The Dragon's Aerie

2002-02-02T15:24:00.000-05:00

IT'S THE BIG DAY!
This is it, everyone! This is what should be my final post to my trusty Blogspot blog. I am moving on to better and brighter things, courtesy of Moveable Type and my own server space. I'm still putting finishing touches on the new site, but it's close enough that I'm ready to open for business.

Please redirect your browser and update your links to my new home at:
http://illuminatio.populli.net/daily/

2002-02-01T20:25:00.000-05:00

Notes to all: Big changes, including relocation, are coming soon to this blog. I will keep you posted.

2002-02-01T20:24:00.000-05:00

Yarn yarn yarn! I finally got myself to a yarn store, and came away poorer than I'd hoped but bearing 3 balls of chenille yarn (one each in deep purply blue, lighter purply blue, and burgundy) and a shiny new crochet hook. My crochet-craving will finally be appeased! At this point I'm planning to make a scarf for Tim - hence the uncharacteristic blue color scheme - but this may start a whole new round of yarn-blitzed madness in which I churn out scarfs and purses and hats by the kilo. I hear there's a good, and well-paying market for these things on ebay... I've missed the season now, but hey I can stockpile things for next October. In the meantime, it feels good to have yarn in my hands again - gives me something to fidget with when watching movies - and chenille is soooo cuddly.

2002-01-31T13:09:00.000-05:00

Owwwww I hurt! My body is reminding my why it's unwise to take too much time off fencing (or any other strenuous activity). I didn't pull any muscles thankfully, but everything feels slow and achy and my back is really unhappy with me. Ugghh. I'm better than I was last night, but still. Mobility not so much fun right now.

It turns out that Wednesday is Scrub Night at Metropolis. (Heh.) Which means not many of the better fencers are around, just the beginners who hack at each other blindly. Well, Rolando was there, and he fenced a couple of bouts - of all the people there I was the only one to give him any decent competition, which gives you an idea of how lowly the crowd was. My first bout was against Rolando, and would you know I fenced him 10-15. 10 touches is definitely not bad for being all forgetful and out of shape!

The reason I hurt is because when Rolando left, he left ME to rule the strip. None of the beginners had a chance, so I ended up fencing several bouts in a row, by the end of which my back and my wrist were seriously hurting. Ugg. That's why Scrub Night was possibly a bad night to come back on, because with the regular crowd there I'd never have had to fence so many bouts in a row.

(And yes, I'm an idiot for not stepping down sooner - unfortunately the ow didn't hit me till it was too late.)

So I was planning on going back tonight, but maybe I should let my back recover a bit. Siiigh!

2002-01-30T17:32:00.000-05:00

What a productive day! My main accomplishment was I actually got myself down to Pintchik and picked out some nice shiny red paint with which to paint my TV cabinet (which Tim and I sanded last night). So tomorrow I'll actually be able to prime the cabinet and, if the primer dries quickly, I should have my little "entertainment center" set up by the weekend! Woohoo!

Furthermore, I cleared up some payment issues with Parsons, gave dad various tax-type info he needed, found out the location of a nice nearby wool/knitting store (I've been itching to rebegin crocheting lately), I'll be heading out to fencing in a few minutes (for the first time in weeks), and even began redesigning the redesign of my blog. (Decided I'll definitely be going with Moveable Type in the near future, rather than Greymatter as previously anticipated.)

This design thing has been the niggling bane of my existence. Nothing QUITE seems to flow as I'd like, with all the elements jangling in a disappointing grating sort of way, and I'm completely stumped as to why nothing is coming together. Bah. So today I started fresh, this time using Fireworks instead of Photoshop. Which I should've tried sooner - Fireworks is utterly geared towards web layout, and all its tools for such are much closer to the front of your working space (plus its vector shape tools are way better than those in PS, which is handy when you're drawing lines all over everything). It utterly lacks Photoshop's arty fineness, so I'll still be working on all the images as psds, but layout is all about Fireworks. Maybe this change of environs will be just what I needed to kick my creativity in the right direction.

Now all I need is 512mb of RAM so that I can have Photoshop, Fireworks, HomeSite, and web stuff all open at once. Heh.

2002-01-30T17:03:00.000-05:00

These things are getting dirtier.....

Take the What
animal best portrays your sexual appetite?? Quiz

2002-01-28T13:46:00.000-05:00

Idyll time....

Walking from Chinatown to TriBeCa with Chris and Tim to catch the 1 train on Saturday, I began to experience a strange sense of my adult self overlaying childhood memories of walking this very same route home, to North Moore Street.

I get this every time I'm in TriBeCa, mostly because I never have any reason to be there, so I have no steady build of fresher memories. These streets remain cobbled through the eyes of a 5-year-old. It freaks me out to see luxury residences and rarefied antiques warehouses - I still remember the neighborhood clogged with trucks, sweating workmen on the loading docks, and the smell of industrial miasma filling the air. Of course it's nicer now, but what a strange metamorphosis. Kind of neat to explore the neighborhood again, on a frolicksome afternoon with not much better to do.

On White Street, I stopped to peer in the window of a fancy Asian furniture warehouse, and jumped up on the loading ledge to see better. Just as I might've jumped up to peer at toys in a SoHo window when I was little. It was a funny moment, that same childhood reaction but fueled by my adult interests. Chris and Tim hopped up alongside me, and then, grinning, we joined hands and all leaped down together. It was a beautiful moment.

And then we visited N.Moore Street itself, and I peered up at our old loft, unchanged on the outside (minus the aforementioned trucks etcetera), but doubtless very changed on the inside. The name on our bell was Miele. I took a picture of the building, just 'cause. And then I took a flying leap off the loading dock for old times' sake and got carried upside-down halfway up the block by Tim. Carried back to where my vision doesn't flicker in a 20-year retrogap.

2002-01-27T17:38:00.000-05:00

God I'd forgotten how much fun Star Wars can be...... and it's all Gizmo's fault for reminding me. Heh, figures: my interest isn't sparked by the upcoming Episode II, ohh no, it's all due to the RPG in which I get to play at being a Jedi.

Right now the story has us stuck in the middle of a Sith Temple - yes, we walked in voluntarily. Well not that we wanted (yeah, it'll be FUN!) but we have to rescue an NPC who became unexpectedly important all of a sudden (bloody NPCs.....), aaaand who thought it would be a good idea to succumb to the Dark Side for kicks. Whee.. Right. (The Dark Side mojo in the system has been bugging all us Force-sensitives, but I've mostly been making my willpower saves and thus been resisting, except for one really hairy moment but it's all better now......)

But it's cool because my character is finally actually getting to use abilities, instead of just being a target. ("Ooh she's a Jedi! Let's hit her! Ooh look! She can't do ANYTHING to stop us!") Although I had a bad moment getting knocked down by a big black slime-Sith (mmmmm slime-sabres....causing me to yell "I don't WANNA be Tasha Yar!!!"), I later had a great moment using the Force to pick up a baddie and then dropping him on his ass. Also had great moments of telepathy and other fun stuff, and the night ended with me going into this fabulous Jedi-trance where I got to see the ethereal plane...so pretty!
     I've got more cool stuff ahead too, because soon I'll be able to develop some more fighting skills along with these sensory perception things. Gizmo is giving me the option to learn to fight with TWO lightsabres - lightsabres florentine! Only after picking up certain essential feats like ambidexterity, or else I'll have to take massive penalties, but I can be patient. It's just that COOL.

I realize I'm being silly about this, but it's so much fun! Gizmo (his real name is Danny, but Gizmo suits him so well...) is a wonderful fun GM, where all the scenarios are very character-driven - which makes even the niggling inbetweenclimaxes time very entertaining. Plus, we're all ridiculously silly, which makes the game soooooo much more fun.

For example, we have Tim playing an Ithorian (those weird hammerheaded guys) soldier named - I'm not kidding - Licki Tungeluv. (Someone kill him for that, please.) We also have a Jedi Wookiee called, because he couldn't think of anything better, Skybacca. Yeoww. Tim, upon hearing this, immediately burst out with, "Bacca-chuuuuuu! I choose youuuu!" (No, really SOMEONE has GOT to kill him.) We're more prone to call him Baccachu now.... James must hate us.

Now, Skybacca (James) has decided that one of his major goals in life is to kill him a Rancor, so that he can use a Rancor tooth to build his lightsabre. (Riiight.) He thought that he could bait it with something else and then kill it while it was busy chewing....
     James: "What does a Rancor like to eat anyway?"
     Us: "YOU!"
     James: "Oh. What if I threw it a nice Hutt?"
     Me: "Mmmmmm! GUMMI-Hutts!"

This gives you an idea of what our gameplay is like. Yes, ALL of it. I wouldn't be nearly so hooked if it wasn't this silly. Mmmmmm I can't wait till next session!

2002-01-27T14:36:00.000-05:00

What an odd, limbo-esque sort of day. I've got a whole afternoon to diddle around my apartment (I'm finally HOME after being in CT and at Tim's since last Sunday). Which feels wooooonderful, to stretch out into my own space, and to be at my own computer. I've got some vague notions of things to do, like I want to make some character sketches for the Star Wars RPG I'm in, I should work on my website and start constructing some business card designs, all fun things like that. I should feed myself soon (hmm I have beans, avocado, and tortillas...). But none of it feels all that pressing although I'm anxious to get those things done.

I'm in an odd mood - I was annoyed earlier by my digital camera, which seems to hate Win98 (as well it should, I suppose) and won't let itself be installed on my machine despite my and Tim's best efforts. I called my parents, and for once they didn't have a list of 20 chores and errands to remind me about, which was more eerie and disconcerting than it was happy (though believe me, it was VERY happy!). I'm also listening to ska, which I've loved for a long time, but which hasn't often suited my mood in recent years, so it feels sort of...strange. And more sobering, Keri's news has saddened me - I send a thousand hugs her way, and I'm thinking maybe I'll call my own grandparents just to check in and say hello.

2002-01-25T11:09:00.000-05:00

We won at Trivia!!!! We finally won!!!
Which was quite a shock to us, as none of us felt we'd done a particularly distinguished job last night. We had a number of beautiful memory-saves, though, which were enough to end us up winning with 93 points, 3 whole points ahead of the next runners-up. (It was a notably low-scoring night actually - often the winners score above 100.) It was a fabulous night, altogether though. We got the coveted table right under the Quizmaster's nose - the one which a) puts you close enough to get the questions for free drinks (Jaye got one, and Keri got another), and b) enables you to joke with the Quizmaster which is always fun.

We had some special guest appearances to our team, too. We had the reappearance of Keri, an especially happy and welcome surprise. We had MikeFromE'sGym with Girlfriend Abby, who were fun additions to our team (not well-learned additions, at least per the night's supply of questions, but definitely fun). And making SPECIAL uninvited cameos were E's parents, who bought us Guinnesses, gave us hugs, and a barrage of wrong answers that we got to tease them about. (Oh no, I tell a lie - they supplied us with Sea Biscuit, because none of the rest of us know from horses.)

It was a busy night at Rocky's, too, because they had someone taking photos of all the teams so as to update the pub's website. So the Samurai Squirrels are represented! I was taking photos too, with my new camera, and will post pictures here as soon as I get around to uploading them.

(And we must all mock Tim, who decided to skip Trivia and hang out with Sci-Fi people at NYU on EXACTLY the wrong week! Hahaha! Sucker!)

2002-01-24T14:21:00.000-05:00

It occurred to me - there have been so few interesting "today in medieval history" moments recently because it's January, when everyone was holed up warm and safe inside their castles, too chilly to mount many fun wars or cause much trouble. I guess things'll get entertaining again when the weather warms up a bit.

2002-01-23T14:37:00.000-05:00

Sooo cute! The Lord of the Rings, in Legos.

2002-01-23T13:35:00.000-05:00

Well, it's done! I'm registered for real at Parsons. This is actually happening; I've been assigned my student ID number and everything. And now I am truly on my way to becoming a bona fide design geek. One who geeks in public, not just on her weblog and for the occasional holiday card.

