yummy house

The husband and I have been getting nose bleeds like it is going out of style (but as far as I know it has never been in style). I am hypothesizing that this is partially due to the winter being super dry. This confuses me because we're both desert babies and this is our first winter not in the desert. Why is it this year that we're nosebleed central? Ah well.

To fix this problem without a humidifier, I've stuck a large pot of water on the stove. To make it more fun I've added a few cinnamon sticks, some cloves, and some black peppers. I'm debating adding the last of my cardamom, but I want to save that for something special.

The apartment smells gorgeous! I'm happy.

Since the husband works all night tonight (probably way past midnight. Sigh. Yet another year that I don't get kissed at midnight on New Years Eve. Ah well.), I am making tonight as comfy as possible for me. I've got tons of tea (Masala Chai, Mango Mambo, and some lovely Jasmine Pearls that are probably for later in the evening), some great tea biscuits, and lots of ideas of things to write. It's going to be a calm New Years - with tacos when he gets home.

I know nothing about fashion

I was strolling around the blogsphere today and I came upon the What City Do You Belong In Quiz. I checked it out, because that is what one does when strolling around the blogsphere.

I couldn't answer the first question. How pathetic is that?

1. If you had a ton of cash, what sort of designer clothes would fill your wardrobe?
• Versace
• DKNY
• Stella McCartney
• Jean-Paul Gaultier

I had to google each one of these designers and look at their most recent collections before I decided that DKNY is probably the best for me. Jean-Paul Gaultier seems to require large hair or a large bird on your head - which I know is just what happens on the runway, but the fashions he made just seemed to work with large hair and a large bird on the head. I don't want people looking at me and saying, "Gee - she's wearing a very stylish outfit, but it would be so much better if something large and feathery was making its home just there.

Stella McCartney had a silver lame bathing suit. I moved on.

Versace wasn't bad, but huuuge shoulders.

DKNY was just fine - I think. I'd put things together differently than the site, but that's probably because I know nothing about fashion.

And just in case Anyone is curious:

You Belong in Rome

You're a big city girl with a small town heart Which is why you're attracted to the romance of Rome Strolling down picture perfect streets, cappuccino in hand And gorgeous Italian men - could life get any better?

What City Do You Belong In?

Horrible Cold Update

I'm sorry I'm slow lately - I have a horrible cold and I am just not feeling very witty or talkative at all. But I wanted to share a tale of stupidity with you all, so here I am - blogging.

I went to Best Buy today. I know what you're thinking, "Best Buy? Two days before Christmas? Two days before Chanukah? LibrarianPirate, you are CRAZY!” And I will give you that point. But I went to Best Buy well aware of the two holidays that happen in two days. Well aware that Winter Solstice and Kwanzaa are nearby (although I have no idea what days they are on). Well aware that pretty much every one out there is celebrating something, from Festivus to Boxing Day. I went because I needed to get something and I went prepared for the lines.

So I grab what I’m getting and get in the heinously long line. I’m surprised by how fast it is moving – the people at Best Buy sure are working hard! Then a lady gets in line behind me, and goes off. “This is bullshit! Do you see this line? This is horrible. What do they think they are doing, making us wait in line? Don’t they know that it is the holidays and we have places to be? Bullshit. This is complete bullshit.”

I have a cold and was busy sneezing and coughing, so I didn’t say anything to her – but I really wanted to just turn around and say, “Look, Lady. You chose to come shopping on December 23rd. The line is going to be long. It is, however, moving quickly.” I don’t understand people like her. December 15-24th, trying to shop is going to be a chore. Do not do it if you aren’t ready to deal with all the crap that comes with it! GRRRR!

(sorry – I’m done ranting. I’m going to go curl up with my Affrin and my bottle of Tylenol Sore Throat and sleep.)

Just a quickie

Because I'm sick and cold and about to watch SERENITY on DVD (just came out today and I think everybody should buy it so that a second movie will be made), this is a brief update.

I just discovered How to knit a sweater FOR A WEE PENGUIN. Now - I don't knit, I crochet ... but I am a big fan of all things fun and crafty, and I abso-freaking-lutely LOVE PENGUINS.

So I had to share, because penguins are adorable.

Have a great night!

cute animals!

So I'm halfway through my NaNoWriMo post, and I have to pause to go to work. So in the meanwhile I leave you with the best (worst?) possible way to waste time.

Cute Overload ;)

People send in super cute pictures

and this blog posts them

and then I go and see them

and it's bad

Rule of cuteness #7: A thing, accompanied by a smaller version of that thing, is always cute.

