Purposeful Perversity

We've been watching Defying Gravity on Hulu, and enjoying it. The music is one of the appealing factors, but I can't find any information about what songs by which performers are used in most of the episodes. TV.com has information for two of them, but not the rest. I don't suppose any of you know where to find more information?

Originally published at Enemy of Entropy.

You're packing for vacation. What are you most likely to forget? What do you wish you'd packed after you get to your destination?

Originally published at Enemy of Entropy.

While I was reading friends' updates at Facebook today, something reminded me of a girl I knew back in high school. She went to my high school, and as far as I know she was in my graduating class. I didn't meet her at school, though, and I don't think our paths crossed there. I knew her from church. She introduced me to the guy who became my first husband (who she had dated in the recent past).

Now I'm driving myself nuts, because I absolutely cannot remember her name! I can see her face, plain as day. I remember that she had a somewhat uncommon last name. I think she had an older brother who had been a big deal on the football team a year or three ahead of us. Why can't I remember her name?

I'm really bad with names, honestly. A Facebook application was asking me to verify 130+ people as high school classmates, and truly, I didn't recognize many of them at all. I didn't remember most of the people I saw at our five year reunion. After 25 years? I'm hopeless.

Maybe I should get my old yearbooks out and look at Facebook and the yearbooks at the same time. I don't know that I'd be any better that way, either. I need context for most people—not just a face and a name, but also something like "that guy from homeroom who was always drawing cars in his notebooks" or "that soprano who bathed in Emeraude" or "the cute geeky drummer who seldom made eye contact with anybody" (okay, him I'd recognize, and I do remember his name).

Our yearbooks aren't the sort that listed people's activities with their photos. You would have to search through all the activity listings to find out who did what, which is much more annoying.

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I looked back at my recent entries and realized that it's been a really long time since I posted much of anything substantive. I'm coming out of a long period of being nearly zombiefied thanks to one of my medications. I didn't realize that was happening, as I'd been on that drug for years without that problem. Apparently, the problem was a combination of my dosage being increased last fall and interaction with other meds. Unfortunately, I found this out because of an irresponsible doctor who refused to see me as scheduled when I was due for refills, and wouldn't give me refills without seeing me. Crashing off the maximum dose caused insomnia and seizures.

Yes, seizures. Something I have never experienced before, and I really didn't need to add yet another square to my personal Symptoms Bingo Card. I fell right out of the bed during one bad seizure last week. We have a captain's bed designed for a water mattress, but have a regular mattress and box springs on top, so the whole thing is much higher than most beds. I have to use a stepstool to get in and out of bed. So falling out was much more painful than falling out of most beds. Hitting my foreheard on the wheelchair and whacked my chin but good on the lapdesk didn't help. I have no idea what I hit with my right forearm, but it still looks like a person bit me. My left arm has funky bruising and a cut, both knees are bruised and carpet burned, and my torso is also bruised and sore. Lots of fun! Now my chin is actually black, making me want to wash my face every time I see a mirror. I've never been able to feel the swelling in a bruise as distinctly as this one, either.

I've seen a new doctor, who switched me to a better medication. It's helping to slow down the seizures, but I'm still having some. I'm still sleeping a lot less than I was, which is good. What isn't good is that I'm having trouble sleeping well, period. Hopefully that will go away soon.

Social Security is still messing around with my case and hasn't paid out a dime yet, or sent me a Medicare card. If you ever have trouble with the SSA, don't even bother trying to find anyone to take responsibility for straightening anything out. Just go straight to your Senator or Representative's office. I'd been trying to get a straight answer from somebody, anybody, in the whole organization for about a month without luck. Less than 48 hours after contacting a Senator's office, I got a message that my file is at the Baltimore payment office, that they have all the information they need to pay out the claim, and that we should see money very soon now.

I was really hoping to get the Medicare thing started in time to maybe have a powered mobility device before Dragon Con, which would let me go and enjoy the con for the first time in years. The last time I went, we rented a scooter, so if the money comes through before the con I suppose we might try that again.

In more fun news, we finished watching Torchwood: Children of Earth last night. Talk about depressing! Gwen and Rhys were the only ones who came out of that as heroes. And now I read that there's going to be a fourth season? Who the heck will be in it?

I've slowed down on reading books, partially because I can actually do some other things for a change. The house is slowly improving! I'm hoping we can even entertain again before long.

I haven't been keeping up with most people's LiveJournals or anything else, so if there's something I should have seen, I'd appreciate a poke in the comments here.

Originally published at Enemy of Entropy.

Take a look: The Seven Sides of Sam Chupp LeonDalePhotographer

Originally published at Enemy of Entropy.

