Oh.

This is purportedly the Shatner scene that got cut from Trek XI.

And suddenly, just like that, I can see the closeness of their relationship. It amuses me that it is so ingrained that even new Trek writes it that way and that there are . . . Shatneresque . . . pauses . . . written directly in the script.

*bleary stare*

I'm tired and dry-eyed and trying my hardest to become one with my chair, but I thought I'd post something anyway.
I'm working on a gorgeous cardigan. It's going to take a lot of sweat and tears (frogged five times in 24 hours), but I like it so much that I'm willing to overlook the amount of abuse it will inflict. Isn't it pretty? However, the pattern itself is poorly written and extremely confusing. I've finally gotten about three inches of length on the back, but the armhole shaping is what's worrying me.

I'm going to try to update with some sort of regularity for this one. We shall see.

PS: I've had the stupid 80s song "Come On Eileen" stuck in my head since 10 am. I've listened to the actual thing a couple dozen times now. Will. Not. Leave. *grump*

White Sauce

I made a white sauce today. However, that is not so important. What is important is that I didn't know roux is the base for a white sauce. What is very important is that I made a roux today. And now I'm excited for further adventures in roux. (Not further adventures to rue.)

Blurg.

*grumble grumble* Being an English major sucks balls. I have to read lengthy works in insane periods of time. Beowulf in two nights, Faerie Queene in four, and now Utopia in three. And people wonder why I have no life. One day, you will find me mummified in my room, literature in my lap and crocheted mess trailing to the floor.

Benadryl the Strong

I have horribly severe allergies. And by severe, I mean, so bad I get two injections a week. I had a local reaction yesterday afternoon that was bad enough to make me take Benadryl today. And after fighting the Benadryl for two hours, Benadryl is going to claim victory. All hail Benadryl the Strong.

Did I mention that I'm on good drugs?

Neil Gaiman linked to this earlier today: http://sirriamnis.livejournal.com/1898157.html

All I can say, as an aspiring librarian, this absolutely breaks my heart. I used to go to my local library once a week to check out three shopping bags worth of books. (I read ridiculously fast.) My parents never bought books for me because we couldn't afford it. Statistically, I shouldn't have made it to university. I like to think my success is mostly due to the wonderful ladies at my local library. Libraries are a resource we should never have to do without.

Halloween Planning

Talking to Christina today, I discovered she plans to take me Halloween partying with her. Wherever it is she's going. No one else seems to plan this far ahead. Then again, no one else stays up late looking at pretty crocheted things. And no one else looks at Joy Kampia's dress and says, "Oh hey, I could make that into a Halloween costume."

So now I find myself thinking up various foods to crochet into dresses. Thus far, I have the hamburger, cupcake, and sushi. I think all are manageable, but the hamburger is probably out of the running. Attempting to make the ratios work with my skin-baring comfort level probably won't happen. As for the cupcake, I'm not sure a skinny cupcake would look very good. Meaning I'm scouring the internet for a sushi dress pattern. Probably in nigiri or temaki. Maybe a roll of maki would work...black rolls separated with white stripes? We'll see.

At any rate, it looks like I might start blogging about crochet. And food.

" "

I am at a loss for words. After 24 years, my dad is closing up shop and saying goodbye. Except, of course - this being my dad, he's not really saying goodbye. I am. He wants me to write a letter to his landlord and his customers. This is a great idea, very gentlemanly. But here's the catch - how do I do that? How am I supposed to put into words what a blessing this is? How much we hated the store at the end? All while staying kind and thankful for business? I don't know how to write this letter.

This is unquestionably hard for me. I grew up there. I've known the other shop owners as they've rotated in and out of the building. I've seen Apple Core leave, Harrison's open, The Finish Line open and move, the diner change ownership, and so many other shops. Through those years, only Clement's and Charlie's have remained immutable. Yet as much love as I have for the entire building, I was afraid we would be immutable as well. I feared we would go down with the shop. And at times, it looked like we were.

