moominmuppet

I just heard back from World Book Night! Hopefully I'll be giving out my first choice book; The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It's right at the intersection of science geekery and social justice, so it feels like the perfect choice for me.

Dear World Book Night book giver,

Yes, you read that right: World Book Night book giver! Has a nice ring to it, yes? And you're one of them, or will be on April 23! Thank you!!!!!!!

Three things for you to do right now:

1) Smile, shout; whatever you like to do to celebrate. And accept our grateful thanks for your application. World Book Night is all about you and your passion for books and your community and fellow citizen.

2) TELL MORE OF YOUR FRIENDS! You're in, the deadline has been extended to Monday, Feb. 6 at midnight, and the more the merrier.
( Read more... )

It's been a week of flaring, and I've been playing with my book spreadsheets instead of reading articles that require any modicum of actual brainpower. Feeling a good bit better, though, and psyched about this weekend being the beginning of my Saturdays off. Yay! And I've gotten a lot done on the kids books recommendation list, although the more I get done, it seems the more I create to do. Still, it's amusing me, and it's no less useful than any other random hobby. Also, still haven't heard back from Metro about volunteering to read to kids. I wonder what's up with that.

Also, I just made use of some of the Audible credits that've been stacking up in my account. I now have How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution, Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk. I'm currently still finishing up Natalie Angiers' The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science. It's a lovely and cheerful refresher for folks who are pretty familiar with the sciences, and I suspect would be a good introduction for those who don't see what there is to love in the realm.

On the other hand, I've been having trouble getting into the Full Cast Recording of American Gods. I'm interested to hear this particular version (Neil gives a long intro explaining why it's somewhat different than all other versions), but I'm not sure full cast recordings are for me. I find the switch in actors is throwing me out of things more than hearing a single reader change their voice would. I'm going to give it a bit longer, though. I only listened to it for 15 or 20 minutes when I was already tired on the drive back from Nashville.

Also, I finally got around to watching a Netflix I've had for ages; The Second Coming, with Christopher Eccleston in the lead role, and written by Russell T Davies. Odd, and fascinating, and well worth seeing.

Additionally, I'm pleased to report back that Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale lived up to my expectations pretty well (although I was hoping to get to see the main villian in action). Definitely one I'd like to own.

Next up: A Matter of Size. Heads up to my sumo-obsessed brothers! (and Rotten Tomatoes seems to like it, too!)

Context, since I mention lots of critters here:
Tarma (hound) and Leroy (Pom) -- our dogs, front house
Jax (shepherd) and Ditko (Shih Tzu) -- Bec and Jer's dogs, back house
Mushroom, X, Ringo, Riley, Cat -- our cats, front house
Pookie -- my snake, front house
Bob -- friendliest of the stray cats in the neighborhood, he's our adopted outdoor cat
Coco -- our neighbor's Pom that we petsit most weeks
Ellie -- my boss's beagle
Bella -- our friend Amy's pug that we sometimes sit for
Sugar (shepherdish mix) and Fred Milton (cockapoo) -- friends dogs that we'll be petsitting this week

My icon is Tarma and Ringo asleep together.

Ellie's doing pretty well adjusting to our place; she obviously misses Boss, but she's settling in and getting comfortable. She adores both Liv and Grafton, and she got steak bits this morning, so her life isn't sucking too badly. Last night she slept curled up against me, although I paid for it this morning when she walked all over my head. Ah well. And although we don't have Coco this week, it looks like we'll be getting Sugar for a few days over the weekend. She belongs to some friends on the east side, and it's been a few years since we've petsit for her, but she's a sweetie, so I'm looking forward to it. Very mellow, chill cattle-dog/shepherd mix of some sort, with a lovely red coat. Oh, just talked to her owner; it'll be Sugar and another dog, a small cockapoo named Fred Milton.

I also got some time with stray-cat-Bob on the front porch this morning, and he seems to be doing well. We've got another TNR appt scheduled for one of the other stray cats in December, but it'll require a bit of help from the neighbors to catch her (already talked to them about it).

