This morning I decided that a sports bra and a petticoat is totally an acceptable outfit to wander around the porch, yard and shed in.

Since I got a bunch more pillows and fabrics and candles and whatnot yesterday, I decided I was ready to move my morning meditation and exercise out to the sanctuary. It was nice. It was really nice. I unhooked the partition drape so I could still see the outside and settled myself right in the center of the pile of blankets and rugs and pillows to get started.

I put the curtain back up when I was ready to exercise. Now I'm drinking some lemonade and letting myself cool down before I take a quick shower or bath. I'm going to make a pie today, I think. It feels like a pie sort of day. A chilled cream pie.

I've been really enjoying RP lately. Both my games. I seem to be keeping up my ratio of 'stable relationship' to 'fucked up crazy relationship'. ;) Speaking of, Henry needs to ask Eileen if she wants to go to Kain and Blythe's wedding with him. He's so terribly excited about all of this, it's kind of cute. Also need to get Myre up to some trouble. Maybe she can prod Rufus and see if he wants to cut a deal with her....

I had a dream I took Nathan Explosion to my high school reunion. attilatehbun kept saying I was insane bringing him, and was apparently afraid he'd end up blowing up the building. We left before that happened, I believe.

Life is good.

ETA: Also, I'm overhauling my icons. I'm tired of a bunch of them. Where do people find icons?

I conquered the refrigerator!

I...wandered away in the middle to go to the DAV, but I got it done. I didn't start off my day with my usual pick-me-up, so I'm much more easily distracted today. But it all worked out, because I got some beautiful fabrics and pillows for the shed for just 2 dollars. I'm decorating my back area with an Indian and Tibetan theme. So far the dominant colors seem to be a very adrk gold and a dark, vibrant blue. Later on, when it's cooler, I'm going to start moving things around and better organizing out there so I can have a nice little den in back for meditation and napping and things like that.

Currently, it looks like Mr. Radio is living in the back of the shed. There's a ratty old couch, ashtrays overflowing with cigarette butts, empty beer bottles, old handmade bongs, a record player and a stack of old Playboys.

And as comforting as that is in a really, really weird way, it's...not what I want for my private retreat. Plus, other people do go in there. It's where the washer and dryer are. I'm sure they're tired of mess and adult magazines.

Anyway, that's for later. The fridge was...well, it was certainly one of my most difficult tasks yet. Three large trash bags were taken from the kitchen. I had to scrape old bacon off of a shelf. I never want to do that again. But now it's clean and organized and nothing smells bad inside there. So I consider that a success.

I also hit up my threads and went grocery shopping! Which is why I'm scatterbrained and all over the place today. My folks showed up early before I'd had a chance to meditate or have breakfast or exercise. I have no focus today, alas.

Oh! And thank you to the very kind people who gave me LJ gift certificates! I'm sorry I didn't say thank you before, but I just noticed this morning when I saw my LJ balance. Request gift fic! :D

Wow, the new meds I'm on are absolutely amazing!

Not only do they put me in a ridiculously good mood, but I'm creative and productive. It's not even noon and already I've taken out the trash, scrubbed the counters, and done nearly all the dishes. The dishes are a big deal. We have been...lax on maintaining the sanctity of our sink.

There is a reason I refer to it as 'The Sink Monster'. Colonies of tiny life had sprung up and begun evolving. I think they were on the verge of discovering fire. Great towering mountains of placewear, caked with the remains of meals long forgotten, rose up from the murky depths. The water...for all that is holy, don't make me recount the state of the water!

But I went into battle despite the odds and powerful enemy. Armed with scrub brush, sponge and the strongest detergent we had, I attacked.

The battle was long and hard. There were casualties on both sides. My skirt suffered mysterious stains. Bits of things worked their way beneath my fingernails. Once, I think something grabbed me.

But in the end I was triumphant! All hail the conquering hero! ;)

I also posted to all my threads! And took a shower. And I can't remember the last time I was in this positive a mood. This morning, nijawial compared me to Tohru. That's never a character I've ever been associated with before....

I'm not even terribly bothered by the fact that my paid LJ account runs out in a few days. I'll just use as many icons as possible in the remaining time... ;)

Holy crap, temperatures of 55 degrees! It's been in the 90s lately. It's cold and it won't stop raining, so needless to say I'm in pain.

