picked a handful of violets in my name

just the link backlog for now

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 03:17:52 GMT

I've had a headache for most of the weekend, spent waaaaaaay too long trying to sleep the headache off, and then it took Ellie and I all afternoon to get groceries (we hit Allandale Farms, Whole Foods, BJ's, and Stop-n-Shop. Plus Home Depot so she could price some set-building stuff).

All in a Name: New Software Benefits Transgender Students
The new software, created as an adjunct to the Banner student information system, allows students to fill out a form specifying their preferred name and pronoun. The information appears on all paperwork seen by faculty, so petitioning professors individually, a process that gave students no choice but to out themselves, is a thing of the past.
via naraht: The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes
My anecdotal evidence generally seems to support the idea that group sizes will usually plateau at a number lower than 150 participants. This comes from 20 years of doing facilitation both on and offline, running several software companies, and running various forums at America Online. In particular, many online communities provide good evidence for Dunbar's Number actually being an upper limit (either due to reduced efficiency or due to increased dispersion).
dw_news: Weekly Update: 30 Sept
* Development
* Code Push
* More DW Creativity
* RIP, Vox
* DW Advocacy
* Icon Renames
Dreamwidth Wiki: Advocacy

denise: DW artisans

via wordweaverlynn: Kink Aware Professionals

comments

linkity

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 01:07:21 GMT

mizubyte: Master List: Bandom Timeline

via multiple people: Avatar Remix - A.V.A.T.A.R. (Anglos Valiantly Aiding Tragic Awe-inspiring Races)

denise: (no subject)
Meanwhile, I'm on the lookout for Dreamwidth users who have Etsy shops -- it doesn't matter what you sell, as long as it's handcrafted of some sort. I'd like to put together a showcase of DW users' creativity -- it's really easy for us to show off writers (of both fiction and nonfiction) on DW, since the tools we have for sharing and promoting writing are fairly well developed, but mark and I always wanted DW to be a place to showcase all kinds of creativity, from writing to craft to photography to just plain chronicling your life, and I'd really like to start doing some work to promote the non-written forms of creative work our users get up to.
Related to the above: etsy! My comm, which I have thrown into the ring in support of Denise's endeavor. Join, tell me what kinds of things you would want out of such a community, make posts... I will gladly take on co-mods if people want to get involved on that level.

comments

Wyrding Studios Art Retreat

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:29:49 GMT

... was on Saturday. Posting this on Tuesday. I have done worse.

Ellie and I left the house late and picked up shadesong late as a result, but traffic was very light and we still made it to Wyrding Studios a bit early.

The morning activity was spinning, first from combed top and then from a batt. I seem to spin faster from combed top (easier to manage the fiber) but more consistently from batts (I find drafting easier). Although, as you can probably tell, I'm not very good at it yet. But between how satisfying it was and how many of Kythryne's art batts I've purchased already, I will continue spinning and, I hope, improving.

After lunch, we went up to the studio and picked out things for either a pendant or a pair of earrings. I made these earrings. We also got to pick out things for a take-home project, although I wound up with some spare time and made this before and after the fused glass portion of the day.

Fused glass! No photos of that yet. But now I have learned how to cut glass, and that dichroic glass looks different before and after it's fused. I did wind up with a small scrap of silver dichroic glass that had gone through the kiln all by its lonesome, so I made this pendant for fun.

The last portion of the day was a demonstration of making jewelry from found objects. I brought a set of dice, a silk flower that fell off Cameryn's set for Phone Whore, a shower curtain clip, and some blobs of solder. The blobs turned out to be too fragile for wire-wrapping, but Kythryne got everything else in there. And the d20 pops out the back of the pendant.

Here's all the photos from the art retreat. And there is another one in October, for those of you who can make it to Concord, NH.

comments

Not dead.

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 04:53:53 GMT

I promise I will update with actual things from my life! Some time later today (as it is now technically Monday).

