Analog Angel

Interview questions

2009-11-21T00:20:08Z

Meme-edness, submitted by sillyzilly2k

1. What is the first chapter book you remember reading?
2. Tell me about voice-over: are you learning special voices, or using your own voice?
3. How did kung pao tofu Thursdays begin?
4. What would you do with a week's vacation in the UK?
5. What was the first music you bought as a kid?

1. What is the first chapter book you remember reading?

Um.... Hmm. I don't exactly recall. I don't think it was a big milestone at the time, or if it was, my parents kept that to themselves. Out of the random making-it-up blue sky, I'll pull Ramona the Pest as an example. But it's quite possible there were others previously. Certainly I was there with Ramona for that book. I'm always surprised at how short they seem now, when I remember them as so harrowing. :-)

2. Tell me about voice-over: are you learning special voices, or using your own voice?

Well, it's kind of a combo. You don't really have one own voice, even if, like me, you never were one of those kids who threw around their voice for a good time. Even in my Sketchpad voicing, I'll sound quite different from one day to the next, though that is not a desirable characteristic. I mean, you're supposed to be able to replicate your tone, just like being able to replicate adding fractions or hitting the baseball with the bat (ha! as if I ever did that!).

But they teach you to read in different tones of your voice, and for audiobook narration, to expand the tones of your voice so you have more possibilities. "Character" voices is a track I haven't looked into at all—I think it would help with my other work, but I'm terrified of the people who can do different voices on command. Though I could, at one time, do a credible Beavis impression. I loved this for its shock value, as you may imagine!

3. How did kung pao tofu Thursdays begin?

Kung pao chicken was a dish my mom found in one of her Sunset cookbooks, I think when I was in my teens. (I grew up on Sunset recipes—my mom didn't want me to be confined to her meat & potatoes diet, and I preferred spicy, "exotic" food, of course, which was safely brought to her kitchen via Sunset.) Anyway, kung pao chicken was one of my favorites.

When I Left Home, I wanted to try some of the recipes myself, and did make this at least once, but when I moved in with Erik the meat-eating became more awkward, and in any case I wanted to share the great taste with him. I've tried adapting several dishes, but this was the only runaway success, I think because the meat flavor isn't as important as it is in some other of my childhood favorites. (Libbean Stew, an adaptation of a Libyan Stew that I've loved and been unable to pronounce since I was 3, being my all time favorite dinner. :-)

How we got into the ritual of having it every Thursday night, I really don't remember, but I think it's always been such a refreshing, YUMMY dish that it bucks us up after the long haul of the week, and gets us through to Friday (yay Friday!) and the weekend. Plus, since we hardly ever do cook together, it was/is nice to have one day a week where we do.

4. What would you do with a week's vacation in the UK?

Geez, the hard one! Uh, everything? Nothing at all? Do I get to have Erik, my beloved sisters, or just my own self? With Erik, I have NO DOUBT that we'd rent a car at Dublin airport and drive around northern Ireland, that being the part we've missed on our past trips. There's a castle of a pirate queen up there I'm anxious to get to at some point, not to mention plenty of very scenic lanes, and other sundry delights. With my beloved sisters, oh, well, I think you know. :-) I'm sure there'd be London museuming, drives in the country to JA sights with stops for homemade scones and clotted cream at roadside cottage-cafes, sitting in pubs planning websites... the usual! By myself, I think actually I'd take a walking tour through some of the still terminally quaint parts of southern England. The kind where you mosey through fields and woods all day, stopping at B&Bs and pubs for the night. Fresh air and verdue (to quote Fanny Price) by day, and tea, pubs, and soft beds at night? Who wouldn't go for that?

5. What was the first music you bought as a kid?

Hee! You'll love this. It was The Pet Shop Boys West End Girls! (On record, no less.) That's right, ROTF and LOL. I get it. But it spoke to me in 5th grade, and still does, though perhaps only b/c I played it like 60 million times back then.

12 of 12: November, Medical Edition

2009-11-13T08:15:00Z

I'm fine—I just happened to schedule two doctor's appointments today, is all. So a lot of shuttling back and forth. I calculated that between a drive out to Pt. Reyes on Monday, a drive to Santa Cruz yesterday, and visits to San Ramon and Palo Alto today, I've driven over 500 miles this week. Pleasant for the most part, though I wish the glorious fall weather of today had manifested itself for my more scenic drives. Kind of hazy earlier this week. 12 of 12 is the brainchild of Chad Darnell.

