sidravitale

Well, it's the start of my last week at the law firm and I'm nervous, of course, but committed. I plan to take some time off and focus on scholarship (writing legal journal articles to submit for publication) for most of January. We'll see how that pans out.

I am having a low-key Yule with a little crafting, some DVDs, and a lot of cat-in-lap, except for the bits where I'm frantically working at work. Not enough yoga.

Yesterday it snowed briefly, so *then* I felt like it was actually Christmas, which made me happy. I also accidentally listened to part of a Christmas religious service on the radio while visiting someone, and chortled during a reference to "Christ the redeemer" because a very long time ago, a friend of mine made a joke at the perfect moment (you know, in the middle of someone's wedding service) involving Christ, redemption, and valuable cash prizes, that will stay with me until the day I die.

So, today, I am at work, curious about my soon-to-be-ex-employer's strategy of dealing with my departure, but, it's none of my business, and looking forward to going home now I'm here, and eating leftover turkey. And cuddling the cat.

"After She Came Ashore"

The moist voice
calls to the sand.
The mermaid voice
calls to the sand.
Mingling elements,
Earth and water,
Where the shore reaches
Up to kiss the ocean.
Fire and air,
Where the sun stretches
Down, stroking the sea.

The knife blade buried
in each step, cooled only slightly
By a poultice of love and seaweed.

The blue gaze of the sea catches,
The weight of the water
Tugs at the soul.

Sidra Vitale (2009)

I gave notice. My last day is Dec 31. Am scared and will probably get very anxious soon, but the current plan is to relax some, do some scholarly writing some, do some fiction writing some, pick up some of my own clients, and do some 'lawyer temp' - document review - work, and keep looking for teaching positions. Having more scholarly writing out there will help the latter.

1. went to California for a brief visit and had my privacy invaded by the TSA.
2. didn't get the job I interviewed for in NH.
3. school started, meaning my legal research & writing class started, and is now at the halfway mark already.
4. thanks to a mixup, the school tried to deposit my paycheck for teaching into my non-existent bank account and we're still fixing it so everyone's been paid for September but me.
5. got some $$ from another source so I just spent $100 on hand-dyed Glamgrrl from Tempted Yarns in the colorway "Sidra" - yes, named after me, and designed, or designed in part, by me - for me to use on the wonderful Darrowdelf stole from Susan Pandorf's Lord of the Rings series. It's a gorgeous stole and the silver thread in the Glamgrrl done in the blue tones of "Sidra" is going to look fantastic, evoking the mithril veins of the mines of Moria. I have some other knitting I need to finish first (like, a sock, and a wedding present shawl), and I don't have the yarn yet, so I'm not sure when I'll start on it, but I've been looking forward to this project for a while.
6. I did not buy myself a hat for my birthday this year, which is in violation of tradition. I knew I was ordering this yarn so I felt bad about another expenditure. I may go into Toppers next week and shop among the less-expensive selections anyway.
7. My friend P, plus chihuahua, is now living with me. It's cramped quarters but we'll make do. We have overlapping tastes in a lot of TV and movies, and it's a pleasure to have someone to chat with about religion and morality and politics und so weiter. Her Imperial Majesty (the chihuahua) approves of me. The Tortoiseshell of Gondor (my cat) finds it a little stressful as she adjusts, but I believe she'll be just fine. And Guest Cat really is very polite and most active at night. Another cat (I know, this is a lot of animals) of P's is living next door with other friends. *She* is Ingenue Cat, for reasons that are apparent to anyone who sees her. She's young and sprightly and it's her first major role in a film, you know?
8. Guest Cat needs a different title. Well-Mannered Cat? Jellicle Cat? Yes. Jellicle Cat it is.
9. Jellicle Cat comes out at night and likes to play. She's also made a nest near my bed.
10. Her Imperial Majesty came calling on my last night in my boudoir while her 'mom' was in the shower, because she was afraid of the rain/thunder. It was horribly endearing.

Good-bye, Sandy Lamar. I'll miss you.

