Not food...money. Real, actual money.
Jan 06, 2009
Does anyone need a copy editor/proofreader/grammar checker? Projects large or small, long term or short duration, even one-offs - it’s all good. I’m located in the Pacific Northwest, though, so if you want someone in your actual physical office, there could be some geographic limits.
I’ve been keeping an eye on craigslist’s classifieds, looking for additional part-time gigs. Unfortunately, there are a lot of desperation-jobs. “Do sales for us on commission basis,“ or “Equity only,“ or “Start your own business! Make a great income!!“ Um. In this economic climate? I’d like an actual job that really pays money, thanks. And commission-only sales, when consumer confidence is at an absolute nadir? I think even skilled salespeople are a bit leery of such jobs. And “equity only”...the less said, the better. I was unthrilled with stock-options-as-salary when they were the hottest thing since sliced bread (late 1990s and early 2000s). With the latest stock market crash, where friends and relatives watched their 401ks and IRAs shrink by at least half over the course of six months, I’m even less thrilled with such a pay option.
Maybe once the inauguration’s passed, people will be breathing a little easier. Maybe then some real actual jobs will be posted, and I can supplement my income and pay off the mortgage a bit faster.
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Poetic philosophy/fiction. (And it's snowing again, dammit.)
Jan 04, 2009
Oh peeping blue hell, it's snowing. AGAIN.
It's very light, but it's definitely snow. I got home from my errands and was set to go out walking, but two things decided me against that idea: 1) it was really, really cold; and 2) it was snowing. I don't know if it's going to get heavier, but I'm boiling water for cocoa/tea, getting dressed in my warmer things, and trying not to swear.
And now for something completely different (that being the entry I was actually going to write before it started snowing again).
I've been rereading C. J. Cherryh's science fiction books the last few weeks. I've read many of them several times over, and each time I re-read a story I find something new - something I missed the first time around. Sometimes it's a quick reference to events in one of her other books, weaving her universe more tightly together. It's entirely possible to enjoy her books quite a lot without knowing the whens and whys of every last event she mentions or alludes to; but it's a heck of a lot of fun to be reading one of her stories and realize: hey, those folks that made the Sol alliance so paranoid? That's a shout-out to the Compact Space novels. (And that's just one of the more obvious ones.) Some of her stories also have occasional, pleasant bits of philosophical lyricism. When you're reading the story, it's possible to only catch these little pieces tangentally, or even to miss them. Sometimes I've paused in my first readings to think over a phrase, and for a while I had the habit of writing them all down whenever I found them. Surprisingly, though, I can still find bits even on a third or fourth re-read.
Some of my favorites include:
- Truth and illusion are but mirrored refractions. (Cyteen)
- Opposites are mutually necessary. (Cyteen)
- Illusions are all we have - and so they are a truth unto themselves.
- Everything can be in another state, or it can't exist at all. (Cyteen)
- The whole universe is talking. Listen and be amazed. (Cyteen)
I might be able to make a web site design using that quote, several Astronomy-of-the-Day pics, and some VLA shots.
Taken in context, they're interesting snapshots of how the characters think: either right at that time, or habitually. Taken out of context, they're still beautiful and thought-provoking.
When I dropped by the author's web site, I learned that she's working on a followup to Cyteen. In one of the blog entries, she mentions a character by name and says that he's talking to her again - which she takes as a good thing.
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This is the first 'vacation' I've had since I got too old for school.
Jan 03, 2009
Did a fair amount of shopping today. Hit Costco, got some nice warm track pants that are a) not ginormous; and b) are actually long enough. Also bought some more wool socks - they’re all that will keep my feet sufficiently warm, as of late. (I’m a bit worried. I think I may need to ask my doctor if I have a circulation problem. I don’t recall my feet being so cold that I didn’t want to go without shoes indoors, even in winter. Then again, maybe that’s just part of what happens when one’s personal odometer ticks over the fourth decade.) I got some more basics…and then I hit The Malls. And The Makeup Counters. :D I initially went out to get some gift items for a friend, intending to buy two items for myself. That two item count jumped to six. (Shut up. I’m helping the economy.) Most of the things I bought were on sale; and I think this person is really going to have fun with the items I got for her.
At Costco, I also picked up two movies: The Dark Knight, which I’d seen in the theatres (once in IMAX, which was pretty cool); and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which I hadn’t seen. TDK is still amazing, and I’m really looking forward to the third movie in the trilogy. IJKCS…eh. It wasn’t horrible or even necessarily bad, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the previous three. There were bits where they tried to inject the funny, and it kind of worked…but not completely. There were the action sequences which still looked good; but you could see the cutaways much more clearly. (With Harrison Ford’s experience and professional track record as well as his current age, he’s earned the right to ask that a stunt double take the punches and falls. But it’s still pretty apparent.) The plot wasn’t a mental workout, but then again, the IJ movies have never been about intellectualism, but about non-braindead entertainment. The interactions between Marian and Indy were a little awkward, but I think that’s as much to do with the scripting as the fact that these characters most definitely do have a history. And the ending was a wee bit on the trite side. But…like I said…non-braindead entertainment, not thought-provoking storytelling.
There’s a lot of stuff to do this month. I want to evaluate other healthcare choices because while I currently have Blue Cross, it’s near-impossible to get a callback from a provider that does take Blue Cross. I need to look into business incorporation. I need to get my taxes started. (I’m glad I’m not living in California, or I’d probably end up getting an IOU instead of a tax refund.) I want to log on to the work computer, just to see if any spastic emails landed in my inbox during the mandatory shutdown. I know I don’t have to work on any of them until Monday, so I probably shouldn’t even check on things. But I’ve got this overweening need to Be Prepared.
