Spinning on that dizzy edge

I took today off from work as a birthday present to myself and had ambitious plans to Get Shit Done - and then I realized I haven't read DW in a long while and have been playing catch-up all day. Ah well.

1. Name: Hm. I feel like I should be internet safe here and not share my RL name, but if you don't know and want to, PM me.

2. Age: 49 as of today - it's my actual-factual birthday!

( Rest of the answers )

July, huh? Time is so weird.

sheafrotherdon gave me 3 things for the meme, and I thought it would help spark some initiative for actually posting again.

Radiator
I have never lived anywhere with radiators for heating; for me they evoke a feeling of downtown apartments and urban living, and workarounds for having that much wall space occupied. I have to say that, especially now that summer's muggy and sweltering temps have arrived, I am appreciating more than ever my central AC. I like to say that it's an unofficial part of my marriage contract, because nobody wants to live with an overheated and oversaturated me. So radiators can be scenic set dressing for other people.

Piano
I grew up with always having a piano in the house; my mom got her parents' player piano, and now my folks have a massive number of player piano rolls, though they've slowed down or stopped collecting them due to running out of storage space. I have so many happy holiday memories of sitting around that piano, pumping the foot pedals as everyone sings along to carols scrolling by on the rolls.

I took lessons on that piano from when I was 8 through freshman year in high school. I like to think that learning that kind of keyboarding made touch typing that much easier, and reading music is never a bad skill to have in one's back pocket. We inherited the in-laws' old clunker a few years ago - it's about the level of an old church basement piano, with dead keys and some jarring out-of-tune notes. I don't know if it's worth getting it tuned, since no one in the household regularly uses it. There are a couple numbers that I can still play, given a little warmup time; I always mean to get back to consistently using it, but time is the enemy. My kid will occasionally plink out songs on it from his bells sheet music. He's really good for having zero lessons. When he gets better about practicing drums on a regular basis, I may even give in to his requests for piano lessons.

Potted plant
When I'm actually putting effort into it, I have a green thumb; I've got a bunch of indoor plants whose condition match my executive function levels to take care of them. I've managed to keep one of my orchids blooming since November, and I'm hoping the other two take notice and step up their game, or I might have to Crowley-yell at them. (Kidding. I would never intimidate my plants that way; passive-aggressive guilting is more my style. ;) ) I also have a lot of the other usual suspects, like a bunch of violets, some pothos, several pots of aloe and a few other succulents, a spider plant and several of its offspring, and various and sundry other bits and bobs I've picked up along the way. When the weather backs down a bit from its current SAUNA setting, and maybe even rains, I need to try to remember to put them outside for a while as a treat.

Anybody in the mood for three words/phrases from me?

Because I am a sucker for personality quizzes and analysis: a Self-Knowledge Questionnaire that identifies three strong traits in your personality.

When I took it last week, I got Tenderness, Sensitivity, and Resilience, which I have to think reflects my innate Mommitude, but when I just took it again I had to laugh, given the first one that now shows up:

Aggression

One part of your character is anger in all its forms: frustration, outrage – and when anger is suppressed – bitterness, grumpiness, and bodily aches. Fundamentally, frustration comes from hope: you get upset because you expect your life will be more than a valley of tears. One way to deny aggression is to direct it inwards, as self-criticism. But you’re at your best when you acknowledge anger, and act it out clearly and in a focussed way, with honour.

Sensitivity

You have delicate, sensitive perceptions; you can be deeply moved by appearances – the right light in a room, or good food, or the texture of a piece of clothing. Expressive, intelligent language has a powerful hold on you; your mind works better when it is inspired and provoked by vivid imagery. It can be sad to live in a world which is often so ugly and not properly looked after. But you know that things can be otherwise, and you have the ability to appreciate the world at its best.

