why walk when you can fly

While watching the fourth episode of The Handmaid's Tale last night, I became curious about Serena Joy as a person for the first time since the series started. Or rather, I got curious about who she had been B.G. (Before Gilead). Her observation about discrediting the escaped Aunt in the Toronto paper would likely have been an effective suggestion, had it been carried out. She suggested that rather than trying to counter the accusations the Aunt made about the state of affairs in Gilead, that they discredit her as a person who should be believed, in much the same way it has been common to ask what a person was wearing/doing when assaulted.

When her husband, the Commander, told her dismissively that "we have good MEN on it," and her face fell, I felt sorry for her. She was trying to contribute, and was immediately shut down for having a thought in her head about something outside her home. But on the flip side, the way she uses what small bit of power she has in order to punish Offred/June for her disappointment about the lack of a baby, is repugnant. Not unrealistic, as I've seen women use their power against other women, but hard to watch, as much of the show has been. The Wives and Aunts are still lower-power than all the men, and use what little they have to keep down those with even less standing.

I would like to know more about her, however. What was her background? Was she raised to believe that a world like Gilead was preferable? Or did she make that choice somewhere along the way in response to events in her life? Since we've found out more about Emily/Ofglen than we did in the book, I'm hoping this too may come to pass.

One other stray observation from last night's episode: When Offred/June goes to the doctor's office, I noticed that all of the pictures of children on the walls are with women in blue, and there is no hint of the Handmaids' existence anywhere. Nice bit of work by the set decorating folks, keeping up the theme we saw established in 1x02, in which the wives pretend to go through labor.

Well, that happened. I have thoughts about the end of the tenth season of Supernatural, but I don't really have feelings about it, which tells me something has changed in my relationship with the show this year, since last year I was still touched by the "I'm proud of us, Sammy" moment.

I had hoped for more from a tenth season finale. The one time it tugged at my heartstrings just a little bit was when I realized that a scene was set up as something of a parallel to Swan Song. But while the idea tugged at my heart, in the end, the scene didn't land for me. And the more I think about the last three episodes, the more I feel like the show's writing is spinning me around like a kid at a birthday party, hoping that if I get dizzy enough that I won't notice that the pinata is already broken and all the good candy is gone.

( Spoilers are evil... )

I'm completely shocked at the news that The X-Files will be returning to broadcast TV this year. What the hell? This is the kind of thing that just doesn't happen - except apparently now it does. I really, really hope that they tell good stories, and don't screw up like I maintain they did with the movie in 2008. Six episodes - surely they can write good stuff?

*crosses fingers*

Halloweenies @ Dark Delicacies

Pumpkin Lace: a cascade of cobwebby white sandalwood threaded through vanilla bourbon, sharp green cognac, Virginia tobacco, and caramelized sugar, all draped across a freshly carved jack-o-lantern.
wet: something buttery, but almost unpleasant like my reaction to Miskatonic University, just not as bad.
dry: still not liking it - it's almost musty smelling.
after an hour: it's less noxious on me now, but still a Nope.

Papa Monster: grape and red cherry swirl ring pops, licorice whips, and a touch of vanilla cupcake frosting
Starts out as fun, sticky-sweet grape candy/soda, but eventually fades to something plasticky on me after a couple hours. Not for me, but maybe my niece who is six will like it?

Lilith 2014 - scents to celebrate the sixth birthday of the BPAL owner's daughter

Goofballs: “wet grass and sunshine, dogs and wood, and my feet in warm dirt and flowers I pick.”
Smells like summer!

Lily Witch: Lilith named this scent, and said this perfume should smell like witches. Her interpretation is swathed in anise, lime, almond, and witchin’ herbs, and holds a bouquet of pale, graceful lilies.

It's entirely possible I have the olfactory taste of a six year old, since I like both of these scents, though Goofballs is the only one that's going on the Bottle list.

Gnome: An explosive blend of effervescent golden ginger and black peppercorn with sarsaparilla, gurjum balsam, nutmeg, gear lubricant, and smoke.

wet:something spicy, probably the ginger and pepper.
dry:still ginger and pepper, nice!
15-20 minutes later: losing the spice, and it's turning unpleasantly soapy, urgh.
after an hour: the soap has faded, thankfully, and now I'm getting something smokey.

