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larryhammerReading Wednesday, with actual reading yay. This isn't a huge list, but there's a doorstop in the works.
Finished:
Erotic Poems ed. by Peter Washington -- the hodgepodginess is delightful: Tennyson sandwiched between Baudelaires. Recommended still. If you do read it, be aware that the last poems are all about the fire gutting out, so plan when you read it accordingly.
Villanelles ed. Finch & Mali -- a morning in a hammock in a ponderosa forest gets me to the end. Good stuff, both the older and contemporary workings of the form. Recommended.
Plus various poetry anthology readings not otherwise noted.
In comics: 1) The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and the Great Lakes Avengers, a compilation of a four-issue arc plus some specials (including her first appearance, as a teenage Iron Man fangirl). Oddly dark, but fun when Squirrel Girl herself is onstage. 2) Super Hero Girls: Summer Olympus, words by Shea Fontana, art by Yancey Labat -- a couple times through, reading it aloud to TBD.
In progress:
Classical Chinese Literature: An Anthology of Translations: Volume I: from Antiquity to the Tang Dynasty ed. by John Minford & Joseph S.M. Lau -- a thick brick to match the long title, being 1130 pages plus preface and appendices. Found this browsing in the library, and we'll see how far I can get before I run out of renewals. I am very much enjoying the sheer SCOPE: it starts with oracle-bone and bronze-ware inscriptions, which are even more interesting than expected. (Note: volume II seems not to have been published? If so, BOO HISS!) Am less than 20% in, which still covers a lot of ground.
---L.
Subject quote from "Goblin Market, Christina Rossetti.
Finished:
Erotic Poems ed. by Peter Washington -- the hodgepodginess is delightful: Tennyson sandwiched between Baudelaires. Recommended still. If you do read it, be aware that the last poems are all about the fire gutting out, so plan when you read it accordingly.
Villanelles ed. Finch & Mali -- a morning in a hammock in a ponderosa forest gets me to the end. Good stuff, both the older and contemporary workings of the form. Recommended.
Plus various poetry anthology readings not otherwise noted.
In comics: 1) The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and the Great Lakes Avengers, a compilation of a four-issue arc plus some specials (including her first appearance, as a teenage Iron Man fangirl). Oddly dark, but fun when Squirrel Girl herself is onstage. 2) Super Hero Girls: Summer Olympus, words by Shea Fontana, art by Yancey Labat -- a couple times through, reading it aloud to TBD.
In progress:
Classical Chinese Literature: An Anthology of Translations: Volume I: from Antiquity to the Tang Dynasty ed. by John Minford & Joseph S.M. Lau -- a thick brick to match the long title, being 1130 pages plus preface and appendices. Found this browsing in the library, and we'll see how far I can get before I run out of renewals. I am very much enjoying the sheer SCOPE: it starts with oracle-bone and bronze-ware inscriptions, which are even more interesting than expected. (Note: volume II seems not to have been published? If so, BOO HISS!) Am less than 20% in, which still covers a lot of ground.
---L.
Subject quote from "Goblin Market, Christina Rossetti.
Not yet autumn
Aug. 23rd, 2017 08:03 amjhetleyAir temperature 70 F, dew point 67, overcast, wind south about 8 mph for the newspaper walk. "Cooler" and "drier" have not yet arrived. Nor has the apocalypse.
A TUESDAY
Aug. 22nd, 2017 11:16 pmarchangelbethAm convincing child to try eating straw wrappers as a mood-improvement thing. (Look, the stuff probably still has hormones from the trees in it, and/or it might provide an interesting roughage for gut bacteria. LET ME HAVE MY PLACEBO OKAY.)
Spent about an hour poking at Copper Leaf Bargains and re-reading stuff and fixing a single small inconsistency, but otherwise not getting any noticeable wordcount, blah.
Trash night.
(Oh, hey, back to December 2016 for the GURPS stuff!)
Havva Quote
arcangel says, "Oh, look, we get A: Jordi (YAY!), and B: the Dominion is getting snarky again... https://www.youtube.com/embed/
arcangel cannot spell LaForge's first name anymore because In Nomine. Hush.
arcangel then goes to one of the random videos near that and NO. BISHONEN VOLDEMORT IS NO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-
arcangel says, "JUST NO."
--Seriously, I'm traumatized here.
( INwatch+Bookwatch )
( Dragons under fold )
Spent about an hour poking at Copper Leaf Bargains and re-reading stuff and fixing a single small inconsistency, but otherwise not getting any noticeable wordcount, blah.
