sundries

[rm]

Patty leaves for Cardiff on the night of September 23. I love having firm dates and it's a few days later than previously anticipated. It also falls nicely after the equinox and before my mother's birthday and the Butch Voices conference, so I can just focus on that when it's happening.

We also talked about how this will be weird and different than digs ("It's not like you'll just be 'on a dig' where you're just gone; it'll be like a long distance relationship for a few months"), her likely class schedule, and our weird phone hatred, which has never really been an issue, since calling is rarely viable or necessary when she's been away), and all in all, I think we both feel a lot better than we did 48 hours ago.

Meanwhile, I need your help. Many discount airlines in Europe fly through Not Heathrow. Can anyone speak to me about public transit options from Gatwick and Stansted for getting to London or Cardiff?

Last night I tried to explain Max Headroom to Patty. She said, "Baby, I don't understand the '80s." Also, that it sounded like a horror movie. Additionally, she had some serious concerns about the blipverts.

Meanwhile my lack of final, official, public Dragon*Con schedule is making me moderately verklempt. Also knowing everything that needs to be done between now and Aug 31 or Sept 1 or Sept 2, as the case may be. This has been a very intense, disruptive month with a lot of professional commitments to execute on.

Also, failed to CLEAN ALL THE THINGS last night, but did manage to Clean Some Stuff, so that's cool. Laundry night tonight. My life is full of glamor.

I continue to be fascinated with the Chilean mine rescue. NASA has been brought in because they are the only folks with experience related to this type of isolation.

Department of I Should Have Known Better: Is anyone else completely riveted by the trailer for The Social Network? I felt a lot better when I knew Aaron Sorkin did the script, I'll tell you that. But as someone who's been online since 1990 and worked with and for an assortment of freaks, geeks and self-aggrandizing boys who thought their version of how people talk to each other was going to change the world or their pocketbooks, it hits me where I live. Change the numbers and the names and it's not a story everyone, or even anyone, cares about, but on some level it's a story I've been in the middle of or adjacent to more than once. Predictably, when I mentioned this on Facebook where people from those days in my life could see it, they treated me exactly as they did when I was 19, like I was melodramatic and annoying. I've always cared too much about story, and sometimes, that one in particular: where we were all rich and we were all outlaws.

I remember debates about this sort of thing in the US: A German pop-singer has been convicted of having sex without alerting partners to her HIV-positive status.

trinker is looking for some trans resources to support a friend. Can you help?

Surgery is no longer required for gender changes on PA driver's licenses.

Outrage of the day, pt. 1: Want to be president of your middle school class at a particular school in Mississippi? Not only do you need a B or better average, you need to be white. This is one of those links where you'll read the first bit, be appalled and figure it can't get even worse, but yes, this one keeps getting worse.

Outrage of the day, pt. 2: Ladies, want a raise? To be a better negotiator be sure to clean your vagina. Do we need to discuss my particular relationship with filth again?

writerinadrawer Round 4.10 voting continues.

Tim laid the smackdown on Gretchen on Project Runway last night. Hot damn!

You've seen it before, but nothing says weekend like Extreme Sheep Herding. (If you haven't seen it before, just trust me, okay?)

Comments

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

Getting from Gatwick to (central) London is not all that hard. There is a train (the Gatwick Express) which runs regularly throughout the day (and overnight) and goes into London Victoria, which is on the southern side of central London.

Getting from Gatwick to Cardiff... mm, if you can cope with the coach then that may well be an option (check www.nationalexpress.co.uk for help there)

I can't comment on Stansted, sorry; wrong side of town for me.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks. I assume I'd have to go into London and then back out to Cardiff, which is fine. I just didn't know what the train situation from Gatwick was (and apparently, couldn't be arsed to Google it).

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

You may not need to go into London if you don't want to -- the National Express site suggests that at least some of the coaches from Gatwick to Cardiff don't require you to change (they go via Heathrow). If you want to do it by train you would _probably_ need to change in London, I think.

[count-to-seven.livejournal.com]

I was about to suggest the same (Gatwick Express).

[cruentum.livejournal.com]

Stanstead's the same. Express is called Stanstead Express, runs to Liverpool Street Station, takes about 45 minutes and 16 pounds single ticket, or 18 pounds? Would then have to get to Paddington via tube or other means to take train to Cardiff. National Express Coaches are also running from Stanstead, they might run directly to Cardiff but given the location of the airport, I doubt it.

Alternatives to the Express are buses like easybus. Traveltime to London is then 75minutes or so though (but run to Baker Street from Stanstead)

[mellacita.livejournal.com]

Stansted has pretty regular buses as I recall. I've only flown there once. I used to fly into Gatwick all the time. There is the Gatwick express, which I believe goes to Victoria station and takes about 25 minutes? Or there are loads of coaches; depending on the hour of the day it could take a while to get into central London. For context, I freak out about transportation a lot for someone who goes all over the place, and I get more freaked about getting into NYC from Newark than I do over transport for airports in London. :)

People who live there will of course be able to offer actual, helpful specifics.

(also, if you coped with getting into Chicago from Naperville, other London airports will be a snap, just saying!)

[rm.livejournal.com]

Newark is the WORST. THE WORST. I have finally figured out how to do it without going insane or bankrupting myself.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Really? It's either a train ($15 each way from Penn) or a bus from midtown.

Now, LaGuardia...ugh.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Ah, see, we live 15 minutes from Laguardia. It is AWESOME for us.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

We took the train in from Stansted a few years ago and I recall that being pretty easy too.

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

Ooo, laundry! Your life is almost as glamorous as mine, which involved laundry, and making an absolute wreck of my room as I attempted to pack. Today, I ride busses!

