verylisa

Have just watched the final two episodes of Torchwood: Children of Earth.

Torchwood-related spoilers and speculation under the cut, but no rumours, spoilers or speculation related to future Doctor Who episodes. Please keep it that way!

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Just left Eris at a cafe. She is well-equipped with notebook computer, wireless internet, orange ice-cream soda, pasta, a bunch of character sketches and ideas for her latest story. She's adorably and precociously literary.

If I resist telling her how squee-filled this makes me, do you think she might grow up to be a writer? I don't want to be pushy mama, but oooh!

Eris has far more potential than I did at her age, and people were always pushing me to be a writer. Perhaps that pressure is part of the reason I haven't successfully written fiction. Yes I am a writer, and I'm good enough at it to teach other writers, but I've never written much fiction even though I would love to. My attempts never live up to my glorious mental visions, and I'm too easily discouraged. I expected greatness too early, without realising that greatness only comes through practice and hard work. Now that I know it, the perfectionist standards are engrained and it's hard to get them out of the way for long enough to produce a first draft.

Since futureperfect twittered about a Master Chef contestant who "literally" put his heart on a plate, in our house we have been hyper-aware of the word "literally".

Mike shared some good uses with us:

• A bookshop worker who fell under a collapsing bookcase was literally crushed to death.
• A translator who produced a terrible translation of Mein Kampf was literally worse than Hitler.

(These are both hypothetical, as far as I know.)

Last week I alternated between sleeping and playing The Sims 3. Alas much more of the former than the latter. Was SO tired alla the time, and if I'd had to get anything important done it would've not been done. But huzzah! I finished the marking on the previous Sunday and then crashed. The symptoms were quite similar to what Mike had with swine flu, but much much milder and easier to cope with. So I'm calling it Swine Flu Lite.

Now that I'm awake again, I can report that The Sims 3 is the best game evar OMG. I am in love with it and so is Eris. It's the same game as previous versions, but seems to have more depth, polish, and natural storytelling potential.

Biggest change in the gameplay is that time moves on for other households while you're playing the active household. At first I did not like this, because I enjoyed being able to attack the relationship-building from both sides. Also I knew there'd be lots of interesting story possibilities in the other pre-made households, and wanted to play them all. But once I twigged to the idea of creating a new game for each household I wanted to play, it became much more appealing. The relationship-building isn't that hard once you get it it rolling, and it's more realistic and engaging to see the NPC Sims ageing too.

Favourite cute new thing: when a writer Sim finishes a book, she receives a courtesy copy in the post and can add it to her bookshelf. Then other Sims can read it. I haven't discovered whether the new book appears in the library or bookshop yet--hope so.

Second favourite cute new thing: auto-following a Sim while it goes jogging or cycling around the neighborhood. Such a simple thing but delightful.

It's weird: Mike officially has swine flu. Blood test confirms it.

Swine flu is a comedy illness that no real person actually has, right? So I'm veering between being wildly amused and somewhat freaked out.

He's been cautious and kept to his room since symptoms started, and Eris and I have no symptoms yet. Mike was the sickest I've seen him in about fifteen years, but he's better today and no longer that ghastly grey zombie colour.

It seems unlikely now that Eris and I will catch it, but we're staying cautious for a few more days yet--my immune system sucks and I will be a very unhappy monkey if swine flu happens to me.

This is so weird.

For the curious: it's just flu. It's a really unpleasant, highly infectious strain of flu, but it seems no more likely to kill you than any other kind of flu.

Mike most probably picked it up while out in the Melbourne CBD on Friday night. He was at various bars and restaurants with a group of friends. None of the other friends have developed symptoms as far as we know.

KEEP CALM and CARRY ON.

(Thanks for the reminder, sharpest_rose. Thinking of you and needing to follow your advice also.)

The Age actually has a half-decent article about a transgender person today: "Transsexual takes to the footy field". Their reporting standards have taken a nosedive in recent years, so it's good to see that some of their writers still have one or two clues remaining.

