Scheherazade in Blue Jeans

Friday

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:42:19 GMT

Medical
Still exhausted. Much less of a cough, though, which I take as a sign of progress.

Dear Wiscon Folks
Today's the last day to sign up for programming! If you want to be on panels, go do that! *crosses her fingers that "Take Back the Sci-Fi" has good people applying*

Link Soup
* The real-life drama behind Back to the Future. (Also, I have always had the hots for Crispin Glover.)
* Cat-Calling, “Bystander Sexism,” and How Sexual Harassment Hurts Men. Note to guys: Hey, you have an actual investment in this. Stand up.
* Prison rape = not hilarious. There'll be a blog post on this topic eventually.
* Muppet Madness Tournament.
* Enver Gjokaj's next move. Personally, I cannot wait.

Daily Science
Moonwater!

Friday Memeage
Wearing: Black foldover-neck shirt, jeans, sacred heart socks.
Reading: Going Bovine by Libba Bray and Dead Matter by antonstrout.
Writing: I haven't gotten a damn thing done this week.
Knitting: Mom's scarf.
Planning: Home. Today, work then home. Tomorrow, just home - until I have to get Elayna to and from the Voyagers Teen Event. (Anyone going from our neck of the woods?) And Sunday is her birthday party!

You?

Evening miscellany

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:48:35 GMT

* If I had $450, I could get to irana's service. This is pretty much precisely what Elayna's and my new glasses just cost. Argh.

* Adjusting to said glasses. Mark says it should take a few weeks. Argh.

* Yes I have much argh.

* I did get a nap today, which I'd really needed.

* Oh god my mother needs a punch in the face. Her response to Irana's death? "This is why you need to take care of yourself." Like Irana wasn't? Hell of an assumption. "Tell Adam he needs to lose weight." What? Because of health risks, she says. Adam's diet is not really at the top of my emotional list right now.

* Mom just called back. "I just remembered who she was," she says. "She was the black lady."
Me: "Um."
Mom: "Well, one of them, I guess."
?!?

I wasn't even going to call my mother, I'll have you know. Adam told me to. Therefore I blame Adam.

* Okay, a thing what is not argh - I happened to look out my window and see the new neighborhood outdoor cat strolling across the street, and made it downstairs in time to say hi. Lovely small black cat with green eyes; well-fed and well-socialized. Hung out with him/her for a bit, delivering skritches. I worry about outdoor cats. This one didn't have a collar or tags, either. But clearly a pet, not a stray; not scrawny, and clearly loves humans. And other cats, as he/she's apparently friendly with the big orange fella next door; they sniffed each other genially. The orange one could care less about humans, though.

* I am taking it easy, pretty much. My cough came back last night and persisted today a bit. I begged off distributing flyers in South Station in favor of rest, and I'm debating whether I should go out tomorrow night... my body is still not past the pneumonia, and the last thing I need is to end up in the hospital.

* The exhaustion is at least a step up from the all-day sobbing fits and uncontrollable shaking that was yesterday.

* I am cuddling cats and hanging out with Adam and reading Going Bovine by Libba Bray and Dead Matter by antonstrout. That is where I am.

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:56:24 GMT

Apparently I was dreamwalking last night. tithenai and scathedobsidian have both reported appearances by me. Anyone else?

Thor's Day

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:33:44 GMT

Administration
Happy birthday to rubian77!

Medical
Tiiiired. Did not nap yesterday. Did start coughing again last night, so I need to Watch It.

The 3six5
Yesterday was my day to write for the 3six5. I was going to write about the BARCC workshop I was leading last night.

I wrote about losing Irana instead.

Irana
I managed to do the workshop last night, because she would have wanted that. Then I hit Grendel's Pub with pierceheart, badseed1980, cthulhia, mikemarano, and LJless BARCC colleagues Dave and Liz, and raised a glass - well, two - in her honor. "The Parting Glass" singalong was a very good thing. So was swapping stories with pierceheart, whose friend died last month. "So this one time, Irana..." "No shit, there I was, and Dirk..."

Thank you to everyone who listened yesterday.

