Elaby's LiveJournal - 57 Academics

I've been having a truly lovely weekend. On Thursday evening, I stayed late at work to finish one of the more stressful projects I've ever worked on. I went in a little late Friday (a little late being like 8:05, but I usually get to work before 7:30) so Rachel and I could go to breakfast at the dining hall. It was relaxing and very nice. Then - the biggest treat of all - my manager let us all out early because it was the Friday before Memorial Day :3 She does this fairly often on the day before we have a day off, but because we've all be insanely busy, I didn't even consider that she might this time. I got to leave by 3:00, and considering that I've worked at the very least until 4:45 every day since the beginning of April, this was incredibly special. I picked up Rachel early and we did all sorts of can't-do-after-normal-work-hours errands. We went to the town hall in our new town to drop off paperwork (they were going to send the water bill to our old address and we had to submit a change of address form. I mean, seriously? The reason we have a water bill in your town is because WE LIVE HERE NOW! -_-;;). We found out what we need to get library cards. And we stopped at some of the little shops on the main street of our town that we'd never been to before. Most were about to close, but the one we spent the most time in was Poppy Seed Studio, a beautiful clothing and accessories shop with a vintage, antique style. It had floaty summery dresses and vintage silk nightgowns and slips and a lot of flowery, lacy jewelry. Many of the accessories were of a sort of teatime-steampunk bent - keys and wire and pressed flowers and clocks. We discovered a tiny Willow Tree Angel hugging a book for a very good price, and we bought that and a set of really gorgeous postcards that were reminiscent of vaudeville posters, only with more flowers and kick-ass inspirational messages. I also bought this locally made flower headband:



The staff was extremely friendly and invited us to all sort of other events they're involved in :)

On Saturday, we went down to A Loom with a View in Newburyport, MA to check out looms. I've been wanting a loom for years, but I didn't seriously consider getting one until last year, and then I didn't want to actually buy one until we had a house and the space to actually use it. Once we knew we were getting the house, I started saving (and was able to put my gift check from being elected employee of the month towards it!). Rachel helped me research and I tried out a bunch of looms at the NH Sheep and Wool Festival. We also stopped at A Loom with a View back in March to take a look at what they had, and I decided I most likely wanted a Schatt Flip Loom. I just wasn't sure what size I wanted. When I went down yesterday, we tried them all out, and I decided I wanted the 25-inch since I could always weave smaller on it if I wanted. I didn't have quite enough saved, but my beautiful self-sacrificing wife moved money from her fun money and fun-money-savings into my fun money account so I could get it right then and not have to wait until next weekend ;_; I'm so lucky I have her!

My loom is home now in the craft room and has met Rachel's spinning wheel, Rana :)



A lot of our flowers have started blooming! Every day we find new ones, and half the time we don't know what they are XD The people who lived here before us must have spent so much energy on their garden, because it's beautiful even this year.

Peonies beside our driveway:


Purple irises in our back yard:


And yellow irises too!


Yesterday evening, we went to my Uncle Bill's house for a cookout, onnacounta Memorial Day and because his birthday is next week. We got to see my awesome cousin Heather and her husband, Nate, and their INCREDIBLY ADORABLE children, Nora and Levi. We sat outside with our bare feet in the grass and had (veggie for me) burgers and hot dogs and pasta salad, while the kids ran around us, "on a boat to Mars and Christmas" XD On the way home, the drive was so beautiful. We stopped at the Wiggly Bridge, a little suspension bridge in York, Maine that goes over a tidal stream and a bunch of mud flats. The sun had just set, and it was hazy, making the pastel-rainbow sky like frosted glass over the dark trees and perfectly reflective water. We made silly jokes and ran around and jumped on the bridge until it undulated and clanged (this is what it's made for), and I can't believe how lucky I am to have such a perfect, wonderful wife. She fills up my life with a joy than can never be lost.

And today we're doing housework and we bought a metric ton of fresh fruit, and Freija is sitting on my lap for the first time since we moved in. Life is pretty (amazingly, blessedly) good :)

I stole this meme from coastal_spirit :3 I want to write about my aims for this year, but I'll have to do that later. This was a fun one to do! It's been a zillion years since I did a meme.

( 2011 meme )

Last night when caitirin and I were talking about looking for a house and the various stresses we've been under the past couple of weeks, and I said that I thought life was always going to be disappointing. It sounds way more cynical and hopeless than I meant it; I meant more that adult life is never going to meet my childhood and teenage expectations and I should therefore adjust those expectations. And caitirin said to me that she wants me to want something, like the way she wants a new spinning wheel or pretty yarn. And it's true, I don't want things the same way some people do. I wish I did. It's more that I yearn for the idea of something - being a writer or an animator or a Vocaloid song producer - but I absolutely don't have the drive it takes to accomplish any of these things. And I wonder if I might truly value the things I'd have to sacrifice (i.e. my non-work hours) more than the possible result of that yearning.

