Happy birthday, Karen
Mar. 23rd, 2003 11:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
carbonelWent to Karen's birthday party this evening. As warned, there were lots of daffodils. Five hundred of them, she said. I went home with a jam jar filled with daffodils, as did many other people.
There were three different types of cake, all from Cafe Latte: turtle, lingonberry, and lemon. Lest anyone worry (or think it's a straight line), the turtle cake was in fact turtle-free; it was a lovely dark chocolate cake with caramel and pecans on top. The lingonberry cake caused me some confusion because for some reason I thought it was the other cake, leading me to think that all my previous knowledge of lingonberries (particularly, that they were purplish in color) might be wrong. All was made clear when I found out that I'd been looking at the lemon cake, as well as the wrong side of the lingonberry cake, where in fact no lingonberries were visible, only the nut-coated frosting.
I had a few crumbs of the chocolate cake, and they were very good indeed. Also had some of the Muscat eiswein and the sauterne -- as Karen says, you have to choose your indulgences. Later, daedala (how do I turn that name into a link? I bet I need to download an LJ client) pointed out the ginger ice cream and fudge sauce she'd brought, and I had a bit of that, as well as a taste of Karen's homemade vanilla ice cream. I can tell when a diet is going properly because that little taste is enough, as it was for now.
Spent some time talking about television and the Winnipeg Folk Festival with Laurel, and about laser gyros with Eric, and various fannish things (including fandom as a toxic lifestyle, soon coming to a Minicon panel near you) with Geri and David C., and Buffy music videos with Martin. It was very odd to talk about songvids outside of a media fannish context; apparently he's only watched them on the Web via download. We compared titles, and I think I've only seen one of the ones he mentioned, and he hadn't seen any of the ones I suggested. It was a very pleasant party, and I was home in time to get this written before bed.
I slept late this morning, until 10:30; Sunday is the one day a week where I can sleep as late as I want, and the ongoing difficulty getting to sleep means that I'm chronically short on sleep. Lazed in bed and finished the fanfic story PFL sent me (yes, I want it for the slash multimedia zine I'm working on, not that I'd thought there was much chance of otherwise, since I've just about everything else she's written), and then finished Robert Sawyer's Golden Fleece.
I didn't like Golden Fleece anywhere near as well as Flashforward; too many rabbits pulled out of the hat for this book. Got to give him points for audacity, though; it's not every author who would have the nerve to have an AI tell the story in first person, and start the book out with the AI committing a murder. I've been reading Sawyer's books because he's one of the GoHs at this year's Minicon. I read some of the "teaser" pieces on his Web site, and I really want to read the book (don't remember the title) that has the alien paleontologist who wants to talk shop with the human paleontologist.
After I finally dragged myself out of bed, I watched a bunch of skating competitions that'd shown up on my TiVo. I'm not sure the season pass for skating was a good idea; I enjoy the competitions, but they're starting to blur together. In fact, despite the TiVo claiming that the Four Continents competition was a new one being shown for the first time, I'd already seen it. I was suspicious when one of the pairs fell on one jump in perfect synchronization, but I was sure when they showed a fill-in piece about how the Chinese, in order to get the ice properly white, put 150 gallons of milk in the water. (This was after they'd tried painting the ice, unfortunately with oil-based paint. Not a success.)
Yesterday I went running with Pat around Lake Nokomis, then went grocery shopping to prepare for company. Bought one of the premade trays each of veggies and fruit so I'd have something reasonably virtuous to munch on; also sushi and the usual bread and cheese and pickle. I had PFL and another friend over for a Pros bash. The other friend brought bean pesto (really good) and tahini spread (rather more pastelike than expected, but good flavor) to go with the veggies. We watched the episode of I Spy that PFL had structured her story around ("Lotus Eater"), and then the Pros episode "Discovered in a Graveyard." It's always a bit jarring to watch that episode; the director had a lot more fun with that one than most of the directors did. Lots of playing with odd camera angles and reflections through and past glass. And of course all the dream sequences. Then we went back to watching the episodes in order, now that they're available on DVD. For each episode, it's a fresh delight to see them clearly, even if the episode is one of the less-wonderful ones. But "In the Public Interest" and "Not a Very Civil Servant" are good relationship episodes. We had dinner at the Floating World restaurant. I had that mixed-raw-fish-and-sauce donburi; I should probably try some other things on the menu, but I was in the mood for that. Must remember to ask them to leave off the tomatoes next time, though.
