screw you

Hello internet. I've been abysmally out of touch since leaving my job. Basically this is because I've been busy relaxing, playing video games, and catching up on visits (so far my maternal grandmother,countouttheday, my father/sister/brother, and soon sainfoin_fields and possibly my aunt and paternal grandparents). Also catsitting sophia_helix's Lilycat^TM. Basically I feel so much better (despite a bizarre sore throat) and quitting was the best thing I've done in a long time.

I will be online more in the next two days, as I need to be writing pinch hits (although possibly only one) for asoiaf_equinox and my Doctor Who femslash exchange fic, among other things. Also expect a write up on Season 1 of Life (which I totally liked and fulfills my kink for tough female cop detectives with daddy cop issues and men who broaden their horizons and deconstruct their reality... even though Charlie isn't a gateway to the supernatural like Angel and Harry Dresden) and the last two week's the Sarah Connor Chronicles (once I watch this week's as I was busy and didn't get to it Monday on account of Warhammer 40K Tabletop) plus the last two weeks of Bones and possibly season 2 of Torchwood depending on how fast we tear through that.

Also, sophia_helix and I feel that we must go see Lustra (SCOTTIE DOESN'T KNOW) as they are going to be in town on Friday. Y/Y?

1. Monday night, sophia_helix flaked out on watching Bones with me. It was okay though because she was writing her asoiaf_equinox fic:

( Somewhat spoilery reactions to 'Player under Pressure' (mostly bitching about it not airing till now)  )

2. Tuesday night, we watched episodes 4x02 and 4x03 of Doctor Who at last. Non-spoilerly reactions (comments to this post may contain spoilers though):
* Ten's emo seems expand with the growth of his hair.
* Donna is a great choice of character to follow up Martha and Rose. I love that she is an independent adult. If Rose was Heart and Martha was Head... Donna is perhaps Will.
* sophia_helix and I loved Quintus and his short little sacrilegious purple toga.
* This reminded us that Brutus and Mark Antony are totally having hatesex and we are sad that NO ONE has written about it for us.
* We want to hire that chick to do our PR. We are not sure for what, but we were impressed with her skills.
* The promo for this week, made me so excited. I am such a fucking fangirl for a certain champion of Earth.

3. Last night, after arguing with my therapist about semantics, we went out to celebrate actoplasm's promotion. He didn't get off till 8 and 9 is Jeremy's bedtime for work nights so we were just going to have drinks and appetizers with them and then go and let them finish their dinner alone... but it smelled good so I got mushroom ravioli in a ginger cream sauce and Jeremy got a giant chicken caesar salad. We also modified the "Red Carpet" (one of their specialty drinks: Pomegranate Liqueur, Vodka, Triple-Sec, Sweet and Sour, and Soda) to replace the Soda with their homemade ginger ale, which really killed the not so great vodka aftertaste (they make notoriously strong drinks). We called it the "Ginger Carpet"... which sounded dirty and reminded me of Doctor Who and my theory that he is hanging out with Donna partly because if you can't BE a ginger then you can at least be WITH one, right? It was so good I had two, and then we forgot to order dessert but sophia_helix wanted some so we went over to the Czechoslovakian place's bar, where they serve Princess Cake and make the best Mojitos in town (seriously I don't even bother getting them elsewhere in the area because they always disappoint). We did not get to bed until 11, and have plans to do Happy Hour today in honor of sophia_helix's last day of actual class in law school. Also in honor of cheap appetizers.

4. This week I have written 3 Song of Ice and Fire fics (Well, 2 1/2 fics and 1 ficlet) and I am actually pretty happy with the completed ones for the first time in months. I've even been getting betaed again for the first time in a while.

5. Saturday we leave for Southern California and will not be back until Thursday or Friday of next week. I am so excited to get away and not go to work.

