sarea: (troy & abed rapping)
Starting to watch American Horror Story right before bed -- not my best idea. I love the show, but it is freaky. It's not scary, which I think I could handle better. It just takes your mind into these creepy corners that kind of freaks me out. I was dreaming about it all night.

I hate the stock market. I don't have the right personality for it. I'm unhappy no matter how things go. If I sell at a good price, I am bitter if the stock price goes higher. If I don't sell at a good price, I am bitter that they're so worthless. It's totally a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. What's prompting this is that I have some stock options that are about to expire, and I'm totally stressed out over them. I sold some earlier, but am bitter because the stock went up after that. Now I'm bitter because the price is down from Friday. If I could be the sort of person who was happy at selling at a decent price, I could totally play the stock market. But I'm not. Thankfully my last set of options expire in July, so after that I won't have to worry about it anymore.

Now for more complaining. I don't know if anyone else has been through this, but it's REALLY annoying when you make a donation to a charity and they don't do all they can to maximize the funds they get. Example: Back in October, I made a donation to the Wildlife Conservation Society. My company matches up to a certain amount in donations per employee each year, and all the receiving organization has to do is confirm that the employee donated money to them and how much. Doesn't sound that hard to do, does it? No, and I know it's not, because of all the charities I've donated to over the years, not one of them has ever had any challenge in doing this. Until this year, with the Wildlife Conservation Society. In December, I received an email from the matching gift team saying that my donation still hadn't been confirmed. I contacted (by phone) the WCS, and spoke to a very nice person who said that they would get that taken care of and get back to me. I learned today that it STILL hasn't been done. And time is a problem, because if they don't confirm within 90 days of the donation being made, the matching gift request is closed -- they won't get the matching funds. In this case, they have 8 days. To do something so simple!! Which they haven't been able to do in the last 3 months!! If they don't confirm my donation so that they can get the matching amount, I'm never donating to them again. It's not like it was a huge amount or anything, but doesn't every little bit count? Especially when you can double it with very little effort? Plus, it doesn't exactly speak well of their competence, does it? If they can't do something so minor to get free money for their organization, either because they are too lazy or incompetent, what does that say about their efforts for wildlife? Obviously, I think preserving wildlife is a hugely worthy cause -- I'll just have to find another organization to make my donations to, one that I know will maximize contributions to its cause. I'll just regret that I gave money to them this year, since another worthy cause would have doubled it. This is the email I wrote the WCS today. )

I feel kind of bad being harsh with a charitable organization, but COME ON!

Other than American Horror Story, I've also seen everything that's aired of S3 of Community. God I love that show. "Remedial Chaos Theory" has to be one of my fave episodes of the show now. OMG when it was Troy's turn to get the pizza, rofl. I've watched the first episode of Misfits S3. It's weathering Nathan's absence fairly well, I'll give them that, but only because the new guy is interesting. Other than Kelly, the old characters have so far been boring/lame. Also! I've seen the first episode of the new season of Sherlock, "A Scandal in Belgravia." SO. GOOD. Even though I totally complained about how long it took them to get S2 to us, it's worth the wait. Some spoilery comments about Sherlock and this ep though. )

I've also started reading Deathnote, which [personal profile] adelagia recced ages ago. It started off really slow, but I'm in a groove with it now. I'm near the end of volume 3, and unfortunately I don't have volumes 6 or 7 so that's gonna suck. But wait! I have them on the hold list at the library! And now I'm #1! Oh I love being able to freeze holds. Spoilery thoughts. )

verbosity

Dec. 13th, 2011 12:52 pm
sarea: (Default)
Wow, I haven't updated in nearly 2 weeks? That must be some kind of (recent) record for me. Partly it's because it's SO FRIGGING COLD that I don't want to do anything but be in bed. Partly it's because my mom's staying with me (kind of last minute) for the whole month, and we've been spending a lot of time eating out. But mostly it's because I was on vacation all last week, and updating LJ is more fun when I'm at work. >.>

I've been making... dun dun DUUUUUUUN... fanvids

I've been stretching my creative wings. Rather than writing fanfic, I have made... two fanvids! It's much harder than it looks, but also fun. Even making fairly basic vids like I have is super time consuming. O.o I had no idea. The two vids are Yi Jeong/Ga Eul (from Boys Over Flowers) based, so there's only a limited amount of footage I can work with -- both a curse and a blessing.

