new blog

Ok, I'm moving things over to a new blog.

http://gexxinknoxville.wordpress.com


because I can

Gardening

So I now have a 5 foot by 7 foot by 1 foot raised bed ready for vegetables.  I also have a yard without an icky brushy spot or frustrating stupid overtaking tree.  And recently, a pear tree and plum tree have been included and a spot for an apricot tree has been picked out.  Seeds have been started in a mini-LED powered green house.  Two window boxes have been sown with kale.  Now to just figure out what to do with the grapes.

Hopefully this is a fruitful summer, no pun intended.

In gardens, beauty is a by-product.  The main business is sex and death.  ~Sam Llewelyn

Plants cry their gratitude for the sun in green joy.  ~Astrid Alauda

my boyfriend

I hate the concept of "traditional gender roles."  Traditional to whom?  It's not my tradition.  Instead, I want equality.  For some reason I don't enjoy being thought of as an unable individual, a second class citizen.  I want someone to treat me well because they like me and wish to be altruistic, making my life nicer at expense of their effort, not because I'm female.

Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.

Last night my friend had a birthday party, and Morgan and I attended.  He started talking to some of our friends and some topic came up, I think it was regarding a letter that he wrote to the editor of the school paper after it had a headline stating that"Cocks bring Vols to their knees" was bad on two counts. 1) we won the game. 2) equating sexual acts with demonstration of power is really not classy and the editor should be mature enough to realize that.  He was then asked "wait, your a feminist, aren't you."  He stated, "Yes I am."  None of that beating around the bush of claiming but also attempting to educate that feminists are about equality, not non-shaving, army boot wearing, men haters.  Just "Yes I am."

My friend turns to me and says "Don't you ever date guys with balls?"

I tell her that I find the fact that he views me as a partner, as an able equal to be extremely sexy.

He offers to show her his balls if she doesn't believe him.

I think that what he said, while it should be 'expected', in this situation was openly shown hostility, and instead he didn't hide behind privilege.  It *was* rather ballsy.

Sick Kitten Edition

First:
I wanted something sweet for dessert.  I poured myself a glass of scotch.

Second:
Look at These

 I would order them if they were in my size. But, alas, of all the sizes to be out of, mine is included at the moment.  But perhaps it's a good thing since I need to watch my finances.  The cool thing about the company here is that they use all reclaimed/recycled materials.  In the area, their stuff is sold at Mast General Store and at some other place out west (go to the simpleshoes site).

Third:
So my kitten:
Yesterday I came home and noticed a few spots of watery puke.  I wasn't too worried since normally after they heave up a hairball, a few seconds later (and in another room) they puke up a thinner batch.  So i went looking for the substantial deposits.  There were none, but I caught Neci in mid puke. It was thin. Then she did it again. And again. And again.  I cleaned them up and picked her up.  She was more cuddly than normal and when I set her down she curled up and chilled.  I figured it was a stomach bug and we would go to the vet the following day if it continued.

That evening she didn't puke much more, she slept right next to me.  This morning, however, I woke up at 5AM to cat-hacks.  And sure enough, it was the same style of puking.  Then she ran off and I had to check all sorts of hiding places to find her.  About 7AM I got up and got ready. 8AM I had her in the carrier... no drama there so she really must not be feeling well... and we went to the vet's who opened at 8.30AM.  We sat in the parking lot till they opened and as soon as the door unlocked, we were in.  The vet got to us rather quickly.  She felt around and confirmed what I embarassedly thought was the most probable. 

She was constupated. 

But to rule out anything else, we were going to have an xray.  Which would also show fecal matter to confirm the constupation diagnoses.  We had the xray and sure enough, there was a whole line of poo from her butt to her stomach.  Poor Kitty!!

The doctor said that we should do an enema, and she offered to keep the kitten for the day so she didn't "explode" (doctor's words) in my house.  I took her up on that offer and went to work.  This afternoon I picked her up.  Apparently she hadn't pooed defecated much, so the doctor warned me she might still "explode" in my house.  Ah well.  If the puking doesn't change by Monday, we're to come back in.

So we go home.  And she pukes again.  And again.  And she goes to sleep.  I pick her up and massage her belly to promote the poopage and she stays there for over an hour.  Then she gets up and wanders.  I realize it's a good time for our 2x daily pill, so I retreive her and we have a battle of wits.  She thought she could spit it out later, but NO! I caught it and covered it in petroleum jelly (their fave snack).  Then we had another fight.  Poor kitten!

When I let her go, she ran off and I didn't see her agian for hours.  I started to get worried that she slipped outside when my neighbor or when Morgan showed up.  Just now, while typing, she appeared from under my bed and puked on my favorite shoes, my bra, and then somewhere in the other room.  I should probably try to figure this out now. 

Poo. both as an imperative and an explitive.



btw - I love Broadway Vet Clinic.  They've treated us very well.

today's plans

I have all afternoon free:

1- Walmart for Rx (need to transfer to someplace NOT Walmart)

2- load of stuff to Goodwill

3- put away laundry

4- re-arrange dining room

5- refill dresser

6- dinner

On to the weekend

Ok, I MUST meet w Dr. A before the weekend. Other than that, I'm pretty much free, so here's the plan:
1- hang out w J and H at some point
2- plant those damn seedlings
3- finish the damn seed starter
4- read for class
5- clean up porch
6- clean up basement
7- re-arrange dining room
8- look at lawn mowers

Cult of Done - Joining

http://www.brepettis.com/blog/2009/3/3/the-cult-of-done-manifesto.html

The Cult of Done Manifesto

1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
3. There is no editing stage.
4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
7. Once you're done you can throw it away.
8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.
9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11. Destruction is a variant of done.
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
13. Done is the engine of more.

A regular Monday

Answer to the riddle... and I'm going above and beyond. I found a 9 letter word that can be reduced: splitting, spitting, sitting, siting, sting, ting, tin, in, I

I found an awesome streaming NPR site: KAXE ( http://www.kaxe.org/kaxe_live/index.html ) out of Grand Rapids.  They play a bunch of Jazz/Blues/World/Americana.  And their news/Human Interest are a whole bunch of green/enviro/soc articles.  For example, I just heard about a green Bar Mitzvah and a promotion for a piece of coal miners realizing that just what their impact was (what their labor was worth, that they could interrupt the power supply). Oh, and the weather is a high of 20... in Grand Rapids.  Not surprising.

What did I get done:
2- Go to Target and get new bins.
4- Check BookMovement site for accuracy
9- keep room clean

Yay!

--
-Eliz"D2 92 F9 F2 A2 A5 1D E8 96 51 F9 14 16 46 C9 26"abeth

The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now. - Thich Nhat Hanh

The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass. - Dogen

To accomplish by Tuesday PM

Morgan and I went to McKay's today after brunch.  Girl Scouts were selling cookies.  Unfortunately I didn't have any cash on me. :(

My friend Kazen sent me to an NPR site with a full listen to Neko Case's new CD.  She's really starting to grow on me.

Riddle:
There is a common English word that is seven letters long. Each time you remove a letter from it, it still remains a common English word -- from seven letters right on down to a single letter. What is the original word, and what are the words that it becomes after removing a letter at a time?


Todo list.  How exciting am I?

