Thoughts on being a Mom and everything else
This week rounded off my hectic 5 hotels in 5 weeks travel schedule with a work trip to Philadelphia. Here’s the quick list of where I’ve been:
Not surprisingly, I am exhausted.
It’s election morning here in the United States (though the post won’t go live for a couple days), and many people are understandably anxious about the possibility of a convicted felon winning again. (If you’re somehow unsure where I stand politically, read my previous post here.)
I found myself explaining our election process to co-workers in Latin America yesterday. Not the messy, outdated Electoral College part, which would probably have made for a longer meeting. Rather I was detailing the different voting options and how that delays the official results. Ignoring the states that have switched entirely to mail-in voting, many states offer absentee ballots by mail – including here in Illinois – in addition to early voting. One of the reasons for that, as I explained, is because election day is not a federal holiday. Most of the people I was talking with live in countries where everything closes for election day, which encourages people to vote. But if you look at our federal holidays, many of them have become glorified shopping days, which means retail workers don’t have the day off. (For example, look back at how shopping crept into Thanksgiving Day celebrations before the pandemic.)
Before the pandemic, I typically voted early because the timing was better for my work and life schedules. Those ballots were typically electronic voting, offered at a smaller number of locations than election day, and can be tabulated with the other votes. To be clear, I’ve been voting early long enough that I have never been to my current voting site, having moved to this house shortly before the 2016 election.
Mail-in ballots are, of necessity, paper, and that’s where many of the delays in counting happen. The rules for requesting a paper ballot vary by state – some require that you be incapable of voting in person for medical or other reasons, while others (like Illinois) simply require that you request it. In fact, Illinois allows voters to sign up for recurring paper ballots, instead of having to request one each election. The request has to match your voter registration, of course, and the ballot includes an envelope that you sign – that signature gets compared to your voter registration. This simulates the process of walking into the voting location, showing your ID, and signing to request your ballot.
Each of those mailed in ballots has to be processed – that is, the information on the envelope confirmed – before the votes can be tabulated. When that processing can start varies by state, as does when the mail-in vote counting can start. In fact, it varies so much, Ballotpedia has an entire page on the subject. The important thing to note is that many states don’t allow absentee ballot counting to start until the polls close on election day, and several states allow ballots to count if they were postmarked by election day and received within the next couple weeks. This made a huge difference in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic when more of us voted by mail and states had to work through those ballots after election day.
I had the good fortune of traveling to San Diego for work recently, including a sunset cruise on the Bella Luna. This is a case where I’ll let the pictures paint the words (though there are some in the ALT text, of course).
A while back – August 2020, in fact – I shared my review of The Space Between Worlds. Near the end of 2023, I was delighted to receive the sequel, Those Beyond the Wall, to review. Following that delightful reading opportunity, when I began assembling a proposed list of guests for next year’s Capricon, Micaiah’s name was on the list. She will be attending, so now’s a great time to pick up both books and read them before meeting her. This review was originally published in the March 1, 2024 issue of Booklist.
In Micaiah Johnson’s Those Beyond the Wall, the thrilling sequel to Space Between Worlds, readers explore Ashtown – the city beyond Wiley City’s atmospheric protection – through the eyes of Mr. Scales, sister to the Emperor, as traversers arrive from a parallel universe, killing this world’s version of them upon arrival. The leaders of Ashtown scramble for some manner of defense against the interdimensional arrivals, pulling old enemies scientist Adam Bosch and traverser Cara into their efforts, and cementing a sanctuary agreement within the city for their people in exchange for their solution. As they prepare for the city’s anticipated betrayal, Scales confronts the differences between Ashtown and Wiley City’s justice systems, channeling righteous rage against the city’s discriminatory enforcement, leveraging it to protect everybody. The systemic changes Scales desires will require personal sacrifices as she rushes to protect Ashtown’s people. Johnson’s riveting dystopian story carries thinly veiled messages stemming from the protests that swept the United States during summer 2020, the gritty setting reminding readers that this injustice can – and does – happen in reality. Those Beyond the Wall will appeal to fans of classic science fiction that portrays parallels to the current social issues.
