I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine

A brief reappearance for a request

2009-02-06T03:17:46Z

My apologies in advance if you see this more than once, I'm going to plaster it in various forms across all my other social networking contact points.

So....my computer's hard drive died. While I was able to retrieve some data, some things, like contact info and photos have vanished into the ether. So, if you think I need your contact info, email me. If you happen to have a picture I sent you (which is not on facebook or flickr), email me. If you want to watch me go Office Space on my old hard drive, email me.

Many thanks!

Reminder

2008-08-21T17:36:42Z

Since it's come up a few times in the last couple weeks, I thought I'd put a reminder out that this journal is only used for commenting on and reading about your exciting adventures. If you want to know where I'm talking about my exciting adventures, comment below or send me an email and I will let you know. :)

The joys of rewatching

2007-12-27T03:00:30Z

Torchwood s01e12 'Captain Jack Harkness': on the door of the modern day dance hall there is a 'Vote Saxon' poster. hee!

Meme

2007-11-15T19:47:53Z

Stolen from squeegman

1. Do you have a tattoo?
2. How old are you?
3. Are you single or taken?
4. Fish?
5. Do you dream in color?
6. Ever seen a corpse?
7. Hipsters or Hillbillies?
8. How did we meet?
9. What's your philosophy on life and death?
10. If you could do anything with me, and have no one know, what would it be?
11. Do you trust the police?
12. Do you like musicals?
13. What is your fondest memory of me?
14. If you could change anything about yourself what would it be?
15. Would you cheat?
16. What are you wearing?
17. Have you ever peed in a pool?
18. Would you hide evidence for me if I asked you to?
19. If you only had one day to live and had to be with me that day, what would we do together?
20. Which do you prefer - short or long hair?
21. What's your favorite day of the week?
22. What's your favorite color?
23. If you could bring back anyone that has passed, who would it be?
24. Tell me one interesting/odd fact about you?
25. What was your first impression of me?
26. Have you ever done drugs?
27. Will you post this so I can fill it out for you?

Obligatory

2007-11-05T17:49:27Z

Remember, Remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot

Also, happy 82nd birthday to my favorite National Honorary Musical Fraternity, Mu Beta Psi

Calendar flip

2007-11-02T14:59:49Z

It's November, hooray.

I actually have nothing else to report. But it is November. And Friday. So, yay.

bit_of_muslin @ 2007-10-10T12:34:00

2007-10-10T16:39:55Z

Happy Birthday kungfoogirl!

Hooray!

2007-09-18T16:18:36Z

After the longest, hotest, driest summer EVAR, fall has at last fall...en.

Autumn is my favorite season. I can pull my long sleeve shirts out of the closet! There are marching band competitions! And leaves crunching on the ground! AND NO MORE SUMMER! (I hate summer)

I've been doing a lot of heavy-duty thinking lately, but can't report on any of my conclusions yet. But stay tuned to this space for enlightenment.

Chorale rehearsal tonight! And this time I will NOT stop at Krispy Kreme on the way home, even if the Hot Donuts Now light is on.

bit_of_muslin @ 2007-09-13T09:34:00

2007-09-13T13:35:22Z

w00t!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY lockholm!!

Museums in popular culture

2007-08-14T18:23:08Z

I've been thinking about this question since cesario posed a similar one for librarians. Can you, the great LJ hive mind, think of different appearences of museum workers in media (books, tv, movies, etc.)? Admittedly, my brain is not firing on all cylinders at the moment but the only one I can come up with is Night at the Museum (curator + educator + security, whee).

Help me out here :)

