I must say that I find Tiffany books unexpectedly tiring to read. This is because they always make me feel guilty about slacking off on the work that’s in front of me, and so a lot of household chores tend to get done in medias libris. Today I sorted through my all of my underwear and rowing gear and got rid of the stuff that was worn out or didn’t fit, among other things. Tiffany would approve, except that she’d have found another use for all of it (made tourniquettes of the spandex?) And she wouldn’t have had extra clothing in the first place, and would have thought the idea of special clothing to exercise in was a bit silly. (And possible ditto for exercise itself, though she’d approve of rowing for transportation or fun.)

And one tiny one-nonspecific-word spoiler that will bug nobody except the people who really really really don’t want to know *anything* about the plot of a book before they read it so I am putting in a cut for them:
.

in the very last chapter (not including Epilogue) the word ‘son’ is used. Is that person talking about who I think that person is talking about?

Ahem. neener

(You could of course counter with all the movies that come out earlier in the US, but I don’t really care much about most movies!)

I couldn’t get the Kindle version because that’s only available now if you’re registered with Amazon UK instead of US – I assume they make you sign up with one or the other specifically so they don’t have people breaching publishing dates, not to mention copyrights, everywhere. In this case I don’t care; I have all of the other Tiffany books in hardcover and want this one that way too.

And also, I bought merino (blend) tights today, not a thing I’ve ever found in the US.
Though to be fair, a quick Google says Saks carries the same brand. And any American who thinks that in general European clothing is more expensive but of better quality is doomed to sad disappointment. (Well … the more expensive part is right, anyhow.)

Digression the second: I am rereading Arthur Ransome’s We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea, one of the Swallows & Amazons books. I think tis may be my first reread, since my initial rereading of the book can’t have been more than two years ago, so this time around I’ve been noticing how beautifully he sets everything up. It’s a bit astonishing how many little tiny unnoticeable (by me on first reading) things happen earlier on that set the stage for the later adventures; someone is always saying regretfully, “We won’t need that on this trip” and then of course they do. The only thing that bothers me is how many useful things Jim Braden just happened to mention, that we never got told about earlier on. (And of course the ending is one giant deus ex machina coincidence, but I can live with that. Especially as things would have worked out anyway, just not so nicely.) Also, I am thinking that these are the perfect books for people to have read who then grew up to read Josephine Tey – something about the way the characters understand each other in this book and in Brat Farrar is is very similar. Here it’s all narrated a bit more clearly, which makes perfect sense for something aimed at juvenile readers.

Digrssion the third: Last night I went rowing. On the way there I realized that rowing was eating into my social life, and it felt peversely good. For one thing it’s nice to have enough of a social life to be eaten into. (A bunch of the local Americans tend to go out for ribs on Thursday nights.) But it wasn’t that mostly; it was that it feels like being back to being a real rower with real trianing, when it starts to impact the rest of your life. It was kind of like old times, except that the rowing directly interefered with going out instead of just interfering because I had to get up at OhGod o’clock and couldn’t go out the night before.

What I was going to write about: My life is about to get hectic.
I’ve been thinking that I may go up to Amsterdam for the day tomorrow. On the other hand, maybe I won’t; this weekend and next will be quiet, but things are going to get frantic quickly. Next week I have nothing more taxing than (hopefully) a dinner with friends from Taiwan and an all-day offsite meeting where I have to present. But after that…

On September 19 I will be rowing in the Rondje Eindhoven, a few days later my mom comes to visit, we spend five days of her visit in London, then it looks like I may move to a new flat *while* she’s here (I’ll have movers to do the heavy part; I’m not making my mother do that!) then a few days after she leaves I go to Taiwan. I need to be there for a few days to help Ted pack up, but I’m going to go for two weeks and just work out of that office instead of this one. And then Ted’s here!

Of course, “insanely busy” is only one perspective on it. The other view goes, “blah blah blah scenic rowing tour blah blah blah vacation blah blah London” blah blah big new apartment blah blah routine work at my old desk with my old coworkers blah staying with my husband”. It’s much harder to whine about that interpretation.

Scary thing the first: I just got an email from the Democratic Party of Oregon. How do they even know? We just bought the house this month. Further, I think I was registered as an Independent when we last lived in the US; I’m registered with Democrats Abroad because I don’t think there’s an independent option that makes it easy (well. Slightly easier) to vote from outside the US.

Scary thing the second: we are dealing with or about to be dealing with movers on three separate continents – Taiwan for Ted’s more here, in the US for mving our stuff from storage to the new house, and here for moving from my current apartment to our new one. Most people only deal with one set of movers at a time, don’t they? (The movers here are contingent on my getting approval to move before his contract actually starts. Or maybe the company person can negotiate for the apartment rental to begin after he arrives. Or something.)

My life is complicated. Everyone’s life is complicated, but … I was going to say that mine seems to be complicated in more confusing ways, but that’s not even true. Romantic entangleds, for instance, can be even more confusing despite being more frequent. Maybe it’s just that mine seems to be complicated along different axes than most. Not in especially horrible or painful ways, just along different axes.