Trash night.
(Oh, hey, back to December 2016 for the GURPS stuff!)
Havva Quote
arcangel says, "Oh, look, we get A: Jordi (YAY!), and B: the Dominion is getting snarky again... https://www.youtube.com/embed/
arcangel cannot spell LaForge's first name anymore because In Nomine. Hush.
arcangel then goes to one of the random videos near that and NO. BISHONEN VOLDEMORT IS NO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-
arcangel says, "JUST NO."
--Seriously, I'm traumatized here.
( INwatch+Bookwatch )
( Dragons under fold )
(no subject)
Aug. 22nd, 2017 12:17 pmmartianmooncrabSunday I finally fixed that bit of fence that wasnt level. Planted a few things, but ran out of steam quickly.
Monday was the eclipse. I stayed up after waking up about 8ish, instead of rolling over and going back to sleep. Watched a lot of it on the TV, but did get up and got dressed to go outside to watch the actual event. Stood around with my neighbors and it was a very cool thing. Saw Venus in the sky.
the birds went dead silent for about an hour, but after the sun started to come back, the first thing moving were a pair of hummingbirds.
Went to breakfast after with my sister, since I was up. Tried to work outside but was off due to lack of sleep. Monkey had driven to Salem with his roomies, and they stopped on the way back, we did a bit of local hanging out, then they headed north. Traffic was very bad, so it took him ages to get home.
Today, new Book Tuesday, I sure hope that happens. With all the delays due to everyone leaving Oregon its hard to say. There is also the signing tonight at the Beaverton Powells.
Monday was the eclipse. I stayed up after waking up about 8ish, instead of rolling over and going back to sleep. Watched a lot of it on the TV, but did get up and got dressed to go outside to watch the actual event. Stood around with my neighbors and it was a very cool thing. Saw Venus in the sky.
the birds went dead silent for about an hour, but after the sun started to come back, the first thing moving were a pair of hummingbirds.
Went to breakfast after with my sister, since I was up. Tried to work outside but was off due to lack of sleep. Monkey had driven to Salem with his roomies, and they stopped on the way back, we did a bit of local hanging out, then they headed north. Traffic was very bad, so it took him ages to get home.
Today, new Book Tuesday, I sure hope that happens. With all the delays due to everyone leaving Oregon its hard to say. There is also the signing tonight at the Beaverton Powells.
Fig and Ibid
Aug. 22nd, 2017 02:40 pmjames_davis_nicollAre surrounded by cats used to other cats and thus not necessarily alarmed to see new ones. Ibid is content to sniff noses with the bolder of his new housemates, whereas I think Fig is affronted by their lack of timidity.
I still have not seen the orange kitten I was warned could be an issue. It's afraid of people but likes to tussle with older cats. I expect Ibid will like this and Fig will not.
I still have not seen the orange kitten I was warned could be an issue. It's afraid of people but likes to tussle with older cats. I expect Ibid will like this and Fig will not.
(no subject)
Aug. 22nd, 2017 09:32 amjhetleyPeople are comfortable insulting others with the broadest possible brush, but God help you if they can infer the slightest affront to themselves.
Hazy, hot, humid
Aug. 22nd, 2017 08:03 amjhetleyAir temperature 63 F, dew point 59, calm, shallow fog and scattered clouds. Supposed to get up near 90 F, hot for Maine. Chance of thunderstorms later and overnight.
M's Surgery
Aug. 22nd, 2017 12:20 amranunculusM had surgery today to fix 3 vertebra in his neck. Six hours of surgery which apparently went very well. He has been unable to feel his fingertips for the last 4 months due to bone spurs growing into the spinal column, blocking half or more of the space the nerves are supposed to use. The problem had begun to affect his balance. This is, we are told, a very common thing. Many people have a lot of pain with it. M didn't, thankfully. The surgery isn't fun, they make an incision on your throat, shove your esophagus and windpipe aside and work on the spine. If you don't do the surgery you decline, gradually or not so gradually, to the point where you can no longer hold a pen, or mug and are wheelchair bound. So he had the surgery done.
I was very relieved to see him after the surgery. It is never a sure thing to take a 70 year old into lengthy surgery, but he seems to have come through it with no issues. He thought (while still half under anaesthetic and high on pain meds) that his hands were better. We will see what tomorrow brings.
