frozen outside
Feb. 2nd, 2011 04:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threeplusfireThe weight of the chili in my dutch oven makes the rack wobble a little. I think this is the heaviest thing I've ever cooked because of the weight of the pot. (One time I made a gigantic ham.) I did take a rack out so the knob on the lid wouldn't bang into the element at the top. I am drinking the third of a beer left over from deglazing earlier. Yum.
Bitterly cold outside. Yesterday the storms rolled through, taking out power and ripping the shingles off a neighbor's roof. (I checked, definitely not our shingles. Wrong color too.) The tent/pavilion in another neighbor's backyard is torn to shreds. The wind did yank off the wooden bat affixed precariously to our bat house. Eventually we'll reattach it somehow. I really think it needs a stabilizing post too. We were spared any of the rolling blackouts here today, but they might happen again tomorrow. There's even a prediction for snow. Snow! Madness. I hope I can stay home with the chili and beer and not have to go out much.
The news consumes me. It's a constant drumbeat, punctuated now with gunfire. I have to remind myself to stop watching, stop reading and pace the length of the house at times. Or to stand outside in the cold.
Today I finished reading Liar by Justine Larbalestier. Damn. The complex, untrustworthy narrator is intense and beautifully done. It's really an amazing book. I don't want to say too much because I wouldn't want to spoil the story for anyone who has not read it. (Though spoilers may be present in comments, be warned.) It's way more than "just" another YA novel. It's a novel that deals with sexuality and the body and truth and lies and the way we construct our identities. It also happens to have a diverse cast headed by a black female character. There's so many things to love about this book, not the least of which is the incredible field of interpretations and reactions from readers. I really, really think you should read this book.
I have tentatively begun a project of self improvement, though I hate to label it as such. Writing about my flaws and difficulties makes me skittish. I don't want to have to go into my complicated feelings about my body, such as how the incredible gender/body dysphoria I've felt has lead me to a lot of detrimental habits that are not good for me physically. Or my intense and abiding fear of internal organs that is probably related to the gender issue and to the fact that two of them failed me and required removal. Or my laziness, born of procrastination and bad habits and arrogance. Or the incoherent mess of started and abandoned stories languishing in my files. But really, I do not feel like delving into that muck today. I want to think about the things I will do from here instead, such as writing more. I will write more, even if I don't know where it goes or what I will do with it, or even if no one else will ever see it but me. I'll drink more water too.
Bitterly cold outside. Yesterday the storms rolled through, taking out power and ripping the shingles off a neighbor's roof. (I checked, definitely not our shingles. Wrong color too.) The tent/pavilion in another neighbor's backyard is torn to shreds. The wind did yank off the wooden bat affixed precariously to our bat house. Eventually we'll reattach it somehow. I really think it needs a stabilizing post too. We were spared any of the rolling blackouts here today, but they might happen again tomorrow. There's even a prediction for snow. Snow! Madness. I hope I can stay home with the chili and beer and not have to go out much.
The news consumes me. It's a constant drumbeat, punctuated now with gunfire. I have to remind myself to stop watching, stop reading and pace the length of the house at times. Or to stand outside in the cold.
Today I finished reading Liar by Justine Larbalestier. Damn. The complex, untrustworthy narrator is intense and beautifully done. It's really an amazing book. I don't want to say too much because I wouldn't want to spoil the story for anyone who has not read it. (Though spoilers may be present in comments, be warned.) It's way more than "just" another YA novel. It's a novel that deals with sexuality and the body and truth and lies and the way we construct our identities. It also happens to have a diverse cast headed by a black female character. There's so many things to love about this book, not the least of which is the incredible field of interpretations and reactions from readers. I really, really think you should read this book.
I have tentatively begun a project of self improvement, though I hate to label it as such. Writing about my flaws and difficulties makes me skittish. I don't want to have to go into my complicated feelings about my body, such as how the incredible gender/body dysphoria I've felt has lead me to a lot of detrimental habits that are not good for me physically. Or my intense and abiding fear of internal organs that is probably related to the gender issue and to the fact that two of them failed me and required removal. Or my laziness, born of procrastination and bad habits and arrogance. Or the incoherent mess of started and abandoned stories languishing in my files. But really, I do not feel like delving into that muck today. I want to think about the things I will do from here instead, such as writing more. I will write more, even if I don't know where it goes or what I will do with it, or even if no one else will ever see it but me. I'll drink more water too.
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no subject
Date: 2011-02-03 04:17 pm (UTC)I've bookmarked Larbalestier's blog to read about it later.