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.)

thingswithwings: who would choose this?

The true political issue, the one that debates over gay origins are created to distract from, is whether queer individuals should be given rights. Should human beings be bullied into committing suicide? Should human beings be denied the ability to conceive or adopt children? Should human beings be paid less than other human beings who do the same job, or fired from their jobs despite doing them well? Should human beings be prevented from inheriting money or from visiting their loved ones in the hospital? Should human beings be tortured, raped, killed? Should human beings be left on the street to freeze because the homeless shelter won't take them? Should human beings be denied medical care? Should human beings be denied respect, dignity, basic human rights?

It honestly doesn't matter whether or not I chose it; I'm here now, and now I want equality. Now I want an end to heterosexism. Now I want rights.

cluegirl: Cyberhate, Stalking, Trolling, and Women Bloggers.
Advice for people being stalked and/or threatened online.

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.)

Today, I slept in, and then I did housework. Floors still need sweeping and trash needs to go out, but I am not taking out the trash in my pyjamas with my hair slathered in Manic Panic and tucked under a plastic shower cap.

No more Battletech for me, for a while at least. Daly is burnt out, and a crispy-fried GM is not a happy or effective GM. So I'll miss that, but on the bright side, I could finally attend one of the trauma survivors munches.

The Pervocracy: Condom Failure.

Nope. All "perfect use" means in the case of condoms is using them every time, and using them for the entire duration of PIV sex. There's a few more catches--you shouldn't reuse condoms, you should throw them away instead of turning them inside out if you put them on wrong the first time, you should use lube but nothing oil-based, and you shouldn't double-bag--but honestly, most of those are statistically minor. The biggest factor in "perfect use" of condoms is actually using them.

I came down with a cold on Thursday, and the worst of it has cleared out - just in time for the uterine gremlins to awaken. On the bright side, my period should be over before my sex life picks up again. (The cramps seem to be less severe in terms of actual muscle pain, but they're sharper and more symmetrical and more clearly focused on my uterus.)

A few weeks ago, we installed some new shelves in my room (there will be so. many. holes to patch when we move out, but it is worth it in the meantime), and as a result, I rearranged all the books - well, all my books and the shared-custody books; I do not mess with the order of the engineering/woodworking/etc things because they are definitely Not Mine. And I discovered that I had space for MOAR BOOKS!!!!11!1! even with some of the shelf space being reserved for display of tchotchkes. This is very exciting and I am using it as an excuse to buy things off my wishlist. (But I have to save space for books that are still in New Orleans. I only plan to retrieve a fraction of them, the rest being novels I don't want to read again and things left over from my Stereotypical Teenage Wiccan Phase, but a fraction of 400 is still a significant number.)

Two links that both come with trigger warnings (and lengthy blockquotes):
( Read more... )

kythryne: internet powers, activate!

Okay, people. I need you to take this viral, and fast.

We know someone in upstate New York who needs a good custody lawyer ASAP. I'm not at liberty to go into details publicly, but this woman is very afraid that her abusive boyfriend is going to get sole custody of her young child. She's presently being represented by a public defender who doesn't seem to care about the case, and she has very few resources left at this point. Her next hearing is on Thursday.

If you know a good lawyer in New York State who might be willing to take this case for a low fee or pro bono, or at least offer her advice or support, please let me know. If you don't know anyone, please repost this far and wide. As a mother and an abuse survivor, it makes me absolutely sick to my stomach to contemplate a child being left in the hands of an abuser.

I can be reached at kythryne@gmail.com if you have any leads or want to help.

The internet can work miracles. Let's go.

The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center is holding a training session on June 4th for its Survivor Speakers Bureau.

I should apply; I want to do that. I am afraid to apply; what if I can't?

Recently

Garage sales didn't happen because I was up too late last night to get out of bed this morning. Cleaned my room some (needs to be DONE by the time my parents come to visit, since I currently have the futon boxed in and they need to sleep on it).

I also went to Goodwill and Boomerangs to get myself out of the house. I got:

Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor, which I will probably give to Dad

a summer weight black skirt of sufficient length

a strawberry-print shirt

a very gay umbrella ($6 is about what I'm willing to pay for a folding umbrella, because of how quickly I ruin them, and we can use this as a parasol at Pride!)

a magnet-backed weekly schedule whiteboard

All Out Of Munchies notepad (because Ellie and I grocery-shop like stoners even though we're not)

a chips-and-dip plate

a purple and grey plaid skirt

21 Days of Dreamwidth

20. Yes, but what are your thoughts on yaoi?

I was pretty into yaoi for a while - there was a big comm on LJ where I could get scans. But then that comm tightened its age restrictions/enforcement quite a bit and I went back to getting my unrealistic guy-on-guy porn fix exclusively from fic.

Links

rivkat: Media piracy in emerging economies

An extremely interesting study of piracy, defined as large-scale unauthorized reproduction both for profit and via free downloads, around the world. The authors conclude that piracy is largely a problem of a globalized Euro-American entertainment/industrial complex that has successfully generated demand for its products but unsuccessfully served that demand at prices people in other countries can pay, largely from refusal to price copies so they’d take roughly the same amount of purchasing power in poor nations. One example: converting prices as a percentage of per capita income, a Dark Knight DVD sold in India would cost $663 in the US; A Beautiful Mind would cost $421.

Plans

MIT Flea, Mob meeting/demo, JP picnic munch.

21 Days for Dreamwidth

( a few more )

Links

azurelunatic: I exist, and I exist in many universes. (Yet another rant about queer erasure)

Silence = Death. If fictional people are silenced by their authors, then fuck yeah, we're marching right the fuck in and giving them voices.

Plans

Get on plane. Change planes in New York. Maybe briefly meet up with Kajsa in Baltimore. Get self + suitcase to the Haus of Fangirl in MD.