I just watched a delicious fanvid of men in Regency dress (mostly from Austen films) set to "It's Raining Men", I think the Geri Halliwell version. David Morrissey is in it, but I don't recognise the source. By the gods he looks hot. IMDB tells me that it was a 2008 version of Sense and Sensibility. What?! I did not know of such a thing. Apparently David Morrissey played Colonel Brandon. *whimper of joy*

Must see. Soon. Arghle argh want want want.

Edit: Oh FUCK -- Mark Gatiss as John Dashwood! Oh bloody hell ... I have died and gone to heaven. The Emma Thompson version of Sense and Sensibility is my favourite movie ever, but I really really need to see this version as well.

Am thinking of taking a stall at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show in Bendigo this July. It would require a fair bit of work and I'm already feeling over-stretched. But it will be in between semesters, and I could shift some stock, and hmm. I don't know.

Stall costs $366 (including power), then I'd need to arrange a temporary eftpos facility through my bank, transport costs, setting up the stall itself (furniture, decorations?) and would probably need to buy some extra stock. What other expenses would there be? If I decide to stay on site, there are camping facilities so it wouldn't be prohibitively expensive. Hrm hoom hoom.

If I decide to keep Yarnomat going, the exposure would be nifty. And if I decide to shut Yarnomat down, it would be a good way to get rid of most of my stock in one hit.

*ponders*

Perhaps I shouldn't start this post with such a cynical title ... ?

I do believe in positive change! I do! I do!

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Okay, I've now typed myself into an understanding of the first new habit in my plan to get my shit together:


Because I am a dork, I'm going to give myself a sticker on my calendar for every day that I do my new habit. When that habit is entrenched, I'll pick a new habit and add it to the routine. Don't know what pace yet. FlyLady suggests one new habit each month. I know that it makes sense to avoid rushing in and attempting to do everything at once, but ugh! My household is such a mess that I would kind of like to speed it up a bit. Hmm. Will play it by ear after the first week. I know myself--I rush full-tilt into things with the best of intentions, then crash and burn. Not this time.

(Please?)

Are people sleeping less this week? Is it a weird coincidence? Sunspots? Am I just more alert than usual for mentions of sleeplessness?

Poll #1387866 Weird epidemic of sleeplessness?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

How have you been sleeping in the last 7 days?

If your sleep has not been the same as usual, do you think you know why?

Why isn't there a ticky box?

This poll is public and you can feel free to share the link, but I don't expect to get a very scientific result. :)


My experience: On Sunday night I didn't sleep at all. An hour of sleep Monday afternoon, then 2 hours on Monday night. Last night (Tuesday) a bit better but still only about 5 hours (normally I need 8, on holidays sometimes I sleep 10 hours). Today slept for about 4 hours during the day.

This arvo I faceplanted on the walk home from school, thanks to our impulsive dog dashing suddenly at another dog while her leash was already a bit tangled around my legs. My hands were full and I wasn't immediately sure I would fall, but managed to stagger towards the nature strip. So at least I faceplanted onto (dried-out) grass instead of concrete. But my face is grazed down one side, my glasses are banged out of shape and probably not salvageable, and I feel a bit wobbly.

Luckily there was a nurse nearby who saw me fall and stopped to help. She stayed with me until I could sit up, then left ... but came back a couple of minutes and offered to drive me (and Eris and Eris's friend and Glinda) home. It's only a couple of blocks but I gratefully accepted.

If I had been sleeping normally, had full concentration and sharper reactions, would I have fallen? Or would I have been able to put my hands out to take the fall instead of taking it with my face?

The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't -- saw this mentioned on Anecdote and immediately thought of some friends who are stuck in an organisation with an arsehole (or asshole in American) for a CEO.

From a review: "We all know them or know of them--the jerks and bullies at work who demean, criticize, and sap the energy of others, usually their underlings... If you have ever been a victim, just reading Sutton's analysis brings calm relief, empowerment, and reassurance that you're not alone."