The last time I ever did art for class credit was sophomore year at Vassar when I took Art 101 - the basic studio drawing class. Which was alternately the most fun and most gut-wrenching class I ever took - on one hand I loved having all that peaceful time sketching with my charcoals (nothing better than art homework!), but on the other hand it was terrifying when, at the end of every class, the professor would post all our work on the board and tear it to shreds in front of everybody else.

I wonder what the teachers will be like at Parsons, if they'll be that publicly critical. I'm hoping not. I'm hoping their assignments will be fun and inspiring, and that they'll be more concerned with imparting good knowledge and skills than with focusing on ego. I wonder how many of my classmates will be raw newbies and how many of them will be dazzling artists, and I wonder how well I'll do at being creative on demand. Easier with art than with writing - I suck at writing on demand, which made the composition class I took sophomore year hell on earth, but art assignments are much easier to cope with. (Heh, gosh, wonder why I'm aiming to be a designer, rather than a writer!)

::twitch:: Classes start Feb.4, and until then I'll be bouncing off the walls with nervous anticipation!

2002-01-22T13:17:00.000-05:00

Today's the big day: I'm registering for classes at Parsons! ::boinggg!!::

I've finally figured out which courses I need to start with and what program I'm intending to shoot for: Basically, I'm going to enroll in Continuing Ed this semester, with the intent to apply for an Associate's degree starting in the fall. So any classes I take this spring and summer will be for credit, so that I can transfer them to count towards the degree.

I spoke to a counselor in the admissions office, and he advised that I not worry about any computer classes just yet - so I guess I'll put Illustrator and Quark on hold for now - and to take the intro level design classes. So Graphic Design 101 and Typography 101 here I come!

(Everybody hide, she's taking Typographyyyyyyy!)

2002-01-22T13:12:00.000-05:00

It's a beautiful day up here in sunny Connecticut...

Yes, I'm up here again this week (this time accompanied by Tim, who has graciously tagged along to keep me from going crazy), taking care of my mom while dad's away working in DC. She's feeling somewhat better - read: she doesn't scream in pain now when getting up out of bed - but still fragile, in pain, and incapable of going downstairs. Poor mommy.

Meanwhile, the snow is GORGEOUS here! Since last week we've gotten a few inches - enough so that Tim and I had a grand time sledding down the hill in my backyard. (Note: never get into a snowball fight with a boy who's got two younger siblings, even if he IS from Texas.) We only nearly ended up in the lake once, which is a good record all things considered. Maybe we'll go out again today!

2002-01-22T12:17:00.000-05:00

My digital camera has arrived! It's soooooo sweet!!! ::boingg:: Really awesome product for something that got thrown in free with the computer (usually it's backlot crap that no one actually wanted to buy) - but in this case it's a Hewlett-Packard 318xi, complete with 2 megapixel capability, slot for flash memory card, nice clear lcd display screen, and all the basic luxuries (it even has a 2x zoom, which is paltry but better than no zoom at all). It can take 113 pictures in low-res mode - still not so shoddy at 400x500ish pixels - 15 pictures at mid-grade mode (good for snapshot-sized prints), and 7 pictures at high-res mode (which is huuuuge and appropriate for printing 8x10s). Sure, it's not the topoftheline Olympus I really want, but FREE is magical. So far my only complaint is that the blacks come out too ultra-saturated.

Toysss!!!

2002-01-17T09:47:00.000-05:00

SCOOOOORE!!! Just got notice that mom's rebate form from Apple has been processed, and my free digital camera is on its way. SWEET! ::boingaboinga!::

2002-01-17T09:23:00.000-05:00

It's 7:15 in the morning.... do you know where your children are? Watching Buffy on FX, possibly!
Kind of strange to watch Buffy at such an odd hour of morning, but on the other hand boy am I glad I didn't have to see that episode just before bedtime - health-class eggs that hatch into awful nasty demony parasites....errgh. Just like in that Star Trek episode. Creepy creepy!

I had to be up early to drive dad to the train station (since I want to do a swaparoo later this evening to come into the city in time for trivia, it means that he needed to not park at the station today). Unfortunately I picked a hellofa morning for it - we've got SNOW! An inch or two of real bona fide snow! Very pretty and exciting, but hellish to drive on! Especially on 4 1/2 hours of sleep. Dad made me drive on the way to the station, too, because I needed to "practice" driving on snowy icy roads. UUGGHHH! Usually I have the ride to the station to finish waking up, but no such luck. And I hate driving my dad even in perfect road conditions ("Yes, dad, I did look both ways....twelve times!"). Half-asleep on snowy slick winding hilly roads..... NIGHTMARE! I physically couldn't go slow enough without actually stopping - and then he'd get mad at me for exaggerating. It was the longest three miles I have ever driven. And of course the ride back was no problem - the sky started to get light and the roads immediately dried out enough to drive on fairly securely (and hey I adore our intrepid little Subaru).

Now the only breakfasty thing to eat in the house is eggs, and I am not going NEAR them!

And I SWEAR I had nightmares about giant typefaces swarming around me.

2002-01-17T02:15:00.000-05:00

New Wallace & Gromit shorts to be released online!!!
::boinga!!:: Oh how exciting! I've got my Click-o-Matic.... um, I mean my mouse..... poised and ready for the day these come out!

Just the sort of thing to brighten what was otherwise turning into a grouchy evening. I spent all day working on the redesign of my blog, happily toiling away full of creative energy and productivity.... only to have it all crashing down due to one small observation that landed the whole design into a pile of suck. Ugggg. Why did I have to spend SO many hours on this without spotting that it was resembling a midwestern housewife's protestant Inspiration journal only with a better color scheme? UGGGGGG.

If Jack Handey needs a blog, I have a design he can use.....

So tomorrow I get to start fresh. I think this time it's going to involve hi-res scans of my sketches of squiggly medieval ivy. Somehow.

2002-01-16T13:06:00.000-05:00

I'm back in CT again. My mom has thrown her back out right good, and is fairly well confined to bed-rest. So here I am to take care of making her meals and picking things up for her and bringing her books, etcetera. I'll be here through tomorrow evening (should be able to hop on the train to make it to trivia, albeit a little late maybe).

It's actually kind of nice to have this quiet time to work on stuff - like I've finally managed to sketch out a design for my new blog (will be moving my blog to my own site and probably running it off Greymatter). I've got phone calls to make too, but am too gripped by creative production stuff to think about that just now.

Other projects are to finish making my "admin support" type resume - the lackey resume. Siigh. It hurts my soul to put MS Office at the front of my computer skills list, as opposed to Photoshop, but it's gotta be done. My dad's only going to pay for design school if I can get a job to tide me through it, and that means office work.

2002-01-16T01:13:00.000-05:00

Wow. Typography and Sex. I think I need to go lie down now.

2002-01-14T11:39:00.000-05:00

Just going through some of the files I was working with around Christmas-time on mom's computer - particularly looking at the cards I made for everyone this year. Have a look:

I'm really proud of these - and it's making me think that it might be a good idea to start up my own greeting card business. Handmade cards, custom-designed upon request for extra fee, etcetera. I've been doing the card thing for sooo long, and finally with the computer they're actually looking good enough to sell. I've got no idea how to run a business though, so I think I'd need help with finances, marketing and publicity, and all that other technical stuff. But I KNOW swanky shops like Kate's Papers sell cards LESS pretty than mine for $4 apiece if not twice that.

It's just a matter of getting started, getting shops like that to buy my designs, making a web presence, putting some effort into upping the quality of my production materials, and all that. I bet I could actually make money at this.

2002-01-13T22:40:00.000-05:00

From the Education Life supplement in today's NYTimes:

How Wel Koude Yow Answere?
Subject tests are only occasionally required but are often recommended to provide an edge in graduate school admission. Among the eight subject tests that are part of the GREs, English literature is the only one in the humanities - the sole subject with an undergraduate curriculum that was consistent enough for a national test. Here is a sampling of GRE subject-test questions reflecting what undergraduates are being taught in literature.

Gat-toothed was she, soothly for to seye./Upon an amblere esily she sat,/ Ywympled wel, and on hir heed an hat/ As brood as is a bokeler or a targe;/ A foot-mantel aboute hir hipes large;/ And on hir feet a pair of spores sharpe./ In felaweshipe wel koude she laughe and carpe./ Of remedies of love she knew per chaunce,/ For she koude of that art the old daunce. - CHAUCER

1. The closest paraphrase of "soothly for to seye" is:

2. An amblere is a:

3. Choose the best translation of "in felaweshipe wel koude she laughe and carpe":

4. The passage describes:

5. The passage was written between:

***

1. She is the plaything of a cruel destiny and is eventually maddened by the many wrongs she endures. After her trial for the murder of her seducer, she is hanged at Wincester.
The heroine is:

2. Identify the author:
The One remains, the many change and pass;/ Heaven's light forever shines, earth's shadows fly;/ Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass/ Stains the white radiance of eternity,/ Until Death tramples it to fragments.

3. In the late 19th century, the locomotive occasionally held the role of the time-hallowed deus ex machina; in the 20th, the automobile accident replaced it.
The point argued is best illustrated by:

4. His stage sets strongly reinforce his themes. The set progression in __________, for example, as we descend from an upper-class drawing room through a Salvation Army relief center to a housing project for a munitions factory, reinfoces his argument about the underpinnings of industrial society.
Which of the following correctly fills in the blank?

5. O, O, all brought to pass, all true!/ O light, may I behold thee nevermore!/ I stand a wretch, in birth, in wedlock cursed,/ A parricide, incestuous, triply cursed.
The "I" of the lines is:

6. She loved me for the danger I had passed,/ And I loved her that she did pity them.
The speaker of these lines is:

7. And they have lain with beauty/ all their lives./ And they have fed on honeydew/ and drunk the wines of Paradise/ so that they know exactly how/ a thing of beauty is a joy/ forever and forever.
The excerpt from "A Coney Island of the Mind," by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, alludes to poems by:

8. Identify the author:
Our age is retrospective. ... It writes biographies, histories, and criticism. The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face, we through their eyes. ... Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs?

9. Although 400 years separate them, both are fundamentally didactic plays designed to teach by explication, by the dramatization of the ideas that dictate their dramatic structure.
Which of the following are described in the passage above?

10. What is ________?/ A dwarfish whole,/ Its body brevity, and wit its soul.
Which fills in the blank?

11. Like Sherlock Holmes, ________ appears as the recurrent principal of a series of stories; he also was presented through the eyes of an admiring friend; his tastes were recondite; his methods were those of stringent scientific rationalism.
Which fills in the blank?

***

How this tart fable instructs/ And mocks! Here's the pardoy of that moral mousetrap/ Set in the proverbs stitched on samplers/ Approving chased girls who get them to a tree/ And put on bark's nun-black/ Habit which deflects/ All amorous arrows. - SYLVIA PLATH

1. The tart fable is the story of:

2. The moral mousetrap is:

3. Which of the following calls up its homophone and becomes a pun when read aloud?

***
Whew! How's that for a test! I posted it firstly because the Chaucer caught my eye, but also because the questions gave me a fit of nostalgia for my English major days. I remember all those classes with midterms and finals that looked a lot like this - except they had questions that included far fewer giveaway clues! But lord the Lit GRE is eeeeeeeeeevil. That said, I managed to get 16/19 correct, either by knowing or good guesswork. Sheesh.

Will post answers as comments, so if you tried the test go there to check your score.

2002-01-13T12:37:00.000-05:00

I have job news today! Well not that I've gotten a job, but that I may have at least a part-time gig in the works, provided a deal can be worked out to everyone's satisfaction.

One of my dad's patients faxed this morning - this is a woman I'd once designed a business logo/letterhead for her erstwhile business. She knows someone whose business has an AWFUL AWFUL site, and she knows he's been wanting to update it for a while, so she thought I might be interested in working out a partnership of sorts with him, if I was interested in redesigning and maintaining his site.

