Now that I FINALLY HAVE INTERNET ACCESS AGAIN OMG *clings* but am also leaving for Philadelphia shortly, I only really have time to let everyone know that I arrived safely in New York (right before midnight in the end O_o), had a fantastic time at the origami convention over the weekend and a lovely visit with my friends here, and now I'm off to visit my cousin's family in Philadelphia for the next few days. Hopefully I'll have time and INTERNET ACCESS there for a longer post.

Hope everyone's well - I look forward to catching up!

WELL. I'm not exactly where I'm supposed to be at the moment. I should be in New York City at the moment, signing in for a weekend of exciting paperfolding. (Yes, after spending money to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, I am now spending good money to fold paper with other people for a weekend.) I don't discuss it much, but I have a lifelong love *coughandtalentforcough* origami, and while I haven't been in the past...good grief, decade? to the annual OrigamiUSA conventions in New York, I have been a number of times in my life since I was a geeky little teenager. Good times.

But no, I am not there. I am back at the Porter airline terminal in Toronto after we were turned back from landing in Newark. (Note I say "landing" as in "we'd already been in the air and were basically THERE and then had to fly back".) *sigh* Thunderstorms, I gather. That they are expecting to continue, truth be told, so I may well be wasting my time waiting here with silly hope. But hope springs eternal and weather can be unexpected, so I'd rather be here just in case. And frankly, if I'm gonna be stuck somewhere, the Porter general lounge is a pretty darn sweet place to be: free drinks, free snacks, free wireless, free newspapers...woohoo!

My backup plan is to take a late-night bus tonight, which should still get me in town before registration tomorrow morning. I'm just sorry I'm going to miss the Pride party tonighgt that a friend is hostin, since it was going to be my one chance to see a bunch of my New York friends this year. :(

Of course, on the up side, this gives me time to post! *g* Last weekend I spent at my favourite film festival of the year: the World Wide Short Film Festival! They're my kind of festival. Hee! :D I love it when festivals don't take themselves so damn seriously. A few I particularly enjoyed this year:

Paul Rondin est...Paul Rondin (A guy who's movie trailer voice continues in real life has trouble meeting women who will tolerate his eccentricities - until he meets a woman who records phone menus for a living.)
The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon. IT'S A SPOON. *dies laughing*
AIR KNOB. BEST. AIR GUITAR BATTLE. EVER. \o/
Deadspiel. It's zombies! It's curling! How much more Canadian can you get?
Post-it Love. A sweet 3-minute look at a quirky office romance. (This one you can actually SEE - thanks YouTube!)
Dog. A heart-wrenching stop-motion animation with unbelievably emotionally "real" characters. Just incredible. (And did I mention heart-wrenching?) You can also watch this one...but uh, maybe then watch the Post-it Love as a more pleasant chaser.

OMG YOU GUYS THEY JUST ANNOUNCED THE FLIGHT. i'M HEADING OUT! \O/

Ooooh yeah. Nothing says "great start to the morning" like being woken up at 4:38AM by a fire alarm. I love that the kitty came over to cuddle (I mean really, like he ever needs an excuse, but still, it was darn cute): "Mom, I can't sleep with this racket. Can I come cuddle with you instead?"

ANYway. Yes! The tale of my foray into Xtreme Sports(tm)! ( In which I ramble on at length about the experience. )



(Also, HOLY CRAP. It's now 8:10. Apparently I write really slowly. O_o)

ETA several hours later: Helps if I remember to make the post public! :P Let's try posting this again...

Yes indeedy, I am writing this on terra firma (or more accurately on sofus comfis WHAT. I never took Latin!) after having successfully jumped out of an airplane at 13,500 feet, free falling for 8,500 feet (which looks like this if you're curious, though that's not me in particular) and then gliding the rest of the way down.

SO. MUCH. FUN. Nervous before? Actually no. Just really, really excited. Nauseous? Afterward, yes: we did some awesomely swoopy turns in the air with the parachute which was really cool but kind of unsettled my stomach a bit.

Longer post later, just wanted to let folks know I was A-OK. No-one needs to kill me for dying! ;D

Let's face it, me recounting the last month will probably not make for the most exciting possible reading, so here's the synopsis:

Three weekends/weeks ago: trade show in NYC for work. Sounds like fun, but really mostly a lot of work and then collapsing at the end of the day. BUT. EXCELLENT FOOD in the evenings. Which makes it all worthwhile.

Two weekends ago: Anime North! \o/ Great time, wasn't axe-murdered by my random internet roommates, joined yue_ix for the infamous Gay Sex 101 panel which topped out at 6 hours this year, and discovered lots of new shows I'm looking forward to seeing. And the award for the most amusing anime title goes to the "18+" series "Midnight Sleazy Train." No, really.

Last weekend: well, I was SUPPOSED to be going skydiving. Stupid weather. *pouts* Instead I went on this insane cooking spree. Seriously: in addition to over forty portions of some six different meals (and some kickass no-bake energy bars - with added chocolate chips, of course) I made granola from scratch. I don't even like boiling water if I can avoid it! I stood there with freshly-baked granola running through my fingers asking myself incredulously, "Who are you?!?!" IDEK, guys. By Sunday night I had NOTHING done I had planned for the weekend: email, posting, cleaning, laundry, nothing - and my brain was still cajoling me to cook just one more meal... O_o It was just weird. But very useful: I now have food for the next coupla months. All hail the chest freezer!

This weekend: Lovely date with eboniorchid who's in town, lovely lunch with my bro and family who are also in town, lots of slacking (bad self! bad!) and today managing to muster the wherewithal to start actually tackling my inbox and to-do list. DAUNTING, GUYS.

But! Next weekend! If all goes well I will be paying hard-won money to voluntarily throw myself out of a perfectly good airplane. \o/ If the weather and various fates don't conspire against me, of course. Again.

Which naturally lends itself to a POLL! :D


Poll #1412549 SKYDIVING, WHEEEEE!!!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

OMG YOU'RE GOING SKYDIVING.

I am so laughably busy at the moment, as I write this I should be out buying shoes and insoles, replying to emails, working on pricelists or any one of half a dozen other things (including DINNER, DAMMIT - don't worry, though, that's next), but no! You all are Much More Important. *hearts you all* Just wanted to let you know I won't be around much for the next week or so as my work year culminates in a trade show happening this weekend and next week, followed immediately (and much more happily) by Anime North, but as a result my time is kind of...well, crazed.

