picked a handful of violets in my name

sofiaviolet @ 2013-07-16T16:54:00

2013-07-16T21:10:16Z

I stayed home from work today with what is either a very intractable case of allergies or a hopefully-brief cold. Snotting all over the records is a bad idea (and handling the dusty old paper when I'm already running like a faucet at the nose just makes it worse). I'm beginning to think I may just be allergic to Tuesdays - I had the same problem a couple of weeks ago and had to leave early to avoid damage to the materials in my care. Benadryl manages to stop the sneezing for a couple of hours at a time, but not the continual drip of mucus or the general feeling of itchiness/irritation around my nose, throat, and sinuses.

On the bright side I've done a bunch of housework today - mainly laundry (general clothes, sheets, jeans, towels, and three batches of hand-wash lingerie and delicate miscellaneous - plus I'm going to power through all my dry-clean-only stuff once the towels are done), but also a small amount of picking-up/putting-away/throwing-out and some prep for a meal I plan to cook later.

But I broke my glittery plastic flip-flops. Alas, and I never even wore them outside, just up and down the basement stairs. At least they only cost me 25 cents at a yard sale.

I'm going to be in New Orleans from August 9 through August 19 for the Society of American Archivists annual meeting. I even finally got around to ordering business cards! I'm not looking forward to the weather - I'm sure it will be at Peak Ugh - but it'll be lovely to visit all my favorite restaurants etc.

Also, depending on when Ellie is moving out, I may wind up exempt from helping her move to Everett* via ZipVan due to professional conference. Unintended consequence, but I can't say I mind. She does, fortunately, have plenty of moving karma to cash in among friends in the Boston area, so my absence will be much less of a pain than it otherwise might've been.

*She has located an actual apartment and paid the deposit yay! Lease may or may not be signed yet but definitely will be before her next trip to China, moving to happen when she returns.

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sofiaviolet @ 2011-08-15T17:13:00

2011-08-15T22:09:11Z

Ellie and I braved Ikea on Saturday to get the last few things (we hope) that Dad needs to finish the kitchen. We were expecting everything to suck thanks to the tax holiday, but no! Finding a parking space took a while, but the showroom areas were navigable, the line for purchasing kitchens was short, and there was no line at the main checkout. Of course, then we waited an hour for them to pull our stuff and remember to bring it to us. :\

Anyway, having been to Ikea so recently, I lol'ed at the following: Derangement and Description: IKEAD

Now waiting none too patiently for Ellie to get home from work, in the hope there'll be groceries. (And if there are not groceries, there may be a screaming fit.)

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internets! I have missed yoooouuuuu!

2011-07-08T04:38:41Z

Notes

My parents have been here for the past two weeks, and then my internet connection spent a couple of days being pissy, and then I had other shit to do. But I'm back!

Parents

It was a good visit! We did many fun things, such as go to museums (Museum of Science with Ellie's kinda-sorta-girlfriend-I-think,* two three year olds, and the dad of the of the other three year old! MFA, wherein I learned exactly how intensely my dad does museums), elbow our way through the North End (I have been to concerts that were less crowded than those sidewalks, sheesh, also who the fuck drives in the North End are you fucking kidding me), etc.

* Yeah, I'm not sure what's up with that relationship thing, so I do not have a single-word term for it. It is very functional and they seem happy! It's also kind of hilarious (but possibly only to me, because of the sheer amount of TMI I have on Ellie's life and personal identity).

Thanks to a trip to Ikea and two carloads off to Goodwill, my room is in pretty good order! This is kind of miraculous. I still have too much stuff, but A) some kind of shift has occurred that unblocked my ability to get rid of things I don't need and B) I have improved my storage capabilities.

An important note: if you are planning to rearrange some furniture, and are drawing something out on paper, make sure your measurements are correct. We were off by two feet.

Grad School

I am not sure why advising needed to be an all-day process, but it was. There was assorted fuckery related to my being listed with the wrong concentration and assigned to the wrong advisor, but I did have the proper advising experience I was supposed to. Then there was the unrelated fuckery of not enough seats in classes, the end results of which are that I'm taking core library classes in a slightly different but still completely reasonable order than I'd originally thought, and I am still waiting to hear which history class I've been placed in (they needed volunteers to take Methods some time other than first semester, and one of the alternatives was a women's and gender history course, so I volunteered, but we're being manually registered and I haven't received an email about it yet).

