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Jen la plej lastatempaj 25 enskriboj de geamikoj.

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Mon, 2009-12-28
naomiii	10:52	oil lamp sick of people and situations now (although christmas went really well, that wasn't the issue). suddenly i want a piano again? (Komentu)
_fool	01:14	some things i learned in and out of school ( some background that you may not care about ) ( my life in high school ) ( the set-up ) at this point, it's just me, Mr. Moore, and Tyler, who is of the aforementioned "in kindergarten when i graduated" category, and Tyler and i trade tales of how much Mr. Moore influenced us, between Mr. Moore telling stories about how students influenced him, in a kind of roundabout way. and those are the tales i set out to tell you tonight, as they seemed so momentous and, well, influential, even as i drove home soberly. but when i got home last night i couldn't bring myself to write any of them. one reason was that i was feeling tired and less articulate. a better reason was that i was afraid they wouldn't stand up to retelling, that they were "you had to be there" moments. but now on an airplane alone and surrounded by strangers, i feel up to giving the retelling another try. so bear with me and accept my apologies if they don't hold up, because at this point i have to get them down, and out. for me if not you. the one that i retold a few times last night was that Moore, despite, i think, never being my teacher (maybe for a quarter or two, instead of PE, but never as a full-year class with a grade that really mattered academically), left me with a concise and frequently useful lesson. he had an...annoying and endearing habit of going ballistic once per production (for that was all drama class was--the rehearsal, setup, and staging of productions on stage and open to the public). just bawling us out for something we frequently didn't understand. and the memorable one was a show where i was the quasi-lead (it was not a play with a clear leading role, but i was on stage for almost the whole time. the lottery, and i was the mayor, for those who might care) anyway, after dress rehearsal, he sat us down in the audience seats, and got on stage, and just harangued us. "there is one person in this room with a reasonable, a worthwhile, a usable and acceptable amount of ENERGY. and he is talking right now." it's true--our energy was not on display that night. and so we all (i really do think, all of us) reached inside and found more energy. maybe not the amount he was hoping for, but enough. and that production went off pretty well. the lesson i took away was that when my audience (be it me or many), sometimes, just really believing and feeling and then ACTING that belief would impart enough energy to the process of whatever i was doing to make it engaging and interesting. sometimes that turns out not to work, or i can't just *snap* summon the energy. but i have another tool in the toolbox for turning a situation that isn't working into one that does. the one that i heard from Mr. Moore is that he did what he thought was best despite what other teachers/administrators thought, and it seemed to work by and large for his students--i didn't meet a single boring person there last night. people with boring jobs (hey, like me!), sure, but the people were real, sincere, feeling, and caring. and Moore wasn't the only cause. but he was definitely a big part. a part that stuck with everyone there, unlike, say my well-meaning and nice and good spanish teachers, say. or one terrible english teacher, who failed to serve even as a good counterexample to a good life somehow. the one i heard from Tyler is that Moore pushed him and he ended up doing what he loves (well, for now). wish I could find something more profound to say. but i think that'll do for now. thanks, Mr. Moore, and a cast of hundreds (thousands?) from his tenure at TVS. (Komentu)
Sun, 2009-12-27
silona	21:00	tweetledee or tweetledum? 18:16 SO TRUE! RT @mediajunkie After the shoe bomber incident I used to joke that at least he hadn't been the underpants bomber. Oh well. # 18:37 I have a crush on #JasperSchuringa I already love the Dutch this just cements it. I so need to do a codeathon there :-) ow.ly/Qgg8 # Automatically posted by LoudTwitter (Komentu)
jaylake	11:52	[cancer] at 7 pm, a main hatchway caved in; he said fellas it's been good to know ya I work pretty damned hard at being strong and smart about all this cancer stuff, but sometimes the horror of it all overtakes me again, flashing by like an S-class Mercedes on the autobahn. Then all I've got left in my hand is tears. Oh, well. At least I was in the shower. And it proves I still have a heart.
