Lyda Morehouse's Blog, page 28
September 12, 2014
The Manga Chapters Mock Me, I swear....
Mason and I just can't seem to figure this timing thing out. Because we podcasted on Wednesday afternoon, I swear all my monthly manga decided to up-date at once. I wrote up Blue Exorcist yesterday, and this morning I have a review for you of Chapter #61 of Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan.
In other news, I tried to sign both Mason and I up for Japanese, but the class through Community Ed. had an age restriction--you had to be 16 or older. I considered faking Mason's age, but then decided that while he might pass for 13, no way he looked 16. I'm very bummed about this as you can imagine, because Mason is my big otaku colleague. He's also WAY better at languages than I am--at least he is quick to remember names and pronunciations of our favorite characters. However, I told him that I was still counting on him to be my study buddy, so hopefully he can learn along with me.
That starts up in October.
Speaking of things coming-up, you can now register your teen for the "Teen Writing Conference" at the Loft, where I will be teaching "Capturing Kudos: Pro Tips for Improving Your Fan Fic." https://www.loft.org/programs__awards/educational_programs/writing_conferences/ I should note that the conference is actually FREE. So, if you have someone who is 13 - 17 years old in your life, who normally doesn't have the money or the time for a Loft class, this is a spectacular opportunity. I won't even be offended if they're not interested in my class!
If you're a local adult looking to learn more about fan fic writing from some grizzled pros, Rachel and I will be teaching a class for adults in the winter season. As soon as you can register for that, I'll post info here. (The problem there, of course, is that those classes are NOT free, though it should be noted that he Loft does provide scholarships for reduced class fees.)
I will also, should enough students sign-up, be teaching science fiction to adults at the Loft again in the winter.
Also, if you just miss seeing me about town, remember I'm going to be at Common Good Books doing this discussion of the Hobbit Book v. Movie: http://www.commongoodbooks.com/event/“‘-wasn’t-book’-discussion-hobbit-page-and-screen” here in September, on the 22nd!
In other news, I tried to sign both Mason and I up for Japanese, but the class through Community Ed. had an age restriction--you had to be 16 or older. I considered faking Mason's age, but then decided that while he might pass for 13, no way he looked 16. I'm very bummed about this as you can imagine, because Mason is my big otaku colleague. He's also WAY better at languages than I am--at least he is quick to remember names and pronunciations of our favorite characters. However, I told him that I was still counting on him to be my study buddy, so hopefully he can learn along with me.
That starts up in October.
Speaking of things coming-up, you can now register your teen for the "Teen Writing Conference" at the Loft, where I will be teaching "Capturing Kudos: Pro Tips for Improving Your Fan Fic." https://www.loft.org/programs__awards/educational_programs/writing_conferences/ I should note that the conference is actually FREE. So, if you have someone who is 13 - 17 years old in your life, who normally doesn't have the money or the time for a Loft class, this is a spectacular opportunity. I won't even be offended if they're not interested in my class!
If you're a local adult looking to learn more about fan fic writing from some grizzled pros, Rachel and I will be teaching a class for adults in the winter season. As soon as you can register for that, I'll post info here. (The problem there, of course, is that those classes are NOT free, though it should be noted that he Loft does provide scholarships for reduced class fees.)
I will also, should enough students sign-up, be teaching science fiction to adults at the Loft again in the winter.
Also, if you just miss seeing me about town, remember I'm going to be at Common Good Books doing this discussion of the Hobbit Book v. Movie: http://www.commongoodbooks.com/event/“‘-wasn’t-book’-discussion-hobbit-page-and-screen” here in September, on the 22nd!
September 11, 2014
Blue Exorcist Chapter and Ms. Marvel Comics
By chance, Mason and I missed the publication of the new Ao no Exorcist/Blue Exorcist by ONE DAY. So, I wrote up my review of it, which you can read on MangaKast, here: http://mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/09/11/ao-no-exorcist-60-review/
Yesterday, at our usual women of Wyrdsmiths' gathering, Naomi loaned me the first eight issues of the new Ms. Marvel, which I powered through today while at the laundromat while washing some of our rag rugs. The hero of Ms. Marvel is a teenage girl living in New Jersey named Kamala Khan who happens to be Muslim. She is the American-born daughter of a fairly recent Pakastani immigrant family. One day a weird green fog takes over her town and she appears to develop superpowers and the ability to look like Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel.
