Good things

A list of good things, to counteract all the whining I've been doing:

1) stonebender and someotherguy, who have put up with even more whining, on IM and in person

2) Excellent short film on chicks dating chicks: Part 1 and Part 2.

3) Lots of comfort food and orange juice (cf. "someotherguy", above)

4) (and I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not) A job where I can work even when deathly ill, from the comfort of my own computer chair, with only one cow-orker to potentially give the crud to

5) Said cow-orker has not gotten the crud yet, it seems. Here's hopin'.


By the way, I don't care about Valentine's day, so I haven't really been paying it much attention, but I just noticed it's midnight, so let me just announce that I really love my partners a whole hell of a lot.

(no subject)

Oh, gosh, two more good things I can't believe I forgot to mention:

1) Opera
2) Eudora

(To fix my hatred for all things Microsoft, and the fact that my computer refuses to run Thunderbird and Firefox, insisting they're already running no matter what I do.)

(no subject)

I don't want to die the way Heather did(*). That is to say, while I'm glad we live in a world where at least in some places, it's legal to get help in dying if you've chosen not to live any more, it's something I can't see wanting for myself.

However, I want to live the way she did, with my ass shaking, and my sexuality as a joy to myself and others. I want to show people that bodies are made for joy and fun. I want my fat to be political until it doesn't have to be any more. I know Ani was right, as she is about so many things: "Every time I move, I make a Woman's Movement."

And I want people to feel as sorry that I'm going as they did Heather. And I want them to talk about how I made the world a better place. Heather made the world a better place.

I want that.



(* See http://laurietobyedison.com/discuss/?p=348 )

More good things

1) Woke up after five hours of sleep (4am-9am) feeling like myself again. Still a little sick, but not blearghy. Yay!

2) Thanks to nooks, I have Thunderbird back! May keep opera rather than going and getting Firefox again, but yay, I have my favorite mail program back!

3) I figured out some work issues, and if the boss goes for it, I can stop treading water.

4) There is no 4

5) Munchkin The Elder had a much easier day yesterday, and he and I were playing Pokemon together online for a while last night. I'm glad this newest storm blew over. I'm glad he has me to act as intermediary between him and his really quite anger-driven set of parents (my mother included).

6) Powell's customer service rocks bigtime. Because of my error, the books I ordered in December hadn't come yet. I contacted them, discovered I had given them the wrong zip code, and apologized profusely. Within a few days, I had the books, including the one that had originally been taken off my order because it was unavailable. They not only didn't charge me for the extra book (they had gotten in a used copy since my order) or for the new shipping charges, but they thanked me for my patience!

(no subject)

As I said to a friend (in a locked post) just now:

I just don't care about VDay. Don't hate it, just don't care. But I'm always up for a reminder to tell my friends I love them.

Love you!


That goes for all y'all.

(no subject)

My favorite post of the day so far, by pantryslut, is about VDay, sort of, but it's poetry and you should read it, even/especially if you dislike the holiday.

The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism

I tried, but I can't write a better intro to this Harper's article than alanbostick did, so here's his. nooks, I immediately thought of you. I think you'll love it.

Literary Collage

I've been a bit slow posting a link to this, but it is too good to pass up.

In the February 2007 issue of Harper's, Jonathan Lethem fires a salvo in the ongoing war between the Creative Commons and the Society of the Spectacle. "The Ecstasy of Influence: a Plagiarism" is an essay on the impact and importance of appropriation in the creative process, and it is itself almost entirely appropriation of the words of others, with a little bit of connective tissue written by Lethem himself. Although it is a patchwork of quotation and appropriation, it is a single, coherent essay on the importance of influence, imitation, copying, and outright plagiarism in the creative process. As such, it is a brilliantly original piece of work.

Because of its nature as a collage, to excerpt quotes is almost to miss the point. Read the whole thing, including the explanation at the end of which part was stolen from whom.

(via Roz Kaveney)

(no subject)

Hey, someotherguy, I think epi_lj may have taken care of all the links I might want to send you tonight. Here:

http://epi-lj.livejournal.com/1482096.html