piano.
***The other "new" guy, who's been working in Concessions for years but is now graduating to an Edumacator, got to do his first ever presentation yesterday. Poor dope did well but was clearly flying on an adrenalin high.
Upsetting Upsell
Feb. 26th, 2014 12:18 pmWent to a Jewelry Party this weekend.
It was at least as weird as it sounds.
I have to say, "getting sold things" isn't my idea of a fun get-together, but by and large neither are regular "not getting sold things" parties. But the person hosting this party is one of the nicest people in the world, and anyway since I was a kid I have considered it my Solemn Duty As A Writer to have new experiences no matter how bizarre, so I figured what the hell. And anyway, it's inexplicably fascinating to watch Sales Tactics In Action.
I mean, this saleslady was SELLING. The last time someone has that aggressively tried to convince me that I was getting a good deal was back in school when we'd have "assemblies" where the World's Perkiest Guy hollered about all the Fabulous Prizes that his company would just straight up GIVE us as long as we sold 300 magazine subscriptions or sub-par chocolate bars.* There was some serious psychology going on--there were prizes given out for people who had written the most things on their wish lists, and enforced audience participation,** and the offering of AMAZING DEALS in which they would knock the price of their terrible jewelry down from "absurdly overpriced" to "about what the jewelry is actually worth," and carefully repeating the brand name with Positive Language or some such nonsense, and basically use of the friendly setting to shame your ass into buying their junk.
It was attempted brain-hacking in action. And I am a sucker (har) for watching that sort of thing, at least until they try to include me. Although I do get rather justice-y about it when it goes too far: one person played a game and scored the "prize" of hosting another one of these weirdass parties, and when she tried to gracefully offer excuses as to why a party would not be feasible--no real place to host it, no friends who would be interested, no time, is actually the Dark Lord of the Otherworld and partygoers would only be dragged off to an eternity of ritualistic torture from devout Cenobites, etc.--and the saleslady just kept coming up with solutions around the problems. I am pretty sure she was getting the hint, but by god she was going to use polite social conventions to her advantage, and backing off was NOT an option. Which, again, is interesting to watch, but not if you're the one being dragooned into hosting a goddamn stupid jewelry party. So I stepped in to break the cycle and suggested that the guest "take a few days to think about it."
"I'll call you!" the sales lady said brightly. But it's a lot easier to say "I've thought about it and it's not gonna work" at that point.
So I left the party without any jewelry. But I did get to chat with some old friends, and meet some new ones, and get into a wonderfully nerdy conversation with one about DnD, so hey, the evening was nice anyway.
*Unless they are the Scholastic Book Fair, fundraisers at schools are unpleasant all around. Can't I just DONATE some money to convert your school gym into a Legends of the Hidden Temple set? Do I HAVE to get the coupon books?
**It was a relief that she never targeted me for that, because I've gotten pretty good at resisting enforced audience participation, and it's awkward for everybody.
It was at least as weird as it sounds.
I have to say, "getting sold things" isn't my idea of a fun get-together, but by and large neither are regular "not getting sold things" parties. But the person hosting this party is one of the nicest people in the world, and anyway since I was a kid I have considered it my Solemn Duty As A Writer to have new experiences no matter how bizarre, so I figured what the hell. And anyway, it's inexplicably fascinating to watch Sales Tactics In Action.
I mean, this saleslady was SELLING. The last time someone has that aggressively tried to convince me that I was getting a good deal was back in school when we'd have "assemblies" where the World's Perkiest Guy hollered about all the Fabulous Prizes that his company would just straight up GIVE us as long as we sold 300 magazine subscriptions or sub-par chocolate bars.* There was some serious psychology going on--there were prizes given out for people who had written the most things on their wish lists, and enforced audience participation,** and the offering of AMAZING DEALS in which they would knock the price of their terrible jewelry down from "absurdly overpriced" to "about what the jewelry is actually worth," and carefully repeating the brand name with Positive Language or some such nonsense, and basically use of the friendly setting to shame your ass into buying their junk.
