I've been thinking a lot about this lately, mostly because myself and many of my friends are now on varying forms of state aid. Taking public assistance is a daunting thing to do, generally incredibly depressing, and just all around no fun. Many perfect strangers are happy to criticize you for your dependence, regardless of the fact that they have no idea what your actual situation is.
With this in mind, I've compiled a simple list of rules (or perhaps, "guidelines") to help minimize the embarrassment and discomfort of taking public assistance. This list has been created based on my own experience and the experience of friends. Please note that contravening any rule in any way does grant legal rights for every person who sees you to judge you (out loud or, if desired, in print) on any or all of the following: your lifestyle choices, your parenting, your personal hygiene, your laziness, your education, your intellect, your lack of patriotism/apparent Frenchness, your very existence as signaling the certain decline and fall of our entire civilization, or any other topic of choice. So please do be careful out there!
The Rules:
1. Don't be dirty. Present yourself in as hygenically-perfect a condition as possible. You should have no visible dirt on your person (including fingernails), clean and well-kept hair, freshly-laundered clothes, no rumples, etc. This goes double-extra mega for children. Any signs of uncleanliness in your children could be considered grounds for busybody supermarket shoppers to call DFS on you.
2. Don't be clean. But remember, you are poor. You shouldn't be able to afford things like shampoo, or fresh laundry, etc. If you're too clean, you are obviously wasting the taxpayers money on frivolities. Do nothing to breach the carefully-maintained prejudices of the public who believe that people on assistance are dirty, lazy slackers who really enjoy living on $250 per week.
3. Never engage in any luxury activity at all, ever. Remember, you are currently taking public aid, which means of course that you must never, ever, find any way to enjoy your life that costs any amount of money at all. Do not ever do any of the following: go to movies, rent movies, go to the theatre, go to a restaurant, take your children to amusement/skating/other fun activities, or anything else that might cost money. You are poor--you don't deserve a moment's enjoyment of life. If you did deserve it, you wouldn't be poor, right?
With this in mind, I've compiled a simple list of rules (or perhaps, "guidelines") to help minimize the embarrassment and discomfort of taking public assistance. This list has been created based on my own experience and the experience of friends. Please note that contravening any rule in any way does grant legal rights for every person who sees you to judge you (out loud or, if desired, in print) on any or all of the following: your lifestyle choices, your parenting, your personal hygiene, your laziness, your education, your intellect, your lack of patriotism/apparent Frenchness, your very existence as signaling the certain decline and fall of our entire civilization, or any other topic of choice. So please do be careful out there!
The Rules:
1. Don't be dirty. Present yourself in as hygenically-perfect a condition as possible. You should have no visible dirt on your person (including fingernails), clean and well-kept hair, freshly-laundered clothes, no rumples, etc. This goes double-extra mega for children. Any signs of uncleanliness in your children could be considered grounds for busybody supermarket shoppers to call DFS on you.
2. Don't be clean. But remember, you are poor. You shouldn't be able to afford things like shampoo, or fresh laundry, etc. If you're too clean, you are obviously wasting the taxpayers money on frivolities. Do nothing to breach the carefully-maintained prejudices of the public who believe that people on assistance are dirty, lazy slackers who really enjoy living on $250 per week.
3. Never engage in any luxury activity at all, ever. Remember, you are currently taking public aid, which means of course that you must never, ever, find any way to enjoy your life that costs any amount of money at all. Do not ever do any of the following: go to movies, rent movies, go to the theatre, go to a restaurant, take your children to amusement/skating/other fun activities, or anything else that might cost money. You are poor--you don't deserve a moment's enjoyment of life. If you did deserve it, you wouldn't be poor, right?
3a. In addition to money-costing activities, also remember that free activities that you might enjoy are also forbidden. Every moment you are enjoying yourself is a moment you are not spending trying to find a job, keep a job, find another job, or find a third/fourth job. Obviously this must be your only focus. As such, all of the following activities are also forbidden: walks in the park, taking children to the playground, having a picnic, sitting on your porch with friends, visiting family, going to parties, etc.
4. Never possess any item which could be construed as you spending money. This rule is a bit confusing, so examples might serve well here: do not let your SIL give you a manicure for your birthday, or fix your hair in any fancy way. Do not dress in business clothes, even purchased secondhand. Do not borrow your parents/in-laws nice car to go to run errands. Never dress your children in the expensive clothing purchased for them as gifts by loving relatives. Do not use public aid to buy your child a birthday cake and soda, which was the only thing they asked for for their birthday. Obviously, if an upstanding, tax-paying citizen sees you in a grocery store with nicely done nails & hair, driving a nice car, and buying a cake and soda, they are entitled to decry loudly (and post everywhere possible online) how abusive you are being of the system. Just because they have no idea how or why you have these things is no excuse--it is your responsibility as a poor person to never make taxpayers have to think about, well, much of anything.4a. To maintain the personal moral indignation of the taxpayer to our situations, it is acceptable to on occasion breach rule #4 in limited fashion. This allows the taxpayer to continue with their prejudices, which is crucial for our status quo.
