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Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.
| Saturday, November 28th, 2009 | ||
| ngaio | 10:03p | Day 28 OMG I hate this blinking Mastercard ad, a tumbler does not cost £4, an energy saving light bulb £6, or a reusable plastic bag £1 - if that's what you're spending on stuff you're going to need the damn card. Or alternatively, shop sensibly. Sorry, I'm not ranting today it was just that that advert came on just as Semagic opened! Today I have: Bought some cards to send out in the next few weeks.
Been charity shopping and bought some steampunk-able trousers. Looked for wellies for Sprog. Failed. If her feet were two sizes smaller or larger we'd have been fine but they aren't so we weren't. Bought a surprising number of pairs of knee-high socks. I'd love to buy tights but given the combination of both my height and my weight, plus my refusal to pay more than about £2 per pair of tights means I just can't get any. Ah well, tights are annoying anyway! Dropped my boots into Timpsons to be re-heeled. (And completely failed to remember to pick them up again - whoops?!) Had my contact lense check-up - everything's fine Picked up a prescription (don't ask - way TMI) Received through the post a) an appointment for an ultrasound (which luckily falls on one of the days I'd already booked off work, though I do slightly resent the loss of the planned lie-in) and b) a battery for my (old skool, actual film) video camera which we're going to use at The Steampunk Soiree in about a fortnight (oh God, it's in a fortnight, I need to plan outfits big time) Eaten a very nice pasanda and rice takeaway and watched Strictly Come Dancing ... mmm, mellow evening ... Current Mood: mellow |
|
celandineb |
12:46a | Wow Did online holiday shopping tonight too. Now have only a couple of minor gifts yet to find/buy, plus stocking stuff, plus sew waistcoat for SO (which won't happen till the semester is over, but also doesn't have to be shipped anywhere). And I think he's decided on and possibly ordered something for me already. So basically - we are done with gift organizing. Wow. Now, whether we can get in gear with cards/letter remains to be seen. It is, however, nearly 1 am so I think I'd better head for bed! Current Mood:  impressed with myself |
| Friday, November 27th, 2009 | ||
|
celandineb |
7:07p | Black Friday In the event SO and I did do a little holiday shopping today. Both of our cars went in to the dealer/mechanic this morning - I needed an oil change and tire rotation, and it turned out that I'd picked up a nail in one sidewall, so also ended up getting a new tire; SO had to get an underneath piece replaced. So that all took a while, and then we went and had a burger for lunch, and decided to check out a couple of galleries/shops in the art district afterward. We now have gifts for all parental units and siblings (although not my BIL and niblings yet). So go us! SO also went to the good local independent bookstore to pick up something he'd ordered, but there was no going to malls or anything of that sort. I've now written the last quiz for my lower-div class, so that means IIRC I have no more prep in either class to do, though I do have some reading and grading. Also have both reading and work to do for LIS classes, though, which I hope to get to tonight/tomorrow. I could have started on some of it, but I finished a novel instead. Also have started thinking about holiday cards/letters, though haven't gotten very far with that yet. Turkey breast is roasting and smelling yummy. I'll temp it shortly, and once it's done the dressing goes into the oven (my tiny oven will not hold both a bird and another dish at once). Then make gravy, and all the rest is leftover veggies. *mouth is watering* We had a very nice time with J., C., and F. yesterday, and good food, but I do like having leftover turkey of our own. Current Mood:  mellow |
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dragovianknight |
3:37p | Seen via choc_fic: Fandoms of Color Request Meme  Naturally, I requested Static Shock, and now I'm spreading the word in hopes this will reach someone who can actually write Static fic. :) |
| ngaio | 9:11p | Day 27 Today I have mainly been in a *really bad mood*. I wish I knew why, today was no worse than any other this week/month ... I'm just very *argh* right now. (And rather wanting to cry and/or other bad things.) So here, have a whole bunch of my pet peeves (and sorry that this is pretty much the opposite of Thanksgiving): People who don't recycle. I'm sorry but stop throwing cans and plastic and paper away - how hard is it to remember to recycle them? Relatedly - companies/offices (including my own) which have no recycling policy/facilities - we're trapped in one place eating and drinking and doing paperwork, please give us the ability to recycle our waste Bullies - I'm surrounded my people who bully others in a variety of ways and it's very very frustrating not being able to shake them and say *do you not see what you're doing?!