Spinster Aunt

By the time I left the office for my massage, my head was pounding, my shoulders were so tense they were up around my ears and there was a dark cloud following me everywhere.  (And it wasn't caused by our summertime pop-up showers, either.)  I wanted nothing more than to go home and sulk in all my misery.  I nearly called to cancel my massage.

I'm SO glad I didn't.

I walked in and Teresa immediately said, "What's wrong."  (Note, this was a statement and not a question.)  I told her that I was in raging PMS and "hormonally psychotic."

Her reply?  "Oh.  I was like that on Monday.  I told my boss, 'I want to kill someone, but I'm too tired to do it.'"  That was totally me today!

She said she has women call all the time saying they're too hormonal to have a massage.  She always makes them come in.

The woman is magic, I tell ya.  When I left, I was calm and peaceful.  My muscles were relaxed.  We talked sci-fi the entire time.  (As I was way too wound up to actually doze, today.)  I'm still exhausted, but at least my chances of committing murder have gone WAY down.  (Unless, of course, you are providing me with poor tech support.)

I even managed to get on the phone with AT&T who fixed the mess made of my account on Tuesday.  The supervisor assured me she would be helping the previous guy relearn how to provide tech support.  Sadly, the final problem seems to be on my end with my firewall having a fit about something.  But at least I can access my mail through the web client, now.  And all my e-mails were there.  Yays!

Big thanks to everyone who has assured me they're still on LJ.  I rather enjoy Facebook as something akin to a cocktail party at a pub.  You get to chat and joke and discuss things in a public setting.  But LJ is the intimate conversation in your livingroom after the cocktail party.  And not everyone's invited.

Okidoke.  I'm going to drag my tired butt down to the couch for a short read before an early bedtime.  Laters!

I don't remember large swaths of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince because I only read it once and then became thoroughly sick of hearing about the damn thing within about a week, so the movie was a bit of a surprise. I won't go into spoilers, but I do believe this was the best (and most certainly the funniest) of the films.

I kind of want to reread the book now, but I've already thrown my book-reading thingee out of what this month with one giant book I have no intention of 'reviewing' so two is probably out of the question and I haven't even finished Steal Across the Sky yet. And I left the June reviews too late and so when they finally show up (almost done*) they'll be even crappier than usual.

So basically, blah. I may have gotten up too early today.

* Really, what can I say about Omen? Well, it didn't suck, but it wasn't all that great either: 'A perfectly serviceable Star Wars novel?' 'At least there were no Mandos?' 'Tastes like chicken!' Sigh. I should just read more books I hate, because clearly that's the only way I can manage multiple paragraphs.

Taking my afternoon work break to ramble a bit about what I've been reading lately. First of all, though, let me ramble about my Kindle. It's terrific. I am really glad I have one and any book addict who travels alot should consider whether they can swing it. Definitely not cheap, but definitely worth what I spent. Even though I'm now buying more books and using the library less, the overall convenience is well worth it.

( So what have you been reading? )

WHEE Emmy noms are out! A lot of the same stuff as always, but some new things that I am EEEE! about:

( Choreography, Comedy Series, Comedy Actor, Reality Host, etc: )

Once again, I'm struck by how few of my friends are updating LiveJournal, anymore.  And while I enjoy seeing everyone on Facebook, there are just some things I'm not inclined to post there.  It's too public.  I like LJ for being able to write about more personal things that I don't want my old high school friends reading.

(Because my posts are so deep, y'know.)

( In which our heroine complains ::shock:: )

( In which our writer is actually positive ::shock:: )

New Notes Feature
Automatic Detect Location
Pingbacks for All
Birthday Wishes

( Read more... )

So, today I read a hilarious and thought provoking article that purports to be comparing the kissing in Twilight to the kissing in HP and the HBP, which if you've read the book or seen a single trailer you know all about already, so I don't think I'm giving away any spoilers.

The article is here and there are minor spoilers for the film, but again, nothing that isn't also in the book.  And some of the things I found amusing in the article, in comparing Twilight and HP: 

[The Twilight Kiss] happens in a dimly lit bedroom, in underwear, between human Bella, who is eager for hanky-panky, and her vampire boyfriend, Edward, who resists hanky-panky because A) he's still not sure whether he wants more to smooch Bella or drink her blood, and B) Edward's literally granite-hard body is so masculine and strong and forceful that the passion of a sexual encounter might literally kill her. Oh my.

