Gotta live your life.

[mrissa]

I was trying to make a list of things I would like to do in 2009, but it was not a good morning, so I was getting through, "Walk unassisted," and, "Drive," and then I was getting all snuffly. Not so much fun. It has been generally agreed around here that while we are by no means giving up on me getting to do those two things, it is probably a good idea if I come up with a list of cool things I can do in 2009 even if they are delayed in coming. I am remembering that I talked to one of you last May, and that person said something about seeing me at World Fantasy, and I said that I wasn't sure if I'd be well enough to travel alone by November. And they reacted with some horror: "But that's six more months!" It was. And I wasn't. But one of the mantras I've had this year is, "You've gotta live your life."

So. As I said, I'm not giving up on doing things that require me to be independently mobile in 2009, so you don't need to reassure me on that front. (And, in fact, reassurances are likely to get a skeptical eyebrow rather than warm thanks, because you don't, in fact, know when these things will be possible for me, and I'd rather not hear a hearty, "Surely you'll be back to your old normal by such-and-such!" when in fact it's entirely possible that I won't.) This is just the stuff we know I can do in theory. Stuff the vertigo can't rule out completely, even if it sticks around at current levels. Stuff. Yah.

1. Finish revisions to What We Did to Save the Kingdom.
2. Finish draft of The True Tale of Carter Hall.
3. Start another book: Deportees? The Water Castle? The Winter Wars? Eleven Names for Home? Something else completely?
4. loyalorvokki project, dammit.

5. Finish "Pillars of Salt and String" and "The Radioactive Etiquette Book" and "The Curvature of Every Disorder." (By this point in my career, "submit stuff" is on the list with "brush teeth" and "clean fingernails": stuff you just do.)
6. Finish "The Witch's Second Daughter" and "Twelve Things You Don't Know About Dryads" for the people they belong to.
7. Write a completely new short story from scratch.

8. Record podcast of "Singing Them Back" as promised to great-aunt, albeit now late. See whether that drives me nuts. See whether anybody listens.
9. Learn three of the Scarlatti sonatas and one of the Bach French Suites. (Piano music for Christmas FTW.)

10. Get larger loaf pans and figure out a sandwich and French toast bread recipe that suits all inhabitants of this house. If necessary, figure out these recipes as separate entities. Somebody else will have to handle the oven stuff, probably. That's okay.
11. Learn how to make lamb shahi korma that tastes like we want it to. There are a million lamb shahi korma recipes out there, which makes it harder in some ways and easier in others.
12. Perfect buttermilk biscuits. Deal with horrible fate of having to eat imperfect biscuits along the way. Wailie woe.
13. Try substituting mango into Yucatan chicken recipe. Cogitate on results.
14. Paella! It is time.
15. Figure out chocolate-strawberry cookie idea.

16. Take markgritter to Lucia's.
17. Take timprov to Rainbow.
18. Continue to do our best to keep Rice Paper and Pumphouse Creamery in business singlehandedly.
[not-19. We are going to Restaurant Alma to celebrate when I am done with PT. It had better still be in business then.]
19. Try at least four new-to-us restaurants. (This number is probably low, but so is the short story from scratch number, so.)
20. Try all types of hot chocolate and tisane in the pantry at least once each. Find suitable homes for less Mrissish types of hot chocolate and tisane.
21. Put Project Food Safari outings on the calendar promptly after each one. The good food is only half the point here; meshing busy schedules takes work, and it's been work well invested so far.

22. Take Robin to live children's theater. He really liked the last one, and it was frankly not much good. Think how much he'd love a really good one.
23. Take markgritter to live grown-up theater. NB: not the same as "adult theater," so no gnr-gnr-gnr-ing, this is not that kind of list.
24. Take timprov to rock shows and/or folk concerts.
25. Take parental types to rock shows and/or folk concerts. Possibly with timprov.
26. Have lunch at the zoo with V again. Possibly add small people or parental types.
27. Look into Landscape Arboretum possibilities with vertigo.

28. Read Simon Schama's big fat history of Britain series.
29. Read the Tony Hillerman series. Find and devour another long good mystery series. (You know how some people complain that SF is too long compared to mystery? I think one of the things they're not looking at is that mystery makes us look like pikers for long good series. We've got, what, Steve and Lois? For the long series that are really good, I mean. And they've got everybody they've got, nearly. What I'm saying is, I don't think we can argue that mystery writers aren't telling long stories, because they are, they're just breaking them up differently.)

