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 )

1. I am so grumpy it's almost laughable. Like, the kind of grumpy where you want to start kicking inanimate objects just for existing. Oh, period hormones, what fun. Also: it's warm & stuffy in here, and people/kids keep walking past my open back door, talking & yelling & laughing & letting their stupid cigarette smoke waft into my living room, and I'm like, "YOUR FRIVOLITY IS UNACCEPTABLE. GO AWAY."

Okay, so it's not quite that bad, but I am irritable. I'm just so tired of the heat, ugh. I wish I had air conditioning.

2. On a more positive note, I'm like a bona fide chef now. ( Check it. )

3. I finished season 3 of FNL yesterday (there were only 13 eps that year) & already have season 4 waiting on hold for me at the library now. Woo & hoo. They're also holding The Shining for me, which I felt inspired to rewatch after mentioning it to one of ladysophiekitty's flistmates the other day. I haven't seen it in a few years, so that should be fun. It was filmed here in Oregon, too, so it gets extra points there. Heh. (As if it needs extra points. Hello, classic.)

Re: FNL, obviously I'm enjoying it. Eric & Tami are just amazing, and I might be a little in love with both of them, particularly Eric. He is crazy amounts of perfect & adorable. And so is she, for sure, but for once I'm actually crushing harder on the male lead than the female. ~WTF~, I know. Hee. Seriously though, they are the best, and I ship it about as hard as a scurvy-ridden Sea Captain.

Other thoughts: ( cut for spoilers )

4. I have orientation tomorrow morning, but I think all it involves is filling out some paperwork, so I assume it won't take long. I'm glad my actual first day isn't until Friday. I still have all that laundry I want to do, but honestly, my main objective between now & then is as much sitting around on my ass as possible. Gotta get it while the gettin's good.

5. Rizzoli & Isles tonight, y'all. Yayyy. And speaking of TNT, I've somehow found myself getting into Leverage, which amuses me because it's such a ridiculous show. But it's entertaining. What can ya do. It's especially fun for me because of it being filmed in my city, so the whole time I can play the "hey, what street is that" game with myself. Heh.

And that's it for now. For my Vid of the Day, here's one by bumcrackmosh182 about Eric, Tami, Julie, & Matt:

It feels like I haven't done a normal entry in forever, but in reality it's only been since Tuesday. Still. Now I have a bunch of stuff piled up to talk about.

Cue randomness:

-Current is doing a three-part series titled "50 Documentaries To See Before You Die," and I've been enjoying it. I love documentaries, and while I've already seen quite a few on their list, there's some I've never even heard of. I think, if possible, I'd like to make it a goal to watch the rest on the list.

-On a similar note, I watched a couple docs on hulu.com today (Motherland and Children of god), which were both really moving, Motherland in particular. It's about a group of mothers who've lost a child (and one sister who lost a brother), none of whom know each other, making a trip to South Africa together to volunteer amongst those affected by AIDS, poverty, etc. They spend a lot of time with children--some whose parents have already died or are going to--and I spent a lot of time tearing up, ngl. This little girl started crying when one of the mothers pointed at a page of facial expressions & asked which one she felt like, and I was like, "OKAY. TISSUES. GONNA NEED 'EM." I just wanted to hug these kids so badly.

The second doc followed kids living & begging on the streets outside the crematorium in Kathmandu (Nepal). It's mainly centered around a 12 year old boy who plans to be dead by 13, his older brother who's not really around, his very young sister (whom he's basically raising), and his alcoholic/damn near useless mother. I thought it'd be a pretty unique story, because of the element of kids living outside (and relying on -- they eat & make money by scavenging food & coins left in the river for the dead) a crematorium, but between the kids rapping & the universal nature of addiction, it ended up being extremely relatable. I only wish I could find out how the kids were doing later & especially whether the 12 year old ended up all right. That's one of the best things about the series I mentioned above -- the host periodically does interviews with former doc subjects throughout the ep, updating you on where they are now, etc.

-So You Think You Can Dance had its finale this week. After much hand-wringing, I voted for Sasha, though I also think Melanie earned it. ( More thoughts on the finale, this season overall, and a few leftover fave dances )

-My hayfever allergies have been CRAZY the last few days. I mean, miserable, utterly. So much so that I was like, "Whaaaat is going on? Did the pollen count just explode or something?" And to a degree, yes, it did; weather.com lists the weed pollen count in my zip code as high, which makes sense since it's late summer, and that's when ragweed does its thing. Then I thought about the chamomile supplement my doctor gave me, realized it's also from the ragweed family, and immediately became annoyed because HELLO, why would you give that to me when I'm allergic to it. Damn't. Like, I think I'm usually okay if I take a few sips of chamomile tea or whatever, but taking it in capsule form is something else entirely. ANNOYING.

