Day in the Life of an Idiot

Image: Classice Yule Log with three white candles, bedecked with boughs and ornaments (surrounded by silver reindeer).

HAPPY SOLSTICE to all who celebrate. And those who don't? I hope you had a lovely Sunday all the same. 

Our Solstice was much as it is most years--a quiet, family affair. We have some traditions, the first of which is making rosettes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosette_(cookie)). I have attached the Wikipedia article if you have no idea what a rosette is--it is, in fact, a deep fried cookie. Personally, if done well, I think they taste amazing, like sugar and AIR. Because, basically, the batter is ultra, ultra thin and you use a cookie iron to to crisp up a lot of vanilla and sugar-flavored nothing. Our recipe actually comes from a class I took on Christmas cookie making several years ago, but very likely (this being Minnesota) comes by way of Norway, though possibly Sweden or Finland. 

The cookie making class is memorable because I was the youngest person in the room. I really figured that probably I'd be the oldest, since I presumed things like rosette, pizelles, krumkaka, etc., were the sorts of things that grandma would pass on and, maybe, it skipped a generation. Nope. It was me an all older ladies and on older guy who kept telling everyone that he took the class hoping to pick up a lady. (Yep, he was that old.) Anyway, me and all the older folks all had a lovely time and I was really only there for the hidden rosette knowledge because everyone agrees there is "a trick to it." 

And, there is.

The trick is making sure the irons are hot first--but also not too coated in oil. But that little layer of hot oil will, in fact, help them come off. In fact, ours often just fall off the iron into the bubbling hot oil. So, we always have to have tongs to hand.


Image: me patiently waiting for the bubbles to slow down the appropriate amount. Mason in the forground. Our kitchen all around and a few exampes of the cookies drying on the paper towels. The irons come in a lot of shapes--star and flower/rosette shown. Not pictured is the Christmas tree. 

We never want the rosette process to be arduous so we only make as many was we feel up to, call it good enough, and then I usually make a fun lunch like deep-fried shrimp.  We have charcuterie for our Solstice dinner meal, light our Yule log (pictured above), open presents, and then take a bit of the Yule light upstairs in a safe, insulated container and keep the light  burning for the longest night. 

I like to joke: if the sun came up on December 22, thank a pagan!



Our Solstice gifts are always books. There is a version of the Icelandic Yule Cat where the present you must recieve is not new clothing, but a book. We decided to adopt that tradition. Mason got a Terry Prachett book (and a gift certificate for Uncle Hugos) because he's been on a Pratchett kick lately; Shawn got the last and final Phil Rickman novel The Echo of Crows; and I got Bad Gays: A Homosexual History by Hew Lemmy and Ben Miller. My gift is one I asked for because I've really enjoyed their podcast by the same name. 

Also as is traditional, someone's present must include the Solstice wrench. It has been Mason for many years, now, in part, I think because we started using it to baffle a child who could very distinctly tell the shake of LEGOs. 


You can keep your King's Cakes, we have the Solstice Wrench!!  


By chance our friend John J. sent along a bunch of other book-related presents and so we opened those at Solstice as well.



Image: Shawn inspecting a surprise gift (one of many!) from our friend.

A lovely time all around. 

So, again, I hope you all had a lovely Solstice. If not, we can all enjoy the return of longer days. More sunshine! Hooray!

Image: A bird ornament, so you know this is a Solstice Tree....

Shawn and I went out to the Happy Land Tree lot on West 7th to look for a tree on Saturday morning. We arrived just as they were getting their new shipment, so it was a bit chaotic. However, we found a lovely tree and brought it home. The nice thing about the guys at Happy Land is that they will bundle the tree and help you strap it to your car. This is especially good because last year, when they were too busy to help us, Shawn and I tried to do it ourselves and managed to cleverly tie the doors closed. Don't ask. Anyway.... we used to go to the Y's Men's lot which is just across University Avenue from us, but for the last several years their tree choices have been on a scale of sad to sadder. 

The tree from Happy Land is quite wonderful:


Image: Slightly blurry (because my phone is terrible) picture of our Christmas/Solstice Tree for 2021

Because we don't have Mason this year (him being off at college for another two weeks before winter break,) Shawn and I put up the tree as soon as we got it, but didn't bother decorating until Sunday afternoon. We have another tradition where we make spiked eggnog (with brandy) to drink while we decorate, so that was quite lovely. I'm normally in charge of the lights. As we still have one very young, mischievous cat, all the ornaments on the bottom quarter of the tree are unbreakable.


