| Two days left until departure, in which KL discovers how you can fill your suitcase with an amazing amount of stuff -- and yet not exceed the weight limit -- when none of said stuff is books, which were previously sacrificed to make room for necessities.
Twenty minutes later, in which she remembers she can bring a second suitcase, and resolves to fill it entirely with books.
In other words, hello world, am not dead. But packing and preparation can make one's life almost entirely not your own.
Can also make one a little barmy. RE: entire suitcase filled with books. Which I'm going to see if I can get away with, not kidding here... | comments: 10 comments or Leave a comment   |
| Oh fuck.
It's 2007, isn't it? I forgot that consequence of waving goodbye to '06.
GO BACK, 2007. I AM NOT READY FOR YOU. GO BACK! GO BACK INTO THE LIGHT! | | comments: 6 comments or Leave a comment |
| In 2007,  klmorgan resolves to... Admit my true feelings to world_of_eos. Lose ten vampire fictions by March. Get back in contact with some old good books. Find a new fanfiction. Give up lotus leaves. Give up writing.
I dunno about the lotus leaves, man. I mean, I'm like, freebasing those suckers. Mmmmmmmm. Yum.
It's true about ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) world_of_eos, though. MARRY ME, BABY! | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Subject: | "Or we could just go to Best Buy." | | Time: | 01:55 am |
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| AAAAAAAAAAAAAH I HAVE A DIGITAL CAMERA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH
IT IS SO AWESOME. AND HOTTT. IT IS HOTTTTT. EVEN MORESO THAN MY NEW EYEBROWS.
IT IS PINK! (In an awesome silvery way, not a Pepto Bismal way.) AND IT IS SO TINY! AND THE BUTTONS! SO MANY BUTTONS!
I will upload pics as soon as I figure out how. | | comments: 17 comments or Leave a comment |
| THINGS I HAVE DONE TODAY I HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE:
1. Had my eyebrows waxed. (And tinted. We were doing a makeup consult for Sam's wedding, and the woman said they also did eyebrows and such, so I said go for it. Smarted only a touch, as she was very good. And my eyebrows look hot. Fighting the urge to wine and dine them.)
2. Visited the mall two days/the Saturday before Christmas. (Oh. Oh God. Not fun. I finally found Sam (who wanted to by a last-minute birthday present for the fiance) and we both were all "Let's never do this again.")
3. Bought a plane ticket to China.
... yup.
T minus 23 days and counting. | | comments: 8 comments or Leave a comment |
| I survived Yuletide, if barely. The night I was finishing up my fic, the PR manager of my school in China gave me a phone call. He was all, "Wassup, dawg? I sent you emails a week or two ago and you never replied." Which leaves me to conclude that I again FAIL to be an ADULT.
*headdesk*
Anyway, he wanted to know where I was at and when I'm planning on arriving. We pretty much worked that out, so I have until mid-January until rocks fall and everyone dies I leave for parts unknown.
Hold me! *scared*
Until then there are people to see, parties to attend, books to read (both for the trip and for leisure), Mandarin to learn, DVDs to watch (so they can be returned to owners), warm clothes to buy (NOTHING will fit me over there, I know it), stuff to pack, haircuts to get, insurance to arrange, bits of advice to collect, financials to arrange, rooms to clean, time to spend with parents, et all.
Plus a wedding to attend. Ye gods.
Oh, and spare moments spent writing.**
Oi vey.
But! I also promised a meta-party, and we will have one. Just let me arrange my thoughts on the topic -- you guys seem to respond in greater numbers when I give you specifics to react to and opinions to contend. ;) (Which I love, and which is why I'm not shy about voicing my opinions. It's not because I believe mine are infallible, it just seems the quickest way to find out other people's!)
So that will be coming up soon.
Oh, and before I forget -- happy Solstice, everyone. I'm not particularly pagan, but the turning of the tide of darkness is definitely something to celebrate.
**Note to those new to my LJ, including [Bad username: hoppytoad79"] and alwayseasy, this is not fanfic writing. In fact, I NEVER mention fanfic writing in this journal. I make a point not to, since I consider this a personal journal. Fanfic updates are posted in the community. | | comments: 12 comments or Leave a comment |
| SIGNS THAT YULETIDE IS NEARING AN END...
#34
Refreshing email inbox every six seconds.
# 35
Sudden exclamations of: "Beloved caffeine! SWEET NECTAR OF WAKEFULNESS!"
