http://www.ozyandmillie.org/d/20050810.html

Edited to add: Oh, but also: http://www.ozyandmillie.org/d/20050823.html

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/689960.html. Please comment there using OpenID. The entry has comments.
For information on how to use your LJ account to comment see <a href=h

Via carbonel:

Amazon is offering $3 free credit for music downloads. No additional purchase necessary.


Via matociquala:

Audible.com is giving away free audiobooks for Thanksgiving. (One per person, alas, and for new users only.)


From tor.com:

Tor.com is giving away chunks of The Year's Best Fantasy 9, you just need a tor.com account (which you can get for free).

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/689447.html. Please comment there using OpenID. The entry has comments.
For information on how to use your LJ account to comment see <a href=h

Anybody local want some free clothes, most of them in the women's 8-10 range? All are office casual appropriate. Let me know soon, otherwise they're going to Savers.

Edited to add: Also a lot of plastic hangers--I went from a nine-closet apartment to an approximately two-closet house, so...

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/688241.html. Please comment there using OpenID. The entry has comments.

Like the subject line says.

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/685357.html. Please comment there using OpenID. The entry has comments.
For information on how to use your LJ account to comment see <a href=h

testing new crosspost footer text

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/683779.html. Please comment there using OpenID. The entry has comments so far.
For information on how to use your LJ account to comment please see here.

elisem makes lovely jewelry and is having a sale! Here is the sale post.

I can safely link to a couple of things that are already sold so you don't have to worry about falling in love with them and wanting to buy them, right? (Except wait, that's the whole point of linking to the sale. Hmm.) Anyway, here are a couple of the pieces I've bought from her in the past:

Patil and the Cloud Engine earrings
Something Old bracelet
Evensong Under Branches earrings

She also makes other things in very different styles from those, but those are some of the items I've liked so much I bought them. (There is also a whole category of other items I've liked so much I would have bought them if I had the money available but I didn't, but that's another story.)

Anyway, go look at lovely jewelry!

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/683061.html. Please comment there using OpenID. The entry has comments so far.
For information on how to use your OpenID account from LiveJour

I decided the change of the year (to some Pagans, October 31 is the end of the year and November 1 the start of the new religious year) would be a good time to go over my Dreamwidth access/subscribe lists and LiveJournal friendslist. I removed about 8 journals, mostly ones that haven't been updated in a long time if ever. In the process I also discovered a few people had subscribed to my Dreamwidth or friended my LJ without my noticing--sometime soon I'll go through those and see who they are and if I want to add them back.

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/680547.html. Please comment there using OpenID. The entry has comments so far.
For information on how to use your OpenID account from LiveJour

lisianthia is fundraising to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Her current fundraiser is this: she's selling frozen homemade cookie dough (she's making it herself, and she makes excellent cookies!). $10 for a batch that will make 4 dozen cookies, or $25 for three batches. She has a post with details here. Flavors available: chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and oatmeal chocolate chip (that last one isn't mentioned in the post because it was added later when my mom asked for it).

Non-locals, I don't know if she'd ship but you could always ask. She will deliver in the metro area for an additional $2.

lisianthia and her sister are going to be running a marathon this January in honor of their mother Eileen who died of lymphoma twenty-six years ago. Here is her fundraising page. If you don't want cookies but do want to donate, I know she'd be just as happy to have your donation. She's aiming to reach $4,000.

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/673302.html. Please comment there using OpenID. The entry has comments so far.

So I'm reading Clouds of Witness and I get to the part where Peter is telling Parker dirty jokes to cheer him up. (Yes, really. Near the beginning of chapter thirteen.) We don't hear what any of the stories are, of course. Then Peter says "...I'll spare you the really outrageous one about the young housewife and the traveller in bicycle-pumps."

And I'm wondering, what is the one about the young housewife and the traveller in bicycle-pumps? And why haven't I noticed this bit before? So I Google housewife bicycle pump and oh my. Most of the results are just shops selling bike pumps, but a few of them are a bit more, um, risque than that.

I didn't find the actual joke, though. Oh well.

P.S. This post and comments are my favorite search result from this.

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/666542.html. Please comment there using OpenID. The entry has comments so far.

Some of you have probably seen this fifteen times already this morning, but I'm posting anyway for the benefit of those who haven't seen it yet at all.

There was an LJ security breach. This post has the clearest and fullest explanation I've seen of how to tell if you were affected and what to do if you were.

I wasn't affected, but at least one person on my reading list was.

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/659425.html. Please comment there using OpenID. The entry has comments so far.