Image: Buttercup sitting on the tree skirt he loves

Meanwhile, our other cat, Buttercup has to be given his own, special sparkly tree skirt otherwise he will run off with the official one. As a bonus, however, he LOVES this particular tree skirt and will gut at it and nuzzle it and all the things. So, he is very well satisfied by this ploy.

The weekend was generally very chill. We have not yet started our holiday baking of too many cookies, but that should commence shortly.

Since we are the sorts who simply exchange lists of the things we want for the holidays, my Solstice shopping is all done already. I am hoping for a nice, low-key holiday with the family. I'm looking forward to having Mason home, even though we just saw him.


Image: Sun ornament; how you know this is actually a Solstice Tree... look, I can't help it that the Christians stole this whole tradition from us! :-)

Looking forward to lengthening light!

Things are starting to roll in for 2019 and I thought I would make an initial list of some things I will be / am considering doing:

February 2 through March 23 (Saturdays) 10 am to noon, I will be teaching science fiction writing at the Loft (The Loft Literary Center
, Suite 200, Open Book Building, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis): Mars Needs Writers: Writing SF/F for Publication. As far as I know, there is still space in this class, so if you are local to me and interested, check it out. I will say that (IMHO) the Loft's prices are fairly steep, but they always offer one scholarship per class.

On February 19th at 8 pm, I will be one of the featured erotic fiction writers at the Not So Silent Planet Open Mic at Kieran's Irish Pub (85 N. 6th Street) in Minneapolis. I have no earthly idea what I will read for 12 minutes, but that's never stopped me from accepting a gig before in my life.

I don't know if I'll be attending MarsCON this year or not. (March 1-3, Hilton Minneapolis/St Paul Airport/Mall of America, 3800 American Blvd. E., Bloomington.) Obviously, if I go, I'll have to miss part of the Saturday of this con, as it overlaps my Loft class. Every year, I wonder if I should do MarsCON, and then someone invites me to do programming and I agree because it's one of the first cons of the season and I just kind of get caught up in the momentum... and then sometimes, afterwards, I think... "Am I getting tired of this one? Should I have taken a break for a couple of years to see if it feels fresher, later?"

There is also Anime Detour (March 29-31, Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Minneapolis) to consider.  At one point, I was talking to a Bleach fan friend on Discord and we discussed a IRL meet-up at something like Detour, complete with old lady (me, not them) cosplay. I attend Detour (and any other anime cons) entirely as a fan, so that could be fun, if I were going with/going to meet-up with a friend. I think I would be V. SAD to do Detour entirely on my own--especially as I am 50+ years old and Detour is the kind of con that has a "letter to parents" because their median age is 14.

---

Right. That's it for the moment.

I'm sure others will roll in. The other local con I often attend is CONvergece (July 4-7), but that's another ?? for me, as our family vacation is going to shifted around this year, thanks to my nephew's wedding.  I also always hold out hope that naomikritzer will be nominated for another Hugo, and that will "force" me to attend WorldCON, which, this upcoming year, will be in Dublin, Ireland. (August 15-19) I am sorely tempted to try to convince my family to go to this, if only because we have family in Dublin. (Not 'blood' relations, but the more important kind of family--MADE family.) It would be fairly amazing to visit them 'in situ.' They have made the overseas trip to us at least twice.

Annnnnyway....

Mostly, I wanted to post that Kieran's Pub gig because I haven't put it into my calendar yet and I don't want to forget that I agreed to do it. They are planning on paying me a small amount, so it would be very gauche of me to skip out due to nothing more pressing than a brain fart.

There's not a lot else to report around these parts. I have to deliver Mason's Switch to school tonight, as they are having their robotics holiday/end of year party. I'm also, apparently, bringing a couple of liters of some soda/pop or other, but that's such normal mom-duties, it's hardly worth mentioning. Though I have no idea how my child is even functioning right now, as he was up until 3 am working on his AP Human Geography project. This was, I suspect, a question of time management gone awry, but Mason also DREADS any project that involves art. He also tends to underestimate how long it takes him to draw _anything_, as he hates it so much that he never draws and so his lack of skills/practice combined with a RAGING case of perfectionism means he struggles with every second of it. 

But, whatever. He has no school tomorrow and can literally crash as soon as I bring him home and sleep as long as he likes.

