| huzzah! stuff! |
[Nov. 23rd, 2009|11:10 pm] |
Yuletart image is sent out one hour ahead of deadline (wooo), sweet potatoes for potluck tomorrow are in the fridge, and I am over 30K on my novel. I feel this has been a Good Day.
...still 10,000 behind on NaNo, but. That's okay!
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| [books] Imago, by Octavia Butler |
[Nov. 9th, 2009|07:22 pm] |
To try to inspire myself on my NaNovel, I have acquired books from the library. (This is not procrastination. This is research. really.)
Link to my (spoilery, extremely rambling) review on 50books_POC
This is the first Octavia Butler I've read, and I wasn't sure what to expect. It's also- this is kind of embarrassing, but it's been ages since I've read a book. A long time. There used to be a time when I was always in the middle of a book, but since college... I really haven't. I never stopped reading, of course- I couldn't do that any more that I could stop breathing. But I hadn't sat down and read a book in a while. Listened to them on tape, yes. But it's... a different experience. And fanfiction is like- hrm. Like eating snacks, or pre-prepared food. Instant mac-and-cheese versus made from scratch. I don't mean that in a derogatory way at all- I fucking love instant mac-and-cheese! but it feeds a different need- for me, at least. There's something very comfortable about fanfic- about knowing the characters already. It's... less risky, maybe? Less work? I'm speaking as a reader, here, not a writer. I've already got my emotional hook, and I know what to expect, maybe. I think I've been... marinating in that for awhile. I've wanted to read the same stories over and over, like I sometimes like to listen to the same song or CD on repeat, or eat the same meal for weeks at a time. But variety is... good. Necessary. I think I needed it. I think it's a good sign, depression wise, that I'm reaching out for it.
I feel like my writing ability has atrophied, which is odd, considering I write (e-mail) for a living. At one time, I know I was able to write clear, grammatically correct sentences, but now it's all rambly and has too many commas and dashes and verbal tics. (Do you know how many times I deleted "you know" today? ack.)
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| [NaNoWriMo] |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|10:29 pm] |
5500 / 50000 words. 11% done!
Behind, but I'm hoping to catch up by the end of the weekend. Pretty sure I can do it.
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| [Nanowrimo] Nanoo nanoo |
[Nov. 1st, 2009|09:42 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | nnwm09 | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | hopeful | ] |
1813 / 50000 words. 4% done!
I have apparently forgotten everything I ever knew about writing. Nothing but dialogue and then long descriptions of the character's state of mind. Still, that's a step up from nothing at all, so I'm not complaining.
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| [leverage] Oh, Sophie. |
[Oct. 18th, 2009|03:30 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | leverage | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | amused | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "You thought she was dressed like a nun for no reason?" "It's Parker." | ] |
In an effort to start being actively fannish again, I am watching season 2 of Leverage*. So far, I feel they are hitting the "We are GOOD GUYS and we like DOING GOOD (while also breaking the law!)" a little hard, but otherwise, <3 <3 <3! (Except Nate. He gets only one <3.)
I have to wonder, though- how did Sophie even get the part?
(I'm half-way convinced she knew she was terrible and invited everyone just to have an excuse to try to cajole them into another job. She perked up *awfully* quickly when Parker suggested stealing something.)
*I have not seen any of it. It's been... a little eh, recently. It is never a good sign when I don't have enough enough energy to watch TV.
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| e-mail change! |
[Oct. 18th, 2009|01:21 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | displeased | ] |
Sooo apparently gmail has disabled my e-mail address, because apparently I was dumb and didn't notice they'd sent me an e-mail saying "o hay, change ur password!"
Anyway. I've e-mailed them, but I don't have a lot of confidence in getting the old one back, so if you desperately need to contact me (hah) pls use red0eft (at) gmail (dot) com
bleargh.
In other news, I have photoshop on my computer once more! Have signed up for Yuletart (which is, er, how I knew the e-mail was disabled, whups) and hopefully there will be moar art soonish.
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| The integrity of the American Justice System depends on YOU |
[Sep. 15th, 2009|09:30 am] |
Have been called for jury duty. Alas, the LA county superior court wireless has decided that most of my usual online haunts are not appropriate (reason: adult content). I may actually have to do the homework I've brought, ugh.
On that note, does anyone know of any decent tutorials for C++ for the complete and utter n00b?
EDIT: I love that our introductory video starts with "California: The greatest state in the union."
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| About that Fan Fiction Survey... |
[Aug. 31st, 2009|12:29 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | meta | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | dubious | ] |
![[info - personal]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) kanata points out a few problems with their methods.
eruthros has a rather illuminating conversation with the survey creators prior to its release.
You can also read their mission statement, which... well, the phrase We're deeply interested in broad-based behavioral data that involves romantic or erotic cognition and evinces a clear distinction between men and women. seems to me that they've decided on their results already.
(Also, I have no idea what the Mona Lisa has to do with anything.)
Other things that make me less than impressed are the fact that they only offer Male and Female as options for biological sex at birth, and the fact that although they offer "Male" as an option, at least one of the questions gave answers that only applied if you were not male. They've changed that now, but changing the options after the survey's begun doesn't really fill me with confidence either.
Although you could read through it and not answer, or make up things, because I'm really curious if anyone *has* an actual answer for question 31, because that one seemed incredibly bizarre to me.
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| Back from con! |
[Jul. 26th, 2009|10:33 pm] |
Have returned from comic-con with the first TBP of Powers, a Batman Beyond t-shirt, and blisters on my toes. |
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| [garden] *wibble* |
[Jul. 14th, 2009|10:48 pm] |
Cat just ate half my pepper seedlings.