Watched Hair last night. I'd seen it, nijawial hadn't, so we rented and watched. That movie never fails to effect me. It's just a well done film where everything comes together right. I'm actually sort of glad we ended up with that instead of Jesus Christ Super Star. I've been craving psych rock musicals and operas lately.

Tonight, I believe we're going to go see Star Trek! I'm terribly excited. I've heard nothing but good things from everyone, and what little snitches I've heard have me wriggling in my seat to go see this movie.

I've decided that my recent lack of fic writing has just been fandom boredom. Not that I'm leaving any of my current fandoms, it's just that currently I've written everything for them that I want to write. Season 4 of VB isn't out yet, and other than my epic, I've exhausted all the little plots I wanted to play around with. I still haven't finished Homecoming, so I'm stuck between-canons for Silent Hill. HBC...well, I've wandered into bizarre crossovers and AUs that shouldn't be shared with the general public. Let's just leave it at that.

I go for weeks without being able to write much of anything, and then once I turn to new fandoms I'm banging them out like usual. And the sheer fact that I wrote Across the Universe fic says something of just how starved for new fandom experiences I am. I don't even actually like the movie, I just like the music and the characters.

My parents brought me corn on the cob and artichoke today. That makes me happy. :D

So, I'm being very avoidant of LJ and stuffs today. Why? I went out for pizza with summoneddestiny and enigmablade last night, and taped the Criminal Minds finale. Yes, as in on a VHS. I'm always terribly behind the technology thing. Hell, until moving in with Nija I neve even had a DVD player. Just used the PS2. Anyway, I plan on watching it today but I want to avoid spoilers.

Yesterday I mostly just vegged and RPed. My hip's still bugging me, but I just can't get to a chiropractor to ease some things out yet. Luckily once I can, we have some amazing chiropractors in the area.

Nija brought me home a copy of Lisey's Story last night! Hardcover that was on clearance. I'm reading 'A Familiar Dragon' by Daniel Hood right now, but I'm so tempted to say 'mm, get back to it later!' and devour Lisey's Story again. It's simply one of the most beautiful, haunting, moving pieces of fiction I've ever read.

I got that Mercedes Lackey CD today. Not that good one, where the music is 'inspired by' her stuff. No, the one with lyrics she wrote herself.

I made it about 16 seconds into one song before I had to turn it off. Further investigation will be carried out at a later date.

My strawberries are turning red!

I'm in the mood for a good horror movie today.

Despite a shaky start to things Monday and the fact that my hip is experiencing epic problems, yesterday turned out to be a pretty good day.

summoneddestiny dropped by after work to hang out for a little while. We spent most of our time on our favorite subject: authors! And, subsequently, writing. I actually did overcome my writer's block a little to get some fic written last night. But mostly we discussed the ever-popular Mercedes Lackey - dissection of the specific cultures she's clumsily and ham-fistedly appropriated - and a hilarious comparison between Anne Rice and Stephanie Meyer. Interestingly enough, when dissecting their work side by side, there are some glaring and detailed similarities that can be eyebrow raising.

We grabbed a quick dinner, went into the square to take some pictures, and just had a relaxing afternoon. Then N came over for a little while, and we hung out on the porch having one of those meandering, deep thought type conversations. We somehow managed to start out on a very introspective discussion comparing and contrasting the philosophical schools of Jainism to Carvaka and end up on the archetypal symbolism of supporting characters in The Venture Bros.

I love my friends.

Then there was just vegging in front of the TV until nijawial got in and I very, very much needed to get to bed.

I've been hearing a lot about the new FMA series, but haven't been able to watch any of it. My computer doesn't have sound. I consider this a mixed blessing situation. ;)

I also got the bathroom entirely cleaned! And got to creep people out my showing them the effects of my deformed hip. :D It's just gotten to the point where my right leg is now significantly shorter than my left. I have to bend my left leg to stand properly, and when I straighten up I only stand on one foot. This amuses me - except for the pain in my hip, but I have stuff for that.

1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, talia_speaks! I HOPE IT IS AWESOME!

