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Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
(comment on this) Monday, December 14th, 2009
musesfool
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11:05p
time won't save our souls
I meant to mention this the other night about last week's Bones. ( spoiler )
Tonight's Big Bang Theory was pure comedy gold. ( spoilers )
***
225 words on yuletide. At some point I will break through and hit 1000 and then it's all downhill from there. Hopefully that point is sometime before this weekend, or I will have to stab myself in the face. Sigh.
***
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current mood:  anxious
current music: Shuffle Your Feet - BRMC
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(comment on this)
musesfool
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1:27p
she feeds you tea and oranges
I haven't done the last few love memes that went around, but here I am in this year's holiday love meme.
Now to go through and leave some love of my own. Um. In a totally hygienic way. ♥
***
So last night I was making this orange-cranberry loaf, and as I put the pan into the oven, I looked up and saw the box of sugar sitting on the counter and I thought, Oh, shit, I didn't put the sugar in the batter. So I pulled the pan out of the oven and stirred the sugar directly into the batter. It turned out fine. I had it for breakfast this morning. But wow, talk about senior moments. Eek!
***
210 words on yuletide! I don't know that they are good words, but...words, I has them! Talking it out with ![[livejournal.com profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif) fleurdeleo last night over dinner clarified some of the issues I was having - all tell and no show, basically - and hopefully now that I am working on fixing that (after I scrapped three separate opening paragraphs), the rest of the story will follow.
*crosses fingers*
***
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current mood:  amused
current music: Suzanne = Judy Collins
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(comment on this) Sunday, December 13th, 2009
musesfool
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11:28p
just completely fans
Ugh. It was bad enough that I had to root for Philip Rivers today. Now the Giants are FAILLING (yes they fail so hard they get two Ls) against the Eagles. How is their tackling so bad? HOW? And how is their offensive play-calling so useless? And how come their receivers can make these huge plays one minute, and can't even hold onto the ball the next? Otoh, Eli can do these smart, smart things, and Bradshaw and Jacobs can make these runs but can't get out of bounds to stop the clock. Jesus. The agita is killing me.
***
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current mood: anxious
current music: Giants v. Eagles on TV
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(comment on this)
musesfool
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1:58a
is this because i can spell confusion with a "k"?
On the upside, I wrote 1000 words tonight, for the first time in about two weeks.
On the downside, none of those words were on my yuletide story. Sigh.
I think I have to rethink the way I'm telling the story - I think the idea is sound, but I'm just not coming at it from the right direction. Or something. I thought about it while I was highlighting my hair (I miss the old Feria highlights I used to use. It makes me sad they don't make that anymore. This other stuff - Highlight Styliste - is... I like the color, but the coverage is difficult, and not just because I have more grey than I used to - it doesn't coat evenly! I don't like the whole powder thing. I liked it better when it was mixing one liquid into another. It just worked better. Sigh. I hate change. [/tan]) and I think I have to skip the exposition and just jump right in. Or something. I don't know! It's so inert right now, and if there's one thing this source is not, it's inert. It's an assignment that is a perfect match for me, and yet I can't get out of the gate. It's making me a little crazy, to be honest.
I am going to bed now, but I guess I will be back at it again tomorrow. From a slightly different angle. Or something.
***
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current mood:  frustrated
current music: Konstantine - Something Corporate
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(comment on this) Saturday, December 12th, 2009
musesfool
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3:28p
it's something that i'm supposed to be
Things I have done today:
- made nutella cupcakes
- can I just say that I find cupcakes intimidating? You can only fill them 3/4 of the way or they overflow! They have to be carefully removed from the muffin tin rather than just turned out like a cake! And this batter was kind of sticky and not pourable, so I had to spoon it into the cups. And then swirl the nutella in. Which... okay, I only had one mess-up, but still. It was only after I had them in the oven that my parents called and my dad mentioned using an ice cream scoop to keep the portions uniform and my mother suggested greasing it so the batter released easily. Why did I not think of that? Anyway. The cupcakes are good, if a little sweet for my taste, but I think for Christmas I will make it as a cake.
- dropped off way too much laundry for washing
- read fic
Things I should do today:
- Finish non-baking Christmas shopping
- write yuletide. YULETIDE! YULETIDE!
