The Chipper Orange Shoe

Fine. I'm just going to sing the Doom Song while I wait.

clayin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:24:58 GMT

I can see everything from the GM seat! Everything except my ~~unwary victims~~ players. Curse you, rush hour traffic!

...Yep, that's about all I have to say right now. Except that ALL THE THINGS are happening in ALL THE GAMES and it's exciting.

YAY MY VICTIMS ARRIVE!

omg

clayin — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 09:27:52 GMT

Gavin is an evil genius. I can't wait to see how what he just put in motion is going to play out.

Also, I has a job now! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

prods add-ons

clayin — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:07:49 GMT

Is anyone else having trouble with LJ Login? Specifically the LJ part?

Mississippi Personhood Amendment

clayin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:56:38 GMT

Originally posted by twbasketcase at Mississippi Personhood Amendment

Originally posted by gabrielleabelle at Mississippi Personhood Amendment

Okay, so I don't usually do this, but this is an issue near and dear to me and this is getting ~~very little~~ no attention in the mainstream media.

Mississippi is voting on November 8th on whether to pass Amendment 26, the "Personhood Amendment". This amendment would grant fertilized eggs and fetuses personhood status.

Putting aside the contentious issue of abortion, this would effectively outlaw birth control and criminalize women who have miscarriages. This is not a good thing.

Jackson Women's Health Organization is the only place women can get abortions in the entire state, and they are trying to launch a grassroots movement against this amendment. This doesn't just apply to Mississippi, though, as Personhood USA, the group that introduced this amendment, is trying to introduce identical amendments in all 50 states.

What's more, in Mississippi, this amendment is expected to pass. It even has Mississippi Democrats, including the Attorney General, Jim Hood, backing it.

The reason I'm posting this here is because I made a meager donation to the Jackson Women's Health Organization this morning, and I received a personal email back hours later - on a Sunday - thanking me and noting that I'm one of the first "outside" people to contribute.

So if you sometimes pass on political action because you figure that enough other people will do something to make a difference, make an exception on this one. My RSS reader is near silent on this amendment. I only found out about it through a feminist blog. The mainstream media is not reporting on it.

If there is ever a time to donate or send a letter in protest, this would be it.

What to do?

- Read up on it. Wake Up, Mississippi is the home of the grassroots effort to fight this amendment. Daily Kos also has a thorough story on it.

- If you can afford it, you can donate at the site's link.

- You can contact the Democratic National Committee to see why more of our representatives aren't speaking out against this.

- Like this Facebook page to help spread awareness.

I'm just going to leave this here...

clayin — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:52:26 GMT

Shortpacked! on DC Comics' new version of Starfire.

This is just one of several reasons why I'm not buying your comics, DC. Here's hoping that your corporate overlords are paying attention to the word-of-mouth you're generating!

SCIENCE!

clayin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 18:04:40 GMT

Jalila Essaidi is trying to develop bullet-proof human skin.

So...Luke Cage, here we come? Or possibly some Spider-variant, since this involves the spider-goats.

Eggs!

clayin — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 22:35:10 GMT

We just found eggs in the unnamed chickens' coop. So now we know one of two things:

1) At least two of the nameless chickens are female
or
2) At least one of the nameless chickens is female, and she is very productive.

This means that the naming time will come soon! And I shall have to get a camera that I can hook up to my laptop so that I can inflict pictures of the chickens on the internets.

Time Magazine on (Harry Potter) Fanfiction

clayin — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 07:29:19 GMT

The Boy Who Lived Forever by Lev Grossman.

And it's pretty positive about it too!

Today can be sulk-flavored

clayin — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 22:12:51 GMT

Didn't get into UBC for winter quarter either. Boo.

Let's hope my applications to various library page positions go better.

Well Done, Big Two. Well Done.

clayin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:25:16 GMT

So, I no longer intend to buy any ongoing DC comics -- why bother following anything I liked these last couple months when they're just going to get rebooted away anyway? -- and my Marvel pull has been reduced to "anything starring the Young Avengers and/or Runaways".

