I caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror at work this morning and thought: I look 34. This is interesting; I've been 33 for a while, will be 33 for a while yet, and still...34. I don't even know what that means, and I'm generally crap at telling anyone's ages beyond "considerably younger than me" and "considerably older than me," but there you have it. And then I took my employer's online health assessment and it said I was the physical equivalent of 31, so basically, what the fuck ever. :)

Hi!

( I've been doing stuff )

Amusingly enough, what brought this all on was digging up my old LJbook (that pdf thing you could make back when the mass exodus was beginning...hmm, looks like they're still around) and coming to some pretty startling realizations about who I was twelve years ago, what I felt comfortable sharing about myself, and how much that has all changed. Even so, I found I missed the vivid depictions of my daily life, because with the passage of time I have forgotten so much of what I was so sure I'd remember in stark detail, and the prospect of losing my current memories in the same way disturbs me to no end. (Of the grad school years, on the other hand, I'm just as happy to be largely free.) So expect some more detailed rumination in the near-ish future, whenever I need a break from puttering about the house (!!!) and/or have thoughts more suited to this quiet, reflective forum as compared with the more largely sarcastic, amusing shoot-from-the-hip exchanges of Google+.

They say thirty is the new twenty
And twenty is the new thirty, shit I guess
Makes sense, 'cause fifteen-year-olds seem twenty
And twenty-five-year-olds seem ten

Remember that post from Friday where I was all, "here are things I need to post about," and some of them are getting on half a year old at this point? Yeah, fuck that, it's queue-jumping time. Let's have some Chat Stew Last Remnant, everybody!

Because here is the thing: The Last Remnant is not the best game I've ever played, not by a long shot. It is in fact a deeply flawed game, especially the 360 version. But I love it to bits and after spending I don't even know how many hours on it getting all 22 achievements/1000G and finishing all guild quests (including DLC) except the three unsolvable ones -- it lacks a game time counter, that's one of those unforgivable flaws right there; another is that the 360 version has three unsolvable guild quests -- I am now doing nightly Google Hangouts with tcdohl to watch the entirety of his PC-version playthrough. I'm writing fic for the first time since Vesperia. It got me to detach from the Vorkosiverse, for crying out loud; what more do you possibly want?

Here, in no particular order save the fact that I'm using my Vesperia recap post as a loose guide, is everything you could possibly want to know about TLR. Mostly spoiler-free except for names and vague references to events that won't make any sense unless you're past that point anyway.

( This game is ace. )

So yeah, basically I love me the hell out of this game, and while I'd be happy to answer questions or fend off concerns, I'd also pretty much be happy to float a few people the money to try it on Steam, because it is, seriously, just that good. (The PC version, anyway. Sigh.)

Invaluable for anyone who may play this ever, on any system: 1) The Wiki (you will not survive long without this); 2) the chronological sidequest guide (built for the Xbox, strong enough for the PC). I have a few more guides where those came from if you need specific advice beyond what I feel like typing up for a comment, but those are enough to get most people started.

The price for staying just barely on top of things at work is that it all falls to shit in my personal life. :P Here are posts I've been meaning to make for, oh, ages now:

• Captain Vorpatril's Alliance review and general commentary on the state of Bujold's Vorkosiverse
• The Europe photo album, fully commented, with an explanation of what all happened this summer
• Concert and recent album reviews, including Roxette, Florence + the Machine, the Killers, Muse, and a side note on Linkin Park's latest
• The Last Remnant, aka 'that which has devoured hundreds of hours of my life and shows no signs of letting go'

Personal emails I really, really need to send include missives to Shawn & Paige, Jess, and probably tcdohl's brother and sister-in-law. If you want one too, go ahead and say so; maybe in five or six months I'll surprise you! :|

By the way, I'm coming up to the Bay Area next weekend to present at APHA. I'll be emailing the people I've already tentatively discussed seeing, but if you think my plans should include you and they don't appear to do so already, this would be an excellent time to let me know!

