(no subject)

[shadowkat]

Sigh, I need to find easy to make instapot recipes, with foods that I can afford and find at the grocery store. Duck is not available at Food Town.
Maybe I should branch out?

Not a bad day. Although I managed to confirm the entire department, possibly the floor is quietly quitting the railroad. Poor As, they can't escape the tyranny of BYT. They are profoundly stuck, and profoundly depressed.

But on the bright side, I'm getting along with the lawyers assigned to me. For once, me and the lawyers are fine. The lawyer is a sweetheart. She used to be a project manager, so that's probably why.

Mother read an article the other night - about people who are the happiest are in jobs like gardner, park ranger, farmer, rancher...while those who are the most miserable are lawyers, doctors, customer service...In other words...people are happier when they aren't working with other people day in and day out.

I may become a park ranger when I retire. Eh, no, I'd have to drive. Maybe
a herbalist? Nah, I can't grow plants to save my life. I even killed the aerogarden.

***

Current fandom crush is Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders. I may have to check out a few Cillian Murphy films. Preferably not the ones in which he's playing the villain.

***

Co-workers weren't happy that the Giants lost. Even less happy that the Eagles won. One tried to bring up the Chiefs and said they were doing well.

Co-worker: I know you aren't into football (geeze is it that obvious?) but the Chiefs -
ME: Blearch. I like the Giants, I hate the Chiefs.
Co-worker: What about Len Dawson -
Me: Despise the Chiefs. I'm happy if they aren't in the superbowl.
Co-worker: Well it looks like they might be...I'm not a fan of Cinncinati though.
ME: Go Cinncinati - anything but the Chiefs.
Co-worker: Is this because you dislike Kansas City?
Me: No, I like the Royals and the Jayhawks (KU Basketball Team), I just hate the Chiefs. I don't like their fans, I don't like the team, it kind of goes back to law school.

[Where I got teased for not watching them, and then forced into watching them by a Torts professor. is name was Westerbeak. I only remember it, because, hello Westerbeak.]

Wales loves them, Mother likes them, I hate them. I am admittedly the only who rarely watches football. Wales stopped for a bit to boycott the sport for being too violent, but eventually caved...since she loves it.

***

Me: I'm a little envious of a commercial sci-fi writer who has over 12 acres of land in Ohio, with a house and trees.
Mother: Except, it's in Ohio...
Me: True. I wouldn't want to live in Ohio.
Mother: No one wants to live in Ohio..

Said commercial sci-fi writer won The Robert E. Heinlein this year.

Commercial sci-fi writer: Guess who won the Robert E. Heinlein award? Me!
Me: What the frack is a Robert E. Heinlein Award?

I didn't even know this award existed, let alone that there was one named after Heinlein. (It's apparently for lifetime achievement in writing science fiction stories that further the desire for space exploration, like Heinlein did. Did he? That's not what I took away from his books, but whatever.) I've read Heinlein - he does not deserve to have an award named after him. Don't get me wrong, he's fun. But memorable? Meh. I'm sorry, he doesn't. Kurt Vonnegurt, Ursula LeGuinn, Phillip K Dick.. maybe. But not Heinlein. Heinlein was pulpy. I'd name Bradbury, but I think he already has an award named after him.

Also why are there so many frigging awards anyhow? The only people who remember who won them are well the people who win them.

On Twitter someone asked if they were the only author who'd never won an award. I was about to Tweet no - until I remembered that I had actually won one - for a short story that I wrote in college. I won $500 (second place), the story published in the school literary magazine (the only one I got published - because the dingbat editors would only publish their friends work or science fiction stories), which I used to pay off the bank, because I had overdrawn on my account. The prize money saved me. I didn't have to report it to my father after all. It was the first and last time that any of the above happened.

The sci-fi writer in question also got into a fight with people on Twitter regarding the use of Will Wheaton as a narrator on the audio books. I admittedly listened to one of his books on audible for the sole purpose of listening to Will Wheaton read it. But alas, Will Wheaton sucks at reading books on audible. He can't do the voices. So it's basically just Will's for everyone. I got confused and lost track of who was talking at times as a result. James Marsters and Trevor Noah are currently the best at this sort of thing - that I've read to date. Well, and the guy who read A Gentleman in Moscow.

Comments

[oursin]

I was 40 or so years in a job (archivist) which people think is heaven for introverts with 0 people skills: in fact, quite aside from the Having To Deal With Readers and Enquiries, unless you're in the sort of archive which just gets the documents of an institution dumped into it at 5 yearly intervals, you have to deal with DONORS, and while some of them can be absolute sweeties, others are nightmares.

[mtbc]

Maybe it's also being outdoors among nature that makes people happier. I know I'd like it but my income requirements and skills don't fit that so well.

I never wanted to leave central Ohio and applied for jobs to get me back there. (-:

Chiefs vs. Bengals (a brief analysis)

[cjlasky7]

For your workplace conversation:

Point 1: The current version of the Chiefs (the Mahomes era) has NEVER beaten the current version of the Bengals (the Burrow era). KC is 0-3 against Burrow's Bengals. This, despite KC being lightly favored in all three games. Could be one of those "coin flip" situations where the odds are about even but it comes up heads three times. Maybe the Chiefs are due. (Maybe not.)

