Yesterday I flew home from Minneapolis. My bag got lost, for the first time in ages, so I slept CPAP-less (poorly) last night. When the bag deigned to arrive this morning, it was missing one of the zipper sliders. Same thing happened to an identical bag last year. Time to stop buying and recommending Travelpro suitcases, no matter how nice the wheels are.
I also had a crown break and pop off on Saturday. And my dentist is on holiday until the fifth of January. Argh. At least it's not hurting. I did speak with him briefly and got "yeah, just keep it clean and be gentle with it, and DON'T PUT THE BROKEN CROWN BACK ON."
Minneapolis had snow and sun, which were both a nice change from the overly typical wintergrey here. Contrariwise, it remains nice to be back at home with my kitten.
Small changes, small improvements, day by day. Sunreturn.
I also had a crown break and pop off on Saturday. And my dentist is on holiday until the fifth of January. Argh. At least it's not hurting. I did speak with him briefly and got "yeah, just keep it clean and be gentle with it, and DON'T PUT THE BROKEN CROWN BACK ON."
We lose our use of colour
Just water on the brush
Minneapolis had snow and sun, which were both a nice change from the overly typical wintergrey here. Contrariwise, it remains nice to be back at home with my kitten.
Small changes, small improvements, day by day. Sunreturn.
france travelogue III: rognes (1/2)
Sep. 6th, 2025 09:26 amThis is taking longer than expected.
( Gorges du Tarn and Aigues-Mortes )
Next: Marseille, ochre, and sculpture.
( Gorges du Tarn and Aigues-Mortes )
Next: Marseille, ochre, and sculpture.
dammit gibson
Sep. 5th, 2025 10:03 amI started rereading Pattern Recognition (my favourite of William Gibson's books) because I remembered and agreed with his theory about jet lag:
I love the prose, the immediacy of the present-tense narration that still manages to feel at one remove from any character's interior life, including Cayce Pollard. I love the depiction of the early oughts, the internet where forum posts and text are the primary interfaces, where permanent connectivity is available but unevenly distributed and never assumed, where "video" has to be uploaded to obscure corners of sites.
I was startled to find, in a reminiscence about London in the snow, a perfect depiction of my experience of Paris:
But every time -- every time -- I read this book, I get caught off guard by the absolutely stupid joke that he spends literally a third of the book setting up. Voytek and Hobbs and Ngemi are, in their own ways and for their own reasons, collectors and connoisseurs of old computing equipment; when we meet them they are attempting to sell a trunkload of Curta calculators so that Voytek can buy a bunch of ZX/81 Spectra. The money has finally come through but there is a hiccup:
GODDAMMIT GIBSON.
She knows, now, absolutely, hearing the white noise that is London, that Damien's theory of jet lag is correct: that her mortal soul is leagues behind her, being reeled in on some ghostly umbilical down the vanished wake of the plane that brought her here, hundreds of thousands of feet above the Atlantic. Souls can't move that quickly, and are left behind, and must be awaited, upon arrival, like lost luggage.
I love the prose, the immediacy of the present-tense narration that still manages to feel at one remove from any character's interior life, including Cayce Pollard. I love the depiction of the early oughts, the internet where forum posts and text are the primary interfaces, where permanent connectivity is available but unevenly distributed and never assumed, where "video" has to be uploaded to obscure corners of sites.
I was startled to find, in a reminiscence about London in the snow, a perfect depiction of my experience of Paris:
Win had told her that she was seeing London as it had looked long ago, the cars mostly put away and the modern bits shrouded in white, allowing the outlines of something older to emerge. And what she had seen, that childhood day, was that it was not a place that consisted of buildings, side by side, as she thought of cities in America, but a literal and continuous maze, a single living structure (because still it grew) of brick and stone.
But every time -- every time -- I read this book, I get caught off guard by the absolutely stupid joke that he spends literally a third of the book setting up. Voytek and Hobbs and Ngemi are, in their own ways and for their own reasons, collectors and connoisseurs of old computing equipment; when we meet them they are attempting to sell a trunkload of Curta calculators so that Voytek can buy a bunch of ZX/81 Spectra. The money has finally come through but there is a hiccup:
"Yes," says Ngemi, with quiet pride, "but now I am negotiating to buy Stephen King's Wang."
GODDAMMIT GIBSON.
home from the sea
Aug. 28th, 2025 09:24 amGot in last night around quarter of ten, to a very affectionate cat. He's currently curled up on the heating-pad mat next to the laptop, where he's been for most of the last couple of hours. I think he may have missed me.
This is admittedly the most jetlag I've ever tried to recover from, but I am just not getting it. Been crashing out early and waking up after five or sometimes six hours' sleep. I made it home last night due to copious applications of caffeine and sugar, and still woke up at four AM. Hopefully being Actually Home will suffice to reset my system.
In Pattern Recognition, William Gibson talks about jetlag as a result of traveling faster than humans were meant to travel, so your soul needs time to catch back up to your body. As a description of the sensation it's about right.