There were two really bright spots in my day: I think I met a friend of a former schoolmate (one year ahead of me, so we weren't really friends), and one of the professors pinged my "you are from the internet" radar. Also there was ice cream and I got to go to work for a little while afterwards.

Work

Boss is departing; she'll still be available to advise us but today was her last real workday. This makes me the second most senior employee in the archives. I am deeply unsettled by that.

I am processing a new collection... three new collections... six collections? There are three organizations who donated their records, so there will be three collections. There are six accessions right now, because sometimes they gave us stuff in multiple batches. Some stuff will need to be moved between accessions because it belongs to one of the other organizations. Sorting that out will be the easy part.

The third organization was created by the merger of the other two, which helps to explain the cross-pollination of materials and also makes it a little harder to deal with it. Furthermore, each of those orgs is the result of mergers and renamings of even older organizations, such that the final conglomerate can say it dates back to the 1800s. (The bulk of the collections is more modern, but there are items from the predecessor orgs and these are the oldest papers I have processed.) I am going to need a nice detailed organizational chart to make sure everything is housed where is belongs, is referenced where relevant, and is laid out sensibly and accurately in the finding aid. Fortunately for me, someone wrote a history of one of the orgs and all those materials are in the collection; a thank-you card to that person may be in order when I'm finally done.

(JP)

(That's supposed to represent those oval bumper stickers that usually have two-letter country abbreviations. Someone makes such a sticker for Jamaica Plain. I keep threatening to buy one for Ellie, to upgrade her Subaru wagon [Level One JP Vehicle] that now has a carseat for a small child [Level 2 JP Vehicle; can also qualify with one of those fences to keep your dog in the back] to a Level 3 JP Vehicle.)

Boomerangs has been holding a massive sale to empty the store ahead of planned renovations. I've paid them a visit every day since Tuesday; retail therapy works for me and thrift stores reduce the financial burden and potential for guilt. (I mostly look for things with violets on them. It's kind of a theme.) I also finally made it to one of our local botanicas, which I have been meaning to do for over three years (ever since we were apartment-hunting and I saw it out of the realtor's car window); unfortunately I think I kind of interrupted the owner's lunch. The botanica has a shop cat, whom I briefly petted when I walked in; I spent the rest of my time there being insistently headbutted in the ankles. Secretly I was delighted, because I almost always love cats more than they love me.

I also keep returning to City Feed for lunch. It is very pleasant to eat a ham and cheese sandwich and watch people walking by.

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giant robots in space

2011-05-04T00:10:01Z

Recently

Capture the flag didn't happen; no one from the Camberville side showed up, so the four JP residents (well, three plus Daly, who is probably on our side anyway, regardless of where he actually lives) got ice cream and hung out at Cid's house instead.

I got recruited into a BattleTech game. Daly taught me how to play on Saturday and my first session with the group was Monday. (Daly severely underestimated our ability to defend a base. And we discovered a loophole for artillery - if every spotter is -1 to hit a target and we have ten mechs peering over the wall... "hey Cid, the pilot's got brown eyes, are you aiming for the left one or the right one?") I fielded three mechs (all of mine, none from the communal pool) and actually managed to keep track of all of them! Although I think I'm going to have to get my own miniatures, because keeping track of which vaguely similar grey plastic mechs are mine (and which one goes with which sheet) is going to drive me nuts. And because I am me, they will be painted to suit my tastes and will therefore not look anything like they're supposed to.

Biggest news, though: I got into Simmons, after an eon of waiting for a decision. No info on financial aid yet, but I have wonderful parents who will put me through grad school regardless.

21 Days of Dreamwidth

( I missed a few. )

Links

( three links )

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I'm not drinking from the firehose, it just seems like I am.

2011-04-25T21:02:09Z

Notes

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth happening now. Expect everybody to be posting all the time. (Seriously, the amount of stuff on my reading page today was terrifying. If you want the actual firehose, the threeweeks feed on Latest Things aggregates posts tagged with several variations on the fest name.)

Recently

Got to see the US Archivist speak today but was barred from the reception afterwards due to being a student (supposedly because of the presence of alcohol, which is doubly hilarious to me because I am over 21 and still do not ever booze it up). Although his speech was good (and confirmed that government archives are not my first choice but would not be too soul-sucking), and I got to archives-squee at the guy I sat next to.

