wisteria

1. Queso, my cat, has a vet appointment at 4:00. Unfortunately, our current thunderstorms have him hiding under the bed. I just called the vet, who said I wasn't the first to call today with that issue. She told me to bring him in anyway if he crawls out by 5:00, and that I should try some kitty treats. No dice. Guess I'll just keep waiting and cajoling. Maybe they'll let me reschedule for tomorrow. I *love* thunderstorms, but I don't much like driving in them.

2. I'm having a bit more success with my attempts to readjust my daily schedule for the workweek. Going to bed an hour earlier each night hasn't been a problem... so far. As I've said many times, I tend to get really bad insomnia, and I'm hoping this plan will help with that. Today I got up early (for me) and hit Target and Office Max to use my school supplies giftcard (thank you, GA taxpayers! ;) Unfortunately, the sales and general quality of the merchandise have been uninspiring thus far. Stationery designers don't seem to realize that really cute/fun school supplies are the best way to get us excited about something that is NOT much fun.

3. I also rewatched the series finale of Arrested Development. Aww, even better than I'd remembered. When I lose interest in a show I've previously loved, I'm DONE. Absolutely no desire to watch it ever again. That's been true of all my previous fandoms, and I'm sure it'll happen with BSG. But I really can watch AD over and over. :)

4. A minor peeve: when bloggers talk to their readers via nicknames, like we're all part of their little fanclub. This seems to happen most often on blogs with "Pop" in the name, like PopWatch or Pop Candy. An example from EW's recap of Project Runway: "I ask you, TV Watchers: What would we do without our Gunn power?" Why not just say, "Readers"?

5. Hmm. Arj Barker (Dave from Conchords) is starting a 4-night gig at a local comedy club. I have absolutely no problem going to movies or concerts by myself, but there's something weird and uncomfortable about being alone at a comedy club.

6. A few links while I attempt to get Queso out from under the bed:
-- Stephen Colbert apologizes to Canton, GA. Sort of.
-- "Love You Long Time": Funny phrase or racial slur?
-- 7 links for people who really miss the workplace and Lunchtime quiz: controversial Disney movies.
-- A librarian's rant about which books are "appropriate".
-- Homeland Security at Comic-Con.
-- And one that really spoke to me: Is there a laziness gene?

Eight things about the past twenty-four hours:

1. I've realized that I really, really need to start working on my sleep schedule. Staying up too late several days in a row brings on dreadful insomnia, like today. My goal for the next six weeks of school (only six more weeks!) is to attempt to go to bed at a reasonable hour. I suspect I will be unsuccessful.

2. Knitting injuries! I've mastered the magic loop method for socks, and I'm loving it. No more sock ladders! (The loose stitches where you join DPNs.) I've knitted up a storm this week, and I'm close to finishing a fabulous sock for a friend. The downside? Pain in my right wrist and elbow, and these super-pointy needles keep poking holes in my left index finger. I've now got a band-aid wrapped around it, which makes both knitting and typing more difficult.

3. The Office was almost unbearably awkward, but it also made me laugh aloud at several points. I haven't done that with the show in way too long. Yeah, I *get* the humor; it just didn't feel quite as funny anymore.

4. Thunderstorms and ice cream. Two great tastes that taste great together. Except for thunderstorms not being edible.

5. How much do I hate the Comcast DVR? It ate last night's BSG. I can probably snag a rebroadcast, and I can watch the .avi on my DVD player... but that's not in HD. I'd planned to use that (stupid) tax rebate to get a new mattress, but now I think I'll use it to replace my iPod (which is officially dead, according to Cute Apple Store Guy) and my beloved TiVo.

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7. dionusia and I have been joking around about how we want to write crackfic featuring a sekrit pilotician baybee. She said, "Imagine the tabloid covers!" That reminded me of The Flickr Magazine Creator, which I used with my students last fall. ( Collapse )

8. Well. Certain girly things plus a week off work are making me very lethargic right now (and, as evidenced by the above, very silly.) So I'm going to curl up on the sofa and watch the new Doctor Who. And maybe eat some more ice cream.

