Does anyone know who runs Gossamer these days? It's still up so someone must be running it, or at least paying for webspace/bandwidth, but I've tried contacting the admins twice and have gotten no response. I want to get my stories taken down from there. I'm hoping someone might know of some way to get ahold of them... :/
Jaime is making me insane.
Lately he has taken to wanting to remove all the books from the bottom shelves of the bookshelves. I don't know why he wants to do this. He just scratches at them until they tumble out. I've had to block them off in an ad hoc way to deter him. He particularly likes to do this when I'm trying to sleep, because when I'm up and about, and when I come home from being gone all day, I can tell he doesn't touch them (as they're all still on the shelf). I think it's because he likes being in the same room with me and Talis, but there's nothing else to DO when Talis and I are sleeping.
The other thing he's doing is that he wakes up around 5:30am and starts trying to "play" with things on my bed, like the remote control, or my mouse, or a book, or whatever. It wakes me up and it's brutal because my alarm is going to go off in an hour and my sleep's been interrupted. Usually he'll just start messing around in the room (like with the books) rather than go back to sleep, so then I always have to kick him out of the room and close the door (the door is otherwise open and he COULD leave, but he doesn't want to, he wants to be with us, only he wants us awake) so I can get that precious hour of sleep.
It's come to my attention that I have 113 hours of vacation subject to forfeiture if I don't use them by the end of the year (it's really annoying that we aren't allowed to just cash that out). And that's just going to go up as the days pass by and I work more. What this means is that I'm going to be cramming in a lot of time off. I've decided to go to LA for the week of Thanksgiving (which I never do), come back, and then two weeks later, leave for my winter vacation. Plus I will take about 3 extra-long weekends before Thanksgiving. This crunch happens almost every year. I wish I were better about spacing out my vacation, but I tend to want to hoard it just in case I need it... and then this happens. Sigh. In any case, I'm going to bring Talis and Jaime with me when I leave in November, then they will stay with my parents until I return in December, and take them back with me when I come back to Seattle in January. Since that's over 30 days, I'm going to have to find an inexpensive vet down there to do a general check up for them so they can get their health certificates that they'll need for traveling. I'm also thinking I might be able to carry Jaime onto the plane with me (Talis has to go in the cargo hold), in which case I'll need a soft carrying case for him. Except, scratch that, if I carry Jaime on board with me I'll have to check in any luggage, and that costs extra, so he might as well go in the hold as well.
I've completely rediscovered my love for XF, but I enjoy it on a slightly different level than I did when I was deep into fandom, over a decade ago. I'm going to start posting my old thoughts from various episodes here, probably undiluted for the most part, just in case that website ever goes away I'll have some record. If you read them, yay, you're welcome to take a trip with me down memory lane -- just keep in mind that these are thoughts from a much-younger me. :D
( My Intro/Caveats from 1999 )
( XF 'Squeeze' )
( My favorite quotes from this ep. )
Lately he has taken to wanting to remove all the books from the bottom shelves of the bookshelves. I don't know why he wants to do this. He just scratches at them until they tumble out. I've had to block them off in an ad hoc way to deter him. He particularly likes to do this when I'm trying to sleep, because when I'm up and about, and when I come home from being gone all day, I can tell he doesn't touch them (as they're all still on the shelf). I think it's because he likes being in the same room with me and Talis, but there's nothing else to DO when Talis and I are sleeping.
The other thing he's doing is that he wakes up around 5:30am and starts trying to "play" with things on my bed, like the remote control, or my mouse, or a book, or whatever. It wakes me up and it's brutal because my alarm is going to go off in an hour and my sleep's been interrupted. Usually he'll just start messing around in the room (like with the books) rather than go back to sleep, so then I always have to kick him out of the room and close the door (the door is otherwise open and he COULD leave, but he doesn't want to, he wants to be with us, only he wants us awake) so I can get that precious hour of sleep.
It's come to my attention that I have 113 hours of vacation subject to forfeiture if I don't use them by the end of the year (it's really annoying that we aren't allowed to just cash that out). And that's just going to go up as the days pass by and I work more. What this means is that I'm going to be cramming in a lot of time off. I've decided to go to LA for the week of Thanksgiving (which I never do), come back, and then two weeks later, leave for my winter vacation. Plus I will take about 3 extra-long weekends before Thanksgiving. This crunch happens almost every year. I wish I were better about spacing out my vacation, but I tend to want to hoard it just in case I need it... and then this happens. Sigh. In any case, I'm going to bring Talis and Jaime with me when I leave in November, then they will stay with my parents until I return in December, and take them back with me when I come back to Seattle in January. Since that's over 30 days, I'm going to have to find an inexpensive vet down there to do a general check up for them so they can get their health certificates that they'll need for traveling. I'm also thinking I might be able to carry Jaime onto the plane with me (Talis has to go in the cargo hold), in which case I'll need a soft carrying case for him. Except, scratch that, if I carry Jaime on board with me I'll have to check in any luggage, and that costs extra, so he might as well go in the hold as well.
