Member Posts

Entry tags:

ice hockey

Biarritz

Last night I successfully got the jersey I wanted for my team, and many of the people I wanted to draft to my team, and here we are:

(except one guy who'd wandered off, I'll try to get another group photo with him in at some point, but that one is beautiful; look at those gorgeous jerseys and that sunset sky)

I am so happy with this team. I put in some time and effort to read through the draft grid and make my first-and-second choice selections, and I switched things up as I spoke to people before and during the draft, and in response to how our draft order went on each round. I know I have a bunch of good people, both on and off the ice. In particular I got my captain from last year Sean, who is also the only person here this year who has been on my team in both the previous years. I instantly made him my A, and he's been a delight in the role already.

Three (short) games today and three tomorrow, to see whether I'm as good at picking and running a team as I think I am ...

(no subject)

Happy birthday,

elisem!

Entry tags:

listen to this

myNoise.net update

While I was away from my keyboard at the start of the year, Dr. Stéphane Pigeon was busy creating a bunch of new soundscapes! Here's a round up of all the new generators he's posted this year:

The Nyquist Frontier: An electronic music generator that sounds like it's coming straight to you from the 1980s. I felt like The Pet Shop Boys were about to start singing at any moment. Comes with a little history lesson about synthesizers.

Glacier Lagoon: Recorded in Iceland! Lots of different water noises here, including ice. Play around with the sliders to combine them. I like the "Fresh Water" presets with lapping waves and some of the underwater recordings (the four on the right) thrown in.

Flock Of Flutter: Well, this isn't what it sounds like at all. It's not birds, it's a Swiffer duster attached to a motor that causes it to brush against crumpled kraft paper, creating a warm white noise (though perhaps closer to what's called pink noise), similar to the steady hum of a fan.

Organic White: A white noise generator created from carefully selected recordings of wind and rain. Unlike synthetic white noise, which is unchanging, this has a bit more texture and variation to it.

Indigo Amanita: Dr. Pigeon's attempt at Goa Trance, which I'm unfamiliar with, but is, apparently, a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the early 1990s in the Indian state of Goa. It's upbeat.

Floating: From Dr. Pigeon's description: An ambient soundscape for deep relaxation, Floating avoids rhythm and melody, using slowly evolving textures and warm low-frequency tones to help the mind slow down by removing musical expectations.

Upstream: This soundscape traces the path of a waterfall back to its source, a small stream.

Uganda Tales: Recorded on the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda. I recommend trying the presets to experience the many different pairings of natural sounds, music, and human speech this soundscape offers.

Glacier Chorus: More from Iceland. This time it's underwater sounds recorded in a glacier lagoon. Dr. Pigeon writes, "At times, you might think you're hearing birds or sea creatures. But these sounds don't come from any animals. They all are the voice of the glacier itself. As the glacier melts, the ice cracks and groans under its own heavy weight and small rocks that were once frozen inside are freed and tumble down the ice. Underwater, tiny air bubbles that were trapped in the ice pop and fizz as they escape."

Gong Bath — ft. Reggie Hubbard: A meditation in vibrations, taken from a live recording during a public sound bath at Kripalu. Dr. Pigeon writes, "These are not sounds that say, 'everything is fine.' These are sounds that ask questions. That challenge your sense of ease. That's why gongs are so powerful in meditation: they don't lull you — they awaken you. They agitate the quiet — revealing what usually lies buried beneath." Which is a very generous way to say that this sounds like the soundtrack to a horror movie.

The Architect's Eclipse: Space ambient music. This one sounds like a more relaxed version of the soundtrack to the movie Cube.

Icelandic Shores: A sea, wind, and rain noise generator. Very similar vibes to that of the beloved Irish Coast Soundscape, only recorded in Iceland. This is for you if you like your beaches cold and windy.

Now we're all caught up!

If you want to keep up with the myNoise news, Dr. Pigeon has left corporate social media, but there are plenty of other ways to get updates. You can follow myNoise.net on Mastodon or wherever you access the Fediverse. You can subscribe to his mailing list that notifies you of new soundscapes. Or you can follow the myNoise RSS feed in your favorite RSS reader or here at Dreamwidth at

mynoise_feed.

Entry tags:

ice hockey,
music

Playlist

A few months ago I heard a love song and thought "this captures how I feel about ice hockey" and thus was a playlist born:

three-plus years in love (with hockey)

Additional suggestions always welcome :-)

( full list, with exemplar lyrics )

(previous playlists, titles hopefully self-explanatory:

first game feels
second season:stepping up

I have completely normal feelings about this sport.)

