Ketherian's Notebook

Yes I'm self-diagnosing.
Self medicating too (sleep. As much as I can get.)

Did you ever notice that you don't miss something at the moment when it disappears. You only miss it *after* it's gone? Such was my love of writing. I can't say when it disappeared, exactly, but I miss it now.  I'm not exactly sure how to get it back. That drive to write -- that desire to publish; but I do hope it comes back. Because now I miss it.

I'm not prone to depression (heck, normally I'm pretty happy). But I think I've been suffering one for a while. Like missing things, depression's not that easy to spot when it's happening to you; but when those around you notice it -- and bring it up, it's something to take into account. My temper's been short of late and that, for me, is very rare. Unfortunately for the one who's seen the brunt of it, he's noticed.

So -- more mediation, more reading, and more relaxing. Less stress. Easier said than done, I know.
But at least these days I want to work on it.

Prayer to Practice the Golden Rule (taken from http://www.respirit.com/Prayer-to-Practice-the-Golden-Rule.html)

May I be an enemy to no one and the friend of what abides eternally.
May I never quarrel with those nearest me, and be reconciled quickly if I should.
May I never plot evil against others, and if anyone plot evil against me, may I escape unharmed and without the need to hurt anyone else.
May I love, seek and attain only what is good.
May I desire happiness for all and harbor envy for none.
May I never find joy in the misfortune of one who has wronged me.
May I never wait for the rebuke of others, but always rebuke myself until I make reparation.
May I gain no victory that harms me or my opponent.
May I reconcile friends who are mad at each other.
May I, insofar as I can, give all necessary help to my friends and to all who are in need.
May I never fail a friend in trouble.
May I be able to soften the pain of the grief stricken and give them comforting words.
May I respect myself.
May I always maintain control of my emotions.
May I habituate myself to be gentle, and never angry with others because of circumstances.
May I never discuss the wicked or what they have done, but know good people and follow in their footsteps.

Eusebius of Caesarea

There's a leak in my roof (I rent an upper duplex) and its growing. The landlord is trying to get the roofer in to patch it before our appointment in August. There is no attic and it's a flat roof, so all I can do is deal with the dripping water and try and protect the hardwood floors beneath.

I've read from eHow that it's a good idea to put a tack in the ceiling and dangle a piece of twine or string into the bucket. Drips will follow the string and thus not drop from 9 ft and splatter the floor. I wish I'd read that sooner ... it would save me some laundry.

Has anyone done this? Does it work or does it cause the plaster to buckle and get worse?
I'm going to ask my landlord about drilling a few choice holes in the plaster tonight but I believe that one leak (in the door frame) can't quite be fixed that way.

Yes, I'm fretting about this. It's what I do. :)
Advice welcome.

Otakuthon was last weekend. I showed up for 10 am on Saturday and worked until 5:30 in registration. 1750 people registered (492 pre-registrations showed up, 1178 people registered at the door, and there were another 80 or so unregistered participants). The convention managed to gather $1,714.44 in donations, and gave out 200 lollypops.

I never did get into any of the pannels, but I did catch most of a movie (Hoyles Moving Castle presented by fps magazine), and got to meet a lot of terrific people; some of them were even in costume. See the Mascarade Official Photo Album thread on the Otakuthon forums for some links to amazing pictures.

I should have been at the convention on Sunday too; but I got hit with an attack of the doldrums and ended up being led about rather than actually doing things of my own volition. Fortunately I have great people around me who were able to suggest fun alternatives to parking my ass on a couch and staying there all day. I was taken out to breakfast by a close friend. We went to Orange Café and I had their famous Eggs Benedict. They serve a fried chopped potato that is delicately spiced and well cooked. Apparently I should go there more often for, while their breakfast menu is packed with greats - I always order the same thing when I go, and I am never disappointed.

By about 1 pm I was exhausted, but still managed to see the movie Cars; which I enjoyed alot. And that was my weekend.

