jeffpaulsen

Now I'm going to make a couple of (wild) guesses and assumptions here....

The NY same-sex marriage bill failed in the NY state senate, by a vote of 24 Ayes to 38 Nays.

Recent polling has NYC (i.e. 40% of the NY state population) at 2:1 for same-sex marriage.
Recent polling also has the rest of the state at approximately 1:1.

So, 62 senators = 25 in NYC, and 37 in the rest of the state.

If the senate vote tracked population, the vote should have been:

16 aye, 9 nay for NYC,
18 aye, 19 nay for the rest of the state,
--------------
34 aye, 28 nay total

Now, votes don't always track population, and polling isn't evenly distributed over the state, but that still looks a lot like 7-8 votes were bargained away for something else.

I don't particularly care about who it was, except maybe for the region... it's not like I'm a NY resident anymore. What I want to know is what. That is, what were 7-8 votes on a politically-charged, close-fought bill exchanged for?

Any ideas?

**EDIT Thu Dec 3 23:24:15 UTC 2009 **

Hey Everyone, we are about to run the last alter job that we need to on our database servers. This will effect userpics / scrapbook / vgift images for the next few hours. Have no fear, your images aren't lost, there is just a really intensive process running on the servers which store the information for mogilefs. Thank you for your understanding and all the LJ love...

Hey LJers,

I just wanted to let you all know that we are going to be performing some mogilefs maintenance over the next few days. We will be upgrading our current version to latest stable as well as changing some db config information to better handle the amount of files we are currently hosting. This shouldn't cause a big impact on site stability, but you may see some minor delays with userpic / scrapbook images appearing or other requests associated with our mogilefs. We would love to not have that happen, but unfortunately with some of the steps we need to take we have to cause a delay with images. I figured this was a better solution than taking down all of LiveJournal because well lets face it, we all need our daily LJ fix ;)

Thanks,

In the spirit of William S. Burroughs' "Words of Advice for Young People" I bring you my Words of Advice for Law Students (in the last week before read week and finals start). Because I have an eggnog latte and I cannot work while the Evil CS Department is taking 2 hours (I kid you not) to install WordPerfect on my laptop. During which period they have probably managed to undo all the good G did over TG weekend. But.

Here are some words of advice for young people:

Have enough underwear. Count the days between now and two days after your last final, when you recover from your sleep deprivation and binge drinking enough to do laundry. If you haven't got that many pairs of clean underwear, go do your laundry NOW and/or buy more undies.
Get a haircut. Or grow a beard. Pick one now, because you are NOT going to have the time or energy to change that decision in the next three weeks.

Buy food. Nonperishable food. Food that will keep for three weeks. Food that isn't more complex to cook than "boil water, add food, eat." Listen to me. If you waste your time buying fucking ingredients instead of food, you will not make food and you will waste your entire second semester discretionary loan budget on fast food, plus wasting all the time to go GET fast food... or you will starve to death. This is not the time for virtue. This is the time to cook a big-ass lasagna, portion it out, and freeze it. Do you think you will get tired of eating lasagna? I guarantee you, you will not taste anything you eat between now and that last final anyway.

Shower. This is not optional. It seems optional sometimes, but you erally do need to wash the scrudge off. I don't care if we're restricted to seating in finals that puts one chair between us, wash yourself. Think of it as "processing time" to store information in your long-term memory. Repeat your outline softly to yourself. But shower.

Take time off. Not all that time spent staring at a book is productive. You need to process, store, process, store. Watch a movie. Go for a run. Do something that you can SCHEDULE, so you have a set start and stop time, adn don't feel guilty about taking a break from studying. Then shower, and put on clean underwear. You'll be more productive, I promise.

Buy coffee for your TA. He/she is harassed and miserable too. If you make your TA happy, you will get better information. If you caffeinate your TA, it may even be the right information, instead of the Remedies outline he's trying to memorize. Hopefully, your TA has showered.

Apologize to your friends/SO/spouse/kids/family. This time is harder on your family than it is on you. You are irritable, miserable, and yet not visibly producing anything. It's hard for them to understand how much the next couple of weeks suck, and why they have to do all the shopping and laundry while you're clearly "just sitting there," and why the parental controls are suddenly on for World of Warcraft and nobody can play for more than 5 minutes a day. Put a reminder in your calendar to tell them how much you love them at least once a day. I have the most wonderful people in the WORLD in my life, they just go away during finals and don't bug me and understand that I will get back to them in three weeks. I hope you're that lucky. But remember that people other than you have needs...

