Ramblings of a Bohemian Free Spirit

Introvert at Work... Ommmm...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:49:34 GMT

An interesting question posted to the introverts community: "Introversion and work: What valuable qualities do you have that are related to introversion?"

It's a subject I've given much thought to recently, mainly in the context of frustration when I perceive that "extrovert" values of speed and accomplishment are being valued more than "introvert" values of doing things at a slower, more focused pace and doing them thoroughly.

Here is the response I posted.

Introversion and work: What valuable qualities do you have that are related to introversion?

Mindfulness.

I work as a (usually overnight) customer service manager and cashier at a large grocery store. The most important quality I bring to the job, in contrast with the extroverts I work with, is that I bring a slower, more mindful pace to the work. The extroverts tend to run around like squirrels on amphetamines, hustle-bustle, hurry-hurry. I (true to the "typical" introvert) don't move as quickly, but I tend to be more focused on whatever it is I am doing.

In people interactions, I try to have a real human interaction with each customer, according to each individual's style. That means respecting the one who doesn't want conversation, as well as respecting the one who wants to treat me like the proverbial sympathetic bartender and unload some concern on her or his mind, as well as the vast majority who simply would like a bit of friendly chat and to be treated as if I see them as human beings, not merely as dollar signs to be "processed" quickly and efficiently.

Introverts also tend to shine in not only tolerating but thriving in the quieter, more focused atmosphere of the night shift. I've learned to adapt and work other shifts, but unlike many of my more extroverted peers, I never get "bored" working the overnights.

Snow, already

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:39:29 GMT

It wasn't a lot, and most of it melted in the daylight, but here in Minneapolis we had our first snowfall in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday. And more snow flurries are predicted for later tonight, into tomorrow. Happy Monday to all the commuters who, true to form, will likely behave as if they've never driven in snow before. ;-)

SNOW!

President Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:42:24 GMT

This was certainly pleasant news to greet me at the start of a new day.

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

What a refreshing contrast from the previous occupant of the White House. I wish he'd get us out of the quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan, like immediately if not sooner, even as I know that that is not necessarily a practical desire, but even so, it's been plain that Obama is a lot more oriented towards diplomacy than his predecessor was. As I've said before, I don't expect him to be perfect; it's enough for me that he's pointing in the right direction.

Wild Horses keep me listening to this song

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:02:12 GMT

Shortly after getting back home from the hospital, I discovered that a single had been released as a sneak preview of Susan Boyle's upcoming album. It's "Wild Horses" by the Rolling Stones, but this version totally transforms the song into something utterly ethereal, haunting, and heart-rending. I will warn you, if you hit "play," you may find yourself doing so over and over again. Susan's voice is not only beautiful, but compelling; truly, this woman has a Gift with a capital "G."

Enough blather. Here's the song:

And here's the link, in case the embedding "acts up" and you can't access it that way:

Wild Horses - Susan Boyle

Thanks to everyone for your good wishes regarding my health. I'm definitely on the mend, now, and working on regaining my strength and stamina so I'll be ready to return to work in mid-October. I work a physically demanding job, on my feet, so I have to actually have some kind of physical condition again in order to return. If I worked a desk job on my butt, I'd probably be back by now. ;-)

Parathyroid Gland Gone WILD

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 06:56:08 GMT

No, that's not a cheesy video to keep the attention of medical school students. That's the final diagnosis, as of my discharge from the hospital on Sunday afternoon, of What Went Wrong With My Body In August And September: "Parathyroid adenoma, hypercalcemia, pancreatitis."

Basically, one of my parathyroid glands was enlarged and overproducing calcium, leading to excess calcium in my bloodstream, leading to all of those lovely symptoms that kept me from eating and drinking and holding anything down, including inflammation of the pancreas. Attempting to eat or drink anything, however mild, just triggered the pancreas, which only made things worse and kept the spiral spiraling downward.

So I'd gotten back to work at the beginning of September, but the next week, the week of Labor Day, I started feeling queasy again as the week wore on. On Friday the 11th I ended up calling in sick to work because I threw up and figured I'd better not risk it. Good call, that. I spent the entire weekend sick to my stomach and wondering why I was back to Square One with this so-called stomach virus that was supposed to be gone by now.

Sunday I went into the Urgent Care and got some kind of stomach-care and pain-pill stuff with an advisory to see my physician on Monday and go to the emergency room if I got worse before Monday. I got worse--stabbing pains in the gut--as I was waiting at Walgreens for prescriptions. My sister (Mother of Spammy) said, "You are going to the ER. Now." And, since she was the driver :-D I went to the ER.

The upshot of that visit was that my gallbladder looked "sludgy," so they thought, "Aha! It's a bad gallbladder! Problem solved!" So the ER contacted my physician on Monday, and my physician set up a referral appointment for Tuesday to a surgeon at the affiliated hospital, with an eye towards examination and possibly getting day-surgery gallbladder removal.