If you're interested in watching them... )

Cool/fun cookbook/gift rec

If you need a cool coffee table book, or a fun gift for just about anyone (well, any adult), I recommend My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals / Portraits, Interviews, and Recipes. I've been wanting it awhile and now I finally have it! It's really cool -- basically, 50 well-known chefs play the "death row" game (though they don't call it that): If they could choose their last meal, what would it be? Some, of course, get super fancy and specific, but a surprising number, maybe even half, would go for something really simple and comforting -- scrambled eggs, rustic bread with cheese, etc. The last part of the book the chefs share recipes from their selections.

Icon making!

Every three years or so, I get a bee in my bonnet and want to make icons. I've been playing around with textures and what not, and as practice, made some from past/present fandom interests. :D They're just for me, I haven't really made any that are intended to be shared out on icon communities or anything like that, but I think they look pretty good!



A bit of TV

I've been watching a bit of TV... caught up on Merlin (OMG!) and have watched the first six episodes of Once Upon a Time (I blame drunk![personal profile] akscully for this), which isn't GREAT TV or anything, but is fun enough to continue now that I'm out of TV I'm really interested in watching. Also I really like Jennifer Morrison (though Cameron > Emma).

My latest cookware obsession

CorningWare. That's right, the stuff our mothers (well, not mine, but you know) used to use. There was a whole thread about it on my foodies list at work, and now I really want to use it. But it should be noted, however, that I'm not talking about CorningWare as it exists today (at least, not 99% of it), but literally mean the stuff someone's mother used to use -- the vintage pieces from the 50s/60s. Know why? It turns out that that stuff was made from Pyroceram, a type of glass ceramic invented by a guy who was working on rocket nose cones (as part of a U.S. ballistic missile program). The beauty of glass ceramic, apparently, is its ability to resist thermal shock, which means you can cook with it on the stovetop, put it under the broiler, bake it, or freeze it (and all directly from one to the other, if you choose). You can use it like you would cast iron, except there's no seasoning involved, and unlike cast iron you can use it for tomato sauces/wet foods. You can even bake no-knead bread in it.

So what's wrong with the recent stuff? Probably more than you want to know. )
sarea: (Default)
I'm slowly coming out of my funk about Robert Sheehan leaving Misfits, though if he were actually near me I'd be clinging to him saying "Don't goooooooo" and he'd have to drag me along the ground as he walked. Sigh.

I have changed my mood theme to being Nathan specific. Apparently we won't be getting any more images of him. :(

========

I brought doughnuts into the office today from Frost Doughnuts. Frost changes their doughnut selections daily. Today I selected the (in)famous bacon maple bar, Bavarian cream, double chocolate, banana walnut, Southern red velvet, coconut island, banana split fritter, and white chocolate raspberry truffle, among others. Photos of artery-clogging deliciousness. )

========

The new TV arrived yesterday, woohoo!! I worked from home so that I could be there to sign for it -- it's way too big for me to try and haul from UPS myself, neither car I have would have been able to fit a package that big. It was over 70lbs and I seriously doubted my ability to get it set up... but I did it. I was sweating like a pig perspiring delicately by the end, but I got it set up on the stand as I wanted, and even set up my Wii and Wii Fit. Personally I think the Wii Fit should have allowed me to input the effort I spent setting it all up.

I even started using the Fit (I've had it forever but never set it up before due to lack of space), just the balance stuff (I like ski jump the most), but half the time was spent shooing Jaime away because he was bound and determined to attack the moving stuff on the screen. /sigh I really fear that one of these days I'm going to go home and find that he's knocked the TV over during one of his crazy cat sprints around the house (or digging around in the back for the wires). :/

========

I've finally started City of Fallen Angels (speaking of which, what are our plans for this Thursday, [personal profile] elle_blessing)? I've only gotten to the beginning of chapter 2. Also, because I am a good friend, I transcribed Jace's letter to Clary from City of Glass, which was a bonus in the Barnes & Noble version, for [profile] jade_okelani. I'm posting it here for anyone else who would be interested (and if you haven't read the books, it's probably not that interesting).