I'm a published author, even if it's only one short story that's been published. I ask myself, is one published story enough? And it honestly might be. I'm not certain that I want or need other people to read my full-length stories. Maybe just finishing one and self-publishing a hard copy and having it on my shelf would be good.

I think people in our culture (or maybe humanity in general) have an ingrained desire to change the world, to make lives better, especially those of people they don't know (why having an impact on strangers is deemed more significant than on friends and family I'm not sure). What is "significant" is really subjective, and I'm torn a lot of the time between thinking I should be doing "significant" things, whatever that means, and doing what I want, which is most often playing video games or watching anime or anything else that I find enjoyable but doesn't leave an impact on other people.

I love that I have a story published, and I feel fulfilled when people enjoy my writing and my art. But I don't actually have a lot of interest in looking up reviews of A Study in Lavender to see what people think of it. I don't know why. I really think I'd need more drive than I have if I wanted to get any stories with characters of my own published. This idea doesn't send me into despair; I might be entirely okay with it.

The only thing I can think of that I'm not ever apathetic about, as I am about drawing and writing sometimes, is Japanese. Translating is the only activity that I'll get annoyed if I have to interrupt for basic human needs like eating. And at the same time that it brings out my little-used motivation, I also find it ridiculously freaking frustrating.

Sometimes I feel like all the motivation and energy I have is used up in going to work and seeing friends. And work is, you know, I have to go to work, and I like doing things with friends, but it still takes so much energy. I have the kind of constitution (as the Victorians would say) that finds being with other people draining even if I'm having an awesome time. This is something I'm ashamed of, because it sounds like I'm saying I don't like being with my friends or that I'd rather be doing something else, which isn't true. It just takes energy, and it doesn't "unwind" me, as it were. I can't change this, and I think it's unhealthy for me to try (because I've tried in the past). I just have to know my limits.

Figuring out what's good for me (and then doing it) has been a large part of my anti-anxiety campaign, and I wonder if it would be better for my mental well-being to push for lofty goals or to accept that lofty goals may not be for me. I haven't come to a conclusion, but writing this out this morning did make me feel better.

caitirin and I are off tomorrow on our very first cruise! Her lovely wonderful parents are taking us. I still can't really believe it XD

We'll be back at the end of next week (late-ish Thursday night), and I don't expect we'll have internet in the meantime. Not sure about phones, either, ha! But there will be snorkeling and Mayan ruins (!!!) and sun and, I'm told, blue-green water, and I can't freaking WAIT.

Things that have been going on in my life lately:

- Christmas was fabulous! I <3 my family. We had pomegranates and scavenger hunts and LotR Trivial Pursuit!
- Reading lots of Night Watch novels. I adore Vimes like you wouldn't believe (or maybe you might *coughseeiconcough*). Also, Vetinari, where have you been all my life? Oh, right, over there in those books everyone kept telling me to read. <3
- I have a fairy story in my head. It may get written one of these days.
- CARIBBEAN. TOMORROW. *flail*

See you all in the new year :) *smishhugs f'list*

I fail at posting lately! Here are some random things for you:

[Item One]
We lost power on Thursday night, and got it back sometime Saturday evening. I got out of work on Friday because we had no power at the office! Rock. coastal_spirit and Dad were cut off by flooded rivers, though their house didn't flood and they have a generator, but the floods went back down on one side by Saturday and they have power back now too. It got a little cold at our apartment, but not bad enough to drive us out completely, mostly because astillac and edgarverona are twelve kinds of wonderful and took us in for most of Friday and Saturday. We had a glorious time XD While we were over there, we watched Stranger than Fiction, which was freaking awesome. I'm now officially impressed by Will Ferrell (I know, right? SHOCK.) It was about a guy who starts hearing someone narrating his life (Emma Thompson is narrating his life, in fact, and she did an incredible job in her role - not that we're surprised). It was a writer's sort of movie, and it had fantastic, wonderful characters, and it was awesome to watch it with astillac because she picked up on things I might not've noticed (bare feet! :D). And the message I got out of it was one I heartily agree with as a writer. It just rocked in general.

[Item Two]
Weight-loss inexplicablility:
Stayed on plan all week = gained 0.6 pounds
Stayed on plan all week again = stayed exactly the same
Stayed on plan five days, threw caution to the wind for the last two = lost 2 pounds

O_o Whatever, body. I'll take it! (And continue to stay on plan, like a good kid).

[Item Three]
I love this song like crazy, and the video is charming and adorable and I love it. I'm late to the party, as usual XD Heard it on the radio a few weeks ago and went to google the lyrics, and found out that it was a number-one download on iTunes sometime last year.



