Those I Have

Dear flatmatespider!

In general, I'd appreciate it if, when I come home from work and enter the living room, I would not see you on the wall. In fact, we'd probably get along just fine if I never saw you at all. Even better if you'd not have the size of a 50-pence-coin, but I accept that you probably can't help that.

Furthermore, if I try to sweep you down to the floor with a piece of paper, I'd really like for you not to vanish into thin air, making me turn over and examine any item within reach and taking off and examining every piece of clothing I wear. Yes, I understand that you probably dropped behind the radiator, but just knowing that doesn't help if I don't see leg or leg of you.

Yes, you probably are aware that had you landed on the floor, I'd have offed you in a heartbeat, but that's what I tried to express above - stay hidden, you bloody, inconsiderate arachnoid! It'll save you from being executed on sight, and me from itching all over and checking every wall and surface for yours truly the entire evening and probably the week to come!

No love whatsoever,

Your Cohabitant

Bagged!

Wheee! :)

BIG turtle


ETA: Now with a link that WORKS!

What?
Tom Felton's man-pain, in musical form.

What?!?
Sarah Jessica Parker with, um, a hat. (Gacked from sparkly_stuff)

Whut?
Yes, I finally did the Bela-centric vid that I've wanted to do since December - it's set to "Stairway to Heaven".

No, not the Led Zep original. It's a cover by an act called BEATNIX, and when I first heard it, it occurred to me how much Dean Winchester would hate this version, and of course, there are few, if any, humans that he hates as much as he's hated Bela.

So I put the two together. And now here's the vid, which is spoilery for all of Season Three of Supernatural, including Episode 3.15 ("Time Is On My Side"). I hope you'll like it if you like Bela as a character, or if you like Lauren as an actress, or, in fact, if you hate both of them. I can't explain - just watch. :D

Title: And She's Buying

Song: Stairway to Heaven

Artist: Performed by BEATNIX

Rating: PG

Characters: Bela Talbot, Winchesters

Spoilers: Supernatural Season Three through 3.15

Download it: medium-sized version is here on MegaUpload, right-click and save here on my own server, watch it on imeem or ( watch it behind the cut on youtube... )

Notes: The CG image at the end of the vid was created by priscellie; love and thanks to cedarlibrarian, deirdre_c and lostt1 for beta comments and thoughts on where to rip the vid apart and put it back together again.

Oh, Supernatural, why do you force me to generate such crack?

I'm going to upload priscellie's art as a "dvd cover" next week when I don't have to fret as much about it being spoilery for the end of 3.15...

1) I met up with avidbeader for some Starbucks and catch up on Saturday afternoon - the weather had cleared up just in time as it was raining that morning. :)

2) I took it easy this weekend for once. (Huzzah!) As now that I'm done with graduate class for the term, a weight off my shoulders - though grades are still not in yet. *doesn't think about it for now*

3) If you haven't heard, the Programming Schedule is up on the Terminus website for Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the conference. *bounces*

4) Phoenix Rising's Compendium is now on sale! (I already bought and received my own copy - hee!)

5) Lastly and randomly, check out Doodle 4 Google -- I wish I had more artistic talent - heh - but the entries are pretty neat so go take a look if you have a second or two, check them out and vote for a favorite in each category.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=565979

This is about the cutest, most awesome thing I have ever seen! Seriously--click on this, and if it doesn't make you grin, there is just something wrong with you! XD!

We are looking at video cameras - and are in search of recommendations.

We're looking for something relatively small, that records onto a hard drive instead of a DVD because it's easier for me to edit from that. Ideally, an image stabilizer and a good ability to film indoors without it turning green or weirdly coloured.

Any recommendations or thoughts about what else we should look for?

(and thanks to rookie131 for the lovely new icon!

I just got home after a fun and relaxing Mother's Day weekend in Lake Tahoe/Reno. I'm thoroughly exhausted since I went on an early morning hike and drove all the way home (five hours); I feel like I'm still in motion. As soon as this is posted, I'm off to bed. I'll post more about the weekend tomorrow and catch up with all of your journals. I hope all of you had a great weekend!

Why am I a laundry-at-three-am kind of girl? Why can't I be a laundry-at-7-am, or even better, 9pm?

*yawn*

I really wish I knew how long the dryers spun.

Meh

My sister graduated from ASU with her Masters, and we are all very proud! I had my Stampin' Up! party on Friday, and My niece participated in the state Shot Put event on Saturday, but unfortunately didn't place. She may still go out for the community college track team, though...she really does enjoy it.

Mother's day was good and bad. I spent the day with one of my sisters and two of my nieces, and we traveled up to Strawberry, where my parents and maternal grandparents are buried. The cemetery there is at the top of a mountain, and quaint and peaceful. It has graves from as early as the late 1800's in it. I am pretty sure it is full now...I don't think there is room for any more plots. It is the town cemetery, and is really very small, compared to most I have seen. It is one Cemetery Road, which is a Dead End, which always makes us giggle a little.

