Happy New Year almost everywhere!

Somewhere in my timezone, somebody is complaining that this is a spoiler (not me, I'm a syncretist).

Posted January 1, 2008 12:07 AM by JESR

Happy New Year! May yours bring peace, joy, health and prosperity!

(Is anyone busy publishing a novel right now for maximum award eligibility?)

Posted January 1, 2008 12:17 AM by Dom

Happy New Year! The ball has dropped. At least two different guys decided that Times Square on the stroke of midnight was the right moment to propose to their sweeties. Judging from the visuals (NY1's cameras were watching), both women said yes.

Posted January 1, 2008 12:17 AM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Happy New Year! Who could say 'no' tonight?

Posted January 1, 2008 12:24 AM by Robin Grantham

I'm not in 2008 yet, but a Happy New Year to you all.

Posted January 1, 2008 12:24 AM by Serge

Happy Y2K8!

Posted January 1, 2008 12:25 AM by ethan

Happy 2008, everybody!

Posted January 1, 2008 12:33 AM by Melissa Mead

#1 ::: JESR ::: (view all by) ::: January 01, 2008, 12:07 AM:

Happy New Year almost everywhere!

Somewhere in my timezone, somebody is complaining that this is a spoiler (not me, I'm a syncretist).

Just don't ruin it for me, okay? I mean, good or bad, I don't want to know. I want the surprise.

But, Happy New Year to you who jump the gun and celebrate earlier than we, more sensible, Midwesterners.

Posted January 1, 2008 12:33 AM by Dan

Dan...2008 will be unexpected in at least one way for you.

No, no, I'm not telling.

Posted January 1, 2008 12:38 AM by Xopher

Happy New Year, even if it's not yet midnight here. We all live in the Long Now, so what's 2.5 hours?

Posted January 1, 2008 12:39 AM by Bruce Cohen (SpeakerToManagers)

Happy New Year to all, especially all of you Fluorospherans whose puns and poems and general discourse did so much to make 2007 endurable despite it all (for varying values of "all" as applicable) :-)

Posted January 1, 2008 12:45 AM by Harriet Culver

Or, in my case, 4 hours and 16 minutes.

Hauoli Makahiki Hou!

Posted January 1, 2008 12:45 AM by Linkmeister

Happy New Year.

Random people are singing Paul Simon songs on PBS, and the next year is better than the last one because I've decided it's going to be.

Granted that's not reliable data, I'm holding onto it.

Posted January 1, 2008 12:47 AM by julia

Happy 2008 everyone!

Posted January 1, 2008 12:53 AM by Dave Weingart

As promised for the new year:

Run, neighbours, run, all London is quadrilling it
Order and Sobriety are dos a dos
This is the day for toeing it and heeling it
All are promenading it from high to low
King Almack with his Star and Garter Coteries
Never did anticipate such democratic votaries
Courtiers and Citizens are flirting with Terpsichore
The town's an ampitheatre for capering & kickery

Also, by way of the idea that anything worth doing is worth overdoing, I mention in passing that I am full of brabbles and rustling slightly.

Happy New Year!

Posted January 1, 2008 12:58 AM by Susan

I was making pralines for the first time and barely noticed midnight coming and going. Oh, well.

I didn't have light brown sugar, and neither did the corner store. How much difference could it make, right? I mean, really. So I used dark.

It matters.

The pralines are tasty but unattractive. They look like lumps of refried beans. Bite into one, and the impression is quite different (yummy, in fact), but I really need to work on these things.

Posted January 1, 2008 1:09 AM by Xopher

Xopher, "They look like lumps of refried beans

You got a problem with frijoles, mister?

Actually, that's not bad for anything cooked on New Year's Eve.

Posted January 1, 2008 1:18 AM by Linkmeister

Happy New Year, everyone! Don't forget to eat your black-eyed peas for luck tomorrow!

Posted January 1, 2008 1:22 AM by Steve C.

Or today...:)

Posted January 1, 2008 1:23 AM by Steve C.

Happy New Year to all, and to all a good night!

Posted January 1, 2008 1:26 AM by Lee

Linkmeister, they look like lumps of yesterday's frijoles, all dried out.

And beans make lousy candy, in my experience.

Posted January 1, 2008 1:34 AM by Xopher

Xopher @21: Not a fan of Asian sweet bean pastes, I take it?

Drat. Now that I've mentioned them, I have a sudden craving for one of those "green tea"-filled pastry thingies, wherein the green tea-flavored paste in the middle is in fact mostly made of mashed lima beans (if it were solid green tea, it would caffeinate the hell out of you). Oh well. Guess I can go buy some in the morning.

Posted January 1, 2008 1:55 AM by Julie L.

Happy New Year from the MST!

Am I the only one worried about the G2011 problem, the first year since 1977 the year doesn't lend itself to novelty glasses?

Posted January 1, 2008 2:05 AM by Alan Hamilton

Happy 8 to all y'all!

No one can say for sure what this year will bring, except for one thing: change.

Posted January 1, 2008 2:25 AM by LMB MacAlister

Happy 2008 from a couple of hours north-west of Seattle (it isn't *quite* 2008 here, but close enough).

May all the good things we hope for come to pass this year, even the mutually exclusive ones, and may all our fears and President and unqualified hopefuls get chased into a tiny corner and be eaten by sharp-clawed, furry predators with bells on.

