copperbadge

copperbadge @ 2010-03-19T23:02:00

2010-03-20T04:02:42Z

Well! I am home from the theatre.

I saw Remy Bumppo's production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which was very long but held my attention and made me laugh, and that's not something most films do, so well done them. It's a difficult play to do badly, in some ways, because the dialogue just clips right along and unless you just plain have bad actors, it's hard to make it boring. Still, Remy Bumppo is a reliable source for good theatre, and I've yet to see a bad play by them. One can't give the script all the credit.

I will say that previews are tough to attend sometimes, not so much because the play is still rough around the edges (it was; that's expected, and actually relished a bit) but because I forget that there is a...shall we say a certain sort of older person who attends previews and Sunday matinees. They were the bane of my existence when I worked for the box office and now just annoy me by talking, eating chocolates, reeking of Old Spice -- and walking all over the stage, which makes me insane. GET OFF THE FUCKING STAGE.

Also, god save me from ever being That Guy, the one who sees bare tits on stage in the first act and spends all of intermission giggling about it. Jesus. You'd think by the time they hit sixty most men who are interested in breasts have seen a few and could move on.

The set, which is always closest to my heart, was -- well, it was workmanlike. It did what it was supposed to do and didn't get in the way. Sometimes I guess that's all you an ask. There was a lot I would have done differently, particularly the floor, which was painted with a fair amount of skill and precision but so darkly that nobody noticed or cared. It looked like a mat floor for a dance troupe. Still, nil desperandum, one doesn't go to the theatre to look at the floors.

I always forget what an excellent play Les Liaisons Dangereuses is (though difficult to spell). Not just as a play, either; I could deconstruct the meaning of it and the various interpretations I've encountered, but it's fairly straightforward and more fun just to watch and experience. The thing is, it's also a good play from the standpoint of a professional: it's easy to make the sets and costuming interesting and it has a lot of really juicy parts for women while requiring very few men, which is not only fairly rare but quite desireable given the balance of women to men in the theatre today. You do have to have a good Valmont, but then they did. I'm sure I've seen him in other productions -- I think he was Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, which was my first Remy Bumppo play.

At any rate, if you're in Chicago and looking to see a good show, Les Liaisons Dangereuses is a hot ticket and playing for the rest of March and all of April at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse on the north side. Good play, nice space, comfortable chairs with lots of leg room.

copperbadge @ 2010-03-19T09:08:00

2010-03-19T14:08:42Z

I HAVE DECLARED A DOONA DAY.

I have diagnosed myself as "too goddamn tired" and called in sick to work, and that allows me to take a nap this afternoon before I go to the theatre tonight. Sushi and the theatre. It is my favourite kind of night.

I don't know much about comics or pretend to be anything resembling a comic-book fan; I like comic books, but I tend to read trades and can't follow superheroes generally as closely as I can follow single-run franchises. Too many spinoffs and such, I get confused easily. But I do read MightyGodKing, who writes mostly about comics, because he also writes incredibly intelligent posts that are aimed at comics but have a much broader application. I suspect you guys may find his article On Reboots as interesting as I did, given that rebooting is a fad lately.

I'm laughing at myself today, because I've been working on a long sequel to the Lo Boeshane story, telling a little more about Jack's early life after leaving Boeshane and before becoming a Time Agent. I was having fun building the world and laying out the setup, but I was worried because I didn't have "a plot" to speak of. A couple of people made suggestions that I kind of cobbled together into A Plot...and then totally ignored to write an entirely different plot. Because apparently outlines and I really don't agree.

But anyway, I've got one now. Hurrah for my brain. :P

copperbadge @ 2010-03-18T17:26:00

2010-03-18T22:26:13Z

I keep meaning to make a post and then stopping and thinking to myself, you know, I'm just not that interesting today.

What I am is exhausted, and I have been exhausted all week without realising it, and I'm not really sure why. I come home and just want to sleep, all the time, and I keep blowing off really quite simple errands I could run on my way home in order to get home and collapse faster. I don't think it's the medication; I don't know what's up with me.

