indulgence-Friday
Made my savings goal for this month! It's payday again, and over the last month I saved the usual amount of yens to bundle back into dolla-dolla-billz for ze American bank account, plus 40,000 for the service trip. Go me ~/o/
As a reward to myself, I went with my third-year students on their class trip to an amusement park / outlet shopping center, spent all day derping around & store cruising with several of the she-teachers (they all went back to the buses with the same pair of faux-Ugg boots and twinsies of some sporty-chic jacket...I bought ear-warmers, hiking socks, and travel tubes from the camping store), and impressed / mildly horrified them all by somehow depositing two "love it"-sized chunks of Coldstone Creamery ice cream into my tiny frame a mere hour after downing a respectably thick hamburger and full compliment of fries. This is how we do junk food fixes in America, ladies ( u w u)
Of course the bus ride back was one long food coma. Except for the last bit when I was progressing about 60% of the way through Fall of Hyperion. The Big Reveal therein has reaffirmed me in my decision to just not bother with the final two books. The only bone I can pick without getting into spoilers is my utter loathing for Brawne Lamia's characterization. Brawne Lamia. That is her name. Just take a moment to reflect on that, you will probably come up with worlds-better character sheets based off that name than Dan Simmons managed for the poor tokenism-incarnate he slapped the moniker onto in what I can only hope was a final act of degradation. I would almost be able to put up with it if the rest of his female characters (all, what, three of them?) were comparably poor in their construction. But Meina Gladstone fucking rules the school. I keep hearing Laura Roslin's voice in my head for her dialogue, and it's a problem, because Mary McDonnell doesn't have a Louisiana drawl.
But the point is, this guy obviously knows how to craft believable women, be they all-too-human heroes or your everyday people with everyday failings and quirks. What the hell happened with BL? What the fuck is his excuse?
[ / end rant ]
Was gonna try to hold out until December 1 without switching the wall-unit heating on, but I dunno. It's getting down into the low 40's at night now (that's 5 - 8 C), and it's kinda hard to get any arts / writing done using fingercicles. I'm gonna clean out the air filters tomorrow and see if I can at least last the weekend, because I really need to be healthy up through Monday afternoon. I am now thoroughly convinced that it is the use of climate controls that gives rise to my seasonal bouts of horrible upper respiratory distress. By this time last year I'd come down with at least two colds and the seasonal flu. This year, by all rights I should be even more sick because of all the time I've spent in crowded, enclosed areas with people who are chronically negligent of courteous hygiene practices, such as NOT hacking up lung-butter into the air directly in front of you which people are walking through thanks a whole lot asswipe.
Manifested symptoms thus far? Nothing. Zilch. Only difference from last autumn besides my more frequent and extended exposure to health risks? I haven't switched on the heat yet. Mr. Onofrey, you were the best 8th grade homeroom / English / theology teacher ever and one of the linchpins of our gradeschool, and you were also totally justified to bark at us when we implored you to close the windows against the January winds - keeping the air within a consistently chilled temperature range does ward off cold-bugs. Live long and prosper, sir.
As a reward to myself, I went with my third-year students on their class trip to an amusement park / outlet shopping center, spent all day derping around & store cruising with several of the she-teachers (they all went back to the buses with the same pair of faux-Ugg boots and twinsies of some sporty-chic jacket...I bought ear-warmers, hiking socks, and travel tubes from the camping store), and impressed / mildly horrified them all by somehow depositing two "love it"-sized chunks of Coldstone Creamery ice cream into my tiny frame a mere hour after downing a respectably thick hamburger and full compliment of fries. This is how we do junk food fixes in America, ladies ( u w u)
Of course the bus ride back was one long food coma. Except for the last bit when I was progressing about 60% of the way through Fall of Hyperion. The Big Reveal therein has reaffirmed me in my decision to just not bother with the final two books. The only bone I can pick without getting into spoilers is my utter loathing for Brawne Lamia's characterization. Brawne Lamia. That is her name. Just take a moment to reflect on that, you will probably come up with worlds-better character sheets based off that name than Dan Simmons managed for the poor tokenism-incarnate he slapped the moniker onto in what I can only hope was a final act of degradation. I would almost be able to put up with it if the rest of his female characters (all, what, three of them?) were comparably poor in their construction. But Meina Gladstone fucking rules the school. I keep hearing Laura Roslin's voice in my head for her dialogue, and it's a problem, because Mary McDonnell doesn't have a Louisiana drawl.
But the point is, this guy obviously knows how to craft believable women, be they all-too-human heroes or your everyday people with everyday failings and quirks. What the hell happened with BL? What the fuck is his excuse?
[ / end rant ]
Was gonna try to hold out until December 1 without switching the wall-unit heating on, but I dunno. It's getting down into the low 40's at night now (that's 5 - 8 C), and it's kinda hard to get any arts / writing done using fingercicles. I'm gonna clean out the air filters tomorrow and see if I can at least last the weekend, because I really need to be healthy up through Monday afternoon. I am now thoroughly convinced that it is the use of climate controls that gives rise to my seasonal bouts of horrible upper respiratory distress. By this time last year I'd come down with at least two colds and the seasonal flu. This year, by all rights I should be even more sick because of all the time I've spent in crowded, enclosed areas with people who are chronically negligent of courteous hygiene practices, such as NOT hacking up lung-butter into the air directly in front of you which people are walking through thanks a whole lot asswipe.
Manifested symptoms thus far? Nothing. Zilch. Only difference from last autumn besides my more frequent and extended exposure to health risks? I haven't switched on the heat yet. Mr. Onofrey, you were the best 8th grade homeroom / English / theology teacher ever and one of the linchpins of our gradeschool, and you were also totally justified to bark at us when we implored you to close the windows against the January winds - keeping the air within a consistently chilled temperature range does ward off cold-bugs. Live long and prosper, sir.