30. Catch up on Numb3rs.
31. Find another series to love while biking indoors hanging on for dear life.

32. Minicon.
33. Fourth Street.
NOTE: These two are the only conventions I can guarantee I will attend this year. If you want to see me at a convention, this is what I've got. If there's a Minn-StF fallcon, I'll almost certainly go to that. Anything else is subject to health considerations, and to family travel considerations if the vertigo takes a hike like it's supposed to.

34. Begin basement finishing.
35. Have kitchen painted Roasted Pepper.
36. Have bedroom painted Polar Bear. (!!!!! Can you believe the color I want is called Polar Bear? This is going to be the best thing ever. Of course the people who made it have never looked at an actual polar bear up close, even for zoo values of up close, but never mind that; the blackened streaks that show up when I roast peppers are unlikely to be featured prominently in our kitchen walls, either.)
37. Look into color for hall/stairs. By which I mean, select specific pale blue.
38. Frame more artwork and hang, particularly two large photos by timprov.
39. Use more of markgritter's spice garden when summer comes.
40. Have at least one tree planted on our property.

41. Make charitable donations earlier this year. Last year was rough for a lot of people. Even if they recover this year, it won't be instantaneous.
42. Keep eye on Good Neighbors with Sick Kiddo. Commit soup or lasagna when prudent.

43. Ask for help when it would be a good thing to do so.

Comments

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

44. Baseball game with timprov and parents and L&K and whoever else we can round up. The Pimple with vertigo is a craptastic idea, but it's the last year they'll be there, and it was the stadium of my childhood. Gotta do this. Ideally early in the season before we lose hope and start wailing.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

Or possibly later in the season when everyone else has lost hope and we can get an entire section to ourselves.

[carbonel]

If the Twins are playing the Cubs this year, I'd love to go to a game or two with you then, as long as you don't mind me rooting for the non-home team.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I am not familiar with The Pimple, but based on stadia I've visited, I wonder if this might be one of those problems that could be solved by throwing money at it, e.g. to get seats really near the field or else a box. Might be worth considering if the money is a) available and b) worth it to you.

[mkille.livejournal.com]

Now I'm unhappy that I forgot to write down the name of the mystery author who was an employee pick at the indie bookstore in Denver where I picked up some presents, because it looked like something you would like, and now here you are interested in another series. But I suppose it's simple enough for me to go back this Sunday and double-check.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

If it is that simple, please do. Otherwise I do have mystery-reading friends, which is where I've been getting most of my fix for quite some time now.

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

I'm going to try and move heaven and earth to make 4th Street this year. WisCon and 4th Street might be my only cons for the year, depending on jobs and a book or two selling.

Seeing you and everyone else makes shoving obstacles out of the way and getting to Minneapolis all the more important.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

We'd certainly love to see you. Rice Paper has vegan options with nearly everything, I'm Just Sayin'.

[callunav.livejournal.com]

What are your baseline requirements for a new series? And what would be ideal?

Audio, or can you read paper books while biking indoors? (I never could, I know that. I was assuming audio, and then realizing that it's stupid to assume when I can just ask.)

I think we like enough of the same things that things I loved might be good recs for you - with the strong exception of Patricia McKillip; I do remember that.

I like your list. I never make lists, and this year, if I did, it would probably start with "Not have to leave school," and then *I'd* get snuffly. It's never a clever plan to make a list based on things utterly outside one's control. So even though you getting independently mobile has relatively little in common with my not irrevocably screwing up my professional training, I'm feeling a lot of sympathy and a touch more empathy than I'd like.

I hope it's a year full of joys and triumphs for you, of many kinds.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I cannot read paper books while biking indoors with vertigo. The series referred to with the bike will have to be on DVD. The series referred to with the Hillerman will have to be on paper. I don't really do audio books--they engage just the wrong parts of my brain in most circumstances. (Driving is the main exception, and if I get to be driving again, I'll have enough music to hold me for that for awhile.)

So for the long mystery series on paper: I mostly read mystery for setting and character. One or the other can be "just okay" (so far, for example, the Hillermans are strong on setting) as long as the prose is not scream-worthy. I am not attached to the central mystery being difficult to solve, if the prose is good and there's some of setting and/or character.