The things I like: this is a comic book about a woman, written by a woman. This is also a comic book about Muslims by someone who has AT LEAST spent some time living in a Muslim country, specifically Egypt. So, while I can't say whether or not this is a fair portrayal of All the Things, there are some moments that give me hope that this is an honest try...
There is a wonderful scene, specifically, where Kamala is sent to talk to her mosques' main mullah/priest. She's fairly convinced he's going to be very strict and not understand and basically tell her "stay away from boys and Satan." He surprises her (and possibly the reader) by giving good advice. He says if he hasn't taught her to stay away from boys and Satan he pretty much sucks in his job anyway and telling her again isn't going to do the trick. Then he says if you're going to do a thing, do it with integrity, do the best you can. In a manga, he would be saying 'gambatte": do your best! Because he means it the same way, try hard, but also HAVE HONOR. He then goes on to say, if you won't let me be your teacher in this, you need to find one. And literally Wolverine falls out of the sky to be that guy.
The other fun thing about this character is that she's a real teenager, living TODAY. She writes Avengers fan fic.
Yes, things are that self-referrential now. Look, I've been telling you, when Marvel decided to place their heroes in real neighborhoods in the Real World, they MEANT IT. That means, if it makes sense for a teenager to have seen the Marvel Movies (or, as it happens, live in the world they occupy) then it means they'd do the things people really do, like write fan fic.
This, however, is why I love Marvel.
This is especially awesome when there's an honest-to-canon scene in which Wolverine is confronted by the fact that the fic she wrote starring him came in second to one featuring Scott Summers/Cyclops and Emma Frost/White Witch (a crack ship if ever there was one)...
Things I'm not sure of:
The introduction of the Inhumans and, specifically, Medusa sending Lockjaw into the title. As I attempted to explain to my friend Josey, this feels like the kind of thing that could either work or completely back-fire. Yes, comic books can do cheese better than, say, Marvel Movies, but is an alien telepathic/teleporting dog one step over the line or will it be fucking amazing. A tough call.
But, that's a wait-and-see game.
Even with that caveat, I would have to agree with a lot of the hype. I'm liking this. I'm hoping the title continues a long time.
Yesterday, at our usual women of Wyrdsmiths' gathering, Naomi loaned me the first eight issues of the new Ms. Marvel, which I powered through today while at the laundromat while washing some of our rag rugs. The hero of Ms. Marvel is a teenage girl living in New Jersey named Kamala Khan who happens to be Muslim. She is the American-born daughter of a fairly recent Pakastani immigrant family. One day a weird green fog takes over her town and she appears to develop superpowers and the ability to look like Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel.
The things I like: this is a comic book about a woman, written by a woman. This is also a comic book about Muslims by someone who has AT LEAST spent some time living in a Muslim country, specifically Egypt. So, while I can't say whether or not this is a fair portrayal of All the Things, there are some moments that give me hope that this is an honest try...
There is a wonderful scene, specifically, where Kamala is sent to talk to her mosques' main mullah/priest. She's fairly convinced he's going to be very strict and not understand and basically tell her "stay away from boys and Satan." He surprises her (and possibly the reader) by giving good advice. He says if he hasn't taught her to stay away from boys and Satan he pretty much sucks in his job anyway and telling her again isn't going to do the trick. Then he says if you're going to do a thing, do it with integrity, do the best you can. In a manga, he would be saying 'gambatte": do your best! Because he means it the same way, try hard, but also HAVE HONOR. He then goes on to say, if you won't let me be your teacher in this, you need to find one. And literally Wolverine falls out of the sky to be that guy.
The other fun thing about this character is that she's a real teenager, living TODAY. She writes Avengers fan fic.
Yes, things are that self-referrential now. Look, I've been telling you, when Marvel decided to place their heroes in real neighborhoods in the Real World, they MEANT IT. That means, if it makes sense for a teenager to have seen the Marvel Movies (or, as it happens, live in the world they occupy) then it means they'd do the things people really do, like write fan fic.
This, however, is why I love Marvel.
This is especially awesome when there's an honest-to-canon scene in which Wolverine is confronted by the fact that the fic she wrote starring him came in second to one featuring Scott Summers/Cyclops and Emma Frost/White Witch (a crack ship if ever there was one)...
