seeksadventure | Recent Entries

I keep referencing this list, but hadn't posted it anywhere, though I have posted pieces of it as I add them. Because of

abenn's encouragement, I am posting it now and will keep it at the top of my LJ for future reference.

Suggestions always welcome, by the way.

( Life To Do List )

Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1509424.html

As I do each year, I am going to try to send holiday cards. (Last year was one of the most successful since before law school, when I got through more than half of my names.) I am particularly ambitious this year, because with this card making kick I've been on, I want to try to make my holiday cards. (No promises, though.) I've been planning out card designs with a friend, trying to figure out something simple but fun. I like sparkly, shiny cards, so you can expect that, whether I make them or buy them.

So if you'd like a card, please leave a (screened) comment with your address, or, if you're not comfortable with that, you can send me an email at carlamlee at gmail dot com. (Private messaging via LJ or DW is probably not the best way to reach me, though.) I love sending cards, so please do let me know if you'd like to receive one.

(My roommate once told me I single-handedly kept the post office open during the holidays. Considering I didn't make it through my entire list, I laughed.)

Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1508437.html

rachel_manija is holding a book drive to help a Compton school build a library of young adult or middle grade books.

From her post:

Books with Latino/Latina or African-American protagonists would probably be especially appreciated, as that describes most of the students. The students also love manga and other comics, and were hugely excited when I donated some. Many students can read Spanish, and some primarily read Spanish. Other than that, send anything - fiction or nonfiction.

Lifeline Education Charter School is in a low income area, and textbooks are so expensive that they can't afford to buy other books. Mr. Obed Nartey, with whom I had a lovely talk at the school the other day, is creating a new library/computer lab for the students. He is also starting a book club.

Students are already excited about this... but they need something to read. Please help them out, if you can. I will put up some photos of the library which you helped create, when it launches.

Please send books here. Media mail is the cheapest way to mail books.

Attn: Mr. Obed Nartey
Lifeline Education Charter School
225 South Santa Fe
Compton, CA 90221

If you send stuff, please comment at her post so she can let Mr. Nartey know.

I'm actually pulling books to get rid of anyway right now, but I don't know that I'll have many young adult books go out (those are the ones I tend to love and keep). However, I'm hitting up the bookstore to grab some books for them. Books are wonderful, and amazing, and I wish my high school library had been better stocked with a wide variety of fiction.

I love putting together book packages. I love it. This is one of the things I miss most about working at the bookstore.

Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1508249.html

The world makes me mad a lot of the time. And the final link below discusses some shitty statements made by a potential Missouri senator about rape, so you know.

---

Pe' Sla: Help Save Lakota Sioux Sacred Land! Help Lakota people buy back part of their sacred lands before it is auctioned off and opened up for development.

Link to and blurb from the fundraising site. Plus here are a couple articles about it that at least briefly address the problematic nature of having to buy back the land in the first place:

"Sioux Tribes Upset Over Sale of Sacred Site in SD": Raising money to buy the land is a monumental and controversial undertaking for the Sioux tribes. An 1868 treaty set aside the Black Hills and other land for the Sioux, but Congress passed a law in 1877 seizing the land following the discovery of gold in western South Dakota. A 1980 U.S. Supreme Court ruling awarded more than $100 million to the Sioux tribes for the Black Hills, but the tribes have refused to accept the money, saying the land has never been for sale. There are Sioux tribes in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska and Canada.

"There are a lot of our people that absolutely 100 percent do not agree with paying any money for land that we consider still ours, but the reality is we sometimes are forced to fight with the rules of the United States," Iron Eyes said.

"Sioux tribes seek to buy sacred land in S.D.": To people such as Charmaine White Face, coordinator of the Rapid City-based environmental group called Defenders of the Black Hills, it seems ludicrous that tribal people should have to pay at all for something that was illegally taken from them in the 1800s.

"It's always been difficult for us to accept this concept of buying back your own land, you know what I mean?" White Face said. "The question I have is, if according to the 1980 Supreme Court decision, the Black Hills was an illegal taking, then how does anyone have legal title to the land?"

That said, she like others within the Great Sioux Nation are hoping for the best in the next week. Iron Eyes said one of the tracts is considered most important, and the tribes would at least like to buy that one. But in reality, they would like them all.

"We keep praying for a miracle," White Face said. "If some very wealthy person would buy it and donate the land back to us, that would be a miracle. That would be an excellent miracle."

