#holiday bookfest

[nicolagriffith]

In one week: Holiday Bookfest!

What's the best way to spend two hours? At the Holiday Bookfest! "Two fun and fairly frenzied hours that bring Seattle’s fabulous readers together with some of Seattle’s most beloved writers.” Saturday 18 November, 2-4 pm. Phinney Center, Seattle.

What is it? Two wonderful Seattle authors per table in a large room with their latest books in front of them—lovely people like Claire Dederer, Alice Wong, Deb Caletti, Timothy Egan, Erica Bauermeister, Kenji López-Alt, Ken Jennings, and so many more I can’t list them all. And me, of course. Tom from Phinney Books says, “It’s two fun and fairly frenzied hours that bring Seattle’s fabulous…

[mostlysignssomeportents]

On the Media on the enshittification (pt 1)

This afternoon (May 6), I’ll be in Berkeley at the Bay Area Bookfest for a 3:30PM event with Glynn Washington for my book Red Team Blues; tomorrow (May 7), it’s an 11AM event with Wendy Liu for my book Chokepoint Capitalism.

Weds (May 10), I’m in Vancouver for a keynote at the Open Source Summit and a book event at Heritage Hall and Thu (May 11), I’m in Calgary for Wordfest.

I'm many kinds of writer - novelist, journalist, activist, editorialist, screenwriter - but at core, I'm a blogger. Every bit of interesting stuff that crosses my path gets turned into a blog post, which gets lodged in both a WordPress database and my mind, where it rubs up against other interesting stuff and crystallizes into longer, more considered pieces:

https://doctorow.medium.com/the-memex-method-238c71f2fb46

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/06/people-are-not-disposable/#otm

It's an iterative process, and it follows a predictable and often very exciting life-cycle. First, I encounter an idea in the wild that niggles at my attention and I try to capture what it is that's making it so interesting. The act of writing about some little fragment for strangers makes me think about it harder. That means that I end up making connections to other ideas that I've thought about, and things I continue to encounter in the wild.

As I write about the subject over and over again, over days, then weeks, then years, it gets sharper and more focused. I get better at talking about it, sure, but I also get better at thinking about it. This is an activity @brucesterling​ once called "advancing and demolishing potential political arguments that have never been made by anybody but me":

https://locusmag.com/2017/06/bruce-sterling-reviews-cory-doctorow/

At a certain point, the idea "tips." The act of repeatedly writing about it, relating it to new stuff happening in the world, makes it clear enough to me that it becomes clear enough to explain it to other people, too. Then I'm no longer "advancing and demolishing arguments" for myself - everyone gets in on the act.

That's what happened with enshittification. I coined the term while on vacation last summer:

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1550457808222552065

Though I was just tossing the idea off idly, it stuck with me. I dusted it off in November to talk about Amazon and ad-tech:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/#relentless-payola

Then in December to write about an aspect of online speech that is wildly important but rarely considered:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/10/e2e/#the-censors-pen

A week later, the rapid-onset enshittification of Twitter got me thinking about the subject again:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/19/better-failure/#let-my-tweeters-go

And again, just before Christmas, thanks to a magisterial essay by Cat Valente:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/23/semipermeable-membranes/#free-as-in-puppies

The idea percolated over the holidays, and I revisited it in January:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/08/watch-the-surpluses/#exogenous-shocks

And then, in late January, I had a conceptual breakthrough, thanks to some excellent reporting on TikTok by Emily Baker-White:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys

That was the essay that broke the idea out of my own endless argument with myself into the wider world. Wired reprinted it, using the Creative Commons license on the piece:

https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/

(All the essays on my Pluralistic blog are licensed Creative Commons Attribution-only - you can republish them, too, including in commercial forums, provided you follow the license terms!)

After that essay went viral, I started to hear from lots of people about the subject and it kicked into overdrive - you can see how it went after that by looking at the "enshittification" tag on my blog:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/enshittification/

The best part of this phase of the process is the move from arguing with myself to having serious discussions with others. And I just got to spend a week doing just that, with some of the smartest, most challenging discussants I could ask for: the producers of On the Media, and its host, Brooke Gladstone.