But for now, the links: ( 10 links )

comments

:(

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:34:24 GMT

Well, internets, I am definitely experiencing a depressive episode that exceeds my medication's ability to compensate. :(

There are definitely some external components. Not sure if that makes me feel better or worse than Completely Random Brain Fuckery. I am probably experiencing a very extended sort of con drop, because I had 3+ weeks of New Orleans and parents and Doing All Of The Things (research, eating, shopping), 24 hours in Boston in which I had to Do All Of The Other Things (unpack, repack, work most of a day), then the con, and then more parents (they came up to Boston for a week to visit Ellie, so I got a few extra days with them post-con). Nothing to do but go to work, and I'm still part-time until the 5th.

( It is also approaching five years since I was raped. (formulated to be hypo-trigger-genic) )

I am dwelling on it because I promised to make an item for shadesong's Blogathon auction (I made three things last year). She always blogs for BARCC, but the theme for this year's items is the strength/resilience of survivors. I have no idea what I'm going to make, and the openness of the theme doesn't actually help (last year, I used shadesong's fiction for prompts).

( I probably should have made the Blogathon piece while I was in New Orleans. (there are some details here, maybe triggers) )

So my plan for the rest of the afternoon had been to catch up on my dreamroll, which I have not checked since Friday because spoons, but I think what I will actually do after I post this is play with my boxes of beads and whatnot. See what comes up.

comments

Tue, 25 May 2010 01:49:40 GMT

Hello from New Orleans!

( catching you up on me )

***

azurejay: a lot of things get broken (bandom, Pete/Patrick, ageplay, SFW) and if you do whip her from time to time (bandom, Pete/Ashlee with Patrick, multiple kinks, NSFW)

toft: oh, boccaccio, wtf

femslash_kink (Second Annual Femslash Kink Meme)

azurelunatic: An Open Letter to Jackasses Wasting My Time on Twitter

theleaveswant for kink_bingo: Pervertible World: Essay and Picspam

comments

oh make me over

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 03:21:57 GMT

In my enthusiasm for this whole enterprise, I'll be continuing the daily link roundups. I never thought I'd be that kind of blogger, but I seem to have developed the habit, even before I was doing a specific kind of link-gathering. But while link-collecting is a useful service, I also want to be making other posts, especially in the context of three_weeks_for_dw.

One thing I'd like to do is provide a new song every day!

Daily Song (right-click): Hole - Celebrity Skin
Within the first week this song was on my ipod, it went straight to the top of the most-played list. It remains in the number one spot, with almost three times as many plays as the next song down.

blnchflr has asked me to write about unreliable narrators, although this will take a few days. (I shake my fist at the end of the semester.) I am still accepting prompts, questions, et cetera, via comment/pm/email/carrier pigeon.

View Poll: Some ideas I already have...

comments

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 23:46:53 GMT

If you used the opt-out I linked yesterday, you might want to go back and do it again. Turns out it's set opt_exclude_stats 1.
( today's links )

Roller derby: awesome! We had to learn the rules and scoring practices through osmosis (and really could not hear the commentators well at all). We also ate some fried dough (truth in advertising!), which was basically a large flat beignet. Nomnomnom.

This morning, we went to the Flea at MIT. The original plan was for me to take the train; Ellie was driving but she had already promised every possible seat in her car to people from Wireless Club. But two cancellations later, I had a ride, yay.

Here are pictures of the things I got! Since I, uh, don't know what some of these doodads are called.
( Not that it matters that much. I'm just going to wrap them in wire anyway. )

comments

not dead, i swear

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 18:07:02 GMT

I've been largely offline for a few days. /o\ I am catching up as fast as I can, but seeing as I had to go back to ?show=P&ship=220 on Dreamwidth, I'm expecting it to take a while to catch up on DW comms and feeds, and on LJ.

Ellie received a box of saws from Dad (which belonged to Mom's father back in the day), and she is now using their markings and handles to identify them; apparently pre-war saws are much better than post-war saws, and she wants to know if she's got the really good stuff. IDEK.

comments

Ellie thinks you are my minions, btw.

