Drowning in Lavendar

Off to Sechelt for a couple days! Well, just overnight, actually, but I have a giant stack of luggage because I'm bringing my jola to play for mom and dad, and then that means I bring a rolly suitcase because wearing another backpack along with the backpack banjo case is too tricky, and then as long as I have a goddamn SUITCASE I might as well cram it full of extra books and my favourite blanket and some stuffed toys so my laptop doesn't feel like it's in a rock tumbler, and in short order I'm a one-woman caravan. Joe's coming along this time too, and he, by contrast, has a one-third-full daypack, plus a gameboy in his pocket. I think I could have fit all his stuff in my purse, and then folded him up - he's very foldable - in my suitcase to save on ferry fare, but then I'd have a terrible time on the escalator, and besides, I have a BC Ferries gift card anyway. (This was the HINT HINT HINT present from Santa, who has recently moved to Sechelt as I understand it.)

I love crossing the Lion's Gate Bridge! (Or is it the Lions' Gate Bridge? Or the Lions Gate Bridge? All three versions seem plausible. There are two lion sculptures being all gate-y, and then the bridge is sort of a gate to The Lions, two mountain peaky items, and then it depends how possessive all these creatures are feeling, and perhaps how hard they growled at the municipal registrar and/or the Queen.) The majestic view of the port cranes and the sulfur piles!!! And I suppose Stanley park, the mountains, the Pacific ocean, the gulf islands, and the forest, yawn ho hum. NEON YELLOW SULFUR PILES!!!

Ok, so the wife and I picked up a new Wii system for the family for Christmas.

Its something I've wanted to do for a while, I've poked at the wii a few times at friends houses, but never really sat down with one and PLAYED before.

We've got the 2 controllers/nunchucks, we've got it hooked to the internet.

We've poked at Wii Sports, Wii Spore Hero (My son >loves< it), Wii Arcade? (not thrilled), Madagascar Racing game (Good fun) and.. Wii Deca Sports (Havent tried it yet).

What we're wondering is.. Where do we go from here?

What are the "Must Have" games for Kids? For adults? We have our two kids who are 3 & 6 yrs old, but also have neighbor kids over ranging in age from 6-12. Any recomendations for them?

Are there any particular accessories we should look at picking up?

Problems found so far:

In the Madagascar racing game, it seems like the turning is very.. soft. it takes a long time sometimes for it to respond to a left or right turn.

When using the remote on the menu screens, we seem to have a lot of Shake in the pointer. I've tried changing the sensitivity, and it doesn't seem to help. Right now we're about 5-8 away from the TV depending on if we're sitting or standing while playing. the Sensor Bar is on top of the TV which is about 5' off the ground. Should we have it lower? Below the screen instead?

Asparagus,

Using one paw to get another off of the sticky mouse trap is not the wisest course of action. You will have TWO feet stuck, instead of one.

Next time, just call me and I'll get you off, okay, sweetie?

-Mommy.

Crossposted to asperger


Hi everyone.

To start off, I'll just introduce myself. I'm Mollie, I'm 18-years-old, and I'm neurotypical. My twin sister has Asperger's.

Ok, I just have a question. What is your view on the term "aspie"? My sister finds it very offensive. She always says, "You know what they call us? They call us ASPIES!" (I don't know who "they" are. She attends school in a private, mixed-age wing in a public high school. I doubt she's talking about the public high school students, most of whom probably don't know what Asperger's is.) Have you ever heard this term being used derogatorily?

I can identify to a certain extent. As a queer/genderqueerish person, I've come to embrace certain terms that have been typically used against the queer community in order to take the edge off of it and reclaim it so it can't be used against me. (Okay, I'm talking about the word "dyke". I used to be terribly offended by it and put off by people who use it- even queer women who use it jokingly or whatever. I feel differently about it now that I'm more comfortable with myself. Anyway, </rant>... this isn't about me.)

My sister is somewhat engaged in current events and the neurodiversity movement, though she has a tendency to read information and then regurgitate it without fully comprehending what it all means. Or maybe she does, but she communicates it in ways I don't fully understand. She's very talkative, but sometimes (in writing) she uses vocabulary words that just don't fit, so if that reflects her verbal communication or comprehension in any way....

