Those of you involved in my RL know what's going on, so I won't get into it at the moment. Maybe later when it's less like a wound.
I did find something pretty to look at. A nice personality test for those with an appreciation for pictures. My results:
Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test...
NBDC - The Illusionist
Nature, Background, Detail, and Color
You perceive the world with particular attention to nature. You focus on the hidden treasures of life (the background) and how that is affected by the details of life. You are also particularly drawn towards the colors around you. Because of the value you place on nature, you tend to find comfort in more subdued settings and find energy in solitude. You like to ponder ideas and imagine the many possibilities of your life without worrying about the details or specifics. You are highly focused on specific goals or tasks and find meaning in life by pursuing those goals. You are a down-to-earth person who enjoys going with the flow.
I was briefly glimpsing at a friend's LJ and noticed that my default user pic over there was somehow changed into- well something else. Thankfully nothing too obscene. But as you can see, my edited Daria pic is back. That pencil drawing of a man's mug shot- not mine. It's deleted now, hopefully never to return. I'll have to keep an eye on my LJ for further signs in case it was more than an LJ glitch.
Er. Yeah. And life? It's being life. Some good, some not so good, but at least I'm more aware of it and learning how to deal with it better. At least, I hope it's better.
*waves at fellow Life Participants* How's it going for you?
Happy Birthday to all and sundry whose Birthdays I have shamefully not given wishes to. Life has been more than busy of late (not the best of excuses, I know), and I'm living it as best I can with the help of friends and family.
Oh, yes, and Happy Birthday, Severus Snape, the eternally misunderstood. Here's hoping you're dealt better cards in the Afterlife.
I love you all. You're like a constant party. Like Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. ;) I've been reading posts whenever I can, even if I couldn't respond as much as I like to. *snugs*
As for fic, I'm very far behind on that. But it's like having a reward waiting for me later. Take care, everyone.
Nathan Fillion in PG Porn Starring Nathan Fillion and Aria Giovanni and directed by James Gunn. Starts off nicely, but warning for *spoiler* content. Hmm. How to warn without giving it away?
Had quite a nice day today, and I just figured out it's partially because I'm having a "good PMS" month. Some months are terrible, and some, strangely, are like this. Everything goes right or is something I can deal with. I feel achy, tired and odd, but I'm still in a good mood, get lots of things done, and everyone around me is either nice and polite, or silent. ;)
I've decided I'm getting our finances into order. I've also come to the realization that I knew I enjoyed being productive with money (fake money like the stuff you earn in MMORPGs like WoW and City of X with their respective auction houses, crafting skills, etc), and am interested in trying the stock markets or researching better ways to make the real stuff. However, I never equated it to actually "being interested in finances"- if that's how one would describe it.
I read a number of very interesting articles today, listened to 3 out of 6 audio book disks I'd gotten recently, and I'm nearly ready to start taking that knowledge and applying it. I must say that I'm a bit excited now. I just hope I can maintain that level once the hormones fade. Heh. I know I will, just not at this moment's manic level.
I'm also wondering if I can earn a bit of extra money helping people claw their way out of debt and into getting their credit at a good-excellent level... I've got the good credit covered; working on the debt now. More research!
And our Xbox360 looks to be fragged. Sigh. Working on getting it fixed and going onto better things.
Master Chorale of South Florida: Our performance of Elijah went spectacularly! Next is our Holiday concert, one month after Elijah. December 12, 13 and 14. We're doing some interesting pieces; very little is standard stuff, but most is either recognizable, interesting or fun.
Land of the free? Nope. Not for everyone. Not if you're gay.
[Nov. 5th, 2008|08:17 am]
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I'm ashamed of Florida. Truly I am. Many voted to preserve freedom. Unfortunately they were outnumbered by the combined masses of religious folk following their beliefs, and the uninformed who weren't aware of the issue and followed the prompting of the wording of the amendment put to the vote.