Clary... )

========

And because I'm apparently on a huge spending spree, I might as well confess that I have purchased six -- that's right, SIX -- pairs of shoes in the last 3 days or so. Lots of sandals... I figure spring is right around the corner and I'll be getting a pedicure soon!

I have no willpower. )
sarea: (Default)
We're young. We're supposed to drink too much. We're supposed to have bad attitudes and shag each other's brains out. We are designed to party! This is it. Yeah, so a few of us will overdose or go mental. But Charles Darwin said, "You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs." And that's what it's all about -- breaking eggs! And by eggs, I do mean getting twatted on a cocktail of Class As.

If you could just see yourselves! It breaks my heart -- you're wearing cardigans! We had it all. We fucked up bigger and better than any generation that came before us. We were so beautiful! We're screw-ups. I'm a screw-up, and I plan to be a screw-up until my late 20s, maybe even my early 30s. And I will shag my own mother before I let her, or anyone else, take that away from me!
- Nathan Young, Misfits

I've made no secret of the fact that I love Misfits. I love, love, LOVE Misfits. And my favorite character on Misfits is Nathan. I mean, HE IS MY DEFAULT ICON.

But today I found out that Robert Sheehan won't be back.

I totally went through the first 4 stages of grief. I'm still suck on stage 4. I don't know that I will ever get to "acceptance."

1) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO IT CAN'T BE TRUE IT JUST CAN'T BE IT'S A NASTY RUMOR

2) Oh GOD how could this have happened, it's because I never wrote TPTB a fan letter, isn't it??

3) How could that bastard Robert to that to his fans?! To the fans who became his fans because of Misfits? I don't care if it was obvious he was going to be a big fucking star! I don't care that he was getting a bunch of other offers! He should've stayed true to the show that made him famous, damn it!!

4) This is the worst news ever. Misfits S3 is going to suck. I don't even want to watch it. Nathan was the heart of the show and without him it's just not Misfits. God, I'm so fucking depressed I'm going to buy this giant bag of Lays' Tangy Carolina BBQ chips so I can stuff my face with them. And I don't even like BBQ chips. /sob
sarea: (nathan kelly)
1) Howard Overman, who created and writes Misfits, is one of my favorite writers for Merlin. I was worried that with the success of Misfits, he would stop writing for Merlin, but he's said he will write for S4. Woohoo!

2) So many good things coming in April. HBO's Game of Thrones premiere. City of Fallen Angels. Hmm that might be all. But both those things are so exciting it's like having 10 things!

3) This weekend I am going to make homemade Pop Tarts, from Flour, with strawberry filling. Only thing is making the pate brisee, which is easy enough, but then you have to wait for it to chill and I'm an instant gratification sort of person. Also, my kitchen is not ideal for making pastry, because of the limited counter space. Oh my kingdom for counter space!

4) The Snickers Kudos bar I just ate was really good, and it was only 100 calories. That means I can eat 10 of them, right?

5) I am one episode away from finishing Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I've enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, and am bummed that they never got a third season. I mean... even Roswell got a (terrible) third season and that went off the rails in S2. I guess the ratings for T:TSCC must've been really bad ... or bad enough for what I am assuming was a fairly expensive show to make. It's too bad.

6) I've made my own balsamic vinaigrette to take to work when I get salads. I just don't like their salad dressings. I feel kind of lame taking my bottle to the cafe, but oh well.

7) With Swag Bucks, Bing Rewards, and the Living Social deal, I now have $40 in Amazon g.c.s! I think what I'm going to do is build up my Amazon credit this way, and eventually I'll have enough to buy an eReader. I don't need one immediately, and I can just slowly build up to one.

8) So... I used to hate Swiss cheese. It was flavorless and pointless to me. But I guess as I've gotten older my palate has changed, because now I find myself wanting to put Swiss cheese in my sandwiches and burgers. Gruyere is still my fave cheese, though! Jade recently found a gruyere-cheddar melange at Trader Joe's that is AWESOME.

9) I'm still loving my Keurig. Favorite flavor: Tully's Kona blend. I don't even know why I bother trying any others, because that one is heads above the next best.

