(no subject)

I blame cassiphone. She started my day on its railwaylines when she discussed gender issues in speculative fiction. I have been following links and links to links and am very definitely now in feminist mode. Which is amusing, because I am teaching a leadership for women course this afternoon.

I have had to change this course drastically over the past ten years. So many people in the wider community seem to assume that things are easier for women when the women twenty years my junior are actually having a harder time of it than I did. We agreed yesterday (the class) that the superwoman dream has been debunked and that what we do with our lives has to rest within the fallibility of normal human choices and that some of those choices are going to be terribly tough. Today is about transforming all the management theory and all the real-life problems into actual leadership paths.

I am going to wear my funky shoes again and see if they will provide magic solutions. You know, click my heels three times and think of equality?

(no subject)

Cary Lenehan has just given me the recipe he used for the sweets from the food panel. Not for me (I have lots of leche lombard recipes) but for you. Cary brought leche lombard and Anna Tambour bought medlars and I brought grains of paradise and Stu Barrow still owes us all edible triceratops. Even retrospectively the food apnel was strange and wondrous.

Leche Lumbarde (2)
250 g (8 oz) dates
1 cup sack (if you cannot get this use sweet red wine)
1½ cups sugar (preferably palm sugar otherwise dark brown)
2½ dessertspoons powdered ginger
2½ dessertspoons powdered cinnamon
2 –3 tablespoons flour or breadcrumbs from about 10 slices of bread

Make your breadcrumbs the day before to get them nice and dry. They work much better than flour. Cover the dates with sack and boil until it forms a thick paste and then mix in a little more sack. Blend and add sugar and spices. Return to pan and boil until it is of a consistence that will allow it to be formed into balls. You will need to add the breadcrumbs to get it stiff enough to form. Cool completely and form into balls. If too sticky, roll in more powdered spices until dry. When storing them, avoid having too many layers as they will squash. Will keep forever. If they get dry put big drops of sack on them and leave for a day.

(no subject)

It was 2 degrees outside at midday and my women's leadership course went really well, so I am taking meme-time before I do anything more sensible. Snurched from several friends.

What is your secret, guaranteed weeping movie?
To Kill a Mockingbird

If you could have plastic surgery, what would you have done?
Let me get this right, I announce it here so that everyone looks at my most embarrassing feature next time they see me?

Do you have a completely irrational fear?
Huntsmen. Though I like those cute little spiders that occasionally abseil on my computer.

What is the little physical habit that gives away your insecure moments?
I rub my hands. Was I Uriah Heep in a prior existence? I truly hope not.

Are you a pyromaniac?
No.

Do you have too many love interests?
Alas, no.

Do you know anyone famous?
Apparently. Maybe. But only on Sundays. And it really depends on how you define fame. I am very famous, but only if you limit the study of fame to my lounge room. I am the most famous person in my loungeroom right now, in fact.

Who would play you in a movie?
Do you know, I cannot think of a single Hollywood actress with bad skin and no waistline.

Do you know how to play poker?
I did, but have forgotten.

What do you carry with you at all times?
My handbag, containing ... everything. Someone at Conflux thought it was a magician's handbag because there were chcooaltes and a magnifying glasss and then medication for someone's headache and then plastic bubble mix. And then we realised the handbag was still 9/10 full.

What do you miss most about being a kid?
People not staring when I stopped to stare at a falling leaf.

Are you happy with your given name?
Yep. It lends itself to puns.

How much money would it take to get you to give up the Internet for one year?
Lots and lots and *lots*.

What color is your bedroom?
Mostly white.

What was the last song you were listening to?
Shedemati.

Have you ever been in love?
Yes

Do you talk a lot?
Of course.

Do you like yourself and believe in yourself?
Sometimes.

Do you consider yourself to be a nice person?
Mostly.

What is your ideal marriage location?
Melbourne.

Which musical instrument do you wish you could play?
Flute. I learned string instruments.

Favorite fabric?
Silk.

Something you love and hate?
Carbohydrates.

What's the one language you want to learn?
One language? I can't decide. Sorry.

How do you eat an apple?
Depends on my mood.

What do you order at a bar?
Drinks, normally.

Have you ever pierced your body parts?
No.

Do you have any tattoos?
No.

Do you drive a stick?
I don't drive.

What's one trait you hate in a person?
Bigotry.

Do you consider yourself materialistic?
Maybe. Sort of. Sometimes.

What do you cook the best?
Food.

Favorite writing instrument?
Anything that will write quickly enough to keep up with me without sputtering.

Do you prefer to stand out or blend in?
I just like being me - sometimes that involves preferring one and sometimes the other.

Would you ever go out dressed like the opposite sex?
I have.

What's one car you will never buy?
A full-sized one, given that I can't drive.

What kind of books do you like to read?
Ones with print (this is like the food question, isn't it?)

If you won the lottery, what would you do?
Books! Then I would slow down and think about it. But books first.

Burial or cremation?
Burial.

How many online journals do you read regularly?
Lots.

What's one thing you're a loser at?
Becoming slender.

If you don't like a person, how do you show it?
I try not to.

Do you cry in front of your friends?
hah! I cry everywhere.

What kind of first impression do you think you give people?
Talkative.

What's one thing you like to do alone?
I spend a bunch of time alone so lots of fun activities are solitary ones and they might all rebel if I discriminate against them. My answer to this is that I like to do solitary activities when alone: solitary activities are just not the same when someone else is there.

Are you a giver or a taker?
Taker.

When's the last time you cried?
At the food panel at Conflux. It was all my own fault, too.

Favorite communication method?
Words.

How many drinks before you're tipsy?
My strange metabolism makes it hard to get tipsy so I am either an instant drunk or hard to get drunk at all. I have given up bothering.

Do you think you're cute?
No.

Do you have problems changing clothes in front of friends?
Depends on the friends.

Favorite type of music?
Eclectic. Which sounds better than me having confused musical taste.

What is the sexiest thing the opposite sex can wear that catches your eye?
t-shirt

Are you a workaholic?
maybe. Who's asking?

What are your kids names?
no kids. I have 13 nieces and nephews though.

Do you watch a lot of television?
Yep.

Do you like to shop?
Yep - but not when there are vast hordes walking all over me.

What is your hidden talent?
I can insult people in Old French. Oops, that's not hidden. I can cook Indonesian food? I can dance Bulgarian rhythms? I have a doublejointed thumb?

Would you die to save the life of someone you deeply love?
I hope so, but this sort of thing is always hard to speculate on. Reality is different to pop-questions.

Are your friends married or single?
Depends on the friends. Just ask and I am sure they will volunteer their marital status. Well, some of them will. Others will give you inquisitorial looks and ask you to define when being single stops and married begins or why it is any of your business.

Do you own a Bible?
Several. My current favourite is the translation of the NT into Hebrew.

What version is it?
I have a Chumash, and I have a King James and I have... lots.

Do you play chess?
Not for over 30 years.

Do you like the rain?
Yep. Not cold rain though.

Do you like thunderstorms?
Depends on the storm.

What's your favorite website?
I have about 100 favourite websites.

What was your weight and height when you were born?
6 lbs 8 oz, I think.

What time and day were you born?
Tuesday, 6.30 am.

(no subject)

For the record:

1. It fell below -1 outside before 7 pm and the Bureau of Meteorology still claim it won't drop below -3 tonight.

2. I feel as if I have been stored in a deepfreeze for an hour.

3. To combat the cold I will be making hot chocolate to either a 17th century or 18th century recipe. If anyone also feels the need for fortification just yell and I'll post the recipe.

4. I have decided to take the evening off.