I can see where a list would be very hard for you to make right now. Mine was pretty hard, too, but I think it was good for me to do it. (Which doesn't mean you have to, of course.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yah, I took that as support rather than as "OMG you are a bodhisattva with AIDS." No worries.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

dd_b has been one source of mysteries (pameladean another--they do count separately even with their libraries in the same location), but the public library was the source of my Chandler and Hammett binge recently. But either e-mail or lj comment of list of mystery series would be fine, and then I could go, "Amanda Cross, me too me too!" or, "Really? I bounced off that one hard."

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

45. Figure out rye buns.
46. Swedish meatballs with great-aunt and -uncle.
47. Saturday Morning Doughnuts with parental types: we used to do this a lot, but I was the one picking up the doughnuts and driving down. Turns out my parents are perfectly capable of picking up doughnuts; it is among their many life skills.
48. Cool cafe thing with porphyrin.
49. Writing date with dlandon and whoever else I can talk into it: Tea Source, Finnish Bistro, or both (consecutive, not concurrent).

[ellarien]

Have you met Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley mysteries? The Britishness is amazingly authentic for a non-native writer; they are somewhat more gruesome and explicit than Rendell's Wexford series, though perhaps not than her standalones, and some wrenching things happen to the detectives as well as the suspects and victims, but I find them useful for long trips.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I do not know them, no.

Mystery Series

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

Have you read either of Anne Perry's two mystery series? Her series featuring Charlotte and Thomas Pitt (first book: The Cater Street Hangman) is quite good, but it's her series featuring Inspector William Monk that really grabbed me (first book: The Face of a Stranger). They've got a really fascinating way of portraying the intricacies of Victorian social interactions. There are over 20 books in the Pitt series, and about 15 in the Monk series, with more coming in the future, so if you like them, there's quite a lot to enjoy.

Re: Mystery Series

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I bounced hard off of every Anne Perry I tried, alas.

Shows

[reveritas.livejournal.com]

All I got is a suggestion for "Corner Gas." My mom and stepdad adore that bad boy. I bought them a DVD set for xmas. No clue what it is like.

So, yah ;)

Re: Shows

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It sounds...um...gosh. I can hardly say how it sounds. But it's Canadian, huh? Hmm. Canadian friends? Thoughts on this?

Oh, I'm sure you'll be fine soon

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Hopefully it's nothing!

*ducks; runs*

oh wait I can't run

*ducks; turns to run; falls over*

While I'm down here, I'll say this is a very smart list. And it's so nice to find things you know you can DO that will bring you joy instead of waiting and waiting for the Big Ick to stop so you can start experiencing joy.

Re: Oh, I'm sure you'll be fine soon

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

All right for you, missy!

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

Ok, that's a pretty good list - and I'm worn out already reading it :) Yay lists of nifty do-able things. Er, and I've not been anywhere without someone to keep an eye on me for ten years now, people are useful companions

*hugs*

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid wearing people out just looking at me is a personality trait that has not really ebbed with the vertigo. It's just changed outlet some.

[aedifica]

I think you and I read mysteries for different things, but it's possible you'd like the first several Cat Who books by Lilian Jackson Braun, before it became The Series That Would Not Die. In the early books the main character is a newspaper reporter down on his luck, who adopts a cat who is always coincidentally adopting habits that help the main character figure out whodunnit. For me, the series' breaking point is three or four books after he becomes a millionaire--watching him come to terms with his change in fortune (and environment) is interesting, but it became too samish after a while and I stopped reading them. It's also possible you'd throw them at the nearest wall, but if you did like them, they'd be a whole pile of books for you.

And I can't remember--have you read Sarah Caudwell's books? I enjoy Professor Tamar's unstated gender.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I have read the Caudwell books, and loved them.

[tanac.livejournal.com]

15: perhaps dried strawberries? Ooh, you could reconstitute dried strawberries in something with balsamic vinegar. that'd be smashing.

Alternately, a strawberry puree or jam in a thumbprint-thingie, although it'd be better as a surprise center of some kind.

TV/DVD series: Columbo (fun if you like it, and tons of them), Dresden Files (not much like the books, but enough, and fun if silly, but short lived).

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

"Surprise center." Those are good words, "surprise center."

[one-undone.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's a great list and a wonderful attitude. You're right; life goes on. We may as well live it within the boundaries we've been dealt -- and beyond, if we can manage. :)

Happy New Year, M'ris. :D

Brainstorming mystery serieseses

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

I have been given an Ian Rankin Inspector Rebus novel for Christmas, having enjoyed listening to a BBC radio adaptation recently. I can report back later when I've read it, but I think drasecretcampus has read all of them, if you want more information in the mean time.

