More Pics from the Maxfield-Parrish-Verse [05 Dec 2009|12:41am] lavendertook The composition is kind of boring here, but I love the colors, since few of my shots managed to line up clear sky behind the trees. A good clear blue sky really sets off the fall colors so much more vividly, especially with the deeper reflection. ( And more . . . ) post comment

The Keeping of Feet [03 Dec 2009|10:49pm] lavendertook So as we continue on around to the west side of the lake, the sun that emerges from under the cloud bank is not the same one that descended therein. And little does this couple here know that, like us, they are now in the universe of Maxfield Parrish. ( Take the hidden paths that run . . . ) post comment

Leaves of Absence [02 Dec 2009|10:42pm] lavendertook I'm almost over this lingering, not quite ready for prime time flu thing. Still a little congested, but I went ahead and did my voice post for read_lotr_aloud here and here. And I got a lovely Paris post card from Frodo, Sam, and frodosweetstuff--thank you, you three! In other health news, I'm crossing my fingers that I just had menopause when I went through constant hot flashes the other week, because so far so good about period not showing up this week. If that was it, that would be so awesome--somehow I don't think I'll be let off that easy, though. On to the pretty trees . . . Remember, you can click on any pic for embiggenment. Here's your sugar maple straight up, the colors all a memory now. ( And yet more pretty colors . . . ) post comment

Red Maple on the Hill [30 Nov 2009|10:26pm] lavendertook Just more pics of that red maple. BTW, all these pics are still from one day in October, over a month ago--the leaves are pretty much gone here now. ( And here . . . ) post comment

numbers [30 Nov 2009|02:02pm] spacelogic [ mood | worried ] [ music | Bruce Springsteen - The Wrestler ] A while back I was looking through a collection of brochures for different programs at my school and caught myself thinking "wow, there're a lot of women on these brochures!" Then I thought "I wonder how many there are, exactly," and counted. End result: 13 women, 17 men, and a few I couldn't positively identify. Hm. I think part of the reason I thought it looked good was that they had women on the brochures for "male" fields (CS, engineering) and men on the "female" fields' ones (nursing, I believe also culinary arts) so I was expecting good numbers too. But there's also the male default here. I noticed the women. The men were to be expected. I remember reading about a study where men and women were shown videos of conversations and asked who had dominated them, and they thought women were dominating conversations when the time taken by men and women was equal, and saw balance when the men talked more. Another case of that crops up in the apparent "crisis" in American Judaism. That most religions are and have historically been run by men isn't an issue, but as soon as one appears to be dominated by women, it's a problem. Note that the only man quoted in that article as saying that gender imbalance isn't a problem is speaking from a place where men are the majority -- that kind of imbalance is fine, people! Have I mentioned lately that I'm tired of misogyny? 1 comment|post comment

Spectrum in Layers [29 Nov 2009|10:32pm] lavendertook We're on the hill at the northwest corner of the lake. In the foreground is a sugar maple, and in the background is what I believe is a red maple, also known as a swamp maple. The swamp maples make some lovely cascades over the lake further along, as in this pic I took at the lake 2 years ago. These maples skip over the brightest fluorescent orange of sugar maples and go from bright yellow to a blood red you don't see on the sugars. I wish there was blue sky here, rather than clouds behind the leaves for a better contrast. ( Follow the falling leaves . . .  ) post comment

Waiting on the sun [28 Nov 2009|10:38pm] lavendertook I've been sick since Thursday, so have been turning in earlier, without posting. This thing keeps coming back since mid-September--I think this is the third round. There's no fever, so it's pretty mild--mostly a sinus infection that moves about and some intestinal involvement, and general weakness--just enough to make you feel unwell. So I got to be home Thursday and was looking forward to a quiet day with the cats, doing some chores, and enjoying their excitement over turkey, but all I got done was cooking turkey and stuffing and doing laundry, and feeling cross about it because I felt lousy. Last night, I went straight to bed after work and dinner and slept 13 hours. The sun miraculously, actually came out today, but I didn't get to go out in it much due to feeling ucky. However, the nice part of the leaves dropping and the sun on a lower path is that my apartment gets a lot brighter and the kitties have sunlight to bath in--much more needed in the winter. The colors are a little less bright when the sun goes behind the clouds, and it's getting pretty low in the sky at this point. These shots are taken from stone landings along the bank toward the northwest corner of the lake. ( Floating a little further . . . ) post comment

how not to overcome a phobia [28 Nov 2009|11:09am] spacelogic [ mood | aggravated ] I broke my glasses last night. In the morning, when I sheepishly reported to Mum what had happened, she told me I should find a backup pair (don't have one; it's been years and my prescription changed) and call the optometrist. Now, I am a logical person, but do not ask me to make a phone call if there is any alternative. I will panic, shut down, and become defensive. The only kind of phone calls I can handle are when someone calls me, when I call home, when I call somewhere I know a robot will answer, and when I have absolutely no choice. It's hard enough talking to strangers in person, or emailing them; not knowing who'll be at the other end of the phone is impossible. And it's not just that I need to make more calls, goddammit. I feel ill when I'm pushed. And nobody understands. *single tear* 1 comment|post comment