21 Days of Dreamwidth

( day 1 )

Questions meme

erika asked: ( three questions )

Links

( 4 links: male privilege, derby girl names, non-fictional women of interest, migraines )

Plans

Last blog entry for class, last paper for the same class, only paper for the other class, book reviews, responses for the New Orleans FONSFAQ (also still taking prompts), possibly some responses for other FONSFAQs, possibly a notable woman for She's Kind of a Big Deal, the thing I am making for MCR (yes, I am making them a thing).

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Serendipity

2011-04-12T20:29:46Z

Wound up at the Lucy Parsons Center earlier today (because they're having a sale in advance of their move to Jamaica Plain*) and walked out with a copy of Streets of Hope: The Fall and Rise of an Urban Neighborhood, which is about the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative. Which is awesome because I'm about to start processing a collection that's pretty much all about the DSNI.

(In case you hadn't noticed, I am sometimes overinvested in my job.)

* Pretty sure I bought the "history of queer rock bands" mentioned in that article, too. HomoCore: The Loud and Raucous Rise of Queer Rock, which was prominently displayed in the front room.

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sofiaviolet @ 2011-03-15T09:26:00

2011-03-15T13:33:03Z

Much of this essay annoys me, but I want to reproduce this quote:

But, in the digital world, you get to decide exactly who to be, where to go, and how to behave. This can be problematic if you try to create an entirely new persona (it’s a dishonest and unsustainable representation of yourself), but when wielded skillfully, it can propel the real you to new heights. Rather than create a whole new you, create the best you. Choose the traits you like about yourself, and exemplify them online. Let the less attractive qualities fall by the wayside. Place yourself in a digital environment that will allow you to flourish.

When I focus on creating an improved digital version of me, I find those qualities actually start to carry over into my physical self.

This is actually something I did in my offline life, parallel to beginning and sustaining my online life. I've referred to the name 'Sofia Blackthorne' (which I use in any context where my legal name is not required and where explaining myself won't be absurd) as an aspirational identity, by which I mean: I had an idea of who my ideal Me was, and I continued to develop that ideal self, and I named it so I'd have easier access to it all.

( links and stuff )

Now to get ready for my interview. It's going to be great but I am still super-nervous, of course.

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(the other major hazard is falling off a ladder and having a cubic foot of photos land on your head)

2011-02-10T00:41:50Z

I have to say, the biggest hazard of my job may be literal death by a thousand paper cuts.

I'm at the point now where I don't stop working unless the cut is threatening to bleed on the materials (preservation and sanitation issues!). And I should really stop putting bandaids on even the bleeders, due to the positioning.

Basically, because I spend so much of my time plunging my hands into boxes of upright folders and papers, I get a lot of paper cuts near the bottom of my fingernails (I also get them on my knuckles with some regularity, and I have one that is very nearly under my fingernail right now, rendering my left pinky useless for typing due to ouch). Bandaids get in the way pretty badly. And I'm apparently incapable of applying them competently: I just took off the bandaid from earlier today, and there's a band of white, wrinkled skin because I wrapped my finger too tight.

And the sad thing is, that's not even the worst thing I've done when bandaging my fingertips. I once left an overly tight bandaid on over night, and the next morning my fingertip was slightly maroon on the end. :(

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Catching you up on me: school

2011-01-13T15:36:42Z

I am finally completely confirmed for my capstone, with mini-deadlines set up and everything. First a proposal, then a really detailed bibliography, then my research trip. (Amount of research that needs to happen still uncertain, but I will still have time to hang out with Cameryn, who's going to New Orleans for other reasons at the same time. Unfortunately, Cory probably won't be able to meet me there, because he's too broke for plane tickets.)

I continue to have a job! Unfortunately this iteration of my archives employment requires that I answer the phone.

Urban Social Problems looks really cool, but I am going to drop it because it's too much. One of my seminars is on classical music, performers and performance thereof. Interesting but ultimately not really my thing, but I actually need this one for my honors requirements.

But the other seminar is going to kill me with awesome. It is all about social networks. Wheeee!

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links

2011-01-11T02:52:01Z

The Hathor Legacy: If audiences don’t want women as leads, why did Aliens succeed?