10:33 am: morning cat

10:42 am: morning self

11:54 am: lunch/breakfast with Mom at Max's in San Ramon

1:50 pm: outside Doctor #1's office in Bishop Ranch

2:30 pm: All westbound traffic on Hwy 84 diverted onto Willow Rd (luckily my turn in any case.) I don't know what happened: I heard it was still closed at around 4 pm, but it was open when I went back around 6. Anyone know?

4:17 pm: fountain outside Doctor #2's office in Palo Alto

5:28 pm: shopping at Andronico's

5:38 pm: the turkeys are upon us

7:53 pm: evening cats love floor heater vents

9:44 pm: Evening cats like water, too. (At least Lucy will drink out her water glass, unlike Clyde, who prefers mine.)

9:59 pm: graymalkn arrives at home and steals a cookie. (Note, he preferred this picture to the one where his eyes are open and he's smiling, so, here you go!)

10:30 pm: It's Kung Pao Tofu Night! Happy Thursday, everyone! :-)

Halloween wedding

2009-11-06T23:52:37Z

So this is a tad late, but I have to explain the awesomeness of my Halloween. Beth and Todd's Hallowedding (not my word, ok?) was the funnest wedding, and the funnest Halloween party ever! - and I include my own wedding here, which was amazing, but not as downright fun. - It was also a great chance to take pictures, as we were all SO much more decorative than normal wedding guests!

Beth, being crazy, bought a crapload of Halloween decorations, and in the end the Bancroft Hotel really did look like someone's (very nice) house decorated for Halloween. I helped carve pumpkins and decorate. Here's my spider pumpkin (Todd did the etching, but I poked the template into the pumpkin, for HOURS.)

I was Zombie Jesus and graymalkn was Zombie-hunter Pontius Pilate. He sewed both our costumes—that's a real toga, not a bedsheet, you ignorant goths—and did our make-up. A former coworker made my crown of thorns (blackberry). Yes, that's a real chainsaw. :-) Yes, I have stigmata, though they peeled off and itched! I also have real dirt on my tunic and a lot of fake blood in my hair, though you couldn't see it. A pretty comfortable outfit, though hot for dancing in, and not in a good way.

The ceremony was both serious and funny - free of false sentiment and genuinely moving, probably because Beth, Todd, and everyone else was so happy about it all! Also, a Batman ring-bearer and princess flower girl help.

Beth (and Todd) looked lovely. And, to top it off, they did Thriller as their first dance!

So, good on you guys. Happy marriage and all! :-)

(More pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bilunabirotunda/sets/72157622590931363/)

Problems with time

2009-10-27T08:39:39Z

I've never understood time. It's one of my favorite subjects, because it's so difficult, yet seems understandable, unlike, say, humanity. Though, just when you think you're getting the hang of it, someone goes and changes the rules. (Like Thursdays. No one is to change Thursdays at all.)

I think I need a new clock. My old clock is super-helpful, and super-helpfully Springs Forward and Falls Back for you. BUT, Spring Forward and Fall Back are no longer in the same places they used to be, determined by the algorithms of old, and no one told my clock. I don't know how to tell my clock that this is the second year in a row that it has made me seriously late for an important event on Sunday morning. Last year, a bellydance lesson. This year, a voiceover class. LATE!! And not, "it's-polite-to-be-10-minutes" late. Late, as in, 30-45 minutes late.

It's hard, in the arrival time distribution, to know where to stack up, and then do it when you know. Unlike SOME people I know, I hate to be late. I hate the rushing through traffic, rushing in to the room guilt of the thing. But I always am late, probably because I hate to be early too. It looks like you're trying too hard, you care too much, or something. It's Not Cool. However, the timing of being on time is probably Bistromathic in nature, and beyond contemporary understanding of the field. Particularly if I don't go to bed soon.

Tangential real-time P.S.: Jon Stewart just made a joke using the laws of probability! Technically speaking, he pointed out that, like Bernie Madoff, we've probably all had pizza made by a child molester. It was hilarious. You probably had to be there.

