Projects for 2017

I've come to accept that this is a preliminary list.  Things always change.  But you have to start somewhere.

So here we go.

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Books:

I'm starting with 12 books, because I need to work on my ability to focus.  Much has been said about the internet cutting down the ability of people to focus on reading, and in my case I believe this is true.  I'd like to read for about an hour a day, but I need to work on that one.  That being the case I'm starting with the hope of getting at least 12 books read this year, and if I can get up to 24 I'll be thrilled.

1. Shall We Wake The President by Tevi Troy
2. Grit by Angela Duckworth
3. Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Cory
4. Caliban's War by James S. A. Cory
5. The Wrinkle In Time Trilogy by Madeline L'Engle
6. The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini
7. Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara
8. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
9. The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara
10. Pontoon by Garrison Keilor
11. The Art of War by Sun Tsu
12. The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine

I don't know if it's the most well-rounded list ever but it has the benefit of currently occupying my coffee table.  So that is where I'm starting.

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Embroidery:

I have six embroidery projects listed, but given that the last one is kind of big and in truth it's hard to fit embroidery in from November to February I'm only listing five.  The problem being that I don't have pictures for some of them, they're so old they're out of print.  But we do what we can.

1. Stitchers Studio Stocking
2. Kitty Cat Stocking
3. Cat on Steps picture
4. Cat on Fence picture
5. Mary Englebrit Christmas Ornaments

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Quilting and Sewing:

I have myself down for one big quilt this year but I don't think that's going to happen. We need to replace the one on our bed, but there's one we'd really like to buy.  Instead I'm going to shoot for two pillows to continue with girling up our bed.  I'm saying four because I need to buy the patterns and material, which will take a bit, and at the moment I'm not physically up to sitting at the machine, so I'm going to lose the first four months.  And I have other, priority projects anyway, namely a new bag that's both easy to wear with my crutches and shows off my butons and some new aprons.

1. Black Sassy Bag
2. Three 1940's style aprons using this pattern
3. Three smock type aprons using this pattern
4. Spring Symphony pillow
5. Ruched Blossoms pillow

Really, if I get all that done this year I'll be very happy.

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Crochet:

Which is distinct from knitting in that I can only manage a small amount of it during the day because it bothers my wrist so.

1. A Kitty Cat cushion for the couch
2. A Ripple pillow for the couch
3. A Ripple pillow for the bed

And I will count it good

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Knitting:

This is where the rubber meets the road, isn't it?

1. A Rainbow Wingspan
2. A Rainbow scarf
3. A pair of Rainbow Gloves to match the above scarf
4. A Copper Boom scarf in a rich, soft blue
5. A Hoek in rich, forest colors
6. A Leftie in black and cool jewel tones (inspired here)
7. A Simple Sideways in silly pastels
8. Finish the Country scarf
9. Finish the Nine-Patch pillow
10. Finish the Wild West scarf
11. Make a Bobble Sheep pillow
12. Make a Riverbed Scarf, at last

Yes, this is a project a month.  Yes, this is GOING to happen this year.  I am a productive knitter and I will produce.  And I might just throw in some more decorative stuff or tea cozies besides.  But I am going to pick one and FINISH it per month before I start anything else.

You'll notice a lot of scarves and aprons.  That's because I finally settled on a "school" uniform of black tank tops and either charcoal, black or denim skirts.  Relatively stain proof and good everywhere, but they need to be dressed up somehow.  Scarves to the rescue.

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TV & News:

Because I feel the need to catch up to my Liberal brethren.  Also because I have a lot of handiwork to do up there.

1. BBC news every day
2. NPR news every day
3. CBC news every day
4. Westworld
5. Game of Thrones
6. The Expanse
7. Breaking Bad
8. American Horror Story
9. Supernatural
10. Gilmore Girls

That ought to get me started.

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Writing:  

I have stories to finish.  I truly do.

1. Finish Least Expected
2. Finish Understanding
3. Finish First Run
4. Finish Percival's Dominatrix (This will take two months)
5. Finish the new Sci-fi one
6. Finish the Lost Girl cross-over
7. Finish the one with the White Plague
8. Maybe something original

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Personal stuff:

Of course these are the really important goals

1.  A1c under 6.0
2. Healthy LDL
3. Walk a mile
4. Ride five miles
5. Get back to lifting 5x/week
6. Get to a 2200 kcal/day diet

At the moment I'd be happy to be back on one crutch.  Baby steps here.

