| Another update, I must be losing my mind. |
[07 Nov 2007|01:09am] |
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music |
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Sophie Ellis Bextor — Today The Sun's On Us |
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NaNo is going pretty well, and I'm actually finding myself enjoying it far more than I had thought. The barren wasteland that is my imagination hasn't had even a tumbleweed of thought for years, and although I feel dumb that the ones I'm having now are fanfic-based instead of something nonderivative, I also know I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Who knew that five years of reading awful smut and disturbing squick fics (seriously, all are VNSFL) would grant me the ability to write plotty genfic?
I'm mildly disappointed that what began life as pure crack has morphed into something serious, since I feel dumber about writing "serious" fic as opposed to something I can brush off as purely a joke. What's most disturbing is that I'm still going to incorporate the outline I hashed out with Jason, which means that describing this beast while keeping a straight face will sound about as believable as David describing the plot to a Merchant Ivory movie about giant diaper-wearing robot bugs.
To mark the untimely demise of my poor iPod Charmmy, I have a lovely new iPod (no name for it yet, though—I can't even think of anything geeky to call it), and the fucker is fast as hell: it took less than two hours to upload 60G worth of crap to it. I keep mentioning this, but I'm seriously still amazed. I can't seem to find any cases for it that don't make me want to pour acid in my eyes, though.
I booked my flights down for Thanksgiving. I'll be leaving late Monday night and arriving earlyish on Friday that week. I have plans to see my family, of course, but hopefully I'll also be able to meet up with my three loveliest ladies down there, all of whom I miss dearly. Even though scheduling would probably have been easier, I decided against staying through the weekend—it's time I got more focused on getting things done up here.
Anyway, I linked my author profile at the beginning of this entry, so you can check that for my current word count if you're curious for some ungodly reason. I'm 99.99% sure I won't ever post a title or excerpt, though, so if you're whoring for a piece (yes, I mean you Casey), don't hold your breath!
ETA: Well, I've got my holiday shopping done, now.
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| What's that, out in the distance...? |
[29 Oct 2007|10:48pm] |
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music |
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Sophie Ellis-Bextor — Catch You |
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Could it be...
AN UPDATE?
In spite of the fact that I never have anything of note going on, I am trying for a bare minimum of uh, let's say three posts a year, so I think I need to get on the ball. So here goes:
I have an internship (read: indentured servitude) at NaNoWriMo, which I really enjoy, in no small part because it's a great organization with great people. Also, I've re-learned more HTML in the last two months or so than I thought possible for a dummy like me. I'm also going to participate this year and hopefully win! No, I won't say what my "novel" is about (hint: link may or may not be misleading).
Today my iPod exploded. Well, not really. But really. Anyway, it's FUBAR, and it looks like I'll be getting a new one. Which would be all right if you ignore the fact that it'll take 20 hours or so to upload all of my crappy music to it. I suppose I can just pop in Patrick Wolf, Sophie Ellis-Bextor (bitch is fierce YES I SAID IT), and Sia, and I'll be set for the next month since that seems to be all I'm listening to lately anyway.
I always think there's more going on with me, but there's really not. The most interesting thing to happen to me today was having a conversation with a two year old—an adorable one, yes, but still.
Since I'm so boring, perhaps you'll accept this as a peace offering.
Also, it's a certain matriarch's birthday today according to author and fag-enabler JKR, so in honor of it, an icon:
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| Valentine's Day? |
[13 Feb 2007|07:01pm] |
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music |
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Neko Case — Hex (MARRY ME, NEKO) |
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Who cares! At least it's an excuse for more of these (the Malfoys' and Sirius's are the best) and these:
lol@horsefucking
So I guess it's more or less decided that I won't be moving back to LA just because there are too many what-ifs and if-onlys, and for such a big change there can't be this many conditionals. I have a few ideas about what I want to do instead, like perhaps put some of the money from the sale of the condo down there toward property up here in order to keep extra properties, but knowing my father that idea will be nixed and I'm too young to own anything anyway. Still, it'd be nice having a really stable, reliable place to stay on a semi-permanent basis, or at least part of me thinks so. The other part of me wants to be flexible in case I get spontaneous and unselfconscious enough to pursue the various things I'd like to but am all-too aware are much too impractical.
