can i ask for Sirius realizing how low his comment "you are less like your father than i thought" to harry and doing something to apologize, make up for it? during Christmas? for Anon
( In the Pantry )

---

can we have one with alderman giving a little Christmas service or something with some muggle born young witches and wizard? at hogsmeade maybe? for Isa
( Saturday Mass )

I wrote a quick fic on Pear Harbor (which btw coworkers THAT"S WHY THE FLAG WAS HALF MAST!!!!!)
It's a little late . . . . hopefully it works well.

Title This is Not a Drill
Rating G
Characters Bucky, Steve (mentions Toro and Jim)
Word Count 1,043
Warnings A racial slur is used in this fic.
Notes the Invaders were active prior to Pearl Harbor, in some canons
Summary Bucky (and Steve) react to Pearl Harbor

( Steve gave him an apologetic look, the one that always made Bucky think of a sad puppy, though he would never ever tell anyone that )

- I have a tree. It is still bare. I'm hoping it'll stop sucking up water like a sponge here pretty soon.

But I wager the best time to decorate a tree? Tomorrow night with Charlie Brown Christmas on the television, Hamburger Helper for dinner, and a 1-5 inch snowstorm outside.

Welcome to the Christmas season.

- The chapter's chugging along. I'm just trying to keep myself away from Mass Effect long enough to get some into it. My one concern with what I've written so far is that ( Spoilery ). That will change soon enough, but still...

- Whilst writing, I went onto XBox's Last FM feature, and typed in the keyword "christmas" to see what I could see. Decent collection. You had your Bing and your Dean and your Carpenters, not too surprising. But they gave me a rare one from Sting (Gabriel's Message) one from The Pogues (A Fairytale of New York and how the hell did I never listen to this band before they are awesome) and, the strangest of all, Wizzard's I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday, possibly the perkiest song of the bunch from a band that, looking at them, you'd never expect.

This video doesn't do the lead singer (Roy Wood of ELO) justice. Picture Alan Moore in KISS makeup and you have some idea. And their drummer reminds me of Every Chris Kattan 70's Character Ever.

Good song, though. Perky. Why they can't unique play stuff like these instead of fifty versions of Winter Wonderland I have no idea.

MTV released a new on-set interview with the Davids and cast about their love lives, but included a lot of new BTS footage from throughout HBP. I know there's the regional issue, but unless someone can rip it, there's nothing I can do.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Fire alarm at the hotel! I am trying to finish my essay! Which begs the eternal question:

Is it a test, or is it a sign?




It's definitely the cue for some procrastination ...

...I do not mean to alarm you... but it SNOWED in the hills by house. I know. Quite distressing. I realize to a great many of you this does not seem like the catastrophic disaster it is. But, you see, Dear Reader, that in California we do not understand this "snow". In fact, I think I may have even seen the animals start pairing off and getting on boats.

Needless to say, I've spent a wonderful day inside with a space heater, some tea, and some lovely fanfic. I had a fantastic weekend with some awesome people. A friend from SoCal drove up, and we went to Brenda's in SF (best brunch anywhere), and then spent some time in Golden Gate Park. The next day we went to the Star Trek Exhibit at the San Jose Tech Museum and geeked it up. Fun times, friends!

Now for a little fun meme: Comment on this entry to receive four famous people to snog (kiss, in case you didn't know), shag, marry and throw off a cliff.

dancetygerdance gave me: Chris Evans (Fantastic Four), Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, and Adam Lambert
( Click for answers... )

Lego Potter trailer!

Troll!

Fluffy!

Ron with trumpet!

Hermione smacking him in the back of the head!

term 18;
sorting period #05
application links.

sorting information;
Ending Date: Sunday, December 13, 2009 @ 9:00PM CST (10:00PM EST)
Section: Application Links
Eligibility: All Hogwarts Elite Members

currently up for sorting;
01. quadrant_of_sky; here.
02. ihateclooney; here.
03. gespawcho; here.
04. lopt_; here.
05. atan_varne; here.
06. lets_rewind6; here.
07. dustworthy; here.
08. hpotter_04; here.
09. banevan; here.
10. muggy_mountain; here.

I just got Join Me by Danny Wallace in the mail!!

I'M SO EXCITED TO READ IT OH MAN.

