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| 2008-07-24 15:04 |
| One of these things is not like the other... |
| Public |
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So, I'm browsing the library catalog, searching for books on raising chickens, and everything is going fine until I decide to scroll down to the library's list of "Similar Books". Um. Le what?
Storey's guide to raising chickens / by Damerow, Gail.
Lost and found : dogs, cats, and everyday heroes at a country animal shelter / by Hess, Elizabeth.
How to build small barns & outbuildings / by Burch, Monte
The Exeter blitz / by Rees, David, 1936-
The barn; a vanishing landmark in North America by Arthur, Eric Ross
Wuthering Heights / by Bronte, Emily, 1818-1848
Small-scale livestock farming : a grass-based approach for health, sustainabilit by Ekarius, Carol.
Ringworld / by Niven, Larry
I don't even want to know.
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| 2008-06-17 13:34 |
| Get rich quick! |
| Public |
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So, who do I have to email at The Associated Press to collect my million dollars? Because, I am totally turning all of you in. As well as John Scalzi and Corey Doctorow, and LJ, because the Friends and Friends-of-Friends functions makes everyone on LJ qualify. That's thousands of people, tens of thousands. The sky is the limit! I will never have to work, again, mwahahahahaaa.
No, really, I think it would be really funny if Teh Internetz turned each other in and everyone demanded the offered bounty. Much more effective than banning AP content. Use it and then have someone squeal on you! Squeal on yourself! Spread the love, people.
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| 2008-06-16 15:29 |
| Olympic Sculpture Park |
| Public |
 amused |
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I finally went to the Olympic Sculpture Park, today, on my lunch break. It's only a mile or so from my office, but that's too far to walk round-trip in an hour if I actually want to go into the park, and not just wave at it from the street. There is, fortunately, a convenient bus. Once, again, King County Metro comes through!
Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, model 1998, fabricated 1999
Stainless steel and fiberglass painted with acrylic urethane
Claes Oldenburg
American, (born in Sweden), 1929
and Coosje van Bruggen
American, born 1942
19 ft. 4 in. x 11 ft. 11 1/12 in. x 11 ft. 8 1/4 in.
On Loan: Paul Allen Family Collection, T2006.17
© Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van BruggenIntroduction
Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen fabricate large-scale outdoor sculptures inspired by popular commercial objects. Inflated to a colossal scale and imbued with decidedly figurative characteristics, these familiar items, such as the typewriter eraser, are unlikely public monuments: images recognized by many, but ambiguous as civic messages. The typewriter eraser was a commonly available office tool when the artists initially conceived the sculpture, but by the time this example was made, the computer had eclipsed the popularity of the typewriter, making such quaint erasers nearly obsolete.
I really enjoy this object. Usually, I'm on the road beneath the Eraser, looking up- from that angle, the Eraser is kind of aggressive. It looms. Standing above it, peeking through the trees, the Eraser is more playful. It makes me think of children running down a hill. I can almost hear the eraser shrieking "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" as it goes, the wind whipping through it's brush. If the Eraser were on a sidewalk, maybe I would interpret it as a skate-punk or bike messenger. I don't think that would be nearly as much fun.
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| 2008-05-23 16:03 |
| Bored, now |
| Public |
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It's a slow day at the office and I'm not particularly motivated to make myself useful. The UGF called to report on her appointment and remind me to drink responsibly—one of the few coworkers I like has resigned and her going away party is after work tonight. In other words, do not get smashed and maudlin before our phone interview for Lily. That's a big 10-4, little buddy!
Also, she's making halibut and asparagus for dinner. YUM! I love halibut, yes, very much. I also love asparagus, especially the recipe she found on the PCC website: ( Asparagus Sautéed with Mango and Capers )
It's very good, even without the lemon and using only one mango. But the mangoes we get are pretty big, so… Anyway, we find that it serves two generously with enough leftovers for lunch the next day.
