Outside.. it's STILL THERE!!!!

[gridlore]

• 50 geek points for the first person to get the reference.


• The Spivrva and Prednisone are really helping, I'm back to about 65% of normal and yes, twitchy as hell. Yesterday, after Kirsten complained that she couldn't get to where we were storing all the Rice-a-Roni (a staple food in our household) I not only completely rearranged the shelves, but made sure that the different flavors were grouped together and shelved so you could see at a glance what we had. I did not alphabetize them, that's today's twitchy project.


• Kirsten wasn't feeling well this morning, and took the day off. I seized on this as a chance to get out of the house. I needed to make a run to Smart'n'Final, but was a bit leery of going alone. I'm still not entirely on my feet, so to speak, and wanted someone there with me. We took my truck (which desperately needs a bath) and I drove for the first time in weeks. Picked up some necessities and came home. Which, considering how bad I was just two weeks ago, when just walking out to the truck would have left me needing an inhaler and 20 minutes to recover, is pretty damn cool.


• Despite shopping hungry, I think we did a pretty good job controlling ourselves.


• Still waiting to hear from various services, agencies, and the airship people. Still looking for work that won't stress me right back into this hole.


• Work continues on my campaign setting.


• I've decided on using mangled German for the Dwarf names for the deities, and mangled Esperanto for the Elves.


• But that leads to an interesting question.. all intelligent races worship the same trinity. But obviously the Dwarfs are going to spend more effort worshiping the Building Father (who created them) and the Elves the Growing Mother (likewise.) So how would each race address the opposite deity in their liturgy? Life everybody likes, so that's no problem, but a big part of my theology is that Life (and his unspeakable twin) were created from the union of Law and Chaos.


• This extends to the formal names in the Dwarf and Elf pantheons for the deities. Elves and Dwarfs may loathe each other, but the gods are a different matter.


• Suggestions welcomed.


• I've sort of settle on a Europe in the late 9th Century but with a couple of major changes.


• Charlemagne didn't divide his kingdom between his brothers, instead passing the crown to his eldest son. Thus the Kingdom of the Franks is still a united, going concern with some powerful nobles providing intrigue.


• Of course, the Carolingian line died out in the mid-ninth century, so I could have a new dynasty on the throne, making things a bit more unstable.


• In the east, the Byzantines are going strong. You also have Great Moravia, the embryonic Polish state, and scattered Varangian city states and trading posts. Farther east, beyond the ruined dwarf mines of the Urals, lay the Goblinlands. Human and goblinoid barbarian dominate here.


• Italy is dominated by the Holy Church, either through direct lordship or holding power of the secular lords. Venice is a growing power. Iberia is split between several small states. In my world, there was no Moorish conquest due to a MacGuffin in the Western Sahara.


• Egypt and the Easter Mediterranean, the ancient home of the Dwarf Empire, is quiet. The only real center of note is the Great Monastery in Alexandria, home to the greatest collection of written works and artifacts in the known world.


• South of the deserts, rumors abound of strange civilizations. Here there be dragons.


• England is dominated by the Elves, who have been largely forced off the continent. Some humans still live there, mainly in Scotland, and make their living raiding the mainland.


• Ireland, home of the Sidhe Court, is a mystery. Almost no one who even sails close returns.


• Just thinking out loud, let me know what you think.


• 19 days until pitchers and catchers report.


• My biggest accomplishment of the week: I've complete caught up on Top Chef: All Stars

Comments

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

WILSON: "I'm not on anti-depressants, I'm on speeeeed!"

[meezergal.livejournal.com]

I just finished the dose pack day before yesterday (allergic reaction to amoxicillin). I KNOW what you mean about organizing everything--but I wanna get in a fight, y'know? *shakes head at herself*

[glinda-w.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so very very glad you're doing better. *keeps candle lit, just because*

I not only completely rearranged the shelves, but made sure that the different flavors were grouped together and shelved so you could see at a glance what we had. I did not alphabetize them, that's today's twitchy project.

Hee. My herbs and spices (the ones that aren't in jelly jars) are on two, two-tier turntables; herbs on one, spices on the other. Upper tier is smaller containers, normal spice jars won't fit; all are usually in alpha order. I claim it's not that I'm anal retentive, it's that it makes it so much easier to *find* things. (My mother also organized that way, though with far fewer seasonings; think learned-to-cook-in-the-late-30s, middle American mostly bland. Of course, hers were labelled in Braille, as well.)

(And the keeping blouses and suits and dresses in the closet by color? Efficiency, again. Back when I was working, if I *hadn't* set things out the night before (because I've always had no brain in the morning, and I could end up standing there staring at things for 15 minutes without being able to decide), if a blouse or whatever wasn't exactly where it should've been, that meant it was either in the laundry or needed mending, thus unavailable, and I should figure out a plan B.)

(The towels stacked in color order in the linen closet, decades before Martha Stewart came along? Just aesthetics; they *look* nicer that way. Never have learned to neatly fold a fitted sheet, though, and the idea of tying ribbons around the neatly folded linens? *Why*?? You'd only have to take the ribbon off again to use them, so a total waste of time, just as drying dishes instead of air drying them is. Time that can be used for books, or the piano, or crafts...)

('scuse the babbling. 's the vico, from the migraine. My friend Gillie came up with this description of the side effect, which she shares: Miles Vorkosigan on fast-penta. :) )

[john-appel.livejournal.com]

Regarding your various pantheons - are you familiar with Lois McMaster Bujold's "Curse of Chalion" and it's sequels? The theology in that book isn't a duality, good/evil or law/chaos, but rather a five-fold pathway. The holy family consists of the Daughter of Spring, the Mother of Summer, the Son of Autumn, the Father of Winter, and the Bastard, god of all things out-of-season. Each of the gods has various other "domains" under their purview - judges tend to be acolytes of the Father, healers dedicated to the Mother, etc. I'm sure you can find more complete discussion on-line, though I highly recommend the books (the second won the Hugo, and the first should have, as it's the better book IMHO).

Anyway, perhaps there's material in there for you to warp to your will. :)

Good to hear about your steps towards recovery and what passes for normalcy!