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:57:22 GMT

Needed ASAP: obnoxious blinky things. Ellie needs a bunch of light-up objects (like keychains or necklaces). Anyone out there know where to get this kind of crap in Boston?

comments

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:49:23 GMT

* All $winterholiday cards have been mailed! As well as the international packages. Domestic packages will go out Saturday, after I finish making their contents.

* Items have been made for harborshore and fleurdeliser's jewelry prompts (and you can still leave me a prompt if you want), but I didn't take pictures last night, because dinnertime. When I get home, before dashing out for my last Slutcracker (probably NSFW) street team thing. *nods*

* Speaking of The Slutcracker, I am seeing it tomorrow night. Tonight, after flyering, I will be going to Naked Comedy (probably NFSW) with solarcat and Ellie.

* Dumb thing I did last night: whacked my hand hard enough to scrape a chunk of flesh off my knuckle.

* Dumb thing I did next: put a bandaid over it so tightly that my fingertip was ever so slightly purple.

* Dumb thing I did, part three: failed to realize my fingertip was suffering from circulation issues until five minutes ago.

comments

awkward flail

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:44:38 GMT

So, uh. *waves*

I had been waiting to post about this until I got some more items uploaded, but. I keep mentioning it to people, and there's thirteen things in there, which is just going to have to be enough for now. (I had so much more time when I had no social life, srsly you guys.)

Etsy shop. I has one. Jewelry and very tiny paintings - future plans include a wider selection of jewelry, larger paintings, and possibly other things. ;)

And some interactive funtimes: jewelry prompts! (I'll take painting prompts some time soon, promise.) Your prompt can be anything, but I reserve the right to engage in some wacky free-association to turn it into a piece of jewelry.

The prompter has right of first refusal on their piece. After that, I'll offer these pieces to my journal readership, and after that, whatever's left will go on etsy.

Even if you doubt you'll buy whatever comes of your prompt, you can still ask me to make something. No excuses or apologies needed. Nobody has to buy what I make from their prompt. I just want inspiration.

comments

Yesterday~~~~

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:51:03 GMT

Best of 2009

December 5th: Night out.

Okay, so. I have had a lot of really good nights out. And in, for that matter. So fuck that "best" shit - I cannot choose.

December 6th: Workshop or conference.

Uh. MJ or TIC. It's not like I go to that many conferences. Both were awesome, but for different reasons.

( Marblehead )

Today, Ellie and I will be doing stuff. People will be flyering Bazaar Bizarre, so we'll take a shift at that. And we might go to H&M, because she needs clothes.

I once had to take my glasses off to get a former professor to recognize me. o_O

comments

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:48:09 GMT

Take action to save the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program.

Ellie is apparently making duck gumbo for Thanksgiving because A) fuck turkey anyway and B) we will be feeding probably more people than a single roast duck would satisfy.

( meme )

comments

$winterholiday masterpost of memery

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:29:21 GMT

Who wants a $winterholiday card?

I am screening comments to this post so people can post their addresses; I will unscreen comments that are not addresses.

Alternately, you may use either DW private message or LJ private message, or email sofiaviolet@sofiaviolet.com.

Please indicate which kind of card you would like (general winter theme, certain religious holiday, secular/commercial christmas, etc.).

( $winterholiday wishlist meme )

( the random handmade meme )

comments

black dragon fighting society!!!!!!!!!!!!!~~

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:44:50 GMT

( whoops, half an entry from last week that never got posted )

And now what I actually came here to write about:

* BLACK DRAGON FIGHTING SOCIETY

* So my mom is going to look at all my shiny stuff when she gets up here, and then I will make her some jewelry and that will be $winterholiday. But that doesn't help with my dad or my sister.

* BLACK DRAGON FIGHTING SOCIETY

* Speaking of $winterholiday... many, many months ago, I made a post offering handmade goodies to the first five commenters. I fail at life and timeliness, and still owe insunshine and sinuous_curve their goodies. As soon as I post this, I will wander into the dining room and get started on their stuff. I will also take requests from up to three more people.

