amy34

School update

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 03:33:53 GMT

Well, the kids are back in school again. Sean is carrying a challenging course load. He's in the gifted program this year, which affects three classes: English, History, and Science, so he's in the advanced version of all of those. Plus he's in 8th-grade Geometry, and his electives are Orchestra and Japanese, so there's not an easy A in the bunch. He is quite capable of handling all this, so I'm happy to see him stepping up this year.

So far he has no locker! They were short 59 lockers this year, and they had 60 kids in the gifted program, so they decided the gifted kids wouldn't get lockers. I kid you not! (They will get them later, when they get more installed.) Why they didn't get this problem solved over the summer, I don't know.

Ethan is homeschooling again. We've got another ambitious program, including all the basic subjects (math, language arts, science, social studies, PE, art/music) plus Latin, Computer Programming, World History, and Geography. Latin and Computer Programming are my contributions.

Angie has added an ambitious reading program called Read for the Gold, where the kids have to read 10 Newbery-award-winning books and answer a challenging set of comprehension questions on each by a certain date, and then they get a gold medal. To make it easier on ourselves as far as coming up with the questions, we specified exactly which 10 books they had to read. If you're curious, they are:

Hatchet
When You Reach Me
My Side of the Mountain
Sarah, Plain and Tall
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Shiloh
Dear Mr. Henshaw
The Giver

And, uh, one other that's slipping my mind right now. I think we kind of cheated in that the C. S. Lewis isn't a Newbery winner, but whatever. So the kids are doing this in addition to their monthly book reports, and we're also doing read-aloud books. Our first read-aloud is Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.

I've cut back on extracurriculars to just Scouts (Sean and Ethan), dressage (me and Sean), and piano (Ethan). I plan to add swimming, and I'll sign Ethan up for winter basketball when it's time for that. And if Sean wants to take private lessons in viola, I'll try to squeeze that in. But no more soccer. Now that I have a part-time job, with that plus homeschooling there isn't time for so many activities anymore.

Apple patents destroy the Enterprise

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:12:39 GMT

This is pretty funny:

Newsroom clip

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 20:56:52 GMT

This is great. Aaron Sorkin says the ugly truth that needed to be said.

My 13-year-old's version of Assassin's Gambit

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 19:01:03 GMT

The kids and I somehow got into a half-joking argument this morning about doing each other's work, and Sean ran to my computer to do my writing for me. He apparently decided to write Assassin's Gambit. Here's what he wrote. Bear in mind he hasn't read the book--it's R-rated and I won't let him read it--although he's certainly heard and seen bits and pieces. I'm amused that he captured some of the overall gist.

"SJ;’fhjglasklfawiurfokwa,m;elgqewmaflkdaerwlkjklufkjdh Lucien kukuvysiao;duspfd;sfdsalf;jeadfjeofduoi Vitala ajklfdshjg;rahdhiefg kiss kiss mwa mwa kslfjhd;ajewopsrjfeawo9’ cataranga (or something) a;dfljkeafjwaopfea;fhwaepfwnfh Bop bop fight punch kick fiyfhv;wl/fmw/ldsajfojwafwafowjaf;jwaf Yay"

What is Chatroulette?

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 02:40:18 GMT

So after watching that "Call Me Maybe" video, I got to wondering about Chatroulette. Given how many people in the video were shirtless and in their beds, I got the impression the site was used for activities other than just chatting. To see if my suspicions were correct, I checked the wikipedia entry for the site and confirmed that yes, chatroulette has a reputation. And I was delighted to discover that Jon Stewart did a Daily Show segment on chatroulette a couple of years ago about exactly this issue! I am embedding it here.

It is decidedly R-rated and NOT SAFE FOR WORK!

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Tech-Talch - Chatroulette

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

Another cool video

Sat, 18 Aug 2012 15:24:22 GMT

Found this one via Smart Bitches as well. I don't like the song "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye all that much (it's okay, but it's really overplayed). But this a capella group, Pentatonix, gives it a whole new sound and brings new life to it. They sound amazing. There are places where it sounds like they must have musical accompaniment. But I think it's actually all a capella.

Funny video

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 23:11:28 GMT

This is gacked from Smart Bitches. It's a really funny video, but let me warn you what this is before you watch it. This is a cross-dressing guy dancing and lip-syncing to the song "Call Me Maybe" on something call Chat Roulette, which I have no familiarity with. But from watching the video, I gather it pairs with you random video chat partners. So it looks like a bunch of random chat partners found themselves watching this guy, and you get to see their reactions. The funny thing is that while a few people are visibly horrified, most of them smile or laugh or even start singing along! The women are particularly inclined to just join in.

