Salami

Fimo with black pepper inclusion, garnet, and gunmetal seed beads. This is the one I'm wearing today, in some ways, one of my favorite necklaces, because it's the only thing I have that is so blatantly red. Due to the colors and the black pepper, I always think of salami or pepperoni when I think of this necklace.

Cell Phone Loathing

"I don't know what I was thinking, but I'm off today. Yeah. That's cool girl."
-Snippet of conversation I'm being subjected to in the library

Whatever happened to the good ol' days of "Quiet Please" in the library? It's bad enough that people must have cell phone conversations while they're dining at restaurants-

Oh, that's damn funnny. Another woman's cell phone just went off. That makes two people who answered their phones (ringers were on) while using library computers. I mean, come on. It's one thing when you're off in a back row of books and the phone's on vibrate, but that was just bad manners. The other funny part was neither woman had just a ringer, but rather annoying music. Please, use a bit more discretion.

In the Psychology building basement, right next to the communal microwave, is a professor's office. Said professor has a bulletin board up by her office door which is filled with anti-cell phone cartoons. It's a beautiful thing. One day I may write an ode to that bulletin board. If you want an idea of what this glorious board is filled with, just google cartoon + cell phone.

Today's Myth Is__

"And because I don't think I have a connection speed that'll allow me to upload any photos, I'm going to post what I wrote on the first page of the book."
-Today's Oracle from Neil Gaiman's Journal

I've been watching Mythbusters episodes for the past couple of weeks, and alas, I have now run out. I feel all the better for the trivia I've gathered, and now I know the dangers of dropping a frozen turkey - watch out for your toes and your cat. While the show lacks much re-watchability, the science is fun and the geek appeal is great.

In other news, I'm stealing this link from Gaiman's journal, because it's just too funny to pass up. Aliens among us? You decide: http://english.pravda.ru/science/mysteries/07-02-2007/87167-alien_monster-0

Project Pictures: Polymer Bead Set

"I haven't heard from you guys in a while..."

-Part of my e-mail to David's friends who ordered jewelry from me a month ago and who have yet to send me payment. Grr.

When they ordered the jewelry from me, they asked for pictures that show the process. Here are the pictures I took while I made the custom necklace.

Step One: Mix clay for color. In this case I used different amounts of gold, white, translucent, and black Kato & Sculpey.

Step Two: Roll colored clays into snakes and combine into one large snake.

Step Three: Twist and roll snake to mix colors. Repeat until satisfied with color mix.

Step Four: Slice the cane and form beads.

Step Five: (Not shown) Pierce and bake beads.

Final Beads:

Final Cover

“What kind of veto power do I have on the cover design?”
-Me

I sent covers to Katherine, she forwarded them to the co-directors, who replied with “Change this, I don’t like that font” stuff. At first, I got frustrated. Some of the suggestions were things I specifically decided against – like, Papyrus font would be damn hard to read against the textured background. After I got a chance to let my gall settle, I realized Katherine is the type who’ll let me have some executive power. Sure enough, she answered my question by saying I can take their suggestions or leave them as I see fit.

So, after some playing with font, here’s the design that I want on the cover.

P.S. Dramamine is a beautiful thing. While it hasn’t completely obliterated my Vertigo symptoms, it has greatly, greatly reduced them. Hoorah for Dramamine!

Surveys Are Fun

“Given me more tools for more actively engaged”
-Anonymous teacher response to survey question (that’s all there was, I kid you not)

Life as the SCWP assistant is multi-faceted. One of the most entertaining, yet disturbing facets, is transcription. Katherine is very enthusiastic about feedback and surveys, most of which are responded to by local public school teachers. While many educators have no apparent trouble answering questions such as, “How has this inquiry group process improved your understanding of student learning?” Others respond in varied and inexplicable ways, such as “For sures!” or [indecipherable scribbling, looks like “goat ran duck vroom”].

Two key things to remember when filling out surveys and/or response forms.

1. Write legibly. Unless your cursive is very neat, use print. Please remember, also, that transcribers do not use a microscope or magnifying glass – please, no 5pt writing.