----

Republican Senate Nominee: Victims Of ‘Legitimate Rape’ Don’t Get Pregnant: Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri who is running against Sen. Claire McCaskill, justified his opposition to abortion rights even in case of rape with a claim that victims of “legitimate rape” have unnamed biological defenses that prevent pregnancy.

“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV in an interview posted Sunday. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

Akin said that even in the worst-case scenario — when the supposed natural protections against unwanted pregnancy fail — abortion should still not be a legal option for the rape victim.

Not only am I fucking infuriated over this (not to mention his history of horrible statements and actions when it comes to rape and abortion bills), but the ableist language being used by people speaking out against him is pissing me right the hell off. Fucking hell, people, because just because he believes and says these horrible things does not mean he is crazy, and your horrible use of ableist language is really undercutting your statement.

Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1507531.html

It's been awhile, and I should be asleep (but as usual, medicine induced insomnia + my natural sleep cycle means I'm awake; this whole insomnia + exhaustion as side effects of the same medicine thing sucks), but one of my goals is to get back to the things I love that make me me. And one of those things is blogging here.

I think I've forgotten how to keep this blog, though, so I'm taking prompts, questions, suggestions for topics, whatever. Ask away. I will respond.

(Still haven't forgotten about the 100 Things Blogging Challenge, but I'm waiting on some things from other people for the first post I wanted to do. I think I need to just post them out of order instead.)

Current Mood: loved
Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1507108.html

So my younger sister and her husband had their social wedding last weekend (they actually got legally married last summer), and I will talk about this more later, when I have pictures, but it's been awhile since I posted (anything at all, dude) something hilarious(1) | heartbreakingly sweet(2) | adorable(3) | full of the need for adventure(4) about my parents, so I thought I would do so quickly.

In case you don't know, my mom is very sick, and has been since the early 2000s (well, her symptoms really started manifesting then). When she first started seeing a doctor, they gave her basically no time at all, and yet she's still here. It's been this horrible roller coaster combination of will she live/will she die and slowly watching her die and her wanting to die and her not wanting to die and her being hospitalized and watching her broken body and her going into the hospital right before graduation and right before the bar exam and my siblings and me breaking down at different times and making plans for after her death for over a decade now, and it is hard.

Back in 2005, Mom and Dad had their 50th wedding anniversary, and my siblings and I gave them a second wedding, because they really didn't have one when they actually got married. Mom was strong enough then to walk down the aisle and dance a little, but not a lot. She's gone very far downhill since, and when she leaves the house, has to go in a wheelchair. (She doesn't walk much around the house, either.)

That may be the last time I've seen them dance; they used to dance a lot. They were good. They used to dance around the kitchen together, and put on music and dance in the living room, and Dad used to play the guitar and sing to her, to us all. (He's lost the dexterity and feeling in his fingers to do that now. Mom has, too; she used to play bass, and was learning violin. No more, though.)

I didn't cry during the ceremony, but I got a little bright eyed during the first dance, because you guys, my brother in law just makes her so happy, and she's my beloved baby sister, the Sam to my Dean, and it took us so long to be friends, and I just want such wonderful things for her. So a little bright eyed, but no actual tears, and I'm beaming at them while they dance, even though I normally find the first dance incredibly boring.

Then they invite everyone to join them. My dad starts to push Mom's wheelchair onto the dance floor, and okay, it's getting a little hard to see now, something's in my eye, maybe I should own waterproof mascara after all (but I never need it). Then Mom stops him, and slowly, so achingly slowly, stands up, holding his hands once she gets herself upright, and they walk out onto the dance floor together, and I am done. I started crying so hard I was pretty sure I was going to lose a contact, even though I couldn't stop grinning too. And they didn't dance they way they used to, all slick fun dance steps, but they held each other and they turned, and I was crying even when I got asked to dance (Me: Make-up? Jake: Little smeared. Me: Oh god, and it took forever).

My parents got up and danced together at my sister's wedding, nearly fifty-seven years after they got married, and I got to see it.

(1) See, also, this conversation:

Dad: You should write a story about warewolfes (which is basically how he pronounces it) bears. Bears like warewolfes. And moose! Vampire moose.
Jake: Vampire moose? Do they gore you instead of bite you and then lick the blood from the wounds?
Dad: Yes. Write this story for kids. A bedtime story.
Jake: That kid will never sleep again.
Carla: And mom wonders why I love horror.

