Was feeling pretty lousy; I e-mailed work at 6:30 to excuse myself and got up about half an hour ago. John made chicken soup. John is awesome.

And then he brought me news.

Backing up a bit.

There's this setting called Deadlands. It's an alternate history that diverges from the real world on the day the Battle of Gettysburg was called on account of zombies, a Lovecraftian steampunk wild Weird West. I am very fond of this.

I am presuming that the noir genre needs no explanation.

So the news that "Hey, Pegasus Games is trying to fund their next setting through Kickstarter. Deadlands Noir."? That vastly improved my day. I mean, I still feel sick, but I'm happy.

(I just realized who the guy in the picture is eeeeek.)

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

Mail took 35 minutes to sort today. Not open, date-stamp, or check. Just to sort.

It also arrived at the office at 3:18 p.m. I leave at 4:00.

Tomorrow morning will be interesting, I am sure. On the other hand, if I get in early, I can play music while I work for a bit. (I can, in fact, put a few songs on infinite repeat for a bit, and no-one shall deny me, mua-ha. All shall tremble before my tyranny.)

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

It's being a very tense morning. Mondays are always a heavy mail day, you see; I scramble, but I count myself lucky if I meet the 2 p.m. deadline. Those are Mondays when the mail comes in at 10.

It is currently quarter past noon. There is no mail.

I feel I am handling this sensibly: it is lunchtime, so I am calmly having lunch, and watching the season 2 finale of The Wire on YouTube. It is amazing how much good this is doing for my mood. It's not a happy show, it's in many ways a very eloquently angry show, but it's so damn good that just being reminded it's there can be a boost.

Seriously. Best show on TV.

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

I made lunch!

It started with this, and then got heavily modified due to the fact that a pre-cooked pork roast was way too much, I couldn't find apple cider and used apple juice instead (simmered it down a tiny bit first), and I thought we'd be much more likely to use up red wine than red wine vinegar (I checked, and the substitution is apparently fine).

So I got a two-and-change pound boneless center loin cut, put cloves in it, and cooked it (put it in the oven for seven minutes at 450'F, then turned it down to 300'F) on an improvised roasting rack made of tinfoil coils. Made up the sauce and put it on the pork as soon as it was ready, and then basted at ten-minutes-and-change intervals. I would have liked to let the sauce/juices cook down a bit more, and the cherries plump up a little more, but it was getting really late.

Changes for next time: smaller roasting pan, just so the cherries get a deeper pool of juice to soak in. Find apple cider. And I think that's it.

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

Small things are cute. I started browsing, and... eh, you know how it goes.

( Includes rodents and snakes. )

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

Have hit the point where I pull out a form, put the stamp over it with my right hand, press it down with my left, move the stamp off the form with my right, and proceed.

Because I cannot do the pressing motion anymore with my right hand. My upper arm hurts if I do, elbow to halfway-to-shoulder.

But the mail is going out on time, dammit.

(expect minimal typing for a bit)

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

Why do you own the books you do? I mean, why did you buy them instead of take them out of the library; why did you keep them instead of reselling or trading or giving them away?

What makes them worth it?

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

...and by "this", I mean "me". Just got in from the late showing of The Avengers. We were going to the earlier one, but it was sold out, so we all went for dinner and hung out for a bit. And now are home.

Some quick notes, not spoilery:
(1) Much love for Banner. More the more I think about it, actually. I... really bought him. Been there, know that guy.
(2) Heee, the lines.
(3) Liked Loki and Thor much better than in the Thor movie.

But yes. And aside from that, something happened on the way to the movie:

I ran into a friend.

This hasn't happened in... years?

I mean, I see people, sure. But I don't meet them by chance--and no, I don't count meeting a knitting friend that I know from knitting at the knitting store where we both go a fair bit as meeting by chance. Meeting the knitting friend that I know from knitting because she is headed one way after dinner and I am headed the other for a movie and our paths happened to cross? That is meeting by chance.

Nice feeling.

Right. Sleep in order.

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

Two organization names that I ran into at work that keep amusing me:

• Nine Circles Community Health Centre
• Bob's Cool Air

It's the little things, really. (There's also a town called Burnt Church, and a street called Burning Glass Road.)

Everyone is very nice, by the way, which is good because I am a bit frayed. Tiny bit.

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

...I only very very very rarely say this, but I think there will be a little break from book acquisitions for a while.

There are a couple of exceptions. First, I've already spoken to the best beloved local independant bookstore, and they are holding a copy of The Weird for me.

Second! Innsmouth Press is coming out with its Fungi anthology this autumn (oh lord, when day next dawns it will be May, where is the time going?). The table of contents is up, and they're still looking for examples of fiction-with-fungi for their database. It's their first anthology in both paperback and hardcover, too, and I'm actually really glad for them. (Also, you could do worse than check out their other books!)

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)