what am i?

Happiest of birthdays to the lovely wildsweet_angel! It was so fun meeting you again; you are so funny and lovely and you deserve a great day. I hope you enjoyed it!!

Because it's almost the end of the decade, ohnotheydidnt has been flooded recently with lists like "Best Movies of the '00s" and "Best TV Show Episodes of the 00's." One such list was completely stupid and I disagreed with it entirely. I was also recently talking to my friend Lara about our favorite episodes of TV ever and thought I'd try and make a list.

Mind, these are my favorite episodes, not necessarily the best episodes, of these shows. And also, this list is based on shows that I enjoy, not shows that necessarily are the best shows of ever. And some of these episodes are not necessarily from the '00s; they're just my favorite episodes ever. Deep breath. Okay, disclaimer over.

( Queer as Folk, Mad Men, Lost, ER, Gossip Girl, etc. )

Well, that was fun. What's everyone else's favorite episodes of TV ever?

( Oh, and just for kicks -- my top 6 couples ever, ever, in alphabetical order: )

Yours?

I'm falling in love with Chuck/Blair from Gossip Girl all over again. Ed Westwick is so hot it's crazy. My friend Lara and I are completely in love with him. She noticed today that we spend a lot of time talking about hot celebrity men, and that she thinks it's because there are virtually no dateable boys here, considering 80% of them are gay, and the other 20% are in denial that they're gay. Unfortunately that leaves us straight girls with just the unreachable men to pine over.

Went to town today and got two books for 75 cents, hahahaha! One is a replacement for a book I lent to my old boss who never gave it back/will never give it back, and the other is Winter's Heart, the...ninth? book in the Wheel of Time series. I really wanted the one where Lan and Nynaeve get married (it's either A Path of Daggers or A Crown of Swords; there are too many damn books in this series), but actually Winter's Heart is okay because it's the one where Rand and Nynaeve cleanse the taint on saidin, and if I remember correctly from seventh grade (lol) it is very difficult for them and afterwards Lan takes care of her. :) Also, that was the only WoT book the Bargain Box had, so it was either that or nothing, lol.

Also, my friends and I are going on a diet, because we are all getting fat. There are two main dining areas on campus: an all-you-can-eat buffet kind of place, and a place where you order one or two things and sit and eat. I have decided that I should go to the all-you-can-eat place (Bates) as little as possible, because there it is too tempting to get either ice cream, or these really good cookies they have, or greasy pizza. The place where you order (Pub) has healthier options overall and plus your meal plan only covers a certain amount of $$ you spend, so you can't buy a lot without spending a lot of your money. As well, at the Pub, you're not likely to go back up and order something else after you've already paid for the other thing you bought. Furthermore, the overall quality of the Pub food is better.

So, yeah. I'm not going to buy anymore junk food for the room; if I go to Bates, I'm gonna eat cereal or a waffle or the meat they serve or something instead of the pizza/hamburgers; and I'm going to try and eat at the Pub most often.

I have to get a bridesmaid's dress for my cousin's wedding, which is annoying because I have to either like, find a place where they sell the dresses (dumb) or send in my measurements and possibly receive a dress that doesn't fit, and which I will have no idea how it looks on me (also dumb). Plus they're both not very flattering for my body type, I'm thinking. But there's a bridal store in town, and I thought it would be smart to ask if they carried the brand of dresses! That's smart, right? Wouldn't that be convenient? But it turns out they stopped carrying that particular brand last month :/ Laaaame.

I think I'm going to drop my writing class and take a literature class next semester, in school news.

Also, Vanessa might visit next week, but we'll see. It's probably not going to happen.

I also zipped through two seasons of 30 Rock in about a week. It's so funny! Alec Baldwin is so amusing. Also, I want Liz Lemon's job.

Two things:

1. I finished The Gathering Storm and I loved it! The ending was so, so, so good, and I simply could not put it down for the last 100-150 pages. It took its time setting things up, which was fine, and then nailed it in the end. Hats off to Brandon Sanderson; I really thought I was reading Robert Jordan's own book. Can't wait for December of next year, when the next one comes out!

2. This time last year, I was in Cambridge, England, with my brother. It was Guy Fawkes Day, the day after the best night of my life, the 2008 election, and we slept in til 12 because we'd stayed up til 5 for the results. It was raining but we went with some of Josh's friends from his lab to the Cambridge green, where there was an amusement park set up. An effigy of a Catholic was being burned and fireworks exploded overhead. The ground was wet and my hair looked terrible but it didn't matter. On the way back into town, we talked about what we wanted to name our children; then we went to Aki Teri, a Japanese bar, and ate dumplings.

If I could go back in time to any day, I think it would be that day.

Title: How You Survived the War
Author: ellyrianna
Rating: R
Fandom: Wheel of Time
Pairing: Lan/Nynaeve
Summary: Lan and Nynaeve and the detractions of distance. Set during "The Gathering Storm."

That is how you survived the war.

I could have written something for the (absolutely horrible) prompt for my fiction class. Instead, I wrote pr0ny fanfiction for Wheel of Time.

