| (no subject) |
[Oct. 1st, 2009|09:11 am] |
Does anyone want a Google Wave invite? I have seven.
ETA: I ran out as of Saturday morning! |
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| twin peaks moment of the day |
[Sep. 29th, 2009|04:18 pm] |
While walking down State Street today, feeling sorry for myself (screwed up on the homework front today), one of the many upper-middle-class clean-cut white women in town was walking toward me, parallel on the sidewalk.
She was talking in a way that sounded remarkably close to being backmasked. She passed me a small booklet and continued walking--all of this without looking at me or making eye contact.
Bewildered and a little concerned for my sanity, I looked down to see what the brochure was. Surely with such an impressive buildup it must be something of great signif--
Oh.
The brochure was from ISKCON.
She'd been tranced out of her skull and what I'd parsed as backmasking from a few seconds of stimulus had actually been her muttering hare krishna hare hare krishna krishna hare rama...
Well then. Madison sure is a weird place to be. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 22nd, 2009|04:50 pm] |
Playing with OCR programs makes me wonder if there's some app out there that'll spellcheck documents with OCR particularly in mind. OCR, for instance, will render the word "fuller" as "fuIIcr" or something like it, which results in MS Word's spellcheck not knowing what it is. If there isn't an app out there to look and words and spell-check them while considering that vV might be W, i- might be r, apostrophes might be full stops...well, there really should be. I see there's one product out there; maybe I'll try it, but I see it's got a trial version and wants me to shell out money for it. That's money I don't have.
Meanwhile I'm holed up here with what I'm increasingly worried is swine flu... |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 16th, 2009|04:04 pm] |
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I really could do with more time in the day. I scheduled myself very tightly yesterday and I still didn't get done everything I wanted to. I wonder what I'm doing wrong. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 9th, 2009|09:57 am] |
Climbed up and down maybe eight or nine flights of stairs in the library. Stiff and sore.
I made my first jewelry sale yesterday--to AB, no less (although the transaction isn't final until she gets her next paycheck). I was showing off jewely I'd made and pulled out a very clunky, funky pair of star earrings I thought I'd never sell, so I never even thought to put them on Etsy or anything. AB fell in love immediately. She says she has friends who'd be willing to buy off of me, possibly. Score!
I bought several bananas yesterday and I am under strict instructions to feed the bearded dragon a chunk of banana next time I have one.
I started knitting another pouch yesterday; after I finish this one I don't know that I'll have any more simple dumb stockinette projects, and I'll probably have to move on to weirder, harder things. Time to crack open the book I got, to read up on yarn-overs 'n' shit.
We went out on a grocery expedition yesterday and it was very pleasant. AB surprised me by not being familiar with the various ramen-esque things in the ramen aisle, so I gave her the elevator speech on the inner secrets of Bowl o' Noodles.
AB was supposed to lend me her car today before she went off to a Brewer's game with her boyfriend. But tensions are running high, she will probably be running late, and I don't know that this'll end up happening. Combined with leg stiffness, spilling hot coffee on me this morning, and getting to share precious couch-workspace with a very sleepy pitbull (we do not have a coffee table), it's not the best day so far. |
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| note: |
[Sep. 7th, 2009|11:01 am] |
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Incidentally, I'm horrified that I'm qualified for this job, but I'm not feeling like moving to Britain just yet. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 4th, 2009|07:51 am] |
Whoa. Four days here and biking to school every day and I've already got a tan. There's a noticeably lighter band on my finger where my ring goes.
