| Webcomic Recommendation |
[Jul. 15th, 2009|01:41 am] |
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You should all be reading Subnormality if you're not already. It's the best current webcomic I know of. Even if you wouldn't agree with "best," you'd probably still enjoy the artist's sharp insights. |
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| The Same Night Awaits Us All |
[Jul. 14th, 2009|09:47 pm] |
My dad's remaining older brother Alvin died early this morning. It kept my dad up all night, understandably given how fond of Alvin he is, and so he canceled his schedule for the week and will be sitting shiva at home. He called me this afternoon and we talked for a couple of hours. I'm terrible at sympathizing, but we reminisced for a while--I love his insights into the past--and I talked to him about my week.
He expected Alvin to live for a lot longer. It must be a rotten place to be, watching your loved ones slowly pass away and then, finally, getting to that point where you're in the front of the line. I can only begin to imagine. My dad's birthday was on Friday; he's 75 now. He's had respiratory problems for years, and a stent, and he has serious joint problems that limit his mobility, but other than that he's still relatively well. His mind is still sharp. He still keeps a relatively heavy schedule at his offices. I hope it goes on that way for a long while.
But that's just the musing of a selfish kid who likes his dad. |
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| The Extra Mile |
[Jul. 14th, 2009|01:22 pm] |
Wow! Either Qwest's customer service is much, much more thorough than I give them credit for, or one of my anonymous readers also happens to work for Qwest. Check out this comment in response to my entry a few days ago about my Internet service problems. I investigated the person's IP address and it really does seem to have originated from Qwest's offices, probably in Denver. That's just...wow!
I wish all of life worked like that.
"Hrm! I think the Space Needle should be repainted in its original colors." *posts to journal*
Soon...
"Hello, I'm Jess from Seattle Center. I see that you have some suggestions as to what color scheme you would prefer to see on the Space Needle. Please contact us at..."
Later:
"I sure wish Barack Obama would make me the next Secretary of Energy..." *posts to journal* |
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| ATH Tenth Anniversary |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|09:07 pm] |
It caught me completely off guard; today is the tenth anniversary of After The Hero. I would like to say I planned the previous entry to mark the occasion, but the truth of the matter is that I didn't. Today is a working day.
I got up before six, feeling completely addle-pated because I had slept a whole night's sleep twelve hours out of sync with my last whole night's sleep, with a twenty-eight hour waking day between them. I took a very hot shower and went to the kitchen, where I spent a good while making spaghetti sauce and baked beans. (I may not have to cook again all week!) I didn't finish with morning business until half past eight, at which I sat down to read the news and get myself caught up on the world.
It was cool enough that I had the uncommon luxury of keeping the door closed this morning. That wouldn't be so unusual most of the time, but in the middle of July? The statistical hottest, driest month of the year? Interesting! And interesting more is this weather we've had. I mentioned the thunderstorms we had on Saturday night. Sunday was a bizarre day, cold (by July standards) and completely overcast; even raining on occasion. It was like that all day. There were a couple pieces of lightning, but mostly it was just gray clouds. Sunset was very strange indeed. There was no trace of it whatsoever in the sky. All the red light had been bled out by the shape and size of the clouds. I knew where the sun was, so I looked straight at it...but you would never have been able to tell that it was there. The lighting was so blue and so even...remarkable!
Today we have had much the same weather, so far. It's still cloudy and still cool. I went to bed cold last night and woke up cold this morning. (Hence the very hot shower.) Even after a shower and with the oven and stove on, I kept the door closed until right about noon. These are luxurious summer days indeed!
Last night I dreamt that Silence's name was spelled out in one of the Asian languages, in bright red, boxy letters. I remember reaching for it, one of the only times my fondness for her has extended into a dream.
Speaking of dreams, these are Dream Times, filled with dreams of all kinds. I never imagined that After The Hero would have taken ten years of writing and still not be done. And what about Kendra? That time in my life seems like a dream now; I can't relate to it emotionally anymore. I can remember it, of course, and I can remember the emotions, but I can't feel them anymore. I am by myself, lone and alone, just as I always had been before I met her.
The thought occurred to me that there is some poetry in the contrast between these two great ambitions of mine: I couldn't keep Kendra and I can't seem to finish After The Hero! Hah! If I were in another mood, I might feel bad for myself, but right now I can't help but laugh. Life is funny like that, sometimes.
Another thought that occurred to me is that perhaps the relationship is not entirely coincidental. Maybe finishing ATH is so hard for me because I don't want to be done with it. I'm loath to psychoanalyze myself, and I don't actually think that this is the case, but at the very least I must acknowledge that it's an interesting theory. It would conveniently explain a lot, like how much I invest myself in my characters. I didn't have many friends as a kid, and I've yet to find and keep the love I'm looking for as an adult, but at least Galavar, and Silence, and all the rest of them, are mine for all time.
I had a most compelling thought over the weekend: My romantic prospects this year have all fallen flat. That's disappointing, but hardly surprising. Kendra was an extraordinarily lucky find. Anyhow, as I've been going through these prospects, usually there will be an interval between the time I decide that the person in question is not who I'm looking for, and the time that our interaction comes to a close. During this time, with high consistency, I feel stressed. It's a frustrating place to be.
At the close of such an episode on Friday, I stopped for a moment to appreciate just how extremely comfortable I am in my own skin. For all my wants and shortcomings, I'm happy with who I am. I'm content to be me. My extraordinarily picky standards for romantic prospects stand in stark contrast to my overflowing comfort with myself.
That led me, a day or two later, to the aforementioned compelling thought: If a person feels about themselves the way I feel about an unsatisfying prospective partner, life would be pretty shitty. And it's not a hypothetical. There are people like that, people who frustrated and stressed out by their own nature. My comparison helps me to understand them a little better. However, as before, I'm so glad not to be one of them.
You know...it's been a hell of a ten years. Not as great or as lofty as it could have been, but none too shabby on the whole. I've covered extensive philosophical and identity ground, and I've even earned a few triumphs and treasures.
Anyhow, back to ATH. This isn't much of an anniversary celebration yet, is it!
Creative Control:
To protect myself legally, I have always planned to eventually ask those who contributed to the RPG to sign away the rights to their contributions in exchange for a small but sincere monetary compensation taking one of several possible forms. In the event any of them say no, I've already written contingency plans to sufficiently rework the relevant characters. (Actually, some of these reworkings have even made it into the canon, thus mitigating the potential troubles somewhat.) Impressively, I am still in touch or able to get in touch with most of the major writers. The big challenge will be Andrew Kung; I've lost all contact with him and I really don't want to have to drastically rework his delightful Bastria Majix and his even more delightful dragon, Streaker. Here's a little trivia: Bastria, far more than any other character, has the highest proportion of lines of dialogue from the RPG that have survived into the novel.
