DameRuth's Corner

Got promo cards for a book/etc?

2016-02-29T19:33:49Z

Hello, all! Yeah, long time no post. I'm alive and occasionally check my Friends page, but haven't had writing time, and haven't really had a hell of a lot to say on DW/LJ, even comments (sorry, I read posts and all, but never feel like I have much to add to the conversation). Maybe one of these days I'll be less brain-fried and more able to engage (at least I get to retire in 20-ish years, so there's that free time to look forward to . . .)

At any rate, for once I do have something to say/share: I’ll be going to Norwescon later this month, and thought I’d offer to take any printed promo cards people might have for books, editing services, etc. that you think might go well on the “freebies” advertising table there. I’ve done this for a few friends before, and it usually looks like at least some cards get picked up every time. Norwescon isn’t exactly a gigantic con, but it’s the biggest one I go to, and it’s in Seattle, so it’s a nice way to reach that market. If I have anything left over, I’ll happily take them to MisCon in Missoula, MT (smaller than Norwescon, even, but people there seem to like the freebie table a lot, so …).

If you’re interested, we can message and I can give you my mailing address, or, if you have printable PDFs, my email.

Paging ginnybpotter . . .?

2014-02-21T18:30:35Z

Hello, all. No, I'm not dead, and I'm fine, but I've been in my usual state of non-comunnicative distraction for a while. The latest thing keeping me distracted was RadCon and all pre-prep and after-catch-up, but while digging out my inbox I discovered an email notification about 2 weeks old from ginnybpotter asking, very politely, for permission to use a story element similar to one of mine in her own fic.

I tried to respond and say, "Sure, go for it!" but the message bounced. LJ said she has her messages set to private mode, and going to her page it looks like a placeholder rather than something she uses a lot.

If you happen to know her (or if she happens to see this), you can tell her her fic idea is fine with me, and I appreciate her asking! :)

I'm back! Again! Sort of . . .

2013-03-17T07:57:34Z

Hello, all! I'm still around -- still more on Tumblr and FB than here (DW and LJ), I fear, since time constraints have been such that the instant-gratification nature of those sites (and the short attention span required to make use of them) have been more suited to the short nibbles of internet time I've been getting. However, I had a free evening today, and went back to "skip=780" (the max LJ allows right now, it seems) and skimmed through it, so I'm mostly-sorta caught up from 3/3 onwards.

Note that when I say "skimmed," I mean it, so I didn't read a lot of posts in depth, but I did my best to get an idea of what was going on.

In general news about my life, RadCon went *very* well this year (and no norovirus, thank all the gods), so yay. Spring has sprung here, and the new house is revealing spring surprises in the form of massive quantities of flower bulbs. *So* massive I'm not sure they'll provide much in the way of blooms (since I suspect the bulbs are overcrowded), but if they do it will be spectacular. Only the snowdrops have flowered so far, but they're always my favorites:

The cats have adjusted just fine to their new home since the move last July, and are even getting a bit comfier with each other, as this image proves:

I snapped that pic as I was on my way out the door to work, and noticed that the cats were more than happy to take over the nice, warm bed I'd left them. Such a hard, grim life they lead, yes . . .

So, things continue, and I maintain a tenuous foothold online. Not bad, really. :)

More as I have the time . . . and good to "see" you all again!

Another kitty vid . . .

2013-01-28T04:29:39Z

Probably the only other really decent vid I'd gotten of the cats. A bit of explanation: I've been trying to socialize the kitties (well, Dex and Lumen, Fry is already socialized to a fault) by having other people over and feeding them treats, etc. I realized about halfway through this session it might be worth filming, so this sort of starts in the middle, but it's a nice illustration of the cat, esp. Fry's relative size, which is impressive.

My friend Mattias is doing the feeding, here, and the cats are pretty good around him by this point -- though Dex, as is shown, isn't quite up to being petted yet. :) Also, Lumen is a bit shy about taking treats from people's hands, hence the comment about taking her into another room (away from her ravenous counterparts) so she can be fed her treats from a bowl.

The treats are Greenies, theoretically healthy, teeth-cleaning treats, but the cats gulp them down so fast I can't help but wonder if they're getting any real dental effects. They love 'em, though!

Some really crappy quality video of my cats being cute.

2013-01-26T07:08:48Z

. . . Or homicidal. Kinda the same thing, for cats. I've started taking these vids and putting them on YouTube mostly for my mom, but I thought folks might like to see the critters in action. Sorry about the lousy quality -- one of these days I'll actually put some effort into making the vids look good. :P

Apologies for my not catching up on what's been happening here.