(2) See, also, excerpts from things Mom and Dad wrote about me for law school graduation:

Mom and Dad put together one of those family ads for graduates. I thought I'd share the pictures with you guys. And an excerpt from their blurbs.

Dad: Carla is constantly seeking. Even as a 2 year old it was always “Tell me more, Daddy, tell me more.” . . . She has made any dreams I might have had come true. I didn’t get much formal education. But Carla has done it for me. She is my adventure child.

(Dude, could my user name be any more appropriate? My heart just grew ten sizes today.)

Mom: I taught her that books were adventurous and fun even before she could walk (as soon as she could pull them off the shelf.) I read to her every night even after she could read them herself. Being able to read is the foundation for all other learning.

(3) See, also, this picture of my dad in a St. Pat's parade: Link to a picture where my dad has the best grin.

(4) See, also, that time Dad made me want to clutch my laptop to my chest, I needed to hear what he had to say so badly: "[W]e will take off in some direction and ride til sundown . . . just a ride with nowhere in particular in mind as a destination. Just a ride to burn up gas, see things and accomplish nothing but have fun."

Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1506949.html

Saw a link to this posted by

bewize and was really intrigued. Now I'm looking for theme suggestions to post about (examples from that site: 100 Recipes I've Never Tried Before & Other Kitchen Disasters; 100 Cult TV Things; 100 Books I Have Loved). I'm thinking maybe 100 (Attempts at) Adventures, but definitely let me know if you have suggestions.

(Edited to Add: Excellent post with suggestions.)

Also, I hope some of you consider doing it. I think it will be fun, no matter how many posts actually get written.

{Take the 100 Things challenge!}

Current Mood: confused
Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1506448.html

You guys, I think all those hours I spent looking at dresses for the two weddings coming up (

impatienke is having her social wedding, and I'm a bridesmaid, and then her best friend is also getting married, and I'm a guest) have finally devoured my brain, because I went looking for one dress and ended up finding -- well, I will provide you with a list.

Keep in mind, I don't wear dresses generally (though I do have a cotton wrap dress that I wear as a coverup when going to the pool and I live in a couple jean skirts on the weekends when the weather is nice), and I can't wear them to work without wearing heavy, heavy tights, which I don't own. (Tattoo on my calf.)

But oh, god, I want to wear these dresses to work.

Crimson frill trim poplin
Rosette trim dress (in blue, black, and green, I like all three)
tabbed surplice neckline crepe dress
Be a sweetheart (in both the green and the blue)
Ruffle front surplice (What even is surplice?)
Bow tied neck cotton poplin
Pleat waist chambray dress
Mural blooms dress (the dress I was actually looking for -- you can see how long it took me to find it)
Wildflowers in bloom
Embellished florals surplice

What even is this? WHAT EVEN IS SURPLICE? (Wikipedia would have me know it is the liturgical vestment of the Western Christian Church. o.O That is not what I expected.)

Later I will tell you about the musical wanderings of my mind tonight, but right now I must go decide if I should buy dresses.

Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1506101.html

Sunday Sporadic: A collection of links from the tabs I've opened over the last week. (Inspired by Karen Healey who sometimes does link collections on the weekends.)

Rose Lemberg: Feminist SF/F: On Feminist Characters

Excerpt: The way to get there, I think, is through multiple, intersectional, and diverse (yet not stereotyped or cartoonish) portrayals of women. I want women to be able to be Neurotic Geniuses. I want the Amazing Inventor with bad hair and mismatched socks who yells sometimes and makes her friends upset, and sometimes forgets to eat, and sometimes forgets to do laundry. I want to read about the Magician who forgets to check her email and gets embroiled in a political struggle at her University, which she loses ungraciously. I want to read about Neurotic Creative Professionals – architects, writers, film directors, music composers – who, in throws of creativity, can be quite upsetting to be around. I want to read about a brilliant woman scientist who is also a miserable drunk. I want to read about the person in a wheelchair who loves her work, but who takes her disability really hard. I want to read about women who are child-free by choice, and women who are mothers. I want to read about mothers who decided to stay at home, and mothers who work. I want to read about women who are fat and not, women who struggle with weight and women who do not. I want to read about asexual women, bisexual women, I want to read about people who are genderqueer and trans* and questioning. I want to read about menopausal women. I want to read about a heroine who is eighty two. I want to read about women who are mentally ill. I want to read a book with a feminist anti-hero. I want to read about kinky women, I want to read about dominant women and submissive women. And note, I haven’t even touched upon the questions of racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity!

