Becca Stareyes

SO, I just had this realization, brought to you by reading the comments of Mem's rant on why she loves Aang from Avatar and hates Avatar fandom.

Aang from Avatar is so Luke Skywalker, and this actually makes the Star Wars prequels make sense. (Also, dead Joseph Campbell can just shut up)

( It's late, and this is probably full of crack )

Stomach upset. Tried making a solution of baking soda and water on the basis that if it was caused by excess acid, swallowing a base would neutralize it. I think I used too much baking soda.

For the record, I have been burping up CO₂ (I presume) for the last fifteen minutes, my stomach feels worse, and there's still an acid-burning feeling in the back of my throat. That and baking soda tastes like a mix between salt and soap, which is a disgusting taste.

I always get nervous about writing fight scenes in RPGs. Especially online ones where I don't have stats -- it's one reason I prefer things like d20 where I can set out exactly how powerful my character is, and his or her opponents. I'm always afraid I won't take a hit properly, or something.

I need to start working on the fics I promised to write for Bujold fest. And leave my prompts for the Avatar Fanfest on IJ.

Well, I've finally finished Avatar.

I have no coherent comments, so you'll have to do with squeeing. Just imagine one of Sokka's incoherent expressions of emotion.

^_________^

So, yesterday someone in the Borders manga aisle asked me out of nowhere if it was true that Japanese was read backward -- her boyfriend/male friend/brother/some guy had just told her this and she didn't believe him. I also managed to ride on the same bus to the mall as two people I know. Yeah, Ithaca isn't that big, and I live on the downtown-mall bus route (at least on weekends -- the route changes on weekends to better swing by all the dorms instead of the part of campus with the classrooms. As a result, the bus stop where I live moves about a block.)

I had more thoughts, but I can't think of them. D&D continues to be fun. Dave is talking about running a one-shot of Paranoia, and I am temped to see how obnoxiously perky I can be while playing Paranoia.

I missed the Avatar finale tonight, but will catch it tomorrow.

So, when I was a middle schooler, I was a big Star Trek Deep Space Nine fan. And, well, one thing lead to another, and the series had to introduce a character, Ezri Dax, in the final season. So, the series writers had to concentrate on finishing up all the story arcs, and fleshing out Ezri's personality. It was... less than ideal.

( Cut for great justice! And also spoilers )

I'll try to catch Ember Island Players in the morning. I'm playing D&D during the finale, but I have to rely on iTunes anyway (no cable) -- with luck, the finale will be in my inbox Sunday morning. If not... I shall have to resort to alternate methods. Arr.

So, I saw a post on the Avatar community on LJ discussing Toph's parents. For those of you who haven't seen the show, Toph is a blind terrakinetic (earthbending) 12-year-old girl who can see using vibrations through the earth. We also first meet her competing in an earthbending tournament that is a slightly less staged version of pro wrestling, which she wins. (At least, until Aang shows up -- since he can hover, she can't see to hit him. This earned him the nickname of 'Twinkletoes' from her.)

( Essay is essay-like )

( Slayers is my morning cartoon )

I probably don't have time to watch "The Boiling Rock" before I need to be in for work. I'll have to watch it and "The Southern Raiders" after work. Which puts me exactly one day behind everyone else, but what are you gonna do?

One thing I rather like is when I'm rereading and I come across some inconsequential detail thrown in for background, that I notice because it relates to a future book. For example, I'm rereading The Sharing Knife: Legacy, and just found a place where Shaun mentions to Dag what he heard happen in Log Hollow when a Lakewalker patroller took up with a farmer woman. In the next book, Dag happens to run into that Lakewalker. At the time I first read that, I hadn't read Legacy recently, so I took it for granted Dag knew which camp the character was from -- stories like that get around. Now, I know that I could have as well.

Similarly, I was flipping through Grave Peril by Jim Butcher and happened on the scene where Harry and Michael were trying to bargain with Leanansidhe, a Fae member of the Unseelie Court, who had Michael's sword. Lea already had something on Harry (she was his Fairy Godmother, and he owed her a favor.), and said if she just collected, she'd return the sword. Michael offered himself in her place, but she refused, saying that he was boring. She then asked for one of his children -- mentioning that she wouldn't mind taking his oldest. Michael told her to take a short walk off a long cliff. Some six books down the line, in Proven Guilty, Michael's eldest child, Molly, is indeed kidnapped by the Unseelie Court and it's actually explained why they have an interest in her. (Not just because one of the things bad fairies do is still children.)

