My mom and I are watching ST:TOS these days and I am enjoying it so much! I got the whole first season on order from the library, which was a surprise because it said it was just the first disc of the first season. I should probably talk to them about re-cataloguing that. Anyway, we've watched up to "Mudd's Women" now. The first couple episodes were kinda slow, I felt - very very heavy on the dramatic staring - then the third one was all not-continuity which was interesting (I think I need to look up stardates because I don't get them at all). I loved "The Naked Time" though. Spock crying!! Let me repeat that, Spock crying!!! About how he loved his mother and how it must have been hard for her and how he feels ashamed for feeling friendship towards Kirk because it's an emotion... and then Kirk is in a monogamous relationship with his ship (poor Kirk) but he wishes he could love a real woman (like Yeoman Rand) and it's all so interesting! And Sulu is a "swashbuckler!"

And I do love that bit in "Mudd's Women" when Spock is all *eyebrow raise @ Kirk* *follow the pretty ladies out the door*

I think I'm abusing italics and run-on sentences because I've just eaten some fudge. It seems I often write a post when I've had some sugar. I think sometimes it's the only time I have the energy to bother with coming up with stuff to write.

Oh man, watching this is making me love nu!Trek more. Just so, so much more.

( Editing to add my thoughts on HBP. Spoilers (and ranting) ahoy! )

The most recent ontd_startrek party post (OMG I'm on the first page!) makes me want to make something, you know, something fannish, something pretty, something that other people will squee with me over...

Grah. Like a fanvid. Only HOLY CRAP if you combined my perfectionistic tendencies with searching through tons of video and editing bazillions of clips I WOULD NEVER LEAVE MY COMPUTER AGAIN. I WOULD JUST FUSE INTO IT AND THE COUCH AND I DO NOT WANT THAT. Which is why I've never tried it. *sigh* BUT I WANT TO MAKE SOMETHING PRETTY, DAMMIT!

Party posts and chocolate fudge will do that to me, I suspect.

Oooh! I uploaded two new ST related icons to replace my dated HP ones that I never used. I briefly flirted with the buy-more-userpic-spaces idea, but really I don't think that's a good idea. :D

*flails* So for some reason last week I was feeling very friendly (nothing wrong with that) and finding awesome people on LJ and so I friended a bunch of people. And now my Friends page is so much longer and harder to keep track of... I am totally not used to this yet. But yay! Awesome people! It's going to take me a while to not be confused, though, cause I added everyone over the course of about 3 days.

Just got home from an awesome weekend at a BBQ for BCYC members. Had a fun BBQ time on Saturday, watched ridiculous YouTube videos and ate burgers and ice cream cake (and a bunch of other things I'm really not supposed to have). Then we watched a terrible, awful (but as a result awesome) movie called "Krull". So terrible... a fantasy/sci-fi movie a lot like "The Princess Bride" only worse and with none of the making fun of itself. I couldn't believe the main guy's acting. The supporting cast was actually good though. We laughed a lot. :D Then today we went to a lake and sat around and walked and just generally had a lovely relaxing time, and got home late. Very satisfactory weekend! (I do have a terrible sunburn on one shoulder though. Isn't it always the way that you're wearing a top that will give you awful/weird tan lines and only get the sun on one side?)

And randomly, I have music from the new Trek movie stuck in my head - the part where Kirk is being born and all you can hear is the music, just slow woodwind arpeggios with the strings underneath - and it's making me very sad! My mom and I saw the movie again (my third time) on Friday night. We got shushed by some angry guy in front of us even though I was whispering so quiet I could hardly hear me. Ah, well.

So, I just made some caramel corn from a recipe I found online. There are like 430,000 hits for "caramel corn recipe" on Google, so I printed off about six, and then I couldn't decide which to make. They all had radically different proportions and methods.

I phoned my friend who makes awesome caramel corn and she said she'd give me the recipe on Saturday, and I didn't have the heart to be all, "No, I want it NOW!!" I am such a wimp.