Posted January 1, 2008 2:36 AM by Dena Shunra

Neil Gaiman posted this on his blog, and I think it's perfect...so I'll wish all Fluorospherians and friends and loved ones a Happy New Year and let Mr. G say the rest...

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't to forget make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.

Posted January 1, 2008 2:38 AM by Syd

A friend had a party because she had twins not terribly long ago and knew she'd have a better time if we came there (they have a humongous house and network gaming, wireless all around, amenities galore). Except for the feeding thing, she didn't have to lift a finger after all the grannies got there.

A fine time was had by all, this has to be a better year!

And Julie L. at #22, now I'm craving Bo Ling's sesame puff with red bean filling. The crust is delightfully tender, I'm not sure if it's baked or fried -- probably baked because it held up as a 'leftover', i.e., the one I took home was still tender and tasty the next morning. Unfortunately I think you can only get them if you do the Dim Sum brunch--only Saturday and Sunday, and I think only from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Posted January 1, 2008 2:44 AM by Paula Helm Murray

Happy Foo-Year, in several minutes, from PST-land. Coming into it with aging cats, a hijacked domain, a partially-painted living room in shambles, a new job starting on Jan 7th, a thriving winter-veggie garden.

It will be an interesting year.

Posted January 1, 2008 2:54 AM by Maybear

Akemashita omedeto gozaimasu! May this year be better than the last, and the years beyond it better still!

Posted January 1, 2008 3:19 AM by xeger

Proper Happy New Year from suburban Puget Sound!

We toasted with Irish coffee, blew up the appropriate illegal tribal-purchased fireworks (along with at least twenty of our neighbors) and neither froze nor drowned, nor did either offspring set me on fire (although I fear the larger hazelnut bush took a direct hit from a red chrysanthemum).

There was a high overcast, but Mars glowed red through the veil.

Posted January 1, 2008 3:29 AM by JESR

Well, it worked again this year: Armageddon didn't occur at midnight in my time zone. Happy new year!

Posted January 1, 2008 4:03 AM by Earl Cooley III

I did not blow up twent of my neighbors. Twenty of my neighbors blew up additional illegal fireworks.

Just so we start the year unencumbered by misunderstandings caused by bad sentence structure resulting from Irish Coffee.

God, I'm such a lightweight any more.

Posted January 1, 2008 4:06 AM by JESR

Happy, happy new year to all of you!

Posted January 1, 2008 4:07 AM by Nenya

Happy New Year from Seattle, where we are vacationing with family and friends!

From an undisclosed warehouse somewhere south of downtown, actually, where an impressive assortment of geeks, biohackers, and pyrotechnics are ringing in the new year with DJs and booze and a home-made Tesla coil, among other things. And a car on fire. And an art piece that takes in music and other sounds from childrens' toys and outputs a series of gouts of flame depicting the soundwaves.

Also, we in fact had a nice assortment of those sweet lima bean paste pastries last night during the party-preparation party.

The two most important people to me in the whole wide world were both here. One of them will be going home (which is to say, back to our bunk at the Green Tortoise Hostel) with me tonight.

By every indication available to me within a one-block range, 2008 will ROCK.

(Xopher: My praline tip is to add just a touch of Disaronno Amaretto about the time you add the butter. Mmmmm nummy nummy yum. And if you miss the soft ball stage and get to hard crack, the results are still edible but should not be indulged upon by people with vulnerable fillings in their teeth.)

(And while we're on the subject, when you talk about them, do you say "prah-leen" or "pray-leen"? This is a test. It will be graded. Bwahahaa.)

Posted January 1, 2008 4:09 AM by Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little

And did I mention FLAMING TETHERBALL?!

"Yer racket's on fire, there. Oh, just wave it around a bit."

Posted January 1, 2008 4:10 AM by Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little

I got back from my Holiday trip to New York with just enough time to race upstairs, grab matches and a firework "cake," and race downstairs in time to light it to whistle, spark, and crackle in the new year.

Tomorrow I pick my dog up from the kennel. With luck, I will not write "2007" on the check . . .

Posted January 1, 2008 4:11 AM by Stefan Jones

Happy New Year!

I'm in snowy Toronto and just got back from a party where we celebrated each New Year as they showed up on the computer's time zone tracker.

Which was at almost each half hour. For example, there's a new time zone recently declared in Venezuela that's 1/2 hour before EST, plus the older Newfoundland one 1.5 hours off.

Cheers to 2*2*2*251!

Posted January 1, 2008 4:18 AM by Kathryn from Sunnyvale

新年快乐！ (Old hat to me, living over here IN THE FUTURE, but nonetheless.)

So this year is the year of the Rat. This means you should hoard shiny objects, get yourself an exercise wheel, and avoid suspiciously unguarded cheese.*

*I am not a Chinese astrologist. This advice should not be considered definitive, or even particularly good. By reading this advice, you are implicitly agreeing to my EUA, which specifically forbids you to hold me responsible for any loss of rental deposit, burgeoning anorexia athletica, or loss of cheese that may occur.

Posted January 1, 2008 5:06 AM by heresiarch

susan,

i thoroughly approve of your layout, & especially, colours. i find it all very welcoming.

Posted January 1, 2008 5:43 AM by miriam beetle

Cat2: Fireworks?

Monkey2: Yep.

Cat2: Let's play Quake

Monkey2 Loading Quake: You're weird.

