Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in rhiannonredwulf's LiveJournal:

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Friday, December 4th, 2009
9:00 am	Walking around Pompei Google Earth is putting heritage sites on street-view. Here's a link to the city of Pompei. There are ads that show Stonehenge and Notre Dame, but I haven't seen the sites up and working yet. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 26th, 2009
5:43 pm	Happy Thanksgiving Tegan and I went over to a friend's house for a turkey lunch today. A good time was had by all. The photo is from yesterday, I thought the double portrait was fun. Hope everyone is having a good day! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
11:31 pm	Dead dog tired Vacuumed upstairs, stripped everything off bed and washed it, dusted, washed dog, washed self, picked up library books, did two chapters of French, made a pork pot roast, set up exam for next Monday, met with Eve-- drank wine, ate pot roast and laughed a great deal at the French lessons. Tegan has a pretty long list of complaints for the day: no ball, had to take a bath, no ball, human moving things around, no ball, locked in bedroom while VACUUMING was going on, no ball, bed not dry, no ball, human attempted to play recorder, no ball, human had to show other human what I look like when she tries to play the recorder, no ball. Silver lining to the day-- piece of pork fat, got to ride in car, successfully licked Eve's face when she wasn't paying attention. We're off to bed. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
2:36 pm	Snafu, Dreams, and Funeral Flowers Old English Snafu I frantically got up early to be able to go get my allergy shot and still have time to translate 45 lines of "The Dream of the Rood," the Old English poem due for today's class. I just barely got my translation finished, but I did get it done. Then hustled to class-- where the room was dark and empty. Yes. Apparently, they'd canceled class but not told me. (I'm auditing the course and only able to go on Tuesdays.) Thankfully another student also didn't know and showed up as well. Otherwise I'd still be wandering around, thinking that I must have the classroom number wrong. This campus really starts cutting out for Thanksgiving break early. Dreams I forget that the allergy medicine keeps me from dreaming (or perhaps keeps me from remembering dreams). Probably part of the reason that I am soo deadly tired all the time when I take them. Since I want to study for the French Exam and do well, I've been cutting the pills in half to wean off them. The first night, I sat with Charles for a couple of hours while we were waiting on Elsa and some other people. He showed me his filing system for his school notes, talked about how one of his profs wanted things drawn on vellum, and then showed me a cavalier hat that he'd made out of the leftover vellum. (Ya, you could see the feather in the brim, through the brim. Not a very functional hat for keeping sun off really. But you know, I said polite stuff.) Since there weren't any chairs, we ended up sitting back to back on the floor while we waited. The second night, I visited my old job in the Wes Watkins Center at OSU. The Dean had decided that he wanted all the acres of windows covered with banners that had slogans in different languages. I had somehow come in very late to work, and was facing having to stay very late that evening to get the banners translated and done. When we looked at the banners from the outside, my co-worker Cory and I just exchanged looks that said, "Ya, those are pretty hideous, but what can we do?" Last night, I had a long talk with my sister-in-law Diane. Nothing major really, just a nice long, catch up with one another chat. I just love dreaming. I just hate the allergy pills. Funeral Sent flowers to a funeral that's today but am feeling odd that I'm too far away to attend. I hope the service went well. (Comment on this)
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
11:12 am	Award Levels and Their Fun Levels in the SCA I've been pondering the award structure in the SCA. I think at its best, it acknowledges the range of fun that you are currently having. Here's my first thoughts on that subject, feel free to kibitz. ( SCA award levels and fun... ) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
10:46 pm	Owen's Coronation This month I flew home to attend the coronation of a good friend, Owen. Like everyone who has been part of a child's extended family, I see most clearly the parts of Owen that reflect the family we both come from. We both began playing in a game dominated by the twin spirits of service and joy. ( Read more... ) (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
