this machine will not communicate

It took a PM from someone to make me realize that I haven't posted in awhile.  I'm not dead!  Here's how I've been spending my time lately:

1. Working.

2. Writing on this novel-thing.  I'm 15,000 words in, and I know the essentials of the main story if not all the details, which is how I like it best.  (Sometimes I know all the early details but have no idea where I'm actually going, which isn't as good.)  I'm really enjoying it a great deal, and I hope I can keep up my enthusiasm - I'm not sure what if anything I'd ever do with it, but it's fun to try something new.  I've been debating whether I want to post chapters as I go, since I had such a good experience live-writing my screenplay here.  Eh, IDK.

3. Watching TV.  I've been catching up on Community, Parks and Rec, Raising Hope and Modern Family.  It's nice to wake up a little early and start my day with a bowl of cereal and a sitcom.

That's about it!  I've sort of taken a bit of a break from the internet; I haven't checked tumblr since Monday, I haven't been reading ONTD or my various film and gossip sites or the various Fandom Wank comms.  Sometimes I get a little ennui about the internet and I know it's time to do something else for awhile; I'll get into ruts where that's all I do in my free time, is just sit in front of the computer for hours, and I end up getting kind of blue.  It may seem silly to others that watching TV makes me feel productive, but hey, that's just how I roll.

Though tonight I have scifiland bingo!  I'm excited, since I can't remember the last time a bingo's been held when I'm actually (a) home and (b) awake.  I need to start uploading gifs in preparation.

ETA: I've noticed this a lot in the stupid "haha the world is ending LOL let's make fun of people whee!" media onslaught of the supposed apocalypse today - why is it so freaking hard to remember that the Book of Revelation is singular?  It isn't Revelations!  It's Revelation!  Just the one!  I'm flipping and hit CNN and of course there's a story about it because that's all they've talked about this whole week for who knows what reason, and there it was again.  Book of Revelations.  IT DRIVES ME CRAZY.  IT'S LIKE IF PEOPLE CONSTANTLY REFERRED TO THE BOOK OF DANIELS OR THE BOOK OF LUKES.  IF ANYONE WHO EVER REPORTED ON THIS KIND OF THING, OR WROTE ABOUT IT ON TV (I AM LOOKING AT YOU SUPERNATURAL YOU DO THIS LIKE EVERY THIRD EPISODE) EVER ACTUALLY OPENED A BIBLE AND, LIKE, READ THE WORDS IT WOULD BE PLAIN TO SEE THAT IT IS JUST THE ONE REVELATION. 

(Also, this reminds me of the time Supernatural had that episode about the demon named Samhain and everyone pronounced it phonetically.  I may or may not have crawled under my couch and died.)

If you've never seen it, I hope you enjoy.  If you have, well, what day can't be improved with a little Posh Nosh?

I think it is important for me to begin my week by jabbering about my new favorite show, Miranda.  Like many shows recently, I began watching this show because of a gif.

( On with the entry, then, shall we? )

Oof, I actually did things today.  My sisters and I went to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival - it's kind of embarrassing that I've lived no more than three or four miles away from it for years and years and have never been.  I got some chainmail earrings and a tiny pewter castle, so that was fun.  The JCPenney by us is getting a new Sephora, and we went to the soft opening of that after Ren Fest; my younger sister and her friend got their eyes done, and then I had a test of the Bare Minerals, which I've been wanting to get.  The demos are important because I am incapable of picking out the proper colors and shades of make-up myself.  I'm not a huge make-up fan, but I guess that I kind of need to learn how to put it on like a grown-up at some point.  Sigh.

And now, my thoughts on this week's TV.  The only show I wanted to watch and didn't get to was The Event, which I'm hoping to watch tomorrow after work, because as soon as I fall more than one episode behind the odds of me catching up fall dramatically.

( How I Met Your Mother )

( Hawaii Five-0 )

( Glee )

( Raising Hope )

( Running Wilde )

( Modern Family )

( 30 Rock )

( The Office )

( Outsourced )

( Fringe )

It's TV premiere week!  That means it's Fringe premiere week!  Yay!

I did these a couple weeks ago for the fringeverse challenge community.  Two drabble-length diary entries from the POV of two characters.  

( Peter's Diary Entry )

( Astrid's Diary Entry )

My first love was a very complicated man.  He was very, very rich, and also very, very handsome.  So you can see how I was attracted, but also how he ended up being a very arrogant, self-centered person.  Plus, there were ex problems, too.  It was kind of a passionate, tumultuous thing that didn't last very long, but when it did?  He was pretty much all I thought about.

( More about my first love. )

Had a blergh day.  Woke up blergh for no discernible reason.  Nothing specific (at least this morning); just feeling, as Kurt Hummel would say, full of ennui.  Worked.  Went to write and some douche in a beret and drinking espresso was sitting at My Table.  Came home to a letter from Austin Film Festival telling me Flesh and Blood didn't make it to the semifinals.  (No letter for Fall River, though; wouldn't they have mailed at the same time?) 

In short, blergh.

I needed to find a way to make myself happy again!

( So I watched "Once More, With Feeling" )

I tend to be pretty lenient with pilots; I always remember that they're not just the first episode of a show, they're also a sales pitch to the network. A pilot has to do a lot: introduce the characters, the setting, the tone, the premise, the visual aesthetic; it has to hook viewers; it has to be open enough that there are possibilities for dozens and dozens of episodes to come, but it has to be closed enough that there's some specificity there; it has to ask some questions and allowed them to remain unanswered, so the show has something to continue to explore, but not so many that you don't feel like you're going anywhere.
( Read more... )

Went to the Farmer's Market this weekend. It was approximately a bazillion degrees and all the humidities, and every single person who lives in Kansas City was also there, and maybe some tourists too, I'm not sure. We actually don't buy much produce there, since we grow most of what we want at Grandpa's - tomatoes, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, bell peppers, cubanelles, jalapenos, pumpkins, and watermelons; garlic, thyme, tarragon, mint, basil, sage. So we just picked up some limes and avocados, and then made our way to the spice and herb store, which is amazing. We buy a lot of their seasoning blends and such, stuff like Garlic Herb and Creole and Orange Pepper, but our favorite item is their Mexican Dip Mix.

It's great, because you can use it for just about anything. Grilling some chicken? Mexican Dip Mix! Making rice? Mexican Dip Mix! Spicy cheese for nachos? Mexican Dip Mix! Compound butter for roasted corn? Mexican Dip Mix! Mexican dip? Mexican Dip Mix!

Also, my dad finally managed to get us to watch the first episode of Castle with him, which Laura had been resisting, but it actually wasn't that bad. I mean, 90% of the charm is Fillion, but Rob Bowman directed the pilot so the visual style is nice, and there were a few laughs.

Wrote another short story; this one took me about two weeks. Some of the details, though not the main plot, are based on stories Gamps has told us over the years, so it was a little more personal than I usually write.

( Nice White Paper )