Cat2 (Dancing on keyboard): You're on my side.

Monkey2: If you knows of a better 'ole

Posted January 1, 2008 6:13 AM by Dave Bell

Bonne Année!

Posted January 1, 2008 6:43 AM by Serge

Susan @ 15... Congratulations on the design of your sites. And I hope your recovery from the surgery is proceeding as it should.

Posted January 1, 2008 6:53 AM by Serge

So it's the morning* after the night before. As the fireworks rattled the windows, we were playing Portal and eating oliebollen*.

Now it's time for a New Year's diet. Six months of sampling all the tasty Dutch foods have left me not fitting into anything, and not liking how I look. I am assured that the latter issue is all in my head, but the former matter most certainly is not.

-----
* take a sweet bread dough, let rise. Add raisins or apple if required. Deep fry and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Posted January 1, 2008 7:52 AM by abi

Resolutions, anyone?

My goals for 2008:

1. Sell a story (to an acknowledged pro venue)
2. Regularly run a mile with no walking intervals
3. Prep 4 new CGI products for sale (one project per quarter, roughly)
4. Adopt a baby

Posted January 1, 2008 8:02 AM by Mary Dell

Here in Australia, it's been the new year for 22 hours already, and it's been pretty good so far.

The newspaper this morning had a front page feature proclaiming that "Australia led the world in welcoming the new year". Various members of the family independently raised eyebrows and asked the air pointed questions about New Zealand.

Posted January 1, 2008 8:03 AM by Paul A.

Happy New Year! (4 hours and 20 minutes late)

Posted January 1, 2008 8:18 AM by Tania

Happy Happies to you all.

Posted January 1, 2008 8:45 AM by JKRichard

Happy New Year to us all!

One more lap around the sun. May this one be the better run.

Posted January 1, 2008 9:31 AM by Scott Taylor

abi @ 43... take a sweet bread dough, let rise

The bread shall rise!
Must... eat... grain...

Posted January 1, 2008 9:46 AM by Serge

Nicole @ 34,

Growing up in North Florida, there was an accepted contingent who pronounced it "praw-leen". Just sayin'.

Happy happy everybody!

Posted January 1, 2008 10:16 AM by Nathan

Yay, Paul A. Yes, the more jingoistic of the fishwrappers do tend to ignore some of the physical facts; but they get so used to doing it in their more usual stories, that they slip into the mode without thinking (which is pretty much their aim, AFAICT).

Remember all the fuss about which place was going to get dibs on first into the year 2000? We're some 26 hours into 2008 now. Happy New Year to all the round world, and may we all get slightly better than what we deserve.

Posted January 1, 2008 10:21 AM by Mez

Nicole, 34: "Pray-leens" (or "pecahn pray-leens") are those brown-sugar-and-pecan* candies sold at the registers of Tex-Mex places. (Yum.)

"Leh prah-leen" are these little morsels here. (When I win the lottery, I'm going to order a kilo every month.)

*Not "pee-can." Please. For the love of sugar highs, not "pee-can"!

Posted January 1, 2008 10:29 AM by TexAnne

TexAnne, do y'all have Stuckey's out there?

Resolutions:

1. get my lazy deconditioned butt back into the dojang, tie my white belt on and get to work until I can put my black belt back on without blushing.

2. find a way to volunteer in a healthcare-for-the-poor setting. (This is complicated for a physical therapist assistant in Georgia; I can only work under the supervision of a PT, and there are no PTs working pro bono locally.)

3. get more paid work. Two days a week at my (admittedly wonderful) job is not enough.

Posted January 1, 2008 10:56 AM by Lila

Happy New Year, all.

I had a quiet social evening at the Ottawa SF Society party; nothing particularly exciting. But I did finally post a picture of the special dessert I made for the 2001 party.

Posted January 1, 2008 10:58 AM by Joel Polowin

We used to, Lila; I haven't seen one in a while but I'm sure they haven't all vanished. (Lee--you road-trip a lot, how about it?)

Posted January 1, 2008 10:58 AM by TexAnne

Feliz aninovo para toudos os habitantes do fluorósferio. ¡Que o novo ano sexa cheo de gracia e da esperanza para toudos vosoutros!

Posted January 1, 2008 11:20 AM by Fragano Ledgister

Xopher, I've seen jars of peanut-butter-like spread made from chick peas (IIRC), intended for use in sandwiches for people who are allergic to peanuts or must have peanut-free environments. I haven't tried the stuff, but if it tastes anything like peanut butter, one could probably make decent candy with it.

Posted January 1, 2008 11:26 AM by Joel Polowin

Happy New Year!

Resolutions? Ummmm....

OK. Go through the stack of manuscripts and submit some things. Get the attic impedimentia cleared out or organized, whichever's appropriate to the kipple in question. Have more house guests. Take at least one rockhounding trip. Finish novel, dang it. Catch up on correspondence, and stay in better touch with people. Take that trip to the Black Hills with Juan. Plan trips back to Skagen and Robin Hood's Bay. Start organizing things for next Great North American Railroad Expotition. Don't put off health care stuff.

There. That's more than enough resolution-making for one year. Tired now; think I'll go see if there's Hoppin' John and beans & rice yet, because something smells delicious out there.

Posted January 1, 2008 11:41 AM by elise

Julie 22: Not a fan of Asian sweet bean pastes, I take it?

