Previously, in Trip's Life...
31 October 2009 - Saturday
Perfidy: Argh, aeriodisconnect didn't just change my
static IP, they switched everything over to some freakish PPP over
ethernet scheme, which requires all kinds of different configuration and
doesn't seem to actually work. I had plans for that
internet!
Food: Yay Halloween pot roast! With roasted
vegetables, and then some additional roasted vegetables!
Gaming: Halloween
Dominion, with
Witches and nine more kinds of cards! Ken misled us all into thinking
that Marith had many more provinces than she actually did, or I had many
fewer, or something, so when she ended the game I triumphed utterly!
Muahahahahaha!
Random Encounters: Ayse and Ken's new place gets a
lot of trick-or-treaters!
Visual Entertainments: Finished the last Full
Metal Panic disc Greencine has sent me. Next, I can watch the
ones Netflix sent me, which indeed arrived in a day.
Cats:
Ghirardelli does not seem to be eating (not even kitty treats!) or
leaping around. He still walks around and purrs when I rub his tummy,
but he is clearly not in optimum condition. I will make an appointment
to have him seen by a vet, and in the meantime I will worry a lot.
:(
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
30 October 2009 - Friday
Work: In-Person Interviews Completed: 1. They
definitely want someone with more business skillz than me, and probably
don't need someone as technically l33t as me, but they are considering
whether it would be worthwhile to bring me on for the technical stuff
and have me work on other projects as well, and get someone else for the
business stuff. They say they'll decide by Mondayish.
In the meantime, back to the recruiters to see if they have more
positions!
Textual Entertainments: How We Decide
(Jonah Lehrer) is in the "Conscious rationality: handy, but not as great as
your frontal lobes tell you" genre. Lehrer does take care to point out
where rational thought works well: novel situations, and situations with a
small number of quantifiable variables. For situations one has seen before,
situations with a lot of variables, or something fuzzy like personal
preferences, rational thought won't do a lot of good; one needs to let
the subconscious crunch on the problem and pay attention to the emotional
flags it raises. Obviously, for an ideal approach to life one needs to
cultivate both types of thought and know when to use each.
One point Lehrer brings up that a lot of books in this area don't is
that despite what the law assumes, moral judgements are almost completely
emotional, not rational. Humans might sometimes have a set of morals that
makes sense, but the visceral "that's not okay" reaction isn't thought
out.
If you have read many books in this genre, How We Decide
doesn't add a whole lot, but if you haven't, it's not a bad place to
start.
Visual Entertainments: Yet more Full Metal
Panic. I have no reason to believe this show is at all
Mythos-related, but it sure looks like something Nyarlathotep
would do.
Cats:
Poor Ghirardelli has been throwing up off and on all day. Poor me, too,
since I have to clean it up, but I hope he feels better soon!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
29 October 2009 - Thursday
Work: In-person interviews scheduled for tomorrow
morning: 1. Ack.
Textual Entertainments: Today: D&D 4th ed Primal
Power supplement. PHB2 was already overpowered, so this isn't
much escalation, and it does have some explication on what having primal
(spirit-based) powers is like from the character's PoV.
Gaming: See above.
Food: Marith lured me to the Cheesecake Factory for
dinner. The chicken marsala was yummy, but portion size FAIL!
Random Encounters: Walking down the street toward
the Cheesecake Factory, I fell in with Eric Schell, walking the same way
down the street to meet Chris Dodd for dinner. When we parted ways and I
walked onward, I met Chris Dodd coming the other way in quite a hurry.
Visual Entertainments: More Full Metal
Panic. The female lead is verging on too-stupid-to-live, but on
the other hand, she clearly thought she was in an entirely different
genre until this disc. (Also, cube-square law fail, but that's so standard
for mecha I hardly need to mention it.)
Netflix sent me a free trial offer thingy, so I signed up. It looks
like they have somewhat less anime than Greencine, but not a lot, and
they're based in Los Gatos so perhaps they can send me discs in a
reasonable amount of time (unlike Greencine which is apparently so far
in the depths of South California that all mail has to be carried in and
out by a heavily guarded weekly caravan). And if Netflix displeases me,
I can probably remember to cancel before the trial is up!
