Date: 2009-07-08 19:15 Subject: Interesting interview Security: Public Mood: thoughtful

This is an edited and updated interview with Lois McMaster Bujold for any fans who happen to stop by here. Very interesting ideas on a variety of subjects pertaining to writing.

Date: 2009-06-25 06:52 Subject: Checking in Security: Public Mood: awake

So here's what's up with me lately:

+ basil doing nicely. I'm really quite geeked about this, in fact. I don't know why, because I used to have massive veggie gardens at my other place and routinely grew a lot of my own food. Why three pots of basil should thrill me like this is a mystery. But still, it does.

+ survived taking my daughter to freshman orientation, even though I almost DROWNED in the four inches of rain in 10 hours part. I have never been so wet in my life unless submerged in a pool, bathtub, or body of water.

- the rain has me pondering ark kits.

+/- am very jealous of my daughter's laptop, a graduation gift from my mother (well, technically, the money used to purchase it was from her, since what my mother knows about computers would fit on the head of a pin). It's very slick and shiny. Want. Also checked out those weeny little netbook things. They're so cute! I think that tiny keyboard would drive me mad though.

- my continuing wallow in the box of books sent by a friend has yielded more duds than finds lately, alas. But better to have not paid for any of those duds.

+ new haircut that I'm fairly happy with. I think, though, I'll have him tweak it a bit next time.

+ The Gov. of SC's little mystery jaunt has afforded me an opportunity to make fun of politics again. Yay!

+ tweaks I made to a recipe I found successful.

- I allowed myself to be bullied into this hideous early morning oil change appointment. Ugh.

So, what's up with you all?

Date: 2009-06-18 08:24 Subject: Hmmm Security: Public Mood: sleepy

Having just attended my own kid's high school graduation, I understand why there's a need for behavior policies, believe me. But this is a little ridiculous.

When I was in high school, we wouldn't have dared pull some of the stuff the kids did at my daughter's graduation, like throwing rolls of toilet paper and tossing beach balls around. Times have changed in the last 30 years...

Date: 2009-06-13 11:54 Subject: Placeholder Security: Public

Maybe now that I've survived my daughter's high school graduation I'll find time to post here again.

Date: 2009-05-18 22:43 Subject: Updatey goodness Security: Public Mood: bouncy

Among the positives in my life right now:

+ Basil-from-seed not dead. What, you ask? Well look, as a rule, plants that live outside my house thrive and prosper. Plants that have the misfortune to be quartered within my house? Tend to meet unpleasant, sad endings, usually within a week of relocating here. It is far too cold here to put basil seedlings outside at this time of year, so I thought why the hell not? And lo! Of the six I started with, I still have three. That's not bad for me and an in-the-house-for-now plant. The last one I tried to have died a mysterious death within 48 hours. Apparently my green thumb turns black when not outside.

+ Bought my kid a car: I now no longer have to haul her all over the place or, even worse, let her take my car and be stranded. It is remarkably free-ing, although annoying when I get a call on my cell phone asking me if she can take her own car to the store 2 miles away to buy gum. Uhm, yeah. That's why I bought you the damned thing, child.

+ Outdoor plants flourishing: the tulips and daffs are past it, but my lilacs are gorgeous right now and the iris are about to burst forth. And the fruit trees smell marvelous.

+ Managed to figure out what was wrong with my digital camera and fix the problem. Go me! I am not mechanically inclined, as a rule.

+ The kid was awarded a nice amount of money from the alumni association of the college she's attending as a merit scholarship. Less money I have to pay this fall.

+ A charming post card in the mail today from Mechaieh/Ribbons. I love post cards, and hardly anyone sends them in these interweeb-driven times. Not that I don't like getting emails from friends and messages from long-lost college pals on Faceb@@k, but it's not the same. Same with getting a real live letter in the mail. I have one friend who still insists on them, and it's a pleasure to get one, sit down with a cup of tea, and wallow in her news.

Date: 2009-04-30 22:55 Subject: Check it out Security: Public Mood: amused

For my school district. Who worked their way up to 5 or 6 emails and two phone messages 6.5 hours today.

Date: 2009-04-30 09:59 Subject: Oh for crying out loud... Security: Public Mood: annoyed

You know, I realize that people are easily worked up, but is there REALLY any need to start up a panic about Swine Flu? My school district is driving me insane—I’ve now received 4 emails in three days, all marked URGENT!!!, and two voice messages. Jesus people, Get. A. Grip.