They are, in fact, exactly what I had in mind when I said that. I find them extremely repulsive.

JESR 30: O my gods, you...
____ 32: Oh. Good.

Nicole 34: Hmm, the recipe I used puts the brown and white sugar, the cream, milk, and butter all in the pan at the beginning. Maybe I'll put something in with the vanilla (when it's cooling back down to 212F). I don't test with texture drips, but with temperature, though my thermometer, oddly enough, has the texture stages marked on it.

I say PRAY-leen. I've heard that some people say PRAY-LINE (second syllable like the word 'line', overall a spondee).

TexAnne 52: That link takes me to the front page of the Leonidas Belgian Chocolates site. Poked around a bit, but don't know which thing you meant.

I made the pecan (/piykan'/) and brown sugar kind.

Posted January 1, 2008 11:42 AM by Xopher

Joel 57: Well, since peanuts are technically a bean, you could claim that peanut butter (or peanut brittle) is a kind of bean candy. But if you were going to get that technical I'd remind you that I said "in my experience," and the chickpea stuff you're talking about is outside that experience, so THERE. :-)

Btw, I hate peanut-flavored anything. I don't even like peanut butter anymore (though I must say I consider this a tragic loss).

In any case, I was talking about how something that looked like lumps of frijoles and tasted like brown sugar and pecans might cause cognitive dissonance sufficient to short-circuit any pleasure derived from the eating of the sweet. I haven't tested this on others yet, but I will be sure to get LIGHT brown sugar next time I try to make pralines.

Then I thought, hmm, is there any good bean sweet? Buns filled with sweet bean paste, nope. Red bean ice cream, nope. IME and IMO, there are no tasty bean sweets. Beans need to be savory to be any good. IMO. YMMV. JLMAOK.

Posted January 1, 2008 11:57 AM by Xopher

Happy New Year. May all living beings be blessed.

New Year's resolutions: to watch more closely. To listen more keenly.

Posted January 1, 2008 12:09 PM by Lizzy L

Xopher @#60:

JLMAOK

Just Listen, Mate; Avoid Objectionable Kibble?

Posted January 1, 2008 12:30 PM by Mary Dell

Fragano, what language is that? Would it be easier to identify with more markings?
Sorry, I'm getting language geeky.

Posted January 1, 2008 12:30 PM by Diatryma

Mary 62: I was counting on someone asking: Just Leave Me Alone, OK?

Posted January 1, 2008 12:39 PM by Xopher

Happy new year to all of you too. Go learn something totally awesome today--it's good luck :D.

Posted January 1, 2008 12:44 PM by annalee flower horne

I wrote two checks this morning. Got the year right on both.

I take this as a good sign.

Posted January 1, 2008 12:48 PM by Stefan Jones

Diatryma #63: It's Galician.

Posted January 1, 2008 12:55 PM by Fragano Ledgister

annalee @ 65... Go learn something totally awesome today

Right now, I'm learning to put together my wife's exercise bicycle. Does that count?

Posted January 1, 2008 12:59 PM by Serge

Thanks, Fragano. One of my Spanish professors in college spoke Gallego originally, and once or twice she switched languages on us. Some of the class didn't notice, which astounded me. It's interesting to see differences in spelling after knowing a couple differences in pronunciation.

Posted January 1, 2008 1:09 PM by Diatryma

JESR, #30 & 32: Thank you for providing my first ROTFL of the new year!

TexAnne, #55: Standalone Stuckey's are now rare enough that we remark on them. But apparently the company is surviving by putting product into convenience stores. That wouldn't necessarily hit my radar, because my interest in what they sell wore out a long time ago.

Joel, #57: Given that chickpeas are the primary ingredient in hummus, I doubt that spread tastes much like peanut butter! Of course, it would be different without the garlic...

Xopher, #60: My partner's daughter is fond of the buns with sweet red bean paste. I tried one and found it... not terrible, but not something I wanted to try again either. However, if you need a place to dispose of the frijole-imitating pralines, my partner is fond enough of pecans that I don't think he'd object. :-)

Posted January 1, 2008 1:09 PM by Lee

Now what?

Posted January 1, 2008 1:14 PM by Richard Brandt

Kathryn from Sunnyvale @ 37 ...
I'm in snowy Toronto and just got back from a party where we celebrated each New Year as they showed up on the computer's time zone tracker.

... and you haven't suggested a fluorospherean gathering yet?!?!!!

Posted January 1, 2008 1:14 PM by xeger

Nicole @#34: Green Tortoise Hostel

Hmm! Related to that most interesting tour line? I took a cross-country trip with them way back in my college years (Boston to SF).

Xopher: There are those deep-fried-candy-coated peanuts.... I do like the Asian bean paste things (sesame balls!), but I have to admit they're not for everyone. I'm not too wild about the agar "cakes", myself.

Asian confections in general seem to be stickier, somewhat less sweet, and often saltier than the corresponding Western candies. A lot of people seem to be seriously thrown off by the differences.

Posted January 1, 2008 1:30 PM by David Harmon

Xopher and Lee, it's not that I'm dead set against blowing up a fixed fraction of my neighbors, but it would be wrong.

Posted January 1, 2008 1:30 PM by JESR

Diatryma #69: If you speak Castillian, Galician is not so hard since the differences in pronunciation are not as great as between Spanish and Portuguese.