10) I'm going to be better this year about taking more vacation time during the year so I can spread it out, rather than lumping it all up at the end. With carry-over vacation, I have 8 weeks this year. I don't plan to use it all, but I need to use at least 4 weeks. Anyway, I'd like to go somewhere in the U.S. where I've never spent significant time (nixed: most of California, NYC, Boston, Washington D.C., D.C.-area Virginia and Maryland, Las Vegas, Hawaii). Any suggestions? Where do you think I should go and why? I'm looking for ideas!
sarea: (Default)
To Kindle or not to Kindle? Anyone have one and care to offer an opinion? I think it's really neat and all, but I don't know if I can let go of my traditionalist ways that say a book should be held in one's hands. I'm slowly getting used to the idea of letting that go (so much harder than letting go of CDs), but even if I get past that, I don't know if I can get past the idea of having to buy all my books, rather than borrowing from the library or something. I mean, the books I REALLY love, I'll still want a physical copy, which is also true of cookbooks, so is the Kindle (and its ilk) just not for me yet?

I'm back from my loooooooooong vacation. I've had better. I was sick for the first two weeks (and I think I've gotten sick AGAIN since coming back!). The weather in SoCal was horrible for much of it. Torrential rain pour that caused flooding. WTF? If I wanted that sort of thing I would have stayed in Seattle. And then there was SNOW where my parents live. Again, WTF. The best part of the trip was when [profile] jade_okelani, [personal profile] ropo and I got mani/pedis and later Jade and I went to this $20 massage parlor that was AWESOME. (Robbie couldn't go because she has stitches near her boob.) I've been to an inexpensive massage parlor before and it was OK. But this one was fantastic. Jade, who's been to many more of them than me, said that it was way beyond the next best she'd been to. Foot soak, foot rub, and full-body massage (clothes on) for 60 minutes, $20 plus tip. If I had that place near me I would go every week. It was better than some $60+ massages I've had! Jade has found me a place to try in Kirkland (it's $25), but I don't know how good it will be. This other place set the bar too high.

The big, huge, enormous news is that I have bought my parents a house. I've been talking about it for a long, long time and it finally came to fruition. We closed escrow before the end of the year after a nightmare of a process (the seller's representative had the absolute WORST communication skills -- I don't know how SHE has a job when so many intelligent and literate people do not; my lender afterward was like, "that woman was driving me crazy"). It was just one problem/issue after another. I was stressed out about it every day. So that was not pleasant. Hopefully that's over now and no further problems will arise. GIANT SIGH. However with this new mortgage I'm going to be living off instant noodles. Seriously, I went to H-Mart last night and bought like a month's worth of ramen. It'll be like being a college student all over again!

Went to Vegas to check out my aunt's 'condo' (it's more like a small suite) at the MGM for the first time. She bought it for some astronomical amount during the housing market boom and it's plummeted in value -- but anyway, I made the mistake of accompanying my mom to the slots, where I lost the money I brought to gamble with (not a lot). I don't know why I always do this, maybe because the slots are so brainless and require minimal effort, but I NEVER win at them. Others in my family seem to be able to win at them all the time; not me. I should always stick to table games. Last time I was in Vegas I won money playing blackjack (with Jade's help), and this time I won back most of my slot losses playing roulette (with my cousin B.'s help). If we'd stayed longer I might have done better than essentially break even, as long as I stayed away from the slots. :P

For Christmas I got pajamas (which I always love and believe we should wear at all times during the day and night), a bunch of clothes I returned (both because I didn't want to take it back to Seattle when all I brought was a backpack, and because most were so Not Me), video games (from my brother), various gift cards, and the always-welcome gift of cash. I also got this calendar from Robbie, which I wanted because I'm a giant nerd. She also got me a Snuggie, teehee. What's funny is that my aunt got Talis a doggie Snuggie, and there's a photo of the two of us in our Snuggies. Hilarious. Well, to me, anyway.

Misfits is the best show ever. If you haven't seen it yet, do. There are two seasons, S1 has 6 eps, S2 has 7 eps.

Oh and to feed my It Started with a Kiss obsession, I've borrowed Itazura Na Kiss, the original manga finally translated into English, from the library. :D
sarea: (Default)
We had a freakish storm this morning. Noah was out there with his ark. It rained so much and so hard, and there was lightning. I do not believe I have received any superpowers because of it, more's the pity. It would be kind of awesome to have that kind of weather raging outside if you were snug and warm at home, but when you're trying to get to work via bus? Not so much.

ID this TV show quote: "I'll build the ark; you gather the animals."

