miss_yt

Oh. Em. Gee.

I say this because iTunes finally caught up with the rest of Season 3 of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and I just finished watching the last episode. I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen, except to say that yes, it is as awesome as you think.

This means that there won't be any more of the show, of course, but it was a very satisfying conclusion, and a wild ride while it lasted. Oh, and if anyone wants to watch, I have all the episodes. If you come over some time, or have me over (with all of them on my computer!), I will be glad to get you addicted to...er, introduce you to one of the awesomest cartoons of all time.

After all, when there are no new episodes to look forward to, the best thing you can do is watch with someone else who is seeing it for the first time.

Since I am staying with my family in Maryland, my cat Roo doesn't get out much. I have to keep her in my room because Dad is allergic to cats. Also, Roo tends to jump up on and knock over things, which would not make my mother happy.

Roo, naturally, does not enjoy this. She's an indoor cat, but used to having the run of the whole place I live in, wherever that happens to be. Often, when I open the door to my room, she attempts to escape. She manages it fairly often, too, although she usually doesn't go far and tends to come back, like an exploring toddler running off from and returning to Mom.

Yesterday evening was nice - the weather was good and it was light late - so I decided to take a folding chair out on our back patio and read. I decided to take Roo out there too. At first she wanted to go back inside, but it wasn't long before she started exploring the patio, walking around it, sniffing at the barbecue grill, surveying the yard. She showed great interest in the bushes at the edge of the patio but did not actually leave the concrete for the grass at any time.

Eventually she relaxed and stretched out on the patio, the way she does on my bedroom floor. She came up to me to be pet in between looking at interesting birds in the near distance. All in all, she had a good time, and didn't want to go back in at the end!

I think I might do this more often: it's probably good for Roo. Since she's been an indoor cat for so long, I doubt she'll want to wander far from me. (If she does, she has a tag with my phone number on it). I certainly won't let her out unsupervised or let her bring dead animals into the house.

Courtesy of hughcasey:

The following is from the pages of a manual that was full of useful suggestions for how to act in the workplace.

(1) Insist on doing everything through “channels.” Never permit shortcuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.



(2) Make “speeches.” Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your “points” by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate “patriotic” comments.



(3) When possible, refer all matters to committees, for “further study and consideration.” Attempt to make the committees as large as possible — never less than five.



(4) Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.



(5) Haggle over precise wordings of com­munications, minutes, resolutions.



(6) Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.



(7) Advocate “caution.” Be “reasonable” and urge your fellow-conferees to be “reasonable” and avoid haste, which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.



(8) Be worried about the propriety of any decision — raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated lies within the jurisdiction of the group or whether it might conflict with the policy of some higher echelon.



Do you want to know the funniest thing about this? This was an OSS Field Manual from 1944 describing how to go about SABOTAGING a business! (This particular list is on page 32 of the manual.) It was part of a presentation by two CIA operatives at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference about how organizations sabotage themselves.

Since I was looking for a book to read and I really like Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series - the next book of which is not coming out for some time - I picked up the first book in Butcher's better-known Dresden Files series two days ago. I'm almost done with it now.

There are a number of things I appreciate about this book. One is the narration, which is clear, witty and amusing. I tend to like my fiction best when it's written from a first-person view. It is, paradoxically, both more natural than third-person narration and more difficult to pull off effectively. (But I'm not getting into that whole discussion right now. Moving on...)

I also respect Butcher's ability to spin a noir-style yarn about magic and still keep it realistic. For instance, in an action movie, if the hero takes a bullet in the shoulder, it hurts and looks bloody but usually doesn't impede his arm function much if at all. If Harry Dresden, on the other hand, gets shot in the shoulder,¹ I know he's going to be seriously handicapped by it, just like someone would be in the real world.

On a related note, I approve of Butcher's treatment of magic. It's not like "alternate science," as is commonly the case in fantasy. Instead it's living, barely controllable, unpredictable, subject to a dozen different factors and conditions and incorporates social behaviors into its mechanics. Going into someone's house uninvited may be possible for a human wizard (it is apparently harmful to certain magical creatures, like vampires), but it will mess up his magic, even if the house in question has no magical protection.

There's a point in the book where Harry Dresden professes a religious faith in white magic, in spite of how unreliable it often is. Butcher's not to obvious about it, but he treats magic² like a religion. The man knows his history. These days we take it for granted that magic is distinct from religion, but it was not always so. Until the advent of modern fantasy, magic was "bad religion" - how Christianity (and other established religions, Christianity being the most obvious and pertinent example) viewed pagan or heretical ways of appealing to a higher power in an attempt to affect the world. Traditional Taoism and Shintoism have no concept of "magic" as we understand it, although we might describe some of their practices as magical and some of their religious figures to be magicians.³ The ancient Greeks and pre-Christian Romans didn't distinguish between magic and religion either, although they agreed that there were certain questionable ways of/reasons for invoking the power of the gods. Even then, what was considered "questionable" changed depending on who, when, and where you were, and precisely what you were trying to accomplish.

