For anybody who feels like playing, it looks like
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novel_in_90 is starting up another round on january one. I will be playing: I have Grail to finish.In a minute here I'm going to shower and dress and put the dog out and then go swim before my massage therapy appointment, and then I'm going to go over the see
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ashacat and netcurmudgeon and the boys. I will be delivering food and distracting children. I will probably bring my spinning, too, because young Sunil is fascinated by the spindle. I will try not to drop it on the coffee table this time. (Sorry.)evynrude is coming too, which means I will be touching my guitar for the first time since October. Pray for my friends' ears.Well, we'll have fun, even if we suck.
Then I get to come home and not do much of anything until tomorrow night. Maybe read. I need to read.
Post-novella ennui in five, four, three--
I'm taking the rest of the year off. That sounds so impressive when I say it that way. *g*
Meanwhile, outside the wind is howling, and it's time I got up and packed my plantation. See you on the other side.
- Mood:
lazy - Music:Morning Edition
I guess now I get to sit and stare and think about how to fix The White City so it works. Maybe I will spin and listen to NPR. That seems a sitting and staring sort of occupation.
So close to the end. So close. Two ot three days' work, if I can just figure out what the work should be.
Meanwhile, today's teacup is one sent to me by
stwish, made by his friends at Earthbound Arts (I also have a mermaid and a faerie queene--ornaments--from there, and both are lovely) And today's tea is the last of the crepe faire from Stash--the last crepe faire ever, I suspect, as they've discontinued the flavor.
- Mood:
warm - Music:Car Talk
We made out first ever Yorkshire puddings, which came out awesome and we were all boggled at just how easy it is. Next time, a little longer in the oven, and we will use a metal muffin tin instead of the silicon muffin cups, because, well, the silicon cups were too slippery and the puddings just levitated themselves out of the cups rather than getting tall. Not enough friction!(The muffin cups were a gift from
truepenny: this was their inaugural run. Thank you!!!)Here are the socks and the blanket my mom knitted me, because I promised to brag about them.
And here is my first ever hank of yarn, which I gave to my mother. It's "art yarn," which is to say it's not art yarn at all. It just sucks. But hey, it's mine and I made it. We tried the prime rib recipe from Cook's Illustrated, and came to the conclusion that while it is good, our family
And Yorkshire puddings are a permanent addition. In two years, they'll be an ancient family tradition.
And then I beat the freezing rain home and let the dog out.
Now I'm going to make some tea and put on my wrist braces and go sit under my new blanket and work on The White City, because TBRE is out in the world tonight and I have the whole luxurious house to myself.
Oh, and gotta water the tree.
- Mood:
content - Music:Lucho Bermudez - Fiesta de Negritos (Radio Paradise - DJ-mixed modern & classic rock, world, electro
It was written by Sarah Monette, and don't forget to check for easter eggs. *g*
There might also be a S3 trailer. Maybe.
2) Good climbing night tonight. I only did four walls, but one was a new 5.8 on the 45-foot overhand, which includes a little roof--and I didthe first thirty feet of it in one big push, which made me feel really good about myself. Two other routes were 5.9s on the slab that had previously eluded me. I didn't do 'em clean or neat, but I did 'em. And next time I will do better. (I also sent a 5.8 I have gotten before.)
Joy was redoubled by listening to two nice climber boys from Colorado bitch about how our 5.8s are like everybody else's 5.10s. I mean, I know it, but it's nice to have confirmed.
3) I am making borscht tomorrow, dammit. TBRE and I are both giving blood. We have an excuse to need beets and beef. (It was also a good excuse for steak tonight.)
4) I'm on page 57 of rereading The White City and it hasn't fallen apart on me yet. There's always the next bit, of course...
5) Crowded House's "Transit Lounge" is so a gamma song.
