A few musings, and zombies

I've been wondering lately what I can use Livejournal for. I haven't posted a lot of the things going on in my head--sometimes because it's too personal, sometimes because it seems awfully esoteric, and sometimes because I just don't take the time to write it up. In fact, usually because I don't take the time to write it up.

That's a pity, because my best thinking happens when I'm writing. I think through my fingers, apparently, and taking the time to write out stuff is where I go from unformed meanderings to real ideas and possibilities. And I love having the record of what I've done to look back on.

Of course, when I'm writing out things like "Today, I superglued my fingers together and revised a paper" then it's notably less impressive.

But I want to take the time to share more than the trivial details of the day. (That's what Facebook is for! :D) So I'm going to write more over the winter, I think. And if it ends up being trivial details, that's okay. In fact, that's usually a good place to start.

-Progress is slow on the Ultima quilt, but I'm happy with the way the outlining of the islands is working out. The islands are nice and puffy.

--I did actually superglue my fingers together. I broke our awesome pushy-choppy thingy a few weeks ago (note to self: do not fret over dissertation and chop onions at the same time) and now I hope it's fixed.

--Grading papers is sloooooooow. I'll get into it tonight, but getting the momentum to actually do it is like pulling teeth. I suppose it's the counterpart to undergraduate procrastination in *writing* the papers.

--For Halloween, DaMan and I were "extras in search of a Merchant-Ivory movie" as laura_md put it. I love that my costume stash has reached the point where dressing up is rarely a matter of making new things but of arranging my various bits in new combinations. Or old friendly combinations. I do love that corset and jacket combo...And DaMan rocked out in vintagey style.

--War of the Worlds was a fantastic experience, even if I did go *blort* long before the cast party was over. I loved seeing it both times (but oof, so long!). It's astonishing how seeing the Foley work being done didn't make certain sounds (or songs/Tripod calls) any less scary. I will be hearing that crashing trash can in my dreams.

--Round 2 on the prospectus is coming up. More info as events unfold.

And, as promised, zombies.
At the SSSR conference in Denver, I listened to a lot of presentations--some great, some bland, some where I just stared at a wall of statistics going "bzuh?" By Saturday afternoon I was touchy and irritable, alternating between frustration with some of the less impressive presentations and nagging insecurity about my own ability to produce good work.

So when I left the hotel, I was just looking for a break--a moment in a coffeeshop somewhere or a brainless shopping trip. Instead, I stumbled into a Zombie Crawl. About 100-200 people dressed as zombies were having a party in the park next to the hotel, just hanging out and being undead together. There were anti-zombie guards in black gas masks, zombie Spiderman, zombie pirates, zombie babies (which were especially cute), and a Stormtrooper. I'm not sure why the Stormtrooper was there.

I returned to the conference giggling and grinning. All in all, it was proof that zombies make everything better.