i feel stupid, and contagious

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...hi?

Hi.

Okay:

+ So work and life and school have been busy enough that it's easier for me to microblog lately, over on Tumblr and Twitter. You can pretty much always find/follow me over there. I keep trying to make posts here but never feel like I have anything interesting to say, and I feel worse as time passes, and and and. I also don't really feel like I have a fandom anymore, and that feels really weird on LJ especially. But as always I miss you when I stay away. :/

+ In the next month or so, things'll probably get even tighter for me because I need to pick up a part-time job in addition to my full-time one. I have no idea what it's going to be, but I need to bring some extra money in because it's hard to focus on anything when I'm feeling so snowed under. Basically I might look into waitressing or something? I used to be pretty good at that. Or retail, I don't know. It's really hard to imagine anyone hiring me for something on the weekends when they could take on any number of high school or college kids instead. I guess I won't know until I try. It's been...a really long time since I've looked for part time work, I don't even know what it would pay. I'd prefer to move into a full-time job that pays better, but it's not in the cards right now because I owe my company a couple more years for paying for grad school.

I'm hoping I'll actually feel better, even if I have less time to myself. Money stress (most types of stress I guess) tends to make me want to watch TV under the covers forever and not do anything, not even read LJ properly, and it gets really depressing and unhealthy and I don't wanna talk about it ok moving on.

+ LJ's not making it any easier to be back around with this new comment page thing. They're a visual nightmare and a functional DISASTER. Between this and delicious and AO3, I can't even. And screw anyone with dialup I guess, because having no option other than to load all your icon images every time you want to leave a comment must be super-fun for them.

...if anyone is on Dreamwidth I am too, so add me if you wanna. They are offering free accounts for the next few days and I probably have a ton of invite codes by now as well.

+ The Hobbit trailer has brought my Tolkien feelings back. Well, that and an impending yearly LOTR extended version marathon coming up next month.

+ Uploaded a ton of music over on my tumblr (more links at the bottom of the post), my faves of 2011 if you wanna check it out. If I can finish knitting these Christmas presents, I will post the links over here in the next couple days, be easier.

+ Still knitting! I'm still having fun with it, and getting better and better even if I don't quite have the dough to enable my yarn addiction. Which is probably a good thing. Right now I'm working on a hat for my dad and a shawl for my mom that I hope I can finish by Christmas. Luckily I'm not going out of town so I'm free to work up to the last minute, like I do~

I also love to TALK about knitting, so.

+ The other thing I've decided I want to get into finally in the new year is makeup. Which I have never worn...ever. Kind of ridiculous seeing as I'm a grown-ass woman, but I just never really learned how? And I want to. So I've been grilling friends for tips and I'm pretty excited. Decided I'm going to try Bare Minerals for foundation and maybe get one of those Naked palletes for my eyes if I can swing it. I'm taking recs if you have favorite eyeliners and lip stuff and whatever else.

+ I'll stop here I think. Happy Hanukkah, and Merry Christmas if I don't post again before then! Come say hi if you wanna; I'm gonna go work on replying to messages and stuff.

Gonna do a quick friday five meme I spotted on dreamon_dreamer's journal!

lasts.

1. What was the last book you read, and what is your opinion of it?
A Feast for Crows by George R R Martin. It's probably my favorite of the series so far, tied with A Storm of Swords. My issue with the ASOIAF books is that it often takes me a ridiculously long time to get through chapters for characters that don't interest me as much or for whom Martin's prose is especially rambly, because for all that I love the characters, the actual reading experience is...kind of a chore for me. AFFC has the highest percentage of POV chapters that don't bore me, so it's kind of my favorite by default. Also HOUSE MARTELL FOREVER <3

Around the same time, or close enough that I'm not sure which was first, I finished volume 1 of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga. Delightful.

