An arsenal of hammers
I am typing this primarily with my left hand, as my right hand rests pathetically on the desk under a Simpsons-themed boo-boo buddy. You will see why later in this post!
But first, back in time: Christmas was a blur of driving, celebrating, attempting to avoid family drama, and shifting our plans around to accommodate a sick and exhausted wife. Giving people wedding pictures as presents was a fabulous thrill, though, and everyone loved having the dog visit.
New Years Weekend was full of writing blues, tearing up carpet, cooking, and media. We're tearing up the carpet in the bedroom and putting down a laminate floor because of the water damage from last winter and also because the carpet is ugly as fuck. Hammers and crowbars, ahoy!
This morning was full of looking up (space)ship terminology, and stressing out over a busted hot water heater. We had wanted to upgrade to a gas hot water heater, since it's more efficient than our electric one, except that before we could make that improvement, the electric one decided to rot and corrode out at the bottom and leak water all over my basement! Right now, we have a temporary 20-gallon tank, thanks to our amazing plumber, and will hopefully get a brand new gas hot water heater this weekend, which was coincidentally also when the plumber was already scheduled to come hook up our new stove and might even install a new toilet. Because I love spending money!
Also, I slammed my hand in a door this morning. It was one of those impossible things that I'm not sure I could recreate - basically, I tripped over the kitten and fell in such a way that I grabbed onto the inside of the door and my weight closed the door on my hand as I fell. There's a giant lump and it's wicked sore and I just. What the fuck. Also, it's starting to bruise and it's going to be pretty hardcore ugly.
In the past week, I have:
-had a beer called The Vaporizer
-considered buying a toilet called The Viper
- Rung in the new year at a Josh Ritter concert (Josh Ritter closed the encore with Empty Heart and then played Auld Lang Syne on the violin. Also, K was slashing his band members with him. "His band really likes him a lot, don't they? Like, they really seem in love with him?")
Media I have watched for good or ill:
- The first episode of Downtown Abbey, since everyone was talking about it and where every character is just horrible omg why did you make me watch this?
-White Collar, an old episode I hadn't seen before, where Neal talks Peter through a jailbreak nngghhh.
-Pete-era SG1, aka where Sam is a Normal Girl with a Normal Boyfriend who does not understand boundaries, wow, he doesn't understand them at all. Pete rubs me 9 kinds of the wrong way, even in reruns.
- Another episode into the Vampire Diaries! K says: "I forget there are actual diaries."
ataratah says, "Where is Stiles?"
-Leverage: I forget how much I love Eliot! Especially in the episode where he gets all invested as a baseball player and Hardison quotes Wrath of Khan when blowing up his van. Also, bonus Sterling! K says: "I love how Mark Sheppard gets away with playing the same character in every show." Also, Jeri Ryan makes me want to watch Voyager, which is saying something.
- I have not talked about seeing the Sherlock Holmes movie because I am still not sure what I saw was a movie and not a fever dream of queer beauty.
Since this post is already full of K's media commentary, here, have some more.
ataratah was considering what to put on after Downtown Abbey gave us both the motts and the woe, and she was considering Bones. "It has less motts, even when Bones is like, 'I don't understand human interaction.'" In the other room, K calls out, "Yeah, I like Bones, let's watch that!"
Later, I was watching an SGA episode with the Genii and K walked by and said, "Are you watching more of that horrible show?" She meant Downtown Abbey, because she thought the Genii in civilian dress were the servants. I'd like to see that crossover.
In other media, I read The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz, and I can only warn you against doing the same. I have two major objections: The first is Horowitz's desire to correct what he views as Conan Doyle's oversights - Watson pulls us out of the narrative repeatedly with his remarks on how he wished he had paid more attention to Mrs. Hudson, and how egregious were the mistakes of a society that allowed there to be Baker Street Irregulars in the first place. Similarly, Holmes' emotional reaction to Ross' death , beyond the impulse to solve the mystery of it, struck me as forced. The second issue is the reveal, where he find out that - without a warning because published fiction doesn't follow this important code - rich and powerful men are sexually abusing orphan boys. What's more, the main character in the mystery, the man we first meet, is such an abuser. That is not a story I wanted to read, nevermind get invested in, and if I had known this was the scandal Watson hinted at in the beginning, I would have happily stuck to Conan Doyle's canon alone.
And finally, if you have not downloaded
minervacat's Christmas mix, you should do so promptly. I might say this every year, but this year is my favorite. 17 songs with repeating melodies, phrases and sentiments sung like prayers and affirmations - Frank Turner sings about rock and roll saving souls, Brian Fallon sings like he's shouting down the devil, and The Decemberists are ridiculous people who made a pop country album. It has been the soundtrack to the past couple weeks and will continue to carry me forward. All arise. You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth (
comments)
But first, back in time: Christmas was a blur of driving, celebrating, attempting to avoid family drama, and shifting our plans around to accommodate a sick and exhausted wife. Giving people wedding pictures as presents was a fabulous thrill, though, and everyone loved having the dog visit.
