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Jul. 2nd, 2009 @ 11:48 am (no subject)
Things No Story Was Ever Improved By (a non-inclusive list)

An epilogue with a baby in it. Double points if the baby is named for the honored dead. Triple points if the baby is a symbol of the new era.

Plain protagonist revealed to actually be a beauty who didn't know it or had to grow into it. Double points if it's revealed in the epilogue.

Prequel novels that expend words to explain or connect things to the already-written novels. Especially in epilogue form.

A POV character who exists to provide POV and nothing else. Double points if this is done to avoid giving a villain POV.

Calling a rabbit a smeerp. I know it's in the Turkey City Lexicon, but the book I finished this morning had at least two pointlessly renamed animals, and I was caught offguard by the fact that one of them turned out to be a bird. Strangely, the author did not renamed horses. There is an exception for oliphaunts and other worldbuilding-appropriate renamery.

Arbitrary romance subplots.

Telling the same events as an existing novel, but from a different POV. This does not mean the first novel written is the good one. Double points if it's a True Story of the Three Little Pigs situation.

Sudden genre change midbook or between trilogies. If you start out fantasy, stay fantasy. Pern is both an exception to and an example of this rule, mostly because it was always SF but the genre-change books annoy me.

Letting the villain commit suicide. It's cheating.

InterCaps.

A Poser cover.

A title that consists entirely of a made-up word. Double points if it's someone's proper name.

[insert your contribution here]
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Jul. 1st, 2009 @ 12:39 am crowing
It has come to my attention that I did not crow loudly enough.

I turned in the final copy, the fancy-paper copy, of my master's thesis last Thursday. They have not emailed me to say it fails the formatting.

Tomorrow, I'm taking my car in to pick up the box of deskstuff I packed up this evening.

As of forty minutes ago, I am not paid by the University of Iowa.

Big scary future.

Me, with all the same worries I've always had.

The proper ending to this entry is, "Bring it," but a) that's hubris and b) I am not actually all that confident. I'll settle for, "I never have to format this master's thesis again," and be happy.
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Jun. 23rd, 2009 @ 07:52 am random
A problem with henna is that I make too much of it, and then feel bad throwing it away. My attention span just isn't up to it lately, at least not without company. Another problem is that while it can look really good, I am still learning how to design things properly, and inspiration does not alway strike.

On the other hand, I rolled a really good cone last night, and it didn't squirt out at the seams. Packing tape wins!

In other news, the high today is 95F. Same as yesterday. Yesterday, I was back in my house by eleven in the morning and did not leave until nine at night, then only to water the plants. Those of you who live in more tropical climes may mock me now. It is June. August is going to suck.

A newfound problem with heat: my hair goes up more easily when dirty. Flood Week last year, I just didn't wash it at all because my water heater was broken anyway. I'm trying not to get into that habit again, but when I see a string of hot days... and then ick. Some people can do the not-washing-hair thing. I am not one of them.

I learned to knit on Saturday. It is fun. The Catina keeps defending me against the dreaded yarn.
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Jun. 18th, 2009 @ 11:21 pm as they stand
Summer Rules, as they are now, meaning somewhat incomplete:

1) Eat.

2) Drink a lot. If it counts as a meal substitute-- meaning chocolate milk-- it does not count as a drink. Buy more orange juice than seems necessary and keep the water coming.

3) Jello is neither food nor drink but a way to cool off.

4) No, seriously, eat. Take whatever steps are necessary to do so during daylight hours. "I will eat later," is not the same as eating. Buy bread before it's gone, keep books on the table, eliminate as many obstacles to easy food as possible, but eat.*

5) Turn the air conditioning cooler at night.

6) It is better to open the house at night and shut it during the day, if the day's borderline, especially the sunroom window with the metal roof.

7) Do not bake without air conditioning.

8) Eating? Has to happen.

9) Long skirt, hair up, stay in the shade, and try to walk past the parking garage because there's always cool air flowing out. Don't walk during the hot afternoon. Don't do anything. Nap. There are times for running errands and this is not one of them.