I've completely rediscovered my love for XF, but I enjoy it on a slightly different level than I did when I was deep into fandom, over a decade ago. I'm going to start posting my old thoughts from various episodes here, probably undiluted for the most part, just in case that website ever goes away I'll have some record. If you read them, yay, you're welcome to take a trip with me down memory lane -- just keep in mind that these are thoughts from a much-younger me. :D
( My Intro/Caveats from 1999 )
( XF 'Squeeze' )
( My favorite quotes from this ep. )
I made some really awesome espresso-chocolate shortbread cookies over the weekend. I didn't actually expect them to be that good. I ate them with an Americano for breakfast this morning, and I really needed all that caffeine because I am DRAGGING this morning.
===
I found all the reviews that I wrote for various XF episodes way back in the day (11 years ago), because when I first got into fandom I created a fan site rather than writing fanfic. Boy, are some of those reviews embarrassing. I didn't try to pretend like I was a completely objective observer; I definitely was into MSR, however sometimes I tried for at least a semblance of talking about the merits of each episode outside the MSR, with varying degrees of success. Sometimes though, I didn't even bother to try.
There's also "Time Out of Joint," the WIP that I was working on with Brandon Ray. It's one of the stories I was proudest of, except that midway through writing it, I lost interest in XF and Brandon didn't feel much like working on it either. He was a good friend of mine, but once our interests diverged we didn't keep in close contact (that seems to always happen with me). A few years after I'd dropped out of fandom I heard that Brandon had passed away unexpectedly. It still flips me out every time I think of it. In any case, part of me feels like I should finish TOoJ, because we put in a lot of effort on it, it was a good story, and it seems like a complete waste that it'll never be finished. But another part of me feels that writing/finishing the story without Brandon would be wrong, and in any case, I don't have any notes or anything from that time period anymore, so I'm not clear where we were going with it, what should happen, etc. I'd have to make it all up on my own, which seems like a lot of effort for someone who hasn't written XF fanfic in a decade. I try to think of what Brandon would want me to do, and I'm pretty sure he'd just say, "Do whatever you want. :-)" He drove me inSANE in many ways, but at the end of the day he was the first person I ever met online, he was a good friend of mine, and I miss him.
===
Tonight I think I'm going to attempt a dish that I've been wanting to try ever since I saw it. It's a lot of freaking effort for what amounts to roasted tomatoes and spaghetti, but it looks and sounds wonderful. I just need to eat lunch extra late or something so that I can wait the 2 hours it will take to make the damn thing.
===
I found all the reviews that I wrote for various XF episodes way back in the day (11 years ago), because when I first got into fandom I created a fan site rather than writing fanfic. Boy, are some of those reviews embarrassing. I didn't try to pretend like I was a completely objective observer; I definitely was into MSR, however sometimes I tried for at least a semblance of talking about the merits of each episode outside the MSR, with varying degrees of success. Sometimes though, I didn't even bother to try.
There's also "Time Out of Joint," the WIP that I was working on with Brandon Ray. It's one of the stories I was proudest of, except that midway through writing it, I lost interest in XF and Brandon didn't feel much like working on it either. He was a good friend of mine, but once our interests diverged we didn't keep in close contact (that seems to always happen with me). A few years after I'd dropped out of fandom I heard that Brandon had passed away unexpectedly. It still flips me out every time I think of it. In any case, part of me feels like I should finish TOoJ, because we put in a lot of effort on it, it was a good story, and it seems like a complete waste that it'll never be finished. But another part of me feels that writing/finishing the story without Brandon would be wrong, and in any case, I don't have any notes or anything from that time period anymore, so I'm not clear where we were going with it, what should happen, etc. I'd have to make it all up on my own, which seems like a lot of effort for someone who hasn't written XF fanfic in a decade. I try to think of what Brandon would want me to do, and I'm pretty sure he'd just say, "Do whatever you want. :-)" He drove me inSANE in many ways, but at the end of the day he was the first person I ever met online, he was a good friend of mine, and I miss him.
===
Tonight I think I'm going to attempt a dish that I've been wanting to try ever since I saw it. It's a lot of freaking effort for what amounts to roasted tomatoes and spaghetti, but it looks and sounds wonderful. I just need to eat lunch extra late or something so that I can wait the 2 hours it will take to make the damn thing.
TV. Yeah, that pretty much says it all.
Sep. 19th, 2010 09:31 pm
There are three reasons I haven't been watching The Vampire Diaries:
1) I rarely watch ANY television during its original airing. I usually watch TV on DVD, so I'm almost always a season or two behind. Shows I love like Mad Men, House, Lost, Arrested Development, Gilmore Girls, Prison Break, Rome, How I Met Your Mother, etc., I watch/watched on DVD. There are a few rare shows that I try to keep up with in real time, like Glee and S4 of Dexter, but that requires watching on Hulu or downloading a torrent, which I am too lazy to do for most shows. It sucks because this means I am more sensitive to spoilers (an entire season could be spoiled), but it's also nice because I can skip commercials AND watch episode after episode of one show and watch events unfold in a less disjointed way.
2) I hate Twilight and am resistant to anything that appears to try and win audiences over because it's trying to take advantage of the 'hot new thing.' I am skeptical there could be quality there for that reason, particularly because the 'hot new thing' it's trying to take advantage of is so low quality to begin with that it's obviously not aiming toward discerning audiences.
