Another meme stolen freely from canarynoir, just for fun...

Instructions:
Bold the things you've done.

( behind here )

Today found out that one of my co-workers is retiring in September, and another is moving to Alabama because his wife was promoted. ARGH. More training. I haven't finished training the last batch. And I am a TERRIBLE trainer - I have no patience. I just know the job better than most, so they come to me... I must breathe...

Suddenly I'm starving.

Again, from the lovely and talented canarynoir...

When you see this post, quote from Doctor Who on your LJ.

From The Face of Evil:
The Doctor: You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views, which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.

From The Doctor Dances:
Jack: Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, hmm, nice, but could be a bit more sonic?
The Doctor: What, you've never been bored? Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up??

From The Five Doctors:
The Master: The cosmos without the Doctor scarcely bears thinking about.

Although I've done some like this before, I think some of it has changed. Stolen freely from canarynoir...

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them ;-)

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible [not the whole thing]
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (not quite ALL of them, but most)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens (about half finished)
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis [this is part of #33...]
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville [ALMOST finished!)
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare (see No. 14 – the Complete Works of Shakespeare)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

[ Please post comments only below -- I want to see your list on YOUR blog :) ]

Boy, am I glad "Les Mis" is on there - that was one of the most exhausting reads of all time. They should also list Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, Thomas Berger's Little Big Man, and Alex Haley's Roots (I think so, anyway) - because obviously, if you've read The Chronicles of Narnia you've read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe...

Today they were running a retrospective on the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and because I love "what if?" scenarios, I started to ponder on whether it's possible that this action was one of the most important, and pivotal, in my lifetime. Think on it - it was a fair bet that Kennedy was going to be the Democratic nominee; it's a pretty good bet that he would have gone on to be President. This would have changed the history of the 70's in one major way: No Nixon. No Nixon, no Watergate, no Ford, no Carter; Kennedy likely could have served two terms and then left the White House to his VP (whoever that might have been), who may or may not have served one or two terms. Would then have Reagan come into the WH in 1982, or...? Now, I'll admit that foreign policy probably wouldn't have changed much, or world problems. The rise of Muslim extremists would have happened, and it's probable that Iran would have seized the embassy anyway. And Kennedy very likely wouldn't have gone to China. Vietnam would have probably ended just as badly. I know it changes nothing, but I love thinking about things like this. I once tried to work up an alternate world history based on Jack Kennedy surviving back in November '63... (I ended up sticking more or less closer to this world history just 'cause it's easier and then I don't have to do a lot of exposition.)

Icon Sqee Meme

1. Reply to this post, and I will pick five of your userpics.
2. Make a post and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon squee.

The ones that typographer asked me to explain are behind the cut.

( Squee! )

Speaking of cats, they need to shut up. Either Cairo or Cuervo (they tag-team) think that 3:30 am is the time for us to be up and feeding/petting them. One night it might be Cuervo, the next night Cairo. It curtails my sleep... and has for three days. First it was Cuervo, then Cairo, and last night it was both of them.

The most exciting thing that's happened in my life is the arrival of my own 4-port USB hub shaped like the TARDIS from England (part of that questioned order I mentioned a while back; with luck the rest will trickle in eventually, too). Now, while any ol' hub would be fine, this one has a glowing light on top and makes the TARDIS engine noises when you plug things in. What's not to love?

And so goes my exciting life. I has a TARDIS, and I've been keeping up with most of my friends' journals. This is an accomplishment!

I went (or am going through) another crisis of "why the hell do I even bother?" in regard to my writing, but I dutifully have hunkered down and critiqued the others in my writers' groups (or at least, I got many of them done, I have a few more to go) and will post more. At least beta readers are readers! One of them helpfully informed me that he worked with a friend on a self-published release, and even with all their friends spreading the word they still only managed to sell 500 copies. And I thought, "Well, that's 500 more people reading than I have currently." I really don't want (or expect, really) to make money as an author. I know I'd have to be John Grisham or Stephen King to do that. I just would like people to read my work and say, "I enjoyed that." (Without the added "you need to fix X, X, and Y." I like criticism, I do, but...) I think that's why I hung around RSI as long as I did, despite the lack of real money and the real lack of any respect (or gratitude) from my employers.

Dang, Bo Diddley passed away. :'( Now, I understand why he (and other great black artists of the 50's) get a little uptight about Elvis being mistakenly credited with the "invention" of rock-n-roll. But Elvis himself never said that, and I believe never would have; what Elvis DID was allow black music to be played in white households, which was absolutely unheard of in those days, and he broke the black/white barrier in music. It's a shame Elvis gets painted with a negative brush that wide when all he wanted to do was bring music he loved to everyone... There isn't anyone who wouldn't admit that Bo Diddley's beat was/is the backbone of rock music.