-I didn't want to be one of Those People, gullibly following whatever they're told without second thought, so I've been trying to learn more about the test they did for my food sensitivities. Especially because the change is stressing me OUT, I'll admit. ( cut for rambling )

-I cancelled my counseling appointment today, because I felt awful (physically); I straight-up could not stop sneezing/blowing my nose, and it would've been embarassing on the bus. I'm also feeling a little stressed about so much spending, between the $30 for the doctor's appointment & the $40 for the blender & changing my food budget etc, so that played a role too. My rent is going up next month, & I have a follow-up appt with that doctor, and yeah. I just don't want to blow my cash all at once, however good it might be to do. I'll feel less stressed about it if I wait a bit longer & stagger the spending out.

-Remember how I was supposed to get together with that friend a week ago? Yeah, apparently she forgot or IDEK (I'm talking after she forgot & said so, the second time. She was all, "How about next week?",then never got back to me). People are so flaky.

Anyway, I think that's more than enough for one entry. For my Vid of the Day, have some Jeff/Britta action by xbucketx.

Ahem. Excuse me while I waste your time with an entirely pointless entry. It's just…here's the thing. It's June, right? Almost July, in fact. In other words: summertime 'round these parts. Right? Right.

And yet?





…yeah. Like I said: JUNE-UARY.

Seriously, y'all. Porch lights & lamps. At 1:30 in the afternoon. It's a good thing I have an appreciation for cozy, cloudy days.

My allergies are going bonkers this morning (itchy, itchy, itchy, itchy, ITCHY nose. Itchy face, itchy hands, itchy everything), I only slept two hours, and I feel utterly barfy. The allergies make sense, since I kept going behind my entertainment center yesterday, trying to figure out my TV, and it's hella dusty back there. The insomnia & nausea can be linked to emotions & their annoyingness. Plus I took a nap yesterday, pretty late in the afternoon, so waking up early this morning isn't exactly ~bizarre~. Still.

Anyway, my TV still doesn't work (part of me keeps hoping it'll magically turn back on), and I have my follow-up appointment tonight at the naturopathic clinic--I'll be able to find out the results of all but the hormone test, which I'll do after my next period--and that'll get me out of the apartment for a while, but there are a lot of pesky hours between now & then. Pesky, nose-scratching hours. (I need to go buy an antihistamine, seriously.)

…and I had to take a break just then, because I did in fact barf. WHAT FUN.

Whatever, back to the entry. (Sorry for all the complaining, btw)

Point is: I'm cranky & bored, too icky feeling to want to get up & clean, and too tired to focus on my fic yet. Hence, more spam for you lovely ladies.

Oh, and btw? Before I get into the final batch of pictures here, I have news: BBC America is now airing Battlestar Galactica. They just showed the miniseries the other day, so if you start watching now you can jump onboard the Awesomesauce Train with me & sit at the cool table.[/peer pressure]

What's that? You want a glimpse as to what you're in for? No problem:



I LOVE THIS SHOW SO DAMNED MUCH, Y'ALL. That vid legit gave me chills.

Okay, enough of that & on with the pictures. These ones are mostly from the '80s, though there's a few from the '90s as well. There's pretty shots of Oregon being pretty, my chubby baby face, and horrendous clothing to get your day started off right with some good ole fashioned schadenfreude. You know you enjoy that.

( Come be retro with me & distract me from my boredom with comments )

And that's all, folks. Hope it was fun (and encourages you to post pics of your own. I wish people would do that more, especially old ones). It helped keep me busy long enough for my nausea to subside & my anti-itch cream to do its thang, so that's a yay.

P.S. If they're done with their renovation, I'll try to hit up Voodoo Doughnut tonight for that photo meme question of yours, keenai. Cross your fingers for me--I really want an Old Dirty Bastard. Oreos, peanut butter, chocolate frosting, NGH.

For my VotD, let me pass on some music-y joy. THIS MADE MY FREAKIN' DAY. Honestly. So great.