The phrase of the day is "prenatal androgen exposure". The only reason I'm looking at my fingers at all is because I'm reading about digit ratios and PAE. I apparently have tiny, tiny man-hands. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 3rd, 2009|10:07 pm] |
I have a new scooter. It is a blue Genuine Roughhouse (50ccs) and it terrifies me at this early phase. More than once on the ride home I wasn't quite positioned right and found it zooming out from under me, almost with a mind of its own. It didn't help that I got very lost on the way home, too (I got home about the same time my dad did, I think, which means it took me about an hour and a half to navigate my way around the one-way streets that amass in Madison like so much, uhh, unidirectional spaghetti). Right now I think about traffic around me, I think about the engine's buzz, I think about the sensation of movement under me, and the way I have to clench the brakes with my hand, and, well, I tense up like few other things in my life make me tense. There's adrenalin there and it's not the good exciting wheeeee! kind but instead the edgy tense "am I going to make it home without a stint in the ER first?" kind.
So many stupid scooter stories from the ride home today I could tell you. Like, the only reason I'm not going to do is because they're boring to everyone who is not me.
This is probably all actually a very good thing and I expect that I will be fully acclimated within a week or so! I already learned a whole lot of handy-dandy scooter bullshit on the ride home (rule 1: oh my god hold down the brakes while you're stopped what are you stupid or something?) and I'm expecting I'll learn more as I go. Tomorrow's expedition involves going to the university bookstore and hunting down a copy of my one and only textbook. Meanwhile my bicycle has a temporary home at the scooter place and I'll probably wind up taking a cab (!) to go pick it up on Saturday so I can ride it home.
I had my first class today. I actually have very little to report on that front; it's pretty much what I expected. I find the professor a little quiet and will have to remember to sit closer to the front.
I was exhausted when I came home today, and napped for a good two hours, despite having had a solid nine hours last night. blech. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 2nd, 2009|01:34 pm] |
| [ | feeling: |
| |  exhausted | ] |
I was wondering how long it would take my body to say "fuck this biking shit" and give in, and while it hasn't quite happened that way yet, I'm certainly getting there. Today makes...27 miles this week, and I am not used to this. My legs got very angry at me on the trip there, today.
Thankfully tomorrow's only four and a half miles. (Only four and a half miles!!) My dad has a meeting on campus, so after I'm out of class I'll probably loiter in the union or something. The whole point of meeting up with me is to get me a scooter (!!!!!) so inshallah we'll just stick the bike in the back of his car (gee I hope it fits) and I can scoot scoot scoot on back home.
Went to the library today, and I picked up some hard copies of books for the Jung project, as well as some personal reading (the Younger Edda). UW-Madison has quite possibly the biggest library I've ever been in. They manage to store maybe half-again the number of books they "should" be able to, by having shelves that compress into each other at the push of a button. (They've got a very scary sign warning you to not bring your children into the stacks if they weigh under 50 pounds--on the grounds that they are not heavy enough to activate the safety panels in the floor, and might be crushed if the button is pressed.)
I barely missed meeting up with my department's chair today. It's awfully convenient I didn't have a formal appointment. I'm chagrined and embarrassed and a little frustrated anyway, though, and I really hope the department secretary isn't sick of seeing me. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 26th, 2009|10:27 am] |
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Nothing really to report, except that I've got...what, three days before I move? I'm finishing up Solar Conscience, Lunar Conscience by Murray Stein before I leave, so I can give it back. I'm barely packed (most things remained in boxes, not all--I'll need to fit the things that were once in boxes back into them, which maybe poses the biggest problem). And I need to make an excursion to the bank before I leave. (The nearest branch of the bank where I keep my most flush checking account is about 40 minutes to the south. Way to plan, right?) |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 24th, 2009|11:47 pm] |
The constant headache's getting old. I need to figure out something clever to do about that. It eats away at my work time (I overslept my alarm today) and makes me crabby.
One of my good friends from IMSA got laid off from his job today. He takes this as a reason to get out of Indiana, which he never liked living in. That's a way to make the experience more cheerful, I suppose. We're joking that he might end up in Madison.
I got my renter's app today--I was worried the fax wouldn't come. Signed up for school email, too, and looked at classes (experimental phonetics looks good) and health insurance. To get health insurance I need to sign up for another class, to the tune of something like $2000 extra in tuition, unless I can convince them that I'm worthy of residency. (I have no idea why they turned me down for residency. I'm pissed.)