Posted January 1, 2008 1:38 PM by Fragano Ledgister

The earth passes, once more, the yearly point
and for a moment the times seem in joint;
we thank our friends, not just for their kind hearts,
but for the ways that each with their true arts
provides us with that little bit of light
that we too hope we show against the night.
Life gives us sour, we have to make the sweet,
but we can take our lives, like good rum, neat.
We laugh, we love, we hope in time to meet
with friends far distant; still we take the chance
to smile a moment, step out in the dance,
give forth our wisdom, or in silence sit
with hearts now lightened by the gentle wit
of those who know just how to string a tale.
Now, as the long hard year's time comes to fail,
we send our thanks across the gap of time
and immense space. Happy New Year in rhyme.

Posted January 1, 2008 1:39 PM by Fragano Ledgister

David 73: I think it comes from the fact that I'm supposed to avoid peanuts for medical reasons...I'm not allergic, they just contain oxalates, so it's a quantity thing. But I tried hard to avoid them, so the flavor became associated with "you shouldn't eat that," and now I really don't like them.

It's really too bad, in a way, though it DOES make it easier not to eat them.

Posted January 1, 2008 1:51 PM by Xopher

Best wishes to all.

The gathering reports from New Year events nearly a day before my Old Year was out provided real cognitive dissonance, and a sense of how subjective our dividers really are.

That said, I had great fun watching three out of the Fred & Ginger marathon on Turner! Particularly liked the one with the Gershwin songs, though it was also entertaining to hear the background material about the roller skates duet and the shedding feather dress.

(On another thread, I've managed to restrain myself from saying those forehead wounds are really where the horns tried to break through. No, no a *victim*'s horns....)

Posted January 1, 2008 1:54 PM by Faren Miller

David, #73: After trying half-a-dozen Indian dessert pastries and finding that none of them really met my expectations for dessert-level sweetness, it occurred to me to wonder how that went in reverse. So I asked an Indian friend whether, when he first came to America, he had found all the desserts to be sickeningly sweet. He said, "Oh, yes!"

I'm now trying to train myself away from the overuse of sugar. It's not easy, but I've had some notable success especially in the area of iced tea.

Posted January 1, 2008 2:04 PM by Lee

JESR #74: I'm imagining Faith in Buffy's body looking in the mirror, pouting, and saying that. "It's wrong!"

Resolutions:
1. Actually finish a goddamn story or two instead of writing the first 3/4 over and over and over.
2. Eliminate my car from my life entirely.
3. What Mary Dell said about running (by the way, are you really adopting a baby? Cool!), and I'd also like to continue doing the stretches and "core exercises" or whatever they're called that I've been doing for the past two weeks that have made a shocking difference in my general well-being.
4. Stop being such a hermit.

Posted January 1, 2008 2:06 PM by ethan

Oh, and
5. Go to a con.

Posted January 1, 2008 2:07 PM by ethan

David: Yes, I think so. Although I was only aware of the Adventure Bus going between the Seattle and SF hostels. I've never had the pleasure of taking it, and would like to someday. Our five days at the GT Hostel this New Year's long weekend have been fantastic. For staying right smack downtown across the street from the Pike's Place Market (and having access to a kitchen you can use to cook all sorts of stuff bought at the Market), you can't beat the price.

Xopher et al: When my Dad's mother taught me how to make p'CAHN praw/prah-LEENS in Metairie, LA all those years ago, she had me add butter after the sugar had melted into the cream and warmed up some. So I add a tablespoon of Disaronno at about that time. She showed me how to do the texture drop, too. I have a tendency to read it too early, so I often have to scrape the pralines up and back into the pot for another few minutes. Due to this quirk and to the heritage of the venerable lady who taught me, they are Genuine Cajun Twice-Dropped Pecan Pralines.

Posted January 1, 2008 2:17 PM by Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little

Faren @ 78... those forehead wounds are really where the horns tried to break through

Humph.

Posted January 1, 2008 2:20 PM by Serge

Get the attic impedimentia cleared out or organized, whichever's appropriate to the kipple in question.

Elise @ 58....can you enlist the help of a dinosaur, or would the dino be part of the impedimentia?

Posted January 1, 2008 2:24 PM by Kayjayoh

Happy New Year, to all those who made the past year excellent with their humor and prose.

So far, this year is cooperating nicely by providing five inches of frozen Lake Erie to help with the resolution of working out more (driveway is two cars wide by sixty some odd feet. No, I have shovels, not one of them newfangled snow-blower thingies).

Posted January 1, 2008 2:38 PM by Steve Buchheit

Xopher, 59: Precisely.

Posted January 1, 2008 2:55 PM by TexAnne

TexAnne 86: Oh, you meant any Belgian chocolate is a praline in that sense? Because otherwise I still don't get it. Maybe I'm having an attack of the stupids today.

Posted January 1, 2008 3:09 PM by Xopher

ethan, then I have succeeded at my purpose.

Posted January 1, 2008 3:11 PM by JESR

Nicole J. LeBouef-Little,

(she says calmly, after taking several deep cleansing breaths)

That's Pike Place Market. No ess, no possessive. The street extention it's on is called Pike Place; it runs from the west end of Pike to the west end of Stewart, between First and Western.

Thank you, that is this morning's mossback hot-button moment.

Posted January 1, 2008 3:18 PM by JESR

Xopher, 87: The molded filled kind, yes. (Truffles are "truffes" and bars are "tablettes.")

