| That five things meme-y thing |
[Jan. 23rd, 2006|09:29 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | reflective | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Ad Vielle que Pourra, Leve la Jambe, Armande | ] |
I was tagged today by ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) jonsinger.
Umm, I dunno. Afterall, weird is where you find it. I have some social circles that think the fact that I don't own a television and that I read all the time is weird. Other circles think that is perfectly reasonable.
However, I'll do my best. (Note that my current social circle has _never_ said, at least out loud, "That's weird.")
1. I like to eat oatmeal (whether steel-cut or flakes) as a savory dish even in the morning. Oatmeal with grated cheese is just nummy to me.
2. I have almost no taste for sweet things. No, let me rephrase that. I find sweet foods to be unappetizing. Some fruit is even too sweet to appeal to me. This is a fairly recent development, over the past few years. No, I don't know where it comes from, but I'm not too bothered by it.
3. I don't own a television. In addition, I didn't grow up in a household that had one. We first got a television when I was 15. We
also didn't go to movies very often. So my exposure to American visual culture is pretty minimal. People where I work just explain references to me, assuming that I'm ignorant. They're mostly right.
4. I am the first person of Northern European descent that I know who owned an electric rice cooker. I bought it in 1978. That one got left with an ex-boyfriend. I replaced it in 1981 and I own and use it still.
5. I despise wearing shoes. I wear Birkenstocks, Tevas, Danskos, and (reluctantly, when the snow is over 5 cm deep) boots. But I grumble a lot.
I can't think of people to tag, but have at it people on my flist! |
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| Addenda to: Guilty pleasures that leaven stern duty |
[Oct. 6th, 2005|08:11 pm] |
Several points to note about the marrying of the pleasure of reading while performing the task of walking to work.
1. If one takes a path other than the familiar oft-trodden one, one needs rather more attention to the outside world, and less attention to the reading material.
2. In matters of remaining dry, wearing a rain-shell matters naught, when the relative humidity is 93%. Even if the temperature is 68F, if the dew point is 66F, any exertion at all will cover the person with moisture. Ick. I swear, I'm growing mildew. |
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| random wibblings |
[Sep. 29th, 2005|09:29 pm] |
First off, there is something noisier than a cat whapping a superball around on a wood floor. And, that is? A cat whapping a ping-pong ball around on a wood floor. This is spoken in the Tone of Weary Experience.
Secondly, I got hit by the Stupid Stick yesterday evening. I'll hide the details, though.
( Read more... )
Thirdly, go to fara_shimbo's pages and look at the kitten pictures. Cuter than should be either legally or medically permitted.
Fourthly, for some amusement and enlightenment, hie thee over to Reality Based Time to read about sundials, natural hours, and clocks. A pleasant antidote to the news these days. Also, some postings earlier, there's Listening to Habaneros which starts off with Capsicums and wanders into Thomas Tallis. Frankly, follow the blog. Well worth the time and effort. |
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| Guilty pleasures that leaven stern duty |
[Sep. 27th, 2005|07:33 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  satisfied | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Bare Necessities - Take a Dance - Take a Dance | ] |
Well, that's a fairly over the top description of what I've been doing for the past few weeks.
First off, I live about 1 kilometer from where I work (thats less than a mile). And I live in an area that actually has sidewalks and isn't actually pedestrian hostile. And like many people in the USA, I could use more exercise.
So, why don't I walk to work every day? Oh, there are a dozen dozen of reasons. It's too rainy, it's too cold, it's too hot, I'm running late (a common one), I have things to do after work in the car. Imagination fills in the rest.
But really, at the worst, it takes me 20 minutes to make the commute. And that's because of the jerks around here who a) don't know what to do at a 4-way intersection; and b) don't know what to do with a pedestrian at a 4-way intersection. I swear to you, at times I take my life in my hands crossing some streets.
One of the common reasons for driving to work was that I was reading and the time got away from me. So, I just decreed a fiat - that I would leave for work in time to walk there while I was reading the book. This turns out to add less than 5 minutes to the walk, so it isn't a big deal.
I'm a competent combiner of reading and walking. I notice when I'm coming to a street corner and haul myself out of the book, attend to the proprieties, and then dive back in. My peripheral (such as it is) vision detects over-hanging shrubbery, oncoming traffic, and uneven pavement. And, I don't read new-to-me books, they are too engrossing.
So! I combine the Calvinist feeling of having suffered for the good (exercise) with the Hedonist (reading something for fun). What's not to like?
There are some downsides. I can't read a truly engrossing book, both because I'd likely be squished crossing an intersection and if not, I'd be hard-pressed to put it down when I got to work. Also, I'd miss interacting with the various pets in the yards or on walks. There's a very fine long-hair cat with a penchant for sitting in aesthetic poses in the garden at one house, the kittens at another house, and the brindle greyhound who is walked, at times, along my route. There are various growings, sproutings, and bloomings along the route that I might miss.