In the meantime, I have a lot of things I suppose I need to take care of, getting a job first and foremost, as well as taking care of license and health insurance stuff, though the latter may be taken care of with a job. I'm trying to set a 2-3 resume sendouts-per-week quota for myself which shouldn't be too hard based on the poking around I've done so far. Most places require work experience, but I'm pretty sure I can finagle somethingorother I don't hate, thanks in large part to Ari and Steph who have really given me a lot of encouragement lately and made me feel like less of a pathetic out-of-work liberal arts major with no prospects and more like a pathetic out-of-work liberal arts major with hope for the future and maybe even some potential.
Speaking of impractical, if anyone can get me here for even five puny days I would pretty much promise you whatever children I may have and whatever limbs I do have. There'll be no asking what I want for my birthday; henceforth that shall be the answer. Give me intercontinental flights or give me deatha nice card, perhaps!
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[25 Nov 2006|07:05pm] |
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music |
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ears bleeding |
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Sweet, sweet mother of God.
God, whom I'm not sure exists after listening to this.
Seriously, listen to the whole thing.
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[06 Aug 2006|09:35pm] |
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In between reading an absurd amount of fanfic, I'm trying to rip all my CDs onto my computer and iPod. I've rediscovered a lot of stuff, but I thought I'd share this CD with anyone interested. It is by a band called Market who released it several years ago; it never became a commercial release, and I suspect I have one of the very few copies of the promotional CD that they gave out. I haven't heard the album in a while and forgot how good it is. Maybe you might find it's not your cup of tea, but it's definitely worth a download to try it.
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[01 Jul 2006|03:02pm] |
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It's been forever (again), but all I've been up to is going to LA for a while and reading. David Sedaris is a god. I've been going out to dinner (a lot) and seeing a bunch of people. I'm down until next Sunday, and not doing much...ever. Also, mmm.
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| A post finally? |
[01 Jun 2006|02:42am] |
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mood |
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 tired |
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Well, not really. I've graduated now, and am no longer a student. It's been over a week and that fact is still nowhere near to sinking in. Just today I had to return some books to the campus library and took a detour through Wheeler Hall, and I couldn't shake the feeling that I would be going back there in the fall, although I know that isn't so. I'm trying to visit LA before I send out resumes and fill out applications, more postponement to starting an actual "real world" life but, dammit, I want some semblance of a summer still.
I managed to pass all my classes, and I think I did so well. The last week of this semester was more hellish than usual, as I had due both a 25 page paper for my Research Theories and Methods in Sociocultural Anthropology class as well as what turned out only to be a 9 page paper for my English senior seminar class. I'm pretty proud of how both turned out, particularly my mini-ethnography. If anyone is interested, you can read the papers here and here. One is about computer games and the other is about shoes, so they must be fantastic! Actually, I'm just glad that I was able to leave Cal feeling that I had accomplished at least something on some sort of intellectual scale. Academia as a future frightens me, and I know nothing I wrote will make waves or headlines, but I left there having at least solidly added to the academic conversations of the subjects I studied, even if only to a limited degree.
What comes next? Sleep! After that, I have no idea.
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| SUPER EPIX |
[24 Apr 2006|01:27am] |
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mood |
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 accomplished! |
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music |
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Plumb — Blush |
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A weekend of running around and sometimes bein frustrated has yielded the unbelievable!
I know none of you cares, but I'm very very excited!
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| Yes, it's true. |
[14 Feb 2006|02:39pm] |
Another LJ post, can you believe it? It's barely been two months since the last!
Anyway, this is meant to be a requisite breakdown of my classes this semester, particularly since this is my last semester, barring hell freezing over, etc.
