Month: November 2001

of course, I did have to do a few little tweaks. y’know, I really like that design, even after all these months. it’s damn clean. I did find a little problem, which I should email Ev about – those darn ampersands.

a quick aside. ampersands destroyed my life when I was working at the museum, one of things I did was take care of mailing lists. well, one day I was trying to clean it up, and I noticed that there was no data entry standard. (yes, I really do notice that sort of thing, even now.) some couples were listed as George & Martha, while others would be George and Martha, with no rhyme or reason. (can you see what’s coming? if so, you are much smarter than I was then.) so I popped open the Excel file, and opened the find/replace dialog, typed “and” into one box, “&” in the other, and…yep, I hit “replace all” – which really screwed up all sorts of things.

S&ra, who lived on Fox Isl&, was the one who noticed it. she was actually quite good humored about it, and thank goodness she caught it before we sent the mailing!

I’ve moved all my work on the novel over to this weblog. yes, I am using the award-winning epersonae blogger template, thanks for asking!

what I’m thankful for: leftover pumpkin pie.

lost in yesterday’s burst of adrenaline: the turkey. nope, it didn’t get cooked, and has gone back into the freezer for future consumption. thank goodness for the roast!

but we had a good time anyways. Kat brought down her PS2, and we played Dead On Arrival 2 (in shifts, one on one) – I actually did pretty well, and had fun too. Watched Shrek, which was excellent, quite funny & gorgeous technology besides. Also saw Fight Club.

* * *

How’s that working out for you […] being clever?

I’d really like to ask the author of the book that very question. It has the same quirky narrative structure & the same sort of “off-beat” characters as the one book of his that I’ve actually read, and the filmic style worked quite well with the narrative.

However…I was left quite cold by the whole thing. (And it dragged a bit in the middle, too.) This is the first (and hopefully last) time that I’ve said this, but it feels all wrong in light of 9.11. Here’s what I mean: not that the blowing up of buildings was in poor taste, but the whining was. For fuck’s sake, so much angst spent on how pathetic these men are because they were raised by women (more on that in a sec.), and because they have slave-like job…boo hoo. Compared to 99.99% of all the people who have ever lived on our muddy little globe, just about anybody in America lives like a god. Okay, okay, the service industry is annoying, and so are office jobs, but…. As I say, it left me cold.

And of course I found the black-clothed Project Mayhem grits ludicrous and annoying. Yay, nothing better for humanity that a bunch of men in black, not getting laid, blowing stuff up. (Wow, why not just become fundamentalist Muslims, guys?) Our hero would’ve been better off sticking with the support groups.

As for the women…oh, I forgot! There was only one. (Why does this movie bring out so much sarcasm in me?) And the lovely Helena Bonham-Carter was turned into a charicature of herself, a hag & a weirdo, except, I think, for a moment there at the end. I honestly don’t think the author “gets” women too well, not taking this and the other book into account.

So, yeah, not too thrilled with that one. I’m also sort of surprised at the accolades it seems to have gotten. (Why, for example, does Kat like it so much?) Perhaps it’s just a relic of its time, and the time has changed. (Y’know what, tho, I don’t totally believe that.)

I’m taking a little break in my Thanksgiving preparations. I don’t know why, but I kind of like this whirlwind feeling. adrenaline junkie? or just a holiday weirdo? (only her hairdresser knows for sure!)

speaking of which, I’ve got a bunch of photos to drop onto their site.

Two links on the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

okay, so how do I integrate this stuff?

neighbors are playing music quite loud. I’ll give them until 10, but after that, the music is going to have to go down!

Kat & (I think) Mark are coming down for Thanksgiving treats. I really should be cleaning, cooking, and/or grocery shopping. whatever. 🙂

thankgivings I have known

1996, as in many other things, was a high-water mark for Thanksgiving. we had to flip my bed up against the wall to fit a long table in the apartment. the turkey was cooked at Grey’s and brought over by Raul (because Grey had sold his car). the dinner was “brought to you by the Cranberry Advisory Board” – much to Edith’s dismay.

The only thing I remember of thanksgiving ’95 was the pain of conjunctivitis. ow.

In my childhood, Thanksgiving was one of the sacred tradition holidays: dinner at Grandma’s. The same turkey, rolls, peas with pearl onions, etc., etc. We always brought pie…pumpkin and mincemeat. When I was in my early teens, Grandma D. decided she didn’t want to host Thanksgiving anymore: too much work. Not that I blame her, of course. (Oddly enough, she continued to host Xmas for some time.) So Aunt Jane said she’d host, but no kids. WTF? Okay, so I wasn’t a kid, but Elizabeth was. Mom decided it would be more fun if we went to the beach. Rock on! That was the best. thanksgiving. ever. At least, during those years…except maybe for the next Thanksgiving, spent in Sacramento. (I wonder where Mom is this year. I really should call her.)

This is the first time that Chad & I have “done” Thanksgiving together. And I’m actually not stressed about it…sort of to my own surprise.

(hmmm. I hear Eurythmics thru the wall. maybe this isn’t so bad.)

Now I’m envisioning the book itself.

Oh, and another thing – I asked Chad the question below, and his answer was “in music” – which makes me think about Aila learning music/programming from Marin (and her later connection with Reboa in that field), and maybe there’s something to that. but I don’t yet know what.

mmmm. revision is good. knowing what the f*** happens at the end is good.

okay, so if you have a society which is deeply computerized & networked, how do you hide information? writing with pen & paper, of course.

the Imperium knew all along that the [mysterious substance] was hidden on AS431. somehow, (a) Marcus figured that out, and (b) the lord-generals figured out what the “Hareti” were. (interestingly enough, they didn’t see fit to inform their king-emperor.) all of the exploration and scientific work on the planet was driven by the desire to eventually control the planet, knowing that the efforts to extract [m.s.] would be too obvious to be hidden under the usual fictions (Haret, etc.). Marcus keeps a log of things, as he figures it out, using pen and paper. Which is what the investigators are actually looking for, under the guise of investigating the Aila incident. Because, of course, Marcus is actually part of the “resistance” – which comes back in II, with Saithe’s disdain for Marcus & vice versa. Marcus instructs Aila first to hide the log when he leaves the 2nd time, then gives it to her when she goes to Ult. (Why doesn’t she just read it? – because it’s written in code, perhaps his own invented language? which she might decipher, over time.)

All of which should be woven gently thru the story, w/out being heavy-handed. (yipes.) But I do think this is the missing element.

oh yeah, I’m so cool. I was ransacking my kitchen, not able to remember where the hell that peanut butter cookie recipe was, and then….

well, just try searching for “peanut butter cookie” on my home page. that totally rocks.

Full Disclosure – remember to show this to Chad.