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I'm so happy we finally managed to persuade you to move out here, Lyz! \o/ And super excited to see what your next costuming feat is...
We'll be arriving at 1:30am...would you suggest walking at this time? I strongly suggest not walking at that time. Chance of crime aside, drivers in that area are not looking for pedestrians at all. I was nearly hit a couple times on my way from the light rail last year—and that was earlier in the evening and wearing reflectors and lights.
"Knee! Watch the knee!" Do gentle knee stretches help? I blew mine out hiking this summer, and have found some internet-recommended stretches that have helped lessen and even prevent* soreness but mileage can vary, depending on the cause of the issue. * Well, stretching AND avoiding hikes with more than about 750 feet of elevation gain, which is a challenge out here!
Corn, chicken, and pumpkin chowder: This is a fall and winter favorite; I usually use butternut squash instead of pumpkin. The whole category of "skillets" includes a bunch of easy options that are faster than hotdishes (a.k.a. casseroles). Here are a few we make that are pretty parent friendly/
Also, once you start acquiring a set of reliable recipes, I recommend making a spreadsheet so you can look up your options all at once and record any modifications.
After a rough week, some fun news for the locals in the thread: the TWIST film festival is coming soon!
I really enjoyed the Dust Girl books; if you haven't read Sarah Zettel's SF, she writes just as well in that area, too. Well my queue just got deeper. :D Oooh, and historical intrigue novels with gratuitously long titles! (See example A Most Dangerous Deception: Being A True, Accurate, and Complete Account of the Scandalous and Wholly Remarkable Adventures of Margaret Preston Fitzroy, Counterfeit Lady, Accused Thief, and Confidential Agent at the Court of His Majesty, King George I)!
Just finished Binti: the Night Masquerade and Dust Girl (Depression-era urban fantasy—"dust penumonia" is horrifying). Next I'll embark on Gentlemen of the Road, with Op-Art Socks waiting in the wings.
Mercifully for those celebrating in Seattle, the temp will only be about 65º F when the parade starts, and isn't meant to get radically higher. Those in warmer climates, I salute your sartorial dedication!
How was The Changeling? I very much enjoyed TBoBT. I quite liked it, and kept being surprised by its twists and turns. :-) Now reading Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, which is too gripping for reading before bed! At some point I realized it was 1am, switched to Herodotus (my insomnia standby), and was out by the second screen. Next up is Akata Warrior (the sequel to Akata Witch), which just came out!
I am so excited to have all these excellent people on our team—they're super sharp and a pleasure to work with!
For some reason I've been reading lots of pairs of books lately.
And for something completely different...
9. In addition to washing your hands frequently, carry and use hand sanitizer. 10. Bring layers! The high will be in the 60s the first two days of the con, and even inside, the level of AC can vary wildly between rooms.
I think the item's purpose is to allow the use of the Profession (beekeeper) skill by giving you a believable way to be tending bees as you move around and are offering your services to farmers and herbalists and such by allowing your bees to pollinate their crops and plants rather than as a honey-production method, similar to how a herder or farmer would... This, plus occasional bee-swarm combat mayhem. ;-) Regarding production, for a beehive staying in one place, a one-basket hive could produce... maybe 20–40 pounds of honey plus 2–4 pounds of wax in a year, depending on conditions. (You could maybe supplement that with specialty products like propolis.) Not bad! BUT...
Tl;dr: It'd take a lot of traveling hives to support you if you're trying to model the real world. All that said, it's more important to make beekeeping a fun and viable profession for your character than to accurately model real-world beekeeping—let that be your guide. :-)
Strange Shores by Arnaldur Indriðason. Based on your recommendation, I borrowed several of his books from the library, got this one first, and forgot to check where it was in the series—last. Spoiler:
Wow, talk about full-circle endings! Best read next to a fire, burrowed under a blanket. Back-tracking to The Draining Lake now, with Hypothermia following on its heels.