I'm a giant On The Media fan. I don't think I've missed an episode in decades. And I loved Gladstone's graphic novel about media theory:

https://memex.craphound.com/2011/07/07/influencing-machine-brook-gladstones-comic-about-media-theory-is-serious-but-never-dull/

So I went into this discussion with high hopes, but those hopes were met and exceeded in every way. My conversations with Rebecca Clark-Callender and Katya Rogers brought these ideas into a new focus for me, and then, over the course of many hours, Gladstone and I put them into an orderly progression that was transformative.

On The Media turned those discussions into an hour-long, three-act series. They've just aired part one, "Why Every Platform Goes Bad":

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/enshittification-part-1-where-did-it-all-go-wrong-on-the-media

It's a superb piece of radio (the FCC_mandated bleeps on the "shit" in "enshittification" are hilarious). Though I'm mostly a sole practitioner, it's a forceful example of the power of collaboration, from Gladstone's challenging questions to the superb editing.

The rest of the series will air in the coming weeks, and I'm told they're going to air it as a complete hour this summer. I hope you'll give it a listen!

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Berkeley, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

[Image ID: Jean-Leon Gerome's painting Pollice Verso, 1872, depicting gladiators in an arena with noble onlookers giving a thumbs-down gesture. The tapestry before the nobles has been replaced with a US $100 bill in which Ben Franklin's mouth has been replaced by an Amazon smile logo.=

[brookston]

Holidays 5.29

Holidays

Armed Forces Day (Kyrgyzstan)

Army Day (Argentina)

Asexuality Day

Cultural Workers and Folk Artists Day (День Києва Київ; Ukraine)

Day of Internal Affairs Officers (Turkmenistan)

Dunkirk Evacuation Remembrance Days [thru 6.4]

End of the Middle Ages Day

Fall of Constantinople Day

Feronia Asteroid Day

Ganatantra Diwas (Nepal)

Hope Day

International Addison’s Day

International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers (UN)

International Mount Everest Day

International Pashto Language Day

Kiev Day (Ukraine)

Learn About Composting Day

Luilak (Lazy Bones Day; Belgium)

Mount Everest Day (Nepal)

National Alligator Day

National Dog Friendly Day

National Edison Day

National Elderly Day (Indonesia)

National 529 College Savings Plan Day

National Flip Flop Day

National Foot Fetish Day

National Heat Awareness Day

National Hydroxyapatite Day

National Paperclip Day

National Rugelach Day

National Sail Day

National White Wreath Day (Australia)

Oak Apple Day (UK) [a.k.a. ... 

Bobby Ack Day

Castleton Garland Day (Castleton)

Garland King Day 

Nettle Day

Royal Oak Day

Shick-Shack Day

Shik-Shak Day

Shitsack Day

Yak Bob Day

Paper Clip Day

Pink Flamingo Day

Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day

Reconciliation Day (ACT, Australia)

Red Shirt Day of Action for AccessAbility & Inclusion (Canada)

Restoration Day (UK)

Rite of Spring Day

Scythe Day (French Republic)

Tony Stark Day

Veteran of Overseas Military Service Day (Poland)

Veterans Day (Sweden)

World Digestive Health Day

World Tiger Nut Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Coq au Vin Day

Gnocchi Day (Argentina)

International Rooster with Wine Day

National Biscuit Day (UK)

Squoosh an Ice Cream Sandwich Day

Independence & Related Days

Constitutional Referendum Day (Vanuatu)

Democracy Day (Nigeria)

Republic Day (Nepal)

Rhode Island Statehood Day (#13; 1790)

Schalamzaar Empire (Declared; 2004) [unrecognized]

Wisconsin Statehood Day (#30; 1848)

5th & Last Wednesday in May

Bermuda Day [Last Friday]

European Neighbours’ Day [Last Friday]

Great Wisconsin Cheese Festival begins [Last Friday, thru Sunday]

National Heat Awareness Day [Last Friday]

National Senior Health & Fitness Day [Last Wednesday]

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day (Western Australia) [Last Friday]

Trader-Willi Syndrome Awareness Day [Last Friday]

World Challenge Day [Last Wednesday]

World MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Day [Last Wednesday]

World Otter Day [Last Wednesday]

Festivals Beginning May 29, 2024

Bookfest Bucharest (Bucharest, Romania) [thru 6.2]

