Musings

Welcome.
This is my pretty-much-permanent introduction post, geared towards those who are not habitual LiveJournal users -- family friends, relatives, ex-professors, people who get my mommy's Christmas letter etc. LJers please comment to this post, so I know who reads it!

( Click here to learn how this stuff works. )

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If you have read more than three or four of my musings, I'd love it if you just posted a comment to this entry. Tell me a bit about yourself, if you like, especially if you think I might not be 100% sure who you are, or know you only online. Or tell me why you bothered to visit my LiveJournal. Or just say hi. Or post a silly picture or link. Or whatever. I'm interested in who reads this nonsense.

If you are here because someone told you about my writings about my stay in Karachi, you want to go to
http://www.livejournal.com/users/ayeshak/13832.html
to begin from the beginning. Which is a nice place to begin. From there, there's a little row of five icons above the writing; keep clicking on the right-hand one, the arrow, to go to the next chronological entry.

Much love,
Ayesha K.

Ayesha Khan

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 Some of my favourites from http://bookflaps.blogspot.com/2011/04/flappers-dictionary.html



Absent Treatment—Dancing with a bashful partner.
Alarm Clock—Chaperone.
Bank’s Closed—No petting allowed; no kisses.
Bee’s Knees—See “Cat’s Pajamas”
Billboard—Flashy man or woman.
Bun Duster—See “Cake Eater”.
Cake Eater—See “Crumb Gobbler”
Cat’s Particulars—The acme of perfection; anything that’s good
Cat’s Pajamas—Anything that’s good
Clothesline—One who tells neighborhood secrets.
Crumb Gobbler—Slightly sissy tea hound.
Crasher—Anyone who comes to parties uninvited.
Dincher—A half-smoked cigarette.
Dingle Dangler—One who insists on telephoning.
Dropping the Pilot—Getting a divorce.
Duck’s Quack—The best thing ever.
Eye Opener—A marriage.
Father Time—Any man over 30 years of age.
Face Stretcher—Old maid who tries to look younger.
Fire Extinguisher—A chaperone.
Flour Lover—Girl who powders too freely.
Forty-Niner—Man who is prospecting for a rich wife.
Frog’s Eyebrows—Nice, fine.
Goofy—To be in love with, or attracted to. Example: “I’m goofy about Jack.”
Goat’s Whiskers—See “Cat’s Particulars”
Goof—Sweetie.
Grubber—One who always borrows cigarettes.
Handcuff—Engagement ring.
Hen Coop—A beauty parlor.
Houdini—To be on time for a date.
Hush Money—Allowance from father.
Johnnie Walker—Guy who never hires a cab.
Kitten’s Ankles—See “Cat’s Particulars”.
Kluck—Dumb, but happy.
Low Lid—The opposite of highbrow.
Mad Money—Carfare home if she has a fight with her escort.
Monkey’s Eyebrows—See “Cat’s Particulars”.
Monog—A young person of either sex who is goofy about only one person at a time.
Mustard Plaster—Unwelcome guy who sticks around.
Munitions—Face powder and rouge.
Nut Cracker—Policeman’s nightstick.
Out on Parole—A person who has been divorced.
Petting Pantry—Movie.
Police Dog—Young man to whom one is engaged.
Potato—A young man shy of brains.
Rock of Ages—Any woman over 30 years of age.
Sharpshooter—One who spends much and dances well.
Show Case—Rich man’s wife with jewels.
Sod Buster—An undertaker.
Static—Conversations that mean nothing.
Strike Breaker—A young woman who goes with her friend’s “Steady” while there is a coolness.
Swan—Glide gracefully.
Tomato—A young woman shy of brains.
Umbrella—young man any girl can borrow for the evening.
Whiskbroom—Any man who wears whiskers.
Wind Sucker—Any person given to boasting.

I think we should bring all of these back into common conversation. Out on Parole, Hush Money, Mad Money, and Strike Breaker, in particular, amuse me.

(X-posted to Tumblr)

Sunny today, and very cold (-7C / low 20s F this morning); the sky is a dusty plastic baby blue, like a long-forgotten rattle in the attic, and frost limns one side of all the rocks and blades of brittle green grass strewn across the hardening ground.



The shades in my office are half-lowered to reduce the glare on five peoples' dual-monitor setups. The work I'm doing on this project is rather more that of a producer than a game designer; so far, I like it. It changes every day, there's always some new issue to which the team must respond quickly and well, and I don't have time to get bored, which is key.



Food in Germany is stodgy as all get-out, but for the most part very tasty, and breakfast and lunch and coffee and afternoon cake are all free at work. The tram system is A-MA-zing; it goes everywhere, for not very much money. The selection of restaurants is quite impressive, and so far we've had a few very nice meals. We've found some import places and some Asian grocery stores, so we have a fair amount of variety in our culinary options. Food and booze are absurdly cheap here; rent is not.



I have spent most of today dealing with German beaurocracy, but that is a topic for another post, once my blood pressure lowers a bit.

Well, it's coming to the end of my first work week here in Karlsruhe.