Tuesday morning, the surgeon examined me, frowned, and said, "I don't think it's your gallbladder," and proceeded to admit me to the hospital for further examination and treatment. The latter included such stabilizing essentials as rehydration and dealing with various imbalances such as ungodly low potassium. (Anyone out there who's ever had to get a potassium IV or drink liquid potassium, you know what I'm talking about. UGH.) My body, after a month and a half, was a bit of a wreck, and that needed to be tended to before any kind of surgery could be considered.

Meanwhile, testing revealed that my calcium levels were shockingly high, which is NOT a healthy situation in the human body. "Where the hell did that come from?" was my supremely diplomatic response to said revelation. "I do eat yogurt and stuff, but I don't think my intake's excessive." The doctor assured me it had nothing to do with dietary intake, but rather indicated a malfunction in the body.

To make a long story short, they narrowed it to the parathyroid gland which got removed in surgery on Friday the 18th, along with a rather large (and benign, as was the parathyroid) thyroid nodule. I still have the right side of my thyroid gland and parathyroids, so once they adjust, I should have healthy thyroid functioning without needing to take hormones. Yay.

Now I just have to deal with my body trying to rebalance itself, and the weird symptoms of low calcium, which is a common aftereffect of thyroid and related surgery.

Got discharged Sunday afternoon, and am now at home recovering from both illness and surgery. I am definitely feeling better as far as being able to eat again, though with a bit of trepidation because, you know, that happened before and then it all went bad again. But this time they do seem to have removed the root cause, not just alleviated symptoms--that renegade parathyroid looked pretty nasty, from what I was told--and my body, beneath the fatigue and all, does feel fundamentally stabilized this time. And of course I've got follow-up lab work and exams in the next few weeks, so it's not like they dumped me at home and said, well, good luck, see ya. ;-)

Special kudos go to my sister, her daughter Spammy (the now 8-month-old baby from the pictures), and my best friend for keeping me company in the hospital all week, even when I was crabby and didn't see the point of them hanging around when I kept falling asleep and wasn't a "very good hostess, anyway." ;-) Ah, sick-brain...

Not writing anything in stone at this point, but assuming the whole body chemistry balancing act falls into place over the next few weeks, I hope to be back at work sometime in mid-October. Meanwhile, I am recuperating. Rebuilding. Regaining strength. And damned grateful to be alive.

The Only Song We'll Ever Need for 9-11

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:58:20 GMT

I still remember vividly when I found out that terrorists had hijacked planes and brought the World Trade Center down. My first thought: IT'S FINALLY HAPPENED.

See, here in America we'd had this comforting cultural myth that America Is Special. Bad things like foreign terrorist attacks aren't supposed to happen to America. They're supposed to stay comfortably confined to Far-Away Countries, especially countries Very Different From Ours so they Really Don't Count, anyway.

Add to that how the Former Resident of the White House had been engaging in a lot of jingoistic America Thumbs Its Nose At The Rest of the World posturing (e.g., regarding the Kyoto Accord) and no, I can't say that a foreign attack on America came as a surprise, only as a shock.

But my shock over the attacks themselves was nothing compared to my shock over the national response to the attacks. In the initial aftermath, people around the world were joining together in solidarity and sympathy with the U.S., lighting candles and holding vigils and prayers for peace and healing. And I thought, finally, finally, Bush will see the light, get off the America Stands Above The World high horse, and will see that we have to take our place--as sisters and brothers, not as superiors or rulers--among the global community.

Instead, we got renewed jingoism and a revival of the cheapest, shallowest "patriotism": US vs. Them. Wave the flag, ignore the fact that eagles do not have tear ducts, and Get Mad As Hell Against Them Towel-Headed Furriners. Bomb 'em back into the Stone Age. Support the war; it's your patriotic duty. And the myth of Manifest Destiny reared its ugly head and proved it was Not Dead Yet.

It was a very lonely place to be, back in the fall of 2001, for those of us who were much more deeply wounded by the national(istic) response to the attacks than by the attacks themselves. And not because the attacks themselves didn't leave scars, because of course they did. Innocent people were attacked and killed so a handful of people could make a political statement.

But remember, 9-11 didn't only happen to Americans.

We don't need more entrenching behind our fortress walls. We need to start seeing our shared humanity, not what flags we are waving.

And, so, I present to you the song I think of as the 9-11 song--not in the least because it was banned from American airwaves (at least on some stations) in the aftermath of the attacks. Play it, meditate on it, pray for peace. May it be so.

IMAGINE...

Peace.

August? What August?

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:09:33 GMT

Been sick. Really, really sick. The little "flu bug" I thought I was recovering from turned into another illness that attacked my stomach and wrenched my gut and had me doing little but sleeping and resting and trying to stay hydrated. Couldn't eat for a week. Just beginning to regain strength, now, courtesy of Boost nutritional drinks and angel hair pasta with tamari and olive oil (just a smidge) and lots and lots of rest and repeated doctor trips. Good thing I have a prominent vein on the inside of each elbow.