She described his site as the most AWFUL site she'd ever seen in her life. I think I may agree: http://www.reeltoreelvideo.com/

(What kind of psychopath uses an animated GIF as a background pattern?? AAAACK!!! Go look at this guy's site, it's impressively bad.)

In comparison to that, I could help this guy hanging upside-down, asleep, blindfolded, using only my two pinky-toes.

Now the caveat is that this guy is a cheap bastard who doesn't want to pay for a "real" designer, which he hasn't gone out and hired one before now. Instead of giving the designer/webmaster a wage, he wants to offer a percentage of the business that the site creates. Riiiiiiiight. (People weren't even that stupid when web businesses were BOOMING.) On the plus side, the guy's had this business running for 18 years, so it's got some solidity, even if the web presence sucks.

So tomorrow she's going call him as a introductory first wave, and then I have to call him in the afternoon to discuss things. The primary thing I plan to discuss is the necessity of paying people for their time and effort, in the form of an actual check that reflects the number of hours of work expended, NOT in the form of some nebulous profit-margin. ("Lisa, we made $0.45 from ad page-views this month, and we sold TWO tape conversions. Here's your share: $1.03. Don't spend it all in one place!")

Sigh. If I can convince him to pay me $20/hr, I'll do it. I want to do it, if only to kill that horrid site. I feel like ripping it apart with my teeth.

2002-01-13T12:17:00.000-05:00

Hehe, I just took emode's Ultimate IQ test. It tells me I'm an Insightful Linguist - "Like Charles Dickens, you have the natural fluency of a writer and the visual and spatial strengths of an artist. Those skills contribute to your creative and expressive mind."

Gosh, I needed a test to tell me this?

Mind you, emode also tells me that my "Teen Celebrity Match" is Prince William. I think I'll be hiding under the table now, convulsing. (EEEEEP!)

2002-01-13T03:23:00.000-05:00

Rhapsody on a Taxicab

The other night on the way home from trivia, Tim and I splurged for a cab to take us back to Brooklyn. His head was hurting, and I was just so zonked, that it seemed like a sane moment to indulge in such unheard-of luxury. We've never taken a cab home before, instead braving the long cold wait for the F-train. (It is always a long cold wait for the F-train, even in August. On principle.)

God what a beautiful thing taxis are, whisking you at breakneck speed across the Manhattan Bridge. Your personal chauffeur to a sooner bedtime.

What a treat! I think I appreciate it so much more in comparison to the long subway ride. Taxis average about $13 from the East Village to Park Slope. Not a lot in the grand scheme of things, especially considering the comfort and speed factors, but a hellofalot when compared to a $1.50 subway fare. Someday I'll have a job where the cost doesn't bother me so much, and I can just catch that cab when I'm wanting to get home already, and not have to save it for when I feel like hell.

2002-01-13T01:36:00.000-05:00

Hey wow, I haven't posted about fencing in four whole days, so I'm about due, right?

Now that the new year has begun, I haven't quite taken the plunge back into fencing that I was intending. I've sort of been dabbling my toes in experimentally instead, feeling the need to be sucked back into the groove of it much more slowly this time. Yes, there's a tournament tomorrow, and no I have no intention of going. My body still needs this reset time.

But I did fence on Thursday evening, and it went surprisingly well. A lesson that began badly (one of those where I have to tell Zaddick "I'll wake up in a minute, I promise") ended with some real progress in my timing and arm-speed, and I was barely even tired.

I ended up starting up a women's bouting strip with Gareeva - I have no idea what her first name is, but she's from Kazakhstan, and she's very good. I'd never fenced her before.......... And, though I made it much harder for her to hit me than she would have liked, she defeated me 15-5. Hah well. She went on to defeat the next two girls in line VERY handily, and then I stepped back up. This time I felt incredibly awake. Especially after she chuckled a little with an "Oh you're back for more, eh?" expression.

This time my attacks and my defense worked! It was a fierce fierce bout, with lots of body contact - she's known around the club for getting into more corps-a-corps than any of the other women - and the kind of hard stabbing you normally only see in dramatic movie duel finales. REALLY uncommon to see it in sport fencing - generally if you use arm movements like that you're dead quickly, but somehow she makes it work for her (she's fiendishly fast). Aaaaaaaaand I kept the bout tied the whole way up to 11 points this time! After which she won, but still! I more than doubled the points I'd earned not 15 minutes earlier. It's really cool to be able to pull off a comeback like that.

The good thing about these sorts of bouts is that I've taken certain measures to redeem myself and prove my skill, so that in future when I want to fence her again, she won't feel like she has to condescend so much to get on the strip with me. No, this way, she gets a real challenge from me, and I get to practice against her friendly ferocity. A good deal.

2002-01-12T16:31:00.000-05:00

On the subway I thought of about twelve things to blog about, but have forgotten them now that I'm actually online. Which is silly because I had my Visor with me and could've jotted down the thoughts right then and there. All this convenience, I can't handle it!

Incidentally, I've come up with a name for my Visor. Something completely appropriate and geeky:
I'm calling it Narya.

(Narya is the name of Gandalf's ring, the Ring of Fire. It's one of the three elven rings. More importantly, it's red.)

2002-01-12T14:08:00.000-05:00

Another night of cheesy gaming safely done, and even returned home from at a reasonable hour (read: before 2am). Oh miracle of miracles!

Tim keeps cackling mwahaha that he's turning me into a gamer, to which I respond noooooooooooooooooooo! Just because I'm playing in this one game. Sheesh.....

Hey, to be a Jedi you gotta do what you gotta do. *grin*

And hooooo boy is this a SILLY game. You know it is when you've got Tim playing your posse's "captain" as an Ithorian soldier named Lickitung. Seriously. Yes you may all now pause here for a moment to twitch convulsively and/or laugh. No worries, we were doing so aaaaall night long.

And now we've been joined by someone playing a Jedi Wookiee - YES, that's a Jedi Wookiee - named, for lack of better inspiration, Skybacca. Yes, really. The nicknames we came up with were only downhill from there.

As you can imagine, I spent most of the night on the floor in tears, because the laughing just started to hurt too much. I think I only was able to recover at intervals long enough to roll my dice, smack Tim with his dice-pouch, and to eat cookies.

But hey it was fun, especially since the dice-rolling was going better this session (as opposed to last time, where I couldn't manage to roll anything higher than a 5). I made all my willpower saves and so WASN'T possessed by any nasty Dark Side spirits - heyyyy awriiiight.

Sigh. I'm NOT sucked in, not really. It's just the Jedi thing that I can't resist..... really!

2002-01-11T18:34:00.000-05:00

I stopped by Parsons today to pick up their current continuing ed. brochure.....

....and lo, there is no more doubt as to which program I'll attend. Parsons ALL THE WAY. (Well barring a better-still deal from SVA, but I haven't checked them out yet.) It's a no-brainer, really. Parson's is, after all, an ultra-respected design school, whereas New School is just a fun continuing ed playground.

For an equivalent certificate program, Parsons' offerings are FAR more extensive, deep, and rich, and all of it is geared towards someone who's bent on becoming a serious design professional.

In other words: BINGO.

Now the only thing to figure out is if a certificate program is enough, or if I should check out applying for some sort of degree program. That was my mom's concern, that a certificate sounds piddlier than a degree, but at the same time, this may be all I need. So next week I'll call their office and ask them how their certificate-grads make out in the big world, as compared to the degree-holders, and whether it's possible to start in the cert. program and then transfer my courses over later. Pfoo. So much to think about!

2002-01-11T12:14:00.000-05:00

Sigh: I'm a sucker.
My Blogger Code:
B4 d+ t k s- u- f i+ o++ x e l++ c-

Geek code because I'm even more of a sucker:
GL/H/FA/CA>$ d+ s-: a- c++ UB P L E? W++ N+ o? K- w+@ O? M+>++ VMS? PS+ PE Y+ PGP- t+ 5 X+@ R@ tv b+++ DI++ D G e*++ h- r++ x+

2002-01-10T03:19:00.000-05:00

I've got my comments working!! JOYY!! (Thank you for helping, Tim!)
Will get to working on E's and Gomez's too at some point soon.

2002-01-10T03:18:00.000-05:00

So I went to the New School open house tonight - which turned out to be a great and motivating experience. The graphics/computer department folks all seemed really nice and cool and down-to-earth, which was happy. One of the design teachers collected a whole passel of us and was answering people's questions about Photoshop and Quark etc while compulsively drawing on the chalkboard like only a born teacher does. (*G* You know the type I mean, right?) I found out some interesting info regarding comparing New School to Parsons - Parsons is hardcore designer-land, whereas the New School classes are much more pedestrian. Apparently the coursework and the course levels are exactly the same, but the population of the class is all artists over at Parsons whereas New School gets the regular Joes.

So now I have to decide if I'd rather dive straight in with the hardcore designers - who may well intimidate and annoy me - or if I should go with N.S. where I'll get a solid foundation in Quark and Illustrator without having to worry about any Attitude.

The other question is whether I take these classes as standalone items, or if I shoot for some sort of certification program. The N.S. graphic design certification requires PS1, Illustrator1, Quark1, Graphic Design, Typography, something called Tools of the Trade, plus three elective higher level things. (I'd get to take Photoshop 2, most likely, instead of PS1, since I'm sure I'll be able to pass their skip-a-grade quiz.) It seems like a certification might be a useful thing to have on a resume - although I'm thinking that a Parsons certification will be much more impressive than a N.S. one.

So sometime this week I'll be wandering by Parsons, and SVA too while I'm at it, to see what sorts of programs they offer for someone who doesn't want to go through a whole B.A. Wheee!

The point of all this, though, is that I'm VERY jazzed and ready to really DO it, instead of just talk about it. Finally.

2002-01-10T03:06:00.000-05:00

Achievement of the week: I finally got a design together for Tim's new blog. After dithering about it for aages, finally not only did I come up with a nice design but I actually went and made the thing too, including sketching out the dragon by hand. Finally this morning I finished the final bits and pieces and Tim got to actually build it. How exciting! Unfortunately we're still working out a few glitches involving lines and Netscape - and Tim warns that there's nothing posted but dummy text there now - but otherwise take a look! It has a pretty dragon and stained glass and stuff!

2002-01-10T02:43:00.000-05:00

I got my VISOR!!!!! Ooooohhhh it's sooooooo schweet!! ::boingaboingaboinga!:: A sleek little handful of metallic red goodness. Ooooh yeahh. And it's mine!!

2002-01-10T02:41:00.000-05:00

Hey Blogger's back! Good for them!

2002-01-08T11:31:00.000-05:00

Div.II Foil Tournament @ Metropolis

Guess what - it went surprisingly well considering I'd been almost a month out of practice! I came in 9th overall, out of 22! (And Tim came in 13th!) It ended up being a co-ed tournament, sort of inadvertently, because only 6 women turned up. 6 is the minimum number required for an official independent event, so technically we could've had our own little girls' meet. But we decided that if we did that, we'd only get in about an hour of fencing, which wasn't really worth it. So we joined the men's meet instead, with all intent to rock them.

Which we did, or at least some of us did. 3 of us placed in the top 10, with me at number 9 and Sarah Loh and one other girl up in the top 5. Hah!

It was a great meet, too. I actually got there early enough for once (heh - Tim and I had to wait outside for a little while before Leroy came to unlock the doors). This meant that not only did I have enough time to do a full stretch session, and get my stuff together, but I got in a hefty amount of time warming up at the practice dummy and did some jumproping for good measure. It was FABULOUS being completely warmed up and awake and focused by the time pools began.