5. Only purchase things deemed appropriate by the surrounding consumers. Again, the guiding principle here is that you are poor, and obviously incapable of making educated decisions (otherwise, again, you wouldn't be poor now, would you?). You must only buy products that other tax-paying people think are appropriate. As this can vary somewhat sharply by area, it is often helpful to pass out a brief questionnaire to other shoppers before attempting to shop yourself.
If you follow these simple rules, you should lead exactly the joyless, grinding, depressing life you are meant to lead, while simultaneously having any sense of self-worth or pride expunged from you forever. Remember, if you work very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very hard, you may be able to get a job that will allow you to pay taxes, and then you can decry all the other people on public assistance for not "taking every opportunity to get yourself out of that mess like I did!" If you work even harder than that, you might someday be able to afford your own health insurance!
If you follow these simple rules, you should lead exactly the joyless, grinding, depressing life you are meant to lead, while simultaneously having any sense of self-worth or pride expunged from you forever. Remember, if you work very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very hard, you may be able to get a job that will allow you to pay taxes, and then you can decry all the other people on public assistance for not "taking every opportunity to get yourself out of that mess like I did!" If you work even harder than that, you might someday be able to afford your own health insurance!
Notes augmented
We've enhanced and de-bugged Notes. If you haven't tried it yet, now's the time! You can create a private note when you ban multiple users. You can also delete multiple notes at once. Lastly, paid users have the option to add a note (visible only to you) whenever you add or remove a friend (guaranteed to avoid embarrassing social mishaps). If you don't currently have a paid account, you can upgrade now! It only takes a few minutes and costs less than a bad shopping mall haircut (plus, it's way more fashionable)!
Product tweaks and bug kill
- In another effort to zap spam, comments containing links from domains LiveJournal deems untrustworthy are now automatically screened
- If you sign up to get notifications of the Writer's Block question of the day, you'll now see the daily question in the email notification, so you'll have a little extra time to ponder before you post. You can subscribe to Writers Block notifications here
- The issue causing random comments to vanish has been fixed!
- If you visit a LiveJournal page and get prompted to log in, you'll be returned to the same page after you sign in (Thanks, Dreamwidth)!
- If you don't edit the timestamp for an entry at all, the entry timestamp will indicate the time the entry was posted instead of the time the Update Journal page was loaded
- Comments with paddings/backgrounds render correctly within the comment box (and will no longer wrap outside the box and break frames/margins)
New FCK fixes rich text editor!
- We've updated our RTE (Rich Text Editor) to FCKeditor version 2.6.5
- When switching from the RTE to HTML editor, links for syndicated feeds are no longer broken
- RTE now functions properly in Safari 4.0
- An extra line/space will not be auto-inserted whenever you switch from RTE to HTML editor
- The insert image link now works correctly in all browsers
LiveJournal Cares
We’re pleased to introduce you to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
lj_cares, a new LiveJournal community dedicated to raising awareness and funds for U.S. charitable organizations that improve the health and well-being of people around the world. Each month, we’ll spotlight a nonprofit that is making a significant global impact through medical research, public outreach, and/or humanitarian social programs. Charities will be selected in accordance with the U.S. calendar of national health observances based on a high rating (of over 60%) on Charity Navigator and global scope of impact.
In this, our inaugural month of November, we will celebrate national adoption month by offering a charitable virtual gift (priced at $2.99) to support Love Without Boundaries, an organization that saves the lives of orphans with life-threatening diseases and places them in loving homes around the world. LiveJournal will donate 100% of the proceeds from the sale of charitable vgifts (we'll cover the cost of credit card transaction fees). To learn more about Love Without Boundaries, please visit lj_cares and read about how they helped save Baby Kang and the Rainbow Twins from fatal illnesses, who are now thriving in nurturing families. You can purchase your Love Without Boundaries gifts in the Virtual Gift shop.
Papered in postcards
A couple of weeks ago, we asked you to send in postcards to surround us with LiveJournal community. Thanks for coming through! We've received postcards all the way from Germany, Finland, and Canada and from all over the US, including Texas, Florida, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Indiana, Hawaii, and Oklahoma just to name just a handful. We're thrilled with our improved decor.
Please keep the love coming for one more week by writing to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be drawing the names of ten random contributors next Thursday to win paid account credits!
Photos of the week
We have more dazzling images posted by talented LiveJournal photographers from around the world. We're hoping to span the entire globe, so please continue posting and tagging. Of course, you can also sit back and enjoy the view at lj_photophile.
You can see a sample of this week's gorgeous photos and check out spotlight communities and awesome user content after the jump!