2. I think I got that twitter thing set up, so like everyone else, my random ass twitter postings will be posted to my LJ. I'm part of the group, I'm part of the group! ;)

3. I beat Beyond Good and Evil today! And just in time for the upcoming sequel! I got all the animals, and all but a few pearls.

4. I...think I'm going rollerblading tonight? I've never been rollerblading. I don't know if I can do rollerblading. Plus there's kind of a storm going on....

5. I have leftover pizza!

So, I've read a lot of fan fiction, for a lot of fandoms. And one of those trends that reaches across the great chasm of fandoms is this: tendency to give a character a talent at a musical instrument.

Now, there's nothing wrong with this. A couple of characters I write have some history with instruments - I see Henry as attempting to learn guitar once upon a time, and he can probably manage Bridge Over Troubled Waters and Brain Damage and the rest of the lineup of 'Ten Easy Classic Rock Guitar Songs For Beginners'.

But...I swear, there are only two instruments in fan fiction.

Piano and violin.

I have never read a fic where a character played a musical instrument and it wasn't one of those two. And it's not even characters who canonically can play (like, say, Tamaki or House). Or even explained or worked into the character's history. No, it's just completely random.

What is it about these two instruments? Is it just that they're considered cool and angsty or gothic or something? Or are they just crazily well known instruments? Or is it another one of those cases where so many people IRL have had either piano or violin lessons that they transfer it to the character?

I just want some variety, man. Where are all the drummers, the guitarists, the flutists, the cowbell players? You can have a hell of a lot of fun with the cowbell.

Has anyone else noticed this, or am I just stuck in some bizarre fic-loop where that's all I'll ever come across?

You know, not having a working collander makes putting fridge groceries away a very difficult task.

Yesterday I ended up going out in the evening with summoneddestiny and nijawial. This was after I'd cleaned my room, I was good. No play until the work was done. And I did get my room pretty well clean. We went back up to Goldwater, played with Angry Goose some more - got some great pictures of him, I have to find my camera cord to upload them all - and just hung out in nature. It was gorgeous up there.

I also was treated to one of the most awesome gifts someone like me could ever get:

Nija brought me home bubbles! I've spent, totaling yesterday and today, a good hour playing with them already. I played with them when I first got them, in the shed, after the shed, and this morning. Bubbles are awesome, any time, any state of mind.

Also, a ducky watering can which works great.

Went grocery shopping this morning, got some posting done, watered everything, did some dishes, and I'm feeling pretty productive. I'm going to try and get the bathroom done. And later on, N is coming over to hang out and quite possibly cook us dinner! And as goes without saying, smoke me out. :D And we will watch Session 9, as we didn't get a chance to yesterday!

I have been...sort of reading more of The Dark Tower. A page here and there. I meant to pick it up and just finish it, but then I got The Green Mile, and that has distracted me. I'm still in love with the world and characters though, so I will be getting back to it!

Also, I fit into a size 12 again!

I should probably shower and fix myself some lunch.

And it's Monday!

I got to sleep much, much later than I should have last night and woke up much, much later than I should have this morning. It's noon and I haven't even watered my plants and am still in my nightgown. I'm also exhausted.

But spending the day with my mother was very nice, and having her tell me she was proud of me and proud of the person I'd grown up to be was extremely touching. N and A dropped by for like ten minutes around 10:30, and I spent most of the night vegging on the couch watching Comedy Central.

I was going to clean my room today. I...don't know if that's going to happen, but maybe I can get a little done. I'll hopefully feel better after a shower, and I can make a coffee drink and have er...lunch. I've got left over carne asada and tortillas in the fridge from dinner last night.

I think our biggest plan for today is rent and watch Session 9, another horror film with a psychological bent.

In fandom news, I am completely back to RPing! I returned to damned today, and have posted a couple of characters and am trying to remember who I had plans with what shift. (clover_elf_kin, did we ever set a shift for Raine and Valyn? I FAIL AT REMEMBERING!)

I'm a little at a loss as to what to do with Lust. She's honestly the only one left on the chopping block. It's not so much that I'm having trouble getting into her head, it's just a matter of...what the hell to do with her. She's come so far, and she remains the oldest character in any incarnation of the game, and I don't want to drop her, but...bah. She's pretty stagnant right now and that's not fun. Hopefully I can get some plot going with her soon. :/

Everyone else (even those I hiatused to see if I could reconnect) are good to go. Even Naomi, who I wasn't sure about until I wrote up a post for her today.

