The Dangerous Existence of Madame Lee

This morning, I rolled out of bed, went to go get my every-other-weekly pedicure (because my feet get nasty without much provocation and I'd rather pay someone for them than do it myself), and found that it was much colder in the house than outside. My toenails are relatively subtle this time, if one can consider fluorescent pink to ever be subtle. (We're moving into sandal weather, so I have to look normal for a while. I don't favor shy and muted colors.)

Then I went to go get my ears pierced. (This is going to be the last hole in my lobes; I'm going to gradually move on to other stuff after this.) This is my third lobe piercing (for both ears), so I know the drill by now; the pain wasn't as bad as when they try to draw blood at the doctor's office, but now we've moved on to the HOLY SHIT MY EARS ARE ITCHY AND THERE ISN'T ANYTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT stage.

And THEN I went to the library downtown, where they were having a small book sale, and since I cannot help myself if I see books, I immediately relieved them of a stack from the history and biography sections and they relieved me of $13. I got A Delusion of Satan (about the Salem Witch Trials), which I'd only been wanting forever, and Chrysanthemums and Thorns (which I seem to recall duokinneas read a while back but that was about 5 years ago so I don't even know). I got other stuff, but that's what springs immediately to mind.

Anticlimactically, I then came home and made dinner. We had smoked turkey sausage on the grill pan (I'd wanted to grill outside, but the sky kept making noises like it was going to rain), cheesy biscuits, and coleslaw. The coleslaw was a little on the Cajun side, so I halved the cayenne pepper to avoid cruelty to lolmom, whose delicate system cannot tolerate the spicy food.

Lolmom has finally had the porch roof fixed, after lo these many years; one of the parishioners at her church is in construction and does roofing, and they're friendly, so when he hit a slow patch, they came over earlier this week to fix the roof. No more need we worry about it caving in and killing the next person who steps foot on the roof! Lolmom is very excited about this, as it means that once the porch is hosed off, she can go outside and enjoy the weather. She's especially looking forward to this on Mother's Day (for the British and Australians on the flist, our Mother's Day is in May), when X-chan will come up again to help her clean out the garage and we'll have tea for dinner. (I told lolmom I could either spend the day in the garage or the kitchen and to pick what she wanted. She chose the kitchen. I have no idea what the tea menu is going to be, aside from turkey and avocado sandwiches.)

I am looking at the beginnings of a draft and I have given one of the main characters a tail and I do not for the life of me remember why this is. I assume it will be important at some point.

Also: arisha, I owe you a response to your lengthy comment on Troy, Achilles' character arc, &c. Will get to that but probably not tonight; still have things to do that aren't done. (Go me.)

I seem to be writing some Trojan War fanfic (again) because I am totally not reading the Iliad again at all why do you ask, and so I have this idea and I know where the story is ultimately going to wind up. Except the thing is that it does have to do with geography (which is why I usually have three maps of Bronze Age Greece and environs pulled up when I'm working on it), so I'm already at Argos, and you guys I haven't written Diomedes that much. (Actually, I think I've only written him once, and that was in "Reveille".) And I have to think about what he's like. I mean, I know the stories and all that, and I'm trying to gently but firmly put Phillip Parotti's brilliant "Diomedes at Aulis" (the first story from his equally brilliant The Greek Generals Talk) at the back of my mind so it can't get to me, and ARRRRRGH. This is really hard because the story is set at the very beginning of the war (actually, even before there really is a war) so I can't bounce him off anybody else from the story just yet. Except maybe his first wife, though I haven't given her a lot of thought and I don't know what she's like.

I mean, for crap's sake, I can write Achilles and Odysseus and Clytemnestra with my eyes shut. (Actually, I have to think about Clytemnestra because my version of Clytemnestra is a very manipulative person and my own idea of Cunning Machinations really puts the B into "subtle", but I can usually figure her out.) And it's not that I don't like Diomedes (shit, I like all the Greeks, except Palamedes. Oh, and the Lesser Ajax kind of had it coming); it's just that my characterization of him hasn't had to stand on its own yet. In "Reveille", I bounced him off Odysseus and that worked, but I can't do that here because he hasn't even met Odysseus yet, or anybody really.

