( MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING PICTURES. REAL PICTURES. PICTURES HAVE HAPPENED. PICTURES OF PICTURELYNESS. )

So. I'm excited. Sad that Anthony Head isn't playing Leonato, because Anthony Head is the only person I could imagine rivaling Richard Briers' perfection in the role, BUT EXCITED. (Also, is that Hero's wedding dress? Get thee to a dress shop, Hero! Get thee to a dress shop!)


And, just so this post isn't entirely me flailing about things nobody (except Lady U?) cares about, here is a picture of my dog:

( behold! )

That's the way she sleeps.

This post is brought to you by the number four!

FOUR! Four sad things:

( MY LIST OF SAD THINGS )


;____;

Just messing around with the graphics tablet I got for Christmas. I still haven't completely got the hang of it, but LOOK: I drew a bunny!

Halfway through December, let's check in with my progress on my list:

GOALS FOR DECEMBER: PROFESSIONAL
- Get the rough draft of my WIP up to at least 75,000 words.
      I'm stuck at 40,000 words. Curse this writer's block! But I did do this. That's three-fifths of my novel, in notecard-and-string format. I couldn't do the other two-fifths 'cause they wouldn't fit on the corkboard. But that's gotta count for something.

- Get at least 2 classical monologues and 2 contemporary monologues audition-ready.
      I've picked and memorized 2 classical monologues, but I still need to find contemporary monologues. Curse my love of Shakespeare to the exclusion of all the playwrights who came after him!

- Stop procrastinating on work. Get work done early.
      I'm really blocked. All block, all the time. But I'm doing my best.

✓ Save up money and stop spending it on things I don't need.
      I think I can check this off. I haven't bought anything except food all month. Although...

      No. Cookies are necessary.


GOALS FOR DECEMBER: FOOD
- Eat less processed sugar.
      I've cut down. A bit. Not a lot. But a bit.

- Eat more vegetables.
      I'm eating more than I used to, but it's still not exactly a lot.

- Learn how to cook fish.
      Not yet. BUT I WILL.

✓ Stop eating giant bags of Cheetos.
      Success! He Bei, assuming I remain strong, there is a bag of Cheetos awaiting you when you return Stateside.


GOALS FOR DECEMBER: JUST FOR ME
- Get my mile time down to 7 minutes or less.
      I gave in to laziness and set myself back a bit. And by "a bit" I mean like, a week and a half. I did 11 minutes yesterday. I can cut off 4 minutes in two weeks. Absolutely. Hopefully. It's... harder than it sounds for someone as lazy as me.

- Practice playing power chords on the guitar and get a lot better at it. Just practice the guitar in general.
      I'll let you guys judge for yourselves on this one. I apologize in advance for my lackluster singing and (apparently hereditary) complete lack of rhythm. And the awkward pause in the middle, 'cause I had to put my capo on and I have an elastic one and the elastic ones are awful. Also I lost my grip on my pick a couple times so there's other, smaller awkward pauses 'cause of that. But I was too lazy to re-record so ENJOY THIS SMORGASBORD OF FAILURE.

 

- Get conversant in Irish.
      Dia dhuit. Eimíle is ainm dom. Conas atá tú?
      Irish is really hard you guys. Their grammar is not like our grammar.

- Get functionally fluent in French.
      Je ne sais pas comment à definir de "fonctionnellement couramment." Je parle d'accord le français. Donc... eh?

- Do more digital art projects for me.
      Nope. Blocked.


GOALS FOR DECEMBER: JUST FOR WIGGLES
- Walk Wiggles twice a day and take her for at least 2 short runs a day so she's less bored all the time :C
      One walk and 2 short runs a day isn't too bad.

- Look into playcare so she can make some dog friends and chew on them instead of chewing on me all the time :C
      I've gotten the necessary forms to fill out. Next step: fill them out.