( Read more... )Curtains
We thank you, once again, for joining us. See you next week!
I am sooooo ready for 2009 to be over -- Cai, are the planets in some sort of crappy alignment for Libras right now or what?
I had the flu/bronchitis at the beginning of Oct. Still have the cough. Beginning to think it will be permanent.
Thomas got the flu/bronchitis. Tuesday morning he coughed just the right way to f--k up his lower back. Chiropractor says three disks are bulging. It's pinching his sciatic nerve and making moving around not so much fun.
I'm going to Ohio next week for my brother's trial and I am really concerned he will be convicted, lose his license (and any means of making a living) and go to jail. In the meantime, my parents will stress out; mom will stroke, dad a heart attack, and my special needs niece and my nephew will get minimum care from two drug addicts, one that is their mother and one that is potentially molesting my niece.
We are still waiting on the indictment to come down for FIL to see what the charges will actually be and if there's any hope at all that he will live long enough to get out of jail. And in the meantime, we're trying to liquidate as many assets as possible and get my MIL into a more stable financial situation -- I love my MIL but I really don't want her as a roommate.
I really, really hope that 2010 will be a better year. Really, really.
I had the flu/bronchitis at the beginning of Oct. Still have the cough. Beginning to think it will be permanent.
Thomas got the flu/bronchitis. Tuesday morning he coughed just the right way to f--k up his lower back. Chiropractor says three disks are bulging. It's pinching his sciatic nerve and making moving around not so much fun.
I'm going to Ohio next week for my brother's trial and I am really concerned he will be convicted, lose his license (and any means of making a living) and go to jail. In the meantime, my parents will stress out; mom will stroke, dad a heart attack, and my special needs niece and my nephew will get minimum care from two drug addicts, one that is their mother and one that is potentially molesting my niece.
We are still waiting on the indictment to come down for FIL to see what the charges will actually be and if there's any hope at all that he will live long enough to get out of jail. And in the meantime, we're trying to liquidate as many assets as possible and get my MIL into a more stable financial situation -- I love my MIL but I really don't want her as a roommate.
I really, really hope that 2010 will be a better year. Really, really.
So .... I had a good friend in college that I lost touch with after graduation. We connected this year via FB and mostly did the what have you been doing the past 14 years updates.
She died of what they think was a heart attack the day after I turned 40. Her official memorial service/funeral was in Kingsport, her hometown, and about a 5-6 hours drive.
However, some of the group of friends that I ran around with in college is hosting a memorial service on campus this Sat (Maryville, TN just south of K'ville).
Two of the friends are offering me a ride if I want to go -- they're going up and back same day.
And I can't decide if I want to go.
Reasons not to go:
Hadn't talked to her in 14 years -- then just chatted on FB.
I'm going to Ohio for my brother's trial for three days next week, so it's another day away from T and C.
Have not kept in touch with a lot of these folks, so there's that whole awkwardness on top of the fact that funerals make me bawl like a baby.
Reasons to go:
It might be nice to reconnect with some of these old friends.
I regret that K and I lost touch and this is a way of honoring our friendship.
Haven't seen Maryville in years -- would be nice just to visit the campus.
She died of what they think was a heart attack the day after I turned 40. Her official memorial service/funeral was in Kingsport, her hometown, and about a 5-6 hours drive.
However, some of the group of friends that I ran around with in college is hosting a memorial service on campus this Sat (Maryville, TN just south of K'ville).
Two of the friends are offering me a ride if I want to go -- they're going up and back same day.
And I can't decide if I want to go.
Reasons not to go:
Hadn't talked to her in 14 years -- then just chatted on FB.
I'm going to Ohio for my brother's trial for three days next week, so it's another day away from T and C.
Have not kept in touch with a lot of these folks, so there's that whole awkwardness on top of the fact that funerals make me bawl like a baby.
Reasons to go:
It might be nice to reconnect with some of these old friends.
I regret that K and I lost touch and this is a way of honoring our friendship.
Haven't seen Maryville in years -- would be nice just to visit the campus.
I had noticed that Thomas the Tank Engine Sees to appeal to any on the spectrum. Apparently the National Autistic Society in the UK did a study back in 2002. I can't believe I a just seeing this!
http://www.myfavoritetoys.com/autism_th
http://www.myfavoritetoys.com/autism_th
Since we moved in here. In that time I have met many goals but there are others not yet filled due to a variety of reasons. It is time to make a new list of house goals.