So I don't think I posted it to my lj, but I put all of the books I have yet to read in alphabetical order and told myself I would only read them in that order and any new books I got after that I would put behind this pile, also in alphabetical order, to read once I'm done with the ones I've already got.

I'm making an exception for Join Me, because Danny Wallace is effing brilliant and I want to read something effing brilliant right now.

Danny Wallace is the dude who also wrote Yes Man (which later became a movie), which I was interested in reading but only became increasingly more excited about reading when I found out two things: A) It actually happened, to Danny Wallace, who decided to say yes to EVERYTHING and then wrote about it, and B) That Danny Wallace is BRITISH. And HILARIOUS. Hilarity is always multiplied by a pretty big number when the hilarious person turns out to be British. Trust me on this.

I loved Yes Man so much that even though that's the only of his books I've read, I deemed Danny Wallace one of my Very Favorite Authors and promptly put everything he'd ever written on my wishlist on Paperback Swap.

It took FOREVER but someone finally had a copy of Join Me for me, which is a book he wrote about a cult he inadvertently started. AMAZING. I CANNOT WAIT TO READ IT.

I love Danny Wallace because his books are about crazy things he did on random whims, and how they turned into something greater and more awesome than he could have ever hoped. They are REAL STORIES about a CRAZY GUY. I love it to pieces. I kind of want to meet this man.

( Now is probably a good time to list books I've read since the last time I listed books I've read! )

Title: The Longest Night
Characters: Luna
Rating: G
Notes: The fourth and final of this year's holiday cards with Luna. The other three holiday cards are 'Twas Trevor, Visions of Sugarplums, and Ever Since Azkaban.


( Luna enjoyed the soft crunch of snow underfoot and the darkness that enveloped the sky... )

Thanks to folks for the virtual snowflake cookies! :D I'm so glad I checked my mail!

Agh, I have to write faster or I'm going to be writing until next year's challenge! I had to do some reading before I could write! (This is why the challenge calls are fun for me. They remind me of lots of little things I've totally forgotten about.)

I would love to see something with the weasley Twins! but something original- something with the twins being like nice-nice to someone. no pranks involved. maybe Ron? or helping a student when one of their pranks go wrong? for Becca
( Quidditch Tryouts )

---

Something with Anakin on the Council, from the Outer-Rim-verse, please? for Anon
( Trials )

I has a snowflake! Thanks, jetamors! I approve of its hexagonal shape. We don't get snow where I live so I'll have to make do with the virtual stuff.

So I just finished reading the latest chapter from Katekyou Hitman Reborn (chapter 269 - yes, I'm slow).
( Cut for spoilers!! )

~I've got two days of hell coming up where I have to get in seven essays (at least), two exams, one exam post-mortem and one more lecture. As long as I get everything in their respective drop boxes by Tuesday night, I should be okay for passing stuff. If I fail anything... totally my own fault, and it means I have to work harder to make sure I can continue enough to retake the failed courses. SHAKESPEARE IS HARDER TO READ THAN I REMEMBER!!!

~I started this mini group on LJ for a couple of friends to rp a bit... When it was first suggested I was excited.... but it's been a couple of weeks and I made my own journals for it, I made the group for it, I posted information about who was playing whom and what rooms people were staying in.... and I'm finding that I'm the only person posting in the group. [/sad]
I get that people have lives and don't check groups and such (I'm terrible at it, worse when I'm busy), but ever since it was suggested (not by me), I've gotten the feeling like I'm really the only one seriously interested in making this work. And I'm getting in trouble for being a little realistic about it. I don't plan on continuing to be so gung-ho about it, and it's been my experience with things like this, if I don't keep on people, then nothing gets done.
Is it really such a bad thing if I'm already predicting a failure with history like mine? One friend is upset with me about that... that it's making her feel guilty... but I don't see anything changing. I don't see anything changing my mind.

I've been roleplaying with the same person for so long now that I wouldn't even know what it's like to play with someone new. I've tried reaching out a little in DR, but I'm so unsure of myself... I liked it better when I was a lurker...


OMFG... I have two exams in 8 hours... Do you think I've studied properly? Of course not...

I am working on the chapter! I swear!

Hmm... less than four weeks till the end of the year...

I... I ...

Damn, barring a huge push that I dunno if I have the time/energy for, this thing's gonna sprawl into 2010.