My grandfather built a low flagstone wall around his and my grandmother's graves, and we would like to build a low wall around my parents, as well, but finances and time constraints always seem to get in the way. We will get around to it, one day.

We hung a wind chime in the tree Grandpa planted over Grandma's grave, and visited the other graves there, since a few of them are distant relatives. There are lots of other wind chimes hung around the cemetery, and they all make a nice sound that ripples through the whole place when the wind blows, which is often. We untangled a few that had gotten trapped together, and shared some lovely memories.

Tomorrow, Robert and Jared have Scouts, which we will have to leave early, because Robert has an orchestra concert he has to be at by six.

On Wednesday, I have to take my truck into Discount Tire and have a screw removed from one of my tires. It probably wouldn't hurt to have them rotated and stuff, while I am there...I have this niggling feeling there is something else going on on Wednesday that I am forgetting, but I am sure someone will remind me.

Thursday is the last PTO meeting of the year, and I really should plan something special as a thank you for those how volunteered and helped out. I'll have to think on it.

Friday we are having Jamba Juice come to the school for a fundraiser, but I think that is all for that day. The kids' last day of school is next Thursday! I can hardly believe it! Time is just speeding by!

I am hoping to get up north to visit my friend Alicia this coming weekend, if she is not too swamped...I need to call her!!

Also, my MS is acting up, and the lower half of my face, mainly my jaw, is mostly numb, and my teeth feel a lot like hard rubber. It's odd, but at least not painful. *shrugs* It happens.

Happy Birthday, cindelius!

and

Happy Birthday, oldmystic!

In-class writing today was all around our WIPs, so I've nothing to share on that front. I will share that for this class, we were to read Bullet in the Brain by Tobias Wolff. The main character's name is Anders, and as many of you now understand, that was worth a few giggles.

I also got biking-with-backpack practice, in addition to this weekend's. Thursday's the day - for some reason, the Bay Area's BTWD is a day earlier than the rest of the country's.

Amongst my friends, online and in RL, it often seems that the people who most need a break are the ones who keep getting hit, over and over. It's so unfair - you start to wonder what they did in another life to deserve such negative karma, because in this life, they're just decent folks trying to make it in this world. And now the same thing is happening on a larger scale - to Myanmar and China and small, nearly-abandoned Midwestern towns, cyclones and earthquakes and tornadoes. Flattening communities that will have the hardest time bouncing back. My thoughts go out to all those in need.

My day was - by comparison - blissfully dull. ( Cut to avoid boring all of you )


( A lesson in not being a pop-culture sheep )

Tomorrow is MiniPlu's concert at school - she has a single speaking line (which segues into the last song), plus the 4 or 5 songs the kindergarteners are performing together. She's already getting nervous - she is just NOT a person who likes performing in front of others. So - wish her luck for calm nerves and a smooth performance for all the kids. :)

And on a final note:

I had a pleasant surprise when we came home this evening - potterlet told me about Secret #28 here. :D

Also, this cracks me up.

Remind me not to participate in more fic fests where your work is initially posted anonymously. It's so frustrating not to be able to promote - or even talk about - your work. Of course, having said that - I agreed to be a pinch hitter, so now I'm working on yet another to-be-posted-anonymously fic. :P

So I spent the weekend doing not much of anything. Watching a lot of Doctor Who and Torchwood. And other random movies. And listening to Book 7.

When I walk, I listen to books on tape. Walking to and from school, to the subway, around Boston, etc. It's a good way to use the time I otherwise feel is kind of wasted. Not that I don't like walking. On the contrary.

Well, I'm getting off topic.

Watching series 2 of Torchwood again (well, most of it, anyway) and listening to Harry Potter at the same time - I'm right at the part of DH where Harry's watching Snape's memories in the middle of the battle - well, I have a new appreciation for the idea that Severus Snape could be the Ianto Jones to Albus Dumbledore's Captain Jack.

Just, you know, a thought

Because I'm not ready to go to bed yet, despite how late it's getting...

( More thoughts on Ten's character arc, with spoilers for The Doctor's Daughter and speculation for the finale )

Okay, now it's really late and I'm sleepy, so if this doesn't quite make sense, I blame it on that. :p G'night.

I even took Benedryl tonight and that usually knocks me cold. *shrugs*

So, I hope all you lovely mothers on my flist had a perfectly wonderful Mother's Day. *hugs you all* Colin and The Boy came through and mine was very, very nice, indeed. In fact, they made jewelry for me and I believe you will all be subjected to picspam in the morning when I get the pics off my camera. It's quite impressive. :D

My parents had a rough day which I suspect will be the first of a number of rough days for awhile. Please send some good thoughts to a family who really needs them. My parents live across the street from a very nice family. My dad has even become pretty good friends with the man, despite the age difference. They share a big interest in classic cars and have often shown their cars together and gone off to see other car shows and so forth. His wife and two daughters are nice people, too, and The Boy has played with the girls on past visits. The girls are now 10 and 13. This is a family in trouble. The father hanged himself last night and it was the 10 year old who found him. They had no warning of any kind to indicate he was in so much pain. The family is, understandably, devastated as are the extended family and friends. My dad is taking it pretty hard, from what I understand. He didn't even want to talk on the phone when I called this evening.

