po8crg

Because I'm driving to Westercon instead of flying, I can be more expansive in my packing and don't have to fit everything into one (or at most two) bags. That's both good and bad. The good part is not having to work so hard packing. The bad part is carrying way too much stuff. But I guess it's sort of good practice for Worldcon. I sprung for first class for the flight to Seattle, so I get two checked bags, and based on what I've been packing for Westercon, I think I'll need it. Mind you, I won't be taking an extra Banker's Box of Westercon gear with me to Seattle, which will help.

Tomorrow's plan is for me to get away from Fernley as early as possible. I typically am up around 3 or 3:30 AM on Thursdays anyway, so if I can make an early start, I should be able to get to the hotel and get moved in fairly early. I'm I'm lucky, I won't get tangled up in any of the commute-time traffic, save possibly the morning Sacramento commute. Wish me luck!

Current Mood: optimistic
Current Location: Fernley, Nevada

cosmolinguist

I could barely do the morning chores I usually feel neutral-to-positive about this morning -- I open the curtains, unload the dishwasher, make a pot of tea, get breakfast for myself... Things that are always the same and always different. It can be very grounding.

Today I wasn't especially tired and I wasn't in pain or anything, I just didn't want to. I couldn't imagine doing the first tiniest step.

This is a sign of burnout. I need a break. I was telling my counselor this evening that a break for me has to be somewhere away from my house, because my house is full of reminders of chores I need to do, things that get on my nerves, etc. I am not good at relaxing, but when I can do it it doesn't tend to happen at home.

I did an okay amount of work today but near the end of the day I was in this focus group about "inclusion" in our workplace. These things can be kinda therapeutic but by the end I was thinking that we keep having surveys and stuff like this, where we tell some nice external person all our woes and we're assured that the feedback is anonymized into themes that cannot identify us, but all that means is our specific nuanced articulations all get flattened in to "we all have good colleagues who care about their work but the executive team keep letting us down," and we're going to get the same kind of response from said executive team about how impressed they are at everyone's honesty and how committed they are to addressing these themes, and then we'll do this all over again in a year or two.

I felt really tired by the end of it, which wasn't great because it was almost time for my first counseling session in almost a month. A real "let me explain, no there is too much let me sum up" kind of situation.

My counseling happens on the phone and usually in my bedroom; I normally come right back downstairs in search of dinner, but this time I just lay on my bed for something ridiculous like an hour. I kept trying to get up and go back downstairs but again: so many steps. And it was relatively peaceful just lying there.

Since I had to come downstairs and try to eat dinner I'm feeling more depersonalization, so maybe all of this has been more stressful or triggery than I realized. I hate feeling like this; is probably the most uncomfortable symptom of my anxiety/depression.

kevin_standlee

Kuma Bear has announced his travel plans for this summer. He and his Girl are going to Europe again, once again with a two-month first-class Eurail pass. (Fortunately, Bear doesn't need a separate pass.) Last year's trip was badly disrupted at the start due to my utter misunderstanding of how to read AirBnB listings. This year, we started planning far enough in advance that we could get Lisa and Bear into the same extended-stay hotel (essentially a studio apartment) for the full two months. (While it did not actually come to it, what we did last year was multiple reservations end-to-end, with the possibility that she would have to move from one room to another, or move out for one day into a hotel and then come back the next day, or similar disruptions, and that made planning almost impossible.)

Lisa now knows the area better, and she will be able to base herself out of Munich, made a lot of day trips from there to visit a bunch of places she has lined up, and also make some multi-day excursions where she can travel more lightly while leaving much of her stuff in the "home base" in Munich. We have some of those trips lined up already, and hope to get the rest of them booked by the time she leaves for Europe. Some of those plans may have to wait until she's already there, though. Fortunately, having that Eurail pass gives her a fair bit of travel flexibility, as she's not generally tied to any specific train.

While Kayla and I are at Westercon, Lisa and Kuma will be packing for their trip. I'm scheduled to take her to the airport in Reno on the Wednesday after Westercon.

