Second star on the right

http://feeds.reference.com/click.phdo?i=6ce416014f9cd74ec3c0f29a1851bd0c

http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2009/11/29.html

malleable: capable of being shaped; also, adaptable.

we decided to replace our stove...but soon found that finding an ADA Compliant (disability accessible) free standing stove in our price range was not doable. Actually the disability access requirement was so basic we were surprised we couldn't find it: we needed the oven controls on the front of the stove not on the back. from there, we needed it to be a freestanding gas range. it needed a glass window so I could look inside without opening the door. and it needed to have burners that were closed so food would not fall into the flames.

slide in stoves have all the controls on the front but no backsplash. Our stove is freestanding so it needs built-in a backsplash/rim (as well as side panels - most slide in stoves don't offer these as optional add-ons). This put us in the price range of real cheap stoves (no glass doors with open burners and doors with flimsy knobs) and the real expensive stoves. in the end it came down to 4 models and 4 models only. I ended selecting the higher end one because it had continuous grate burners (across the entire top of the stove) which meant I could slide the pots on and off the burners while seated in a wheelchair.

And all the while I kept thinking... I am glad we had an emergency fund, but at this rate .... well let's say that termites and wood rot repairs weren't what we had in mind this year. Followed by my second thought: I don't really need an accessible stove - it's not like I am in a wheelchair. before the practical side reminded me: yet. your hip went out earlier in the year.

We did consider repairing but I already was having problems with some of the broken controls on the old stove and it was impossible to clean, so the broken igniter just pushed it over the edge.

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The uploading continues apace. I am almost ready to stop for the evening and maybe try to write. Or something. I miss writing. It's been days since I did any. Sigh.

I was uploading a lot of the codas I wrote in season 2, when I was still in the first flush of fandom love, and wow, season 2 was good for codas. I think I wrote at least one (sometimes more than one) for almost every episode. I miss that, too.

*

Tonight for dinner I made a roast loin of pork. It was very tasty. I combined garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, and basil in about a tablespoon of olive oil (for easy spreading), along with a couple of teaspoons of brown sugar and a large splash of vanilla (for years, I wouldn't tell my mother about the brown sugar and vanilla, and she couldn't replicate the taste. Heh.). Rub that on, top with a few pats of butter, and then cook until the internal temperature is 160°F. It was very tasty and juicy and good.

*

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Happy birthday, Alfonso Cuarón!

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http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2009/11/28.html

rusticate: to go or send to the country.

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I don't really care about so much about the plots on White Collar. They just keep giving me tasty OT3 stuff and I'm content.

I've spent most of the day uploading stuff to the AO3. It allows me to feel productive when I can't write. I have too many goddamn stories, though. angelgazing pointed out that I will never be done uploading because I write faster than I upload. Though possibly this is no longer the case. I don't know. I have been having my usual late autumn/early winter problems getting motivated. Since the archive takes so long to upload, I am also rereading some favorite stories (I don't have to pay as close attention to rereads - I can skim and skip and be interrupted without losing anything, 'cause I've already read them before). I keep getting errors, unfortunately, which is slowing things down even more.

Technology is not my friend.

I know lots of people are excited by tagging their stories in all sorts of ways, but I am doing what I find useful and that's it. As long as I get the characters/pairing on there, and maybe if it's a casefile or an episode tag, that's about the extent of my interest. Maybe if I upload my HP stuff, I'll split the Remus/Sirius out by era, like I have it in my tags on LJ, but mostly I don't care about the tags. *hides*

Also, I wish there were a place in the profile to link to a warnings policy, and that that link could just automatically be included on every story. Because I am just using the "No Primary Warnings Apply" which isn't the same as "no warnings needed" but 99% of my stuff is "no warnings needed" and I'd like to be able to say that somewhere, since it isn't a choice on the warnings field. I guess I could make it a tag, but I never think of it. I wish it were automatic.

Hmm...

***

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REALLY, Good Morning America? Really? First you cancel a gay man's appearance on your show b/c the night before he kissed another guy on national television, then in the same week you book a dude who beat the crap out of his girlfriend and threatened to kill her.

