Where Is It All Hiding?

It’s Not Hard

None of It Intelligible

The weekend that was

This weekend has driven home the fact that I think I'd be happiest working 4 days on/3 days off. Not saying I didn't want more time off, but two days just hasn't seemed like enough for a while and the three days off was really nice.

Dress shopping & local olive oil

Saturday afternoon, [info]ebonlock half-dragged me out shopping to try to start looking for a dress for [info]aelfsciene's wedding (aside: I got asked to be a member of her wedding party). I'm at a size and shape in my life that I can find clothing, but finding very specific clothing off the rac is a bitch and a half, and bridesmaid's dresses, even with relaxed strictures, is very specific. She introduced me to a plus size store called Avenue which is literally just down the road from where we live, but, sadly, their selection was woefully inadquate for my needs. They had one dress that matched the style/color Aelf has dictated but it looked absolutely horrible on me. I found one dress style that looked surprisingly good on me, but it only came in a black and white pattern. Also, they were both made of nasty, cheap polyester, so I likely wouldn't have bought them even if I'd found the perfect style/color combination.

However, what it has allowed me to do was find a style I like so I can take it to [info]lynthia, who I talked to last week and has agreed to look into making a dress for me. As I put it to her, "I need a dress of the right color and style that is also flattering to me; I might be able to find two of those three in the stores, but unlikely all three." Making it seems the best option. And now that I have a style in mind, next step is to discuss it with her and find fabric that doesn't make me want to set it on fire (only to have it melt, because it's actually plastic).

We then trekked northwards, heading by Smart & Final to look for bridal shower supplies and, not finding what we wanted there, continued north to Diddams, where we went a little crazy buying stuff.

Then because she mentioned Common Ground (an organic garden supply store) was having an Event this weekend where local growers were offering niche plants for sale, we continued up El Camino Real to poke our nose in there. E-- made off with a couple of plants (after I played token 'angel on her shoulder' to talk her out of it), but my score was an olive oil sampler from Cloud9 Orchard. They'd set up samples out in the parking lot along with the growers, and I tasted both their Spanish and Italian style oils--and for the first time, ever, I actually caught the peppery notes I learned (through the Food Network!) is indicative of high quality, fresh olive oil. I decided to pounce on the opportunity to have some. Inside the store, I found the sampler, a small bottle of each style plus a same sized bottle of balsamic vinegar, and I said "Why the hell not".

I ran out to Nob Hill later for some Italian pugliese bread and offered the Italian oil and balsamic along with the bread to [info]tavella later for Movie Nite. I think it may also be the best balsamic I've ever had, too.


Kinect exercise:

Now that all the pieces to make the Xbox work have been implemented, I realized Sunday I have no excuse not to start putting it to the use I envisioned for it, which was to try to force myself to exercise at home. Long, drawn out reasons excuses, but the short version is that I'm hoping something that offers variety and no addtional equipment (like a treadmill, exercise bike, etc.) will take away my excuses not to do it.

I went with Your Shape 2012 based on E--'s recommendation--she uses it and loves it.


First day, I futzed around with the three 'move your butt around' Kinect games I had on hand: Kinect Adventures (which came with the Kinect), the Star Wars Kinect demo (Jennifer Hale! :), and then finally Your Shape. Your Shape seems to be--shocking!--the best exercise option for exercise itself, and given how my arms have felt the last couple of days, it's working. :) There seem to be a billion types of exercises in the game--yoga, weightlifting, cardio-kickboxing, dancing, jump rope, hula hoop, etc.--and all you seem to have to do is mix and match the exercises to hit the amount of time goal (which the Xbox keeps track of). I definitely worked up a sweat doing it. Now to just keep at it.


Baking

I made banana muffins and bread yesterday. I did the 'nuke the bananas in the microwave' trick to try to soften them, and discovered that with the stems on, it started to burn. o.O At least I had that burned wood odor going on there for a while.


I need to make Kit's best lemon cake ever, now that I finally have both my limiting reagent ingredients (lemons and butter) on hand.


SWTOR: Imperials

With the day off yesterday, [info]reluctantgenius and I arranged to do a long-haul session of SWTOR for our weekly Monday 'night' session, and since our third couldn't make it due to the holiday, we pulled our Imperials out.