I've been joking with the housemates about how all the petsitting gives a good outlet to my "must get to know new animals" tendencies, and prevents our household pet population from exploding any further or faster. For a bit of context on my worldview, I'm not just newly turning into the "crazy cat lady", I always have been. From the time I was 4 or 5 until I was in my late teens I was always planning on working with animals in some context; depending on the year I might've been planning zoo vet, wildlife researcher, animal rehab worker, etc. Until college, there was never a time in my life I didn't have a lot of pets. Really, really a lot. Above a dozen at any given point was pretty typical. Cats, dogs, rabbits, snakes, frogs, salamanders, rats, guinea pigs, parakeets, a random pigeon, etc. We lived on the road where folks in town dumped stray animals, and we had woods behind the house that were my primary playspace (house rule was that I could bring home cold-blooded wild critters but not warm-blooded, since there aren't many diseases that will transmit over that great a biological gap and warm-blooded animals that let you get near them are probably sick anyway; that way salmonella was really the only concern). Blessing of the Animals on St. Francis' Day is still my favorite church holiday, bar none. I remember critter names better than their owners, and I am substantially more comfortable in any environment that has animals than I am in those without. I'm that stranger on the street who can't help asking if I can introduce myself to your dog. Mom and Dad were remarkably patient with all of it, and as an adult I've chosen to only live with other people who are cool with a relatively substantial level of pet-related chaos as well.

I got through college pet-withdrawal thanks to my snake Pookie and an assortment of professors' dogs and strays, but as soon as I got out and into my own place I had cats and other critters again. It's a more major factor in my life than it may seem -- it has everything to do with why I'm a "stable home base" and not a "wanderer". It's a major part of keeping myself psychologically stable and functional, too -- having critters that depend on me requires me to hold it together much better than I might otherwise with the bipolar. Conversely, nothing can jack my stress level through the roof like the combo of financial issues and pet needs, so I do need to keep some sort of limit on my critter collection. The pets were a huge factor in my decision to buy the houses last year -- there's been nothing that was a bigger background fear than losing our place for some reason and having to find someone new willing to rent to me with all the critters. People can couchsurf, stuff can go into storage, but there's just no way to be homeless with that many animals. Having the house as ours has really relieved that stress hugely, and is probably the biggest thing I love about owning our own place. It also has a lot to do with the extent to which I'm a homebody, both because of the practical obligations and because there's rarely elsewhere I'd rather be than with the critters.

That's also why I consider it my personal mission, in relation to taking in new animals, to focus on situations where someone is having to give up a beloved pet; it's my personal great fear, so I have a lot of empathy for it, and I see it as something of a two-fer -- doing something good for the person and the critter at the same time. Although I've never lost my original interests, along the way I actually discovered I mostly liked people too, and got even more strongly drawn to women's health care and GLBT activism work. As a result, a lot of people who know me these days may not be aware of what a major factor critters are in my life. So, there. Now you do.

In other news, it's all rainy, so I'm all flarey. Boo. I just finished the most recent Walking Dead volume (#12), so I guess I'm done there for a while, at least til a new one comes out (Jer doesn't get that one in individual issues, so it'll be when the next volume is released). I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it; I'm certainly fascinated and sucked in, but it also hits a lot of the buttons I don't normally much enjoy hitting -- the ways in which human beings can be evil to each other. It's why I'm a creature-horror fan, not a slasher fan, too. My general feeling is that I've got a limited amount of emotional energy to cope with depressing crap, and I try to keep that directed at the real life/nonfiction versions. I tend to like my fictional entertainment pretty psychologically light and fluffy, even when it's gory as hell.

I'm currently reading The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time -- I'm only into the second chapter, but it's a fun read so far. Yay, evolution! Oh, and I sent off an email to Preterm about volunteer possibilities, so I'm excited about that, too.

It should be a quiet week aside from the critter-stuff. Lots of folks taking time off at the Clinic, so our call volume will be pretty low, and I can get through more of those CBTs (Computer-Based Trainings, for the kinkier among you who are snickering -- I giggle too!). Life is good.

Also good, for the locals: Farkas Pastries. I got some of their goodies the other day, and I've already sent Grafton back for more apple pie. Mmmm-tasty.