Current Mood: optimistic
Current Location: Fernley, Nevada

kevin_standlee

Kayla thought she had a meeting at 10 AM today, so off she went to breakfast and then did some errands. When she got home she discovered that that thanks to misreading a time (we're usually very good at this thanks to so many meetings we attend taking place in lots of different places online) the meeting was actually at 2 PM Pacific Time.

The issue here was that I had a $20 discount coupon from Jiffy Lube for air conditioning service, which the minivan needed, and it was good today only. The original plan was for Kayla to take her meeting and then I'd take the minivan to Sparks. Jiffy Lube is only open until 4 PM on Sunday, and an AC job takes a lot longer than an oil change, so if I was going to take advantage of this offer, it had to happen sooner, not later.

I got to JL and after confirming that the Astro has had its AC upgraded to the modern coolant (that we did years ago up in Oregon), they said they could do it, but that it would take a little while. I wish I'd know just how long it would have taken, because had I known, I might have tried to get some lunch. Instead, as I typically do when going to that JL, I ordered a coffee from Starbucks, which was ready (albeit under Kayla's name, but nobody ever checks) by the time I walked across the shopping center parking lot. For an oil change, they often are done by the time I get back, but an AC recharge involves purging the system (sucking out all the coolant), which turned out to be harder than usual, they said, because the coolant was sort of goopy. That's odd because I had the system completely repaired last year, but okay. Fortunately for me, I had a new issue of Trains to read.

I had assumed that some of the coolant had leaked out of the system, but they said that the biggest problem was that there was too much coolant in it, which was part of why it took so long to purge. They also were concerned that even after recharging, it wasn't putting out as much cool air on Max AC, but I reassured them that this older vehicle and older system doesn't work that well at slow engine speeds. I rarely turn on Max AC except at freeway speeds because it needs more power to run the compressor than works at slower speeds.

After stopping to grab a sandwich and soda, I set out on I-80 east for home, and to my relief (in multiple ways, as it was pretty hot out there), I got the level of of air conditioning I would expect from a properly functioning system.

I wanted to get this done before Westercon because it is a long drive (around 500 km each way) from Fernley to Santa Clara, and much of it will be in hot places including the Central Valley of California. Here's hoping that this recharge holds for a while.

Current Mood: relieved
Current Location: Fernley, Nevada

cosmolinguist

D and I spent the afternoon wandering around Sparkle, supporting local queer and trans creators by purchasing many stickers and suchlike for V and D's girlfriend who weren't able to make it, having ice cream, getting excited about the many good dogs we saw, and then going for cocktails and taking a photo of ourselves kissing.

kevin_standlee

Although I'm nominally the person coordinating Westercon 77's two official functions, I won't be around the convention that much. I'm doing the driving to Santa Clara on Thursday morning, but Kayla is in charge of Site Selection and at the moment, the plan is for her to drive us home on Monday. Martin Pyne is chairing the Westercon Business Meeting. Anyway, today I did my part by doing the printing of the site selection ballots and Westercon Business Meeting papers. It's appropriate that I was using the large printer that we bought for Westercon 74 because we had to be totally self-sufficient for our on-site printing, and that we also used to print the Program Book.

Lisa and I printed all of the program books, including collating and stapling them. It's hard to say whether that was cheaper than having it printed, but it did mean that we didn't have any wasted copies. Had we run out of program books on site, we could have printed more of them, and then post-con we printed what we needed to send publications to our non-attending members. We ran a huge part of that printer's service life off of it in a very short time, and, after consulting with the Westercon 77 treasurer, I personally bought the printer off of the convention at half what the convention paid for it, which seemed pretty reasonable to me.

Our printing needs for Westercon 77 in Santa Clara next weekend are much less than Tonopah's were, and the papers are now packed up with the stuff like the ballot box, cash box, and the Gavel of Westercon to take to BayCon/Westercon.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Fernley, Nevada

cosmolinguist

I didn't get as far as Sparkle on its first day today but I did go to the Village for a meal with a local disabled group (moat of whom are also queer/trans) which I'm adjacent to, with a friend who needed a PA.

