Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Artemis Jones' LiveJournal:

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Saturday, October 11th, 2008
3:22 pm	it's time for a Saturday episode of good/bad Good: Beautiful, clear day outside, albeit a little chilly. Bad: My back and head hurt. No training for me today. Good: 500 words on The Lightriders this morning, and 500 words on Novel No. 2 just now. I rock. \m/ Bad: The state of the refrigerator. I'm working on it. Good: VIKING FOLK METAL. RAAR. \m/ ^_^ \m/ Bad: State of the global economy. Let me put it this way, when the company that administers two of your mutual funds uses language like this, it's bad: "Financial write-ups such as these are rife with hyperbole; it makes them stand out and it makes them just a bit more interesting to readers. In this case, however, terms such as 'cataclysmic' and 'unprecedented' are not only warranted, they probably don't do the events of the quarter justice." Heh. Good: I love living in the future: Robot suit for rent in Japan to help people walk. That is SO COOL. Though I note, with some distress, that they named it HAL...I also have to wonder if Sankai is a Terminator fan, or just really fond of irony. Bad: The inevitable nastiness of the final weeks of the presidential campaign. Good lord. Good: I am adding to my repertoire of Scottish fiddle tunes. And they even sound pretty good. Bad: Tacky, tacky, tacky. Good: I am baking brownies. YUM! Bad: Office still looks like a cyclone hit it. Good: Grove rit tonight that I am really looking forward to! Current Mood: relaxed Current Music: Korpiklanni's "Wooden Pints" stuck in my head (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, October 10th, 2008
7:24 pm	Princess Bride quotation meme When you read this, quote The Princess Bride in your journal. My two favorites: "Tyrone, you know how much I love watching you work. But I've got my country's 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it. I'm swamped!" **** Miracle Max: "Bye, kids! Have fun stormin' the castle!" Valerie: "Think it'll work?" Miracle Max: "It'd take a miracle." Together: "Bye!" (Mr. Darcy and I have actually been known to recite the foregoing to each other when one of us leaves for work in the morning. We are SUCH nerds.) Current Mood: silly (3 Comments |Comment on this)
9:22 am	hey, some good news Connecticut court overturns same-sex marriage ban. AWESOME. Current Mood: pleased (4 Comments |Comment on this)
8:50 am	I love snark. Especially science snark. publius1 reminds me that I'd meant to post this: So on Tuesday, John McCain cited a requested $3 million earmark for a projector at the Adler Planetarium as an example of Barack Obama's wasteful spending. As that MSNBC article indicates, there was a reason the amount was $3 million. You can also read the Planetarium's statement in full via their website. I won't even get into how buying new equipment saves money in the long run. I think of that every time one of our microfilm machines breaks down. Current Mood: snarky (4 Comments |Comment on this)
7:43 am	Friday! words. 500 on The Lightriders, yesterday and today. Nothing on novel no. 2 yesterday. Hope to get somewhere on it this evening. I think I may have successfully fought off the cold that was trying to take root this week, although it meant missing Gogol Bordello. *sad face* We will see. Other good things about today: all that's on my calendar is lunch with a friend in natsci, and a faculty assembly meeting. The latter has the shortest agenda I've ever seen for one of these things: a big honkin' list of announcements (yeah, pretty sure one of them has to do with $MY_UNIVERSITY's financial solvency) and one very short agenda item. Which, in turn, gives me time to pick up my cleaning, drop off payment for a reservation, maybe drop off the leather cordage, and still beat Mr. Darcy home. Poor guy; he left for work at 6:30 am. Ugh. Work today will be all about lesson planning. Whee. Current Mood: awake (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 9th, 2008
4:32 pm	Pratchett writes again on Alzheimer's From word_herder: "I have written 47 novels in the past 25 years, but now I have to check the spelling of even quite simple words - they just blank on me at random." ... "I felt that all I had was a voice, and I should make it heard. It never occurred to me not to use it. I went on the net and told, well, everyone. I wish I could say it was an act of bravery. It wasn’t and I find that suggestion very nearly obscene. "How brave is it to say you have a disease that does not hint of a dissolute youth, riotous living or even terrible eating habits? Anyone can contract dementia; and every day and with a growing momentum, anybody does." ... "Not so much a cure therefore as - we hope - a permanent reprieve. We hope it will come quickly, and be affordable. "In the meantime we hope for Aricept, which is not a cure but acts as a line of sandbags against the rising tide of unknowing." ... "Dad saw the cancer in his pancreas as an invader. But Alzheimer’s is me unwinding, losing trust in myself, a butt of my own jokes and on bad days capable of playing hunt the slipper by myself and losing. "You can’t battle it, you can’t be a plucky ‘survivor’. It just steals you from yourself." — Full article from the Daily Mail Current Mood: ... (7 Comments |Comment on this)
