sundries

[rm]

Was there anyone who didn't have a crisis today?

I just repotted our peppers. There are flowers coming and going on the other tomato plants but no tomatoes. I need to get on that. They are young plants though, so they'll produce more if it waits anyway. I just wish it would stop raining.

I burst into tears today when Black Boys on Mopeds came on the LastFM. And since then? I've been biological clock central, despite the fact that me? so not having kids. Sometimes I have these moments where the other lives I've almost had are nearly assaultive in their proximity. That was today.

When I feel like this, I tend to sing walking down the street. I always did this as a child, largely because I was bored. The block between York and 1st is very long, and I knew what songs would get me home. No one sings to themselves on the street anymore, unless they are wearing headphones and have forgotten the existence of others. One of the things I love about living in Spanish Harlem is that people frequently stop to comment that they never hear anyone just singing on the street anymore, and that it's nice. I don't have a great voice, but I have a good voice, and even quiet, I know how to sell a song. I always like it, it's one of the only ways in which I ever feel like we realy beong up here.

When I write fiction -- original or not -- I write these wholes lives for people. It's a failing of my fiction in a way, because I never just tell a story or get to the point. Rarely, anyway. It's a big problem in the original fiction. I act these characters, breathe life into them, more than I TELL A DAMN STORY. This is frustrating to me as a writer, and also a strange think to live with that I do not know how to describe.

Dinner is on. BBQ chicken.

Patty has revamped our office again and it's AMAZING.

I keep thinking about that Iranian boy I was friends with in 1978 and wondering where he is and worrying about him now. Our apartment building was evacuated once because we got bomb threats because they were there. That was later, during the hostage crisis.

Circling back -- I've got a lot of writing I need to do. Things I've been asked to submit, things I've been encouraged to submit and things I should just submit.

While it was never the intent at all, I've taken to calling my pinstripe suit which will probably arrive in time for the CoE parties my Ianto Jones Memorial Pinstripe Suit. And no, I will not be wearing it ot any CoE parties because I do not want someone thinking it's clever taking a picture of me in it while I"m bawling my eyes out at the TV.

Speaking of suits, I love three piece suits, but they don't quite work on Keith Olberann, who is usually the best dresser ever. You wouldn't believe how many brain cycles I have for men who do and don't dress well -- on the TV, on the subway. So many men wear their suits just too big! No one seems to know how long their pants should be and god do I hate those shirts with the collars that button down into place. Loathe. Also, I am a firm, nearly obsessive believer that a well-tied tie should have a dimple right under the knot.

I am in a mood. I should write. But the chicken's near done and I've got a speck of work to do.

Hi.

Comments

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

hi. how are you?

When I feel like this, I tend to sing walking down the street.

while i was walking through the park today, i ended up singing along with "the wolves act I & II" by bon iver. i'm kind of at a resting point between crises, and after the news i got last night about the death of someone close to me i needed to listen to music that was comforting and that allowed me to honor that loss. because of the huge singalong in the middle of the live version of that song, and because i needed a release or some small form of catharsis, i just started singing along. while crying. for a moment i forgot about not appearing crazy or scaring the dogs. it was good.

[hakeber.livejournal.com]

Hi.

[iamradar.livejournal.com]

Hi!

[iamzulma.livejournal.com]

hi! *waves*

no crisis on my front today. knock on wood. but lots of other people are suffering, and that makes me sadface. --> :(

what sort of peppers are you growing? i wish i had myself a wee garden, even just an herb garden, but i live in a single apartment. no room and not enough light.

[dramedy.livejournal.com]

Hullo. :D

<3

[eac.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth (and with the knowledge that I have 4 hours until the day is over), I seemed to have escaped any big crises.

Also, hi. I just finished writing a long screed to a friend who is trying to decide whether she wants children and is thinking maybe not, despite lots of pressure. (The gist was "don't you dare let anyone push you around in any direction on this subject!") Anyway, this child thing seems to be in the air today, and Black Boys on Mopeds always makes me cry.

[marcmagus]

What's your opinion on trouser length?

[worldof-wonders.livejournal.com]

I sing when I walk down the street. I once got invited to join a choir. I tried for a bit, but it didn't work out.

I worry about an Iranian young man I was friends with in 1986. He was political and had already been in prison there back then. I've worried about him a lot. He does not appear on the netz.

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I have these moments where the other lives I've almost had are nearly assaultive in their proximity. That was today.

OH MY GOD. That *exactly* describes me sometimes. Thank you.

~Sor

[dipping_sauce]

Hi!

No crisis, I'm just feeling pretty down :/

[gallo-de-pelea.livejournal.com]

When I write fiction -- original or not -- I write these wholes lives for people. It's a failing of my fiction in a way, because I never just tell a story or get to the point. Rarely, anyway. It's a big problem in the original fiction. I act these characters, breathe life into them, more than I TELL A DAMN STORY.