Unseen Academicals

2009-10-22T03:35:38Z

Mr. Pratchett's latest, and was I happy to see the kid carrying it in Peet's the other day! Ran right over to Border's to get my copy.

No strong reaction, really. It's not a dud - it has a new look at Unseen University and its faculty and staff, interesting new characters and new takes on old characters. But it's kind of slow, and there's not much action. I like action. Maybe it's that it uses football and football fans as a metaphor for life, and not only am I not into football, but I know so little about British football fans that his carefully crafted analogies are kinda lost on me. Anyway, I was happy to read it. Good on you, sir. But next time some theme more Austenian in nature?

Actually, Pratchett has to be one of THE few authors I'd be willing to let have a go at an Austen/monster mash(up). Because he loves to rethink monsters. One of his fundamental truths is "everyone is people" (or is that "everyone are people"?) or maybe "don't believe what you're told." It's what makes his world work. In his version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Mr. Darcy would probably be a zombie - a nice, romantic zombie looking for love and afraid to ask Lizzie for a dance because his hand might fall off. Or no, actually I think Mr. Collins would be the zombie - he does kind of remind me of Reg Shoe in the Discworld books: earnest, socially climbing, intent on pleasing. Yes, that would work much better - that distaste everyone feels around Mr. Collins would be explained so well by his being a zombie! It would be all metty-for-ical and shit. Poor Mr. Collins. Now I'm wondering what kind of monster everyone would be. . . What is your inner monster? Remember, monsters are people too.

12 of 12: October, Indigenous Columbus Day

2009-10-13T07:07:14Z

Kind of an odd day. I remember when this was truly a holiday. Today, half my acquaintances were working and half weren't. Appropriately, I half-worked a half-day in an empty office. Then, I went to the city and had dinner with a friend I've known since kindergarten, but haven't seen since high school! The upside of Facebook. For 12 of 12 goodness, see http://chaddarnell.typepad.com/.

10:46 am: A pleasantly late morning.

10:46 am: Time for breakfast

10:47 am: Shining morning face

11:23 am: Checking up on my new blog: http://austenacious.com/

11:54 am: The new Terry Pratchett is out!!! YAY!! Pretty good so far.

12:48 pm: Clyde much prefers my water to her own.

3:05 pm: Oh, the exciting life of a video editor.

4:22 pm: Some things never change, though. And I hope crossword breaks never do.

5:22 pm: Smells like rain. Windy, too.

10:05 pm: After dinner in the Mission with Greg and graymalkn (between dinner and Indian ice cream, to be more specific)

11:39 pm: Ye Olde Johne Stewarte

11:43 pm: And Lucy brings us home.

Austenacious.com

2009-09-29T04:28:24Z

Hello inter-friends: Check out my new blog: austenacious.com/ ! This is a joint venture with captainoz and sillyzilly2k, and I promise you good times will be had by all!

Austenacious: where the women are accomplished, the men are smoldering yet virtuous, and nobody ever gets mocked for being a great reader (or, for that matter, in taking pleasure in a great many things).

Austenacious: Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday; news, notes, humor, and thoughtfulness on the topic of Jane Austen, her works, and the culture surrounding them and us.

Austenacious: Three friends, reading and watching and thinking and talking and laughing and definitely, definitely eating, and hoping to share the wealth. Believers that Jane Will Keep Us Together.

Austenacious: It’s an adjective. It’s a community. It’s a state of mind.

Welcome.

—Miss Ball, Miss Osborne, and Mrs. Fitzpatrick

fragmented reading, fragmented thoughts

2009-09-21T07:27:46Z

Circle of Friends, by Maeve Binchy: Reread. It's the only Maeve Binchy I've ever read, and that on the advice of captainoz and sillyzilly2k , who, if they worked together, could probably get me to do anything. It's about Ireland, which I'm really missing right now, and it reminds me of Istanbul, because I read it there first, and it has interesting characters, and you get involved and all that. One thing she highlights to me is how dishonest people can be in their personal lives—that's sort of depressing, and I don't want to live my life that way, yet I can't say she's wrong about it...

