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Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
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lj_maintenance
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On Saturday the 14th at 4AM UTC/GMT we will be upgrading the operating system of our network load balancers to a newer version, one that will allow us to use both CPUs! Nifty, because multiprocessing is nice.
Since we have 2 load balancers, the plan is to upgrade 1 at a time, and there really should be very little impact to our website. Hopefully you won't notice a thing and I'll get to go back to the hotel and watch some wonderful late night infomercials.
We've got a lot of exciting projects coming up for 2010 and we're hoping that we'll be able to deliver them all to you, that you will find it useful/cool/lovely and then you will use the site even more. Behind-the-scenes work like this will give us the capacity to handle the anticipated traffic, so expect a few more maintenance windows especially in the beginning of next year as we've got some neat ideas to improve performance around here! We had the recent 30-45 minute outage yesterday due to one of our logging databases filling up disk space -- not so great design coupled with my human error in handling the initial problem -- and it looks like we're going to finally have some resources to eliminate stuff like that. I can't wait!
As usual, I will be updating status.livejournal.org before and after, just in case you are not able to reach our main website during the work.
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Comments: Read 8 or Add Your Own.
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zebulingod
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(reposted by request of a friend)
http://www.employment.oregon.gov/EMPLOY/UI/ui_issues_affect_benefits.shtml#School_attendance
| School attendance | | |
School attendance can affect your eligibility for benefits if you limit the hours and days you can look for or accept work. During an investigation of this issue, the adjudicator will determine if you can attend class at other times, make special arrangements with your instructors, or if you would drop school to work. If you are not available for work due to school attendance, you may be disqualified for the weeks affected by the issues.
If benefits are allowed while attending school, you must still keep looking for and be willing to accept full-time as well as part-time work. Tell your Unemployment Insurance Center the week before you start school, even if you take only one class. |
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Comments: Read 5 or Add Your Own.
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zebulingod
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My parents, both in the Army, met while stationed in Germany during Vietnam. My paternal grandfather was a belly gunner in a B-17 and tailgunner in a B-24 during World War 2. One of my paternal uncles was in the Navy during Vietnam. My roommate and several acquaintances and friends are in the Army/Air Guard and have seen action in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans after Katrina/Rita.
All of these people have given up something of themselves so that we can continue to enjoy our way of life. To each and every one of them, I offer my sincerest thanks.
We may not always agree with the politics of our government, but we should all support the troops who put themselves in harm's way each and every day.
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Comments: Add Your Own.
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blackthornglade
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I would just like you all to know that is now clear to me why I'm a switch.
I haven't examined myself enough.
If I spent more time examining my needs and wants and desires, I would become a dominant or submissive and finally be fully myself.
I'm so happy to have found this out.
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Comments: Read 11 or Add Your Own.
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Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
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sequiro
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These two love each other so much, the family said they actually had to make a rule about too much hugging at school. 
Originally published at Incidents and accidents. You can comment here or there.
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Comments: Read 1 or Add Your Own.
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blackthornglade
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This group is for the ones who are or were brave enogh to join any branch of the Milatary, and protect Us suvillians, thair familyies, and each other! Along with the people who support them. After all if they deserted us all hope, freedom, and lifes would be ruled by Tyrants. Of course this would never happen cause we of the U.S.A hould the red, white, and blue high in the air makeing us invencable.
Description from a forum that will remain linkless, called ARMIES (US MILATARY PRIDE).
And they give these people guns?
I should add that the same person who set up the group...used Mereens in a thread title.
*facepalm*
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Comments: Read 6 or Add Your Own.
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blackthornglade
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It seems that the latest thing to be tossed around and twisted up in the kink community are some very empowering concepts that might just have, at one time, been beneficial and prevented people from being taken advantage of. Now, they seem to be sliding down into "Of course I'm an X...I'll keep you safe and teach you" with the underlying meaning of "I'm going to dig my claws in and get first shot at this new piece of meat."
This seems to be taking two roads: Mentoring and Collars of Protection.
If I could make just two statements to each and every new person that shows their face at an event it would be these:
1. You don't let anyone just slap a collar around your neck, I don't care *what* they call it or what they say it's for. You don't know what you're getting into and don't know what the members of that space think a collar means. Don't set yourself up (Ok, that's two sentences on this one. So sue me.)
