the girly who shall end all girls

five questions returns! request five from me in comments and you shall receive!

from sara:

1. Is there anything you've done to your living space in the last while that you found particularly pleasing?
in the late 90s our favorite local bookstore was a dealer for Windstone Editions, and we are a certain kind of nerds so we own several dragon and gargoyle functional pieces - bookends, candle holders, a pair of sconces. the sconces have been gathering dustsitting on a bookshelf since we moved into this apartment. as part of welcoming in-person gamers back into our home we moved some bookcases around and finally mounted the sconces on either side of the door into our bedroom and put little LED candles into them. i think we waited to put them up because we thought they were too heavy for command strips (rental rules) but they are not. i love them.

2. Do you have any morning (or waking-up-time) routines, and if so, what are they?
weekdays: stumble to kitchen, pull overnight oats from fridge. eat oats and take pills while getting dressed. due to time zone fuckery i've had to stop going in to the office, so go to desk, throw down padded mat, lift to standing height, move the keyboard plug and throw the monitor switches to move from personal to work computer. around the time i finish reading my emails and switch to catching up on Slack messages C has placed a hot caffienated beverage by my right hand.

weekends: wake up when i wake up. if early enough, walk dog with C and get breakfast along the way. (otherwise C walks dog on his own and causes breakfast to appear.) since restaurants first reopened and we wanted to intentionally support local businesses, we've gotten takeout from neighborhood bar Hattie's Hat every Saturday. on Sundays it depends - if i'm meeting varina8 at the pool i wake up, eat some cheese, throw my pool stuff together and go. if i'm home it's pastries and what-have-you from the Sunday Farmer's Market.

3. What is the best dessert?
my Mom's apple dumplings - her flaky pastry with butter and cinnamon and Northern Spy apples, preferably with some whipped cream and a cup of tea. setting aside the love and associations it's hard to say; i'm a sucker for citrus and so far i've never met a lemon bar or key lime pie that i didn't like.

4. What are you reading this weekend?
a popular history of Victorian home life by Ruth Goodman. i have the new Freya Marske but i've been dithering about starting it because i suspect i should reread the first one.

5. If you were going to buy a new pair of shoes, what kind would they be?
comfortable shoes that have a sense of style or something unique about them.

i just bought a pair of waterproof breathable pull-on chelsea boots to replace the role of my waterproof hikers with the worn-out (therefore leaky) soles. of course it has not rained since i got them so i have no idea if they are actually fit for purpose, but they are certainly comfy and look like part of a near-future SF costume.

the shoes i want to buy are the John Fluevog Starfleet boots, which are part of the uniforms for Strange New Worlds. delta on the ankle! i've been waiting to go to the store downtown to try a pair on - historically my calves have been too chonky for their tall boots but there's a stretch panel in the back and reviews on the calf sizing are inconclusive enough that i have hope.

buhrger asked me five questions. if you would like me to ask you five questions, request them in a comment, then post with the same offer so that the best meme may roll on.

1.if ten-years-ago you saw your current level of engagement with Sounders FC/MLS, how surprised would she have been? (asking because ten-years-ago me would have been a little surprised.)

i think she would be more shocked that i could afford to be a season ticket holder than anything else. but perhaps sad that i couldn't escape sports - in 2005 i didn't have to know anything or pretend to care about any sports. the only time i saw any game of any kind was southplains's annual Super Bowl party.

but there's also a certain inevitablilty. my family has always watched sports. while i never was thoroughly passionate about any of them, i always liked the in-stadium experience of football and basketball (and to a lesser extent, baseball).* my brothers played football when they were in highschool (and i was a charming toddler). my family had Penn State football tickets. i was in marching band, which meant that i was at all the football games when i was in high school. i always loved the crowd dynamic and anything involving singing or call and response.

there is part of me that is hardwired to love night games in crisp cool weather. the boiling hot summer day games? 2015 me is still surprised that i can stand that.


