Just a Sci-Fi Kid Like Me

 From my friend Todd, who said that family of choice is just as valid birth family, and maybe more so.

So AHA (American Historical Association) had their yearly meeting in Denver this past weekend; there was a SHARP panel on teaching book history, which I had put in for last year and got rejected, but Todd and Kevin got accepted. Todd opted to come stay with us as we could take the bus to the convention center, which was great, so we got to work on our Early Modern Poet battle cards on the bus ride and then got registered and whatnot. To be honest the AHA program was one of the most boring programs I've ever seen; we met with Kevin and had coffee and talked book history for a while, then grabbed lunch and went to hang out in the exhibit hall, which was *great.* So many presses and publishing houses with sales; at the Penguin table, you could get a free book if you signed up for their newsletter, so I signed up and got their last copy of Shapiro's Shakespeare in America anthology, while at the Knopf table hardbacks were $10 and paperbacks were $3, so I got Alexander Monro's The Paper Trail and Tom Holland's Dynasty, and then made myself stop because conference bags were smallish if zippered and there was still a load of snow and ice outside. Then it was time for the boys' panel, which was boring except for them (I felt SO BITTER I was rejected), and then we grabbed dinner and then the bus home.

Saturday morning Todd and I worked on my press a bit; the problem was the bitter cold, and how that makes cast iron difficult to work with. It looks like the main problem I've been having is the throw-off lever, which needs to be loosened up, and we sprayed some liquid wrench into the bolts but could never quite get it going. Since Kevin has a C&P as well, we're talking about maybe meeting up in Utah and helping Todd take his press apart for a thorough cleaning so the two of us can see how it's done, then go home and replicate that on our machines. So hopefully that is something we can do or summer or early fall, and then in October all three of us hope to meet at the RBS Bibliography conference--Todd got accepted, I haven't heard back yet, and Kevin didn't put in for it.

Saturday afternoon we played tourist and I finally got to take Todd to my favorite spots in town: for afternoon tea at Dushanbe (where you book in advance and then they bring out one of those tiered serving dishes with scones and sandwiches and sweets, and where for reasons passing my understanding none of my local peeps was willing to go), and to my favorite secondhand bookshop where we spent several hours happily combing through the just-organized-enough-to-be-useful-but-unsorted-enough-to-stay-interesting piles of books. At one point the young desk attendant came over to us and anxiously asked if we were rare book dealers or "just" collectors. We reassured him that we were collectors, with me a poor grad student and Todd a librarian. "Oh okay," the man said with great relief, "I could just hear the knowledge when you spoke." And that became our running gag of the day.

The *other* gag of the day, though not running, was when we went to the nature shop that largely specializes in cool rocks, some fossils, knick-knacks fashioned from rocks, and science kits for kids. Anyway, on one of the tables was a case filled with perhaps 6-8 or so objects made of stone, about the size and length of a mechanical pencil, each shaped slightly differently and of a different stone. At first I wondered if they were part of the intermittent fashion for magical wands (usually for Harry Potter fans who can drop fairly serious money on a lovely useless object, or for wealthy hippies to do the same), and then I saw there was a placard identifying them as "personal massagers." Which...puzzles me? Because they aren't actually big enough to be terribly exciting in either orifice, being stone it certainly doesn't vibrate so it's not going to do much for your clit, and also being stone of various kinds I wonder overmuch about cleaning and safety, and frankly wish I had taken a photo to send to Can I Fuck the Thing? on Tumblr. I missed it but apparently Todd picked one up to inspect it, then saw what it was, and had an "Ack!" moment, which I regret not seeing because sometimes I'm a terrible friend who enjoys a good laugh at someone else's expense. Anyway, quel mystery.

And then Sunday I had to see him off to the airport shuttle, and so ends the holidays, and so begins the year in earnest. I saw a meme that had a picture of Captain Picard that said "Damage Report" and then the commentary was "How I start every morning in 2017" which seemed very real to my experience. I remain determined to fight for what I believe in; I remain heartened on how thus far Congress is bending to public pressure on various issues. I think every day for the next few years is going to be like this, and it will be exhausting, and it will be necessary. But I remind myself, yet again, that the majority of people *do* have consciences and brains, and are on the right side of history; I can't remember if it was Dan Rather or Bill Moyers who wrote that the dying mule kicks the hardest. So: Keep the faith, my friends!

FUCK they have so much type here. FUCK FUCK FUCK. Like, they have a set of Tudor Black Letter and I WANTS IT PRECIOUS, yes.

Also, I have missed staying up late setting type with Todd. Damn have I missed that. Interchanging companionable silence for occasionally wacky digressions, such as:

ME: So I've been watching Vikings--
TODD: You and your Viking kink, I don't get it, to be someone as vociferous as you are about anti-rape and--
ME: No but see, that's what makes it great, it doesn't really have rape plots. Like, they tried once and then the shield maidens showed up and cut them up and it was great. No, it's really about the two-thirds platonic one-third actualfacts gay love of a Viking and a monk--
TODD: Now I see why you are interested--
ME: YES BUT NO REALLY--

Etc. And for the record, maybe this conversation was just funny because it was late at night and we're very tired and giddy, but we were laughing the whole time.

BASICALLY I HAVE MISSED MY BEST BESTIE A LOT, surprising no one.