9:06 pm	I found the stash So while I was trying to explain that I did not want to come have a bloodwork up done at the Voodoo village because they're somewhat plague-ridden, and I hadn't managed to snag even the regular flu shot-- much less the non-existant H1N, and that it would be unethical for them to withhold my insulin and test strips-- the nurse interrupted me to ask, "Well, WHY haven't you gotten a flu shot?"  As it turns out, IU ordered 5,500 doses for their 30,000+ population and did indeed run right out of them this year. However, there's a secret stash that can only be gotten at if one of the doctors sends your name over to them.  I was scolded since I was supposed to know that I'm high risk, and I'm supposed to come ask the right person. (Calling the main number and saying one is high risk is not sufficient, as they assume that people who call and say such things are lying.) So--- Ha, ha!  I scored a regular flu shot today. I have a rainbow heart bandaid! And the nurse did finally admit, that at 300 new cases of swine flu per week on campus, perhaps the voodoo village was not the best place for me to come hang out. I scuttled in, got my shot, grabbed a month's supply of insulin and strips, feverishly washed my hands, and then scuttled back out . (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
9:04 pm	Swine? So my meeting today was with other teachers. We are all feeling inexplicably tired and achy. So far, 1,000 cases of Swine flu on the IU campus. Sigh. And of course, since Indiana doesn't really "do" the flu shot in a big way, they ran out of regular flu shots immediately this year and simply aren't getting the Swine flu shots till November. (Then they'll be rationed to pregnant women, healthcare workers, etc.)  So-- no flu shot for me this year.  Not unless I could somehow get one in Oklahoma when I fly in for the weekend in November. I need to get my test strips refilled, but will have to plea-bargain with the doctor. He'll want me to come in and have a fasting blood sugar test, because it's that time. But that would mean being exposed A LOT to H1N1 at the clinic, and deliberately doing something that makes me sick anyway.  Sigh. I'll call and beg to see if they'll renew my test strips for another month or so.  Unfortunately, even if they agree, I'll have to run the gauntlet of going into the voodoo village to get them. Someone said they are passing out masks at the door. Meh. Going to bed now. (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
10:25 pm	How Playing the Harp is Like Going to Church Today  I responded to someone's post in which they were honestly struggling with their idea of church as a thing that people do out of a weakness-- like drugs or cigarrettes. Something one does to make it through the day. That seemed so unlike my own experience that I tried to say what I think it is like in my own life. I think going to some kind of communal worship service, having some kind of daily practice of prayer/meditation/reading, and having a deliberate space set aside for God in my life is more like getting enough exercise, or playing the harp. It is a thing that strengthens me, not because I'm weak, but because activity and work is always necessary to be stronger. For instance, for me, communal music is important to my harp playing, in the same way that church is important to my faith. It is possible that I can learn a bunch of solo pieces and still keep practicing on my own to learn them, but it's just not bloody likely. I benefit ENORMOUSLY from having a music group to play with once a week. Because I do the music group, that keeps my feet wet when I'm busy. Let's me keep up with my music a bit when things are too squeezed for me to be making progress on my own, and encourages me to practice my own stuff when I do have time for it. Well, and it pushes me-- they currently want me to memorize a solo part on a song where we'll all take a verse alone. At this moment in my playing-- that pushes me in a way I probably wouldn't challenge myself right now. But those moments of challenge are good things in my life. I need a bit of pushing now and then, I can't really be responsible for my own growth 100% of the time-- just not in me. Emotional feelings about what exactly I believe kind of come and go, but the rock-bottom is how I'm living out my faith. To go back to the metaphor-- I AM a harper. I own the harps, I play them. Not always well, not always in a way that is pleasing to myself, not always because I feel like it. But I've made the commitment, I'm part of a community, and I do the work that is necessary to do the music. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, October 18th, 2009
4:16 pm	Arboretum Next to the Library Pics from today's very modest adventures: (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
