"Sometimes I wonder what its like to write like that. Have a mastery over the language and have your sentences come out the way you want them."

A friend said this to me today.

I am speechless.

I'll have a niece in May. woo+!

Having just made off with a bunch of hand-me-down clothes from philiptan's daughter, it got me wondering if there were other baby thingers that people were done with and were looking to pass along. As far as I know they haven't gotten anything yet, so they probably need... actually you probably know what they need more than I do.

The other trick here is that I'm heading back home on Friday morning—in a car, so I can even haul large things!—so this would have to be stuff that can be handed off today or tomorrow.

Anyway, yes. Baby lootz looking for a good home, if you happen to have them.

I am looking for a large cooler to borrow for a few weeks.

Or possibly a medium one, on the theory that two medium coolers approximates a large cooler.

Anyway, can anyone help?

Today! Starting at 1pm! My current place! Please come if you have time to help for an hour or so!

You can hear the ominous news about my movers.

Tonight, 7:15pm, Somerville Theatre.

Holler if I'll see you there. Or just show up and have it be a pleasant surprise.

Packing day shall be the afternoon of Sunday, August 21st. Holler if you can help me pack and I'll add you to the list of Awesome People and send you details when the time comes. There will be Post-Packing Pie.

And so you know, those people who have infinite stuff and packing them up is an epic undertaking? I am not one of those people. Do not be alarmed; this should not be a scary occasion.

It's week two, and I think I'm well on my way to getting shin splints. I understand this is addressed with proper running shoes, yes? Where's that local place everyone says to go to?

By the way, the Chubby Jones podcast is my clear winner for C25K podcasts. She's even doing a third set of them, though sadly she's doing them in real time—a bout of pneumonia wiped her out and she had to start back at the beginning again—and she's just doing week 1 now, so I'm ahead of her. And holding back until she catches up seems a little silly. Ah well, I shall carry on.

For the curious, I'm also using the Sage Yoga Training podcast to remind myself to do the post-running stretches properly. Her standing stretch series, mostly, since it's very leg focused.

Hokay! In a fit of productivity, I've finished the first draft of a story that took far too long to write. It's about a Chinese mathematician and her relationship with her daughter. And AI. Sort of. All of which explains why it took far too long to write.

I need some readers. This round, I think I mostly want fact checking. Since I have no direct experience with Chinese culture, mathematicians, raising a daughter, or AI, I expect I've gotten it wrong. This is where the readers come in, to call me on my BS and help me fix it. If you have some expertise with at least one of the above and want to help me out, let me know.

You're also welcome to comment on other bits like story structure, but since I expect my BS is bad enough that the story will have to be majorly revised, that sort of feedback is probably more useful in round two.

Incidentally, this is intended to be a Machine of Death submission.

huah, you will soon owe me some artwork. ;)

Oh, and thanks to philiptan for bringing his daughter to visit today. Not only was it a pleasant visit, but she was also a useful reference.

It has been the week of Chinese culture!

Red Cliff last weekend with jadia and visage, which is an entirely awesome movie. It says something when you watch a 4.5 hour movie and don't notice how long it is. The pissing contest between the tacticians was my favorite, I think. I like plots with clever people being clever.

Read American Born Chinese, a graphic novel that won the Printz award a few years back. Has three threads, one about the Monkey King, one about the eponymous American Born Chinese, and one a sitcom-style thread that takes its humor from all the most cringeworthy Chinese stereotypes. It was an interesting book, though the way the three threads came together was surreal and disconcerting. And the cringeworthy parts are REALLY cringeworthy. Which is the point, but even so.

There was a third. What was it...
Possibly it was the short story I'm writing about the Chinese mathematician lady, who I keep trying to convince that she's really Singaporean or something so I can fake her culture more easily, but she's having none of it. Pesky characters. Anyway, had a revelation to remove the metaphor layer about Orwellian politics and replace it with near future scifi identity exploration gobbledygook, which I thinks works better. Or it does in my head. We'll see when I get it on the page.

Which reminds me, the letter I as pronounced aloud in English, does that sound mean anything in Chinese?

In other news, I went to the Memorial Day parade yesterday, since it went up Broadway near my house. Sat squarely in the shade the entire time and STILL got a bit sunburned. Not fair. The families sitting next to me were pretty hilarious, though. They clearly lived nearby as well, had the Boston accent going on. At one point, Sparky, the fire-fighting dog came out to delight the crowds, and the kids all yelled, "SPAHKY!"

I decided to go ahead and audition to Rose. Probably not the best move strategically, but my mic was out and I was in the mood. Not to mention the notoriety of that role amuses me. I don't think playing her would outweird my role as Bond girl Honey Rider or when I was cast as an anthropomorphic sheep, but it's close. :)

Physically, I've been feeling much better, though I'm still hesitant about committing to scheduled events. Also, drinking that root beer today was dumb. Which I knew at the time, but did it anyway. And now I've got a rehearsal in an hour and feel kind of bleh. But I will take meds and it'll work out.

Started doing Couch-to-5K. Just two runs so far. It's sort of weird, it starts out fine, then gets rather hard in the middle, but then at the end I get this second wind. Like my body was giving me sass out of laziness, and once I had proved that wasn't going to stop me, my body quit whining. Also, while wearing Wondy shirts is not strictly required, it does make the whole thing more amusing. Thanks again for them, sieiro! :)

One week until the Singapore Invasion. Which, come to think about it, may have more to my feeling off than the root beer. Curse you, unproductive stress!

I have been acquiring awesome links. Now I will share them with you.

Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure
A video game made by a 5 year old and her dad. One of the most enjoyable video game experiences I've had in a long time. About 10 minutes long.
Play it here: http://www.untoldentertainment.com/games/sissy/
Read the equally adorable blog entry here: http://www.untoldentertainment.com/blog/2011/05/24/sissys-magical-ponycorn-adventure/

Back to the Future
No, not that Back to the Future. Irina Werning really likes old photos. And trying to recreate them. With the people as they are now. Take a look, it's pretty awesome.
http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/

Singing Fingers
An audio fingerpainting app for iPhone and iPad. I don't quite have the chutzpah to try this out where people can hear, but the video makes it look awesome. Free download. People with iPads and children should tell me how they like it.
http://singingfingers.com/

Going Bovine
And finally, Libba Bray, writer of serious young adult fantasy romance adventures set in Victorian England, has apparently gone insane.