meta: squicks and siblings [27 Nov 2009|04:37pm] spacelogic [ mood | pensive ] Claudia Christian mentioned in a blog post the other day that a B5 director ("who had clearly never watched the show") had told her to play her scenes with Sheridan more "sexy and coquettish" and I had such a strong "EWNOGROSS" reaction that I had to step back and analyze why. I can handle all kinds of fic/pairings, even if I prefer to avoid them. But Sheridan/Ivanova disgusts me, and thinking about it I've come to the conclusion that it's because they're too much like siblings. It's kind of funny, I suppose. I can handle all kinds of screwed-up pairings if I understand the kink, even if I don't share it. I can deal with non-con, power imbalance including parent/child incest, aliens... lots of stuff. And I'm on IJ substantially because I used to have a good friend who wrote and read Weasleycest, and while I wasn't into it I didn't like the idea of her ability to do so being restricted. But despite this, sibling incest remains one of my biggest squicks. Maybe it's because I have siblings I'm close to, and the idea of people perverting that kind of relationship feels too close to home. But I have parents I'm close to, too, and I can handle parent/child type stuff. I suppose in the Sheridan/Ivanova case, there's the added factor that they're not related by blood or by legal definition, and I've got those siblings too and know how upsetting I'd find it if people ignored that and assumed that we were sexually involved. Ties in to the whole "a man and a woman can't be just friends ever" cultural assumption, which I hate because I used to be the girl who had all guy friends and wasn't into any of them, no, really, stop teasing me, Mum! *coughs* Tangent there. Anyway, I think there's another factor. Actors are often treated as people whose job is to convey emotions, deliver lines, and embody personalities. They are, of course. But another job they do is play relationships, and they're often not as good at that. We've all seen a big romantic storyline completely fizzle because the main romance lacked chemistry. Then, too, parent-child dynamics on screen and stage often fall flat. But the most commonly disappointing relationships I'm used to seeing are sibling ones. Screen siblings, whether bickering or affectionate, tend to fail to convince. And so I guess when I see a sibling relationship I like, I really don't like seeing it taken through the "a man and a woman can't be just friends ever" cliché. So Sheridan and Ivanova, whose sibling vibe seems so clear to me, I can't bear to think of in a sexual situation. (Claudia Christian, I may have mentioned, is brilliant at playing relationships. Yet another reason I love B5.) post comment

Honey, honey . . . [25 Nov 2009|10:57pm] lavendertook Ah, sugar . . . Sugar maple, brightest of them all! It's what makes New England and Ontario especially so grand in the fall. I'm not sure how far up north in Canada they do a good display--please chime in, Canadian flistmates. We don't have so many here, and there are fewer south of here. They kept a long display here this year, though many of them got rained off by their peak, and I guess most of us humans got rained in from seeing them. I love them pre-peak best, though, when they still have a lot of green to contrast with the flames. ( You got me wanting you . . .  ) post comment

Bradford Pear Tree Love [24 Nov 2009|10:49pm] lavendertook These are more pics across Greenbelt Lake and down the southwest branch I took a month ago. See those dark green trees with a touch of burgundy in the center here? Those are Bradford pear trees. And they still had some pretty leaves hanging on this weekend--I took some pics I'll show you later. Let me just write a little encomium to Bradford pears, because I've come to love this tree a lot. In the spring it's one of the first trees to flower with clouds of white blooms. It's used as a total utility tree around here and planted all along the highways, so there are stretches along the Beltway that are just gorgeous in the spring. One of my spring observances is to make it a point to drive through the Ivy Lane Office Park and the Greenway Shopping Center parking lot--names that ring full of the romance of spring, right?--they are so full of these trees. Last year, while I was in the parking lot, some flurries fell while their blooms were already out, and it was wonderful to see white petals and snowflakes falling together. ( More nattering about trees and more pics . . . ) post comment

this is the long goodbye [23 Nov 2009|11:19am] spacelogic [ mood | awake ] Inexplicable 10-hour power outage last night. The weather's not even bad at all. I appear to have lost my computer permanently -- I set up Age of Empires II and now everybody wants to play. Matisse took an 8-hour turn yesterday, and when Mum starts.... post comment

Wolftrap, Virginia: RotK Symphony, Fri & Sat 9/10- 9/11/2010 [23 Nov 2009|02:02pm] lavendertook OK, my dear Hobbit Posse, the tickets for RotK in September went on sale this past Saturday, and the center front orchestra seats are already sold out for Saturday night 9/11. We can still get side front orchestra seats, but I wouldn't wait past tomorrow to try to get those. We can get much better seats for Friday night 9/10--they've only sold through the first 2 rows of center front orchestra, and row CC is still open, which may actually be a little too close, so we have a little more time to get tickets if choosing Friday--I'm keeping my eye on it. So I'm emailing with some folks right now about who can't make Friday or Saturday. Let me know your preferences here, so we can make plans for getting tickets together or near each other on the same night. Info on the performance is here. There will probably be tickets available close to the concert date, as I got tickets the last 2 years much closer to the date, but you just wouldn't be sitting with us and as close. The guest apartment in my building is available for rent that weekend if a few folks are coming from out of town and we need it. post comment

snapshot [22 Nov 2009|02:49pm] spacelogic [ mood | geeky ] What my preferred desktop looks like now. Xfce+Pekwm on Arch Linux, tons of custom panels and Firefox addons, automatic grouping of selected programs together, and more. Click the thumbnail for actual size (1440x900, big file.) post comment

computers, laws thereof [21 Nov 2009|04:13pm] spacelogic [ mood | powerful ] Phoenix's Universal Laws of Computing: 1) Your computer is stupid, but completely obedient. It will do exactly what you tell it to do, whether or not that's what you actually want or, indeed, what you thought you were doing. 2) Your computer is out to get you. It hates your guts and wants you dead. You cannot let down your guard even for a moment. Save early, save often, and back up everything regularly. 3) Your computer can tell if you're afraid. It will do everything in its power to keep you that way. You have to show it who's boss, and that had better be you. post comment

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