Monday Meme

2007-08-13T16:09:11Z

stolen from grover173

1. A is for age: 27
2. B is for beer of choice: Strongbow
3. C is for career right now: multi-faceted
4. D is for your dog's name: Previously, Zort, Britten, Indiana
5. E is for essential item you use every day: the internets
6. F is for favorite TV show at the moment: QI
7. G is for favorite game: Video, card or board?
8. H is for hometown: Ha! I suppose it's Raleigh at this point, I've lived here the longest and this is where my folks are. But, for the record, I was born in Falls Church, VA and spend 2-12 in Harvard, MA before moving to Raleigh for 12-21
9. I is for instruments you play: flute, piccolo, voice
10. J is for favorite juice: Ribena
11. K is for whose BUTT you'd like to kick: There isn't enough space in this lj :)
12. L is for last place you ate: my house?
13. M is for marriage: Quoth the Facebook: it's complicated
14. N is for what's new in your life: not much
15. O is for last person you had overnight: my brothers? Back in the ATL (living with one's parents doesn't really lend itself to sleepovers
16. P is for people you were with today: Cow-orkers
17. Q is for quote: In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer - Camus
18. R is for biggest regret: See #11 above
19. S is for sex: I'm a female, thanks for asking
20. T is for time you got up today: 8:35am (oops)
21. U is for underwear you have on right now: the clean kind
22. V is for vegetable you love: potatoes :)
23. W is for worst habit: eyebrow mutilation
24. X is for x-rays you've had: back, arm, teeth
25. Y is for yummy food you ate today: I don't think my artificial raspberry granola bar counts as yummy. Talk to me in 1/2 hour
26. Z is for your zodiac sign: Capricorn. I'm goat-tastic baby!

bit_of_muslin @ 2007-08-09T11:29:00

2007-08-09T15:37:42Z

More marking posts.
Today is my parents' 38th wedding anniversary. Yay! It should be really easy for me to figure out how long my parents have been married, as I was born 10 years afterwards, but I always break out the calculator....in related news, in 5 months and 22 days I'll be 28 :)

Currently the temperature is 99, with a heat index of 105. The humidity is only 36%, which explains why the population of the Triangle has not become piles of runny goo. I am glad that a) I do not have to pay a power bill at the moment b) I am spending the majority of the weekend near air conditioning

for the insatiable...

2007-07-26T14:04:09Z

JKR interview that gives more epilogue-type details.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19959323/
(It goes without saying, don't click the link if you haven't finished the book)

bit_of_muslin @ 2007-07-22T22:11:00

2007-07-23T02:27:45Z

I think this may be the fastest I have ever read a book. I think it took just outside of 7 hours (not back to back, sadly). Finished Saturday night at about 6pm. I'm going to give myself another day to digest and discuss and then I will try for a more sedate pace.

Anything I could say has already been said by better minds than mine. But I'll still contribute my crazed fangirl thoughts in short form.

I love Luna, Neville, Molly and Kreacher. Especially Neville. His story really came full circle and he owned (p0wned) his own little piece of the prophecy (or the Boy Who Lived that could have been)

Hedwig, Fred, Tonks and Lupin made me gasp aloud. Snape as bat made me giggle. The pensive nearly made me cry (I cry at books about as often as I cry at movies, which is to say - almost never). I love my brave, strong Harry so much.

I also really want Ginny and Harry to play on the same professional quidditch team. And Hermione should be MoM :) But what I really, really want to know is if George is okay. I hope that Ron joined the business and they now have an empire of shops all over the world.

'Albus Severus' could have come straight out of fandom, but I love it all the same. :)

Oh, Snape. *pain* He would not appreciate it, but I love Snape so much and am so happy to have the full picture of him somewhere other than my little fangirl brain.

okay. I'll stop now. :)

I also spent the weekend it Pittsburgh for MBPsi Alumni Mid Year. I am freaking exhausted. More to follow.

too old to rock

2007-07-11T17:21:49Z

My car hit 70,000 miles yesterday. Also, I went to a midnight showing of HP:OotP.

First of all, let me say NEVILE/LUNA FTW!!!11
It was a real hack and slash job on the book, but I guess that's to be expected, trying to condense 700 or so pages into a two-hour movie. Some of it made sense but, like GoF, some of it was - why the hell did you do it that way?

Now that we are on our fifth movie with the fourth director, the inconsistencies are more and more noticable. (Not just in the Columbus v. Curaron way, but in the treatment of the characters across the whole thing. I saw a great example during the movie, but now I've forgotten it.)

The use of montages and archive footage I found to be very weird. And after all the hype about seeing the young mauraders and Snape the whole scene lasted approximately a minute. :p

I <3 Snape, as usual, and the Weasley twins, and Luna. Hermione came off as very grating this time around, for some reason. I made the mistake of reading a review yesterday that compared Emma to Jessica Biel, unable to act for more than two sentances without sounding false. Daniel and Rupert seem to be doing well as actors (they at least have been in other projects during the whole HP thing), perhaps Emma has reached the end of her tether?