Today: shower, unpack, get groceries (ordered, just need to pick up once ready), therapy, farmers market. Probably watch the last two episodes of season 3 of Slow Horses, since I watched S1 on the plane to Paris, S2 on the plane from Paris, and the first four of S3 on the plane from Mpls. Possibly rave about how great that show is. Ideally write up the next stage of the travelogue, but I'm not pushing it.
Meant to link these yesterday but forgot, so, have some Wendy Cope:
Onward.
This is admittedly the most jetlag I've ever tried to recover from, but I am just not getting it. Been crashing out early and waking up after five or sometimes six hours' sleep. I made it home last night due to copious applications of caffeine and sugar, and still woke up at four AM. Hopefully being Actually Home will suffice to reset my system.
In Pattern Recognition, William Gibson talks about jetlag as a result of traveling faster than humans were meant to travel, so your soul needs time to catch back up to your body. As a description of the sensation it's about right.
Today: shower, unpack, get groceries (ordered, just need to pick up once ready), therapy, farmers market. Probably watch the last two episodes of season 3 of Slow Horses, since I watched S1 on the plane to Paris, S2 on the plane from Paris, and the first four of S3 on the plane from Mpls. Possibly rave about how great that show is. Ideally write up the next stage of the travelogue, but I'm not pushing it.
Meant to link these yesterday but forgot, so, have some Wendy Cope:
Onward.
france travelogue I: Paris
Aug. 27th, 2025 04:26 pm( intro; catacombs, louvre, sainte-chappelle, shakes & co )
Next time: Versailles, an awful lot of driving, Cap Blanc and Lascaux.
Next time: Versailles, an awful lot of driving, Cap Blanc and Lascaux.
I am back from France, mostly. Returned to Minneapolis Sunday, returning to Vancouver tomorrow. I remain mostly, though not entirely, exhausted and Wrung Out.
It was a complicated trip and I can't sum it up as "good" or "not good". Some of it was very good, some of it was less good, nearly all of it was stressful in different ways. On the whole I'm glad I went.
Extended travelogue later. Catching up on two weeks of internet now.
It was a complicated trip and I can't sum it up as "good" or "not good". Some of it was very good, some of it was less good, nearly all of it was stressful in different ways. On the whole I'm glad I went.
Extended travelogue later. Catching up on two weeks of internet now.
oh my god i am exhausted
Aug. 18th, 2025 08:50 amIn France for the second of two weeks with Steph's family. Five adults who do not believe in downtime and have packed ten pounds of touristing into a five-pound sack trip, two preteens who are good kids but still kids, and Steph's ten-year-old who will eat about six things, has absolutely zero concept of time, and gets intensely anxious. And me.
It has been a good if intense trip, and I have certainly had more France Experiences than I would have on my own. I am also stealing a few minutes this morning to journal before we rush off to The Next Thing and feeling guilty about it because folks are eating breakfast and I am being asocial.
Three(?) days in Paris doing the Catacombs, the Louvre, the Champs-Elysee, Sainte-Chappelle (Notre-Dame tickets were unobtainable) and Shakespeare & Co, then Versailles and down to Nantes, then Lascaux and Cap Blanc, through the Gorges du Tarn, and yesterday was Aigues-Mortes and the Camargue. At least half of these are nouns I would have no other referent for so I am hopeful I will have time to write them up more later before they fall entirely out of my head.
It has been a good if intense trip, and I have certainly had more France Experiences than I would have on my own. I am also stealing a few minutes this morning to journal before we rush off to The Next Thing and feeling guilty about it because folks are eating breakfast and I am being asocial.
Three(?) days in Paris doing the Catacombs, the Louvre, the Champs-Elysee, Sainte-Chappelle (Notre-Dame tickets were unobtainable) and Shakespeare & Co, then Versailles and down to Nantes, then Lascaux and Cap Blanc, through the Gorges du Tarn, and yesterday was Aigues-Mortes and the Camargue. At least half of these are nouns I would have no other referent for so I am hopeful I will have time to write them up more later before they fall entirely out of my head.
HELLO DYING I AM DAD
May. 22nd, 2025 11:22 amI'm in Minneapolis with Steph and two round cats, and the sun is shining.
I flew through Saskatoon this time, for reasons that escape me but probably had to do with it being half the price of a direct flight. The flight to Saskatoon was pretty full; Sask-Mpls had somewhere under forty people (I counted), on a 32x6-seat plane.
Having no one else in your row in economy feels positively luxurious.
I've some homework to do today, and some to do in the next few days. I promised to make banana bread today as well. Mostly I'm enjoying the sunshine and the company.
I flew through Saskatoon this time, for reasons that escape me but probably had to do with it being half the price of a direct flight. The flight to Saskatoon was pretty full; Sask-Mpls had somewhere under forty people (I counted), on a 32x6-seat plane.
Having no one else in your row in economy feels positively luxurious.
I've some homework to do today, and some to do in the next few days. I promised to make banana bread today as well. Mostly I'm enjoying the sunshine and the company.
LUCAS: You know, I think things are gonna be alright now, Joe.
JOE: Oh? And what makes you think that?
LUCAS: Who knows where thoughts come from? They just appear.
