Lost: A Sense of Proportion

Random Topics Meme, Part 2

2019-07-01T01:59:18Z

This time with prompts from scarvenartist! (As previously, if anyone else cares to leave me more topic prompts or wants to get some prompts from me, just let me know in the comments!)

Cupcakes: I am... surprisingly torn on the subject of cupcakes. On the one hand, they can be, and often are, Excellent. But on the other hand, they often seem oddly less... well balanced?... than cake. Maybe it's just because they're more likely to dry out quickly if not made quite right, because by all logic they should be the ideal version of cake, or maybe it's because they're weirdly awkward to eat (yes, I know the trick of making it into an icing sandwich by breaking off the bottom, but I have a small mouth). On the other other hand, filled cupcakes are incredible and easier to do well (and with less mess) than those kinds of fillings in cake, generally. Anywho, on the whole I love them and any defects are only in relation to their relative position on the scale of "desserts that are good."

Hotels: Generally, I enjoy staying in hotels. I've seen juuuuuust enough "behind the scenes" type stuff that I have to make a conscious choice to Not Be Bothered by certain highly unsanitary potentialities, but fortunately I really don't have any particular germophobic tendencies, so that's generally not too tough for me unless I actually see something egregious. One thing I despise about hotels? The showers, which have only gotten increasingly stupid over the years with "ecofriendly" (i.e. not actually making a significant difference, except to the hotel's budget) renovations. I have very thick hair so it can be hard to rinse shampoo, but most hotels these days have adjustable showerheads whose options are basically "gentle mist that spreads over a reasonable area but will never wash anything off ever because the water pressure is zero" or "powerwasher that could blast take paint off, but only covers an area the size of a quarter." Either way, I'm probably gonna end up cold and annoyed. :P

Roller coasters: So, I used to be a truly massive coward when it came to roller coasters and other such rides. I won tickets to Valley Fair once and it was basically the worst possible timing for it because I was juuuuuust too big to ride the kids' rides and petrified about trying any of the adult rides. My poor dad stood in line with me for a long time waiting for one milder one that I'd finally worked up the courage for, and I think I would've actually enjoyed it if I'd gone on it, even at that age... but unfortunately, JUST as it was our turn to get on, the person standing next to me chose to start going on about how, "Yeah, I bet the REALLY scary thing about THIS ride is..." and I panicked and wouldn't go. :( Anyhow, fortunately for me, these days I enjoy a much wider variety of rides. Generally, I tend to really like ones with plenty of spinny centrifugal force and I enjoy some with big drops better than others, but I'm not a big fan of going all the way upside down. There's one spinning roller coaster (where the cars themselves spin in circles, in addition to the coaster as a whole being twisty) at MoA that's basically the 100% perfect blend of spinning and dropping and speed for me, so whenever I do rides there I wind up wanting to just go on that one like half a dozen times. I don't get motion sickness easily unless I'm either overheated or really hungry, so Dad's been pretty stunned at the way I can eat even rich fair food and then immediately jump on the spinny-est ride I can find and enjoy it.

Random Topics Meme

2019-06-29T21:42:38Z

So, cairistiona7 was doing the "random topics" meme and gave me some topics so I could join in the fun. :D (If anyone else cares to leave me more topic prompts or wants to get some prompts from me, just let me know in the comments!)

Breakfast: I LOVE breakfast foods. So many different things that're among my faves, from sweet and almost dessert-like to savory or comparatively simple, just love it. Which you would think would mean that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day that I go all-out for, except that my hatred of mornings exceeds even my love of breakfast foods. So 98% of the time, I just end up grabbing a protein bar or a yogurt rather than trying to actually cook anything (and then needing to clean up after it) in the mornings. Which wouldn't be such a problem, because I am very on board with the concept of breakfast for dinner... except that my dad basically hates all breakfast foods. To the point where his mom used to make him hamburgers for breakfast just to get him to eat something. So basically, I am a very sad and breakfast-deprived individual and my life should really have significantly more pancakes and waffles in it. /trauma

Bioluminosity: I am for it. \o/ I love glowy things very, very much. I tried to grow some bioluminescent mushrooms a while back and had a very cool setup for it, but tragically, despite my best attempts to follow directions, my black thumb struck again and I was unable to grow a single one. One, day, though...

Also, if you haven't seen this part from Blue Planet II, you are Missing Out. (This clip's mostly behind-the-scenes filming stuff, but it shows some bits from the actual documentary so you can get an idea of how spectacular it is.)

Ballet: Ahaha, okay, so. I have very little experience with anything ballet-related. We used to have a VHS recording of the Nutcracker ballet that I remember loving as a young child, but that's about it. EXCEPT for the one time I was out of state at a conference and the church service I attended featured ballet-style interpretive dance as part of the sermon. Which, um, was potentially intriguing in theory, but turned out to be so bizarre and uncomfortable that I ended up walking out on it. So, there's that.

Cabin books!

2018-07-03T23:28:53Z

So! Back from our annual cabin trip - aka Reading Binge Time - with some thoughts on the books I read.

This trip felt, in some ways, really different from past. Partly just all the changes happening right now (my brother’s fiancee was able to come for part of the trip), partly the fact that, despite best efforts to step away for some peace and quiet, some wedding-related drama managed to follow on the trip (not our causing or the fiancee’s fault in any way, just family issues), partly dumb health stuff.

I’d intended to do a fair amount of exercise and outdoors stuff this time around. (LOL, less than three months’ notice on being a bridesmaid = very thankful I’d already been putting in the effort to be in decent shape, at least.) But then shortly after arriving I came down with a cold and then a nasty allergic reaction. As in, welts and itchy, hot rash all over my arms, throat, and face, waking up in the middle of the night feeling like my skin was about to catch on fire, the whole nine yards. Nothing I could do to treat it seemed to give more than temporary help and I couldn’t seem to figure out what was causing it. The fact that I’ve never had remotely sensitive skin or anything more than sniffling-and-sneezing-variety seasonal allergies made it doubly bizarre. I even brought a sleeping bag and pillow from home, so???

ANYhow. Made for a slightly different trip than expected. Thankfully, once home the reaction cleared up pretty quickly and the trip was otherwise very restful. It was really nice to get a chance to go back to something so familiar in the middle of all the upheaval.

And I got some good reading done - 23 books finished, partway into two others, for a total of… something a little over 7,000 pages read. ^^ I did a little more re-reading this year than usual (again, nice to have some familiar comfort reads), but some really good new reads as well.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Rasco and the Rats of NIMH, and R-T, Margaret and the Rats of NIMH (Robert C. O’Brien/Jane Leslie Conly) - These were re-reads, ones I hadn’t read in a verrrrry long time, and I wondered how they’d lived up to my childhood fondness for them. I remembered loving the first one intensely, and the following ones maybe not living up to it, but I’d forgotten that the sequels were written by a different author. The first one lived up to my hopes and then some. Absolutely lovely. The sequels - eh. They’re not terrible, but the overall writing quality is distinctly lower and less subtle, not helped by the fact that it mostly nudges aside the more interesting dynamics of the original in favor of focusing on less original childhood drama themes (as well as contradicting both the original and each other on certain factual details and characterization). Not horrible, but yeah, nothing really special, either. But the original = <3 <3 <3

How to Speak Midwestern (Edward McClelland) - This was an interesting one! Not just describing a “Midwestern” accent generically, but lots of comparison between accents of various states and cities, unique regionalisms, and some history of how the accents have evolved and traveled over time. A good one!