So yesterday I got a text from Todd who apologized for not having sent an xmas present because he hadn't finished it and because he actually wanted my help with it.... Which is, we're making a game. We're making an Early Modern Poets Battlecard game!!!!!

Lemme back up. Okay, so years ago, Todd made a game for his kids called Warriors Battlecards, based off the Warriors series which is his eldest's favorite books. He made expansion sets for the other kids, like Creature Battles; the general idea is you have cards with an image of a character/beast/what have you and then a list of their stats. We used to play at lunch or on breaks because a ten minute silly game could go quite a ways towards recovering from a ridiculous meeting and whatnot. So anyway, we're going to make an iteration of Early Modern Poets, because relevant to our interests.

I spent a while yesterday building lists of possible cards and stat categories and just mailed it off. Here's my notes, in case anyone cares.

( Bwahahaha List )

Possibly my favorite part of this whole thing is how my response to this was "OMFG THIS IS THE MOST AWESOME THING EVER AND I LOVE YOUR BRAIN" and Todd was like, "I'm glad you liked this idea, because everyone I mentioned it to looked at me like I was an absolute NUT." In short, my friends are the best friends. <3

Twilight Sparkle, Daring Do, and Sherlock!Pinkie Pie invaded the Library. Huzzahs!!

So today I am thirty-one and almost a grown-up. For my birthday all I wanted was to go see Avengers again, and since I'm currently at a conference, my colleagues were rather goodhearted about it. We also went to the Huntington yesterday and I got to see the glorious gadgetorious in person, gobsmacking my boss who didn't understand until the evening that we hadn't met before. (In fairness, I hardly let go of her the entire day. Pfft, boundaries, personal space, WHATEVER.) Yes, pictures will be forthcoming, as soon as I get them from Todd.

Incidentally, Todd and Evi? Not actually the same person. There were neither slipstream instances nor ant-imatter explosions and whatnot. (Obviously.) They were, however, texting each other after Avengers before I had even turned my phone back on. SO. And through some weird set of happenings Todd wanted a story of Bones and Tony in the belly of a space fish, and I have it, though I'm not going to type it tonight. (I was in a verrrrrrry boring workshop today. You can't ever let me get bored, that is all. So I write fic.) Evi also wanted some Bruce/Darcy and I wrote some bits but it's not coherent or even, y'know, plotty.

Anyway, before I run off again, how are you guys??

Thanks everybody who chimed in to cheer me up yesterday/this am: it really seriously meant a lot to me!!!!!! <3

Today is going much better! A couple of my friends were helping me prepare for a practice run of my tenure presentation, so one of them found several people across the different branches so I can get a sampling of all the possible crossquestioning I can get. Another friend is totally Queer Eyeing me and is insisting on going to pick out clothes and get my hair fixed so I look extra extra spiffy. That way their questions/comments will be extra-focused on content and not superficialities. I'm partly terrified and partly delighted! But the fact that so many people are jumping in to help is so very much cheering and stuff, especially contrasted with yesterday.

In short, I LOVE THE WHOLE WORLD!



Note: I was not paid by Discovery. Though I probably should be. ;)

So survived the exhibit but Scott did bring the Plague into our house, and now I'm plagueridden. On the plus side I think I may have what Lyndsey got instead of what Scott got, as my main symptom is fever, rather than headcoldy stuff. So, er, yay. So I'm sucking down fluids and chicken products and being grumpy.

~

ithiliana linked this awesome post on Slash and Women Litfic Writers.

~

Sideways relatedly when Scott was feeling better before I got the plague we went to see The Eagle. It made me deeply deeply happy. Soooooo many little historical details they got right, with bonus slashiness. Seriously, most of the film is HC. It's pretty incredible. *happy happy sigh*

avictoriangirl made a banner and a wallpaper for Expected Learning Outcomes which I'm expanding in bits on top of everything else.

~

There was something else I was gonna post but I don't remember what it is. Dangit.

*Finished article revisions and sent them to editor.

*Finished and posted Firefly ficlet.

*There's a BIN bid for my offer at thepurpledove.

*Jenni went to the Felicia Day signing in Austin and got her to autograph a Dr Horrible comic for me (!!!!!!).

~

Unrelated, this is the best movie review I've ever read in my life.

When Yogi tries to give Ranger Smith dating advice, he suggests that Smith urinate on Rachel to mark his mate. Not only is this the first golden shower joke I've ever heard in a PG-rated film, it is also a tacit acknowledgement that Yogi is conversant in the bears' ways.

OMG does not even cover it.

Raspberry Lemonade + vodka + ice cubes = Awesome.

Yeah.

~

Andrew: Hey, so I'm stuck in the middle of traffic at Seven Corners and thought I'd call.
Me: Okaaaaaay?
Andrew: Hey what do you know about syphilis and gonnorhea in Ancient Rome?
Me: Off the top of my head?
Andrew: Yeah. For shits and giggles?
Me: Syphilis wasn't allegedly around until the discovery of the new world--Europeans had developed an immunity to it or something and then when they interactived with indiginous Americans it mutated or something? I don't know about gonnorhea??
Andrew: Okay. So hey I was listening to this audiobook of Dante's Inferno read by this Australian woman and it was like Mad Max in Hell. And you're the only person I could call up to tell this who wouldn't think I was drunk or crazy.
Me: (pause) (laughs until cries)