7:39 pm	Officially the First Day of Winter Well, it's officially winter. I've had the first incontrovertible sign of it. I was running out the door today, gathering things frantically, gloves, coat, rainfly for the backpack, backpack, etc.  I looked over and saw Tegan laying in her crate, told her to be a good girl and ran out the door. I locked the door, climbed in the car, started it, then realized it was starting to rain and I'd forgotten my umbrella. Leaving the car running, I dashed back inside and grabbed the umbrella behind the door, and that's when I saw it.  A corgi curled up, being very, very quiet on the couch, hoping that I wasn't going to notice she was on the furniture. When the floor is cold enough that it's worth hopping onto the furniture and risking discovery-- it's officially winter. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 12th, 2009
7:59 pm	Fairy Sleep I dreamed that I woke up at an SCA event but decades had passed while I slept. At first I didn't realize that time had passed, but I thought it odd that I didn't know anyone. When I started talking to people, they kept bringing me to older players to see if they remembered me. I walked from table to table, talking to people.  A few of them remembered my name or even remembered me from when they were children, but of course, they were all so different that I didn't recognize them. Very unsettling to wake up expecting to be among friends and realize that I don't know anyone. When I woke in my own bed I tried to decide if it was a nightmare or not. But oddly, it was not. Although I was a stranger, the people at the event made sure that someone was always with me, that I was taken care of, that I was introduced and had a chance to hear everyone's names. A stranger woken from a fairy sleep or not, I was still accepted as part of their extended family. (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, October 11th, 2009
11:05 pm	Dance Wow. So we had more men at dance practice than women. I actually ran down two flights of stairs in the Union at some point, because I thought I had seen kendokamel working a conference table, and was going to try to drag her up for a little bit. I'm a tired puppy, as the gender ratio meant that I danced every single dance. (From 6:30-9:00). Quite a work out. Since there's an event with a big dance ball coming up next month, I suggested that we should practice "sharking" on Hole in the Wall. Urraca obliged us, and now most of the group can now smoothly shark.  I've heard tell that there is another dance they shark on here in the Middle Kingdom, but I don't know which one it is. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 10th, 2009
5:03 pm	Lake Pics I had not been to Lake Monroe yet. And since my "To Do" list today included, "Outing for Tegan," we drove over. More Pics of Scenery, Lake, and of course, Tegan. (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, October 9th, 2009
9:56 pm	Monsters in my Comp Class, The Hulk, and Clever Dog Today I finished off Jeffrey Jerome Cohen's "Monster Culture" essay with my firstyears.  They were pretty flumoxed by the language, but were getting into it by the end I think.  Cohen's premise is that you can "read" a culture's monsters and know something about what's going on in their culture. (That what a culture worries about will show in the kind of monster stories that it creates.) Well, that's his starting point, then he goes on to talk about how historically groups of people are portrayed as monsters whenever they are "the other guy." (You know, Jews kill little children and eat them, and THAT's why we have to  kill them and expel them out of England, or-- the Irish are brutish and animal-like, and THAT's why England needs to invade them. Really, you can fill in the blank here yourself.) So I'm going to make them watch two Ang Lee movies this semester (The Hulk and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and hopefully they'll be able to use the theories in this essay to help them write papers about the movies.  I just rewatched The Hulk tonight.  Alas, it doesn't improve with age, it's still a brilliantly quirky, yet sadly bad monster movie. But-- it just has all the things that Cohen could ask for in a monster movie. Fear of miscengenation, a complex monster that's a hybrid, the monster acts as a warning to people who transgress boundaries (Woe unto you, prideful scientists who play with things without thinking through the consequences!.)  And the monster is kind of a stand-in for the anger and sadness the various characters feel about not having had good fathers. (This is Ang Lee after all-- his movies are always about how someone is the outsider, and how that outsider is suffering in some way because they don't have a good father/mentor relationship.) Amusingly, when the credits started playing, Tegan came over and started pestering me to go outside. Yes, my dog recognizes end credits on a movie.  From another part of the house, she can hear the end theme to Star Trek, and she'll come bounding up thinking, "Finally!" (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009