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) - Okay, this is one I’ve been meaning to read forever, but I just kept… forgetting??? So glad I finally got to it, though, because yes, it is hilarious and bizarre and I enjoyed it very much.

Bellwether (Connie Willis) - Another re-read! It’d been years, but I remembered really liking it the first time around and it was absolutely as good the second time, even remembering where the reveals were headed. Excellent book. Also, lol, I realized that even intending to get a good variety of genres and subjects I ended up with something of a theme, because first I had the NIMH books (about super intelligent lab rats and mice), then Hitchhiker’s Guide (in which lab mice play a key role), and then this, also involving laboratories and some animal-related experiments, and which, I had completely forgotten, makes multiple references to Far From The Madding Crowd… which just happened to be another of the books I’d brought along this time. XD

No Exit (Taylor Adams) - This one’s a thriller, and hoooooboy, is it intense. Plenty of books describe themselves as heart-pounding, but very few actually literally get my heart beating that fast. Also, the sheer number of twists the author manages to throw into a book that takes place in both a very confined area and a very short length of time is pretty incredible.

Time for Every Thing? (Matt Fuller) - Pretty good one! I might’ve wished for some more concrete advice in some regards, but really, I think he did an unusually good job of balancing his discussion of both sides of where people tend to get into trouble when it comes to responsibilities and time management - talking about both the “floor” (failing to live up to minimums) and the “ceiling” (giving so much to one area that it becomes an obsession and/or causes neglect of other areas of life), and then the room in between those two places for variation between people, circumstances, and times of life.

Song for the Basilisk (Patricia A. McKillip) - Oh wow. What to even say? This is probably the most poetic book I have ever read. And I mean that literally, that it’s written as prose but reads very much like an epic poem. In some ways, the feel of it is maybe reminiscent of Tolkien, even though mostly it’s really hardly anything at all like Tolkien. Actually, maybe more like some of George MacDonald’s fairy tales? In any case, it is incredibly well written. Reading it, I was struck with the thought that… this is what reading poetry must feel like to people who actually know how to enjoy poetry? I’m pretty sure this is what poetry is supposed to feel like. (Poetry is almost universally opaque to me. I keep wanting and trying to understand/enjoy it, and every once in a while I’ll feel like I’ve caught a glimpse of what it’s all about, but mostly… hmm.)

The Man Who Was Thursday (G.K. Chesterton) - Another re-read! This is one I, again, hadn’t read in a long time. And actually, I originally listened to it as an audiobook and felt like it didn’t give me a fair shot at enjoying it. Some books I just really need to read myself to properly enjoy and that’s often the case with Chesterton, and more especially when it’s something like this, starting out with a fairly concrete grounding and then building to an increasingly dreamlike and abstract tone. So yeah, all that to say, it was definitely one I needed to read on the page and it is excellent.

Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? (Alyssa Mastromonaco) - Okay, I’ve been reading White House-related books off and on for a while, not so much because I’m that interested in the lives of the presidents as because I’m fascinated by all the logistics (in terms of everyday practicalities, major events, and security) that go into running a house like that - and the White House, for both current-day protocol and past history, is an especially interesting blend of anachronism and adaptation. In this case, though, I felt more sorry for the author than enlightened. She sets it up with kind of a premise of sharing about her time on staff, then comes to the conclusion that most of the interesting or funny stories she could tell she doesn’t really have a right to. She says she absolutely loved her job, but then does little to explain what it was about it that she felt outbalanced the sheer physical and emotional wreckage that all of the attendant stress caused her. Not sure what to make of it in the end except that, yeah, I feel sorry for her, given how unhappy she seems.

Other Minds (Peter Godfrey-Smith) - LOL, my dad saw me reading this one and asked, “But… didn’t you already read a book about octopuses?” To which I said, “Yeah, I’ve read a couple… and now I’m reading another one.” XD Some really interesting stuff on cephalopods and intelligence, and specifically on squid. Overall, though, I had some mixed feelings on this one, mostly just because I was disappointed in the proportion of the book that was dedicated to theorizing on the evolution of cephalopods - I was hoping there’d be more concrete stuff, whether scientific observation and experimentation or anecdotal. Still, what there was in that regard was really interesting.

On Writing (Stephen King) - Kinda mixed thoughts on this one. Don’t get me wrong, on the whole, it’s really good. But for a book titled “On Writing” it doesn’t seem like there was as much as I’d have expected actually… on… writing. XD Mostly, it was interesting as a memoir/insight into his career as a writer, though I really liked some of what he did have to say about writing more generally. (And, tbh, I definitely sympathized with his saying that he’d found that most of what he actually knows about how to write and what makes for good writing is incredibly hard to put into concrete words.)

Life Inside The Bubble (Dan Bongino) - I liked it. Written by a secret service agent, it’s got quite a bit about his process of starting out as an agent, how he worked his way up to the presidential detail, kind of how the culture and practicalities of the secret service work (LOL, obviously without giving away major security secrets), as well as the other types of investigation/law enforcement work the secret service does - and, based on that experience, some insight into overall inefficiencies and overlap among government agencies. Very interesting read.

Longbow (Wayne Grant) - This one was… incredibly mediocre, really. I keep checking out new takeoffs and adaptations of Robin Hood because I love the stories so much and there is so much room for expanding on the concept. Seems like more often than not, though, authors try so hard to be original that they range from actively annoying to just boring. This one was definitely in the boring range. Not terribly written, but virtually nothing of the elements that I actually want in a Robin Hood story. Meh.

Humans Wanted (Anthology, various authors) - Got this one because it was a collection of short stories inspired by the “humans are space orcs/Earth is space Australia” variety of posts circulating Tumblr, which I thoroughly enjoy. In the end, though, it was just kinda eh. There were a couple I really enjoyed, a few that were okay, but very few of them really had much of the feel of the type of posts that were supposed to have inspired them, so mostly it was just okay-ish science fiction without many of the elements I was there for in the first place.

The True Meaning of Smekday (Adam Rex) - Okay, I feel kind of ridiculous that I managed to not even realize that this is the book the movie Home was based on (or even that the movie was based on a book) until I actually started reading this. IDEK how, but there you go. It was really, really funny and sweet, though. I was surprised at how different from the movie the second, like… half?... of it was. And it was one of those rare cases where I wouldn’t even necessarily say that one or the other was better or worse, necessarily, just that they both went about things with some very different approaches and that was interesting. Now I kinda want to watch the movie again.

Scarlet, Cress, and Winter, (Marissa Meyer) - Oh, these are just so fun. I’d read the first in the series a while back, and decided to binge-read the rest on this trip because they’re long enough that it’s tougher to find the time to do that these days. (LOL, especially the last one, Winter. At 800+ pages, reading that in a single day was quite a marathon, even if a very fun one. XD) Hardly earth-shattering works, but like I said, incredibly fun and I really enjoyed the way that she took the original fairy tales and played with them in her new setting. And the way she made the original elements serve the kind of story she was trying to tell without them feeling forced in the context. Quite the contrary, some of the elements were so subtle (or connected more with older, less familiar versions of stories) that it took me a while to pick up on the fact that oooooh, that’s what this detail is a nod to. Very enjoyable read.

