magnetic_pole

Folks, I owe comments on my last post and need to catch up with the flist, but I wanted to say hello and write something here before I fell too far behind.

Weeks 07, 08, 09, and 10 have been very quiet.

( Sickness (mine, not serious) )

In part because of the above, there is not a single thing of interest to report from this end, unfortunately. The semester has wrapped up and the summer research and writing period has begun. I continue to be ridiculously, childishly disappointed about the lack of swimming opportunities, but that won't last forever. In the meantime, I'm going to get walking again as soon as I feel better. (I'm getting to know the three-mile radius around my apartment very well, including the paths and trails leading into the large public park nearby.)

Let me offer a few goodies before I sign off:

*** I'm almost embarrassed to make a baked goods recommendation here, because I didn't do the baking myself and I know so many of you are excellent bakers in your own right, so who am I to recommend anything to you? But this is a truly extraordinary simple chocolate cake I recommend wholeheartedly:

King Arthur's Original Cake Pan Cake (There's an icing recipe, but the cake was heavenly even without.)

( *** Have some gorgeous flowers )

*** Thanks to therealsnape, we're having a final week of discussions over at covidcoffeecorner--please come join us!

Hope you are all well, folks!

Question for you: if I were to set up a new comm, say, "The Covid Coffee Corner," if therealsnape allows us to borrow her clever turn of phrase, would anyone be interested in 1) helping me host it or 2) stopping by to chat? My thought was that we could get folks to sign up to host two posts per day (or every other day?), one for Covid-19 talk and one for anything but. It would mean there would be a place for folks to check in daily and hang out for the next few weeks. (Or is this already going on somewhere?) Comments or suggestions welcome!

ETA: Let's give this a try! I've created covidcoffeecorner, which will post daily at least through the end of March. Come join us there to chat!

***

I'm sorry I've been so scarce lately--I've been experimenting with significantly less online time this semester, giving up Tumblr entirely and limiting my online reading time. I'm feeling very distant from fandom but miss the community and the conversations here.

I'm currently on an extended spring break, during which I need to figure how to get three courses up and running online. I'm feeling a bit cynical about the whole thing at the moment, although in an effort to stay positive, I'm going to avoid complaining and simply post two articles for the instructors and students who might be interested:

Welcome to Your Hastily Prepared Online College Course (humor from McSweeney's)
Please Do a Bad Job of Putting Your Courses Online (a polemical thought piece from an academic)
ETA: I Will Survive (guitar-accompanied parody of Gloria Gaynor's classic for academics learning to teach online)

I will, of course, not deliberately do a bad job of putting my courses online, but I'm deeply suspicious of the impact this half semester (hopefully only a half semester) will have on administrative thinking about the costs and benefits of face-to-face learning...if, indeed, our institutions survive to have this conversation in six months or so. Heaven knows I've found an amazing community here online and had powerful, life-changing conversations online with folks I've never met, but fandom is not academia, even if they overlap and mirror each other in surprising ways; we're motivated to join in and speak up for radially different reasons.

***

Schools, museums, gyms, and bars/restaurants/coffee shops are all closed here. Many--a majority?--of people in my apartment building seem to be working from home. R and I have been taking a long walk every day to get some exercise and get out of the house. Despite my many worries about public health and about the economy, it's beautiful out: sunny, warm, with the first of the cherry blossoms and thousands of daffodils. I'll post some photos below the cut.

( Flowers! )

Happy new year, everyone!

Ah, the 2020s. I'm not sure how you feel. but I was totally prepared for the end of the year and totally *unprepared* for the end of the decade. The spate of the end-of-the-year news articles summing up the 2010s really surprised me. How did we get to the end of the 2010s? What to say about this decade, other than it ended on a perilous note, and I'm glad that I'm still here to worry about the next one?

Not much news at this end, in a good way:

* My winter break is wrapping up and classes start next week. It's been a lovely break, with lots of productive work at the beginning and end but a soft, squishy, happy, relaxing middle. I spent about two weeks visiting friends in the Northeast, sleeping in, eating well, catching up, thinking about the future, playing card games (including Taco Cat Goat Cheese, Pizza), snuggling with pets, and even trying to ice skate. (Operative word: trying.) I even got to meet write_out! If, like me, you love chatting with her and always wondered what she was like in person, I'll tell you: exactly as you'd imagine, and even better.

* small_gifts, which ran during the first three weeks of December, took a break and finished strong in late December and early January, thanks in no small part to our readers and commenters and bonus gift authors. Thank you to all those who contributed and enjoyed the fest!

* I actually wrote two things this exchange season, hurrah! (For those of you who are new around these parts, I'm a fan in hibernation, a little too busy and tired to do much, so I celebrate a bit when I get something done.)