Let’s compare and contrast a few female leads and see if we get a pattern. As I said above, we don’t have enough to consider this statistical, but we’re just looking for a starting point. Besides Aliens, I can think of one other female-led action movie that was successful enough to at least spawn a franchise: Underworld (Kate Beckinsale). And two female-led movies regarded as financial disappointments would be Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) and Catwoman (Halle Berry) – neither of which even made back their budgets on the gross revenues.

Tiger Beatdown: Why I Didn’t Delete Tiger Beatdown

But here’s the thing. Here’s why I’m not deleting Tiger Beatdown: They only do it if you’re good. Seriously. They only do it if your work reaches people, and convinces people, and if they literally cannot frame an opposing argument that they think might have any chance of winning. They can’t beat you in an argument; that’s why they abuse you, that’s why they try to make you feel as worthless and self-loathing and incapable of self-defense as any other abused person, that’s why they abuse you till you can’t work or even think about anything but being abused, that’s why they try to make you believe that it won’t stop till you stop publishing or die. That’s why they make you want to stop publishing. Or make you want to die. Because after all of it, after all the “bitch” and “cunt” and “die” and “dyke” and “ugly” and “smoker” (???) and “I’monna rape ye, woman,” there is actually one threat scarier than ALL of that: The threat that you’re right, and you’re going to win. And that’s the threat that you pose.

The Pursuit of Harpyness: Signs and Wonders

Unfortunately, after six months of Skype and e-mails, and spending quite a bit of money to visit him, I began to get the feeling that while things had improved somewhat over the past three years, they hadn’t improved enough. He says he wants to move back to New York soon…but, well, he told me the same thing three years ago. His shit is slightly more together, life-wise, but it turns out he’s not a whole hell of a lot more emotionally available. I kept extending myself, but he was doing a pretty crap job of meeting me halfway. He tends to be a brooder, and while dealing with his issues, likes to retreat into complete radio silence. Being met with a week or two of zero communication feels horrible when you’re in a long-distance relationship—especially when you notice that he updates his FB page, thus eliminating the possible explanation that he has died or is trapped under something heavy and can’t get to his computer.

Derangement and Description: This comic is brought to you by the letters E, A, and D

tim: Cause and Effect: Jared Loughner, Chinese Mothers, and Plausible Deniability

The conspiracy of silence in which Chua participates, and which psychologist Alice Miller (for example, in her book For Your Own Good) has written about, involves perpetuating this myth: What adults do to you is for your own good. Be grateful for it, and suck it up, cupcake. It's a politically useful myth. Kids who internalize it turn into obedient workers (bosses naturally replace parents) and into supporters of authoritarian politicians. They also tend to turn into bullying parents themselves. And the cycle goes on. But people like Chua aren't helping break it. Read Chua's essay while asking: "What is it doing for her to treat her children in all of the ways she describes?" This is a question she never seems to ask herself. But it's a question that would decenter her perspective and show that claiming that coercion is "for your own good" is the act of psychological coercion that enables all others.

flourish: Mental illness & Jared Loughner

Here is a summation of this: Schizophrenia may have been one of the factors leading to Jared Loughner's actions - I don't know - but it is not enough to say "well, he had schizophrenia," and shrug it off, as though there are no other factors. That's like saying of a rapist, "well, he's a man," and considering that the end of the discussion - no, actually, it's even worse. 99% of rapists are male. In comparison, only about 10% of people who commit homicide have schizophrenic disorders, or possibly less. And yet, if I were to make a statement like "Oh, well, he's a man - probably completely pumped with testosterone - that's all we need to know to explain why he's a rapist," people would (rightly) have my head on a pike. If I make a statement like "Well, she's schizophrenic - probably having delusions at the time - that's all we need to know to explain why she's a murderer," nobody gives a damn.

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sofiaviolet @ 2010-12-16T07:40:00

2010-12-16T12:40:53Z

So that's three times now I've received spam with variations on "Big penis like a girl!" as the subject. Okay then.

Geek Feminism: “Why don’t you just hit him?”

Warning: this post and links from it discuss both harassment and violence, imagined and real.

Am I against hitting a harasser in all situations? No. Am I advocating against it in all situations? No.

However, here’s a lengthy and incomplete list of reasons why victims may not be able or may choose not to hit a harasser and why it is definitely not a general solution for the problem of harassment. I even have a special buzzer on hand that will sound when the reasons are related to gender discrimination. Listen for it, it goes like this: BZZZT! Got it? BZZZT!