Trying to write these letters is making me feel like I'm being raked over hot coals. It's difficult to express the appropriate regret when there really isn't any. There's only a deep sadness that this is the second part of my childhood gone. Even as my childhood is twisting it's heart, my adulthood is yelling good riddance and skipping away. There is no reconciling the two. And unfortunately, I can't write a letter expressing them both.

Summer 2009

What I've actually managed to do:

Read:

1. Chicken with Plums - Marjane Satrapi
   
2. The Penelopiad - Margaret Atwood
3. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood (Had to return it halfway through. Must resume.)
   
4. The Areas of My Expertise - John Hodgman

Watched:

1. T:SCC, all
2. Bones, S1
3. SGA, S1
   
4. Pushing Daisies, S1

I've started work on a crocheted blanket, but the finger got in the way. So it's obviously postponed indefinitely.

Pushing Daisies, Grape Pie, and Why My Family Sucks.

The essentials: I burned through S1 of Pushing Daisies with my sister on Friday. I first made grape pie for a friend last November. My family sucks.

Pushing Daisies: I love it. I love Ned. I love Chuck. I love Chuck's dresses. I love Kristin Chenoweth's bosom attempting to make a break for it every episode. I love Ned's hips. (Yes, they really do need to be separate from Ned himself. They're just so wonderfully set off by the little aprons... *ahem*) I love that Emerson gets to say "BITCH!" so often on network television. I love the coroner and his calculating "mhmmm"s. I love the whimsically not-dead people. I guess you could say I love everything about Pushing Daisies, from it's technicolor look to it's brilliant dialogue. That my eleven-year-old sister also likes it just happens to be a giant plus. (Also, how excited are we for the S2 discs today?? I actually yelled at the TV at the end of ep9 and rooted around looking to see if a fourth disc would magically appear. It speaks to how much better my sister knows me now that she did not look perturbed by this in the least.)

Grape pie. Ned is a pie maker. I have made pies. Pushing Daisies makes me want pie. Pushing Daisies makes me want to bake pies even more than Waitress. (And I have seen Waitress six times. What? It kept airing on HBO when I didn't have class...) My mom is having a baking contest at work, but being the organizer, she's not submitting herself. But being who she is, she wants to bring something anyway. Solidarity with the employees and whatnot. But being who she is, she orders me to bake something for her. And here's where the Pushing Daisies influence kicks in.
I have a friend from high school. His name is Donald. He is as weird as I am. Meaning he has spent a great deal of time pondering why his favorite fruit is not found in pie. Meaning he questions virtually everyone he gets to know on this matter. I promised him I'd bake him a grape pie as soon as my skills caught up to my ambition. He came to visit last November and I baked a pie. It was a most excellent pie, perfect filling, nearly perfect crust, and even better served cold. So I figured I'd make a pair of grape pies for mom cos the first one was so great.

I decided to do a test pie yesterday. A slightly smaller seven inch pie. You know, just to show everyone that I can make a pie with grapes and put qualms to rest. As it turns out, my family sucks. My roommates loved my pie last time. My family hates it. I'm pretty sure they cower in fear of it. I had to put it in the garage fridge they hated it so much. Which, fine. Grape pie may not be everyone's thing. But you don't have to tell me there's something wrong with it. It's a perfectly fine pie! Granted, it's a little too sour, but I was being considerate for the sugar conscious among us! (Lookin' at you, dad.)

*grumble* All of this means that this morning, I am going to try a blueberry pie instead. Cos apparently their consensus is that a blueberry pie would be spectacular whereas a grape pie is simply unnatural and must be sent back to the hellhole from whence it crawled. Which, fine. I'll eat my own damn pie.

Although if I'm making a blueberry pie, I'm pretty sure the laws of all that is good and holy and downright American county fair dictate it must be a lattice pie. I've been wanting to try that...

Top Chef Masters

I've never been a fan of reality TV. Unless it involves food. Cooked by people who know what they're doing. I also develop crushes based on people's abilities, often with absolutely no regard for looks. Cos I'm picky and not shallow like that.