But! I did want to let you know that I'm in an earnest figuring-out-what-I-want-to-do-with-my-life kind of phase, and having seriously considered teaching two weeks ago, moving through an amusingly brief flirtation with the merchant marines (!!!), I am now zeroing in on being a librarian. If anyone on my flist knows someone in the Toronto Public Library system with whom I can have a frank discussion about working there, I'd love to know.

Hope to be in touch again soooooon.....

So! What I've Been Up To! Well, the weekend before last was my nephew's first birthday, so I was up north with the family. DUDE. He's walking! And has quite a few words under his belt - along with the most adorable lion roar ever. I can't tell you how much I wish I lived closer to them, though. :(

And LAST weekend. WELL. Last weekend was a wedding. And not just any wedding, but a wedding I've been quiety and eagerly anticipating for several years now, between - get this - my first girlfriend and my roommate at the time (themoderatrix, for those of you who know her. And for those of you who don't, she was present *coughandmayhavebeenpartlyresponsibleforcough* the aforementioned PotCookieIncident* and wrote the most awesome intro post of me EVAR). I know, I know, the dynamics sound terribly drama-riffic, but there were about seven years between our breakup and them getting together, so it's All Good. No, really! Does make for a great story, though. And I was terribly tickled that I was referred to indirectly in the wedding ceremony a couple of times (seeing as I was kind of how they met and all).

Aside from it being a lovely weekend getaway in Ottawa with neeuqdrazil, the wedding itself was delightful. The brides were GORGEOUS, it was really wonderful to see both of their families (most of whom I haven't seen in years), and since the brides had asked in lieu of gifts that people help out with the wedding, everything from the chuppah to the wedding cake were lovingly made by family and friends. It helps that they have a lot of insanely talented friends!

So what was my contribution, you may ask? Well, good readers, I made them a guest book. By which I don't mean "I bought a book and covered it in pretty paper". No no, this puppy was lovingly handmade from scratch, using papers from their wedding invitation, a fabric they were using as part of their wedding outfits, handsewn signatures and endbands..the whole shebang. In fact, pretty much anyone who knows me in real life will have heard me blather on about the guestbook sometime over the last month, so in a fit of immodesty I'm going to picspam you with how it turned out. Given my total lack of proper equipment and lack of practice, I'm pretty darn pleased.


( Behold my handiwork )

And! Because a friend pointed out that the crafty among you might actually be curious as to (a) what exactly the "guts" of a traditional handmade book look like and/or (b) how they're made, a bonus picspam:


( tl;dr unless you love books or are curious how things are made, in which case this is actually kinda interesting )

Ah, spring. Everything is finally (at long last!!!!) turning greeeeen, the trees budded sometime last weekend, and it's the season when all the local potheads get together for the annual Freedom Festival at a local park.

I kind of love it*, not only because I support legalization and am endlessly amused by just how slow...and...relaxed...everyone...is... but also because it's the first chance of the year to get street corn. Which, with its grilled and buttery goodness, sprinkled with lemon pepper seasoning, I heart beyond all reason. Particularly when I've got a touch of the munchies after hanging out in the diffuse miasma of pot smoke that hangs in the air of Queen's Park this day every year. Good times.

Anyway, this food went down much better than a memorable bad food choice a couple of weeks ago. You know when you're really freakin' hungry, so you make Bad Food Choices? And by "bad", I mean a hot dog wrapped in a pretzel starts looking really irresistible, and then you sprinkle BBQ and garlic seasoning on top? And when you've eaten it and the hunger-induced haze starts to clear, the flavour lingering on your tongue resembles not so much a "party in your mouth" as "the day after the party when you wake up with a wicked hangover, next to some stranger who you're pretty sure gave you crabs, someone's trashed your house, peed on the couch, puked in the bed, and there's some smell emanating from the closet foul enough that you're frankly scared to check it out?" No? Just me? Alrighty then. Just take my word for it: steer away from pretzel-wrapped hot dogs with BBQ and garlic flavouring.

Longer post coming later with a recap of the last little while, but just wanted to wave a mellow "hi" to you all you lovely, lovely people first.

*The festival, not so much pot itself which my body doesn't particularly like in smoke form and which I've only really enjoyed in a brief but amusing episode of my life known among friends and family as The Pot Cookie Incident: roommate made TWO batches of cookies, one normal and one "special"...I wake up and have my usual cookies for breakfast...except they aren't my usual cookies...much amusement by all involved soon followed...

Nrrrgh. It's now four-ten in the morning, and I think I've edited the rest of our stream-of-consciousness blogging to make sense as best as I can. Holy CRAP we wrote a lot of notes. Please bear in mind that there were a bunch of us tag-teaming on the notes (which I've pointed out where possible), so there's an exciting array of observations, tenses and pronouns. My apologies in advance for the grammarians in the crowd. I'm sure I missed lots of errors in my fatigue, and honestly I can't be arsed at the moment to look up correct spellings.

Other general observations: a whole bunch of people turned up, including Rae, spiraldurga, giantkiller, toft_froggy, bassringer, soprano_yvonne, trias_cube and jumila. It was one full house! I was meaning to track the comings and goings, but what with different bloggers it didn't really happen. It was pretty wild watching it with so many people: lots of talk and laughter and some arguing, lots of mocking the earlier films (when we weren't ignoring them) and loving the later ones. We were even *gasp* QUIET for a few scenes later on! Lots of delicious, delicious junk food was consumed, and I don't think I've had that much Diet Coke in the past six months combined. I MAY STILL BE A LITTLE WIRED.

I think people had a good time? Mostly? I had a blast. Didn't get much scanning done in the end (I had been planning to mindlessly scan photos while watching the films), but had a lot of fun - and that, ultimately, was the point. Honestly, when it was all over I was sad. Much as I love the films, I actually try not to watch them too often because I'm afraid they will lose some of their magic...but when the last one finished I wanted nothing more than to put one in so the magic wouldn't end. Lucas may have become increasingly ham-handed with his scrips but his world-building is second to none, from first to last film, and whatever flaws these films may have (*coughwhicharemanycough*), they never fail to transcend my cynicism and transport me straight to a state of childlike wonder.

( Notes cut for length. EPIC NOTES ARE EPIC. )

ETA: fairylane asked me in the previous post what I had noticed at 1:38 PM. I'd noticed that the architecture of the "box seat" outcropping of the Genosean stadium reminded me strongly of the Sydney Opera House.