Snort. On contrasting HP with Twilight, the article quotes a culture vulture with the name, oddly, John Granger:

"Harry is basically a Gothic heroine," Granger says. He "may have a love figure, but you get the [romantic] payoff after a long wait." Meaning . . . " 'Harry Potter' is 'Pride and Prejudice' with wands."
It's all misunderstandings and mistaken identities, people saying things they don't mean and then feeling awkward. And when relationships do happen, they are subtle, hand-holding affairs. With "Twilight," it's all glistening chests and luscious lips and naughty thoughts. Swooning is prevalent.

And then the kicker, with immense applicability to fandom overall:

" 'Twilight' is written from the perspective of a girl," says Lori Joffs, founder of fansite TwilightLexicon.com. "I think we can kind of agree that boys are clueless." If Hermione was the narrator of the Harry Potter series," Joffs says, "she might secretly be thinking bodice-ripper thoughts about Ron."

I rather liked that observation, made by a Twilight fan no less.  There's more, including discussion of how the approach to teen romance in media has changed from the 1990s to today.  The article makes observations I found dead on in comparing Twilight to Buffy the Vampire Slayer which goes a long toward expanding my understanding of the differences between these radically divergent takes on high school girls and vampires and explaining those differences in part in terms of the era in which they appeared on the fandom scene.

Just saw this linked in a tweet from John Green: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.

I won't be reading the book, but that's a cute trailer.

If I was going to grade the movies in order they'd get:
A A B+ F D C

Yup HBP earned a C.... I really don't understand how they can take the fantastic cast, phenomenal source material, and large budget that they have and squeeze out such a mediocre film.  4 and 5 I could kind of excuse cause they were very difficult books to translate into movies...but 6, 6 should've been pretty easy and straight forward.  Now I do think they changed a thing or two for the better (or at least the change didn't hurt anything and had some reason behind it), but there were some fantastic scenes that should have been dropped word for word (or close to) from the books, but instead they truncated them to meet time demands created by their adding of several unnecessary scenes.

Highlights of the film were Luna, Ginny, Draco, and Bella.

But they didn't seem to understand what to do with Snape.  We know Rickman can act, so I blame Yates.

Once upon a time a skinny white cat showed up on the back patio of our old house. It spoke to us in a high-pitched, girly meow. At first this cat would spook when we tried to pet it, and thus we called it "ghostie girl." Eventually it let us near and seemed very happy to be fed portions of dry cat food.

It returned again and again. So hungry all the time. Once I fed it twice in a row and still it meowed for more. I looked it in the eye and said "I KNOW you are not hungry! Stop meowing!" The beast proceeded to leap into the air and catch a bird in mid-flght, right before my eyes. Bird in mouth, it glowered at me. I got the telepathic message -- I am STILL hungry! Once the bird was released I put out more food.

( Zoom forward three years )

Find the book nearest you right now.
*Turn to page 56
*Find the 5th sentence.
*Post that sentence, and post these instructions for the next person.
*Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, most intellectual. Use the closest book.

"Some lynxes may decapitate their prey, and roe-deer with their heads neatly severed from the body as if cut off with a knife are a good indication of the presence of one of these invisible raiders."

"Wild Cats of the World", C.A.W. Guggisberg

Sorry about that, but it's really the closest book today.

I present to you, the best commentary I have ever seen on the racebending casting issue for the Avatar movie:

I would advise not drinking anything before clicking this link

Someone give that person an internet immediately.

1. Apparently, I have no wax, infection, spiders, aliens, unborn twins, etc. in my ear. The doctor saw almost nothing except perhaps a "little fluid behind," i.e, possibly allergies or congestion? And she saw the same thing in the other ear. So why does the right ear tickle and thump at me so? Argh. I am to take something "D" (either Allegra D or Mucinex D) and use nosedrops for two weeks, and if it's not better, then I get referred to an ENT specialist.

Although she laughed when I told her about my friends' "spider" theories, she said that when working in a free clinic in an indigent area, once, she saw a cockroach in someone's ear. Eww.

1.5. Speaking of bugs, I'm getting the bug-man out yet AGAIN, though we just had him out a few weeks ago. Darn this desert in July! I swear, I don't want to see one more ant or one more giant freakin' water roach in my bathroom. I was squealing like a baby piglet the other night at the giant bug in our airlock (the area between our garage and family room). Ewww!

2. 5000 words on my 7thnight_smut story so far. And my awesome, handy-dandy, live-in beta, sharpeslass, cleared the first 3000 words or so for continuation. Yay!

3. I have like three Dreamwidth invite codes, if anyone wants them. I set up an account there (jedishampoo there also), but I have no intention of posting in places outside LJ for now.

