| Had a nice time at my parent's house, now back home and getting ready for another workweek. It was good to see my family and friends. We were very busy, and we went to 4 different holiday gatherings and I left with an overall feeling of being very grateful for what I have. Things change a lot, and my family is living all over the country, I have nieces and a nephew which changes things, but things are still pretty much the same too. I'm lucky that I'm able to live on my own and pay my bills, even if it means that I have to work really hard to do this and go to school. I'm lucky that I have such a great partner. I'm glad to be making it through school.
I feel like I don't really have time to think though. I wanted to get all this stuff done over break and read and stuff, and haven't gotten very far. Hopefully soon! I have a few people I need to get in touch with as well and some friends coming to visit me this week. Time goes by way too fast when you're not in school.
Hope the few people that still read this had a good holiday. I'm looking forward to doing absolutely nothing for new year's. We are low on money and I'm sick of traveling. | comments: Leave a comment   |
| Okay, so. Have a proper post-Christmas update, plus random thoughts. In bullet format!
* I don't do a Christmas Haul List these days, because I'm lazy and I don't think you guys care that much, so here are the highlights that might actually be interesting:
Series one and four of Doctor Who! Amazon had a one-day sale like a month ago where the seasons were something like thirty-five bucks each, which is much better than usual freaking eighty or whatever ridiculous amount every single place I've been to charges for them. I let my mom know, told her which ones I wanted most, and voila. I may buy series three for myself out of completist urges (and because it's also awesome, but on that particular day I prioritized Nine and Donna over Martha; sorry, Martha), but I'll skip series two unless I find it really really cheap someday, because there aren't enough eps I rewatch relatively often for it to be worth the money.
An iCarly calendar. Which only ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sotto_voice cares about, but still. XD
ELECTRIC TEA KETTLE. These things are not exactly ubiquitous in the States, and I've wanted one for so long. Plan for when I have extra money again: buy lots of delicious tea. ♥
* My mom kind of collects performances of "O Holy Night," so I played her the John Barrowman version I stumbled across a while ago. She loved it, was interested when I told her he was a trained stage singer and there was more Barrowman where that came from (oh my god SHE HAS NO IDEA), and long story short too late, it looks like I'll be legally purchasing a copy of Another Side after all. And probably Reflections from Broadway. She has a birthday next month, after all.
And, thanks to comments Mom made about useful birthday gifts and the boringness thereof, I think I will pack them in a box of tampons. I firmly believe Barrowman would approve. (Come on, you know he would.)
* One of our holiday traditions includes watching Love, Actually while wrapping gifts late Christmas Eve. I will have to add this to the list (short, but slowly growing) of things that The Thick of It has, uh, enhanced, because during the scene at the pageant where the curtain rises on the Prime Minister kissing the assistant chick, I was giggling helplessly at the thought of the bricks Malcolm Tucker would shit over that. I think this is a crossover that needs to happen.
* YULETIDE. My recipient adored hir fic and was one of those able to get a comment through before everything asplode, and it was a long awesome comment and I can't wait for the reveal so I can reply. XD The fic I received was an adorable Sam-centered iCarly fic, which was just what I wanted. It is a fandom crying out for non-shippy Samfic.
* And finally, regarding last night's Doctor Who: My first though upon becoming conscious enough to have thoughts this morning was, "Oh my god, what did I watch last night?" | | comments: 9 comments or Leave a comment |
| So a couple weeks ago I threatened to said I would go through the run of The Thick of It and do reaction posts for each ep (and the specials) during vacation. I have no idea if I'm going to get through the whole thing, but I'm gonna try.
Oh, and: everything I know about the structure of the British government I have, in fact, learned from TToI (and possibly a little from Doctor Who). So if, in the course of discussion, I fuck something up, say something stupid, ask a random question, whatever, just let me know? Overall, this show can be followed pretty easily with the minimal knowledge I've got, since it's more about the characters and situations than it is about the nitty gritty of governmental operations, but some of the stories get a bit nittier than others, and any corrections/learnings you might care to share would be much appreciated.
And, of course, these are full of spoilers, for the eps in discussion as well as any future eps. If you wanna watch the show before you read these, then make sure I've friended you and click the tag below.