Cat. Ate. half my pepper seedlings. I had them down from the shelf for *one minute* while I went out to get something, and when I came back, I had six where once there were twelve. Six pairs of nice, green, healthy seed leaves... six naked stalks, and one very guilty-looking cat.
I know this is my fault. He was sniffing them, and I put him on the floor, and I should have put them back up, and after moving all my tomatoes into larger pots I wouldn't have room for all of them anyway. But. But. They took so damn long to germinate and they were looking so *healthy* and waaaaahhh, my peppers. *sniffle*
Bastard cat I pay over five thousand dollars for surgery for you, and this is how you repay me? sajgskg. They better not make him sick. |
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[Jun. 7th, 2009|06:06 pm] |
The Stand is making me kind of cranky, you guys! Are there any good post-apocalyptic books that *aren't* all "Well, now that the world has ended, no adventures for the ladies! BABIES FOR YOU. Also, only white people and Magical Black Ladies are immune to the superflu or whatever BY STRANGE COINCIDENCE."
Alternately, any interesting essays on The Stand that I can read when I finish it. |
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| D: D: D: |
[May. 4th, 2009|05:11 pm] |
so my mother just sent me an e-mail about how the swine flu is an Illuminati/Zionist One World Government conspiracy...? Which. Um. I think(hope) she's just buying into it because it was sent by one of her new age-y "We create our own reality (with our FEELINGS!)" The Secret obsessed new bffs, and that she's actually ignorant of the dog-whistle there, but. MOM. NO. noooooooo.
(she is not a stupid person dammit what happened to her critical thinking skills auuuuugh) |
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| dw codes |
[May. 2nd, 2009|08:57 pm] |
I have five dreamwidth codes- first come, first served! Comment with your e-mail address, comments screened. |
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[Apr. 10th, 2009|03:57 pm] |
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GUESS WHO'S BACK AT THE VET |
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| once again with the hatred of everything |
[Apr. 4th, 2009|01:01 pm] |
So I hate Bank of America a lot right now. ( moar woe )
And now I'm going to go watch the Nigerian Job again and drown my woes in Leverage. PS people you should join ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) rewatch_job. |
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| food! |
[Mar. 29th, 2009|09:13 pm] |
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I made this today: Black bean chili w/ orange and cumin. It was delicious, and I recommend it. Although I left out the chili powder because a) I am a wimp when it comes to spices and b) I didn't have any. But it was good! And I have leftovers for a few days. |
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| Listening and linking. |
[Mar. 11th, 2009|10:46 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | race | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | thoughful | ] |
For people who are not caught up on what has been dubbed RaceFail 09, Anne Somerville has an excellent and clear summary. (Claire, remember that thing I e-mailed you about awhile ago? It's still going.)
It's kind of surprising for me to realize that I *haven't* posted a lot on this subject. It's been occupying so much of my brainspace recently, I assume surely, everyone who knows me must know my thoughts on this. Plus, I didn't know that I could contribute anything to the discussion. But then I read Some thoughts on listening while white, especially this: I know: A good listener, online, is someone who writes. Writing is how we listen.
I want to write something about what I've learned, and my reactions, but- it's kind of coming out all jumbled now. I may post later. (I am home from work as there are moar potential cat problems oh god).
But- more importantly, I wanted to link to the posts that have really hit me, the ones that prove that this is *not* just another internet fight. Probably the only people on my flist who haven't read these are the three people who know me in person (*waves*), but in case you haven't:
deepad:
I Didn't Dream of Dragons
White people, it's not all about you but for this post it is
(especially: When you imply that POC are disallowing you from writing something, what you are really saying is their their disapproval affects you to a degree that you are willing to pretend that they have the power to alter your choices. This is disenginous.
Reappropriating my man
ciderpress
ven ve voke up, ve had zese wodies
However, in the intense and almost singular focus on clueless white people in this discussion and the often repeated statement that this was an opportunity to dialogue, that there is solace in the fact that it has been worth all the pain and difficulty, that they are somehow *glad*, the underlying assumption is that:
PoCs have emotional/intellectual catharsis after such discussions.
PoC's pain being part of an educational moment for clueless white people is worth it to PoCs because it's worth it to white people.
Anti-racism matters the same amount, in the same way to clueless white people, allies and PoC.
bossymarmalade
sees fire (in response to Elizabeth Bear's Cease fire.)
You see, I couldn't just decide not to have a conversation about race anymore, because it follows me home. My race issues ARE my home.
Also: ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif) verb_noire, a new POC-focused genre press
Fundraising for Fans of Color to go to WisCon
and via sparkymonster, I can fix it! A ten step guide to fix racism. |
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| [tv] Psych! |
[Mar. 7th, 2009|08:00 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | psych, the sentinel | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | pleased | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Banana." "Could- you repeat that?" | ] |
So I am watching Psych, and lo, it is good! My primary reaction is OMG GUS. HART. Is there seriously more Shawn/Lassiter than Shawn/Gus that is ridiculous. Also that Shawn's dad is a dick.
The torrent for s1 is going stupidly slow, though. allllso I am running out of space on my laptop. |
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| Things you should participate in! |
[Mar. 4th, 2009|06:38 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | race | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | sniffly | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Sentinel: Night Train | ] |
nextian is running a Characters of Color Yenta Meme! Basically, you post what kind of shows/characters interest you, and then other people tell you what CoCs might work for you.
In other news, I am sick and my nose is essentially a leaky faucet. A red, chafed faucet. Bleehh. Skipping class tonight, even though I shouldn't. |
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