But, getting me some exercise is kinda worth that. And, I did notice the luridly yellow mushrooms and think to mention them to jonsinger who has pictures and is identifying them. |
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| Living with predators, my experience |
[Sep. 20th, 2005|09:02 pm] |
Elsewhere in LiveJournal people are writing about living with small, more-or-less domesticated predators. There is pondering about the level of trust we have in domestication and stories of predators bringing prey into the house (thus domestic, although possibly not domesticated). Most of these stores involve cats. I've lived with cats for the greater part of my life, so I, of course, have a story to share.
I'll hide it behind ( this ) |
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| Many thanks |
[Sep. 2nd, 2005|10:20 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | pleased | ] |
Fine readers,
I'm thanking you here for the various and useful suggestions you gave me in my previous, somewhat-angsty, posting. I'm taking them under consideration (and isn't _that_ a current governmental term?).
I've encountered an organization doing a targeted relief run, and I know the folk involved and I know their competence. In fact, I've been the recipient of their casually offered competence. So, they are getting some of my charitable dollars.
Other than that, I'm mulling over where to send money, mostly based on your suggestions.
In a totally different arena, I had an excellent. although long, day at work today. I'll hide the details behind a cut, but the upshot was that I was once again reminded of what I find gratifying to do.
( click here ) |
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| RFA (Request For Advice) |
[Aug. 31st, 2005|08:26 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  pensive | ] |
Fair readers, I beg for advice from you. I have a dilemma that spans various dimensions, practical, ethical, and, possibly, moral.
It concerns the horror that has occurred in the Southeast United States after Hurricane Katrina and the associated disasters in New Orleans.
But, I'll hide it behind an lj-cut 'cause I don't want to force y'all to deal with my (somewhat) self-indulgent issues.
( click here for self-indulgence ) |
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| weather and rice, both sticky |
[Aug. 7th, 2005|06:35 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | full | ] |
Thanks to the inimitable social contacts of jonsinger, I am in the notification loop of when the Indonesian Ambassador is giving an open house to celebrate Indonesia's Independence Day, August 17, if I recall correctly. (1945! Sixty years this year! Yay!) The open house is held at the Ambassador's residence which is a palatial, estate-sized piece of property in North West Washington, DC. The event itself is free and there is music (too loud) and dancing (pirates! a tiger with an enormous headdress/mask! riders on virtual horses!) and food.
Oh yes, I left the best until last. The food. It was stellar, copious, and cheap. Some three years ago I went to my first one of these and I still recall my reaction. So, settle back, gentle reader(s) and take a trip down memory lane.
( food and eating ) |
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| the weather and past summers |
[Aug. 4th, 2005|09:13 pm] |
Oh Maryland, my Maryland
Why must you be so humid?
That's "humid" spelled "hyuuuumid". And hot, too. The high today was 35C, although at that point the relative humidity was a mild 36%. It was still enough that upon walking out the door from a moderately air-conditioned building, my glasses fogged up. Grump. Right now it is 30C and 60% humidity. Sticky enough.
I learned from the last lawn-mowing exercise and refrained from attempting heat-stroke and mowing tonight. The weekend, while taken up with doings, is going to be at least 5C cooler and the grass can wait.
But this isn't the hottest and nastiest summer that I remember, even in the four years that I've been living here. The summer of 2002 takes the cake for a) overall hottest; b) overall worst air quality; and c) overall just nastiest.
Details behind this ( click this: ) |
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| hot times, oh boy, hot times |
[Jul. 26th, 2005|08:49 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | sticky | ] |
| [ | music |
| | murmur of fans | ] |
Finally, we have achieved the height of summer. Alas, it is about two or three weeks earlier than we would like, but the weather isn't something one orders out of a catalog.
So, I'm going to maunder about mowing the lawn and dreams.
( clicky, clicky )
Once I've heard that gilraen2 has read Uncle Abner, I'm going to post my thoughts on this book and what specifically about it gob-smacked me and how that lines up with an exhibit I saw of 6th C C.E. Buddhist carvings and James Hampton's Throne Of The Third Heaven Of The Nations Millenium General Assembly. Because there is a common thread there, although I haven't teased it out entirely. |
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| unexpected readings |
[Jul. 21st, 2005|08:50 pm] |
I was loaned a (read) copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Tuesday. Given that I was at work, I heroically refrained from opening it until late that night. But then I dove in. And I read on Tuesday night (with an eye to working on Wednesday) and on Wednesday night, and still hadn't finished it. No spoilers, but I think this is better written than OotP.