I really should shower and get dressed and get something to eat.

Feeling much, much better today!

So Wednesday Team Venture all headed up to Sedona. Tuesday night, enigmablade and summoneddestiny just crashed at our place so we could get an early move on. Wednesday dawned beautiful and clear, and I honestly enjoyed just sitting on the porch smoking after my shower and watching the sun creep up. We got coffee drinks and a light breakfast, then we were off!

On the way we ended up driving behind a plane.

Yes, a plane. A little plane in the back of a truck. I have a picture around here somewhere. We also spotted a hilariously unintentional (we hope) license plate. When I see 'STDPUDL', I think 'STD Puddle'. Not 'Stud Poodle'.

We made it to Slide Rock between 10 and 11, and headed down to the river.

The red rocks were hot, the water was freezing, and the landscape was beautiful. summoneddestiny took pictures while the rest of us swam and sort-of slid down the natural rock slide. I say 'sort of' because even algea covered rocks that slope down with the current are exactly perfect slides. Especially the second run, where the flat smooth bottom turns unto a sharp V that was not wide enough for my hips. I was tumbled out of that little expanse into over-my-head water. Which was actually pretty fun.

We spent a few hours there, swimming and goofing off and then headed to Denny's. And to a gas station where I grabbed a lighter, since I'd completely forgotten to take mine out of my pocket before going in the water.

We stopped off in Jerome on the way home, and I got my mother a Mother's Day gift. Then it was home, where I had planned on taking a short nap. But I did some dishes and took out the trash and then N and A got a hold of me and we got to talking, then they came over and brought a hilarious stoner movie. Smiley Face, starring Anna Faris and Danny Masterson. If you're at all into stoner type movies (Cheech and Chong, Super High Me, Dude, Where's My Car) you'll enjoy Smiley Face.

Thursday and Friday I was sick with monthlies. But yesterday I was up and about, and discovered yard care folks in my yard yesterday. We're still not entirely sure where they came from, but we assume the landlady sent them. They were also doing the little triplex next door, and she owns both properties. Plus, she has a habit of not telling us when people are going to be out here.

They did a damn good job - cut the grass, removed debris, cut down some little dead trees, watered my grapes.... Basically mostly things I'd been planning to do this week but wasn't able to.

Now it's Saturday, I may be getting a free couch from N and A for the shed today, and I'm feeling not-like-crap so I'm going to get some cleaning done. I already took a shower - my god, it felt wonderful - and I'm contemplating some breakfast and the sink of dishes now.

I'm feeling much better today.

Yesterday wasn't total hell, or anything like that, it was just lots of little stupid things wearing me down and getting on my nerves. I was slightly cranky, irritated, and off-kilter. But that's about all. I did have a head-desk moment when, after getting dressed since company was coming over, I put my foot down wrong on the DDR dance pad and completely wiped out.

I mean wiped out. Legs went up, arms went out to try and brace myself but just knocked everything off the coffee table, and I went down. And then couldn't get up, because getting up when I sit on the floor of my own volition is hard enough. Getting up when I've fallen and don't have anything to haul myself up with? Not a fun process.

But I wasn't in any distress - my back hurt, obviously, but not excruciating danger-pain - so I just managed to roll myself over and stayed on the floor until folks showed up. And it's not exactly surprising - with the frequency of which I fall, it was only a matter of time until there wasn't a conveniently placed couch, chair, bed or pile of laundry.

So hung out with A and C for a while, watched TV, chatted, etc. Played some Psychonauts and decided we're cosplaying it. It'll be fun, the costumes aren't terribly difficult (I'm doing Sasha, Nija's doing Milla) and we get to have a lot of fun with it. :D And most stuff can be found at thrift stores.

Tomorrow we're heading up to Jerome and Sedona for a fun filled day of...well...fun! And I can grab my mother a Mother's Day gift. :D

Went grocery shopping this morning, going to rent some movies later. And maybe play some more video games. Returned to CU, will be returning to damned very shortly!

I think that's everything....