Besides Andrew, there is also the issue of Lisa, who wrote Dreena. There's also the matter of the character Aroen, who was “owned” by no less than three different people in the RPG. However, other than the name, today's Aroen bears so little resemblance to that of the RPG that I'm not spending any time worrying about not being able to get in touch with these forgotten people. Today's Dreena is pretty different from her RPG self too. She's not called “Dreena” anymore, and I've changed her enough that I could probably reasonably claim her as an original character (inspired, but original). However, I would feel cheap to deprive one of my major writers of the opportunity to cash in, so I would extend the offer anyway...assuming I can find Lisa, which is probably going to prove impossible.
Then there is the case of people whose characters were not truly their own to begin with; I've already taken care of that by changing names and reworking suspicious details (at least in the parts of the story that are already written or outlined). Speaking of names: On my own legal judgment, I've decided that, despite a few changes, I'm probably pretty safe where names are concerned. I used to be worried about that, because I hate changing names, but with my more knowledgeable perspective today it strikes me that names are far less relevant than the actual reproduction of work. Easy victory! Just about every ounce of the RPG is going through the filter anyway, so there is very little word-to-word resemblance between RPG and Novel to begin with.
The reason I haven't entered into these negotiations yet is that I don't yet have any money to give out! And while it's entirely possible that some of the participants would be willing to sign their rights away at no charge, out of goodwill, I'd like to be able to conclude the negotiations soon after beginning them, and thus I have to assume that money will be involved.
The Interludes:
Old-timers will remember my plans to write a series of seven interludes, one for each of the original six Guards of Galavar, and one for Galavar himself. In the RPG era, only one-and-a-half of them ever got written: Silence's was finished, and Galavar's was half-finished. You may be pleased to know that the Interludes concept has survived and that there will be, eventually, a full biographical accounting of several key characters. What has changed is that I am not necessarily keeping it based on the original Guards. I may not do Interludes for all of them, and by the same tokens I made decide to do Interludes for other Guards, or other characters outside the Guard. I do like the idea of ditching the Gala-centric focus, and there are some stories outside the Guard that I would love to tell...not necessarily to the point that it would merit an Interlude, but, in some cases, quite probably.
As you can probably tell, I haven't written any of these Interludes yet, although I have worked on Silence's, Galavar's, and Jemis' to varying degrees. (Varying, but each in its own way still a big ol' Incompleteness Fail.) I like Jemis'; it's filled with Imperial intrigue and it gives me an opportunity to retell some of the ideas that struck me when I first played A Link to the Past. I even picture Jemis fighting atop a castle tower against another wizard—unashamedly and unmistakably inspired by Link's fight with Agahnim. Of course, wizards fighting atop castles is a staple of the fantasy genres, but in ATH that kind of thing is very uncommon, so it's all the more a treat to imagine Jemis getting his chance.
Additionally, Jemis' Interlude is one of the most important in terms of the main ATH plot. Jemis' fondness for magical trinkets prepares and enables him to one day go on to create The Sineish Dsagan (sĭn-ĀSH dzŏ-GŎN), the vertex of power in Relance.
Storytime:
I haven't done any good old-fashioned talking about ATH story concepts for quite a while, so here's a little tasty treat in that regard...the story of The Sineish Dsagan.
There are two principle plot tensions in the first book of ATH the Novel, both surrounding Galavar. The first of these is the rise of the Resistance against him. The second, which didn't exist in the RPG, is the very gradual falling about between Galavar and Silence, previously the best of friends. The reason this happens is because Silence, knowing Galavar as well as she does—a plot point that goes back to her RPG-era Interlude, where the two shared each other's minds through the power of the God Sourros, thus giving each of them an uncanny familiarity with the other—perceives Galavar's plan to use Benzan as the vessel for deicide in an audacious gambit to acquire Sourros' power for himself. Her first suspicions come very early in the story, and later on are validated to her satisfaction. The prospect of Galavar acquiring divine power disturbs her greatly, because she thinks he would be corrupted by it. (The question of whether or not she is correct takes all of ATH to explore; as the author, I intentionally leave the true answer open to interpretation.)
Anticipating that Galavar might one day become practically omnipotent on Relance, she decides to do something about it. Mainly this consists of trying to gradually discourage him from his plan—a strategy made all the more difficult because Galavar can never discuss the issue consciously, because Sourros is always aware of his most deliberate thoughts.
As a last resort, Silence also prepares a plan in the event of Galavar's success. Rather than planning to confront him, however—which she fears would escalate to the point of his destruction (or conceivably her own)—she decides to check him by creating her own power source. Silence understands that it would have to be a magical power, incapable of being overriden (in the same way that, for instance, a sword could be overridden). This is a problem for her because she isn't good at magic; she's probably the worst of all the Guards when it comes to magical power and finesse.
The problem tugs at her for some time until finally, through her friendship with Jemis, the two of them get into a series of discussions which ultimately result in the following proposal: Jemis will use his unique storehouse of magical knowledge and materials to create what is essentially an amplifier for magical power. Silence herself had already developed that concept in another setting, in designing the engine on the airship Chiaroscuro. With her familiarity with the subject, and Jemis' magical mastership, the two of them together would be able to create something that, to their knowledge, had not existed on Relance since the War of the Gods. It would offer the wielder direct access to the power of Junction, thereby enabling the user to command as much power as they were capable of managing at one time.
Essentially, this a superweapon...one of those literary devices which stands so tall above everything else that it rarely gets used open-endedly in stories because it would seem to flatten all other devices. I created the premise with this in mind: I specifically wanted to create supreme power in ATH and then actually use it in the storyline. I wanted this a challenge to myself, because it so rarely gets done in literature—and even more rarely does it get done well.
Silence realizes from the start what her intention is. Jemis figures it out before the initial construction begins, but he agrees to do it anyway for various reasons which I will not spoil to you here. I will say that the decision to participate in this project is not an easy one for him, and it is with considerable wariness that he ultimately agrees.
The device is not built from any blueprint, model, or existing object. It is conceived and created completely from scratch, and it takes most of Jemis' lifetime of knowledge and treasure to be able to build. Silence participates in the construction, yet Jemis is unmistakably the main figure; the idea is hers but the deed is his.
Construction takes quite a while, both in terms of in-world time and in terms of page numbers; most of the construction isn't covered directly in the narrative, but instead occurs in the background while other events take place. Eventually, it is complete. It takes the form of several small pieces of material loosely connected together to form a glove. Silence names it The Sineish Dsagan, the “(Sineish) of Cosmic Power.” It's a name rather than a description, so it's not given in English. (ATH is largely devoid of the mystical junk language that peppers fantasy writing.)
