Well, it took me ages to catch up on all my online reading so I just managed to do some memes. But that's something I suppose.

What was the #1 song the day you were born? Google the date and #1 song and then post your #1 song on your LJ - Preferably with a Youtube vid if you can find one!

Diana Ross - Upside Down



Man, one week short of pure awesome. The following week it was Queen with Another One Bites the Dust. Ah well.


And another one, fandoms courtesy of scribe_protra

If you want to, comment and I'll pick three of your fandoms so you can post the answers to your journal and so on and so forth.

( One Piece, Discworld, and Elenium/Tamuli )

Man, my back hurts SOOOO bad at the moment. I can't wait to get home and take a nice long soak in the tub.

Well, we've successfully dug my car out of the 29" of snow Frederick received. Not that the apartment complex helped any. As of 1:30 pm today, they hadn't managed to plow our section even once. Brian and I dug for 2+ hours and managed to get the car out onto the path worn by the heavier vehicles that had already made it through. I have to go to work tonight so I'm glad we've managed to get it free. We didn't even touch Brian's yet (oh gods, my back is KILLING me already) and the bad news is that the forecast is calling for more snow on Tuesday and then again on Saturday. Eeeesh. I know we only get heavy snow about once every 10-15 years but when we get it, we do get a decent amount.

On the bright side, I have the crock pot going with some delicious smelling stew and I might make faux cheesecake later and we had hot chocolate and I'm feeling energetic enough to get through our taxes today. Also, Oscar is here! And totally cute, albeit a completely new rabbit personality to adapt to. Anyway, that's how things stand. I'm trying to work up the motivation to either work on thesis or actually WRITE something tonight at work. Here's hoping I manage one of the two.

Also, am I the only one excited for the season premier of Aqua Teen Hunger Force tonight? XD That show has a bizarre hold over me.

ETA: This is the greatest and truest thing I've read in a damn long time. All that finger-pointing? Needs to be turned around and directed back at the owner of the finger.

A brief rec for those of you on the f-list that love the Riddlemaster of Hed trilogy. As usual, this year's offerings for Yuletide are amazing and wonderful and touch on Lyra and Rood and Har, which makes for some very impressive background speculation. Everything is top notch and I give all the stories my highest recommendation!

They're available here: http://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2009/tags/Riddle-Master%20Trilogy%20-%20McKillip/works


Also, www.epicrockradio.com makes me very happy! Snow on the other hand...

So Brian already spilled the beans on Facebook (that place I visit pretty much only for playing Pirates and CastleAge) but I figured I would post here as well.

We were going to hold off for a little while longer on getting a new pet because we're missing Sabu something terrible but our apartment was so very very empty and lonely without a bunny in it and so we decided to visit the local animal shelter. We had originally thought about one of two cute dwarf buns they had available but then we met Oscar. And fell in love. He's coming to stay with us next weekend.



He's part flemish giant and, like my old bunny Tippy before he came to live with us, he had been free range for a short time (poor guy, to be homeless in the cold we're having now) before he was picked up and brought in. I'm hoping that he, like Tippy, was just tricky and escaped and not the much sadder option that would let a domesticated rabbit be running around a neighborhood with no one to claim him. Anyway, he's big and soft and very sweet and we hope that he will like living with us and all the attention that we will shower on him.

OMG, if we actually get this house, I'm not moving for like at LEAST a decade. Good lord, this process has been ridiculous. Yeah, so...there are now talks/inklings that an official contract could get through by mid-march. Which just figures, because the fed will stop buying mortgage-backed securities next month so loan interest rates should increase. Just in time for us. Yay.

OTL. I'm almost ready to say FUCK IT but housing rates in the DC metro area are almost healthy again so this chance is something we really need to take if we can.

So much for my quiet weekend.


On another note: Truman/MacArthur Korean War muckety-muck amuses me. I need to stop watching the military channel late at night. MacArthur...lol

The Korean War on the other hand...I need to stop reading so much history that my father would like. It makes me feel old and like a giant nerd.


ETA: Two updates on Slate articles posted earlier. Both of which still leave a bad taste in the mouth but with less overall queasiness.