I did find some interesting tidbits about fandom today. I stumbled over a series of Doctor Who fanzines, "The Frame", that someone had kindly scanned in as PDFs. They're from 1989, but luckily 1989 was the year that The Frame started a series on the origins of Doctor Who fandom, which is something I've been rummaging around in out of curiosity and coming up essentially empty-handed. So I started laughing when I read about the contents of the old 1960 fan club newsletter...

There was quite a healthy letters section (mostly with comments on recent stories), fan artwork (often more enthusiastic than technically proficient) and stories sent in by members.

Wow, fandom SURE HAS CHANGED, hasn't it.

Oh, all right, there's probably more porn now.

One of these stories, printed in 1968, was by Ray Downey and his sister. "It was called The Ice World and was, I think, really inspired by The Ice Warriors, Which had just been shown. The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria landed on a giant sheet of ice which cracked up, and the TARDIS floated away. They spent the rest of the story trying to get back to it. It was rubbish, really..."

I am so sad that none of the reprinted pages of the old sixties fanzines had fanfic in them. But at least I have confirmed, as long suspected, that it existed.

copperbadge @ 2010-03-17T18:06:00

2010-03-17T23:06:01Z

I called Mum when I got home today, because I was still a little shook up about calling security earlier, and while I know my mother loves me and will say exactly what I want to hear, I still get to hear it, which is nice.

Incidentally, I checked with the lobby desk on the way home and security did grab the guys and escort them out of the building. We are lucky to have really good security officers in our building -- they're courteous and fast and they take pride in their work. I'm sure it helps that most of them know me personally, and know that there will be candy in the candy dish for them tomorrow.

Anyway, I told Mum about what happened and how all I really wanted to do was curl up in bed and watch Doctor Who, and she said OH, ALARM CLOCK.

Beg pardon? I asked.

She told me that she'd been on the BBC website looking at DVDs and found a link to a Doctor Who alarm clock: "It's an alarm clock! With Doctor Who on it, and it does things!"

To which I immediately replied, without thinking, "Does it go ding when there's stuff?"

(This is my absolute favourite line from New Who. IT GOES DING WHEN THERE'S STUFF. It's surprisingly useful.)

Needless to say, my mum is not a science fiction fan and was a bit stumped by this question, but she said she'd send me the link. I can't wait to see what she found...

copperbadge @ 2010-03-17T15:07:00

2010-03-17T20:07:43Z

I just had to call security on someone in my lobby for the first time. Jesus, that's not entertaining at all.

You get used to business solicitation in big high rises; reps for print companies, temp agencies, tech agencies, whatever, I get maybe two a week. Usually I just say "I'll save you the speech, we don't accept solicitations" and they say "thanks" and go on their way without wasting any more of my time.

These dudes just would not quit. They kept trying to explain what they do, as if I was somehow not getting it, and then one dude started wandering off towards our offices like he was going to find someone else to talk to. Uh, no.

So I said, if you don't leave, I'm going to call security, and they called me a few names and left, and I called security.

And I'm sure I'll stop shaking any minute now.

copperbadge @ 2010-03-16T16:22:00

2010-03-16T21:22:27Z

Apparently my doctor's office is down a tech and cancelled me fiercely...and without telling me. Argh.

But, as all my medical care is at Northwestern Medical Center, that did put me in a prime position to have a late lunch at Mburger, the new "fast food" place by the executive chef of fancy Chicago restaurant Tru, located around the corner.

I am baffled by Mburger.

I kind of get the concept. High-end chef opens fast-food joint around the corner from his super-gourmet, super-expensive restaurant. He offers high-quality cheap food quickly, which I'm sure is a huge draw to the staff of the hospital nearby. It's had tons of buzz in the Near North, especially since during its first few days it regularly had to close down because they'd run out of food. It only has eight seats (one counter and two two-seat tables) so it's mostly for take-away. I definitely get the eight-seats thing; scarcity causes interest. I think it wants to be like Mighty Fine Burgers or Five Guys Burgers, high-quality comfort food served without frills. The problem is, it's just not very good.