Luxy progress

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 03:15:25 GMT

I had a much better ride on Luxy today now that I know what to expect from him. Since I now know he's pretty much going to ignore any cue the first time I give it to him, I'm ready with a fast correction, and he's starting to take me more seriously. I think my third ride will be even better.

And wow, he is so talented. I still have a great deal to learn. My instructor was having me work on things like asking Luxy to put his haunches out while on a circle, and the problem with that was that I couldn't feel, from the saddle, whether Luxy was doing it or not. And of course most of the time he wasn't, because he was being lazy, and I couldn't give a timely correction because I couldn't tell if he was listening to my cues or not. I simply can't feel those subtle changes underneath me yet. That is the kind of thing that separates a beginning or intermediate rider from an advanced one. I have a long way to go.

But at one point the instructor asked me to do a 10-meter circle with Luxy while keeping his head and neck perfectly straight. That is, I was to turn the horse, but I couldn't turn the horse's head. If you think about it, that means I had to turn the horse in a fairly tight circle without using the reins. (I was actually using the reins--I was using them to keep his head and neck straight--but I wasn't using them to do the turning.)

Do you know how to turn a horse in a tight circle without using the reins? I already knew how to do that--I learned the skill in Texas--and it's a fun exercise. With a properly trained horse, you don't need the reins to steer. You can do it entirely with your seat and legs, and Luxy steers beautifully this way.

There seem to be few if any limitations on what Luxy can do. All the limitations are mine.

Bloggess article

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 23:30:11 GMT

This Bloggess article, a dialogue between her and a marketer wanting to advertise on her blog, was so funny that when I tried to read it to my kids, I kept having to stop because I was laughing so hard. And when I finished reading it, the kids asked me to read it again.

Bloggess article

The horse I'm riding now

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 23:07:08 GMT

This is Luxy, the horse I'm riding now:

Luxy is a beautiful horse, and this photo does not remotely do justice to him. I will work on getting a better picture. This was just a quick shot I snapped before putting him away after riding.

Luxy is a Warmblood (Dutch or Danish, I am not sure which). He is extremely talented and very well trained, and he has fabulous gaits. This is a valuable horse, and I feel fortunate to be riding him, although I can't do a whole lot with him yet, just basics. The good thing about riding a horse who is so much more skilled than me is that I can ride this horse for years and be constantly learning new things. Whereas the horses I was riding at the old place were so basic in their training that I couldn't learn anything on them that I didn't already know.

Luxy does have a fault--he's lazy. And this is a fault I have almost no experience dealing with, because the Arabians I used to ride almost never had this fault. I have ten years of experience in calming excitable horses, lowering stress levels, and handling spookiness. NONE of that experience has any value in dealing with this horse. He's not excitable, stressed, or spooky. He's quite placid and safe. So the bad news is I feel like a newbie rider with no skills, starting over from the beginning. (At least I have a pretty good seat.) The good news is that I'm learning a whole new skill set that will apply to many a horse that is not an Arabian. I hate feeling like a beginner, but at least I'm gaining valuable experience.

Daily Show--the Mars rover

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 05:08:42 GMT

Media coverage of the Mars rover has been pretty meager, so here's Jon Stewart from the Daily Show with better footage than I've seen elsewhere (it starts with a bit about the Olympics). It's not one of his funniest segments, but I enjoyed it. It's non-political.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Live at Red Rocks

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

Back at the stables. Also KING 5 news.

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 22:35:40 GMT

I was back at the stable this afternoon, not for my own lesson but for Sean's, and there have been some changes. Archie is gone, and there is a new horse (not owned by the same person). Umberto or something like that. A Dutch Warmblood imported from the Netherlands--they literally flew him here from Europe. I watched him get fitted for a saddle this afternoon. He's a pretty bay with a white blaze, and I doubt I will get to ride him because he's a client horse.

But part of the fun of riding at a high class stable like this is just getting to be around horses like this. I'm a writer, which means I like to be a fly on the wall and watch interesting things happen. At stables like this, interesting things are happening all the time.

Sean is coming along really well in his riding. He's posting the trot now and learning his diagonals, and the instructor wanted him to canter today, but Sean said he wanted to wait until next week. He's doing almost all his own ground handling and tacking.

The fact that Mitt Romney's wife has a dressage horse competing in the Olympics has spurred all kinds of media interest in the sport, and KING 5 is sending a TV crew out to the stable where Sean and I ride tomorrow. They will be filming 4 horses, one of which is the horse I am scheduled to ride on Saturday. If you are local and curious to see the stable, watch KING 5 news tomorrow evening. I assume that is when the segment will air (I don't know for sure).

