yuki_onna

New personal rules:

1. No domestic disputes. Just no.
2. I have limitations. I cannot be everything for everyone.
3. I need good quality sleep. Remember to take antihistamine before bed.
4. I'm a thoughtful, considerate person. When I have an opinion about someone/something I've arrived to that conclusion for a good reason.
5. My reasoning might not be good enough for you. That's fine, it's my reasoning. But it is good enough for me. My opinion is valuable to me.
6. No, I don't think everyone in the whole damn world can get along. No, I don't even think everyone in my world or your world can get along. I don't believe in the whole "Can't we just all get along?" crap. Somebody always takes a dump in the punchbowl, and you are just supposed to 'deal with it'. No.
7. You have the right to your opinion; I have the right to mine. No, I don't want to have another conversation about it. See new rule #4 & #5.
8. A difference in opinion does not mean the friendship cannot survive. It means we talk about other things.
9. I will give as much as I can. When I say 'enough', it means just that. I'm done. I have limits.


There. Glad to get those written down.

It's amazing the things you find your parents or upbringing have drilled into you without you noticing.

For instance, I find that I have issues with men, going places shirtless. The only places in my mind that one should be shirtless are in your bathroom, your bedroom, or at some sort of aquatic facility, swimming pool, hot tub, beach, etc.

One does not come to the breakfast table without a shirt. Or walk outside talking on the phone. Or other such behavior. I don't want to see your pasty nipples. Put them away.

I realize I get this from my military father. But I'm developing my own idiosyncrasies. For example, I usually wear two shirts. And as I get older, I'm feeling less comfortable in shirts without a collar, like t-shirts. It just feels wrong. I'm wondering if this is just a progression to where when I'm sixty, I will feel under-dressed without a tie.


So what idiosyncrasies do you have?

Things you do you know aren't necessarily rational, but you still do? Any preferences you find changing as you age?

The first half of the order has been placed! The final order will be made on the 17th. All monies are due before then, please. ^.^

July's Circle has gone live at its new home ~>HERE<~ . This month we are featuring Carnaval Diabolique Act III and The Snake Pit! Imps are $3.50. Half-bottles are $10.50. All details are available if you follow the link, including shipping prices, feedbacks and so on. As always, internationals are welcome! I am willing to add full bottles and imps from the lab. Also, to accommodate desires, I am willing to add CD bottles to the list until the 15th. So, if a bottle looks fairly full, but you want a 1/2 bottle, just ask. ^.^  *'ed scents are in need of some extra love as either the main or secondary bottle is still in danger of being cut.

This circle contains the following scents.... 

Also, there is a totally off-topic post/iso ~>HERE<~ for BPALers who happen to make and sell Things of all sorts. A lot of talent has come to the surface in fairy form and I'm curious and craving more! ^_~

Thank you for looking! ^.~

I'm watching Sandy Casar in the lead four breakaway, when Phil Liggett mentions Nelson the Dog.

Oh, my G-d.

One thing you have to know about the Tour-- actually, probably one thing you DO know if you've ever seen more than two minutes of it-- is that it gets CRAZY out on the road. Absolutely, positively, batshit crazy. This isn't a sport played in arenas or parks, with every spectator forking out $50 for a seat and $8 for a beer. This is a sport of the people, and it's played out on their streets, in their villages, and up and down their mountains.

So of course, they come out to watch. And since the peloton goes by pretty quickly, your average savvy spectator has learned a few tricks. The most popular? Climbs. As the riders go up the mountains, they're not flying, they're fighting. They're working for each meter, sometimes struggling painfully for them. And they're going comparatively slowly. So if you want to actually see your favourite rider's face, and not just a flash of his jersey as he leaves your sorry ass in the dust, you go sit in wait on a mountain.

Over the years, as humans do, they've turned this opportunity to spectate into an opportunity to spectate and party. While some will drive up in their Fiats and Citroens, some ambitious folks will rent RVs and do it up in style. Of course, these are narrow, two lane roads, and it's usually wise to get there early to claim your spot. Sometimes, days early. So here you are, up a lonely mountain in your RV with a few hundred of your closest batshit crazy friends. What do you do? That's right. You party.