Corn Dry Milling Conference (Peoria, Illinois) [thru 5.30]

Dublin Tech Summit (Dublin, Ireland) [thru 5.30]

Primavera Sound (Barcelona, Spain) [thru 6.2]

Wellfleet Restaurant Week (Wellfleet, Massachusetts) [thru 6.4]

Feast Days

Aaron McGruder (Artology)

Alexander of Alexandria (Christian; Saint)

Ambarvailia (Old Roman No Work Day, Purification Festival to Ceres)

Arbor Day (Aston-on Club, Shropshire Celtic Book of Days)

Ascension of Baha'u'llah (Baha’i)

Bona of Pisa (Christian; Saint)

Clark Voorhees (Artology)

Conon and his son (Christian; Martyrs, of Iconia, Asia)

Consensual Bum Biting Day (Pastafarian)

Cyril of Caesarea (Christian; Saint)

Erwin (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Mars (Ancient Rome)

Hypomone (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Johnny the Wolf (Muppetism)

Lars Bo (Artology)

Louise-Adéone Drölling (Artology)

Madeleine Sophie Barat (Christian; Saint)

Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi (Christian; Virgin)

Mary, Mother of the Church (Christian; Saint)

Maximus of Trier (a.k.a. Maximus, Bishop of Tiers; Christian; Saint)

Oak Apple Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Pillow Fight Day (Pastafarian)

Pope Alexander of Alexandria (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Siinnius, Martyrius, and Alexander (Christian; Martyrs, in Trent)

Spike Jones Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Sprouting Corn Day (Pagan)

Theodosia of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Theodosius (Positivist; Saint)

Ursula Ledóchowska (Christian; Saint)

William, Stephen, Raymund and their Companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Prime Number Day: 149 [35 of 72]

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [28 of 57]

Premieres

A Battle for a Bottle (Phantasies Cartoon; 1942)

Bluebeard’s Brother (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1932)

Bold King Cole (Rainbow Parade Cartoon; 1936)

The Busy Bee (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1936)

Dial M for Murder (Film; 1954)

Dick Whittington’s Cat (ComiColor Cartoon; 1936)

Feel This Book, by Janeane Garofalo and Ben Stiller (Humor Book; 1999)

The Gods Themselves Isaac Asimov (Novel; 1972)

Half-Baked Alaska (Chilly Willy Cartoon; 1965)

The Hound and the Rabbit (Happy Harmonies Cartoon; 1937)

Hud (Film; 1963)

The Internship (Film; 2013)

I Yam Love Sick (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1938)

Justice League: Starcrossed (WB Animated Film; 2004)

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini (Novel; 2003)

The Last Days of Disco (Film; 1998)

Little Bits, recorded by Jimmy Bertrand’s Washboard Wizards (Song; 1926)

Little School Mouse (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1954)

Mary Had a Little Lamb, by Paul McCartney (Song; 1972)

The New Centurions, by Joseph Wambaugh (Novel; 1971)

No Time For Sergeants (Film; 1958)

Partly Cloudy (Pixar Cartoon 2009)

Pink on the Cob (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1969)

Private Dancer, by Tina Turner (Album; 1984)

A Raisin in the Sun (Film; 1961)

The Rite of Spring, by Igor Stravinsky (Ballet & Orchestral Work; 1913)

San Andreas (Film; 2015)

Sister Act (Film; 1992)

Smile Pretty, Say Pink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1966)

Space Force (TV Series; 2020)

St. Moritz Blitz (Chilly Willy Cartoon; 1961)

The Stork’s Mistake (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1942)

Tears on My Pillow, recorded by Little Anthony & the Imperials (Song; 1958)

This Is A Book, by Demetri Martin (Humor Book; 2011)

Two Dots (Phone App Game; 2014)

Up (Animated Disney Film; 2009)

White Christmas, recorded by Bing Crosby (Song; 1942)

The Witch in the Wood, by T.H. White (Novel; 1939) [Once and Future King #2]

Yankee Doodle Dandy (Film; 1942)

Today’s Name Days

Erwin, Irmtraud, Maximin (Austria)

Doroteia (Bulgaria)

Euzebije, Polion, Većeslav (Croatia)