Peter Lovesey is possibly worth investigating as well: either the Peter Diamond (modern Bath/London/other UK locations) or Sergeant Cribb (19th Century London) series. Colin Dexter? P.D. James? You've probably come across Ngaio Marsh and Margery Allingham - patchy but useful for 30s-ish Golden Age English crime, if that's what you fancy. Last time I wanted a medieval English setting, I enjoyed one of Susannah Gregory's Matthew Bartholomew novels as a light read, but as I rather overdosed on Brother Cadfael when I was younger I don't feel that urge very often. If you want a slightly more unusual historical setting, I rather like Gillian Linscott's Nell Bray mysteries, set in London in and around the suffrage movement.

I tried an Amelia Peabody novel and bounced hard off both the narrative voice and the relationship between Amelia and her husband, but various people on my flist seem to like them, especially the earlier ones. I have enjoyed the Benjamin Januaries I've read, but with my historical novel glasses on rather than my detective novel ones - there's something about the way Hambly introduces clues and leads which doesn't quite work for me. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts, should you decide to read them.

Does the TV series have to be fictional? If not, you could combine two goals and watch Simon Schama, assuming he's available in a DVD format near you.

Re: Brainstorming mystery serieseses

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I, on the other hand, did not overdose on Brother Cadfael. I love Brother Cadfael. So.

I'm afraid the TV series does have to be fictional. I'm not completely opposed to watching nonfiction on DVD, but I'm not at all sure the pace would work for workouts.

Crime fiction

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Mysteries that are a long series: Michael Innes' Appleby books. Fun settings, donnish humour, you'll know pretty soon whether you love or hate them.

Strong on setting and character: Ann Cleeves. She does series, though not long series - try the Shetland books (currently two, planned as a quartet), or the Vera Stanhope.

Good luck with that list - lots of good stuff there!

Re: Crime fiction

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Library website is temporarily down, but I will look into those. Thanks.

[toadnae.livejournal.com]

Depending on why you like Numb3rs, I would recommend either NCIS (silly silliness and adorable goth lab girl!) or The Mentalist (new, but I'm fascinated by the characters). h

For mystery series, I'm mining all these recommendations too, but I have really liked the PD James books I've read.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

NCIS is on my library list to try. They don't have The Mentalist yet, but I'll keep it in mind.

[rmnilsson.livejournal.com]

For television shows, have you ever watched The West Wing? I missed it almost entirely when it was on the air because of school and because I figured a show with that much mainstream success was probably not my cup of tea. But when I caught it in reruns on Bravo, I really liked it. I've now got it all on DVD if you want to check it out without spending any money.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I got S1 from the library and watched the first ten episodes. I liked it well enough that I expect I will get it from the library again so I can finish it--they have a seven-day checkout policy on DVDs whether it's a 90-minute movie or an entire season worth of 45-minute TV shows, and I have no interest in watching it all in one week. But yah, if you've got good DVDs to lend, I would gladly borrow them rather than going through the one week rigamarole at the library.

[laurel]

In theory I am chairing the Minn-StF Fallcon so there'll be another Convivial. We don't have a date or hotel yet. Probably same hotel, similar timing, and I should figure that out. We've been waiting on them since the con, basically to sort some things out.

As for TV series . . . I've been thinking on a nice big post to my LJ and/or TVPicks.net with recommendations on my fave series to watch on DVD. So I'll point you to that once it's out there.

As for Twins games . . . we're always happy to go. We haven't yet figured out if we're getting a package for ourselves this year nor what we're doing for 2010 (and that order has to be in to the Twins by Jan 9th. Eep!). I should think there are some places one could sit in the Dome that would be less-bad for vertigo. At least it's usually possible to have your pick of seats there. We'd also be up for getting together sometime to watch a game at your place or here or at a not-too-annoying bar or something.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Good luck sorting hotel stuff, and I will be glad to read that post when it comes up.

I don't think we know of any not-too-annoying bars, but we have a big TV here, so that might well be a good idea for an away-game in addition to a home-game outing.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

I was shocked to realize that there were twenty-seven Nora Roberts SF crime books. It took me a month to get through them, two or three or four a week depending on my willpower. They were good enough as books, certainly good enough to keep me coming back to the library in grumpy moods, and the metabook, I guess I am calling it, was also nifty-- it's a future written by someone who does not seem to have read most of the futures I have read, and evolving to match the present and what could come from the present. I can't tell if anyone else would like them at this point, but I did.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Where would you start, if you were to send somebody to start the series?