Don't waste too much time

edit: I have just discovered the adorablog as well. Both of them are totally up My Pink Shoe's alley. SUPER CUTENESS!

Updated links and sexy books

You might want to look to the right of this post and peruse my updated links! They're getting there, but they need to be expanded. I have had this computer for two months now, and I still haven't found all of my old links. Someday soon - just you all wait!

In other news, Giles Coren won the 13th annual Literary Review award for Bad Sex in Fiction. Apparently he beat off some stiff competition (Mom - if you get the double entendre, I don't want to know about it!) to win the prize.

The Bad Sex in Fiction awards always amuse me. I was especially amused last year when Tom Wolfe was such a bad sport about it. He claims they didn't notice the irony. I say - just because it's ironic doesn't mean it isn't Bad Sex in Fiction!

But that's just me.

So to recap: Yay for links! Hehe for bad sex in literature! Boo for some people not being able to laugh at themselves.

Jones Soda

I am a Jones Soda fan. A big one. I like their sodas. They're expensive, but oh so tasty! My favorite is crushed melon, but that's hard to find. My other two favorites are green apple and strawberry lime. MMM!

Anyway - I have been eying their Holiday Pack for awhile, but I just couldn't justify spending ten bucks on five sodas when I was probably going to not like two of them anyway. So - today I found them on clearance for seven bucks. For some reason I can justify that more. Someday in the near future, my husband and I are going to have a tasting party (just the two of us) and we're going to taste them. All of them. And it will be super fun. Maybe. I'll let you know just how super fun it is.

Bad Librarian Pirate!

I've been a bad, bad blogger. I started this blog because I have wanted to have a public blog (I have a privatish one hidden on livejournal), and I figured I might as well throw something out here before someone steals my proposed name. That and my sister (the gorgeous mar-see-ah) got one before me which completely shamed me into finally doing what I've wanted for so long.

Anyway - I am here to apologize and to try and set things right. Today is the last day of my first semester at Library Science School. After today I am actually going to have free time (WOOO!)! I promise to update - and update a lot. My hope is to update daily, but at the very least I will update semi-daily. You guys are going to get somewhat sick of my updating.

I need to go back to class now (yay for 15 minute breaks!), but stay tuned for more!

Coming Soon:
An updated list of links on the side of the page (something I've been meaning to do forever).
A post about what actually happened on my two Thanksgivings!
A discussion about Library Science School!
An in depth look into my foray into NaNoWriMo.
And much MUCH MORE!

I've had an absolutely crazy two weeks. Between Thanksgiving, school, work, NaNoWriMo, and being a newlywed, spending time on the computer not doing schoolwork or NaNo writing just hasn't been much of an option.

Anyway, I apologize profusely for neglecting my three readers and promise to try and be better in the future. I will update much soon about my Thanksgiving trials and travails. For now, a moment of pop culture.

It seems like all the friends I have made since starting library school have been big Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans. Since I love Firefly, I already was a Joss Whedon fan (Joss Whedon is the creator of both series), so when one of the friends said she had it available to be borrowed, I jumped at the chance.

Giles is the librarian. While I don’t dislike computers – I actually am rather fond of him – this exchange made me fall madly in love with him.

Ms Calendar: Honestly, what is it about [computers] that bothers you so much?
Giles: The smell.
Ms Calendar: Computers don't smell, Rupert.
Giles: I know. Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower or a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell. Musty and, and, and, and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer, is, it ... it has no texture, no context. It's there and then it's gone. If it's to last, then the getting of knowledge should be tangible, it should be, um... smelly.

::sigh:: beautiful.

In other news, I asked my husband if I could have money to buy a slinky dress. He told me I could. When I told him what the dress was and how much the starting bid is, he kinda backed off.

They’re auctioning off some of the original costumes from firefly. That includes the ball gown Inara wore in Shindig. Bidding starts at $2,500 This dress is beautiful. If it had been available when I was getting married I would have secretly wished for it as a wedding dress. You can see how beautiful the bodice of this dress is here and you can see how beautiful the back is here and you can see more of the pretty skirt here.here. I'm sorry that I couldn't find a better full shot of the whole dress, but it is beautiful, yes? Yes. Anyone want to buy it for me?

Anyway - lots of Thanksgiving madness posts to come.

excretion geometry

One of the new trends in modern encyclopedias is the key words. It used to be that you'd look at an encyclopedia and the spine would say something like bis-cen. Nowadays it will say something like impressionism - juggling. Not a big deal, but it can (on occasion) lead to hilarity.
Encyclopedia Britannica is currently following this trend – using key words as opposed to key groups of letters. Their Macropædia (knowledge in depth) has a volume about Excretion Geometry.
They put one word on one line and the second word on the next instead of using a dash. That’s totally fine with me, but don’t be surprised if I turn into a middle schooler and giggle like I think poop jokes are funny.

