So, I haven't been keeping up with my whole "update every first of the month" routine, but since not much has happened I figure that's okay.

And it's been a long time since I was out to where my mother and sister work, but apparently there's now a nice-looking building for Jehovah's Witnesses to congregate nearby. It was an odd little blip on the familiar route.

I checked earlier on the Ref 71 (rights for domestic partners), and one link I checked had an update that said it was 51% disapproved or somewhere thereabouts. Concerned, I went to the Olympian's homepage for an updated result, and hooray! Approved came out ahead. Now it just needs to stay that way.

In sadder news, my sister's TV now no longer has SyFy, nor a lot of other entertaining channels. Oddly, for Comcast, USA and the E!News channel are in the same package, yet while her TV gets USA, it doesn't get E!News. But yes, sadly no more Sanctuary for me except via Hulu. While it's not too much of an inconvenience, it'll be a pain once EUReKA comes back on. Plus, I heard about Syfy's Thanksgiving weekend movie marathon and thought, "Oh, hey, I might want to watch some of those movies!" when I remembered we don't have that channel anymore. Bah.

Usually when my mother tells me to make my own food, I have some soup or grilled sandwiches, but of late I wanted to branch out and actually cook food. I've realized that our pantry and fridge is...seriously understocked. We generally never have any fresh herbs. The closest my family comes to that is green onions, which we usually buy once a week. We also don't have anything like chicken breasts, fillets, or individual-servings of red meat. No pasta, and generally no vegetables except for russet potatoes and yellow onions. We have eggs, but except buried under tons of other stuff I hate eggs.

I have no idea how my mother cooks for my sister and I!

Oh wait. Rice and fish. Never mind.

I think, though, since I don't have my mother's talent to make something out of nothing, I'm going to make a semi-project of actually stocking the kitchen with food to cook. Especially since my sister has all these cookbooks with tasty recipes.

Also, Littlerock RD srsly needs to get fixed. Like, four years ago. Stupid frickin' officials who think building 3 ROUNDABOUTS IN LESS THAN A QUARTER-MILE is a good idea.


Jetfire: My father was a wheel! The first wheel! And do you know what he transformed into? Nothing!! But he did it with honor! Dignity, damnit!

Sergeant Epps: I hope these pilots are good shots.
Major Lennox: Why?
Sergeant Epps: I told them to hit the orange smoke.
(Orange smoke billows into the sky almost directly next to them.)
Major Lennox: That smoke?
Sergeant Epps: It wasn't my best toss, sir. --Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

( 60 Books in a Year Update )

My diploma arrived today! I thought it'd be bigger, for some reason. But it feels so good to have it. I've actually had a nightmare or two this summer past where my mom's yelling at me for not finishing school, and I'm all tense and on the verge of tears and stuff, before I wake up.

...Yeah, all that pressure my mom laid on me for the last 13+ years about how school is absolutely, undeniably the only thing that matters in order to have a good life had nothing but positive effects on me. Yes.

And Halloween's next week! My sister and I went to a haunted house a couple of weeks ago, and while I infinitely prefer being the scare-er instead of the scare-ee, it wasn't bad. Unfortunately, my little instinct for danger and stuff is a bit...skewed, we'll say. I kept timing it perfectly so that when the volunteers jumped out from behind I was the one at the rear, and when there were noisemakers that went off when someone crossed through, I was the person at the front. I did not appreciate that at all. But there was one cool room where it was tilted at an angle, so you were walking on the edge between the floor and the wall, while a strobe light kept going. It was a little disorienting, but the worst part about that room was the fact that people were ahead of us, and they couldn't get the door open. All in all, not a bad Haunted House, I suppose.

At least I get to be here for trick-or-treaters this year! I don't know what I'll dress as, though. I kind of want to be something scary, but I have nothing like that, and I don't feel like spending money on over-priced costumes. Not to mention there seems to be a factory mandate that all women costumes must have a certain level of indecency to be sold. I mean, sexy ninjas? No, no, no, that is not what a ninja is supposed to be! If women want to be dressed sexy, sure, go ahead, but why not give the rest of us something just plain awesome to wear?

Sanctuary tonight! And Dollhouse, but it's getting really, really hard to watch that show. But I feel sorta semi-obligated to watch it, because I want it to succeed for Joss. And if I didn't have enough television to watch, Psych has gotten my attention (I know, it's about 4 years late), if only because of Timothy Omundson. Gah.