Not gonna lie, I can think of plenty of work-situations that are far more humiliating than this, but ( ugh )

What I had been trying to tell him -- and did, eventually, when he finally guessed it right, was that I had two R01 grants funded last week. TWO. I'm Co-Investigator on one of them, merely a consultant on the other, but I contributed substantially to the development and writing of both of them, and they'll cover a combined 35% of my time for the next 3-5 years. This is huge, basically; federal monies are the bread and butter of an institutional research enterprise, and in one week I managed to justify my promotion, the new office, the space request for my staff, and potentially (fingers crossed!) a new hire to pick up the analytic work I need clear off my plate so I can do the grant work. But no, I'm female and in my early 30's; of course I must have been excited about Something Else, wink, wink. Sigh.

So yeah, as previously mentioned, vacation happened! Hawaiian Airlines gave us free RT tickets as a result of that mechanical-failure delay from last Christmas, and like hell we were going to let those go to waste. Highlights:
+ Kihei, Maui in general
+ Free mai tais on the way in, free wine on the way back
+ The unbelievably delicious "Haleakala" combo (coconut and leche syrup with sweet cream on top) at Ululani's Shave Ice
+ Buying my own snorkel gear (with vision-corrected goggles, so awesome)
+ Endless Kate Capsize jokes aboard the Friendly Charters' Lani Kai, whose captain actually donned pirate gear and threatened another boat at one point
+ Everything edible at Eskimo Candy. SO GOOD.

Probably there was other exciting things, but it's been a week and I still haven't caught up on my sleep yet. Did I mention I'm trying to get two more grants out by October 5? No? That's probably because I haven't had time to breathe, let alone eat, think, sleep, or other requisite activities. And speaking of, I better get back to it. (But I will attempt to finish commenting those Europe photos this weekend, or thereabouts...eheh...)

And all of this without even mentioning that The Last Remnant completely ate my brain this past month. More on that later, to be certain, but in the meantime -- noting The Killers' "Miss Atomic Bomb" here for future reference. (Oh, Rush. The heartbreak.) Also Muse's "Madness," since I've been waiting for a Best Song of 2012 to emerge. Can't wait for that album to drop, regardless of what the utterly ridiculous and totally incorrect wespacephantoms has to say about it.

Official Radiant Historia ask-me-anything thread!

( Cut for great big honkin' SPOILERS )

All in all, I give this game a 10! Thanks again to iris_of_ether for the rec and the gift. :)

I've been meaning to say something to this effect all week, and the first chance I get is while tcdohl is on a dinner run half an hour before we're supposed to drop one of the cats off. Aaaaagh, indeed.

So: tomorrow we leave the state! Wednesday we leave the country! Greece - at last count, Athens, Syros, and Mykonos - by way of Paris, for two weeks. We'll be back by the 19th, give or take, but I'm not due back at the office until July 23. Fuck yeah.

When I return to work, I hope to have a new job description to sign and salary to match. If not, it'll come soon enough afterward. I'm being promoted to Administrator, the last (and only) step before Director. One year after transferring to my current division, right on schedule. :D This will be it for a while, though, so I need to make this one count (hence the salary negotiations despite being in a fairly weak position to do so).

Much to do, much to look forward to, now and later. Pictures will go up in a G+ album in good time, to be linked here in turn. See y'all later!

In the interests of knocking something off my ever-expanding list of obligations and clearing some badly needed brainspace, here are my disjointed and EXTREMELY SPOILERY thoughts on A Dance with Dragons! Or what I remember of them, anyway; I really should have written this the day I finished reading it, which is now more days ago than I properly remember. ;_; If I fail to address something you're particularly interested in, ask!

( Warning: SPOILERS. Biiiig honkin' spoilers. )

Yeah, I think that's just about everything, but I reserve the right to add and edit as thoughts rematerialize. Consider this a hefty SPOILER WARNING for the comments, too, should any appear -- it's a reaction post, you aren't going to get people selectively reacting only to the parts of the book that you're already expecting.

If you missed your chance before, you can still ask me for questions now!

( This got long! You're shocked, I can tell. )

And now if you'll excuse me, NEW PHONE OOOOH SHINY--

Man, the Tyrion chapters - by which I mean the Magister Illyrio chapters - are basically just a built-in excuse for food porn, right?

(I didn't say it was going to be a useful update.)

Also, I got bored and snuck a look at the chapter title listing online. Do I really have to wait until chapter 46 for an Arya POV? Not cool, book! Not cool at all. And yet, still more enjoyable on balance so far than AFFC.

