i'll paint the stars

Well, the tree is up... and the cats are completely ignoring it in favor of chasing each other around. I suppose I should take this as a good sign? They were somewhat excited about the garland, but have not chewed it to pieces. And I really don’t think they can hurt the ornaments I have, so all is well! Or hopefully will continue to be so.

Umm... so. I realize it has been a bazillion years (plus or minus a bazillion years) since I have updated last. Um. Let's see... lots has happened. I will try to not take forever to tell you what it is.

( Mushu's Vet Adventure )

( Alison & Valerie's Thanksgiving Adventure )

Let's see... Otherwise I've spent quite a bit of time applying for jobs; I still have to write a few research statements for some, as a few jobs want me to propose research, which is scary so I keep putting it off but I really should get it done this week. Thankfully, there's a fancy new galaxy survey out that a lot of postdoc positions are advertising for, and I'm going to take their science goals and kind of wrap that up in my own research for those statements. I plan to spend some time at Starbucks doing that tomorrow.

In other miscellany, I have seen Megamind (cute!) and Tangled (FANTASTIC) and cannot wait for Tron Legacy and Voyage of the Dawn Treader this month. I have also finished SG-1 season 2 and caught up on Big Bang Theory, thanks to Valerie. OH OH ALSO THANKS TO VALERIE. I have now purchased Leckie's autobiography, Lord, What A Family!, which is so very out of print. And is so very fabulous, by the way. And hey I finally know what happened to his brother. Oh, it was so awesome to crack it open, it's got that awesome old book smell. :D; (Yeeeah, this thing was published in 1958. Woo~)

adamatari stopped by for brunch today on his way to Atlanta for the JPLT. Then there was D&D, which was entertaining as usual. I drank magic lemonade and had my butt groped (not in the same turn). And finally, I have discovered that Tower Prep, the show that seems to have replaced Unnatural History on Cartoon Network, is not only actually good, but is also a product of Morgan & Wong, of the X-Files/Space: Above & Beyond/etc. fame. NICE. XDb

... Well, there. That wasn't so bad, right?

I have decided that I might as well give up on ever trying to get up on Monday mornings - it never seems to happen. :x And I even wanted to get up this morning, at least relatively so! Siiiigh. At least this week I'm mostly planning on doing some writing thesis-wise, and that can be done from anywhere. But I do need access to Trip so that I can make my tables and stuff. So right now I am sitting Starbucks until it closes at eleven and writing allll about determining cluster membership based on radial profiles of galaxy positions. Riveting, I know, right? ;D

... And someone has put on the oldies CD here. XD Fabulous~

I believe I have decided to do Kim Possible for Mickey's Not-So-Scary this year; the original thinking was that I had most of the costume since I've been Ron, but upon inspection I need new pants and a different-colored belt and a wig. Ah well - wig is ordered, and pants aren't that hard to make and I have the fabric at least to make the belt. So the plan is to get fabric tomorrow for the pants, and spend evenings this week (except Wednesday, likely, since that's Angel/SAAB night now that we've run out of True Blood) getting that in order. I hope Disney is okay with me wearing a crop top, as I was just going to hem Ron's shirt up a bit, though I can always just pin it in case they care? Or cut it pretty low, which is more likely what's going to happen. She is a Disney character, after all... though maybe I should triple-check if the park has a dress code? I really think it'll be okay though. (Haha, and to think, the reason I ruled out Supergirl was for the crop top, but that's really short and also involves a skirt, whereas Kim at least wears pants. And is a Disney character already, like I mentioned...)

And that was not exciting, was it. Not that I have too much exciting to post on - Saturday was bad movie night with In the Name of the King, which was... horrid. Just absolutely horrid. Then we watched Legend, which was 80s-tastic and less horrid though it did have pants-less Tom Cruise and Ridley Scott clearly was in cahoots with CLAMP because there was STUFF FLYING THROUGH THE AIR in every scene. Like, feathers and pollen and bubbles and sparkles and COME ON, we just want a clear shot between the camera lens and the scene! /dies. It also involved Robert Picardo in prosthetics. XD Sunday was Dungeons & Dragons, involving fights with very large skeletons, but I leveled up and now I can turn regular run-of-the-mill skeletons just by being, woo! And then there was Venture Bros, which was entertaining as always~ Though I worry we are running out of the new ones again, because I think we only get 8 or 9 because it's only the second half of the season airing now.

And then there was today, which involved sleeping in (oops) and putzing around, but at least running as well. And I was supposed to be doing work, here. >> I should get back to that, now, before they close up here. Later guys~!

For the record, I really, really, really do not need to pick up Leckie at Amat. No, really. I don't. SO STOP THINKING ABOUT IT, SELF. And stop trying to come up with cute journal names. D< I don't care if he wouldn't even be thrown off by the 1940s tech, or how funny it would be when he realized the percentage of the people on the island who are Japanese.

Okay. ANYWAY.

I'm not dead! Woo? I realize it's been forever since I updated "properly", but I've been busy! I suppose I will try and save any "reviews" of movies/shows I have for a separate post(s) or something, but I have varying amounts of thoughts on things like Clash of the Titans and Doctor Who and probably more squeeing about The Pacific, which I have managed to get Nathan almost completely caught up on (and in the process have watched twice now, see me not complaining here).

