Kat 'n' Mouse

Errands at Semester’s End

Cally — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:32:33 +0000

These last few months of law school have been the most stressful time of my life. Law school was infinitely harder than undergraduate school, and while I loved learning (everything but Civil Procedure…) it was really hard to keep up with everything and to be on the ball and feel prepared for the exams. I don’t think I did well at all on one of them, and the others I’m not sure about. I don’t find out until the second week of January how I did.

My last exam was Friday. I spent the weekend catching up on the internet stuff I’d let slide – did a few critiques over at critiquecircle, posted a new scene of my novel (Tower of Nine), relaxed with a few of the comics I’ve been reading (Finder’s Keepers, Gunnerkrigg Court), and picked up a book from the library (Faefever, which wasn’t as good as I’d hoped — which, unfortunately, was about what I expected with that series: the author loves to drag out mysteries for whole books, and it ended on a cliffhanger. I hate being jerked around and I detest when a single book doesn’t have a coherant storyline – one of my biggest pet peeves with Laurel K. Hamilton).

Today, I’ve gotten back into the swing of real life. Errands!

Went out to breakfast with my mom at the local diner, got the beef stew special and motzarella sticks. MMm.
Got my driver’s license renewed and changed over to the horizontal “over 21!” style. The picture is horrible (I have NEON yellow hair in the image, somehow), but that’s to be expected, and the actual trip to the DMV was painless. I don’t think I was there more than 20 minutes, and there was a parking lot right out front.
Went shopping with my mom, and found my favorite kind of after-dinner mints, that I can never find. Score one for Christmastime.
Dropped off my library book.
Scrubbed the hard-water stains off of the shower, yay!

I’m so happy.

Ms. Mouse — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:09:09 +0000

I just had to take time out from writing my stupid five-page essay and say I’m happy that Obama won. That’s all.

- Ms. Mouse

Wishlist

Ms. Mouse — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:59:42 +0000

So Halloween has come and gone, and Turkey Day’s on the way. Do you know what that means? BLACK FRIDAY!!! It’s one of my favorite holidays of the season. Black Friday is something I definitely get into the spirit of. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can participate this year (see preceding post about being broke), but it’s always fun to window shop and look at all the stuff I can’t afford even if it’s marked down, all the way down to the underworld!

In anticipation of this glorious day, I have compiled a list of things I want and adore but can only admire from afar. (It’s like unrequited love, isn’t it?) I’m making part of this up as I go along, so I wonder how long this’ll get. Gee, I have a lot of time on my hands! But it’s a Sunday and we just gained an hour to Daylight Saving, so why not? Here I go!

Scarves. Knit ones in dark red, forest green; silky ones in turquoise and an obnoxious shade of orange.
A dark wash, straight-leg pair of Joe’s Jeans. They have a line of denim made especially for petite people called Provocateur. I’d love to splurge on one, but I can wait. I think I’ll get one at Ebay or snoop around at some consignment shops in the nicer neighborhoods of San Francisco. I actually saw a pair of Joe’s Jeans at Crossroads this afternoon, but I didn’t grab it because it wasn’t from the Provocateur line. Darn, so close! Also, I specically want a dark wash, straight leg jean because they’re the more flattering than lighter washes, skinny or flared jeans.

Shoes. Lots of ‘em! Especially sneakers by Skechers and cute ankle boots.

Fuzzy slippers. To wear at home so I don’t have to get my socks dirty all the time. And so my feet won’t have to come in contact with the cold, wooden floors in my apartment.
Havaianas. Hmm, a pair of flip flops aren’t exactly appropriate for the winter season, but they’re always nice to have! I love the design on this one:
A beanie or a slouchy beret. A slouchy beret would be nice because since it’s loose, it won’t be too tight on my huge head. Plus, when I’m wearing one, the fog and rain probably won’t be able to get to my hair and make it frizzy after I’ve spent so much time trying to get it to look decent. This one from Urban Outfitters is cute!
Cable-knit sweater. This one from Abercrombie is nice.
Betsey Johnson bobby pins. These aren’t necessary, but they’re so cute I couldn’t *not* put them on this list!
Orange BCBG Max Azria Dress. I love the cut and color of this. My favorite color may be orange, but I find that a lot of clothes in orange are in hideous shades of orange.

