| New issue of WIP |
[Dec. 28th, 2009|12:14 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  busy | ] |
Putting together the new issue of Works In Progress to come out later this week. (Actually, we don't know if we can get it printed on New Year's, so it might not show up 'til early next week.)
I've agreed to do the whole layout myself this month. A nice, fun, big project I can do all at once. Plus, it's a 12-pager, so I've got 150% of the usual work to do. AND, we pushed the final layout meeting back a day to Wednesday, since nobody wants to do fucking proofreading on New Year's Eve. Which means I've got less time to do it, too. Add to that an article of my very own I still have to finish (Running late? ME?) and some other tasks, and it should be a fun few days.
OH, and the site where we host all our article submissions is down this morning, which means I've gotta wait for that to get back up before I can even really start. GREAT!
But it's fine. I should kick this issue's ass pretty handily. :) |
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| Rearranging |
[Dec. 27th, 2009|01:15 pm] |
( Playing House )
( Quitting my singing job )
( On being unable to write anything )
I'm unsure of what the protocol is for "keeping in touch" with professors from whom you will need job letters--for the most part I tend to drop the occasional "Hi, hope your semester/research is going well, I'm still alive" email. I am not sure what more I can do on that side of things. |
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| MLA |
[Dec. 27th, 2009|11:06 am] |
Good luck to everyone in Philly!!!
Now to figure out what's wrong with my computer--gah--keypad not working! |
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| NFL Picks, Week 16 |
[Dec. 26th, 2009|12:39 pm] |
"Good God, Wally! When are you gonna stop barfing up my F-list with your football bullshit?"
Soon, my friends. Next week is the last week in the NFL. Well, for the regular season anyway. Then you've got some playoffs and this thing they call the "Super Bowl", but that should only take, what, two weeks tops? Right?
If it's any consolation, as a Seahawks fan, I can't wait for this fucking year to end, either. :P
Anyway, I missed the bus to Coffee Strong this morning! At first, this pissed me off, but I never did get confirmation we were open today. And just now, I called to see if anyone was there, and nobody answered. So, maybe we are closed today, the day after Christmas, and nobody told me? Serendipity that I missed the bus then, I guess. :)
Anyway, fuck all that bullshit. Here's some results and some picks.
( Last week's review )
Wally's NFL picks, week 16
As usual, this comes after the Thursday/Friday game, but since I already dropped it, I see no reason to provide proof this week.
San Diego @ Tennessee
Jacksonville @ New England
Tampa Bay @ New Orleans
Oakland @ Cleveland
Carolina @ NY Giants
Seattle @ Green Bay
Houston @ Miami
Baltimore @ Pittsburgh
I had initially picked Baltimore. Both of them suck, really. But Baltimore's more heavily affected by injury, and Pittsburgh has nominally righted its ship, for the moment.
Kansas City @ Cincinnati
No way Cincinnati fails to clinch the AFC North. Whether they win a playoff game for the first time since Ickey was doing the Shuffle remains to be seen. Depending on who they get matched up against in the playoffs, I have faith in 'em.
Buffalo @ Atlanta
They may both be eliminated, and may both be a little mediocre, but the Falcons are going for their first back-to-back winning seasons in franchise history, ever. You better believe they want this one more than the Bills.
Detroit @ San Francisco
This is my big upset pick of the week. The Niners gave up a while ago, and I don't think the allure of getting their first winning season in however-many-years is just gonna make them snap out of it. Alternately, third year backup Drew Stanton, having flashed a little brilliance at the end of last week's game against the Cards, gets his first career start (over veteran Daunte Culpepper). My take is, he does want it, and he does have something to play for. Niners sleepwalk into this one and get stunned.
St. Louis @ Arizona
NY Jets @ Indianapolis
There wasn't any real doubt in my mind that Peyton Manning & co. wouldn't play. Even at half-steam, they'd make short work of the Jets at home.
Denver @ Philadelphia
Also known as ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) jhohanna vs friggasgirl. Sorry Jho, but Denver's been mediocre since their rocket start came to an abrupt end. And Philly has much to play for, trying to secure home field for the Wild Card round. Philly takes this one easy.
Dallas @ Washington
Minnesota @ Chicago
News flash: Jay Cutler? Sucks! The Vikes'll make short work of him and Da Bears, and all this stuff about Favre and Childress will seem like weeks ago. (As they say, winning cures all.) |
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| Posted using TxtLJ |
[Dec. 25th, 2009|06:27 pm] |
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Oh hey, merry Crimmas, y'all! I've got a rum and egg nog, so you know I'm lovin' it. :D |
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| Birth plans and my personal obsessions |
[Dec. 22nd, 2009|01:20 pm] |
There may be no jobs, and the one job I applied to has not even acknowledged my materials.
BUT
I have fudge. I'm also listening to Sting's new Christmas album, which I really like, mixed in with some folkie solstice-y tunes. (I just love Sting anyway, with his moodiness and all.) I've started cooking for Christmas day--we are having a Polish dinner, which will help me feel less homesick.
