Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.

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Thursday, December 4th, 2008
shadowstar	11:12p	And the Americanization of Canada continues under Conservative rule In the middle of an economic crisis-- where the party that is in power was in power before-- "serving the public interest" means delaying parliament for 7 whole weeks? After being past the election for this long? (It's not like the election was yesterday, and it's not as if the conservatives weren't familiar with the economic situation. And it's not as if you hadn't thought enough to bring out a plan to do some stupid partisan crap.) If Harper had just taken the whole "minority government" thing and shown himself to be a bridge builder, he'd have probably won a lot of votes next time. But instead, he runs the government as if he'd gotten a majority, and pretends that the other groups that, combined, could have more votes than him, don't exist. I said to a lunch table with an American who'd been living in Canada that Harper was like Bush, only worse, and she agreed. I stand by that. I mean, he doesn't have Bush's power, that's for damned sure, but there's something undefineably worse. I don't know exactly what it is... Maybe it's that Bush implicitly seemed to know he was a puppet president while Harper seems convinced he knows how to call the shots by himself... bah. I don't particularly think Dion's the best thing for the country (anyone who campaigns on a tax, good or bad, is an idiot), but when you've got a minority, you need to cooperate with the other parties. It means: the country did not give you the majority. It means you can't bloody rule the same way. (Personally, I prefer the idea of coalition governments. I think that they should exist all the time, because no party is perfectly right, Liberal, NDP or Conservative. Hell, or Bloc or Green. Let the damned Bloc be a part of the government. They were voted in in parts of Quebec fair and square. Those parts of Canada should still be represented.) Dion is an idiot for campaigning on a tax. Dion isn't much of a speaker like Obama. (Well, to be fair... few are, that guy's GOOD!) But he's damned well right about the way Canada's government works. A minority is a minority. It's not a majority. Parliament doesn't work the same-- no one elected Harper but Conservatives; Canadians elected a minority Conservative government. That means that first, that they didn't elect you personally, and second, that you're supposed to compromise. It doesn't mean you rule high and mighty and pretend everyone voted for you. It was bad when the Liberals did it with a majority, and it's worse that you're trying to do it with a minority. And what's worse is that you vilify our system of government! How dare you! How dare you compare a coallition with a coup! Mr. Harper, Canada is not the USA! If you want to be a president instead of a PM, find some other country where you can rule supreme. Current Mood: aggravated (Comment on this)
atalantapendrag	10:11p	I swear this was on purpose Got a notice on my door today (after business hours). They're doing houskeeping inspections again this month. Between the 8th and the 31st. It's like they WANT to incapacitate me. Current Music: Brian Ibbott - Coverville-081127-The 5th Annual Thanksgiving Double-Shot Beatles Cover Story (2 Comments |Comment on this)
atalantapendrag	5:52p	More landlord DRAAAAAAAAAMA updates In addition to talking to the Austin Tenants' Council this morning, Advocacy Inc. called me back this evening; I need to go get copies of the probation paperwork and the letter from my caseworker stating that I'm disabled & need reasonable accomodation to mail to them. Also, my MHMR caseworker called back, and she's gonna call the manager. *slump* this is so draining. Current Mood: nervous Current Music: Tony C. Smith - StarShipSofa Aural Delights No 53 Ted Kosmatka mp3 (Comment on this)
vimeslady	12:29p	Attention all Mac lovers! So I think I've mentioned before that Tom and I are getting the girls a notebook computer for Christmas, and Justice has specified the Apple 13.3" MacBook. She wants a Mac because that's what they have at school. I am having real trouble buying this thing. No one in this household nor theirs has ever had a Mac. The girls are going to need help, and none of us are going to know anything, and furthermore, none of us are really interested in learning. Also, I'm worried about software. This one, for example, comes with 22 programs, and I've only even heard of three or four of them. The more I think about this, the more I think that we should go with a PC. I Do Not Want to give an 11 and 12-year-old something this technical with which I am totally unfamiliar. The girls are on my computer and laptop as well as Elizabeth's all the time, so they know their way around Windows and the common MS programs. Okay you Apple lovers out there - Try to convince me to get the MacBook. I really do not see any advantages. Current Mood: grumpy (5 Comments |Comment on this)
vimeslady	8:17a	My timing could not be any worse ( Alan Rickman at the Nobel Son Premiere ) This was at the EgyptianTheater in Hollywood on Tuesday!! And I left L.A. on Monday! I knew the premiere was going to be sometime soon, but if I had known where and when and could have gotten tickets I would have been there somehow. It might have meant flying home and picking up my car later, but it would have been worth it. Alan said in a recent interview that after he is finished with the Harry Potter movies he would like to go back to stage. I am so going to see that if it happens! I discovered Alan just as Private Lives was finishing its run. I totally fail and suck at timing. Current Mood: morose (1 Comment |Comment on this)
