I'm feeling eversoslightly blue tonight. I've just realized that the stupid damn novel I've spent like a year and a half working on wants to be a trilogy. And nobody but nobody sells a trilogy as her first novel. You just don't.
So I have to put it aside and work on something else. WHich is okay. I need something less ambitious anyway. I could never polish this one into publishable format, not as invested as I am in it-- I have known for a while that I'd have to work up something else.
But oh my God, why the hell does it have to be a trilogy? *weeps* It's like getting accidentally pregnant, deciding to roll with it, and then finding out it's goddamned triplets or something. Jesus. Give me a break here.
So anyhow. I'm changing my journal music and putting up a blues song, just for now. The Susan Tedeschi Band, from the album Better Days: "Hound Dog", most famously done by Elvis.
I was going to put another of her songs up on Gather but after three attempts I'm giving up-- every time, Gather would sit there turning over for a while and then give me the blank Upload screen again, with no number and no confirmation email, so I guess it's not taking new submissions! Oh well.
I have an etiquette question, or a fashion question, or something. (e:zobar) is in a wedding next month. It's an afternoon wedding, and then there's a fancy reception in the evening. (The reception's at 6:30, so, the dinner hour I suppose.)
What the hell do I wear?
And where in Buffalo do I find such a whatever to wear?
Do I need an evening gown?
Where does a girl go to find an evening gown in Buffalo?
Particularly if said girl is an awkward not-fat-not-skinny size? (I am a size 12/14 but have a 34F bust, which means NOTHING FITS and God preserve me from high-necked fashions.)
And do I need a different outfit for the wedding, since the wedding itself is not an evening affair? (One of Z's buddies got married last year or so and everyone showed up to the reception in a different gown than they'd worn to the church! My head about exploded. I didn't know such a thing was possible.)
Dragonlady7's Journal
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05/20/2006 23:25 #21999
blues05/19/2006 10:36 #21998
holidays. bah.The single number one issue I have that makes my job unendurable is that I will never ever ever have a holiday off. Any kind of holiday. If there is a day that other people want off, I will not have it off. Day off requests are granted by seniority. I do not have seniority.
My parents have a long weekend at Memorial Day and are coming out to visit me. They have not visited me since July last year. I have not seen them at all since February this year. Ours is a close family, but we never get to see one another. It is more than a little sad.
So my folks are making the 300 mile drive to come see me. I put in as soon as I knew this, and requested off that weekend.
I finally heard back yesterday. I can have the Saturday off, but not the Sunday. Someone more senior to me is also being denied that Sunday off, because we just don't have enough staff to cover it.
The scheduler knows that I rarely request days off and still more rarely actually get them, and so when I do, it's because I really need them. But still.
So. My parents will be here Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. I will be at work on Sunday from 11:30 until, well, maybe 2pm if it's dead, maybe 8 pm if it's busy, and there isn't any way of knowing. It depends on the whim of a manager.
So where should I send my folks during that time? I thought of having (e:zobar) take them on some kind of day trip out of town, but then I thought: what if they let me go after just two hours? And I come home, and they're off somewhere, so I end up bumming around alone?
I thought of a few things-- Niagara Falls, the Zoo, a ballgame if there's one going on-- but I'm open to suggestions. (Last time my folks came to town they caught the Naval Museum downtown-- the big ships in the water, which was a big hit with my historian parents-- and the Albright-Knox, which was a hit with my former-museum-curator mother.)
Anyone else have suggestions? My folks like outdoorsy stuff, history stuff, Mom likes baseball, both like architecture and art. They've both been to Niagara Falls in their lives but I don't know how recently. They'll have a car, and (e:zobar) to be their guide. And I may want to join them in the middle, but may not.
My parents have a long weekend at Memorial Day and are coming out to visit me. They have not visited me since July last year. I have not seen them at all since February this year. Ours is a close family, but we never get to see one another. It is more than a little sad.
So my folks are making the 300 mile drive to come see me. I put in as soon as I knew this, and requested off that weekend.
I finally heard back yesterday. I can have the Saturday off, but not the Sunday. Someone more senior to me is also being denied that Sunday off, because we just don't have enough staff to cover it.
The scheduler knows that I rarely request days off and still more rarely actually get them, and so when I do, it's because I really need them. But still.
So. My parents will be here Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. I will be at work on Sunday from 11:30 until, well, maybe 2pm if it's dead, maybe 8 pm if it's busy, and there isn't any way of knowing. It depends on the whim of a manager.
So where should I send my folks during that time? I thought of having (e:zobar) take them on some kind of day trip out of town, but then I thought: what if they let me go after just two hours? And I come home, and they're off somewhere, so I end up bumming around alone?