I went to the doctor today and told him my decision: I want to try for a VBAC. I'm nervous about it, but I really don't want a six week recovery period and a possible 10 grand in debt. Now I've got some papers to sign. We'll see what happens.
I would prefer not to have anyone in the room with me while giving birth. I certainly don't want to be "coached" through it, mostly because in the normal painful injury situation I just want to be left the hell alone to drive myself to the emergency room (unless it is a head injury, in which I want to be left the hell alone by the unfortunate person who is driving me to the emergency room). However, it is what it is. I am requesting an epidural right off, both to manage pain and just in case a C-section ends up being necessary; 20-40% of the time it is in a VBAC situation, and I want them to be able to numb me quickly without general anesthetic.
I'm waiting on ONE student to turn in a paper so I can turn in grades, which are due today. This student has some serious health problems. She also is a lovely person whom I've enjoyed having in class. I'm willing to wait as long as I can, but I still have to turn grades in tonight. Then with that final click of the button, teaching is over until...???????
Part of me feels that, if I just gave up now on a career, I would be less anxious. I'd still be worried about how to contribute to our household, how a family of 4 can live on one salary, but at least I wouldn't have any expectations beyond bringing in some extra cash waitressing nights or working retail during "mothers' hours" or something. It would be kind of like being a character in a William Dean Howells novel at best, or like a Thomas Hardy character at worst. The lesson? No matter what, you're at the mercy of circumstances, and unlikely to change these. Take that, you apple-cheeked optimists.
I'm really interested in where I'll be in 10 years. The meme the other day made me think about it. I'm predicting that I will be an office worker, possibly at the old publishing company, in a cubicle. Either that, or I will be patching together work as I currently do: itinerant hobo teaching, random singing engagements, scratching away at the odd freelance writing job, and wondering what will happen when Dan retires and we lose our health insurance. He'll be 50 next year. Our kids will be heading to college in the next 18 years. God cares for the lilies of the field, right?
If this journal is still around at that time, we'll see. Like a time capsule. |
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| Epic Monopoly fail |
[Dec. 21st, 2009|08:16 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | FAIL! | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Monday Night Football on the radio | ] |
I've played a lot of Monopoly in my life. A LOT. Not that I think the values it teaches impressionable kids are anything but despicable (not to mention its history as a propaganda piece during the Great Depression), but you know. I didn't think about all that when I started playing it growing up. It was just a fun game, and it is fairly fun. Especially if you get four or more people playing, and you've got wheelin' and dealin' all across the board.
As I mentioned here, back when my dad had his surgery almost two years ago (Shit, has it been that long?), I've made a point to spend more time with him while he's still, um, you know, around. Amongst our favorite things to do together when I was growing up was to play a family game of Monopoly, and so it only made sense to pick that back up. And since he retired in June, we've been playing more frequently. We've been pretty competitive at it, too. As of yesterday, he was up on me by one game, but I'm right in it.
As much Monopoly as I've played in my life, I think this morning was the most embarrassing defeat at Monopoly - perhaps at any game - I have ever suffered in my life.
It started out plain enough. We block each other on this set, and that set, and that set. Greens, yellows, light blues. I got Boardwalk, but he followed right up with Park Place. We split railroads and utilities down the middle. And before long, the only available properties of interest were Indiana & Kentucky (I had Illinois), Tennessee (I had New York and St. James), Virginia (my dad had States and St. Charles) aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Baltic (my dad had Mediterranean).
You see where this is going now, don't you?
I have always been under the belief that you can't win with the dark purples alone. I based this on the fact that once, I set 8 CPU players to play each other on the Super Nintendo, and eventually one of them got Baltic and Medit, and built hotels. I left it on overnight. When I checked on it in the morning, everyone was still alive, and considerably richer than when I had gone to sleep. Of course, Jeeves or whoever had Baltic and Medit had significantly more money, but nobody died. Therefore, one could assume, without a significant amount of luck at a crucial time in the game (before your opponent can amass a buffer of money on which to survive), you cannot win with only Baltic and Medit. That's logical enough, right? I mean, you have to pass Go right before landing on them, so you have a built-in buffer. Medit with a hotel is $250, which makes it only slightly worse than Income Tax. Baltic is $450, which sucks, but is well survivable, especially if you have a game's worth of property to mortgage. If you're really lucky, once in a great while, someone might land on Medit and then snake-eyes to Baltic, but that's way too rare to count on. So everything says, as long your opponent only has that, you're safe. Right?
Wellllllll, turns out that's bullshit. My dad got Baltic to go with his Medit, and proceeded to pound the living shit out of me. I landed on that fucking thing three times in a row. Not Medit! I never landed on that. I hit Baltic, every time. And if that wasn't bad enough, I landed on it three more times in the next five go-rounds. I am not at all exaggerating.
