For my fellow Twin Citians - is it raining where you are? As some of you know, we had a run-in with a guard-rail on our way home from Christmas with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) iraunink's mother last night. Mad dash across three lanes of highway, both front & back bumpers hit the guard-rail. No deployment of air-bags, a small bump on my wife's head, a broken finger-nail on my part. Just a single car accident - we were in a traffic gap. We've been watching for signs of concussion, haven't seen any. We decided we really didn't want to leave the house today. Which was a problem, as we really need to go grocery shopping, so there wasn't much to eat. Fortunately, we found a Chinese restaurant that was delivering (Star Moon, near 48th & Chicago). About 5pm, I declared that on second thought, I really wanted to move the car today. By Minneapolis Snow Emergency Rules, I'm not allowed to park in front of my house starting at 8am tomorrow, until either 8pm or the street is plowed "to the curb". Which means 8pm, because there's no way they're getting to the curb again this winter, which means I'm not going to be able to tell when. (OK, if it's a work-day, I'll park in front of my house when I get home about 7:30pm - but that's not tomorrow.) The plow did go down our street today - leaving about a two-foot wall of snow between my car and the street. Very wet snow. And the overnight forecast calls for lows in the mid- to low- 20's. That wall is going to turn rock-solid. So, I went out and moved it. Fortunately, the plow didn't leave a wall on the other side of the street! We do need to make it out tomorrow in time to get the dogs to their hair-cuts at 10am. I did manage to get my quota of Dragon Cave holiday specials today. Yay!
I haven't gone in for the questions meme that's been going around, but pbristow got some questions from somebody called Nanila that I rather liked, so I'm going to answer some of those as a one-off. I can't better his description of a filkcon, but the others went as follows; * What would your dream job be?Easy. I'd get to live here and look after the Countess as now, but I would also be expected to come up with a certain amount of creative work each day, as for instance a sizeable chunk of a story, or a number of songs either composed or arranged (or both), and for those I'd be paid a reasonable amount on a piecework basis. I think with that kind of incentive I could manage to put in a solid eight hours of work per day, and I'd be quite happy not to be paid if I didn't come up with the goods (because I believe I could). * What instrument produces your favourite sounds?Timpani are nice, as are gongs and all kinds of orchestral instruments, but I think my favourite sound of all, for reasons I can not remotely explain, is the muted cornett (not the brass instrument, but the mediaeval one which I thought was an enclosed-reed instrument, but which apparently isn't). I heard one at a folk festival that willibald and eoforyth took us to, that featured a band called Strawhead, and it really got to me. * What got you interested in acting?A series of recordings called "Living Shakespeare," issued by Odhams back in the seventies I think. They were abridged recordings of the plays, starring actors such as Peter Finch and Barbara Jefford, and they introduced me to the joy of speaking Will's words, and a lot of the things actors do to get the emotion across. They were on LPs, so long gone now, but I'd love to find them again. * What is your favourite Doctor/Companion pairing? (Why?)Third Doctor and Jo. It's a tough choice, but I have always felt that Jo Grant gets a raw deal purely because Katy Manning was blonde and had a squeaky voice. She was always meant to be more than a ditzy dolly bird, I think, though obviously some writers served her better than others, and at her best she was just as "equal" to the Doctor as any who came before or after, and without diminishing his character the way the writers of nuWho have elected to do. She, if anyone, was a poster girl for the idea that ordinary humans can be just as wonderful as Time Lords. Boxing Day tomorrow. See you then.
or whatever it was called... I'm used to the fact that the parts of nuWho two-parters don't stand up as episodes in their own right the way that episodes of realWho used to--that there isn't an episode storyline as such to make you feel you've watched something all the way through--but this was exceptionally flimsy. We are none the wiser as to what's going on than we were before it started, none of the separate elements hang together in any way, and the final reveal leaves us wondering not "how will the Doctor save the Earth this time?" but "why exactly is anyone here doing what they're doing, or is it just that they're all mad?" Presumably we're all supposed to be just so excited that ( hardly a spoiler but cut anyway )that nothing else matters. The mixture as before from RTD, in other words, only more so. Nothing in his nuWho career will become him so much as the leavin' of it, what?
On this day, or one very much like it, someone somewhere may or may not have been born who may have gone on to do good things. If you think this is a good thing, then I wish you a pleasant day, and a new year to follow which fulfils as many of your dreams as are both desirable and practical. Except for the weird one involving [film star], [farm animal] and [dessert product]. That's just peculiar.