...Yeah, sure. That's about equivalent.

Okay, so I know none of you read Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, but no one at school does either and no one understands when I try and tell them the parts that make me gasp or squee or whatever, so I'm subjecting you all to my reactions of halfway through The Gathering Storm because I've got nowhere else to put them. So there.

So. (All of my stories start with so.)

( Major spoilers for both The Gathering Storm and WoT in general. )

I should stop now. What was supposed to be a few quick bullets turned into a raging capslock Kanye West-like rant, which is misleading, since I am enjoying the book and catching up with these characters again. This book is just hard because it's the first in the final 3 volumes, so it's basically just setting everything up for A Memory of Light. All that's left to happen is for Moiraine to get rescued, a truce to be made with the Seanchan, and Rand to gather his armies.

Still got 230 pages left; some of this could still happen! Right?

OMG! I had a dream last night that I was in a Broadway show with some of the cast members of "Lost" (it was a really bad show, btw, no one knew their lines and all the audience was screaming for refunds and shit, hahaha) and then this morning I wake up and there's a FUCKING SEASON SIX LOST PROMO!!!!

I mean, it has no new footage and all, but...yeah.

I'm psychic?

If there's one thing I'm unequivocally happy about at school, it's the stories I've written for my fiction class. I'm doing a series of short-shorts (about 800-1500 words each) that center around three siblings and all the people and baggage that comes with each of them. I've been very inspired by autumn and sad kinds of music (the first three or four were all written to "A Record Year for Rainfall," "A Raincoat Song," and "The Engine Driver" by The Decemberists, and the last one was partially inspired by and written to "Transatlanticism" by Death Cab for Cutie and "Land Locked Blues" by Bright Eyes), and also New York, living here and being here. I've written 8 stories so far (a little over 10,000 words total) and I can't wait to get more prompts and write more. I'm trying to mine the territory I've created through the rest of the semester, which hopefully I can do, because I love these characters and their sad lives. Sometimes I just write out their names over and over because I love them so much; I imagine them doing all sorts of things, like dancing and swimming...I spent the better part of an hour figuring out all their middle names the other day, which was so much fun. I'll be sad when there's nothing left for me of them, but for now I just want to stay with them as long as I can.

P.S. Who else is picking up the new Robert Jordan book on Tuesday??? Can't waitttt!

♥ Taylor and Hugh Jackman, October 20, 2009 ♥

Happiness is:

Sitting in the hair care aisle of CVS, weighing the merits of 5 brands/numerous shades of hair dyes with your crazy friend.

And also getting Starbucks and sitting outside, talking about Charmed for an hour.

And planning on trying to get Hugh Jackman's and Daniel Craig's autographs in New York.

And planning a visit with friends from home that I haven't seen in forever in NYC.

:)

Something I've noticed about myself:

When I was writing stories as a kid, in fourth or fifth or sixth grade, the characters tended to be around 14 or 15 years old. In middle school and early high school my characters tended to be about 18, just starting college. Mid to late high school my characters were usually in their early twenties. Now I'm just starting college and my characters are in their late twenties and early thirties.

Why can't I write about people my own age???

Also, I'm really sad that this LOTR fanfic hasn't updated in over a year. It's so, so good and so, so unfinished.

Bought new jeans for the first time since 8th grade today. Lol! While it's depressing to know I've gotten fatter, it's also kind of like, well, it's been 5 years. Haha. But they're super cute! I'm excited. The only bad part is that I'm so short that I have to cuff 2 of the 3 pairs until my grandma can hem them while I'm home for winter break.

Needless to say I came home this weekend. It was combination wanting real food/wanting to see family/needing to get jeans and also have my eyebrows done/possibility of seeing Vanessa for the first time since leaving. As well, the campus basically empties out on the weekends because everyone goes to the city, but I went 2 weeks in a row and last week I went Saturday and Sunday, and I haven't gotten paid from my job yet so I needed to kind of save money this week. Although coming home is costlier than going to the city, especially if I had taken the free van SLC provides, because it requires 1) roundtrip to Grand Central from Bronxville 2) subway fare 3) roundtrip two and from Penn Station. Hmmm. But I would have spent money in the city if I had gone, so...well anyway it was worth it for the jeans and the being home, so whatever.

I also did get to see Vanessa, which was so awesome :D We met for lunch at a local diner and after I got out of the car I heard across the parking lot "TAYLOR~" and we hugged for like 5 minutes jumping around. Haha :) We're hoping she can come spend a few days with me while she's on her Fall Break, but we'll see.

For one, whenever we make these kinds of plans they never tend to work out because she's a bit of a flake (it was an ordeal just getting together today, lol); two, she's at Bryn Mawr, which means she would either have to take Amtrak (expensive) from Philly or come into NJ to take the train to NY, and that's a needlessly complicated process. Her dad is also very strict and who knows if he would OK such a trip, as it would require her to take trains by herself and it would place a lot of his trust in me since I would be meeting her/taking care of her. We'll see. More than likely it won't work out, because of all the complications, but it's fun to pretend that it will :)

I got assigned my first real paper! Exciting and scary at the same time. And I got an A on my first German test!

