Our fantasy library

So, some day when one of us becomes extremely wealthy… you know, when #2′s partner’s long-lost great-uncle dies and leaves him his hundreds of millions… we’re going to buy a three story flat in San Francisco.  #2 and company will live on the top floor, my family will live on the bottom floor where the running of small feet won’t bother anybody, and the middle floor will be our joint library.  (Yes, we know it would be smarter to have the library on the bottom floor, but #2 will be rich enough that they can reinforce it or something.)

While I was viewing the shots of #2′s bookcases, I realized something horrific.  “Oh man, I don’t think we could ever consolidate libraries though,” I typed.  “I’m itching to go through your shelves and sort by author alphabetically.”

Fortunately, that turned out not to be a problem.  “You could curate my books for me. You could even add yours in. I would keep them in order once they were in order,” she replied.  Apparently she doesn’t have her own strange filing system that I just wasn’t understanding.  They’re just not… in order.  *twitch*  You know that episode of Big Bang Theory where Sheldon goes to a party and organizes his hosts’ closet and begs to be allowed to take the button box home to organize in the car?  That’s totally me.  Though mostly with bookcases and spice racks.  I’m not a clean person, but I love my alphabetizing.

Well, it’s not quite fair to say that they’re not in order.  She does have them in “an order.” “For example,” she says, “there is one case that is all my best-loved and most-personal books.”  Which totally makes sense to me.  I’ve often had my most beloved books on the shelf closest to my bed in my life.  Or I’ll have a separate shelf for not-yet-read books.  But the former are generally organized by genre and then by author’s last name, while the latter are organized either by order I should read, alphabetically, or if there are a lot of them, in a manner than will help keep the towers from toppling (largest on the bottom).

“I would let you alphabetize them,” she said.  “I might even help. I just wouldn’t do it all myself.”  This is a good thing, because I might have a nervous break-down if I had to continually see Dave Barry coming right after Diana Wynne Jones.  My mind would not be able to handle it.  In no world does that make sense unless you have very few books by other authors and that just happens to be where you break between fiction and non-fiction/humor.

#2 also has another odd need– she wants authors who coauthor books to have the coauthored book in between the other two authors.  “Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett wrote a book together, so Good Omens is filed in between the two authors, who are next to each other.  I believe that Patricia Wrede and Carolyn Stevermer belong together.”  However, that problem is easily solved, “How about two copies of good omens, one housed with each author?”  “That will work.”

Series order is also important– we are agreed that the Discworld books should be in publication order.  After all, many of the characters show up in other folks’ series.  Especially the Librarian.

Some more discussion decides that hardbacks and paperbacks should be put together in the same shelves.  We are not facing space constraints in our fantasy library, and nothing has to be in a fancy display shelf.  If you don’t think old paperbacks are beautiful, you don’t belong in our library, even if you might be invited to our living rooms.

Then we move on to the more difficult discussion of how to group fiction vs. non-fiction and different genres.  I favor separation of fiction and non-fiction at the very least (though humor like Dave Barry could go in either or in a separate category), and have a slight favor towards subdividing fiction.  She prefers putting everything together.  She wants Malcolm Gladwell in with her fiction.  I don’t.  We throw the question to our partners.  Mine wants everything to be completely subdivided by genre.  Hers says that we should totally separate fiction from non-, and that his books have to go in, too, so, she reluctantly agrees, “I guess separation it is.”  As a concession I allow her to include the graphic novels, manga, and comics with the fiction by author.  She notes that we should put their gaming/RPG books in a separate section as well.

We agree on comfy brown leather chairs with ottomans.  And a divan or two.  And a window seat.  Also, comfy couches, cushions and blankets for the windowseat, curtains, and a fireplace.  Some super-fluffy rug so we can sprawl on our tummies on the floor in front of the fire.  Lighting will somehow be perfect.  And, of course a cat, though we’re not sure whether it should be our already existing felines or a new one specific to the library.  Possibly a marmalade tabby.  And some kitty-specific furniture that allows them to avoid other kitties.

X-rated stuff goes on high high shelves, or goes in individual bedrooms.  #2 must have a lot of pr0n.

We decide on a separate area with low bookcases for books for 0-4 year olds, but chapter books will be shelved with the adult ones.  I add some children’s puzzles and a little desk with little chairs.  Like at the library.  #2 adds a beanbag.  And step-stools.