The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield: I hate buying another motivational book. Makes me feel pretty silly. And I partly bought this one because I was in Bookshop Santa Cruz getting Halloween cards (when in Santa Cruz, buy cards), and I felt shallow for not getting a book. Is there a shallower reason to buy a book? But I've heard good things about this one. I'm only worried because he breaks out a quality he calls Resistance and sets it as an entity in its own right (Your Enemy). This kind of construct embarrasses me. And I've heard he references divine inspiration later. We shall see.

The Children of Hurin, by J.R.R. Tolkien: Bought this at Edinburgh Airport over a year ago (yikes) and am trying to use it as a sort of break-in to The Silmarillion, which I've never read either. It's a bit too saga-y for me. I know people who like it better than The Lord of the Rings, though, so I keep trying. It did make me pick up The Art of J.R.R. Tolkien again, which is fascinating, and good for the imagination. (I'm only so-so on Tolkien's art for The Hobbit, but his other stuff is better, I think.)

I Am a Strange Loop, by Douglas Hofstadter: I like and dislike Hostadter (who has too many consonants in his name, for one thing). He gets kind of precious, but so often I'll get that "hey, I've always wondered about that too!" connection that I can't not read the book. But I have to be in the mood to pay attention, which is not so easy these days.

Mirror, Mirror, by Gregory Maguire: He wrote Wicked. My friend Renee recommended I try him. Not so sure. This one is Snow White, a story that terrified me as a kid (though not as much as Hansel and Gretel).

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis: You know, I'm sure, how you start to reread an old favorite because you're tired, and then realize you just can't read it again, right now? And it is a favorite. First one I read, actually. My mom got that one for me because I liked Star Trek. Voyage stories, I'm always there.

Here's a picture of Scotland, because I miss the British Isles so much right now.

12 of 12: September, Rainy Saturday

2009-09-13T06:37:43Z

And here we are again. A very quiet working Saturday for graymalkn , the cats, and me, proving I spend 16/24 hours on the couch. Alas. Mr. 12 of 12 = Chad Darnell.

12:08 pm: The big news of today is that it rained! With thunder and everything! Mostly last night - I couldn't believe my ears. Made everything smell nice.

12:29 pm: Couscous for breakfast, while Clyde eyes the cheese and Erik figures out the crossword pun: Yorick's words? "The victim of skulldiggery."

1:33 pm: I actually took this photo for a freelance job requiring a teapot to be attached to the sides of a right triangle, demonstrating the Pythagorean Theorem. However, I failed. No teapot theorems for you! (This isn't the photo I actually tried to use, but I thought you'd appreciate the elegant framing of the toilet.)

3:50 pm: Taking a break from work

3:57 pm: Anyone want a Crucible T-shirt? For serious - I got it when they canceled my class for lack of attendance and forgot to tell me until I showed up. It's ok, but I don't want it. Girl's size XXL.

6:30 pm: We pretended it was winter and had hot chocolate. There was actually a cold breeze coming in.

6:46 pm: Erik cleans up the kitchen so I can make dinner.

7:18 pm: Modest parsnip

8:40 pm: Freaks and Geeks. Lucy's more a freak type.

10:29 pm: For reasons which may shortly become clear, I took about 30 photos of my Jane Austen doll tonight. Conclusions: a) I should dust more often, b) I really can't hold the camera steady without a tripod, and c) natural light is Jane's own light.

10:47 pm: Jane's swooshy skirt

11:11 pm: I'm about to tickle Erik because he's hiccuping.

OK, I think we're going to try Jane in long-exposure candlelight. See you all next month!

Pace Picante Sauce

2009-08-27T01:14:48Z

I would just like to put on record that I love Pace Hot Picante Sauce with Tostitos tortilla chips. It makes me feel like I'm not a real Californian to say so, but come on! Sure, I appreciate a fresh-made, inventive salsa, but this is the stuff of my childhood. Are you telling me, you who can taste the difference between Scharffenberger and Valhrona, that you never crave M&Ms? I thought not. No other chips are as deliciously salty as Tostitos; where else but Pace can I find that cooked tomato/jalapeno/onion flavor, with no weird mangoes or other little surprises to get in the way? It's my New York pizza to your Arizmendi. I cannot even count how many midnight hours I have spent reading while eating chips and picante sauce, at college after parties or studying, at home. Own time, own place. Go be snobby on someone else.

