Saturday, September 29, 2001

Hee.. I feel this way about Alaska, though with a few minor (and mostly due to geography) differences. There're no polar bears wandering through the streets, we're not all like the people on Northern Exposure (and may I just reiterate that that show was filmed in Washington state? Against a backdrop of mountains that the Alaska Range just puts to three kinds of shame?), if you ask me where the penguins are I'll hit you with an encyclopedia, and we. Don't. Freaking. Live. In. Igloos. *Snerk* But anyway... Yeah. And don't all move here, 'cause there are just about enough people here. Thanks.

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I got myself the new N'Sync CD, Celebrity, with the $5.00 gift certificate (from Half.com) that Reesa sent me. Thanks, Reesa! (I also got a copy of the MST3K version of The Wild Wild World Of Batwoman, just in case you were worried or something.) The CD is quite good, actually, very catchy tunes and a few rather biting lyrics... And Pop is just -fun-. I also picked up Erasure's Wonderland and a single called Three Li'l Nothin's by Rasputina at Value Village -- Wonderland was a -dollar- for a cassette.

I have to admit that the -only- reason I bought the Rasputina CD was because, in addition to never seeing it again _ever_ if I didn't buy it -right- then, it has Transylvanian Concubine on it. Yes, I let my reading dictate my music purchases! Well, sort of. On rare occasions. When I listened to the CD, I realized that I'd -heard- Rasputina play before, though I can't remember if it was on Acoustic Cafe, Echoes, West Coast Live, or something else entirely (like maybe KRUA). So, big big bonus in the Rasputina purchase -- I already liked them. Hee.

I have yet to listen to the Pet Shop Boys single I grabbed as well... But Wonderland is good. It's got a couple of really fluffy, bouncy, -dumb- poppy tunes that seem like complete Conrad-fare. *Snicker* Or maybe Marc/Vic soundtrack fodder, I can't really decide. And I need to update their list, 'cause I heard Lifehouse's Hanging By A Moment and -that- is a M/V tune if I've _ever_ heard one. Wow.

Speaking of M/V and their music, I made myself a copy of their soundtrack. I couldn't find an mp3 of Spain's No One Has To Know, The Mavericks' Secret Flame, or Radney Foster's I'm In, which was too bad, but I _did_ get Just How Lonely, If You Only Knew (who's in love with you), Supernova Goes Pop and When Worlds Collide, Native Tongue of Love, Hanging By A Moment, Sometimes and Sexuality, The World In My Eyes, Smashmouth's version of I'm A Believer... And most of the rest of their list. I also arranged them in the order that I feel best describes the arc of their relationship, from the moment Marc figures out he's in love through revelation and reciprocation, right up to the sex. Then I ended it with I'm A Believer. *Snerk*

I love my mother. She either didn't notice or simply chose to ignore the fact that I accidentally sang the line 'does he have a boyfriend yet?' in place of 'does he have a girlfriend yet?' during Five Iron Frenzy's 'Superpowers'. And the weird thing is, I've _never_ changed that line before. *Blink*

Speaking of Conrad... He, Rick, and their version of Maus have been really, -really- quiet, lately. Almost everyone has. It's probably just because of the eleventh, but... Hm. Maybe I'll go back and reread and see if I can't get anything going. I kind-of want to rewrite MiLVO, because... Because. I just do. I dunno... I've just been thinking about it, I guess.

In other news, I'm really glad I don't keep anything terribly difficult to explain (i.e. sex toys, books full of pictures of half-naked men that are _not_ art-related, etc.) in my room. Not that I -can't-, because I'm sure my mother wouldn't really -care-, but it's just that she and my brother and I are making a frontal assault on the Mouse-House that is My Room tomorrow, and I was just thinking about how glad I am that I don't have to worry about her holding up something and asking me about it... I don't know what I'm trying to say. I'm just babbling into the void, I guess.

Scrubby? You still okay out there? I'm sure you are, 'cause if you weren't, Reesa'd be freaking out all over her blog, so...