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The House:

Which is dead last because I can't do any of it right now.  If I can empty and re-load my dishwasher I'm thrilled.  Hell, at the moment if I can shower I'm thrilled.  But hopefully, eventually I'll get to this.

1. Clean out the pantry
2. Clean out the cupboards
3. Set up the Room of Many Hobbies
4. Clean out the walk-in closet
5. Clean out the craft closet
6. Set the craft closet up as camping/emergency storage
7. Set up the library

So those are my goals for the year.  I'll be drawing from this list to make my monthly goals. so watch this space.

And the Winter Curse continues

This year we managed to lock down our financials, and were trying to have an idyllic holiday.  The holiday was pretty darn good, until my knee locked up so badly on Christmas Eve night that I couldn't walk on it.  I ended up in Urgent Care yesterday for a cortisol shot, which will still take another day or so to truly take hold.  That should kick in just in time for me to head back to physical therapy to hopefully start regaining my mobility.  Needless to say that issue is informing my plans for the month.

Thankfully my ear drained.

My marvelous in-laws send me an ice cream maker, which we've wanted forever, and an adjustable kettlebell, in the hopes that I can actually start lifting again.  If all goes well I'll shoot for that in February.  For January I'd be happy with getting back down to one crutch.

On the plus side being stuck on my ass for the rest of this week will give me a chance to both plan ahead, write, and knit.  Always useful things.

Speaking of, planning posts will be dropping shortly.

It's better than it looks

So it's the holiday season and of course I'm sick.

My annual ear infection decided to come early.  It usually shows up in January.

The holidays are going nicely though.  Festival was a cock-up this year.  The Armory was under repair so we had to use a different volunteer room, which threw the energy off, the main organizer was retiring and out of fucks so the staffing was off, and every old biddy who usually volunteers was crabby as hell this year, which threw me off.  And the trees were smaller, it looked totally off.  Hopefully we can get it together next year.  Assuming we don't lose Medicare and the hospital altogether.  These days you never know.  But it was still Festival.

The stocking is not getting done by Xmas.

Because I'm sick and that is way more than I want to even think of doing in a week.  It will continue until done though, then be pinned up in The Room of Many Hobbies until November 2017 when it will be turned into a stocking.  That means I get to look at it longer, so what the hell.

And we do have stockings up.

We only have four cats, the ones on the right are for our kitties who have gone before.  The one center left is for the spouse, I've put it here before. The one center right is a wedding gift which is currently holding place for mine.

The spousal unit and I started a new tradition today.

Making holiday cards.  I particularly like that Santa one.

And I made said spouse a hat.

Not the most glorious (that comes later) but an entirely functional hat.

So even with some things entirely wrong this feels like a quiet, wonderful holiday season.  I am thoroughly enjoying it.  I don't know why but, knock on wood, this one just fits.

Hope you all have good ones too.

To forestall the annual argument

So we have a tree.

Every year about this time someone messages me and asks me why an Atheist/Maltheist has a Christmas tree.  Because typing it out every year is a pain I'm just going to put it here and point people back to it.

Guest:  So why does an Atheist/Maltheist have a Christmas tree?

Me:  Because I want a holiday tree.

Guest:  So you want to give glory to God?

Me:  No.  A tree doesn't give glory to god.  Especially not your god.

Guest:  Of course it does.

Me:  No, actually it doesn't.  In fact the bible specifically bans decorated trees from the house of a true believer.

Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel.
2 Thus saith the Lord: “Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the people are vain; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not; they must be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.”

Jeremiah 10:1-5

So, you know, cutting down a tree, decorating it with silver and gold, fastening it into a place of reverence in the home is not evil but very much a heathen practice.  You're not supposed to practice the ways of the heathen, are you?

They usually stop at that point.  I suspect I don't get the best debaters though.

Anyway, we have a tree.

And....Go!