- Mood:
accomplished - Music:KCRW - Alela Diane: White as Diamonds
Do a little Christmas baking
Do laundry (ongoing)
Make dinner and dispensatory casseroles
Mail last round of DNDGGD* gifts
Work on The White City**
Pick up ornament hooks someplace
In the category and occasional series of Things That Actually Work As Advertised, at
tanaise's urging, and due to a really good sale, I ordered myself a cotton henley from Lands' End. It came yesterday, I am wearing it, and it is awfully nice. Warm and thick and long enough even for my very long torso and broad shoulders. That is all and I thought you might like to know. (This is not a paid promotion. They also have turtlenecks.)
Tea today: gunpowder green
Teacup today:
thatpotteryguy's medieval mugNow, about those cookies... oh, right, I should eat something first.
The wonderful P. D. James on NPR.org
*December Non-Denominational Gift-Giving Day. They were supposed to go out yesterday, but, well, baby!
**Oh, lord, what a mess. Well, soonest begun is first ended. And other pithy Yankee sayings.
- Mood:
bouncy - Music:Morning Edition
tea today: peppermintteacup today: the little orange and white Chinese teacup I got at a Chinese grocery in Ann Arbor.
Up too late last night and awoke too early this morning for somebody who's supposed to be sleeping off a sore throat, but I kind of forgot to eat dinner yesterday (yeah, swallowing when your throat hurts sucks) so I got woken up by being hungry. Leftover oatmeal is becoming blueberry oatcakes as we speak, though, never fear, and I am unlikely to waste away.
Tonight, we expect a great big snowdump (It's currently beating up my friends in Maryland and Virginia) and I plan to spend today on more reading. Didn't get as much done yesterday on that front as I wanted--got distracted with side projects, Shadow Unit-related work, and talking to friends about Major Life Issues. Like you do sometimes.
Also made the last December Non-Denominational Gift-Giving Day presents, which I need to package up today and mail out on Monday. Or maybe next Monday, because the nice thing about DNDGGD is that it's not any particular day at all, so as long as you get it done in December, you're all good!
I did read a wonderful very short story yesterday, though. Sherman Alexie's "Distances," which is science fiction and four pages long and one the best after-the-bomb stories I have ever read. Simply amazing. I wish I'd known of its existence when I was writing my comments on my story in JJA's Wastelands anthology, because it would have affected what I said.
But now you know, so you have no excuses. (I've read Alexie's YA fiction, but this is my first time through The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, and it's just as good as everybody says it is. Not that he needs my hard sell)
I read it, told everybody on twitter how much I loved it, and promptly went back and read it again. It reminds me of, oh. "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas." Except different and wonderful. But it hits me in the same place, and it's as tiny and perfect and beautifully made.
Got thirty farm fresh eggs at the agricultural co-op on the corner when I went in to see if they carry Ace's dog food (they don't) so I suspect lunch is going to be an omelette. *g*
And now breakfast is ready, so it's time to microwave my beloved barley neck pillow and start that reading. Who would have thought I'd choose a career that was nothing but homework?
- Mood:
lethargic - Music: (WNPR - Live Stream)
morning temperature: -1 (with wind chill), 8 withouttea today: bancha. I awoke headache-free this morning, and am declaring myself sufficiently detoxed, though I'm going to stay off the hard stuff for a while.
teacup today: a very pretty brown Chinese-style tea bowl my dad sent me from North Carolina. It's slightly larger than a cannonical Chinese teacup, but smaller (though deeper) than a custard cup.
Still no fever, but the sore throat persists. I believe it to be the source of the cough rather than otherwise. No fever (99 degrees fresh out of a hot shower this morning) and no swollen tonsils. I did have a lymph node that was a bit poky-outy on Monday; suspect it was fighting a rearguard action against the virus. Poor noble lymph node. You will be recollected in the annals. (Mentioned In Dispatches. *g*)
Today, I still have no brain for storytelling, so I am going to work on my book review columns, which means trying to find something to read in this pile of somewhat scary books with naked backs and slave collar imagery that doesn't bounce off the nearest available wall inside of ten pages. Wish me luck.