~Sor

[booknerdguru.livejournal.com]

The Social Network trailer does make me stop and think. It's a story I'm fairly familiar with too, if like you said, you changed the dates and names.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

From either Gatwick or Stanstead into central London, it's easy peasy, choice of train or bus (bus will be much cheaper, train will be quite a bit faster)

Stanstead

Gatwick

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

This is the Max Headroom thing I was talking about last night. And then you can watch the video here. It's not so much creepy as just weird, really.

[rm.livejournal.com]

That's awesome. And weird and creepy and like the numbers station and Anonymous and all rolled into one. We've really been on a role with strange signal broadcast and reception stories lately.

Also, DURING A DOCTOR WHO EPISODE.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I JUST NOW NOTICED THAT DETAIL.

[rm.livejournal.com]

EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

I didn't know I needed to see that until I saw that. Thank you for sharing it. (I've shared it further.)

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

The Social Network trailer impresses the hell out of me every time I see it. It took a movie I had no interest in whatsoever, and made me want to buy my ticket right now.

Also, my admiration of Jesse Eisenberg seems to keep growing.

That trailer though, is masterful. Good to know about Sorkin, that makes me feel better as well.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It has a good director too.

The trailer may be the best one I've ever seen. Because talk about hard material to create a trailer for. I wonder how the movie will compare (because one of my other favorite trailers ever, was for Vanity Fair, which is pretty crap, but that trailer was STUNNING).

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Have you seen this?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Hahahahaha. I actually started trying to do calculate the value of my utterly useless stock options from various places at their highest worth last night, for shits and giggles.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Did you cry? I would have cried.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Nah, but I feel like I deserve a merit badge for Fake Money Earned in Dot.com Era.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

LOL!

That's what the world needs: Merit badge sashes!

[1-mad-squirrel.livejournal.com]

# You've seen it before, but nothing says weekend like Extreme Sheep Herding. (If you haven't seen it before, just trust me, okay?)

Seen it before, but it's fun to watch again. Here are the electric sheep, where are the androids?

[lurkitty.livejournal.com]

mamamaMax Headroom was so much win. Haven't thought about that show in ages, really, but it's one I'd definitely watch again.

And, yes, The Social Network was oddly fascinating. My online life started before the Internet, so I knew some of those uber-ubergeeks. They hate Facebook with a white hot hatred because they can't write their own interface in HTML. I was only a quiche-eater, though.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

I'm just delighted that it's finally finally out on DVD. I've waited for years!

[saomigray.livejournal.com]

I haven't thought of Max Headroom in years!

We'll have to go back and check that out again!

[penguineggs.livejournal.com]

Stansted trains go into Liverpool Street via Tottenham Hale; either allow you to link onto the London underground.

You might also consider Birmingham International which is another hub for budget airlines and has good rail links all over the place

[airspaniel.livejournal.com]

I flew into Birmingham and it was super easy to get to London by train. I don't know what the difference in cost/time would be to Cardiff, because we drove, but I know there are trains.

[lyorn.livejournal.com]

There's a train from Stansted to (forgot which station) every hour, takes IIRC 45 minutes. To go to Cardiff, you go from Paddington, it's two hours or so on the fast train.

[marymac.livejournal.com]

London Liverpool Street, Tube to Paddington, remarkably painless outside of rush hour.

[ludimagist.livejournal.com]

Not sure if this is what you're looking for re: trans resources, but the organization I teach for is doing a LGBTQ specific self defense course next month:

http://www.impactboston.com/upcoming-all-gender-courses.html

They're very good at tailoring courses to the specific needs of whatever population they're working with so this might be of use.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

I was looking for support groups, especially online. I'll add it to the wrapup post, though. Thank you!

[wynkat1313.livejournal.com]

So... apropos of absolutely nothing... should I be worried that I had a dream about you last night? well about talking with you about writing fanfic? my brain is a very strange place.

[pillmayken.livejournal.com]

Hi, long time lurker here.

Re: Chilean miners, seems like everyone in our country is fascinated, if not obsessed, with the whole affair. The media have both taken advantage of and encouraged this, to the point it's beginning to look like a reality show. Meanwhile, there are 32 Mapuche prisoners on a hunger strike, and mainstream media have not said a word about it. I find it suspicious, to say the least.

[sanat.livejournal.com]

And is the US media doing any more or less coverage on the flooding in Pakistan, too? Far more people are affected by that than are trapped in the mine, and while I'm no disaster expert I suspect it's a more life-threatening situation.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

NYT online has it as the top story (Pakistan flood), but I'm not hearing much from other places.

[ydnic.livejournal.com]

I have given you your AH track schedule, correct? I'm sure that I remember doing that at some point....although, yeah, the fact that the overarching schedule o'doom hasn't been published yet is making me worry a bit!

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yup, we're super good and I really appreciate it.

My personal hold up is that a track (probably more than one, but only one that affects me) didn't submit their schedule to D*C until after D*C sent out the emails to guests with their schedules. And now D*C is presumably trying to make everything work. I've seen a draft of the schedule in question, but have been admonished not to discuss it (which is silly to my mind because hey, lots of tracks post preliminary schedules, but whatever they need, they need).

So I think between incidences of that, and the Westin, D*C is probably way behind on the pocket program, but wow, would like to have this info firmed up and out there. Also so I can plan things I want to see!

[humascot97.livejournal.com]

I felt a lot better when I knew Aaron Sorkin did the script, I'll tell you that.
Sorkinese makes everything better.

[mystefaction.livejournal.com]

Another way from Gatwick to Cardiff by train is via Reading; I've never done it, but theoretically it saves backtracking and the Victoria-Paddington transfer. There's a breakdown of all the major Gatwick-Cardiff options at The London Toolkit (http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/gatwick_westcountry_transfer.htm).

[rm.livejournal.com]

This! This is what I wanted to know! THANK YOU.