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Wednesday, May 23, 2012
I'm working on "The Deeps of the Sky" tonight, and generating a regular festival of Words Word Don't Know:
luminesced, tropopause, sheeny, thicks, unnavigable, dartlike,
Meanwhile, I had a little argument with myself on twitter as to whether I should use some modestly bogus science to create a cool special effect. I went with it. ;-) Now I'm stopping because I have to figure out how the protagonist intervenes to stop the Bad Thing from happening, or how he mops up afterward...
Oh, I might have just done so. Woot!
Current mood:  mellow
Tasty, appealing and healthy food has been coming out of my kitchen with regularity! I've had some pleasing successes recently and I will post one of them here!
Turkey Chili (modified from an internet recipe on foodnetwork.com)
Ingredients:
big glug extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, chopped small but not diced
6 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 tablespoon kosher salt
3ish teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cayenne powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (must be unsweetened!)
2 tablespoons tomato paste (or a little more)
2 pounds ground turkey (dark meat only)
12 oz chicken stock (homemade with high gelatin content is best)
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes with juice (I used San Marazano brand - it's the best)
1 regular can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 regular can black beans, rinsed and drained
Directions:
Chop the onion and the garlic and add to a large pan on medium heat in which you've been warming the olive oil. Sauté for about three minutes, then add in the chili powder, cayenne, and oregano. Sauté it all together for another five minutes (or more) until the onions are soft but not floppy and the mix is nicely aromatic. Then, add in the tomato paste and stir together for a minute or two. Shove the mixture to the edges of the pan and then add the ground turkey. It is easier to see if the turkey is done if you cook it in a separate pan but then there are three dirty pots instead of two. :) Cook the turkey in the pan, breaking it up as it cooks, and when it's looking cooked (will turn a whitish color instead of dark pink) mix in the tomato glop from the sides of the pan. Stir together and let cook a few minutes. Then add in the chicken broth. It will be a bit on the wet side now. Stir well and then let simmer until the liquid is reduced by about half. While that is simmering, get a stockpot or other large pot. In the pot put the two cans of beans and the can of tomatoes. Add in the cocoa powder, the salt, and a good shake of black pepper. Bring it up to a simmer. When the meat mix is done, pour it into the stockpot where the beans are. Stir very well, cover loosely, and let simmer. At this point everything is warm and cooked and it's just a matter of bringing the flavors together. The longer it simmers the better it will be. I simmered from this point about an hour and a half. If it's too watery for your taste then simmer with the lid half-cracked and it will reduce faster.
The entire recipe as I made it took about three hours start to finish, but the last hour and a half was just simmering time. About 40 minutes before serving I put the oven rice in. I used a deep casserole dish in a 350˚F oven. 2 cups of long-grain brown rice, rinsed. Add in 4 cups of boiling water, cover tightly (I used foil) and bake 40 minutes. No stirring needed, and it didn't burn. Awesome!
I topped the chili with grated sharp cheddar, chopped scallions, chopped cilantro, and a side of chopped avocado. It was a HUGE hit, and made enough to feed nine hungry ladies with enough for two days of leftovers for both me and Garrett.
Mmmmmmmm.
11:14AM
So, firing someone is hard!
10:35AM
IN SEARCH OF: carpenter/handyperson who can rehang an interior door (to open from the left instead of the right), and can hang a bunch of shelves in a closet. (sadly, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92) hawkhandsaw is not available.)
anyone have a recommendation? preferably available this week or next, so we can use our pantry when we move in.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
I spent the early part of this morning trying on all of the dresses in my closet. (WisCon is a dress-up con.) Due to my weight fluctuation over the years I've been sick, I have a lot of things that need to be let out and a lot of things that need to be taken in; I have very little that actually fits, and what does fit, I've worn to countless cons already. I was feeling desperately cranky. Especially because I knew I really wanted at least one new dress - I have a bookmark folder of dresses from Anthropologie, Modcloth, Trashy Diva, PinUp Girl Clothing. And every so often, over the past few months, I've pulled out the bookmarks and then had to sigh and say no, not yet. Because we moved, and we had upfuckery with some of our utilities, and it's just been one of those years where every time you think you're caught up there is Something Else. And all of the money has been going towards stuff for the household, and I couldn't justify something just for me.