Our whole family has taken Solstice (tomorrow) off, so we will be doing our festivities. I have to buy a few things yet--a Christmas (as opposed to Solstice) ham as well as a cheesecake for the same. But, otherwise, I think we're going to spend the day time indoors making rosettes, the last of the holiday cookies, and then the night tending our fire/the light.  I will try to remember to give a full report afterwards.

Right. I'd best run off to the store to grab that pop--and maybe see what might be had for dinner.

Blessed Solstice to those who celebrate. Happy Friday to the rest of you.

 If people are specifically looking to reconnect to their former Tumblr mutuals, there's a new community just for you (and me): the_great_tumblr_purge.  I haven't posted there yet, but I think I will. I'm not exactly a refugee from Tumblr, but I sure would love to be able to recreate the sense of community in fandom that I found there.

Meanwhile, I spent much of today baking. I got up early only to discover that we had no coffee in the house. MAJOR EMERGENCY. So, even though I had to take Mason (my son) into work at the Science Museum at 10 am, I made a mad dash out to my coffee shop and then picked up some extra baking supplies on the way home.

Shawn's friend Liz, someone she's known since kindergarten, came over and we made many batches of cookies. 

These are cookies that Shawn calls "sand tarts." They're a kind of chewy cookie that has an egg wash on the top that makes them somehow even more tasty.



I always sneak in a few non-traditional holiday shapes. I think this year I got both dinosaurs (we have a velociraptor and triceratops) and a dolphin. 

I just finished up a batch of spritz, as well:



You'd think with as many cookies as we make that we have plans to give them away. But, no. We hoard them and eat them throughout the dark winter months, which, in Minnesota, last until late March.  Shawn will take half of each of these batches and put them in Tupperware and put them i the freezer. That way in the middle of March when the snow drops on us unexpectedly, at least we'll have a few cookies to assuage our deep and unending suffering.

Mason and spent part of the day playing Super Smash Bros: Ultimate. As I am a button masher, I can not hope to defeat Mason. However, I found great joy in picking very pretty characters just to watch capes swirl and whatnot. I am easily amused.

 I haven't see Star Wars: Last Jedi yet and I have no idea when I will. All through the weekend, I did my due diligence and avoided being spoiled.  Then, this afternoon, I thought: why?  I kind of want to know what I'm getting into, frankly, if/when I go.  YEAH, you saw it. There's an "if" there. I liked Star Wars: Force Awakens a lot, but I walked away from that movie with some things in my heart that are going to make any follow-ups... difficult.

Poe and Finn are never going to be boyfriends.  This makes me unaccountably sad.  I kind of don't even care if they give me more hints of subtext in this current movie, I now want TEXT and only a moron thinks that's going to actually happen in the Star Wars franchise any time soon.  ( I think this is a spoiler since I found it under someone else's cut )

I was in the minor minority in that I liked Kylo Ren.  I liked him the moment he walked on the stage and I never stopped liking whiny-baby Kylo.  Not once.  From what I've gathered, I might start to hate him in this next film. This makes me seriously consider just not going. 

So, I started reading the spoilers looking for reasons to want to go. I haven't found any yet.  If you've seen it and you want to tell me why I should go, drop a note in the comments.

My weekend was otherwise nothing to write home about. Shawn and I made rosettes--well, okay, I made them, while Shawn kept me company. I spaced out and accidentally only made a single batch--apparently the recipe tells me to double it, but I didn't read all the words. (A perennial problem, honestly.)



I spent today wrapping the last of the Solstice gifts. My family gives gifts a bunch of times during this holiday season, so I'm actually FAR from being done with holiday shopping and wrapping. But, at least this part of the holiday is ready to roll. 

I work tonight at Shoreview, so it's a good thing that Shawn made double batches of lasagne yesterday, too.  We'll just have leftovers, since I have to dash out at 4:30pm.

 Saturday's class went astonishingly well. I was expecting eight students, but ended up with an even dozen.  They were all lively and ready to play.  It could not have been a better crew.  

I mean, maybe I will get a evaluation or two that says: "Teacher was very random" and/or "too accommodating," but that's just my teaching style. But, from what I could tell, everyone seemed to enjoy it.  Did they learn anything?  I hope so. I did have a couple of bits of wisdom to impart, but... you actually never know what sticks with a student.  I've had people say to me at conventions, "Do you remember saying [this one thing]? It stuck with me for years. Can you expand in it?"  And, 9 times out of 10, I have zero recollection of having said the thing. Unless it sounds completely unlike me, I tend not to let on and just go ahead and expound on whatever idea it was.  Because that's the thing. You really don't know what, out of the zillion things you say, what's gong to seem the most meaningful.