Hokay! Two bags of chips, two boxes of cookies, one bag of candy bars, massive bottle of Coke, check. If I don't send people home with their blood sugar and or blood pressure through the roof and their arteries screaming for mercy, I will have failed! \o/

One bag of carrots and some apples for those immune to my Evol Plans who prefer something actually healthy, check.

Good to go!

Alright, what follows are my notes as we went along for the first two and a bit movies. Spoilers, of course.

( A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... )

Okay, I've now got three guests here, so I should stop posting. Later! :D

MISS YOU ALL STOP KEEP MEANING TO POST BUT LIFE GETTING IN WAY STOP GOOD BUT BUSY STOP HOSTING STAR WARS MARATHON TOMORROW SHOULD MAKE EXCELLENT POST FODDER STOP WISH ME LUCK STOP

I am ADDICTED to this. It's like Cocoa Rice Krispies for adults! You don't have to eat three bowlfuls to feel full, and you're not hungry again in twenty minutes. HOMG SO GOOD.

AND DID I MENTION THE CHOCOLATE?!?! AND HOW IT MAKES THE MILK ALL CHOCOLATELY?!?!?

*drools*

I also have two links for anyone who would like some amusing Sunday/Monday/whenever reading: firstly, this article about a kickass old lady who beaned a bunch of would-be burglars with a pot. My favourite quote:

"I picked up the saucepan and smacked him right on the head," she said. "He looked at me and said, 'Lady, why did you do that?' And I hit him again."

Also, there is a review of what sounds like one of the least-sexy-sounding romance novels of all time that several different people have linked to, and I would be remiss if I didn't make sure you could all share in the horror. I'm a good friend like that. *beams*

Or my Dark Angel DVDs, for that matter?

I swear I'm the best person to borrow stuff from if you want to keep something: I can NEVER remember who has what. :P One day I will learn to keep a list. One day...

I'm not specifically posting my reactions to the finale, since I'm still kind of processing it. But for any other BSG fans out there, I found a message from Ron Moore about the series finishing and a final thank you to everyone. He captured exactly how I was/am feeling, yesterday and today, more generally:

"Tomorrow the story will be over, my tale having been told, and never again will there be the sweet anticipation of waiting for the next episode to be shown to fans and friends. The thought of it makes my heart ache even as swells with pride.

"All I know is that today there is a show called Battlestar Galactica and tomorrow there was."

It was a helluva ride, Ron. And everyone. Thank you.

Oh, MAN. When Supernatural ends I am going to be A MESS. :P

Longer post coming later this weekend, but I just had to say that I can hardly believe that in just over an hour it will be the last episode of Battlestar Galactica. I'm sure there will be spinoffs and/or miniseries (miniserieses?), but THIS trip will be over.

OH MAN. *keens*

Yaay! Last night was the first building movie night (which I was organizing) and it exceeded our wildest expectations when 22 people showed up! I am still riding the high. :D :D :D I'm so excited to be helping to build community. \o/ \o/ \o/

We watched Encounters at the End of the World (trailer for the curious), a rather neat (if slow-paced) documentary by Werner Herzog. It's "not another movie about penguins," instead focusing on the unique people who gravitate to Antartica.

I'm pleased to report that the last of the leak fallout finished up over the weekend. I felt rather badly on Friday since my initial leak precipitated a second problem that necessitated turning off the water to every unit in my "stack" (i.e. all the units directly above and below me) for a couple of hours. Sorry everyone! *guilt* The downside of living in a high-rise. But it's all good now, the carpet and cupbard and floor have all dried out completely, and I've been able to put everything away - stuff being everywhere last week was driving me more crazy than anything else!

Other news: spent a lovely Saturday with BrightBoy at the Science Centre. Damn, I love that place! Though the lineup was far, far longer than I'd ever seen it. We probably would have been waiting in line for a good 45 minutes - clearly an excellent reason to buy a membership, eh? *beams* They've got a really interesting lineup of exhibitions this year, including one called Sultans of Science covering the progress made in science in the Middle East through the Middle Ages. It's AMAZING to finally see mainstream acknowledgement of this in a public institution. I'm looking forward to going through it with more detail (than running after an almost-five-year-old, I mean).

There was also a rather good party on Saturday night, but I'll talk about that a little more under the filter, shall I? *g* I just have two words: pterodactyl pr0n.

So I was walking on my floor this morning (y'know, as you do) when I hit a wet spot on my carpet. Against the wall adjoining my kitchen. "Huh," I thought, "that's funny. I don't remember dropping anything with wate....oh fuuuuuuck."

Yes, my sink was leaking. Under the sink, onto the floor, under the pass-through wall to my dining/living room. AAARGH. The plumber, who is here as I write this, is a bit of a knob (DUDE. If you're going to run the water to see where the leak is, GET A FUCKING RAG READY TO MOP IT UP. I've now got another half-litre of water under my wall where I can't get at it. Thanks a lot, jerk.) but at least this is a small problem compared to my New Year's Flood of '04. *shudder* And, of course, I still HAVE a home, unlike all those unfortunate souls in Victoria (Australia, not B.C.). So all in all, it's looking good.

Still a pain in the butt, though. :P

P.S. Goodness, that's a bit of a downer of a post, eh? Otherwise things are going well, though, really! Got to see the nephew take his first steps over the weekend! :D

As I'm sitting here at work trying to force down a salad made of the random collection of ingredients I grabbed as I was rushing out the door this morning - baby spinach, chickpeas, red pepper, apple and goat cheese - I am thinking a few things.

Firstly, I am thinking that I do not want to be eating salad. I am cold. I want something warm and hearty. Never mind that this is actually a fairly decent salad, it is Not What I Want at this juncture.

(Then I am glad that I have food at all. Particularly this rather nice stuff. So that's all right.)

Secondly, I am thinking that I picked the wrong fork. This one is too thin, and the chickpeas keep rolling off it. It's feeling rather Sisyphean.

Thirdly, I am recalling that I really suck at salad tossing. Half of my greens always end up speared on my fork, the other half making a break for it outside the bowl, and all the yummy stuff which was so recently and prettily sitting on top of my greens are now sitting in a sad pile at the bottom of the bowl.

Fourthly, I am recalling that my dad is an extremely good salad-tosser, and indeed salad-maker, and one of the reasons that I avoided leafy-type salad for yeeears (though fruit, pasta or bean salads, for instance, were all fine) is that we had a salad - or The Salad, if you will, as the ingredients and dressing were virtually unchanged over time - about three to five times a week, every week, for a good fifteen of my early years lived at home. And that when I moved out, it was a long, long time before I ate a leafy salad.