FIC: The Royal Sanctuary: The sling (Tempestuous Tours)

In the corner of the sanctuary is a small table with a boys' sling upon it. Far from being a mistake, this is one of the most moving monuments in the sanctuary. The sling represents the thousands of orphan boys who, over the centuries, were forced by their guardians – the priests – to serve in this sanctuary's Rites of Death. The Jackal, who was raised by the priests, has many memories of such services, which he, like the other orphan boys, was given no choice but to participate in. The sling was donated by a later orphan boy grown up, who once used the sling to pitch stones at the priests' house, out of anger at the priests for what they had done.

[Translator's note: The life of one such orphan boy takes an unexpected turn in Blood Vow.]

Entry tags:

reading,
viewing

wednesday reads and things

What I've recently finished reading:

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett, which, it's the third book in the series, so if you like this series you will probably like this book. I particularly enjoyed the trope (which is not uncommon - it's also an element of the Invisible Library series, for example) that the Fae are governed by tales and stories, so the things that happen in their kingdoms generally follow the well-known structures of fairy tales. I also appreciated that the story wrapped around to include elements of the first book.

What I'm reading now:

My hold on Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio came in, and - I can't remember why I put a hold on this book? Did one of you recommend it? I've started it but I am not finding the style particularly engaging. I'll stick with it for a while, though.

What I've recently finished watching:

Untamed, about which I must agree with

treewishes's assessment: "Excellent scenery and interesting characters, the plot, um." The drone shots of Yosemite are spectacular! The action taking place in meadows with cliffs in the background is beautiful! The very beginning has some really fingernail-biting rock climbing (both B and I, who used to climb, muttered at the total sketchiness of one of the placements...) and overall the scenery is just gorgeous. The characters and the way they interact, their backstories and their drama and trauma, are definitely interesting. The plot, um. I have a lot of niggling criticisms, like, there is no way an LA cop would be able to easily transfer to a park ranger job! There is no way an experienced law enforcement officer would go confront a dangerous person without backup! I am side-eyeing the idea of a hippie encampment being on park land and not cleared the hell out of there immediately they found it! I can't imagine a park far from major cities being a hub for [spoilers redacted]! But mostly it's just a ridiculously convoluted plot for the sake of ridiculous convolutions.

Apparently there will be a second season, but I have no idea what they are going to keep constant from the first - the people, the setting, ???

What I'm still playing:

I'm still playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and it's still entertaining.

Entry tags:

Wednesday reading

The Adventure of the Demonic Ox (Penric & Desdemona) by Lois McMaster Bujold
This is something like 14th in the ongoing Penric+Desdemona books. You don't want to start here, it's a satisfying enough instalment in the series if you are already invested in the characters and the family. If I have a criticism I think that like the last two books I found the progress of the book a bit predictable and not very surprising. But I still read it in two solid bites (only separated by the tedious matter of needing to sleep).

The Arctic Curry Club by Dani Redd
This was on the "free paperbacks" shelf at Cambridge North and I picked it up on a whim, and used some of my free time to give it a try. A bit like the previous book, I didn't find it especially surprising but I did find it very engaging, and some very mouthwatering descriptions of food. Our protagonist Maya moves to Svalbard with her partner, who is taking up a research post there, and who turns out to not actually be as supportive and perfect in the arctic night as he seemed in London. When Maya makes a flying trip to Bangalore for her father's remarriage, she reconnects with a childhood friend and starts to dig up old family history. On her return to Svalbard she makes new friends and new culinary adventures.

The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan
A retiring police inspector in Mumbai inherits a baby elephant on his last day in the job, and finds himself investigating one last murder case in his retirement, with occasional assistance from the elephant Ganesha. This was both charming and surprising and I enjoyed it very much.

A snippet from today

At the airport security check, putting my hand luggage in the trays for xray. The guy staffing the preparation area tells me if I have any electronics in my bag, I need to pull them out. I pull out my laptop and kindle. He asks me if I have anything else, such as a hairdryer.

My tournament buddy Lisa is in fits of giggles. Of all people, do I look like I need a hairdryer?

Entry tags:

You Gotta Eat, by Margaret Eby

You Gotta Eat: Real-Life Strategies for Feeding Yourself When Cooking Feels Impossible, by Margaret Eby:

A gentle and funny book about how to feed yourself when that seems impossible.

This book offers three things: permission, inspiration, and recipes, in about those proportions if this were a list of ingredients. The chapters are arranged in increasing order of effort, from, basically, eating straight out of the fridge, right up to chopping stuff up and turning on the oven.