Raymond Chandler parodies science fiction

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 20:31:40 GMT

Raymond Chandler parodies science fiction:

'Did you ever read what they call Science Fiction? It's a scream. It is written like this: "I checked out with K19 on Aldabaran III, and stepped out through the crummalite hatch on my 22 Model Sirus Hardtop. I cocked the timejector in secondary and waded through the bright blue manda grass. My breath froze into pink pretzels. I flicked on the heat bars and the Brylls ran swiftly on five legs using their other two to send out crylon vibrations. The pressure was almost unbearable, but I caught the range on my wrist computer through the transparent cysicites. I pressed the trigger. The thin violet glow was icecold against the rust-colored mountains. The Brylls shrank to half an inch long and I worked fast stepping on them with the poltex. But it wasn't enough. The sudden brightness swung me around and the Fourth Moon had already risen. I had exactly four seconds to hot up the disintegrator and Google had told me it wasn't enough. He was right."'

I have to admit that parody is hilarious. And it was written in 1953--yes, even with the Google reference! Here's the source:

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/06/they-pay-brisk-money-for-this-crap.html

Colbert dressage video

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 16:37:03 GMT

All this political talk about Romney and dressage and the Olympics has been kind of funny for me because, uh, I actually ride dressage horses myself. It's a sport I only recently took up, I don't own my own horse (and if I ever do, it won't be a horse worth anything near what Ann Romney's horse is worth), and I've never competed in an actual dressage event. But it has been interesting watching the sport be politicized. One thing that seems to be left out of the political story is that lots of people participate in dressage riding at a level that does not require Romneyesque money. We're in it just for fun, not to go to the Olympics.

Anyhow, I got a kick out of this Colbert video in which he rides an actual dressage horse:

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Stephen's Dressage Training Pt. 2

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

Video Archive

RWA and Daphne

Sat, 28 Jul 2012 04:08:24 GMT

I have been slow at posting and answering comments lately because I'm at RWA Nationals 2012. Lots is going on, and I'll have plenty to post when I get back, or possibly I can post some of it while I'm traveling (I'm posting now, obviously--sometimes I have internet access and a little extra time, but more often I don't).

I met with my agent and met with my editor, and tonight I went to Berkley/NAL publisher party. I also have gone to a ton of workshops and took notes I can share with you guys.

But the big news is that I won the Daphne du Maurier! (Award for excellence in mystery/suspense writing.)

I didn't just win the Paranormal category, I won the whole thing! Check it out:

I got other goodies too--a little pin, and a smaller plaque for winning my category, and some certificates, and a free online class, and a small cash award.

I did not expect to win my category, let alone the overall award, so it was a huge surprise! Fantasy manuscripts don't usually do well in cross-genre competition. My agent was there, and one of her other clients, Darynda Jones, won the overall Daphne in the published division, so I imagine it was quite a night for her too, with her clients sweeping the awards.

I was there with Nancy, one of my fellow 2011 Golden Heart finalists, and she commented on how my hands were shaking after I'd gone up to receive the Daphne. Thank goodness we weren't asked to make a speech! I had already been so nervous I'd eaten almost nothing all evening (pretty sad because we were at a chocolate reception and the food looked really good). It was true; my hands were shaking.

It's a beautiful thing--Flood and Fire is my little mystery manuscript that could, and it's the winner of the unpublished 2012 Daphne du Maurier.

A few more notes on Rock & Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 04:01:37 GMT

So a couple more things I forgot to mention in my last post. Disney prides itself on having a "story" for every ride, even roller coasters, which are kind of difficult to surround with any kind of story. Rock and Roller Coaster does have one, although it's a little bit thin. Before you board the roller coaster, you go into this room where the guys from Aerosmith appear, and they're on their way somewhere, and they say you can take their limo. I would probably be more excited about this bit if I were an Aerosmith fan. Instead, I'm pretty much, meh, Aerosmith, ugly guys with guitars, whatever.

Then you enter the boarding area, and the roller coasters are indeed made to look like stretch limos, which is kind of cute. You board your "limo," and it moves forward to the mouth of a tunnel where it stops, and there's a display saying there's a traffic jam ahead. The display goes through a series of updates, and it's basically a launch countdown.