12 of 12: August - Ordinary Day Edition

2009-08-13T07:07:46Z

Yes, just a plain old day making videos (clickin' OK) and watching Good Eats. Sorry to be so boring. As usual see http://chaddarnell.typepad.com/ for the 12 of 12 specs.

9:10 am: Shining morning face

9:16 am: First email check of the day

10:14 am: Off to Key

10:44 am: Breakfast at Westside Bakery. Great coffee. Good muffin (used to be better before they healthified it).

11:15 am: My once and present office at Key, now liquor storage for the Clique OK and misc Galileo thermometers.

5:26 pm: My once and present officemate, Andres.

7:41 pm: I realize that graymalkn didn't leave me the mail key when he went hiking, so no mail for me until the weekend.

8:12 pm: Hot and sour tofu pasta is the dinner of champions. Cat pills are not.

8:52 pm: Lemon bar crumbs, tea, and Good Eats. Not so bad.

10:19 pm: Lucy helps with some late work.

11:20 pm: Clyde is too sleepy for your blog.

11:23 pm: Shining evening back. See you next month!

Five Words Meme (Tea is wet...)

2009-08-11T06:38:44Z

Respond to this meme by yelling "Words!" and I'll give you five words that remind me of you, or failing that five words for which I want to hear your associations. Post your ponderings in your journal and, if you're so inclined, invite others to do the same.

kineticphoenix gave me Mathematics, Physics, Collage, Poetry, and Nostalgia.

All these words are about connections - connections and pattern and striving for meaning. I have always strongly associated mathematics and poetry as being distillations of essences. Maximal truth in minimal surfaces. Nostalgia for me is catchphrases linking me to others in our connected past. "Tea is wet," kineticphoenix reminds me, and I say to her, "I need liquid now!" You see, a private language, a shorthand. Endearing when it strives for truth, so to speak, or at least friendship, but not when used to obscure the past or the present. Collage also is a private language, perhaps, or a way in which I try to convey my thoughts more completely than I can in words, try to connect :-), try to understand what I'm thinking. Connect inside my own head. My own act of creation. Physics underlies and underlines the mysteries of the universe, that hacknied phrase. Even more than mathematics or poetry, it dives into the deepest realms of truth, and is the background of my thought. Or so I hope.

Fantasy Prisoner Casting

2009-07-28T05:46:41Z

So I saw there's going to be a Prisoner remake - actually two: www.amctv.com/originals/the-prisoner/ and a movie. Though, to be fair, that's just an empty imdb listing, so I don't know if it's going to be The Prisoner, or some totally different story. (I am behind the times.)

The preview looks pretty lame, despite some homage to the original in scenes repeated word for word, not to mention suffocating white balloons. I suppose Ian McKellen is okay for #2, but Jim Caviezel as #6? You, sir, are no Patrick McGoohan! They're doing him just as an Everyman, and he seems to lack the immense anger, insouciance, and intelligence of the original. So, this got us thinking of who could tackle the role of #6.

graymalkn proposed Ian McEwan. (At least 50% of British actors are named Ian McSomething, don't you think?)
I would really like to see Brad Pitt take it on.
Or, it would be awesome to see a woman in this role, and for some reason I thought of Janeane Garofalo. Not sure why.

I am a Prisoner purist, grew up on the show (which accounts for my cheerful outlook on life), and for precisely that reason I think limbs need to be gone out on here. Which is why Ian McKellen is rather a disappointing choice for #2. I mean, he always plays that role, for good or for evil. And the changing nature of #2 in the original very much got at the show's main theme of events being completely unexpected and probably menacing, behind the surface regularity and charm. Kind of any early Borg model without the sci-fi aspect. If you see what I mean. Not that the Borg are noted for their charm, except of course Seven of Nine. (!) The individual vs. the society. Seven of Nine as The Prisoner. Discuss!

The Village itself looks uncreative and Hollywood in the remake. I don't know how you could beat Portmeirion, but surely they could have exerted themselves a little more.