I’m going to stop here. There are so many things I’d like to add, but this is good enough for me… for now, anyway.

- Ms. Mouse

I want to makeover my wardrobe. And I don’t mean the closet.

Ms. Mouse — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 05:35:25 +0000

So just over an hour ago, I did something kind of stupid. I went to Macys and purchased a jacket. It cost me about about $41 including taxes. I feel bad. But to justify for my moment of weakness, it’s a really nice jacket. And it actually fits me off the rack, unlike the vast majority of clothes out there. I’d show attach a picture to prove it, but for some reason there isn’t a picture of it online at Macy’s site, and I’m really too lazy to take a picture. I don’t really think $40 is too much, but I’m already financially strapped. I live on financial aid. It sucks. I know, most college students do. But I was also depending on my older sister to help me out with rent and whatnot. Well, she got laid off recently. Recession hurts.

So what am I doing shopping when I probably won’t be able to pay my own rent in a few months?

I’m torn, as ridiculous as it sounds, between looking good and maintaining a stocked fridge and a roof over my head as long as I plan to go to school in SF. I’ve started to take pride in my appearance and looking polished and sophisticated and just plain put together (not that I didn’t care about how I dressed or looked before, just not as much as I do now), and I’ve begun to develop my own style. I want things that are well made, that suit my proportions and flatter and compliment me. Unfortunately, several of the pieces currently in my wardrobe seem very juvenile and clash with my style now. Some of the most important staples, such as jeans and jackets, are ill-fitting as well. It’s really too bad that my good, or at least better, taste has just hit me now because now I really haven’t any money to throw around on getting quality pieces that fit right.

And I don’t want to settle for less just because I don’t have disposable cash. I’m not going to go to Forever 21 and pick up something that’s sort of my taste, something I kind of like but don’t love, and just buy it anyway because that’s what I can afford. No! Because if I do that, I won’t like wearing the piece, not to mention it’s bad quality, so it’d just be a waste of money in the end. I’m trying to live by the concept of “quality over quantity.” So it looks like I’m stuck with these clothes until I can actually afford to do something about them.

*sighs* I need a job, stat! I’ve been looking for a long time, but I haven’t been very successful. No one really wants to hire anyone who’s young or inexperienced, and then there’s that factor of the economy being down. Recently I thought I had a shot at a restaurant in the airport, but apparently they don’t hire people who don’t speak or understand Chinese seeing as how it’s a Chinese restaurant and all the workers there speak in the kitchen and yaddayaddaya. I’m disappointed because they sort of strung me along until they finally told me I wasn’t qualified because I couldn’t speak Chinese (even though they said on the listing that knowing Chinese wasn’t required… psh).

Whee!

Ms. Mouse — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:20:26 +0000

I am SO happy. I got my laptop back with Vista running perfectly! The HP tech support sent a new installation CD, and as it turns out, the one I had before was faulty and causing all the problems. JOY! I get my baby back. You know what this means?! Regular blogging! Well, hopefully! I’ve been a little preoccupied with writing papers and drawing stuff for school. :/ Anyway, this is the cherry on top of my Halloween.

And speaking of Halloween, I sure got into the spirit of it this year. I dressed up as Minnie Mouse, a borrowed costume from a friend. It’s my first *real* costume. At 18. Yep. Hehe.

- Ms. Mouse

Ahhh… another sweaty day in San Francisco!

Ms. Mouse — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:49:00 +0000

It’s finally Friday and I just got back from class! Woohoo! You know what this means? Free time to do whatever! I’m planning on baking oatmeal raisin cookies, something I’ve delayed for a couple weeks now (one week we’re out of butter, the next we’re out of oatmeal, then we’re out of time…), so I’m happy because I enjoy beating the living daylights out of eggs, smooshing all the ingredients together, whacking wandering hands away from the bowl of cookie dough (I can’t have the essence of all my roommates in the cookie dough… that would be weird enough with all the sweat, blood, and love I already put into it), and throwing the dough on a baking pan into a hot oven. Ah. Yes. This is what I’ve waited for all week.