1- Finish Midterm
2- Go to Target and get new bins.
3- Meet w Dr. A
4- Check BookMovement site for accuracy
5- wrap/get Bday gift to friend
6- make seed starter
7- determine new layout for dining room
8- mortgage
9- keep room clean

That looks admirable.

stepping back... after x steps forward

I have been on the search for my drill bits for days.  I want to make a LED seed starter.

I searched through three tubs of stuff.  You know that stuff, the stuff that accumulates because you don't know where to put it.  I ended up putting it in a series of laundry baskets and tupperware totes.  After I went through them, seperating out what was going to Goodwill, seperating out the paperwork/old mail for further detailed perusal, and finding places for everything else (if it had no place, it was Goodwill), I still had no drill bits.  I was so certain that the bits were in them because that's where I threw everything when my parents visited.  So, no bits.

Onto the next possibility: The dinning room drawers.  This is a set of drawers that came from Justin's parents.  The top drawer is full of catchall stuff, rolls of scotch tape, fuses, lightbulbs, spools of thread, ribbon, dry-erase markers, all that good stuff.  I emptied the drawer into one of the now-free laundry baskets, searching for the drillbits.  They're in a blue nylon book, so it's somewhat obvious.  Still no drillbits.  I take the opportunity to re-pack the drawer.  I use gladware: one for batteries, one for screws and nails, one for fuses, one for sewing stuff.  I stack up all my appliance manuals on one side.  I find places for my tape measure, my screwdriver set, and my hammer.  I take all the random wrenches, pliers, and other hardware and set it aside for it to be brought into the basement.

Then onto the bottom drawer.  This drawer ended up being stuffed so full of stuff that the front was pulled off, leaving the drawer more like a cubbyhole.  One side is stuffed with fabric, which I refolded for the purpose of getting it to fit better.  I ended up finding some lovely brown and blue fabric that I was going to make into my bedroom curtains but I think I'll use for a dress or skirt (depending on how much I have) and some red and cream fabric that was going to be a pillow but will work for another skirt.  They're both rather stiff, but that will be ok.  Working on the other side I pulled out a plethora of other hand tools that migrated up from the basement, and in them was the pack of drill bits!

My first project was to reattach the doors to my kitchen cupboard.  They were taken off when I re-did the kitchen.  I attached the handles and the hinges to both and then carried them to the kitchen.  For some reason I ended up purchasing the wrong style of hinges.  I'm not sure how that happened.  So one project still not done.

Then I wanted to build the seed starter that I had mentioned for last weekend.  I pulled out the tupperwares for it, but for some reason when I bought them, I never checked that the lids fit on the bottoms.  ARGGH! 

So needless to say, I'm a little peeved that I can't do what I wanted, but at the same time I'm glad that I was able to clean up those piles of junk.

MEDIA

Richard Dawkins reads hate mail. RD is all about evolution, hence the hate mail.



And further proof that creationists just don't get the concept of a scientific theory:
This is a metaphor, not an experiment. Stupid TV person.

same old same old

Last night before I went to bed, I refilled the catfood bowl.  It was the last of the food, probably about 3/4 to a full cup worth of food.  I expected it to last through the morning and then I could grab some on my way home from work after they had no food for a few hours.

 

At 5 AM (7 hours later) I had two whining cats sitting on my chest.  I shoo them off, and try to get some rest but end up pulling out my computer and taking care of some school work.  I crawl out of bed at about 730 AM and find that the piggies gobbled up all their food.

 

So I'm at work, and I have two portly, hungry kittens left to their own devices at my house.

 

I hope it still stands when I get home later.

The weekend

This weekend went pretty well, I had a general itinerary and I managed to take care of a chunk of it.

I made the garden plan and bought some seeds for it.  We'll be growing broccoli, kale, tomatoes, peppers, yellow squash, and herbs this year.

I did all my class readings and made French Onion Soup this weekend.

And then tonight I cleaned like nobody's business.

I was planning to make something for my friend's birthday tomorrow, but now I finally check my phone for the first time all day, and apparently her birthday was today and they met for dinner 3 hours ago.

Well, I'll make them over the next few days (it's a multiday process apparently, I'm just doing great here) and get them to her with the appropriate amount of apologies.  Not that she's really talked to me much in the last week anyway.

OH! I had a "gig" on Sat night (which actually had money potential o.O ).  My friend Claire ( http://rebeccaclaire.com/ ) needed some people to help photograph a big benefit ball.  I took 8+ gigs of photos.  WOW!  It was a big camera with moving parts and like, a lens, and everything.  I needed to focus it and stuff.  I can't wait to see if I managed to get them to come out well.  The party goers were quite amusing as they got drunker. 

And now I'm actually going to try to get some sleep.  A good night's sleep.  Wow.

green request

So for the summer I want some new, comfortable skirts.  However, in an attempt to live more socially conciously, I don't want to purchase from exploitative retailers but I only have limited fundings.  I contemplated making my own clothes.  I've done it before, and skirts and some simple sleeveless shirts are pretty easy.  But where can I purchase sustainable/ethical fabric?

I'm thinking of hitting up the thrift stores so see what they have for old cotton table cloths, but are there any other material sources?

"A passive and ignorant citizenry will never create a sustainable world." - Andrew Gaines

Answer and Ambitions

the answer: A Key

Todo for the weekend.
1 - make initial garden plan
2 - re-find arpa permit
3 - make desk workable
4 - get taxes started (find everything)
5 - fix the garbage can (bag broke spilling catlitter to the bottom.
then it rained. now it's cemented in and the garbage people won't take
it)
6 - make a seedstarter
(http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/gardening/start-your-seeds-in-a-diy-growbox-077037)
7 - get stuff prepped for anderson
8 - make something for friend's Bday
9 - make french onion soup
10 - catch up on readings for ARL
11 - clean room (clothes, bedside table)

a riddle

Swings by his thigh, a thing most magical!
Below the belt, beneath the folds
Of his clothes it hangs, a hole in its front end,
stiff-set and stout, it swivels about.

Levelling the head, of this hanging tool,
its wielder hoists his hem, above his knee;
it is his will to fill, a well-known hole
that it fits fully, when at full length

He's oft filled it before. Now he fills it again.

metaphor

Morgan: "It's best if I explain this as a metaphor. It's like a
ragged old bear that likes berries. And then it hibernates in the
winter."
me: "Bears don't hibernate."
Morgan: "Damn, it's because of people like you that Jesus wasn't
recorded for the first 30 years. He's up giving the Sermon on the
slightly daunting precipice and says 'Life with faith is like trying
to cook bread over a fire...' and some smartarse interjects with 'but
bread needs convection or it won't cook.'"
me: "but bread *can* be cooked over a fire..."
Morgan: "SEE! THAT'S IT!!"

tired

I'm moping. I'll be the first to admit it, but I'm just so very not happy right now. And for some reason, all that I want to do is sit on concrete benches of Albany. I don't know why, especially that it's not warm out there now. But I want to. I didn't often do it, but when I showed up to classes early, I would. More often I would snatch sittings on them if I was early to class.

blah

Here's an overview of the campus ^^


View Larger Map

corporate support

for the summer I want some fun brown sandals, a short denim skirt (not
too short) and a few more skirts

i feel so wierd

I'm at the dealer getting my vehicle serviced, oil change and all
that, but this is totally not like the last two times I have been
here. The service bays are not the same, the waiting room is not the
same, this is really wierd. I think that when I leave I'll need to go
up and down the strip... to see if there's another dealer.

This is really really creepy

Catz!