Anyone have any recommendations? Or shall I just enjoy not spending the money each month?

Bleh.

clayin — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 06:09:47 GMT

Today appears to be free-floating anxiety day. Do not want. I did have fun talking with my old voice teacher today, and recommended Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" and Brandon Sanderson's "Mistborn" books for her teenage kids. I hope they enjoy them!

Also, for those of you who haven't heard about it, Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times has managed to offend the geeky public with her so-called "review" of Game of Thrones here. I'm not even sure that she watched the show, and I say this has someone who didn't watch it either. But holy geez is that ever sexist and insulting. I don't care how much you hate fantasy, Ms. Bellafante; your job is to review TV shows, not throw a childish snit about a genre as a whole. "Boy fiction" my foot!

The Geek Zodiac

clayin — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 18:50:47 GMT

Link is here! Sorry, you may have to squint a bit.

I'm a superhero, woo!

No, I wanted the opposite of this

clayin — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:07:14 GMT

I didn't get into UBC for the fall quarter. However, it was really close -- apparently, the major things that held me back were a few typos (it occurs to me now that I should have used a Canadian spell-checker) and the fact that my resume looked out-of-date (which is odd, since I specifically wrote a new one specifically for the application). But they were fairly impressed with me otherwise (I knew that double-major would come in handy for more than just the entertainment of learning!). The head of admissions suggested that, instead of submitting a whole new application for the winter quarter, I email her a half-page personal statement to boost me from "pretty good" to "have to have her" for the admissions board. I'd need to get it to her by June first, so I've got a good long while to work on it.

Disappointing, and I'm going to devote a least a couple hours to tea and moping, but then I'll get to work on the half-page statement and really wow them next time.

(Also, the subject is a reference to this post. If you haven't read Hyperbole and a Half, click that link and at least read the posts in the sidebar.)

Chicks!

clayin — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 22:17:51 GMT

Mom and Dad went shopping for baaaaaaaaaaaby chickens today! They are tiny and fluffy and cute and full of noise. Cheech is not allowed to play with them for obvious reasons.

They all came out of the chick bucket labled "Austra White", but only two of them are Austra Whites. Apparently, when they sell all but one of a breed of chicks, they take the loner and put it in a nearby bucket so it doesn't feel lonely. They're pretty sure that one of the chicks (which is brown and stripey) is a Speckled Sussex. The fourth one looks kind of like a penguin right now and they have no idea what breed it is. I will do research at it and see if I can find out.

In other chicken news, Dot is definitely going down hill. We have no idea what's wrong with her, but she hasn't left the coop since we put her in there after a week of her hiding in the space under the coop. Luna has been snuggling with her a lot at night, which is sweet but a little sad.

The current plan is to try and move Esme and Nugget's smaller box over to near the larger coop while the chicks are being kept in a bucket inside under a heat lamp, and get those two acclimated to living in the larger coop. Luna and Rosemary haven't been picking Esme and Nugget quite as much since the young hawk showed up and started staring at them, so hopefully this is doable.

ETA: There is a breed of chickens called "Dorkings". Hee!

Return of ETA: Wow, and I thought poodle cuts on dogs were bad. ShowGirl chickens.

Dot, What Are You Doing?

clayin — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 21:51:59 GMT

So I went out to feed the chickens the ends of a loaf of bread. Everything was going okay until one of them (Dot) tripped over some rocks and fell over with one of her wings out. She made an attempt to get up, but only stumbled a bit and landed the same way again. Then she just kind of sat there. I shooed the other chickens away and dropped a couple pieces of bread right in front of her and they barely interested her. Then I picked her up and set her on her feet and she ate them, but then she just walked slowly and now she's just...standing there. Seriously, she just walked slowly up to the gate and stood there until I herded her out of the way WITH the gate, and she hasn't moved from that spot since I left.

WTF chicken. Please don't be ill/injured.

ETA: And now Dot's just standing there while Luna snuggles up to her. This is weird.