Thomas Raith: An errand is getting a tank of gas or picking up a carton of milk or something. It is not getting chased by flying purple pyromaniac gorillas hurling incendiary poo. --The Dresden Files, Blood Rites

FlashForward is turning out to be a pretty good show. Plus, nu!Trek Sulu is in it! And there are lots of familiar faces in it: Lee Thompson Young (Famous Jett Jackson), Courtney B. Vance (Law & Order Criminal Intent), Genevieve Cortese (Supernatural), Alan Ruck (Dr. Hood from EUReKA and Cameron from Ferris Bueller), and Alex Kingston (River Song!!).

I found a place that sells fresh seafood in Olympia some time ago, and Saturday my sister and I went. We bought fresh, lively crabs (and I think crabs need to be cooked out of my sight from now on; poor little crabs being boiled alive) and I finally got around to making the banana walnut bread I got from Trader Joe's last week.

I've known I was allergic to parakeets, but so far that was my only allergy. Last night, I broke out into hives. For the first hour, I'd hoped it'd go away, but I had to give in and have my sister go out at 9PM to go get me some Benadryl (since no one in my family has any of the common allergies) because the hives were spreading.

So I'm allergic to either the crab or the banana bread. I'm hoping it's the TJ bread, because if I spontaneously developed an allergy to crab then my seafood-loving family may accidentally make me break out into hives whenever they have crab.

I made a philly cheesesteak sandwich today. The type of meat I bought wasn't quite right (the store I went to didn't have rib-eye steaks) and I made a little too much filling for the sandwich, but it was still awesome. I just need to find a better way of cutting up onions.

Public Enemies is a very fun Batman/Superman team-up movie. I wasn't terribly fond of the animation style, but anytime they get Kevin Conroy to do the voice of Batman is always excellent.

ETA: ZOMG ASKASDFHALSKASLDFKJASLHF!!!!!!!!! I just read a casting call for Supernatural for episode 5x10, and EEEEEEEKKK!!! ( Cut for those who don't want casting spoilers )

Eek, I'm even more excited for Supernatural....someday I should actually watch seasons 1-3 in spite of the lack of Misha ("I just thought I would sit here quietly." heee!).


Batman: The kryptonite is near your heart. I don't know if I'll get it before the wound closes.
Superman: Where's The Flash when you need him?
Batman: Do me a favor and lose the sense of humor.
Superman: Do us both a favor and buy one. --Superman/Batman Public Enemies

I'm alive...I just haven't been on a computer (and thus the Internet) in...a little under 3 weeks. Yipes.

Nothing terribly exciting has happened. I got a new game (Kingdom Hearts, so it's not a *new* game), I'm slowly making my way through 4 seasons of House (I'm in the middle of the 3rd season; yay sisters and graduation presents), I've finally watched the first Transformers movie, will presumably be seeing the second Transformers movie Sunday, and I'm still on (okay, technically I'm *beginning*) the hunt for a job. My room still hasn't been unpacked, but I'm in the process of clearing off my desk so I can at least have my laptop going (though I still won't have Internet on the laptop). I did not realize how many freaking credit card offers I got over the past 4 years until I started shredding all that stupid mail. Anyone need fake credit cards?

The city of Tumwater/Olympia really needs to get its act together. They've been doing construction on Littlerock Road for almost....3 years? And they *still* haven't finished whatever sort of replacement-water-pipe thing they started all those years back, and it's made driving that road bumpy as hell.

And they started a whole different project nearby, tearing up an intersection to put in a roundabout (*shuuder* oh gods, why does Lacey/Tumwater/Olympia have such a freaking fetish for roundabouts?!?!?!?). It's about 3 weeks into summer, the local public schools have shut down for summer...and absolutely no one is working on the roundabout. Soo...us locals have two narrow lanes for about a quarter of a mile to go both ways, while the other side of the road is a blocked-off gravel path that could have been used as a road if they city learned how to finish its stupid projects. Bah. Stupidity.

Season 3.5-that-I'm-considering-Season-4-because-it's-been-way-too-long of EUReKA is back Friday, July 10th, 9PM! And Leverage comes back Wednesday, July 15, 9PM! Yay!! Now I just need to remember those digital channels.....