Since the episodes aren't titled, I'm going to use the most random bit of dialogue I can find in each ep for the cut text. And thus:
( The Thick of It 1x01 - sponge avengers )
Next up: 1x02. Which I will probably write up in the wee hours tomorrow while I'm back home for Christmas, because my sleep cycle is mutated and I will be the only one awake, but I won't be able to post it until I get home. This'll probably be my last post until Christmas (and Doctor Who omg) period, so I will wish you two things and you can pick one:
A: Merry Christmas!
B: Happy Chinese food and movie day! | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
|
For me there is not a lot of method involved. I have a lot of people to buy for, but this year I chose to add a few more people (friend's parents, a client at work for secret santa) so I just made sure to budget money aside the past few months. I didn't want to just get people stuff off their wishlists, that seems kind of boring and what I've done in the past. Mostly I just think about what they like and then came up with ideas of where to go and what to get. When I finally had time, I took a few hours and got most of it done. I found stuff a few weeks ago that I thought would be cool for my sisters so I got it. I try to not spend a lot and to avoid just buying people crap that isn't going to last long. Or I buy them some kind of food item that they will enjoy (like good coffee or wine).
I usually don't get much of anything for Louie, it's just how it happens but that's ok. This year I did get him something small (which I will never tell!) and it was fine.
I'm excited to get out of here tomorrow, a nice break in the routine and I get to see people I hardly ever see. Plus Louie is coming too. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Attention universe: Quit being an asshole and killing off people's pets. JESUS.
In other news, I spotted the following on the side of a truck for an odd jobs company, complete with quote marks:
"No job to small."
Except for proofreading. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Grades for the semester are coming in! I'd kind of forgotten what it was like to, you know, not be afraid of this occurrence. Last year was not so good, academically speaking.
But so far, I have an A- in the Oscar Wilde class, which means that both my research paper and final were better than I thought they were (I have the same professor for another class next semester, so I decided to pick them up from him then, mostly because I totally forgot to do the self-addressed envelope he told us to bring in). Which is a delight, because my research paper was a bit of a mess and could have used some streamlining, and the final consisted of three questions, one of which I kind of had to fudge because I never actually read Jude the Obscure, oops. I came up with some insane ramblings comparing Sue Bridehead to Algernon from The Importance of Being Earnest - yeah, I don't even fucking know. I was going "I don't even fucking know" while I was writing it, and only managed about two-thirds of a handwritten page. I guess the page and a half I wrote for the question about Dracula made up for it. XD
In Sociology, I got an A. And a perfect fucking score on the last test, which completely shocked me to learn, because I took it directly after I took the above test, and it was also an essay exam. I thought I'd just barely passed it, especially because my brain went on strike during the last question after I'd managed to get out a barebones response.
The other classes haven't come in yet, but I'm not looking for any more As - I didn't do too well on the WWI&II final, which I can say more definitively because it was a straight-up multiple choice test, and we have previously discussed how I was too pissed off about the Irish Literature and Culture final to do anything but vomit up a bunch of words, pad it with quotes, and call it a paper. Seriously, that class turned into such a fucking waste of time about a month into the semester. I'm going to be annoyed about it for while.
I'm looking forward to next semester, but for now, after having finished Yuletide? A few weeks where I owe no work to anyone anywhere suits me just fine. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| Aaaand Yuletide is posted. Now it is time for laundry.
To others on the flist still feverishly working on their Yuletides, GOOD LUCK and I am (between trips out to the laundromat to move my laundry along) available for cheerleading and the like. ♥♥♥ | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Sitting in Starbucks, listening to a couple near me talking about the Wonder Twins and how their powers require them to work together to accomplish anything:
"You ever try playing with someone who doesn't quite get it? Like, I'm a whale and you're a tornado, thanks a lot. What am I supposed to do with that?" | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| Oh, thank god, I got a halfway reasonable amount of sleep last night. If I hadn't, it would not have been the first time I'd gone two days in a row with minimum sleep. My only guess on that is that sometimes my body just hates me.