I find it strangely reassuring that a writer as eloquent and sharp as yourself also wrestles with this.

(BTW, hi, I was linked to your "Once Escorted" essay and thought it was fantastic.)

[springheel-jack.livejournal.com]

You hate the classic American style of the Brooks Brothers sack suit and the button-down collar! Well, for good reason.

[sdn.livejournal.com]

i do not own an ipod or anything like it. i always sing in the street, and no one notices because they are all ipodding their brains out. or talking on their cells.

[bare-bear.livejournal.com]

I was in camp for less than 4 hours and saw 2 bears in that time. And our bear fence isn't working. Joy. :) (In the Northwest Territories for research)

Hi. :D

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I talk to myself in the street, because my singing voice is just horrible - but I always like telling myself stories. And now that everyone is ear-phoned no one looks at me funny.

Which is nice,

*hugs*

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

I'm ramping up on a new medication. My shrink said he would call in a refill. Guess what he didn't do? Guess who's not returning calls? Guess who doesn't have ANY of her new prescription?

Grrr. He's more mental than I am.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

No crisis here. I worked, I took a nap, I entertained babies. A pretty straightforward day.

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

I do so enjoy your LJ entries. You're awesome. You make a perfectly normal day sound awesome.

[kshandra]

Oh, I am SO glad that I'm not the only one who thought Keith looked wrong tonight. The vest skewed his proportions, somehow.

And yes, where I'm sitting it's still "tonight" rather than "last night," as I've only just gotten home from a lovely evening - dinner and quality time (both euphemistically and otherwise) with my boyfriend, who's been in town for a few days, then an extra hour or so of collective downtime with one of his other girlfriends when she got home from work. She and I have known one another over 20 years at this point (longer than he's known both of us put together), so it's a wonderfully comfortable relationship.

[gairid.livejournal.com]

Re: Tomatoes--be patient.My daughter lives in Queens and tells me that it's been a pretty cool spring-early summer. Tomatos do best when the days are sunny and hot and the nights are muggy and warm. If cooler weather has been dominant, it will take them a little longer to begin fruit production.

//gardening geek//

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

Hi! **waves**

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that about tomatoes, though that make sense when I think about how my tomatoes have produced in the past. Sadly, I'm not growing any this year as I didn't get them in in time and here in metro DC, no one believes in late season tomatoes.

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

This is part of the problem I have when creating original characters as well. I NEED to know all about their backstories before I can write the actual story and then it gets lost.

[splix.livejournal.com]

Nobody sings in the street much anymore, or whistles. Lost arts.

[1-mad-squirrel.livejournal.com]

I'll have to try that singing on the street thing. I live in a very small city in Arizona, where people will look you in the eye, and smile and say hello to strangers on the street, so maybe the singing will go over okay.

Or maybe I'll whistle. I love to whistle, I got it from my Grandma.

[6-bleen-7.livejournal.com]

I often whistle while walking down the street. I sometimes even whistle on my bike, but that requires a tailwind and not too much upslope.

[gairid.livejournal.com]

In DC you can still get away with a late planting---find a tomato that produces in 60-75 days and you'll get some fruit. (Early Girl, any of the cherry or grape varieties, Celebrity, Yellow Pear and an heirloom called Reisenstraube are all earlier varieties, as well as your plum tomatoes (Roma, Sausage, Yellow Plum).

(Can you tell I sell plants for a living?)

You still have time if you feel like planting. It's late, yeah, but the season in DC should be amenable--first frost in that area is mid-late Oct. (I'm from CT and we sometimes picked tomatoes into November).

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

I know I could do but the selection of plants at the local nurseries are sparse and what's left is leggy and the roots pot bound.

I did a late planting last year, and had a decent crop despite the plants I had to choose from.

Maybe I'll put in a few on my days off (if it doesn't rain!), as I do love fresh tomatoes!

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

I am still holding out for Live Nude Ianto, though I had a fun (read: morbidly amusing/thoughtfodder) thought about how he's like Schrodinger's Teaboy or something. He is both alive and dead until S3 airs.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I actually think there's a good chance he survives -- intellectually. Emotionally, I've gone round the bend on this one.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Whereas I've achieved that vibratory state in which my holding pattern -- Nothing Is Final Until It Airs -- can generate its own electricity.

Which, of course, means S3 is probably going to be amazing in its effectiveness, and I'm weaning myself off of spoilers, etc. But damn, if this isn't the same thing that kicked my ass in S2...

[arwyn.livejournal.com]

yup. oh this modern world!

[genders.livejournal.com]

Olbermann--though I crush on him anyway--is too heavy for three-piece suits. And the dimple is indeed necessary, although I suppose that may change when skinny ties make their way around again.