I came in during a down-period, so it's not like there were a lot of people there; I even got a seat after I placed my order. The service was super-friendly but the actual food service was really too slow to be considered proper fast food. The service-and-dining area is about the size of my kitchen, and the music was WAY too loud for such a small space; the cashier couldn't actually hear my order, and I couldn't hear her response. I almost missed my number being called when my food was ready because Counting Crows was screaming at me.

The food wasn't really an improvement. For eight dollars I got a small, dry fried burger on a wonderbun, bland lukewarm fries, and a sort of average chocolate shake -- Hershey's syrup blended into vanilla ice cream. I could get a better hamburger, much better fries, and a soda for that at Byron's and still get change.

Mburger is too small to be a good diner (and closes too early for the lateness of the hour to excuse the quality of the food) and too hostile to leisurely dining to be a lunch joint. Thinking about it, the whole place reminds me of a burger stand at an amusement park -- mediocre food that you have to eat because there's nothing else around. The thing is, this is Chicago. There is food everywhere. Mburger is literally across the street from Elephant & Castle, where for eight bucks you can get a grilled burger and fresh fries and probably not wait as long, if you go during Mburger's peak hours.

The best way to put it is that no one part of the experience makes up for any other part. If the food were better, the service were faster, or the ambience less annoying, one could excuse the rest of it, and you'd actually get the feeling of knowing some awesome secret lunch place that's somehow "authentic". But it's just not, which is not really to the credit of the chef and owners of Tru, who gave up their pastry kitchen to install it.

And Elephant & Castle is right there.

copperbadge @ 2010-03-16T12:24:00

2010-03-16T17:24:01Z

I have the day off! Ooooooooff.

So I got up, I went to storage, I sorted for a bit, I came home. This afternoon I have a doctor's appointment, which is actually the reason for my day off; it's easier for me to take a day and have a temp come in than try to find someone who can sit at my desk for the last three hours of my workday. One of the few disadvantages of my job is that it's very hard to get time off without everyone knowing and everyone remarking on it.

Couple of links for you -- a cafe member is running a marathon to raise money for farming and nutrition research and could use sponsors; another is looking for Gluten-Free recipes. (As much as I love my gluten-free homies, please post recipes there, not here.)

Also, someone asked me for links when I mentioned male fashion blogs. Directly after I answered it, Get Kempt linked to a Styleite post that lists the best male-fashion bloggers across a variety of genres.

I don't actually read many of the blogs anymore, though I used to read A Suitable Wardrobe and a few others listed there. I began to develop some issues with the way they approached style and appearance; I learned a lot, but I also felt like they could be teaching without being dickwads about people who enjoyed casual dress as well. Sometimes I just want to wear a t-shirt, and I don't think that makes me declasse.

So I read Get Kempt because it links to all the really vital stuff and also frequently to pictures of naked women, which is nice.

copperbadge @ 2010-03-15T18:33:00

2010-03-16T00:27:28Z

My laptop has returned!

JESUS THIS SCREEN IS HUGE.

It is so nice to have all my photos and files and programs back. You are the prettiest laptop, yes you are! And they cleaned your screen and keyboard!

Excuse us, we need some time alone to re-bond...

copperbadge @ 2010-03-15T16:11:00

2010-03-15T21:11:08Z

Not that I bill myself as some kind of connosseur of sex tapes or something...

Okay, as an aside, I waffled about putting the below under an LJ-cut, but the hell with that, I link you guys to porn all the time, so whatever.

Not that I bill myself as some kind of connosseur of sex tapes or something, but as far as I'm aware very few celeb sex tapes contain footage of a woman getting head. Or holding the camera, for that matter. Am I wrong? You can tell me anonymously if you don't want to admit you shelled out for Paris Hilton or Russell Crowe. We don't judge here. (Okay, maybe we judge a little.)

My point is, a) very little cunnilingus on celebrity sex tapes, and b) they're usually not called gross.

Gross Details about the John Edwards Sex Tape in which John Edwards is seen performing oral sex.