jaylake	05:43	[cancer] Life changes, the smaller kind; potty talk edition I've been talking a lot lately about sex and cancer, about the overwhelming aspects of chemo, the impact of cancer on my circle of intimates, friends and family. But it has had other, less obviously dramatic impacts on my life, some of which are still very strong. One of the most basic changes is not particularly TMI, which is that my sleep metabolism shifted substantially after the colonic resectioning of May, 2008. When I emerged from the immediate post-operative recovery period (during which one sleeps twelve or fourteen hours a day, or more), I found myself sleeping six hours per night instead of my classic seven and half or eight. This was a welcome surprise, and I immediately leveraged it to expand and firm up my exercise regimen. So one of the frustrations of this round of surgery has been the intense oversleeping during recovery. I'm down now to six or seven hours per night, which tells me I'm at the tail end of the substantial recovery. Which is to say, I still have healing wounds, internal pain, range of motion issues, etc., but I'm a lot more myself. One of my chemo fears is that the sleep will spiral back up. Fatigue and lassitude are classic, and basic, side effects of chemotherapy. Because I use those waking hours. That's how I sustain a Day Jobbe, parenting, a writing career, a love life, a social life, and still get laundry done. I'm not superhuman, I'm just awake and energetic more than most people. The eighteen hours a day I've been used to was a gift of the first Excellent Cancer Adventure. This round of New Adventures in Cancer threatens to take it away. Not pleased, me. Not pleased. ( Under cut for digestive health TMI. ) (Komentoj: 20 |Komentu)
jaylake	05:19	[photos] Your Sunday moment of zen Your Sunday moment of zen. Wildlife in rural Montana. © 2006, 2009 Joseph E. Lake, Jr. This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. (Komentoj: 3 |Komentu)
jaylake	05:13	[links] Link salad looks forward to a lazy Sunday manmela with a mixed reaction to Mainspring [ Powell's | Amazon thb | Barnes & Noble | Borders | Audible ] Ta-Nehisi Coates shows Herman Melville some literary love Vintage Soviet era holiday cars — And more of them!. Stastliva nova godina, y'all. 12 'sexy' ads that will give you nightmares — Decidedly NSFW link. Brain bleach may be required. You have been warned. (Thanks, I think, to wllyumtx.) Get your mass handed to you — Higgs boson for sale on eBay.uk, via Bad Astronomy. I love geek humor. And speaking of geek humor, Science Tattoo Emporium — Now that be some awesome ink. (Via Language Log.) Applied Materials moves solar expertise to China — Along with their CTO. A major American high tech manufacturer has shifted their innovation center of gravity to China. A powerfully symbolic move that is part of a process that has been going on for years, but what does that say about this country's role in shaping the future? ?otD: What did you give for Boxing Day? 12/27/2009 Body movement: n/a (60 minute urban walk forthcoming) Hours slept: 6.75 This morning's weigh-in: 225.5 Currently reading: Living With Ghosts by Kari Sperring (Komentoj: 1 |Komentu)
Sat, 2009-12-26
zainybrain	22:56	Recovering from Christmas In some ways, being the home the family comes to for the gifts and the meal and snacks means you don't have to get up to travel on Christmas morning. But you still get up early to prepare the vegetables and roast beast and put them in the crock pot. (The crock pot I got last Christmas, btw.) And you spend a lot of time dusting and sweeping and mopping the day before so the place is (relatively) cat-hair free. And if you're like me, even though you can't eat things made with flour, you cook up some homemade goodies to have to snack on. Didn't make the homemade toffee I usually do, but did make a batch of Le Far Breton, the French custard card from my friend's family recipe that's full of egg and milky goodness with cinnamon on top! And banana nut bread and hot rolls. All this on Christmas Eve, plus then I went to a friend's annual party But all went well, and the meal was deliciious and served right at 12:30 so that was successful! My gifts were successful too, which is the biggest deal of Christmas for me. Even though they were disappointing in their lack of bulk, so I didn't have the spread of stuff under the tree like in previous years. But my niece and nephew are in high school and all they want are pieces of paper (a year subscription to XBox Live and an Old Navy gift certificate). And my mom asked for a gift certificate for her favorite shop. My sister got a Dave & Busters gift certificate so she can take the 2 