I've really not been good at journalling lately.

All I have right now is that there's a goat roast marinating in my fridge for dinner tonight. I... I'll let you know how that turns out.

And I am only peripherally paying attention to politics lately, for the same reasons I can't watch movies which involve characters embarrassing themselves (such as Welcome to the Dollhouse). I don't have enough emotional distance there. I desperately want things to be better. I don't want to shout and cry and throw things in frustration.

So... no, I didn't watch the RNC, thanks.

This weekend should be fun. Going to a friend's belated birthday party on a barhopping trolley tonight, and some time this week I will watch a double feature of The Godfather parts I and II at the Castro Theatre, which should be awesome.

I'm mostly recovered from my illness last weekend, and I've been trying to get enough sleep.

I'm still not used to this ergonomic keyboard. It certainly slows down my typing, but that may be a good thing. It's just hard to change these bone-deep typing habits. Argh.

Oh, another goal for this weekend: take out my film SLR and take some actual photos, and get my rolls of film developed.

Dear whatever-you-are,

I know we haven't talked in a while, but please stop raining shit down on my loved ones and their loved ones.

Love,
Me

I am, in fact, sick.

I'm also working at lot at... work, which is somewhat novel (vs some previous jobs). Today and yesterday, however, I managed to catch Plague (or rather, something with a low grade fever, body aches, and suspiciously swollen tonsils.)

That was not in my plan.

I have a long weekend ahead of me, and I am hoping to do Fun Things (such as cookouts and the like) in it, so I'm crossing my fingers that I get better soon.

I *did* drag myself to Oliveto for the tomato dinner last night thinking that I could do that and be back at work today, but my immune system smacked me down in the middle of dinner. The appetizers of luscious wonderful tomatoes were totally worth it, though. And Mike was kind enough to schlep me home, much in the way he would take home a drunk girl, and put me to bed and make sure I was ok.

Maybe I should take a shower, but I don't want to get all crazy here. Maybe more sleep is in order.

Dear Zipcar,

It just didn't work out. When you said you would be like Flexcar, but better? I'm sorry -- that doesn't appear to be the case.

I noticed a random $15 charge in my bank account this morning. I called Zipcar, figuring that this was something minor and easily resolved. I was told that it was a Zipcard replacement. I said that I had already been charged for a card replacement several months ago (I had lost my wallet, and had to replace everything), and the rep argued with me, told me that I hadn't been charged for that replacement, and that I should call back when I had looked over my bank statement. So I did. I had indeed been charged for a card replacement back in May.

I called back, and was informed that it wasn't a card replacement, it was an annual fee. When you purchased Flexcar, you assured former Flexcar people that they would not have an annual fee for a year. What you did not say was that since there was a $15 difference between Flexcar's $35 annual fee (which, under Flexcar, was waived if you used the account... but that's beside the point) and Zipcar's $50 fee, I was charged the difference on my 1 year account anniversary.

I did not get any notification about this, though I was informed that I "should have". When I asked if this charge could be refunded to me, I was informed that the only way to do that would be to close my account.

So, I did. Sorry to break up with you in such a hurried way, but clearly this wasn't going to work out. I think I will go to someone who makes me feel more valuable, maybe someone who can appreciate a long-term commitment on my part. Someone like City Car Share, maybe.

Regretfully not your customer any longer,
Joy

<3.

... and so far I've added 61 new books to Delicious Library.

Now I'm resisting the urge to read some of them until I get some more filing done.

And sorting. And making of lunch.

My good friend hungerf9, who I have known almost as long as his older brother, pathwalker (*mumble12years*) is taking a show to the Edinburgh Fringe, again. Only this time, he's going to do the entire run rather than one week, and he's not going to try to make Scotland understand about Ice Fishing (no really, the play was brilliant, they just don't have it there.)

Details about the show, entitled "Anna the Slut and the (almost) Chosen One", here. It deals with Sumerian legends, really.