What I want to do:

more animals

What I am doing:

more animals

for some reason i don't feel bad for them

Apparently Obama is setting a $500K cap for banking execs who are
recieving federal bailout money.

New York Times wrote about how these bankers will not be able to
continue the lifestyle they are accustomed to.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/fashion/08halfmill.html?_r=1

My thought is that their bank failed. They lose money. That's how
capitalism works. They shouldn't get REWARDED for failure. The
amount NYT states that is spent on party apparel is more than my
entire mortgage. Private school for a kid for one year is more than
my entire college education.

I really think that these people can cut back and live just fine.

There's no reason to promote failure.

The Pot Roast

After I blogged, twittered, and changed my myspace status to reflect the demise of the pot roast, after I have been asked by not fewer than 4 people about the conclusion of my dissapointment, I will provide the final act.

I returned to the kitchen after about an hour to determine what could be saved.  I cut open the potroast and although the outside was 'overcooked', it wasn't burned.  The onions, which I thought were burned and had no liquid had the tiniest amount of liquid left and their dark brown color was because of the beef broth and red wine.  So, I cut apart the pot roast, added more water to the onions, and decided to give it a try.  I brought it back to a simmer, and when Morgan walked in the door I added the potatoes and rutabagas.  Once they were soft I thickened the broth with some flour.  We scooped the hot mixture of beef falling to pieces and soft potatoes and rutabagas with a thick gravy over a slice of bread topped with chopped kale (we needed some greens).

It was very good.

I haven't lost my touch.

makeup toxicity

My friend Kazen, who will be going to Japan to LIVE in a few weeks/months, sent me this link about cosmetics.  Apparently her tinted moisturizer is banned in the EU for the chemicals in it.  So I decided to look up what I use.  I have a few bits of make-up that I carry with me.  They're rated on a scale of 0-10 with 10 being the worst.  I discovered that Neutrogena does ANIMAL TESTING!!!! But Wet 'n Wild DOES NOT!!!


Neutrogena MoistureShine gloss (flirt)- 4
Ingredients in this product are linked to: Cancer, Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Violations, restrictions & warnings, Allergies/immunotoxicity

Other concerns for ingredients used in this product:Neurotoxicity, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Miscellaneous, Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Contamination concerns, Occupational hazards, Biochemical or cellular level changes

Revlon 12 Hour Eye Shadow (Berry Bloom)- 5
Ingredients in this product are linked to: Cancer, Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Violations, restrictions & warnings, Allergies/immunotoxicity

Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: Neurotoxicity, Endocrine disruption, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Contamination concerns, Occupational hazards, Biochemical or cellular level changes

Wetnwild Mega Eyes (Amazon Greens) - 5
Ingredients in this product are linked to:
Cancer, Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Violations, restrictions & warnings, Allergies/immunotoxicity

Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: Endocrine disruption, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Contamination concerns, Occupational hazards, Biochemical or cellular level changes

Almay intense i-color lengthening mascara (emerald green) - 6
Ingredients in this product are linked to: Cancer, Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Violations, restrictions & warnings, Allergies/immunotoxicity

Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: Neurotoxicity, Endocrine disruption, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Contamination concerns, Occupational hazards, Biochemical or cellular level changes


Neutrogena SkinClearing oil-free concealer.(fair) - 4
Ingredients in this product are linked to: Cancer, Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Violations, restrictions & warnings, Allergies/immunotoxicity

Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: Neurotoxicity, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Contamination concerns, Occupational hazards, Biochemical or cellular level changes

very sad

I burned dinner.  That makes me sad, for many reasons.

First, I never mess up dinner.  Especially not two pounds of meat.  Second, Morgan was looking forward to dinner so much.  It was to be pot roast, his favorite meal.  Third, I used yummy wine in it.

Here's what happened,
I sauteed the onions, set them aside, seared the meat, added the broth/wine/herbs/onions.  Then I set it on medium to bubble for about an hour.  Thirty minutes later, I get up to check on it and find that there is no liquid left in the pan and the roast is a hockey puck.

I never do this!

Now I need to figure out something else for dinner and tell morgan he can't have pot roast.

or can he? I just remembered I have a big thing of stew meat...

maybe?

::sigh:: so sad...

theoretical cabbage!

I'm waiting for Morgan to head over so I can get dinner going.  I have everything chopped and ready, but I don't want it ready before he gets here (I'm hungry, but courtious)

First: Twitter during Superbowl.

Second, I'm trying out a cabbage recipe.  For some reason I saw a thing of braised sweet and sour cabbage on Top Chef and it started this craving in my tummy.  I just read the 'fluff' that came along with the recipe:

"a silent conviction took shape within me: cabbage must be defended! What we have here is cabbage under siege! Cabbage must no longer be linked to discipline and punishment; no, it’s part of the natural order of things! By the time we arrived at my stop, I had it: an outline of a theory of cabbage.

Dear reader, you know that it’s time to close the book on graduate school when even vegetables call to mind famous works of social theory, such as Michel Foucault’s “Society Must Be Defended,” Discipline and Punish, and The Order of Things; Zygmunt Bauman’s Society Under Siege; and Pierre Bourdieu’s Outline of a Theory of Practice. I wince just typing this, and I pity my poor companions on the bus, who I probably blinded with the blazing rays of geekiness emanating from my feverish brain."

I heart Foucault.  I heart Bourdieu.  I own Discipline and Punish and I borrowed Outline of a Theory of Practice from my professor and devoured it.

Hopefully the recipe comes out appropriately yummy.

Third, I found on BoingBoing a video of a kid on drugs (he had oral surgery). 



His dad says:

"This is my 7 year old son who had an extra tooth removed last summer, 2008. I had the camera because he was so nervous before I wanted him to see before and after.
He was so out of it after, I had to carry him out of the office. The staff was laughing and I had tears it was so funny.
He is doing fine now and the teeth are great."

Here's the video

frustration

argh... argued with my brother.  about college.

 

he came and visited me with the purpose of visiting universities in the area.  he can't do cat's so i found him a place to stay that was cat free.  this ousted morgan out of his house and to mine which, other than the fact that it's still chilly first thing in the morning, isn't too bad, just a big inconvenience.

 

we go to visit places and i find that he's done minimal research on the places.  he was supposed to have the addresses, phone number, and directions to the places.  he was supposed to have called the universities and figured out if they had tours, what time, and reserve a spot.  he was supposed to have called up the ROTC offices and figures out if there would be someone in on the day we were visiting.

 

he looked up which cities they were in and figured there would be signs.

 

so i drove him to the colleges.  while we were driving, morgan looked up the phone numbers.  the first was ETSU and i knew it was somewhat visible.  when we were there, morgan looked up the numbers for the other colleges.  because of morgan, we saved ourselves a fool's errand to UNC Charlotte.  i drove, morgan did the research, my brother just had to sit there, look cute, and not say anything too stupid.

 

i spent multiple days that i could have used in preparing for the new semester.  i could have taken a long weekend in atlanta, dc, or nashville for my birthday.  instead, i took off of work to drive him around west NC and east TN.

 

i have discussed issues, explained possibilities, and attempted to encourage.

 

all he needs to do is stop by the education center.  he's working and roads in upstate NY are sometimes bad.  however, if roads are too bad thursday, then he can go on friday.

 

instead he sets off to massachusetts because "he had plans with people there."

 

the desire to go to college is real apparent now.