2013-01-22T02:03:42Z

Hey, all -- back again for a bit (possibly longer, but I've learned not to promise anything after this last bout of falling off the face of the internet). There's no way I'll be able to catch up on what's been happening here, so sorry if I didn't see any major Life Announcements or am otherwise behind the curve. Glad to be back for now, anyway -- missed y'all! :)

If Sherlock was a bartender . . .

2012-10-15T08:40:22Z

. . . I like to think he'd come up with mixed drinks like these.

Pathology-inspired Cocktails, served at the St Bartholomew's Pathology Museum, of all places! How appropriate. Molly probably helped . . .

Pumpkins + trebuchets -- it's autumn tradition, anymore!

2012-10-10T16:12:54Z

So, after posting here and going all, "Yeyz, I'm back!" I kinda drifted off again; that was due to prepping for (and then attending) the Spokane Renaissance Faire this past weekend, where my historical group was demo-ing. No weapons this time, I was all about fiber arts. I spun wool for about 6 hours solid each day, and wow, my hands and wrists are feeling it . . . but I had a great time talking to patrons about what I was doing, so it was worth it. :)

Anyhoo, by now it's pretty standard for anyone with a trebuchet in their back yard (like the owners of the Faire property) to chuck pumpkins this time of year, and I found a great vid on YouTube when looking for something to send my mom. No idea who took it, but enjoy!

(My group's booth is off to the right; the small trebuchet to the left of the big one is portable, and was built by some of the SpoCon folks. They were using it to chuck tennis balls and other small objects as a kids' activity. The kids loved it, of course.)

Bunny rabbit herding sheep.

2012-10-09T03:27:19Z

. . . Or at least having a great time watching them run!

Video here.

Video rec.

2012-10-06T01:28:26Z

"Cookie Monster and Grover take on 'The Avengers,' 'The Hunger Games,' and more...in song!"

Exactly what it says on the tin -- with a bonus "Doctor Who" bit as well.

Things I found on Facebook.

2012-10-03T19:33:56Z

For those watching the US presidential candidates' debates, a couple drinking games -- though with either one I suggest using beverages of *very low* alcohol content if you want to be conscious by the end. (Sadly, I have no attribution for the first graphic, but I'll add one if I find it.)

Apologies if a double post shows up.

2012-09-27T19:57:22Z

Hey, all! I was trying to keep up with my plans to regularly crosspost everything to (well, from, more accurately) Dreamwidth, but the most recent attempt seemed to fall flat, so, thinking it didn't "take" I hit the "crosspost" deal again . . . and still nothing. Looks like Dreamwidth crossposts are moving very slowly today. So, at some point, a double post may show up here when things catch up.

Sorry about that. I'll delete the double, if there is one, as soon as I log back on and see it.

Some things I found on Facebook.

2012-09-24T02:01:52Z

I pretty much run my FB account (which I have because it's the only way to keep up with some friends and relatives, sadly) like a Tumblr, reposting whatever random shiny stuff I encounter that amuses me (George Takei's FB page is a real gem for that -- if you're on FB and haven't checked it out, do yourself a favor and take a look). Here are a couple-three vids I particularly enjoyed.

First, this one answers the age-old question, " What happens when you take a scientist, liquid nitrogen and 1500 table tennis balls?" Not like it isn't easy to *guess* . . .

Next, I don't normally post political stuff here, but if you're of a sufficiently cynical frame of mind you should get a laugh out of this regardless of your party affiliation:

Finally, Geek Parents Are Awesome (though I'm not sure if the animated expressions are cute or creepy):

Cute kitty pic: Fry's hard day.

2012-09-19T04:32:56Z

"Man, it's only *Tuesday?* How'm I ever gonna make it to the weekend?"

"My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic": the Bronies are on to something.

2012-09-16T22:01:26Z

Yes, it's true -- while I've been off-LJ, I've gone over to the pony side of the Force, as it were. Since I don't participate in the fandom, I wouldn't say I'm a full-blown Brony by any means, but I enjoy the show and can see why it's developed an adult fandom. I also think it's worth reccing to anyone who hasn't given it a shot.

The original MLP show had/has a bad rep as being sickeningly saccharine, oversimplified, and a shameless toy-selling scheme to boot. At first glance, the retooled MLP:FIM is much the same, with loads of cheesy tie-in toys, shameless commercialization, and a lineup of big-eyed, candy-colored unicorns/pegasi/ponies with names like Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie.