Maxmilián (Czech Republic)

Maciminus (Denmark)

Laido, Leido, Leidur, Luulik (Estonia)

Oiva, Oivi, Oliver, Olivia (Finland)

Aymar, Aymard, Géraldine, Maximin (France)

Erwin, Irmtraud, Maximin (Germany)

Ipomoni, Olivianos, Theodosia (Greece)

Magdolna (Hungary)

Ademaro, Massimo, Massimino (Italy)

Daris, Maksine, Maksis, Raivis, Raivo (Latvia)

Algedas, Erdvilė, Magdalena, Magdė (Lithuania)

Magnar, Magnhild (Norway)

Bogusława, Maksymilian, Maria Magdalena, Teodor, Teodozja (Poland)

Teodosia (România)

Vilma (Slovakia)

Maximino (Spain)

Jeanette, Yvonne (Sweden)

Theodora (Ukraine)

Duana, Duane, Duanna, Dwayne, Fitz, Fitzgerald (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 150 of 2024; 216 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 22 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Huath (Hawthorn) [Day 18 of 28]

Chinese: Month 4 (Ji-Si), Day 22 (Gui-Si)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 21 Iyar 5784

Islamic: 21 Dhu al-Qada 1445

J Cal: 30 Magenta; Lastday [30 of 30]

Julian: 16 May 2024

Moon: 61%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 9 St. Paul (6th Month) [Theodosius]

Runic Half Month: Odal (Home, Possession) [Day 5 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 72 of 92)

Week: Last Week of May

Zodiac: Gemini (Day 9 of 31)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 5.29

Holidays

Armed Forces Day (Kyrgyzstan)

Army Day (Argentina)

Asexuality Day

Cultural Workers and Folk Artists Day (День Києва Київ; Ukraine)

Day of Internal Affairs Officers (Turkmenistan)

Dunkirk Evacuation Remembrance Days [thru 6.4]

End of the Middle Ages Day

Fall of Constantinople Day

Feronia Asteroid Day

Ganatantra Diwas (Nepal)

Hope Day

International Addison’s Day

International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers (UN)

International Mount Everest Day

International Pashto Language Day

Kiev Day (Ukraine)

Learn About Composting Day

Luilak (Lazy Bones Day; Belgium)

Mount Everest Day (Nepal)

National Alligator Day

National Dog Friendly Day

National Edison Day

National Elderly Day (Indonesia)

National 529 College Savings Plan Day

National Flip Flop Day

National Foot Fetish Day

National Heat Awareness Day

National Hydroxyapatite Day

National Paperclip Day

National Rugelach Day

National Sail Day

National White Wreath Day (Australia)

Oak Apple Day (UK) [a.k.a. ... 

Bobby Ack Day

Castleton Garland Day (Castleton)

Garland King Day 

Nettle Day

Royal Oak Day

Shick-Shack Day

Shik-Shak Day

Shitsack Day

Yak Bob Day

Paper Clip Day

Pink Flamingo Day

Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day

Reconciliation Day (ACT, Australia)

Red Shirt Day of Action for AccessAbility & Inclusion (Canada)

Restoration Day (UK)

Rite of Spring Day

Scythe Day (French Republic)

Tony Stark Day

Veteran of Overseas Military Service Day (Poland)

Veterans Day (Sweden)

World Digestive Health Day

World Tiger Nut Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Coq au Vin Day

Gnocchi Day (Argentina)

International Rooster with Wine Day

National Biscuit Day (UK)

Squoosh an Ice Cream Sandwich Day

Independence & Related Days

Constitutional Referendum Day (Vanuatu)

Democracy Day (Nigeria)

Republic Day (Nepal)

Rhode Island Statehood Day (#13; 1790)

Schalamzaar Empire (Declared; 2004) [unrecognized]

Wisconsin Statehood Day (#30; 1848)

5th & Last Wednesday in May

Bermuda Day [Last Friday]

European Neighbours’ Day [Last Friday]

Great Wisconsin Cheese Festival begins [Last Friday, thru Sunday]

National Heat Awareness Day [Last Friday]

National Senior Health & Fitness Day [Last Wednesday]

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day (Western Australia) [Last Friday]

Trader-Willi Syndrome Awareness Day [Last Friday]