I don't always know if the author was planning on using it when they wrote it. Maybe sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren't, and just happen in on re-reading and think 'hey, I ought to pick that up'. It's still pretty cool.

avafest

In the interest of promoting the Avatar Fandom on IJ, I made a fanfest. All of you Avatar fanfic writers and fanartists, go over there and get ready to wait.

( The Firebending Masters )

I can't seem to get the hang of posting on one topic. Oh, well.

I played softball today. We had a grand total of six people show up, and we got our butts kicked. Though not as badly as we could. I still am batting 0.000, unless you count the time I got on second by fielding error. (League rules is if the opposing team throws the ball out of bounds, you can advance one extra base -- mostly to cover situations where the ball gets thrown into the bushes and it takes a bit to retrieve.) On the other hand, I'm getting better at fielding -- I managed to hold one to a double. I'm still hindered by my inability to throw hard enough to get it to the infield.

So, question for you all, blog. So, over on Bad Astronomy, Phil Plait posts a quote from Buzz Aldrin, where Buzz says that the unrealistic expectations created by science fiction makes people less interested in the real accomplishments of the space program. Phil disagreed -- he thinks that science fiction spurs us on and inspires us.

I'm biased -- I was a space nut before I learned how to tell SF from horror. Every time I saw the crew of the Enterprise beaming down to a planet, or read novels about imaginary moon colonies, I wanted to work all that more to go there. Or at least learn as much as I could about the real thing.

So, what do you all think?

So, I'm trying to think of a Halloween costume. Here are my criteria, in order from strongest to least strong:

1. No wigs. Hats are okay, and makeup is okay, and I might even go for hair extensions, but I don't feel like putting down the money for a quality wig. (And I don't want to deal with a cheap wig -- someone else can tell the story about how Integra Hellsing suddenly developed short, dark hair because my cheap wig gave up the ghost around lunchtime of Day I of AnimeIowa)

2. Something I can wear to CJAS's cosplay contest. Which means anime or manga character. Maybe video game. Probably not anything from Western fandoms or webcomics.

3. Something that is recognizable as something* by the mundanes, in case I go out with my work friends, or decide to wear the costume to campus or something. By which, I mean, they might not recognize Kenshin Himura, but the sword and outfit look like 'samurai'.

* Something reasonably specific, not 'what the hell costume is that?'

( Current Ideas )

Also, I found this blog post by Mike Brown that pretty much sums up the whole planet debate. It makes the point that scientists had two classifications: 'round & geologically varied (plus the gas giants, which are round and atmospherically varied with interesting interiors)' versus 'not round and & impact-dominated geology' and 'single objects in distinct orbits' versus 'clouds of similar objects in similar orbits'. Both are useful, and a scientist might deal with one more than the other (a geologist cares more about the first, to the point of even throwing in moons, while a dynamicist the second), and asking 'which is a better classification scheme' is silly, because they are both good and useful things. The IAU wasn't asked that -- they were asked, which classification scheme should be used as planet versus not-a-planet. Which is really a judgment call.

I was thinking the same thing, but this post explains it better. I was thinking about it because I noticed Dr. Bell (Martian geologist) has a 'Save Pluto' bumper sticker pinned to his bulletin board. In retaliation (I assume), Dr. Margot (asteroid and Kuiper Belt dynamicist) put up a 'Save Pallas' sign on his bulletin board. (Guess what both of them think of the IAU's definition? Go on, guess.)

We also have a new official dwarf planet -- Pluto, Ceres and Eris can welcome Makemake (mah-keh-mah-keh) to their numbers. First dwarf planet named after a non-Greco-Roman god, also! (Makemake was the creation deity of Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island) -- Makemake was discovered near Easter, and informally called Easterbunny.)

So, it's been a twenty-four hour period since I burned my thumb on the baking tray. The burn hurts when I bend my thumb too far, which is why it is staying bandaged -- a bandaid wrapped around the joint of my thumb immobilizes just enough that I can't bend my thumb far enough to hurt. I did take a peak under the bandaid today and got a bit worried. So, I read that first degree burns are dry and red, second are red, can be wet, and blister, and third tend to be dry and black or white. Currently the burn on my thumb feels like normal skin, except I burned off some of the indentations. It also is red around the edges of the burn, but is a paler sort of pink in the center.

On the other hand, third-degree burns aren't supposed to hurt like hell -- I kept my hand under running water for ten minutes, because taking it out meant that my hand felt like someone had run it over. (And not just because cooling the tissue ASAP is generally a good idea to stop the damage)

Really, it's mostly that I don't remember enough about first aid. I need a refresher course -- the neext time the Fire Station near where I live offers first aid and CPR, I'll sign up.