And BOY did I ever rock my pool! I was in a pool with all guys, all of whom seemed bent on underestimating me. *grin* Hoooboy that's always fun. My first bout was against John Shadrick, who I'd fenced (badly) in practice last Thursday night. He's one of the posse of cocky flickhappy teenage boys with big attitude. Moreover, in the bout he'd nailed my elbow hard with an off-target flick, and I'm still bruised badly from it. So.... Aurigemma vs Shadrick was aaaall about a rematch. I stepped on the strip all "It's GO-time!" And wouldn't you know, I handed him his sorry little ass! Haahaa! All my bladework was fast and my feet were wide awake, so I was able to steal his tempo and land fabulous fast lunges in opposition (where you trap your opponent's extending blade using your bellguard and extend into it, so that you hit as they're still trying to free up their blade). The score ended up 5-3 and he was sooooooooooo mad that he tore his mask off angrily and left the strip practically cursing. Hah!

Not all my bouts were as great or satisfying as that. I beat Sid easily, but then again everyone beat poor Sid easily because his timing was waay off. I also beat this other guy who seemed like a fair newbie - he saluted me sooooo courteously before the bout began that I KNEW that he was going to be a complete sucker. Poor guy. He was my last bout and he should've known better - I only let him get 1 touch before I stomped him. I did lose two bouts though. One annoying one to Sia, who's really one of the scrub fencers but wins bouts because he's left-handed. I NEVER used to have this handicap, but I think I haven't fenced a lefty in about 6 months and I'm way out of practice. Mental note: find more lefties to practice with. My other defeat was against the guy who ended up winning our pool, and who was ranked 2nd overall after pools. I only lost 4-5 - it was a fantastic bout.

So after all this, I was ranked 9th, which was high enough to earn myself a bye for the DE round. I've NEVER gotten to sit out DEs before! It was cooool.

Unfortunately I didn't win my first bout in the semi-finals. I was slotted against someone I thought I could beat (I used to be able to beat him back in November) - Tsien hasn't been fencing that long, but good lord is he dedicated! He was practicing all through the holidays, and he was giving everyone an EVIL hard time getting through his defense. Notably me, who could barely land any attacks and lost 9-15. Faugh! THAT was frustrating, that my vacation finally took its toll after such a promising morning. Tsien's a sweetie though, so I'm glad I lost to him rather than to some arrogant guy like Shadrick.

It was a fun tournament overall, though. I think I actually like fencing the guys in competition, especially when they forget to flick the hell out of me. There's something fun about the rough and tumble nature of it. I get too caught up in mental stuff when I fence women, I think, whereas with guys I feel able to let go a little more. (I know I should feel that all the time....we're workin' on it....) Besides, we practice all the time against guys, so in a way it's then an artificial division to have us compete separately. Especially with foil, where brute strength or extra height doesn't necessarily have anything at all to do with winning.

2002-01-07T15:19:00.000-05:00

Oh and look, publishing is down too. Gooooood good.

2002-01-07T15:18:00.000-05:00

I'm all ready to install my new comments thingy and wouldn't you know Blogger is servicing their templates database so I can't access it. Bah! I swear I'm switching to Greymatter sometime soon, but in the meantime...

2002-01-05T21:45:00.000-05:00

So for the first time in a while I had a really nice afternoon with my parents. Doing nothing particularly nifty - we went down to the Bowery to shop for a range hood and track lighting for my kitchen. But everyone was in a good mood, no one was being particularly irritable and there was no nagging. NO NAGGING! Even things that have been common subjects of nagging, such as suggestions and commentary on my unemployment, were delivered in a completely non-nag-oriented manner. It was truly wonderful.

AND I'm getting spiffy track lighting for my kitchen. Soon I'll be able to SEE what I cook as well as smell it!

2002-01-05T19:21:00.000-05:00

I forgot how nice Real's Spinner net-radio is.... a small multitude of channels, including some less-mainstream stuff. They have a really nice folk channel and Celtic too, both of which make me happy. This way I get to hear unfamiliar things, but without having to navigate the pop-infested horrors of real radio. (And wow, kudos to Real for actually coming out with a product that's pleasant to use for once.) I always forget I have it because with a dialup connection I don't often stay online long enough to keep the radio on. But ooh it's happy when I remember!

2002-01-04T18:34:00.000-05:00

The following is an article that appeared at the end of this season's issue of American Fencing, and was written by a friend of mine who practices at Metropolis. She's a sweet girl, and she wrote a wonderful fun article about the plight of the recreational adult fencer. A lot of feelings in this I identify with, even though I AM one of those fencers who can beat her 15-4 when she's having a good day. But by the same token, I too always lose my bouts, even if not necessarily by so drastic a margin, unless I'm fencing "scrubs" - aka recreational beginners like Sarah. We differ in that I desperately do want to be competitive and give the cocky teenage boys the sh*tkicking they so richly deserve - and in that my innate talent and bodysense give me at least the whisper of hope of someday doing so - but still. The saga of a loser, elucidated:

CALL ME "WHITE LIGHT"
Fencing because you love it - by Sarah Bronson

I started fencing two years ago, at 27. I'd never been involved in sports before, and quickly discovered thar my hand-eye coordination leaves much to be desired. Week after week, I hook up the electrical equipment, salute my opponents - and lose every bout. On a good day, I lose 15-4.

Touché.

I initially blamed my losses on inexperience, but now I suspect I'm just untalented. My footwork is fine, but wholly disconnected from the bladework. My disengages are too big. I hesitate when I lunge. I forget to parry before counter-attacking. Instructors and colleagues say I should keep practicing, that someday it will all click. But what chance have I against opponents who have been fencing so long that their foils seem like extensions of their arms?

For two years I considered having the word "LOSER" printed on my lamé, and wondered what place I have in the fencing community. I fence in New York City, where one is either competitive or eaten for breakfast. To me it seems that virtually everyone at my club is, was, or will be a champion. It's depressing to lose to an 11-year-old aiming for a college scholarship. Here I am, a busy adult who can only fence once or twice a week, whose middle name could be "White Light." Sure, everyone is friendly and offers constructive criticism when asked. But what role do I have here? What kind of fencer am I, when my fencing is an exercise in masochism?

Certainly, there's much to be said for a fencer who shows up week after week to face her doom. I fence because I love it, no matter how many points I win, or don't. But fencing is a lonely sport. It takes guts to get onto that strip and fight the good fight. Many adults, realizing they cannot be Zorro in a few easy steps, give up and disappear. By not quitting, I'm winning, even when I lose.

There are no easy labels for we who picked up blades after college. We're not necessarily recreational fencers - even I competed in a foil Open once, placing 12th. Out of 12. We may be beginners, but so are the 9-year-olds, who have a different journey ahead. Even the USFA membership application conspires against us: Should I identify myself as a Senior fencer, and pay ten extra dollars for the privilege of joining competitions I'm not ready for? The alternative is to indicate that I'm "fencing for fun." But that's not accurate: I'm actually on a mission from God.

I know, of course, that there are ways even white-light fencers serve the community. Our participation keeps clubs alive, and gives serious competitors a venue. We cheer each other on, drive each other to competitions, and write articles for this page. Our membership in the USFA is no less valid because we'll never reach the Olympics. We are maintaining a historic and vibrant athletic tradition.

Most important, by virtue of our fencing, we are sportsmen, regardless of the final score. To my friends, the fact that I fence makes me unique. They think it's cool, and so do I. They don't need to know that my blade lands flat every time. I fence; therefore, I am a fencer.

Plus, there's always the hope that next week, by golly, I'll lose 15-5.

Since writing this essay, Sarah Bronson competed in a tournament for unclassified fencers. In the direct elimination round, she lost to the silver medalist. The score was 15-14.

2002-01-04T18:13:00.000-05:00

N'Sync in Star Wars II????
Yea truly! The world is coming to an end! One would think Godking George is actively seeking out ALL the things that will guarantee his movie to SUCK. AAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!!!!

2002-01-04T12:29:00.000-05:00

Oooh. The Snor guy has released his hostyourowncomments scripts. Tim and I are going to work on getting those set up..... whee!

2002-01-04T12:12:00.000-05:00

Yesterday evening I went fencing for the first time in many many weeks. Since early December, in fact. I decided that it might be a good time to take a holiday from it - I'd been feeling so frustrated with myself for so long, and now I've given myself a chance to reset. I'm not sure that my body's forgotten all its bad habits - it takes several months of vacation to achieve that one - but psychologically here I am beginning the year with a clean slate.

My lesson went well, all things considered. My fingers have weakened since I fenced last, so all those repetitive fine-tuned STRONG hand movements were killing me. Zaddick was making me do all coupés too, which means a lot of extra-forceful tiny finger snaps. I guess I should bless him for not making me too many lunges (I think I must've had that message - "not too many lunges!!" - floating in pink neon around my head). So I'm not heinously sore today!

Afterwards I got in one bout, which didn't go too awfully even if it was against one of those obnoxious flickhappy teenage boys that infest the club. I landed some utterly sweet touches on him, and had some fun debating right-of-way as it relates to those dumbass flick preparations that hover on the ceiling for 10 counts before the blade starts moving forward. (I ask you, when the rule states "Right of way is established when the blade begins moving forward" how is it that an attack can begin with the point waving at the ceiling nowhere NEAR moving forward till the very last minute? Sounds an awful lot like "in preparation" to me.........) Despite all this, I was doing well until the very end when one of his mis-aimed flicks nailed my right elbow HARD right where the bone and the nerve intersect. Not wanted to be a crybaby girl, I gritted my teeth and finished the bout (read: lost) with a completely numb hand. And then ran off to get out of my gear and run it under icecold water for 5 minutes in the bathroom. But BAH! I was actually all geared up to fence more!

Still, it was both good and weird to be back. I'm glad to be getting into my exercise groove again, and it's fun to see all the regulars. (Esp Mike Dote, one of the teenage boys, who shaved off his eyebrows for $80 while drunk on New Year's Eve. Hah.) And there's a Div II - and - Under competition at the club on Sunday, which I think I'll definitely be going to even IF I'm out of practice.

2002-01-01T19:13:00.000-05:00

Happy 2002, everyone!

Having spent all night and now all day goofing off quietly with a small pile of friends, it almost feels like the new year hasn't actually begun yet, as though we're hiding in a small cocoon of time stasis where the passage of time is only marked by meals consumed.

But I have been thinking about the upcoming year, and what I hope to see change as well as what I hope to hold on to from 2001.

In the new year my primary wish is to get a job. The best new year's blessing would be to get an email from the people at Zomba asking for a job interview. Or better yet, just giving me a job! It's not after all out of the question, however unlikely. Any job where I can actually do what I enjoy and not worry about learning how to fake things that I suck at (secretarial......) would be more than welcome.

Things I'd love to keep status quo are all the friends I have in this city.... all I hope is to be able to see you all more often!

I have no particular resolutions, as per usual, except to possibly be better about kicking the cosmos into more beneficial alignments. Anyone see my cosmos-kicking boots around here?

2001-12-30T14:50:00.000-05:00

I did something baaaaaaaaaaad.........

With my leftover birthday money from grandparents, instead of being practical and using it for living expenses, I decided that this money is for a PRESENT..........and so I went and ordered myself the schweet metallic red Visor Edge I've been coveting. MMMMMMMMMMMMyummm.

Do I NEED a PDA? No, probably not. Do I WANT a PDA? Yeeees. My resistance to temptation is pitifully weak. But it's my birthday! And Christmas! This is when we're SUPPOSED to get toys, in shiny metallic red! Right??!!

So now I'm obsessively checking the UPS shipping status. ::bouncebouncebounce!::

2001-12-30T10:42:00.000-05:00

Mmmm a new discovery! St Dymphna's, down on St Mark's between 1st and Ave A. After wandering around for a while in the East Village trying to find a place that was both appealing and open, Tim remembered St Dymphna's as the "home of the perfect pour" (mm Guinness) and we trekked over. The place is like one of those more upscale pubs where the food is a more compelling draw than the bar (yes this is a particular genre of pub). Not that the bar is to be sneezed at, because, yes, I DID have a perfect pour. Yumm! Their Guinness made the Guinness up at Rocky's taste like dirt. Really. And the FOOD - all British pub food staples like assorted types of meat pies and casseroles and fish'n'chips. Stuff that, when it's made well, is the ultimate in tasty comfort food (and comes in plates the size of the table). Tim had a chicken, smokey bacon, and wild mushroom pie with a huuuuuuuuge mound of mashed potatoes. I had Beef & Guinness casserole, which was basically beef stew - much like beef burgundy actually, except with Guinness instead of wine. It was GOOD.

