Miraba

Computer woes

miraba — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:15:36 GMT

Alas, my desktop developed a bad sector in Windows and went into and endless cycle of reboots, so I'm currently running Ubuntu from a cd. I can't really afford to drop the money on Windows 7 right now (random school fee, taxes that I swear I paid, etc), so I have no idea how long I'll be running it like this.
To make matters worse, my laptop has developed full-on hard drive failure (first one in >10 years, go me!) and can't even start the diagnostic. Lenovo says that I'll get my new drive in 2 days, but I still need to yank critical data off of it.

In other news, Penguin Drum is still WTF, Nikita is still Bechdel-tastic, and Downton Abbey has to wait until Christmas.

For anyone who enjoyed Utena

miraba — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 06:32:28 GMT

Go grab Mawaru Penguindrum. It's Ikuhara's latest project and it is absolutely amazing.

Who remembers Elizabeth Moon?

miraba — Fri, 27 May 2011 16:41:52 GMT

Who remembers the foot-in-mouth essay she wrote earlier this year that got her disinvited from WisCon? Guess which con she'll be at this week. Balticon!

DADT repeal going to Obama

miraba — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 07:10:02 GMT

For those who are out of the news cycle, the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was passed by the Senate with a vote of 65-31.

Now I know which cat was bringing me dead animals

miraba — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 04:12:22 GMT

So, back in the apartment I was gifted with two voles and a sparrow. The voles were dead but unbloodied, and the sparrow had been disemboweled through the neck after it was already inside. I thought Dash had been the one to bring them in, but apparently not.
Five minutes ago, Goku brought a mouse into my bedroom and dropped it. It was still alive and scurried into my closet. Goku was kicked out and the mouse examined; no blood, no sign of broken limbs. The mouse was returned outside to the garden, but apparently Goku still thinks it's where she dropped it.

Not dead here

miraba — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:47:16 GMT

Hi guys, I'm still alive. I'm in school and dating someone nice, so everything is A-OK. My fishy subjects have arrived, although they're not the same species that I was originally going to work on, and after they've settled in their tanks I'm going to get started with some basic tests.

I'm going up to Boston for Thanksgiving, so give me a holler if you're available then. For those of you who will be in DC next weekend for the rally, hit me up.

miraba — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 02:23:13 GMT

I want to punch Erik in the face.

Or the balls. That would be acceptable.

miraba — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:03:06 GMT

My boyfriend of 5 1/2 years, the guy I moved down to Washington DC to live with, the guy I thought I was going to marry, has left me. I'm mostly in the grieving stage right now, but it's all so agonizing. The skin of my nose is peeling from being rubbed raw and the skin near my eyes is flaking off from the salt. I've been evaluating where and how to move, but even deciding where to sleep each night is agonizing. He didn't have the courage to tell me, and the knowledge that I've spent so much of my life with someone who can't admit his feelings even to himself weighs in my stomach. Food holds no appeal and I've barely eaten since I found out; even the physical act of eating and drinking is hard. I want him to have his heart broken like mine.

I know it's cliche, that it's not going to last, but right now I don't feel like I could bear to go through this again, that I don't even know how to trust another person not to hurt me.

Please don't ask for the details. I'm sad and tired and sick of telling people about what happened.

Worst 24 hours in my life.

miraba — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:41:53 GMT

Not hyperbole.

Facebook

miraba — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 02:25:32 GMT

So, I finally joined 2008 and got a Facebook account. Too many things are on there that I can't see without one. If you know me in real life and think I should add you, send me a message.

So, LJ, long time no see

miraba — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:39:43 GMT

Today is my birthday. I am not feeling old yet, although I am depressed that I am not closer along to a PhD at by now.

I just received the best present EVER. Babe, you are too good to me.

Snowflake season!

miraba — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 01:43:45 GMT

Since everyone else is posting about them right now, I thought I'd update to say that I got a snowflake from miarr. You are the Scout to my Medic, baby.

Costume Con 27

miraba — Mon, 04 May 2009 23:31:49 GMT

For those I haven't talked to about such things, I do a bit of costuming. Not very much, but enough for the occasional hall costume. I have worked in a number of green rooms at conventions, but never went on stage.

This past weekend, Costume Con 27, the convention run for costumers, by costumers, was my first competition. Erik and myself entered as part of the Greater Columbia Fantasy Costuming Guild's group costume, Costume Con 1889, a steampunk masquerade within the larger masquerade. We were horribly nervous (or I was), since the group almost entirely consisted of master-level costumers, and Erik and myself were novices. A group costume must compete at the level of its highest-ranked member, so we had to compete at the master level. I was most worried about the workmanship of our costumes, and forgot to mention a few details during workmanship judging (but did remember to tell them that were novices). However, once our presentation started and the laughter began, I relaxed and knew that, if nothing else, we had nailed a presentation award.