11:26 am	from my lunchtime reading Raising urban chickens. Quite a few people do this in my neighborhood; every so often I've run into an escapee. I always wonder how they got out because chickens are some of the stupidest animals I've ever encountered. Around where I live there are also raccoons, possums, cats, and coyotes to contend with. It'd be a peculiar sort of full circle, really—I think my dad had an egg-delivery business for awhile when he was in high school. Though right now we're not raising anything in our backyard but dandelions. The funniest thing about this article on I-985 is that it pretends to take the initiative seriously. But you can tell what they really think when they refer to Eyman as an "initiative entrepreneur". If this bit of idiocy passes it would confirm for me that voters don't actually read what they're voting on. You can pretty much take it as given that whenever Eyman proposes something, it's because the current rules don't allow him to do whatever the fuck he wants. That's not conservative, it's borderline sociopathic. Noted without comment, because I lack a few bits of key background information: Solar energy industry in Arizona disputes McCain's claims to support alternative energy. To play Devil's Advocate for a second: does he always vote against tax incentives for industry sectors, or just where non-oil-based energy is concerned? Current Mood: geeky (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008
2:46 pm	nihil_duce reminds me: Kaki King. Showbox. Monday October 20. You know you want to. (And if you don't know, find out.) Current Mood: pleased Current Music: Kaki King, "Pull Me Out Alive" (4 Comments |Comment on this)
1:48 pm	I love Slacktivist... ...even though Left Behind Fridays are no more (although apparently, for our edification and occasional appalled bogglement, he's going to do a similar analysis of the Left Behind movie. That's dedication, folks). This is one of the more intriguing discussions of bearing false witness that I've read, because it handily explains why we find these kinds of stories appealing (that Proctor & Gamble rumor has been around at LEAST since I was a kid, and probably longer; I think I once found a source dating it to as early as the 1960s), and ALSO explains why the stories you read about Satanism in the press typically have little if anything to do with actual Satanists. If any of those I've known personally have eaten babies it would be news to me. But toward the end, slacktivist gets to the meat of the matter: This is why the rumor doesn't really need to be plausible or believable. It isn't intended to deceive others. It's intended to invite others to participate with you in deception. Are you afraid you might be a coward? Join us in pretending to believe this lie and you can pretend to feel brave. Are you afraid that your life is meaningless? Join us in pretending to believe this lie and you can pretend your life has purpose. Are you afraid you're mired in mediocrity? Join us in pretending to believe this lie and you can pretend to feel exceptional. Are you worried that you won't be able to forget that you're just pretending and that all those good feelings will thus seem hollow and empty? Join us and we will pretend it's true for you if you will pretend it's true for us. We need each other. This doesn't just apply to urban folklore or religion, of course. The same scenario plays out in all kinds of contexts. Such as politics. Just for example. Current Mood: thoughtful (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008
9:27 pm	randomities I feel less anxious about my field when I don't read the library blogs. (However, I am tickled PINK that Annoyed Librarian is going to write for Library Journal. The shrieking has begun already. This is GOLD, people.) I think that I am eventually going to be out of academia. This bothers me less and less as time goes on. "Blueberry Girl", the poem Neil Gaiman wrote for Tori Amos's daughter, pretty much sums up my entire year. This appears in the draft of Novel No. 2, that I am working on currently: "...the priests of Hermes who lurk in the stoa outside the casino..." Heh heh heh. I'm not sure why this amuses me so much—possibly it's the concept of priests of Hermes lurking ANYWHERE. But if they were going to, outside casinos would be to be expected. It just fucking figures that the one bit of math I was never any good at (probability and statistics, if you were wondering—calculus? No problem, though I don't remember a thing about it now. Figuring odds? Forget about it) is the thing in which $PROTAGONIST is naturally gifted. FEH. Where's Mike Shackleford when I need him? Also: no debate commentary, because I was driving while it was on and my car does not support text messaging (YET). Conclusion: elect Brokaw. Current Mood: thoughtful (10 Comments |Comment on this)
7:35 am	knew there was a reason she creeped me out. Sarah Palin is the Smiler. Transmetropolitan fans will get it. For the rest of you...let's just say that it's not a compliment. (In other news: 500 words on The Lightriders this morning. We are into Massive Fantasy Battle Scene No. 1 and things are going well, though not necessarily for the characters.) Current Mood: awake (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 6th, 2008
7:34 am	monday words 500 on The Lightriders. V. good. Though I think I might have overcompensated for the relative lack of detail in the first draft; the first chapter is now twice as long as it was at this point in the action before. Oh well. Plan for the rest of the day: work till 5, possibly go to craft store (highly dependent on traffic), work on shrine scene and novel no. 2, practice fiddle, fall into bed. 'S a good plan. Hopefully I'll remember to eat dinner somewhere in there. Meanwhile, here's a poem that happydog wrote and which I like. A good and peaceful day to everyone. Current Mood: restless (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 5th, 2008
8:57 pm	weekend. done. Today was bizybizybizy. Wrote this morning and went for a run, then picked up sport jacket at Nordstrom, then went to Sickle rehearsal, which went pretty well. It feels like things are coming together, anyway. I think it'll be a good festival. And really I just have a few more tweaks to the shrine scene, which I will get done and sent out tomorrow—tonight, honestly, I'm just wiped. After dinner I stopped briefly by mskoi's for mask fitting. OMG this thing is going to rock so hard. \m/ I think I'm still a little behind on my sleep. I think the plan now is to write a little and then go to bed. I've been in kind of a weird mood all weekend, of the restless kind that isn't unusual for me at this time of year but is kind of uncomfortable. It's been good to have friends and Mr. Darcy around, the last few days. Thanks for being your generally awesome selves. Current Mood: restless (Comment on this)