Fifthly, I am thinking that lettuce is a waste of perfectly good chlorophyll. And I am glad I am eating spinach instead.

Sixthly, I am thinking that perhaps I was a tad over-ambitious in my use of half a can of chickpeas for this salad. They are beginning to feel rather endless. And I amusing myself with the term "garbanzo beans." Does anyone actually call chickpeas garbanzo beans?

This is what I am thinking.

Firstly, congrats to all my fine American friends! *throws confetti* I admit to getting just a wee bit teary myself when watching the proceedings. Just a little. ;)

Also, and I realize I may be alone in this, I've actually really been enjoying being outside in the bone-chilling temperatures of the last ten days or so. (And I should add that's in part because I don't have to spend very long outside at a time - generally just getting to and from work. There's something very...cleansing about it. My grandmother was right: it IS brisk and bracing. Though it helps that I like it because I have warm, warm clothes, so it's just my face that gets cold, not my body. That's at work. :P Stupid desk against an outside uninsulated wall. *kicks it*

And because I blather on so much about That One Show Wot I Love (new episodes, wheee!), I thought this time I'd focus on a different one: Battlestar Galactica! They're back, yaaay! I'll put my few thoughts about the webisodes and this first episode so far under a cut, but I also had to share this exchange from an improv show I went to last weekend called Battleawesome Awesomestar (see, this post title isn't a spoiler, it's the name of the show! *beams*). It was based on the loose script of the cylons having sabotaged something, with the audience choosing the something. It ended up being cellphones and toothbrushes, which led to the following exchange.



Also, there seems to be a vid of another bit I really liked on YouTube
Hee! Okay, maybe I just amuse easily. Anyway, if any Torontonians are interested, the show runs for another couple of Saturdays; details here.

( webisodes )

( BSG 4.whateverthehellwe'reatnow )

My poor kitty. He just decided it was a great idea to tentatively lick the sticky side of a piece of tape and has spent the last five minutes doing everything but dragging his tongue along the floor to get the residual tape residue off his tongue. I have NEVER SEEN him lick so frantically - aside from the unfortunate cayenne incident. *pets him*

Anyway. Happy New Year, everyone! I :D hope y'all had enjoyable holidays? Mine were (even my three days of work last week! It was lovely and quiet, so I got a ton of stuff done), though I would definitely NOT go so far as to say they were "relaxing." But that's okay: it was really, really fabulous to see so many people, and all things considered I managed to get quite a bit done too.

Rather than writing a list of New Year's resolutions this year - all of which I'd no doubt break in the first week :P - I've instead written up a comprehensive list of goals for the year, and action steps to get there. It all seems much more doable if I break down my savings goals, for instance, into how much I'd need to save per week rather than just being intimidated by the lump sum, you know? I've also asked my boss if I can rearrange my schedule to work longer days Monday to Thursday so I can take Fridays off. My free time in the evenings is so short I have trouble getting anything done, so I'm hoping that by creating larger chunks of time to work I stand a snowball's chance in hell of actually absorbing a bunch of the stuff I want to learn - starting with PHP and SQL, dammit. Anyway, wish me luck; I should find out tomorrow...

I had mentioned to theclevermonkey that I have been thinking of late about different media and how I use them for different purposes, and that I'd post about it. So here goes:

( books vs. TV and movies )

Anyway, I know most people on this list are avid readers and/or consumers of other media, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on TV/movies vs. books, and which you enjoy how and why...

I'm about to open an account with them, and I'm pretty sure they have one of those incentive programs where people recommending them get a kickback? I'm opening an account anyway, but if anyone has one of those numbers I'm happy to make someone some free money. Just let me know the code you'd like me to enter. First come first serve!

(Longer post later in the week, I promise! In the meantime, happy new year everyone! :D)

Okay, so that term "snowmageddon" that's being bandied about for the current spate of local snowstorms amuses me a great deal. So far I'm not sure anything I've seen (even taken together) merits the title: sure, we've had a good dump of snow, and certainly "snow storms" would apply, but "snowmageddon"? Please. Can we save that for something that constitutes something beyond an average set of Toronto winter storms?

Still, it is just fun to say. SNOWMAGEDDON. Although "snowpocalypse" cracks me up too. XD

I saw the movie Australia on Friday. I love Baz Luhrmann, and I love the country, so I really really wanted to love it...yeah. How about we move right on to a movie I actually enjoyed? Bolt? Is AWESOME. It's a Disney movie in 3-D (that's mercifully well done, which is a first) told from an animal POV. It's basically a dog-loses-beloved-person, dog-must-find-beloved-person-though-many-adventures story with a few delightful twists: firstly, the dog thinks he has superpowers but doesn't, and secondly one of his Wacky Sidekicks(TM) is an awesome, AWESOME hamster. He is to this movie what Hammy was to Over The Hedge, in my opinion: he makes the movie. Aside from being generally hilarious, he exhibits the same sense balance of wonder and go-get-em-I-can-do-anything-though-not-really cocky dorkitude (that's totally a word) of Po in Kung-Fu Panda. Anyway, here's the full trailer which pretty accurately sums up the hamster's fabulousness, or here's just the hampster-relevant bits.

I also have two amusing photos to share with y'all. First is an absolutely terrifying testament to 80s design sense, unearthed from the depths of our kitchen cupboards at work during a recent cleaning, and the other is one of my poor spider-plants suffering the ill-effects of its recent relocation at my hands.

( brace yourself! )

Finally, if I may be all schmoopy for a moment, much as I love my biological relations, I feel incredibly lucky to have such wonderful chosen family and friends as well. *smishes you all*

Awww. Kitty is curled up next to me all sleepy. *skritches him*

Anyway, I thought I would give you a window into my dreams. They are generally (a) sci-fi and (b) somewhat epic, rather like cramming a whole season of TV into one dream, and this one was no exception. It's rather stream-of-consciousness and unedited for which I apologize.

In the dream I woke up on my couch while it was still dark to a woman's voice urging me awake. At first I thought it was my mom, but it turned out to be a stranger. She was cryptic and didn't make much sense at first, though I gathered that she was an alien (this is a very, VERY common cliche in my dreams) that simply looked human. Another alien popped down through the ceiling, having gathered my neighbours and we rushed outside of the house (IRL I live in a high-rise) to be confronted a raging flood/tsunami coming at us. Y'know, as they do in the middle of a continent. O_o Anyway, the aliens had come to try to warn us about this imminent disaster (sort of global warming writ largeextreme), but weren't quite in time. People tried to cling to what trees and buildings they could as the waters rushed by, and the aliens grabbed as many people as they were able to reach.

