Confessions of a Fictional Historian

For several months now I've been anxious about various things (which for various reasons do not need exploring at this juncture), and not feeling quite myself. On Monday things came to a head, for me: I heard some upsetting (not necessarily bad) news regarding work and then over my lunch break started feeling ill and then symptoms started showing up and today it was confirmed: I am having a flare-up. I am not feeling this flare-up quite as much as I felt the other two, but whatever. (Ordinarily I am a sluggish, sick mess.) I am taking drugs and feel much better physically, though not much better mentally/emotionally.

(Please note that the mental/emotional state is going to change. Soon. I am determined to make it so, and am refusing to worry about it.)

For anyone who has seen the beautiful movie version of Watchmen: one of my favorite sequences from the movie is stuck in my head. It popped into my head at work today and I keep thinking back on it as I think of work, and do work things. It's the opening credits sequence, which plays to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and it shows the beginning of the superheroes (the original Minutemen) and how they fight crime and then they all go their separate ways--you know, murdered, gone crazy, gone to war and become hardened, pregnant. It's a really cool sequence. But the changes shown are not happy ones.

Seriously. I don't mean to be dramatic; the sequence popped into my head at work today and it's really how I feel about work this week. I shall not go into any further detail.

On the bright side, I've just tonight learned/taught myself how to crochet ribbing and I'm pleased to say that it's very easy and looks decent (a bit crooked, but decent). Also, drugs! And I finally updated my iPod so now I can listen to all the music I imported recently, including the Dresden Dolls, the Dropkick Murphys, and season four of Battlestar Galactica. (As a result, I have the kick-ass and gorgeous "Kara Remembers" stuck in my head.)

I'm about to go to bed (well, to lie in bed reading A Stranger to Command, which is not my favorite but which I like well enough, and which has picked up a bit as the book has gone on), and I have some stuff to take care of soon (like tomorrow) plus now I believe three creative projects that need to be worked on--crochet, writing, and a secret. Still trying to fix/figure out my computer problem, among other things, just now.

Computer still spastic. Also, I had the kind of day today where I left work and put on the pissiest music I had and then I went to my mom's house and chilled for a while and left feeling much better. Work, man. A rough day that made me clench my teeth. I'm starting to adopt this really weird soft pleasant voice when I'm getting irritated with the children and I find that using it unnerves me. Mostly because I do it without realizing I'm doing it.

This is really just a check-in. I plan to leave the computer completely off tomorrow, and to spend the day working on some projects on Saturday, and to go shopping Sunday. My computer will get looked at in September. I really need to avoid using this computer when possible because I think excessive use makes it angry. I can barely read what I'm typing now...

However, my sister (and, by extension, me) has the soundtrack to season four of BSG and I'm importing the second disc (two discs!) now. I'm really just listening to my favorite track, "Kara Remembers", on repeat, not only because it was one of my favorite moments in the whole show, but also because Bear McCreary's kick-ass rendition of "All Along the Watchtower" was awesome, but "Kara Remembers" is like that (or like the instrumental version, "Heeding the Call"), except done with piano and kick-ass drums, two of my favorite instruments ever.

...I have accomplished nothing this week. Lame.

Determined to try to post more often. DETERMINED.

One: I banged out a semi-satisfactory (would have been better if I hadn't been watching The Simpsons at the same time...writing after TV is okay, especially after things that make me all fuzzy like Emma and The Fall and Penelope and some other things that shall remain nameless, but writing during TV is miss more than hit, unless the TV is just insignificant enough to provide background noise while writing) 2100 words last night, in some randomness related to AEFB. Sat writing notes by hand later in one of many blank books I have lying around. (I love blank books so much. Why do I never use them?)

Two: Read a post (this one) about what kinds of things are going on in a writer's life when they write books. Thought about AEFB and when I started it and what kinds of things went on in my life while writing it. (Two things: stress and changes. An interesting notion.) Noting that I started AEFB on March 30 of last year, I browed through my archives to see what I'd been doing and thinking about then, wondering if I'd see any sparks of it. About ten days (give or take, and I'm too lazy now to go and look it up) beforehand, Phantom started exhibiting the disease or whatever he had that led to his death. This has nothing whatsoever to do with AEFB. (Interestingly, AEFB and the Charal story--a story I so far love too much to try to tear it apart and fix it; also, I have lost interest in it and inspiration for it--were started right at the same time--the Charal story on March 31 of 2003, shortly after I started blogging. My very first novel was started in late February of 2000. The second (and by a very great amount the worst) novel was started in late August of 2001--possibly why it was so bad--and POH was started in mid-October of 2005, but I figure that doesn't count because it was in the midst of a nasty writing dry spell. I can't figure out when the novel-to-be-that-tanked in 2005 was begun, but the Still novels were both begun in late spring.

Apparently, early spring and late winter is the time not only to read Sherlock Holmes, but for me to start a novel.

Three: My brother tempts me with things to buy. It was he who called to my attention that I could get a free iPod Touch with a slightly cheaper new white MacBook (ironically, I discovered the white computer on the very same day) (also, I am certain that I will never have an iPhone because I don't trust any one thing with so many tasks, but the iPod Touch is just cool enough--and owned by enough members of my family--that I just want one even though I know I don't need one and might rarely use it for anything more than music. I figure, it's okay to want, but acting on the want, not so much). Last week he was boasting about the iTunes $30 gift cards he got at Best Buy on sale for $25--meaning a free $5 of stuff at the store. I thought it a good idea and envied him aloud; he responded by yesterday tempting me with a text mentioning $50 iTunes cards on sale for $40 at OfficeMax or someplace. Clearly, I should stop corresponding with my brother before something awful happens.

Four: Good things today: small and pleasantly-behaved class, bagels at the grocery store, a bigger paycheck than I've gotten in like a month, buying the perfect amount of groceries, and the nice cool breezes coming in through my windows.

Five: Not so good thing: an extremely frustrating afternoon involving hunting down insurance policies without my dad to help me, and he getting frustrated with me for asking for his help when he is five hundred miles away. (I eventually gave up. Rargh.)

Six: Music of the day: Flogging Molly. I only have Swagger, but it has served me well these many years, for I love almost every single song on it (the slower ones I usually skip over unless I'm in a particular mood for them). Though I did pause for a brief listen to My Chemical Romance's "Teenagers" (their song "Blood" became my personal theme song for Fallout 3, which my siblings very much enjoyed playing), and now have the children's/folk (?) song "There's a Hole in My Bucket" stuck in my head.

...I wish I had a legitimate reason to use a BSG quote for my subject title (for instance, rain), but mostly, I just think it's cool, and it was in the finale.

