Gravity is Always Your Dance Partner

aedifica @ 2009-11-25T12:47:00

2009-11-25T18:47:34Z

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

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

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Passing on various offers

2009-11-25T01:46:32Z

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).

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aedifica @ 2009-11-22T13:24:00

2009-11-22T19:26:35Z

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...

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Test entry, please disregard

2009-11-14T00:25:39Z

Like the subject line says.

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aedifica @ 2009-11-09T18:05:00

2009-11-10T00:05:43Z

testing new crosspost footer text

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aedifica @ 2009-11-06T16:58:00

2009-11-06T23:10:08Z

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!

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List maintenance

2009-11-02T04:33:46Z

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.

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A friend's fundraising means COOKIES!

2009-10-12T19:44:59Z

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.

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aedifica @ 2009-10-02T22:23:00

2009-10-03T03:31:59Z

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.

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PSA: LJ security problem yesterday/this morning

2009-09-23T16:47:27Z

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.

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

Sunday's list of things I plan to do

2009-09-13T01:19:41Z

~~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. :-)

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Updated list plus new content

2009-09-12T23:57:14Z

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.

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aedifica @ 2009-09-06T10:58:00

2009-09-06T16:58:19Z

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!)

Katie, me, and mamajenzie

Rebecca, mamajenzie, and me

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.

Katie's skirt swirling out during one of Terpsichory's dances

Zilch stelling the tory of Parunzel

Bramblebush

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!)

Katie explaining DDR to a contestant

The workings of DDR behind the frame

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.

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Books read, last couple of months

2009-08-29T03:35:07Z

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!

75. Firebirds anthology edited by Sharyn November. New.
Very good anthology!

76. The Green Glass Sea, by Ellen Klages. New.
How odd to know more than the characters, and to try to figure out what was different in their world other than the president.

77. Firebirds Rising anthology edited by Sharyn November. New.
Also a very good anthology! I'm looking forward to reading the third one when it's out in paperback.

78. Jhegaala, by Steven Brust. New.
Not as clear as some, but clearer on first read than some of the others. The books seem to be getting more obscure as they go along, but so far it hasn't quite stopped me from enjoying them.

79. The Bone Key, by Sarah Monette. New.
Horror I can actually read? What a strange thought. (I made sure to read no more than two stories at a time and finish before 8pm, and with those precautions I did really enjoy the book. I had bought it before I realized it was horror stories...)

80. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley. New.
Vampires done WELL! Also, a main character who actually has a job and needs the money she earns. Someone was remarking recently how rare that seems to be in SFF.

81. The Tightrope Walker, by Dorothy Gilman. Reread.
I enjoy this one more because I like her style than because of anything outstanding about this book in particular.

82. The Last Hot Time, by John M. Ford. Reread.
One of my favorites of his. I was talking to malefica_v about it the other night and I remember telling her that the first time through I was thoroughly unimpressed by the ending, but the second time I read it (and every time since then) I've read the ending differently than that first time, and enjoy it much more this way.

83. The Secret Country, by Pamela Dean. Reread.
84. The Hidden Land, by Pamela Dean. Reread.
86. The Whim of the Dragon, by Pamela Dean. Reread.
Among my favorites of hers. I find more in these every time I read them!

85. Xanadu anthology edited by Jane Yolen. New.
Includes P. Dean's "Owlswater," a story set in the same world as the Secret Country books, which gave me a thrill of delight because I hadn't realized it would be related; and Elise Matthesen's "The Stone Girl," both very good. Most of the other stories were also very good, though there were two near the end that I didn't like at all ("Time Travel, the Artifact, and a Famous Historical Personage" creepy and misogynistic; and "The Pale Thin God," which my somewhat-more-educated-because-of-Race-Fail eyes found rather inappropriate. And I was really disappointed about "Time Travel," because I had heard the name of the story years before and thought it sounded interesting).

86. Hammered, by Elizabeth Bear. Reread.
I do like Jenny!

87. Murder Must Advertise, by Dorothy Sayers. Reread.
Probably my favorite of hers other than the books with Harriet.

88. "The Duck and the Dust Eye Decision," by Shahan Sanossian (short story bound as chapbook). New.
Does what it tried to do, is not really pleasant (for my tastes) but not bad either.

