Recent Entries

The lady is armored,

It is 23 degrees Fahrenheit outside, which makes this the warmest day in the past week. It is also snowing incredibly heavily, which is actually the reason for the rise in temperature. It's incredibly pretty in certain areas of the city today and incredibly slushy and gross in others, which is the nature of snow as well.

I am currently wearing:
-woolen socks
-waterproofed hiking boots
-thick red nylon leggings, footless
-even thicker black knitted leggings, footless
-an adorable cotton skirt of two layers
-a sleeveless shirt
-a thin purple sweater

Last night I watched MULHOLLAND DR at Doc Films, which was incredibly strange. I kind of expected that, but honestly, it was really beyond my expectations of weirdness. I'm fairly convinced that a great deal of the film was a dream sequence, but beyond that I can only take away the fact that Naomi Watts is an excellent actress. The whole film could be more comprehensible if maybe two scenes were added explaining what the hell was going on, but there was some really incredible moments of tension and suspense, and I think that it was worth five bucks for the cultural experience.

(no subject)

Back in the Windy City once more. I am only now getting up, having given myself yesterday and the best part of today to get my strength back.

Anyhoo, things to do:

-get mail
-get food
-pay rent (now, you don't have to worry about the check bouncing)
-reregister for the regenstein locker (this is a bit time sensitive)
-get syllabi for classes if possible- start ordering books online asap
-check registration for the orthodox aesthetics
-look over your budget again and make sure that you are keeping things inside budget
-look for internships and summer work

Appalled

In a horrifying twist, Logan Airport no longer seems to offer free wireless internet. It certainly did the last time I flew, this summer.

This begs the question, of course- how are you online, then? There is temporary free wireless, sponsored by some company who will not garner the free press that mentioning them here would give them, and this is really, really quite annoying. I thought Logan was one of the last free wireless airport holdouts, but it appears to have gone over to the dark side.

So, as you might have guessed, I am headed back to the Windy City and the new quarter before me. Huzzah!

In another move of cunning, my overpacked bag weighed exactly 50 pounds, the limit for bags without having to pay an additional overweight charge.

Random thought- wouldn't it be better for the airlines to stop charging for baggage, and thus encourage more people to check luggage and thus make it easier to get things through the security check? I wonder if there would be some federal money for this....

Welcome to the future

How did I spend the last day of 2009?

I slept in, got some of the torpid stench of the airport off my skin, made a breakfast of whatever random food was left in the house from before we left on vacation to South Carolina, and then looked up the library's hours for the next few days. It turned out, they were indeed open today, but closing early and not going to be open tomorrow, so I trundled off through the falling snow to the library and dumped all my books off. Sadly, most of them are unread, but I did get to the conclusion of Henry Jenkin's Convergence Culture .

I set my laundry to going, and headed out.

Despite my best efforts to be careful, the snow was of that determined sticky variety that clings to itself, the ground, your clothes, and even ice, making the going perilous and my knee bloody before I made it to the library. Adding insult to injury, I landed on it several times on the way back to my house.

On the plus side, however, my newly acquired and brimmed hat worked wonderfully to keep the falling snow off my glasses, and that makes me a happy girl. Cold, wet, and bloody by the time I got to the library, but happy. The mitten/fingerless gloves also worked well beyond expectations, and were quite snazzy.

It's been 2010 for about twenty minutes now, and I have called My Boy (TM) to gloat at him about the face that I am now in THE FUTURE, while he is in the past. He attempted to convince me that time was an illusion, but I know that's just an argument people have made in THE PAST, and told him so.

I resolve nothing, as I am really not inclined to keep these kind of promises made to myself at arbitrary intervals. But, I will note, that I start this year where I want to be in every sense but the absolutely physical, and with firm intentions of getting back to that soon as a well, too. Much in the world is wrong and bad, but it will be alright, someday.

(no subject)

Arrived safely in a resort hotel that is far in excess of what I was hoping for from my rather frugal mother.

Rather fuzzy round the edges because of alcohol intake and the wonderfulness of my siblings.