Yesterday was a pretty good day. Hung around the house most of it, ordered some Pizza Hut - mmm, P'zone - and mainly goofed off once I finished gardening and dishes. Then in the evening I went out to Goldwater Lake with summoneddestiny. I didn't even know it existed, and it's a beautiful spot. We spent an hour or so there, just enjoying the outdoors and watching/photographing the birds. Mostly ducks, and one strange creature I've yet to identify. We called him 'angry bird' - he looks like a cross between a swan and a goose, and sounds like a velociraptor. I've got a picture, so if anyone can identify this guy, it'd be greatly appreciated.

( Angry Bird! )

I'm pretty sure Friend Bird there thought he was a duck, as he hung around with the ducks, acted like a duck, and freaked the fuck out when the ducks swam away from him and left him five feet behind them.

We grabbed some Burger King and just sort of drove around afterwards, then I headed home. I was exhausted at that point, so I took a shower, watched some Comedy Central for maybe half an hour, and went to bed on the early side.

We're heading up to Sedona on Wednesday, to hit Slide Rock. It's beautiful up there, and I'm very much looking forward to it. Also this week I'll be getting together with my sister again for some shopping.

As for today...I've got Rose Red on Sci-Fi, fixings for nummy Mexican food, TVtropes.com and birds singing outside the open windows. All in all, a lovely Sunday. I'm trying to muster up the oomph to shower and get dressed (I've been bumming about in cotton workout shorts and a jersey all morning) but I'm comfy here on the couch and not in a hurry to rouse myself.

Besidse...TVtropes! Who can ever escape from there?

Feeling better than I was yesterday, but there are heavy dark clouds overhead and that unpleasant pressure that means more rain. The weather channel agrees with that prediction.

I've been reading Desperation. I can't say it's grabbing me or sucking me in, but it's an interesting read. For some reason it reminds me of Insomnia, even though the plots are entirely dissimilar. It's just a feel of sorts. Or maybe it's simply some convoluted way for my mind to tell me it thinks I'll like Desperation about as much as I like Insomnia. (Which is to say, something to read, and certainly has its good moments, but nothing I'll read over and over.) Of course, I know the plot and have watched the movie - albeit not paying terrible close attention. I remember the theater in the movie reminded me of the theater in SH:0rigins, though....

I'm feeling Mexican food today. I'm really tempted to try some grilled burritos and tacos, if I can conquer the cheapest, least-flammable charcoal in the world. My Chinese food cravings have been assuaged, and now it is Mexican I desire.

So, Dreamwidth. I'm terribly spoiled. I was slightly interested until I discovered you only get six icon slots. I'm all about the icons, and having as many as possible. You know, I should see if there's a way to double-post to LJ and IJ, since I do like my IJ and have a lot of folks over there who aren't here. And...I haven't updated it in over half a year. :/

Another weekend's come. Oh! We finished Rune Soldier yesterday (adorable series, very much a D&D campaign/RPG game style plot and characters) and watched Slumdog Millionaire. Very glad we rented that one - and that we watched the credits! :D I need to find the list I was keeping of 'movies we need to rent'. But hey, I finished an anime series! And nijawial offered to lend me the Bleach manga, since I like the characters and whatnot, but the filler crap chased me away from the anime.

I really miss RPing.

I have comments and emails to catch up with, and I promise I will get to them as soon as possible!

Holy productive day, batman!

I got up around 7:30, showered, had breakfast, and got to watering my plants. They're almost all thriving, save for my basil which I've had since last year. It had a rough winter, and the tallest stalks look nearly dead, but there's fresh new growth at the bottom. Hopefully enough warm sun and water will bring it back.

Then I was off for errands! I got a new pair of shoes. From an actual store, not a thrift store. They're another pair of plain brown leather sandals. But after seven years, my faithful pair crapped out. And also seemed to disappear overnight, which boggles me a little. Perhaps they knew....

Then I had strawberries to pot (dripping with white flower buds, I might add!) and lots of rose bushes to prune. I donned my giant straw hat and headed out with a bottle of V8 and my Ipod to attack them with shears.

I'm already done, and it's not even noon.

Plus, I have a small bit of extra money. True, surprise, extra money. And of course I can't find my list of 'things I want to buy when I have extra money'. Sadly, it's not enough for the amazing Led Zeppelin LP box set at Hasting's, but that's okay. I'm...considering snagging a wig for my Bert cosplay.