teenage kids out for food and arcade games. My brother, who doesn't ask for much and lives a very frugal life, had his ancient TV break on him a few weeks ago. So his holiday gift was my mom and me sharing the cost of a 42-inch flatscreen HDTV. I printed a picture of it and put it in an envelope under the tree to act as a symbol of the Christmas gift. Plus I got him 2 weird old horror DVDs. And got my mom a fancy old lady leisure outfit in black velvet with leopard trim as well as the gift certificate. Me, got the new sonic toothbrush I asked Santa for, plus a gizmo that turns my car radio into a speaker for my cell phone and a gift certificate to Massage Envy. Earlier I'd gotten some cool books and games and scarves and candies from various friends... My Christmas gift to myself* was a mac PowerBook my friend Bryan got me at the price Apple dealers pay. It's the just-previous version, but that's okay because it's 5 lbs and wifi'd and cool! Still one big gift exchange with my pal Leslie too... I got her a nifty 7-inch TV. Curious to see how that goes over... Then the days right after Christmas are my favorite time to freshen my winter wardrobe. Found a cool wooly sweater at 40% off and a gorgeous black-floral velvet skirt and red top I can wear with my knee-high boots that I gifted myself with last Christmas! And of course I find Christmas cards at discount now for Christmas 2010. Would've called friends about seeing a movie today (UP IN THE AIR is my top pick) but the cedar fevers got me and I been sneezing and honking since yesterday evening. I won't disturb others in the theater when I have so many DVDs I bought and haven't watched yet. Such as.... the full season of FIREFLY! Only saw the initial episode and was "mehhh." But really liked the feature-length movie. Oh, and I've started working on my PINKY BLACK novel again. W00t! Happy Seasons Greetings to all! *I used to have a rule that it didn't count as a Christmas gift if it was also a tax write-off, but it was a hard year for the finances so the MacBook is it! Aktuala Mood: productive (Komentu)
gwalla	20:55	Christmas haul What I got this Christmas: Books: The Metamorphoses of Tintin, or Tintin for Adults by Jean-Marie Apostolidès Cocktail Boothby's American Bar-Tender by William T. "Cocktail" Boothby ("Endorsed by all Clubmen and Mixologists") CDs The Ventures - Walk Don't Run: The Best of The Ventures Devin Townsend - Ziltoid the Omniscient Vijay Iyer Trio - Historicity and a Slinky. Also, new suits in preparation for an upcoming job interview. Not shown because I'll be picking them up on Tuesday. I got my dad several jazz CDs: The Man Who Cried Fire by Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Guitar by McCoy Tyner (featuring Bela Fleck, Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, John Scofield, and Derek Trucks), and a box set of Sonny Stitt (with booklet by Harvey Pekar). For my mom it was books: the Oxford Book of English Verse, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and Ursula Vernon's Irrational Fears. Dinner was our traditional Christmas spread: roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, stuffed mushrooms, and creamed spinach garnished with hard-boiled egg yolks and toast stars. This year mom supplemented the usual menu with homemade dinner rolls. Dessert was a trifle made with custard, pound cake, sherry, sour cherry jam, and Cherry Heering. I hope you all had a merry Christmas! Aktuala Mood: happy (Komentoj: 3 |Komentu)
jaylake	19:40	[personal] Miscellaneous Boxing Day Updatery calendula_witch explains today better than I can. Easy travel (relatively), quiet day, family stuff. All quiet here in the Witchnest, with the_child watching anime on her laptop and me about to sink back into Living With Ghosts, a very fine book by la_marquise_de_. Most importantly, I'm back with calendula_witch. Yay! (Komentoj: 3 |Komentu)
mdf356	14:07	Why I hate the holidays ... because everyone is off work. Including the car repair shop and the car rental place. Yesterday (i.e Christmas evening) the car started, I put it in reverse, the engine died, and now it cranks but won't start. Our repair shop is closed until Jan 4th. We may have another one, but they're closed today, and tomorrow (Sunday), so the soonest we can get the car in is Monday. The car rental place was closed yesterday and tomorrow, and was open today from 9-noon... which I discovered at 12:25. On the plus side, since we didn't really buy any gifts for people this year, we can probably afford to get the car fixed, whatever is wrong with it. It's still an annoying kick in the teeth. (Komentoj: 1 |Komentu)