Edited because "read this if you use LJ" works much better as a title on a Dreamwidth entry than on an LJ entry. :-)

St. Paul Bike Classic ride done!
do some old laundry (things that need to be washed before they can be given away)
rearrange my room to make a corner for music practice*
cut out cloak lining done Monday
cut out bloomers, using pajama pants as pattern done Monday
maybe have some tea with the cookies I got at the co-op done Monday
find passport


* Friday night I bought a keyboard (musical, not computery) from someone on Craigslist. I'm excited to have it--I never took piano lessons but I enjoy noodling around and picking out songs. The point of buying it right now was to give myself notes for singing practice. That's something I could have gotten around--I do have a computer with Finale Notepad installed--but having the keyboard will be not only easier but much more fun. And this is a snazzy one, with all kinds of features. Eight years ago it sold for ten times what I paid for it. :-)

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/653232.html. Please comment there using OpenID. The entry has comments so far.

Things I want to do today (list may continue to be updated):

household meeting
go on 15-20 mile bike ride on road bike (probably not tonight after all)
clean catboxes (including cleaning the floor underneath one of them because somebody missed the box)
laundry (still in progress)
wash the rest of the new dishes
start sewing cloak
maybe have some tea with the cookies I got at the co-op (it was too hot today to think about tea)
go to King's Fair (neighborhood festival)
singing homework (did a little bit)
wash water bottle for tomorrow

Unplanned things I was nevertheless given the opportunity to accomplish:
clean up cat vomit

We had our household meeting at Hard Times Cafe this morning. I hadn't been there in years until last Thursday when I went there with arkuat. My current impression of it is "like Seward Cafe except the food tastes good" (Seward Cafe has--for me and people I've been there with--ranged from a little bit bad to a little bit good, and on average is fairly mediocre).

I've sewn all the long seams on the outer layer of the main cloak. Between sewing the first and second seam, I appear to have absentmindedly changed my mind about which side of the fabric was the outside... and so I learned that a dagger works pretty well for picking out seams. (Hey, my Fest knife was handy and I can't find my seam ripper.) The lining fabric is in the dryer now; I'm not sure how much more I'll work on the cloak tonight, but it's in good shape for whenever I decide to pick it back up.

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/652805.html. Please comment there using OpenID. The entry has comments so far.

So, last Saturday friend-and-coworker Rebecca and I went out to the Renaissance Festival together. She picked me up about 9, we stopped at a gas station for Gatorade and got in a few minutes before ten. As we walked toward the center of the grounds (because I naturally gravitate toward the Bare Stage) we saw people in front of Bad Manor standing in a circle waiting for Spangoletta to start (that's the morning court dance). I said something expressing regret that we hadn't been there early enough to get in for the dance; the Spicers were standing near enough to hear us, and Lord Spicer invited R to dance with him. Apparently we were just in time after all, it hadn't been taught yet. So I held R's bag and she danced, and I chatted with Lady Spicer and someone from the visiting Court (for there was a Court visiting from another festival, I think it was Kansas City). R seemed to have a good time with the dancing.

After the dance we found Katie and mamajenzie so we could say hi. Katie wandered along with us for a few hours, until she had to leave for her next show with Terpsichory. Shortly after court dance we ran into mischief03, then found theferret in her shop to say hi as well ("her shop" as in she works there--she's been there long enough though that some people think she's the proprietress!)

( Pictures of people )

We watched Terpsichory dance, heard De Cantus sing (where I saw caoilfhionn and gxdm), saw Zilch the Tory Steller do Parunzel, walked around the Highland Games area (it was Highland Fling weekend) where we petted some retired greyhounds and chatted with a man who makes woven-to-order tartan items (no kilts, he specified), came back out of there and saw a fire show with poi and staff and hoop, ran into mnfiddledragon right before a Bramblebush show and went along to hear her perform with the rest of the group.

( Pictures from shows )

And we went to Felix's so R could try on a bodice, and Willing Soles so I could get some new shoes (my last pair of walking ghillies from there lasted a very long time but are past what I can repair), stopped at one of the glass shops to look at the pieces there, pottery shop ditto, saw a lovely purple dress for sale that R coveted, went to the Bronze Jewelers so I could trade up my metal snood for the next larger size, ate soup in a bread bowl, and generally had a wonderful time.

Toward the end of the day we went back to watch evening court dance, then we decided to go on out the gates because some of Terpsichory were heading out there with DDR: Dance Dance Renaissance! (It's a cloth pad on the ground with arrows marked, a frame through which a cloth with painted-on arrows scrolls, and one or more musicians playing the first page of "Korobushka." *grin*) We played, then stayed and watched Terpsichory members luring some of the leaving patrons over to play the game on their way out. Finally we too left, satisfied. (And traffic was a lot better than it usually is leaving Fest, too!)