So this weekend countouttheday and her boy came out to California, because he's gotten into a top grad program out here and they are probably going to be moving from New York to here in the fall. She sent me an email on Wednesday night about this fact and maybe making plans for Saturday. I was thrilled. Jeremy, unfortunately had agreed to close Saturday night for someone (usually it is his day off). On Friday he managed to get out of it and we met up with them in the city at about 1... and walked around for about 4 hours. My brother ended up being in the city as well but our timing was off. Which didn't matter much since we all hit it off really well (she and I had hung out in New York about a year and a half ago but the boys hadn't met anyone other than their SO). We headed back to Palo Alto where they were staying, Jeremy and I booked ourselves a room in the same hotel and we had delicious food and alcohol. It was about 3AM by the time we went to bed and I woke up with a little bit of a hangover and slightly more suffering from lack of sleep (I always wake up ridiculously early in the morning if I drink the night before). We almost made them late for their plane, because I mixed up my freeways a little, but it worked out alright in the end as they made it in the nick of time, only to have their plane delayed anyway. In conclusion I am so happy that they are moving out here. We both are.

After dropping them off, we hung out for a few hours in the city with Jeremy's best friend and his fiance, at their place. I feel I was a poor guest (mostly hiding my face in Jeremy's shoulder) but they had also had a late night. We finally left there for my mother's boyfriend's mother's wake at the House of Prime Rib at about 3:20 and found parking and arrived just about exactly on time. Hilariously, some people (including my sister) showed up who had said they weren't going to, so Jeremy and I got seated separately. Basically we had a really nice dinner, with great service, on Dan. We could hear each other and didn't have to deal with awkwardness. It was awesome. I seriously recommend the place if you are looking for a nice place and eat red meat (although apparently they do have seafood and chicken options if you ask). Slightly less awesome is the fact that my left ankle (which is weak since I have sprained it a few times over the years) is all swollen from so much walking and the other is also a little stiff. I've been rubbing stuff on it and it seems to be helping, but I'm definitely going to be avoiding unnecessary walking for a little bit while it recovers.

On the cat front, Cupcake seems not to be too bothered by the newcomer, only occasionally hissing/growling at her until she retreats a little. The radius she insists upon seems to be shrinking though. I have hopes that they can maybe work it out. In which case we need a name for the darling. Kyle has suggested both Pontoof(?) and Yoshimi. The first Tatiana has plans for, and the second has long been sainfoin_fields' theoretical cat. I jokingly said we should name her Salem (after the cat in Sabrina the Teenage witch) but no one laughed. Jeremy suggested Anastasia, which I like well enough but I am not sold. Perhaps we could call her Arya, but she seems too mellow for the most part. She is long and black.

( We watched BSG 4x1 when it aired on Friday[spoilers ahead] )


Jeremy and I wanted to go down to Southern California next week, and he got the time off approved, but I couldn't (am irritated because I mainly feel like my bosses are just being bitchy). So maybe the week before my birthday. I really need some time off and we really need to visit family.

Also I went to the dentist today.

1) Monday of this week, I finished Junot Diaz's The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which did not disappoint. Diaz goes from large scale description to the intimately personal with such grace and incorporates diverse elements and genres in a way that is incredibly calculated but at the same time impossibly fluid. If you are going to read only one contemporary lit book, read this one. A lot of what the text treats on is trite on one level but the narration and perspective on it transforms the matter from dross to sublime. Plus you will all have fun picking up the variety of nerd references stretching from alterna comics to Lovecraft to anime and back again. The way he talks of El Jefe as Sauron with his cronies as Nazgul, while also telling you about the gruesome details with all the gritty certainty of realism. It's about the Dominican Republic, about growing up a fat nerd, about growing up Dominican in the US, about families and their intricacies, about superstition and fate and free will.

