Notes From an Ayewards World

Early Holiday Celebration!

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:39:57 GMT

Thanks to everyone who sent snowflakes!!! Also, I received my first f-list holiday card in the mail over the weekend, and the Mr. bought me Photoshop CS4 (we were in the Apple store to get the Young Lady a new external drive to help move a massive school project along).

Happy Birthday, ipperne !

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:24:36 GMT

And there isn't much of a birthday left, at this point, is there? One day I'll master this world time thing ... .

>hugs!<

Happy Birthday, vierran45!

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:14:02 GMT

Wishing you a wonderful day (what's left of it!) filled with lovely things to do and enjoy!

Very Local Slang ... or Is It Jargon?

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:43:21 GMT

Does your family (or group of friends, for that matter) have words or terminology that are unique to you? I mean, when you say xword, you all know what's meant, but anyone else is likely to go "Huh?"

For instance: this is the humble yet soothingly tasty sweet steamed rice cake, which the Intarwebs say is called something like pak tong kou (attempts at rendering the Chinese into English vary):

(Photo from Wikimedia)

It's commonly found at restaurants that serve dim sum.

However, among our family and my friend Kat's family (who are the folks with whom we usually do dim sum), this is known as square meal.

Yes. Square. I know that the picture shows a triangular cake. But the first time we had them, they were cut in squares. And someone called them "square meal" in reference to what poor Milo is served in The Phantom Tollbooth when he's asked what he wants for dinner, and unwisely, he recalls an expression of his mom's, and says "I think we should have a square meal." And he's served a platter of squares. Which don't taste like much, unlike steamed rice cakes, which are nice.

And the name stuck.

So: Do you have any interesting alternative terminology in your life? Please tell!

Happy Birthday, cicer!

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:00:24 GMT

I hope your day has been splendid in every way!

Goodbye, aelith1946

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:13:58 GMT

This weekend, I learned that aelith1946 - Aelith on Shejidan - has died. She was 63.

She contacted me last month via locked post to tell me her cancer had returned and spread, but that chemotherapy was going well and that a prognosis would be made "next year." Then, according to a note that her brother sent to felicitoussk8er, Aelith caught pneumonia due to her weakened immune system. Treatment was ineffective, and she died November 14.

When Aelith heard about my own illness on Shejidan, she instantly assumed the role of concerned older sister, pestering me to ask my doctors all the right questions and exhorting me to take an active role in my treatments. The news that she has lost this battle has left me sad and empty.

We Now Own a Prius

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:29:42 GMT

You've probably heard me tell stories of my ancient Accord, Ruby Lee, who has been getting less and less dependable. The Mr.'s Avalon made sense when he bought it a decade ago, but it's a little silly at this point in terms of gas mileage. So, Ruby's days are probably numbered, and I'll be stuck driving a Toyota boat. Which is OK, I guess, because I don't drive to work (I take Metro), so it's only for shopping and such. Hence the Prius.

It's white and its rear visibility sucks, but it has a back-up camera (and lots of other strange electronic gizmos). I'm thinking we could call it Jeep and confuse everyone.

Oh, and half the power at the dealership building was out. So it took us more than 3 effin' hours to complete the paperwork (the staff were all sharing the printers in the powered part of the building, for one thing). At one point, I was lighting the process with the Mini-Maglite that I carry in my bag, like the geek I am. I am now more behind that ever on what I was trying to get done this weekend ... .

Desktop Picture Meme

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:08:02 GMT

We've done this one before, folks, but lawless523 had a spiffy Gravitation image on hers so I commented and now have to play! Besides, last time I did my office PC. This time, it's the Mac at home, but it's still a landscape photo.

This is Great Pond in Eastham, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. I took the photo this past summer. I just liked the peacefulness of it. I guess I should get some Saiyuki or other fannish wallpapers, but I haven't seen all that many I like.

ETA: Besides, I like how the Mac OS X application dock at the bottom really looks like a dock, overlooking the pond!

"Pine Mouth" - I Haz It

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:31:18 GMT

Or at least, I think I have.

Apparently, some people get a nasty, bitter metallic taste in the back of their mouths after eating certain batches of pine nuts (pignolia).

The green bean appetizer at our new local pizzeria place has pine nuts. I had some on Sunday night and ate the leftovers two or three days later. And now I have this distinctive, gronky metallic taste back around my molars and tonsils. It's not like a sinus infection, which I have had before.

Here, have some links about this:

Pine mouth puzzle: Why do these nuts leave you with a bitter taste? (U.K. Daily Mail, May 18, 2009)
Foodborne Fear Factor & other random stuff (Minnesota Dept. of Health, June 10, 2009 - scroll to p. 3)
A nutty problem: Experts try to sort out why certain types of pine nuts seem to afflict some eaters with a bitter aftertaste that can last for days (Baltimore Sun, October 7, 2009)

It can last for weeks, some say ... .

Four Questions Meme!

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:56:31 GMT

Of course, to me, the Four Questions start with Ma nishtana ha-lailah hazeh ... . However, the meme has something a little more personal in mind! It goes like this:

Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."
I'll respond by asking you four questions so I can satisfy my curiosity
Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions

lady_ganesh asked me:

Who's your favorite character to write?