- start cleaning out closet and/or bookshelves
Things I should not be doing today and yet apparently am:
- playing bubbleshooter
- Reading this week's EW
- reading the latest comments on the return of Victoria Bitter wank.
- this is the wank that keeps on giving, guys. It would have been hilarious enough if it had just included the false assertions of being an IRA member and the pseudicide, but the fact that it is also the return of VB makes it completely epic. It is the perfect wank for the holiday season, as it is apparently the wank that keeps on giving.
- downloading the episodes of Being Human that I haven't seen.
Things I someday would like to watch, possibly when YULETIDE is written:
- Mad Men
- Being Human
- the seasons 1 and 2 episodes of Psych I haven't seen (which is most of them)
- Slings and Arrows (Dude, I have the dvds, and yet they sit, unwatched. sigh.)
Things I would like to do a full rewatch of (sooner rather than later):
- The Wire
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel
- Middleman
- Firefly
- West Wing
- Homicide
- Sports Night
- Gilmore Girls (seasons 1-4 only)
- Battlestar Galactica
- Northern Exposure
Jesus, that is a lot of tv. Why do I have to work again?
Now, I must write!
*opens Write or Die*
***
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current mood:  determined
current music: The Rainbow Connection - Kermit the Frog
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(comment on this) Friday, December 11th, 2009
musesfool
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11:46p
it sways gently side to side
I gave up on work about 3:45 this afternoon and spent my last 75 minutes redoing the food tags on my delicious, so now they are more specific and I can more easily find what I'm looking for. (Oddly enough, I don't have near the same problem finding stories with non-specific tags - I'm not sure why that is.)
So tonight I baked this raspberry buttermilk cake from smitten kitchen, and dear god, it is tasty. It took about ten minutes longer in the oven than the recipe says, but that's because I baked it in an 8" round instead of a 9". SO SO TASTY OMG! Maybe next time I will skip the raspberries and do lemon flavoring. Or orange. I don't know, but it's a good, tasty, easy cake that tastes really good. I don't think it'll be included in the Christmas baking, but I can definitely see making it on a Sunday night for breakfast for a few days.
Tomorrow I am going to attempt self-frosting nutella cupcakes, and if they come out as awesome as they look on that page, I will probably make a bunch for Mary and Sal for Christmas.
Mmm...baking...
Before I baked, I watched this week's Friday Night Lights. I thought I was going to make it through without crying for once, but then ( spoilers )
I probably should attempt to write, but I think I am going to go put the flannel sheets on the bed and then crawl into it.
***
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current mood:  content
current music: Untouchable Face - Ani DiFranco
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(comment on this)
musesfool
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12:36p
rested and longing for motion
Good lord, I tried to do a spot of online Christmas shopping, since Boss 1 is gone for the day and Boss 2 is in a three hour conference call, and the phones will not stop ringing! And when the phones aren't ringing, people are stopping by! WTF? It's Friday! Give me fifteen minutes of peace so I can order some gifts! *rant about international shipping and the lack thereof from some sites redacted*
Speaking of Christmas, I don't send holiday cards anymore - I got out of the habit and never got back into it, so I never put my name in anymore for people to send me cards, since I feel bad that I don't reciprocate. I do love receiving cards, though, so thank you so much to rei_c for the lovely card! First one of the season! *hearts*
***
Last night, mosca posted a poem in breathe_poetry that I really liked (Different Uses for Windows by Arlene Ang), and included a link to H_NGM_N, the literary journal in which it appears, so of course I had to go over there and poke around.