Mason came home from his last debate kind of late, somewhere closer to 5 pm. That worked out really well. I ended up having to wait with a student who had forgotten her phone until her dad arrived to pick her up.  From there, I stopped at Subway and picked up dinner for Mason and I.  We ate separately because Shawn was off to a work party on Saturday night.  

I could have gone to the party, but, once this extrovert wound down from the high of teaching, I was pretty pooped out.  Plus, Shawn is starting to be invited to the kinds of parties where the directors and board members are in attendance and... those upper echelon people baffle me. I can't compare Louis Vuitton bags. In fact, I don't even own a pair of dress pants any more. If I had been planning on going, Shawn and I would have had to go to the store to buy something appropriate for me to wear.  And that seemed stupid (not to mention expensive) for just one party. Admittedly, another big part of not wanting to go is the feeling that I'm cool enough any more. I'm not writing and I haven't published since 2013.  If people asked me what I did for a living, I'm not sure what I'd even say. 

So, there's that.

Yesterday, we got our Solstice tree up and decorated. I'd love to post a picture of it, but Facebook is being very weird.  So, maybe tomorrow.  We did our annual dash across University Avenue lugging a giant tree. It's become quite the tradition.  It starts with a walk over to the "Y's Men's" lot.  They used to set up directly across University from us in front of the YMCA.  However, now that Dickerman Park/the City of  Saint Paul has reclaimed that area, they've moved to a parking lot just up Wheeler on that side of University.  After finding the tree, paying for it, getting the bottom trimmed, we inevitably have this conversation:  

Them: "Where are you parked?"  
Us: "Oh, we're walking."
Them: "With the tree?"  
Us: "Yep! We live just across University."
Them: [looking vaguely confused and alarmed] "Good luck."

I'm sure we're quite the sight to the motorists on University Avenue.  I'm only glad we were able to talk the light rail people into giving us a pedestrian crossing. Otherwise, we'd have to walk down to Fairview, cross there, and then walk all the way back. That'd add several blocks.  In some ways, having the pedestrian crossing has made it a little easier. There were years when Shawn and i would be standing on the little concrete island between lanes for minutes waiting for a break in the cars.  Now, because the light rail has signs saying to keep an eye out for pedestrians, we will occasionally actually get people who will stop.

Then there's the semi-traditional arguing while we try to make sure the tree is properly in its stand.  We actually didn't do as much of that, probably because Mason is now old enough to stand at the door and direct us.  Before it would be: adjust, adjust, crawl out from under the tree, see that it's crooked, swear a lot, and rinse and repeat.  

I work today for three hours, starting at 11 am.  I get to try to brave this new dusting of snow all the way out to North Saint Paul. I'm sure it will be fine.  I can return eight of the volumes of Nana that I read over these last few days.  North Saint Paul is usually fairly quiet, too. I'm probably just covering some folks' lunch hours. 

Mason has a robotics field trip today, so I'm picking him up a little later than usual. Last night he went to Rosemary's. They switched to Sundays because of debate, but this meant he was home late last night and ended up staying up at least an hour over bedtime. He has a real problem with bedtime.  We harass him a lot, but there also comes a time when you have to say, "Okay. It's on you." No surprise, he woke up really rough this morning.  Anyway, I hope we can get him to bed earlier tonight.  Sigh. Teens.

Right. Well, I tried one more time to post to FB, but it's not working at all. And, now it's time for me to get ready for work.  

See you all again soon!

I've always been a lark.  I function best before normal people aren't even out of bed.  BUT, like most people, I have a natural biorhythm, one that usually does NOT involve getting up at 5:30 am.  Thanks to Mason's new school start time of 7:10 am, we all have to propel ourselves out of bed every day, just about (for me) a half-hour earlier than my body likes.

Here it is the weekend, and I'm up before 8:00 am.  The cats were concerned when no one started moving around 5:30 am.  I mean, I could be mad at them, but how are they to know it's Saturday? They're thinking something's wrong. On top of being a lark, I've been a light sleeper since Mason was born.  ANYTHING resembling a cry will bolt me awake.  So when Inky was all, "Hey, hey, guys? Aren't you late for stuff?" meowing, I was AWAKE for better or worse.  