Cats:
Aw, night-time Marmalade-snuggles!
Writing: Check.
dinner by Rachel (Fri Oct 30 17:09:09 2009)
Wow, we must have just missed you last night! Chris Dodd was in a hurry because Cesar and I ran into him at Borders while he was waiting to meet Eric for dinner. We kept him talking for a little while before having mercy on him and letting him go eat. :)
Re: dinner by Trip (Fri Oct 30 21:29:57 2009)
We never did make it as far down as Borders. After admitting defeat at Cheescake Factory, we had to hike endless miles back to Marith's car, and also buy a cell phone (which as predicted caused her old cell phone to miraculously reappear).
cheesecake factory by kit (Sun Nov 1 13:55:32 2009)
ZOMG, they have HUGE portions. I swear you could feed three people off one entree...
Make a comment!
28 October 2009 - Wednesday
Work: Phone interviews successfully conducted: 2.
The first was with a member of the team the position is in, and I think
I did pretty well. The second was with a recruiter, who wasn't technical
but took notes to pass along to the client. I don't think I did as well
there, but there wasn't much feedback so it was hard to tell. I don't
think I bombed, anyway.
Gaming: After some flailing and stuff, we played
Dominion with
random cards. There were five of us, so we used twelve cards: Chancellor,
Chapel, Council Chamber, Feast, Market, Mine, Moat, Smithy, Spy, Throne
Room, Woodcutter, and Workshop. Normally the way to win Dominion is to
accumulate cards that give you +2 or more actions so that you can chain
them together and bust
out in a huge flurry of cards that give you ultimate power, but this set
had no cards above +1 action and only two of those. However, it had
Throne Rooms, which can combine with Spies or Markets to get extra
actions, so Ken (and to a lesser extent Ayse and Marith) went for that
combination. I didn't, but somehow still ended up winning 33:21:21:10
(Dave tried to do something exceptionally clever early on, but it fell
through so he conceded and went to try to get home at a reasonable
hour). I think it was just luck, since my strategy amounted to, "buy
some cards, then buy some more cards", but Dominion is a pretty
luck-tastic game. Ken's master plan did get him a turn in which he
spied six times (four Spy cards, two doubled with Throne Rooms) and
played six more action cards, which was pretty epic, but ended up with
him having only about four money to buy with.
The game ran pretty long, so our brains were pretty small by the end.
In retrospect, when one player dropped out, we should probably have
taken a card or two off every stack.
Food: Parasitized Ken's spaghetti and spinach and
chocolate ice cream. Wum!
Cats:
Ah, it is the time of year when cats become affectionate!
Writing: Check. Ish.
Epic Turn by Ken (Fri Oct 30 17:03:00 2009)
Nah, it ended with enough to buy a Province! And not enough to buy anything else useful.
Make a comment!
27 October 2009 - Tuesday
Work: Recruiters talked to about jobs: 1½.
Gaming: Printing out hex paper and drawing maps on
it in pencil does not produce stunning visual aids, and trying to ink
the pencilled version would result in printing out and throwing away a
lot of hex paper. Anyone know of any good utilities for making gaming
maps with a Mac? Super-artistry is not required, so a real drawing
program would be overkill.
Textual Entertainments: Does it count as an accident
if you walk up to the bookstore, spit in its face, and go, "You think
you're tough?!"?
Visual Entertainments:
- Eden of the East 10-11: A lot was left unexplained by
the finale, but what was there made sense, and we were able to work out
some of what was missing, which puts EotE well above
Lain!
- Code Geass 9: I think Zero is trying to switch genres
to harem anime.
- Avatar 2.19-2.20: Toph, you rule!
- Bleach 164: Yay, more Orihime! Also, Ishida and Renji
got to bond, which can lead to no good whatsoever.
Cats:
I made Aspen even more beautiful by removing more mats from her fur, but
she did not appreciate it. Possibly she thinks it is the wrong time of
year to be getting less fur. (As I understand it, mats
don't insulate nearly as well as fluffy beautiful kittyfur so it's not
that much of a change, but this sort of thermal engineering issue might be
beyond a simple ex-feral kitteh.)