Ok, sorry for all the ranting. Posing the question again: how do you (you as in each individual person reading this, not people with Asperger's in general) feel about being called/calling yourself an "Aspie"?

Thanks!

Molls

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Well, I was all set to go to bed earlier than usual, and then I took one last look at those little spoon charms...

...and now it's half past two, and there are two more spoon vessels that will go into New Shinies on Wednesday.

I'm working out some of the geometry on these. It's a pendulum swing: very ornate, rather spare, ornate again, sparer yet.... We'll see where it ends up. One of the vessels is very faeryland, all curves and ornaments and little firepolished crystal beads in a finish they call "amethyst glow," and the other is just sterling silver wire in two gauges. One side of the latter came out looking like fantasy to me and the other like science fiction, which was amusing.

So much in my head, and this late at night it seems that my pain receptors say, "Oh, the heck with it!" and take a little break, and the temptation is to stay up, but I'm going to be at least semi-good and go to bed pretty soon. Might take a hot bath first, as it's kinda cold around the edges hereabouts.

Curses! I cannot find the words to Frenobulax! It was my earnest desire to torment my husband by singing this haunting anthem in the car, but instead I shall have to sing over and over the opening lines, which are all I can remember.

We're on our way home from our dear friends' annual wine & cheese party, where I heard the most wonderful toast:

"To absent friends! And to absent-minded friends! Actually, that's probably why they're not here."

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20091228

The Girl Genius comic for Monday, December 28, 2009 has been posted.

Miss Honey,

You can't be rude to other people. You really can't. I realize that you do not want to have anything to do with a person that is not me, but it's getting out of hand. When Auntie Karis picked you up today (you, who mistook her for me), you got this shocked look on your face and immediately ran away. I was attempting to play the Wii sitting down, which was hard enough, and then you decided to curl up in my lap after attacking the cord between the Nunchuck and the controller.

It also makes it difficult to use my computer when you are constantly marking it and/or attacking my hands. And then you type all over the place. Pickles never did it. Why do you insist on it? Are you secret a lolcat that dislikes my baby talk? If so, too bad.

Love Always,

Your Obedient Mother/Maid


PS- You have half a mustache and you constantly look surprised because of that and the marks above your eyes. I just thought you should know why everyone is always laughing at you.

I think I really misread something related to what classes I need to graduate becuse I look at it now and I require a lot less than I thought I did.
It looks like I need 17 credits, one 400 level history class, one happy-international understanding class, and one US history class.
It looks like after this term and having my Incomplete in Latin become something else (like a B or C), I'll have all of my credit requirements fulfilled! (even if I drop one of my classes)

I think last term I was reading the remaining requirements as if my fall classes were already added to the numbers and now I realise they weren't assed in.
Holy shit. I might be done after Winter. I mean, I'll do Spring to finish Latin and take some classes I like. But just... wow. I feel like I need to celebrate.

I loved having you near me, purring, while I was trying to sew. But I'm annoyed as it is about having to move buttons over so I can still wear that pair of pants. It doesn't work that well with you trying to grab and chew the thread.

Also thanks for behaving this Christmas. You only tried to climb the tree once, although you did try to 'help' with the wrapping of gifts at times, which was funny.

In emailing with my fellow Gally co-conspirators about the particular hilarity that pretty much any Lady Gaga song when paired with the idea of cosplay in LA creates, I was once again remained of the Neutraface thing, which I've been assured is funny even if you're not a typeface geek. So there ya go, if you're the one person on the Internet who hasn't seen it yet.

STEAM!

I buy a game I want to play and I have to register on line. I'm okay with that. But When a game I want to play requires Steam, I can't play it without being connected. I don't play games online; the connection here is poor. It is slow, and it drops out occasionally, like when there is a really heavy summer thunderstorm.

Oh no! The internet has gone out again, I'll play a game instead. SORRY! The game you paid for and installed on your systems and you have the original disks for WON'T WORK because you need the bloody internet to play games on your pc.

So I buy Empire Total War. Oh goody! I'll install that. Oh,need to register it, no problem. Bugger, it's a Steam account. Right! Installed, Registered, Verified and now I'll... wait SIX FRIGGING HOURS while Steam decides the new game I bought needs to be updated. I didn't ask for updates. I don't want special services available to online users. I just want to play a game, dammit, and I want to play it on my PC at any time I bloody well want to play.