2. No, your mentor should not be treating you like his submissive, and IMO, should not be fucking, sucking, beating, ordering you around, or expecting service from you, outside of giving you an example of what someone might be talking about if you bring it up as a question or concern. (I would exclude sex as a part of that as an absolute, I'm more flexible on the technique part, so long as it's as an example or to let the mentee feel what it might be like with someone else.)
If a mentorship turns into a relationship, then the mentor should find a different person to take over mentorship. I'm not stupid. Relationships and emotions happen where they will. However, I think that once the relationship changes, it's incumbent on the mentor, as their last act of mentorship, to find someone to take that place and step down for the new relationship evolving.
A mentor is someone that is there to be a source of information, someone to bounce ideas off of, to ask questions of (particularly when you encounter something that feels "off"), to help you navigate through the waters of the kink community until you can stand on your own two feet with more understanding of our communities and what is and is not acceptable behavior.
Someone showing you how to throw a whip isn't a mentor. Someone saying you have to perform sexually isn't a mentor. Someone telling you how to dress and who you can and cannot talk to isn't a mentor. If you have someone coming to you and offering to mentor you, detailing how they will train you to be X or Y or Z, please put on your Headgear of Thinking 18 and evaluate what you know of mentorships *outside* of the kink arena and then compare what is being offered to you within it.
Who is benefiting from the arrangement?
Is sexual activity a part of the exchange?
Are scenes/playing/training a part of the exchange?
Does it seem imbalanced in the favor of the other person?
Does it seem that the other person will be sitting back and benefiting and you doing all the work?
This is not a mentorship. Being a mentor means giving more than you receive, helping someone else without thought of payment, aggrandizement, popularity, or being able to brag about how they "made you what you are". Providing time and energy to a person so that they can grow safely and securely in their own confidence and abilities, not protecting them from the Big Bad out there.
And...it's at this point that we come to Collars of Protection.
While I'm sure there are well meaning people out there who surely *are* trying to look after the interests of those who are new to kink and are the proverbial bright eyed, innocent, vapid, totally incompetent at taking care of themselves newbies...are there *really* so many of those people walking through our doors on a daily or hourly basis?
If they're that unable to watch out for themselves, how do they cross the street and not get hit by a car?
Really. It's time that we actually expect people to use their brains, not claim "I'm a helpless sub, someone save me" while they click off their brains and wave a red flag at every predator in the room.
Because, imo, it's those very same predators who are offering these damnable collars. "Oh, my dear, sweet, little thing. Please let me take care of you since you're so new and vulnerable. Here. Let me put this little collar on your neck. No...no...it's just something that will tell everyone else to keep their hands off while you get your feet under you. You will need to behave appropriately, though, while wearing it. Please make sure that you're at my feet and naked, allow me to touch you any way I please, and beat the crap out of you without complaint. By the way. What's your name again?"
Does this *really* sound like a good idea to anyone?
I understand the desire to make our play spaces safe for the newer members that come to us. And no, it's not reasonable for someone who's new to know all the ins and outs of a particular space or the people there. I believe it *is* reasonable, however, to expect them to use the common sense that God (pick one, I don't care which) gave a turnip when it comes to being a little wary about some stranger approaching us with a lollipop near a van.
We teach our *children* to show more common sense with strangers than we expect out of our new members. We encourage our children to scream and shout and run away when strangers touch them...but we encourage our bottom-type-orientations to not use their brains? Does this make sense?
If something seems "off" to you...go to another person and ask. Most events will have clearly labeled People In Charge that I'm sure will have no problem with a question like "Hey, I'm hearing that I have to kneel to all dominants at this place. Is that true?" If something makes you uncomfortable...don't do it. Ask. Open your mouth and find out *WHY* it's being suggested. Don't just accept something as truth because you're new.
*Especially* because you're new.
New doesn't mean stupid. Don't let someone force that on you.
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Comments: Read 6 or Add Your Own.
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Monday, November 9th, 2009
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blackthornglade
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Domanat - "I am domanat." I'm wondering if this like a cormorant. No. That has too many letters.
Illeagle - a sick bird.
Exsperinced - I like to think of this as sexperienced on shrooms. Grats on not being a virgin.