Metrospiritual

Apparently I am a metrospiritual. For those not in the mood to click that link, let me explain what it says, and why this very much bothers me.

Do you go out of your way to buy organic food? Have you thought about the wu wei in your home? Have you tried yoga, belly-dancing, or surfing recently? Are you attracted to traditional crafts from other cultures or have you started knitting? Do you own a Prius or have you thought about buying a hybrid car? Are you a tea connoisseur or an organic wine- and beer-drinker? Is there a certain aromatherapy scent that brings you comfort, especially in candle form?

Well, I buy organic food often, I do yoga and really want to try belly-dancing and surfing, I crochet (and like to think of myself as a crafty sort of person), I plan on owning a hybrid car as soon as I can afford one, I am definitely a tea connoisseur (totally obsessed), and I have far to many candles for my own good.

You can ask the pink shoe, who has known me longer than I've known me. That's basically who I have been forever. Most of the people I know who are also what would be qualified as metrospirituals have also been this way for ages. I guess it just makes me sad that this article (and a few others that I have found) make it seem like it is impossible for someone to be motivated by wanting the world to be a better place, not by what the latest trends are. I’m really pleased that it is apparently popular nowadays to care if your clothes were made in a sweatshop, or to notice news that comes from over 100 miles away (news that comes from across the ocean!), or for people to worry about the environment and try to fix it.

Maybe I’m just naïve. Maybe most people are “metrospirituals” because it is the cool thing to do … but I’d like to think that most people who act this way don’t do it because it is cool, or because it gets them the babes/boys/friends/whatever. I, personally, would much rather not think that way, though. I’d like to think that more Americans are finally opening their eyes and seeing a world beyond our borders and realizing that whether we like it or not, we are a part of this global life.

Ok, yeah – so I am just naïve. I’m ok with that ... I'll just continue to hope I am right.

random important things

Two things that I am a day late for
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Neil Gaiman! I love him.

I definitely have an intellectual crush on Neil Gaiman. I know. That’s pathetic. But it isn’t a real crush – not in a romantic way at all. It is more the sort of crush where I just want to sit and talk with him for hours on end.

He’s brilliant. If you are a comic/graphic novel fan, you should go find the Sandman series. If you are a mythology fan, go read his book American Gods. Anansi Boys came out recently – and I haven’t read it, so I can’t recommend it personally, but it was just declared one of the 10 best books of 2005 by Publishers Weekly.

I found out about this today. I love writing tiny stories (or drabbles, as many of us in the know call them). I could have submitted a couple! I always find it to be a fun way to get something out there.

But of course, I find out about it the day after the extended deadline. Ah well. I survive.

Back to NaNoWriMo

Practicing Safe Cataloging.

Library school is making me dorkier and dorkier. Last night I fell head over heels in love with the Dewey Decimal system.

Let me explain, and let me see if I can not talk you into being in love with it as well. You might want to skip this entry if dorkiness and a slight bit of technicality are not your thing.

Numbers have meaning in the Dewey Decimal System. Take, for example, Mesa County. The Dewey Decimal Number for Mesa County is 78817. It willl always be 78817. The number for College Basketball is 796.32363. If you were cataloging a book about college basketball in Mesa County, You would take the number for college basketball and add on the number for Mesa County. Therefore you end up with 796.3236378817

Super fun, yes?

Lets go on. Sticking with the Mesa County theme, because you all have already memorized that number (right?), lets say you are cataloging a directory of engineers in Mesa County. Engineers are found in the Dewey Decimal System under 620. A directory adds 025 on. Mesa County is 78817.

Here we get to a slightly tricky part. When you are taking two things that are different and mushing them together into one thing (eg. Engineers and Directories - definately different), you add a 0. Therefore, we end up with 620.002578817.

SO COOL, yes?

I'm enjoying this so much.

I could go on, but I have a feeling y'all don't want me too.

Happy Dancing in the Streets!

Has everyone else read this? It is a good day when you wake up to something that fabulous.

Right now I have nothing more to say than what she has already said, but - YAY! I'm off to write because the mood I'm in is terribly condusive.

I did really well on NaNoWriMo yesterday. 2018 by midnight! I was psyched - that's 18 over my goal, so that's 18 less for me to write on some random hard day. I didn't realize that today would be the hard day.

