jinian | Entries tagged with seattle

Having dreams about things like uprooting tree trunks that would otherwise grow back trees and accidentally exalting hatchling pixeldragons that I should really have done more with. Yes, thanks, subconscious, I am aware that I will be shutting off uterine possibilities.

Came down with a mild cold today, ugh. Rested rather than working, even though we're time limited on the demo equipment, because I really must get well before Monday. It might not be as mild as I thought, though, since I also failed completely to parse a knitting pattern for something I've made before. Probably it's what Dad had while I was there, in which case it's not a really bad bug, just makes you tired mostly.

Roommate is still not home, which is a little nice and a little weird. I assume he's still at his wife's, and alive and all, though it's been two days longer than expected. Anyway, I am sticking to my chore routine even though he won't be bothered if the kitchen's not cleaned daily, because it turns out I like it clean too. (Mostly I pride myself on being able to work in tight spaces, so not cleaning is a weird way to make there be tight spaces so that pride can occur; my brain is weird.) Also I don't bother putting on pants when I have to use the bathroom in the night.

Foxglove Summer was pretty great and I remain happy that the U Bookstore SF section drives to Canada occasionally or whatever they do to get my UK editions.

No idea wtf my uterus is up to. I had the PMS backache on schedule, and then... no bleeding. Perhaps I have scared it into submission? I am not going to argue if I don't have another period before the surgery, but it's a bit strange. That and I'm worried it's actually gathering its strength for one last round of epic misery, ha.

Crossposts: http://jinian.livejournal.com/646825.html

October 28
Not entirely what I had in mind, though I've been thinking about drawing this since the beginning. Oh well! It is a finished piece, and that's the goal. Anyway, in Woodland Park Zoo they give the animals pumpkin treats for Halloween, but a lot of animals don't care for pumpkin. So the tigers get meat chunks inside a pumpkin, and the bears will eat pumpkin but get really into it if it's full of honey and bugs, and the otters? The otters get a pumpkin of a size they can roll around and play with, and it has small holes cut into it and fish bits stuffed inside. So they dive and bounce around with it, and every so often a piece of fish comes out!!1! and they go ahng nahng nanhg eating it with little pointy teeth and open-mouthed chewing. It's adorable.

photo 2014-10-31-inktober28_zpsee44d386.jpg

October 29 and 30
Someone dressed up the very archetypal rhino statues that stand outside the bio building at school. The googly eyes made me laugh out loud the first itme I saw them -- there were extra limbs too, but those were not particularly inspired in my opinion. The other one I guess is a mummy? Pretty happy with these; I think the stuff I started trying on the otter worked a little better here.

photo 2014-10-31-inktober29-30_zps607a0850.jpg

Partway done with today's, decided to finish tomorrow. It's not really the spirit of Inktober, I suppose, but the drawing is another one I've been thinking of for a while now, and I want it to be cooler but also to do the other thing I have planned tonight.

Crossposts: http://jinian.livejournal.com/642655.html

Wow, I have really not been posting, sorry! I have some patchy notes from the last ten days.

I missed posting this little story before: I donated one of my shelves to the grad lounge, because someone had taken the one that lived there and just stacked the books on the floor where it used to be. WTF. So I took one of mine that I needed to get rid of anyhow, and with Wim's help and that of grad friend M I moved it into the same spot. Because I'm me, I also borrowed a Sharpie and wrote a verbose dedication on the side about how I was donating it to the grad lounge so don't take it, jeez, what is wrong with people.

Saturday (31 May) was my last day in Seattle. I didn't make it to the Sadako statue to donate my string of cranes, alas. Wim and I did epic cleaning and move-out with excellent help from beaq and jod!

My mom got a tattoo from Josh at Slave to the Needle, based on our own design and actually including a micrograph of my thesis work! (Pink koi for a daughter, lily pad, lens-view of Arabidopsis epidermis that looked exactly like the image I provided. Carl Zimmer will hear of it when the inflammation has gone.)

Lovely day, and I saw the mountain!

I left early since I still had to repack for my flight and see my family before leaving and sleep with my kitties, which felt really weird. But those were my jobs, and I did them successfully.