Inexcusable, but I will be posting lyrics now, as I have just watched for the first time a non-stoppy rendition of Lim's Firefly fanvid, "While We Have the Sun", which is beautiful and a little hurty on your soul if you are in the right mood for having your soul made a little hurty. Which I am, being boozy and several hundred miles from my boy.

Sweet Christ on a cracker, I am pathetic.

( While We Have the Sun )

On the Road again....

Queue the Willy Nelson, ne?

The family is off to the supposedly warmer climes of South Carolina, and that means I am up and ready bright and early to get my little buns out the door.

I'm actually kind of pleased that our original plans to fly on Christmas got stymied- the tradition of my family is to unwrap and enjoy presents at a leisurely pace, and having to curtail that and get ready to fly out fast seemed like it would really have ruined the mood.

We got my father an iPod Touch under the impression that, since he is a bit of a hacker, he would be able to make the necessary machinations with his Linux box to get iTunes up and running, but after several hours yesterday that seems to have been put aside. I feel bad about that: I thought it would just be a matter of installing something extra to get iTunes to run on Ubuntu, but it seems that we may have gotten my father a particularly nice and shiny rock for Christmas.

On Christmas traditions:
Christmas Eve: Lasagna. It must be Lasagna. This is because my father was almost half Italian. And I do not mean that he's 7/8's Italian- I mean he's totally Irish and it was a very near miss on being Italian.
After the feast, one present- not one of the big/good ones, but a small one. (Brother boy usually handles the doling out of presents around the circle, and his anxiety about making sure that we like out gifts usually means that he hands out his presents first. We try to limit that a little- what's the fun if he doesn't have to squirm like the rest of us?)

Christmas morn- The kids are usually too lazy to move in the morning for presents or not, but since we were once small and spritely, the rule was long ago established that you can unload your stocking before the others get up, but you can't open any presents. This worked pretty well if you discount the year that I got my stocking at 4 am, demolished it, and then moved on to my sister's.

Brother acts as the gift-monkey and hands presents out to everyone in a round, and then one person opens them at a time while the others coo. There is very little open animosity- if you don't like a present, you generally approach the person later and get a receipt to exchange it. For the most part in these later years, people have gotten pretty good at figuring out what other people want in terms of presents, so there are very few moments of real unhappiness anymore.

And I could probably go on, but I have no yet gotten any coffee in my belly.

The Loot

MacBook Pro 13 laptop: name, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
various and sundry undergarments
a small book on the stupid things people say
Coraline, the film
Sweeney Todd, with Johnny Depp
wondrous and wooley socks
various and sundry delicious candies
a handmade casserole dish, made by my dear sister

Name of the Laptop- I'm torn between calling it the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, and calling it just Nell, for the main heroine of that same little book.

EDIT:
The little puter has been christened "the Primer" and all goes according to plan.

Merry Christmas, motherfuckers!

Testing, testing...

New laptop, makes me rather happy. I am currently running like six programs and transferring files from my external harddrive, a feat which would stymie my old 'puter like no other, and yet, New!Puter is fine. Oh, the joys of new gobs of RAM.

I really should think of a name for the new puter, but for the moment, the only thing that comes to mind is "the precious," a la Gollum, and I don't think I want to add a new set of oddities to my current life.

But, then again, he is a verra, verra shiney new puter.

(no subject)

Arrived home safely, and exhausted: what is it about sitting in one place for several hours that it so incredibly tiring?

Traveling places when there is no one looking out for me in the place I'm leaving. Irrational, but it keeps happening. I was texting my dad all the way through the trip to the airport.

me: Waiting for bus. Cold and bored.
Dad: That will make your arrival all the more heartwarming.
me: bah, humbug!

me: yay bus!
Dad: I love your travel updates. :)

me: On blue line. Yay L!

me: (at airport) Second gate change done. Coffee ineffective taken orally. Considering IV drip.
Dad: Try inhaling.

Saying goodbye to My Boy was a little schmoopy and sad- he still is entertaining his parents, so he's sending me updates about stuff.

Loot count so far:
1 (one) new green eyeshadow from Sephora
1 pair (one) leather snow boots
3 pairs (three) black gym socks that pass for dress socks if you don't look too close.
1 (one) repaired, cleaned and fitted bequest ring from my grandmother- it's actually quite lovely.