I thought of a few things-- Niagara Falls, the Zoo, a ballgame if there's one going on-- but I'm open to suggestions. (Last time my folks came to town they caught the Naval Museum downtown-- the big ships in the water, which was a big hit with my historian parents-- and the Albright-Knox, which was a hit with my former-museum-curator mother.)
Anyone else have suggestions? My folks like outdoorsy stuff, history stuff, Mom likes baseball, both like architecture and art. They've both been to Niagara Falls in their lives but I don't know how recently. They'll have a car, and (e:zobar) to be their guide. And I may want to join them in the middle, but may not.
leetee - 05/23/06 17:50
If you're still looking, i saw a brochure today and i thought about your dilema with your parents being in town. Do they like cars? 'Cause there's always the Peirce-Arrow Museum... www.peirce-arrow.com
There's also always touring Frank Lyod Wright homes, if they are into Craftsman architechure. The Martin house isn't too far from the zoo, and i think they have a deal with Greycliff, which isn't too far away. I think you have to make reservations, though. Here's their site. :::link:::
Hope some of that helps! :O)
If you're still looking, i saw a brochure today and i thought about your dilema with your parents being in town. Do they like cars? 'Cause there's always the Peirce-Arrow Museum... www.peirce-arrow.com
There's also always touring Frank Lyod Wright homes, if they are into Craftsman architechure. The Martin house isn't too far from the zoo, and i think they have a deal with Greycliff, which isn't too far away. I think you have to make reservations, though. Here's their site. :::link:::
Hope some of that helps! :O)
metalpeter - 05/19/06 19:24
Not sure if there are any walking tours for when they are in town but if there are they might like that. If they like Community art they could drive all over to See the guitars of hope and that would take them a lot of places. NF is always fun if it is hot they can go on the maid of the mist plus there may be new things since the last time they went there. I don't know where they are but If they like art there are a bunch of differant galleries around.
Not sure if there are any walking tours for when they are in town but if there are they might like that. If they like Community art they could drive all over to See the guitars of hope and that would take them a lot of places. NF is always fun if it is hot they can go on the maid of the mist plus there may be new things since the last time they went there. I don't know where they are but If they like art there are a bunch of differant galleries around.
jenks - 05/19/06 14:06
have they been to the history museum right up from the albright knox? I haven't, but have been meaning to..
have they been to the history museum right up from the albright knox? I haven't, but have been meaning to..
05/15/2006 15:47 #21997
less grumpyAhh. Brief nap, chill-out session, rereading a story I like, and I feel better. It's raining now, which makes me happy-- it's a soft rain, and I just planted a bunch of plants-- all my peppers are out now, and the few zinneas I got to sprout, and if it weren't raining I'd worry about them wilting. Especially a couple of the peppers-- I should have separated them. I put four seeds in each big container, and they've been in there twelve weeks now. Several of them, only one or two of the seeds sprouted, and those were fine, but in a couple of them, all four came up, and I should have separated the survivors. Today they were an indistinguishable tangle of roots, and a couple of the plants may not survive having been separated. The tomatoes fared better, but then, it took them a shorter time to get this tall. (I started the peppers a couple of weeks before the tomatoes.)
I have writing to do but I am very tired, for some reason, and feel quite daunted by the prospect of the task.
But. New journal music, slightly mournful but upbeat: Billy Bragg, "A New England".
I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
I'm just looking for another girl
goes the chorus, and I kind of empathise. There are so many things I object to so strongly in what is going on in the world today, things that are being done in our names without the slightest respect for our wishes. But I can't make my brain operate on that scale. I can barely cope with the individual-scaled issues that confront me; how can I even begin to grapple with the humankind-scaled issues?
Not to be overly serious. My favorite line of the song is this one:
I saw two shooting stars last night
I wished on them, but they were only sattelites
Is it wrong to wish on space hardware?
I wish, I wish, I wish you cared.
If you want a copy yourself, (e:zobar) taught me to use Gather this morning.
I love Billy Bragg's aesthetic. This is one of his solo songs, just him and an electric guitar. I was going to upload one of the ones he did with Wilco, but this one was easier to get. (The other one was in AAC format.) And this one's more apt to my mood.
Ah, yes. The number.
Gather #: 0720492001147722419
I have writing to do but I am very tired, for some reason, and feel quite daunted by the prospect of the task.
But. New journal music, slightly mournful but upbeat: Billy Bragg, "A New England".
I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
I'm just looking for another girl
goes the chorus, and I kind of empathise. There are so many things I object to so strongly in what is going on in the world today, things that are being done in our names without the slightest respect for our wishes. But I can't make my brain operate on that scale. I can barely cope with the individual-scaled issues that confront me; how can I even begin to grapple with the humankind-scaled issues?
Not to be overly serious. My favorite line of the song is this one:
I saw two shooting stars last night
I wished on them, but they were only sattelites
Is it wrong to wish on space hardware?
I wish, I wish, I wish you cared.