But. What the show also has is:

* Strong, solid characterizations.
* A diverse cast of female role models.
* A witty, and frequently geeky, sense of humor.
* Fun stories, often character-driven.
* Refreshingly un-preachy (for the most part) Life Lessons about cooperation, accepting others, etc.
* Bright, colorful design work.
* Clean, expressive animation.
* Great voice acting.
* Catchy, appropriately-placed musical numbers and songs that actually advance the narrative.
* An upbeat, but not saccharine, worldview.

Yes, it is a kids' show. No, it's not Shakespeare. Yes, they frequently rip off, er, pay homage to Sondheim (but then, you might as well steal from the best). But, overall, the show really and truly shows the ability of good execution to triumph over a crappy premise ("Hey, let's make a show so we can sell little pink ponies to little girls!"). It's a show that most parents probably won't have to suffer through when watching with their young ones. It's a show that even someone (like myself) who doesn't *have* kids can really enjoy; it can be a great de-stressor after a long, annoying day.

And, if one wants to get analytical, it offers fascinating, almost tongue-in-cheek subversions of the tropes expected in a show of this sort. Yes, there are Grand Galas (complete with everyone getting pretty new dresses), Royal Princess Pony Weddings, and all of that -- but they're not what you expect. Really. There are similar inversions of gender roles, a few outright subversive messages (but in a good way, I'd say), and a sneaky willingess to play to their adult fans (characters who become fan favorites are often given more screen time in successive episodes, etc.).

Hasbro has also been fairly lenient about content posted to YouTube -- pretty much every episode of the show thus far is available there, often in multiple downloads. It's a great way to sample (and get hooked). The only annoyance is that good quality DVD sets have yet to be issued, and I think Hasbro's really dropped the ball, there. There are a lot of bronies who would spend a lot of money on such things. Hopefully Hasbro will see the error of their ways in that regard.

Finally, so folks can give the a try for themselves, one of my personal fave episodes is the "reading is fun" PSA, entitled "Read It And Weep" -- it's a charming, character-based story, chock-full of geeky references (especially to Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and Laura Croft). The summary:

"When Rainbow Dash recovers at a hospital after a stunt flying accident, she becomes hooked on reading 'Daring Do' novels. However, she is afraid to admit to her friends that she enjoys reading, particularly because she previously viewed it as an 'egghead hobby.'"

Enjoy!

Oatmeal cookies.

2012-09-16T21:15:53Z

Now that I'm getting caught up on LJ, in the interim some RL friends have said I should be creating an online archive of my fave recipes; I've pointed them in the direction of this LJ and the "recipes" tag, and, as a result, will be trying to do a better job of adding material of that nature.

Last night was a baking night (the weather is finally cool enough for a hot oven to *not* be anathema), and since the bread takes an hour to rise, preferably on top of a warm stove, I've started piggybacking a cookie or other quick baking recipe to make use of the heated oven time. The current cookie recipe is an old family classic. I have no idea where Mom got it -- if it was handed down to her from my grandmother, or if it came from Mrs. Cancellor, our next-door neighbor when I was growing up (and possessor of Mad Baking Skillz). Regardless, it's simple. classic, and delish. Enjoy!

OATMEAL COOKIES

2 sticks (1 cup) butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup refined or unrefined cane sugar
3 eggs
1-2 tsp vanilla, depending on preferences (I like more vanilla)

--

1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 c. rolled oats (not "quick" oats)

--

Optional (but recommended) additions:

2 cups raisins and/or
1 cup walnut pieces (or other nuts)

Preheat oven to 350F; line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper. Cream together butter and sugars, then mix in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, including raisins and nuts (if used), and add to the moist ingredients in 2 installments, mixing thoroughly. Roll dough into balls (1-2" or so, depending on the size of cookie you want), place on baking sheet, and flatten. Bake for 10-12 min., until beginning to brown at the edges. Enjoy warm with a big glass of milk. :)

Yield depends on how large you make the cookies, but in the ballpark of 3 dozen.

Today's gratuitous kitty pic.

2012-09-16T20:03:58Z

I swear, if it were really possible to end up "ded of cute," I'd've been a goner long ago.

There is too much, I will sum up.

2012-09-16T00:26:08Z

Okay, this is the summary of what was going on in my life this past . . . year, almost.

I usually have a lot going on but starting about this time last year everything got unusually busy.

As most of you know since I posted a lot about it, I had my mid-life-cat-lady crisis and decided to tame and rescue a couple of feral cats, Dex and Lumen.