beccastareyes	10:58a	A science post I haven't done one of these for a while, and with Dr. Salpeter's death, I feel like I should talk a bit about some things he worked on. So, it's story time! Today I tell the story about how we found out where the elements come from. Some astronomy, some nuclear physics. It'll be fun! ( Okay, so let's start with the elements. ) Current Mood: nerdy (Comment on this)
atalantapendrag	9:10a	Doing what I can Ok, so yesterday I called Advocacy, Inc and did an intake interview, called HAND and got an appointment for emergency cleaning help for tomorrow, and called my caseworker at MHMR and the Family Self-Sufficiency Specialist and never heard back. This morning I called the Austin Tenants' Council's Fair Housing Program and gave my info to the woman there and should get a call back from their intake person, and called the FSS woman again and caught her this time, explained my situation, and she should be calling me back. Of course, I'm fucking phone-phobic and need to take valium after all that... which means I can't get much actual cleaning done (really, that goes for the stress of the whole situation). Talk about counterproductive! Current Mood: stressed Current Music: Feast of Fools - FOF #891 - Christmas with Peaches - 12.04.08 (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
vimeslady	11:51p	Home Got home around 3:00 this afternoon. Today's drive was relatively short and pleasant; no rain, and traffic through Portland wasn't too bad at all. Justice fell and sprained her ankle on Sunday (and of course no one told me until today), so she could only watch during dance class. But at least I got home in time to take both girls to dinner before class. Unloading the car, unpacking, etc. will have to wait until tomorrow. I need to stumble off to bed now. Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: Song for a Winter's Night - Sarah MacLachlan (Comment on this)
atalantapendrag	3:05p	I don't need this shit The frickin' apartment complex manager put me on probation for failing my housekeeping inspection; basically meaning she can evict me when she pleases. So I spent the past half hour talking to the intake guy at Advocacy, Inc, and leaving messages with my caseworker at MHMR and my contact at HAND. Also tried reaching the HACA Family Self-Sufficiency Specialist, but I don't have much faith in her. I might wind up having to spend the money I've saved toward an Eee to get a maid service to go over my place, but I have the suspicion that even that wouldn't satisfy this bitch. She has the letter from my caseworker documenting my disability, she knows HAND is looking for an aide for me, and she doesn't give a shit. It was a very good thing I was going in to touch up my cutting today. It helped keep me from doing some dumbass shit like cutting myself. Took some Valium, hopefully that'll put me out for a while. Current Mood: anxious Current Music: comments@geektress.com - Episode 32: I Forget What Eight Is For (7 Comments |Comment on this)
hyel	12:46p	Political analyst David Binder has compiled yet-to-be-released statistics on the vote for Proposition 8 based on ethnicity and found that the percentage of black voters who approved the amendment is smaller than originally thought, Minter said. A CNN exit poll indicated that about 69 percent of black California voters marked “yes” on Proposition 8, but the new data indicates that about 57 percent of black voters approved the amendment, he said. The revised statistic would be similar to what exit polls showed for voting patterns for other ethnicities, such as white and Latino voters. - The Washington Blade (Comment on this)
atalantapendrag	5:38a	I can has awake? Going downtown to get my cutting touched up today, so I can't sleep until 7 pm again. Caffiene should happen soon. Go downtown, get protein-rich lunch (I'm thinkin' a gyro at Cozzoli's), go to the post office, walk down to Industrial Primitives and get sliced, and if I feel up to it, go to the grocery store for a few things after. A few words on the book I just read, because I got it from simon_saysuk! First, I really suck at reviews of any sort. Really, really suck at it. But the matter at hand: Generation Dead, by Daniel Waters. It can be neatly summed up as an afterschool special with zombies. Basically, for no reason that is ever explained, American teenagers are coming back from the dead, and they're the newest oppressed minority. This comes off a little heavy-handed at times, thus the whole 'afterschool special' vibe. But it's an enjoyable book, with characters that ring true (both the alive and the 'differently biotic'). There's a dead boy who goes out for the football team, the gothy (living) girl who goes out with him, and the story kind of spirals outward from them. It's not life-changing and I don't expect it to have a fandom, but I was pleased to see that a sequel is due to be released in May. It's an engaging read, and Circe is currently informing me that it makes an excellent cat pillow. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008