2)So I've been watching Tru Calling and Tuesday night I finished the first season and found myself totally being sad that there are only 6 episodes left. And it wasn't just because Eliza Dushku is gorgeous either. The premise (Eliza Dushku's character Tru works at a morgue; dead people ask her help, and she then relives the day in order to save them.) is a little suspect, but the larger storytelling, the cast as a whole, and the way the show handles tricky issues, really won me over. At first I was just excited to see Eliza Dushku play a responsible, college graduated, who hopes to go to med school, and takes care of her dysfunctional siblings, instead of just being the generally sexy rebel. But Tru is a good character for her own merit, flawed enough to not be annoying, but someone you can really root for. She has serious enough tragedies to feel relevant but all in all things don't seem to have been totally horrible for her or anything. She has a nice apartment, a college degree, and is pretty and easy to like. She wasn't raped or abused. But her family is messed up, her mother was murdered in front of her eyes, and whether she will ever make it to med school is in question. They make the wise decision of having Tru's brother and her boss/assistant play a bigger role than her love interest. Both characters are interesting and very different from each other. I'm not as crazy about the female supporting roles. Tru's cokehead executive sister is satisfying to watch but hardly original, and her best friend Lindsey remains ultimately a stereotypical and shallow (though not mean spirited) girl whom Tru can never confide in. People react reasonably to Tru's interference, not just suddenly believing some random girl they don't know. Tru's fragmented and damaged family comes across realistically and sympathetically. Her relationship with the other characters on the show and the problems her special talent bring to her life are believable. The thing that makes me the most sad about the fact that the show was canceled is that I am really starting to care about the mythos of the show and the mystery surrounding Tru's mother's murder (which took place 10 years before the show begins).

3) Wednesday, I decided to go to the new Costco in the town just north of us (so new that the street it's technically on hasn't even been finished yet). It's a good 10 feet wider than all other Costcos I have been in. Kyle went with me and we got there at about 7:30. Standing in line, I suddenly had a craving for one of their hot dogs. Maybe it was only having had a modest bowl of Raisin Bran, but I was really excited about the idea and Kyle was too. Seriously it's probably been almost a decade since I've had one. I overheard the cashier asking the people in front of us if they wanted anything from the food bar and though that was convenient. She didn't ask us though. I almost said something but then was like whatever I'll just get it at the actual stand. So we waited another 15 minutes to get to the front of the line only to find out that they were CASH ONLY. Our options where:
a) Stand in the original line again to pay with a card, then stand in the pick up line.
b)Get money from the ATM and stand in the food line again.
c) Give up.
We gave up mostly because I was annoyed. Why would they have a new thing be cash only, and if it was why did the bitch cashier not give us the opportunity? We were profiled! Plus I was starving so I felt like crying. So we went to KFC because we were trying to think of somewhere we don't go often. Plus they have delicious biscuits.

4) We all like to laugh at writers like Anne McCaffery and for good reason. Their books tend to be all the same, at least after the first few. But honestly she was my gateway into fantasy (well my parents read some to me, but hers were the first ones I read for myself). I've read so many of her books that I have a hard time remembering which ones they were vs. the ones I haven't. And I enjoyed them (mostly for the cheesy but implied porn romance plot lines). So tell me, what redundant writers have you read so many of that you no longer remember the individual titles? I'm thinking fantasy authors but any other genre is okay too. I also read a ton of those "The Cat Who blah blah blah" mysteries. And on the kid/ya front I read a ridiculous amount of: Nancy Drew, The Nancy Drew Files, Christopher Pike, Sweet Valley High, and The Babysitters Club. My favorite professor once referred to how we approach these things as consumption reading, differentiating it from when we take time to look at a text and judge it's merits. So tell me flist, what kind of literary junk food have you gone through in your time?

1) If you like either Sarah Silverman or Matt Damon at all: you'll want to watch this.

2) This weekend we were at the mall and we went to the Cheesecake Factory and I indulged and had my beloved Fried Macaroni and Cheese (really rich mac and cheese rolled into balls and covered in breading like mozzarella sticks) and a Georgia Peach(both beautiful and delicious). So many strikes against my diet and or health but so perfectly wonderful at the same time. If you ever end up at a Cheesecake Factory you really do want to try both.

3)( Another Poll to Help Cull Icons from Overrepresented Fandoms )

Days Woken Up Before 4AM This Week: 3
Days Called In Sick of Work This Week: 1
Hours Spent Working on Applications This Week: 12
Hours of TV Watched This Week: 8 (most recent 2 episodes of Bones, first 6 episodes of Babylon 5)
Hours of WoW Played This Week: 6
Words Written of asoiaf_exchange Fic: 700 (of like many thousand but at least I am finally getting something written)
Pages Cut From Graduate School Materials in Editing Process This Week: 6 (4 from Writing Sample, 2 from Statement of Purpose)
Hanukkah Presents Received This Week: Season 2 Bones DVDs (from Jeremy)



Meme: You pick a scenario and a fandom. I will pick a pairing.

