Sobering "tale from the trenches of science journalism" presented by PZ Meyers. Never has "don't believe everything you read" seemed more appropriate.

I saw Dennis Haysbert in a restaurant this afternoon! He was just walking by my table, calm and cool as could be. I didn't say anything, I just sat and stared, unable to take my eyes off of him until he was out of sight, hopefully not too embarrassingly open-mouthed. This is not quite as exciting as it would have been 7 years ago when I was a full-blown "24" fangirl, but it was still really, really cool.

He was a lot taller than I imagined he would be, and his smile is even bigger in person.

In other news, I went to a baseball game tonight, and although no one threw a no hitter this time (curse my luck for picking a game one day too late!), it was still an enjoyable outing. Even though it rained on us a little bit. Rain? In San Francisco? In July? What is this world coming to? On the upside, I saw one of the most spectacular rainbows of my life, springing out of the scoreboard and covering the sky. T took some pictures, and if he decides any are worthy of posting, I will definitely link.

I took advantage of being home sick the other day to finally start my long-planned replay of Final Fantasy 12. The first time through, I played with T, which always means rushing through faster than I would like, so I wanted a slower, more thorough replay where I get all the sidequests and talk to NPCs and so forth. And this seemed like a good time because... well, let's just say, I have my reasons.

I'm now about 10 hours in, with about an hour or two of that pure leveling, just finished Leviathan, and here are some random thoughts ( some of which are spoilery for the whole game, so I'll cut it here: )

So I finished Phoenix Wright 3 yesterday.

As a whole, I'd say the games were fun, and enjoyable, if frustrating at times. Overall, I liked the story quite a lot, although I took such a long break in the middle of PW3 that it's hard for me to remember what exactly happened before. I'm tempted to play them all again, both to remind myself of all that came before, and because I was just settling back into the puzzles and gameplay when it was all over. Not sure it would be worth the time it would take to replay, though, although I'm sure it'll go much faster when I'm not running down all kinds of blind alleys.

I found the last case of PW3 to be the most satisfying overall, because it wove together so many threads from all three games. ( Here be spoilers... )

In conclusion, I liked these games, I'm glad I played them, and would recommend them to anyone who likes puzzle games with a good story. Also, Diego Armando is hot.

Anyone played Apollo Justice? Is it the same game with different characters, or does it add anything new in terms of gameplay? Does it carry on the PW storyline? Any (non-spoilery, if possible) thoughts are appreciated.

Presenting the 2009 winners. I haven't read them all yet, but the grand prize winner actually made me laugh out loud.

Ah, home, with kitties and T and just missing a heatwave, although I hear it was actually rather nice in SF proper. At least I got two days of good weather in New England, and one of them was our beach day on Cape Code. (The other was the day we drove to Vermont, so at least we got sun on the most important days for it.) Provicetown is really nice, although the stony beaches are hard to walk on -- if I ever go back, I will definitely bring water shoes of some sort. Pretty, though. The town itself is very cute and full of dangerous stores, selling things like jewelry and chocolates and clothes I can actually wear. It's also a major gay rseort town, which led to one of the jewelry store owners making some incorrect assumptions when I was looking over anzubird's shoulder as she browsed the ring selection. ;) We happened to be there during the annual Portuguese Festival, so we saw two parades and some traditional dancing. There was some cool music, too. But the highlight had to be the Naked Boys Singing.

The second day was foggy and chilly, but at least it didn't rain. Then on Monday, amybang and I checked out the MFA, where I'd never been. It's an impressve museum, although it would have been even more impressive if they weren't in the middle of a huge construction project, with a significant portion of their collection off exhibit as a result. Still worth going, though, even if I'll have to go back in 2010 when the new wing is completed. Monday night was pub trivia, another new experience on a trip full of them; our team came out 4th out of 14 teams. Not bad really, although we blew a few things we should have known.

Then the uneventful flight home yesterday and the re-entry into work today, only a two day week for me since we get Friday off for July 4th. Not bad for the start of break. Hopefully I get some time to relax soon, though, since I've been in go mode for a few weeks now.