✓ Work on her separation anxiety. Gradually accustom her to staying in her crate by herself so she can go in there an hour or 2 at a time.
      She seems to be okay as long as she's been walked before going into the crate.


GOALS FOR DECEMBER: NERD STUFF
- Beat at least 1 L4D campaign on expert without the use of an M60. This is obviously the least important thing on the list and probably won't happen.
      If it weren't for Coachbot, I'm pretty sure I could beat Dead Center on expert. Curse you, Coachbot!

✓ Play less tetris. Spend the time I usually spend playing tetris on doing the rest of the things on the list.
      At least I've got this down.


Welp. All in all I think I'm doing okay. It's mainly this hideous block that's keeping me from being productive with work and the book. It's been going on for weeks now so idek. Hopefully I'll get over it soon :/


PS. ( WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, STEVEN MOFFAT? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? )

I'm attempting to organize my life and suck less, and to that effect, I have made a to-do list for December. And I'm posting it here, because if other people know about it, they can heckle me if I fail. Also all my teachers in college were like, "To-Do lists really help you get stuff done. If you have a to-do list, you'll accomplish more, I promise." SO I'M TESTING YOUR PROMISE, COLLEGE PROFESSORS. Let's see how well I do. IF I FAIL, HOW ABOUT YOU PAY BACK MY STUDENT LOANS, PROFESSORS? HOW ABOUT THAT? No? Oh :c


GOALS FOR DECEMBER: PROFESSIONAL
- Get the rough draft of my WIP up to at least 75,000 words.
- Get at least 2 classical monologues and 2 contemporary monologues audition-ready.
- Stop procrastinating on work. Get work done early.
- Save up money and stop spending it on things I don't need.

GOALS FOR DECEMBER: FOOD
- Eat less processed sugar.
- Eat more vegetables.
- Learn how to cook fish.
- Stop eating giant bags of Cheetos.

GOALS FOR DECEMBER: JUST FOR ME
- Get my mile time down to 7 minutes or less.
- Practice playing power chords on the guitar and get a lot better at it.
- Get conversant in Irish.
- Get functionally fluent in French.
- Do more digital art projects for me.

GOALS FOR DECEMBER: JUST FOR WIGGLES
- Walk Wiggles twice a day and take her for at least 2 short runs a day so she's less bored all the time :C
- Look into playcare so she can make some dog friends on chew on them instead of chewing on me all the time :C
- Work on her separation anxiety. Gradually accustom her to staying in her crate by herself so she can go in there an hour or 2 at a time.

GOALS FOR DECEMBER: NERD STUFF
- Beat at least 1 L4D campaign on expert without the use of an M60. This is obviously the least important thing on the list and probably won't happen.
- Play less tetris. Spend the time I usually spend playing tetris on doing the rest of the things on the list.

THE 'NIGHT' SERIES. IT'S EVERYTHING TELEVISION SHOULD BE. I LAUGHED, OH HOW I LAUGHED. AND I CRIED. OH! HOW I CRIED! AND ARTHUR DARVILL WAS THERE IN HIS PAJAMAS.

So I may be a little overemotional about this. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night.

Anyway, all for Lady U:

Bad Night
Good Night
First Night
Last Night

No spoilers for season six, I'm fairly confident (no discussion of River's identity or what goes down in Utah, for sure). Mostly just general adorableness and 11/Amy beings bros and 11 wearing both his tuxes and River running around with guns. And of course, Rory in his pjs. AKA TEAM AWESOME BEING AWESOME.

I've been without electricity in my house for three days now. I'm doing my best to not let the non-stop cold and cold water and lack of internet or electronic entertainment or hot food interrupt my life, but have had minimal success. It wasn't the fury of nature or the machinations of chance that took our power away, though. Oh no, it was the power company. They looked around and saw this one block of houses clinging to light and heat and said, "AHAHAHA no." And they took our power away :(

I'm still doing NaNo, but I haven't had a chance to type up the things I've written so I have no idea what my word count is (the site says I'm on track to finish in 2057). I'm guessing I'm at about 2000 right now, and I'll be working on it again later tonight to try and make up for not really doing anything on Tuesday. I WRITE BY FIRELIGHT NOW. I feel like I should be using a quill and parchment to really get into the spirit of things.