On Sunday (1 June) my flight was uneventful except for the bit where before it they made an announcement that was a total lie. They announced first in the gate area that it was going to be a total lie and we should not worry, then announced to the airport generally that our final boarding was completed and in two minutes the doors would close forever. I guess some people hadn't shown up yet and they wanted them to?

Also we got extra space in my row when someone moved, yay.

Saw

rushthatspeaks! And a bunch of other people, and ate

gaudior's awesome birthday cake. And got into my sublet with a minimum of trouble.

Monday (2 June) had such a pretty sky. I was worried that other places' skies would be too inferior to Seattle's, but not at all. (Yes, I am a dork, thanks, I have been informed. But I love the sky, it's one of my favorite things to look at.)

Also on Monday

gaudior and I went shopping together, yay!

My note from Tuesday reads: well at least i should be done bleeding really soon if it keeps up like this.

Unfortunately, I was not. Why can't I ever fucking skip a period when they're disrupted by stress instead of having ones from hell?

After that there was lots of work! I got all kinds of administrivia taken care of early on, and sorted out a bunch of samples, and met a ton of people. This week I'm planning to do DNA extractions too, so I am feeling like productive girl in the workplace, go me.

There was also lots of jet lag/failure to sleep in a new place, which was less good, but I think I'm mainly through it now. It's still kinda hot though.

And I had a guest this weekend, which was a ton of fun though perhaps also not that conducive to sleeping! We went to the Natural History museum, where I get in free (especially if we break in through the Herbarium building instead of going to the front desk) and poked around Harvard and Central Squares, and mocked the non-square squares, and watched movies (Ponyo and Avengers) with varying degrees of attention, and snuggled lots, and generally had a wonderful time.

Crossposts: http://jinian.livejournal.com/629915.html

1. Kshama Sawant got elected after all! Dude! Time for a more progressive Seattle City Council. (Of course, we also made it so everyone will have to get re-elected soon if they want to stay on, since we're making districted positions instead of everyone being at large, but still.)

2. Two little kabocha squash instead of one big one. Lots of apples.

3. Beautiful full moon, light clouds, clear cold air.

4. Met all my goals for today. Admittedly, my goals were "shoot cells with lasers, buy apples, make custom-scented lotion," but I think those are excellent goals for a Saturday.

Crossposts: http://jinian.livejournal.com/608018.html

(It's just that I am exhausted 100% of the time. Dear friends, next time I yell at you for doing too much while convalescing, you may give me the beady eye and a link to this.)

Tuesday:

1. Crosshatched shadows on the trail.

2. Lab meeting went very well for feeling like I am getting fuck-all done lately. A little good discussion happened, and I seemed on top of the material.

3. Oh, right. Workplace bonding is also letting my coworkers comfort me. Really good conversation with new tech C.

4. Afternoon outing to find a great dress and hang briefly with a capygirl.

5. Bring It On has the typical problem of musicals, i.e., not enough music, but won my heart by closing on outtakes and Toni Basil. (Also Isis is HOT.)

Wednesday:

1. People in costume! One person had very nice tall, wavy, rainbowed horns that I'm sure are associated with no particular fandom whatsoever.

2. My hair is PINK. REAL PINK. And the hairdresser was happy to get to do it.

3. Halloween decorations! Skeleton cutout in someone's window is holding forth on a topic of interest to it, possibly while stoned. (Also good: taking a photo made the bus move in traffic, hence the blur.) Also, a lighted inflatable trailer from which Death periodically peeks out.

( Who comes up with these? )

3. Janelle Monáe is the best performer working today. She is my Michael Jackson and my Elvis Presley.

4. We wore outfits.

( Black and white outfits. )

Thursday:

1. More outfits at the lab Halloween party.

( I dressed as a cherry tree. )

2. CONSUME ALL PEA PODS

3. People are being Janelle Monáe for Halloween and she's retweeting them all, it's so great.

4. When you believe in science and magic at the same time, the world is amazing.

5. Last day of antibiotics!

Crossposts: http://jinian.livejournal.com/605277.html

Because I am contrary and can overanalyze ANYTHING, I am doing anti-happiness posting today!