So, I wouldn't reccommend the one I wound up making - waaaaay too much caramel for the amount of popcorn, and I used 12 cups of corn instead of the recipe's 8! I also added ginger, vanilla, and cinnamon, because there was a gingerbread caramel corn recipe that sounded good but which I didn't make because it only had like a tablespoon of butter in it and that's just wimpy. But now I kind of see why - the butter and the ginger are good, but not the best flavours together.

Anyway, all this to say that I now have a whole lot of caramel corn that I want to be eating, but which makes my teeth stick together like crazy from the sheer amount of caramel on it. I suppose it keeps me from eating the whole batch in one sitting...

( Also, had a short trial shift at a restaurant today. )

In other news, I kind of love this in its cracktacular glory, and have had Joe Biden singing "God Bless America" and whats-his-face congressman singing "SmooOOOoooke!" stuck in my head all day.

Ugh. Either last night or this morning, some biting insect got at me and now I have a total of 19 bites about my person and they itch ferociously. ( Bug bites are unpleasant. )

Hmm, positive things! Well, I may be hired at a restaurant... I go in for a 2 hour trial on Thursday. The manager who interviewed me was lovely - it's the first place I've been where they really didn't have the attitude (however unspoken) that the employees are the enemy. She was totally okay if I decided not to come in for the trial, as long as I let them know, and she was totally okay with me not accepting the job if I didn't like it... they all seem like a family there; it sounds like an amazing place to work.

My only problem being that I don't really like waitressing. I have yet to figure out if that's me, my attitude, or my previous experiences speaking. If I'm really not suited for it, I won't like it no matter what. And I'm beginning to think that might be the case. The Chinese medicine doctor told me like 5 times that I'm sensitive, and I do find repeatedly interacting with new people and making very fast prioritizing decisions in a loud distracting environment kind of unpleasant. Waitressing takes so much out of you... and yet, it's funny, I always thought I would like it. Maybe I will, at this new place. (Oh man, it will be nice to not have the constant "Oh god am I doing this right I'm not doing it right is the boss going to kill me?" hanging over my head.) I guess we'll see.

It might be nice to work at a health-food store. Or the Curves where I go to work out. Much less demanding. Hmmm...

So, I have the cheapass Plus account, because damn if I'm going to pay for this service (no offense to those of you who do), and that means I only have 15 userpics. I have this one that I never ever use, which I'd like to replace, and that presents me with a bit of a problem.

You see, I have more than 350 icons saved on my computer. How in the world am I ever going to choose ONE out of the 350 amazing, badass, funny, GQMFing icons available to me? HOW SHALL SO GREAT A PROBLEM RESOLVE ITSELF???

(Can you tell I've been reading too much ontd_startrek lately?)

I am on page 15 of the 78 PAGES IN THE ontd_startrek PARTY POST. HOLY CRAP. I mean, my first post got on page 8 and I was ten minutes late, I think that was pretty good. But I want to read/view all these pages and IF I WANT TO BE A NORMAL HUMAN BEING, I CAN'T. asksdlfjdk;afejoifsl

I've been doing other things in between, like making supper, eating supper, and making STAR TREK MERINGUES OMG more on that later when I can be bothered to take/upload pictures. But still, so much crazy to keep up with. I'm sure I'll give up soon.

I suppose I shouldn't be upset when I make people macros and they don't notice/don't reply because it's in the middle of a party post and their inbox is probably flooded with notices that they're deleting. But it still makes me sad. (And it's happened, like, 4 or 5 times in the last few days!) Sad pandas. :(((


ETA: Wordle!

Wooo, yeah!! So, I've made quite a few macros since I started lurking on ontd_startrek, and thought I should post them on my journal for reference or something. Feel free to snag any you like! Share the macro love!! (Almost all were made with roflbot since Paint.net's text functions are less than stellar.)