However, given that this was a loaner copy, I tucked another book in my bag to go back and forth to work with me. Uncle Abner Master of Mysteries by Melville Davisson Post, a Dover Reprint. This is a series of short stories, murder mysteries by definition, that are set in the 1840's-1850's Virginia (present day West Virginia at the best guess). They are solved by the narrator's Uncle Abner, a man of Old Testament biblical beliefs, but also one who believes in doing the right thing, in the overall biblical sense.
The stories are engrossing and I had to finish out the book before I could return to the J. K. Rowling. Says something, no?
Uncle Abner comes _highly_ recommended. |
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| modicum of update and random thoughts |
[Jul. 19th, 2005|08:59 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | thoughtful | ] |
First off, I now have connectivity of the wired sort at home. I suspect the other form of connectivity (wireless broadband) will need something on the order of a chainsaw to mend. Or having the leaves fall in the autumn. Tree fade, gotta love it.
In other fronts, there's the weather. Ick. It is both hot and humid, the occasional torrential downpours don't actually clear the air, possibly because they are so localized. We had one that dumped well over 10 cm (2 inches) in less than an hour, but the local airport (roughly 32km away) recorded .11 inch of precipitation.
Now, I live in an older house, from the 1890's I've heard and I would guess, and it is optimized for dealing with this kind of weather. But after several weeks of temperatures going no lower than 25C, the thermal mass of the house just succumbs and it is hot. The worst point is just after the sun sets when the absolute temperature drops and the dewpoint remains the same. The relative humidity jumps and things are miserable. An hour or two later and things are just uncomfortable.
And I do have window air-conditioners, but I'm too cheap to use them. Honest. I only crank them up when the reigning feline starts to look crinkly around the edges. And, so far, that hasn't happened this year.
The cat she does shed copiously. The sudden switch from early spring to middle summer has caused her to blow coat in a spectacular fashion. Fortunately, she likes being combed.
The car she does behave herself well. She carried an electric potter's wheel and other stuff to a demo that jonsinger did at a local public library. And tonight we picked up two cane-bottom rocking chairs from the trash as well as a Rubbermaid(tm) hose real thingy from the neighbor's trash.
Work goes apace. There have been several customers who have needed remote hands (and eyes) and have been grateful enough to offer some recompense. I'm holding out for a pony. As an added bonus, I get to see my manager's five-month old daughter who is the cutest thing in nature. She's also just about mobile. Doomed, we are doomed!
jonsinger and I are still playing hangman at wicked levels. He's also been working on the design for a laser and I've been of some use to him as a sounding board for pre-ionization designs. Indeed, I've suggested some possibilities that he may use.
I'm currently living in the house on my own. I encouraged (read: poked and prodded) my former housemate to move out closer to where zie works. Zie was commuting about 1.5 hours _each way_, five days a week. It was eating zir life and zir sanity. Of course, once zie had moved out I had an anxiety dream about it and now, some four months later, zir landlord is selling the house zir apartment is in. I told zir to check on the relevant laws, because I believe that zie has fairly significant rights in that jurisdiction. Still, I feel a spot guilty.
Lastly, HP&H-BP thoughts. I haven't read it, indeed, I'm planning on reading HP&OoTP first (but can I resist the book sitting seductively next to me?). There is much conversation going on in various forums, chats, etc. about the rationality/plausibility of the behavior of the adults at Hogwarts. Why (do people ask) doesn't Dumbledore _tell_ Harry what is going on? Why doesn't the staff at the school act to prevent problems, etc.? From an adult point of view, I certainly don't know. But from a child's point of view, I can answer. (This certainly reflects upon my upbringing.) Adults do things. These actions appear to be random. These actions don't make sense from a child's viewpoint and knowledge. Information isn't given to a child. Why? From the child's point of view, there is no reason - purely random. Aren't adults supposed to have the child's well-being at the forefront of their actions? Not in this child's experience. There isn't malice, just not a sense that what happens to the child is the primary outcome.
So, writing a book in which adults behave with great randomness, withhold information that might be useful, and not considering the effect on the child? Plausible to me. |
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| How I spent my weekend, or being out in the weather for fun and profit |
[Jun. 27th, 2005|06:03 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
This was a weekend full of fun, amusement, acquisition, and other forms of innocent merriment. Saturday was the day of acquisition, Sunday was the day of innocent merriment. Both days were fun and amusing. Forthwith I babble about them behind a LJ-cut.
( clicky here ) |
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| Vacation report |
[Jun. 22nd, 2005|05:35 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | happy | ] |
This past Thursday, June 16, jonsinger and I went off to Colorado to visit friends and attend a conference on cooking and food in Europe, from Rome to the Renaissance. It was wonderful, and I shall hide the details behind a cut tag.