But first, I’ve got to take a quick shower to wash away all that sweat I’ve collected while trekking from the BART station to home. Yikes–it’s actually a lot more like hiking on concrete in city clothes… and I know hiking, ’cause I do it often (in fact, I’m going tomorrow!). The odd thing is, it’s not even that warm out. It’s merely 77 degrees, and that’s just no excuse for sweating out. In San Jose, a measly 77 degrees would never be enough to break a sweat, even while walking around a lot. Hmm, it’s just something about this city I guess. It’s hard to go a day without sweating. It’s massively irritating. I’m actually looking forward to the colder weather now just because I’m tired of being all hot and sweaty when I get to class or arrive home. Old Man Winter, bring it on!

- Ms. Mouse

Author: L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Cally — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 13:04:11 +0000

I’m skipping ahead a bit in the alphabetical order of my bookcase, but a revelation that I had today in class made it an absolute necessity for my sanity. Ever since the first day of Torts, I’ve had a nagging feeling that my professor was related to L. E. Modesitt – they share a last name, and I know he has several children in professional industries. Plus the way she talks about environmental issues is strangely familiar… I’ve tried to find the biographical information I know I’ve read in the past that would have revealed if perhaps one of his daughters was a lawyer, but didn’t find anything conclusive until today in class, when, during the break, I got up the nerve to go ahead and as my professor if she was perhaps familiar with the science fiction genre…

…and from the expression on her face, she definitely knew where I was going with that question. Evidently, some years it comes up on the first day, and others it comes up not at all, and sometimes it occurs to someone in the middle of the year, like this time.

Now, L.E. Modesitt is one of my favorite authors (and, happily, his daughter is my favorite professor this year, though I think the fact that the class is something like three hours long (as opposed to the usual 1.25) detracts from my enjoyment of the class at times), for a variety of reasons including his versatility (he writes both science fiction and fantasy, as well as touching a bit on the more mainstream, literary style), his prolificness (I read fast, so it’s always good when writers can keep up with my needs!), but mostly because he manages to blend fantastic characters of all stripes with fascinating social commentary that doesn’t take utter control of the plot or other elements.

As an author, he both educates and entertains, and that mix is an important one. I grew up loving Heinlein, and while he and I have grown apart over the years, as it were, I came away from my early experiences with those books with a deep appreciation of fiction that is both good fiction (because “literature” as it were bores me to tears) and good philosophy – I suppose I’m being a bit misleading when I say “social commentary.” I hate books that try to go on and on about what a horrible state our current whatever is in. But I love books that offer up viewpoints and ideas that I might not have thought about before, especially as they relate to ethics – and even more, as they relate to hard questions.

The Spellsong Cycle exposed me to the idea that maybe it’s a cop-out to wait for hard “proof” that you can show to someone before acting to prevent harm. I came across the Recluce books at a time in my life when I honestly think reading a book about a young boy who had it all but couldn’t handle his parent’s perfectly intelligent lessons with patience and good grace instead of lashing out like a teenager… made me a better person. My parents and I certainly disagree about things, but we try very hard to be respectful to one another, and I’m one of the only people I know still living at home happily and without conflict, with absolute respect for my parents. Obviously their skills at raising me had a lot to do with this, but so did being exposed to a surly young protagonist with a lot of intelligence and potential… who finally grew up enough to realize what a disservice he was doing to the people who raised him. The way that the Recluse series show both good and evil on both sides of the “black” and “white,” “order” and “chaos” divide gave me a deeper understanding – at a time when yeah, I’m young and naïve and don’t have as much experiential exposure to the real world – that it’s not all about “sides.”

He has other series, of course – The Octagonal Raven was a fascinating book that asked a lot of uncomfortable but ultimately important insight into such things as IQ tests and the social class divides and the myth that “if people work hard enough, they can do better than their parents,” etc… while still giving us hope and not ultimately condemning anyone. And the way that he can turn around and say something in one book that he argued the other way for in a previous book gives me a lot of faith in his, if not lack of bias, fundamental fairness.

