Last week was not a great one for me in terms of productivity. Seasonal depression is sneaking in, and I’m recovering physically from two weekends of larp in a row, which means I spend a lot more time in WoW collecting candy buckets for the Halloween event, and a lot less time running or writing or whatnot.
That said, Shadowvale this past weekend was amazing, and instantly returned all my larp floon to me. More about that later, perhaps.
Accomplishments
Other Media
– Listened to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, “The Creepypasta Experiments,” “Listener Mail: Media and Memory”, and “Creepypasta 3: The SCP Foundation”, “Only Child Syndrome: Brats, Myths, and Little Emperors”
– Listened to Larpcast #94, “Customer Service.” I’ve gotten behind on this podcast…
LARP
– Staffed event 2 of Tales from the Cotting House
– Wrote PEL for 5G Silverfire event 6
Work
– Completed the Code School “Try JQuery” course. (Mostly stuff I already knew, but I learned a few things).
Being Organized Is A Gift I Give Myself And Other People, by Rachel Wilkerson Miller. This was mentioned in the SMNTY episode I listened to this week, and it resonated strongly with me. I’ve been told I seem like an organized person, but honestly a lot of the time I feel like a total flake who’s just barely keeping it together. Viewing organization as something that requires effort — loving effort, emotional labor-type effort — felt like a paradigm shift for me. I’d pull-quote the whole article if I could, but this stood out to me:
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that being chronically, perpetually disorganized sends a message to the people who are always on the receiving end of the excuses: “I don’t value your time.†“It’s OK if I inconvenience you.†“I didn’t really consider how this might affect you.†“Your needs are not a priority to me.†Being flaky isn’t cute; it’s disrespectful. This isn’t the intention, of course. (And, in fact, most of the disorganized people I know are actually trying to make too many people happy.) But the reality is that being close to someone who is consistently all over the place requires a tremendous amount of emotional labor — reminding them to please take care of that task; making adjustments to your own schedule to accommodate their last-minute changes; worrying that you’re nagging them; having to say “it’s fine†and “no worries†every time they drop the ball, because god forbid you are anything other than a chill girl with no feelings.
Accomplishments
Writing
– Did 30m editing on Lioness
Reading
– Finished Timeless, by Gail Carriger
Other Media
– Watched RiffTrax of Kill and Kill Again
– Listened to Stuff Mom Never Told You, “The Surprising Benefits of Journaling”
– Listened to Happier with Gretchen Rubin #135
– Listened to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, “Six Ghost Stories”
– Listened to several episodes of Stuff You Missed in History Class: “The Green Children of Woolpit”, “The Motherhood of Mamie Till-Mobley”, “SYMHC Classics: Voynich Manuscript Update”, and “The Mysterious Disappearance of Theodosia Burr Alston”
LARP
– Wrote and submitted Mad3 PEL
– Attended Fifth Gate Silverfire event 6 (the final SF event!)
– Did a fuckton of printing for Tales event 2
Health
– Had an appointment with the hand specialist
– Had my annual physical
– Got a flu shot
– Zombies Run! S2E3 (2.71mi in 43:15)
– Zombies Run supply run (0.83mi in 12:20)
– Did some freeform core exercises: 10 x jackknives, alternate heel touchers, crunches, dead bugs (was going to do Ninja Fitness, but apparently it doesn’t work with iOS11!)
– ZR S2E4 (2.44mi in 38:54)
Work
– Completed a developer self-directed day on CSS Grid Layout, building a dummy version of one of our homepages.
Rejection Log
– 9 day rejection from FFO for “Granny Hubbard vs. the Giant Slime”
– 11 day rejection from Uncanny for “The Mirrors of Her Eyes”
One of my Indian coworkers taught me about Karwa Chaut, a holiday celebrated largely in northwestern India by married women, which took place ~ a week ago now. I find the interplay of secular regional customs and religion interesting in most holiday celebrations, and in this example even moreso.
Brief Update
Things are… okay. My cat Brianna is doing better — all her tests for the Really Bad Stuff came back negative. Asthma seems likely. At this point she’s on steroids, and will be for at least three weeks. Antibiotics, too, in case it’s some sort of bacterial infection/pneumonia. It’s kind of “wait and see” now, since we don’t really know what might have triggered her.
Oh, and we have a working septic system again. When Roto Rooter came out with the camera, they fished out a giant root ball that the cleaning had dislodged, and noted a lot of “ground mammal” activity around where the pipe from the house met the mainline. Manfully, Matt did not ask if we should call in Bill Murray to help.