It was perishingly cold for the first few days, hovering around freezing; it had snowed on Sunday, just before we arrived in town, so until Wednesday Fraser and I were ruddy-cheeked and red-eared no matter how much we wrapped up. The town sure was pretty, all white, but we could have done without the c-c-c-cold. Warmed up yesterday, though, and has been raining since, so all the colours are coming out despite the sky's being grey.

Gameforge is a large company -- nearly 400 people, I think -- and they really take care of their employees... Lots of free food (cold breakfasts, hot lunches, cake in the afternoon, coffee machines that provide everything from lattes to cocoa, and fresh fruit all day), a well-stocked game room, over 20 days paid holiday per year, free massages...!

Fraser is doing his best to switch from 'wage-earner' to 'house husband' modes; I think it's weirding him out a bit, not working, but he certainly has plenty to keep him occupied. We just moved out of our initial landing-place, a hotel, and into a guesthouse provided by the company until we can find ourselves a flat. It's to-hell-and-gone far away from work -- nearly an hour's commute by tram -- but hey, free, and it's in a really cute suburb. Very twee. We've been investigating Karlsruhe's restaurant situation (impressive, for a not particularly huge city!) and soon will start an intensive survey of its extracurricular offerings (clubs, bars, museums, etc.)

I dig my coworkers, and I'm working on what may be the world's CUTEST game: Wizard101 (check out www.wizard101.com or, in the UK, www.wizard101.co.uk -- we're still working on the website, but it's starting to come together). Everyone seems reasonably efficient and very chill, mixing the best of Teutonic and game-design attitudes.

I'm starting to get rid of my jetlag and am growing daily more coherent, so we'll see if I remember to post here more often.

Miss and love you all,

Ayesha

(Proper post, as opposed to comment, for those who missed it.)

Due to a fair amount of interest in this, I figured I'd have anyone who can make it come over to just pick through my fabric and sewing stuff on the same evening; everyone else will just have to come over at a later time and take their chances that stuff will be left. ^_^;
I fear that what with packing for the move and suchlike, I have a low threshold for complications.

Come over on WEDNESDAY, 8TH OF DECEMBER from 8 PM onwards (after dinner-time, for I cannot guarantee to feed you. I'm fine with us ordering pizza or something, though.) Feel free to bring booze donations if you should so care to, but it's also fine to just swoop in, grab stuff and head out. ^_^

Email me if you don't have my address.

Anything that doesn't find a new home will be offered to monster camps and then donated.

Hey party people!

Are you in the Boston area? Are you CRAFTY? Do you always yearn for more fabric, patterns, buttons and suchlike? Sure you do. It's a disease and I've had it.

I'm about to make a transatlantic move, and no way am I keeping or storing the metric crapton of sewing stuff I have.

Free to a good home!
Call, text, IM, tweet, Facebook message, or comment at me.

You'll likely have to come by to pick it up (I'm in the Lexington area) but believe me it's worth it. I'm sorting through stuff now so I'm not 100% sure of what's there -- but as an example, I found roughly twenty intact patterns for garby type dresses (Gypsy, Rennie, medieval, costume...) just now. There is also much cloth and trim and notions. Most will be going.

Giving friends first crack; what doesn't make its way into your larp bins will likely go to Goodwill or the East Village Fair. ^_^

Posted via Journaler.

So... Apologies if you've heard this news already, but:

I have been offered a position I rather wanted, as a game designer in Karlsruhe, Germany. I start in January.

I will be joined there by Fraser, a gentleman friend from Scotland, to do the living-in-sin thing.

I am terrified (as I speak very little German, and the job is both quite challenging and quite different in its particulars from my previous professional experiences) and very excited. ^_^

Posted via Journaler.

In unrelated news, I'm not dead. I know I've been eaten by the Facebook and the Tumblr and the Twitter, and also the being overseas thing, but I do still read your LJs! I just so rarely have Deep Thots (tm) to share these days that I don't much post. Will try to be better.

On Monday:

I am having a bit of a salon morning. Yay mani-pedis and pampering!

I have a phone interview with a company I admire a great deal; they're in Atlanta. Recently also heard that the company in southern Germany with which I also had a good phone interview is going to fly me out for a face-to-face. Yay opportunities! And also paycheques!

A chap from Dundee, of whom I am very fond indeed, arrives for a 10-day visit. OMG YAY!! We've both been rabidly looking forward to this visit for months. I've missed him like crazy.

Tell me one thing that makes Mondays not *so* bad after all, for you.


Posted via Journaler.

Just got a text from my sweetie in Scotland and it made me all wibblesome. *sigh*
I miiiiiiiiiiss him.

Posted via Journaler.

I have been told the tattoo design I wanted is too complex to pull off / read well from a distance. (It was a city scene with some steampunk, cyberpunk and urban fantasy elements.)
*frownyface*

I'm considering getting (this is all, btw, at some point further in the future, when I have found a job with which to fund this enterprise) a medium-sized, very realistic in art style, partly open book on my back -- could incorporate the little dragon I already have there (as an illustration or engraving on one of the pages).

What do you think?

In fact.... If you were to choose a tattoo for me, to be inked on my upper back, what would you pick? I do not guarantee I will take your suggestion, but I'd be very interested to hear it. ^_^
Tell me!

Posted via Journaler.