I only say this because I seriously almost walked out of the house wearing no pants. Um, yeah.

Have a Happy Fourth of July, my fellow Americans!

Stephen Fry talks about watching "An Unearthly Child" with his brother when they were children.

MADE OF AWESOME.

Tags: who

Ginny! Draco! Harry! Dumbledore! Hermione! Ron! Quidditch uniforms! Luna! Minerva! Draco!

Yes, new HBP Photos have been released.

I was hoping Tom's/Draco's hair would be a little longer (as that's usually how it is in my head), but I feel the same way about Dan's/Harry's, so it's no big deal at all, really.

Just a note on the pic for "nostalgic" in my moodtheme -- for the longest time, I thought that pic was of Lucy Lawless.  It was years before I realized that it was of Paul Gross. *g*

2007
Nothing posted.

2006
Chanel, Dior, Lagerfeld, Givenchy, Gaultier, darling. Names, names, names!
I saw The Devil Wears Prada on Saturday with deeablo, disbelief11, aj, fishdoctorpost, and xica_s.  I loved it, and found it to be superior to the book. The highlights were Meryl Streep, and of course the fashion.

When I read the book, I had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I could relate to the experience of having a tyrannical boss (many people can). But on the other, I did see the main character as seeing herself as being too far "above" the job of working in the fashion industry to truly commit herself to doing a good job at it.

The Miranda Priestly character in the book was far more horrible and one-dimensional. The book catalogued her flaws in more loving detail -- her disgusting fat-laden breakfasts, how Andrea learned to hate the perfumed odor of the endless array of clothes that Miranda would throw across the desk every morning, the litany of meaningless, yet impossible tasks. I also boggled at how the actual business of being a magazine editor got done. If this woman had two assistants wrapping gifts and fetching lattes for 14 hours a day, who was typing her correspondence, setting her calendar and otherwise doing the tasks of an executive assistant?

Meryl Streep's portrayal of the character in the movie was much more likable.

2005
Nothing posted.

2004 - The same goes for today! :)
Happy Birthday, aelora!!!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday, and that this year is the best yet!

2003
Happy Birthday, aelora!!!

Hope you have a great day!!! See you at RosenCon next week.

Yay! I get off work at 3 pm. I had to take my mother to the airport at 5:00 am, and I barely got any sleep, so this early dismissal is definitely a good thing. This way, I can shop this afternoon, catch a nap, and still ride my bike this evening.

Three day weekends rule.

Oh, and for a bit of random summer Chi-town trivia -- if you're a Chicagoan going to the Taste, those turkey legs are 2800+ calories a pop. Shocking, isn't it? More than a day's worth of calories.

2002
Summertime and the living's easy -- Sublime thoughts on parenting and stuff
Today was a really good day. As usual, it was me on my bike in the forest preserve, this time biking to the sublime sounds of Sublime. You remember Sublime, right? It's that neo-reggae/ska band from California headed by Bradley Nowell that moved in the same circles as No Doubt in the early days. Bradley Nowell died in 1996 of a drug overdose, and their self-titled CD was released posthumously. Anyway, the CD is really good, always perfect for a hot summer day.

And as usual, whenever I think of Sublime and how talented they were and how it's too bad that the lead singer died, I always have the same (probably somewhat uncharitable) thoughts. In the liner notes of the CD, there are cute pictures of the late Bradley Nowell with his infant son. There's also a little notice about where to send donations for the son's college scholarship fund. And the uncharitable side of me always thinks, "Hey, if this guy cared so much about how his kid was going to get to college, shouldn't he have been thinking about this when he stuck the heroin needle in his arm?" I know that people have the right to live their lives as they see fit, but I also think that people give up their rights to die in dumb-ass ways like drug overdoses when they have a kid. Not an original thought, I know, but I think it's very true.