Also at about that time my roommate countessaleska, had the happy fortune to get engaged to a lovely, geeky, and all-around excellent gentleman. He was up for a promotion and a transfer to a nearby city; his current lease was getting close to its renewal date, so Mr. Aleska and Aleska developed (wth my agreement) a plan in which he'd drop his old apartment, move in with us for the month or so until his official transfer (putting some of his belongings in storage for the meantime), and then when the transfer came through they would move out, I'd get my own place, and, hey, simple.

. . . Except that, once all this was underway, Mr. Aleska's job suddenly started waffling. Well, maybe they weren't transferring him after all. But then again, maybe they were. Don't get tied down to a new lease in *either* city, because It Could All Change Anytime. And so on.

What had been intended as a month or so of interim doubling up dragged on . . . and on. For months. While hardly intolerable (Mr. Aleska was a perfectly fine roommate, and everyone got on well), it still resulted in 3 humans and 4 cats crammed into a 2-person, 2-bedroom apartment, and it was . . . tight. Also somewhat tense, since we all knew we would need to be making large changes (and signing new leases) shortly . . . but we never knew quite *when.*

Then, after about 5 months, around Feb. of this year, Mr. Aleska's job finally broke the stalemate with an OMG! We're transferring you right now, chop-chop, hurry up!, and that's when it got pretty busy. Suddenly they were looking for a new home in another town as well as prepping to move, and I finally had a timeline RE: leases that I could use to look for a new place. For a while that was a bit dicey -- finding a decent apartment in my price range that would allow 3 cats (I inherited Fry, since he and Tippy just weren't going to get along well, new location or not) wasn't all that easy, but I lucked out and got a great new place. The lease wasn't up until August, but thanks to a bit of financial help from my parents (embarrassing at my age, but necessary, and they offered freely), I managed to foot the bill for the remaining months of paying full rent at Area 51, and the depost/etc. on the new place.

I spent pretty much the month of July moving (turned out that the previous tenants' schedule led to them vacating a month early, which was nice because let me have a lot more time to shift *my* stuff in turn), and am finally at the point of being at least functionally unpacked (though there are still a lot of boxes stacked around, and will be for a while).

Overlaid on this "infrastructure" stuff was the fun stuff: RadCon in February (which was great, except for the norovirus, which wrecked nearly a whole week's worth of productivity for both myself and Aleska -- Mr. Aleska, happily, was moved out by that point and avoided the plague); Norwescon over Easter weekend; MisCon in May; SpoCon, and a Western Martial Arts conference in August. Fair amount of traveling and prep for all of those.

And then there were the not-fun-at-all kitty health issues. Fry's always-sensitive digestion took a rather appalling turn for the worse which was finally fixed by putting him on a grain-free diet. To everyone's great relief, he's been doing fine since then. However, I had a few months there where my primary concern was trying to save the Area 51 carpets from nonstop kitty incontinence (and then a period of intensive litter box retraining after that).

Unfortunately, as soon as Fry was taken care of, Lumen in turn developed digestive issues, and after a visit to the vet was diagnosed with feline megacolon -- very unusual for a cat of her age and gender, and potentially very serious (as in needing surgery to completely remove the malfunctioning colon, with a price tag starting at about $1000). Fortunately, after blowing a lot of time and money on vet visits, and trying several medications, an over-the-counter human remedy has proven highly effective, so she's in the clear now, too. But it was fingernail-biting time there for a bit, especially since all of *that* started up right when I was prepping to move, and I was afraid I might be dealing with not just moving 3 cats, but moving them all when one was still recovering from major surgery. Not attractive.

So, tl;dr -- there were some bad things, but they resolved well, and most everything else was positive and just time-consuming.

Probably some pics from various events coming up, and, natch, I have lots of pics of the kitties being cute, adjusting to their new home, etc. ;)

Well, that was fun . . . more or less.

2012-09-14T17:36:47Z

Hey, all! Just a quick note to let everyone know I haven't abandoned LJ for good -- not even close! I just had a whole lot of Life to deal with the last few months, and simply did not have time to keep up with everything online at the same time. All's well, though.

There is, of course, No Way I'm going to be able to catch up on everything from the time I was absent. Apologies in advance for any clulessness that might result.

I expect to be around regularly soon, after I can catch up on the latest DW eps so I'm not having to shade my eyes for spoilers everywhere I go. ;) (Actually, you guys are great about marking such posts, but I'd like to be up to speed on what everyone is talking about.) With any luck, writing will resume shortly afterwards. :)

Hope y'all had a great summer!