In other news, a little link salad for a Friday morning:
Monster fireball dominates Geminid sky--a really spectacular APOD today. One of the few things I miss about Nevada is the stargazing. It's pretty much a wash out here. You can find places that are dark enough, but... actually getting a clear night in Winter?
via
jaylakeTitan has lakes! eeeeeee!
One of my earliest memories is reading National Geographic with my maternal grandfather. He was a plumber and an immigrant, self-educated, and passionately interested in science and the natural world. I got my habit of reading encyclopedias from him. he never thought it was weird.
When I was just about knee-sitting sized, the Voyagers were passing the gas giants. And NG was full of amazing photos. I know this stuff is everyday, now. But back then... we'd never seen anything like it.
It still gives me a little tight feeling in my chest to see something like a lake on another goddamned planet.
We are tidal beings. In this case, that tide is galactic....
and via
hominysnark:...I'm kind of in love.
And this? This is hysterical. And so NSFW:
- Mood:
cold - Music:NPR - Morning Edition
so far this morning: contracts and tax paperwork printed (4); epic battles with printer and TBRE's... idiosyncratic... wiring structures (6); epic battles with my own piles of office clutter (2); epic battles with kjitten over just who exactly gets to stand on the printer while it's printing (umpteen).The printer router the beloved
netcurmudgeon set up for me appears to have died the death (I wonder, somehow, if cats are responsible) so I had to crawl around under the desk and hook the printer up directly to the desktop, and then port files, and then--And all this while not feeling so hot, and in the throes of PMI (Premenstrual incompetence. Hormones give me brain fog.). And then the dog decided that it wasn't too cold to go chase the ball for a VERY LONG TIME before doing his business, which meant somebody had to throw that ball. Somebody inadequately dressed, with cold hands, because see above brain fog.
So that was my morning.
Is it too early to start drinking?
temperature this morning: 15 wonderful degrees (-2 with windchill (F, not C: I'm an American barbarian.)
tea today: orange passionfruit
teacup today: asian (Japanese? it's kind of borderline in size and design) teacup from San Francisco
I'm in the midst of a caffeine detox, just in case the weird fits of anxiety I've been having are triggered by the buzz. (I suspect it's more deadlines and incoming! baby and deadlines and slow-paying publishing industry and deadlines and coming to terms with my spinsterhood and deadlines. But the caffeine is something I can control.) While I don't consume a lot of caffeine (I drink a lot of tea, mostly green, and occasional black tea or coffee) I've noticed in the past few months that black tea or coffee in the evening will actually mess up my sleep cycle, which is new and unexciting. And I did NOT react well to the chai I had on Monday, or the coffee Sunday afternoon.
Anyway, after 72 hours without my drug of choice, I am feeling the effects--those headaches, I tell ya. Stuff is vicious. And I appear to be coming down with something, given my absolute failure to perform at the climbing gym yesterday (
hawkwing_lb had all my mojo. Don't ask.), the pain in my neck, and the occasional slight productive cough. No fever, though--I'm right on the money a degree low, just as I always am. Given all this, the fact that Grail is sitting at 185 pages, and the Impending Hoolidays, I have decided to take an advance on my Time Off as sick leave cum lazing about. Today I will read contracts and make some notes on Grail because I was brilliant in the shower this morning. And I am going to cuddle up with a peppermint-and-lavender-soaked barley pillow. And if any writing gets done, well, it gets done. And if it doesn't, well, that's okay too.
Basically, I'm going to putter and not set any goals. And hope my headache eases up a little. (Today's tea is an herbal blend with a little bit of green tea in it, so there is some caffeine, but not so much I would drink it for the energy boost. But it will probably take the edge off the discomfort, anyway.)
- Mood:
sick - Music:NPR- Morning Edition
Item the second: I really, really, really did not want to work today. But I applied butt to couch and told myself I could quit after four pages, and by then my peeps had shown up and were working, so I got 2300. Go, peeps. Go book.