And now for cold water (bleh I am so hot and the computer on my lap helps not at all), making tea, and working on AEFB notes at my desk, and then reading while drinking said tea, and sleep. Tomorrow and Thursday look to be busy days too, but I shall press on cheerfully.

I meant to update in Baltimore and never really did and suddenly it's been four days since I last updated. What?

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I was saving a couple of Design*Sponge sneak peeks and kept forgetting to post them and then of course last week, when I had no Internet on my computer, was sneak peek week. Here are the ones I liked: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen. Whoo.

So I know I shouldn't do it and I really don't deserve it (since I am pretty lazy six days out of seven, or at best, five out of seven, even if I have had a long and exhausting day involving flannel pajama pants--in this weather!--and too much frosting), but right now I'm kicking back with one of my favorite episodes of The Simpsons, "The Springfield Files". I’m not a huge X-Files fan, but the episode is hilarious, and every time David Duchovny flashes his wallet, I just crack up. Also, it is the episode with my favorite Simpsons magazine, "Better Homes Than Yours". XD

Today I shall review things.

Let's start with TV: I haven't caught up on House yet, but an evil commercial last night while I was watching The Simpsons spoiled me for the last episode, which I missed and which my sister failed to tape and swore I had to see immediately. I shan't go into details in case anyone reading this has not seen it, but I was very displeased.

Heroes! There is nothing like Heroes when one feels grumpy and disillusioned with the world. This week, I could have screamed at the TV--it was nearly as bad as "Company Man", except that it didn't have the heart-wrenching music and the way he falls to his knees... anyway, things look bad for Noah. Maybe now that his life sucks, his seasonal Death Fake-Out will come soon. Danko--my new third-favorite character (the first two being Noah and Sylar, though Sylar was being a particular bastard this week)--was impressionable and loveable. I was looking later back over the texts I sent my sister while I was watching the episode and discovered that in the space of seven texts (all of which I wrote in all caps), I used the word "no" eight times. Sigh.

Then BSG, which, as I said, was good. Also, Adama said at one point, "Some days I really hate my job." Haha.

I've had my furniture moved around for five days now and I remain pleased with it, except for a few things: 1) I don't like the couch crammed into the corner. Two nights ago I did some work and moved all that stuff I was storing behind the couch into the kitchen, and then moved the couch over by the windows. I like that less and I'm musing over what to do next. 2) The sun shines mercilessly through the window next to my bed and wakes me up early. 3) My favorite lamp (Goodwill lamp with Ikea lampshade) is on my sewing table desk, which is now tucked away into a corner where I can't see the lamp and the light it gives off doesn't spread very far. There are some other things I want to do that I haven't gotten around to yet''either too expensive, or requiring some heavy lifting.

The latest interest: The Colonial Williamsburg Podcast. I LOVE IT. There are about a million episodes, and I've only listened to like ten so far, but it's this guy interviewing people who work for and around and in the place and it's really, really interesting.

The weather lately sucks. Two days ago it snowed all day, but lightly. Yesterday it was cloudy all day. Today it was warm and sunny, but tomorrow it is supposed to rain.

Sunday I did end up going to church. I love Palm Sunday. I admit that it's mostly because it's the only holiday I get to sing my favorite hymn ("The Palms", by Jean-Baptiste Faure), but I also like it because it's a little holiday all tucked away into the weekend before Easter, mostly untouched by commercialism and all that. The song never fails to move me, and I think it's glorious. (Things like Facebook and YouTube and Hulu work sporadically at best on my computer, it not being connected to a network for real, but if you search for it, you can come up with some YouTube videos of it. Though, strangely, one of the ones I managed to watch part of did not have the lyrics I know.)

Anyway. I went to church in my fancy new frock (compliments from strangers and friends alike) and thoroughly enjoyed the singing, and thought about how I need a new pair of nice white/cream shoes--ones that don't hurt my feet as much.

Something else I tried: unclogging a drain with baking soda. It seems to have worked really well, but I think the drain is already kind of clogged or really small or something because it takes a long time for water to run through, but now I'm completely prepared to join all those people who swear by baking soda.

I've been really tired lately and I'm not sure why. Today I went into work an hour later (discovery: when you're going in late, an hour doesn't make much of a difference), and we had our Easter party today and the day just dragged on and on and by the time I left work, I was just about dead on my feet, and had to like struggle to stay awake in the car and once I got home I crawled straight into bed with The Graveyard Book.

So that's been my week--kind of sucky. As usual, I'm excited about the weekend.

A large collection of Design*Sponge sneak peeks: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

It occurs to me that I haven't posted an entry in several days. I keep meaning to, and I do have some things to say, but it just keeps slipping away from me and next thing I know it's ten till midnight and I should be in bed.

Suffice it to say that I am very tired tonight, and have started getting caught up on BSG--watched the rest of the webisodes, the following two episodes, and nearly half of the one after that. It's not cracky like Heroes (except OMG as it's getting near the end of the season it starts getting all emotional and horrible as well as cracky), but it's good! Gaius Baltar has short hair and looks beautiful, Roslin is getting her act together, and Lee (in a suit) and Starbuck are trolling the halls of the Galactica with guns. All is as it should be.

More later.

Suffice it to say that the last two days have been unexpectedly peaceful, hopeful, and relatively pleasant--for starters, watching zero TV except for the daily dose of The Simpsons, plus writing every day, so very close to the end of AEFB. I will possibly finish it tonight, as I've passed the climactic scene, if it can indeed be called so, and now have to tie up loose ends, like that pesky romance.

However. I'm currently suffering through some awfulness--unpopped popcorn. (And my sister, watching the BSG finale, keeps periodically texting me going, "OMG". I am nowhere near caught up on BSG. BSG is basically a distant memory. She assures me I must get caught up now.) Around 8:40, I started some popcorn, thinking it would finish in time for Dollhouse and I would eat it and be happy. Sometime after Dollhouse started, I realized the burner wasn't on. Annoyed and confused, I switched to another--smaller--burner, at which point the oil eventually started sizzling and the kernels browned but never popped. I switched the first burner back on and when I was satisfied that it was getting warm, I moved the popcorn back in hopes that I could rescue it, and turned off the other burner. Only to wander back some time (really no idea, maybe five or ten minutes) and realize I'd turned off the wrong burner. FAIL. Now the proper burner is turned on but it's been several minutes with no sizzling or popping or anything, and it's been nearly an hour and a half since I first started out on this popcorn venture. The burner is hot, the kernels are well-oiled, but NOTHING is happening. This happened to me once before, with Caroline, except that the burner was fully functioning the entire time. Seriously, what is wrong with me, that I mess up popcorn?

The only drawback to the day, really.