It was attempted brain-hacking in action. And I am a sucker (har) for watching that sort of thing, at least until they try to include me. Although I do get rather justice-y about it when it goes too far: one person played a game and scored the "prize" of hosting another one of these weirdass parties, and when she tried to gracefully offer excuses as to why a party would not be feasible--no real place to host it, no friends who would be interested, no time, is actually the Dark Lord of the Otherworld and partygoers would only be dragged off to an eternity of ritualistic torture from devout Cenobites, etc.--and the saleslady just kept coming up with solutions around the problems. I am pretty sure she was getting the hint, but by god she was going to use polite social conventions to her advantage, and backing off was NOT an option. Which, again, is interesting to watch, but not if you're the one being dragooned into hosting a goddamn stupid jewelry party. So I stepped in to break the cycle and suggested that the guest "take a few days to think about it."
"I'll call you!" the sales lady said brightly. But it's a lot easier to say "I've thought about it and it's not gonna work" at that point.
So I left the party without any jewelry. But I did get to chat with some old friends, and meet some new ones, and get into a wonderfully nerdy conversation with one about DnD, so hey, the evening was nice anyway.
*Unless they are the Scholastic Book Fair, fundraisers at schools are unpleasant all around. Can't I just DONATE some money to convert your school gym into a Legends of the Hidden Temple set? Do I HAVE to get the coupon books?
**It was a relief that she never targeted me for that, because I've gotten pretty good at resisting enforced audience participation, and it's awkward for everybody.
Good News, Everyone!
Feb. 22nd, 2014 12:49 pmSame-sex marriages are happening in Illinois! MARRIAGES FOR EVERYONE!
My only regret is that I didn't get to be the flower girl for one very specific couple. But I do have a trip out that way tentatively planned for June, so I'll just have to pelt them with flowers a few months late.
Congratulations to all the newlyweds!
My only regret is that I didn't get to be the flower girl for one very specific couple. But I do have a trip out that way tentatively planned for June, so I'll just have to pelt them with flowers a few months late.
Congratulations to all the newlyweds!
Rollin' With The Kids
Feb. 16th, 2014 03:50 pmThis weekend I managed to convince a buddy and her roommate to help me do some reconnaissance on a roller rink. I've been wanting to find a good place to practice skating for a while, and this place is one everyone half-remembers from childhood.
The problem is, it's part of a Family Fun Complex, and the reason we all half-remember it is because somebody or other probably had a birthday party there once. So I figured it could go two ways. It could be like the swimming pool I frequented as a kid and be nicely regulated so that every style of enjoying oneself was represented, perhaps with all-skates or adult-skates or kid-skates or what not.
Or it could be a calamitous riot of chaos and anarchy, with little kids darting perpendicular to the flow of traffic on Razor scooters or Big Wheels and slightly larger kids obliviously cruising against the flow and perpetually desperate junior high kids trying to impress each other.
Guess which one it was?
So yeah, it was not a good way to practice skating, what with the loud music and the constant distractions of trying not to flatten small children.* It was fun, for what it was--I liked being able to try really cruising on skates, and some of those desperate junior high kids were clearly regulars and could do fabulous gymnastics while on roller skates, which was incredible to watch--but man, if I tried to make that a regular practice place my psyche would probably explode.
And it was rather a relief to be there when I WASN'T part of a birthday party, because MAN those were stressful back in the day. You'd be self-consciously assuming that everyone else knew more about how this mysterious Fun Complex worked than you did, and anyway you wanted to try the arcade games while everyone else was skating, and the music would be too damn loud and you couldn't hear your friends' conversation,** and any minute an overly-enthusiastic voice was going to come over the PA calling your party over to a picnic bench to have a slice of miserable sheet cake and Shasta soda. I am glad those days are over.
So my buddies and I skated around for an hour, I managed to fall heavily on one knee at one point, and then we left. And as long as we were in a Doing Fifties Stuff mood, we had burgers and root beer floats at an old-timey burger joint, and since I am always pretty one-track, I scored a bottle of their house-recipe cherry syrup because SODA-MAKING DOES NOT REST. And we all agreed it was a very fun evening and let's never do that again.
I think I'll have to stick with the park's skate-track in the summer time. Then all I have to worry about flattening is ducks.
*I realize a lot of this makes me sound like an old codger, but since I've had this opinion about The Kids With Their Little Scooters And Their Loud Musics And Their Hyperactively Hazardous Self-Absorption since I was about six years old, I have to conclude that I just AM an old codger and always have been.