Has to be Gojyo from Saiyuki! I think he lets the inner me come out and play.
What's your favorite offline hobby?

The Young Lady heard me ask this outloud and said it has to be reading. I'll add photography - although that goes online once I post the pix to Flickr.
Do you go to conventions? (I can't remember.) Is there one you want to go to?

I do like to go to cons sometimes. I used to run tournaments at gaming cons. Now I hang out and take pictures of people in costumes. I've gone to Katsucon the last couple of years and hope to do so again in 2010.
What's your favorite fannish possession?

After the actual books and manga themselves, it has to be my big print of this picture (pefectly worksafe; click on the image once you get there so you can see the whole thing properly). telophase drew/painted this for me! I won her in a charity auction, and asked for something with four mysterious shop keepers from manga/manhwa. We have this framed and hanging in the dining room.

Icon for Adoption - BotI

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:20:44 GMT

I came across the art for this while I was doing Yuletide icon research. I'd love to know the history of it - I wouldn't have thought that Doa was even literate! Perhaps Isaku or Anotsu taught her to read. Anyway, I'm going to be mixing it in with my other reading and manga icons, and you're welcome to have it as well, if you like.

My Myopia Is More Speshul than Urz

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:52:33 GMT

Finally, a health post that I don't have to lock down - even though it is something like #47 in the series of "How cho is not like other people."

In most people, myopia (near-sightedness or short-sightedness) is caused by lengthening of the front-to-back axis of the eyeball.

But it turns out that mine isn't. And this is actually something of a good thing.

The Story

I had my eyes checked back a couple of months ago because I had been getting headaches that seemed like eyestrain. And the Doctor of Optometry found that my left eye had jumped more than 2 steps worse - now it's about minus 11 diopters where it used to be about minus 8 (approximately the same as my right eye, and coincidentally, the strongest standard corrective snorkeling mask strength). So he wanted me to be checked out by proper ophthalmologists. The regular ophthalmologist, whom I saw last month, found nothing of interest.

Today I went to the retina specialists and things got interesting. The usual problem with extreme myopia is that you are at serious risk for retinal tears (as in "rip") and detached retina as your prescription gets worse. This is because, the doc informed me, you only have X amount of retinal tissue, ever, and as your eyeball gets less and less spherical and more and more elongated, that tissue gets stretched.

So I first had a thorough regular exam (like the one last month), and then they started putting drops in my eyes, first to dilate the pupil. Then they sent me to a little lab where I was injected (in the arm - that's all - you can breathe now!) with a yellow dye that would collect in my retinas, and I had my eyes held open while digital photos were taken of their insides. This allowed the doctor to make enlarged images of the back of the retina, where the optic nerve attaches. And that looked (he said) "really, really healhty."

So then he put more drops in my eyes, this time essentially anesthetizing their surface. And then he put a lens like a jeweler's loupe right up against my eyeballs so he could look in sideways at the portion of the retina near the front. At one point he poked my right eye with a blunt thing to make it squish a little. And I said ouch very loudly, because it did not feel good at all! (Turns out that the drops were one of the -caine anesthetics - I break those down much faster than most people.) And he said that that portion of my retinas looked very, very healthy too.

In fact, everything looks so healthy and wrong for someone with extreme myopia that he did another test free of charge. So now I can add my eyeballs to the list of parts that have had an ultrasound exam. And the shape of my eyeballs is completely normal!

So - my myopia is caused by corneal (lens) changes only. Oh, and he confirmed that I have very early signs of cataracts - in both eyes.

My pupils are still horribly dilated. I am sitting in a dim room with my monitor brightness turned way down.

Punkins!

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:53:13 GMT

In related news, we have had no trick-or-treaters yet ... . D-:

Just Got My Flu Shot!

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:31:50 GMT

This is the regular ol' seasonal flu shot, not the N1H1 swine thingy.

>shows off sore arm with the enthusiasm of an 8-yr-old<

Happy Birthday, rachelmanija !

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:29:43 GMT

I hope that your day includes things as wonderful as they are strange!

Rec: One-Night Fandoms: A Tribute to Yuletide (video)

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:39:29 GMT

Even if you're not a Yuletide-er, this video is beautifully put together, and if you're like me, you will feel, over and over, little aha moments of recognition as old, beloved series and movies make an appearance - and be a little teary-eyed at the end. The music is the Pretenders' version of "Angel of the Morning," and it works wonderfully.

Available as a download only (and I had to add a patch to my Mac Quicktime to view it after that.)

Yuletide Icons 2009

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:23:35 GMT

This year's Yuletide icons ... a month earlier than last year! As usual, there are icons on the general themes of winter and gifts as well as book illustrations and covers. This year, I even have a few TV shows thrown in!

All the usual caveats apply: don't hotlink (please save my bandwidth!), download 'em to your own system, please credit as appropriate.

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Notes and Acknowledgments

All the usual warnings: download 'em onto your own system, don't link directly to my poor account, please credit.