1. How did I manage to get so nocturnal again? It's eight thirty in the morning and I still haven't gone to bed. Clearly, I was meant to be born a bat. Or a vampire. But I couldn't be a vampire, because then keenai wouldn't like me anymore. Heh.

2. Did you guys know that The History Channel airs reality shows now? Seriously. That's just…no.

3. Welcome to crabbytreehouse, a.k.a. Deiva, i.e. the RL friend I mentioned the other day. She likes Bones (even survived watching the season 5 finale with me last year) and writes in capslock all the time, so I think she'll fit right in here. Hee.

4. I finished my comic. ( Who wants to see? )

5. For my Vid of the Day, here's a cartoon to go with the whole artistic theme above. This one's by lazyboy. It's completely absurd, which to me is the funniest part. I don't know about y'all, but I prefer buying my snacks from maniacally laughing mutant-sized fruit whenever possible.

It'd be great if my period would at least attempt to start at the same time every month. Now I know why I've been feeling extra emotional for the last day or two, though. I went to the bathroom and was like, "Ohhhh. Okay." It's pretty much a rule at this point that whatever amount of depression/anxiety/unhappiness-in-general I'm feeling normally will be turned up exponentially once period hormones kick in. It's like I have to just build a bunker & wait it out. Like a tornado.

Anyway. I'm mentally burnt out right now, so I'm just gonna give myself a break from talking about srs bsns in this entry & waste some more time on that photo meme.

Here's what sumpta asked for: "I'd like to see your books, where you keep them or how you keep them. (One bookcase, or spread through the appartment, whatever bookish thing you can think of.)"

I also have requests from gina227 & nomnivore, but I'll do theirs in a separate entry later.

I'm gonna be a major over-achiever with this, too, because while looking at my bookshelf I found a few photo albums I'd completely forgot even existed, and so I figured I'd share a few memorable pics from those with you all now as well.

(Oh, and holy criznap, I just found even more forgotten stuff. Photobucket was getting on my last nerve, so I decided to try flickr instead, right? And of course it ended up being an even bigger pain in my ass--sooo back to Photobucket I go--but there were pics from 3-5 years ago on there that I hadn't seen in FOREVER. Thus, visiting the site paid off. Totally sharing some of those too. Get comfy.)

( Pictures, pictures--get your pictures here )

And that's it! I'll try to get to the other photo meme questions soon.

For my Vid of the Day, I'm gonna go with a song. I first heard it yesterday, and I found it comforting:

1. Attn: amilyn,



I hope you had a good day!

2. It's also my stepbrother's birthday, i.e. the one I haven't seen since I was eleven (Joe's son). I wonder how he ended up.

3. So far, fourth_rose is the only one who replied to the photo meme; I suppose that's what I get for regularly taking pictures of everything anyway, heh. There's probably not much left to be curious about!

Here's what she wanted to see: "do you have a preferred place for writing?"

( Aaaand here's my answer )

4. I dreamt last night about two monkeys (well, chimps, really) departing a commercial airplane together--holding hands--and meeting up with three astronauts at the gate. What the frak?

5. Remember how I said I missed chicks with guitars? Problem solved. I am in love with this woman, I swear. (I think this one might be my favorite, currently, but that's almost an impossible thing to decide).

Still listening to this song by Holly Miranda a lot as well.

It's like a one-two punch of awesome.

That's it for now. I don't really have anything else I want to talk about, though I feel like this entry was boring. Oh, well. Here's an entertaining Vid of the Day to make up for it (P.S. It's pronounced "OreGEN", Carrie. Not "Oregone." Tsk tsk. Still love you though)

Ahem, if I may have all of your attention:



nomnivore is one of my oldest & dearest online friends--I've known her since before this LJ even existed--and today is her birthday. She deserves a real gift basket, but alas, this virtual version will have to do.

Psst, hey, bb--remember when your name here and at meta was eternaltimtams, & I thought you were a guy named Tim because I'd never actually heard of Tim Tams? Ahh, memories.

In other news:

-This is my 999th post on livejournal. I'm thinking I'll have to do something sentimental & memory lane-ish for the 1,000th. OVER EIGHT AND A HALF YEARS, PEOPLE. If this journal were a human, it'd be learning long division & playing foursquare by now.