89. Web of Angels, by John M. Ford. New.
Nobody answered when I asked if this was his Delany novel. :-) This isn't my favorite of his by a long shot, but it was enjoyable and I'll read it again sometime.

90. Sharing Knife 3, Passage, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Reread.

91. Mirabile, by Janet Kagan. Reread.
A comfortable old friend.

92. Scardown, by Elizabeth Bear. Reread. cried at two points
93. Worldwired, by Elizabeth Bear. Reread.
Continuing my re-read of the Jenny Casey trilogy. I cried at two parts of Scardown even though I knew what was coming.

94. The Snow Queen, by Joan Vinge. New.
Wow! Very enjoyable. I can kind of tell the fairy tale it came from, but if it weren't for the name I'd probably never have guessed.

95. Spires of Spirit, by Gael Baudino. New.
Someone was recommending Baudino to me within the last few months, and I can't remember who it was but the recommendation got me to pick up this book when I saw it at Uncle Hugo's and give it a try. This one is a set of six novellas set in the same world as some of her other work. It was very enjoyable, with likable characters. I did find the first story a little ethically problematic, which was interesting because I'm sure the characters concerned didn't. I'll look for more of her work.

96. The Grand Tour, by Pat Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. Reread.
Maybe not quite as good as its predecessor Sorcery and Cecilia, but still a lot of fun.

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

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A plea for health care

2009-08-19T22:20:49Z

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?

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Fringe show: Drinking Stories

2009-08-03T03:36:26Z

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. :-)

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aedifica @ 2009-07-20T09:40:00

2009-07-20T14:44:04Z

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!

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About that 4th Street (con report in general)

2009-06-29T04:13:32Z

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. The online tool I usually use for planning out bike routes (GMap Pedometer) doesn't know bike paths so if I wanted to take bike paths, I had to plan my own route and take my chances that the paths would connect to roads in useful places. I packed in less time than I'd anticipated and left home at the time I was aiming for, and off I went, enjoying a pretty ride along the Midtown Greenway, around Cedar Lake, and points west... where I found a tall chainlink fence prevented me from switching from the bike path to the road I had planned to take up to the hotel. (Had I been able to switch to the road, I'd have had about half a mile left of my journey.) The person I asked at the nearby auto parts store gave me directions, but either I misunderstood the directions or he misdirected me, because I got no closer to finding a way onto the road. Finally I got back on the bike path heading further west, figuring it wouldn't be too much farther before I found a place to exit the path to the north and east. Two or three miles later, still having found no northward or eastward trail exits, I came upon a man out walking a child in a stroller and asked the man for directions. He suggested I watch for Louisiana Avenue; he wasn't sure if the trail exited there, but if it did I could take it over to Cedar Lake Road and from there to Zarthan. And that's what I did. I saw a bridge carrying a major road over the bike path and guessed it might be Louisiana, so I cut across some businesses' lawn to a side street, got onto Louisiana, and made it the rest of the way to the hotel without further incident. 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!
- Say "hmmm."
- When complimenting something, be detailed: use anecdotes, imaged.
- If you have no idea where a question is coming from, say "That's an interesting reading." If you've never read an author's work and don't want to admit it, say "I respect his earlier work," thoughtfully. (That became one of the con's running gags.)
- If you've been researching something and want to make a statement about it, "The first ____ I've been able to locate in my research is ____." (That way if someone hearing you knows one you haven't found, they're likely to tell you about it which assists your research; also, they know you actually have researched and aren't just making blanket statements.)
- Let other people look smart!
- Personal reactions are inarguable.
- Never say, "Well, in MY book..."
- To draw someone out, ask them "What don't you get asked about in your subject?" or "What do people usually get wrong about your subject?"
- As a moderator, sit at one end of the table so you can watch all your panelists for physical reactions to things they hear.
- Know where to bullshit AND where not to.
- Come with questions for your fellow panelists.
- Moderating: if someone on the panel who's a relative beginner in their field is monopolizing the conversation and/or laying down the law about something, turn to someone with more experience in the same field and ask "Did you feel that way when you started, and how has that changed as you've gained experience?"
- It's OK to say "I don't have a comment at this time."
- Don't be scared of your fellow panelists.
- Moderating: If someone is deserving of a smackdown, don't whack them so hard they're stunned or they'll gain audience sympathy instead of losing it.
- If you say something stupid, acknowledge it and apologize. (This assumes you've noticed it, of course.)
- Back to covering for not knowing anything about the topic: If discussing a critic, say "I'm not altogether comfortable with his latitude of interpretation, but he's done some interesting things with images."
- Distraction technique: If you aren't sure where a questioner is going with his or her question, "What is it that interests you about that?"