From Mental Floss

Lots of people think that the X in Xmas is a secular watering down of the word Christ. You know, a "we love to celebrate the holiday but don’t believe in Jesus" sort of thing. However, that's not the origin of the X. 

The X actually comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of Χρήστος. And if that’s all Greek to you, Χρήστος, of course, means Christ. 

According to Etymology Online, the abbreviation dates back to 1551, when it appeared as X'temmas. Around 1100, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle used Xres mæsse, where Xp- or Xr-corresponded to "Chr."

Be that as it may it has become the secular version of the winter holiday in the Western world.  We celebrate Xmas, a holiday of love and light and friends and community.  No deities allowed.

And Xmas is coming.  I'm not starting my program until after the first of January because I have a project kicking my arse right now.  I want to finish my stocking before Xmas, but I don't think it's going to happen.  And yet I am not giving up now.  

This week-end we're putting up the tree.  Well, first we're moving furniture and then we're going to see about a tree.  I have no clue how big of a tree this year, we might end up with a small one perched on the coffee table, but there will be some kind of tree.  I'm going to wait a few days before decorating to see how the kittens react.  I have lots of kitten safe ornaments, thankfully.

Tonight is the last party in our dungeon.  It's closing due to lack of funds.  Actions have consequences, especially in an election year and especially when your reliable subscribers are members of the LGBTQ community.  The community will carry on.  Since we're Moving All The Furniture today I doubt we'll be going.  I should feel bad about this.  I do not feel bad about this.

Some friends are coming to help with the furniture.  I don't have food to put out, which seems more than a little rude.  I might throw in a batch of muffins.  On the other hand we're offering beer and wine, neither of which really goes with muffins.  I am uncertain.  I'll share what we decide.

Next week-end is Festival. which is the big fundraiser for our local charity hospital.  Kitty and I volunteer all year.  I won't get all political for it because it's not my show, unless people are utter assholes in which case the rainbow scarf is coming out.

This is the first year that we've actually been able to celebrate Xmas with just our family.  We celebrated with Kitty's family when we were first married. which was interesting.  In California Kitty kept saying that there was all this tension.  I thought I was in a sitcom.  In Colorado everything was calmer but they really don't have enough air up there so I was bound to the couch most of the time.  And travel was always a bitch.  With my family it was crap, the joys of being an ACoN and all.  Most of the years here Kitty had to work for Xmas, which happens when you work in an ER.  So we hit this year and realized that we don't have any family traditions.  So we're making some and adopting others.

On Xmas Eve we're adopting the Icelandic tradition of exchanging books, making cocoa and cookies and curling up to read,  We are both book people who have need seduced by the internet, and we want to get back to paper.  So books and a quiet holiday eve it will be. 

On Xmas day we're adopting the time honored Jewish tradition of  Chinese food (said firmly tongue-in-cheek).  We're ordering a feast, staying in comfy flannel and watching holiday movies.  We may invite our friends to join us, but they have to bring their own flannel.

Small gifts will be exchanged, of course.  I have a scarf for Kitty almost off the needles, and then a hat.  Past that I am making a hat for me and then scarves.  Lots and lots of scarves.  This will be the year I re-start the weight loss, so no sweaters yet and I'm not a big glove person and I don't like handknit socks (there, I said it) so scarves it will be.  They make a nice layer over the tank top and flannel shirt uniform of an Alt-left woman in the Pacific Northwest (also said with tongue-in-cheek)

I have about five chapters to finish on Understanding. and then about five or six on Least Expected, which is a new one I just started publishing.  I'll finish those over the next few days and be able to publish all month.  Maybe this year I'll be able to finish a few, although right now The First Run is kind of scaring me.

I think that's caught up.  

Re-stating my intent

I started this blog three years ago this month.  I very quickly fell away from the project I intended for 2014.  I believe I want to re-visit it for 2016, with a few modifications.  So I'm re-publishing my statement now.

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Time wasting in the Bay Colony was a criminal offense. As early as 1633 the General Court decreed:

No person, householder or other, shall spend his time idly or unprofitably under pain of such punishment as the court shall think meet to inflict: and for this end it is ordered, that the constables of every place shall use special diligence to take knowledge of offenders of this kind, especially of common coasters, unprofitable fowlers and tobacco takers, and to present the same.