Okay. It's late. Going to bed now. Maybe update later this week.

Optimus Prime: My first lieutenant. Designation: Jazz.
Jazz: This looks like a cool place to kick it! [jumps onto a car behind him as if it were a chair]
Sam Witwicky: What is that? How did he learn to talk like that?
Optimus Prime: We've learned Earth's languages through the World Wide Web. --Transformers


P.S.: Also, RIP David Carradine, Farah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. It's slowly becoming an end of an era.

Okay, so, I think I need to set a rule for myself: No more reading Facebook group discussion posts or, if I do, only read those to which I can actually reply. Or, just stop reading the discussions dealing with gay marriage. Or any hot-button issue. *headdesks repeatedly from the hypocrisy and close-mindedness*

My room is packed up for the most part. Just little things here-and-there that are last-minute stuff. Then wait til tomorrow after my poetry-reading-final, move my stuff out, vacuum, wipe off my desk, rearrange some of the furniture, and check-out. And then....I'm done. I'm graduated. No more dorms. O.O

I need to remember to clear off my desk at home so I can set up my laptop and other electronic devices. I didn't feel the need the last three years since it was temporary, but now...eeps. *thinks about how much stuff she has on her desk and weeps*

So, my mother decided not to come for the English department graduation, and I'm really relieved. It would have been too hectic for me, plus I got my room all squared away with that extra time. I still get my diploma in the end, and I didn't spend any money on ceremonial stuff, so I'm all good. Plus, I get to keep the ceremony tickets as mementos! Which, I like way more than attending the actual thing. ^___^ Maybe it'd be different if people I knew were in attendance, but I don't really know them, so it would have been a drag.

Up is a very cute, very 'awwwww!!'-inducing movie. Seriously. Full grown adults were 'awwww'ing together. The movie short that came before it was also very, very cute and elicited quite a few 'awwwwws'. The 3-D effect made my eyes and head hurt a little bit, though. My friends and I also sat up in the first row of the balcony, too, so not only did we get a very straight-on view of the screen, but nobody could sit in front of us and block our view! *pumps fist*

Speaking of movies...I found this funny Star Trek/Pokemon icon:
( I choose YOU, Kirk! )

I hate Serenity, I hated Firefly, I think my fans are stupid and Nathan Fillion smells like turnips. --Joss Whedon context makes this less funny, but here ya go

I have the tickets for the English grad ceremony, and I'm all happy-happy-joy-joy about that, but somehow I completely blanked on parking. Us graduates with people coming in cars needed to have pre-ordered parking permits for graduation ceremonies. And...yeah. I did not do that. I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to buy one late (which, according to one email I received, the HUB should have been selling them...but maybe that was only until last week?) but at this point it looks like I'm going to have to have my family park down in UVillage. My mother can't walk long distances (and the uphill climb would be impossible, I'm sure), though, and it'd be a pain to work out the bus-system for them, so....I don't really know what to do at this point.

In addition to the parking screw-up, I really, really should have asked my Linguistics prof if I could take the final early. It's 8:30 on Wednesday, may potentially take until 10:30 if I randomly fall asleep/blank out/completely don't know what I'm doing during the test, and then I have to line up for my English grad ceremony by 1:15. So, sometime between 10:30 and 1:15 I have to A) prettify/dress myself so I don't look like a bedraggled senior who just finished taking a final, B) figure out how to work the parking situation with my family, which if I don't manage to finagle an on-campus parking spot for them, will include getting them up here so that they're not sore and aching and in a bad mood.

Ugh. *headdesk* I wish I had gone through with getting a cap&gown like I'd initially intended, that way this would have all been finished up tidily. Blargh.

My family came up and took about half of my stuff home with them. It's made my room look a little barren (thank goodness my back is to the empty bookshelf) but there are still posters up, so that takes the edge off.

I'm making brownies later tonight. Possibly with ice cream, maybe some other toppings if the people taking part in the consuming process want them. It'll just be...very interesting measuring out 2/3 and 1/3 cups of liquids with nothing but teaspoons (and these are not real teaspoons, but just ordinary spoons).