Each chapter starts with a theme and a bunch of ideas about how to turn things like eggs, greens, beans, noodles, dumplings, and canned foods into a meal, then finishes with one or two basic "do exactly this" recipes. The permission is throughout. Yes, it's okay to eat popcorn for dinner. Yes, a dip is a meal. Yes, you can just eat cheese with your hands. I gotta say, though, there is A LOT of cheese and dairy in this book. And, it's true, if I could eat dairy, a lot of my eating problems would be solved, but alas.

Still, I love the energy of the book and how funny and relentlessly kind Eby is. From the introduction:

When food felt like a chore, I kept reminding myself: the best food is the food that you'll eat. This is the mantra of this book. Michael Pollan famously had three rules for eating: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." That's nice for him! Here, we're gonna stop with the first one. And we're going to make it easy.

And there are a lot of easy ideas in here! Frittatas! Hummus! Smoothies! For when you're too tired to even chew!

This is more of a survival guide than a cookbook, though, as some of the cooking advice is a bit on the thin side, and if you're new to cooking, you might not know, for example, that you'll want to undercook pasta if you're putting it into a casserole, something Eby fails to mention. The book is probably best for someone who already knows the basics, but just can't imagine lifting a spoon or picking up a frying pan. Eby has a lot of suggestions for things to cook in the toaster oven and the microwave, and the most involved this book gets is casseroles and stirfrys. There are even two (2) quick desserts.

Recommended! Though if you have dietary restrictions, you'll have to do the extra work yourself to make this book work for you (just like every other day) and large sections of it might not, but I think it's still worth it for the inspiration and the reminder to go easy on yourself. You're doing the best you can.

Entry tags:

Two goals!

I joined the university open practice last night, after encouragement from my friend who is actually part of CUIHC (I was in the club, I dropped out two years ago, I plan to rejoin again this October but right now I'm in a weird limbo - eligible to play, lots of friends among the players, but not on any of the membership mailing lists or groupchats). 15 minutes or so warmup and then a scrimmage, with a spanking pace set by the Men's Blues players. It was enormous fun and a reminder of why I do these mad late nights etc. And I got a goal! Put myself by the back door and picked up a rebound, absolutely textbook stuff, very happy with it.

So my count is now:

2 goals in scrimmage
1 goal (actually an own goal by the opposition) and 3 assists in formal games

I'd love to reach the point where a goal in scrimmage is just another Tuesday, but maybe it's time to start a spreadsheet while I still remember each one individually.

(Other good things that happened yesterday: a coffee with lnr, lunch at the Dishoom Permit Room with Mick and Joye, book shopping with Charles, having the time to just sit and read a couple of books, skating lesson and seeing my friend E briefly afterward. Basically, it was a really lovely day of leave.)

Current Mood: pleased

Entry tags:

local food shopping

The weather is delightful right now--sunny and about 22 C/72 F--so I went to Central Square after lunch, for the Monday farmers' market and to buy ice cream.

At the farmers market, I bought Zestar apples--an early apple all three of us like--blackberries, peaches, and a loaf of Hi Rise bakery's "Concord" bread. I then walked over to Toscanini's, but noticed New City Microcreamery en route, and went in. I asked for a taste of the key lime pie ice cream, and was pleased that it tastes like key lime pie and works as ice cream, so I got a scoop and took it outside to eat at a nearby table.

Then to Tosci's, where the board said they had raspberry and sweet cream (among other flavors). I asked for a pint of each, and discovered they were out of raspberry. I asked to taste the mango sticky rice ice cream, which I didn't like. So I just got sweet cream, then walked back to New City for a pint of key lime pie ice cream.

I now have dairy ice cream from four different local ice cream places in my freezer, the other two being Lizzy's (chocolate orgy and black raspberry) and JP Licks (peach). Boston is a good city for ice cream.

Entry tags:

Ten years

So, the tenth anniversary of my diagnosis with leukaemia happened earlier this week. I usually celebrate my survival on 1 October each year, but I'd wondered a few months ago about having a party in actual summer.

In the end I didn't organise anything for this weekend because I had a hockey game with Warbirds yesterday. This morning I took Nico to Clip n Climb, and this afternoon I met Rosie for a public skate and then we had ice creams in the sunshine. On my way back to my bike (locked by the rink) I ran into a couple of people and sorted out a few things relating to Kodiaks and next weekend's Draft Tournament in Biarritz.

Also the announcement has just gone out that I'm captaining one of the teams in Biarritz, and I'm off work now for nearly two weeks.

... and actually all of that adds up to a fantastic "up yours cancer, you didn't kill me", even without throwing a party.