So much for that break from insomnia. Thursday night I set a reasonable bedtime (which I won't disclose because you'd disagree with "reasonable"), and I stuck to it. I also skipped my last ritalin of the night, in case that's what had been keeping me up. No problems falling asleep. I did the same thing last night. Didn't work at all, and I found myself awake for another three hours. Fortunately, right now I'm in a position where I can sleep whenever I want, instead of having to keep to a schedule. Still, it's really annoying.

Could be that I was keyed up from watching the Live Earth feed of Crowded House in Sydney. I get on huge CH kicks every few years, and here comes another one! So cool to see all the adulation there, including the MC calling them "the soundtrack for our lives", because up here I doubt more than a handful of people even know who they are. I literally squeed loud and mighty when they closed with "Weather with You", one of my all-time favorites -- and even better in performance than on the album. (I tried to transfer the file from my TiVo so I could upload to YouTube, but the TiVo kept crashing for the first time ever. Not. Good. This complicates my plan to do the same with the BSG preview on Tuesday. Uh-oh.)

Incidentally, it's funny that I didn't even know about Live Earth until I saw a story about it yesterday. I keep up with all the TV/movie stuff, but I'm so out-of-touch with music. On a similar note, I just watched the Pussycatt Dolls live for the first time. Yikes. They really do dance like they're wrapped around a stripper pole. And if any of y'all Stateside are interested in watching, I recommend the Sundance Channel. No commercials, and only brief interruptions for short environmentally-related films usually hosted by Robert Redford. Mostly, the show is just reinforcing my old-fogey belief that most alternapop is sheer crap, no matter how many fangirls/boys these bands have. Though I was quite amused by Xuxa in Rio. I think all those flashing visuals caused seizures.

While lying in bed for way too long, I also tried to come up with A Very Cool Fic Idea, but nothing happened. Even though I just posted a 7,000 word one last week, I always feel a strange emptiness when I'm not working on a fic. (And yes, I know how silly that sounds.)

Some links, while I'm here:

-- For those of you who need a fix during the long hiatus, Sepinwall will be reviewing Doctor Who as it airs on SciFi. He loved the two-parter.

-- MacDuff in the Buff: The Washington Shakespeare Company is doing Macbeth in the nude. Huh.

-- The New Yorker has a new essay by David Sedaris. Yay! This one is quite reminiscent of Me Talk Pretty One Day.

-- A Newsweek reporter talks about auditioning for Big Brother. Never seen an episode and don't plan to, but the article's quite interesting.

-- And in other newsweekly, er, news... Time has a huge special section on Harry Potter, including suggestions for how to cure HP withdrawal.

-- Fans of The Black Donnellys are now sending crackers to NBC in hopes of renewal. This is what I feared when I heard of the Jericho resurrection. Quite happy for J's fans, but now every other show is going to think they can do the same.

-- Creative Loafing's restaurant section categorizes the types of bad customers.

-- The new Seven Wonders of the World have been announced. Hmm. I'll agree with 'em.

First, nzlaura reminded me that Crowded House is on tour! Atlanta friends: anyone want to join me for their September 12th show at the Tabernacle? I've listened to enough concert bootlegs to know that they're an amazing live band. :)

Second, my internal clock is so far out-of-whack that I'm beginning to wonder if I'm even capable of sleep. It's not an entirely horrible thing -- at least I don't have to worry about work, and I don't yet feel the physical effects -- but it's still annoying. One reason I can't sleep is that all morning a crew has been painting the apartment above mine. I'm pretty sure they're using some fancy painting equipment up there, but it really, really sounds like squeaking headboards, if you know what I mean. At least this means Upstairs Neighbor ("I love to party when I'm not stomping around above your head") has apparently moved out.

Third, the NY Times has a long article on Pushing Daisies, only three months before it premieres. I kinda love the last two lines, and very interesting that ABC says it was looking for "material reminiscent of the French film Amélie". That said, I'm nervous about this one. I'm starting to feel like it's the kind of show I'll want to love and will be hugely popular with all my friends... but I just won't connect with it. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Fourth, I'd really appreciate you returning my pics galleries, LJ. Thanks!