For Small Gifts: Cat People (and the Dog Who Loves Them), featuring Remus Lupin's mum, Remus Lupin, Remus Lupin's dad, James Potter, a retired Auror-cum-grocer, and a big black dog; rated G; 3400 words. Remus' mother is a cat person. So is Remus. That's why taking in a giant black dog for the holidays is no fun at all.

For WAdvent: The Map and the Territory, featuring John Watson/Sherlock Holmes and a books of maps; rated G; 1600 words. Three maps of London that light up John Watson’s imagination.

* We have been invited to an f/f wedding! I can never get enough of these.

* I'm finally getting over a very odd cold that only shows its symptoms in the late afternoons and evenings. Have you ever had one like this? For about ten days now, I start the day off feeling great, but by 3:00 or 4:00 I'm tired and by 5:00 or 6:00 I've got a sore throat, a headache, body aches, and the kind of fatigue you normally get with a normal cold that just wallops you for three or four days and then takes its leave. And I've been coughing so much my partner R kicked me out of bed and sent me to sleep on the couch. Bizarre. I'll be glad to see the end of this one.

Hope 2020 has treated you well so far, flist!

Another week, another post! I can do this. :)

First and most importantly, a very happy birthday to minervas_eule! There's a photo for you under the cut, selected because I associate you so closely with this time of the year. You're always so happy to resume your usual schedule in September! I admire that and try to emulate it.

( Sunflower beauty )

In other news:

* R and I have agreed to become regular weekday afternoon walkers for the puppy we were sitting last week, so we'll continue to see him regularly, hurrah! He's just such a happy, positive little thing. Every day is even more exciting than the last! Everything we do is so interesting to him! This is the best walk ever! He can't believe there are so many people and dogs out in the world who can be his friends!

( His own excitement tires him out sometimes. )

* I've been watching Happy Valley while cat-sitting (lots of pet sitting going on around here!) and really admiring Sally Wainwright's writing. It's a bit tense and violent for me, but I can't quite stop--the characters are unfolding so beautifully.

* Something to make you laugh: "How I Spend Money," a comic that's painfully accurate for me. You, too? Or is there something else that falls in that category for you? Sarah Andersen is fun, by the way, if you're interesting in following her. I'm also enjoying Ello Pudge (she's us, write_out): "Me when making plans, me on Friday."

* Just a quick entry this week to establish some continuity. Hope you are all well!

A fun middle name meme via shadowycat:

Answers all have to start with the first letter of your middle name. No googling!

(I'm adding two challenges for you below to liven up your lazy Saturday afternoon.)

Animal.............. Lynx
Girl's name....... Loretta
Boy's name...... Lupin
Color............... Lilac
Food................ Lingonberry
Something you wear..... Leather
Drink............... Lemonade
Place............... Lower Ninth Ward
Restaurant....... La Mediterranee
Reason to be late..... Laziness
Job title............ Librarian

Ha! That was surprisingly difficult. I don't think my brain stores things that way.

Challenge #1: Can you beat my time? This took me 2 minutes and 30 seconds, not including creating the links or writing the rest of the post.

Challenge #2: Can you guess my middle name? You can find a hint in my responses. I tend not post too much personal info here, but if'd you'd like to guess and you guess correctly, I'll let you know via DM.

And the text box, if you'd like to play along:

Animal.............. Girl's name....... Boy's name...... Color............... Food................ Something you wear..... Drink............... Place............... Restaurant....... Reason to be late..... Job title............

It's spring break for me this week, and I've been sleeping in, taking naps, and lying on the couch pretty much 24/7. I've gotten a lot of academic reading done, which is excellent--I love having the time to focus--but that's the easy and fun part, and now I need to buckle down and do some grading. *sigh* Grading is my nemesis.

It's been a quiet week in a good way. R and I had brunch with The College Friend We See a Couple Times a Month and talked about our upcoming 25th (!) college reunion, which we're going to. It'll be my first reunion, and I've only agreed because I can combine it with a trip to the library and archives. (I was not a huge fan of the people at college, but I adored the library.) An old neighbor and friend from Small New England College Town (now a Florida resident) came through town with her daughter and her daughter's best friend, which was fun. There's an Unpleasant Thing going on at work via e-mail that I've been ignoring. It'll still be there when we're back on duty on Monday. We've been doing our usual lunch-time walk with Dog R and are taking care of Dog M while her human's away for a few days.

( Click for happy doggos! )

Via questionoftheday: What do you keep in your workspace to help improve your mood? Does it make you more productive?