Finally, we make sure the wifi covers that room too so we can get to LibraryThing.

Now we just have to wait for someone’s unknown rich relative to die and leave us lots of money.

What does your fantasy library look like?

In praise of our partners

We’re at the age where we’ve had friends divorce, but generally the question with them has been why it took so long.  We’ve been through transitions and tragedies.  One set of us is still going strong at the 19 year mark.

Bottom line:  neither of our partners is a flake with self-destructive tendencies.

I do not think either of our partners will have a mid-life crisis in a bad way.  Sure, maybe a mid-life crisis, but not the stereotypical kind where the guy sheds the wife and tries to find himself, in the end either finding nothing or a much younger wife.  I imagine our partners will instead find a new hobby or a new piece of electronic equipment, possibly a new career or a new start-up.  It is unlikely that they’ll turn into internationally traveling bums like one of our former classmates.

Our guys keep busy.  If they were idle rich they’d probably tool around with inventions.  And gaming.  And books.  And not feel like they were missing something in life.  They know how to entertain themselves so they don’t end up like a lost character in Emma who wouldn’t get into trouble if she just kept busy.  Idle hands and all.

Even though #2′s partner isn’t my physical type (let’s just say our preferences on body hair are orthogonal), I used to sit next to him in various classes in high school and I like him a lot.  He’s a really nice guy.  Grounded.  He’s already done his pudgy nerd to athletic stud thing and somehow seems to have survived without it causing him to question who he really is.  (Same thing with figuring out his finances and you know, growing up.)  Honestly he’s the first guy that #2 ever dated that I approved of.  Not sure where she used to find those jerks but her partner is totally a keeper.

My partner, of course, is practically perfect in every way.  The definition of keeper (or, you know, Mary Poppins… but he’s way sexier than Mary Poppins).

Maybe it’s our Midwestern pragmatism.  But I think we and our partners have a good sense of who we ARE, even if we don’t always know what we want to DO.  That who am I question just seems irrelevant.  There are yummy foods to be eaten, wonderful books to be read.  (In partners’ case add also:  games to be played.)  Navel gazing takes away from that.  Sure there are professional goals and so on, but that’s either to get more money or because we’re aware that we’re playing a game and you progress in that game by hitting those goals.  That and our research actually has some meaning– the questions are interesting and the answers are somewhat relevant.  Some day we might decide we want to play new or different games, but that isn’t going to spark some sort of existential crisis, even during the search.  My partner searches for a new hobby every 1-3 months.  Careers take a bit longer, but it’s the same idea, just more lucrative.

I strongly recommend dating an engineer.  Someone who spends more time with reality and less time navel gazing.  Someone who appreciates what he has and builds on it rather than jumping on whatever the latest fad or far-out conference presentation is.  Someone that you would trust to foster kittens in your house if he wanted to.

And this is why one should marry an engineer (or computer scientist).

(Really hoping this post doesn’t jinx anything…)

People we love

1.  Stephen Fry

2.  Roy Orbison

3. Angela Shelton

4.  #2′s riding instructors and her snarky friendly goddess colleagues (not the mean or crazy ones) and her awesome friends

5.  nerds

6.  Patrick Stewart

7.  Jon Stewart (also Stephen Colbert)

8.  P!nk

9.  Mary Robinette Kowal  (also Gail Carriger)

10.  Ok, we admit it… our sisters.

11.  Scalzi… like you couldn’t tell.

Who is the hoopiest frood out there, hep cats?  (#1 notes:  it doesn’t have to be the hoopiest, but who are some of the hoopier foods, in your view?)

Ask the grumpies: Find awesome steampunk pictures

First Gen American asks:

I want a steampunk room in my soon to be new/old fixer house. I humbly request another steampunk article specifically around home decor. I was thinking an office space or guest room to be steampunkalicious.

Oh, good, an excuse for a linkfest!  First: Offbeat Home on Steampunk.  Click around the vendor links and stuff.

An awesome house in San Francisco (seriously, click through you guys).

An Octopus chair from Maximo Riera:

Do want!

A steampunk house print available on etsy:

Wouldn’t this be nice to hang in your room?

Lamps like this are popular:

You need light, anyway.  Though I think this one is more fun:

If you’re doing an office, definitely think about doing a steampunk computer.  Mary Robinette Kowal has a tutorial…

Check out this desk made from an old organ:

Or, this more modern desk is from a whole article about steampunk decor:

If you want a lighter look.