Typical, that's what the remake looks. Typical. And the themes from the original do resonate today - but I don't think AMC/ITV is looking beyond the obvious. It's very irritating. Maybe it needs the true moviemaker's eye (and budget). Could any of them have the sense not to regularize and confine the story? Maybe Terry Gilliam?

notes from the culture bus

2009-07-26T02:35:57Z

Wednesday: King Tut. Started with line-waiting (3 separate lines), then a 1.5 min movie narrated by Omar Shariff to get you in the mood, then a cheesy doors swinging open to reveal a dark room with a lighted statue at the end of it. As soon as the guide said we could go in, I was on my way, but everyone else hung back from mystical terror or timidity, perhaps. It got better after that. Egyptian stuff always feels so natural to me - in no way alien or foreign. There were many things here I'd never seen, and I've been obsessed with ancient Egypt since I was 7. I loved all the expressions on the animals in particular. So funny!

Everyone who passed one of Tut's very famous alabaster canopic jars remarked that it looked like Michael Jackson. And it did! I said, "maybe this is what he was aiming for," and have now convinced myself of this. I mean, he'd see lots of parallels between his life and Tut's (The Boy King), and might have *wished* he died at 19...

My mom was determined to buy something at the gift shop because the art critic for SF Chron was so down on the popularity and commercialism of the exhibit. Normally she doesn't like the prominence of gift shops either, but he really annoyed her. I think he never outgrew the "I can't like it if it's too popular" phase. Are art critics out of a job if people just like art without being told? I don't think so.

Thursday: Hearst Castle. We stayed in Cambria, and were surprised to find that it's easy to spend a lot and eat very well, but hard to eat vegetarian or on the cheap, considering that it's California. And there's NO Indian food. Shocking. Plus everything in town has British names. - ?

Friday: Nitt Witt Ridge, a self-built house, old San Simeon store, elephant seals, that really famous view in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. Unfortumately my camera battery died looking at elephant seals, who are very cultural, in case you were wondering. I'm sure Vogons were modeled on them.

12 of 12: July - Moon Day!

2009-07-13T07:32:44Z

Today was a special Sunday, being one of the few weekend days this summer that graymalkn and I did not have plans for. We focused on, yes, the moon, and Indian food. For more 12 of 12 fun, see http://chaddarnell.typepad.com/.

11:16 am: Lucy says, "oh, you're awake already?"

1:52 pm: reading on the couch (the first Amelia Peabody mystery, AKA why I went to Egypt)

2:56 pm: Guess what! You can take your camera to viewing night at Chabot Space and Science Center and they'll help you take pictures with the telescopes!!! I am so there! (This is the smallest of the three telescopes.)

3:35 pm: the clouds exhibit

3:45 pm: graymalkn photographs the (real) Russian space toilet

3:50 pm: pork and vegetables in a tube!

4:01 pm: Me and the Soyuz capsule. No, I am not bald. But my shirt does match the capsule.

5:02 pm: Going to see Moon, which is definitely about the dark side (ha ha) of space exploration.

7:32 pm: dinner at Vik's!

8:28 pm: cat politics

9:55 pm: doing the crossword with the fam

11:05 pm: Watching another episode of From the Earth to the Moon. Really a very good semi-documentary - uses actors and explores different situations in the space program. Old, though - Netflix.

Guernsey Potato Peel Pie

2009-07-09T08:35:46Z

captainoz is quite right: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a repellent book at first glance. It looks incredibly twee and self-consciously Britishly book-clubby. (I mean, the name alone...) And it's all written in letters. The beginning part, focusing on the authoress, is rather precious, and clearly the trick is a steal from 84, Charing Cross Road. But really the letter device allows the author to describe the German occupation of Guernsey in WWII in a series of short stories. And then it's heartbreaking and funny and thought-provoking, and everything that a book should be. The Literary Society part mainly allows her to show what unsophisticated but open-minded readers might think of various famous authors. I must say, I now want to read The Essays of Elia, and I never did before. (Crossworder alert: Elia is Charles Lamb. But you all knew that.) And I was very frustrated to not hear what one freethinking lady thought of Pride and Prejudice. OK, yes, there was a plot point around that, but I did so enjoy the pithy comments!

The book really brought home to me something I've been thinking about for awhile: how we can't seem to face the problem of global warming. I mean, we Americans can't seem to imagine that times could get really bad here. We just don't think it will really happen. I think that must be because they haven't been, for so long. On Guernsey the slide happened obviously, with the British deciding not to defend the islands, and the Germans walking in and making things just worse and worse by degrees. Are we now hearing the bombs over France and thinking they just won't get to us? Not quite yet, I think...