Went into work early and left super early, nearly two hours before my normal leaving time. Driving home at 5:00 pm was interesting, but then I crawled into bed and finished one book (Bridge of Birds, had a nice ending but was not really worth the read) and worked on another (Mississippi Jack for a little less than two hours.

(I heard a pop! FINALLY!)

Anyway, I think there is something really wonderful and luxurious about lying in bed and reading for hours and hours at a time. I wish I did it more often. Then dinner--a grilled cheese on English muffin bread (store-bought, no real contender for the homemade kind), using Colby cheddar (the only cheese in the house and, I have discovered, not my favorite), ham, and spinach. I'm pleased to say that I put spinach in almost everything I cook these days (i.e. this week) and in my lunch sandwich too and I kind of love it. Anyway, the sandwich was perfect and after eating it I sat on the couch and crocheted for a long time, sometimes listening to podcasts and sometimes watching TV and sometimes just sitting.

Then came Dollhouse, which kind of gave off the message that it's supposed to be that disturbing, but there is still something really familiar and off-putting about it that doesn't sit well with me. It's very Jossian, I suppose, reminds me of Firefly if it was from the point of view of River before Simon rescued her, plus the set reminds me a whole, whole lot of Wolfram & Hart in season five of Angel and that Topher dude sounds like a cross between Xander (less dorky) and Wash (less sarcastic) with a sort of flaily nerdiness thrown in (clearly, he is the Joss guy). Plus I've never been 100% on Eliza Dushku (she served her purpose on BTVS and Angel, but was never someone I considered a good actress) or Tahmoh Penikett (same deal--he does a really great job as Helo on BSG, but there really isn't a lot to Helo, poor simple trusting beautiful lad that he is), and hence am not 100% on this show. In this episode, the one character I decided I liked all right changed completely so that's...not cool.

This episode, however, had Mark Sheppard in it. I love Mark Sheppard. I love his stupid tie and flamingo pins and bowler hat and apple peeler. And his shades on BSG.

(Typical Rachael cooking incident: I do everything right and the popcorn burns for no reason and then I end up with a small amount of unpleasantly crunchy popcorn, an hour and a half after I wanted to eat it. Sigh.)

A very nice paycheck today, and also a much nicer credit card bill than expected. Makes me happy.

Weather lately is beautifully sunny but cold--not my favorite combination. I'd rather have sunny and cool. Whatever, beggars can't be choosers. Tomorrow Mandy, her baby, and I are going to Devou Park and I am going to attempt some baking as long as there is no more unnecessary stove failage.

More later, possibly tomorrow, as I won't have much time on Sunday, it being the day I am celebrating my birthday and all. For now, I need to let this crappy popcorn cool a little so it at least doesn't burn my hands when I try to eat it, and maybe read for a while longer before going back into AEFB, and hopefully finishing it.

Good morning, and welcome to March. I'm very excited about March. I mean, nothing much of interest happens in March (my birthday, and Caroline's, and several children where I work), but March means springtime. I've been longing for springtime ever since the holidays ended.

Today--this week--I am starting to work on being diligent. We will see how that goes. I want to work hard on things I'm supposed to do and things I want to do.

The thing about March. The date at the top of the current and only draft of An Eye for Beauty is Sunday, March 30, 2008. (Curious--I often seem to start stories that take towards the end of March.) I kind of like to finish first drafts within a year or less--more than that and one wonders why it's taking me so effing long. Standing at about 95,000 words and nearing the end (but still with a lot to go, which probably means that I'll do some considerable trimming while revising), I've got to crack down and work harder if I want to finish it by the 30th. We'll see how that goes. A couple of bits--too short to call scenes--are already written, and I know what's going to happen. It's just a matter of writing it, I guess. We'll see!

I'm being very accomplished this weekend. Friday dragged on forever and ever, but I finished my lesson plan for March and paid both of my bills in good time on my lunch break. I finished Curse of the Blue Tattoo (which I very much enjoyed) on Friday and A Study in Scarlet (I love Sherlock Holmes end of story) on Saturday, and plowed through the rest of 1001 Nights of Snowfall Saturday morning. I spent a very long time at my dad's house yesterday, which I didn't really want to do, but I at least got a lot of work done. I did all of my laundry (oh that is fabulous, to have clothes to wear again!) and went through boxes and cleaned in my room, and now everything that is mine is confined to the closet, the top of the dresser (which is just a few things that I need to transport or put away), and one windowsill that I haven't gotten around to cleaning up yet. In short: the very worst of the work at my dad's house is done. Most of the rest of it, the cleaning and organizing the remaining stuff in the closet and top top of and in the dresser, can be done at my leisure. (Now we just have to agree on a color to paint the room...)

And I finished up my taxes and sent them out--e-filed this year, expensive, but I was frustrated with my millions of forms and just wanted to have it finished. So that's done too.

Plus on Thursday Anton and I took my old jank mattress to the curb (it was surprisingly not hard at all), and now it is gone forever, that mattress that is older than I am and that once upon a time was my parents', and for nearly a week was taking up precious space in my hallway. Now the hallway is clear and I am happy.

My sister and I talked cheerfully about Heroes (in our spare time we both happen to be watching season one, completely separately from one another) and then started to compare Heroes to The Producers. In watching season one, I'm seeing how I was so bored with it at first--in the first arc, up to "Homecoming", the only interesting things that happen are character development, and the plot happens in small, confusing, and tantalizing snippets. The stuff that happens is mostly interesting (Niki is kind of boring and interesting at the same time), but it all feels disconnected and it's all, when is something going to happen? And then comes "Homecoming" with the paintings and Sylar and plot and awesomeness. Not really any Noah awesomeness--the best kind--but just awesomeness in general. Possibly from Peter.

Also, I watched BSG. I watched up through episode four of the webisodes (pretty good, but not making a huge impact yet. Mostly I was delighted to watch them on my iPod--such a sharp and tiny picture!), and also watched an episode with my dad and sister, "Guess What's Coming to Dinner," I think it was. Some very good and beautiful moments (my favorite is the singing, and Gaius Balter lingering in the doorway listening to Gaeta sing), but reminds me of how frustrating and depressing season four is. Heroes is much preferred, because it can usually guarantee me some form of cracktasticness and very often some awesomeness. Also, super powers!

I went home lateish and somewhat grumpy, and watched (listened to, really) Arrested Development while putting my clothes away and then watched an episode of due South (deciding I was too grumpy for Heroes) and then SNL while drawing.