My arm is really hurting again (or still); I was doing a lot of reading about rotator cuff injuries and it doesn't seem like it's severe, despite my pain, because I have full range of motion and it doesn't hurt when I stretch it up (in fact, that feels really good). What DOES hurt is lifting, pushing, pulling, and twisting. So anyway, I downloaded some exercises, and I've gone back to low weights, etc.

A brief moment to meme, snicked from canarynoir:

( Here )

Non-PC thought of the day: Obama is winning because, even these days, America is still more likely to vote for a guy than a gal, even a black guy.

Best thing about the TV season ending: I'm finally watching some of the DVDs I bought.

The bread machine leaped off the counter and committed suicide. The bread was saved by some old-fashioned kneading and is now rising in a plain bread pan. There are no bread machines for sale in either Sears or Target. It's like they went out of style when I wasn't looking, for in the areas where bread machines usually are, there were a lot of different deep-fat fryers and rice steamers (interesting juxtaposition, eh?).

We did get a new lawn trimmer, since the old one walked off the porch sometime during the last few weeks. I kept telling myself I should put it away. Oh, well. It was broken, anyway.

( Memorial Day: )

You Belong in the Baby Boomer Generation

You fit in best with people born between 1943 and 1960. You are optimistic, rebellious, and even a little self centered. You still believe that you will change the world. You detest authority and rules. Deep down, you're a non conformist.

I was actually born in 1964; but I had at least one parent from the previous generation (my dad was 42 when I was born), so I guess that's why I tend to fall into the "baby boomer" outlook. It's nice to find a test that DOESN'T lump us kids from the mid-sixties in with the baby boomers anyway; I've never been able to figure that one out. The boom apparently lasted, to those folks, for a full 20 years.

There aren't that many questions on the test. I'm rather startled at the "noncomformist rebel" part - I answered "respected my parents," not "rebelled against authority."

Boring day. Nothing to report.

( Guy Test )

The only trouble with writer's groups: I'm spending so much time reading/critiquingI n other folks' work, I haven't had any time to do anything of my own (including reading lj and my mail, which is languishing since I haven't looked at it in two days). One group is due today and I'm ALMOST done, and the other group is due in a couple weeks, and I haven't even started. So I haven't done any of those re-writes on Chapter One of Book Two at all, although they're nice in my head from the comments I got back last month (which is the GOOD part of the writer's groups in the first place)...

I need a title for Book Two that isn't the title of a Johnny Cash song... (unless I go for a trilogy theme and figure out a good one for Book Three, too).

Tonight we watch Voyage of the Damned and sit around playing on the computer(s), and I meme. Not that I have anything else to do (seriously, I really don't).

Anyway, memes behind ( here )

Well, that was fun.

Geez, my iPod is hardly holding a charge at all anymore. Just flipping through those few songs drained it nearly halfway. Now, I know shuffle uses more battery than a straight playlist, but really.

I was checking prices on new iPods; I may have to eventually break down and get one. This one lasted, what, four years? Not too bad, really. And then I can send this one to get a new battery put in, since rahirah assures me there's someplace better than Apple to send it (as in, I'll get my own iPod back instead of some random refurbished one).

Random TV thoughts:

Jericho: SQUEEE!!! Can this show GET any better?

LOST: I have really been freakin' enjoying this show. And I always love a Desmond episode. I can live without the Kate episodes, but no one bats 1000 every time.

Torchwood: When did this turn into one of my favorite shows EVER? Everyone has a personality this season, people are thinking instead of acting first, and wow, what an awesome character arc (no spoilers for those who haven't seen it yet).

Eli Stone: I haven't seen anyone else enjoying this, but I have to put in a word or two for it. It's quirky and good and I'm just plain liking it lots.

C-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT! C-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT! C-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!

Watching Craig Ferguson on the ol' Tivo, trying to catch up on this week - don't know how I fell so far behind. Watched three Ellens this afternoon, have three Craigs, plus Jericho, Bones, four episodes of The Sarah Conner Chronicles... and all my Netflix I'm behind on, too. Geez.

And now to meme:

Post a comment and I'll give you a letter, and then you have to list ten things you like that start with that letter. nutmeg3 gave me the letter D. D? Let's see what I can do with D...

( Top Ten Things With D )

God, I lead an exciting life.

