carrie_ironhorse

It's time for another episode of America's favorite game show: Rotate! That! Mattress!

Edit: And returning contestant Socchan has done it again! The mattress has been rotated 180°, and the sheets changed at the same time. This time around, Socchan notably chose not to move the dresser at the foot of the bed, seeming to save some extra seconds in the final time and some overall effort. Will Socchan continue this gamble in upcoming appearances? Only time will tell!

Today, as in every episode, Socchan walks away with a mattress that has been slightly rejuvenated and whose lifespan has been extended just a bit longer, as well as the feeling of sleeping on fresh sheets to look forward to.

Join us again in two months for another episode of Rotate That Mattress!

Current Mood: determined

I enjoyed watching bits and bobs of this 1980s BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, dramatised by Fay Weldon (!) -- I saw it recommended on my network though I can't remember by whom. As might be expected of a novelist's adaptation, it makes good use of Jane Austen's own perfect sentences (the screenplay for the 2020 Emma, written by Eleanor Catton, did this too), and it dramatises some scenes you don't get to see in the famous more recent adaptations.

Despite my unswerving affection for Jennifer Ehle's Elizabeth Bennet, I think this is genuinely the best Lizzy Bennet I've seen -- at first I thought she was too pretty, but she absolutely has the sweetness and archness "which made it difficult for her to affront anybody". Jane is not prettier, which she should be, but she is at least as pretty (though her eyebrows strike me as distractingly modern). But I find the Darcy a let-down: a friend recently remarked that Colin Firth is not good-looking and that is why she doesn't like the 1995 series, but actually this Darcy, who is better-looking, is a reminder of why Firth works in the role. Colin Firth manages to convey the sense that he is fundamentally a decent guy underneath it all and that's why he works; there's a vulnerability to him which makes his Darcy very sweet and human. The 1980s Darcy too kayu lah.

Are there any (relatively) obscure Austen adaptations you'd recommend? In my top tier are the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries, the 1995 Persuasion film, the 2020 Emma and Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility. I don't like the Keira Knightley P&P film. And I thought the Romola Garai Emma was, like, fine, though that's mostly because I find Johnny Flynn's Mr Knightley more fanciable than Jonny Lee Miller (though fair dues to both of them for making him fanciable at all -- one of the least sexy heroes Austen ever wrote, only slightly less sexless than Edmund Bertram). I would love to watch a really good Mansfield Park adaptation some day ...

Books
Finished Jazz Money's how to make a basket. Mostly I liked it. Some of the concrete verse didn't work for me, but that's a me thing, not a problem with the writing.

The book's main theme seemed to be time travel: back before her land's invasion or back to her father's childhood or simply travelling minute by minute; the wish to change the past and the impossibility of doing so.

( more )

After reading

skygiants' review of KJ Charles' Death in the Spires I remembered that I had bought a copy of that when it came out and hadn't read it yet. Read it.

( more )

Games
I hear that Long Live the Queen is getting a followup game, Galaxy Princess Zorana! I'm excited. (Long Live the Queen itself is current on 70% discount on Steam if anyone reading this might be interested in a fun visual novel game. It's pretty and pink and really astonishingly lethal.)

Slay the Spire: I did a few daily climbs. I'm finding them more fun than the regular runs at the moment.

Tech
Still working on the laptop. In the meantime I bought a webcam and plugged it into my desktop so that I could still attend Telehealth appointments. Got complimented on how I looked: turns out that a room with better lighting, and a better-positioned camera, really do make a difference. Go figure.

Household
My laundry area now has a shelf above the washing machine. I took the opportunity to do some decluttering of that area, and it looks much nicer now. So nice that now I want to paint the wall behind it. /o\

Weather
It's fucking freezing.

Links

Petition: Justice for Kumanjayi White. (Police killed a young disabled Warlpiri man outside a supermarket in Alice Springs.)

Why I Revealed My Kink On Television: Meghan Cherry, a Seattle comedian, on her recent audience appearance on Game Changer. (Some of her own comedy work can be found here.)

Cats
Currently headbutting my hand while I'm trying to type.

Hello! My name is Luna. I am new to this group and also somewhat new to Dreamwidth! I keep a small backyard garden of mostly veggies and herbs. I grow most of my plants in containers. I use a variety of pots, grow bags, and upcycled totes for growing. Helps keep weeding a lot easier and I don't have to bend over quite as much/often (I have POTS). I live in the middle of the city, close to our downtown district. I don't have a lot of yard space, or the space I have may not be suitable for growing in ground. I am still working on them, but I have a few ideas for posts about composting and upcycling in the garden that I hope I can share in the future!

Below the cut is a small garden tour! This isn't everything I have, and I am still working on adding a few more things. :]

( Garden tour! )

Okay, I said I'd share the actual fun stuff about my Philosophy 101 teacher in my next post, because he does seem to be actually trying to be a fun guy and bring enjoyment and humor to his classes. He likes to make jokes and pop culture references (most of which are a little dated even to me, who is probably fifteen to twenty years older than most of my classmates), and he does genuinely care if we get good grades, and really doesn't want us to use GenAI to actually write anything for us, even if he is encouraging us to use it as a reference for how to write essays.