Big upcoming house project is going to be rewiring the back downstairs apartment. Should be interesting; Liv and I aren't handling any of the hot work, just running the cable to the boxes before we hire someone to come in and terminate it all in the main box, but we're both madly reading up on electrical code requirements and such to make sure we don't screw it up.

I know I've encountered lots of lists of modern YA science fiction and fantasy, and I certainly don't mind getting links to such lists and discussions and such, but I'm also curious what you particularly love.

Although not particularly modern, I do enjoy The Lewis Barnavelt Series.

I think it was Marn who introduced me to the Chronicles of Chrestomanci, which I really enjoy immensely. Diana Wynne Jones has a number of other excellent YA titles outside that series, too.

Rather embarrassingly, I actually own City of Ember, and the sequel, but have yet to read them (although I did catch the movie on cable more than once, and enjoyed it a good deal).

I mentioned Madeline L'Engle and Lloyd Alexander in the previous post, as well as some of Anne McCaffrey's work. Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea definitely falls into this category, too, as does a great deal of Jane Yolen's work.

Edit to add: My brother jajy1979 reminded me of a favorite from our childhood, Little Grey Men, and I also can't believe I forgot to mention marnanel's Not Ordinarily Borrowable, and yuki_onna's The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland. I also loved The Girl With the Silver Eyes, although I haven't read it since I was 11 or so.

Oh, and Cycler and (Re)Cycler look potentially interesting -- has anyone read them?

So, that's some moderate number of the "big names" -- who do you have to add?

Among other info, "the state ranks 48th in the nation for access to contraception" *headdesk* And this is a lot of why I stay in Ohio. Maude knows there's plenty of work to do around here!

Also, a post from feministing: Not Oprah's Book Club: Reproductive Edition

Holy hell, is this some victim-blaming bullshit: The Worst Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Ever -- if you're reading the original article, explanations of victim-blaming are laid out in crystal-clear detail in several of the comments (I know, comments sections are generally trainwrecks, but there's some seriously good stuff here). Well damn. Site's down; I suspect they've gotten slammed with traffic or something. Ah, it's back again.

A comment from someone named Alara really nails this all down so well and clearly I think it's worth specifically resharing:

This stuff would not be nearly so bad if women weren’t *literally* treated as if we were responsible for being raped.

I mean, if I leave my car door open, and I come back to find my car stolen, the police will likely say “Well, it was really stupid of you to leave the car door open.” But if they find some guy joyriding in my car, they won’t say, “Oh, she left the car door open, so it’s okay that this guy stole her car! We’re just going to tsk tsk at him and let him go. With her car.” They will *arrest* him, and give me back my car. If my car never turns up, insurance *will* pay for it. People will express their opinion that I was dumb for leaving my car door open, but no one will act as if my foolishness makes the theft of my car NOT A CRIME.

The entire reason “advice to women on how to avoid rape” should die in a fire is that the failure of women to follow such advice is treated, by the police, juries, and judges, as a mitigating factor that made what happened to them not a *crime*. Sure, going out and getting drunk and passing out in a bar is a dumb idea. And if a man did it, and woke up to find his clothes and wallet stolen, and eyewitnesses said Joe Schmoe was seen alone with the victim and is now sporting the victim’s watch and shoes, Joe Schmoe would be arrested for theft and possibly assault even though the victim was drunk off his ass in a public place, always a dumb idea. Friends of the victim, and the police, may tell him he was dumb to get so drunk… but he will be treated as a crime victim, and if Joe Schmoe can be found, Joe Schmoe will be arrested. But when a woman does it, and discovers when she wakes up that she was raped, the fact that she was drunk in public is used as an excuse to declare that what happened to her wasn’t even criminal. Because the things we own belong to us whether we are around to prevent them from being taken or not, but apparently, women’s own *selves*, our bodies, are free game for sex any time we’re not able to fend off men who want to use them.

