( Gaeilge )

I has an Anna! We has a tired. But, let's see, so far we have visited a local restaurant I hadn't been to before that was quite tasty and rather nice, not too echoy inside, very close (walking distance), good prices, and I'm pretty sure they thought we were a cute lesbian couple. The waiter was cute! There were lamb sliders. Dear god they were fucking tasty. And nachos with queso that was also fucking tasty. And in general I approve of that place. And then we had hanging out on the couch and watching TV and eating chocolate bars and snarking at the stupid Poltergeist people. Like you do, because that show is full of silly.

Today the plan seems to be go to work and play it by ear in the evening. The boy has work so there won't be too many plans to do anything extensive, especially since he'll probably spend most of today asleep on account of no sleep yesterday. I have no idea what we were going to do tonight, there were some ideas but I don't remember any of them.

Stuff and things. I've gotten myself addicted to Gates of Camelot, or rather Tanya Huff did. The evil wench. You should all join me and we can form a clan.

Yeah, I got nothing else and I should go do the getting ready for work thing. I has an Anna! This is going to be the bestest, most hilariousest two weeks ever.

( Deutsch )

( 日本語 )

( Русский язык )

I feel like I should have something constructive, productive, or incendiary to say about the Occupy protests. And the fact that the police seem to have turned on them, are no longer treating the protesters with politeness. That veterans are being dragged off for peaceful protests, that the media refuses to cover it in a way that favors anything but the status quo, that the Republican/Conservative/Corporate opposition (because it's a little of each) is becoming more strident and more hysterical in their opposition to the Occupy protests with every passing day. I feel like I should be turning myself into some kind of firebrand, but I don't have the energy. I don't have the hope. I don't have the illusion that the kinds of equalities that happen in other countries can't happen here because This Is America, Goddammit. Yes, it can happen. Yes, the police can be and has been bought, before if not now. No, it's not probable that people will be black bagged but yes, it can happen here. And has happened.

Yes, there can be tremendous inequality in this country, and there is. Yes, people can have no clean water (and there are plans to deny people clean water in Alabama), no adequate health care (Mississippi), education with outdated materials and inadequate facilities that would be featured in any brochure about Haiti or some African countries or so on (California, Texas, all over the damn place). Yes, we can have so-called third-world problems here because here in America, in the so-called first world, we have increasingly large pockets of third-world lifestyles. People with not enough food, clean water, health care, protection from the elements, people simply with not enough. Yes, we can be and are being fucked over by the establishment. This is America. We have Establishment here too, and there is class warfare going on. It's Scorched Earth warfare, and the rich are winning. So no, I don't have any hope to deal with politics or protests or carry a banner or wave a flag. Maybe I should, but I don't. I did that six months ago with the Wisconsin bullshit, and only a handful of people gave a damn then.

I'm tired. I'm tired of the shit that's going on and I'm tired of going out of my way to fight it. Maybe at some point I'll find my giveadamn again.

I'm knitting a Jayne hat? I installed my Blu-Ray internal drive all by myself. I've gotten to the new episodes of Haven, or, well, not the new ones, but the ones I haven't seen yet. I managed to make a decent cream of tomato soup. I'm eating healthy, not too much candy, lots of exercise. I'm slowly getting faster on the guitar, working on chords and fingering. Things aren't all bad even on a macro scale, I'm just having a hard time seeing the general good right now, so I'm going to see the personal good, if you don't mind. I'm getting my Big Bang written. I'm doing my job. I'm learning languages! It's not all bad.

( 日本語 )

( Русский язык )

The bizarre and confusing ways in which my body sheds fat, gains muscle, and generally changes its shape never cease to amaze me. By way of a fer instance, nothing between about my clavicle and my hips wants to change shape. Ever. It is STUCK THAT WAY. Likewise nothing from about an inch below my shoulder joint to an inch or so above my elbow wants to change shape significantly, although I know I'm building muscles because I can do more push-ups. I can do more crunches, I can lift more, I can do X pose for a longer amount of time, etc. And I can see my thighs slimming somewhat, I look in the mirror and I can see things happening to my neck and shoulders, and it's just overall weird. Bodies, I swear, how do they work.

Well, and on the other hand it's only been about a week and a half since I picked up my normal exercise and food routine again, and the first few days of that are always shaky, so continued improvement probably won't start happening again for a bit. But it still confuses me. That's not even getting into the weird shit that happens every month, ladies, you know what I mean.