Take it away, Elton:

Watch on YouTube

Entry tags:

Events of note

In news that shocks no-one, especially not me, I didn't actually manage to watch the streaming Twelfth Night in the two week window. I had two windows in my calendar and I spent them on other things, woe is me.

( ice hockey )

Charles and I went to see the reissue of Princess Mononoke in the cinema - in the IMAX screen - yesterday evening. I haven't watched it in many years but it holds up, still very beautiful. Some scenes I'd never forgotten but other parts surprised me all over again.

From the film I went to a goodbye party for two of the cricketers for a couple of hours. I left the party for ice hockey practice, and was briefly tempted to message the partiers when I came out of the rink at 1am to see if they were still going but actually by the time I got home and showered I just wanted to sleep.

(I have been added to the casual Saturday afternoon cricket groupchat. I am still very bad at cricket, especially at bowling, and have no kit. I could turn up anyway I guess.)

Entry tags:

Thursday books

I read a bunch while I was in Montreal, then got home and couldn't find my notes on what I'd read, so this is sketchier than it should have been.

The Tainted Cup, by Robert Jackson Bennett: this is both a fantasy and a mystery novel, and I think worked well as both. The world-building is interesting and unusual, with hints of a lot more than the narrator has reason to mention in telling this story. The mystery is twisty and full of questions about people's motivations. Definitely recommended. Based on some discussion on Discord, I'm glad to know there's a sequel, but not racing to read it.

Jellyfish Have No Ears, by Adèle Rosenfeld, is a novel told by a woman who has been hard of hearing since childhood, and is now losing the remains of her hearing, and trying to decide whether to get a cochlear implant. At least two of the characters are figments of the narrator's imagination. Interesting, but it felt like the story stopped too soon. I think I grabbed this for the "book in translation" square on my Boston library summer reading bingo card.

The Adventure of the Demonic Ox, by Lois McMaster Bujold: a new Penric and Desdemona fantasy novella. I liked it, but there's enough ongoing plot arc that I wouldn't start here.

The World Walk, by Tom Turcich: Memoir, by someone who decided at 17 that he wanted to walk around the world, and starts on the journey after finishing college. He has the advantage of a supportive family, and he also mentions some of the ways that the trip is easier for him because he's American. The travelogue is mostly about people, even when he's also talking about the sky from the Atacama Desert, or the interesting foods he eats while traveling. His planned route isn't literally around the world on foot, but he meant to walk on all seven continents. Instead, the section on Asia and Australia is foreshadowed by the celebration of New Year's Day 2020. Overall, an upbeat book. despite that, health issues, and encounters with hostile police and other officials.

So You Want to Be a Wizard, by Diane Duane: reread of a young adult fantasy novel. picked up from Emmet's bookshelf after I ran out of things I wanted to read on my kindle. I enjoyed rereading it.

I'm now partway through John Wiswell's Wearing the Lion, a retelling of the Heracles legend, because I had it on my kindle (shared by

cattitude) and needed something for the flight home from Montreal on Tuesday. The characterization is oddly flat, for a first-person narrative.

Entry tags:

reading,
viewing

wednesday reads and things

What I've recently finished reading:

1984 by George Orwell (reread, but first read nearly 40 years ago, so.) This book requires a great deal of suspension of disbelief; it's more of an allegory of fascism, an exaggerated cartoon version, than it is actual fascism. But that's the point, I think. It's the authoritarian nightmare writ very very large, and I hope that enough people are reading it now to be scared into fighting the authoritarian nightmare which is slowly establishing its tentacles across the US. (And that they don't get so chilled by the downer ending that they believe that it's impossible to fight...)

A few things stood out to me about this book written in 1949. First, it's interesting that ideology isn't actually important here; the object is to amass and retain power, and I think that's true of our current regime. Second is the importance of stamping out every bit of creativity and independent thought, even getting rid of words describing creativity and independence, such that even the books and songs produced by the government are created by computers (cough AI cough) and lightly edited by humans. Very prescient and chilling! And of course the thing that brings this book to mind and has put it on so many contemporary reading lists is the idea of editing information about the past to bring it in line with what the government wants people to believe - which is what the regime is attempting now.

I mostly enjoyed it (if "enjoyed" is the correct word) though the protagonist's view of women was a bit madonna/whoreish, kind of weird, and I wondered how much it reflected the author's feelings. (However, it's obvious to me that the in-universe view of Jews is very clearly intended to be part of the throughline connecting to Nazism, so I am not sure why I feel more uncomfortable about the portrayal of women.) Also there's a whole section in the middle which is a lengthy quote from a purported book by Goldstein, the leader of the Resistance, and that's just ugh boring clunky exposition in the middle of what is for the most part powerful prose. But otherwise, I'm glad I read it again, in these times, where we are led by small men who want to amass power for power's sake, and be cruel for cruelty's sake, and put their boots on everybody's faces.