I've joined DIASPORA and expect to have new content there regularly, more so than on Google Plus. I'm not deleting my G+ account because I agree with several people there that because Google is so pervasive I should continue trying to shape their policies as a consumer. This is also a rebuttal to the familiar refrain: "If you don't like it, don't use it". No. As a consumer, I'm going to keep on being the squeaky wheel, complaining about your product, until you, corporation, do what I want. Our exchange is that I use Google's product, and, in return, Google charges others to market to me directly. It is a transaction. And I am leveraging my position as consumer for a change in the terms of our transaction.

There. That should satisfy all but the most ardent free-market capitalist.

(Also, I'm a beta tester, right? So I have an obligation to harp about problems, and G+'s naming policy is a huge one. I posted about it on my blog here).

On joindiaspora.com, I am sidravitale
On Google Plus, I am sidravitale
On twitter, I am sidravitale
On plurk, I am sidravitale
On blogspot, I am sidravitale

Only the gods know how active I will be on any given one.

I wouldn't mind a good short-form microblogging aggregator [sp?] that allows posting to and reading from multiple services. Does identi.ca do that?

It's National Book Week. The rules: Grab the closest book to you. Go to page 56. Copy the 5th sentence as your status. Don't mention the book. Post these rules as part of your post.

The hill rose steeper, and the brook's voice sharpened and clarified and sang delicately in its silvery poisonous tones, and above her against the stars she presently began to discern something looming on the very height of the hill, something like a hulking figure motionless as the hill it crowned.

My dad and I have a running thing about my 'film education', I'm always calling to let him know what classic film or whatever I've just viewed. Last night (and this morning) I watched Doctor Zhivago. It was EPIC. EPIC. O.M.G. What a fantastic film.

This leads directly to the following statement: I just ordered the film, and the book, from Amazon.com, using up $18 of the $20 gift card I just got for participating in some market survey.

*is happy*

I will accept donations via Paypal for this cause (at my email, sidra at vitale dot net, just note in the comments that it's to 'help a friend').

My friend P is going through a really tough time right now, she's homeless and unemployed and waiting on various housing lists but with no proper place to live right now. She's a good person who had to take some off time last year for medical reasons, and, like most of us, was only one 'medical reason' away from homelessness. And now that's happened. I have one of her cats, another friend as the other, and she is carrying her chihuahua with her.

So, now she's homeless and feels like a complete and utter failure because a mature grown-up who has worked all her life shouldn't be in these straits. She's in her 60s. She can't sleep out on the sidewalk. She needs help right away, and all the waiting lists with the Boston Housing Authority, and retirement income starting in a few months, all that *crap* won't help her put a roof over her head *right now*.

So, here I am, asking you, Internet, for help. I am trying to help this good friend of mine, who has always done right by other people, and lived in this neighborhood for over 20 years, keep her shit together for a few more months, or even longer.

If there are deities you talk to, please ask them to help. If you can help financially, please do. I will accept donations via Paypal, and if you are in the Boston Metro area and work for or with an organization that can help get this woman some immediate assistance, that won't require her to give up her pets, either, I'd be happy to hear from you via email (sidra at vitale dot net).

Thank you.

Wow, have I not slept much this past week. Mostly due to nerves. I had a houseguest (human) for two nights, and have a houseguest (feline) indefinitely. The cats are adjusting to each other. Nerves over money as well, but that's not resolved, exactly, it is at least in a better state.

Picked up a container of red curry paste and a small jar of yellow curry paste, and various vegetables and whatnot at the market, and made a red curry with beef, zucchini, and spinach last night. Delish. For some reason the market was low on cans of coconut milk, so I'll have to pick up more in a few days, but, I love curry, so, there you have it. I am clearly going to move on to buying the larger tubs of curry paste in the future.

