Inhale. Exhale. Wash, rinse, repeat.

[bodlon]

Oh, February. You big, mad truck of a month. Thank you for all the snow. Again.

~*~

I’ve been listening to PJ Harvey’s new album almost non-stop for the last few days. I’m still undecided about it. On the one hand, it’s excellent and jangly in all the right places. On the other, I’m genuinely worried that, as an American, I’m missing some key pieces of cultural data in order to get the full benefit. Which, considering how much British media I consume, the composition of my social cohort, etc. is kind of an amusing admission to make. I don’t know. We’ll see.

~*~

The writing has been hard lately. It’s a time and energy issue — which is to say that the words come when I have time and energy for them — and utterly nerve wracking the rest of the time because I know my output isn’t what it needs to be right this minute for me to be comfortable with my project timelines. Almost all of that problem is workload issues associated with working a full-time job AND doing college AND being a writer.

None of this is a surprise, frankly. It still hasn’t killed me. Still, I’m sort of giving the two weeks in early March between Philosophy classes a crazy kind of “come hither” gaze, while simultaneously pretending that the first two weeks of April aren’t lying in wait.

“If I am freakishly productive during those two weeks,” I keep telling myself, “I will not fail.”

Which is why I’m not allowed to buy Dragon Age 2 (which comes out on 3/8) until after I deliver on a Thing I Can’t Talk About.

Call it motivation.

Also, I have never been so grateful that my roommate has a long-standing grudge against Electronic Arts.

I keep telling myself this builds character. Failing that, I suppose it might result in some kind of freak accident that results in amazing super powers.

~*~

Returning to the real world after Gallifrey One has been kind of terrifying. Ghaddafi bombing his own people, union busting in Wisconsin, the Christchurch quake, etc. It’s overwhelming. Some things you can do:

- After hearing from friends in New Zealand, the current recommendation seems to be to donate to the Australian Red Cross, and that money is more helpful than material donations right now since distribution centers are still functioning. Relief orgs in that region have had their work cut out for them not just in New Zealand (which has been having quakes since September), but in Queensland (which has been under water with floods and Hurricane Yasi) and other parts of the country as well, so even small donations are likely to be welcome.

- Donate to Doctors Without Borders. They work globally, without regard for political boundaries, often in extremely dangerous areas.

- MoveOn is supporting nationwide rallies in support of the protests in Wisconsin, set for this Saturday at noon. If you believe that collective bargaining is an important right, I encourage you to check this out and participate. This is serious business. (Don’t believe me? Check out some of the things Wisconsin’s governor said when he thought he was talking to Tea Party patron David Koch. If you need a laugh in all this, Maddow Blog’s got some other prank calls the governor could have been enjoying while he was talking to not-Koch.)

- This infographic spells out a good many reasons not to trust rhetoric in the house about cutting public broadcasting. Memo to the government: I would gladly continue to spend $1.03 annually to keep things like Sesame Street and Nova, to keep the jobs that people in. In fact, I’d gladly spend significantly more than that, and sometimes even have via donation drives. (See Also: libraries, schools, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other things I happily pay taxes for in the name of the public welfare.)

~*~

Oh hey. More links.

- Via Sandra McDonald (who wrote Diana Comet, which if you haven’t bought and read it go do that right now): Maureen Johnson’s Manifesto about branding and social networking. It’s not just funny, but rings really true for me as someone who finds marketing himself extraordinarily awkward, and has made all of his best writing connections doing precisely the opposite of what passes for common wisdom in certain circles. Also, frankly, I unfollow people on Twitter if all they do is tell me to buy their stuff. Tell me what you had for breakfast! Have funny conversations with people! Twitter is supposed to be ridiculous! Blah, blah, etc.

- Over at Smart Bitches, a great interview with a reader named Sassy Outwater, who talks about her experiences as a blind reader, how the blind access the written word, and some of the particular challenges blind readers have when their needs and the publishing industry’s fears about piracy intersect.

- Here. Have a wonderful piece about Dwayne McDuffie, who did some absolutely amazing work aimed at making comics more inclusive. As one of the ones disappointed that our Green Lantern movie’s got a white guy in the role, and as someone who smiled knowingly about Richie whenever Static Shock happened to be on…well, I’m going to miss this man. A lot.

- Obama administration ceases defending DOMA. This is all to the good. Now if we could just get the fucker repealed and enact some actually enforceable civil rights laws that make me and mine actual full human beings in the eyes of the law (and the associated overculture), that would be very nice. Things like, oh, equal access to health care and inheritance and marriage and workplace equality…

- Oh hey. Check it out. Plagiarism? Still bad, even if you’re Germany’s defense minister.

- A few weeks ago I watched both Tron films in the same day. One of my many reactions was to say how much fun it would be to read a Tron/Big Lebowski crossover. Just as the Dude abides, the Internet provides: The Ballad of El Userino.

- Via Sam, a short piece from Daniel Goleman about digital communication’s inherent negative bias, and some suggestions on ways to correct for it.

- Jim C. Hines, who writes really excellent books about goblins and princesses, posts about messing up, rape jokes, and how not to behave. Like many things, “failing better” is all about what you do with the wreckage.

This post has been mirrored from Christian A. Young's Dimlight Archive. To see it in its original format, visit dimlightarchive.com