 

this hurts.  morgan and i invested time and social capital.  although i helped morgan clean, it still required him to take time from preparing his syllabus; and i refused to do the bathroom, which he scrubbed - including the floor.  morgan needed to do prep work for his classes but spent hours looking up details on college visitation.

 

i feel like my good intentions were taken advantage of, and i know that morgan is feeling similarly.  i feel like i took this seriously but it's just a joke to my brother.  i shouldn't need to put this much effort into someone else going to college.  i especially shouldn't put this much effort into any project just to have the person drop it because they would rather go have fun.

 

it's insulting.  both morgan and myself are disappointed in our investment.

 

but when i mention this to my brother, he tells me i'm bitching. 

 

aside:  it's lovely how that discussion can be brushed off with "you're just bitching,"  which in the case of presenting actual concerns translates to "i don't want to listen and i'm going to devalue your comments on grounds that you're a female."  male privilege makes me so frustrated.

system restart again

some how i ended up with a virus.

again.

just when i got my rss feeds organized and my bookmarks reset.

thank goodness for delicious.

i think the antivirus i had before wasn't good enough.  i couldn't get the university's AV program to work because I couldn't fully uninstall the fragments of Norton that originally came with this computer, so I got Mcaffy (macaffry, whatever).

Now I managed to get norton to uninstall, but still can't get the university's program to completely install, it get to 99% and then i get an error message.

so we're going to try Trend Micro, as recommended from my girlfriend who used to work for 'cow box computer company' tech support

::sigh::

i hate technology some times

feeling less worthless

This last semester I sat around with my thumb up my arse.  I was waiting for paperwork to come through.  I had already done as much deed research as I thought I could, I was so sick of everything.  I felt like I was just spinning my wheels.

That's why this semester I decided to take a class on Resource Laws and an Independent Study.  For the IS, I'm getting the graphics ready for our book so it can get to press sooner.

Then I was asked to help advise a starting museum.

And last week I stopped by the Park and found out about a few positions opening up soon.

So basically, I'm doing stuff.

Yesterday I read 300+ pages.  Today I need to read a similar amount.

Wow.

I feel like I'm back in the groove.

... now to work on sleeping.

Dating A Banker Anonymously - love or money

Dating A Banker Anonymously seems to have stirred up a whole bunch of attention.

I first heard of it on Feministing, where they decryed its exclusive disempowering heteronormativity (apparently only straight girls date for money) and the amount of priviledge the readers/writers enjoyed before the economy.  I found it to basically be a mirror of all the bleach blonde, bed tanned LonGisland girls who whined to their parents that "$200 a week just isn't enough" on their weekly phone calls.  

This apparently started from a NY Times article about "Wall Street Widows."  NPR called out NYT on the legitimacy of  the site.

Then a friend wrote about it, addressing whether she would choose a partner for love or for money.

There's something to be said about starting from the rough bottom.  I've thought about having money, not from me as my career path won't allow for it, but if I were to have a partner with a good job.  I think we would live comfortably and simply.  But I've learned from my spotty employment that having five digits in the bank is a good safety net, and if I could have six, or even seven or eight come retirement, then we could continue to live our comfortable life.

happy

talked to morgan.

::smile::  he called me from nerd-con. 

food... is it?

When my mother visited the summer before last she insisted on refilling my pantry and freezer.  We returned from the store with boxes upon boxes of Rice-a-roni, instant pudding, bags of seasoned noodles, pasta/sauce, canned vegetables, baked beans, and pre-marinated giant turkey breasts, and ground beef in tubes.

yay.

not really.

I tried to work my way through the piles of chemicals, but it was just too... preserved.  I didn't touch the meats.  They were just too big.

When my brother visited I gave him all my instant foods.  He has a microwave in the dorm and just this year managed to figure out the washing machine.  I figured that with directions printed on the food it would be better than fast foods.

However, I kept the meat.  Today I cooked one up a gigantic turkey tenderloin (do turkeys even have loins?) with the intent of making turkey salad, turkey soup, and turkey pie.  It turned out to be a breast.

So I cooked it through.

It's so damn over seasoned and salty.  I'll see what I can do to counter it.  Maybe diluting it in the soup and such will work.

::pout::

beer (and sleep)

for starters, this came through my myspace bulletins from Rogue Breweries:

The 4th annual Chocolate Festival is happening this weekend at the World Forestry Center in Portland Or.

Rogue is the only brewery pouring at this event.

We will be selling Chocolate Stout on Draft, Chocolate Stout bottles, Imperial Chocolate Stout bottles, Valentines Day Gift Boxes, Rogue Creamery Chocolate Stout Cheddar, and Chocolate Stout Pumpernickel Bread

Come indulge yourselves in Chocolate mayhem.

(yum, I want chocolate stout cheddar)


So I haven't slept well for the last many weeks.  Some days are better than others.  I just really want 6 hours of sleep, even if the cats wake me up.  I've just gotten tired of waking up and laying for hours... or as last night was, not falling asleep until 4AM.

I've tried going to bed a decent times, I'm up at 7-730, so I thought that 10 to 11 or even on late nights at midnight, but never later.  Even on weekends, I'm in bed midnightish to 1 and up by 9, if not 8.

The few nights that I have slept better, though, I've noticed a trend: I was drinking.

It made me think of an article that I had been reading ( http://www.feministing.com/archives/012592.html ).  Now the question is, how much does that apply to me?

My Cookware

I have the most awesome cookware, let me tell you about it.

My grandmother passed away two summers ago (this is part of the story).  That fall my grandfather decided to move into a small assisted living community in Massachusetts.  This meant that he had to downsize... a whole bunch.  He had been living in Florida, but Massachusetts meant that he could be nearer to some family.  On the way up, he stopped by Knoxville.  He had boxes of things for me.  Great, just what I needed, more stuff.  It took a few weeks for me to go through all the boxes, and I never quite got back to the level of clean as I had before he brought boxes and boxes of dusty stuff to my house.

Going through it I ended up with random pieces of games, camp chairs, and such erratic shtuff.  Two sets of the shtuff were actually worth keeping.  And even if they weren't, there was no way I would be forgiven if they ended up in a goodwill bin, ebay, or the collectors markets.

One was my grandmother's wedding china, from her first marriage.  This is serious 1940s/1950s china.  You know, 12 place settings with platinum edging.  Needless to say, it got packed up in newsprint and put in big hard Tupperwares.  Because the next thing I need is *more* dishes that I can't put in the microwave.

The second is a full set of Guardian Service cast/hammered aluminium waterless cookware, her wedding pots which she has used for cooking since.  Everything: roasting pan, 4 quart, 3 quart, 2 quart, 1 quart, skillet.  It's great.  It has glass lids and I've accidentally broken one in the year that I've had them.  It's ok, though, because I have another lid of the same size. 

They are great to work with.  Because they're thick, the bottom doesn't get hot spots, and once the entire pot is hot, I can put the temperature on low and it will still keep bubbling.  Because they're aluminium, they're strong.

I wanted to see if there were any other sizes that I might not have, so I checked ebay.  Apparently these pots are *still* extremely popular even though they've been out of production since 1956.  They're all more the FIFTY YEARS OLD.  And still functional!

wow

New Years in Atlanta

There was a line. For the museum. It was 12:05, the Museum opened at
noon, and there was a line stretching around the plaza.

