Weekend escape

Spent a lovely long weekend out in Shenandoah National Park with my mom, who is now well enough to do things like hike 1 mile up a terrifying Appalachian mountain peak for a 360-degree view, thanks so much for the total lack of warning about the sheer drops and rock climbs, Mr. Park Ranger. We had a good time other than the accidental terror: took a couple of hikes through meadows and along wooded streams, drove the 100-mile park from top to bottom, sampled blackberry festival treats (BBQ sauce, salad dressing, ice cream, breakfast syrup), heard a mediocre but enthusiastic dulcimer player, saw a clogging troupe performance and played some Scrabble in the exhausted evenings.

Wildlife sightings included:

• 22 deer
• 1 coyote
• 1 groundhog or possibly woodchuck
• 1 bright blue flash of reptile of indeterminate origin
• 1 barred owl
• 1 (heard) woodpecker
• 2 curled-up maybe-centipedes
• 6 chipmunks
• Many butterflies, including monarchs
• Many ravens and hawks
• 4 baby chickadees in a nest
• 1 bluebird and 1 yellow bird (sorry, not a bird expert)
• 2 dead beavers, 1 dead raccoon and 1 dead skunk (road outside park)
• 1 Chihuahua with a motorcycle helmet and goggles
• Countless gnats, bees, ants, flies and spiders and 1 green stick bug
• 0 bears (unless you count the 50+ stuffed, ceramic, photographed and refrigerator magnetized versions in the gift shops and the life-sized doll in one lodge)

( 14 pictures of the aforementioned: hike of death, waterfall, Chihuahua, sunset, giant mushroom, etc. )

All in all, a good weekend. You?

And as for the rest

1.

Well, I have done my small part, quietly, once again: Ogi Ogas came calling on the alumni network of my grad program for the second time in two years, asking for help with his and Sai Gaddam's second book (A Billion Angry Brains), and I explained to my fellow alums why they should steer clear. Ugh. I am all for giving people a chance, but shoddy research methods + presenting only those results that support your (outdated, stereotyped) thesis + offensive language + requests for free labor = no thank you.

(For background on the fiasco, try here, here and here.)

2.

Oh, original Star Trek. I knew you were kinky, but my aversion to looking at you in a sexual way in the past has blinded me to the breadth of your kinkiness. Latest case in point: Last night my mom and I watched "Wink of an Eye" and "The Empath" because we didn't remember much about them. They turned out to include, respectively, collared, slightly effeminate man-mates, femdom voyeurs and threesome jealousies; and chain-hung, half-torn-shirted McCoy being tortured while his friends and the aliens watched. (More McCoy skin than I remember ever seeing. Ah, I had such a crush on him when I was little.)

Let's just not get into how the empath seemed to represent how women should be acutely empathetic, mute, self-sacrificing, nameless, imprinted upon, and accentuated with a single crystalline tear (TM).

3.

Previously mentioned Inception WIP is on hold because of RL developments that eerily echo the conversation I'd drafted to kick it off. DS9 vid is on hold for technical difficulties. John/Teyla // John/Larrin vid is on hold because… oh wait, because of nothing but my own inability to sit down and work on it. Maybe that will be my goal for what to post for my birthday next week.

4.

Haven't seen Harry Potter 7.2 yet because of vacation. (We marked the occasion by waving to Hogwallow and Dark Hollow Falls at the park, which sounded suitable for Harry's Wizarding England.) Plans are to go Saturday. I am both \o/ and :( about it. It looks good, but afterwards there won't be any more.