lydamorehouse: (nic & coffee)
I'm in a weird mood today.

Ironically, it's due to something I was reading (which maybe isn't 'ironic,' Alanis, but more coincidental, as today is 'what are you reading Wednesday.')

Thing is, some time ago, I got another invite to a possible anthology that would revolve around magical realism.  As part of that, the editor sent me a sample story. I finally had a chance to read it today, and now I'm trying to think about what I would have to say in a magically realistic way. I tend to think of myself as a straight-forward writer... for the most part. I know that I have a tendency towards genre trope perversion, and I can be, as my former agent apparently used to say to sell my work, "Weird, but compelling." Which, when you think about it, pretty much could sum up magical realism as a genre. But, I'm just sort of in that nebulous phase of story writing where I'm just trying to wrap my head around what I might write and how I might write it.

This feeling is probably exacerbated by the fact that all I really want to write is more fan fiction. I've been on a streak. I have a number of pieces going, one of which is extremely self-indulgent, which means that it's tremendously fun. Who knew I had a secret yen to write slice-of-life on the farm stories?  NOT ME. But, apparently, I do. (Yes, this is still Bleach fic, so WTF. I should at least be a Silver Spoon fan.)

So, what have I be reading?

Honestly, not a huge amount. I did read the first volume of Nyankees which I LOVED because it was precisely what I wanted/expected. It's cats as people (and sometimes as themselves), running around doing hoodlum things, like fighting over food, territory, and lady cats. It's dumb AF. It's AWESOME af. 10/10 would recommend.

Also, some time before Christmas, I ordered a DVD version of the Bleach Live Action film, which finally showed up on Monday.

a montage of a bunch of bleach characters staring intently out at the audience--literally everyone is good looking
image: a montage of a bunch of real people Bleach characters staring intently out at the audience--literally all of them are super good-looking.


I bought the DVD from somewhere in Malaysia because the people I go watch anime with expressed an interest in seeing this and the hostess does not have Netflix. It is, so far as I know, still available to stream from Netflix, but let's be honest I own almost everything else Bleach related, so I should probably just own this. 

I am thinking about trying to find a copy of "Bleach: The Musical," but then I would own a musical and... even though I love "Manly Dance" from the Bleach musical, I do not know if I could ever force myself through an entire musical, even one based on Bleach. You ARE talking to the one person who intentionally fast-forwarded through the music in Disney's "Frozen." In fact, I fast-forward through any musical number in almost anything I watch. And, no, I have never gotten into "Hamilton," which I do, in point of fact, know makes me a freak of nature.

Look, I don't like tomatoes, either, so I am possibly the only person I know who isn't terribly fond of pizza, which also makes me an outlier in American culture. (I love white pizzas, though, thanks to discovering such things existed when we went to Rome a zillion years ago with my parents.)

Anyway.

The other thing we've been dealing with again is Mason's late-night schedule. So, I've probably talked here, before, about how our clever boy has figured out how to get a later start at his high school. He doesn't have to go in until 8:50 am most days (Wednesdays are an exception because Washington has something they call "Foundations," which appears to be like home room, on Wednesdays.) He's arranged this because his PSEO classes allow him to be flexible about when he takes them. So, he's signed up for evening classes both semesters. This semester he has one on-line class, economics, and one in-class class, which is print making (which my art loathing child is hoping isn't too focused on drawing skills since he has NONE.) Between these classes, which often go until 7 pm;his robotics season, which has him staying until at least 5:30 pm; and his work, which, when he goes can go as long as 7 pm, Shawn and I have been struggling with pushing back our dinner schedule so we can all still eat together/eat decently.

We're old. 

We have been old, in fact, since we were young.

We like to eat at 4:30 pm. Don't judge!

Okay, you can judge, because everybody does--even Mason's friends called him an old man when he would leave a gaming session to go eat at our ridiculously early hour.  But, at least try to sympathize with the idea that a family that is used to eating at one time is now STARTING meal preparation THREE HOURS LATER than usual. We don't eat these days sometimes until 8 pm, which wonderfully European, but TOTALLY NOT US.