The classic old-style roller coaster starts slow and cranks up a big hill, then heads down a massive drop, but these newer coasters, like Rock and Roller Coaster (also California Screamin' if you've ridden that one) don't use a big hill to accelerate the coaster. They simply shoot you into the tunnel at 57mph like firing you from a cannon! The people riding the coaster know this is coming--they've watched half a dozen coasters launch before their own--so there is a great deal of excitement while you wait for launch. Launching is the most exciting part by far; after that it's pretty tame.

Another thing I like about these newer coasters is that they're smooth and they don't jerk you around a whole lot.

One thing I wanted to mention about the Tower of Terror. I have seen similar "free fall" rides at other parks--far less sophisticated, of course, and without the story and special effects--but they are all contained within a single vertical tower. They load up the elevator, raise you up and drop you once or twice, then bring you back down and unload.

But the Tower of Terror actually moves the elevator. I mean the elevator moves horizontally. They load the elevator, and you go up and watch some special effects, and then the elevator actually starts creeping horizontally across the building (with accompanying special effects). When you're at the other side of the building, then you drop. After you've been flung up and down a bunch of times, the elevator goes back to the ground floor and you unload.

I had to wonder why they designed it in such a way! Why include the horizontal movement? It's got to make the engineering more difficult. My guess is that it increases the efficiency and capacity of the ride. They can be loading one car, unloading another, have one going through the story/special effects, and another in the drop sequence. I don't know if that's what they actually do; I'm just guessing.

It is a unique ride. Even if you've ridden free-fall rides before, there is nothing quite like this one.

Disneyworld: Hollywood Studios

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 23:12:17 GMT

Hollywood Studios wasn't originally on our agenda, but we had one free day, and we ended up using it for Hollywood Studios. I'm glad we did, because it was a pretty good park. Ethan's favorite, as it turned out.

When the park opened, we headed straight for "Toy Story Mania." This is a dark ride that is also sort of a video game and shooting gallery. The ride swings you around in front of screens where you can use a gun mounted on your vehicle to throw pies, toss rings, throw darts at balloons, etc., to earn points. The game aspect of the ride is highly responsive and surprisingly fun, and as a result, Toy Story Mania is the most popular ride in the park. I rode it twice, once right when the park opened, and once more using a Fastpass. I am amazed at some of the high scores people manage to rack up in that game--there must be some tricks I'm not aware of!

After Toy Story Mania, our group split up, with Ethan and I heading off for the thrill rides and the rest of our group (not so into thrill rides) staying to ride Toy Story Mania a second time. Ethan and I rode the Rock and Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror.

The Rock and Roller Coaster was fun, but I think Expedition Everest was better. The Rock and Roller Coaster is Disneyworld's most extreme roller coaster, with extremely rapid acceleration at the beginning, followed by a loop and corkscrew. I think. And it's all in the dark. The acceleration at the beginning was quite cool, but in truth I barely noticed the loops and corkscrews, however many there were, because they were in the dark and I couldn't see them, and all I really felt were the G's. After the stuff in the beginning, the coaster is pleasant but pretty tame. It's not completely in the dark, by the way; bits and pieces of the track are lit up, which is nice. It's an enjoyable roller coaster, but the way it's set up, you hardly notice the extreme parts of it. I thought Expedition Everest, with the "surprise! now you're going backwards!" bit, was more clever.

As for the Tower of Terror, this has always been one of my favorite Disney rides. It's got a great story and special effects, and it delivers big thrills without jerking you around or being in any way unpleasant. If you go and think you can handle a bit of free fall, don't miss this one! Ethan loved it too.

After the thrill rides, our group joined up again for the rest of the park. The studio tour was just "meh," but it ended by dropping us off in a movie museum that made the tour worthwhile. The museum had the original Darth Vader suit, and some of the original Star Wars ship models, and lots of Hollywood movie costumes. We had a great time looking around in there.

The last ride we really enjoyed was Star Tours. This is a Star Wars simulation ride, and even waiting in line for this one is kind of fun because there are so many animatronic Star Wars characters entertaining you during the wait. This is another ride that varies a little each time you ride it--they swap in different beginnings and endings to the story--so it's fun to ride it multiple times. We rode it twice. And the boys bought built-your-own-lightsabers.

Dress shopping for Nationals

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 05:03:02 GMT

I think there are few experiences more humiliating for the human female than dress shopping. I mean, okay, if you're 20 years old and you've got the body of a model, fine, you'll probably have an enjoyable experience. But then there's the other 99.9% of us.

I probably have it easier than many, since I'm not technically overweight, and I fit into standard sizes. But I'm heavier than I was before two pregnancies and middle age caught up to me, plus those pregnancies left me with a bit of a tummy, and I don't care what that gal in "Pulp Fiction" says, it's not sexy. Besides, even when I was younger and slimmer, most dresses still looked like crap on me.