Writing: Check. Ish.
Hexmaps by Trip (Wed Oct 28 22:51:52 2009)
I found Hexographer, which isn't bad. Drawing with a mouse is like drawing with a blunt, slippery rock, but I can't hold that against Hexographer.
You think you're tough? by kit (Thu Oct 29 06:36:56 2009)
I think that's like an aggravated accident. Kind of like aggravated assault. :)
Re: You think you're tough? by Trip (Thu Oct 29 10:22:07 2009)
Yah, that sounds about right. :)
Make a comment!
26 October 2009 - Monday
Work: Interviews with recruiters: 1. They at the very
least waited until they were out of the room before laughing at me, which I
take as a good sign! Also, they said things have been heating up the past
couple of weeks, which is definitely a good sign.
Other jobs applied for: 5.
Textual Entertainments: Today: Heart of
Veridon, by Tim Akers, is secondary-world steampunk fantasy (or
possibly
<rot13>
fgrnzchax onfrq ba fgbyra anabgrpu
</rot13>) with extra betrayal, doom, creepy
cyberware, and betrayal. I would have liked to see a lot more of the
world, but that would have taken wordcount away from the betrayal and
doom, plus I'm a freak that way.
Although this looks like a thickish book (MMPB, 473 pages), the margins
are so bizarrely wide that if printed in a normal format, it would
probably be only about 350pp. Publishers are weird.
Cats:
Twelve paws!
Writing: Check, although I am reminded that
everything write is EPIC FAIL as far as feminism is concerned, and
supports the patriarchy just by existing as bits on a disk.
Make a comment!
25 October 2009 - Sunday
Gaming: The ancient death machines in the ants'
collection of shiny things were thoroughly defeated. I made the mistake
of setting up the encounter area so that a lot of it was safe from the
Poison Darts of Toxic Death, and the PCs stayed there the whole time.
Maybe I needed to have obvious magic items beckoning them from the
dangerous end of the room.
Did you know that a 7th level shaman can give someone resist 5 to all
damage for an entire encounter? Apparently I need to give all monsters
+5 damage now.
Then I handed out new different character sheets and had the players
play the team of NPC heroes who had been fighting undead and Orcus cultists
while the PCS were away. I probably should have expected the NPCs to get
named Fred (eladrin fey knight), Shaggy (tiefling darkblade), Daphne (human
hexer), and Velma (shardstorm vortex), since what else do you name a
4-person team that might fight ghosts? Anyway, I expected them to be killed
horribly with maybe one escaping to tell the tale, but instead they handily
defeated a superior force (despite Daphne being thrown into a well full
of dread zombies) and went out drinking, so the PCs decided the
city was in good hands and took off for foreign parts.
Cats:
Aspen was so very oppressed by the Snuggly Face!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
24 October 2009 - Saturday
Genetic Redundancy: Marith and I went over to Ayse
and Ken's to admire Julia, who apparently has been growing even when we
weren't watching! Ayse's mom and dad, who are pretty swell even if I can
never remember their names, were also there.
Food: Ken had not planned to have guests for dinner,
so he did not feed Marith and I. Instead, we went to Kabul and ate large amounts of
lawang and kadu.
Random Encounters: Jeremy, Rachel, and daughters
were departing Kabul just as Marith and I got there. They said it was
still good, and they were right.
Gaming: Eh, sure, that's like being prepared. Kinda.
Cats:
I oppressed Aspen with the snuggly face again! I couldn't help it, she
looks so cute curled up with all the plush critters!
Make a comment!
23 October 2009 - Friday
HAPPY HAPPY AYSE-DAY!!
Work: Phone interviews successfully conducted: 1.
Gaming: I remembered my extremely clever plan for
D&D! Muahahahaha!
Silly Computer Games: If I were very clever, I would
stop playing NPPAngband and do
something worthwhile with my time.
Cats:
Twelve paws of cuteness!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
22 October 2009 - Thursday
Work: Phone interviews arranged for tomorrow: 1.