On a lighter note, now I want to visit Guernsey. Anyone been there? Is it all touristy now, or what?

(Special note for captainoz : Did you notice the similarity between Charles Lamb's experience and Truman Capote's? Also, wasn't Lamb's experience a lot like Dumbledore's?)

12 of 12: June - Baker's Dozen Edition

2009-06-13T23:39:08Z

Driving from Oakland to Long Beach - an action-packed day. As was today, hence my lateness posting. LJ was being pissy about photo uploading, so I had to resort to Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/bilunabirotunda/sets/72157619702698164/

Sneak preview:

8:20 am: Shining morning face
9:00 am: Taking the car in for maintenance
11:16 am: Surprise visit to the tire shop (all new tires!)
1:39 pm: Clean kitchen!
3:32 pm: Face being zapped for TMJ treatment - also known as reading time
4:58 pm: Heading out of San Jose
5:45 pm: South of Gilroy
8:03 pm: Sunset on the hills north of San Luis Obispo
8:25 pm: Dinner at the Apple Farm in San Luis Obispo
12:18 am: Turning on to the 405. (Attentive individuals will recognize "Sacramento" and "Santa Monica.")
12:52 am: Nearly there
1:01 am: graymalkn and his mom, Bobbie
2:16 am: Bed

P.S. I know some of these pics were actually taken on 12/13, but it's not the next day until you go to sleep, is it?

12 of 12: May

2009-05-13T06:29:30Z

Back on the 12 of 12 bandwagon! Google Chad Darnell for the works.

11:20 am: view from my office.

12:49 pm: editing

3:14 pm: break with tea, almonds, and a very old Elizabeth Peters (and our ugly sofa cushion)

4:03 pm: bedroom cat

5:30 pm: graymalkn plus cat plus laundry (clean laundry!)

5:35 pm: heading out to yoga and hula class(es)

5:57 pm: light traffic today on the bridge

6:36 pm: Here's one reason I'll go all the way into SF for yoga and dance.

8:07 pm: my hula teacher and one of my classmates

9:38 pm: nighttime in Glen Park

10:27 pm: pizza and Good Eats dinner

12:20 am: graymalkn and Clyde really are this inseparable.

Hi y'all....

2009-04-26T02:45:20Z

Long time no see... Here's a meme from sillyzilly2k . I think it's been around before, but, you know, all your base are belong to us. Or something.

Comment and I'll...

1. Tell you why I friended you.
2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a color, a photo, a word etc.
3. Tell you something I like about you.
4. Tell you a memory I have of you.
5. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
6. Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.
7. In return, you must post this in your LJ.

Nation

2009-01-23T04:02:17Z

Thank goodness Terry Pratchett's Alzheimer's did not affect Nation, nor did the slump of Making Money. It's a fun book - not terribly new or original, but there's nothing wrong with Plucky Smart Victorian Girls, Thinking Caring Boys, secrets in the dark, throwing cultural assumptions into doubt by juxtaposition, and things like that. Think The Bromeliad meets The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. My friend Roz contends that this a more serious book than usual, but I think not - no more so than Night Watch, for example, or Thud. It truly is a pity Pratchett's powers should be called into question when he seems to be seriously hitting his stride. A few slumps in the road aside, his usual juxtapositions, and his plain old writing, have been getting better and better, and he always manages to provoke thought.

The reading voracity of part-time home employment

2008-12-24T06:41:57Z

I know I will garner no sympathy for this, but I have spent most of this month sitting on my couch reading. Sometimes I proofread something, sometimes I get out and see the sky, but mostly I've been in my ground state. Haven't really read anything interesting - mostly old favorites. Here's a partial list of post-Key books:

6 Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder (so 3 more to go)
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Flora's Dare by Ysabeau S. Wilce (saraphina_marie , are you sure you didn't write this book?!)
4 or 5 mystery books by Charlotte MacLeod
1 or 2 Agatha Christies
Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
1 or 2 P.G. Wodehouses
Persuasion and Emma by Jane Austen
Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen (3 books) by Garth Nix

I don't have much of interest to say about any of these, I'm afraid, except that I do recommend them as escape reading! I also usually read the Chronicles of Narnia around Christmas, but haven't started on those yet. In January I hope to translate reading into thought and thought into action. :-) Happy Winter Solstice Christmas, everyone!