The Pervocracy: Beyond body acceptance.

It's good to like your body, but you know, your body isn't the biggest deal about you. (Or rather, your beauty isn't the biggest deal, since few people insulting your body can be dissuaded by hearing how many pounds you can lift or how quickly you recover from injuries.) It's a heartbreaking waste to take a human being, a person rich in history and abilities and relationships and ideas, and judge them on how nice a decoration they make. Maybe that's inevitable when it comes to strangers, but you damn well know better when it comes to yourself. When you're judging your appearance, you're only judging one tiny part of your self.

glass_icarus: announcing: Potluck!

Potluck is intended to be a carnival for multicultural and intersectional discussions of food. There are no real limits on theme; however, the focus of the carnival is on thoughts and experiences around food through various topics that you might see around the social justice blogosphere, including but not limited to food discussions intersecting with disability, gender, sexuality, fat, animal rights and of course cultural and racial issues. We welcome you to share your recipes as well as your thoughts and experiences, but we ask that you do not submit posts with recipes only.

Anna J. Cook: Queen Everett

Then I came to a small yellowed clipping that featured a photograph of the five young women nominated in 1971 ... and the young man, Everett Nau, who had been crowned the Winter Carnival Queen of 1970. The brief caption to the photograph read (in part)
NAU GOOD LUCK GIRLS ... Everett Nau, last year's Winter Carnival Queen, bestows his best wishes upon this year's recently selected finalists (all girls if you'll notice). ... In this year's campaign, the judges ruled it mandatory that the contestants be of the female gender.

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busy busy busy falls over

2010-12-13T21:05:18Z

Transcriptions Thursday night to see Cameryn do a staged reading of some new material.

Friday was Slutcracker with Ellie. We left the house late, and then there was epic traffic, and then there was nowhere to park in Davis Square. I whined a lot about how it would've been faster to take the T. Not true, actually (epic train failure), and I calmed down quite a bit once we found a parking place and squeezed in some dinner before the show, even if it was just Chipotle.

Last night we went to the TNG munch at Diesel. Did not run out of social, hooray! And now I have some new friends on Fetlife. But we didn't get home until after 11, which was bad.

Joan gave a short lesson on processing in the context of our institution and what we collect, and our increasing tendency to scan everything. Then there was pizza and chatter and office party.

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link backlog

2010-12-02T00:44:32Z

( links )

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incompetent chef strikes again

2010-12-01T03:27:02Z

I am eating brownie batter as I type this. Brownie batter that went 45+ minutes in the oven and still isn't actual brownies. IDEK.

Whatever. Still delicious.

Work is work. Document scanning is much nicer now that I am used to it and have a system to maximize my efficiency. (I am much faster than the scanner or Acrobat. It was getting on my nerves.)

I've also been flyering to earn my ticket to The Slutcracker. Not that I have any idea when I'm going, or who with. If any locals want to go on a particular night and want to meet up, let me know.

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I kind of doubt Hello Kitty stationery is acid-free.

2010-11-24T00:48:49Z

So there was that thing where the Danger Days special editions were flawed and therefore delayed, so MCR gave people who'd ordered them coupon codes for $15? I used mine to buy two sets of Zone Badges. One of those sets is mine, all mine! But as for the others... uh, who wants one? :D

Since I am talking about sending people things, I should probably mention $winterholiday cards again. Locked post with screened comments.

This made my day: Derangement and Description: Hello Archives

Over the next few months, he just would not stop talking about more Hello Kitty crap we could get for my office. Archivists, I know projection when I see it. And so some of us came in over the weekend to give Rob the workspace of his dreams.

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I have had A Day.

2010-11-20T03:49:25Z

First things first: wow was that presale a total clusterfuck. I was kind of shaking after.

On the bright side, I did get tickets for 3 of the 5 shows I wanted: Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. (The D.C. presale sold out before I even made it over to that tab following the Ticketmaster/Live Nation failures. Better luck Saturday, especially since I've been appointed head of a ticket-buying cabal. And I was iffy on NJ but it looks like enough people are going that I can find a ride.)

