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I wrote this before I adopted my cats, but now that I have two cats I am more convinced than ever that Shakespeare was a Cat Guy.

I was curious recently about whether or not William Shakespeare had a cat. There’s no way to really know because we don’t know all that much about him, but I was sure someone had at least, you know, looked at the odds. And I was not wrong! Apparently Shakespeare mentions cats 44 times in his known works, usually referring to them negatively, at least according to the internet. 

Basically he constantly talked about how terrible cats are, which has led me to conclude that Shakespeare DEFINITELY had a cat, probably like five of them.

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FIRST SNOW OF THE SEASON YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS

Well, okay, first, it means "my" fountain is boxed up like some kind of cheery alternate universe TARDIS for the winter, but I wanted to take some film of the snow falling around it anyway.

But second it means time for the ritual reposting of the SNOW SONG

SNOW!

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One of the cats puked on the bed yesterday in a way the required changing the linens completely. I decided it was time to put the winter-weight duvet on, and between new sheets and fluffy blanket I have made the absolute error of creating a bed that is too cozy.

Painting may have to wait until tomorrow. I'm not getting out of this bed without a struggle.

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This afternoon I went to "At-Home Depot", aka my DIY leftovers bin, and it turned out I had everything I needed to paint the closet except the paint, so well done me. I went to the hardware store and got some of my "accent color" paint mixed, so TOMORROW: WE PAINT.

I also found a penny under the shelving. It was underneath the shelf upright, which means it's been there since at least the shelving was installed; it doesn't help to date it at all, but I'm pretty sure that the shelving has indeed been there since 1988, so I'm glad to finally be rid of it.

[ID: Two images; the first is of a cardboard box containing all the supplies I need to paint except paint, including two paint rollers, tape, a dropcloth, a can opener, sandpaper, and spackle. The second image is a 1988 penny covered in dirt and dust, resting in my palm.]

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Despite the fact that I have been brutally murdered, they apparently still want to meet me.

It'll be a while, we are synchronizing our calendars, but I'll keep you all updated in re: my ability to get laid without infodumping about Dadaist art first.

I know (well, I know now) that my inability to date like a normal person is very likely down at least in part to the ADHD, and armed with that knowledge I am using my not inconsiderable intelligence (heretofore the reason the ADHD was not detected) to try and be a little less awkward in affairs of the heart. It's like job interviews, if I can get past the resume-reading system I can usually ace the interviews. I am clinically diagnosed as very charming! I do my best not to be a creep!

And I know that the person I'm chatting with in this dating app, having accepted the resume as it were, is making increasingly unsubtle sexual overtures. That's not even unwelcome in this case. Thank you for persevering in the face of my initial obliviousness. It's been a while and this is a nice ego boost.

But we started out talking about a date at an art museum and while I am in fact adept at sexting, I am much better at discussing Magritte's artistic influences and Chagall's use of light, and what they might like to see when we go to the museum. I want to know what they like! You know....in the Modern Wing.

None of which is getting either of us laid, but sex is better when you've recently seen Paris Street, Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte, it just is. You're so hot I want to see your face when I show you Brancusi's Two Penguins! You don't even have to buy me dinner first, you just have to put up with the worst wingman ever: Pablo Picasso.

Why am I like this.

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I once heard “How long you put off getting tested for ADHD ought be part of the diagnostic criteria” (a joke). Five years for me, incredibly relatable.

I mean sometimes it's not even putting it off -- getting tested as an adult is a giant pain in the ass. I don't know what it is about testing clinics -- I suspect it's that there's an enormously high percentage of people in the psychiatric fields who are neurodiverse themselves and thus the entire discipline suffers from executive dysfunction -- but I could not get a clinic to call me back. The one clinic kept putting me through to the scheduling office who literally never answered their phone, promising I'd get a call in a day or two, and then nothing. That went on for months off and on. Finally I said "I've called you guys like five times, can I speak to a human being? Can you tell me when they actually answer their phone?" and just got a kind of baffled silence.