During last night's sleeplessness, I planned and revised our European itinerary for the end of this year and early next. Also looked at some maps and read about some cities when I finally gave up and got out of bed.

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Now Glinda and I must go to pick up Eris from school. After that, work! Oh boy.

It is 6 am. I have been lying in bed, wide awake, for the past five hours. Except for 15 minutes when I got up and walked around briefly, in the hope that it might help. It didn't.

Am now at the point where, if I go to sleep, I won't be able to wake up properly in time to take Eris to school.

So I'm going to deliberately keep myself awake, at least until Eris wakes up.

At that point she may decide to take herself to school, and I won't object. She's walked herself home from school for the past two days, and is bursting with the pride of her independence. She said she's ready to try walking to school on her own in the morning as well, and I may just let her do that.

The earthquake was pretty minimal here in Williamstown. So don't worry sharpest_rose, I reckon your flat will still be standing.

The windows rattled and I thought maybe a big truck was driving past. Our house is pretty creaky and the windows tend to rattle if you look at them funny. Then Mike came in and asked me if I liked the earthquake. Bugger! I hardly even noticed it. And Eris didn't notice it at all, even though she was sitting up in bed reading.

Still, I have now Experienced an Earthquake, and that's one more thing to add to the list. I feel quite chuffed. If only I'd noticed it a bit more.

Freaking out about credit card debt and seasonal income due to being a sessional lecturer rather than permanently employed. When I am paid, I'm paid well, but for four months of the year I'm not paid at all.

Given that I've just come out of three months of not-being-paid, the credit card looks scary and a trip to Europe in June and July seems irresponsible, putting it mildly.

Because of teaching, my only travel options are in the middle of the year or at the end of the year. Eris doesn't cope well in really cold, snowy, icy conditions, so a winter trip to Europe seems like a really bad idea. But putting off our trip for a whole twelve months is too depressing to contemplate. Waaah.

But, hooray! Eris actually quite likes the idea of a winter trip to Europe. We'll probably drop Switzerland, Wales and Scotland from the itinerary, and maybe spend a little more time in southern Italy. Eris thinks it would be cool to have a white Christmas, and I do too. (I love travelling in cold weather--just didn't want to deal with Eris's potential whinging.)

So now I can concentrate on getting debt under control over the next few months, and build up a cushion of savings to get us through the next financial dry spell. I also have to do some proper budgeting, gods dammit, so I know how big the cushion needs to be. I hate budgeting, but know that it is necessary.

In other news: It is the first week of semester! I have students! Things are going okay! There is still room for improvement but it's not a disaster yet!

The Spring 2009 issue of Twist Collective is the most amazing collection of knitting patterns I've seen in a long time. I would love to knit just about every pattern in the collection. *swoons*

I would link to specific patterns but can't work out what to queue first.

Edit: Oh! And I probably ought to mention that my first two magazine-published patterns are now available. They are in the first issue of Australian Knitting magazine, which is so new that it doesn't seem to have a website yet. But those of you who have Ravelry accounts can see the patterns here.

Plush Lolrus! With Bukkit!

Have I ever wanted a plush toy as much as I want this one?

Will have to wait until March, when I get paid. So many things are waiting until March.

But this one rockets to the top of the list.

Lolrus!

vicbushfirefund is a fundraising community where members can offer and bid on items, with proceeds going to the Australian Red Cross Bushfire Appeal.

If you want a pair of socks hand-knitted by me, and you want to jump the queue*, please place a bid!

It's strange in Melbourne at the moment. Everyone you talk to knows someone who has been directly affected by the bushfires. I had thought we were a huge amorphous mass of anonymous beings without many interconnections. But suddenly it has become apparent that we are all connected to each other in ways we hadn't realised.

*I'm always offering to knit things for people, or being asked to knit things, and the queue is stupidly long. It may be years before I get around to knitting that big stripy jumper for my generously sized brother...