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A Small Grey Lioness Has Despawned
Jan. 11th, 2015 10:05 pmRIP Willow, 1999 - 2015.
If we hadn't adopted her, she'd've been put down in a couple of days, with all the other cats from the shelter as a major respiratory virus went through.
The first vet we talked to, who worked with us and several friends to nurse her through that virus, told us that we shouldn't expect her to live past three; she was just too young when the virus hit, and it would interfere with her growth and with her eating patterns, and the relapses and the secondary infections would do a number on her.
She made it to fifteen.
( Rambling and memories )
If we hadn't adopted her, she'd've been put down in a couple of days, with all the other cats from the shelter as a major respiratory virus went through.
The first vet we talked to, who worked with us and several friends to nurse her through that virus, told us that we shouldn't expect her to live past three; she was just too young when the virus hit, and it would interfere with her growth and with her eating patterns, and the relapses and the secondary infections would do a number on her.
She made it to fifteen.
( Rambling and memories )
The Inevitable Bond Rant
Nov. 26th, 2012 12:55 pmSo, Skyfall.
Again, I have been seeing a lot of people bitch about Skyfall and misogyny. And yes, it is a Bond movie, so to a large extent women are Going To Be There and Going To Be Disposable, and they will stand out because we will pay attention to them and their names and their story and not to the Also Disposable men; so while there is always going to be misogyny there, it's largely a part of the Bond universe pretty much slaughtering everybody in the area.
But there are places where I'm not sure I actually saw the same movie as other people, because there's a lot of the bitching I kinda disagree with.
( Spoilers, as per usual )
Again, I have been seeing a lot of people bitch about Skyfall and misogyny. And yes, it is a Bond movie, so to a large extent women are Going To Be There and Going To Be Disposable, and they will stand out because we will pay attention to them and their names and their story and not to the Also Disposable men; so while there is always going to be misogyny there, it's largely a part of the Bond universe pretty much slaughtering everybody in the area.
But there are places where I'm not sure I actually saw the same movie as other people, because there's a lot of the bitching I kinda disagree with.
( Spoilers, as per usual )
Memeage:
"It's international book week. Grab the closest book to you, turn to page 52, post the 5th sentence as your status. Don't mention the title. [well, I broke that "rule" already]. Copy the rules as part of your status."
Several books equally distant, so have five from the stack:
"They even went on to banish the professors of philosophy and exile all honourable accomplishments, so that nothing decent might anywhere confront them."
"'Per degree of planetary warming, it's even more costly than repairing -- or enlarging -- the soletta array, something for which we've been petitioning the Imperium for years.'"
"That is possibly why Verity Lambert intuitively was uneasy with the third Doctor who lost his 'anti-establishment' character and was at risk of becoming identified with the needs of the military and government."
"I dragged my right foot forward, knowing how Benedict must have felt, his legs snared by the black grass."
"The burgeoning number of obscene valentines caused several countries to ban the practice of exchanging cards."
"It's international book week. Grab the closest book to you, turn to page 52, post the 5th sentence as your status. Don't mention the title. [well, I broke that "rule" already]. Copy the rules as part of your status."
Several books equally distant, so have five from the stack:
"They even went on to banish the professors of philosophy and exile all honourable accomplishments, so that nothing decent might anywhere confront them."
"'Per degree of planetary warming, it's even more costly than repairing -- or enlarging -- the soletta array, something for which we've been petitioning the Imperium for years.'"
"That is possibly why Verity Lambert intuitively was uneasy with the third Doctor who lost his 'anti-establishment' character and was at risk of becoming identified with the needs of the military and government."
"I dragged my right foot forward, knowing how Benedict must have felt, his legs snared by the black grass."
"The burgeoning number of obscene valentines caused several countries to ban the practice of exchanging cards."
(no subject)
Jul. 28th, 2012 12:28 amWhy is the entire Internet apparently convinced that DKR Bruce Wayne rendered Selina Kyle into a declawed housewife, when she's the one who convinced Bruce freaking Wayne to run off with her, ditch all of his responsibilities, and do whatever the hell they wanted?
Are we so unused to seeing the woman win that people have actually lost the ability to read it that way?
Are we so unused to seeing the woman win that people have actually lost the ability to read it that way?
Commentary on Brave
Jul. 16th, 2012 03:45 amNow that the comments about more than the most superficial reading of Brave have made it out into actual news articles, I'd like to point out one more thing that the writers were really good about. Almost certainly there's been dissection of it elsewhere, but I haven't seen it yet, so I'm going to talk about it some.