And when I'm done, apparently, we're going to have a party at my LJ, in which we discuss the potential impact an ever-widening awareness of fanfiction may have on the industry of published original fiction as a whole. Because that's the kind of thing we do at my parties. Chips? Bah. Salsa? We don't need your stinkin' salsa!
actually, i'd like some of those frozen cream puffs. i could put those out. i mean, if you're going to the store, anyway. otherwise, you know, i hate to be a bother... | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Time: | 09:44 pm | | Current Mood: | ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/punquinheads/pink/worried.gif) anxious |
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| Blaaaaah.
I'm sorry I've been MIA. I'm DOA. I got innoculated against Hep A and tetnus in the same day, baby -- one in each arm. (And can I say: ow? Not the actual injections, she was great with those, but ow ow ow ow for the aches and muscle bruising which can suck when your job consists of carrying heavy things and raising your hands to wave customers down to your cashier? OW.) Anyway, between that and the antiboitics for my sinus infection, my immune system is under a bit of a strain the past two or three days and consequently I am just dead in the water by the time I come home. I'm too tired to think.
So, yeah, I'll be back in a bit to answer those (cute!) questions or update something worth reading. Soon.
Definitely soon, since my job ends Saturday night.
*bites nails* | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| I was looking over some old entries and found this. I knew I'd done this meme before -- back in November of 2004, apparently -- but it seems to have floated this way 'round again. So let's compare results...
This is the problem with LJ: we all think we are so close, and we know nothing about each other. I'm going to rectify it. I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about.
Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you. | | comments: 27 comments or Leave a comment |
| Why is my internet not working? It isn't, which is upsetting. I'm writing this in Notepad. I'll post it in LJ when my internet is working.
Today I am exhausted and I am only half done. I stayed up terribly late last night, since I didn't get home until midnight (I work the late shift Saturdays, because I have no social life and am proud of it, apparently.) and then when I got home I was seized by the urge to actually work on my Yuletide assignment. God knows where that sense of dedication came from. Surely it will pass.
Got up early this morning with my parents to go to Costco, which I love and adore. Any store where I can buy in bulk is good for me, because I'm one of those unfortunate beings who believes that if you enjoy something, it will naturally follow you will love even more of that something, and more and more and more. I once walked away with twenty of the same style of camisole in different colors, people, I do not play around.
But anyway. Costco. Rock. Also picked up some DVDs, which I totally really absolutely shouldn't have, considering my financial situation, but I'm sorry, you cannot place the first season of Gilmore Girls in front of me for fifteen dollars and expect me to walk on by. And then! And then I actually found a copy of Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre (which I talked about here a bit) for twenty, and DUDE. I was just thinking TWO WEEKS ago that Costco should carry this title and I've wanted it badly for almost two years now, but was unwilling to fork over the massive cash it once commanded. So the gods smiled on me. I knew all that voodoo worship as a kid wouldn't go to waste.
I'm watching some GG episodes as I type this. I was initially a little hesitant to pick up the DVD set, even with the great price -- I remember really wanting it when I was in college, but couldn't for the life of me remember why.
I remember why, now. The first season of this show is amazing. It is quirky and cute and full of smart humor. And yet it somehow manages to be very real -- well, as real as a show about a 31-year-old mom and her fifteen-year-old daughter on the WB gets to be, which is surprisingly empathetic. This is before they started making Alexis Bledel into a teen idol and let her wear stylish "emo/indie" clothes and atrocious amounts of eye makeup -- when the character Rory (the daughter) parted her hair straight down the middle and wore baggy clothing like the nerdy, snarky teen she was supposed to be. And was, you know, a nerd, not a stylish, overly made-up anorexic teen queen who reads nerd books. She has baby fat, y'all, she is adorable! And I remember the shock and awesomeness of seeing an actual teenager play one on TV.
And hey, there's Chad Michael Murry before he garnered his first few STDs, and Vintage!Jared Padalecki, before he became a Greek god and was still kinda lanky and unfinished, fitting the part of incredibly-cute-yet-not-unattainable-boy-next-door so perfectly it almost hurts. And oh, I'd forgotten how much fun the character if Paris (played with eerie perfection by Liza Weil) was when she was really scary and militant about being the best student in class.
This show came out in 2000, right when I was about to graduate from high school, but it still resonated with me on a deep level. I'd been the smart transfer student to move to an ultra-competitive private school, too. Sure, there was no Dean, and Paris was actually several different girls, and no way was my home life that interesting... okay, maybe I just cottoned onto the sparkling banter. (Favorite line is actually a throwaway -- Lorelai is walking past a side character who is a dance teacher, Miss Patty. Miss Patty is seen smoking casually as she takes her young charges (a group of elementary-age girls) through their paces in her studio, using the old walk-with-a-book-on-your-head trick to teach them correct posture. ""Now walk smooth, that's the new Harry Potter on your heads," she reminds them while gesturing with the cigarette holder. "If they should drop, Harry will die and there won't be any more books.")