Point one: Classy, Gawker. Ick, ew, ladyparts! I mean, it's not like it's my favourite thing to do (sorry, women, it's just not) but seriously.

Point two: I realise this is an asshole being unfaithful to his wife, but I find it sort of endearing that a sex tape of him surfaces and it's footage of him showing off while he pleasures his girlfriend. It's oddly sweet.

I wish I could talk this coherently about actual news, but I get all my information from R, my flist, and male fashion blogs. Which is how I know next to nothing about the troop surge in Afghanistan but I can tell you pretty much anything you want to know about Eric Massa's ticklefights with his junior staff.

(Wow, how inappropriate are ALL MY ICONS EVER when I post about oral sex?)

copperbadge @ 2010-03-12T12:08:00

2010-03-12T18:08:48Z

I got a letter in the mail this week telling me that I will get a letter in the mail next week about the census.

This is, btw, a huge waste of paper, money, and time -- the OMG CENSUS INCOMING letter, I mean, though in some ways I think the Census itself is given more weight than it should considering its information-gathering techniques. At any rate, I'm planning to Queer The Census (via synecdochic, thanks!) and if you're in America and receiving a Census form, you should do the same.

Among many other issues, if the government wants to tell you who you can marry, it should know just how many people it is depriving of the right to marriage and how many people are angry about it. The FAQ at the Queer The Census site has information on how to fill out the census -- including little factoids about data management, like how legally married gay couples can indicate that on the form itself, and how the race of the person designated "head of household" is the race the entire family will be designated in the Census data tables.

There's a petition which takes about two seconds to sign, and a free sticker available that you can seal your census envelope with, which includes checkboxes for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Straight Ally. My sticker is already in the mail to me!

copperbadge @ 2010-03-12T10:47:00

2010-03-12T16:47:37Z

Hey guys, bluejeans07 has joined the ranks of the Lulu Fabulous and self-published a sketchbook. She's a professional artist and the sketchbook itself is gorgeous, including reprints of her awesome pinups for Girls Drawing Girls. You can preview the sketchbook and it's available for purchase; she wanted me to let people know she'll also be selling it next month at Wizard World Anaheim.

I have a vested interest in Jean's success, because ~~she promised to draw me doing the Barrowman fistshake~~ I love her work. *solemn*

:D

copperbadge @ 2010-03-12T08:20:00

2010-03-12T14:20:26Z

Someday, I am going to write a memoir entitled Admins Should Have Kill Rights.

In this memoir I am going to include a transcript of the voicemail I got yesterday morning, which I wish I could post to you guys but could get in serious legal trouble for doing. In essence, a grandmotherly-sounding woman called in with a request for contact information for a client we supposedly serve, which is not so unusual, but from there it turned into some kind of bizarre comedy sketch, where she ranted with increasing rage about two women who had maybe stolen her identity or maybe were trying to sell her drugs or hook her up with strange men, and ended by her denouncing them for using her ID not because it was illegal but because they hadn't paid her for the use of it.

Anyway, she left her phone number. I've been told to pass it down the line to legal, so I don't have to get involved, but I will admit I googled her number. No wonder people have been ripping her off; the very first hit when you google her phone number is her full name and address. Googling her name brought up her LinkedIn profile with her educational and employment history and home address; googlemaps showed me her house.

Nobody knows better than I do the delicate dance of internet privacy, but I'm always astounded by just how much information I can gather about a person with a few mouse clicks and a phone number.

Out of curiousity I googled my new phone number, which thankfully has no associations, and my real name (Starbuck is not my surname). Fortunately my surname, while not exactly common, is shared by a few other Sams who have much more public facebook and myspace accounts than I do....

copperbadge @ 2010-03-11T09:54:00

2010-03-11T15:54:28Z

I have TWO fanfics for you today!

A while ago I put out a call for assistance for a young friend of mine who was about to have surgery for his transition, and people responded with both financial help and lots of good wishes. He's grateful to all of you and wrote a fic for everyone, which he asked me to post anonymously on my journal. It's wonderful and sad and very well-written, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Title: Beggars for Roses
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG-13
Notes, Warnings: COE fix-it fic; passively sort of ignores the events of "The End of Time". With many thanks to the kindness of strangers.