The second term, Dsagan, is literally “Cosmic Power”; the power said to have been possessed by Dsa, God of Power and Order, who created the world and is said to have been the mightiest figure in history (despite her eventual defeat in the War of the Gods). Dsagan is a word rarely used on Relance in modern times, but one familiar to both Silence and Galavar, as students of history. Connecting Silence to the name of Dsa right there in the first book is one of many in a long series of foreshadows and buildups which eventually lead her to her fate much later in the story. (In the RPG, Silence and Galavar went on to reprise the roles of Dsa and Sourros, something which survives in the novel.)
The actual word dsagan I created in homage to Carl Sagan, whose dream for the future I consider to be one of the most powerful in our history.
Meanwhile, the first term, Sineish, is less straightforward. Sin means “left” and eish is a Hebrew word referring to the middle part of a flame—specifically, the orange or white part that we think of when we think of flames. (The lower part is the blue cone, and the upper part is the crown and halo.) I took it from a line in the Jewish prayers for Havdalah, a service which marks the end of the Sabbath each week, meaning “blessed are you...creator of the lights of fire.” For Havdalah, there is actually a special candle lit; and when you say this line you're supposed to face the candle, hold up your hand, with the palm facing upward but still in shadow. Then you tilt your fingers just enough so that the light spills into the valley of your palm.
The “left” part is not surprising either. Silence was the original Sinistral. There's actually a Sinistral movement on Relance, and she is at the head of it. I don't think I came up with that before naming this journal, but, if not, the two happened fairly close together. It's even possible that events happened the other way around, and that the journal was named after Silence. I honestly don't remember for sure.
Anyhow, in the Great Imperial language, sin means “left hand.” However, the “left” is not merely a qualifier. It is a combined term, the counterpart being sai, “right hand.” When these words are used, they are specific to the hand in question, and carry connotations very similar to those of “right hand” and “right arm” in such phrases as “She is his right hand” or “He'd give his right arm for a milkshake.” In cases like this, there is more to it than just the body part: the body part carries a special connotation of significance, strength, dominance, and value. This is the correct attitude in which to consider the Relancii word “sin.”
Put it together, and you've got “Left Hand of Fire.” That's not the correct reading, though. Literally, it would be “(Left Hand) Fire,” a kind of fire. The correct meaning, therefore, is “Fire of the Left Hand.” The fire qualifies the left hand, and not vice versa.
So, after all that, The Sineish Dsagan means The “((The Left Hand) Fire) of Cosmic Power.” Nice, huh? Well, I think so. Notice that the definite article in front always gets capitalized: The Sineish Dsagan. That's because the article is a part of the name, like “The New York Times.” Also like the Times, the article refers not to the term immediately next in order, but to the last term: “The Times,” and in our case “The Dsagan.” Sineish is a noun being used as an adjective; the article thus modifies the second term—another reason to capitalize it.
As for the name overall, I wanted a long, meaty name, like the Aegagropilon from The Secret of Mana. I also knew I wanted something that ended in “N.” That's actually all I remember, because I came up with the name quite a long time ago and don't remember the specifics anymore.
Anyhow, The Sineish Dsagan is not something like the Triforce that grants wishes. It doesn't actually have any energy of its own, and it cannot simply be touched or looked at in order to be made to work. First, it has to be sealed to the user. Jemis knew what Silence had in mind when she proposed it: She didn't want just anyone to be able to use it. In fact, she wanted it exclusively for herself, arguing to Jemis that no one else was fit to use it: some would be incompetent, others corruptible, and others still would be completely unwilling to use it. All three cases were unacceptable to her.
The sealing process meant two things: It meant that no one else would be able to use it while she wore it, and that only Silence would be able to remove it. Removal would be done using a special device sewn into her right hand a few days before the sealing, but Silence had no intention of removing it.
The function of The Sineish Dsagan is difficult to explain, other than describing it as an amplifier. Technically, it's not even an amplifier. It's a control key into the Junction Engine. It unlocks all the power of Junction, which is to say, all the power in the world. This power infuses every aspect of the world, thickly, and is such that the wielder could literally bend reality with it. Using it, however, is not as simple as willing or incantation.
If you think of magic as a computer program, then you can imagine the customary use of magic as a user-end activity whose limits are defined by the scope of the program. Every master creature born on Relance has the ability to deliberately manipulate the power of Junction; that's where magic comes from. Even the greatest magi use magic in this way. Not everyone can develop this ability, or develop it evenly, which is why many people do not use magic at all, and those who do will have differing strengths and skills with it. Silence, as I mentioned, is not very good at using magic; certainly not a dunce but easily the weakest of the Guards. That's why she set out to create what eventually became The Sineish Dsagan.
The Sineish Dsagan changed the game for her, by allowing her “back-end” access to the power of Junction. Unfortunately for her, she didn't know how to use it. No one in living memory had ever done something like this before. The only living people in the world to manipulate magic from the source are the Sorcerers, and their power is much more limited in scope: It only works when used at Junction City, and it isn't capable of penetrating all the Lock Levels on the Junction Engine. In contrast, The Sineish Dsagan provides direct access to the ultimate core of Junction and is thus capable of overriding everything. Silence had no clue how to perform such a high-level manipulation, nor did Jemis. Nor would anyone else, had they been asked, because no one had any experience with it. It's like controlling a muscle you've never tried to control before. What button do you press?
Silence was therefore extremely hampered. This was made even worse by the fact that she was unremarkable at magic to begin with. To her and Jemis, there was agreement that the only way to use The Sineish Dsagan immediately would be to use ordinary magic to control a larger magic flow through The Sineish Dsagan. However, they knew that, so long as she used this method, Silence would never be able to draw more than a modest multiplier of power on top of her underlying magical skill. Additionally, she would run the risk of completely burning herself out if she were to draw too much power in this way.
The key is to remove her own body from the equation, and stop using magic in the conventional way entirely. She takes great pains in the story to develop this ability, but it would be the end of the first book before she first stumbles upon a way, and not until the fourth book that she finally masters it.
(The Management apologizes for all of the verb tense shifts in this entry. Some of them are accurate: Speaking from an in-world documentary perspective requires the past tense, but speaking from an out-world perspective requires the present tense, as does speaking about hypotheticals from an in-world perspective. Some of it is just lazy writing on my part, though. =) )
The Sineish Dsagan makes Silence the most powerful person in the entire Curious Tale. Using it without imbalancing the story continues to present a formidable challenge to me. For the first couple of books, I at least have the crutch of the fact that she can't use it fully. After that ceases to be the case, however, I'll have my work cut out for me. Plotwise, I already know much of what's going to happen...but to preserve realism, I'll have to justify those events.