And of course, because I have the damn ADHD myself, it took me a while after calling to call again, or to find the phone number, or to source a new place, or what have you.

The place I finally did get tested I had to nudge twice to get scheduled, and after testing they eventually required a threat of legal action by the state before they'd send me the physical written copy of my diagnosis that I needed in order to get medication.

The struggle is extremely real. So like, yeah it took me a year or two from "Sam you know you have ADHD right? Tell me you knew that" to "I professionally diagnose you with ADHD". But I tend to discount that because a lot of it wasn't me, it was the fairly fucked up way we go about these things. :D

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I recently got to go to Detroit to see some friends there, but I also had some time on my own, and I did one of my favorite things to do, which is go to a museum alone. Don't get me wrong, I love going with friends, but there's a specific pleasure in going to a museum to see only what you wish to see and not having to worry you're lingering too long or wandering too far. So I went to the Henry Ford Museum! It's a weird repository that combines "Things the Ford family thought were cool" and "things the curators probably thought the Ford family would think were cool" and "things some weirdo donated that are cool".

At the top there you got some great neon overlooking the "car" section, wherein are housed both an Edsel (which I got to look at while listening to a podcast about Edsels; I never realized that one of the main reasons they failed is that they have a very...genital-looking grille on the front) and the "safety car" of the future, which, your eyes do not deceive you, had an accordion folding door. Extremely safe I think you'll all agree.

One of the particularly fun bits of the museum is Mathematica, which as the sign says is an "artifact" but it's an artifact you can walk into; it's an exhibit on mathematics and physics that was designed in 1961, and has been kept as it was in 1961 so that you can see what museum exhibits of the day were like. I don't understand almost any of the content, but it's just cool to walk through something so unchanged. I love old museums; I understand they're often incorrect or problematic or both, but there's an allure there that I find undeniable.

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[ID: Two images of my front hall closet, with wood-grain vinyl floor and the edge of a rug visible. The first image shows the closet empty except for a set of elderly and very ugly looking metal shelves on one side and an equally elderly and ugly clothes rail on the other. In the second image the shelving and rail have been removed, leaving the closet completely empty, with ugly brown streaks on the wall where the shelving was installed.]

The new shelving I ordered for the closet is arriving today, and while I probably won't install it until the weekend, I thought I'd get the old stuff out. It's all downstairs waiting for the scrap metal guy to pick up now. Glad I wore gloves, since one of the shelves began...leaking something. It looked like motor oil -- too thick and copious to be WD-40 but I don't know what it was. Also, in one final farewell from the person who lived here before me and was not only extremely unsanitary but apparently very weird, two hairpins and a used q-tip fell out of another one.

I was planning to scrub and sand the walls at least before installing the new stuff, and considering painting, but it's just as well I pulled the shelving down today. Looking at the photos I'm thinking I'm also going to pull up the floorboard molding and maybe try and patch that gap in the floor. I have some of the vinyl tile, but I'll need to talk to the hardware store about what I should use to cut it with.

In any case if I'm going to patch and paint I'll need to lock up the cats in the bedroom for the day, so that'll be a job for tomorrow or Friday if at all. Right now there's a door mat covering the hole in the floor tile, so the cats don't mess with it.

Listened to The Indicator's "Economics of Everday Things" crossover about pizza boxes, and then a bit of the latest episode of Goalless (another footie podcast) but switched it off after a while and listened to Kill James Bond's episode on Heat instead.

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I do have a similar habit though! I like to reheat things in the toaster oven rather than the microwave, and since it takes a lot longer I generally have time to at least make headway on it. Not quite as regularly as a morning beverage but it does help.

In addition to assembling the laundry cart this morning, I got up a little early and did some cooking! I used it to force myself to Deal With The Dishes.

I don't mind doing the dishes, it never takes that long, but I really struggle with unloading clean dishes out of the dishwasher. I'm not entirely sure why but I suspect it has to do with having to quickly shift from say, putting plates into the plate cupboard to putting jars in the jar box to putting tupperware on the tupperware cart.

