Just a Sci-Fi Kid Like Me

Got into GA yesterday, spent a lovely evening visiting with K and S, and then on to Mom's. Today we've been wrapping stuff and examining stuff I want to take to Texas--like books I still have here, my old telescope, etc.

Anyhow, we're going back to Atlanta tomorrow to spend the day with family. Ho ho ho!

I have a tendency to procrastinate. I will procrastinate for things I even usually like sometimes, like this journal. It's weird.

Today I'm putting off reading the Texas Drivers' Handbook (although in fairness anyone will put off things in tiny print on thin paper) and writing. I slept very badly last night and have had a simmering headache for the better part of the day, which does not help. It makes me want to go lie on the couch and watch Ratatouille again. But I'm trying very hard not to.

In other news:

RIP Norman Mailer, whom I have never read, and who I will honestly probably always remember as the guy on that one episode of Gilmore Girls who kept doing nothing but ordering glasses of iced tea and lemon and consequently driving first Sookie and then Luke nuts.

I think it's interesting that the UK is introducing a measure called "cultural flexitime" so minority religeous workers can do thinks like work from home on Christmas and then have Diwalli off. I also think it's interesting that the US Federal government has a similar measure called "religeous comp time" that does the same sort of thing, they just don't advertise it.

Just finished reading Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind, which I quite enjoyed actually. My only problem is that the editor needed to do some restructuring: basically the whole first third was story set-up that largely wasn't needed and would have been better placed as exposition in other parts of the book. Once you got past that point though it was a smooth read and very enjoyable. It's the first volume in, what else, a fantasy trilogy, which is a whole 'nother grumble on a whole 'nother day. The review in Realms of Fantasy grumbled about the Mary Sue-ishness of the main character, which I think is arguable but could've again been fixed by the editing: the first third of the book is a "present day" for the hero who everyone knows and tells stories about; the latter of the book is the hero's coming of age when he's largely just a dude. At any rate, I expect the next two books of the trilogy to be stronger because this flaw should be out of the way now. We'll see.

Also been watching netflixed DVDs of My So-Called Life, which I missed when it was originally on the air and always kind of regretted missing since it has been billed as the precursor to serious high school shows. I very much enjoy Claire Danes' voice overs of teenage frustration, ennui, and the kind of self-serious commentary like "My parents keep asking how school was. It's like saying, 'How was that drive-by shooting?' You don't care how it was, you're lucky to get out alive." that is probably only really bearable coming from teenagers anyway. It's also interesting watching this as an adult, as I remember every bit of those frustrations of being a teenager stuck at school, and now I know a bunch of high-school teachers who are stuck on the receiving end of that contempt, and I really just feel bad for all the parties involved.

Lastly I've been planning Thanksgiving. We'll be hosting a household of Scott's relatives. I hope to-gods I don't accidentally give anyone food poison...