Anyhow, The Sineish Dsagan is an important character all its own in ATH, much like Sauron's One Ring. In fact, exactly like it. It was my reading of LotR during the winter vacation of 2000-2001 that I learned of the One Ring, and from that time I knew I wanted to eventually create something in its likeness in literature. It would be a few years, but The Sineish Dsagan is the product of my labors.
Music:
I mentioned a couple months ago that I was hoping to have some ATH music to release this year. Secretly, I was hoping to have at least a couple pieces polished and ready to ship by today. Instead, I have zero. Several pieces are coming along, but they're far from being done. The delay is completely unlike the delay of ATH itself. The music is pretty simple and straightforward. The fact of the matter is that my music skills simply are Teh Suck. Nevertheless, stay tuned to this channel for good news in the near future!
All right...the day is running out, so I'd better post this. Go me! Ten years of doing something I love. No complaints! But here's hoping it doesn't take me another ten to finish... |
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| Terra Imperium, Lux Luna |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|12:06 pm] |
This week is the fortieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, humanity's first landing on the moon. The JFK Library has launched a special website to commemorate the entire mission in real-time, called We Choose The Moon. It will be timed to coincide forty years to the minute with the actual Apollo 11 mission, and will last several days. I will be watching later this week when they launch.
My goodness...
The day we went to the moon. I get all warbly just thinking about it; my eyes get wet. That day was one of the most iconic moments in human history. The longer our civilization survives, the more apparent it will become. There have been many good days since the dawn of humanity; that day is my favorite of all of them. And I wasn't even here to see it.
That day was the culmination of a tale of two thousand years, hearkening backward to World War II, then to the first industrialization in England, on to the Dark Ages, and all the way back to the time of antiquity when ideas were begun that would take all these centuries to finally complete. Neil Armstrong's one small step could never have happened the way that it did, had history not carried us forth relentlessly to that precise moment. Indeed, it could easily have never happened at all, for thousands of years more. None of the ancients went to the moon; it could have happened, but it didn't. They never got far enough in engineering and mathematics. It would take the Enlightenment to give modern humans the opportunity.
I love what we did forty years ago. Someday, people will look back on the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, and they will rightly say that this was a Golden Age, a real-life age of legends. Think of it; think of what we are in the thick of, right now. There is too much to list; I can't; I wouldn't. We have created in our time the greatest terrors and wonders history has ever known. Maybe the future holds in store for us a singularity or some fantastical successor species, but, so long as there are sentient, sapient beings capable of independent thought and knowledgeable of the history on this planet, the events of these years will be remembered forever. Not least among them will be the time that life from this planet first set forth under its own power to visit the cosmos in person.
We have achieved in this age a level of awareness so high that any idea is possible to someone. There is nothing inconceivable anymore. People say that our species has not kept pace with its technology. I see something different. I am struck to the bone by our advances in civil liberty, and in the arts and sciences. For all the decay and conflict unique to our time, and for all the human dead weight and neurosis that plagues every generation equally, and for all the painful social change we have been undergoing in the midst of these agog times, there's no better way to put it: This is the Age of Legends. It's overwhelming, even to try and open myself to the full emotional power of it. I can think about it all at once, but I can't grok it all at once. I am astounded, dumbfounded.
This is our chance...life's chance. We are here. We have the power. I can only imagine what we'll do next. We are all responsible for our actions. We are all responsible. This...our...one does not simply shrug their shoulders at the world of today. If you would, then go jump off a bridge. For everyone else, it's like the song says: We all lose our chance in the end.
Take on the world today. |
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| Reports from the Anecdocracy |
[Jul. 12th, 2009|12:31 am] |
The stability of my Internet connection seems to have deteriorated in recent months. Last year I went much of the year without having to reset the modem at all. Lately, I've been resetting it much more often...including twice just in the past day. What's up, Qwest? Do you want me to sic Dragon Force Eight on you? Because I'll do it. I haven't fed them in weeks, and they're hungry. They especially love to eat greedy corporations. I hope, for your sake, that you've been experiencing a streak of bad luck that has just now, with this most recent blip, exhausted itself.
Because next time my service cuts out... |
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| Josh's B-links: Thunderstorm Edition |
[Jul. 11th, 2009|11:45 pm] |
The lightning is really picking up outside, and you know what that means! It's time for another edition of...Josh's B-Links!!
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Expo Centennial Anniversary
This year, a number of ongoing events and exhibits are being held in commemoration of the AYP Expo in 1909, which was pivotal in shaping the future of Washington State. If you're interested in learning more about the state's history, there are plenty of good opportunities here.
I have not done any of this myself, yet. Hopefully I will!
Specific Protein May Be Factor in Some Obesity-Related Illnesses
The causal relationship between obesity and many of the illnesses correlated with obesity is not well established, despite overwhelming popular belief to the contrary. This promising research, if borne out by further study, would demonstrate one such relationship. Believe it or not, this is very good news, because if the link is proved then the research could probably be successfully applied to the development of medicines that will not reduce a person's actual obesity, but will make the condition of obesity considerably healthier. That's a big win for people like me, who are fat-positive but also wary of the poorly understood but potentially extensive health risks of getting fat and being fat.
Blacklisted, Radio Documentary Podcasted Online
I heard about this on “Says You!” this evening: One of the contestants has recently finished a documentary on the blacklist on Hollywood actors created by anti-Communist witch hunters in the midst of America's mid-century push to vilify the Soviets in every way imaginable and weed out all potential Communist sentiment in the country. I plan to listen to it later; I have it on good authority that it's a fine documentary.
9th District Court of Appeals Rules that Pharmacists Must Fill All Prescriptions Despite Religious Beliefs
This welcome ruling covers not only Washington States but much of the western United States. This is an important step forward for sexual equality and patients' rights, as unethical pharmacists will no longer be allowed to refuse to fill prescriptions for religious reasons. In particular, this pertains to the “Plan B” pill that can prevent pregnancy if taken immediately after sex, but it will also apply to other reproductive medicines. Beyond reproductive issues, it also covers the state's new assisted dying law, where some pharmacists had been making noises that they wouldn't fill these prescriptions if it came up.
Sequim Lavender Festival
I want to go to the Sequim Lavender Festival next weekend, but without a car there is almost no chance of it. =(
If anyone is going and wants to take me along...let me know! Come on, people. As the website says, “It's like eight festivals in one!!”
Where's Kendra when I need her...
Bing vs. Google
This websites lets you review Google and Bing results from identical searches side-by-side (or top-by-bottom) in your browser window. I ran a few comparisons and tried to be as objective as possible. For my search terms, Google was as good or better in all instances. In the very important “Silence Terlais” search string, the magnitude of the difference in the quality of results was most impressive.