Things I'm not sure of:
The introduction of the Inhumans and, specifically, Medusa sending Lockjaw into the title. As I attempted to explain to my friend Josey, this feels like the kind of thing that could either work or completely back-fire. Yes, comic books can do cheese better than, say, Marvel Movies, but is an alien telepathic/teleporting dog one step over the line or will it be fucking amazing. A tough call.
But, that's a wait-and-see game.
Even with that caveat, I would have to agree with a lot of the hype. I'm liking this. I'm hoping the title continues a long time.
September 10, 2014
Wednesday for Bleach (Again, Maybe?)
Okay so the publishing schedule is messing with our podcast YET AGAIN. However, Mason read everything when he came home from school (and me, after fighting the traffic back and forth to the vet's office to pick up my kitty), and we produced #24: Otaku in the Basement.
In this episode, our 24th podcast, we reviewed Bleach 596, One Piece 760, Toriko 292 and Hitogatana.
In this episode, our 24th podcast, we reviewed Bleach 596, One Piece 760, Toriko 292 and Hitogatana.
September 9, 2014
Marriage Thinky-Thoughts
Shawn and I have been married for over a year now, and I have to say that I'm getting much better at calling her my "wife."
Every time it comes out of my mouth, I still cringe a little inside, though. I tell myself this label only feels gross because I never wanted to be anyone's wife, because, in those days, it meant something in apron strings... with cookies (but not the yummy Dark Side kind)... and a promise to obey. But, the kids these days don't see that. That hasn't been the reality of a 'wife' for a long time anyway, and you know, marriage is something we fought for an won, so I should be proud that the law is finally on our side.
It still sounds weird.
But I force myself to say it to people who need to hear it, which is pretty much anyone who deals with me in some kind service fashion where having a spouse means someone else has access to information and a right to make joint decisions, etc. Shawn still prefers a more neutral term like "spouse" but I'm not sure that gets heard the same way. Honestly, given Shawn's gender neutral name, I often feel that saying 'wife' (even while I cringe through it) clears up potential awkwardness that could come later.
I suppose, with luck, in the future none of this will matter, or it will matter in a different way. Maybe, at some point, we'll all refer to that person as our 'legal spouse' and then find another way to indicate gender. (Because, you know, I read "My Lesbian Husband" back in the day, and I will parenthetically [aka 'secretly'] admit I find the term husband weirdly more appealing than wife. But I can NOT imagining anyone to call me that, not even Shawn.)
Every time it comes out of my mouth, I still cringe a little inside, though. I tell myself this label only feels gross because I never wanted to be anyone's wife, because, in those days, it meant something in apron strings... with cookies (but not the yummy Dark Side kind)... and a promise to obey. But, the kids these days don't see that. That hasn't been the reality of a 'wife' for a long time anyway, and you know, marriage is something we fought for an won, so I should be proud that the law is finally on our side.
It still sounds weird.
But I force myself to say it to people who need to hear it, which is pretty much anyone who deals with me in some kind service fashion where having a spouse means someone else has access to information and a right to make joint decisions, etc. Shawn still prefers a more neutral term like "spouse" but I'm not sure that gets heard the same way. Honestly, given Shawn's gender neutral name, I often feel that saying 'wife' (even while I cringe through it) clears up potential awkwardness that could come later.
I suppose, with luck, in the future none of this will matter, or it will matter in a different way. Maybe, at some point, we'll all refer to that person as our 'legal spouse' and then find another way to indicate gender. (Because, you know, I read "My Lesbian Husband" back in the day, and I will parenthetically [aka 'secretly'] admit I find the term husband weirdly more appealing than wife. But I can NOT imagining anyone to call me that, not even Shawn.)
Tate's Tuesday!
Having completely missed last week thanks to internet fail and school starting with a bang, Tate is back today with a new weekly installment of her work-in-progress, serialized sequel to Precinct 13 on Wattpad. Check it out! In this one, Valentine FINALLY shares some secrets...
www.wattpad.com/70174389-unjust-cause-part-22-dragonkin
I don't know what else I have to report. I spent part of the weekend reviewing the e-book mark-up of my AngeLINK short story, "The Case of the Missing Devil Child," which Wizard's Tower Press is offering as part of the full AngeLINK e-book bundle that people purchased as a premium for https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/accessing-the-future (there are still a few left, btw.) Similarly, I need to go over the proofs for the e-version of Resurrection Code, so we can get that out the door.