See? Progress? Progress is so comforting. Especially since once
ashacat's baby comes, I expect there will be a week or so when I am being Baby Support and do not get much done. And I want to get a draft of this book finished (Even a Bad Draft) so that I can fix The White City and its chapbook "The Forty times Forty" and send them to Bill.Item the third: here's a cute photo of the existing beloved godchild, with me and The Jeff (not in that order).
That's what my hair looked like after the purple washed out. It's the Rare Good Photo of me, so enjoy it. *g*
Item the fourth: People turn around a lot in Greg Brown songs.
- Mood: content
- Music:Greg Brown - Dream Cafe
Well, no. They have better Cuban food there, for one thing. And much nicer beaches.
Tea this morning: mango passionfruit
Teacup this morning: I rinsed out the kitty in filing drawer cup.
Temperature: 42 degrees. Hardly worth recording.
And now, yoga, and then slouching towards work. Time to blow up something. Possibly a space ship and a couple of world leaders.
...huh. I have this sudden sense I've got my grove back. More carnage: fixes problems every time.
Did I mention I climbed a 5.10 yesterday? (okay, yes, I'm still geeked. But then, when I started climbing, one of the things I said to myself was "I would like to be good enough at this to climb 5.10 someday." And while having sent one 5.10a on the slab in not the same thing as climbing 5.10, not really, it puts it within reach. It's visible now, in a way it wasn't before. So cooooooool.)
- Mood:
awake - Music: (WNPR - Live Stream)
Stayed up late last night writing another thousand words on "The Unicorn Evils," which puts my workdcount for yesterday at a more-than-respectable 3200, which feels like accomplishment.
And now I am blowing off yoga class, under the tanaise-originated "World so cruel, bed so warm" protocol, with my own "cats so snuggly" amendment. Also, much of the midpoint of last night was a wash on the sleeping front, thanks to my endocrine system (I almost got up at 3:45 AM out of boredom but gutted it out and managed to eventually get back to sleep around five. I mean, if I had gotten up, I would have been super-prodictive already, but at what cost?
Anyway: cat drugs appear to be working (No wonder they give this stuff to neurotic housewives; stops 'em pissing in the corners) as I have now actuallly witnessed the Complain Department using the litterbox often enough to bribe her shamelessly every time she does so. (The cat who does not like cat treats--ANY cat treats--totally flips her lid for Greenies. I dunno what is in those things. Maybe diazepam.)
Of course, this means the Kjitten also gets bribed when the CD uses the litterbox, because we believe in a cultish application of peer pressure around here, and also he can hear me open the bag.
Anyway, I should probably get out from under these cats and feed them (because apparently I am the only Food Ape (tm autopope and feorag) around here who can actually remember to put food in the bowls of a morning*) and let the dog out and feed him, and then get to work--as apparently we** are not going to yoga class this week, and I am seriously okay with that. In fact, I might be seriously okay with not leaving the house at all today, although I should get to the gym and lift weights and run... unless I decide to go climbing tonight just for the hell of it.
*Well, it does mean I have a fuzzy organic alarm clock or two.
**and by we we mean I
- Mood:
groggy - Music:cats grooming loudly
And now I am home and it's later.
skogkatt made it down for the study date, and we were virtuous together. Not only did I get 2700 words on Grail, which puts me at 103 pages and 20,000 Word words.One quarter of a goddamned book.
Yeah, I had forgotten how satisfying that is.
And I just filed my copy for a book review. So my wordcount for the day is around 3500K, and I am taking tomorrow (the hell) off.
A convenient thing about the [bracket notes] thing as I write. It gives my internal editor a place to put its bile and grue, without actually slowing me down long enough to think of the right word.
It's almost like how fast I could write when I didn't know how.
Books read since last update:
47. Margaret Ronald, Spiral Hunt
[comments redacted pending formal review elsewhere]
48. Robert Charles Wilson, Julian Comstock
Oh, my God, I loved this. It's everything those Orson Scott Card books should have been, and more so.