( Pictures of Dance Dance Renaissance! )

And now I'm off to Fest, visiting as a tourist again, this time with Nate! Later I'll come back and add pictures to this post. Pictures have been added now. I forgot my camera that day, but Rebecca had hers with her; most of these pictures were taken by her but I borrowed her camera to take a few of them myself.

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/650523.html. Please comment there using OpenID. The entry has comments so far.

As usual, I'm putting these behind a cut for now and I'll remove the cut later once it's off your friends page (i.e. when I make the next book post). There were an awful lot of new-to-me books this time around!

( And we're off! )

Edited to add a new #94--I knew I'd forgotten one!

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/646801.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Today, tucked in among the stuff of a reasonably busy work day, I filled out a contact form on Senator Klobuchar's website, emailed Senator Franken, filled out a contact form on whitehouse.gov, and called Representative Ellison's office, all to say I'm in support of health care reform. Because it's important to me and didn't take very long (and because cakmpls nudged me at a good time).

These days I have pretty good insurance, but not everyone does. I have very personal experience with that, too:

In 2001 I was uninsured, going to school full time and working multiple part-time jobs (I think it was two jobs right then, maybe three), and struggling to pay the medical bills I had incurred from two emergency room visits for extreme abdominal pain. (I had also recently been fired from one of my part-time jobs for calling in sick too often with what I didn't yet know were gall bladder attacks.) That summer another doctor diagnosed the trouble as a misbehaving gall bladder and recommended having it removed. There is no way I'd have been able to have that surgery and be the relatively pain-free person I am today if I hadn't known my friend Mike, who worked for the county and told me about a state program that provided certain types of medical assistance to those who could meet the eligibility requirements. I did meet the requirements (though the process of proving I met the requirements was somewhat nerve-wracking: my student financial aid would have put me over the income limit, but my tuition was counted against that and brought me back under the limit). Because the state was paying, the surgery had to be performed at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, two and a half hours away by car. I could have had transportation provided by the state, but I was too nervous to ask for it, so my then-mother-in-law drove me to the hospital and my then-husband picked me up the next day after the surgery, even though we were separated and on the verge of divorce by that time.

And yes, for me things worked out acceptably in the long run: I did get the surgery I needed (though I was still paying off those previous medical bills for some time afterward). But not everybody lives in a state with a program like that, not everybody hears about it if they do (I only heard about Iowa's program because Mike knew), and the program that helped me with the surgery had limitations on what kinds of help were available.

Our health care system needs reform to provide affordable care for all. If you agree with me, will you please contact your senators and representatives too?

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/642815.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

I saw a Fringe Festival show tonight! And because it was an excellent show, I'm telling all of you about it.

Drinking Stories by Jen Zalar
$12 + button
as a part of the MN Fringe Festival
Sat., Aug. 1 @ 5:30 p.m.
Sun., Aug. 2 @ 8:30 p.m.
Mon., Aug. 3 @ 10:00 p.m.
Thu., Aug. 6 @ 8:30 p.m.
Fri., Aug. 7 @ 4:00 p.m.
All performances at the Bryant-Lake Bowl

In a culture where so much emphasis is placed on individual achievement, it's easy to feel alone. It can be difficult to feel connected when most of our social time is spent in emails and on telephones. We hardly ever see each other face to face unless it's a quick bite to eat before moving on to the next immediate thing we need to accomplish for ourselves.

In the show Drinking Stories, comedienne Jen Zalar combines stories, jokes, poetry, sketch, improv, magic, song, and dance in a one woman variety show to explore and create a sense of community. From angsty poetry about love, to embarrassing tales of college woe and bravado, to amazing physical feats accomplished, this event of humor and heart will leave you feeling connected. NOTE: audience participation requested.

More info and tickets can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/drinkingstories

This is mamajenzie's very own show, and it was a lot of fun. I think I liked it even better because I already know her, but the reactions of the people around me attest that you don't have to know her to enjoy her show! (Speaking of people, I went with coworker R, we sat with mnfiddledragon and songwind, and I also saw Ken from court dancing, and Allison whose lovely dress I always admire at Fest.)