1. My lunch was not good so I wanted to eat everything in sight all afternoon. Because clearly I hadn't had any actual lunch, only that soggy wrap that said it was tofu teriyaki and was really sweet and sour rice or something. I am a big fan of vinegar, but acid and gloopy should never be the only traits of food.

2. PI doesn't understand that I'm hot, and this bothered me today. She was all skeptically asking for clarification that large breasts are considered decorative in American culture. Seriously? Have you been to America ever? Also I can personally attest that they are much appreciated by many!

3. I was WRONG about a THING in semi-public.

4. E-reader battery is dead and must be replaced.

5. Gotta get up at five for early-morning experiment and probably won't have time for a nap before family brunch.

Eh, who am I kidding, I am still like 90% happy.

1.

staranise said what is so great about Silver Spoon and incidentally some things I hadn't detected were so great about Fullmetal Alchemist. Also extremely valuable career counseling stuff, mainly in comments. (Wim, I thought of you.)

2. Fixed an erroneous lack of serial comma in a previous entry! Consistency is restored to my writing universe!

3. I love how nonce-hashtags can be used on Twitter as equivalent to the little muttering text from outside the word balloons in manga.

4. PI's younger kid drew a picture of me on the dry-erase board, but erased it when she caught me looking. She's pretty good, as far as I could tell.

5. So I got a bra caught on my toe last night, and Wim decided to tell me that if I had one for each toe and both thumbs I could be in Shakespeare.

... what?

"Fourteen bras!"

"You are the worst AND you miscounted."

6. This tweet from Seattle Center ‏made me laugh and laugh:
@seattlecenter
They're still sick and they still want you to touch them! MT @kexp @_Mudhoney TONIGHT @SeattleCenter! FREE! #CATM! http://ow.ly/nZTlH

(because of this song, which possibly non-Seattle people don't know as well?)

Crossposts: http://jinian.livejournal.com/585368.html

Note to self: next time your morning yogurt smells like aged cheese, a known migraine trigger, do not deliberate and taste it carefully and then decide to eat it anyway, because MIGRAINE. It didn't come on quickly (not like the best of aged cheeses, Humboldt Fog) and there are no visuals, but I've been off kilter and miserably headachy much of the day.

This has led to listening to a lot of the Savage Lovecast, because it's hard to read when my head's in this state -- it's also hard to type this, actually, but I have nothing else to do while my sweet potato cooks than concentrate on typing and hit backspace a lot anyway. And I've come to the conclusion that Dan Savage actually edits himself into the jerk he comes off as in his columns. Talking off the cuff, interacting directly with callers, he has a lot of empathy and perception. Granted my mind is clouded right now, but I'm happy that our hometown Hey Faggot is kind of a cool person now. He's definitely grown up over the years. (One still has to tune out some ableist language, but it's a LOT better.) I don't always agree with him, but if I ever saw him around town now I'd say hi.

Crossposts: http://jinian.livejournal.com/579211.html

Komarr is the exact right thing to read, right down to the "lovesick mania for volunteerism."

He would not, could not, work through it all in an hour, or a day, or even a year; each day must have the challenge and response appropriate to it. One damn thing after another, Vorkosigan had said. But not, thank heavens, all things simultaneously.

And last night I did something that was the exact right thing to do: Journey to the End of the Night Seattle. Wim told me about it in the afternoon, so I wasn't really prepared for a footrace, but I got him to bring me better shoes and ditched my backpack at the lab and we went. I was so very tired, but getting chased through the city was Not Remotely Like Work and I took a chance on it (assuming I could ditch at any time and go home).

( This got pretty long, but it was great. )

Crossposts: http://jinian.livejournal.com/524512.html

I actually have been doing and seeing cool things lately, just low on output/interaction points due to stress and illness. One of the things was from the 8th, when Wim and I went rowing and also prowled around the Center for Wooden Boats area. We found a nifty Edwardian houseboat, the MV Lotus. The owner was aboard and giving little tours, in which she claimed that it had been in terrible shape but everything was original (?) and "the real thing." I think she means it was lovingly restored, which certainly seemed to be true, flocked bedspreads and all. There were several bedrooms and bathrooms, in addition to the very nice sitting room. We climbed to the pilot house on the second floor, walked across the top next to the swanky, wickerish lounge area, and came down a tiny steep stairway that the owner then said she should have prevented us descending -- she disappeared too quickly to block it off for us to understand why. The kitchen seemed pretty spacious too. In short, I am hoping to find an excuse to rent this boat for some kind of event at some point, because it was really rather amazing.

