Scarlett Letters

I had all these ambitions, after WorldCon, to write a complete trip report, to write about the possible crime I was a witness to (about which I may still write) and to write here more frequently in general. Instead, what's happened is that I haven't finished my trip report and I haven't written anything since then, even though I continue to read LJ every day faithfully. :: sigh :: Best intentions and all that. So, in lieu of all the stuff I haven't written about, I want to make some brief observations, and then I need to get started with my day.

1) The Congressional vote to defund Planned Parenthood, while unlikely to get past the Senate, is one more demonstration that the Republican party isn't about conservatism. It's about control--controlling anyone and anything they feel is a threat. In this case, it's women and lower-income people. The insecurity it betrays would be laughable if it weren't so sinister and driven by so much money.

2) My desk is clean and usable for the first time in a couple of years. I'm using it at we speak. Keep an eye out for winged pigs flinging themselves skyward.

3) The new season of Doctor Who has begun on BBCA. I watched the premier and, though I liked Peter Capaldi's portrayal, I was less than impressed with the episode as a whole. The channel ran a Doctor Who marathon yesterday including a couple of episodes that are particular favorites of mine. I miss Tennant as the Doctor, and I adore the episode "Vincent and the Doctor."

4) I have read a number of books since the last time I wrote about reading at all, including
--"The Philosopher Kings" by Jo Walton (papersky, which I enjoyed more than "The Just City," the first book in what is apparently a duology. "Philosopher Kings" moved at a quicker pace than its prequel, exploring the wider world in which her characters live, but it had its difficult-to-read moments. I had less of a sense of the project being a thought experiment than I did the first. I was more involved overall. Walton's asked some interesting questions in these books and they bear thought. They are not my favorite of her work, but they were worth reading and considering
--"The Goblin Emperor" by Katherine Addison (Sarah Monette) which, while I enjoyed it, I was kind of baffled by in that while it's certainly set in a fantasy world with fantasy races at its center, it's really just an engaging court intrigue novel. The plot did not turn on any of the fantastic elements. It might have easily been told about a human court and nothing would have been lost. Rather disappointed by that. It did not get my first vote in the Best Hugo category this year.
--"The Ghost Brigades" and "The Last Colony" by John Scalzi, both set in his "Old Man's War" universe, both excellent fun and enjoyable space opera. I've said it before and I'll say it again: if the Sad Puppies didn't dislike him so much, they'd enjoy the hell out of his work.

5) Autumn is a beautiful season, but it is proving a tough one this year. And I'm so not ready for winter.

6) I'm currently reading "The Bone Clocks" by David Mitchell (author of "Cloud Atlas"). It's delicious reading, brilliantly literary and yet clearly in-genre fantasy. I was about to write a whole separate post ranting about why no one is paying attention to David Mitchell as a writer of fantastic fiction and what an injustice it is. Before I got halfway through my screed, I went to check this year's World Fantasy Award nominees. And there's Mitchell, nominated for "The Bone Clocks" for best novel. OK, then.

1) Readercon has overturned the decision to ban harasser Rene Walling for only two years and has instead banned him for life, as they should have done to begin with. Their announcement and apology is professional, thorough, and completely appropriate, and my respect for the concom is enormous.

2) Last night, NASA successfully landed a rover the size of a Mini Cooper on the surface of Mars using an innovative system designed to protect the vehicle and allow it to start working immediately. I watched the whole thing online via the NASA web site. The sheer excitement about the event across the country was wonderful to behold, and watching the eruption of joy in the control room when a safe landing was confirmed was uplifting. I love that an enormous crowd filled Times Square to watch the event and chanted "Science! Science! Science!" in response to the success. These are things that give me hope for the future. Follow Curiosity on Twitter.

3) Lest we forget, Opportunity still roves the surface of Mars doing important science, five years after it first landed.

4) The trailer for the upcoming season of Doctor Who fills me with delight, even in the wake of last season's plot holes, logic problems, and irredeemable gaffes. I'll be there against all reason. I loves me the Doctor.

5) I am not sure what else to put here for a fifth thing. Ideas anybody? Questions for me? Thoughts?

Not a bad week, all in all. Work at the day job continues to be slow, but things are beginning to pick up, and I can see where next week is going to shift into higher gear. I interviewed a new editor for my team today who will beef up our ranks.

Writing continues apace, about 500 words per day more or less. I don't know how this short story is going to end. I thought I did, but I've made a couple of changes, and suddenly I'm not quite sure where I'm going. This is how I end up with UFOs on my hard drive. (That stands for unfinished objects, in case you were wondering.) I don't want another UFO on my hard drive. I want a finished story. I'll push on tonight and see where it gets me. What do you do when a story seems to get away from you?

