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An imperfect collection of dreams...

...growing in good soil.

A Chosen Path

Saphling

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December 10th, 2011

Wow. It's... been a really long time since I've updated this LJ. I take full responsibility (as I should, because it's my LJ).

Anyway! Meme.

Comment to this post, and I will list five things I associate with you, They might make sense or they might be totally random. Then post that list, with your commentary, to your LJ (or just add a reply back to me). Other people (including me) can get lists from you, and the meme merrily perpetuates itself.

My words, via skidmo

Kittens: I have always loved cats, and more often than not, they love me back. Fuzzy, warm, adorable, affectionate when they want to be, full of personality, and much less needy than dogs. Ironically, I am also horribly allergic to them. I can take all the antihistamines and decongestants in the world, and still, at some point, I will reach the point where I can no longer sleep because I will simply stop breathing if I don't keep concentrating on doing so. I know this from experience.

Twice in my life, a roommate and I have taken in a kitten, and twice in my life I've gotten to the point where I had to choose between sleeping and breathing. Once in college, where it turned out that the kitten really preferred my company to my roommate's, though my roommate is the one who found/adopted without asking me/wanted to keep the kitten in the first place. Irony. I named the little calico Edelweiss as a kind of in-joke, before my roommate finally took her home to Texas and let me get back to sleeping/breathing. The second time was in grad school, where my roommate and I both agreed to take in the little tortie that had been abandoned near our apartment. She was adorable and affectionate and a delight to have around. We called her Meimei, but after a while it got again to the point where I could not breathe, so we had to take her to the humane society.

Tesla: TESLAAAAAA! *throws bloomers* I've been a fan for years of this RL mad scientist. I read stuff about him, and wonder how he could've been real.He was just so cool. The Tesla character on Sanctuary just solidified my love of him, even though I know the portrayal on the show is nearly completely different than how the man was in RL. It doesn't hurt that J-Yo steals every scene he's in by sheer presence alone (and is really hot. There, I said it.).

Cooking: I am fond of cooking, but I haven't always been. I think it's just since I got out of college that I've taken an interest in experimenting with food. I have a large collection of bookmarked recipes, both online and in cook books I own. My favorite cook books are Cooking for Geeks (though there are relatively few recipes in there for a book of its size. It's mainly a geek's guide to the science behind cooking. It shows you on a molecular level why you can't beat egg whites into a meringue in a plastic bowl, and talks about the temperatures at which specific proteins in steak denature, making a steak "medium" or "well-done") and my 3-ring binder of the 1950 Betty Crocker Cook Book. It's kind of hilarious, full of recipes that no one these days would ever make (Ring of Plenty, I'm looking at you!) and information such as "what is tea?" and tips on how to be a good housewife (lol).

Librarian: It was only in my last year of college that I came to the conclusion that Library Science was the right fuzzy science for me. I was an English major, History minor, who didn't know what she wanted to do after college. I knew I loved learning things, but I loved learning things about theoretical physics just as much as I loved cellular biology, gender politics, literature, technology... anything. I couldn't decide on any one subject or find anything I wanted to do with any one subject. So I realized that the best way to learn things about those subjects might be to put myself in a field where I could also help others learn about them. Librarianship just fit. I've always loved helping others learn, and my altruistic streak was made happy by the feeling that librarianship brought, that by offering information to those who are seeking it, I'm somehow making the world a better, less ignorant place.

I've since taken a job in my state's archives, which has more of a historical bent than most research or public libraries, but has much the same feeling. I work with people who are writing books on historical topics, as well as people who are trying to find out where their families came from, and piece together their genealogy. It's great.

RP: Milliways is my first-ever experience RPing. I've played console RPGs, and some MUDs in the past, but I'd never participated in anything like an LJ-based RPG. It was 2004. I was seventeen, and had just graduated from high school. I'd finished this book series a couple of days before, the Old Kingdom trilogy by Garth Nix, and had loved them. Though to be honest, I'd been annoyed that my favorite character of the series, one of the lesser main-characters whose snark was everpresent, whose aims were unclear and whose loyalties were questionable (my favorites tend to be this. See Tesla, above.) had been made so interesting, but hadn't been developed at all. Too much was left unexplained. I mean, his one major speech about his reasons for what he's doing gets interrupted by the main character attacking the person he's talking to, and we never get to hear the rest of it. I was kind of annoyed.