Best quote of the day, from a Slate article Ruth Bader Ginsburg. On why women like Sara Palin owe her more than they’ll admit: “Those who like to believe they have picked themselves up by their bootstraps sometimes forget that they wouldn’t even have boots were it not for the women who came before.” (Dalia Lithwick)

Also annoying: the cardigan, worn 2-3x, that developed a hole along one seam as I was taking it off yesterday. I might be able to fix it since it is on a seam, but it’s a fine enough knit that it will be tricky.

And third, an open letter, addressing yet another annoyance:

Dear men:

Please shower at least every few days. Y’all get stinky otherwise, which is not nice for anyone around you.

Thanks,
those of us with a working sense of smell

(Yesterday, I noticed in the elevator that one of my colleagues was a bit pungent. Today the problem had advanced to the point that I left the cafeteria as soon as I had eaten. muttering something about needing to get back to work. Ew.)

However, to counteract all of that annoyance, I just found out that all of the Weetzie Bat books have been collected into one volume, Dangerous Angels – and it’s available for the Kindle. $9.99 for that whole set has to be one of the great bargains (it can be got even cheaper in paperback). Those books make me almost like LA, in the way that Sean Stewarts books make me almost love Houston. (It’s easier to make me like LA, actually – Houston and I already have an existing dysfunctional relationship, in which I hate it except for the things about it that I love.)

Today’s outfit begins with a fine-knit t-shirt in an odd shade of salmon pink, with a gray skirt of something like parachute material with odd pleats / creases sewn in over it, topped off with a black cardigan in soft wool, with hanging fronts that could be tied at the waist (but which I’m currently leaving hanging. To come in to work, I wore my black Goretext shell jacket and a gray cotton knit scarf.

If Metropolis were suddenly threatened by a rampaging supervillain (and assuming I had superpowers to begin with and wouldn’t just be going to a messy death), I could whip off the cardi and skirt, somehow convert either the scarf or the drapey cardi into a cape and become …. um, yeah. I confess that my mind boggles a bit at the idea of a superhero garbed in salmon pink. However, I suspect any handy six-year old girl could help me figure out an appropriate hero-name and superpowers.

Come to think of it, maybe it’s a jewelry-based superpower like the Green Lantern. The most pleasing part of getting dressed this morning was realizing that the rhodochrosite necklace I bought in Buenos Aires matches the salmon pink perfectly.

ETA: I just noticed my typo in Gore-Tex above. Would Goretext be futuristic smart material that not only keeps you dry but has words scrolling across it?

II. I am reading Tim Gunn. He says you should edit your closet by dividing things into four piles: 1. Soul-stirring (things you love, or things that make you look and feel great, so anything from an exotic piece to a plain black tank – he also suggests you wear these more often); 2. Things to get repaired or fitted (which he suggests you do within 5 days or else maybe you didn’t care that much about the pieces); 3. Things to give away; 4. Things to throw away.

My problem is that for me, that isn’t enough categories. What about:

1. Things you love but never wear. I have a couple of evening dresses which I last wore in about 2006 – I just don’t have occasions that merit evening dresses. But if I did, or if one does come up, I have the right thing to wear. (This also applies to the dress I wore to my brother’s wedding. I have only one brother, and I hope he has only one wedding. But it’s a great dress!) However, these may fall within “soul-stirring” – at least Gunn doesn’t use the usual line about throwing it away if you haven’t worn it for a year.

2. Things that need tailoring but you won’t get it done in 5 days because you have no idea where there’s a good tailor near you. In fact, as all these New York people seem to forget, there may not *be* a tailor near you other than the dry cleaner who can do hems. But then again, maybe there is. (Or maybe there is and he’s only open during the hours you work, so it will take longer than 5 days until you can go to him.

3. Things that aren’t perfect but you made them yourself. I dare even Tim Gunn to throw out a sweater he’d knitted, even if it did stretch and lose that perfect fit the first time he washed it.

4. Things you don’t love but they enable things you do love. This includes the basics and the counterfoils, like the leggings that allow me to wear skirts in the cool weather here, or the cami that lets you wear a beautiful or transparent top to work that wouldn’t be office-appropriate otherwise, or the plain skirt with the right proportions to go with that gorgeous silk top.

5. Things you don’t love but you might love somewhere else, assuming you are likely to go there. I know that sounds weird, but what I mean is that the long flowy skirts I loved in Arizona and Taiwan don’t look or feel right in the Netherlands. However, not only is there such a thing as a beach vacation, but it’s not that unlikely that I’ll live somewhere warmer (at least for part of the year) within the next few years. A similar case may be considering whether to toss all your office clothes when you become a freelancer – what if you decide to go back to working in an office full or part-time?

6. Things that hold memories. Actually he does address these – says to save the memory and toss the clothing. I think he might also say that if you really want to, keep it but just not in the closet. This makes sense because not only am I not about to throw out my wedding dress, I’ not planning to throw away all those regatta T-shirts (might make a quilt of them someday, though).

