My relatively new livejournal is to be found here. I have yet to figure out anything about it but eventually intend to.

And the fan fic rec o' the day, an oldie but a goodie (lyrical and cool and styled in all the right ways -- intimations of Draco/Harry): Theme and Variation, an old favorite.

 
Okay, I hadn't looked at These Later Days, the Harry Potter fic I've been working on for the past several months, for about six weeks. Finally, finally, today I opened up my little folder and went over all the outlines and paragraphs I had drawn up for the last three chapters of it -- chap. 7 through 9 -- and was amazed at how much I liked the stuff I'd written. I'd forgotten half of it, which is always a strange experience. It's not often you get a chance to read something you've written without remembering having written it; it gives you that extra perspective, an edge you only get when you come to a piece of writing with a stranger's eyes. And by god, I'm going to fucking finish this fic. I'm that inspired.

ETA for the completion of These Later Days, the end of September. Here I come, fucker.

 
oh my freakin' god, i just remembered something. everyone should listen to the Billy Joel song "And So It Goes" cause holyhellitrocks.

all for now. ta ta.

 
music: Someday, The Strokes

Just got back from five weeks in Israel and am struck by how full that five weeks was, how it really feels like a world apart from the rest of my life. I have so many memories and stories and concepts and people zooming around in my head. I just need this week before school to sit and stew a bit.

More later.

 
music: 'I Know What I Know,' Paul Simon (d00d, I lurve the Graceland album...)
reading: ...possibly will be picking up Dune and rereading it (forgotten most of it); Hoover and I watched "Children of Dune" last night, and I love him, so...Dune here I come. Plus, Frank Herbert creates an excellent world anyway. Hey! ::is defensive:: I wouldn't just reread a book for a boy. ...okay, so in Hoover's case I would, but you know.

I was watching From Russia With Love and thinking how handsome and likeable Sean Connery really is. I mean, I think one of the ultimate questions of the world should be: Who is your favorite Bond? And if you say anyone but Connery, well, you've been either stoned for a good part of the last four decades or else you're secretly Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore, etc.

and now...what everyone's been waiting for (no, no, you haven't; i've never done the Friday Five before):

1. What's one thing you've always wanted to do, but never have?
I would love to go to Paris. Probably will eventually but want to go now. Ah, Paris.

2. When someone asks your opinion about a new haircut/outfit/etc, are you always honest?
No, especially when it's a close friend of mine who is worried about their appearance for whatever reason -- upcoming date, interview, first day of school -- cause if you say, "Holy fuck, what did you do to your hair?!", well, sometimes it's just better to smile and nod. Not because they'll kill you or anything but because they'll feel hurt and worse off than just sometimes making a fashion faux-pas. Ignorance is indeed sometimes bliss.

3. Have you ever found out something about a friend and then wished you hadn't? What happened?
Actually no. All the awful and scary things I've found out about my friends, even if I was shocked or dismayed at the time, I'm still glad I know it because I feel it lets me know them better. I mean, in the past year I found out about an old suicide attempt of a friend of mine, and I felt sick about it...but I'd rather know than not.

4. If you could live in any fictional world (from a book/movie/game/etc.) which would it be and why?
Oh god. I'd want to go to fuckin' Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry -- in the Potterverse obviously. This wish is partially because I'm on a Harry Potter spaz kick at the moment, what with HP 5 coming out so soon and all. And anyway, though I love Middle Earth and would almost say that instead, in the end that universe seems too otherworldy, bound by too many different rules and full of too many new and different people, for me ever to feel at home there. Rowling's universe is at least recognizable.

Plus I would love the chance (and here's where my Mary Sue impulse kicks in; everyone has a different reason why they'd go to Hogwarts) to give crap back at Draco Malfoy as good as I got. I mean, he'd give me hell, as usual, for being a Mudblood, and I'd just whoop up on his arse because, unlike the Trio, I would have come to their universe from my own and, as such, would have that strange feeling that, well, "anything goes."

5. What's one talent/skill you don't have but always wanted?
God, I'd love to be able to play the piano. This is one of those things where those whose parents made them learn piano as a kid hated it, but since my family never made me, I feel cheated out of something. If and when I have children, I'm definitely going to force them to take lessons, even if they hate me for it.