I was very relieved to see him after the surgery. It is never a sure thing to take a 70 year old into lengthy surgery, but he seems to have come through it with no issues. He thought (while still half under anaesthetic and high on pain meds) that his hands were better. We will see what tomorrow brings.
A Monday
Aug. 21st, 2017 11:45 pmarchangelbethSpurred by a hopeful comment on Goodreads, I was thinking of stuff on Copper Leaf Bargains when I went to sleep last night, and then this morning, I spent an hour and a half, or thereabouts, writing, and got 1,300 words on one thing (including a [insert Shadow Guild organizational information here] marker, oh dear), and then went back to the chapter before that, which still needs finishing, and worked on that some. So I estimate at least 1,500 words, woo!
Now my head is all fragile and my characters don't know which of them are supposed to be in boxes and which of them are supposed to be out and talking to me. -_-
Kid and I were going to go for dinner but really, there was no where we wanted to go, and we were both crabby as heck (I wanted to eat leftovers, but ze spouse had gone on an hour's drive to an Apple Store to get the powerbrick for my computer replaced, 'cause it died, and if he didn't get it that way, we'd have to be sharing a power-brick for several days till the more local place got one in. Blah. ...where was I? Oh, right, so he'd driven 2 hours on top of MedicalTaxi for his Uncle, so I didn't even ask about him going anywhere), and so we went shopping instead, because it was deserted enough not to drive the kid screaming away.
So then we came home and I ate a combination of leftovers and the veggie dumplings that called to me at the store.
Despite ice tea at breakfast and a glass of home-made ice tea here, I have a headache. I must take ibuprofen soon.
Havva Quote
-----------------------Quoted by M••------------------------
Rhelle: No! Don't fall for the Sith's manipulations!
Alecto: Oh, my sweet love, you're quite mistaken. She's not the Sith. I AM.
Rhelle: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
----------------------------------------
----------------------Quoted by E____-----------------------
Alecto: "I AM."
Rhelle: "NOOOOoooactually, that makes a lot of sense."
----------------------------------------
I__ snrk.
arcangel | Rhelle: ...no, wait, that's okay then.
I__ SNRK
-----------------------Quoted by M••------------------------
Alecto: WE WILL BE FREE!
----------------------------------------
M•• ducks
--We are very silly on the MUSH
( INwatch+Bookwatch )
( Dragons under fold )
Now my head is all fragile and my characters don't know which of them are supposed to be in boxes and which of them are supposed to be out and talking to me. -_-
Kid and I were going to go for dinner but really, there was no where we wanted to go, and we were both crabby as heck (I wanted to eat leftovers, but ze spouse had gone on an hour's drive to an Apple Store to get the powerbrick for my computer replaced, 'cause it died, and if he didn't get it that way, we'd have to be sharing a power-brick for several days till the more local place got one in. Blah. ...where was I? Oh, right, so he'd driven 2 hours on top of MedicalTaxi for his Uncle, so I didn't even ask about him going anywhere), and so we went shopping instead, because it was deserted enough not to drive the kid screaming away.
So then we came home and I ate a combination of leftovers and the veggie dumplings that called to me at the store.
Despite ice tea at breakfast and a glass of home-made ice tea here, I have a headache. I must take ibuprofen soon.
Havva Quote
-----------------------Quoted by M••------------------------
Rhelle: No! Don't fall for the Sith's manipulations!
Alecto: Oh, my sweet love, you're quite mistaken. She's not the Sith. I AM.
Rhelle: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
----------------------------------------
----------------------Quoted by E____-----------------------
Alecto: "I AM."
Rhelle: "NOOOOoooactually, that makes a lot of sense."
----------------------------------------
I__ snrk.
arcangel | Rhelle: ...no, wait, that's okay then.
I__ SNRK
-----------------------Quoted by M••------------------------
Alecto: WE WILL BE FREE!
----------------------------------------
M•• ducks
--We are very silly on the MUSH
( INwatch+Bookwatch )
( Dragons under fold )
structure
Aug. 21st, 2017 10:50 pmmarycatelliA beginning is that which does not itself follow anything by causal necessity, but after which something naturally is or comes to be. An end, on the contrary, is that which itself naturally follows some other thing, either by necessity, or as a rule, but has nothing following it. A middle is that which follows something as some other thing follows it. A well constructed plot, therefore, must neither begin nor end at haphazard, but conform to these principles.