jaylake	10:33	[awards] A bit more on eligibility Apparently two of my 2008 novellas, "America, Such as She Is" (from Alembical), and "In the Forests of the Night" (from METAtropolis) are currently Nebula eligible, due to a fillip in the rule changeover. If you're a SFWA member and would like to see either of them, please let me know. (Komentoj: 1 |Komentu)
lrcutter	07:56	Disappointment Not in Christmas with my family -- no. That's been awesome. In myself. I didn't write a lot during December. I was alternately sick and too busy with other things. I didn't even journal. Knew that I needed to -- writing just a small blog post brought me a ton of relief. But was reluctant to face myself. Once I was on the plane to Mpls, though, I pulled out my notebook and started. I realized quickly that I was depressed. My big goal for the year was to finish this novel. And though I was close, I wasn't close enough. So I decided to do something about it. I'm doing a miniwrimo, from now until the end of the year. My goal is to write 2500 words a day, for ten days, and finish this sucker. At least the handwritten part. I'll still have to type it up. I will consider it close enough to done, though. It means writing a lot every day I'm here -- getting up at 6 AM and spending 2-3 hours writing every day. My new goal is to finish the handwritten draft by the time I leave Mpls. I started writing, right there on the plane, on the 24th, and just finished up chapter 13 this morning (approximately 5500 words over three days.) I only managed about 1000 words this morning, however, I did plot out chapter 14, which I needed to do before I could write it anyway. Tomorrow morning I'll get another good run of words in. Though I was unhappy, I'm very pleased, as well as lucky, that I have the emotional latitude and time to fix this for myself. I hope that each and every one of you is having a wonderful, stress-free time. (Komentoj: 4 |Komentu)
jaylake	04:59	[personal] The Day After Christmas 'Twas the Day After Christmas jaylake and the_child Were setting out for a trip On a flight hoped to be mild Novels in the flight bag Nestled safely unread While visions of vacation Danced in the traveler's heads Outside on the runway A wind blew so hard That jaylake wondered If the flight could depart While inside the airport He thought about things About cancer, and writing Shoes and sealing wax, cabbages and kings the_child sat close by A concentrated look on her face Computer on her lap She was in her own space They knew they'd be off soon To see calendula_witch In faraway California From Oregon quite the switch jaylake and his trusty the_child Want everyone to have a happy holiday season Travel safe or stay home happy Whatever the reason (Komentoj: 6 |Komentu)
jaylake	03:23	[photos] Your Saturday moment of zen Your Saturday moment of zen. Rural Montana. © 2006, 2009 Joseph E. Lake, Jr. This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. (Komentoj: 2 |Komentu)
jaylake	03:22	[links] Link salad flies to San Francisco Don't forget the latest caption contest voting poll Vader in the Park — (Thanks, I think, to icedrake.) Calvin and Hobbes on how the rules work — Boy do I kow how that is... Myths of the American Revolution — Interesting history. (Thanks to my Dad.) Rep Michele Bachmann takes in a lot of money via farm subsidies — Pretty nice position for someone who rails constantly against socialism. I realize most conservatives don't define farm subsidies as socialism, but that's just logic chopping to soothe their consciences. Tidings of Comfort — Paul Krugman on healthcare reform. Though I really like this bit: In the past, there was a general understanding, a sort of implicit clause in the rules of American politics, that major parties would at least pretend to distance themselves from irrational extremists. But those rules are no longer operative. No, Virginia, at this point there is no sanity clause. :: waves to conservative America :: ?otD: What the heck *are* comfits, anyway? 12/26/2009 Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike Hours slept: 6.25 This morning's weigh-in: 225.6 Currently reading: (between books) (Komentoj: 5 |Komentu)
naomiii	10:58	door a random photo but symbolic at the moment. tonight is the third christmas dinner in a row. enjoy this image, i'm about to get fat. (it's been an interesting holiday so far). (Komentoj: 8 |Komentu)
lesingesavant	01:37	Too Fat to be a Rockstar: Idol 18b (Komentoj: 1 |Komentu)
Fri, 2009-12-25