I think I do need to see it again, just to pick up on more details. I didn't really want to see GoF in the theatre a second time, so I guess that's a good sign.

Also, CHO WAS FRAMED!

bit_of_muslin @ 2007-07-10T14:43:00

2007-07-10T18:45:44Z

My coccyx hurts. I'm driving 12 hours (round trip) this weekend and 16 (round trip) next weekend. This is not a good combination.

...but mostly I just like saying coccyx.

bit_of_muslin @ 2007-07-07T20:12:00

2007-07-08T00:26:48Z

I went to the mall today (Triangle Town Center, for those playing along at home). Above the escalators in the main part of the mall there is an ad for one of the local hospitals. It reads: 'If our E.D. were any closer, it'd be a house call.' This is supposed to refer to the emergency department, but years of television ads for Cialis, Levitra and Viagra have impressed upon me that the only thing E.D. stands for is erectile disfunction, which is not exactly what WakeMed was hoping for, I think.

Also, how many more movies does the world need about a career-minded, type-A woman suddenly inheriting a kid and discovering what life is really all about? Didn't Baby Boom (1987) really kind of take care of that plot line?

Friday Time Killer

2007-07-06T15:38:55Z

I mean, five. (Stolen from grover173)

1. What do you do? I do a little bit of everything for a book publisher
2. What makes you pay attention? Things that are clever.
3. What's your inspiration? Consumerism?
4. Do you believe in magic? I want to believe :)
5. What is your favorite subject to write about? Me! Various fandoms, things that I think will make other people laugh.

...but I can't cook!

2007-07-02T14:51:12Z

I had a very strange dream last night that I was a contestant on Top Chef. (cfred, stop laughing!)

I made this strange concoction of grilled chicken with a raspberry/key lime vinagrette, mushrooms and yucca chips (and slices of muenster, I think). But when it was my turn to be judged, someone had stolen my dish! The judges thought I had quit because someone pretending to be me had sent a fax to that effect. They refused to believe that I was the victim of theft. Then we did a kind of flash-back thing where I was getting harassed for not having any training. I did kind of stir them up a bit and one of them tried to hit me (I didn't flinch though, that was cool). Back in the present (sorta) another fax comes in from the guy who tried to hit me saying he was annoyed because I had already been mentioned in a couple cookbooks (!?) and hung out with Tony Bourdain (I did have a dream a long while back that I was a PA for No Reservations and I got to hang out with Tony in France or something). And then I woke up.

weird.....

bit_of_muslin @ 2007-06-28T10:37:00

2007-06-28T15:22:06Z

Last night I finished my reread of the entire Harry Potter series. I am now "prepared" for Book 7 and Movie 5. One fact jumped out at me as I was reading HBP, and I am rather amazed I didn't pick up on it the first two times I read it.... It isn't a spoiler, but let your eyes glaze over for a line or two if you haven't read HBP yet. Voldemort and I have the same birthday. Weird. I guess it is symbolic (my/our birthday being December 31, for those not in the know) - the end of a n old year/way, the beginning of something new (and evil). I guess Voldy does need a significant birthday, another affirmation to him that he is not like everyone else. Harry has a more normal date (although also the 31st - and his parents were killed on a 31st ...weird) and he is a more normal person, despite the circumstances of his life. ...Dude, I suck at literary analysis.

...

I watched Little Miss Sunshine last night as well. It was cute - I do enjoy some Steve Carell :)
I really need to get back on the stick about watching Netflix movies.

...

I only have one true HP icon? How did this happen?

At long last

2007-06-16T14:11:11Z

I got my first order from BPAL a couple of months ago. Last night, I finally finished cataloging the scents.

