Brain Dump
So I've been in a major funk lately, first the scare with Midnight, followed by the assumed loss of one of my cats. My black girl, Molly, so sweet and gentle, went outside over 2 weeks ago and she hasn't been seen since. I've looked around the neighborhood a bit for her, and talked to my neighbors, but she is a very timid soul and would not approach another person or animal outside of the family. She is the kind of cat that, if she could get back to us, she would, so I am not hopeful. We do have coyotes and fisher cats around here, and that is my number one theory about what happened to her. I've had several good cries, and am trying to move on. I can't think about her too much without misting up, still.
Although everything else in comparison seems trivial and possibly inappropriate to talk about, there is so much else swirling around in my head that I have to get it out, so apologies in advance for the disjointed chatter. I also have been feeling very low about some interactions with very difficult personalities that have sucked some of the joy out of my writing projects, so I am hoping by doing something fun and non-work related, I can get over a creative hump.
I am really looking forward to ARGFest in Portland, OR next month. One of my best friends from high school lives in Clackamas with her family, and I have not seen her in over 10 years. We got back in touch recently and we will definitely be meeting up while I'm out there. She has a husband and a five year old boy I've never met. I'm also looking forward to getting together with all my UF friends (except for that hmrpita , but she's an entertaining drunk so I'll probably buy her a drink anyways) and can't wait to chat and drink and laugh with everyone again. It's a family reunion without the family! The venue seems nice, and we've got a kick-ass program in place. Everything has come together within the last few weeks. If you are on the fence about coming, you should totally fall off and come. It's going to be a blast and a half. Go to the web site for all the logistics.
Since much of my ARG work lately has been either as a PM, or behind the scenes, or in my capacity as an ARGNet writer and UF admin, it's been hard for me to follow very many games with more than a passing bit of lurkdom. However, I have been totally sucked in to Must Love Robots, and it's been super easy for me to keep up with it, thanks in large part to Rowan's excellent guide. I've been so impressed by the character interactions and the story that I have been forced to step out of my lurker role and become an active player again. The guys running MLR will be speaking at ARGFest too, and I can't wait to hear all the backchannel stuff and hang out with them, because they are hysterically funny and I bet they are great to party with.
I also did the Order of the Trout mailing to thank everyone who signed up as an individual sponsor for last year's event in Boston. This is a project that I've been mulling about doing for quite a while, so it was very satisfying when folks got their envelopes in the mail and started tweeting about it. I had lots of fun designing & making the buttons, and I will definitely be making a new version for 2009 sponsors as well. Hopefully I can get them done in time to bring them to Portland with me!
The CSA has started again, and my produce drawer runneth over. I need to figure out better protein combos to go with all this lovely produce, because we are not a huge grilling family and I'm the only one who actually cooks anything outdoors and I get tired of prepping/bringing everything out to the grill and being the only person who cleans/maintains it. I made a wonderful panzanella last week and I honestly could eat that every week all summer long, along with any other salad. I have very different tastes from my husband (wants Indian all the time) and my daughter (doesn't want Indian all the time, still has a very bland palate), so being the family cook is a thankless task most of the time. Honestly, there are days when I could sit down with a bowl of cereal or a cup of yogurt and be happy, but they expect me to put food on the table every night. Take out gets old/tired too. I really am very bored with food right now, because I can't cook the food I prefer to eat much of the time. I went to lunch with tringa today and blissed out on my maki. What a treat. And now I have to think about what to do for dinner when I am basically done with food for the day. Last night I made porkchops with stirfried napa cabbage with a hoisin sauce, which M and I loved but hubby did not care for. I have made lovely curries that hubby eats and M turns her nose up at. I'm tempted to leave out the peanut butter and jellly with the bread on the counter and say have at it.
If you haven't watched Virtuality yet, and you are a sci-fi/BSG/Ron Moore fan, you should totally watch it. It's available on hulu.com. (Sorry, non-US people.) It was a pilot for a series that didn't get picked up by FOX (no surprise there) which is unfortunately because it's excellent. Presented as a stand-alone movie, the largest flaw is that it ends on this massive cliffhanger that was the set-up for the series, and it makes me sad to think there won't be any more. There is a campaign to try to get it picked up as a series, but who knows how many people actually care about well-written, high-values production science fiction to make a difference. Bonus trivia: Kari Wahlgren, who did the voice of Janissary James for I Love Bees, is the voice of the computer, Jean.