I woke this morning feeling bleary and gross and read volume eleven of Fables and then ate breakfast in the kitchen while messing around on the computer. And then I wrote 1400 words of AEFB sitting here in the kitchen, on a hard chair, with the sun coming in the windows, and drinking a rather unpleasant mug of green tea. (Writing is best done sitting up, at a table, I have discovered. It's so much easier to do it on the couch or in bed, but it's easier to make myself do it if I'm sitting up, and the kitchen is pleasant right now, and cleaner than the desk area.)

I want to chill and write more, but I have things to do today--my mom's house to retrieve some fabric and possibly magazines, maybe make a run to the grocery store (though I'm trying to postpone that as long as possible; I hate going on Sunday), make sure I have everything prepared lesson-plan-wise, at least for tomorrow and probably for the day after (since I know I won't feel like doing it tomorrow night after two and a half hours of network TV), and then Anton and I are going to some kind of restaurant that serves steak and doughnuts (he assures me it's great) and then to the circus! I have never been to the circus before and I got a discount via work and I'm excited. And then watching more Heroes. And hopefully more writing or drawing before going to bed, and probably crochet while watching Heroes.

In short, I am determined to stay on top of my lesson plan and do keep doing creative things. Doing things I need to do as well (like rinsing my dishes and stacking them nicely on the other counter instead of leaving them all gross and spread out over the preparing-food-counters) would be awesome.

On this gray Sunday morning, as I sit here crunching through a bagel, I feel hopeful. I've been living off of gifted leftovers for most of the week and am pretty much out of food. I don't even have cheese, my one staple. (Not having cheese is bizarre. No quesadillas, no grilled cheese, no pizza, no omelets...)

Saturday, I have decided, is for resting, whatever that might entail. (For me, it entailed of lots of TV, magazines, screencaps, and writing 1300 words.) Sunday is the work day. Which means that this morning, I shall be going grocery shopping (I am so excited about that), doing the dishes, doing my finances, doing some important computer stuff, cleaning up around the house, and possibly one or two other things. (And then later, lunch with Anton, and Inkheart with Caroline and Georgeanna.)

And now the long part, where I catch up with everything I've been meaning to say for the past week or so: ( Read more... )

Okay, I think that's it. I really need to start on my morning's chores if I ever want to do anything else today. To close, more from Design*Sponge: one, two, three, four, five, six.

And now for groceries. Hooray for food!

My afternoon at work was astonishingly relaxed--it usually isn't. The two girls who give me the most grief were extremely good today. I was pleased. Also, it snowed for most of the morning and the numbers started going down earlier in the day, though still at roughly the same pace.

I had vague intentions of putting up my Christmas tree tonight, and doing some other important things, but I spent roughly an hour cooking (corn muffins from a mix--the second time I've made them on my own, and this time they turned out perfect; last time they burned a little--and a hastily-made macaroni and cheese), and another half-hour or so waiting for my food to cook. Wariness that my milk will go sour led me to make both of these things in the same night, plus a mug of cocoa, which I downed most of, and then regretted when it made me sick.

Let me tell you, throwing up marshmallows isn't pleasant.

Because I waited so long before eating, I got a headache, and felt sick from all the eating, so lay down and took a nap. At like 10:00 pm. Whatever, it worked. I've already opted out on a shower tonight, instead deciding to rest and eventually (soonish) go to bed.

Things I'm Up To Lately:

Reading: The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick. It's a lovely book so far, and I believe it won the Caldecott award. It's a very curious graphic novel--not one done in a comic book format (like most graphic novels), but done in both words and in pictures. I've been busy and distracted and it's hard for me to read right now, so this makes the perfect book: the sections with words are quick and easy, and the sections with pictures are lovely and also quick.

Also, Superheroes! and Magic or Madness. The former I'm halfway through and haven't picked up in a week due to previously mentioned distractedness, and the latter I was interested in and read the first page or so of and haven't picked up again yet. DISTRACTED.

Watching: Season two of The Simpsons, volume two of TaleSpin, and the volume three finale of Heroes. (AHAHAHAHAHAA I WAS RIGHT! Sylar smackdown and all! There were just too many awesome things in that episode for me to name them all. But I think that the best parts were Claire being tough and awesome and using teamwork with Noah, without being a "fighter", Ando and his new development, and Hiro punching someone. Awesome.) Oh, and the new BSG webisodes, which are intriguing but haven't quite struck me hard yet. Still, GAETA.

Needing to do: The dishes. And cleaning up my craft box and embroidery floss (having finished with the yarn last night). And putting up my Christmas tree. And some other stuff.

Wanting to do: Write. (Distracted.) Wash new fabrics. Cover pillows. Make things. Register at Snapfish so can get prints of digital photos.

Loving: My new Ikea lampshade, still. The pattern and the very simple lines of it on the more complicated lines of the lamp make me smile.

Unsure about: The new storage tubs I just bought. They were cheap, and I could always stash them in a closet, but they take up a lot of space, more than I thought they would. (I am tempted to get this stool I saw at Ikea the other day instead, if I want a place to put plates while eating and such. Hm.)

Annoyed about: Pilot light on furnace going off multiple times today (of course, it was fine all last week--until the day it SNOWED). I don't get Fox and miss watching more recent episodes of The Simpsons. Downstairs neighbor watching TV (or something) really, really loudly.

Pleased about: Feeling better from nap. Lampshade (the only light on in the apartment right now, and draws my eye as I lay here). My name being on my mailbox, finally--yesterday I got my first piece of mail! It was something addressed to "resident"! I was gleeful! Mail! Also, my beautiful new posh laptop bag--so classy. (It's this, in brown.)

Strangely addicted to lately: Broccoli. It has become my favorite vegetable, in lieu of good green beans. I eat broccoli nearly every day and love the stuff. It is especially good when paired with carrots.

I think I shall try to do one thing before brushing my teeth and going to bed, so that at least the whole evening won't have been a waste of cooking and throwing up and feeling awful.

First, one thing I want to put on the table here. I debated mentioning it here because I'm not terribly comfortable with going into details about this kind of thing, and for a week or two it seemed better not to mention it, but now my mom knows (sigh), and it's going to come up at some point. So, I have been dating Anton from the library for several weeks now and, as I said, I enjoy his company and think it's silly to completely avoid talking about him.

It's very exciting for a variety of reasons. Today my mom got the information out of me and while I considered putting the conversation down here for posterity, I decided that I just couldn't and I would rather just forget that conversation entirely. Well, it could have been worse. I'm just saying that I would really have preferred to have not had a conversation at all. My sister's been cool about it, though. THIS IS WHY I DON'T TALK TO YOU ABOUT THINGS, MOTHER.

Anyway. There is that.