Then, while reading though Harry Potter fic reccs at copperbadge's LJ, I saw an advertisement for this new, pan-fandom role-playing game. I checked it out. It was awesome. I got in trouble with my parents nearly every day for two weeks for staying on the computer so much, just reading threads and hitting refresh. I snuck out of my room at night after my parents went to bed, to check for new posts. After two weeks of watching, I finally summoned up my courage and created a journal for the character whose story I felt was incomplete, and applied. Haven't looked back since. ^_^

May 26th, 2010

Writer's Block: Cat talk

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Saphling
If your dog or cat had a mobile phone, who would be listed first on her or his speed dial?


The nearest sushi restaurant.

January 4th, 2010

Real-time commentary! For the first half, at least.

Cut for length, because dear lord-Collapse )

Okay. Second half of the movie to come later. Now I sleep.

January 1st, 2010

New Year's Resolutions

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Turbulent
1. Not to die.
2. To be gainfully employed by June.
3. To be a better and more mature person.
4. To finally finish that lace shawl for my mother I started two years ago.
5. To work to be healthier and happier.
6. Not to take people and things I cherish for granted.
7. To be more emotionally aware of those around me.
8. To be more financially responsible.
9. Not to let my sense of snarky humor be easily misconstrued as cruelty.
10. To be more accepting of myself and others.

Happy New Year, world. Let's make it a better one than the last, shall we?

Love to you all.

December 23rd, 2009

(no subject)

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Rider: dun dun DUNNNNNNNNNN
DO NOT READ.Collapse )

November 3rd, 2009

Gloves notes

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Saphling
40 st on size 6

15 rows: (k1, p2, k1, p1)*
6 rows: (k4, p1)*
Thumb Gusset
Next: k4, m2, continue. Make two every other row until there are 13 extra stitches. Put those on waste yarn.
12 rows: (k4, p1)*
Fingers
Next: 5x(k4, p1), put rest of stitches on waste yarn, put first 15 stitches of next row also on waste yarn
Pinky
Make 3 (13 total stitches), knit in round 16 rows.
Next: k1, k2tog around. Break yarn, leaving lengthy tale. Thread yarn through, pull closed. Weave in end.
Ring Finger
Make 2 stitches on thumbward side, pick up three stitches from the 3 made stitches on the pinky side (15 stitches). Knit in round () rows.


Making up my own glove pattern, wtf?

September 29th, 2009

So, apparently I'm 23 now, as time is measured on Sol 3 (Earth).

How new and unusual.

^_^

August 27th, 2009

Home again!

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Turbulent
Am safely back in Indiana. Forgot to post last night, as I was pretty well exhausted. Going hiking this afternoon.

Probably will be online this evening.

*shares tea*

August 14th, 2009

(no subject)

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Tea: Xellos yay
I has a Star! :D!

August 6th, 2009

Home

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Turbulent
Home from Japan. All is well.

Now I sleep.

*loves*

August 5th, 2009

Update, re:Japan

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Turbulent
It's been a brilliant trip. We head home tomorrow. I promise there will be a metric ton of photos uploaded when I get home. Am pleasantly tired, though I think I might be coming down with an ear-infection. My left ear aches and my balance is rather off, tonight.

Anyway, must go finish packing. Love to you all. Talk to you more when I get home.

Send us safe thoughts tomorrow (Thursday), though we leave around 1am Thursday morning, in Central Time. Another 16 hours on planes, HUUUUUUUGE planes, is not something I'm looking forward to.

Note to Self: Write to senator, informing her of the need for more funding for research regarding teleportation-technology.

<3333

See you all soon!

-Saph

July 31st, 2009

Arrival

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Turbulent
Am here in Japan. Am still exhausted from the 24+ hours of travel yesterday (and the day before), but am better than I was. My room is tiny and cozy, really comfortable.

Today we're going to be seeing a bit of Yokohama. Nothing too stressful, as we're all still really tired.

Love you all.

TTYL,
Saph

July 30th, 2009

World Traveler

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Turbulent
Heading to Japan for my brother's wedding. Got the camera, got my knitting, got my books, got my Nintendo DS, got my passport, got my luggage.

See you all in about a week. Love all of you muchly. Send us safe thoughts.

*hates flying with a passion*

I may or may not have internet access while over there. I don't know. If I do, I'll post.

<33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333

-Saph

July 21st, 2009

Lies!

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Rider: dun dun DUNNNNNNNNNN
You actually couldn't find Waldo


I CAN TOO!

See?

I've even BEEN there!

Awww yeah.

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Saphling
Saph [noun] --
A master of storytelling

July 17th, 2009

Okay guys. Picture this.

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That... is a secret.
Full-on sunny day in the dog-days of summer, in the Vice-Capitol of Heat'n'Humidity, Arkansas. (Louisiana being the capitol, of course.)

Blazingly sunny day... not a cloud to offer shade anywhere...




Seventy-seven degrees and breezy.