So far, a quite enjoyable trip. Flight was delayed by over an hour and a half but was otherwise uneventful -- I think I even slept a little. I got in around 9am, and then we left for our road trip to Vermont, where we had much yummy ice cream and cheese and maple sugar candy. The sun eluded us for the morning, but around lunchtime the clouds cleared and we found ourselves experiencing a lovely summer day -- we even got to take down the top of the convertible while we tooled around Waterbury. Then we got home late and crashed.

Today was a lazily-exploring-Boston day: pancakes for breakfast, pedicures, walking around downtown, having tea at the public library -- they have a really nice cafe where they serve afternoon tea; it was tasty, if a little heavy on the sweets as opposed to the savories. This evening, we met up with concertinette and her husband for dinner, and then they came back to amybang's for some excellent hanging out and chatting and playing with the kittens. Did I mention the kittens? There are two, they are nine months old and totally adorable. A moth came in, and watching them chase it was both hilarious and adorable. They didn't catch it, but they're still half looking for it to come back. I can tell.

Tomorrow we head off to Cape Cod, another place I've never been. We're taking the ferry to Provincetown (yay boats!) and spending the night at an inn. I won't be bringing the laptop, so I'll bid you all adieu for the next couple of days. Adieu!

Summer break, woo! It was a couple of crazy quarters there, but now it's over. Three weeks with no students, and now that the various meetings that cap the whole thing off are done I can actually relax.

Unfortunately, we don't actually get three weeks off. When I tell people I work at a college and that summer break is started, they tend to assume that I get three weeks of vacation, but no such luck. I am, however, taking a week on my own -- tomorrow night, I fly to Boston, from where I will finally make the pilgrimage to Ben & Jerry's (and cross Vermont off the list of states I haven't visited! Which will finish off New England, at long last) and then spend a few days hanging out with amybang and anzubird -- we're planning on a visit to Provincetown, if the rain doesn't wash it away, and other fun stuff. I get back next Tuesday.

Let's see, what else... the poison oak has almost faded, although I'm still peeling in places and have to fend off the occasional itching fit. I got a new keyboard to replace the one that died a couple of months ago -- it was getting old anyway, I think I bought it in 2000 when I got my G3 tower, but spilling a Diet Coke on it pretty much sealed its fate. Sadly, pretty much no one is making natural-style split keyboards for Macs anymore, probably because PC keyboards will work on a Mac now. So I got an MS Natural. It seems weird to be enthusiastic about a Microsoft product, but the shape of their natural keyboards works pretty much perfectly with my RSI issues, and the keys are incredibly responsive. I have one at work, too, so I knew I'd be happy with it. But I couldn't get it to work the way I wanted, so I bit the bullet and upgraded my OS to Leopard. On the plus side, the upgrade seems to have finally fixed my flaky wireless; fingers crossed that keeps working. In other technology news, I became an iPhone widow on Friday. T ordered it the day they were announced and started counting the hours, and it has gone above and beyond his expectations. I confess that seeing his in action has only increased temptation for me, but for now I'm still holding out.

In the media world, I finally got around to restarting Phoenix Wright 3, which I half-gave up on in the middle of the third case. Now I'm into the fifth case, which is awesome, but I can't talk about why without spoilers. So for right now, I'll content myself with sharing this fact: Diego Armando? Is HOT. As for books, right now I'm reading The Fall of Kings by Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman; it's enjoyable, but I have no idea how they wrote it before The Privilege of the Sword without having mapped out that entire book first. Finally, I watched the first two episodes of Merlin, thanks to bottle_of_shine's rec. I enjoyed it, although it took me most of the first episode to get past the expectation that the characters would conform to standard Arthurian canon. I knew going in, of course, that Merlin was Arthur's age, so I didn't mind that at all, but there were enough other differences that I found it jarring at first. Fortunately, by the time I watched the second ep, I was able to sit back and relax into the characters as they were. I think Guenevere is my favorite so far, but only two eps in is a little soon to be making predictions. I'll keep watching for sure.

I guess that sums it up for now. I know I haven't been very visible here lately, in terms of posting or commenting, partly because of the poison oak and partly from work stress, but with luck this break will be just what I need to straighten my head out and spend more time being active and less time spacing out.