I ended up going to bed pretty late. My mother-in-law had given me this recipe for pumpkin seeds that is fabulous, but that involves roasting them for two and a half hours. I had misread the recipe and thought it said half an hour, so I timed them to be done just after dinner ...

but had to stay up until 1 to get them out of the oven

then had to stay up to try them out

then had to stay up just because I was still up

I finally went to bed at around 3ish, I think.

So I didn't do any writing before work today at 9- then I worked for 7 hours - until 4 - now I'm home for half a second to grab some stuff and off to school for a pre class study session, then class until 9 (but hopefully I can write during class).

Then I'll be home at 9 in time to make dinner before my husband comes home from work (we're on a crazy eating schedule over here) ...

and then to bed.

Hopefully somewhere in there I can write 1982 words. That's the year I was born, so it shouldn't be too hard, eh?

edit: I came back from class, and for some reason this had never posted. I'm posting it at 9:29 at night - but it will say 4:17 because that is when it was actually typed.

a bit of geekiness ahead

Lets get one thing straight. I am a huge Wonder Woman fan. I own the entire run post crisis, minus three that I'm trying to track down. I love her. She's such a brilliant character, and it really makes me sad that her character is not often used to her full potential. Writers user her because she's famous and she's a woman. They often neglect to remember that she is arguably the second most powerful superhero that DC has. She's just below Superman, and that's just arguably. Many people believe that she could take Superman down if a fight were allowed to finish to its end.

Last month (WW 221), Wonder Woman was battling the OMAC robot whatsits (if you don't know, it isn't important to the story I'm about to tell), and they threw her into a vat of molten iron. She walked out completely unscathed - she felt the heat, and emerged with basically a sunburn. I had no problem with this when I read it. It was an awesome scene - well written, well executed, slightly not as well drawn, but still! This whole countdown to crisis, people have actually been taking note of the fact that Wonder Woman is a kick-ass woman!

I just realized today that apparently huge arguments have been going on all over the DC fandom. As far as I can tell, people who are Wonder Woman fans have no problem with her walking through molten iron. People who are DC fans and who are just tuning into Wonder Woman because of her involvement with Crisis and the OMAC project are suddenly saying, “woah! - Where did this power come from?” - And they aren’t really listening when they are told, “well, if you look back through her history, paying careful attention to Perez’s handling of her first 80 or so books post-crisis, this is nothing new. - Wonder Woman kicks ass.”

Someone called private joker on the DC message boards quoted Diana’s powers as "In her new incarnation, Wonder Woman was Diana, a princess and an emissary from Paradise Island to Patriarch's world (read: man's world). She possessed incredibly stunning beauty, a gift from the goddess Aphrodite. From Athena, she received the gift of wisdom; from Demeter, the power and strength of the earth; from Hestia, sisterhood with fire; and from Artemis, a rapport with animals and the instincts and prowess of a hunter. Finally, from the god Hermes, she received the gift of speed and the power of flight."

Someone else named leviathn posted a super long post that made me want to cheer.(second post on this page)“What readers need to do is stop complaining when WW is depicted correctly and to start complaining when she is depicted incorrectly. The reason that readers like [the poster I’m responding to] don't understand WW's post crisis powers is that writers in and outside this title are to lazy (Loeb and Morrison come to mind) to do research before using this character. Diana has had very specific invulnerabilities since the Perez days and it is a total shame that when a writer does his homework readers can't recognize it.”

Anyway, I just wanted to share that I’m glad WW walked through molten iron. - She rocks.

pumpkin carving

So the husband and I were just carving pumpkins, and by complete accident I made a librarian and a pirate. Well - not completely by accident, but not entirely on purpose, either.

I was making my first pumpkin, and I had given her an eyebrow, and the next eyebrow I made was way too big, so I enlarged the first as well and declared them spectacles. Then I made the nose and mouth, and the mouth was very feminine, somewhat on accident (I'm not very good at this), so I made it even more feminine. Then I made wispy hair on the sides of her head, and I realized that it looked like her hair was pulled back, from how I had made it. I debated if I could make a ponytail, and decided I couldn't, but I made a fairly kick-ass bun! So she became a librarian.

Then my next pumpkin has been picked out because I had to carry it home from somewhere, so it was a teeny pumpkin. When I get around to carving it I realized that it couldn’t stand up properly. “That’s ok” I said. “This jack-o-lantern will just be drunk.” I thought about that for a moment. “He’s a pirate. A rum-soaked pirate. It will work!” So then I made him a festive eye patch and a crooked mouth and no nose (he lost it to a duck). And halfway through I laughed and said, “I’m making a librarian and a pirate! Just like my blog!” And my husband said, “yeah – I got it. You didn’t have to point it out!” But the funny part was … I had to point it out for myself. Because I was just that dense.