So now I have to go back to try everything *else* on the menu.... and I want more of that Guinness!

2001-12-29T17:40:00.000-05:00

So I saw Fellowship again last night, this time with my parents. (Apparently it takes something the magnitude of Tolkien to drag my dad into a movie theater.)

Upon second viewing, it was still wonderful. Interestingly, the CGI was much more apparent this time (I guess I wasn't as awestruck), but I was overall much more forgiving of the flaws. The movie has already taken up a cohesive entity unto itself in my head, I guess, which dazzles me and which is thoroughly separate from the book. Which is cool - I can see it entering the same sort of status as Star Wars, something I've watched a million times and can just flip on for one scene or twelve when the mood strikes.

And happily, my parents both utterly loved it too. Neither of them minded being cooped up for 3 hours, nor did they mind the noise of the battles (normally my dad hates seeing films in theaters because of the volume). They were totally enthralled and entertained. My dad adored the Balrog. My mom is itchy as hell for the next two - she declared that they should've released all three at once - and my dad now wants to reread the series again, as soon as he finishes the Qur'an (he's reading the Qur'an?......!). I'm so thrilled I managed to drag them out of the house to see something as beautifully, engrossingly out-of-body as this.

2001-12-29T14:04:00.000-05:00

Hmmm..... I think I may have made my quiz too hard. Um, sorry?

2001-12-29T13:44:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what I think of this "quiz your friends" phenomenon (even though now I've made up one of my own and plagued my friends with it). On one hand it's cute and nifty, but at the same time it's also obnoxious. Are you supposed to feel guilty that you can't guess these obscure details about your friends? I can just imagine some bratty teenager somewhere accusing her friend, "What do you MEAN you didn't know that about me??" I have a vision of fights starting over this.

Personally, I'm all about the cute and nifty aspects, because hey if your friends don't know this obscure personal trivia, a) it's trivial after all, and b) it gives the right answer so now they know what kind of cookies to buy me. Or somethin'.

2001-12-29T13:31:00.000-05:00

It's Tim's birthday today!
Everyone wish him a happy birthday!!
::runs off, humming::

2001-12-29T13:30:00.000-05:00

Gosh it's been a long time since I've blogged, and longer since I've blogged anything but goofy quiz slush. How disappointed in myself I am! Several blogworthy things have happened in the intervening week, most notably Christmas and a megaexplosive fight with my parents, but in the fray never quite got around to making any journal notes.

Firstly, Christmas: Was GOOD! Every year my parents and I go insane with the gift-giving, but it's just so much fun that we can't seem to stop ourselves. I am definitely one of those people who enjoys giving just as much as getting (or nearly so, anyway). We had our usual festive explosion of paper and ribbon ("'Tis the season to waste paper!") to the setting of Renaissance Christmas music accompanied by coffee and toasted panettone.

I got: A massive book of William Blake prints, a hardcover Scrabble dictionary, Terry Pratchett's "The Truth" in paperback, a small bottle of fancy Italian white wine vinegar, various goodsmelling lotiony things, the 2002 medieval women calendar, a small set of Feng Shui chimes for my apt, a GORGEOUS set of orange paper-flower-adorned christmas lights to festoon my bedroom door frame, various chocolatey things, a dumpling press and a nutmeg grater, a gorgeous Southeast Asian cookbook, a CD of Renaissance Irish music (I love the Baltimore Consort), the DVD of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and a toolbox with brand new tools (shiny!). Whew! Plus on the way is the free HP digital camera that came as a special offer with my mom's new computer. Yum!

Tim got: A coffee grinder from my parents, and a creme brulee culinary torch from me. *grin* I had NO self-interest with that one in mind AT ALL. It was kind of funny having him up for the holiday, though, just because my family is so over-the-top and sentimental about the whole business whereas his family is much more low-key. He sort of looked on in horror at the amount of presents (rightly so, though many of which did turn out to be things like individually-wrapped socks.....). But on the plus side he got to partake of our yummy homemade ravioli.

Gods those ravioli were yummy...........

And the Christmas cards I made everyone this year turned out so well that I think I'm going to put them in my portfolio, which is extra happy.

2001-12-23T22:39:00.000-05:00

If I were a Dead Russian Composer, I would be Dmitri Shostakovich! I am a shy, nervous, unassuming, fidgety, and stuttery little person who began composing the same year I started music lessons of any sort. I wrote the first of my fifteen symphonies at age 18, and my second opera, "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District," when I was only 26. Unfortunately, Stalin hated the opera, and put me on the Enemy Of The People List for life. I nevertheless kept composing the works I wanted to write in private; some of my vocal cycles and 15 string quartets mock the Soviet System in notes. And I somehow was NOT killed in the process! And Harry Potter(c) stole my glasses and broke them!

Who would you be? Dead Russian Composer Personality Test

Noting: This was possibly the funniest test I've seen, apart from that wacky Surrealist one from a while back. Mmmmmm vodka.

2001-12-23T22:14:00.000-05:00

Ho my, you knew someone was going to have to come up with one of these eventually.......

Which Rocky character are you?

2001-12-23T19:08:00.000-05:00

Whew what a day! We spent ALL DAY making ravioli! 350 ravioli! ::collapse::

We thought, yes what a great idea, let's make the old family ravioli recipe for Christmas, just like Uncle Rudy and Aunt Mildred used to make every year. They are, after all, the most intensely yummy ravioli ever made on the East Coast (or at least I'd wager so). Spinach-and-ricotta ravioli. These are the ones I remember from childhood, the ones that used to seem like they were levitating out of their bowls.

Now the glitch comes in two parts. 1) We decided to almost double the recipe, so that we'd have enough left over to freeze for future dinners. 350 is a lotta ravioli. 2) As both Mildred and Rudy are now deceased, and no one really remembers exactly how they did it, even Grandma who used to make her own version, none of us were sure of the proportions that go into the filling, the dough, OR exactly how to manipulate the dough through the pasta machine.

Hahahahahaahahahahahaaa. You can JUST IMAGINE. Not only have we been working since before noon on this, but we've been ARGUING about this since noon. Daaah! Apparently Mildred and Rudy used to scream at each other while doing this too, so we're upholding that tradition as well, but ye gods!

And now we've got a freezer full of ravioli! I hope they're as yummy as they promise to be. We'll find out Tuesday.....

2001-12-20T12:37:00.000-05:00

I have a new front page to my website! Woohoo! Yes, the NEW website at http://illuminatio.populli.net. I'm so proud! I finally came up with a design I actually like! None of the subpages are built yet, so the clickthroughs go nowhere, but the intro page is up at least. *beam* I'm sooo happy I've finally gotten somewhere with this!

2001-12-20T12:23:00.000-05:00

It was sooooo FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!

*GRIN* That's about all I'm able to say just yet, although I'll write an all-out review soon. The short version is that although there were some annoying alterations and I wasn't so keen on all the performances (particularly Cate and Liv), it was utterly beautiful, thrilling, scary in all the scary bits (Drums! Drums in the deep!), it had the right amount of funny, and the production values were more phenomenal than any other thing I've ever seen.

I saw it with Tim and Chris, wherein we were a small little crowd, but then again Chris makes enough noise for about ten all on his own. (Heehee.) HE was the naughty one, not me!

And afterwards Tim and I went out to The Gate for tasty bitter brown beer. All we lacked was pipeweed for true Tolkien-homage, but the beer sufficed. Thrilled and more than a little buzzed, we staggered our way home.

MMMM what a night!

2001-12-19T12:52:00.000-05:00

Fellowship of the Ring is TONIGHT!!!!!!

2001-12-18T13:54:00.001-05:00

The Birthday, Part 2: The Nervous Breakdown

So yesterday I woke up all full of ebullience and birthday cheer, ready to enjoy my day. This lasted approximately 20 minutes, exactly the amount of time it took for me to realize that my parents were in a pissy mood and had been fighting since they got up and didn't look likely to stop. My mother was walking around in a black cloud of hate and my dad was hiding, fuming, in his office downstairs. (On top of this it was a really filthy grey wet nasty dark awful day outside.)

AARGGH.
Myyyyyy parents...... uurrrghhh.

Apparently my mom was yelling at my dad for not doing various household chores (most notably throwing away a slowly-rotting pumpkin that's too big for her to lift). Chores that were undone because he was too busy doing 5,000 OTHER things, such as earning a living and chauffering her around, etcetera. The poor man has NO free time to do anything fun for himself, and it's never ever enough. He never gets to go to movies, read, hang out, rest, even breathe for himself. (I think I'm going to have to verbally smack my mom around a little when I go home next...again...) NO WONDER he's a cranky cranky irritable man - he's never allowed to chill!

So what happens when I wake up? They get another target for their irritableness, and all of a sudden I'm being bombarded with the usual lecturing litany of "Have you done this? Why haven't you done that? Why don't you do this already? What's wrong with you for not doing this?" UNENDING. The lecturing which makes me DREAD seeing or talking to my father. My dad, a guy with whom I have a lot in common - I would love spending time with him if he'd just refrain from harassing me so constantly.

So it all builds up and by 3 o'clock I'm in the car driving through Manhattan absolutely bawling. Everything hits me - the lack of job, the lack of prospects, all the financial worries, the fact that I'm 25 now which counts as mid-twenties, all the niggling responsible things that I'm supposed to take care of.... Aaaaaahhhhggghh!

I cried in the car. I tried heroically not to cry while doing errandy things. I cried again once we got to my apartment. I tried heroically not to cry while waiting in the post office. I cried again once I got back to my apartment...

And FINALLY I had it out with my dad! I explained to him that I just can't take the constant bombardment, that he has to trust me to get things done as best I can, and that I will NOT TOLERATE this dreading to see him. I explained to him that the correct and normal response to, "I went to see a movie last night," is not "Right, but what are you doing about getting a job?" but rather "Cool, how was it?" And he agreed that we can't go on like this, and that he'd try to be a little less intense about everything. God I hope he'll stand by that.

But DEAR LORD what a way to spend a birthday. Fortunately I had better and brighter things planned that had nothing whatsoever to do with my parents......

2001-12-18T13:54:00.000-05:00

The Birthday, Part 3: The PUB!

Wouldn't you know I left late for my own birthday party? Figures. Well not late late, but I missed out on a nice sit-down birthday dinner - I wanted to try the Thai place here in Brooklyn on the way to the F train. Instead we stopped in and got our orders to go and ate on the subway, which was considerably less elegant but just as tasty. And hey, maybe in turning 25 I have become less notoriously clumsy because I managed to eat drippy Thai noodles with chopsticks, on the subway without spilling so much as a drop! I realize I'm inordinately proud of this, but you all know how I am with spilling food. And mmmmm it was tasty. Your standard tasty Thai food - and spicy chicken with basil and peppers on noodles is one of my favorite dishes ever.

So we arrived at the Blind Tiger Ale House more or less on time - Chris was already at the bar, and Mike and Dan had secured us all a nice big table at the back of the pub. (Monday night is a GREAT night for a birthday pub excursion, or would be if people didn't have to work in the morning.)

The reason I chose the Blind Tiger is for the beer. They have a MASSIVE selection of Interesting Beers, to to the point where they provide a beer list approximately the thickness of the Gospel of St Matthew, which gives a paragraph-long description of all their varied offerings. Most notably beer, but also a respectable array of single-malt scotches. I love pubs where Old Speckled Hen is a fallback beer, only to be had if you've tried everything else first. So our party ended up having a connoisseur-like air about it. Well raunchy innuendo plus the connoisseur bit.

Actually, by the time Jaye and then E arrived it was more outnuendo than innuendo. Chris has the quote list...