I really can't say it any better than he does, though, so I will include Andy's words:

The Big Ask or: Edinburgh is Expensive.

As many of you may know, I'm taking a little show that I wrote to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August. We had great reviews in our first run at the Cincy Fringe, and now we're on our way to performing in the largest arts festival in the world: We will perform in Edinburgh from August 2-25, taking only the 13th off in an attempt to preserve our sanity.

We will be one of nearly 3,000 shows competing for audiences and attention. It's an incredible opportunity both for myself and the company; for two of our actors, this will be their first time out of the country. Period. They haven't even been to Canada.

But it's also incredibly expensive. Our actors are all providing their own transportation to the festival, but as a company, we (this is the editorial we, buy the way) are paying for our venue rental, housing, and all advertising costs. This would be pricey in the best of times, but with the weakness of the dollar, well...

These costs come to about $15,000.

We're expecting to make maybe $3,000 in ticket sales.

But! The Know Theatre of Cincinnati, where I am resident designer for most of the year, has generously agreed to act as co-producer, offering us the umbrella of their 501(c)3 status to allow us to accept tax deductible donations.

We've already received an amazing $5,000 contribution from some wonderful supporters in Cincinnati. Now if we could just get 200 people to donate 25 bucks each, we would be pretty much set.

So now, I pose this question to you: Do you pay taxes? Would you like to pay less in taxes? If so, please consider heading over to the convenient web donation page for the Know to throw a couple of bucks in the hat via credit card or bank transfer. If you do, be sure to write "Hunger Warrior Theatre - Anna the Slut" in the comment box so that the Know can tell it's meant for us.

Not only will you be helping a group of wide eyed young actors realize a late summer's dream, you'll be giving my career a big boost.

And you will also be ensuring that I don't have to eat Ramen for the rest of the year.

I understand the uncertainty and tightness of these economic times, so I certainly don't want to imply any sort of obligation. Any and all help, whether one dollar, twenty dollars, or simply emotional and moral support, is appreciated.

Thanks. We now return to our irregularly scheduled LJ.

Also, if this sounds neat to you, maybe pass this along? See if anyone else wants to chip into the hat for a bunch of young actors?

Interesting article on sunscreen effectiveness: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/special/sunscreens2008/

I'm pretty happy that the stuff I have most recently bought (the Olay Complete Defense Daily UV Moisturizer, Sensitive Skin, SPF 30, thanks elusis!) is recommended. Mike's Kiehl's actually is not, and it costs more than twice as much.

I need to remember to always apply sunscreen. I actually got my first (minor, fortunately) burn in a long time the other weekend when I was outside in a sundress and forgot to cover my shoulders. Oops. Fortunately I'm pretty good about at least remembering my face, ears, and neck, and other stuff is generally more covered.

Edited to add: Oh, great. Now that I've looked more closely, Olay's manufacturers do conduct animal testing.

I happened to notice that in the time I've had my YouTube account, I've only added 4 things to favorites.

But I do happen to really, really like them.

In most-recently added first:

Discovery Channel: I love the world

How To Irrigate Your Nasal Passages

Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - "Thou Shalt Always Kill"

And, last but not least (in fact, going to watch it again):
Elvis Costello - Lipstick Vogue (live)

One more reason disastrid rocks:

London Bananas

Londonist writeup

I personally am convinced it is some sort of Slapstick Conspiracy. BEWARE. Will be cream pies next!

I've given my notice, I've signed the offer letter, I've warned the cow-orkers...

I'm going to be working at Linden Lab!

Yes, The Second Life People.

I usually delete recruiter emails, maybe after laughing maliciously at the ones that want me to move back to Michigan for a 3 month contract position supporting BMC Patrol for a "major auto manufacturer". But jupiters_angel and eriquitacha both love their jobs so much it's maybe a little scary, and so does everyone else I've met that work there. So I actually responded. And interviewed, and interviewed again, and interviewed some more. And they persisted in being amazingly cool and smart people, and they wouldn't give me a reason to turn them down and stick with Yahoo!, damnit. And then they made me an offer. A very nice offer. And... I really was quite happy to take it.

