rachg82

I know it was totally a fiscal no-no, but I just spent almost twenty dollars (tip included) on a GF pizza & Cherry Coke from Bellagio's. I'm not even supposed to have Coke, because of the corn syrup. But, seriously, can't I just chalk it up to an early Christmas present for myself? 'Cause this shit is really good. Like, it makes me want to do my Happy Food Dance & everything. The only other time I've broken that out in the past year was probably over the Mike & Ike candies my nephew gave me the other night. Heh. And then I invented a ~Sugar Train~ & started chugging my way around the living room, all, "Sugar-sugar-sugar-sugar, choo choo!" Because I'm secretly five years old.

Oh, hey, speaking of -- guess who has new pictures of her cute-ass niece & nephew? ( That'd be me )

As for how it went, hanging with them throughout the weekend, it was nice. I didn't feel pushed into watching them or anything--the first day was my idea, and the second day was Jayden's--and my sister washed my comforter for me (which is difficult to fit into the washers here at my apartments) & paid for dinner on Saturday (in turn, I made the kids lunch & smoothies the next day), so overall there was a reciprocal balance.

And while I'm sure there's some unwritten rule out there about schadenfreude-laced anecdotes & people who've just had a heart attack, I can't help but pass this one along (courtesy of my nephew): apparently my mom came to watch Isabella do gymnastics a while back, and right in the middle of it pulled a giant wooden spoon *out of her purse* and began using it to scratch her back--like I'm saying she'd specifically put it there for ~back-scratching purposes on the go~--then proceeded to pull her shirt up, right there in public, & ask Jayden if he could itch it for her too. Bear in mind, while telling me this story he had to keep catching his breath between giggles, and was all WTF-wide-eyed, like, "I THINK PEOPLE WERE WATCHING. IT WAS REALLY WEIRD! SHE HAD IT IN HER PURSE!" Haha. Story of my childhood, kid. Meanwhile my sister was laughing so hard over this that she was crying, and I wasn't far behind. It's just so HER.

Moving on, I've decided to split my responses to that meme I started into multiple entries, since I'm going ahead with the "three vids per fandom" dealio as well, and I don't want to overload people. We'll do two shows per entry--three episodes & three vids for each--and good times will be had by all. Woo woo.

( First up, Bones & Battlestar Galactica )

Note to self,

Next time you ambitiously decide to sift through boxes of old clothes, trying things on & deciding what to toss/give away, kicking up invisible clouds of demonic dust mites in your wake, how's about you remember that you're wicked ALLERGIC to dust & build a time machine first -- y'know, that way you can go back a year or two & NEVER LET YOUR ROOM GET SO DAMNED DUSTY IN THE FIRST PLACE. Ugh.

…Okay, so they're obviously not ~demonic~, but props for alliteration, and I do feel rather possessed by them at the moment. Or perhaps "occupied" would be the better word. Like, there's currently a hayfever drum circle going on in my right nasal cavity. They keep yelling about how my sneezes will not be televised, and I'm like, "That doesn't even make sense, mucus!" It's sort of a thing.

In the interest of full disclosure, I've taken some cold medication in the blind hope that it'll help, and those tend to make my sense of humor slightly goofier than normal (heh, remember the whole "Robi: my BFF" bit last year?). At least it keeps me entertained though while sneezing every second (oh, you think I'm joking? While typing this, I've already sneezed something like, what, six times? Seriously). And it's been like this all day. Horrible. You know allergies are bad when even antihistamines won't put a dent in them. Next time I venture into those boxes, I'm totally wearing a dust mask. And probably buying a hepa filter once I have the money, particularly since turning on my heat for the first time every winter basically equals opening up the gates of Hell to months worth of stored up particulates. Thanks for that, vents!

Anyway, to the point: I started cleaning my room last night, and I even made some marginal progress--two bags worth--but I've been paying the price ever since. Serves me right for putting off shopping yesterday afternoon, as I clearly didn't even remotely feel like doing it today (in between all the itching & napping & pouting. I was very busy, you see), and now I have to deal with feeling bad about that. I mean, I called Nordstroms & confirmed they still do alterations, often for free, and that they can put a rush on the work when needed (I remember them hemming a dress for me once in 24 hours), plus they work during the weekends & are there whenever the place is open, so it's probably not a big deal to go in tomorrow & want the pants back by Sunday. However, I MEANT to go in yesterday, so my flaking out is annoying.