**What you may notice I'm getting at here is that, even when it's music I like, I really hate it when it's constantly played so loudly that conversation has to be shouted. I dislike any loud background noise. Even before I had the personal epiphany that THIS was what bugged me, I spent my life subconsciously trying to avoid being in loud places.
The problem is, it's part of a Family Fun Complex, and the reason we all half-remember it is because somebody or other probably had a birthday party there once. So I figured it could go two ways. It could be like the swimming pool I frequented as a kid and be nicely regulated so that every style of enjoying oneself was represented, perhaps with all-skates or adult-skates or kid-skates or what not.
Or it could be a calamitous riot of chaos and anarchy, with little kids darting perpendicular to the flow of traffic on Razor scooters or Big Wheels and slightly larger kids obliviously cruising against the flow and perpetually desperate junior high kids trying to impress each other.
Guess which one it was?
So yeah, it was not a good way to practice skating, what with the loud music and the constant distractions of trying not to flatten small children.* It was fun, for what it was--I liked being able to try really cruising on skates, and some of those desperate junior high kids were clearly regulars and could do fabulous gymnastics while on roller skates, which was incredible to watch--but man, if I tried to make that a regular practice place my psyche would probably explode.
And it was rather a relief to be there when I WASN'T part of a birthday party, because MAN those were stressful back in the day. You'd be self-consciously assuming that everyone else knew more about how this mysterious Fun Complex worked than you did, and anyway you wanted to try the arcade games while everyone else was skating, and the music would be too damn loud and you couldn't hear your friends' conversation,** and any minute an overly-enthusiastic voice was going to come over the PA calling your party over to a picnic bench to have a slice of miserable sheet cake and Shasta soda. I am glad those days are over.
So my buddies and I skated around for an hour, I managed to fall heavily on one knee at one point, and then we left. And as long as we were in a Doing Fifties Stuff mood, we had burgers and root beer floats at an old-timey burger joint, and since I am always pretty one-track, I scored a bottle of their house-recipe cherry syrup because SODA-MAKING DOES NOT REST. And we all agreed it was a very fun evening and let's never do that again.
I think I'll have to stick with the park's skate-track in the summer time. Then all I have to worry about flattening is ducks.
*I realize a lot of this makes me sound like an old codger, but since I've had this opinion about The Kids With Their Little Scooters And Their Loud Musics And Their Hyperactively Hazardous Self-Absorption since I was about six years old, I have to conclude that I just AM an old codger and always have been.
**What you may notice I'm getting at here is that, even when it's music I like, I really hate it when it's constantly played so loudly that conversation has to be shouted. I dislike any loud background noise. Even before I had the personal epiphany that THIS was what bugged me, I spent my life subconsciously trying to avoid being in loud places.
Geeky Chef
Jan. 24th, 2014 02:20 amTried to make some of Grandma's Fairy Soup* tonight. Not bad stuff, but I have got to learn how to cook squash longer. (It didn't help that Mom was hungry and kept demanding to know if it was soup yet every few minutes.) It always comes out a little too crunchy, which isn't how you want your squash.
---
Also, it occurs to me that now that Mom's got a soda charger, I can try to bust out some pretty excellent Chateau Romani. I still think that fermentation is more fun than using the soda charger, but fermenting is a bad idea whe milk is involved, so in this case we'll just roll with it.
---
Speaking of geeky chefs,acrossthelake came by tonight to politely try some of my soup, and then we traded TV shows! I'm evangelizing Fringe to her--aw, man, watching the first season is a lot like hanging out with my old buddies--and she showed me the pilot of American Horror Story, which appears to be a show rooted firmly in the Unlikable People Making Bad Decisions genre.** I may have to keep going on it just to see what the hell kind of genre it's actually going for. But hey, no matter what it's good to be watching Fringe again. And even better to be hanging out with my friend again!
*So-called by myself and my siblings because in the Wind Waker game your Grandma makes the soup for you after you give her a fairy. I'm sure they didn't mean that she made the soup out of the fairy, but well ...
**Also it seems that its opening title music is played largely by those springy things on the bottom corners of doors that are supposed to keep the door from banging into the wall. An interesting choice.