Also, a while ago I wrote a fanfic entitled Price, which was a reaction to the first episode of Children of Earth before the others had aired. It posited that Jack and Ianto and Gwen had got past grief and uncertainty after Owen and Tosh's deaths via the extremely entertaining therapy of a threesome, and Jack and Ianto's joy at Gwen's pregnancy was because they knew one of them was the father. It wasn't very explicit, but I went back in now that a bit of time has passed and wrote a sort of "centrefold" that tucks neatly into the middle. You can find the original here, where it will remain, and the rewritten version below:

Title: Price (Rewritten)
Spoilers: Children of Earth, Day One
Rating: NC-17. Ianto/Gwen/Jack. Warnings for infidelity and consenting somnophilia.
Summary: Surely, given that Ianto had made his own peace with Jack and Gwen's bizarre sexless love affair, they had known they were having it.

Have fun, kids. :D

copperbadge @ 2010-03-11T08:27:00

2010-03-11T14:27:29Z

Serious Eats had a discussion thread going yesterday (which I admittedly did not read) about whether or not We Like Self Checkout at grocery stores. Here's the thing: I like self-checkout as long as I am checking out either alone or with someone who actually understands the fundamental concept of this machine.

R does not. Oh my god, you guys, doing self-checkout with him is like doing self-checkout with a five year old. On crack. It is so traumatic that reading the discussion thread title triggered a spasm in my brain.

Here's the thing: the way the grocery store makes sure you aren't stealing anything when you do self-checkout is by weighing your groceries when you put them down before scanning their barcodes, and then weighing them in the bags after scanning. This means:

1. YOU HAVE TO PUT YOUR GROCERIES ON THE LITTLE WEIGHING PLATFORM. R refuses, because he wants to cuddle his bonus-value-sale chicken wings for as long as possible.

2. YOU HAVE TO PUT YOUR GROCERIES IN A BAG WHEN YOU ARE DONE. Yes, even if you only have one item! Because it weighs the groceries in the bag! R, put the goddamn gallon of milk in the goddamn bag. You can take it out again when you're done if you are that much against carrying things in bags.

3. YOU CANNOT PICK UP ANYTHING UNTIL YOU ARE DONE PAYING. Stop trying to fondle the chicken wings! Stop digging around for the Kit Kat bars!

And the worst part is, he's a football player so his sense of personal space is warped, and I'm trying to body-check him away from the food while I pay for it but he's having none of that, so you end up with two grown men in a totally unacknowledged shoving match at the checkout stand and the machine insisting we've both stolen the chicken wings.

I don't even like chicken wings!

copperbadge @ 2010-03-10T15:48:00

2010-03-10T21:48:06Z

Okay, establishing my street cred as the internet's clueless old man: before today I did not know who Corey Haim was.

Many people have attempted to explain to me why he is significant, including my boss, but all that I can gather about him is that he was in a vampire film in the 80s and had a friend who was also named Corey. Clearly he had the best PR guy ever.

Also, I am LOL: apparently the Author Blog Awards are open, for authors who connect to their readers in interesting and engaging ways via The Internetz. I'd nominate myself, because I think the whole Extribulum concept is reasonably interesting and engaging, but you have to do advertising and buttons and banners and what-all, and that's annoying to my readers. So I have decided that I am a better author for not being a part of the Author Blog Awards.

(I don't know, is the amount of swearing I do on here considered "explicit" and therefore disqualifying? Shit.)

copperbadge @ 2010-03-10T12:51:00

2010-03-10T18:51:18Z

So, I don't get to eat lunch today (AND IT IS SUSHI DAY, OH THE UNFAIRNESS) because Interim SupremeBoss called a meeting and literally the only time I could attend was on my lunch hour, because of *handwave* whatever.

Although perhaps it's better this way. Everything I eat lately makes me nauseous, and I couldn't bear to be nauseated by spicy tuna maki.