Aristotle
Aristotle
Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal and The Surrender, by Toni Bentley
Aug. 21st, 2017 12:40 pmrachelmanijaI am a dancer in the New York City Ballet. I wrote the pages that follow during one ballet season. I began on November 21, 1980, and finished on February 15, 1981. I was lonely; I was sad. I had decided to be alone, but I had never decided to be lonely. I started writing on a yellow pad. I wrote, and I smoked. Every page was covered with a film of smoke.
If you like that, you will like this book. It's one of those slim but pithy volumes that precisely captures a time, a place, and a state of mind.
I've always had a fascination with ballet, ever since my second-grade teacher offered a trip to see the Nutcracker Suite (it was at least ten years before I realized that the second word was not "sweet") to her top three students. I had no idea what that was, other than that it was clearly desirable, so I went all-out to make sure that I'd get the prize. I was sufficiently enchanted with The Nutcracker and the general air of specialness surrounding the entire experience that I begged my parents for ballet lessons, at which I lasted something like three sessions. I don't recall the exact problem, but based on my age I'm guessing that there was too much standing around.
After that I confined myself to reading ballet books, which was more fun that actually doing it. Had I tried when I was older, I might have stuck with it for longer. Based on Bentley book and everything else I've read about ballet dancing, it has an austere, stoic, boot camp, push your limits atmosphere that would have really appealed to me if I'd been three to five years older. And then I would have gotten my heart broken, because I am not built to be a ballerina.
Winter Season beautifully depicts the illusion shown to the audience and the reality experienced by the dancers, and how the dancers live the illusion as well. It's got all the fascinating details of any good backstage memoir, without bitterness or cynicism. Even as it ground down her body, Bentley never stopped loving ballet; she seems to feel that she was lucky to have the chance to live the dream, just for the opportunity to spend a few minutes every day being the perfect expression of her body and the choreographer's art.
Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal, with a new preface
And I will place the next bit under a cut in case you just want to read about Winter Season. As opposed to ass. ( Read more... )
If you like that, you will like this book. It's one of those slim but pithy volumes that precisely captures a time, a place, and a state of mind.
I've always had a fascination with ballet, ever since my second-grade teacher offered a trip to see the Nutcracker Suite (it was at least ten years before I realized that the second word was not "sweet") to her top three students. I had no idea what that was, other than that it was clearly desirable, so I went all-out to make sure that I'd get the prize. I was sufficiently enchanted with The Nutcracker and the general air of specialness surrounding the entire experience that I begged my parents for ballet lessons, at which I lasted something like three sessions. I don't recall the exact problem, but based on my age I'm guessing that there was too much standing around.
After that I confined myself to reading ballet books, which was more fun that actually doing it. Had I tried when I was older, I might have stuck with it for longer. Based on Bentley book and everything else I've read about ballet dancing, it has an austere, stoic, boot camp, push your limits atmosphere that would have really appealed to me if I'd been three to five years older. And then I would have gotten my heart broken, because I am not built to be a ballerina.
Winter Season beautifully depicts the illusion shown to the audience and the reality experienced by the dancers, and how the dancers live the illusion as well. It's got all the fascinating details of any good backstage memoir, without bitterness or cynicism. Even as it ground down her body, Bentley never stopped loving ballet; she seems to feel that she was lucky to have the chance to live the dream, just for the opportunity to spend a few minutes every day being the perfect expression of her body and the choreographer's art.
Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal, with a new preface
And I will place the next bit under a cut in case you just want to read about Winter Season. As opposed to ass. ( Read more... )
(no subject)
Aug. 21st, 2017 01:25 pmjhetleyAnd in non-eclipse news:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/
Day Jobbery Annoyance
Aug. 21st, 2017 09:07 amjon_chaissonSo.
Friday morning one of the Day Job's server systems went kerflooey. It caused me to lose internet access to said server. I had no idea there was an outage at the time, and I've been having connection issues off and on lately (I found out later on that it wasn't just me but numerous people). I figured, OK...let's do the reboot, that should reconnect me, yes?
Except for the fact that my PC chose that very moment to push through a system update.
Which, as I would find out a little later, was doing more harm than good to a lot of people's systems.
So...upon rebooting, the bad update not only borked my connectivity, it also completely crashed my VPN software. And considering that I work at a job that needs that as a safety precaution (not to mention needed for compliance), I pretty much had no work internet for the rest of Friday. The last hour or so this morning I've been with our support team to get it fixed, and just now I was able to reconnect.
