sundries

I don't do well when travel is up in the air.

On the plus side, some things have been firmed up: Patty won't be coming to Dragon*Con due to comps (I suppose I should contact D*C and see if I can get her guest badge transferred to someone else), and I'll be rooming the Sheraton with 51stcenturyfox and amand_r. No matter how much I try to get out of the Sheraton, it pulls me back in.

We've also agreed we should strategize Chicago sooner rather than later to take advantage of ridiculous cheap fares that sometimes pop up.

Patty will go home to Ohio at some point that probably overlaps with me being in the UK.

Hey, it's more than I knew for sure yesterday, and allows me to buy plane tickets, which will make me feel better.

As mentioned last night, Patty may have a lead on accommodations. Thoughts on Canton (Cardiff), anyone, anyone?

Last night Patty and I tried a new Indian place. Plus side: they totally made me something that wasn't on the menu. Downside: good, but no where close to UK levels of good. After I picked up gluten-free red velvet cupcakes and she got red velvet cupcake flavoured frozen yogurt. No, I don't even....

Invasion of the Big Scary Long Film Titles.

The Military's Mission of Mediocrity: what's wrong with the various service academies.

No indictment for a man who stabbed two on the subway.

debsliverlovers auction closes tomorrow at midnight. Get in there and bid. There's still some work by great artists for bargain prices with no bids. Also, someone please pass the word to George R. R. Martin's fandom about the Thomas Canty pieces that are up?

Some of us love the Torchwood tie-in novels. Some of us hate them. Either way, you might want to play with retconbookwrite, a fanfic exchange for the Torchwood tie-in novels.

The tw_itallchanges season credits are up. There will be one more post of DVD extras.

On Angel, glad the baby strategy was a fakeout, because I was like "jesus fuck Angel, if you're going to have the worst plan in the world, at least use a baby carrier." Also, poor Lorne. AND, I forgot to mention from Buffy yesterday, Loan Shark is Real Actual Shark. Wow. Cracktacular.

WTF Texas?!?!?!? Plus, close encounters with Phyllis Scahffly!

History is written by the winners, and, in case you weren't clear, you and I are losing.

New education standards adopted in Texas required the downplaying of the Civil Rights Movement, examination of how the UN is undermining America and education about good works of leaders of the conservative movement in the 1970s and 80s. Yes, the new guidelines cite Phyllis Schaffly by name, and, in case you didn't know, when it comes to education standards the nation goes with Texas, simply because they have the volume clout to dictate the content of textbooks. So regardless of where you live or what you believe, this is coming soon to a classroom near you.

Which brings me to a random story from my strange and murky past.

I was a contestant in the Miss New York National Teenager Pageant 1987, and I had no idea what I was doing. I thought if I could get an award for being a girl, then it meant I was one, maybe even a good one. I also thought this would mean I was normal, like Brady Bunch normal, despite coming from a place without football teams or cheerleaders or homecoming dances.

Anyway, one of the areas of competition was a speech on "What's Right About America" that we had to give while wearing our Red, White and Blue Outfit.

Now, I give good speech. Always have. I can write 'em and I can knock 'em out of the park, so I figured this, if nothing else, would be mine. So what did I decide was right about America? That we can protest, that we can tell her she's wrong, because hey, free speech is cool, they told me so at school.

You can imagine how this went.

Yeah, didn't win.

Did get a sort of stunned audience just staring blankly at me. Which, you know, went nicely with how they put me in the back of all the dance numbers (short hair, no visible tits, you know?) and looked shocked when I said I was from Manhattan, were all uncomfortable with me doing modern dance for my talent (to, btw, Pat Benetar's version of "Forever Young"), and, you know, probably saw me look at them with incredulity when they asked "if you were a fruit, what type of fruit would you be?" (The correct answer to that, btw, is "An orange, because their shape indicates balance; their color is bright and happy, and because I hope I can contribute to the world as positively as an orange's nutrients contribute to good health.")

Years later, when going through things at my parents' apartment I discovered my old pageant program books and started flipping through. And then I discovered that Phyllis Schaffly was a sponsor or director or something of the national pageant system (I think I still have all this stuff at my parents' house. I'll grab it next time and scan it in for you for laughs).

This didn't, actually, make a lot more things make sense. But it did make it even harder to enjoy being a girl.

And right about now? It adds to my desire to punch Texas in the face.