Tuesday I caught an episode of Hell's Kitchen on FOX. I am so addicted.

I found this on muskrat_john's livejournal. I think this is the second, or third, of such thing's I've posted. But I guess it prooves that wickedthoughts and I were ment to roleplay together. ... and everyone else mentioned.

Fine by me. ... You folk do play HarnMaster right?

The returning dead, a poem by Wyatt Prunty.

Sorry to the folk that will probably get all my posts marked as "new" in their friends list. I was updating tags tonight.

Word of the Day: Renumerate: To recount (from Wordsmith.org)

Friday posts are always a miscellany.

The Friday Blues.
It's a illness known to everyone who works on Fridays; a malaise that reduces your productivity and makes you yearn for the great outdoors. Fortunately we are not all susceptible to the Friday blues every Friday; unfortunately the blues can strike on any fine weathered day when you have to work indoors.

The Best of the Best
Today Technaut wrote an interesting article called Food Web, done right that really got me thinking. Why hasn't any website done it all in relation to food. I use del.icio,us inbox to track the tags of food and recipe and get 100's of hits each day -- and even those that are to recipe indices are predominantly lack luster in their quality and ease-of use.
I think Recipe Zaar is the best site out there, but I'm still looking.

Movies and TV series
More and more TV series are coming out on DVD; specifically the series that TV stations like DejaView use to fill their programming. Some series seem so very campy today (Dukes of Hazard, S.W.A.T, Police Woman, C.H.i.P, ...) that you have to wonder why you watched them when they first aired (my excuse is that I was young and foolish).

Lately I picked up the first seasons of Hogan's Heroes and the M.A.S.H. Both were TV series that I loved when I first saw them, and loved again during re-runs. There are a few others that I hope to see available some day, like: Star Cops, and Space Island One). There's already dozens out there that I want to get (Babylon 5, The Outer Limits (1963), Allo'Allo, MI5, and Cowboy Bebop to name a few); and more coming out almost every day.

Sometimes I think I should start a 'lending' club. I already borrow a fair number of DVDs from friends - but I should take a page from one guy I know who already does this - and share lists of DVDs so that I can lend and borrow more freely. If I'm going to do that though, I'll need to get some sort of sign-out system going or I'll never remember who has what of mine.

Shot What in the Who now?
It's a phrase a friend says when he doesn't quite hear the question and isn't sure what to reply. The first time he said it I almost bust a gut laughing. But it does bring up a good point. Are you comfortable enough to just answer a question without knowing the discussion that preceded it?

For example, if someone asked you "Flopped or Dragged?" and you just knew there was more to the question than what you were asked, would you answer - and what would you say?

I'd say, "Shot what in the who now?".

Favorite links of the week
* Bloglines an online RSS reader.
* Del.icio.us an online bookmark aggregator.
* Uncle Phaedrus They find answers to questions and solutions to problems. Who? What? Where? When? Why? Which? How? Recipes, food, cooking, beverages, history, science, popular culture, geography, sociology, psychology, trivia, etc....
* LifeHacker Computers make us more productive. Yeah, right. Lifehacker recommends the downloads, web sites and shortcuts that actually save time. Don't live to geek; geek to live.

Word of the day: secund: arranged on (or turned towards) only one side of an
axis. (from Wordsmith.org)

This always hits me just before I post or hand anything in for review.
I get second thoughts.
Maybe ... maybe just one more review will help.
And I find myself changing things almost just for the sake of changing things.
Never good.

Someday, maybe, this feeling will go away.
And I'll hand something in -- and it will come back pristine and not covered in
the preverbial red ink.

Sigh.
Someday. Maybe.
But not today.

As mentioned on 43Folders, this sounds like a great little book:
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
By Harold McGee
November 2004, 884 pages
ISBN: 0684800012 · Published by Scribner
Chapter's Link

As mentioned on Levenger (Tools for serious readers), this sounds like another great little book:
The Little Guide to your Well-Read Life
By Steve Leveen
April 2005, 144 Pages
ISBN: 1929154178 · Published by Levenger
Chapter's Link

By the way, if you love books and paper, Levenger's web site is a terrific place to browser. They have a Delux Electronic Bookography with Scanner that would make a terrific geek Christmas gift for a few folk I know.