* People who park in the bus stop space - where do you think the bus is going to stop to pick me up if you're in the middle of the available space, I'm not standing here for the good of my health you know Very nice people who are narrow-minded bigots. So annoying in several levels. People with a sense of entitlement and/or the very childish attitude that life should be 'fair' - it's like communism which is a perfect system if people were perfect but we aren't so it isn't. Gender biased everything. People who say 'I hate Christmas' but who refuse to change how they celebrate Christmas because that's not how things are More broadly - people who hate the situation they are in but refuse to change the situation (this one I'd better clarify, I know some situations are unchangeable but some are. For example I work with someone whose mother is ... odd ... and there's rarely usable food in the house, but my colleague doesn't go and buy her own food she just goes hungry and then complains. She's 25, it's perfectly possible for her to get a bus to the supermarket, or to walk, and to buy food. But she doesn't.) ... sorry. Tomorrow I'll be merry. Current Mood: bitchy |
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dragovianknight |
11:12a | Because 4-H Lady was willing to brave Walmart at 5am I now own a Philips MP3/video player*. So, does anyone know how I can get my various AVI files (and DVDs) into SMV format so I can take them places with me? Preferably a free way? *And a pair of boots that are too narrow in the heel, so I'll have to return them. :( Edit of SQUEE: I just realized I can now conveniently listen to podfics! Current Mood:  cold |
| Thursday, November 26th, 2009 | ||
|
ponderosa121 |
9:51p | oh hell yes, I have a Snuggie We went down to Salinas to J's sister's new place, and holy crap is it huge. It's got a nifty layout, and infinitely more space than their old house. We hadn't seen Natalie since before she was walking so it took a while for her to stop giving J and I the suspicious eye, but by the end of the night it was lots of carry-me arms, and where Sophie is usually all about her Uncle J, somehow this time I ended up with her hanging on me more often than not. I suspect it was that I was wearing a pink shirt so that boosted my coolness rating. It's interesting to see the ways her personality has changed now that she's a big sister. Sometimes I wish we lived a bit closer in order to visit more often. Anyway, we hung out, ate food, played with dolls, tried to devise a plan to steal their adorable pug, and at the end of the evening I got the bonus of belated b-day gifts. See subject. I have also increased my fuzzy scarf collection by one, so I should probably put out some of the ones I don't wear often out onto the curb. The drive was nice, and J and I talked a lot about the ways in which we'd like to focus on our projects for school and general creative things. I'm back to having a solid idea of where to go with my current assignments so I'm feeling very rejuvenated about them. Which is good, as I need to be doubly-focused this weekend, since I didn't actually get any extra days off, and the lab is closed tomorrow which is typically my dedicated time to go in and work all day on my homework! Current Mood:  touched |
| ngaio | 9:25p | Day 26 I love to bake. I don't know why I prefer baking to making actual meals, I don't have much of a sweet tooth really, will almost always pick crisps over chocolate, but I love to bake. Possibly because I resent meals and being hungry, and baked goods are a *treat* and therefore fun. I like being able to take stuff into work and feed the masses (did I tell you? entire tray/dish of brownies gone by 11am a few weeks ago - gannets the lot of 'em) and make people smile and enjoy the food. But it's not important food, you know, if people don't like it it doesn't matter because I'm not feeding them a meal which has to get them through a third of the day, whatever it is I make it's *extra* and fun. I have issues, I'm aware. Whatever! I make several standard recipes: Lemon cheesecake - this is a very very simple recipe which I've posted once before here and I love it because it is very very adaptable. Dark chocolate brownies - this recipe here. I have much appreciation for this site, it breaks down recipes in a way I understand. And this recipe is, say it with me, very very adaptable. I have added all sorts of things into this one, not sticking with nuts (though I've done nuts) but lots of different fruit, sometimes all at the same time! Last time I made them I had dried cherries, raspberries and strawberries in there - yum. I'm thinking of trying it nearer Christmas and taking out the vanilla essence and adding in some blackcurrant brandy. I used to make some simple cookies (a Jamie Oliver recipe) but I've gone off them recently and am planning on experimenting with different cookie and biscuit recipes a bit in the New Year. I also used to make a (forgive me German speakers for mangling this spelling) Marmorgugelhupf which was a ring cake marbled cocoa and rum cake with pale sponge with lemon rind/juice with a lemon icing which was a complete devil to make and I loved. But I lost the recipe. My problem now is that I don't know the basics, and the science. For example I've just made some