shadowstar	9:02p	House makes me sad... I get the feeling we're following 13 so much because they don't have anything left to say about House. That's sad. Very sad. We're going in the shipping lanes because, again, they have nothing left to say about House, so they have to try to do sexual tension between him and Cuddy. I really prefer it all to stay subtext, and not too open and obvious, either... Fanfic is the place to explore relationships like this, not onscreen. I can find all these things amusing in fanfic, but not so much on the television show. House does not love Cameron. House does not love Cuddy. House does not love Wilson. House does not love Thirteen, or Taub, or Kutner. House does not love Chase or Foreman. House loves House. House is friends with Cuddy and Wilson, certainly. House employs the rest of them, absolutely. Blech. Love ruins everything. Luckily, the ending in the morgue was awesome. And it appears that the clinic patients are returning next episode! Yay! At least it might be amusing again :) Current Mood: tired (Comment on this)
atalantapendrag	7:06p	Jesus. I can't seem to wake up. It's after 7 and I've been napping all damned day. Gotta be awake tomorrow though, going to get my cutting touched up. Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: Feast of Fools - FOF #889 - Milk and Meat - 12.02.08 (Comment on this)
beccastareyes	11:16a	So, I did three pictures on Sunday... All are exchanges The first I sadly can't link to since it was for Yuletart (Like Yuletide Treasures, but for fanart and not reserved for rare fandoms (though there is a 'no Harry Potter' rule).) The second is here, for MAX. The third is here, for MRCaEX on LJ. I also have a picture for myself and one for mirisa_ardruna in the works. The Yuletart picture has seven named characters and a bunch of extras. The MAX picture has two. The MRCAeX has three with a background. The one for me has six, and the one for Kim has two with a real background. That's a total of 20 characters over five pictures, many of whom aren't just standing there. (The picture for me does, but people are at least waving.) I have gone insane. At least I was told on the MRCAeX pic that my art had improved markedly over the last year or so, some of which is because I try not to draw people standing there looking at the camera with their typical expressions. It makes me miss webcomicing, since that was an excuse to make myself do difficult poses, since I had to tell a story with the pictures. (In other news, writing Yuletide fic. Ended up writing for a fandom I nominated and had on my wanted list, for a couple I asked for. It makes me want more fic with them, except the fandom is essentially one page on the Pit of Voles. Also makes finding a beta difficult if I want one to check fandom-specific stuff.) Current Mood: creative Current Music: Scars Left by Time-Yasunori Mitsuda (Comment on this)
beccastareyes	10:48a	Meme Put your MP3 player on shuffle, and write down the first line of the first twenty songs. Post the poem that results. The first line of the twenty-first is the title. ( Read more... ) Current Music: Learn To Fly-Josh Woodward (Comment on this)
Monday, December 1st, 2008
spacelogic	8:11p	that was such an unrealistic earthquake.... Okay, finished watching all the Lincoln Heights that currently exists, except the Mysterious Missing Episode In Which A Lot Of Stuff Apparently Happens. So except for having a lot of final exams to worry about suddenly, I'm more... here. Incidentally I realized I never said that I did wear a sign for my transchums, but I did. I learned two things: that people do the most amusing routine when they see a significant amount of lettering they want to read, then afterwards decide that they don't want to admit that they read it, and that the most supportive people around here when it comes to trans equality are teenagers. It's funny, really, because these kids wouldn't think twice about tossing out slurs in casual conversation, but they also clearly want to support minorities in a way older people don't, usually. It's like -- one time one of these same kids tossed a "that's so gay" and I confronted him and he seemed ashamed and apologetic, but a grown man stood up to defend him. Kind of makes me wonder if the generational thing goes kind of like this: generation 1 embraces the concept of men and women as legal and social equals in the ideal society. Generation 2 grows up with that concept entrenched in its mindset, and thus logically takes it to the next step of households not needing the male head/female caretaker model any more, accepting working mothers, stay-at-home fathers, and same-sex couples. Then the next generation goes "well, if a person's gender role is not defined by their biology...." I mean, I'm simplifying a lot, but in terms of general worldview and what you grow up taking for granted, I think that's how it's working. To close this post, I'd like to appeal to you to Prove My Sister Right. She considers a certain Bruce Springsteen video creepy. One of her friends thinks it's "sexy" and not creepy. I say it's sexy and creepy. (I love Springsteen anyway and don't think he's a creepy person in real life.) So here's the video: Poll #2804 The prove my sister right poll Open to: All, results viewable to: All The video is.... View Answers Creepy and not sexy! 1 (50.0%) Creepy, but kind of sexy 0 (0.0%) Not really creepy or sexy 0 (0.0%) Not creepy, and kind of sexy 0 (0.0%) Not creepy, but sexy! 0 (0.0%) Sexily creepy! 1 (50.0%) Current Mood: ditzy Current Music: Bruce Springsteen - Fire (Comment on this)