2. Answer the question(s) asked - bonus points for complete thoughts. If a question begins with “How,” it is not an yes/no question. Thank you.

This ends this public service announcement. Have a nice day.

Ewan McGregor's Pink Bits and Chet, the Huge Shaved Cat

Nagiko: Where is a book before it is born? Who are a book's parents? Does a book need two parents - a mother and a father? Can a book be born inside another book? Where is the parent book of books? How old does a book have to be before it can give birth?

-The Pillow Book (Possibly, the best lines from the entire damn movie)

Movie Review: The Pillow Book. Weird-ass movie. Even a whole day after watching this movie, I’m still not positive whether I liked it or just thought it was okay. The beginning was overly-artsy with lots of a shot within a shot, color strangeness, and such. It mellowed as things went on, but never disappeared entirely. These are the type of things that may get comments like “lush” and “multi-layered” from other people, but leave me thinking “how much of that was really necessary?” Gotta love Ewan McGregor, though, and I’m not just talking about the nudity. Why is he such an exhibitionist, anyway? McGregor is the only big name actor I can think of who shows off his intimate parts in more than one movie. Maybe it’s a British thing. Vivian Wu does a neat job as Nagiko, and there are some pretty and poetic moments in the movie. I also dig the touch of having words in various languages lit onto the background of many shots. The most brilliant part? The Jerome book.

Book Review: You Suck! A Love Story by Christopher Moore. Funny vampire stuff, with goth girl diary excerpts. Also interesting for its connection to two other Moore books, Bloodsucking Fiends and A Dirty Job – of which, I’ve only read the second. Some authors don’t build books off each other, some do. Moore is the second kind, which is fun. While I’ll ready any Moore book I can find, this isn’t his best. Still, it’s far from bad. In other news, I just found out he has a blog.

The Kiln Fund

Last summer I took a one day class in glass fusing. This necklace has one of the pendants I made (though, not my favorite one - that one went on a necklace I gave to Camii for her B-day and, alas, I have no picture). It also has a few silver spacers, hematite, and misc. seed beads.

A few months ago, I snagged a Balvenie container (why they need a container to hold a bottle of scotch, I do not know) which became a change repository. This is around the same time that I started making use of my shift drinks at the bar: I don't drink, but I can comp. a drink someone paid for and it comes out to the same, but with a few extra dollars in my pocket. So, I decided the Balvenie container would become a savings account for pocket change and shift drink money. Then, I just needed to decide what to spend it on.

I finally had the Eureka moment I was waiting for, and realized it should go toward a small electric kiln for jewelry purposes. To date, I've got about $150 set aside and the last time I checked, a small kiln was about $350. I have a while to go yet, depending on whether I use some tax refund money to close the gap. Still, I'm excited. I can play with dichroic glass, and maybe take a hammer to some of the liquor bottles I've been collecting (Jagermeister pendants, yeah?).

A Flaming Bike and a Spinning Head

"The only predictable thing about Vertigo is its unpredictability."
-Doctor who diagnosed me

I've gotten into the pattern of expecting Vertigo about once every six months. So, when I had my last bout in January, I figured I'd be clear of it for a while. I was wrong. Another round has settled in. Every bout is different, and this is one of those rare ones where the head spins really bring on the nausea. I got some Dramamine this morning (shopping is an adventure in itself right now, and silly me, I did the self checkout). I’m hoping to high heaven that it has some effect. I was also hoping to find some Ginger Beer, but alas, I had to settle for Orange Cream Soda which doesn’t have the upset stomach reducing power of ginger, but at least it’s got mundo carbonation.

Yesterday Keith and I had a date for dinner and a movie (great timing, too, since I was feeling crummy and he had a bad day at work). Fortunately, despite the odds, we had a nice time. I for one was thrilled to get out of the house, since there was no way I was driving yesterday and he was my only hope.