Alex Dally Macfarlane: Feminist SFF: Female Friendships

Excerpt: I want, so much, to see more SFF where the friendships between women are given as much time and attention as any other relationship. It does happen, but it’s still far too rare. I want women forging alliances. I want women as enemies, too. I want women grappling to understand each other across privilege and cultural gulfs. I want women having lots of friendships with other women. I want lonely women who long for friendships with other women. I want women with vastly different interests finding common touch-points. I want women bonding over fibre crafts and sport and science and children and war and travel and stand-up comedy and books and internet memes and everything else that women bond over in real life. I want women helping each other to survive in the direst of situations. I want women saving one another. I want women being horrible to each other – because of course women are also horrible to each other in real life, but it’s not some kind of special female superpower. I firmly believe that the only reason it becomes gendered is societal. SFF gives us the opportunity to go beyond that! SFF also gives us the opportunity to examine that in careful, nuanced detail. What I don’t want is women being horrible to each other because that’s “our nature”.

James Tiptree Jr. Award Winner, Short List, and Long List Announcedheart.

Down the Rabbit Hole: YA Cliches You Love

Excerpt: I read a lot of posts that talk about bad cliches in YA and why we don't like them. I always find these posts enlightening and absolutely love mining their info for my own work. What am I guilty of? And what sort of things do I dislike? But I always see a little note at the end stating that if those things are done well enough, the person doesn't usually mind them. So what I want to talk about today is which cliches I like in YA fiction.

Jezebel: Missouri Stupidly Decides to Create Rush Limbaugh Shrine in the State Capitol

What the actual fucking fuck Missouri? You're making me question again why I came back. (Answer: Family and a job I love.)

Palate cleanser time.

Boomtron: Vin Diesel in RIDDICK 3 Action

Riddick 3 is filming. I'm giddy! Riddick 3, Fast and the Furious 6, the joy that was Fast 5 -- it is a good time to be a Vin Diesel fan.

Bloody-Disgusting.com: Check Out 'Riddick' and His Bone Gun

Another link with the same pictures but slightly different information. Also, I wouldn't call that a bone gun so much as likely a bone sword (or a really long bone shiv), but we will see.

Techdirt: How the Runaway Success of a Tiny $25 Computer Could Become a Big Problem for Oppressive Regimes

Excerpt: An interesting consequence of Moore's Law and the ready availability of free software is that powerful computers can now be produced for just tens of dollars, and in an extremely small package. The low cost means that organizations supporting activists can send in many such systems to countries with human rights problems, and replace them if they are discovered and confiscated or destroyed. The size makes it much easier to import them discreetly, as well as to conceal them in countries that try to keep computing under tight control.

I've been hearing about Raspberry Pi for awhile now from the tech geeks in my family (so that'd be all of them, really), and I'm intrigued by it and by the potential uses of it.

Fangoria review The Cabin in the Woods (mostly without spoilers)

Excerpt: Like SCREAM, THE CABIN IN THE WOODS is going to be mistaken by some people for a spoof of the genre. It’s not; like the Wes Craven film, it’s a straightforward horror feature that happens to have a good, satirical sense of humor about itself. This one goes beyond honoring just one subspecies of fright to become a wildly entertaining catch-all homage to the cinema of fear as a whole—it’s like all your favorite horror movies wrapped up in one.

I am super leery about The Cabin in the Woods. On the one hand, this is exactly what I love, horror stories about terrified teens surrounded by trees. On the other hand, despite how much I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer (fifteen years ago yesterday the pilot of the tv series premiered, but I also love the ridiculously cheesy movie), I do not trust Joss Whedon's work lately (at least ever since Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog, and certainly with Dollhouse). However, I really want to give The Cabin in the Woods a chance, and so I will, and if it goes badly, I will then vent a lot.

(Also, how in the world does Christ Hemsworth change sizes so much? Good grief, man, tiny GIANT tiny GIANT. I know, I know, filmed at different times and in different orders, but it is sort of jarring. And also, sort of awesome.)

(Speaking of GIANT and watching Joss Whedon projects despite my side-eyeing him, is it May yet? No? How about now? WHY ISN'T IT TIME FOR THE TONY STARK SNARK EXTRAVAGANZA?)

Finally, this is the first I'm hearing of Likeme Lighthouse, a new lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community center here in Kansas City, but I am intrigued. Also, they're having a NOH8 photo shoot tomorrow, for you locals who are interested.

Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1505600.html

Who's in?

Check out this line-up: Black Oxygen, Adelita's Way (!!!), New Medicine, Rev Theory (!), Art of Dying, Theory of a Deadman (!), Cavo, Chevelle, Trivium (!), SLASH GODDAMN SLASH OKAY (!!!!!!!), Black Stone Cherry (!), Five Finger Death Punch (!), Volbeat, Hell Yeah, Shinedown (!), and a fireworks show to end it all. I will need so much alcohol to deal with the crowds, but damn, how much do I not want to miss the 20th anniversary.

$35 for 15 bands and 12 hours of music (or $25 for presale if you're a registered rockaholic with 98.9 The Rock) is an amazing deal. Who wants to come visit me and rock out?

Current Mood: loved
Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1505413.html

Thanks to

das_hydra for the gorgeous blue dragon and to

aea and anonymous for the sparkly hearts. They made me clap and grin!

This evening I am trying to write horror that creeps me out as I write it. I don't always succeed (I am difficult to scare), but sometimes I manage it. Two different YA horror in progress, surely I can be creepy in one of them for a few hours before I do more legal work.

And finally, let the mantra begin: Why isn't it riding season yet?

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Roswell 2x9 Max in the City
Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1504688.html

ETA Lovecraftian Shenanigans cowriter just messaged me with this blurb for it (complete with DRAMATIC MOVIE ANNOUNCER VOICE!): In a WORLD where HOT DUDES have TENTACLES, WATCH OUT for NUZZLING RAT-MONSTERS!

Bwahaha. And now I can vent to her about this ableist thing I just read instead of blowing up online or being up half the night sitting on my hands so I won't blow up online.

So it's been almost two years since I regularly updated the monthly project updates, but it is time to start them again, because I get a lot more done when I keep track of my writing in a variety of ways.

This month, I thought I'd kick it off with a fun thing, too. When I’m in traffic, to entertain myself, once in awhile I'll come up with blurbs for my fiction writing projects. (I create them for my nonfiction writing projects, too, but mostly those are confidential, so I can’t really talk about them even if you were interested in legal writing projects.) I even say them aloud in a DRAMATIC MOVIE ANNOUNCER voice, sometimes.

(Sometimes the music is up too loud for that.)

So for this month's project update, I thought I'd include some of the recent blurbs. I recommend giving them your own DRAMATIC MOVIE ANNOUNCER voice.

( Monthly Project Update )

So what are you working on right now?

Current Music: "Are You Ready" Three Days Grace

( Days of the Meme )

Day One: Introduction
Day Two: My First Love
Day Three: My Parents
Day Four: What I Ate Today
Day Five: My Definition of Love
Day Six: My Day
Day Seven: My Best Friend
Day Eight: A Moment

This meme is going to take me forever at the rate I'm going. I snagged on this one for a long time both because I've been busy and because I don't really have words for everything I believe, nor do I talk about it with everyone.

In short, I believe in light from darkness and darkness from light, in being excellent to each other, in calling out racism and sexism and sizism and ablism (omg, do those words have an "e" or not? I get different answers depending on where I look), in trying to make this world better, in creating things, in fighting to protect the ones you love, in surviving and thriving, in family and friends, in giving back, in believing that there is more to this world and this life than just us.

I believe I need the open road before me and my beast of a bike and to be free.

Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1503864.html

For your gift-giving pleasure, I recommend the following items and/or small businesses, in no particular order.

+ The Shattering by Karen Healey

Blurb: Seventeen-year-old Keri likes to plan for every possibility. She knows what to do if you break an arm, or get caught in an earthquake or fire. But she wasn't prepared for her brother's suicide, and his death has left her shattered with grief. When her childhood friend Janna tells her it was murder, not suicide, Keri wants to believe her. After all, Janna's brother died under similar circumstances years ago, and Janna insists a visiting tourist, Sione, who also lost a brother to apparent suicide that year, has helped her find some answers.

As the three dig deeper, disturbing facts begin to pile up: one boy killed every year; all older brothers; all had spent New Year's Eve in the idyllic town of Summerton. But when their search for the serial killer takes an unexpected turn, suspicion is cast on those they trust the most.

As secrets shatter around them, can they save the next victim? Or will they become victims themselves?

As I've said before, The Shattering is the book of my heart. I think it would make an excellent gift, particularly for those who like supernatural adventures and friendships and amazing flawed characters and chosen families.

