Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: August 2021

  • Rewriting the Novel: There are no original ideas

    So, my heroine is homeless at one point (well, the entire second half of the novel), and I had to work out how she would survive, and get shelter, and bathe. “I’ll just put a water fountain in the town square,” I thought, “That will take care of bathing, she can get up at dawn…

  • Review: The Mitchells Against the Machines

    I know it’s been out for a while, but I only just saw The Mitchells Against the Machines and it’s as if Hyperbole and a Half became a movie. Not the plot – there are no geese in the plot, no sedated party-goers (“Parp?”), none of that, but there’s just something about the animation and…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 8/19

    This week the wall of sundials went from this barely there stencil of nothing: … to this:

  • I Am Delighted to Say I Was Wrong!

    I was dead wrong in previous posts about the boosters and interferons: the doctor’s office says boosters are allowed for: “S1P medications (such as Gilenya, Mayzent, Zeposia, Ponvory), fumarates ( like Tecfidera, Vumerity, Bafiertam, dimethyl fumarate), Mavenclad, or Kesimpta, Lemtrada, Tysabri infusions“ (Don’t take that at face value. Your doctor’s office may have a different…

  • Tasmania: Pronounciation

    Years ago I was at a party with someone who had lived in Tasmania. Or, as she pronounced it: “Tes-min-EE-yuh.” “No,” I said. “Taz-MAY-nee-yuh.” She corrected me. “That’s not how it’s pronounced.” “That’s how it should be pronounced,” I said, and I stand by that, because the people would then be Taz-Maniacs, and what could…

  • Could This Be Big Dot?

    Big Dot, world traveller (spelled that way for international inclusivity), runs Travelskite. Her blog is about the connections and coincidences that bring us together through travel. I know that she’s been to Rapa Nui. (I recently used that name she taught me instead of “Easter Island,” and it elevated my status at work.) So is…

  • FDA, CDC, WHO’s on First

    Last Friday while I was working I kept one eye trained on the CNN closed captioning so I could see the specifics of specifically which immunocompromised people would be able to get an additional Covid vaccine shot. At the top of the hour I shouted at Gary: “THEY STILL AREN’T SAYING ANYTHING NEW, JUST HIV,…

  • Dog Update 2021

    Evidently my stalker dog next door told the new dog next door that I am a constant source of amusement, so now they are both stalking me. Here’s the problem: Honey and I had a system. I’d hang over the dance, she’d jump up for head pats, then she’d lie on the ground and I’d…

  • Rewriting the Novel: GWTW

    I am certain everybody who wants to avoid their daily duty of writing dodges it by researching why it took Margaret Mitchell ten years to write Gone With the Wind. Turns out there are some interesting details, especially in this article by, of course, National Public Radio. Legend says that the publisher only had two…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 8/12

    So here’s a big photo of all the sundials and the times of day they were taken: (Yes, the sundial’s accuracy is a little iffy.) I know it looks like the same image over and over – I may need to exaggerate a bit. It’s very pale because the stencil’s just been traced in so…