I've seen things out on the road that I swear no sober man ever thought up. In the Giro, there ran alongside the cyclists a man in sneakers, running shorts, and a football helmet with a six-foot spread of longhorns. We assume he was there to show his cheerful support of Texan Lance Armstrong. I've seen men-- women seem to be too smart for this-- in thongs and European flags and little else. I've seen a guy in a bear suit. And, of course, nothing can beat The Devil himself, Didi Senft, a fixture on the mountaintops since 1993, in his red lycra suit and black cape, with his white beard and pitchfork, looking like some deranged Santa.

And it's not just the mountains where people tend to congregate and schmooze. The flat stages offer some beautiful scenery, and perhaps easier parking. So sometimes, you know, you're out there a few days, you've had a few beers, and maaaaybe you're not the sharpest you've ever been. Maybe you're in the lycra suit, or maybe you've just had a slight lapse of judgment. Like, maybe you brought your dog, say. But you forgot to put him on a leash. Because honestly? Nothing else but too much beer can explain such stupidity.

You see where this is going, right?

2007. Early in Stage 18. Francaise des Jeux rider Sandy Casar and Liquigas rider Frederik Willems are part of a small, early breakaway. They're speeding down a flat part of the stage, with spectators cheering on the verges. These men are all going hell-for-leather. And here comes Nelson.

Nelson was-- is, one assumes-- a big, happy, black lab mix. Nelson is also completely unaware, as dogs are, that perhaps he's chosen a particularly bad moment to cross the road. Nelson does not see the riders. The riders see Nelson-- but too late.

Exactly what you would expect to have happen happens. Nelson goes under Casar's bike. Casar goes down sideways, spinning out and shredding half his jersey, and taking out Willems, who goes ass over teakettle into the spectators. Willems, worryingly crumpled, does not immediately get up. Somehow, Casar and the dog both do. Nelson, somewhat startled, slinks away in one direction, evading capture, and Casar, looking equally startled, regains his bike-- somewhat painfully, one imagines-- and speeds off in another. He will go on to win the stage decisively, his tattered jersey fluttering when he pumps his arms in the air as he victoriously crosses the line. He is ecstatic. He is over the moon. And all anyone wants to ask him is, "What happened to the dog!?"

Nelson suffered no injuries, we were assured. He did not, however, place in the stage. You'd think, for all his trouble, he'd at least get a yellow bone or something. But no. Willems apparently did get back up, but did not make it back to the breakaway. No bone for him, either. And best of all? It wasn't the only dog crash that year. Stage 9 saw German T-Mobile rider Marcus Burghardt hit a yellow lab who completely totalled both his unbelievably expensive wheels-- though not, miraculously, either his skull or the dog.

So flash-forward to today, and there's Sandy Casar again, out in front as part of a small breakaway. This time, perhaps, our batshit crazy spectators have learned their collective lesson, and there are NO STRAY DOGS. Which is good, because once again, these guys aren't screwing around. They've been away for quite some time, attacking each other, and whittling a medium-sized breakaway down to four-- including Casar. There's also Luis Leon Sanchez of Caisse d'Epargne, Vladimir Efimkin of AG2R, and Mikel Astarloza of Euskatel Euskadi. It's again a game of chess at speed as these men test each other, attacking and defending, and it's incredibly exciting to watch. The rest of the pack is stretched in groups down the mountain, everyone making sure the main GC contenders are safe and no one's pulling anything too adventurous. Everyone's watching big favourite Cadel Evans especially, but every time he tries to attack, he's caught. Still, don't expect him to fold.

(There is a fairly large man in the crowd today in a large polka-dot skirt, little white hat, and bright red wig braided into pigtails. He is holding a little white stuffed dog. I'm pretty sure I don't want to know. There's also a young man in a party-store knight costume, with a wooden shield, waving a plastic sword. I KNOW I don't want to know.)