Study. With people. Without people. If your study group is not helping you learn, ditch them. Seriously. They're in the same boat you are, and shouldn't take it personally. If they do take it personally, they're not cut out to be lawyers and you should enjoy watching them fail. Teach, if that's the way you learn best. Fight, if that'st he way you learn best. Make flashcards. Experiment. Figure out what helps you retain information.

Sleep. Even if you have to take a pill. Sleep is when all the stuff you have put on top of your brain gets shaken down into long-term storage, making room for more. It's sort of like eating; you have to digest. And then make brain-poop. Sleep is your friend. That person in the library who looks like they haven't slept for a week? Is not your competition. She is going to fail. Don't make it a no-sleep competition. You need rest to do well.

Speaking of sleep, adjust your sleep schedule. You have no time commitments other than the ones you personally make, and your finals. If you work better at night, there is no reason for you to be awake between 8am and 5pm. If you have a 6am final (heaven help you), you should adjust your sleep schedule a couple days before, so that ends up being your "midday." Ditto for late-night finals.

Eat. Protein. Carbs. Delicious dairy products. Bacon. Whatever won't upset your stomach and is easy. Then pack food for during your final. Quiet food, don't be the candy-bag rustling douche that sat behind me last year. You will be much more nervous before the final than during, so it makes more sense to eat when you don't feel like you're going to throw up, yes?

But I mean it about the underwear.

Still sick.

Also, have injured my foot somehow. It started to hurt on Monday, walking around (in shoes that were nowhere near it). By Monday night, it hurt to have the blankets on it. Now I have a swollen, discolored spot midway down and to the outside edge of my foot. WTF.

Now I know all about ambulatory aids from my SSI opinion... so I think I want one :(

also, everything hurts. everywhere. i hate being sick.

/endwhine

I know I was supposed to save you a pig in the blanket from SoA night. But... well I have a shameful confession to make... with only 1 more semester of Culinary Arts school to get my degree... and an exhaustive knowledge of many higher cooking techniques... I utterly... totally... and completely... burned the pigs in a blanket. Eireanach will most likely confirm this sorry state of affairs tomorrow via her LJ. They were so burned that we even tried to just eat the tops... and they were still (by popular vote) inedible.

Yes... I can make a bechamel that will make you moan like a... really happy moaning person... and my meatballs are a thing of beauty... but pigs-in-a-blanket... are a culinary mystery.

I should go up into the highest reaches of the Appalachians to study under the pig-in-a-blanket Master and learn the ancient (like from the 70's) secrets of Pillsbury dough rolled around a juicy Lit'l Smokie.

Love,
Rachael... who shall wear a mark of shame until she can make ONE (1) decent cookie sheet of the vaunted pigs-in-a-blanket.

Have shipped G home.

Apparently now have some sort of devil flu. Was feeling fine at 2pm. sleepy at 4. Now have a rising fever, can't get warm, everything aches, couldn't really eat dinner and want to die.

Littlest is making a bath. This may be the only good thing in my life right now.

And yes, I do have to rewrite that opinion. Again.

I almost grabbed the bacon cheese wiz. Have I mentioned that I am SO not a food snob?

I had a marvelous day having lunch with Ascelin and Etaine over at this nice little French place in Berkeley, then toddled over to Stone Mountain and Daughter to flirt with Masae and found the awesome wool for Brion's An Tir 12th Night Norse stuff (it is a surprise for him for Xmas) for like $8 a yard. Etaine has something perfect in her stash for Algefyu so I am all set there. Next week... the projects commence!

Then we hit Laci's and I got some fine linen thread. I am going to weave the ties for the Etaine's underwear in the chevron pattern like they have in JA4, just to see if it looks right. I will card weave it, which is not what they did, but it will look right I am guessing.

I love LOVE Laci's. The proprietor of the museum was there and asked me if I wanted the guided tour of the current offering which was bobbin lace. Well YES, thank you!

Check it OUT.... REAL gold!