In-person interviews arranged for next week: 1 (but only with a
recruiter).
Textual Entertainments: Today: Trick of the
Light (Rob Thurman) is set in the same universe as the Cal and
Niko books, although on the other side of the continent and with only
one character in common. I didn't like it as much, possibly because
generic-middle-eastern-monotheism angels and demons can't match the
Auphe as villains, or possibly because Trixa is too cool
and doesn't suffer as much as Cal. If I want to read about an
unflappable confident protagonist, I'll reread The Demon's
Lexicon.
Hm, I seem to have come out as pro-angst. Now the zombies will come
for me. Woe.
Visual Entertainments: First disc of Full
Metal Panic, because it's classic, or seminal, or silly, or
something.
Cats:
Aspen laid down near me because I was near the comfy spot on the bed, so
I oppressed her with the hand of pettins and did not eat her even once!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
21 October 2009 - Wednesday
Work: Jobs applied for: 3. Recruiters contacted in a
more general fashion: 2.
Textual Entertainments: Today: Benighted
(Kit Whitfield), is set in a world where everyone turns into a wolf on the
night of the full moon. When people don't properly lock themselves up
before moonrise, the tiny fraction of a percent of the population that has
the birth defect of not changing (like the protagonist) gets to police
them. So, the protagonist gets the doom of being a werewolf hunter plus the
doom of being a despised minority plus the doom of being part of a
despicable law enforcement organization plus the doom of being a woman!
I liked this book, but I have to admit it's pretty much wall-to-wall
girl cooties, so people who are opposed to that may not like it.
Visual Entertainments: Finished Zone of the
Enders: Dolores. The good guys won.
Cats:
Twelve fuzzy paws!
Writing: Triple check. But I don't know if it really
counts.
Make a comment!
20 October 2009 - Tuesday
Work: Jobs applied for: 3. Rejections from jobs
previously applied for: 1.
Visual Entertainments:
- Eden of the East 9: The plot thickens even more! Next
week, we find out if it sets or dissolves!
- Code Geass 7-8: More doom, but also a Cunning Plan!
- Avatar 2.18: Yay! (But are we really doing kids a favor
by teaching them that being reasonable and providing evidence for their
position will get people in a position of power to cooperate?)
- Bleach 162-163: Yay, Orihime! (But it would still be
okay if all the comic sidekick scenes were replaced with bonus Orihime.)
Cats:
The cats have been sitting close enough to each other that I could take
a picture of all three of them! If I had, you know, a camera.
Writing: Check
It's the time of year when people consider NaNoWriMo. I wonder if I could
convince them to pay me money to not lower their reputation by
participating again?
Make a comment!
19 October 2009 - Monday
Work: Jobs applied for: 0. Rejections from jobs
previously applied for: 1. Bah.
Visual Entertainments: Started the last disc of
Zone of the Enders: Dolores.
Cats:
Twelve paws! (It's still the new orange!)
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
18 October 2009 - Sunday
Textual Entertainments: Today: Extras,
the fourth book in Scott Westerfeld's "Uglies" trilogy. It really is a
side story, although the main characters from the first three books show
up as secondary characters to cause additional trouble.
Food: Ken made Double Mushroom Extroganoffanza With
Beef!
Gaming: No D&D for us! Marith was too dead from work
to game, so it was already pretty marginal, and then Ayse was too happy
from codeine (yay major abdominal surgery), so instead we played
Carcassonne and Ken crushed us all by miles. Maybe we should have
offered to fetch him more drinks.
Julia was a pretty good baby and only interrupted the game for
feeding/changing/college fund donations a few times.
Cats:
Aspen seems pretty fond of the basket, except for the part where I
notice her and oppress her with egregious pettins.
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
17 October 2009 - Saturday
Textual Entertainments: Today: Unseen
Academicals (Terry Pratchett) mocks football (the kind that
degenerate ex-colonials call soccer), human stupidity and xenophobia.
But I can't really blame Discworld humans for being nervous,
as they're competing with at least two sapient species that are smarter,
physically much more capable, and probably morally superior to them.