The approach to the end is coming. There's an awesome shot of Columbia rider George Hincapie, formerly Armstrong's right-hand man, bridging the gap from one chase group up to another. He's an unbelievably skilled descender, but seeing him crouched down with his nose tucked behind his handlebars-- and I mean that literally-- as he flies down a mountain is bewilderingly scary.

But back to the front, and we've switched to the front-end cameras: they're closing in on the line. It's been an intensely long day for these four, and they've been working together-- mostly. Not entirely, because they know they're far enough away to not get caught, and thus one of them will win this stage.

Down to the line, and I have to admit, I'm cheering for Casar. I know Sanchez is a great rider, but I'm not above rooting for the Dog Wrangler, himself a highly talented rider. It looked, several times, like this breakaway would drop him, but over and over, he's fought his way back in. It's inspiring to watch. And for a moment, it looks like he's found a burst of speed-- will he-- well, no. Sanchez has just an ounce more power left in his legs, and he just tips Casar on the line.

One thing I will say is that today's coverage is generously peppered with Astana interviews. Johan Bruyneel, Levi Leipheimer, Contador himself, and Lance. And reading between the lines, one thing is VERY clear: Contador was not riding to plan yesterday, and he got thoroughly bitchslapped in the team meeting this morning. His showy finish yesterday, which forced his own team to react, was not a smart move. Team plan was to control the race but NOT fight for the yellow jersey. It's too early in the race, and they don't want to have to defend it. Would they have taken it if it were easier? Maybe. But they had no plan to push for it. Contador may have wanted to prove his mettle, but what he's really proved is he's a prima donna, and not a good team player.

Anyway. Excellent stage today, and some truly gorgeous scenery. Thor Hushovd has grabbed the green points jersey from Mark Cavendish, and Rinaldo Nocentini has retained the yellow jersey.

Tune in tomorrow.

I'm going to Witchstock tonight. YAY for possibly bad (but entertaining, I hope), possibly pagan bands.

I might have to get one of these:



And later there's an afterparty with a GUNS 'N ROSES TRIBUTE BAND. OHYEAH.

Your Saturday moment of zen.



Lizard, photographed in Mendocino County, CA.

Originally published at jlake.com.

I think the woman driving ahead of me who stopped her car in the middle of a two-lane highway just to have a chat with a friend who was out walking a dog expected the person behind her to do anything but refuse to budge, hold down on his horn, and scream at her and her friend. Well, I proved her wrong...DEAD WRONG.

(In case you're wondering, this wasn't a hellion teenager or college student, but someone in their 40s or 50s. You'd think that would be ample time to realize that there are other people on the planet.)

This is the very early stages of a 3D concept model for a space station meant for a webisode project.

Well, all the deep-REM napping caught up with me last night. Still pretty down with this cold, and I got a grand total of 2 hours of sleep. Then got up at 5 am to drive three hours back to Portland. Today is a total loss, with respect to any form of productivity more important than lying on the couch and re-reading the same paragraphs over and over.

Endurance and other tasks to resume tomorrow (hopefully). Off to Omaha Monday, assuming I'm any kind of better. For now, allowing myself to flatline.

Originally published at jlake.com.

Scale tip — Art writing guru James Gurney on telling details.

Barbie heals space martians, and cures interspecies racism! — Um, yah. (Thanks to mikigal.)

A field guide to reproductive health — Art madness.

Welcome to Lunarville — Ah, me. Missed opportunities.

Robot land-steamers to consume all life on Earth as fuel

?otD: Virus or bacteria?

---

7/11/2009
Body movement: n/a (overslept due to ongoing chest cold)
This morning's weigh-in: n/a (no scale at beach house)
Currently reading: Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold

Originally published at jlake.com.