Ok... time to go fondle the little brown men with d_salie and Phoebes and Joe! I hope they brought their 40's of Budwieser! Pups in a blanket, here we come!!!

Pat of Pat's Fantasy Hotlist runs good contests, evil Dallas Cowboys fan that he is. Right now he's giving away five sets of the first two books in our current Wild Cards triad, INSIDE STRAIGHT and BUSTED FLUSH.

Check out the details at http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2009/11/win-set-of-wild-cards-novels.html

Meanwhile, Tor has scheduled the release of SUICIDE KINGS, the third and concluding volume of the Committee triad, for December 22.


The contributing writers for this one are Ian Tregillis, Caroline Spector, Melinda Snodgrass, Victor Milan, S.L. Farrell, and Daniel Abraham.

Rustbelt, the Amazing Bubbles, Double Helix, the Radical, Gardener, and Jonathan (Bugsy) Hive provide the threads for our tapestry in this tale of love, war, revenge, and madness in the heart of darkness... but other Wild Cards favorites will also appear, including Cameo, Hoodoo Mama, Lohengrin, Dr. Finn, Popinjay, and many more. Not to mention the usual host of new characters, in parts both large and small.

So draw an ace for Xmas, and give Wild Cards a try. You won't be sorry.

Tonight is the final episode of mine and Brion's guilty pleasure, Son's of Anarchy. So today I puttered over to my local Safeway and got Lil Smokies, BBQ Sauce, Rice Crispies, Marshmallows, Flakey Pilsbury Dough, Tater Tots.... you see where I am going here? OH YEAH Baby! Poor White Trash food! Brion is going to be especially excited about the rice crispy treats.

BUT that means I cannot go over the top on Mojitos during my lunch with Syele and Etaine today or I will have to stay in Berkeley until I am good to drive. I am hitting a few places today to get the fabric for Agelfyu and a few odds and ends for Etaine's underwear.

I am so excited about going to An Tir 12th Night this year. I am really looking forward to letting my hair down and partying with the girls. I miss everyone a bunch. Plus I will be able to gather some numbers for Sabrina to hit up for teaching classes at W/AT this year. This war is becoming freaky deaky sexy arts war... and I LIKE it!

I think it was Juana the other day that was like... Well the wars are the best places to get your art on... which made we squee with pleasure as that is a long way from "There is nothing for me to DO at a war if I am not a fighter". What I love about my Kingdom (and An Tir as well)... we don't just say... "We need more arts activities"... we say, "IT'S ON! We are going to squeeze art into every appropriate crevasse we can find!" It is a funny conversation when Sir Sexy Pants is like, "I ducked off the fighting field twice to check out all the stuff. I wish I could have taken some of the classes!" And you know what is the most awesome thing about the situation? When Arts wins the war... EVERYONE wins! Ok.. ok.. I'll try to stop cheerleading... but you guys know how excited I get.

Ok, I better get ready to go see my girls and forage for my projects. I still need to tidy today for snuggly pajama watching with pigs in a blanket and lil smokies in BBQ sauce.

"I hates it the Flashy-Beepy-Box!"

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dukesean 's questions

1. How has the SCA made you a better person?

2. What was the greatest invention prior to 1600?

3. If you had to live in another Kingdom, which one would you choose?

4. You are currently in culinary school. Is that the career you would choose if money were no object?

5. Aren't you glad I didn't ask you anything about being banished?

LOL

5. Yes!

1. The SCA has made me more aware of the fact that not everyone thinks exactly like me and I should be considerate of their space when possible. Its also made me seriously think about how I utilize charisma and sexuality; the inherent power in them and how to wield them more wisely. People are confused by (and often inexplicably terrified of) strong sexual women and it is both smart and polite to respect their fears and be gentle (pinkie action aside) or you risk making yourself a target for some unfortunate stuff.

2. Wow! There are SO many. I study all the time and I am constantly proud of my species for its ingenuity and cleverness. I can't think of just one thing... maybe ships that could traverse the Atlantic?

3. I would live in An Tir if I could not live in the West. It just feels like home to me and I love the people and raw enormous beauty of the (extremely large) region, plus some of the most gorgeous cities. They have a similar camping culture to the West and some of my favorite people in the world are there (plus Paul and Sue of Bellatrix are retiring there in a few years and I will miss them terribly). I've never been to Artermisia but as I am madly in love with you and your beautiful Queen, I hope to get there some day!