Last night, as we huddled around the fire, my mother played some Irish folk music on her ipod, and I imagined I was living much as my ancestors did (except for the ipod). My mom's reaction was basically, "Haha, your ancestors lived in mud huts and were oppressed by the British. This is how they wished they lived."

I've finally managed to abuse my privilege as the daughter of a professor, and am currently camped out in the UConn library, using my father's internet id and parking space. But they close in an hour and a half. What will I do when the darkness comes again? At least tomorrow, my dad's boss says we can use her office, so hopefully we'll be able to sneak Wiggles in there and camp out using the internet and enjoying the warmth all day. That will be nice. Then, maybe, in a few days, we'll have electricity back and will be able to camp out in our OWN house enjoying the internet and warmth. ...Maybe :/


ETA: I typed up what I wrote yesterday and entered in my word count, and I'm now on track to finish in January 2012. Hurray! That's a big improvement over the year 2057.

So, I decided to download the Sims. Make a family? Follow them through the generations? No. I opted to evict all Sims-original characters and create an entire town of characters from a certain television show I have long enjoyed, to see them interact in human form.

Welcome to the cozy town of Warner Brothers Studios. Let's see what the residents have been up to...

( beware a lot of pictures )

Argh, it be International Talk Like A Pirate Day, me hearties. Yo ho. And I be restin' me laurels all by me lonesome in me cabin, nary hide nor hair o' me favorite beastie to be seen - me ol' da has her cornered belowdecks while I take a stab at this 'ere work that's t' be done.


...Anyway. I really don't have anything new to say, I just wanted to post something because I'm trying to get work done but really all I'm doing is eating corn chips and watching old episodes of sitcoms while wishing I was asleep. Last week I was nearly pressed into fisticuffs by a fat middle-aged angry Eastern European man in the grocery store parking lot, and then this weekend I performed classical music at a Spanish mass without understanding a word of Spanish. But I have been teaching myself Irish Gaelic, which is... going slowly. My life feels kind of strange right now, but maybe that's the sleep deprivation talking.


Anyway. Here's a gif of pirate!Pond, since it's International Talk Like A Pirate Day.

( snip )

( snip snip )

Just FYI, from now on I shall call her HRH Princess Wigglesworth Tinybladder III, Defender of the Yard, Protector of the Tennis Ball, Duchess of Tongue Up My Nose While I'm Napping and Foot In My Eye While We're Playing.

...I have a thing for titles :/



And now I'd like to talk about The God Complex for a moment.

( I cut-a da gifs )

I've never been on drugs, but I imagine The God Complex is much like a horrible drug-related experience. At first I was happy, then I was confused and things were blurry and time wasn't happening properly, then I was really, inappropriately fixated on a goldfish, then I was more confused and there was ~symbolism~ and ~meaning~ getting all up in my face, and now I have a headache and I'm sad.

Just. Really sad. And not just 'cause the goldfish got eaten /OOPS SPOILERS


There's also this:



Steven Moffat is not a benevolent god.

AN ADDENDUM TO MY PREVIOUS POST:

So the boxhound went to the vet yesterday, and the vet said she was about 18 weeks old, and given her current size, she probably wouldn't get much bigger than 30lbs.

So. Greyhounds are, like, twice that size, as are boxers, meaning that she probably isn't half greyhound, but rather half whippet. She can no longer be a boxhound :(

WHAT SHALL HER PORTMANTEAU NAME BE NOW?


[Poll #1775553]

I DID IT YOU GUYS I WAITED THREE WHOLE MONTHS TO WATCH A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR.

... That's it, really. I'm proud of myself. I think I exhibited impressive amounts of self-restraint.