Friday Cat Blogging take 2

Apparently I just missed the coolest thing. Nenene, our adorable cat, is not allowed on the dining room table. She's pretty much not allowed on anything that height - the counters in the kitchen, the computer desk, etc. She's still young, and we don't have her fully aware of these rules yet - but we're working on it. So I was in the kitchen, moving things around, and husband was in the living room/dining room playing X-Men Legends II with his brother-in-law, and Nenene jumped up on the dining room table. Before husband could get up and stop her, she ran in a quick circle and skid to a stop right on one of our leather placemats that my cousins gave us for a wedding present. The result? Nenene surfed right off of the table onto the floor. I walked in with her standing there on the placemat on the floor looking completely confused as to why she was on the floor.

So last night Mr. Pirate was at work, and they were super slow, but they had a feeling they were about to get hit, so they didn't let any of their servers go. As a result, about four of them were standing around in the alley with nothing to do - no tables, or tables that were already getting annoyed at the amount of attention they were getting ...

And then a manager walks back. "Why are you all standing around?" He pointed to one girl. "What are you doing right now?"
"um ... nothing, sir?"
"Then do something! Go do your sidework!" He pointed to another server. "What are you doing right now?"
"um ... I'm walking food?"
"There's no food here in this alley! Go do your sidework!" He pointed to another server. "What are you doing right now?"
"I'm ... um ... going to be told to go do my side work?"
"damn skippy! Go do your sidework!" He pointed to my husband. "What are you doing right now?"
"I'm spawn camping biscuits."
The manager looked confused, then looked bemused, then looked amused. "Keep up the good work."

The High Five

The High Five has always boggled my mind. I understand most of what is going on there - I high five people when it is appropriate ... but there are people who high five as a way of life. They high five hello, goodbye, and anything else they want to. I just witnessed a college-aged man have a conversation with a woman. He then turned to talk to someone else for awhile. When he was ready to go, he high fived his friend, then turned to the woman and held up a hand for her. She had turned back to her computer and was working on something else, so she was oblivious. He whistled at her, she didn't turn (YAY for not responding when people whistle to get your attention!). He made various grunts and throat clearing noises trying to get her attention. She didn't notice. He said, "hey," then "yo," then finally he called her name. She turned, and they shared the most awkward high five I have ever seen.

What was the point of that? Isn't a high five meant to show connectedness? A shared victory or something? When someone is involved in something so much that they don't even notice the hand up, just walk away. The connection isn't there at that exact moment. A high five would not be appropriate.

That's what I'm convinced of.

Things that are sad

I just realized that on September 22nd, Neil Gaiman was IN CHICAGO!

Well, not exactly in Chicago ... he was in Naperville ... but that's a Chicago suburb ... and I could have gotten out to see him easily - if I had know. Why didn't I know? Because I hadn't been reading his blog! I usually read it religiously, but then I got married and took some time off of the internet (not on purpose - just no easy access) ... then I was moving, then it took me awhile to have regular access again ... and then I restarted reading all my favorite blogs, but just the recent entries ... and now I'm finally getting reading back entries in his brilliant blog ... and I'm kicking myself! NEIL GAIMAN! MY Neil Gaiman! Here ... in Chicago ... and I missed him.

And in other news, I’ve been playing around with the sidebar – adding links and whatnot. That will be muchly expanded soon. I know I didn’t put many of my friend’s blogs up – partially because I know a lot of them (specifically the Live Journal ones) are not for public promulgation. If I missed you and you want to be put up, just let me know! I probably skipped you because I wasn’t sure if you had an online journal so you could keep your friends updated, or if you had a blog.

I have long had a dream of one day holding a fun food themed election day party. I'd invite people of all political parties and ask them to bring their favorite political themed food.

I'd bring the libreral weenies and the right wing nut jobs.

Mr. Pirate thinks this is a horrible idea, but it keeps growing in the back of my head. I keep getting ideas for more food that could be made that are just brilliant!

The beautiful Mar-see-ah (in her comments) told of a brilliant brown sugar wrapped bacon candy that I could easilly coll up and call "sugar coated pork barrels" ... or maybe just pork barrels.

I could have a good friend named Buster invent a recipe for fillets of some sort ... and I could call them fillet-o-Buster. (I know - that one is weak ... but I like it!)

So - does anyone out there have any other ideas for my brilliant party?

I've had an online journal for awhile now - but I wanted to make it more public - and make it more blog-like, less journal like. Librarian Pirate is my brilliant idea! Just start over - with a blog, not a journal!

So here is my blog - welcome.

just holding space until I don't need space held anymore