I realize this is serious and all, but am I the only person who thinks it does no good to whip people up into a lathered frenzy of panic over this?

Date: 2009-04-24 12:52 Subject: Well Hello Summer, feel free to stay awhile Security: Public

Expected temperatures in the 80's. In Maine. In APRIL. Beach weather!

Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth;
whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul;
whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses,
and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet...
I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.
~Herman Melville from Moby Dick

Date: 2009-03-23 18:39 Subject: A Sad Legacy Security: Public

He shall never grow old.

Date: 2009-03-16 08:14 Subject: Signs of Spring Security: Public Mood: cheerful

* Melting snow.

* Temperatures in the 40's and 50's all week!

* Baby squirrels playing in the field behind my house.

Some of the snow pack is melting, allowing for an initial assessment of the damage to the flower beds and shrubs. So far, things don't look too bad. One of my lilacs has taken a bit of a beating from the ice storm we had back in November and lost a few of its lower branches, and the blueberry bushes are looking a little sad, but I think they'll spring back. Otherwise, everything seems to have survived pretty well.

It'll be a while before all of the snow is gone. We have piles around the house from raking the roof all winter that are still well over 5 feet high, and I wouldn't be surprised if those were still here in late April. Still, things look hopeful, and that's what Spring is all about, right?

Date: 2009-02-25 13:37 Subject: I am easily amused Security: Public Mood: cold

First, is anyone really, I mean really surprised that Bobby Jindal would refer to Obama's stimulus package as "irresponsible"? He was cracking me up in his response to Obama's speech last night. That really earnest sincerity before the camera that he was going for just came across as "This is me trying to snow you into thinking I'm the future of this country" and, frankly, just a little creepy. Plus, what a big fat hypocrite. Seriously--it's irresponsible to dole out this money, but he's going to take 97% of what was offered to his state. Dude, pick a picket on the fence and sit. on. it.

Also amusing--while watching the speech, the camera cut aways to members of Congress is always entertaining to watch--the old guy who has this "crap, I have to stand up AGAIN" look on his face, the constant bobbing up and down, who's looking disgruntled, who's looking like "I'm missing my nap for this crap", who actually falls asleep (question: did Justice Ginsberg do just that? Not that I blame her--recent cancer surgery and all, she's entitled to nap), etc.

My favorite moment, though, came when Obama was talking bank regulation and John McCain's face--hee! "He looks like he ate a lemon", I said to my daughter. A minute later, the face grew even more embittered. "He looks like he ate the whole lemon orchard now!" she laughed.

And so he did.

I noticed he was sitting with one of my state's Senators, Susan Collins. We think she can do better. Really.

Date: 2009-02-22 18:22 Subject: Seen on the back of an SUV Security: Public

A bumper sticker that said "Read Joyce YES I SAID YES I SAID YES"

Date: 2009-02-04 16:22 Subject: I query out of ignorance (and laziness) Security: Public Mood: crappy

For my English readers: just how much snow did you people get?

I'm asking because I keep seeing pictures in blogs and Facebook and stuff, and it looks like, forgive me, nothing to be excited about. Unless, of course, you never get any snow at all.

Me, I've got about 4 feet of it right now. Maybe that's why I'm mystified...

Date: 2009-01-26 22:30 Subject: Because it's been too long... Security: Public

Seen over at mechaieh's place:





What type of Fae are you?


While I realize this is just a stupid quiz, I have to say one thing. I have never been depressed for more than a day in my life. Cynical, though, I'll cop to...

Unstable, I'll leave up to you, dear reader. Bwahhhahahaha.

Date: 2009-01-25 22:48 Subject: Still wishing for mad knitting skillz Security: Public Mood: determined

Want.

That said, am planning on accomplishing two knitting things this year if it kills me. One, I am going to knit myself a blanket. Two, I am going to learn to use dpns if it kills me. And it might.

For those of you who are wondering just why I can't cope with more than kitting things that are squares and rectangles, keep wondering. I don't know myself. It's not that I don't have at least decent fine motor skills--I played the violin for years, after all. My biggest problem is that I have a great deal of trouble reading knitting patterns. Or envisioning how something should look. There's probably a medical term for the latter defect--I suspect it's the same thing that makes me such a rotten chess player. I can't see far enough ahead to realize what's coming, and I can't visualize the board.