Anyway, a great way to force myself through it is to do a bunch of cooking, because before I can do the cooking I have to wash the dishes already in the sink which means I have to have an empty dishwasher. So I threw some beer bread into the mixer to knead, unloaded the dishwasher, did the dishes, and then I had an empty sink I could fill up with dishes from the beer bread, pizza sauce, and pickle-flavored cashews I was making. The sauce is now parceled into tupperware in the freezer, the cashews are in a big covered bowl for snacking on, and the bread as you can see came out great. Tonight we dine on homemade toast.

[ID: A loaf of golden-yellow home baked bread sitting in a dutch oven; it has slice marks across the top in a faintly sunburst pattern, and you can't hear it but it's crackling as it cools.]

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YES I KNEW I remembered someone else had done it, thanks for sharing the photo again. I especially like how busy it is, as befits the motto :D

[ID: A photograph of a full forearm tattoo, reading "Si Creabis, Fit Redunda" surrounded by gears and various other symbols. It looks rad.]

Not sure if this is a first for you, but I recently got a tattoo inspired by your words. When reading your Discworld fic, Patterns, the closing line just STUCK in my head. "Sooner or later, the thread becomes the pattern" is such a crafter friendly version of Annie Dillard's "how we spend our days is how we spend our lives" and it stuck in my head. I'm in the process of leaving a job that I've been in for almost 20 years (which in reality was probably about 5+ years too long at this point). As part of my commemoration of the transition, I got a needle and thread tattoo to remind myself that the thread does in fact become the pattern and the daily choices I make shape my life as a whole. So thanks!

Oh, that's awesome Anon! I believe someone out there has a Si Creabis, Fit Redunda tattoo, but this may be the first ink inspired by one of my stories (my memory is bad enough that I may be mistaken, but in any case I always love to hear about such things). It's lovely that it's from one of the earliest ones, the Discworld stories that got me back into fandom.

There are things I'd maybe write differently in some of those, with the advantage of time and skill -- that was written over twenty years ago, and some of the stuff about police work at the start could use an update -- but the general sentiment from the ending is sound, and I certainly wouldn't rewrite that line in particular. It holds up, and I'm pleased it had such an impact!

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I SCRUBBED THE BATHTUB.

I know it doesn't look very impressive but you didn't see it before. The remaining "stains" are actually where the enamel has worn away, though at least it doesn't seem to have spread since I moved in.

I do clean it, but not as often as I should -- I get very nervous because the cats LOVE the tub. The first time I scrubbed it after I got them, Polk came leaping into the tub and landed right in a puddle of cleaner. I had to grab four pounds of Cat Who Does Not Like Being Held and hold her under the tap until I was sure she was clean, traumatic for us both. Now I close the door when cleaning but that means I have to clean fast because their litterbox is in there and the only time they couldn't access it when they needed to go, they pooped in the bed.

Anyway, I went over the tub with CLR, then rinsed and went over it with bleach, then rinsed and hit a few problem spots with the steam cleaner. I'll do the actual tiles some other day. I got up about 90% of the hair dye, all of the soap scum, and later today I'll wax the taps. I was considering waxing the whole tub but it sees so much water and soap I'm not sure it'd be worth the elbow grease.

Listened to the latest episode of Criminal, "Extraordinary and Compelling Reasons", which is about the difficulties that profoundly sick prison inmates in America have in getting treatment and compassionate release. Difficult listening but also I think very important for anyone interested in prison reform or abolition. I used to be a big true crime buff when it came to podcasts but I've slowly been whittling them away; I think there are arguments to be made in favor of discussing crime and the criminal justice system, but sooner or later most of them either stop doing their research or get so scared to air an opinion and lose advertisers/patreons that they start just reading from Wikipedia. Criminal is one of the few I've kept around in part because it's a wholly different and much more journalistic approach than most. Also Phoebe Judge could read the Begats and I'd listen raptly.