Mini crisis this morning as the tank in the downstairs loo overflowed all over the floor. Fortunately I was alerted to the situation by a visiting aunty_marion and took prompt action, uncoupling the length of hose that takes the overflow down the drain rather than into the garden and running hot water through it till four or five slugs of ice slithered out and the water ran freely. I've also lowered the ball cock which should prevent it happening again anyway. Merry Christmas to all our friends still reading this, and to everyone else, and best wishes for an altogether better New Year. Mon, Dec. 21st, 2009, 10:22 pm
qcjeph: oh god
The week between Christmas and New Year's is traditionally the lowest-traffic week of the year for my site, and I'm gonna be out of town anyway, so I thought I might try something a little different this year. Here's a teaser for my idea:  I've already got the basic idea for the story and will hopefully start working on it before we drive down to Maryland (one advantage of driving down is I can actually bring my big Cintiq with me) for the holiday. Of course, going over my outline and idea list, this might end up being MORE work than the usual QC strips >.< So uh I no promises yet I guess, but hopefully I won't puss out and will actually get this done.
For anyone who's interested - I didn't go in to work today, and my primary doctor put me on Zithromax. I should be getting my first dose in the next hour or two.
The boiler has been repaired, and the nice man from British Gas went round and unstuck some recalcitrant radiators while he was here. We will be billed some time in the next week, leaving plenty of time for Paypal to deliver the necessary, thanks (and many thanks again) to the aforementioned benefactor. So now we have wonderful hot water and warm rooms again, and we're both working like stink trying to reintroduce the concept of order to our upstairs, so generating quite a lot of our own heat. Or we were till the Countess's back refused to play any more and she gave me leave to have some time off. For those of you who know the Countess's studio, her desk, which was in the middle of the room, is now against the wall nearest the door. This creates an awful lot of space, partly counterbalanced by the fact that we have lost a Useful Corner For Sticking Things And Forgetting About Them. Developments will doubtless ensue.
Glad I had the day off work. Slept until 12N, got up at something, have been lying in bed with laptop for the last hour or so. Cough, no voice, scratchy throat, general run-down. For those who were here yesterday - yeah, like that only more so. I have this sneaking suspicion I'm not going to make it in to work tomorrow - work is 12 hours of talking to people on the phone (OK, maybe more like 4-7 hours spread over a 12 hour shift), if all I can do is whisper and cough, I don't think I can work.
It is a condition of human existence that the more pleasant one's situation, the more [something] is required to maintain it and protect it from change. It has been said that change is the only constant, but this is not true; the worse one's life is, the harder it is to bring about any change at all. Stasis is the norm at the bottom of the ladder. Once one begins to climb, then it is that the winds of change blow with increasing ferocity, and more and more [something] is needed to hold on and not be blown off. What is the [something]? It depends on the life--where the ladder starts from and, more importantly, where it leads. In many cases the [something] is money, but not in all. Some reach the top and hold on through the efforts of others, and some of those are grateful. Some can reach the top of their ladders and stay there using their own inner resources. Some elect to occupy a lower position on their ladders and avoid the biting gales that howl around the upper rungs. And some of us on the ground dream of a day when we reach the top of our ladder and the wind dies away, never to return. An end of struggling, an end of hopelessness and despair, an end of forever being driven back down from the heights. Stasis, at the top. Some call it heaven. In the Library of my imagination I am at rest, in comfort, with no money or effort required beyond what it takes to get out of my chair and saunter around the thronging shelves to select another book. Food and drink are always to hand, my domestic needs cared for by unseen servitors who have no needs of their own and never fail to provide. I do not deserve this haven, this paradise, safe and warm beyond the storms of life...but dreams have nothing to do with justice or fairness. In the real world, it's my birthday, and the boiler has gone phut in the night and will not be repaired till Monday, at a cost of £££ which we no longer have. Have I ever mentioned the universe's unique sense of comedy timing? EDIT: this panic over. Assuming they don't want paying for the time it takes Paypal to transfer funds, the boiler repair is covered. Many thanks to generous benefactor. Also many thanks (belatedly, because I am an idiot) to everyone who offered to help. I have been avoiding asking for help for some time, because we've been scraping by on savings and there have been people in far worse distress, but I will now say that if anyone else does want to help make things a little easier in general till I can get a job and/or our increased benefits start coming through, my Paypal account now has the nyrond.co.uk @ddress on it. Absolutely no pressure, but help would be gratefully received and paid back or forward in whatever way I can, and I promise not to spend it on drink.
 Tubgirl staggered and finally collapsed. "You...you have defeated me," she gasped. "No," Fart-chan replied. "It was you who defeated yourself."
Sorry for disabling comments on these two posts, but it's been my experience that attempts to understand are sometimes read as indications of approval. ( More religion stuff... ) |
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sick