But still! This was totally my show.
And it still is, this time for different reasons -- I love shows with teenagers who act, you know, like teenagers. (Hello, My So-Called Life.) Plus I'm in awe of how this ensemble works. I know I've rattled on about the younger cast members, but that's mainly because they're the ones who have changed the most drastically. The older characters haven't changed so much as... oh, I don't know, sort of dropped the story lines that really affected me. But it's wonderful to go back and see them again in a different, more appreciative light; the interaction between Lorelai (the young mom) and her parents, Richard (who closed himself off emotionally after seeing her "throw away" her potential, "with all [her] talent and intelligence") and Emily (who is painfully aware that she is not the kind of mother her daughter wants, and yet demands -- in all kinds of awkward and grating ways -- to be a part of her life). And it was lovely to see a television show try to address the situation of two people (Lorelai and Christopher) having a child together and yet refusing to commit to each other, the pressures that both push them together and pull them apart.
Le sigh.
In conclusion to my day I had a talk with nohx, which was fun and nice. Also reminded me I have been a recluse lately, which while not entirely bad, should be tempered more with, you know, actually answering my phone. (Or, in this week's case, noticing the battery is dead and that's why it hasn't been ringing for several days.) If you have been feeling neglected and ignored, raise your hand and there will be cookies. Seriously, I may suck at returning calls, but I am generous with the "Forgive Me" cookies. | | comments: 5 comments or Leave a comment |
| Bus ride to Wisconsin Ave... $1.25
Time spent waiting for the attendant to find my passport... 15 (nerve wracking) minutes
Ransoming back my passport... $50
Being legally able to enter the People's Republic of China... *grin*
The first time I visited the visa office I was so incredibly nervous and excited and anticipatory, I could hardly stand it. I got on the elevator and punched in "1" before pausing to take scope and see whether or not I was actually on the first (as opposed the ground) floor. Apparently I was, because the elevator then refused to move or open for the next five minutes, until I started punching every other button in a panicked frenzy. Ten minutes later a slightly sweaty but considerably less claustrophobic me was making her way down the hall towards my intended destination. Where I forgot to sign my visa application on the first try, and my hands were shaking so badly I ended up clenching them into fists. I traded in my passport for a veeeeery tiny slip of carbon copy paper, which was such a bad bargain I almost asked for the thing back. But I came back on the 6th between the hours of one and three, as asked, shuffled over the requisite clams, and there we are.
It's pretty. It's a slip of paper cut to fit inside my passport and glued on the page opposite my last visa stamp, from London. It has my name and duration of stay and a picture of the Great Wall, and I keep looking at it every five minutes in disbelief. It's official. I'm doing this.
I seriously need to get back to my Mandarin lessons.
In other news of Getting Stuff Done, I may have purchased a suitable dress for my upcoming role as Maid of Honor. Which is not as easy as it sounds, lemme tell you, when the bride in question informs you she will be wearing red to her wedding. She will look gorgeous in red, of course. But it's a head-scratcher as to what would compliment it in some way, and then I saw this while returning some items today, and packed the sucker up. Fits well, so now all I need is a thumbs-up (or down) from the bride in question.
And that was my day! The Yuletide deadline is coming up and I'm seriously considering taking up nail-biting. Not that I don't love my assignment, but... well... most everyone here knows about me and deadlines, right? Not so mix-y, to quote the late and initially great Buffy.
Maybe if I stock up on Doubleshots, close my eyes and leap... | | comments: 12 comments or Leave a comment |
| Dear Body,
You fail as a flesh casing. Don't make me put the beat-down on your my ass. I've already threatened Laptop, and I LOVE Laptop. I do not love you. Not recently, anyway. You are full of mucus and pain. And just when I think we're coming to a resolution of this silliness, you sulk and storm out of peace talks only to have your guerilla antibodies attack my sinus.
This is entirely unlovable. Don't make me bust out the Suhaila tapes. We both know they bring nothing but more hurt. And the inability to use your my legs for several hours. But don't think I won't do it -- I've heard you can sweat out sickness, and hell, the gentle touch hasn't exactly worked so far. So shape up. Or I will.
Yours spitefully looking for my yoga pants which have probably grown dusty with neglect,
KL | | comments: 10 comments or Leave a comment |
| Dear Lovely Laptop I Adore:
Why are you making strange noises?
Stop making strange noises.