The Monsters and the Critics (J.R.R. Tolkien) - Excellent collection of essays by Tolkien on a variety of subjects. Some on Beowulf, various languages, on creating languages as a hobby, his excellent essay on fairy stories (the only one of them I’d read before, and well worth a re-read)... Honestly, as far as I’m concerned, Tolkien’s probably at his best in any given essay when he’s at his most opinionated. My interest in, say, Beowulf is pretty superficial, but when he gets righteously indignant over critics declaring it to be a decent historical piece somewhat spoiled by the unnecessary monsters an demonstrates, rather, that the monsters are, in fact not only essential but one of its best qualities? Yup.

In the Labyrinth of Drakes and Within the Sanctuary of Wings (Marie Brennan) - Okay, so I’ve been kind of savoring this series and spreading it out a bit, but I finally finished the last two. Oh man. It is just. It’s so good, you guys. I love these books with a passion, and they’re just so, so pretty, too, both the covers and the illustrations inside. If anything, I could’ve done with way, way more expounding on the habits and physiology of the dragons, even at the expense of the plot, because the worldbuilding is so, so good. I mean, granted, it’s like 1000% up my alley, but honestly. You know an author’s good at exposition when Exciting Stuff is happening… and you still kinda wish she’d go back and spend a few thousand words more just describing stuff.

And then the two books that I got partway into but haven’t finished were Seraphina and Far From The Madding Crowd. Both very different, but both ones I’m enjoying very much so far. Even if my progress is considerably slower now that I’m home. XD

Book stuff! (Finally XD)

2017-07-15T02:11:50Z

Finally got stuff together from the Wisconsin trip, as per usual!

First the book stuff:

The Tropic of Serpents, Marie Brennan - So. Good. I am loving this series so intensely. One of those rare books where it was the art that first convinced me I had to give it a try (The cover and inside illustrations are SO BEAUTIFUL. One day I want to art like that.), and the writing certainly lives up to the aesthetic. Interesting characters and plot and the dragon natural history aspect is just <3 <3 <3. (TBH, if anything, I could’ve happily done with a lot more of the habits-and-biology-of-dragons stuff that a lot of people might typically consider the drier part of a book like that.)

Who could that be at this hour?, Lemony Snicket - Pretty good, but not awesome. Essentially a prequel (first of a series) to ASOUE about young Lemony, which has the potential to be really fun and also shed some light on things hinted at in the series. Unfortunately, this one managed to be both more cryptic and a lot more disjointed than his usual books, with a plot that, granted, is obviously setting up for the following books, but felt so unfinished and random that it didn’t work as well as it might have. Still, it’s got enough of the fun style of ASOUE to be enjoyable so I might give the series a further try.

The Residence, Kate Andersen Brower - Absolutely fascinating nonfiction look at the White House staff - everyone from electricians to florists to chefs to butlers - just what goes into keeping the place running smoothly and, from that perspective, looking at the day-to-day lives and personalities of various presidents. It was so good I had to promptly make Nef read it, because aside from the intrinsic interest value, the logistical aspects of just what goes into running a household on that scale were definitely Relevant To Her Interests for research purposes. Very interesting, very well written.

The Book of General Ignorance, John Lloyd, John Mitchinson - Nothing spectacular, but a fun read. Basically, a collection of misconceptions or additional information that puts a different spin on common knowledge “facts”, old wives’ tales, and other such stuff that most people’s first instinct would probably be wrong on. Lots of interesting stuff!

Cinder, Marissa Meyer - Okay, this one’s been on my list to try for quite some time. One of those books I keep seeing and thinking, “Oh, yeah, I should read that…” and then never actually getting to. XD But it was really a fun read and I’m glad I finally got to it! I liked the balance of fantasy and sci fi elements, and the way she spun the original fairy tale into something new. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series!

Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein - This book. Wow. I can see why people have drawn comparisons to the Queen’s Thief books, and what an emotional roller coaster. Heart-wrenching and absolutely brilliant. Not even sure what to say, other than wow.

Gifts of the Crow, John M. Marzluff, Tony Angell - Hmm. It did have some really interesting information and stories, but unfortunately it was really hobbled by the authors’ skills. They were trying hard to make it a fun book, but it’s painfully obvious that they’re more used to writing to a scientific audience rather than engaging lay audiences, as the goal was here. So there’s a tendency—throughout, but especially in earlier chapters—to write paragraphs of dense anatomical information and details of brain chemistry, etc., then suddenly seem to remember the need to make it interesting and attempt to throw in an anecdote… but usually fail to include enough context or detail to explain why it’s either interesting in and of itself or relevant to the discussion. That, combined with a tendency to refer to people (often by first name only) without properly introducing or explaining who they are really hobbles what could have been a great book. There was some fun and interesting stuff there, but yeah. Shame.

Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury - Quite good! More a look at his own writing life and perspective on writing and reading than a writing advice type of book, but he had some really interesting things to say. One of my favorite quotes:

“If you have moved over vast territories and dared to love silly things, you will have learned even from the most primitive items collected and put aside in your life.[…]

Do not, for money, turn away from all the stuff you have collected in a lifetime.

Do not, for the vanity of intellectual publications turn away from what you are—the material within you which makes you individual, and therefore indispensable to others.”

Because. Just. Yes. This has been an ongoing thing for me. Sometimes you grow out of things. Sometimes you still love them, even when you’ve come to recognize that the objective quality is not great. But that doesn’t mean you need to turn around and despise or belittle those things just to prove you’re older and wiser (or cooler) now. You can still recognize what they’ve given you, what they may still give you, whether in seeds they planted in your own writing/creativity or in other aspects of life and enjoyment. It’s hard, though, not to feel the need to actively “disown” those silly things, especially around people who don’t see what you do in them, to feel that need to prove that you’re serious and literary, no really. Which reminds me of another of Bradbury’s (better-known?) quotes from this book, which never fails to make me smile: “I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.”

Rain Reign, Ann M. Martin - Really a sweet book, with a very well-portrayed autistic POV. Also, an animal book where the owner and/or pet doesn’t die in the end? Yes, please. (Even if the end is still somewhat bittersweet, it’s satisfying.)

Catch Me if You Can, Frank Abagnale - Ahaha, this book is so much fun. Further research indicates it may not be quite as authentic as it’s presented (which… is maybe not all that surprising, from the semi-autobiography of a con man?), but nonetheless a really good read. Also, there are aspects that make a whole lot more sense than the movie, either because they’re more thoroughly explained or because the interpersonal dynamics make better sense. I think my favorite part was the whole debacle of him accidentally becoming a practicing pediatrician.