Firstly, that murderer in Kansas...was duly convicted of murder and justice was upheld. Color me relieved that the judge came to his senses at the last minute although still very worried about the implications for allowing the man his defense testimony in the first place.

Secondly, regarding the Guantanamo cover-ups, apparently there's a lot more doubt going around than the initial article made it appear. However, given the existence of Bush-era defense of torture and the like, somehow I don't feel as relieved as I'd like. At all, really. Sigh.

Thirdly, this article on politics, the State of the Union Speech, and political compromise made me sigh and admit how very much it's all true. The separation of powers in the US is something that's not always as straightforward as it seems, and sometimes it is. It would be nice to have a Prime Minister coming from the party in legislative power sometimes. I feel like more would actually be accomplished. And I also feel that a lot of people, both in this country and esp. from outside of it, don't really get how DIFFICULT it is for any type of change legislation to be enacted here or how easy it is for the president to be stymied by Congress (which was why I just laughed and laughed and laughed at the Obama 'yes we can' rhetoric during the '08 campaign because...haha...as we've all seen, it ISN'T UP TO HIM, DUH, it's up to Congress, which means it's up to political dealing and special interests, etc. etc. etc. - Me, cynical about politics much?). On the other hand, I learned a great new word from this article:
panjandrum:
–noun
a self-important or pretentious official.
Origin:
1745–55; pseudo-Latin word (based on pan- ) coined by Samuel Foote (1720–77), English dramatist and actor

Thanks, everyone, who commented yesterday. I, despite realizing that I'm coming down with a cold or something (thanks, weather, and lack of sleep), am feeling on a much more even keel today and am more determined than ever to finish my stupid thesis so I can get the hell away from UMCP and, you know, begin the hard work of finding a real job. Venting was very helpful and I appreciate you all for putting up with my ongoing wangst. I swear I'm going to try and make 2010 not nearly as blah as 2009, just, I'm not off to the best start yet. Still, I've got 11 months to make up for it.

Spending a night playing lots and lots of mahjong tiles and listening to metal helped too. XD As does the knowledge that Megadeth's making up for Slayer having to postpone their dual tour by having a Rust in Peace 20th anniversary tour that's coming to town. Which means 'Poison Was the Cure' and 'Lucretia' and 'Rust in Peace/Polaris' LIVE. XD They play most of the rest of that album regularly as it is but I won't complain about getting 'Hangar 18,' 'Tornado of Souls,' 'Take No Prisoners,' and 'Holy Wars' again. Heck, I even like 'Dawn Patrol,' which makes me a freak, apparently, but Lomenzo will play the FUCK out of that song so I'm kind of excited about it. Also, seeing as I do believe that Rust in Peace is the GREATEST THRASH ALBUM OF ALL TIME (and will fight anyone who differs, I will probably lose but I WILL throw down), and that the track order is impeccable, getting to hear the whole thing played straight through will not only exhaust me (holy crap, there's not real pace let up on that album, excluding 'Dawn Patrol') but put me on an emotional high rarely seen. Oh Megadeth, how I do love you to pieces, even if Dave is a jackass. Also entered a contest for the Big 4 concerts in Europe. Not that I'll win. But at least I'm trying.

Anyway, THANKS LJ PEOPLE! I really appreciate you!

Firstly, thanks for all the support and commiseration on the school issue. I've decided to make it my purpose in life to dissuade everyone I know from ever going there, unless they happen to be in the sciences, in which case they better go there because they're the only departments that get any love.

Secondly, some news items that have me up in arms. I'm kind of closet Supreme Court watcher and at the moment I want to smack them. I wish more people got up in arms about the Supreme Court but sometimes the commentary and coverage is so dense and jargonistic that it's impossible to follow. Fortunately these two articles do a good job of breaking down how politics has just managed to get EVEN UGLIER in this country. ARGH!

The Pinocchio Project: Watching as the Supreme Court turns a corporation into a real live boy
http://www.slate.com/id/2242208/

Money Grubbers: The Supreme Court kills campaign finance reform
http://www.slate.com/id/2242209


And then there's this article on Guantanamo. It's just...There are many many many reasons why I wish the last 9 years never happened but this one's pretty damn good all on its own. Depressing and sickening and just...how? How do we come back from this? How does anyone? Because I know there is no such thing as a utopian government and I know full well there are skeletons in the closet of every country of the world. But still...this is just WRONG.