What IS this nonsensical idiocy?

clayin — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:14:52 GMT

Apparently, the House of Representatives has recently voted to bar Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding.

There's an open letter to the Representatives who voted for this B.S. and to the Senators who will shortly have to vote on it at istandwithplannedparenhood.org. I've signed my name to it, if you've got a moment, please do the same.

Happy Valentine's Day!

clayin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 07:38:34 GMT

Note to self: You are the kind of girl who suggests "laser tag" for Valentine's Day. Your make-up may look okay when you put it on, but you're going to look like a raccoon at the end of the evening.

Valentine's Day went awesomely, though. Andrew and I went and did laser tag, and then we poked around the other games for a bit -- we are evenly-matched at air hockey (our second game actually timed out before we finished playing) and then we did skee-ball and Dance Dance Revolution. Then there was mall-wandering, sushi, and ice cream. Also smoochietimes, which are awesome.

But, basically, laser tag? TOTALLY an awesome idea for Valentine's Day.

We've hit "coincidence"

clayin — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 21:17:40 GMT

If my birthday plans get canceled at the last minute in 2012, reality, I'm calling enemy action.

Eeee!

clayin — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 19:57:00 GMT

Michelle Ward of "When I Grow Up Coach" just posted an interview of my cousin!

When I Grow Up: Adriana Willsie

Yay Adriana!

AHHHHH!

clayin — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 21:37:33 GMT

AHHH, I'VE SUBMITTED MY APPLICATION TO LIBRARY SCHOOL AHHHHH!

*lacks proper flailing icon**whimpers*

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

clayin — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 08:35:26 GMT

I am overstimulated with joy kfdsjalfjs

Firstly, I went and watched Tron: Legacy in IMAX 3D at the Science Center with Gavin and Michelle. And it was epic and awesome and very, very entertaining.

THEN I came home to the two-hour Leverage season finale and OH MY GOD. Eliot! Hardison! Parker! Sophie! Nate! HOW ARE THE WRITERS AND ACTORS GOING TO TOP THIS NEXT YEAR and can we get more scenes with the actors in tank tops plzkthx.

So yeah. A bit overstimulated with squee, so I'm going to run around the house for a bit and then quiver in joy.

IAVA

clayin — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 22:53:55 GMT

Go and sign this letter to help veterans get a better GI Bill:

http://iava.org/football

chickenz!

clayin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 03:21:36 GMT

Aaaaaand I continue to fail at posting. A winnar is not me.

We have new chickens! We got them, like we get all our pets, second-hand. A friend of a friend of ours was nannying and took the kids to Molbaks or some place they have chicks for sale. The kids wanted and got chicks. Unfortunately, they couldn't keep them. So they were given to the friend of ours, who remembered that we'd lost Arabella and therefore had an extra space in our coop. So now we have three chickens, Rosemary, Luna, and Dot, and two pullets -- well, one and a half. One of them is either a banty or a guinea hen, we can't remember which. Dana named her "Nugget". I am currently trying to decide on a four-syllable name for the other one. So far, they have not been pecked to death by the other chickens, although they have escaped the yard twice by sneaking under the stairs. Our front stairs now have some silvery...packaging padding thing that Dad had in his garage stapled to their underside to prevent this. Unfortunately it's not foil, so I can't make terrible "foiled again!" puns.

Dana and I are also successfully not driving each other crazy. It makes everyone's lives so much easier.

Mighty is the Cephalopod

clayin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:12:56 GMT

MIGHTY!

...huh.

clayin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:27:00 GMT

So, I just found out that Aldis Hodge, who plays Hardison on Leverage (and if you have to follow the links to know who and what I'm talking about, WHY ARE YOU NOT WATCHING THIS SHOW SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS) is less than six months older than I am. This makes me both go "eee!" and be a little bewildered.

Also, I'm addicted to John Rogers' blog Kung Fu Monkey. He answers questions about the show and drops hints about future episodes, and the non-Leverage posts are pretty spiffy too.