So we are planning on having a Halloween Party. The kind where you invite everyone you've ever met, buy a lot of booze, put anything breakable out of reach, and keep the lights low.

Right now my top costume choice is to be Faith. I was thinking about going brunette again like I have the last two falls anyway, since my mom paid for me to get my hair colored as well as cut at a nice salon and I think it makes my eyes stand out and me look and feel more responsible. I have a pair of chunky heeled black leather boots that would work and I am sure I could dig up one of my old slutty little tops that would do nicely. All I'd have to do is buy the leather pants (and let's face it doesn't everyone sort of want an excuse to do that). Also it's been far too long since I had an excuse to wear heavy eyeliner and dark lipstick. Plus J said he'd make me a stake.

If I did this, J's idea was that he could be a demon, but I sort of hate mask costumes. I am going to see if I can convince him to maybe be Wes... but I am not sure there is an easy way to make that obvious (plus he hasn't seen any AtS so that idea probably isn't going to seem as awesome as it is to him). He is tall and lean through and his light brown hair would work well.



It's still up in the air though. So throw me suggestions (fannish or not).

(Basic stats: Age 23, Caucasian, Blue Eyes, Naturally Dark Blond Hair (But often dyed), 5'3", 130lbs, 32DD)

1) 2 Weeks and 3 Days Until my GRE Subject Test for Literature in English.  I am in no way prepared.  Please ask me more questions.

2) I am not stalking Alan Rickman and Eliza Dushku; because, hey I really don't need to make an ass of myself in front of famous people I am actually impressed by. Also: work.

3) My sister has named her new kitten Mr. Ernest Worthing... no one said we weren't a nerdy family (Just be glad that that we didn't go with Ziggy Stardust or Buddy Holly or Biggie Smalls or any of the other ideas that were popular).

4) This weekend my cousin Rachel got married.  My cousin Matt was a bridesmaid... he also caught the bouquet.

5)I have pretty pretty nails (pink and whites and shiny light pink on the toes with white flowers and purple rhinestones). They make me feel... classy.

6) Possibly I never mentioned ( how pretty my undergraduate school is. ) That's a fairly accurate representation of the school's buildings and grounds... not just the one perfect view or something.

Well I'm back home at last and I might make a post about the second half of my trip at some point but there is job applying to do so I will just say the most important things:

1)Thank you so much to adelynne and her boy for being wonderful hosts when I was in Boston. I had so much fun and felt so welcomed and comfortable. Seriously on about Thursday my mom asked me if it was getting awkward because staying with people usually does at that point and I honestly could answer that it hadn't. I greatly enjoyed the apple picking, and indian food, and playing settlers, and watching VM with your Carnegie Mellon posse in Boston, and starting to write meta, and discovering that we are cylons.

2)Thanks to starrysummer for hanging out with me 3 out of my 4 days in New York. It was so awesome getting to hang out with you and plotting to get sionnain to read SoIaF so she'll write Littlefinger/Sansa and going out and being bought lots and lots of drinks by random men in bars and shoe shopping and amazing crossover bunnies and watching VM together and the going on thehunt for the perfect gold eyeshadow and everything.

3)Thank you to sophia_helix for picking me up from the airport upon my return, venturing to Ross with me, tivoing all my crack for me while I was gone, going bar hopping with me Friday night, spending the rest of the weekend tv watching with me, and overall just being awesome.

4)And last but not least, yay for hobviously visting this weekend and sharing her flying bison dvds and eating fancy french cheese and yummy bread and pasta salad with us being the most lovable of drunks.

Also. I missed my cat A LOT. *hearts;

1)Either lying around on the living room floor with Davis until 4:30 in the morning is a habit I need to kick... or it's a totally viable lifestyle. I am not sure which.

2)Dear Firefox, stop trying to guess what I am going to say... it's extremely annoying.

3) I feel a friends-cut coming on. That is the nature of participating in friending frenzies... you add some people that you totally clivk with, but also some that you totally don't.

4)Does anyone else totally get choked up and cry or want to cry every single time they listen to "does he love you?" or is it just me?


ETA:

a) I just spent $32 dollars on cakes for mom's birthday
b) I also just faxed over the form that i had not known I needed to say "yes, I want to graduate."