Link Soup
* Hal Duncan on Racebending.
* Jonathan Carroll on living a full and fulfilled life. (Yes, I thought of Irana. Because she did.)
* Heather Cassils on being Lady Gaga's prison-yard girlfriend. I know, Lady Gaga, whatever, but the article is really interesting from a gender perspective.

Daily Science
Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have provided the first clear demonstration that the theory of quantum mechanics applies to the mechanical motion of an object large enough to be seen by the naked eye.

Plans
Work. Then I have a three-hour gap between work and having to be at South Station to hand out flyers for the Walk for Change (sponsor me!), which isn't enough to make a trip home worthwhile, so maybe I can cajole someone into last-minute lunch plans. South Station 4-6, then cocooning at home; no Gardner Museum thing for me tonight. For lo, I am weary.

Gone.

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:36:23 GMT

irana passed away last night.

The world has a goddamn hole in it today. And every day hereafter. That woman had the biggest damn heart and the biggest damn laugh, and I love her.

And I am - just - I can't process. I feel sick and I have been sobbing for a solid hour. It is just so incomprehensible that there could be a world that doesn't have irana in it, lighting it up the way she did.

I don't have any more words right now. Later, memories. Now, I just can't.

Odin's Day

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:31:48 GMT

Medical
Recovery is. I keep thinking my voice is back, only to have it give out on me on the phones! And I *tried* to nap yesterday, but the kid lost her coat and, with it, her key, so she woke me up and I got to be sluggish and irritable the rest of the day and evening. :P

Free Will Astrology
Uncle Rob says: "In my astrological opinion, you don't need anything that shrinks you or deflates you or tames you. Influences that pinch your imagination should be taboo, as should anything that squashes your hope or crimps your life force. To make proper use of the vibrations circulating in your vicinity, Pisces, you should gravitate toward situations that pump up your insouciance and energize your whimsy and incite you
to express the most benevolent wickedness you can imagine. You've got a mandate to fatten up your soul so it can contain a vaster sense of wonder and a more daring brand of innocence."

Aw yeah. It's holy fool time.

The 3six5
It is my day! My post will be late, as the thing I'm writing about ends at 8:30. Will link tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy Rayna's post! I am amused that I ended up right next to a friend. :)

Link Soup
* Women fear violence in Haitian camps.
* Do you have dream tools?
* BARCC blog! The usual excellent from Dave and Tommy. My post will be up ~10am.

Daily Science
Simulations solve a 20-year-old riddle about why nebulae around massive stars don't disappear.

Plans
Work, including BARCC blog. Home and NAP. I'm hoping to catch a ride to tonight's BARCC workshop, as it involves Green Line or buses, neither of which I regard as reliable. I have to write my 3six5 post and e-mail it as soon as I finish the workshop - anyone got recommendations for free wifi in Cambridge? - and then if any of you are at Red-Line-accessible bars, I could join you, so let me know. That part's dependent on energy level.

Tew's Day

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:25:16 GMT

Administration
Happy birthday to dicotomygrrl, docwebster, and emerald_ibis!

Medical
Slow steady progress.

The flooding of the ~~Nile~~ Charles
It. Rained. All weekend. Plus yesterday. Check out video and photos of my town here.

Parent Visit Assessment
Not as bad as usual. And, as of this morning, they are gone.

Calling Trans Readers
Survey here for a new book!

State of the 'song
I am pretty much behind on everything, and I beg your patience.

My Week (take work as a given)
Tonight: Yes Means Yes book discussion.
Tomorrow: BARCC blog, BARCC workshop, writing post for The 3six5.
Thursday: Maybe passing out flyers for the Walk for Change, maybe going to Gardner After Hours if I can get someone to come with.
Friday: A friend's Persian New Year party.

Elayna's birthday party is Sunday, so - prep for that on Saturday and Sunday!

So, yeah. It's one of those weeks. Expect me to be napping every afternoon so I can manage this, and nudging about for rides more than usual; I generally have no problem walking/T-ing everywhere, but I need to be careful with my lungs and my energy level.

