a turquoise flower

Happy Presidents' Day/Normal Monday. I did wonder this morning why we celebrate Presidents' Day and this Washington Post article kinda explains it. (I myself prefer the apostrophe at the end--to be all inclusive and equal.)

And another link: Living on a Maine island during the winter. I actually live on the mainland, but it was an interesting article nonethless. I have only been to Peaks once, but that once was an awesome time.

*

I also have to share what happened yesterday at the mall. My mother and I (after I spent the whole day dreading it and hoping the Apocalypse would come, or a natural disaster or something to get me out of it because I did not want to go) spent a few hours at Macy's trying on dresses for graduation. Ugh. I went through this once five years ago, and I had hoped never to repeat it. But, life, it is so hard. I did find a kinda okay dress, but I didn't buy it because I wasn't all that into it, and I want to come back March or sometime later. (I don't want to go back a second time but I feel like I'm still carrying around a lot of holiday/winter weight that I will hopefully lose when spring comes around.)

Anyway, that is not the story I wanted to tell. After trying on a few dresses, my mother and I went to get chicken teriyaki at the food court and when we were coming back in the direction of Macy's (because that's where we were dropped off and had to return), we saw two guys holding hands. I thought they were extremely cute. My mother? Said they were crazy.

I'm choosing to believe she meant it in a kinda concerned way and not...homophobic way. But there's honestly no way to tell. And I don't want to find out.

So. I feel like I have to apologize not just to every gay or bisexual or asexual person, but to every straight person too. I'm so sorry on behalf of my mother. If it helps, she was born in a village in an European country that's still so far behind the times. It shouldn't excuse her behavior at all, but that's kinda her head space.

Overall, I thought this was a much better ep than "Lay Me Down", although that's not saying much because I still think everyone has been so wildly out of character so far this season. But I guess I should let it go because it is a new season and things have changed, and I can't expect them to remain the same characters. I acknowledge that, but I could still do without the stupidity that's been plaguing some of the characters.

The trouble of the week was very cool, though. Terrifying, but cool. And I love that Audrey/Nathan have consummated their relationship. Yayyy! After three long seasons of UST, it's about damn time. And 'm so happy about Duke/Jennifer too.

Still sad about Jordan being gone. Vince and Dave continue to be the best thing about Haven, imho. I wish we could find out if they're Troubled or not.

I'm behind on Elementary and Castle, and might not get caught up until next week. The last two weeks have just been essays, essays, essays, midterm, and one more essay due this Tuesday so that's all my head could handle.

~*~

I was the only younger looking person at the Q&A at the O'Brien Poetry Event Friday featuring Charles Simic. It made me feel extremely self-conscious, but I got through it.

The bad news is I left before I got an autograph, but it's okay. It was just great seeing him speak and read. I brought a new book of his poetry at Longfellows, which is what screwed me from buying a pre-autographed book they had at the event. I guess I'll just chalk this up to a learning experience, and not berate myself.


( a poem )

I can finally talk about the Troublesfest story I wrote for blackeyedgirl since stories were revealed yesterday.

My Love Is a Tiny City
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: Multi
Fandom: Haven
Relationship: Duke Crocker/Audrey Parker/Nathan Wuornos
Additional Tags: Gift Fic, Polyamory, Fade to Black, Threesome - F/M/M
Collections: TroublesFest 2013

I really liked my assignment! And I love writing gift fics. And why I wish this story was longer and better and...Well, it did go over the requisite 1k words, but I'm still not happy with it. I think it featured waaaaaay too much exposition and telling, not showing and ughhh. I had the perfect story in my head. While flopping on what to write, I finally decided on showing something about Audrey's, Duke's, and Nathan's relationship which I really love. And I really want this threesome to be canon like no threesome ship I've ever shipped before. I just really love both Duke/Audrey together and Audrey/Nathan together and Duke/Nathan together.

The Duke/Nathan fic though--which I've tentatively titled 'there are no words, there is only you'--is still chugging along. I really want to finish it before the end of this month, but, eh, we'll see. *thinks about the pile of reading for school I should be doing right at this moment & the amount of writing I want to do and it's enough to make my head explode*

~*~

In more personal, real life news, we have a cousin coming from Serbia this Friday and both my Aunt J (who this cousin is staying with while she's in America) and my mom are going crazy, trying to get their houses ready. Mom yesterday tore up the rugs in the kitchen, scrubbed the floors clean, brought new rugs and then set up the bigger entertainment system Aunt J threw away and gave to us alongside our older, albeit smaller entertainment system.

I'm like, wheeeeeeee! Yes, cleaner carpets~!!! New bigger entertainment system!!! Is it Christmas already?! (We've had the old carpets since we moved here somewhere around when I was in the fifth grade i.e. 2001 so it was about time.) My dad, otoh, who was standing around, helping when Mom needed to move something, went, "Why all this fuss? She's not staying with us, we're only going to be entertaining her when J is at work."