3) I LOVED the L.J. Smith book series. I read them as a teenage girl, before Buffy came along and made vampires cool, and it was one of my favorite series. So I was even more resistant to the show based on my skepticism that they would be able to do it well (given point #2) and my fear that they'd ruin something I had really loved. (And my fear that the series itself wouldn't stand up to the test of time.)
However, I've read and seen enough about the show at this point that I think I'm ready to give it a shot. I'm #8 in my library queue for the first season, but I think it's going to take awhile as there's only 1 copy available. Still, I thought it was going to be a show that I'd never watch, so the fact that I will do so eventually is a big step!
===
I'm also going to start watching The Shield. I don't actually know anyone who watches this show, but I've heard/read enough critical acclaim about it that I'd like to see it. I've gotten the complete series on DVD; it's kind of cool-looking, actually. It's like a big hardcover book, with little inserts for the discs.
===
My BSG Blu-Rays have come! I don't know now whether to start rewatching those or starting The Shield.
===
I'm on S7 of XF. It wasn't a bad season but I DREAD what's coming. Why did they attempt to do XF w/o DD?! Greedy fuckers. I mean, XF just isn't XF w/o Mulder and Scully. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT.
The Samantha resolution though, wtf? (The end of Closure is beautiful, however.)
Mulder constantly breaks my heart.
I'm interested in rereading my favorite fanfics from way back when, but I suspect a lot of them won't be available anymore. A lot of people took down their stories after they finally realized that having their real names associated with fanfic might not be such a good idea. I've already gone back to reread a couple, and those unfortunately did not pass the test of time.
I want to go back and rewatch S6. Again. Other than Agua Mala and Trevor it was pretty a much a perfect season, imho. Freaking Agua Mala, I spit on it.
===
I still haven't seen Lost S6. Or the latest season of House. Or of course Mad Men S4. OMG so much to catch up on! I have tons of vacation, maybe I should take some time off and just watch TV the whole time. Hey, that'd be a pretty darn relaxing vacation.
===
I also want to rewatch Buffy again. Also Firefly, which I also just got on Blu-Ray. Maybe I'll do a Whedon binge after I've watched everything else mentioned here.
1) I rarely watch ANY television during its original airing. I usually watch TV on DVD, so I'm almost always a season or two behind. Shows I love like Mad Men, House, Lost, Arrested Development, Gilmore Girls, Prison Break, Rome, How I Met Your Mother, etc., I watch/watched on DVD. There are a few rare shows that I try to keep up with in real time, like Glee and S4 of Dexter, but that requires watching on Hulu or downloading a torrent, which I am too lazy to do for most shows. It sucks because this means I am more sensitive to spoilers (an entire season could be spoiled), but it's also nice because I can skip commercials AND watch episode after episode of one show and watch events unfold in a less disjointed way.
2) I hate Twilight and am resistant to anything that appears to try and win audiences over because it's trying to take advantage of the 'hot new thing.' I am skeptical there could be quality there for that reason, particularly because the 'hot new thing' it's trying to take advantage of is so low quality to begin with that it's obviously not aiming toward discerning audiences.
3) I LOVED the L.J. Smith book series. I read them as a teenage girl, before Buffy came along and made vampires cool, and it was one of my favorite series. So I was even more resistant to the show based on my skepticism that they would be able to do it well (given point #2) and my fear that they'd ruin something I had really loved. (And my fear that the series itself wouldn't stand up to the test of time.)
However, I've read and seen enough about the show at this point that I think I'm ready to give it a shot. I'm #8 in my library queue for the first season, but I think it's going to take awhile as there's only 1 copy available. Still, I thought it was going to be a show that I'd never watch, so the fact that I will do so eventually is a big step!
===
I'm also going to start watching The Shield. I don't actually know anyone who watches this show, but I've heard/read enough critical acclaim about it that I'd like to see it. I've gotten the complete series on DVD; it's kind of cool-looking, actually. It's like a big hardcover book, with little inserts for the discs.
===
My BSG Blu-Rays have come! I don't know now whether to start rewatching those or starting The Shield.
===
I'm on S7 of XF. It wasn't a bad season but I DREAD what's coming. Why did they attempt to do XF w/o DD?! Greedy fuckers. I mean, XF just isn't XF w/o Mulder and Scully. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT.
The Samantha resolution though, wtf? (The end of Closure is beautiful, however.)
Mulder constantly breaks my heart.
I'm interested in rereading my favorite fanfics from way back when, but I suspect a lot of them won't be available anymore. A lot of people took down their stories after they finally realized that having their real names associated with fanfic might not be such a good idea. I've already gone back to reread a couple, and those unfortunately did not pass the test of time.
I want to go back and rewatch S6. Again. Other than Agua Mala and Trevor it was pretty a much a perfect season, imho. Freaking Agua Mala, I spit on it.
===
I still haven't seen Lost S6. Or the latest season of House. Or of course Mad Men S4. OMG so much to catch up on! I have tons of vacation, maybe I should take some time off and just watch TV the whole time. Hey, that'd be a pretty darn relaxing vacation.
===
I also want to rewatch Buffy again. Also Firefly, which I also just got on Blu-Ray. Maybe I'll do a Whedon binge after I've watched everything else mentioned here.