Anyway, while I'm in a meeting, entertain yourselves!

adina_atl, who always writes excellent fic, wrote White Collar fic you should read. (My Three Things will be late; I don't have cable, so I don't get to watch till a day after everyone else.)

jay_peregrine, who is in a financial bind, is selling off part of a Neil Gaiman collection, some of which are extremely rare. If you're a Gaiman fan or a philanthropist or both, check out the sales post here.

ARGH MEETING *runs*

copperbadge @ 2010-03-09T15:58:00

2010-03-09T21:58:51Z

Good afternoon, Blogland! I had sex dreams last night, what about you?

(Is there still a warning on my profile page that this is the Extraordinarily Public Journal of Sam Starbuck? I hope so.)

(This seemed more relevant when I wrote the post this morning, but what the hell.)

Chicagoans take note: The Apollo Chorus of Chicago is performing Verdi's Requiem this Saturday night at the U. of Chicago campus. More information here! Apparently there's a Groupon deal involved. (If you're in Chicago and don't subscribe to Groupon you really should know about it, it's a once-daily email that offers cheap eats and entertainment deals.)

Meanwhile, I am going to take a cab home, me and my new toaster oven that my bank gave me for using my debit card a lot. TONIGHT THERE SHALL BE TOAST.

copperbadge @ 2010-03-08T12:55:00

2010-03-08T18:55:25Z

WELL, THIS IS BEING QUITE A MONDAY.

Before I run off to put out three or four metaphorical fires on my lunch hour, I wanted to let people know I've put Nameless up at Authonomy. I'm not really sure why. Sometimes I just do a lot of stuff and hope some of it sticks in interesting ways.

Anyway, it's there, and soon I will have to figure out how to politely negotiate the flood of "I like your book! PLEASE READ MINE" that I thought I'd left behind when I moved away from FFN.

copperbadge @ 2010-03-05T15:42:00

2010-03-05T21:42:57Z

I...I think I might want to go to this. It's basically a four day festival of Extribuli. Someone's actually presenting a paper that includes "Extribuli" in the title.

*looks uncertainly at budget, work schedule*

In the meanwhile, my laptop box came so that I can send him back to the mothership! Unfortunately I can't send him out until Monday. Poor busted laptop, alone all weekend in the office.

Maybe he broke because he's jealous he doesn't have a name like Dalek Can and Dalek Suck.

I suppose he could be Dell-ek Prime.

copperbadge @ 2010-03-04T15:55:00

2010-03-04T21:55:30Z

It's employee evaluation time!

I must self-evaluate! When the glowing stops, I might be David Tennant. Or a Dalek! You don't know.

Actually I'm done with the self-evaluation, wherein I rated myself "Mastering Role" or "Expanding Role" on everything except attendance, where due to what appears to be a code bug the only options were "Needs Improvement" or "Not Applicable".

I may have pointed out that the Attendance section Needs Improvement.

copperbadge @ 2010-03-04T11:52:00

2010-03-04T17:52:25Z

Okay, can someone with Paint and a good eye please explain to me which part of the Cosmic Bat Nebula is supposed to be a bat? Because mostly what I see is the Cosmic Brassiere:

I have this probem with the Horse Head Nebula too. That is a fucked up horse, you guys.

God's Bra Strap would make a great title for a novel, though.

In less baffling news, adina_atl wrote me a White Collar fic! It is awesome, go read it. :D Also if you're following tw_itallchanges, the Torchwood Virtual Season Three (and why wouldn't you?), thaddeusfavour posted a deleted scene at her journal from the most recent episode. I don't know why I love the bit in the bathroom at the start so much, but I do.

This morning I was invited to take a questionnaire on personality and internet activity for some study somewhere, I don't even know.

I find them kind of useless since anyone with an ounce of observational power can skew them however they please. Plus some of the questions, like "I make friends easily", have very different answers in meatspace and cyberspace; not to mention "I make enemies" and "I put people at ease" are a bit subjective and difficult to answer from within one's own head. But whatever, I think mostly what the study indicates at this point is that they have a very low sample pool.