Monday

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:28:50 GMT

Administration
Happy birthday to my favorite person in the world, my epic awesome daughter!

Medical
Breathing easier, but still weak and shaky. And I have to walk to work in this weather. Joy. At least my parents are picking me up.

Weekend
Has been very trying.

Bra
...I am having enough overflow here that I am concerned that I may be an E. Need a fitting at Intimacy, really.

Link Soup
* Sale time at Night Shade books! (Also, this'd be a good time to subscribe to Electric Velocipede, while you're there; I'm in the next issue, and one later this year as well.)
* What the hell you guys. No.
* Sady Doyle dissects the new Lady Gaga video.
* You can now watch all of Cosmos on Hulu.

Daily Science
Jeannine Han, who is in the second year of her master's program in textiles and fashion design at the Swedish School of Textiles in Boras, Sweden, working together with technician Dan Riley, has developed clothing that plays music when touched.

Plans
Work, lunch with parents. This afternoon, probably supervising the overhaul of Elayna's room. Tonight, dinner at Not Your Average Joe's. Low-key. Which is good, because I have evening stuff the rest of the week.

Oy gevalt.

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:32:51 GMT

32DD? Body, are you shitting me?

Conversations with my mother

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:20:31 GMT

Copy/pasted from a comment elsejournal.

A conversation with my mother, from yesterday:

We are out for brunch. The brunch place is mostly bread-related, with eggs (which I don't eat). I end up getting a fruit plate.

Me: "I just worry that, with stuff like the fruit plate today and the salad last night instead of heartier meals, I'll lose more weight."
Mom, eyeing me critically: "You could stand to lose a few pounds."

...

I've lost 37 pounds in the less-than-a-year since I came off Lyrica. So quickly that half my hair has fallen out. I'm a US size 4 or 6, depending; I'm a small at H&M, according to yesterday's shopping.

And I am not thin enough for her. Only at a size 0 am I thin enough for her. *Maybe* at a 2. Oh, the things that got said in that house when I was a size 12. *sigh*

Hugging her is like hugging a sack of coat hangers. All bone.

She'll be over in about half an hour. Lucky me. At least I get to pick the restaurant tonight; I'm choosing one with an extensive gluten-free menu so I can eat real food!

------

So, Boston GF folks, I have four restaurants I'm eyeing; any recommendations? Scampo, Nebo, Aquitaine, and Evoo are certainly options. I hear good things about Oleana, but it's probably too foreign-foody for them. Craigie on Main and Ten Tables are two I've been curious about, but I haven't heard anything about how they do with gluten-free.

EDIT: Nebo and Evoo are closed Sunday argh. Dali and Small PLates are options if I want to go somewhere I've been before.

I'm walking for you.

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:35:39 GMT

The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center 5K Walk for Change is in just under a month. Click here to sponsor me!

Last year, BARCC provided stickers at the Walk that said "I'm walking for ________." I literally stared at this sticker for several minutes just trying to condense it all. I'm walking for my friends. I'm walking for people around the world who've reached out to me. I'm walking for too many people and too many reasons to ever distill it down to something that'll fit on a sticker.

So this year? I'm making a shirt.

And I am walking for you.

For all of you whose lives have been touched by sexual violence. For all you survivors, and for your survivor friends, and on and on.

If you want me to represent you, to write your name on my shirt and be thinking of you as I do this walk, give me your name. Know someone who might like to be represented? Send them on over. Stand up and be counted.

View Poll: #1537223

If you're not on LJ, you can e-mail me at shadesong AT gmail.com.

Thank you.

Friday

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:33:20 GMT

Administration
Happy early birthday to penmage and aussie_nyc, who advance a year over the weekend!

Hello to new reader evila!

Medical
Still weak and shaky and out of it. Worse than yesterday morning, but not as bad as last night.

My mother had better not give me shit about the messy house, is all I've got to say.

Yes, parents arrive at 2. And will be here through Tuesday. I am not thrilled. But hey, they're here for Elayna's birthday (which is Monday). I can deal with it every so often. It's just that it seems dreadfully unfair that I have to deal with it when I'm sick.