Sissy's room
Ceiling fan or chandelier
Hem curtains
Paint ceiling
Pait desk and nightstand
Faiy dust stars
Make canopy for bed
ead curtain fo closet doorway
Pablo's room
Turn cutain into insulated roman shade
new computer
paint ceiling
Our room
New curtain rods
reposition ceiling fan
Paint ceiling
add shelves for books
make screens for 2 windows
add border or trim at top of walls
Living room
Paint upper walls (linen texture or subtle stipe)
Bathroom
Redo tile enclosure
Add shower doors
Outside
Fix sliding door
fix veticle blinds (part ordered)
Install pond
Plan and execute ornamental bed
Make 2 rain barrels
Rain chain on front corner
Concete path and patio
Deck railing
Redo lower deck & coverwith outdoor carpeting
Sissy's room
Ceiling fan or chandelier
Hem curtains
Paint ceiling
Pait desk and nightstand
Faiy dust stars
Make canopy for bed
ead curtain fo closet doorway
Pablo's room
Turn cutain into insulated roman shade
new computer
paint ceiling
Our room
New curtain rods
reposition ceiling fan
Paint ceiling
add shelves for books
make screens for 2 windows
add border or trim at top of walls
Living room
Paint upper walls (linen texture or subtle stipe)
Bathroom
Redo tile enclosure
Add shower doors
Outside
Fix sliding door
fix veticle blinds (part ordered)
Install pond
Plan and execute ornamental bed
Make 2 rain barrels
Rain chain on front corner
Concete path and patio
Deck railing
Redo lower deck & coverwith outdoor carpeting
EDIT@08:16 UTC/GMT. Wow. That was ugly. I expected it to go for 30 minutes and have maybe 1 minute of broken connectivity. Instead it lasted over 4 hours and we had 10 minutes of downtime directly related to the load balancer upgrades and then another 5-10 minutes of downtime when our primary Pingback database server crashed and the secondary couldn't take over; which could have been indirectly caused by the network upgrade missing a self-VIP.
Anyways, we're up, we're working, the load balancers are barely breaking a sweat right now and I need some food and a shot of whiskey. I don't even *like* whiskey!!
Thanks![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
mhwest and dnewhall for helping out!
---
On Saturday the 14th at 4AM UTC/GMT we will be upgrading the operating system of our network load balancers to a newer version, one that will allow us to use both CPUs! Nifty, because multiprocessing is nice.
Since we have 2 load balancers, the plan is to upgrade 1 at a time, and there really should be very little impact to our website. Hopefully you won't notice a thing and I'll get to go back to the hotel and watch some wonderful late night infomercials.
We've got a lot of exciting projects coming up for 2010 and we're hoping that we'll be able to deliver them all to you, that you will find it useful/cool/lovely and then you will use the site even more. Behind-the-scenes work like this will give us the capacity to handle the anticipated traffic, so expect a few more maintenance windows especially in the beginning of next year as we've got some neat ideas to improve performance around here! We had the recent 30-45 minute outage yesterday due to one of our logging databases filling up disk space -- not so great design coupled with my human error in handling the initial problem -- and it looks like we're going to finally have some resources to eliminate stuff like that. I can't wait!
As usual, I will be updating status.livejournal.org before and after, just in case you are not able to reach our main website during the work.
Anyways, we're up, we're working, the load balancers are barely breaking a sweat right now and I need some food and a shot of whiskey. I don't even *like* whiskey!!
Thanks
mhwest and dnewhall for helping out!---
On Saturday the 14th at 4AM UTC/GMT we will be upgrading the operating system of our network load balancers to a newer version, one that will allow us to use both CPUs! Nifty, because multiprocessing is nice.
Since we have 2 load balancers, the plan is to upgrade 1 at a time, and there really should be very little impact to our website. Hopefully you won't notice a thing and I'll get to go back to the hotel and watch some wonderful late night infomercials.
We've got a lot of exciting projects coming up for 2010 and we're hoping that we'll be able to deliver them all to you, that you will find it useful/cool/lovely and then you will use the site even more. Behind-the-scenes work like this will give us the capacity to handle the anticipated traffic, so expect a few more maintenance windows especially in the beginning of next year as we've got some neat ideas to improve performance around here! We had the recent 30-45 minute outage yesterday due to one of our logging databases filling up disk space -- not so great design coupled with my human error in handling the initial problem -- and it looks like we're going to finally have some resources to eliminate stuff like that. I can't wait!
As usual, I will be updating status.livejournal.org before and after, just in case you are not able to reach our main website during the work.
I just returned from our town's Veteran's Day program. I thought about going into Town for the parade, but I had so much to do today, I didn't want to take an extra 2 hours driving, plus, I wanted to support the local event.
Our town does not put on its own Veteran's Day program. Instead, there is a single elderly lady who puts the whole thing together herself. It is amazing what she did - she had 2 color guards - one from the ROTC and one from the VFW, a band, a bugler, an MC, a chaplain, and a guest speaker. There was also a highschool student who won an essay contest sponsored by the VFW who read her piece, and two other students who read the lists of dead from previous wars, starting with WWI. It was an extremely nice program, for one person to arrange.
