iPod shuffle tossed up the Death Cab for Cutie version of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" and the Afghan Whigs version of "Lost in the Supermarket," and I said, "Oooh! Cat-vacuuming!"

This cat being thoroughly vacuumed, behind the cut find:

( A cover songs poll )

( Bonus Afghan Whigs edition )

I'm having trouble picking my next book. The past few things I've read (The Somnambulist, A Matter of Oaths, The Truelove) haven't been satisfactory, which I think is leaving me very bleh about the prospect of putting effort into another book, rather than just mindlessly playing NetHack and web puzzle games. Today I tried reading a book I saw oracne recommend, Anne Gracie's The Perfect Rake, and, finding myself unusually critical of the prose, put it down to try some other time.

So, a poll. I'm mostly looking for something that will be really satisfactory, something I can sink my teeth into without feeling cranky about the construction of the plot, or the prose, or the treatment of gender, or whatever. Strong likeable female characters a plus, after the unsatisfactory books above. I suspect that humor and quirk may be minuses rather than pluses just now; ditto very sad or very dark (yes, I know Use of Weapons is a poll choice, but I've read that before, know what I'm getting, and think it would be okay). Also, something that's not too much work at the beginning would be good.

Edit: thanks, all! As of 8:15 Wednesday morning The Steerswoman's Road has 44.4% of the votes, and that and the accompany comments have convinced me to bring it into work and try it over lunch. But feel free to suggest fallbacks or add data on the other stuff in the poll.

( A dozen options, by author: )

Inspired by the morning earworm:

Poll #1100244
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Pick one:

Feel free to explain in comments.

Wiped out for no obvious reason today, so no new panel reports. Here's a poll to help me decide which to do next:

What panel report should Kate post next?

Ticky?

Also, the "tell me which fictional character I am" meme is very much fun, even if I absolutely suck at coming up with answers. (I've been thinking about it on and off most of today, and the only person I've decided on is veejane, who hasn't even asked and might not appreciate my answer anyway.) But the accumulated results are like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen game that went around a few years ago: yhlee is Iskierka from the Temeraire books, and oyceter is Fuu from Samurai Champloo, and I am Kate Somerville from the Lymond Chronicles [*], and together we fight crime! In the person of . . . someone who has unleashed a plague of locusts, because they would all be very upset at the wrecking of the food supply.

Okay, I said I wasn't very good at this.

[*] According to rachelmanija, but if you have another idea, go ahead.

And now I go off to gather strength for the morrow by reading Qwan.

Have a music-inspired silly poll.

( cut for size )

Here are the books that I am definitely taking to Japan:

• Scott Lynch, Red Seas Under Red Skies
• Kij Johnson, The Fox Woman and Fudoki
• R.H.P. Mason, A History of Japan
• Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book

I am possibly bringing various John M. Ford books that I haven't read yet, in case that memorial panel actually happens—does anyone know if it's going to? If not, well, Ford is not my ideal vacation reading.

For the last half-dozen-ish slots, I find myself with a plethora of mass-market paperbacks, so, like everyone else: a poll!

( possible books )

To my surprise, the Laura Ingalls Wilder entry won the poll, and is now up at my booklog. I will take the remaining votes into consideration when working down the queue, so feel free to keep voting.

In a very limited fashion, that is.

I've hit one of my periodic "don't wanna write anything" moods, and while there are reasons, still, the queue is growing long. I may have a short time tonight to write, and start getting myself back in gear as it were. So, behind the cut is a poll: out of a selected number of things in the queue, what should I write next?

( poll )

Because radio buttons are fun.

There was no prior poll in this journal. You're imagining things. Even if there had been, and I'd thought better of it, it would have been for reasons that aren't mentionable. So don't mention it. No, I mean really, don't. Now, let me put on these sunglasses, and if you'll just look this way . . . *flashy-thing*

( food and other stuff, some polls )

Though less knowledge than preference, here.

Choose:

Check:

Prompted by yesterday's post about Springsteen, I present a poll (behind the cut, to avoid cluttering friends' pages).

( poll about 'Erie Canal' )

So, wedding July 4th weekend. Bought a new dress today, which I love. (Admittedly I'm biased because it fits astonishingly well (with the minor exception of the straps being a touch long, which I can easily fix; yes, that's why the torso is bunching a little in the pictures) and it wasn't that expensive (the shoes cost more)). However, it was the only one left on the rack, and it comes with this long sash thing that I can't quite tell what to do with. Therefore, behind the cut, I give you pictures and a poll:

[Edit: the dress is dark brown with cream, not black and white. Apparently I should've played with the color balance before posting the pictures.]

( three pictures (725 KB) of me in my new dress )

Oh, and while I'm at it: single short string of fake pearls good for a necklace? Or something else?

My sinuses are killing me, again (and decongestants have stopped working, again), and I'm up waiting for Chad's plane to land and also trying to get some work done. In this state of mind, I hope you'll excuse me inflicting a stray thought on you all:

Fill in the blank: ________ makes everything better.

( my three things )

[ETA: I didn't mean to suggest you had to have three things, too! The perils of posting in such a mental state.]

Free-assocation musing about the end of Fullmetal Alchemist; series-ruining spoilers and a poll behind the cut.

( spoilers )

Who wants to play at giving medical advice this morning?

( Has Kate's sinus infection returned? Cut for yuck and a poll. )

A random thought leads to a poll for you all:

( After Kate's made several new icons, she should: )

(Icons are in my LJ Scrapbook. Suggestions or requests welcome.)

I have collected a huge number of links to Firefly commentary and have been slowly organizing and annotating them. The top-level table of contents presently looks like this:

• Commentary on specific episodes
• On the whole series, including DVD features
• Characters
• Worldbuilding
• Miscellaneous

The section of episode-specific commentary is done (and has been for a while). The rest is not, and probably won't be for some time, because I want to finish listening to commentary tracks before I go into the rest of the commentary.

(I also intend to do a "what Firefly's all about, and why you might want to watch it" post closer to July 22, when it goes into re-runs. Hell, that's next Friday. Arrgh.)

Just for the novelty, I give you, my potential readers, a poll!

Poll #530555 Firefly Commentary Posts
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Kate should post the gigantic roundup of annotated links to Firefly commentary:

I forgot to post the answers to the "two truths and a lie" post. I'll do that tomorrow. In the meantime, you can comment at the original post or use the clicky poll-thing behind the cut tag, because I wanted to play.

( two sets of two truths and a lie: the poll version )