Posted January 1, 2008 3:35 PM by TexAnne

Ah, then I've been speaking prose making pralines all along and never knew it!

Posted January 1, 2008 3:44 PM by Xopher

С новйм годом, ребета,

Or, in English, "Happy New Year, to one and all".

I slept my way into 2008, and feel the better for it (I've been under the weather since Christmas, but am on the mend).

Interesting (and, fingers crossed, of a pleasant sort) things seem to be on the wind, and I am full of hope and cheer.

So too, may you all.

Posted January 1, 2008 3:45 PM by Terry Karney

Xopher @#77: Ahh, I see. That sort of learned association goes pretty deep.

Lee @#79: I suspect part of it is using different sugars -- notably maltose instead of dextrose or sucrose. That would explain some of the stickiness too....

Nicole @#82: Cool... I had fun on my trip, it's nice to hear that the company's still going strong (and apparently has branched out a bit). I note that my trip had passengers of a wide variety of ages, it wasn't all college kids.

Posted January 1, 2008 4:02 PM by David Harmon

Xerger @72 & all Fluorophilii in Toronto and/or Kitchener/Waterloo:

Yes, we/you should have a Making Light Making Weight GTO gathering. If we can put one together in the next days, that'd be fun. Email me and we can use these modern electro-pneumato-tubes for Making Plans.

I'm in town* now until the afternoon of the 5th, and will have at least one expedition** downtown to Bakka and similar to pick up more books not-yet-available in the US. QSW has restaurants and gathering places***.

I might also be in K/W again** (celebrated the new year there last night).

------------
* Mississississauga, actually.

** time and day not yet planned

*** I have been in TO for reasons other than books--large culturally and artistically diverse city and all that--but they are such good and compelling reasons.

Posted January 1, 2008 4:36 PM by Kathryn from Sunnyvale

Fragano Ledgister @76
That was lovely! Made my day, hibernating in the cold north as I am.

Happy 2008 to All. Goddess Bless Us Every One.

Posted January 1, 2008 5:08 PM by Magenta Griffith

Kathryn @ 94... Mississississauga, actually

Hmm... Wasn't it really Mississauga? No matter what, have a good time.

Posted January 1, 2008 5:23 PM by Serge

Serge (96): I think Kathryn's like the kid who knew how to spell 'banana' but didn't know when to stop.

Posted January 1, 2008 5:31 PM by Mary Aileen

Cherry-picked from the Fred&Ginger marathon, watching "Gay Divorcee" and "Top Hat" through the delayed wonders of Tivo. A bit more than halfway through "Top Hat", I suddenly looked up at the clock and said "Happy New Year a couple minutes late!" We'd already been working on the cookies and champers, so we solemnly topped the glasses up.

We got up late, and spent much time taking down decorations.

Happy New Year to all!

Posted January 1, 2008 5:37 PM by joann

Mary Aileen @ 97... In my case, I knew how to spell 'Mississauga' because I worked there when I ws living in Toronto.

Posted January 1, 2008 5:47 PM by Serge

On the subject of get-togethers, I'd love to see a map of some sort showing where in the world we all are. And then, I'd love to see some gatherings in various locations, including one I could make it to easily. Toronto would work for that, frex, but I'd need some reasonable planning time.

For the record, I'm in Cleveland.

Posted January 1, 2008 5:47 PM by Summer Storms

Slightly distracted New Year greetings to all (this means you) and sundry (this may mean the last withered tomato in a jar on our larder shelf). Thanks to stupendous family upheavals, I think I acquired a new American sister-in-law today. Cosmic peace! Hands across the Galaxy! And stuff like that.

Posted January 1, 2008 5:56 PM by Dave Langford

Lee @ 70: the chick peas in hummus are generally cooked by boiling, but the spread was (IIRC) made from toasted/roasted chick peas. I suspect that the flavour might not that far away from peanut butter.

@ 79: Around Ottawa, at least, Indian restaurants usually have Gulab Jamun as a dessert -- rather like cake doughnut balls in heavy sugar syrup. They're one of the sweetest desserts I've ever encountered. Maybe the sweetness level in Indian cuisine involves regional variation?

Posted January 1, 2008 6:44 PM by Joel Polowin

ethan @ #80:
I'm going to be hangin' in Providence the weekend of the 12-13. Wanna practice that social thing?

After the disaster of last year's resolutions (all broken, with predictably bad results) I think I shall refrain this year and just have projects instead.

Posted January 1, 2008 6:49 PM by Susan

Happy New Year from one who mostly lurks. May 2008 be better than 2007, by whatever measure you choose to use.

Posted January 1, 2008 6:51 PM by Laina

Aww, Susan, really? Unfortunately, I will not be hangin' in Providence that weekend. Visiting the brother and his wife in NYC. Bad timing! (I have a memory of this happening once before...am I making that up?)

Anyway, what brings you to Lil' Rhody? A hankering for coffee milk? I hope you enjoy it (the state, not necessarily the coffee milk, though that is a delicious beverage).

Posted January 1, 2008 7:32 PM by ethan

There's always Frappr, if folks want to self-map.