So I tried on a dress, I went to show Judah, and he gave me a critique on it, and I went AUGH and stomped off, because yes it's not perfect, but it fits okay, and I just cannot even. He followed me and we talked out what was bugging me and how much better I'd feel if I just had one dress that fit me and that I hadn't had for years and years. But we were out of time to order anything, so feh.
And he said "I still owe you a birthday gift. Let me buy you a dress."
<3
I fussed at him over spending money on fripperies and he reminded me that this was his money, not mine, and he did owe me a gift, and having a new dress that fits and looks good is obviously psychologically important. And he drove me to Anthropologie, and we went dress shopping.
...we didn't find anything. I am oddly proportioned and can't always find stuff off-the-rack, but I can sometimes find stuff at Anthropologie. Today it was stuff that wouldn't've looked good or was strapless or just didn't fit right.
But the point is, and this is not just about the dress - he listened to me, he understood that this was about something bigger than just a dress, and because it was within his power to try to fix the problem, he did. This is a thing I love - that when either of us is upset, we work to find out what the real problem is, and we do whatever we can to fix it. Because it's never really just about a dress; here it's about me getting put last, even by myself, and him saying no, you deserve better.
I won't have a new dress for Wiscon, but sometime soon, I will have a new dress. By Readercon. In the meantime, I have yarn.
Roo, being eaten by a decorative clam, at the Aquarium.
1. Anyone in Chicago have an airbed (or futon or spare bedroom or whatever) and room for Judah and me Monday night? We fly out Tuesday... we could stay in Madison Monday night and bus out Tuesday early AM, but if we can have a sleepover with someone, that's better. :)
2. lawbabeak is looking for vegetarian-friendly restaurants within walking distance of the Marriott Marquis (near Peachtree Center station on MARTA) in Atlanta. DragonCon people, any recommendations?
Now I dive back into trip-planning, which at this moment consists of selecting and printing out knitting patterns. 64 Crayons looks like fun wrt my current obsession with All the Colors, and would make good idiot knitting during panels and readings. Need to pick a more complicated project for plane and bus travel.
Monday, May 21, 2012
An authorial friend of mine is looking for some assistance, detailed below:
I am actively seeking – or, I will be soon – people with dyscalculia and/or dyslexia, or who are highly knowledgeable about either, who would be willing to read a to-be-published work of YA contemporary realistic fiction, approximately 63,000 words (250 manuscript pages) long, and give me feedback on whether my representation of characters with the same is accurate and respectful. I am willing to pay any appropriate candidates for this work. If you know anyone who might be eligible/interested, would you please let me know? Regarding timing: the manuscript isn't ready for reading now, nor will it be until I'm done with another revision. Not sure when that will be, but hopefully this summer. I will provide more information about timing as soon as I have it myself. If you are or know someone who might be able to help, please respond and I will put her in touch with you. Feel free to forward this to other people or venues who might be relevant.
Current mood:  chipper
As a vaguely-related followup to my post about people "stealing" the chocolate I keep on my desk for people to take (here), a story:
After Burning Man 2008, we planned to drop our bikes off at the roadside bike stand where we had purchased them. The person who runs this business takes bikes at the end of each festival, stores them, does a modicum of upkeep on them, and sells them to Burners at the beginning of the next year's event for $40. This is a genius business plan as long as space is cheap. It works well for burners, who effectively rent a bike for $40 for 3-10 days, and for the businessperson, who doesn't really have to do much except deal with a fuckload of bikes, which, I'll grant, is probably a pretty big job.