Athenaeum Girls' School kicked off this weekend, which means I've been donning the 1861 attire again. And both my classes on Sunday - mourning customs and tea etiquette - went well. Seems like we have a good group of young ladies this year. The school will run throughout this week with graduation on Friday night, so I'll be "hoop-skirting it" for a few days.

Primary Camp started today and registration check-in went smoothly. We have 102 kids, with a pretty even mix between boys and girls. And the weather was blessedly cool today! Wouldn't it be great if it stayed that way all week?

Question: What do you do if you have a fansubbed .avi burned onto DVD (of a non-Region-1-available-anime, I'm a good fan) that shoves all the subtitles down to the bottom of the TV screen and half off the screen when you play it? I really want to watch Gintama but I can't read the fansubs because they are cut off. We've tried changing the ratio aspect on the DVD player but it did not help. Gintama has not been released in the US, has it?

Ahhhh! Holy Moley, I have 3,000 words on my 7thnight_smut story done. And it's barely started. Yeeks, I fear it shall be a long one-- I'm not usually one for writing the over-10,000-word fic, though there are exceptions. Perhaps I shall cheat on the plotty bits. "A few days later, after these paraphrased things happened, Character A said this." Fear my sloppiness and laziness, O Recipient! Heehee. I'm kidding. Mostly. ;)

I have a strange ear thing going on. For a couple of weeks now I've felt like something was tickling the inside of my right ear. And I've been especially deaf, lately, driving sharpeslass nuts saying "What? WHUT?" after every phrase she utters. Last night it was driving me particularly insane, tickling and making thumping noises twice as fast as my pulse (else I would have thought it was my own pulse). It doesn't hurt. Any ideas? I suppose I should go to the doctor. :(

Happy Sunday, y'all!

The Comic-Con programming schedule is starting to be posted (they've got an awesome search/filter feature this year) and EEEEEE. My Friday is looking *ridiculous* and that's not even taking into account the SW stuff if I have to work for Mary that day. Pretty much, if left to my own devices, I would sit in B20 all day, because they moved most of the big TV panels there (instead of 6CDEF, so hopefully there won't be too much line-standing involved, THANK YOU Comic-Con!) and there is BONES and BIG BANG THEORY and other stuff I don't mind sitting through to get to them!!! And of course Aaron's FOTJ panel is sandwiched right between Big Bang Theory and Bones, argh! Well, I haven't read Omen yet and probably won't have time before con, so maybe it's for the best.

Also there is a GLEE panel and screening on Saturday! (!!!!!!!!!!) And a Dr. Horrible/Commentary screening on Thursday night! (It does not say if the audience is allowed to sing too...)

But there is no Castle. Why no Castle panel, Comic-Con? WE WANTS IT.

ETA: Okay, I was just looking at the room maps, and did they flip the orientation of B20 around or am I just crazy? I swear the stage is on the opposite side.

Why yes, I am indeed still alive. It's just been busy and I got in the habit of not posting and it's been busy, and then I was traveling and so haven't read LJ at all for the last 10 days.

But I did just catch up with the flist. Congratulations and all good blessings to dmlunsford and my prayers are with cyndisuesue and her whole family.

So what have I been up to since late May?( The abridged version )

( The Reverend Michelle Lunsford shares thoughts on her ordination. )

Having friends, family, and fellow ministers present for the service and coming up to offer congratulations afterward was a wonderful gift. And the many, many kind thoughts that all of you, my friends, have been sharing with me in recent days are a treasure in my heart that will go with me always. I can't say THANK YOU! enough!

I will try to share photos as they become available (I know various folks had cameras that night). For anyone who is on Facebook, if you go to my page and look under my photos you should see 3 shots that a friend has tagged me with. And in the meantime, I can share with you a copy of my ordination certificate. This is a temporary version - a permanent one, on parchment and with all the text done in type rather than handwritten - will be sent to me later.

Thank you again for all your encouragement and congratulations. I'm so glad you could share this journey with me in some way, and that I have the privilege of calling you my friend. *hugs all round*

tinuviellen will be hosting a Veronica Mars co-watch and discussion group! I'll certainly be there. Will you?

Take a stroll down memory lane OR take the plunge and watch the show for the first time. You'll be glad you did!

Title: In Between
Author: jedishampoo
Pairing: Gojyo/Sanzo
Rating: NC-l7
Summary: PWP. After the crisis but before the return of routine.
Author’s Notes: Set after the end of Reload, but no real spoilers. Belated birthday gift for caeseria, who is the awesomest ever!

( Click here to read In Between )