sundries

[rm]

Patty and I had a lovely outside dinner last night, but then stayed up too late because work caught up with me. Boo.

Today my face hurts in a massive, horrible sinus way.

I posted my Dragon*Con schedule last night!

We're expecting a lovely fucking hurricane over the weekend that should make Dragon*Con related travel slightly annoying.

Dragon*Con people, there's a fake Irish pub near the hotels that has video trivia and tends to be Not Fucking Annoying on Thursday night. But I can only recall its location by sight in my head. This does not help me tell other people where it is or what it is called. Anyone?

Rather unexpectedly, won writerinadrawer Round 4. If you weren't following along, do go back and read the stories. Many, many people turned in at least one that was some of their best work, and I'm pretty sure we all embarrassed ourselves at least once (I feel like I can count at least four on that score (the embarrassment score) for me). In the end (and arguably through the whole thing, since exercises like this are weird), it certainly didn't come down to quality, but what happened to be to the tastes of whoever was voting in a given week. Also, while I could often tell who wrote what, I pegged something for cruentum that I still can't believe was misswinterhill a few rounds back, so that sort of wacky surprise was fun, but since everything is revealed now, a bit too late for you. Anyway, everyone, and most especially our host, thefannishwaldo, deserves a round of applause for Getting Through This Thing. I found this _much_ harder work than therealljidol.

30 mosques in 30 days.

Ad campaign to counteract anti-Muslim sentiment.

Extreme Dog Grooming.

Plato's pop-culture problem and ours.

The politics of "ma'am" I about fell over laughing at "Because it amuses me."

The Advocate has a point. As more conservative Republicans call for same-sex marriage, what does Obama achieve by opposing it? The people that wouldn't vote for him over this issue, already wouldn't vote for him. Right?

Interesting-and-a-half that pressure for marriage equality in Australia is now coming from a Tasmanian independent.

Are you fucking kidding me? Emergency message about crashing into the sea played to passengers by mistake. Mercury retrograde, we are done!

Comments

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

I was taught to use "sir" and "ma'am" as a kid. These days, I use them most often in conjunction with "excuse me," namely when people whose name I don't know leave something behind and I have to be like, "Hey person who looks male/female! Come back! Pick up your stuff!" (Because somehow gendering it narrows down who I might be yelling at by 50%? IDK.)

I also used "sir" and "ma'am" while I worked at the library with faculty/old people who looked like they might die and give the university money imminently. They seemed to appreciate it.

When I was eight, I had to explain to my dad that "ma'am" was not spelled "mam." That was awkward.

[azn-jack-fiend.livejournal.com]

I loved a lot of your fics during the contest, but my absolute favorite out of anyone's entries is still "From The Underground Kingdoms". I've never read anything like it, and it perfectly encapsulates my Torchwood objects of obsession.

Where I live ma'am is basically obligatory! But I enjoy the common variant, "miss lady", a lot more.

I don't like Plato's approach to human nature or to art. It's just weird and anti-human. Aristotle, on the other hand, had some amazing insights about art that are so simple but profound that people keep discovering them over and over again... even really not-obvious stuff, like an answer to the question of why audiences like torture porn movies.

Faux Irish pub

[count-to-seven.livejournal.com]

I believe you are thinking of Gibney's.

Re: Faux Irish pub

[rm.livejournal.com]

YOU ARE AWESOME.

Red facade?

Re: Faux Irish pub

[count-to-seven.livejournal.com]

Yep! Apparently my parents are driving over from Athens to get lunch with us and I had to do some fast Googling to give them a location to meet.

Still annoyed I'll be missing all the fun.

[neifile7.livejournal.com]

Congrats on WIAD!! What a final round -- but that's exactly what one hopes for. Agree that people wrote AMAZING stories for this, and what a treat watching it unspool week after week. It always seems to stretch everyone in good ways, and I love it that writers I know well still surprise me.

Time for annual wi(ad)thdraw(er)al -- thank goodness for D*C!

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite aspects of the BSG reboot was that everyone, regardless of gender, was given the honorific of "Sir."