Fifth, the TWOP boards recently started a massive BSG rewatch that'll continue through the S4 premiere in January. (Yeah, I know btlstr_hiatusca is doing the same thing, but I'm not a member.) I've really enjoyed reading the posts about the miniseries, but I haven't jumped in because I'm a hardcore lurker on forums. So, I thought I'd type up my very, very long reactions and post 'em here! No spoilers past the end of S1. ( Collapse )

I originally posted parts of this at lunchtime, but then I decided to delete and repost now that I'm in a slightly less ranty mood.

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3. I slept 10.5 hours on Monday night. I napped after work yesterday. Which meant, of course, that last night I could not sleep at all. Managed a total of three hours. Ugh.

4. Happy-making: new BSG videoblog. No spoilers (at least, I didn't hear any.) Gaeta's apparently one kinky bastard, and I love how they always end with Jamie snarking in his oh-so-very-English way. While I like Lee just fine, I think I'm developing a crush on Jamie.

5. The Amazing Race All-Stars is coming! Okay, since when were Charla and Mirna "the most popular and famous AR couple ever"? All-star seasons usually suck, but if it means more Colin+Christie+Ox, then I'll set the TiVo season pass right now. ;)

6. This new short movie by Dove Cosmetics has been making the rounds lately -- it shows the process of changing a normal-but-pretty woman into a "gorgeous babe" through makeup, styling, and Photoshop. None of it is a surprise, but it does make a powerful point.

7. Hey, sarmoti! EntWkly has a Christian Bale photo gallery. Funny that most of the quotes they use are rather negative. ;)

8. And from the same site: Dalton Ross is a baby-hating monster. All because he's tired of the obsession with celebrity spawn. Aww. (He makes me laugh.)

9. In Who news, I really liked Sepinwall's review of "The Christmas Invasion" and his comparison of Nine and Ten that's complimentary to both men.

10. Project Runway finale tonight! As much as it pains me, I'm thinking Jeffrey will win. If not him, then Uli. I love Michael to bits, but I'm not banking on his collection. Alas. But before I settle in for an hour of The Divine Tim Gunn, I really need a nap.

I am wide awake. Alas. I even took a sleeping pill, but it didn't work. I have to be way the hell up on the other side of the county tomorrow morning for an inservice, which means a 45-minute drive. I do love inservices, though -- at least, when they're focused on curriculum stuff I haven't heard dozens of times before. Yup, I'm a curriculum junkie. But I have to leave in four hours, and I'm completely awake despite taking a sleeping pill. Such is life.

I've been having a moody, "I suck!" week thus far. Gotta love that good ol' hormones/insecurity cocktail, huh? To cheer myself up, I pulled some AD eps up on the TiVo and have decided that "Forget Me Now" is the ultimate cure-all. Analrapist! "What a fun, sexy time for you!" and Maeby/George-Michael! Steve Holt! Franklin! GOB taking roofies because of "I won't forget this... Dad!" Love love love. (Though "Pier Pressure" is still the most sublime half-hour of anything ever. J. Walter Weatherman. Yes.)

Yoga. Again. More specifically, the lack thereof! I bought MegaYoga on siryn99's recommendation, and I just finished about 45 minutes of practice -- can't decide whether it calmed me down enough to sleep or keyed me up enough to just stay up all night. ;) Last week's classes wore me out so much that I didn't feel like going the past two days, but I'm going to attempt tomorrow night's hot class. My goal is to make it through the whole 90-minute session, even if I have to sit out most of it. I've also downloaded some free podcasts off iTunes, including several video ones designed for beginners.

In fandom news... I was thrilled to see that BSG won the popular votes for "Best Drama" and "TWoP Show with Highest Actual Quality" in the Tubeys. Yay! Very cool, since I hadn't expected it to come out ahead in a site-wide vote.

Oh, and speaking of voting: Cynthia McKinney lost her congressional runoff. I *want* to like her in theory, but damn, she lost any chance of that a long time ago.

I know I'm way behind on comments -- sorry! I love receiving them and find it easy to post daily, but the talk-back brings out my shy side sometimes. ;) Will try to get caught up tomorrow. Until then, much love to everyone, and I'm going to try and sleep....