Movie Review: Ghost Rider. The critics aren’t impressed, but most everyone else likes it. I’m somewhere in between. Hoorah for Sam Elliott and Nicolas did a respectable job. The CGI guys were definitely on the ball, and the whole legend/mythic atmosphere was neat. Beyond that, it gets fuzzy. Now, typically, I like Eva Mendes, but in this movie the love story was damn ridiculous and, for the most part, so was she. Ugh. Spare me. The writers fell in love with skeleton puns, and got quite carried away. Add to that some extraneous moments that had me thinking “Now what was the point of that?” and I think this one may have been best left as a comic.

Birthday and Manuscripts

"I'm thinking the final chapter total will be around 12-14. I have it about to the beginning of Chapter 9 and after that is what I'm thinking of as the "Brandon Chapter" where it's an excerpt from the manuscript. I'm worried that it's a little too short, so I'm debating about what I want.... "
-Jenny, E-mail

I finished the part of Jenny's manuscript that she's given me and now eagerly await the rest. I'm relieved that I was able to get through the chunk I had so quickly. I feel a radiating sense of accomplishment. Hoorah for me! Okay, ego trip over. It's interesting to see a manuscript (more or less all at once) of a novel. This is the first time I've had the experience and I think it's fun. What'll be even more fun is seeing it get published - Go Jenny!

In other news, today's my brother's birthday. It's funny, too, that my parents are out of town and he's still in Springs, and when I tried to call him, he didn't answer. So, yes, it's the anniversary of my brother's birth, but we're far from rolling out the confetti.

Now, cross your fingers for me, because I had a case of the dizzies this morning and I'm afraid another bout of Vertigo might be rolling over me. Damnit, the last one was only two months ago, this isn't fair at all. But, maybe, just maybe, the dizziness from this morning is isolated. Cross your toes, too.

Harassment Complaint

"Since we spoke, the provost has been apprised of this matter and F-- has talked to the university attorney, who advised us that it should be reported to T--, the university Affirmative Action Officer, who investigates cases of sexual harassment, immediately."
-Part of an E-mail string I received last week

A few months ago I talked about a male student in the graduate program who was making people uncomfortable. Well, the ante has been upped. The gal who was most offended by this fellow made a formal complaint. She spoke to the head of the department last week, and was basically told she needed more evidence (letters she collected from other students didn’t count). She said she felt like she was blown off. Unfortunate.

On the “bright” side, it does sound like people other than the department head are looking at the situation more closely. Also, her first step makes it easier for others to speak up, and I’m pretty sure I know of at least one other student who plans to do so.

As far as this guy goes, the creepiness has escalated. He’s asked a couple of female students where they live so he can “drop off notes” or such. He’s called one gal every night for a week straight, to the point where she does not answer the phone anymore. I’m glad he’s ignored me so far, but it makes me uneasy. Last night in class I caught him looking my way and got a squirmy feeling. I always make sure to walk out with someone after class, and last night I was especially glad I had company out to my car.

I hope something substantial happens. This guy needs to leave the graduate program.

Abandoning Lexx, Labyrinths, and Centurions

TV Review: Lexx.

The Lexx: I am the Lexx. I am the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two universes. I was grown on the Cluster, which is ruled by His Shadow. The food was good there. My captain is Stanley Tweedle. I blow up planets for him.

I found series one online, liked it, then ventured to get the rest from Netflix. It has some fun stuff, like Lexx (the ship), Kai (the dead man), and at the beginning 790 (the robot head). Unfortunately, it seems the writers only know a few gags, like Zev’s refusal to sleep with horn-dog Stanley, and Stan’s eagerness to get laid leading them all into trouble. However, after season after season of the same old hat, I got bored. So, I’m finishing up with the last disk of the last season, just to see how it all ends and who ends up dead, but I’ve skipped about half of the last season. I don’t think I’ll miss much.

Movie Review: Pan’s Labyrinth.

Carmen: The captain has been so good to us... Please, Ofelia, call him father. It's just a word, Ofelia, just a word.

Do not take the kids to see this flick. Yes, there’s a child in the movie, but there’s a reason it’s rated R. Okay, we start out as one might expect, a fairy-tale voice over, introduce the girl and her mom, show some carved stones…Then we get to the step-father’s camp in Fascist Spain, 1944 and the fairy tale veneer slips away as the captain’s brutal side comes out and Ofelia meets a creepy faun who tells her she is a magic princess. Add some escalation, some bloodshed, and some creatures and the result is a lush and creepy story.