--Empire Records
and the hunter home from the hill
May. 1st, 2025 11:22 amI have Returned, and it is Good. Got in around ten-thirty Monday night; had a good sit on the couch with Mr Tuppert, who missed me, and then crashed. I tried to crash "pretty hard" but kept being ... it's not 'woken up' if you haven't fallen asleep, 'disturbed' I guess. Got around seven hours sleep all told.
To the extent I had a Game Of The Week I guess it was 18India, an 18xx game where one has a hand of shares one can buy (some randomly dealt, some drafted) rather than all shares being available at all times. The game's doing some other neat things as well, with trains and gauge changes and track-laying. I played once and thought I liked it, then played a variant and thought I hated it. Turned out, when I played the base game again, that what I hated was in fact the variant, and the base game is more to my taste.
I also played a lot of Free Ride, a train game that I'd been thinking of as Friedemann Friese's Ticket To Ride but which Daniel Karp pointed out is more accurately Friedemann's Transamerica. I'd played once a few years ago and enjoyed it well enough but had trouble figuring out where the various European cities were on the uniformly-coloured map. Last year Friedemann came out with a USA version which a) is a more familiar map and b) colour-codes the cities into regions, so it's much easier to play. It's a good game. I'll likely be picking up one or both versions at some point.
And two games of Moon Colony Bloodbath, a sort of shared-event-deck-builder. You're nominally trying to build your moon colony, but really you're trying to have yours not be the moon colony that totally collapses due to bad luck and robot rampages. It's enjoyable but to me it feels like the gaming equivalent of empty calories. Everyone does their own thing, someone wins, shake hands and sure may as well play again. Then again this is how I felt about Dominion (same designer) way back when, and gamers do love them some Dominion, so there's clearly a market for that sort of thing.
Sometimes there are people that one just clicks with. For me at the Gathering that's the Massachusetts folks, who I originally thought of as "the 18xxers" and now only somewhat less accurately consider "Joe R--'s Discord". I don't really know what it is: mindset, outlook, humor, something. But I have a good time with them, and I feel ... better able to relax around them, or something. Always a pleasure.
Steph arrived on Friday evening, so I shifted from 'gaming' to 'tourist/date' for the last few days. That was good: relaxing, after a week of Peopling, and comforting, and all such good things. We hit up an indie new/used bookstore on Saturday, of the "three levels and a maze of bookcases" variety. On Sunday we went down to the falls and wandered around.
We both flew out of Buffalo, which extended the goodbye a bit, and that was the right call too.
Once more I have brought the plague back from Niagara. Sunday after touristing I started feeling a bit feverish, but tried to blame it on Too Much Sun. Monday, travel-day, the feverish remained along with clogged sinuses, which is No Way to travel by air. When it hadn't improved any by Tuesday I went ahead and tested and yep, two lines, though the one was faint and incomplete.
It's not as bad as last time. Yesterday I was more muzzy-headed than I think I was, but I think that has passed. The chest cough that started up yesterday has gotten slightly more serious. To the left, the sinus stuff may be letting up (or I may just be drugging myself more effectively), and I'm not noticing any taste deficiencies.
I have nowhere I need to be for another week at least, and only the one class. As things go this is about the best time to be laid up. Mr Tuppert approves of the increase in couch time as well.
To the extent I had a Game Of The Week I guess it was 18India, an 18xx game where one has a hand of shares one can buy (some randomly dealt, some drafted) rather than all shares being available at all times. The game's doing some other neat things as well, with trains and gauge changes and track-laying. I played once and thought I liked it, then played a variant and thought I hated it. Turned out, when I played the base game again, that what I hated was in fact the variant, and the base game is more to my taste.
I also played a lot of Free Ride, a train game that I'd been thinking of as Friedemann Friese's Ticket To Ride but which Daniel Karp pointed out is more accurately Friedemann's Transamerica. I'd played once a few years ago and enjoyed it well enough but had trouble figuring out where the various European cities were on the uniformly-coloured map. Last year Friedemann came out with a USA version which a) is a more familiar map and b) colour-codes the cities into regions, so it's much easier to play. It's a good game. I'll likely be picking up one or both versions at some point.
And two games of Moon Colony Bloodbath, a sort of shared-event-deck-builder. You're nominally trying to build your moon colony, but really you're trying to have yours not be the moon colony that totally collapses due to bad luck and robot rampages. It's enjoyable but to me it feels like the gaming equivalent of empty calories. Everyone does their own thing, someone wins, shake hands and sure may as well play again. Then again this is how I felt about Dominion (same designer) way back when, and gamers do love them some Dominion, so there's clearly a market for that sort of thing.
Sometimes there are people that one just clicks with. For me at the Gathering that's the Massachusetts folks, who I originally thought of as "the 18xxers" and now only somewhat less accurately consider "Joe R--'s Discord". I don't really know what it is: mindset, outlook, humor, something. But I have a good time with them, and I feel ... better able to relax around them, or something. Always a pleasure.
Steph arrived on Friday evening, so I shifted from 'gaming' to 'tourist/date' for the last few days. That was good: relaxing, after a week of Peopling, and comforting, and all such good things. We hit up an indie new/used bookstore on Saturday, of the "three levels and a maze of bookcases" variety. On Sunday we went down to the falls and wandered around.