Morgan and I had been toying with the idea of taking a daytrip to
Atlanta in order to see the Terra Cotta Warriors Exhibit. On Saturday
we decided that we had done enough work to take a day off, so we
ordered the tickets to the High Museum and chose 2:30 for our entrance
time to the special exhibit.

We were on the interstate by 8 and stopped for breakfast at a Cracker
Barrel. We managed to pull into the parking lot of the Museum by Noon
and then took the elevator to the museum level.

Where we encountered the line. We jumped in as people slowly filed
into the building. Suddenly a black and red haired woman came out.
She announced that members should go inside immediately and go to
their special line. Then, will call (us) were directed to our lines.
The rest of the schlubs... er... people were left for general
admission. There were only 5 parties infront of Morgan and I, so we
flew through pretty fast.

When we got our ticket I looked at it and asked the woman what time we
had signed up for to see the exhibit because I was pretty sure it was
2:30, but it didn't say on the ticket and I didn't want to risk
missing our entrance time. Museum people can get rather frustrated if
you mess up their order. I would know.

"Well, we don't have that many people signed up for the afternoon, so
you can just hop in whenever you want." She responded.

So we did.

It was pretty awesome. No pictures allowed, but that's ok. There
were some complete warriors, including one like ours at the museum.
There was also a horse because the Emporer wanted chariots. They also
including musicians (how cool is that!) and birds that would inhabit
the Emporer's afterlife court.

There was also an exhibit on masterpieces from the Lourve, so we saw
some original Michaelangelos and such. And the permanent collection
was so daunting.

A good part of the permanant collection was spent investigating how
design/decorative arts evolved. When I was in the early 20th century
part, Morgan stepped outside for a cigarette. I found a desk and
chair set by Frank Lloyd Wright and sat down.... across from it.

A family comes up and is being given a guided tour. They have two
daughters, one about 5-7 the other 9-12. The youngest raises her hand
right after the guide mentions that FLW designed the piece. The guide
calls on the girl who points to a thing sitting on the desk.

"What's that?"
"Thats..." the guide starts
"Oh! I know!" says older daughter. "It's what old people use instead
of a computer. You hit the keyboard and the letter shows right up on
the paper. You don't need to hit the print button!"

The guide is trying so very hard not to laugh. So am I. The older
daughter's description of the typewriter, however, was most awesome.

By the time we wandered our way through four floors of chronological
art, we were most arted out and starting to get a little hungry.
Claire had recommended a few places, including Canton House with all
day Dim Sum. I had never done DimSum before, and the directions to
the restaurant were rather easy from the museum, so we popped on I85
jumped off to Buford Highway, and found it rather easily.

The Canton House had such huge chandeliers! And there was a black and
red laquered stage on one end with gigantic gold dragons flying along
the wall. Where we sat we saw into the kitchen. They had a tank
filled with crabs! And another with swimming fish. Talk about fresh!

One waitress explained just what DimSum was to us, and we dove in. We
started with pork in steamed dough balls, shrimp dumplings, and
stuffed mushrooms. With the next cart we got BBQ pork buns, shrimp on
sugar cane (which I missed so much from Saigon's in Albany), then we
tried beef spare ribs. We were cautious because we weren't sure how
much things were. There were two definite teirs as they marked our
order sheet, and five dishes were in the top (lowest priced) tier and
two were in the middle, the spare ribs and the sugarcane shrimps. We
felt somewhat good after that, and through this I noticed that so many
people were wearing red. And one waitress had a red envelope that
looked like what would be used for the.... Chinese New Year!

I felt so very stupid for not remembering, I was sure I had heard
something about it on NPR that day, but still....

The meal came to $22 total, our worry was totally unfounded. And it
was DELICIOUS!

Then we hit the road, at about 6, and unexcitedly made it back home by 9.

It was such fun!

In the spirit of the Chinese new year, I'm posting my horiscope. I'm a Piggy.
It sounds like it might be a good year!

Pig Overview
The Pig has many opportunities to shine this year. Your generous
nature is apparent in all aspects of your life. It is an admired
quality that people respect. This year, your inherent generosity plays
a large role in areas that you may not even be aware and may pave the
way to a possible career change. You have an abundance of friends and
you are well loved by your family. this year will only enhance these
relations. One area that may create some issues is that you seem to
overextend yourself to a point where there isn't any time left for
you. This could lead to a change in priorities and could promote some
better organizational skills.

Pig Rating
53% (2 favorable 9 neutral and 1 unfavorable month)

Pig Career
The Pig may feel complacency in your current job position. This could
be a year that you may need a change towards something that is more
suitable for your needs. You may gravitate towards something that is
more of a position that provides service to others, perhaps a
non-profit organization or a customer service based position. Your
busy schedule will also play a part in your work. You may be forced to
choose between certain activities, as there are only seven, not eight
days in a week. Whatever the course may be for your career, you will
fit in well with your endearing personality.

Pig Relationships
Personally, 2009 will be a year that the Pig will enjoy much
happiness. Both your social and domestic life will be endearing to
you, providing you with encouragement and advice. Your family and
friends will be the source of many memorable occasions this year. For
the unattached Pig, there will be some romantic opportunities. Be
careful who you let into your circle, as you tend to give others too
much credit. July is a particularly favorable month for all Pigs.

Pig Health
The Pig would do well to watch your health this year. There may be an
unforeseen incident that arises sometime during the year, most likely
in late April or early May. This may cause you to look at your habits
relating to your health. One area in particular is your diet. This
year could provide a change in your eating habits, which could help
other areas of your health.

Pig Wealth
There may be times this year when you are uncertain about your
financial future, but there are things in your life that take
precedence over money. You will be taken care of, but there may be
times of financial uncertainty. A change will come in the second half
of the year that will provide greater financial comfort and allow you
to live at a means that is more accustomed to your liking. Be patient,
as the change will come.

Always remember, a cat looks down on man, a dog looks up to man, but a
pig will look man right in the eye and see his equal. - Winston
Churchill

so did i mention...

that I was asked, by a small East TN group who has funds in hand, to
put together their museum.

CONCEPTION TO CONCRETE!

wow.

still getting information on what all they want. let's see if it's
reasonable. it's not for pay, but for glory.

::cross toes::

like... EEEW

Just another reason why I've been steering away from processed foods... like both featured here:


see famous look-a-like faces

woot

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/01/22/executive-order-watch/

Blog for Choice

It's the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, meaning it's National Blog
for Choice Day.

Yay for choice! We have hope with the new administration that there
will only be progress in the way of reproductive rights.

Unfortunately people still stand in the way of this.

Today:

http://www.plannedparenthoodadvocate.org/content/clinic_violence_on_the_annivesary_of_roe_v_wade

"[I]n St. Paul, while anti-choice protesters peacefully protested
across the street from the Planned Parenthood Highland Park Clinic, an
extreme anti-choicer decided to ram his SUV against the front door of
the clinic. Thankfully, no one was injured and little damage was
done."

The devil is a loser and he's my bitch...

how much would I enjoy being able to say that... without the gendered derogatory.

enjoy some Lordi ... I've been watching these awesome theatrics for years

Inaugural Poem

by: Elizabeth Alexander

Praise song for the day.

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."

We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self."

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

What we tell the shrub

see poLOLotical pictures

LINK to Inaugeral Address

old and new

I brought my personal computer into work because my work computer is 4 years old and still running an archaic version of windows and IE.  I wanted to watch the innaugeration, but apparently my personal computer is unable to even *find* the school's wireless system, which my work computer is (obviously) able to connect to.  I went online and followed the directions, but none of them seem to work.