Either that or I'm more of an asshole and less creative than I thought.

Neuroticism
Neuroticism (sometimes also called Emotional Instability) is the tendency to experience negative emotions such as sadness or anxiety. People who score high on neuroticism are emotionally reactive and vulnerable to stress. Their negative emotional reactions tend to last longer than those of people who score low on neuroticism, which means neurotic people are often in a bad mood. In contrast, people who score low in neuroticism are less easily upset and are less emotionally reactive. They tend to be calm, emotionally stable, and experience negative feelings relatively infrequently. You scored 30 out of a possible 50. This score is higher than 68.8% of people who have participated in this study.

Extraversion
Extraversion (or Extroversion) is the tendency to experience positive emotions and seek out stimulating situations, often involving other people. People who score high on extraversion tend to be active, energetic, and enjoy being around other people. In groups, they tend to be assertive and often draw attention to themselves. In contrast, people who score low on extraversion, often known as introverts, lack the energy and activity level of extraverts. They tend to be quiet, low-key, and are typically less involved in the social world. Their lack of social involvement should not be interpreted as shyness or depression. Introverts simply need less stimulation than extraverts and more time alone. You scored 24 out of a possible 50. This score is higher than 18.8% of people who have participated in this study.

Openness
Openness is a general appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, imagination, curiosity, and variety of experience. The trait distinguishes imaginative people from down-to-earth, conventional people. People who are open to experience are intellectually curious, appreciative of art, and sensitive to beauty. They tend to be, compared to closed people, more creative and more aware of their feelings. They are more likely to hold unconventional beliefs. People with low scores on openness tend to have more conventional, traditional interests. They prefer the plain, straightforward, and obvious over the complex, ambiguous, and subtle. They may regard the arts and sciences with suspicion, regarding these endeavors as abstruse or of no practical use. Closed people prefer familiarity over novelty. They are conservative and resistant to change. You scored 40 out of a possible 50. This score is higher than 37.5% of people who have participated in this study.

This one baffles me. 40 out of 50 is lower than almost two thirds of the people who've taken the test? I know I'm fandom's cranky old man, but honestly, I write books for pocket money and belong to several museums. I suspect it was my apathy about math and science that lowered my score.

Agreeableness
Agreeableness is a tendency to be compassionate and cooperative towards others. People who score high on agreeableness strive for social harmony and value getting along with others. They are generally considerate, helpful, and willing to let others have their way. Agreeable people tend to have an optimistic view of human nature, believing that people are basically honest and trustworthy. In contrast, disagreeable people--i.e., those who score low on agreeableness--tend to be more suspicious and hostile towards others, and tend to value their own needs and desires above those of other people. You scored 36 out of a possible 50. This score is higher than 56.3% of people who have participated in this study.

Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness is the tendency to show self-discipline and persistence. People who score high on conscientiousness tend to be persistent, responsible, and duty-driven, but are sometimes perceived as being overly perfectionistic and concerned with order. Individuals low on conscientiousness tend to show less persistence and may have trouble seeing things through. You scored 37 out of a possible 50. This score is higher than 100.0% of people who have participated in this study.

This is where I twigged that their sample must be low, because 37 out of 50 is not that high, and frankly I'm not that goddamned conscientious. :D

In closing, I feel I should note, for those of you following on InsaneJournal and JournalFen, that you may be missing posts. When I'm at home I can't run Semagic, so I only post to Dreamwidth and LiveJournal between 4:30pm and 7am CST. Just so you know.

copperbadge @ 2010-02-23T15:07:00

2010-02-23T21:07:08Z

Okay, kids, last communique before retreat -- will I be in touch? Will I have internet? Will my netbook be confiscated at the door? WHO KNOWS. It's an adventure!

I should have brought Travelin' Jack Harkness. Dammit, I knew I forgot something.

While I'm gone I definitely will not be posting to Insanejournal or Journalfen -- they're not synced up with my Dreamwidth, for reasons too complicated to get into. Except for cellphone-photo posts, which always go only to LJ, any post that goes up will go up on Dreamwidth and be crossposted to Livejournal.