I'm apprehensive. But hey, maybe I'll end up in another linguistics class. Or German--every so often I get nagged about why I still haven't taken it. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 24th, 2009|12:28 am] |
Barring disaster I am going to live with a very nice woman in an apartment slightly south of the Beltway. Now that I know this, I can consider where things are in relationship to where I live.
So I did an online perusal of my neighborhood, and took some distances by the numbers, of stuff I need or want to know and of some typical Madisonian stuff.
I have a bike, and might end up with a scooter for longer distances, carrying shit, and having to look nice for work and school. There are buses, although I'm not thrilled about $2 for fare, and after many years of living near Chicago I refuse to believe that buses anywhere come on time.
By car (that is to say, with interstates considered), it is:
1 block to the arboretum (no, really).
3 blocks to the nearest Unitarian church. (There are three. Madison is that kind of town, I guess.)
2 miles to the nearest library.
3.5 miles to the spot where a guy holds weekly hatha yoga classes for five bucks.
4 miles to campus.
5.5 miles to the downtown, with bookstores, crafts stores, coffee, bars, and hippie stuff.
5.6 miles to the state capitol--and the weekly farmer's market.
7.5 miles to where the Gnostic Christians meet (James Madison Park, by one of the lakes).
I can do this, yes I can! |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 21st, 2009|05:48 pm] |
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On a happy note, I'm taking my first car-trip alone today, an hour and a half north. I got my license yesterday! |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 17th, 2009|02:17 pm] |
Looking for apartments is weird, scary business. Doubly so when I'm not actually in the area.
I have a few sets of emails set out but I'm presently looking at some small studios very close to campus. The ones I have my heart set on have a main room of 10 feet by 17. "Semi-furnished". If it mews, I can have it as a pet there. (Well, they probably don't have a problem with fish, either.) This seems to be the cheapest deal I can find--$500/monthly.
It is a very good thing that I am not particularly adverse to living in small spaces. I do not have a lot of things, and this is okay. The most important thing to me is privacy. I am one of those people who needs to retreat sometimes, and that was what made me most miserable, probably, about dorm life.
I'll be rendezvousing with my father in Milwaukee this weekend and heading over to Madison to peruse whatever list of apartments I form in the interim. He says that if I get my license I might end up earning myself a scooter--so long as I can pay the insurance. (I have no idea what insurance for a scooter looks like. I'll have to check.)
I had a brief moment of panic last night where I was afraid that my $400/monthly salary wouldn't cover my rent, and how was I supposed to live? Then I remembered that actually my salary is $400/weekly. Suddenly everything was demonstrably more okay.
I will still be looking for table-waiting work and other comparable deals, just in the hopes of staying sane by getting out of the house.
Unrelated: I ordered two skeins of very pretty yarn for a birthday gift for my sister, today. A little pricy, but very worth it. About as much as I'd pay for another, less personal gift, and something I'll learn from too--lacy designs, and crocheted cast-offs! |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 16th, 2009|05:37 pm] |
| [ | feeling: |
| |  thoughtful | ] |
Saw my dad today. As he was driving me home he told me that a friend he'd met and worked with at SSC, Steve Springer, had passed away.
I opened up LJ a few hours later and saw that Steve Springer was Sabre's father. I had no idea. I have never actually met Sabre but ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ryanfirewitch used to say I should meet him (and I'm sure arianadawnhawk has said the same to me too at some point).
What a small, synchronicitous, sad world. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 14th, 2009|04:19 pm] |
I am reading The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. I heard rumors that it was immensely dull--19th-century anthropological texts aren't really the most interesting stuff out there--but I can hardly put it down.