A year later the Court fined two men the heavy sum of twenty shillings each for "misspending their time" - David Hackett Fisher
            Albion's Seed

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So what is the modern Puritan ideal?  Well, from reading the blogs and websites devoted to this ideal in theory it involves being submissive to god and you husband and raising children who are submissive to god and their father.  But in reality this is what they seem to aspire to:

• Keeping perfectly clean houses at all times (Or just long enough to take the show-off picture)
• Wearing skirts every day (and bragging about it)
• Look entirely perfect, slender and ethereal  (Even though they rarely exercise)
• Creating three home cooked meals a day (made with lots of processed crap and rarely complete meals)
• Being well read (even though they only ever seem to read books put out by Vision Forum and Jane Austen)
• Doing handcrafts like proper ladies (although this is usually paper and glue.  If any sewing is involved it's simple lines only.)
• Having the equivalent of a college education (even though they never leave home and usually stop homeschooling around the age of 12 when they have to start looking after little siblings)
• Run a home business (even if it's really a multi-level marketing scheme)
• And of course all the while having ideal relationships with everyone.

This is the question then, can you have this so-called perfect life, this Puritan ideal, even while being irreligious, liberal, feminist, lesbian and a Dominatrix?

I believe you can.

This year I intend to:

• Keep my house clean.  Keep it vacuumed and dusted at all times, keep the bathrooms clean, keep the sink empty, and re-organize all the closets and cupboards.  All of this as best as my body will allow.
• Wear either dresses or feminine tops and skirts every day, no matter what I'm doing.
• Cook three meals a day, all with fresh, nutritious food  Our life doesn't work this way anymore.  I cook once a week and then we heat as we go,  I'll continue to do that.
• Work my way up to my first 5k, 200 push-ups and 100 sit-ups, as well as mastering the bicycle for transportation.  At this point I'd like to get back on my bicycle.  If I can ride 5 miles by the end of the year I will be very happy.
• Read 24 books in 12 months, 12 of their favorites and 12 off the ALA Banned Books list.  Of books I already own so money isn't an issue.
• Read the entire bible  And continue to compare it to Stargate.  Because it still works so well.
• Complete 6 embroidery projects
• Complete 12 knitting projects
• Complete 1 large quilt  
• Work through a number of real college lecture series
• Write a novel as my home business  Or at least finish all my stories.
• And stay happily married to my wonderful wife.

If all goes well I'll even throw some volunteer work in there, but since I have yet to set that up I can't promise anything.

Watch this space.

Sigh

So a thing happened yesterday.

A lot of pundits are saying that uneducated white Evangelical people voted that way because of economic policy.  Because they felt left behind in the world and they feel like Trump will help them.  That's partly true.  A lot of others are saying it's because white Evangelical people are really racist, misogynistic, homophobic, jingoistic nutjobs.  That's partly true as well.*  But I think both groups are missing the point.

There is a big swath of this country that doesn't want to look at us.

Us as in anyone who is LGBTQ.  Us as in anyone who is of color.  Us as in any woman who doesn't know her place.

These people remember the days when everyone in their world was, or at least appeared to be, white moral christian Decent People™.  Being a Decent Person™ and male automatically got you the best job you could handle, no fancy, complicated education required.   When you went to work you only had to answer to better Decent People™, usually male, who were obviously better because they had more money.

When the world was made up of Decent People™ men looked like men, ladies looked like ladies and sluts you could grab looked like sluts you could grab.  You didn't have to think too hard about how you approached people, and you almost never made a mistake and got embarassed by it.

 When the world was made up of Decent People™ brown people were only around to do menial labor and then went away somewhere.  They knew how to behave around you and if they misbehaved it was over there where you didn't have to deal.  It was all their problem.   

When the world was made up of Decent People™ all that immoral stuff was hidden away downtown or in New York and Los Angeles and San Francisco or maybe over in France where Decent People™ didn't have to look at it. They didn't have to explain it to their children.  All they had to do was say that so-and-so was a confirmed bachelor or a spinster who lived with his or her roommate at most.   No icky discussions needed.