At a work-related conference recently, I heard about Google Notebook, which is an experimental AI that can parse information from your uploads. I decided to upload my past blog posts about Dorkstock as an experiment. I uploaded PDFs of six blog posts – 2017 (our second year in Madison), 2 from 2018 (before and after), 2019, 2021, and 2023. Please note that I experimented with Google Notebook because it’s only using my uploaded content, not stealing it from somewhere online. After feeding the blog posts in, I asked “What is Dorkstock?” I’ll note corrections inline.
Dorkstock is a mini-gaming convention held within a larger convention. One person described it as a “tiny little division of Gamehole Con.”
Origin
Dorkstock is a labor of love started by fans of John Kovalic’s work. Kovalic is the creator of the comic “Dork Tower.” [I don’t believe I’ve ever referred to John by just his last name; I either call him John or John Kovalic.]
● Fans wanted to create a convention related to his work and that of other artists published under “Storm Press.” [Missing the word “Dork”.]
● They decided to hold a mini-convention within a larger convention that John Kovalic was already attending.
Games
A variety of games are played at Dorkstock, with both scheduled and pick-up games.
● Some of the games are related to the “Dork Tower” comic, such as “Igor Bars.” [Bwahahaha… “Igor Bars” is referred to as a game!]
● There are also life-sized games, like “Warhamster Rally” and “Escape from Dork Tower.”
● Dorkstock has featured special guests like Steve Jackson and Phil Reed, who are known for games like “Munchkin.”
● Attendees enjoy playing “Munchkin” at Dorkstock, even running Munchkin Block Party events.
Location and Growth
Dorkstock has been hosted at Gamehole Con in Madison, Wisconsin for several years.
● It has grown from a one-day event to a four-day convention.
● There is a “Dorkstock coloring table” at the convention.
Dorkstock has also expanded beyond Madison, Wisconsin.
● There were at least two “Dorkstock UKs” and a “Dorkstock West.”
Personal Impact
For one attendee [me!], attending DragonCon and waiting in a crowded booth led them to the comic “Dork Tower”, which led them to John Kovalic and eventually, to their involvement in Dorkstock.
It’s not a terrible summary of Dorkstock. The follow-up question (prompt provided) of describing an unique aspect of Dorkstock focused on our life-sized games. Speaking of which, this weekend’s Dorkstock features the debut of Greed Quest Live, along with the return of other life-sized games. If you’re near Madison, stop in and see us – most of Dorkstock’s games are in a room upstairs, while the life-sized games are in the dealer’s hall.
Irreverent. Heretical. Fabulous.
Those are the first words that come to mind after seeing An Act of God at the Copley Theatre in Aurora, the latest show in their Bold series. The basic premise is that God is delivering a message directly to us, rewriting the Ten Commandments to clarify and modernize them, with the assistance of archangels Michael and Gabriel. That’s the entire cast, by the way, just those three people. God does most of the talking.
A three-person play is always going to be challenging, even with a short run time of 90 minutes. I suspect a three-person comedy where half the audience isn’t laughing is doubly so for the actors. Early on in the performance, I noticed that there were loud pockets of laughter in some parts of the small theatre (ourselves included) and other pockets of stone-faced theatregoers. At the end of the show, the artists received half a standing ovation, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that before. I suspect many of the sitting half would have walked out had there been an intermission.
Live performances in particular are supposed to make you think, so hopefully those people who weren’t laughing were at least given an interesting line of thought to pursue. As to whether you should see it, I suppose that depends on how literally you interpret the Bible and whether you’re comfortable looking at it from a different perspective. Obviously, I quite enjoyed it.
‘Well, that’s a cute idea,’ I thought, when I spotted journals for childhood memories labelled for parents and grandparents. It’s not the first time I’ve bought something like this; I gave my father something along these lines a couple years before he passed away. I don’t believe he used it, so it’s my mother’s to fill in now. This is, however, the first time I considered buying one for myself as we were picking up two Grandma ones (same questions!) to share.