( Spammily, and unedited. Sorry about that. )
( Spammily, and unedited. Sorry about that. )
(no subject)
Jul. 8th, 2011 03:42 pmAs a child, I watched the first Columbia launch with my family -- sitting in a room with a battered green carpet, watching a television that was Amazing because it had a remote control with three whole buttons. (I could barely press the buttons down for years; they took a fair amount of finger strength.) My brother adjusted the antenna by hand.
As an adult, I watched the last Atlantis launch with my brother -- sitting in the same room with the same battered green carpet, watching CNN over a fiberoptic connection and using a laptop via wifi and the Internet to get other camera views.
Sometimes we forget that we're living in the future.
As an adult, I watched the last Atlantis launch with my brother -- sitting in the same room with the same battered green carpet, watching CNN over a fiberoptic connection and using a laptop via wifi and the Internet to get other camera views.
Sometimes we forget that we're living in the future.
Fair Warning
Feb. 3rd, 2011 09:21 pmI am experimenting with the Sim Hospital LJ game. If it throws you anything annoying, please accept my apologies in advance, and let me know so I can kick it to the curb. XD
Okay, It's Been A While
Apr. 23rd, 2010 09:56 pm(Seen in passing on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
incandescens' journal.)
Give me an AU and I'll write you a short scene from it.
It can be an AU with a change of events ("What if X had followed Y's order to stay in position?"), or an AU with a different setting ("What if Sakura was looking for feathers in the Doctor Who universe?"), or a direct crossover if you want.
Fandoms, within limitations of Those Bits I Happen To Remember, include but are not necessarily limited to: Amber, Babylon 5, Doctor Who, DCU, Marvel UK, X-Men, various RP, 'fic, and stuff I've geeked at you about. (There are rather more fandoms I know bits and pieces about...)
incandescens' journal.)Give me an AU and I'll write you a short scene from it.
It can be an AU with a change of events ("What if X had followed Y's order to stay in position?"), or an AU with a different setting ("What if Sakura was looking for feathers in the Doctor Who universe?"), or a direct crossover if you want.
Fandoms, within limitations of Those Bits I Happen To Remember, include but are not necessarily limited to: Amber, Babylon 5, Doctor Who, DCU, Marvel UK, X-Men, various RP, 'fic, and stuff I've geeked at you about. (There are rather more fandoms I know bits and pieces about...)
One Week After
Mar. 22nd, 2010 01:01 pmI feel like I should be recording the entire ordeal here for my own future reference.
But for now I will only say:
Kidney stones SUCK.
But for now I will only say:
Kidney stones SUCK.
(no subject)
Feb. 11th, 2010 12:13 pmHey, deireanach, another followup to a conversation some time back: apparently a study in Samoa has provided evidence for the kin-selection hypothesis as a method of conserving hereditary male homosexuality in a population.
(Which is totally polysyllabic code for "apparently gay men really do make the BEST uncles.")
deireanach, another followup to a conversation some time back: apparently a study in Samoa has provided evidence for the kin-selection hypothesis as a method of conserving hereditary male homosexuality in a population.(Which is totally polysyllabic code for "apparently gay men really do make the BEST uncles.")
(no subject)
Oct. 28th, 2009 05:39 pmWASHINGTON – Trumpeting a victory against careless spending, President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed a defense bill that kills some costly weapons projects and expands war efforts. In a major civil rights change, the law also makes it a federal hate crime to assault people based on sexual orientation.... The measure expands current hate crimes law to include violence based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.... A priority of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., that had been on the congressional agenda for a decade, the measure is named for Matthew Shepard, the gay Wyoming college student murdered 11 years ago.
I'd talk, but I'm crying.
I'd talk, but I'm crying.
Today In The Life, &C.
Oct. 24th, 2009 11:40 pm6 AM: Crawl out of bed after sleep in two bouts, one consisting of 2 1/2 hours and one consisting of just under half an hour.
7:32 AM: Pick up person I'm giving a ride -- only 12 minutes late despite zombiegirlness.
8:45 AM: Arrive on site 15 minutes before target time before being 12 minutes late. AWESOME.
10 AM: Take class on the construction of what amounts to 13th-century socks, the difference between the usual ways men and women wore them, and the difference in styles between 13th and 14th century versions. Class detours kind of awesomely into 13th-century undergarments in general and bogs down for several minutes in indignant jealousy over the convenience factor of external genitalia. :D 4 pages of notes.
11 AM: Take class that amounts to "here, have a massive list of cool manuscripts to look at." No pages of notes, but really big handouts.
12 noon: Realize that both of the people with the condition that requires us to avoid a common food ingredient forgot to tell the cook. Admire the REALLY AWESOME FOOD, run out to get lunch that will not cripple us.