On the ulnar neuropathy front, I saw the orthopedist this morning and I’m going to need to have ulnar release, an outpatient surgery. No schedule for that yet, and it’s not certain it will even help, because nerves are finicky, and the ulnar nerve moreso. But my hand has already been numb for over a month; I don’t have a lot to lose.
The final Fifth Gate Silverfire game was this past weekend. (The final combined event is still to come, in December). I had a really hard time getting into it, due to all the real life stuff going on. By the time I did, the game was over! But I have to say, the big field fight on Saturday night, right after dinner, was pretty epic. It had BALLISTA and DOGS and also now we get to call Friedrich (Stephen G’s character) “Your Grace”, whether he likes it or not 🙂
In WoW, I have been leveling a druid (a male worgen named Wodehouse. This name entertains me, if no one else). He’s 66 as of this writing. So far druidry is one part “I can loot stuff from travel form without shifting? HAX REPORTED” to one part “WHAT DO I DO WITH ALL THESE BUTTONS?”
I’m leveling as Guardian, because I want to learn how to tank on the most ridiculously overpowered tank in the game, and because it’s easy to get groups this way. I haven’t been exclusively doing dungeons to level — because I hate PUGs almost as much as I hate Outland questing — but enough to learn my way around and get some dungeon quest XP.
I think quest mobs must be very confused when a raven drops out the sky, turns into a bear, and kills them.
Oh, and my social media hiatus ends today! So I can actually check your responses to this post on FB or whatnot. I’m still figuring out how I want to fit social media healthily into my life. It’s clear to me that I do better, mentally, when I don’t have a million voices shouting at me at the touch of a button. It helps me to focus on my friends, my projects, and what’s really important. But… I also really miss the interaction that happens with other larpers on FB, especially post-events.
Accomplishments
Writing
– Did 30m of editing on Lioness
– Wrote 3500 words on the Story That Should Not Be, a.k.a. the story in the world of Lioness. I have come up with at least three titles, all of which sound like formula romances.
– Wrote blog post “Almost Glorious: Notes on a Nearly-Irrelevant Legion Raid Achievement”
Other Media
– Listened to Stuff Mom Never Told You, “Silicon Valley Sexism”, part 1 and 2
– Listened to Writing Excuses 12.37 and 12.38
– Listened to Stuff Mom Never Told You, “Problematic Faves: Judge Judy”
– Listened to Stuff Mom Never Told You, “Pregnant in Prison”
– Got the Glory of the Legion Raider achievement in WoW
Health
– Did Zombies Run! Season 2 Episode 1 (2.65mi in 43:42)
– Did ZR S2E1 (2.40mi in 37:25)
Picture of the Week
Burnbright and Brianna are Friends. For now, at least.
+ Matt’s and my 13th anniversary was yesterday, celebrated with a trip to the happiest place on Earth: the Melting Pot.
+ I wrote ~7000 words this weekend on a new story!
+ Our guild finally downed Kil’jaeden in heroic Tomb of Sargeras in WoW.
– Ulnar neuropathy is status quo. Still numb. It might be getting better, but infinitely slowly.
– The story I’m working on is best titled The Story That Shouldn’t Be, because it has no audience except me. It’s basically a fantasy romance, but people who haven’t read Lioness have no reason to care about these characters, and people who have are more likely to wonder why I’m writing the pairing I’m writing. In answer: because it tickles me.
– Internet has been on the fritz, and has picked delightful times to just stop working — like in the middle of heroic Sisters of the Moon, with me healing and Matt tanking.
– Our septic system started backing up again this weekend! Seeing as we just had the tank emptied in August, this meant a blockage. We had an emergency visit from Roto Rooter, and someone is coming with a camera later this week to make sure the main line hasn’t collapsed. Again.
– My cat Brianna has been wheezing for five days or so now. We took her to the vet after it started, not too alarmed, as she was still eating and being her normal bitchy self. They told us it was probably some sort of sinus infection and gave us antibiotics, saying it didn’t seem like there was any lung involvement. There was no improvement, and in fact it seemed to get worse, so Matt took her to the emergency vet this morning. They saw definite lung involvement, so she’s now on oxygen and steroids, with a probable diagnosis of asthma or pneumonia. (And hopefully not heartworm or lungworm or lung cancer…)
– I fucked up my sleep schedule something awful this weekend, and ended up awake until… I don’t even know. 4 or 5 or 6am. So now I am taking a sick day because I am a wreck.
Links
I went looking for the origin of New Englanders’ love of Dunkin’ Donuts, and somehow ended up on a couple of essays by Michael Deresiewicz on The American Scholar, the magazine of Phi Beta Kappa. They synergized well with the current stuff going through my head about deep work, thanks to my recent read of Cal Newport’s book of the same name.