( Badly-dressed ZQ invites you inside... )

OKAY, so in the last week(s) I have:

1. Become addicted to ontd_startrek in a really unhealthy manner to the point where I want to talk about it all the time with my RL friends and they all think I'm nuts.
2. Stayed up til 1 or 2 or 3 in the morning most nights.
3. Decided not to go back to school next year.
4. Started considering doing music arranging as a career; need more information about it.
5. Not gotten a job (due mostly to failing to go out with resumes, due mostly to sitting around on my butt reading ontd_st or sleeping).
6. Made a ridiculous number of JibJab dances featuring Star Trek characters.
7. Made several macros, wish to make more.
8. Spent at least a couple hours photoshopping one of said macros (cause it was 3 different pictures) but as I only have Paint.net, it is ridiculously painstaking and awful but I'm still doing it.
9. Read some fanfiction.
10. Sung the New Zealand, US, and Canadian national anthems with my choir at a conference this morning.
11. Consumed a truly unhealthy amount of chocolate - though most of it was very good quality dark so that's not too bad, but I bought a bar today that I thought was good quality cause it was freaking expensive, but actually it's got lots of additives and now I've eaten half of it and feel sick.
12. FAILED TO GO TO BED ON TIME. EVER.

So, that's how things are going in my life right now. Star Trek (and along with it Zachary Quinto) is becoming an unhealthy obsession that is sapping my time and energy and giving me an excuse to stay away from the real world for far too much of my life. And I am not getting enough sleep. (Though I do really enjoy my new fondness for capslock.)

But this made me cry laughing. Like, literally, tears on my face, pause the thing so I can sit and wheeze for a minute then start it again laughing. I have been reading massive amounts of ontd_startrek archives (I think I may have injured my eye muscles from scrolling so much) and I just came across this. (OMG first time embedding a YouTube video.)



The paparazzi photos and general "I just came in my pants" comments on ontd_startrek creep me out a bit (I don't want to see them go to the store, JUST LET THEM LIVE A NORMAL LIFE, GUIZE), but these kinds of things make it all worth it. Plus it's a bunch of awesome ppl and my use of swearing, caps, and internet abbreviations has increased so dramatically since I started reading this comm oh dear.

(Yes I know it's an ontd comm so there will be many many photos and gossipy stuff [but urgh, picking his nose?] and yes I know they can't live a normal life they were okay with getting famous and these are the consequences etc but I still really don't like feeling like part of the problem, okay?)

Anyway, LOLZ. They are important.

So the first of the 70's concerts went well. I am still snuffling like a mad thing (I don't understand why my sinuses are refusing to give up this cold when the rest of me feels fine) and occasionally having violent coughing fits, so I was so happy when one of the girls there had DayQuil. Our bellbottoms are resplendent, and the choreography for YMCA and Greased Lighning both went well and were well-received. I will bring my camera tomorrow night.

I don't remember what else I was going to post about, so perhaps I'll stop. Though I must say ontd_startrek is proving just as addictive as I thought it would be, and I've only read a couple days' worth of archives. There is a gif/embedded video post that is full of win and awesome and makes my computer cry. There are so many Quinto/Pine interviews. It is amazing/awesome. (Although I love them and think they're awesome, I do not feel shippy about them. I just think they're hilarious and fun together. Also, I have been using the words "hilarious" and "awesome" all the time lately and while it's great that I have the opportunity to do so, I think I need some more descriptive vocabulary.)

I'm so confused. I'm at a stage in my life now where it's like, okay. I'm done with the bullshit. What do I do now? Which is refreshing, but since no Beautiful Life Goals are revealing themselves, also kind of... huh.