We started the afternoon with the Sith, his Inquisitor, my Warrior, to finish off Korriban. I may not entirely like Yekzil (my Warrior), but it was fun playing a tank-like creature and the 'jump into combat' speciall maneuvar was a lot of fun. And although Vette (the Warrior's first companion) may be Mission from KOTOR (who may have contributed to me putting KOTOR down and never picking it up since), I kind of like Vette. I was having mild pangs of regret at the decision to leave Yekzil behind in favor of my Agent, Lor'rysi, once R--'s character hit Drommond Kass.

For whatever IC reason :), his Inquisitor met up with Lor'rysi on the Fleet and they went to Drommond Kass together (first thought: this is the hub of the Empire? It reminds me of Taris!) I think Lor'rysi will be a slightly better traveling companion for his Inquisitor (who is going Light Side) than Yekzil; Yekzil was very rah-rah Dark Side Sith (although he's not really into 'pain for pain's sake', which I guess does make him a mutant freak among Sith), while Lor'rysi is very rah-rah Empire but thinks her duty is not just to the Sith but to the people, too. So, for example, running into a quest on Drommond Kass where this Sith Lord wanted them to poison some slaves as an experiment to see if the drug could be used in interrogation and finding out from an Imperial Trooper who works with the Sith Lord that they'd already proven the drug was useless for the stated goal and the Sith Lord was just a sadist getting off on it, Lor'rysi had no qualms upping the drug to lethal doses to save the slaves the torturous agony (Light side) and then lying to the Sith Lord that "oops, I don't know what went wrong." while Yekzil probably would've done it just because the Sith Lord said to.

I still heart her to little bits--she looks awesome. I also kind of like the custom appearance I picked for Kaliyo, her first companion, although Kaliyo and Lor'rysi are clashing in terms of personality and goals quite a bit. I'm still occasionally getting Affection from her here and there, but Lor'ryi's predilicton for toeing the party line and obeying her superiors tends to rack up lots of -1 Affections (and one -30 at one point :). I kept joking she was probably in negative Affection, but it's apparently not that bad.

However, in a surprise to no one, what I'm really looking forward to is getting the f!Agent's LI companion down the road, because I've heard interesting things about him and his Romance. No specifics, just that it is interesting.

 

Casket of Souls Audiobook Live!

Just heard from Audible that the audiobook version of Casket of Souls went live this morning! Whoo too! And once again, narrator Adam Danoff consulted with me on pronunciations, so what you hear is what I intended. :-)


http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B00852GJEQ&qid=1338308644&sr=1-1

here's to the end of our sanity

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Daily Squee: Exploring the Canopy

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advice animals memes  - Animal Memes: The Most Interesting Cat in the World: Much More Intersting

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I don’t always want to be friends.
But when I do, I make sure you’re reading a book and my butthole is in your face.

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Animal Capshunz: Finally Ran a Marathon

Cyoot Kittehs of teh Day: My Great Protector

Cat on the Roof by Caro Dee (NC-17)

Is It Just Supposed to Go Everywhere?

Spoils of War by erobey (Mature)

THE LETTERBOX by LILY K (adult)

Animal Videos: Meet the New Fur Seal Pup!

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This rescued fur seal pup is settling into his new home at the New England Aquarium. Learn more about him (and suggest a name!) here.


Mondays are extreme enough, hot is too much

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RobinMckinleysBlog/~3/Y0WLSFMxomo/

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Mondays are always long and this one has been longer than most and I have Weetabix Brain.*  In the first place it is too hot.  Peter, who feels the heat worse than he used to, was saying that he wasn’t getting out enough;  that watering the wilting garden in the late afternoon, when the blaze is beginning to dim, was about as much as he could deal with.  I said, it’s really nice at dawn.  It does cool off some overnight** so when the sun is first coming up in the morning, and before it starts beating us up again, the world is pretty and cool(ish) and quiet and empty.***  You should try going out then.  (Peter is an early riser.)  I’ve taken hellhounds out for a quick sprint the last two dawns.  I hope you go to bed again after, said Peter.  Hrrmph, I said.  I don’t go to bed again.  I go to bed.† 