Someone suggested to me recently that maybe I ought to try crocheting, that it's "easier." Ha. Hahaha. Not for me. If you can make things just by chaining forever a single chain, I can do that. Once you have to start hooking up stitches, I can't do it. I have tried and tried to crochet, and for some reason, I cannot hold the hooks right. My daughter gets exasperated with me, but there you go. The only thing I've ever managed to crochet was a large lump.

That sweater is so far beyond my skill level it's laughable. But it's damned cute.

Date: 2009-01-21 07:41 Subject: Inauguration Post Mortem Security: Public Mood: bouncy

Like most people, I was pretty much glued to my television yesterday. I could write the standard stuff about the Inauguration, about how excited I was (I admit to just giving a tiny hand clap and a yay! when he finished the oath of office) to see The End of Bush and witnessing history, etc., but everyone's already written all that stuff, and I'm not sure I could do it better. So instead, you get my personal highlights outside of the really big moments:

+ Michelle's dress, v. 1: win. Great color on her, loved the brocade, which I thought was really dignified, and it managed to be uplifting and fresh without being overdone. The First Daughters also looked great. As I mentioned to eilatan after, it was all not screamingly couture, and given the current economic climate, I thought that was appropriate.

+ Aretha Franklin's hat. Now THAT, my friends, was a hat. It was the Mother of all hats. It was a Hat that deserves to be marked by a capital H.

+ The quartet playing Bach's "Air" melded with "Simple Gifts": I knew if my daughter was watching she'd be drooling over that guy's clarinet, and I was right. Paraphrasing her in the car on the way home from school: "Did you SEE that guy's Tosca clarinet? *sigh* I want one of those. And he had a leather ligature! I wonder how well those work?"

+ The Speech. Obama has given some electrifying speeches in his career, but yesterday, I'd argue, was not the day for one. Yesterday was about setting a course, reassuring the public, and sending a message. I'd give him an A for accomplishing that.

+ I thought it was utterly adorable--and completely normal--that Malia took pictures through the entire swearing in and other speeches.

+ I think I enjoyed Joe Biden's entrance onto the platform as much as anything. That sort of hands-out, leaning back "Heyyyyy, can you BELIEVE this shit?" posture just cracked me up. I love Biden. I really do.

+ For me, the enduring image in all of this, though, is my current desktop background: Bush's helicopter taking off and the Obamas and Bidens waving from the steps. I found myself sitting there worried he wasn't going to leave. I know that's silly, but seriously. I kept saying "Go, already. Be gone, Satan!"

+ Speaking of Satan: Dick Cheney and his wheelchair. Okay, so many things I could say, but I'll confine myself to this: I couldn't decide if he looked like Dr. Strangelove or a Scooby-Do villain. On the whole, the hat and cane kind of tipped it over to Dr. Strangelove. Someone else I know thought he looked like evil Mr. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life, and in retrospect, I can see that, too. As long as the man returns to his rock and crawls back under it, I'm fine.

+ The procession: Al Roker acting like an ass. Imagine that!

+ The parades: I have to confess that I switched over to C-Span because Wolf Blitzer was, by that point, on my last nerve with a vengeance, and I'm glad I did. See, the town just to the north of us? Their marching band was chosen to do the parade. And we know a lot of the kids, and their band director, and so we got to see their big moment of glory, and it was exciting. Seriously.

+ Michelle's dress, v.2: Win, except for the shoulder. But that's just me. I'm not a fan of the one-shoulder thing. I think the dress would have been a complete marvel strapless, and as it was, I thought it rocked. Kind of fairy tale princess for the statuesque woman.

I wish Obama well in the next four years, and lots of luck. The man has a lot of crap to deal with. I am confident he'll somehow manage to deal with it.

Date: 2009-01-16 13:23 Subject: Lemming-like, I follow Security: Public Mood: amused

Grab the book nearest you. Right now. Turn to page 56. Find the fifth sentence. Post that sentence along with these instructions in your LiveJournal. Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

"'And what step do you propose taking,' inquired Parker, sarcastically."

From Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers

Which is what I get for having a dialogue-heavy book to hand, I guess.

Date: 2009-01-15 07:43 Subject: Snippets and things Security: Public Mood: cold

Yes yes, I am alive. I've had the flu. Miserable crap. Still not firing at 100%, but I've definitely improved over the last two days. I highly recommend Theraflu, by the way. Great stuff. And it only makes me half as insane as Nyquil. I'm sure that will be a great disappointment to those of you who have witnessed my rambling thought process while riding the Nyquil Express.