If it’s a bedroom, you’ll need a bed.  Darker… Lighter but still naughty… Whimsical…

For the young at heart…

Or classic!

In any case, click around the pages linked.  Lots of cool stuff is on etsy.  Amazing art is on deviantart and other sites.  Fashion is the most fun; look at Clockwork Couture for inspiration.

I could go on forever, but I have to eat dinner now.

Share cool things you find in the comments!

Pre-holiday what are we reading?

#1:
When a Writer Can’t Write: Studies in Writer’s Block and Other Composing Problems by Mike Rose (no link):  Has some interesting bits, but some of it isn’t really that relevant to me.  Still, a fine read.

The sorrows of an American: I appreciated this. Read it.

This book is not a toy!: Not hilarious, but funny, and light. Ranges from Dave-Barry-esque humour to more essay-ish.

Murder in Luxury by Hugh Pentecost: I wish these mysteries weren’t OOP!

Call for the Dead by John LeCarre

fanfic: not recommended for anyone but me.

Newton’s Cannon: Awesome. Makes an especially nice companion read when your partner is playing Assassin’s Creed III.

Venetia: You know we love Heyer.

#2:
reread A Wrinkle in Time… not as good as an adult.  My recommendation:  keep it locked in your childhood memories.  (I am told it would be wise to do this with any and all C.S. Lewis as well.  Anne of Green Gables, OTOH opens up new layers as an adult.)

Finished last grown-up Diana Wynne Jones book, Enchanted Glass.  It was good, though I’m not quite sure who it was aimed for.  It seems like a children’s book… but contains some adult themes.

An infamous army… it was ok.  I sort of skimmed through the long battle scenes that are what the book is most famous for.  I was a little disappointed in the next generation of the two families she follows from previous books.  The love matches are somewhat dissatisfying as well.

What should we put on our Christmas wish lists?  (Or scrounge the library for if you’re more into recommending borrowing.)

We like nuts

Love nuts!  The nuttiness of the almond, the bitter tannin giving way to the rich meat of the walnut, the sweetness of the pecan, the creaminess of the cashew.

I think my favorite nut is the hazelnut.  There’s just something special about that flavor.

I like them best roasted and lightly salted, though second best without salt.  I miss TJ’s half salted nuts– they had the right amount.  (#2 likes a lot of salt)

Male chocolate chip cookies are my favorite.

Sometimes I will add roasted salted nuts to the ice cream I’m eating.  Nom.

#1: What kind of nuts do you like?

#2: many kinds
cashews. pecans. walnuts. hazelnuts. pistachios. almonds.

#1: hm
I think you will have to add to the blog post yourself
too complicated for me!

#2: hee

#1: and I’m sure CPP will say that our tastes in nuts are plebeian

#2: hehe
I like almost all nuts I have ever tried.

#1: I’m actually not crazy about brazil nuts

#2: I will eat them in with other things

#1: I used to really like macadamia

#2: oooo I forgot those. Those are really good!

#1: and I think I still like small (hazelnut sized) macadamia chunks in double chocolate chunk cookies

#2: I like macadamia

#1: I like to say macadamia

#2: gazebo

#1: exactly

What is your favorite nut?

Nicole and Maggie gossip about bloggers

#1: when she whines, I feel Schadenfreude
#2: and her husband is just as bad
it’s not like Mutant Supermodel
where she’s doing her best and life keeps kicking her
but she’s going to do just fine one of these days
#1: right
#2: mutant super model has 3 kids, lives in a more expensive area, and does not make 6 figures… but she makes good choices and isn’t all entitled
#1: I like to read The Little Professor. She amuses me.
#2: me too
the little professor doesn’t seem to have any issues
#1: nope
stable, professional, amusing, is Little Prof’s blogpersona
#2: I have to say my current voyeur blog reading is coming from one bright star.
She seems to be making reasonably good choices… or at least averting disaster. I’m glad she dumped the biochemist. I want to tell her of course it seemed like they clicked– you don’t get to have that many marriages and affairs unless you can click with women! But I kind of swore off doing anything but watching other people’s romances many moons ago.
So far I’m rooting for CPA, but military guy intrigues me
#1: heheheheheh
#2: (I think it’s CPA, the one without any red flags)
#1: it’s like reality TV without looking at ugly people
#2: haha yes
like the early real world episodes, before they realized crazy sold
In any case, I’m totally hooked. Even if 1B* is actually a happily married 65 year old gentleman retired ice fisher playing a hoax on the internet community. It’s making for a good story and I want to know how it ends.