I'm sick of being sick. I'm sick of talking about being sick. But I thought I'd better give a shout out and let you know that I am alive, just... sick.

I'm still standing... sort of...

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 22:45:04 GMT

Writercon was great. Overwhelming, but great. I have much "inner processing" to do, and, with the various Severus Birthday Fest deadlines coming up in October, much writing to do. I will eventually get around to writing up some of my thoughts and experiences and general ramblings about Writercon, but a few days after Writercon I got walloped with some flu bug that's been going around. Ended up calling in sick to work on Tuesday night, and the general consensus was, "Karyn sounded AWFUL." Not usually something I take as a nice comment, but in this case, well, I guess my feeling awful was showing. ;-) Woozy, nauseated, decidedly off-balance, and seeing sparklies before my eyes after sleeping all day, all evening, and halfway into the night and then some: yeah, I guess I'd call that awful.

So, I haven't had the brainpower to compose a decent post, but that hasn't stopped me from posting on Snape-related posts on other people's journals (shocked you are, Yoda) nor from commenting on the LJs of some of the newly-friended people I met at Writercon, just to let them know hi, I'm reading, it was great meeting you, etc. There are probably still people I've overlooked, so if you thought I was going to friend you and are wondering why I haven't, hey, just give a shout out in the comments and I'll add you--unless I hate you, in which case I'll be happy to thus advise you. :-D

Just kidding. I didn't meet anybody I hated.

I'm heading out into the rain to buy electrolyte water and fruit juice--I think that at this point, some of the wooziness might reflect a need for rehydration; plain water alone ain't cutting it--and then back home to keep resting so I'm ready for a week of all overnight CSM shifts starting Sunday night. Can't really call in sick on that one, unless I'm in the ER or something; it's a pain to get someone to cover the shift. They can do without me if I'm only a mere cashier on a short shift, but getting a CSM for the full night takes a bit of arm-twisting. Most people don't like staying up all night. Weirdoes.

Meanwhile, Elton is always good therapy for whatever ails you. ;-) This is a really gorgeous rendition of "Your Song," recorded in 2004. Watch it (preferably in HQ, if you can) and be Blessed.

Have a great weekend. I'll catch up with myself, eventually.

ETA: Apparently the HQ option doesn't show up on the embedded video. If you want to view it in HQ, click anywhere on the picture other than the "play" arrow and it will take you to the YouTube page, which does have the HQ option.

ETAETA: Never mind. My brain obviously isn't as recuperated as I thought it was. The HQ option shows up once you hit "play."

Having a great time at Writercon

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:55:45 GMT

Met people at the airport on Thursday, escorted them onto the light rail and thence to the hotel. A small group then went to Galactic Pizza for lunch (yum, yum, yum...) and returned to the hotel for the welcoming schmooze and booze. I only had one glass of wine, myself, because one drink is all I can handle these days without conking out altogether; I think the lisinopril I take to maintain my blood pressure has something to do with it.

Friday I ran a bunch of errands, attended two writing workshops--both excellent and helpful; I envision much Retreating Into Writing over the coming months--ran an errand, went back to the hotel for a light dinner and hanging out in the Hospitality Suite, where I read the only other Snapefic (besides my own) I could find in the vast pile of multi-fandom fanfic. 'Twas a Snupin, so I enjoyed it, even if that's not my OTP. As if I have an OTP, other than Severus + anyone far and away from the Wizarding World and Hogwarts. ;-) Then I ran a couple other errands and went home to do laundry. Hey, it had to be done.

Today is going to be a busy day. My fan-led discussion of Severus Snape (HUZZAH!!!) is from 1 to 2 p.m. Wish me luck and hold me in your thoughts! I finally got all of my ideas pulled together, but I fear I have way too much material to get through in, say, 15 minutes. I want to leave a half hour to 45 minutes for discussion, and not just make it Oh Yay Bohemian Spirit Is Venting Verbosely About Severus Snape. ;-) So, we'll see how it goes. At least I have some intelligent and substantial material for discussion.

Screw humility. After hearing about the tendency towards shallow and/or wholly unprepared Snape panels at other cons, at least I can take pride in being prepared--even if *cough* a wee bit over-prepared--and offering a bit of depth beyond, "Well, yay, it was all for Lily, if it weren't for Lily there'd be nothing good to say about Snape. The End." :-P

Following the Snape panel, I will be attending a workshop on exploring the inner lives of our characters. I'm sure nobody who knows me would expect me to look forward to that. ;-) Heh.

Then there is much fun for the evening. I may ending up crashing somewhere overnight, depending how late it goes; I hear that no local is ever turned away from being given a bit of floor upon which to crash. Sunday morning is the writer's salon, and then I go home to try to get my sleep back to a night-shift schedule so I can get through my all-night CSM shift Sunday night.

