Second Quote of the Day:

"When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid."

- Audre Lorde

(via Kaete)

I'm Always Worried When Something Experienced By More Than Half the Population is Categorized as an "Illness"

Just like medicalizing the female body (sure, women are over half the population, but their bodies are "weird" and "other". Huh?)...

In a report released last week, researchers estimated that more than half of Americans would develop mental disorders in their lives, raising questions about where mental health ends and illness begins.

In fact, psychiatrists have no good answer, and the boundary between mental illness and normal mental struggle has become a battle line dividing the profession into two viscerally opposed camps.

Or maybe our society's so fucked up that we're *causing* mental disorders?

Oh, sorry, that's not gonna fly... everybody has to be HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY to get up and work a shitty job they hate all day so they can eat crap food and then get pissed on by friends and media for being fat and ugly and unacceptable and then they can't buy the right clothes, they're not married yet, OH dear GOD, I FORGOT TO HAVE CHILDREN, there's no money in a 401(K), everyone tells them they're behind, behind, behind in the rat race, WHY DON'T YOU LIKE LIVING IN CITIES??, crime is UP, their vision sucks, they're UGLY dorks, and should DIE DIE DIE... And they WILL because every day on tv you read all about the HORRIBLE things that happen to pretty, affluent young white girls EVERY DAY. And if it could happen to THEM it could happen to YOU.

Um. Yea.

Where's the wiggle room for "normal human variation"? The more we move toward a society that's supposed to think, act, look, and experience everything in exactly the same way, the more worried I get.

Maybe it's not the people who are fucked up. In fact, maybe what everybody's exhibiting are normal reactions to excessive stress.

Song for the Day, Stuck on Repeat

Mr Brightside by the Killers

Today's Advice:

Be a Pirate today, The Law is coming Tomorrow!

(via Lysha)

Basho (Two Haiku)

has B.o.

Swamp mist, eyes water -
Why is that monk still wearing
Winter robes in June?



ah, soB

A yellow snake eats
The robin's lone precious egg -
You motherfucker



- by Francis Heaney

(via Jenn)

Bitching About SF: Now, With an Out!

There's a site that's been set up by some writers in the SF/F field called "Dark Cabal." (their tagline? "Vote for Stories. Not for Friends.) Over there, they have the ability to bitch about the state of SF/F, awards, and the shortcomings of certain books, a bit like I do here.

The difference is, they do it anonymously.

SF/F is a pretty tight-knit crowd. Everybody knows everybody. If I bitch about a book here, there's a high liklihood of me bumping into the writer one day, or relying on a book blurb from said writer if I ever get something out there.

It's a great place to bitch about people like gabe, Trent, Dave, Card, Brin, and Goodkind.

But then, I can do that here, so what's the point?

Well, I'm not famous.

There's a lot of freedom in that.

Brutal Women: There's More Than One Way to Fight Back

Last fall I wrote about Mukhtaran Bibi, a woman who was sentenced by a tribal council in Pakistan to be gang-raped because of an infraction supposedly committed by her brother. Four men raped Ms. Mukhtaran, then village leaders forced her to walk home nearly naked in front of a jeering crowd of 300.

Ms. Mukhtaran was supposed to have committed suicide. Instead, with the backing of a local Islamic leader, she fought back and testified against her persecutors. Six were convicted.

Then Ms. Mukhtaran, who believed that the best way to overcome such abuses was through better education, used her compensation money to start two schools in her village, one for boys and the other for girls. She went out of her way to enroll the children of her attackers in the schools, showing that she bore no grudges.

Stolen Exchange

Yea, I'd read the Card article on fat earlier, and I couldn't figure out what was bothering me so much about it, because, of course, I mostly agreed (bah!).

But luckily, Alas caught Card's bizarre lack of self-reflection:

You think fat people don’t know how they’re despised? You think they don’t want to be different?

Gosh, Orson, like all those Mormon fags you condemn to hell with righteous indignation because you just can't understand why they can't "control" themselves?

But of course, some people don't mind being fat [or otherwise "other"], or may, in fact [horror!] enjoy it: I do have a deep fear of being small and weak and enjoy being big and strong, but, ahem, I digress.

Funny that he writes that sentence without any self-reflection at all.

See, being biased against people "who just are that way" is always oh so much less moral when the "group" in question is one you're a part of...

Card is a fucktard. The sooner everybody realizes they're in the same goddamn boat, the better.

We'll be able to get more shit done.