Scence - a combination of scene and sense. Either sensory play or a scene that makes sense. You decide.
Dominatricks - She speaks! She rolls over! She makes you play dead!
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Comments: Read 4 or Add Your Own.
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sequiro
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Today started out blah and just went downhill from there. Had lovely dreams this morning, only to be woken by the alarm. John made sure it was diet-coke-in-bed-day but I had to rush out the door for a newborn session. Normally, I’d be excited about a newborn session, except that this guy is nearly 3 weeks old, past the newborn sleepy stage. So instead of a nicely sleepy and curly newborn, I got two 20 minute sections of a sleeping baby and 3 hours of a screaming one. It’s not the screaming that bothers me, either. It’s not being able to give the parents of said baby what I could have given them if they’d called two weeks ago instead. I want to make pretty, not screaming baby.
While I was shooting that session, I managed to chow down on A (just one) cold pop tart and half of a sprite, ick. From 9am to 2pm, that was it. In the middle of the session of screaming baby and no food for me, the couple asked about the sizes of canvas wraps we offer, so I pulled all of them but our smallest, which I couldn’t find. I went looking for it a little later and still didn’t find it, so I called Frankie to see if she put it anywhere, but she hadn’t. She further said that she had shown it to some clients Friday afternoon, so it had to have been moved between Friday night and Sunday morning. A call to our intern confirmed that no one in our studio had moved it. Furthermore, Frankie knows that a “competing” fauxtographer was snooping in our studio (was snidely asking about our rent and room, etc) earlier this week and was seen again that night. We think she decided that she needed a sample canvas to show clients and didn’t want to pay for one, so she opted to take ours instead.
What I’m most pissed off about is that the canvas in question is the very first canvas I ever bought, back when I was just starting out three plus years ago. The girl in it is the very special little girl of a close friend I’ve known since high school, and I know for a fact that they don’t let anyone else in town photograph her. She loves me and i love her to bits. The thought of some theiving cow using MY art and MY special girl to sell their work is what makes me so mad/sad. I swear, if we ever find out who took her, I’m going to seriously trash them.
So, I get done shooting the crying baby and looking for a stolen picture and rush home at top speed to pull the photos off the memory card, throw some dresses in the car and scarf down a swallow of diet coke and two fun-size twix bars. Yeah, what a great lunch. Then I haul ass down to the local gardens for a princess session.
The session goes great, high point of my day. Great kids, awesome family. I’m feeling better… Until I get home and pull the images off the card. The camera us STILL wrong. I swear, I had the damn thing fixed for two sessions, and now it’s out of focus again. It really can’t be that hard! But no, I have to chuck some really cute shots because the stupid thing decided it wanted to see the kids’ shoes instead of their faces.
::sigh:: Todayvis one of the days I feel like I should have just stayed in bed.
Originally published at Incidents and accidents. You can comment here or there.
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Comments: Read 6 or Add Your Own.
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Sunday, November 8th, 2009
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agbert
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[Second-handers] don't ask, "Is this true?". They ask, "Is this what others think is true" Not to Judge, but to repeat. Not to do, but give the impression of doing. - Ayn Rand - The Fountainhead.
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Comments: Add Your Own.
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Saturday, November 7th, 2009
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victrola58
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Every other Friday I go to the mall for Chicken Teryaki for hubby and me. The order is always the same - 2 chicken teryaki, both with white rice both with vegetables and one double meat. Now if they just keep their mouths shut they quite often ring up the order quickly. When they start asking questions in the middle of what I am saying they tend to screw it up.
Case in point... I say my order Friday night and the guy says to me "no vegetables" - and I reply "that is not what I said - I said both with vegetables" then the guy says to me which one do you want with double meat? Straight faced I look him in the eye and say "does it matter they are both the same?" He promptly shuts up and the other guy at the register takes over.... If the food wasn't so good and inexpensive I wouldn't go there at all.
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Comments: Read 1 or Add Your Own.
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south_wind
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No school yesterday, but all the teachers climbed on a bus and we rode to another town where we had in-service meetings, talks, stuff, etc. It was hugely uncomfortable riding in that bus. The seats were hard...padded, yet hard, and it was a bumpy ride. We arrived late to the keynote talk, so I did get to sit way in the back where I could refresh my coffee without being noticed.
