This whole weekend, I felt like the person in a horror movie who knows that the entire town will be overrun by vampires come sundown, but no one will listen.
A ton of people had outdoor Labor Day weekend parties going at dusk, despite all the EEE (Eastern Equine Encephalitis) advisories in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Sun comes down, this town gets overrun by mosquitoes…
I came up with a quick method for enchilada sauce that I am happy with.
Normally, I’m not a fan of recipes that use salsa. They’re too back-of-the-box recipe, shortcuts in the negative sense of the word, like when you think you’re going to save yourself a bunch of driving time, but then you end up on a shifty, haunted dirt road that just gets narrower and narrower until it’s basically a trail you have to back out of, and you curse your entire existence.
Anyway, after my recent discovery that canned enchilada sauce is even more underwhelming than I remembered, I decided there has to be a better way.
Salsa verde has the flavor profile I want in a green enchilada sauce, only without chopping tomatillos for a million years. It worked out to about 3/4 cup salsa verde with 2 cups or so of chicken broth, thickened with a bit of cornstarch. So far, it’s worked with at least one red salsa
What do you do when others refuse to use your chosen name the instant someone who ranks higher in the patriarchy shows up with the same name?
I couldn’t find the official video for “Outsiders,” if there is such a thing, but this was my favorite Franz Ferdinand song for years. I’d never seen the video before.
This is the result of my hands-on plot-fixing session the other day. It led to me writing a scene I came up with twelve years ago, but hadn’t figured out how to write (in part because of Stars Fall Out’s long, weird history). I plotted and wrote it in an hour-and-a-half, and it’s improved two main characters, my worldbuilding for the city of Nirsuathu, and even the ending.
I slammed my laptop shut, wished Dunkin Donuts were more conducive to victory laps, then drove to work while blasting “Outsiders” by Franz Ferdinand, which is part of my Stars playlist, and is quite a bombastic song for representing a character who’s been stuck in Nirsuathu for months.
A friend posted on Facebook asking which five TV shows you would bring to a deserted island. Here are mine:
Doctor Who
Star Trek: DS9
Gilmore Girls
30 Rock
Avatar: The Last Airbender, and its sequel Legend of Korra
Those last two are separate shows. But meh, rules. I love deep, conflict-rich worldbuilding and sharp dialogue. All of those shows have both.
I just listened to the Unladylike podcast, Episode 59: How to wear too much makeup.
I love the idea of makeup as warpaint, or as a confrontation. Most days I only wear black eyeliner, which is itself an empowering thing for me; I associate it with edginess and rebellion, and it gives me a power boost, even if most days it presents more subtly.
I didn’t think I’d be much interested in this episode, as I’m more on the “makeup is problematic” side of the fence. But now I’m inspired to go on an adventure to find blue lipstick and pink eyeliner, and anything else that screams “over-the-top new wave androgyny” and “you’re not supposed to do this in your thirties.”
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2016/04/web-developer-guide-color/
Since redesigning my site is one of my back-burner projects, I’ve procrastinated by reading an unnecessary amount of articles about color schemes and color theory. So many articles about color in web design focus on color psychology, and in essence try to pass broad principles off as nuts-and-bolts advice. The above link is a practical guide.
I propose that we all go out and play tag because it’s going to solve multiple problems, because it’s going to be fun, and because it’s logical to have fun.
If I ever mention “going through a pack a day,” it will probably be in reference to index cards. I keep finding more uses for them.
Index cards, tarot cards, scissors, two rolls of tape, and two plot outlines, one for reading, and one for chopping into pieces.
It’s time to fix a plot problem.
About 24 hours after I posted The Mom Box, someone asked me if I love being a mom. With all that stuff going through my head, about all the answer I could manage was “Uh, sure.” It’s not an all or nothing, love it or hate it gig.
But you know what’s fun? Having a friend over and making homemade play dough for my toddler.
My friend warned me that there is a point during the mixing process when it will seem like no good can come of this. That point looked like sausage gravy and smelled like a wet dog rolled in papier mache.
But it came together, and we spent over an hour talking and relaxing, everyone mesmerized by the repetitive actions of squishing and rolling.