Read this
Yay, a new story by ogre_san!

Daily Science
In what could be the ultimate marine smack-down, great white sharks off the California coast may be migrating 1,600 miles west to do battle with creatures that rival their star power: giant squids. It's not every day you see a headline that could be on PhysOrg or a SyFy Original Movie.

Friday Memeage
Wearing: Trailer-park flamingo pajamas.
Reading: Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde.
Writing: I've gotten some Shayara snippets out.
Knitting: Scarf for Mom; pattern adapted from recent baby blanket.
Planning: More bed rest. And - parental visit. We'll see how this goes.

You?

Oh hey no. That's the wrong direction.

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:29:30 GMT

Napped. Woke up with great effort. Feeling very, very listless and wrung out. And now, after second dose of Avelox, very spacey and slow-mo.

Worse, not better. Wrong direction, body. Make a u-turn. RECALCULATING.

Also ick factor - the Mucinex has sucked all of the moisture from my head and deposited it in my throat. But it has not done a damn thing for my chest.

Need to hydrate more, but I'm really nauseous.

My parents will be here tomorrow (and if Mom gives me shit about the house not being clean I will scream), so rest assured that if this trend continues, it'll get handled.

I really hope this sudden wave of zero energy is my body marshalling its forces to repel invaders.

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:27:12 GMT

I feel that you should know that there is a Leverage tabletop RPG.

Especially you, nomadmwe.

fusses

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:26:49 GMT

I feel like I should be updating so people don't worry.

So yes. I am lazing about in penguin pajamas; I have finished two books today and am about to start on another one.

I feel that I am very consciously breathing *around* the pneumonia, carefully navigating. My chest hurts sometimes, but disappearing into books helps take my mind off it.

I get tired very easily, but sleep only fitfully.

I don't have sufficient brain to write fiction today. A spot of nonfiction in a certain filter, yes. But while my brain can jump into other people's books, it's not navigating my own as well as I want it to, and I am very particular about doing things just as well as I can or not at all; I find that sometimes when I write a scene it gets set in stone, and I don't want to do that half-assed. So. I will hope for a clearer path tomorrow.

And now I go back to my warm bed with the new Jasper Fforde.

Thor's Day

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:47:41 GMT

Administration
Happy birthday to the radiant saraphina_marie and hari_mirchi!

Medical
Yep, still pneumonia. *sit* I am vexed. And my chest hurts.

S00jCon!
If you are a fan of s00j, read this now! And if you're a New England fan, vote for October 1-3, because I'll be at Intervention on the other suggested weekend.

I know you guys know about this stuff.
Elayna wants a top hat and goggles for her birthday. I always wondered how she'd manage to rebel. Now I know. She's gone steampunk.

So. So far as goggles, these seem good and not hideously expensive. As for a top hat... well. She should properly have a Gypsy Lady hat like Tricky Pixie's, but those are custom and she won't get it on time. Recommendations for an inexpensive top hat that is not a piece of crap? EDIT: You know? I'll just give her a Gypsy Lady gift certificate so she can design her own. And a pair of sihaya09 earrings.

Recommendations for other little things to throw in? Do you make anything steampunky? If so, do you do barter? Because I am on a budget, thanks to spending $500 on glasses for myself and Elayna.

Link Soup
* Free Clash cover album!
* Hugo-award-winning editor John Klima's Hugo ballot. Special attention please to the Campbell. :) If you're eligible to vote and haven't yet, please do - the deadline is Saturday!
* Renaming comic books as what you really say about them.

Daily Science
Cryogenic electron emission phenomenon has no known physics explanation.

Plans
I am once again couchbound. We'll see if I have sufficient brain to write. If not, I read and knit and nap.

Informal sex-type survey borne of me talking to guys about sex #183

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:17:07 GMT

So wildelven and I were talking about things people say in bed, and he noted that he will find himself saying "hi". Generally at the "oh, look, here we are both naked" stage.

I do this too! It tends to make people laugh.

So we were wondering - do you do this? Just sometimes look up or look down and grin and say "hi"?