The one session I attended was pretty disappointing. The speaker had no handouts, no specifics. We mostly ended up watching a powerpoint/film presentation of movies one of his classes made. Unfortunately, several of his slides of quotes had spelling, punctuation, and sentence errors. He's an English teacher. Okay, I can understand that in emails, quick notes, and so on. But in a presentation?? Please.
After my late night Thursday, I was pretty tired. As I sat listening to this guy go on and on, I fell sound asleep. It wasn't a head-jerk sleep, it was an almost-fall-out-of-the-desk sleep.
Earlier this week, Monday, was my former mother-in-law's funeral. It was a nice service, although not what I expected. Usually, Catholics will have a Mass before the burial service, but there wasn't one. There was also strangeness with the one brother who doesn't speak to the other brothers and who doesn't acknowledge his three kids as his children anymore.
With the Thursday night fun watching Peter Tork, this has been quite a week. I am usually such a routine-only person that I quite feel as if I am on another planet!
Toodles.
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Comments: Read 4 or Add Your Own.
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Friday, November 6th, 2009
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sequiro
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Today’s job, taken in the family’s foyer. I was hanging out with drool monster here while mom and dad were getting the other two ready for family photos.
Resulting family shot:
Originally published at Incidents and accidents. You can comment here or there.
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Comments: Read 5 or Add Your Own.
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Thursday, November 5th, 2009
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south_wind
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This was an unusual week. Beginning with the good stuff first, I just got home from a packed coffee house. Peter Tork was really, really good.
Egads, I'm too tired to write more right now, but he was...well, we all loved him. So cute! Daughter was so tickled to see him. We bought cds and got his autograph, and he gave her a little flirty look, even though he's old enough to be her grandpa.
'twas a very enjoyable concert; he's quite talented.
More later.
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Comments: Read 2 or Add Your Own.
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meisterdorf
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I am in a hotel room in Seattle, and the cable TV is out. Boredom!
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Comments: Read 2 or Add Your Own.
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Friday, November 6th, 2009
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inauckland
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| Posted by: | jexia. |
| Time: | 11:37 am. |
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Can anyone recommend a fridge repair company? We're in Papakura.
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Comments: Add Your Own.
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Thursday, November 5th, 2009
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news
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The empire strikes backIn recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.
RSS feeds againIf you're addicted to , ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience.
Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) c_s_i
If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here.
Enveloped in postcardsLast week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.
Photos of the weekIf you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy at lj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!
( Read more... )
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Comments: Read 218 or Add Your Own.
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blackthornglade
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Is anyone else seeing new posts? Or able to post?
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Comments: Read 1 or Add Your Own.
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Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
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pendamuse
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NaNo’s been taking up a bit of my time this month, but I’ve got a few moments for some words. November is always a crazy time for me since I always undertake the writer’s challenge, and when you throw the annual travel south to visit family for the Thanksgiving holidays, I have even less time to reach my goal. I’m not overly concerned with actually completing it and I certainly won’t stress myself out over it. I’ve been hitting the write-ins (okay, the one yesterday at the Black Lotus Brewery), and I do enjoy the creative synergy. Probably won’t do the Saturday one, but I may. I’ve been following the Cleveland unearthing of the bodies and it makes me curious about the neighbors and everyone’s willingness to blame the sausage factory for the smell of decaying flesh instead of say, a serial killer a few doors down. I do realize people want to see the best in all humans, and the idea of someone storing bodies in crawlspaces and skulls in buckets is something only I would come up with in a moment of desperation, but let’s get honest now – I’d never be that sloppy. I know people and can get myself on a few hundred pounds of QuikLime with a bat of my lashes. The MetroTimes brought me a story about Kovacs Bar in Delray, a dying neighborhood stuck between greed and progress. Bob and Delores tend bar and they could use a few fresh faces to brighten their day. I’d like to take a little trip to the Little Village That Was and have myself a drink or two. The descriptions of the bar’s art deco style coupled with the warm glow of the wood accents are drawing me in hard. Who’d like to have a drink with me this weekend? I don’t even want to talk about the Phillies/Yankees game on right now. That way lies madness. Warren Ellis has launched something pretty amazing and there is no doubt in my mind you should scoop up a few copies of his collection, Shivering Sands. As anyone who has tried to track Warren on the Internets in the last several years can attest – the man is everywhere. Sure you can try to keep up with his mailing list and forum, webpage, online serial, etc., but it’s exhausting. In a rare moment of benevolence, he has collected these striking works (normally restricted under doctor/patient files were the man properly committed) into one handsomely bound volume. Go forth and procure yourself a copy. You’ll thank me when your Holiday shopping is complete before the decorations go up next week. I have been informed again that the previous 438 words cannot count to my nightly word count so I’ll end it here. My NaNo novel (thanks for asking) is progressing as well as can be expected for a story with no outline, no discernible plot, and no conceivable end. In other words, I’m having a ball. Ridiculous freedom in writing without constraints, and fun is what November is all about – you know, before the relatives and excessive drinking kicks in. Good night.