2. What was the last movie you saw, and what is your opinion of it?
Attack the Block. Legit one of my favorite movies of the year! Funny, charming, touching, really great performances, with some sharp social commentary that I wasn't expecting. Nice soundtrack, too. Definitely one of the best genre films I've seen in quite a while. Also I want the kid who played Moses to be in all the things; everyone was adorable though.

3. What was the last TV show you saw, and what is your opinion of it?
The last episode of anything that I watched was episode 4x10 of The Wire, "Misgivings". I've seen it twice already so it's part of my rewatch, but my opinion is the same as my opinion for all of season four, which is CRYING FOREVER.

In terms of current stuff, this week I watched the most recent episodes of Sons of Anarchy (not bad), True Blood (I've officially and permanently broken up with that show), and Lost Girl (delightfulll). Giving the new season of Vampire Diaries a miss for now. When Bonnie turns back up, I'll marathon what I missed. /iregretnothing.gif

4. What was the last album you bought / downloaded, and what is your opinion of it?
Soundtracks for Attack the Block. Definitely recommended if you've seen it. I also downloaded the new St Vincent album around the same time but I haven't listened to it yet. I'm not that well-versed in St Vincent's other stuff, I just love her face and I've heard good things about this album.

5. What was the last meal you cooked, and how did it turn out?
I actually cooked for the first time in a few weeks on Wednesday, but it wasn't anything special. It was just this chicken pasta salad thingy but it was really tasty and colorful and had veggies. Balanced meals, y'all. I'm such a fucking adult.

Hope everyone on the East Coast is safe and survived the storming! It wasn't bad where I am, we actually had a worse storm a couple weeks ago--or at least one that kept us out of power longer than Irene did. I think we were spared the worst because I was actually prepared this time. And by prepared I mean there were flashlights and booze. But I'm thankful it wasn't too serious here and I hope no one was hit too hard.

+ Watched Doctor Who this weekend and I...I don't understand the question and I won't respond to it. (But if you want to talk about it I will in the comments--I just don't have much good to say, might expand on that and/or link to some reviews I liked later).

+ I have a bluray rip of Thor and everything is fluffy and nothing hurts. There was this blog post by my homeboy Greg Rucka going around this weekend, about how gritty and dark and grey~ doesn't always mean smart or mature storytelling, tying into why recent DC comics movies underperform (with the obvious exception of BB/TDK) whilst Marvel comics movies keep kicking DC's ass.

Which is to say, Thor on bluray is everything good in this world.

+ The longer I go without a Pottermore email, the more I care about it. I wasn't prepared for this. I JUST WANT TO BE SORTED.

+ I was wondering if I could trouble you guys for Big Bang recs or links to reclists. Any Big Bang, I don't even care, but bonus points for ladies. *g* I'm in the mood to read some long fic. First on my list is the ones you guys have written, I've been bookmarking!

Saw DH pt 2, cried all over myself, have thoughts.

( i'll go with you )

Done got myself a Ravelry account (thanks to copracat for the link!), mostly so I can lurk the forums for tips and discussions.

Still familiarizing myself, but anyone else have an account? I'm heathershaped.

Kinnnnnda excited.

+ not really feeling the new navigation bar on LJ. It looks all unfinished.

+ I watched The Vampire Diaries' finale, and this might not be the squee you are looking for. ( blah blah damon blah )

THINGIES IN MY EYEBALLS:

+ Saw Thor this weekend and I'm in love. I mean, there's stuff I could say about the storytelling and whatnot, but mostly I LOVE THOR. THOR IS A FLUFFY BUNNY. I have such a kink for cuddly superheros with storyarcs that are about being wise and kind and sweet, and also punching stuff. And who kiss Jane's fingers and make her giggly. Such superheros are rare and refreshing, as most superheros are emos and/or douches and/or emodouches. I want all the fic. Thor/Jane and Thor/Sif and Thor/Loki and Sif/Darcy (I DON'T KNOW, I JUST LOVED THEM BOTH). Anyway I've procured Thor: The Mighty Avenger to read because I am told it's all about fluffy!Thor.