The keynote speaker was a retired Air Force Colonel who was working as a Lockheed Martin contractor in the Pentagon on Sept. 11. He told of his experiences and that of his group (who was in charge of all command and control communication for the building) on that day. Apparently, the Pentagon is so huge and solid, that his department didn't even know something had occurred after the plane strike until someone came to their 2nd basement office and told them. For a large jetliner to fly straight into the building and to not even feel a tremor is amazing. I liked what he said about how to be an effective leader - don't be afraid to plan, make decisions and communicate them, let some people go if you have to, eat when you can, and rest a little.
I was very pleased to see that the ROTC color guard was ALL women! Good on them. They were very smart.
One thing that truly saddened me was the lack of turnout. There were maybe 100 - 150 people at the most, and the mean age was just slightly this side of ancient. I fear for this country continuing to remember our veteran's when the Vietnam generation is gone. There didn't seem to be any veterans in attendance from wars beyond that conflict. I hate that our national holidays are turning into nothing but another opportunity for commercialism and sales opportunities, and that they have turned into reasons for American's to get drunk and have parties rather than solemnly remember what we are celebrating (I speak of Memorial Day in particular, but in many ways people have lost sight of the more solemn aspects of Independence Day as well). I hate that employers (except for governments) don't seem to feel that holidays are a reason to let their employees come out and join the celebrations and ceremonies that should accompany these days.
Again, I thank everyone who served this country. You have my gratitude and I will be thinking of you - particularly today.
Veterans in my family:
Paternal Grandfather - served in WWII Pacific theatre (Phillipines and New Guinea) as a surgeon
Paternal Uncle - served in Vietnam (surgeon and paratrooper) in a MASH-like unit
Paternal Uncle - served in Germany
My father would have been a veteran, but he was rejected as 4-F.
Our town does not put on its own Veteran's Day program. Instead, there is a single elderly lady who puts the whole thing together herself. It is amazing what she did - she had 2 color guards - one from the ROTC and one from the VFW, a band, a bugler, an MC, a chaplain, and a guest speaker. There was also a highschool student who won an essay contest sponsored by the VFW who read her piece, and two other students who read the lists of dead from previous wars, starting with WWI. It was an extremely nice program, for one person to arrange.
The keynote speaker was a retired Air Force Colonel who was working as a Lockheed Martin contractor in the Pentagon on Sept. 11. He told of his experiences and that of his group (who was in charge of all command and control communication for the building) on that day. Apparently, the Pentagon is so huge and solid, that his department didn't even know something had occurred after the plane strike until someone came to their 2nd basement office and told them. For a large jetliner to fly straight into the building and to not even feel a tremor is amazing. I liked what he said about how to be an effective leader - don't be afraid to plan, make decisions and communicate them, let some people go if you have to, eat when you can, and rest a little.
I was very pleased to see that the ROTC color guard was ALL women! Good on them. They were very smart.
One thing that truly saddened me was the lack of turnout. There were maybe 100 - 150 people at the most, and the mean age was just slightly this side of ancient. I fear for this country continuing to remember our veteran's when the Vietnam generation is gone. There didn't seem to be any veterans in attendance from wars beyond that conflict. I hate that our national holidays are turning into nothing but another opportunity for commercialism and sales opportunities, and that they have turned into reasons for American's to get drunk and have parties rather than solemnly remember what we are celebrating (I speak of Memorial Day in particular, but in many ways people have lost sight of the more solemn aspects of Independence Day as well). I hate that employers (except for governments) don't seem to feel that holidays are a reason to let their employees come out and join the celebrations and ceremonies that should accompany these days.
Again, I thank everyone who served this country. You have my gratitude and I will be thinking of you - particularly today.
Veterans in my family:
Paternal Grandfather - served in WWII Pacific theatre (Phillipines and New Guinea) as a surgeon
Paternal Uncle - served in Vietnam (surgeon and paratrooper) in a MASH-like unit
Paternal Uncle - served in Germany
My father would have been a veteran, but he was rejected as 4-F.
- Mood:
awed and humbled
I'm afraid I'm going to forget something this weekend, there's so much going on. Maybe if I get it all down here I can focus on other things.
Also, I have lost my packing list spreadsheet. Grr.
( list in progress )
Also, I have lost my packing list spreadsheet. Grr.
( list in progress )
( 1-46 )
47. Lord John and the Hellfire Club- Diana Gabaldon
Set of three long short stories fleshing out Lord John. All were decent but left me trying to figure out how they fit in with the main timeline.
48. Kingdom Beyond The Waves- Stephen Hunt
Oh, this book had so much potential. Fantasy-steampunk-gritty Victorian setting complete with magical assasins and steammen and politics. Unfortunately the author was only moved to describe interactions between characters. No physical descriptions, no ambience, no emotional grounding. Just dialogue and action, which seems nice until you're halfway through the book and realize you still don't know what the main character looks like, how she feels about the way things are going... very shallow experience of what could have been a rich and deep character and a complex sensuous world.