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:01 PM |

Friday, September 28, 2001

Okay, very cool things first:

-- 'Apostrophic Parallax Errors', from a comment on breakfast at Highindustrial, link provided by Tom (and I don't know if I can work any more attributives into that-, oh, wait, I can!), originally posted by some guy going by the letter 'R'.

-- The Conscience Of The King chapters 11 and 12 are up, link via Technomancy.

-- We're having chicken noodle soup for dinner. Yum.

-- Last but not least, I'm gonna have a new computer in about two weeks, -and- we discovered that what we thought was a second coax-cable outlet is actually a dual phoneline outlet.

Then marginally cool things:

-- I have a relatively new car. '89 Dodge Dynasty, unnamed as of yet. It has no music-accessing device in it. Well, it -does-, but it's an AudioVox AV-103 Stereo Cassette Player with no faceplate, ergo, no tunes. Oh well, I can always swap it out for my CD player.

-- We still have the mice, but there are fewer of them.

Not-cool Things:

Of which there is only one... I have to write an email to one of my soon-to-be stepsisters. She's apparently a lot like me, what with the computer-geekery and the not-socializing-very-much. But what do I -say-? I have a hard enough time coming up with 'I like it, write more'-type mails for fanfic authors I -love-! *Whimper* Fortunately, I don't have a deadline, but I -would- like to establish contact before too long. What the hell do I -say-?

I can't really go into -all- of my hobbies, 'cause I somehow don't think my dad or her mom would approve of them... I just... I hate talking about myself. I hate meeting new people. I hate hate hate trying to interact with complete strangers. Okay, I hate having to be the one that initiates everything. I'm passive and submissive and like to sit in the back row in class -- actually, I'm kidding on that last one. But still.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 6:48 PM |

Tuesday, September 25, 2001

I had an incredibly bizarre series of half-dreams the other morning, all of which resulted in me waking reluctantly and somewhat dazedly. The first chunk involved Marc, Vic, quidditch (and M/V playing quidditch, since I think they'd A) love it and B) be good at it), magic, Hogwarts (or maybe Hogsmeade), and someone who was missing or in trouble. I was probably dreaming about it because I'd been thinking about Marc and Vic playing quidditch after having finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...

The -second- part was just -strange-. It involved a remodeled Bosco's; a guy named Sebastien; the fact that I wasn't wearing a bra; a half-dozen dollar coins the size of my palm, one of which had been misstruck and was therefore useless as currency but valuable as a collector's item; my car; Mme. Jean; this strange drive-through exhibit that I've dreamed about before; people sending email with porn movies as attachments to my cell phone; a guy that looked like a member of Soundgarden; some candy; and needing to leave some place that looked like the fairgrounds so I/we wouldn't be late getting somewhere else.

The parts I remember most clearly are the leaving -- Mme. Jean and I were in this big gravel parking lot, and we needed to get going. I'm fumbling with my keys, but she gets to the driver's side of the car first and yanks open the door. I'm shocked that it wasn't locked -- after all, I don't want my parking permit stolen -- but get in after she does. Then I try to find the ignition key, and while I'm doing that, I hear this engine-revving sound. I can't figure out where it's coming from until I move my right foot and discover that my car is already -running-. That was disconcerting.

So, we zoom off, and we wind through this big exhibit-thing that consists of a bunch of plywood nailed to a framework lining the road. The plywood has been painted blue and white, kind of like an ocean theme... Except that instead of undersea creatures, there are a bunch of photographs stuck to the wood. I point out the guy that looks like he might have been with Soundgarden, and tell Mme. Jean that he once saved me from a bunch of jerks, by walking through this area with me. (It should be noted that the guy had incredibly long, slightly wavy hair and was wearing a tank-top with a bunch of spikes all over it. He looked like someone that you'd want to avoid walking next to, out of fear of personal injury.) By this time, the road had turned into a mall, and Mme. Jean and I were walking.