This was all on top of a week's worth of wasting time manually sorting emails because my department's Outlook rules had completely vanished. One of my managers is working on rebuilding those this morning.
The bizarre thing is that this really underlined my annoyance at Plans Thwarted. In reality I'm fine with having to adjust when things don't go as planned; it's the 'I'm just trying to get something done but THIS BIG FAT OBSTACLE KEEPS FUCKING IT
Anyhoo, the work PC is back to normal and I can finally get back to work.
Friday morning one of the Day Job's server systems went kerflooey. It caused me to lose internet access to said server. I had no idea there was an outage at the time, and I've been having connection issues off and on lately (I found out later on that it wasn't just me but numerous people). I figured, OK...let's do the reboot, that should reconnect me, yes?
Except for the fact that my PC chose that very moment to push through a system update.
Which, as I would find out a little later, was doing more harm than good to a lot of people's systems.
So...upon rebooting, the bad update not only borked my connectivity, it also completely crashed my VPN software. And considering that I work at a job that needs that as a safety precaution (not to mention needed for compliance), I pretty much had no work internet for the rest of Friday. The last hour or so this morning I've been with our support team to get it fixed, and just now I was able to reconnect.
This was all on top of a week's worth of wasting time manually sorting emails because my department's Outlook rules had completely vanished. One of my managers is working on rebuilding those this morning.
The bizarre thing is that this really underlined my annoyance at Plans Thwarted. In reality I'm fine with having to adjust when things don't go as planned; it's the 'I'm just trying to get something done but THIS BIG FAT OBSTACLE KEEPS FUCKING IT
Anyhoo, the work PC is back to normal and I can finally get back to work.
"But sleep stole on, as sleep will do / When hearts are light and life is new"
Aug. 21st, 2017 08:39 amlarryhammerA Poetry Monday without comment:
Meeting Point, Louis MacNeice
Time was away and somewhere else,
There were two glasses and two chairs
And two people with the one pulse
(Somebody stopped the moving stairs):
Time was away and somewhere else.
And they were neither up nor down;
The stream’s music did not stop
Flowing through heather, limpid brown,
Although they sat in a coffee shop
And they were neither up nor down.
The bell was silent in the air
Holding its inverted poise—
Between the clang and clang a flower,
A brazen calyx of no noise:
The bell was silent in the air.
The camels crossed the miles of sand
That stretched around the cups and plates;
The desert was their own, they planned
To portion out the stars and dates:
The camels crossed the miles of sand.
Time was away and somewhere else.
The waiter did not come, the clock
Forgot them and the radio waltz
Came out like water from a rock:
Time was away and somewhere else.
Her fingers flicked away the ash
That bloomed again in tropic trees:
Not caring if the markets crash
When they had forests such as these,
Her fingers flicked away the ash.
God or whatever means the Good
Be praised that time can stop like this,
That what the heart has understood
Can verify in the body’s peace
God or whatever means the Good.
Time was away and she was here
And life no longer what it was,
The bell was silent in the air
And all the room one glow because
Time was away and she was here.
---L.
Subject quote from "Snow-Bound," William Greenleaf Whittier.
Meeting Point, Louis MacNeice
Time was away and somewhere else,
There were two glasses and two chairs
And two people with the one pulse
(Somebody stopped the moving stairs):
Time was away and somewhere else.
And they were neither up nor down;
The stream’s music did not stop
Flowing through heather, limpid brown,
Although they sat in a coffee shop
And they were neither up nor down.
The bell was silent in the air
Holding its inverted poise—
Between the clang and clang a flower,
A brazen calyx of no noise:
The bell was silent in the air.
The camels crossed the miles of sand
That stretched around the cups and plates;
The desert was their own, they planned
To portion out the stars and dates:
The camels crossed the miles of sand.
Time was away and somewhere else.
The waiter did not come, the clock
Forgot them and the radio waltz
Came out like water from a rock:
Time was away and somewhere else.
Her fingers flicked away the ash
That bloomed again in tropic trees:
Not caring if the markets crash
When they had forests such as these,
Her fingers flicked away the ash.
God or whatever means the Good
Be praised that time can stop like this,
That what the heart has understood
Can verify in the body’s peace
God or whatever means the Good.
Time was away and she was here
And life no longer what it was,
The bell was silent in the air
And all the room one glow because
Time was away and she was here.
---L.
Subject quote from "Snow-Bound," William Greenleaf Whittier.