 

boo.

 

I guess I'll just catch it later.

 

Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods. - George W Bush

 

We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That's not leadership. That's not going to happen.  - Barack H Obama

 

another news report that makes you go ::headdesk::

Woman Says Anti-Abortion Nurse Removed IUD Without Permission, Then Lectured Her

A clinic nurse first removed her intrauterine birth-control device without permission, says the patient in a federal action, then told her that "having the IUD come out was a good thing," because "I personally do not like IUDs. I feel they are a type of abortion. I don't know how you feel about abortion, but I am against them."

  "Olona [the nurse] stated, 'Everyone in the office always laughs and tells me I pull these out on purpose because I am against them, but it's not true, they accidentally come out when I tug.'

Link to whole article.

You do NOT tug on IUDs.  It makes them come out.



The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off. - Gloria Steinem

Why is it that many contemporary male thinkers, especially men of color, repudiate the imperialist legacy of Columbus but affirm dimensions of that legacy by their refusal to repudiate patriarchy?  - bell hooks

cookies

see Sarah Palin

pictures

(and now more funny)


more animals

I really need to find my camera so I can start taking pictures and get
them on my cooking blog.

Last night I made up two batches of cookies. One was a simple peanut
butter cookie. The other was a lavender shortbread that I had been
wanting to try for a while. Most of the lavender recipes included
lemon zest, so I through that in there too. I used the "The Best
Shortbread in the World" recipe from my new <i>Cook with Jamie</i>
book. It was such an impressive title that I just needed to. My
recipe includes a few changes: Lavender, Lemon, and cooking times.
His required a 9x9 pan, but I only had 8x8. I grow my own lavender.
I also have a surplus for cooking from my local Co-op.

Ingredients:
1 cup + 2 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup +1 tbsp superfine sugar
barely 2 cups sifted flour
barely 1 cup cornstarch
1tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp lavender florets
extra butter
extra flour
some regular sugar

Oven: 300 F

Butter 8x8 pan.

With wooden spoon, cream butter and sugar. Add lemon zest and
lavender. Add flour and cornstarch. Mix until smooth, you may need
your hands.

Push dough into pan. Don't forget the corners!

Prick with fork.

Bake 1 hour.

While still warm, sprinkle with regular sugar.

Allow to cool some, cut. Allow to cool more, eat.

“Dear Lord: The gods have been good to me. For the first time in my life, everything is absolutely perfect just the way it is. So here's the deal: You freeze everything the way it is, and I won't ask for anything more. If that is OK, please give me absolutely no sign. OK, deal. In gratitude, I present you this offering of cookies and milk. If you want me to eat them for you, give me no sign. Thy will be done.” - Homer Simpson

“One day when he was eating a cookie he offered me a bite. Don't underestimate that. The poor guy's so frightened of germs, it could darn near have been a proposal.” - Jean Harlow

home sweet homes

So Morgan and I have been spending a whole bunch of time together. Like... all of it. We really started when I had no heat/hot water and then as soon as that fixed he blew his transmission, so first I camped out at his place and then he "tagged along" with me. His house is in the fort and he spends much less time on campus than I do, so he walks back and forth. I tend to meet him at his place afterwork and then we just do whatever we need, which for students is alot of reading and computer dinking. And well, reading and dinking are rather more pleasurable when snuggled with another reading dinker.

I find it odd though, as he keeps wanting to be with me. I keep waiting for him to suddenly tire of me and want "alone time." We'll see.

Oh, and he hums. He paces and fidgets when he can be mobile or his hands are free, it used to drive me crazy but now I've just gotten used to it. But when he needs to sit and read, he hums. It's not all bad, rarely is it an earworm (rarely). Normally it's some classical choral piece, as he did fancy classical chorus in high school, so it's like I have a tenor section all to myself.

Except I've always studied in silence.

We learn and adjust.

calmness

It was rather sedentary around here today.  I read some of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1966 and compared it to the Antiquities Act of 1906.  Morgan for his CIS readings is starting in on Clifford Geertz, including his Reports of a Balanese Cockfight.  Geertz was one of the first big Anthropologists who tried the "Participant Observation" technique, prior to him the Anthropologists were stodgy individuals, often sent by a colonial government to learn about the newly conquored primative society, who hung out with other stodgy whites.  A few exceptions (pardon me if I have my timeline wrong) are Zora Neale Hurston and I believe Margaret Mead.  Geertz is relatively easy to read.  I should know, he was required reading for me FOUR YEARS AGO.

  ::eyeroll at realization of extant time in Knoxville::

"The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences." - Ruth Benedict

"Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me." - Zora Neale Hurston

food enjoyment

Earlier this week I had a craving for split pea soup, so i decided I would make it on Saturday.  Morgan was up for that (he always is).  Through the week I found out that  River Ridge Farm and Green Man Farm were having a drop at the coop, so I decided that I would get the soup going mid morning and run out at noon to get me some meat and eggs.  That was the plan until I had 160 ounces of beer last night (thanks morgan).  So the soup got started *after* I had my hangover prevention breakfast of eggs, hot sauce, toast, and naproxyn sodium, a long shower, and the run to the pick up.  I snagged a dozen eggs (excited!), a pumpkin for roasting, 4 pork chops (two packs of two, so perfect for Morgan and myself), and about half a pound of good fatty neck bacon.  They also had sausages and chickens, but I'm still working through the meat my mother sent down.

Last night for dinner I made us some steaks that I found in my freezer, roasted-garlic-butter noodles (morgan made those), beersimmered onions and mushrooms (for the steak), and
Brussel Sprouts.    The sprouts were AWESOME.  I thought I would give small, fresh sprouts a try since my only other experiance has been with ugly nasty over boiled frozen icky slimeballs.

back to the soup.



I live on good soup, not on fine words. - Moliere

The only thing chicken about Israel is their soup. - Bob Hope

surprisingly good food

I got out of class at 11 and realized I still needed to put in about 3 or 4 hours at work. 

 

But I was STARVED. (and I brought no food).

 

Normally I'm gone at about 1, but I wanted to knock out a few things, especially since we all have Monday off. 

 

On the way from class to the museum is the basketball arena which has your typical slightly overpriced cafe/teria stuff and a mccalister's (sammiches and sweet tea).  I wander in and something smells really good.  I find that part of the meat and three (a southern thing?) for the day is chicken and dumplings.  I ask for a serving of that (about 3$ by itself), which the chef/cook said was his best batch ever and was about the head on my way, but I noticed that one of the "3" is steamed cabbage.  I've never been too fond of cabbage except in coleslaw until about a year or so ago.  Previous to that the vegetable had always been guilty of noxious fermentation or puke-worthy over boiling.  But then Nathan and Claire made some cooked with pepper and salt and I valiently tried it (I was in NO WAY going to offend my hosts by not eating their food!!!) and it was pretty good.  I had to get through the mental "EEEW NO  CABBAGE" block, so I don't think I ate *much* but there was no forcing of it.  Then I started finding Kimchee most everywhere!  And THEN Kim in the department made some homemade coleslaw!!

