sundries

[rm]

I have, for the last two nights, been sleeping with an eye mask on. Our bedroom gets a lot of light from neighboring buildings (our "fake moonlight," we call it) and a lot of sun early in the mornings. I am sleeping much more deeply and for many more hours than I have in the past, and this is exciting. On the other hand, I no longer wake up gradually, but in pitch blackness am completely freaked out by my alarm every momrning. WE'll see how long this experiment lasts.

Some work today, then a friend's bday thingy.

Current auctions at graduate_maria are now closed. I will be doing all the auction close business for those auctions in a bit. Then! Tomorrow, I will post some new items (signed books, a beautiful scarf, etc.) and open those, as well as everything that has yet to receive bids to bidding. Unless you are an auction winner or the sponsor of an auction that has been won, please refrain from commenting over there today for my sanity.

Voting for writerinadrawer round 4.07 is now open.

Some of your answers yesterday about the naming of the Oxford comma were hilarious, but everyone largely agreed that the winner came from roy_batty.

I've neglected to mention that Anne Rice has left organized Christianity because of what she deems its anti-gay, anti-feminist stance. Now, as you all know, some Christian churches fit that description and some don't, but I note this here largely because when I read The Vampire Lestat at twelve, on a dare, my father threatened to have me exorcised, and it was with great glee he reported Rice's conversion to me. I'll surely be hearing about this soon.

Possibly only funny to a certain subset of TW fen: I have an audition next week for a radiotheater-style stage production using material by Lovecraft. I would very much like to book this. ETA: Dammit, dammit, dammit, the show schedule is nearly impossible for me. I could probably make it work, but it might be epically stressful. Currently undecided about what to do.

The Boy Scouts are trying to rebuild their image. Actually, the Girl Scouts are doing a lot of thinking about theirs too.

New York City and the private garage menace.

Last night on Angel and Buffy: Wesley's at his most interesting, at least in terms of how he's written, when he's trying to shape someone into what they need to be to get the job done. He likes his brutal girls, and he likes being brutal to them. I blame the Watchers, but it's still profoundly unsettling -- Justine, Lilah, Faith. And what's he going to do to Fred?

Speaking of Fred, Jesus riding a raptor, can we resolve the Gunn, Fred, WEsley love triangle once and for all?

Also, let me get this straight, Cordy (pregnant with a demon baby) is possessed by an evil entity that seems to be male and is being all affectionate in its own special way towards Angel. The baby may be Connor's or the Beast's and is growing really fast and Connor doesn't think any of this sounds like total crap and WHAT THE FUCK?

On the other hand I love "First Date" over on Buffy, even if the stuff with the Chinese chick was extremely heavy-handed (although I suppose it beats the alternative). Giles shutting Xander the fuck down when he was all "maybe I should turn gay" was so fantastic, SO fantastic, because yes, they all have real things to worry about, and he's being bogglingly offensive, and the moment is so great because Giles, who gets around in every which direction, clearly takes it fucking personally. WIN.

There were also a lot of Spike and Buffy moments I loved in this episode, and I AM SO GLAD THE HOTTIE PRINCIPAL IS NOT EVIL.

I smell burnt toast.

Comments

[browneyedgirl65.livejournal.com]

After going thru the scouting articles, a couple random thoughts. Firstly, the parallels between the boy scouts and the catholic church, right down to keeping secret documents on abuse and just shuffling people around or otherwise keeping quiet on scandals is just fascinating in an academic sense (gutwrenching in any other). What is it about male exclusive organizations and young boys that seems to lead straight to this sort of stuff? While I'm sure that women only organizations have their issues as well, I don't see similar patterns emerging.

Also, I'm slightly annoyed at this perception girl scouts is about baking and quiltmaking. We went camping, hiking, horseback riding, the whole nine yards. We had wilderness survival courses (orienteering, building campfires safely, how to conserve body heat & stay put if lost, deal with wild animals. Also, as a troop, the girls can vote on what topics interest them and that they want to learn more about. We did some projects in decorative mosaic and another in building small bookcases.

So I can't help but think that part of the girl scout image problem comes just from being a "girls organization" rather than from what is actually done...

[atrophying]

Also, I'm slightly annoyed at this perception girl scouts is about baking and quiltmaking.

It largely depends on the troop leaders. You had the kind of experience that I begged my troop leaders for. Instead, we did projects that were largely useless (it didn't even rate baking and quiltmaking, which at least are useful), and eschewed camping for stuffing a dozen girls in the VFD hall with a VCR. Our one camping trip was a miserable failure, as I was the only person who knew how to pitch a tent or start a campfire. I quit in disgust and joined 4H instead (ironically, not after asking the Boy Scouts if I could come join them instead. The answer was "no").

As for the Boy Scouts? Quite personally, good fucking riddance. Until they cease with the reactionary politics and get over their policy of discrimination, I'm going to keep rooting for their demise.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

My scout experience was very similar to yours, minus the camping, unless you count the day camp our council ran every summer. The one thing I did like, though, were the badges. There were general ones that everybody in the troop earned like Cooking and Sewing, but we had the option of working on others on our own if we wished. I always went for the uncommon ones like Astronomy and Weather and Animal Care -- did the requirements myself -- gave them to the leaders, and yeah, earned the badge. I had more fun doing that than sitting in a circle singing dippy songs.

[cinnamonteal.livejournal.com]

I read the Boy Scout article first and then went to the Girl Scout article. The title significantly irritated me enough that I'm not sure I read the rest clearly.

I was a Campfire kid for eight years and had to put up with an amazing amount of "wait, you're not a Scout/don't sell cookies" snarkiness from people who were part of neither organization.