Anyway, we had picked up a bunch of these bikes on our way in, and planned to drop them off as we left, but the sign at the dropoff point said, "NO MORE BIKES!"
WHAT?? What were we going to do with 5 dusty crappy bikes? We certainly didn't want to fly them back to Boston.
Then someone had the brilliant idea to post them on Craigslist as giveaways in Las Vegas once we arrived. Perfect!
So, we got to our hotel, unloaded the bikes from the RV, parked them in a prominent spot in the parking lot, and posted to CL. Then, after hours of dusty RV cleaning, a bunch of transcendent showers, and dinner, we went to sleep. In the morning, the bikes were gone! Hooray!
I got back to Boston and told this story to one of my colleagues, who said in horror, "But how do you know the bikes weren't stolen??"
Current mood: chipper
http://jonnynexus.com/2012/05/21/ways-to-piss-off-vegans-1/ http://jonnynexus.com/?p=1227 Imagine you’re at a wedding reception, say, sat at a table that consists entirely of single people and couples who’ve only just been introduced to each other. And imagine that the following conversation were to occur:
Person 1: [To Person 2] Do you ever watch that Sunday morning discussion show thing on BBC1?
Person 2: No, I’m usually out then. Is it any good?
Person 1: Why are you out?
Person 2: Well… I go to church.
Person 1: Church?
Person 2: Yeah. Erm, I’m a Christian.
Person 1: [Apparently curious] Right. Perhaps you can tell me something. I’m just curious. But why are you a Christian?
Person 2: Oh. Okay. [Thinking] Well, I guess it’s because I feel blessed by the love of Jesus Christ and inspired to follow his teachings.
Person 1: [Looking a bit determined now] And one of those teachings is that you should do unto others as you’d have them do unto you, right?
Person 2: Yeah. It is.
Person 1: Okay. [Starts getting aggressive] So what if, say, you had a daughter, and she was in hospital dying, because she had something wrong with her heart, and she needed a heart transport, but there were no donor hearts available, and then some Columbian gangsters murdered a nine-year old street girl and stripped her body down for spare parts and her heart was being offered for sale on the black market, would you buy that little girl’s heart from the people who’d murdered her? Which would be basically paying them to kill someone else’s daughter? Would you do it?
Person 2: But… I don’t have a daughter who needs a heart transplant.
Person 1: [Really quite aggressive now] Yeah, but if you did, would you? Would you?
Person 2: [Helplessly shaking their head] Well I don’t know. Anyway, about this Sunday show?
Person 1: [Insistent] I’m just curious. I’m not being nasty. But would you? Would you do it?
Person 2: How could I know? How would anyone know how they’d react in that situation?
Person 1: [Sits back in chair triumphant, as those he's proved a point] Ah. See! And what about…
You’d probably find such an exchange bizarre, incomprehensible, even. On what possible planet is it in anyway acceptable to demand that a complete stranger provide an answer to your bizarre, random, arbitrary, hypothetical thought experiment?
And yet it happens to us vegans all the time. If I had to pull a guestimated fact out of my body’s rear-mounted, downward-firing, solid waste disposal orifice, I’d say that on about 25% of the conversations in which it emerges that you’re a vegan, one of the others persons present decides to demand that you answer a bizarre, random thought experiment, typically involving plane-crashes on Pacific islands populated entirely by rabbits. And of course, if you do try to provide an answer, the person usually takes that as an invitation to badger you about it for the next half hour, no matter how much you say, “Could we not just agree to disagree?”
(I don’t mean that 25% of people react this way. I’m suggesting that in any such occasion, there’s about a one in four chance that one of the several people present will react in this way.)
And of course, although they’re aggressively demanding that you explain to them why you’re a vegan, they’re not actually expecting you to give any kind of logical, internally coherent answers; if you do , that only makes them more aggressive, as they take that as some kind of personal attack by you, on them. It sometimes seems that the only way to make them stop is to either agree to abandon in their entirety your ethical and philosophical beliefs, or just get quite rude and tell them to shut up, sod off, and leave you alone.
