the girly who shall end all girls

realized that i often cycle on and off with DW posting and that it's kind of seasonal.* there's too much and i find that i start with a thing i want to write about and then i start trying to backfill all the the things i didn't write about and ...death spiral.

anyway, C and i went to a show last week. first time in a long time, and damn it was a good time. it's been almost 20 years since i could walk to the Croc and it's a very nice thing to have back.** we actually went to their smaller downstairs venue Madame Lou's,*** where we saw our favorite band from the internet, Sub-Radio. they did not do any of their charming parodies, which is fine because they write remarkably perfect pop music. i feel like they're a tv show needle-drop away from being famous. this is the new single:


anyway, the set was tight, high-energy (only one slow song!) and filled with queer joy****. we danced and sang along and it was delightful. the room was well-ventilated and cool; they said it was sold out but we never felt crowded and had wonderful sightlines to the stage.



we also enjoyed the opener, Doublecamp, who were new to us:


the real difference between 20 years ago and now is that we went straight home instead of getting post-show eats at the 5 Point.



*if i were buhrger i would crunch the numbers but that's not really fun to me. although i have been meaning to play with some of the Python visualization libraries like Bokeh and Seaborn...

**for locals, if you're as out of it as me, The Croc is now in the old El Gaucho space and they've turned the Cuban Room and The Big Picture into venues as well.

***also for locals, which is NOT the home of the chocolate chip orgasm and excellent deep dish pizza.

but the old Big Picture bar is a Tat's outpost? need to figure out which one is closer the next time I'm craving a cheesesteak and tastykakes

**** the vocalist is bi, which gives you both "Caroline" and "King of My Heart"

I use DW as an RSS reader because i'm old. an exchange in tonight's D&D game reminded me that pepysdiary_feed exists. May 1 1661 was also a Wednesday.

meanwhile, i've given up on the website formerly known as Tor.com since their RSS feed is full of garbage markup. I think it's SVG coordinates? i've been skipping looking at all my feeds because that one breaks everything, screw that, unsubscribe

dhampreysa is doing some DW automation with a Google Sheet. I remembered hearing that the DW API didn’t really exist/was in shambles. Which is kind of true, but Ye Olde XML-RPC is still out there. And there’s a Python library for it, so maybe I’ll do a thing.

I need to figure out my exact use case; probably my own version of a linkspam builder or recreating my old ‘shiny thing’ quick posts that were killed by gmail formatting woes. Other ideas for machine-assisted posting are welcome in comments, if I do anything it will all end up Unlicensed on GitHub.

In other news, I wrote this with a Bluetooth keyboard attached to the iPad. Surprisingly nice - got it for travel to do double duty as a detached keyboard for the work laptop (a Mac from the era of terribad keyboards) and with the iPad as a sort of substitute for my laptop. I’m not expecting to do much personal coding on the trip and I would like to be able to read comics, so I think this is going to be a great compromise even though I may regret the ergonomics after a full work day. It’s a Logitech k480 which comes with a nice groove to prop your touchscreen device in and of all things has satisfyingly clicky keys. I like it so far.

2021 was A Year. American democracy almost died, my father and brother-in-law did die, we got vaccinated but ultimately it didn't change our lives enough. (it did, a bit - we did get to see friends again, a couple soccer games, a few movies, some meals out...but then delta.) i ended up in four RPGs (multiple campaigns, but a consistent four games across three groups of gamers). we stayed on two more of the San Juans. i got serious about fountain pens again.

not previously chronicled here:

• Mom started dating (that's okay) a racist anti-vaxxer (FUCK NO). i told her how i felt about that person before things got where they are. it wrecked me for a while, but due to distance i can easily avoid any interaction with that piece of shit. she's had a horrible several years so i'm not going to have a fight about it. that said, i'm sending Mom an "in honor of Dad's Name" card for every donation i make to SPLC until it ends.


• I had increasing problems with concentration and executive function as the year wore on. I've been on some drugs for almost two months; I feel like I'm doing better and C says he sees the change as well.

January
"finally caught up on John Wick tonight (only recently did we agree that home video with lots of cuddles and the ability to pause would allow C to get through the wife and dog death in the first film)."
Jan 6 terrified me
I made a Helsinki Complaint Choir ringtone (which still delights me)
I watched the presidential inauguration and it was nice
We ordered a bunch of new sheets
Everyone was into sea shanties
Leela was attacked by an off-leash dog

February
"i have to deliver a presentation themed on "a day in the life" tomorrow."
I started having four RPGs in flight at once.
We had snow (always remarkable in Seattle)
I started making bath bombs

March
"character B has made it to third level. i am a bit surprised that i'm still on character 2."
Spent our anniversary on Lopez Island
Had my first bus ride in over a year
Started playing DJ with background music for the Tuesday/Friday games

April
"C is eligible for vaccine as of yesterday."
I got an electric spinning wheel
Both of us started our covid vaccine series
SIFF was remote and I hated it
I had a health scare
I did a very high-visibility, high-impact project at work
We got a new tent