Testing out the Eljay app per cytherea's recommendation. This...this is pretty damn nifty, tbh. Pity reading/friends lists don't seem to be operationalized for DW, but a mobile app for posting still simplifies the process dramatically.

Hmm. Hmmm. This bears consideration.

:)

("Tragically, no one ever seems to figure this out.")

I noted this on G+, but since I'd like another copy for posterity: Yesterday was my four-year anniversary at [employer]. Hooray! I don't know how I lucked into my first career employment being one I actually want to keep and develop long-term, but I'll take it. :)

Things I may want to post about soon/someday: Comparing ASOIAF to the Game of Thrones TV series; video games I have played recently; work-things; marriage, family, and the social implications of personal goals (touched on very briefly in response to tangerine42's excellent but locked post on same). For the moment, though, I turn to luinied, who gave me five questions!

( Which I will now proceed to answer, at length, as is my wont. )

You know the drill: comment with a request and I will try to give you five for you, as I am able to come up with relevant questions. This also assumes you're not tcdohl; if you are, I'll give you a second set if and only if you answer the first one. :D

Now that it's no longer International Trolling Day (aka International Stay the Hell Off the Internets Day), I can give you a quick update on where I am. Right now, it's the surgeon's office, where I'm waiting to have a cyst removed! ( TMI? ) One of three person-wide, as it turns out, but the only one that's actively problematic enough to warrant surgery. (I kind of feel like the Doctor here. "I make cysts now. Cysts are cool." Except, y'know, not.)

On the brighter side, tcdohl and I finally bought our tickets to Greece this summer. RT from Boston via CDG, about $700 less than what the choir paid for their "group rate" through their "travel" "agent". Progress?

What else is new, Internets?

Well, I suppose letting my account lapse to free status is one way of dealing with a horrifically out-of-date icon set. :Þ I still very much support Dreamwidth's mission, but I'm no longer entrenched enough to warrant the forking over of spare dollars in service to it. For one thing, there are an ever-increasing number of organizations that I think are more immediately in need of my money, and I'm actually making a concerted effort to donate these days. For another, while their hearts and business model are in the right place, DW has fallen down on the two areas that would have kept the service useful to me: a functional mobile site (dw_mobile hasn't been updated in almost two years, not an auspicious sign) and cross-site reading lists (officially axed in December 2010). I really like DW and will continue to read, post, and comment here as I'm able, but...the phrase "a day late and a dollar short" comes to mind. For everything else, there's Google+.

It's odd; I do still find myself composing journal entries in my head, but I rarely manage to find the time to commit them to text. Some of this is due to the work explosion this year -- I had a stretch in February where I came in to work for one purpose or another every day for 19 days straight, not including the 8-hour Saturday retreat a couple weeks prior, and between work and other personal responsibilities I've had exactly one fully unscheduled weekend so far this year. Such is the price of ambition; I'm clearing out my 12-manuscript backlog with remarkable alacrity, and I've submitted four federal and five local grants in the past six months. (The net result so far is that starting in July, I'll be covered somewhere between 80% and 147%. But of course I won't know until June. *headdesk*) When I'm not at work, at least during the week, I've been seeing one of the myriad medical professionals dedicated to keeping me pasted(e) together, because God forbid my entire body actually works the way it was designed to. I'm trying my best to keep some balance, but it's not easy right now. April looks better on the sanity front. :)

And now for something completely different: I didn't write this comment, but I kind of want to give whoever did a big hug, because third sentence aside (me, femme, not so much), that is the best explanation of my personal thoughts on gender (let me show you them) that I've ever seen.

Enough of this. Lunchtime! Lunch and paper editing and dear God, I need a television in here. :Þ

You guys, it's been forever since I was able to claim that posting on DW was in service of my job! Which is probably partly why it's been forever since I've updated here. The rest of the story falls to the usual subjects: actually working at work, avoiding computer use at home (seriously, I went online twice this weekend, and was up past 2am both nights; coincidence, this is not), and an intense distaste for typing long entries/responses on my phone. Shit like this never helps, but I think smartphones have done more to kill casual blogging as a communication tool than the boneheaded moves of any individual company. (Disclaimer: I am a curmudgeonly old touch-typist and do not have fun interacting with keyboards where both my hands will not rest comfortably in home position.)