After the first wave passed, the earth was just really muddy and over time it transpired that humans were "actualizing" or some shit which basically meant that we had reached a stage in our evolution where we could do some of the cool alien stuff like telekinesis and flying. The aliens were there to help us in this stage of our development, but over days and weeks as the earth grew wetter and wetter and the aliens "helped" us by ushering us into barrack-like flying boats to keep us safe above the rising waters as our powers slowly developed, the drudgery and aliens-in-charge-humans-obeying with severe (i.e. life-threatening beatings) the consequence for disobeying gave their assistance a seriously negative and frankly sinister tone. Those who fought back were punished, and those who tried to escape were invariably captured.

I escaped at one point with the assistance of a random incarnation of Doctor Who (AWESOME), but was later captured again because I had an expired passport (!!?!?). At a buffet I took one piece of meat too many before I realized it and had bitten into it. I tried throwing it away to hide the evidence but the alien overlords found it and were able to match the bite marks to my teeth. Fortunately myself and a couple of others were able to teleport away in a harrowing people-trying-to-get-through-a-closing-elevator-door moment, but even so were chased by the captain of the ship. He was very close to catching us, too - I can still see his face leering out of his vessel mere feet away - but all of us focusing our burgeoning powers were able to outrun him. We hid as far away as we could get, ultimately ending up on a merchant vessel which, while still under the alien's political power, offered us more day-to-day freedom.

One fateful day, however, an alien official came on board and we were all made to present ourselves while he looked us over. It was our previous captain who was old by now (I think we had also moved somewhat through time, though forward or backward I'm not sure, and his search for us must have taken longer in his life than we had lived yet in ours). He recognized us, smiled almost sadly, and left. My impression is that after his early years of trying to "help" us with his iron fist, he'd realized over time we weren't the rebel threat he had thought; we'd just wanted to live our own life. So he let us have our wish, and let us be. Then my alarm went off.

What's missing from this overview is the detail, both in the world - I could draw you a layout of the whole ship down to my little alcove amongst the human cargo (and I was one of the lucky ones having a few square feet to myself), or describe the smell of the sea air or curious blandness of the food - and of the character development from my original average neighbours to hardened rebel fighters (*coughoneofwhomborearemarkableresemblancetoKaraThracecough*).

*hands* So yeah. This is the sort of thing I dream every night. I kinda love it. :D

So I SHOULD be downstairs working out. I've gotten pretty good at that, actually: remembering to work out in the mornings, I mean. Not every day, of course: that's just crazytalk. But, y'know, a good three out of seven. I figure it's a start! :D It's been a month and counting. I mostly just walk on the treadmill. Nothing too arduous; I figure I have the rest of my life to Get Tough. I'm mostly just trying to get myself in the habit at this point. Which is no mean trick, believe you me.

(Er, to forestall the bajillion questions on "OMG you're working out, but WHY?!?! You're so SKINNY!": I may be skinny, but - and I know this is a hard concept for many people to grasp - skinny doesn't necessarily mean fit. I am a couch potato by nature, and really don't like sports. But I'm aware my cardiovascular fitness could be a lot better (it is PATHETIC that I get winded walking up the stairs at work. Even if they are crazy steep stairs from hell), and I'd like to maintain and improve my strength, flexibility and bone density as I get older, rather than letting them slowly slide downhill. And I promised myself as a teenager I'd start working out when I'm 30. Seeing as I'm 34 now... ;P)

But, I miss you guys and this whole LJ thing. So dammit, I decided to post instead! :D Good idea Y/Y?

So, bullety update:

• adorable nephew is adorable
• eboniorchid is in town!!!!1!1!!! There has been awesome food (room service FTW! oh god I just looove the utter decadence of room service), lovely cuddles, and long chats. It's all terribly boringly fabulous.
• snow = YAY
• snow + melting + refreezing = ice = BOO
• I have been thinking about Future Job Options a lot (*coughasIdowhenI'mslightlymaniccough*) and I am thinking of starting something I've always wanted to do: starting a little blog about random cool shit in the world. And then if I'm really lucky down the road I can make money through advertising so waaaay down the road I can quit my day job and travel around the world, updating as I go! :D Not that I'm over-ambitious or anything, eh? But y'know, it's not like it requires some massive influx of cash for me to get started. Just time...oh, wait. That thing I don't have. *facepalm*
• clementine season = YAY
• I managed to make tea yesterday without maiming myself or anyone else = YAY
• Old printer dying = BOO but! new printer being wireless (oooh) = YAY

In other news, has anyone else (y'know, local) been to the new Art Gallery of Ontario? Cuz it is STUNNING. Seriously. I mean, I liked the new Royal Ontario Museum, but this baby? It's all wood and curves and beautiful and makes me so proud for our city to finally have a really nice piece of modern architecture that isn't really phallic, angular or just plain weird. (Okay, aside from the BCE Place, which is gorgeous and I also love, and not just because I can get Movenpick ice cream there. And it's SO DISTINCTIVE I am always pleased that I can identify it in movies. Such as the various __ of the Dead movies, for instance, much to my amusement. Zombies! In downtown Toronto, woohoo! Again! Some more!

On a related note, I should do a post sometime about my love/derision for Resident Evil: Apocalypse with Toronto (very) thinly disguised as Racoon City. I mean, Toronto! Creepy skinless dobermans in MY OLD HIGH SCHOOL! Blowing up our freakin' CITY HALL!!! I mean, really, how awesome is that? Too bad the movie itself is quite so viscerally, painfully bad...

Good lord, this started off as a bracket two paragraphs ago, didn't it? O_o)

Ack. It's now 8:08. Gotta get this up, or I'll be going yet another day without an update...

So I was just sitting here on my couch, minding my own business, when a few moments ago a plastic bag wafted by outside my window. It gently lifted up into view, twirled a few times, and then disappeared off to the left.

It was quite lovely to watch: very American Beauty.

Except I live on the tenth freakin' floor. That's...quite the air current out there. O_o

First things first: ( reactions to Supernatural 4.10 )

And on a related but non-spoilery note, can I say how much I love having people over to watch this show with? SO MUCH FUN. *smishes you all*

So, what else have I been up to in the last two weeks? A few things!

Last weekend I went to the Royal Winter Fair with Mr. Mongolia and torontoteacher and their kids, where a good time was had by all, and a crapload of really awesome food was eaten by Yours Truly.

