This Fall weather is killing me. Aside from the fact I miss my morning-to-night warm/hot temperatures, the 40-degree difference between when I leave my house in the early morning to when I return to my car in late afternoon is DRIVING ME BATTY. It's also making me look like the most schizophrenic dresser. Case in point, one day last week I wore during my morning commute: wool scarf, mid-weight jacket, lightweight sweater, tanktop, lightweight skirt, flip-flops. It's pretty clear I'm dressed for Winter from the waist up, while I'm all about Summer from the waist down. Bah. But I think my days of flip-flop wearing may almost be over until Springs rolls back around. It was around 45 degrees this morning when I headed out and my feet felt like they were getting frostbitten as I waited for my train. But I don't wanna wear socks! *pout*

(Hi. Yes, I'm feeling pretty random today. And how are you?)

Am dying. It's so hot. It should not be 95 degrees in OCTOBER IT SHOULD NOT. I just want to wear long sleeves again someday, please. *sob*

The problem with having a day off while the husband does not?  I still end up awake at 6:30-7-ish in the morning.  Since I woke with a headache-almost-a-migraine, I didn't even try to go back to bed.  I had a massage yesterday, and this sometimes happens the day after.  Ugh.  Still not as bad as the actual migraine I woke with on Sunday. 

A little coffee, some ibuprofen, and I'm right as rain.  Mostly. 

I finished my underskirt this weekend, and my bodice has all the trim hand sewn on.  Just the overskirts and my panniers left, and my costume will be done.  In the meantime, I bought all the fabric for Mark's costume, and will be purchasing the patterns today.  Two weeks left to make his, and alter my wig.   Nooooooo problem.

Possible pictures later. :-)

I wrote this last year after watching The Nightmare Before Christmas around Halloween, and i figured i'd finish it up and post it while another Halloween is just around the corner. I'm not sure why i write the random ficlets that i write, but that movie rocks and i had some slightly poetical imagery thoughts about a rag doll loving a skeleton. I'm not even a Hot Topic goth kid. :*(

Calavera
The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack/Sally

( there's something in the wind )

I finally watched last week's episode of House last night. It was awesome. I want the House's new PI BFF to join the cast permanently for he is made of so!much!win!

Now I just finished this week's FNL, "Tami Knows Best," and it was very ( happy-making! )

I love biiirds.

I've grown really fond of birds of all kinds recently -- even pigeons. Pigeons are cute. I wouldn't wanna get too near them (ew, germs), but they're cute to watch. It amuses me that the roof above my bedroom window seems to be the Cool Bird Hangout on my street. There are always tons of birds around. In fact, they generally fly straight towards my window, as if they're gonna crash into the glass and then slide down the pane, cartoon-style. They always take a turn upward at the last second, though.

In conclusion: I have definitely decided that I'm gonna eschew being a crazy cat lady in favour of being a crazy bird lady. Excellent. I have a life plan.

...and I didn't go to bed until 3:00 this morning. When I had to be up at 8:00 for my writing class. That lasts two and a half hours.

This is called being SMART. The best part? I've read this book half a dozen times before. Plus it's a romance--even if it's new, it's not like I would have been OMG WHUT HAPPEN.

(things I'm not writing: a David-squared regency where Cook is the former Army soldier who inherits a viscountcy unexpectedly and goes to the property that comes with the title, only to find that the steward, Mr. Archuleta, has been deceiving the old Earl, Cook's grandfather, and is housing all his half-Spanish brothers and sisters there after an unfortunate carriage accident left their parents dead.

--because I already have three D2 stories on my plate and I write like a snail. SIGH.)

Anyway, now I've napped for, like, five hours (at what point does it stop being a nap and just become a night's sleep, mid-afternoon?) and now I'm trying to force myself to a) do laundry, b) write, and c) write some more.

But there's this other book...he's the illegitimate son of the Prince of Wales! They're playing strip whist!...

A) I watched Eagle Eye today. It was very stupid. It was like a giant game of Simon Says basically consisting of Julianne Moore's disembodied voice bossing around Shia LaBeouf (who, BTW, looked like a homeless guy throughout the movie) and Michelle Monaghan for two hours. However, when they were walking down the highway, I totally got an X-Files flashback and fully expected them to get attacked by bees. Heh. Wall-E did that computers taking control thing MUCH better!

B) Gabriel Macht is cute and easily the best part of Because I Said So, but there are so many things that keep me from wanting to watch The Spirit: Frank Miller, the fact that I didn't like 300 or Sin City, Frank Miller, Eva Mendes who I simply do not like, Frank Miller, Frank Miller, Frank Miller. But then I saw the new trailer which, frankly, still looks kind of dumb. ("I've got eight of everything"?) However, there was ( this. ) Well played, you bastards! Even Kevin Arnold's dad can't believe that you've got him anticipating this movie now!

C) WTF is this madness, Paul Dini? I actually have no idea what that storyline is about, but HER HEART? REALLY? The only way this will work is if this ends with Tony Stark building Selina an arc reactor heart. Still, I guess it's kind of awesome that despite this fuckery, he obviously ships them.