The Gauntlet, Eoin Colfer - Meh. Probably one of the biggest disappointments of the trip. I don’t often read this kind of tie-in, but when I saw an Iron Man book written by the author of Artemis Fowl? I figured that had to be worth a read. Sadly, not so much. In part, it’s because fanfic has really spoiled me for a lot of tie-ins/novelizations with the sheer quality and thoughtfulness of the stories you can find, but knowing Colfer’s style I wasn’t going in expecting a work of great seriousness and depth, just a fun read. I think he’s just… really unused to meshing his own style with an established setting and cast, though? Characterization and character voice was so-so. Not awful, for the most part, but I was about ready to throw the book at the wall when Tony offhand thinks of Friday as “way more fun than the previous OS.” (I mean, I get that the tone is lighthearted, that he wouldn’t want to go into all the complications of what happened in AoU, but JARVIS was an actual real friend who Tony cared about who died recently. Complications with Vision aside, that was a genuine loss. Seriously.) Combine that with some plot and technical logic flaws that left even me thinking, “I’m not an expert but I… I really don’t think that works that way.” and a slapstick tone that went just a little OTT at times and it was frustrating. There were some genuinely fun parts and interesting ideas, but I’d say it’s really not worth reading. If you want decent fanfic, your time would be better spent on AO3.

Thinking in Pictures, Temple Grandin - This made me want to watch the movie about her life again. Part autobiography, part her perspective and advice on autism in general, part her experience and insights into animals. Just a very her book, and while I enjoy her animal-focused works the most (naturally), I always find her perspective and insight fascinating.

The Children’s Story, James Clavell - Very good, if shorter than I expected. Which is kind of the point, really - how fast and easy it can be at times to use people’s makeup and social structure to manipulate the way they think and feel about things. Anyway, hmm. Thought-provoking.

True Allegiance, Ben Shapiro - Eh, not great. You can really tell that nonfiction is more his strength and primary interest. Not much in the way of engaging character development, and the plot definitely suffers from “too much/not enough.” There are a ton of plot lines, which he does a decent job of connecting by the end, but they all feel very underdeveloped and choppy. It might’ve actually been a better book if it was twice as long, which is something of a rarity. Then again, the characters tended to get an awful lot of backstory explanation, so maybe if he’d put more of that effort into showing what was going on in the then-and-there instead it wouldn’t have actually needed to be much longer in order to be more engaging. A lot of people died; I didn’t really care.

The Slippery Slope, The Grim Grotto, The Penultimate Peril, and The End, Lemony Snicket - Decided I’d better hurry up and finish the series so I can more properly enjoy the Netflix episodes as they come out. ^^ I just really like these books. There are so many ways it could’ve fallen off the horse in one direction or another and become obnoxious or just incoherent, but - at least for me - it really didn’t and I enjoy the writing style immensely.

Alex & Me, Irene Pepperberg - I don’t have much sense for just how well known Alex is generally? He was an African Gray parrot who was the subject of extensive scientific study in avian intelligence and learning. Not the only parrot involved in the study, of course, but Alex was the first and… just plain special for his intelligence and sheer quirky character. Not too often a nonfiction book makes me cry in the very first chapter. (Though, yes, in part that’s probably because my own bird died just recently, so I could relate to her feelings in that regard just a little too well.) Really, really good book, for the well-explained science - why things are significant, what was involved in various experiments - and even more for all the hilarious and fascinating stories about Alex and the progress made in understanding how birds think and just what they’re capable of. (I mean, he first learned the color gray because he looked in a mirror, asked who that was, and on being told it was him, asked what color he was. I just. ??? And he demonstrated an understanding of basic addition untrained and unprompted just because he got frustrated with another bird’s inability to catch on to a task quickly enough.)

The Help, Kathryn Stockett - Very good book. I was surprised to find how faithful the movie was to it, on the whole. There were some things the book did better. Other things the movie, surprisingly, did a better job of showing clearly. But yes, well done, excellent read.

How Not to Write, William Safire - Fun! Not hugely in-depth, but it’s an easy read with a fun style and some useful advice. I liked it.

I Sing the Body Electric, Ray Bradbury - Bradbury is so, so good with short stories. There was so much variety in subject matter and style here, and a few were not to my taste or otherwise left me a bit ? but yes. Excellent collection. Really imaginative “what if”s combined with a mastery of packing a punch that hits you both intellectually and emotionally even in a very short story.

Horizon Alpha: Predators of Eden, D.W. Vogel - Not awesome, but fun. Dinosaurs on alien planets are very much My Thing, and there were enough familiar and invented types to make it interesting. Plot and overall writing were decent, not amazing but serviceable enough, and the world building was interesting enough that I’ll probably give further books in the series a try.

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, Andrew Peterson - Bleh. I wanted to like it, and I’ve certainly liked enough similar ones. Seemed like this one might be a bit reminiscent of the Larklight series, lighthearted adventure that has some fun with the premise. (Which reminds me, now I want to reread those sometime…) But I just found it so annoying. Style was meh. It had pretensions of complex world building that mostly involved changing a couple letters or mashing two words together, even though it seemed to mean exactly the same thing as the real world version, or otherwise pointless randomness thrown in. Don’t get me wrong, that kind of silliness can make for good humor, but it takes a very deft touch from an author to combine a really playful approach with genuine depth of emotion and moments of Cool. I feel like most of the successful examples of that kind of thing require an author who… while not taking himself seriously, still takes the genre and characters with a certain amount of seriousness and a lot of love. If that makes sense? In any case, this did not, which pretty much deflated his attempts at a core of genuinely epic or heartfelt elements, and the pseudo-complex world building just tended to make it more irritating.

The Attributes of God, Arthur W. Pink - Very good book. Like many older ones, the writing style tends to require more concentration, make it a denser read, but nonetheless very worthwhile.

Unpopular Opinions, Dorothy Sayers - SO good. Essays on a wide range of topics and all of it thought-provoking. Though I have to say I found the end section with all her - very serious and incredibly in-depth - Sherlock Holmes meta and discussion of Aristotle and detective stories particularly awesome. She has very strong feelings on the actual number of John Watson’s marriages, as supported by both the texts themselves and knowledge of his character as a person. Love it.

I also started Mind of the Raven (yeah, there was a bit of a “bird intelligence and Lemony Snicket” theme this year XD). Got a bit sidetracked by other reads after I got home so I haven’t finished yet, but it’s another very good one.

So, total of 26 books (and a bit of a 27th), for something over 7000 pages read on the trip.

And just a few pictures from the trip. (It was hard to narrow it down to only a few. XD)

There were such a variety of plants flowering while we were there, which was really fun for photography. In one sanctuary that we walked, there were some fascinating ones that I haven't often encountered, including orchids and...

Pitcher plants! (I have a bit of a thing for carnivorous plants. ^^)

I'd never seen any flowering before, so that was awesome to experience. I would never have expected the flowers to look anything like this:

Got some other really fun photos with mushrooms and dragonflies and such as well...

And I just love the contrast of bright flowers against all the green leaves and grasses.

Oh, also! Not exactly nature photography, but we did do a little shopping, during which I found this two-sided mug... for under $2. So it's mine now. ;D

Wonder Woman :D

2017-07-12T00:39:34Z

Soooo, those book comments I was talking about are coming, I just got sick for like a week and a half and it basically killed my brain for a while there, so now that I'm back up and running I'm finishing it up.

But I just have to say, totally late to the party, that I finally, finally got to see Wonder Woman today and oh my heart, I did not know I needed this movie but apparently I did. It was just so beautifully done and sincere and bright (and... also heartbreaking) and just. The whole tone of it was everything I like best in superhero movies and it makes me so happy.