Woo-hoo! I am wallowing in writerliness! Have a great weekend, everyone.

A nice nostalgic video to make you wistful and keep you entertained

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:34:23 GMT

In many songs Elton's recent performances have a maturity and depth that his youthful, vocally more "perfect" performances lack. "Skyline Pigeon" is one such song; this is another:

I finished my 4,000 words of story-in-progress two days ahead of the deadline for the Writers' Salon at Writercon. Huzzah! That was the biggest thing hanging over my head. Now to have a good re-read of Ned for the characterization workshop, and to get my Snapey notes in order for my presentation/discussion about understanding the character of Severus Snape. For the latter, I will post my introductory remarks here (and possibly elsewhere, as it will be a mini-essay) after Writercon is done.

I plan to give an overview, about 8 to 10 minutes, of my take on the character, in contrast with what I see as more extreme takes in both the "good" and "bad" directions, and offer a few topical points around which to build discussion. I figure that avoids the pitfall of just walking in with no plan whatsoever (I've heard it's been done) as well as the pitfall of spending 45 minutes reading a paper at the audience (which I've heard has also been done). Nothing wrong with "reading a paper," as long as it comes across as presenting the paper as a prepared speech with the manuscript for reference, rather than as staring at the page rattling off an endless ramble in a monotone. I did speech team in high school; I think I can pull this off. ;-)

Anyway, one week to go till Writercon, and I think I'm going to be ready, after all. Whew.

ETA: I finally remembered to make an Elton icon to go with Elton posts. ;-) Yeehaw!

Up to my ears in writing and stuffs...

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:42:59 GMT

In case anyone is wondering, I'm getting ready for Writercon, which is coming up at the end of July and beginning of August.

I have to get 2,000-4,000 words of a first draft of one of my Severus Snape Birthday fics into shape before July 24, for a writing-critique salon. Originally I planned to polish up the first three chapters of Ned (my novel) and give a boost to that happy project, since the first three chapters will probably be my sample chapters for marketing as well. Then I learned that the moderator of the workshop decided to focus exclusively on fanfic writing this year, so suddenly I find myself under an unexpected DEADLINE to generate fresh material; obviously there's no point in using a fic I've already finished and posted. It won't be the entire fic, but it looks like there will be enough there to work with and generate some good feedback.

Of course I will also be reading and critiquing the fics submitted by the other five participants in the salon, so that's also on the list.

For a workshop on character development, I think I'm going to work with Ned from (c'mon, guess it) Ned. Some time ago I realized that I had the POV character, Frederick, fairly well fleshed out, but that there seemed to be some blank spots in my understanding of Ned from Ned's own point of view--the internal perspective, not just whatever Frederick happened to talk about.

And... I am going to be giving a fan-led presentation on the character of Severus Snape! (I may have mentioned this before, here and there.) Of course I am not lacking for ideas about Severus Snape; the tricky part is gathering them, sorting through them, and putting them in order for a ten-minute presentation without leaving anything out. I want to give an overview of my take on the character, followed by a half-hour or so of (moderated) discussion. After two years of studying and discussing the character, I could probably do it without any real preparation, but I'd rather be prepared. ;-)

I am also going to be meeting-and-greeting arrivals from out of town at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and guiding the group to the light rail station and to the hotel downtown. I also have plans to bring them out to a local eatery so we can all grab lunch. Alas, I am not wealthy enough to treat a big group--rent payment approacheth, so I'll be grateful to have enough to cover my own share of the tab--but I think people are expecting to pay for their own meals, anyway. My part is to take advantage of my knowledge of the Uptown/Wedge area, just south of downtown, and show the out-of-towners a few places to find food that might be good alternatives to what's available downtown.

About all I've gotten done online lately is keep up with posting my weekly drabbles for snape100, because I've got a "Summer Holiday" series going and I want to keep it going! For anyone who's been wondering why I'm not commenting much on other stories, and replying only sporadically to comments on my stories, please read the preceding paragraphs of this post. ;-) After Writercon, I will be doing some catching-up on replies and comments.

Finally, regarding the Fourth of July: My son, my youngest sister, her baby girl Spammy, and one other niece of mine did end up going to Powderhorn Park and had a very good time. And Spammy absolutely LOVED the fireworks! She's six months old, now, and I thought she might be scared of the noise, but no; she was staring up at the light show in the sky with the oooh...aaaahhhh... look on her face, and sometimes she even laughed in delight. She's a lot of fun to watch.

The Star Spangled Banner ROCKS

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:52:46 GMT

From the same Canadian guitarist who recorded the video I posted on Canada Day, here's a tribute to his American friends:

One of the things I've noticed for a long time, now, is how the lyrics to so many national anthems have militaristic themes. Is it really necessary to perpetuate the cultural meme that MILITARISM = FREEDOM? Isn't there more to my country, or to anyone else's country, than the fact that they have gone to war? Do we really want to celebrate war and militarism, first and foremost? Can't my pride in my country have to do with appreciating its culture and people and landscapes and other good stuffs? As long as we continue to mythologize war and militarism as "the price of freedom," will we ever be motivated to conceptualize a NON-militaristic way to create freedom and the other good stuffs of life?