Moving on! One of the things he had us do is act out and film a YouTube video about Descartes' "Cogito, ergo sum" moment, and subsequent refutation of global skepticism. It's basically a parody of Bill and Ted, but much shorter and about one particular moment in European philosophy history.

I volunteered to play a minor antagonist, The Disco Kid, because the part has a few song parody lines that actually involve singing, and I figured that most people would prefer to avoid that. I, meanwhile, am not afraid to make that kind of fool of myself on a YouTube video that hardly anyone is likely to ever see. (I probably won't even link it over here, since it credits me with my paperwork name, except maybe under access only. I may share screencaps of me in my totally rad Disco/hippie outfit, though.) And if it somehow actually goes viral, I imagine I'll probably be the breakaway favorite character.

Anyway, aside from the GenAI thing (which I do want to find a way to subtly subvert, aside from just very emphatically shaking my head any time he suggests my classmates use it) and the whole "This is definitely European, Christian philosophy we're learning here" things, it's genuinely a fun class. Not a lot of homework, textbook is effectively some online essays and other ridiculous videos the teacher has made, very generous grading. I should be able to ride it out fine without my head exploding.

Current Mood: silly

I have to rant about my philosophy teacher tomorrow. He seems like a genuinely good guy, I'm enjoying the class, but his opinions on ChatGPT are...

Look, he suggested it as a study aid for our first test, coming up next Thursday. Anyone know if that "Tell me how many times the letter 'X' appears in [word]" trick still works? I'm thinking of emailing him a suggestion of that, and also that he recommend all students who consult ChatGPT save or print off their results. My hope is that, if ChatGPT gives them bad info to study off of, having proof that their incorrect response is because of ChatGPT will result in fewer points lost for the students. (And hopefully, ultimately, the teacher understanding why I keep visibly and emphatically shaking my head whenever he suggests relying on it as a study aid in class, but I'm not holding my breath.)

...Actually, I think that's about all the rant I need right there. Describes my problem succinctly (aside from how he might be a little confused about what "passing the Turing Test" actually means WRT machine intelligence or lack thereof), gets to what I think might be actionable and a possible solution, etc. I might talk about the fun stuff from his class tomorrow, instead.

Current Mood: low on fucks

Currently between classes! I spent the first couple of hours after my morning class studying, and now I'm seeing what I can do to spend the rest of the time before my evening class. If either of the classes were in my hometown, I'd just go home for a nap and some relaxation, but unfortunately they're both in the same city where I work, which is half an hour away by car and seems like a waste to drive. I mean, I could still technically get almost five hours at home between classes? But that's a lot of time and especially gas money that I'd just as soon not spend, for the time being. I may change my mind by the end of the semester, but until then...

I only had one item left to do for this week's evening class (one evening a week): A quiz on the first chapter of our textbook, all multiple choice or true/false, three attempts allowed. I got 90% on the first two tries, and 100% on the last one. So far, so good!

I also figured I'd try and get a little bit ahead for my evening class stuff. I have the time, so why not? Unfortunately, I can't actually tell at the moment if what we're going to be assigned this week is three whole textbook chapters, or just the introduction for those three chapters. I read the entirety of the first of the assigned chapters just in case, then threw in the towel for today; I plan to ask for clarification tonight, since the website I access the (legit free) textbook through marks the to-do item complete once I open just the intro part of the chapter. Our reading for last week had been the opening of the first chapter and all three sub-parts, each of which got checked off as I opened them, so I would say I have reason to be confused!

ANYWAY. Wednesdays aside, I have a morning class Monday through Thursday, after which I usually visit the college library to work on homework for an hour or so. I'm pretty sure this is something I can keep up for the rest of my classes, so I'm cautiously optimistic about keeping my grades up for these last few semesters and actually getting my Associate's degree!

So far, so good ✌

Current Mood: productive

2 poems from Mary Oliver's Red Bird collection.

Red Bird

Red bird came all winter
firing up the landscape
as nothing else could.

Of course I love the sparrows,
those dun-colored darlings,
so hungry and so many.

I am a God-fearing feeder of birds.
I know He has many children,
not all of them bold in spirit.

Still, for whatever reason—
perhaps, because the winter is so long
and the sky so black-blue

or perhaps because the heart narrows
as often as it opens—
I am grateful

that red bird comes all winter
firing up the landscape
as nothing can do.

Invitation

Oh do you have time
to linger
    for just a little while
       out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
    that have gathered
       in a field of thistle

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
    the highest note,
       or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
    Their strong, blunt beaks
       drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
    not for your sake
       and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for the sheer delight and gratitude—
    believe us, they say,
       it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
    in this broken world.
       I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
    to attend to this
       rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
    It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
       You must change your life.

(One day early or thirteen days late, depending how you count.)

Books
Finished reading Freya Marske's A Restless Truth. Despite how long it took me to read it, it was a good fantasy romance novel. If it weren't the middle novel in a trilogy with m/m couples for books one and three, I'd be reccing this one to nearly every f/f romance reader I know, actually. As it is, well, that recommendation stands if either you read m/m too or don't mind reading book two of a trilogy as a standalone when it really would work better as book two.