Since I bought it in September, it made sense to start at that date, rather than filling in from the beginning. Oops, I cropped the dates out when I took the photo… rest assured, the questions about Halloween are around that date, not back in January. I’ve taken to reading a question ahead, then setting the journal down to think about it for a while before answering. The questions for September are largely about school, all the way from elementary to high school, and I’ve found myself thinking about things that while not forgotten, are rarely reflected on in my current life. Oddly, it has a bit of a calming effect in what has been a chaotic year of home improvement, convention planning (huh… apparently I haven’t written about co-chairing next year’s Capricon yet), and changes at work.
Whether you find a pre-printed book, one of those online options that provide a prompt every day, or just a blank journal, consider writing down your memories to share with your family. Our lives have changed so much with the advent of household technology that our reflections on the past will be a window into how life has changed.
In the interest of full disclosure, podcasts aren’t really my thing. I prefer to read material rather than listen to it. But when someone you’ve known for two-thirds of your life starts a podcast – with the bonus of it being an interesting subject – you listen to it.
It’s still early, two episodes in, so hop on over and listen to my friend Lya’s Memoirs of a Neurodivergent Latina. If nothing else, it’s a good reminder that there are many different paths for our brains… the way I think through things is probably not the way you do.
If you’re as excited about those two episodes as I am, check out her Patreon as well.
I flushed the toilet. Well, I tried to. The flush lever was suddenly loose and not doing what it was supposed to. When I lifted the lid, expecting to find a broken or loose chain, I was surprised to see a broken plastic stick instead.
Oof. It was a busy work day though, and I had another bathroom, so I postponed dealing with it for a day or so. And another day when I realized I couldn’t loosen the old lever to replace it. And as long as we needed to get one thing fixed, it seemed like a good time to get my shower faucet, which drips for a bit after a shower, corrected as well. Oh, and the kitchen faucet, which no longer swivels and the rubber bit to switch to spray mode has long since melted… might as well get that replaced too.
I reached out to a handyman on a non-urgent basis about getting those fixed. And then I attempted to turn on the hall bathroom shower, which went click, turned loosely and left behind a steady drip with no way to adjust the water flow. This suddenly became more urgent, and the handyman’s schedule wasn’t opening up for a couple weeks. (He’s good, that’s why we like him, but it means everyone else does too.)
With the exception of one other project, all of this was plumbing-related, and fortunately, the company we’ve called before was able to fit me in within an hour of calling them. Whew.
Chock this one up to the joys of home ownership.
Many times, we just have to coo at how adorable the cats are, particularly in the rare instance when three or more are in the same general space. In this case, I was summoned to see three cats peacefully resting on the bed, only to have the fourth cat – Arwen in this case – jump up on the bed to join the rest. Of course, that didn’t last – Zuko immediately got up to give chase, quickly leaving just the two elder cats to their cat nap.
And sometimes, we have to groan because the cat is both adorable and misbehaving, as is the case in this second photo, a view of the kitchen window, slightly open, from outside. Not open quite enough for Arwen to sit in the window, she decided to lounge right next to it, which means she’s hovering on a small sliver of counter next to the dish drainer. That is not generally where we want our cats hanging out, mostly for the obvious reasons of “get your butt away from our clean dishes” and “don’t put your butt where we set any dishes”.
And then there’s yesterday, which was more of a “how in the world did you…” moment and did not involve a photo. In the early mornings, before work, I typically let the cats play in the garage. I was doing something in the living room when I heard a strange thumping from the garage (through the shared wall), so I looped through the kitchen to see what was going on. Zuko dashed out from behind the dryer as I arrived, but I couldn’t see Arwen. I could hear her though, from somewhere near the dryer. Somehow the laundry basket that was on the dryer had gotten knocked off to rest in the corner between the dryer and the freezer. Upside down. With Arwen under it. I have no idea how they managed that. (Obviously, I freed her immediately. Didn’t even grab my camera.)