Back to the alcohol... I got to have an honorary shot of Talisker (mm) which used to be my favorite scotch. Now I think it's been supplanted by Longmorn, one of those that Chris tried. Altogether lighter but an absolutely lovely and complex flavor. Yummmm. And for beers I had a Monk's Brown Ale (forget the brewer's name now), which tasted very Belgiany, followed by Anchor's holiday brew, which was pleasantly bitter and tasted of cloves. (To complement this, Chris pulled out a pack of cloves, which we all shared.) The scariest beer of the night was Heavyweight Old Salty (eeeeek) which is every bit as terrifying as you're imagining. Chris loved it, but even I, who have a tendency to go for the interestingly complex and thick beers, said "aaaaargh!"

It was a smaller party than I'd hoped - Chris and E and Tim and Jaye and Mike and Dan were the lot - but those who did come were fabulous fun and I had a wonderful time. I have NO idea what we talked about but every bit of it was entertaining, and by the time we walked out at a little before midnight, we were all pleasantly toasted.

And hungry, so the party (minus Dan) adjourned to the East Side to Veselka to appease a sudden craving for potato pancakes and pierogies. We walked and skipped in the rain, with the promised land of all-nite sour cream and blintzes ahead.

MM what a good night! I want to thank everyone who came out at such last-minute notice for making such a happy party - I really enjoyed myself and I hope you did too!

And now I'm off to go Christmas shopping and maybe I'll buy my tree today.

2001-12-17T01:19:00.000-05:00

The Birthday, Part 1: Honoring the Parents

In honor of my birthday, I came home today to spend some time with my parents. All the birthday traditions, where mom cooks a special dinner, dad and I put lights on the Christmas tree while singing along to Chanticleer's xmas albums ("Es iist ein Rooos entspruuuungen...."), and then after cake and presents, we decorate the tree. It's a weird mixture of holiday traditions, I realize, but indelibly entwined as far as I'm concerned.

This year my mom made her stuffed shells - big pasta shells filled with delicate creamy ricotta-mozzarella stuffing and covered in tomato sauce, then baked.... Mmmm YUM. Plus, in honor of the occasion dad broke into his wine hoard for one of the special bottles he'd brought back from Italy. In this case the red table wine from the farm we stayed at in Brisighella (a small town about an hour into the countryside from Ravenna). The wine is very light and effervesces slightly; really lovely.

After dinner dad and I began to pile the ornaments out onto the dining table - we strew them out so that we can see everything we've got. And meanwhile my mom prepared the cake....

...A VERY decadent and INSANELY CHOCOLATELY chocolate cake from Citarella. If there were other ingredients besides baker's chocolate, it was not immediately apparent. YUM. FAINT. YUM!

And ohh time for presents! They gave me 2 large matted picture frames for my hallway. (Now I just have to decide what photos to put in them.) A Pergolesi & Scarlatti: Stabat Mater CD. A wooden Henckels knife block to hold my nascent Henckels knife collection. Aaaand a much-coveted ankle-length purple velvet skirt. SO decadent, extremely elegant, SOO gorgeous!

And the skirt box had on it a gorgeous fat gauzy gold ribbon, which I am currently wearing on my head. It looks very 1920s. Okay it looks silly, but in a 1920s sort of way. Really.....

But yes, back to the tree! Once the cake was put away (not even a dedicated chocoholic could eat much of it at once), we got to work on the tree. The usual dance of dad and me hanging things, with my mother following and rearranging everything we do (HEH). We bicker and groan over branches not quite sticking out where we want them, and mom always wants more fancy ornaments to play with. Despite the bickering and my mother's annoyingly unfounded sense of inadequacy, our tree is such a work of art every year. Our lights are white-only, and our ornaments are all very sparkly and fine - antique transparent colored glass balls, glittery glass fruit, pillaged chandelier crystals, translucent seashells, long strings of clear glass bells, shiny red and green and gold acorns, metallic snowflakes, crystal icicles, with the gaps filled in with multicolored shiny glass balls. It's a mishmosh, to be sure - not one of those obnoxious themed trees - but it always comes out with a very Victorian folk art and overall glowing sparkly look. GOD it's gorgeous.

2001-12-17T00:21:00.000-05:00

Wow, I didn't know people still went carolling from door to door! Earlier we had a posse of carollers, 12 kids strong plus parents, who rang and sang to us! How awesome!

I think it would be SO much fun to go carolling - get together a whole passel of people, armed with thermoses of wassail, and assault people with close harmony singing.

(Hmmm that didn't come out quite right. I think I must be reading too much Terry Pratchett.)

2001-12-17T00:17:00.000-05:00

December 16:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Beethoven!
The best thing about Beethoven's birthday is that the radio plays his music aaaaall day long.

Beethoven is my favorite composer, beyond question. Maybe it's because our birthdays are astrologically so close together (details of year aside) that there's such an affinity. Something about his music meshes so perfectly with the way I think. His melodies ring such bells inside my psyche as though something in the harmonics was resonating just for me. The strength and beauty of the emotions, the perfectly entwined instrumentations, and above all the thundering, resounding, glorious exuberance. Mmmmm exuberance.

2001-12-13T14:21:00.000-05:00

Aaagh no! Snorland can no longer host the comment scripts because they were running up too much bandwidth. Bummer! Maybe there's some way to do it locally.... Hmmm.

2001-12-13T14:19:00.000-05:00

What's Your Cooking Horoscope?
An astrological guide to your healthiest foods.

I'm sad though - they say Sagittarians have to avoid meat products and alcohol. Nnnnnoooo!

2001-12-11T16:30:00.000-05:00

Whew...sent it! Hopefully it's good enough to get the point across and make the right impression. GOD I WANT THIS JOB! Right now it's a hypothetical job, but I want it to turn into a REAL job, with real salary, real nifty coworkers, and lots of nifty projects.

2001-12-11T16:08:00.000-05:00

Aaarrgh I hate writing cover letters! I'm getting ready to send my resume over to my dad's patient at Zomba, but the language is driving me up the wall! I want to sound eager but not desperate, cool but not too casual (OR too formal), I want to sound like a design whiz even though I have no official relevant experience....... *gnash* Usually this doesn't drive me so nuts, but this application is SO important that I want it to be perfect and aaaaaargh!

2001-12-10T17:28:00.000-05:00

This is getting ridiculously out of hand. Now we're going to have to start writing our OWN tests.......

2001-12-10T17:18:00.000-05:00

Which Evil Criminal are You?

2001-12-08T14:12:00.000-05:00

I am Skeletons in Love.

My delicious chrome-plated mannerisms cause elephants to chortle flexibly. Wide bacteria throw Albuquerque at me. My night sails cut incorrectly with brainy refrigerators.

Why do dead mistakes gaze amusingly? The Utterly Surreal Test

2001-12-08T14:04:00.000-05:00

If I were a work of art, I would be Pablo Picasso's Three Musicians.

I am colourful and provoking, always looking to break out of the mould and to pioneer new ways of doing things. I have a jaunty outlook and although I am a bit weird, most people have some idea what I'm about.

Which work of art would you be? The Art Test

2001-12-08T13:41:00.000-05:00

Am I a psycho for planning to go out to a Knicks game while still feeling crummy? Especially since it's supposed to sleet later...... sigh!

2001-12-08T13:40:00.000-05:00

So I spent most of Thursday morning at work writing in my journal, punctuated by two conversations which completely flipped my mood for a loop. Two loops, in fact. Here goes:

***
God is the rush hour commute awful! Packed on a bloody subway way too early with 12 people's favorite perfumes vying to make your nose itch, having to listen to someone babble about their inane job.... UG. Reasons to work somewhere that allows you to wander in at 10! (Ideal world...) It's not even the extra sleep, it's that the 9am crowd is so miserable!

This morning I had to listen to some girl burble about her thrilling job in payroll - burble? There's nothing wrong with diligently working in payroll as a means to pay the bills (hi, Gomez!), but I think there's something wrong if you actively enjoy it. Worse yet, she was talking about the EXCITING chance she got to make a SPREADSHEET in EXCEL, the BEST program EVER. ::shiver:: Excel: Useful. NOT exciting!

And the scary thing is, these are the people who have jobs. The drudge drones that the companies can't afford to fire or else they'd have to do the dronework themselves.

So it looks like if I want employment, drone costume here I come. But I don't have to like it, dammit!

The consolation is, the more boring my work, the more the creative juices start spilling out the sides. Who knows how many fabulous design projects could come out of this!

The other alternative is to go get myself cryogenically frozen until they start paying people for creative work again.

***
I have to scream now.

What part of THERE ARE NO JOBS does my father not understand??

It's like it's somehow my fault that I haven't been employed yet, as though any extra effort would have made a difference. Anytime I've made extra effort it's come to nothing, because even the temp agencies are in a freeze.

Sometimes I swear the day I'll be hired is the day Hell starts marketing popsicles.

I don't even know if I CAN get a job as a drone. All those secretarial, organizational skills are not exactly my forte. I hate making phone calls, organizing schedules, making travel arrangements, spreadsheets, the whole business. I'm not so good at those things, and they make my skin crawl, out of sheer insecurity as well as distaste. This is why I've resisted enrolling at a temp agency for so long.

The words in my future are, however, "suck it up."

Somehow I'll have to learn how to have a non-awkward phone manner, how to do record-keeping, how to cope with scheduling, and all the other stuff that chokes me so much.

I'd rather learn how to use Illustrator and Quark. But no one will pay me to learn those things on the fly.

And it's scary because my dad WILL sell the apartment in February when the mortgage-penalty period expires. And then I don't know WHAT I'll do.

***
DUDE what a rollercoaster of a morning!

Minutes ago I was ready to throw myself off the bridge of despair, and now I find there's a glimmer of hope!

One of my dad's patients works for Zomba Records - he's some sort of high mucketymuck there. This is the label that handles such dreadful moneymaking personages as N'Sync and Britney Spears, etcetera. (EEUUWW!) Well Paul happens to be an uber-cool, snazzy, down to earth, nice guy....

I had sent him my resume some months ago, but all he gathered from it was that I was looking for web work, and they had no need for a webby type. So I said "Well, poo!" thinking that he'd also gleaned the design interest and their art department rejected me too.

Buuut as he was talking to my dad, it finally sank in that YES what really rocks me is ART and design. Oooh, hey now, says Paul, we've got a nice big art department and maybe they could use another designer.

AWRIIIGHT!!!

Obviously, this isn't even a "Hey our art department has an opening" but at the same time it's a way to get my portfolio in with a good word to a department that isn't necessarily NOT hiring. And hell, even if they just want me as an intern or even just permission to come in and breathe down their necks to see how the work operates......

What's heartening is that YES you KNOW this company has money, and that YES they can damn well afford to pay me! Maybe not overly much for junior work, but still. A SALARY would be a good thing.

Even better is that this is EXACTLY the kind of job I've been dreaming of. I have always wanted to design CD covers! (As I made a point of telling Paul, in that extrahyper voice you know I get.) Granted, N'Sync is not exactly what I had in mind (yerch), but this is near enough to my dream job that I can't complain.

And SOMEDAY I'll be senior designer at some classical label, and I'll be designing sexy album art for Telemann and Tallis recordings. *grin*

2001-12-07T17:26:00.000-05:00

I wish my mom had thought to pack dad off to work yesterday with the package I received the other day - 3 videotapes of the entire season so far of both Buffy and Angel. *CRY* would've been a PERFECT way to spend a sickly evening alone. Blood, cornyness, and melodrama. Alas!

2001-12-07T16:22:00.000-05:00

Waaaahhh! Mommmmmmy I'm siiiiiick!

Well not sick sick, I just have a nasty cold, maxed out to the nth degree of how nasty colds can be. After suffering a night of runny burning nose and sneezing, I awoke with a stuffed head and sore throat plus a body filled with lead. OOoooooogy.

Fortunately dad's remedies have been helping significantly - I think I've kicked through about 3 or 4 days' worth of cold in about 18 hours. Plus Tim made me his ultra-wonderful Cold-Buster Soup, which is plain chicken soup featuring enough garlic and ginger to choke a small village. MMMMMMaaaahhhhh!