OK all you people who live in Seattle and enjoy food: Restaurant Week is back again! Oct. 17-28 (minus Fri. & Sat.). WHO'S WITH ME?? $25, 3-course meal, awesome restaurants! You know you want to go! I am keeping that entire week+ open so I can go to as many as possible. <g> So let me know if you're interested and we shall plan to go. There are a few restaurants I want to hit for sure -- Dahlia Lounge, Mistral Kitchen, Spring Hill -- but am also open to anything.
===
Speaking of food, I've actually been cooking quite a bit, and have just posted a big roundup about it here.
===
Dealing with some work insanity the past couple of days. Sigh. And I so tried to avoid having this happen. I wish my work didn't so often consist of making sure other people do their jobs. You're not in control of your own destiny when that's the case, and there's a lot of sitting around worrying about how other things are going so that your bigger picture can fall into place. The good news is that everything went well, despite Murphy's Law coming into play.
===
Did someone recommend Patricia Gaffney's To Have and To Hold to me? Was it maybe when I was talking about Laura Kinsale's Seize the Fire and that novel's bastard of an anti-hero? I ask because it was apparently in my library queue so I picked it up yesterday. But what I found odd was that it was an "inter-library loan" (meaning not one of the 16ish libraries in the Sno-Isle library system that basically share a catalogue) -- it's from Harvard-Westlake School in California. O.o How random is that? For that reason it cannot be renewed, so I pretty much have to read it right away (there is a serious back up in my reading queue).
The problem is that there's another one I also have to read right away -- I just got Tongues of Serpents! I think there's a big waiting list for it right now, so I probably won't be able to renew and if I wanted it again would have to wait in the queue all over. It always takes me a page or two to get back into reading a Temeraire novel, because of the language. But it's cool because once I'm back in it, it reads like any other book.
===
I finally caved and bought the BSG series on Blu-Ray. There's conflicting reports on exactly what's included (The Plan y/n?), so I'll have to see when it gets here if it's missing anything.
Finally on S6 of XF. I know a lot of people didn't like that season... but I don't know why. It's hands down my favorite season. Almost every episode is totally rewatchable (unlike the second half of S5, after Bad Blood). I guess I like the lighter fare, though I will admit that the lighter fare wouldn't be as good if all the dark stuff hadn't happened to them before that. Still, just last night I saw Triangle, the two Dreamlands, and How the Ghosts Stole Christmas, and I'm only on disc 2! I LOVE YOU SEASON 6, I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE ELSE SAYS.
===
And the VERY LAST TV Show Meme!! I started this way back in June. Wow. O.o I took my sweet time with it, didn't I?
Day 30 - Saddest character death
Since this is potentially spoilery, ( my answer behind a cut. )
===
Speaking of food, I've actually been cooking quite a bit, and have just posted a big roundup about it here.
===
Dealing with some work insanity the past couple of days. Sigh. And I so tried to avoid having this happen. I wish my work didn't so often consist of making sure other people do their jobs. You're not in control of your own destiny when that's the case, and there's a lot of sitting around worrying about how other things are going so that your bigger picture can fall into place. The good news is that everything went well, despite Murphy's Law coming into play.
===
Did someone recommend Patricia Gaffney's To Have and To Hold to me? Was it maybe when I was talking about Laura Kinsale's Seize the Fire and that novel's bastard of an anti-hero? I ask because it was apparently in my library queue so I picked it up yesterday. But what I found odd was that it was an "inter-library loan" (meaning not one of the 16ish libraries in the Sno-Isle library system that basically share a catalogue) -- it's from Harvard-Westlake School in California. O.o How random is that? For that reason it cannot be renewed, so I pretty much have to read it right away (there is a serious back up in my reading queue).
The problem is that there's another one I also have to read right away -- I just got Tongues of Serpents! I think there's a big waiting list for it right now, so I probably won't be able to renew and if I wanted it again would have to wait in the queue all over. It always takes me a page or two to get back into reading a Temeraire novel, because of the language. But it's cool because once I'm back in it, it reads like any other book.
===
I finally caved and bought the BSG series on Blu-Ray. There's conflicting reports on exactly what's included (The Plan y/n?), so I'll have to see when it gets here if it's missing anything.
Finally on S6 of XF. I know a lot of people didn't like that season... but I don't know why. It's hands down my favorite season. Almost every episode is totally rewatchable (unlike the second half of S5, after Bad Blood). I guess I like the lighter fare, though I will admit that the lighter fare wouldn't be as good if all the dark stuff hadn't happened to them before that. Still, just last night I saw Triangle, the two Dreamlands, and How the Ghosts Stole Christmas, and I'm only on disc 2! I LOVE YOU SEASON 6, I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE ELSE SAYS.
===
And the VERY LAST TV Show Meme!! I started this way back in June. Wow. O.o I took my sweet time with it, didn't I?
Day 30 - Saddest character death
Since this is potentially spoilery, ( my answer behind a cut. )
catching up!
Sep. 13th, 2010 10:57 amOK, I now have tomatoes coming out of my ears. Mostly cherry tomatoes, which I cannot seem to eat fast enough.
