Chaos Theory:

What's Going On

My Swurl page
Aggregates a bunch of journal-y blog entries together. Convenient!
Ravelympics
Knitting and crochet and all kinds of projects, competing to be finished within two weeks and change!
National Novel Writing Month
Saturn Return Can Bite Me
My beta test blog over on Vox, astrology-related.
Knitting Olympics 2006
I was a gold medalist!
The Spanglemonkey Awards 2005
Best Internet Variety Show (and Good Luck Getting Anything Done, Ever) in 2005!
My Bloglines blogroll.
Fine. There you go.
I am the Minister of Chaos
Like you were surprised to hear it. Heh.
My Blog Threat Level Is:
The Feminist Valentine Blog Awards.
The Spanglemonkey Awards

* Spanglemonkey's Best Site From Which to Steal Links Shamelessly in 2004
* Best Blog Title Based on Ian Malcolm's Dialogue in Jurassic Park, in 2004
Davis Wiki
Welcome to our wiki little world. I can't believe I just said that.
Kingdom of Loathing
It's my Evercrack. But it won't turn you into a drooling idiot who can't leave the computer screen, ever.
BugMeNot
Be a rebel. Screw registering. Read stuff.
Craft Enabled, Domestically Disabled
My new craft blog, to give the "Craft Projects" photo album a bit of purpose.
Speed-Reading Book Nerd Reviews
Yes, I started a booklog, mostly for summer reading. Eventually, I'll even add reviews to it.
My NaNoWriMo Novel Site

If you're interested in that sort of thing.

Quotes

From "Andromeda Klein:"
"sometimes the Universe was subtle; other times it hit you over the head like it thought you were stupid."
Dame Margot Fonteyn:
"But somehow or other, fate doesn't always do the things that might be sensible. Fate leads you to do other things. And I'm a great fatalist."
Alan Moore:
"Life isn’t divided into genres. It’s a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you're lucky."
Lani Diane Rich:
"I have a good friend going through a horrendously bad time right now, the kind of lifetime crisis that either kills you or changes you so fundamentally that you will never again be the person you were before. I recently went through something similar, although I don’t think I let it take as much of a chunk out of me as it’s taking out of her, mostly because I’ve had my ass kicked by the Universe before. I know that when you keep trying to make something work, and it doesn’t no matter what you do, then you need to relax and figure out what the Universe is trying to tell you, because the Universe will continue to make your life hell until you do."
Cary Tennis:
"Some people might not approve of your needs. Screw them. You didn't invent your own needs."
Jennifer Finney Boylan:
"The world is full of false hopes, most of them dumber than the hope of being transformed by love."
Hugh Macleod:
“Good ideas come with a heavy burden; which is why so few people execute them. Few people can handle it.“  
Fiona Glennane on meditation:
“I want you to close your eyes and breathe deep. Picture a peaceful mountain stream. Can you do that? Picture yourself drowning the kidnapper in the stream.”
Sarah Haskins:
"We used to just grow old and be spinsters. Now we have a lot of options: We can be spinsters or cougars."
The Doctor:
"All that attitude, all that lip, 'cos all this time... you think you're not worth it. Shouting at the world 'cos no-one's listening. Well... why should they?"
Winter, the guy trying to visit all the Starbucks before they close:
"Pointless though it might it be, a goal is a goal."
Carolyn Hax:
Carlsbad, N.M.: How do I figure out what to be when I grow up? Carolyn Hax: I dunno, but it's easier if you grow up first, then figure it out. Otherwise you'll just change your mind when you get there.
Bobby Singer:
"Are you under the impression that family is supposed to make you feel GOOD? Bake you an apple pie, maybe? They're SUPPOSED to make you miserable, that's why they're family!"
Dan Savage:
"You want crazy frosting on sane cake."
fillyjonk on Susan Boyle:
"What makes people stop laughing — or at least, what makes you stop caring if they do? The discovery that something about you is utterly remarkable."
Gregg Levoy:
"Chaos is just going to throw on a tie-dye shirt and come to work with no pants on."
Carrie Fisher:
"My mother always said to me, “Don’t be so hard on yourself, dear!” and I wanted to say, “Oh, okay! Then I won’t! I thought that it was a good thing to rough yourself up, but you say it’s not, so I’ll just stop! Thanks for the tip!”
deering:
"Someone who wants to be a doctor or an engineer isn't told right off that bat that they are untalented, or impractical, or can't make it, ever. :P"
Jonathan Coulton:
"This is the thing about the new landscape that drives everyone crazy: you can’t see inside the cow; you can only build one, feed it music, and wait for it to poop."
Andrew Ramer:
"All life wobbles on this planet. Wobbles, or dances. As sometimes, when someone bumps into you on the dance floor, you turn to them with anger in your eyes. And sometimes, you turn to them and love stares back, and the bruise on your thigh was all worth it. So with Earth. It smiles, and rubs its hip. "When you understand fire, you no longer stick your hand in it, you contain it and cook with it. When you understand the wobble, you no longer fear it or hate it, you move with it, use it. And sometimes, when your life is a mess, when you've been in therapy for 57 years and you're still falling in love with the wrong person--stop blaming your parents or yourself. Stop and take a deep breath and say to yourself--I'm living on a world that wobbles on its axis. It has seasons and changes. And sometimes, what seems to be going wrong in my life isn't really a flaw in my nature. It's just that I haven't learned to wobble with the world yet. The Earth laughs at itself. Can you?"
Carolyn Hax:
"Short description of a long process: Figure out the things that make you feel confident/fulfilled/energized; that give you a sense of purpose or accomplishment; that tap into your natural abilities and strengths; and that -don't- put you at the mercy of any one person, and orient your life around those. Often, this requires another step--concurrently or as a precursor--of reducing the role in your life of things that make you feel worthless/empty/exhausted; that require skills that don't come naturally; that feel like a waste of time; or that put you routinely at the mercy of others."
Kitty Norville:
"People are always saying that to me--how can I possibly be a skeptic given what I am? Given how much I know about what's really out there, how can I turn my nose up at any half-baked belief that crosses my desk? Really, it's easy, because so many of them are half-baked. They're formulated by people trying to con other people and make a few bucks. The fact that some of this is real makes it even more important to be on our guard, to be that much more skeptical, so we can separate truth and fiction. Blind faith is still blind, and I try not to be."
Kitty Norville:
"The supernatural world was like an onion. You peel back the layers, only to find more layers, on and on, hopelessly trying to reach the mysterious core. Then you start crying."
regicide is good for you:
"Are ads even trying to sell anything anymore, or just keep us vaguely, constantly aware that there are generally things on sale somewhere nearby? I like this new model. People get paid to delight me, and I walk away still blissfully unaware of products."
Hanna Rosin:
"One fleeting thing—an unearned pile of money, a one-night stand, a tattoo, a suddenly paralyzed teammate—can change your entire life. Accident and coincidence are more powerful than any God-driven holistic narrative."
B.J. Love (what a name, eh?):
“People may think art is a waste of time because it’s not ‘goods’ that can be bought, sold and taxed, but down the road art is all we got. The only historical documents I've read from the 1860s are the Gettysburg address, a poetic speech, and Leaves of Grass and THAT is how I understand those times, and I think years from now, poetry will still be how we understand times, these time included.”
Seymour, "Burn Notice":
"Don't argue with destiny. It will kick your ass."
NoStyleHere:
"So I'm 48, good god man, and my experience is that every time you think life is finally starting to be less weird, it busts loose with a whole new *kind* of weird. Life ebbs and flows and changes and much of the joy of it is in its utter unpredictability."
Patricia Briggs:
"As an author, I sometimes feel like the wicked witch. My job is to find someone happily minding their own business, and mess up their happy little lives until they're upset enough to get off their rump and go change something."
Elliot Bangs:
"What the hell was I doing? I asked myself, more than once. But haven't you ever needed to follow a mystery past all the limits of common sense? Have you ever found yourself in a whole awful prison of a world in which every last familiar and sensible thing has finally come up hollow and pointless? Have you ever been left with nothing on which to stake all your hopes of transcendence, save one good leap into the abyss? It also suffices to say that the story would have ended here if it hadn't been for alcohol."
Elsa:
For me it’s like being a horse… a thoroughbred. That "horse is born to run… pretty much that is why it is here. It can rest but the basic life is getting ready to run, running and then recovering from running. If you take a horse like that or a person like me and you tie them down, you are killing that horse. You are perverting nature. That horse is not going to thrive and God or the universe is going to be very pissed at you. He or it will also be pissed at the horse because what’s it doing standing there when it knows damned well it’s supposed to run?"
Carrie Fisher:
"Now, keeping yourself impervious to mockery is a full time occupation. I’ve been working at it ever since I can remember."
Murdoc Niccals, The Gorillaz
"Always be wary of people who use quotes." I don't know who said that."
flipside:
"Following your heart through life is like following your feet across a piano."
The Doctor:
"You want weapons? We're in a library. Books! Best weapons in the world. This room's the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourself."
Jessica Lovejoy:
"You know what would be great? This totally impossible thing!"
D. Brian Burghart:
"I’d like to be in love—if not with a person, then with a consuming new idea or project that will move me from the waiting for the next phase of my life to the real deal."
Anonymous:
"If a cannibal can find someone to volunteer to be killed and eaten, surely our problems of finding the appropriate relationships to suit us are considerably more minimal."
Joss Whedon:
"Honestly, it really is that little chaos factor. It's when the thing starts talking back to you. When you come up with something that is a little bit more than just a good reproduction of what was in the book, and somehow reflects you in a way that you didn't understand yourself: that's art."
Rasputin:
"This is what has always bothered me about relationships. It’s never just you and your partner who get into one: It’s always you, your partner, and society. And that’s not a three-way I’m comfortable with."

