miscellany

Jan. 16th, 2018 11:24 pm
sasha_feather: beautiful gray horse. (majestic horse)
Having some pretty bad facial pain the last couple of days, which makes it hard to hold a thought in my head for longer than 30 seconds.

But I have an idea for a wiscon panel (possibly 2) and would be interested in any feedback / suggestions--
something about how to interact with the police / ICE agents, etc
and also, alternatives to calling the police when something is going on

Today I really enjoyed going to LGBT books to prisoners!
sasha_feather: Big book of Lesbian Horse stories book cover (lesbian horse stories)
A little while back I decided to give away all of my mass-market paperback books, because I can't read small text anymore. My friend Karen suggested I donate them to LGBT Books to Prisoners, a local group.

Today I took my three paper sacks down to their office. The office was buzzing! It's in a basement of a community social-justice building. There are shelves full of books, a couple of desks with computers, a bathroom, and stacks of boxes. Four people sat at a table wrapping up packages in brown paper. Other people milled about filling requests and shelving books. I am acquainted with the coordinator of the project, and they showed me around.

It goes like this:
Grab a letter from the box. Read the letter, which may have specific requests for genre of book. Look on the form to see if there are any restrictions (such as no hard cover, no erotica, etc).
Fill the order by pulling books off the shelves. There are all kinds of sections, including classics, queer erotica, queer history, mystery, SF, African-American history, sports, etc.
Weigh your books
Write a short note to the person requesting books
Put rubber bands around the whole thing and put them in the pile to be wrapped.

They are aiming for 3000 packages sent by the end of the year.

I loved doing this. Donating my books to this group felt more personal than selling them or giving them to St. Vincent de Paul. I liked hanging around the other volunteers (one of whom is a friend of mine, one I vaguely recognized, and others were new faces). It made me think I should spend more time around queer folks in analog spaces. There is just something so comforting and relaxing about a space like this: social-justice focused, people working together and talking about books; and obviously queer. Plus, there were snacks.

The only hard part was standing on the concrete floor, though if I hadn't just been on my feet at the humane society, it probably would have been fine. Also I was tired: two volunteering jobs in the same day is a bit much. I will go back, but maybe at a different time.
sasha_feather: the back of furiosa's head (furiosa: back of head)
Volunteering at humane society today. A newer employee, J, is a young man who plans to someday open his own veterinary practice. I don't quite have a handle on him yet as a person. Today he said the job as a admitting tech was "too easy" and he's sometimes bored by it. So he's goofing around with the lab supplies and says, "I wonder what would happen if you injected yourself with alcohol. Like, I know you'd get drunk, but how fast?"

Me: "Well, what kind of alcohol is it?"

J: "It's just regular alcohol."

Me: *looks at label* "Um, no. That is isopropyl alcohol. It is not the same as ethanol. Do NOT do that."

It is amazing that human beings have survived as a species much less come to dominate the planet.
sasha_feather: Big book of Lesbian Horse stories book cover (lesbian horse stories)
Yesterday as I was driving to the Humane Society for my volunteer shift, I saw a cop car pulled over on the bridge over the highway. I glanced over to see two officers with their arms spread wide, making that classic herding gesture. In between them was a goose. Not a common Canada goose, but a light brown and white, beautiful goose. I laughed aloud and figured they'd be going to the same place as me. When animal control or the police pick up strays, they bring them to the humane society.

A few minutes after I'd started my shift, I saw one of the officers walk in. I was the only person sitting up front at that moment so I asked if I could help him.

"Yeah, I have a... duck? Goose?" he said. "It's in the back of my vehicle." I imagine it's one of the stranger things this officer had done.

I went and got someone and it turns out the goose was a domestic, barnyard goose that had gone astray. She seemed quite calm. How she ended up on the bridge over the highway is a complete mystery. Now she is safely ensconced in the barn at the humane society. After a stray hold period she will be up for adoption.
sasha_feather: white woman in space suit (Astronaut)
Possibly overdid it today.

Started my new shift at Humane society, which will be Tuesday 1-3, sorting donations. Really liked the woman doing orientation, and enjoyed the shift. She explained things well and was friendly. She told me a little about her former job (before she retired) which was doing labor audits, investigating things like overtime and child labor violations.

I went to the vet to pick up more Apoquel for Abbie (this helps her allergies).
Next I stopped at the post office and waited in line about 20 minutes to mail a couple of things.

I forgot about swimming until I got home, and decided I would lay down for a few minutes before hand. Well, I fell right asleep and slept right through swim class. I'd set an alarm but turned it off. Abbie woke me up to go out a while later, at which point I watched a little TV and changed into my PJs.

Even after being sick for years, it's very difficult to gauge my energy. I'm hoping by writing down my activities I'll get a better idea.

It is very cold today; I'm grateful for central heating and indoor plumbing and warm wool clothes. I think about our ancestors surviving this weather (and worse) and I think about homeless people.

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