PLUS -- before she left for an extended vacation, K. took down her tomato plants and asked if I wanted all the green tomatoes still on the vine. Of course I didn't want them to go to waste, so I said sure. Now I have a HUGE box of green tomatoes (mostly cherries) and I'm not quite sure what to do with them. I started a thread in the![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
cooking comm to see if anyone had any ideas about what I could do with them (other than fried green tomatoes, which I do plan to do, but there are so many that I need other ideas too). If any of you guys have favorite ways to prepare green tomatoes, please let me know! I'd read that tomatoes don't ripen if they've been pulled too early (before they start changing color), but someone on the thread says that if I keep them out of the light, they will. If that's true, maybe I should move the box to my garage. Not that I need a million tomatoes to ripen all at once...
===
Happy birthday to the incomparable![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jade_okelani today.
For her birthday, one of the things I gave her was ( a rant about the second XF movie. )
I also ranted to her about Salt, which I finally saw, but she pointed out that listing all of that movie's deficiencies is like kicking a baby when it's down... there's just no sport in it. Suffice it to say that it was no Bourne Identity. Plus, I realized something else -- Angelina Jolie just doesn't do it for me. She seems way more badass in real life than she ever does on the big screen, even when she's supposedly playing a badass. She has this soft, girly voice and these frail limbs that look like they could snap with the slightest pressure. She keeps disappointing me in her roles, and I think this one is finally the one that's made me realize she's just not for me.
===
I need to remember to start bringing my own utensils when I bring my own lunch, if it's meant to be hot. The compostable utensils either melt in the heat of the food or makes everything taste like wood. ><
===
One of my new boss's hobbies is that he likes to roast his own coffee at home. He did a few batches this weekend and brought some in to share. Now the awesome smell of roasted coffee keeps distracting me every 5 seconds.
===
Second to last TV show meme!! Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
If the question is, what am I currently obsessed with, it'd have to be XF, since I'm rewatching it and am up to S5. If the question is, what current TV show (as in, currently running) am I obsessed with, I'd have to say Mad Men. It's so fab.
PLUS -- before she left for an extended vacation, K. took down her tomato plants and asked if I wanted all the green tomatoes still on the vine. Of course I didn't want them to go to waste, so I said sure. Now I have a HUGE box of green tomatoes (mostly cherries) and I'm not quite sure what to do with them. I started a thread in the
cooking comm to see if anyone had any ideas about what I could do with them (other than fried green tomatoes, which I do plan to do, but there are so many that I need other ideas too). If any of you guys have favorite ways to prepare green tomatoes, please let me know! I'd read that tomatoes don't ripen if they've been pulled too early (before they start changing color), but someone on the thread says that if I keep them out of the light, they will. If that's true, maybe I should move the box to my garage. Not that I need a million tomatoes to ripen all at once...===
Happy birthday to the incomparable
jade_okelani today.For her birthday, one of the things I gave her was ( a rant about the second XF movie. )
I also ranted to her about Salt, which I finally saw, but she pointed out that listing all of that movie's deficiencies is like kicking a baby when it's down... there's just no sport in it. Suffice it to say that it was no Bourne Identity. Plus, I realized something else -- Angelina Jolie just doesn't do it for me. She seems way more badass in real life than she ever does on the big screen, even when she's supposedly playing a badass. She has this soft, girly voice and these frail limbs that look like they could snap with the slightest pressure. She keeps disappointing me in her roles, and I think this one is finally the one that's made me realize she's just not for me.
===
I need to remember to start bringing my own utensils when I bring my own lunch, if it's meant to be hot. The compostable utensils either melt in the heat of the food or makes everything taste like wood. ><
===
One of my new boss's hobbies is that he likes to roast his own coffee at home. He did a few batches this weekend and brought some in to share. Now the awesome smell of roasted coffee keeps distracting me every 5 seconds.
===
Second to last TV show meme!! Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
If the question is, what am I currently obsessed with, it'd have to be XF, since I'm rewatching it and am up to S5. If the question is, what current TV show (as in, currently running) am I obsessed with, I'd have to say Mad Men. It's so fab.
all over the place
Aug. 25th, 2010 09:40 am
OMG!!!!!!! Amazon Fresh is finally delivering in my area! *does a dance* I've been waiting for this for sooooo long. Some of you may not have heard of it because they're only in the Seattle area right now, but I know so many people who use Amazon Fresh and LOVE IT. I know, I thought the whole grocery home delivery thing was dead, but Amazon has somehow made it work. I have not heard one bad thing about it, only people raving about how great it is.
It is ridiculous how excited I am about this.
=====
OK... I have Mockingjay in hand (thank you, Amazon, for the expediency), but I don't actually feel like reading it. I read the first few pages, and it just sunk me into depression. I guess I'm just not in the mood for dark, post-col (as we used to call the genre in XF fandom) stuff. :/ I do want to know what happens, but I also don't want to ruin the book for myself by reading it before I'm ready. I'm going to wait, and will hope that everyone will be very careful about spoilery information!
=====
trashy_eats is currently in LJ Spotlight and we have soooo many people posting now, I can barely keep up. Yet I can't look away. It's like a gastronomic car crash.
I joined the comm thinking that there would be a lot of food that's bad for me, but prepared in creatively delicious ways (like English muffin pizzas), maybe some different but interesting combos (say, chocolate-covered bacon), or maybe just stuff that's bad for you but also yummy, like the deep-fried Twinkie I've always wanted to try.