Roslin was often referred to as "Madam President," but she was just as often told, "Yes, sir."

Re: Faux Irish pub

[rm.livejournal.com]

When are you actually arriving?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Word.

[dremiel.livejournal.com]

Mazelt Tov on WIAD. I enjoyed the entries this round and was particularly moved by many of yours. Enjoy your well-deserved honor as it was a tough pack to run with the last few weeks!

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

That actually bugged me. It feels like an erasure to address a powerful woman as sir. One becomes no longer a woman but an honorary man.

But then I've also spent much of my life in the south, where "ma'am" is much less associated with age than it is in the north.

Re: Faux Irish pub

[count-to-seven.livejournal.com]

Either I leave after work on Friday and get there around midnight or I leave early Saturday and try to get there by 1 pm.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I actually don't find "ma'am" offensive or about age, but I find it weird. I mean, I almost never hear it in a neutral context (as opposed to the dripping, nasty sarcasm I sometimes hear when its used I'm wearing men's clothes), and I'd rather be called "ma'am" than when a server comes to the table and is all "what can I get for you girls?" I AM 37. I AM NOT A GIRL.

[idunn.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. I was disappointed to see the powerful women on BSG treated as men instead of being addressed as powerful women. I found the linked article strange ... I view "ma'am" as politeness and am not sure what a stranger would call me or I them, in its place.

[idunn.livejournal.com]

I don't view it as an age thing either but one of respect. I was called "miss" only in my teens and as soon as I was an adult, ma'am. I didn't view it as rude or something snide about my age. I get more insulted when someone calls me "girl" because I'm obviously not. Also, this is different from what English speakers deal with, but I've had men I don't know use "tu" with me instead of "vous", and that gets my hackles up.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I have been screamed at for being rude for calling men "sir" here and told I was being condescending. Using either "sir" or "ma'am" here is very problematic and causes a lot of drama about status and class as a rule. I don't necessarily get it, but I know it is true.

[idunn.livejournal.com]

I haven't had that happen to me in the city, personally, but I totally believe you. I've seen double takes when I use honorifics to be polite. I don't know what else to do, say "hey, you"?

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Hurricane? Ouch, good luck....

And am I getting a skewed perspective or do you have the worst possible luck when travelling? Maybe alerts should be sent on ahead "Rachelline has entered the transport network... gods have mercy on us all"

[rm.livejournal.com]

It is weird! And I'm just old enough that I'm really uncomfortable being less formal (also, when I first meet someone in a business situation, I know we skip right to first names now usually, but that's inorganic for me, and I bungle it a lot, especially in academia, where the formality remains appreciated, but where I try to avoid it now because of my dot.com training).

I only feel safe saying sir or ma'am if I'm in a totally subordinate situation (i.e., approaching a stranger on the street for directions). If there's any potential for the other person to think I have power over them, I avoid "sir" and "ma'am" like the plague, as that's where I've had problems.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It never quite used to be like this, but it's getting ridiculous.

[goseaward.livejournal.com]

The ma'am thing is funny for me--suburban Midwest, I was getting ma'amed before I was out of high school, maybe even before I entered (I've always looked older than I am, which is part of that, but still). And I find it's my default if I have to get a woman's attention, although I wouldn't use it in any other context, I think.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I think you just keep managing to book your travel around MercRx.

Or people keep planning things during it.

Either way, it's gotten stupid.

[sociallyawkrd.livejournal.com]

The hurricane stands to complicate our travel to Miami as well. Which would suck because it was just the two of us, sans child for a romantic quick cruise.

[lady-death.livejournal.com]

I remember when my family moved to Florida from Connecticut being "ma'am"'ed in a gas station at twelve-years-old. At the time I was horrified thinking, "But I'm not that old!" Now after spending the past decade in the South I would think someone is being rude if they didn't use "ma'am." It was an extremely weird perspective shift as my culture became less Northern and more integrated in the area where I live.

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

Why do I always get hurricanes for my birthday?????