It really pisses me off, and I know from talking to other vegans that it really pisses them off too. It happens often enough that you’re sometimes inhibited about mentioning that you’re a vegan, and instead dance around the subject, as though you’ve got some kind of bizarre eating disorder you’d rather not discuss. It’s important to stress that these aren’t occasions where we’re in any way proselytising, trying to push our opinions onto others. It’s simply situations where us being vegan has merely come up in conversation.
It most recently happened to me, two days ago, at a wedding.
Him: Why aren’t you eating the starter?
Me: Erm. We can’t.
Him: Why not?
Me: Well… We’re vegans, and there’s cheese and honey in it.
Him: [Apparently curious] Right. Tell me this. I’m just curious. What would you do if you were trapped in some woods and there were only rabbits to eat?
Me: But we’re not trapped in some woods with only rabbits to eat.
Him: [Insistent and demanding, if not quite aggressive] But what if you were?
I’m always more than happy to explain why I’m a vegan, to anyone who genuinely wants to hear why. And if you’re curious about the ethical difficulties I face in my day-to-day life, that’s fine too. But please don’t then hit me with the bizarre random thought experiments. I’m not a barbarian living in the bronze age. I’m not trapped on a biologically implausible tropical island. And I’m not living in a near-future dystopia with a sick daughter who urgently needs a heart transplant from a transgenic pig. I’m a middle-aged, twenty-first century bloke on a reasonable income living in an advanced Western democracy.
And I’m also just trying to enjoy the wedding.
When I was in college, I had a very close group of friends, and a small handful of us did annual ski trips together. One of these friends was on the ski team, and various places we went to ski, we would wind up seeing skiing buddies of his from the serious skiing world. In 2000, we went to Utah, and while we were there, we had dinner at the house of one of his former coaches, who was still coaching young outstanding skiiers.
The coach talked about a current student of his, who he was hoping to get to the Olympics, and about this student's hesitation, his insistence that he would try out next year, when he was better. But it was always next year, next year, and the coach exclaimed his frustration to us at the dinner table, saying, "Would you please start thinking that this is a good time NOW?"
It struck me then, in a way that has (obviously) stuck with me, because I so strongly understand the urge to put things off until I can do them better, until the time is exactly right, and I also understand that most of the time, there is no time that's exactly right, and the best time to do that thing is when I can, even if it's not perfect or I don't feel totally ready.
If life is what happens when you're making other plans, then this is a good time. Now.
Current mood: chipper
Anyone got suggestions for this one:
I may be blonde, but I'm not 20 and I don't actually physically kick ass.
Is anybody else tired to death of young, sexy, kickass heroines with attitude? Where are the heroines whose brains are more important than their brawn, whose understanding of human nature is more important than their facility with firearms? Are there no mature women who are interested in things that go bump in the night?
Totally copied and pasted from last year, with minor updatery.
Say hi!
I know a lot of people! This means I will often be with people. Please do not let this dissuade you from coming up and saying hi - my friends are friendly people too! I may take a sec to recognize you, or I may recognize you instantly. It will be a surprise to all of us, what happens. Seriously, though, I do love meeting people, and I'll be sad if I don't get to meet you, so come say hi. I'll be the short one.
No, really, I'll be the short one.
4'11". Further data: Curly calico hair that currently hits my shoulders, rectangularish gunmetalgreyish glasses, almost certainly wearing fabulous jewelry. Curvy. Probably accompanied by the delicious Judah (see his profile pic).
Gender
I identify as genderqueer, but I use female pronouns. Some people can totally tell when I'm feeling more on the male side of the gender spectrum, and some can't; I don't expect you to. Keeping in mind that I'm not cisgender is good enough for me.
Please don't.