---
Also, it occurs to me that now that Mom's got a soda charger, I can try to bust out some pretty excellent Chateau Romani. I still think that fermentation is more fun than using the soda charger, but fermenting is a bad idea whe milk is involved, so in this case we'll just roll with it.
---
Speaking of geeky chefs,
acrossthelake came by tonight to politely try some of my soup, and then we traded TV shows! I'm evangelizing Fringe to her--aw, man, watching the first season is a lot like hanging out with my old buddies--and she showed me the pilot of American Horror Story, which appears to be a show rooted firmly in the Unlikable People Making Bad Decisions genre.** I may have to keep going on it just to see what the hell kind of genre it's actually going for. But hey, no matter what it's good to be watching Fringe again. And even better to be hanging out with my friend again!*So-called by myself and my siblings because in the Wind Waker game your Grandma makes the soup for you after you give her a fairy. I'm sure they didn't mean that she made the soup out of the fairy, but well ...
**Also it seems that its opening title music is played largely by those springy things on the bottom corners of doors that are supposed to keep the door from banging into the wall. An interesting choice.
In Other News
May. 26th, 2013 06:38 pmCongratulations, acrossthelake and i_blaze_the! I love weddings!
acrossthelake and i_blaze_the! I love weddings!This Weekend I:
May. 20th, 2013 10:42 amGot to meet a high school friend's 18-month-old baby and catch up with the friend herself. Also got the third-person third-degree which my friend translated for her no-English mother, who wanted to know:
1. If I was married,
2. Why the hell I am not married, and
3. When I plan to get married.
It is impossible to explain to some people that my plan at this point involves:
1. Not getting married.
2. Ever.
Around here, it's a problem I run into a lot. People do not comprehend the concept. I get a lot of reassurance that it's okay, one of these days I'll meet the right guy and settle down and get married and THEN my life will be fulfilled. I just smile and say "Maybe" and change the subject. It's better than when they start telling me how I should go about finding that man, anyway.
---
Went to Museum Crash Course. Don't climb on the exhibits, don't smear peanut butter on ancient artifacts, and please accept that the museum looks at evolution as, you know, A Thing, because--wait, do people seriously get offended at the thought that a museum agrees that evolution happened? Do planetaria have to clarify that they subscribe to the notion that the Earth goes around the sun and not vice versa? God DAMMIT.
---
Bought some Fisher Price Starter Plants. I can grow a lot of things from seed, but tomatoes are not any of them.* I've still got to work on getting a bunch of better dirt mixed into the ground before I actually put the plants in, but it's a start.
---
Finally got the next installment of Scatterstone properly storyboarded/outlined/thinged. I'm at the point in the middle that's always been a little amorphous in my head. I know kind of what's going to happen, but unlike the previous bits or the stuff near the end, this has been a bit of a jumble of Things That Have To Happen all piled up in a heap waiting to be sorted. I think I got it.
---
Watched WAY too much Mythbusters. It's hypnotic, man. Video On Demand has changed how I watch things FOREVER.
As an aside, I think it's funny that over the last few years my TV and music preferences have seesawed. Back in the olden days with CDs and no mp3 players, I was used to listening to an entire album by one artist. Meanwhile, with TV lineups, I could only watch several episodes of a single show if I bought the DVDs or caught a marathon on TV. Now, though, I am used to the shuffle on my iPod, so that two songs in a row by, say, the Doobie Brothers seems counterintuitive--I'm much more used to disparate things like Doobie Brothers - Mannheim Steamroller - Disney. And yet with the availability of streaming, I am dissatisfied if I only get to see one episode of whatever show I'm binging on. It's an interesting shift.
---
Anyway. MY POINT IS, that's what I did this weekend. Howbout you?
*Though that's not stopping me from at least trying again. This time I'm using the best window in the house, which counterintuitively is in the basement near my own Bat Cave. I'm not sure if that's what's doing it or if it's one of the other changes I made, but goddamn if the various seeds I'm sprouting aren't the happiest seedlings EVER.