For leather journals, nothing beats Aspinal of London's shop for quality and beauty. The prices, however, are a bit higher than I'd normally pay.

The Canadian War Museum opened last weekend. Located in Ottawa, on the banks of the Ottawa river, the museum is a huge building with great glass sides. It is filled with six display halls plus a room for special exibits. The display halls hold giant panoramas of the history of war dating back from the earliest archeological findings in Canada to the most recent conflicts. There are interactive displays, movies, audio tracks, models, replicas and shows.

You should check it out Canadian War Museum

First there was Dogs. And now there's Bears.
Time to chalk up two more writing credits.

Now I just have to submit the info to the Pen & Paper database.

I finished a part.
People asked me: is this done?
No.
Is that done?
No.
What about this other thing?
Nope.
So - what are you done?
This part.
That is the next part. This other thing is the part after the next part. But this part is done!

People got it. They may not understand exactly what I do at work, but every one understands the joy of actually finishing something and moving on to .. this other thing.

Nothing.
Absolutely nothing makes a technical writer more happy than putting work on someone else's desk.
Even if it's for a review.
Even if it means it will come back and become more work.
It's not on my desk right now.

* happy dance*

LiveJournal Trading Cards Free Account Edition ketherian User Number: 2618004 Date Created:March 2003 Number of Posts: >100 Googlism says "ketherian is an alias" so it must be true. Avid Hârn fan, she's a technical writer by day and a scribe by night. She cooks, writes and even role plays/GMs. She loves a good mystery, walks in the rain and company. She watches all kinds of movies but only watches Horror films during the hour of noon. Strengths: Friendly, easy to feed, requires little regular maintenance. Comes with a well-written warrenty. Weaknesses: The warrenty is faulty and the marketing is far better than the reality. Inability to use her special skills to best effect. Special Skills: Imagining stories from nothing into whole cloth. Weapons: The pen. Favorite Saying: Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest. [info][add][mail] Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

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LiveJournal Tarot Cards Cups ketherian Girl whistling through life; innocence and happiness portrayed. Divinatory Meanings: It is the card of hope, joy and love. She signifies a fool on the edge of possibility, happily walking towards either doom or destiny. She is a mouse with a lion's roar. Reversed: It is the card of dispair, anger and hatrid. She signifies the hoplessly lost determined to find her destination but unable to ask for help. She is a lion with the disposition of a mouse. Alliances: Seen most often with the lost, the forgotten and the untrusting.

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I woke up this morning feeling totally at peace. My problems had not disappeared - but they just didn't seem to matter. Shame I can't bottle and sell the feeling.

It's a controversial subject for some.
But not for me.

The Canadian Supreme Court has finally given the Parliament permission to pass laws to enshrine an idea that is law in 6 provinces and one territory. Now the MPs are trying to craft a federal law that will protect gay marriage. But opposition is stiff and fast.

Garbage Dump has already posted his feelings on this. I agree with him:

Go to the Equal Marriage website.
Use their Find your MP utility and either send him the email they offer or write your own.
Sign the web petition.
If you've got the cash - donate to a worthy cause.

Go on. Show your support.
And to all the Canadians that read this - make it a meme. Post it on your blog after you've gone and signed the petition/written your MP.
Pass it on.

Oceans 12.
The traillers are classic in that they tell you nothing (remember that thing, that those guys did...) but they show you the feel and the style of the previous movie (12 is 11). I heard a CBC review and should have run from the kitchen with my hands over my ears. I really didn't want to know what the movie was about. Instead I sat, stupified, over breakfast.
I'm going to see Oceans 12 soon. Or Blade:Trinity. Depends on my mood.

I are 60% Pisces