Friday I went under the knife again; this time they pulled the screws they'd put in six months ago. I have a couple of stitches and a band-aid; it's not too bad. Operations are pretty easy these days. They laid me down on the bed and boom, I was waking up.

I started to work on the pieces of the second novel that I chopped out of the first one - expanding it and making it into its own story - and found a section I was CERTAIN I had written down. I eventually found the scenes hiding on my old laptop, making me glad I hadn't already gotten rid of it. Whew!

I have finished, again, the first novel. If anyone would like to read it for me (or for yourselves, I HOPE it's entertaining - I can't tell anymore), just drop me an email.

Oh, hooray for mustangsally's LOLCats. What would we do without them?

Once again, my favorite LOLCat:

Fidel Castro retired, Kosovo declared independence, and Mushariff was voted out. Weird. Not that, mind you, I think anything's going to change in any of the countries above, but hey. It's historical, and all.

This weekend I made some accomplishments, including clearing out a goodly part of my office (a place I spend a lot less time than I used to do), finally getting a "home" for the dragon sculptures (and my diecast cars), got all the laundry done, spent a fortune on groceries, and whacked down bougainvillea (see rahirah's journal). It was a good weekend, and today was a pretty good day back at work. Met the new boss. He seems okay. But man, I'm going to be sorry to lose Dan. He's the best boss I've had since I was in college. That's the price one pays for being good at one's job. "We need you elsewhere!" Corporations.

I have bougainvillea wounds on my arms. Some of them really sting. Ouchie.

I have managed to lose about 6 pounds in the last month. I AM making progress!

I snatched this from nutmeg3...

( Adult Quiz )

Okay, first I have to get rid of all these "starving" cats (like I believe that)...

Geez, I committed the unpardonable sin of doing something before feeding them the moment I got home. Woe is me.

I guess I haven't posted 'cause I haven't had too much to say lately; been just rolling right along. Had a busy weekend, much of which is chronicled in rahirah's journal; had some fun at the Chinese New Year festival, ate lots of really good Asian food (both Chinese and Vietnamese), trolled through a couple of nifty Asian markets, met framefolly, and had a good time. (Speaking of things Asian, I've been on-and-off listening to the cast recording of Avenue Q and I wondered when the term "Oriental" became offensive. I think it's a lovely word, myself, but I don't want to cause, heavens, offense, so I use "Asian" instead... Of course, one could go into my usual rant about the term "Native American," but that's another piece of offensensitivity...)

Anyway, that's the usual stuff. Otherwise, my cats seem to be filling the litterbox at an alarming rate (I swear, it's getting to where I have to clean it twice a day now), and I think that while they love the gooshy food, and Silly is less skinny now, it doesn't improve the litterbox situation.

( Some memes, just because. )

Why has Tivo taken over my life? That's just a rhetorical question, really. I always knew if there was a better way to watch more television, I'd love it if I found it.

And it's Monday again. How did that happen?

Let's see, the wrap up:

Thursday, Friday, there was work, pretty much same old, same old; on Friday I became sneakily sure I had caught Barb's cold, but it wasn't too bad yet, just a sinus headache (which might also be attributed to the Maricopa County Tire Fire, which is burning rather close to my office) so I took some of the cold medicine I had in my purse and felt much better. We got the word on Thursday that we would be losing our kitchen as early as Tuesday, so knew we had to get some boxes to pack up the kitchen. I found one at work, and figured we could at least search/buy some over the weekend. This we did. However...

Friday night, for some godawful reason, I couldn't sleep. At all. We stayed up kinda late moving stuff out of the kitchen and waiting for the plumbers to finish, but even so, I didn't really get to sleep until around one or two; and then the workers were there to finish breakout of the old slab and to lay the new concrete at six in the morning. I developed a splitting headache and felt nauseous, managed to get a little more sleep in bed, before finally dragging myself up and dressing, then collapsing in the recliner, where I finally got some sleep for several hours while they quietly smoothed concrete.

Then boxes! Boxes! And more boxes! Oh, the crap one can accumulate when living twenty years in one residence! We filled at least two boxes for Goodwill and there will be more when the unpacking commences. Of course, I've said for years the only way to really get rid of stuff would be to pack up like we were moving, because otherwise all I do with my crap is move it from one location to another. We found my lovely, great-big cookie sheet that was a Christmas present many years ago that I've never been able to use because - wait for it - the oven in this house is too small. At last, I will be able to use!

I will be posting pictures of the work in progress as soon as I re-install the Kodak software on the computer (it's on the other drive, of course, as chronicled in previous entries).