10) Drive in the morning.


*no eating disorder, really, just a lifelong ambivalence toward food.
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Jun. 18th, 2009 @ 09:02 pm summer rules
It got hot yesterday.

I have had two days to remember summer rules, or make them up again since so many of my usual rules have fallen by the wayside. Tomorrow I'll go to the store and buy jello. I'll buy more pajama shorts and make sure to drink water. I will eat.

Because the only thing worse than dropping-- and I'm not there yet, don't worry-- is knowing that I did everything possible to bring it about.

I wish I got the same rush out of enduring the summer as I do the winter.
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Jun. 17th, 2009 @ 05:24 pm story!
"Totipotent" is up at Nature Futures. Not everyone can read it, but those of you at universities and other Nature-subscribey places are in luck.

I didn't know it was up, so I waited until the hour, when Leechblock lets me see the page, to read my weekly flash allowance. When I saw my name it was a physical jolt. Whoo!
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Jun. 17th, 2009 @ 01:03 pm book recs
I'm giving blood tomorrow, assuming I have any blood at all to give.

I need a book. Yes, the best nap of the year so far was while giving platelets, but I have not been sleep-deprived recently. Yes, I could watch TV, but it's been a while and with my luck, I'll get bad bad reality TV rather than mediocre educational/sciencey programming. Yes, I could bring any one of the books currently on my to-read shelf, pile, and kitchen table. Yes, I could reread something.

These are all very good ideas, and I may well try one of them someday.

Ideas for a book I can get from the library today and read tomorrow?
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Jun. 10th, 2009 @ 11:48 pm things that make a day good
1) Waking up well, either before the alarm or snoozing with the Catina. Her way of waking me up is to cuddle harder. This is also her way of showing mild annoyance. I do not think she is well-versed in cat-human communication.

2) Not having to make lunch.

3) Not having to put on sunblock.

4) Weather. Rain, wind, thunderstorm, bright shiny day, let it be interesting.

3+4=5) Rainy umbrella-wielding day, which means I don't put on sunblock or decide whether or not I need the big umbrella.

6) Accomplishing something concrete.

7) Extravagant Food. Recently, sushi. Friday, ice cream to celebrate the latest cohort of compstakers (comps = quals). Sometimes, gouda and fancy crackers.

8) Wearing the good socks and/or the good underwear.

9) Not fighting with my hair, if I decide to put it up. I can tell what kind of day I'm having by how fed up I get with my hair. Vanity, thy name is my own. Also impatience.

10) Good mail. Today's postcard saying Dinotopia 3 was in? Good mail. I couldn't help but smile at the first two-page spread of Waterfall City, and I'm still smiling thinking of it. Cards from Mom, sometimes good mail. If I'm sending things out, rejections are good mail, especially if I already know where the story's going next. I have not been sending things out lately. But still.

Any others?
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Jun. 8th, 2009 @ 01:16 pm secondary
I am trying to think of things as not being DONE so much as not-primary. There's still work to do, but it's not only my job to do it anymore.

I feel DONE anyway, and I resent having to do work and make myself vulnerable again and again.

This is not entirely related to another PCB exposure. Bottles broke in the walk-in fridge, which became a freezer. The wise scientist would have a) worn gloves and b) had the already-exposed colleagues do it. Me? Skirt, legs, hands, shoes, whatever. I'll ask the toxicologists how dead I am when I see them this afternoon.
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Jun. 4th, 2009 @ 11:28 pm rewards
I am bad at remembering what rewards I have promised myself. Usually, I buy them early or forget entirely.

Rewards for getting through this, which I get even though I am not yet employed nor housed after the summer:
Third Dinotopia book. In hardcover. I would live in Dinotopia.
More books. Still up in the air which ones. Contingent on Prairie Lights either having them or the specific employee not making me feel weird going up with a list of ISBNs.
Frames for Wiscon art from last year. Really, this is only one frame, then a bunch of ribbon or paper or something for the bookmarks in an invisible floating-type frame. The art has been languishing on my dresser for a year now, mostly under a pile of shirts.
Sushi. Eventually. I still have Extravagant Food Money. Friends took me out after a while the day of my defense and we got ice cream.