In other news, though, since Janet was Disney'd out as a child we went to Sea World, which I had not been to since I was eight. I got to pet the stingrays and we saw some awesome shows and I took pictures of penguins for Stacie - who, damn, I was supposed to call tonight. Argh. I really am awful at calling people back! NTS - CALL PEOPLE, STUPID.

All right, now it's on my hand. Ideally I will remember in the morning - assuming I get up early enough before DnD, that is. (Speaking of notes to self: I also have to update Kai's character sheet before we play tomorrow. I should pull that out.)

Anyway; Elizabeth was here for a few days past Janet, so there was more fun attempting to pick up Sanada (and failing - boo on you, Sanada!) and watching movies and we also went to the local art fair, where I got a nifty picture from a Florida photographer that I need to frame and hang up (along with the posters I have already framed and need to hang up!).

And look. There's an update now. :D; So I am going to finish answering some emails and maybe even think about getting to bed in an hour or so. Gasp!

Look! Look at me! I'm updating OMG! (This is for you, pergamond~)

Okay, so. I am lame. Exhibit A: I took my Christmas tree down. Yesterday. :D; (Maybe the day before? I think it was yesterday, though.) Exhibit B: I am seriously considering going to see Avatar. Again. For a fourth time. (And for the record? Is it horrible that I laughed when the packaging for the Jake Sully action figure claimed it was "highly articulated"? XD Because poor Jake is, uh. Not. XD ILU JAKE.) Actually, let's make that Exhibit C: I totally bought a Jake Sully action figure. And, you know. Percy Jackson. XD Maybe that's not so lame, though. It's unclear.

So, I have fallen off the face of the earth, for which I apologize. Been relatively busy at work (read: staring at the same IDL program for a day and a half before realizing ahahaha I AM DUMB) and then Amat seems to eat up most of my free time when I'm at home, though actually that hasn't been that much because I've been OUT~! Let's see...

( WHAT I HAVE BEEN UP TO. )

Hm... well, I also have many fun stories about spinach leaking all over my lunchbag and my computer locking me out (triiiip), but I am actually pretty tired and think I will head to bed. So I shall save the tales of woe for a later date, I suppose. BUT just know the stories are there, lurking around the corner, ready to jump! (Or something.)

Also, NEED MORE ICON SLOTS. D: Nothing new, move along now~

So! It's been quite a week. :D; Tuesday and Wednesday was Magic Kingdom and Epcot (and Downtown Disney) with Jennie, which was tons of fun despite the crappy weather on Wednesday. We nonetheless managed to save the world from Duff Killigan and the Killer Bebes and Señor Senior Senior and son. (I gotta admit, that Kim Possible thing at Epcot is fantastic~) Also, Space Mountain is open again! They redid the line area with games to play, and now they have a digital projector, but that's really mostly it. Still we went on it three times despite the 70-minute wait each time. Totally worth it. :D Oh, Space Mountain, how I missed you!

Thursday was a do-absolutely-nothing day; there was some approximation of Thanksgiving dinner (chicken casserole, okay, but there was stuffing and mashed potatoes and corn and cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie! And strawberries and Jell-O XD;) and HSM3. This morning I dropped her off at the airport and bummed around Downtown Disney a bit before picking up some tree-decorating stuff at Target (it was kinda scary in there, but not as bad as it could have been, thank you empty-for-Thanksgiving college town) and... uh. Running, and Alien Swarm because I didn't get to see it before! Is it sad that one of the highlights of watching that was the new version of the PJO trailer? XD;; ::fail:: It was actually pretty good, though - not as horrific as I was expecting. I still think Kevin needs to be more buff, though. Oh, but CN? I saw what you did there, with Gwen's last outfit. Cute.

Oh, also, I have now seen The Guild. You may rejoice. XD; I could not stop watching it. I think Valerie knew that would be the case, though. ;D I perhaps will need a my gaming icon back, now that a chunk of the nerdiest people in the department have started up a game. Also, I require an AD&D player's handbook. (Off to Amazon...) And, following tradition, I Kai did something stupid right off the bat that got him out of commission for most of the first fight. But! I took out a goblin all by myself! With my giant sword. :D Too bad second edition doesn't have greatswords...

And lastly, I've been working on the next chapter of my PJO fic (finally!), but anytime you get Percy and Hades in the same room, things do Not Go Well. Nor do they go According To Plan, apparently, thanks guys. -_-; It's like, I don't know, getting The Monarch and Doctor Venture to have a nice little serious chat. Only I gotta admit, Percy's cooler than Doc. And, er. I suppose Hades is cooler than The Monarch, too. Y'know. XD; At least I think I have the end bit plotted out, even with my horribly crazy last-minute addition to the storyline. I can only hope it's not going too far. >>; Anyone who knows Nathan will be relieved that I will not be going with his horribly depressing suggestion, at least? XD;

Oh, and because it sounds neat! A meme! ( I actually need to fill this out for greenconverses and antistar_e; I've been meaning to but I don't think I'll have the brainpower until tomorrow. But I will! I swear!)

Pick a paragraph (or any passage less than 500 words) from any fanfic I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.


Lastly (for real this time), I shall leave you with tree-topper Square Pig. Because, why not?