Two weekends ago I headed up north to see my bro, his lovely wife and their six-month-old son (a.k.a. my NEPHEW! \o/). Had just a fabulous visit, including a craft show, some delicious calzones approximately the size of a house <--- seriously, check it out: they're bigger than the PLATE!, and entirely too much fun building little block towers and happily yelling "[nephew] SMASH!" when he'd crawl over and knock them down. Good fun. I must be only a couple years older than him to be so easily amused. XD

Two other things I kept meaning to post about last week:

1) neeuqdrazil's comment on my appetite at Stitch & Bitch last week: "[Den] doesn't have a hollow leg. She has POCKET DIMENSION." *dies laughing*

2) ( My truly EPIC FAIL at tea making (cut for explanatory photos) )

Last, but by no means least, I have finally borrowed the necessary equipment to convert my old tapes to digital format.* So I've been taking a hilarious trip down memory lane with all my 80s and 90s music. MY MUSICAL TASTE. YOU GUYS. *dies laughing* torontoteacher and I had way too much fun on Monday evening singing dramatically along to "The Glory of Love" and "Didn't We Almost Have It All".

In short. My life? She ROCKS.

*In case you're wondering why I don't just find the stuff online and download it, a lot of the stuff I'm transferring is either (a) music I like enough to want to take the time to tape but not enough to pay for again (and stupid ethics I can't seem to shake won't let me download them for free. Stupid, expensive, inconvenient ethics. *kicks them*), (b) really freaking obscure or (c) mixed tapes or real-life recordings.

Dude, I have been giddy ALL DAY. I'm sure the reality of the compromises he's going to have to make will tarnish my squee eventually, but for now I'm still just so happy about Obama.

My two favourite quotes of the day, one poignant but both AWESOME:

"Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Obama could run. Obama ran so our children could fly."
- Practically urban myth already... I love this.

"If a Black man can become president, you can get your washing machine! It's a week for miracles!"
- Co-worker Zsa Zsa to me. Here's hoping the FIFTH time's the charm and my washing machine really DOES arrive tomorrow. *grinds teeth, crosses fingers*



In other news, a small poll on last week's Supernatural episode:
( cut for anyone who still hasn't seen it, and to spare those who don't know/care about the show )


And has anyone ever noticed...okay, you know that really cheesy Starship song, "Set the night to music?" (Clip sung by someone else here for anyone who's memory needs a jog.) Well, the rhythm of the song fits perfectly if you change it to, "We could...nuke the site from or-bit..."

I'm just sayin'.

Part of me doesn't want tonight to end.

I'm hoping Obama wins, of course, but...it's been so disappointing the last two elections. At least tonight, there's still the hope that he'll win, you know? And with it the hope for a better tomorrow that might come. Tonight the world is still full of possibility, without the harsh reality of a loss - or, if he wins, without disappointment, for how could he possibly live up to the expectations of change he carries with him?

I'm one of those people who can hardly watch gymnastics or ice skating: the crushing of dreams that a split-second fall brings is too terrible to watch. But I do watch, however difficult I find it, between fingers laced over my eyes. Because when people succeed...it's the most amazing thing in the world.

please win please win please win please win...

Me: Hey everyone! Long time no see! I hope everyone had a happy Halloween/ Samhain/ New Year/ generic end-of October as dictated by your personal leanings and location?

Q: Hey, you! ...uh, who are you again?

A: Den? DendriteJungle? Is slightly obsessed with Supernatural, trees, travel...? Posts pretty pictures sometimes? Lives in Toronto, Canada? Girlfriend of neeuqdrazil and eboniorchid?

Q: ...

A: Um, wrote a fic or two once upon a time? Supernatural gingerbread men? The Supernatural Bake-Off? Icon of Raoul the Big Gay Supernatural Dragon shows up a lot? Me typing on a couch with a strategically placed cat? "Approved by the United Minions of Satan"?

Q: Yeah, it's been a while...weren't you talking about posting a whole bunch of things and didn't?

A: Oh. Heh. Yeah. Um. They're all, um, still on the list? See, I keep planning all these posts I'm going to write, but I've been away a lot, and then I get overwhelmed and don't post them, so I thought I'd just sorta take the plunge and get back in the game...

Q: Good call. So. Where ya been, anyway?

A: It's been rather crazy, actually. In a good way, I mean.

Q: - wait, it's coming back to me. "Rather crazy" seems to be rather par for the course for you, doesn't it?

A: Hey, you DO remember me! I feel so loved! :D So yeah, in the past three weeks - y'know, since going to Hamilton and my parents' place and that Nuit Blanche weekend the weekends before that - I took a road trip to Ottawa and went to Georgia for a cousin's wedding. Then last weekend, I holed up and cleaned the crap out of my home. Gardened (okay, potted), put away my summer stuff, got rid of the drifts of bags and recyclables in my kitche, saw parts of my closet I haven't seen in years, finished a website for a friend...

Q: Shit. You really weren't kidding about that "rather crazy" thing, were you!?!

A: Not so much, no. I'm trying really really hard not to book myself that much again, but it can be hard because there's always so much interesting stuff to do, so no promises. :D

Q: Riiiight. So what's next on your agenda, anyway?

A: Well, this weekend I'm still sort of recovering from being sick for part of this week (curse you, Bison stew! *shakes fist*), but I'm tackling my dining room table, trying to catch up on some digital/online-y type stuff, hoping to see this week's SPN episode, and I'm rather looking forward to a party this evening. And if I'm lucky I'll get around to posting some photos -

Q: OH MY GOD WILL YOU STOP SAYING THAT!