1 PM: Sort out all the money issues. Get squeed at by the cook for us all being organized enough to get her a check on the same day. Squee back at the cook over the REALLY AWESOME FOOD. Twice over when I realize said REALLY AWESOME FOOD was done on a budget of A DOLLAR AND FORTY-FIVE CENTS PER PERSON. Get totally distracted by foodgeeking, then totally distracted by a random woman with a top-whorl spindle, which is a type I haven't learned to use yet.
2 PM: Take class on Or Nue shaded-goldwork embroidery. ... a hands-on class. It is technically an hour long. I wind up sitting there for twice that time because it is so pretty and appeals so strongly to my 'put tiny things meticulously in order' instincts that I finally have to put the embroidery down because you cannot organize tiny little stitches to tug carefully at gold threads without ever crossing the threads or letting any of the ground fabric be seen if you are tearing up from happy while squinting at it.
4 PM: Finish up planning how to deal with checks and reports, some of which have a Looming Due Date. Drive home.
5:15 PM: Arrive home 2 1/2 hours earlier than expected.
7 PM ?: Keel over completely unconscious for a couple hours.
So pleased. So very very very pleased. I wish Or Nue photographed/scanned well -- it doesn't, and it's only by comparing a half-dozen photos of the same piece that you start to get the idea of exactly how beautiful it is; it sparkles and steals your breath and has this incredible illusion of texture and depth, and complicated versions have almost more to do with painting than with embroidery -- on the practice piece that I was given I am about to hit the place where the advantages of Or Nue really start to show, bringing in a second color, and I am really tempted to experiment with the shading potentials of it on the fly.
And this from something that I wanted to take only because of its relationship to Opus Anglicanum, which is also incredibly gorgeous but in a different way despite both of them being just goldwork couching techniques. ("Just.")
Want to go back and work on it more right now, but it's dark out and I don't have good light. Want to work on it anyway. It's the time of year where I start not feeling right without something in my hands.
7:32 AM: Pick up person I'm giving a ride -- only 12 minutes late despite zombiegirlness.
8:45 AM: Arrive on site 15 minutes before target time before being 12 minutes late. AWESOME.
10 AM: Take class on the construction of what amounts to 13th-century socks, the difference between the usual ways men and women wore them, and the difference in styles between 13th and 14th century versions. Class detours kind of awesomely into 13th-century undergarments in general and bogs down for several minutes in indignant jealousy over the convenience factor of external genitalia. :D 4 pages of notes.
11 AM: Take class that amounts to "here, have a massive list of cool manuscripts to look at." No pages of notes, but really big handouts.
12 noon: Realize that both of the people with the condition that requires us to avoid a common food ingredient forgot to tell the cook. Admire the REALLY AWESOME FOOD, run out to get lunch that will not cripple us.
1 PM: Sort out all the money issues. Get squeed at by the cook for us all being organized enough to get her a check on the same day. Squee back at the cook over the REALLY AWESOME FOOD. Twice over when I realize said REALLY AWESOME FOOD was done on a budget of A DOLLAR AND FORTY-FIVE CENTS PER PERSON. Get totally distracted by foodgeeking, then totally distracted by a random woman with a top-whorl spindle, which is a type I haven't learned to use yet.
2 PM: Take class on Or Nue shaded-goldwork embroidery. ... a hands-on class. It is technically an hour long. I wind up sitting there for twice that time because it is so pretty and appeals so strongly to my 'put tiny things meticulously in order' instincts that I finally have to put the embroidery down because you cannot organize tiny little stitches to tug carefully at gold threads without ever crossing the threads or letting any of the ground fabric be seen if you are tearing up from happy while squinting at it.
4 PM: Finish up planning how to deal with checks and reports, some of which have a Looming Due Date. Drive home.
5:15 PM: Arrive home 2 1/2 hours earlier than expected.
7 PM ?: Keel over completely unconscious for a couple hours.
So pleased. So very very very pleased. I wish Or Nue photographed/scanned well -- it doesn't, and it's only by comparing a half-dozen photos of the same piece that you start to get the idea of exactly how beautiful it is; it sparkles and steals your breath and has this incredible illusion of texture and depth, and complicated versions have almost more to do with painting than with embroidery -- on the practice piece that I was given I am about to hit the place where the advantages of Or Nue really start to show, bringing in a second color, and I am really tempted to experiment with the shading potentials of it on the fly.
And this from something that I wanted to take only because of its relationship to Opus Anglicanum, which is also incredibly gorgeous but in a different way despite both of them being just goldwork couching techniques. ("Just.")
Want to go back and work on it more right now, but it's dark out and I don't have good light. Want to work on it anyway. It's the time of year where I start not feeling right without something in my hands.