I found this poem:
Fifteen Beautiful Colors
by Erica Bernheim
I. Four mornings in a row of dawns, reversed sunsets, greasepaint reflections of peril heightened.
II. Ash, scattered, tastes of care and warns of inter-mural collisions. Expected, their flat hues.
III. Speaker, formulaic, blends all domestics into hard-won remainders like salt and rock salt.
IV. Lights at their brightest are the first to be extinguished. Six tickets rigged. Stained clandestine yellow.
V. Signals, misfired. Cornflower becomes alabaster, what voices scrape the self-professed neutron into action.
VI. Sweets, water, rested and longing for motion, the completion of the voiced projections: picture, abandon.
VII. My love, this journey and you have worn me like a jacket, like bluish seams erased and easily worn out.
VIII. Comfortable lead, pulling from center together, narrow as spit rope. Forty bowls, none glass.
IX. No one cares for the plights of the professionals, their amber sweat, their safety is what this does for you.
X. This is what the conversation looks like when no one wants to have it. Someone keeps score in red.
XI. Dead pull hitter. No trigger. Even the handle has been sold. What remains, iron.
XII. Two arms reaching make little sound grasps at smoke. Nothing here will bloom or rise, planetary faces.
XIII. Ball into glove is to tincture as impact was to need. Precious intensity wheedles its own sins.
XIV. Fine and ground to pieces no bigger than the heart of palm that holds yours. Waves out, be mine.
XV. What is this moon but silver ending, this flesh but nothing, this lamp, this stiff night.
~*~
I liked the first poem on the page well enough to scroll down and keep reading this one, and I liked it too, even though it didn't really ping me. Interesting use of language, and the first sentence of IV is well put, but nothing to really jolt me until I hit this:
VII. My love, this journey and you have worn me like a jacket, like bluish seams erased and easily worn out.
How perfect is that? It packs a whole relationship into one line, twenty words long, nothing tricky about it, deceptively simple. You know exactly what kind of jacket she's talking about, and exactly what the narrator feels like. This is why I love poetry and why I wish I could write like a poet. (It also doesn't hurt that it makes me think of Sam and Dean. Shut up.)
And X. reminds of fandom. Sigh.
***
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current mood:  cranky
current music: Grown So Ugly - the Black Keys
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(comment on this) Thursday, December 10th, 2009
musesfool
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3:58p
she's just someone's favorite daughter
Thank you to pinkfinity and regala_electra for the lovely v-gifts.
♥
*
\o/
Three sets of minutes done! Well, not done-done, because they still have to be reviewed/revised etc. but the hardest part is done and the first drafts are now in the hands of the appropriate staff members for editing. Woo!
*
Apparently I'm now famous in fleurdeleo's office because I gave her half the baked goods I made last weekend and she brought them into work and they were a big hit.
I brought in the cheesecake to my office today for the potluck luncheon (which is in lieu of a holiday party? I don't even know), and the funny thing is, yesterday, a number of people asked me if I were bringing something in today - I guess the blueberry cake and the banana cake made an impression. Heh. Winning the world over with baked goods - a sound strategy.
The people I sat with during the luncheon liked the cake, so that was a winner. Someone actually asked me if I ever made grain pie, and I was able to say I have, and then someone else recommended Veniero's grain pie, which recommendation I totally seconded.
I'm full of a lot of food - there was pulled pork and brisket and ribs and pierogies and chicken with string beans (too spicy!) and mac and cheese and a dozen other things I didn't even get to because I was so full with what was on my plate. Boss 2 made pineapple rum punch and I had a half a glass of that as well. And for dessert, a piece of cheesecake (I made it! I had to taste it!*), a chocolate mini-cupcake, a bite of apple crisp, and a half slice of flan. Everything was very good, but I totally want to curl up and go to sleep now.
FOOOOOOD COMAAAAAAAA.
So I mentioned that I decided I would bake for Christmas gifts for the adults in the family - there are four couples I usually buy for, and this seems like a cheaper, more personal gift (and also easier than trying to figure out what to get them either as individuals or couples). Of course, I had to listen to a harangue from my dad about it, as he mansplained why he thought I shouldn't do it, and just buy gift cards instead (is there a special subcategory for dadsplaining? because I think he does it to my brother, too). I was like, I'm not twelve years old and I have thought it through and it's totally workable, especially if I do most of the baking in their somewhat larger and more counter-space-having kitchen (plus! an industrial size KitchenAid stand mixer! Woo! *is mad jealous of that*). So we had one of those "I'm at work and can't yell at you like I'd like to so I'll speak in furious hushed tones on the phone" arguments the other day and the upshot is that I am baking for Christmas, but I am also taking an extra day off to do so (my boss was all, "that's fine - nothing is going on 12/23 anyway").