And then on top of all that, the Hurt/Comfort Bunny bit me and now there's some goddamn fic set at Aulis parked on my hard drive.

I should just give it up and write Achilles/Patroclus for the rest of my "career". ARE YOU HAPPY jurhael~

TL;DR: I suck at writing, also expect some shitty Trojan War fic in the near future. This is guaranteed to delight only arisha, and possibly also Jo and duokinneas.

It rained today, thus ensuring that I did not have to water the plants again. VICTOLY. Also, the first green pepper of the season was ready to pick. Also also, we have eggplants and more tomatoes on the way, but I'm not sure if the eggplants are ready to pick yet and the tomatoes definitely are not. Speaking of tomatoes, I have been vigorously campaigning for GAZPACHO TIME but am undecided about which recipe to use; we made a green gazpacho last year (or the year before) which was very good, but Julia Child also has a recipe for a black bean gazpacho that I'd like to try, and the newest Cooking Light has a more traditional tomato-based gazpacho. HEY I SHOULD HAVE A POLL Y/N?

I finally got everything off the floor of my room, with the exception of stuff that needs to be there (like the fan, and also the shoe rack I've been meaning to put together for, oh, like, years). Hurrah! I now just need to clean under the bed and nightstand, and THEN I get to start in on drawers and closets and other shit. Yes, this is a very thorough cleaning. I am a poor housekeeper, I might add, partially because I view cleaning as "not of general interest" and partially because I was too depressed to give a shit about very much until fairly recently.

Got a very ebullient note from J, who is apparently happy to hear from me (which I did nothing to deserve). I'd certainly rather that than the alternative. Actually, speaking of exes, I have been kind of turning over relationship shit in my head, but have yet to formulate any coherent thoughts about that, so you may or may not be safe from those cerebellum-eroding thoughts in the future.

I have started working on Hittite Week, you'll be delighted to know. HITTITE WEEK: SMASH HIT OF 2011. Also, I would be honored if any of you would name your potential or actual rock bands "Hittite Week Has Been Indefinitely Delayed" or "Hittite Week Is Coming Soon" or something like that.

In theory, INDOT is going to close IN-62 next week. In practice, they had better not because I cannot get to work any other way and will drive through their blockades (lol j/k).

Also, I kind of want to write some shitty Trojan War fic now. THANK YOU arisha.

Ha ha! I spent the entire morning yesterday not working and still getting paid for it!

Well, actually, I foolishly volunteered to help out in the pharmacy, which requires a drug test, and today was the first day that a.) Karen in Personnel and I were both there and b.) there wasn't snow on the ground, so I was on the clock and I got paid to, basically, drive over, sit in the waiting room, drink water, and take the drug test (which, per the Lords of Low Prices, must be sent to a lab in Kansas to be properly cultured wtf). Also, I ran into Ainsley and Karie (of all people) in the waiting room, and I haven't seen then in a while, so there was some catching up. They seem to be doing okay.

Also, I have really fallen off the wagon in re: the matter of doing anything worthwhile, but hope to pick myself up and get back on. Seriously, I have scarcely read anything that wasn't somehow Oceania-related--not that I don't just love Oceania, because I do, but I need to read other things too. Please feel free to kick me.

Oh, and I am so totally going to try this. I love crème brûlée, and would make it at home once in a while if I had a torch, but there's never been any sense for me in spending the money to get a torch given that I'd probably use it once a year; much as I love it, crème brûlée is not in line with my preferred eating patterns. (Then again, neither is gobbling chocolate chips in front of the computer. LOL L33 IZ HYPOCRITE.) Now I don't have to have a torch. :D

Because I have also been negligent about updating my LJ and thus have not done this: a happy belated to queen_lily_rose and jadecat, who were a year older as of 9 January and 11 January respectively. Srry gaiz. :<

( Also, today I am on time )