* Wiscon is less crowded than other cons, so my startle reflex is less primed, but still: grabbing or hugging me from behind or playing Guess Who will not work out in a way that you enjoy. I would love to hug you! Make sure I know you're there first.
* Having my hair played with is a very intimate thing. If you're not sure if we're that intimate, we're probably not. If you think we might be, ask. :)
* No photographs, please! If you do catch a bit of me in a photo you must post to Facebook, don't tag me.
* I am currently on leave from BARCC due to vicarious trauma. For self-care reasons, I need to not spend the con talking about rape and other sexual violence. If you bring it up, I'm likely to safeword out of the conversation. All of my dealing-with-sexual-violence spoons right now need to go towards Cicatrix and general recovery from constantly doing anti-sexual-violence stuff; I am taking this break now so I can get back to this work and be healthy about it. I can help you better long-term if I'm not worn to a frazzle, and unfrazzlement takes time.
Logistics
I'm arriving Friday morning, leaving lateish Monday or early Tuesday; rooming with Judah. If you don't have my cell phone number and feel that you require it, e-mail me.
My body wants to kill me.
* Seizure response info can be found here.
* The anti-seizure med I'm on is colloquially known as "the one you can drink on". Please do not look askance at me when I have a Manhattan; it is totally okay by my neurologist. Note: I do need to have my last drink ~2 hours before bedtime, because of my other evening meds. (Fending off "are you sure that's safe?" is not a huge issue in the grand scheme of things, but it gets wearying to do so again and again, so I tell you.)
* I have celiac disease. This makes the "feeding' part of "care and feeding" difficult. I believe Wiscon's restaurant guide has a list of GF-friendly restaurants. I would love to go to lunch or dinner with you. Please understand that when I need to know what restaurant first, it's not that I'm being a diva, it's just that I don't want to be sick for a week. If I say no, it's not that I don't love you, it's that I'm not sure about my ability to eat safely where you're going. You don't have to amend your dinner plans for me, it's cool, we can hang out later! Indian food tends to be safe, and there's an Italian place nearby that has GF pasta.
* I feel like I don't have to emphasize this as much at Wiscon, because Wiscon is more disability-aware than other cons. But basically, I am a grown-ass woman and I can manage my disabilities, and I know people mean well when they constantly touch base about whether I'm okay, but it gets tiring and I get to feeling othered. So please assume that I am okay. If I do need any kind of assistance, I promise I'll let you know.
Where I'll Be
Dishing out cookies at the Gathering, on my panels, at my reading! I will be attending the Dessert Salon and the Genderfloomp dance party, and I'll probably be bouncing merrily along the sixth floor all night. Like Edward Bloom, I am a social person.
My Schedule
Friday
1:00-4:00pm: Coffee, Tea, and Subversion: Enjoy coffee, tea, ice water, and/or cookies! Members of the Interstitial Arts Foundation serve up refreshments and a bit of chat about the interstitial arts and the work of the Foundation. (As usual, I'm looking for Lovely Assistants! Hang out with me at the Gathering and dish out cookies!)
9:00-10:15pm: The Moment of Change: Feminist SFF Poetry Open Mic : Come join the authors of the "The Moment of Change" for an open mic evening in celebration of the first-ever anthology of feminist speculative poetry! "The Moment of Change" is edited by Rose Lemberg and forthcoming from Aqueduct press, and includes poems by Ursula K. Le Guin, Nisi Shawl, Amal El-Mohtar, Delia Sherman, Vandana Singh. Bring your own feminist speculative poems to read, and join Rose Lemberg, Shira Lipkin, Sofia Samatar, and Alex Dally MacFarlane for an open mic extravaganza to celebrate the release of the anthology and feminist speculative poetry in general.