The most humiliating part is that, in the middle of that, I did indeed land on Tennessee! I got the oranges! All I needed was the cash to build it up! With my dad coming right around to the oranges, I mortgaged what I had left (which at that time included Kentucky as well), and put a house on each. I mean, I couldn't land on Baltic A-GAIN, right? Well, my dad landed on Community Chest, in the middle of my oranges, thus avoiding them, and sure as Hell, I landed on Baltic at my earliest convenience. Poof go the houses. THEN, I landed on fucking Indiana! Of course, I had to buy it. Virginia was still open, and if somehow I got those ol' bootstraps and pulled myself like everyone talks about, I needed some guns to fight with, right? Well, after mortgaging all the oranges to stake my claim on the reds, what do you fucking know? Baltic, AGAIN. Jesus Christ.
My final indignity came as I hobbled from there to Vermont, giving my dad $6 rent, thus leaving me with a grand total of eleven 1s (which I laid out in a row) and a pile of mortgaged properties (which oh BTW included two high-power monopolies which could win any game with the least bit of money to fund them). I guess at that point, it was more a blessing than anything else that I landed on the $50 rent Pennsylvania Railroad. Put me out of my misery more than anything.
Lord, though.
I'm going back to my folks's Christmas Eve, and I have got to get a game in against him. Put that shit in the past as soon as possible. :P |
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| NFL Picks, Week 15 |
[Dec. 20th, 2009|09:41 am] |
Hangin' out at the folks'. They've got the TV, and thus the footbul. Anyway, game time approaches, so I'll get my picks in quick.
( Last week's review )
Well, as usual, I'm posting this after the Thursday game (and this time, even after the Saturday night game, too), but my picks were already posted here.
Wally's NFL picks, week 15
Indianapolis @ Jacksonville
Dallas @ New Orleans :(
Arizona @ Detroit
New England @ Buffalo
San Francisco @ Philadelphia
Miami @ Tennessee
Houston @ St. Louis
Atlanta @ NY Jets
Chicago @ Baltimore
Cleveland @ Kansas City
Cincinnati @ San Diego
Oakland @ Denver
Tampa Bay @ Seattle
Green Bay @ Pittsburgh
Minnesota @ Carolina
NY Giants @ Washington
I feel good about this week, though. I like my picks, and I like my chances that everyone else will make at least a couple bad picks (Cincinnati over San Diego). |
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| Posted using TxtLJ |
[Dec. 17th, 2009|02:46 pm] |
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I'm at the mall. I know, right? Alas, it has indeed come to this. Also, why the Hell is it malls can't have pissers within five miles of each other? |
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| Merry fucking Christmas. NEXT! |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|08:14 pm] |
So apparently, as a Christmas promotion, all paid account members (as I am) and permanent account members get 10 coupons each for $10 off a paid account, which we can dole out to anyone we want. Well, ALMOST anyone. We can't give them to people who actually have paid accounts, cuz you know, then LJ would be losing money. They wanna get their claws into a whole new batch of people.
Anyway, I just picked 10 people on my F-list, based on who I've met, how often people post, how much they make me lol. If I didn't pick you, it's because I hate you and your LJ bores me and I just scroll over that bullshit. Naw, JK. I only get 10 of 'em. Oh, and for shits, I did send one to my newest F-lister javadave4, whom I have yet to share a single word with, lol
DO NOT FEEL THE LEAST BIT COMPELLED TO GIVE LJ MONEY JUST BECAUSE IT'S A LITTLE LESS WITH A COUPON! But if you were thinking about doing it anyway, then go ahead. Also, if you don't want it, you can reject and I guess it comes back to me, and then I can give it out to someone else. So if you didn't get sent one, and you may wanna use one, lemme know and you'll be in line to get everyone else leftovers. HA HA!
Okay, I've spent way too much time and thought on this, already. Back to killing my brain cells with bleach! |
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| They say the darndest things... |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|11:01 pm] |
Yes, I'm getting flabby and pregnant at the same time. I'm not one of those women who retains a stick-like form and simply grows a belly. I get big all over. Right now I weigh what I did when I had Moira, only now I've got six weeks to go and therefore at least six more pounds. (You gain a pound a week by the end.)
Of course everyone says (unsolicited, btw--I don't ever want to hear about how I look), "Ooooh you look GREAAAAT."
People, I'm not an idiot. I've gained almost sixty pounds since this time last year. You can't tell me you don't see a difference. And you definitely can't tell me that I look good. I don't.
Moira at least is honest. Today she looked at me and said, "Mommy, your bum is big and wobbly."
She meant it as a compliment, because immediately she said, "I wish MY bum was big and my belly was big."
Never thought I'd be that kind of role model. We had a good conversation about how she has a healthy body just the way it is, and how she did not have a baby in her belly and so did not need a big belly.
I could have written this book.
Since, with diet and exercise and triathlons and half-marathons, it took over two years to lose the weight I gained with Moi, I am estimating closer to three years of struggle to lose this weight. Utterly, utterly depressing. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|12:53 pm] |
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I JUST GOT A $200 CHRISTMAS BONUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D |
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