The next panel was "How Has Fantasy Changed in the Last 20 Years?" (Tom Whitmore moderating, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Sharyn November, Magenta Griffith, Jenett Silver, Laurel Krahn--except I don't think Laurel was there?) I enjoyed the panel but I'm not sure any of the notes I took are from it.

After the panel I saw a chance to introduce myself to papersky, which I'd been wanting to do because I've been enjoying (and commenting on) her reviews on Tor.com. She told me she enjoyed my comments, by which I felt enormously flattered, and invited me to join the dinner expedition she and others were planning. (Some people might have introduced themselves right before dinner out of a desire to be invited along. I did it out of obliviousness to the timing, but I felt retroactively awkward for a moment when I realized it.) So I went off with her, jonsinger, pnh, lydy, and I think sdn to the hotel restaurant where prettymuchpeggy joined us and we all had supper. The chicken and wild rice soup was very tasty, possibly the best thing I ate there all weekend. Also, something I didn't order but two others at the table did: they had a dish which was little crackers shaped like spoons, with the spoon-bowls filled with some sort of lobster salad. It was startling to me, I think because I'm not used to the idea of edible silverware. At this point I don't remember much about the conversation, other than enjoying it but not having much to add.

After dinner was another panel, this one on "Reasons Things Go Wrong (in the crafting of stories)." (Catherynne Valente moderating, Marissa Lingen, Pamela Dean, Sarah Monette, Jo Walton.) As a non-author it was fun to sit back and listen to five interesting, intelligent and personable women talk about their writing. Many seem to be seduced by "pretty words"...

At this point I should mention, since I haven't yet in this entry, that one of the things about 4th Street is that the panels happen one at a time, instead of five or ten at once like many conventions do. This means you never have to decide between two or more interesting panels happening at the same time (like I'll have to do for CONvergence next weekend) and it means if you run into someone later and want something to chat with them about, you can say "What did you think of the point X brought up in panel Y?" and there's a good chance they'll have an opinion which can lead to a conversation.

After the final official panel of the evening (well, actually starting during it) the hotel restaurant put on a buffet of appetizers. I sat with seabream and we were joined by Ginger and later by txanne and kitryan.

Evening events split into two: "Beer and the Moral Philosophy of Fiction" in the smoking consuite and a tea party in the panel room. I wandered into the non-smoking consuite for a little while before going back to the tea party, but I really didn't like how the consuite was laid out in this hotel: it was two adjoining sleeping rooms, each cleared of beds to make room for tables etc, but each room was subdivided (with walls) into two smaller rooms, leaving two small rooms of couches and chairs and two small rooms of food tables. I found the layout inhospitable; one of the things I've liked about other consuites has been the ability to sit and enjoy being near others whether I'm part of their conversation or not, and to join conversations when it seems suitable. In the little rooms we had this year it nearly always seemed like the rooms were either already full or completely empty, and neither state appealed to me so I usually just ducked in long enough to find a snack and then left again.

I enjoyed the tea party for a little while and then went to bed. I shared a hotel room with kitryan, txanne, and carbonel this year, and it worked out very well. The bed was comfortable enough, there were soft pillows, and I threw an extra pillow over my head to block out light and noise (not that there was much light or noise that needed blocking).

Saturday morning things didn't start too early as apparently the organizers like to sleep in too. :-) The first panel was at ten, which was a nice comfortable time to start as far as I was concerned. "One Night Stand vs. Round Two," or writing standalones versus series work. (Debbie Notkin moderating, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Lois McMaster Bujold, Catherynne Valente (only she wasn't there), Patricia Wrede.) It was interesting to watch LMB and PW interacting, you could tell they were old friends.

Then "Children's and YA Fantasy--It's Not Just For Kids!" (Sharyn November moderating, Kathryn Sullivan, Laura Krentz, Beth Friedman, Jenett Silver, Elizabeth Lavelle.) After which there was a lunch break, in which an enormous number of us trooped down to the hotel restaurant for a tasty but very delayed lunch (I ended up bolting the last of mine in order to be on time getting back).