I won't even go into the way my mother makes me crazy sometimes, and specifically how she did so yesterday, because arrgh!
*deep calming breaths*
I love my parents, but dear god, the can be infuriating sometimes.
ANYWAY. I ordered a springform pan to be sent to their house since they don't have one and I don't want to lug mine from home, and I also ordered these star-shaped bake and give paper pans from King Arthur Flour. Anyone ever use them? It seems like a great idea, but do they really hold up in the oven? I guess I will find out. I don't think they're good for cheesecake though, hence the springform.
I also took care of my nieces' gifts yesterday - the boys just get Best Buy gift certificates these days - so I feel much more on top of things than I did earlier. Heh. I love Christmas shopping and I'm good at picking out gifts for people, but the past few years have been harder - I don't seem to get much in the way of Christmas spirit until it's much later than is wise to start shopping. Doing a lot online helps, and walking past the trees being sold on the sidewalk always perks me up, but still, I miss being more excited about the holidays.
So I was thinking of redoing my delicious tags regarding food - right now that's the only tag I use for anything food-related. When I started, I didn't think there would be much - the online menus of a couple of restaurants I order from, some food-related gift ideas, and that's it - but clearly there is more than that. I bookmark more recipes these days than stories (which is a whole other rant I won't subject you to), so I am thinking I should maybe differentiate a little to make things easier to find. Maybe food: recipes: [type of recipe, i.e., meat, pasta, dessert, etc.], food: information, food: menus? Hmmm...
I wrote most of this post earlier, before the luncheon and now I am too brain dead to remember if there was anything else I wanted to say, so I'll just hit post.
--
*I don't taste the things I don't like to eat, even when I've cooked them myself - I am a very finicky, unadventurous eater. When I used to cook regularly for the family I often made things I don't eat, but I wouldn't have brought something like that in for strangers, anyway.
***
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current mood:  full
current music: Chinese Burn - Curve
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(comment on this) Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
musesfool
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11:13p
you might find you get what you need
My hair is thick and knots if you look at it funny, so for years I've used a detangler or leave-in conditioner - usually Infusium 23. I ran out and they didn't have any in the CVS in my neighborhood, so I bought this L'Oreal leave-in conditioner gel, and it says on the bottle that it smells like rosemary and mint.
Maybe in BIZARRO WORLD.
It smells more like the backseat of a Cutlass owned by a guy named Joey Bones in 1986. After it's been locked up tight on a 90° day. Ugh. Works really well, but makes my hands stink of nothing that resembles rosemary, mint or any combination of the two. Sigh.
I'll use it, I suppose, but I am going back to Infusium after this. It doesn't have a horrible smell.
*
So my LJ comments have started slowly trickling in. Yay? I'm glad I didn't post any fic during this time of no notifications.
I made a cheesecake tonight to take to work tomorrow. Hopefully it came out as good as the one I made Saturday. It looks good and smells good. Sadly, my oven was not big enough for me to put the cake pan in a hot water bath, so the top cracked. (The largest pan my oven fits is a 9x13", but a 9" springform does not fit in that.)
Then I watched Criminal Minds. ( spoilers )
Then I watched Glee. I tried to dl some of the songs from tonight, but iTunes tells me something is being modified and therefore I cannot. But I really liked ( song spoilers )
*
I'm done with two sets of minutes and 3/4 of the way through the last set, and then hopefully I can actually do some work on my yuletide story at work. That would be good. I still have the same 73 words I had on Saturday. Sigh. I used to be good at this writing thing. What the hell happened? Possibly baking is my new fandom? I was an enthusiastic baker when I was younger and I've enjoyed rediscovering it, and I am more squeeful about it than I am about fandom these days. Hmm...
Speaking of which, I need to go unfrock my cheesecake, and then I am going to bed.
*
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current mood:  accomplished
current music: People Got a Lotta Nerve - Neko Case
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(2 comments | comment on this)
musesfool
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10:44a
and this emptiness in my heart
Still no comment notifications (even recent comments is running slow), but I am neck deep in minutes, and need some entertainment, so, a meme, gacked from ![[personal profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) cereta:
If I came with a warning label, what would it say?