What I'm reading now:

My hold on the third Emily Wilde book by Heather Fawcett came in at the library, so I'm reading Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales. The beginning was terribly confusing but I'm starting to get into it.

What I recently finished watching:

We finished Arcane, which - I have mixed feelings about. Actually, it kind of reminds me of Andor - no, not the downtrodden rising up against the elite (though okay, there are some elements of that) but the plot veering off sideways and jumping around and things that seem like they're important getting dropped and things coming suddenly out of nowhere. (So maybe it was supposed to be a longer series that got canceled so they had to cram everything into the second season?) I am still not sure what Viktor's whole deal was, or what exactly the "arcane" is, or the invasion at the end, or...and then I looked up the game it's based on and it's a battle arena game, so I am not sure where this plot came from! Anyway, I loved the art, liked a lot of the characters and their relationships, didn't really care for the way the story evolved in S2.

What I'm watching now:

Untamed, which is the Netflix murder mystery miniseries set in Yosemite, not the Chinese drama - that one has a The in front of it. Eric Bana and Sam Neill are in it but we're really watching for the lavish scenery porn, which is definitely amazing. (Also some of it takes place in Mariposa, so it makes me think of

rachelmanija, though I don't know if it's actually filmed there or if it even makes sense to be taking place there.)

Entry tags:

FIC: The Royal Sanctuary: The inscriptions (Tempestuous Tours)

On the walls of the sanctuary are inscribed the names of the Living Dead, which were taken from them at the time of their enslavement. These names were thankfully recorded by the priests who removed the names, so we still possess records of the thousands of men and women who were enslaved in this palace and usually died here shortly thereafter.

Not all of the names of the Living Dead are inscribed here. At the time of the rededication of this sanctuary, the Jackal met with the former Living Dead and their families to determine whether their names should be inscribed here, along with the names of the Living Dead from earlier generations. So strong a stigma continues in Koretia against being enslaved that the present generation of the former Living Dead - or their family members, where the former slaves could not speak for themselves - asked that their names not be inscribed here until after their bodies were dead. Their wishes were respected.

[Translator's note: The intersection between family and slavery can be seen in Light and Love.]

Entry tags:

quotidian

home

I came home yesterday afternoon, and spent yesterday enjoying the air conditioning and catching up on some PT that requires equipment I didn't take with me to Montreal, like a foam roller.

I woke up in time to get outside before it got too hot; conveniently, Adrian came back from a walk when I was about ready to leave, and decided to come to the store with me. I enjoyed the company, and two people can carry more groceries than one, so we now have a small watermelon, a box of lettuce, blueberries, tahini, blackberry jam, and non-dairy ice cream.

cattitude and I played Scrabble yesterday, and I've been doing other ordinary things like combing the long-haired cat and taking out recycling.

It's hot outside today (still), but the kitchen was cool enough at noon for me to make oatmeal for lunch. Adrian made a frittata when we got back from the store this morning, for tonight's supper.

Entry tags:

book report

Interior Chinatown, by Charles Yu

What if your life was a TV show? Would you be the star or a background character?

Willis Wu lives and works in Chinatown and dreams of being Kung Fu Guy, just like his father before him, but Will's role in life—or in the script—is more Generic Asian Man Number Three. Then he falls for Attractive Lady Cop and has to make a choice between a family life in the suburbs or the job he's always wanted.

This is one of those stories that's more about an idea than a character, and more a thesis than a story. The idea is interesting and the thesis is credible—and completely spelled out for you in a courtroom scene at the end in case you somehow missed it—but the characters have the stock feel of a parable and gave me little reason to care about their struggles as they toil in a system that's been stacked against them for centuries.

The system is racist as shit and Yu supports this with real world examples but doesn't do much to personalize it for his characters. He does dramatize it, literally, as parts are in script format, but even much of that is intentionally clichéd, and despite some early ??? as I wondered what the fuck was going on, I didn't find this challenging or exciting, but I think it did what it meant to.

Contains: cops; racism (including stereotypes and slurs); elder care; poverty; generational trauma; pomo; second person perspective.

Entry tags:

"My Cat Is a God"

Pleased to share my first article for Sufficiency and Wellbeing magazine, "My Cat Is a God" (literally), featuring Hudson the Hudster.

Entry tags:

#681, Bashō

turn this way
I am also lonely
this autumn evening
-1690

Translation by Jane Reichhold.

( 俳句 )