With luck, the walking boot will be off come Tuesday; I'm walking much better, still a little sore, but I think I'll do all right. Technically, four weeks since the surgery is today, but my schedule with the doc was bounced to Tuesday because the first Monday after my surgery was Labor Day. It was a very fast four weeks (although last week SEEMED interminable). The cold is lingering, but other than wiping me out Saturday morning (which I still suspect was more due to the lack of sleep than anything else), it's not got me out for the count. The new cold medicine formulas seem to be working pretty well (psuedoephedrine-free, but at least it has some form of decongestant in it).

In pet news, Sam is back from the vet's and back to his old self, more or less; he has trouble figuring out his lower jaw is much shorter than it used to be, but on the whole, he's back to being all dog and all pain in the butt - which is a relief. Now, Cairo the Neurotic Kitty is losing the fur under his legs and on his tummy again, which worries me - he gets that when he gets highly stressed, so I'm hoping this time it's just the combination of the trip to the vet, Sam's being in the house all the time, and us moving everything around without his approval (which never sits well with cats). He's been extremely clingy and needy with me; even going so far as to (gasp) sleep on me. I have to be sure to lavish attention on him, the spoiled little brat.

( And now, a meme )

So I overdid it again yesterday, fired up the grill, and made a very tasty dinner which included grilled steak (to perfection), with fire-roasted yams and beets. We had a salad and all was proclaimed delicious.

I woke up from the pain in my foot every hour on the half-hour from 11:30 until just before the alarm went off.

*headdesk* I is so dumb.

So today I stay seated and let rahirah cook.

1. Go to Career Cruising: http://www.careercruising.com
2. Put in Username: nycareers and Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top ten results.

Like sillymagpie, I found all 40 answers interesting, so: ( behind here there be my top careers, apparently )

( I found this article fascinating )

There were some other articles I read I wanted to save, but I've forgotten what they were, now.

I meant to post this a while back - a reviewer friend of mine took this picture on a trip to China - I liked it so well I asked if I could save/show it:



You know, I never have gotten those donuts...

Thirty years ago today I was hangin' out in the park with my best friend Nanette. We went to her place and heard on the radio that Elvis was dead. It was the most devastating news we'd ever heard in our young lives. I remember the details staggeringly well - it was really quite traumatic. I'd of course never met the man; never even saw him live (although Nanette did, only a few months before); but to my nearly-13-year-old heart (I turned 13 five days later), he was glorious. I bore up through the years of it being a horrible faux pas to mention one so much as liked Elvis; and have watched as he's come back around as "cool." There were Elvis t-shirts at the "Hot Topic" store along with all the grunge bands, cute cartoons, and 80's retro stuff that the young kids love.

Less than a decade later, on August 18, my father died, too.

It's quite some week for me, this week of August.

This year it's been exceptionally busy. We're still working way too many hours, doing way too much work with too few people and still being told that our unit could vanish at any day and we have to be ready to move to other departments at a moment's notice. I still haven't been to the gym since my vacation (and before then, around June 25th) - two months, and it's starting to show around my waistline - since I haven't cut down my calories any to make up for the lack of movement - although I AM trying to get in a little at home, with my exercise ball and stretches. It's not the same as a sustained 40 minutes on the ski machine, though (wry expression).

It's been hot and as humid as Phoenix gets for the last week, as well - which means hovering between 110 and 114, with about a 60 dewpoint average (about 50% average humidity; and I know that's not as humid as Jersey or Philadelphia or D.C., but the temps there don't go that far over 100, either, as I recall). Whereas the dry heat actually feels pretty good in June, by August it's neither dry nor pleasant... By this time, I'm always ready for October. As are the stores, I see the Halloween merchandise is already out.

I'm not sure what I did last night, but apparently I somehow managed to not read LiveJournal for two days. These are the two days that everyone on my list posted at least once, if not twice or three times, so I tried to read everything. I'm not sure I succeeded.

( Here be a meme )

I'm going through those "blahs" again. The next agent I was looking at on my list asks for the complete manuscript - oops. I've been making so many changes to it based on beta readers' comments I no longer seem to HAVE a complete manuscript, just those solid "first three chapters" I've been farming out. So I have to diligently put everything back together, with chapter headings (which were missing before), making sure I don't lose the formating, which means working exclusively in Word, which means only on the laptop, since I still haven't installed Word on my desktop (although I suppose I could, really, now that I have a real copy... why haven't I, again?).

In general, I seem to have more of those self-doubting days; this isn't new, but it's bothersome, and I can't stand that every time I get on the emotional, moody rollercoaster, I want to post in my journal about it (of course, that's what a journal is FOR, but these days, heck, anyone can read it!). I don't want to friends-lock everything, because how would one get more friends? And then, of course, I tell myself it's quality, not quantity, blah blah blah.