I don’t object to being given advice on how to avoid being raped, but I do object to three huge things that hide behind such advice:
- 80% of all murder victims, and the vast majority of all mugging and physical assault victims, are men. No one gives men this kind of advice. In fact, given that stranger rape is rare, and mugging and assault aren’t, men are in *more* danger from walking down a dark alley than women are. My husband has been jumped and beaten up four times in his life, after dark each time. No one tells men “don’t go out at night! You could get beaten up!” even though it’s true and the risk’s actually higher than the risk of being raped by a stranger.
- 80% of all rapes are committed by a man the woman knows. This advice is useless against the majority of rapes. The real advice to women to prevent rape should be “Never be alone with a man; always gather in groups of women. When you spend time with men, always have another woman around who you trust.” Except that everyone recognizes that that advice would be psychotic and disruptive to everyone’s lives.
- As I said, women are treated as if, should they not follow this kind of advice, they are to *blame* for being raped and the act wasn’t even criminal. This is not true of any other crime. Well, except domestic violence. Which, surprise surprise, is also largely a male-on-female crime (it exists the other way around, in larger numbers than most of us guess, but no one even bothers to give men advice on not getting abused by their female partners.)

So, the post about music got me thinking about the books and other events that were associated with the development of my sexuality. And when I look at my history, I absolutely see direct lines of connection between how I learned, and how I am today. I'm mixing sexuality and reproductive health in these stories, because it's all tangled up together.

( not surprisingly, this got _really_ long )

Incidentally, my dreams this morning were some of the most graphic and sex-filled I've had in a long time. And I can't remember a bit of it except that this was the case. Argh!!!!

Home with a damned migraine _again_. My paycheck is going to blow. I've got an appt set up for an eye exam so I can get myself some prescription sunglasses, though, which I'm hoping will make it a lot easier to continue to function with commuting and work when I've got a moderate migraine. I wish my glasses weren't so damned expensive; my last pair ran about $500 after insurance (I have stunningly bad vision - 20/1200, and have to get the absolutely highest-end lenses in order for my glasses not to be unreasonably heavy and thick).

I did teach last night for the first time in a month or so, though. Three really great residents, all of whom had a clue, and only needed some basic fine-tuning on their technique. So that was excellent.

I've been reading False Impressions: The Hunt for Big-Time Art Fakes. Plenty of it is pretty over my head, since I have no art background beyond what I've picked up from artist friends, but it's fascinating, and a fun look into the brain of someone with a very unusual speciality.

Intelligent Design's Latest Sneaky Assault on Science

I Don't Believe in Marriage -- Here's Why I Grudgingly Got Married Anyway

Is America on the Verge of a Geriatric Crime Wave? -- Damned elders. Gotta watch out for 'em. ;P

TheFerrett has some interesting thoughts on the word 'cissexual/cisgender', jumping off from DGlenn's excellent essay

Cow-nosed rays in migration -- stunningly beautiful

BuyMyTronics looks rather handy for clearing out backlogs of old electronics. Anyone have any experience with them? (from zombiechocolate)

I know plenty of you have various chronic health problems that affect mobility and function. Although this flare is slowly tapering off, and most of the problems are relatively minor now, my hands haven't stopped hurting for the past month and half. Sometimes it's relatively minor, sometimes it's so bad I can't do anything with them without substantial pain and weakness (including petting my animals, brushing my teeth, wanking, sex with my partners, and other basic necessities). More than anything, this is the aspect of the flare that's making me feel hopeless and helpless (and waking me up in the middle of the night constantly -- I can't find a way to sleep where they don't scream at me at some point).

I'm looking for any kind of practical suggestions -- what's worked for you to work around hurting hands? How do you get things done, what helps to make it easier? I've been thinking more and more about some practical life-adjustments, what kinds of minor tools and such might help (like an electric carving knife for when I can't use a regular knife, which I was desperately wanting yesterday -- instead, I found I could tear meat with two forks and get by). I'm already getting better at modifying my hand position when I'm trying to open bottles and such, and getting better at not twisting my hands into the most painful positions when I try to get things done, but I could really use some suggestions.

Dr appt was a very mixed bag, btw. Here's the update I wrote the other day:

GP doesn't understand why the rheumatologist thought she should do the paperwork instead of him. Back and forth between the offices all afternoon, not sure if I got anywhere at all, except that the paperwork is now with the rheumatologist, and his office staff says he's going to "look at it". I'm incredibly frustrated and depressed.