But I've found that a deep-fried Twinkie is child's play to these people. I thought I knew about trashy food; it turns out I know nothing about it. I am constantly amazed by the ingenuity (and iron stomachs) of these posters. Some examples (which my uncreative mind would never have come up with) follow. Keep in mind that these aren't just things people eat because they were dared to or something, but because they honestly find it delicious (and many times come about due to lack of funds -- truly, necessity is the mother of invention):
=====
To those of you who asked for books from me and provided a way for me to get them to you, I plan to mail them out today. :D What with those and the PBS and Half.com orders, I'm going to be one of those annoying people at the post office who have more things to mail than I can carry at one time.
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I've started rewatching The X-Files from the beginning, and am on S2 now. (I'd burned myself out on XF so much that I couldn't even watch a single ep for YEARS.) There are so many little things I'd forgotten! Krycek started out as Mulder's partner! Scully was young and chubby! Skinner is interesting! It's amazing how quickly they became "Mulder and Scully." There were only like, 3 episodes in which they seemed like they were getting to know each other. And then it was all familiar touching and glances that lingered a second or two too long.
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Wow, I guess I've blabbed enough for one post. So I'll end with...
TV Show Meme, Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
HBO's A Game of Thrones, of course! I am so flipping excited for this one, it cannot come soon enough.
It is ridiculous how excited I am about this.
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OK... I have Mockingjay in hand (thank you, Amazon, for the expediency), but I don't actually feel like reading it. I read the first few pages, and it just sunk me into depression. I guess I'm just not in the mood for dark, post-col (as we used to call the genre in XF fandom) stuff. :/ I do want to know what happens, but I also don't want to ruin the book for myself by reading it before I'm ready. I'm going to wait, and will hope that everyone will be very careful about spoilery information!
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trashy_eats is currently in LJ Spotlight and we have soooo many people posting now, I can barely keep up. Yet I can't look away. It's like a gastronomic car crash.I joined the comm thinking that there would be a lot of food that's bad for me, but prepared in creatively delicious ways (like English muffin pizzas), maybe some different but interesting combos (say, chocolate-covered bacon), or maybe just stuff that's bad for you but also yummy, like the deep-fried Twinkie I've always wanted to try.
But I've found that a deep-fried Twinkie is child's play to these people. I thought I knew about trashy food; it turns out I know nothing about it. I am constantly amazed by the ingenuity (and iron stomachs) of these posters. Some examples (which my uncreative mind would never have come up with) follow. Keep in mind that these aren't just things people eat because they were dared to or something, but because they honestly find it delicious (and many times come about due to lack of funds -- truly, necessity is the mother of invention):
- Warm a tortilla in a pan till it's a bit brown. Slather with mayo. Roll up and eat. Proclaimed by the poster to be "HEAVEN... I swear it's awesome."
- Variations of peanut butter ramen. Cook ramen noodles until soft, then add spoonfuls of chunky peanut butter. Add other ingredients such as scrambled egg or scallions if you are "feeling wealthy." So many people have posted their versions of this dish.
- Ramen, period. Apparently I am the only person on the planet who has never used ramen for anything other than making ramen (though I will dress it up with egg or veggies or whatever). So very many posts about what else you can do with ramen. And the best trashy post ever, for "Gourmet Ramen a la Felon" -- recipe from a guy who learned how to make his variation in prison after bartering some cigarettes for food.
- "Deathwiches." Basically, sandwiches inside sandwiches, your creativity is the limit. Example: Go to McD's and order a Big Mac and McChicken sandwich. Open up the Big Mac. Place McChicken sandwich on top. Place the other half of the Big Mac back on top. Eat. (This is a fairly tame example. Apparently McD-specific ones are called "McGangbang.")
- Instant stuffing + instant gravy + canned chicken + crushed pineapple. Proclaimed "a staple meal."
- This entire post, in which the poster has made trashy eating a lifestyle.
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To those of you who asked for books from me and provided a way for me to get them to you, I plan to mail them out today. :D What with those and the PBS and Half.com orders, I'm going to be one of those annoying people at the post office who have more things to mail than I can carry at one time.
=====
I've started rewatching The X-Files from the beginning, and am on S2 now. (I'd burned myself out on XF so much that I couldn't even watch a single ep for YEARS.) There are so many little things I'd forgotten! Krycek started out as Mulder's partner! Scully was young and chubby! Skinner is interesting! It's amazing how quickly they became "Mulder and Scully." There were only like, 3 episodes in which they seemed like they were getting to know each other. And then it was all familiar touching and glances that lingered a second or two too long.
=====
Wow, I guess I've blabbed enough for one post. So I'll end with...
TV Show Meme, Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
HBO's A Game of Thrones, of course! I am so flipping excited for this one, it cannot come soon enough.
now for a non-car update
Aug. 16th, 2010 11:38 amBeen having fun with my garden. We're having some wacky weather. It's either cold or hot, with no happy medium. However, the heat is good for my garden, so I don't want to complain too much. Ugh, and according to weather.com we're going to be back in the 60s in a couple of days, so I better enjoy the heat while I can.
( Photograhic evidence of VEGGIES! )
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I was in HPB the other day and I went to the teen section to look for some Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys super mysteries, sinceakscully talked about them recently and it got me curious. I've never read a single book in either series, btw, don't know if that means I wouldn't enjoy the super mysteries. But anyway, it's a moot point because I couldn't find a single one! There were plenty of books from both individual series, but no super mysteries at all.