I'll be doing systems engineering, still. The first engineer dedicated to working on the open platform, which seems very interesting. And as an added bonus, I'll be working in San Francisco for 4 days a week, with 1 day in Mountain View.

And I'm pretty excited about this.

My last day at Y! is July 4th, and my first day at Linden is July 14th. Also yay week off!

(And for all those who responded to "Big News!" with "You're pregnant? You're getting married?" - Sorry. No.)

(from an IM conversation)

me: so now there are 3 girls on our team, and we're all in the same cube.
one of the guys I mentioned this to said that it would be really horrible (but funny) if someone hung a glass ceiling over it.

j: heh

me: I said that if they did that, I'd bring a rock next day.

I have a couch I bought from my friend Travis that needs a slipcover, and I'm trying to decide what I should cover it with (not bacon.)

My living room is painted in a light grey with very dark grey and white trim and a white ceiling, and the other furniture is black/brown color. It's a first floor apartment, so it can get a little dim. I'm leaning towards the black/white paisley myself (and I'm going to get swatches too, so I can see what they look like in person), but I would like some other opinions.

Edited to add: I have two cats, one light and one dark. Screwed either way!

Poll #1202210 Interior Desecration
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which of these do you like the best for slipcovering my sofa?

I'm tired, but I can't leave until 6:30 because I'm oncall, and it's easier to be oncall in the office and not haul about my laptop. I think I'm not so jetlagged as yesterday, though.

I would really like to eat sushi tonight, but I suspect I may simply flee to my apartment if I am not presented with a compelling reason to leave my house. Probably because of all the travelling, I'm not feeling social, per se. I would be fine with a cocoon of close friends to shield me from the wider world -- a small dinner, some cocktails with people I don't have to work on conversation with. We'll see what comes up.

Now is one of the rare times I wish I had a car so I could leave work whenever and not deal with transit. Still, how can I complain with a free shuttle taking me within .8 miles of my house? And if I feel so inclined, a bus that will then take me the rest of the way.

This weekend I am mostly oncall, though it looks like I might actually be able to wrangle a brunch with ophymirage (just dragging the laptop), and then dinner on Saturday, and probably watching Speed Racer at some point too. Excitement!

HELLO! I am jetlagged and punchy!

And people expect me to do real work today! And I have a pager, and it keeps. beeping. I think I may have to CLEANSE THE INTERNET WITH FIRE.

*twitch*

Anyways, I miss breakfast in Europe. In Vienna, the lovely owner of our hotel brought us yogurt, fruit, cheeses, bread and rolls, cold cuts, and delicious coffee, juice, and tea every day on two huge trays. In Paris, we went to a place called L’Estaminet in the Marché des Enfants Rouges and had lovely tartine with butter and jam and croissants with delicious espresso and unfiltered apple juice - their petit dejeuner (breakfast) special. And in Barcelona the Hotel CRAM (which is very whizzy and designery with very poorly thought-out showers and light controls) had an equally lovely breakfast, with delightful yogurt and fruit and coffee and buns and local cheese and cured meat and and and...

Why, when the continental breakfast is in reality this good, why oh why does it always suck so much over here?

Damnit.

She got me this for my birthday:



It's lovely, and I think I now have 3 friends who are ordering one as well. She got me the herbal tea sampler, and the blood orange tea is very tasty.

In Paris: "Sandwicherie? Pretty sure that's not a word."

In Barcelona: "Croissanteria? What the hell?"

We're coming home tomorrow. Maybe some pictures then, if the camera isn't broken. My SLR is doing something weird.

It's been a good birthday. 30 feels fine; thank you for all the birthday wishes!