So, yeah. Please send them good thoughts and prayers. It will be a hard row to hoe, I fear.




Gee, that was a downer. I'm sorry about that. I'll make it up to you all tomorrow, I promise.

Happy Mother's Day, to all the mothers on my flist. :) Hope you had a lovely day.

Twin is home! She's leaving at the end of the month for an internship in Oklahoma, and when that's done there's not long before school starts again so she won't be coming back for more than a week or so, so she won't be home for very long. :( But still, Twin is home! My little sister's also gone, and I miss her too, and I miss my parents when I'm away at college, but Twin is different. She's...my twin. I'm sad that we won't have very long together, but I guess that's just part of growing up and making our own lives.

The apostrophe/qutotation marks key on my keyboard sort of fell off today. I have been able to stick it back on, but I'm not sure how long it'll stay there. Eek. This computer is only two years old--it's way too early for it to start falling apart like this. Oh, and now it fell off again. Gah.

( Random Doctor Who fic thing, spoilers for The Doctor's Daughter )

I left the house for social interaction both days this weekend. *hands you back your jaw* I had brunch (at noon) with people yesterday, followed by some wandering with tea. Today, I trekked out to my sister's place to play with her Wii and see the six week-old kittens her roommate is caring for!

( Cut for cute )

After an unsuccessful attempt to find a Coldstone along the way, I landed at home. My homework is not done. Eep!

(filched from erastes)

( Didn't cheat, I swear! :) )

My mom, well, what can I say about my mom? She's brilliant. She's compassionate. She's strong.

She's downright wacky.

I lived at home after college - at first, when I could afford to move out, I didn't want to. And then when I wanted to I couldn't afford it. When I tell people this, they're always amazed at how I could have stood to live with my mom all those years. Well, the truth is, we got along pretty darn well.

Like any mom, she knows my buttons. And when we fight, we always have the same fight. But in the end, she the one who knows me best.

Notice I didn't say, "She knows best." But that's a different story altogether.

My childhood is filled with funny mom stories. Which is the way families are supposed to be, of course. But Mom and Mike and I were a unit. We had traditions. We had stories. We had a connection that still holds today, even though my brother stretches it as far as he can. I can still see it, though. It's in his actions and in his words. He and I were pretty lucky growing up.

What I've learned from my mom is that being a good person is one of the most important things you could ever aspire to accomplish. And my brother? He would say the same thing. My mom is my moral compass. In tough situations, I just have to ask, What would Mom do?

She's my movie buddy. She's a good friend. Someone to help and cheer me on. Someone to always be there.

She's a fashion disaster. Well, more like a fashion hiccup. But it doesn't matter. If I could be half the person my mom is, I'd be happy with that.

It's different, you know, having two moms. You get to compare the two. And you do, all the time, you can't help it. Luckily, my two moms don't overlap all that much, so there's not much to compare. They both fill their own niches in my soul. I can't believe I lucked out that way. I don't think I could have become the person I am without both of them.

So Happy Mother's Day. To Moms. To Lots of Moms, making the world better and stronger.

Thanks for everyhting.

When I go buying Mother's Day cards for my stepmom, I always skip right past the "Stepmother" cards and head into the "Mom" section.

I don't remember when I first started doing this, but I do remember noticing how inadequate they were. Stepmom cards are like...well, they're like that gift you bring to the party because you know you should bring something, but there's no feeling behind it.

Carole never wanted to be our stepmom. Faced with visions of Cinderella, she was determined to be our "extra" mom. And so it was. Oh, of course, it was a battle sometimes - Carole's rules were so very, very different from Mom's rules (uh, what rules?), but how is that different from any parents, really?

I don't really remember what life was like, pre-Carole. I have vague memories, but they're more like photographs than videos. As for my brother, he was in diapers when Carole showed up; she's always been his extra mom.

And, okay, she was mine too. Making sure we knew how to set tables, how to do dishes, how to write thank you notes. Skills that were never really part of my mother's repertoire. Which is not to say that my mom didn't have anything to offer! I know, being a mother's day entry, that I have to acknowledge her too, and I do, and I will, but everything in its own time.

Where was I? Oh yes. Thank you notes. Parents teach their children. They teach decorum and etiquette, morals and ethics, humor and love. Most everything I am is a little bit of my mom, a little bit of my dad, and a little bit of Carole.

I don't know when she stopped being my stepmom. By the first year I sent her a "Mom" card, I'd known for a long time that she was much more of a mom than a stepmom. So I want to say thanks. And Happy Mother's Day. Thanks for being my extra mom. I can't count how many times I've needed you and you've been there. I can't imagine what life would have been like if you hadn't joined us. I know I like to joke that Michael and I were your free gifts with purchase when you married Dad, but the truth is that we were the ones who got the gift.

Thanks for being you.