I got bonito flakes and a selection of kelp at Daiso, as well as some odds and ends for obento: wee-tiny reusable sauce bottles, cups and molds for rice or sweet potatoes, etc. I love that store. It's full of cheap plastic crap, but Japanese cheap plastic crap, which is 1000x better than American cheap plastic crap. Really.
*
My office building recently replaced the building directory. It was a simple slab of wood and stone with an alphabetical listing of every company/office. Now we have a touchscreen thingy at the end of the elevator bay, which scrolls weather and news headlines when not in use. I avoid looking at it, as much as possible, but recently I've been repeatedly accosted by visitors trying to use the thing.
From my perspective, these encounters are street theatre. Every one begins and ends the same, with little variation in the middle act:
Visitor: Excuse me, but do you work here?
Mint: Yes, I do.
Visitor: Do you know what floor [blank] is on?
Mint: No, sorry, I only know what's on my own floor.
Visitor: Well, do you know how to use this… [helpless, frustrated wave at electronic directory]… thing.
Mint: No, sorry, I've never touched it.
Visitor: Well, (@&^$@#^&!!! Thanks, anyway. [Deep sigh, seething with suppressed violence.]
Fortunately, I can hop onto the elevator and be whisked to safety before the violence is unsuppressed. I live in dread.
*
Someday, eventually, I will be able to talk about the insane, awesome, fabulousness of our holiday in BC. I'm almost certain. Currently, I can't even be coherent about it. The UGF and I still have a tendency to squeal and clap our hands like 5-year-olds at random moments, and it's been over two weeks. There is not enough squee! in the world. We had a wonderful time: great food, lovely people, a surfeit of Danny Michel, and DOGGIES. Since I've already posted the requisite dog-photo, today, have a Danny Michel photo:
I am deeply amused by this picture.
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| 2008-05-23 11:27 |
| Brain dump |
| Public |
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LILY! Oh, Lily-bug, won't you come home with me and be my squishy?
( Read more... )
Hopefully, we'll have the phone interview with her foster mom very, very soon, so that I can think about something other than DOGGIES! It's been almost a year since Kafka passed, and we are ready for a new kid.
Other than Miss Lily, the only things I really think about any more are Danny Michel (the world's greatest musical talent, foreverandeveramen) and food.
My preoccupation with food means that I now notice the preoccupation of others, and I am curious: who else is on an Allergy Elimination Diet? Anyone? Bueller? I imagine there is probably an LJ community or two to exchange stories, recipes, and rage at the industrial-medical establishment. I was pretty calm about it, just happy that I am doing so much better now, until I started reading more (and more and more) and realized that the reason my body is fucked up probably has more to do with modern medicine and NSAIDs than genetics or environment or wtf-ever. Now I get a little snarly about it, sometimes. Still, I am doing much better, and I'm looking forward to testing lemons (again) this weekend. I miss lemon and lime.
Last week I went to Daiso for lunchboxes (bentos), since purchasing premade food is such a risk. I've been carrying my own breakfasts and lunches for about 5 weeks, and though Tupperware works fine, I wanted something cute, pleasant to carry and handle and eat from. I may go back to day for some accessories. The boxes I got have multiple compartments and came with their own belts, but accoutrement might increase my pleasure. Who knows?
The guidelines for the diet caution against calorie restriction, for fear of losing too much weight too fast. The point is not to lose weight at all, but instead to find out what foods are making one sick. It's worked so far, but I'm also eating a LOT of food and still losing weight. Maybe not weight, actually, but inches, mostly around the middle. I don't mind, because I've fattened up like a prize hog the past two years. It's hard to feel like doing anything physical when it hurts to walk or even to just sit and crochet. Now that my pain is nearly gone, and my energy is WAY WAY WAY up, I've been doing a lot more walking. Every lunch hour is walk walk walk, exploring downtown, reacquainting myself with my city. Oh, Seattle, how I have missed you! What a pleasure it is to walk your ridiculously steep hills and bizarre stairways, to wander through your crooked alleys, urban nooks and crannies.