AND while he was out buying the chicken and more tissues, he also stopped in Barnes & Noble on the way back and bought me the Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack to cheer me up! Aww! Soundtrack is bombastic and adventurish as expected (a lot of Carmina Burana moments), but some really really pretty moments too. Kind of like Peer Gynt goes Celtic, which oddly appropriate.

2001-12-05T12:54:00.000-05:00

Oh and: I managed to snap one of the reels last night! I did this MASSIVE fleche at Nina, and when I got to the end of the strip, the wire went SNNAPP!!! Yeesh what a jolt! And, WHOOPS.

The reel was obviously already faulty, because I had only gotten to the 1 meter warning line at the end of the strip when it snapped - and you're supposed to be able to run much farther than that.

Best part: I SCORED the touch! *grin* I leaped and ran and hit, so the green light went off, and THEN the wire snapped. SCOORE!

2001-12-05T12:50:00.000-05:00

Well I'm feeling a little less cranky about fencing since practice yesterday. NOT that I had a stellar practice, but it started to suck a little bit less by the end....

....after a really crappy start, where I got trampled by Sarah Loh (who's been on a gorgeous roll these days - god I wish my fencing was as beautifully perfect as hers - but a few weeks ago I was still able to beat her at least half the time), and then by Nina, against whom I ALSO usually have a damn good fighting chance.

So I expressed my frustration to Nina, hoping to get some pointers. She agreed that my game has seemed really off lately - so no I'm NOT crazy in thinking that my foot- and bladework are both lamer than they usually are. So, since there was no one waiting to bout directly after us, we fenced some more, not keeping score but kinda seeing what was up. It gave me a chance to change up what I was doing and just get into the swing of things without worrying about points or anything (because anytime I'd screw up, we'd stop and figure out what had gone wrong. Nina's so cool....) By the time Dave Pitt came to join us on the strip, I was feeling a little bit more connected. So I bouted against Nina again - and was losing by like 11-2...... until I got my groove on and hit her again and AGAIN until the score was 13-11 in my favor! We went to 14-14, and then she scooped up the last touch (oh well) but ohhh what a SWEET comeback!

And then, a little while later, I fenced Dave Pitt - he's a scary veteran type. He's been fencing forever, he's very fast, smart, and can easily confuse you to death. Generally he sorta sneers at me, like "what's this kid doing on my strip" and it always feels like he's humoring me when I fence him. I was worried, too, because he was really on his game last night and utterly slayed Nina AND Marcel. But hahahaha I showed him! The ENTIRE bout I stayed neck in neck with him, immediately re-tying the score every time he made a touch. Stealing his time, slamming him with fast attacks, the whole bit. It was FABULOUS. Finally, in the end he won 15-11, but holy gods it was a marvellous match. In fact, I think I probably gave him his best bout of the night. He was so impressed, and afterwards genuinely complimented me on my excellent fencing. Hahaa! So not only did I have a great bout, but I finally managed to win the respect of one of the cranky old veterans.

Hence I'm feeling a little bit better about myself. Hopefully I'll continue to make things click as I was towards the end of last night, and then IMPROVE from that point. Digging yourself out of a rut SUCKS, and it feels soooo much better to build on GOOD work. ::fingers crossed::

2001-12-03T13:53:00.000-05:00

FRUSTRATION!

Sometimes I wonder why I bother fencing when I can never manage to do as well as I'm really capable when it matters.

Yesterday was an open tournament at Metropolis - and the women's tournament actually had enough people that the top 6 would earn classification changes. (Thanks to Georgine who hauled herself out of bed to fill our number out to 15 just as friendly cannonfodder.) Guess where I placed: SEVENTH.

AAAAAAAAGHHHH!!!!

You can bet I'm kicking myself! I was perfectly capable of placing higher than that, but due to my own lameness I failed to even give myself a chance. Not only had I slacked off a bit in practice over the past couple of weeks (Thanksgiivng will do that....), but I didn't quite get moving early enough in the morning - so I missed the subway and had to wait FOREVER for another F to come. (Bloody F....) Ended up getting to the club with enough time to sign in, change, and stretch, but NOT to do footwork or warm up against the practice dummy. (Next time I will be walking in the door a full 45 mins before fencing begins.)

My first bout, against Nina, I lost 0-5. OUCH. I'm perfectly capable of beating Nina, although she's tough. I'm at LEAST capable of losing with more touches than that! My feet hadn't woken up yet, and neither had my arm - sleep-fencing is NOT a good state to be in.

Fortunately after that I started to come back, solidly beat both the girls in my pool who I unquestionably needed to beat, and lost to Adeline 3-5 which wouldn't be unexpected even on a good fencing day.

But still, that first awful bout meant that I was seated very unfavorably after pools - 8th going into DEs, and slotted to fence the girl ranked 9th. Just barely managed to be in the top half. The DE bout was actually a fabulous bout - the girl was quite a decent fencer but I STOMPED her. I mean STOMPED. All of a sudden I had fire under my shoes, and woooohaaa. I wish I could manage to summon that kind of energy for EVERY bout I fence - with fast powerful legwork and bladework so blinding that she rarely even manage to connect with my foil. It was wooooonderful! I think the poor girl never knew what hit her, and her teammates just looked on in horror. I won that bout 15-4.

Now, unfortunately, because I was at the very bottom of the top half, that meant I was slated to fence Melanie.

Oh. Bugger.

In other words, that effectively meant my day was DONE. Melanie is an A fencer, which means that even if she's having a bad day I can still only hope to get a max of 7 touches against her. Melanie wasn't having a bad day. In fact she was on fire. It was a very, very quick bout. I lost 2-15 and thus my day was done. (I didn't feel too bad about this bout - even Rolando later lost to her 5-15.)

The frustration is that had I done better in the pools, I wouldn't have HAD to fence her directly after DE's and I could've had a fighting chance to advance further or at least earn a whole lot more dying touches in the final bout. Had I even earned more touches in that last bout, I might've earned my E classification.

Hence my feeling of raargh suck suck suck! I think I'm destined NEVER to win!

The only high points of the day were a) that one fabulous DE bout, and b) that Laura, one of my ex-coworkers from Beliefnet came by to see me fence AND she saw the fabulous DE bout! So that was fun at least.

I think this week I'm going to practice extra-hard. Just to redeem myself.

2001-12-01T11:31:00.000-05:00

Aaaaaargh it's finally happened! I've been suckered into playing in an ongoing RPG! Mommmmmmy, I didn't MEAN for it to happen!

But what better way to snare me than Star Wars? It IS my first fandom, after all, and I've wanted to be a Jedi since I was three. Such a sucker I am.....

Besides, Tim's friend Gizmo is really cool and makes a fun, lively GM - he ran the game with a good mix of storytelling and goofing off, and was completely patient and helpful with my newbie cluelessness.

I decided to play a clueless newbie character, too, just so that my own uncertainty would actually fit into the game - a Jedi Academy padawan sent on her first mission by her Master. (All this takes place post-RotJ, so it's Luke's new Academy.) Uncharacteristically, I'm playing a Conselhar - the diplomat empathyfeely type Jedi - as opposed to a Guardian - the kick some ass with the lightsabre type Jedi. By disposition I'm much more the latter (Qui-Gon complex, me??) so it's kinda interesting to be in a position where hauling out the lightsabre usually ISN'T my strongest means of dealing with a problem.

By the end of the night it turns out it's going to be an ongoing game, with a long mission to complete..... siigh! What have I gotten myself into!

And I KNOW I've been well and truly suckered because here I'm wanting my own set of dice.

2001-11-30T03:17:00.000-05:00

Another kickass night at trivia! Tonight was the annual Book Quiz - questions pertaining to literature only. (Aww yeahh.)

Adding to the fun was that we had a huuge team tonight: Me, Mike B, Jaye, Tim, Rob Elder the Younger, Anne Hutchinson, Dasha, Pablo, and a couple of others whose names I never caught. We split into two adjunct teams - meaning we had two quiz sheets but pooled our answers at will - going by the names of Exploding Ukeleles and No Ethics. (You can guess which party included the lawyers-to-be.) Again we occupied the large booth by the front window - nice and comfy though unfortunately too distant to win any of the Questions For A Free Drink.

But wouldn'tcha know, we came in a close THIRD PLACE at 88 points!! BooYAH!

Scariest thing of the night: Who knew I had such an aptitude for Biblical trivia? There were quite a number of biblical questions, and I got them ALL. Between that cute children's Bible I used to love when I was 10 and my English major - y'know my English major paid off more for the Biblical questions than it did for the literature ones! There's something inherently wrong in that.....

Other fun: In the four-part questions where we didn't know ANY of the authors required, we answered it all in Famous Dans. When asked what nation hosts the annual song-and-story contest called the Eisteddfod, even had we not known the answer beforehand, we'd have known it was Wales because what other country has words four syllables longer than necessary to get the point across? (YES, we're dorks.)

Noting for future: We've really got to beef up on our Irish authors, because even the NON-literary quizzes always have Heaney and O'Casey and Joyce floating around somewhere.

And completely off the trivia subject, between rounds Tim and I were wrestle-fencing (where we start off fencing but it soon degenerates...), and Rob turned around and said, "One: What are you doing? Two: Are you okay? Three: Can I join?" Gosh, is he a sabre fencer or what?

2001-11-29T16:05:00.000-05:00

Daah! How can I get any design work done today if gettyone's stock photo database is offline! *grumble snarl growl*

2001-11-29T12:03:00.000-05:00

SO freaky: NYNMA's (the New York New Media Association) website is now "Tina's Free Live Webcam." NYNMA is - or, erk, was - New York's chiefest organization for webbie types, with postings about meetings lectures and networking events as well as articles and, most importantly, job boards.

Now, it's Tina's Free Live Webcam.

I think I'm going to go cry now.

2001-11-28T17:53:00.000-05:00

Aah I've been such a lazy bum! I haven't been to fencing since LAST Tuesday. Due to holiday, and then this week due to thumb injury (although I'm increasingly feeling that that was just a convenient excuse.) God what a yucky feeling - guilty and sluggish and not really wanting to get out of this chair to go get my groove back on. Feh - and now I'm going to be somewhat late tonight, and still I'm delaying. What is this sudden apathy?

2001-11-28T17:47:00.000-05:00

I have a new vacuum! A silly thing to be excited about, I know, but this one is nifty. It's all snazzy - small and silver and powerful and zippy, and much cooler than the old one I had.

So I've named it Colin, after the small, eternally cheerful and servile robot in Mostly Harmless. This vacuum is SUCH a Colin.

2001-11-28T15:43:00.000-05:00

Remind me again why I've agreed to (eventually) play in a game run by the Witch-King? Right now watching Tim prepare encounters etcetera for his current game, and ohh the fear: He's busy rolling NPC alignments, saying "C'mon EVIL!" Thaaat's trouble.

2001-11-25T19:16:00.000-05:00

Holy mother of pete, some crackhead translated Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer (loosely) into Old English. Tremble:

Incipit gestis Rudolphi rangifer tarandus

Hwæt, Hrodulf readnosa hrandeor --
Næfde þæt nieten unsciende næsðyrlas!
Glitenode and gladode godlice nosgrisele.
Ða hofberendas mid huscwordum hine gehefigodon;
Nolden þa geneatas Hrodulf næftig
To gomene hraniscum geador ætsomne.
Þa in Cristesmæsseæfne stormigum clommum,
Halga Claus þæt gemunde to him maðelode:
"Neahfreond nihteage nosubeorhtende!
Min hroden hrædwæn gelæd ðu, Hrodulf!"
Ða gelufodon hira laddeor þa lyftflogan --
Wæs glædnes and gliwdream; hornede sum gegieddode
"Hwæt, Hrodulf readnosa hrandeor,
Brad springð þin blæd: breme eart þu!"