7. Things that don’t stir your soul but that have practical uses. Workout gear that you actually work out in. Muck boots (I bought mine to take to Antarctica, which I may not be doing again soon but now that we own a house on a lake in the rainiest part of a famously rainy state, I’m pretty sure I’ll have a use for them. Those bespattered pants you keep to paint in. The flannel nightie you love to snuggle in when you’re sick but never wear otherwise. The Ugg boots I wear for the same reason surfer girls originally popularized them; not for a fashion statement but because nothing feels better when you get off the water, your feet are damp and you’re chilled through. Heck, what about work uniforms?

8. That thing you bought that’s a departure for you and you’re interested to see how it works out, but maybe it takes some time to figure out how to wear it.

Those are my categories; some of them might not fit anyone else, but I’m sure everyone has their own. If a wardrobe is an expression of a human being, then four categories is not enough to completely classify it. But I suppose if you get too nuanced* it doesn’t make good TV.

*Actually I suspect this is something Mr. Gunn struggles with. One thing I do enjoy about his book is that he does not restrict or dumb down his vocabulary when speaking to us of hoi polloi, even including quotes in French, Latin and Swedish.

2. Do other people spend half their workout trying to figure out characters in books they haven’t even read recently or is that only me?

Oh.

Well, anyway, the mother in Swallows and Amazons. Seems to me she has all the disadvantages of a single parent and then she still has to get her husband to make the big decisions. What’s that about? (I’m thinking, here, of the BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WONT DROWN telegram.) I could see it if the kids had done all their sailing with their father and she needed his opinion of their capabilities, but the book specifically says she’s a good sailor – she spent her childhood sailing around Sydney Harbor, which is much bigger than I think that lake was and is tidal. And it has sharks.

The only thing I can figure is that, since he’s obviously a loving father, she knew he missed being in on the kids lives and that he’d get a kick out of their idea.

But sometimes it’s nice to get more feedback either for validation (I’d say I’m an attention whore but I don’t like the ‘whore’ part of that – I like attention but I won’t do *anything* for it) or because I could use advice. Also, getting less feedback means I appreciate the comments I do get a lot! (On the LJ or DW reflections, I answer comments because commenters get notified. On the independent riseagain.net page I usually don’t because I don’t expect people to come back to read answers – but if something needs an answer I usually reply via email, except to trolls.)

This is one of the latter times. I’ve been making more things again. Maybe I’m just not creative when it’s hot out, but I’m knitting more lately and I’ve written a few poems for the first time in a while and even submitted one. One problem I have with that is that I know a lot of the venues for fantasy and SF poems, but could use suggestions for where to send stuff with more general themes. (Note: I had a few in Every Day Poems, but they’re off limits now because I read slush there.) My poems tend to vary a lot: rhyming, not rhyming, formal, freeform. They are generally shorter rather than longer (say, mostly under 50 lines) but not twitterpoems. Ideas?

Virtual kisses and bonus points if you’ve read my stuff and know of a venue where you think it would fit well.

Also, I’ve been knitting more. Now that the Wombat Blanket is done, I’ve fixed a few issues with the pattern (the border instructions weren’t right) and you can download it from Ravelry or here. Most of my knitting in the next couple of months will be on the complicated sweater for Ted, half a remaining baby sock and a pair of child socks for said baby’s big sister. But it would be nice to start thinking about a new pattern for whenever I do have spare knitting time. (Desite having yarn and vague plans for at least two more (simpler) sweaters.) So what should I invent?

I could make a simple sweater (don’t have the fitting skills for a complex one), though a smaller project would be nicer. Socks? A wrap? something for the house? Again, ideas welcome.

All of the patterns I’ve created so far are at Ravelry or on my home blog page in the left sidebar.

Because apparely nothing says autumn to me like leather and/or wool, my favorite recent outfits were two variants I wore last week. Pattern seems to be a big help in piling layers together and keeping them coordinated. My maroon gabardine sheath dress is always a bit difficult to plan as part of any outfit more complex than ‘dress, tights, shoes’, but it worked very well over buff tights and under a flowered cardigan in ivory with flowers in reds and blues with green leaves. I wore brown mary-jane pumps below all that. On top of that I had a dark red scarf and espresso leather blazer, though sadly I had to take those off indoors. I liked the evening version of the outfit even better – I traded the dress and tights for a T-shirt in a dusty dark red over olive drab cargos. Espresso boots would have been perfect under the cargos but it was too hot, so I wore penny loafers.

And today I am wearing a vest I knit – as far as I’m concerned, any outfit that incorporates something I made myself is a good outfit. The vest is green and I’have it over khaki-colored jeans and a light taupe jersey top.

All of the outfits I can remember for the past couple of weeks have had 3-5 pieces instead of a basic top and bottom, and I think most of them looked reasonably good on me. I feel like I should get a gold star or something. Layrered with silver, perhaps.

Also, last Friday I bought the fall jacket I’ve been waiting for fall to get – it’s basically a simplified version of a short trench – all of those flaps and buckles and buttons on a real trench look like a bit too much detail on me. This one is short enough to cycle in (a little above my knees), has a belt for shape, a wide collar, and a covered placket up the front. It’s in a cafe au lait color that’s a lot better on me than beige. But the funny thing is, it was half price because it was left over from the summer line. It feels sort of odd to be living in a place that sells special jackets just for summer!