It's not a heist novel, but it pushed some of the same anxiety buttons for me that heist plots do, which is probably at least part of why it took me so long.

A thing I'd like to note: a lot of times when I read f/f romance by an author who mostly writes m/f or m/m, the f/f doesn't ring very convincing to me (same problem with m/f romance authors writing m/m.) This was Freya Marske's second published novel, so I don't know what she "usually" writes, but this did ring convincing. I believed that Violet was bi, and I believed in Maude's lesbian awakening, and I believed in their attraction to each other.

My paper copy of Cameron Reed's The Fortunate Fall arrived in the mail. I read it back in uni (borrowed from the Rowden White Library in the early 2000s) but hadn't owned it until now.

About midway through Jazz Money's how to make a basket, a 2021 book of poems in which Wiradjuri words grow up through the cracks of the English.

Started reading KJ Charles' Death in the Spires. (Waiting for the "in spires" pun to drop.)

Not books but literary analysis: I read Andrea Long Chu's 2022 article Hanya's Boys, on Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life. I haven't read the novel itself, and don't think I want to. And I think Chu is very incisive and good at what she does. But also: wow, mean. Maybe the meanest literary review I've read in I don't know how long. Came away feeling defensive on Yanagihara's behalf as someone who has ever read even one whump fanfic.

Fandom
Prophet:

rydra_wong posted her post-canon 'a word you've never understood'. I don't know that I can recommend it to people who haven't read Prophet (I can recommend they read Prophet and then read Rydra's fic) but if you have read the book and liked it and are someone who reads fanfic then I unreservedly recommend this fic. I've been looking forward to this one since Rydra started writing it (under extremely stressful writing conditions) and I'm so happy she did.

Comics
I cackled out loud (very loudly) at the (nsfw-ish) recent Dumbing of Age strip titled 'Fingering'. And then went "aww" in a sad way at the next page. Joyce and Dorothy are both going through some things, and afaik poor Joe has no idea.

Making
Made another linocut, this one a bookmark-shaped print of stacks of books. It came out nicely: I'm pleased. I like the idea of bookmark-shaped lino printing: it's a manageable size for a project, and produces objects I can use, or that I can give as gifts without worrying about giving clutter.

Tech
Felt the urge to spend some days spending more time changing my laptop's window manager configurations than talking to people. You know how it is. And it does look better than it did before, although somehow I changed the lockscreen without realising I'd done so, which was a bit of a shock when I locked the screen for the first time after that.

It was after I wrote that post (Tuesday last week, I think?) that my laptop's wifi card started disconnecting randomly while I was using it and needing the external wifi/radio switch[*] jiggled to reconnect it. Then it stopped reconnecting and I had a crash course in Linux kernel drivers for WWAN, WLAN, and Bluetooth, what rfkill does, the difference between soft-blocked and hard-blocked wifi, etc.

( cut for length )

Games
More Slay the Spire: still no infinity deck, but I got the 'Ooh, Donut' achievement for killing Donu with a Feed card. So that was satisfying.

Garden
I bought a little (less than one square metre) pop-up greenhouse tent thing, set it up outside, and planted the basil cutting there. A few days later I woke up and found that it was gone. Tent and all.

I have no idea what could cause that. Did I not put the stakes in deep enough? Did some basil-loving animal come into my back yard? ???

Weather
It's finally cold. Cold enough, in fact, that last week I purchased an electric foot warmer for those "oops, my toes are all corpse white" times. I'll keep looking for a less e-wasteful solution, but I'd like to still have toes by the time I come up with it.

Miscellaneous
Last week I had to get a routine blood test. I noticed that there was a case under the exam bed across the room from the chair I was in. I couldn't tell what instrument it was, it was a bit too broad and flat for a trumpet. Banjo, maybe? Ukulele? "Aha," I thought: "an opportunity to make small talk as the humans do!"

When it was my turn in the conversation to provide a line, I asked "What instrument do you play?"
"I actually don't play an instrument," the phlebotomist said. "It's funny that you thought I did..." and then followed my gaze to the case. "Oh! That's not an instrument. A patient gave me that. She was cleaning out and thought I might like it. It's actually an arm. A rubber one, for practising giving injections. She thought I could give it to the company, but they have their own training materials. I'm not sure what I'll do with it. Fancy dress, maybe?"

Dear My Parents,

Sometimes when I am making a meal that is more complicated than a sandwich, I want to make it for just me. Especially when I have only bought ingredients with a meal for a single person in mind. Like, I'm usually happy to make something else instead! Just. I'd like to know before I start making a meal for Just Me that it's instead going to be for three people. Possibly so I can start making something else instead.

(I would be willing to accept "Not feeling guilty when saying that I'm only making enough for one" as a compromise.)

Yours,
Someone who really wanted to eat what was initially planned as one hungry person's worth of gyudon last night.

Current Mood: siiiiiiiigh

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Quills and Needles

October 2012

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Quills and Needles

Reading

Keeping up with chores

Austeniana

Things

Intro

Philosophy 101 Teacher

Remind me

School Routine

Mary Oliver: "Red Bird", "Invitation"