Sure, ten or twenty years from now I’ll undoubtedly become disenchanted with his works and philosophies as I did with Heinlein. I mean, yeah, there are points that I disagree with him about, or at least parts of his books that I found objectionable – the protagonist’s treatment of his wife in the Legacies/Darkness series set my teeth on edge, for instance… but after meeting his daughter, I have to say that he’s certainly done a good job of raising his children, at least in my opinion. Having known her, I definitely don’t have any regrets about spending money on his books, that’s for sure.

And I haven’t even talked about his books relating to the environment, or race issues, or…

but, even though his books have clear issues that they’re intended to address, or at the least clear themes (for instance, the Natural Ordermage is based on his brother, who is apparently an amazing swimmer with natural talents who competed at decently high levels, but who fails utterly at coaching swimming because he just doesn’t think about it the same way non-naturals do… and in the book, the character is a “natural” black mage who gets thrown into exile because of his inability to learn things “the usual way.”), the books always, always manage to tie in more than one fact, always manage to have fantastic characterization, always have a great plot….

Plus, the man definitely knows his stuff. I’ve gone over to his forums a few times (he posts there! How cool is that) and the way he’s answered questions about the books, about the science, the plot, the background information, real world issues (he had a really interesting blog post on how the recent wall-street bail-out should have been handled), convince me that he’s not some ignorant guy talking out of his sleeve.

and I haven’t even talked about the worldbuilding! The worlds and universes that he creates are simply fascinating. Some are linked together in one way or another, or grow naturally out of our own, or exist as different possible futures, but they’re all wonderfully complete, deal with the ramifications of whatever system they’re using, never have any cop-outs or fail to be rigorous. The histories of the worlds are always robust, and sometimes serve as a launching point for another whole series. Modesitt never misses a trick with his books. I honestly believe that as an author, he’s in a league all his own.

Sure, there are other books that I enjoy, but other than David Weber (who I’ll get to – he’s amazing as well though in a different sort of way), I can’t say that any of them are as interesting academically as they are in terms of entertainment.

I’m not going to go through the complete list of his books here, but I’ll tell you which ones I own (and chances are I’ve filled in the blanks on the ones I haven’t bought via the local library.)

The Ecologtan Enigma
Darkness
Soarer’s Choice
Scepters
Cadmian’s Coice
Alector’s Choice
Legacies
The Soprano Sorceress
The Spellsong War
Darksong Rising
The Shadow Sorceress
Shadowsinger
The Chaos Balance
Wellspring of Chaos
The Death of Chaos
The Magic Engineer
Fall of Angels
The Towers of the Sunset
The Magic of Recluce
Colors of Chaos
The Order War
The Forever War
The Octagonal Raven
Viewpoints Critical

~ Kat

PS: I wrote this at the train station, where there’s no internet, so I’m not slacking on homework. Of which I have a lot – largely for Professor Modesitt’s class tomorrow. It’s kind of odd how this knowledge gives me extra-extra incentive to do really well on my writing assignments for her, even though the one for tomorrow she’ll not only never see, but if she did see it’d be blind-graded.

PPS: It’s sort of embarrassing to be fangirling in the middle of a graduate level torts class. But fun!

Things I hate today: Calluses, blisters, and sucky footwear

Ms. Mouse — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:12:06 +0000

Of course, no one likes calluses or blisters… especially on the feet! I never had a problem with them before-I used to think of them one of those things only other people got, and I always mentally cringed a little when I saw my sister’s feet, which are quite hardened at the heels.

Having traipsed about all over San Francisco for about a few months now, I now understand her ordeal. I’ve developed a few calluses at certain pressure points on my feet. There’s one near my left pinkie toe that feels like a knob sometimes. Ugh! It feels odd when I apply cream to my feet because instead of massaging soft feet, I get to come in contact with hardened skin cells. Mmm, sexy!