I'm also working hard on revising the "seekrit" project I alluded to in the previous post. So, soon there will be EVEN MORE places to read my stuff.
Our cat Inky gets to go to the vet today. He's been having litter box trouble again. This isn't a new problem, but we had it under control, or at least in a more tolerable way. Something seems to have happened--either he panicked after all our various vacations or he's got some new irritation in his bladder. We thought the vet ought to have a look, at any rate. Fingers crossed that it's something fixable. Shawn is kind of at wit's end with all the extra laundry he's caused.
www.wattpad.com/70174389-unjust-cause-part-22-dragonkin
I don't know what else I have to report. I spent part of the weekend reviewing the e-book mark-up of my AngeLINK short story, "The Case of the Missing Devil Child," which Wizard's Tower Press is offering as part of the full AngeLINK e-book bundle that people purchased as a premium for https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/accessing-the-future (there are still a few left, btw.) Similarly, I need to go over the proofs for the e-version of Resurrection Code, so we can get that out the door.
I'm also working hard on revising the "seekrit" project I alluded to in the previous post. So, soon there will be EVEN MORE places to read my stuff.
Our cat Inky gets to go to the vet today. He's been having litter box trouble again. This isn't a new problem, but we had it under control, or at least in a more tolerable way. Something seems to have happened--either he panicked after all our various vacations or he's got some new irritation in his bladder. We thought the vet ought to have a look, at any rate. Fingers crossed that it's something fixable. Shawn is kind of at wit's end with all the extra laundry he's caused.
September 5, 2014
Manga Friday... Late (kind of)
We actually got the podcast recorded and posted early this morning, but I had to run off to work at the Maplewood Library, so I forgot to do all the social media-ing to let people know it was out and up. If you want to listen to it, you can find ihere: http://mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/09/05/you-and-me-23/.
Figuring out the new manga publishing schedule as well as Mason's o'heck o'clock school start time is kind of doing a number on us. We may end up shifting our 'broadcasting' schedule again... to be timely, we may have to post on Thursday nights. That might work out all around, since I'll be more caffeinated and we won't have to have Shawn breathing down our necks that it's time to get going. (Though that added a certain otaku flavor that I really liked.)
At the library today my manga find was volumes 1 &2 of : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingyo_Used_Books (known in Japanese as Kingyoya Koshoten). I've been trying to find an on-line source for it with no luck. It's a combination of two genres I like in manga--slice-of-life and manga about manga. The "main character" (there's kind of couple at the center) is the woman pictured on the cover below, who has taken over general management of her grandfather's legendary used manga store. Stuff happens around them, manga changes people's lives, and a lot of manga are discussed and quoted.
I haven't decided how I feel about it, but it's a lot of fun.
Figuring out the new manga publishing schedule as well as Mason's o'heck o'clock school start time is kind of doing a number on us. We may end up shifting our 'broadcasting' schedule again... to be timely, we may have to post on Thursday nights. That might work out all around, since I'll be more caffeinated and we won't have to have Shawn breathing down our necks that it's time to get going. (Though that added a certain otaku flavor that I really liked.)
At the library today my manga find was volumes 1 &2 of : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingyo_Used_Books (known in Japanese as Kingyoya Koshoten). I've been trying to find an on-line source for it with no luck. It's a combination of two genres I like in manga--slice-of-life and manga about manga. The "main character" (there's kind of couple at the center) is the woman pictured on the cover below, who has taken over general management of her grandfather's legendary used manga store. Stuff happens around them, manga changes people's lives, and a lot of manga are discussed and quoted.
I haven't decided how I feel about it, but it's a lot of fun.
September 3, 2014
A Better Day (At Least So FAR)
I'm at the coffee shop drinking a latte and scamming some free wifi for an hour or so.
I expect our new hot spot to show up some time today, but it will take a while to set it all up, so I'm going under the assumption that we won't be back to our normal routine until sometime tomorrow. HOWEVER, today has started out much, much better than yesterday already. I decided, once again, to go in to try to talk to a live human being, Ms. Sanchez, about Mason's 8th grade math and to basically make sure it was a decision the school made with some kind of forethought and wasn't just a technical error.
Turns out, they knew what they were doing.