* BLACK DRAGON FIGHTING SOCIETY

Yeah, uh. That's all I got. I go make things now. BLACK DRAGON FIGHTING SOCIETY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

comments

Follow Friday.

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:03:02 GMT

NaNo, day 5: not so great. I got distracted by patterns on Ravelry.

I blame Dreamwidth, in a roundabout way - I know too many knitters because of it.

(I told my parents to get me yarn for $winterholiday, y'all.)

***

Dreamwidth Follow Friday

Here's the plan: every Friday, let's recommend some people and/or communities to follow on Dreamwidth. That's it. No complicated rules, no "pass this on to 7.328 friends or your cat will die". Just introduce us to some new things to read.

azurelunatic posts a lot of funny and a lot of thinky.

turlough is in MCR fandom and makes frequent fic-and-art rec posts, and has recently started posting recipes.

zorkian, also known as mark, got married not that long ago, plays video games and is getting into Warhammer, and is doing NaNo this year.

accessibility_fail, for those times and places where you run into horribly stupidly inaccessible stuff. Profile says: All kinds of accessibility fail welcome: mobility-based, visual-based, physical-world, online-world, anything at all.

boston, for those of you who live in or care about my current metropolitan area.

the_daily_wtf_feed, providing you with far more than your recommended daily dose of really bad code and assorted technology fail from people who should at least theoretically know better.

EDIT: yvi created followfriday as a place to collect everyone's Follow Friday posts.

comments

lol clumsiest

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:04:56 GMT

I got home in very high spirits today, ready to embark on "People Might Pay Me For Doing Fun Stuff? :D version crafty."

Cooed over my two rather spendy packages that arrived today. Prettypretty lampwork beads, and a big box of basics and some fun stuff.

No photos yet, and there won't be any until I get a big bright light, but I did manage to mostly finish a necklace I began a while ago - needs some glue to hold one bead, and I might attach the chain differently later. I have beads set aside for matching earrings, too. It didn't turn out nearly as well as I had hoped, but considering my skill level when I started it, it's not too tragic.

I also made what I thought was a pendant but is more of a necklace now. It is named Concentric - gold wire, three pearls, loops and a squiggle. Of course, as soon as I attached Concentric to its chain, I realized I need some bigger jumprings to finish the piece. Oops. Maybe tomorrow I will make them.

I also managed to: pinch myself several times with pliers; drop tiny gold components twice; and spill non-permanent rubber tool-coating goop on a dining room chair and my own hands (with bonus getting it on my hands more/again trying to clean up spills).

Fortunately there is no rubber goop in my hair or on my clothes, and the tools have been more or less successfully coated for tomorrow's use.

Now, bed. Sleeeeeeep.

comments

:D

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:55:26 GMT

My big box of beads and wire has been delivered!

Just two and a half hours before I can go and rescue it from my porch and make stuff.

Possibly I should have spent my lunch break writing and not surfing the internet, but whatever. There is stuff in my head and 1000 words doesn't actually take that long.

EDIT: Also, I will be glad when mark gets the reading filters implemented, because I would like to be able to check my reading list in the computer lab without worrying about suddenly having a screen full of boobs or something. Not that it's a guarantee, but I can filter out the most likely offenders and save their posts for later.

comments

Rain, rain, gtfo.

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:52:25 GMT

Yesterday, Ellie and I went to Dedham for various errands. We learned that:
• her car might need a whole new exhaust system. This is not so bad, actually, since she can drive around until she has time and money to get it fixed. It's not like her muffler is going to fall off.*
• now that we can buy groceries easily, we can't ever think of anything to get. We need to keep a list on the fridge.

Also, Ellie bought a table saw and a cordless screwdriver. She was going to buy a circular saw, too, but she elected not to... yet. Her project list so far includes platforms for the next Big Moves show, a box to hide the table saw, and a workbench for me.