I ♥ Magus Bookstore so very much. *nods gravely* I love it enough that I accepted store credit instead of getting cash when I sold my books last week, and by today I've already spent half of that credit. Unfortunately, after this week, I have no idea when I'll be back up here again, so it may take years until I can revisit the store and finish off the credit. On the bright side, I *finally* have a copy of Fahrenheit 451! And I got Go Ask Alice, which will probably be slightly depressing reading. And a fantasy book, because it was $7 instead of $15. I would have gotten Candide, but...the copy they were selling had a retail price of $2.95, and they were selling it for $3.50. Um...no. I'll buy a sparkly-shiny-new copy for a cheaper price. Usually they have great prices, but this time it just seemed a bit...WTH-ish.


Two men look out a window:
One sees mud, the other sees stars. --Frederick Langbridge

P.S.: I think there's something wrong with the birds in my courtyard. There's a crow which has NOT stopped cawing ALL FREAKING WEEKEND. Seriously. From 8AM til sundown he has crowed and heckled other birds into responding to him. I have now named him Tammy, in spite of the fact that it's a girl-name.

I only have one more week of university before finals/graduation ceremonies. Eep.

( If I knew back in freshman year what I do now... )
Other stuff...I think I'm going to bake the brownie mix I have this Friday, as a sort of celebration thing.

My family is coming up this Sunday (the 7th) to pack up most of my stuff. Then they'll come back up Wednesday for the English graduation ceremony (which is about 2 hours after my Linguistics final, so yay for being over-busy that day), they'll probably take even more stuff down with them, and then Thursday I'll probably move out. Maybe Friday, it depends on my sister.

Also need to find someone to sell my fridge to. It's too much of a hassle to keep, particularly since we have no place for it at home. I also need to sell whatever textbooks I can back to the various stores. *is slightly cheered by the thought of money*


Scotty: I'm so- *scoffs* What? Are you from the future?
Kirk: Yeah, he is. I'm not.
Scotty: Well that's brilliant! Do they still have sandwiches there? --Star Trek [XI]

So, I heard about Tin Man through various sources (smallfandomfest is a really great way to learn about obscure, short series/movies/etc), and decided to buy it on DVD, since it was cheap and I could probably sell it to another store if I didn't like it.

I loved it!

( Excuse me while I sort of...effuse a little. )

In short: Tin Man the miniseries. Alan Cumming, Neal McDonough, Richard Dreyfuss, Zooey Deschanel, most of them out to go beat up the Wicked Witch who...er, has winged-monkeys flying out of her cleavage (this last part isn't nearly as erotic as it sounds; really, you'll be too busy laughing/shaking your head/slapping your forehead/all three from the corniness). So, yeah. Did I mention it was a cheesy-but-fun adventurous romp? Go watch. if you need connections, I do have the DVDs...

*really needs to go hunting for icons for Tin Man, Iron Man, Leverage, and various other fandoms*

...Real life? What? Oh! That. Um...yay sunny weather?


DG: I'm DG. This is-
Cain: I know, a head-case.
Glitch: I have a proper name! ...And when I remember it I will tell you!
DG: What's a head-case?
Cain: It's what the state does to re-educate criminals. Remove their brains, and keep them trapped inside their own heads. Ain't that right, convict?
Glitch: Whoa, I ain't no convict! [hesitates] A-and just in case I am, it was a bogus charge, a-a frame job, I'm sure of it!

Yay for thunderstorms. I also know it makes me a bad human, but about fifteen minutes ago there had been huge, rolling thunder, and I sort of guess there was lightning with it (curtains were shut so I wouldn't have seen a flash if there was). Someone screamed/made noise outside, and I just associated them with the Greeks 'cause....well, most of the noise comes from them. A few minutes later, an ambulance comes wailing up. Coincidence? Probably, but I chuckled to myself and told the Greeks, "Serves you right for last week!"

...Yeah, I know. *is a shameful human and gets put into a corner*

I...had a really weird dream about NCIS. They were on a case; hula hoops, airports, and hotels were involved; and as I was "watching" "Ziva" showed up looking not at all like Ziva and I thought to myself, "Okay, she's probably the first actress who later got replaced with Cote Pablo." Except...yeah. I don't know. 'Twas very weird. Also had another dream where some idiot (not me) had spilled ramen all over the floor of Bathroom 1 in Hansee, and when I went to Bathroom 2, someone had used it as a trash depository (and also spilled ramen there). I...have no idea what this is supposed to communicate. Maybe I need to eat ramen....?