I think Hunt was trying hard to be Mieville and unfortunately, failed.
I slogged through 400 pages of this book and when I got to the end, the final climactic battle, I tossed the book aside because I realized I just didn't care who won.
I'm *still* waiting for the next Outlander book... it's been so long I'm tempted to read the whole series over again. I'll only do that for a few series, ones I will read every few years when a new book comes out.
47. Lord John and the Hellfire Club- Diana Gabaldon
Set of three long short stories fleshing out Lord John. All were decent but left me trying to figure out how they fit in with the main timeline.
48. Kingdom Beyond The Waves- Stephen Hunt
Oh, this book had so much potential. Fantasy-steampunk-gritty Victorian setting complete with magical assasins and steammen and politics. Unfortunately the author was only moved to describe interactions between characters. No physical descriptions, no ambience, no emotional grounding. Just dialogue and action, which seems nice until you're halfway through the book and realize you still don't know what the main character looks like, how she feels about the way things are going... very shallow experience of what could have been a rich and deep character and a complex sensuous world.
I think Hunt was trying hard to be Mieville and unfortunately, failed.
I slogged through 400 pages of this book and when I got to the end, the final climactic battle, I tossed the book aside because I realized I just didn't care who won.
I'm *still* waiting for the next Outlander book... it's been so long I'm tempted to read the whole series over again. I'll only do that for a few series, ones I will read every few years when a new book comes out.
OH i have found two fabulous quotes and I want to share them! One is familiar, the second is new to me:
1. Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today
2. Life is not about finding yourself, it is about creating yourself
I LOVE that! And if you combine them, it becomes:
3. Do not put off creating yourself
Hosing all the ACF mud off rubber floor mats, sticker rack bases, shoes, and other sodden items could be tedious work. However, reframing it as "getting to play in the yard with the hose and get my clothes wet" makes it much more fun!
The bathroom is festooned with drying T-shirts and tote-bags. The first load of table covers is out of the dryer, and the next load is in it. Sorting thru the jewelry stuff will happen later -- I've got a lot of rain-splattered display equipment that may or may not be salvageable.
Side note: my new teal leggings from Decent Exposures (1) are more turquoise than teal, and (2) fit more like workout pants than leggings; I think I should have ordered a size smaller. They're comfortable enough, but definitely around-the-house-only items.
This entry was originally posted at http://stardreamer.dreamwidth.org/55468
The bathroom is festooned with drying T-shirts and tote-bags. The first load of table covers is out of the dryer, and the next load is in it. Sorting thru the jewelry stuff will happen later -- I've got a lot of rain-splattered display equipment that may or may not be salvageable.
Side note: my new teal leggings from Decent Exposures (1) are more turquoise than teal, and (2) fit more like workout pants than leggings; I think I should have ordered a size smaller. They're comfortable enough, but definitely around-the-house-only items.
This entry was originally posted at http://stardreamer.dreamwidth.org/55468
- Mood:
okay
Saturday and Sunday I spent several hours going through the manuscripts I'm using for the Winter ArtSci Feast. I covered each book with sticky notes and narrowed myself down to 12-15 dishes to test for each course. Eventually I must weed them down. I could easily do an entire feast out of each manuscript but I really love the idea of the theme, so I'm sticking with it. There will be lots of tasting plates for the weirder and more expensive dishes.
The current structure for the feast is three courses, one each for Christian, Jewish and Muslim foods, with a subtlety between each course and a tasting plate for one and three. Each course will have a sweet dish, a vegetarian dish, a bread, a savory meat dish, and a sauce, at minimum. I just can't limit myself to two or three meats for this feast, I just can't do it, but I'm am trying to be mindful of portion sizes. I cannot promise any more vegetables than usual though, medieval European feasts just do not roll that way.
The additional research has begun... serving information and drinks is the next step in the research.
I tested two recipes last night. As usual for me, the weirder one was the bigger success. I was eager to test the tharida recipe and even though I personally think the texture was incorrect, everyone liked it the best. Tharida amounts: 1 onion, pureed=3 c of veg broth=caraway, pepper, coriander=1 lb shredded french bread=1 block frozen spinach=1 lb full-fat feta cheese=>9 ppl. Sent Sovi Carrot dish: 2 lb carrots=4 tbl pork fat=2 oz shredded romano=>9 ppl. I will refine the spicing and presentation for both, the carrot dish needed work.
The current structure for the feast is three courses, one each for Christian, Jewish and Muslim foods, with a subtlety between each course and a tasting plate for one and three. Each course will have a sweet dish, a vegetarian dish, a bread, a savory meat dish, and a sauce, at minimum. I just can't limit myself to two or three meats for this feast, I just can't do it, but I'm am trying to be mindful of portion sizes. I cannot promise any more vegetables than usual though, medieval European feasts just do not roll that way.