I need to restart keeping my food and symptom journal, though. I let it lapse while we were on holiday, and never started back up. Bad Minty, no cookie! (No gluten, no egg, no sugar, no dairy, nooooooo cookie. But vegan macaroons are Yum.)
Brekkie: Tuscan musk melon, lox, hibiscus tisane.
Lunch: Coconut rice & curry green beans w/ green garlic (left over from dinner), mint tisane.
Dinner: TBD. Argh.
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| 2008-05-12 21:51 |
| Better |
| Public |
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It's an odd quirk of my psyche, and perhaps that of others, that sometimes I don't notice how bad things have become until they get better. In my case, I am pain-free for the first time in almost three years. I didn't even realize how constant and challenging my situation had become until recently.
My new doctor (may her name be hallelujuhed in heaven ever and anon) did not order a battery of expensive tests and then tell me that there was nothing wrong with me, like the last two. Instead, she listened to me, said "are you willing to try something?" and yes, I really, really was, and now I am MUCH, MUCH better. I am so much better that some days I cry a little, just from the relief of being able to get out of bed without rolling onto the floor, first.
I'm on a hypoallergenic fast, which means that I don't consume wheat, corn, dairy, citrus, nightshades, caffeine, sugar, et cetera. Once upon a time, I would have said that there is no life without cheese and bread, but today I walked to work through Pike Place Market, and got up the hill to 1st Ave without having to stop and massage my knee, shake out my feet, or gasp for breath, and it was totally, completely worth it. Oh my fucking god, the difference six weeks makes. Glory. Joy. Peace and lovingkindness. I am verklempt. Better, I am human, once more.
I managed to mostly stick with the fast through our recent holiday. Canada/BC is extremely friendly to my new requirements, which made it much easier than it could have been. Asian cuisine is my new best friend, and BC cuisine is strongly influenced by various Asian cultures, so no hardship there. The day I threw out the fast resulted in some swelling and mild pain, but I was prepared for it, and willing to take the consequences, and all told it wasn't too bad. Some discomfort, and then back to tree bark and bee spit.
As a matter of fact, BC helped me to discover foods and methods of cooking that I hadn't previously considered. I'm eating breakfast now, as instructed by Dr. K., and the brekkies we had at our various B&Bs were highly instructive. Substitute rice or nut milks for the dairy, and life is golden.
I'm really glad that I started the fast a few weeks before our trip. I had time to learn my new rules, get used to the whole thing, so it was pretty easy to accomodate my requirements. Also, the vacation itself was the first real holiday, with no work of any kind, that I've had in about four years. Also, also, it was a dream within a dream, full of crazy unreal wish-fulfillment, in which the UGF and I were dubbed "groupies" by an Irish journalist, while living the crazed fan-girl dream of extended up-close-and-personal contact with the object of our obsession, without a restraining order being filed. Crazy. Seriously, crazy fabulous weirdness of the best kind. I have a new tattoo to prove it!
All in all, life is not bad. It's been a long time since life was not bad, and I'm really happy about it. I'm hoping the not-badness will continue. I have hope, which is an accomplishment in and of itself.
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| 2008-03-05 15:10 |
| I'm learning to knit for this... |
| Public |
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This is so awesome I could die:
Sock Wars III kicks off on 9th May 2008 and will run until only one blood-soaked champion remains.
If you are brave enough sign up to do battle you battle you will be emailed a top secret assassination dossier on 9th May 2008. This file contains the details of your target and an exclusive, never-been-published-before knitting pattern with which assassinate them.
To kill your target you must knit them a pair of socks in the pattern (your "weapon") and mail it to them. Once your target receives your parcel they are dead and must post their death on the website.
They must also send you details of their intended target (who becomes your next person to assassinate) along with their unfinished knitting (which becomes your new weapon).
All the while this is going on, someone has been assigned YOU as their target!
Prepare to live in fear... kill or be killed!