So most of my day today was going out with Anton and doing stuff on the Internet. I want terribly to be creative and crafty right now. :-p

Such a thing as Harry Potter sock yarn exists! Or will exist soon. Good incentive for me to learn how to crochet socks. I'm not sure I understand how all of the colors correspond to Harry Potter type themes, but whatever. We've already established that I'm a yarn whore. Random discovery whilst looking for a local store that might carry this brand of yarn (there are at least two): there are a lot more yarn shops in the area than I'd thought.

The second disc of Dexter and the third volume of Fables and a book I was going to use for school came in for me at the library and I am very pleased and am going to run and fetch them tomorrow after work.

I'm slowly getting things done--writing the past couple of nights (knock on wood), today washed a load of costumes and was this close to actually putting stuff away, went to the CU. I still, unfortunately, have a pile of things left to do, most importantly, make a lesson plan for at least the next couple of days. EEP. :-/ I also need to clean out my car, deliver a DVD I've been sitting on for weeks (and, oh yeah, take care of all the other DVDs I've been hanging onto for YEARS), find my floaty black blouse, make a pirate costume, finish my market bag and make at least two more, do my finances, finish cleaning and restocking costumes, and a handful of other things I'm sure I'm forgetting. Whoo!

I think I read today about a deleted scene from season four of BSG. I'm not going to bother doing a cut, since the season's over for now, but I think Gaius Baltar and Six broke up. In a deleted scene. I find this very upsetting. Ordinarily I am not a person who is crazy about various pairings--ordinarily I like very strange and oblique pairings just because I find them more interesting--but I would have sworn that the show wanted me to think that Gaius and Six were meant to be together, not necessarily romantically, but as a team. So they broke up for...what, for Tory and Tigh? Ack.

ETA: A truly amazing Lego Batman cake.

Also, I am not excited for Heroes at all tomorrow. Mostly I'm thinking about making my lesson plan and then beginning to execute it tomorrow (eeeeep).

I suppose if I want to do that and shower and write and possibly do my finances tonight, I should get started on that now. Wish me vast amounts of luck.

Okay, so I've been wanting to post for like two days now but have been way too busy; I'm posting quickly now because I have a houseguest and tons of chores to do, and probably wouldn't have a chance again until tomorrow.

It's been really busy! Friday I gave my jank presentation and then hurried home to chill. Later, I discussed casting the show with Mary Ann and Caroline for about three hours, then went to my mom's house for the jewelry party she and my aunt were having. (The party was incredibly boring. I consumed a lot of shortbread and tried really hard to pretend to be interested in jewelry, and booked it out of there close to eight.) Then to Caroline's, where we messed around for an hour or two and then worked again on casting the show for another three or four hours.

Elyse kept texting me about BSG, which was the mid-season cliffhanger (people have referred to it as the finale, but it's not really), and the last new episode we'll see for at least three months, probably more. Sad. I set the VCR before I left, so I was determined to cast the show first and think about BSG second. Of course, I got home close to 1:00 AM and decided I couldn't go any longer without seeing it, so parked it down, ate a granola bar, and watched.

Basically, without spoiling, it did the complete opposite of what I expected it to do, and served up yet another steaming pile of WTF. I'm still waiting for the show to hook me again; so far this season I've only really liked two episodes and most of the rest of it I felt pretty meh on.

So I went to bed close to 2:00 AM and slept. Saturday afternoon I went to the wedding of a friend I haven't really spoken to much in the past five to seven years. I sat at a table with people I was good friends with in third grade (if I thought about this too closely, it blew my mind a little) and their boyfriends, and Molly proposed (after the maid of honor made quite possibly the worst speech of my life) that we play a drinking game where we give each other toasts. There was dancing. I had pink champagne. Later I didn't feel well and wasn't sure why. (Obviously I just can't hold my liquor, which severely annoys me.) The wedding cake was cheesecake and was really good. Tiffany looked beautiful and I thought it was a lovely wedding.

Got home around six, grumpy and tired. I changed into my PJs and spent the rest of the night chilling, occasionally talking on the phone with Caroline about casting the show, and trying to stay awake. At 10:30 or so, I realized it was futile, so I just went to bed, and was asleep by 11:30.

I got somewhere between eight and ten hours of sleep, which was amazing.

Yesterday morning I finished reading Tithe, by Holly Black, which I really enjoyed. It kind of reminded me of a more "mainstream" Dangerous Angels or something. Sometimes I thought the plot was a little romancey-bordering-on-angsty, but most of the time, it was a good plot, and interesting, and the author used lovely language. Now I am reading Eleven, by Patricia Reilly Giff, because it's for school and I should do it sooner rather than later.

Then work, which sucked. I won't go into much detail, but we felt short-staffed yesterday and I was trying to communicate with three different people (at one point) on my cell phone and work at the same time, and sometimes it was really busy. :-p

I had Mandy over to stay the night last night. After work, and after I got some gas, I picked her up and brought her here, and we spent most of the night hanging out and/or watching TV and movies--The Illusionist and maybe half of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

I don't have class this morning, and--best of all--my dad and sister are coming home today. Today is gigantic chore day; I must do the dishes, do some laundry, clean the house, vacuum, clean the bathrooms, and I'm sure there are other things I'm forgetting. I also have a big homework assignment due tomorrow that I haven't even looked at yet, plus I want to read and write and finish watching the movie. Plus I was going to at least start a dinner for my father and sister before I go to work, plus tonight after I get home from work Wees and I are going to play LIJ.

Hm. Yes. Today is going to be pretty busy too, and I'm getting hungry, so I'm off to have some breakfast and get started on some of those chores.

I've been avoiding using my computer for the past couple of days because of the buzzing noise, and the public computers have not been available. So I have been generally Internetless and computerless, to my vague annoyance.

Last night my dad looked at the computer and fixed some other stuff, but when I opened it up this morning, the buzzing noise started immediately and eventually got worse. Now I am on the PC in the dining room, and perplexed. I am being overly paranoid because the last time my computer suffered a massive crash, the precursor was a similar buzzing. I'm going to pester my dad about it more later.

Also, class. The day before yesterday my group actually got to dig. It's pretty boring, but at least we were outdoors, and it's way more interesting than the lab. The dirt we were pushing through the screen was muddy and clayish and kept turing into tough balls. My shoulders hurt yesterday. But we got to leave early because it started raining. Yesterday, we were back in the lab, even though it rained in the morning and only briefly, and only got better. I actually drove out to the site and then had to turn around and go back and was forty minutes late to class. :-( Whatever.

So I thought I would sleep in today, but I woke up well before 7:00 AM and was fully awake by 7:30. Bizarre. (Gah I really hate this huge keyboard.)

Some random things:

-While driving, I am listening to Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony and I like it. I especially like the narrator, who sounds a bit like Tim Curry, and I really liked Artemis going, "Blast this puberty! I need to focus on my plans, not pretty girls!"