So I need cocktail dresses for RWA Nationals, two of them. (I actually need three! But I'm going to cheat and just bring two. I'll either wear one twice or dress down to one of the events.) I started my search at Nordstrom, figuring if I couldn't find two reasonably priced dresses there, I'd buy just one there and get the other somewhere less expensive.

I grabbed a bunch of possibilities and started trying them on. The first was a purple dress. It looks gorgeous on the hanger, terrible on me. I don't know why I keep picking purple, because I sure can't wear it. The next was black. Very pretty dress, but wow, does it ever accentuate my tummy. I look embarrassingly bad in it. The salesperson stands outside the door and asks how I'm doing. I get rid of her fast, not wanting her to see how bad I look in this dress. She leaves, and I take that black dress off fast.

It was interesting listening to all the conversations going on around me in the other changing rooms. I was shopping alone, but most people were shopping with friends or family. I heard one group discussing the wonders of Spanx. (If you don't know what Spanx is, you are probably either under 40 or you are a guy.) Then there were a lot of conversations about the merits or this or that dress, many relating to how well it concealed or accentuated certain body flaws, and one lady was having a heartfelt conversation with another about how, after all these years, she'd finally come to terms with her body and that this was just her natural shape.

Pretty sad, huh? 20 women trying on dresses at Nordstrom, and every single damn one of them was talking about something related to negative body image. Even as I was experiencing some of the same thoughts privately.

The next dress was a winner. One down, one to go! But the one I tried on after that had a bizarre neckline, so weird that I asked the saleswoman if I was wearing it correctly. She went to get a colleague. The colleague gave it a hard critical stare and said, "Yeah, that's how it's supposed to look." Then we had an awkward silence and she didn't speak the words I figure we were all thinking, "but it sure doesn't look good on you." Then the colleague ran off to get me some replacement dresses.

I hated the dresses she got me. I couldn't figure them out! The first one looked like it was inside out, because it had a blue satiny material on the inside, and a drab black material on the outside. Shouldn't the satiny blue be on the outside? So I turned it inside out, but then the sleeves made no sense, so I turned it inside out again, and it still made no sense... and I gave up. It was $300, and I wasn't going to spend that much on a dress anyway.

The second one had a bizarre zipper that didn't go all the way up the dress and two random swaths of material that formed tubes but were too thin to be sleeves, so I have no idea what they were. I managed to get this one on partway, but then got into a position where I was going to break the thin material of the dress if I wasn't careful, and I couldn't figure it out, and it was $300 anyway. Plus the dress seemed like a practical joke. Tubes? Zippers that go only halfway up? Do the Nordstrom staff hand these dresses to unsuspecting customers and then watch on the security camera, laughing uproariously as the poor customers gamely try to put them on?

Thoroughly aggravated, I got dressed and left the changing room, ready to buy just the one dress and get out of the chamber of humiliation. But then my saleswoman found a cute little black dress on the clearance rack. I tried it on, and it was perfect. So I ended up getting two after all.

Diablo 3 hell mode

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 23:47:22 GMT

So I switched Diablo characters, from Witch Doctor to Wizard. My ex had played all three ranged classes and said the Wizard was the most fun, and I gave it a try and agreed it was more fun than the Witch Doctor, so I leveled a Wizard up to where my Witch Doctor was and passed her up.

Finished Normal mode, finished Nightmare mode, and now I'm in Hell mode (the 3rd difficulty level). If I get past this, I'll qualify for the final difficulty level, Inferno.

I actually killed Nightmare-level Diablo in Orlando on the laptop. It wasn't easy, given that the laptop is not the best gaming machine, and Disney's internet service tends to drop without warning.

Total side note, did you know Disney censors their internet? I tried going to cracked.com using Disney's wireless internet, and they wouldn't let me, because the site was rated R.

Anyway, here is my level 57 Wizard:

I found that in Hell mode, I've had to start playing my character in a different way. I use a completely different set of abilities than I used in Nightmare mode. I'm now all about mobility and control, control, control. I use Diamond Skin for the arcane power boost, Blizzard to keep mobs where I want them, Arcane Orbs for AOE, Teleport for kiting and getting out of danger, Magic Missile and Ray of Frost for single-target beatdown.

I'm dying a lot less with this set of abilities, and now that I have control and mobility, I don't need as much vitality, and I can afford to invest points in intelligence for more DPS.

