New Friends, Linux Frustrations, and an Uncertain Future

Hi all! It’s been days since I posted, so clearly it’s time to subject you all to another rambling blog post.

New Friends

First off, Peter and I headed out to Oregon over the weekend and came back with new friends! Reptile friends. Say hello to Chrysanthemum, my new bearded dragon:

She’s been very good. The car ride didn’t seem to stress her out at all, and she ate well Sunday night and yesterday. She hasn’t seemed interested in food today, but given that she’s almost definitely suffering from relocation stress that’s hardly unreasonable. I’m looking forward to getting to know her better and helping her grow up big and strong. Even if it means fishing cockroaches out of a cup with tongs two times a day. (It’s not all glamor in reptile keeping!) Continue reading

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Comic: Morning Routine

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It’s About Ethics in Book Ownership!

Hey all. This is a short post today, because I want to pose a question.

First, some backstory. I’m looking at trying to declutter. Not to Marie Kondo levels, as much as thanking my clothes for their service appeals to me, but just to try and make my spaces at home feel less overstuffed. One thing that would be helpful is reducing the number of physical books I have. There’s a number, mostly novels, that I wouldn’t mind owning in e-book instead. But, e-books are expensive! At least, in the numbers I’m looking at, and especially for books I already own in a different format.

Which brings up an ethical question that looks like it hasn’t been discussed much on the internet since around 2010: How do you feel about book piracy of ebooks for a book you already own? I realize it’s illegal due to the way copyright law works. But how do you feel about it on an ethical level? And what if the person who downloaded the ebooks got rid of their print books afterwards? Should they shred them, since that way it’s more like a trans-substantiation of format? Donate? Is it kosher to sell them?

I haven’t decided what I’ll do, and if I do end up taking the less-than-kosher route, I’ll probably not admit to it in a blog post. But I’m very curious what everyone thinks about it. Let me know in the comments! And be nice if people disagree with you! Thanks. 🙂

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A Walk in the Park (Duwamish Hill Preserve Edition)

A chaotic bunch of clouds stream across the sky, the sun shining through a large clump of them.

There were some dramatic-ass clouds out today. Thank you, wind!

I’ve been reading a book, Eat Dirt by Dr. Josh Axe, that talks about a lot of things. Mostly it talks about dealing with stomach issues via gut flora management, which is an overly-flowery way of staying “make your stomach stop being fucked up by filling it with bacteria.” I promise it makes sense.

Bare feet on mossy ground.

It also talks about earthing/grounding. Which–why not try it, I guess?

Part of the book deals with stress, and how it affects the gut. I’ve long suspected that my anxiety, stress levels, and habit of putting a lot of pressure on myself has at least something to do with my unpredictable stomach. The book also includes ideas on how to reduce stress, and since I don’t actually want to die at 30 from a stress-induced heart attack, I figure I should give the whole stress-reduction thing a shot. Continue reading

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2017 Progress Report: Mid-March Check-In

PIE CAAAAAAKE

It’s Pi Day! I had cheesecake, because it was the closest thing the coffee shop had. Still, at least it’s delicious.

Time for another progress report check-in. “Where’s February,” you ask? Why, it never got written because a) busy and b) feeling like shit. So now you get the last six weeks or so all wrapped up in one pithy, probably over-long post. I know, you’re so pleased. Honored, even.

Donations to the Cult of Ian can be sent to our usual mailing address, care of the USPS Shadow Brotherhood.

Now, without further ado… Continue reading

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2017 Progress Report: January Wrap-up

It’s the end of January, and that means it’s probably time for another progress report on my personal goals for this year.

Exercise: By the end of the month I’d gotten a good exercise rhythm going. I’m settling in to doing weight lifting three times a week, running (or other cardio, but aiming to make it mostly running) three times a week, and having Sunday or Saturday as a rest day each week. I’m doing Couch to 5k, because I’m a predictable workout plan consumer and because while I’m probably capable of forcing myself to run 5k without stopping, this is a much more pleasant way of ramping back up to it and ensuring I don’t burn out. Plus it’s nice to have a program managing my workout structure for a bit.

C25K also stops jogging from making me feel like this.

I’m still wrestling with body goals. Probably something to talk to the therapist about. But for now my weight’s relatively stable, and I’m looking forward to seeing some changes as I start lifting heavier. Now I just have to figure out how to healthily eat enough protein to ensure I can keep improving.

Reading: I finished up Life Debt by Chuck Wendig. It reminded me that a) I fucking love Star Wars, b) EUs are cool, c) someone please hire me to write for their EU, and d) Wendig spins a damn good yarn. I’m looking forward to the final book in the trilogy, Empire’s End, which is coming out at the end of the month.

