Monthly Archives: May 2004

Gnash

I have three seam rippers, and none of them can be found.

Three. Two of them purchased because I couldn’t find the previous seam ripper(s).

The arm pieces to my superhero costume are complete. One’s a bit tight; I’ll just have to not gain any muscle mass on the left arm until after the party.

I need bleach to lighten a piece of fabric a bit, a seam ripper to unpick two metres of seams, and I need to find my interfacing and my glue gun. Thank goodness this costume doesn’t need a ton of sewing, because the little “quick-fix” portable thing Scarlet lent me is good for temporary hems and not much more. Next cheque (whenever that might be), a sewing machine. Absolutely.

But sooner: a seam ripper. Damn it.

Coffee, Tea, Me

According to a coffee quiz, my personality type is classified as “Peppermint Cappuccino: You’re fun, outgoing, and you love to try anything new. However, you tend to have strong opinions on what you like. You are a total girly girly at heart – and prefer your coffee with good conversation. You’re the type that seems complex to outsiders, but in reality, you are easy to please.”

Well, I’m amused. I’m not so sure about the trying anything new, and I actually prefer to drink my coffee alone, usually with a book. The quiz actually had decent questions though – certainly better than the writing quiz a couple of weeks ago – with answers I could choose because they were right, as opposed to selecting the one I disliked the least.

In order to achieve balance in all things, I looked for a tea quiz, and found two. The first one, which told me that I was “hot herbal tea: a spa for the soul,” wasn’t very deep. The second one would have been better if the author hadn’t expressed his/her own preferences in the questions, but it’s well-rounded, and even offers the option of rating the importance of the answer. The author indicates in the preamble that “Note- Black teas should only be made with boiling water, mostly. Green teas should never, ever be made with boiling water. For green tea, about 180 F is a good temperature to go by, mostly. If green tea is infused with boiling water, the tea will taste bitter and flat, and you will have wasted your money”, which is some of the best advice I’ve seen included in any quiz.

The answers are better than most quizzes, and they are twenty-five of them provided in a ranked order as per your quiz answers. I’m posting the first half of my answers to educate you about different teas. (They needed a bit of editing, like the quiz does, but the basic info is good):

1. Jasmine Green, intoxicatingly fragrant green tea I drink this already.
2. “Constant Comment”, wonderful black tea with orange rind and cloves I drink this too – t! introduced it to me years ago, and the irony of the name is just too good to pass up.
3. Dragon Well, rare Chinese green tea, quite refreshing This is actually already on my list of teas to try.
4. Genmaicha, green tea with toasted rice, a traditional japanese creation I love Genmaicha!
5. Earl Grey, black tea with oil of bergamot oranges, a classic blend Well, duh.
6. Pu-erh, highly aged China black tea, has an earthy, woody aroma, a bit of an acquired taste This is a new one to me.
7. Silver Needles, very very rare white tea, delicate, extremely light flavor, like hot water with a mere suggestion of tea in it Also new – sounds like I’d love it. And what a beautiful name!
8. Darjeeling, a lighter- bodied black tea, famous for its first and second flushes Again with the well, duh.
9. Ceylon, traditional black tea from Sri Lanka, very full, well-balanced tea Once in a while.
10. Chamomile (herbal blend), medicinal taste, good before bed I hated this until recently.
11. Lapsang Souchong, chinese black tea smoked over pine embers Mmmm – but I have to be in the mood for it.

Not bad. And the quiz serves a purpose, rather than just entertainment.

Movies

Whoever designed Halle Berry’s costume for Catwoman should be shot. It’s absolutely dreadful. The acting looks pretty horrendous, too. This is one movie I certainly won’t be seeing this summer.

And oh, look at that: only two weeks until Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban comes out. When did that happen?

Wednesday Book Update

Today’s word count: 2,904
Total word count: 22,583

That brings the manuscript to two-sevenths complete. Woo-hoo! And today’s words also bring me to two-fifths of my weekly 10K goal. Another 4K gets me there, as well as to 26K of manuscript, which is one-third of the contracted total.

And in other news, my contracts were returned to sender yet again. This is amusing, and yet not amusing. I’m becoming used to the idea that I’m not going to see this advance for a while. Good thing I didn’t wait until the contract had been signed to begin writing. That would have been a pretty pickle of mackerel.

It Should Have Been Better Than It Was: A Van Helsing Review

You know, I’d really been looking forward to this film, mostly for the shlock factor. I walked out of the theatre completely neutral towards it. Story threads were clumsily handled; I never reached a point where I sympathised with any of the characters, heroic or villainous; and the pacing seemed off somehow. I didn’t care about anyone during the final fight scene, but then, CG beating the tar out of CG usually doesn’t grab me.

Two hours of Kate Beckinsale’s costumes, and Hugh Jackman in a long coat and hat with flowing hair did a lot to offset my lack of involvement, though. Mmm.

I’ve heard a friend described the film as everyone being in a campy B movie except for Hugh Jackman who was in an action flick, but I disagree. Van Helsing seemed bemused by pretty much everything, and relied on his skills as a mercenary for the Church to get him through every situation. He was as one-dimensional as Dracula was, sticking to what he knew without exploring any alternatives.

It wasn’t as good as Sommer’s The Mummy Returns, and that’s what I was really hoping for. The banter just wasn’t there, nor were the charming characters. The awkward set-up for further exploration of the story was just that – an awkward set-up, as opposed to a mystery. And where the heck do they go from here? They’re already eliminated Hyde, Dracula, Dr Frankenstein, and the Wolfman. Van Helsing versus Lestat, now there’s an interesting pairing. Especially Lestat after all his theological evolution. It will never happen, of course.

Overall, it was a diversion on a rainy Tuesday, but I’ve forgotten most of it already. With Van Helsing out of the way, though, I can focus on getting excited about Troy.

Some Extra Guidelines for my Cat, by Rosie

Dear Cat,

Recently, you have begun to bring mice into the house. It seems to me that perhaps, when we first praised you for this activity, we didn’t make it perfectly clear that the praise was due, in the most part, to the fact that the mouse in question was actually dead. Bringing live prey into the house, only to drop them and chase them half-assedly around the lounge, while we, The Humans, shut doors, move furniture and floor-things, and even pick you up and put you in the same corner as the mouse while you stare fixedly at the place the mouse was, like, five minutes ago – that’s not good.

In future, either:
a) bring dead prey (rodent, not bird) into the garage, only, and place on doormat
b) refrain from bringing any other form of prey into the house or garage
c) if a prey-creature “suddenly comes alive again” (whatever!) when you are bringing it inside, pay attention to where it is, and rectify the situation as rapidly as possible.

Regards,

Rosie

(found over at Slightly Bewildered)