Well, that and I am such a hypochondriac when it comes to injuries.

I wrote about 600 words this morning, and did some crocheting. I also promised myself I'd pick up some DevArt drawing memes and work on those for practice. And got more ideas for the Avatar AU fic idea that is building into another albatross. I'll wait until after this week to do anything on that -- no sense starting anything when the finale is so close. And maybe I should finish my Slayers albatross before that -- at least write the third part of the trilogy and get the first part ready for beta-ing. (Damn, am I going to start calling every novel-length work of fiction I write an albatross?)

Speaking of Avatar, I wonder how iTunes is going to handle giving me the episodes they owe me, since Nick is airing the last half-season over a week? Which... well, it's nice that I don't have to wait, but it's a bit unusual to say the least. (I guess they found the flaw in finite series -- once it's down to the wire, people don't want to pick it up, but they need to finish it or else they get lynch mobs.)

Not that I don't prefer finite series to the never-ending cartoons of my youth. (Or rather, I like having both the kind where all you need to know is the premise of the series, and the kind where it is telling one story in episodic form, and anything in the middle.)

It is a rainy, miserable day, and I want to sleep until tomorrow. The fact I burned my left thumb cooking lunch does not help -- I took some painkillers, but I still can barely move it.

( Talking about the Temeraire series, by Naomi Novik )

So, I just finished the most recent book... you might want to skip this if you want to be unspoiled for previous books.

( Victory of Eagles in specific -- spoilers for earlier books )

Dropped my glasses today while getting out of the shower, then stepped on them. As a result, the arms are bent all funny. So, now I have to go see if I can get them repaired. Thankfully, I can see without them, and still have my old pair. Also managed to sleep 12 hours -- I came home late last night and just passed out. (Yesterday, I had to stop at the mall to get a pair of sneakers.)

Incidentally, I discovered that being hit by a car took about half of the life out of my sneakers. Normally sneakers last about two years before I walk through the soles at the heels. This time, the cloth part of the left shoe ripped open -- exactly the part that hit the concrete first when I was hit by a car last August. Should have asked the insurance company for $40 for a new pair of shoes.

( Book Review: Abhorsen by Garth Nix )

Next on the reading list: Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik. I have some pretty long thoughts on the Temeraire series, so expect my review for that to be more than just 'Whee! Book #5'. I've also been putting my book reviews on , if you want to see them.

( Slayers Revolution, ep. 2 )

( Read more... )

So, I'm trying out Pandora, which is an internet radio that claims to pick out music you'll like from what you already listen to (by methods other than 'well, other people liked X and Y. Therefore, if you like X, you'll like Y').

I put in two groups I like. So far, it's given me a half a dozen songs -- two three now were from other groups I liked and listened to.

Work was fine yesterday. I'm a bit stuck, so I need to go bother my boss again. Mostly I'm trying to model some data I got, and I'm getting answers that indicate I shouldn't be seeing anything, and that it won't be as simple as I thought. On the other hand, I'm getting the hang of the problem, which is good. I had a nice grilled cheese sandwich and fries for lunch at one of the campus dining halls, because I had forgotten to bring lunch (again) -- they finally decided to get rid of the darn 'coated fries', which mostly tasted like grease and salt. (I like my fries and chips to have some resemblance to potatoes).

( Read more... )

My friend Shoshe leant me a summary she did of some Voyager-era papers I'm reading that she did for a term paper last spring. Not only does she mention me in the Acknowledgments for explaining something to her, one of the citations is (B. Stareyes*, private communication), because I told her a picture had never been taken of a ring particle, unless you count the moons Pan and Daphnis.

* Okay, so it was my real first initial and last name, but I try not to give out my real name on this blog.

Also, thanks to Elizabeth Bear's blog (matociquala), I got this link -- English without all the non-Germanic words. It really shows how much modern vocabulary is dependent on Greek and Latin derived words. Reminds me of an essay I was reading a couple of days ago, by Richard Feynman about his trip to Brazil. He noted that speaking science in Portuguese is easy, since both English and Portuguese use a lot of Latin, and the modifications mostly follow the same patterns, so he could quickly convert a term in English to a term in Portuguese. Speaking conversational Portuguese was harder, since English was more Germanic in that sense, and languages in general tend to borrow less at that level.

It also makes me want to develop Darynese's (my constructed language) science vocabulary. Knowing the history of science helps here, since it explain why we named things what we did -- for example, electron comes from the Greek word for amber, since the first electrical systems were created through static electricity on glass and amber. (It's why the electronics in Lyra's world His Dark Materials are known as amberics -- same etymology, but a different language to give it that alternate-history flair).