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| 2008-02-11 23:09 |
| We Average 35 |
| Public |
| poems |
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We average 35
or perhaps that's our mean
our median
algebra was many years ago
our bottles line up
yours on the counter
mine in the cabinet
beige and brown and blue
i have an ache in my jaw
a raw pain in my right heel
you get anxious
neither of us sleep well
there's a twinge in my hip
that wasn't there before
i swivel on the corner, pop!
and hope no one saw
we're getting old, you say
yes, yes i know
we'll drive through canada
pretend it's a decade ago
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| 2007-12-19 20:55 |
| The Most Beautiful Woman In America |
| Public |
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Senator Hillary Clinton, on the campaign trail, working her ass off.
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| 2007-12-03 13:43 |
| Pimping |
| Public |
| Danny Michel |
| life, music |
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It's been a long, strange fall. The UGF and I have been to a few shows; I'm holding down my day job and putzing along on a couple of writing projects. We've had some life issues: challenges, as the kids say these days. We're holding steady.
Saturday we saw Stuart McLean and the Vinyl Cafe Christmas show at the Moore Theatre, here in Seattle. It was big, big fun. Not only did Mr. McLean gift us with two new Dave and Morley stories, but one of his musical guests, Danny Michel, rocked our socks. Samples of his fabulous music can be heard at his MySpace page or his website, and purchased from Maple Music. If there were justice in the world, Mr. Michel would be disgustingly famous, but he's not. Let's fix that, shall we?
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| 2007-11-02 09:05 |
| Black Sheep |
| Public |
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I *have* to see this movie. The trailer is hysterical!
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| 2007-08-20 10:57 |
| Security |
| Public |
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For professional reasons, the majority of the formerly public entries in this journal have been changed to Friends Only. Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience.
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| 2007-08-15 15:57 |
| FYI: Call for Submissions - Humor |
| Public |
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Got a comedy script? Let's see it.
The Other Network COMEDY CONTEST is looking for comedic talent with maximum flavor, a distinctive voice and a singular point of view.
Other contests give away software. We provide access to the people who most often make the decision to hire writers -- OTHER WRITERS.
Now in its fourth year, the contest (brought to you by the fine folks at Un-Cabaret and sponsored by XM Satellite Radio) offers REAL ACCESS to and ADVICE from some of the most active, experienced people in TV comedy. Executives. Agents. Managers. Not to mention writers for "The Simpsons," "Saturday Night Live," "Sex and the City," "The Office," "Everybody Loves Raymond" and other shows that have become benchmarks of TV comedy.
Two of our most recent winners got their scripts into the heads of EXECS at COMEDY CENTRAL and got notes from SHOWRUNNERS who've expressed interest in being attached to the projects! Previous winners have had their work seen by agents at UTA and Metropolitan, managers at Brillstein-Grey, executives at Fox and Comedy Central, producers and award-winning TV creators.
We don't promise you riches and fame. But no matter what happens, you'll get advice you can use to strengthen your work and have a better shot in the future.
So here's the deal:
Your work can be an original piece of writing or a 'spec' of a TV series that has aired. Any comedy format on paper, tape, disc or file (sketch, short, animation, monolog, etc.)
Multiple submissions & re-submissions OK (but please do a serious re-write!)
Material that's been optioned by another network is NOT OK (this contest is about opening a pipeline for people who don't already have access to the business).
HOW TO ENTER
a. Print out the ENTRY FORM on the contest home page: http://www.uncabaret.com/idevaffiliate/idevaffiliate.phpid=115&keyword=contes
t&custom=6
b. Send us your script(s) or disc(s)
+ signed entry form for each submission
+ $40 per submission (check to 'Un-Cabaret')
Mail to:
UN-CABARET
137 N. Larchmont Blvd. #107
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Submitted material must be post-marked no later than Dec. 1, 2007.
For more information, visit http://www.uncabaret.com/idevaffiliate/index.php? ref=115
Deadline: December, 1, 2007
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| 2007-08-15 14:30 |
| Chaya's Walking for the Cure! |
| Public |
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Click here to sponsor our friend Chaya
Eighty-five percent of the net proceeds from the Breast Cancer 3-Day benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world’s largest and most progressive grassroots network fighting to end breast cancer.
Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures. Thanks to events like the Komen Race for the Cure® and the Breast Cancer 3-Days, the organization has invested nearly $1 billion to fulfill its promise, becoming the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world. For more information about Susan G. Komen for the Cure, breast health or breast cancer, visit komen.org or call 1-800 I’M AWARE.
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| 2007-06-20 19:29 |
| (no subject) |
| Public |
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Kafka Bear
April 22, 1992 - June 20, 2007
So, we'll go no more a-roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.
For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.
Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon.
-George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron. 1788–1824
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| 2007-06-13 12:49 |
| Casperian Books |
| Public |
| books |
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Casperian Books is offering a super deal on their current titles. You can get all three books for $25 with FREE SHIPPING. Even if one of the novels isn't quite your thing, this is a great bargain. If you've been putting off ordering (for some unfathomable reason!), now is the time to get 'em all.
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| 2007-04-11 12:51 |
| Hat, meet ring. |
| Public |
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I feel like crap, today. Yesterday, I was Sneezy Louisey. I'm hoping it's allergies and not a cold. In either case, I'm making stupid little mistakes. Very frustrating. Soup for lunch, again. Soup kills germs DED! I hope.
I finished a silly little poem for a silly little contest, this week. Now, I need to write a less silly poem for a less silly contest, or find something in one of my notebooks that suits the guidelines. Fortunately, I finally submitted our tax returns (one less deadline to meet) and am thus feeling much less burdened, overall. Burdened equals blocked.
The money situation is very stressful. I simply don't have enough to do the things that need to be done. Writing doesn't pay very well, and I have few other skills that can be bartered. My day job is only earning enough to keep a (rather alarming) roof over our heads. Frankly, I could make significantly more taking a second job as a dishwasher or something, but then I would be away from home way, way too much. A job outside the home is simply not a viable option for us.
Which segues into the next topic: ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) metafandom is a-buzz with the perennial fan-vs.-pro fiction topic. I don't really think the word "debate" is an appropriate way to describe the posts, counter-posts, comments, et al, that inevitably result, but I also dislike the term "wank", especially when most of those involved are trying (with shocking success) to be reasonable and sane.
Most of the writers that I like write for money. My very favorite writers write for money. Whether they write fan fiction, whether they sell everything they write, alive, dead, brain-eating zombies, they are (or were) writing for money at least part of the time. In my case, I can't afford to have many hobbies that don't have some sort of solid return. Money is best. I need money. Writing is so extremely time-consuming that if I am not earning something from it, I can't afford it. I also crochet, and while I'm not paid in cash for that hobby, it does pay: 90% of the gifts I give are crocheted; I crochet winter accessories and household items for myself instead of buying them. The ROI on yarn and time is low, but significant, and offsets what would otherwise be purely cost.
This is the reason that I think claims of quality, in re professional/paid versus amateur/unpaid writing, are utter and complete bullshit. At one point, long ago, I could afford to write for fun. I lived with my parents. I'm the same person, but now I have a mortgage. I'm convinced that if Emily Dickinson had ever moved out, she would have tried harder to sell poems. Or gotten a job as a... I don't even know- the late 19th century equivalent of a dishwasher, I guess. Would Dickinson have been a "better" writer, if she'd sold more? I doubt it, but the poems she sold would have necessarily reflected the writer's market of her time, and therefore would have been very different from her legacy. What about Stephen King? Is he "better"? Better than whom? Dickinson, Shakespeare, my second cousin twice removed who writes chatty local interest and regional history books?
Writers write. Whether one gets paid for writing has more to do with personal finances and non-writing-related skills than deathless prose. People who go around claiming otherwise are nitwits, whichever side of the fence they are on.
That said, I'm off to do a little writing for very little money.
America has always been a country of amateurs where the professional, that is to say, the man who claims authority as a member of an élite which knows the law in some field or other, is an object of distrust and resentment.
-W.H. Auden, Faber Book of Modern American Verse, introduction (1956).
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