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:47:17 GMT

I have been scanned - after 5pm, so my doctor does not yet have the results. Alas. But I have Avelox and Mucinex.

...and a sparkly My Little Pony pegasus (shut up you guys) because I remember very clearly from having pneumonia when I was four and eight that when I have pneumonia I get a toy.

...my pegasus is named Starsong.

Okay. I am telling you right now who is to blame for me actually having My Little Ponies now. It is maxymyllyn. So if you enter my house and it is all SPARKLY PONY DOOM, you know why. maxymyllyn. I am telling you. (EDIT: Because he gave me a My Little Pony for my birthday, is why. I have a logic. It's internally consistent, even.)

So there.

And. I am supposed to stay home and rest. For how long? I do not know. I'll get clarification tomorrow when he sees my X-ray. But I do not like it. I have work-stuff I gotta do.

My pegasus has a sparkly mane.

That is all.

EDIT: Mark has pointed out that I seem a bit loopy. Is that a Thing with this medication?

Oh for crying out loud.

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:45:46 GMT

So. Thrice today have I actually *stopped breathing* due to coughing fits. Full-on bronchospasm, unable to suck any air in. Body actually convulsey/dry-heavey. THIS IS NOT FUN.

Just got back from the doctor, who tapped on my chest twice and said "Ah, yeah. You have pneumonia. I don't normally go straight for the antibiotics, but you need them right now. Also, you need X-rays. I've asked for a wet read so I can get the results in 5 minutes to an hour. Go get that done now."

So I go down to radiology. Guess what? The machine is broken.

AAAAGH.

So I have to go to the hospital to get it done. I shouldn't be driving, because I have sick-person brain. I can't walk the mile to the bus stop. I don't have quarters for the parking lot by the bus stop. Hi. Fucked, party of one.

wildelven can be here in about half an hour to get me there. Which is not quite the hot date we had in mind, but hey, you date the gimp-girl, this is sometimes what you get. The reward is that I am fantastic in bed when I am not coughing up a lung.

I'm just vexed because the doctor clearly feels a need to have these results RIGHT NOW (I've never even *heard* of a "wet read"), and now we have a built-in hour-and-a-half-at-minimum delay which may mean he won't even get the results today.

Odin's Day

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:27:17 GMT

Medical
Still speaking in a croak, but I think I can manage work today.

Sale!
Bad week for my lungs, good week for my stories - "Salt Brides" has sold to Abyss & Apex, and will appear in their October issue.

Clearly the takeaway is that I need to get off my ass and submit stuff more.

I still have no Link Soup. You guys should tell me what's going on in the world.

Daily Science
Scientists have found evidence of a catastrophic event they believe was responsible for halting the birth of stars in a galaxy in the early Universe.

Daily BPAL
Aatos Polemoio: Cedar, black currant, and saffron.
In bottle: The saffron's an afterkick, behind cedar and currant.
On me: The notes blend and swell, becoming something thicksweetspicy with a core of cedar. Om nom nom!

Plans
Work, including BARCC blog post. Nap, I'm certain. Date with wildelven tonight; the details of which conditional upon how I feel; the plan is Talk Nerdy to Me burlesque.

Tew's Day

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:33:09 GMT

Administration
Happy birthday to grimmwire!

Medical
Ugh. Last night was especially arduous - my coughing fits kept waking me up, not just because of coughing, but because sometimes I could not get back to breathing after them. Bronchospasm FAIL. Also really scary.

So yeah. Much coughing, but it is all nonproductive coughing. The snot goblins have colonized my lungs, and they are not budging a millimeter. Even more frustration - I have spaced-out sick-girl brain, so I can't even use this couchbound time to get some writing. I am marathoning RuPaul's Drag Race, because that is what my brain is capable of right now.

Spending one's days silent and relatively immobile is vexing.

No link soup or science today, as my brain is not really here. Instead, have a death-metal cover of "I'm on a Boat".

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:15:49 GMT

If one has to be sick, it is best to be sick when one's daughter is home from school. So when the cats decide they all need to be on your lap right now to draw the ick from your body with their amazing feline powerz, you can instant-message her to please bring you grape leaves and a cough drop.