Translated:
Here begins the deeds of Rudolph, Tundra-Wanderer

Lo, Hrodulf the red-nosed reindeer --
That beast didn't have unshiny nostrils!
The goodly nose-cartilage glittered and glowed.
The hoof-bearers taunted him with proud words;
The comrades wouldn't allow wretched Hrodulf
To join the reindeer games.
Then, on Christmas Eve bound in storms
Santa Claus remembered that, spoke formally to him:
"Dear night-sighted friend, nose-bright one!
You, Hrodulf, shall lead my adorned rapid-wagon!"
Then the sky-flyers praised their lead-deer --
There was gladness and music; one of the horned ones sang
"Lo, Hrodulf the red-nosed reindeer,
Your fame spreads broadly, you are renowned!"

2001-11-25T19:04:00.000-05:00

Choose your own Harry Potter adventure!

2001-11-25T13:31:00.000-05:00

Tim's results:

# 1 Lord of the Nazgul (Witch-King of Angmar)
# 2 Sauron
# 3 Boromir
# 4 Eomer
# 5 Samwise Gamgee (Sam)

Okay, I'm AFRAID now!!

2001-11-25T12:40:00.000-05:00

Owwwwww....

Remind me never to get impatient while defrosting ground beef (or any other kind of meat) again, no matter HOW hungry I am. While it was still pretty frosty, I went and peeled the ground beef apart with my fingers, not noticing in the cold that my right thumbnail was being torn away from the nail base.

OWWW!!

Now, not only do I have a nasty nasty painful bruise/tear which is preventing me from doing all sorts of things (I probably won't be able to fence this week...), but I spent half the night in a terror of infection because of the contact with raw meat. My thumb was throbbing for a while, and my arm ached all the way up to my elbow. Sob! Fortunately I took a steady course of homeopathic remedies, and by 2am the pain had subsided enough to be not so scared anymore. And today it feels quite a bit better.

And hey, the resultant bolognese sauce was quite tasty.

2001-11-24T15:41:00.000-05:00

Keri, why are we such suckers for these things? http://selectsmart.com/

# 1 Elf
# 2 Hobbit
# 3 Maia
# 4 Human
# 5 Ent
--------------
# 1 Galadriel
# 2 Eowyn
# 3 Legolas
# 4 Arwen
# 5 Barliman Butterbur (?!)
--------------
# 1 The Grey Havens
# 2 The Halls of the Wood Elves
# 3 Dol Amroth
# 4 Lothlorien
# 5 Rivendell
--------------
# 1 Mild
# 2 Scotch Whisky
# 3 Stout
# 4 Bitter
# 5 Brown Ale
--------------
# 1 Scotsman
# 2 Minister of Silly Walks
# 3 One of Hell's Grannies
# 4 Homocidal Barber/Lumberjack
# 5 The Head Cardinal from The Spainish Inquisition
--------------
# 1 Cinderella
# 2 Little Red Riding Hood
# 3 Narrator
# 4 Baker's Wife
# 5 Jack
--------------
# 1 Hamlet
# 2 Fortinbras
# 3 Horatio
# 4 Ghost of Hamlet's Father
# 5 Laertes
--------------
# 1 Stephen Dedalus
# 2 Leopold Bloom
# 3 Molly Bloom
--------------
# 1 Mariane Dashwood from Sense & Sensibility
# 2 Catherine from Northanger Abbey
# 3 Lousia Musgrove from Persuasion
# 4 Lydia Bennet from Pride & Prejudice
# 5 Fanny from Mansfield Park
--------------
# 1 Abstract Expressionist ( Kandinsky, Klee, Pollock, De Koonig, NY School, etc.)
# 2 Romantic/Symbolic Art (Moreau, Klimt, etc.)
# 3 Surreal/Dada (Dali, Breton, Magritte, Duchamp, etc.)
# 4 Expressionist (Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Lautrec, etc.)
# 5 Renaissance/ Baroque Art (Michelangelo, Raphael, Da Vinci, Bellini, etc.)
--------------
# 1 Guatemala Antigua -- Flavor: Spicy, slightly smokey. Body: Full. Acidity: Medium
# 2 Papua New Guinean -- Flavor: Gently spicy, nutty, exotic. Body: Medium to full. Acidity: Medium.
# 3 Guatemalan -- Flavor: Spicy, rich, smooth. Body: Full. Acidity: High.
# 4 Sumatran French roast -- Flavor: Exotic, dark. Body: Very full. Acidity: Almost none.
# 5 Sumatra Mandheling -- Flavor: Earthy, unusual. Body: Full. Acidity: Low.
--------------
# 1 Queen Amidala
# 2 Anakin Skywalker
# 3 Princess Leia
# 4 Old Obi-Wan Kenobi
# 5 Qui-Gon Jinn
or
# 1 Young Obi-wan Kenobi
# 2 Luke Skywalker
# 3 Princess Leia
# 4 The Emperor
# 5 Anakin Skywalker
--------------
# 1 Grand Admiral Thrawn
# 2 General Tagge
# 3 Admiral Daala
# 4 Admiral Piett
# 5 Grand Moff Tarkin

2001-11-23T23:03:00.000-05:00

There's something wrong when your favorite game starts telling you that you're an addict, while you're playing!
I think I need to trash Bejeweled soon before this gets too out of hand..... But I just don't WANT to stop!

2001-11-23T22:47:00.000-05:00

This is possibly the all time GREATEST, SADDEST product review I've ever read, while browsing cnet for a new CD-burning app.....

Jen 13-Sep-2001 04:02:19 pm
"If you don't have a CD burner, it's useless."
I thought this product didn't need a CD burner(I know, pretty stupid of me!). So i was like "Wow, then why are all these people still buying CD burners." So I download it and it doesn't work. So I was like "WTF?! Why isn't it working?" Then after reading someone's opinion of the product, I realized this. They never told me that you needed a CD burner. So I just wanna tell you you need one. Cuz I was looking at "Product information" and they never told you what you need to use this.

2001-11-23T22:44:00.000-05:00

I'm so happy - Thanksgiving went well! Everyone got along - including my parents, which is a definite improvement over the norm! Dinner was yummy despite the lack of mom's homemade pumpkin pie - I've had my fill of stuffing and cranberries and that's the important thing. Plus there was this incredible goat's milk brie..... yumm! And my relatives didn't harass Tim or me at all, which is goooooood. ::sigh of relief::

Now I have the rest of the weekend free - I'd planned to be up in CT fencing at the "Turkey Stab Open" tomorrow, but my parents' schedule caused that to fall through. Feh! Not that Candlewood is such a fabulous club to compete at - they have such lousy directors - but it's still a tournament. I waaaaaaaant that classification.........

2001-11-22T12:26:00.000-05:00

Okay, there's something fundamentally wrong when you watch Tim Curry in Dickensian garb singing "God Bless Us, Everyone" with the rest of the Christmas Carol choir and meanwhile you're waiting for him to start stripping down to bustier and fishnets under his frock coat and trousers. Aaaack....

On THAT note, Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! So far it's been a typical Thanksgiving here - I woke up to find my grandparents watching the parade while my mom and dad were in the kitchen squabbling over the right way to prepare the turkey. (They've only been doing this HOW many years now, and they STILL can't agree on a method.... sigh!) My dad is in charge of handling the turkey, since mom can't stand raw poultry. And this is funny, because once the turkey has been stuffed he doesn't just sew the bird back up..... he SUTURES it. Real surgical stitching - if he used black thread I bet there'd barely be a scar (heh). I wonder if all doctors perform surgery on their turkeys at Thanksgiving, or if it's just that my dad is weird.

We're having Thanksgiving here in CT for the second year now, and it's just sooooo much nicer than having it at my grandparents' stuffy apartment. We have a kitchen in which there's room to move and which has ALL the supplies necessary, the oven actually COOKS things properly instead of leaking heat all over the place, it's not 8 million degrees in here which keeps my dad from getting irritable - and those three factors keep my parents from being at each other's throats all day long - plus, we have plenty of space for people to be together or not-together in, and it's PRETTY here with the pond and the squirrels and birds out in the garden. SOO nice!

Today will be an all-new experience, though. Tim is coming up for dinner, since his family doesn't throw shindigs of their own. This will be the first time that I've ever had a friend - MUCH LESS a boyfriend - at a family dinner. I'm kind of in a terror about letting my grandparents have at him (particularly my grandfather, who is a rude pesty hypercritical old crank), but I guess I can gag them with a dishtowel or something if need be. Meh, I'm sure they'll at least TRY to be on good behavior.

And meanwhile, I've gotta go because I've been sent on a quest to buy more sweet potatoes....

2001-11-17T04:41:00.000-05:00

Just got home from Harry Potter.... WOOHOOO!! ::boingaboinga!:: Will have more detailed review later, but for now suffice it to say that it was wooooooooooonderful. I'm already looking forward to the next one.

And I've got a HUGE itch to play Quiddich!

2001-11-15T00:10:00.000-05:00

QUIZ NIGHT at ROCKY SULLIVAN'S

Yes, it's the return of Thursday Night Trivia! Where you can imagine for a few hours that you're in Britain, indulging in their national belief that slurping down pints of beer in smoky crowded pubs actually facilitates one's memory for useless trivia.

Quiz night at Rocky's is boisterous and packed full of people out to win glory and free beer.

First of all, it's important to choose a good name for your team - something witty and memorable to be preferred. Mr. Pointy, our choice last week, got a good laugh (though there were obviously no other Buffy fans in the room), but somehow I don't want to be remembered as that. The regulars use the same names every week so that everyone knows how much they continue to rule the house. Anyone want to help come up with a really good permanent name for us?

Ahh trivia! There's something so intensely fun about the whole experience - not just that I'm a trivia freak with a passion for well-poured Guinness besides, but something about the lively game-happy atmosphere, and the truly humbling difficulty of the questions, working together with my friends to extract all the shreds of random knowledge we possess.

And sometime we're going to have to apply to be Guest Quizmasters on the subject of science fiction. It's practically our duty as NSO alums, right? I'm sure we could manage to make the questions not TOO cruelly obscure.....

Oh and if you're interested in playing with us, please get in touch with me or E for details. Right now our regulars have been me, E, Mike B, and Jaye, and we definitely have room for more!

2001-11-11T21:57:00.000-05:00

SO EXCITED: I finally got myself a VCR aaaaaaaaaand also a DVD player, so now movies can be watched at my house without hooking Tim's laptop up to the TV! Such happiness! Really, I was only supposed to get a VCR, but the DVD players were sitting there all shiny and tempting and what was I supposed to do?

Now I can begin hosting Highlander parties, Wallace & Gromit parties.... you name it!

In other news, John and Shelley have finally moved into my neighborhood - it was the coolest thing stopping by their place on my way home from the subway! They'd only just begun unpacking, so they were in a bit of a frenzy, but I did get to see their new place. MOTHER but it is HUUUUGE! It's got a multitude of extra rooms - they've got a spare bedroom, a dining room, and an office, as well as the usual regular bedroom and living room and kitchen. BIG apartment.

And I've said this before, but it'll be so nice to have friends in the immediate neighborhood. To just be able to walk over and say hi - what a concept in my subway-beholden life! And ha, John has already invited himself over for dinner.

2001-11-10T13:24:00.000-05:00

For those of you with a faster connection than mine, the new Star Wars trailer is apparently available here:
http://www.comingsoon.net/starwars/Default.shtml

I don't quite have the patience to wait for the download right now. Siigh!

2001-11-10T00:55:00.000-05:00

SUCH CUTENESS! It's been announced: Zaddick and Melanie are getting married!

Zaddick being my fencing coach, and Melanie one of the other A fencers / coaches at Metropolis. They've been dating for I think 3 years now, and it's sooo exciting that they're going to tie the knot. So far it's all hush hush, but Leroy, Zaddick's dad, is bursting with pride and hasn't been able to keep it to himself. *grin*

So I wonder if, on their registry, they'll put things like "3 France-Lames FIE maraging blades, 4 new Uhlmann body cords...."