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Comments: Read 2 or Add Your Own.
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samajh
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When I was 23 I was just released from college into the cold cruel world, really without any clue of what I wanted to do with myself or my life. After graduation I made the mistake of moving in with my current boyfriend- as my classmates were giving up their lease.
I got a crappy job in Westlake mall and made the most of it. Within a couple of months I couldn't stand it anymore, for a host of reasons. I had never lived on my own, but I was desperate to get out. I went to a party and met a friend of a friend who was leaving on a roadtrip and he suggested I talk to his roommate.
That was how I met Fred. We lived together for a couple of years, although he never even spent the night at the apartment. Needless to say he was the best roommate ever! He had two jobs and a fiancee- and the apartment was his last remnant of bachelor-hood. I was happy to have a 2 bdrm place to myself. It was strange, but I was desperate and it worked out really well.
By that time I was working in a restaurant for pennies on the dollar. I went to pay my first month's rent and couldn't find the landlord. I came to find out, long story short, that she had taken off with her crackhead boyfriend with no notice. I had no clue what to do, and I certainly hadn't signed any lease papers- so I called the office and offered to take the job. That was how I became the scary landlady, a job I held for quite some time. It was an awful job! People's stoves would break and the company was so cheap they wouldn't fix it for over a month- but I was the one who lived on premises so I got to deal with [justifiably] angry tenants.
I eventually moved out and was thankful to no longer feel like I was on duty 24/7. It was a secret pleasure to turn my phone OFF so no one could contact me.
Today Al and I were seriously discussing buying a rental property. I have my doubts about this, with my memories of how it was in the past. Obviously a lot of it would be different- especially since I think I can successfully screen-out junkies with my vast experience! But I just don't know. Does anyone here have any advice or suggestions? Ideally it would be pretty hands-off, but I don't want to imagine it'll be a source of passive income without any work involved.
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Comments: Read 5 or Add Your Own.
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samajh
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Hands down, one of my favorite books that I found this year was 'How to Cook a Wolf' by M.F.K. Fisher. I picked it randomly, added to my library to-read list so that by the time I got it I had forgotten why or how I wanted to read it.
It was quite a surprise. This book may be old and well known, but to me it was brand new. First off I absolutely loved her style of writing. She has a very dry humor that really appeals to me. This book is a cookbook, and yet so much more. Her love of food as well as writing comes out clearly.
She talks quite a bit about diets in general, and food and economy in particular. This book was written in 1942 in the middle of WWII and at the start of food rationing. The wolf at the door is poverty.
I can't begin to say how much this book rings just as true now as it did back then. It couldn't be more relevant to anyone who is interested in good cooking, healthy food, and living well within your means.
She starts off by saying that many of the suggested meals and diets that were popular at that time were ridiculous. Her feeling was that simple healthy wholesome food were not only sensible but better for you. She denied the need for supplements and many courses of meals that were the fad at the time. Sound familiar?
She talked about economy and tricks to keep the wolf at bay. The book is full of recipes that are delicious and simple- and are geared towards making the most of what you have, no matter how small. The levels of poverty that were common at time prompted her to write on how to survive on even a small pot of stew for a week at a time. Her point was to buy the best quality you could afford, and if you could not afford quality meat each day it was better to eat it once per week or even per month than suffer poor quality.