We both flew out of Buffalo, which extended the goodbye a bit, and that was the right call too.
Once more I have brought the plague back from Niagara. Sunday after touristing I started feeling a bit feverish, but tried to blame it on Too Much Sun. Monday, travel-day, the feverish remained along with clogged sinuses, which is No Way to travel by air. When it hadn't improved any by Tuesday I went ahead and tested and yep, two lines, though the one was faint and incomplete.
It's not as bad as last time. Yesterday I was more muzzy-headed than I think I was, but I think that has passed. The chest cough that started up yesterday has gotten slightly more serious. To the left, the sinus stuff may be letting up (or I may just be drugging myself more effectively), and I'm not noticing any taste deficiencies.
I have nowhere I need to be for another week at least, and only the one class. As things go this is about the best time to be laid up. Mr Tuppert approves of the increase in couch time as well.
When I'm traveling I bring a travel electric kettle, because I hate when my tea tastes like hotel coffee. I don't bring loose tea and a teaball, or even disposable teabags, because that's too much mess/hassle for a temporary space.
Instead I drink bag tea. Usually Stash Double Bergamot Earl Grey, though this time it's Bigelow Constant Comment because I haven't had that in at least a decade.
Today I realised: I drink flavoured tea when I'm traveling because the questionable flavouring masks the sense that the tea itself just isn't that good.
Better than No Tea, though.
Instead I drink bag tea. Usually Stash Double Bergamot Earl Grey, though this time it's Bigelow Constant Comment because I haven't had that in at least a decade.
Today I realised: I drink flavoured tea when I'm traveling because the questionable flavouring masks the sense that the tea itself just isn't that good.
Better than No Tea, though.
>INVENTORY
You are carrying:
No tea
>TAKE TEA
No tea: dropped.
--Adams/Meretzky, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
gathering successfully
Apr. 20th, 2025 11:03 pmIn the event I made it through customs easily. My customs agent was a dead ringer for grumpy John Cena. He asked for my citizenship (US) and passport. and then glared at the passport and his comupter screen for about thirty seconds. I had enough time to start getting nervous and also to notice that his biceps were the size of my head before he handed my passport back without a word. I'll count that a win.
I'm in Niagara, at the Gathering, saying hi to folks and playing a bunch of games. There's sufficient variety and sufficiently pleasant social that even when I get stuck in a 2.5-hour game that is emphatically Not For Me it's still a decent time. And it's good to see people I know and who know me, and to feel, well. At home, maybe.
They've been issuing special black badges for folks who've been to at least twenty of these since before I started coming (which was I think number 24 or 25). Last year or this they started giving 'grey' badges to people who've been to at least ten, and I was a little startled to realise that yep, that's me. I'm pretty bad at recognising when I've become A Regular at a thing. In my head I'm stuck as The New Guy, there's plenty of folks who've been around longer than I have.
It's Sunday night. Four and a half more days of gaming and Gathering, and then Steph gets here for two and a half days or so, and then homeward. I do miss my kitten. I don't miss the rest of home, not yet, but I can see that from here. For now, things are good. I appreciate that.
I'm in Niagara, at the Gathering, saying hi to folks and playing a bunch of games. There's sufficient variety and sufficiently pleasant social that even when I get stuck in a 2.5-hour game that is emphatically Not For Me it's still a decent time. And it's good to see people I know and who know me, and to feel, well. At home, maybe.
They've been issuing special black badges for folks who've been to at least twenty of these since before I started coming (which was I think number 24 or 25). Last year or this they started giving 'grey' badges to people who've been to at least ten, and I was a little startled to realise that yep, that's me. I'm pretty bad at recognising when I've become A Regular at a thing. In my head I'm stuck as The New Guy, there's plenty of folks who've been around longer than I have.
It's Sunday night. Four and a half more days of gaming and Gathering, and then Steph gets here for two and a half days or so, and then homeward. I do miss my kitten. I don't miss the rest of home, not yet, but I can see that from here. For now, things are good. I appreciate that.
travel and books
Apr. 16th, 2025 09:57 pmWell. I just had the fastest checkin / security experience I've ever had at YVR: no one in line ahead of me to check in, two slightly slow people in the fast line at security. I think the time from stepping off the train to thru security was on the order of ten minutes, and most of that was walking from one end of the domestic terminal to the other and back again.
The gate isn't empty, but it's not as crowded as I expect the Toronto redeye to be. I'm okay with that.
What are you reading now?
Just started Melissa Scott's Dreamships, about which I know pretty much nothing except that Steph is a fan of Scott's work. (I think I read one or two of hers before moving here but they did not survive the Great Cross-Country Purge.) It's enjoyable so far.
What did you just finish reading?
For some reason I had a strong desire to read Gene Wolfe's four-volume crypto-Catholic generation-ship epic Book Of The Long Sun. I think this is somehow only my second reread; might be my third. I can confirm that the crypto-Catholicism is ... not really all that crypto. On the other hand the ending of "and then a bunch of us got on the lander and went down to the planet, and it turned out the Pope had been a vampire from the neighbouring Vampire Planet all along, the end" is more telegraphed than I remember. Though it helps if you remember the Pope really is a vampire from a previous read. (Er. Spoilers for a thirty-year-old tetrology, I suppose, though honestly if you're paying attention you find out the Pope is a vampire early in the second or third book.)