But I’ll start all of that tomorrow.
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...and I feel fine. (Unapologetically mixing song lyrics since ten minutes ago)
Jan 02, 2009
I’m a gregarious introvert. I hide my introversion well; but I’m decidedly introverted. At times, I’m downright asocial. Reactions to this range from bemusement to anger to pity. “You poor thing, how can you stand to be alone on the holidays!!“ Apparently, if you don’t enjoy getting together with friends and family all the time but you do it anyway, you’re normal. However, if you actually actively choose to be alone, you’re either weird or an object of pity.
Dude. Wait. What?
I’ve spent the holidays alone, by choice, more than half the time over the last ten years. Now that I’m living further away from my family, I expect that I’ll get to spend more holidays…choosing how I spend my holidays. I can drive across town and visit friends. I can catch a plane and visit family. I can just stay in my pyjamas and relax. Hell, I can get the laundry done. But not being “with somebody” for the holidays is not a cause for major concern for me, and hasn’t been for quite some time.
I did date when in high school and college, and had a few serious relationships. They ended - not tragically, but because we - or, in most cases, I - decided that it would be better to be in a serious relationship with someone we really wanted to be with than to stay in a relationship…just to be in a relationship. (One person was far more afraid of ‘being alone’ than he was interested in ‘being with me’. I don’t care to imagine how things would be if I had stayed in that relationship.) If I meet someone who I really develop a strong connection with, hey, great!! It would be cool to meet a guy who could be an actual partner to me, and let me be the same to him. But I’m not going to actively go out looking for a relationship just to have a relationship.
So why don’t I go spend Thanksgiving with friends or neighbors, if I don’t have a Significant Other? Because spending time around people actually drains me of energy, that’s why. Some people get charged up by social situations. Others don’t get an emotional high, but they do enjoy socializing. For me (and for quite a few others) social situations suck the life out through the soles of my feet. I actually am tired out by social interaction. Socializing is like a game wherein the rules change at random intervals. As I’m never notified when the rules are changing let alone which rules are changing, I’m often caught off-guard by these minor variations in the game. (Then again, since I don’t think I got the same original rulebook as everyone else, it wouldn’t help if I did get the memos.) This is one of the reasons I avoid most social situations where I have to do much beyond sit, listen, and contribute the occasional comment. On the Internet, I have a little bit more control in the ebb and flow of conversations. Pacing is a matter of participating on my time, rather than right then in the moment. (On the Internet, one rarely has the problem of thinking up the perfect riposte five minutes too late. [Five weeks…perhaps. But not five minutes.]) If I am feeling tired, or hungry, or momentarily peeved, that’s okay. The conversations will be there in ten minutes, twenty minutes, even hours later. And I don’t have to wear a certain type of outfit. I can be in the aforementioned pyjamas and it’s all good.
My mom is convinced that I “make friends easily”. Not so. I know how to say the initial polite inconsequentials that, to her, seem like “making friends”. I just never bother to build things beyond nodding acquaintances. In middle and high school, I tried having some parties because that seemed like The Thing To Do: maybe if I do X-Y-Z, that’s normal and I’ll be happy…a thought process that oh so many of us go through over and over and over, just changing the values for X-Y-Z. I didn’t continue hosting parties because I didn’t experience any joy in planning the events, and the events themselves were fairly forgettable. Thus now, when I want to get together with friends, I’ll call up some people and meet them somewhere for coffee, or a walk, or both. If they aren’t available or don’t care to come, no worries. I can still go walking or get coffee on my own; and I haven’t spent lots of time stressing and planning.
People like me tend to disappear from the radar. The majority of people don’t realize that there do exist people who prefer to spend time alone and who are not misanthropic misers just waiting for the love of a good man/woman/adorable cherubic child to snap us out of the cold fog that is our lonely miserable non-social life. But trust me…we exist. When someone graciously turns down your next invitation to share your Thanksgiving table, realize that it may be someone who’s in an emotional fugue - or it may be one of us, those who need more time away from people than we need time with people.
(Triple bonus points for anyone who can name BOTH musical references in the post title and blurb.)
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Or, simplicity in contentful things. You be the judge.
Jan 01, 2009
The first day of 2009 is over.
I walked to the nearby park-with-manmade-lake - which I have only driven past, up until this point - and walked through the arboretum and looked at the ice that is still over the top of said manmade lake. I have taken out my garbage and recycling. The recycling bag doesn’t have any holes in it yet, so it’s back in my bin for at least one more go-round. (As long as it can keep from developing holes, it gets to keep its job as my Recycling Bin Liner.) I’ve run some errands, gotten more cat treats, deposited some checks, bought a few supplies and two miniature splurges, and am getting ready to go read my book for a few hours before I sleep. I’ve got my music on the speakers (Vas, Sunyata), a mug of cocoa by my left side, and a cat sitting on my right wrist. This is apparently his inimitable way of saying, “Are you there, Mom? It’s me, Ursa.“ Earlier while I was netsurfing he had reached out, put one paw on my collarbone, and stuck his head into my armpit…just in case I wasn’t aware that a cat was nearby. Apparently, it was Oh Cuddle Thirty.
Here’s to a generally positive 2009.
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Snow pics
Jan 01, 2009
Snow-pictures from a place that doesn't normally get snow — not in these amounts.
Everything you see here is now melted, or is dirty slush. The lawns are green, green, green - yay, nutrients!! The ice-flowers out on my porch are sending out new blossoms, and seem to be quite content. I may have one or two beautiful rounds of bloomery before they die off for the summer. And later today, I'm going to order myself a snow shovel. I may not need it for another seven or eight years; or I may be very popular next year if winters continue to be colder / snowier [all hail global warming.]
And now, on with the show.
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