Who wouldn't want to "protect" marriage? That's an obvious thing to vote for. But the wording of this amendment is both biased and unfair:
"Official Ballot Summary: This amendment protects marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."
"Protect". What are they protecting marriage from? Are those who are gay going to rise up like zombies and slay everyone who is married? Are there a limited number of marriages that can be performed each year? No.
This is the only amendment put on the ballot by a citizens' petition. The sponsor of the petition drive is an Orlando lawyer who heads a religious conservative group. (Reference: http://www.news4jax.com/politics/17670150/detail.html)
So basically even if this hadn't passed it would be no skin off of their backs and no help to those trying to protect their right to not be discriminated against. And that's what it is- discrimination, pure and simple. If the ballot had been worded something more like "This amendment allows for discrimination against those couples that do not consist of one man and one woman", I am confident that the vote would have turned out a bit differently. Yes, that phrasing is biased in the other direction, but it also doesn't hide the issue behind slanted words.
Once they finish discriminating against gays who is going to be next? Blacks? Jews? Should I be worried about my own marriage due to outside forces dictating what I can and cannot do? I'm already going to have to be concerned about my gay friends if they need medical treatment or need to be hospitalized, and their partners' insurance won't cover them.
Where will they go next once they're done taking away the right to marry? Will we eventually be creating new jobs by building gas chambers?
Where does this discrimination end? It should not have started.
Okay, technically this is a non-HP rec *shock* *horror* - However, the particular picture I'm linking to looks rather like a ... well, a prettified and young Snape in some ways.
At any rate, I love this picture and the artist's other works are quite beautiful. She has some pics of hotness to browse through as well. Not that that would be a consideration... Ahem.
She has another website with many links to other sites of hers and other artists, so there's plenty to browse.
*seriously considers her budget and the possibility of ordering a print of "Winter Prince"*
Yes, I know I haven't posted in ages and there's tons of news to share, but this thought just came to me for no particular reason other than the obvious, and I had to inflict it upon the rest of you.
Why am I suddenly wondering if, when filming Deathly Hallows, the WB is going to remove Snape's scene in the Shrieking Shack and have Random Character X (possibly McGonnagal) hand Harry a bottle of memories that Albus' portrait told her to give Harry. And there won't be more than a few memories we see of canned footage of Lily, and a bit of Snape walking down a corridor somewhere before Harry exclaims something and goes off to do his duty.
I wasn't even thinking about the HP movies before that hit me. *boggles* Perhaps I'm just feeling discouraged.
Yes, it's that time of year again. I and my other Floridian friends are waiting and watching Tropical Storm Fay which is supposed to start rolling its way from Cuba to Florida today. The center is most likely going to stay on the West Coast, but those of us on the East Coast will still be getting Tropical Storm force winds. Fay is also likely to strengthen into a Cat 1 hurricane during the time it travels between Cuba and Florida from all of the hot water.
I'm having an interesting time trying to get the VPN connection working on my laptop, and network drives mapped to my computer. And the work webmail website is being annoying and isn't coming up either, so I can't check for replies on my VPN support request, or word from my boss saying it's okay to work from home today. Well, if it comes down to it, I can take today as a sick day; my stomach hasn't been behaving either.
*looks at the time and sighs* - I could be sleeping, but "work" starts at 7am.
Oh! I made the Master Chorale of South Florida I was fretting about for months. :) I've already been in one rehearsal (Last Monday). As one might imagine, rehearsal was canceled today and will be made up another day. I'll go into detail about rehearsals later, but I wanted to drop this description of the audition on you all first. Cut for length and because some RL friends may have already heard this:
Happy Birthday Harry, you little squirt. Even if you're not so little anymore.
And to everyone on my Flist whose Birthdays I have been horrifically neglecting. Happy Birthday, belated or pre-wished or even on time. You all have been my silent textual and artistic companions, and I wanted to thank you all.
And now for a brief touch of RL. Can anyone say "kidney stones"? One out of a number of recent dramas. Sigh.
