I made this half-pony half-monkey monster to please you [posts | friends | history] Etoile [ userinfo | user profile ] [ calendar | calendar ]

2012 Books [01 January 2012|12:00pm] [January - 3] 1.) Dragon Age: Asunder, David Gaider 2.) The Passage: A Novel, Justin Cronin 3.) The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins [February - 3] 4.) Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins 5.) Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins 6.) Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed [March - 4] 7.) Imajica, Clive Barker 8.) Old Man's War, John Scalzi 9.) The Ghost Brigades, John Scalzi 10.) The Last Colony, John Scalzi [April - 5] 11.) Zoe's Tale, John Scalzi 12.) The Forever War, Joe Haldeman 13.) A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L'Engel 14.) A Wind in the Door, Madeline L'Engel 15.) A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Madeline L'Engel [May - ] 16.) Perdido Street Station, China Miéville sail away?

Relevant to my Interests [20 December 2011|11:53pm] I didn't think I was as into The Hobbit as I was into LOTR. And then this trailer came up and I just... it was a damn time machine. I was back in 2001, 2002, 2003, back in the worst time of my life when suddenly Middle-Earth showed up and gave me a life-line, back in the years when I met almost every single one of you who still follow me here, back in the years when I made a very sudden decision to go get that film studies MFA which to this day is having unexpected results. I burst into tears when the dwarves began to sing. The good kind of tears. I'll be in a theater on opening day, where I belong, with the people I belong there with. [Edit: also, since I'm posting, thanks to fragbert for the cookie. :) ] 4 pirates | sail away?

Writer's Block: See you on the dark side [02 May 2011|07:12pm] If you won a free trip to the moon, would you go? Why or why not? View 1324 Answers Oh HELLS yes. In a heartbeat -- provided that it came with a guaranteed return trip. These details are important, you know. sail away?

Fandom Friends: I need your help! [27 March 2011|03:23pm] A friend of mine needs survey respondents for a graduate-level sociology class she's taking. Her survey is on fanfiction -- specifically on consumption, more than on writing. I think a lot of you would have a lot to say about this, so I told her I'd be happy to pass it along to fanfic-friendly friends of mine and help her get responses. It's a *.doc attachment that you can open in MS Word or Google Docs. If you wouldn't mind helping a friend of a friend, please leave an e-mail address I can forward it to! Accordingly, I'll screen comments to this post. sail away?

Updates [16 March 2011|10:40am] 1.) Okay, I did a PAX East write-up over at my real-name blog. Got that out of the way. Had a good time! Going to be starting the long, detailed series soon, with a meditation on strength of character (i.e., "strong and violent are not synonyms, and we lock ourselves into bad writing as long as we pretend they are"). 2.) Fangirl squee: guess whose husband called Comcast last night and got a 3-month free trial of HBO? I WILL HAVE HBO ON APRIL 17TH! I totally didn't see that coming. :D 3.) I have been reading Dan Simmons's Hyperion and Endymion books. +1 for creative future-vision, +1 for excellent storytelling... -10 for the Shrike. Holy fucking fuck what a bad idea to read before bed. But still really good. I especially like the part where the incarnation of the Messiah is a 12-year-old girl. 4.) Work work work. Job job job. Busy is good; busy = job security. sail away?

*runs by* [14 March 2011|06:43pm] I'm back! I went to PAX East! It was awesome and I'm going to blog about it soon. I went to my grandmother's funeral. That was not awesome and I'm not going to blog about it soon. By way of running by, fragbert, I thought you might like to know that I finally met danicia on Sunday. :) 1 pirate | sail away?

Crazy week [28 February 2011|03:30pm] So, Wednesday I turned 30. That was a thing. I was lavished with far more luxurious gifts than I deserve, and of course there was the cat. Wednesday afternoon, my grandmother died. It's been basically just a lot of ups and downs and chaos for the past few days. We're starting to stabilize now, as the weather hits its early-March ups and downs and chaos. On March 5 I'm running a meet-up for the DC-area participants at a blog I frequent. Where NYC and Chicago branches had 7-12 people coming, we have... somewhere between 20 and 40. I'm still trying to nail down the numbers. It's going to be complicated. And then March 10 I'm on a flight to Boston, and attending PAX East 2011. If anyone's curious, I posted to my gaming blog about my reasons for attending in the midst of the debacle. And if you don't know about the debacle, skip it. It's a mess. Not worth the energy. And right now, there is a Lady Gaga song I Do Not Like stuck in my head on a loop. (I actually do, I am forced to admit, like a number of her songs. Very much. This one is not among them.) Are any of you on Steam besides the half-dozen folks I've already friended there? 2 pirates | sail away?