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Nuclear burn deployed, one dead thousands injured, etc

I know (well, I know now) that my inability to date like a normal person is very likely down at least in part to the ADHD, and armed with that knowledge I am using my not inconsiderable intelligence (heretofore the reason the ADHD was not detected) to try and be a little less awkward in affairs of the heart. It's like job interviews, if I can get past the resume-reading system I can usually ace the interviews. I am clinically diagnosed as very charming! I do my best not to be a creep!

And I know that the person I'm chatting with in this dating app, having accepted the resume as it were, is making increasingly unsubtle sexual overtures. That's not even unwelcome in this case. Thank you for persevering in the face of my initial obliviousness. It's been a while and this is a nice ego boost.

But we started out talking about a date at an art museum and while I am in fact adept at sexting, I am much better at discussing Magritte's artistic influences and Chagall's use of light, and what they might like to see when we go to the museum. I want to know what they like! You know....in the Modern Wing.

None of which is getting either of us laid, but sex is better when you've recently seen Paris Street, Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte, it just is. You're so hot I want to see your face when I show you Brancusi's Two Penguins! You don't even have to buy me dinner first, you just have to put up with the worst wingman ever: Pablo Picasso.

Why am I like this.

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I know (well, I know now) that my inability to date like a normal person is very likely down at least in part to the ADHD, and armed with that knowledge I am using my not inconsiderable intelligence (heretofore the reason the ADHD was not detected) to try and be a little less awkward in affairs of the heart. It's like job interviews, if I can get past the resume-reading system I can usually ace the interviews. I am clinically diagnosed as very charming! I do my best not to be a creep!

And I know that the person I'm chatting with in this dating app, having accepted the resume as it were, is making increasingly unsubtle sexual overtures. That's not even unwelcome in this case. Thank you for persevering in the face of my initial obliviousness. It's been a while and this is a nice ego boost.

But we started out talking about a date at an art museum and while I am in fact adept at sexting, I am much better at discussing Magritte's artistic influences and Chagall's use of light, and what they might like to see when we go to the museum. I want to know what they like! You know....in the Modern Wing.

None of which is getting either of us laid, but sex is better when you've recently seen Paris Street, Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte, it just is. You're so hot I want to see your face when I show you Brancusi's Two Penguins! You don't even have to buy me dinner first, you just have to put up with the worst wingman ever: Pablo Picasso.

Why am I like this.

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I love it when she sits with her paws crossed like a Serious Business Cat who is about to deny me a small business loan.

[ID: A photograph of Polk the Tabby lying on my duvet; she is facing the camera, eyes narrowed, and has her front paws tucked up across her chest like a human would cross her arms.]

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In addition to assembling the laundry cart this morning, I got up a little early and did some cooking! I used it to force myself to Deal With The Dishes.

I don't mind doing the dishes, it never takes that long, but I really struggle with unloading clean dishes out of the dishwasher. I'm not entirely sure why but I suspect it has to do with having to quickly shift from say, putting plates into the plate cupboard to putting jars in the jar box to putting tupperware on the tupperware cart.

Anyway, a great way to force myself through it is to do a bunch of cooking, because before I can do the cooking I have to wash the dishes already in the sink which means I have to have an empty dishwasher. So I threw some beer bread into the mixer to knead, unloaded the dishwasher, did the dishes, and then I had an empty sink I could fill up with dishes from the beer bread, pizza sauce, and pickle-flavored cashews I was making. The sauce is now parceled into tupperware in the freezer, the cashews are in a big covered bowl for snacking on, and the bread as you can see came out great. Tonight we dine on homemade toast.

[ID: A loaf of golden-yellow home baked bread sitting in a dutch oven; it has slice marks across the top in a faintly sunburst pattern, and you can't hear it but it's crackling as it cools.]

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Things I learned on Duolingo : the bear is taking bribes.

This would be even funnier in Italian, where I'm given to understand bribery is a contact sport :D But that's hilarious. Oh, my lovely bisexual polyamorous Jewish beekeeping bear.