These are very Wolfean books, by which I mean they excel at doing the thing where something happens that means one thing to the characters in the book and quite another to the reader. They also have an awful lot of scenes of the main character explaining things to other people, which is less fun. But they're good, and there's not much out there like them.
Before that, Martha Wells's Books of the Raksura. I like these a little less on this read, I think. Partly it's that they're overflowing with characters that I have difficulty telling apart. Partly it's that they lean into the fantasy trope of The Evil Race. The final duology tries to undermine that, with the hybrid queen whose name escapes me but who is trying so hard... but then Wells brings in the groundling race who've decided that killing everyone else is fine if it means it kills off all the evil Fell as well. They're still enjoyable, they still have great characters with complex and real-feeling relationships. Just ... not quite as solid as I'd like.
What do you think you'll read next?
Beats me. Something else in ebook, since I only brought one paper book (Wells's City Of Bone). When I get home I may read Wolfe's Book of the Short Sun, the sequel trilogy. Or I may not; I remember it as being extremely depressing, mostly because it's narrated by someone who's not sure who he is and is extremely depressed about it.
The gate isn't empty, but it's not as crowded as I expect the Toronto redeye to be. I'm okay with that.
What are you reading now?
Just started Melissa Scott's Dreamships, about which I know pretty much nothing except that Steph is a fan of Scott's work. (I think I read one or two of hers before moving here but they did not survive the Great Cross-Country Purge.) It's enjoyable so far.
What did you just finish reading?
For some reason I had a strong desire to read Gene Wolfe's four-volume crypto-Catholic generation-ship epic Book Of The Long Sun. I think this is somehow only my second reread; might be my third. I can confirm that the crypto-Catholicism is ... not really all that crypto. On the other hand the ending of "and then a bunch of us got on the lander and went down to the planet, and it turned out the Pope had been a vampire from the neighbouring Vampire Planet all along, the end" is more telegraphed than I remember. Though it helps if you remember the Pope really is a vampire from a previous read. (Er. Spoilers for a thirty-year-old tetrology, I suppose, though honestly if you're paying attention you find out the Pope is a vampire early in the second or third book.)
These are very Wolfean books, by which I mean they excel at doing the thing where something happens that means one thing to the characters in the book and quite another to the reader. They also have an awful lot of scenes of the main character explaining things to other people, which is less fun. But they're good, and there's not much out there like them.
Before that, Martha Wells's Books of the Raksura. I like these a little less on this read, I think. Partly it's that they're overflowing with characters that I have difficulty telling apart. Partly it's that they lean into the fantasy trope of The Evil Race. The final duology tries to undermine that, with the hybrid queen whose name escapes me but who is trying so hard... but then Wells brings in the groundling race who've decided that killing everyone else is fine if it means it kills off all the evil Fell as well. They're still enjoyable, they still have great characters with complex and real-feeling relationships. Just ... not quite as solid as I'd like.
What do you think you'll read next?
Beats me. Something else in ebook, since I only brought one paper book (Wells's City Of Bone). When I get home I may read Wolfe's Book of the Short Sun, the sequel trilogy. Or I may not; I remember it as being extremely depressing, mostly because it's narrated by someone who's not sure who he is and is extremely depressed about it.
making cookies and thinking too much
Apr. 7th, 2025 05:26 pmCripes, it's been a month. I knew I'd been doing poorly but hadn't realised it was quite that poorly.
I've been telling myself I've just been head-down on my practicum, which is true but not ... not an answer, not a reason, not complete. I've been head-down on my practicum, working full-time while also taking an advanced-level class (Databases 2, aka "big databases and how they store geographic data"), and that's a decent amount of work output. The practicum has taken particular effort to Keep Going, for reasons I'm not wholly clear on but which therapy has given me at least some insights into.
But everything has just been Difficult and I would rather sit on the couch and Not Think about any of it. I need to start looking for a job, which means I need to figure out where I'm looking for a job, since the BC Public Service is not even considering hiring anyone at all until probably July at the earliest. Add to that all the nonsensical horror / horrific nonsense from Down South and, well. Much easier to hide in front of the television.
So, this is the last week of my practicum. I'm making cookies to bring in to the office tomorrow, partly because I haven't done any baking for work at all and partly because making cookies is making a thing and that at least feels like ... progress, or accomplishment.
I'm pleased with what I've gotten done for the practicum. I spent the last three months creating new fire-centre maps of the Provincial radio repeaters, so that folks going out into the field will be better able to tell which repeater they're supposed to be talking to. It's not nearly as much as I'd wanted to do, or expected to do; institutional barriers and my own inexperience both worked against me there. But it's a start, and what I've got will be helpful.