I suppose this is all do to the increased walking I do every day in the city. Back at my home city, the public transportation is pretty inefficient, so everyone drives or rides a car. My feet have certainly suffered since leaving my home city. My footwear isn’t exactly improving matters either. I have my trusty Sketchers that don’t cause any problems, but if they don’t really “go” with what I’m wearing, I’ll put on plastic orange flip flops (which I adore… they’re like my signature flip flops). Yes, I know, I’m just ASKING for calluses whenever I wear them out, but there really isn’t much else to choose from other than two pairs of black boots (which aren’t practical when it’s warm out), a pair of dressy silver flats, some heels (there is NO WAY I’m going to willingly walk around in them unless I absolutely have to), and a couple pairs of really uncomfortable flats.

The last time I wore something other than sketchers or my plastic orange flip flops, I ended up walking home totally barefoot with raw blisters on the back of my heels and the devil pair of flats from Ross that caused them in one hand. Old ladies pointed out to me that I had no shoes on (really?). A guy who was reading a book on his front steps asked me, “Don’t you know the ground is dirty?” (Thanks for the news flash!) I lifted up my flats and responded, “They’re really uncomfortable.” “I don’t know if I’d sacrifice my feet for that…” “YOU WOULD!” Shortly afterward, I decided I would just stick to my sketchers or my plastic orange flip flops until I could invest in some really, really, REALLY good quality shoes.

Heh, that’s not going to be for quite a long while… I’m EXTREMELY picky when it comes to shoes. Until then, I’ll try using Dr. Scholl’s gel soles and some heel liners and scrubbing the living daylights out of my feet with a pumice stone.

- Ms. Mouse

Being “Petite” Sucks.

Ms. Mouse — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:57:33 +0000

The other day, I went shopping in search of the perfect pea coat; actually, I’ve been on the lookout for a great pea coat for a while now, but I have always walked out of stores empty-handed every trip.

There just isn’t anything that fits me right. Everything is either too big, some parts of the coat are off or fit weird, the sleeves are too wide and long, the armpit areas are too low (not unlike how the crotch of pants can be too low if they don’t fit right), or the overall length of the coat is too long. Even the petite sizes are all wrong, mainly because they’re made for older petite people who are kind of differently sized from young petite people such as myself. I just end up looking like I’m playing dress up in everything I try on. It’s unbelievably maddening. I’m only 5’2″ and average weight, about 110 lbs! It shouldn’t be this hard to find a damn coat!

It doesn’t help that I’m picky and hate many of the styles of coats that are flooding the market these days, so that leaves a very narrow selection of what I will even consider trying on. I just want a simple, normal pea coat like the “Classic Peacoat” by J Crew (picture below on the left), but they seem to only have these online, and I don’t like purchasing such items over the internet. On Friday, I was close to getting the “New York Pea Coat” by Kenneth Cole (below, right; looks much better in real life) since it seem to suit my proportions, but they ran out of size 0 in the charcoal color I wanted. Snickerdoodles! It was on sale, too.

(jcrew.com, kennethcole.com)

But it’s hard to find classic peacoats like the ones pictured above. Most of the things I see in store is ridiculous crap like so:

(nordstrom.com)

Well, that’s actually a jacket, but they do have coat versions of this cape style, all of which may look okay on “normal” sized people but are actually overwhelming on a petite frame–it’s just too much fabric and volume (and the design is stupid because it doesn’t even cover the entire length of the arms, which kind of defeats the purpose of wearing a coat)! I don’t care if that’s what’s in style now; this is one trend I am NOT jumping aboard on (then again, I’m not a trend follower). I despise swing coats and other coats with lack of real structure, which seem to be abundant in stores now as well. Trenches are also horrible because they make me look like I’m drowning.

I suppose if I found something I really, really favored, I could get it tailored, but tailoring is only for small problems, and many of the coats I’ve encountered have so many issues, it’s not even worth spending the extra time and money to take to the tailor.

The search continues…

I’ve been doing all right in the past winters without a coat or jacket, but that’s because in San Jose, it doesn’t really get all that cold in winter. In San Francisco, it’s a lot less sunny and warm, and the relentless wind doesn’t help. *sighs* I guess I will just have to freeze this winter.