I've been a total and complete slug since I got back. I always get this way in the wintertime, when it's so cold that I don't want to do anything but huddle under my blankets. I don't have central heating in my house; instead, each room has its own baseboard heater. This helps save on the electric bill, but it also means that once I'm in a warm room, I don't want to leave it for anything.

I finished Misfits S1, and once again I must rec it. I haven't started S2 yet, because I'm hoping that [profile] jade_okelani is going to start the show soon, and if she likes it, then we can watch S2 together while I'm in LA. If she doesn't like a show this awesome and funny, then I'll have to reevaluate our friendship. Ditto ISWAK, which she is FINALLY going to start watching when I'm visiting, though I'll give her a little more leeway on it, since it is sort of on crack (but in a good way!). Back to Misfits... by the end of S1 I was finding Nathan strangely compelling. He's so not my usual type. He's more up [personal profile] slitherhither's alley with his skinny frame and all. He's Merlin-esque.

I can't believe I'm going to be getting on a plane on Friday. And then again on Sunday. And then again on Wednesday. Hopefully it will not rain like this on Wednesday, because K. has to watch the kids while D. has some appointments, so she can't take me to the airport. Last time I took the bus to the airport it was pouring, and that is SO NOT FUN when you've got luggage. And this time I'll have a whole chocolate cake with me! It's insane, but I'm bringing Bakery Nouveau's chocolate cake to LA so [profile] jade_okelani and [personal profile] ropo can try it.

I've been trying to search for official, confirmed info on It Started with a Kiss 3, but apparently it only exists in fans' dreams. All there is are rumors, nothing for sure. That makes me sad.

XM Radio keeps calling me because they want me to re-up my subscription (which was a trial, anyway). I never pick up. They've been trying every day for weeks now. I wonder when/if they'll ever give up? Will I cave before they do? It doesn't seem possible, and yet... I don't know that I've seen anyone be this persistent.
sarea: (queen guinevere)
Hello lovely LJ people! I tried to keep up while I was in LA, but I failed.

Big news: the ongoing saga of my trying to buy a house for my parents is finally coming to a close. They've found a place, and it's rather a lot more than I was planning to spend because it's a new development, but various things contributed to the change. The house is supposed to be finished before the end of the year, so I'm in the loan process right now so we can try to close by then as well. Of COURSE the rates would spike right on the very day I was finally ready to lock (4.75% instead of 4.35%, which was the lowest rate I'd seen from my credit union during this process). Sigh. Anyway, fingers crossed that something random doesn't happen so that the loan gets turned down, because that would really suck (not the least of which is losing all my deposits). Before they decided on this place, I hadn't bought the new car yet, I hadn't refinanced my own house, etc. So all that piddly little crap might influence the lender, I don't know. There are various reasons I'm not very happy with the overall situation, but I don't want to get into it right now.

I have another British show to rec (introduced to me by [personal profile] akscully): Misfits. It's about 5 juvenile delinquents who discover they have superpowers. It's created and written by Howard Overman, my favorite Merlin writer. But this show is NOTHING like Merlin (other than being British). It's most definitely not family friendly -- profanity and sex abounds (oh if only Howard could exercise these energies for his Merlin stuff...). The first season only has 6 episodes. They're in the second season now and I believe a third has been confirmed (how I hope this doesn't mean Howard won't have time to write for Merlin, because I LIVE for his episodes). Anyway -- none of the actors are very attractive (except Nathan is growing on me), but that's part of its charm, I think. Plus it's hysterically funny.

Speaking of Merlin, tomorrow is the season finale! I watched eps 11 and 12 at [profile] jade_okelani's and I have to tell you, I was pretty underwhelmed. I just don't understand how, first of all, a show that has 13 episodes can take 8 months to film. Second of all, why can't they figure out what to do with a main character who's not in like 75% of the episodes?!?! Third of all, if they need to give the principals a break from time to time, why can't they come up with more compelling plotlines than Gaius or Other (Gilly)-centric crap?! Tomorrow's episode better be epic. It's going to be the last episode for like a YEAR, and if it's crap, I'll be sooooooo disappointed. Unfortunately, precedence is not my friend.

Finished Sopranos S2. I am so relieved that certain character(s) have been written off the show. Also, am rewatching It Started with a Kiss, which is the most wonderful guilty pleasure of all time.

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