-This morning, I read a chapter and a half of Fire Study. And, you know, something about the author's general tone and style just does not sit well with me. She uses extremely casual language in a fantasy setting (I've seen "yeah" and "sure" in twenty-five pages of reading), which I highly disapprove of, depending on the origins of the word. I'm just waiting for someone to shout out, "Hey, cool!" But even disregarding that, I don't feel terribly attached to the main character, I'm annoyed that everyone seems to like her, except for one person who violently dislikes her, and the author's way of carefully explaining every person that's important to Yelena and why they are important.

I do not like the author's style. That doesn't mean she can't tell a good (or at least enjoyable) story. So far, she's not succeeding. I'm reading the book out of vague curiosity and plan to put it down if it ever becomes too much of a chore to read. We'll see how it goes.

-Yesterday I separated out my writing from my drawings, which had previously all been in one drawer together. Now they are in two drawers, AND I found those ancient drawings I was wondering about. Yay. And, haha, they are so bad. (Also, it occurred to me yesterday that only three drawers in my dresser are used for clothing. The other six drawers are for stuff. I really need to get better organized--yet another thing that will happen when I live on my own, hopefully.)

-BSG. Since the first episode, I have been pretty blah about this whole season. Last night, I realized why, and explained to my sister. Ordinarily, with new seasons, it takes four or five episodes to finish off the arc from the last season, maybe a few more, and then the season can chill for an episode or two, and then it picks up wtih the seasonal arc. So I have kind of been waiting for some major plot threads to get tied up/questions to be answered, but we're like six episodes in now and that's clearly not going to happen. And that frustrates me. Clearly, the end-of-season arc of season three was tied into the overall arc for season four. But I want ANSWERS, damnit!

But last night's episode was pretty good. I'm just waiting for it to go somewhere. Lots of cool stuff with Gaeta. Gaius Baltar. Roslin and Starbuck. Good stuff. However, I dislike Tory, and I dislike Natalie, both for roughly the same reason--they are replacing Caprica Six. (Well, in the case of Tory, she also is too hardcore for my tastes and doesn't show emotions, which pisses me off.) Caprica Six is one of my favorite characters, and she is left stagnating in a cell with occasional visits from Tigh, while another Six model takes over half the Cylons, and Tory sleeps with her boyfriend. Poor Caprica Six.

-We are going to see Prince Caspian today!

-My aunt is visiting this weekend. We are probably going to go to First Watch for breakfast with them tomorrow morning. I probably would have slept in tomorrow morning, but oh well. Breakfast sounds good.

-Last night my sister and I got on the IKEA website and found a couch we like for our living room. It's the perfect size and comes in an option with a fold-out bed. I really want to go back to the store now and look around. Wees and I totally want to buy tons of stuff. Anyway, IKEA might be Swedish corporate madness, but their furniture is cheap and simple, and they have lots of storage-type-things, which we definitely need. We might try to go today. I'm aware of the whole putting-stuff-together-yourself-with-crap-directions thing, but my dad is all, "If Rob can assemble this stuff, I can too!" Okay.

-Crochet. I want to make new things, but learning new stitches confuses me so far (I tried to learn the half-double crochet the other day but I got confused. I'll try again later.). So last night I just started making something new, making it up as I went along. I'm not sure how successful I've been, but at least I have something to work on. Also, I thought I would have to go out to Michael's for new needles, but I remembered the knitting shop in Bellevue--they would probably sell crochet needles. Nichole at work says they're expensive, but it might be worth it not to have to drive out to Michael's. Gas is expensive and if the rain ever stops permanently, I have to drive out to the site a lot. (Damn. I need to obtain those last two Serenity comic books.) Anyway, I really want to start on my Chrestomanci scarf, because I think it will match my winter coat, but I have to wait. For now.

That's all for now. More later, especially if my computer stops making horrible noises.

My dad assured me today that my computer buzzing does not mean that I can not--or should not--use the computer; however, the noise annoys, worries, and distracts me, so I am using my mom's desktop computer for the time being. I don't have a lot of computer time right now anyway. While all of my irreplacable files--writing, other Word documents, and a few pieces of computer-generated art--have been backed up and hence are safe, I hate to think of losing the jillions of screencaps I carefully took for drawing references (the idea of replacing them pains me), or the iTunes library I just spent something like a year getting just the way I wanted it. Therefore, I want to avoid my computer until tomorrow night or Friday, when my dad can take a look at it.

(The buzzing reminds me of the last time my computer had a major crash, which was in July of 2004, I think, and resulted in me losing my entire hard drive and having to replace it. It cost $300; my dad and brother assured me they could have done it for less than $100. After the fact. Thanks, guys.)

Yesterday we went to the site. It was not so bad. Actually, it was pretty boring. We spent the whole six hours doing incredibly painstaking and fiddly measurements. My group's square had been partially previously excavated, so, at the end of the day, Dr. Thiel told us that we would do a different square instead. So we get to do more painstaking measuring and clearing the vegetation the next time we go to the site. Fuuuuun.

But you know how I was all, "Oh, I hope it rains tons and tons so we can spend time in the lab instead of at the site"? Well. Today it rained. And while I definitely appreciate not having to take the twenty-minute drive out to the site and spending all day there.....GOOD GRACIOUS I quickly learned to hate the lab. Today's six hours was spent at a table with four other students, painstakingly (noticing a theme here?) sorting tiny fragments of artifacts found at the site in previous years. First they had to be separated by type (ex: pottery). Then further categorized (ex: rim sherds and body sherds). And sometimes even further categorized (ex: shell temper, sand temper, or both?). It....was brain-numbingly terrible.

Of course, if I actually knew what I was doing, and was working with people I liked, it might not have been quite the task, but I didn't know what I was doing, my group was bad at sharing tasks (one or two people ended up doing all of the work, though who those two people were varied), and I was severely annoyed by the other girl in our group. She talked like she knew everything (she didn't), referenced her relatives as being really unique and talented, and latched onto a boy in our group. I've seen the two of them together before--we had a class together--so maybe I was just watching for it, but DAMN, she is freaking all over him as much as she can be without actually touching him, and it annoyed me, in part because it was tacky, and in part because I don't like the boy either. Maybe I was misreading her. But she annoyed me a lot.

So that exhausted me today, way more than yesterday did, and now I'm nursing a headache. And I was starving when I got home (but wasn't yesterday, when I got home later).

I came home today and finished off Dexter and...wow. A little anti-climactical, I think, and Rudy's definitely got some Petrelli vibes going on there (haha), and I want Dexter to just crack some more so badly, but everything tied up nicely and made sense. Now I just need Doakes and Deb to hook up. And for Dexter to confess. To someone. (I feel like I accidentally read a spoiler somewhere about this big reveal that happens, so I was kind of expecting that to happen and it didn't, which may account for the anti-climacticalness. I think it must happen in the second season. Or I made it up.)