But whatever:

25 Hand Print Art Projects Way More Badass Than a Turkey

As if writing fanfiction and collecting Transformers isn't accelerating my social standing enough...

Today was my first day with an honest-to-goodness Dungeons & Dragons group.

( Cut for geektastic good times )

I am shocked – shocked and offended – that unrelatable is not a word. What kind of jacked-up language is this where you're allowed to use both disoriented and disorientated,* or clearness when you already have clarity, but we don't have a friggin word for 'to which one cannot relate'?! How many times do I have to use it before it gets put in a dictionary somewhere?



*I hate disorientated. Hate it hate it hate it!

If you don't subscribe to Entertainment Weekly, I heartily recommend picking up a copy of their "Best of the Decade" issue, which is currently on newsstands. There are several different covers included, but the real cover of the copies in the store is Johnny Depp. But that's not the best part.

Inside there are a few features. First is the top 15 entertainers of the decade, which, according to the EW staff, are...

* Johnny Depp (CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow)
* Beyonce ("If you like it, then you shoulda put a ring on it!")
* J.K. Rowling *ahem* Sorry abou' that. :P
* Simon Cowell ("That sounded like cats jumping off the Empire State Building.")
* Tina Fey ("Bitch is the new black!")
* Justin Timberlake ("It's my dick in a box!")
* Peter Jackson ("You bow to no one.")
* Oprah Winfrey (Oh, how I love your inexplicable shouting of celebrities' names.)
* The Sex and the City ladies ("My vagina's depressed!")
* Pixar's John Lasseter ("To infinity and beyond.")
* Will Smith (really?)
* J.J. Abrams (though I don't watch his biggest hit, Lost, he had me at "Dear Sally")
* Steve Jobs (*hugs my Macbook and iPhone*)
* Meryl Streep ("Mamma mia ... here I go again...")
* Jon Stewart ("Stop hurting America.")

Then there's the "100 Greatest" stuff of the decade. Now, I braced myself, knowing that EW has had a regular Twilight column linked at the top of their website for well over a year now. The sparkle does make an appearance at #24, though not the franchise itself - oddly, the Team Edward / Team Jacob battle. But what's at number one? Ahead of "SexyBack" and the greatest Buffy episode (which they give to "The Body," btw, not the musical) and The Dark Knight and Jack Sparrow and The Daily Show and the iPod and Lost and YouTube and The Sopranos and even the Lord of the Rings movies? It's this guy. (Also named Best Character.)

Twilight, meanwhile, in addition to the "Team [whatevs]" phenomenon, is mentioned alongside other vampire fiction (namely True Blood and The Vampire Diaries) as part of a more general vampire trend, in an editorial written by the delightfully irreverent Chelsea Handler. See what they did there? One franchise dominated a decade alongside (and in many ways ahead of) pirates and hobbits and snarky comedians and media moguls and cosmo-drinking Manhattanites and computer-animated toys/fish/rat-chefs/robots/monsters. The other is part of a current fad-of-the-moment.

I've gotten my back way up in the last year about all this sparkle nonsense. Now, I despise those books and have nothing but disdain for the movies (which are marginally better, I feel). But I have to confess that part of my vitriol was that Twilight seemed to be taking Harry's place in the cultural consciousness. That people were forgetting how amazing the Potter phenomenon was and still is. That those books - and to a lesser extent the movies - changed the fan-mania game in a way no series had since Star Wars, and it's a game in which Twilight, for all its success, is but a mere player.

People can snicker all they want about them being kids books, and maybe a story about kid wizards isn't as "cool" as sexy vampires and werewolves, but Harry Potter was a Special Thing. Something that won't - and can't - happen again until something changes the game again in twenty or thirty years. I'm beyond proud to have been a part of it while it was still new and unfinished. To have been in the eye of the storm, as it were, fighting shipping wars and consuming spoilers and being ... if not at the center, very near it. And most importantly, to have met all of you because of it.

I realize it's just one magazine's perspective, but when you take a look at the past ten years as a whole, it's hard to ignore the enormous impact J.K. Rowling had. I look forward to seeing future generations fall in love with these books, perhaps not exactly as we did (since those little whipper-snappers will never have to wait for future installments - OFF MY LAWN, HOOLIGANS!). And, at the risk of sounding petty, I also look forward to the shame faces of former Twihards who look back on all this bedazzlement in twenty years and either laugh or cry at their own sparkle-steria. Seriously, laugh or cry - I'm not picky.