+ Raised By Wolves and Trial By Fire by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.

Blurb (for Raised By Wolves, to avoid later spoilers): At the age of four, Bryn watched a rogue werewolf brutally murder her parents. Alone in the world, she was rescued and taken in by the mysterious Callum, the alpha of his werewolf pack. Now fifteen, Bryn’s been raised as a human among werewolves, adhering to pack rule (mostly). Little fazes her.

But the pack’s been keeping a secret, and when Bryn goes exploring against Callum’s direct orders, she finds Chase, a newly turned teen Were locked in a cage. Terrifying memories of the attack on her mom and dad come flooding back. Bryn needs answers, and she needs Chase to get them. Suddenly, all allegiances to the pack no longer matter. It’s Bryn and Chase against the werewolf world, whatever the consequences.

These have been my favorite werewolf media of 2011, combining so many of my favorite things, werewolves and strong female characters and best friends who are badasses and, again, chosen families. Highly, highly recommend.

+ Leila by Elizabeth Reeve

Blurb: When college student Megan hits the library, she's looking for sources for a paper on Carmilla, an early vampire story. But in gorgeous librarian Leila, she finds much, much more. It's no surprise that Leila haunts Megan's dreams, but as her fantasies heat up, she begins to wonder -- is Leila really who she seems to be?

Sexy, charming, and fun, I love this lesbian vampire and human love story.

+ Lilo & Stitch

An alien lands on Kauai and goes from bad to good. Siblings being heartbreaking and sweet and delightful and the most adorable chosen family ever.

+ Fast Five

I actually recommend most of the series (The Fast and the Furious, Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and Fast & Furious, at least), but this one is a delightful heist movie full of characters of color. I was surprised that this ended up being one of my favorite movies, but it was a grand adventure.

+ Three Cheep Chicks

Three friends of mine (one of whom is also my sister) make beautiful, affordable jewelry. I have a ton of pieces from them, but every time I see something new, I find more to love. Shiny, inexpensive, but quality bits and bobs are wonderful.

So what are some of your favorite things this year?

(NB: Links to Amazon are affiliate links. Karen and Eliza and the Three Cheep Chicks are all friends of mine, but I objectively love these things as well.)

If you would like to receive a holiday card from me and haven't sent me your address, leave a comment here (comments screend) or email me at carlamlee@gmail.com. I wrote the first batch of cards today, and have cards going out to the following places:

Tempe, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Timboon, Victoria, Australia
Clayton, California
Riverside, California
Santa Rosa, California
Chicago, Illinois
Lawrence, Kansas
Olathe, Kansas
North Bethesda, Maryland
Dorchester, Massachusetts
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Lansing, Michigan
Ypsilanti, Michigan
Plymouth, Minnesota
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Pacific, Missouri
Rolla, Missouri
St. James, Missouri
Brooklyn, New York
Greensboro, North Carolina
Maineville, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Hillsboro, Oregon
Memphis, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Leeds, UK
London, UK
Madison, Wisconsin

Wow, no wonder my hands are tired. Many of those places have multiple cards. I should take a bit of a break, I guess. Maybe I will watch more Pushing Daisies and wrap presents. That's always fun.

Current Mood: amazed
Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1502806.html

Happy anniversary to my parents, married fifty-six years.

Happy anniversary to me, practicing law for one whole year.

Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1502623.html

Yes, I realize it is still September, but I learned last year that I need a lot more time to handle holiday projects than I used to need, and my weekends are starting to fill up, too, so I won't have as many as I need closer to the holidays. I thought I'd try to get an early start on cards and wrapping gifts and mailing packages. (I only got through about half of my card list last year, and I still have gift packages to mail from last year.)

So, if you would like a holiday card from me, leave me a comment (comments are screened) or send me a PM or an email.

My goal is 100% of the cards this year. And...go.

Current Mood: amused
Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1501767.html

So many, many years ago (2001, I think, but maybe 2002), I first watched Walking With Prehistoric Beasts and adored Half Tooth, the sabre tooth cat. A FREAKING DECADE LATER, my roommate has been watching it, and we just hit the episode with Half Tooth.

GO HALF TOOTH GO. A FREAKING DECADE LATER, I'M STILL ROOTING FOR YOU OVER THE RIVAL MALES AND ALL THE DANGERS.

Half Tooth, you are my favorite.