With that said, this is one of a whopping three posts I'm making today -- there's already a frivolous locked post you may have missed, there's this post, and there will be a serious/thoughtful locked post on the intersection of research ethics and data that I'll start working on right afterward. That one's probably much more of interest to me than any of you, but I'll leave it up for anyone who might want to read and/or comment. (ETA: And given the late hour, the third post may not be finished today at all; as long as I get it done before 2:30pm tomorrow, though, it'll work out.) Anyway: those of you whose RSS readers only pull public posts, consider yourselves notified to log in and check for the others. ♥

(If I may interrupt myself for one second, though: damn these days where I don't eat lunch until 3pm are difficult. And after everything else, I still have choir rehearsal tonight too...wargle.)

Enough about that...on with the show! Where by "show" I mean "2011 in review," and by "2011 in review" I mean "food trucks OM NOM NOM."

( The list! )

You read that right -- those are only the new trucks I had not tried prior to 1/1/11. I maintain a separate Twitter feed containing the complete list of trucks that at least sometimes appear in the vicinity of my workplace. However, the list will likely never be this impressive again; having moved nearly two miles down the street last July (see: division change), I find myself in a veritable food desert. When the best option is walking the 3 blocks to partake in the hospital's cafeteria, you know you have (first-world) problems. :Þ

Best food truck of 2011: Jogasaki Sushi Burrito, hands down. Sushi burrito. Do I really need to say any more?

Best song of 2011: Florence + the Machine, "All This and Heaven Too." Runner-up, and winner if you insist on songs that get radio airplay: Florence + the Machine, "Shake It Out." Ceremonials is the good stuff, man.

Whew! Check G+ if you want pictures from Hawaii and elsewhere, witty quips and commentary, and my good old-fashioned takedowns of those who are doin' it wrong. Plus, y'know, whatever other random shit springs to the top of my mind. :) And hey -- happy new year!

FYI - my now-traditional year-in-review post will go up about a week late, on account of (a) vacation and (b) the critical bits, i.e. my list of visited food trucks, are stuck on my work network, which, see (a). I am making a legitimate hardcore attempt to divorce myself entirely from anything that even hints of work-related responsibilities on this vacation, which runs until January 5. I say "hardcore" because this is much, much more difficult than it looks, at least for me.

Of course, this would all be easier if vacation would happen on anything according to schedule. Instead, today's Magical Trip to Hawaii turned into a Magical Trip to the Airport followed by two hours of Magical Waiting Around followed by a Magical Trip to the Airport La Quinta, where tcdohl and I are presently stationed. Long story involving mechanical failure and spare parts that only exist on Honolulu short, we were rescheduled to 5:30am tomorrow, which changed to 11:00pm tonight, which changed again to 5:00am tomorrow. In conclusion, fuck it; we ate our comped lunch, went swimming in the surprisingly warm outdoor pool, and are going to eat our comped dinner and go to bed and get up at ass o'clock and shuttle to the airport and collect our $300 vouchers and hope really, really hard that someone wants to fly us to Honolulu tomorrow instead, ideally in time to make our 1:00pm transfer flight to Maui. And maybe sometime next year we can visit Oahu proper, and maybe also Kauai, though I'm not counting on it.

More later! Or possibly not, depending on whether I feel like pestering tcdohl for use of his netbook and/or decide non-audio/non-Google+ broadcasting is worth the hassle of operating via my phone.

Last night, my boss confirmed that I will get a $2000 bonus for helping a friend write some papers!

Today, my car was all "TRAC OFF! CHECK ENGINE!" When this happened a few months ago, it cost me $2300!

:(

Fortunately, the guy at the dealership recognized me from the last time I brought the car in (at which time the knock sensor had to be replaced. Hee, knock sensor.) He was very nice and set me up with a loaner car and put an appointment into the system to have the errors checked out first thing tomorrow morning, without me having to come back, for free -- normally they charge for diagnostics. And if it is the same problem, they'll fix it for free, since all their work and parts are guaranteed. Naturally, the chances of it being the same problem are miniscule to the point of laughability.

(If there is any silver lining, it's getting to test-drive one of the 2012 hybrids. Very nice...just a year or two away from delivering the mileage to make it a worthwhile investment.)

