Prep work and Good Books
Jan. 14th, 2009 12:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lenora_roseTonight I had a mandolin lesson; and everyone else in the house (which included my mandolin teacher's wife and their houseguest, and two other charming newer members of the Barony) stuffed Raviolis for the event. Then I came downstairs and socialised, and ended up peeling much garlic so someone else could grate it.
Colin has indicated that he doesn't think tomorrow night that he'll need me, so i may well be at dance practice anyhow. Thursday, he's suggested he will, and I already told my choir director that I won't be there, so no big sweat.
OTOH, still much housecleaning to do; my study needs to be ready to accept a queen-sized air mattress, and while the stair-climber is going away (I prefer almost every other form of exercise available in this house, and someone else sees a use for it) that still leaves some storage boxes to shift. (I also made a conscious decision not to put together the filing cabinet yet, mainly because it takes up less space in the box.) So... maybe no dance. Undecided. Cleaning isn't as much exercise, but.
The tree won't go down until Sunday, though.
_______________
I must admit, while I accept the necessity of classes where we talk rather than work, I'd rather work. The new prof is much more theory and planning oriented, and... I'm not. Not for pottery. (I can be for writing, if you catch me on the right day). I like looking at pictures, and I get strong visual ideas sometimes based thereon, but I also tend to jump in faster than she wants to. And sometimes those strong visual ideas do not translate to "turn in drawings by tomorrow", but to "Put me on the wheel. If I produce the shape I want, I'll show you."
As it is, though, i did try to exfoliate my hands the hard way last week. The difference between clay meant for handbuilding and clay meant for throwing is the presence or absence of grog, which is already fired grounds of clay of varied fine-ness. Which, on a swiftly spinning wheel, equates to fast moving sandpaper. Whee.
Still, I have the first parts of a teapot. Alas, I forgot some of my intentions while trimming, so it has a traditional bottom, not one suitable for building legs onto. (Animal legs. I want to be silly on this project, and I'm obligated to cast something; they seemed the obvious choice.)
_______________
Finished Ink and Steel and Hell and Earth yesterday. I'm... I'm not sure I could recommend these books to Everyone. They're complex, contain a fair bit of sex (non-gratuitous, also not-concealed or fade-to-black), and some scenes which I know would disturb some of my more strongly Christian friends (Though I also think they would be rewarded for reading to the end, getting through to that point might be more endurance than enjoyment.) Not for everyone, I repeat. But....
I am loffing them so avidly I can't write a more coherent review. Very good stuff. I am again admirous of Bear's use of language, body language, and implication. (And having to invent words to most accurately say so. So much for my capacity for the language.) And of course, much Elizabethan theatre, and a faerie court as dark and odd and trapped in stories as ever.
Wow. I wish I wish I could do that with words. I'm eternally glad Bear can.
And for something completely the other end of the fantasy spectrum; on every scale except enjoyment, anyhow.
I made a stop at the university bookstore today, with intent to see if they had the Stepsister Scheme (No, they didn't. But their SF/F collection is eclectic and unpredictable at best.)
I did however, see, to my great startlement, a copy of Sherwood Smith's Wren's Quest, a short time after mentioning my mourning of a lack of a copy. So far it's enjoyable, clearly written fairly traditional fantasy, not complex but also not condescending to the reader.
What confuses me is that it was in with the bargain books; which since the university bookstore is not affiliated with other bookstores in the city, I thought, should imply that it was on the shelves before. And since I would have snapped it up for full price if it were and the non-textbook fiction sections aren't so large I would have missed it even if it weren't shelved in YA or children's, I am left bemused.
At any rate, I has a book that makes me happy to own. Mom, want to borrow when I'm done?
Colin has indicated that he doesn't think tomorrow night that he'll need me, so i may well be at dance practice anyhow. Thursday, he's suggested he will, and I already told my choir director that I won't be there, so no big sweat.
OTOH, still much housecleaning to do; my study needs to be ready to accept a queen-sized air mattress, and while the stair-climber is going away (I prefer almost every other form of exercise available in this house, and someone else sees a use for it) that still leaves some storage boxes to shift. (I also made a conscious decision not to put together the filing cabinet yet, mainly because it takes up less space in the box.) So... maybe no dance. Undecided. Cleaning isn't as much exercise, but.
The tree won't go down until Sunday, though.
_______________
I must admit, while I accept the necessity of classes where we talk rather than work, I'd rather work. The new prof is much more theory and planning oriented, and... I'm not. Not for pottery. (I can be for writing, if you catch me on the right day). I like looking at pictures, and I get strong visual ideas sometimes based thereon, but I also tend to jump in faster than she wants to. And sometimes those strong visual ideas do not translate to "turn in drawings by tomorrow", but to "Put me on the wheel. If I produce the shape I want, I'll show you."
As it is, though, i did try to exfoliate my hands the hard way last week. The difference between clay meant for handbuilding and clay meant for throwing is the presence or absence of grog, which is already fired grounds of clay of varied fine-ness. Which, on a swiftly spinning wheel, equates to fast moving sandpaper. Whee.
Still, I have the first parts of a teapot. Alas, I forgot some of my intentions while trimming, so it has a traditional bottom, not one suitable for building legs onto. (Animal legs. I want to be silly on this project, and I'm obligated to cast something; they seemed the obvious choice.)
_______________
Finished Ink and Steel and Hell and Earth yesterday. I'm... I'm not sure I could recommend these books to Everyone. They're complex, contain a fair bit of sex (non-gratuitous, also not-concealed or fade-to-black), and some scenes which I know would disturb some of my more strongly Christian friends (Though I also think they would be rewarded for reading to the end, getting through to that point might be more endurance than enjoyment.) Not for everyone, I repeat. But....
I am loffing them so avidly I can't write a more coherent review. Very good stuff. I am again admirous of Bear's use of language, body language, and implication. (And having to invent words to most accurately say so. So much for my capacity for the language.) And of course, much Elizabethan theatre, and a faerie court as dark and odd and trapped in stories as ever.
Wow. I wish I wish I could do that with words. I'm eternally glad Bear can.
And for something completely the other end of the fantasy spectrum; on every scale except enjoyment, anyhow.
I made a stop at the university bookstore today, with intent to see if they had the Stepsister Scheme (No, they didn't. But their SF/F collection is eclectic and unpredictable at best.)
I did however, see, to my great startlement, a copy of Sherwood Smith's Wren's Quest, a short time after mentioning my mourning of a lack of a copy. So far it's enjoyable, clearly written fairly traditional fantasy, not complex but also not condescending to the reader.
What confuses me is that it was in with the bargain books; which since the university bookstore is not affiliated with other bookstores in the city, I thought, should imply that it was on the shelves before. And since I would have snapped it up for full price if it were and the non-textbook fiction sections aren't so large I would have missed it even if it weren't shelved in YA or children's, I am left bemused.
At any rate, I has a book that makes me happy to own. Mom, want to borrow when I'm done?
