lydamorehouse: (nic & coffee)
 Refrigerator pickles in a jar on the pantry window
Image: refrigerator pickles in a jar on the pantry window.

These are AMAZING, by the way. I actually "canned" (they're just refrigerator pickles) these on Thursday when we got the CSA, and I tried one yesterday... given that the recipe I used was a catch all that included the advice: "throw in spices, ya know, whatever tastes good," I am EXTREMELY proud of my efforts.  I now need to come up with something for lunch that uses dill pickles!  

But, under the category of "Honestly, I swear I do more than cook and eat," I heard from the Loft today. My intermediate science fiction writing class will be going into the catalog for the weeks of September 23 to November 18. This is going to be a fully on-line class, asynchronous, so it really won't matter where in the world you are. If you've ever wanted to take a science fiction writing class from me, 2020 might be your year.  The catalog is still in production, so I can't comment on how much it might cost you, but the Loft always gives out scholarships, so there's a chance you could take it for free or reduced. Also, my personal idea of "intermediate" is very loose. If you have written anything at all previously and are interested in trying to sell what you write, you qualify as "intermediate" to me. We will probably not cover much writing 101, unless it seems like the majority of students want/need that.  So, I mean, also know what a scene is? Generally have a sense of the difference between plot and theme?

I haven't taught an online course in some time, so I'm expecting that the Loft will point me to a webinar or two to get prepping for this.  Luckily, I have a few months to do what a lot of university professors and public school teachers had to do in a matter of days when COVID sent all their students home.  As someone who really prefers in-person teaching, I have the utmost respect for folks who made this transition so fast. I really depend on discussion (or have in the past,) so it will be a challenge for me to come up with ways to teach this remotely.  On the other hand, one of the things that I offer is critique of works-in-progress and, in some ways, doing that on-line might be even more rewarding for students. 

I guess we'll see.

I'm looking forward to it. Even if the class doesn't end up running, I think learning how the on-line stuff can be structured will be very good for me. I often skip offering on-line options with the Loft because I've been a bit daunted by it and just generally fall back on what's comfortable (ie, the fact that I'm such an extrovert that "winging it" often works great for me), so this will be a good learning experience. 

You gotta stretch a little, right?

In other news, the New York Times activities for tweens and teens section reminded me that I've been wanting to start an exchange diary with friends ever since I read My Solo Exchange Diary by Nagata Kabi.  The manga isn't about an exchange diary, since they are normally actually passed between friends and this one wasn't, but looking up exchange diaries made me realize that I'd read something like it in Wandering Son by Shimura Takako (although that one ends badly, because other people get a hold of the friends' exchange diary and all of them are sharing their secret trans and queer feelings.) At any rate, even though it was popular in the 1990s among Japanese school girls, I feel like it would still be a fun thing to try here at 53 with my American colleagues. The idea is cool. You just basically pass a journal/diary between friends. In Japan, they're intended to be a fun friendship bonding thing--people will decorate them with pictures and photographs, so they're kind of part scrapbook and part journal. But, I figure we can have ours be whatever we want it to be, though FUN is definitely the point. 

And, here, instead of food, is a picture of my cats being best friends:

my cats sharing the porch window, like besties
Image: Willow and Buttercup sharing the porch window, looking in opposite directions.

I had to choose this picture of the ones I took, despite the blurriness, because without Willow's eyes in the picture she just became a formless void.

So, how's by y'all? Eating or cooking anything good? Other stuff? Surviving the continued pandemic okay?
lydamorehouse: (more renji art)
Mason accused me of being hyper after having eaten all the Reese's Peanut Butter chocolate eggs (which I may have done), but I don't think it's the sugar that got me all jazzed. I had a surprisingly good "First Pages" gig at the Chanhassen Library today. I mean, I actually don't know if I taught anything to the THREE (hey, I was only expecting ONE, so this was an improvement) teens who showed up. But, I had a blast playing with the plot generators that we found on-line.

A couple of my favorites:

For absolute zaniness (including robots poking each other at a funeral), you really need to press "random" and try out one of the generators at http://www.plot-generator.org.uk

The other one that entertained us (though probably me more than them): http://www.springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/plotgens.htm

From the springhole site, I got the prompt for how I got my superpowers: "Bought them from a fairy."

In response, I wrote this:

They told me if I wanted to get superpowers, I had to buy them from the fairy. The problem was you never knew what it’d cost you. Fairies are fickle, you know. Sometimes they just want something mundane in exchange. I heard of a guy who got the power of invulnerability and all it cost him was a slice of Munster cheese. Other times, they wanted too much, stuff no sane person would part with. Sure, you’re immortal, but your body is gone, and you’re just stuffed teddy bear without even the ability to move or speak.

I don't know if I'll do anything with it, but it's kind of a fun start, isn't it?

The 'First Pages' is an interesting concept, and I do mean 'interesting' in the Minnesota sense. There's a kind of a theme to it. This one was generally supposed to be about "Reading to Write" and the description talked about what kinds of things you could potentially learn from reading books. But, the way that the education department bills it to their instructors is that you're supposed to be far more flexible than that. You're supposed to go in ready to teach that OR ANYTHING THE PARTICIPANTS ASK FOR. We talked a little about what books had taught us about writing (the answer is, of course: EVERYTHING,) but, generally, I'm supposed to go in and ask them what they want to learn... and wing it. I happen to be really good at teaching on the fly for the most part, but I always leave wondering if the participants (I hesitate to call them students in a situation like this) got 1) what they came for, and/or 2) leave feeling as though they got something out of it. I mean, the good news is that it's entirely free. I get paid, but they don't have to pay to play. So, I supposed anything I give them is worth the price they paid, if you look at it that way. But, they are giving up 90 minutes of their day, so I do feel like they should leave feeling like it wasn't a waste.

I never know if I achieve that or not.

Being an extrovert who is pushed to improvise, however = wired.

So, I came home, ate a lot of chocolate and was a little too silly while playing a game of Star Munchkin with Mason and Shawn. :-)

Oh, and yesterday, with his day off, Mason wanted to go to the Mall of America with his allowance and buy a big ol' LEGO set he'd been saving up for for forever. He got a LotR's set "The Tower of Orthanc." It's massive.

Plus, I got an unexpected royalty check, so we decided to splurge a bit as a family. We went book shopping at all our favorite used bookstores. Mason came home with LITERALLY a box of books. I got these:

IMG_8913

I got Black Widow 1-8 and Full Metal Alchemist volumes 1-8 (missing #6). I also picked up some Shonen Jump issues that had Bleach in them to added to my collection. I like getting those to see what else was running in Jump at the same time, and because there are often little asides that give you names written in Japanese and whatnot.

Now, I'm going to try to harness some of this energy to write! Wish me luck.

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