I first saw John Besh on Food Network's Best Next Top Iron Awesome Chef the Man or whatever they called it. I wanted him to win because he has a great personality and seems to know what he's doing and doesn't have that weird and creepy Michael Symon laugh. Seriously. That thing weirds me out. (Another sign of utter roommate compatability, Tini is in total agreement. We didn't even watch it together! Came up in conversation!)

So channel surfing tonight, I immediately stop when I see Besh laughing and being self deprecating. I ended up watching all of Top Chef People Who Already Know How to Cook and Can Chop Off Your Ass. Liked it a lot. This is the kind of programming I wish Food Network would air. If I wanted to see amateurs cook, I'd drive to the nearest county fair. I used to watch copious amounts of Food Network. Granted, it was because Original Recipe Iron Chef was on a lot more, but still. You used to really cook, Food Network! Stop giving me people eating. And entertaining. And running. And bleeding. The bleeding is only ok on Iron Chef All of Them. If you keep this up, I'm gonna have to start watching Ming Tsai make really unappetizing fusion. At least he knows how to wield his Kyocera Santoku and doesn't use a damn Ginsu. (Just looked up what knife Rachel Ray uses to make sure it's not a Ginsu. Furi. Meaning I'm going to mock Christina to no end for loving her Furi knife MUAHAHAHA!)

On Levity

Today has not been the best day ever. I had an appointment with my doctor today, ostensibly to follow up on the high cholesterol and low thyroid levels. And while those were discussed, ending with a three month extension on lowering the cholesterol and a referral to an endocrinologist, the big news came from an MRI. I had the MRI done to find out why I hear my pulse in my ear all the time. Sure, everyone hears it at one point or another, but I'm pretty sure it's abnormal to hear it constantly over the course of a year (or more, my record-keeping has never been good). The MRI didn't turn up anything that would cause a pulsing sound. However, something else didn't turn up. I have an empty sella turcica. Meaning, I seem to be missing my pituitary gland. From what I can remember of 9th grade Biology, the pituitary controls and regulates the hormones in one's body. It is the pituitary that tells the body when development should start occurring. Considering I developed right on time, or even earlier, I don't understand how this could have happened. So needless to say, I have a referral to a neurologist.

Now, I realize this kind of news is upsetting to most people. They react adversely, to say the least. I, on the other hand, seem to have developed a keener sense of levity than I had realized. My first reaction was bewilderment, then acceptance, then mom and I started joking about it. The family says "I have no brain" as a reason for the stupid things I say or do. (Which believe me, have been unaccountably numerous today. I'm just not on today.) My friends have taken to affectionately referring to me as "half brain." None of this bothers me. I say I'm suffering from "hole in the brain." Interesting how levity works, isn't it? It makes me wonder if I would have been capable of this amount of levity a few years ago. Maybe I've always had it, but never had a need to apply it. Who knows. All I know is, I have a hole in my brain and I'll keep laughing about it til I die.

Summer Reading List

Summer Goals
Read:

• Jeeves and Wooster - PG Wodehouse
• something by HP Lovecraft
• second half of Neil Gaiman's Sandman
• The Gun Seller - Hugh Laurie
• start Terry Pratchett's Discworld series
• Crime & Punishment - Dostoevsky (gifted in 2006, have yet to finish)

Watch*:

• 30 Rock S1, 2
• HIMYM all
• Pushing Daisies all
  
• T:SCC S2.5 (complete!)
  
• Bones all
  
• Life all
• Dexter all
• Curb Your Enthusiasm all
• Deadwood all
  
• Heroes S2.5

*I'm fully aware these are unrealistic and will probably carry over to the next summer. A girl's gotta have goals.

Learn to cook:

• more Thai food
• more American food
• Italian food

Organize music library (complete!)
Knit something wearable. That is not a scarf.

Flight of the Conchords

I cannot remember falling in love so quickly and thoroughly with anything as I did with Flight of the Conchords. I started watching their HBO show religiously last year as soon as I had television access. I watched youtube clips. I listened to as much free music as I could. (At the end of the day, I still make $0, after all.) I dragged friends into the obsession. We started quoting/singing at each other. And then! a tour was announced! I couldn't scare up $65 fast enough. Seriously. That's why we sat in the mezzanine and our friends sat in the orchestra.