And I have to say thank you to hs parents, and to the unknown woman who delivered him 42 years ago today. He's the most incredible person I have ever known in my life.

Originally published at Enemy of Entropy.

Sam started a meme!



Isn't that gorgeous? It came up on the TV the other day and I haven't been able to stop looking at it since.

Yes, on the television. We tend to gather in the kitchen, so that's where the TV we watch together happens to be. We don't bother with cable because we aren't big TV watchers, but we watch things via Hulu and Netflix, so the TV is fed from a computer. That computer had Webshots on it, but Sam doesn't like that much, so he installedJohn's Background Switcher instead when he rebuilt the machine recently.

I've been a Webshots lover for many years, but there are some things that really annoyed me about it. JBS overcomes most of those! You can choose all kinds of sources for images.including your hard drives, so if you're a Webshots convert you might find this tool useful This one came up as one of the most "interesting" new photos on Flickr. Here's another image from the same artist. Aren't they beautiful? If you go see them on Flickr, you'll see the sources of all those little squares in the first image.

Originally published at Enemy of Entropy.

The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance by Trisha Telep

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'm extremely surprised by how much I enjoyed this anthology! I picked it up intending to just read the stories by authors I know I likeKelley Armstrong, Ilona Andrews, Carrie Vaughn, Holly Lisle, Jeaniene Frost, Maria V. Snyder. I had never heard of some of the other authors. A few names I remembered seeing in other anthologies and not enjoying their work.

I did, however, deliberately put myself in a tolerant mindset: this is a book of romance stories. It wouldn't be fair to judge them as anything else.

That worked rather better than it has in the past. I still got a little annoyed at having so much of each story dedicated to couples (and all het/mono couples, at that!) rather than some intriguing world ideas, but managed to stay on track.

In the end, I only skipped one storyI just don't like the Weather Wardens stuff at all. I found a couple of others substandard, but all in all, Telep chose very well. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys paranormal romance (maybe even those who usually stick to just romance), and most urban fantasy fans.

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Originally published at Enemy of Entropy.

At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Cat is definitely coming into her own now, and her relationship with Bones is portrayed far more healthily than most in the paranormal romance category. I love the fact that she demands that he permit her to stand as his equal, rather than treat her like a delicate thing to be protected.

The plot is more interesting than I recall in previous excursions, while building on the earlier books. I know there's another volume either planned or on the shelves, and I plan to read it. I wasn't so sure after the last book, but I'm glad I gave this one a chance.

I still contend that the cover art, no matter how lovely, shows a woman in a position that cannot be obtained by any human who wants to walk again. Cat is supposed to be half-vampire, but that hasn't been said to give her more flexibilityincreased strength, speed, and healing power, yes, but not this sort of oddity. Yes, it's a minor nit to pick, but it has bugged me since the first time I saw the cover.

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Unusual Suspects: Stories of Mystery & Fantasy by Dana Stabenow

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Another uneven anthology. I still have it in my hands, so I'll try to hit each story briefly.

"Lucky" by Charlaine Harris - Sookie is much easier to take in short form. I can't help it, the woman grates on me (in the TV show even worse than in the books). The other characters keep me reading.

"Bogieman" by Carole Nelson Douglas - Delilah Street does more than grate on my nerves in long form. She's more palatable in short form, too, but there are reminders of why I don't intend to read more in that series.

"Looks are Deceiving" by Michael A. Stackpole - If I've read any of Stackpole's work before, it's been in anthologies, and I don't remember it. I did wonder if this short story is set in a universe he uses in longer works, though. It wasn't bad at all.

"The House of Seven Spirits" by Sharon Shinn - I loved this story! And how often do you say that about a haunted house tale? I must track down and read some of Shinn's novels. Any suggestions?

"Glamour" by Mike Doogan - The Peasantry Anti-Defamation League might be after Doogan if he isn't careful at least, representatives of the male peasantry). The story was cute, and it did make me laugh.

"Spellbound" by Donna Andrews - This is another author whose books are going on my (groaning) to-read shelf. The story hit a few clich&eaute;s, but was fun enough to get away with them.

"The Duh Vice" by Michael Armstrong - Ugh. A little too preachy, and way too much anti-fat prejudice.

"Weight of the World" by John Straley - Where does Santa Claus go in the off-season? That's the biggest question answered in this piece. The "mystery" was "solved" nearly as soon as it was discovered.

"Illumination" by Laura Anne Gilman - Bonnie's back story! I think a bit of this story is used in the first chapter of Gilman's first PUPI novel, but I'll know more when I get my hands on it. It's a must-read for fans of the Cosa Nostradamus universe, though.