I'll be staying with Google, but I do not begrudge Bing and I hope that it remains feisty enough to keep Google on its toes. I may adopt Bing as my Search Engine of Second Resort. (Currently, I have Yahoo! in that role.)
Round Ireland with a Fridge
Anyone who wants to get me a book for my birthday can consider this one; it looks interesting. But if you're actually planning on doing that for me, let me know, so that I don't end up with five copies!
250 Gather in Methow Valley for Faerie Congress
I enjoyed reading this article! You can tell there are some nutters in the pack—that's just how life is—but many of these people seem more interested in celebrating the imagination than they do affirming their belief in the supernatural. I'd have to read a more thorough article, or attend for myself, to be sure...but it looks like the kind of quasi-spiritual, “let's appreciate the world” stuff to which I have none of my usual anti-spiritual aversion.
They do spell it “fairy,” though, which I find blasphemous.
By the way: Coincidentally, the Methow Valley was the inspiration for the second setting in my Project Eleven Tails video game.
The Best Daily Kos Hate Mail Ever
Seriously. Read it for yourself. It's almost a piece of art...it's so good that I'm suspicious that it might be a fake. But if it's not...oh wow! |
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| Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee, and Let's Have Another Piece of Pie |
[Jul. 11th, 2009|10:03 pm] |
Wow, we're getting our thunderstorms, all right! It was too nice to stay inside, so I did myself one better than sitting out on the balcony for a dink: I fired up the grill, moved the table outside, and took my entire dinner there. Outside, I was mesmerized by the sights of the evening. There's been lightning everywhere; I saw dozens of lightning flashes in the some ninety minutes I was outside. (This is in a place where three or four bolts of lightning is usually the limit.) Most of the lightning was up in the clouds, but I saw a good dozen ground strikes. And they weren't just in one place: They spanned nearly my entire view, from the Olympic Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. All of them were too far away to hear, but maybe that will change as the evening progresses. It's early, yet!
I don't usually get to observe much lightning, so I did some learning this evening. One of the most interesting things (to me) about lightning is that it isn't a light-speed phenomenon. This is usually hard to see because most lightning bolts are too short (in physical length) and thus seem to appear all at once, but I saw some much longer ones this evening that crawled across the sky in a clear progression. One particularly fine specimen started off as cloud lightning, progressed west, and then spat out of the clouds to become a ground strike. The whole thing took only a second, but the progression was unmistakable. That's cool. I could only guess at the speed: It's many times more than the speed of sound, probably five or ten thousand miles an hour.
Dinner was grilled chicken, Josh's Asian Salad (steamed broccoli with soy sauce), and apple sauce. (Did you know that if you switch the S and the C, "sauce" becomes "cause"?) I came inside for dessert--ice cream--because it was getting pretty dark and I figured I should get back to the computer.
Anyhow, too bad I didn't have my camera. Some of the lightning lit up the clouds in such marvelous ways, and, even without the lightning, the sporadic showers and red skies were really a sight to see all on their own.
I wish my coffee-making facilities were a little more facile. I'd love a cup right now, so much that I may even make one! |
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| Sultry Saturday Evening |
[Jul. 11th, 2009|07:59 pm] |
The atmosphere over Seattle is unsettled today. Pre-apocalyptic clouds are all over the place, and I can see isolated showers across the entire region. Most of them are evaporating before they hit the ground, including one that passed very near here. The promised temperatures of 85 degrees never materialized, but it still got up to 81, and the air is humid and windless, so the heat is very full-figured despite being lower in magnitude. With sunset an hour away, and the clouds and demiclouds bending the daylight, much of the visible sky is apricot-colored. Thunderstorms are possible; Cliff Mass called it first and today the major forecasters agree. They're more likely in the mountains, though.
All in all, I find this weather very pleasant, and I'm currently debating whether or not to sacrifice an hour or so of jazz to go sit outside and read, write, or drink. I do have some orange juice, a few ice cubes, and a bit of rum left... |
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| July 10, 1934 |
[Jul. 10th, 2009|07:04 pm] |
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My dad is 75 years old today! He says he feels like he's 60. Awesome. Happy birthday, Dad! |
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| Strange Feelings, High Form |
[Jul. 10th, 2009|04:33 pm] |
There is something about the original Suikoden soundtrack...
Like with a city or with a close friend, each relationship I have with a great video game soundtrack is different from the others. My admiration is not merely variations upon a theme; rather, the emotional palette itself is distinct, each time.
I've never played any of the Suikoden games, so my feelings toward the soundtrack have nothing to do with the series. Nor is it necessarily something inherent in the production values of the original soundtrack, because oftentimes (although not necessarily most of the time) I have found myself enjoying remixes even better--sometimes even midi remixes, such as with the pieces "Glorious Island Fortress" and "Dancing Girl."
It's also not the entire soundtrack that enchants me. Plenty of songs are forgettable, but those that are not, such as the aforementioned two, as well as "Beautiful Golden City," "Gathering of Warriors," "Rock Rockland," "Theme of the Advancing Army," "Peaceful People," "Rising Tide," and the main theme and many of its variations, as well as other pieces, are more than simply not forgettable; in terms of how they reach me emotionally, they are some of the strongest songs I know.
It must be the composers, Miki Higashino and two more people beneath her, or some combination thereof.
Perhaps you were expecting me to talk about what specifically some of these emotions might be. Well, the first word that comes to mind is "epic." Many of these are songs that could be fleshed out into a full symphony orchestra and choir and benefit immensely from the upgrade. Most of them have short melodies repeated many times and, if they were extended melodically, could also benefit immensely. Melodies are thought-provoking to me, so this would improve their already impressive intellectual heft. Thus another emotional word that comes to mind is that these songs are "compelling." But neither of these words explains the specifics of what I really feel.
I would probably have to list each song and write down a list of emotions and mental pictures as I listened to it. If I were going to do that, I may as well upload the songs so that you can listen along, and that's not going to happen today. No, instead I think I will fetch some cheesy Doritos and continue listening to the soundtrack for a while. (I've been on a chips and chiptunes binge on and off over the past week.) |
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| The Food Report |
[Jul. 10th, 2009|03:37 am] |
I might not have the biggest grill or the choicest meat, but I'm the only person in my building who grills at 3:30 in the morning, even before the light of day is out.
Completely unrelatedly, having absolutely nothing to do whatsoever with the above, I am having trouble with my cast iron skillet, which is currently in the over undergoing a reseasoning.