Oh, well. Time to get over it. I'll go in tomorrow after my counseling session. At least I cleaned a little, right? Words really can't express how much I dread either task--cleaning or shoe-shopping--so that's gotta be a win.

Moving on:

-BONES TONIGHT. Between certain spoilers & sneak-peeks, I kind of feel like I've already seen the ep (heh), but nevermind that, because BONES.

-Aside from the Robi-induced crackyness, I've actually been fairly melancholy today, and I don't know why, not fully anyway. Hopefully TV tonight will help. I'll probably feel better once I get over the procastination-guilt tomorrow as well.

-I dreamt yesterday that Mary McDonnell was hanging out with me & one my aunts, taking pictures, signing autographs, and talking about videogames in the living room of the apartment I lived in between 10-12 yrs old. I was all, "OMG, WE'RE TOTALLY BESTIES NOW. LET'S GO PLAY CRASH BANDICOOT!" Why can't all my dreams be like that?

-Most of the time, my reactions to commercials range from mild irritation to outright capslocky indignation ("WHY ARE ALL WRINKLE ADS AIMED AT WOMEN? YOU, SIR, CAN TAKE YOUR SUPPLY & DEMAND & SHOVE IT! GOOD DAY!" and what-not), but every now & again I'll see one that amuses me, ( like this brill series of Seattle-based insurance ads, for instance )

-I need to buy prilosec again, though my stomach has actually been doing pretty okay over the last day or so without it (still gonna get it though, obvs). I think it might have something to do with me taking the black licorice stuff again before meals, as my naturopath had advised. I'd given up on them for a while because I hated the taste so much, but seriously, self, get over it. Hopefully it continues helping, or the placebo effect continues helping (heh), either way.

-Okay, enough pointless rambling and onto what really matters: television. I don't have anything to say about Psych this week though (other than I enjoyed it), nor Modern Family (other than, "yay, Kevin Hart!", and the usual, "I ♥ Cam"), but let's talk Revenge, shall we? ( cut for spoilers )

( 30 song challenge: Day 18 )

1. Rent for October is PAID. I couldn't pay the entire late fee (I'm still waiting for some of the PayPal funds to be transferred to my bank account. Once they go through, I'll have $128.49 left), but my apartment manager was willing to push the remaining $21 to next month. I'm kind of paranoid now that some surprise thing will get debited before the check goes through (like stupid Bally's Gym, for instance. HATE THEM), but that probably won't happen. I haven't used my card for anything in forever, and even Bally's hasn't charged me since July, which makes me wonder if my contract finally ended. I will so throw imaginary confetti in the air if that's the case. They have been such a pain in my ass over the last few years.

I did end up needing my friend's help after all, because rent assistance was already out of funds by the time I called. There was nothing I could've done about that, unfortunately, since I didn't get my eviction notice until yesterday, and I couldn't request assistance until then. Normally, people get their notice on the 8th & call that day; however, my apartments apparently don't hand eviction notices out until after the 10th.

I have a little over three weeks before November's rent becomes an issue, but: one thing at a time. I know she's willing to work out a payment plan with me if I can pay the full amount in three installments before that month is over; if I can't, but I can still pay at least half the full amount, she's willing to push the rest to the following month & try to work something else out. She told me she's helping me like this because she can tell I'm "really trying," and I have to say, I'm INCREDIBLY grateful for it. I'm so glad she took over a while back. If I were dealing right now with the old management? Ugh. This story would've gone a lot differently.

2. I'm not sure what to do about my phone/internet/tv bill or my electric bill just yet (both are overdue by a lot), but I can't think about that right now. I'll give it a few days, then revisit it.

3. When my friend dropped off the money today, she included a GF baking mix (works for pancakes, banana bread, cookies, etc), paper towels (which I needed), my favorite kind of GF bread (Udi's--it's the only kind that's good, seriously. Trader Joe's doesn't carry it), and a little bag of aroma therapy bath stuff. Some of it had already been used, so I think she had it around the house vs. buying it, but DUDE. Really, really nice of her. The lotion smells amazeballs, and the skin on my hands right now is like BUTTAH--as the Coffee Talk lady would say.

4. My stomach was still hurting like an a-hole last night, so I didn't get much done, but I did do a load of laundry for the first time in a while. Honestly, there's a blanket that I threw up on while camping last summer--which had been completely rinsed off but never truly washed--that had been lying on my bedroom floor all this time (well, more so "in a shin-high pile of other also-unwashed items" than the floor, but you get the idea). It finally got washed. I'd be embarassed to admit how long it took me to do, but I'm keeping it real here. This is what depression looks like.