The distance was nothing. Being in the front row of the mezzanine meant we had the clearest view of Bret and Jemaine I think I'll ever have in this lifetime. I took fuzzy pictures and grainy videos. Just to prove to myself I was actually there. That they were really that close. Not exactly tangible-close, but good enough. I was enthralled. They were right there! Live! Singing! Joking! So clear and life-like! After playing an impromptu bit of the show's theme song, Jemaine cracked about how that reminds us of watching TV and how much more reliable that is. Sure the show's reliable, but I don't want reliable. I want awkward, funny, off-the-cuff nuttiness.

Obviously, this was my first concert. I was thrilled. I'm still over the moon about it. How many times does a favorite band come to Tampa? And is affordable? This was the Conchords' first trip to Tampa and first stop on the tour. My friends were annoyed by the fans shouting suggestions and noticed some fluidity issues in the set list and banter, but I was so rosy nothing was wrong. The entire evening is shrouded in lovely, hazy memory film. There was a lot of hollering and clapping and wretched singing, but I could not have been happier with the experience.

The highlights of my evening had to be the new not-Satan song and "Carol Brown". Definitely one of my favorite songs ever. I just love the Paul Simon callback. I had to explain it to my friends and play "50 Ways" for them. sigh Kids these days... The not-Satan song was just purely amusing. I was very impressed with the accents and storytelling; I can't wait for that to be polished. Most interesting was the slowed and stripped down "Sugalumps". I loved that a lot. As for what I wished to hear but figured would be a longshot going in: "Petrov, Yelyena, and I". There's something addictive about that song. I just can't get enough of it...kind of like the Conchords.

Current Reason to Hate Tampa

I tend to have a few running reasons as to why I hate Tampa. This list is everchanging as different reasons jockey for the number one spot. At the moment, however, I am hating Tampa because we at USF do not get SunSports with our cable package.

Alright, so that's an overstatement. But really. On the nights that matter, I am left with constant refreshing of the scores because Directv BLACKS OUT Magic games.

As a lifelong Magic fan, this is unacceptable. (Seriously, lifelong. I was born just before the team started coming together.) I am missing the best season in recent memory! Since when did the Magic start scoring over 100 in just about every game?? I'm starting to think this is some form of twisted karmic retribution for every game I watched gloatingly. My household is one of the few to never miss a Magic game due to cable provider squabbling. That's right, we have Comcast. No, I will not tell you where we live.

I'm straying. My true purpose in this mini-rant: WHY IS JAMEER NELSON INJURED? How did I miss this? Honestly, as a lifelong fan, I should have known better. Those scores were looking too good. Those wins were racking up too quickly too soon. We are the Orlando Magic, after all. We are doomed to crushing heartbreak at some point in the season. More often than not, it's right around the All-Star break.

And here I was, thinking maybe this will be the year. We're twenty now, it's about time! Instead, I now ask: How far will we get? The Magic optimist in me says Finals. The Magic realist says not so fast, bucko, you'll be lucky to gimp through the second round.

Hee

This cracks me up. I see things like this and wish someone would make a blog filled with letters like these and yesterday's Branson complaint.

Inaugurating

Obviously, I'm all for this inaugural party thing. Obama has been sworn in, great. I love American politics, it's a lot of fun to follow. The one thing I couldn't help noticing through this year's inauguration is the huge emphasis on blacks. People are excited and happy that a black man has been elected president. I understand this, I really do. But this thought has come up a few times in conversation with friends lately: what about Asians?

Personally, I'm all for doing away with racial labels and becoming the melting pot America has supposedly been all these years. I want to see America forget about race for a change. To not have that thought even enter our minds. But as that day is not yet here, I wonder about the under- and mis-representation of my race.

First, the obvious one: no one is clamoring for a first Hispanic or Asian president. Why is this? Are we not as important as blacks when it comes to minorities? Do they get seniority because they've been around America longer? Because they've suffered more? Oh, wait. We've all suffered. Every country goes through a period of xenophobia. It's almost like a rite of passage.