World Challenge Day [Last Wednesday]

World MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Day [Last Wednesday]

World Otter Day [Last Wednesday]

Festivals Beginning May 29, 2024

Bookfest Bucharest (Bucharest, Romania) [thru 6.2]

Corn Dry Milling Conference (Peoria, Illinois) [thru 5.30]

Dublin Tech Summit (Dublin, Ireland) [thru 5.30]

Primavera Sound (Barcelona, Spain) [thru 6.2]

Wellfleet Restaurant Week (Wellfleet, Massachusetts) [thru 6.4]

Feast Days

Aaron McGruder (Artology)

Alexander of Alexandria (Christian; Saint)

Ambarvailia (Old Roman No Work Day, Purification Festival to Ceres)

Arbor Day (Aston-on Club, Shropshire Celtic Book of Days)

Ascension of Baha'u'llah (Baha’i)

Bona of Pisa (Christian; Saint)

Clark Voorhees (Artology)

Conon and his son (Christian; Martyrs, of Iconia, Asia)

Consensual Bum Biting Day (Pastafarian)

Cyril of Caesarea (Christian; Saint)

Erwin (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Mars (Ancient Rome)

Hypomone (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Johnny the Wolf (Muppetism)

Lars Bo (Artology)

Louise-Adéone Drölling (Artology)

Madeleine Sophie Barat (Christian; Saint)

Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi (Christian; Virgin)

Mary, Mother of the Church (Christian; Saint)

Maximus of Trier (a.k.a. Maximus, Bishop of Tiers; Christian; Saint)

Oak Apple Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Pillow Fight Day (Pastafarian)

Pope Alexander of Alexandria (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Siinnius, Martyrius, and Alexander (Christian; Martyrs, in Trent)

Spike Jones Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Sprouting Corn Day (Pagan)

Theodosia of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Theodosius (Positivist; Saint)

Ursula Ledóchowska (Christian; Saint)

William, Stephen, Raymund and their Companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Prime Number Day: 149 [35 of 72]

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [28 of 57]

Premieres

A Battle for a Bottle (Phantasies Cartoon; 1942)

Bluebeard’s Brother (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1932)

Bold King Cole (Rainbow Parade Cartoon; 1936)

The Busy Bee (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1936)

Dial M for Murder (Film; 1954)

Dick Whittington’s Cat (ComiColor Cartoon; 1936)

Feel This Book, by Janeane Garofalo and Ben Stiller (Humor Book; 1999)

The Gods Themselves Isaac Asimov (Novel; 1972)

Half-Baked Alaska (Chilly Willy Cartoon; 1965)

The Hound and the Rabbit (Happy Harmonies Cartoon; 1937)

Hud (Film; 1963)

The Internship (Film; 2013)

I Yam Love Sick (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1938)

Justice League: Starcrossed (WB Animated Film; 2004)

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini (Novel; 2003)

The Last Days of Disco (Film; 1998)

Little Bits, recorded by Jimmy Bertrand’s Washboard Wizards (Song; 1926)

Little School Mouse (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1954)

Mary Had a Little Lamb, by Paul McCartney (Song; 1972)

The New Centurions, by Joseph Wambaugh (Novel; 1971)

No Time For Sergeants (Film; 1958)

Partly Cloudy (Pixar Cartoon 2009)

Pink on the Cob (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1969)

Private Dancer, by Tina Turner (Album; 1984)

A Raisin in the Sun (Film; 1961)

The Rite of Spring, by Igor Stravinsky (Ballet & Orchestral Work; 1913)

San Andreas (Film; 2015)

Sister Act (Film; 1992)

Smile Pretty, Say Pink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1966)

Space Force (TV Series; 2020)

St. Moritz Blitz (Chilly Willy Cartoon; 1961)

The Stork’s Mistake (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1942)

Tears on My Pillow, recorded by Little Anthony & the Imperials (Song; 1958)

This Is A Book, by Demetri Martin (Humor Book; 2011)

Two Dots (Phone App Game; 2014)

Up (Animated Disney Film; 2009)

White Christmas, recorded by Bing Crosby (Song; 1942)

The Witch in the Wood, by T.H. White (Novel; 1939) [Once and Future King #2]