TV Review: Rome.

Lucius Vorenus: It makes no sense. We should have been stopped by now. Why is Rome not defended?
Titus Pullo: Our boys scared 'em off, eh?
Lucius Vorenus: Soldiers of the Republic do not run, so it must be a stratagem, a trick.
Titus Pullo: It's a good trick.
Lucius Vorenus: Unless the gods have abandoned Rome... If Mars were watching, he would not allow such a disgrace.
Titus Pullo: Maybe he was havin' a crap and missed it.
-Rome Season One, Episode Three

I’d heard about this one a bit, but didn’t hear much beyond “it’s good” so last week I decided to find out for myself. I’ve gotten through the first two disks of Season one (five episodes) and I can see why people like it. Okay, here’s the skinny: You have a few circles of characters – those around Ceasar and those around Pompey (Ceasar’s friend turned rival) and they’re in various levels of society, from slave, to soldier, to aristocrat. The focus is largely on Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus, two soldiers, but you also get into the home and mind of Atia of the Julii, the mother of Octavian and a conniver if ever there was one. It’s a fairly complicated set-up, and don’t worry if you don’t get everyone straight in the first episode, it’ll get clearer as you watch more.

One of the most interesting parts of the series is the contrast between Titus and Lucius. In their own ways, they’re both pretty brutal men, but they both have their redeeming moments, too. So, they end up see-sawing a bit between who’s doing the right thing – kind of neat. Just when you get to a point where you can say Lucius is the more noble of the two, he goes and does something that makes Titus look good in comparison.

Also fun – all the historical bits interlaced throughout. I love their use of graffiti, and the political intrigue is cool. Another bonus: James Purefoy (aka the Black Prince in A Knight’s Tale) as Mark Antony.

Final Covers (Maybe)

Whew, that was a lot of messing about. I finally found Microsoft Photo Draw on this computer and got that going for cover design. Ugh, if only I'd used it from the start. Oh well, I'll just chalk it up to blonde-ness and move on. I'm ready to send Katherine some covers and either get a decision on which to use, or get suggestions on what else to try.

Here are some of the finals:

This one is my favorite:

Transparent

"What are you reading now?"

-One of Jenny's favorite questions

Book Review: Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers, by Cris Beam.

I ventured out to the library last night, and this book caught my eye. I found a place to sit, opened it up, and read almost half in one sitting. Let’s face it, gender identity and sexuality are interesting topics which are growing less taboo. You definitely never would have seen Queer as Folk in the fifties.

So, what happens is you end up with about three categories: biological sex, gender, and sexual preference. For most people, biological sex and gender match, and sexual preference is heterosexual. For some, there’s a shift. The weird thing is, a lot of people seem to get uncomfortable with anyone who’s outside the “norm.” It’s scary to hear of all the gay bashings and other assaults, some of which Beam talks about. Just because someone’s a biological male who wears female garb, that’s enough to permanently injure them? Come on.

Beam, a non-transgender lesbian, talks about the transgender/transsexual teens she met while volunteering, and talks about those teens’ experiences in the transworld. There’s some crazy, hateful stuff. Kids who are literally thrown out because they identify with the opposite gender. I can’t imagine throwing my son out because he wears dresses, that’s too cruel. Of course, these examples come from overall dysfunctional families, so it’s not as big of a stretch to imagine an abusive crack addict disowning their child as it is to imagine people like my parents doing the same – though I know my parents would be uneasy with the concept.

Anyhow, good book. Beam only wanders into the realm of the sappy “I want to be your mommy” once or twice, and she gives a lot of information, most of it disturbing. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the topic.

Writerly Blogs

"In which Miss Snark vents her wrath on the hapless world of writers and crushes them to sand beneath her T.Rexual heels of stiletto snark."
-Miss Snark's Blog description

For a while now, I've heard Deb talk about the agent and editor blogs she reads on a regular basis. So, I've decided to check some of them out. You'll see I've added links to two of them on the sidebar. Funny stuff, and very informative. Go read them. Now.

