Thanks to confusingly European-named sleeping drugs (Zolpidem, known as Ambien in the States) I was able to get another 5 hours of sleep or so. We got up a bit early and greeted the dawn.
Details from the contest host: This is for everyone entering the contests, from the mini-contests we've been having to the big #TLB30 conteset. If you've already entered any of the contests, or plan to enter by the final 8/31 deadline, you'll be in the running to win these two beauties.
Straight from Santa Carla, er, Santa Cruz itself thanks to one of our lovely judges, Carla! Just some fun vampire capital souvenirs for a lucky winner. Again, all you have to do is already have entered the past mini-contest, have already entered the #TLB30 fic contest, or will enter it or the next coming mini-contest by August 31, 2017. Open internationally, and it'll end when #tlb30 ends, midnight PST on 8/31.
Good luck!
Bonus info: I have a matching magnet on my fridge, so if you want to be a weird magnet twin with me, this is your chance. (Yes, I am just this ridiculous and delightful.)
But life is not that exciting. I'm not writing again, alas. The weather is cold. And next time I am tempted to eat foods containing fodmaps I'm going to remember that the consequences have several times proven to never be pretty, and try to resist. (But goddamn, who'd have thought there was so much wheat in the world, really.)
I am rewatching (and seeing some eps for the first time too) Deep Space Nine. Time changes everything, as the song goes, and I am so going to miss Jadzia; Sisko is the best and sometimes most bemused father in the world; Julian Bashir is Blair Sandburg in space; I love nearly everyone, especially Kira; and damn, Garak is fun. I discovered that his actor, Andrew Robinson, played the mentally ill man who is Molly's friend in 'Waiting Room' in TS. Such a small tv world sometimes.
It's not May, but I liked this song that I heard on the radio recently, so try this: Reb Fountain and her song 'Gold'.
89. Patriotic Gore by Edmund Wilson - Edmund Wilson came of age during WWI and in keeping with the times, he became an extreme pacifist. Pacifism is awesome but Wilson takes it to the point that he can't conceive of any conflict where entering the conflict is a better option than letting things play out. His supposedly classic introduction lays out his philosophy which tends to skew towards WWII revisionist history and material about the Civil War where you know that you are in for a lot of bullshit about the lost South. This book was written in 1961 and it is certainly a product of its time and by that I mean that it's one of those books that thinks that it's very liberal but full of racist assumptions. Edmund Wilson also adheres so close to his cynical/idealistic take on war always being bad and corrupt that he writes such howlers as "no one know what caused the Civil War" when it's pretty fucking obvious what caused the Civil War. Another aspect of the book is that even though it's about the Civil War and the literature that came out of the Civil War, no slave narratives are in the mix. Not even Frederick Douglass who should have been known to Wilson as he wrote extensively after the war as well. So while claiming that slavery had nothing to do with the war but there was discussion concerning slavery, Wilson neglects to find writers who were most affected by slavery. In fact, there's only one black writer in the mix and she's a New England woman who attempted to help during Reconstruction and moved back home.
This book is a mixture of fascinating finds in literary history, interesting insight and a cavalcade of nasty stupid shit. I should have turned it into a drinking game whenever he mentioned the Radical Republicans who wanted to reform the South in the negative. It certainly would have helped. His critical assessment of many writers has a definite tsk tsk way, especially when he finds Ambrose Bierce to be a crappy human being who treats death in a cavalier manner (which is why he is still appealing) and a lot condemnation for the most hardcore abolitionists.
There are other moments when the editing becomes just fucking evil. For example, he's got a chapter on Southern writers and he writes about the rather melodramatic Cable who seems like a mediocre writer and then FINALLY gets to Kate Chopin, spends two pages on her and then returns to this Cable asshole. Same goes for John W. DeForrest who was supposedly a big deal in the 60s but is again forgotten. Oh maybe there are scholars for this guy but Wilson certainly didn't sell him.
Anyhow there was a point where I just felt like it was a chore to get through. Other moments, I felt like I was getting an interesting insight into what the 60s thought of the Civil War. Mostly this book pissed me off and there was just enough good stuff to keep reading the fucking thing, but thank G-d it's over.
Readers, I managed to get some sleep and I was finally revived! It was a huge weight off my back.
It was, granted, five hours, but I had a medically guaranteed formula for getting to sleep now, and a decongestant that seemed to do a pretty good job of keeping coughing at bay without interfering with aforementioned sedative.
So, refreshed with sleep, I proceeded to refresh myself with breakfast while the ship was en route to Trapani, Sicily.
Got my IUD replaced today. Am now on the couch with the heating pad, ibuprofen ingested, easing the cramping with daydreams of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell both feeling inexplicably ashamed today, as though somewhere, somehow, a woman got to control her own reproductive system.
Tags:fuck you you fucking fucks, seldnei's life, excellent start to my vacation whee!
As such, looking at the schedule for June 9th and finding it centered on another Greek theater, and the back streets of a town, and being desperately tired, I opted to stay on the ship instead of going out.
... You will not be surprised to learn that I didn't manage to get any sleep on the ship, either. Boat gently rocking me to sleep, my left hind-paw.
Every now and then I get an urge to try making Japanese cuisine. This time it's the Oyakodon - literally the 'parent and child bowl', so named because it features a chicken and egg together.
