Cleolinda everywhere

So. Today. Thirty-one. I was depressed (not about the number itself) and that was stupid but there it is.

(Also, the day started out really crappy. "PUT HIS ASS ON THE PHONE!")

I will say, there is one thing I feel very strongly about on birthdays, and that is: it is very important that you blow out all your candles in one breath, for thus shall you have good luck all the next year! Which is why I get UTTERLY CHAGRINED when people put the same number of candles on the cake as you are years old, because when you're seven that's awesome, but when you're thirty-one, that's just basically a giant NO LUCK FOR YOU. I just don't have the lung capacity to deal with those kind of numbers, people. "Can we just get two candles in the shape of a 3 and a 1?" I asked desperately. So after I explained why I wanted fewer candles, we compromised and just put them on my piece:

( I'M A REBEL )

So it was a quiet day; we had just my grandmother over for lunch rather than any kind of Entire Family thing. I don't know. I'm just getting to be a huge baby about not wanting to do anything for my birthday--what I want to figure out is what I feel so bad about. What is it that I actually want that I'm not getting? I'm throwing myself a giant pity party, but what's the occasion? Because you can't go about fixing a problem, about getting what you want, if you don't know what that is. And I just don't know.

Anyway. I'm still slowly replacing my music collection--I might be able to recover it when I'm sure I can afford to take Betsy into the shop after Christmas shopping is done, but I'm not counting on it--so I went and bought my two favorite Pretenders songs, "Night in My Veins" and "Love Colours." Coincidentally, I got that CD for my--16th birthday? I think that's the one it was. I wore that CD to pieces, which is why I can't rip it to Lizzie now. So, fifteen years later, here we are on iTunes.

Something else I bought on a whim off eBay just happened to arrive today, and I am counting it as a birthday present to myself because it is pretty much the best thing ever. Seriously, I think opening the packet and taking it out was the only thing that made me laugh all day. I paid the princely sum of $13.13 for it, and it will be a long time before I am able to work it into The Secret Life of Dolls, but you will die, all of you will absolutely die when you see it.


(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

Linkspam: The OH SHIT Edition, in which I suddenly realize there are a ton of things I was supposed to mention and, inexplicably, didn't.

made_of_fail_pc does, in fact, have a new episode up.

greyduck's new photo comic Quacked Panes (the secret life of rubber duckies, if you will).

The Sirens conference (sirenscon, October 1-4, 2009, Vail, Colorado):

Inspired by the daring adventures of women characters and compelled by the brilliant works of women authors, Sirens is a conference dedicated to women in fantasy literature. The conference, both scholarly examination and professional retreat, welcomes academics, authors, professionals, and readers to attend—and provide varying perspectives on fantasy books by women, female characters in fantasy works, the market for fantasy by and about women, and how to support women in fantasy literature.

Our Guests of Honor in 2009, our inaugural year, include authors Tamora Pierce, Sherwood Smith, and Kristin Cashore, each of whom has written of strong, smart women warriors. In addition, all attendees are encouraged to propose presentation topics related to women in fantasy: history, social studies, fan studies, business, specific books and series, fantasy generally, or even Sirens's 2009 focus on warrior characters and the women who write them.

The thing is, and I feel awful about this, the due date for proposals is tomorrow. Somehow I got "June 20" stuck in my head and thought I had plenty of time to mention it, because I suck. So if you do have something you think would work, do think about submitting that. I don't know that I'll be able to go, but I would love to and will if I can (depending on health and finances), so if nothing else, keep it in mind if you think you'd be interested in attending.

(Additional details: registration is currently $175 [all programming, events, keynotes and keynote food]; hotel is $109 for 1/2, $134 for 3-4. Adds praetorianguard, "Hotel is the Vail Cascade Resort and Spa. Think library, awesome bar, hot ski bum staff.")

From quizzicalsphinx: "Since you're an Alabama girl too, I wondered if you might link people to the Calhoun County Animal Shelter's Donation Page. Due to the economy, they've had steadily declining donations and two weeks ago, they lost their gas. I can't confirm this rumour, but word on the street has it that, as of this morning, they lost their electricity and water as well. If the utilities cannot be restored, up to 300 otherwise adoptable animals may have to be euthanised. Here's the local news report."

From sachielle: U.S. Manga Obscenity Conviction Roils Comics World; Neil Gaiman On The ‘Obscenity’ Of Manga Collector Christopher Handley’s Trial.

Assorted thoughts:

A couple of mail-related things--Lelio? I couldn't figure out what your LJ username was (to contact you), but I did get what you sent me? Also, I brilliantly lost the message (comment? email? PM?) where someone mentioned Rement, but I did get that package as well. The one with The Littlest Shopping Basket?

God, I need an intern.