Bye bye Archie

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 00:28:46 GMT

There's a reason I've ridden so many different horses (probably over a hundred). This is simply the reality of people like me who love horses and pay to ride them, but do not own one of our own. We are the peons of the horse world, and the animals are bought and sold underneath us. It's not all bad, because riding a lot of different horses has made me a better and more versatile rider. But it's a sad thing, and it's why every horse lover wants her own horse. The reality of not being an owner is that practically every time you get start to get attached to a horse, the horse gets sold elsewhere.

For people who make their living in horses, the buying and selling of horses is often the core of that business. Once I asked the owners of the Arabian stable in Texas if any of their horses were for sale. They gave me a quizzical look, like it was a silly question, and said, "They're all for sale."

Archie is going to a family in Colorado. I rode him for the last time today and fed him a couple of carrots, and I will never see him again. I am sad, but I have been through this with a dozen horses before Archie. There is no solution except the Horse Fund, which has a whopping $0 in it so far. But all my book money is going into the Horse Fund. There should be money in it before the end of the year.

Archie isn't actually being sold; he's being given away. As I learned more about him, I had come to suspect this: Archie is, from a strictly financial perspective, worthless. Though he has a wonderful temperament and is very well trained, his canter is a mess and cannot be fixed, which means he will never have a career in the show ring. And there are some problems I didn't know about--injuries to his back and stifle which contribute to his gait issues.

Thus he is being given to a family who will take him on some light trail riding and do a little bit of gentle dressage with him. I love him, and I hope he will have a great hope with this new family. Archie is a Thoroughbred/Andalusian cross, the first Andalusian I have ever ridden, and the first TB I've had any fondness for.

Soon I will be taking lessons on a new horse. Stay tuned.

Best nonfiction book ever for fantasy writers!

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 22:35:44 GMT

Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Biological & Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World

I have found the best nonfiction book ever for fantasy writers! This is a book describing nontraditional tactics of war actually used by ancient and medieval people. I bought it because I had a character in a Hearts & Thrones story shooting flaming arrows, and I wasn't sure if that actually worked (even though these used magic). This book apparently covers flaming arrows. And it covers a whole lot more!

Even though I bought this for Hearts & Thrones (the Lucien/Vitala series beginning with Assassin's Gambit), it may help me even more with my Bronze Age series. It's already given me several ideas to use in Flood and Fire sequels.

One of the reasons I wrote Flood and Fire in the first place is that when I started reading about ancient peoples, I realized that we vastly underestimate them. Ancient peoples did incredible things. Flood and Fire was specifically motivated by my reading about an ancient civilization that blew my mind in terms of the things they were able to accomplish.

This book is blowing my mind, too!

Here's clever tactic of war used by ancient peoples #1: diverting water.

In the 7th century B.C., Semiramis, the queen of Assyria, wanted to invade the city of Babylon (because the Assyrians, I'm sorry to say it, were assholes). The Euphrates River flowed through Babylon, so Semiramis had her engineers divert the river. Then her army marched right into the city in the dry riverbed.

Guys, think about that for a minute. This is the Euphrates River (photo from wikipedia):

This is no mere stream. The Assyrian engineers diverted this whole freaking river! And they didn't take years to do it; it was part of a siege. HOW DID THEY DO THIS? I don't know, but ancient peoples are way more sophisticated than we usually give them credit for.

Less impressive from an engineering standpoint but no less clever, the Roman commander Lucius Metellus was fighting Spaniards in 143 B.C. and he noticed his enemies were encamped in an easily flooded plain. He had his legionaries dam a stream and flood the plain, and then ambush the Spaniards as they ran from the floodwaters. Smart, huh?

What happened to rock music?

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 15:37:04 GMT

Is it just me, or has rock music largely disappeared?

I could tell it was on the way out a couple of decades ago, when the rock stations started calling themselves "classic rock" stations, and they weren't playing anything new anymore, except the very occasional new Rush song (which was rarely any good). And that's when I removed them from my presets. I can't listen to old music; it's too boring. My brain tunes out anything I've heard more than a couple dozen times. I only enjoy listening to radio stations with a constant supply of new music.

So then I switched to the "alternative" stations, and this was about the time of the grunge era, and grunge is basically a form of rock music. So rock survived as grunge for a little while. But then that died out too, and the alternative stations suffered the same fate as the "classic rock" stations--they started playing mostly old music and not enough new music. It's 2012. I don't want to hear those Nirvana and Pearljam songs anymore; they were played out over a decade ago.

So where's the rock music now? As far as I can tell, gone. Maybe there's a place where it survives that I don't know about, but I can't find a new music station that plays it. Only old music stations, and I don't listen to those.