Right. Everyone, this is possibly the most terrifying Criminal Minds anything anyone has ever come up with. Made by the cast. All of whom have far too much time on their hands.

Someone claimed my OFBB! Yay! Now I just have to get off my lazy ass and polish it up and finish it. Because damn. It needs polishing. It's a good story, but goddamn the parts of it need polishing so bad it's not even funny. Still amused that it's kind of an alien invasion post-apoc story, though. Especially from the point of view of the fae. I wonder if anyone's ever actually done that before. I'm almost certain someone has to have, but damned if I can think of where or who.

( 日本語 )

( Русский язык )

( Deutsch )

I just have to say this, guys, Ted Nugent makes you gay. (Warning: That link contains vitriolic homophobia, whether or not it's satire. The language is definitely homophobic.) And that said, Ted Nugent makes you gay. Ted. Nugent. Kansas is a gay-teway band, too. So are Nickelback, Eminem, the Grateful Dead, and Ghostface Killah. I'd be more outraged if I wasn't laughing so hard. Oh, and Toby Keith. Apparently listening to Toby Keith will make you gay. However, listening to Cyndi Lauper, apparently, will keep you straight.

This is my new favorite icon. Because he did. It is mine and you cannot have it until Mark Sheppard has a conversation with you at a con, fails to come up with a suitable answer, and calls you a troublemaker for it. Because he did. And it was awesome.

So, yeah, this is an uberlanguages post because I was out late last night, up lateish this morning, and kableh, everything all piled up on itself. And I have a million and one things I need to do, first among them to sign up for the Music Theory course online and get the Quidam tickets if they're still there. Actually, first I need to sit down tonight and make a list of all the shit I need to do over the next couple of weeks. Catch up on tags, although I got a fair bit of that done already. Bleh. And get quarters for laundry tomorrow. Clean clothes would be nice.

( 日本語 )

Oogh. Tired. Don't want to write. Or do tags. Or much of anything. I don't know if I'm still catching up on sleep or something, but. Bed on time tonight, at least.

We're poking convention hotels to see what shakes out. Already. Because it's Dragon*Con and, yeah, you kind of have to get these things early if you want a convention hotel. And I've discovered we like the convenience of having a convention hotel and not really having to go outside if we don't want to, just navigate the Atlanta hotel habitrails. (No, seriously, three of the hotels are connected by a series of habitrails, and connected to a couple buildings as well.) On the other hand, hey, if we have to walk a block or two, next year it's sensible shoes all the way, goddammit. Oof. Too tired to think about that right now, especially since I just tried to say something to the boy and it came out "og-bah-kuh..." Yeah.

On the plus side, I did look at my deadlines and stuff and realized I actually had about two more weeks than I thought I did to get one project done. Aheh. Oops. I think... mm. Right now I think writing some, and then poking my writing schedule to see how I can make this shake out properly.

( 日本語 )

Note to self: Yes, you will need to grind the vocab by the time you're done with the book; you're about hitting the instant saturation ceiling or whatever you're going to call it.

So, apparently Jeffrey Dean Morgan is in the running to play a "suave Jewish-American man who builds [a] hotel and makes unusual friends and powerful enemies along the way." Apart from the fact that the article writer felt the need to specify Jewish-American, which makes me think there's going to be some frightening anvils with Stars of David on them, I'm trying to picture JDM in a yarmulke or speaking any kind of Hebrew. It comes out sounding a little like possessed!John Winchester speaking Hebrew. This disturbs me.

So it goes. I watched the series finale of Babylon 5 the other night, which, predictably, left me bawling. I don't know if it's the actors or the writing or just the story overall, that ending always leaves me in tears. And wanting to watch it again, which is never the best idea. Instead I think I will watch Castle and see if the kiss actually happens.

Big Bangs are gearing up. I need to finish taking my notes on that. I need to get my dumb ass in gear and start pounding through Long Road, ugh. Speaking of Jeffrey Dean Morgan. I need to do a lot of things, starting with writing and editing work. Fortunately, I seem to have figured out a writing schedule routine that works better for me when I'm doing editing work, so. I think I'll get to doing that, and stop blathering at you all. While I still have brain cells left. And chinese food. Mmm.

( 日本語 )

No, Jag, you're doing Japanese, not Russian. Remember that.

So, apparently tonight I made the tastiest omg comfort food ever. It is tasty, it is creamy, it is cheesy, it is terrific. It also may be somewhat Ameri-centric, as it involves a kind of cheese called Laughing Cow, which is a creamy swiss cheese. Probably you could substitute any kind of creamy cheese with garlic/onion/chive flavor that you like and melts well. I don't know if Laughing Cow is available in your country of choice, though.