Maynard Ferguson, X, LA Guns, Love and Rockets, The Cure, The Cult, The Fall, All (live and in rehearsal), Chris Whitley, Aaron Flinn, James Brown, the Allmann Brothers, Dr. John, the Meters, War, Mad Monster Party, Easter, Iggy Pop, Ray Manzarek, Randy California, Billy Ray Cyrus, Carl Perkins, Dwight Yoakum, Wynton Marsalis, The Average White Band, Neighborhood Texture Jam, Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, the Bloodfarmers, the Dickies, the Chameleons UK, Public Image Ltd., the Meat Puppets, Henry Rollins, Dramarama, Blancmange, Depeche Mode, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Other Ones, Van Morrison, Irma Thomas, Downy Mildew, Julian Cope, Bob Mould, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Raymaker, the Six Million Dollar Band, Confederate Railroad, Dan Beard, John Cale, Peewee Crayton, the Gun Club, Jet Boy, Tangerine Dream, Ronnie James Dio, Jethro Tull, Vermin, Hans Krypt, L7, Patti Smith, Siouxsie Sioux, Bob Dylan, the Osmonds, Frank Sinatra, Rozz Williams, Chuck E. Weiss, TSOL (in rehearsal), the Long Ryders, Ozain, Fishbone, the Blue Wave Band, Mac Davis, Scotty Moore, Merle Haggard, Ralph Stanley, Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krause, John Hartford, John Renbourn, Dave Brubeck, Stub Junkman, Hot Tuna, Frankie Beverly and Maze, Wayne Toups, James Burton, Jeff Bates, and probably dozens of other nameless or unnamed acts.

Emergency Sale, lots of bottles for $10 or $15. My increasingly douchey employers have decided to willfully engage in borderline illegal practices and not pay us properly for working the 4th of July. As a result my paycheck is almost $200 short and I need to be able to buy groceries for the next two weeks.

Shipping is $3.50 in the US including DC. Shipping is done in new bubble mailers with new bubble wrap. Insurance is optional, if you want insurance, please let me know. Insurance is an additional $2. International shipping is a flat $5 to anywhere. All bottles are cleanly tested and/or decanted from. I also have lots of imps/decants, postcards, stickers, notepads, and a few pens to be included in packages...

Fairy packages are packed and ready to be mailed on Monday along with previously purchased BPAL's that haven't made it into the hands of the USPS.

I take all forms of PayPal, but if you pay via e-check I won't ship until it clears. I really can't afford to cover fees with bottle prices this low, fees based on: PayPal Fee Calculator, will be added to your total.


5ml Bottles:
13 Feb. 2009 (full) $15
All Night Long (full) $10
Dark Chocolate and Pepper Smoked Caramel (minus 1 imp) $15
Earth Rat (approx. 75% full) $10
Gelt (minus 1 imp) $15
Graveyard Book: Ghulheim (full) $15
Invasion Of The Flesh Eating Reindeer From Uranus (minus 1 imp) $15
Kanishta (50% full) $10
King Cobra (50% full) $10
Graveyard Book: The Lady On The Grey (full) $15
The Grindhouse: Marianne (full) $20
The Miller's Daughter (full) $10
Moai (full) $15
The Perfumed Garden '06 (full) $15
Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (full) $10
Toad Hall (full) $10

BPTP:
Warrior Queen: Zenobia Bath Oil & Perfume Oil (full, both cleanly tested) $35 (+$5 shipping)
Major Andre's Tree Atmo Spray (full) $15
Templum Victoriae Atmo Squirt x2 (full) $5 each

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/019804.html

Guy in suit #1: Well, at least it's Thursday.
(short pause)
Guy in suit #2: It's Wednesday, dude.
Guy in suit #1: (incredibly deep sigh)

--M15 Bus

Overheard by: Jess

Lightly tested once, all full, pristine labels. $2.50 shipping if you're in the US/Canada for perfume, $3 for the bath oil.

Boadicea - full, $22
Boadicea bath oil - full, $13
Hua Mulan - full, $22
Jingu - full, $22
Tomoe Gozen - full, $22

$1.25 GC imps and mostly $3 LE imps over here. I tested a whole bunch of stuff last week, so there are some new additions. :)

puffbird pointed out that something I said in a comment really needed a post of its own, so people could find it. Here are my tips for improving the activity and size of your audience, useful for cyberfunded creativity and for blogging in general.