Provenance, by Ann Leckie—set in the Imperial Radch universe, but in another human society with three genders. Great world-building, lots of heist and intrigue elements, and numerous queer characters! Kingfisher by Patricia McKillip, an urban fantasy blend of the Mabinogion and Parzival—the setting has a lot of PNW flavor, and there's so much talk about good food! Also reread Patricia McKillip's Riddle Master Trilogy, with much paging back and forth this time to cross-check revelations, which made it much more satisfying.
After a brief sojourn in the homeland, it's a pleasure to be enjoying Seattle's drizzly, low-40s (both high and low) weather. Also adding to my displeasure with the homeland, I recycled a book on Disney promoting the gay agenda that my sister's caregiver snuck into her book stash (fortunately, there was zero chance of my sister reading it anyway). I guess I should be glad said caregiver is perfectly friendly to me and my wife in person? But ugh. On the other hand, I DO recommend Ann Leckie's new book Provenance, which has a ton of queer and genderqueer characters. (It's set in the same universe as the Imperial Radch trilogy, but stands alone fairly well.)
"Hon, could you please grab that potion from the back room while I get the rest of these fine heroes' purchases tallied up?"
I'm playing a noncombat mechanic, and my stealth drone has been working out great—not only for scouting, but also for breaking into facilities and hacking systems while my underarmored and -armed character hides a safe distance away. The Int penalty hurts, but not as bad as my character's terrible Stealth would.
So glad to hear from you, Cindy! That's rough news, though—my thoughts are with you. :-( Unrelatedly, for everyone: Please check your phone and see if it has an option to set an emergency contact (ICE) on your lock screen. If so, set one! That way if something happens (or even if you just drop your phone while running for the bus or whatever), EMTs or a helpful bystander can alert your loved ones. (Spoiler: All involved are now safe and sound, but I was sure glad to get that call.)
Reading Rebel Mother: My Childhood Chasing the Revolution by Peter Andreas, an amazing true tale of family dysfunction and leftist international politics of the late 20th century. I'm enjoying it, but am glad to have been spoilered in advance that...
Spoiler: everyone in the family survives the main period covered by the book (the book's frame is that the eponymous mother had recently passed away, but of natural causes at age 71).
My wife is a proponent of Habitica for the same purpose. Since playing games like that don't work for me, we've worked out some goals where she gets points for me doing things. (While I'm not personally motivated by points, I am motivated by her clear satisfaction at earning them.) In the same discussion, she also asked me what habits I wanted her to work on. We've found that each targeting a couple behaviors that bug the other person has helped reduce frustration and nagging and generally had a disproportionately positive effect on our relationship. :P Three cheers for support systems that enable and reinforce success!
For folks in Seattle, the Twist queer film festival is coming in mid-October! I strongly recommend I Dream in Another Language, which I saw at SIFF. Looking forward to an enjoyable evening browsing through the other offerings (though the films with knitting and luchadors seem like strong contenders)!
Recently finished: Turn Right at Machu Picchu (spoiler: farmers were living at the site when Hiram Bingham "discovered" it; also, the Hiram Bingham train to Machu Picchu is appallingly overpriced) and The Bridge at San Luis Rey (he didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition!). In progress: How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk (recommended by numerous friends as professional development) and The Fire of Peru, which I can't read for too long at once or I get too hungry! Next up: The Subversive Copy Editor and ongoing browsing of Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition.
The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin, sequel to The Fifth Season and the Obelisk Gate. Aha, THAT was the series I meant to recommend to a friend who enjoys disaster fiction, but left off my list. Thanks for the reminder! ^_^
A hard copy of Station Eleven arrived at the library just as I finished the third volume of the Chronicles of Alsea, so I've switched gears to mostly reading that, reserving the fourth volume of the Chronicles for kindle/insomnia reading. Saved for the future: Newsflesh 3.2: How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea (conservationists fighting zombie wildlife in Australia!)