(The fact that some of you will remember the first time I babbled about Half Tooth makes me grin, by the way. Particularly

buhfly, who I remember talking to about it.)

Oh, life. So many cycles.

Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1500836.html

Another thing I have done lately is watch movies and tv shows. (I am actually at this very moment rewatching Sons of Anarchy season two and enjoying it even more this time around.) The Kansas City area has two drive-in theaters, which I love (though it's been too hot lately -- and I've been too busy -- to go). Drive-ins are a cheap, fun experience I highly recommend.

+ Fast Five

Despite the big plot point that I hated in Fast & Furious, I knew I'd go see Fast Five simply because it featured Dominic and Mia Toretto again, plus added Dwayne Johnson's character. (Hell, the only reason I watched Tokyo Drift is because there's a tiny scene of Dominic Toretto at the very end.) I am so glad I watched Fast Five. Of course, watching Vin Diesel's and Dwayne Johnson's characters go at each other was hot as hell, but mostly, it was a fun, delightful heist movie full of characters of color. So much love for that. (Saw this at the drive-in coupled with Battle: Los Angeles.)

+ Battle: Los Angeles

I was so glad this was paired with Fast Five at the drive-in, because at least I'd get my Michelle Rodriguez fix. I almost skipped out during the first half hour, because it was such a slow movie, and I hate that the main character is the white guy as usual, but in the end, I enjoyed it well enough.

+ Super 8

I knew I'd see this if only to prove to the brothers M that it wasn't about a goddamn giant spider, okay? (Jake and I had this argument back and forth from the first time we heard about the movie.) I really liked it, though I thought the ending fell pretty flat. It was a fun summer movie about teens having adventures, and I love that. (I would love it even more if the story was about a group of girls with the token guy, but obviously I'm not going to get that.)

+ Green Lantern

Saw this when the brothers M were in town, and it was ridiculous. RIDICULOUS. I don't mind ridiculous comic book movies all that much, though, so it wasn't completely horrible. Typical issues with characters of color and women, though.

+ Priest

Nor horrible, and once or twice I was nicely surprised by where the story didn't go, but not great, either. The best part was I watched this at the drive-in by the Royals stadium, and had a perfect view of the fireworks. I have no idea how often they shoot off fireworks at Royals games, but I need to figure it out, because the price of the drive-in was worth THAT.

+ Scream 4

I saw this with Priest, and I hoped nostalgia would carry me through it, but oh, it drags on way too long. I liked it for awhile, but dude, trim that shit.

+ Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Not all that thrilled with this. I was surprised by how much I missed Elizabeth and Will.

+ X-Men: First Class

Watched this with the brothers M (Joe loves comic book movies, though Jake hates them. I think Joe likes having someone else on his side), and was filled with delightful nostalgia and glee every time something or someone came on screen, but dear god, how very if you're not a white guy (or formerly a white guy), you're the enemy. Do not want.

+ Roswell

Seasons two and three were frequently ridiculous and overdone, but damn, I loved the characters and got sucked into a number of marathons until I finished it. I sort of wish I'd watched this when it first aired, because I was getting bored by Buffy at that point and this might have been a fun addition, but I had just started undergrad and was too busy to pick it up.

+ Friday Night Lights

I'm in the middle of this now; I never fully watched any season after the first season, and I'm really enjoying catching up now. Lots of heartbreak, of course.

+ Sons of Anarchy

Despite the racism, sexism, homophobia, and, oh yeah, all the killing, I love this show. It's not quite the same watching it alone as it is with the brothers M, but I like it more each time I rewatch it.

For not having cable, I manage to have lots of older shows. At some point, I want to finish Battlestar Galactica, and

revena has been trying to hook me on Stargate Atlantis, so that will happen, eventually.

Crossposts: http://seeksadventure.livejournal.com/1500467.html

Long time without a post. Sorry about that. I have been busy. Mostly with work, of course, but some social stuff too. I will tell you about a few of the social things, because they were a lot of fun.

In no particular order, some of the places I've been.

+ My sister's marriage ceremony

July 5,

impatienke married Mr.

impatienke in a civil ceremony at the courthouse. Most of the family was able to make it. Next summer, they're having the full social ceremony, and I'll be one of the bridesmaids, but this was nice, too. After, we all went out for a family dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, and that was, as always, delicious.