chocolate fudge (using ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} trulybloom's recipe - thank you (ps had to leave the marshmallow out as I can't get it here - sorry)) and now I'm wondering - if I leave out the chocolate do I need to add something else or will the sugar/butter/evaporated milk 'be' fudge in their own right? If I leave out the vanilla essence and add some blackcurrant brandy instead will it do something fatal to the consistency? If I use caster sugar, or light brown sugar instead of the granulated which I had on hand what difference will it make? (I have a feeling the only answer is experimentation and some very sugar-rushed colleagues.)But I would like, somewhen, to find a good explanation of the balance of ingredients required to make cake, or fudge, or biscuits, because the more I play the more I risk complete failure and if I don't know what I did wrong then I can't put it right and play even more. And I like playing with baking! Current Mood: thoughtful |
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celandineb |
3:18p | Wanted - one drabble/ficlet prompt! Resulting drabble/ficlet to be posted sometime in December. Usual request - pairing or character, plus a 1-to-3-word prompt. Any fandom you know I write/have written is fine. Thanks! [If I get multiple prompts, I will write more than one if the muse is cooperative.] Current Mood:  creative |
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celandineb |
2:42p | Happy Thanksgiving! To those who celebrate - and a happy Thursday to everyone else! We're going to our neighbors' for the evening in about two hours; pretty much all we've done today is take Juno to the dog park (where there were a handful of other dogs), have brunch, and cook stuff to take tonight. SO's worked a bit on his window. So yeah, definitely a holiday. Tomorrow I'm actually going to roast a turkey breast, just for us, because otherwise there would be no leftover turkey. There were fresh ones in the store yesterday when we stopped to pick up some milk, so I made the decision partly on impulse. I'll make dressing and gravy too, but other than that, it'll be some of the near-infinite supply of leftover veggies, nothing special. Probably won't make mashed potatoes, at least not for tomorrow. Possibly for with leftovers though. I contemplated making rolls (my sister having called about that recipe this morning) but I think maybe will wait and make them at Christmas instead. Current Mood:  nostalgic |
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celandineb |
2:34p | Happy birthday! Many happy returns, |
| Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 | ||
|
dragovianknight |
8:58p | Delivered via timewarp Somehow, the Friday the 13th DVDs I ordered on the 23rd, shipped on the 24th and arrived today. And they managed that with Super Saver shipping (because I'm cheap). Dude! :D I thought the "Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil..." opening lasted through season two; I'm sad they cut it on the DVDs. I wish Rashid had been in more than two episodes. He was awesome. Current Mood:  happyCurrent Music: F13 2x01 - "Doorway to Hell" |
|
ranalore |
2:23p | don't i look fetching in my leather coat and goggles? Wrangler RPF avec moi! Check out the rest of the Wrangulatorverse, starting with "forma." Perhaps I shall write one myself, after I open the can of worms that is significance of name order in pairing listings in certain fandoms (and certain segments of certain other fandoms, which is gonna be the fun part) and if it's possible to do synonyms with a disambiguation option. ETA: Pray for me. I just claimed seaQuest. This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. Please comment there using OpenID. Current Mood:  pleasedCurrent Music: Kate Bush - Jig Of Life |
| ngaio | 8:53p | Day 25 I know I have several good topic suggestions left from when I asked a week or so ago and I am planning on using them but not tonight. Tonight I have worn my body out (well, tonight and last night) and my brain has followed. Today at work I got asked if I was OK by Allegra. And Hugh. And Lucy. (Lucy also informed me that I looked 'worn' which really, yeah, probably!) I'm kinda interested in exactly how I looked so bad ... did people expect me to produce an axe and start slashing at other people or myself?! Or was it more a case of any minute I may hide under my desk and whimper? Anyway it hasn't actually been a particularly bad day, or even week. No amazingly stupid edicts have come down from on high, the customers I've spoken to have been surprisingly mellow and helpful and appreciative, I've made some inroads into the mountains of paper which are my desk ... yeah, not particularly bad, especially compared to the last few months. Huh.::shrugs:: Dunno. I do know that in addition to the two days off I have early December where I'm heading to Oxford a-steampunkin' I also have an additional three days I need to take off before the end of December. Frankly I wanted to be able to carry them over to next year but the PTB have ruled that no leave can be carried over (a bit of a bugger for Wizard, my boss, who has 22 days left!) so I need to take three random days off in the next 5 weeks or so. Maybe I'll just have the next three Mondays off and have some long weekends. Possibly then I'll look less 'worn' and more ... something. Current Mood: tired |