WTF, July.

It was BRILLIANT. \o/

And the low temp tonight is going to be SIXTY EFFING DEGREES.

IN JULY. BREAKING THE PREVIOUS CENTURY-LONG RECORD OF 68 DEGREES BY A FULL EIGHT DEGREES.

FTW, y/y?



I'm totally sleeping with my windows open, tonight, guys. If I can sleep with the whippoorwill chorus going on outside. *eyes them, wryly*

June 25th, 2009

Call for distractions

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Turbulent
I'm sleepy, and it's only 10am. Have another six hours of work.

Entertain me?

<3

June 21st, 2009

Update

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Turbulent
Okay, so.

Bloodwork came back clean.

Still hurt, tho. My sides, my whole abdomen hurts, with nausea and upper chest pain. Light-headedness. Lethargy. Blargh.

And now, to top it all off, my temples and the sides of my jaw have started tingling and feeling sore. I don't know whether it's sinuses, pinched nerves, inflamed salivary glands, or what. Sometimes, I can feel my pulse twitch there.

I hurt. Mom and Dad are getting tired of hearing my worries and fears for my health, putting it off as fibro or over-active imagination. Which, having my dad sound so exasperated and belittling while I'm trying not to have a heart attack doesn't really make me feel better at all. Thanks.

I just wish I could figure out what's wrong with me. Once I know that, I'd know what needed to be fixed. I keep on wanting to compile a list of symptoms and check myself into a hospital. Hand them the list, and say, "Find out what's wrong, and fix me."

Also, I'm lonely.

June 14th, 2009

Update

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Saphling
Safe at the cabin. Long day of driving. Still hurty, but not as much as I was. Very tired. Gotta get up and leave by 6:30am tomorrow morning to get back to Fayetteville and to my job. Wheefun. Only problem is I will not have the daylight RP-time I've gotten used to having. I'm sorry for my absence, but I'll be around during the evenings. Just maybe not too late.

Love to you all.

Comment or ping if you need me for anything. <3333333333

*takes muscle-relaxer, two painkillers and goes to bed*

-Saph

June 10th, 2009

Yet another update.

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Turbulent
Feeling a bit better. Still sore as heck. Still a bit lightheaded. The muscles across my upper chest and in between my shoulderblades still really hurt, but the nausea has settled down some. Still waiting on my intestine to settle down.

In other news, I have tomorrow, Friday and Saturday to pack, as Sunday I'm leaving Bloomington for Fayetteville, AR, where I have an internship for the rest of the summer. I'm not going to make very much money at it, as I'm having to stay in a residency hotel four nights a week, but I'm mainly going for the experience anyway. I'm looking forward to it. I just want to be feeling normal again by the time I start work. Also, slightly depressed. As is usual when I'm really not feeling well.

In other news, I broke down and bought Spore. It's rather addictive. And it's everything Yahtzee said it is.

Now, I think I'm heading to bed.

*makes some catnip tea and takes two tylenol*

June 8th, 2009

Another Update

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Turbulent
So, saw the doctor again. Did urine sample and blood test. My immune system, as the doctor said, is "just chillin', hanging out and letting us know that all is cool."

Weird doctor.

Though the blood results also told me I was a bit anemic, so I need more iron and B-12.

Then they sent me to the hospital for an ultrasound. Turns out I have a couple of cysts on my left ovary that's been causing part of the pain. He says that if they were going to cause any trouble, there'd be a lot more symptoms than just pain. Sooooo comforting. >_> So I just have to get a follow-up ultrasound in a couple of months, to check on them. He didn't give me anything for the pain that still plagues me from rib-cage to pelvis, though, so that's still peachy.

I'm going to go take a nap. See if I can store up sleep for the drive tomorrow.

Update

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Turbulent
Drive has been postponed a day, so I can talk to the doctor about why I'm still hurting so much.

I wish my family were still in town.

Now I must shower, possibly doze until 8, when I have to call them and see if I can get in on short notice. Or at least talk with the doctor who saw me.

June 7th, 2009

So, re: my previous post on my health, I went to the doctor.

Apparently, I have something called splenic flexure syndrome, going along with the whole irritable bowel thing. It means that pockets of air in my colon have been pressing on the nerve in the bend of the colon next to the spleen, keeping it from telling me that I need to use the bathroom.

Meaning that I'm literally (not just figuratively, this time) full of it.

Or was. They gave me the stuff they give people when they're prepping for colonoscopies. Yeah. Three hours of drinking vaguely pineapple-flavored salty slime every ten minutes. Six hours unable to leave the bathroom.