New Years Weekend was full of writing blues, tearing up carpet, cooking, and media. We're tearing up the carpet in the bedroom and putting down a laminate floor because of the water damage from last winter and also because the carpet is ugly as fuck. Hammers and crowbars, ahoy!
This morning was full of looking up (space)ship terminology, and stressing out over a busted hot water heater. We had wanted to upgrade to a gas hot water heater, since it's more efficient than our electric one, except that before we could make that improvement, the electric one decided to rot and corrode out at the bottom and leak water all over my basement! Right now, we have a temporary 20-gallon tank, thanks to our amazing plumber, and will hopefully get a brand new gas hot water heater this weekend, which was coincidentally also when the plumber was already scheduled to come hook up our new stove and might even install a new toilet. Because I love spending money!
Also, I slammed my hand in a door this morning. It was one of those impossible things that I'm not sure I could recreate - basically, I tripped over the kitten and fell in such a way that I grabbed onto the inside of the door and my weight closed the door on my hand as I fell. There's a giant lump and it's wicked sore and I just. What the fuck. Also, it's starting to bruise and it's going to be pretty hardcore ugly.
In the past week, I have:
-had a beer called The Vaporizer
-considered buying a toilet called The Viper
- Rung in the new year at a Josh Ritter concert (Josh Ritter closed the encore with Empty Heart and then played Auld Lang Syne on the violin. Also, K was slashing his band members with him. "His band really likes him a lot, don't they? Like, they really seem in love with him?")
Media I have watched for good or ill:
- The first episode of Downtown Abbey, since everyone was talking about it and where every character is just horrible omg why did you make me watch this?
-White Collar, an old episode I hadn't seen before, where Neal talks Peter through a jailbreak nngghhh.
-Pete-era SG1, aka where Sam is a Normal Girl with a Normal Boyfriend who does not understand boundaries, wow, he doesn't understand them at all. Pete rubs me 9 kinds of the wrong way, even in reruns.
- Another episode into the Vampire Diaries! K says: "I forget there are actual diaries."
ataratah says, "Where is Stiles?"
-Leverage: I forget how much I love Eliot! Especially in the episode where he gets all invested as a baseball player and Hardison quotes Wrath of Khan when blowing up his van. Also, bonus Sterling! K says: "I love how Mark Sheppard gets away with playing the same character in every show." Also, Jeri Ryan makes me want to watch Voyager, which is saying something.
- I have not talked about seeing the Sherlock Holmes movie because I am still not sure what I saw was a movie and not a fever dream of queer beauty.
Since this post is already full of K's media commentary, here, have some more.
ataratah was considering what to put on after Downtown Abbey gave us both the motts and the woe, and she was considering Bones. "It has less motts, even when Bones is like, 'I don't understand human interaction.'" In the other room, K calls out, "Yeah, I like Bones, let's watch that!"
Later, I was watching an SGA episode with the Genii and K walked by and said, "Are you watching more of that horrible show?" She meant Downtown Abbey, because she thought the Genii in civilian dress were the servants. I'd like to see that crossover.
In other media, I read The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz, and I can only warn you against doing the same. I have two major objections: The first is Horowitz's desire to correct what he views as Conan Doyle's oversights - Watson pulls us out of the narrative repeatedly with his remarks on how he wished he had paid more attention to Mrs. Hudson, and how egregious were the mistakes of a society that allowed there to be Baker Street Irregulars in the first place. Similarly, Holmes' emotional reaction to Ross' death , beyond the impulse to solve the mystery of it, struck me as forced. The second issue is the reveal, where he find out that - without a warning because published fiction doesn't follow this important code - rich and powerful men are sexually abusing orphan boys. What's more, the main character in the mystery, the man we first meet, is such an abuser. That is not a story I wanted to read, nevermind get invested in, and if I had known this was the scandal Watson hinted at in the beginning, I would have happily stuck to Conan Doyle's canon alone.
And finally, if you have not downloaded
minervacat's Christmas mix, you should do so promptly. I might say this every year, but this year is my favorite. 17 songs with repeating melodies, phrases and sentiments sung like prayers and affirmations - Frank Turner sings about rock and roll saving souls, Brian Fallon sings like he's shouting down the devil, and The Decemberists are ridiculous people who made a pop country album. It has been the soundtrack to the past couple weeks and will continue to carry me forward. All arise. You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth (
comments)