Update

[oyceter]

Finger much better now! It's still a little swollen, especially if I forget to hold it above my heart, but still, much better! Also, the doctor put my entire hand and half of my forearm in a splint on Monday to make sure I didn't move it, which was incredibly awkward, given that it was my right hand (am right-handed). Two-handed typing, how I missed you!

I think I may have named the rats wrong! Al-rat is much more adventurous and goes around sniffing everything, while so far Ed-rat's favorite place is huddled beneath the blankets. Also, Ed-rat is much more likely to let me hold him while he sleeps. They are both incredibly cute, though I still haven't introduced them to Ren. I think Ren is still nursing a grudge against them, and my long tale of finger woe makes me hesitant as well.

Move-wise, I think I am mostly adjusted. I have now gone to the local library many times and have a bazillion holds there already, found the local used bookstore and comic book store, placed an order at the comic book store, gotten books at a sidewalk sale for the university press (Takarazuka for $5 for the win!), and ventured to the farmer's market. The weekday market is rather small, but it has some familiar merchants from my old market (hello Kashiwase!) and it has Frog Hollow Farms! Sadly, they are still expensive, but I think I will splurge on pastries and jams every once in a while. And I've started lindy hop again!

Also, on a side note, supporting one's local comic book store is much easier when a) said comic book store is in walking distance, b) said store actually has a reasonable selection of manga, (not much from smaller presses or much in terms of manhwa, ah well) c) said store does not snottily just say "No" when you ask if they know if they have a specific manga volume, and d) said store lets you know they will order it and call you.

It's also nice to find that my public library has a few books that I've been meaning to ILL because my old library didn't have them. On the minus side, why is Ellen Emerson White's The President's Daughter so hard to get a hold of? I can't ILL it because all the copies are out! Is it very popular?

On the minus side, our apartment has random under-the-sink leaks and a possible fruit fly infestation.

Comments

[littlebutfierce]

I'm glad your finger is improving!

[oyceter]

Thanks!

[abbycat900.livejournal.com]

Okay, okay, okay. Somehow I have been missing your posts, but I have to say...

YOU HAVE PET RATS NAMED ED AND AL? I just find that weird, because, so do I! My mother went to the pet store on Christmas to get pet foot, and came back with this little rat that she had named 'Ed'. An hour later she says to my brother and I, 'I think we'll need to get a friend for little Ed.' and we looked at each other and knew what we were going to name the other one.

I'm sorry about your finger hurting, but I'm glad its getting better!

[oyceter]

Yes! Hahaha, are yours from Fullmetal Alchemist too?

[kchew.livejournal.com]

A bottle of wine, mostly empty, with a little bit of dish soap inside will take care of many many fruit flies. I have one in my kitchen, for that purpose, right now.

[tonapah.livejournal.com]

Vinegar and dish soap also works.

[oyceter]

Darn, I tried that and none of the flies would get near enough to the vinegar to drown... they'd just perch on the edge. I hope our flies are not some weirdly smart breed or something.

[oyceter]

Damnit, no wine! I tried with balsamic vinegar, but the flies would only perch on the rim and never fly in...

[utsusemia.livejournal.com]

I read The President's Daughter a million years ago! And what I remember of it is rather disturbing. I mean, obviously it left enough of an impression for me to remember it fifteen years later, but I recall it being a doozy.

[oyceter]

Doozy good? Bad? I'm a little spoiled to what happens later in the series because the librarian who recced it to me had only read the third book...

[utsusemia.livejournal.com]

I remember liking it. But the main character was a little to "oh, poor me!" for me to feel like reading the second two (or maybe they hadn't even come out yet at the time). I'd be very curious as to what your take on them is.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Glad your finger is better...though *eek* splint.

Yay books and comics!

[oyceter]

Thanks!

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

It sounds so much better for you! Yay! ::hugs:: Boo on the fruit flies, though. ): Too bad your rats won't eat them.

Let me know when you're up to company. I'd love to see you, maybe outside of the large group gatherings, fun though they are.

[oyceter]

Thanks! I will email you!

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

Yay, improving health of finger. It's a pretty good comic store....

I nearly bought Takarazuka but decided I couldn't justify it (the day after ordering things from their online sale). Am curious to know what you think sometime.

[oyceter]

I like Takarazuka a lot, although some of that is nostalgic thesis fondness. I think it's rather dated by now (the research was done in the eighties, I think), but I enjoyed the exploration of female theater, especially given how a lot of theater is male-only. On the other hand, I wanted more exploration of the musume-yaku along with the exploration of the otoko-yaku. Robertson looks at the constructs of masculinity and etc., but I wanted more studies of how even in all-female theater, the masculine is more valued than the feminine, and I wish she had acknowledged that the role the musume-yaku were playing was just as constructed as the roles of the otoko-yaku.

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

Interesting--thanks muchly. I passed it by because I felt I didn't have enough context; OTOH, I'm currently reading a book for which I have little context of a different kind--Hyung Il Pai's Constructing "Korean" Origins: A Critical Review of Archaeology, Historiography, and Racial Myth in Korean State-Formation Theories (Harvard UP, 2000).

[oyceter]

Ooooo! I actually know someone who's researching on that topic!

I have also just started to take advantage of having an academic library at my disposal, complete with access to JSTOR and BAS. Bwahahahahaha!