Monthly Archives: January 2010

This week has been a bit crazy. My car gave out sometime Monday afternoon (busted headgasket, apparently) after me taking it three times to the mechanic and going “There’s something wrong!” and him handing it back to me and going “Nope, nothing wrong!”

First estimate was $3000, but then they found out that the antifreeze hadn’t gotten into the oil (in spite of the oil/antifreeze mixed leakage), so it won’t be as hard to fix, bringing the price down to half that.  However, all advice seems to point to me needing a new car.

Great. I like having no car payment.  But, I’m in the market, as it were.

As I’ve mentioned before, I live in the boonies. Most of the time, I’m quite fond of that fact, but in this case it has proven to be a problem, as my Honda Civic was purchased at a dealer 2 hours away, meaning the maintenance was left in the hands of local people more familiar with American cars, because I’m not driving 2 hours to get my oil changed, especially with the mileage I drive.  It’s been a very good car, but having the nearest dealership so far away has proven to be inconvenient. Otherwise, I’d probably be looking at another Civic, because it has been a very good car.

If I had my druthers, and the money, this would be what I’d want:

It's cute, small, and British!

But, even if I could afford it, the nearest Mini dealership is in Jacksonville, Florida . . . a 2.5 hour drive away. I’d be in the same position as the civic – no dealership to get it serviced at.

For pure practicality, these are probably my best options. There are Toyota and Nissan dealerships within easy driving distance, though not in my hometown.

Toyota Yaris

Nissan Versa

Either would be practical options for me, and affordable with my limited paycheck. Fortunately, I’ve actually got time to do some shopping around, since my car won’t cost as much as initially anticipated to fix, and it appears that if I’m going to get a new car, my best option is still to get the old car fixed and then sell it once the new car is found, because my old car wouldn’t fetch much as a trade-in.

I would like to hear from any of you who might know a bit more about cars than I do.  Basically, what I want is something small, inexpensive, fuel efficient, and reliable.

Oh, and on the writing front, I’m working on a new short story, entitled “Faith” that may show up here on my portfolio once it’s gone through the submissions process, unless someone out there decides to publish it. (*crosses fingers*)

“Worlds” will be back in action next week, I just didn’t have any time to write this week with all the car trouble and stuff going on.

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I got my nook this weekend, from the lovely BF (A Christmas gift that got delayed by lack of availability from B&N) and have been playing about with it here and there.

My initial first impression is good, even once I got over the requisite geek-girl squeeing over a new gadget. The interface is incredibly intuitive and had no learning curve whatsoever.  In fact, while opening the package it came in required instructions (I kid you not. And they were very necessary.), the only instruction manual you get for the actual device is in its own library, and virtually unnecessary.

It came pre-loaded with three classics (Dracula, Pride and Prejudice, and Little Women) – the inclusion of Pride and Prejudice admittedly won some points with me, as that’s one of my favorite books and likely one I’d have been buying if it hadn’t been there.  Both it and my first purchase via the nook interface, Coraline, look really spiffy rendered in the e-ink screen.

Connecting the nook to my B&N account, purchasing books from the store, etc. was handled admirably fast by the included (and free) AT&T wireless connection, and it seems that the interface lag that I’ve seen folks complain about has been dealt with.  While the AT&T doesn’t pick up at my house (nothing picks up at my house, no matter what service provider. I live in the boonies), it picks up everywhere else I go, and adding WiFi hotspots for my local library and office was simple enough.

My main reason for choosing the nook over the Kindle was because the nook did not use a proprietary e-book format, and allowed side-loading of non-B&N purchased e-books and documents.  Of course, here you have the issue of loading items that have not been specifically formatted for the nook, but the books I’ve loaded onto it in epub format do well. Anything in pdf format, of course, displays as an image and can get cut off. My local library offers e-books in epub format, so I haven’t had any problems with the few I’ve tried out.

I’m very pleased. This is by no means a substitute for actual physical books, I’m looking at it as more of a supplement to my book addiction  . . . and perhaps a way of ensuring that I don’t end up completely buried in books at some point. (This weekend, I pulled a mountain of books out of my car that, once catalogued and sorted, came out to a total of 197 books . . . BF says I should get better gas mileage.) Very likely, the nook will replace only my paperback purchases – the books that I really care about having for posterity, to read again and again and again, I’ll still be buying in hardcover.