The Disadvantages of an Elite Education. I identified a lot with this one, having attended Vassar, which is a Seven Sisters college. In particular, this quote explains why I tend to struggle to build a writing career — I feel like it should be easier than it is:
They were talking about trying to write poetry, how friends of theirs from college called it quits within a year or two while people they know from less prestigious schools are still at it. Why should this be? Because students from elite schools expect success, and expect it now. They have, by definition, never experienced anything else, and their sense of self has been built around their ability to succeed. The idea of not being successful terrifies them, disorients them, defeats them.
Writing
– Attended writing group
– Did ~2h of work on Lioness edits
– Wrote 2800 words on a new story in the world of Lioness
– Submitted “The Mirrors of Her Eyes” to Uncanny Magazine
– Submitted “Granny Hubbard” to Flash Fiction Online
Reading
– Read “Fluency”, by Matt Mikalatos, in Flash Fiction Online
Other Media
– Watched the RiffTrax of Oblivion — not the Tom Cruise movie, but a cheesy 90s sci-fi Western with George Takei as a drunken old-timey doctor making terrible Star Trek jokes (i.e. as he takes a swig of whiskey, “Jim Beam me up”). My commentary on this was largely, “This is the worst Sparks Nevada fanfic I’ve ever read.”
– Listened to Food Stuff, “You Butter Believe It’s a Two-Parter: Part 2”
– Listened to Food Stuff, “You Say Tomato, I Say Wolfpeach”
– Listened to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, “Bicameralism, Part 2: The Silent Pantheon.” I find the theory of the bicameral mind utterly fascinating, all the while admitting it seems improbable. However, I might use it to explain the differences between the two different types of uplifted creatures in Gods and Fathers, if I ever go back to that novel…
– Listened to Writing Excuses 12.34 – 12.36
– (finally finally finally) Downed Kil’jaeden in heroic Tomb of Sargeras, and got that cherished Ahead of the Curve achievement. (With a month to spare until Antorus comes out!) It was, as all our first kills are, “clean as fuck” — with only one tank, one healer, and two DPS surviving to the end. I survived until about 4% (I was the third and definitely weakest healer, on my resto shaman), but fuck phase three, fuck those obelisks, fuck that blazing orb, fuck Gravity Squeeze.
Social
– Had dinner at Cracker Barrel post-Madrigal with EB
– Celebrated my 13th anniversary with Matt at The Melting Pot
Health
– 1.4mi walk
– Did Zombies Run! S1E22 (2.44mi in 37:56)
– Did Zombies Run! S1E23 (1.90mi in 29:31) — and with that, finished season one!
– Had a massage
Rejection Log
– 10 day rejection from DSF for “Granny Hubbard vs. the Giant Slime”
– 12 day rejection from Fireside for “The Mirrors of Her Eyes”
Picture of the Week
Well, of course I had to share the pic from our heroic KJ kill. (I’m the dwarf shaman Terbodhna, hiding behind Aegwynn and looking fabulous…)
KotN heroic KJ kill, with Illi-chan, because Zallak insisted.
We’re apparently going to group up with another guild to try mythic tonight. What a shitshow that’s going to be… I watched the video for Sisters of the Moon and was like NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE.
Note: As last week, I’m still on my social media hiatus, so comment here or message me if you want to chat about anything in particular…
I was feeling down due to my ongoing ulnar neuropathy, so EB sent me this to cheer me up: A Portrait of James I’s ‘Husband’ Has Reappeared in Glasgow. Many of you may know my interest in, as I have joked, “hot historical homosexuals”*, and I’ve been particularly intrigued by the odd relationship between James I and the first Duke of Buckingham. (Indeed, this Buckingham — the Buckingham of The Three Musketeers — is in part the inspiration for the character of Bizel in Lioness).
So yes, seeing this lovely Rubens of him — which I’d seen before, but like everyone else, had assumed was the work of a different artist — fills me with glee 🙂
Also, fun fact! The article mentions that the King referred to Buckingham as “Steenie” after St. Stephen, who was said to have the face of an angel. True, that! But more specifically, he was comparing him to a painting of St. Stephen that was once in his home. If that strikes you as a little odd, keep in mind James was prooooobably getting a little senile by the time he met Buckingham…
(I maintain there was probably syphilis running through the Stuarts. Blame Lord Darnley).
(Also while James I is not my favorite Stuart king, he is up there in my estimation. I like to imagine him loping around Whitehall, being eccentric and aggressively Scottish at things).