BESS
Inspired by the tragic, ill-fated love of Queen Elizabeth I and the Earl of Leicester. This is our modernization of a 17th-century perfume blend favored by British aristocracy: rosemary, orange flower, grape spirit, five rose variants, lemon peel, and mint.
-In the bottle: orange and grape
-On the skin: more of the mint coming out now, along with the rose
-Dry: orange-y with a little bit of rose and mint
-Verdict: I like it. Not entirely certain if it's a I-want-to-wear-it like it, but worthy of further testing

ZEPHYR
A gentle white scent, breezes laced with the scent of springtime blooms and citrus. Lemon, lemon verbena, neroli, white musk, white florals, white sandalwood, China musk, bergamot and a drop of vanilla.
-In the bottle: Um, like a lighter version of Shalimar (my mom's favorite perfume). What does Shalimar smell like?
-On the skin: Very white, florals, mostly.
-Dry: more musky now, with a hint of lemon and vanilla
-Verdict: I like it. But I don't know if I can wear it given that I'm still thinking Shalimar.

KATHARINA
A strong, willful blend with a soft, utterly lovely soul: white musk with a trickle of bright, sharp apricot and orange blossom.
-In the bottle: apricot and orange, kinda sugary
-On the skin: more of the musk coming through, followed by fruit
-Dry: Apricot with a floral orange, still a sense of sugar (almost artificialness) coming though
-Verdict: It's a subtle sent that doesn't travel (for lack of a more appropriate term) far. Perhaps better as a room sent or a candle than a perfume for me. (Unfortunate, given the name)

LONDON
Venerable Victorian Tea Rose… twisted, blackened and emboldened with wickedness.
-In the bottle: roses, lots of roses
-On the skin: rosey - but with something more ...herbal? over top
-Dry: still mostly rose, perhaps another flower on top? I don't smell any wickedness (perhaps it was deflected by my inherent purity)
-Verdict: nice and simple, but powerful. A dab'll do you with this one.

TINTAGEL
According to legend, the birthplace of King Arthur. The scent of a castle's great hall in the midst of joyous feasting. Spicy mulled wine flowing through the musky heat, warm leather and bright clash of armor, the damp branches of Cornish hawthorn, blackthorn, juniper, English elm and bayberry, and the magical tingle of dragon's blood resin.
-In the bottle: Kinda pine-y. And the approximate color of orange Triaminic
-On the skin: I guess it's juniper, with mulling spices and wine.
-Dry: The pine has mellowed a little, but it's still mainly sap trees with a little bit of wine and spice.
-Verdict: A cold weather scent. Or candle. For someone other than me

ENDYMION
Selune, the Moon Goddess, fell in love with a beautiful shepherd named Endymion. She appealed to Zeus, asking him to cast Endymion into everlasting slumber so that she could be with him for all eternity. Her wish was granted, and every night the Goddess visited her love as he slept. A sweet, wistful blend of d'Anjou pear, Lily of the Valley, bois du rose and white musk.
-In the bottle: alcohol with sharp pear
-On the skin: pear with a bit of rose
-Dry: rose and lily - the pear has disappeared
-Verdict: light and nice a subtle floral sent

Sample

TISIPHONE
Oleander with black patchouli, ylang ylang, and neroli
-In the bottle: smoky and musky
-On the skin: more of the same with some of the Oleander (?) coming through- this stuff is strong!
-Dry: I had to wash it off, it was like a haze of smoky/musky stuff around me
-Verdict: Glad it was free :)

bit_of_muslin @ 2007-05-26T19:23:00

2007-05-26T23:24:55Z

And lo, she did travel to the shop of comics and obtain the first two issues of Buffy. And it was good.

bit_of_muslin @ 2007-05-25T12:51:00

2007-05-25T15:09:21Z

Would you like to know the coolest ZipCode? Sudbury, MA 01776.

ETA: Someone please tell me that going to Vienna, VA on a Tuesday night to see Guster is Not A Good Idea. Especially with gas at $3.20 and tickets at $36. (But um, if anyone is interested the concert is 7/31/07)

In the cryptic words of Stephen Sondheim

2007-05-18T17:53:44Z

But how can you know what you want until you get what you want and you see if you like it?

Well, I don't like getting (metaphorically) punched in the stomach. Although I don't recall asking for that, precisely.

If you'll excuse me, I think I need to go find somewhere to be sick.

bit_of_muslin @ 2007-05-08T10:09:00

2007-05-08T14:34:08Z

Weekend: It was the okay of times, it was the worst of times....

I wanted to tell everyone about how I was sick as pants on Sunday, but typing it out made me feel kinda ill again. So all I will say is this: had stomach bug. Somewhat better now, still sore.

Send sympathy and posts, please :)