Possibly even more glaring is culture's focus on whites. How many TV shows or movies feature Asians in key roles? Name some Asian movie stars. Lucy Liu? Ok, who else? Bai Ling? If they're all you can think of, maybe you understand my frustration. On television, you have one Asian couple, on Lost. Granted, we understand their dynamic now, but what did everyone think of Jin at first? My sincere thanks to the writers for utilizing and breaking stereotypes so well. Otherwise, Asians are stereotyped into the ground. And don't you dare tell me Hollywood has never been racist or stereotypical towards Asians. Breakfast at Tiffany's is one of my favorite movies, but it makes me physically ill to watch Mickey Rooney.

TBC

No.

Oh, Florida. Your stupidity knows no bounds. Seriously? I should think you'd have to ingest the books themselves in order to achieve harmful levels of lead. Also, am I not living, breathing, fully-functioning proof of large scale exposure to books not having an effect on children? (I really need to make a list of everything I've ever read in my life one day.)

Zing, Zang, Zoom!

Usually, my reaction every January is "The circus is coming to town, the circus is coming to town!" This year was no different. Usually, my reaction upon seeing it is sheer delight. I love circuses. I love music. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circuses have managed to combine both beautifully every time I've seen their shows. This year's Red Train show, however, failed on both counts.

I don't know if it's because Orlando is one of Ringling's first stops and Zing, Zang, Zoom hasn't had enough time to mesh fully or if it's a truly awful show. I understand that most audience members are under the age of 10 and have a sense of wonder about circuses in general, but ZZZ just doesn't pack in the circus feel as well as the Blue Train's show, Over the Top. I saw that one debut last year as well. OtT has all aspects of what you'd expect from a circus show: Ringling's ever-present elephants and tigers, hilarious clowns, and amazing and innovative stunts and acrobatics. OtP truly is over the top. The songs were lovely and catchy and the performers engaging.

ZZZ has two songs. Levitytia clearly lip-synched and Ringmaster Alex likely did as well. "Don't Try This at Home" was a fairly annoying number that felt belittling. Give the audience some credit. A small disclosure about trained magicians would suffice. Devoting an entire song indicates a lack of creativity. In fact, this entire show lacks creativity. It's main premise is magic. Great. Interesting beginning, especially considering the dearth of magic show specials on TV. I recall watching those as a kid and being absolutely enthralled. What's been forgotten however, is that this is a circus. Death-defying stunts and acrobatics and novelties abound! Those things don't go hand in hand with illusions. The key to a circus is that everything is in full view. You see the harnesses and that's where the stab of anxiety comes from. He's not tethered to anything! She's tethered by her hair and only her hair! These two opposing concepts fight each other for dominance in the show and fail to make it spectacular. ZZZ needs to focus on one or the other in order to pull this off successfully. I suggest the circus aspect because really, who goes to the circus to see a magic show?

I was in Section 108 at the Amway Arena; the audience had no enthusiasm until the gravity-defying rings performance. ZZZ needs a lot more zing before intermission for this to become an even show. The audience was buzzing with anticipation before the show started, but once it was underway, Ringmaster Alex had to put a gargantuan amount of effort into getting even minimal audience participation. When it's obvious the cast knows it's not keeping the audience entertained, it's just painful to watch. The audience around me seemed surprised by the ending and I'll have to agree, it was far too abrupt and anticlimactic. I, for one, was wondering where my money's worth had gone. Hopefully, ZZZ gets it's kinks straightened out. Otherwise, it's going to be a torturous two years.

Test Post

I decided on Blogger because I'm a creature of aesthetics. The ability to change themes and layouts are highly appealing to me.

All entries dated prior to this one were imported from my LJ. I had started it up to keep an online record of my semester in Form/Technique of Fiction. I decided I like blogging though, so I uprooted them all and plonked them down here. So everything is in one place and all. I need to go back and edit those posts down properly so they expand the way they were intended to. I think that's a chore for a later date though.

So let's see how this goes.