Changes afoot! [23 February 2011|12:07pm] [ mood | cheerful ] So, today's been a pretty rockin' day. It's my 30th birthday. By which I mean, my tenth 6th birthday. I'll have to find an interesting stick later to go poke things with. But meanwhile... Those of you on Twitter or Facebook have probably already seen this photo, but this little guy came home to us last night. He's an itty-bitty year-old grey tabby, and he's my first-ever pet (except for one short-lived fish in college). And he's got a purr like a motorboat. 12 pirates | sail away?

I aten't ded [21 February 2011|06:48pm] I'm still here. :) I just remain, still, without much to say except in comments to others. Life is good. MY short, pithy statements tend to go to Twitter (I know, I've become one of those. *shakes head sadly*). The long essays I manage to write go to my real-name blog. And in the blessed absence of angst and the calm of a boring life, I haven't had much else to say. I've not kept a paper journal, either. I find politics too exhausting, I'm not currently in any fandoms, and although I am a kick-ass cook I don't think "made a mostly-vegetable stir-fry dish for 3rd day this week, so we don't get super fat" counts as "interesting" much. Families, changing circumstances, pets, and kids seem to be where everyone else gets a day-to-day, and for once my life is stable. That said, the future and the present may not be the same way. ;) I'm still keeping my book logs, even if I'm not reading enough books anymore, and I'm still reading, promise. Still, life marches on. 3 pirates | sail away?

2011 Books [01 January 2011|09:58pm] [ mood | nerdy ] [January - 5] 1.) Lincoln's Dreams, Connie Willis 2.) The City of Ember, Jeanne DuPrau 3.) The People of Sparks, Jeanne DuPrau 4.) The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins 5.) The Doomsday Book, Connie Willis [February - 1] 6.) Hyperion, Dan Simmons [March - 3] 7.) Fall of Hyperion, Dan Simmons 8.) Endymion, Dan Simmons 9.) Rise of Endymion, Dan Simmons [April - 4] 10.) Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins 11.) The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi 12.) Tomorrow When the War Began, John Marsden 13.) The Dead of the Night, John Marsden [May - 2] 14.) A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin 15.) A Clash of Kings, George R. R. Martin [June - 1] 16.) A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin [July - 4] 17.) A Feast for Crows, George R. R. Martin 18.) A Dance With Dragons, George R. R. Martin 19.) Blackout, Connie Willis 20.) All Clear, Connie Willis [August - 1] 21.) Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay [September - 2] 22.) The Anvil of the World, Kage Baker 23.) Reamde, Neal Stephenson [October - 3] 24.) The Bird of the River, Kage Baker 25.) Snuff, Terry Pratchett 26.) The House of the Stag, Kage Baker [November - ] 27.) Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud 28.) sail away?

Humbug? [01 January 2011|10:55am] [ mood | humbug. ] When I was a kid, something seemed really magical about New Year's Eve. And it wasn't just midnight; even into my teenage years something potent about that change lingered. But I definitely haven't felt it in a few years now. I somehow just... don't care. About midnight, about the clocks, about the calendars, about the mob of people who think they should drink booze and stand in Times Square and then now-what. I never make changes at the New Year. I did once make a significant determination for change in the second week of January, but that timing was more coincidental than planned. This year I think I have to, though -- because I'm finally winding up being sick (I came down with the cough and fever on Monday) and so hopefully this weekend I'll be able to start getting back to a semblance of "life," before I hit the workplace on Tuesday. On the one hand, better to be sick over an extended week of vacation than while at work, and on the other hand... what a waste of a week off! 3 pirates | sail away?

feh. [26 December 2010|07:22pm] Christmas was all right; weather is not. We are supposed to be on a train out of Providence tomorrow morning and it is looking less and less likely that we will be getting home in anything resembling a sane or reasonable fashion. There are many worse places to be stuck than my parents' house, where we have food and drink and shelter and wi-fi and laundry. It is good to be visiting with my parents. But we're really very worried about when, and how, we are ever going to get home. Right now I'm considering it about 60% likely that our train tomorrow will not be running (all of tonight's were cancelled). sail away?