I love how my Ipod's idea of 'shuffle' is to just clump every artist track together and play them in order.

I'm kind of an anime mood today. I'm not sure why, other than I just go through phases in what sort of things I want to watch and read. I really ought to make an effort to finish all the series' I'm watching....*eyes bookcase full of unwatched boxed sets* I've had Getbackers and Saikano for how long and I haven't finished them yet? Well, Saikano hasn't been finished because I really have to be in the right sort of mood for deep and depressing. Getbackers...I don't know why I haven't made it more than halfway through. I like Getbackers. A lot. And we do still have Rune Soldier to finish, but we only have like 4 episodes left there.

I should probably think about lunch soon. I've been working myself ragged all morning.

Is it really bad that I want to write an essay comparing and contrasting Mercedes Lackey's writing and Stephanie Meyers'?

I've long joked that everything Stephanie Meyer has done (plot and character type wise), Mercedes Lackey did it first in the fantasy genre. This was mainly just a humorous reference to Mercedes Lackey's heavy handed, often stiff and forced romance plots and her penchant for sparkly elves. But! If you go deeper, there are a hell of a lot of similarities. From women's issues to racial appropriation issues to victimization issues. Oh, and of course, sexual identity/relationship issues.

Now, Mercedes Lackey is nowhere near as well known, obviously. But she was quite the leading lady in the fantasy genre for a very long time, especially among teenage girls. Hell, maybe she still is, I'm not quite the follower of the genre that I once was.

There's only one flaw here. I'd have to do a lot of reading. And I don't own the Twilight books, nor do I know where my Herald Mage books are - that would be the Lackey series I'd like to draw most of my comparisons from. That and The Halfblood Chronicles, mainly the second book where Lackey's particular brand of plot and romance development hold center stage - plus, you know, The Iron People.

And before anyone gets on my case, I am not saying anything bad about either of these authors. It's no secret that I enjoy Mercedes Lackey books. Yes, they're crunchy, silly, terribly plotted escapism. But that's okay. As a friend was just talking about on my Flist, it's okay to enjoy things you know have issues. Mercedes Lackey's racial and women's issues? Piss me the hell off. Same with the issues regarding the treatment of women in the Silent Hill series. But I still enjoy the stories and the characters and the world. And I acknowledge the issues and don't shy away from pointing them out or discussing them.

The simple fact of the matter is that both of these authors (one of which I'm terribly fond of myself) have some serious, serious issues in their works. And I'm very curious to see just how deep these similarities run.

In other news! hbc_fic! The tiniest fandom on the internet has a community! And there's already a piece of absolutely gorgeous fic posted. See, when I get really into something that has no fandom, I just force and pester that fandom into existence.

I completely forgot I had to go grocery shopping this morning, and stayed up too late watching Venture Bros with nijawial. And I need to talk to summoneddestiny and enigmablade about a photoshoot this week.

The weather is beautiful, my plants are doing well, and I've got some fic to work on. Man, I could stare at my new default user-pic for hours. Guh, Bert is hot.

Whatever slump or burn out I was emeshed in, I think it's safe to say it's over. I've written four things in 24 hours - one which will not be posted, for a variety of reasons - and my brain is still crackling and popping like an electrified fence.

I think I was having withdrawals. Though it was weird, what fandoms my mind turned to first. Instead of my most recent fandoms (Silent Hill and Venture Bros) or my staple return-to fandom (HBC), I went for Xenogears and damned. Half of it has to be the simple fact that I accessed my old music. Which meant all my David Bowie and my Duran Duran. The rest...well, I think there are things I've just been missing badly lately.

I'm dragging horribly on The Dark Tower. Mainly this is because of the simple fact that if I don't finish the last book, it's never really over. And it's been a long time since I wanted something to not end like this. Plus there's the epic foreshadowing, and my insane fear of character death. And I know not everyone's going to make it, but there are two characters I really want to see make it to the end. Sadly, I have a bad history with Stephen King killing off my favorite characters. To drag things out, I'm reading Desperation at the same time.