[Item Four]
I drew something for Illustration Friday last week, but I didn't finish it by Friday. I'm really happy with it, though! astillac and I drew together, and it was really awesome, because she helped me with a bunch of things :3 I need to finish the picture!

Just for future information, I've been gathering all of my Twitter posts and sticking them into the first Twitter post, from a week ago. This way there will be less "Twitter Twitter Twitter content Twitter Twitter..." on my LJ page, which nobody probably looks at much anyway if they read me on their f'list, but which I like to keep tidy :3 So, if I can keep up with this, I'll be deleting the automatic post after a day or so and sticking the content in it in an older post so they'll be gathered weekly. This is me attempting to be organized.

caitirin, hak42, and myself are off to the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival tomorrow! We shall be gone until Sunday evening, and I think we're bringing laptops but heavens only knows if we'll get a chance to use them. I expect there will be much yarn, alpacas, mud, sheepdogs, fair food, crafts, and meeting other people who like to do cool things with fiber in our future :D I'm not much of a yarn-wielder, but I hope to do some hardcore Nano planning while everyone else is looping and stitching away. And I like to look at yarn :)

See you all when we get back!

Fic update!

Skating fic: I haven't worked on this since the last time I updated, mostly because we had to forego writing night this week onnacounta taking a house-buying seminar.

Giant row fic: 1,473 words! \o/ Of actual prose! From the beginning of the story! So that means I actually started, as opposed to sitting around poking at dialogue and trying to perfect my Victorian syntax. This is progress, trust me. Did I mention that I'm writing this thing in the third person? O_o;; That's a first for me and Holmes fic. It has to be, but I'm less confident about my writing in this genre when it's not first-person. For right now, I'm just getting down concepts within my sentences and I'll work on finessing the language later.

Life update!

Yes, so, that house-buying seminar we're taking... terrifying, or extremely terrifying? Also exhilarating. Last night was the "for god's sake get your finances under control before you try to buy a house" night, and tonight was "mortgage lingo and closing cost trauma" night. (I kid. Last night showed us how to budget and ascertain our financial situations before looking into getting approved for a loan, and tonight went through how one applies for a mortgage and all the programs that exist in the area, which is lots, for helping first-time buyers who don't make much money get really awesome deals. This is good, as that = us.)

I'm going out after work with my coworkers tomorrow, which will be another new experience. The last time I did this it was with the gang from the Writing Center, all of whom I really loved, and my coworkers now are kind of a whole lot different from the way I am. I think I'll have a decent time, though.

We have been busy! Busy like whoa, it feels. But we took the day off work today, which was incredibly lovely. Here are some things we've done lately:

Last Sunday I went to Salem, MA with caitirin, _melisande_, and i_esperanza. It was a beautiful day, and we went to the House of the Seven Gables and all sorts of stores. I got shiny new rocks :3 I got (yet another) piece of smoky quartz (a round clear brown-grey bubble which I just adore) and two pieces of spectrolite (which is apparently a hard variety of labradorite? Cool!) and a pinkish piece of moonstone, and... something else... some blue onyx (I think?) and another little very yellowy piece of smoky quartz. I just can't help it with the smoky quartz!

Then we went to this beautiful, huge park that was full of the most glorious trees. We met a very large doggie (an akita) and sat by the sea, and then I climbed a tree in my long skirt and I couldn't get down XD caitirin had helped me up by letting me step into her hand, but I didn't know how I would get down. caitirin wanted me to step on her shoulder and she'd lower me to the ground, but I was afraid I'd squish her, so i_esperanza came over to help me by letting me take her hands as caitirin lowered me down... but I put more weight on her than I did on caitirin and we all fell over in a heap XD Nobody was hurt and we all almost died laughing. It was pretty fabulous :3

I have this long list of fannish things I want to do, but I'm either too busy or when I have time, I'm like "Blaaaaah, I'd rather stare into the middle distance." So I thought I'd make a list in lieu of actually accomplishing anything!

Fannish things I want to do/finish:

- I'm working on a Holmes and Watson fic (nothing I've been requested to do, something different *shifty look*) and it's close to being done, but I just keep fighting with it because part of the time I think it's goofy beyond belief and part of the time I think it's predictable and boring. There are also moments that I think it's pretty okay, but they're less frequent.

- I also want to write fics based on the Holmes-and-Watson sentences I wrote: the one about them going sailing on the Serpentine, and about Holmes and Watson having to look after Mrs. Hudson's nephews. And I had this line! I swear I did! But I have no idea where it went. Somewhere in the sinkhole of my brain, I expect.

