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I've eaten one real meal, today, and sort of filled in with toast, nuts, dried apples and beef jerkey. The meal was tacos - beef and corn on corn tortillas with corn chips. Corn good. I'm sure it's a balanced diet, right? I'm having ice-cream before we go to bed, for the dairy part. ;)
This day hasn't been total suck, but it's been a bit on the busy side. We got the suck out of the way first thing in the morning. Drove for a half hour to pick up the van, which they'd had for two weeks, only to find they hadn't done the work which they said they would. It's really![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eor's story, I'll leave it for him, although I do have to say that I'm pissed that we missed our first intended camping trip of the season and I've had to bum rides home from work for the past two weeks, not to mention the reduced capability to run errands in the mornings, AND we were charged $180 for this inconvenience.
I feel moderately productive for today; got my running around done, mailed out a bunch of stuff (mizzmarvel, you'll see something in a little over a week, I think), did laundry. Called my Dad. Ranted about stuff.
I wonder if my Dad is having serious memory problems or attention problems, or just hearing problems. I asked him if he'd spoken to my brother Hawk, and he said he had, but he couldn't tell me anything about what Hawk's plans were beyond, "He's coming to visit."
"Anything else?"
"Well, he might have said something else, but he mumbles."
I got after him to write things down, and he got annoyed with me, though he brushed it off humerously - that's how he deals with things. ("I was about to cuss you." Come to think of it, that's quite similar to his favorite curse in French, "Mots dits" - "words said." I think I'm intended to consider myself cussed.)
Of course he'll write it down and then lose the peice of paper - I know that because that's exactly what I do all the time.
Was in a bit of a hurry the other day when packing up my uniform for work (I don't like to wear it when I'm walking in - I sweat like a horse, not to mention I don't want anyone to purposely hit me with their car) and I forgot my socks. Many people keep various parts of the uniform at work for backup (I usually do, but I guess I already used my spare socks and didn't replace them) so I started asking around. Donatello said I could use his as soon as he was done with them, but seeing as he had been there since 4am that sounded a little ... sticky.
Slinky, though, didn't even give me a chance to say no - she had hers off and was handing them to me in record time. We were in the training room, just a few people, and someone was finishing up taking a test, so I had to stifle my giggles.
"I only put them on a short while ago, they're almost clean!" she insisted. "No, really, take them! I'm just going to be back here doing paperwork, nobody will notice if I'm not wearing socks."
So later I sidled up to her when it was only me, her, and the teacher there (he was an outside contractor, here only for the last two weeks teaching us how to teach a certain process) and said, "It feels weird being in your sox."
The teacher gave me this look and said, "You have issues."
Ah, while I'm here - since Eor shows no sign of being ready to go to bed - I should catch up with my list of books read.
(19) "French Milk" bylucylou
Of course I'm going to be fond of this book - it has manatees. Not to mention, it's by Lucy. For those familiar with Lucy, some questions you might have - like, "who is Zann??" - are addressed. It details her month in France with her mother, which was a special 'birthday coming of age/Christmas present' trip, in all it's ups and downs. It's reality. There are moments of joy, but I was kind of happy with the fact that she doesn't gloss over anything about her mental state or the things that just didn't work out. I enjoyed it. I have no idea if someone who's not already a Lucy fan would enjoy it or not.
(20) "The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Aleshine" by Frank R. Stockton
The edition I have is from 1933, but it was originally written in 1886. Reprinted multiple times - apparently fairly popular at it's time.
Mrs. Lecks (tall, stern, quite willing to dress someone down when they deserve it, no children) and Mrs. Aleshine (short, plump, cheerful, friendly) are widows who are travelling to Japan - first class, because they can afford it and they're as good as anyone else - when their ship collides with another and goes down. They're in the water with lifejackets, but they're unable to swim, but they have oars, so they use them as if they were brooms and make a sweeping motion. If this weren't written so long ago I'd say it was just a clever transposition of the concept of flying broomsticks.
They aren't as completely in charge as Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg - they let the young man who's the narrator of the story, Mr. Craig, feel as if he is. But when they decide he's getting married, later on, they connive and arrainge things so it will happen.