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I never quite outgrew the childhood fascination with playing dress-up.  I love costumes and glitter and glam and the idea that, by stepping into something a little different from the every-day with the right frills and the right makeup, you can step into a character from a story, a film, another time, even another world.

My only real opportunity to indulge my love of costumes is during our annual trip to DragonCon, but the planning for such costumes must, by necessity, start early in the year (partially because I have limited time for sewing, and partially because the expense is easier to bear when spread out over the span of a year rather than everything bought during the final month.

My boyfriend is a costumer’s dream. He has that slender, androgynous look that can look good in a variety of guises. (I am not so lucky. My costumes require good support and strong boning! ) Unfortunately, he’s shy, and I’ve not yet managed to convince him to go out in costume yet.

I’ve got a few ideas for both of us this year, of varied and sundry themes.  I always try to do at least one steampunk costume for myself to take advantage of the wonderful corset I got a few years back, but that one is already put together and requires little forethought.

Option One is Ziggy Stardust. This would be the most original option, as I think over the last three years I’ve only seen one Ziggy in my time at the Con.   The best cosplay version of Ziggy I’ve seen was done by someone over at Craftster, and it would be easy to replicate with a silver unitard (my old dance costume know-how will help me there), some shoulderpads, and boots.

And because we’re going to need some twinkling men at DragonCon who aren’t named Edward . . . option two is Jareth, the Goblin King (also known as He Of the Package).  Of course the obvious companion costume to this would be for me to dress up as Sara – except that I’d rather not dress as a giant fluffy white marshmallow.  My existing giant pink marshmallow of a dress was already an exercise in difficult logistics. It’s hard to make it to anything on time when your dress doesn’t fit through the doors.

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I’ve written, here and there, about my work to get into better shape and generally be healthier – something that was spurred on by the realization that I have likely inherited the same aggressive form of psoriatic arthritis that my mom has.  The best way to slow down arthritis is to be in shape, and while I’d been a yo-yo dieter all my life in efforts to be thin, it took this wake-up call to actually get me to do something real about my health.

I have successfully lost 35 pounds, total, over the space of a bit over a year, but more significantly, I have gone down three sizes. I am now at the point where success is measured less in poundage than in inches, as muscles are being built that haven’t been used since I quit dancing at the age of 17.

I could not have done any of this without Sparkpeople.  And Sparkpeople just came out with their first book detailing the changes of habit and lifestyle that come about through the use of their plan (You can download a free chapter of the book here!). Sparkpeople isn’t about fad diets or restrictions, it’s about being healthy and making smart choices, combining fitness and good nutrition.  It was Sparkpeople that convinced me that I actually needed to eat more to be healthier, and eat the right things.

The best thing about Sparkpeople is the community. There’s a whole, huge group of people out there to encourage you and keep you on track, and this is done almost universally without judgement or any sort of “punishment” or being made to feel guilty when, now and then, you fail to meet your goals.

The second wonderful thing about this site is that it is entirely free. There is no “gold membership” that you have to subscribe to to use “premium” tools. All of their tools are available to anyone who signs up, free of charge. For someone already on a tight budget, this was a necessity for me. I couldn’t afford to use any of the many other pay-for diet sites out there.

I know this whole post sounds like one long, extended advertisement, but it’s not. Sparkpeople hasn’t given me anything other than the sort of success that other “methods” never offered me after years and years of trying.  There’s no fads there, no get-thin-quick schemes, just good advice and people who are going through the same things, have been right where you are, and worked through it. Turns out, that’s all you need.

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
     And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
     As any she belied with false compare.

My favorite poem is Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130, in which Shakespeare does the opposite of the prevailing Petrarch-inspired tendency of poets to idealize their subjects.

Sonnet 130 speaks of real love, the kind of love that exists without blindness, but also without judgement. “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”, he says.  The subject of the poem is not the most beautiful creature in the room, she does not fit into the typical ideal of the time in which the poem is written, one of golden hair and bright blue eyes and alabaster skin.

To everyone else, this woman, his mistress, may be unremarkable. He holds no illusions about her, he will not call her a goddess, but instead acknowledges her faults. He sees the truth of what he is, and loves her anyway.

On the surface, this poem seems filled with insults, but to me, this has always been one of the most honest love poems I’ve ever read. Rather than idealizing his mistress, setting her on a pedestal, and insisting on her perfection, this lover does the unthinkable. He allows the object of his affection to be imperfect, to be real and flawed, and it does not affect his love. He accepts her, totally and without question.