Maybe I'll make pancakes.
Although everything else in comparison seems trivial and possibly inappropriate to talk about, there is so much else swirling around in my head that I have to get it out, so apologies in advance for the disjointed chatter. I also have been feeling very low about some interactions with very difficult personalities that have sucked some of the joy out of my writing projects, so I am hoping by doing something fun and non-work related, I can get over a creative hump.
I am really looking forward to ARGFest in Portland, OR next month. One of my best friends from high school lives in Clackamas with her family, and I have not seen her in over 10 years. We got back in touch recently and we will definitely be meeting up while I'm out there. She has a husband and a five year old boy I've never met. I'm also looking forward to getting together with all my UF friends (except for that hmrpita , but she's an entertaining drunk so I'll probably buy her a drink anyways) and can't wait to chat and drink and laugh with everyone again. It's a family reunion without the family! The venue seems nice, and we've got a kick-ass program in place. Everything has come together within the last few weeks. If you are on the fence about coming, you should totally fall off and come. It's going to be a blast and a half. Go to the web site for all the logistics.
Since much of my ARG work lately has been either as a PM, or behind the scenes, or in my capacity as an ARGNet writer and UF admin, it's been hard for me to follow very many games with more than a passing bit of lurkdom. However, I have been totally sucked in to Must Love Robots, and it's been super easy for me to keep up with it, thanks in large part to Rowan's excellent guide. I've been so impressed by the character interactions and the story that I have been forced to step out of my lurker role and become an active player again. The guys running MLR will be speaking at ARGFest too, and I can't wait to hear all the backchannel stuff and hang out with them, because they are hysterically funny and I bet they are great to party with.
I also did the Order of the Trout mailing to thank everyone who signed up as an individual sponsor for last year's event in Boston. This is a project that I've been mulling about doing for quite a while, so it was very satisfying when folks got their envelopes in the mail and started tweeting about it. I had lots of fun designing & making the buttons, and I will definitely be making a new version for 2009 sponsors as well. Hopefully I can get them done in time to bring them to Portland with me!
The CSA has started again, and my produce drawer runneth over. I need to figure out better protein combos to go with all this lovely produce, because we are not a huge grilling family and I'm the only one who actually cooks anything outdoors and I get tired of prepping/bringing everything out to the grill and being the only person who cleans/maintains it. I made a wonderful panzanella last week and I honestly could eat that every week all summer long, along with any other salad. I have very different tastes from my husband (wants Indian all the time) and my daughter (doesn't want Indian all the time, still has a very bland palate), so being the family cook is a thankless task most of the time. Honestly, there are days when I could sit down with a bowl of cereal or a cup of yogurt and be happy, but they expect me to put food on the table every night. Take out gets old/tired too. I really am very bored with food right now, because I can't cook the food I prefer to eat much of the time. I went to lunch with tringa today and blissed out on my maki. What a treat. And now I have to think about what to do for dinner when I am basically done with food for the day. Last night I made porkchops with stirfried napa cabbage with a hoisin sauce, which M and I loved but hubby did not care for. I have made lovely curries that hubby eats and M turns her nose up at. I'm tempted to leave out the peanut butter and jellly with the bread on the counter and say have at it.
If you haven't watched Virtuality yet, and you are a sci-fi/BSG/Ron Moore fan, you should totally watch it. It's available on hulu.com. (Sorry, non-US people.) It was a pilot for a series that didn't get picked up by FOX (no surprise there) which is unfortunately because it's excellent. Presented as a stand-alone movie, the largest flaw is that it ends on this massive cliffhanger that was the set-up for the series, and it makes me sad to think there won't be any more. There is a campaign to try to get it picked up as a series, but who knows how many people actually care about well-written, high-values production science fiction to make a difference. Bonus trivia: Kari Wahlgren, who did the voice of Janissary James for I Love Bees, is the voice of the computer, Jean.
Maybe I'll make pancakes.