jinian

o Mom started dinner without us on Easter, when I had texted ahead all responsibly to say we were ten minutes late. But that is the worst thing that happened so I guess whatever.

--- Argh I need a title for my thesis asjkgsusfgd.

-- Very moody.

o No email back yet from the latest appealing postdoc position.

+++ Wiscon program assignments! My panel made it to the list! And I hope the other panelists say yes, because AWESOME. Also I get to be on the ponies panel! I may require a plush Rainbow Dash for the occasion. (I'm up against a few things I'd like to attend; on the other hand there appear to be TWO dance parties on different nights, so yay Wiscon.)

- Effing experiments.

++ Set up Hex's new tank on new tank stand and made other significant improvements in living-room organization. Once the tank and stand prove themselves non-leaky I can move things into the shelving and reduce the room's clutter to previous unmanageable levels.

++ Cleaned the fucking WINDOWS like an ADULT. Also washed the curtains that had cat hair on them.

- Anti-abortion posters appearing along my walk to school.

+ They're coming down as fast as they're going up, and I have some ideas for satirical counterattacks.

+ Talked to E! She's a former department employee who's retired except for six hours a month, and I was lucky to run into her.

+ Dinner at the awesome Katsu Burger last night with my sweetie. 12-spice fries are a little too sweet but tasty, teriyaki chicken sandwich good. The deep-fried meats are, appropriately, their strength.

- Uwajimaya continues not to really be a Japanese supermarket, and this upsets me.

My Development paper was accepted this morning!

I like that this meme is still making the rounds now that I am slightly beyond the point of congratulating myself for simply managing to sleep and wake in a semi-reasonable fashion. (The sleep schedule problems were not at all helped by upstairs dog barking all night due to her person's absence on Christmas and the night after.) I cleaned and did laundry yesterday, and did something that almost qualified as cooking dinner.

What are you currently reading?

Witch Week. I'm doing what I normally do, starting with Charmed Life, reading The Lives of Christopher Chant since it's in the same volume (we do have another CL but I generally read this one), and then in the next volume skipping Caprona because I want to read WW right away. I will go back and read Caprona this time, I think, but I think that a lot.

Also loads of Yuletide stories recommended by friends.

What did you recently finish reading?

Cryoburn, and I begin to wonder if the point isn't that Miles wasn't challenged at all by that situation, nor did he grow or change. Considering the ending, I mean. It doesn't make it a great novel in itself, but in the context of the series maybe it's right. We'll see eventually, I hope.

Also Martha Wells' The Siren Depths, which unusually for a book called after the sea has only about one chapter of water in it at all. This seems to be the last Raksura book, and though I've enjoyed them all right I think there's something about them that doesn't work; Wells tells things sort of obliquely, and that works fine when I can read in human motivations and feelings but not so well when the characters are nonhuman. According to the notes she's doing a couple of YAs next, which should be interesting.

What do you think you'll read next?

Apart from Caprona, I am considering a massive reread of all the atevi books, since I've been wishing for them since the first month I was in Japan. There is also a giant pile of gifts probably coming my way tonight, and The Ghost With Trembling Wings coming in the mail soon. (Wim's present, but if I charge the e-reader so he can finish Requite he'll never notice.)

Sunset tonight, clear and chill and soothing with a first-quarter moon.

Pinafored little girls stompling in the ground cover on campus.

The lovely gloves I got in Kyoto last weekend: dark brown leather with lime-green topstitching, lined with lime-green knit, matching my adorable new umbrella.

My two packages from people, especially as I now have my heating pad. (Not thankful for damned customary holiday cramps; maybe this is early enough I'll be okay for Xmas.)

Ebook companies that pay attention to my billing address rather than my IP address.

All you great people that I know.

Getting to live in Japan for three months, damn, how cool is that.

Chocolate cake for my roommate's birthday.

A map of words for pillbugs.

Science!

Beautiful things to make, admire, have, and give.

Took a badly needed day of home-alone time today. Possibly I could have gotten work done, but I was also able to:

• Discover that I am now at least partially expressing a Fire and Hemlock receptor
  


• Shoot many, many pixelly aliens and archeologically explore a minimalist electronic landscape
  


• Read amazingly melodramatic manga (Meisou Kuiki) and pretty darn melodramatic Wonder Woman arc ("The Circle" by Gail Simone)
  


• Eat the world's best mac and cheese (Beecher's)
  


• Fulfill my proper duty as cat substrate


• Partially clean the axolotl tank (waiting on new water to come to temp and outgas)
  


• Walk to the U with my sweetie, get gyros, and watch fireworks from the parking garage near the lab

As of today, I have added an entire police cruiser (3 days' worth of Lego), a cranky security guard with a radio, a very nice safe complete with gold bullion, and another different Lego ex-con.

Things that don't fit with the theme: what appears to be a lectern with lamp and magnifying glass from the Lego rare books room. Intended rather as Lego CSI gear for the smirky cop? I don't know.

Because I am disorganized and a day behind, today I looked at days 1-4 of my Lego City advent calendar for this year.

Day 1: Lego ex-con.

No, really. He has a black stocking cap, an evil grin with gold tooth, and a gray-and-white striped shirt with part of a serial number showing.

Day 2: Lego catapult.

Okaaaay. (It has an amusing "don't shoot your parents in the face with this!" icon on the illustration.)

Day 3: Lego police officer with handcuffs.

Day 4: Jailhouse wall with barred window.

I mean, I can see that a kid could imagine and play a story with this, but it's not exactly holiday-cheer-ful. Will keep you all posted as the situation develops.

Still balls to the wall with work, but having put in three hours at the lab this morning and made progress, I'm now listening to a bunch of Phoenix on Youtube and making squash soup to take to family dinner tonight. Feeling a bit better.

Putting your cutie mark on a tulle-based fascinator rather than your butt
+
Having curls in your purple wig
+
Wearing a rather fluffy white dress
=

Surprisingly, not just Rarity, but Lolita Rarity. Check it:



(I also made THE BEST PLANTGIRL JACK O'LANTERN EVER, photos soon.)

(Which is good, as family Easter fun is today.)

I did call a consulting nurse -- no sign of a call-in line on the insurance company's web site, but the number hiding on my actual card worked fine -- and she was sure it wasn't a UTI, so I am reclining enough to make my head hurt like hell and eating very carefully. She also recommended a heating pad, which I had felt like using anyway since the pain is similar to menstrual cramps, and that helped. Something is still wrong with my intestine, is what I figure, but I am at a loss for how to proceed.

This brings to mind postdoc A's recent endometriosis, and how she almost got misdiagnosed with IBS but insisted they check for rogue endometrium. Sure enough, her intestine was stuck to her dorsal body wall with mislaid uterine lining, and it feels a lot better now that it's not. When she told me that a lot of women are probably diagnosed with IBS instead of endometriosis, I suggested we call that JABS: Justifiably Angry Bowel Syndrome. It's not just irritable, it HAS A LOT TO BE UPSET ABOUT.