My mom's reply was something along the lines of how everything over there is much cleaner and we'll be judged if we don't do something.

So there was that.

It just brings to mind that, if I ever have my own place (ha! do I have big dreams) and if my mother, and/or any other family member, ever comes for a visit (assuming I don't live a block away by then), I'll have to tear up my whole place and clean it from the ground up.

The point being, I *don't* enjoy living in a pigsty and I love when everything is clean and has that shiny, new look but I just don't want to do the work to entail that cleanliness. Why does life have to be so hard?

So I have two papers due next week, both for different classes (the Modern Novel class, and a Sex, Gender, and Species in Sci-fi class), but for the same book - Atwood's Oryx and Crake. Do you think I could get away with writing just one paper and passing it in for both classes? I mean, at this point, I just want to be done with this semester, but on the other...I don't think I can get away with that; it feels like cheating. And I'm pretty sure all English professors talk to each other here.

Oh decisions, decisions.

(This is the first time this has happened in my academic career, and I'm not sure I'm brilliant enough to ramble for 5+ pages twice on the same book.)

oh fuck
graduate school will kill me if this is the attitude I have when I'm only an undergrad.
i just really want to spend all day writing fic and catching up on movies/tv i haven't seen yet, not writing analysis papers.

I went to try out Dobra Tea yesterday afternoon and it's definitely my kinda place. I ended up ordering rose tea and something called Pita Jerusalem to try out for the first time (because they were vaguely familiar - unlike half of the teas, which I couldn't begin to pronounce, but maybe next time! The pita from my home country is often salty however and it was awesome trying a pita that was considered a dessert). They give you a menu the size of a book - A BOOK - and give you a little bell when you're ready to order. Seriously. I felt so fancy. (Clearly anyone who drinks tea is fancy to me - I dunno. I should get out more, I know, I know.)

Before that, I spent an hour in the comics store (the comics store and the tea store are right next door to each other which is awesome). I got Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre even though I'm not familiar with the Watchmen comics at all (or movie for that matter, or the Alan Moore controversy but now that I know about it, I feel kinda bad for buying it). Like I just brought it because of the very awesome art - seriously just look at that cover. Also acquired Spider-Men #1 and nine back issues of X-Factor. 

And I just realized that it's been like two whole years since I've written anything for 100_women and I feel bad about this. (I tried to rectify it yesterday and thought I'd write something Lydia from Teen Wolf-centric about wings but it ended up being a totally different kind of fic? No mention of any wings - literal or metaphorical - unfortunately. Ah well maybe some other time.)

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" (Sonnet 130)
William Shakespeare

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

( RL update )

~*~

( And TV updates. Spoilers for One Tree Hill )

So Renae De Liz has like become one of my favorite comic artists now (among many others I've only heard about/seen) and I got a chance to meet her this weekend, at a signing at my LCS for her book, Womanthology: Heroic. Womanthology is a very big book that 150 female artists and writers worked on to spotlight female writers and artists in the comic industry (and much of the money they raised on the book went to charity too), whether that was amateur writers & artists, or professionals. The only other writer featured in the book that I've heard about before was Gail Simone and her story rocked too.

I also got the book signed by Stacie Ponder, Ellen Crenshaw and Ashlee Lentini! It was, a bit ashamedly, the first time I went to a book signing. But that's okay! Better late than never.

There are photos of the fantastic event on Casablanca's Facebook page which I'd recommend going through.

Anyway, trying to stalk her on the web and I found her blog and got very excited that she was going to make Lady Powerpunch an ongoing! I loved this story, this story was like my most favorite out of the ones I've read so far. My love for this comic story has NO BOUNDS. Seriously. If this is published, I'm totally gonna grab the first copy (and pretty much all the future issues!)

I'd highly recommend getting Womanthology. It is very expensive (and boy is it a hefty book) but the money does go to charity.

Lady Powerpunch has become my favorite super heroine (that no one has heard of but that's okay)!

Also! Also! There's gonna be a Womanthology ongoing! With a space theme! *can't contain the excitement*

I've suddenly become one of those people who shower in the morning and I hate that because it means I have to get up two hours before my usual 10 a.m. waking up. I like sleep, damnit, but of course I wouldn't have to take showers in the morning if I went to bed at a reasonable hour and didn't pass out before taking said shower but there's SO MUCH TO DO arghhhhhhhh *loopy in the morning*

In other news, I'm trying to write every day for 31_days for the month of February (because the themes are gorgeous - see them here). Gosh, have I missed writing for this comm. And I really, really hope I can be successful in writing every day. Although, my writing's mostly hit-and-miss during school. I should've planned ahead more and written more than three fics (well a total of two finished fics for the first two days and just a tiny one where I just scribbled a sentence or two) but what can you do?

Also, Porn Battle 13 is almost here! (Prompting is open until this Thursday.) Yay! This is what I go to when I just can't write anything. Because writing about porn apparently doesn't take any inspiration.