Yankee Doodle Dandy (Film; 1942)

Today’s Name Days

Erwin, Irmtraud, Maximin (Austria)

Doroteia (Bulgaria)

Euzebije, Polion, Većeslav (Croatia)

Maxmilián (Czech Republic)

Maciminus (Denmark)

Laido, Leido, Leidur, Luulik (Estonia)

Oiva, Oivi, Oliver, Olivia (Finland)

Aymar, Aymard, Géraldine, Maximin (France)

Erwin, Irmtraud, Maximin (Germany)

Ipomoni, Olivianos, Theodosia (Greece)

Magdolna (Hungary)

Ademaro, Massimo, Massimino (Italy)

Daris, Maksine, Maksis, Raivis, Raivo (Latvia)

Algedas, Erdvilė, Magdalena, Magdė (Lithuania)

Magnar, Magnhild (Norway)

Bogusława, Maksymilian, Maria Magdalena, Teodor, Teodozja (Poland)

Teodosia (România)

Vilma (Slovakia)

Maximino (Spain)

Jeanette, Yvonne (Sweden)

Theodora (Ukraine)

Duana, Duane, Duanna, Dwayne, Fitz, Fitzgerald (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 150 of 2024; 216 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 22 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Huath (Hawthorn) [Day 18 of 28]

Chinese: Month 4 (Ji-Si), Day 22 (Gui-Si)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 21 Iyar 5784

Islamic: 21 Dhu al-Qada 1445

J Cal: 30 Magenta; Lastday [30 of 30]

Julian: 16 May 2024

Moon: 61%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 9 St. Paul (6th Month) [Theodosius]

Runic Half Month: Odal (Home, Possession) [Day 5 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 72 of 92)

Week: Last Week of May

Zodiac: Gemini (Day 9 of 31)

[phoenixfire-thewizardgoddess]

apparently one of the cats scattered my earrings to the four corners of the earth 

...i need to replace them soon, bc when i leave them out for more than a few days the damn holes start to try and heal over

but its so fucking expensive to get three lots, ugh, when you’re clawing your way to the next pay week (to be fair, I had to get a new licence, warming stuff for puppers, the bookfest, insurance, rent, etc. it was not all in pursuit of frivolous nonsense...) have to do it tomorrow tho

public holiday and all

[lifeofmods]

This was originally going to be a Christmas Holidays update, but lifeofmods wound up getting flagged as not safe fer werk by Tumblr and I found myself drawing updates for askspades instead.

The holidays were fairly eventful, catching up with Arcana’s family, seeing friends, tending to the house, having a car break down and scrambling to replace it before work started, sorting the insurance and all kinds of boring adult things.

We both seem to have hit the ground running at work as well, Arcana had a colleague quit and will be working extra hours, and some of my workmates are still on leave and we’re operating with 6 new trainees, plus the offshore project, plus the hands project. With any luck, things should be under control by the end of this week.

Yesterday was a good day, Arcana had a dentist appointment and we drove straight from there to Lifeline’s bookfest in the city. There’s rarely anything popular there (except 800 copies of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code), but I did manage to score some James Herriot and Clive Cussler titles, and Arcana found some crime and forensics non fiction.

She was called back in today but that gave me the chance to play some games and tidy up the house a little, god knows its my turn to since I’ve been so focused on the garden lately.

Dressing up was supposed to be for shits and giggles to greet her when she came home but thigh highs are surprisingly comfortable.

[alicearnnaandco]

This is third copy I have owned of this edition -- same cover and everything. The first I bought (after eventually and sheepishly returning the library copy) was re-read on an adventurous holiday and maybe didn’t survive some mud and booze related shenanigans. The second died from too many re-readings. This copy I’ve had for a year, painstakingly searched for (and coveted when found) at Bookfest.