***
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current mood: busy
current music: but whichever way i go i come back to the place you are
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(comment on this) Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
musesfool
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10:22a
my cup's already overfilled
Big Bang Theory
Sheldon! ♥
( spoilers )
*
Castle
( spoilers )
*
Hopefully today will be less fraught and crazy-making than yesterday was, and I will be able to get some work done on my yuletide story. I am worried I won't live up to the source, but then I think, in some ways, who could? Which will make more sense once I can talk about it.
*
LJ, please to be fixing comment notifications ASAP. It is really freaking irritating that I'm still not getting any.
*
Lastly, thank you again for all the lovely snowflakes. I wasn't able to get to everyone before they shut it down, but if I could have, I would have. *heart*
*
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current mood:  awake
current music: Hunger Strike - Temple of the Dog
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(1 comment | comment on this) Monday, December 7th, 2009
musesfool
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11:18a
the solemnity of things left to themselves
Thank you so much to ingridmatthews, spectralbovine, tygress girlmostlikely, tartanshell, midnitemaraud_r, devildoll, and also to the anonymice for the snowflake cookies! ♥♥♥♥♥ *twirls you all*
[eta] Thanks also to the folks at crack_impala for the snowflake they sent to unfitforsociety. *g* [/eta]
I have been very meh recently and now I feel all warm and loved.
I've fallen behind completely on answering comments, so I am declaring today comment amnesty day, and getting rid of all the unanswered comments (on anything but fic - those I will try to answer) from before today.
I have three sets of minutes to write now, plus yuletide and broken toys. Yay?
Have a poem:
Rhymes and Songs
It's late now, December, a few trees
continue translating.
A menorah
holds up its little buckets of light.
An old woman with hands to her ears,
two homeless men discussing the nature of evil.
It's a clear morning.
Everyone's carrying luggage. There're gaps
between passersby, larger than usual.
The sun sets silver shields
in a row of window frames, all but one,
where a girl in a fur hat looks out.
Dawn riddled with memories
fading and dispersing among the trees,
fever subsiding —
you think, at last I can do what I want,
but mostly
you're building on the silence,
the solemnity of things left to themselves.
White limousine at the corner: an
intricate, depressed millionaire
trolling for a girl so beautiful
& frightened she might be enticed.
And a new life, arduous
and dire, commences. Years
on a backcountry farm near one of the Great Lakes,
a bent for poetry, little rhymes
& songs
to soothe yourself
and children you've come to know.
~Charlie Smith
~*~
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current mood:  loved
current music: 32 Flavors - Ani DiFranco
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(comment on this) Sunday, December 6th, 2009
musesfool
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9:03p
swinging to the right side
Thank you to deirdre_c, marciaelena, catdancerz and dotfic for the lovely snowflakes in my userinfo! ♥♥♥♥♥
*
LJ, let my comments go!
*shakes tiny ineffectual fist*
*
\o/
Giants beat the Cowboys! That always makes for a great Sunday. And they swept them this year, so I think that means they have the upper hand should it come down to a tiebreaker.
*
After brunch, I went to Supercuts and while she was cutting my hair, the hairdresser quizzed me on 19th c. novels like Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice (well, technically movies adapted from 19th c. novels). I thought she said she'd read Jane Eyre, so I kind of spoiled it for her (crazy wife in the attic omg!) but she didn't seem to care. She said she was going to bump it up on her Netflix list, 'cause she likes the creepy ones.
Generally, I hate having to chat while having my hair done, but this conversation was amusing and also about something I am familiar with, which is not usually the case. Also, she washed my hair with this lavender and mint shampoo that I really liked so I ended up buying it. Obviously, the way to upsell me is with conversation about books and things that smell nice.
*
I have a whopping 71 words on my yuletide story. Wah! Also, I am trying to figure out how I am going to find a beta who knows the source, because I'd like someone who is at least familiar with it to read the thing over when I finally finish it.
When that's done, I can focus on Broken Toys, among other things. I think I know what I'm writing for that, but writing it in my current unable to write state should be interesting.
Stupid writing. Why so hard?
*
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current mood: mellow
current music: Vikings v. Cardinals on tv
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(comment on this)
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indescribable