Crossposts: http://jinian.livejournal.com/517133.html

An unintended consequence of relaxed state liquor laws: I'm really enjoying the Stranger's series of local liquor reviews. Some of this gin will definitely be making its way into my home soon.

Crossposts: http://jinian.livejournal.com/490340.html

I just finished Girl Wonder by Alexa Martin, a decent YA novel about a girl who moves to a horrible new school for senior year. Strangely it almost manages to be a novel about the infidelity of middle-aged male novelists and professors (her parents), but I was reasonably entertained. My problem with it, apart from the disappearance of the gays (dear author, there is a reason that Capitol Hill is Seattle's most interesting and fashionable neighborhood), is the total inconsistency of setting.

For instance, Girl and Girl Wonder are at "an office supply store just a short ways from [Seattle University's] campus" and start talking about a Walmart "across the street." Um, no. There is no Walmart here. People who live in Seattle know that. You would have to go to at least 20 minutes on the highway. I get that they needed a morally acceptable place to practice shoplifting, but you can't put your characters into a real setting and then plunk down highly specific, emotionally charged features that don't exist. I am willing to spot you an office supply store, but not a Walmart; a snooty private school, but not the large, awful high school with no academic or behavioral standards except for the separate enclave housing the monolithic gifted program (wtf?).

There are good points about the book, like when she has a bunch of sex and nothing awful happens, but her empowerment at the end largely consists of picking someone new to obey. (Also the whole novel kind of winds up being propaganda for Evergreen, our state's hippie school, which I'm sure is a fine establishment of alternative education but is also the butt of many jokes. What?)

I've had lesser but sometimes disconcerting place problems in this direction with C.E. Murphy's Walker Papers series. Mostly the Seattle in them is good, but every so often there's a feature missing or out of place, likely because the author moved away some years ago. I don't mean hydrological features appearing due to in-series cataclysms, but things like the Kingdome still being there. I'm sorry, it has gone, and some of us have even had long enough to come to terms with that. Will beta read for... er, nothing really, reading is good.

So, how do writers screw up when it comes to your home town?

Crossposts: http://jinian.livejournal.com/472170.html

Between the library and the skate park in Ballard lies a fountain full of marine shells made of cement. (Sea urchin, moon snail, exaggerated limpet, a snail I think they made up.) There are sprays of water that go directly up in between them, and a short wall kids can walk on to get sprayed a little if they don't want to go right in.

I was sitting in the sun, taking a break from reading some Jacky Faber to paint my nails with great concentration. Suddenly I heard a loud baroo? and looked up to find two big, short-haired dogs staring at me. "I don't know," said the person holding their leashes.

"They... like nail polish?"

"I don't know!"

Then she took them over to the fountain, which they feared. Acetone sniffing: ask your pet about it before it gets brain damage.

The "May in Seattle" bit is that, as I was leaving, some kids went in the fountain. Now, other kids had done this in normal clothes, including one who critically examined her sister after they traversed the area and announced that she wasn't wet enough and should go back in, but these kids were different. They were wearing not only their shoes, but also little hats, and... thick quilted jackets. However, they seemed quite happy to be in the water despite it not touching them. (I really wanted to take their picture, but it would've been rude without asking and asking would've been a production, so I describe instead.)

Also we saw Thor and it was really, really pretty: totally worth the big screen for the shots of Asgard via Hubble Telescope alone. Thor was played by a pretty blond man with pretty mascara, but the real badass was Heimdall, who was far more interesting than any other good guy. We found the jotuns a little phoned-in, too much Voldemort and too little fur in my opinion. Also, noted once again, movie scientists make about as much sense as movie anything else. But overall that was one shiny movie. Stay for the credits.