The additional research has begun... serving information and drinks is the next step in the research.
I tested two recipes last night. As usual for me, the weirder one was the bigger success. I was eager to test the tharida recipe and even though I personally think the texture was incorrect, everyone liked it the best. Tharida amounts: 1 onion, pureed=3 c of veg broth=caraway, pepper, coriander=1 lb shredded french bread=1 block frozen spinach=1 lb full-fat feta cheese=>9 ppl. Sent Sovi Carrot dish: 2 lb carrots=4 tbl pork fat=2 oz shredded romano=>9 ppl. I will refine the spicing and presentation for both, the carrot dish needed work.
Had a nice, if somewhat busy, weekend.
Friday night, Winalee and Hilary came over and we made shower food for the shower Saturday while Chance and Breana ran wild and Thomas tried to hide in his office.
Saturday morning, Hilary, Krishna and I set up the shower -- transferred the food to pretty platters and arranged it artfully and did some decorating. Then, the shower itself which was very nice. Funny moment when Big came in halfway through and was like, "where are the guys?" when faced with a room of about 25 women -- and we invited him to play Mason Bingo and he was like "no, seriously, where are the guys?" Too funny (They were across the street at my house with the kids).
(And apparently things were a little crazy at my house with the guys and the kids. Among other things, three of the kids managed to slip away from the guys and cross our busy street by themselves -- ack! And some of the kids let Abby out of the house. Thomas and Tracy finally cornered her under the deck and lured her out with tuna fish. So, it was a little nuts. Glad I was eating yummy blue cheese-cranberry-walnut cheese spread, salmon schmear and cake and hanging with the girls).
About 3:30 the guys and kids joined us and Brian grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. And folks hung out and kibbitzed. And the awkwardness around Angie is getting better as time goes on. I don't think we'll ever be friends again, but we don't ignore/avoid each other any more either. So, that was good.
Sunday was a much calmer day -- Got up and collected pretty leaves with Chance in the front yard and then arranged them on wax paper and ironed them to make pretty fall decorations. He loved it. Then he asked if Breana could come over because "I love Breana." So, we called Hilary and invited them over. Thomas was blowing the leaves in the front into a large pile (and when you have 40 trees, you have a shitload of leaves). So, Chance and Breana were wallowing in the leaves. Then the adults got involved. We had a nice fun romp and took a lot of photos. I'll post some to FB later.
Then Hilary and I went shopping to the CJ Banks 40% off sale. She had never been and LOVED it. I also helped her pick fall colors to wear (she is such an autumn!). We both found some really nice stuff. And then we watched the Titans win a second game -- wahoo! Hilary did her music class homework and I did some of my workout exercises while the game was on. Then to B&B for dinner -- shower leftovers.
So, really nice weekend.
Friday night, Winalee and Hilary came over and we made shower food for the shower Saturday while Chance and Breana ran wild and Thomas tried to hide in his office.
Saturday morning, Hilary, Krishna and I set up the shower -- transferred the food to pretty platters and arranged it artfully and did some decorating. Then, the shower itself which was very nice. Funny moment when Big came in halfway through and was like, "where are the guys?" when faced with a room of about 25 women -- and we invited him to play Mason Bingo and he was like "no, seriously, where are the guys?" Too funny (They were across the street at my house with the kids).
(And apparently things were a little crazy at my house with the guys and the kids. Among other things, three of the kids managed to slip away from the guys and cross our busy street by themselves -- ack! And some of the kids let Abby out of the house. Thomas and Tracy finally cornered her under the deck and lured her out with tuna fish. So, it was a little nuts. Glad I was eating yummy blue cheese-cranberry-walnut cheese spread, salmon schmear and cake and hanging with the girls).
About 3:30 the guys and kids joined us and Brian grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. And folks hung out and kibbitzed. And the awkwardness around Angie is getting better as time goes on. I don't think we'll ever be friends again, but we don't ignore/avoid each other any more either. So, that was good.
Sunday was a much calmer day -- Got up and collected pretty leaves with Chance in the front yard and then arranged them on wax paper and ironed them to make pretty fall decorations. He loved it. Then he asked if Breana could come over because "I love Breana." So, we called Hilary and invited them over. Thomas was blowing the leaves in the front into a large pile (and when you have 40 trees, you have a shitload of leaves). So, Chance and Breana were wallowing in the leaves. Then the adults got involved. We had a nice fun romp and took a lot of photos. I'll post some to FB later.
Then Hilary and I went shopping to the CJ Banks 40% off sale. She had never been and LOVED it. I also helped her pick fall colors to wear (she is such an autumn!). We both found some really nice stuff. And then we watched the Titans win a second game -- wahoo! Hilary did her music class homework and I did some of my workout exercises while the game was on. Then to B&B for dinner -- shower leftovers.
So, really nice weekend.