2. Mahomes is injured. Love the Chiefs or hate 'em, QB Patrick Mahomes is just amazing to watch. He can throw the ball from any arm angle, to any distance. His improvisational skills are legendary. But he has a high ankle sprain, and his mobility will be limited. How limited? We'll see at game time. If he can't move around that well, his options for improvisation are limited, and the Cincy pass rush can get to him.

3. The Bengals offensive line is banged up. It didn't matter so much against Buffalo, with the Bills' big dog on defense (Von Miller) out for the duration. But KC's defensive line is healthy and ready to rumble. If Cincy's patched up o-line doesn't come through, Burrow could be running for his life all day.

Summary: overall, I think the two teams are pretty evenly matched. Tough to gauge the x factors above. But if had to guess? Cincy by 3.

[yourlibrarian]

In other words...people are happier when they aren't working with other people day in and day out.

Probably true, especially if they are introverts. But there have been plenty of studies showing that being exposed to nature for long stretches is good for various mental health disorders, including depression, ADD, anxiety, etc. So that likely has quite an effect. Plus those jobs are also very physical, meaning that the people who stay in those jobs are probably in pretty good health which also tends to improve people's well being.

[iddewes]

Re Cilian Murphy, Breakfast on Pluto is really good (though probably nowadays people wouldn’t be happy about him playing a trans character). That’s what I first saw him in.

Re: Chiefs vs. Bengals (a brief analysis)

[shadowkat]

Let's hope you're right. Although my co-workers are on to me, they know I know zip about football.

Me: Ah, we're being depressing, we should talk football.
Johnny B (gives me an odd look)
Tatoo Cubicle Aisle mate (also gives me an odd look.)
Me: yeah well -
Johnny b: Aren't you into Dallas?
ME: No. I'm into the Giants, only the Giants.
Both: Well, they are out of it.

[shadowkat]

I would suspect so. You have to deal with the general public...which is always a nightmare. People also assume that librarians don't have to deal with people - they would be wrong. Archivists - yeah, have to deal with donors, and other archivists, etc. Plus anyone wanting to access the archive or obtain information from it.

[shadowkat]

LOL! My mother for some reason dislikes Ohio. She's driven through it and been there a few times.

Me: I envying that sci-fi writer again -
Mother: Don't, he lives in Ohio. You do not want to live in Ohio.
Me: I don't know his estate looks pretty -
Mother: Trust me, it's not worth it. I've never liked Ohio. Of course I lived in Kansas for years and didn't like it either...
Me: My brother and sisinlaw don't like it either...so there's that.

Everytime I bring up the sci-fi writer - she says, "ugh, Ohio". LOL!

I agree - I'd love to have a job that was more out in nature - but my income requirements, skills, and physical requirements don't fit well with it. Like it or not, I'm a city gal.

[shadowkat]

Now, if I only I had the skill set to become a park ranger.

[shadowkat]

I've heard good things about Breakfast on Pluto (Neil Jordan's film). Jordan did two controversial films about transgender.

It's fallen under the wire - because of the whole, only trans actors should play trans. (I don't know if I agree with that sentiment, anymore than I agree that only obese actors should play obese roles, or only tall actors play tall roles, etc. Part of acting is diving inside someone who isn't you, and finding a way to connect to the character. It's not about playing yourself. It's about showing a character in the totality of who they are, and getting the audience to relate to someone outside of their range of experience. I remember having this discussion when we were doing the Vagina Monologues at my church. I was portraying a "trans woman" in the piece. One of the people in our group took exception to it - she felt that only trans women should play trans, and to do otherwise was offensive and undermined them. Until she watched us do it. And said, "wait, I was wrong, you pulled me in. I believed it. And it worked." Performing the role - helped me see it from their perspective, as well, I was able to understand where they were coming from. That's what art is about - to fall inside a point of view other than your own, see that point of view, and feel empathy. Also, there weren't any trans at the church who wanted to play the roles at that time. I did have several people who were trans women come up to me after the performance and thank me for doing it and for truly conveying how they felt in such a powerful way. They felt seen. And it really is just about being seen by someone else - and sometimes that works just as well if not better if you allow an actor who is say not trans to play trans, or not gay to play gay, or not straight to play straight, or not white to play white. Art should be without boundaries and without rules in my opinion - confining it, tends to censor it, and often leads to suppression. )

[iddewes]

I do agree actors should be able to play anything but the problem is trans actors often struggle to get roles at all, I would think especially trans women because they are less likely to “pass” than trans men who have had testosterone and top surgery, so when there actually IS a trans part it is at least an opportunity for them.(Obviously in your case there wasn’t a trans person who wanted the part so that’s fine!) So I do think in their case it’s reasonable for them to be upset about cis people playing them all the time. But he does do a great job of it.

[shadowkat]

The difficulty is - well, it's similar to issues with affirmative action, in a way. It's a good policy, but it can be abused and overused.

If candidate A is better qualified for the job than candidate B or in this case candidate A can portray the role better than candidate B, then you go with candidate A (even if they happen to be white and cisgendered), to do otherwise - is well, discriminatory based on gender and race and could hurt the overall project.