May
"Concerning Hobbits always lifts my spirits."
Vaccination complete
Dad died (and I spent some time in PA)
I got an improved title/pay bump/stock grant

June
"my mother-in-law wished us a happy holiday today."
We went camping on Shaw Island
I did a bunch of spinning with my new wheel
We watched Ted Lasso
There was a massive heat wave

July
"I finished The Left-handed Booksellers of London and my Kindle let me know there will be a new Old Kingdom book soon."
I went to PA again, this time on a trip that had been planned for months. I got to swim.
I worked on a coding project for work that would impact all of our users and there was a (positive) management shakeup
On one eventful day I had dim sum for the first time in two years, saw a soccer game in person, and my brother-in-law died

August
"C: i voted for the indian"
we have a primary election with two Native candidates for mayor
i get a new fountain pen and inks
i find out that teaberry == wintergreen and i order a plant
i did most of the Carpe Diem challenge

September
"a lot of long-awaited library holds came through for me, some wonderful and one remarkably disappointing."
I finally read ✨Murderbot✨!
The House on the Cerulean Sea 🤮
I go back to the office for the first time

October
"a while ago i complained about how TJ Klune's The House on the Cerulean Sea didn't work for me."
I didn't write a lot - I went to Origins in Columbus and spent time with friends from college. it was planned before covid had started to surge again and i had a lot of conflicted feelings about the whole thing. ultimately it was a wonderful trip.
i get my first covid test - negative.
I see a psychiatrist

November
"apparently the pandemic was hard on the fancy nail nerds."
I start my drug regimen
Thanksgiving plans get scuttled over covid exposure
we made so much turkey stock
I get to see philotera
Stephen Sondheim died

December
I failed to post. It was a hair-on-fire kind of time at work.
I went to the rescheduled ECCC
I had my second covid test - negative
C went to PA for family stuff and that sucked
I ordered a new fountain pen
I bought fountain-pen-friendly notebooks
West Side Story!!!
We had people for Christmas dinner, first time to have more than one guest in almost two years
Minor covid exposure scare (natch) - negative
It snowed on boxing day
I sorted through a bunch of boxes in storage, which led to sorting, packing, and shipping a box of photos to a scanning service
I had debit card fraud - bank caught it, I got a rad new card that looks like a cassette tape out of the deal.

The city has declared an end to curfew and that peaceful protest is welcome. They sent another scary emergency alert to tell us. Hooray for a baby step.

***
Tonight I sucked at (tiresome) homework python because my brain was background processing the (fun) automation python I am working on at work.
I finally gave up and logged on to the work machine. I got enough ya-yas out that I should be able to sleep. Except for the part where I'm still thinking about the next bit. Now, while I'm in the tub.

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

January
pieces have been sitting around for months; I'll take finishing before I ran out of 2017 as a win :)

February
Dad has meningiomas, which grow back to impairment size every 7-10 years.

March
they took all of Dad's plates out, not just the one.

April
Waiting for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Live to start.

May
the Japanese Ea-Nasir fans kept posting in spite of a block by denise in response to my support query.

June
This is Home

fascinating and moving documentary about Syrian refugees resettling in Baltimore Maryland.

July
My second-favorite busker* was playing the Star-spangled Banner on the erhu this morning.

August
Metadata error at work was listing Point Break as Tiny Toon Adventures Night Ghoulery.

September
(i made one post in September. it was a "shiny thing" link.)

October
ten plus years ago, I wrote paper letters and cards on the regular.

November
i am not currently over the Rockies, i am in a hotel room in Glen Burnie, MD for my sins.

December
i thought i posted half of these some time ago.

I just wanted an excuse to use this new icon :)

ten plus years ago, I wrote paper letters and cards on the regular. I got out of the habit for various reasons.

I've been writing Dad 4-5 cards a week, because he likes getting mail. I'm enjoying it - feeling a sense of connection (even though it's a monologue), using my fountain pen, practicing my handwriting, getting to shop for cards, stamps, and ink.

It does seem to use up my journaling energy, where whatever is on my mind goes off in a letter to Dad. Then they get read by anyone that's around him, so in some ways I'm also writing my mom and my cousin and my brothers. The information asymmetry makes phone calls with them odd.

the Japanese Ea-Nasir fans kept posting in spite of a block by denise in response to my support query. i've collected the rest of the conversation that continued across three posts here and then sent all the comments to spam. nearly 300 of them.*

the continuing story of Lewis/Ruru, post 1:
( original Japanese text, emojis and all )
( the machine translation into English )

post 2:
( original Japanese text, emojis and all )
( the machine translation into English )

post 3:
( original Japanese text, emojis and all )
( the machine translation into English )

DW claims it's a spambot, but it's the weirdest bot - there are no links, no suggestions of selling anything. and it all got by even though i had CAPTCHA enabled for anons.

*part of me wants to turn these into a series of facebook posts, as another friend does to keep fb confused. the rest of me doesn't want to field questions from confused relatives.