I wish someone wanted to read my writing. (There! I said it! *whimper*)

And now for something completely different.

I have almost finished reading The Golden Compass. Very cool book. Now I understand the whole daemon thang (see Lutheus). I do have to admit I like starting a series AFTER it's all finished, so I don't have to wait for the next book, I just have to close one and move on to the next (although I couldn't find the copies I know rahirah owns, so I bought new ones... no big, if we find the others, one can be donated).

And new meme, on a similar sort of topic:






I like it.

I have realized where I have come in my life, to looking at items I need/desire and having come from "I can't afford that" to "I really shouldn't buy that." It's a very nice feeling to be able to say I can't get it not because I don't have the money, but because I don't actually want it enough to spend that money on it.

I really need to get back to the gym. I haven't gone in ages (not counting a few workouts in Vegas) - before vacation because of overtime, and now simply because I can't seem to get out of bed.

Massage this evening. Mmmmmmm....

Here I am in Las Vegas, in our room at the MGM, trying to get both connected and plugged in because the battery on this old laptap is quite shoddy. The little piggyback plug on the desk wasn't working, but plugging direct into the wall seems to.

I have a lovely view of the rooftop of MGM, the domed part of something I haven't figured out yet, and across the street, New York New York. My 72-year-old mother is already running me ragged. Of course, I CAME tired, so it's my own fault, I suppose. I should have done something about getting more sleep during the week, but I didn't.

Now because I played, I must pay:

Gleefully stolen from nutmeg3:

PIF meme: I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet, but you will receive it within 365 days. The only thing you have to do in return is "pay it forward" by making a similar agreement on your blog.

Note: The "gift" you send doesn't have to be handmade or even concrete. It can be fic, icons, whatever.

I like the note, because of course the original paragraph DOES say "handmade." *g*

I'm not the world's greatest icon maker, but I enjoy doing so, and if anyone has ever wanted to make me write fanfic, well, now's the time.

The MGM Grand Buffet on Saturday nights is very expensive (it was $64 for two), but it included sushi and cracked crab, both iced and hot, as well as all the standards, plus mashed potato pancakes hand-decorated with stuff to one's specifications and some truly yummy desserts. I ate until I could pop at around 5, and did not eat again until, well, now. (Getting ready for breakfast.) There were these sticky peanut butter sticks which I THINK are sort of like mudpies made without the cocoa and flour instead of oatmeal, but I'm not sure. I ate two, which I shouldn't have done, just trying to figure out what they were made of...

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Sadly, Procrastination Cat is not one of the possible choices. Neither, of course, is my own Superior Cat (too gud for cheezburger), who is right behind me now, demanding attention for his Superior Self.

Monday morning. What a short weekend. How did I manage to spend all my money so fast? Oh, right. Bills and CostCo. They weren't kidding about the price of groceries being on the rise. I should bring some cherries for lunch.

Still on a bit of a Harry Potter high. Did not get up for the gym, but my excuse is that I carried my bag all last week in the car in the hopes I'd have a chance to make an afternoon workout. I shall try for that today (getting off the Procrastination Cat's wagon. Maybe).

Coming home today I came all over with a real craving for Chinese food. The bad kind. I need to squash this desire.

( I meme, and I like the result: )

More insanity today. We at least finished Tuesday's work and got started on Wednesday. Whoop! I have a huge pile on my desk that I haven't had a chance to so much as breathe on - research has become a trial, rather than something I enjoy daily. Hopefully this will smooth out. Oy!

Here be hilarious, spoilery, Doctor macros - not just spoilery, but a little pornographic. But very funny. I can has Timelord secs...

Last night the dog decided he wanted to go out in the middle of the night - and I never really got back to sleep. I lay there thinking about a bunch of stuff, being just a little tipsy from the wine I drank last night while I soaked in the tub (it did help the shoulders), and so spent the day in that haze of headachey-not-enough-sleep feeling. I hope to sleep tonight... (And get back to the gym, dang it!)

I still want Chinese food.

First, a delightful online waste of time, courtesy of canarynoir:



Second, one non-spoilery comment about the season finale of Jericho: AAAAIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! *cough*

Third, I have had a low-grade sinus headache all freakin' day long. It's been just bad enough that it's there annoying me, a little pressure and tension, but NOT bad enough to justify going home sick. So I putter around and do nothing useful. I was trying to read while waiting for rahirah to get her hair cut, but it made my head hurt, so I just waited. That's very boring. How do the non-readers of the world cope?