It's also been feeling pointless, and it took me til today in counseling to work out why: not pointless in the sense of "the work is pointless busywork that no one will use," the way too much of my work for the last twenty years has been, but rather in the sense of "i will likely never see these people again." I'd wanted my practicum to be a first step towards BC government employment, and that's not happening, or if it is it's not for quite some time. So: marking time, staying apart, not getting involved, same military-brat playbook I've always run when it's spring and we're moving this summer.
I am proud of the PDF maps, though. Eventually they'll be up on the Provincial radio system website, and I'll put up a link then.
The Databases course is done (88%, coincidentally the same grade I got in DB1 under Stupid Rob). The only coursework I have left is Management Issues In GIS, aka "how to deploy an enterprise GIS system," and a final recorded-presentation and written-report on the practicum.
And then I'm done with schoolwork, again. I don't know what happens after that, other than "I look for a job in what seems likely to be an abysmal economy." I'm pretty deeply worried about that part but on the other hand there is literally nothing more I can do about it, so, shrug-emoji.
I'm going back to Niagara in a little over a week. I'm also nervous about that: making a land crossing in upstate New York with an X-gender passport does not thrill me with anticipation. I guess I can continue to be a useful coal-mine-canary: if I, a pale-skinned US citizen, get any trouble, that ought to indicate something.
I'm letting several folks, on both sides of the border, know when I'm crossing, and will ping them again once I'm through. I wish I thought I were being paranoid.
I love you. Stay safe and take care of each other.
I've been telling myself I've just been head-down on my practicum, which is true but not ... not an answer, not a reason, not complete. I've been head-down on my practicum, working full-time while also taking an advanced-level class (Databases 2, aka "big databases and how they store geographic data"), and that's a decent amount of work output. The practicum has taken particular effort to Keep Going, for reasons I'm not wholly clear on but which therapy has given me at least some insights into.
But everything has just been Difficult and I would rather sit on the couch and Not Think about any of it. I need to start looking for a job, which means I need to figure out where I'm looking for a job, since the BC Public Service is not even considering hiring anyone at all until probably July at the earliest. Add to that all the nonsensical horror / horrific nonsense from Down South and, well. Much easier to hide in front of the television.
So, this is the last week of my practicum. I'm making cookies to bring in to the office tomorrow, partly because I haven't done any baking for work at all and partly because making cookies is making a thing and that at least feels like ... progress, or accomplishment.
I'm pleased with what I've gotten done for the practicum. I spent the last three months creating new fire-centre maps of the Provincial radio repeaters, so that folks going out into the field will be better able to tell which repeater they're supposed to be talking to. It's not nearly as much as I'd wanted to do, or expected to do; institutional barriers and my own inexperience both worked against me there. But it's a start, and what I've got will be helpful.
It's also been feeling pointless, and it took me til today in counseling to work out why: not pointless in the sense of "the work is pointless busywork that no one will use," the way too much of my work for the last twenty years has been, but rather in the sense of "i will likely never see these people again." I'd wanted my practicum to be a first step towards BC government employment, and that's not happening, or if it is it's not for quite some time. So: marking time, staying apart, not getting involved, same military-brat playbook I've always run when it's spring and we're moving this summer.
I am proud of the PDF maps, though. Eventually they'll be up on the Provincial radio system website, and I'll put up a link then.
The Databases course is done (88%, coincidentally the same grade I got in DB1 under Stupid Rob). The only coursework I have left is Management Issues In GIS, aka "how to deploy an enterprise GIS system," and a final recorded-presentation and written-report on the practicum.
And then I'm done with schoolwork, again. I don't know what happens after that, other than "I look for a job in what seems likely to be an abysmal economy." I'm pretty deeply worried about that part but on the other hand there is literally nothing more I can do about it, so, shrug-emoji.
I'm going back to Niagara in a little over a week. I'm also nervous about that: making a land crossing in upstate New York with an X-gender passport does not thrill me with anticipation. I guess I can continue to be a useful coal-mine-canary: if I, a pale-skinned US citizen, get any trouble, that ought to indicate something.
I'm letting several folks, on both sides of the border, know when I'm crossing, and will ping them again once I'm through. I wish I thought I were being paranoid.
I love you. Stay safe and take care of each other.
further grump
Jan. 4th, 2025 03:11 pmPhone call 1: call Purolator to ask them where the hell my new suitcase is; last tracking update was Thursday morning of "undeliverable". Put in for a callback "within 45 minutes". No call back.
Phone call 2: call Delta to ask them to refund the $55 they charged me to check a bag on Monday morning. Westjet said "yeah they shouldn't have charged you but since they did we aren't going to give you any money, call delta." Delta insists they were right to charge me.
Phone call 3: call Purolator again and sit on hold for two hours. I suspect they have not actually staffed their phones on the weekend and will try again Monday morning.
This after Westjet bumped me to a later flight home yesterday and then delayed that flight by an hour, resulting in me not getting in til after midnight.
Bah. I have had a snack and shall attempt to do something else useful / constructive.
Phone call 2: call Delta to ask them to refund the $55 they charged me to check a bag on Monday morning. Westjet said "yeah they shouldn't have charged you but since they did we aren't going to give you any money, call delta." Delta insists they were right to charge me.
