Happy First Day of Winter to all in the Northern Hemisphere! The weather may get colder, but the days will get longer. Celebrate the returning Sun!

Happy First Day of Summer to all in the Southern Hemisphere! The days may get shorter, but it's the season for doing what you love to do outside. Enjoy the Summer weather!

This entry is crossposted at http://ekaterinn.dreamwidth.org/162020.html.

Dear Yuletide author,

Thank you so much for writing for me! (And I'm sorry this letter is a bit late). Pretty much anything you write for me will make me deliriously happy, so please don't worry too much about any optional details in the sign-up or below!

( Optional details are optional!Collapse )

This entry is crossposted at http://ekaterinn.dreamwidth.org/161709.html.

This Sunday marks the end of an intense first year of my PhD program. I'm done with my last class of the year, and almost done with grading for the class I was assisting with. I've missed my friends badly, but I've met some incredible people here, and I've just returned from spending a couple of days in DC with my best friend in the program and her kids. They've become family to me too. I'm ready to start writing the paper that will hopefully be a) the foundation of the lit review for my dissertation, and b) something publishable.

I also saw Mad Max: Fury Road last weekend with my sister, and I have to say that I was not expecting one of the most visually appealing, well-written, and feminist films I've seen in recent years to be a reboot of 70's action films, but there you go. I'm eager to talk about it (may post more later), if anyone else was blown away like this!

This entry is crossposted at http://ekaterinn.dreamwidth.org/161304.html.

Ello all; still not ded; have a meme (thanks to the lovely kat_lair):

Rules: List ten books that have stayed with you in some way. Don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard – they don’t have to be “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you. Tag ten friends.

1. Among Others by Jo Walton. Utterly fantastic. Anyone who's ever loved sf/f or even just books in general should read this.

2. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. A book about a ship who's no longer a ship. It swept all the major sf awards in 2014, and deservedly so.

3. The Likeness, by Tana French. French uses beautiful prose to write mysteries with compelling characters - this book is about a favourite character, going undercover in unusual situation.

4. Brown Girl in the Ring, by Nalo Hopkinson. Magic, Toronto, and a wonderful narrator - what's not to love?

5. With Child, by Laurie R. King. One of her Kate Martinelli mysteries, less well-known than her Mary Russell novels - in this the lesbian detective takes on a missing child case. Kate is a joy and a cynical delight, always.

6. Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Angels, demons, witches, and an Anti-Christ who's not quite right, oh my!

7. Faking It, by Jennifer Crusie. Ultimate comfort read and funny as hell; would rec this to anybody looking for a fun book, whether or not they usually read romance.

8. Other People's Children, by Lisa Delpit. Central to any understanding I have about teaching students from different cultural backgrounds than my own.

9. Komarr, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Ekaterin and Miles, a mystery, past hurts, and future hopes.

10. Alanna: The Lioness Quartet, by Tamora Pierce. Gender play in fiction! Going undercover as a boy to become a knight! Alanna was, remains, and will ever be badass and fantastic.

Things I noticed: mostly fiction (and sf/f at that), mostly women (yay!), and mostly white (could be a lot more diverse). If you feel up to it, I'll love to see the list of anyone on my flist/dwcircle!

This entry is crossposted at http://ekaterinn.dreamwidth.org/161102.html.

*pops head up* Er, hello there. I am alive, and also leaving for grad school tomorrow, which is totes exciting. Though I am so, so glad to be done with packing, let me tell you. My aim over the next couple days is to make my sister drive so I can finish this WTNV fic I've been working on. :P

This entry is crossposted at http://ekaterinn.dreamwidth.org/160811.html.

Happy Christmas to all who celebrate!

This entry is crossposted at http://ekaterinn.dreamwidth.org/160386.html.

A list of happy things:

My mum and my sister visiting
My students, who are creative and loving and adorable
4.0 GPA
The book Pete the Cat Saves Christmas
Being totally done with my M.Ed.
Latest episodes of Welcome to Night Vale
Being almost done with the grant
Seeding the bookclub suggestion list with queer sci-fi books
The therapists and aides who work with my students - they're all amazing
Writing fic again (and writing fic with my best friend)
Lovely comments from people on LJ/DW
Only 4 more days left of school!

What's something happy in your life now?

This entry is crossposted at http://ekaterinn.dreamwidth.org/160177.html.

Um, hi. So I got into a bad car accident, and then I went back to school, and then I spent several months feeling like I was walking through molasses, and then I figured out that I was probably having a depressive episode. So I'm trying to get back in touch with people and communities, and I thought I'll try to post something here.

I've been listening to Welcome to Night Vale and doing some writing, though nothing publishable. I'm working on a grant for my classroom, and I took the GRE (my Verbal score was awesome, but my Quant score was abyssal). I'm thinking about dating again.

ETA: I just made a tumblr thing: http://ekaterinn.tumblr.com/ If you are reading this and you have a tumblr, I'll love to follow you!

This entry is crossposted at http://ekaterinn.dreamwidth.org/159790.html.

So, between setting up my classroom and freaking out at my roster, I got off-track with Week of Poetry. I'm going to try to do the last couple of poems this week. Meanwhile, have a belated Day 5 (though I'm not entirely happy with it):

when he asks you to stay

when he asks you to stay,
you say ATTTCGCGCGA,
& count how DNA turns into RNA turns into proteins,
turns into your reasons for leaving;
you say that this continent makes you strange,
& familiarity is an addiction
you were never good at -

(you sleep on floors with satin sheets while your calluses grow soft,
& you lie & you lie & you lie)

there's lines on his face
like cracks in the ocean floor,
when he asks you to stay.

This entry is crossposted at http://ekaterinn.dreamwidth.org/159713.html.

The Music of the Spheres

you sleep,
your back cut by the lime
of your dress,
your left shoulder rising
with your breath,
my breath, mixing with
the air-conditioning.

the last shuttle breaks though the clouds,
shooting straight towards the heavens
that we see only fleetingly in dreams.

I believe in the glory of small things;
the ice clinking & melting in the glass;
the sky bisected & complete through the blinds;
the book hidden & waiting in the shop -
(I believe in you).

This entry is crossposted at http://ekaterinn.dreamwidth.org/159399.html.