To make an audience more lively:

• Invite comments by asking questions.


• Praise people when they comment.


• Track your most active members using the LJ Comments Stats Wizard.


• Track your main topics: go to your Profile page, select "Journal" and then "Manage Tags." Look under "Your Tags" and sort by "Usage." Click each tag topic to display its number of posts and other data.


• Ask your audience if they like the topics you are posting about most frequently and what topics they would like more (or less) of.


• Post polls.


• Watch for active people who interest you, and Friend them.

To make an audience bigger:

• Post on other blogs that have a big, active audience and are related to your topic.


• Join some Friending communities and watch for people whose interests match yours, and Friend them. add_a_writer and addme_creative are good choices.


• Join communities related to your topic and post frequently there.


• Scan the membership lists of communities you frequent, visit other members' journals, and Friend the ones that appeal to you.


• Encourage your current readers to link to your blog and tell their friends about it.

More and better content will, of course, help with both of these goals:

• Post frequently. Once a week is the minimum for an effective blog, several times a week is better, and daily is best.


• If you cannot post frequently, post regularly. Pick a day of the week or several days in the month when your blog always updates, and tell people when.


• Post good material. If it is dull, ugly, or difficult to decipher then people will probably not pay much attention to it.


• Posting experiments, failures, and/or works-in-progress can draw attention if you discuss your goals and what is going right or wrong. This attracts other people who are trying to learn similar skills.


• Post original material. If they can't get it anywhere else, people are more likely to hang around your blog to get the goodies.


• Relay interesting material. If there is news related to your blog topic(s), post an excerpt and link to the original article, then add some personal comments. When people find a good source for news that interests them, they tend to check it often.

Just watched the last part of Children of Earth, the Torchwood miniseries

...

Is it distinctly impossible to get a freakin' clean happy ending these days?!

No spoliers, but.. aargh!

Queries: 110
Requests: 2 partials: contemporary YA, paranormal romance, and 3 fulls
In my inbox: 4 partials, 3 fulls (plus one that hasn't yet come in) -- and 1 query that just appeared.

--

Seems like the stuff I want to read comes in all at once. There was another full I forgot to mention I requested last week, plus the three this week, and any of the partials in my inbox that might turn into full requests...

It's good there are so many good things to read, but this is getting a little out of hand! :P

--

Things that are inappropriate (in varying degrees):

1. Writing back to ask if the lowly assistant who rejected you has recommendations of other agents who might like the query.

Generally, if an agent has ideas in that direction, they'll tell you right away. It's not really polite (or professional) to ask.

Then, writing back to ask if the lowly assistant wants to represent you. Umm. What part of lowly assistant was unclear?

2. Stationary.

In emails, it shows up as an attachment, which are frowned upon. It pretty much doesn't look professional anywhere you put it (unless it's like business type stationary, but even so), and if it's the kind with pretty flowers and colors...I'm so distracted. I love pretty flowers and colors. Do you want me to read the query letter, or ogle the paper?

3. Replying to give me one more chance to read your manuscript after I've sent a form rejection. If I'd just read the first pages! Because the query letter isn't that good! But the book really is!

The agency guidelines say we welcome the first several pages in the query letter. If you didn't send that, I am not responsible for your omission. I can't read what isn't there. But, as I've said in the past, I can usually tell by the query letter.

And if your query letter isn't very good, rewrite it. Why would you send out a poor representation of your writing skills?

4. "Cute" tricks, like pretending your book is your baby or puppy, or anything that needs care and nourishment.

It's a book. I know you love it, but get over it. This part of the process -- the submission process -- is not about how much you love your book. It's about how publishable your book is, and if you're holding onto it that tightly, you're going to be very disappointed.

--

And now I'd better get back to work. there's a lot of stuff that needs reading here...