But, I'll get to that. First, the lines were a lot shorter today, and, in point of fact, I by-passed them completely since I already knew the abilities of the people at the front lines. I just wrote myself out a visitor pass and headed up to the office. Where I waited no more than ten minutes and managed to catch Ms. Sanchez live and in-person in her office. I sat down with her and explained that we were VERY HAPPY with Mason's acceleration, BUT we just wanted to make sure that it was a decision that would be best for him. She looked up his test scores and said, "Oh," and then, "Oh, yeah, we have another one like him in 8th grade right now, so when the time comes to have college-level classes for Mason, we'll have it figured out by then."
Which was not what I was asking, but totally answered my question.
Thing is, Mason tested for UMPTYMP and didn't qualify so we were figuring that maybe he was only just moderately above average in math and not this accelerated. Now I think there are a couple of factors, one of which is that he was well and truly terrified of that test that day and simply may have not done as well on the test due to nerves. (Tests used to paralyze me occasionally when I was Mason's age.) The second is that Mason isn't really the UMPTYMP personality. If my friend Naomi's daughter is an indication, I think there has to be a love for math that goes beyond the average that Mason really doesn't have. I know from the essay part of the UMPTMP application that Mason had a hard time even imagining math as 'fun' or something that he ever thought of outside class. Plus, there are just levels of aptitude, all of which are valid, and Mason just may be in a different range of that than most UMPTYMP applicants.
But we're going to try 8th grade math in 6th grade, because why not challenge him? Gods knows he was BORED SENSELESS when he was required by his previous teacher to help others after he'd finished his own work. Plus, you have no idea how excited Mason was to be the only 6th grader in an 8th grade class. He loved the teacher, whom he described as funny and smart. (As a note, this may be the first teacher in a LONG time that Mason has labeled 'smart.')
So that was a great start to my day.
Plus, when I told Ms. Sanchez that I was a science fiction author (I only did that because we exchanged business cards), she was super-excited because apparently her son is a big fan of SF. I should also say that I was generally impressed with Ms. Sanchez. She kind of reminded me of some New York agents and editors that I've met, which is to say that she was sharp (in both senses of that word,) a bit abrupt, but straight-forward and no-nonsense in a way you don't find much around these parts (thought TBF to my friends, I do tend to find people like that to surround myself with). At any rate, I didn't have to deal with Minnesota Nice (which I hate) so I cottoned to her immediately.
For the rest of my day, my plans involve not going to my usual Women of Wednesday at the Black Dog, which makes me sad, but at the time I would have been there, I'll, instead, be at a different coffee shop meeting up with my writing collaborator, Rachel Gold, and our artistic collaborators Mandie Brasington and Alexis Cooke to talk about our SEEKRIT* project, which, with luck, will be launching at the end of September. This is a project I'm super excited about. I can't say a whole lot about it right now, but there will be urban fantasy and there will be art. (Two of my favorite things!)
*I kind of hate the whole "seekrit" thing, but mostly because I'm jealous when other people have them and I don't. :-) Also, this one shouldn't be under the table for too much longer.
So, if we can just get internet soon, life will be pretty good.
I expect our new hot spot to show up some time today, but it will take a while to set it all up, so I'm going under the assumption that we won't be back to our normal routine until sometime tomorrow. HOWEVER, today has started out much, much better than yesterday already. I decided, once again, to go in to try to talk to a live human being, Ms. Sanchez, about Mason's 8th grade math and to basically make sure it was a decision the school made with some kind of forethought and wasn't just a technical error.
Turns out, they knew what they were doing.
But, I'll get to that. First, the lines were a lot shorter today, and, in point of fact, I by-passed them completely since I already knew the abilities of the people at the front lines. I just wrote myself out a visitor pass and headed up to the office. Where I waited no more than ten minutes and managed to catch Ms. Sanchez live and in-person in her office. I sat down with her and explained that we were VERY HAPPY with Mason's acceleration, BUT we just wanted to make sure that it was a decision that would be best for him. She looked up his test scores and said, "Oh," and then, "Oh, yeah, we have another one like him in 8th grade right now, so when the time comes to have college-level classes for Mason, we'll have it figured out by then."
Which was not what I was asking, but totally answered my question.