-My writer's block is easing up (the subject heading is a sneak peek, check it). I've changed around a few words & I no longer hate the beginning, though I'm still not totally satisfied with it either. But I don't feel like banging my head into a wall while looking at it now, so I feel like that's progress. I'd really like to finish this before the finale. I have no idea what the length will be like as I'm still just working on the first 1,000 pages & have a lot of ideas (some of which may be tossed/saved for a future story), but whatever. I'm just trying to go with it.

Since I'm into wasting time/distracting myself from RL concerns at the moment, I thought I'd share some randomness. ( cut to save space on your flists )

-torigates did this as a meme, and I thought it looked fun: ask me to take a picture of something, and I'll post it here. This is your chance to be nosy about my belongings or force my hermit ass to walk somewhere, whatever. Have at it.

-I dreamt last night about the following things: Abed serving me tea (I need to stop watching so much Community), a talking dog, & riding the Night Fury dragon from "How To Train Your Dragon" over an ocean. Oh, and I eventually turned into the giant boss dragon at the end & was all breathing fire at the cartoon Vikings. The best part, meanwhile? I was like (in my head), "Aw, I feel bad lighting this guy on fire! Buuuuut that's kinda my role here. What's a dragon gonna do?"

Finishing this off with a Vid of the Day, I realized tonight that I somehow missed So You Think You Can Dance performing to one of St. Vincent's songs last summer (I could've started my obsession then!), so let's share a clip of that, eh?

Also? While I'm on the subject, I'd love it if someone were to make a fanvid to that song (i.e. the one in the vid below--Paris is Burning) for either Angel (seasons 4/5 & the finale, in particular) or BSG.

Also, also? I'd love to see a Bones fanvid set to Marry Me or Marrow. Doooo itttt.

Ahaha. MY PEOPLE. (Except I would never hate Sarah McLachlan. I saw her in concert five times as a teenager! I'd totally crack up over beating a celebrity pinata though, just in general. Especially if it was a super random one. Like Tony Danza. Hee. "I'll show YOU who's the boss!")

Anyway, so I was able to pick up my W2 today, although it took for-ev-er. Traffic was ridonkeykongulous due to Friday rush hour shenanigans, an accident, & Californian imports who still don't know how to drive in the rain. I very nearly didn't get there by closing time, it was so bad. Of course it didn't help that I tried being spontaneous for once (never a good idea) & hopped on a different bus than originally planned, seeing as it was leaving sooner than the other one, which you'd *think* would be a good idea considering that the driver was all, "Yeah, it'll make no difference." Well, guess what, driver? It did! Your route is as long as Moses' walk through the desert. Effing-A. At least I got some amusement out of it though, because at one point I pissily thought to myself, "THIS IS THE MOST ROUNDABOUT SHIT EVER," (re: the route) and then I realized we were literally driving through a roundabout as I thought it. Heh. That kinda cheered me up. PUN.

Making it even better, picture standing in front of a waterfall the entire time. You know the everpresent hanging mist? Right. Add that to drizzly rain & you've got Portland in the springtime. Frizzy, frizzy hair. Wet pants. Soggy socks. Cold hands. I normally enjoy it--yesterday I was all, "Ohh, moss! Sloppy pavement sounds with every step! Fun, fun"--but today was a bit much. ENOUGH WITH THE PUDDLES ALREADY, STREET.

To make all of it up to myself, including the shittastic week I've had (in case it's not obvious, I'm trying hard to pull myself out of it), I decided to say "frak it" to my normal "Whaaaat? I can't buy myself things! That's crazy talk!"-mentality (particularly present when I'm unemployed), and purchased the following:



Oh, yes. Season 1. I have all weekend to get my taxes done (I plan to do them tomorrow though), so I plan on spending all tonight hunkered down with these eps. Oh, and yes, note the Diet Coke, Kit Kat, & delicious dinner o' champions, a.k.a. a burrito with chips & salsa from Taco Del Mar. I can't remember the last time I ate a candy bar, not counting the chocolates sumpta sent me, and Friday + DVDs = snacks in my mind, so I told myself it was okay. Plus I hadn't eaten yet today anyway, other than a banana & granola bar, but I'm *trying* to nudge myself toward two meals a day, so yeah. I can excuse one freaking Kit Kat, especially after walking around so much (to the train station, from the stop to the temp agency, from there to Fry's for the DVDs, then to another bus stop, then back home from the train station. It was actually quite a bit).

Adios. Off to become BFFs with Abed. Don't be jealous.