( BAM )

The Lone Centurion is proud of me too.

AND BY THE WAY? A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR WAS SORT OF AWESOME. ( And only one person on my flist cares. )


In other news, I think everybody knows by now, but I'll remind everybody anyway: I have a boxhound. Or a groxer, but I think I'm going with boxhound. She's a floppy, wiggly thing, who wiggles at me and then flops all over me. Or, alternatively, she sometimes flops all over me and then wiggles, usually resulting in at least one paw in my eye.

( BEHOLD HER MIGHTY FRECKLED BELLY )

Unfortunately, though it's a situation easily dealt with by giving her loads of antibiotics, she has a buttload of intestinal parasites. They're all very common and easily gotten rid of, at least. So, a) good that antibiotics will kill them, b) bad that she had to put up with tummy troubles til they're gone :C

We got her from CPR, and now we're kind of like... "Thanks for taking great care of her, CPR :/ You're all wizards." But having places like CPR is better than not, and now she's got us to dote on her and call the vet every other day because SHE HAS HICCUPS OHGOD WHAT IF THERE'S SOMETHING WROONNNNGGGG. So it all works out.

She also has a tiny, tiny bladder, so it being almost 3am, I must prepare her to brave Hurricane Irene and go outside to pee. At 3am :c

And then I should try to get work done because lol deadlines. SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK.

HAPPY BELATED JUNE TO ONE AND ALL.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO A CERTAIN SOMEONE. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. ALSO FEEL BETTER :C

THE RIDICULOUS CAPSLOCK IN THIS POST BROUGHT TO YOU BY ( stuff only Lady U cares about )

Oh, and if anyone's looking to kill a little time, check out The Flat Earth Society. You'll learn things.

And in other news, I've decided to take up the guitar. My fingers all hurt and I made my thumb bleed a little last week, but hey. My blisters are beginning to heal and I can now play Losing My Religion by REM. And I'm writing Katiria a song she requested. A GLORIOUS SONG.

FIVE AND A HALF MONTHS, 91,357 WORDS, AND 421 PAGES LATER, I'M DONE!

THE PROJECT IS COMPLETE!

( THERE'S A PARTY UP IN HERE AND YOU'RE ALL INVITED )


I DID IIIIIIIIITTTTTT

( WHO DA MAN? )

THE ONLY WHAT IN THE WHAT IS WHAT?

Damn you to hell, Steven Moffat, damn you and the horse you rode in on, which I'm sure is a plot-significant horse with a meaningful water-related name. DAMN THAT HORSE.

( a pirate gif. because pirates are cool and season 6 is pretty awesome so far )

PS. Take a good look at this face:



That's the face of a true hero.

( a gif )

Here's a confirmation of her death from the BBC website, along with some nice words from Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat, amongst others, and here's a short tribute from RTD. I think I'm kind of... in shock about this. I didn't even know she was sick. Best wishes to her family and friends. She was a brilliant actress and, by all accounts, a great person, and she'll be missed.

I stole Katiria's stolen meme! Post 20 random pictures from your hard drive with no commentary.

( yuuuup )

My computer had an episode last week. And not the good kind, like a delicious episode of Doctor Who. No, the bad kind. But today it was returned to me, and all seems to be in working order (hooray!)! So the meme can now continue:

Day 4 of 15 Days of Who:

( under the cut! )

Oh, internet. You know how much I love pirates. Why must you combine something I love so much with something I'm trying very hard to avoid? The next six months will be even more difficult now, knowing of the piratey goodness that I'm probably missing ;___;

Here's Day 3:

( son of the cut )

Uh, just a note that if anyone who watches Doctor Who stumbles on this and wants to throw in their two cents, I always like discussion. I might not actually reply to everything because I'm theoretically supposed to be busy doing other things, but it's all cool. I'd like to hear some other opinions.

Anyway, here's Day 2:

( revenge of the cut )