I loved these books so much. The themes of colonialism, minority rights, de facto slavery, complacency/unwillingness to rock the boat of those in power (rather than monolithic evil), etc. run through all three, getting more overtly central in books 2 & 3. I got the same feeling as Davia D that those two books felt more like two halves of a whole with the first book standing on its own more. I also really enjoyed the notion of a music-obsessed ship AI using her ancillaries as a choir (and successfully got One Thousand Eggs stuck in Sutter's head :D). And it was unexpectedly relaxing to read sci fi that wasn't a dudefest—other than a couple characters who are gendered via in-world translation into languages with grammatical gender, you're free to imagine people as you will, and the physical descriptions of characters almost entirely support that.
Between SIFF and Pridefest, we saw the following: Check It: Documentary about what is possibly the first ever LGBTQ gang, formed by kids in the DC projects for self defense. I have not felt my privilege so hard in years. Forever Pure: Documentary about a Jerusalem soccer team backed by far right nationalistic fans; the team's Russian war criminal owner hires two Muslim Chechen players. Spoiler: It does not go well, though no one ultimately dies. I Dream in Another Language: My favorite of the bunch, a magical realism-style film about a linguist trying to reconcile the last two speakers of a dying language, who haven't spoken in decades. Beautiful and heartbreaking and funny story. Mr. Long: The unexpected marriage of Tampopo and a hardcore gangster film, it had both a shockingly high body count for a cooking film and a surprising about of heartwarming interactions with wacky and intrusive but sincere neighbors for a gangster film.
All my library holds came at once! Looking for something lighter, I sped through The Islands of Chaldea by Diana Wynne Jones (finished by her sister Ursula Jones). I didn't realize until I got to the end that it was completed by another author, which is a mark of success—helped in this case by them having grown up telling stories together and Ursula being a playwright in her own right. Next was Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was by Angélica Gorodischer (translated by Ursula K. Le Guin), which is all lyrical and episodic and sometimes inexplicable and whose stories are bookended by humorous heckling of the audience by the storyteller-narrator. Now on to Conservation of Shadows by Yoon Ha Lee as a refresher of the Ninefox Gambit universe before the sequel, Raven Stratagem, comes out in July!
Consider hitting up some of Three Dollar Bill Cinema's free Pridefest film showings!
The only downside to this was actually caused by a combination of the unexpected late start + one of my games being left off of the posted schedule outside the Cascade rooms; as it wasn't listed, a group of people quite reasonably assumed the table was vacant and open for pickup games, so my players and I all showed up at 2:00 with no table. Potential approach that might help: "reserved" signs for tables with event times listed on them. *adds to feedback list*
These are great—and tough—questions. Keep 'em coming! We'll also set aside time during the panel for additional audience questions if folks think of anything else at the last minute. ^_^
Aviso: If you're down with drip coffee, you can get free refills all day next to the coffee kiosk.
Hey folks, I know luggage space is tight with all the books and maps and minis and lucky dice, but I'm planning on bringing some yarn I just destashed to give away, and if anyone else brings extras, we can have a full-on swap. ^_^ Looking forward to seeing what everyone's working on!
Managing Transitions, which has turned out to be both unexpectedly timely and extremely useful. :-(
Best farewell gift: giving us a glimpse of the best of ourselves and each other. Thank you, Wes!
Fun fact: It's only Kostchek in the core book because we told Judy, "Dude, regardless of how awesome it is, we can't have a shirren named Kostchtchie in the core rulebook." :D In fact: Kostchtch! Kostchtch has no regrets about their choice of name... though they might had some cultural misunderstandings about humans' ancient history. *waves appropriate arms dismissively* Also, if you think shirren courtship is complicated, consider sedoretu, and the Oankali.
This can happen with your dryer, too, and as our neighbor learned, can start fires. :-/ (Spoiler: They caught it really fast, so injuries or major damage, but scary.) If your dryer seems wimpy (often the first sign), get it delinted!