European Society—This class is essentially one on the culture of Mediterranean countries, with a strong focus on Spain (my professor did his doctoral research there at a village called Becedas), Portugal, Greece, and Italy. The class is interesting and the professor is nice, and I'm pretty sure there are only two exams and one 5 page paper so it's a rather relaxing class and nicely frames my week (and forces me to get up at human hours every day).
American Beauty—My senior english seminar, which I love! We have interesting discussions about topics that jump all around the class; everyone is extremely bright and brings with them different insights, and the reading, which is all nonfiction, is quite interesting. We've read about and discussed perceptions of Native American beauty, African American beauty (particularly with reference to haircare), the many makeup practices women and men follow and their repurcussions and reasons, and perceptions of the body after death, among others. It may all sound really pompous, but the class is fascinating and I'm thrilled I can be in it, particularly after my horrible junior seminar class my first semester at Cal.
Research Theories and Methods in Sociocultural Anthropology—Did you read that title and fall asleep? I can't blame you. This class is essentially the bane of my existence for the semester as the entire course is centered around doing fieldwork for and then writing a 20-30 page ethnography on a topic of our choice. Although I know what I will be doing and how I'd like to do it, the assignment as a whole I find extremely daunting and this is not helped by the myriad peddling busiwork assignments they are giving to make sure we're "on track." What's more, I find myself more or less suffering the same crisis of faith with anthropology that I had with English my sophmore and junior years, and finding myself unable to see the use of the subject. Lately, my professor and GSI (and our many guest lecturers) seem to spend all the time they have talking to us to wax poetic about the "important work" they're doing when they're doing "participant observation in the 'field'." Being an anthropology major, however, I can give a decidely emic opinion that this essentially boils down to watching a bunch of people and asking them questions and novelizing their lives and responses. The ethnographies we've read and the examples we've been given have all left an extremely pointless taste in my mouth, and seem to read like bad pulp novels with their descriptions of the "chipping paint" and the "sweltering heat" of whatever crappy house in which they're interviewing an informant. There seems to be no use in this "work" and the more I read the more I'm getting a distinct feeling that these newer ethnographic practices are all excersizes in sheer narcissism amongst the anthropologic crowd.
A classmate of mine in my aforementioned senior seminar class was mentioning to me how she's taken every one of Laura Nader's classes (yes, she is Ralph's sister, as well as a professor of anthropology at Berkeley) and that she idolizes her. When I thought about this later, I got a bit sad; I had a professor I idolized after just even a few weeks of instruction. But unfortunately, he passed away my second semester, leaving me with a new passion as well as a sadness at an academic relationship I can't ever cultivate. To date, I've never been as interested in a subject as I am in folklore, nor will I ever be as proud of an assignment in my undergraduate career as I was with my folklore collection. Alex mentioned he wanted to read it, and in case anyone else did too, I've uploaded it here. It was a true labor of love for me, and although I'm interested in this ethnography I have to do, it pales in comparison to what I think is more fascinating and important work, and it's going to be very hard for me to get through it because of that.
Evolution of Human Behavior—Blah blah blah requirement, blah blah blah Darwin. Two miderms and a final, all multiple choice and short answer. I'll study, I'll pass, and I'll forget every word.
My spinning thoughts about life after college could take up a post twice this size, so I'll spare you.
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| Jason! |
[24 Dec 2005|04:22pm] |
1) Please watch this.
2) I'm only four episodes away from being totally caught up...am I bad?
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| Jason. |
[18 Dec 2005|11:38pm] |
Jason.
Jason.
Look here.
Also, I've downloaded one episode from S2 of DH...and I watched the last eight episodes in a row the day you left. I know! I'm bad! And now I'm off to watch!
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| ZOMG! |
[21 Oct 2005|01:46pm] |
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mood |
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happy, aside from stupid car |
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music |
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Fiona Apple — Parting Gift |
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YES!!
Is it telling, perhaps, that the only scene released so far has been this one? I think so!
Bouncing ferret ftw!
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