Lots of jaw/tension headaches. Not sure if it's the weather (air pressure) or not. Or possibly a buildup of massive amounts of fail.

Slept in today, then made necessary purchases at local shopping centers. May go see Up tomorrow.

Yelled at people on eBay who could not hear me for bidding against me on a bargain and thereby making it less of a bargain. Won the auction anyway (it ended at only $18, I am not nickel-and-diming myself to death, stop saying that). You will find out what it was several weeks from now, I think, although rest assured that it is merely a prop, not a character.

Making a doll-sized longbow? Not as easy as you might think.

<---- New Secret Life of Dolls thataway.

(Okay, twelve hours later, and I am still GLEEFULLY proud that I scored something rare-ish on eBay for half the usual price. Number of dolls I am keeping secret from you guys: back up to 2.)

( Linkspam! )

All right, last call for the Eowyn (Not Eowyn)/hardcover book auction. It'll end in about an hour.

To tell you the truth, I'm going to spend the proceeds a little differently than I had originally planned (completely on Secret Life dolls)--my mother's birthday is next week, and I'd like to get her something really nice. And I want to give to the Australian Red Cross, but I don't know how much, because every time I try to settle on a number, it's like, But these people have lost everything. You think about it and you want to give them everything you've got that isn't nailed down. But I'm to a point where I think I'll give one amount from the auction and then, when I finish the Cursed Annotations, give a larger amount from that. It's just mentally more manageable that way. So by the time you take out eBay and PayPal fees, we're probably looking at one small Secret Life addition (if that makes a difference to you when bidding). But even with just one, exciting developments are in store, I think.


ETA: Sold!

Okay, much to my terror, I have, in fact, listed Eowyn (Not Eowyn) and the book, together, on eBay. The description is a little hard-ass, as a result of me being terrified that I'll somehow screw it up, and also, because I read this, and I am not looking forward to a hundred dumbass questions from the persistent eBay masses like "Does she have hands? I can't see any hands."


Anyway. The auction'll end next Sunday night, I think? There it is.

So, an update on my first foray into selling on eBay: what I've decided to do is throw in a copy of the book (it does, after all, have "Lord of the Rings in Fifteen Minutes" in it), which would make this a TOTALLY UNIQUE AUCTION ZOMG. So you would be getting 1) an 11" Toy Biz Eowyn mint-in-box; 2) the book, hardcover, 400 something pages, as published everywhere but North America, which I will sign if you want (hell, Eowyn can sign it if you want); but not my Eowyn (NOT YOU, EOWYN, CHILL), who is here only for modeling purposes.




( Work it, girl )

You know how I said I had a few things I bought a while back--like, years ago--with the intention of eventually putting them on eBay like an asshat reseller and I just never did, partly because I didn't have a camera to take pictures and partly because I'm a little afraid I'll do it wrong or something? (This is a huge fear in general of mine, "doing it wrong.") You know, so I could at least get Cheap-Ass Edward Dollen and a Faramir for Eowyn? And I found some doll weapons on the cheap that I think the girls would like. And money's tight (for everyone, really), so I feel kind of bad just blowing it on dolls, but--I was rooting around in that nook between the bookshelf and the TV cabinet where I stockpiled a few things, and--I found something I forgot I even had. Even though I'm sure I look at it every day. I'd just stopped seeing it, you know? And really, if I sell a doll in order to buy another doll, it's more like an exchange, isn't it? That's not so bad, right?

So I put "Sell doll on eBay" on my LJ to-do list. This proved to be my undoing. ( DON'T LIE! THAT'S MY BOX! YOU'RE GOING TO SELL ME! )

Why does my internet hate me? It takes two or three refreshes for any page to load, so the problem's got to be on my end. And I've run CCleaner and AdAware and all and can't find anything. Fnarr.

Also, Sister Girl wants you to know that Pete now has a lampshade on his head. You know, one of those cones they put around dogs' necks to keep them from chewing at stitches and whatever. "I'm going to have a satellite dog for a week," she moaned. "Well, maybe you'll get better reception now," I said.

Anyway, today's journal flashback: let's do that one time I went to see Derailed.

Linkspam! ( In the 1920s, the French brought the first writers from Asia to Europe )

So today is the day of the birth of the Mama of the Cleo! It is also her sister's (my aunt's) birthday. However, my aunt (her sister) is five years younger. Yeah... we don't really know how that happened, exactly. I mean, at least Sister Girl and I were born seven years and three days apart. Anyway, that's what I'm doing this evening: dinner, chocolate roulage, and presents. Remind me to tell you tomorrow what I watched on TCM today.

( Linkspam catch-up )

ETA: Breaking local news: If you grew up in the Jefferson County (AL) school system and have fond memories of band director Pat Morrow, you may want to send him a get-well card--apparently he's in ICU, having a third stint put in tomorrow, after a heart attack he had last night.