             Monday is also the day I have the dogminder to provide their afternoon hurtle, chiefly to keep me on her active customers list so I can use her for stuff like the Met Live Saturdays—but it is pleasant not to have to race out with hellhounds the minute I get home from my voice lesson, and to have time for a sit-down and a cup of tea before I go off again to ring bells at Colin’s tower.  Today I gave hellhounds extra morning time, told Mavis to make it a half-length amble this febrile afternoon, and took them out once more, although I would not call it racing, when I got home after Nadia.  Niall wasn’t going tonight†† so if I went ringing I had to drive myself, and the ME and I did have a little conversation about this but rather mysteriously the heat doesn’t seem to aggravate it the way it aggravates the rest of me.  And Wolfgang knows the way to all three of Colin’s towers.  So we went.††† 

            My voice lesson wasn’t nearly as terrible as it should have been.  Singing in the heat is strange.  Some of it is just the singing version of ‘what do you mean work’ but some of it is unique to the physiology of throats and small vibrating pieces of flesh.  I crack more in the heat and Nadia said severely, that’s dehydration.  I said, it is?  This sensitive-flower thing would be easier to take seriously if I had a voice worth cosseting, but I guess it’s like buying the best shoes for running even if you’re never going to be better than 1,000,000,000th in the London/New York marathon, it’s still your body.  So I guess I’m going to have to start doing that My Life, My Water Bottle that the upmarket spa people have turned into a fashion statement.  Sigh.  I don’t like water.‡  Also, I have Post Menopausal Woman Bladder.‡‡  The loo at Nadia’s is immediately outside the music room door, but this isn’t going to help me with the Muddles’ loo-free rehearsal church.

            Nadia always asks how it’s going with Oisin—and while I’ve told her that I’ve engaged the stubbornness element and am therefore now singing on Fridays pretty regularly, she’s kind enough not to assume.  Today we were discussing how I was going to keep myself amused while she’s on maternity leave‡‡‡ and I was explaining that while even a dork-level singer ought to be able to cope with some poor patient pianist supporting them on their effortful way, what interested me was the music-with aspect, the fact that someone else was performing music with you, and that therefore my favourite songs tended to be the ones when the ‘accompanist’ is doing something else entirely—when I can sing them, that is.  Nadia said immediately, oh, you should sing Peter Warlock.  The words were already out of her mouth.  Then she looked a little anxious and said that most of his songs were technically fairly demanding.  But it’s too late.  I’d love to sing some Warlock.  So she’s going to have a look at her [complete song collection] of Warlock at home and see if anything strikes her as possible.  And not too gruesome for the responsible voice teacher.

            So maybe there’s an explanation in there somewhere why the ringing tonight was . . . ahem . . . less than consummate generally.  Maybe it was just the shock of Glaciation being t shirt temperature even for me.  

* * *

* From Wiki on Weetabix:  ‘Dry Weetabix is so absorbent that it is extremely difficult to eat without liquid. Fund-raisers such as the Boy Scouts hold events based on this, such as returning double the entry fee for those who can eat two dry Weetabix.’  Thoughts produced from a Weetabix brain tend to be dry, hard and crumbly also.

** Which I realise puts us way ahead of you sufferers in places like the Midwest and Texas. 

*** I love empty.  My favourite parts of a lot of post-apocalypse and dystopian novels, especially because I’m not a big post-apocalypse and dystopian novel person, are the beginnings, when our hero or heroine or small beleaguered band of survivors are wandering through huge deserted cityscapes.  Before the zombies or the mutant bug things or whatever start eating them.

 † Dawn does come very early this time of year.  Very.  

†† Or rather he was going elsewhere.  He is increasingly sucked up into handbell peal ringing.  Feh. 

††† And failed to run over the duck roosting in the middle of the road.  Who objected to being moved on.  :_)#{*%$£”!!!!! 

‡ Except in tea. 

‡‡ Before that I had Menopausal Woman Bladder and before that I had Peri Menopausal Woman Bladder.  Before that I could drink ten giant mugfuls of tea a day without considering the consequences.  But it’s not all bad.  I do seriously like not blowing up like a water balloon every month and killing people because I can’t help myself.  If I’m going to kill someone, I want to do it deliberately.  

‡‡‡ I am, of course, convinced that by the end of the first Nadialess fortnight I’ll have lost my top end and be squeaking like a rusty wheel.  I can test this hypothesis the next fortnight since she is not teaching during the four-day Jubilee riot next week.  I plan to stay indoors as much as possible and to allow no red, white or blue in my vicinity.  I will put decals on [red] Wolfgang, and Darkness and Chaos will have to wear leather for a few days while their bunting-coloured harnesses are disallowed.  So not a monarchist.   