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dragovianknight |
10:02a | Present for myself I pre-ordered Nox Arcana's Winter's Eve CD (and finally ordered Phantoms of the High Seas, too). Music to listen to through the new year! ^__^ Current Mood:  excited |
| Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 | ||
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dragovianknight |
10:18p | Going to hell. Again. You know that Christian side hug thing I linked to earlier? Well, my brain refuses to remember the actual lyrics, beyond, "Gimme that Christian side hug," but I'm earwormed by the beat...so I'm afraid I'm coming up with alternate rhymes for "side hug", like "self love" and "butt plug". I am quite sure this sullies the purity of their white boy gangsta rap about how they're such sexual deviants they can't even hug someone without being uncontrollably turned on. My lyrics do make about as much sense. The last round went, "I'm a rough rider/with a Jesus butt plug/So gimme that Christian side hug/ 'cause I practice self love." Edit: It dawns on me that apparently, Fundie boys are all Edward Cullen, terrified they will be overwhelmed by Bella Swan's outrageous flavor.* See what repression gets you? *(tm cleolinda, IIRC) Current Mood: cold |
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ranalore |
9:45p | this is my brain avoiding productivity Because when there's wrangling to be done and fic to be revised or drafted, that's clearly the time for a meme. Entry not yet tagged for the fic, so as not to spoil the surprise. Lifted from ![[info]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small} longsufferingly:1. Write down the names of 10 characters.2. Write a fic of fifteen words or less for every prompt, using the characters determined by the numbers. Do NOT read the prompts before you do step 1. 1. Kurosaki Hisoka (Yami no Matsuei) 2. Jin Bora (Anyband) 3. Stephanie (CSJH) 4. Jensen Ackles (CW RPF) 5. Kim Junsu (DBSK) 6. Clayman (GetBackers) 7. Elizabeth Swann (PotC) 8. Satine (Moulin Rouge) 9. Trinity (The Matrix) 10. Ben (Dark Angel) ( Crack this way ) This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. Please comment there using OpenID. Current Mood:  cold |
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ranalore |
5:56p | here, have some synonyms Put in CSJH and Chun Sang Ji Hee for CSJH. For Dong Bang Shin Ki: DBSK Dong Bang Shin Gi DBSG TVXQ TVfXQ Tong Vfang Xien Qi Tohoshinki THSK Currently, there are no Banjun Theatre stories in the archive. Like Anyband FPF, my instinct is that it should be a distinct subfandom that's searchable on its own or as part of a DBSK search, but the ability to create subfandoms and metafandoms isn't yet in place, so if you've got a Banjun story, just put it in as a new fandom. Now I get to decide if I want to wrangle more synonyms for CSJH or concentrate on one fandom at a time and wrangle all the synonyms for the DBSK pairings that are already in the system (oh, sweet mother of Mike). Also, I'm not quite sure what to do about the fact that Minho is both a DBSK pairing and a member of SHINee. I don't think I can wrangle it into one fandom when another's guaranteed to want to use it, even if they're in different Oh, yeah, and Chaotic Butterfly's now a fandom, and I moved The Good King to movies and threw the synonym "Good King Wenceslas" at it. Somebody let me know if there's fic for the carol and I need to change that. ETA: Went ahead and synonymized TSZX, TJCK, Tenjo Chiki, Tenjochiki, and Tian Shang Zhi Xi (which I'm gonna have to mess with if they change the code to allow non-English accented characters). ETA 2: THIS IS ANOTHER REASON TO HATE THAT STUPID "THE GRACE" BS. *snarls and synonymizes it, though she wants it on record that SHE OBJECTS* This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. Please comment there using OpenID. Current Mood:  hungry |
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celandineb |
7:22p | Lazy day Walked Juno, did 6 loads laundry, took Juno to the vet (time for a vaccine & also more heartworm med), and read a couple of novels. Now cooking beets (for me)and radishes (for SO) for dinner. Maybe will also make the little bit of broccoli; we've had the beans-and-greens 3 days running, so even though there's still lots, time for a break from those. Also have leftover baked chicken and noodles. So, yeah. Basically a lazy day, in which no work for either teaching or school got done. I didn't even check those email accounts. Have some fic to edit, and am gradually developing an idea for my Yuletide fic. Oh, and thanks to cruisedirector for the AO3 invite - of course now I have tons to upload, but that's the way it goes. Current Mood:  content |
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ceria |
7:09p | |
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dragovianknight |