After a very, very long day for the Silent Hill household yesterday, nijawial and I are kicking back today with our Stephen King DVDs and a very large pizza order from Domino's. Nija has to work again tonight, and I figure I'll take this evening to work on more writing. We watched disc two of Nightmares and Dreamscapes. The End of the Whole Mess was amazing. I don't see why I wasn't reading stunning review after stunning review for this one. For anyone who's read the original story, this is a rare treat. Nothing was changed. Nothing was taken out or added in. The only thing different was that in the adaptation, Howie is a documentary filmmaker instead of a journalist. I'd just been reading the story a few days ago (Nightmares and Dreamscapes was my bathroom book until I replaced it with Desperation) and the dialogue was word-for-word perfect. The Road Virus Heads North was pretty well done, too. No, not dead-on accurate but an entertaining piece and a fair adaptation.

Then we hit The Fifth Quarter. I was watching the opening (heavily camera filtered angsting of a wife and child) and trying to figure out which story it was. I had thought I knew, but as I watched, I was doubtful and wondering if maybe I really had come across a short story I hadn't read.

But no, the plot had just been butchered so badly that it was unrecognizable. Once they got to the part about the map it all clicked, and I was a bit appalled. We actually shut it off. Now Accepted is on Comedy Central, and I consider that a vast improvement.

Just after ten, and already I've made a number of accomplishments!

I did some more potting, some dishes, some brainstorming for writing, responded to a bunch of comments and got some trash out. I do feel a bit badly that I skipped breakfast - I like to have breakfast on the porch and read while I eat and have my coffee or tea - but I overslept a bit. And I did have a breakfast shake.

I encountered another small (and really not important) issue with my computer. It's too old to support Itunes. Or even the Itunes clones designed to work with older computers. Which saddens me greatly, because I'm already bored of most of the music on my Ipod and would love to get all my Duran Duran, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Flogging Molly on there. I did try doing the transfering with Media Player, and while the files supposedly transferred...they don't show up on Sadie. (Sadie is my Ipod.)

Oh! Big news I completely forgot! I'm driving! I'm a driver! A year after I get my damn car, but I'm finally driving him! And not crashing into anything, organic or mineral!

My dad's bringing me a grill today. The season of barbecue is upon us! And I've got hot dogs and ground beef....

I slept beautifully last night. And we watched the first disc of Nightmares and Dreamscapes! Battleground was very well executed. Crouch End...never, ever should have been made for television. I was nearly in pain watching that atrocity of an episode. Too much needless build up, poor acting, ridiculous changes so that the entire point of the story is lost, and I swear, it is not terribly difficult to pronounce 'Cthulhu'. 'Kooshoo' is not an acceptable pronunciation anywhere. Kooshoo. But luckily, Umney's Last Case was beautiful. William H. Macy was perfect for Umney, hands down. The first part really captured that 30s pulp detective feel, and the creeping sense of the story was preserved. Nothing but thumbs up for that instillation!

I'm going the shameful but far easier route for one of my costumes, simply because I cannot work with leather and gun belts and holsters are beyond my abilities to afford or craft. So as for purchases needed...it's just a wig and boots. My Ila skirt is nearly done, and then I'm going to be starting on the hat for Nija's Melissa cosplay. I have the fabric, pattern and accessories.

I think I'm going to do some beading while we watch the second disc. And it seems my computer is fully workable. I'll be hopping back into my RPs before too much longer - I figure I'll wait until dayshift to jump back into damned, for sake of ease, and decide when to jump back into CU once I've caught up on what's going on over there. (And keep canon reviewing in the meantime.)

I'm in a terribly Xenogears state of mind today. Maybe I'll try and write fic....

Happy Friday, everyone!

Alright, computer has been fully adjusted and set up as far as software issues go. Still need to take care of a couple hardware problems, but it looks like I'll be good to go before too much longer.

Yesterday turned out to be a delightfully wonderful day. Went thrift storing with nijawial, enigmablade and summoneddestiny. I wasn't able to find the suspenders I was looking for but I did find a perfect vest, some nice summer tops, a couple of books, an Inuyasha DVD, and a new back massager. And the cashier was a big Stephen King fan, and shared the same opinion of After Sunset that I did. She did recommend a few stories near that back, however, so it may be worth grabbing from the library at least. She highly recommended Desperation, which is one of the books I grabbed. In beautiful hardcover, I might add. My list of books are piling up. I've got the most recent Dresden novels to read, enigmablade lent me the first RE book, and now I have a couple more Stephen King books I haven't read yet. (I could have had more, but I have no desire to ever read Cujo.)