I had a lovely evening with varina8 last night. I made dinner, and we watched three episodes of the Eccleston Doctor Who (hence the icon). We've been working our way toward Captain Jack's introduction--which comes with our next get-together, whenever that may be. I'm really enjoying reviewing the first season of NuWho. It's fun to rediscover the show like this, and it really does bear up under rewatching. And it's fun to watch varina8 discover it episode by episode.

This past week was my first on Weight Watchers. My first weigh-in was Tuesday night, and I was down three pounds, which makes me cautiously optimistic. I found myself not quite missing sweet things the way I thought I might, which is good. Today, however, I found myself pacing my apartment like a caged animal trying not to binge. I ended up eating some air-popped popcorn, which is about as light as popcorn gets, and that definitely helped. It also helped that I saved some points so I could have a mocha during my interview.

The only other thing going on is that I'll have company this weekend, and I have some cleaning up and decluttering to do before company arrives. Spanky's usually good about staying out from under foot when I'm cleaning, but because Sophie really isn't, I purchased one of those cat toys that occasionally lets loose a treat. That's kept her occupied for hours. Must watch it, though. I want to preserve her lovely figure.

In support of jackwiliambell's new liberty, I invited him to my place for dinner on Friday night. He, in turn, brought over his computer and we watched the first episode of Doctor Who featuring the new Doctor played by Matt Smith. On which more in a moment.

Breakfast and Free Comic Book Day: We had breakfast Saturday at Julia's of Wallingford, where Jack--the WA state native--had never been! I had two pancakes bigger than my head, and he had a substantial breakfast burrito. We then indulged in a morning of Free Comic Book Day by stopping at Comics Dungeon (where I picked up four free comics plus "Fables: Animal Farm," and "Farscape: Red Sky at Morning pt 2" [the latter written by our own kradical]). We then stopped at Arcane Comics in Ballard, where I picked up "Air" and "Hellboy: Seeds of Destruction." In total, my freebies included Iron Man, Superman, Mouse Guard, and Artifacts. I have some fun reading coming up.

Parties!: We spent the afternoon working, me on freelance stuff, Jack on I'm not sure what--until it was time to head to the Eastside for bravado111's book release party. It was big and loud and full of kids. The company was excellent; too many fine folks to name them all here. There was really good barbecue and a bit of dancing and the appearance of ax-weilding Vikings who'd gotten lost on the way to Valhalla. We then party-hopped to Vanguard, where I was witness to a discussion of fannish/fanzine politics, during which there was a digression about April Fool's pranks. kate_schaefer brought up the only April Fool's stunt I ever pulled (which I was surprised--and, yes, delighted--that she remembered). I learned things about my fellow Vanguardians that I didn't know. And then, around 11:30 PM, I hit the wall and it was really, really time to go home.

Today jackwilliambell and I both have things we need to take care of individually, so he has departed for the day. I'll be spending most of the day on my computer doing work of one sort or another. But first...

Doctor Who (no spoilers): So, on Friday night, Jack and I watched "Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour," which featured the debut of Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor. I have been skeptical of Smith, who has more of a baby face than any other actor to play the Doctor thus far. He still felt a little young to me watching the episode, but by the end of the hour, I was ready to give him the benefit of the doubt for at least a few more episodes. I like the new companion, Amy: she has pluck, though I'd like to see her take the initiative a bit more. I'll cut her slack for this first hour; she's only just had her first real exposure to the Doctor and the way events tumble and cascade around him. I admit curiosity about what comes next. Jack, markbourne, and ironymaiden all have the episodes available if we can get together to watch them. I want to see more...but first...

Freelance work: Right before I went to Oregon last weekend, I finished work on one freelance project that I'm quite proud of. I've been working on another freelance job, too, and am going to spend the better part of today devoted to it. I'm looking forward to getting it completed and off my plate. I need to set myself some limits on what I accept, because I feel a little overwhelmed and out of control of my own time right now. I suspect I'm capable of one freelance job plus the KQ book review thing while working at a day job--but no more than that. I've had digestive distress on a pretty regular basis the last two weeks that's been painful and, on more than one occasion, nearly debilitating, all of which I've concluded is the result not of some stomach bug, but stress at a high level. This is not okay, and no amount of money is worth the unhappiness that has resulted. I'm fixing it.

Awesomeness on my flist: I wanted to point people to some awesomeness on my flist. First up, fringefaan links us to this really cool Web project called "You Wear Your Weight Well." You really need to see his post, and then link through to the project. Second, icanhascheezburger.com finally provides us with a way to make kitties pull their weight at home. And lastly, today is another day of coolness at Post Secrets.

And that's all the news for the morning. Off to work....

Last night, I hied myself to jackwilliambell's place. The plan was to have dinner together, watch TiVoed episodes of Mythbusters and Doctor Who and then head out to see Avatar.