I haven't seen this question come up yet, but then I've been away from IJ for two to three months. If discussion of the question has already come and gone, I'd sincerely love to be directed to it so I can read it myself.
I suppose for those of us who are gamers, this would pose a question of the actors' OOC knowledge affecting their IC actions. ;) And now, on to the ticky boxes!
Poll #1911HP: The creation of HBP the movie and DH the book
Open to: All, results viewable to: All
Will the movie version of HBP be affected by the book DH?
I've been ... well, let's just say that RL has well and truly ... for a few months. I'm just starting to catch up again and expect I've missed a ton. I'd love to come to Portus or Terminus but don't know if I can arrange the time.
If there's anything you want me to see from IJ/LJ, let me know! Thankfully I've managed to take part in reading snarry_games at least, though I'm not even finished with those. Take care, all.
I posted this at LJ. Since I didn't know about it till just a few minutes ago, I thought I'd repost it in case anyone on my flist is as oblivious as I am. ;)
An LJ User Strike on March 21st was news to me as I don't frequent LJ nearly as much as I used to. I only go back to LJ to keep up with my LJ friends who are also RL friends, and those rare fandom friends who didn't migrate with the rest of us over to IJ (or another journal, but my impression is that most of us have settled at IJ). After a weekend, I used to go well past skip=500 to keep up with my flist on LJ. Now it's unusual if I have to venture past skip=200 or even 100, even after being away for two to three weeks. Wow.
If you're interested, visit beckyzoole's journal. Her posts are thoughtful and detail the reasoning behind organizing this (and how it'll leave a footprint without damaging anyone). I'll be participating; it certainly won't be difficult for me. ;)
Something I'd love to hear from you all about: Do you play Second Life, and if so:
1) Do you love it lots? 2) Do you make items or do you buy them? 3) If you make items, do you sell them and make a good profit? 4) Do you participate in the HP and other fandom groups there?
I ask all of this because I've started in with SL because of an old MUSH friend of mine. It looks very cool (though it runs surprisingly slow on my computer because of the massive amounts of 3D rendering, etc), and I'm considering dedicating more time and attention to it, learning how to script, etc. I'm fascinated by the idea that I can play in a game which gives me the potential of actually making real money if I play it right and work at it. In past I've enjoyed playing the auction house in World of Warcraft and City of Heroes/Villains, so who knows? Heck, I could even get a job there to make money too. It's pretty amazing. You can even take classes from RL Universities there, etc etc. One day it might be nice to be able to take those classes and apply them towards a degree.
Moving onwards...
Woe! I've been neglecting my flist! But I've gone from skip=460 to skip=260. Er... Woe! I've been neglecting work today!
I've also been tempted by a shiny iPod Touch (the 32GB version). A couple of my friends advised I wait as in June there is supposed to be another firmware upgrade, and it's always possible they might give us a 64GB version seeing as flash memory's hardly expensive anymore!
And lastly, I'm pleased to note that come August, I may be auditioning to be in a choir. I've missed singing so much, and this group does the wonderful classical pieces I enjoyed in Concert Choir rather than the cheesy sort of songs I did as a kid in Elementary school. What I'm most nervous about is having to sight sing as part of the audition as well. I'd better get some stuff to practice with.
Sleep has been a strange thing to my hubby and me of late. Usually I fall asleep easily and then am falling asleep at my desk despite that (hypothyroidism and possible anemia is fun). The past couple of nights we've been having trouble falling asleep, get a few hours less of downtime, and I've been tired but not sleepy during the day. Buh? I function better on 5-6 hours of sleep?
This tiredness works into the amusement at lunch today. I got some chinese takeout from a restaurant within walking distance from work (yum). I was distracted, eating veggies and a few pieces of chicken while reading (I'm sure you can guess what sort of things I was reading) when I look down and wonder, "What's all of this flaky stuff on the veggies? Did they put in tons of chopped garlic? I don't taste it."