For the holidays, Duolingo has released several stuffed versions of their characters including Falstaff, and also blind boxes of figurines; I don't really want a plush Falstaff but I'd like a figurine, and the problem is that all the figurines are of Duo the Owl and also FIFTEEN DOLLARS for a BLIND BOX seems like a lot. But someday I will have a tiny Falstaff figurine to keep on my desk. I might have to sculpt one in CAD and 3-D print it.

[ID: A screengrab of Falstaff, the bear from Duolingo, speaking German; the translation beneath reads "Buy me an ice cream first, then you can sit in the front."]

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dammit I left this out of RFM this week, sorry -- reblogging for publicity!

Philcon 2024!

Do you love Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror? Are you a Writer, a Gamer, a Costumer, or a Filker? Are you looking for a weekend of distraction in your life? If you’re in the vicinity of Philadelphia- or more specifically, Cherry Hill, New Jersey- there’s an event coming up on November 22 – 24, 2024 that we’d love for you to come check out. If you aren’t already familiar with PHILCON, here’s what you should know: * We started out as a literary-centric SF convention in 1936, but have grown to embrace all mediums of storytelling (movies, television, comics, podcasts, etc) as well as expanding to cover the Fantasy and Horror genres. Most of our participants are authors, and there will be Readings by them and Autograph sessions all throughout the weekend, in addition to their participation on discussion panels. * While many of our Literary panels are about SF, Fantasy, or Horror topics in general, we also have an emphasis on panels discussing the craft side and business sides of writing, for those looking to develop as authors. * One of our content tracks for the weekend is dedicated to Science & Technology itself, not just how it is used in fiction. * We will be screening several movies over the weekend, and Anime will also be shown in our Anime & Animation room at certain times. * There will be Workshops and Demos for Costuming (including "Fabric Manipulation", "How to Make Foam Armor", "Make-up for The Stage", and "A Pox on Patterns!") and Art (including "Using Alcohol Inks", "Block Printing With Your Own Designs", "How to Make A Controlled Color Palette", and "Making Wire-Wrapped Jewelry"), and if you’ve got an outfit you made that you’d like to show off on stage, we’ve got a yearly Costume Contest. * If you are a Filker- or just enjoy listening to other people sing and play music- Philcon has a room dedicated Filk room, and this year’s Musical Guest of Honor is Cecilia Eng. As Cecilia is not often on the east coast, if you’d like to see her play in person, now is an excellent change to do so without flying to the other side of the country. Lynn Gold, another west-coast Filker, will also be joining us this year. There are also Concerts scheduled for Sirens & Liars, Half a Slime Devil, Brenda and Chuck Shaffer-Shiring, and Sara Henya. * Since the Gaming track moved from an upstairs suite to the “Gallery” room on the first floor, it’s had the literal room to expand the number of games it can run, and we’ve got a bevy of them on the schedule for 2024, as well as a bank of games for you to choose from during Open Gaming hours. There's also a LARP Workshop Series being run by Spectacle INK. * Our Artist Guests of Honor for 2024 are Gina Matarazzo and Matthew Stewart. Each will be giving a presentation on our Main Stage on Saturday afternoon, as well as having their art displayed in our Art Show. * Our Principal Speaker for 2024 is MAX GLADSTONE, and we also have Nghi Vo as our Special Guest. Both will be doing Readings, Autograph Sessions, panels, and a main stage Q&A session. An interactive version of our schedule can be found HERE. While a simplified, static overview, organized by track, can be found HERE. Our LinkTree can be found HERE. We would especially value your support this year, as Philcon’s Covid-19 policy in previous years (which required both mandatory masking and proof of vaccination in an attempt to avoid becoming a super-spreader event as several other conventions had) has led to a slow but noticeable decline in attendance. While masking in public spaces is still heavily encouraged, neither proof of vaccination nor masking are required to attend the convention in 2024. We’d love your help in making this year a success, so that we’re in a good position to bring you all something really fantastic for our upcoming 90th anniversary. We’d also love to give you a great weekend right now, for reasons I doubt we need to explain. Here’s to surviving the next few years! ~ Lynati Head of Programming, Philcon 2024