5. I'm still going to look into school stuff first (I think I'll take the bus to PCC tomorrow & just try to talk to someone in person, since the financial aid dept's number's always busy), but I am thinking up preliminary job plans too. It's still scary, especially because of my crappy health, and because I despise anything that's up in the air, but yeah. Once more with feeling--one thing at a time. Amongst other things, I'm going to set up a profile on care.com and see if maybe there's a nanny/tutor/housekeeping-type job I can do. My friend B suggested it, and is now sending me all sorts of links, which is appreciated, though it's also kind of stressful because I feel like it puts pressure on me. I'm just reminding myself that all I can do is try. I may or may not meet people's expectations; I can't control that. I just don't want it to become one of those things where she wants to help me, but then ends up resenting me because she doesn't think I'm doing enough to help myself or am not being successful at it or whatever.

6. New Psych starts toniiiight. I am legit excited. I've been going through this list of quotes from the show today & cracking up. Like, my neighbors might've heard. Heh.

I'm pleased to say I'm feeling excited now for Bones' return next month, too. The spoilers have been getting better, and the reviews from critics who've seen the first couple eps already are super encouraging.

7. Facebook continues to be the most annoying thing on the planet--I try to use it, try to like it, but argh. It's like an instant douche converter--but every now & then I do see something funny on there. Case in point: ( True statements are true )

8. I need like an alarm bell to go off every time I pick a food item to eat, reminding me to thoroughly check the ingredients, I swear. Why must my new boysenberry jam have corn syrup? Why must Doritos include wheat? Life HARD.

9. ( Parenthood )

10. I had the most random childhood memory come back to me yesterday. It's really not interesting enough to share here, but watch me do it anyway. Heh. I was following a link that one of my LJ flistmates shared, looking related stuff up (as one does. I like to learn about crap, what can I say), and came across info about sensory issues in children. It offhandedly mentioned kids flipping their shit over vacuum cleaners, and instantly my mind was like, "OMG, I REMEMBER THAT." Totally all ~poof~ out of nowhere. Heh. My mom used to come & warn me if she were going to use the vacuum, literally apologizing for it & being all "I'll try to be quick," and I'm talking up to at least the age of 12 (now that I'm remembering it, I'm pretty sure it continued after that for some time), and I remember yelling at her to stop if she did it for too long. Also: if she were vacuuming in the same room as me, I'd tuck into a corner/sit on a chair hugging my knees/get as far away from it as I could & cover my ears until she was done. It was an especially funny time to remember this, too, because I'd just posted on facebook about how annoyed I was by my upstairs neighbors vacuuming for too long. Ha.

For my Vid of the Day, I'll share a vid that sumpta and I were laughing about earlier. It's fairly appropriate this week:

1. I'm feeling lazy at the moment, so rather than come up with a whole new description of my appointment with the counselor today, I'm just gonna copy some excerpts of what I wrote in an email to Jen earlier. ( As one does )

2. Speaking of emotions though, my mom's birthday is Wednesday. I'm gonna try my best to make it to an ACA meeting this week.

3. The temperature dropped like thirty degrees in the last three days. My flip-flops felt lost in a sea of change. (not really)

I found it pretty amusing though that weather.com had this ALL!CAPS!WARNING! about it the other day, like, "DANGER! RAIN APPROACHING!" And meanwhile Oregon's all, "Whaaaa? Rain? I've never heard of such a thing! For the hills, children! THE HILLS! Damn't, THERE'S NO TIME!"

Okay, so the warning had to do with wind speed along the coast, too, but c'mon. Fifty miles per hour? Chillax with the red font.

4. After some investigation, I remembered that my Playstation isn't compatible with my LCD TV. Sadface. Crash Bandicoot doesn't appreciate this fuckery!

5. With BBC America airing BSG, I've been rewatching eps again. Hence the new icon. For me, Scar is so one of those stealth eps that just seem all ~meh~ upon first glance, but which out of nowhere become one of your faves later on. Then again, BSG seems to have a pattern like that, with some eps being all intense!action!OMG!WHAT and then the rest shifting to introspective!artsy!flashbacks!LEEMO! Hee. Okay, not always quite like that, but Leemo's usually in there somewhere. Point is, it works for me, and I've come to appreciate the slow thinky thoughts eps so much more upon subsequent rewatches.

