Well, I don't know, what are the hours?

[sovay]

It is snowing thickly outside. Somerville has already declared a snow emergency. It remains to be seen how this will interact with the window situation.

I am nonetheless, at the moment, quite happy—among other reasons, because I just saw the results of the 2012 Strange Horizons Readers' Poll. Congratulations to gwynnega, Sofia Samatar, selidor, and rose_lemberg, who is evidently not sweeping the poll only because she didn't publish five poems with us last year. (All of those poems are my choices. I am actually making a difference as an editor. I am really pleased about this.) Also to alankria for fiction and to hawkwing_lb and rushthatspeaks, my wonderful-writing love, for reviewing. This magazine is pretty awesome.

And because tonight I saw This Is Spinal Tap (1984) at the Coolidge Corner Theatre with my mother, who had never seen it before and loved it, because she recognized the entire scene from the years when her brother was the producer for Kansas, especially the tour where Kansas opened for Queen. "The roadies were exactly like that!"

And because this afternoon I walked down to Ball Square and met derspatchel for lunch at Kelly's. I ordered a Reuben, planning to replace the sauerkraut with coleslaw as usual; the waitress told me they were "out of Reuben" and suggested I try a Monte Cristo. (I didn't think of it at the time, but I bet they were out of corned beef. Happy day after Saint Patrick's Day.) I'd never had a Monte Cristo before. Ham, swiss, turkey, French toast. There was no shortage of each. It is probably a data point that I ate it at two o'clock and with the exception of some coconut lime ice cream from J.P. Lick's around nine-thirty, I haven't really had any food since.

And because I am reading Margaret Talbot's The Entertainer: Movies, Magic and My Father's Twentieth Century (2012), which I pulled off the fifty percent rack at Porter Square Books without having heard of it at all and because of a badly torn page in the index got for a full third of its price. I am a quarter of the way in—teenage carnival barker to hypnotist's assistant—with pre-Code Hollywood still in Lyle Talbot's future and while I recognized his name in the vague way of a person who watches a lot of TCM, Rob placed him from Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). I am enjoying it enormously so far.

I don't know what will happen with the apartment. We have not yet been able to make an appointment with the building inspector—I am going to call the city again tomorrow—and my room was 54°F when I came home. It's different layers of uncertainty; some of them we can organize and some of them we cannot. But I am still making a life. I insist on that.

Comments

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

Congratulations to all the winners of the SH poll!

When so many of the extant staff members left or announced imminent departure around when Niall stepped up as editor in chief, I wondered whether SH would fade and die. Very glad to see how the new section editors have reinvigorated it--and, um, though reading some Borski poems is fine, it is nice not to have them every 1-2 months anymore.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

54 degrees, huh? I hope you have extra blankets. What is it with Arlington's housing inspectors??

Strange Horizons is definitely a happening zine!

[gwynnega]

I'm delighted to be in such good company in the Readers' Poll results! Strange Horizons is awesome.

It sounds like your mother has some great Spinal Tap-esque stories.

I hope you can keep warm with the snow and window situation!

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on your editing success! I'm glad that you're happy.

I wish you luck with the snow and the building inspector and all the rest. I also wish you many blankets for tonight.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

... wait, you'd never had a Monte Cristo? It's true I don't make them often, because Thrud's recipe, which I accept as canonical, means I can eat approximately one-quarter of a sandwich and then I have to lie down for a while whimpering. But now I have to make one for you. We can split it, and lie down whimpering together.

A Monte Cristo Which Fights Back:

2 slices my French toast (you've had it)
a pile of honey-baked ham
a pile of smoked pastrami, the kind with black pepper
a pile of good sliced turkey or pulled turkey from Thanksgiving
thinly sliced Muenster cheese
half an avocado, sliced medium-thick
cranberry mustard (this is important)

While toast is hot, spread mustard medium-thin on both slices. Pile rest of ingredients until sandwich is barely closable. Drizzle all over with honey. Press in panini grill or put in oven with a weight on top until cheese melts, which will hold it together. If completely insane (i.e. Thrud), you can also add some hot-pepper jelly.

Grape jelly and powdered sugar, while occasionally occurring in restaurants, are Heretical. Corned beef is acceptable. Non-honeyed ham should be looked at sternly down the nose and then eaten anyway.

This is literally the only reason there is a jar of cranberry mustard in my refrigerator.

These sandwiches are a terrible idea on every level except taste, but I do like one every couple of years.

[kraada.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine you working on something and not making a difference at it.

And on the topic of sandwiches: the Croque Madame is the best sandwich ever invented.

[lesser-celery.livejournal.com]

I ordered a Reuben, planning to replace the sauerkraut with coleslaw as usual; the waitress told me they were "out of Reuben" and suggested I try a Monte Cristo. (I didn't think of it at the time, but I bet they were out of corned beef. Happy day after Saint Patrick's Day.)

I made Reubens for St. Patrick's Day. Then my laptop broke. Maybe Someone Up There objects to my mixing ethnicities.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on your editing! Those are some excellent poems.

(I'm honoured to find myself in such company on the Readers' Poll.)

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

I'm flashing on Spinal Tap trying to fold Monte Criscos.

Nine