Lately, I listen primarily to a station called "Click," an alternative/pop station that plays new music only (it's about 95% new music, 5% old, a mix that works well for me), and a country station. Country has a constant influx of new music and turns over its entire playlist about every 6 months. Plus country these days (especially "new country," which is what I listen to) features a variety of styles of music.

Imagine my surprise when I heard this song the other day. It sounds to me like a genuine rock song, the likes of which I haven't heard in years. The lyrics, unfortunately, are terrible. It's one of those "woohoo redneck pride" songs I can't stand. But the music is great. Maybe country is where the rock music has gone (although songs in this style are rare).

Disneyworld: Animal Kingdom

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 03:47:19 GMT

Animal Kingdom didn't exist the last time I visited Disneyworld, so this park was entirely new to me. As an animal lover, I was looking forward to it. But it turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. It had its moments, but I didn't love Animal Kingdom.

The biggest problem with Animal Kingdom is that it's hot in Orlando, especially if you live in Seattle where people start wiping the sweat off their brow when the mercury cracks 75. And at Animal Kingdom there is no place to cool down. At Epcot, we did fine, because when we started to overheat, we just ducked into an air-conditioned building for a while.

But Animal Kingdom doesn't have any of those! Very few, anyway, and I think they're all gift shops (with no place to sit down). We toured all morning, but by 1 or 2pm, Ethan was getting grumpy from the heat. We wanted to see the "Flights of Wonder" bird show, and some other shows too, but Ethan was overheated and miserable and wanted to go back to the hotel. I got him a frozen drink and managed to drag him to Flights of Wonder, and he expressed his opinion of that by refusing to watch the show. Too bad, because he missed a great show. "Flights of Wonder" was possibly the best thing we saw at Animal Kingdom.

After that we had to concede defeat (mostly because of Ethan; I'm a Texan and I'm accustomed to toughing it out in hot weather) and go home. We missed several shows I had wanted to see. A single air-conditioned building would have made all the difference.

Favorite rides:

"Expedition Everest" was excellent. This is a roller coaster with some cool surprises. After going up the incline at the beginning, the track appears to be broken. The coaster stops for a little while, and you wonder what's going to happen. Then suddenly the coaster starts going backwards, fast! It's crazy and awesome. Apparently while you are sitting there, the track is being switched behind you. I loved this ride, and it's tied with "Flights of Wonder" for my favorite ride/show at Animal Kingdom.

"Dinosaur" was pretty good. It's a technological clone of Indiana Jones in Disneyland California. I think Indiana Jones is a little better, though.

I found the animal exhibits underwhelming. We have an excellent zoo at home in Seattle, and Animal Kingdom didn't have anything we can't see at home. Even the ride that supposedly gets you up close to the African animals didn't get us any closer than our local zoo does. And our local zoo isn't hot and crowded.

We did spot a cute little lizard while we were there. Not an anole like the billions we saw at our hotel, but a black lizard with red markings on its head. Anyone know what it is?

Disneyworld: Epcot

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 16:33:22 GMT

Epcot is the main reason we flew all the way to Orlando rather than go to Disneyland-Anaheim, which is much closer to Seattle. I really like Epcot. It's like our Pacific Science Center in Seattle, but multiplied by 10. As far as I know, it's the only science-and-education-themed theme park in the U.S., maybe in the world (?), so it was worth taking the boys all the way to Florida for it.

Sean named it as his favorite park in Disneyworld (Ethan's favorite was Hollywood Studios).

In case some of you are unfamiliar with Epcot, it's roughly divided into two sections, "Future World," which is a set of rides and shows and exhibits about science and technology, and the world showcase, which is a set of pavilions representing foreign countries: Mexico, Norway, Germany, Morocco, Japan, France, the U.K., Canada. Each one features shops and entertainment and food from that country.

The big ball you see in the photo above is actually a ride called Spaceship Earth--it's a trip through history, featuring the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Phoenicians, etc., and ultimately the beginnings of the computer age. Since we studied all those ancient cultures in our homeschooling program, I was happy to have Ethan see them in this ride.

Some of the Future World exhibits are getting a little old and tired, or were never very good in the first place (the kids and I have been making fun of the "Imagination" ride all week), but many are outstanding. "Soarin'" is new (it's a replica of "California Soarin'" from California Adventure) and not educational at all but a very pleasant ride.

"Living with the Land" was a ride I loved 20 years ago, and it's still great--an educational boat ride through innovative gardens and greenhouses. The boys loved it too.