7 of 12: December

2008-12-14T08:28:15Z

So the real deal is 12 of 12, started by Chad Darnell. I'm too lazy to link him, so you can look it up if you care. As 12/12 is My Day, I was especially excited about 12 of 12 on 12/12, but, I failed. This was due to a rather massive headache. Still, thought I'd share.

11:30 My birthday filing cabinet! Yes, I asked for this many times, and to stop me asking, graymalkn obliged.

1:32 Birthday key lime pie at Max's Opera Cafe. What more is there to say?

1:54 Pre-show at San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker. It's really not Christmas without The Nutcracker. Thanks, Mom!

2:59 Intermission at the War Memorial Opera House

4:31 The one downside to parking in the Performing Arts Garage is the waiting in line to leave after the show.

4:39 Eight minutes later we've advanced onto Van Ness Avenue! A slow drive home, but could have been a lot worse.

5:22 Our neighbors like them some Christmas lights. I'm glad.

The rest of my birthday consisted of lying on the couch watching Brisco County, The Secret of Roan Innish, and Good Eats. So, not super-photogenic even if I'd been feeling up to it. I did also get two cool books from graymalkn , Fantasy Worlds, a photo book of outlandishly decorated homes and gardens - very Outsider art - and Natural Fashion: Tribal Decorations of Africa, another photo book of people wearing a lot of body paint and amazing headdresses of flowers, leaves, thorns, etc. Beautiful, beautiful stuff.

Illicit 12/13 shot:

Mom's rusty metal chicken is all decked out for Christmas! Buster Tiffany is going to kill her...even though it was all my fault. :-)

Oscar Wilde on blogging

2008-11-26T20:33:18Z

from The Importance of Being Earnest, we have Cecily Cardew, age 18, on the subject of her diary:

"You see, it is simply a very young girl’s record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication."

Miscellaniosity

2008-11-24T04:30:54Z

Today we saw the Afghanistan exhibit of treasures from the National Museum in Kabul - from cities and burials of 2000 years ago and more (www.asianart.org/afghanistan.htm). Mine eyes are dazzled - she died young (of lust for gold. Me I mean.) So much lovely gold, and statues, bronzes, and glass of nice women and dippy-looking animals. Apart from the general gold-ness, a very similar sense of design to modern times. And they used the heart symbol on so many things. I'd never thought about where that came from before - did they mean the same thing by the symbol as we do, or what? Wikipedia wasn't much help - just blathering on about cows' hearts and vaginas. Typical. Any ideas from anyone out there?

Yesterday was the Fine Arts Museum Artisan's sale, or something like that. I wanted to go, but as I expected, overpriced and not that interesting. Mom tried to buy a little stuffed octopus that turned out to be $125. So she put it back. My crafty friends, you are all missing some big moneymaking opportunities here. We also saw the Yves Saint-Laurent exhibit. Yay clothes! But I am not a YSL fan in general. Can't put my finger on it - his clothes are fun and interesting, but they just fall on the other side of the line for me. Not things I'd ever want to wear, and please believe me, I've wanted to wear plenty of outrageous things! These weren't the right outrageous. I bet he read Ayn Rand. Still, he did make a suit in homage to Oscar Wilde. I appreciate that.

We all know JK Rowling pinched parts of her stories from Tolkien and others - now I know where she got her schoolboy stuff - PG Wodehouse of course! It could just be the limited number of British school stories I've read, but Mike at Wrykyn and Mike and Psmith could so stand in for Harry and Ron. Especially in the Quidditch-I-mean-cricket scenes. Such quaint charming stuff! Schoolboys who rag and drink tea! Enchanting.

An Ode to Slugs of All Types

2008-11-12T09:53:27Z

Kissing a Banana Slug, by Morgan of Empire Elementary School

I kissed a Banana Slug,
four or more times.

I said, "Four, shmore!"
So I kissed it once more.

It felt so ewwy and gooey.
It smelt fine,
just like anytime.

It tasted ooey and fooey.

-Found in the Save The Redwoods League 2008 Annual Report