• Last weekend = Ottawa road trip = EFFING AWESOME

• This week = a blur

• Election = AAARGH...at least it's not a Conservative majority? *clings to faint, barely-perceptible silver lining*

• Washing machine = delivery delayed AGAIN *sobs*

• This weekend = Georgia/South Carolina = cousin's wedding

• Back = late Monday

• Next weekend = AT HOME OMG I CAN'T WAIT

• Love = ALL OF YOU *smishes you all*

*runs out to catch plane*

Good lord, I really haven't posted in ages, have I? My apologies! It's what happens when I'm away/busy* three weekends in a row, I'm afraid - and I've got two more weekends out of the city before this run is done. It's been a blast to date, and I'm so psyched about our Ottawa road trip this weekend, but honestly I'd kind of kill for a plain weekend home to just catch up on sleep, email, and cleaning...
*okay, I was here this weekend, but what with Nuit Blanche taking up Saturday evening and night, and the attendant fatigue most of Sunday, there wasn't actually much of the weekend left. :P

So, what have I been up to, anyway? WELL. Three weekends ago I was in Hamilton for the simply wonderful EarthArt exhibition at the Royal Botanical Gardens, two weekends ago I was up at my parents' place for the weekend and to enjoy the Purple Hills Art Society fall regional studio open house, and this weekend was of course Nuit Blanche. It's been a rather art-tastic few weeks! I'm halfway through a post on all that with loooots of pictures (and my first-ever YouTube video! Not of me, just of one of the art installations), but in the meantime I shall blather shamelessly about a topic near and dear to me: Supernatural! :D

( Cut for Season 4 spoilers through 4.03 and out of deference to my friends who just don't care ;P )

In other news, I have joined zip.ca (one of those online DVD rental companies) which promises to be my undoing. It's a little scary how many I've managed to go through in the past week alone. O_o But I am loving it. You know all those movies you vaguely want to see someday but don't care enough to actually take the time to rent, so you just never get around to them? Well, they're now all on a list and will just be quietly and efficiently sent to me sometime when I least expect it. I've already loved the hell out of March of the Penguins and Angels in America (both of which are just incredible). Damn, I look FORWARD to opening my mailbox now that I get something other than bills! :D In the other hand, you may just never see me again.... ;)

So we just got new computers in the office,* and most of them have an identical remote that lets you access the media menu, control volume, fast-forward, rewind, etc. Most of my co-workers don't need theirs, so I've filed them away where we won't lose them.

Then I discovered that audreyovisual's and my remotes - which we're hanging on to because we DO listen to music at our desks, quietly - can affect any computer. So we can subtly mess with our co-worker's computers. And most of them are not computer-aware enough to know what's going on.

OH, THE FUN WE CAN HAVE. *chortles, rubs hands*

*Macs, because OF COURSE if you're an importer/exporter/wholesaler to the arts community, it makes total sense for you to get the same computers as your customers, even though what you do with it is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than them and no prebuilt inventory management software exists for Macs... *mutters imprecations*

...okay, fine, I admit, our existing Macs have proven to be extraordinarily stable compared to previous PC-based networks I've worked with, and therefore worthwhile despite our lack of relevant software. It's more the initial reasoning that grates than anything else...

I'm supposed to be in the air right now, dammit! Flinging myself out of an airplane for fun! Not sitting at home. *fumes quietly* But noooo, apparently you can't (or at least really really shouldn't) skydive when it's raining. Too hard to see the ground or something. And the next time I can go? Won't be until the end of October. BUT I'LL BE THERE, DAMMIT!!!! Still, it's so far away...

*sigh*

On the other hand, it did mean I got to sleep in with neeuqdrazil this morning, had a flyby visit with ManifestStudio who, bless her, is the Toronto International Film Festival theatre manager for the Varsity Cinema theatres and as such has been A LITTLE BUSY over the past couple of weeks and really just wanted a shower *hugs her*, and had a lovely chat with my brother who's in town for a wedding.

I am also amused that all this means THREE different people have used my shower today, excluding me. I am running out of towels. *g* Too bad my FUCKING WASHING MACHINE IS DEAD. *mutters imprecations*

I do really love that people can make use of the fact that I live right downtown, crashing here or showering or what-have-you. I mean, I love my place to bits, but it's an added bonus that it's useful to other people too, you know?

Right. Off to buy some Fresh Ontario Produce(TM)...

Last Wednesday night, my upstairs neighbour and dear friend SprightlySplink gave birth to a healthy baby girl. I was right there with her, as I had been for a number of hours, helping her in such ways as I could. I have spent much of the last week trying to articulate how amazing (and intense!) the experience was, and for the most part have been rather unsatisfied with the results. Suffice to say that it was incredible, I was deeply honoured to have been invited to participate in this family event, and I am in awe of the women who do this all the time, all around the world. (And many more than once, no less!) Yes, I totally cried when the baby was born, and I did totally call my mom up the next day and thank her profusely. *g* I'm glad to report that everyone in the family is doing well, and that SprightlySplink plays a mean game of Castle Crashers even with a week-old baby at the breast.

THIS weekend, however, I am gearing up for something else I've always wanted to participate in: skydiving! \o/ I've actually been wanting to try this for YEARS, but only recently discovered a place that I could get to by public transportation. Yes, if the weather doesn't suck on Saturday, I fully intend to hurl myself out of an airplane with a few square metres of nylon between me and my otherwise untimely demise. Wish me luck. Seriously. I'm a bit of a klutz, and while I'm gratified the site touts the fact that they've never had a fatality (uh, GOOD), I still fully expect to break a leg in a fairly literal sense. And am totally okay with that. *beams with the placidity of the patently insane*

In other news, I have been continuing with my Supernatural marathon, and falling back in love with our boys all over again. *happy sigh* And with the new season fast approaching (yaaay!) I wanted to again throw my doors open to local SPN fen who would like to watch the premiere next Thursday in the close confines of my little home. Hope to see you there!

So eboniorchid left on Saturday for Chicago. *deep breath* It feels like an era is over. I mean, we're going to stay in touch and visit (*coughandI'mtotallynotcountingdownthefortydaysuntilOttawacough*), but long distance is just not the same. The city feels...poorer without her.

For the most part I've been distracting myself quite successfully with cooking (OMG SO MUCH BORSCHT. TWELVE FREAKING LITRES, PEOPLE. O_o Also cabbage soup, sauteed veggies, roasted veggies and in general more beets than you could shake a stick at) and marathoning Supernatural from the beginning (I'm up to Bloodlust, for the curious). I haven't been watching it as much as listening to it as I putter around my place, which has lead me to pay more attention to the music than I normally would. As a result, I ended up stumbling across the analysis of the original score over at the Super-Wiki, including a really interesting look at different recurring motifs. God, there's some neat stuff in that wiki.

For those who have been keeping track, SprightlySplink hasn't gone into labour yet. I finally grew a brain and went out and bought some snack food and diet coke, since heaven knows I'm not going to be any help if my blood sugar drops after hours, or if I fall asleep. (I was tempted to buy popcorn just so I could say I brought popcorn, like it was a movie. ;) But mostly I just love it as a snack food.) I have everything in a bag next to the door, along with a little list of things in the fridge and freezer since I'm sure I'll be running around in a forgetful tizzy otherwise when I get the call.

Also, I do believe I promised more details on my trip to New York earlier in August, yes? I'm working on it, but I'm trying to be careful to get enough sleep (normally I'd just stay up until I got it done) so I'm well rested for the labour. Besides, pictures of cool art aren't really time-sensitive. (Right? Right?!?)