Now I shall sum up my vacation! Only about two weeks late, ooops. Halloween was Rocky Horror, and then I spent Monday and Tuesday morning catching up on the internet while Cory was at work. Starting on Wednesday, I called Ellen to pick me up for hanging out, thrift shopping, visiting Adam Kemp's studio/gallery, etc. We had dinner with Ellen and Greg on Wednesday. On Thursday, we went to a lecture given by one of Greg's colleagues, then to a gallery opening where we met up with Ellen's friends Brian and Jerry, and then pizza.

( On the subject of Grand Forks: I'm considering an extended visit this summer. )

( work stuff )

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in which I get shit done

2010-10-16T01:01:13Z

Recently

I have finagled my inbox all the way down to four things in Priority Inbox (one of which is my flight info and one of which relates to the practice GRE I'm taking tomorrow), and eleven things in the regular inbox, none of which requires an actual reply (they're all emails containing coupon codes I stand a decent chance of using - I keep them in my inbox so they don't get lost, and so they can be easily deleted once they expire).

Anyway, yeah. Practice GRE tomorrow (free, and it's been a while since I've taken a test like that). I should just register for the next convenient real GRE,* since it's not like I am going to study. And I went to an hour-long thingy about grad school, in which I had a lot of things I sort of knew confirmed, and had to suffer through a lot of stupid questions. Not sure it was entirely worth not getting paid for that hour, but eh.

In other "did $thing like a motherfucking adult" news, I have successfully paid the internet bill (which we just didn't receive last month, wtf. Verizon has the absolute worst billing system in the world, I swear), and requested an absentee ballot (since, oops, out of town for the election).

* Or maybe not, since it looks like I don't actually need it. IDK if I should take it anyway, though. So, uh, I turn to my dreamroll! For your information, I am seriously considering the Archives/History dual degree program at Simmons** but also seriously considering just the M.S. and going back for a history degree later. So y'all should give me advice on that, too.

** xkcd really nailed it.

Links

Disabled Feminists: Let’s Bust Some Myths: Depressed People Are Always Sad or They’re Faking!
Mix up a few details, and Blanchard’s story is a pretty common one. Whenever I talk to people who are currently living with long- or short-term depression, or have lived with it in the past, they tell me the same story: Friends thought they were faking because they managed to get out and have a good time. They laughed at a joke once and everyone decided they were “over” their “funk”. They didn’t act like stereotypes of depressed people, so they must not actually be depressed.
britpop

Browse Dreamwidth styles by color group and color characteristics.

And there was going to be a link to a really cute picture I found while doing my actual job today, but it's on the test server, which A) I don't remember its IP address and therefore can't get to it from here and B) I probably shouldn't be linking the test server around anyway. But old photos of serious-looking small children, woo.

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sofiaviolet @ 2010-10-13T23:10:00

2010-10-14T03:34:29Z

Recently

Went to a wedding on Saturday (it was lovely), then to the afterparty (where I spent a long time explaining my research to my brand new friend Jeremy). Groceries Sunday; Ellie wanted to try a new grocery store that's closer than our usual, but it's a bit more expensive, missing various items we use regularly, and really annoying to shop at. Monday evening, after Ellie got back from buying several hundred pounds of lumber in New Hampshire, we went to the mall. Ellie got a coat and a shirt, but not the pants she was actually looking for. I got a dress for my Halloween costume and pants for future MCR concerts - both on clearance, woooo! (And in online shopping news, I bought a Turkish spindle and a colorful batt called Show Pony.)

In schmoopy relationship news, Cory and I are apparently taking a short trip to Minneapolis (I predict some squabbling over road trip music; we have very different philosophies about music in general). Also, you can see my increased comfort in this relationship by the contents of my suitcase: last time, I packed dresses and shoes and makeup. This time I am packing, uh idk, some clothes? and also some fiber. And a surprise! (because I feel like that would be a nice thing to do), so help me think up TSA-approved surprises? Also also: he knows this journal exists and he knows exactly where it is and I make mostly public posts - and yet he refuses to read it. IDGI.

Links

( Read more... )

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sofiaviolet @ 2010-09-29T22:35:00

2010-09-30T02:38:37Z

Recently

Work, mostly. solarcat and I are going to Garment District and maybe some other places this weekend, for Killjoys costuming purposes. (I also need to figure out a Ramona Flowers costume, since Cory has decided that's what we're doing for Halloween, since I'll be in Grand Forks and all.)