cedara	9:39p	Enemy of the Bane (part 1) Oh, this was brilliant! ( spoilers ) It'll be hard waiting for next week... Current Mood: excited (Comment on this)
atalantapendrag	5:46a	Falling prey to Cyber Monday HolyClothing had an extremely limited sale of 100 items that were going for $9.99 each. I was able to score a pretty blouse in black. They're also offering free shipping (on any order, any size order) today so I bought a black skirt as well. ThinkGeek has a one-day free shipping offer as well, for orders $25 and over with the code CYBERMONDAY. Great time to get those cases of Bawls, people! I'd already planned to get the Despair, Inc. calendar and they had the awesome cool steampunk skeleton on sale for $9.99 (in sizes from small to 3X! I'm sure some of you would like that!), so that worked out damn near perfectly. So, set back a little on my Eee fund, but not too badly. Current Mood: shopaholic Current Music: Coast to Coast AM (Comment on this)
ajatshatru	9:22a	Pretty disturbing. … Obviously I haven’t been reading the newsp’s properly. I happened on ‘The Statesman’ of the 16 Nov. last evening, and it’d been reported in that of a terror alert for blasts and whatnot at 6, 7 different major points in Calcutta sometime between the 25 to 30 Nov. I’ll reply to the comments as soon as I can. Not quite up to it yet, sorry. Take care, everyone. … Current Mood: cynical (Comment on this)
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
atalantapendrag	9:08p	The demanded gossip ( Date report and some navel-gazing ) Current Mood: hopeful Current Music: Lecture 13 The Battle of the Sexes Love and Evolution (6 Comments |Comment on this)
shadowstar	11:16a	I blame CSI I suppose this is probably kind of old, but... "Penetrating Photographic Process" is supposed to be able to figure out images from data that doesn't exist! How wonderful for us all! We can create-- uh, I mean, SEE details that weren't, uh, visible before the process! http://www.profindsearch.com/storm_ufo.htm And your photo can be done with this amazing, advanced technique that has only been demonstrated on alien spaceships for "a fee!" Yep. I blame CSI and L&O for making people think that getting data from nothing is possible. I guess Star Trek TNG might have started it, but people thought of it as a far future tech until the mystery shows started acting like you could get a license plate number clarified off of the reflection of someone's eye in a hubcap. Oh! The Last Guy is fun and only 5$ right now. But... I want a Toronto level. *sad* Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
beccastareyes	10:38a	In Memory I'm not looking forward to going to work tomorrow. Not because of anything I have to do -- I'm in the 'advisor wants a report that we can start editing into a paper' stage, which is a good one. Plus, I'm already starting on another project, or picking up an old half-finished one, rather. I had planned to have both of these done, so I could do the final bit for my thesis over my fifth year (possibly edging into my sixth if I had to). I think I also have a meeting for student government but that just means I have to spend an hour and a half talking about money and eating free food. But, I happened to have an office across from Ed Salpeter, an emeritus professor, and he passed away over the holidays. He was a pretty nice guy -- I mean, the man was in his eighties and officially retired, but he still hung around the department and went to functions. And, since we worked in the same place, he would say hello to me occasionally. The grad student group hosted a dinner for him just last month and he and his wife sat down and talked about the history of the department. She also asked us to do something about the Styrofoam cups the department used, because we're in 2008, and they should know better. ( Read more... ) Current Mood: sad Current Music: The Poet And The Pendulum-Nightwish (2 Comments |Comment on this)
atalantapendrag	7:59a	Eeeeeeeeeeee (not the netbook) I've got a coffee date this afternoon. Eek! For a not-terribly girly person, I do seem to use a lot of girly stuff to get ready. Bath & Body Works bubble bath in last night's relaxing bath, Woobie fluffy butter wash to shave my pits, Arcana sugar scrub on my sandpapery elbows, Body Perfumery shampoo and Villainess soap in the shower, Body Perfumery deodorant and Woobie body powder after. And before I leave there will be Villainess Whipped! and judicious application of BPAL (Gelt). And I even dug out the hairdryer I haven't used in years! Clothes will be: my cute purple HolyClothing minidress and black leggings. I think I'll wear my rutilated quartz pendant as well. And of course I'll be rockin' my awesome spiked backpack. I am, yes, very very nervous. Didn't sleep well, so I'm knocking back the tea. Wish me luck! Current Mood: antsy Current Music: Futurama: Bender's Game (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 29th, 2008
atalantapendrag	10:15p	Found via Lifehacker For the craftier lovers of smellies on my flist: How to make bath bombs. (Comment on this)
beccastareyes	8:34p	Boo Yah! The novel is maybe half done -- the major conflict has been resolved, but the heroes have stumbled on a new conspiracy. Now, to get back on my to do list. And to clean my apartment. Eh, tomorrow... (Thanksgiving was fun -- a meal with twenty-three people and a crazy amount of food, plus music and singing afterward.) Current Music: Honcho Graham From Birmingham-Josh Woodward (2 Comments |Comment on this)

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