Man, this has been a crazy few weeks months. But I wouldn't change it for the world. :D

On a different note, let us start off September with a rousing SPAM-OFF, shall we? *grins brightly* nixwilliams and I came up with this idea after observing the number of rather amusing spam subjects that have been appearing of late.

Here's the deal: comment below with a favourite spam of your own, either subject line or message body (or both). I'll collect 'em and put them in a poll, and then people can vote for their favourite. Easy and fun, right? Fire away! :D

So my body decided that pre-dawn was a faaaabulous time to wake up today. God this is going to be brutal later as I struggle to stay awake. *winces* Anyway, rather than lying uselessly in bed, I thought I'd get my sorry ass online. I hafta tell you I'm fighting the urge to go and check all of YOUR entries since if I do that I will once again fail to get around to making my own. :P

Firstly I just wanted to say THANK YOU to folks for their kind birthday wishes! *smishes you all* It was a lovely day ended by a fabulous dinner at Terroni's with the girls before heading out to see Avenue Q. I have to admit I had kind of over-hyped Avenue Q to myself, and while I still love the songs and was thrilled to bits with the Sesame-Street-esque-ness of it all, I was unprepared and terribly disappointed by the racist caricatures of several characters. Still, I'm so glad to have finally seen it!

My life's been a bit of a tizzy for the past couple of weeks, and this week is shaping up to be not much different, so I'm looking forward to the long weekend just a few days away when I can relax and spend some time going through my New York photos, among other things! This weekend I was out of town for my oldest friend's wedding. She's one of those people who has planned her wedding since she was a kid, so I was so thrilled to be a part of one of her oldest dreams coming through. I nearly didn't make it, though, so I'm thankful to the kind folks who were able to drive me up there for making it possible! I was apprehensive with Twistedhip and SprightlySplink's baby on the way, and had all these contingency how-I'd-get-back-to-the-city plans in place, but fortunately I didn't need to rush back to the city.

Oooh! Okay, my body's getting sleepy again; let's see if I can shoehorn in another hour of sleep or so...

P.S. I almost forgot! I don't know about you lot, but my spam has become extremely amusing in the last week or so. I've attached a screenshot, but my favourite subject lines are "Britney Spears Blows Her Nose on Designer Dresses", "TV presenter sets fire to Paris Hilton" and the winner in my books, "Britney Spears' vagina attacks warder and escapes rehab." *SNORT*

Hey all! A quick post until I have more time on the weekend to say that minus a few less-pleasant bits (the looooong night after the wine-and-cheese evening was not so fun...but it all tasted so good going down!) I had a fabulous trip and it's been just a tad busy since I got back. No rest for the wicked!

HOWEVER. I - and the other relevant parties involved - are feeling increasingly...well, shitty, really, about eboniorchid's imminent departure. For those of you who don't know, she's moving in a couple of weeks to Chicago for a seven year PhD program. We'll see her occasionally, of course, but not very often and it's rather hard on the lot of us who have become particularly close to her over the last year.

SO. I had a Brain Wave. I want to make a playlist. Or really, two playlists: one of, like, heart-rending WOE music for wallowing/Someone Else Gets My Pain purposes, and one I'm affectionately dubbing Bring On The Cheese (cuz I'm all about the cheese :D) for singing along loudly.

And given that we all pretty much met through LJ, I thought it would be great to solicit all of YOUR advice on what music might work for this compilation!

I have a few suggestions so far. On the WOE side I was neatly blindsided yesterday by The Weakerthans' Left and Leaving and Justin Hines' Wish You Well. And on the CHEESE side the obvious shoe-in is John Denver's Leaving On A Jet Plane.

Poll #1241717 Song Suggestions for Getting Through It All
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Why yes, here's a/some suitably emo poignant song/s addressing the shitty situation of loved ones parting reluctantly:

(...and here's why I suggest it...)

Here's a/some suggestion/s for song/s to bring the funny/cheese to help get through loved ones parting via loud singing along (cheesy 80s power rock ballads particularly welcome! :D Poll-creator's bias):

(...and here's why I suggest it...)

Comments, links, etc. also very welcome. Thanks so much! :)

Hey y'all! I'm coming to you from Binghamton, New York. (No, I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it: it's a fairly small city in New York state as the map-lovers among you can see here, but it's where some family friends live which Makes It Special. :))

I'm here for the first half of my last *sob* week of vacation of the year, and will be moving on to the Big Apple come Tuesday. And I have Intarwebz again! \o/ I'm posting at this rather ungodly hour so as not to take time away from the friends I'm here to visit. :)

The big fun for today was actually getting up at 5:30AM (okay, THAT part wasn't the big fun) to go and watch hot air balloons take off at a local rally. (And how much do I love that the whole event is based around food? SO MUCH.) The weather was glorious and the sky a perfect, striking backdrop, so in addition to having a great time I got some rather fabulous shots, if I do say so myself.

Have a looksee:



( MOAR )

We went back later in the day and ate ourselves silly, including the eponymous spiedies, ice cream and my beloved-but-oh-so-hard-to-find butterfly potatoes. *happy sigh*

So Sprightlysplink, the lovely wife of Twistedhip and a good friend and upstairs neighbour, has incredibly kindly offered to let me attend the birth of her second child. I am beyond honoured, and have been carefully scheduling everything around the end of August with the caveat of "...but I may have to cancel if [my friend] goes into labour".

But rather than explaining to people that she's a dear friend who has kindly offered to have me attend the birth, etc. (because "what does her labour have to do with you" is a perfectly fair follow-up question), it occurs to me it would be extremely amusing to just deadpan, "Because she's having my love child." And enjoy the subsequent facial expressions.*

*This is funnier, of course, if you realize that we are both biologically female. So it's not really, y'know, possible.**

**YET. ;P

Y halo thar, folks! I'm telling ya, it's always my ambitious plans for picspam that trip me up on this whole posting thing....

So! My first week back was lovely: seeing mah girls, my housesitters had done a wonderful job with my cats and plants and home...except.

I had aphids.


( I have become death, destroyer of aphids )

But really, who wants to read about aphid woe when you can see purty pictures of my trip out west, eh?


( In which I had an awesome trip, and was a dork last weekend )

There has, of course, also been the usual round of movies and Dexter-watching and quality time with friends and loved ones, but I think I've subjected you to enough rambling for one day! Hope you enjoyed. *bows*