Pointless Obsessions

paranoidgrl @ 2009-05-18T10:56:00

2009-05-18T16:04:26Z

My cousin's son graduated from Notre Dame this weekend. Apparently, the students only got two tickets for the main graduation (for the individual school graduations, like school of education/business/whatever, there was no limit). Of course my cousin went! She thought it was very impressible, although I think she was talking more about the secret service/security measures that were in place. I don't know anything about the campus, but apparently, there was no vehicular transportation allowed, so you had to walk everywhere.

Still. I can't even remember who spoke at my graduations. Did I even go to my graduation?

In other news, I found these patterns for knitting small toys from Alan Dart which are ADORABLE but the book which has all the patterns together is only available in the UK. ARGGHH! Look at these! Waaaaants!

paranoidgrl @ 2009-05-13T10:37:00

2009-05-13T15:47:39Z

So I totally flipped my shit on my mother last night. And I'm not sure if I feel guilty or not.

See, there's always these little comments from her. "You have a very nice house. It's a shame you don't clean it like you should." "You dressed nice today. Are you ever going to do something with your hair?"

And I'll say to her, hey, that hurt my feelings and she pulls the, what? I complimented you. I told you how much I liked your house.

So last night I'm at dinner with her and my SIL and I think we're having a nice meal and chat, nothing groundbreaking, but social, and later in the parking lot, my mom says to me, "now you can talk, but you can't say a word at dinner?" Which is not an incendiary comment, but it broke my straw.

So I told her to fuck off and I left.

This was a bad reaction on my part. I was childish. We've talked many times in therapy that I can't control over people's behavior, but I can control my reaction. And I didn't. So I will apologize for being inappropriate in my reaction.

But it did feel a little good.

paranoidgrl @ 2009-05-12T09:12:00

2009-05-12T14:45:16Z

I am very pleased with how my flowerbed is doing. My tomatoes and bell peppers are flowering, which means fruit is coming; my banana peppers are already growing peppers and should be ready to pick in the near future. My butterfly bushes are gangbusters; they both died back after I transplanted them, but one is already bigger than it was and flowering, and the second is showing new growth, so it's coming back as well. The daylilies all have buds, if not flowers, and I'm just waiting for my hibiscus and angel trumpets to start blooming. I'm very pleased with the results so far.

What can I do with banana peppers?

So, I watched the Star Trek moving, and it occurs to me that there could be fanfiction in which Spock legitimately has sex with...Spock. I would read that story.

I have also decided that I love wee little Pavel Andreievich Chekov, and I want stories where the entire crew has there way with him. In a completely consensual way, of course.

I had gotten away from reading and writing fanfiction; LotR died off and nothing really captured me after that. So I am amused that it takes a 50 year old fandom to interest me again.

Also, Uhura/Spock academy fic.

The movie itself: I loved it. LOVED it. I was told to shut up because I kept making high pitched squeaking noises. Oh, it's not perfect. I think the McCoy stabbing Kirk went on too long; I didn't like how obvious Kirk made it he was cheating on the K. Maru test; I see no reason why Scott needs his little friend (and hey, let's make him less of a pet, since he is a Starfleet officer, okay?).

There's women issues, in that there really aren't any. Sure, Uhura's good at her job, and it is her expertise that get Spock to realize Kirk might know what he's talking about with the lightening storm, but after that, she's the girlfriend. Now, I am currently in LOVE with that relationship, so I can't complain too much. But she didn't have much to do after the first half of the movie.

I'm not sure I like the S/U kissing on the transporter pad right before Spock and Kirk beamed onto the Romulan ship; I'm just not sure that Spock would be that open about the relationship. Granted, he thought it was a death mission, but still. If it was just Kirk, maybe, but he's got the whole transporter crew there.

Still, excellent movie. McCoy was perfect. Chekov was adorable. Sulu was badass. And there was just enough Shatner in Pine's performance. So. Go, see.

Reboot

2009-05-09T01:43:21Z

OMGWTF y'all there's a POLAR BEAR. SERIOUSLY.

paranoidgrl @ 2009-05-08T11:14:00

2009-05-08T16:19:29Z

In three hours, I will be watching Star Trek! Whee! It feels so decadant. I'm closing the office in the middle of the day, we're going to have a movie (in the afternoon!) and dinner and then who knows what. I can't even remember the last time I went to a movie. I've turned into such a loser.