Of course, this is but the most recent entry in an ever-growing list of drains on my resources for the next three years. The bigger issue on the horizon is some serious upcoming dental work, which is basically a lemons-into-lemonade scenario (where the lemons are "major repair of an upper archway full of fail" and the lemonade is "cosmetic smile makeover"). I'll get the final projections next Monday, but the rough and dirty numbers they gave me at my exam put it around ten thousand out-of-pocket for the upper arch. (I will eventually need the lower arch done too, but those can be corrected as I go; the uppers really all need to be done at once or my bite will get all fucked up.) I get two years to pay it off interest-free, which helps, but still: that's pretty much all my remaining income not already earmarked for regular living expenses and Greece next summer. And this doesn't even get into the other procedure I want that my health insurance won't cover, but I can't get a good quote on that until I get my office to myself during business hours. :Þ

tl;dr It's a bitch when necessary health care gets filed under first world problems, because first world problems are damn expensive. Viva consulting, not that they've paid me yet either!

Before it gets any later (and I forget even more of what happened), a day-by-day recap of my trip to DC. I am too lazy to upload pictures unless prompted, so tell me if there's something in particular you want to see, especially if I never posted it to G+.

Friday, Oct. 28:
Flew out to DC. Watched Law & Order; posted to G+ while somewhere over Arizona. Checked into the Washington Court, ordered room service, and felt exceedingly decadent.

Pictures: My hotel room; Meetings with Douglas Development Corp. building; the Capitol at night; Victims of Communism memorial (illegible night shot)

Saturday, Oct. 29:
Had brunch with Jess at Mike Isabella's new restaurant Graffiato. Yay! Successfully ate beets. Braved horrible wind and rain and snow. Felt gratitude for wool coat and windproof umbrella; remorse for failing to bring gloves and/or hat. Picked up conference registration materials. Uploaded third-revised-really-final-this-time talk. Walked around Chinatown. Picked up takeout from Legal Sea Foods and was nearly bowled over by the nostalgia. ♥

Pictures: Horses wearing tarps (apparently there was a horse show across the street from Graffiato); a Chinese Dunkin Donuts sign

Sunday, Oct. 30:
Attended conference opening session; was blown away when first 5 speakers were POC and again when the second one mentioned legalized gay marriage as a good reason to hold a conference in DC. Enjoyed the blatant politicking of Sen. Tom Daschle. Had yummy Thai food with Aaron. Called rbb and made plans for dinner. Took a stroll around the Mall. Met rbb for dinner at Clyde's.

Pictures: View of the Capitol from in front of my hotel; International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Victims of Communism memorial (daylight-legible this time); AFL-CIO credit union; a fountain on the Mall; several closer shots of each side of the Capitol building; ducks in the reflecting pool; Grant statue; reflecting pool and Washington Monument; Library of Congress; Supreme Court building (including doors, pediments, and facades)

Monday, Oct. 31:
Slept through Susan Reverby's talk. Attended talk on power analysis in SEM; confirmed my own expertise in the subject. Met Alex K. at his poster; chatted awhile; met Karol when she came by. Gave my talk to 50-60 people, including grant program officer. Felt relief at including thank-you slide to funding source in slide revision. Fielded request from fellow panelist to work on a symposium on dyadic analysis next year. Took the metro out to Dupont Center and had dinner with tcdohl's brother.

Pictures: NPR building; Union Station at night; Capitol building at night upside-down in reflecting pool

Tuesday, Nov. 1:
Got up ass-early to attend two other talks I co-authored. Skipped 3rd talk of session (poor English speaker) in favor of coffee. Conversed with Karol re: applying to PhD programs in social psych; felt a small piece of my soul wither and die. Met mryn for lunch at Busboys and Poets. Caught up on email; lounged. Failed to exert self in time for LGBT caucus dinner. Went next door to Art Smith's Art and Soul; barely made the small-plate happy hour specials. Had a drink and a lovely chat with a woman from Boston in town for the same conference; ate own crab beignets and half her BBQ ribs.

Pictures: None!

Wednesday, Nov. 2:
Got act (and luggage) together; checked out of hotel; caught early shuttle to airport. Engaged in approximately the same conversation in TSA security line as on flight out. Flew back to LA; watched more Law & Order; successfully derailed employer's VPN and cleared out some remaining work obligations. Came home. (Home!) Took tim out to dinner in thanks for his watching cats & fish while I was gone.