Shawn and I are thinking that we're just going to have to institute a kind of second dinner option, wherein we eat some kind of (potentially healthy) salad/appetizer some time closer to 5 pm, so that we all aren't hangry by dinner time. Mason, meanwhile, has always had the option of snacks either at St. Paul College or at his work.  I pack extra food on robotics days. So, he'll make it one way or the other, but Shawn and I have previously stared balefully at potato chips or just sitting and being sad until dinner time, so the pre-dinner dinner might be a solution for us.

I don't know how normal people even do this late eating thing. I suppose you also don't have breakfast at 6 am and lunch sometime around 10:30 am, eh? WEIRDOS.

Anyway, did y'all read anything interesting this week?

lydamorehouse: (more renji art)
If you want to listen to me (as Dylan Calish) hosting "Travels to the UnSeen World"... it is now live: http://entertheunseen.com/travels1/

People have asked me about the name, what's the deal? Well, Dylan is nearly Lyda (just mess up the letters and add a "n"). Plus when Rachel asked me if I wanted to be a sibling to her pen name, I said, "Sure, but I kind of want to be your brother." Clearly on the podcast, I can't pass as a dude, so I picked a gender-neutral(-ish) name.

hallowen 042

We had a lot of fun with the podcast. If you give it a listen, you'll see that it's still a bit rough around the edges, but I'm quite pleased, despite all that. Particularly since, before a few days ago, I'd hardly used Audacity at _all_. I'm looking forward to doing more of these. I already put together a quick one that's meant as a language supplement episode for Halloween. Our professor reads a much larger passage in the phonetic Cuneiform and I added part of our interview with her where we discus language and gender and gender and power, the effect diminutives (like -ess on princ-ess) has on the perceived power of women. We also joked about early language as advertisements for beer (which was, of course, invented in ancient Sumer.)

My friend [livejournal.com profile] empty_mirrors reminded me that I should probably add a link or write a blog post soon about Inanna, since not everyone is familiar with her story. The cool thing is that we got our professor to tell us the most famous Inanna story--of her journey to the underworld--on 'tape,' as it were. So Rachel and I are talking about having a "Velveteen Demon Bedtime Stories" podcast too.

Because, damn. I just discovered audio.

Imma record EVERYTHING.

:-)
lydamorehouse: (Default)

Petsmart is really weird. 

Mason and I went there on Friday because the big thirty gallon tank is still stinky and the ammonia levels keep spiking and when I tested the nitrite levels I got a zero reading (it’s like that thing never conditioned).  So, I thought, “Maybe something is killing the good bacteria.”  There’s a lot of brown algae in the tank, but my books all say that’s natural.  My other thought was that maybe the good bacteria that I was putting in (you can buy bottles of pre-mixed stuff) was somehow corrupt or rotten.  I decided to buy a new bunch of bacteria.  We also ended up switching the filter to the one that came with the tank, but that’s another story.

 

Anyway, off Mason and I went.  While we were there, Mason talked me into getting a bunch (15) of new shrimp.  We decided Joe and Fergus could eat the lion’s share and the rest could go to Bob and Johnny/Giant Girl (the beta).  But, if some survived… awesome, you know?  

 

The weird part is that when the woman who assisted us in getting the shrimp accidentally got a white cloud danio into the bag she said, “Oops, well, I guess you get a fish.  No charge.”  I thought, “Um, shouldn’t you be more worried if I have tank for the fish?”  I mean, did it need heat?  What pH?  Before we left I checked and was stunned to discover that the danio could stand coldwater (65 – 72 degrees F), which would make him an ideal tank mate for Bob[2].  Thus, along with five shrimp, I dumped in the danio, which Mason has promptly named “Kenya.”  Kenya, though tiny, seems to be enjoying her new home.  Like tetra, danio are community fish that like to live in schools of seven or more, but, given the disaster that followed getting companions for Piranha (goddess rest his soul)… I think Kenya can just cope with being separated from the herd.  Besides, she’s got Bob[2], who is certainly large enough to pass for six or seven danios.