When we got home, I put in a $$$ order for jewelry-making stuff. :D Now gimme my tracking number.

* This happened to our mom once. Her car started making this awful noise, and it was the muffler dragging on the road. DNW.

The OTW is teaming up with the University of Iowa to preserve fanzines. This brings me all sorts of glee.

I currently have 5 Dreamwidth invite codes to give away. If you or someone you know wants one, email sofiaviolet+dreamwidth@sofiaviolet.com and tell me where to send it.

comments

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:41:25 GMT

Still in New Orleans. Most of what we wanted to do has been done, which is awesome.

I'm getting back into the groove of writing my daily words - April was a busy month for me, and May was kind of a flop. I'm not doing anything crafty while I'm in New Orleans because I don't have my stuff, but I need to come up with some good metrics for evaluating my crafty output. That might be good to track in terms of time, because I can spend a lot longer on a painting than a pendant. Unless I want to track my handmade endeavors separately - jewelry by the piece, paintings by time, knitting by... idk, since I'm still smack in the middle of learning how to knit.

Whatever. Point is, I will eventually need a better spreadsheet.*

We're having crawfish etouffee (I hope that's right) tonight, but it'll be quite a while before it's ready. *sigh* I've already had two snacks and I'm getting hungry again already.

* I use a spreadsheet full of equations to help motivate myself, because it's very effective to watch the numbers change across the entire spreadsheet.

comments

Next time I go snail-collecting, I'm bringing a bucket.

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:30:17 GMT

It's tempting to leave you with no context for that subject. But not that tempting.

I first noticed the lovely snails in Jamaica Plain when I moved into this apartment last August. They get very large, and their shells are all sorts of pretty shades of brown. But all I've done so far is try not to step on them.

I was coming home from work today and noticed a couple of empty shells on the sidewalk, just under the overhang of the front hedge. Hm, I thought, and picked them up. I could make something with these.

I went back outside to see if I could find more empty snail shells, and I did. The area where the hedge encroaches on the sidewalk seems to be some kind of snail graveyard. (The neighbors' kids had a lot of fun staring at me as I poked the accumulated leaf/dirt/snail debris with a stick).

Eventually I wound up with a little pile that was just a smidge more than a handful. I'll need to clean them somehow (and I suspect some will not survive that step) because they're covered in leaf bits and dirt, and some of them still have dried snail-snot in them.

( Today's haul. )

And how was your day?

comments

First entry on Dreamwidth.

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:48:12 GMT

It's been a pretty busy few days...

Stuff for making jewelry arrived Friday morning, but the gold and silver colored wire doesn't match the plated findings, so I have to send it back and invest in gold-filled and sterling wire. Friday night, I partied with my classmates from the poetry workshop. Saturday and Sunday were the Skillshare.

( Friday: Symposium )

I staggered through the door around three in the morning and woke up pretty late on Saturday.

( Saturday: Skillshare day 1 )

I chatted with my parents for a little while, then nabbed some Popeyes and went home.

( Sunday: Skillshare day 2 )

I went home a little after ten and managed to get lost on my way back to Shawmut, so I called my parents and had them read directions to me over the phone. When I got home, I finished my work for my sociology class, then checked my email and found a Dreamwidth invite code.

And here I am.

Manually crossposted between sofiaviolet.dreamwidth.org and sofiaviolet.livejournal.com.

comments

picked a handful of violets in my name

just the link backlog for now

linkity

Wyrding Studios Art Retreat

Not dead.

:(

oh make me over

not dead, i swear

Ellie thinks you are my minions, btw.

*awkward flail*

Yesterday~~~~

$winterholiday masterpost of memery

black dragon fighting society!!!!!!!!!!!!!~~

Follow Friday.

lol clumsiest

:D

Rain, rain, gtfo.

Next time I go snail-collecting, I'm bringing a bucket.

First entry on Dreamwidth.

awkward flail