Pictures: Old-timey telephone box; US Dept. of Education "Research Librar"; glass door of IES department (gov't. agency who funded my dissertation); scenery from bridge over Potomac

---

Bonus! luinied was here last weekend too. This mostly involved eating tasty foods, (re)watching Star Driver, (re)playing Tales of Vesperia (the co-op mode is really fun when one person actually wants to see the plot), and meeting some grad school friends of his who are now doing vaguely professional academic things at UCLA. More importantly, we discovered the local Kinokuniya has both the ToV illustration guide (nothing terribly new here) AND both the Yuri and Flynn 1/8 PVC Alter figures in stock! WANT. So freakin' gorgeous. I took my own pictures for posterity, but I'm not sure $102 pre-tax, each, is in the cards right now. :\ Also pictures of luinied with Lulu and a later solo shot of catwigle!Sigurd, which may or may not later appear on the Direcat tumblr.

I think it says something about how long tcdohl and I have been together that my principal reaction to someone hitting on me is confusion. Not in a self-deprecating way, just in a genuine bafflement, Tristan-esque "but why?" kind of way. Certainly some of my off-centeredness has to do with being in what I consider to be romance-free zones at the time, such as (most recently) the gas station and the grocery store -- I don't exactly go out to bars or clubs where I'd expect this kind of activity. Hell, I don't even hang around coffee shops for more than a quick to-go order. I find I've grown terribly awkward in the years of not having to think like this; lord knows how the rest of the world does it, anymore. Good luck, world, I don't envy you your attempts, however well-meant.

(We'll ignore the guy who insisted I roll down my window in the middle of Flower St. to comment on my license plate a few weeks back -- I don't think he was making a pass so much as expressing genuinely happy surprise to have found one other person in the city who'd played Xenogears.)

Elsewhere in my life:

The purchase order for my new computer has gone through! Maybe I'll actually receive it some day.

tim was here! Then he went to Scottsdale. (My condolences.) Tomorrow he'll be here again!

Work is still occupying more of my thought-cycles than it has any right to! In no particular order, two more papers were submitted this weekend, I have two furious weeks of grant revisions in front of me, the DC trip for which I'm still woefully underprepared is coming up, my temporary peace with Team Dysfunction will probably shatter tomorrow when I have to scale back my involvement on one of the projects, and I need to somehow corral a sweet but impossible-to-manage faculty member long enough to get her to write a couple papers and a grant, which is easier said than done when she doesn't reliably return anyone's email or phone calls. Oh, and then there's the lay description of cluster analysis and crosstabs I need to run for my consulting project, without which I can't send the first invoice...waugh!

I'll get it together eventually. In the meantime, we are all terribly overdue for some humorously labeled kitty pictures.

( You know you've missed me )

I have been neglectful! I figure my updates on Google+ are regular enough to alert people that I'm still here, but it finally hit me that if I don't spend at least a little time chronicling the events in my life, I'm going to forget them. This goes double for media consumption; God forbid I have to play through Star Ocean 4 again to remember why the postgame was such a tremendous letdown. I'm whole sets of RPGs and TV series and books -- oh, the books! -- out of date; this must be rectified at once.

I have my defenses, though. In addition to everything I mentioned in the last post, and regular-work and consulting-work, my travel schedule has had a few, er, adjustments since I last shared it.

( As you shoot across the sky )

I'm still terribly saddened that last weekend's whirlwind wedding trip did not actually take tcdohl or me to Madison, so we still owe visits to almost everyone who lives there. On the plus side, there are some seriously badass pictures of us from the festivities, all dolled up in med/ren gear. :D Hopefully I will remember to copy those over and share them soon. Note to self: Update Direcats tumblr while you're at it.

The time I haven't spent running around the real world has almost exclusively been spent exploring the literary worlds in my head. (Barrayar, mostly.) Part of the impetus behind attempting to post more often is going to be cataloguing my reactions to and opinions of the entire Vorkosigan Saga and its many beloved characters, up to and including the epic fics I am now rereading because I'm out of first-run fic. :o All in good time, though.

So. A toast to new beginnings? Or, at least, the written records thereof.