Thing is, Mason tested for UMPTYMP and didn't qualify so we were figuring that maybe he was only just moderately above average in math and not this accelerated. Now I think there are a couple of factors, one of which is that he was well and truly terrified of that test that day and simply may have not done as well on the test due to nerves. (Tests used to paralyze me occasionally when I was Mason's age.) The second is that Mason isn't really the UMPTYMP personality. If my friend Naomi's daughter is an indication, I think there has to be a love for math that goes beyond the average that Mason really doesn't have. I know from the essay part of the UMPTMP application that Mason had a hard time even imagining math as 'fun' or something that he ever thought of outside class. Plus, there are just levels of aptitude, all of which are valid, and Mason just may be in a different range of that than most UMPTYMP applicants.
But we're going to try 8th grade math in 6th grade, because why not challenge him? Gods knows he was BORED SENSELESS when he was required by his previous teacher to help others after he'd finished his own work. Plus, you have no idea how excited Mason was to be the only 6th grader in an 8th grade class. He loved the teacher, whom he described as funny and smart. (As a note, this may be the first teacher in a LONG time that Mason has labeled 'smart.')
So that was a great start to my day.
Plus, when I told Ms. Sanchez that I was a science fiction author (I only did that because we exchanged business cards), she was super-excited because apparently her son is a big fan of SF. I should also say that I was generally impressed with Ms. Sanchez. She kind of reminded me of some New York agents and editors that I've met, which is to say that she was sharp (in both senses of that word,) a bit abrupt, but straight-forward and no-nonsense in a way you don't find much around these parts (thought TBF to my friends, I do tend to find people like that to surround myself with). At any rate, I didn't have to deal with Minnesota Nice (which I hate) so I cottoned to her immediately.
For the rest of my day, my plans involve not going to my usual Women of Wednesday at the Black Dog, which makes me sad, but at the time I would have been there, I'll, instead, be at a different coffee shop meeting up with my writing collaborator, Rachel Gold, and our artistic collaborators Mandie Brasington and Alexis Cooke to talk about our SEEKRIT* project, which, with luck, will be launching at the end of September. This is a project I'm super excited about. I can't say a whole lot about it right now, but there will be urban fantasy and there will be art. (Two of my favorite things!)
*I kind of hate the whole "seekrit" thing, but mostly because I'm jealous when other people have them and I don't. :-) Also, this one shouldn't be under the table for too much longer.
So, if we can just get internet soon, life will be pretty good.
September 2, 2014
A Quick Update, While I'm Connected
I'm only on-line thanks to a roving xfinity signal and a free one-hour trial offer, and so I figured I'd get as much out of these few moments as I could and tell you about my day-OMG-MY-DAY.
It started out at oh-f*ck-o'clock, our new start time at Washington Technical. Our internet was acting wonky since we'd gotten home, so I wasn't able to do my morning routines, but as a bonus we got Shawn to work and Mason to school in no time flat. I decided to go in with Mason to try to sort out a scheduling snafu... this took MUCH longer than it probably should have, considering the result. But, okay, here's the story in a nutshell:
We were going to be out of town for Washington Technical's Open House and this was only a problem because the Open House was the day that the students picked out their after-school program (which is a mandatory extra hour, but completely elective and ranges from everything from Spanish to Robotics to Swim Team). So, I called the school to see what we could do to make sure Mason got into something he liked. I was directed to talk to a counselor who read me the list over the phone and, I was assured, signed Mason up for Robotics. BUT, lo and behold, when we got to school on the Camp Six day (the practice run for 6th graders going to middle school for the first time), his schedule was completely different--instead of Robotics, he was in "World Languages" which sounded suspiciously like a dumping ground for people who neglected to show up to the Open House.
SO! I went in with Mason this morning and first stood in a line only to be told that the person I'd been waiting to talk to couldn't help me because he only dealt with 8th graders and above. He directed me to an EVEN LONGER LINE to wait to talk to the person in charge of 6th and 7th graders. Fine, I had nowhere to go, except out for a cup of coffee, so I waited. When I finally reached that guy, I was told, "Nope. Too complicated for me, go up to the office." WHERE THERE WAS ANOTHER queue. I waited my turn in that line and finally got to talk to a person who ended up saying, "Oh, that? We corrected it already. His new schedule has him in ROCKETRY. Will that be acceptable since Robotics was full?" I was like, "Yeah, that's fine."
I treated myself to TWO cups of coffee after that, I tell you.