I still enjoy the music. Sublime's stuff is very irreverent, and I really like that. It's just that every time I listen to it, along with the enjoyment there's also that little voice in my head that makes me think that the price for irreverence and irresponsibility is sometimes very high.

What I'm feeling nostalgic

And now I need to hunt down all the videos from SYTYCD Australia...

It's a Party! With eyai! And drabbles! And eyai crossovers!

Feel free to request or just freestyle. Remember: fulfilling requests is good for the soul.

Tags: eyai, fanfic

1) Because it is the most important!

I met katesti!

Nyah Nyah! I met Kate, I win! Because of scheduling craziness and my impending collapse of exhaustion (see: pervious post; busy week; mono recovery (yes, I am still milking it. It was only a month ago, people! I expect to get at *least* the rest of the years excuses from this!)) we could only meet briefly, but it worked and it was just as fantastic as you would expect a meet up with Kate (and her sister Laura who was brilliant) to be.

So neener, neener, neener, I'm having the best week ever!

2) I should not buy Absinthe Lollipops for many reasons, but I kind of want to anyway.

3) I naired tonight. I admit, I was hesitant to do so because the last time I used nair I got mono, ergo nair=mono.
My mother says that probably isn't the case, but if I miss another month of work I think we all know what is to blame.

4) Short week! Thank god! I am ready to not work for three days in a row. I'm off to Schaumburg tomorrow and my internet access might be sketchy.

BWAH HA HA HA HA HA! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HA HA HA HA! Oh god, I kill me. Ha ha ha internet sketchy! At Peter's. BWAH HA HA HA HA!

*hic*

Right-o. I'm off to Schaumbrug to celebrate the country and all it's years and then I am, I think, in Evanston and then I am back in Chicago and then the weekend is over and I am sad but then I am happy again because it is start to really think about decorating my place and then moving, huzzah!

5) Randomly, I have not one, not two, and not three but FOUR, yes FOUR training dinners this month. What the heck? I mean, knowledge, delicious food and swag are always good things, but how did we end up with four of them? And three are for really, really nice watch companies. Sweet. If only they were giving away watches. *le sigh*

What I'm feeling Chipper, with sleeping cat

Today was crazy.

Actually, this whole week has been uncharacteristically crazy for July, especially for a holiday week.

But it has been and there you go.

So I was at my desk this afternoon doing . . . something. And I glanced at the clock and noticed that once again a large block of time had passed without my even realizing it (Three o'clock? Really? When did that happen?) and that I had been quite busy all day and then I was blindsided by a totally spontaneous thought:

I'm good at what I do.

Really. I'm good at my job.

Now, maybe everyone else already knows that or maybe that is the thought of a rambling mad(wo)man, but I don't think so.

And having this thought, for any sustainable amount of time, doesn't happen with me.

At GIA I was told, flat out, that I was the second best prelim grader in the lab (I was very happy with this. Not a competition) and in my first review (after six months) I was told, also flat out, that I should have at least a goal of supervisor, something my reviewer never told people.

And still I knew that I wasn't good enough, wasn't going to get promoted, was going to be fired because I wasn't grading enough stones, wasn't getting the grades right, wasn't getting 90% plus on my monthly numbers, etc.

Then I was promoted, saw what the other prelims were doing and learned that actually, I really *was* good and, in retrospect, my supervisors were telling the truth.

How about that.

My point, after all of this ramble, is that even when explicitly told that I am good at something I still don't believe it.

I was a mediocre student, partially because I didn't try as hard as I should have and partly because I was afraid to ask for help because I knew I'd be told that my paper/report/answers were the worst the helper had ever seen. I am not confident in my abilities and haven't been in a very long time. I don't know when or why it happened, I just know that since college, and maybe even sooner, I have been pretty sure I was subpar in all of my efforts.

So this thought today- even if it's only today - this feels like some sort of breakthrough. I know this isn't the first time I've had this thought; I tell my diamond customers that I am confident in my knowledge of diamonds and that I never thought I'd be an expert in anything but I consider myself a diamond expert and sometimes I even believe it.

