On Life and Love

Whatever is making or breaking my day.

  • On Life and Love

    Belly Dance Is Back!

    Last December, Nayna found herself without a dance studio, making it rather difficult to teach class. All of her students–me being just shy of one year and ready to move to intermediate–dispersed woefully. We spent all of 2011 nagging the hell out of her. Ten months later (?!), she’s back with an email to the masses the day before classes began. So tonight I dug my hip scarf out from the back of my underwear drawer and giddily bounced my way to the pole-dancing studio where she held class tonight. It was awesome. It was amazing. It was like the first time, except with that fun disjointed experience of your…

  • On Life and Love

    Farm Tours: Goats, Horses, and Cows

    Here’s a great way to spend a Saturday: driving around in rural Charlotte-ish areas, then walking around and seeing goats, horses, cattle, pigs, donkeys, plants, and bees. Yes, bees. Some folks and I gathered a couple of weeks ago to tour three farms. The first was Apple Orchard Farm (my favorite!), the second was Maple Springs (too pumpkiny and commercial), and a third one I forgot the name of (with sad animals). I took and posted quite a few pictures, because most of the animals were adorable, and the ones that weren’t were often notably sad. Apple Orchard will definitely become my go-to farm for if/when we need extra meat…

  • On Life and Love

    Weekly Linkage: Harlem Shake

    This is what happens when Greg asks, “What’s the Harlem Shake?” I just about feel off the couch. Especially when I realized at about 2:40 that that’s a DVD in his belt, not a buckle. Greg may never ask me another dancing-related question ever again. A few other nuggets: Three Word Phrase, by Ryan Pequin – I’ll confess, I started watching Hoarders recently. Just entered Season 3. I’m not sure how I feel about myself anymore. In my defense Season 3 fired off with enough drama that I’ve skipped episodes. Autumnal equinox – It’s almost time to break out the sunlamp. Capital One Says ING Direct Deal Will Create Jobs…

  • On Life and Love

    d20 3.5 SRD Spell Lists: First Beta

    So I’m in a D&D 3.5 campaign now. And I’m playing a Druid, which is kinda exciting–it’s the first time I’ve played a Druid at a high enough level that I can shapeshift, and I just tipped 5th level on Sunday. (Campaigns always fizzle out early…) Anyway, the campaign is a hodgepodge of standard D&D and Sandstorm, and summoning restrictions by the GM mean that my spell list involves a fair bit of swapping out that’s a little annoying to manage. For instance, I’m using Sandstorm’s “Desiccate” instead of “Summon Nature’s Ally II”, since I can’t summon. Since Druids are the type to prepare a few spells per day from…

  • On Life and Love

    Weekly Linkage: Planets, EDs, and Blood Donations

    This past week(…s)’s internet surfin’: A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing: What’s Wrong With Sex? – Sex in a book doesn’t make it erotica. Hyperbole and a Half: This is Why I’ll Never be an Adult – As always, I love Allie’s art and humor, and her point here is so well taken. I know very few people who don’t do this. Twitter / @violetblue: They made me wait a long t … – This is definitely a WTF. Also a “what in the world do you do?” Do you make a kerfluffle about being able to see your stuff when you’re about to be patted down? Do you just wait…