I'm sure it's just me, but my God do the Polovtsian Dances make a stunning mental soundtrack for the Vorkosigan Saga. ♥ Not that I'd have minded performing for Gregor, hmm...

(Ok but seriously you guys I could really do without the 15-hour days. Ugh. Sorry I'm so quiet of late; see above, below, here, and also Google+. (If you know my real name. (Whether I particularly wanted you to or not.)))

Off to Culver City, Famima, and the second-to-last rehearsal of the summer. I still can't believe anyone would pay good money to hear me sing...Monopoly money, maybe.

Can't sleep, clowns will eat me too busy reading Vorkosigan saga...

(Halfway through Ethan of Athos now, having in the span of a couple weeks finished the six books prior. Can't stop reading! Kindle for Android is an absolute godsend.)

So yeah, I might be a wee bit late to the party on ADWD when it's finally mailed out in a couple weeks. Preemptive apologies?

Elsewhere: yea to Suits, Cal Phil, foreign slash films, revitalized aquaria, and Dodger Stadium. Nay to sunburn, June gloom, SO4's postgame, and whatever bureaucratic tangle is holding up my #*$@!% division transfer. Did I miss anything?

...but seriously, folks, I could not be happier about the TCM finalists. :D

So far today I have called Doug a selfish bastard (if not to his face), been accused of attending E3, and overloaded my awwww meter. Basically, a productive workday! And there are still two hours left.

Updated travel itinerary:

March 19-25: Fresno/Mountain View/San Francisco/Burlingame/Foster City/San Mateo/Antioch Done.

April 27-29: Washington, DC Done.

May 19-22: Flagstaff/Phoenix Done.

June 9: Richmond, CA Done.

August 22-28: Kansas City/St. Louis

September 23-25? Madison

October 29-November 2: New Jersey/Washington, DC?

The Madison trip is definite but the dates are up in the air; the DC redux trip depends on whether anyone else will pay for it. I helped submit five abstracts to APHA this year, four of which were selected for oral presentations and the final of which got in as a poster. Even if I only have to give one of the talks, it's still enough of a reason that someone should cover me to go. Just need to figure out who.

I really ought to make a proper post on Star Ocean 4, what with it eating my life and all. It's a wonderfully disappointing game, as Tri-Ace has been extremely successful at producing lately; even so, I'm disturbingly attached to characters I really shouldn't be by the time I hit Disc 3. Faize~~~! ♥ ;_;

Dear self: please to not have any additional dreams about Jaqen H'ghar. As though my eye weren't twitching enough on its own...I've been living in my head a lot lately, but I think maybe it's time to cut back, at least for a while.

My mockery of a Dreamwidth profile informs me that I somehow missed the three-year anniversaries of defending my dissertation and finishing Frozen Hell grad school! I guess the trauma really does wear down with time, leaving only a tired, complacent acceptance in its wake. I'm still trying to make things better for those who come after me, though, one hopeful misguided PhD candidate at a time.

Meetings with Doug, Wasilla wannabe edition: He's traveling to Alaska in a couple weeks, and (therefore?) has a beard now. It is not a playoff beard, because he is "not into any sports". Picture that with a perish-the-thought nose wrinkle. Levi Johnston, the man is not. I can't believe his wife lets him get away with it. I sure wouldn't.

Speaking of traveling, I drove to Flagstaff, where it was 36 and there was still snow on the ground in some places. I took some great pictures of the Grand Canyon. I drove to Phoenix -- well, mostly Scottsdale -- where it was 92 and for once in my life I was happy to wear a short sleeveless dress rather than going the full suit and tie route like the menfolk. tcdohl and I played Hangman during my cousin's wedding service, which had far more mentions of Jesus (i.e., n > 0) than a wedding involving a Jew should ever have, and made friends with my dad's cousins at the reception and bailed early so we could get the hell out of Dodge -- well, mostly Scottsdale -- at ass o'clock Sunday morning. I drove home to Glendale, where it was 66 on Sunday afternoon, and I sang O Fortuna with all the heart and lungs I had to offer.



(Come on, you can't pretend you're surprised.)

Meds and bed! And LOLA, which for some reason is airing an episode tonight I haven't seen. I may be the only one, but damn, I'm going to miss it when it's gone.