Also Today: Boneshaker (Cherie Priest) didn't seem to
have quite enough plot to fill up its word count, and the plot twist was
not very twisty. On the other hand, MOLE MACHINES + ZOMBIES!
Still Today: Liar is one of those books that makes me
want to bite all my tentacles off so I can't accidentally sully the
genre with my feeble typing. Justine Larbalestier's brain is definitely
on The List. But I say no more because almost anything would be a
spoiler.
Food: Marith lured me to dinner at the Chinese place
where we somtimes get dim sum brunch. It was pretty good.
Random Encounters: Earl, Cat, Cat's sister, Cat's
brother (David?), Cat's mom, and Cat's dad on Castro. Sadly, they had
already eaten dinner as Marith and I were looking for dinner to eat, so
we went our separate ways.
Visual Entertainments: Finished the fourth disc of
Baccano!. Wait, that was the end? What?! (Yes, I know the
end of the last episode explained that stories have no end.
Nevertheless!)
Cats:
Paw count: still 12!
Writing: Check.
"liar" by kit (Sun Oct 18 13:38:45 2009)
I haven't read LIAR, but there are always books that make me want to bite all my tentacles off so I can't accidentally sully the genre with my feeble typing. I think it is the nature of writers to feel that way about other writers. Not all of them, perhaps, but there are always more tentacle-biting-inducing writers to be found.
Re: "liar" by Trip (Sun Oct 18 14:22:51 2009)
It's true! It's a wonder there are any unbitten tentacles left!
In related news, plots are hard.
Make a comment!
16 October 2009 - Friday
Work: It's like a lead! But it's also like Friday
afternoon.
Textual Entertainments: Today: The Stepsister
Scheme, which I went back and reread after reading The
Mermaid's Madness. Still pretty good! I could have sworn it was
explicitly stated that [SPOILER] is really [SPOILER], not just
anti-[SPOILER] because of [SPOILER], but apparently it was
extra-textual. I still think it is true, because otherwise it would be
stupid and cheesy, which does not seem consistent.
Recently: Ash, by Malinda Lo, is a version of Cinderella
in which the poor stepdaughter falls not for the prince but for the King's
Huntress. (Apparently that's okay in this setting.) Also features the
kind of faeries that make people hang iron horseshoes over their doors
and stay inside at night, a thinly-disguised Christianity-vs-paganism
conflict, and assorted wickedness from stepmothers and stepsisters.
Visual Entertainments: Started the fourth disc of
Baccano!. Not bad, but I think the story of lobster hooch
would be better.
Cats:
Twelve paws!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
15 October 2009 - Thursday
Work: Jobs applied for: 4.
Why look, it's almost as though resuming a half-dose of meds keeps
me semi-functional! (The full dose also keeps me semi-functional, which
is why this med is being tapered off.)
Textual Entertainments:
Recently: Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld, is full of
steampunky goodness (with extra living airships) and also illustrations by
Keith Thompson. The setting
reminds me of the backstory for a character I played in one of Chrisber's
games, but Leviathan does not actually have any French
military-surplus pneumatic pixies. Darn you anyway, Westerfeld!
Less Recently: The Demon's Lexicon, by Sarah
Rees Brennan. Have you ever wondered what the inner life of an unflappably
hot and competent demon-slayer is like? So has Rees Brennan. The answer:
awesome!
Visual Entertainments: Finished disc 5 of Zone
of the Enders: Dolores. One more to go!
Cats:
Twelve paws!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
14 October 2009 - Wednesday
Work: Recruiters rebuffed because the jobs they
offer are far away from anything I care about: 1 (NYC). Too bad, too,
because I could probably do it.
Textual Entertainments: My Good Reads usage appears
to be EPIC FAIL, so maybe I'll just make notes here, until I remember no
one actually wants my opinion. Wait, I already know that! Well, TOO BAD!
Today: The Mermaid's Madness, second of Jim C Hines's
books about Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella as secret agents of the
crown. Still pretty darn cool, and also full of doom (with a double
helping of extra bonus doom for Sleeping Beauty).
Recently: WebMage and Cybermancy by Kelly
McCullough. The titles and cover blurbs make them sound like the
ShadowRun genre, but they are really much more like Zelazny's Amber books
(particularly the second series), first-person smartass narrator and all.