9:55 pm	A list of carbs in foods People are often curious about the carb counts of different foods. So, since I was redoing a sheet to hang up in my kitchen, I thought I'd share it. Some of the foods I avoid (like flour, sugar, and potatoes) because I typically try to eat less than 15 gms of net carbs per meal, and those foods end up being pretty tiny portions.  For instance: If I eat real vegetables, then 15gms of net carbs  = 35 spears of asparagus, or 7.5 cups of broccoli, or nearly a pound of strawberries. (So, very reasonable amounts of food.) But with the starchy stuff that's: 15 gms of net carbs = 1/4 of a potato, or half an ounce of sugar, or 3/4 of an ounce of flour. (Um, no, not so doable.) Net Carbs? Okay, so net carbs are the number of carbs that your body processes as carbs. Typically the number means: Total grams of carbs - grams of fiber = grams of net carbs This works really well for most real food. The formula doesn't work as well for fake foods that have artificially high fiber or sugar alcohols. Foods measured Raw Portion Sizes Net Carbs Apples 1 apple (223 gms) 26 Asparagus 100gms (5 spears) 2 Black Beans 28 gms (1 ounce) 13 Blueberries 28 gms (between 1/8 and ¼ cup) 3 Broccoli 156gms (1 cup chopped) 2 Butternut Squash 70gms (1/2 cup) 6.5 Carrots 64 gms (1/2 cup) 4 Cauliflower 100 gms  (1 cup) 2 Celery 110 gms 2 Cilantro 28 gms (1 cup?) <1 Corn on the Cob 1 ear (8-9 inch ear yields 143 gms) 23 Cucumber 52gms (1/2 cup) 2 Edamame beans (shelled) 118 gms (1 cup) 6 Eggplant 82 gms (1 cup) 2 Flour 28 gms (1 ounce) 20 Garlic 1 clove (3gms) 1 Ginger Root 24gms (1/4 cup) 4 Green Beans 110gms (1 cup) 4 Green Onions 1 stalk 1 Green Pepper 164gms (1 pepper) 5 Okra 100 gms (1 cup) 4 Peaches 1 peach (175gms) 14 Pears 1 pear (238 gms) 29 Pinto Beans 28 gms (1 ounce) 14 Potatoes 1 potato (369gms/ 4” diameter) 60   (100gms=16) Soy Beans 28 gms (1 ounce) 6 Spinach 100 gms (3.5 cups) 2 Strawberries 28 gms (1 ounce) 1 Sugar 28 gms (1 ounce) 28 White Onions 80 gms (1/2 cup) 6 Yellow Squash 130 gms (1 cup) 3 Zucchini Squash 124 gms (1 cup) 3 (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, September 14th, 2009
9:15 pm	My day... Survived the equivalent of 24 weeks of allergy shots in one morning. Survived the two hour student group orientation on campus. Am hopeful that the kooky amount of insulin I'm requiring will return to normal as I'm now off the prednizone. Consoled myself by watching original Star Trek episodes with the French subtitles turned on. Must now make up the hours alone to the dog and begin massive amounts of reading and grading. Ah, the life of a middle-aged grad student. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, September 12th, 2009
10:25 pm	I get gleeful over the oddest things... Allergies Well, to humor me my doctor retested me for allergies. Last year when they tested me, I didn't show any allergies to speak of with their skin test, but I've been having horrid allergies all year, and they are steadily getting worse. (Ah, those of you who have seen me and asked in a worried tone of voice, "Are you alright?" And had to wait for me to finish coughing-- You know of what I speak.) ( Read the health ramble... ) (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
10:23 pm	Demo day I organized my Shire's Campus Demo today. Actually, I just brought stuff and organized, I wasn't able to actually work the demo. Everyone was really lovely about coming, working, and bringing stuff. Mynydd Seren's a good-hearted group. If you click the photo there's a nice shot of hecubuscathead dancing.  (16 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
6:11 pm	Three Things that Amused Me If you were a medievalist and saw this store, what would your first thought be? All I saw was "Latin Store" the first couple of times I drove past. Well, and today Tegan and I watched a chipmunk go back and forth across our patio.  He'd scoot in under the right side fence with his cheeks so full that he almost couldn't walk. Then he'd walk kitty-corner across our concrete, go within a few inches past the screen door and squeeze through the gap between the fence and the building on the left side of our fence.  A few moments later he'd come trotting across with his cheeks empty, only to return ten minutes later with his cheeks stuffed out again. He was at it when I sat down to study at 9am, and he was still going strong when I left for school at 2pm. Obviously, one or more of the following must be true: 1). Someone has decided it's time to move. 2). It's going to be a cold winter, so it's time to lay in more stores. 3). Someone didn't get the lid on their bucket of bird feed on very tight and will be surprised to find it completely empty. And finally, the kid quote for the day from meganwaters2004 -- http://meganwaters2004.livejournal.com/119989.html (Comment on this)