I'm happy that I don't want to go to school if I don't want to go to school, that I'm done with that sense of obligation and could free up something else, but perhaps my brain isn't used to thinking outside the box enough to come up with something I'd like to do. Travel? I've never thought of myself as motivated enough to actually save the money for it. Working... yeah, I've never liked any of the jobs that I've had, so that's not appealing. I waitress cause it brings in good tips and I'm good at it. I suppose there might be such a thing as a nice restaurant to work in, but my natural fear of strangers is always a bit of a stumbling block. Also, it's just a make-money job which I wouldn't want to do for any longer than it took me to figure out something else.

Volunteering? I definitely want to be part of the BC Choral Federation Youth Council this year, and really help out with that. I would have volunteered to manage BCYC, but since I got into National Youth Choir and it's at the same time, I can't do that. I could help start the "alumni" choir, I suppose, but I find that a bit scary cause it's new and I have no idea what I'm doing. Also, I wouldn't be there if they're planning to run it in 2010 already (NYC again). I wish I was on the mainland, as it would make things easier since nearly all of the council is there. I'm considering volunteering for the SPCA (specifically with the cats), and about the only things holding me back are a) I am a wuss and hate cleaning out litter boxes and b) I'm afraid I'd get attached to all the cats and come home crying every day cause I couldn't take them home. Perhaps I should get off my ass and do it anyway. I'm sure it would be good for my character. :P

I feel like I need to move soon. Like, maybe not this year but the year after, which is when all my friends are moving to various places anyway. Like this year is for gathering myself and next year is for going. It's a pretty great feeling, actually. (I was never one of those "OMG I am getting out of this house as soon as I graduate high school and never coming back" kind of people; now feels right.) I feel like somebody just dumped some time in my lap. And it's really pretty and cool, and I kind of don't know what to do with it, but maybe I could do something fun.

I also feel like I'm waiting for something. Some bolt out of the blue, some motivation or inspiration or idea... and I hope I'm not waiting futilely. That would be really sad. I know some people seem to be waiting all their life for something that doesn't come, and I know that's a wrong way to go about things. Maybe I need to get out there and find my own damn inspiration, instead of waiting for it to come to me. But I don't really know how. Probably it involves doing new things I've never done before and not being afraid of stuff. That seems like a good plan. Terribly, terribly vague, but solid.

All this is because I need to decide before June 5 whether or not I'm taking classes next year at VIU. I don't really want to, to be honest. However, if I'm not in school full-time (which is a 60% course load or 3 classes) I have to start paying back my student loan again, which along with other expenses I expect to have, will mean having a job. I need to make a spreadsheet or something, although my complete lack of spreadsheet expertise may make that difficult. Perhaps a really organized notepad file. :D

Oh, life. You are so interesting. And puzzling. But good.

(Also, doesn't summer always seem like a miracle when it arrives? We've had good weather for several weeks now and I still can't believe it.)

(PPS - hee, my moodtheme "contemplative" is when he's deciding the course of his life, just like me! I am such a dork!)

I can haz new moodtheme!!! I have just discovered ontd_startrek via sparkly_stuff and I'm going to read through as much of the archives as I can without being a total hermit, because it makes me laugh and squee a lot. And there was this moodtheme! And I had no idea that getting yourself a custom moodtheme was such an involved process... Anyway, done!

I still need to upload BC Youth Choir pics to facebook, OMG I took 369 pictures over the weekend, and during the banquet most of them were in the dark, and I like editing photos and am kind of terribly anal that way so I went through and fixed all of them. It was, I suppose, a good thing to be doing while stuck at home sick on the couch, but man. Fucking 369 photos. (I swear so much more than I used to. Sometimes it still surprises me.)

Also, I should be going out shopping for pants and socks and shoes and all kinds of wardrobe items that I do not have right now, but I really don't wanna. Maybe my excuse will be that I'm still sorta sick. I don't want to cough all over new clothes at the mall. My need for new pants, however, is becoming rather urgent. I have two pairs that I wear regularly and both of them are too big now (yay awesome weight loss! and healthily too!) and really old and nearly have holes. It's hard to keep them up even with a belt, and I feel rather pathetic in them. But I hate shopping when I only have, like, 2 hours and then I have to go home and haven't found anything yet.