(I was glad to learn that I can still queer this friend/PA binary; it used to make up my whole employment for like five years.)

I got to my friend's house before we went out. They had glitter on their face and offered me some. I love glitter but it was the kind of hot day where I started sweating as soon as I got out of the shower. After having to hustle over to their house, my face was so sweaty I told them not to bother putting it on my face because I'd just sweat it off. Of course I had a sleeveless t-shirt on (the one D bought me at last year's Sparkle!) so they offered to put it on my shoulders. Pretty soon both my upper arms were covered in pink, purple and blue glitter, it was great.

When I got home, D saw me and pointed this out of course (as well as my "painted for the first time in five years" fingernails (chrome with rainbow sparkles over them).

I said it'd be the perfect time to flex my biceps, now that they're extra gay.

"Guy-ceps!" he said. "Guy for guy-ceps."

kevin_standlee

I had my hair trimmed today, and decided that they gray dye job I had last time did not look good, but that solid black is not good either, so they tried a darker brown-black this time.

( Dye Job )

I still keep thinking about what it would take to restore all of the hair up top. Even if the HSA will cover it, I think I need to try and build up the account from all that I spent on the hernia surgery and the laser facial treatment.

Current Mood: satisfied
Current Location: Fernley, Nevada

cosmolinguist

I have to write a bio to advertise a keynote speech I've agreed to deliver later in the summer.

I'm finding that coming up with more than one sentence to describe myself/my job is probably a lot harder than the speech will be itself!

marthawells

For Murderbot Day, a great interview with DeWanda Wise, about playing NavigationBot in The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon:

https://www.nexuspointnews.com/post/interview-dewanda-wise

I had worked with Paul on Fatherhood. He literally texted me and was like, "do you want to play a murderous robot?"

kevin_standlee

One week from today, I (and/or Kayla) will be in Santa Clara moving in to the hotel for Westercon/BayCon. Mostly Kayla, to be honest, but someone with the credit cards and ID will have to check us into the hotel.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Fernley, Nevada

cosmolinguist

I refuse to talk about work again, and nothing else happens to me lately, but luckily here is a giant meme from used_songs:

( 80 questions! )

kevin_standlee

Lisa and I went to Reno today for several errands that were of increasing urgency, as time is running short. While Lisa is not going to Westercon, she will be leaving on a trip for two months for which she leaves on the Wednesday after I get back from Westercon/Baycon on Monday the 7th. I hope we don't have to make any more Reno trips and that the next time I see Reno it will be on the morning of July 3 as I'm driving to Santa Clara.

We did get the things for which we were seeking: a new band for Lisa's watch (the old band broke), some additional socks for both of us as many of our socks were worn out, and a bit of material for Lisa to repair something. Fortunately, there is a good independent fabric store (Mill End Fabrics) that is not going the way of Jo-Ann or other fabric store chains.

Current Mood: accomplished

marthawells

Great interview with Murderbot executive producer Andrew Miano:

https://www.nexuspointnews.com/post/interview-murderbot-ep-andrew-miano

First and foremost, my partner Paul Weitz read the book for pleasure, not with any eye towards adaptation, and came in with it and said, "this would make an amazing TV show." We all read it and really sparked to it and thought it was unique and special and funny, which is not something that you always get in a lot of sci-fi. [It is] also very meaningful and emotional. It was the whole package so it was very exciting and we went about it. We met Martha... One of the biggest things to focus on is how do you honor the book? How do you translate that to the screen? It's not easy, but I'm very fortunate to have Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz — two smart, talented partners — creating and running the show with their guidance and Martha's support and involvement to sort of capture and stay true to the books.

cosmolinguist

D and I both are encouraged by the healthcare system to take our blood pressure more regularly and/or without the white-coat syndrome (that one's me, though it's not "I'm stressed to be at the doctor's office" so much as "I'm stressed about the anti-fatness I must tolerate imminently in order to sometimes get the healthcare I need").

We had to measure our upper arms today in order to make sure the machine we're ordering has a cuff big enough.