Just, wow. The different layers of homophobia, hypocrisy, and female negativity wrapped up in how GMA handled this...WOULD amaze me, if I hadn't seen it a million times before. *clutches head*

I hope that Adam a) is smart enough to understand that by just being "a performer" - by being HIM - he's going to walk a very certain path, b) is brave enough to walk it despite the asshats, and c) has people around him who will help. Because goddamn, this is just the start of his career.

http://feeds.reference.com/click.phdo?i=c4a20c118cd65b259091e2f3785eb0b9

http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2009/11/27.html

gourmand: one who enjoys good food in great quantities.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who are celebrating! Happy Thursday to those who are not. I hope everyone had a lovely day, regardless.

My day began with BACON and PIE and ended with FOOTBALL and PIE, and in between there was stuffing and homemade cheese macaroni and turkey that was actually moist and tasty (!!), and more family shenanigans than you could shake a stick at. My brother was in rare form tonight, and basically had the whole table in stitches for most of the meal. Mostly at my expense, but eh, that's not new. and unfortunately, the Giants are capping off the day by sucking like unto a hoover, but I am too full and sleepy to care too much.

I am thankful for my family, my friends - including you guys - my health, and my job. Man, a year ago at this time, I was a week away from being laid off. I'm still a little freaked out by how that went, still anxious and lacking in confidence sometimes, but I'm so glad I found a new job quickly, and one that I mostly like, for people and an organization that I like. (I'm also grateful that I have tomorrow off and I don't have to use a day - it's one of our holidays. Mmm...sleeping in...) I'm grateful I have health insurance and can pay my rent and that I have an apartment I love.

I'm thankful for fandom, not just because of all the great stories to read and the feeling of having people who get my excitement about various shows and characters, but because of all the great people I've met and become friends with, who've made my life richer and better and more fun all around.

*hugs*

And also, I am thankful for PIE, and I would share some with you all if I could.

***

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We had our aging stove cleaned on Tuesday in advance of Turkey day. It worked fine last night....but this evening the gas is no longer flowing into the oven. Gas Bar-B-Que to the rescue! Thank goodness there was enough propane in the tank. We've never roasted a whole bird on the bar-bi before but it went well with the improvised metal roasting pan out of aluminum foil. Of course it meant xlorp had to sit outside in the dark tending the grill while I waved to him from the kitchen from time to time.

The cats were not amused. I am, however, hoping that we might get a new stove out of all of this. The one that came with the house was very cheap and doesn't heat very well.





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This is epic. It's like a novel excerpt scrawled on a bathroom wall. I love it.

Gonna be out at my parents' house for the next couple of days, so -- to any and all Yankees, have a Happy Thanksgiving. To everyone else, have a happy Thursday and Friday. Safe journeys.

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http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2009/11/26.html

provender: food or provisions.

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Criminal Minds

( spoilers )

***

Maybe I will try to write. I would like to post one more story this month, if possible, before I buckle down on yuletide and broken toys.

***

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There isn't much to report: the song itself is pretty simple, as I thought. The main problem that I'm having is that my headphones appear to be giving me jaw problems. I've got some heavy-duty Sennheisers that cancel out noise really well - but in the last few weeks, my jaw has been aching and popping every time I yawn or take a semi-big bite of food.

I don't honestly know if the two are related. The headphones do hurt my ear and jaw area if I wear them for extended periods of time, and I can't seem to adjust them to a place where they don't. I've always just kind of dealt with it, but I've been wearing them a lot more in the last few weeks, since one of my last steps to learning a song is to play along to the music. I'd do it without headphones, but in the particular case of Violet Hill, the drums are kind of muted and hard to make out if you're playing your own kit on top. (This is really the case for everything except, like, AC/DC.) You really need noise-canceling abilities of some kind.

Has anyone else experienced headphone-related jaw problems? I couldn't find anything online. I don't want to screw up that part of my drum practice, but I also would like to be able to EAT, yaknow? Eating is nice.

So I have this thing where I reverse numbers all the time, e.g., I usually have to redial new to me phone numbers two or three times because I switch the order of the numbers, etc.