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.

Then we had "Embracing Exposition" (Teresa Neilsen Hayden moderating, Sarah Monette, Lois McMaster Bujold, Jo Walton, Catherynne Valente, Pamela Dean) and "What is FanFic?" (Debbie Notkin moderating, Lois McMaster Bujold, Anne Gwin, Reesa Brown, Steven Brust.) By this point I was a little tired and would have been happy to skip a panel, but every panel had either a topic that I wanted to hear or a combination of panelists I wanted to hear, so I kept going to each one--and I did enjoy them!

After a dinner break (back to the hotel restaurant, but meals are running together and I can't remember with whom I ate--remind me? was this when the other appetizer buffet was?) there was one more panel, "Food, Fashion, and Fornication" (Jo Walton moderating, Karen Anderson, Magenta Griffith, Sarah Monette, Catherynne Valente, Jon Singer.) This panel title was a repeat from last year, but the panelists were different and so of course the panel was too.

I spent that evening as substitute hotel liaison so the main hotel liaison, jenett, could leave the site for a little while. It was entirely uneventful, nothing at all happened on my watch--which was fine with me! A very gentle way to ease into volunteering for the con.

I remember thinking several times during the weekend that the main thing that made this convention different from last year's 4th Street was that last year's was marked by deep conversations with people I'd never met before, while this year's was full of shallow conversations with people I already knew to some degree. Partly that's because this year I knew so many more people already (not a bad thing at all!), and I think partly it's because of how the consuite was laid out, and I'm sure there were other factors as well. But as the weekend went on it did get better.

Saturday night I went to the song circle. I'd been to morris sings, which are a similar beast but not identical, but I'd never been to a song circle at a con. I had a lot of fun there. I don't even remember what song I chose the first time the circle came around to me [oh, yes I do: it was "Ilka Moor Bat At" (sp?), otherwise known as "Up the Ducks!" and I'm glad elisem knew the same version I do because she took the tune and made it stronger], but the second time I got to lead the Tree Song! This is one of my favorite camp songs, and I don't get to do it very often because it requires having a group of people who are willing to do a kids' song with gestures. :-) There are pictures here--just look for the pictures of a woman in a burgundy t-shirt waving her arms around!

So I got to bed rather late, and woke up slowly on Sunday morning and what with one thing and another I missed the first panel. I was sorry to miss it, because mmerriam was on it, but it wasn't a bad morning either. I made it down in time for the "Decadent Brunch," which was very tasty but I'm not quite sure a brunch can be decadent if it doesn't have Brie cheese, and sat with a tableful of people I either didn't know well but liked, or didn't know at all and liked once I got to chat with them a little (mostly the former). And there were bagels with herbed cream cheese and sheets of smoked salmon, and now I understand. That was pretty decadent, yes.

Then there was "The Different Panel," which is a neat idea and very typical of how 4th Street rolls. ("At every convention, some really interesting idea gets thrown out on a panel, and then everyone says “but that’s a different panel” and drops it. Make a note. Tell us at brunch. We’ll hold that different panel RIGHT NOW.") This year it was a panel on narrative pacing, and I don't remember who-all was on it. The memorable part was when the moderator (was it Beth Meacham?) decided partway through the panel that the panel membership should rotate, so she named several people out of the audience as the new panel members and retired the old ones.

The last panel of the weekend was "The Stuff of Fantasy," which I was on. (Jo Walton moderating, Elise Matthesen, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Patrick Nielsen Hayden only he decided there were too many people and took himself off the panel, Kathryn Sullivan only I don't think she said a word the entire time, Sarah Monette. And me!) I really enjoyed this panel. It was about how the items in your world tell you about what the world is like (have lace? who makes it? have birth control? what does that tell you about the society?). My list of books to read grew more during this one panel than the whole rest of the weekend!

And then of course there was a closing ceremony, which mostly consisted of people standing up to be thanked for various things they'd done for the con (hooray!) and the introduction of the three people who'll be putting together next year's 4th Street. But even after that a lot of people stuck around the hotel; there was another song circle that evening, and I went again. I stayed in the hotel that night again, though I did step outside the hotel long enough to have supper at the nearby Indian place with kitryan, seabream, txanne, and Ginger.