Ellie and I spent some time last night talking about our plans for revamping the apartment. The main thrust is to make our space better for our creative pursuits. So much of it depends on her having the time and spoons to build new furniture, so no idea when any of it will get done. I can post an outline of our plans, with crappy diagrams, if anyone is interested.

Links

via saystheheart: Safeword, the s&m superhero

Married to the Sea: new uniforms

via cofax7: Gerald M. Weinberg: What’s Been the Effect of Banning My Stuff?
Whatever it was intended to do, banning things increases interest. When one of the Pope’s Cardinals banned The DaVinci Code, lagging sales picked up and made a few more millions for Mr. Brown. Banning Harry Potter had a similar effect for Ms. J. K. Rowling, now richer than the Queen.

(Tangent: I once got to attend one of Jerry's workshops. He and my dad go pretty far back; we would usually pay him a visit when we took our road trips to New Mexico. Jerry knew I was working on a novel, he was running a writing workshop and it was going to be pretty fiction-oriented, and he hadn't seen Dad in a while. So Dad and I took a week off work/school and went. It was awesome.)

(And another tangent: Wow has my life been full of fantastic opportunities and experiences that resulted directly from grown-ups taking a chance on me. Including my current job.)

Plans

I am considering StrowlerCon, but would need roommates. I also need to run it past Ellie and see if she wants in.

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look alive, sunshine (WHAT ARE THEIR FACES OH MY GOD)

2010-09-17T23:13:36Z

Recently

Looooong slog at work today. Ia ia vertical file fhtagn! And I have to do more of it on Monday. (Hell is interfiling.)

Memery

( Friday Five: travel )

Follow Friday

followfriday | Latest Things tagged follow friday

( caution: teal deer crossing )

Links

( 6 links )

comments

85 minutes of bleach later

2010-09-08T23:36:06Z

Recently

I can haz purple hair! No pictures yet because I am lazy, but it does not suck. (The purple streak does fade rather quickly to nearly black as you move away from my scalp, but given how many times it had been dyed before these shenanigans, I can't say I'm surprised.)

Have been approved to take another week off work, sometime between mid October and Thanksgiving (has to be before Thanksgiving because $winterholiday retail season is likely to constrain the amount of time C. has for me). Now to find a suitably cheap plane ticket. On the one hand, yay I get to see my boyfriend again! On the other... and then I won't see him until some time in 2011.

Links

( 9 links )

comments

just links today

2010-08-28T21:17:33Z

Links

( 10 links )

Plans

Scissor Sisters concert with Ellie.

comments

Long post is really fucking long.

2010-08-24T02:52:25Z

Notes

Not dead! Back in Boston since Saturday, and already caught up on things!

Recently

Just finished eating half the curry I made tonight; the other half is in the fridge. I am going to bring it to work tomorrow. Leftovers for lunch - it's almost like I'm a real grown-up!

Ellie and I went to the mall yesterday. We were supposed to get clothes for her. Instead, we got clothes for me. /o\ On the other hand, Hello Kitty rain boots in grown-up sizes, fuck yes.

I continue to experiment with purple hair. Attempt 3 (dark purple over failed single-process bleach-and-purple) is the best yet but still not quite right.

Grand Forks

( Spent nearly every waking moment with C., got to see my family, consumed much media. Was not really online. )

Relationship Stuff

( :D! )

We're planning more visits, and I convinced C. to install Skype. But I think my journal will stop being All About My Boyfriend now; he'll show up from time to time along with other important people in my life.

Memery

From Ask Me Anything:

Looking back, are you comfortable with the way you reacted when your sister came out to you?

Not really. :( I could have done more. I am especially disappointed with how little help I was to her in 2006/2007, her last year of high school, while she was trying to figure things out. True, I didn't have nearly as much knowledge of gender and trans* issues then, but I probably still could have been more supportive than I actually was.

But as far as her actual coming-out? I think I did okay then, although I didn't adjust to name-and-pronouns as fast as I would have liked, even if there is a specific reason for it (trying not to out her to Mom and Dad before she had the chance to tell them herself).

Links

( 10 links )

Plans

Figure out Netflix. Buy more $5 vermouth for cooking.

comments

long post is long

2010-08-13T04:25:47Z

Notes

I'll be out of town August 14-21. While I'll have internet access, I have no idea how much I'll be online. But rest assured I'll catch up even if I can't keep up.