Well, this isn't really an oyakodon; practically speaking it's just inspired by the concept. I don't know anything about making Japanese dashi, but I do know how to make a chicken stirfry!
July 4 ETA: I did not realize that if you open the entry in a new tab or window, the pictures are giant! (I always just expand cut tags until I am responding to comments.) I think I have fixed that, but let me know if they still show up giant for you.
All Lost Boys, all the time post.
First, a reminder: The Lost Boys 30th Anniversary Fanfic Contest Extravaganza is still open, and you can win a signed copy of the amazing forthcoming behind-the-scenes book. I can't wait to get my hands on it, the sneak peeks have been amazing. There are some mini-giveaways going on at the same time, including one that will have a prize I picked up in Santa Cruz, so you should really check it out and enter ASAP.
Second, in a nice stroke of luck + good timing, I ended up in Santa Cruz in time for the official celebration of the 30th anniversary, even though it technically isn't until July. There was an entire day of Lost Boys adventures, though it was so much better attended than anyone expected that it was nearly impossible to grab any of the giveaways or even find things, but it was an excellent time. BFF and her husband had never been to Santa Cruz before, J and I first went there together more than a decade ago, and it is one of my favorite places. We spent three days there (and more days nearby, though we didn't always go down into Santa Cruz proper), and had a ton of fun.
The official celebration day included a screening of The Lost Boys on the beach, right where parts of it had been filmed, and it was GREAT. Cold as anything, of course; it's generally pretty cool in that part of California this time of year, but especially at night, with the wind coming off the water. I brought layers with me, and once I'd added them all, I wished I'd also brought a blanket. We ate vampire-repelling garlic fries and fish, saw a billion people there to celebrate the movie (more than 7500 showed up, last count I saw), and enjoyed the hell out of a movie we love. (Well, BFF and I love it, and in fact met because of it. J and BFF's husband, not quite as fond.)
There was time on the 1911 Loof Carousel and BFF and Mr BFF went up on the Sky Glider, we did some shopping and played games, and they took a ton of pictures. (I took a few, but I was having so much fun watching them experience it for the first time, I didn't take as many as I probably should have.) (Also, I miss the days when I could ride roller coasters. Damn vertigo.)
The whole trip was great, but Santa Cruz was the best. Excellent food (hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant had the best lengua tacos I've ever eaten), excellent stores (FABULOUS used book and record store), and we ruined BFF and Mr BFF on ice cream forever (we took them to Cold Stone Creamery).
I've loved the Lost Boys for a long, long time; I've written over 250k words of fic, the most recent for Yuletide 2016 (Straight On 'Til Morning and Comes the Night, Comes the Shadows.) This fandom brought me far more than I gave it: friends for life, a shit ton of writing experience, grand adventures, gorgeous art, a fabulous time meeting my favorite vampire, Billy Wirth -- I can't thank the movie and the fandom enough for all it gave me.
I hope, for those of you who love the movie in your own way, you'll considering entering the contest. Come talk to me about this ridiculous vampire horror comedy filled with gushing blood, big hair, sequins, and 80s fashion. We're going for a ride, man.
It's Sunday. Long weekends are a good thing, even if last night my mood
kind of tanked. Woke up kind of off still, but fighting it with Eurohorror,
noodles, and a good long shower. Self care, it's what's for breakfast.
Social time yesterday was fun, yay seeing friends. Random hot chocolate
craving was sated. Fought off the tanked mood with weird horror movies, and
geeking. Starting the process of bringing my OpenSuSE VMs all up to 42.2...
just in time for 42.3 to be released shortly. (also updated my Ubuntu VM,
but that wasn't any big deal). Went to bed around midnight, so of course
a server lit up and wanted attention. Not a hard fix. just there was much
eyerolling on my part. Had to do some more basic foo this morning. Need
to log into the ticket system and close the automatic tickets generated at
some point.
Plans for today are to hang out with Amythest and Nymaz at some point.
Before that I need to swing by the office and pickup my laptop (I left
it on Friday). I only need it if I'm not at home. Was going to get it
yesterday, but I ended up going straight home from the gather. Not a big
fan of the work laptop (windows, ugg), but I don't see a reason to buy a high
end laptop, or even try to setup my old Thinkpad to play nice with Carcosa
either. Laptops have little appeal to me now a-days, I can do most everything
with Cthäat Aquadingen (my Nexus 7) when I'm not at home, so why add another
device ? (Besides the shiny factor). Hmm, probably should update the
Thinkpad, it's been a while.
While I'm waiting on the plan to come together, I've been watching Spanish
horror flicks First 'Werewolf Shadow'. Paul Naschy vs vampires (he's the
werewolf). Spent half the movie trying to remember where I'd heard the
soundtrack, they reused the music from one of the Blind Spanish Zombie
Knights Templar movies. Now watching 'Beneath Still Waters', flooded town
holds a hidden occult secret. Made by the same production company and filmed
around the same time as my beloved 'Dagon'. It's cheese, but it's fun cheese.
That's about all I have right now. Hoping for a quiet and restful rest
of the long weekend. Catch you all on the flipside.
Sun, 11:07: RT @pptsapper: There's the problem: police wanting to be warriors. Military aren't warriors: we're professionals. Warriors are undisciplin…
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Cue another night of failing to get sleep as the Le Ponant was tossed by waves! A bleary-eyed Tuftears rolled out of bed early in the morning to refresh himself with food.