Since they'll be airing season 3 pretty soon, I figured it'd be an appropriate time for a creepy creeper Leoben vid by mpekowski. Fantastic song, great editing. Enjoy:

1. We'll just get it out of the way first: I didn't go to work yesterday. My stomach was hurting most of the night, along with that morning, and it was just too much for me. My cousin called me last night to check in, and I think he sounded disappointed in me when I told him. Maybe not though. It's hard to tell. It may have been him feeling bad for me/worrying. Who knows. He was like, "They can't fire you if it's for medical reasons." And I was like, "Oh, yes, they can." Wouldn't it be nice if they couldn't, though? He kept trying to tell me I should look into FMLA, even after I told him it was only for employees who'd worked a certain amount of hours already, like, "Well, at least look into it!" I didn't have the heart to be like, "No, dude. You're wrong. I'm right. I'm sorry." Sometimes people just want to feel like they're helping, I guess, even when they're totally not (especially guys, it seems). So I just told him I would. And obviously confirmed what I already knew once I did. So, yeah. It was nice that he called though.

I do feel a bit down about it (and worried. I hope I can just pick back up on unemployment easily. I think I can, but don't know for sure yet), but I'm also trying to be reasonable about it. As sumpta said, I only have one body, but there are lots of jobs. My health takes precedent. And as keenai said, I should stop thinking so much of what I *should* do, and do what I want to do (within reason, obvs. Heh), meaning if I'd rather be going to school full-time than working full-time, I should try to make that happen. Or at least work part-time if necessary, while attending classes. I don't know yet. But I do know I want to look into it. Finally. And it's not like getting sick repeatedly doesn't cause issues with classes/schoolwork, but it's just different. And at least then I'd feel like my efforts are going into something that has meaning. The lack of meaning in the work I've been doing over the last few years has honestly been getting to me a lot.

2. On a positive note, I finished another section of my fic & am up to 3,000+ words now. Slowest fic ever, I know. But it's coming together. I have no idea if others will like it, but again, who's always right? keenai, that's who. (Well, and Jasmine. They sort of go together. Heh. Twinsies!) And so I'm not doing it for others. I'm doing it for me. That being said, if others do like it, that'd be a bonus.

3. Question for y'all: when, if ever, will it stop being hot? Listen up, fall, you need to be here now, aiight? No, not later. Now. I'm tired of sweating.

4. I rewatched "Bowling For Columbine" last week & also checked off a couple new docs from the list: "The Kid Stays in the Picture" and "King of Kong." I got so into the second one, ha. I was like, "HE HAD BETTER WIN THE WORLD RECORD OR I WILL BE PISSED." It kind of cracked me up how extremely-obviously aspie so many of the gamers were, too. JUST SAYING. Not surprising. (Bear in mind my dad's nickname for me over the years was "The Video Game Queen." Sooo, yeah. 'Nuff said.)

As for "The Kid Stays in the Picture," that was actually really entertaining & interesting. Robert Evans is a great storyteller, and he's lived an amazing life. Watch it.

5. The Energizer Bunny of Picspams lives on. ( I have three new categories. )

6. Speaking of BSG, it does my heart proud to see all the ads on BBC America. Hopefully lots of new people are joining the fandom because of it.

7. How gay was Rizzoli & Isles this week? I swear, every episode, it just gets gayer. ( cut for spoilers )

8. I watched "Saved" on Logo the other night, and I could've sworn I'd seen it before. But that could've just been because there were so many clips of it floating around a few years back. It was good times though. I am FILLED with Christ's love!. Haha.

9. I feel like I should come up with more things to say, because I like doing listy posts of 3, 5, or 10, but whatever.

10. See, I can just make my Vid of the Day my 10th point. So smart.

This one's by sandhyni:

1. Just made a rice protein smoothie with those blueberries I bought at the Farmers Market, plus added rasberries, bananas, honey, & a combo of rice & almond milk. It was pretty much the biggity biggity bomb. Just so y'all know.

2. It's about time for an icon meme, methinks. Taken from torigates:



( my answers )

3. Since tomorrow is Labor Day, I won't be working. As for today, I worked 6 am - 1 pm instead of the normal 6:35 am - 5:05 pm Sunday shift I would've had. It's amazing how short a seven-hour day feels when you're getting used to ten. Unfortunately, I won't get holiday pay since I don't qualify yet, but I'll be working a full day on Tuesday & a half-day on Wednesday to make up for it. I'll even get something like two hours of overtime pay, technically. I'll probably exhaust myself in the process, but whatevs. I really need money. Currently, I have something like thirty-odd dollars to last me the next two weeks. GOOD TIMES.

