elanya

I've just been away for about 10 days on a road trip down to visit friends from Texas... We used to do our friend-con in March, but the reasons for that timing are no longer pertinent and it took a while to reorganize. But it was great, on the whole. There was some social weirdness going on from some corners, but whatever. I am really glad and grateful that I got to see those folks again! And the games and gaming were really fun!

I'll write up some drabbles for the ones I played in, as is tradition, but I'm only home in the sense of being back in my own country. I have a French test - step one in a potentially lengthy interview process - to go to on Thursday, so I'm staying in Windsor, since it is closer to the testing facility. I might work on some tomorrow between bouts of studying.

I have some scattered thoughts for stories of various lengths, the most recent inspired by the slew of paranormal story podcasts we were listening to for part of the drive. We'll see if anything comes of those.

Today I was Taxed with Talking about Texas, by sorceror.

Well, there are a lot of things I could talk about. There are a lot of things I won't really want to engage with....and I'm lucky that I don't have to! So I won't!

Instead I am going to talk a little bit about flowers.

The flowers were definitely one of my favourite things about Texas, outside of the friends I made there. The spring is famous for the fields of Bluebonnets, and people take their kids and pets and go out on the Easter weekend and take posed shots. (Oftentimes they squat, with hilarious effect).

They would usually be starting to bloom around mid-March, which was right around spring break, and coincidentally right around the time that a bunch of my Texas friends were having our mini gaming con. It was hosted on kennesaw's parents ranch, out in tinytown Texas, a fair drive away, and the drive back was often very beautiful. When I was working at the conservation lab, the drive was just far enough out of town that we would drive past some flower-filled fields for a few weeks, too.

In addition to the bluebonnets, there was a lot of Indian Paintbrush, which is orange and therefore I love it, and often they were mixed together. Plus a lot of other flowers - the ones that I can remember the names of are pink and white primroses, winecups, black eyed susans, and purple vetch. Ones I saw a lot of once I looked them up were firewheel and Mexican hat. But there were a lot I never learned the names of either. Even just around the parks where I would walk Jola, there would be flowers all over the place - lots of teensy tiny ones for various grasses, and weeds, and such. They were all very pretty. I love wildflowers, what can I say? They remind me of my mother - we used to take family walks out on the university owned woodlot when we were kids and look at them.

The Texas wildflowers, though, are kind of a lie. I mean, they are wild, and afaik at least some of them are native plants, but there was a big project in the 70's, orchestrated by ladybird Johnson (she was from Austin, I think?), to replant them along the highways as a beautification project. But they're there now, doing their own thing without need for further intervention - an example of the relationship between humans and their environment. And a very pretty one at that.

Index of Texas Wildflowers if you want to see pictures of the flowers I mentioned.

So, this morning I had three of my wisdom teeth extracted. Yay! I was super loopy when I got home, but now I have napped, whatever was in the IV has worn off, and I have some pretty solid pain meds in me. I was afraid today would be pretty much a lost day, but I think actually that I'm doing okay! I had a good nap and feel sore but otherwise good. So I'm going to try to answer this as an experiment to help me decide if yuletide writing will be a terrible plan :p

So here goes - today, kennesaw asked me:
If I could change one cultural trait about where I live, what would it be? ( One cultural trait? )

And again - I still have slots open! I have a slot open tomorrow, even, but if no one else fills it I know naryrising will give me a drabble prompt ^-^ On DW|On LJ

Yesterday it was 70+ degrees. Today it is in the high 30's, misty, and gross. Bah, Texas.

On the plus side, I have tea, I have already been out to get my Sunday breakfast tacos (best routine ever), and I have pulled pork in the crock pot. Yesterday I made molasses/honey brown bread (I need loaf pans though, I am fail at shaped loaves >.>) and a somewhat experimental (for me) lentil soup that turned out amazing, with carrot, celery, onion, garlic, crushed tomatoes (8oz), canned corn, black beans, chicken stock, cumin, coriander, and chili powder. Perhaps later I will make thumbprint cookies from the recipe that shanmonster posted a few days ago.