If you go, I recommend getting a drink at the bar before you go in (water is fine, it doesn't have to be alcoholic--but there will be toasts, and it's easier to toast with a glass of something in your hand). I tried a Fat Tire beer because I'd been hearing the name and was curious about it. It was tasty enough, and the flavor reminded me of something but I couldn't figure out what. I think it tastes like the beer I put in chili, because I'm burping chili-flavored burps now. :-)

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/635228.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Wanted to write this down while it still smells this way: BPAL's White Rabbit, when I first put it on, smells like a toy I had as a child. There was this toy oven with plastic food to put in it, and all the plastic food had scents that were supposed to mimic the foods they were. This smells like the chocolate muffins did. Which is to say, it doesn't smell like a real chocolate muffin, it smells like an imitation chocolate muffin with a little bit of artificial cherry scent mixed in.

Edit: Three hours later it still smells the same!
Later yet: And eight hours after application, it still smells the same and is just about as strong!

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/627892.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

I had put this note at the end, but it's a long post and I think the note stands better at the beginning: One thing being surrounded by writery types all weekend did was make me think about my intended audience for this post. And I decided it's me, several years from now when I can't remember what this weekend was like--hence the amount of detail here. If other people enjoy reading it, I'm happy about that too! (Also, I hope to post soon about the experience of being on panels for the first time and what it showed me about myself. I'd thought I would do that this afternoon after I finished this post, but this one took longer than I expected.)

I've promised myself that once I finish writing this I can re-read what I wrote about last year's 4th Street, but not until then. So, since I have some time and feel well-rested enough to be able to string multiple sentences together, here's a pale shadow of what 4th Street was like for me:

It started Thursday night, when there was a play-reading and pre-con work party, only the work had already been done so it was just the play-reading. Close to 50 people showed up at the convention hotel, most armed with the same version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. (Did you know it's possible to print out the whole play, legibly, on only nine sheets of paper?) skylarker gave me a ride there and back, which I appreciated. papersky had come up with a plan for how to distribute roles to any number of people between twenty-some and fifty-some, splitting large roles and combining small ones to make the number of parts come out right. I played Demetrios for the first three acts, and enjoyed it. It occurred to me afterward that it was the sort of thing I would often, in the past, have skipped and then would have felt I'd missed out on, and it was nice to notice that that didn't need to be the case.

Friday morning I worked, but I left promptly at noon to rush home, pack, and bike to the hotel. ( Then I had a Detour. ) My planned 8.3 mile ride had turned into 12.8 miles, and I missed Opening Ceremony, but I was there in time to check in to the hotel, take a quick shower, and make it to the first panel! And all told it was a pretty ride, and my legs were up to it--I just would have allowed more time for it if I'd known.

And I was glad, because I was particularly interested in attending that panel: "How to Sound Smart on Panels." (Steven Brust moderating, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Debbie Notkin, Jon Singer, Elise Matthesen.) I took lots of notes at this panel, because I was going to be on two panels myself for the first time ever and wanted tips! ( Notes from the panel )

( Another panel, supper, panel, snack, evening )

( Saturday morning )

Then I got to be on my first panel ever! "Fantasy and the Family," moderated by Beth Meacham, with Kelly Barnhill, Marissa Lingen, Debbie Notkin, and Kit Gordon. And me! From the program: "Talk about families as represented and misrepresented in fantasy. And just what do we mean by family, anyway?" So we talked about different types of families, and why so many authors choose to have their characters be orphans, and what are some fictional families that have some verisimilitude. And I learned that it's worthwhile to take notes even when I'm on the panel in question, because Kelly said something I wanted to talk with her about afterward, only afterward I couldn't remember what it had been.

( Apres moi, le deluge... oui? )

( Sunday, and I get to be on a panel again! )

Monday after the convention there's a tradition of going for a sushi lunch at Sakura in St. Paul. I didn't know about it last year in time, but this year I did, and had taken the day off partly to sleep in and partly to be free for sushi. carbonel gave me, Jo, and Eric a ride there. I had a roll named after a hockey player (at least I assume Adam Hall is a hockey player?) and it was delicious! And the conversations were good, it was a little like what I'd been wanting out of the consuite. Then there was a mass migration to the Pumphouse Creamery, which has Bailey's-flavored ice cream. :-)

All told I'm very glad I went again this year. I got to talk to lots of people I like, and while there were others I would have been happy to get a chance to spend time with, I'm inclined to think it's a good thing that there were even more people there that I'd have wanted to talk to than that there was time for. Among the people I was happy to talk to for at least a little bit were seabream, txanne, kitryan, pameladean, arkuat, mmerriam, careswen, cloudscudding, mrissa, skylarker... (the problem with listing names is that one is nearly certain to omit a name and possibly make someone sad. If I forgot to mention your name, I apologize! I'm quite likely happy to have talked to you too!) And people I hadn't met before but very much enjoyed included papersky, jonsinger, and porphyrin. And then there were the people like suzimoses, brooksmoses and braddr whom I just didn't get much time with, but I was happy to see joeboo_k while I was awake enough to know who I was talking to (unlike last year).