- I'm THIS CLOSE |----| to being done with this stupid Cody and Aldridge thing I've been writing for months on end. I stop writing it for weeks and the come back to it. It's so almost done! It just needs an ending! I want to finish and post it but I don't know how to end the blasted thing.

- I've made two or three Starsky & Hutch icons with text and all, and making icons out of live action things is really difficult for me. I want to make more, but that means making more screencaps, which means I need some long period of time in which I can play the episodes on my laptop. Bwaaaaah. But I really want to make them!

- I have to finish my Starsky & Hutch chibis! So's I can post them :3

- I have all these awesome ideas for pictures for a certain _melisande_, and I want to draw them aaaaaallll :D Muahaha! But I need some pictures for references and I'm worried about spoilers if I google for them XD *is going to anyway* [edit: Mission accomplished! Found pictures and didn't get spoiled!]

- I want to watch To Play the King again, onnacounta Colin Jeavons, and because caitirin hasn't seen it yet.

My fingers are all tingly! I wonder if it's because it's hot. *pats her icon of bemused!reboot!Spock*

I've been having this really weird problem with my Yahoo mail lately, which I've fixed by returning to Yahoo Classic from whatever Beta I was using. For the past week or so, the e-mails I send from my Yahoo mail - typed in English - arrive at their recipients' in Greek letters. They're not translated into Greek, but the text is all Greek. I only noticed this when _melisande_ the other day was like "Er... what's with the Greek?" Seeing as she speaks Greek and all, she thought I did it on purpose, but I had no idea. And apparently it had been happening for a week or so, but I send so few e-mails not through the LJ comment responding feature that nobody had brought it up yet.

We contacted Yahoo help, who were, predictably, no help at all. After escalating the problem, they determined that it was no fault of theirs and that obviously it must be a problem on the recipients' end. Yes, four different servers (Yahoo, Earthlink, caitirin's work, and my work) spontaneously decided to convert the text of my e-mails to Greek letters, and it's not anything to do with Yahoo. Right. It's very weird, because I could copy the Greek text and "paste unformatted text" into a Word document and it would come out in English. Apparently other people have had this problem, and we fixed it by switching my mail back to Yahoo Classic, but I kind of wish I knew why it did that. And I don't hate Classic, but I do prefer the beta or whatever it was, just because I'm more used to it.

Last night we went to see Star Trek again with jadefox_32, and went and had ice cream and appetizers after, and it was just about the most lovely night ever :) I freaking love that movie, and we need more DVDs of the original series, and OMG today we're taking advantage of Barnes & Noble's DVD sale and buying the fourth season of Starsky & Hutch, and all three House of Cards DVDs in a set, and something else that caitirin will pick because The Dresden Files are backordered *sadness*

It being the day before July 4, and July 4 falling on a weekend, we have the day off (WOOT!) and so we're watching daytime television. Well, mostly caitirin is watching daytime television, and I was reading Holmes/Lestrade. *shifty eyes* But anyway, Martha Stewart must really be running out of ideas when her show today is about what she packs in her bag on airplane flights. Don't forget the facial mist, for the love of god!

Yesterday, coastal_spirit, caitirin, and I went to the Mustard Seed, a lovely metaphysical shop, to a nearby vegan restaurant (OMG so good!), played Wii, and then watched a bunch of anime :3

We continued Ouran and started The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I was not thrilled by the first few episodes of the latter, because "pushy girl" characters like Haruhi tends to annoy me, but once the plot began to unfold, I was hooked. I can't wait to find out what's going on :3

After coastal_spirit went home, we watched the first DVD of Baccano!. It's incredibly good, in that "OW MY BRAIN" sort of way. It didn't hurt my brain like some anime does - Lain, for example - but because it features majorly non-linear storytelling. From what I can tell, the series (or at least the beginning of it) is about the simultaneous robbery, by three separate parties, of a train going from Chicago to New York in 1931. However, the first episode takes place mostly around the time the train arrives in New York. The next three episodes switch back and forth between ten months before, five months before, the incidents on the train, things that take place during/directly before the train is robbed in different cities, several years later, and, um, some times I haven't been able to figure out yet. It's COOL, but it's not the sort of show you can devote anything but your entire attention to. There are also about a frillion characters, and we watched the opening sequence every time because it matches everyone's names with their faces. From what I could gather, there were at least three New York Mafia families, some extraneous people who hang around with them, two groups of people who like to kill people from Chicago (no indication as of yet that they're families), some thieves, some children, some rich people, and... monsters? Also, did I mention that some of the people in these Mafia families are immortal? Yep.

It's extremely violent, but fascinating. There's also a scene of rat-brutality, which I thought I should warn my ratty-loving friends about. The animation is gorgeous and the costumes, scenery, cars, and other things that make up the setting are just as much a reason to watch the show than the plot is. The next DVD better come out soon or I'm going to forget what happened!