Also, Nanny Aleshine (that name makes me think of Nanny Ogg's scumble) ends up with three sailors who promise her they'll 'sign papers for as long a voyage as she would like...and be good for both day work and night work.' Whoo-hoo, you rock you scampy old widow. ;)
As a story it's really rambly and plotless, reading as though he wrote it sort of as he went along. Also, there's no kind of background for the characters - we never find out anything at all about the narrator's family or raising.
(21) "Diplomatic Immunity" by Lois McMaster Bujold
It's been years since I read any of the rest of the series, but I was back into it without a hitch and devoured it and hugely desire more. God I love these books. They're sheerest crack wish-fulfillmenty fantasy and they tweak nearly every kink I have.
For those of you who know these books, you can skip the next two paragraphs of general squeeing.
I can't help but love Miles - he's an action hero who's short, manic-depressive, medically challenged in multiple ways (through the last three books he's been subject to seizures when under stress), And he's brilliant, yet he constantly checks in with other people about their opinions and viewpoints, which even more endears him to me of course. And he's liable to fall apart emotionally in a crisis, though he keeps on moving and doing. He has an old friend, a hermaphrodite, who's always had a habit of hitting on Miles, and when it (herms are called 'it') is near death Miles is totally falling apart and asking himself why he never took the herm up on any of it's advances.
I love, too, that there's quite a few queer characters and it's just not really all that important to the story. Like, Miles's father, Aral Vorkosigan, is bisexual, and (I think) so is the father of another character, but it's only important in one story. Mainly he's just in the background being the stern, quiet old bear of a Father. Someone accused her of bringing queer characters to bad ends, but I think it's just that a lot of characters do have violent ends in these books - it's the nature of their society. Aral gets to live a long and relatively happy life, with a stable marriage.
Now, as to this particular book... It's got everything - action and mystery with a clever foe who keeps everyone guessing. Romance! Well, sort of. There's a Romeo and Juliet pair, though they don't get lots of airplay. And there's Miles and his new wife, Ekaterin (the last two books having been about their meeting and courtship) - I really like a story where the romance is sustained and the object of affection isn't just killed off for 'motivation.' She gets to whip him in line - and he likes it! ;) And then of course there's the old not-quite-lover, the hermaphrodite.
Phew, way too long a post.
This day hasn't been total suck, but it's been a bit on the busy side. We got the suck out of the way first thing in the morning. Drove for a half hour to pick up the van, which they'd had for two weeks, only to find they hadn't done the work which they said they would. It's really
eor's story, I'll leave it for him, although I do have to say that I'm pissed that we missed our first intended camping trip of the season and I've had to bum rides home from work for the past two weeks, not to mention the reduced capability to run errands in the mornings, AND we were charged $180 for this inconvenience. I feel moderately productive for today; got my running around done, mailed out a bunch of stuff (
mizzmarvel, you'll see something in a little over a week, I think), did laundry. Called my Dad. Ranted about stuff. I wonder if my Dad is having serious memory problems or attention problems, or just hearing problems. I asked him if he'd spoken to my brother Hawk, and he said he had, but he couldn't tell me anything about what Hawk's plans were beyond, "He's coming to visit."
"Anything else?"
"Well, he might have said something else, but he mumbles."
I got after him to write things down, and he got annoyed with me, though he brushed it off humerously - that's how he deals with things. ("I was about to cuss you." Come to think of it, that's quite similar to his favorite curse in French, "Mots dits" - "words said." I think I'm intended to consider myself cussed.)
Of course he'll write it down and then lose the peice of paper - I know that because that's exactly what I do all the time.
Was in a bit of a hurry the other day when packing up my uniform for work (I don't like to wear it when I'm walking in - I sweat like a horse, not to mention I don't want anyone to purposely hit me with their car) and I forgot my socks. Many people keep various parts of the uniform at work for backup (I usually do, but I guess I already used my spare socks and didn't replace them) so I started asking around. Donatello said I could use his as soon as he was done with them, but seeing as he had been there since 4am that sounded a little ... sticky.
Slinky, though, didn't even give me a chance to say no - she had hers off and was handing them to me in record time. We were in the training room, just a few people, and someone was finishing up taking a test, so I had to stifle my giggles.