Resilience

You have a tendency, after a setback, to turn your emotions towards restriving. What attracts you is the idea of wiping out a humiliation by resumed action – overcoming weakness, repressing your fear. Because part of your motive is pride, you can sometimes be unwilling to admit weakness or to receive aid. But at heart, tour insistence on coming back and never folding has taught you a valuable pessimism: you know that important journeys are never easy.


Guess I'm still nursing some irritation. Ah, well.

norah has revived cesperanza's month of posting challenge, so here I go!

Life is kinda busy sucking right now - jobs are being stressful for me and the husband, the Emperor's school year has gotten off to a rough start - but I've complained enough to the captive audience here at home, I don't want to bore anybody else.

Have some lists!

TV series I want to start/finish up/mainline:
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Lost Girl
Fringe
Sleepy Hollow
The Middleman

...Heh, I do seem to have an interest in shows with a strong female lead.

Shows that are malingering on my DVR:
Defiance
Face Off
The Big Bang Theory
White Collar
Warehouse 13

The last three are not quite my fault; those are the series I'm watching with my husband, but we can never seem to synch up our time/interest to sit down together and power through them.

Fandoms I'm reading:
Teen Wolf (because Sterek is my cuddly comfort zone right now)
MCU (with strong Steve/Bucky leanings, but still loving most of the pairings and gen and teamy goodness)
Arrow (I don't even watch the show! But Felicity is totally my kind of catnip character - sassy, awkward, quirky tech nerd.)
Veronica Mars (Such great post-movie and AU fic to wallow in!)
Plus the occasional Welcome to Night Vale and other random things that pop on rec lists.


And now for the interactive portion: what are you reading and/or watching? If you don't feel like sharing, give me a number between 2 and 275, and I'll burble at you about my ever-expanding vid idea list.

kass asked me five questions. The questions and my answers are below the cut.

If you want me to ask you five questions, leave a comment and I will do so. Then you get to post your answers in your journal along with this same explanation.

Onward! Warning: this got wordy. Really wordy.

( 1) What crafty project are you proudest of? )

( 2) What fandom is making you happiest right now, and what is it about the fandom / characters / whatever that speaks to you? )


( 3) What have you learned about life, the universe, and everything through becoming a mom? )

( 4) If you could go anywhere in the world for a week, all expenses paid, where would you go and what would you do there? )


( 5) If you were hosting a dream dinner party (or coffee klatsch or roleplaying gathering or whatever) and could invite any five people from any fictional sources, who would you invite to join you at your table? )

Thank you for the questions, kass! Sorry if I TL;DRed the heck out of it.

Comment and I will ...

1. Tell you why I friended you. If I remember.
2. Associate you with something.
3. Tell you something I like about you.
4. Tell you a memory I have of you.
5. Associate you with a character/pairing.
6. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
7. Tell you my favourite userpic of yours.
8. Tell you that you might post this in your own journal.

So there's the meme spreading around, where you leave me a word about your day that starts with the third letter of your username.

I'd love to see who's reading. I'd also enjoy knowing how you're doing. So reply with as much or little of a comment as you want; I'm not fussy. *grin*

Because I seem to have lost the ability to post, and because when the WIP meme prompted me to go back and look at my WIPs I was overcome by the giggles, have my list:

Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.

( The ridiculous, the ridonkulous, and the utterly crack-laden )

Go ahead and ask, and I'll tell you a little something or give you a paragraph from anything you ask for.

I got told this morning to test the hell out of the software, then this afternoon got my head snapped off for finding more bugs. Welcome Friday afternoon surfing!

As prompted by inlovewithnight, some thoughts on Anywhere But Here (AKA I'd rather be...):



How about you guys?

It seems to be the prevailing opinion that it is damp and grey everywhere, and that winter just doesn't want to let go. So while I'm waiting for spring...

One little compliment can make you feel amazing. So give me a compliment, anything in the entire world, even that my shoelaces are pretty. Put this in your journal. And once you get some comments, put that entry in a memory or tag and when you are feeling down, just go to that entry and this will remind you how great you are.

Comments are going to be screened, and anonymous is okay.