Or maybe it's telling me I've watched too many NCIS episodes to just suddenly stop watching cold turkey (classes are troublesome that way). Or maybe I've watched too many NCIS episodes period?

( I hate pain. )

I'm going to go see a movie either Wednesday or Thursday. Something nice to enjoy would make the whole pain thing less of a big deal. Plus, Star Trek's theatre run seems to be ending this Thursday....Hmmm.

Speaking of movie theares...there's a movie theatre opening at Northgate. But...they're advertising their Grand Opening as May 22, but having movie deals from the 18th to the 20th...how does that work? *is puzzled*

In the meantime...Boom de Yada vids. I'm just sad there aren't any really awesome Doctor Who ones... And the xkcd strip, 'cause the video versions aren't all that great either.
( Kinda makes ya wanna- <i>...Break into song?</i> Yeah )

[After Nightcrawler and Shadowcat run past Professor Xavier and Wolverine, Nightcrawler carrying a piece of mistletoe.]
Professor Xavier: Ah, to be young again.
Wolverine: Yeah...glad that's over. --X-Men: Evolution

Neil Gaiman on entitled fans. Seriously. WIN. If I ever get problems like that, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to link 'em to that entry and let them stew. And I hope he does have a part in scripting a Doctor Who episode--that would be amazing on top of the EPIC that is DW.

I bought this pin-on "pet" dragon at the U-District StreetFair today. It's blue and cute (even though I would have liked it better with hind legs) and...I named it Pepsicola because Pepsi just sounds odd. ( Lookit how cute it is! )

The StreetFair was full of people, and sunny weather, and lots of smoke from grills when you were in the food court. ^_____^ I'm going to miss that next year. *sigh* I got an elephant ear (mmmm....) and there were lots of people either A) wondering what it was I was holding or B) remarking how they wanted one. ^.^ There were also a lot of dogs. Some of them very huge. One of them was this...breed of dog with a white coat (...yeah, I'm so totally not a dog-breed-knowledgeable person) that was ginormous! It sort of looked like that big wolf in Princess Mononoke, except infinitely more friendly. There was also a service sheepdog that was just as huge and adorable.

I made Parmesan Chicken yesterday, which took way more work than I'd anticipated (mainly because lacking a cheese grater + buying ungrated Parmesan Reggiano = me hacking away with a sharp knife) but it turned out okay. It's possible I should have left it in the oven a little longer, but because the kitchen is pretty darn far away when A) you don't have a real potholder and B) your "pan" was one of those disposable aluminum baking pans, so it's really flimsy.

But now I have... ~8oz. of bread crumbs and nothing to use it for, because they didn't sell anything smaller. *sigh*

I'm also thinking about making brownies a la mode sometime in the future. I have no idea where all this desire to bake stuff is coming from. *is puzzled*

And YAY DOLLHOUSE! YAY FOR RENEWAL! It sort of sucks that they're going from 50min -> 42min, but 42min >>>>> cancellation. Plus, supposedly Joss is going to have way more control over the creative aspects. Which means the stupid Executive Meddling of the first few episodes won't happen again (or not to that extent, I think)! Yay!! Plus, I've heard Nathan Fillion's new show got renewed, too, so YAY FOR HIM!! *totally needs to watch Castle* *also wants to watch the miniseries Tin Man*

I was also enough of a geek that I wanted to know who the heck that woman was in Stark Trek, and I had simply assumed she was a new character. Nope, she's one of the original characters named Uhura, and her actress (the one in TOS, not the movie) was pivotal in equal rights and such back in the 60s. ....Oops. My history, it fails. Although to my defense, I've never had a class that focused on that era. Like, at all. Maybe AP US history, except it's AP History, so it wasn't really focused on that kind of stuff.

And because it bears repeating: CHEESE FESTIVAL TOMORROW!! WOOOO!


Susan Ivanova: On your trip back, I'd like you to take the time to learn the Babylon 5 mantra: "Ivanova...is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova...is God. And, if this ever happens again, Ivanova will personally rip your lungs out!" Babylon Control out. [sighs to herself] Civilians. [looks up] Just kidding about that God part. No offense. --Babylon 5, A Voice in the Wilderness, pt. 1