I'll just leave this here . . . (cracky Sherlock fanvid rec)

2012-06-14T07:26:09Z

(Wanders away, whistling innocently.)

(Seriously, that bit at 0:04-0:05 with the scarf? Totally unfair to anyone with male-attracted ovaries . . .)

My 15 minutes of geek fame. . .

2012-05-29T20:33:49Z

Pic from MisCon this last weekend: the "Lore of Swords" panel, featuring George R. R. Martin and yours truly (also J. A. Pitts and Diana Pharaoh Francis). It was fun, if completely surreal . . .

I also got pics taken while sitting on the Iron Throne; will post when they're downloaded . . . It was a very Throne-y weekend.

(Photo credit: Justin Barba)

Reading speed tester.

2012-05-22T03:52:28Z

This was fun, for all it's a blatant advertising ploy:

Source: Staples eReader Department

(Ganked from calliopes_pen.)

Just ducking in to post this . . .

2012-05-17T21:23:21Z

. . . Too cute not to share! ;)

see more Fandom

What pisses off this feminist about "A Scandal In Belgravia."

2012-05-07T05:05:46Z

Okay, just re-watched the American broadcast of "A Scandal in Belgravia," and yeah, not happy with the PBS cuts (dude the ashtray, the ashtray was character gold!), but even still less happy about the tweaks made to Irene Adler and her story. When the Victorian version is more feminist than the modern one, there's a problem, and no matter how entertaining the episode otherwise there's no way around that. Sorry. It's a personal failing.

So, yeah, right up front, I have no trouble with Irene's makeover as a dominatrix (it's equivalent in disreputability with "American Opera Singer" in canon), no beef with her in-your-face sexuality. Third-wave, sex-positive feminist, here, yo. I think her stratagem of meeting Sherlock nude to bollox his usual methods of deduction is nothing short of brilliant and admirable. (Side note -- how much do I love Freeman!John's dogged determination to keep his eyes on her face! John, you're a gentleman, and I appreciate that. <3)

No, what pisses this feminist off is . . . well, let's enumerate.

1) Victorian!Irene *really was* an independent player.
2) She chose her own way, even in a "man's world," and achieved her own goals.
3) She achieved those goals even with the Great Sherlock Holmes working against her.
4) She wasn't above rubbing Holmes' face in it after the fact, and on her way out the door ("Goodnight, Sherlock Holmes.")

1) Modern!Irene was, if anything, a pawn in the greater game between Moriarty and Sherlock (= two male characters, in case you missed that).
2) Her goals were almost entirely determined by the people in power (=men) around her.
3) She was eventually bested by Sherlock Holmes, and for being all (girly) emotional.
4) Sherlock rubbed her face in it at the time, and then deigned to rescue her ass (from men/Islamic terrorists) as she sent him a farewell message after she was unable to hack it in the Big Bad world alone, and would have died without his intervention ("Goodbye, Sherlock Holmes").

Meh. Excuse me while I go collapse in a conflicted ("it was fun!")("it was fucking sexist!") mass in the corner.

Y'all carry on as usual. :P

A Troll, and not the Internet kind.

2012-04-26T17:36:49Z

I have a crud-ton of pics built up over the last several months that I've been meaning to post; I hope to work through the backlog a bit fairly soon, but as anyone who's been tracking my FB participation lately knows, that may be a total pipe dream on my part. However, it *is* my dream. ;)

Anyhoo, as part of my trip over to Norwescon this year, aibhinn and her friend Lisa just *had* to take me to see the Fremont Troll: a delightfully oddball piece of local sculpture, famous throughout the Northwest. I declined to get my picture taken in front of him (which was possibly a bit ungrateful of me, but I always feel like a hopeless dork in pics of that sort), though I did snap some photos of my own:

He lives, appropriately enough, under the Aurora Bridge in Seattle. As you can see from the above pic, the Troll was popular that morning, with several people there taking photos besides us. I have no idea who the kid is, but he does a good job of providing scale.

Kinda looks like Amy Pond taking a picture there, doesn't it? :) And yes, that's an actual car (a VW Bug) he's resting his arm on. He's huge.

Because it's also an impressive view, I took a photo looking away from the Troll, down the length of the bridge; not sure how well the photograph conveys the sight, though. The thing seems to go on forever . . .

I also snapped a pic of the informational plaque on-site for reference, but it was polished steel and extremely reflective; the Wikipedia entry is a bit easier to read.

It was a fun side trip, on a lovely spring day, and I'm glad my local hosts took some time to visit the Troll in his lair. It was a good way to wind up the weekend. :)