June 30, 2009

No village for you

"So many readers stressed that it takes a village, and that I would need friends to rally around, but one of the other things I learned lately is that the opposite happens. Already, the few female friends that pledged support have evaporated. My phone is oddly silent and I’m not surprised. It’s hard to be pregnant but, in some ways, I think it’s especially hard to be friends with someone who is pregnant. I know my friends have their own lives and aspirations. They are trying to juggle their newfound responsibilities while lending support but also trying to maintain their independence. There’s a limit to how much you can expect people to chip in and, quite frankly, I don’t think it’s fair to be so needy right now. We’re all vulnerable and we’re all scared and the last thing that my village of college graduates should be raising is a baby. The people I thought I could rely on are absent and it’s heartbreaking.

Readers also brought up options and resources like food stamps, WIC, subsidized child care at the university, maternity leave, etc. All of these resources are wonderful but I could not have applied for any of them. I’m stuck in the middle — too financially stable to qualify for aid, grants, or scholarships, but still too poor to successfully raise a child and go to school. Something had to give when it became clear that nothing was coming my way — not from the university, my family, my friends, or the father."

Posted on June 30, 2009 at 04:29 PM in Feminist Chick Talk | Permalink | Comments (0)

Someone else doesn't like the Transformers movie

"I mourn the volume of human life being wasted on this thing. If the film makes $100 million this weekend and tickets cost $10 a pop, that’s ten million viewers and a total of twenty-five million hours, not including previews, travel and the time spent earning the wasted money. If the average person lives to be 75, that’s 38 lives."

Posted on June 30, 2009 at 03:45 PM in Geekitude | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 2009