Later (at 3:00) is also the first tag staff meeting, where we are going to divy up staff tasks. I remain excited and nervous ;p

Other than that and game tonight, I don't have any big plans for the day. I think I will go ahead and set up the colour version of my dissertation so that I can order copies of it tomorrow once I have the money. And then try and work on some writing, wooh!

Right now, I am going to watch the rest of this Japanese stop-motion version of The Dunwich Horror...

I'm here! I left with Brad around 5:30 this morning. We made it here just after 8, despite some nasty traffic. he managed to get registered, and i got into the room I'm sharing with Catherine and Dana. I need to arrange for a cot for tonight though!

The first session I went to was really cool, even if it was kind of random (looking at economics and class in Nevada mining towns). I sat through about 3-4 sessions tis morning before I needed to crash - despite downing a GIANT vat of tea. went to a few more sessions this afternoon, but it looks like the bulk of stuff I want to see will be tomorrow, so keen. I'm still really tired. I'm also reminded how terrible I am at the sort of networking and, well *talking to people* you are supposed to do at conferences. Feh - I can barely talk to the other people in my program :p I have see, and briefly caught up with - some old friends and acquaintances, at least, but I always find myself feeling needlessly isolated at these things, and it is totally my own fault :p

In other news, the Hilton is very nice, but it is also one of those hotels that assumes that if you are willing to pay a zillion dollar per night, you are also willing to pay $6/hour for internet in your room. LOL! No. Fortunately, lobby internets are free. But don't expect to hear a whole lot from me while I'm here - hopefully I'll have other fun things to do.

here is a link to Facebook - let me know if it doens't work. I'm going to put some of the dress ones on flickr in a bit.

Also go to FB, if you can, to see the videos I posed from the Firewhip performance :D

Flickr dress pics :)"

Woke up in the middle of the night last night and couldn't figure out why. True, my allergy drugs had worn off (although I somehow managed to find my ood ones while I was stumbling around in the dark, depite the fact that i hadn't found them when I was looking before bed), but tht shuldn't have been enough, and did explain the sort of nervous energy.

No, that would have been the EPIC THUNDERSTORM that hit this morning. I was woken by my alarm, but finally got out of bed when there was a thunderclap so loud it sounded like a tree across the street had exploded! (It had not, unless it is in the park somewhere). Taking J out was a treat of soshing through ankle deep puddles and run off at the intersection to cross the street. She gets stupidly hyper in storms, also, and has been running around the house with her new squeaky toy, being an adorable pest. I need to call and see if her dogbuddy still wants her to come over or not :x I'm betting on no, though :/

It is still raining, which means the buildings at work may get flooding too, whee! I must remember to bring extra shorts and socks, or something :x

And I spilled tea on my foot -_- (not burnt though, hooray).

Gonna be an interesting day! I do love the rain here though - storms are so impressive.

So, I had lost my Texas learners license, and therefore had pushed the extra hassle it would require to get a new one so that I could then practice/study more to take the test again from my mind, because OMG stab me in the EYE I hate that place.

But I have found it! And I really would like to get my real license. So, I am wondering if anyone is willing to take me out driving for practice? I know I'm going to need to brush up on my parallel parking, but I think other than that I really need to review my rules of the road, and should otherwise be okay.

Once I'm confident, I'll need someone to take me to the place at stupid o'clock in the morning, and back again the same day for my test, but that will be in a couple of weeks.

Anyone anyone? Please? I can replay you with baked goods or some other form of (non sexual) remuneration :D

I'm back - got in late last night.

Should get my dog back tonight/this afternoon. Have been scratched to pieces/loved to death by kitty in turns, so all is normal there.

Travel went smooth, mostly.

I'm at school, feeling meh - post travel blues. Hopefully once I start actually working some of that will pass.

I have the most awesome friends, and I'm lucky to have so many, scattered though they may be.

I still have no power cord for the laptop, ergo no internet at home. This also means that unless I'm at school I can only be reached "reliably" at my 979-696 number, and that I can only call people who have 979 area code numbers.

Well, it looks pretty clear out there right now, but they're calling for possible rain and snow this morning, and snow this afternoon with an accumulation of up to two inches o_O 90% chance of precipitation, even!

We'll see - I have doubts :x

I'm gonna wear boots just in case though.