1. If I was married,
2. Why the hell I am not married, and
3. When I plan to get married.
It is impossible to explain to some people that my plan at this point involves:
1. Not getting married.
2. Ever.
Around here, it's a problem I run into a lot. People do not comprehend the concept. I get a lot of reassurance that it's okay, one of these days I'll meet the right guy and settle down and get married and THEN my life will be fulfilled. I just smile and say "Maybe" and change the subject. It's better than when they start telling me how I should go about finding that man, anyway.
---
Went to Museum Crash Course. Don't climb on the exhibits, don't smear peanut butter on ancient artifacts, and please accept that the museum looks at evolution as, you know, A Thing, because--wait, do people seriously get offended at the thought that a museum agrees that evolution happened? Do planetaria have to clarify that they subscribe to the notion that the Earth goes around the sun and not vice versa? God DAMMIT.
---
Bought some Fisher Price Starter Plants. I can grow a lot of things from seed, but tomatoes are not any of them.* I've still got to work on getting a bunch of better dirt mixed into the ground before I actually put the plants in, but it's a start.
---
Finally got the next installment of Scatterstone properly storyboarded/outlined/thinged. I'm at the point in the middle that's always been a little amorphous in my head. I know kind of what's going to happen, but unlike the previous bits or the stuff near the end, this has been a bit of a jumble of Things That Have To Happen all piled up in a heap waiting to be sorted. I think I got it.
---
Watched WAY too much Mythbusters. It's hypnotic, man. Video On Demand has changed how I watch things FOREVER.
As an aside, I think it's funny that over the last few years my TV and music preferences have seesawed. Back in the olden days with CDs and no mp3 players, I was used to listening to an entire album by one artist. Meanwhile, with TV lineups, I could only watch several episodes of a single show if I bought the DVDs or caught a marathon on TV. Now, though, I am used to the shuffle on my iPod, so that two songs in a row by, say, the Doobie Brothers seems counterintuitive--I'm much more used to disparate things like Doobie Brothers - Mannheim Steamroller - Disney. And yet with the availability of streaming, I am dissatisfied if I only get to see one episode of whatever show I'm binging on. It's an interesting shift.
---
Anyway. MY POINT IS, that's what I did this weekend. Howbout you?
*Though that's not stopping me from at least trying again. This time I'm using the best window in the house, which counterintuitively is in the basement near my own Bat Cave. I'm not sure if that's what's doing it or if it's one of the other changes I made, but goddamn if the various seeds I'm sprouting aren't the happiest seedlings EVER.
Hoo, busy weekend!
---
It turns out a pitched roof doesn't do much good if it connects to a flat awning over one's deck. The entire back half of the thing is sagging dangerously, and it's going to take money--a whole lotta spending money!--to fix it. In a stunning development, our homeowners' insurance is actualy going to pay for some of it. And as long as they're rebuilding anyway, they're going to throw in some skylights for free! Maybe the lighting in my house will actually improve!
---
Went to a Passover seder this weekend at Kate'n'Matt's. I had never been to a seder before. I am really not the sort you would normally invite to a seder unless you are exceptionally laid-back. Fortunately, Kate'n'Matt and their other Jewish buddy are exceptionally laid-back, so it was in the nature of a fun dinner party with some tradition tossed in. Also it was vegetarian, and Kate is a great vegetarian cook. Once we got to the part where we can actually eat, it was delicious.
---
Finally got some new soil worked into my garden and planted some beets and radishes and carrots, with the assistance of an enthusiastic three-ish-year-old neighbor who has been acting as local anecdotal evidence of the existence of Einstein Syndrome. Until a few months ago the little guy only communicated with squeaks and shrieks, when most two-to-three-year-olds are progressing from two-word telegraphic speech to full sentences. Then one day apparently his brain was all "Hey: WORDS!" and suddenly he went from little squeals to being full on motormouth. He narrated the whole time he scooped dirt and planted seeds and watered the garden and, I think, suggested mixing concrete in with the dirt to make a skyscraper. I ... I may have created a monster.