* lets out a might roar to banish all the darkness, negativity, and general badness away * Now I'm mentally recasting My Neighbor Totoro with bears. Thank you! :D
Run by... LZP? Or yourself? There are not enough exclamation points to express Linda's delight when she learned of this event. :D
If ordering from B&N, you can also have books sent to your local store. (And if the system still works like it did 10+ years ago, contact details for orders placed through the store did not have to be verified in any way—people would sometimes order books as J. Doe + fake phone number and pay in cash to preserve their privacy.)
Just finished Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee, which was EXCELLENT. Dystopian space opera, with surreal future warfare shown from both the command level and the boots-on-the-ground level, that has great character development, humanization of the lives touched (whether friend or foe), multiple queer characters, queerness presented as no big deal, and actual gender balance (!!!). And special bonus dark humor.
Oh, the book is Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi. Hold placed! Also now waiting on The Kingdom of Gods, because I forgot the rule of ordering sequels when you get the book before, at the latest. Btw, Comrade, there was a convo of "dubious historical merit" with a Communist taxi driver in The Shadow of the Wind about the state of Stalin's health, which made a pleasant comedic break from people being beaten in the street by Franco's police while neighbors look on in guilty fear from their doorways.
Turns out being in flu-recovery mode for me means sitting around reading for hours. Read The Counterfeit Madam and The Fourth Crow by Pat McIntosh (1490s murder-mysteries set in Glasgow). Best read with internet access to decode the Scots dialect terms and investigate the fascinating details of material culture, like pattens and box-beds. I also started but abandoned The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Now rolling on The Broken Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin.
While flu-infested this weekend, I read Shadows by Robin McKinley (similarities to Sunshine, but YA), and then The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón—which was excellent and relevant, but it's set in Franco-era Spain, so... violent.
Taste of Honey was great! Highly recommended. I've put off Verne for a bit to read Dynasty of Rogues—the writing is perfectly cromulent rather than amazingly lyrical, but it's an exciting tale of intrigue and treachery with all female characters, which is a delightful reversal of most such books.
The DC version was packed. So packed that if you wanted to move over ten feet it might take ten minutes. Yeah, even out here, starting near the end of the marchers, the first 5 blocks took 2 hours. (It sped up significantly once we hit a long straightaway.) Also, good luck, LuniasM! Spoiler: If you haven't been on a panel before, see if you can meet with the other folks in advance to working out talking points, answers to likely questions, etc. That'll help you all guide the conversation. ^_^
Just finished The Winter Over—fundamentally implausible (more below) but the mayhem in the constant darkness and –60°F of Antarctic winter and the tough, capable main female main character made it a fun read.
Spoiler:
The experimental design is appalling and the ultimate villain is Agatha Christie-esque. There's also climactic villain exposition. But there's also creepy ice caves, survival in an extreme and precarious environment, and Antarctic traditions, so still net positive. The Taste of Honey and Lighthouse at the End of the World both came in from the library at the same time, so now I'm spoiled for choice on what to read next!
And, speaking, of adaptations, Mr. Comrade insists that we should go to the musical-ized version of The Parable of the Sower coming to Boston in March. Oooh, passed on to my Boston compatriots! I hope the show travels eventually, would love to see it.
Read The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (this is the way the world ends—race politics plus all the natural disasters and planning for multi-year catastrophes!), then raced through Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson (fantasy Africa with queer protagonists). I recommend both, and they make a good pairing! Now reading The Original Dream by Nukila Amal while I wait for my holds on two more Jemisin books, another Wilson novella, and Verne's Lighthouse at the End of the World.
Really sick of this "crazy trans lady is a murderer" trope, when we're so frequently the victims in violent crimes and so rarely the perpetrator. (Do not) see Pretty Little Liars for more of the same. We were hopeful about it for a while, since multiple queer PoC as key characters, but the final season happened. (Not that it was unproblematic before, but ugh.)
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