If you want a copy yourself, (e:zobar) taught me to use Gather this morning.
I love Billy Bragg's aesthetic. This is one of his solo songs, just him and an electric guitar. I was going to upload one of the ones he did with Wilco, but this one was easier to get. (The other one was in AAC format.) And this one's more apt to my mood.
Ah, yes. The number.
Gather #: 0720492001147722419
jenks - 05/15/06 20:02
Wow... that totally brings back memories, but I have no idea of what. Weird. I can sing along, know most of the words, but have no idea why. Was it in a movie? The title/artist didn't ring a bell, but the lyrics did and when I played it it came right back. I love stuff like that. :) thanks.
Wow... that totally brings back memories, but I have no idea of what. Weird. I can sing along, know most of the words, but have no idea why. Was it in a movie? The title/artist didn't ring a bell, but the lyrics did and when I played it it came right back. I love stuff like that. :) thanks.
leetee - 05/15/06 19:55
New England is a great song. i can't hear user songs here (i dunno why... or at least i can't remember, uncut knows, prolly something to do with us using linux), so i snagged it from your gather. thanks! :O)
New England is a great song. i can't hear user songs here (i dunno why... or at least i can't remember, uncut knows, prolly something to do with us using linux), so i snagged it from your gather. thanks! :O)
dragonlady7 - 05/15/06 16:09
Oh good! I'm glad I could help. :)
I think I got it off Audiogalaxy, to be honest-- but those were the days of everybody-on-high-speed, pre-RIAA-suing-us. Oh how I miss Audiogalaxy.
Oh good! I'm glad I could help. :)
I think I got it off Audiogalaxy, to be honest-- but those were the days of everybody-on-high-speed, pre-RIAA-suing-us. Oh how I miss Audiogalaxy.
paul - 05/15/06 16:03
I love that song. I never had the ending as it was one of the songs I downloaded during the less dependable days of dialup file sharing.
I love that song. I never had the ending as it was one of the songs I downloaded during the less dependable days of dialup file sharing.
05/15/2006 11:43 #21996
GrowlI have been waiting for two weeks now to get my next restaurant review set up. At this point, I have to do it today. It's due tomorrow.
Apparently the person at the restaurant who would approve such a thing is on an indefinite vacation. These people are so disinterested in whether they get a review that they've just kept putting us off until: you guessed it. I can't write a review this week.
Which means that a) the paper has a blank space, b) I'm off my schedule and now no longer will be published in the same issues as Z's biweekly column, and c) I'm sitting around on my ass having blocked out the time to go to the damn place today and now have a space of my own to fill.
Am I really feeling like writing them a good review?
"N, while a great place to eat, are inconsiderate and disinterested fucks who don't care about publicity and can't take care of a simple business matter in a reasonable fashion."
Rrgh. I know I'll get over it, and write a positive review, because I have no choice really, but come the fuck on. Free publicity isn't even worth being courteous and professional about?
It makes me wish I had even the slightest say in where I get to review.
Apparently the person at the restaurant who would approve such a thing is on an indefinite vacation. These people are so disinterested in whether they get a review that they've just kept putting us off until: you guessed it. I can't write a review this week.
Which means that a) the paper has a blank space, b) I'm off my schedule and now no longer will be published in the same issues as Z's biweekly column, and c) I'm sitting around on my ass having blocked out the time to go to the damn place today and now have a space of my own to fill.
Am I really feeling like writing them a good review?
"N, while a great place to eat, are inconsiderate and disinterested fucks who don't care about publicity and can't take care of a simple business matter in a reasonable fashion."
Rrgh. I know I'll get over it, and write a positive review, because I have no choice really, but come the fuck on. Free publicity isn't even worth being courteous and professional about?
It makes me wish I had even the slightest say in where I get to review.
05/14/2006 11:15 #21995
photosI'm blogging the trip to the Finger Lakes on Livejournal but only briefly (mostly, as is my specialty, I'm rambling about other things)-- (e:zobar) wrote about it thoroughly enough here. (e:zobar,50)
But I'm posting the photos here, because I am determined to learn how to do so. Here we go!
Crap, 100k limit? That's tiny! Well, I'll try again.
Captions below images.
Bully Hill vineyards, with Z in foreground, a bit windswept.
A decorative railing at Bully Hill, made of railroad ties and other metal.
The entrance to Watkins Glen's hike of the waterfalls.
Inside the Glen, a view of the walkway along the waterfalls.
Along the glen, a staircase on the trail, leading back down to the glen.
At the suspension bridge over the glen, Z helpfully alters the sign.
I took this picture for my baby sister, who is fascinated by mosses. (She is studying natural resources but really wants to specialize in plants, specifically mosses. I am not making this up.)
A red eft. My friend Abbie and I used to hunt these all summer, and she kept some in a terrarium. They are cute and very dumb.