---
So, yes, it's lovely and summery out, and it is marred only by the fact that our next-door neighbors are AWFUL dog owners. They like to leave their stupid fucking pit bull* out on the back porch so that he can launch into a thousand years of barking every time something startles him, such as when a stiff breeze blows through the backyard or a moth lands on the side of the house. You would think this would be an easily solved problem--"Hey, your dog barks his fool head off whenever you're gone, here, I even printed out some tips on how to train him to not do that, thanks"--but these neighbors, like so many bad dog owners, are also terrible people, and a casual suggestion that maybe they should actually pay some attention to their dog results in DECLARATIONS OF WAR. Do not get me STARTED on the Saga Of This Goddamn Fool Dog. It's a tale retold many times in bad sitcoms. I wish it would stay in them.
---
But it is so NICE out! I may just head out and climb a tree. Maybe take along my notebook, get this stubborn installment of Scatterstone worked out (it's a great installment, so by god I gotta get it RIGHT!). Or maybe I'll just noodle around on my ocarina. If that dog's gonna bark, I might as well give him something to bark ABOUT.
*SPECIAL NOTE TO PIT BULL APOLOGISTS: I am sure there are lovely pit bulls in the world! I expect they have responsible owners and are themselves the very essence of dog urbanity! There are certainly pit bulls out there with intelligence and poise and the ability to not bark like incessant car alarms! THIS PIT BULL IS NOT ONE OF THEM.
---
It turns out a pitched roof doesn't do much good if it connects to a flat awning over one's deck. The entire back half of the thing is sagging dangerously, and it's going to take money--a whole lotta spending money!--to fix it. In a stunning development, our homeowners' insurance is actualy going to pay for some of it. And as long as they're rebuilding anyway, they're going to throw in some skylights for free! Maybe the lighting in my house will actually improve!
---
Went to a Passover seder this weekend at Kate'n'Matt's. I had never been to a seder before. I am really not the sort you would normally invite to a seder unless you are exceptionally laid-back. Fortunately, Kate'n'Matt and their other Jewish buddy are exceptionally laid-back, so it was in the nature of a fun dinner party with some tradition tossed in. Also it was vegetarian, and Kate is a great vegetarian cook. Once we got to the part where we can actually eat, it was delicious.
---
Finally got some new soil worked into my garden and planted some beets and radishes and carrots, with the assistance of an enthusiastic three-ish-year-old neighbor who has been acting as local anecdotal evidence of the existence of Einstein Syndrome. Until a few months ago the little guy only communicated with squeaks and shrieks, when most two-to-three-year-olds are progressing from two-word telegraphic speech to full sentences. Then one day apparently his brain was all "Hey: WORDS!" and suddenly he went from little squeals to being full on motormouth. He narrated the whole time he scooped dirt and planted seeds and watered the garden and, I think, suggested mixing concrete in with the dirt to make a skyscraper. I ... I may have created a monster.
---
So, yes, it's lovely and summery out, and it is marred only by the fact that our next-door neighbors are AWFUL dog owners. They like to leave their stupid fucking pit bull* out on the back porch so that he can launch into a thousand years of barking every time something startles him, such as when a stiff breeze blows through the backyard or a moth lands on the side of the house. You would think this would be an easily solved problem--"Hey, your dog barks his fool head off whenever you're gone, here, I even printed out some tips on how to train him to not do that, thanks"--but these neighbors, like so many bad dog owners, are also terrible people, and a casual suggestion that maybe they should actually pay some attention to their dog results in DECLARATIONS OF WAR. Do not get me STARTED on the Saga Of This Goddamn Fool Dog. It's a tale retold many times in bad sitcoms. I wish it would stay in them.
---
But it is so NICE out! I may just head out and climb a tree. Maybe take along my notebook, get this stubborn installment of Scatterstone worked out (it's a great installment, so by god I gotta get it RIGHT!). Or maybe I'll just noodle around on my ocarina. If that dog's gonna bark, I might as well give him something to bark ABOUT.
*SPECIAL NOTE TO PIT BULL APOLOGISTS: I am sure there are lovely pit bulls in the world! I expect they have responsible owners and are themselves the very essence of dog urbanity! There are certainly pit bulls out there with intelligence and poise and the ability to not bark like incessant car alarms! THIS PIT BULL IS NOT ONE OF THEM.
Wait Till I Apply It To Zelda Games
Mar. 9th, 2013 10:16 pmSo my friend is an English teacher, and this year she decided to teach The Hobbit to her seventh graders. She asked me if I have any ideas about what to teach them. I think she was expecting a few thoughts. I NOW HAVE TWO SEMESTERS' WORTH OF LESSON PLANS.