Too Terrible To Be True?: Why aren’t we talking about the new accusations of murder at Gitmo?
http://www.slate.com/id/2241948/


And yes, I know, all 3 of these come from Slate, which isn't exactly without a liberal bias. But it's got a liberal bias kind of like John Stewart, which means that fuck-ups on the left get called out jsut as often and just as meanly, and with an added dose of disappointment. Besides, it's not like it's Fox News or anything. XD


Finally, I keep coming back to my unified theory of how Communism destroyed the United States without ever taking root here and this website made me laugh and simultaneously want to cry.

What is Single Payer? From Physicians for a National Health Program
http://www.pnhp.org/facts/what-is-single-payer


THIS. THIS IS WHAT WE NEED. But guess what? We could have had THIS in the late 1940s. Guess who the number one opponent was at the time? Physicians' groups from across the spectrum due to it being COMMUNISM. For SERIOUS. There are lots of rather dense and boring books about it that I had to read for the history of US social policy in the 20th century a few semesters back. lol, and guess who got fucked first in the privatization of insurance during the 1960s/1970s? Doctors. They changed their tune quick, but it was already far too late.


Finally, One Piece. Thank GOD. I have a feeling this arc will read better as a single long read-thru but I just MISS the Straw Hats far too much to be too deeply involved in this arc. I know it'll be fucking uber important but I miss LUFFY'S nakama. Or it could be that I'm just a huge Zoro whore at heart. That's also possible. Also, GARP. ♥ I love that old man so freaking MUCH!

So I got back my request to have my fees waived for this semester on friday. As you might be able to guess from my last post...it was denied. Why? Because I'm and I quote "attending the university this semester and also graduating this semester."

Yeah, for all of TWO HOURS DUE TO SITUATIONS OUTSIDE OF MY CONTROL (ie my professor being in a car accident and being completely out of communication for 3 weeks right when all of my thesis stuff was supposed to happen last semester) all of which I duly explained in my request. I didn't try to get out of the ~$450 credit cost. Just the UNIVERSITY USAGE FEES since I WON'T BE USING ANY FACILITIES. HOW IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND? Oh yeah, and there's no appeal process. I'm stuck with this bullshit. So, I'm paying over $800 for the privilege of defending my thesis. Yeah, I totally cried. Tears of extreme rage and crushing despair and just...that's a LOT of money. Who hates UMCP? I do. I AM NOT spending any more money there. My mom can kiss my ass. I'm not paying to walk across a stage. I didn't really want to in the first place and now the thought of spending over $100 on a stupid rental cap and gown at THAT PLACE makes me literally shake and seethe. The news also completely fucked up my weekend and all the work I was supposed to be doing and it made me wonder how UMUC can be so fucking AMAZING and good to its students while UMCP is so fucking EVIL. Yet they're part of the same system. It's mind-boggling.

I spent a lot of time on the couch and on ruining my diet but I don't really care that I've failed in that so early. At least I didn't break anything or stab myself and THAT was an exercise in self-restraint I can be proud of. For reals. Seriously, the amount of anger I had and the amount of crushing despair immediately following it was a roller coaster ride I would for once not care to repeat. Because that $800? Is supposed to be part of our house money. And allegedly there's been some progress on that front. I just...ARGH!

So yeah. Mad as hell and also rather depressed. It's a combination of suck and fail. And made for venting. Blah.

Weirdly productive night, despite or perhaps in spite of my extreme fatigue. Orz, yesterday was particularly trying. Anyway, two links and a drabble.

Firstly, this is just...I have no words. Sometimes I hate our judicial system even though I understand why judges have to have the leeway they have as part of the checks and balance system. THIS, though, is just awful. It makes me so ANGRY that I don't even have words to adequately express how I feel.

On the other hand, THIS made me both laugh and restored some of my faith in the judicial system. Which I needed at the moment. Also, I have a strong impulse to subscribe to both Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs magazines. XD Nerd factor is rising...