However, her book is not about how to save money. It really isn't. It isn't about how to cook either, in spite of it being a cookbook. It's about how to really savor your food, and to enjoy each bite. It's about making the effort of cooking a labor of love, and how sharing it with friends and family adds spice to a meal. It's about nourishing your body with good food and your mind with good company. It's sage advice that stands the test of time.
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Comments: Read 3 or Add Your Own.
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sequiro
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I was telling my photog friend Robyn about this today and figured I’d share here too so everyone could have a giggle.
I was shooting a wedding the other day and a guest was walking around with a 5DII ($2600) and a 50mm1.4 ($400). I wandered in with my crap sigma macro ($250) because I was shooting details and needed to get close. He checked out IN THIS ORDER; my height, my ass and then my gear. A smug smile spread across his face as he realized that I was just some two-bit hack with shitty gear who thought I could make it in a man’s world and he knew right then that the bride and groom should have paid HIM to shot that wedding instead.
So after I was done I went out to the car and put on my 85mm 1.2 ($1900).  His face was priceless.
Originally published at Incidents and accidents. You can comment here or there.
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Comments: Read 4 or Add Your Own.
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aussie_ratties
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Can anyone recommend a reliable, competant rat sitter in Melbourne?
Alternatively, would anyone like to do a reciprocal care arrangment?
We need our ratties (and meeces) looked after over the Christmas week so we can visit relatives interstate. We'd be more than happy to look after your bubbies at any time in return.
Note: our rats have mycoplasma, so if your colony is free of it we'd recommend that you don't look after ours.
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Comments: Read 1 or Add Your Own.
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zebulingod
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(Someone mentioned to me that I seem to use my LJ more for telling people happy birthday than anything else. I'm going to try something new this month, and see how well it goes over.)
Happy Birthday to the following people:
November 2nd:
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) katgolightly
November 4th:
macoulac
sarageek
November 7th:
divinemissb
November 15th:
drone_war
I hope each and every one of you has a happy birthday!
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aylwyn27
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Year two was as successful as year one if not more so. :)
We did of course run into some snags, but we didn't let them ruin anything.
The weather kinda sucked. It rained most of Friday afternoon and evening, so we didn't spend the weekend at the cottage after all. While the rain itself wasn't the main deterrent, the cold temperatures sure were. Night time temps got into the lower 40's (F) and the cottage is not heated. It's meant for summer use only, not year round. :P We thought about taking the kerosene heater with us, but then J got word he'd be working on Saturday, so we just said screw staying there for the weekend because it'd be too much of a hassle.
I woke up Saturday and my back hurt like a SOB! No matter what I did, I was in pain. :( Then of course I got all depressed because I thought I was going to ruin everything because I couldn't move. Thankfully the pain meds kicked in and I was able to move around albeit slowly, but I was moving.
Maps were made, pumpkins carved, tea lights were bought, flashlights worked, candy buckets, toys, etc. were packaged and the ever popular smores ingredients were bought and ready to go.
J got home around 5:30pm and we got some pizzas that the kids devoured. Called S and told her to have my mom bring her over. By the time we finally left here it was 7pm. Trick or Treat was supposed to go from 6:30-8 that night so I gave N the speech about watching out for people darting across the street. Then when we got down the road I figured out how redundant that speech was when there were only 3 porch lights on in the seven blocks we drove before we turned on the main road. (In our city if you're passing out candy you turn your porch light on. No light - no candy) Now that was just a sad sight to see. As for kids, I saw a group of teens that looked like they were out to cause trouble, not go trick or treating.
When we got to the cottage, J started the fire and I got the kids settled in the house. Lil J and S were told to keep an eye on them and keep everyone inside so we could finish the maps and hide the stuff. N was supposed to help hide the things, but he had to stop at the store so he helped when he got there. J told me to wait until we got there before I drew their route out on the map just in case it was too wet to go in the lower section of the yard. (there's a few areas where water collects after heavy rains) Thankfully it wasn't.
Once the stuff was hidden we got out the luminaries and started to put the tea lights in them when N informed us the bad news about all but two pumpkins. I could say that this is where I put my two cents in about how I said putting them in the back of his truck was NOT a good idea, but since I didn't say that, I won't. I just looked at J with one of those I told you so looks and left it at that. We just spaced things out more than planned.