( Mythbusters: Mini-myths )

( Doctor Who: The End of Time )

( Avatar )

I spent most of today getting little things done here and there, trying to prepare for New Year's Eve. The moon is gorgeous tonight. Closer to sunset, it was a large silvery coin shining through the fir tree branches. Now, it's a blurred silver presence behind hazy clouds. It's a blue moon tomorrow night--second full moon this month. Very cool indeed.

It's a sign of the level of crabbiness I'm feeling today that when someone on the Doctor Who forum on Live Journal proposed that John Kovalic create a Doctor Who version of the game Munchkin, that I chimed in that it was a licensing issue and it would probably cost way more to buy the license than the game would ultimately make.

If Google does turn over its records to Viacom as a result of a New York judge's order, it occurs to me that what Viacom will discover about me is that I watch none of its TV shows online or off. If they dig into my profile, they'll find me watching Doctor Who fan vids, Star Trek fan vids, the occasional Keith Olbermann special comment and silly Hellboy promos. Much good may the data do them.

The discovery of an ancient Hebrew tablet that may shed light on Jewish and early Christian ideas about the messiah presents some interesting questions about the evolution of proto-Christian theology and what Jews--or a small sect thereof--really thought about the role and signs of a savior. The story put me in mind of the reaction of the Lubuvitchers when Rabbi Schneerson died. Fascinating stuff.

I don't know why this delighted me as much as it did, but because it did, I offer it to you, my readers: io9.com's The Fake Intelligence Organizations and Spy Networks of Science Fiction.

And while you're over at io9.com, take a look at their analysis of Stephen Moffat's work on Doctor Who, and how he may not be the genius we've all been taking him for. It's an interesting perspective. Curious to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Thomas M. Disch has committed suicide. It's a loss for the field. I'm saddened by his decision that a final exit was his only solution.

Lastly, I've been reworking my resume today, with enormous help from e_bourne. And now, as I draw toward the finish line, I feel the avoidance, anxiety and uncertainty that has been attendant to this entire process rearing its head again. It's why I just spent the last 90 minutes writing this entry. It's why I spent the prior 15 minutes pacing the living room and talking to the cats. I promised myself I'd finish my resume rewrite tonight and get it into the mail to the two people who asked for it before I go to bed. I've got to keep that promise. But my head is full of all the ways I might avoid that result because I find myself so worked up about all this. I keep hoping for compelling e-mail or a telephone call to distract me, but I've got to finish this. I've got to push through it. I hate how this makes me feel.

ETA 10:11 PM: Resume completed and sent. Now a different sort of anxiety kicks in. I should go to bed. ::sigh::

I realize that I have posted nothing of substance for days. For some reason, lately, I'm just not much in update mode. Perhaps that's partly because I'm living my life rather than writing about it. But for those who are curious, and for my own record keeping, I'll share the following:

E came over on Saturday and helped me get through another coat of paint in the small room. I have one more wall that needs a third coat (did I mention that the color is called Cranberry Punch?), and that will finish the vertical walls. After that, I paint the ceiling and then I move in. Honestly, I can't wait, mainly because I'll be able to shift some of the clutter out of the living room at last. I know the room switcheroo is going to be worth it, but it's a lot of work in the meanwhile.

I can't ever remember it being so cool in August. This weather, she is freaky.

Got my last shots for the Kenya trip. My shoulders are sore, but at least the Band-aids are symmetrical. Still need to get that malaria scrip.

I have received my TARDIS USB hub. I have also received my copy of Short Trips: Destination Prague (with tips of the hat to kradical and stephen_dedman among others). I am a happy fan-girl.

And now I am off to bed.

Streetlights that shut down when the moon is full, the history of street lighting, and its effect on city living. Coolness.

webcowgirl points out this very funny Harry Potter spoiler list which won't spoil anything for anyone, but which I found hugely entertaining, especially if you know your movie references.

In the "I am an unrepentant fan-girl" category, I found this very fine Doctor Who fan-vid about the Doctor versus the Master that I wanted to share. Some really good timing and nice clip choices here. You might not dig the song per se, but I think it really works.

Wrote 950 words on the novel last night and made progress on the freelance project. Still want to post about Deathly Hallows but just haven't had any time, and I'm back to work today. Gotta adjust myself to the new schedule again....

Got together last night with markbourne, E, ironymaiden, and C to watch the last three episodes of Doctor Who season three, those being "Utopia," "The Sound of Drums," and "Last of the Time Lords." There are things I loved and things I loathed about each episode. Long, and lotsa notes here.

( Thoughts on Utopia )

( Thoughts on The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords )

( On the Doctor and his companions: here there be more spoilers )