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.

aedifica @ 2009-05-16T10:47:00

2009-05-16T15:53:25Z

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.

aedifica @ 2009-05-14T17:14:00

2009-05-14T22:32:35Z

I'm going to try having all comments at Dreamwidth. If nobody talks to me anymore, I may shift back to having them both places, but I'll give this a shot and hope you'll still comment when you have a comment to give.

So, in the interests of making it easy for you to talk to me, here's how a LiveJournal user can comment on a Dreamwidth entry using OpenID.

You already have an OpenID by virtue of having a LiveJournal account. To use it,
1. Click the link at the bottom of the LiveJournal post to go to the Dreamwidth post.
2. Looks a lot like LJ, doesn't it? Click to leave a comment.
3. In the "From" area, choose OpenID.
4. In the "Identity URL" field, put yourusername.livejournal.com For example, if I were doing this I'd put aedifica.livejournal.com .
4a. That "login?" box can be checked or not, it doesn't affect your ability to leave a comment. It's asking if you want to log in to Dreamwidth with your OpenID.
5. After you type in your comment, click Post and it will take you to LiveJournal to check that you're really that LJ user. If you're already logged in to LJ, you'll just have to click yes or no; if you're not logged in to LJ yet, you'll get a login screen and then you get to click yes or no.

If that doesn't make sense or you're running into difficulties but do want to comment, you can send me a private message through LJ and I'll try to help.

This entry was originally posted at http://aedifica.dreamwidth.org/610651.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Borrowing your eyes

2009-05-08T19:34:18Z

Lo these many years ago when I worked at a small bookstore in central Iowa, we carried blank books made partially from recycled bicycles. The binding was often used bicycle cable, they were held shut by bands of rubber from old inner tubes, etc. They struck me as a neat thing, but I had no use for a blank book and never bought one. Now I'm thinking I'd like to get one, but I can't find them online (my searches bring up bike repair manuals for the most part). Have you ever seen such a thing for sale? Where?

ETA: adalger found some! Thanks, adalger!

Getting a start on the good things I want to post about

2009-05-07T04:13:34Z

Last Thursday, April 30th, was Dining Out for Life, when various local restaurants each donate a percentage of their day's profits to a group that helps people living with AIDS. I emailed a few of my friends asking who wanted to go, but most didn't reply. Mom did, though, and I enjoy her company (or I wouldn't have invited her in the first place), so she and I went to the Birchwood Cafe for supper and had an absolutely delicious meal! The Birchwood Cafe is one of those places with a fairly simple menu but takes care to use good ingredients, so it all comes out delicious. I had an avocado BLT, which I decided was really a BLT-MAO (either bacon lettuce tomato mayonnaise avocado onion, or bacon lettuce tomato my ass off, as you like--it was just that good), and strawberry shortcake for dessert. I've already forgotten what Mom had, but it was just as tasty, she said. I think I want to go back there for my birthday later this month.

Friday morning I met up with many other morris dancers and others, and danced the sun up! I want to do a slightly longer post about that, with pictures. For now I'll just say it was glorious, not least because of the people I got to see whom I see but rarely--among the non-dancers, jenett, theferret, rillaspins (albeit briefly), and Rhea and Brianna whose user names I know but can't remember and am too tired to look up. And Mom came too! I'm glad she agreed to come; I thought she'd enjoy it, and she did! I only danced one dance, the Abram Circle Dance which is the one we do as the sun rises each year on May Day. Then I stood around, chatted, watched others dancing, took pictures, and sang the songs we only sing on May Day.

Saturday was the car stuff mentioned in a previous post, but it was also the day I installed my new bike saddle and took it for a test ride. I'm in love! It's a Selle Respiro Moderate, MUCH more comfortable than the (men's) seat that came with the bike. And even better, it's got snazzy features like a seatcover that's supposed to pick up less heat from sunlight (says it stays up to 25° Celsius cooler than a normal bike seat) and a vent that blows air on my crotch while I'm riding. I can't say I've been able to feel the air through my jeans, but it's still kinda fun to know it's there. And I haven't once gotten numb since I started using this saddle! I biked around 9.5 miles on my test ride that day, up and down along the Mississippi River.