"The House" by Laurie R. King - could we maybe call a hiatus on the abused-kid stories? Maybe I'm hypersensitive, but I'm tired of them.

"Appetite for Murder" by Simon R. Green - another dark Nightside story. I don't think I'll ever need to read more in that universe.

"A Woman's Work" by Dana Stabenow - I'm an unabashed Stabenow fangirl. Despite that, I wasn't sure how she'd do in a fantasy setting. She proved herself, certainly. I can only hope that we'll see longer fantasy works from her in print at some juncture.

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Originally published at Enemy of Entropy.

Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready

My review

I give up. I just don't care what happens to anybody in this book. Back to the library with it!

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Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I can't think of a thing that wasn't right in Blue Diablo. I can think of one thing that made it stand head and shoulders above much of what I've read lately: Aguirre knows that sexual tension can be much sexier than explicit sex scenes! That is such a relief!

I'm looking forward to reading more about Corine and Chance. I've been waiting for more of her Grimspace series, so now I'm torn. Just give us more, Ann!

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Originally published at Enemy of Entropy.

The Parable of the Shower by Leah Bobet is an absolutely hilarious short story.

The angel of the LORD cometh upon you in the shower at the worst possible moment: one hand placed upon thy right buttock and the other bearing soap, radio blaring, humming a heathen song of sin.

Thanks to Sarah Monette for the heads-up!

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ETA: This otherwise cryptic post was a response to a Plinky prompt that asked what book I'd take if I were called to jury duty today. I can't imagine why their "share with blog" function doesn't include the prompt!

I wouldn't worry too much, as I can be fairly sure that I'll never be PICKED for jury duty. Last time, they asked, "Does anybody here have any problem with upholding ANY law?" I said yes (there are some really stupid laws on the books!) and was immediately dismissed.


Partners in Necessity is long, and it's good "comfort reading" for me (one of the few books I ever re-read).

If I were ever actually put on a jury, though, I don't think I could possibly carry enough books with me unless I had a Kindle.

Originally published at Enemy of Entropy.

Skin Trade by Laurell K. Hamilton

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I kept saying I was giving up on Hamilton's books, then giving her just one more chance as each novel came out, hoping that at some point she'd give up the porn and write real novels again. With this volume, the effort is finally vindicated.

Don't get me wrong--there's definitely sex in Skin Trade. Sex with yet more new men, even! But it doesn't start happening 'til well into the book, and when it does occur there's a lot more justification for it than at some times in the past. It's still explicit, and there are still likely to be more than two people in any given bed at a time, but if any of that squicked you, you wouldn't be reading any of her work.

The book nearly earned four stars, but there were a few plot holes that bothered me too much to forget them.

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Originally published at Enemy of Entropy.

Mean Streets by Jim Butcher

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Mean Streets is one of the best anthologies I've read in a while. It only has four different pieces in it, but they're all novellas, and all by strong, experienced writers. I don't think any of them are here riding on someone else's name on the book cover.

Jim Butcher's "Warrior," the first piece, is very good. It follows Harry and the Carpenter family after they experienced some major changes in the last Dresden novel. I could have stood a little more Molly, but Harry and Michael were the focus characters and they worked out some things that really needed to be dealt with. I'm glad I read this before the next Dresden novel, because I feel there's important character development. I seriously recommend this book to all Dresden fans.

I haven't read any of Simon R. Green's novels, though I've heard of the Nightside series and thought about picking one up. If "The Difference a Day Makes" is typical, though, I may not bother. He is a good writer, so I'm not sure what it is that bothered me so much. I know that something framed as one of the nastiest things people could choose to do in this piece isn't even in my top 10, but I feel there's something else that I just can't quite articulate yet.

I've read all three of Kat Richardson's Greywalker novels and enjoyed them enough that I plan to keep reading. "The Third Death of the Little Clay Dog" is my favorite piece of her work, hands down. There's more light, somehow, and that's important to me.

"Noah's Orphans" is my first exposure to Thomas E. Sniegoski, as far as I can recall. It was an interesting piece. I found myself wondering about Remy Chandler's past, about how the character has developed. If there are novels featuring that character, I may give them a read. In any case, it brought up some interesting questions about faith and obedience. I think it would have been more personally relevant to me about 20 years ago, though.

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Originally published at Enemy of Entropy.

Blood from Stone by Laura Anne Gilman

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
It feels like a spoiler, but since Gilman says this at the front of the book, I suppose it isn't: Blood From Stone is the last Retrievers novel, at least for a time. She's moving on to focus on other characters in the Cosa Nostradamus universe. I wasn't happy to read that, but after reading the book, I'm okay with it.