But I have come to the realization that out of every single male character I love, most of them have some kind of secret identity. Therefore, it is truly my weakness. I mean, look at Noah Bennet. Look at Gaius Baltar. Look at Dexter. Maybe this is why I can continue to love Gaius Baltar even when he does really shady things or acts like a jerk.

I have nothing else to report. I have realized that I am creatively frustrated right now, and don't feel like I can write because I'm worried about my computer (and would have to re-back-up files if I wrote anything anyway). Can't crochet--need to learn more stitches first or, in the case of the Chrestomanci scarf, get bigger needles and do lots of planning. Grave Peril is seriously throwing me off by acting like something happened between it and Fool Moon (I've checked a jillion times, and GP is definitely #3), which makes it difficult for me to get into. Also, Murphy, my favorite character, hasn't shown up yet.

So yeah. Kind of blah tonight. I'll probably spend my evening reading, maybe writing in a notebook, and/or learning new crochet stitches.

I'm updating on my life in general before I go into hibernation for a few days to finish my remaining schoolwork.

First off, crocheting has consumed my life. I started this shawl thing like last Monday, restarted it a few times, and started it for the last time on Tuesday. Thanks to The Happy Hooker, I discovered what I'd been doing wrong the last time I crocheted, and also discovered that it is a lot easier to see chain stitches with multicolored yarn than plain. So that shawl thing was supposed to be practice, and then it was supposed to be a shawl. I finished it yesterday (used the whole skein, or what there was of it), and it's too small to be a shawl, so we are calling it a cat blanket because it is that size. :-/

The yarn I was using was random yarn from my sister's stash. It's acrylic, and Elyse suspects it was obtained from Kmart ages ago. And my final product is kind of stiff and itchy, and I'm not sure if it's A) the quality of the yarn, B) the fact that it's acrylic (that can't be it, right?), C) my tight stitches, D) the size of the hook (this was my mom's suggestion; a smaller hook makes tighter stitches), or E) something else entirely. It might get better if it's washed.

To learn more, I went to Hancock's yesterday for more yarn, because all the yarn we already have is at least several years old and acrylic, and most of it from Kmart. (I also bought a pattern, because Butterick patterns were 99 cents each. I also walked all around and petted all the lovely fabrics but decided against buying anything, and also I was sad when I realized they no longer carried the gorgeous silvery-blue velveteen I was planning to buy eventually.) I perused the yarn aisles very carefully, and finally chose one cotton yarn in multiple shades of blue, one acrylic/microfiber (the label said "microfiber sports yarn", I think) in cornflower-blue that is ultra-soft, and one wool yarn in these awesome shades of purple and orange and possibly other colors.

Last night I started on the microfiber yarn and quickly grew to hate it. The fibers do not stay firmly woven into one strand and it is all one color. (Also, I have discovered that--for me, at least--the first row (? the "foundation", so to speak, and then the stitches you lay upon the foundation) is the hardest, and it's difficult enough on its own, without adding in difficult yarn.) I gave up on that and instead started crocheting a scarf out of the cotton yarn. So far, I love the cotton yarn--it isn't necessarily soft, but it feels comfy to my fingers, and it's floppier than my acrylic yarn thingy. I'm excited about it.

However, crocheting has, as I mentioned above, consumed my life. I LOVE crocheting. It is something creative I can do while watching (listening to) TV, or while at the desk at work, and it is totally addictive, and it doesn't require brain power like writing or drawing does. I just sit there and do it. It's awesome. So completely addictive and awesome that I had to swear off crocheting until Wednesday, when exams are over. (Just now when I was a bit bored and itching to crochet, I allowed myself to crochet a few rows. Watching these things grow fascinates me!)

The other thing that has consumed my life is Diana Wynne Jones. I was extremely bored yesterday. I guess I just felt sort of blah--knew I should start on my schoolwork but couldn't make myself (senioritis, will you ever go away?), BSG was kind of blah (Leoben was good because Leoben is always good and I love Callum Keith Rennie. Helo was good. Everything else was a little weird. Anyway, I want things to HAPPEN instead of set up always.), and I was just sort of listless and bored yesterday.

Elyse suggested at some point that I read, but I am still stubbornly reading The Lady of the Forest, which I am more than halfway through now, and generally don't feel like reading. I really want to finish it. I want it to be a really awesome book. And then I want to go back to reading Jim Butcher. But mostly, it's not holding my attention now. Elyse said I should read a fun book during these stressful times. I said I couldn't. At some point, I realized I hadn't read Diana Wynne Jones' Chrestomanci book Witch Week since 2001, and I could really remember nothing of it. So I decided to read it again.

I stayed up until almost 2:00 AM reading it, and then was late leaving my mom's house this morning because I was determined to finish the book before leaving. I love Chrestomanci. I'm not entirely sure why. In this book, I particularly love the image of him standing in the woods surrounded by children (ten-year-olds? twelve-year-olds?), wearing his schmancy clothes and looking all bewildered and going, "Wait, what? Where am I, excited children?" (The ending feels faintly familiar, as does the white knitting, but most of it was lost in that seven years during which I didn't read it.)

This has left me with the urge to read more Diana Wynne Jones, and the realization that while I claim to adore Diana Wynne Jones, I really just love the Chrestomanci and Howl serieses, totaling nine-soon-to-be-ten relatively short books between the two of them, and Dark Lord of Derkholm. So I think I need to read more DWJ books--a long time ago, I read one that I didn't much care for. I don't remember what it was, but it was part of the Dalemark quartet, and I bought it for like $5 on the bargain table at Joseph-Beth, and now it is in a Captain Morgan box in my car, waiting to be taken to the library and donated to the book sale.

This makes me want to read The Lady of the Forest even less, as it isn't very Diana Wynne Jonesy. Sigh.

(Someday soon I have a post coming about books I like and why and what I like to read and why. And I would really love it if I could pinpoint why Diana Wynne Jones' books are so amazing, but....I can't. They just are.)

Those are the two big things going on right now: crochet and Diana Wynne Jones.

Tomorrow I have my Speech final (which is going to be a total breeze) and my Archaeological Theory final is also due tomorrow (I have to write it tonight; I'm planning on it after The Simpsons).

Tuesday is my computer final, which is going to be freaking hard and I have to review more stuff for it before then, especially Access which is like the most impossible computer program ever, even worse than Excel.