4. Speaking of work, behold my favorite customer quote of the day (re: the increasing absence of pay phones on the streets due to everyone getting cell phones): "I mean, where's Superman gonna change his clothes?"

Also, gotta love the 90 year old woman I helped get signed up today, who, when asked if she had an email address, was like, "What's that?" Cue me answering, "Email? You know, on the internet?" And her shouting (they always shout, haha), "Internet?! What?" And me again, like: "Um, internet…like on a computer?" And then her final response of, "OH, I DON'T HAVE ONE OF THOSE. I'M LUCKY IF I CAN FIGURE OUT MY TV, HONEY." Hee!

FYI: I heard yesterday that the oldest customer we have is 106. Apparently he's pretty with it, too. *106* (it bears repeating). I can't even. He would've been three when the Model T came out. And he has a cell phone before I do. Haha.

5. A lot of my flist has been doing this, most recently keenai, so I'll jump on the bandwagon. ( Here's my Fall/Winter TV Schedule )

That's all for tonight. For my Vid of the Day, let's celebrate the upcoming return of Community this month (not to mention season 2 coming out on DVD) with some awesome Abed quotes, edited together by tvgirl17:



ETA: I can't resist:

Some of you have made the mistake of encouraging this little spamathon with comments, so I'm gonna run with that & keep this train a-movin'. On to Season 5! Chugga chugga choo choo…

( The Best of So You Think You Can Dance: Season 5 )

Title: Bend Down and Whisper
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica
Author: rachg82
Rating: G
Characters/Pairings: A/R
Word Count: 337
Spoilers: Daybreak, Parts I and II
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, which is a pity. Roslin would've worn that nightie again if I did.
Warnings: See above, re: spoilers. The tissues are complimentary!
Summary: "He'll build a home for her here, and then he'll say goodbye."

P.S. This is my first bit of writing for the BSG fandom, and it kind of came out of nowhere, honestly. That being said, I'm hoping it turned out okay. *crosses fingers*

( It's time that we began to laugh and cry )

1. TNT's advertising + some pimping from teachlikeroslin got me to check out Rizzoli & Isles a couple days ago. The show itself isn't especially amazing, at least not what I've seen so far anyway, but the two leads? Whoa, nellie. THE SLASHYNESS, CAP'N. I DON'T HAVE THE POWERRR.

I mean, honestly, look at the promo:



Best part? The two top comments:



Hahaha. For real though! I watched two episodes, and by the end I was like "UM, THEY ARE CUTE, AND THEY NEED TO HAVE THE SEX. LIKE NOW, PREFERABLY." I'm just saying.

2. I watched "Islanded in a Stream of Stars" today. I kinda forgot how damned sweet Adama & Roslin are toward the end. I still flail a bit when he talks about "his women." Aww.

3. Got a fic rec for you guys: When the Time Comes by kungfuwaynewho. I like the idea of Laura having the Opera House visions as a kid, but not being able to fully remember them -- just being left sort of ~haunted~ afterward. It works for me, especially because of how the writer describes it.

4. ( I attended my uncle's Celebration of Life yesterday )

5. I've been having a lot of family dreams again. In one I got so angry with my mother for insulting me that I grabbed onto her hair & pulled as hard as I could--that was kind of disturbing, the level of anger I felt, even if it was in a dream. In another, I was trying to tell her & my sister again about Joe, about the criminal records I found, and their reaction was just to laugh & belittle the credibility of the whole thing. Then I carried on, like "what about [insert thing here]", one effed-up example after another, and THAT got a reaction. My sister got in my face, upset, but I just kept going. It still didn't matter though. Like, I knew it wouldn't matter. Nothing would change.

Most of the other dreams have been about me finding myself living with them again, stuck in a bedroom COVERED in junk, thinking to myself how I have to get out of there & move back into my apartment but not being able to. Ugh. CUT IT OUT, SUBCONSCIOUS.

At least my dreams are carrying on the weird-ass recurring animal theme though. That's always fun. I fled a Grizzly Bear down a mountainside the other night. I should've tossed it a pic-a-nic basket.

For my Vid of the Day, I'm gonna share one by chaila43 from a series I've recced here before (the rest of which you can find here). All three are based around the women & mysticism of BSG. This one focuses on Athena & Hera, specifically. I love the song, and the part around the 1:30 mark actually gave me a little chill the first time I saw it. Good stuff.