 

THOUGHTS I AM HAVING IN MY HEAD.

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You guys. Seriously, you guys.

May. 28th, 2012

How does Twitter make money? Do they have ads or something? I know nothing about Twitter or tweeting (except that it seems to attract even more weirdness than LJ/DW), I'm just mildly curious.

In other news, something fantastic happened. We had warm, sunny weather the whole weekend, and it waited until Monday morning to start raining. This is the exact opposite of what happened the previous weekend, where it rained and rained and rained (and on a 3 day weekend, no less) after having been warm and sunny all the previous work week.

I'm not sure I can cope with the weather being all cooperative. I'm so accustomed to the exact opposite that I'm a little spooked.

This entry was originally posted at http://raincitygirl.dreamwidth.org/34278.html. Please comment there using OpenID or here at Livejournal. You decide!

Lolcats: Laps are fur the taking

Daily Squee: Squee Spree – Cup of Loris

And days went by, whoa.

I just noticed I haven't updated in a few days. This is mostly because Tumblr has stolen most of my life, I've been reading a lot in between watching a bunch of movies, and work has been pretty crazy.

My weekend was uneventful. Visited parents. Lounged around.

Oh, and my offer for the condo (why do they call it a condo when it's really just an apartment? Shall I call it flat from now on?) was accepted! We have opened escrow, whatever that is, hahaha. All I know is that this seems to entail a ton of paperwork and moving money around. They are doing inspections next week, and hopefully nothing will be found. And I guess once my loan is approved (gotta send in paperwork for that) it means I shall soon be owning property?

It's not a big place, just about 800 square feet and only one bedroom. Which I preferred because I know if I get a second bedroom all that will end up happening is me storing a ton of crap in there. The one minor irritation I have with the place is that there's no en suite washer/dryer, not even installation ports. But otherwise the place is quite nice. And I've talked to a few of the residents there, and they all say it's very quiet and nice. And I'm still walking distance to cafes/pharmacy/grocery stores/shopping/train station. Link to a few pics, if you're curious.

It amuses me that the zip code is 91101 because in my head, that equates "911" + 01 (heero yuy) Yeah I know I'm crazy.

It still freaks me out that I could soon be a home owner. And I think of all the things I'll have to do once I move (new bed, buy fridge, decorate!) and I'm exhausted (and kind of sad as I take out more money from my bank account, I enjoy hoarding money, what of it). Is this growing up? Guess I'll find out by the end of June.

Waverly's Day by Linda Cornett (G)

Why can't I be both?

Art of the Reasoner by Tellytubby101 (teen)

May. 28th, 2012


I'm making fettucine alfredo & I'm so hungry & it's so hot in here. The girls are outside on the patio having a tea party with their new bunny & bear. Kris' sister took them to Build-a-Bear today. Not that we need anymore stuffed animals...but it was nice of her. She doesn't exactly make a lot of time for them (she says she's always too busy) so I kind of feel like she tries to buy their love. Or maybe that's just how it seems to me, idk. I think it'd just be more meaningful to them if she came over more or tried to make real plans with them (that she followed through with). Then again, I wish my dad also tried to spend more time with them too...expressed interest in wanting to take them to the park, the zoo, something...instead of just acting hurt if I don't invite him to things (& acting like it's hard to make time if I do invite him). Families...frustrating. But the girls did have fun today. & as much as I don't absolutely love hanging out with Amber, I'm glad she did something with her neices.

 

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Stageplay by lit_gal (NC-17)

BEEP BEEP BEEP

I Can’t Take It Anymore

I Hate My Brain

F1 2012 - Race 06 - Monaco

The Monaco race wasn't all that exiting. Okay, I was a bit hung over and didn't see all of it, but still..

I'm happy with Fernando's result, happy with Mark as winner. It's so cool to have so many different results this season.

Anyway, things that make me happy: Hamilton: Alonso is the dark horse. "He is a two-time World Champion and probably the best driver here."

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Animal Videos: Tomato Thief

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You know that tomato isn’t made out of tuna, right? I’m not sure you’ll like it much…


Interview at Magical Words Blog

Sorry folks, but I've done a lot of them for this book! Something a little different in each, I hope.

http://www.magicalwords.net/specialgueststars/lynn-flewelling-casket-of-souls/

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the mapmaking sort of cartographer
Hints and Allegations

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