2.do you have a memory of first realizing that you are a dog person? or has it always been part of you?

no. there have always been dogs, or an aching hole where the dog should be.

i have no memory of learning to love dogs. (my father had a well-trained black Lab when he married mom. so when i was born, Buck was already there.) i have memories of being told to be more careful, that not every strange dog is my friend. i also remember a time when mom suggested that i give the dog some of the cookie i was eating: i held it out and let the dog take a bite, then i finished it. no dog ever bit me (other than puppy nips) or chased me or gave me a bad experience (other than dying in my presence). in this i'm pretty lucky since i accidentally mostly did things right - i only really started researching the science of dog body language and behavior when we were ramping up to adopting Molly.

3.if, for reasons of notional security, you were required to move out of ballard to some place on the east side (the horrors!) where would you go? money is no object. notional security, yunno.

security? like, i'm building a fortress? The Snoqualmie Tunnel as a starter tunnel for my hollow mountain fortress. it has two defensible access points and a lovely view. (hey, we should do that hike some August.)

4.regarding star wars the force awakens, where do you fall on the spectrum from "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY" to "it better not suck"? (to, i suppose, "i'm not even going to bother")

i fall solidly in "i've been hurt before". C and i occasionally say "hey, we should buy tickets for that sometime" and then we fail to go order them. i have avoided most spoiler chatter and i suppose i will need to see it before Christmas if i want to visit the internet. Pirates A and E are passionate about it and we *are* playing the Star Wars RPG right now, so it's more of a social obligation than an actual desire at this point. i don't need more Star Wars at all, but it would be nice for it to be good.

5.while we both read charlie stross, we seem to prefer different books of his. which are your favourites, and which are your least favourites?

favorites are the Laundry books, but i think they're most successful as shorter stories. so i love The Atrocity Archives, and the short about working over Christmas, and the short with the unicorns.

i adored the start of the Merchant books, but for me they fell off the rails when <redacted /> died and i think i gave it one book after that and then walked away.

i liked Singularity Sky.

thought the ones with the crime in the MMORPG were already dated when they were published and terribly twee. "Web 3.14" *rolls eyes*

loathed Accelerando. the reviews were so good, and then it turned out to be a collection of short stories that i didn't like when i read them the first time in their magazine publication. (i was really into reading short fiction magazines at the right time.)



*hockey was something i watched on tv sometimes. i think Penn State had an ice rink? i know i tried ice skating indoors approximately once somewhere and my ankles were too weak to function. i actually had an Edmonton sweatshirt at one point - it was in a bargain bin and i loved the colors. i had a passing interest in the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were very very good when i was in high school - i loved the mouth-feel of saying Jaromir Jagr (for the uninitiated, it sounds like yommer yagger. yommer yagger yommer yagger yommer yagger!)

five questions from buhrger. if you didn't ask these of me, ask and you shall receive five from me, whereupon you post your answers with these instructions and perpetuate ad infinitem.


( answers )

1. Leave me a casual comment of no particular significance, like a lyric to your current favorite song, your favorite kind of sandwich, or maybe your favorite game. Any remark, meaningless or not. (scarlettina's codicil: You may not ask me directly. Be creative about the comment you leave here.)

2. I will respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.

3. Update your LJ with the answers to the questions.

4. Include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in your own post.

5. When others respond with a desultory comment, you will ask them five questions.

1) Who hasn't visited you since you moved to Seattle that you'd love to show around the town?
my niece. she's in seventh grade this year. i think in a year or two i might be able to get my sister to put her on a plane to me.

2) How do you feel about Washington State having both Democratic caucuses and primaries, but only the caucuses counting toward delegate allotment?
my tax dollars are being wasted on this circus, and i blame both the Democratic and Republican party leadership for the situation. then again, it means that i can "change my mind" after the caucuses and do the Republican primary so that i can choose a candidate for each major party. back East your party was on your voter registration card, but here i can waffle my heart out.