But my mom has already called and asked to see the movie with me, but she can't go until next weekend. So I'll have to lie and pretend I haven't seen the movie yet (not a problem), because she wants the bonding experience. One of the first movies I can remember seeing is Wrath of Khan with her; we had to drive 40 miles to a theater that was playing it. I wasn't a Trek fan then; that came in college with TNG. But I remember the bagpipes and people crying. Also, there was a doll store outside the theater which gave me the creeps. I hate the dolls where the eyelids flutter.

But anyway. Trek and afternoon dates! Whoot!

paranoidgrl @ 2009-05-06T09:43:00

2009-05-06T14:47:59Z

Rain, rain, go away
Come again some other day!*

It has rained BUCKETS the last few days. All the rivers are over their banks and it's all just SOGGY.

On the other hand, my lawn looks FANTASTIC.

*I was convinced there had to be more lyrics to this rhyme. Something about the sun coming out? Or being happy the rain went away? I mean, the rain washed the spider out, so you'd think there'd be something about that, at least. Anyway.

Interesting fact I find out when I wiki it: the rhyme dates back to the 7th century, when it appeared as

Raine raine goe to Spain: faire weather come againe

And now you know.

paranoidgrl @ 2009-05-05T09:13:00

2009-05-05T14:15:28Z

Good morning! 'Tis a glorious day, and the first of my daylilies are opening:

Yay!

paranoidgrl @ 2009-04-30T08:48:00

2009-04-30T13:49:34Z

We made shortcake last night and had wonderful delicious juicy strawberries on top. I'm having it for breakfast right now, and it might be my lunch.

Yum.

paranoidgrl @ 2009-04-27T09:35:00

2009-04-27T14:53:50Z

So last night we're watching tv, and John is flipping channels, mostly between the Apprentice and the TV Land Awards (and holy hell, what kind of problems does Melissa Rivers have?), and there's a tribute to Sid and Marty Kroft.

I constantly read people raving about their work, and how it was pivotal in their development, and life would have no meaning without it, and these people all seem to be my age. Which troubles me, because I have absolutely no memory of H.R. Pufnstuf. So I finally looked it up on wikipedia, and it went off the air the month I was born.

So now I feel better.

We also watched the workprint of Wolverine: Origins, and I thought there were very many pretty people in the movie. Actually, pretty men. Ryan Reynolds may be the most physically perfect person in existence, and I liked his character in the first part of the film. I knew Dominic Monaghan was in the film, but he's only in it for a few minutes, and doesn't have much to do. When he shows up in the sideshow, he is creeepy. I don't know if that is on purpose.

I actually loved the credits and wanted that to be the story - the two brothers fighting through all the wars.

This is what I didn't like:

1. The final section felt completed unconnected to the first. At first it's all, I have to find Sabertooth to stop him from killing, and then it's all, hey, we'll fight Deadpool together and then Sabertooth can run away. The end.

2. Because it's the origin story, it's an action movie where the good guy doesn't win. Or really succeed at anything. Sabertooth is Wolverine's brother, who's kinda crazy and homicidal. But you can't kill Sabertooth, because he's a major character (actually, was Sabertooth in any of the three X-men movies?). Stryker? Can't kill him. He's a major protagonist in the X-men movies. And ultimately, Wolverine doesn't even learn from what happens, because he loses his memory!

So basically, the movie is pretty men running around shirtless (and sometimes pantsless) exploding things and in the end, nothing really changes except we're told how the good guy got amnesia. Okay.

I am much more excited for Star Trek.

I had my niece for part of the weekend. I was planting flowers, so she came to the nursery with me, and helped me pick out things. We picked out a cherry tomato plant for her to grow, and I told her I'd keep in my yard, and she could help plant it and care for it when she came over, and watch the tomatoes grow. We also planted Sunflowers (Russian mammoths) and I am sooo excited to see if those take. Also, planted hostas, petunias, tomatoes (beefsteak and big boy), bell peppers, and banana peppers. I also transplanted my butterfly bushes and shocked the hell out of them pulling them from the ground. I think they'll come back, but it may not be this season.

The end! How was your weekend?

paranoidgrl @ 2009-04-24T08:59:00

2009-04-24T14:00:59Z

I want a hammock.

Pop quiz:

Hostas or hydrangeas?

paranoidgrl @ 2009-04-22T10:22:00

2009-04-22T15:31:03Z

We built a raised flower bed this last weekend. My subdivision is built on what was literally just five years ago a cow pasture, so the ground is, er, very fertile, but the trouble is that the top layer is red clay. Which means that either you have to till it regularly to loosen the soil, or do a raised bed.