Phone call 3: call Purolator again and sit on hold for two hours. I suspect they have not actually staffed their phones on the weekend and will try again Monday morning.
This after Westjet bumped me to a later flight home yesterday and then delayed that flight by an hour, resulting in me not getting in til after midnight.
Bah. I have had a snack and shall attempt to do something else useful / constructive.
recipe for Spaghetti Carbonizeda
Jan. 3rd, 2025 10:34 amor "Blackened Spaghetti" if you will
Unfamiliar stoves are the worst. Thankfully the pot was anodized, and pouring some more water to deglaze worked pretty well.
- Turn the back burner on medium-high because this stove is old / underpowered. Put the pot on the back burner and add some olive oil.
- Sautee some onions and garlic.
- Add some carrots (yes) and bell pepper. If you had ground beef this is when you'd add it and brown it.
- Add a can of crushed tomatoes (normally I'd use pureed tomatoes, or stick-blend them for a minute) and a bunch of mushrooms, and some more water.
- Wait til it all comes to a boil.
- Turn the front burner to Simmer.
- Check on it in forty minutes or so. Swear because it's boiled dry and burnt to the bottom of the pot.
- Have salad with leftover chicken and potatoes for dinner instead.
Unfamiliar stoves are the worst. Thankfully the pot was anodized, and pouring some more water to deglaze worked pretty well.
varyingly ancient history
Dec. 24th, 2024 08:22 amThe pull-handle on my twelve-year-old carryon suitcase snapped on my way out to Erin's, and an impromptu repair job failed to do the trick. So I got to do There and Back Again lugging my luggage around like a primitive. WE INVENTED WHEELS FOR A REASON. Sigh.
Travelpro claims to have a Lifetime Replacement Warranty, and in fact I'd just used that to replace my check-size suitcase when one of the zipper heads went missing. Turns out "lifetime" is flexible, and they're no longer accepting registrations for luggage made before sometime in 2018. Bah. I even dug up the receipt and all. Which is how I know it was twelve years old: bought in October 2012 from one of the sketchy luggage places that used to be all up and down Robson Street, for CAD$200.
Eh well. It served me well and more than well. I've ordered a (nicer) replacement, which will turn up around the new year.
While I was digging around for the receipt I also turned up an actual $50 US Savings Bond. My grandfather gave one to all the grandkids back in 1993. I'd actually unearthed it two decades earlier, at which point I transferred it out of "the dresser drawer at my parents' place" and into "my stack of random stuff that will be important sooner or later". It stopped accumulating interest last December so I guess I should figure out some way to turn it into actual money. (Thanks, Granddaddy Taylor.)
Huh. From the (brief) linked journal entry, I still have both the "old hiking boots" (I'm pretty sure that's the first pair of real boots I got, when I was in seventh grade) and the new "decent pair of dress shoes," and they all still fit and still see some use. I knew I'd stopped growing up by the time I hit ninth grade; the ceiling fan pull in my bedroom was at eye level when we moved in and never changed. Guess that went for feet as well.
Xmas shopping as such is done. Today I pick up my new glasses (bifocals / "progressives," for the first time since I inexplicably had them for a year in about fourth grade) and my cleaned coat, and I guess some milk and other staples to get me through the week. My Xmas Day plans involve Not Going Anywhere; will see how that pans out. (Mr Tuppert certainly approves.)
Merry Xmas Eve. I hope you're well.
Travelpro claims to have a Lifetime Replacement Warranty, and in fact I'd just used that to replace my check-size suitcase when one of the zipper heads went missing. Turns out "lifetime" is flexible, and they're no longer accepting registrations for luggage made before sometime in 2018. Bah. I even dug up the receipt and all. Which is how I know it was twelve years old: bought in October 2012 from one of the sketchy luggage places that used to be all up and down Robson Street, for CAD$200.
Eh well. It served me well and more than well. I've ordered a (nicer) replacement, which will turn up around the new year.
While I was digging around for the receipt I also turned up an actual $50 US Savings Bond. My grandfather gave one to all the grandkids back in 1993. I'd actually unearthed it two decades earlier, at which point I transferred it out of "the dresser drawer at my parents' place" and into "my stack of random stuff that will be important sooner or later". It stopped accumulating interest last December so I guess I should figure out some way to turn it into actual money. (Thanks, Granddaddy Taylor.)
Huh. From the (brief) linked journal entry, I still have both the "old hiking boots" (I'm pretty sure that's the first pair of real boots I got, when I was in seventh grade) and the new "decent pair of dress shoes," and they all still fit and still see some use. I knew I'd stopped growing up by the time I hit ninth grade; the ceiling fan pull in my bedroom was at eye level when we moved in and never changed. Guess that went for feet as well.
Xmas shopping as such is done. Today I pick up my new glasses (bifocals / "progressives," for the first time since I inexplicably had them for a year in about fourth grade) and my cleaned coat, and I guess some milk and other staples to get me through the week. My Xmas Day plans involve Not Going Anywhere; will see how that pans out. (Mr Tuppert certainly approves.)
Merry Xmas Eve. I hope you're well.
consciousness stream misc, and books
Jun. 26th, 2024 07:37 pmI am home, after having been away for two weeks, which is (it turns out) a long time. Mr Tuppert has mostly forgiven me for the twin indignities of leaving him alone and then brushing him vigorously.