If you have ever been to a convention masquerade, you know that judging can take a long time. There were 43 (technically 45) entries, and the more entries there are the longer it takes for the judges to decide on all the awards. I went upstairs and had a drink, came back downstairs and wandered around, chatted at the bar for a bit, and eventually the judges came back. Workmanship awards are given before presentation awards, and every award is handed out from the lowest class to the highest, ending in the best of show award. As they went through the novice awards and Erik's name wasn't called, I felt really bad for him. His props were amazing and he really deserved something for them. If they didn't think the work on his jacket was deserving of anything, I was ok with that. There were some really good novices.

So when they called a three-way tie for best in show workmanship and our group was called, I freaked just a little bit. We rushed the stage (or I did) and waited while the other groups were called and came up. I don't remember very much of what happened, but I do remember the following exchange with Marianne (journeyman level, prior to the masquerade).

Me: We are so screwed!
*handslap across Erik's body*
Marianne: We'll have to compete as masters!

By the time we were called for our next award (master class presentation), I had stopped caring, although I still ran up to the stage. I *did* care when we won the Spazzy Award given by the Sick Pups Costuming Guild (we had written our presentation aiming for the award), but there were only three of us up there. Maybe everyone else was at the bar.

So, our awards:

Best of Show, Workmanship - Diverse Overkill
Master Class, Presentation - Best Concept
Spazzy (funniest, sickest presentation)

Photos will be coming out in the next few days. In a week, I'll be starting the research and design phase of my next few projects.

I am so screwed.

And back to school I go.

miraba — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:48:03 GMT

I've been accepted into Howard University for the fall semester. I'll be pursuing a master's degree in anatomy.

On an unrelated note, my primary hard drive had a snafu and Windows is being a pain about copying over some profile information. I'll be gone from certain email and IMing until I work out what I'm going to do.

Dammit, not again.

miraba — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:40:54 GMT

Just lost the second rat in two weeks. Chocolat was found on her side with her teeth around one of the bars. Once we were able to get her out, we found she was having breathing problems. Doing the rat Heimlich and "the fling" didn't help at all. She never moved her body at all and didn't blink.

We will be getting no more rats until we know that Tira is healthy.

Battlestar Galactica

miraba — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 02:44:47 GMT

Huge kudos go to the writers for last week's episode. Sure, it was a massive infodump, but they got themselves out of every corner I thought they had painted themselves into.

Why are there Cylons 1-6 and 8? 7 was (presumably) destroyed.
Why did the Cylons end the first war? They were bribed.
Why was there such a jump in Cylon technology between the wars? They were given it.
Why don't the 5 have memories of the past? They were wiped by Cavil.
Why do the Cylons have a god? It makes them human.
Ellen's appearance in the fleet was nicely retconned by saying Cavil wanted her to stay alive. Likewise, there's an explanation for the rest of them surviving as well.

It's no longer November 4

miraba — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:44:51 GMT

It's been almost two hours, but I'm still feeling a bit stunned. Every so often I get sniffly, and if I read something stirring I get a bit teary, but mostly I'm just staring at the monitor as the last of the ballots are tallied and entered on the map.

And now, a bit of political humor...

Erik fails. Really hard.

miraba — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:58:28 GMT

So, in the process of attempting to fix Firefox (specifically, the non-workingness of Firefox that seemed to happen at random), he deleted my profile. The only copy of bookmarks I have is from 2004.

SO HARD.

CA Supreme Court rules 4-3 in favor of gay marriage

miraba — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:31:11 GMT

Accordingly, in light of the conclusions we reach concerning the
constitutional questions brought to us for resolution, we determine that the
language of section 300 limiting the designation of marriage to a union “between a
man and a woman” is unconstitutional and must be stricken from the statute, and
that the remaining statutory language must be understood as making the
designation of marriage available both to opposite-sex and same-sex couples. In
addition, because the limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples imposed by
section 308.5 can have no constitutionally permissible effect in light of the
constitutional conclusions set forth in this opinion, that provision cannot stand.

--C. J. George, J. Kennard, J. Werdegar, and J. Moreno

My nose is leaking

miraba — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:16:08 GMT

Staying home today. I think this is the second time I've called in sick in a year.

PS3 acquired

miraba — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 01:30:32 GMT

$400 for a sealed 60GB model.

miraba — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 02:01:01 GMT

So, I bought a copy of Rock Band for the PS3. No, we don't have a PS3 yet.

Gankutsuou marathon

miraba — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:00:25 GMT

If you're in the area, I'm taking suggestions for when to hold my Gankutsuou marathon. Also, do people have a preference for one session or two? The series is about 11 hours long.

Rat with satellite dish

miraba — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 12:39:44 GMT

One of the rats had surgery on Friday to remove a tumor. Pictures here.

Corset has arrived

miraba — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 17:00:02 GMT

I bought a corset at a recent flea and it's just arrived. Pictures will be forthcoming.