On the positive side, GP is awesome, even if her nurse is remarkably bitchy. She's referred me to pain management, set me up for labs to check for any actual arthritic processes, and we did some adjusting of my meds.

If my previously awesome and now unexplainably flakey rheumatologist doesn't pull his head out of his ass, though, I'm going to have to switch doctors, which means waiting more months for a new patient appointment.


So anyway, that's what's been going on. I'm really struggling with depression at the moment, despite having had a really good holiday with forestfire, and having gotten totally hooked on True Blood in the process (can't wait to get home at watch the last three eps we haven't seen yet -- I blame LJ for this new addiction, btw). I'm going to talk to Pain Management on Monday morning (7:30am), then I'm getting some labwork and x-rays to check to make sure there isn't also an inflammatory process happening, given how different this flare has been. My family is being awesomely, incredibly supportive (I've been missing a lot of pay recently, and Dad just spontaneously forgave a big chunk of debt I owe him, which was amazingly generous, and well beyond the call of duty, especially since he'd already told me not to worry about payments 'til I was doing better, and James and Mom have also been checking in on me regularly). Life could be a hell of a lot worse. Sadly, with my mental state at the moment, that's just feeding the "well, if I can't cope with a little hand pain when I've got all these advantages, I must _really_ suck" logic. *sigh* So, I'm trying to work on that by getting practical. Hence this post.

In other news, I'm really enjoying The Prehistory of Sex: Four Million Years of Human Sexual Culture. Although he occasionally take a theory as more agreed-upon than I believe it to be (the cervical "upsuck" from orgasm being a good example --
The Case of the Female Orgasm: Bias in the Science of Evolution goes into the debate in more detail), overall I'm pretty pleased with the book so far. I like that he's not a big fan of the sociobiological approach, and that generally he's good at pointing out various conflicting theories, and the lack of certainty involved in determining which is actually correct. What the hell is up with the lack of footnotes recently, though?! Argh!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/10/125151/87/93/626397">How one woman reacted to protestors outside her local Planned Parenthood. Aww... That makes me all warm and fuzzy.

Preterm, the clinic I'll be at later this morning, runs a Pledge-a-Picketer campaign. It's a tactic I'm really fond of -- turns the antis activities back on them, without running up against the fine lines on freedom of expression. It's also been used to good effect by GLBT centers targeted by Phelps and his lot.

Oy. It's 5:30am. I've been up since about 4, and I really need to get back to sleep for a bit before I have to be at the clinic at 7:45. I'm with Casey today, though, which means a ride, and excellent company. And I'm at Preterm, not the Center, which means shade. Yay!

Dad's doing the phone upgrades for our family plan. I'm getting a Blackberry Curve! Yay!

This has been a week of sleep deprivation, brokeness, and medical worries, but it's actually been quite good all 'round. Lots of good company; may_dryad, syrinx_77, Casey, Bill, calebbullen, our couchsurfer Libby. Other than hanging out, I've been utterly sucked into the election; it's been a fascinating week, and I've acknowledged that my interest in what's going on is really approaching sports fan level -- aside from all the really important stuff, the little trivialities of who's "scoring points", who's on the injured list, etc, etc... It's all really entertaining me (of course, it's a lot easier to enjoy that element when things are looking good for the eventual outcome).

I'm waiting on a puzzle from eBay -- finished the dragon a few days back, although I haven't pulled it off the porta-puzzle yet. I'm semi-seriously considering getting a pizza spatula, or whatever it's called, to make that easier. Too many of the puzzles I do have odd-shaped pieces and don't hold together remarkably well.

Currently reading Your Inner Fish, which is quick and short, but remarkably full of fascinating ideas and info; I'm enjoying it immensely. Actually originally heard about it due to The Colbert Report -- the author did a remarkably good and funny job holding his own against Colbert while explaining some relatively complex concepts.

Also, the house is clean, Caleb moves in this weekend, I have Netflix coming, and a giant stack of fascinating library books to work through. I also have three books I set aside at Visible Voice, although I can't collect those 'til payday next week.

Oh, and lemon bars from Civ. Yum. Have two more in the fridge.

OK, going to try to get an hour nap before Casey gets here.