Delta Sierra – Page 4

QOTD: Your Terrible Winter Travel Stories

This isn’t a competition, but if it were, the Canadians here would win hands down. Team Canada!!! More snowstorm-driving miles (older members) and kilometres (younger members) per capita than anywhere else in the world, except maybe Siberia.

It’s amusing to tell lurid stories of near-disasters on January roads to Californians who have never seen snow, watch their eyes get round, watch that ‘oh they’re exaggerating’ (we’re not) suspicion enter their eyes. But driving and flying and, indeed, walking down the damned street when it’s cold and icy and snowing sideways are no joke. Continue reading →

QOTD: What is Your Otherkin?

“Otherkin”? What is this “otherkin” business? you ask.

Let me ask back: do you think of yourself as being somewhat non-human? Do you believe, in your heart of hearts, that you are actually an elf? a dragon? a wizard? a wolf? an alien? Then you are an otherkin.

There are few limits when it comes to otherkin-ing. Your alter-ego will find you itself, and it could be any creature from other cultures, writings, computer games, a TV series, or your own mind. Continue reading →

A Rare Book for Christmas!

Y’all here are creatures of culture and refinement, so no doubt you’ll be wanting to buy the people on your gift list something classy. Is there anything classier than a signed first edition book? Of course not. Imagine finding out your friend’s favourite book, and giving them a signed first edition as a very special Christmas gift!

Here’s what you’re looking for. You want a book that is: Continue reading →

QOTD: What’s Your Favourite (Work With Me Here) Diet?

Christmas is coming! Cookie recipes paper the walls of the kitchen! So of course it’s time to talk dieting.

There was a time for a while that ‘dieting’ was a dirty word, not sure why, and not sure if it still prevails. So let’s agree that what we’re talking about here is the effort to keep something of a lid on what you eat. No one likes to refrain from eating something they desire (luuust for) but sometimes it’s necessary.

A list of formally set-out diets would fill a book. Atkins. Weight Watchers. Paleo. A while ago I was describing to a friend what I was trying to avoid eating, and she said, “Oh, the no-white-food diet.”
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Publishing Person of the Year: E.L. James. Yeah, Her.

I subscribe to Publishers Weekly (the bible of the U.S. publishing industry) and get a news feed every morning. Today there was some gobsmackin’ news to wake up to: E.L. James has been named Publishing Person of the Year.

Within the confines of the book industry, it’s a very big deal.

Let me refresh your memory. E.L. James is the penname of Erika Leonard. She wrote an erotic trilogy, the titles of which are Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, and Fifty Shades Freed.

They are selling like shovels in a snowstorm, like handguns when the aliens invade, like toilet paper at a diarrhea festival. It is the fastest-selling adult (as against the categories of juvenile, or young adult) series ever. There’s going to be a movie. Continue reading →

It’s Remembrance Day: Tell Us About Your Family’s Military Service

I got to thinking the other day about my own family’s military service. There’s quite a lot of it.

Then yesterday I read about Holly Petraeus’ long-time service to soldier’s families, and that she can trace military service in her own family back to the Revolution.

My brother, sister and a sister-in-law all joined the Canadian Armed Forces soon after finishing high school, although only briefly, as it turned, out for all three. Continue reading →

QOTD: What are Your Best Penny-Pinching Tips?

One of the great pleasures of my public-library volunteer work is that I get to do it with a lady who was a teenager during the second world war, in Hungary. We chat away non-stop. The other day, talk got around to penny-pinching and frugality, and how those practices are still around, often these days under the header of ‘recycling’. My own parents learned a lot about frugality in post-WWII Britain, with rationing still firmly in place, and I learned a lot from them.

When we had a big yard, I had 3 composters going. Mr. S. built me an ingenious sifter for it, out of hardware cloth (half-inch wire mesh) and sticks. It was custom fitted to my wheelbarrow. Awww. Continue reading →

QOTD: What’s in Your Car?

My house is usually reasonably clean and tidy, but my car is a pigsty.

It’s not utterly gross, there’re no food remains anywhere. But there is Stuff. I throw stuff in it, and it’s never seen again. Donations for charity have spent an entire summer in the back seat, except for a week when it was moved to the trunk because people were visiting and I needed the seat for them.

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QOTD: What Exactly is a Hipster?

Honest question. I don’t seem to see many where I live so I’m not sure what their distinguishing characteristics are. The fedora hat, yeah, I got that. Skinny pants, check. General air of ennui, got it. Messy hair, but not floppy (that would be emo, right?) (hahahaha emop, lol).

But after that, what am I looking for? Where do they hang out? Are there more boys and than girls? Do the two genders dress differently, or pretty much the same?

What music do they listen to? What do they do all day? What is their dream job? Continue reading →

QOTD: Got a Hotel Story for Us?

Let me start with the worst hotel experience I ever had. It was in Albuquerque, a word that if I never have to type it out again in my life I’ll be very happy.

It was part of a cheap chain, one we’d often stayed at before and done just fine. They’d all been clean, quiet, and had very comfortable beds. But this one! When we first entered the road, there was no air conditioning (it was nearly 90 outside), no remote, no fridge, microwave, iron, ironing board or coffee-maker, as there had been in the rest of the chain. Continue reading →