Saw the preview for Thor: Ragnarok before it, too - which looks very good - and my mom's comment was, "See, I like Thor. He's not just a pretty face." And I about died of giggles. So yeah, looking forward to that.

(Also, wearing a Captain America shirt to a DC movie will get you Comments, but hey. My strong preference for Marvel movies these days has nothing to do with any Marvel vs DC feelings, just being so done with the bleak tone of recent DC movies. I have more than enough love in my heart for both, when they're done well.)

Baaaaack

2017-06-23T22:28:35Z

Just got home from the cabin! It was such a wonderful, relaxing time. :) Didn't quite manage a reading record - finished 26, read part of a 27th - but if was pretty close.

Shall be catching up for a while, but I'll be typing up a books post, and probably pulling together some of the photos I took, soon.

Taking off!

2017-06-13T00:30:35Z

Getting ready to head out to the cabin for The Reading Vacation tomorrow night... Books are packed! (I'm not actually bringing them in plastic bags. I just needed those to get home from the library.) I think my suitcase is about half books, in addition to the backpack I filled with books... Good thing I don't need too much in the way of clothes for this trip. XD

I'll still be around tomorrow, but otherwise - I'll see you all when I get back on the 23rd!

Zoo pics!

2017-04-27T02:49:36Z

Got the chance to sit down and talk with the karate school's owner a few days ago about the fact that I'm not going to be continuing training, at least in the near future (not unexpected at this point, given my accumulation of injuries and the need to deal with that before pushing myself more).

The fact that I won't be continuing to teach for the time being was not expected for them, but the conversation went a lot better than I thought it would. She told me they were really happy with the work I've been doing and actually offered to sit down and see what they can offer me if I want to make it more of a full-time career, now or later on down the line. Which... I was not expecting out of that conversation. I'm too tired and in need of a break from some of the disorganization and craziness going on right now to consider it at this point, but I left the future possibility open. For now, I'm continuing my current teaching until they switch over to the summer schedule at the end of May so they've got time to figure out staffing, and we'll see where I'm at once fall comes around again.

Anyhow. Good to have that settled with a lot less drama than I was expecting.

On another front, anyone want to see some zoo pics?

As I believe I mentioned earlier, I've finally got an actual camera! Not a really big or pricey one, but getting better at photography has been a goal of mine for a while now and I was having so much trouble getting anywhere further with my phone, given the lack of zoom and difficulty adjusting settings. Anyhow, this was my first chance to really put it to the test and I was SO HAPPY. I mean, there's a lot to photography that having decent equipment isn't an instant fix for, obviously, but as far as actually having a chance at getting some of the pictures I wanted it was amazing. :D

A lot of what I took was for pure art-reference/anatomy purposes, not particularly artistic in its own right, but I got some really fun ones.

Like pretty big cats. (I just really like the look of the limited palette and framing of this one.)

And okay, I am terrible at guessing distances, but I was so far away from this lion, I can't believe I got a nice profile of him.

Okay, lots of sleepy critter pics. But seriously, being able to actually zoom through obstructing fences and get decent photos even when they were hidden away, barely visible was so fun.

Annnd then I went over to the zoo's conservatory to try to practice getting interesting framing on all the pretty flowers.

^^ Not where I'd like to be, sure, but it's fun to be getting better.

Well, that's a relief.

2017-01-26T04:09:56Z

Finished my black belt screening, and I didn't actually collapse. Was pretty sure I was going to for a while there, but I didn't. XD I won't know what the verdict is until... Saturday, probably. But right now I'm feeling pretty good about how I did, all things considered, so I'm hopeful. If I passed, that'll be four of the seven down, three to go. (The next two being the hardest, but heh, let's not think about that now. ) And it is such an incredible relief to have it done.

In somewhat less happy news, I managed to do... something to my hip in the process of doing the tornado kick portion of the test. It felt like it might be really bad, especially when I could barely raise my knee this morning. Didn't seem like any pulled or strained muscle I've had before, more like something was wrong with the joint itself. But then in the process of stretching and testing my range of motion today I apparently managed to pop whatever-it-was back into place. At any rate, I felt something click in my hip and now I seem to have pretty much normal range of motion back with just general achy soreness instead of sharp, Something Is Wrong pain, so... Not sure exactly what happened, but crisis seems to be averted in that regard. Pretty sure it's gonna be okay with a couple days of taking it easy.

So. Nothing definite, but I'm no longer in I May Die mode for the time being. ^^

Heheheh.

2016-10-01T21:12:32Z

Well, I've officially got whatever nasty cold Nef's been down with this week. Going to sparring anyway today was maybe not the smartest decision I've ever made, but since I knew it'd be a couple weeks until I could get to it again...

On the one hand, I did better than I expected. On the other, now I can't be sure if I'm sore and headachy because I'm sick or because I got repeatedly punched in the head and knocked down by a guy twice my size. (Still won the fight, though. And the instructor said I was turning into a superstar on them. So there's that. ^^)

As a more interesting diversion from being sick, though - a flying squirrel has moved into our attached garage/the walls of our house. I knew we had some living nearby, but we don't see much of them because they're usually really shy, besides being nocturnal.

This one, though, is the most brazen, attitude-filled little thing I've ever seen. Doesn't seem to much care who knows he's around. And Ella, our mighty, fierce huntress cat who will take down anything that moves, including rabbits nearly as big as she is, seems to have just shrugged and decided this is okay. Last night I went to give her dinner and he was right there and just... didn't leave. Scooted over a bit, and then just sat there a couple feet away. She just looked at him, then looked at me like, "Yeah, so? He's my roommate now. You gonna give me dinner, or what?"

He stayed there while I went to get her dinner and came back, like he was waiting to see if he'd get dinner too. Didn't head off to the other side of the garage until Ella practically stepped on him. She acted like he was invisible.

????

I mean, he's adorable. And I don't actually want him to get killed, because I love flying squirrels. But having one living in our house is probably not a good thing? Even if he hasn't done any noticeable harm yet. And. Uh. This cat is apparently going to be no help at all in figuring out what to do about it. (She killed a mouse last night and left it by the door, just to prove that she hasn't actually forgotten how to do her job.)

So... for now, we've got a kind-of-pet flying squirrel? And yet one more illustration of why our friends call us the home for confused animals.

I think I'll call him Sam.

And in other recent events...

2016-09-26T13:56:15Z

So, Nef's been a bit anxious about scheduling and everything she needs to get to today. As we walked the dog this morning, she was telling me about the dreams she had last night.

Nef: Yeah, we were just running around like crazy, trying to get everyone where they needed to be, and I had to drive the guys somewhere, but I never had the van when I needed it... It was so stressful. It was basically real life.

Me: Huh. I, uh, dreamed about Bucky trying to escape from Hydra, racing around in a building hiding in different rooms, trying to find a way out without getting caught.

Nef: ... Well. Apparently one of us is worried about something.

This is how you adult, right?

2016-09-26T00:11:23Z

Spent the better part of the last week on a writing retreat, and holy cow I was SO PRODUCTIVE. It was such a relief, because this summer was just awful for getting any writing done, and there were a couple parts of the book in particular that I just Could. Not. get past. Skipping those pivotal scenes wasn't workable for making any meaningful progress, because I needed the character development in them to get my head around where they'd be at in relating to each other, and I was starting to get that sinking "I am never going to write anything useful again" feeling. :P

But yes. I got a ton written, sorted out some really key stuff, and I am feeling so much better about where this book is headed. So happy about it right now.