 

So I figured that the cabbage would likely be a bit healthier than the other vegetable, greenbeans in bacon (yum! but I'm keeping a reasonable eye on what I eat and bacon marinade is sorta... not good).  I wander the 5 floors back up and 2 floors down to my office and open it all up.  The smell is DIVINE! The chicken and dumplings remind me of home-made, not overly salty or thick.  Tender chicken, mushy dumpling.  And the Cabbage was great!!  Tender, again (remind me what to order when I forget my dentures ;) ), and even a little sweet.

 

And now I need to do work.

the book! the book! it's getting done!

So, for those who weren't around for the previous amount of pain, I have been part of a project. A BIG project.

I've been working on writing the Synthesis of Tennessee Archeology.  As an experiment in editing, we've placed all our chapters online for the professionals to look over and backfeed (that is, give feedback).

At the same time, I need more credit hours and I'm sick of thesis hours.  I want to get active and busy again.  This last semester I worked and hung out with Morgan.  I want to go back to being inspired and challenged and provoked.

So I've offered to assist in getting the book ready for publication.  I was just asked if i could do the graphics.  I'm hesitant, but I'm confident that I can figure out what I need to do.  Just don't expect much in the way of free hand drawings.  They're not great: I have the self-published coloring/activity books to prove it!

Pundit Kitchen

see Sarah Palin pictures

news exerpt that makes you go ::headdesk::

 

 

250,000 of the liberal swine of female rebellion paraded down the middle of the streets of D.C., cursing, swearing, taking God's name in vain, stripping their clothes off, and routinely smelling up the nation's capital with their filthiness, whoredom and rebellion. With riot police in full body armour standing between, the SPF preachers confronted the mass of rebellious, loud mouthed riff raff that has produced the largest nation of sodomites the world has ever known.

 

link to SPF Preachers Exhort The National Organization of Wackos, Witches & Whores

it's working!

thanks to my tech fees and all that fun stuff i managed to back up all my important stuff and i learned how to use my restore drive.  it unnerved me a bit to see that my installed programs are still.... installed (ie: wow, adaware, etc.), but here i am.

and now i need to rebuild my bookmarks and my rss feeder! AAAACK!

Orion has decided that it is bedtime

But I am up reading the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property as I lost time the last two days trying to figure out this computer virus. 

I don't mind that I'm reading this.  i love cultural resource law. That's my THANG.  However, when my purring kitty with no belly fur and two unremoved stitches burrows under the blankets (I'm reading in bed) and curls up against my thigh, I feel guilty for keeping her up.  It just seems like it is *now* bedtime.

Neci, on the other hand, has decided that her time is best spent leaping from the edge of the bed onto my new purse that crackles so delightfully because it's made of laminated fabric.

Books and cats and fair-haired little girls make the best furnishing for a room. - French Proverb

Those that dislike cats will be carried to the cemetery in the rain. - Dutch Proverb

browser hijacked....

so i'm dealing with a browser hijacking.

i've run mcafree and adaware from my main account and thought it was ok...

i ran mcafree from safe mode.

now i can't sign into my main account...

::le sigh::

gendered rpg frustration

Rarely is the RPG world viewed as aimed toward females.  Think of a group of Dungeon and Dragon players, and most likely it's all males, maybe a female tagging along.  How about online RPGs like World of Warcraft?  There seems to be a larger female presence, but how many of the females are really males who want to play a female for any number of reasons.  Also, the female characters seem to be extremely sexualized, suggesting that their purpose is eyecandy/fanservice to heteronormative males.

 

Do your thoughts accurately reflect the demographics of RPG players, though?  Most likely not entirely. 

 

(Disclaimer: I've only played four Dungeons and Dragons games.  All have been with Morgan, all have been with Living Forgotten Realms through RPGA.)

 

For example, Morgan ran a game on Saturday.  Present were: Morgan (the DM), three other males, myself, Beth, and Mandy.  Half of the playing population were female.  We all played characters that corresponded with our IDed gender, so I won't touch upon that.

 

The story: we wander into town and see a crowd harassing a female and claiming she's a witch.  Our main goal is to rescue her.  Once we do, we need to see her safely to her uncle in another village.

 

So basically, we remove a victimized female and release her to another form of patriarchy.

 

The previous game's story:  We wander into a town and find a funeral.  The funeree was murdered, clues lead us to a group of citizens.  The only one still in town is a milkmaid (and girlfriend of another in questioned group) who implores to us to only bring her bf back before breaking down in tears.  When we get to the end, we find that the other woman of the group that ran away was actually abducted and is presently in the middle of a difficult birth.

 

Once again, the vicimization of females.  None are able to actually control their own life or act autonomously and only care about their "female role" as partner and mother.

 

Another story involved adrogynous pixies leading us to a dieing psuedo-magical woman, too sick to care for her cave which now has MONSTERS RAWR! But we take care of the monsters and give her a peaceful death.

 

Again, the only female depicted is powerless.

 

Yet another involved only monsters.

 

So three out of four stories I've played were about damsels in distress.  None contained even a single strong female figure.  All stories are led by males, all evil people are males.

 

I say to Morgan: "I'm tired of females being portrayed as powerless.  Not one story has a strong female figure.  What is the deal?  Are the DMs  specifically not picking certain stories which may have a dominant female?  I understand that male is the 'pattern' but this is bothering me."

 

Morgan responds that it most likely is because Dungeons and Dragons his primarily, if not exclusively male writers for their modules.  Other RPG games he participates in have storylines driven by stronger female characters.

 

"So, write your own module!" is his excited suggestion.

 

I look at him oddly, as I have so little experiance that I don't even know what all my single character can do.  "Maybe you can write one?" I respond.

 

He agrees, so now we're tossing back and forth story ideas.

 

Any suggestions?

birthday weekend part 2

Sunday (the aftermath day) my brother picks us up at my house, as my car was left at Morgan's and he was driving (of course), and we go to Sunspot for brunch because I caught wind (via their myspace page) that they were serving CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES!!!

When we drive back to Morgan's to figure out how to spend the afternoon, it's mentioned that Morgan needed to go to the mall.  The brother jumped on that, so we went.  Apparently there was a 30% sale on everything at SciFi city... so Morgan loaded up on miniatures and stuff.  Vincent actually didn't buy anything for himself, and I managed to find a couple sweaters on uber-post-xmas sale.

Vincent was so entranced with Morgan's minis that he wanted to play a Dungeons and Dragons game.  I think Vincent just wanted Morgan to take a few out and set up a scenario.  But Morgan instead called up some people and made it a game sanctioned with the National Organization.  So we spent Sunday night playing DnD.

Monday morning I picked the brother up at 7 and we headed to ETSU in Johnson City.  Then we went to AppState in Boone.  The weather was pretty nice.  It was wet, but the temperature was in the 40s.  We were then going to head over to UNC Charlotte, but he couldn't get ahold of an actual person on the campus, so then we headed home.  The following day we went to UT Chattanooga, and thought about going to Clemson, but instead decided to check out MTSU.

On the way back from MTSU, I was approaching Cookeville and noticed my gas light turning on.  I pulled off at the next exit because I didn't want to get into Cookeville and possibly meet with someone at an exit I used to take.  Irony of Ironies, that exit I took was the one I wanted to avoid.  I noticed that because there's this motel-turned-something else at the gas station.  So I pulled in, looked around, and satisfied myself that probability was on my side instead of bad luck.  I wasn't too worried of the prospect of seeing him, but I was worried that if he saw me then my presence would be initially interpreted as something more intrusive and possibly more malevolent than "i need gas."  am I over thinking??