In Minneapolis I visited Uncle Hugo/Edgar's Bookstore(s) and met some of Steph's friends, and also her two cats. Then in Fort I petted a lot of cats and not a few dogs, and stacked wood and fed geese and pigs and helped plant some ritual-space trees. Also I made a second key lime pie (with normal limes instead) and it turned out pretty well.
I finished my classes and I believe I passed them all, for credential-granting values of "passed." Pretty sure I did quite well in three and acceptably well in a fourth. As for the fifth, I consider it a triumph that I managed as well as I did. Bah. And I have at least one and possibly/probably two more classes with this instructor.
I have also received an unexpected US$2000 check from the IRS. I have no idea why (I have a couple of theories but that's all they are) (UPDATE: It is in fact the stimulus payment from 2020/2021 that I missed, plus interest), and after spending an hour plus getting Verified, the account page is useless. So tomorrow I will spend some time On Hold figuring that out. Tomorrow is also for groceries and journaling.
Tonight is for petting the cat and staring at the wall. And also blathering about books, because Wednesday.
What are you reading now?
Deadhouse Gates, Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen #2 of 10 and then some. This one has taken a bit to spin up, I guess in the same way that Gardens of the Moon (#1) did, but it's rolling along quite nicely now. I'm enjoying most of the characters and much of the complex worldbuilding. My sole problem is that I can't tell if I want to be reading an ebook or not.
What did you just finish reading?
Rereads of Gideon/Harrow/Nona The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Gideon remains a triumph of imaginative storytelling, narrative deftness, and voice, and I unreservedly recommend it. Harrow feels sluggish and pointless until three-fifths through (specifically, page 302 of 500ish) but the last two hundred pages are worth the price of admission. Nona does almost exactly the same thing but on reread I find Nona hanging out with the kids to be less annoying than Harrow's angst. On the other hand, to quote Douglas Adams, "I think this is getting needlessly messianic." If I wanted to read far-future sci-fi with crypto-Catholic mysticism I'd reread Gene Wolfe. And sometimes I do want that! Here it just annoys me. (Granted, I am partly annoyed because Camilla Hect, the absolute best character in the series, has been SPOILERed.)
What do you think you'll read next?
Deadhouse is gonna occupy me for awhile. If I'm wanting something hardcopy I might dig into The Saint Of Bright Doors which I picked up in Mpls, after seeing recommendations from a rather diverse set of people. Or I might get into one of my Silvia M-G books. Or I might reread Fonda Lee's Green Bone books. Who knows.
In Minneapolis I visited Uncle Hugo/Edgar's Bookstore(s) and met some of Steph's friends, and also her two cats. Then in Fort I petted a lot of cats and not a few dogs, and stacked wood and fed geese and pigs and helped plant some ritual-space trees. Also I made a second key lime pie (with normal limes instead) and it turned out pretty well.
I finished my classes and I believe I passed them all, for credential-granting values of "passed." Pretty sure I did quite well in three and acceptably well in a fourth. As for the fifth, I consider it a triumph that I managed as well as I did. Bah. And I have at least one and possibly/probably two more classes with this instructor.
I have also received an unexpected US$2000 check from the IRS. I have no idea why (I have a couple of theories but that's all they are) (UPDATE: It is in fact the stimulus payment from 2020/2021 that I missed, plus interest), and after spending an hour plus getting Verified, the account page is useless. So tomorrow I will spend some time On Hold figuring that out. Tomorrow is also for groceries and journaling.
Tonight is for petting the cat and staring at the wall. And also blathering about books, because Wednesday.
What are you reading now?
Deadhouse Gates, Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen #2 of 10 and then some. This one has taken a bit to spin up, I guess in the same way that Gardens of the Moon (#1) did, but it's rolling along quite nicely now. I'm enjoying most of the characters and much of the complex worldbuilding. My sole problem is that I can't tell if I want to be reading an ebook or not.
What did you just finish reading?
Rereads of Gideon/Harrow/Nona The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Gideon remains a triumph of imaginative storytelling, narrative deftness, and voice, and I unreservedly recommend it. Harrow feels sluggish and pointless until three-fifths through (specifically, page 302 of 500ish) but the last two hundred pages are worth the price of admission. Nona does almost exactly the same thing but on reread I find Nona hanging out with the kids to be less annoying than Harrow's angst. On the other hand, to quote Douglas Adams, "I think this is getting needlessly messianic." If I wanted to read far-future sci-fi with crypto-Catholic mysticism I'd reread Gene Wolfe. And sometimes I do want that! Here it just annoys me. (Granted, I am partly annoyed because Camilla Hect, the absolute best character in the series, has been SPOILERed.)
What do you think you'll read next?
Deadhouse is gonna occupy me for awhile. If I'm wanting something hardcopy I might dig into The Saint Of Bright Doors which I picked up in Mpls, after seeing recommendations from a rather diverse set of people. Or I might get into one of my Silvia M-G books. Or I might reread Fonda Lee's Green Bone books. Who knows.