When the world was made up of Decent People™  everyone went to the same church, or at least to a similar church, and everyone played by the same rule book.  You didn't have to worry about if they were going to do anything to you and yours because you knew how they would behave.  They even taught kids the rule book in the schools.

Remember, these are not intelligent people. Dunning-Kruger is a thing.

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which low-ability individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability as much higher than it really is. Dunning and Kruger attributed this bias to a metacognitive inability of those of low ability to recognize their ineptitude and evaluate their ability accurately. Their research also suggests corollaries: high-ability individuals may underestimate their relative competence and may erroneously assume that tasks which are easy for them are also easy for others.

They don't understand the world like those of us in the 40% do.

I've been following their websites for years now and from what I can tell they honestly believe that there is a global conspiracy to make them look and feel stupid.  We're taking their jobs away, going to close up their churches, dumbing down their children, forcing them to have to teach their children to be immoral, and so on.  I know this isn't true, you might know this isn't true, but they believe it.  They believe that we have been inventing new rules, new technologies, new businesses, new cultures, new marriage and new genders just to make them look stupid when they can't navigate it all, and that we are laughing at them.  

They believe we are the bullies.  

And like all bullies we attack harder when they complain.  No, you can't use that kind of language.  No, you can't not hire those people.  No, you can't keep that job.  No.  No.  No.

For the past few decades they haven't been able to do anything to stop us. Life has become more confusing and more difficult and whenever they complain it just gets worse. It's a giant conspiracy to drive them into the nut house and into the poor house.one pronoun at a time.  Now they have elected the ultimate Bossman, with his buildings and planes and wives, and he has been saying everything they've been feeling.  Now that he's in charge they can say it too.

What do they want?

They want us to disappear.  They want us to go back in the closet, back to the ghetto, back to the asylum, back to the reservation, back to our home country, back in the shadows.  If we're going to be out in public they want us to obey their rules, be respectful and deferential, not wave our relationships around, look or act very male or very female and never be anything in between.  And while we're at it they want us to take our new technology and new cultures with us.  They want a world where you can do the work with pencil and paper, no computers or smart phones needed.  They want a world like you see on the police procedurals, so popular on TV, where the older white male is in charge and everyone knows their place, including the geeks who do all the computer stuff for them.

The problem is that the world doesn't work that way.  

If they want us to go away, I say we go away.  Leave them to their spaces, where they only have to deal with Decent People™.  We will take our people and go away to the coast, to the North East, to the cities.  We will go away and leave you alone.  We will disappear from your lives.

For the record nothing will change.  People of color will still enjoy their cultures.  Women will still work to support their families.  Gay people will still fall in love and form families.  Trans people will still go on building lives that fit them.  Computers will keep on taking over the world.  We just won't try to incorporate them anymore.  They don't want to look at us, they have made that clear so we might as well stop forcing the issue.

Granted this means we will no longer shop in your stores, work with your businesses, visit your tourist destinations, help you out when disasters hit or in any way support you economically except through the barest minimum of taxes.  And I will be supporting the Calexit and Cascadia movements to succeed and even stop that much.  Granted you're likely to say that you'll do the same.  I think that's just fine,  The less we have to look at each other the better.  Very Low Contact is our best plan here.

Now we get to see how well that will work.

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Politico has spoken on this subject as well.

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The Friendly Athiest also spoke about last night.  One of his commentators, EIR, made a very good point which I would like to expand upon.  

If you voted for the 3 time divorced, married to a stripper, accused pedophile, who embodies greed, shows no humility, has displayed zero knowledge of the bible, threatens to deport American citizens, brags about grabbing women in the pussy, lusts after his own daughter and has a picture of himself on a porn mag cover with a porn actress over a woman who has never cheated on her husband. showed him Christian forgiveness when he cheated, attends church regularly, and who asked a former missionary to be her running mate you have no business calling yourself a Christian or taking the moral high ground.  You literally just elected a man into office who is the exact opposite of everything your deity stood for.  I can only assume that whatever is speaking in your hearts is dark and twisted and evil and you can never be trusted to ever do the right thing.

St. Mark, who wrote the original gospel, as near as we can tell, may have had some good ideas but you people are not following them.  Not in the slightest.  So don't even talk to me about morality.  Ever.