We headed to the mall afterwards, and I grabbed a very chocolaty mocha drink from Dairy Queen. Which I'm glad I did, since I ended up staying up passed midnight.

After we hung out back here in Silent Hill for a bit, enigmablade and summoneddestiny had to get going. But then N and A came over and brought this absolutely adorable Chinese children's movie to watch. Plus wine we couldn't open because none of us have a corkscrew, but that's more an amusing side note than anything. (And leftover 4/20 brownies for me, which was an awesome little surprise!)

Anyway, we watched CJ7, a Stephen Chow film. (He's the one who did Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer, among many others.) It was terribly adorable and sweet. So much so that I didn't even care that we were watching it subtitled. It was like a blend of Flubber and ET, only adorable and very cleverly executed. The first thing we did upon finishing was look to see if there were any plushies of CJ7 himself. (We were very successful.)

Then nijawial and I caught the encore airing of last night's South Park episode. Either those guys have laid off the drugs or they found better drugs, but the majority of episodes this season have been on a higher level than previous seasons. Less vulgarity, more cleverness, more social relevance... Yes, a couple have been the usual, but overall I'm honestly impressed. I'd wandered away from South Park because it was just getting to be Too Much, but I've happily wandered back this season. Here's hoping the trend continues!

Oh! Over the course of having No-Net time, we rented VB season 3. Un-censored is...an adventure. I probably could have happily gone my whole life without ever seeing Jonas Venture's penis.

Today I'm going to be potting my herbs and marathoning Nightmares and Dreamscapes. And wrapping K's first birthday gift - his party is Saturday. I can't believe my little nephew's a year old already!

Wow, so!

I've actually got a hell of a lot to post about, it's just hard getting it all sorted out.

I'll just start with today, since that's freshest in my mind!

I was up ungodly early once more, to go to Wal-Mart. We were just going o pick up stuff for my younger nephew's birthday party, but my father mentioned going to the gardening section. Just to see.

I now have a pot of strawberries, some German Thyme, some Oregano, a gorgeous Ichiban Eggplant plant, and oodles of tomatoes and peppers. And we may be going back tomorrow. So, my garden is well underway! Also did the usual Wednesday cleaning, though I'm still sort of in the middle of that.

I'm nearly done. :/ I'm halfway or so through the final book. I don't know what I'm going to do when it's over. Other than, uh, seek out the fandom most likely. I was mentioning jokingly to t3h_toby_chan that it looked like I'd be back online just in time to plunge headfirst into a new fandom.

It looks like it's not so much a joke anymore.

Uh...what else? Oh, working on costumes! Three for me and so far two for nijawial! We're cosplaying Rune Soldier and Inuyasha for Sabo, and then I have one I'm working on just for photoshoots. Well, technically two. Because I really don't see the point in wearing book/obscure comic costumes to anime/video game cons. But I still want to do the costumes.

Computer is...on its way to functioning properly. It desperately needs RAM, and I've got it defragmenting. Also still needs cords, but whatever. I can use it for at least small periods of time. And it's been enough for me to check my Flist, make some headway on my email, and make a new LJ icon. ;)

I'm looking into some new (to me) anime. I caught a bit of Darker Than Black, which I'd like to see, and a little bit of Vexille. Which was pretty and then highly recommended. And there was one other, but I forget the name. It was being advertised on the program, and was compared to Twelve Kingdoms.

I've finally rented Nightmares and Dreamscapes, though I haven't watched it yet. I've heard that Crouch End is just terrible, which I can understand. I don't think it would make the transition from text to screen very well. Speaking of...I read the first few stories in After Sunset, and I have to admit, I'm not impressed. After reading the forward, I was forewarned (King himself admits he's not sure if his recent short fiction is good or not) but...it wasn't so much bad writing or bad plots, just the fact that of the stories I read, King had already written on those subjects in his novels. It was very regurgitated. I don't think I'm going to bother buying the book until I find it cheaply used.

Alright, this computer (tentatively named Walter) is making horrific grinding and wheezing noises, so I'm going to give him a little break.

IT IS GOOD TO BE SOMEWHAT BACK! I MISS YOU!