And of course, when we were shopping for snacks for the week, Nef and I decided to get some gummie fruit snacks. Because we are adults and can do that instead of just vaguely pretending we don't envy kids who're eating them. And of course, because I am a very serious adult, I told her that if we were going to get them, it had to be these ones.

I mean, since I've been describing the book I'm working on as "Jurassic Park with Faeries," it's actually like... serious inspiration food, right? And it clearly worked. Plus, the tiny gummy raptors are adorable. So yeah.

And today I decided to celebrate all that productivity with an impulse buy. This:

Best double-sided cutting board ever. And, I mean, cooking is a serious, adult thing, right? So it was a totally practical and grownup thing to do.

Yep. I am adulting so hard over here.

More pics, because reasons.

2016-07-04T18:22:41Z

Okay, so yesterday cairistiona7 was nice enough to give me some tips on photo editing and point me toward pixlr.com, so I've been playing around to see what I can do with a few more of my photos from the zoo trip last week.

Thought I'd try out a b&w effect on this, since I don't think there's a good way to get the color looking good given the lighting.

Really wish I could've gotten a few pictures of these pretty butterflies against a better background, but they were fluttering their wings so quickly that this was the only good chance I had to catch them:

:D I may end up spending way too much time on this.

Also - happy Independence Day to all my American friends!

And happy birthday to Steve Rogers! \o/

Zoo trip!

2016-07-03T01:09:18Z

Had some fun stuff happening this week! Among other things, just finished up my first month as a full karate instructor (i.e. no longer assistant-instructor-in-training). I think it's going well - I've had some good feedback, at any rate!

The big event this week, though, was the trip Nef and I took in to the Cities to spend a couple days at the zoo. Officially, this was because our zoo membership was expiring and we wanted to get some more photos before it did (me for art/anatomy reference, her for graphic design), and they also had a new exhibit for the summer with anamatronic dinosaurs. Unofficially... we really wanted a getaway with just the two of us, and it was a good excuse.

It was an awesome trip, too! Couldn't have asked for nicer weather, the dinosaur exibit was very fun, and we ended up going to the bird show twice because it was so good. We basically hardly sat down for two days straight, and I don't even know how many miles we ended up walking - so pretty wiped out by the time we got home, but happy.

Nef got some really beautiful photos. I don't have a whole lot to share on that front, because though I took a fair amount I am a terrible photographer and was only using my phone, so I got quite a few that're useful for my reference purposes but not much that's particularly interesting or artistic in its own right. :P I think I'm getting a little better hang of photography generaly, though, so I've resolved to actually bring a proper camera that I know how to use next time.

I do have a few fun photos, though!

First off, the entrance to the dinosaur exhibit:

You can't see the pterodactyls on the gate very well, but the whole place was really cool. They had the Jurassic Park theme playing, and a bunch of fog machines scattered around to create some fun atmosphere.

Also! A picture I am actually a little proud of! (Okay, I know, it's not super exciting. But hey, I'm learning. And it's in focus. XD)

There was also a beautiful butterfly garden there this summer! Particularly fun for me because it was the one place where there was both decent light and the ability to get close enough to take pretty good photos even with my phone, so I ended up with a ridiculous number of butterfly pics.

Most of the birds in the aviary were much too far away for me to photograph with my phone. (For most things it's basically useless beyond a couple of feet, seems like. Or maybe that's mostly my incompetence.) A couple of them were nice enough to pose for me, though. The little guy on the left was just adorable - very playful and kept coming over to us and posing like he wanted his picture taken, but of course he couldn't stay still for more than a few seconds at a time.

And of course, had to spend plenty of time hanging out with my faves here, the Amur leopards.

I actually took a little bit of video, too! We spent some time with them just before their dinner time, and the male was getting really impatient and started roaring. Very fun to hear!

(In case it doesn't embed properly, direct link here. I started up a channel to post this, and a couple of other brief clips, so if you want to see those they're here.)

The Books!

2016-06-21T16:05:15Z

Finished getting together my traditional list of books read on the trip and review-ish thoughts on them!

So without further ado, here are the books! My feelings on them this year were a bit more of a mixed bag than has been the case in recent years, I think, but there were plenty that I really loved.

The Soul of Wit: Chesterton on Shakespeare (G.K. Chesterton, edited by Dale Ahlquist) – Chesterton is always amazing, and this is no exception. Having read his biography of Dickens a couple years ago and enjoyed his approach of analyzing his life and personality through the lens of his works rather than primarily a chronological recounting of events, I’m sad that he didn’t finish his planned comprehensive book on Shakespeare... but still, the collection of thoughts on Shakespeare from other writings throughout Chesterton’s life gives a broad-ranging and fascinating picture.

The Tears of the Singers (Melinda Snodgrass) – My reaction on this one was pretty much “meh.” I don’t really expect much from a Star Trek novel – give me reasonably solid characterization and I’m happy. Give me some interesting alien species/culture development and I’m delighted. On this one, though the culture and setup were interesting enough, the characterization was tenuous at best. Some of the behavior and choices at key moments left me pretty much “????why??????” And then Uhura, who should’ve had some great opportunities to shine in a key role, ended up derailed by the dumbest romance with a guy who had no apparent redeeming qualities other than being good at music, and also attractive, maybe? Not the worst I’ve read, overall, but most fanfiction I’ve seen is much better. :P

The Ersatz Elevator, The Vile Village, and The Hostile Hospital (Lemony Snicket) – This series continues to be brilliant and absolutely hilarious and I love it. :D

Raptor Red (Robert T. Bakker) – DINOSAAAAAURRRSSSS. Heh, my dad was so confused when he found out I was reading a novel about dinosaurs with no humans whatsoever in it. But it really was very much like all the things I enjoyed most about the Jurassic Park books. He’s got the paleontology background to have a really in-depth factual basis for his speculation and a real skill at weaving that animal perspective and science into a good story. Very good book.

Warriors: Into The Wild (Erin Hunter) – ~~Very Serious Research.~~ I like animal books, mmkay? Very enjoyable – interesting premise and cultural development, and a fun read, despite in the latter half of the book falling into a particularly annoying instance of “I know something super important and dangerous to multiple people, but I’m not going to tell anyone to whom it’s relevant because... uh...” that didn’t even have a discernable plot reason (I.e. “even though it'd be the logical thing, if he told so-and-so at this point, xyz would never have happened, derailing the whole chain of events") as justification for characters getting hit with the stupid stick. Yeah, it annoyed me greatly. Still, the book as a whole was good enough to over come that issue for the most part, so thumbs up.

Wired for Story (Lisa Cron) – Very interesting! Some good advice and insights. I liked her take on “commercial” vs. “highbrow/literary” fiction, and the way people like to make distinctions between the two and the constraints of the different types of literature—where in reality, even if the product looks somewhat different, the process and requirements are not very different at all. Also the fact that, if commercial fiction doesn’t hold attention we’re a little more likely to blame the book/author, where if literary fiction doesn’t... the impulse seems to be to blame the reader as not intellectual or dedicated enough. In reality, people have a natural need and love for story, but no one owes a particular author their attention—it’s the writer’s responsibility to earn it, and keep it.

