picked a handful of violets in my name

Lots of snow, but we didn't lose power. Ellie and I have spent most of the weekend cleaning the house. This included trying out our new Laundry Pod (which we got at a pretty steep discount from Fab.com for Christmas), for washing nice wool sweaters and delicates. It is pretty much a giant salad spinner with a drain hose, but it seems remarkably effective as long as you don't over-fill it with clothes. My bras and tights rejoice at the gentler handling.

I bought a lot of groceries a week ago and have been succeeding reasonably well at feeding myself. The only failures have been one under-flavored curry and a poor understanding of how fast the baby bok choy would go bad, meaning I didn't get to use it (and want to replace it before making my first attempt at at-home shabu shabu).

I have taken over the email newsletter for the local historical society.

Planning to do Mardi Gras nails for Tuesday. I have a decent collection of nail polish but I don't wear it very much. I am unskilled at painting my nails and, because I work with my hands a lot of the time, it chips quickly.

Signed up for SuperBetter. I think gamification will help me form better habits.

Hater-Free Wednesdays is a new tumblr aggregating reviews and stories about comic shops to help people find local shops that will not shit all over their gender/race/etc.

I bought a ticket for Fall Out Boy's Boston show in May! Very pleased to have them back. I'm not exactly in bandom any more - I am hardwired mono-fannish, and got into the Avengers thanks to the movie (and then I slid sideways into ALL THE MARVEL COMICS EVER, sort of, so that's a huge canon and fandom) - but I miss going to concerts.

stultiloquentia: Fictions and Elsewheres

Yesterday on the train I read Scientific American's special report on parallel universes. Briefly: they ain't science fiction. They're theoretical, of course, but at least some of the theories are at this point pretty darned solid and make sense of increasingly huge heaps of data.

...

Why should fandom care? Well, mostly because science is cool. But also? It means our stories are real. Quite literally. Every course of events and configuration of particles, every decision and every outcome you can possibly imagine is, in an infinite universe, occurring right now. Kurt and Blaine? Somewhere, incomprehensibly far off, they're as solid as you and I, and muddling through snowstorms and love. Somewhere slightly off to the left, they've already been married for eighty years. We'll never meet them, and nor will our descendants, because, among other problems, the multiverse is expanding faster than it's possible to travel though it. But they're out there.

They're making up stories about you.

I knew there was a reason I made an entire religion in Auriel whose cosmology says that everything is stories and god is a writer. (Well, a reason besides ego. Heh.)

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.

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

Ellie and I are going to Northampton tomorrow! I should go to sleep as soon as I post this.

Daily Song (right-click): Morningwood - New York Girls

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