Me: The last thing I told you got back to [REDACTED1], and from her to [REDACTED2]...don't they say discretion is the better part of valor?
Doug: Whatever I said to [REDACTED1] will now inform what I say going forward.

---

Doug: We need to verify that item #22 and 32 are correctly reverse coded. I can run through the charts and reverse code them tomorrow if we are going to use them.
Me: Please don't change anything in the raw data. Are 22 and 32 the only items that should be reversed?
Doug: Looks like all items need to be reversed.
Me: All items except 22 and 32 need to be reversed, or all items entirely?
Doug: Looks like all items need to be reversed not just those two.
Me: You do this to me on purpose, don't you.

I trust you are all familiar with Lewis Black's aneurysm bit? (And if not, ignore the video and listen to the audio from 1:05 onward.) Yeah. LET'S FIGURE IT OUT!

(Ow.)

Thursday I drive to Flagstaff! Saturday I drive to Phoenix! Sunday I drive home from Phoenix and then get to stand around and sing for a few hours! God, I miss sleeping in past 7am. :(

May day! May day! Happy birthday to Dreamwidth, &c.

I live!

DC was amazing. I remarked on more than one occasion that I would love to live there if I wouldn't hate to live there. The fates were kind to me this trip, though; no tornado, and the two days of expected thunderstorms resolved to sunshine and pleasantly warm temperatures instead. Arrived Wednesday afternoon; ate tasty soup and chocolate-chip muffins in the shuttle; got a free room upgrade at the lovely Washington Hilton; met Aaron for beer (him) and lemonade (me) at a truly awesome combination-bookstore/coffeeshop/bar; ate sandwiches; slept. Woke up Thursday morning; picked up my colleague's conference materials; changed them to reflect my name; ate French food; attended some talks; ate Italian food; did my poster session; met Jess; ate Cajun food; got lost in conversation; walked back to the hotel around 1am. Woke up Friday morning; attended a really great methods talk; walked over the bridge; ate breakfast; went to the National Zoo; ate more French food; caught a couple more talks; took the shuttle (and got sucked into conversation with a very crazy Canadian tourist); flew home. Watched even more Law & Order than usual (mostly CI this time). Virgin America is officially the only worthwhile airline if you need to go from coast to coast.

Yesterday was the supposed 5k fundraiser walk. I say "supposed" because tcdohl and I completed the course in about 40 minutes, and aside from some polite jogging across intersections when cops were kindly holding traffic for us, we did indeed walk the entire time, and even we don't walk that fast. Google Maps suggests our actual traversed route was more like 2.3 miles, which I'd believe. I walked about 7 miles over the previous 3 days in DC, though, so I'm calling it even. The street party afterward was full of so much delicious food, and tcdohl even got to have his own impromptu Meeting with Doug ("Nice to meet you - I've seen you on TV" edition), which was endlessly amusing for me. Then we went home and watched what is probably the best episode of Doctor Who I've ever seen, which is to say Moffat is clearly in his element doing horror.

Somewhere in here I meant to have a summary of Star Ocean 2, which I finished a couple of weeks ago. The upshot is that I suspect I would have enjoyed it more had I played the "Second Evolution" reboot instead; the PSX original is pretty God-awful. Terrible characters, terrible voice acting, terrible plot "resolution", terrible translation/name-changing that actively interferes with the plot, and of course I just had to luck my way into the single worst main-character ending. :Þ Will be fixing that the next time I finish it. On the bright side, the building blocks for Tri-Ace's later successes are clearly in here. The gameplay itself is pretty fun even as I know how it was improved for later releases; certainly it's engaging enough to sustain me through the remainder of the Cave of Trials and [Final Boss] Limiter Off. Speaking of, I also have to give them major credit for having a final boss (Limiter On) that managed to kick my ass six or seven times before I figured out how to beat him. Considering how badly I'd exploited a few tricks (early Marvel Sword, early Eternal Sphere, pickpocketed Battle Suit, forged medals + dream bracelet to level 100, unlimited fol...? Check, check, check, check, and check.) and cruised through the whole game, including the pathetically-named final (heh) dungeon entirely on autopilot, I genuinely appreciated a legitimate challenge from the end boss.

Looks like it's going to be in the 90s this week. I like the warmer weather, but we'll see how the kitties take to it. Best get on with my day while I can!