Wednesday is my Celtic Europe final, plus I have to turn in my Celtic Europe outline, so for the next couple of days, I'm probably going to be working on the outline. I discovered at work today that when it's not twelve hours before it's due and I'm annoyed and stressed out, it's a lot easier to read and understand the book I'm outlining. So I hope to work on that more tonight too (I almost finished an entire chapter today at work, one out of nine, I think).

And then freedom! *dances*

Memo to ulcerative colitis: PLEASE go away. Not cool. :-p

Wednesday afternoon through Friday I might go crazy with freedom and do whatever my heart desires. (Right now I am desiring terribly to sort through my "art drawer" and separate the drawings from the writings and then keep them in separate places.) Saturday I am graduating (!) and then spending the evening with my mother for Mother's Day and her birthday, both of which are on Sunday (which I work on).

It's kind of terrifying. In less than a week I will technically be a college graduate!

(Another memo, to self this time: talk to the registrar's office and make sure you're getting a BS in anthro, not a BA.)

So yeah. I dunno when I'll be on LJ next. For now, The Simpsons and then tons and tons of schoolwork. Whoo!

Got a busy couple of days ahead of me: work today (still need to shower and get dressed and all that jazz), Joey's show tomorrow and OH YEAH there are only TWO WEEKS OF SCHOOL LEFT and I have to work on my independent study like nobody's business.

But first, BSG.

( The Ties That Bind )

Yesterday I finished watching what Dexter I had and now it's become intriguing. Now I have to wait while nine people ahead of me finish with discs two and three.

Yeah, there was a lot of TV yesterday. And me being really lazy. But I got in somewhere around 2000 words too, so that was a plus.

I've been watching BSG and formulating theories and opinions and things.

( Read here )

And that's it on that front.

Here's the thing. Yes, I have a ginormous paper due on Wednesday. But it doesn't have to be turned in Wednesday, and many other students in the class aren't turning it in Wednesday. I really want to turn it in Wednesday. I want to turn it in and let my breath out a little and then go work on that old independent study. I'm going to work on it (both the paper and the independent study). But I'm not going to stress out over it.

In fact, the weather is gorgeous and I had to spend the morning cooped up at school in insanely boring classes (except for AT, which is almost never boring), and then after class went to wrestle with the registrar's office, and then wrestled with my car on the way home.

So I'm here to say, FRAK IT ALL, and post my lengthy BSG review, instead of working on my paper. :-p

( He That Believeth in Me )

.....I want to watch it again. Instead, paper-writing.

I am bored and lazy. It has been a dull and lazy weekend, during which I have been vegging. Whoo?

On the other hand, as well as watching excessive amounts of TV and taking screencaps, I've also been reading a lot. One book I'm reading is Finding Serenity, which is a book of essays about Firefly, edited by the awesome Jane Espensen. I like most of the essays, but yesterday I unfortunately ran into three in a row about gender issues, something that makes me irrationally irritated at best. (I think people make way too big a deal out of feminity vs. masculinity, and also, looking so closely at these characteristics makes every other feature of a character disappear, as though Zoe, for example, is defined by her feminity, or lack thereof, which she SO IS NOT. Also, it really annoys me when people say that one gender is better than the other, no matter which one they say, because IT'S NOT.)

The first of these essays was one that really pissed me off, because it claimed that prehistorically, people lived in a matriarchal society and worshipped the Goddess, and priestesses led people in sexual worship of the Goddess, and then some invading hordes came and forced male warrior gods upon these people. And. It really made me foam at the mouth, because A) I've just spent the past ten weeks of my life memorizing some basic stuff about anthropology and the levels of society and the parts of culture and there was SO MUCH WRONG in what she said (example: I have never heard of a matriarchal society. Ever. Smaller-level groups like bands and tribes were egalitarian, but that did not necessarily mean that men and women were equal; it mean that everyone had equal access to resources and no one was in charge. And upper-level groups like chiefdoms and states had people in charge, namely men, and were too big for egalitarianism.) that it made me doubt everything else her essay said, and B) she cited no sources. At all. She didn't even mention what this supposed Goddess-worshipping prehistoric group was called, nor the invading hordes. Also, when she quoted material from the show, she wrote it as though she were writing a story, instead of using proper citation. I looked up the author and this is her website. I pretty much threw the towel in when I saw she described her opinions as "unique" and "controversial". That's unprofessional if I ever saw it.

Um. Yeah. That became really long. Anyway. The other book is East, by Edith Pattou, which reads quickly and easily and is a retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales, "East of the Sun and West of the Moon". I'm more than halfway through it and I like it. And all I want to do is read more of it, but, blah, exam in Celtic Europe tomorrow, and also, an article discussion in Archaeological Theory tomorrow.

This whole thing about the new Sweet Valley High books really upsets me. What? WHY? I don't understand the appeal! I don't understand why people think there is a market for this today! I don't understand why they (publishers? whoever the author really is?) think that dating these books will make them more appealing. And, of course, I hate the whole "size four" thing. Like we really need more of that.

Side note, I wish I could remember the appeal those books had for me when I was younger, though in my defense, I read the Babysitters' Club religiously, and read Sweet Valley occasionally. I think it had the same appeal for me as soap operas have for other people...lots of crazy stuff happening and it's entertaining.

So when did it become the 80s again? I'm really perplexed by this.

Here's another one.

This was really amusing. I especially like the term "whorses". XD

Joss Whedon is kind of my favorite person right now and I really wish he could direct BSG. That would make me so happy. The other night Elyse and I watched the random BSG programs that were on and when Joss said he wanted Adama's phone and that he would always answer it and say, "This is Joss actual".....oh, Joss. I am really excited about Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long.

New BSG on Friday! I really wish I could care more, but it has been a looooooong time since I watched BSG. Maybe I should just buy season three already and watch the last arc (complete with awesome Mr. Sheppard, and the awesomeness of Tigh and Lee and Kara and Adama and everyone!) to get myself in the mood again. Our DVR turns out to be a skank, so we are recording it in the way of the 90s, with the VCR.

We watched the first episode of Six Feet Under tonight, just for something new, and, well, I do like that show. It makes me glad that last week I requested the first disc of Dexter at work. Yay Michael C. Hall!

Well. That was quite a ramble. Maybe now I'll manage to get some schoolwork done...?

My post on last week's House and Razor. Also, Elyse and I just finished watching Bender's Big Score again (well, the audio commentary, same diff) and it is just as good as the first time we saw it. So pretty! Animated! Funny! Nudity! Singing! *loves*

( TV reviews )

Tomorrow, it's back to work, starting with my crap Evelina paper. You know, the whole subject is really interesting, but I have no thesis. I have no interest in this paper like I did for my Flaubert's Parrot paper last semester. Sigh.