I'm going to classify this one as interesting, and while it's not one I'd wear to work, I might for an occasion when I have time to let it settle before going out in public. I hadn't expected the two free imps that came with my order, so it was an unexpected opporunity to try something I never would have ordered on my own.

Mag Mell: The warmth of amber, the puissance of white ginger and the clarity of verbena, with fresh green grass, lush sage and cleansing droplets of summer rain.

I have no specifics to offer about this one other than that I find it absolutely delicious. To me it smells warm and happy. My favorite of the batch I ordered, and it's definitely going on the bottle list.

( six more scents )

Overall notes: I wasn't too sure about a lot of the components of BPAL's scents going in to this, since I've never even encountered things like opoponax or oudh before, so I looked for clean scents, pure scents, and scents with florals I know I like to smell. Now that I've tried a dozen imps, I'm starting to understand how scents can be related to the seasons, and that pure, clean scents may be better in the warm months of the year, while things with ambers or musks might be better for fall/winter on me. More testing to follow!

1. The return of cold. Yesterday morning I discovered I had dragged the heavy comforter up over myself in the night. Because it was 20F outside, and I refuse to turn the heat on when it was 86F last week, and I had to run my A/C to keep from melting. But I love being able to snuggle up under the covers, and cool weather in general. When everyone else is bemoaning the loss of the heat, I'm coming back to life.

2. New BPAL imps on their way to me!

3. I found my favorite early 1990s TV show, Time Trax, available on Amazon. I've checked to see if I can find it every couple years for a decade, and it finally showed up as a print on demand item. It was special because it wasn't on consistently, and it was hit or miss to catch it.

I'm borrowing the "3 Things Make A Post" idea from cereta, to get back into the habit. I hope that's okay!

1. Can it be late October forever, please? My absolute favorite time of the year, I swear. There is a bit of bite in the wind and a chill in the morning, but I'm perfectly comfortable running around in a shirt and jeans (unlike a lot of my coworkers who are already complaining that it's cold). And even better, it's not hot, muggy, and oppressive, meaning that my autoimmune thing isn't making me want to scream.

2. How did I not watch Criminal Minds for all these years? Okay, I know why - my TV is merely a display screen for my DVD player. But I was stuck home sick recently, tried season one on Netflix, and am about to start binge-watching it for the sheer awesome that is the characters. Watch this space for squee-ing.

3. I continue to be frustrated by the fact that my organization keeps saying that there's no money for X, but they keep bringing in "consultants" who don't know anything about our field, ostensibly to tell us how to be more efficient (get more done with fewer resources).

Today, while attending the first section of a mandatory series for managers at my university, I found out that the sexual harassment seminar in two weeks will be conducted by a member of the IOA. It was even funnier when the trainer couldn't remember what the letters represent for a few minutes, and had to come back to it.* So the entire time he was fishing around to see if anyone else knew, I was cheerfully entertaining myself with the disaster potential that would be introduced by having the IOA lead training of any sort at the SGC or Atlantis.

This post is brought to you due to being across campus from my office all day, and therefore unable to get any actual work done.

*Here, it's apparently the office for Institutional Opportunity and Advancement, whatever that means.

I watched a couple episodes of Dark Angel last night to rest my brain from the interminable take-home exam I'd spent all day on. And who to my amusement appeared in "The Berrisford Agenda" ep (the one featuring JA)? Ty Olsson, the guy who plays Benny on SPN this season! He was just briefly in two scenes with Jensen, as the butler/bodyguard for Robert Berrisford, but since I'd just seen the Supernatural season premiere on Thursday, all I could think when he appeared was "Hi, young Benny!" Ah, the joys of watching multiple shows filmed in the same Canadian city...

I haven't posted for an eternity. At first because I was trying to get myself together, then later because the longer I was gone the harder it was to get back on track with making podfic and for a while I didn't think I had anything to say. But lately I've been thinking I wish I could post about that. So, here I am. Back again. And I even have podfic to share in the next post!

(These will be the first of many podfics to be posted between now and December. I am sooooo late with my promised podfics that the guilt has practically eaten me alive, and the only reason it hasn't is because I gave the guilt monster indigestion.)

I got myself together enough that I'm currently in a library science master's program. I have about another 18 months to go, since I'm working full time and only taking six hours a semester, but that's still a big improvement over where I was two years ago. Now I just need to get my fannish life back on track!

I've missed you guys!