In short, I want to celebrate my country without celebrating militarism.

Yes, my country--probably all countries--was founded with militarism, but it was also founded with slavery and indentured servitude and the establishment of only land-owning white males as citizens. And I don't want to celebrate those things, either.

On the positive side, my national anthem started out as a drinking song. ;-) Maybe we could revive the old lyrics and sing those, instead, for our revelries. Certainly the conflation of modern July 4th celebrations with drinking isn't far from the mark.

(ETA: Here are the original lyrics to said drinking tune. They sound rather Midsummer-ish, if you ask me. ;-))

Meanwhile, the really important thing about today is: MY SON WILL BE HOME!!!

My Son, a.k.a. The One True Coconut, will be flying into Minneapolis this afternoon for a week's visit. I'm looking forward to spending the 4th with him, and to seeing him at least a time or two more during the week. Our plans, as of this writing, are to get together with my youngest sister and Spammy (and maybe a few others) and go hang out at Powderhorn Park for our picnic and then watch the fireworks as soon as the sun sets. At any rate, we'll be hanging out somewhere eating food and watching fireworks.

Happy Fourth of July to my fellow Americans, and happy weekend to all the rest of you!

Happy Canada Day

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:12:36 GMT

Today is Canada Day. This was brought to my attention on a Susan Boyle discussion board. No, Susan Boyle is not Canadian, but the fan who posted Canada Day greetings on that board is. She posted a video, which led me to YouTube and lots of click-throughs on different versions of "O Canada," the Canadian national anthem. O YouTube, great waster of my time...

As I was listening to all of those renditions of "O Canada," it struck me: I've lived all my life within a day's drive of our neighboring country to the north, and I know next to nothing about that country. A few random factoids and pop cultural trivia bits, sure. I've even been to Canada a few times, briefly. But what do I really know about Canada? About its culture, its history, its people, about what it means to BE Canadian?

Oh, hell, I'm still working on what it means to be American.

Anyway, it got me to thinking what a damned shame it is that Americans are so insular that we can't be bothered to incorporate in-depth study of at least the two countries that share the same continent with us into our basic education. Am I seeking greater depth and wisdom and growth in International Understanding, or am I just looking for an excuse for an extended road trip?

Because, folks, whatever else Canada may be, it is definitely scenic.

So to any Canadians who happen upon this page, Happy Canada Day.

Eh. ;-)

Farrah Fawcett, icon of my generation

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:23:46 GMT

O.K. 'Fess up. How many of us women who were teenagers in the mid-to-late 1970s had a version of the "Farrah flip" hairdo at some point during those years?

Yep.

I don't have a heck of a lot to say. I've never been particularly fangirlish about Farrah; in fact, one of the strongest memories I associate with her is a girl in my freshman gym class who used to make fun of me and call me "Farrah." For the life of me, I can't remember why; still less can I remember why the hell it bothered me so much. Probably because I thought she was making fun of my appearance, implying that I was anything but an icon of beauty.

Farrah was apparently this young woman's icon of beauty, because she had long blonde hair, done in layers of the classic "flip," and used to wear a lot of makeup. My late grandfather saw her picture in my freshman yearbook and said, "Oh, my, she's... precocious." Which was apparently euphemistic for saying her makeup was sorta kinda age-inappropriate. Looking back from the standpoint of being 45, I wonder if there were things in her life that weren't so awful good, as we'd say here in Minnesota, things that led to the "precociousness" and the petty bullying. But at the time, being all of 14, all I knew was that she was mean to me.

Anyway, one day in gym class I finally had enough. I wanted to use a weight bench that she was sitting on, idly chit-chatting with a friend of hers. I asked several times, she rebuffed me in a snotty way, and the next thing I knew I was hauling off and slapping her across the face. Hard.

Now we see the violence inherent in the system.

Of course it wasn't the right way to handle the situation. Yet, mixed messages: The teacher separated us, pulling me aside, and muttered in my ear, "Good for you." I don't think she was advocating hitting people, just reinforcing that it was O.K. to stand up for myself, and that maybe I ought to try it more often. I'm still working on it, thirty years later, sans the slapping. ;-)

So, about Farrah.

Here's what I posted as a comment on a post in another LJ, re: wanting to hear something besides nonstop coverage about Michael Jackson's death:

Yes. I myself was more stricken by the death of Farrah Fawcett. Odd, considering her initial image was that of the Pretty Blonde Airhead, but she went on to do some pretty respectable work, much of it drawing attention to issues about the abuse of women; and she seems to have been a very good and caring person, according to those who knew her personally. Mainly, I was just deeply saddened that she lost her life so soon to the cancer she was struggling to heal from.