[mostlybooksaz]

Join us Sunday for the All-Zona BookFest. Arizona authors with children, fiction, mystery, nonfiction books that make great holiday gifts. (at Mostly Books)

[kristyspeaking-blog]

WELL. it’s been a while since i posted on here. what have i been doing this whole time? not a lot. it’s currently winter break (one month holidays between semesters) and while i told myself i’d do a lot of things, i’ve only done maybe one or two of those things. so here are some highlights:

i did in fact go back to the Bookfest, and bought five more books. i started reading Feminist Thought which seems great so far — it traces the evolution and many theoretical facets of feminism over time. another book i’ve started into, with more vigour, is Worlds in Collision. this one is super interesting; it was first published in 1950, and challenges some well known theories of the time regarding the origins of our solar system and, more specifically, investigates, through diverse forms of our recorded history, the possibility of cosmic catastrophes that explain the existence and positions of Venus and Mars. it'll be interesting comparing the content to what has been learned about the origins of our solar system since then! delving into topics like this remind me why i started out wanting to be an astronomer.

i attended my first MUN (Model United Nations) conference and it was great! the best part was meeting a whole bunch of cool new people. my social life felt very full after that weekend.

with the help of my friend, i’ve started cycling again! she forced me to meet her along the river early one morning on her way to work, and we had a coffee and chatted before she started her day and i cycled home. it burned the first time let me tell you, but today was my third major cycle since, and i’m finding it much easier and more enjoyable now. hopefully i’ll be able to switch to cycling as my main commute, but we’ll see how that goes.

i started watching The Handmaid’s Tale this week and, oh boy, i have a lot of thoughts about it. a lot of fearful, sad thoughts. i’ll probably write a post about in on here when i’m through the season. 

i haven’t been keeping up with reading as much as i’d have liked, and i still need to work on revising a research essay i wrote last semester to have it published in a journal, but! i’m spending a lot of time reconnecting with myself but also really fulfilling my inner socialisation quota which is something i’ve been low on this past semester. i feel much more grounded. 

[nicolagriffith]

Seattle Holiday Bookfest today!

The poster has all the info, but just in case you need more, see my previous post.

[nicolagriffith]

Holiday Bookfest—Live! In-person!—Saturday 19 November!

Holiday Bookfest—Live! In person!—Saturday, 19 Nov., 2-4 pm at the Phinney Center. Come meet me and 27 other friendly local authors—hangout, listen to readings, and get your books signed in time for the holidays. For more: @PhinneyBooks @PNA_Updates

Come meet me and 27 other local authors next Saturday from 2-4 pm at the Phinney Center. We’ll be signing books, talking about books, reading from books and generally hanging out. I’ll be doing a 10-minute reading—I haven’t decided what, yet. Maybe Spear? Maybe Menewood? Maybe something entirely different? Come and find out! The Phinneywood blog has all the details: Discover new ways local…

[kristyspeaking-blog]

Semester is out!!

I finished my last exam on Saturday, spent Saturday night partying like there was no tomorrow and subsequently Suffering™ the entire Sunday. Now I’m ready to chill out but also to make some plans for the winter holiday! This is less important for winter holidays to be fair because it’s only about a month before second semester starts, but I hate the feeling of losing that study-flow and any sense of critical thinking outside of uni, so I’m going to try and do some stuff to keep my brain active. What I’m planning so far:

Set up a weekly reading schedule, focusing on reading essays some days, academic articles other days, and Fridays for poetry.

Alongside this I’m also going to try read a chapter (or more - hopefully more) every day of the books I need to just hurry up and finish. This includes At the Existentialist Cafe, which I am thoroughly enjoying but as per usual, am too distracted to have finished it yet.

Attend a workshop for writing policy briefs (!!). It’s organised by the Young Australians in International Affairs, a nation-wide group, and they only have events in Brisbane every so often. The last one i went to was a networking evening which was really great!! So i’m confident this will also be great.

I’m also going to get myself involved in a Model United Nations - UQ UNSA is hosting TourisMUN at the start of July, and since it’s during the holidays it’s not conflicting with any study, and I’m keen to actually attend one finally!

The Lifeline Bookfest is coming up. Ohhhhh boy. Preparing myself for the worst (best) - I’ll no doubt be unable to stop myself from buying a lot of books.

I’m also going to try doing two online courses, just very casually - one is focused on a general overview of law, the other is about macroeconomics. Both are topics I feel I should know a bit more of, but am not dedicated enough to use one of my electives at uni for it. So we’ll see how that goes!

Aside from all that I’m going to hopefully spend a lot of time relaxing, socialising, and anxiously awaiting my final grades for this semester.