Any other suggestions?
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Jun. 3rd, 2009 @ 06:18 pm done
Okay, done with thesis defense stuff. Still to come: DifEq, quiz and final; redoing bits of thesis that the committee didn't like, et cetera.

But still.

Done.
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Jun. 2nd, 2009 @ 09:42 pm it is time
After the paper, the presentation seems like nothing. I'm not worried. I'm not working particularly hard. The structure is broken broken broken, but I'm not sure how to fix it.

I made an appointment with my Person Whose Job It Is To Listen To Me, and misread my handwriting on the calendar so I missed it. This is okay. I don't think it would help to get worked up about things the way I did last week, though at least this time I wouldn't be PMS-amplified.

I had my last coffee. After this, gotta cut back. And my last Quizno's meal because while they used to be kind of a low-pressure treat, now I am sick of everything that smacks of staying at work.

Wednesday, 1:00.
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Jun. 2nd, 2009 @ 07:26 am living on coffee instead of food
I wish I were joking.

Draft turned in. Presentation in progress.

I want to say I am never doing this again but I know I might. I'll just try to do it better.
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May. 31st, 2009 @ 05:58 pm no more
I think I'm done with the writing for at least a few days.

I don't feel triumphant-- I don't remember feeling that way after the Chapter of Doom, either. Just done. I didn't fix the things that drove me crazy last night. I didn't fix the things that really bugged me before. I didn't fix things in general. I just... said they were there.

I have a table titled something like "Confidence in Data", with 'yes', 'no', and 'some' values.

It's not good enough.

I just don't care about it any more.
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May. 30th, 2009 @ 09:01 am plan for today
Breakfast, Knitter's. Will continue blowing my eating-out budget. This is the good thing about keeping the budget. I know I have money for this.

Spending it would not normally be okay, but if I don't get my coffee cake I might cry.

Come home. Do dishes. While first batch is drying-- look, it's been a while-- clean rest of kitchen, catbox, possibly vacuum I hate vacuuming. If at all possible, do second batch of dishes.

The timing is crappy on the apartment showing; I can't go in to work until things are done, but by the time things are done, it'll be too close for going in to work to be useful, since the Catina and I will spend that hour or so at a friend's house. She will be miserable in her box. I will be moderately miserable carrying her.

Then home, hope that the house was not so filthy they hate me, drop cat, head to work, have afternoon coffee, fix thesis.

At least Sunday won't be as hectic. I mean, yes, thesis, and I have a ready-made carrot-- friends who need garden help but will not let me come until the thesis is done-- and still cleaning, but the house will already be pretty much clean, and Monday is my adviser's deadline for things being done.

***

I feel better this morning. Yesterday, the last straw was the mailbeast fail. It happens more often than you'd think. I put my mail out facing the street; I can see it from half a block away. But if I don't have mail coming, it's pretty much even odds whether the mail will go out.
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May. 30th, 2009 @ 12:18 am good things
Furminated the Catina. I don't brush her enough. I don't have enough hair to knit a kitten, but I'm definitely up to a hamster or two.

I really like this laptop. It pleases me. It clicks nicely. It has issues, but every computer does-- at least this one turns on when I want it to, and it makes me happy.

I am going to have peppers coming out my ears once they start producing. Right now, I have eight in pots. Another three or five are in the seedling tray, finally used to bright sun, and, well, I have only two more pots. I'll ask my downstairs neighbor if she's going to do anything gardenlike now that the semester's over.

I put ribbons on my pattern tamer magnets. They fit almost perfectly-- close enough that I worried about it.

My adviser told me that I write very well and that part of the reason my group did so well in Sustainable Systems was my presentation skills. We joked a bit about me going into science writing. I really am good at this sort of thing. My years of speech team have paid off handsomely.
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May. 29th, 2009 @ 06:19 pm but it pours
The work I spent last night fixing and writing up may not be legitimate. My conclusions might not work because I didn't properly analyze the controls.