Movin' On Up

Had a couple of guys come by to view our apartment yesterday. As I showed one of them the living room I said, "If you've got fewer books that we do, there's actually a lot more room in here."

He laughed and said, "Oh, I've got more books than you do."

Then he walked into the dining room and its Wall-O-Books.

"OK," he said, "Maybe not."

And he hadn't even seen mine or Jenn's room yet...

Me, Jenn, and Jenn's SO are gonna be moving up to the third floor where we'll have three bedrooms and a neat 3-way split for rent and possibly utilities. We'll also be at the top of the brownstone building, meaning our back porch will no longer be a thoroughfare (I have secret hopes that I can get a punching bag and put it out there), no pounding from upstairs neighbors, and we can leave the windows open as much as we want.... ahhhhh. As somebody who lives to have the windows open, that's a major plus.

The downside?

We're not sure how we're going to fit all three people's books up there...

Overall, it'll be a fun move. We're relinquishing our place August 1st, likely moving upstairs a little before that, as soon as our upstairs people vacate (she's going to law school in Milwaukee). If anybody's interested in a 2 bedroom in Uptown for 1K a month, have I got a deal for you...

In other news, things are pretty good on this front. I'm heading to New York Thursday night to hang out with B for the weekend, which should be nice and relaxing. He intends to bust out a bottle of champagne, we'll likely see Batman Begins, and then watch some pro boxing on Saturday (at some point I'm actually going to be able to follow the who's who of pro boxing). Should be a good time.

Jenn's SO is in London, so I get to be her date tonight, and we're going to see if we can catch Howl's Moving Castle. I have no idea what this movie's about, but I keep seeing the name everywhere...

The writing is... writing, research is being done, and I'm feeling good about it.

It's looking to be a fantastic week.

Foiled Again

The last two workdays I've gone to go out on my daily powerwalk, the heavens have opened up and dump rained - *after* I've already gotten into my walking clothes.

Damn weather.

It's All Relative

The thermostat here in the house says 80 degrees. That's with the aid of a box air conditioner and a room fan.

Yet when I walked in from outside, it felt like a 69 degree oasis.

Afterall, it's closer to 98 degrees outside...

I've never been good with hot weather. Fuck knows how I survived Durban.

I also committed the mortal sin of watering my plants every other day instead of every day... and my cilantro has paid a bitter price.

Sad.

OK, back to work. I'm working. Really.

In Which the Protagonist Drinks Cheap Whiskey and Pretends to Fly

Ahhhh

Whiskey and Writing night. Welcome to Friday.

Got a bunch of deadlines to hit tonight, some Bad Guy character sketches to do. Finally figured out what exactly it is Nyx was hiding in that womb. Now we've got an assignation, betrayal, firefight, and Queen Nasyaan.

I love what I do.

Friday Beer Blogging

Oh yea.

Sadly, I'm Back Here

Crappily, I also discovered that I didn't have the PTO hours in my bank that I thought I did (paycheck went through today, at which point PTO hours were subtracted that I forgot about). Well, shit, that was silly of me.

Oh well, more fried rice for me come next paycheck time!

June's gonna be a motherfucking shitter moneywise. Gotta pay for all that fun I had in May... This also makes next Friday's PTO suck.

Long live the Corporate Card.

I Blew Off Work

And I used to be such a nice girl...

Anyway, called in and took some PTO (Paid Time Off) time.

Here's my to-do list:

Vacuum the rugs - done
Clean the bathroom - done
Sweep and and spot-checked the kitchen floor - done
Call back new recruiter - done
Try to schedule routine follow-up PP appointment - done (full today)
Water plants and pinch off basil - done

Do the dishes
Make the bed
Finish putting final chip coating on the sink
Eat pancakes for breakfast
Print out latest version of Book One
Finish first "real" chapter of God's War (including prologue)
Continue research with latest books from library
Go on long bikeride along the lakefront and get a great tan

Sounds like a productive day....

Enjoy yourselves, my chiklits!!

Good Morning, Chiklits

It's still hot outside.

I think I might blow off work.

It's Hot

Oh my oh my.

Time to break out the cold beer.

It Confuses Me That I Have A Job

I'm not sure what I do here.

Ug. Too Many Bread Products

Corporate life is unhealthy.

Ug.

SF Fans: Putting Women Back Into Science Fiction

Revelations.

Dueling female Jedi. Three female main characters.

Not one of them with a Holy Womb of Antioch.

Yes, the script was written by two women.

I have hope for the future.