And I'm also saddened that Ryan O'Neal has to live with the grief of losing her, especially before they could go through with the marriage ceremony they decided they wanted to do before she died. But you know what? When two people have been together that long, I think their lives and spirits are entwined in a way that is, itself, the very definition of what it means to make a marriage. Better to have successfully married their lives, with or without the formal ceremony, than to have had the ceremony without the marriage.

Oh... and has anybody taken the time to note the passing of Ed McMahon? Yeah, it seemed like so much of the guy's life was sitting by Johnny Carson's side and chuckling, "Huh, huh, huh," heartily and resonantly, but he did it so well. ;-) Another icon, of a different sort. Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon were definitely from an Older School of humor, but they were part of my childhood. And with all due respect to the memory of Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon deserves to have his passing noted, as well.

I'm into Severus' Shorts! Anybody want to be my Beta?

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:55:00 GMT

Woohoo! I made it onto the list of 30 people who get to be Brief Fics Showcase authors for severus_shorts, a short-fic festival celebrating Severus Snape's 50th birthday in January 2010. I probably shouldn't be so excited, because I also signed up to write three fics for severusbigbang, another 50th-birthday celebration for Severus Snape, but all of the above fics are already in progress, so as long as everyone I know and love manages to stay alive till the fic submission deadlines *crosses fingers* I should have them all written by the end of this summer.

The Severus' Shorts festival asks that we use a beta reader. I don't usually use a beta reader, and I think I could get by with listing myself ;-), but I thought I'd see if anyone on my f-list is willing to do the honors. Since I'm used to editing my own work, all you'd really have to do is read it, alert me to any typos or obvious gaffes, and say, yep, I read it. (Of course any more detailed critique you wish to provide is welcome, as your schedule permits.) The bonus is that you, the beta, will get an exclusive preview of my story for the fest! Wooooo... how can you refuse? :-D But you also have to keep your squeeing (or OMG barfing) to yourself, because what I'm writing, right down to genre and any pairing(s), if applicable, is to be kept secret till the author-reveal after the fest.

I don't think the Big Bang Birthday Bash is being quite so super-sekrit, but it's still not going to reveal authors till after the fest, so I probably won't be talking about those fics, either, except to say I'm writing them. I don't need betas for those, but hey, if anyone wants a sneak peek, feel free to volunteer and I'll credit you as my beta. ;-)

Since I have to keep it all secret, I can't tell you any details about what you will be reading, but anyone who knows me and my fiction knows I lead a PG-13 kind of life, pretty much squick-free. Nothing yucky, but there may be angst, and most likely humor.

Interested? Reply in the comments, via PM, or send me an e-mail at bohemianspiritmn AT yahoo DOT com (or at my "other" address if you have it already).

* * *

Other stuff I'm working on: Ned, of course, slowly but surely. I'm thinking of bringing this to Writercon as my workshop material. And still trying to make time to give the final spit-and-polish to the long-overdue next chapter of Severus Evans, Year One. And one of these days soon I'll be writing a first post for my Inward Focus blog over on Dreamwidth.

Speaking of Dreamwidth: I HAVE DREAMWIDTH CODES, if anybody wants one or more.

Finally... Just to make sure nobody missed this awesome video, I'm posting it again. It's called "The Gift of Metta: Loving Kindness." Beautiful and relaxing music and visuals, based on the Buddhist Metta chant:

Have a good weekend, everyone. ;-)

The Gift of Metta: Loving Kindness

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:07:11 GMT

I realized it's been a while since I posted--been too busy working on fanfic and original writing, I am up to my ears in projects for Severus Snape Birthday Fests, of which it appears there shall be many. So, rather than force myself to generate content that just isn't generating, I'll post a link to an awesome, mellow, inspiring video. I keep replaying this one while I'm surfing and writing. ;-)

Hope you all enjoy it.

Sometimes second place means YOU WIN...

Sat, 30 May 2009 22:29:48 GMT

I spent the whole day hanging out with fellow Susan Boyle fans on the fan site and on chat, watching the final round of Britain's Got Talent. Here are the comments I posted on the blog on the fan site after the votes were all in:

Susan gave a beautiful, nuanced, professional performance tonight. Very heartfelt, especially on the "tigers come at night" bridge and on "so different from this hell I'm living." I was worried because she looked very nervous and drained, like she was just trying to get through the event without collapsing--and yet she gave a brilliant performance, anyway.

When the time came to announce the winner, I honestly thought Susan was going to throw up from the tension. But as soon as Diversity was announced the winner, suddenly the strain fell away, and she was our old radiant Susan once again. And it struck me that, for all that some would count second place as "losing," Susan looked RELIEVED. I think she was hoping, not to take first place, but to be relieved of the obligations to BGT that being a first-place winner would place upon her.