D) Jack's Mannequin's video for The Resolution, conceptualized and directed by Stephenie Meyer, is indeed as stupid as I feared it would be. The whole thing just looks very...cheap. And the song is so good that the video really deserves to be a whole lot better. The only thing I like about this video is that shot of Andrew looking through the telescope around the two minute mark. That's so pretty! Everything else is crap. Why is Andrew playing piano on a truck bed? Why are there mermaids? WHY WHY WHY? I'd much rather watch Andrew in something like this. Side question: Why have I never made icons from this? It's pretty and monochromatic! Much better!

( The X Factor )

On a random note, I watched the first two episodes of SVU s10 (10!). ( What is wrong with this show? What's wrong with me that I really enjoy it? )

ELIZABETH KERRIGAN ET AL. v. COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC HEALTH ET AL.
(SC 17716)

Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice. To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others.

The guarantee of equal protection under the law, and our obligation to uphold that command, forbids us from doing so. In accordance with these state constitutional requirements, same sex couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry.

The case was argued by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders on behalf of eight seven Connecticut couples who'd been denied marriage licenses. Documents, including full text of the ruling and background on the case, can be found at the GLAD site.

I watched 100 Feet today because Ed Westwick and Bobby Cannavale were in it. It was SO BORING. Bobby Cannavale had no opportunities to be totally adorable! He was all serious business. It felt like he was trying to revive NYPD Blue or something. I admit that I've never been a fan of Famke Janssen. The one and only bit of Nip/Tuck that I have ever seen was the end of one of the finales, I think, in which she was sleeping with Jeremy Darling from DSM while, I think, sleeping with the kid who kinda looks like Michael Jackson. And Jeremy Darling might've been her son? But she told him that she didn't love him or something so he offed himself because she rejected him. The whole thing was very weird and creepy in the not fun way? It also doesn't help that I've always, always, always hated Jean Grey. Her sole purpose in life was to faint until she became Phoenix and had to guard the M'Kraan Crystal and then became Dark Phoenix and had to kick your ass. That was awesome even if she did constantly refer to herself in the third person. But Dark Phoenix is so completely removed from the utter lameness that Jean Grey that I don't even count them as the same person. And even though Chuck Bass getting it on with Phoenix is both hilarious and utterly wrong, I'm still sure that Dark Phoenix would've pink misted all the people in this movie about ten minutes in.

Nevertheless, loverly wanted me to do a picspam and I wanted to stay awake during this movie so ( behold the pretty! )

Save Me, the Chad Allen film about the "ex-gay" movement, is coming to Chicago! For just this week, starting tomorrow.

It's playing at the Music Box Theatre on Southport Avenue (the one with the resident ghost).

Chicago people, who's coming with me? *bounces in place*

Other people, they've added a bunch of new screens and film festivals - Nialla, there's a Dallas one!

I am totally addicted to this song at the moment. I always think of Final Fantasy (/Owen Pallett) as being like Andrew Bird on crack. Hee.

Final Fantasy - The CN Tower Belongs To the Dead (to download: "music" + "allnightlong")
Pretty.

( SCC )

( Heroes )

I finally read The End and The Beatrice Letters of A Series of Unfortunate Events. I loved them! I am sad it's over but am mostly satisfied with its completion! I started reading this series even before Harry Potter! ( Spoilers. )

see more puppies

I'M ALMOST DONE SHUT UP.

I've had this mix plotted out in my head for some time now, but I haven't been inspired nor had the time to make the cover art until now. (Hmm, now that I think about it, the color scheme for the front reminds me a little of the album art for Motion City Soundtrack's I Am The Movie. Er, kinda? There's some burnt orange action going on. It was totally unintentional though. There's not even any MCS on this.) Naturally, I had to whip out the S1 DVDs for caps and, damn, I forgot just how awesome "Hi, Society!" really was! It was dramatic and manipulative the emo was in control and all this shit happened that culminated in Chuck fleeing the country looking like a gay elf! Good times! Hey show, get back to those glory days of red tights and Dorota subterfuge!



( Unlike you, I don't lose something if I let it out of my sight! )

Considering I work in marketing, I know objectively how it is that bad books become bestsellers. And yet. I still DON'T GET IT. >:/

I'm reading Sara Gruen's Water For Elephants (which spent a gazillion years on the NYT bestseller list) and it is so... generic. The characters are 2-dimensional. The storyline is cliched. The situations are banal. (Which, considering it's set in the circus, is pretty fucking impressive. o__O) The writing is functional, but entirely lacking in sparkle. It has that Stephenie Meyer quality of reading as though the author read a lot of mediocre fiction and then unwittingly regurgitated that kind of craptastic storytelling all over her computer screen. Gross.

Gruen also commits my #1 writing pet peeve. I've ranted about this before, but as writers continue to do it, I am forced to rant about it evermore! Sorry.

It is physically impossible for someone to smile a sentence. Try it. IT'S NOT POSSIBLE. You can only say something with a smile, ffs.

(For that matter, you cannot laugh an entire sentence. You could laugh "ha!", I suppose. Or another single syllable word. Not a whole sentence, though. You also cannot hiss a sentence that doesn't have a whole hell of a lot of sibilance in it.)

Hey, can anyone rec me a GOOD book about the circus? 'Cause this is the second sucky one I've read recently. :(