Posted January 1, 2008 8:38 PM by Maybear

ethan @#80:

1. Actually finish a goddamn story or two instead of writing the first 3/4 over and over and over.

Ah, yes. I just finally made the leap to writing whole stories in this past year, after 15 years of half-stories. For me the key was actually letting my internal editor seriously analyze all of my half-drafts, instead of trying to cork her in the name of creative freedom. I was finally able to figure out why she hated my stories so much that she wouldn't let me finish any of them, and I changed my narrative approach considerably, and suddenly I was on good terms with my muse for the first time in forever. Now I'm able to finish stories and collect rejections like everybody else! Stick with it and you'll get over the hump. If you want a beta-reader, drop me an email - I'd be interested to see your stuff. Your writing, I mean.

3. What Mary Dell said about running (by the way, are you really adopting a baby? Cool!)

Really trying to, anyway. So far that's been exactly as productive as trying to get pregnant was, but more expensive, partly because we're trying to stick with scenarios in which we're not directly screwing anyone over.* I'm cautiously optimistic about the latest plan (boring details are on my blog), though.

*indirect screwing-over is inescapable, given that poverty, religious beliefs, and/or government control of fertility are the common denominators of so many relinquishments.

Posted January 1, 2008 9:21 PM by Mary Dell

David Harmon #73 : "Asian confections in general seem to be stickier, somewhat less sweet, and often saltier than the corresponding Western candies. A lot of people seem to be seriously thrown off by the differences."

Yup, and they (mostly) look much tastier than they taste. (Despite which, I'm fond of the Japanese ones, including the New Year's o-mochi, a benchmark for blandness, and the various bean-jam things.) I find that this applies to most pastries from the new neighborhood Mexican Pandaria, as well -- they're quite okay, but a bit too remote from the visual expectation.

Posted January 1, 2008 9:57 PM by Don Fitch

Mary Aileen, #97: Or Ethan's queueueueue...

Joel, #102: Could be. Also, I'm not likely to select something sticky-looking, just on general principles. Most of what I was trying looked more like cookie bars or tartlets.

Posted January 1, 2008 10:01 PM by Lee

Susan, it's bee-yoo-ti-ee-ful.

Also, for those trying to rise above PEE-can, try peh-CAHN.

Posted January 1, 2008 10:08 PM by fidelio

Magenta Griffith #95: Thank you!

Posted January 1, 2008 10:24 PM by Fragano Ledgister

ethan,

Oh, and
5. Go to a con.

well, if you're in nyc by summer, i'll be exhibiting at mocca art fest. probably not the kind of con you were thinking of, but i always have fun.

Posted January 1, 2008 10:38 PM by miriam beetle

ethan: selling chainmail to the pervy crowd at the Fetish Flea in Providence on the 12-13. I'll be in NYC this weekend dancing 1910s at my annual posh private party. Then Arisia the weekend after the flea, if you want to work on that con thing too. On the fourth weekend in January, I shall rest, mostly.

fidelio: it's delightful, it's delicious, it's delovely...I spent New Year's eve carefully addicting two people to Torchwood and one person to Cole Porter (and efficiently combining the two by watching John Barrowman sing Cole Porter) while madly sewing bustles.

And now that I have seen John Barrowman singing part of "Time Warp", it's necessary for me to go give my brain a cold shower followed by a light coating of aloe and a nice gauze bandage. I'm not supposed to get this excited post-surgery; goosebumps on incisions hurt.

Posted January 1, 2008 10:54 PM by Susan

...frantically sends a close-italics fragment of html code sailing into the ether in hot pursuit of her previous post...

Posted January 1, 2008 10:55 PM by Susan

I am sorry to have to report that hamster news stories published by the BBC in 2007 showed no increase over 2006.

Could this be a trend? Only time will tell.

Posted January 1, 2008 11:27 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Susan @#113:

And now that I have seen John Barrowman singing part of "Time Warp"

Oooohhhhhhh. Nice.

Posted January 1, 2008 11:41 PM by Mary Dell

Mary Dell #107: Assuming I ever do manage to write anything, I may take you up on your beta-reader offer, though my other "stuff" stays to myself. Good luck with your latest baby scheme.

miriam #112: Indeed not exactly the type of con I was thinking of, but it looks like a lot of fun, anyway, and I would certainly jump at the chance to meet you in, as they say, the flesh. We shall see.

Susan #113: I'm quite startled that I wasn't aware of the Fetish Fair at all, considering (after some googling) how huge it seems to be, judging from the accommodations and locations they're talking about. It's not exactly my cuppa, but it is for a lot of my friends (starting with my roommate), so I'm puzzled as to how I didn't know about it. Well, I hope it's a smashingly good time.

TNH #115: Does this mean that the coming Hamster Singularity might not be so coming after all?

Posted January 2, 2008 12:18 AM by ethan

Nicole JBL, #34, pray-LEEN!

Langford, #101, if it's Jon, it hasn't hit Google yet.

Happy New Year to all!

Posted January 2, 2008 3:03 AM by Marilee

ethan: I primarily hope the FFF is a smashingly lucrative time, actually, since I could use an infusion of money right now. I'm sort of puzzling over how I'm going to manage my logistics, since (post-surgery) there's no chance I'm going to be able to do all my lifting and carrying and setting up - I still can't lift a gallon of milk. I need to find one or two nice, sturdy people who want to trade a couple of hours of carrying things for free admission.

Posted January 2, 2008 8:15 AM by Susan

#78, Faren -
Darn it! I didn't watch "Shall We Dance" because I've got it on tape. I didn't even think about extra material TMC might include. I know the feathers story - can you summarize the story about the roller skates? I love that scene.