1. I have a hand-me-down portable air conditioner which may help reduce my usual summer misery.
2. BRUINS WON THE STANLEY CUP! WAY TO GO BRUINS!
3. The other day, I was wearing my purple coat of awesome and standing waiting for the trolley, and this butterfly kept visiting me. It was so cool! It kept landing on me, and then I'd move and it would fly off, and then come back and land on my arm, and then fly off, and then land on my shoulder, etc.
4. Job interview in a couple weeks for legal analysis/writing teaching position!
5. I'm annoyed at Bank of America's decision to start charging me monthly fees for things that have hitherto been free, and am now a new member of my local credit union. Yaaaay! Metro Credit Union - I went through some of their news announcements, and am very impressed with their charitable giving to social justice/environmental justice groups, book drives for kids, things like that. I'm pleased. Also, the account setup process was really easy, I just strolled into my local branch (open until 1pm on Saturdays!) this morning and was done in 20 minutes.

I was up until DAWN, people, distracting myself from them. O.M.G. Why am I still awake?

eggs (scrambled)
hungarian salami from russian deli on corner
pepper jack cheese
two middling-size flour tortillas

cook eggs in small-to-middling cast iron skillet with a little oil, slice cheese over eggs, top with salami. Say "oh my god" at the brilliance of concept of breakfast burrito/quesadilla made up of these components, pick up all of it with spatula, slide tortilla onto pan and plop all the rest on top, cover with other tortilla, let it all warm for a titch, pick it all up again w/spatula, drop a spot of butter or oil on the pan, flip the entire mess so the top tortilla can get a little cooked, allow a little cooking, cut all in half with knife, miraculously transfer to a too-small plate without incident, realize quesadillas need to be cooked more to provide structure, roll each half up a bit into a quasi-burrito, and consume, with great pleasure, brilliance of concept clearly demonstrated.

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claim in comments!

1. Mild exercise. Perhaps even moderate.
2 Take an embarrassingly large collection of empty alcohol bottles down to the recycling bins. Now that we finally have bins, I have no excuse for hoarding bottles in the kitchen.
3. Dye my hair.
4. Goof off.
5. Laundry.

That sounds do-able, yeah?

Watched Taps last night, courtesy of Netflix. Now I'm jonesing all over again for a Timothy Hutton Movie Marathon.

I found this in a (lovely) collection of icons for the TV adaptation of the Magnificent Seven (good show). I love the light on the fingers, there's just something crisp about the air.

Today has been a day filled with chilling out online and pecking at the idea of installing MediaWiki for a site. Have to think more about the business need[*], as well as the technical challenges, before going forward.

[*] yes, ok, it's for a non-profit, but I can't think of a better term.

Odd dream with none of the trappings of my nightmares so far as I can recall, or even much sense of threat, but it was imperative that I get away and wake up *now*. So, I did, and found myself panting like I'd been in an a race. WTF?

In other news, it's May Day and I forgot last night was Walpurgisnacht. I have no mead to pour out as an offering, alas.

I canceled the appointment for the Tortoiseshell of Gondor for a couple different reasons. One, she seems fine, and I figure that's what the vet'll say, too. Two, I forgot to take the cat carrier out of the closet last night, and ToG *vanished* once she saw it come out this morning. I decided that traumatizing her on a day when I couldn't stay home with her all day was a bad idea.

As soon as I got off the phone to cancel the appointment and called P to confirm she would come over today to check on her, kitty reappeared. That's talent.

The Tortoiseshell of Gondor had some kind of fit this morning. Like, seizure or something. She seemed fine within minutes and I kept a close eye on her for about an hour before deciding to leave for work. I'm taking her to the vet for a quick look-see tomorrow.

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Random Update

Poem of the Day

Quit the Job.

many things

A friend of mine died Thursday

I've joined DIASPORA

National Book Week Entry

Film Education Proceeds Apace

Help A Friend Out

Week in Review

Woot!

Hooray for Night Terrors

That was a breakfast Kinsey Milhone would drool over

invite codes!

To-Do List for Weekend

I'll take Great movies of the 80s for $200, Alex

this post is so I can use my new icon

Sleep, sleep, sleep

Didn't take ToG to vet today

Please be OK, kitty

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December 2011

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