Good thing I did, too, because dealing with our Clear (now Sprint) people was the next headache and a half. Very, VERY similarly, I ended up waiting in a lot of "lines" or perhaps "on the line" a lot. The annoying menu did not give me the option to say, "Yes, I've tried rebooting," so every time I called I had to listen to a Siri-like happy woman's voice telling me how to do the single simplest solution in the history of solutions, possibly in the history of history.
Fine.
But I went through the whole thing with a Tech Support person again after happy Siri-lady because this person was in some country far, far away. It may be a stereotype, but if this person was in this country 1) they could not deal with going off script even slightly and 2) they could not deal with *me* going off script even slightly. WHICH MEANT I HAD TO FLIPPING REBOOT MY WIFI WITH THIS PERSON AGAIN. Finally, when we were getting somewhere interesting, my phone battery died.
And when the tech guy called back? He didn't leave a name or an extension, so I had to go through all of it again, except with a completely different Technical Support person.
OMG.
On the other hand, by this point, since my phone was only a tiny-bit recharged I ended up using my walk-around cordless phone only long enough to get through the push-button menu, and then switched to my hard-wired rotary phone.
Yes, that's right, I talked through tech support for my wifi on A ROTARY PHONE.
But, the best part? Even after all that, they couldn't fix it. They're sending us another one, which has already shipped (according to AN EMAIL they sent, because, yes, I am the last person on the planet without a smart phone who has no way to get email when, let's see, MY INTERNET IS DOWN.)
At that point, I picked up Shawn from work and we both lay down for an afternoon nap before going back to pick up Mason. Mason, meanwhile, had gotten a migraine at school, so he ended up crashing when he got home too. On the flip side, Washington Technical seems to have spontaneously moved him into an 8th grade math class (he'd already been planning on being in the 7th grade one, so this is an extra bump we weren't entirely expecting.) I'm not completely convinced that Mason is 100% ready for this, so guess what? I get to try to talk to a counselor tomorrow again, just to check in and hear what their reasoning is. We'd all be super-happy if they have a good reason, but we don't want Mason to be pushed too far ahead, especially if it were to make him frustrated.
At least this time I know that Mason's official counselor is Ms. Sanchez and where to find her. So, that's half the battle apparently.
Oi vey, what a day.
It started out at oh-f*ck-o'clock, our new start time at Washington Technical. Our internet was acting wonky since we'd gotten home, so I wasn't able to do my morning routines, but as a bonus we got Shawn to work and Mason to school in no time flat. I decided to go in with Mason to try to sort out a scheduling snafu... this took MUCH longer than it probably should have, considering the result. But, okay, here's the story in a nutshell:
We were going to be out of town for Washington Technical's Open House and this was only a problem because the Open House was the day that the students picked out their after-school program (which is a mandatory extra hour, but completely elective and ranges from everything from Spanish to Robotics to Swim Team). So, I called the school to see what we could do to make sure Mason got into something he liked. I was directed to talk to a counselor who read me the list over the phone and, I was assured, signed Mason up for Robotics. BUT, lo and behold, when we got to school on the Camp Six day (the practice run for 6th graders going to middle school for the first time), his schedule was completely different--instead of Robotics, he was in "World Languages" which sounded suspiciously like a dumping ground for people who neglected to show up to the Open House.
SO! I went in with Mason this morning and first stood in a line only to be told that the person I'd been waiting to talk to couldn't help me because he only dealt with 8th graders and above. He directed me to an EVEN LONGER LINE to wait to talk to the person in charge of 6th and 7th graders. Fine, I had nowhere to go, except out for a cup of coffee, so I waited. When I finally reached that guy, I was told, "Nope. Too complicated for me, go up to the office." WHERE THERE WAS ANOTHER queue. I waited my turn in that line and finally got to talk to a person who ended up saying, "Oh, that? We corrected it already. His new schedule has him in ROCKETRY. Will that be acceptable since Robotics was full?" I was like, "Yeah, that's fine."
I treated myself to TWO cups of coffee after that, I tell you.
Good thing I did, too, because dealing with our Clear (now Sprint) people was the next headache and a half. Very, VERY similarly, I ended up waiting in a lot of "lines" or perhaps "on the line" a lot. The annoying menu did not give me the option to say, "Yes, I've tried rebooting," so every time I called I had to listen to a Siri-like happy woman's voice telling me how to do the single simplest solution in the history of solutions, possibly in the history of history.
Fine.