A view along the glen.
The trail crosses under the cascade here. It freaked me right out.
Scenery, from the moving car: I think this is Keuka Lake. It's goddamned gorgeous.
But I'm posting the photos here, because I am determined to learn how to do so. Here we go!
Crap, 100k limit? That's tiny! Well, I'll try again.
Captions below images.
Bully Hill vineyards, with Z in foreground, a bit windswept.
A decorative railing at Bully Hill, made of railroad ties and other metal.
The entrance to Watkins Glen's hike of the waterfalls.
Inside the Glen, a view of the walkway along the waterfalls.
Along the glen, a staircase on the trail, leading back down to the glen.
At the suspension bridge over the glen, Z helpfully alters the sign.
I took this picture for my baby sister, who is fascinated by mosses. (She is studying natural resources but really wants to specialize in plants, specifically mosses. I am not making this up.)
A red eft. My friend Abbie and I used to hunt these all summer, and she kept some in a terrarium. They are cute and very dumb.
A view along the glen.
The trail crosses under the cascade here. It freaked me right out.
Scenery, from the moving car: I think this is Keuka Lake. It's goddamned gorgeous.
dragonlady7 - 05/15/06 11:47
metalpeter-- thanks. :) I had fun taking them.
theecarey-- yes, it's gorgeous down there. I hope to get back down there more frequently-- it's closer than i realized, and this summer both my little sisters will be down there.
paul-- the limit makes perfect sense for the format. I'm used to places where it shows little thumbnails in the body of the blog and then you click for a larger view, so 400px wide is smaller than I'm used to making my main pictures. Of course it's a perfectly sensible solution for a blogging site like this. I have yet to find a good place to host my photos; this isn't a photohosting solution, of course.
I wouldn't want to embed images any larger into the body of a post-- I'm just used to a different format, where it wouldn't be set up like that, and so the images could be larger.
metalpeter-- thanks. :) I had fun taking them.
theecarey-- yes, it's gorgeous down there. I hope to get back down there more frequently-- it's closer than i realized, and this summer both my little sisters will be down there.
paul-- the limit makes perfect sense for the format. I'm used to places where it shows little thumbnails in the body of the blog and then you click for a larger view, so 400px wide is smaller than I'm used to making my main pictures. Of course it's a perfectly sensible solution for a blogging site like this. I have yet to find a good place to host my photos; this isn't a photohosting solution, of course.
I wouldn't want to embed images any larger into the body of a post-- I'm just used to a different format, where it wouldn't be set up like that, and so the images could be larger.
theecarey - 05/14/06 21:21
Camping, hiking, fresh air (and a few wild creatures)--I love that area, especially in the fall.
Camping, hiking, fresh air (and a few wild creatures)--I love that area, especially in the fall.
paul - 05/14/06 12:38
The limit should be 150k. I could change the limit now that I can afford more space but I imposed it because there is no reason for a 400px wide image to be above 100k even at very high jpeg quality levels.
Beyond storage space costs, Keeping it low makes viewing journals more manageable for people with slower connections.
The limit should be 150k. I could change the limit now that I can afford more space but I imposed it because there is no reason for a 400px wide image to be above 100k even at very high jpeg quality levels.
Beyond storage space costs, Keeping it low makes viewing journals more manageable for people with slower connections.
metalpeter - 05/14/06 11:28
Verry nice pictures.
Verry nice pictures.
My advice for the afternoon/evening issue is a to maybe try to find a variation of the same outfit. Formal stuff comes in pieces these days, so find yourself a nice semi-fancy skirt and 2 different tops? One that's more casual than the other?
I'm really into goth formal wear, so don't mind this part of the advice if it is out to lunch.. but you might want to try Torrid. It's a fashion/goth chick place for chubby girls that used to be more Hot Topic type stuff. It's in the Galleria. They have a lot of trendy stuff these days, though, i think. Anyway, their sizes start at 12 or 14... so you might be able to find a nice skirt and a top that would fit better than the sized at department stores. Oh, and last time i was there, the clerk told me that they are having a clearance sale this week...
Where a summery dress to the wedding and find a formal dress/gown for the reception. If the reception was black tie it would surely state so on the invitation, even if it was optional.
For weddings I usually wear a suit and combo the shirt and tie with a change between wedding and reception (not to mention summer weddings are hot and sweaty, so it's nice for something fresh). I opt for something seasonal and understated for the ceremony and something fashion foward to showy for the reception.
Fortunately I have not had to buy a formal dress since coming to buffalo, so I can't really help there. But yeah that's tricky. I think I heard once that a wedding after 5 is by definition black tie. (but it didn't say on the invite... guess you're just supposed to know that.) But so does 430 count? Easier for you though since a dress can usually go either way... ok well that's totally not helpful is it. Well good luck!