Now to get a teaching certificate and go find some seventh graders.
At the moment we're discussing how Joseph Campbell's monomyth relates to The Hobbit.* I'm arguing the case that stopping at Rivendell counts as a Meeting With The Goddess. My case is that the Goddess is more a convenient archetype meant to suggest a well-known meeting of a sage guiding figure, and also that Elves are incredibly fabulous. I am glad she's more interested in my academic argument than my spurious bullshit, though, because otherwise I would have to pull out The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert as Exhibit A arguing Elrond's goddesslike qualities, and my friend is Mormon, so it would go unviewed.
Maybe we'll just skip right on to the Atonement. There are fewer drag queens involved.
(I'm always surprised at how overtly gendered Campbell's theory is. I think he's pretty cool, but to start with "The meeting with the Father Figure" and then immediately have to explain that the father figure doesn't necessarily have to be your dad or even a MAN tells me you need to find better terminology. Also, it tells me that George Lucas has always been one damned literal bastard.)
*Answer: pretty much exactly.
Now to get a teaching certificate and go find some seventh graders.
At the moment we're discussing how Joseph Campbell's monomyth relates to The Hobbit.* I'm arguing the case that stopping at Rivendell counts as a Meeting With The Goddess. My case is that the Goddess is more a convenient archetype meant to suggest a well-known meeting of a sage guiding figure, and also that Elves are incredibly fabulous. I am glad she's more interested in my academic argument than my spurious bullshit, though, because otherwise I would have to pull out The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert as Exhibit A arguing Elrond's goddesslike qualities, and my friend is Mormon, so it would go unviewed.
Maybe we'll just skip right on to the Atonement. There are fewer drag queens involved.
(I'm always surprised at how overtly gendered Campbell's theory is. I think he's pretty cool, but to start with "The meeting with the Father Figure" and then immediately have to explain that the father figure doesn't necessarily have to be your dad or even a MAN tells me you need to find better terminology. Also, it tells me that George Lucas has always been one damned literal bastard.)
*Answer: pretty much exactly.
Also, Pie!
Aug. 16th, 2012 09:58 pmThe beets and carrots were looking ready to be harvested, to I pulled 'em out and had some local friends over for Deeper'n'Ever Pie.
And what you should take away from that statement is that I have local friends again!
Sorry, internet. I love you, but you don't bring me peanut-butter-chocolate-oatmeal freezer cookies, so it really does pay to know someone nearby.
And what you should take away from that statement is that I have local friends again!
Sorry, internet. I love you, but you don't bring me peanut-butter-chocolate-oatmeal freezer cookies, so it really does pay to know someone nearby.
And A Question
Jan. 23rd, 2012 08:12 pmDid one of you internet people send me a book? I just got something called There and Back Again in the mail and have no recollection of purchasing it. And I don't have a Polaroid of it with a note to myself or a tattoo on my arm reminding me that I bought it.
Looks like it's my kinda thing, but ... either a friend sent it to me, or aliens did and once I read it they will test my knowledge and know that I have the right kind of brain to Save Mankind And The Universe. So far it's a mystery.
ETA: Mystery solved! Thanks,acrossthelake!
And sorry, y'all, but this is not a hobbit book; it seems to be a cool space opera. Which, y'know, I am all for as well.
Looks like it's my kinda thing, but ... either a friend sent it to me, or aliens did and once I read it they will test my knowledge and know that I have the right kind of brain to Save Mankind And The Universe. So far it's a mystery.
ETA: Mystery solved! Thanks,
acrossthelake!And sorry, y'all, but this is not a hobbit book; it seems to be a cool space opera. Which, y'know, I am all for as well.
Holiday Traditions
Dec. 30th, 2011 10:18 pmHolding our annual Get Off My Lawn Fest a day early this year. It's a way better tradition than the Annual Holiday Plumbing Disaster. Though I must admit, sitting around for hours listening to the parents and their old-time friends talking about how all their favorite musicians are old now and how Things Ain't As Good Now As They Was Then* is a bit tough when one is still a young person. It's not easy being the one trying to broker generational peace, especially when any mention of something you found online immediately swerves the subject to What Good Is That Confangled Intertruck Anyway? Limits the conversation a bit.
