(no subject)

so apparently Florence + the Machine did a music video with blackface the other year.

why must my fave be problematic.

(you'd think, having spent so long in Supernatural fandom, I'd be used to "my fave is problematic"...)

(no subject)

so last night I talked myself out of going home early bc hand pain four separate times that I recall

because if I went home early I'd lose overtime money

the bony bits of my wrist where the metal bits of the wrist braces were pressing? still sore this morning

guess who's not working ANY fucking overtime today

(no subject)

Hand pain forecast: actually bad enough that I am dictating this with Dragon. Which is less frustrating than typing, which is an unpleasant change. If I had more than a week of accumulated sick leave, I would actually take today off work because the hand pain forecast is just that bad.

I wonder if there's a German dictionary for Dragon? I mean, that might be cheating, but if I can't type, that's a problem. Because you know the English dictionary is not going recognize me speaking German. "Wie sagt man 'fucking Dragon' auf Deutsch?" equals "The sock non-bucking Dragon off too much?" How to train your Dragon! Oh wait synecdochic (whose handle I will not attempt to dictate) took that already.

why does the software insist on typing somewhere other than where the freaking cursor is? I keep having to cut and paste or hand type and the whole point of this exercise is not to have to hand type.

(no subject)

Okay did I crash Dragon or did I crash Pidgin? Evidently Pidgin, because Dragon is behaving in Dreamwidth.

(no subject)

Oh ha ha self. You see, I put on my to do list to wash the car today. If I do it myself… Well now that is just not going to happen because it involves my hands. But it costs more to do it any other way. And the windshield wiper fluid is just not cutting it anymore.

I unpacked boxes

I found my copy of Seven Daughters of Eve! Also more CS Lewis than I realized I had. And several other books that will be going on the garage sale post but not right now because that requires typing.

(no subject)

I should now be watching the lecture for fiction writing class. But I wish to be writing. I suppose I could attempt the writing assignment without watching the lecture? But that seems somewhat of a bad plan, and also I'm not sure where to begin. The assignment is the opening paragraph of a story that creates sympathy for the protagonist as well as verisimilitude. I am drawing a blank.

Not that this is what I wish to be writing anyway, but everything else requires research. Or canon review. Which is sort of the same thing.

If the reason I am not watching the lecture is because I wish to be crocheting while I watch the lecture, I will be very annoyed with myself. Because of course crocheting is not happening today.

(no subject)

I had entirely forgotten that the title Seven Daughters of Eve refers only to the European — let's call them mitochondrial Eves in miniature — and not to the miniature mitochondrial Eves around the world. This despite a long stretch in the middle of the book discussing the mitochondrial DNA of Polynesian people. I had also entirely forgotten that when we finally get to the names that the scientists in question gave the seven most recent common maternal ancestors of the various European groups, the book turns into fiction about the seven women. I mean, I understand the impulse to make these women seem real to the reader, but. After the fiction part, there is a family tree of sorts connecting the 33 daughters of Eve to mitochondrial Eve herself, and that is global, but still.

(no subject)

There are 82 books waiting to be put on my garage sale post, as soon as I can properly type again. This does not count the Supernatural tie-ins, which I need to detail anyway.

further in the "why are all these stories downers" files

Richard Ford's "Rock Springs": racist (though possibly character not author), classist (ditto), yech. I feel no sympathy for anyone except the black woman and the little white girl, neither of whom is a major character in the story.

Mary Gaitskill's "A Romantic Weekend": pretty sure that's all on the abuse side of the line between abuse and BDSM. I don't sympathize with the woman so much as pity her.

And these are the stories for "build sympathy for the protagonist" week?

(no subject)

Nothing quite like taking a test and submitting it and having it autograded and getting a 25 out of 70. I knew I was going to lose some points because I put things like "too much background noise" in the answer space for "write this word that this audio is the teacher spelling the word" (there really was, she must have been recording these in a cafe or bar), but seriously?

Then I realized it couldn't autograde some of the questions. There are 27 points unaccounted for because die Kursleiterin hasn't been at them yet.