_fool	21:33	gaining family, losing tradition spent half of the day yesterday and all of the day today with meredith_mccraw's fiancé Mark's family. this is the first non-nuclear mccraw-family xmas (except for kim delaying it slightly 8 years ago) in a very long time, like, since the 1980's. i wasn't sure how i felt about it beforehand, and afterwards, i just feel drained--i don't mind Mark's family but sitting around chatting for 6 + 12 hours was kind of too much. actually would have been fine with it on another day i guess, but it just wasn't quite as relaxing as i like xmas to be--no time for scrabble and napping, and i escaped to the bathroom to take a shower after dinner just to get some alone time. i think we probably won't do double-family xmas again after the marriage--it was a pain for them to travel down here (from NYC and pittsburgh) and this was kinda a pre-marriage meetup anyhow. i wonder if this, though, is the end of our traditional xmases...which would be ok with me, because i am increasingly sour on the air travel. i love getting together with the whole family but as meredith_mccraw begins the childbearing, it's all going to change anyway so...yeah. i guess i'm pretty blessed to have a family that i love both unconditionally but also practically, so maybe i should be sadder than i am. but i'm sure i'll still see plenty of everyone, somehow. just maybe not twice a year (thanksgiving/xmas) every year from now on. and maybe they'll come to me more, since they obviously don't mind travelling for the most part. so you know, maybe it's not antitradition but time for a new tradition of vegging out or volunteering at a soup kitchen or going skinny dipping. yeah. i'll work on that =) in the meantime, i am very thankful for getting quality time with my quality family. i hope you got something you wanted for xmas--i have all of you and got a few nifty presents to boot. can't wait to give dark_knightly present #2 and casadedoom theirs. that's all the presents i bought this year (save for secret santa), and i'm good with that. yay less materialism & more spirit =) (Komentu)
silona	23:07	3rd tier – love and belonging from Persona Prime at http://silona.org/3rd-tier-love-and-belonging/2009/12/25/ Short post today… for Mazlow’s Hierarchy of needs I have one level covered! and that is love and belonging… I think my family and friends is the main thing that keeps me grounded and sane. I never question that I am loved… Thank you!
jaylake	17:50	[personal|travel] Christmas, and what follows Had a successful Christmas today. the_child did pretty good with her haul, including the crowning glory, a Canon multifunction printer/copier/scanner for her to use in her art projects. Dinner at my parents', where the haul was considerably reinforced. My piece de resistance was the restored 1907 Remington Model 10 typewriter given me by Mother of the Child, though numerous other thoughtful gifts were given and received all around. At 0:dark:stupid tomorrow, the_child and I head for the airport, and off to San Francisco. We'll be connecting with calendula_witch mid-to-late morning. That's my last out of town trip pre-chemo, so I'm looking forward to both the time away and to the memories, if that makes sense. I'm back on the 3rd. shelly_rae is back on the 5th. calendula_witch is back on the 7th. We hit zero hour on the 8th, where the rabbithole gapes open and swallows me whole. Hope everyone has enjoyed a lovely, wonderful holiday season of their preference with persons of loving goodwill. Be well, one and all. (Komentoj: 4 |Komentu)
jaylake	12:55	[photos] A very writerly Christmas gift Mother of the Child gave me a restored 1907 Remington Model 10 typewriter for Christmas. I feel some old, old school steampunk coming on with that baby. This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. (Komentoj: 14 |Komentu)
willyumtx	09:34	New pod at work. Got my new seating/pod assignment earlier this week. Not where I expected, but still, I don't have to share. Yay! The previous occupant was a slob. There were crumbs everywhere and the drawers were sticky on the outside. Nasty. I think they spilled soda on at least one occasion. Why are some people such pigs. Grrrr. Spent quite a while cleaning. Cleaned more last night and vacuumed. It is much much nicer now. My new direct neighbor will be K----- and I've worked with him before. He's a laid back and pretty nice guy. So that's good. It's nice to have an end pod. Room for a plant against the window. I just hope it's not too hot in the summertime. (Komentu)
willyumtx	09:32	Jaw issues. For the past few days, I've had some problems with the left side of my jaw. ( Read more... ) (Komentu)
jaylake	06:22	[photos] Your Friday moment of zen Your Friday moment of zen. Christmas, 1975, in Taipei, Taiwan, photographed by my dad. © 1975, 2009 Joseph E. Lake This work by Joseph E. Lake is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. (Komentu)

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