Christmas Eve Eve [23 December 2010|12:12pm] [ mood | fail! ] Today, I have to: Empty the dishwasher Wash the pots and pans Load the dishwasher again Clean out the fridge Round up all the trash from all the rooms and take it out Do my laundry Do the sheets and towels, because I said I would (usually M does, but I offered) Wrap the last two unwrapped presents Pack up the presents for traveling with Pack for the trip, which may or may not involve a large snowstorm, either in New England or in DC or anywhere in-between Things I have done today: Showered Read 10% of a book Sat on the couch in my bathrobe with a towel on my hair Oh, wait, I also managed to make a cup of coffee. Hahahahahaha. And it's quarter past twelve. sail away?

[22 December 2010|07:10pm] [ mood | chipper ] *ahem* OMG YOU GUYS I HAVE A KINDLE. WHAT SHOULD I BE READING. (By which I mean, my husband is awesome and got me one for Christmas because he knew how very badly I wanted it, and he gave it to me before Christmas so I could have it on the 8 hour train ride to Christmas.) WHAT SHOULD I BE READING. 7 pirates | sail away?

Well, I'm back... [30 November 2010|06:33pm] [ mood | exhausted ] Have been on the road since last Weds with very sporadic internet access. Finally home. V. happy about this. Trying to catch up and may or may not ever succeed. Don't forget to leave me your addresses in my previous post, 'cause I got nifty cards to send this year while I was away! sail away?

It's that time again... [22 November 2010|02:50pm] In the craziness that has been the last year, I forgot that I usually do a thing for the holidays. :) If you want some kind of card (more-or-less Christmassy, although I prefer to avoid explicit religion myself), leave your address. :) I don't expect you to reciprocate although of course you may if you like. All comments are screened! sail away?

Survived round four... [15 November 2010|04:14pm] [ mood | depressed ] When I started this job less than three years ago, I was the 12th person hired on what a few months later became a team of 13. This morning we were a team of 6 and in a very short time we'll be a team of 5. I'm not sure how I made the cut this time, and I have that combination of relief and survivor's guilt. Also I really hate working in an environment where everyone's afraid of what the company's going to do next. Especially when the company is profitable and successful. It's no way to live. M'gonna make sure my resume's up to date and keep an eye out for interesting listings. (Also today has been like the worst Monday ever and if I could light it on fire I would.) 5 pirates | sail away?

Busy Busy [09 October 2010|01:10pm] Home alone today, which is a rare occurrence for a whole Saturday. Off on business tomorrow, for most of the week. Then home for a quick turn-around Friday and off at 4:15 in the morning next Saturday for a 6:00 a.m. flight. I haven't had one of my old-fashioned solo Saturdays in a long time, so I did what I always used to do on a domestic day, and popped in a movie. Since I've been explaining the back-end theology of Middle-Earth to an awful lot of people lately (somehow it keeps coming up), I picked up ROTK for the first time in several years. I'd forgotten how amazing this really is. And how long. And what an emotional journey. Right on cue, the first scene to really get me was when Merry and Pippin split up, and the second was the lighting of the Beacons. Every damn time. Also I love Faramir. Pausing it every 20 minutes to go move a load of laundry (I'm doing 3 today, in a shared laundry room) or empty the dishwasher or take out the trash isn't quite as amazing as seeing it in the theater was, but I remember how deeply these movies and their fandom reached me, at a time in my life when I really needed it. And almost ten (!) years later, they still hit me in that spot. I love being married (our first anniversary is the day after tomorrow) but I really love being home alone sometimes, too. Me and my movie. 2 pirates | sail away?

Mockingjay [22 September 2010|09:18pm] Read Catching Fire and Mockingjay this week. Done now. A little bit drained. I'm really impressed with Collins's characterizations and realism. Consistently, she captures and creates people, and sometimes these people are scared or ambitious or naive or suicidally depressed or inventive or just a little bit crazy. Physical and emotional wounds here both linger, hurt, and have consequences. And people don't always act rationally or in their best interest, and sometimes they're confused. I was in particular impressed with Katniss. She may be smart and precocious and dropped into some extremely adult situations, but in many ways she thinks and acts like the teenager that she is, without the book being condescending, and I really appreciate that. Also I'm impressed with the world-building. Or the world-tearing-down, as the case may be... 2 pirates | sail away?

My favorite meal [12 September 2010|07:31pm] [ mood | content ] Dinner: a first-of-the-season granny smith apple, cut into thin slices, served with the sharpest cheddar our grocery store carries, on cracked-wheat sourdough bread just "freshened" in the oven. (Sometimes I also have a little bit of smoked turkey, but tonight I was vegetarian.) I think it is required by law that now I open a bottle of a mellow red. 2 pirates | sail away?

navigation [ viewing | most recent entries ] [ go | the past ]