Posted January 2, 2008 9:22 AM by R. M. Koske

Faren @ 78... What is that you said about horns trying to break out?

Posted January 2, 2008 10:15 AM by Serge

Susan #119: Another reason to lament the bad timing--I would have been perfectly happy to help. Maybe now is the time to develop your telekinesis?

Seriously, though--good luck, and I'm sure you'll come up with something. Enjoy Providence as much as you have opportunity to do.

Posted January 2, 2008 10:21 AM by ethan

ethan @ 122... Telepathy, not telekinesis.

Posted January 2, 2008 10:43 AM by Serge

Serge (123): No, he meant telekinesis, for lifting heavy things with her mind.

Posted January 2, 2008 6:02 PM by Mary Aileen

Oops, yes, that is what I meant.

Posted January 2, 2008 6:14 PM by ethan

Telekinesis, I mean.

Posted January 2, 2008 6:16 PM by ethan

And it's what you said. So why oops?

Although using telepathy to dominate others into helping would work too. And be much more appropriate to the venue.

Posted January 2, 2008 6:25 PM by Xopher

Xopher:
I'm quite willing to allow anyone who provides significant carrying-things help to worship my six-inch-high black leather platform heels. Briefly. I'll even paint my toenails red.

Posted January 3, 2008 1:04 AM by Susan

I'll even paint my toenails red.

Is that toelepathy, or toelekinesis?

Posted January 3, 2008 4:31 AM by Serge

Serge @ 129
Is that toelepathy, or toelekinesis?

I think that's proving that she's a toel-using ape ;)

Posted January 3, 2008 10:37 AM by xeger

Would that make Susan's toes posthensile?

Posted January 3, 2008 12:44 PM by Christopher Davis

Christopher Davis @ 131... Would that make Susan's toes posthensile?

Who's toe say?

Posted January 3, 2008 12:54 PM by Serge

Prehensile toes are actually something of a family trait. I used to be able to solve the pyramidal version of Rubik's cube with my toes.

Posted January 3, 2008 2:04 PM by Susan

Susan, I'd be happy to help you lift heavy things in exchange for free admission! I could probably use a ride, though, as I'm recovering from iritis and while my lifting-things ability is undamaged (I just lifted a 50-lb sack of sugar today), my distance vision is shot to hell. I think I'm on your way there.

Posted January 3, 2008 2:26 PM by Rikibeth

Susan, as long as we've got you on the griddle here, in your very early youth was your father a book salesman? Because if he was, I think you may have lived down the street from me and I used to be your babysitter.

Posted January 3, 2008 3:38 PM by joann

joann,
Um....yes, I think he worked for Doubleday when I was very, very young. Would this have been in Queens, perhaps? Or Richardson, TX?

(Now I'm wondering if it was the thing with the toes that clued you in or something else.)

Posted January 3, 2008 4:17 PM by Susan

Susan #136:

Yes, Doubleday and a block and a half west of Richardson would be it. My mother still lives on that street. I remember your house as being full of books, all fairly recent, all from Doubleday. It was my favorite babysitting job; I got to read the books and you were quite well-behaved.

No, not the toes, but your full name on your website; it's not that common.

Posted January 3, 2008 6:44 PM by joann

joann:
I'm speechless! What a small world this is! I'm trying to remember the street name; Querida or something like that? We moved from there when I was still pretty young - five or six, maybe? - and I have only a few vague memories of the house. Most of my memories start in University Park.

At any rate, I'm bigger now, less well-behaved, and still surrounded by books. I'm trying to reach my mother to see if she remembers you, but she's most inconveniently gone out for the evening.

And if anyone wondered why I rarely use my last name on the net, this would be why; I'm almost certainly unique. (I made a conscious decision to put it on my blogs but I still feel sort of antsy about it.)

Posted January 3, 2008 7:10 PM by Susan

Susan:

Yes, that was the street, and we lived three or four houses west, with the fire hydrant out front. I can't remember the inside of your place well--after all, I was all of 17--except that there was *some*thing about the interior that made it different from other houses on the block that I was inside. Perhaps having the bookcase in the den?

Yes, it's a small old world, but this is nothing like having Linkmeister turn out to be a relative-by-marriage of our Gracious Hosts.

Posted January 3, 2008 8:16 PM by joann

joann @ 139... there was *some*thing about the interior that made it different from other houses on the block that I was inside

Darn non-euclidian geometry!

Posted January 3, 2008 8:21 PM by Serge

#138, 139, 140: Perhaps some non-Euclidean geometry of spacetime unique to the Fluorosphere explains why it is extra-prone to these "small world" events?

Posted January 3, 2008 8:27 PM by Summer Storms

Summer @ 141... Is this where the TOE(*) comes in?

(*) aka physics's Theory of Everything

Posted January 3, 2008 8:31 PM by Serge

Serge, why not? ;-)

Posted January 3, 2008 8:38 PM by Summer Storms

my friend Star states it as "The world is Waaaay wide but about 2 inches deep."

Since her sweetie has finished his dissertation (it's in the approval process) and they will likely be moving to DC once he gets his doctorate, she's been introducing people who are her friends to one another. And discovered that a lot of us have met otherwise...

Posted January 3, 2008 9:26 PM by Paula Helm Murray