Make no mistake: She loves to sing, even now. It's not singing she's rejecting. Rather, she's realized, in these short seven weeks, that her true dream is not to be a "celebrity" for Britain's Got Talent but to be a professional singer. She doesn't belong in that circus sideshow; she belongs on the stage, doing serious singing--with a little kick of fun, now and then. Did you note how she broke into a wild and energetic dance at the end of the show? SHE LOOKED HAPPY. And I really think that her gracious words about the better act winning first place could be translated, not as a gracious cover for disappointment, but as a gracious cover for relief. She looked as if she were thinking: OH THANK GOD.

So maybe our prayers worked, after all, for the highest good as far as Susan is concerned.

Susan's talent has been made known. She has a substantial following waiting to buy her albums and see her in concert. Let us pray, now, that she can develop and pursue her singing career ON HER OWN TERMS.

My niece is made of spam, my niece is made of spam, heigh-ho the derry-o, my niece is made of spam

Thu, 28 May 2009 14:09:33 GMT

More pictures of my niece, Spammy! These were taken by her mother, my youngest sister, with a proper digital camera, so they are of a much better quality than the ones I took with my cell phone.

Here's Spammy in a big red dress, taken March 2009:

Spammy with her Aunt Karyn. ;-)

Now you can decide for yourselves how much she looks like me. If I'd thought about it, I would have closed the closet door in the background before my sister took the picture--a detail you probably didn't even notice till I brought it to your attention. ;-) I also look a little ragged around the edges, here; I think my sister took this after I'd babysat Spammy all day.

Fists are tasty to chew:

And some pictures from earlier this month (May 2009):

Spammy in a chair--see how she's grown!

Spammy in a swing, looking totally thrilled to be there:

And, one of my favorites, Spammy and her mommy:

Yes, my sister got Spammy's ears pierced. ;-)

There are more Spammy spampics in the gallery, which I will post separately sometime in the next week.

Meanwhile, I've been spending a lot of time hanging out on the Susan Boyle fan site and hoping like hell she wins the competition on Saturday. Win or lose, she's got a beautiful voice and a hell of a lot of people who will be waiting to buy her first CD. And while it's probably not true that she told the reporters to "fuck off," I rather wish it were. ;-) It would only increase my admiration of her.

YAY, Susan Boyle!

Mon, 25 May 2009 02:53:58 GMT

O.K. She's on to the finals, now...

Considering the ridiculously high expectations leading up to tonight's semi-final performance, I thought the slight pinch of nerves in the first few notes was nothing. Some people have suggested it was part of her interpretation of the song and character, but I know vocal nerves when I see and hear them. ;-) Anyway, she quickly relaxed and got into stride, leading to a magnificent finale.

I think the lyrics, especially, so perfectly and poignantly fit where she is as of this singing.

And I do hope she will release a performance of the full song, free of the pressures of a competition performance. Compared to what she's been hit with these past few weeks, if she can overcome that pressure and level of expectation, she's got nowhere to go but up. GO, SUSAN!

Spammy spampics!!!

Thu, 21 May 2009 17:44:25 GMT

O.K. Here they are, a selection of pictures of my niece who was born at the beginning of January. All of them taken with my rather old cell phone, so image quality varies. Lots of pictures behind the cut; if you're on a slow connection, you might prefer to go to my LJ gallery for my niece and view them one at a time. Everyone else, just have a look behind the cut...

3-7-09 - Two months old! One of my favorite pictures of Spammy, except for the stupid pacifier.

3-26-09 - At Namaste Cafe in Minneapolis. I turned these, as well as the Pacifier Spammy, above, into icons. ;-) I love the smiley one of her, and wish it hadn't blurred.

3-26-09, after we left Namaste

Baby Botox Lips, here. ;-)

4-3-09 - Uptown Diner in Minneapolis. Spammy is sitting propped up in the corner of the booth. The first one is one of my favorite pictures of her, though the sleeping one is pretty damned cute, too.

Best to let sleeping Spamsters lie...

And, finally, a picture of Spammy with her mommy (my youngest sister), taken 2-18-09 at Pizza Luce in Uptown Minneapolis. Something about the lighting at Luce's resulted in the sepia-tone effect. Anyway, it turned out to be a nice photo of mother and child. ;-)

And there you have it.

In other news, I still have some Dreamwidth codes available, if anyone wants or needs one or two.

I also registered for Writercon 2009. Since I wasn't able to afford Azkatraz in San Francisco, as I'd originally hoped before all hell broke loose last fall, Writercon proved to be a nice consolation prize. It's a multifandom convention oriented specifically towards writing, both fanfic and original, so it may actually prove to be a better fit for me, since my main interest in HP/Snape fandom is writing and character analysis, not so much in other fannishness like dressing up in costumes and stuff. Which is no guarantee, of course, that there won't be people in fannish costumes at Writercon... especially with the new Star Trek movie out.