Harry Potter is still very much in my heart, and I'm convinced it always will be, even though I may think about it less and less as time goes by. *hugs all my Gryffindorks, Ravengeeks, Hufflepunks and Slytherdweebs*

ETA: Favorite quote from the JKR blurb - "She's said to be working on a new novel for children, but our guess is that the kids are gonna have to fight us for it." Damn right!

Title: Ever Since Azkaban
Characters: Lucius, Dementors
Rating: G
Notes: The third of my four HP-themed holiday cards this year. This one was inspired by all the wannabe death-eaters on my flist and lampblack's request for a Death Eater holiday card.

( Ever since Azkaban, Lucius' annual Death Eater holiday party had never been quite the same... )

The Bella Cullen Project's very own Chandler Nash WON the Battle of the Bands in Ft. Worth, so she got to advance to the finals in Dallas. Which were held at The Club Formerly Known As The Gypsy Tea Room (but is now The Door). So not only did I get to go support Chandler in friggen' Dallas, I got to go to one of my favorite clubs from back in the day even though it's a little different now.

MAN, was that interesting. Brought back a lot of memories, including TMBG and Rasputina, as well as hanging out with Aaron, Anne, Jacob, etc. Miss those days.

Also, brought back memories of NEVER BEING ABLE TO FIND THE FUCKING PLACE. I don't know why it's so tough to get to when I've been there a million times.

Anyway, I got there early enough to talk to Chandler for a while, and I had a terribly revelatory conversation with her wherein I found out that she hates Edward Cullen (!!!) and thinks Twilight is poorly written (!!!) and that the lyrics to "Sexy Vampire" were silly and ridiculous (!!!!) and all sorts of things that we actually totally agree on. Not that she's knocking the BCP's songs, but she realizes they are silly, and I thought it was great to not have to worry about maybe hurting her feelings and we could talk like people who are equally entranced yet appalled by the Twilight phenomenon.

Then, when Ally and Tori showed up, I found out that they were both NERDFIGHTERS. FANTASTIC.

Guys, did you know that the cool way to dance these days is to fling yourself about wildly, like a complete spaz, slinging your arms and legs in every direction and potentially kicking people in the face? Chandler called this "Tae Kwan Dancing". It's kind of amazing and hysterical.

Waited through four "screamo" bands while hanging out with Chandler and her friends. Felt old and kind of awkward, but I felt better since Tori's mom was hanging out with us. These girls are hilarious and adorable and it reminded me so hard of being in high school and going out to a club and people watching. Miss it. MISS IT. Want to do that more often. Where is Aaron? Aaron, we need to go to a fucking concert. I don't care who it is. It can suck. Want to hang out with you and laugh and have a frivolous time. OKAY?

So when Chandler finally went on, she was a) the only girl and b) the only non-"screamo" act and c) freaking amazing. She kicked ass, and sounded fantastic, and I wish her set could have been longer. Also found out that she'll be playing at some coffee shops closer to home, so that will be cool. :)

TOPIC THE NEXT: I RAN A 5K YESTERDAY

I've been doing the couch to 5K program for a while now, not even sure. When I started it, I only did it because sparkly_aria was doing it with me and it was her idea, and also because I needed some sort of exercise since I hadn't been doing much other than hooping. I never, ever, ever intended to actually run a 5K.

When I was in elementary school, they used to make us do the Cowtown 10K every year, and it was one of my most miserable memories. I remember hating that thing, hating the practice for it, wanting to die while I was walking it (because I didn't even try to run it, are you kidding?). So running has never really been linked to good things in my brain.

Even when I got to the point in C25K where I was running for 30 minutes three times a week, I still wasn't sure if I wanted to do a whole 5K. But I was intrigued by the Jingle Bell Run, because it's in Downtown Ft. Worth, which is a beautiful city (in my opinion) that holds a lot of memories and good times for me, and also, YOU RUN THE WHOLE THING WITH JINGLE BELLS ON YOUR FEET. Every single runner has JINGLE BELLS on, so everyone is jingling the whole time. Which is pretty awesome. :)

What I didn't realize until I got there is that everyone also dresses up all Christmas-y. Mom tried to tell me, I guess, but I didn't really realize the scope of the dressing up. There were people in all sorts of goofy costumes, running. I've decided that next year I want to run it in a Christmas tutu and stripy tights. BECAUSE COME ON, AWESOME.