And it turns out they are the same circumference! To the centimeter. How romantic!

cosmolinguist

I read about this NatGeo documentary about Sally Ride last week and D and I watched the first half or so tonight (before I got too sleepy).

I remember being floored by a photo of Sally Ride in space, in the shuttle, that I saw in my social studies textbook in I wanna say third or fourth grade. American women could go to space. I think I was probably just about grown out of my desire to be an astronaut by this point (I'd seriously considered it until I decided my mom would worry too much about me so it wasn't a good idea...seeing how much she still worries about me, this seems very astute (the fact that I can't see did not occur to me as a dealbreaker until I was much older, by the way)) but I was fantastically interested in astronauts and the space shuttle (I had a toy version, complete with the truck to slot it on to for the drive across the country), the Voyagers still encountering planets at the time, and all that.

Reading about and especially watching the documentary now, I'm struck by how familiar parts of her story are. Never showed her emotions? Had parents who never modeled how to? (In a way that's referred to as "Norwegian"?!) This shit could literally be taken from my counseling sessions, heh.

This person as remote as the space she traveled to still feels as close as I was to that social studies textbook in elementary school.

kevin_standlee

If you had told me that I would need to wear a jacket on the first full day of summer here in northern Nevada, I would have told you that you had gone crazy. But while most of the USA is suffering under an extreme heat wave, the big low-pressure system pushing that heat dome is coming through my part of the country and it's quite cool. After peaking at 35°C a couple of days ago, today's forecast high is a mere 18°, and it was about 9° at sunrise this morning when I walked to the Wigwam and huddled over my coffee, using it to put feeling back into my fingers.

Not that I'm complaining! Not at all. Lisa and I have errands in Reno today, and I will be happy to not swelter in the typical summer heat as we go about our business planning for our respective summer travel plans coming up in the next few weeks.

Current Mood: cold
Current Location: Fernley, Nevada

kevin_standlee

From our years of living here, we know what the northern and southern points at which the sun rises over Fernley as seen from out front porch.

( Sunrise over the Asphalt Plant )

Not exactly scenic, but I'm happy to see the longest day of the year and the start of the sun's retreat to the south.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Fernley, Nevada

cosmolinguist

Happy Nystagmus Awareness Day. I wrote a kind of FAQ about nystagmus a while ago.

I had to explain the basics of what nystagmus is to the assessor who did my PIP assessment the other day. (They used to at least tell you they were a physio or a nurse or whatever, now they don't even bother letting on how unqualified they are to be assessing your particular condition.)

Oh speaking of, I got a phone call today, from an 800 number I'd been ignoring for a few days because it never left a message or anything. I mostly answered it by accident today. And it turned out to be from Maximus or whichever shitty entity the DWP have outsourced their assessments to in my region, saying they need more information from me so now I have to talk to them on the phone on Monday! Ugh. I've never had this happen before.

Got a text this morning saying that I need to book a blood test before I get more meds too. Ugh! More needles and more lectures about being fat. Not a fun day for admin relating to having a body!

kevin_standlee

I was up about 3:15 this morning, and Day Jobbe stuff (split between Kayla and me, but it tires us out no matter who does the work meant I was working until 8 PM tonight. There was a break when Kayla went to get dinner, but it was still a long day, and so sleeping tonight shouldn't be difficult. And fortunately, I don't have to be up on Friday until 4:30 AM, which counts as "sleeping in"

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Location: Fernley, Nevada

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po8crg

February 2021

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Page generated Jul. 3rd, 2025 10:37 am

Reading

Packing for Westercon

I'm tense and nervous and I can't relax

Traveling Bear

Timezoned... And Recharging the Astro's AC

Sparkly day

Westercon Printing

Biceps for guys

Cut and Dyed

I'd rather be the one giving the speech than the paragraph in the brochure about it

Interview with DeWanda Wise

One Week to Go

Here's some nonsense

Errands

New Interview

Matchy-matchyy

(no subject)

Not Complaining

Solstice Sunrise

Bodies!

No Trouble Sleeping Tonight, I Think

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February 2021

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