 

Bob[2] ate two of the shrimp almost immediately, but is leaving the rest alone (so far – after all, the previous residents all disappeared eventually) including one that I’ve been calling “Braniac” because he has what appears to be a ginormous brain.  You can actually see through the ghost/glass shrimp and watch food digest.  Having spent a lot of time staring at the little bugs, I’ve pretty much figured out what’s stomach.  This guy’s got a big black spot where I figure must be brain and it’s much, MUCH larger than any of his/her fellow arthropods’.  

 

I took the remaining shrimp upstairs to give to Johnny/Giant Girl.  The instant I scooped them in, Johnny/Giant Girl pounced!  It was amazing.  Given how tiny his mouth is, he just slurped them in like a string of spaghetti.  He’s left three of them also.  They have a better chance at survival, I think, if only because, from what I’ve read betas are surface feeders.  Plus, I accidentally broke the light (don’t ask. Okay, I just put it somewhere stupid and it fell with a snap, crackle and pop), so the shrimp have the advantage of the cover of darkness.  

 

After breaking the light, however, I watched as Johnny/Giant Girl’s tank temperature began to plummet.  I had to replace the under-the-gravel wimpy heater with the one that’s actually meant for our thirty gallon tank.  I spent several anxious hours checking to see if I was accidentally cooking Johnny/Giant Girl with the powerful new heater, but the temp has remained a steady 81 F since I set it (this heater can actually be adjusted, which is kind of nice.  The other one only raised the temperature a couple of degrees above room temperature, and it tended to fluctuate a lot since it was so small.)  

 

I’ve been having fun using a flashlight to scare the shrimp, however.  Bad Lyda, no biscuit.  Still, it’s kind of hilarious to watch them scatter from the light.  Plus, Johnny/Giant Girl gets a menacing look in his bulldog eyes and starts to head for them like a shot.

 

The downstairs tank seems to be doing better.  I got a high ammonia reading on Saturday, but I also found traces of nitrite, so I’m hopeful.  It smelled a bit rancid (not like rotten eggs, more like pee) tonight when I fed them, and I’m planning on checking again in the morning.  At least I’m used to changing their water often, so that’s not such a big deal… although I’ve been doing seven gallons at a time (almost thirty percent) and that’s a lot of water to deal with.  Still, we’ve had Joe since the first day, and I’d really, really, really like him to continue to survive.

 

In other news, I'm still deeply addicted to comicbooks. We went shopping for Mason's school supplies and I ended up picking up (for myself!) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (New Avengers) Vol. 10.  This series was written by Babylon 5's very own J. Michael Straczynski, and I have to say, it's awesome.  I continue to love how writers deal with Captain America, in particular the fact that Steve Rogers was a soldier in WWII who was frozen in an iceberg for decades and revived sometime in the late nineteen seventies.  There's an awesome scene in which Peter Parker, MJ, and Aunt Mae are temporarily being housed in Stark Tower because their Brooklyn house burned to the ground.  All the New Avengers are standing there in costume, and, of course, Captain America is the first to take his mask off and introduce himself and make nice (particularily to Aunt Mae).  Aunt Mae is awed because, well, her husband once saw Captain America (THIS Captain America, Steve Rogers) give a speech in the trenchs. Wolverine turns to Spider-Man and says, "Looks like old red, white and bloomers found himself a groupie"  and Peter says, "Makes sense... their both from the same generation, right?"

Right.

I also, in my Captian America obsession, picked up two Captain America graphic novel collections: CAPTAIN AMERICA -WINTER SOLDIER and CAPTAIN AMERICA - RED MENACE.  In that series I was particularly struck by how the writer (let me fetch it from the bathroom....Ed Brubaker) manages to make Cap's long time companion "side-kick" Bucky actually kind of sexy.  Not sexy in a pedophile way, but sexy in a twenty-something assassin for America, who in Cap's own words, "did things I couldn't.  I was the icon.  I wore the flag... but while I gave speeches to troops in the trenches, he was doing what he'd been trained to do..." (the picture shows Bucky slitting the throat of a NAZI)  "And he was highly trained."  Omnious, and, well, kinda sexy.

God help me.

Oh, and last night?  I was Spider-Man.

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