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/620428.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

As usual, I'm putting these behind a cut for now and I'll remove the cut later once it's off your friends page (i.e. when I make the next book post). But this time I'm leaving out the usual commentary on each book in favor of brief notes on just a few of them, because OMG it's been a long time since my last book post and if I try to do commentary on each one I'll never post books again.

38. Westmark, by Lloyd Alexander. Re-read.

39. Half a Crown, by Jo Walton. New.

40. The Sharing Knife: Passage, by Lois McMaster Bujold. New.

41. Rediscovery, by Mercedes Lackey in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover universe. New.

42. The Heritage of Hastur, by Marion Zimmer Bradley. New.

43. Singer of Souls, by Adam Stemple. New and I will never read it again, ugh.

44. A Brother's Price, by Wen Spencer. Re-read.

45. The Planet Savers, by Marion Zimmer Bradley. New.

46. The Sharing Knife: Passage, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read.

47. Curse of Chalion, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read.

48. The Gate to Women's Country, by Sheri Tepper. New.

49. The Gate to Women's Country, by Sheri Tepper. Re-read (I was still digesting it and didn't want to read anything else while I was still digesting this one).

50. The Sharing Knife: Horizon, by Lois McMaster Bujold. New.

51. The Sharing Knife: Horizon, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read (skipped the malices the second time). In this series I like the odd-numbered books better than the even-numbered ones. I think it might be because in the odd-numbered books she proposes neat ideas and in the even-numbered ones they quietly work on implementing those ideas? Not sure.

52. Komarr, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read.

53. A Civil Campaign, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read.

54. Winterfair Gifts, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read. Almost didn't include it here as it's a story/novella, not a full novel, but it is part of the series.

55. Diplomatic Immunity, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read.

56. Shards of Honor, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read.

57. Barrayar, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read.

58. The King's Peace, by Jo Walton. New.

59. The Warrior's Apprentice, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read.

60. The Vor Game, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read.

61. Cetaganda, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read.

62. Ethan of Athos, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read.

63. Borders of Infinity, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read.

64. Brothers in Arms, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read.

65. Mirror Dance, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read.

66. The Prize in the Game, by Jo Walton. New.

66.5 re-read ch 12 to the end of The King's Peace, by Jo Walton. (Because The Prize in the Game takes place around ch 12 of The King's Peace, and I wanted to see how having more background on the TPitG characters would affect how I see them in TKP.)

67. A Necklace of Raindrops, by Joan Aiken. Re-read.

68. All the Windwracked Stars, by Elizabeth Bear. New. I could tell that I wasn't the target audience. That said, it was still enjoyable enough, just not as much to my tastes as her Jenny Casey books.

69. The King's Name, by Jo Walton. New. I really liked this series! I read them from the library but have since gone out and bought my own copies.

70. Half Past Eight O' Clock, by Joan Aiken. New. Not as much to my taste as some of her stories, but still pleasant enough.

71. Wild Seed, by Octavia Butler. New. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about this one.

72. Memory, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Re-read.

73. Life on the Border, anthology edited by Terri Windling. New.

74. Webmage, by Kelly McCullough. New. Lent to me by a friend who is friends with the author, which lends a difference to a book. I had a couple of small logical ( quibbles ) but overall enjoyed the book a lot. Among other things, the main character is a double-majoring in Classical Studies and Computer Science, just as I did once upon a time (at another school, in another time).

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/616970.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

I'm trying to find a picture of a particular actress. This is made far more difficult by the fact that I don't know which one. She's white, at least occasionally blonde, and has appeared in major pictures within the last ten years or so. I was thinking it might have been Angelina Jolie, but after looking at her pictures on IMDB I don't think so anymore.

Would you please suggest names of some actresses that might fit these criteria? Any help will be appreciated!

(Why I'm searching: I recently read Jo Walton's (papersky's) The King's Peace, The Prize in the Game, and The King's Name. When one of the characters in Prize was introduced, I immediately got a mental image of a particular actress, and ever since that character has had that face for me. That's really unusual for me, and I want to know who it is! By the way, I really liked those books.)

Edit: I think my mental image may be a blend of mostly Angelina Jolie (as here) with some Uma Thurman (as here and here). But with real eyebrows. Thank you all for helping!

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/611333.html. Please comment there using OpenID.