Everything you could, like any decent person would

[sovay]

I am almost too tired to think. Considering I have to get up at stupid o'clock tomorrow in order to compensate for the Red Line's suspension of service from Alewife on the weekends, this is probably a good thing.

Apparently I spoke about exiled, dispossessed, and alienated characters in reasonably coherent sentences while on the edge of a migraine, although I have this memory of rabbiting on about kataphasis and apophasis that I can only hope was edifying, because I have my doubts about its relevance to the conversation.

Bob Kuhn is no relation to any of the people I know by that name, but I want to hear his Roman-numeral version of Tom Lehrer's "New Math."

I finally caught an episode of the Post-Meridian Radio Players' Red Shift: Interplanetary Do-Gooder. It was terrific. I left wanting to go home and tune up my radio telescope.

(. . . I have a radio telescope. It's in the side yard. It was a high school science project. I'm still prouder of the incubator full of E. coli-fed cellular slime mold. They were beautiful.)

Sitting in the row in front of me at the show was the actress who plays Abalyn in Kyle Cassidy's photo series and video of Caitlín's The Drowning Girl—I recognized her from stills. If only the book were out, I could have asked her for an autograph.

You who know who you are, thank you. I'm still working on everything. But it matters.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I have a radio telescope. It's in the side yard. It was a high school science project. I'm still prouder of the incubator full of E. coli-fed cellular slime mold. They were beautiful.

A radio telescope? I have never been anywhere **near** one. What do you see, when you look through?

I know how radio telescopes work *really* but I like to imagine that instead of giving us images of the radiowave end of the electromagnetic spectrum, they gave us a sound report. And not hisses and pops and static, like the underlying sound of the Big Bang, but tunes and notes and chimes.

The slime mold that eats E. coli: I'm imagining the doctor to the patient. "We can cure your case of E. coli, but you'll have to get slimed.

Hope today's day at Arisia goes well.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Apparently I spoke about exiled, dispossessed, and alienated characters in reasonably coherent sentences while on the edge of a migraine,

Inconvenient as this can obviously be, I would really start to consider it your superpower.;)

Thinking of you, a lot.

[schreibergasse.livejournal.com]

I'm still prouder of the incubator full of E. coli-fed cellular slime mold.

I hadn't heard about them! You should have determined whether they could digest a copy of Etiquette in Society.
[Sorry, I don't think I'm EVER going to let that joke die.]

And I think it would be cool if you DID tune up your radio telescope, even if I'm not sure what you'd do with it.

Hope you slept.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

"Reasonably coherent"? Deeply intelligent. Truly a superpower.

Nine

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you were tired, and hope you've had some sleep.

I'm sure kataphasis and apophasis were relevant.

I'm glad you caught the episode, and I think it's rather brilliant that you have a radio telescope.

I hope Arisia treats/has treated you well today.

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

What do you do with a radio as opposed to any other sort of telescope? Of course you have one.

As the heroine said, keep in good health and [don't] die,
Yr Obt Svt

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

...okay. I'm a bit awed by the fact you built a radio telescope.

And kudos on the slime mould. (That is *not* a sentence I ever expected to write...)

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

That's so cool that you met Dani! If you see her again, say "hi" for me.

[clarionj.livejournal.com]

Despite your migraine and fatigue and early hours, your life always feel so full to me. Full of interesting things! I think my mind would explode with all you take in. :) But oh how beautifully you absorb, sort, and convey everything back to us.

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

I have nothing to add to this discussion except to say I'm amused that I'm here reading it.

(Here only because I was at Arisia this weekend and am randomly reading discussion of it.)

[ajodasso.livejournal.com]

You said there was a filk panel on Monday you were likely to be attending - is it the Dead Dog open filk at 2:30 PM? Because that's the only thing resembling a filk panel I can find on Monday's schedule that's not at a completely ungodly hour when I will not yet be there.

[sovay]

Because that's the only thing resembling a filk panel I can find on Monday's schedule that's not at a completely ungodly hour when I will not yet be there.

No, it's the Skin Horse Sing-Along at 1 pm, led by Nat Budin and Ariela Zonderman.