-Ms. Mouse

Prose: Robert Geffow

Cally — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:02:47 +0000

Rob enjoyed his volunteer work at the animal shelter, in spite of his peculiar talents. Another man who could turn into a hound at will might have found it degrading or disturbing to work with kenneled, abandoned animals in his free time, but he considered it a form of community service. Besides which, the apartment he shared with his girlfriend didn’t allow pets, and Rob had always loved dogs – perhaps because of his unique perspective, but likely not. Plenty of vanilla humans loved dogs too.

He didn’t have a lot of time – school took up most of it – but he still tried to devote what he could to stopping by the shelter, which was where he was when rescue workers brought in the green puppy. “Get me a towel,” a uniformed veterinarian told Rob as he walked by, carrying a bundle through the halls from the reception area.

“Somebody broke the law on this one,” Rob commented when he’d retrieved a towel as ordered and they brought the poor thing into the examination room. “No way she’s eight weeks yet.”

The full-timer grunted. “Makes you sick, doesn’t it?”

“How’d we get her?” Rob had been back feeding the kenneled dogs when the puppy had been brought in.

“Guy came in, said he heard her in the dumpster when he took the trash out. Some bastard must’ve thrown the poor pup out with the garbage. Unexpected birth, maybe. Not everyone’s thrilled when their dog gets pregnant. If only more people would get them spayed, we wouldn’t have this problem,” the veterinarian snapped.

“Doesn’t make sense,” Rob protested. “Where are the rest of the puppies, then?”

The vet lifted a shoulder in a semblance of a shrug as he gently started to rub down the puppy with the towel Rob had brought. “Look at her, man. She’s fucking green.”

Rob took a good look at the puppy lying on the fluffy white towel he’d grabbed. She was somewhere between neon and pastel in hue, strikingly abnormal and not even as long as his forearm. She smelled strongly of garbage, still. “So?”

“Some superstitious old lady might’ve panicked, or thought she wasn’t going to make it and spared her mother the trouble of nursing. The bitch of it is that it’s just a bad dye-job from the birth. I’ve got all kinds of literature on how the fluids mix and dye light-colored puppies, man. It fades.”

Humans had all kinds of literature that made them feel better about things they didn’t have a damn clue about – but as wrong as most of it was, it served a purpose. Unless, of course, as Rob was beginning to suspect, whoever had tossed the pup into the dumpster had known exactly what he was doing. Birth fluid my ass, the volunteer thought to himself. The pup’s at least as faerie as me. Probably more, as green as she is. He doubted the color would fade – but suspected he could find someone to charm a collar to glamour the hue.

“Would’ve been a kindness to kill her first. Throwing her in the garbage is just wrong, Pete.” Rob was outraged, beyond his usual anger at irresponsible dog owners, even past his occasional rage at the faerie that had sired and abandoned him, and he had to vent it even if he couldn’t share the reasons for his anger.

“We might have to, ourselves,” Pete said.

“She’s just a puppy!”

“She doesn’t even have her eyes open, Rob. We just don’t have the facilities for this – no one does. That’s the point of the damn law.” Pete was already going for a needle. His voice was sad.

“Hey, hey,” Rob objected. “What about the three-day rule?”

“She’s not going to last three days, kid.”

Another puppy, maybe he could have handled it and walked away. A normal, purebred, mortal animal and he probably could have just sat back and followed along. “I’ll take her home with me. Just tell me what I’ve got to do.”

The vet’s eyes were sympathetic, the sad expression emphasized by the wrinkles embedded into his face. “Kid, sometimes you’ve just got to let them go.”

“Not this one. She’s supposed to have three days before we give up on somebody claiming her. It’s the rules, right?”

“Your apartment doesn’t allow dogs, Rob.”

“I’ll stay with my mom for awhile,” he lied. His mother had enough trouble with knowing that she’d bedded a puca without him bringing home a faerie hound to remind her that he was only half human himself.

Pete sighed. “You’re probably going to regret this, kid, but fine. Let’s get her cleaned up and fill out the fostering paperwork.”