(no subject)

Leaving in the morning. Home for Christmas.

Current Music: Finale - When Love is Found/It Feels Like Christmas - Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Ghost of Christmas Present

Sweet, sweet freedom

I have completed my last paper! I am done!

Current plans- going to get a drink with the last person at the Div school who I know to still be around, and later meeting up with My Boy.

I would write something interesting and clever, but at this moment, I am really just sort of basking in the lovely feeling of not having anything to do of a serious nature, and having completed my damned paper.

I honestly might consider going to bed, but the possibility of actually speaking to someone is shockingly appealing at the moment.

I'm packed, as much as I can be for the fact that I am going to be around for another day, and I basically just have to hang out tomorrow, dump the trash, mail some things, and give My Boy the milk, sour cream, and bread that I can't expect will last the two weeks I'm gone. And, honestly, clean house a little because things have gotten a little gross during the time when all the occupants were stressed out for finals and getting things done.

I'm having dinner again with My Boy and his parents again tomorrow night. It's likely to be the last time I see him before I leave. Poo.

I really kind of wish I were the type of person able to get a paper done before its due, but really, finals bring out the procrastinator in me. If I had been able to get this sucker done a few days earlier, I could have spent more time with the boy, but as it is, its done and I will be back soon enough.

But he says he's going to meet me at the airport when I come back to Chicago. :D

Meeting the Parents.

As in, tomorrow I am going to meet the people who gave birth to and raised MyBoy.

Anyone have any advice on the issue?

Current Music: Finale - When Love is Found/It Feels Like Christmas - Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Ghost of Christmas Present

Entry tags:

"Madam, I'm Adam." "Funnily enough, so am I."

Everyone is named Adam.

So, reading and writing one last paper (and oh, internet, why does it seem like everyone else is already done with finals? Are you trying to make me sad?)

This paper is on Irenaeus, for whom one of the major things that Christ accomplished in the Incarnation is the recapitulation of all things, summing creation from beginning to end in one person, and perfecting it. This is particularly egregious in his thoughts on the role of Christ as that of a "second Adam," who was supposed to come and redeem the humanity by doing the opposite of the first Adam, e.g. being obedient to die on the cross (a tree) while Adam had been disobedient in regards to not eating the forbidden fruit from a tree.

You know how things come in threes? I'm reading about Christ as a Second Adam, and taking a break, I poke around tvtropes, and I find something that was already booted around in my brain- Mary Shelley called Frankenstein's monster (who is not named Frankenstein, unless you're in movie or a later work where he is named Frankenstein) Adam. As in, a second Adam.

So that's Second Adam number two. And it's a coincidence, but it makes me wonder, honestly, if she had known about Irenaeus' writings. It wouldn't be impossible- Against Heresies was in publication for centuries. More likely, given the story, she just borrowed it from Adam #1, who also had a rather famous falling out with his creator, and used that.

And then I'm popping around, trying to get my fix of Harry/Marcone before Yuletide opens and lets out the new crop (30 requests in The Dresden Files bookverse alone! Woohoo!), and I revisited The Dresden Omens, by

shiplizard, which features a crossover between The Dresden Files and Good Omens.

The Antichrist was named Adam, too, in Good Omens.

Just let that sink in. Three Second Adams. Three. Really? Really? People, a meaningful name is a wonderful thing, but there are limits to all good things.

Actually, this kind of makes me want to write a paper on the use of religiously-themed names as a method of characterization/ literary heritage, but that would be kind of insane as I have yet to finish the first paper. But enough time wasting, back to work.

Current Music: When Love Is Gone - Martina McBride

the return of the Mush

I made again today the strange lentil-based mush that got me through so much time in Austria. I present, for your delectation, the barest outline of what might pass for a recipe

In a large sauce pot with a lid:

Saute a chopped yellow onion and a few cloves of garlic, if that's your thing, in olive oil until onions begin to become transparent. If you want to put in mushrooms, this is a good time to do that. Add rosemary and thyme, and anything else you might like.

Pour in a can of red kidney beans. Do not drain the beans, you want the brothy stuff that comes with them.

