serre les dents, serre les fesses

oh, man, what am I even up to these days?

1) reading books with pages! I am in the middle of, like, five different books right now, which is simultaneously stressful and delightful. The frontrunner for stuff I am likely to finish soon is definitely Embassytown by China Miéville, which is weird and wonderful and absolutely insane in the face, like everything Miéville writes. Is anybody else reading it?

Next up after that will be...probably the new Jim Butcher, once I walk down the block to get it from where it was misdelivered, and then possibly Kavalier & Clay, on J's recommendation, but maybe Blackout and then All Clear instead - I read the first one when it came out, but I want to reread it before I read the second one. BASICALLY I AM SPOILED FOR CHOICE, and also if you want to talk about books / recommend me books / hear my thoughts about books, I am ALL OVER THAT NONSENSE.

2) cleaninnnnnnng. It is honestly kind of disgusting how much of a housewife I am, but god damn do I love flitting around the house in my nightie and tidying all of the things. Not that it does a damn bit of good, since Lilu McFuzzerton continues to shed like a motherfucker no matter what I do, but it makes me feel productive.

3) Mario. I am SO BAD at it, but god I love it.

4) writing! I KNOW RIGHT, god, I haven't written anything at all in waaaaaaay longer than I care to admit, with the exception of yuletides, but yesterday I wrote a thing! and posted it! and then lj went down like a poorly-constructed POS. w/e w/e, it's on the Archive too (as is all of my fic, now! \o/?), and so if you are into Pride and Prejudice and also crossdressing you should check it out: to pass for a lady,—only think what fun!, Mr&Mrs Darcy, (fairly tame) crossdressing.

(Somewhere in the space-time continuum, my childhood self is APPALLED and has no idea why. SORRY, TEENIE!M. LIFE IS ROUGH.)

5) It's not a list without five things, but fuck if I know what I want to say. Today I will cook with peanut butter (rainbow peanut noodles and also peanut butter cookies), beat the last boss on level two FUCK YEAH, and add a few hundred words to the make-charles-xavier-less-of-a-douchebag story. LOFTY GOALS ALL.

HEY INTERNET. lordessrenegade and I have a situation on our hands: we are two grown-ish people who like to eat a variety of things, but dislike spending massive amounts of dollars on the process and don't really know enough recipes to keep things exciting! Also, we have a slow-cooker. And since many of you are or have been in similar situations, we thought we'd turn to you for help, so: what are your favorite recipes? Cheap and easy preferred, but we're willing to branch out some.

In return, here are some of my personal favorites: ( easy company beef, lentils and things, pesto for days. )

OM NOM NOM EAT ALL THE FOODS.

( I find lists soothing, okay? OKAY. )

...yeah. HI INTERNET, HOW'S THINGS?

Dear Sinuses,

I really appreciate how you kept it together through that last week, even with the rain and the yelling and the general ridiculousness. That was great! Next year, I'd like to try and see if we can keep it together even AFTER camp is over - I know there were some extenuating circumstances this year, what with the many millions of hours in the airport, but, still. I would like to be able to use my nose right now! Still, on the whole, strong work, and I look forward to continuing our collaboration.

Best,

- M

*

Dear mothership,

All that, and you want to add a family week next year? I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Ask me again in a month or so.

Yours in fond bewilderment,

- T

*

Dear transportation office,

Suck a dozen goddamn dicks. THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T FIRE COMPETENT PEOPLE, ASSHOLES.

No love,

- that angry lady from the woods

*

Dear self of a few months ago,

I was really annoyed at you for forgetting to bring the tea I like up to camp, but now I realize that it was all a sneaky plot to make sure that there would be tea here when I got back! So, you know. Rock on?

- Current self

*

Dear self of right now,

You are no longer the second-highest authority over twenty staff. You cannot delegate. Pack your goddamn clothes up.

- Self

*

Dear Internet,

HAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

- E

Sometimes I am really lucky.

( I made a skirt! )

The fabric came from my mom, who went to an ugly fabric swap earlier this week and came home with three or four yards of this stuff; I was already plotting how to best sneak it away from her when she revealed that she had snagged it with me in mind. &mymom; It still needs to be hemmed and probably lined, and I need to put a clasp or something in the back above the zipper, but on the whole, I am pleased! om nom nom PLAID.

...possibly I should be embarrassed that my idea of a rocking Friday night involves quality time with my sewing machine, but fuck that shit, I love my sewing machine. Also I got to use my mom's serger! Which was kind of terrifying but also TOTALLY BADASS.

Today's agenda: draft some more of my lit essay; eat lunch; renew my prescription; stalk the kink meme; maybe continue my adventures in purse-making if I get enough paper done. Oh! And make sun tea.

How are you today, internet?

I AM GOING BACK TO SCHOOL.

( champagne! and also flailing )

And now I have to go watch Southland with my grandmother. Because my family is MADE OF FANGIRLS, when you get right down to it.

PLACES I HAVE BEEN TODAY:

• auto shop
• campus (dad's office)
• doctor's office
• mom's office
• storage unit
• bank
• home
• mom's office
• auto shop
• campus (bookstore)
• tire shop
• storage unit
• tire shop
• home

The car (my dad's), it turns out, has locking lug nuts on its wheels. The car, I am assured by my family, my memory, and common sense, did not have locking lug nuts on it the last time we checked. Either way, we do not have a key to said locking lug nuts, which means we cannot remove the tires, which means that the break work (the reason for the first trip to the auto shop) cannot be done.

Basically, unless there is a confrontational performance artist roaming my town at night and replacing the lug nuts of unsuspecting citizens with rassinfrassin locking lug nuts, I can only conclude that somebody, somewhere, has fucked up very badly indeed.

EDIT: but in the end, I managed to go to my appointment, get my textbook, and do the homework for tomorrow, so on the whole I am prepared to call today a success. Now: naptime.

So there was a yuletide! And I participated this year, which I never had before, and it was simultaneously terrifying and awesome, but mostly awesome! Especially once I remembered that, oh, hey, somebody's writing a story for me, too!

That story was A Measure of Devotion, by blackclaude, and it was amaaaaaaaaazing. *flails and glees* It's Whip It! fic, and it's Bliss! and Pash! being loldorably codependent and slightly faily (but ultimately triumphant!) bffs-in-love! ♥

I also wrote a story, with much tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth, and that story was always, division, for The City & The City, written for tronella. It was...not really the fandom I would have chosen to write—apparently this is the Yuletide way?—because lol intimidatingly involved worldbuilding, but in the end I was pretty pleased with the result! Morbid and creepifying for the win! :D? :D?

And, yes. Happy yuletide, everybody, and whatever other holidays you celebrate. I myself am celebrating today with LAZINESS; tomorrow will be a festival of SHENANIGANS and gay movies and dooting around in the outside world (where there is SNOW! *_____* ).

time I got up: 8:30
time I thought I had gotten up: 10:30
time it took me to realize that I had gotten up two hours early: 110 minutes.

sections of class I teach: 3
average number of students per section: 22
inches of exam I brought home with me: 3.5
inches of exam I left at work: 2

times I wrote "THIS MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE" on a student's paper: 0
times I wanted to: MANY.

sections of the exam: 10
sections of the exam graded yesterday: 1 (x3 sections)
sections of the exam graded today: 8 (x3 sections)
sections of the exam left to grade: 1 (x3 sections)

cups of coffee consumed: 2.5
showers taken: 0

my awesomeness: ∞

we can all ignore the part where % of yuletide written is still sitting at 0, right? right? .../o\