Anyhow, be good while I'm gone and I'll see you, who knows? Maybe in an hour, maybe in a week. Have fun kids. :)

copperbadge @ 2010-02-23T09:40:00

2010-02-23T15:40:23Z

Good morning blogland!

I am packed. I am at work. I am sure I am forgetting something. Status update: complete!

I'm slowly familiarising myself with the new phone (a Droid Eris, for those who asked). The gmail app and the mail app in general are both kind of shit for my purposes, and even if they weren't quasi-useless they're plug-ugly. On the other hand, Gmail's built in mobile-phone-page is great, so instead of using the gmail app I've just bookmarked Gmail's homepage on my menu screen. Works the same as an app, and I can actually USE IT because I get RECEPTION.

I'm so excited by the possibilities of a mobile phone that works in places other than:

-- next to my living room window
--the Grand & State subway station
-- the pavement outside my building

For reals.

Via bodlon, I have a bit of a promo for you this morning as well. Polyphony, an award-nominated cross-genre anthology series, is hoping to release its seventh volume in July, but needs to secure a certain amount of pre-orders by March 1st so that production can go forward. If you're interested in an anthology of genre short stories, you can check out Polyphony 7 here; it retails for $20 plus shipping, and there's a preorder link at the bottom of the page (if they don't make the preorder number, all orders will be refunded; if they do, it should ship in July).

Support small presses, burgeoning authors, and fellow genre geeks! Have a look and, if you're interested, order a copy. :)

copperbadge @ 2010-02-22T14:30:00

2010-02-22T20:30:51Z

This morning, a cashier at the drugstore tried to sell me three different things from her register display before I had to say, very clearly, "I am buying everything I want." (Razors, cough lozenges, Snickers bar.)

Seriously, does this work? I suppose it must, but usually they give up after you say no once. I do not need M&Ms, hand sanitizer, or ballpoint pens. And I hate to be rude because I'm sure it's a horrible job, being a cashier for a downtown Chicago drugstore, but I had to stop her from trying to sell me anything else so that I could actually pay for what I wanted to buy.

I am busy-busy today, getting ready to take off tomorrow evening, trying to make sure I have everything, and prepping the Big Book Of Awesome for print. I'm having to fiddle with the missing bits a little, but I don't think anyone will look at the 100 pages of content and go "So where do you list how to add network printers?" and anyway adding network printers is IT's job, not ours.

And if they do ask that, I have a large book handy with which I can beat them.

As regards the laptop, it is under warranty and will need to be shipped to the repair depot, which won't happen until I return from the retreat. Fortunately for me, most of the stuff I'm actively working on, writingwise, is either in GoogleDocs or on my Precious Precious Thumbdrive, though given the screen size of the Netbook it's dubious that I'll be working on Charitable Getting much. Which is just as well, since that gives me time (hopefully) to bust a move on some fanfic. The Cyberman fanfic is going nowhere fast, but the Space Opera Proper is blazing along.

Lo Boeshane, why are you so awesome? BECAUSE YOU'RE WEE JACK HARKNESS, THAT'S WHY.

copperbadge @ 2010-02-20T14:58:00

2010-02-20T20:58:30Z

I have spent the morning scanning old photos and ephemera that survived the Great Purge Of Paper during my last visit to storage. I'm not nearly done, but while scanning a handful of old school assignments I particularly wanted to keep, I came across one that made me burst out laughing.

This is another gem of Mr. Ellinton's, my teacher from when I was eight. One of the study units we did was on mythology, which I remember vividly because it kickstarted my interest in the subject. Everyone in the class had to invent a myth, and I was assigned with inventing "How The Deer Got Its Horns". Why yes, I had read the Just So Stories, why do you ask?

The story in itself is the usual eight-year-old fare, uncomplicated and silly, but the comment at the bottom from Mr. Ellinton is priceless in light of my recent struggles with Charitable Getting.

Apparently description is not a new issue for me. (Also, scope my preadolescent artwork. LULZ.)