Whoops, went off on a tangent there. I meant to say that Jim Butcher treats Dresden's magic in a way that a person versed in magical history can appreciate. In brief, the practice of magic is also the practice of a religion, one that's primitive, messy and often scary. That's just the kind of magic I like.

¹ He probably will some time later in the series, or he'll get stabbed or something. I'd be surprised if he didn't.

² And, somewhat more explicitly, science.

³ My favorite example is the Japanese onmyoji. We would consider the onmyoji to be a royal magician, sort of like Merlin was to King Arthur, but he was actually a priest. Unfortunately the Wikipedia article on the subject doesn't site sources and is not well-written, but it should give you a general idea.

I have successfully reached the alum's house in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, where I will be staying this weekend - in spite of the incompetence and general assholery of Greyhound. I did not end up taking their bus to Philadelphia.

See, I purchased a non-refundable round-trip ticket between D.C. and Philadelphia. I picked up my ticket and was on line for the bus at 8:45, with the departure time at 9 AM. They let people board the bus, but then closed the door on the two people before me, without an explanation. It soon became evident that we were not getting on the bus we'd bought tickets for, even though it wasn't full (we later found out that they were leaving spare seats for people who got on at the next stop). Some of the other would-be Philly passengers made inquiries at the ticket desk: first I heard that the next train to Philly would be at 10:45 AM, which was acceptable if annoying. Then I heard 2:45 PM. The alum who is generously hosting me was expecting me in the late afternoon, so that would not do. I left the bus station.

I ended up buying an Amtrak ticket to Philly, which is a heck of a lot more expensive, but at least I knew I'd get a seat if I got a ticket.¹ I'm still not sure if I'll use my return Greyhound bus ticket, because I'm so mad at them. When I get back Dad will help me demand my money back. (He's better at yelling at people than I am.)

It wasn't all bad, though. When I got to Philly the weather was nice, although the sky was overcast. I went to my favorite yarn store near Rittenhouse Square - which is lovely this time of year, with all the flowering bushes - and found that they were selling small skeins of Koigu yarn for fifteen cents an ounce. For those of you who aren't total yarn addicts, Koigu is a really nice wool sock yarn. I got two skeins of a stormy purple-gray color, with which I can make a pair of crew socks, for $11.50. Normally I'd need to spend twice as much on enough Koigu to make full-size socks, so this was a good deal. Buying yarn also cheered me up after the whole Greyhound fuckwittery.

I had a grilled cheese sandwich at a Midtown cafe - Midtown is a kind of Philly institution, as restaurants go. On Monday, before I return home, I'll visit Reading Terminal Market, and maybe pay a surprise visit to my old office in Queen Village too, just to say hello. I know my boss and supervisor will still be there, but I'm not sure who else from my work days will still be around (turnover there is kind of high).

Anyway, I have May Day and dinner with tempus_aeterna to look forward to tomorrow! But the weather report says it's going to rain. Perhaps I should get an umbrella.

¹ Amtrak used to have unreserved tickets and oversell them from time to time, so you'd end up standing for part or all of the way, but at least you got on the damn train. Now they only sell tickets for the seats they actually have.

So. Went to a Seder at Hillel the other night, since I couldn't go home for Passover this year. It sucked. I went to the mostly English "interactive" Seder instead of the traditional one. At least at the traditional one there would have been fewer people and they would've been more into it (most of the people at this one were talking all the time), even if the food would've still sucked. Not only did they have lettuce instead of parsley for the karpas, but they had no matzah ball soup or gefilte fish. Well, I can get my own gefilte fish.

Some of you may know about the modern practice of pouring a cup for water for "Miriam's Well" as well as a cup of wine for Elijah. You know your Seder sucks when one cup of mixed wine and water does duty for both. The girls sitting next to me - graduating seniors, all - cut out before that part of the Seder to go bar-hopping. They invited me to join them but I said my Jewish guilt would be even greater if I didn't stay.

Seders at home in Maryland are usually a lot of fun. There is good food and, usually, guests. This year my paternal grandparents went to our family Seder (which is not unusual) and my brother's girlfriend, who is Catholic, joined as well (that is unusual). My brother said she enjoyed it. I would've liked to be there: my parents are kind of uncomfortable with my brother's girlfriend, for reasons I won't go into, and I bet they wouldn't have thought she'd join them for the Seder or that she'd enjoy it if she did. Okay, maybe that's not such a great reason to want to have been there. But I'd like to have been there for all the usual reasons, too.

