the girly who shall end all girls

someone should go to the Lunar Celebration at Zen Dog Tea House on Sunday.

i will be busy having a belated anniversary dinner. so i am sorry to miss this month, but not very ;)

Friends of the Library book sale is this weekend.

if you are not familiar with this thing, it is huge and cheap and a candidate for happiest place on earth. (seriously. better than breastland.)

thanks to shadow_and_veil, we went to the Solstice Fire Festival this weekend (rescheduled from the actual solstice due to snow). great company, perfect weather, lots of FIRE.

i took many pictures.
( pictures )

someone mentioned yesterday that i hadn't been posting lately, and i realized that i've been a little quiet. there are big thoughts smashing around my head, and no good place to put them.

i've got too much information in my head this week about humans using other humans. it's something i abhor. i respect that it's a part of daily life, but i like to think that when i get something from someone else i am offering something of value in return. it's hard for me to live in a world where business is tangled with personal in order to serve the business. or perhaps i don't care so much about the manipulation if there's a consistent standard set.

so, since there's a few unrelated things going on here, i can just say that i hate it when people are completely self-serving and mean. it doesn't matter if i know the victim well or not.

i also have no comfort in the knowledge that i am right or have the moral high ground if it means pain for someone else.

i spent brunch this morning asking C to give me some happy examples of human nature. he didn't do too well. but as i think about it, last night was a grand example of goodness, where a whole lot of people got together and did something nice for scarlettina as she starts her hundred days. lots of people were there, and it was written up all over; i can't do it justice here. the thing is that we got together and did something a little absurd (each guest donated a nonperishable food item or other useful treat) to diffuse the dread associated with unemployment. perhaps we all could use a little more of that spirit in our lives. there was a little love with every can of cranberry sauce, bag of cat treats, and postage stamp. that's the kind of truth i want right now.

i stayed home from an event this evening (and i miss C, who was obligated to go) but i'm incredibly glad that i stayed home since my old college friend Zanna called to tell us she's getting married, October 2005. being who she is, she will be making herself a dress a la Galadriel in the LOTR films, and plans to require costumes (but not necessarily LOTR, praise be) for all guests. yay! plenty of time to plan and beef up my sewing skills. (i still have this thing about figuring out how to do goat legs on the boy, but somehow i don't think Z's Mennonite relatives would appreciate the full Roman look. grrrr.)

last night i got to hear the first reading of Matt Ruff's new project, Bad Monkeys, at the UVillage Barnes & Noble. so far i like it. he read for a good hour, and perhaps my best description thus far is like the love child of Sewer Gas Electric and Set This House In Order. he said it won't be finished until a year from now :(

i bolted there from happy hour in Belltown on short notice, oddly enough after having been to the Barnes & Noble downtown, which was mostly to pick up a copy of Amazing Stories. i've finished reading it. i will ponder further before i comment much more. i can say that i tend to agree with the_monkey_king both in his reviews (of the one book that i have read, spot on, and congrats to him) and in his assessment of the cover and logo design (ineffective). the editor should be (mostly) congratulated for the selection of stories.

i also discovered that the Paizo publishing logo is not a blue bow, but a little man. it makes more sense, but i just assumed that the bow had some secret meaning to someone. ah well.

i introduced my young coworkers to the happy hour spreadsheet today.