Recently

Bosses and one reference desk person are away for the Society of American Archivists conference. Work is freakishly quiet.

Busy couple of days. Tuesday morning, I hauled a box of fun surprises to the post office (since the TSA probably frowns on taking rope in your carry-on), went to work, and then went to Diesel to meet up with shadesong and receive my BARCC auction winnings: a lovely flogger. After that, I ran into Andra and spent forever telling her about C. (she kept asking questions, and I am still flush with omgyay).

Yesterday I got some purple dye, and this morning before work, I put it in my hair to see what it would do. Not a lot, as it turns out: my hair is too dark. Now it's even darker, with something of a blue cast to it. While kinda disappointing, it's not actually surprising, and it's definitely not a bad result.

Leaving for Grand Forks at stupid o'clock Saturday morning. Clothes are basically picked out, and toiletries are selected and quart-size bagged.

Memes

Still open for questions.

I know so little about you, I'm afraid my question is quite pedestrian! What would your dream job be?

Pretty close to what I'm doing right now. I want to be an archivist full-time, as my real grownup job. But I'm not thrilled with the idea of meetings and managing other people, which my bosses at work have to do. I just want to work with the collections.

Placeholder

I want to write about "lazy femme," which is what I call my gender presentation. In short: I like things like skirts and makeup, but I don't generally bother with these more effortful bits of gendered plumage.

( 11 links )

Plans

More packing, go to bed, sleep, get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, finish packing, go to bed, get up, get on airplane, arrive in Grand Forks, get laid.

comments

This whole "more regular posting" thing is going so well, don't you think?

2010-08-03T05:42:11Z

Notes

Yeah, I know. But getting used to the full-time job has been really rough this time around. IDK.

The BARCC Blogathon auctions are running through 2010-08-03, 17:00 Eastern.

Recently

Work was fun today. In that special way where my eyes aren't used to contacts yet and I spent the whole day using a computer, and also in the way where one of the door alarms was going off pretty much all day because it was broken.

I was supposed to go to a concert tonight, but I just could not manage it. :( I napped instead. After I write this post, I'm going to go back to bed.

Signs I am tired: I am trying to read my dreamroll using ?ship=300. /o\

Retail Therapy

I ordered some stuff from Fire Mountain Gems over the weekend, and it shipped today. \o/ So that'll be here next Monday, approximately. Unfortunately, I can't bring my travel jewelry kit to Grand Forks. I don't think the TSA would approve of my pliers. :( :( :( Plus I am only bringing a carry-on. DNW to pay stupid fee for checked bag.

Interactive!

Ask Me Anything: You get to ask me any one question. Any question, which I will answer to the best of my ability without violating anyone else's privacy. I am the only person who can see the poll responses.

View Poll: #4000

( 4 links )

comments

picked a handful of violets in my name

sofiaviolet @ 2013-07-16T16:54:00

sofiaviolet @ 2011-08-15T17:13:00

internets! I have missed yoooouuuuu!

Notes

Parents

Grad School

Work

(JP)

giant robots in space

Recently

21 Days of Dreamwidth

Links

I'm not drinking from the firehose, it just seems like I am.

Notes

Recently

21 Days of Dreamwidth

Questions meme

Links

Plans

Serendipity

sofiaviolet @ 2011-03-15T09:26:00

(the other major hazard is falling off a ladder and having a cubic foot of photos land on your head)

Catching you up on me: school

links

sofiaviolet @ 2010-12-16T07:40:00

busy busy busy *falls over*

link backlog

incompetent chef strikes again

I kind of doubt Hello Kitty stationery is acid-free.

I have had A Day.

in which I get shit done

Recently

Links

sofiaviolet @ 2010-10-13T23:10:00

Recently

Links

sofiaviolet @ 2010-09-29T22:35:00

Recently

Links

Plans

look alive, sunshine (WHAT ARE THEIR FACES OH MY GOD)

Recently

Memery

Follow Friday

Links

85 minutes of bleach later

Recently

Links

just links today

Links

Plans

Long post is really fucking long.

Notes

Recently

Grand Forks

Relationship Stuff

Memery

Links

Plans

long post is long

Notes

Recently

Memes

Placeholder

Plans

This whole "more regular posting" thing is going so well, don't you think?

Notes

Recently

Retail Therapy

Interactive!

busy busy busy falls over