4. If money were no object I would own a gorgeous stone cottage by the sea that was a bar/restaurant. I would have a meat aging cave cut into the rocks by the ocean where I would make my own charcuterie and cheese. Stained glass windows... like something Hobbits would party in. With a lush lawn and 6 finely furnished rooms for the Inn in front and a cottage in the back for Brion and I with a giant walk in fire place.

Does anyone know of someone, or have interest in helping out an awesome young CA student who would like to go foraging for wild mushrooms (safely)?

So, I'm waiting for forearm and bicep measurements from Ulfgar, so I can't really do any work on his shirt for a bit. While I'm waiting, I thought I would talk about another project I want to do, which is to make a pair of poofy pants for Olin for 12th Night.

Before I talk about my plans for that project, it's story time. :) Some of you know that I started in a non-SCA viking group called RPP, several years before I joined the SCA (which was in 1996, btw). Back in the early 90's, I had no real concept of research, authenticity, natural fibers or rectangular construction. Olin had a lot of costumes made out of velour, really horrible stuff, and we wore sweatpants for pants. Research meant children's viking books, Osprey military books, and "the bible" of all things Viking - "The Viking: The Settlers, Ships, Swords and Sagas of the Nordic Age." Also known as "the squiggly people book".

So fast forward for a couple of years and Olin and I have now joined the SCA. I have found our garb to be sadly lacking in pretty much everything and it's time to step things up a notch. By this time I have discovered natural fibers which include cotton. Lots and lots of cotton. I embark on making Olin poofy pants, because he tells me he has an Eastern persona, and according to Osprey and The Viking, that's what he should be wearing.

I make striped cotton poofy pants (didn't you know that ALL viking pants have stripes?), but the way I make them, they have no give in the crotch, so they are constantly blowing out. I do not yet know about gussets and it perplexes me what to do to make these wearable. I fix them and he blows them out again. I decided it's his fault. I give up.

Another year or two goes by, and someone teaches me how to make pants using jeans as a pattern. GENIUS! says I. There is give. There is stretch. There is a 12th night event coming up in Adiantum. I want to make Olin something really fine.

I worked with an SCA friend to pattern a Eastern style coat which I make out of burgundy silk. I made a linen tunic out of this beautiful irish linen from the 1920's and I decided to take a stab at the poofy pants again. I find this really beautiful striped, hand-loomed cotton fabric from Guatemala. Very narrow weave. For way more money then I've ever paid. But I have a Mill End's 25% off coupon, so home it comes. And I make the pants at right.

As I look at these pants I sewed in 2000 (wow, so long ago?), I see several things I did right and several that are very wrong. Poofy pants are extrapolation based on 3 drawings anyway, so "wrong" is relative.

Anyway, the main wrong thing is that I tried to create volume through length, not volume through... well, volume. So, in terms of wearability, it was low. The pants droop because i had no concept of wicklebanders so we used cardweaving to cross tie them. The shape of Rob's calfs don't cut in enough at the knee to keep the ties from slipping down.

The pants are pleated into a waist band that also serves as a casing for the tie. At the knee, the pants are gathered into the lower "tube" of fabric. All the seams are flat felled, which I think Hlutwige had just showed me how to do, so there is machine stitching visible on the outside of the garment. I hemmed the bottom with a blind machine stitch, but due to all the drooping, and the walking on the bottom of the pants, the hem has torn out.

So, next post, I'll talk about my plan for the new pair of poofy pants and what I plan to do differently.

Haven't made much progress on Ulfgar's tunic the past couple of days as I took time off to clean and purge my sewing room. It was a huge disaster area and so overwhelming that I have been avoiding that room for months. Having so much sewing to do between now and Estrella, I could no longer afford to ignore it. I don't know about you, but I can't create in a messy space. The room is now in a much better space, so tonight I have been thinking about projects and doing some research.

Saturday, I took a quick look trip to Mill Ends to pick up the silk for the strips going under the wire brocaded card weaving. I was looking for a pearl or dove grey silk and found a couple that I like so picked up both. Silk was 20% off and one of the pieces had a small stain, so I got it for 50% of that. Nice!