In other cookery-related news, my microwave has behaved itself without exception ever since I initially unplugged it after the Let's Kill Josh Incident. I'd kept it unplugged at nights and when I went out of the apartment, but lately I've fallen lax in these precautions. I suspect that somehow the microwave's little logic system or operating system or whatever it is that runs the thing got corrupted. Cutting the power solved it. One thing's for sure: From now on I will only open the door after pressing the "stop" button. I don't know if that would have made a difference, and I suppose I'll never know unless somebody comes along and explains the error...or unless the error happens again. =/
I ate at The Cheesecake Factory the other day. Darn good steak. Darn good tiramisu. (Yes, I didn't actually have cheesecake.)
My watermelon is proving to be a big success. I don't think I'll even have any leftovers for watermelon lemonade. It's not an A watermelon, though...probably a B-minus: above average but only slightly. I got the creamy spot and the density, but I forgot to look for dull skin! Oh well. Next time.
To keep the smoke from the oven (where the skillet is reseasoning) from setting off the smoke alarm at 3:30, I've got the back door open. Because the back door is open, the smoke from my grill is drifting inside. Hrm. Problem.
I'm out of Grey Poupon! =(
Michael gave me a bonzer, homemade, vacuum-sealed green curry, with eggplant, made and sold by the wife of one of his colleagues. I am looking forward to eating it! Green curry is the one I have least often, but I do likee the eggplant, and, if it's good, I'll have to set up a supply line. =)
The fresh broccoli I bought at Costco has turned out to be the bitterest fresh broccoli I've ever eaten. I'll have to cook the rest of it. The cherries are C-plus, but I love cherries so it's all A to me. I've busted open my Haggen Dazs Java Chip ice cream, and it is nowhere near as good as the old Starbucks kind. It's not the ice cream, but the chips. They're oily and not terribly flavorful. I've noticed that ice cream chocolate bits go heavy on the oil and light on the cocoa.
If I think of anything else to write about on the subject of food, I'll let you know.
EDIT: An hour later...
I spoke too soon about the microwave. It's gonna have to go. =( |
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| Dreaming in the Future |
[Jul. 9th, 2009|06:49 pm] |
When I wake up, it's curtains for whatever I've been dreaming, since there's almost no chance I'll be able to get the dream back if I go back to sleep. Today, however, was a huge exception to that—and with one of the more interesting dreams I've had in a while.
I dreamed that I was stranded in the future. It wasn't a “time traveling” dream, but, earlier, I think I had been in the past. I remember coming up on a suspension bridge that sat near another, much more commonly used suspension bridge, and thinking that I would have a rare opportunity to see the view from this bridge instead. At the time, I thought to myself that I had dreamed about these two bridges before, but, if I have, I have absolutely no conscious recollection of it. It was probably either a fake memory or else a case of a recurring impulse skinned with an original image.
Anyhow, I eventually ended up on the streets of the future—several hundred years in the future. It was nighttime, in a big city that gradually sloped in one direction. Being “the future,” there were more lights and colors. Nevertheless, it was not fun and games as you might expect. It was, instead, a very serious situation and I felt quite isolated and vulnerable. Think about it: You're in a new place; you don't know any of the customs, language, or rules; your friends and family are all gone; you don't have the right money; you're missing out on several centuries of the most recent history.
Now, it was just a dream, so things weren't quite as desperate, and actually some of my acquaintances in real life were there in the future, too. In fact, a larger-than-usual number of people I know made cameos, or had references. I was only all alone right at the beginning of the sequence.
My favorite was being in a futuristic apartment—very nicely decorated, I might add, with lots of tall, dark bookshelves, good carpets, and a nice view. I went up to one of the bookcases and looked at one of the books: It was a leather-bound volume of ZeaLitY's writings. Apparently he had gone on to become important enough that people were still reading his work five hundred years later.
At another point, I was with Stephen, where I was regrouping and facing the serious prospect of hunger given that I had only three dollars left. My plan was to trade in my three dollars as antiques for a more current currency, and I was asking him what the name was these days for stores where you can trade in historical curiosities for money. He was helpful, but he seemed strangely uninterested in the fact that I had had very little food in several days and had no immediate prospect for more.
The last people in my dream were my dad and sister. They were fighting with each other while I tried to explain temporal mechanics. I had drawn a parabola, to represent the timeline, and had drawn a shortcut line between two points along it. I was trying to explain that, by time traveling at all, from Time X to Time Z, I had created a new timeline (one where I was not present) between those points, and, thus, any time-traveling back to Time Y in between X and Z would be along the new timeline rather than the original one—and in fact the original timeline was permanently inaccessible. (In fact my graphic illustration was wrong, because the new timeline would have continued after Time Z as well. It was only correct inasmuch as it pertained specifically to my own presence in the historical line.) Anyhow, as I was explaining this, they were sort of arm wrestling, and growing increasingly belligerent.
At about 9:30 this morning, I had a satisfying experience. I was in bed, still dreaming, but I was just about to wake up. So, I was dreaming that I was in bed, and it was so vivid that I thought I was actually awake. (When I'm awake, I always know that I'm awake, but when I'm dreaming I can believe that I am in either state.) I pressed my hand flat on the wall next to my bed for some reason. I remember it being my left hand, but I was on my left side at the time, so that might not have been my case. It was in that moment that I woke up. The paint-textured wall, which I had thought was a real wall, immediately turned into the white surface of the chest of drawers beside my bed. But my hand was there: I had actually pressed it against the surface. That was kind of cool, sort of like teleporting between two different realities.
At this point, I had only dreamed about half my dream. I was reluctant to wake up—which is probably why I had woken up—because I had been enjoying the dream. On my lips was the memory of a quote of ZeaLitY's on the cover of the book about him. There actually had been a quote, but I don't remember it anymore.
I went to pee and drink water, and then decided that I was not done being asleep yet, so I went back to bed. I had no expectation of continuing the dream, but that's exactly what happened: I was asleep for another three hours, and in that whole time I don't think I dreamed about anything else.
It was a disjointed dream, with several independent branches and only limited continuity. The only common thread was that I was in the future, and all of the action revolved around me (as opposed to dreams where Josh is not present and “I” am simply a disembodied observer, or another person entirely). There had been a storyline of some kind, especially earlier on in the dream sequence, but, whatever it was, I have completely forgotten it.
Still, an enjoyable dream! Definitely a B, and the only B I've had in a while.