Cybermancy might contain feminism fail, but the main plot is
pretty awesomely heroic.
Visual Entertainments: More Zone of the
Enders: Dolores.
Food: The chicken strips Marith bought me at Marie
Callendar's were crunchy and tasty, but when I rule the world an order
of chicken strips will not be 50% french fries.
Cats:
Twelve paws of scampering and tussling!
Writing: Check.
books by kit (Fri Oct 16 14:17:04 2009)
Ooh. I hain't read any of them books, but have wondered about all of them! Now I know more than I did.
Re: books by Trip (Fri Oct 16 22:38:54 2009)
You know that I liked them all, and also I like your books, so they must be good!
Make a comment!
13 October 2009 - Tuesday
Weather: Ack, water falling from the sky! I
appreciate the contribution to the crops that I hope to eat in the
future, but I wish that rain was accompanied by temperatures that
allowed the wearing of coats.
Work: FAIL.
Oh, hey, do you think reducing my dosage of antidepressants might be
what's making me lethargic and stupid and uninclined to do anything?
Perhaps I will call the appropriate doctor and see if he has a better
plan.
Visual Entertainments:
- Code Geass 6: Extra bonus doom, with a side of flaming
aerial doom!
- Bleach 160-161: Yay, a few seconds of Orihime! Also, we
got to see Rukia triumph, even though her fight involved
girl
cooties her emotions.
- Avatar 2.17: Yay! Victory!
- Eden of the East 7-8: ?!?!?!?! They can do
that?! Perhaps our protagonist has been unnecessarily restraining his
requests based on the laws of nature.
Only three more episodes of EotE, then (unless the
internets have cruelly betrayed us) Oh! Edo Rocket! Also
Dave has volunteered to score Darker Than Black DVDs for the
group, because he is a Hero of the Rotation.
Cats:
The cats seem kind of hyper. Also, Marmalade and Aspen have both been
spotted in the basket next to the TV that was Ghirardelli's for a long
time.
Writing: Check, although really it's just that the
scraps from the past few nights finally added up to $quota.
Make a comment!
12 October 2009 - Monday
Work: FAIL.
Gaming: When you take an entire page to detail how
one thing in a system behaves differently than intuitively similar things
in that system and it's still not clear how the thing behaves,
GAME DESIGN: UR DOIN IT RONG.
(Actually what it looks like is whoever was responsible for the
conjuration rules was separated from the rest of the D&D4 designers and never
given a chance to reconcile the two batches of rules before the
marketing department made them ship, but that's just speculation.)
Cats:
Twelve fuzzy paws of cuteness!
Writing: FAIL.
Make a comment!
11 October 2009 - Sunday
Gaming: Giant ant extravaganza! There were lots of
ants because they were lower level than the PCs, but still not enough to
prevent their complete annihilation! However, there were enough that I
decided to not roll the next monster into the end of the fight with
the ant queen, which means I need to flesh it out into an independent
encounter by next fortnight. (Ken and Ayse think that Julia being the
Best Baby Ever means they can game next Sunday. I guess we'll see if
they're right!)
Small Babies: Marith and I went over to Ayse and
Ken's and verified that Julia is still a small baby. Also, we said hi to
Ken's mom Janet.
Cats:
Twelve paws!
Writing: FAIL.
Make a comment!
10 October 2009 - Saturday
HAPPY HAPPY MARITH-DAY!!
Food: Marith demanded Vaso Azzurro, so even
though Cat, Earl, and I were the only ones available, we could not
refuse.
I spent most of the meal trying to not look at Cat, but that's
the life of space parasite.
Gaming: Oh, hey, I could do that tomorrow. I wonder if it
would be fun? Probably, my players don't seem difficult to please!
was Cat especially resplendent? by Graydon (Sun Oct 11 08:06:36 2009)
Or am I missing a shedload of history?