I can't remember if I mentioned finishing reading The Prize in the Game. I enjoyed it, and it made a number of references in the earlier books come clearer for me, but I was disappointed that it ended when it did; for some reason I had assumed it would go until Maga's death. That's for the sequel, I suppose. That inspired me to reread The King's Peace and The King's Name, though I stopped halfway through the latter to work on the fanfic editing project I mentioned a while ago, and then to read Rob Sawyer books. I'll get back to it sooner or later.
I also finally finished my bathroom book, Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson. Long ago, I'd asked PNH to recommend something about the Civil War, and this was what he suggested. I'm sure I didn't retain as much about the battles and troop movements as I should, but I have a much better feel for the politics and people than I did before. Thanks, Patrick.
Current bathroom book is now The Art of Deception by Kevin Mitnick. In some ways, it's the perfect bathroom book, since it's individual case studies of (we are assured) imaginary people. The subject is social engineering -- how to get things done by fooling people, and (all too often) making them think you're doing them a favor instead of the other way around. I keep trying to play along: would I fall for this one, or would I be suspicious? Mostly, I think I'd be suspicious (but not all), but too often if I didn't fall for it, the next person the social engineer tried would. And there's usually a "next person" to try, alas. I remember someone playing those sorts of tricks on a coworker at Arthur Andersen; she only got suspicious later, when it was too late.
Current by-the-computer book is Georgiana by Marian Devon; I finished Jennie Kissed Me and am quite happy to have all the annoying people in that book out of my life.
There were three different types of cake, all from Cafe Latte: turtle, lingonberry, and lemon. Lest anyone worry (or think it's a straight line), the turtle cake was in fact turtle-free; it was a lovely dark chocolate cake with caramel and pecans on top. The lingonberry cake caused me some confusion because for some reason I thought it was the other cake, leading me to think that all my previous knowledge of lingonberries (particularly, that they were purplish in color) might be wrong. All was made clear when I found out that I'd been looking at the lemon cake, as well as the wrong side of the lingonberry cake, where in fact no lingonberries were visible, only the nut-coated frosting.
I had a few crumbs of the chocolate cake, and they were very good indeed. Also had some of the Muscat eiswein and the sauterne -- as Karen says, you have to choose your indulgences. Later, daedala (how do I turn that name into a link? I bet I need to download an LJ client) pointed out the ginger ice cream and fudge sauce she'd brought, and I had a bit of that, as well as a taste of Karen's homemade vanilla ice cream. I can tell when a diet is going properly because that little taste is enough, as it was for now.
Spent some time talking about television and the Winnipeg Folk Festival with Laurel, and about laser gyros with Eric, and various fannish things (including fandom as a toxic lifestyle, soon coming to a Minicon panel near you) with Geri and David C., and Buffy music videos with Martin. It was very odd to talk about songvids outside of a media fannish context; apparently he's only watched them on the Web via download. We compared titles, and I think I've only seen one of the ones he mentioned, and he hadn't seen any of the ones I suggested. It was a very pleasant party, and I was home in time to get this written before bed.
I slept late this morning, until 10:30; Sunday is the one day a week where I can sleep as late as I want, and the ongoing difficulty getting to sleep means that I'm chronically short on sleep. Lazed in bed and finished the fanfic story PFL sent me (yes, I want it for the slash multimedia zine I'm working on, not that I'd thought there was much chance of otherwise, since I've just about everything else she's written), and then finished Robert Sawyer's Golden Fleece.