49. N. K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
[comments redacted pending formal review elsewhere]
And a nice boy gave me his comic book at the climbing gym tonight, and it looks awfully pretty. So I shall read that tomorrow, and maybe the Girl Genius omnibus I have not read yet. And then I will tell you about them.
- Mood:
sleepy - Music:Reel Big Fish - Hungry Like The Wolf
- taken the dog out and thrown his ball for him
- put away the massive tea shipment that arrived yesterday
- made tea
- drunk some of same
- slowly and mindfully eaten two thirds of a very good muffin (paying attention while eating good food: best meditation available!) (although I like to think other parts of me are enjoying the food even when the ego is checked out)
- washed a load of dishes
- kneaded two loaves of bread and put one in the freezer
- set the other one to rise
It's 7:35.
I am about to yoga, shower, dress, put my wrist braces on and write at least six pages.
I think I may need to sleep all afternoon, or the virtue around here just might rise to toxic levels. Or possibly that was all a catwax of epic proportions.
...but the cats are so shiny now. And if I hadn't made bread there would be nothing for supper!
- Mood: accomplished
- Music:big dog sighs
thecoughlin, and The Jeff. And then I fell over with a splat.It's amazing how exhausting a couple of hours standing on a concrete floor saying "It's a Briard, a chien de berger de Brie, which is to say a French sheepdog first brought to North America by Thomas Jefferson, because they so impressed him with their herding ability when he was ambassador to France. In Europe, they're still used for their traditional purpose, and also as police dogs and home companions. The breed almost died out during the World Wars, when they were used as sentries and also by medics to help identify and recover wounded soldiers. There are images of dogs strongly resembling the Briard on tapestries dating back to the time of Charlemagne. This particular dog is a seven-year-old male; the black bitch over there is his daughter and the red one is his half-sister. The pale tawny one is the black one's half-sister on the mother's side. Yes, you may pet him; the breed standard calls for the dog to be reserved with strangers but confident, and he's quite friendly." can be.
Today, I plan to take the dog for a walk along the Laurel Marsh Trail to enjoy the foliage, work on the devil ponies, and not talk to another living human until TBRE comes home.
- Mood: awake
- Music:Weekend Edition Sunday
Now to get up, shower, take the dog for a run, go to the gym, shower again, and meet my Mom and
thecoughlin at the Hartford Pet Expo to help show off Briards all afternoon. Tonight for dinner, I think I will make tuna casserole. Because to forecast calls for torrential rains, that's why.
- Mood:
peaceful - Music:Weekend Edition
First, a trip to the gym. Later, The Jeff and I are going to see Ian Anderson in Wallingford.
The snowpocalypse has turned out to be just another cold rain, which--given it's still mid-October--I have to say I'm not too upset about.
Ahh. New England.
(All right, Bear. Up and at 'em. Those benches aren't going to press themselves... actually, given I'm climbing tomorrow for the first time in two weeks, I suspect today's training would be better handled as running, rowing, and swimming, with maybe a little yoga at the end. Entropy requires no maintenance, but upper body strength sure do.)
- Mood:
apathetic - Music:the cats looking for a window without rain on the other side
ashacat and Sunil and I went to the Glastonbury apple festival, where we ate all kinds of things that are absolutely terrible for you (Sunil liked chicken nuggets (with honey mustard!) and cheese fries, both of which were new to him, and cheese pizza, which was not. He did not get to try my caramel apple. The caramel apple and the apple pie were the healthiest things I have so far eaten today, except an apple just now: I think that dinner tonight needs to be fish and veggies or something, lest I just up and die.) and Sunil looked at fire trucks and a merry go round and a person in a dog suit and a toy truck and all kinds of things, including some beautiful wooden mobiles. I bought him one that had the sun, moon ("Moo!"), and stars: he was pretty excited when we got home and I brought it out and he realized that he got to keep it for always.He's still only moderately verbal (not sentences, but a few verbs--"Go!" and "Nom!"--and mostly proper nouns with a few things. Also, some adjectives now, including "Blue!") but he understands an awful lot more than he says.