+ My sister's graduation

Back in May,

impatienke graduated with a couple Bachelor degrees. We went down for her ceremony and it was really delightful. I love family events. We also looked at bridesmaid dresses then, which was slightly less fun, since I get bored fast when clothes shopping, but I do love Kris and hanging out with our friends. The next day, the brothers M hosted her graduation party, a hotdog party which I planned for her at her request. It was a blast, and I think she really enjoyed herself.

+ Tessa Gratton's BLOOD MAGIC launch (link to Tessa's photo post about the event)

Tessa Gratton (user name="tessagratton" site="livejournal.com">'s launch party for her debut novel BLOOD MAGIC was held at Rainy Day Books, a Kansas City area independent bookstore. I'd been looking forward to BLOOD MAGIC for awhile now, and though I haven't had the time to read it (such is life), getting to hold it, with its beautiful cover, was amazing. Unfortunately, I worked right up until the event, did some work at the event, and then went back to work after the event, but at least I had the chance to attend. Everyone was charming and funny and so excited for Tessa, and I had a lovely time.

I'd never been to Rainy Day Books even though I drive past it twice a day at least five days a week, generally, because their hours are fairly short, but it seemed to be a nice store with really friendly people, and I hope to go back. (To the store itself; I'll be attending more events, but a lot of their events take place elsewhere, because it's also a very small store.)

+ Fourth of July fireworks

Though none of us wanted to fight the crowds to get spots around the lake to watch the Fourth of July firework display in my hometown (nor did we want to fight the traffic to leave after), a friend tipped us off to a great spot to watch from afar. We had an excellent view, the show was badass, and I saw many Sky Lanterns, though I'd never seen one before. I particularly loved the ones released in formations. June was a busy month at work and July is the same, so it nice to have a few days off for the holiday and for my sister's marriage ceremony. (Even though I did some work remotely.)

+ Partying with the brothers M

The brothers M brought the Shadow up to me a few weeks ago, and we spent some time hanging out around Kansas City. To thank them for bringing me my bike, I took them to Fogo de Chão, which I had serendipitously learned about from a coworker the day before, and it was amazing. I thought we might have some trouble, because I'm not much of a fan of red meat and Jake can't eat pork, but oh, god, so many options. So many delicious, delicious options. We then went on to the Ameristar, where I learned they'd gotten rid of my favorite werewolf slot machine. (I'd only discovered it on Jake's last visit to KC.) Sad! I tend to find casinos boring pretty fast, though I enjoy going with friends, but loved that stupid werewolf slot machine. It told a werewolf story! Technically, it told numerous werewolf stories! I'm going to see if I can't buy one for myself. Because that's just what I need.

+ Writing

Sort of this falls under work. I do less of it than I'd like, but I do what I can.

+ Full mooon

I've done a lot of traveling under the full moon, which I love, driving with it just outside the window. Thursday night, the moon was high when I got home from work, and it reminded me of the summer in Washington, all those late night walks around Redmond, and all the werewolf stories I told myself.

What I haven't been doing is visiting San Diego again, though Kris and I had planned to go over Memorial Day weekend. Alas, there was too much family stuff and work stuff going on to get away. I hope to make it out sometime this fall. Nor did I get to visit Tucson when

karenhealey was in town. Nor did I get to go to Indiana with law school friends. Lots of travel fail lately.

What is coming up:

+ Jim Butcher event sponsored by Rainy Day Books. I'm going with Kris and our friends, even though I haven't liked the series for awhile and haven't even read the last book, I don't think.

+ Chicago trip with law school friends. I'm not sure if this will happen, and it will be a short trip for me if it does, but I want to see them. It's a short, cheap flight, I don't mind a fast turnaround.

+ Mini-writing retreat with some of the Interrobangers. This also may not happen, but if it does, this fall will be awesome.

+ Wiscon 36 in May 2012. Obviously I don't know if this will happen, but it's been awhile since I've gone, and some of the Interrobangers will be there, so I would like to go. Plus I would love to see my friends, particularly

cabell with her new family and

chr0me_kitten, whom I haven't seen since I left Michigan.

+ AMOK AMOK AMOK with Sarah. I haven't seen my bff in person since 2005, and we are highly overdue for a visit full of amok.

+ Motorcycle ride into Kansas. I need some great wide open in front of me and soon.

And of course, work. Which I love most of the time, but is tiring.

It's been so long I don't remember my tags. Huh.

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Carla

Carla-Lee.com

September 2012

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Living a Life I Don't Know How to Live

(But Someday I'll Learn)

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