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? )

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.

( 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.

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.

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.

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 )

I've decided, in my infinite ability to procrastinate, to do one of those 30 day memes, but since it's about Doctor Who and I know most people on my flist don't watch it, I've condensed it into 15 days to get it over with quicker.

I'm also going on record and stating right now (so I can be held to it later) that I won't be watching season 6 when it starts (I'm guessing in April) but will be waiting to watch it all in one go when it re-returns (I'm guessing in September). asdfs;hjd Why does the BBC do this ;;

So, without further ado, Day 1 of 15 Days Of Who.

( Cuty Cut McCutson )


/slinks back to writing

I think I'm in love with Ian Bonar.

Anyway, detailed below are my thoughts re: GOING POSTAL: THE MOVIE in the form of word vomit.

( read on )


:/ In other fandom-related news, I sat myself down with a transcript of Silence in the Library and imagined my way through a few scenes with everything as is, except that Jane Seymour was playing River Song. ...I liked it rather better.

It's 2am, so I'll leave it there or you'll get a rant you really don't want.

He didn't even die looking like a member of a Peruvian folk band :(


... This journal entry brought to you by Lady U's insistence that I update something on the internet to express my dismay at recent Doctor Who events.

It was a badass episode, but it did make me sad.

Kirsty Gillan is corrupting your children with her slatternly ways.

Sorry if I can't take your review seriously, Simon Gaskell. It might've helped if you'd, you know, bothered to learn the actress' name. ...Just sayin'.

...A small part of me is enjoying watching conservative media and fans getting their panties in a massive twist over The Problem Of Amy. And kind of wondering if Moffat's some kind of metatextual genius and he put in the Shocking And Racy Scene knowing it would cause great scandal to make us examine our own reactions to it. He probably didn't. But you never know.

( other TV rambling )

But Doctor Who's been a-rockin', even if Amy Pond has corrupted my innocence. And I guess that's good enough.

Maybe one day I'll just make my own TV show so I can have one go the way I want. It will feature penguins heavily.

I've spent the last couple weeks marathoning the entirety of Alias. Yes, even that crappy episode where David Marshall Grant jumps out of an airplane without a parachute.

I'm nearly done, save for a few eps of Amy Acker flouncing around while Mia Maestro goes "oooooooh" in a spooky fashion in the background and Jennifer Garner and Ron Rifkin talk to themselves a lot. And I've learned that, if you do nothing else in your life, NEVER EVER GIVE AN ATTRACTIVE, YOUNG, DITZY WOMAN THE TIME. SHE IS EVIL AND WILL KILL YOU. Also Jorge ALWAYS has the key card.

Aside from that, I've been failing to tl;dr about the new season of Doctor Who like I should have been. So here's some for, uh, Lady U.

( The Beast Below through Flesh and Stone )

I have so much more tl;dr in me. You don't even know. Pages and Pages. But I'll leave it there.


My father's thoughts on the new season? "I like it. I think there's some interesting stuff going on. And I like Amanda Pool."


Your moment of zen. For anyone who thought that last scene of FaS was a laugh riot, and for anyone who didn't. This is.

ffffffff Bones. Also Doctor Who, with 87% less fffffffff.

( no I'm not Canadian, I just do illegal things sometimes on the internet to get tv shows I want to watch a day early )


( even more tl;dr about The Eleventh Hour )

Doctor Whoooooo. It's finally back!

( and with New Who comes lots of writing on the subject... )

Your moment of zen.

It's been one year, three months, and six days since last I used my journal. "So," I thought, "I better come back with something massive and shiny to distract people from the fact that I've been so utterly AWOL." Well, I did no recaps, MST3Ks, obnoxious fangirling, or pointlessly in-depth analyses during 2009. I missed a whole year of fandom-related fandoming.

In light of that, allow me to distract you all from my long absence with a massive, shiny picspam of everything I wasn't recaping/squeeing about/pointlessly analyzing during 2009.

This is long and will hurt your dial-up.

( 2009 In Films )

( 2009 In Television )


So. I hope that distracted you all thoroughly. I'm gonna actually try to update every once in a while now.

Also I did most of the caps myself and it took forever to clean them up so if you want to use them for anything that's cool just please credit me thanks!

The "Doctor Who Personal Canon Meme." I like this one because... well... I fucking hate the DW fandom and the constant petty arguments about what is "canon" and what isn't. Everybody has their own and nobody's is right or wrong >[

Everyone has their "personal canon" for Doctor Who. List ten things that are in yours.

( Angry Penguins )

Having rewatched the finale (yes I did, I know I have no life), I think I'm finally ready to come down on whether or not I liked it.

( cut for Angry Penguins )

And a random sidebar: In my personal canon, Romana is still alive. I will hear no different. She is fobwatched and living happily in Ealing, two doors down from Sarah Jane Smith. They sometimes have tea together. For mysterious reasons, she still looks an awful lot like Lalla Ward. I also happen to believe that Jenny and Jack met up while he was working for the Time Agency, and it's somehow her fault that he lost two years of his memory.

My review of the the Doctor Who finale:



It only took four years. Although, all things considered, it was way more than even my shippery heart dared hope for.

And that's that. Ten/Rose OTP FTW UNTIL THE END OF TIME.

Okay, no wait, there's more. But we'll get to the review later. Thanks to katiria, I've been inspired to use pictures in my summaries. And thus, I bring you: A Guide To Doctor Who For The Uninitiated (With Pictures Of Very Pretty People), Followed By A Review Of The Series Finale.

( A Guide To Doctor Who For The Uninitiated (With Pictures Of Very Pretty People) )

( A Review Of The Series Finale )

P.S. German-speaking Daleks? FTW. Schaunzie, ein Dalek!
P.P.S. Well, I'm a Shakespeare nerd and Ten flirted like hell with the Bard, so here's a quote. Maybe it's where RTD got the name of the episode?

"Journey's end in lovers meeting
Every wise man's son doth know"
~ Twelfth Night

Journey's end for Rose and Ten.2.1. Donna didn't meet her lover (Lee), so maybe it's not over for her? Why do I insist on bashing my head in about this? IT'S OVER SHE'S GONE IT'S DONE SHE WILL LIVE OUT HER LIFE IN POINTLESS MISERY.
P.P.P.S. Unexpected Naked!Ten was very welcome. Donna didn't seem to mind, either ;P I was surprised Jack didn't wind up naked, though, considering he got set on fire. His clothes really should have burned off. For the good of humanity.
P.P.P.P.S. Why I shouldn't venture into this fandom: stop whining that Donna left! That was the actress' decision, not RTD's! No creative planning went into that, it was simply Catherine Tate saying, "I'll do one season, but that's all." We got her for one season, and I'm thrilled we did. It's sad we have to let her go, but don't blame it on the PTBs. If you're going to blame someone, blame Catherine, but really... should you be heaping blame on someone who can act circles around the entirety of London and still have energy to pwn a huge Dalek fleet? No, I don't think you should. I'd love some stability, too, but Billie and Catherine both chose to leave. If you want to blame the PTBs about a companion's departure, that would be Martha's. But I'm not to upset because if she hadn't left we wouldn't have had Donna ;)
( so many postscripts I need to start cutting them! )