 
Okay, now that I've just made the stupidest, longest post ever in stupidland...I'll continue on. Ahem. On BBC World t' other day, Tony Blair was in Israel (I believe it was), and he had on a pretty white shirt.

That is all.

Actually no, it isn't. Is it just me, or is Tony Blair often very yummy?

::looks around:: All righty then, so it's just me. But seriously, to be entirely hormonal, I lurve that man. He's incredibly intelligent, and I agree with his politics. What more could one want?

 
Time for...random quotes that Dylan likes! Duh, duh, duh...

Firstly, Seinfeld stuff because, well, I realized how much these characters and their voices are in my head. I read this dialogue, and voila! I can hear it in my head. Cracks my ass off, it does.

Jerry on socks: The dryer is their only chance to escape and they all know it. They plan it in the hamper the night before. "Tomorrow, the dryer. I'm going."
The Seinfeld Chronicles

Jerry: Now why would a junior high school want to screw with my head?
Kramer: Why does Radio Shack ask for your phone number when you buy batteries? I don't know.
The Abstinence

And now, Niles and Daphne quotes because we can never have enough of those, can we? Some are funny and some are, well, very touching and vonderful. I trust you can tell the difference.

Martin: You think I don't see the way you look at Daphne?
Niles: What are you implying?
Martin: You know damn well what I'm implying. Take my word for it - you're sticking a fork in a toaster.
Niles: Well, my muffin's stuck!

Rodney: Nothing on earth smells quite so heavenly as freshly brewed coffee. Well, perhaps one thing.
Daphne: Stop that, Rodney! He loves to smell my hair!
(A dish breaks offscreen)
Frasier: Ann Boleyn?
Niles, offscreen: Catherine of Aragon!

Niles: I would have said, "Is this seat taken?" and you would have said "No." You would have said, "My name is Daphne." I would have said, "My name is Niles." And then I would have said, "What are you doing for the rest of your life?"
Daphne: You always know the right thing to say. Oh, I love you Dr Crane.
Niles: And I love you too, Daphne.

Niles: You hear that? We're chopping in rhythm.
Daphne: We are, aren't we. (She begins to sing) Doomda doomda doomda doomda...
Niles: Heart and soul, I fell in love with you heart and soul, the way a fool would do.
Daphne: Maaadly!
Both: Because you held me tight! And stole a kiss in the night...
(The doorbell rings)
Niles: Oh damn, who could that be?
Daphne, excited: It's Phyllis!! (Niles looks confused) Well go on, go and let her in!
Niles, going to answer the door, still singing: Go away, whoever's at the door, go away, and don't come back no more!

Niles: Excuse me. Has a young woman been in here this evening, approximately five foot nine and three quarters, with skin the colour of Devonshire cream and the sort of eyes that gaze directly into one's soul with neither aricifice or evasion?
You Can't Tell a Crook

Niles: Here, take my bumbershoot.
Daphne: Oh, isn't that nice. Well, at least someone appreciates my mother tongue.
Niles: Yes, I've always had an ear for your tongue.
My Coffee with Niles

Daphne: I have everything in hand.
Niles: Lucky everything.
Can't Buy me Love

Daphne: Perhaps all you need is a little company at the apartment. Something warm and friendly to come home to.
Niles: Well, I'm sure Dad would miss you.
Daphne: Oh Dr Crane!
Niles: Oh me!
Chess Pains

Niles: Lovely night, isn't it? Stars are out, nice breeze... mmm, night-blooming jasmine. Of course, there's the beautiful girl.
Daphne: Dr Crane, I still haven't answered your question.
Niles: Yes, I know, that's why I keep talking. In case I don't get the answer I want, I can at least make this moment last a little longer. I'm not sure if it's jasmine or orange blossom. You know, a lot of times...
Daphne, interrupting: Oh, for God's sake, Dr Crane!!
...
Niles: I think you can call me Niles now.

Next, a little Star Trek because who gives a flying piece of shit, anyway? Not I.