*Well, bisexual; and sexual orientation is a thoroughly 20th-century concept, anyway. But that isn’t nearly so euphonic.
Accomplishments
Reading
– Read Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner
Other Media
– Watched RiffTrax of Psychotronic Man
– Watched Penny Dreadful S1E1
– Listened to Stuff Mom Never Told You, “The Problem With a Pinterest-Perfect Life”
– Listened to Stuff Mom Never Told You, “Baby Powder is Killing Black Women”
– Listened to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, “Bicameralism, Part 1: The Voice of God”
– Listened to Food Stuff, “Expiration Dates: Best if Listened By”
– Listened to Food Stuff, “You Butter Believe It’s a Two-Parter: Part 1”
LARP
– NPCed for Madrigal 3. Borderline, this, since the event ended on Sunday, but I’ll allow it 😉
Health
– Did Zombies Run! S1E20 (1.85mi in 30:16)
– Did Zombies Run! S1E21 (1.73mi in 27:44)
– Did Ninja Fitness Endurance workout #4, Agility #2, Zen #4, as well as some freeform core exercises (crunches, dead bugs, alternate heel touchers)
– Had a whole slew of medical stuff done (blood work, an appointment with an orthopedist/hand specialist, and a nerve conduction study/EMG. The latter I highly ANTI-recommend)
Picture of the Week
Again borderline, since it’s from Sunday of Madrigal. But I already know what you’re getting as next week’s pic, so here, I am, orcing it up for the final field fight of the weekend:
As you’ll recall, I made this costume for the first event of Mad3 — and aside from fifteen minutes at the campaign opener, I haven’t gotten to use it since. So when Griff approached me on Sunday and asked if I had the costume with me, I was all HELLZ YEAH.
It was also my first time really being a lieutenant/boss in a field fight! And my first time getting to throw Death effects. (Luckily for the PCs, the one I threw missed).
Pro-tip: orc skirts need a proper belt to them, or they may end up around your feet, showing off the latest in orc lingerie.
Oh, and a reminder: I’m still doing my social media hiatus, so if you want to discuss anything in this post with me, drop a comment below.
I live! Aside from the fact that my ulnar nerve in my left arm is no longer on speaking terms with me, I am doing pretty well, having finally crawled out of a depressive episode of over a month.
However, I have sworn off social media for the next thirty days, so if you want to reach me, the best bet is a)texting/messaging me (I’m still using FB Messenger, even if I’m not using Facebook), b) I dunno, smoke signals? I decided to try this social media sabbatical on somewhat of a lark, but I’m finding it delightful not to feel like I have the universe yelling in my ear all the time. I may never come back!
(And yes, I’m still crossposting to social media. If you want to reply to something from this post, your best bet is commenting here, because I sure won’t see it otherwise).
To be frank, I shouldn’t underplay the problem with my left arm. My pinkie and ring finger have been numb for three weeks now. I’m scheduled to see an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow, and to have a nerve conduction study with a physiatrist next month, but in the meantime I have no relief. I try to stay positive, but my work involves typing, and my hobbies generally do, too, so it’s exceptionally hard not being able to do what I want.
In the meantime, here’s what I’ve been up to this week.
Accomplishments
Writing
– Edited FSOTU story “Pinions” for writing group
– Did a second editing pass of FSOTU story “The Mirrors of Her Eyes”
– Submitted “Mirrors” to Clarkesworld (and got a prompt rejection)
– Submitted “Mirrors” to Fireside
– Did a second editing pass of FSOTU story “Granny Hubbard vs. the Giant Slime”
– Submitted “Granny Hubbard” to Daily Science Fiction
Reading
– (Re)read The Dragonbone Chair, by Tad Williams
– Read Deep Work, by Cal Newport
Other Media
– Listened to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, “The Psychology of Tattoos”
– Listened to Stuff Mom Never Told You, “Women & White Supremacy”
– Listened to Happier with Gretchen Rubin, episode 131-133
Social/Travel
– Took trip to New Hampshire with EB
– Visited the Hamilton Smith Memorial Chapel in Durham, NH
– Visited the Woodman Institute Museum in Dover, NH
– Visited the Madison Boulder in Madison, NH
– Stayed at Adventure Suites in North Conway, NH
– Had dinner at Moat Mountain Smokehouse & Brewing Company in N. Conway
– Visited the Memorial Arch of Tilton in Northfield, NH
– Visited the Franklin Pierce Manse in Concord, NH
– Visited the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord, NH and saw the Lake Winnepesaukee Mystery Stone
– Visited the Old Man in the Mountain replica in Hooksett, NH
– Had lunch at LaLa’s Hungarian Pastries in Manchester, NH
– Visited Cat Alley in Manchester, NH
– Visited the Dancing Lion Chocolate Shop in Manchester, NH
– Visited the grave of William G. Bruce in Mont Vernon, NH
– Visited the Swing Bridge in Milford, NH
– Visited the grave of Caroline Cutter in Milford, NH
– Had dinner at Yamato Japan in Leominster, MA with EB
Health
– Did Zombies Run! S1E18 (1.91mi in 29:55)
– Did Zombies Run! S1E19 (1.78mi in 29:05)
Picture of the Week
One of the highlights of this weekend’s New Hampshire adventure: a clamshell bed.