Blood From Stone definitely isn't a book to start with if you're new to Gilman's work. The Retrievers series really does need to be read sequentially. If you have read the rest, you know that Gilman has developed a very interesting universe and some very well-developed characters in the series. Book 6 doesn't disappoint at all, and brings the major plot threads to a very satisfactory close. I can't be more specific without real spoilers, though!

I'm definitely looking forward to reading the next novel in the universe, which will focus on Bonnie and the PUPIs (Private, Unaffiliated, Paranormal Investigators). I adore CSI, Bones, NCIS and the like, so I'm curious as to how forensics will work in urban fantasy settings. Jes Battis' A Flash of Hex is supposed to be waiting for me at the library, so by the time I get to Hard Magic I'll have something else to compare it to.

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Originally published at Enemy of Entropy.

We were fairly sure of this right after I finally had my Social Security hearing last month based on the very positive statements from the judge, but I didn't want to jinx anything. We got the official letter in the mail today, saying that the decision was "fully favorable!" SQUEE!

It will still take some time for that decision to bounce around the bureaucracy and get monthly payments started, much less get the back pay from the SSA. Because the onset date was years ago, I should be eligible for Medicare right away, but I'll need to talk to the attorney about that on Monday.

I really needed some good news, so the timing is marvelous.

This process has been an insane endurance contest. The fact that the SSA has been absolutely obstructionist throughout (and I know my experience is far from unique!) is ridiculous. The system demands that people who are most in need of help are least likely to get it in any timely fashion, because it takes so much persistence, jargon, and inside knowledge to get anywhere. If you can do all those forms and gather all the records and so on by yourself, I don't know that you should count as disabled! Even people with good support in other ways don't always have someone willing, able, and persistent who can and will spend the hours and hours of time to push a claim through.

I started the filing process for one reason: I needed stable access to healthcare so that I could get well enough to go back to work. Five years down the line, I'm not at all sure that I will be able to return to work, because my health has deteriorated so much that it may not be possible to get back to an "abled" state. How many years of productive lives are being in the U.S. wasted for lack access to healthcare?

I get annoyed every time I hear a talking head refer to plans to "insure" everyone. That isn't what we need! Plenty of people have health insurance and still don't get the actual health care they need because they can't afford the co-pays, or the insurer won't cover a particular drug or therapy, or there are pre-existing condition problems, or…

We need health care. Not divided up by age (this for kids, that for seniors, something else for working age people, oh, right, the disabled here) by universal car, the same care for everyone, for the whole body, cradle to grave. (Who ever decided that eyes and teeth should be separated out, anyway? That's stupid.)

I read an artcle about San Francisco's health program last week--if I can find a link I'll add it later. It does just what I described, from what that article says. I don't know how much it costs to join, but apparently there's a lot of outreach to people who are otherwise uninsured. There are no pre-existing conditions.

Does anyone know of programs like San Francisco's elsewhere in the U.S.?

Originally published at Enemy of Entropy.

Via the inestimable ideageek: Teaching girls to program
"Kids learning to storyboard, brainstorm, critique, design, pitch ideas, psuedocode, actually code, and make toys do things."

Originally published at Enemy of Entropy.

Do any of you maybe record Dollhouse? We don't do cable, so Katie and I have been watching it streaming on Hulu. This coming Friday's episode isn't going to be streamed, though, and we don't want to miss it. Any chance of some help? Pretty please?

It's fairly amazing how much you can find to watch online now. Legally! I used to get the CSI DVDs from Netflix when they were released each year, and watch the whole season in a marathon. Now we watch all three CSI shows on the CBS web site. The same goes for NCIS and Numb3rs. While the site says you can see full episodes of The Mentalist, I haven't found a way to do it. ABC has The Unusuals and Castle streaming. Burn Notice, Chuck, Bones, and Lie to Me are all on Hulu.

There's another show we watch once every few weeks, um, Legend? Legends? Something about a Seeker. I can't handle more of it than that, because the plots rely heavily on stupidity. That's too annoying, and while there are pretty people running around in nice scenery, it isn't enough to make up for the stup.

Comcast keeps sending more and more plaintive offers, trying to get us to subscribe to their cable TV and telephone service. When we did subscribe to cable, we didn't get around to watching much. We don't channel surf or just leavve the set on for noise, so it was wasted money. I suppose if we'd also gotten a Tivo or something similar, we would have recorded the shows we watch. But we didn't, so we still watched them online when we did watch them.

We can still use the television to view shows, thnks to a nifty cable Sam procured. That's better than watching on a computer monitor, and we can watch together. (It isn't much fun watching alone.)

Originally published at Enemy of Entropy. » Click here « to leave any comments.