Doesn't matter what's in the workspace as long as it's neat! My desk has been a mess for ages ( Click for sad illustration of the state of things )--a sign I haven't had enough time to file and re-organize. I don't think I'll finish cleaning over the next few days, but hopefully I'd make a dent in the piles.

What do you keep in your workspace to help improve your mood or make you more productive, flist?

Hope all's well with you!

Full disclosure: embarrassingly, I do very little cooking and only a bit of the shopping for our household. R loves cooking and shopping and is very territorial in the kitchen, so that's fine with her, but everyone once in a while I realize I'm like a 1950s breadwinner, arriving home just in time for R to put a dish on the table for me. I do try to do my fair share in other ways.

1. Do you make up a dinner plan for the coming week?
Not usually. We usually plan my lunches and even make them ahead of time because it's bit of a push getting me out of the house in the morning, but dinners are more freeform.

2. Do you make up a shopping list and stick to it when shopping?
Yup. Lists are crucial--otherwise I'll forget. Every once in a while I'll realize I have more time than expected and can make a detour to one of the grocery stores, but even then I'll make up a mental list en route. I stick to the list so faithfully that sometimes I'll be wandering down an aisle in the store and realize I wasn't even aware the store sold these things. I'm not a browser. R hates shopping with me--she goes aisle by aisle, looking at everything.

3. What is one thing that you always buy, but never put down on a list?
Everything's got to go on the list! Oh my word, I have a list of everything, including the things I need to check before walking out the door to make sure I don't lock myself out / get caught with no money / have matching shoes on. (Seriously. I double check because I have two similar pairs of brown shoes I've been wearing recently, and one day I realized I'd mismatched them.)

4. Is there anything that you always think you are out of and come home with it to discover you already have a year’s supply on hand?
Not really, but we do get various Asian supplies in the mail from R's mother, unsolicited, and we have enough Chinese sausages to make fried rice for the rest of our lives. Mostly R's mother just wants to stay in touch, and who can argue with getting care packages of food? But the refrigerator is just stuffed with lap cheung. (sp?)

5. Do you get your groceries delivered?
Not the usual groceries, but we do get a box of produce seconds every other weekend. It's super exciting to get surprise veggies that you didn't have to carry home.

What's the most unusual shopping or cooking habit you have, flist?

You can see see both the questions and folks' responses over at thefridayfive.

( Fromage-related Five with a side of sociological musing... )

What's your cheese story, flist?

On a related (gastronomical) note, I haven't forgotten my promise to post my pumpkin bread recipe here, and I'll finally have some time to type it up tomorrow. It's been a week and half these past few days. Hurrah for Fridays!

1. With Halloween coming this next week, do you have any seasonal activities you're planning on doing for the holiday? The better half and I had a Halloween happy hour last night, costumes encouraged. Fun, fun, fun, plus lots of food and pumpkin bread, which is my absolute favorite. (Hm. I should pass on the recipe, it's that good. Will come back to this.) Due to school, I'm unfortunately missing out on Friend A's invitation to hand out candy on Wednesday (she has an actual house with a door, where we live in an apartment). ETA: I'll also be reading hp_halloween ficlets! How could I forget those bite-size treats?

2. What is your favorite Halloween or dress up party costume you've had? R adores Halloween, so we do something every year. Last year we were Amazon Prime--R in an Amazon warrior costume with headband and sword, and me in all black with prime numbers all over. Apart from the inadvertent advertising for a corporation that does not deserve it, it was fun to watch people guess. The best costume yesterday involved a sateen sash and a loaf of bread (breadwinner--clever, clever).

3. Which do you like better, apple cider or pumpkin spice flavoring? Pumpkin spice! Although having had unpasteurized cider in northern New England, I can understand why people like apple cider so much. It's so subtle and delicious it makes the supermarket stuff taste like apple juice.

4. What is your favorite scary movie and why? *sheepish* I can't watch any scary movies. They're all bad to me. The last one I watched was Poltergeist in, oh, 1982. I couldn't sleep for months.

5. What traditionally "scary" monster or fear do you think is the most overrated and why? Again, they're all scary! (I have a low tolerance for scary things.) Although I do have to say I love cemeteries. There's something lovely about seeing so many individual lives honored in one place. They've never struck me as scary. ETA: Plus I love black cats. Surely they've never brought anyone bad luck?

As always, I'd love to see you complete thefridayfive yourself (and thanks to the good folks over there for keep us chatting). But if you're only up for chatting in comments and not a full post, tell me: what's the best Halloween costume that you've created or that you've seen?

A belated but very warm "happy birthday!" to you, therealsnape! Have a bowl of R's roasted acorn squash soup to celebrate the new season?