Rejection Log
– 2-day rejection from Clarkesworld for “The Mirrors of Her Eyes”
Reading
– Read Wild, by Cheryl Strayed
– Read The Eyes of the Killer Robot, by John Bellairs
– Read “Thirteen Bullets”, by (writing group buddy!) Laurence Brothers (Podcastle #483)
Other Media
– Listened to Stuff To Blow Your Mind, “The Science of Secrets”
– Listened to Writing Excuses 12.32 and 12.33
– Listened to Stuff Mom Never Told You, “Men Going Their Own Way”
I was traveling this week, so there was a lot of reading and play-watching, and not so much exercise.
Reading
– Read His Majesty’s Dragon, by Naomi Novik
– Read The Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
Writing
– Wrote story for round 3 of FSOTU, the Codex summer flash fiction contest
Other Media
– Watched the RiffTrax of Final Justice
– Listened to The Training Dummies #172
– Listened to Happier with Gretchen Rubin #128
– Saw five plays at the Stratford Festival: The School for Scandal, The Virgin Trial, Tartuffe, Timon of Athens, and The Changeling.
– Saw the play The Downs at the Blyth Festival.
Social
– Traveled to Ontario for the Stratford Festival, and visited with my mom there
Health
– (Mon) Ninja Fitness Endurance workout #7, Strength #5, Agility #4, Zen #4
Writing
– (Tues) Brainstormed with Skye some fixes for the ending of Lioness
– (Weds) Worked on Lioness editing ~1h
Reading
– Read “Scattered Along the River of Heaven”, by Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld Year Six)
– Read “All the Painted Stars” by Gwendolyn Clare (Clarkesworld Year Six)
– Read “Prayer” by Robert Reed (Clarkesworld Year Six)
– Read “A Silhouette Against Armageddon” by John Wiswell (Fireside Fiction, August 2017)
Other Media
– Listened to The Training Dummies episode #170 and #171
– Listened to Stuff Mom Never Told You, “The Misnomer of ‘Manterruptions’.”
– Listened to By the Book, “America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money”
– Listened to Stuff You Missed in History Class, “Ibn Battuta, the Traveler of Islam”
– Played a game of Mysterium
– Played a game of Mansions of Madness (second edition)
Social
– Visited with Matt’s parents at the IWANE dog show; went to Bocado in Worcester for dinner
– Had dinner with EB at the Traveler Restaurant in Union, CT
– Hosted a visit from Mike and Josh
Health
– (Mon) Ninja Fitness Agility workout #4, Strength workout #4, Zen workout #3
– (Weds) Zombies Run S1 E11 (2.16mi in 34:28)
– (Weds) NF Zen workout #3
– (Thurs) 30min walk
– (Fri) ZR S1 E12 (2.09mi in 31.13), NF Strength workout #4, NF Zen workout #3
Picture of the Week
A dramatic hibiscus flower in someone’s yard in Framingham.
Reading
– Read “Last Chance”, by Nicole Kornher-Stace (Clarkesworld, July 2017)
– Read “The Bridgegroom” by Bo Balder (Clarkesworld July 2017)
– Finished Heartless by Gail Carriger
Other Media
– Listened to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, “Svalbard: Land of Snow and Apocalypse Arks”
– Listened to Stuff You Missed in History Class, “Catalina de Erauso”
– Listened to Happier with Gretchen Rubin #127
– Listened to Writing Excuses 12.30
– Listened to Stuff Mom Never Told You, “Work Fails”
Health
– (Weds) Zombies, Run S1 E9 (2.20mi in 33:29)
– (Mon am/pm; Thurs am) Planks/wall sits x 3
– (Fri) Ninja Fitness Agility workout #3 and Strength workout #3 — and finally gained my yellow belt!
– (Sat) Zombies, Run S1 E10 (2.38mi in 37:35)