The Winner’s Crime (Marie Rutkoski) – This has been a really, really interesting series. I guess I’d say the closest thing it reminds me of is Meghan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief series? Not quite the same level of funny-witty, but good writing and great political intrigue and maneuvering. Suuuuuch a cliffhanger ending to this one, though. I’m impatiently waiting for my turn at the library with the last book of the series.

Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen (Mary Norris) – Eh, mixed feelings on this one. It was just okay, basically. Interesting enough when talking about the subject (the English language, grammar, punctuation), and I enjoyed her anecdotes from her work as an editor in the demanding environment of the New Yorker. But my interest plummeted during random digressions into her own life unrelated to those topics. Oddly enough, she comes across as much more likeable and relatable as a person when talking about editing than anything else. I don’t know if that’s partly because I’m an editor or if the impression really is accurate on the basis of the writing itself, but there you are.

Death By Living (N.D. Wilson) – Loved it, so much. His is exactly the sort of abstract, poetic, non-linear style of writing that tends to leave me cool to moderately annoyed regardless of how much I like the subject material, but his execution is spot-on beautiful and a delight to read. And his digressions into family history (whether talking about his grandparents’ lives or incidents with his children or particularly vivid memories from his own life) are the polar opposite of what put me off in Between You & Me. Even when not immediately relevant to the point at hand, they’re always interesting – funny, touching, and told in a way that leaves you wanting more, not less.

A Natural History of Dragons (Marie Brennan) – Oooooh, so good! I saw this years ago in a bookstore and thought about picking it up, but it was so expensive and I rarely spend that much on a book I’m not absolutely certain I’ll love. Now I’m sad that I didn’t, though, because I forgot afterward that I’d meant to request it from the library and never read it until now. It was delightful, though – both the style and the material – and I’ve already got the sequels on my to-read list.

Animal Wise: The Thoughts & Emotions of our Fellow Creatures (Virginia Morrell) – Excellent book. Just a fascinating look at animal intelligence and learning, including some really unexpected species. Loved it.

Animal Stories: Encounters with Alaska’s Wildlife (Bill Sherwonit) – Eh, it was okay. There was some genuinely interesting stuff, but for the most part it wasn’t either informationally in-depth enough to be interesting on that level (like Animal Wise), nor were the stories themselves told in an engaging enough way to really hold interest in their own right. Most of them just seemed pretty mundane, the kind of thing that’s wonderful to experience, would elicit a “oh, cool!” from friend if mentioned in passing, but in retelling in this format mostly just produces an, “...okay. So?” I don’t know, maybe it’s largely that I’ve myself had encounters very similar to what he describes many times, so they don’t strike me as unique enough to be book-worthy. But I think it is mostly that his style and experience level falls into a particularly “meh” spot of not authoritative and knowledgeable enough scientifically nor engaging enough anecdotally, and so a lot of the time it felt like the point was lost.

The Convenient Marriage (Georgette Heyer) – Loved this, so much. Maybe my favorite of the trip, though it’s hard to call. It was absolutely hilarious, and struck me as a blend of many of my favorite parts of The Scarlet Pimpernel and Emma. Heyer is brilliant, and her books are ridiculously satisfying.

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins) – I have been meaning to read these books for so long and I’m kinda embarrassed I didn’t get to them earlier. (It's not so often that I watch movies before reading the books.) Very engaging read, though, and I can see why they’ve gotten so big. I was also struck by how well she handles both first person and present-tense. Neither is my preference by any stretch, but most of the time I forgot tense and POV entirely, which is always a good sign it’s being done well. Looking forward to reading the third one!

Dauntless: Valiant Hearts (Dina L. Sleiman) – I’ve had a lifelong love for all things Robin Hood-related, so when I saw this, billled as a Robin Hood retelling about a group of outlaws, set shortly after King John came to the throne, and was able to pick it up free in a Kindle sale, I thought it’d be worth a try. I’m, uh, glad I didn’t actually pay anything for it. Okay, so it seems to be pretty historically grounded, and isn’t the worst-written book. Buuuuut in the end it basically ignored every potentially interesting angle to the plot or characters in favor of one of the most endlessly repetitive love triangles (quadrangle, even, maybe? I lost track of whether or not one guy was actually involved in passing) I have ever been bored to tears by. Like, there wasn’t even any genuine tension to the relationship to keep things mildly interesting. Also, halfway through the main villain’s occupation apparently somehow morphed from the stablemaster into a soldier/guard??? Anyhow, disappointing, not gonna bother with sequels.

C.S. Lewis: A Life Inspired (Christopher Gordon) – Pretty good biography! I liked his use of both Lewis’ fiction and nonfiction works to shed light on various periods of his life.

2K to 10K: Writing Faster, Writing Better, & Writing More of What You Love (Rachel Aaron) – Very interesting! Not sure how much I can effectively apply a lot of the advice, given my personal writing style/struggles, since the very things that she’s found key to speeding along her process tend to be the steps I have a very hard time rushing. But, if taking a stab at that approach to organization helps at all in upping my average wordcounts, it’d definitely be worth trying. (I'm never going to be writing 10k a day, though. XD)

Total pages read on the trip: Approximately 5880. (Some estimation necessary, based on other version lengths, to account for the fact that the library only had the large print version of one, which obviously has... a lot more pages. XD)

So yeah. Not a record-breaking trip, but definitely a good one.

... and back again. ^^

2016-06-16T02:40:31Z

I have returned! I always feel kind of off-balance, coming back and getting smacked with The Real World after a week of cutting myself off from things as much as possible.

It was such a lovely trip, though. So relaxing, and having gone there at least once a year for the last twenty-five years now, more full of nostalgia and good memories than anywhere else I can think of. A couple of days this year got pretty sticky to get through without air conditioning, to say the least, but even those we managed to get through with ice cream and swimming and a minimum of whining. *g* (Did you know that Minnesotans actually start to melt when it gets too hot? It's a fact. Science.)

Book tally for me wasn't a record, but not bad for having less than 8 days: 20 books finished, and... two halves. XD (Gave up on one halfway through, but then got about halfway through another.)

As usual, I'll get the list of books and my thoughts up when I can.

*hugs all around*

Reeeeeeading tiiiiiiime.

2016-06-06T15:30:52Z

Gettin' ready to head out tomorrow night on my annual "disconnect from everything as much as possible and binge-read ALL THE THINGS" trip to the cabin that we've been renting for... wow, the last 25 years now?

This year's going to be a little different from most, since it may need to be a semi-working vacation. I've got one new client who's in kind of a tricky place, so I probably won't be able to set everything aside while I'm gone. So... sadly, I probably will not beat my current standing record of 23 books in just over a week. I've got about 30 books to bring anyway, though, so we'll see how far I get. *g*

Anyhow - after tomorrow I'll be pretty well disappearing from the internet for about a week, but I shall catch up with you all when I get back!

CA:CW flails again

2016-05-29T02:45:36Z

GUESS WHO GOT TO SEE CW AGAIN TODAY!

I keep thinking I'm going to write up a long happy post, but then it keeps winding up as incoherent flailing instead.