( my prompts )

Also, also, have to read Hamlet again for Intro to Literary studies. I'm loving it more this time around then when I had to read it in high school. (I want to call Hamlet "Ham Ham" just because it amuses me so. But only in my head.)

Man, I'm so tired. Is it February break yet? No? Damn.

(I know I updated yesterday, but, man, is this getting to be a stressful month and I just need somewhere to vent.)

- So, upon the tragic death of Dr. N, we didn't have class Monday or Tuesday of this week - neither the lab nor the lecture - and today was our first return to the lecture classroom since we heard about his death. And everybody is pretty much up in arms because here we are, a week before we have to take both the lecture and lab final on a very hard subject, and we didn't cover all the material (we were close to it but we didn't finish) and so we're like floundering fish on dry land.

The difficulty is no one knows what's happening now or how we can continue the normalcy for the short time we have left of microbiology. We have a professor come in - a very close friend of Dr. N's - who told us of Dr. N's death and who's going to be teaching the last few classes there are left. But while he was a very good friend of Dr. N's and knows pretty much a good portion of what Dr. N's system was, the truth of it is that he is NOT Dr. N. And therein lies the problem and hardships.

But apparently everyone else was like, "We pay money to go here, and this is not acceptable. There should be a procedure in place for when something like this happens and blah blah yadda yadda ya." God, like all these people can think about is money and I get that it's before finals week and everyone's stressed and we're all freaking out and this is college and not free education but god, again, the world is not just about us. But we are apparently a very selfish species.

- And I apparently need an English adviser. Frick. (Well, to be fair, Rodney did tell me this when I told him I wanted to pick a major, so it's not like it's surprising but I was hoping if I pretended to not know, it'd go away. Hint: it hasn't - they just e-mail you). I'm so not good at talking to professors - or ANYBODY for that matter.

- I had an extra cup of coffee today because I'm apparently useless after 10 pm and just pass out because my body apparently hates me and I can't stay up past midnight anymore. I have no idea what that is about. Except now I'm jittery and like I want to run a marathon; I am sure the crash will happen soon-ish and I will pass out and not finish studying and that will make me feel guilty in the morning. And I've been making flashcards since about five pm this afternoon and just for one class AND IT IS NEVER ENDING. SERIOUSLY IT WILL NEVER END AND I WILL LOSE WHAT'S LEFT OF MY SANITY.

So in conclusion: ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
*MORE FRUSTRATED CRIES*

Gosh, it's gonna be a drag to go back to school but on the other hand, I'm really very excited. (Been so bored this past summer because I literally did not do anything of importance.)

But it's also my third year of undergraduate college and I'm not looking forward to that because I still have no idea what I'm gonna do because the Nursing program seduced me, screwed me over, broke my heart in a million pieces and then laughed about it. But I'm gonna need to pick something and Rodney told me at our last counseling appointment that he has a plan B in case I don't get in, except I have no idea what this plan B is, unless it's just picking another major, which will NOT DO, it will simply not do, Rodney, it's either the Nursing program for me or I'm going to give up all my worldly possessions and go live under a rock as a hermit. And trust me, no one will want that. :/

I might as well be dramatic while freaking out.

So far my classes are:

Microbiology & Human Disease lecture + lab
Pathophysiology
Human Nutrition
Public Speaking
(And I've shared some pictures of the books for these classes here on my Tumblr.)

I'm freaking out for the Spring semester because, after these classes, I'd have finished all the prerequisites for the Nursing program and I don't know what else I'd need to choose.

I was thinking studying abroad would be awesome for the Spring semester because maybe then I can freak out in another country. We shall see.

But seriously, that hermit idea is sounding more and more appealing to me.

~*~

fannish5: Now that the summer is coming to an end (in the Northern Hemisphere), what 5 shows are you most looking forward to starting/returning?

1. The Vampire Diaries (9/15/2011)
2. Psych (10/12/2011)
3. Suburgatory (9/28/2011)
4. Terra Nova (9/26/2011)
5. The Secret Circle (9/15/2011)

and some runners up:
6. 2 Broke Girls (9/19/2011)
7. Last Man Standing (10/11/2011)
8. Once Upon a Time (10/23/2011)
9. Grimm (10/21/2011)
10. Hart of Dixie (9/26/2011)

I don't like getting into shows until I know for certain whether they're going to be cancelled during the first season or not so the latter half of the list are all new shows I'm kinda iffy about (sometimes I can't avoid getting into new shows before they're finished with the first season). But LMS has Tim Allen!!! Who I have this sort of weird crush on. I dunno. Don't ask. I don't get it either.

And the trailer for "Once Upon a Time" is making me all kinds of squeal-y because FAIRY TALES!!!!!! FINALLY A SHOW ABOUT FAIRY TALES!!!!!!! WHICH IS ABOUT DAMN TIME (because we keep getting movies and movies and books and books - which I love don't get me wrong - but no one ever thinks about a fairy tale tv show - well, until now that is). And there's also Grimm, I believe, but I haven't seen that promoted as much and I have no idea what it's about.