A few things of note: one, W.D. Snodgrass has passed away. This is notable to me for two reasons: first, he was born in Wilkinsburg, PA, which is literally the next burb over from the one I was born in, so I've always been interested in his career; also, I admired his work a lot. "Heart's Needle" is one of my favorite poems, and I find this piece wildly amusing. If you're not that familiar with Snodgrass, a little action on Google will help you find out all you could possibly want to know and some mighty fine work.

Also, farewell to Ricardo Montalban. Khaaaaaaaannnnn! (I know I'm not the only person who will write that in a blog today, but seriously, it was a toss up between that, "Welcome to Fantasy Island!" or some joke about fine corinthian leather.)

On the negative side of the score:

- Crikey it's cold out there. The current temperature outside is 6 degrees. This is a slight improvement over yesterday's 4 degrees. Booyah.

- It's going to be even colder tomorrow. Blah.

- I'm still coughing up a lung, which has reached the annoying stage of my illness.

On the plus side:

+ The trend of positive blogging. A lot of my usual reads are determined to maintain an upbeat attitude by posting a daily list of small blessings, listing 3 things that made them happy that day, etc. Beats the hell out of all the gloom and doom. If anyone wonders if I'll be doing that, well. Probably not. I'm gloomy by nature. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy everyone else's efforts to cheer the rest of us up. And you know, reading those kinds of posts does remind me that I too have small blessings. They're probably buried in cat fur under the couch or being held hostage by dust bunnies under my bed, but they're around here somewhere...

+ Made a new recipe for dinner last night that was really awesome--potatoes and onions baked in balsamic vinegar. I was a little worried while it was roasting that the vinegar was going to be overpowering, but it wasn't at all. Definitely a keeper.

+ My daughter's quarter grades this quarter? Nothing under a 98 average. No lie. She's bloody unreal.

+ My 7+ year old cat, who has never had much use for any of us, appears to be mellowing in her middle age. Normally she just used to cuss us out if we were late with the food and spent the rest of her time ignoring us or hiding from us. But lately, she's been more inclined to hang out with us. She's not ever going to be a lap cat, but the fact that she will, say, sit on the arm of the chair next to me and purr is a significant improvement.

+ The last Peter Robinson thriller, Friend of the Devil, was awesome. I've actually owned the book for ages, but I have this weird thing about not having a single unread book available to me, so I kept putting off reading it because then I wouldn't have any unread books (I know, I said it was weird, okay?). But I finally read it the other day, and it was great. Well-written, solid. Robinson has written some really amazing books in the last 10 years, and while this one isn't one of his more amazing offerings, it's definitely worth checking out. One small caveat: although it isn't necessary to have read an older book of his called The First Cut, I found it helpful that I was familiar with it.

+ Friends for coffee: which is where I'm going right now. To make coffee and get dressed.

Date: 2009-01-03 22:34 Subject: Resolved...sort of Security: Public Mood: busy

Seriously, how CUTE is this? I wish I had madder knitting skillz than I do. I would so make that. For, uhm, my nephew, yeah.

Alas, I have never quite mastered knitting in the round. I'm hoping to change that this year, though--before my teacher (aka my kid) leaves for college and can't help me out of any messes I might get into. Heh.

So I hope everyone who reads here is off to a good 2009. I'm still wrestling with financial aid forms (seriously, how the hell am I supposed to know how much we anticipate paying in taxes next year? They might as well ask me how many baby elephants I anticipate seeing in my dreams or something equally ludicrous), but otherwise, it's been good. 3 days down, 362 to go. Heh.

I didn't end the year quite right--a writing project I've been working on got put aside and I never got back to it. So did a knitting project I got frustrated with. Hope to correct that once I'm done form wrangling, which I will be by the 15th. Because I have to be by then. Also hoping I can stop burning my hands on my woodstove. This could be achieved if I'd take five seconds to put the darned gloves on, like I'm supposed to.

Also vowing not to kill in my imagination this year. Probably won't manage that, either. I generally slay about 6 people mentally before March. Perhaps I can at least cut the number back?

Also resolved: to post more here about what I'm reading. Right now it's just a trashy murder mystery, but I have other things in the up and coming pile that may be worthy of comment.

By the way, I realize that real classical music aficionados tend to look down their noses at Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, but Joshua Bell's latest recording of it is the bomb. Highly recommended.

Date: 2008-12-31 00:42 Subject: Holy cow Security: Public Mood: annoyed

FAFSA Form for college aid=many many pages of hell.

This is not how I want to be spending the end of the year.