Speaking of which, I'm not a Trekkie by any means, but I do have a childhood nostalgia for Star Trek: TOS and may end up going to see the current movie just because of the nostalgia factor. That, and everyone's saying it's pretty good, though probably not "good" in the way that Milk or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (I keep wanting to say "Benjamin Britten") are considered "good." ;-)

Speaking of which, I highly, highly recommend Milk. Sean Penn really excels in this one. Also (geek alert) for some reason the way his appearance was done up in this film made me think he'd make an excellent book-canon Severus Snape, if he is capable of getting the accent right.

Seems I can't post anything without Severus Snape walking into it at some point. :-D

I have six invite codes for Dreamwidth

Tue, 19 May 2009 15:15:37 GMT

If anybody needs an invite code to open a free account at Dreamwidth (whether to mirror your LJ or IJ or to create something altogether new) I have six invite codes available. Just comment on this post and let me know, and I'll e-mail you or PM you with a code.

By the way, that's my niece Spammy in the icon. She was almost three months old when that picture was taken. One of these days soon I will post some Spammy spampics, so you can all behold her cuteness. ;-) Squishy baby cheeks are... squishy!

Beware of the JIGGLY FAT!!!

Mon, 11 May 2009 13:38:04 GMT

I love Grocery Store Magazines. Yes, indeedy, I do.

So. I'm at work last night, and a headline on one of those cheesy, tabloid-like "women's" magazines catches my eye: A Cure for JIGGLY FAT!

Jiggly Fat.

I never even knew it existed, still less was a disease in need of a cure.

Then again, this is one of those magazines in which every issue features both a Radical New Diet Guaranteed to Drop Tons of Pounds in Hardly Any Time At All AND a Make This Triple-Bypass Chocolate Cake! type of recipe.

I am woman. I am not stupid.

I can't even ROAR about this one, it's so stupid.

Meh.

Best part, though, was the woman who came through my line near the end of my shift and said, "Jiggly Fat?" I laughed and told her Great Minds Think Alike. We must've spent five minutes riffing on the stupidity of Jiggly Fat, the Next Great Threat To Public Health. Move on over, swine flu!

Following the sheep...

Sat, 02 May 2009 16:11:48 GMT

I got a chance to obtain an invite code to create a journal at Dreamwidth, so I decided to check it out. For some months, now, I've been toying with the idea of creating a blog called "Inward Focus," in which I would write about introversion, solitude, the inner life, as it relates to life, work, and spirituality. I get tired of reminding people that introversion is not a social disease, personal defect, or a sign that I must be autistic.

(Yes, that last one was once lobbed at me for real. Enjoying extended blocks of solitude + getting really wrapped up in my thoughts when thinking deeply about something + not always picking up on cultural-social cues = autism and/or being on the autistic spectrum. These traits apparently have nothing to do with contemplation, concentration, or the fact that we tend to excel at where we place our primary attention, and vice versa. If certain traits identified with autism resemble traits identified with introversion, then introversion must be a form of autism, Q.E.D. :-P I swear that if you ask some people what their concept of healthy introversion is, they would answer that there's no such thing.)

Rather than ram my head into a brick wall, I have joined the herd of sheep and flocked over to Dreamwidth as user inwardfocus. The blog/journal/whatever is likewise entitled Inward Focus. Thus far all I've posted is a set of three dreamsheep icons adorned with spiritual symbols and captioned with really bad puns. Real, substantive content is in development; ideally, I hope to post about once a week or so, with something constructive and inspiring and thought-provoking and insightful and all that good stuff.

Meanwhile, my bohemianspirit LJ will continue to be what it always has been: a random rambling through whatever the heck is drifting through my mind on a given day. And I suppose that hodgepodgey nature is a theme unto itself. ;-) I wouldn't change a thing.

As Mr. Rogers always said: I like me just the way I am. ;-)

Pebbles the Cat speaks!

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:08:30 GMT

Put down your drink before you click "play."

This is so utterly ridiculous. I can't stop laughing. Any concerned cat lovers in the audience should rest assured that Susan Boyle undoubtedly continues to take very good care of her cat, and leave it in good hands when she's away from home.

Mighty awesome, if I do say so myself.

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:55:26 GMT

Yes, it's a Susan Boyle macro.

I just loved this picture when it was released a few days ago. Idiots notwithstanding, a haircut and color and a bit of tweezing of the eyebrows does not constitute a Radical Makeover. But I must say Susan is looking mighty confident, here, like she knows damn well what she's doing so back the hell off and don't mess with her.

Right on, Susan. :-D

So of course I had to turn it into a macro.

Whatever happens with the competition on Britain's Got Talent, I think she's gonna do just fine.

ETA: From Piers Morgan's blog on the official BGT site, April 26:

The Boyle phenomenon has got so insane, I’ve got a horrible feeling that when I die, the headlines are now going to read: 'JUDGE IN SUSAN BOYLE VIDEO DIES.'

LMAO.