We had four things for each kid to find. A small bag of candy (half a freezer bag actually), a toy (S,A, and Z got Skelanimals and lil J and M got bionicles), a bag of small toys (spider rings, bottles of bubbles, pencils, erasers, vampire teeth, glowy necklaces and squishy eye ball things), and then their candy bucket. Each one was marked on the map along with the route they were to follow to find everything. (Last year we gave them half the map and had them find the other half, but since it was kinda wet we decided not to do that. Plus they had four things already to find, so that was kinda enough LOL)
N bought both glow sticks that came with lanyards (read as cheap plastic string) and glow necklaces when I sent him to the store, so we put the glow sticks on them during the hunt. It was funny to see glow sticks running all over the yard. Yep, it was that dark. Even with the flashlights working this year A and Z were afraid to go to areas in the yard that were far away from anyone else. lil J told A that if she went with him and helped him find his stuff he'd go with her. So they went off together finding one of his items and them one of hers until they were done. N was told to go help Z since he opted not to do the hunt. He still got candy because he helped me package everything up. (He didn't want any of the other stuff though.) M worked on his own only asking a few times for hints. (J hides stuff very well ;) )
S was lost from the time she was given her map. *shakes head* She still wanted to do the hunt, so we made her a map. Let's just say we need to work on her map reading skills. A LOT! She's 17, almost 18, and couldn't read a map with everything clearly labeled on it. I'm talking there's a house labeled 'cottage' with a box on the back labeled 'deck' with an 'x' circled on it and she asked me what that meant. WTF? Z, who is 8 had no trouble. I'm hoping it's just because her meds are still in need of adjustment due to the recent change. That was just 'duh' worthy. Her candy bucket was hid up in one of J's tree stands that he uses for practice shooting when sighting in his bow. I drew a tree with an arrow going up it. She walked around for ten minutes retracing her steps from her last stop to the tree several times until I said, "Look up." Sometimes I swear she does that just to get our attention.
Everyone found there stuff eventually and then we huddled around the fire to keep warm and make our smores, mainly to keep warm though. After everyone had two smores we were ready to pack up and head home. Yep it was that cold!
A entertained us with a funny Halloween story in which Z was hit by lightning and turned to ashes, N was kidnapped by a sasquatch he later married, lil J was turned into a werewolf, M disappeared never to be seen again (until later in the story), S married her dorky ex boyfriend who later dumped her for N's sasquatch wife, who apparently left him for the ex BF, J was attacked by a bear, but won and I became a witch who lived in the woods mixing brews and potions and cooking dinner for A. After N's and S's spouses left each them for each other J, M, A and Z took them on a vacation so they'd feel better. When asked about how Z and M who were written off were able to come back we were told that Z was turned into a zombie (yeah, I know, doesn't explain away the 'turned into ashes part', but she tried I guess - z quipped, "Oh great, I'm zombie ashes blowing around in the wind. How am I supposed to eat brains that way? I don't have any teeth?" Not that A cared.) M, turns out was abducted by aliens, but they brought him back because he talked too much and wouldn't shut up. So yeah. That kept us entertained. Of course the way we joked with and teased each other was the best part of it all. ;)
Then we came home and watched horror movies until we passed out, while eating candy of course. LOL Yep, we had fun. :)
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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
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zebulingod
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Anyone know of a blog service that I can add to a website which meets the following criteria?
- Free or inexpensive (I know this is subjective, but I'm not looking to spend a lot of money)
- No ads
- Easy to install/configure/update
- Should be seamlessly integrated with the website (IE, if it cannot be added to the website directly, it shouldn't be a redirect to another website, the visitor shouldn't realise that it isn't part of the website)
(I currently have a site hosted via godaddy, if it matters.)
I've looked at a few so far, but the descriptions haven't been very helpful, or they seem to indicate they are hosted elsewhere, but don't answer whether or not a visitor would notice a redirect to another website.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!
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Monday, November 2nd, 2009
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agbert
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This flu is gonna cull the herd. Be ware! You may be counted as a casualty of Darwin if you don't take care of yourself!