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Have you guys seen Inception? OMG. I loved it. You have to like movies like The Matrix and Memento, though, or you probably won't. It's very derivative of both those movies. I thought it was really well done (not surprising given Christopher Nolan), and the cast was great. I always like Leo DiCaprio, but it was actually Joseph Gordon-Levitt who made the biggest impression on me in this one.
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TV Show Meme, Day 21 - Favorite ship: Mulder/Scully from The X-Files
Even though I'm not as into it anymore, I don't know that I have ever been or will ever be as obsessed with another fictional pairing. MSR (Mulder/Scully romance) is what got me started on this whole fanfic thing (and when I first encountered it, I thought it was the bizarrest thing in the world) and online fandom, etc. The best thing about the MSR was the UST (unrelieved sexual tension), which I realized a little too late, after they had made MSR happen for real on the show and it was ... less than awesome. A very good lesson about giving the audience what they need, not what they want. The best thing about it was that the smallest little thing could happen (THEIR FINGERTIPS TOUCHED) and it would send me into raptures.
9 more days and then onto the next meme -- A Day in the Life, which will give me a good excuse to use my camera.
( Photograhic evidence of VEGGIES! )
===
I was in HPB the other day and I went to the teen section to look for some Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys super mysteries, since
akscully talked about them recently and it got me curious. I've never read a single book in either series, btw, don't know if that means I wouldn't enjoy the super mysteries. But anyway, it's a moot point because I couldn't find a single one! There were plenty of books from both individual series, but no super mysteries at all.===
Have you guys seen Inception? OMG. I loved it. You have to like movies like The Matrix and Memento, though, or you probably won't. It's very derivative of both those movies. I thought it was really well done (not surprising given Christopher Nolan), and the cast was great. I always like Leo DiCaprio, but it was actually Joseph Gordon-Levitt who made the biggest impression on me in this one.
===
TV Show Meme, Day 21 - Favorite ship: Mulder/Scully from The X-Files
Even though I'm not as into it anymore, I don't know that I have ever been or will ever be as obsessed with another fictional pairing. MSR (Mulder/Scully romance) is what got me started on this whole fanfic thing (and when I first encountered it, I thought it was the bizarrest thing in the world) and online fandom, etc. The best thing about the MSR was the UST (unrelieved sexual tension), which I realized a little too late, after they had made MSR happen for real on the show and it was ... less than awesome. A very good lesson about giving the audience what they need, not what they want. The best thing about it was that the smallest little thing could happen (THEIR FINGERTIPS TOUCHED) and it would send me into raptures.
9 more days and then onto the next meme -- A Day in the Life, which will give me a good excuse to use my camera.
YAY Friday
Jul. 23rd, 2010 12:17 pmIt's Friday. It's been a crazy week. Publishing for Monday's content should be set. I am giving myself the afternoon off.
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My favorite new coffee drink is the Americano. I love the deep coffee flavor. I've finally figured out how to achieve an almost perfect Americano, but there's still one thing missing. My favorite Americano consists of 2 shots of espresso in a short cup, with room. So the espresso to water ratio is bigger. However, I also like my coffee drinks very creamy and sweet, so I add sugar (preferably vanilla sugar) and cream. I like the short because of the espresso-water ratio, but also because I don't actually drink that much -- I usually can't even finish a tall. I also like my drinks scalding hot. The problem is, with as much cream as I like, the drink is usually lukewarm when I'm done "fixing" it to my preferences. Not quite sure how to fix that except nuking the drink right afterward, which I don't like to do because it changes the flavor.
At Starbucks, it costs less than $2 for a short Americano, and I don't want to turn it into $4 by doing a lot to it, lol. However, their short only consists of 1 espresso shot. I'm not sure if it makes more sense financially to get a short and add a shot of espresso, or get a tall (which comes with 2 shots) and get less water. Next time I'm going to add vanilla syrup, since by paying with my Starbucks cash card that should be free. Unfortunately that doesn't help my lukewarm drink issue.
===
My mom called me last night and was like, I want to come visit you guys and meet Jaime! So I booked her a flight. If only the timing worked out so that she could come at the end of August, it'd be better, as Alaska's having a sale during that time period. Sigh.
===
I've been hearing/reading a lot about Beer Butt Chicken, and I think I might be one of a handful of people who have never made it. I love, love, LOVE the high-roast method that Jade and I discovered a couple years ago, and swore I'd never cook a chicken in the oven any other way again, but I might have to try beer butt chicken. I just have to know.
===
When K. graduated from medical school oh, about 16 years ago, some of us went to New York for her graduation. While there, we shopped at Tiffany's (well, *I* didn't) and afterward went to Bergdorf Goodman for lunch, as they have a little cafe there. Several of us ordered one of their chopped salads, and it was the best salad EVER. We all agreed. Years and years later, we still remember that salad.
I guess I never tried to search for it online or anything because I didn't know what it was called, the salad ingredients are fairly generic, and it's been so long that their menu had probably totally changed, and maybe they didn't even have a cafe anymore.
