a small array of good things

Thu, 06 Sep 2018 18:01:29 GMT

We've unevacuated. The fire's listed as "contained," which I think means "it's probably not going to break through, unless something really unexpected happens." The evacuation order/alert was lifted on Sunday as Erin & Josh were rolling out from Williams Lake, and the house is getting back into shape.

Relatedly, it's autumn up here. There was fog a few mornings ago, and temps in the lower teens. I miss fall. It won't last long, I expect; the garden's already getting frost at night. Still.

Relatedly, plans for the Great October Nonworkening are afoot. So far all I know for certain is that it starts with Scintillation (successor to Farthing Party) in Montreal over Canucksgiving. Possibilities include MD Renfest, gaming in Arlington with John Kerr et al, and a trip to Blacksburg. (Now if the IRS would just give me my %&$ tax refund so I could start making solid plans...)

I have made pancakes, on a dry castiron griddle even, and they turned out well. (Previous experiments in making pancakes on castiron have tended to involve A Lot Of Oil, because that provides the texture Erin prefers and because when I'm at home I tend to use my nonstickish aluminum griddle.) This, coupled with yesterday's almost wholly satisfactory experiment in grilling cheeses, is likely to result in the elimination of the nonstickish aluminum griddle from my kitchen stock. I'm okay with this; it's had enough sticky burnt onto it that it's a pain to clean.

I did not in fact lose a friend last week.

Poking around looking for covers of Nick Cave's "The Ship Song" other than Concrete Blonde's, whose version I consider definitive solely by virtue of being the first one I heard, and I came up with the Sydney Opera House version. Moving and impressive.

Next Tuesday I will know whether Apple will deign to release another phone with Objectively Correct proportions (the iPhone 5/SE form factor; I explicitly Do Not Want a phone that is difficult to manipulate with only one hand, plus I like my headphone jack), and will be able to take steps to replace my dropped-too-often phone that currently has difficulty with things like "being a phone."

I have Commonweal 4 (Under One Banner) awaiting me on my phone; I have Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire with me here; at home I have the next volumes of Walter Jon Williams's space opera awaiting me. Not to mention books by Kat Howard, Claire Humphrey, and Fonda Lee. I'm continually committing Schopenhauer's error of mistaking the acquisition of books for the time in which to read them, but then I've been doing that for years and years now. It's just gotten worse in the last N.

I have a remarkable number of folks who love me and care about my wellbeing. I am not entirely certain what to do with this information, as "believe it entirely" is somewhat difficult.

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you're already lost, and no one here can save you

Sat, 01 Sep 2018 16:37:55 GMT

It's been a rough couple of weeks. I'm not sleeping well again, primarily I think due to stress. Vicious cycle.

I've been listening to "Who's Gonna Help Me" by Salt Thief, the folk-rockish viola duo James and I went to see a few weeks ago. They're good, and I'm looking forward to the new album in November.

she said i've troubles of my own and no time to help you

I still have no dishwasher and a concrete floor in my entry hall.

Emily's understandably unwilling to float me a loan to buy her out of the condo. Depending on how much she's looking for I may (may) be able to scrape up the amount. Not having to find another place to live has a certain appeal to it.

... just heard back from the mortgage broker. The process of buying Emily out may turn out more complicated than she'll want to deal with anyway. Though I suspect that a lot of that complication will come up if we sell the place, regardless.

To the extent that I was "dating" the really neat person I met a month ago, I got dumped on Wednesday. Still processing that.

Things with Erin are strained. (Understatement, I think.) I may be going north tomorrow, or I may not. I have no idea at this point.

I am out of maple syrup. This is not the worst of calamities, merely insult to injury.

Onward.

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Words are inadequate

a small array of good things

you're already lost, and no one here can save you