ANYWAY. I did it. I ran the whole thing, without stopping to walk at all. And it was actually fun! I felt pretty proud of myself, and as soon as the race was over I went from being proud to wanting to climb into bed and never get out again, and this morning I'm really sore, but it was a lot of fun and I'm glad I did it. Something I never, ever expected I'd be able to do. :)

YAY HOORAY!

This post is over now!

I was at Meijer last night with Chris, and we went to the pet section. There was a little sign (one of those that sticks out from the shelves), advertising a cat bed. The sign said something like:

Cat's are healthier when they're rested.

WTF?

I mean, this is a professional sign. It didn't seem to be for any particular company, so maybe it was made by Meijer. But I couldn't believe it. Is our country really becoming that stupid?

I should go back and steal it -- I could send it to Jay Leno for his Headlines segment.

In the winter, I put peanuts out on the deck for the squirrels. We have a couple of big, bold blue jays that like to help themselves. But today, I saw a bird I'd never seen before. It had red on it's head, so I thought it was a woodpecker. But my mom, who knows a lot more about these things than I do, said it was a flicker.

I never heard of a flicker, so I learned something new, but I was disappoined that it wasn't a woodpecker. We have one around here, we can hear it in the summer.

Tomorrow night I'm going to Meijer (a different Meijer -- maybe they'll have the same sign) to get my DVD of HP&HBP. I always go to the same store at midnight, and there's always a small group of people, maybe a dozen or so. We kind of go, "Hey, I saw you here last year" and stuff like that, then we all go home. LOL, not like when a book comes out, but still fun.

Title: Only the Cause and End of Movement
Fandom: Harry Potter
Format & Word Count: Fic, 2,000 words
Rating: PG
Warning: Various Deathly Hallows spoilers regarding Remus and Tonks' relationship. Also, angst and fluff, heavy on the former.
Summary: Remus comes home for the last time.

(love is itself unmoving, only the cause and end of movement)

Here's another new BTS look from the HBP DVD via ABC Family, where Stuart Craig explains how the cave came to life.

Being a hermit and staying in this whole weekend to do massive amounts of school work = very depressing.

Staying in and playing guitar hero all weekend instead of getting anything done = makes me want to kill myself.

ABC Family previewed a short segment on how the Inferi came to life in HBP, which can be seen below.

Seeing as Cycle 13 ended recently and these are always fun, I figured I'd start a new unpopular opinions post.

Feel free to post about anything, including other cycles.

I was checking out the Faith 21 section of Forever 21's website and saw Whitney modeling for the line.

( That's plus-size? )

Title: Visions of Sugarplums
Characters: Snape, a certain bushy-haired know-it-all
Rating: G
Notes: The second of this year's holiday cards. This one was inspired by the very naughty dixiebell12 and cosmiccoz, who wanted some Snape/candy cane action. I believe they had something more r-rated in mind - shameless fangirls!

( Visions of sugarplums danced in her head... )

i'm such a jealous person it's not even funny.

It sometimes takes a while for the Christmas spirit to find it's way in, but I'm feeling it now.

Mike has started putting the lights up outside and brought the indoor decorations down from the attic, the kids have send the grandparents their wish list, and Starbucks has Gingerbread Lattes!

So, today I get my Christmas cards sent out!

You don't have to send me one (I know I haven't been seen here much) but if you're on this list, you're getting a card.

That post actually reminded me to ask...What happened to Marta? Did she leave LJ, or did she just get a new journal? If anyone is in contact with her, give her a "Merry Christmas" for me!

Leave a post here, or email me (neldabrady@hotmail.com) if you're not on the list and you want a card.

ha ha! I put a drawing there to get your attention! It's of the Food Emporium on Gottingen, so it is related geographically at least.

The details for the signing at Strange Adventures next Friday in Halifax are up! All the info is on this facebook event. See you there! (ps, dudes, don't add me on facebook, I don't add people I don't know and neither should you!)

Smells good, takes forever to thaw. Probably won't be decorating it until tonight at the earliest...