Spock: I am what I am, Leila, and if there are self-made purgatories, then we all have to live in them. Mine can be no worse than someone else's.
This Side of Paradise

Bashir: So of the stories you told me, which ones were true?
Garak: My dear doctor, all of them were true.
Bashir: What about the lies?
Garak: Especially the lies.
The Wire

(Bashir tells the story of the boy who cried "Wolf")
Bashir: If you lie all the time, no one is going to believe you, even when you're telling the truth.
Garak: Are you sure that's the point, Doctor?
Bashir: Of course. What else would it be?
Garak: That you should never tell the same lie twice.
Improbable Cause

Then, a dash of "The Simpsons."

Marge: I'm going out now, Homer.
Homer: But what about dessert?
Marge: Oh for God's sake, Homer, you can take the lid off your own can of pudding!
(Homer breaks the pull-tab)
Homer: AHHHH!! Now my pudding is trapped forever! So, I can take the lid off my own can of pudding, can I?! Shows what you know!!
A Streetcar Named Marge

(Bart and Lisa watch "The Happy Little Elves" movie)
Bart: Oh, man, I can't take it any more!
Lisa: But I want to see what happens.
Bart: You know what happens. They find Captain Quick's treasure. All the elves dance around like little green idiots. I puke. The End.
Lisa: Bart, you're just like Chilly, the elf who cannot love.
Some Enchanted Evening

Homer: Okay, okay, don't panic. To find Flanders, I just have to think like Flanders. "I'm a big four-eyed lame-o, and I wear the same stupid sweater every day." The Springfield River!
Home Sweet Home-Diddily-Dum-Doodily

Lawyer: But what about that tattoo on your chest? Doesn't it say, "Die Bart, Die?"
Sideshow Bob: No, that's German for "The Bart, the."
Cape Feare

Marge: You awful man! Stay away from my son.
Bob: Oh, I'll stay away from your son, all right. Stay away... forever! Wait a minute, that's no good. Wait! I've got a good one now. Marge, say, "Stay away from my son," again.
Marge: No!
Cape Feare

Bart: Mrs. Krabappel, I can't take the test. I have a stomach ache.
Mrs Krabappel: Well, that's a lame excuse for an excuse. Ha!
Bart: Look, if you ignore me and I die, you'll get in a lot of trouble.
Mrs Krabappel: Read page six of the school charter.
Bart: "No teacher shall be held accountable if Bart Simpson dies.
Mrs Krabappel: We're also absolved if Milhouse gets eaten by the school snake.
A Milhouse-shaped lump in the snake: Hey, cool! There's a rabbit in here!
'Round Springfield


That's a wrap. I feel strange.

 
music: "Waterloo Sunset," The Kinks

I'm a superhero girl:
Babysat tonight. It was the two kids I always babysit for and whom I love so tenderly and fiercely it sometimes scares me. I didn't used to understand or even like kids, mostly because I was one, but now I see what it's all about. Ah, parenthood! Not any time soon, mind, just...eventually. But anyway, the kids: Robert (5 yrs) and Mary Anne (2 yrs). Robert and I were playing "superheroes," as we often do, running around the house like crazy foo's. I was Cama, this guy that Robert made up who can, quite kickassedly in my opinion, shoot swords out of the soles of his feet. Robert was, as usual, Buzz Lightyear. I suspect Robert likes to play with me mostly because I do the best dying scenes of anyone this side of the Milky Way -- spasms; feeble attempts to drag by broken body along the ground; violent, bloody coughing fits and all.

And we somehow got into this conversation about how there were no superhero girls, and I said, of course there are: do you think there's any difference between boys and girls? And he replied that yes, there was. Boys played superheroes. Girls played dolls. An irrational spike of anger at Robert lanced through me; this was quickly replaced by the sadness I always experience at how slowly we all actually evolve. It only goes to show, we can force things just so much. The rest of it has to take root in an organic way. Anyway, I said you know, Robert, girls can play superheroes and boys can play dolls, too. He said that no, that wasn't how it worked, though to his credit he acknowledged that there were sometimes exceptions to the rule, as in the case of this girl, Hayley, who had played games with he and his friends at preschool.

To tell the truth, the whole conversation left me with that familar, hopeless, bitter feeling: when will we ever learn?