Monday evening (when we got back from North Carolina), by the way, I made an AWESOME meatloaf.

NOM NOM.

Wednesday, he headed out, and I went to work.  Morgan and I attacked some of the brats my brother brought down from my mother.

Thursday was class.  I made most awesome pizza.  I used a recipe from "Jamie at Home" by Jamie Oliver for the dough.  It was a simple flour/salt/yeast/water/oil/sugar recipe.  I topped it with curried canned tomato sauce, thinly sliced bratwursts (courtosy of my new awesome kitchen knives), carmalized onions, sauteed mushrooms, and chopped kale.

Friday was work, help a friend at a car accident (we waited 2+ hours for the tow truck).

Saturday Morgan and I chilled.  Then he ran a DnD game in the afternoon.  I ended up playing and making a massive pot of soup at the same time. 

The soup contained: 2 baby videlia onions, 10 cloves of garlic, 1 chicken breast, 3 diced sun dried tomatoes, 2 baby potatoes (they were sitting around) and 1 turnip all chopped up to 1/2 inch chunks, 2 carrots chopped,  1/4 lb of kale (it was sitting there not being used) diced up, and some fresh basil.  Combine like you do for soups (I listed it in the rought order of adding things), when it came to adding broth (before the kale), I used 3 parts water, 1 part chicken stock (it normally gets too rich/salty if I use more).  Salt/pepper to taste.

Then we just chilled for the evening.  We thought of going to see a show, but our friend got ill so it would just be us and we needed to read for class.

Yay.

... the rest of the holidays

I had a few days to myself after I returned from PA.  Morgan's parents came down with him since his car was still in the shop.  He finally got it back this past weekend.  Three weeks without a car!  The transmission died and something mega got sheared off in the process of the imploding (exploding?) transmission and basically it required his mechanic to make multiple trips to junkyards.

So his parents took me to dinner at Amerigos and to lunch at PF Changs.  I really enjoyed the duck/sausage pizza from Amerigos.

This, I guess brings me to enjoying my birthday gifts from my parents.  My mother actually managed to get me some clothes that I can/will wear.  Normally we have some issues with what size I am or what sort of "things" I would be seen in and much gets returned.  I also got the cookbook "Jamie at Home," which I'm currently in the middle of as my pizza dough is rising.  I meant to half it, but I sorta forgot, so now I have an ARSE LOAD of dough.

Neci is going crazy because Orion is out getting spayed.  I called and the kitten is just waking up, but the surgery went well.  Heather will be so pleased that next time she crashes here  she can actually sleep.  That was one of my "New Year goals"

Speaking of New Year, Morgan and I celebrated well, I think i mentioned before.  And then my brother came up for my birthday.  His plan was a little tentative as he got into a fight and needed his tooth fixed.  But his next appointment wasn't until later the following week, so on Jan 2 he popped on down south for a bit of a visit.

We had some fun on my birthday.  Before breakfast, Morgan gave me my gift, a painting by one of my friends titled "green fairy"



Then for breakfast we went to Knoxville Pearl, a cereal bar and ate super gut-rotting sugar cereals until we got diabetes.  Then we dropped Morgan off at a DnD game and I took the bro to McKay's.  He didn't expect it to be so large.  And then he saw it was 2 stories.  Afterwards, I dropped him off at Morgan's (he was staying there because of my cats) and he took a nap.  AND THEN I GOT READY FOR MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Cut to the Brewery!  Woot!! It was an awesome birthday.  Morgan and Vincent were there.  So were Jim and Eric, Ann and Heather, Lee and Rusty, Shannon and Lindsay, and Nathan and Claire... everyone pairs off.  Only one is married.  We had cheesy pretzals and I was drinking some yummy pints of stout.  Then, of all things, Morgan disappears.  I get all worried because he was gone longer than to go smoke.  Then he shows up with 2 mugs.  MUGS.  Like, what members of the MUG CLUB drink.  I got a MUG CLUB MEMBERSHIP!

glee....

Then a chill Sunday and we started the college adventure, but that needs to wait, the dough is done rising.

teh xmas lewts

So, I made out like a bandit this Christmas.  I totally didn't expect any presents aside from the heaters that my mother paid to have installed in my house.  Instead, she took the xmas/birthday list and ran with it.

Additionally, Morgan gifted me not only with a trip to Garde Bien for my hair but also an adorable set of earrings from Bliss.  They're handmade green enameled cut copper, and there is a subtle sunburst design on them.

Apparently I made a mistake on my list, though.  When i stated I wanted an extrusion pasta maker, I wanted a pasta maker like this (which is NOT an extrusion pasta maker), not a crazy contraption like this.  Thankfully my mother exercised some good sense and decided to not get me the over complicated pasta maker.  I say that because she asked me if that was *really* what I wanted.

I also got an awesome chef's knife.  I'm waiting to use it until I have my house fully cleaned. Morgan and I went through and cleaned the kitchen/diningroom/livingroom in a big project yesterday evening... I kept getting discouraged by all the *stuff*.  So his job was to throw out all the random papers that the kittens have been playing with while I washed all dishes and cleared out all the dishes and food I'm passing on to my brother.  Then I moved all the dishes that my mother passed on to me (that I wanted to keep) into the kitchen and made them fit.  So now I have a full set of 1930-1950 ironstone plates complete with salt cellars and bone plates and a random set of crystal wine and apartiffe glasses.

So now the kitchen is ready for me to explore my new cookbook: Cook with Jamie.  I already made one recipe in it: a beet salad for my family.

Next on the agenda is setting up the container gardens.  I received a book on making, using, and gardening with self-watering containers; and another on organic gardening practices: such as creating soil mixes, making liquid manure, and pest control methods.

I am so very excited!

Ringing in the New Year: Wine (and WoW)

The new year in Knoxville was rung in rather uneventfully, but still satisfactorily.  There were invitations, but one party was with Eric in Cookeville (1.5 hours away) and the other was with a few people I really didn't know.  Morgan and I were tempted to the Cookeville one, but I really didn't want to sleep on a couch.  I guess I'm getting older.

So what did we do?  Well, we went out and got some fancy cheeses and then we hooked up with Heather on World of Warcraft and watched some fireworks in Stormwind (one of the in game cities) and drank in-game wine and got our characters drunk. Which is funny as the screen gets blurry, the avatar can't walk straight, and when you chat, the speach is slurred and interrupted by "hic"s.  During all of this Morgan and I finished 4 bottles of wine: a vino verde, Badger Mountain organic Reisling, Pacific Rim Dry Reisling, and a sparkling shiraz for the New Year bubbly.

On the Vino Verde: I had heard about them before so when we hit Downtown Wine and Spirits (awesome btw!) and I saw one I snagged it.  It went marvelously with the blue cheese with honey and pecans.  The VV has a light, citrusy, GREEN flavor ... and it's SPARKLY!  I'm so very glad that we decided to drink it first because it had a delicate flavor. I will definately try it again.

I was looking up VV's trying to find the lable of the one we had - it had a flower on it - a big vibrent one that the lable said was painted by the vinyardowner's 4 year old grand/daughter/neice.  Then I find that this one is one of WineLoversPage.com's best wines under $15 for 2008.  Well, I passed up the Gazela for the one I bought based on the store clerk's advice (it was still under $15) so I guess next time I'll try Gazela.... then we shall see which is better!

For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice. - T. S. Elliot

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.  - Benjamin Franklin