"I only put them on a short while ago, they're almost clean!" she insisted. "No, really, take them! I'm just going to be back here doing paperwork, nobody will notice if I'm not wearing socks."
So later I sidled up to her when it was only me, her, and the teacher there (he was an outside contractor, here only for the last two weeks teaching us how to teach a certain process) and said, "It feels weird being in your sox."
The teacher gave me this look and said, "You have issues."
Ah, while I'm here - since Eor shows no sign of being ready to go to bed - I should catch up with my list of books read.
(19) "French Milk" by
lucylouOf course I'm going to be fond of this book - it has manatees. Not to mention, it's by Lucy. For those familiar with Lucy, some questions you might have - like, "who is Zann??" - are addressed. It details her month in France with her mother, which was a special 'birthday coming of age/Christmas present' trip, in all it's ups and downs. It's reality. There are moments of joy, but I was kind of happy with the fact that she doesn't gloss over anything about her mental state or the things that just didn't work out. I enjoyed it. I have no idea if someone who's not already a Lucy fan would enjoy it or not.
(20) "The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Aleshine" by Frank R. Stockton
The edition I have is from 1933, but it was originally written in 1886. Reprinted multiple times - apparently fairly popular at it's time.
Mrs. Lecks (tall, stern, quite willing to dress someone down when they deserve it, no children) and Mrs. Aleshine (short, plump, cheerful, friendly) are widows who are travelling to Japan - first class, because they can afford it and they're as good as anyone else - when their ship collides with another and goes down. They're in the water with lifejackets, but they're unable to swim, but they have oars, so they use them as if they were brooms and make a sweeping motion. If this weren't written so long ago I'd say it was just a clever transposition of the concept of flying broomsticks.
They aren't as completely in charge as Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg - they let the young man who's the narrator of the story, Mr. Craig, feel as if he is. But when they decide he's getting married, later on, they connive and arrainge things so it will happen.
Also, Nanny Aleshine (that name makes me think of Nanny Ogg's scumble) ends up with three sailors who promise her they'll 'sign papers for as long a voyage as she would like...and be good for both day work and night work.' Whoo-hoo, you rock you scampy old widow. ;)
As a story it's really rambly and plotless, reading as though he wrote it sort of as he went along. Also, there's no kind of background for the characters - we never find out anything at all about the narrator's family or raising.
(21) "Diplomatic Immunity" by Lois McMaster Bujold
It's been years since I read any of the rest of the series, but I was back into it without a hitch and devoured it and hugely desire more. God I love these books. They're sheerest crack wish-fulfillmenty fantasy and they tweak nearly every kink I have.
For those of you who know these books, you can skip the next two paragraphs of general squeeing.
I can't help but love Miles - he's an action hero who's short, manic-depressive, medically challenged in multiple ways (through the last three books he's been subject to seizures when under stress), And he's brilliant, yet he constantly checks in with other people about their opinions and viewpoints, which even more endears him to me of course. And he's liable to fall apart emotionally in a crisis, though he keeps on moving and doing. He has an old friend, a hermaphrodite, who's always had a habit of hitting on Miles, and when it (herms are called 'it') is near death Miles is totally falling apart and asking himself why he never took the herm up on any of it's advances.
I love, too, that there's quite a few queer characters and it's just not really all that important to the story. Like, Miles's father, Aral Vorkosigan, is bisexual, and (I think) so is the father of another character, but it's only important in one story. Mainly he's just in the background being the stern, quiet old bear of a Father. Someone accused her of bringing queer characters to bad ends, but I think it's just that a lot of characters do have violent ends in these books - it's the nature of their society. Aral gets to live a long and relatively happy life, with a stable marriage.
Now, as to this particular book... It's got everything - action and mystery with a clever foe who keeps everyone guessing. Romance! Well, sort of. There's a Romeo and Juliet pair, though they don't get lots of airplay. And there's Miles and his new wife, Ekaterin (the last two books having been about their meeting and courtship) - I really like a story where the romance is sustained and the object of affection isn't just killed off for 'motivation.' She gets to whip him in line - and he likes it! ;) And then of course there's the old not-quite-lover, the hermaphrodite.
Phew, way too long a post.
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