3:55p | I am making gifts this year And you know, I love knitting, but this is a LOT of work (not to mention the OMG WON'T FINISH ON TIME! panic). It's kind of making me feel guilty for all the times I've asked to have something written/drawn/made for me, instead of just telling people to drop ten bucks on a gift card from Amazon or Knitpicks. (On a related note, I have things for people from that meme at the start of the year, and I am SO FAILING at getting them packed up and mailed out. Bad Dragovian. Bad.) Current Mood:  gloomy |
| ngaio | 8:53p | Day 24 mabiana suggested I write about my cat. So I shall!Actually I have two cats, brothers, who are around 11 years old. They are rescue cats who were abandoned, rescued, re-homed and then had to be rescued from the home because the woman who took them couldn't cope with them. We got them when they were about 14 weeks old and we went to the rescue place looking for little kittens (like a lot of people do) and these two ... one of 'em just decided we (especially Henry) were theirs. That was it. Done. So yes, two cats. One is ginger and white and I refer to him here as Thing 1 though I don't think it matters if I reveal that his RL name is Jacob. Or Hobbit. Or Hobbos, Jack Hobbos. He's the cat who rules outside, he has his territory and he patrols it religiously. Once when it snowed we could see he followed the exact same route each time he patrolled from the footprints in the snow. He's a very very purry cat and likes to sleep up my right arm onto my chest which makes typing tricky. His brother is Thing 2 who is black and white, has the longest whiskers in the world, and 'rejoices' in the name Isaac. Or Whizzle. Or Whizzle-kit.He rules the indoor arena. He is very very stupid and does not learn. He is the cat who fell out of the upstairs window three times in one weekend and still does fall out of the window whenever he's decided that's where he's sleeping. He also falls off sofa backs, tables, sideboards, the piano, the computer table ... you get the picture. While Jacob is getting slightly less reliable when jumping because I think he's getting a little old in the legs as it were, Isaac has never been good at any kind of physical activity. I would sympathise as this is very much my attitude too if it weren't for the fact he does not learn. At all. Isaac is Henry's cat. Entirely. I can feed him and stroke him but Henry wins his attention every time. Actually by virtue of the fact that my lap is almost always full of laptop Henry is the person of choice for both cats when they're in a lap (rather than a right arm!) mood. Often this results in one cat settling on Henry's lap and the other settling up his chest by sitting on the first cat. Surprisingly neither of them seem that fussed about being sat on by the other one. I don't know how they sleep at night because they're shut in the kitchen but I do know it involves pulling clean clothing off the airer and sleeping on it. Thus making us wash it again! Blinking cats! Current Mood: calm |
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dragovianknight |
10:03a | Dear Jesus, did you mean for your followers to be insane? The Christian Side Hug (Link goes to a YouTube video.) Tell me this is satire. Alternatively, write me the smuttiest hugging comment fics you can think of. Edit: Links to commentary on Feministing and Feministe. (No, I don't read them, I just got linked to them. I pass along mostly for the "is it a parody or not" discussions.) Current Mood:  confused |
| Monday, November 23rd, 2009 | ||
|
ranalore |
8:35p | DBSK: The Air Up There The Air Up There by Rana Eros (DBSK, OT5, wardrobe mishaps, 200 words) In which Changmin is tall and their designer is never allowed to go on vacation again. Ever. Author's Notes: I want it known that Keiko totally abuses her modly power. Which is how it should be. Written for Keiko, and for the drabble challenge topic of "boots" over at dbsk_flashfic. Eliza-tested, Eliza-approved (and you shoulda heard what she was talking about). ( The Air Up There ) This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. Please comment there using OpenID. Current Mood:  amusedCurrent Music: ANYBAND - TPL (Talk Play Love) |
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dragovianknight |
5:35p | I don't know why I never thought to search Amazon for knitting stuff Because I just got a set of 15 sizes of 6" bamboo DPNs - 5 of each size, so *math* 75 needles total - for $19.99 and $4.99 shipping. I would have preferred 5", which fits my rather small hands, but 6" should serve without tending to get caught on my sleeves like 7" do. No, I don't expect these to be the highest quality needles ever at that price, but considering I rarely use DPNs because I prefer magic loop (I am working on slipper socks in magic loop! I AM ENJOYING THEM! I may get over my anti-sock bias!), I think these will serve just fine. And I can't argue with the price. Then while I was there, I used a gift certificate to buy myself Friday the 13th: the series season two. Which netted me a $5 credit for Amazon Video On Demand. Which I may or may not use - I would have to watch at work since I don't have a fast enough connection to stream things here - but it's rather a nice thought, I guess. Current Mood:  cheerful |