February 2007 Meeting

"I just wasn't interested."
-Part of Oliver's critique of he who shall remain unnamed

I walked in to the back room of Barnes & Noble to find two surprising things:
1. A whole four visitors
2. A member who previously went AWOL, presumed dropped-out

Visitors can be fun, so no worries there. However, I was markedly less pleased to see the returned member. We worked long and hard to chase him away, damnit! Why am I so mean? He wrote a saga about a twelve-year-old girl prodigy hero who had, like mood swings, vast changes in character. She often went from whiny sprat to the gal all the adults followed within the distance of only a paragraph. There were other problems, too, some of which were kinda creepy – like how the EVIL spaceship captain was going to rape her. It just wasn’t right. Whenever you are an adult male writing about a twelve-year-old girl threatened with rape, you must tread very carefully. Not to mention that he stayed with the rape/violence to young gals in a handful of short stories he submitted to the group after giving up on the space saga. A bit disturbing. Now he’s back. On the bright side, he did mention that he might move to one of the other groups. I’ve got all my fingers, and toes, crossed for that one.

The good news is that our own child (okay, not child, he’s legal) prodigy, Oliver, has returned after missing two months to go sing and be at a sibling’s birthday party. Also fortunate was his critique of another member’s submission. Brief note on this other member – he’s arrogant, condescending, and writes poorly (excellent combination). So, hearing Oliver’s critique was definitely a high point. While very smart, Oliver lacks tact, so while you can count on him to make good points in a critique, you can also count on him to sound a bit insulting – not intentional, but still there. He’s known to make comments like, “this annoyed me” or “I just didn’t care if he died.” Great fun.

During dinner after the meeting, we got on the topic of a group romance novel Jenny got some of us English majors started on a few years ago during a night at the bar. The hilarious part was that each person would take their portion right up to the point where things were about to get dirty, then pass it on. The next person would then do a fake out in the lines of “but just then, her father walked in…” then build up to getting dirty and pass it. This wasn’t planned, but things just worked out that way, much to our entertainment. She’s planning to take some seeds from that night to create a whole novel, the outline of which sounds hilarious. I told her she should start it ASAP, but she was being obstinate and talking about some other project she wanted to do first. Bah!

However, those of us at dinner decided to honor the endeavor by creating our own multi-authored romantic saga. Starting with Oliver, one person each month will write a sequential chapter of the novel. It should be fun.

Designing the Cover

"You'll have to buy Adobe Photoshop, I can't just download it."
-Tech Help Guy

What a pain in the ass. I have no photoshop programs on this computer, nor is buying one an option. Thus, I had to scramble and do some trial and error to figure out just how in the hell I was going to design the Anthology cover. Finally, I figured I might be able to pull it off in Word.

Converting from word to PDF creates problems, but at least I have something to work from. Here's my first prototype cover (includes front & back).

Dangley

Green seed beads and blue and purple faceted pony beads hung on chain.

Dumbass Undergrads

"I'm looking for the office of __"
-Undergrad

Okay, yes she has office hours here. But, this is not the time for her office hours. Then, he asks me when her office hours are, like I keep track. All I know is that I don't come in until 11:30 on Thursdays so I won't interrupt them. The brilliant thing is, though, every professor in the world has this nifty thing called a syllabus, and guess what? That's where their office hours are listed. Pay attention, it helps.

See? Still a bit grouchy. I really want to go home, not to the bar. Ugh, again.

Close, But Not Quite

I got up this morning, plugged my camera into my computer and started downloading pictures from yesterday - 84 total - while I hopped in the shower. When I got out, all the pictures were on my computer, so I stuck them on a disk and put it by my keys. Well, I later picked up my keys and walked away, knowing I'd be back for the disk.

Right. I got to campus and said, "Damnit!" No disk. No picture editing fun today. I'm inordinately bummed about that. I don't think it helps that I'm still sick, though not as much as before, and I'm going to be working at the bar tonight. So, I sound bad because of my congestion and I get to talk to people all night when I'd much rather be at home in bed. Ugh.