Oh, and the technical aspect was interesting. My brain actually had given some thought to what the future might look like—which is always difficult for me to do at a conscious level, given the variables involved. I would have to say that I was pretty pleased, however, with this subconscious effort. (Then again, can one not be satisfied with the contents of one's subconscious efforts at realism?) The fact that almost all of my dream occurred at night is telling: I tend to imagine the future as a world of nighttime just as I think of Nazi Germany as a world of black-and-white filled with storm clouds. (Since most of the footage from that era was shot in black-and-white, and Hollywood always added storms and lightning to play up the Evil aspect.) |
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| Chase Will Not Sponsor 2010 Lake Union Fireworks |
[Jul. 9th, 2009|06:13 pm] |
I called it! I knew Chase wouldn't sponsor the Independence Day fireworks more than just this year. The only reason they did it this year because they didn't want all the negative publicity to complicate their PR blitz to woo former Washington Mutual customers. Now we learn for the first time that this was their plan all along.
Good. The only smudge on the fireworks this year was that Chase was the major sponsor.
But, golly, I sure wish these huge corporations would be more honest and just come out and say, every once in a while, what they (and we) already know they're going to do or not do. |
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| Analyzing the Messenger |
[Jul. 9th, 2009|05:11 pm] |
Look at this striking example of journalistic deceit from an article in the New York Times by Jenna Wortham. I have boldfaced the key parts:
Sales of traditional GPS units from companies like TomTom, Garmin and Magellan (a unit of MiTAC International) have fallen sharply recently. During the first quarter, TomTom said it shipped 29 percent fewer GPS units compared with the period in 2008. Garmin said unit sales fell 13 percent in the first quarter compared with the previous year.
The stock prices of both companies have also plunged, with shares down more than 80 percent from their late 2007 peaks.
Meanwhile, shipments of smartphones in North America are expected to grow by 25 percent this year, with more than 80 percent of them equipped with GPS, according to ABI Research. “It certainly gives personal navigation device makers a run for their money,” Mr. Bonte said. The writer of the article is not making the same comparisons. Wortham's premise is that smartphone sales are replacing traditional GPS sales. In the excerpt I just showed you, she attempted to quantify the claim by showing us some sales statistics. First, she points out that traditional GPS sales have dropped and their companies' stock prices are down. In so doing, she completely ignores that we are in the midst of a major recession and that the stock market as a whole has also dropped sharply since 2007.
Then, for the smartphones, she makes a completely different comparison entirely: Wortham doesn't quote recent sales figures or stock prices. Instead she quotes anticipated growth rates this year. Those numbers are unrelated on two counts: First, the smartphone sector is an early-adoption period of very high growth, compared to standalone GPS technology which has been around for over a decade. Second, the economy is beginning to recover, and most sectors are going to do better between Q1 2009 and Q1 2010 than they did between Q1 2008 and Q1 2009.
What she did here is a completely dishonest and probably unethical. I decided to look up the figures for myself to get an idea of what's really happening. I eventually found a much more scrupulously written article from CNET's Marguerite Reardon, which essentially confirms that smartphone sales rates are outperforming traditional GPS sales rates, but which: 1) compares apples to apples; 2) puts smartphones' performance in context of the fact their sector is new; 3) mentions the recession; and 4) does not make any unfounded blanket predictions about where the industry is going. (I for one predict with confidence that standalone GPS units are not going to be completely supplanted, not even close, given that the smartphone markets and the GPS markets only partially overlap.)
Ugh. Journalism should not be an intellectual minefield! Come on, New York Times! Get with it. If friggin' CNET is outperforming you in journalistic integrity, you have a problem.
(In fairness, the Times makes up for it somewhat by doing a profile on Rebiya Kadeer, which I have been waiting for ever since I saw her name mentioned in connection with the incredible violence and ethnic abuse coming out of western China.) |
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| Independence Day |
[Jul. 4th, 2009|11:41 pm] |
I got up just before ten o'clock with the alarm, to make sure that I didn't miss too much of the day. I started up the air conditioner right off the bat and closed up the apartment. I baked a batch of my famous beans with bacon for the party, got myself all clean and pretty, and then sat down to a Josh's Pick lunch, which ended up consisting of fresh broccoli and some of my remaining lentil soup. Gas Works Park and Lake Union were both packed from about two o'clock on. Back here at home, I listened to music much more loudly than usual, and liked it. I caroused around online and got nothing productive done, although I did have a chat with a romantic prospect.
The party got started late this year compared to last, and there weren't as many people. Still, there was food and music, so I went down there by myself and took care of a couple of burgers. I found myself revisiting some old Michael Jackson music. I'd forgotten that I actually do like a lot of his work, and quite well at that. "Beat It" is awesome. I'd also forgotten how much tastier grilled burgers are than fried ones. I came back up here for a while, watched the sun set (beautiful; filled with thin clouds!), then went back down for last call on dinner, where I swiped two more burgers and more soda cans. While I was there I was stopped by a guy named Laurence who told me that he used to live in my apartment, twenty years ago--it was his very first. He was sold on it as quickly as I was. He wanted to check it out again, including the view in particular, so I welcomed him and his partner up, and he had a merry old time revisiting the past.
Left to myself once more, I contemplated the muggy evening. It was quite a warm day today--although there were lots of nondescript clouds in the sky--but this is one of the few days of the year where some warm air is really quite preferable to me. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. This is summer! (Although I will admit that I was pleased when the forecast noted that it'll supposedly be twenty degrees cooler on Monday than on Sunday.)
Darkness settled on Seattle and the fireworks soon began. O, what a circus! O, what a show! Twenty solid minutes of firecraft. I loved it. They had a new one this year (they always do): mushroom fireworks. They looked like mushrooms with cute plump caps and slender stems. My favorite fireworks remain the enormous gold ones that look like palm trees or fountains. I'm also partial to the ones that light up the sky or make the biggest boom. The usual assortment of fantastic novelties did not fail to delight! We oohed and aahed at the cube fireworks, the happy face fireworks, the star fireworks, the planet fireworks, the rainbow colors, the huge poppers, the streamers, the one-offs, the mega-exploders, and more! Very satisfying show. And it gives me one of those's "All's right with humanity" feelings to see adults allow themselves to indulge in the perfectly wonderful love of fireworks.
That reminds me: Down at the DJ's hut there were some light machines to add some flavor to the dance slab. I didn't see anyone dancing all evening, which made me feel bad for the lights, putting on their show with no one to notice. However, at the end of the evening before the fireworks began, I saw a mom and her little kid standing in the hut not dancing. At first I wondered what they were up to, because they were alone with the DJ: most everyone else had gone to their fireworks positions by that point. Then I realized that the little kid was watching the lights flash and whirl. Her delight became my delight, and I bet the lights were delighted too.