Then we hung around with
netcurmudgeon for a bit and I helped him carry an air conditioner down cellar.Very rewarding.
Over the course of it, I ripped my jeans from waistband to hip pocket (thank dog for shirt-tails) which was sad but predictable, as I think I wore these same jeans to Torcon in 2003, and the sister pair failed last week. So on the way home I stopped at Old Navy and got a blue pair and a black pair, and also some pajama bottoms that are striped in green and blue and yellow and make me very happy. I also picked up two cheap long-sleeved T-shirts and three bra tanks for layering, because it's hard to have too many of such things in New England.
And now I have presentable jeans for the first time in a year or so.
Now I am home on the sofa with the dog, drinking some peach white tea, and contemplating reading Barbara Tuchman as soon as I take my online scrabble turns. There seems to be some suspicion of a nor'easter tonight and tomorrow, and we might get upwards of an inch of snow. This early in the year, that bodes a hard winter.
But we have dog food and toilet paper a plenty, and I just went and found my cardigans in the bottom of the closet. So it's unlikely we'll die of it.
TBRE and The Jeff and I had been talking about late-season camping in Arcadia next weekend, but I suspect if there's snow on the ground, we might bail. Also, there may be rain, and well--I'm right hard, it's true, but I'm also not stupid, and the whole point of camping is to go and unplug and have fun. And swimming to your tent through ice water is not fun.
- Mood:
relaxed - Music:Crooked Still - Undone In Sorrow
What? It's not English? Well, good, It doesn't deserve to be.
Anyway, notable of the trip:
- Williams College is beautiful, and so are the Berkshires, but we knew that.
- Williams College fed us, so if you thought about showing up and didn't, you missed cookies! and dolmas! and other things. Totally spiffy.
- The Inkberry people are awesome, and they also fed us.
- The Giant Ridiculous Dog came with me (as I was leaving, he kept looking pointedly at his leash and seatbelt, and I caved). Since I got lost at the college and he needed a break after the two and a half hours in the car, he came into the auditorium with me, and he was a perfect gentleman the whole time, except for one bark when we were applauding after Maggie's reading. Which, honestly, it was a story worth barking for!
- The outing was most likely very good for him, socially. He was quite nervous at first, but nobody killed him, and he got many pets and made several new friends.
- stealthmuffin was kind enough to hold his leash while I was reading, and except for trying to climb into her lap, he was mostly good for her, too.
- We had more audience than readers, which is always a sign of success!
- And then we came home safe.
- It snowed in both directions. Just flurries, but this is early snow for us. Oh, yeah, it's going to be quite a winter.
What?
Maurice Sendak?
...oh. *g*
- Mood: lazy
- Music:Morning Edition
Today is a largely unscheduled day, unless I feel well enough to climb, which is still up in the air. But I will be making
heresluck's amazing white bean and rosemary soup, an unvegetarian version (because I have chicken bones that need used). So after I shower I might run out to the Highland Park Market and buy more beans (hopefully without moth larvae), celery, and a loaf of the good garlicky ciabatta. MMm. Ciabatta.Then I'm going to get started on the next round of research. La.
It's a good life. The dog is making stretching noises.
- Mood:
flirty - Music:NPR-Morning Edition
Now, further displacement includes wondering if going to Penzey's and buying vanilla beans and ancho chiles to make vanilla/chile extract for use in brownies and cocoa is a reasonable use of my day. (Ooo, and while I was out I could pick up oranges, and garlic, and apple cider...)
...and go to the bank.
I do need to go to the bank.
*eyes bottle of white rum*
*bottle of white rum eyes back*
My inner Chaz may be winning this one. (Ancho. Vanilla. Brownies. OMG.)
- Mood:
distracted
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