We get to Bosco's, and run into Ev, who's discussing various ship-models with someone or something. I wander over and look at something -- anime, maybe, or toys. I discover this shelf of candy, and am really bummed that I can't get anything because I don't have any money. Then I remember that I have some change, so I dog through my pockets and discover that I have enough to get me a number of sweets. So I start stacking up candybars, choosing some for me, some for Ev, some for Mme. Jean, and some for my mom. While I'm doing this, the guys behind the counter are watching me, and I become acutely aware of the fact that I'm wearing a camisole rather than a bra. One of the clerks says something along the lines of 'breathing women should be illegal'... In the dream, I assumed he was referring to the fact that breathing draws attention to one's chest. Or something. I'm dead tired, as these dreams didn't let me rest.

So then I get done with the candy and take it up front, and start talking to one of the guys. I can't remember what we talked about, really, but I told him something and he looks at me, rather concerned, and asks me if I talked to Sebastien, yet. I told him no, I hadn't, and was all embarrassed because I hadn't. Then, while he was ringing up my stuff, my cell phone makes it's 'You've Got A Message!' noise, so I check it.

At first, I'm kind of excited, because it's mail for me. Then I read the subject lines and the message sizes, and I'm appalled. The first one said something like 'Daddy and me in the garage' and was like 7.6 megs in size, and the other one was some other obviously pornographic attachment. How the -hell- could 14+ megs -fit- on my phone?

Then the clerk wanted the money, so I count out five of these huge coins and go to give him another dollar in quarters, but he argues with me that I should give him the sixth one. I tell him no, he can't have it, 'cause it's messed up and it's not worth anything as -money-. We were still arguing about it when I finally woke up. Guh.

I don't want to know what any of it means, I just wanted to write it down.

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Okay, just so all two of you know I haven't broken my fingers or suffered some kind of head injury that leaves me unable to write, I -have- written. In fact, I've started applying parts of Novelist's Notebook to MooT. This has resulted in all kinds of interesting things, not the least of which is the fact that I've managed to work Alvie and Cid into MooT's universe.

While that's all well and good, I don't want to transcribe the latest bit I've been working on, because when I go back and reread it, it's horrible. It's -dull-, it's _predictable_ (especially if you know my style), and it's all been done before. Many times. Oh, I know that I could just write it up and fling it into the world and no one will mind all -that- much, after all, it's not like it's _poorly_ written, it's just.... Not interesting to me. It has potential, though, which is always a good thing, but... It's -boring-. And as I've nearly used all of the ink in the purple pen on this dull interlude, I'm not terribly happy with the situation.

I wanted to write something, if not spectacular, at least -interesting- with that pen. If I had to write something done-to-death, why couldn't have been smut? Making a gift out of a gift, I was. Well, I -tried-, anyhow. Kelvath and Avrath didn't -want- smut, something about superior officers and propriety and pneumonia and flu and anyhow, didn't I get enough of that what with balancing Maus and Silver all precariously-like?

So anyhow. The debate is raging: Transcribe what I've got anyhow and live, or put up with the time-consuming and quite-probably tedious project of rewriting the damn thing? I've done the rewrite thing once, and while it -needed- it (the whole post-Ludy escape scene consisted of Maus being an asshole; when I started writing I knew why he was doing it, but then I couldn't remember and it seemed out of character anyhow...), I don't wanna do it again. Whinewhinewhine, poutpoutpout.

Look at me babble.

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I got to see BTVS yesterday! *Grin* Speaking of babble. And good Lord does Willow remind me of me, 'cept for the whole going-to-the-club-and-leaving-with-a-vampire thing. And Giles...Giles I like. Primarily because he reminds me of Jonathan Lithgow. Or at least his -accent- does... Cordelia gets better, right? I seem to get that impression from a rather odd source (Chocolaty Goodness, which could be giving me a skewed veiw of Cordy, but hey. It -is- based on the canon of later seasons...). And Jesse... Too bad about him, really. He's got that -nose-... And Xander's Xander. Hee.

Mmph. Gonna see if I can wake up at all on this grey morose day without freezing important bits off.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:44 PM |