3) Tell me about your favorite stuffed animal from childhood.
i was a fickle kid. i didn't love any one stuffed toy to death. i had a series of favorites, and i liked to sleep in a sort of fort made of the whole collection of animals for a while. probably my most beloved is a rabbit puppet i got in lieu of candy at easter, as a teen. i slept with him all through high school and college. i always thought of it as male, but my first college roommate dubbed it Vaginal Rabbit due to the labial folds of the hole for your hand. i went on to use him to carry bottled alcoholic beverages in public. one of my friends wrote a song about VR on his guitar, which was popular at parties. VR went to Perkins. he was a sort of mascot to the theatre crowd. Vaginal Rabbit still goes on trips with me when i don't take C.

4) What destination comes next after your Grand European Tour?
we're only hitting three countries, so probably the UK or more Europe. i want to see more cities, more museums, more old "Western" culture. i want to return to places i love (like Saint-Malo) and show them to C. i'm also interested in some more national park time, here or in Canada.

5) You have the opportunity to stage manage for one of Seattle's theater companies at an astonishing pay rate and benefits that would make Microsoft feel inadequate. (This is a fantasy, okay? Stick with me here.) Which one would you choose and why?
(there is no fantasy stage management gig anywhere, because i got into stage managing to learn the ropes of directing. i often enjoyed the work when i did it, and i was damn good and highly regarded by everyone who worked with me or worked for me. i still don't care to do it again.)
Seattle Children's Theatre. i love nontraditional staging, and i love new works. SCT has both, regularly. they also dabble in many styles. (and puppets. but good puppets and not evil marionettes.) while their shows are aimed at families, they don't use child actors (as far as i know). young audiences are a challenge to start times and intermissions, but SCT is designed from the ground up to handle it, and their front of house staff is excellent. they never do A Christmas Carol. they've got great tech, and dreamy budgets. sometimes the TYA schedule is a grind, but it also guarantees short run times, early evenings, and the summer off. (and word was, when i was in the market, that it was so nice there that most of the staff had been there for over ten years. there certainly weren't any openings.)

ETA: somehow this post got piped through the Rich Text editor and i absolutely hate it. i now know it uses tags that don't work well with screen readers. i felt guilty about using bold instead of strong when composing and they're using freaking i instead of em? grrrrrrr.

five questions from buhrger. if you didn't ask these of me, ask and you shall receive five from me, whereupon you post your answers with these instructions and perpetuate ad infinitem.


1. through some geographical or technological intervention, you join my next d&d campaign. what class/race combo do you play? why?
bard/human. (this might vary based on the needs of the existing party.) the thing that has always bothered me about D&D is that you are creating a "character" who is entirely defined by their job. bards are the closest you get to a blank slate without the incredible constellation of ability scores required to be a ranger. i like to be the character with ranged weapon skills and some handy little spells. i don't build tanks because i don't like play that calls for constantly wading into battle.
the game is written for humans; i've gotten over being half-elven.

2. speaking of buying crack (i'll let you 'splain that one if you want to) who are the people in your current gaming group, and how did y'all meet?
there's me, C, A the GM, D, E, B, and M. M and i are the only ones who don't work at PirateCo. (M organizes a gaming convention associated with an astonishingly popular local webcomic.) i met most of them through C; i think my first encounter with that clutch of people was drinks before a movie at the Bay. (back when PirateCo was an easy walk away. *sniff* actually before B and E joined the company.) A and M were fellow PCs in a defunct Iron Kingdoms game, and C and i used to hang out at the Cage (former home of A, B, E, and Pirate K). while i knew which one D was, i hadn't really talked to him before this game. A asked for me when he started to put the game together. B does legal work, C edits, M works for that webcomic, and everyone else is "gamer famous" (as the_monkey_king would say) to fans of PirateCo.