[ajodasso.livejournal.com]

Aha! I'll turn up, then :) The panels I'm definitely planning on attending before that are Queer SF/F and Setting As Character.

[sovay]

(Here only because I was at Arisia this weekend and am randomly reading discussion of it.)

Wave and let me know who you are if you see me today!

[sovay]

If you see her again, say "hi" for me.

Absolutely!

[edit]

I did, this afternoon, and she said the same enthusiastically back!

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

I'm always impressed by slime mold.

[sovay]

What do you see, when you look through?

Well, mostly it gave me numbers I could run statistical transforms on . . .

but I like to imagine that instead of giving us images of the radiowave end of the electromagnetic spectrum, they gave us a sound report. And not hisses and pops and static, like the underlying sound of the Big Bang, but tunes and notes and chimes.

I bet it's been done: the real music of the spheres. And if not, someone with astronomical leanings and a background in composition should.

Hope today's day at Arisia goes well.

It did, I think. I'm exhausted, but I'm done with all my panels and I don't believe any of them were disasters. This may make the convention a success.

[sovay]

Inconvenient as this can obviously be, I would really start to consider it your superpower.

Hah. Thank you. I think all my superpowers are inconvenient.

Thinking of you, a lot.

It is really, really appreciated.

[sovay]

I hadn't heard about them!

Sophomore year of high school. Dictyostelium discoideum has one of the more awesome life cycles known to man, or at least to me—they start as single-celled amoebae which feed on bacteria through the normal process of engulfing, then aggregate via a chemical signal of cyclic AMP (adenosine monophosphate) into a multicellular slug which slimes along until eventually it sends up a stalk, reproduces in an exploding cloud of spores, and starts the whole process over again. My project was to determine whether the aggregation was strictly triggered by a lack of food or whether it would occur at a certain point in the slime mold's life cycle regardless of how well-fed the individual amoebae were. Toward this end, I converted a former fish tank into an incubator and stocked it with petri dishes of agar and D. discoideum, also E. coli. Conclusions were that plentiful food can delay aggregation, but cannot prevent it; eventually, reproduction happens. I entered the project in my high school science fair and it went to the state level before being deemed cool but totally useless. I got a lot of great microscope photographs before then, though.

[Sorry, I don't think I'm EVER going to let that joke die.]

Well, it's a classic . . .

And I think it would be cool if you DID tune up your radio telescope, even if I'm not sure what you'd do with it.

A few years after I used it to map galactic clouds of neutral hydrogen (1.42 GHz!), my brother retuned it to look for meteors. It's probably still set to "Leonid."

Hope you slept.

Not really, but the weekend's programming seems to have gone fine anyway.

[sovay]

I hope Arisia treats/has treated you well today.

I think it did, after all.

[sovay]

What do you do with a radio as opposed to any other sort of telescope? Of course you have one.

The usual kind, you look through. Radio, you listen.

(Seriously, that's it: radio frequencies vs. visible light. You want to hear a pulsar, radio astronomy is your friend.)

Not dead yet.

[sovay]

...okay. I'm a bit awed by the fact you built a radio telescope.

To be fair, I had help from my father on the telescope. But the slime mold was all me.

(That is *not* a sentence I ever expected to write...)

More people should!

[sovay]

I'm always impressed by slime mold.

Thank you!

[sovay]

Despite your migraine and fatigue and early hours, your life always feel so full to me.

Hah. Thank you. I tend to feel it's a lot of dead air . . .

But oh how beautifully you absorb, sort, and convey everything back to us.

Thank you.

Arisia

[tiereu.livejournal.com]

Enjoyed your poetry reading at Arisia on Saturday ...though a few words were drowned out by the noise in the hall. will definitely purchase your poem book and hopefully someday have you autograph it. hope your migraine has passed and take care.
tim t.

[sovay]

Enjoyed your poetry reading at Arisia on Saturday ...though a few words were drowned out by the noise in the hall. will definitely purchase your poem book and hopefully someday have you autograph it.

I'd be honored! Thank you. I'm very glad.

hope your migraine has passed and take care.

Working on it. It was a good convention.

Be well!