Sunday I spent the afternoon with belmikey after not having seen him in far too long, then we picked up malefica_v and I gave them both supper. Then belmikey went his merry way and malefica_v and I went to the Leonard Cohen concert! I'm really, really glad I got to see him in concert. He's still going strong, and sang almost all of my favorite of his songs, and displayed his sense of humor from time to time (remember he's the one who wrote the line "you told me you preferred handsome men--but for me you would make an exception"). All told it was an excellent day spent in good company.

Oh, and Sunday afternoon one of my neighbors was having a native plant sale, only he wasn't charging his neighbors anything. So I now have three strawberry plants, two ferns, and a mullein plant. I hope they live!

Tuesday I had much faster average speeds on my way to and from work--usually my average is about 10mph on my commute, but Monday it was close to 12mph each way. Wow! I'm getting faster. :-) I think it's partly me getting stronger, partly having the seat at a good height for efficient pedalling, and perhaps partly having a better seat. (Side note: my pants that I was starting to outgrow are fitting well again. This is nice: it makes laundry easier because I'm not having to all the time wash the one pair that fit, and also my pants are just much more comfortable this way.) Also Tuesday I went running again at lunch--it went well, I got tired but it felt like the right kind of tired--and got two showers after my run, one deliberate one at the gym and one supplied by Nature on my way back to my office. :-)

Monday and today were mostly unremarkable, but I will note that I had a very good salad at lunch today. I bought lunch for a change (I had already eaten up my leftovers from Sunday and hadn't cooked anything new) and got a salad, which is odd for me. I know some people start wanting salads in the spring, but I usually don't, and *especially* not pre-made salads like this one was. But for some reason that's what I wanted, and it did turn out to be really tasty. It had mixed greens, not your plain old iceberg, and barley (who has barley on hand???) and grape tomatoes and a big chunk of salmon, with pesto caesar dressing. Yum.

Tonight after work I biked over to the bike shop to pick up my free water bottle (free for participating in the do.cycle program and completing my first 50 miles of biking after joining the program). At the same time I bought a water bottle cage for it, of course, and also bought a tool with various sizes of allen wrenches that are used on bikes. I'd discovered when changing bike seats that my allen wrenches are in inches and I needed a 6mm one! The 7/32" one worked OK, but now I have a proper one. And when I get a little kit put together to carry around on my bike in case of bike emergencies, I can put the tool in the kit. But I must say, the bike shop people are very casual about this whole do.cycle thing. They're supposed to be tracking my mileage from my bike's cyclo-computer odometer when I come in for this stuff, but they've just waved their hands at me each time and said "Nah, I trust you." Well. Works for me, I guess.

By the time I got home tonight, I'd biked about 17.5 miles--not bad! 4.5 miles to work in the morning, and 13 miles from work to the bike shop and home again, with some meandering through unknown neighborhoods on the way because I tried taking a path I hadn't used before.

Now off to bed. I have laundry in the dryer so I'll have clean clothes in the morning. Ahh for having our own washer and dryer!

aedifica @ 2009-04-28T15:10:00

2009-04-28T20:15:24Z

I am definitely buying a new bike seat ASAP. I biked the whole way in this morning (it was fun and it did great things for my mood*) and important parts of me have been numb ever since. My bike shop is out of the saddle that would have been my first choice (and it looks like the other local bike shops are too), but they have another (cheaper!) one that I think will work fine. I'll go pick that up tonight. I'm happy I can afford it right now!

* I woke up from a dream in which I was really angry. The anger stayed with me after I woke, despite the fact that I knew it wasn't caused by anything in my waking life; seems like good proof that emotions are chemical, if I needed proof. I biked the whole way this morning instead of part way specifically because I hoped it would help clear out the remaining anger, and it did.

aedifica @ 2009-04-27T09:40:00

2009-04-27T14:45:24Z

This cold is strange. Yesterday I had the whole thing, runny nose, slight headache, occasional sneezes, etc, and sat on the couch most of the day reading. I didn't medicate myself at all until just before bed, when I put on some Vicks lotion and did the thing you shoot up your nose to clear congestion. (Some over the counter medicine, I think Afrin?) The Vicks lotion was fun, my chest was pleasantly burny from then til I fell asleep. I went to bed a little earlier than usual, but not as early as I'd planned to; I think I got about nine hours of sleep. This morning I'm a touch tired but no runny nose, just a touch of sore throat and a very occasional sneeze or cough, and perhaps a very slight headache. Maybe this is a superfast cold and I'll be all better by tonight! That'd be cool. :-)