Add a cup or two of pre-washed red lentils, and add about a cup or two of water to the pot to let them soak. You can sub in broth for the water if you like.

Cover pot, and set simmer until lentils are cooked to your taste. Serve hot, with a little bit of butter or sour cream. If you want to get portable, you can slather it on toast as well.

Current Music: Room In Your Heart - Honeydew and Beaker

Entry tags:

myfic

Study Break #1

TITLE: Study Break #1
AUTHOR: kitewithfish
FANDOM: Original fiction
CHARACTERS: Mine, please mention if you want to borrow.
PAIRINGS: About six and a half, if you squint, but nothing explicit.
RATING: PG-13 for one swear.
GENRE: Fluff
SUMMARY: Dance party in the library.
WARNINGS: Embarrassment, one swear.
WORD COUNT: C.800
DISCLAIMER: These do not belong.... wait. Wait! They do belong to me!
Strike that.
( There were days when all the snootiness associated with going to a high profile college really got to Kyle, if he were to tell the truth. )

Xposted to personal journal as well.

Current Music: Angels We Have Heard On High - Aretha Franklin

(no subject)

Testing, testing

Checking out a client- please hold.

Entry tags:

Lexical Gap

Title: Lexical Gap
Author:

kitewithfish, that would be me.
Characters: Hayy ibn Yaqzan (Alive, son of Awake)/ Absal
Rating: G
Genre: Gen
Warnings: Acknowledges the existence of m/m sexual relationship. Nonexplicit.
Word Count: c. 900

This fic is based off of characters in Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl's The Philosophical Tale of Hayy ibn Yaqzan, first published in the 12th century in Spain. The Philosophical Tale is itself a fanfiction of Avicenna's 11th century Persian Recital of Hayy ibn Yaqzan.
Both are available in English since the 16th century. Spellings vary. Slash goggles make ibn Tufayl's version significantly more enjoyable.

( I do not have the words. )

Current Music: Umbrella - Brave Horatius

Things That I, and others of Swelles, have learned from books

Things that I (read: various Swelles people) have learned from books.
1. Never say you'll do a favor until you know what it is. (Talking with Dragons)
2. The most distinct and carrying part of a whisper is the "s" sound, so for ultimate quietness, lisp when you whisper (The Last Battle)
3. "Always distrust the man who looks you straight in the eyes. He wants to prevent you from seeing something. Look for it." (Gaudy Night)
4.don't eat too much honey or you'll get stuck in rabbit's front door (winnie the pooh)
5. never give a mouse a cookie (if you give a mouse a cookie)
6. everybody poops (everybody poops)
7. Bring your towel (Hitchhiker's Guide)
8. Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything: 42 (Hitchhiker's)( And the List goes on )

Current Music: He'll Be Back For Solstice - HP Lovecraft Historical Society

From a list of recommended reading for a young sci fi/fantasy reader

Sister Light, Sister Dark and White Jenna--by Jane Yolen
Goose Chase by Patrice Kindl

The Crimson Petal and the White (nine-hundred-pages with a compelling heroine who happens to be a prostitute in Victorian London; accordingly contains explicit sexual content), and Wide Sargasso Sea--if she's read Jane Eyre. If she hasn't, well, that's got a bit of feminist bent for its time.

he Silver Wolf, by Alice Borchardt-

Bloody Jack series

Robin McKinley's Sunshine (also involves vampires) and

Armageddon's Children by Terry Prachett

he Alienest and The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr.

Little Sister by Kara Dalkey and the sequel is neat because it's historical fantasy set in Japan.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.

Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Hero's Song and Fire Arrow by Edith Pattou.

Megan McCafferty's Jessica Darling
Also, since it seems she's into supernatural/paranormal/slightly odd characters, there is always Annette Curtis Clause Silver Kiss and Blood and Chocolate. Additionally, House of Night books, Blue Bloods trilogy by Melissa de la Cruz, and Shattered Mirror by Amelia Atwater Rhodes. All significantly better vampire/werewolf books than Twilight.

Gemm a Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing)

Patricia McKillip! My favorite is still "The Forgotten Beasts of Eld"