I hurt more than I did before. I had been stretching my colon, and now it's like a rubber band that had been held stretched for too long. It hurts because it had gotten used to being stretched, and now isn't. I feel like I need to use the bathroom all the time. My bladder and kidneys hate me. Heck, my body from the ribs downward hate me. My intestine is cramping and grumbling, my fibromyalgia has caused knots to form in my posture muscles, meaning that the striated muscle is hurting on top of the over-stretched smooth muscle below. I ache all over. I'm tired.

I woke up the morning after spending the 6 hours (until 5am) in the bathroom, to find my abdomen had exploded with pain. I nearly passed out, I know it. I couldn't feel anything, couldn't think. My mom and dad were scared, I was so pale. I was scared, but couldn't really feel it. I stumbled into the kitchen and fell into a chair, holding out my hand for something, anything. I was severely dehydrated, having expelled all the liquid that could reach my intestine the night before. I had no potassium in my system, nor any blood sugar to speak of.

One chugged 7up, a potassium pill, and fifteen minutes of burping later, I felt nearly human. It didn't last. All my family was visiting for my grandfather's 90th birthday party, so we had a 13yr old, a 9yr old, a 3yr old and an 18 month old running around the house, along with a considerable number of family members, some making shit jokes at my expense (love you too, guys). And I got to help host a reception/party for 60 people, doling out punch and helping clean up spills, chatting with people I hardly knew (or straight-up didn't know) all that afternoon. I was on my feet the entire time.

Then a family supper, and more talking. I was glad to see them all, since I so rarely get to, but I wish I had felt better. I could have enjoyed it more.

People left, this morning.

Including my parents, so I'm alone with my hurty, light-headed self, tonight.

And I have an 11-hour drive tomorrow.

*flops*

June 3rd, 2009

Health Issues

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Saphling2
Okay. So, my left side has been hurting for weeks now.

From ribs to hip and everywhere in between, front and back.

And I have no idea why. All my fibromyalgia tender points feel like they should be showing massive bruises. It sometimes feels like I pulled something, or I slept crooked, or have been sitting with bad posture forever. Then other times it feels like I'm bloated, and stiff, and can't move right.

I can point exactly to the eight points on my side that are where the hurts center around. Front-left ribs; stomach up and left of navel; hollow of left hip; left side just up from hip; left ribs under my arm; back ribs under my left shoulderblade; mid-back on left side; and back of hips just down from the small of my back.

I just can't tell you whyyyyy.

Mom says stress, causing fibro to go into high gear and causing the irritable bowel syndrome that goes with it, which okay, I've been under a bit of stress lately, but that's nothing new. Nothing to make me hurt only on my left side for a full month.

Dad says it's acid reflux, which... thanks for the concern, but it's really not.

Any ideas, guys? I'm lost.

May 5th, 2009

Am driving home tomorrow. It's 700-mile journey.

Got a bit of free time anytime between 7am and 5pm Eastern time?

Got my cell number?

:D?

April 6th, 2009

An Update, of sorts

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Saphling
1. + Mom got her results back about her lumpectomy. They got it all, they believe, so she doesn't need chemo, just some rounds of radiation.

2. - My car is messing up again, with the same problem that a new battery should have fixed.

3. - I woke up at six this morning with cramps, then dozed until eight before getting up.

4. - I got up early specifically so I could get my registration for classes done early.

------- The two professors whose permission I need to enroll in the classes I want haven't emailed me back. One of them still hasn't emailed me back. *growls*
------- Apparently, I can't enroll until 1:30pm, because the "Enroll Now!" button isn't showing up on the webpage, leading to a minor flail at it because I missed the class I wanted to take this summer.
------- I need these classes for my specialization, and they aren't offered again until Fall '10. By which time I plan on having graduated, thnx.

5. + Had great fun Friday night, over at some friends' apartment. We played Zombie Fluxx, Let's Kill, and Texas Hold'em, a game I won big on despite not having much experience with it. Also, we played Rock Band. And Nick gave me his copies of Winter's Heart and Crossroads of Twilight

6. + There is Sunshine flair on facebook. This makes me happier than it should.

7. +++ There is also Milliways flair on facebook. This makes me just as gleeful as it should. ^_______^

8. - There is, however, not enough Milliways flair on facebook.

9. - I'm hungry.

10. + I'm going to go get lunch. ^__^

March 25th, 2009

So, that Daily Entertainment idea was one I really liked. But my computer was away being fixed when that one was posted, so I wrote the scene I came up with during class. (Shhh!)

I was kind of proud of how well it translated, actually. It's totally unedited or altered. Just typed up from what I had written in between bouts of notes for class.

The prisoner, Admiral.Collapse )

:D?
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