But seriously, I loved it so much. And on second viewing I was happier than before as far as plot cohesion, order of events, just how satisfying it was in general. And the characters... I am so, so impressed at the way it did have such intense disagreements between the characters, and yet left me feeling like I really understood and could sympathise with the motivation on both sides and still loved all the characters, despite good, bad, and emotionally misguided choices on all sides.

Team Cap all the way, though. As much as - if not more than - ever. :D

Also, I am very curious as to what the future has to hold for both Rosses. And also for Zemo... As my dad pointed out after seeing it today, Zemo's final remark, questioning whether he'd really failed, is interpreted on the surface as his having succeeded because he drove the Avengers apart. Buuut... Have we really seen the last of the other winter soldiers? Or is it just possible that he's not done and he's still got some kind of plan in the works? Hmm.

(I tell you, though, I will be SO MAD if they conveniently leave Bucky in stasis for the next Avengers movie instead of actually moving ahead with his plotline so we can see some more resolution there.)

CA:CW

2016-05-18T22:53:00Z

I am dead. I have died and now I am dead. The end.

(Okay, not the end. 1: How can a movie be that heartbreaking and that hilarious? 2: I LOVE EVERYONE. 3: I how can a movie be so satisfying, and so completely unsatisfying? Really, really liked it, though. I'm gonna have to see it again to process everything. More coherent thoughts to follow later.)

!!

2016-04-29T22:30:07Z

Happy birthday, suzll! I hope you have an awesome one filled with All The Good Things. :)

I can't hellllp iiiiiiit.

2016-04-26T23:02:16Z

Soooo... A Hobby Lobby just opened up in town. This is a thing which we have never had before, and I have therefore only occasionally seen them when I'm on vacation.

As it turns out, this is the one store in which I have Absolutely No Impulse Control. They were also, in celebration of their grand opening, having a bunch of cool sales. Including 50% off such things as... this.

Apologies for the largish picture, but IS IT NOT BEAUTIFUL?

Okay, I'll cut for the other pics now, which were the actual reason I went to Hobby Lobby in the first place.

I was having trouble finding a good display case for the fossils. None of the craft stores and such in town seemed to have anything decent, and I'd looked online and found a couple options, but nothing that really seemed like quite what I wanted. I'd found one okay one, but it didn't seem very durable so I was hesitating to order.

Turned out, Hobby Lobby did indeed have several verrrry nice options - which were also half off. \o/ They had small ones that would've been just the right size, but would've been much trickier to open whenever I wanted to arrange or take them out. The only hinged option I really liked was a bit big... but I guess that means that I'll have to get a few more to fill things out properly? *g*

And with the lid closed:

I'm quite happy with the way it looks! (Heheh, even if I couldn't quite get the label maker to center properly.)

Also, I did lie about one thing. I do have a little impulse control. Maybe. Because they also had these amazing knobs -

- and I didn't buy one. Yet. AND they had adorable detailed Spinosaurus and T-Rex ~~toys~~ models, which I didn't get pictures of. Or buy. But since we now have this in our town, and I could at any time go back and buy some... The jury's still out.

Yes, I am a total dork, I am aware. But hey, at least I'm a happy one?

Yeah, if you could try not to kill your editor... that would be great. XD

2016-04-18T01:53:12Z

How’s this for heart-stopping: Handing back your work on a very challenging project for a new client. First thing you hear after he’s had a chance to review it is, “I need to talk with you.” No chance to further gauge his frame of mind.

Any guesses how fun it was waiting on that particular talk?

(Turned out nothing was wrong. He just wanted to run his timeline for revisions by me to make sure I was okay with it. There's my adrenaline rush for the week...)

Dinosaur. Teeth. :D

2016-04-16T22:20:34Z

Okay, so, I meant to post about this earlier in the week, but never got the photos I wanted while the light was good.

But yes, I had a really, really nice birthday! Mostly just a relaxing, low-key day - though the surpise snowstorm in the afternoon was an interesting bit of excitement. And yes, the salted caramel truffle ice cream cake was every bit as good as it sounded.

And, you guys, my family got me actual fossils. I HAVE DINOSAUR TEETH. And they are gorgeous.

Ahem. I am juuuuust a little bit excited, can you tell?

(BTW, yes, I'm aware that pterosaurs, mosasaurs, and crocodiles aren't technically classified as dinosaurs. Just easier to refer to them collecitvely that way.)

Crocodile

Mososaur

Sirroccopteryx marocensis (pterosaur)

Deltadromeus agilis (raptor)

Spinosaur (the largest known carnivorous dinosaur!)

Are they not AWESOME? :D I can not even convey how excited I am right now. I never, ever thought it'd be possible to afford fossils beyond, maybe, an ammonite or sand dollar or somesuch. But it turns out that because, like sharks, a lot of dinosaurs actually shed their teeth regularly and grew new ones, there are a lot more teeth available for purchase than I would've guessed. And they are amazing.

Also! They gave me the coolest lamp. Lookit this thing!

Yeah, it was hard to get a good picture with it lit to show how cool it is. The vintage-Edison-style bulb looks so great, and it's nicely bright-but-not-blinding.

On a related note - I am verrrry much looking forward to watching The Force Awakens again, now that I have the DVD. :D

Valentine's Day silliness

2016-02-14T21:51:48Z

Not being in a romantic relationship, Valentine's day tends to be pretty much a non-event for me. We do some things as a family, though, and it's been a bit of a tradition for us siblings to get something little for each other.

When Nef and I were trying to find a card for Eric earlier this week (our earlier search having been unfruitful) we had a rather amusing incident. Naturally, the non-romantic selection's pretty thin once you get past a certain stage of childhood, so we were trying to find something fitting... when Nef gets excited and comes over to show me this massive card with "YOU'RE VERY SPECIAL" written across the front.

Of course, I raised my eyebrows at this thing - which must be two feet tall - and said, "He's not that special." To which Neffie insisted, "Yes, he IS!"

Annnd that's when the guy down the aisle just burst out laughing. One can only imagine what kind of boyfriend-insulting argument he thought he was witnessing... *g*

(As an aside, using "special" as a descriptor has been a mildly-insulting long-running joke in our family... which, of course, makes it perfect for a sibling card. We ended up getting it for him.)

Turns out, he's a very special brother indeed. He gave me this today:

I just. I cannot even. It is too perfect, and too ridiculous. I love it. XD

Got a brain like a bag of cats, and that's no joke.

2016-01-07T21:13:25Z

Guess who's currently in possession of five cats!

Actually, to be precise, due to Adventures in Petsitting combined with our own animals, we currently have five cats, a dog, and a bird.

Of the inter-species pairs, only the dog and bird can be safely left in a room together. Due to either feuding, Great Trauma, or unfamiliarity, only two of the cats can be left together unsupervised. And our house... does not have an abundance of areas with doors that can be closed off.

Trying to navigate the days right now is like a super complicated version of one of those "you need to get a fox, a chicken, and a bag of grain across the river" logic puzzles. And my ability to concentrate on getting anything useful done is... very close to zero at the moment. XD

Fortunately, despite all the insanity, our visiting kitties are terribly, terribly sweet.

They're also just a little too smart for their own good. They've already figured out how to turn on the washing machine alllll by themselves. Heh.