Back from Austin Celtic Festival, rather later than expected because we had to make multiple safety stops on the way home. It was a somewhat mixed event -- Saturday was gangbusters, Sunday was mostly rained out, with tent-leak-fighting that was unpleasantly reminiscent of Ike -- but we did pretty well all told. More after I've had some sleep.
This entry was originally posted at http://stardreamer.dreamwidth.org/55424
This entry was originally posted at http://stardreamer.dreamwidth.org/55424
- Mood:
exhausted
I have so many projects I want to at least touch on this weekend... This is not a to-do list because posting those is just a recipe for guilt for me. This is just a list of current projects.
Choli Project- research, bibliography, patterning, sewing
WAS feast- florilegium article thread and AAC printed and needs to be covered in sticky notes, list of recipes to be tested
TRU Database- data entry done, database relationships
Garb for kids- Alex's 14th century outfit, Elizabeth's Mongol faux-caftan sleeves, James' proper caftan
Garb for icbhod- Blue fighting caftan, silver brocade caftan, hat
WAS Artisan's Row- Contacting artisans
Choli Project- research, bibliography, patterning, sewing
WAS feast- florilegium article thread and AAC printed and needs to be covered in sticky notes, list of recipes to be tested
TRU Database- data entry done, database relationships
Garb for kids- Alex's 14th century outfit, Elizabeth's Mongol faux-caftan sleeves, James' proper caftan
Garb for icbhod- Blue fighting caftan, silver brocade caftan, hat
WAS Artisan's Row- Contacting artisans
- Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."
- I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity
- Update your journal with the answers to the questions
- Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions
(Note: It will be next week before I have time to ask anybody questions, because we're on the road over the weekend.)
![[info - personal]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
neadods asked:
1) Where do the slogans for the t-shirts and bumper stickers come from - do you ever make your own?
Yes, some of them are original. Others we steal from the best sources (because if you're going to steal at all, why steal from anything but the best?). Still others are inspired by somebody's comment in an online conversation, and polished as needed.
2) I remember talking kumihimo with you years ago - do you still do it?
Yes; here's my most recent creation involving kumihimo. The pendant is so heavy that I wanted a soft cord to be the only thing in contact with the wearer's neck.
3) What is it about ginger ale that's so good it's an interest?
I just like it. Most people don't realize how many kinds of ginger ale are available -- they know Canada Dry, and Schweppe's, and maybe Vernors, and that's it. But there are all kinds of little specialty ginger ales, the equivalent of microbrew beers, and I've tried probably 50 or more. My all-time favorite is Blenheim, which is so gingery-hot it'll blow the top of your head off if you're not expecting it!
4) What is your favorite BPAL?
That's another of those "You want me to pick ONE?" questions. But the default that I tend to grab for when I can't think of anything better suited to the outfit or the occasion is Mary Read, so I'll say that.
5) What is the scent you want them to create?
Dark chocolate, cinnamon, and amber. It would be like a darker version of Chimera (which is vanilla, cinnamon, and copal) and would smell like Mexican hot chocolate. I'd call it Xochiquetzal after the Aztec goddess of pleasure and female sexual power.
This entry was originally posted at http://stardreamer.dreamwidth.org/55410
- I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity
- Update your journal with the answers to the questions
- Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions
(Note: It will be next week before I have time to ask anybody questions, because we're on the road over the weekend.)
neadods asked: 1) Where do the slogans for the t-shirts and bumper stickers come from - do you ever make your own?
Yes, some of them are original. Others we steal from the best sources (because if you're going to steal at all, why steal from anything but the best?). Still others are inspired by somebody's comment in an online conversation, and polished as needed.
2) I remember talking kumihimo with you years ago - do you still do it?
Yes; here's my most recent creation involving kumihimo. The pendant is so heavy that I wanted a soft cord to be the only thing in contact with the wearer's neck.
3) What is it about ginger ale that's so good it's an interest?
I just like it. Most people don't realize how many kinds of ginger ale are available -- they know Canada Dry, and Schweppe's, and maybe Vernors, and that's it. But there are all kinds of little specialty ginger ales, the equivalent of microbrew beers, and I've tried probably 50 or more. My all-time favorite is Blenheim, which is so gingery-hot it'll blow the top of your head off if you're not expecting it!
4) What is your favorite BPAL?
That's another of those "You want me to pick ONE?" questions. But the default that I tend to grab for when I can't think of anything better suited to the outfit or the occasion is Mary Read, so I'll say that.
5) What is the scent you want them to create?
Dark chocolate, cinnamon, and amber. It would be like a darker version of Chimera (which is vanilla, cinnamon, and copal) and would smell like Mexican hot chocolate. I'd call it Xochiquetzal after the Aztec goddess of pleasure and female sexual power.
This entry was originally posted at http://stardreamer.dreamwidth.org/55410
- Mood:
curious
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