But I went through the whole thing with a Tech Support person again after happy Siri-lady because this person was in some country far, far away. It may be a stereotype, but if this person was in this country 1) they could not deal with going off script even slightly and 2) they could not deal with *me* going off script even slightly. WHICH MEANT I HAD TO FLIPPING REBOOT MY WIFI WITH THIS PERSON AGAIN. Finally, when we were getting somewhere interesting, my phone battery died.
And when the tech guy called back? He didn't leave a name or an extension, so I had to go through all of it again, except with a completely different Technical Support person.
OMG.
On the other hand, by this point, since my phone was only a tiny-bit recharged I ended up using my walk-around cordless phone only long enough to get through the push-button menu, and then switched to my hard-wired rotary phone.
Yes, that's right, I talked through tech support for my wifi on A ROTARY PHONE.
But, the best part? Even after all that, they couldn't fix it. They're sending us another one, which has already shipped (according to AN EMAIL they sent, because, yes, I am the last person on the planet without a smart phone who has no way to get email when, let's see, MY INTERNET IS DOWN.)
At that point, I picked up Shawn from work and we both lay down for an afternoon nap before going back to pick up Mason. Mason, meanwhile, had gotten a migraine at school, so he ended up crashing when he got home too. On the flip side, Washington Technical seems to have spontaneously moved him into an 8th grade math class (he'd already been planning on being in the 7th grade one, so this is an extra bump we weren't entirely expecting.) I'm not completely convinced that Mason is 100% ready for this, so guess what? I get to try to talk to a counselor tomorrow again, just to check in and hear what their reasoning is. We'd all be super-happy if they have a good reason, but we don't want Mason to be pushed too far ahead, especially if it were to make him frustrated.
At least this time I know that Mason's official counselor is Ms. Sanchez and where to find her. So, that's half the battle apparently.
Oi vey, what a day.
August 29, 2014
MangaKast Has Moved
As I'm sure many of you have heard, Weekly Shounen Jump has changed its publication date. The translations were scheduled to come out Friday, but we managed (like many people who were crashing the various translation sites) to read them on Thursday afternoon. We decided to stick with a Friday AM publication, anyway, because, honestly, I suspect it will settle into that soon enough. Anyway, you can get the link to our podcast here: mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/08/29/22-we-love-you/
In this podcast, I actually spend some time trying to figure out why this last chapter left me feeling unsettled. Ultimately, I think I decided it was the questions that a certain scene opened... but go listen. I'm actually fairly articulate for once, which is fairly amazing considering how little coffee I had before we started this.
At Wyrdsmiths last night I was overwhelmed by a desire to doodle and drew this on my paper cup:
I call her "meep" and she seems to be at least partly inspired by Digger (by Ursula Vernon), which Mason has been re-reading. She also has a very long, dinosaur like tail on the other side of the cup and has probably been recycled by now.... but she made me think that I should try to draw a graphic novel type thing with these kinds of fantasy characters. Because, you know, if I don't get the bodies just right, WHO WOULD EVEN KNOW?? :-)
Anyway, that's all the news I have that's fit to print today. We're mostly busy trying to get ready to drive down to LaCrosse for our annual Labor Day hanging out time with my folks.
In this podcast, I actually spend some time trying to figure out why this last chapter left me feeling unsettled. Ultimately, I think I decided it was the questions that a certain scene opened... but go listen. I'm actually fairly articulate for once, which is fairly amazing considering how little coffee I had before we started this.
At Wyrdsmiths last night I was overwhelmed by a desire to doodle and drew this on my paper cup:
I call her "meep" and she seems to be at least partly inspired by Digger (by Ursula Vernon), which Mason has been re-reading. She also has a very long, dinosaur like tail on the other side of the cup and has probably been recycled by now.... but she made me think that I should try to draw a graphic novel type thing with these kinds of fantasy characters. Because, you know, if I don't get the bodies just right, WHO WOULD EVEN KNOW?? :-)
Anyway, that's all the news I have that's fit to print today. We're mostly busy trying to get ready to drive down to LaCrosse for our annual Labor Day hanging out time with my folks.
August 26, 2014
Tuesdays with Tate
Today is Tuesday, which means you can read the newest installment of my work-in-progress, UnJust Cause, a serialization of the sequel to Precinct 13. In this episode, Alex hangs out with the werewolf biker gang while on run from the demon agents... http://www.wattpad.com/67753844-unjust-cause-part-21-heart-breakers-and-heart
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