 I have codes.   I'm screening responses.  Leave me an E-mail address.

 

I wanted to love your yummy angel food goodness, but alas you have forsaken me.


I have a bottle of Monster Bait: Underbed, and it is full to just above the label.  The label is not perfect, and has a piece of tape over it. Looks a bit like someone tried to take the tape off, and a bit of the label raised.  I can send a picture if you need to see it.

I want any of the following in bottles...not looking to make a killing or anything, just want something that actually works on me...:)

Tezcatlipoca
Calico Jack
How doth the little crocodile
Stinky
Kathmandu
Ultraviolet
Golden Priapus
Utrennyaya
Hellhound on my Trail
L'Autunno
TKO
Fruitcake
Castistas Bath Oil
Ice Queen

One of my favorite memories of Wiscon 1 is the movie "Protein Systhesis" with a football field of people acting out the roles of various molecules.
I've just run into Synaptic Cleft by the Glut-Tang Clan, with Bobby Voltage, Sarah Tonin, Nitrous Pop'n'Oxide, Dope A. Mean, etc.

I'll never forgive hagbarc for introducing me to this.



Starts slow, picks up laer.

It has been a busy, busy week chez Jonquil and I had downloaded and transcoded Children of Earth but not yet watched.  Thanks to the unanimous opinion of my friendslist, that's five hours of my life I can spend elsewhere. 

P.S.   I'm retreating into comfort TV, the perfect examples being Poirot and Midsomer Murders, which are 90% about the decor and the dialogue; nobody you care about dies and everything turns out well-ish in the end.   This week's Torchwood, I am told, fails to qualify.

http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2009/07/11/another-giveaway-favourite-dialogue-updated/

http://justinelarbalestier.com/?p=5318

But first, Morgan, one of the winners of the last giveaway, still hasn’t contacted me. Please do so! Your copy of Love is Hell and the Liar sampler awaits!

Once again the giveaway is based around a post I’ve been meaning to write for ages on dialogue. Way back in January when I did my whole month of writing advice I promised I’d write a whole post about how to write dialogue. But it never happened. I have started such a post but I has not finished it. Sorry!

In the comments please share your favourite bit of dialogue from literature. I’m using that term very broadly, so, yes you can include an exchange from any genre: YA, crime, romance, sf, fantasy, even capital L Literachure if you must, or from a comic book or manga or manhwa.

But no movies or television—literature only. If you give an example from a movie or TV show you’ll disqualify yourself from getting a prize.

This time all winners will get a Liar sampler and their choice of one of the following:

Advanced Reader Copy of First Kiss anthology signed by me and Scott
US or Aus paperback Magic Lessons (sequel to Magic or Madness)
US or Aus paperback Magic’s Child (sequel to Magic Lessons)
HC Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction

I’m really looking forward to your responses.

Update: Please don’t leave your email address in the comments. Best to beware of spambots.

I may have given the cat too much nip to get him into the bag. He was being paranoid and panting at the vet's. Oops. He has good news/bad news with his ears. I knew it wasn't totally good news because his ears still flick repeatedly some days, but he's all better with the scratching and shaking his head stuff. Good news is: no more bacteria in the ears. bad news is: still yeast. Worse news: Twice daily drops for the next month. meeeeeeh. I just *barely* managed the month of daily drops. But I will persevere, damnit, and in three weeks I will call the vet and tell him ALL BETTER!

Amusingly enough, I was checking out at the same time as another woman with a cat. So I think I hear the receptionist say "Okie" and I look up, but someone else is handing over a card, etc. So clearly I was wrong. I wait my turn, and the other receptionist waits on me, and starts looking for my bill and she can't find it. So she finally says to the other receptionist, "I think you're checking out the wrong animal."

"No, no, it's Okie, right?" she says to the other woman, and she says, "No, Loki. Like the Norse god." Oh, the hilarity that ensued. (that might be pushing it, but there was a bit of slapstick receptionist swapping.) It was then decided that the two pets must never again be scheduled for the same time.