Oh, and another Passover-related thing that I found depressing - the other day, I went to a local market to shop, and decided I should pick up some kosher-for-Passover food while I was there. I asked one of the employees about it and he had no idea what I was talking about (this would never have happened in New York, or Maryland, or even northern Virginia). He was nice and tried his best, but really had no clue. I had to explain Passover to him. I talked to the manager after I went through the checkout. He said the market didn't stock Passover-specific food anyway: there wasn't enough demand. I said that's okay, but I would have preferred to have heard that from the employee I asked straightaway. I hope the manager didn't think I was a total jerk or something: I think the lack of knowledge about Passover at all really annoyed me out of proportion.

Anyway. Come Friday, I will be leaving here with Dad. I need to pack up most of my stuff before then. I hope I can fit it all in the car.

This made me laugh, because I actually want to get a remote-control Dalek and use it to chase and generally freak out Roo.

Good news: Got a big tax refund, done with one of my two papers, found a better yarn store than the one I was going to and also got an Apple mouse, with right-click capability. And it's Bluetooth! No more messing around with a USB plug-in IR receiver.

Bad news: Bitch roommate has been a particular bitch lately. She is looking for a sublet for my room (she wanted to), I e-mailed to ask how it was going and I got a nasty response. So I sent her a reply detailing just how screwed up her behavior is. She responded that she'd stop treating me like a "petulant 12-year-old" when I stopped acting like one. I said her calling me petulant was like the pot calling the kettle black.

Then she accused me of eating her ice cream and said I had to pay her back for it. I said I hadn't touched her ice cream. I also said I would use a marker to write "H" on all the packages/cartons of my food so she would not get confused again (and I have done so).

Damn, I can't wait to move out of here.

Sometimes being a knitter is really awesome.

This morning, for instance, I got on the bus to campus earlier than usual. There was a woman there knitting something in the round. I asked her what she was making (a hat) and told her that I'm a knitter as well, currently working on a pair of socks. She invited me to sit down in the empty seat next to her and we chatted about yarn and knitting. I had my socks-in-progress in my backpack so I took them out to show her.

We introduced ourselves to each other - her name's Amy - and I told her about the Saturday afternoon undergraduate knitting circle that I recently started going to. I hope to see her there.

It's really cool for me that I can just start up a conversation like that. As some of you know, I've always had difficulty meeting and talking to people. But knitting makes it easy to - for example - talk to a total stranger on the bus because she's a knitter, too.

Some of you may recall that I said I had some trouble with one of my roommates a few years back. It's gotten slightly better, but I'm planning to move out anyway.

Our property manager wants us to make arrangements for subletting the place, if we're going to do that, and asked about us signing a lease for this year. When we started talking about it, the roommate in question said she got the impression I was planning to move out. I said I didn't know where she'd gotten this from. She and the other roommate said, rather ridiculously, that they'd gotten it from my cat, who doesn't get along with the other cats. The first roommate said she'd also told her friend she could move in here - without discussing it with me first. I said I didn't appreciate that but I didn't Have Words With Her like I probably should have.

Anyway. When my brother comes to help me move out most of my stuff, he will probably be helping me disassemble my furniture as well. There are a number of options for moving and storing it. I can have it go somewhere else and then move it to whatever new place I choose to live in. I contacted the property manager and asked if there were any other living situations under his purview opening up, and that I would prefer one where I could live by myself (no more of this roommate crap). I don't know if I could get one, although I would be content with less passive-aggressive roomies.

This is going to be a big hassle for me, but on the other hand, it will be a great relief to get out of here.

Here is some stuff I learned in Vail:

1. Get the right ski boots. If one of your feet is larger than the other, size for the larger foot. If you are an amateur, make sure to ask for flexible boots with lots of cushioning. And make sure they are snug but not so tight that they strangle your calves and cut off your circulation.


2. When standing or walking with ski boots on, don't lock your knees. That is of course the natural thing to do, but ski boots kind of force you into a different posture. You have to rely on your ankles - the front of the boots, rather - for support, not your knees.


3. When skiing it is natural to lean backwards or sort of squat defensively, but it will strain your muscles and make your skis harder to control. Stand up and lean forward a bit: it's safer and more comfortable.


4. Don't look at your skis. It will scare you and ruin your posture. Look ahead, like you would if you were driving a car.


5. Little kids, unlike adults, are not scared of going fast. They're the ones you have to watch out for on the ski runs. Them and the snowboarders.


6. Even though it's freakin' Vail, your mother will still be surprised at how expensive everything is.

( The more detailed version... )