My adviser and I disagree on my graphs. The graphs I am most proud of, the ones that I feel balance ease of reading and transfer of knowledge, do not please him. I redid a lot of graphs. I have more to change.

They're showing my apartment tomorrow. I have to clean tonight and tomorrow, and tomorrow is for work, because even though I wanted it done Wednesday, even though I started today with the plan of being done, absolutely printed-out done, by now, I am not done. I am not done because people keep pointing out things I've done wrong or not done at all, or things I shouldn't do, or ways to consider the data, and so what I did last night-- what I stayed up late to do, what I felt awesome doing, what made me feel like I was legitimately working-- is kind of meaningless.

This wouldn't feel as bad as it does if it were last week, but I procrastinated.

I hate knowing that this is at least seventy-five percent my own doing.

I have to clean. I have to buy food. I've spent almost twice as much on eating out this month as I budgeted for, and even though I'm forgiving myself all work-related food-- almost-daily coffee, Quizno's for lunch-- it still feels bad because you know? I don't have a place to live in two months. I don't have a job yet. I don't have anything but a thesis, and one-third of that thesis is not presentable.

And the mailman didn't pick up my mail this morning.
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May. 26th, 2009 @ 09:24 pm good things
It's a nice rainy day, very good to hear on the roof. I don't need to water my peppers.

Said peppers are doing pretty well, considering. I have eight plants right now, and I could put more of the seedlings in if I wanted.

Morning glories are coming up. I think they're all the new seeds, but I'm not sure.

My violet is blooming. How many times have I said that as a good thing? It always makes me think of good karma.

The Catina has claimed my computer chair, since I'm not using it lately, and doesn't mind if I spin it so I can reach her furry ears. The Catina is more good things than the violets.
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May. 26th, 2009 @ 03:36 pm sigh
Whine.

Whiiiine.

I knew today would be long. I have a DifEq test tomorrow-- studying will consist of making my cheat sheet, which can be two full sides of a page, and the way I can write, that's enough for example problems, the quadratic formula, a big DO NOT DO SIGNS IN YOUR HEAD, and a table of integrals on the back.

Which, you know, good. I am good at the parts of DifEq that are actually DifEq rather than integrating things. And we get to factor! It's junior high algebra, but it makes me so happy. I have good memories of factoring in eighth grade.

Unfortunately, I am freshly back from a meeting with the actual knowledgeable folks about my data... and yeah, already screwed up. Well screwed up. Extreeeemely screwed up.

I copied the wrong two columns, I am told, and while I haven't figured out how this happened, I can see it. Copying and pasting on autopilot, not looking at the calculations until later, assuming I had the right two columns, very easy to screw up.

This is the second step of my data analysis. I'd gotten all the way to graphing my sucktacular results.

I am told that my metabolites are also messed up, but in a different way maybe. We'll see.

So for the remainder of the day, I will:
feel sorry for myself, consider crying, fight it back
whine to others
set up the template again, this time checking
do one time point
check
check again
check against the other times I did this and see if anything looks better
get a coffee
do the other four time points
make my DifEq sheet.

I am lucky; I have been forgiven in advance for not messing with the metabolites. I have only ten files with nine or ten spreadsheets each to copy, paste, calculate, and generally fix.

It's a stupid, stupid mistake to have made. I should have known to check for it.

Whine.
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May. 26th, 2009 @ 07:19 am whine
I really hate the feeling that I have already screwed up. It happens with experiments-- why do you think I spend months planning a five-day exposure? Until I start, I can control it. Until I start, I can't do anything irrevocably wrong.

I screwed up the 136 experiment a lot.

I'm trying not to think in shoulds. I should have studied for DifEq, I should have done the homework, I should have gone to bed earlier so I would be at school by now. No. Wrong thinking. Bad thinking.

It's going to be a long day. I hope I haven't already screwed up.
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