But! I can has brain now, so! I'm gonna take a shower, go out for some lunch, and then plant myself at Starbucks and write my damn Yuletide already. Then tonight I will probably post properly in Milliways for the first time in a billion years. Also at some point I will have to do laundry. I'm in the "wearing everything uncomfortable" phase.
Tomorrow I shall brave the crowds at Walmart, for each year my workplace gives its employees Walmart gift cards for Christmas, which this year shall enable me to get gifts for my little brother and sister. Then I think I'll finally get started on watching and writing about The Thick of It, which I have not dared to get onto before dealing with Yuletide. Must not distract my brain!
So there that is, and I wish the fellow Yuletiders on the flist the best of luck. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Getting two hours of sleep, then failing at napping (I CANNOT take naps, you guys, no matter how tired I am, it just never works) = not conducive to Yuletide. The story is in my head, I just can't get it ooooout. *whines*
Good thing I didn't have anything planned for tomorrow that can't wait till Tuesday. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| Yesterday was my last day of the semester! I talked to my WWI&II prof about possibly minoring in History (I keep taking history classes, so I may as well, right?), for which I need an advisor in the History department, and he said he'd be happy to. :D
NOW NO MORE DISCUSSION OF SCHOOL OR SCHOOL-RELATED THINGS.
Today I played a bunch of demos from Big Fish Games. Now I am having a movie marathon. So far I've watched:
* Good Hair, a documentary about black women in America and their hair, and how natural black hair is considered undesirable and the industry for chemicals, items, weaves, etc, to achieve "white-looking" hair is RIDICULOUS and okay we discussed this a bit in my Soc class and it was really interesting. Plus Chris Rock is the - I don't even know what you call the guy who runs the documentary. The host? The narrator? The David Attenborough?
* Hellboy, which was watchable enough as long as the movie was focused on the characters and boring whenever shit started blowing up. (You can tell where my priorities lie. I used to watch Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers for the plots, too.) Also, because I did just take that class on the World Wars, I found the Nazi origin story and presence of Rasputin to be hilarious.
OKAY NOW I'M DONE TALKING ABOUT SCHOOL-RELATED THINGS.
* The Invisible Child, which presents us with a nanny who is hired by a family in which the mother believes that there is a third child when there are really only two. The youngest child believes in this second sister, but the oldest and the dad know better and conspire to enable the delusion. It's a really interesting character study for a while as the nanny goes from weirded out to worried to actually accepting of the situation, and then it just takes this creepy-ass left turn. When the nanny is at the height of her concern over the situation, she contacts CFS. Then, as she gets sucked in and CFS finally gets around to checking up on things, she joins the father and oldest child in actively stonewalling and persuading them that the entire thing was a wacky misunderstanding. Which is all well and good, and could be a really intriguing study of Stockholm Syndrome and how people become convinced that an unsafe situation is perfectly okay - except that the movie tells us that this is all a GOOD thing. Preservation of the family at all costs! Oh, and the oldest kid is totally okay with having spent literally half her life pretending Maggie exists and it didn't damage her at all, and the youngest is gonna be okay because - check this out - Invisible Maggie conveniently takes ill and dies. Which is a logical presentation of the idea that the mother has stopped needing the delusion, but the movie insists that Maggie's "death" has tied up all loose ends and everyone is totally cool and won't need years of intensive therapy at all!
. . . yeah, it's a Lifetime movie. Surprise.
Next up: Jennifer's Body.
This weekend: Oh, yeah, I signed up for Yuletide, didn't I? | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| Yeah, seriously, I've had no motivation at all to get stuff that I need to done over the last few days. Partially because I've been catching up on things like Glee and Top Chef and rewatching all three Lord of the Rings movies and generally being totally lazy. Bad, not good. Bad.
So the to do list for the next few days, right-o.
( List! )
Suddenly, it doesn't look so bad when it's put up like that. *makes note*
What we have below is a selection of pictures from the Quebec Roadtrip that coltsbane and I wandered off on last week. Since I didn't get so much of a chance to talk about it at the time due to exhaustion and running around during other things, I figured I'd post some pictures now if you guys wanted to see what we were up to!