NOTE TO SELF: NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BE DYSLEXIC WITH ROMAN NUMERALS!


***

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Hi, people wot have seen Shelter. Come talk to me about it.

On the one hand, it was reeeeeally poorly directed. As in, what is this shot? Oh my god, what is this blocking? And Brad Rowe bugged me a bit, though Trevor Wright was effective. Pretty predictable plot.

On the other hand, dudes, Zach totes had a crush on Shaun for years. YEARS. Like, it's not stated explicitly, but he mentions to his sister that he'd been surfing with Shaun since age 8. Plenty of time for bb!Zack to get starry-eyed over the confident Older Brother, and the way Zack sort of hesitated when he saw Shaun for the first time in what, 5 years? And then later when they're arguing he tosses out, "I'm sick of being your childhood wet dream," which makes absolutely no sense unless you turn it around and put it back on him. Yeah. Long-repressed crush, thar.

I also really appreciated the scene between Zack and his sister where the truth comes out and it's this complex tangle of prejudice, family responsibility, financial pressues, sibling rivalry, and personal insecurities. Up until then Jeanne is pretty unsympathetic, but that scene really made you believe that she's a fuckup trying to do her best. What is so easy and effortless for Shaun and Gabe is a slow climb for Zack and Jeanne, and they struggle under it in different ways.

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http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2009/11/25.html

Brobdingnagian: gigantic; enormous.

my cousins' wife was taken off life support and passed away. the cancer had spread into her lungs and she was in a medically induced coma for the last week. her oldest (9) told her father that her younger brother (5) was "too young" to have lost their mother.  neither child was able to say goodbye  - I am not certain if this is a good thing or not.

she was 45 years old.

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Happy Birthday, Shirley Henderson (Moaning Myrtle)!

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For tonight's bout of stress baking, I made blueberry boy bait (as recommended by devildoll), which came out well, I think (I am taking half to work and half to the parents), but I also think it needs more blueberries. Clearly I need to double the amount next time. And possibly make it in cupcake tins or my mini-loaf pan. Hmm...

Maybe one day I'll be like a real food blogger and remember to take pictures of stuff before I slice into it and wrap it up. Today was not that day.

On my ride home tonight (I was at work late again), I listened to Adam Raised a Cain a few times and vidded it in my head. I would be the most literal vidder ever. Anyway. I know I say this all the time, but where is the Sam Winchester vid to this song? WHERE IS IT? I think this season has provided more awesome footage for someone to do this.

( the lyrics, in case you missed them the first 100 times I mentioned this idea )

Seriously, if I had minions, I would make one of them vid this for me.

***

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some days, the bear definitely eats you.

favorite repeated typos of today:

RPF for RFP
partners hips for partnerships

***

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So it's that time of year for wish lists and such. I'm trying to save them as I go, but feel free to link me to your wishlist as I would like to do something small for any of you if I can. As usual, because I'm poor, I tend to keep my list fannish/creative because that's all I really can return. And it's the small things that always make me happy anyway.

so onto it...

( wishlist rules... )

( And my ten wishes - know that world peace is always an understood wish... )

Again, I wish I could do things like buy y'all books and such, but I'm broke as broke could be, so I try to stick to the small things and don't ask more of that than anyone else.

http://feeds.reference.com/click.phdo?i=20c1951f2637a3fda756c7a8ddecc873

http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2009/11/24.html

martinet: a strict disciplinarian.

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Big Bang Theory

( spoilers )

***

Castle

I don't think I like Beckett's hair. It's too...helmety. Or something.

( spoilers )

*happy sigh*

Castle is my happy place.

Now I need to sleep because I have to be in early tomorrow for meetings. Ugh.

***

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My wacky Chicago cousins have entered a contest - you write your own holiday song, film or use your own photos and upload the results to Youtube.  The winner gets to perform their song on TV.

Underneath The Mistletoe


Competition is stuff - check out Christmas is ruined! [A Dreamwidth post with comments | Post a Dreamwidth comment| How to use OpenID]