I swear to God, if you die on me in China I will kick your ass. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| Turkey Day seems to be going well, actually. There was enough flavor-full stuff on the table, even with my uncle being all... the way he is. (Love him, but something went haywire with his tastebuds.) And I was distracted from uber-annoying tries-to-be-cute-but-comes-off-snotty cousin ("What are you doing on the internet? Searching for a boyfriend?") by actually-is-painfully-cute cousin who is brand spanking new at only five months and change, and has recently becomes the shiniest, happiest, gigglicious child I've ever seen. She is the first truly cute child to ever come out of this family, and I blame her mother's (who married in) genes.
What am I thankful for? A lot of things. Time spent with my extended family, despite my mild griping. (Hey, the fun of family is you get to gripe about them! Gently!) That I'm embracing the fact that I will again, this year, not complete my NaNo, and that maybe NaNo just isn't for me. Certainly not with this storyline, which I care too much about and can't see to loosen up on. A lot of things. I feel like I'm fighting a war on so many fronts, lately -- what with my health being spotty, and work being crazy, the trouble with some friendships, preparing for China and grad school possibilites and Sam's wedding, and just trying to be normal and get writing and bellydance and a social life done. I've been really tired and stressed. So I'm very happy for this time away from my usual space, with people I don't see very often, eating lots of cake. (Yeah, cake. Not a pie fan.)
I am happy. I like my life. I think I have a blood sugar rush crash now. I need to lie down. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH I JUST ACCEPTED AN INTERNSHIP OFFER IN BEIJING, CHINA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.
I AM SCARED OUT OF MY MIND I'M NOT KIDDING.
SIX MONTHS OR MORE IN A COUNTRY WHERE I DON'T SPEAK THE LANGUAGE AND I DON'T KNOW A SOUL.
OH GOD HOLD ME.
I SAID I'D BE THERE IN JANUARY OH SHIT OH SHIT | | comments: 62 comments or Leave a comment |
| Dude.
Christian Bale is being an angsty dark lickable Farenheit 451-type government agent called a Cleric on my TV in a society where emotion is supressed via drugs for a better society and emotion-provoking materials (art, books, music, etc) are outlawed and BURNED. (It is SYMBOLIC.) And he wears streamlined militaristic black clothing and angsts about his lack of angst because his wife was "incinerated" for loving him and their kids to much and AAAAAAAAAAAH.
And Sean Bean and Taye Diggs and Emily Watson are supporting characters and AAAAAAAAAAAH.
WHY HAVE I NEVER HEARD OF THIS MOVIE. WHYYYYYY.
It hits all of my dystopia and antihero kinks so hard. Mmmmph.
( Read more... )
Can you tell how much Nano I'm NOT doing? | | comments: 20 comments or Leave a comment |
| Sign that visit to Sax's was off to an interesting start:
"Goddammit, Kat! What is it with you and all the scorched earth?"
This was after she picked Devdas from the handful of movies I'd brought to show her because it was the "pretty one." I WARNED her she was watching a tragedy train wreck of epic proportions. Did she listen? Nooooo. However, Scorched Earth -- referring to my penchant for destruction and emotional desolation -- is my new nickname.
Sign that my first shift back to work will be rocky:
NEW HIRE: So, how do you spell "traffic?"
ME: Like the movie?
HIM: No, like... stuck in...
ME: Take away the 'k.'
I work at a bookstore, y'all. A BOOKSTORE.
Sign that Americans are even stupider than Sasha Baron Cohen shows us:
This.
Dear Stupid Frat Boys: OH MY GOD. Some people gave you free beer. They asked you questions. They filmed it. THIS IS NOT BASIS FOR A LAWSUIT. They violated none of your rights. None. Sure, they lied to you and said it wouldn't be shown in the US, but are you going to sue everyone who has helped you get drunk and then lied to you? That's a whole lot of hookers to round up, man.
You were stupid and racist and misogynistic of your own volition. I've seen the footage. You barely let Cohen get a word in edgewise, you were so excited to espouse your fantasies about women as property and how minorities have the upper hand in this country. Yes, you were drunk off your asses when you said it. That was apparent. You still said it. And hopefully, if there's any justice in the world, it will keep you from getting laid for at least a week.
Oh, hell, who am I kidding. Like the women you guys sleep with are ever making a conscious decision, regardless. GHB -- not just a drug, it's a lifestyle!
Dear Everyone Else: You knew you were being filmed. In the age of the internet, that should have clued you into the fact that hey, it's possible this could be seen in the states. If you behaved well, you have nothing to bitch about -- and yeah, not all of you behaved well, I'm looking at you, That Guy at the dinner party -- we (the audience) were laughing at the character of Borat, or the situation, not you specifically. Suck it up and laugh. You now have the best ice-breaker conversation EVER.
Also, SCORE. I told Sax that Pam Anderson was in on the whole thing, and I was right. | | comments: 11 comments or Leave a comment |
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