I mean, unless you were looking especially and specifically like you intended to parasitize Cat's brain, Cat isn't all that likely to object if going out to dinner with you is OK in the first place.
resplendent Cats by marith (Sun Oct 11 18:24:20 2009)
Cat was pretty resplendent! I admired and envied both her lovely brown shawl and the cleavage it framed. Trip was probably not paying too much attention to the shawl :)
resplendence by Graydon (Mon Oct 12 08:40:05 2009)
Thank you for the explanation!
And, really, one supposes that absent actual drooling, fixed or wild-eyed staring, palpitations, twitching, loud breathing, signs of the incipience of speaking in tongues, ear-blushing, stammering, or signs of an intent to engage in improper licking, such as the un-negotiated and abrupt application of condiments, Cat is still not all that likely to have a problem with it.
resplendent Cats by Trip (Mon Oct 12 22:29:15 2009)
Yah, I should have asked the waiters to bring out the eye-gouging spoons with the appetizers.
resplendent Cats by Graydon (Tue Oct 13 19:05:05 2009)
I am quite certain that maiming yourself at table is worse manners than being aesthetically appreciative in some quiet and decorous (and not necessarily completely voluntary) way.
aesthetic appreciation by marith (Tue Oct 13 22:49:02 2009)
Indeed! No messy demonstrations at my birthday dinner!
Also, I'm pretty sure that as a rule people of any gender would rather be decorously admired by onlookers than have onlookers recoil in shame at their unworthiness to see such beauty and reach for the pickle fork, etc, etc.
(Medusas and some of the more persnickety Greek goddesses are rare exceptions.)
Re: aesthetic appreciation by Trip (Wed Oct 14 21:17:16 2009)
It was an Italian restaurant, I could have decorously disguised the maiming with enthusiastic tomato sauce!
And that would really depend on the onlookers, wouldn't it?
Make a comment!
9 October 2009 - Friday
Work: Rejections: 1.
Visual Entertainments: 5 Centimeters Per
Second, three linked episodes about the lives of two people from
elementary school to adulthood by the same guy who did Voices of a
Distant Star. Or maybe it's two episodes of mood-setting and
pretty pretty animation, and one music video. Anyway, it's very pretty
and kind of sad and almost nothing happens, so if that's the sort of
thing you like, you'll probably like it!
Cats:
Twelve scampering paws!
Writing: FAIL.
Make a comment!
8 October 2009 - Thursday
Work: Jobs applied for: 3.
Three-Dimensional Multi-Media Entertainments: I went
to
Scott Westerfeld's and
Sarah Rees Brennan's
book tour when it passed through Menlo Park tonight, and
Earl and Carl also showed up.
It was pretty entertaining! Westerfeld showed the
trailer
for his book and explained how the use of
photography in catalogs is responsible for the sad, sad lack of
illustrations in modern books, and Rees Brennan showed off the Japanese cover of her book (by
Hiromu Arakawa!) and expounded her theory of
trilogies (everyone knows the first
book of a trilogy is the Set-Up Book, and the third book is the Defeat
Evil book, but not everyone understands that the middle book must
therefore be the Make-Out book). She does talk rather like her
LJ.
I failed to bring my copy of
The Demon's Lexicon to get signed, because I am Dumb, but
I did get Leviathan signed and I delivered the Secret
Message from the Illuminati to SRB, so it was all good.
Afterwards we met up with Susan and Yair and Linda, who were in Menlo
Park for reasons I never learned, and poked at Kepler's. It did not
disgorge any books I wanted.
Cats:
I'm really not sure what it is Marmalade thinks I should do to distract
him from trying to eat the phone cord. Maybe he just wants more string.
Writing: Check.
SRB by marith (Sat Oct 10 10:37:32 2009)
So what was the secret message?
Re: SRB by Trip (Sat Oct 10 12:06:49 2009)
It's secret!
Re: SRB by The Illuminati (Sat Oct 10 12:07:40 2009)
Fnord.
Make a comment!
7 October 2009 - Wednesday
Work: FAIL.
Visual Entertainments: Fourth disc of Zone of
the Enders: Dolores.
Cats:
Aspen seems to have decided she likes the balcony! She even scarpered
out there when I approached, so it is a Safe Place For Kitties!
Writing: Triple check.