I didn't like Golden Fleece anywhere near as well as Flashforward; too many rabbits pulled out of the hat for this book. Got to give him points for audacity, though; it's not every author who would have the nerve to have an AI tell the story in first person, and start the book out with the AI committing a murder. I've been reading Sawyer's books because he's one of the GoHs at this year's Minicon. I read some of the "teaser" pieces on his Web site, and I really want to read the book (don't remember the title) that has the alien paleontologist who wants to talk shop with the human paleontologist.
After I finally dragged myself out of bed, I watched a bunch of skating competitions that'd shown up on my TiVo. I'm not sure the season pass for skating was a good idea; I enjoy the competitions, but they're starting to blur together. In fact, despite the TiVo claiming that the Four Continents competition was a new one being shown for the first time, I'd already seen it. I was suspicious when one of the pairs fell on one jump in perfect synchronization, but I was sure when they showed a fill-in piece about how the Chinese, in order to get the ice properly white, put 150 gallons of milk in the water. (This was after they'd tried painting the ice, unfortunately with oil-based paint. Not a success.)
Yesterday I went running with Pat around Lake Nokomis, then went grocery shopping to prepare for company. Bought one of the premade trays each of veggies and fruit so I'd have something reasonably virtuous to munch on; also sushi and the usual bread and cheese and pickle. I had PFL and another friend over for a Pros bash. The other friend brought bean pesto (really good) and tahini spread (rather more pastelike than expected, but good flavor) to go with the veggies. We watched the episode of I Spy that PFL had structured her story around ("Lotus Eater"), and then the Pros episode "Discovered in a Graveyard." It's always a bit jarring to watch that episode; the director had a lot more fun with that one than most of the directors did. Lots of playing with odd camera angles and reflections through and past glass. And of course all the dream sequences. Then we went back to watching the episodes in order, now that they're available on DVD. For each episode, it's a fresh delight to see them clearly, even if the episode is one of the less-wonderful ones. But "In the Public Interest" and "Not a Very Civil Servant" are good relationship episodes. We had dinner at the Floating World restaurant. I had that mixed-raw-fish-and-sauce donburi; I should probably try some other things on the menu, but I was in the mood for that. Must remember to ask them to leave off the tomatoes next time, though.
I can't remember if I mentioned finishing reading The Prize in the Game. I enjoyed it, and it made a number of references in the earlier books come clearer for me, but I was disappointed that it ended when it did; for some reason I had assumed it would go until Maga's death. That's for the sequel, I suppose. That inspired me to reread The King's Peace and The King's Name, though I stopped halfway through the latter to work on the fanfic editing project I mentioned a while ago, and then to read Rob Sawyer books. I'll get back to it sooner or later.
I also finally finished my bathroom book, Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson. Long ago, I'd asked PNH to recommend something about the Civil War, and this was what he suggested. I'm sure I didn't retain as much about the battles and troop movements as I should, but I have a much better feel for the politics and people than I did before. Thanks, Patrick.
Current bathroom book is now The Art of Deception by Kevin Mitnick. In some ways, it's the perfect bathroom book, since it's individual case studies of (we are assured) imaginary people. The subject is social engineering -- how to get things done by fooling people, and (all too often) making them think you're doing them a favor instead of the other way around. I keep trying to play along: would I fall for this one, or would I be suspicious? Mostly, I think I'd be suspicious (but not all), but too often if I didn't fall for it, the next person the social engineer tried would. And there's usually a "next person" to try, alas. I remember someone playing those sorts of tricks on a coworker at Arthur Andersen; she only got suspicious later, when it was too late.
Current by-the-computer book is Georgiana by Marian Devon; I finished Jennie Kissed Me and am quite happy to have all the annoying people in that book out of my life.