And the worst part is I'm installing it on my laptop. The laptop I will be using when I go to remote areas, so I'll have something to do.

You know, those remote areas with NO INTERNET.

Can't help feeling ripped off.

Documentary charting the birth and growth of the Scottish nation. (I haven't seen the whole series but thought what I had seen was enjoyable)

( I have 10 episodes so I wanted to put the urls and episode descriptions behind a cut )
I'd appreciate if you would comment if you take any of these. (If you like what any of my ads are for and click on them, that's even more awesome)

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Greetings from snailsville, where the snails are wobbly but triumphant, and have definitely shifted into pendant and hair toy mode (and necklace, soon). Here are your shinies, direct from the Lioness:

( Oooh. Shiny! )

My friend's cat Holly; I suspect she decided that her species required representation along with the camels, cattle and lambs.

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My (12yo) daughter is reading the Belgariad, her teacher read part of Pawn of Prophesy in class (until they got bored and insisted on something less challenging). My sweet Miss S found my old copy (which I read on the bus on the way to Melbourne in mid-86) and is enjoying it. My little nerdling ;-)

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I have just visited the cat. While she is still not eating on her own and is still jaundiced, today she sat up, meowed, try to come out of her little hospital enclosure and was otherwise more interactive with me. She also seemed less bloated and seemed to be breathing better. While we could still get a lot of bad news tomorrow, this is the first time in days I've had actual hope for her, and it's good to see her less miserable.

Jack's back. Actually, I just chopped off all my hair. Thank god. I feel about a bazillion times better. It's cute (at least it was until the fucking hairdresser tried to make it flouffy -- LEAVE IT ALONE -- I AM NOT A POODLE). Once I wash it it'll be near perfect. I'll get a little trim before Gally, and we'll be good to go.

Okay, so the response to expensive cat illness shouldn't be retail therapy, but I caved and bought myself a new pair of eyeglasses. The frames are Ray-bans, god help me (only funny if you are a child of the 80s, I think) -- fairly rectangular, gunmetal grey, and really, really, REALLY awesome. I spent more than I wanted to, but hey, they'll be ready tomorrow. Transitions lenses too -- so sunglasses and not!

Hard Choice for a Comfortable Death: Terminal Sedation. I tried to read this last night, and failed, which is unlike me. Got through it this morning.

The NY Times on marching bands. But really? It just makes me want to watch Drumline again. I love that movie so much it's embarrassing.

Really need to order/get a stud set for my tux like five minutes ago. If not today, tomorrow. I resisted the urge to traumatize Patty with the easy availability of one celebrating her alma mater. Her alma mater is like a fandom. It's really scary.

cupidsbow is doing this brilliant thing of 12 Days of Cliche with Torchwood fan offerings. Day 2 was mpreg, which is weird in TW fandom, since a) it's canonically relevant (I say relevant as we don't know if Jack was lying or not) and b) it actually can be used to address a lot of other stuff that is central to TW canon. I find TW is the first and only fandom I'll read mpreg in, and I wonder why that is. It's not erotic to me, and it's certainly not making these men seem more familiar to me or my experience. I suppose it's the unlikeliness -- and that is familiar. Jack or Ianto having a damn baby is only marginally more absurdist than my having one. Or something.

marchek sent me a remarkable little poem, 221B, by Vincent Starrett about Sherlock Holmes, that in its first couple of lines really speaks to what I'm doing for the Bristol paper, and I think would also be of interest to many Torchwood fen.

While I didn't much care for Part 1 of The End of Time I gotta say the new trailers for Part 2 (especially this one) give me chills. I normally don't consider trailers spoilers, but these are pretty spoilertastic. I have a lot of hope that RTD's habit of making the second half of two-parters too big manifested in the first half this time, and that the second half is going to be cold and chilling. Also ( Read more... )

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My friends always used to tease me and say you were the furry love of my life, the truth is you were.

The next week will help me adjust to life without you - but the first night I come home from work and you are not at the door to greet me, I will be devasted.

Thank you for an amazing 18 years, I loved your goofy self with all my heart.

You were a beautiful soul.