No more of one of my choirs for the year, yay! Last week when I was so sick after coming home from BCYC I had a choir practice every night except Tuesday. And I was sick and had practically no voice. Still one set of concerts this weekend, then two more and a tap performance next week.

Then I have to go seriouly looking for a job.

I GOT INTO THE NATIONAL YOUTH CHOIR!!!!11!!!1!! *does happy dance, but only in head because ugh sick*

Yaaay! I wasn't sure whether to expect to get in or not, but I would have been so, so sad if I didn't, because this is the last year that I'm eligible. And really, it sounds like the most fantastic experience of a lifetime. Singing with the most amazing choral singers from around the country for two weeks with the hardest music ever and an amazing conductor and a tour and, and, and... just wow. :D :D :D So happy!!

In other news, Star Trek was great. I am joining the legions of squeeful fans. I think it's awesome that they managed to make a movie that has me wanting to watch *all* of the series, just because now I remember that Star Trek is awesome. I mean, I'm sure there's some not-awesome stuff. But still. I was looking on Wikipedia and it would take two years to watch all the episodes of all the series if you watched one every day. Why is this still something I'm considering in the back of my mind? I've seen half an episode of TOS, semi-regular TNG when I was a kid, a couple episodes of DS9, maybe a season of Voyager, and a few episodes of Enterprise. And now I'm all StarTreklove!!!1! Heh. I got really angry at Enterprise, though, I remember, because as far as I could tell the main plot seemed to be staring at T'Pol and her hotness. And rubbing each other down with that decontam gel or whatever the heck that was. I'm sure there were other things going on, but that's the only thing that stood out to me and it made me angry. And I'm sure TOS is actually hilariously and hugely cheeseball and maybe I wouldn't enjoy it, but now I want to try. Ahaha, all this Trekiness is making me use italics.

I was searching around the net for an article or something about the reaction of people to the movie, like to see if there were lots of people like me who have had their interest in ST awakened/re-awakened by the movie. But there doesn't seem to be much in that regard, or my Google skills have failed me. Could be either.

In still other news, I am sick and being very sneezy/runny/watery/coughy/ew. I sang in a choir concert tonight, and DayQuil and positive thinking were the only things keeping me upright. They worked surprisingly well, actually. I was projecting happiness so thoroughly that I actually felt quite good after the concert for maybe half an hour.

Anyway, sleep time soon. *zonk*

That is a completely inaccurate adjective, but I'm feeling very wordy tonight and not feeling very discriminatory about how I use them. :P Um, a bunch of things have happened/are happening, and stuff. (See my vocabulary! See it fly away!)

• I went to the Chinese medicine doctor/acupuncturist today. She's got me doing a detox for a week, which basically means that I can't eat certain foods (they muscle tested me for them). I can't have wheat, any dairy except butter and non-Cheddar cheese, grains (except for a little dark rye bread if I want), raw veggies, grapes, bananas, oranges, tuna, or peanut butter. Also, I'm supposed to go to bed at 10pm and get up at 5:30 in the morning. She says if I really have to go back to sleep after I eat something, then I can. Whoo boy, that is going to be a change.

• I found an old receipt in my purse the other day that had on it (in my writing) "Wind & Bees" and nothing else. I seem to recall penning it in a fit of hilarity some time ago at my friend's house, because someone was saying something really funny and I had to write it down... and now I have no idea what it means. Wind & Bees.

• I have been finding my tongue (or really, brain) getting scrambled every once in a while lately. A couple days ago I wanted to say "I'm going to take out my contacts" and instead said "I'm going to take out my alarm bells." Yes, alarm bells. And then later that evening, I was muttering to myself about a hypothetical romance between me and someone who is totally inappropriate for me, and instead of saying "match made in heaven" I said "made for TV movie." Which, now that I think about it, is probably a much more accurate description.