It was then I realized that I was looking at the rice on the bottom of the bowl.
For those of you who aren't aware, there is going to be a Lunar Eclipse tonight! Being the minor astronomy geek that I am, I had to break my unintentional silence long enough to jabber about it.
More information here about the times for each time zone:
And what's with LJ recently? I went to catch up there and I don't see anything in my flist past skip=160 or so. That went back to February 6th (yes, I'm that far behind, sorry!) I used to go well past skip=500. LJ isn't retaining a full month of posts at the very least?
It occurred to me that since we don't know the exact date of the Battle of Hogwarts, we can't be certain of what date to hold any sort of memorial or fic event. At least, I don't recall reading what date it was.
Happy Birthday, Severus Snape. We all miss you.
And because Snape rarely if ever gets anything for himself, my thoughts are also with the various people known and unknown to me who have passed over the years.
I'm posting this from my shiny new laptop over my new wireless router. Yes, that took a huge bite out of my savings, but it means a good deal to my sanity, and a good deal less to carry on the train since I don't have to bring my work laptop home anymore. The new laptop has a 17" screen, 2GB of memory, a 256MB video card and a 230GB hard drive. :)
Advice: If you're looking for a new computer, take a look at dell.com and click their "Dell Outlet" link. You can browse systems that they already built and that customers didn't want for various reasons. I got a refurbished laptop which has nothing wrong with it, and saved $350 while doing so.
And now for a bit of fun. Warning: this may twist fond childhood memories into something pervy, but it's by Lemon Demon, the creator of Potter Puppet Pals and The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny, and is hysterically funny. All he did was creatively bleep out the word "count". *cackles*
I tried embedding it, but IJ didn't like the tag, so here's the link:
I actually wasn't planning on buying the OotP DVD when I went out with my husband last night, but there it was on the shelf as we walked through our local Target. I specify Target because according to their website and the sticker on the DVD, this particular edition is available only at their stores (which is why I couldn't find a better link for this edition of the DVD online).
The DVD has an absolutely wicked 3D cover which features two pictures: The first image has a purple background, Lucius in the foreground (the scene stealer that he is), Voldemort, two masked Death Eaters, and Bellatrix, all of whom are moving towards the right as though readying for a Clash of the Titans. Voldemort holds his wand in his left hand, and amusingly, Lucius is holding the Prophecy Sphere in his right hand!
The second image has a firy orange background and contains Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville and Ginny all moving towards the left in their own readiness for the battle. All in all, I'm pleased with the purchase for the cover alone which is shiny and fascinating. It was the only one of its kind that I saw in the store. It even comes with a free digital copy of the movie which I presume will be downloadable to my computer from their website. We don't go to Target frequently either, but my parents gave us a gift card, so the DVD cost me a dollar and change. :)
The other bit of happiness is also a bit of a story. My hubbie had an urge to try out City of Heroes/Villians again, so he tried installing it the night before last. After installing nearly all of four CDs for the program, he got an error message which wouldn't allow him to continue the install. Last night we went to Target (and my happy discovery above), but they didn't have a copy of the game. *boggles*
We went to Gamestop and they only had the cool Collecter's Edition which was marked down to $30. The cashier told us for some strange reason he couldn't sell the item- so he said "Happy Birthday, it's free." Since it was in fact my hubbie's Birthday, I joked that it was his Birthday and they serenaded him with the Birthday song. Heh. So yeah, a definite bit of happiness for us both. :)
I'm one of the surprisingly large number of us who got an extension for the Snupin Santa Exchange, but I've finished a large chunk of the story today and hope to finish it in the next day or two. I'd especially like a Brit-picker and someone with an eye for plot holes in case I missed one, but I'd be pleased with any skilled pair of eyes. ;)
I'm using docs.google.com as it has revision tracking and document sharing, and is all kinds of nifty. Any takers? I promise not to gnaw on your nose in thanks (my occasional wolfish tendencies will out).
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