I also finished From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, my first audiobook of the year. (Though I found I couldn’t listen to it straight through after being stressed out by politics, so I had to listen to it sparingly and went for a more lightweight audiobook at other times.) It’s a really good deep dive connecting modern movements a la Black Lives Matter to the original Civil Rights movement, without being afraid to critique the modern political system, people who were leaders in the original Civil Rights movement, etc. It also reminded me of the specifics of many of the different, tragic stories of police brutality against Black individuals we’ve heard over the years, which was heartbreaking and powerful. The author pulls zero punches, and the book is mighty for it.

I’m now working my way through The Forbidden Library by Django Wexler in audiobook. I’m also still reading Fafherd and the Grey Mouser as well as Falling in Love With Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson. And on my phone I’m slowly chipping away at The Smart Girl’s Guide to Privacy by Violet Blue. Continue reading

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Muslim Ban (Immigration Executive Order) Protest

Seattle is fucking awesome.

Don’t worry, that pat on my adopted city’s back does have some justification. In the face of the executive order on Friday that banned, among others, Syrian refugees and individuals from several Muslim countries from entering the United States, Seattle threw together a protest on Sunday night. Just, you know, a small little protest:

I LIED ABOUT IT BEING SMALL, GUYS. (And this photo was taken from the back!)

It was awesome to see everyone out there, protesting yet another unethical, probably-illegal (or should be) thing that the Trump administration was doing. That there were thousands (I think? Finding an official count is difficult) of people out there on such short notice was nothing sort of amazing.

We have to keep resisting like this. Showing up and having our voices be heard.

(And it doesn’t have to be just marches and rallies. If you’re disabled, or can’t handle crowds, or have any other condition that makes marches/rallies a bad fit for you, there’s still a lot you can do. Send letters to, e-mail, or call your representative! Donate to causes! Commit dark sacrifices! Lots of options.)

This was also a protest where I got to be out there with a significant number of friends, which is always a good way to increase one’s endurance for such activities. It’s so good to know you have friends that think along similar lines to you. Also, being around people I know super helps with any crowd anxiety I experience. It was wonderful to have them all there, and I hope we can all keep protesting together in the future.

With that, I’m going to just leave you with some more photos and a short (bad quality due to WP upload limits and camera phone) video. Long live the Resistance against Trump. Stay safe and sane out there, everyone. <3

Seeing this little old lady protesting made me so, so happy.

Right as we left it started turning into a march! (Also, this woman’s sign said something along the lines of “Our Whiteness is Ruining America,” which I thought was awesome.)

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A Story of Poor Impulse Control

There’s a lot of shit going on in the world today. But I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to give you a simple story of human hubris leading to entirely preventable disaster.

swear this isn’t about Trump.

It’s about me. It’s about what happens when I decide I’m going to do something, gods be damned. Continue reading

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Womxn’s March: Seattle

Hey all.

On Saturday, I marched alongside about 175,000 others to protest Trump and advocate for women’s rights. It was my first march, and quite the experience. While it had all the logistical problems and other annoyances of any large gathering of people, it was absolutely worth it, and I hope it’s read as a strong rebuke to the atmosphere of hate and lies that the Trump administration has been building up, even before he officially took office.

It was a little crowded.

We started out in Judkins Park. There were some speakers, though Jill (my marching buddy!), her friends, and I were stuck far enough back it was hard to hear. I did hear bits and pieces of some of them, with Aneelah Afzali leaving the strongest impression. Continue reading

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2017 Progress Report: Mid-January

Tracking habits *and* showing that not everyone’s bullet journal is beautiful!

My attempts to meet my goals so far this year have met with mixed success, but I think I’m making progress. Yay, progress! And progress or no, checking in every couple weeks to keep myself accountable seems like a good way to ensure I’m actually going to stick with my goals. Here’s my progress, broken down by the goals I listed in that earlier post:

Keeping in touch with folks: I’ve managed to get in touch with at least one old friend who I hadn’t been able to talk to in forever, so that’s been good, and we’re slowly catching up. Bonus: she’s moving to the Seattle area at the end of the year, so I’ll get to see her in person at some point!

Exercise: Exercising has been semi-consistent, and I’m slowly figuring out what routine works for me. (As much as I love running, going running outside when it’s 26 degrees and dark outside isn’t super for me! Thank you youtube for being full of silly free cardio workouts.)  I’ve managed to keep up with tracking food, and have switched over to MyFitnessPal for that part of my data logging. Being able to type in recipes and have it do all the math for what’s in each serving is *so much better* than adding each item individually in Fitbit, and the two sync, to boot!

I’ve been doing a lot of think about how I want my body to be, too, but that’s still mostly a lot of my brain chasing itself in circles. I’m sure I’ll get it figured out someday. At least my waist measurement has been going down consistently, even if my weight is currently staying put. Continue reading

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