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/019803.html

Older hipster film snob: I am trying to watch all those movies they made about the Iraq War in the last few years. I just finished rendition and I thought Stop Loss was this really poignant picture of the way soldiers have dealt with the renewed tours.
Friend: Oh, yeah? You know what movie looks really good? I think it is still in theaters. Dance Flick.

--Metropolitan Museum of Art

 Via the Angry Black Woman.  Go, read about what could happen to any American.

The mountain of things what get signed slowly abates. I need to have it in the mail today.



We watched Cube last night.

brunch on the porch







I've been listening to Royksopp's cool song "What Else Is There?" and thought I'd see if I liked anything else of theirs so I went to iTunes but all the songs have very long intros --all longer than the sample, so you basically get 30 seconds of "oompa oompa ooompa" and then it fades out. iTunes should grab their samples from the middle

I should be signing stuff, but Milla wants me to scratch her head and she's very persistent.

Karndilla has taken to calling Rugrat Brotherman. This is funnier than you think, because as near as I can tell he's doing it because of his new superhero fixation. So, Spiderman, Superman, and Brotherman are his favorite words. Rugrat is amused. Personally I think these people are all crazy. Today's plans include writing, a possible trip to the park, and a nap after the sky decided to put on a very special show last night. You?

This from the Latest News column on CNN.com's front page this morning:

CNN Wire: Obama: Too many Africans...

Awesome job, CNN.com editors.

Click here to see the actual headline.

( I want an Ana icon )

( I also want an Evangeline icon )

( And I want one about the two sisters being, well, sisters. )

So, yeah. Three icons.

Looking back at all these old pictures is making me realize something. Two things.

A? I need to take more pictures more often.
B? I sure do take a lot of pictures of the girls with various friends sitting on our porch! You'd think we'd keep it a little better looking....

It's like this: beep beep beep beep beep beep beep

Sound familiar?

Poll #1428331 What's that beeping?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

There's a distant beeping. What is it?

After the outpouring of love I've both gotten to both watch and be part of I've been wracking my brain for a way to step up and join in. I'm living in Korea for a year teaching so I'm not flush with any sort of smelly, impy products to donate. All my donatables are in storage in Texas. And then it dawned on me. Back at the beginning of that sentence. I'm living in Korea for a year -- which is not something a lot of people get to do, and people have been offering up all sorts of beautiful, random things.

So I'm offering a drawing for a small box full of delightful Korean things. It will have all sorts of things unpicked yet -- possibilities will be endless and the box will be one of kind. It could have silk bags, tiny bound books, key charms, teas, books, chop sticks, pictures, only seen here candies, or anything that strikes my fancy until the box is filled a week after the drawing ends.

Everyone is welcome to this drawing, which I'll get one of my coworkers to pick the number for in two days. Anyone can have one number, unfairy'd people may have two, and the people who were swaplifted may have three. Pick a number between 1-100. Either on the number or the closest number to wins.

More with rovinghorse.com henna - this time a horse, of course! Models - Zoe Stuckless and Elise Morris. Horse - Abbey the Appaloosa. Location - OR Coast. Retouching - leemoyer.com.

I have added new pages to Of Oysters, Pearls and Magic, namely:

1. Map.
2. Flora and Fauna.
3. Characters.
4. World Building.

Added information and a map to Flora and Fauna, Characters and Map respectively. Still need some work on World Building. Warning: The map is only a rough sketch - I ain't good and I am not a mapmaker by trade. ;)

Yesterday I used half an hour of my time-to-myself to take a short walk through one of the neighborhoods near the grocery...mostly because I was tired at staring close-in. I wanted to look up and out and around.

It was gray out, that particular gray you get only when it's trying to storm but the air is so saturated already the heat can't quite build enough to set it off. It's a very particular feeling, uncertain and frustrated and tired, as if the sky is having a bad day. But the humidity and cloud-cover de-saturate all the colors, which makes their patterns so much more noticeable. I spent the walk staring at shapes and being astonished at how detailed/frilly/ornate the world is.