Some of the resources used: fonts from www.dafont.com, textures from colorfilter, border and other brushes from spiritsighs, endlessdeep, and easyelements. All original art and photos used are copyright by the original artists and photographers, including but not limited to:

1. Michele Lemieux
2. Pauline Baynes
3. Jan Brett
4. Arnaldo Mirasol
5. Morguefile
7, 8. Laurel Burch
9. Bill Watterson
14. fawlty128 on Flickr
15. Leo and Diane Dillon
16. CaptPiper on Flickr

18. Linda Yvonne on Flickr
20. Phil and Kaja Foglio
21. Paul Kidby
22. Trina Schart Hyman
23. Denise Brunkus
25. Alex Ebel
26, 34. Tove Jansson
27. adwriter on Flickr
31. Floyd Cooper
32. Kyle Kesselring on Flickr

35, 36, 39. Patrick McDonnell
38. Alan Say
40. Patrick Q on Flickr
41. Ezra Jack Kearts
42. Luis Garay
43. penmachine on Flickr
44. Rowena Morrill
46. Kinuko Craft
47. CLAMP
48. Nutcracker Suite (but cannot recall which company ...!)

(Photos from Flickr used under Creative Commons licensing.)

Answers Posted for First Lines Book Meme!

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:11:38 GMT

The f-list did fairly well, answering 7 out of 12 correctly. I probably could have been nicer and quoted less obscure works by Tanith Lee and Peter Dickinson, for example.

Happy Belated Birthday, konnyakuhonyaku !

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:17:19 GMT

Yikes, how did I miss this? I hope it was great ... !

=.=;

In the News: Discoveries about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:47:02 GMT

Real world to doubters: it's not in their heads. Medical research now links this devastating condition to a retrovirus:

A Case of Chronic Denial (New York Times)

(Tip of the hat to PG, commenting on Alas, A Blog.)

Yuletide Inspired: First Lines Meme

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:42:57 GMT

Reading all these lovely Yuletide book suggestions has made me think of books, books, and favorite books. Thus, this meme ganked from redbrunja some weeks ago:

Pick 10 of your favorite books or series.
Post the first sentence of each book. (If one sentence seems too short, post two or three!)
Let everyone try to guess the titles and authors of your books.

~~I'll strike off the prompts and credit the guessors as this goes on ... and I'm giving a round 12 lines, because 10 wasn't enough.~~

ETA: Now with answers to those not guessed!!

~~Everything starts somewhere, although many physicists disagree.~~ - Hogfather by Terry Pratchett, guessed by hikari_mibu
~~I shall clasp my hands together and bow to the corners of the world.~~ - Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart, guessed by telophase
Her kiss burnt his forehead. Keyed senses, distracted by the powdery odour of shampoo, didn't at once register that the fire was frozen. One Foot in the Grave by Peter Dickinson
It was gala night at the Royal Theatre, London. Thursday's Children by Rumer Godden
July had been blown out like a candle by a biting wind that ushered in a leaden August sky. My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
~~Prime Predictor Tae ran-Kaeil was long dead, but he lived in the bellies of his aggressive progeny.~~ - Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury, guessed by smillaraaq
Night, near the eastern edge of the walled, sloping grounds of the estate, with these walls, perhaps a quarter-mile from the house itself, at the small stand of trees, under a moonless sky, listening, he stands, absolutely silent. Eye of Cat by Roger Zelazny
The plump young man with the ginger hair caused something of a sensation as he entered the inn. It was not intentional. Cyrion by Tanith Lee (actually, the Young Lady guessed this one, looking over my shoulder. She has an LJ, but declined to log in and answer online ...)
~~The people in this book might be going to have lived a long, long time from now in Northern California.~~ - Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin, guessed by smillaraaq
The [ship's] small galley table was was awash in data printout, paperfaxes ringed and blotched with brown gfi-stains, arrowed, circled, crossed-out, and noted in red and green ink till they were beyond cryptic. - Chanur's Homecoming by C.J. Cherryh, guessed by theloomofmoira
~~The hills rolled up to the moon on slopes of wind-bent grass, crested, swept down into tangled brier shadows.~~ - God Stalk by P.C. Hodgell, guessed by estara
~~It began one day in the summer about 30 years ago, and it happened to four children.~~ - Half Magic by Edward Eager, guessed by flemmings

Happy hunting!

Happy Birthday purpleicicles !

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:14:14 GMT

May your day be filled with joy and tasty goodies!

Happy Birthday, eldanis !

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:03:31 GMT

Wishing you a day filled with inspiration and good times with friends!

Awesome Young Lady!

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:01:11 GMT

One last post before bed: this AAA-league ball girl is fantastic!

Be sure to watch the slo-mo replay.

(Thanks to my old friend Teri Knox on Facebook.)

ETA: I'm so sad!

Another Picspam ... Colonial Market Fair (Costumes & Stuff)

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 02:32:46 GMT

This is the last batch for a while - I'm all caught up, finally!

Market Fair at Claude Moore Colonial Farm in Virginia (July 2009)
Slack rope dancer (on the ground) - with flaming torches!	Small girl at her parents' market stall	The Mr. tries his hand at a game

Maybe I'll take some more at the Ren Faire (which I hope we'll finally make next week).

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