korafox

Yesterday was my birthday, so it is once again time to log my annual reading for posterity!  I am happy to have reached a total of 50 books this year, only two of which were re-reads (marked with an asterisk).  Next year I have a specific goal, which is to read all the non-textbooks used by faculty in one of my departments. (i.e., I'm not reading ten different freshman composition textbooks, thank you very much.)  I hope it will be interesting and get me into some areas I don't usually read about (some non-fiction, huzzah!).

The list of books I read this year, behind the cut.  As always, I am happy to take questions or comments about my experience with any of these:
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I need someone to give me a second opinion on this.

Sitting in traffic this evening, I spotted a vanity plate that read "RIKARD". 

So, that car is clearly the property of a Star Trek slasher, right?  

Right?

Okay, so here we are, it is the middle of September and I need to drag myself out of my hole.  Work has slowed down and we more-or-less successfully launched the late-start courses last week, so I should not be using that as as an excuse for slacking any longer.

Here is what I have been up to:

1) Got murdered most ruthlessly in Amber Throne War

2) Decided at nearly the last minute to take an intro to programming course with my employee tuition waiver.  We are learning Python.  It is very interesting but I am also uncomfortably aware of the major limits of my understanding/abilities at the moment.

3) Finally was able to start the stained-glass afghan project I have wanted to do for a while.  It has been a nice mindless task to fill spaces where my brain has not been capable of much else.  Also, looking at the crochet instructions and then looking at computer code makes me giggle. 

What I have not done is any actual art in like two months.  I should really change that but I'm finding myself oddly resistant to the sort of emotional vulnerability that requires.  Bah. 

In conclusion, there are too many projects and too little time/brains.  Brain donations accepted but not tax deductible. 

The Fountain represents our ability to overcome adversity and start anew, either through determination and inspiration or through the simple passage of time. This Ikon washes the past away, allowing us to move on however much our lives and selves may have changed.

This is the seventeenth card of twenty-seven. It is very strange to think that there are only ten left (not counting Virtues, of which I think I will do twelve total if I have the energy).

I should do a Conjunction next, preferably something that does not require extensive amounts of foliage.

Over the weekend I finished a watercolor painting I've been working on for a while. For your viewing pleasure (one hopes):


Now I just need to keep working on The Fountain. I think it will not be nearly as long a project as the previous card, thankfully.

If I had an entrepreneurial spirit (I do not), I would start a chain of haircut places.  Unlike every other haircut place in existence, there would be no talking allowed other than to communicate hairstyle information.  No forced chitchat whatsoever--you could just sit there and enjoy the sensations of having your hair worked on without feeling like you are failing at being human or the stylist feeling like they are failing to engage you. 

There would be a clearly marked, spacious place in front of you to put your bag instead of having to choose between 1) coat rack right by the front door where you can't see it, 2) on the floor with all the hair (blech), 3) on the counter in front of the mirror (won't work, mine is too big and the stylist has their stuff there), or 4) throw it in the trunk of your car before you leave for the salon so that no one sees you leave it unattended in your vehicle.

Also everyone would be paid a good living wage and because of that there would be no tipping allowed, either, so that you don't have to freak out over whether you are tipping way more than or way less than you should. 

So yes, this haircut chain would cater to those of us who hate negotiating the social aspects of salons.  I guarantee there are stylists out there too who would enjoy the prospect of getting to work on people's hair in silence and really focus on it. 

And in my fantasy world this salon would be called the Awkward Turtle and it would be the best ever.

Sorry I've been so scarce for the last week or so.  Work has been an absolute bear, and any time that was not scheduled for something, I was using to try to recuperate and rally my energy.  It was stressful enough that when the week was finally done, I nearly got a rebound cold.  Thankfully, the scritchiness in my throat and the splitting headache eased off today, so I think I am out of the woods. 

I finished the squares for my blanket and have moved on to octagons.  It's nice to be working with colors instead of all white yarn again.  I just hope it all comes together in the end and I don't run out of green or yellow too early.  : /

Speaking of blankets, I finally had to replace my cloud blanket on Friday.  Poor thing.  I bought it before I went off to high school, which means...it is about 16 years old.  *cries*  To be clear, it was not my choice to replace it.  I knew it was on its last legs what with the filling spilling out in half a dozen places.  But the cat had other designs, and I really don't think it would have survived another trip through the washing machine after she barfed all over it.  *cries more*

I sincerely considered giving the blanket a viking funeral, but in the end I just thanked it for its service in keeping me warm all these years and threw it in the trash.  Then I spent waaaay too long trying to find a replacement at the mall.  See, my cloud blanket was made of a fabric they described as "T-shirt material".  It was so soft, and I am very particular when it comes to tactile sensations, so I wanted to find something similar.  Apparently this was too much to ask, as all the department stores only have cruddy scratchy polyester fabric comforters, but I eventually found something at Target that I could stand.  It is not quite as soft to the touch, but it is good enough and much pwuffier than the old blanket. 

Anyhoo.  There is much more that happened this week, but that is all I have for tonight.

Well, I finished it.  The Visionary is done, stick a fork in it.  Unfortunately I have no brains remaining to make intelligent commentary on it right now or navigate the arcane process of uploading images, so you all will have to wait until I get home tomorrow to see it.  : P

Because I am constantly getting myself in over my head, I started a new crochet blanket yesterday.  This time I am learning how to do things that are made on a polar coordinate system instead of Cartesian!  In other words, I'm making squares right now.  Later there will be hexagons.  And then after that, I will get to figure out how to attach these all to one another.  *cries*

Right now though, I have made...6 squares out of 50.  Long project will be long.  I just hope I don't have to go buy more yarn because the other point of this blanket was to use up some of my leftovers so I can feel less bad about going and splurging on lovely soft Lion brand yarn.  I'm making this blanket in a green and yellow motif (gee I wonder why) and hopefully it will be done before football season for Husband to snuggle under.  Given that football doesn't return for almost five months, it had better be done by then!

Today was (local) election day for us, and with about 85% of the precincts in, there are definitely a few results I want to *facepalm* at.  The good news is that we got a competent mayor.  Overall, though, local politics feels somewhat like crawling forward hands and knees on a treadmill.  I am...disheartened.  And having difficulty soothing myself so that I can get up again tomorrow and keep trying to make things better in my sphere of influence.

I don't have any kind of leftover energy to deal with national politics right now.  Supreme Court and a zombie health care bill and North Korea and ugh.  And there is pretty much nothing I can do about this anyways, having two firmly Dem senators and a jackass of a Republican rep who was completely in favor of the original AHCA.  (I will keep flinging phone messages into the void of his DC office once there is something concrete to complain about again, though.)

Work on art continues.  The lineart for the Visionary is nearly done, for a certain value of "nearly".   I will try to keep telling myself that this is a worthwhile pursuit that adds something to the world.