CHICKEN AND BOW-TIE PASTA IN CREAM SAUCE
2-4 Boneless skinless chicken breast halves
12 oz pkg farfalle (bow tie) pasta
16 oz chicken broth OR 2 cups water+2 cups chicken boullion
1-2 cups broccoli florets
1 medium red pepper, thinly sliced
salt and pepper to taste
1 tub each (8.75 oz) Laughing Cow garlic and herbs and Laughing Cow french onion cheese (recipe originally suggests 2 8oz containers chive and onion cream cheese + garlic. I cheated)

Place chicken into saucepan and add water to cover. Boil 20 minutes. Allow to cool, then pull meat into shreds.

Cook pasta.

In a large skillet over medium high heat (or an actual shallow pot, if you want not to worry about slopping it over the sides) combine broth, red pepper, broccoli, salt, and cheese. Stir until smooth. Mix in chicken and pasta. Makes lots. Vary your vegetables as needed to accommodate allergies, triggers, etc.





Moo.

( 日本語 )

Well, that fit of energy lasted until I got in to work. Fortunately I was able to slowly do all the things I needed to do. Languages got done, lunch got eaten, hopefully that will energize me some between the carbs for longer energy and the chocolate for the immediate burst. At least it's not that busy right now, here in back. Either that or I need to stand and stare at my spinning wheel till the excitement ramps up enough that I can do things that aren't nodding off at my desk.

Like sit out front! Sure.

Hrrm. Yarn might not be dyed today, I did forget that there aren't that many of us while the Witch Queen and the Dye Giant are off on holiday, and the Lurking Bandit is at the farm minding things. On the other hand, it's really flippin' dead. On the other other hand, that doesn't mean it won't go nuts soon. Maybe there will be spinning for now, in the lull, and writing my fingers off after shipping goes. And then dyeing things either at home over the weekend or whenever I get a chance next week. Hm! Decisions. That seems like the best plan, really.

Yeah, I have no brain to do anything right now. I think I'll see if I can find more work-work to do, and then bring my wheel out front and sit and be a tourist attraction. For all the tourists that aren't here now that school's started.

I have a wheel! Eeee!

German! The German I didn't get done last night, oops.

( Deutsch )

The nice thing about this is that I apparently retain enough German that most of that I can just read through without stopping to translate in my head. Still, I'll type up the translation Sunday night.

In less shiny news, apparently the pest spraying guys came into the apartment, looked around the kitchen we had so painstakingly taken apart and put all the food stuff away from where they said they would be spraying, asked us if we had any bugs or had seen any bugs... and when we said no, they didn't spray. ARGH. If the roaches all flee to our apartment after they're sprayed in other places I will hurt something. We're laying down boric acid now that we've got everything out, anyway, so there's that at least. Stupid fucking ... someone. Either the apartment complex or the company man.

Anyway. Japanese, I guess, to come later tonight so I don't spam you all with my language lessons. Ahem.

( Deutsch )

( Bento, Day 1. Rang bell, cat fucked off... )

( Bento, Day 2. Rang bell, cat ate my food. )

I'm discovering the really awesome thing about bento is that I can eat my main meal and my fruit and my dessert, and feel full. I used to, when I brought leftovers in, eat a lot more than that, but now I can pretty much just eat that and even on a fucking insane day of work, I didn't snack. I didn't run to the candy basket. I didn't nick pieces of challah or find out what tasty cookie the Lurking Bandit brought in from home today. I just drank a litre and a half of water and kept going. And then I had merienda.

(Merienda, for those of you who don't remember or in case I didn't explain before, is a Spanish word roughly meaning afternoon snack. It's like the kind of snack you give kindergarteners. I don't think there actually is a specific equivalent word in English like breakfast, lunch, etc, unless you count tea, but that's what it is.)

I do need to start putting something in there for second breakfast, some sort of fruit or something. That's how I've been eating for a while, ideally five meals a day, cereal or toast or something small first thing in the morning, second breakfast I can carry around with me when I get to work while I see what's what. Lunch, merienda, and then the biggest (relatively speaking) meal of the day is dinner. It'd be awesome if I can do all three of the at-work meals in my bento, but we'll see!

Also, ( this is my chip-case. Because I AM FROM THE FUTURE )

Why yes. I am easily and cheaply amused. Why do you ask.