Monday

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:49:15 GMT

Administration
Happy birthday to wolflady26!

Medical
Ugh.
Saturday night: "Huh. My throat is kinda tickly."
Sunday: *uncontrollable coughing* plus laryngitis.
Today: All of that plus congestion.

I really hope no one else gets sick.

Picture of the Day

Picture by feste_sylvain & tamidon's older daughter. Elayna = Mommy's little swordmaiden.

She will be fifteen a week from today.

Sale!
"The Library, After" to Mythic Delirium; it'll be in issue #23.

This one's had a funny journey - it already has fanfic and fanart! And I don't always know why stories/poems sell, but I know about this one... Readercon has a "Meet the Pros(e)" party wherein writers have stickers. Said stickers have a single sentence of their work. You trade stickers with people at the party. It's fun. :) Many people do paragraph-long sentences, to show off the most prose; I had five words. "Awakened, the library went feral."

Which was enough for time_shark to go "Hm. The piece that's from - has it sold? No? I'd like to see it."

So there you go. :)

Link Soup
* Underskin body map.
* Awesome.
* alankria isn't around to tell you that she has new stories out, so I will: "The Notebook of my Favorite Skin-Trees" and "The City of Lobster, or, the Dancers on Anchorage Street".
* Yay, Fugitivus is back!
* This is the pendant arianhwyvar gifted me at Arisia. So in love with it.

Daily Science
A team of scientists at MIT have discovered a previously unknown phenomenon that can cause powerful waves of energy to shoot through minuscule wires known as carbon nanotubes. The discovery could lead to a new way of producing electricity, the researchers say.

Plans
My chest feels filled with gunk. I am breathing very carefully. I think any plan other than napping, reading, and knitting would be Bad. So that's the plan.

A mashup I would like to see.

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:09:12 GMT

Mrs. Frisby and the Spiders of Mars.

Party Highlights

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:17:18 GMT

* Midsummer Night's Dream is dirtier that I remembered. Or we're just all twelve years old. Much giggling. Drama-queeny teenage girls + Emily as the Athenian lovers FTW. Also, Oberon as a mobster and the most over-the-top Bottom and Francis Flute ever; Pyramus & Thisbe's death scene left us all howling. (Next time, Twelfth Night!)

* Speaking of teenage girls, there is nothing like showing geeky teenage girls Real Genius for the first time. They are all in love. With everyone in the movie. slipjig says that from now on, we need to watch every movie with a squeeing section.

* "Can we sing along with Doctor Horrible?"
"Well, it is a sing-along blog."
"YAAAAAAY!"

mendoza walked in just in time for this, for the girls + everyone else who knew the words belting out as much out Doctor Horrible as they could. The next generation rocks. I tell you.

* Betty Crocker gluten-free cake mix FTW!

* Yes, there's always a fiber-arts corner.

* I like having days-long diffuse parties. Because in a crowd this big, people schedule parties right on top of other people's preexisting parties. So it's nice to have it set up so people can wander in and out, and so people who couldn't roller-skate could do Midsummer Night's Dream and so on.

* Also, I really liked Alice in Wonderland! And of course I have thinky thoughts on it.

* Also, slumber parties FTW, but just once I would like the airbeds to not deflate. Two different airbeds. Both deflatermaus. Which leads to morning sex being more of a challenge than I'd prefer.

* And now, 'most everyone's gone. Elayna and Beena are upstairs, and Kritter's crashed out on the couch. Dishwasher's running. I am in my comic-strip pajamas. All is well. Today is a nice slow day, with absolutely nothing on the agenda... which is just what I need.

Scheherazade in Blue Jeans

Friday

Evening miscellany

Thor's Day

Gone.

Odin's Day

Tew's Day

Monday

Oy gevalt.

Conversations with my mother

I'm walking for you.

Friday

Oh hey no. That's the wrong direction.

*fusses*

Thor's Day

Informal sex-type survey borne of me talking to guys about sex #183

Oh for crying out loud.

Odin's Day

Tew's Day

Monday

A mashup I would like to see.

Party Highlights

fusses