Saturday
2:30-3:45pm: Crossing boundaries and bending genres: Meet the Interstitial Arts Foundation:
Larissa N. Niec, Ellen Kushner, Rose Lemberg, Shira Lipkin, JoSelle Vanderhooft. The Interstitial Arts Foundation (IAF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study, support, and promotion of interstitial art: literature, music, visual and performance art found in-between categories and genres--art that crosses borders. One of the specific goals of the IAF is to foster conversations among artists, academics, critics, and enthusiasts--conversations in which art of all types can be spoken of as a continuum, rather than as a series of hermetically sealed genres. Currently, the IAF is seeking to grow and develop new projects. In this town meeting-style session, we seek input from (1) artists and writers about ways in which the IAF might be of value to them as they seek to promote their boundary-crossing work, and (2) readers and enthusiasts about needs they perceive for the support of literature and other art forms that expand the conventional boundaries of gender and other restricting borders.
4:00-5:15pm: The Wild Ones reading!: Q: "Hey Jane, what are you rebelling against?" A: "Whadda you got?" Rose Lemberg writes about liminal identities, naming magic, languages, and birds. Shira Lipkin will bring you to the home you never knew you'd lost. Alex Dally MacFarlane lives and works in London, where the foxes cross paths with her at night. Patty Templeton writes hellpunk in a hand-basket, full of ghosts, freaks, and fools. Join four women of varied writing styles for a ruckus of a reading.
Sunday
1:00–2:15pm: Blogging While Female: Shira Lipkin, Jacquelyn Gill, Susan Marie Groppi, Michelle Kendall, Therese Pieczynski. Online writing has become an indispensable tool for authors and fans, however abusive behavior is rife and women bloggers are disproportionately targeted. Even women writing online about seemingly inoffensive topics---technology or fashion or book reviews or gaming---attract far more abuse than men blogging about identical topics. In reaction, many women curtail their public presence by writing under pseudonyms, screening their audience, or simply spending less time online, leading to under-representation in the larger blog-o-sphere. What strategies can women bloggers employ to minimize abuse, while still making themselves heard and maintaining a conversation? Can online platforms do more to help? What can male allies do to change the underlying culture?
2:30–3:45pm: I may be blonde, but I'm not 20 and I don't actually physically kick ass. Shira Lipkin, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Holly McDowell, Karon Crow Rilling, Nancy Werlin. Is anybody else tired to death of young, sexy, kickass heroines with attitude? Where are the heroines whose brains are more important than their brawn, whose understanding of human nature is more important than their facility with firearms? Are there no mature women who are interested in things that go bump in the night?
As usual, if you can only get to one thing, get to my reading! I am so excited to be reading with rose_lemberg, alankria, and pattytempleton!
I am reluctant to get an ice cream maker. There are good reasons for this. First, it's a unitasker. Second, I have approximately ZERO cabinet and counter space to spare in my kitchen. Third, it probably wouldn't be long before I could no longer fit in my kitchen myself. That said, I do intend to get a Kitchenaid stand mixer someday, and when I do, I will almost certainly get the ice cream attachment, because how could I resist? I haven't done much contemplation on the idea of the perfect ice cream base, but I've done PLENTY of thinking about flavors, so here is a partial list of some I'd love to try.
* Cardamom-rosewater, with little bits of those crunchy sesame seed candies crumbled into it, and maybe some bits of rose Turkish delight
* Atol de elote (sweet corn with cinnamon)
* Mexican chocolate (dark chocolate with cinnamon and a little chipotle, probably with chocolate chunks)
* Lazy Daisy Cake (modeled on a cake from my childhood, probably a vanilla custard base ice cream with bits of broiled coconut-caramel topping)
* Peanut butter ice cream with fudge swirls and chocolate covered pretzel bits (probably been done by Ben and Jerry's already)
* Mixed herb ice cream (rosemary, lavender, mint, maybe some lemon verbena)
* Mango sorbet with lime and cayenne
* Hello Dolly bar (chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, graham cracker bits, coconut, pecans, and some dulce de leche)
* Honey. Honey, with honey and honey. Varietal honey ice creams of many kinds.
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