( food and fun behind here ) |
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| PSA |
[Jun. 9th, 2005|06:16 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
Fair readers, I'm going to be a spot scarce in these environs for the next little while.
The reason? I am currently without internet access at home.
I have two, yes, two forms of broadband access at my house and neither of them is playing nicely at the moment. Things will be repaired anon, but for now, I'll be doing my network stuff from work.
Frankly, I think the yard and gardens got tired of being ignored and conspired together. |
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| Advice Requested |
[Jun. 3rd, 2005|05:45 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | curious | ] |
Fair readers, let me ask you (the universal you) for some advice. How do you address Issues_from_the_Past with people who are now unavailable to answer these particular questions?
Details behind this( Read more... ) |
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| a happy childhood story |
[Jun. 1st, 2005|06:26 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | calm | ] |
To add a bit of balance to my previous posts, I'm going to tell you a happy, good part of my childhood.
I will hide it behind an LJ-cut because I can.
( clicky thing ) |
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| plod, plod... |
[May. 31st, 2005|07:22 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | reminsicent | ] |
| [ | music |
| | birds chirping, cat warbling | ] |
Not really ploddingness, but....
nancylebov pointed out (sapiently, as one might expect) The past doesn't reliably go away, and talking about the pain isn't necessarily the same thing as whining.
Alas, when I start writing about my upbringing, it devolves into so much whine that it requires copious amounts of aged cheddar to compensate. Too much whine. Possibly, I should post about how I haven't let got of my raising in all these years so as to not whine about it. After all, my age is both prime and square (and it _isn't_ 25), and well, I'd like to be able, more or less, to regard it with some degree of detachment.
So, let me tell you (the reading you) a story about my mother's later years.
Hiding it, of course, behind an lj cut ( Read more... ) |
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[May. 25th, 2005|08:38 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  accomplished | ] |
People have expressed an interest in the results of the haircut. Alas, I don't have any "before" pictures. I'm somewhat allergic to having my picture being taken. But jonsinger did these and I think he did a right good job.
This post is a wild experiment, both of doing pictures and of doing them behind an lj-cut.
( click here ) |
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| Nattering yet again |
[May. 23rd, 2005|07:58 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
Possibly, y'all are wondering when I'll stop posting this inconsequential stuff....
I had a fired up, incendiary posting started by a post by cakmpls to be found here. It has to do with the distinction between shame and embarrassment, among other things, and provoked a strong reaction in me. Said strong reaction has to do with my upbringing and some of the dysfunctionality of it, but the reaction was much stronger than I was expecting. And on a cooler reflection, I don't need to flood my gentle readers with whining about the behavior of someone dead these seventeen years past when said behavior happened some thirty-seven or more years in the past.
So, instead, I'll talk about my haircut.
Not that it is obvious from my userpic, but I have long hair. Well, actually that isn't entirely accurate at this point, I _had_ long hair. Until Saturday afternoon, I had long hair.
I had long hair as a small child, went to short hair around the age of 6, started growing my hair out around the age of 10, cut my hair short (way short - like 2.5cm long all over) when I was 18, and then started growing my hair out again when I was 22. Since that time, umm, roughly 1979, I've had hair that was at the very least down well into my shoulder blades. Sometimes it was significantly below my waist. It got trimmed at odd intervals. As I recall, anniemal did a significant trim sitting on a doorstep in Bethesda, MD. I celebrated a promotion at work by getting my hair cut and buying a null-modem adapter in 1999.
I last had a hair cut sometime in 2002 when I braided my then waist-length hair and put in a hair elastic about two braid turns down from the top and chopped off the braid. Even? Not in the slightest. However it was optimized for braid and I don't wear my hair down all that much, especially in summers.
But I just got to wondering about my having long hair. How much of my self image was taken up with long hair? How would I feel if I had to have chemotherapy or surgery that involved shaving my head? And, importantly to me, how wise is it to have a self image predicated on an ephemeral trait?
So, I asked jonsinger if he would be willing to cut my hair. He was. I had somewhat vaguely assumed that he had done hair trimming before, but he hadn't. I didn't warn him about the tendency for the cut to slant upwards, mostly figuring it really doesn't help. This just happens and is dealt with. My bad. He was truly horrified to see a 5cm difference between the left and the right side.
The haircut turned out to be better than OK. It is just above shoulder length, long enough to be pulled back into a wee, stubby ponytail, and it looks (if I do say so myself) fabulous! The people I work with who noticed the hair cut all like it too. Other people who have seen it approve also.
And this gives me a bit of hope that if I should have to shave my head, I'd be able to do it without undue hits to my self image. |
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