Grumpy rumblings wants to know if you have any good gossip about bloggers to share.  We’ll be very discreet… (or at least as discreet as posting on a public forum can be).  Where are you getting your vvoyeuristic kicks?  Please nothing too slanderous or libelous.  Unless it’s about CPP.

What are we reading?

Finished Damned Busters.

It was good and I look forward to the next two books, though I identify more with Henghis Hapthorn!

Black Sheep (sweet) [#1 reread this recently!  <3 Heyer!]

Three Men in a Boat (quite funny!) [free on kindle!]

Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions, by James W. Pennebaker — informative.

I really liked this one:

This one was powerful and recommended:

I love them:

Latest one I read in this series and it’s starting to get seriously weird as well as tying lots of insanely complex plot lines together across multiple books (#1 sent the author fan mail right before her death.. very sad):

Fair readers, got any good suggestions for more stuff? I’m far too lazy to read the new Hillary Mantel book because it will probably make me think. Other ideas?

We love ice cream

LOVE IT.

Also gelato.

#1′s favorite is anything chocolate with nuts.  Though she loves many many other kinds of ice cream.

#2′s favorite is coffee ice cream, with kahlua and chocolate syrup on top.

#1 notes also that she loves real whipped cream.  And chocolate syrup.  Ooh, and she’s been jonesing for a turtle sundae since she left the midwest… at some point she’s just going to have to roast and salt her own pecans.  (Update:  partner is a dream boat and I am the luckiest woman in the world.  Happy satisfied #1.  Sticky syrupy kitchen…)

Do you like ice cream?  What’s your favorite kind?

Why I love anime

Because they’re almost all mini-series.

Generally you know if you’re starting something, it will finish.  It will have nice closure.  You won’t be left hanging.  If the show gets popular, it is still going to finish the story line and end.  They might add a new season, but it will also have a story line that has a crafted ending at the point in which it starts.

As a kid I HATED when the puppy never made it home or we never found out if the pirates were successful at getting rid of the evil miasma that was taking over the world.

Now at least sometimes we get some closure when they take a beloved series cancelled too soon and make it into a movie.  Though in the movie (spoiler alert!) everybody gets killed off.  Failing a movie, sometimes we get to see the last couple of unaired episodes on dvd, like with Wonderfalls.

Another reason I like anime is that it tends to focus on perseverance over innate talents.  In a series DC1 and I are currently watching, Law of Ueki, that idea is spelled out point-blank.  The main character loses “talents” as the series goes along and makes the point that that loss just means he needs to work harder, and that he can still enjoy the process of something like running even if he’s lost his innate ability to run well.

That idea that you can escape your circumstances also shows up with a recurring theme that you can create our own families, our own lives, our own destinies.  We can surround ourselves with other imperfect people and help each other grow.  As one of my favorites, Fruits Basket, says in the opening song, “I can’t be born again, but I can change a little every day.”

OTOH, #2 doesn’t like anime — most of it.  I have seen some lovely and wonderful examples, but mostly it irritates me.  I can’t stand how all the women have BIG EYES and teeny tiny mouths.  Just bat your lovely eyelashes and don’t talk, airhead.  Sigh.  Anatomically impossible women’s bodies in children’s outfits creep me out.  Yes, I know it is a cultural thing that I will not fully understand, not being steeped in that culture.  Still, ick.  IBTP.

#1 notes that #2 is talking about anime that #1 does not watch (well, maybe some harem anime…).  There’s a lot more to anime these days than male fantasy, especially with anime that is appropriate for children (a necessity when one’s child is old enough to ask awkward questions).  There are a lot of strong smart female characters who persevere for their own reasons.  Ginormous breasts are also absent from most of the anime I watch.  There’s even animes in which the girl starts doing something because of a boy, but like in Legally Blonde, through her struggles she realizes the boy isn’t worth it but she is.  Another of my favorites, Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, turns the Pygmalian story on its head– 4 pretty boys are recruited to transform a goth girl into a lady, and instead she changes them.

Any other anime likers?  What do you like most about the art form?  For non-anime watchers, have you ever been annoyed by a series ending before there’s closure, or deciding to drag out a story arc way too long after the show gets popular?