3. through the magic of, well, magic, a dead author shows up alive and well at a con you're attending, and is doing a Q&A session. whom would you like it to be, and what would you ask?
this high-functioning introvert mostly listens at Q&A sessions. i would like to attend a panel discussion or do a koffee klatch with Octavia Butler. i don't have any questions really, but i'm still sorry that i failed to say "thank you" before it was too late.

4. when's the last time you wore you hair short? would you do so again? why[ |not]? (back here you mentioned my failure to display stereotypical sex characteristics like long hair, so there must have been a time when it was short...

i had short hair from zero to about 1992. there was a mullet period for a year or so in the 80s, but i got over it once swimming season started. mom thought long hair was a hassle, and she kept my hair short so that she wouldn't have to take care of it. it got to be a habit. it varied in length from spikes to earlobes. (my hair stands straight up without product when it's below a certain length.) this is me when i had grown it out for a hs spring musical; at the time i thought it had gotten really really long. i started to seriously grow it my senior year of high school in a pact with my then boooooyfriend. ("i'll grow mine if you grow yours.") after which i confirmed that having long hair as a chick gains beneficial attention. i cut it off again in '97, and it was a good look but by then i didn't have the money or the patience to deal with monthly maintenance and let it go. i was thinking about cutting it just the other day...

5. you become benevolent dictator of SIFF - what do you do with your new powers?

we'll assume that all of my initiatives are well-funded.

i provide free shuttle bus service between venues in Seattle, and a temporary cab kiosk after midnighters, plus a P&R run a few times a day. Lincoln Center in Bellevue would have a run to Seattle and a run to the nearest P&R.

healthy concessions choices available at all venues, and "lunch check" at SIFF cinema with a ticket/tag system for keeping food in a fridge.

i eliminate tiered pass sales (right now there are three different versions of full series pass) and institute a reservation system similar to the way previews are run. x number of seats are reserved passholder seats, x number of seats are unreserved passholder seats. reserved seats are advance sign up, first-come first-served, three-strikes and you lose the privilege. passes are good for all films even if they are a "gala" event. one may buy an additional pass or tickets for guaranteed admission to the gala films and gala parties.

a house management handbook with clear rules, so that each venue is run like every other venue.

there is at least one offering that is shown outdoors, free of charge, at Seattle Center. every showing on the eastside is a third showing, so that there are still two chances to see every film if you want to stay close to the other venues.

this five from mimerki. ask, and ye shall receive.
( scars, breakfast ninjas, spices, candy, Force users )
EDIT: more about scrapple. and yes, my dad's family sometimes calls it pawn haas.

i asked for five questions from buhrger. you know the drill.

( the people of Canuckistan, VD, D20 in Bas Lag, violence, ink )

five questions from buhrger. ask and you shall receive five from me, whereupon you post your answers with the instructions and perpetuate ad infinitem.

( it's full of stars... )

out of the mists of time come five questions from frabjousdave.

1. Despite your reservations about the value-per-page of comics, are you coming around? What comics are changing your mind, and how?
well, part two assumes the answer to part one is yes. obviously i keep trying. i don't think i'll ever read anything in an uncollected state; i love Palomar but i don't love the Love and Rockets single issue experience. i'm learning to stop thinking of comics as slight, thanks to Alan Moore. i tossed off Blankets in an afternoon (there's a discarded post about that on Isolde. what people fail to put out in public and why is a fascinating topic in itself. i did like it.) but the equally thick From Hell took days. i needed breaks to digest it, and i was rewarded with details and more layers at every turn. and then i read the footnotes and got to return to scenes and see them in yet another light. i love his big ideas, i love his intense research, i love the harshness, and i have a shared soft spot for Victorian porn.( Read more... )

if you want some, ask. post. repeat.

another of buhrger's five questions, which i was overthinking.

4. any chance y'all will come up to edmonton to visit at some point?
yes.