Well it just goes to show that it never hurts to try. A couple of weeks ago I did a search for it using "Bergdorf," "salad," "thousand island," and "beets," which were the only things I knew of for SURE that were descriptive of the salad. And viola! Someone else had waxed poetic about it in their blog, in 2006!
"Goodman’s Café, hidden in a corner of Bergdorf Goodman’s beauty department, is definitely a ladies who lunch (and shop) spot. For me, it’s all about the Gotham salad. This chopped salad is made up of diced chicken breast, ham, Gruyère, tomatoes, beets, bacon, hard-boiled egg, iceberg lettuce and Thousand Island dressing. While there is nothing extraordinary in the components, the combination is a real winner! I love the texture of the crunchy iceberg, sweetness of the beets, softness of the egg, sharpness of the Gruyere, and the extra kick of the bacon. It is one of my preferred light lunches, accompanied by a glass of Duval-Leroy Brut champagne."
The Gotham Salad! That's what it was!! Now I want to replicate it. The problem is that I think the key is in the dressing, and I have no idea how they make their thousand island dressing or where they buy it from. I mean, the rest of the ingredients are pretty run of the mill. So it must be the dressing that brings it all together to make The Best Salad Ever.
===
And finally, I leave you with...
TV Show Meme, Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times: Bad Blood, The X-Files
I LOVED this episode. It was funny and wonderful in so many ways. It's probably not the best episode to watch if you've never seen XF before at all, but if you know the characters and their nuances well, it's hysterical and fun, with just the right amount of MSR (Mulder Scully romance). Plus, Luke Wilson is in it.
===
My favorite new coffee drink is the Americano. I love the deep coffee flavor. I've finally figured out how to achieve an almost perfect Americano, but there's still one thing missing. My favorite Americano consists of 2 shots of espresso in a short cup, with room. So the espresso to water ratio is bigger. However, I also like my coffee drinks very creamy and sweet, so I add sugar (preferably vanilla sugar) and cream. I like the short because of the espresso-water ratio, but also because I don't actually drink that much -- I usually can't even finish a tall. I also like my drinks scalding hot. The problem is, with as much cream as I like, the drink is usually lukewarm when I'm done "fixing" it to my preferences. Not quite sure how to fix that except nuking the drink right afterward, which I don't like to do because it changes the flavor.
At Starbucks, it costs less than $2 for a short Americano, and I don't want to turn it into $4 by doing a lot to it, lol. However, their short only consists of 1 espresso shot. I'm not sure if it makes more sense financially to get a short and add a shot of espresso, or get a tall (which comes with 2 shots) and get less water. Next time I'm going to add vanilla syrup, since by paying with my Starbucks cash card that should be free. Unfortunately that doesn't help my lukewarm drink issue.
===
My mom called me last night and was like, I want to come visit you guys and meet Jaime! So I booked her a flight. If only the timing worked out so that she could come at the end of August, it'd be better, as Alaska's having a sale during that time period. Sigh.
===
I've been hearing/reading a lot about Beer Butt Chicken, and I think I might be one of a handful of people who have never made it. I love, love, LOVE the high-roast method that Jade and I discovered a couple years ago, and swore I'd never cook a chicken in the oven any other way again, but I might have to try beer butt chicken. I just have to know.
===
When K. graduated from medical school oh, about 16 years ago, some of us went to New York for her graduation. While there, we shopped at Tiffany's (well, *I* didn't) and afterward went to Bergdorf Goodman for lunch, as they have a little cafe there. Several of us ordered one of their chopped salads, and it was the best salad EVER. We all agreed. Years and years later, we still remember that salad.
I guess I never tried to search for it online or anything because I didn't know what it was called, the salad ingredients are fairly generic, and it's been so long that their menu had probably totally changed, and maybe they didn't even have a cafe anymore.
Well it just goes to show that it never hurts to try. A couple of weeks ago I did a search for it using "Bergdorf," "salad," "thousand island," and "beets," which were the only things I knew of for SURE that were descriptive of the salad. And viola! Someone else had waxed poetic about it in their blog, in 2006!
"Goodman’s Café, hidden in a corner of Bergdorf Goodman’s beauty department, is definitely a ladies who lunch (and shop) spot. For me, it’s all about the Gotham salad. This chopped salad is made up of diced chicken breast, ham, Gruyère, tomatoes, beets, bacon, hard-boiled egg, iceberg lettuce and Thousand Island dressing. While there is nothing extraordinary in the components, the combination is a real winner! I love the texture of the crunchy iceberg, sweetness of the beets, softness of the egg, sharpness of the Gruyere, and the extra kick of the bacon. It is one of my preferred light lunches, accompanied by a glass of Duval-Leroy Brut champagne."
The Gotham Salad! That's what it was!! Now I want to replicate it. The problem is that I think the key is in the dressing, and I have no idea how they make their thousand island dressing or where they buy it from. I mean, the rest of the ingredients are pretty run of the mill. So it must be the dressing that brings it all together to make The Best Salad Ever.
===
And finally, I leave you with...
TV Show Meme, Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times: Bad Blood, The X-Files
I LOVED this episode. It was funny and wonderful in so many ways. It's probably not the best episode to watch if you've never seen XF before at all, but if you know the characters and their nuances well, it's hysterical and fun, with just the right amount of MSR (Mulder Scully romance). Plus, Luke Wilson is in it.