Anyway yeah, fic. *grabbyhands*

+ Have been sucked back into Glee. Sort of. I still fast-forward a lot, but I'm so ridiculously invested in Brittany/Santana. I just want them to be okay. ;___;

+ I'm watching Doctor Who but I'm not quite as invested as I was last season. The things I am invested in are too confusing for me to puzzle out right now, but I enjoy the theories and I've been staying away from spoilers so that whatever twists are coming are totally new to me. My overwhelming feeling: everything is River and nothing hurts. Except for when things are pirates and I'm bored. Amy can keep the hat, though. *swoon*

+ The other stuff I'm watching is primarily Game of Thrones, Treme, The Vampire Diaries, and The Good Wife. I think this post would get too long if I talked about them all in detail, but suffice it to say:

--- Game of Thrones: STAAAAARKS. And also Jon/Sam giving Jon a much-needed personality injection. And also caring about Jamie and Cersei for the first time ever. And oh, the ranting that I want to do about Dany/Drogo and the Dothraki storyline.
--- The Vampire Diaries: My abusive relationship with this show continues. Still loving Elena and Stefan and Bonnie, still shipping Damon/Stake. and very sad that they have decided to make the finale completely free of narrative tension. (Unless there's anyone who believes the writers will ever let Damon go, I should say.)
--- The Good Wife: KALINDA. ALICIA. CRYING FOREVER.
--- Treme: Best show. LADONNA. ;__;

+ I also want to talk about Fringe, but idk if I have time to get into it. Could go for an Olivia-centric rewrite of the back half of this season though.

So, Being Human 3x08, "The Wolf-shaped Bullet", has basically induced a feelings attack and caused my opinion on this ENTIRE season to do a total 180. I haven't even been bothered to review the episodes since the premiere because I've been behind but I'm so glad I caught up this weekend so I could watch yesterday; I would've hated to be spoiled for this.

That said, if my coworkers ask me why I'm so despondent this week, what do I say? "Oh don't mind, me, just a bit overly invested in a fictional narrative, lalala."

( What happened to you? --It won. )

FANDOM MARCH MADNESS. TWO WEEKS OF INSANITY. SILLINESS. OF PEOPLE BEING WRONG ON THE INTERNET.

I plan to stan/campaign for Gwen, Astrid (is Fringe getting a bracket idek), and Bonnie at first, mostly because I do not suspect any of them will make it past the prelims, so this'll be my only shot. Also you can generally expect to see me stanning the ladies and marginalized chars throughout 'cos that's how I roll.

Also, hellooo everybody. <3 Happy March! I'm gonna try to be around more!

+ TV:

- Excited about Game of Thrones. I'm 2/3 of the way through the first book now.
- Starz' Camelot: Tried it! loooooool... no. I'm sorry! I am sorry. But haha, no. ~*~say my name~*~~~~
- Being Human: currently three episodes behind. Not really in a rush to catch up.
- Vampire Diaries: Is on notice.
- Merlin: Filming in two weeks! I miss the kids, I really do. ♥

+ The Oscars were super-predictable. But David Fincher didn't win! *\o/* And James Franco is probably still high.

+ For the most part I missed the anon meme debate in Merlin fandom. Probably a good thing I missed it, from what I've been reading, but for the record you can count me in the "the meme is overwhelmingly and inexcusably gross, forever and ever amen" camp. I feel like once it becomes necessary to disclaim that "all you have to do is skim past the racism/sexism/personal attacks/appearance wank/bullying and it's an AWESOME PLACE", then it might be gross! I'm just saying, I'm just saying.

+ I did my taxes last week, and all looks good. I might have some extra cash to splurge on something. Think it might be an iPad. Tomorrow is the iPad 2 presentation so we'll see how many major changes there are. I always freak out about big purchases, particularly when they're things I don't... well, actually need. (Like an irl PADD for example.)

+ This post has no point whatsoever. But I got a lot of sleep last night, I actually have energy. Love you guys, back to work. ♥