*Movies, for example, are all loud and noisy and hard to follow these days, and who can keep track of which one is the bad guy?! And don't get me started on the computervideogames the kids play. They're just bloops and colors!
*Movies, for example, are all loud and noisy and hard to follow these days, and who can keep track of which one is the bad guy?! And don't get me started on the computervideogames the kids play. They're just bloops and colors!
Who Are We Listening To?
Dec. 13th, 2011 04:53 pmWow. The more I read about this Lowe's debacle, the more disgusted I get. It's yet another of those times when my SIWOTI complex slams headlong into the fact that tackling everything wrong with what people are saying would take weeks and likely just piss off the idiots who hold those opinions anyway.
I mean, look at this--according to a marketing executive, the first mistake was advertising during the show at all: "For a big national brand like Lowe's, they've always got to be incredibly careful when advertising during any show that could be deemed controversial." Because a) ordinary Muslim people are CONTROVERSIAL, and b) it's all about money.
And don't get me started on the rest of the Florida Family Association's bullshit. I can't even bring myself to link to it; you'll just have to google it.
This kind of controversy really pisses me off. It's a sign of sloppy thinking, to assume that all Muslims are like the ones you see on the news blowing shit up. I know we're wired to think anecdotally, and that causes a lot of misconceptions. That's something we can work to get past, though.
Trouble is, a lot of people don't. All-American Muslim seems to be trying to fight psychology with psychology--if we're going to go by anecdotes anyway, they present us with some new anecdotes about Muslims doing their everyday stuff. Admirable, cool, and apparently too late for the Florida Family Association people, who haven't got room for any more anecdotes.
Which is a crying shame. I am not a Muslim, but the ones I have met have all seemed like, y'know, normal people to me. In my dumb white American experience with Muslims, not one has tried to terrorize me. They've shown me Bollywood movies, played good-natured tricks on their students, gone completely nuts over birthday cake, played Super Mario, yelled back at Dora the Explorer, discussed philosophy, raced boats, learned to draw manga, rassled their kitty cats, given to charity over holidays, shared recipes, saved me when I had malaria, cheered for Stevie Wonder at the Paralympic opening ceremonies, and confessed to an unconditional love for Babysitter's Club.
That's the kind of thing they're showing on All-American Muslim, from the Muslims' point of view. And that is the kind of thing the Florida Family Association seems to find so objectionable.
Remind me why Lowe's listened to them, again?
I mean, look at this--according to a marketing executive, the first mistake was advertising during the show at all: "For a big national brand like Lowe's, they've always got to be incredibly careful when advertising during any show that could be deemed controversial." Because a) ordinary Muslim people are CONTROVERSIAL, and b) it's all about money.
And don't get me started on the rest of the Florida Family Association's bullshit. I can't even bring myself to link to it; you'll just have to google it.
This kind of controversy really pisses me off. It's a sign of sloppy thinking, to assume that all Muslims are like the ones you see on the news blowing shit up. I know we're wired to think anecdotally, and that causes a lot of misconceptions. That's something we can work to get past, though.
Trouble is, a lot of people don't. All-American Muslim seems to be trying to fight psychology with psychology--if we're going to go by anecdotes anyway, they present us with some new anecdotes about Muslims doing their everyday stuff. Admirable, cool, and apparently too late for the Florida Family Association people, who haven't got room for any more anecdotes.
Which is a crying shame. I am not a Muslim, but the ones I have met have all seemed like, y'know, normal people to me. In my dumb white American experience with Muslims, not one has tried to terrorize me. They've shown me Bollywood movies, played good-natured tricks on their students, gone completely nuts over birthday cake, played Super Mario, yelled back at Dora the Explorer, discussed philosophy, raced boats, learned to draw manga, rassled their kitty cats, given to charity over holidays, shared recipes, saved me when I had malaria, cheered for Stevie Wonder at the Paralympic opening ceremonies, and confessed to an unconditional love for Babysitter's Club.
That's the kind of thing they're showing on All-American Muslim, from the Muslims' point of view. And that is the kind of thing the Florida Family Association seems to find so objectionable.
Remind me why Lowe's listened to them, again?