However, if they are equally qualified, or the difference is slight or not objectively obvious, then yes, go with candidate B, who is the disadvantaged candidate.

[Note - I actually do this for a living, hire disadvantaged companies for work for government projects. The companies subcontract out 60-75% of their work, because they can't do it themselves, and while we require they meet 22.5% goals - they aren't always able to do so - because there's simply no Minority, Women owned, or Veteran owned businesses that can do the work.

Equally, if you are casting a role for a play, with a transgender part, and your talent pool is limited to cisgender, and the transactors out there aren't suitable for the part or not as qualified or suitable as say the cisgendered (who embodies the role in every single way but by being trans, while the trans only fits the role by being trans and otherwise wouldn't even be considered) - go with the cisgendered. Same for a part in which you need a white male to play a role, and there's only black women available, go with the black woman.]

I don't think we can make blanket statements about this sort of thing? I've learned from experience, it really is a case by case situation. The difficulty is often the person complaining about losing the role to the cisgendered male actor - just isn't that good an actor. They didn't lose out because they were "trans" - they lost out because they haven't figured out how to act on screen. Acting is really hard, and highly competitive. Not everyone can do what Cillian Murphy can do. I've seen at least two transactresses who don't come close - one is on General Hospital (she's very stiff as an actress, and has little to no real presence), and the other who was very good on Orange is the New Black - is nowhere near the right fit and also not quite as good.

That's the controversy. In my field - I've seen first hand the mistakes, and expenses, and safety issues involved in giving a disadvantaged less qualified firm a chance over say a more qualified, but non-disadvantaged firm, who does most of the work themselves.

Do you sacrifice quality just to provide someone who is a minority a job (and yes, often we do just that - I've seen it on about 20 different construction contracts)? When there's a 99% unemployment rate in that field (acting has a 99% unemployment rate - they all struggle, you have to be REALLY good to do well in that field - it's a glamour job and everyone wants it)? I mean I get that on its face - it seems that a transactor would be more qualified to play trans than cisgendered, but the talent pool may not be available? And it is costly and time consuming to thread through it at times, more than you may realize.

I used to think yes, we should take the time to do that, their rights should come first, but after 15 years of doing that, and seeing the results? I think it is a lot more complicated than that. Sometimes, there are more important matters to consider than job accessibility to minorities. And sometimes being a good fit for a role or job, requires more than meeting the "physical" requirements. The physicality of a human isn't always the best thing to go by. They may fit the role or job in ways that someone who fits the physicality simply can't. (It's not that I don't feel their pain - I struggled to find employment until I was 40 years of age. So I get it. )

[mtbc]

I found central Ohio very livable: Columbus may not be much of a tourist destination but it's easy to get around and has plenty of stores, restaurants, etc. It's also not much of a journey eastward before one's getting into more interesting terrain, the foothills of the Appalachians. Also, one gets all four seasons nicely, the fall colors are lovely. (The rural areas are rather red, mind.) I imagine Kansas as being boringly flat as the East Anglian fenland, it may be that I never even drove through Kansas though. I may also be fairly easily pleased in some regards!

I'd worry about still living rurally once I get old enough, if I'm not really close-knit with some locals then it could be easy to end up rather isolated once somewhat infirm. And, right now I'm offering on a city center apartment here, which says something about our preferences!

[shadowkat]

You're thinking of Western Kansas, Eastern Kansas is hilly, with trees - it looks like Britain. I found it deathly dull - but I'm not a fan of suburbia. It also looks like Long Island without beaches, and a couple more hills.

My brother and sisinlaw despised Ohio, because they found it to be alarmingly racist and conservative. A bit too red for their taste. Also bleak. (They currently live in upstate NY, which is also conservative (albeit not quite as conservative) in the Hudson River Valley, east of the Catskills and south of the Berkshires.)

I've not really been to Ohio, but unless it has a good public transportation system and cultural activities, count me out. I can't really live anywhere that I'm solely dependent on a car to get me to and from places. And you're right - the difficulty with living rurally, if you aren't close knit with the local community - is it could be easy to end up isolated and lost. (I had a distant cousin that happened to. She fell and died alone in her kitchen. Her cleaning lady found her. Granted that can happen anywhere.)

[mtbc]

We just avoided moving to suburbia here. Without walking a mile, mostly there would have been just houses, similar ones at that. With the tight zoning here, it's a shame they don't apply it more toward directing mixed usage.

Columbus, OH, is more mixed, typically a Democratic mayor (even one in Knoxville, TN, last I checked!) with being a big college town but, yeah, once you get out almost anywhere else, OH turns distinctly redder. Lots of nice woodland once approaching the Appalachians, at least.

Similarly, Columbus has a decent bus system, the rest of the state not so much, that I noticed. (Admittedly, Cleveland or Cincinnati may be decent for buses, I didn't notice.) Some Columbus neighborhoods are livable without a car but important to live near some major route (like US 23) to get conveniently frequent service. After NYC it'd pale in comparison though, you're very much in the right place already! I sure liked the transit in Boston, MA.