This twisted branch was clinging to a wall. Look at that splendid rotation, intertwining, and the repeating pattern of the leaves!


This delicate arch of trees looked almost door-like to me. It made me wonder what would happen if I stepped through.


You'd think Florida would be full of flowers... but there's so much green everywhere that most flowers get lost. I saw this spray (again, clinging to another wall) and thought I'd remember it.


Just look at this! My eyes get lost following the lines. It's so intricate! One becomes aware, wandering, that color intensity and saturation often help our eyes focus on a particular place. With the light so dim, everything gets lost in the detail.


Finally, I took this shot of the growth next to the parking lot to show you why I don't think about hiking in Florida. You'd need a machete. The middle of that image is about waist-height on me; not only are those some seriously tall plants, but they grow across one another as well as up from the ground. It would be like pushing through a web.

I got back from that walk with a lot to think about: how the world is a lot more ornate than I think it is, and how light and color often distract the eye from detail. We throw out a lot of information when we process visual data (any data, for sooth, but the walk had me thinking about visuals). How astonishing to have gotten this glimpse of the world without some of those distractions!


Stardancer Home.

Watching Man vs. Wild leaves me continually flabbergasted. Because they drop Bear Grylls into some Godforsaken wilderness with nothing more than a knife, and he uses that knife to make whatever he needs. He makes a little tent out of evergreen twigs. He makes an impromptu coat out of a dead deer. He makes a rotisserie for his fish to cook on.

And then, when he's done, he just leaves them there.

Every time, as he walks away, I'm like, "You built that! Take it with you! You might need it - and don't you want a souvenir of this time here?" But no; Bear walks away without a care, leaving the thing he made behind.

I cannot understand that.

I come from a family of hoarders. When we finally moved my Grammy and Grampop out of their house to bring them to the nursing home, it took three large dumpsters to clear the detritus. I remember clearing out old business correspondence from the attic with my cousin ("Dec 6th, 1952: This is to confirm I have to received your letter") and saying to her, "Well, they kept everything but the kitchen sink." And then, not ten minutes later, discovering two kitchen sinks in a back closet. One had a hole in it. But it might have been useful later on, you know. You could have patched that up.

So when Bear just walks away from that ladder he lashed together from twigs and vines, leaving it behind as if it's nothing more than a pile of twigs and vines, I'm aghast. "Don't you want that?" I cry. "You never know when you'll need a broken ladder!" And inexplicably, I feel sorry for the ladder. Bear made it, he gifted it with life, and now this poor ladder is sitting in the wilderness, never to be useful again. Never mind that it was never useful in the first place - it broke before he could climb across the river to the cave - but Bear never gave it a second chance, man. I imagine the ladder feels pretty terrible about that.

Then I wonder whether this is some bizarre function of human nature. I didn't grow up in the wilderness; I had the suburbs, where the only living nonhuman creatures were dogs and squirrels and little brown birds, and that was pretty much it. Do we have some innate instinct to look for life around us? In my vaccuum of wildlife, did I map a form of low-grade sentience onto my books (who wanted to be read) and my stools (who meant to bark my shin) and my videogames (who felt left out when I didn't play with them) just because my lizard brain couldn't comprehend the vaccuum of life surrounding me? Or is that my hoarder family instinct giving me an excuse - the world itself wants to be with me! I can't just leave it behind!

Bear Grylls doesn't care. The man has no trinkets, no nostalgia, no additional weight; when it's done, he moves on, leaving a trail of Stuff that instantly decays into detritus. I admire it, even as I can't understand it.

Returned to the river again yesterday to see how far I could get. This was as far upriver as I was able to go in my kayak. Had to clamber over twelve beaver dams and six downed trees to get to this remote spot. Lovely place: pitcher plants were everywhere, some pitchers reaching almost a foot in length. It was as if the past two centuries never happened. No evidence of human beings anywhere.

So: can you find the snake in this picture?