Title: Gifts
Fandom: FFX-2
Rating: G
Wordcount: 972
Characters: Maechen
Spoilers: For Maechen's backstory, and (really indirectly) the end of FFX.
Notes: Written for muggy_mountain's request in the Alphabet Fic meme (which still has lots of open slots, if anyone is interested). She gave me the pairing "Maechen/books" and two prompt words, "herbs" and "wonder", and I mashed them all together into two kinda-related ficbits. My interpretation may be somewhat more liberal than was intended; if so, I can only beg your indulgence. (Can you tell I've been writing Maechen?)

( It was a beautiful summer day in Zanarkand, and Maechen was, as usual, in the library. )

binsybaby suggests some names for kick-ass movies about girls, such as "Sisterhood of the Traveling MONSTER TRUCK ON FIRE" and "Bridget Jones's Diary OF COMPLEX TIME MACHINE BLUEPRINTS". I know I'd see that last one! There are many more, in the post and in the comments, so make sure to read the threads. Some of the commenters make suggestions in the other direction, too, like "Die Hard AND THEN GET A PEDICURE" and "Batman Returns FROM THE ORCHID EXHIBIT".

Thanks to Jed for the link; if you don't have time to read all of the comments, he's posted some of his favorites here.

One of the side effects of getting poison oak all over my hands is that it's been hard to write much. (Fortunately, the worst of it is now past, although I still get struck by itchy fits from time to time. But they're more "let me slough off this dead skin" and less "oh my god I don't remember what it feels like not to be one giant itchy spot", so it's a lot easier to deal with now. Anyway.) So I've been spending more time reading, and contemplating, and following conversations all over the Internet (and playing Bubble Spinner, but we won't talk about that part), and for various reasons the topics that've been consuming most of my reading and thinking time lately are related to feminist issues.

Partly that's because I've just finished reading Yes Means Yes (I have a full review on Goodreads, here), which is a collection of essays about rape, women's sexuality, and different models of consent. And it was in the context of having these ideas rattling around in my brain that I read this call to arms by cereta, in which she exhorts men to stand up and do their part to help end rape culture. I'm slowly working my way through the comment threads, although last I checked it was up to 16 pages, so there's no way I'll be able to read them all. But I definitely recommend going as far as you can; people are sharing some incredible stories, good and awful alike, and there are some fantastic (and sometimes frustrating) discussions about being an ally, and consent, and victim blaming.

It's that last one that really gets me thinking. Just how steeped our culture is in blaming the victim for cases of rape and sexual assault is something that I've only really understood within the last couple of years. I knew, of course, that our society will automatically try to get any woman who is sexually assaulted to take the blame upon herself -- what was she wearing, did she flirt with him, did she say yes and then change her mind, etc. etc. etc. It's a story we've all heard a thousand times. But it happens on the other side of the equation, too, because whenever we talk about rape prevention, our entire focus is on how women should protect themselves. Don't go out alone, don't drink too much, don't be alone with a strange man (never mind that most women are assaulted by someone they know), don't be "too wild", carry mace/a whistle/keys, learn self-defense. Every one of these suggestions places the burden of not "getting raped" on women, and many of them force women into tiny boxes of "appropriate" sexual expression. Want to wear that skimpy outfit, or go out drinking with your friends, or hook up with a guy you barely know? Well, go ahead, but don't say we didn't warn you.

(Not that I'm trying to claim that these are necessarily smart things to do. But does our society tell a man not to go out drinking because he might be an easier target for a mugger? Does society warn him against one-night-stands because he might get assaulted? And do we then turn around and blame him if anything happens to him? There are exceptions, of course, but as a rule I would say no. We don't. This is part of what equality means: women should have the same opportunity as men to do crazy things, stupid things. Fun things -- one of the essays in Yes Means Yes, by Jaclyn Friedman, is a manifesto on the joys of cutting loose and being wild, and on our right to experience them, and I found it one of the most compelling in the book.)

But this method of rape prevention leaves out one factor completely: the rapist. Oh yeah, that guy. (And yes, I do know that not all rapists are male and not all rape victims are female. But looking at the odds, those are good ones to play. Also, my point is really more about rape culture than about individual victims and perpetrators, and in our society, rapists are gendered male/aggressive and victims are gendered female/passive, regardless of the details of any particular case.) What does he have to do with anything?