But I feel like maybe this is the first time I've had this thought and it's kind of sticking.

A little.

And maybe tomorrow I will hate myself and realize that I am totally delusional.

But tonight I kick ass.

And it feels fantastic.

~

I got a manicure after work. Red nails for patriotism. Or something. The color is OPI's "Vodka and Caviar". But we can pretend, for the next two days, it's Baseball and Apple Pie.

What I'm feeling satisfied with me.

For those of you going to ComicCon and interested in John Barrowman and Gareth David-Lloyd:

Holzheimer's is taking pre-orders for autographed pics.

You can pre-order here, which guarantees you a signed photo.

Or you can go to their booth, #3845 on the floor behind Sci-Fi, where they will have a limited edition image exclusive to the SDCC in a larger size for $40 which will include the autograph.

Signing hours will be posted, hopefully, a week before and posted Wednesday preview night in their booth, #3845. Once you purchase an autograph ticket from them, you are guaranteed an autograph even if you miss the actual signing.



ETA: If you have any questions you can contact the website owner at her email address, which is: otherhigh@aol.com

What I'm feeling ecstatic Tags: comic con, holzheimers, torchwood

The water's off for plumbing repairs until five. If I was anyone else that would probably be no big, but since I'm a nutcase who can't leave the house without showering that means I am going to have to sponge bathe with bottled water. I have things to do today: go to Amoeba to buy the Black Parade Is Dead. This will be accomplished or a small island nation will be destroyed by my Shark Ray.

I actually opened this window to mock the kid on mcr_storyfinders who is looking for a Green Day fic. There's Green Day fic? That might be interesting in a car crash way. I just can't imagine Green Day fic. Do they grocery shop and discuss nihilism? Do they mock Warped and say "back in my day..."? Maybe I should write Green Day fic and use Billy Joe as a mouthpiece to state all my myriad opinions on The State of Kids Today.

So, about Twitter: for some reason in the last six months all these random strangers have friended me over there. I have absolutely no idea who they are and don't bother to check them out as I have a friending issue here and don't need one in my text in-box (for those of you not friends w/ me in RL, I am unreachable except through text messages mostly). I was an early adopter on Twitter (because of Regina, I'm pretty certain) and never thought much about it. Then the David Hewlett thing happened and half of fandom got Twitter accounts, which is cool. Then another lull occurred and mostly I got Twitters from the same three people who bothered to use the thing. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Twitter has gone bonkers! How interested can people be in my very random comments like "no cheese in the fridge. can't find my sock."? (Ok, to be fair mine are usually more like "thinking about gravity, we need to figure that out!") But all the same, who friends strangers on Twitter? The only stranger I follow is Darth Vader, and to be honest he's more like an acquaintance as the super villain community is pretty small and I've seen him around from time to time.

I've gotten Jenn addicted to fbr_trash. I think I win at life? I have to say, if you're looking for a sociology dissertation topic you could do much worse than that community. It combines middle school, slam books, star fucking, internet culture, the myth of accessibility, and SO MUCH MORE--act now and we'll include youtube denunciations from Vicky T and Pete Wentz's tear-stained pillowcase!

How on EARTH has that ckll thing not landed on f_w yet? Did the furry pseudocide break the com? Maybe they decided that someone who is clearly clinically insane isn't so much a wanker as someone in need of help? Probably not.

I have like a trillion things to do today, so instead I should write Gabe's reaction to Travie boinking the guy in the head in St. Louis, right? I mean, CLEARLY that should be a priority.

Maybe I should have numbered these to make them easier to read. Suck it!

The Ausiello replacement on TV Guide.com answered my question:

Will we be seeing Jonathan Jackson again as Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' Kyle Reese? — Keira

Matt: It's definitely a possibility, I am told.


