RQ site, LJ backup, Shogun

Zines
I almost forgot: I don't know if anyone is tracking it, but I've annotated and posted a shitload of zines on my RQ site lately. Twenty-three of them since late June. Just in case you're desperate for something to read. I haven't given up on the sheetless roleplaying article, but it's basically gone into slow-motion for a while. I'll definitely finish it within a month or so, though.

LJ Backup
I've been manually backing up my LJ. Did all of 2003 (it was only half a year anyway), and am up to October 2004. It's a bit tedious, particularly since none of those old posts are tagged at all. I've been adding tags to them before backing them up, which definitely slows the process down. On the other hand, this means that there are a lot more posts that have been tagged; politics and Sebastian in particular have expanded a lot.

Shogun
I don't know if anyone here is a fan of Shogun (the novel by James Clavell), but if you are, or if you're interested in Japanese history, you might find this interesting: Learning from Shogun - Japanese History and Western Fantasy. It's a PDF with a number of academic essays about the novel and how it relates to the actual Japanese culture of the time. It's a bit disillusioning, in places, but that's inevitable. There's also an essay by one asshole of a professor who made up a clever little bit of wordplay to insult fans of the novel and ignorant Japanophile Westerners in general; he's so pleased with himself over his little coinage that he uses it about five hundred times in his essay, filling me with a powerful urge to kick him in the balls, hard. Still, the rest of the essays are pretty interesting.

RQ site, LJ backup, Shogun

Zines
I almost forgot: I don't know if anyone is tracking it, but I've annotated and posted a shitload of zines on my RQ site lately. Twenty-three of them since late June. Just in case you're desperate for something to read. I haven't given up on the sheetless roleplaying article, but it's basically gone into slow-motion for a while. I'll definitely finish it within a month or so, though.

LJ Backup
I've been manually backing up my LJ. Did all of 2003 (it was only half a year anyway), and am up to October 2004. It's a bit tedious, particularly since none of those old posts are tagged at all. I've been adding tags to them before backing them up, which definitely slows the process down. On the other hand, this means that there are a lot more posts that have been tagged; politics and Sebastian in particular have expanded a lot.

Shogun
I don't know if anyone here is a fan of Shogun (the novel by James Clavell), but if you are, or if you're interested in Japanese history, you might find this interesting: Learning from Shogun - Japanese History and Western Fantasy. It's a PDF with a number of academic essays about the novel and how it relates to the actual Japanese culture of the time. It's a bit disillusioning, in places, but that's inevitable. There's also an essay by one asshole of a professor who made up a clever little bit of wordplay to insult fans of the novel and ignorant Japanophile Westerners in general; he's so pleased with himself over his little coinage that he uses it about five hundred times in his essay, filling me with a powerful urge to kick him in the balls, hard. Still, the rest of the essays are pretty interesting.

Sebastian's school

This morning we went on a tour of Sebastian's new school (he's starting first grade next week!). It was quite nice and old-fashioned. The only jarring thing was the large, lifelike, and surprisingly gory crucifix hung in the indoor gym/tv room. Sebastian approached it, and with a slightly apprehensive look on his face he asked "What's that?". "A crucifix," I answered, "you'll see a lot of them hung up around here." Later I was tempted to try to explain more, but Teri thought I shouldn't. So I told him that if he ever had any questions about anything at school, I wanted him to asked me about them.

We met his teacher-to-be and a bus driver (and the school facilities manager) on the way out. Sebastian was very shy and quiet, no doubt giving his teacher a completely wrong impression of what he's like. The bus driver told us to have Sebastian take the bus for at least the first week, to make sure that his point on the route was established. Teri hadn't wanted him to take the bus (although he's been wanting to ride a bus for a long time), but she has been persuaded to let him try it out.

We're about to hit the road. Later!

Sebastian's school

This morning we went on a tour of Sebastian's new school (he's starting first grade next week!). It was quite nice and old-fashioned. The only jarring thing was the large, lifelike, and surprisingly gory crucifix hung in the indoor gym/tv room. Sebastian approached it, and with a slightly apprehensive look on his face he asked "What's that?". "A crucifix," I answered, "you'll see a lot of them hung up around here." Later I was tempted to try to explain more, but Teri thought I shouldn't. So I told him that if he ever had any questions about anything at school, I wanted him to asked me about them.

We met his teacher-to-be and a bus driver (and the school facilities manager) on the way out. Sebastian was very shy and quiet, no doubt giving his teacher a completely wrong impression of what he's like. The bus driver told us to have Sebastian take the bus for at least the first week, to make sure that his point on the route was established. Teri hadn't wanted him to take the bus (although he's been wanting to ride a bus for a long time), but she has been persuaded to let him try it out.

We're about to hit the road. Later!

LJ War?

If Russia and the USA go to war (on a limited non-nuclear basis), do you think that our journals would be imperiled?

LJ War?

If Russia and the USA go to war (on a limited non-nuclear basis), do you think that our journals would be imperiled?