Make a comment!
6 October 2009 - Tuesday
Work: Responses from jobs applied for yesterday: 1.
Visual Entertainments:
- Eden of the East 6: I don't really see how that bit is
going to lead to doom, but I'm sure it will.
- Code Geass 4-5: Now there's some doom!
- Avatar 2.15-2.16: No wonder Ba Sing Se doesn't mind
being flooded with refugees, they have PANTHERS ROAMING THE STREETS!
- Bleach 159: Wow, we got about two whole minutes of
Orihime in between the comic sidekicks!
Food: I didn't really eat lunch, so at some point in
the afternoon I became too hungry and ate all the rest of the ice cream.
This was probably not optimal.
Cats:
Twelve paws!
Writing: FAIL.
Make a comment!
5 October 2009 - Monday
Work: Jobs applied for: 3.
Gaming: My players will never expect this plan,
because I didn't come up with it: these fish MUDders
did!
Cats:
It's like kitty soap opera! Ghirardelli chased Marmalade away and sat in
his spot on the bed, then Aspen showed up and tussled with Ghirardelli
for a bit until they curled up together in the spot. Later, I saw
Ghirardelli in the under-coffee-table spot that was his until Aspen took
it over like a year ago. I guess there must be a Great Realignment in
preparation for the coming ice age!
Or, you know, not, since later all the cats were back in their
customary place. :)
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
4 October 2009 - Sunday
Gaming: After the horrible debacle of Duergar Mountain
in the previous session, the survivors fled back down the river. While they
were experiencing the quirk of the local ecology that keeps people from
leaving, they met up with new crazy who showed them which beetles to eat.
Orcs and giant lizards were dispatched with ease, then giant ants were
dispatched with even more ease (although arguably any medium-rated
encounter should be easy when the dailies come out). Character classes from
the PHB2 are pretty scary, and Primal Power isn't
even out yet! Maybe I should be giving the older characters more magic
items or something.
LEVEL UP!
Next week, additional giant ant stomping, and then probably a
semi-triumphant return to civilization.
I successfully stuck the party with the NPC I wrote up at the last
minute, but now I am uncertain whether I wish to use that writeup or make a
less colorful but more PC-like one. I should decide by next week, I
guess.
Food: Marith fiendishly lured me to Chef Chu's. Moo shu is kind of greasy,
but I like it anyway. Also, Marith eats it even though it contains
fungi!
We'll get her eating avocado yet.
Cats:
Now that it is not summer, Marmalade and Aspen curl up together on the
bed more, so I can oppress Aspen with the pettins! She does not
immediately flee from being rubbed under the chin!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
3 October 2009 - Saturday
Gaming: Sure, that could be an encounter. And that.
And maybe some of those. Not like all the stuff I had planned before I
slaughtered the party horrible, but perhaps that is best.
Visual Entertainments: Finished the disc of
Baccano!. Oh the doom.
Cats:
Six fuzzy ears!
Writing: FAIL. I have no excuse.
Make a comment!
2 October 2009 - Friday
Work: Still optimistic about additional contracting,
especially since I got the check for previous contracting.
Larvae: Marith and I travelled to Palo Alto to see
the legendary Julia Mairi Shields! She is extremely small and wiggly and
slept the whole time we were there, even though Ayse made me hold her. I
have not yet dropped and broken her, but I'm sure it's only a matter of
time.
Anyway, mother and child are doing well, although father looks kind
of strung out. Apparently he doesn't get the good drugs.
Visual Entertainments: Little more
Baccano!. Alchemy and crime definitely mix.
Cats:
Twelve paws!
Writing: Double check.
Make a comment!
1 October 2009 - Thursday
HAPPY HAPPY JULIA_MAIRI_SHIELDS-DAY!!!
Work: Jobs in Michigan turned down: 1.
Silly Computer Games: Curse you,
boxSpin3! I did
finally figure out an important trick, but it's not always easy to
implement, and getting a score as low as 10 (my best) takes a lot of
luck.
Cats:
Twelve paws which are both fluffy and adorable!
Writing: FAIL. I have no excuse.
Make a comment!
| 