So we built the bed, and then unloaded a truckload of dirt into it. We need another truckload before we can get planting in it, but it's almost ready to go.

I also have some devil's trumpets I was seeding, and they had grown enough to into their own pots, so I separated out the seedlings. Once the flower bed is ready, I'm putting the mature devil's trumpet in, along with at least one of the angel's trumpets. I've got some butterfly bushes in a small flower bed under a window, but I didn't realize how big the bushes got, so I"m going to move those into the new flower bed, which leaves room for me to move some daylillies into the window bed, along with a bunch of petunias (my favorite!).

The funniest thing about the new flower bed is how the cats are enjoying it. They love rolling in the dirt! I have a bird feeder not far from the new bed. It's been there a while, and the cats have never bothered the birds, so far as I can tell. But now, the cats are "hiding" on the inside of the bed, behind the landscape timbers, and just staring at the poor birds.

I don't think the cats would know what to do with a bird if they got one. And some of those birds are MEAN. I just don't want to clean up carcasses.

paranoidgrl @ 2009-04-16T09:11:00

2009-04-16T14:14:27Z

This is a picture of the baby sweater I knitted. It's a cardigan and it fits roughly 18 mos to 2 years, depending on size of the child. It's based on the pattern for Haiku, from Knitty. You can't really see the detail in this picture, but it's got a box stitch stripe on either side.

Lost! I think I like Miles and Hurley as much as I like Ben and Locke. Can someone give me a brief summary of Miles and how he got to the island? He was stuck on the island with all the times shifts with Locke and Sawyer, yes, and that's how he ended up in Dharma?

paranoidgrl @ 2009-04-15T09:21:00

2009-04-15T14:28:39Z

I was not overwhelmed by the Doctor Who Easter episode and I was not fond on the new companion. Why do they have to have girl companions with generalized flirting? I want a boy companion (with or without generalized flirting) or old people companions. Wilf!

I'm thinking about raising bees, but I think my backyard's too small. Also, I think my Homeowner's Association would amend their covenants so fast it wouldn't be funny. By then, though, I'd have my little bee army and what could they do to me? I do have a few acres of land I inherited from my dad. Hmmm.

GMA kept advertising their interview with Kristen Chenoweth by showing her signing "Popular" from Wicked. Hey, ABC, great idea to run something that has nothing to do with Pushing Daisies. Also, now I can't stop signing Wicked songs. Because I'm gonna make you popular. Just not quite as popular as me.

paranoidgrl @ 2009-04-13T09:41:00

2009-04-13T14:59:11Z

I drank an entire bottle of champagne on Saturday. I do not recommend it. It was over the course of several hours, so it wasn't like I was totally drunk, just more consistently fuzzy all day. Of course, Sunday, I woke up with a horrible headache and dry mouth, which either could have been a hangover, or just leftover anxiety from the Easter dinner on Saturday (we had our big meal on Saturday because it was the best day for the getting the biggest number of people together).

Sunday, after I got back from church, was just lying about napping and drinking water. We had a horrible storm go through and the power kept cutting out, but it's gorgeous out today.

The stuntment are really bugging me. I don't know why; they aren't really obnoxious like the redheads, but they just bug. And since I like the sisters more than the stuntmen, I laughed and laughed when they got the penalty. We can go whole seasons without a time penalty, and here they've gotten them two weeks in a row! And for four hours! They were lucky it was non-elim.

Have there been times in the past that people have given personal items? I remember the frat boys in Russia tried to give their shoes, but the driver rejected it. I know they're supposed to pay their debts, but there have been times the cabbie has just left rather than continue to fight, but I don't remember a time when they've taken a personal item. Could they trade something all the racers have? Like when they have to pick up sleeping bags or ice shoes or something?

Anyway. Laugh and laugh and laugh.

Next week looks interesting, but I don't like people fighting. I think the stress is getting to everybody. And I think the pit stop might have been spoiled a little, in terms of people getting there. Still. I'm picturing Margie having to translate a fight between the two. Poor Margie.

paranoidgrl @ 2009-04-09T12:44:00

2009-04-09T18:45:52Z

Also.

I have not one clue about what's going on on Lost, not having watched for the past two or three seasons, but I suddenly find myself enjoying it immensely. And if anything ever happens to Ben, I will be sad.

paranoidgrl @ 2009-04-09T12:35:00

2009-04-09T18:39:33Z

I am all ready for Easter! I have all my cards sent out (late!) and the baskets are ready to go. I went to the bakery that does the cute little easter egg petit-fours and bought a bunch of them to add to the baskets. I have all my shopping done for the meal - ham, creamed spinach, glazed carrots, mac n' cheese, and the dough is rising for the yeast rolls. All that's left is to buy the alcohol - mimosa's are required for Easter morning!