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sydthekyd
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Pen and I and some friends saw the Michael Jackson film the other day. I thought it was pretty good, almost like being at a concert. One thing that did stick out in my mind after seeing it was that I had no idea just how much he was involved in the WHOLE production of a concert. We saw him working with the movie editors that were doing the backdrop films, the backup singers, the prop dept, the band, the dancers, the whole damn thing was every second perfected by him.
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pendamuse
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Another November is upon us and veteran writers, as well as "One Day" writers (as in "one day I'm going to write a novel"), begin the annual pilgrimage to 50,000 words. There are arguments against this kind of frenzied, schizophrenic storytelling. I hear them on writing boards and among co-workers who don't understand the process, first and foremost why wait until November to write a novel? Also, if it's about the word count, doesn't the plot suffer?
For me, November allows me to write the kind of novel I might not write over the course of the previous 11 months. I'm a short-story writer. I like my tales shocking and quick, like a well-hung flasher in a dark alley. Shorter tales are already complete in my head, nearly fully formed, nothing a little oxygen and UV light couldn't fix. I almost always know before I get the first words on the page how it will end. I take my readers by the hand, shove them into a dark closet, tell them something shocking, and push them back into the bright light, blinking and disorientated. It's fun and the number of shorts seem infinite in my head.
November makes me flex the verbose muscles I deliberately neglect in my short tales. NaNo is not a word dump for me, but a matter of getting on a disciplined writing schedule for 30 days. I don't have a regular writing schedule anymore and every November is like a boot camp for me. I should be working on it now, my goal to crack 5K before bed, but writing a post seemed like a nice diversion. November gives me an opportunity to brainstorm while I write, exploring characters and scenes and backstories. Short stories don't lend themselves well to long backstories. I can't stop in the middle of 900 words of action and say, "wait a minute, lemme explain something". That kind of time doesn't exist and it can bog a story down. I can't dump it all in the beginning either, it's like being fed rice and potatoes before the steak arrives. The reader is full and leftover steak just doesn't taste good by the time he actually gets around to it.
November also makes me write the stories I would normally avoid. This isn't to say November is for my B-material, but it is a chance to get those half-formed ideas out of my head to make room for the stuff I usually write - a bit like removing a parasitic twin. I've kicked around 'Fates Cove' in my head for years, making notes here and there, half-heartedly researching the material when I accidentally came across it. Over the last 34 months (the three years minus the Novembers) if I wanted to start a new project, I always by-passed 'Fates' in my files for something I was actually excited about and make an excuse to myself as to why it wasn't ready to be written. Last NaNo's 'The 'Messenger' was another mutant parasite that was trying to grow legs over 'The Caretaker'. The steampunk in 'Messenger' was never going to mesh with the contemporary 'Caretaker' so last November, I excised it, and won NaNo for the first time since starting it in 2003. It's still lying on the autopsy table of a flash drive, waiting to either be examined for possible reanimation, or dumped into the Potter's Field of my imagination, never to be pondered upon again. Sometimes our babies are stillborn and as writers we accept it as a fact of life, rather than dwell on what could have been.
So here I am again - 29 days ahead of the end and about 2,000 words into 'Fates Cove', a tale of superstition and the Powers that drive it. I hadn't even decided on writing this until October 29, and settled only because preliminary notes had already been carefully filed and were conveniently handy. I have a general idea of where this will go, but for me it's more about getting Samantha and the trio of Erinyes out of my head and settled into their new home in the morgue so I can finish Never and polish the other three. 'Fates' is the parasitic twin with a mouth that moves when Never is talking. It's distracting and November is scheduled surgery.
NaNoWriMo isn't about sloppy storytelling. It's not about standing over a page and crapping out 50K. It's about seeing if those malformed babies can be given a second chance at life, maybe growing the right amount of limbs, a functioning set of lungs, and God-willing, the ability to go out and make enough money to put Mommy in a real nice senior community in Boca Raton.
My NaNo coach (the husband) is telling me that since the previous 786 words can't count in my novel, I have to close this post and get back to killing people in Fate's Cove.
Who knows, maybe November 30 I'll have one of those novels that'll join the ranks of the other NaNo projects waiting to make their professional debut. Right now, it's not one of my favorite children, but there's still a lot of time left to impress me.
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blank.
thoughtful.
tired.
pleased.
calm.