• I've been wanting to post a list of the children's books that I own for a few days now, and haven't got around to it yet. Not an exhaustive list, since I have two 6-foot bookshelves of them (and they're tiny, of course, so there's millions of them), but series or something. I have no idea why, I just feel like it. Unfortunately, it's four minutes to ten and I have to get my ass in bed. I will post about choir/job/crazy-music-learning situation later too.

Rules

1. Comment to this and I will give you 3 people.
2. Label which you would marry, shag, and throw off a cliff.
3. Provide pictures of the 3 people.
4. Post this meme with your answers.

From reallycorking, I got Harry Potter, Simon Tam, and Hannu Lepola. After being forced *cough* to go on an image hunt, I have finally come to some conclusions: ( Om nom nom... I mean... uh... )

So I have my computer on during Earth Hour because I am trying to finish my creative writing story. Urgh, it's coming, but it's not easy. Also, we have some white mini-lights in a ficus tree in our living room that I didn't turn off, because I just don't think I could handle being alone in this giant house in the complete dark. I do have six candles lit, but it's a big house and I really don't like being alone in the dark, not at all.

Ah well. Only ten more minutes to go, actually! My, time flies when one is procrastinating creative writing assignments.

ETA: My cat has discovered the three tealights I have sitting on a plate on the floor. She backed off pretty fast once she realized they were HOT, but she's blinking a lot - I hope she didn't hurt/get smoke in her eyes. :(

I must say, it is fairly disconcerting when one's ass starts twitching uncontrollably. Er, that sounds bad, doesn't it? But it is more disconcerting than, say, one's eye twitching (which is so annoying and happens to me every once in a while) or one's arm or whatever. In fact, I don't recall ever having my ass actually twitch before. Huh.

(I was just sitting on the couch! Really!)

So I got up today and decided that I was going to stay home and sleep instead of go to church, because I felt sick. I slept until 3pm, and I could have gone on longer. Felt worse when I got up. I'm not too bad now -hopefully it will go away entirely- I think it was one of those things that feels worse right when you get out of bed, and eases up a bit once you're awake for a while.

Anyhow, on the plus side, I had a great weekend with my mom and her friend from out of town. We went to see 2 plays at the Chemainus theatre, which is marvellous (we go there all the time). One of them was billed as a kids' play called "Jake's Gift." Oh my goodness, that was a good show. It was a one-woman show (acted by the woman who wrote it) in which she plays 4 characters: a 10-year-old French girl, her grandmother, a veteran from WWII visiting Juno Beach on the 60th anniversary of D-day, and a Canadian schoolteacher. Amazing, all of it. Everybody cried. When she was playing Jake, she really looked like an 80-year-old man, it was amazing. Then we had lunch at the theatre (they have amazing lunch- and dinner-theatre buffets) and saw a comedy matinee, Mr. Pim Passes By. It was pretty funny. And then we came home and played Scrabble and Uno til midnight. Good times!

What's really eating me right now is my own attitude toward everything. Maybe it's because I'm a little sick. I am pretty lackadaisical about schoolwork, which is unusual for me. Like, I really don't give a crap about anything I'm learning. I don't think I've ever felt that way about school before. I don't think it's necessarily the courses, cause I haven't felt like this all semester and certainly not last semester either. I just... don't care. I have to learn Chemistry crap and I will do it, but it doesn't seem very entertaining. I have Linguistics exercises to do which I find inane and boring. Liberal Studies feels kind of pointless lately, and Creative Writing, well, if you've read any of my past entries (O theoretical reader) you'll know that's been a struggle. I'm starting to see a glimmer of value in it, but I'm not sure it's worth that much agonizing.

At the moment, I'm not even excited about BC Youth Choir (coming up in May). Something is definitely wrong if I'm not excited about BCYC. Strange.