"Mission: Space" was new and our favorite ride at Epcot. It's a space flight simulator. You get in the cockpit of your spacecraft and blast off into space, and you really feel the G's of acceleration. Then when you break orbit, you really feel almost weightless. Apparently these effects are achieved by spinning the simulator, but you don't feel like you are spinning. You do feel odd, like strange and powerful things are happening! It's very effective, a great ride, but some people get motion sickness on it. There are two versions, a "green" version with no spinning (for people who are afraid of motion sickness) and an orange version which is the full experience. We started with the green and then tried orange. We didn't have any problems with motion sickness, and the orange version is way cooler.

"Test Track," another new ride, was unfortunately closed.

Epcot is a very hands-on park with a lot of exhibits you can play with. For example, there's this fountain with leaping snakes of water, which I played with as a teenager, and the boys had a great time with:

And there are lots of educational video games that are played cooperatively with other people in the park. Whenever we got too hot or tired, we'd duck into an air conditioned building and the boys would play some game while I rested on a bench.

Hope was sick the first day of Epcot, so the boys and I were on our own the first day, and then my dad and Hope joined us the second day. We ate at Biergarten the first day (in the Germany pavilion), and at Teppan Edo (Japan pavilion) the second day. Teppan Edo was much better than Biergarten, although Biergarten had some fun live entertainment.

We didn't see as much of the world showcase as we would have liked, because it was hot and there was a ton of walking involved and a lot less air conditioning available. We walked miles at Epcot (I actually got a blister), and the tropical storm was gone, so the temperature was in the 90's, and we Seattleites are not accustomed to that.

The boys loved the Japan pavilion, though. They spent hours there.

There was a store full of Pokemon and Japanese candy and sushi stuff and just a billion other things the boys were interested in. Also pearls from live oysters, which fascinated Ethan. He bought two oysters, each of which held two pearls. The boys could not get enough of that store, and they spent all their money there.

Disneyworld: the Magic Kingdom

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 16:20:50 GMT

So when we arrived in Orlando, it was in the middle of tropical storm Debby. We got on the plane in rainy Seattle, and we got off the plane in... rainy Orlando. It was like we had never moved!

Except it was thirty degrees warmer, which did in fact make a big difference.

I was grumbling about the weather--seems like it rains almost every time I go on vacation. It rained on us when we went to Disneyland, and it never rains in Anaheim, and remember those photos I posted of us looking like drowned rats at the Statue of Liberty in New York City? And now it was raining on us again in Orlando, a tropical storm no less, causing major flooding. But the kids were cheerful. They are not Texans like me. They are true Seattleites. Sean was all, "What's wrong, Mom? I love this weather!"

We came to realize, in time, that tropical storm Debby had actually been a stroke of luck from our perspective (not lucky for the people who suffered from the flooding, I know). For one, the weather was not that unpleasant. In Seattle, when it rains, it gets chilly--a high of 55 in summer is typical for a rainy day. But in Orlando, those rainy days felt warm and tropical, with temperatures in the 80's. Even when we were wet, we weren't uncomfortable.

And we didn't spend much time wet. We quickly acquired rain gear. The concierge gave us umbrellas, and my dad and Hope (who'd joined us in Orlando) brought extra ponchos. While it was slightly annoying to carry them around, we seldom needed them because the rainstorms were infrequent and short-lived. Most rained themselves out within 10 or 15 minutes. We'd seek cover in some show at the Magic Kingdom, and when the show was over, the storm would be too.

Even better, the rain scared away a lot of the crowds, especially in the morning. We spent our first two days at the Magic Kingdom, in the rain, and had a fabulous time. Though the crowds did eventually build up in the afternoon and evening, the lines in the morning were really short. We were following the tour plan in the Unofficial Guide (I strongly recommend this if you go to Disneyworld), which cuts down on line waiting tremendously, but we got breaks that went beyond what the guide had to offer. For example, when it said to get fastpasses for Splash Mountain, the standby wait for Splash Mountain was only 5 minutes, so we just rode it instead. Our whole morning was like that, little to no waiting on a peak season day.

And because the temperatures were in the 80's, we never got overly hot. When the tropical storm ended, a few days later, we would miss it and want it back. More on that in a later post.

We had lunch at the Crystal Palace, a buffet where the characters come around and visit every table. It's spendy, but the food is pretty good and it's a nice place to relax and take a break after touring the park all morning.

Our favorite rides from Magic Kingdom:

Sean: Splash Mountain
Ethan: Space Mountain
me: Splash Mountain

One disappointment--we did not get to ride Buzz Lightyear, because it was closed.

I'll end with a few photos, most from Crystal Palace.