Secondly, an apology because this journal has been boring as fuck for most of a year. And I'm sorry about that. I'm still stuck in the same ruts, ie school/thesis, house issues, and now I'm also beginning to have to contemplate a real job search too. So I'm not a lot of fun to be around. And, having been lame for a year, I'm honestly nervous and hesitant about writing all of a sudden. Which is odd but completely true. So I'm going to dip my toes in slowly and advance warning that much of it will probably be slow in coming and spectacularly sucky for a while.
Case in point...

Title: Sailor's Adage
Rating: PG
Pairing: Implied Shanks/Ben
Word Count: 370

( I've just always wanted to use this old rhyme my dad taught me from his Navy days )

Well, seeing as I'm stuck at work as per the norm for a holiday, I figured I would make one last post while I'm killing time until I can flick on the TV and watch the ball drop. So, since I hadn't made any lists, here's a personal top 10 list of the tracks that sustained me through 2009. If anyone's interested, comment and I can get you links!

( Top 10 Music Tracks of 2009 )

And now I'm off to read Yuletide fic to pass the time!

Long post is long so I shall be cutting it up.

( Christmas '09 and related Vacation )

( So...2009 )

So slashtacular it almost hurts. I'm beyond ready to read delicious fic! (And hopefully this will get a resurgence of classic and Young Sherlock Holmes fic going too, eeeee!)

Also, best movie soundtrack I have heard in years. I'm going to acquire it.

Also also, sherrymarie, You are a crazy wench and we love you and I will send you a proper message later. But, seriously, OMG AWESOME!!!

Also also also, guess who got a TMNT Michelangelo Snuggie for Christmas?

Me. That's who. And I'm wearing it as I type.

Happy Holidays!

Sabu's kind of disgruntled at being a present even though I bribed him with a treat.




I've been pretty bad about ficcage this year, mainly because of school, and so my usual OT5 Xmas drabble is even lamer than usual.

Title: And Eight (Not So) Tiny Reindeer
Rating: PG for implications
Pairing: OT5 plus a visit from Whitebeard and Company and the usual Akagami/Mugiwara madness
Word Count: 1037
A/N: A direct sequal to last year's drabble

( Whitebeard Ups the Ante in the Annual Grand Line Christmas Card Stakes )



And, owing to time and laziness and to the fact that they HAD a Christmas episode this year, I didn't do one for Metalocalypse. But I can provide links!

The classic Toki's Night Before Christmas

How the CFO Stole Mother-Fuckin' X-Mas

Mistletoe is Metal...and Norwegian



I hope everyone has a lovely day! I will, once I'm off of work, because there's a copy of New Super Mario Brothers Wii waiting for me followed by a showing of Sherlock Holmes AND...

FIVE DAYS OFF IN A ROW!!! See ya, internets!

Final exam today. And then just revising my ever-so-stupid-and-frustrating thesis and its defense. But I'm not thinking about that again until after Christmas. So final exam to survive today.

Oh, and all random holiday cards/packages will be mailed tomorrow! I'm running late as usual this year and my ability to write decent greetings/messages is NIL so I apologize if they're completely lame/weird/incomprehensible. But at least my holiday pirate spirit self seems to be somewhat competent...XD Or so you all shall see.

I wonder if I'll get ANY sleep at all today? That's a good mystery question to which I cannot see the answer. House hunting time on Saturday for most of the day. 15 properties in Hagerstown...wish us luck.

And I think that's about it, other than that this is STILL one of my favorite OP Image songs.

Holy crap, Fatherklok was AMAZING. I haven't laughed so hard in weeks. Fuck do I love me some Metalocalypse.

Also, I NEED MONEY TO GO TO POLAND! Unless of course they announce stateside dates

Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax are FINALLY playing a series of shows together. XD The cry of glee followed by my piteous wail of despair when the tour was announced for Europe was truly epic and ridiculous. Anyway, by hook or by crook, I will try to find a way to see this somehow. Even if I have to sell a kidney. (not really but I am pretty serious)

Happy Last Minute Birthday wendytigges!!!

I've got a drabble in the works for you that I'll post tomorrow. Anyway, hope you had a great day today!