Plenty, I'd say. Because if there were no rapists, no one would ever be raped. And it wouldn't matter what they were wearing, where they went, what they drank, what they said. Complete prevention, full stop. Put it that way, and it sounds almost ridiculously simple. So why don't we have books and courses and all of that to teach men how not to be rapists, how not to commit sexual assault, how to recognize consent and take "no" for an answer, how to stand up to other men who are about to cross the line?

I could come up with all sorts of reasons why we as a society haven't gone this route, mostly relating to male privilege. But right now, I'd rather just leave the question open and out there, in all its simplicity. Seriously. Why not?

Even if you aren't normally a fan of LOLcats, you have to see this one.

( The world must be warned... )

It's another round of ff_exchange!!

Everyone come play! The more, the merrier. :)

Now, to contemplate my sign-up. The big question is, do I take the FFXII plunge, or no?

Edit: This brief and clear analysis of the court case is very important, and you should all read it.

The CA Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, but the existing marriages will be allowed to stand.

This is pretty much what everyone was expecting and planning for, so I'm not crushed, but I am definitely disappointed.

On the other hand, since Proposition 8 was legal, that means it can be repealed by a simple proposition as well, right? So onward to 2010 (or 2012, depending on what they decide to do). And more lawsuits, I'm sure. More once substantial reactions start coming down.

Discovered by following links off metafandom. I probably shouldn't start new fic memes when I have at least two I haven't finished yet, but I couldn't resist this one.

Alphabet Ficbits
1. Pick a letter and a corresponding word or expression.
2. Pick a fandom I can write and a character or pairing.
3. I will write a drabble/ficlet for the prompt.

Fandoms
Most comfortable with FFX and FFX-2, of course, but I'll be bold and say any fandom listed in my interests is fair game.

Everyone can start with up to two requests, and once I've filled one you can ask for another if there are still spots in the queue. Hopefully this will keep me from sitting on this forever, as I have been known to do. Oops.

( Prompt list behind the cut. )

I always meant to finish up my Rome report a lot sooner, so I wouldn't forget anything, but then life got the better me. I'll pick up where I left off, with Thursday morning, and apologize for any gaps of memory.

( Thursday, and the first half of Friday. )

I worked a six-day week back in April, so I took today off and am now basking in the glory of a four-day weekend with almost nothing planned. T is going to a beach-clean/photo shoot on Sunday, and I might come along, but otherwise I envision a lot of kicking back. I already spent a nice morning with three of my favorite things: leftover pizza for breakfast, my kitties, and Deep Space Nine on DVD. The rest of the day will likely feature a pedicure (it's summer, time to give my toes more regular help) and some writing time in Panera, but it's nice not to have to decide yet.

There's only one today, and it's not even my cat, but it was too adorable not to share. This is my MiL's cat, Peaches, on a rare foray into the house. Looks like she discovered the cat that's allowed to live inside...

( Behold the cute! )

I have an account on Dreamwidth: owlmoose

At this point it's mostly a placeholder -- I don't plan to import my LJ content, and I'm still deciding whether to cross-post, but I wanted to let you all know that it's there.

I have a couple of invite codes if anyone needs them. Just drop me an email.

If your reaction to this post is "What the heck is Dreamwidth?", the short answer is that it's a new LJ clone, but it's a fork of the code rather than just a straight copy, so they've cleaned up some things and added some features -- a few now, more promised in the future. The long answer is here.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

My review

Rating: 2 of 5 stars

Dear Jodi Picoult: please give the font changes between chapters a rest, it makes your books tiring to read. Thank you.

Otherwise, this book was entertaining, thought-provoking, and engaging, and I would have given three stars or maybe even four, until the ending, which made me so furious that I wanted to throw the book out the window. And I was on an airplane at the time.

( Significant spoilers follow. )

It was so frustrating that I think this is likely the last book by Jodi Picoult I will ever read. Anyone else read it, and have a similarly strong reaction? Does she do this kind of thing in every book, or just the two I managed to finish?