It's difficult to tell in the picture, but the silk on the top is more like a silver, while the silk on the bottom is a pearl grey. The dark blue linen will make up the body of the tunic. It is a fine plain weave.

Tomorrow, I hope to get the tunic cut out and final measurements for the cuff and forearm, where the brocaded card weaving will be applied. Speaking of brocaded card weaving, I have about 8 inches woven on the first section. I'm not 100% sure I will use this first piece as the width has changed by about 1/8 of an inch, which seems to be quite a lot when I'm looking at it.

Another highlight of my time in Morocco was the wrap party.

For those not familiar with the term, it's a Hollywood tradition to throw a big party when you finish shooting -- or "wrap" -- on a movie or television project. I attended quite a few great wrap parties during my ten years in LA, but the GAME OF THRONES wrap party blew them all away. We held it in the Ouarzazate Museum of Cinema, a pretty amazing place itself, complete with local musicians, belly dancers, acres of Moroccan delicicacies, and lots of spirits to lubricate the exhausted cast and crew. And when the museum threw us out, we just adjourned back to the Berbere Palace, where the party continued.

These few poor snapsnots don't capture a tenth of what went on. But hey, what happens in Morocco stays in Morocco, right?












A great time was had by all... except, of course, for the cast members who shot their scenes in Ireland and Scotland, and the Irish and UK crew who did not get to make the trip to Morocco. The drawback of shooting in so many different places... everyone couldn't be there together to celebrate the end of the shoot.

I know that you all want to see pictures from the pilot shoot for A GAME OF THRONES, but alas, I can't show you the sets, the actors in costume, or any of that good stuff.

Which is not to say that I can't show you a few other things from my recent trip.

Jerusalem in Morocco, f'rinstance.

Here are some shots of the huge city walls and siege machinery that Ridley Scott built for KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, outside the city of Ouarzazate in Morocco. We did shoot some scenes here... but inside, in a court redressed for our purposes.





That's my assistant Ty perched on the battering ram, which was full sized, made of real wood, and appeared to be fully functional. Ditto the siege towers and trebuchets Ridley left.

The interior courtyards were equally impressive (alas, I can't show you the one we redressed and actually used).





I worked in Hollywood for a decade back in my checkered past, and these are the most impressive sets I've ever seen. Hell, Scott's fake castle beats about eighty per cent of the real castles I've seen, and I've visited a LOT of castles.

I'm obviously going to have to put a city under siege sometime soon, so we can go back to Morocco and play with all these cool toys one of these days.

Life is... well, not magical, but tolerable today.

Jake Delhomme threw more interceptions than Mark Sanchez today, so the Jets beat the Panthers and still have a pulse. A very faint one, to be sure, but still a pulse.

Revis was amazing, completely shutting down Steve Smith.

Obviously my teams can only play well when I am here watching. I can never leave home again.

Making good progress on Etaine's camica and found some dark green wool that might do the trick on contrast fabric on my dress, but I like aastg suggestion of the blue as well... will have to see what I can find on sale.

I have an appointment to go to Perbacco and talk to the Chef/Owner on Wed (YAY!) about my internship. I am pretty excited about it! I should have a good week or two to get all of my bigger projects underway before anything happens if it is going to.

My class schedule will be rough next semester

Baking fundamentals 3.5 units
Advanced Baking 5 units
On Campus Catering .5 units
Co-op (my internship) 1 units
Garde Manger 2 units
Catering Business and Operations 2 units
AT&T Pro Am Catering lab 1 unit

15 units and most of the classes start at 7:00am. It will be all about baking and pastry next semester. Which I have very little experience with, but I am totally interested in it!

But I will be out of class by 1:00pm Wed/Thurs and off on Friday.

It is my final semester for lab classes and I will only have a couple of night classes to take to get my associates degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management, plus Culinary Arts. If I take ONE more evening class after that, I can get my baking and pastry certificate as well. If I want to get a four year degree in HRM, they do have on at San Jose State, but for the next two semesters while I take the final night classes I need I will likely be working full time, or take some time to intern at the places I want to learn the most from and bulk up my resume.

I am so excited about the Perbacco thing... the vibe of the place is really cool. Very friendly but upscale.

Here is a shot of some of the work on Etaine's camica

maybe the sleeves on that last one are not fancy enough... maybe this one...




I like the shoulder treatment as well.