The problem with Inky is that, while it DOES work to say to him once or twice, "Don't worry, it's Saturday" or "Gimme another 5," he's a persistent bugger who really, really thinks ROUTINES ARE BEST.  So, to save the rest of my family some sleep (because of course he's the type to be like, "Oh, okay, that monkey wants to sleep in.  I better alert the others!"), I dragged myself out of bed.

Now, of course, Inky is happy that things are as they should be and is perched on the back of the overstuffed chair SOUND ASLEEP.

The last few days I haven't been posting much here or anywhere else for a couple of reasons.  First, Yuletide deadline is today, so I had to finish up my assignments.  Secondly, Yuletide, the actual one, as in Solstice, is on Sunday.  My pagan family celebrates both Solstice and Christmas, because: presents. But, so I had to do a lot of last minute running around collecting various bits of holiday cheer yesterday.  On top of that, Inky's prozac prescription ran out and it turns out the type of pill we used to use is no longer available.  Or rather it is, but the price of it suddenly went through the roof and our vet no longer keeps any on hand.  So, we're switching him to a liquid version of the same thing that's apparently cheaper than the old pills.  I'm finding this hard to believe and we're going to have to talk to the vet, because, previously, his pills, which we cut in half to last us two months was $8.  This new liquid which will only last 30 days?  $38!  It stops him from peeing on things and, generally relaxes him (see above.  He love routines.  He gets VERY UPSET when they aren't followed.)  

But so that was an extra trip yesterday, all the way down to Richfield, that I could have done without.

Meanwhile, I've been working on restructuring the serial story that Rachel and I have been working on into a novel.  This has involved writing whole new chapters because, well: novel.  I'm doing this first pass myself and then will give it over to Rachel next.  We're hoping to have in shape for my MarsCON GoH gig, as I've said.

In the meantime, more chapters have come out.  "Pop Goes the Weasel" (which includes one of my all-time favorite lines that I have ever written) and "The Tensile Strength of Wood" (the final battle scene).

Even if you've been reading along as these have come out, the book will have lots of new content for you.  And, likewise, there are points of view and such that I've trimmed from the version of the book so far that will be only found on the web.  

Right-o, I should probably get back to that.

The only other thing we have today is meeting my folks at the Radisson Blu (the hotel attached to the MOA.)  We'd hoped to wander the Mall as part of their visit, but that'll be complicated by the protest that's scheduled there today. Black Lives Matter: Minneapolis Event: MOA  Of course,it feels really weird to be headed to the Mall to shop when people are trying to make an important statement I happen to believe really strongly in.  I feel a little like a scab, crossing a picket line.  So I'm really, really hoping that we get our visit over and done with before these folks move in.  I do NOT want to be part of the problem, as it were.

But that bridge when we come to it, I suppose.

Not much to report here, except that Yule with the folks was extremely pleasant. I got the VERY BEST Solstice present EVA, which I will have to post a photo of tomorrow as I forgot to bring the camera to the coffee shop.

It will take some explaining, but it belonged to my great aunt Clara, a devout Catholic, who has recently moved into hospice. At any rate, it is a holographic image of the classic-blue-robed-lily-white-hippie Jesus knocking at the door. If you flex the plaque, his knuckles rap. It is MADE of awesome. I spent a lot of time when I was helping with one day of cleaning out my great-aunt's house marveling at this spectacle of cheese, but reluctantly put it back. My mom rescued it and gave it to me. How cool!

Plus, my folks gave me money for coffee, which I divided evenly between my current hangout and my old place.

Mason, of course, got the usual embarrassment of riches. He has already completed two of the three LEGO sets he got.

Of course, even though we also celebrate Christmas with Shawn's family, I now feel very DONE with the holidays -- because my important one is finished. We'll have a nice little Solstice-Actual celebration tomorrow night. I may have to break the new rule I just instituted about Mason's bedtime, since there will be a lunar eclipse on Yule for the first time in some 450+ years. Seems like powerful magic to me. And, considering that Mason has not yet seen a lunar eclipse, it might be nice for him to stay up/wake up for it. On Solstice-Actual, we give simple, sometimes homemade gifts that are more sentimental than commercial. We also buy things like puzzles or other board/card games for the family. It's a nice tradition. We'll light the Yule Log and keep one of the candles going all night. Sometimes I've tended a "bonfire" in our chimena, from which I'll light a candle, but that often depends on how bitterly cold it is. It's the symbolism that counts more than anything.

Anyway, school vacation has officially started, so I may be very spotty here (or not, depending on how much time Mason wants to spend at the coffee shop.)