Filed under Books
eBay Sales: paper ephemera for scrapbooking
#MilWordy Update: 109,117 words (4,124 words/day to complete)
I started working on a digitization project recently. I’ve been typing in poems and such which have been sitting, static and unyeilding in my file folders. Let me tell you that the nineties were not necessarily a good time for me. At least by the contents of the poetry folder I’ve found. It’s not that it’s bad poetry necessarily. It’s not that it’s good either. Let’s be honest, it’s not my usual format for writing. I also found an article on propaganda in Nazi Germany that I’ve been transcribing. And I am now getting interested in doing some additional research on the topic and fleshing it out a bit more.
So, that might end up in Medium or something at some point. (Yes, I am looking at doing some entries on Medium if anyone’s interested in that. I’ll even blog about my experiences on using the site.) It needs a lot of polishing and I need to resurrect all of the umlauts that didn’t get put into the document because I was using an old Smith Corona word processor. It sounded like a machine gun as it typed and my roommate’s reaction was mostly “is it over yet?” Especially when I was busy printing out the third copy of my senior honor’s thesis.
Filed under Life in Random
eBay Sales: pressure cooker, waterglobe, knife sharpener
#MilWordy Update: 108,785 words (4,107 words/day to complete)
I have been catching up on the pile of ‘zines that I have. So far, I have found 1 that I liked. I have consumed a bunch of bullshit poetry. And I have developed a nostalgia for an era of zines that I barely remember. One that smells of mimeograph ink and smeared slightly. I was never a punk, but I have always enjoyed the aesthetic. And I do remember the days when you had to go out of your way to find zines and get ahold of them. I remember buying from black and white catalogs that had been through too many Xerox machines. And I am disconcerted by new zines that have fresh, good quality printing on fresh, good paper. And there’s no reason to be upset about something that just barely existed in my memory, but it’s like a niggling little toothache. Like I have missed something important.
And zines are an all-age game, but normally it feels like it’s just the young who do such things. Zines were the tumblr and livejournal of my youth. But I was not part of that world then. I was too focussed on doing the things I thought mattered, like getting A’s in school and going to college. And part of me wonders now if I want to try to recapture that weird magic and make my own zines.
What would I put into it? Flash fiction, I think. Shorter than 100 words. Maybe 25 words stories. And simply drawn covers.
Or maybe I’d invent some animals and make a small diary of a “naturalist” researching them. That could be fun.
Or maybe I’d create a DIY documentary of the renovation of my dollhouse. That could be several issues. The problems of getting it stripped, painting it, finding the right moulding. All of the little episodes. Hmm…. I’m suspiciously pleased with this plan.
And yes, I would count all of those words.
Filed under Life in Random
eBay Sales: tinker toys, napkin rings, figurine, heart monitor
#MilWordy Update: 108,585 words (4,052 words/day to complete)
Quiet weekend. Quiet week generally. Actually got a haircut the day before my birthday and it was very odd to be out of the house. I tried out ordering groceries and have been pleasantly surprised by it. It’s also allowed me to properly plan meals.
Filed under Life in Random
eBay Sales: paper dolls x2, DVD, book, GS badge,
#MilWordy Update: 106,968 words (3,8933 words/day to complete)
It was a pretty quiet weekend. Ended up playing the Sims rather than doing anything really exciting. Nose down and back to work tomorrow.
Filed under Life in Random
eBay Sales: blown glass ornaments, mini food processor
#MilWordy Update: 106,592 words (3,738 words/day to complete)
Shout out to my niece who received her Girl Scout Silver Award! Great going!
Finding it hard to come up with interesting topics to talk about or even things to whine about today. I’m feeling rather uninspired on all fronts. That means, of course, that I just have to sit down and write something, even if it’s not the best thing I’ve ever written. I *did* get a lot done for my day job today, so that might be part of it.
Maybe I can just finish up some editing bits and call that good. Or finish reading a book.
Casual puzzle game recommendation: Water Sort Puzzle from IEC Global Pty Ltd. (Not sponsored). It is worth the like, three dollars, to get rid of the ads. Basically, you need to sort out the different colors. The conceit is that you’re pouring layered fluids until they’re all in the correct test tube. I’m in the late 200s of levels and I have no idea how many layers they have or if they’re randomly generated. Still, I enjoy it greatly. If you like actual logic puzzles, I think you’ll like this one. It’s on Apple ios, but I’m sure it’s probably on other platforms, given the relative simplicity of it.
I’m reading The Refrigerator Monologues by Cat Valente. Is it good? Yes. Definitely. Especially if you’re a comics person. Is it hard? Yes. I will offer trigger warnings for sexual violence, death, and plain old violence. And well, if you’ve got any idea of the derivation of characters being “fridged,” then you will understand when I say that these are first person stories about female characters who were “fridged”. They are analogs not the actual characters because copyright is an issue. But if you’re in the fandom? You know who these women are. Really, you do. Trust me. There’s only one where I’m not actually sure who she’s an analog for, but I can guess what fandom she’s from. It’s good. And hard. And I will be glad to have read it, but I don’t know that I’ll ever re-read it. I still will recommend it. The same what I recommend Handmaid’s Tale.
Filed under Life in Random
eBay Sales: None
#MilWordy Update: 106,242 words (3,740 words/day to complete)
An open note to the female-presenting personage who shills for about a bajillion of the games that regularly have ads in the middle of my casual gaming games: Not only am I “sick of hearing you talk about XXX”, your voice absolutely grates on my nerves to the point of hatred. I am not only sick of your voice, I am sick of the fact that your ads do not abide by the silent mode of my phone. In summary: I will never click on one of the ads that pokes through my silent bubble and makes my teeth grind. Your voice is more annoying than the “tiny classified ads” people.
Got some of my meds today. Oy. I forgot how expensive they are. I believe it counts towards my deductible, but I’ll have to call and talk to the insurance company to figure that out more clearly. It could just be that they don’t have a deal on that brand. It’s odd, but there’s two main meds from two different companies. Some insurance likes company A, some insurance likes company B. And if we had single-payer insurance or a national health-care system then I wouldn’t have to play “which one of these meds do you want me to take, you fuckers?” every time my insurance changed. *deep breath — which I can actually take because I have meds* *release* Wow, breathing. What a concept. Now, I just need to hold out until Wednesday for the rest of them. Meh.
I don’t really have much to relate, but I am going to start tracking my goals more closely, I think. Mostly just sort of a check-box thing. Did I take a step closer to this goal today?
Filed under Life in Random
BitterSuites 