I am running the last book in the Jung project (for now) through the OCR program. There are two more books I need to do, but they're at the library. After that, it's all very tedious editing. The good news is that that section of the work is mobile, and I will continue to be paid for it.
I am trying to drink tea to see if it'll help with my migraines. So far, no results. I haven't had the time, the transportation, or money to go to the store and pick up some feverfew pills.
Chicory coffee is stalemated until I can find a tray to roast the roots on. Plus apparently I'm supposed to peel off their brown woody outsides, something I still need to do. Their skins are very thick. When I measured my dried roots I had 63 grams (and felt like a drug-dealer). I don't know how much I'll have left once I've peeled the roots. I can't imagine it'll be that much. I wonder how much coffee I'll be able to make from it. Maybe I'll go digging for more.
I didn't mention that I'm trying to pick up the harmonica, did I? Well, I did. It seemed like a totally different yet understandable step, after...five years? of playing the guitar. A branching-out, I guess. I'm exceptionally mediocre so far. It's one of those instruments that's a bitch to practice because even if you're good it will probably irritate the shit out of everyone in earshot.
My harmonica--I picked it up for cheap--came with a little sticker warning me that it is a musical instrument, and not a toy. This sticker presently resides on my laptop. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 9th, 2009|03:29 pm] |
Soliciting opinions: does anyone have any experience with or opinions on Etsy?
I'm to the point in jewelry-making where I think I might be ready to sell a few--some of my recent pieces I'm pretty pleased with, and I've had people express interest. (Not parting with either of those, but if I find duplicate pendants I might consider it.) And with the advent of me working with wire-wrapping I'm thinking I might be more willing to part with the jewelry to come. Unfortunately I don't really know anywhere that would be willing to take my stuff on commission (I just don't have the connections) and I'm not about to shell out large sums of money for a website where I'm likely to get minimal exposure. So Etsy comes to mind.
Yet I see to remember some people on my f-list discouraging people from using Etsy, I think in regards to the listing fees. Me, well, it sure would be nice to make money where I can, even if it's not as much as I could otherwise. I'm just a graduate student trying to get by, worried about money, and compelled at this point in zir life to make things with zir hands. Getting around the need for listing fees and percent cuts would be nice, but beggars can't be choosers...
A quick googling resulted in this article, which, to be honest, is more about Etsy as a sociocultural phenomenon than Etsy itself. That's the most negative thing I can find, amidst a whole lot of happy-go-lucky We Love Etsy sorts of communities.
Thus: opinions?
ETA: It occurs to me that I can use LJ as a storefront, and handle money through PayPal. But I think that only works if you already have an established, dedicated readership or following (looking at you, lupabitch :P). That said, I mean...it can't hurt, I suppose. Co-exposure (is that a word?) is not a terrible thing. Nothing keeps me from listing one item in multiple places, so long as I keep my ducks in a row and am responsible. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 6th, 2009|09:26 pm] |
| [ | feeling: |
| | restless | ] |
Things are kind of boring on my end. drsulak and I will be making another trip up to the UP this weekend (I'm not sure why, but I was invited along). AE was going to come but she says her ankle feels too bad for that. Thankfully she's not trying to get me to drive her to Ithaca, NY anymore.
Since my most recent scarf is nearing completion I have started knitting an afghan. It is 340 stitches wide. Two days in (I knit while watching TV on my laptop, and average about a 45-minute episode daily) I am still casting on, and am officially daunted. I was thinking of doing a nice moss stitch but I'm thinking I may just garter stitch it on the grounds that otherwise I may never finish the damned thing.
I have acquired the Stanza e-reader app for my Touch and I think I love it. Finally, Project Gutenberg's texts are accessible to me--and I can read in the dark, no problem.
Recent acquisition: a tamagotchi. Boy, they're more complicated now than they were when I was 7 or so (I FEEL OLD). Also the pause feature's invaluable. Every time I check it and I see it's shat all over itself or whatever, it serves as a useful reminder that I don't actually want children. |
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