Ohhhh, nice! I still think JJ is rather miscast in the role, but I'd like to see him in more than one scene to really make the call. I'm really looking forward to getting the SCC DVDs and rewatching before S2.

***

Shelter is one of my fave gay movies ever. (It's a good movie in general, too, but definitely in the top ranks of the gay genre.) Thanks to everyone on my flist who recommended it. So emotionally satisfying! It's definitely going on my Amazon buy list.

( Shelter )

***

This is a public service announcement for sravenk: This is your reminder that Cyndi Lauper will be on ATWT tomorrow at 2pm for the first-ever Pride episode. Let us hope Cyndi's trip to Oakdale has less casualties than her visit to Babylon.

In other ATWT news, I've been watching Parker stuff from last year on YouTube. Wow, Parker and JJ really hated each other! I had no idea. And Jack and Parker didn't have the strong father/son relationship they have now, which is a surprise. Also, Parker is clearly catnip to any female non-blood-related cousin. First Faith, now Liberty. Perhaps The Other One will be next.

What I'm feeling hungry What I'm singing "Bleeding Love" on constant loop Tags: luke/noah, scc

Poll #1216133
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Wednesday.

I

I'm more looking forward to

At 3 am, if I'm not sleeping you're most likely to find me

If Sam settled down his friends would be most like

If Dean settled down and had friends

My friends are like

Arrrrrggggg

So, what could possibly be more of a guilty pleasure than watching A Shot at Love 2?

When they rerun it, a contestant from ASAL1 and the host of the aftershow are in the corner of the screen MSTing the episode. It's called "Relapse".

It's so fuuuuuun!


The senate race in MN is heating up. Norm Coleman vs. Al Franken. They've both raised a ton of money (relatively), but Coleman's ads are the only ones I've seen on TV recently.

I've been rereading Live From New York, which is an oral history of SNL. You know, some of this stuff would fit in attack ads well.

Al Franken: My daughter was the first Saturday Night Live baby, the first new child born to anyone who worked on the show.

Tom Davis (Al's writing partner): Gilda and G.E. Smith, the musician, were living together in the Dakota, and Gilda wanted to give Al's wife, Franny, and the new baby a shower. G.E. and I are in the back room of the apartment where all his guitars are, because the shower's for women--all the secretaries, all the wives, Jane is in there, Laraine is in there. Everyone is waiting for the baby to arrive and there's a knock at the door and G.E. and I peek in from the other room.

Al Franken: My wife came with her sister first and I was to bring the baby. My other sister-in-law came with me. So I got a doll the exact size of the baby and swaddled it--I told Franny I was going to do this--and there's like thirty women, and I walk in and they're all going like, "Ohhh...ahhh," and I walk in and I hit the baby's head on this piece of furniture and I go up and the air and I come down with everything, everything, going onto this doll, so that there is no way I didn't kill the baby. And the screams, the screams!

Tom Davis: The scream that came out of these women, it just made everyone's hair stand on end. They just witnessed this man kill his newborn baby. To this day, I've never heard a more terrifying sound than all those women witnessing this baby being killed by its father.

Al Franken: And then my sister-in-law Carla walks in with the real baby.

Tom Davis: I'm telling you, Al did shit like that. I love him for it.

I smell a re-enactment ad by the Coleman camp around early October.

There's also "I only did cocaine to stay awake to make sure nobody else did too much cocaine. That was the only reason I ever did it. Heh-heh." Ummmm...

My heels are all cracked. Trying to walk more takes its toll.

It's hot. I hate that whoosh of hot air when you leave a building with A/C. One would think it's, like, July or something.

Where I am: 56377 What I'm feeling hot What I'm singing TV - Relapse Tags: health, tv

(I think I have at least a couple on my flist.)

I'm assigning pics to a fanart100 table as I do them, but I'd like to officially sign up at some point. But! The current "on hiatus" notice on the claims list doesn't provide any sort of indication of when that edit was made.

Anyone happen to know?

grump grump irritating grump