Saturday, October 4th, 2008
9:17 pm	saturday words Today I got an idea. This idea requires me to go back to Athens for research purposes, because we didn't make it to Kerameikos cemetery last time. Also, 400 words on The Lightriders. None on novel no. 2. A light day, in other words. Mr. Darcy and I are watching Return of the King. Yay. Current Mood: tired (25 Comments |Comment on this)
2:34 pm	is this what taking the day off looks like? Well, it's true that I didn't go train today because my back hurts. Bleh. Yesterday I got out of work later than I'd intended and then got stuck in traffic, so it was comedy of cellphones to meet up with madcap_allie, rwx, & co. for the Neil Gaiman reading. As we were sitting there chatting about things like swords, guns, academic politics, and work projects (me: library and writing; madcap_allie: physics), we realized that the last time the two of us were at a Neil Gaiman reading together was in college. He was doing a benefit for the CBLDF and read at the Academy of Music in Northampton. In, probably, 1995. Time flies. The reading was awesome, and then we got a sneak preview of Coraline (!!) and he answered questions. Good times. We then discovered anew the severely limited dining options after 10pm in Seattle, even on a Friday night. Whenever I'm in danger of forgetting that this really is a small town... This morning I got up to discover that Mr. Darcy had decided to make breakfast. Yay. I had some bacon and ATE.MORE.PANCAKES, then went to fiddle lesson. Those go better when I practice regularly. Heh. Whoda thunkit? This afternoon I am going to write some more and make sure I have my lines for the Sickle main rit memorized. Shrine speech is not going to be memorized by tomorrow. (Sorry, photopagan, but you know I'm good for it, ne?) Then I am going to eat popcorn and watch Return of the King. The next several weekends are going to be busy (hey, a witch in October has a LOT to do!) so I'm going to relax while I can. Current Mood: sore (4 Comments |Comment on this)
2:12 pm	QOTD "But, look: these days, the way you know a man is gay is not that he owns a cat, it’s that he introduces the man standing next to him as his husband." — John Scalzi Current Mood: amused (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, October 3rd, 2008
9:23 am	I like this donation drive: A high school teacher in Los Angeles wants his students to read Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and needs money to buy the books. Octavia Butler was a brilliant writer, and Parable of the Sower is probably my favorite of her books (I say "probably" because I haven't read all of them yet). It's a thoughtful take on how religions are born and grow, and a rip-roaring yarn besides (though I had forgotten, until I wrote a reader's guide for it for the Science Fiction Museum, just how violent it is). Lauren Olamina is a fantastic character, and about the same age as the kids who'll be reading this book. It's also the source of a verse that certain among you will remember from Persephone's shrine speech this year. The one that ends "God is change". That one. (I don't habitually solicit donations on this LJ, and now I've done it twice in one week. Both just happen to be causes that are very important to me. I post them not with the expectation that people will donate; I'm aware that many of you are not in a position to do so. But if you are, and if this is something you'd be interested in supporting, then consider this an in-case-you're-interested-FYI. And if you've never read Parable of the Sower, you ought to. So there.) (ETA: Now fully funded! w00t.) Current Mood: busy (4 Comments |Comment on this)
7:46 am	friday words Friday. And a real weekend ahead. OMG. 500 words on The Lightriders revision this morning. The first draft of chapter 1 of Novel No. 2 is actually done, and the next bit of work that needs to be done on it requires more uninterrupted time than I have before work, so I'm saving that until after I get home tonight. Which is likely to be rather late. Work promises to be long and irritating today. But at least it's Friday. w00t. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
12:05 am	RAWK. \m/ No, not the debate, which I didn't watch; I was stuck on the reference desk all evening and spent the time I wasn't actually helping students working on a lesson plan for a beginning geology class and continuing my long slow march through the business collection. (It's out of shelf space, and they just keep buying shit.) But! Today I got 500 words apiece on Novel No. 2 and The Lightriders revision. To reiterate: RAWK. I also have a Sickle shrine draft I'm not overly unhappy with. This was a good day. ( Plus! FIRST meme! ) Current Mood: satisfied (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
12:36 am	SCOTUS meme From anavolena, dwenius, ikkyu2, brassratgirl, and others: As was demonstrated in an interview with Katie Couric, Sarah Palin is unable to name any Supreme Court Case other than Roe v. Wade. The Rules: Post info about ONE Supreme Court decision, modern or historic, to your lj. (Any decision, as long as it's not Roe v. Wade.) For those who see this on your f-list, take the meme to your OWN lj to spread the fun. Epperson v. Arkansas, 1968. An Arkansas statute prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools was struck down on Constitutional grounds. And now I am really going to bed. Current Mood: tired (8 Comments |Comment on this)