It was a low-key day. Last year, I had high ambitions for Independence Day, which came to naught. This year, I had no such ambitions. I felt almost like I didn't belong to such a fine day. But I was glad to be here. |
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| Scenic Drive |
[Jul. 3rd, 2009|03:19 am] |
Having the uncustomary use of a car for all hours, I went for a scenic drive tonight. I started from the University District and drove up Sand Point Way, which became 125th St. and deposited me into the NW quarter. I spent some time driving down dead end streets there in a futile attempt to get closer to the Sound, before going back out and down, emerging at 85th St. at a market where Kendra and I ended up one morning when we played...well...I don't know if there's a title for it. We drove around, and each person took turns deciding when we would turn, and which way. I had a coffee, sweetened with Mexican chocolate powder, that honestly was not all that remarkable. I only remember the place because I shared it with my Dragon.
I was torn to see where 3rd Ave. NW led, but I had it in the back of my head that 85th St. would take me to the water, so west I went. It didn't, but it did set me on course to Ballard, where I decided to try and go on the Ballard Bridge. That bridge is always something of an enigma to me. I always think that it's way west of where it actually is. If you get onto the Ballard Bridge going south, you magically unlock one of the hardest places in the city to reach: Magnolia. I didn't go there, though. In fact, I've never personally been to Magnolia. Instead, I went toward Downtown, because the Ballard Bridge opens up Downtown and Queen Anne as well. I saw a sign for “Seattle Center” and turned left before I knew what I was doing; otherwise I would have driven straight into Downtown. As it was, however, I found myself in Lower Queen Anne.
Well, there's only one thing to do if you're in Lower Queen Anne: Go up! That part of the city is very interesting from a traffic flow point of view, and fun to drive—especially at night when there is no traffic. Here I was, driving along, when all of a sudden this enormous hill came out of nowhere. I hadn't even been expecting Queen Anne. I was off by five blocks, and what a difference they make!
The road up to Queen Anne would have scared the everliving shit out of me as a kid. That thing goes straight up, and points you head-on at the radio towers—it's that steep. When you get to the top, it's like you've crossed a magic threshold into Bohemia. Even at night, the place exudes...alternativeness. I can see why so many people want to live there. I rarely go to Queen Anne, but I always enjoy my stay when I do.
I drove around West Queen Anne for a little bit, intrigued by the prospect that the neighborhood continued in the same direction whence I had originally come—implying a very steep hill, and, ergo, views! I was not disappointed: I found my way to 8th Ave. W, which is essentially a promenade overlooking such sights as West Seattle. I thought of Stephen, who loves the city at least as much as I do but does not have the fortune of living here and being able to visit the other neighborhoods.
I came back down the way I'd come up, and took Denny home to Capitol Hill. After dropping off the car, as I walked home and caught glimpses of my own view from between the buildings, I realized that, quite honestly, my view is pretty friggin' sweet. It's not the best view in the city, but it can tangle with the best. Plus, it has the distinct advantage of being nigh-unobstructed and Josh-affordable. Contrast that with, for instance, West Queen Anne's multi-million-dollar view houses. It's because of the freeway, of course. That daily din is the reason this place even exists for me to afford.
Good drive. Now I'm tired and need to go to sleep. But first: I bought an unusually large amount of food this evening. I went way over my budget at Target and Costco, but at QFC I had spent hours ahead of time planning out my list to the dollar using their weekly flier, and I ended up saving 42 percent (yeah, yeah, they've trained me real good...) and getting a boatload of food within my budget of sixty dollars: in fact I came in more than a dollar under.
Among my loot today, I bought my first fresh fruit of the summer: cherries and watermelon. I am really looking forward to that watermelon in particular! I bought some more lemons, so I think I will make watermelon lemonade this weekend. Too bad I don't have vodka; that would really complete the square.
Something else I noticed: Seattle City Light has a deal with Costco where they're offering huge savings on fluorescent lights. I bought a whole pack and now my perennial lighting shortage should be solved for good. |
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| Writing About the Weather Again |
[Jul. 1st, 2009|02:40 pm] |
I love the weather we had in June. There was a solid week of Wretched Heat at the beginning of the month, which was a rude awakening from the deliciously cool and wet spring we'd had, but this heatwave tempered me for the warm season to come, and every day since then has either felt glorious or merely nice. We've had refreshing cloudy days, brilliant sunshiny days, and this persistent "little cross-breeze that could" who makes my apartment feel like a refreshing open-air villa. Seriously, this is about as nice as warm-season weather gets. I love it!
Of course, I'm biased: My apartment is high up, so I get more winds than people do at ground level, while overhang on both sides of the building deflects some of the heat. I have a good fan and an air conditioner (although the latter hasn't seen much use yet.) More importantly, I get to stay indoors with my shirt-optional dress code when I want...which makes the difference between "merely nice" and "blippin' hot."
It looks like it'll just be me this Independence Day. That's too bad, because Independence Day is one of the few days in my year where I like to be more of a social creature than I usually am.
There's a short heat wave coming tomorrow that will still be around on Saturday. Looks like summer will be at its full power for the fireworks this year. I look forward to giving the season my greetings. |
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| When Microwaves Attack! |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|05:05 pm] |
My microwave is trying to kill me.
I was heating up a bowl of lentil soup just now, and, with thirty seconds left to go, it smelled like it might already be hot. So I opened the door to check. Usually when that happens, the microwave turns off. This time it kept right on going. In my world this is one of those things that shouldn't even be possible, so for about two seconds I was completely dumbfounded, recognizing that something was pretty darn wrong but having no immediate grasp of what it was or what to do next. This does is not a glowing indication of my survival instincts.
Eventually the neurocracy got back with the right instructions: close the door. So I did. I canceled the rest of the cooking time, and took out my soup to see if it was hot. For all my trouble, it wasn't hot yet. So, on the optimistic assumption that what I had just seen had been a wild, once-in-a-million technical snafu, I put the soup back in for a while longer. It heated up nicely, and the microwave obediently stopped when the timer got down to zero.
All's well that ends well!
Except when I opened the microwave door, it turned on again. My right hand was already heading inside to get the soup, so I pulled it back with haste and shut the door again, this time much more quickly. I decided I would unplug the thing before fetching my delicious soup.
I have no idea what brought this about, but this is a major fire hazard (and not a minor health risk), so it looks like I'll have to buy a new microwave. In the meantime, I'm going to keep it unplugged when it's not in use, and I'll go to the trouble of unplugging it every time I want to check the status of food that isn't finished yet. That's going to be lame, but not as lame as going without a microwave entirely. In the meantime, I am hoping I have escaped injury. I'm expecting that I would already know by now if I were obviously hurt, but to play it safe I'll know what parts of my body to keep tabs on (tummy, right hand, eyes).
Talk about bizarre, though. I thought microwave circuitry was designed so that it would be physically impossible for the thing to operate while the door is open. It reminds me of that old bit of lore about how bumblebees are supposed to be aerodynamically incapable of powered flight, but are too stupid to know about aerodynamics and so can fly anyway. |
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