( Pittsburgh. The Evil. )
And then we drove up to Niagara Falls! Because it's mostly on the way, and the Australian had not yet seen it. She kept commenting that "that's a FUCK TON of water." Which, you know, yeah.
( Niagara Falls in December! )
Which actually worked out really well...for reasons you shall see tomorrow. *adds suspense* | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| So hey, LJ promotion: Ten dollars off a year of paid time IF you don't already have a paid account.
I have two paid accounts and have sent coupons along to a few RP accounts I've been vaguely considering buying accounts for, which leaves me with sixteen coupons for anyone who's been thinking of upgrading. Let me know if you want one! | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| My semester is done! Technically I still have 1 final on Friday but it's basically done. The worst stuff is over. I don't know what my final grades will be and I'm not going to worry because I did my best with working and taking superhard (for me) classes.
Louie and I have been doing really good the past few months, he's been great with me being really busy and gives me space and doesn't get upset when I can't spend a lot of time with him. I know eventually we will have more time and it will be nice. Sometimes you may get distracted and think someone else could be more interesting but always I've realized that they're just not. No one is more suited to me than Louie.
I was thinking about getting a cat (still am) but I have a hard time committing to pets. I love animals and I would like to have one, but at the same time I wouldn't want something to chew up/shred my stuff. I wouldn't want any random peeing or pooping, would not want any animal waking me up during my weird sleep schedules. Plus I will most likely be gone next summer doing some kind of internship.. so that would leave it on Louie. I don't know. Plus the whole money thing, we don't seem to have enough and very soon my hours at work will be cut.
Sometimes it's kind of scary not having a lot of stability, especially as I get older and feel more like settling down- sometimes it'd be nice to have a house but I don't know where. It'd be nice to have a newer car that would be more reliable. I don't know where we will end up but I hope I get to do what I want. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
|
Yes!
I took some call bank type job when I was first living in Holt with Gordon. I had a hard time finding any job so I took that. We went through a few days of training, and then I started the actual job and I had to sit there with a headset on while the dialer thing called people, one after another. I had to call people that hadn't donated to pbs or something like that in over a year. So obviously these people didn't give a shit, and seriously no one wants to give you money when you call and bug them. So I finally got someone to give me money... then the manager guy listening in was telling me that I didn't "ask the right way" so he didn't know if it would count. Such bullshit!
As soon as the first break came, I gathered up all my stuff and just left. Gordon wasn't happy with me but a few months later I found a job in the field I'm in now. I don't regret it at all, shitty job and I don't like supervisors breathing down your neck. Probably why I like working nights. Plus it's a funny story. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Have kicked the ass of Stupid So-Called Final paper. Did it a day later than planned, as I couldn't concentrate to save my LIFE yesterday. It's amazing, what having three and a half hours before a bullshit paper is due will do for my attention span. It's a crap paper, but I don't care, because it was a crap course. And doubly crap because it started out so well, thus raising my hopes and expectations before dashing them viciously upon the ground.
So, that's that over and done with.
Tomorrow is the final exam for my WWI&II class, and then I am done with having to be smart for a whole month. And I've loved the semester - hey, three great classes and one shitty class is still pretty damn good - but I won't mind the break one bit. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| But the Red Wings are on a bit of a winning streak. If you can call it a winning streak when 2/3ds of those games were won in OT (thank you, Bertuzzi) and when another two players are down with injuries. I haven't checked the Wings blogs yet today because I cringe to see what the reports on Helm and Ericsson are. It's so sad to be hoping for 'just a short-term' injury.
Seriously. Right now it's Franzen, Kronwall, Filppula, Williams, Cleary, Helm, and Ericsson. Five top forwards. One top four defensemen and one young d-man who drives me crazy but is developing nicely. It's just - wow. If you hadn't been following hockey (and I realise like maaaybe 3 of you are), the goals for the WIngs last night came from completely unfamiliar names - Newbury, Eaves, Meech. Yeah. Eaves looked good centering the second line though, and Newbury definitely was out to make an impact in his first game with the Wings.
I watched the game in a sports bar. With my laptop because my internets went down unexplainably, and I didn't feel like dealing with tech support. The server though I was insane, but whatever. It was awesome. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
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