And because John's never had it, and I was able to find it in the three hours a year it's available here, I made a rhubarb-strawberry pie for desert tonight:

Bee bop a rhu bop, rhubarb pie!

paranoidgrl @ 2009-04-07T09:05:00

2009-04-07T14:05:40Z

Gambling question:

What is a point spread and how do I beat it?

paranoidgrl @ 2009-04-03T11:28:00

2009-04-03T16:30:16Z

The Iowa Supreme Court says that the state's gay marriage ban in unconstitutional. Huh.

We begin with the County's argument that the goal of the same-sex marriage ban is to ensure children will be raised only in the optimal milieu. In pursuit of this objective, the statutory exclusion of gay and lesbian people is both under-inclusive and over-inclusive. The civil marriage statute is under-inclusive because it does not exclude from marriage other groups of parents--such as child abusers, sexual predators, parents neglecting to provide child support, and violent felons--that are undeniably less than optimal parents. Such under-inclusion tends to demonstrate that the sexual-orientation-based classification is grounded in prejudice or "overbroad generalizations about the different talents, capacities, or preferences" of gay and lesbian people, rather than having a substantial relationship to some important objective. See Virginia, 518 U.S. at 533, 116 S. Ct. at 2275, 135 L. Ed. 2d at 751 (rejecting use of overbroad generalizations to classify). If the marriage statute was truly focused on optimal parenting, many classifications of people would be excluded, not merely gay and lesbian people.

paranoidgrl @ 2009-03-27T15:55:00

2009-03-27T20:54:56Z

I have my very own copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! And there are zombies and ninjas and it is all I ever wanted in a classic romance.

*clutches to my bosom*

paranoidgrl @ 2009-03-27T07:24:00

2009-03-27T12:31:02Z

Storms rip through Magee, MS. This is a suburb of where I live. The power grid was pretty much obliterated, so there's no telling when they'll have power again. Fortunately, no deaths.

In other news, Sheep Pong!

I also planted a golden shower tree yesterday. This brings me no end of giggles.

paranoidgrl @ 2009-03-26T09:07:00

2009-03-26T14:08:04Z

I found my thumb drive!

paranoidgrl @ 2009-03-26T08:37:00

2009-03-26T13:41:26Z

Horrible storms here last night - constant thunder and lightening. I didn't sleep at all. I didn't have a full blown panic attack, thank you, but I just kept pacing restlessly all night.

The weather is supposed to continue through the start of the weekend. What it's like tomorrow will dictate what I do tomorrow afternoon; if there's anything I'm more scared of than being in a building during a storm, it's driving during a storm. I am terrified of driving in rain. And while I have to go to the hearing, and will drive there regardless of the weather, if it's bad weather, there's no way I can enjoy time out if I'm constantly thinking of the drive home.

I really wanted that afternoon.

paranoidgrl @ 2009-03-25T16:44:00

2009-03-25T21:47:06Z

Why is Facebook so damn slow?

I got two rejections today! This time from magazines. I'm on a roll! My writing group meets again this weekend (I think; I should really write this down) and I'm going to get more criticism from some of them.

It's been a great day!

paranoidgrl @ 2009-03-25T09:01:00

2009-03-25T14:07:22Z

I have been having very vivid dreams and restless sleep. I don't know which is causing which, but I wish it would stop. The dreams aren't even interesting. Last night, I dreamed that the Clerk of Court asked me for a recipe for wheat bread. What the hell does that even mean?

I live in a small town, and for the most part I love it, but I don't have a lot of the places that I used to when I lived in Missouri or Iowa. I'm a bit jealous when I hear people talking about taking their laptops to Panera (which will always be Bread Co. to me) and cruising the 'net while enjoying a pastry and latte, or the great deals they got a Trader Joe's. This Friday, though, I have court at 8 a.m. (SERIOUSLY? Judge, you make your own schedule. Sleep in!) in a town just over the state line, in a city with all this stuff. I'm going to check out the nice produce at Whole Food, peruse the Borders, and treat myself to a soup and sandwich at Panera. It'll be a mini-vacation, just me enjoying the afternoon. I am so looking forward to it.

paranoidgrl @ 2009-03-23T16:36:00

2009-03-23T21:36:58Z

If anyone has seen my thumb drive, please let me know.

Thank you.