Oh, and remember that girl who stopped talking to me after I didn't go meet her in the park so she could kvetch about her boyfriend for the millionth time? She randomly commented on a picture of me on Facebook after being incommunicado for three months. Now we're in like a comment fight, which is not the way I would have preferred to handle the situation. Blah. Stupid high school people that I just want to be done with.

I realized after I got to school that I really only have one good friend from high school because me and the other girl who was best friends with me and Vanessa got into a thing where she ignored me at prom and then stopped talking to me for the rest of the year when I asked her what her problem was that night, and then Dani also stopped talking to me after I didn't go with her to the park that night. What is with these people?? I'm so happy to be in college.

-Stayed up til 2 last night watching Lord of the Rings with my roommate and two girls from the hall. Oh yeah. College.

-Sat in the dining hall for 2 hours last night after finishing dinner talking with my roommate and some friends. Crazy!

-Wrote a story for class after procrastinating for four days!!! I feel so accomplished. I have to write two more by Friday, but whatever. 2/4 complete!

-I'm totally in love with this kid in my German class. He is soo cute and sweet. Although chances are he's gay, since this is Sarah Lawrence.

-I'm reading the most fucking boring book for history. Like ridiculously boring. Ughhhh.

-Went to New York on Friday and Saturday to go shopping; Friday I went with my roommate, Saturday with my friends from the hall. One of them stupidly wore brand-new high heels to walk around the city. Um, what?? Idiot. She wound up buying flats like 2 hours into the trip, lol.

-Navigated subways in NYC by myself!! I feel smart :)

-I hate Yom Kippur. But I am consoling myself by repeating that tonight when we watch House at the Black Squirrel, I can get a Nutella milkshake :D

I almost missed it, being away in the city all day like I was, but here it is, 10 minutes before it's over!

Happiest of happy, happy birthdays to the wonderful, sweet, loving sexy_pumpkin!!!

I think you are one of the kindest women I have ever met, and it was a joy and a privilege getting to meet you this summer. I am very lucky to be called your friend. I hope your day was as fantastic as you!!</font>

Title: Different Sides
Author: Ellyrianna
Fandom: Saiyuki
Pairing(s): Gojyo/Hakkai
Summary: Post-journey. Gojyo's still surprised every time he sees Hakkai sleeping in bed beside him. "We live our lives on different sides, but we keep together, you and I."

( Different Sides )

I used the Way Back Machine to find this comic that I used to read in sixth grade. I had a nice hour of nostalgia last night trying to go back and read the pages, but unfortunately it's pretty random as to which ones are available and which ones are lost forever to the black realms of cyberspace. Still, it was nice to see Tony and Mao and Long and all of them again. Oh, Strings of Fate.

You know how we don't get cable here? Well, there's a cafe on campus that DOES get cable, and if you get there early enough before your show starts, you control the remote. Last night after pilates I was chilling in my room, preparing on doing nothing for the rest of the night, when Lara comes in and is all "AREN'T WE GOING TO WATCH HOUSE AT THE BLACK SQUIRREL???" and I was like "OMG YES TOTALLY" and we raced down there like half an hour early lol. Beryl was there so we played Scrabble wit her and then went to the TV room, which has lots of bean bags and is pretty cool, and watched the two-hour premiere. Cable TV! How I've missed you!

It's definitely annoying watching it, though, because there were about 8 other people there and in particular these girls that kept going "OMG House make out with Cuddy already!" the entire time. It's hard to enjoy something when you can barely hear it for all the squeeing. Still, we got to see it live, on an actual TV, so I can't complain too much, I guess. Plus I had a Nutella milkshake while I watched it :D

The bandwidth here on the ethernet sucks. The iTunes store doesn't work, YouTube is super slow, and by the time I finally found a live feed for the Emmys on Sunday that would load, it was the last 10 minutes -- and it stopped every five seconds to buffer. How much am I paying to go here again??

Writing class in 45 minutes.

Oh, and -- those spoilers for Lost? Okay, riddle me this: if Boone is back, doesn't Shannon ALSO have to be back? I mean, it makes no sense for him to be there without her. Just putting that out there.

This is an INTENSE tale. Like seriously ridiculous. It's about my struggle to get a god damn work study job on campus. But it has a happy ending! (Coinciding with the subject of this entry, which was also the title of a story we read in my writing class.) So I'm cutting it and giving everyone the option of not wasting their time.

:D

( And the raincoat that you wore when it rained today... )

And I conferenced (like a private half hour of one-on-one time with the prof. that you do every other week) with my writing professor and she loved the two stories I wrote for her class!!!!! Eeeee! I was so worried about it because she totally SHREDDED this one girl's story on Tuesday. But, :D :D :D

I'm sick! I feel like crap! Aghhh. My brother contaminated me when I went home for the weekend and now I have the Plague. Bahhh.

I finally got a job. But I have to commute. But it's better than nothing.

We're workshopping my story in writing class next week and they're gonna tear it apart. I am so skerrred.

I miss TV :( Hulu has failed me on behalf of Mad Men, Gossip Girl, Project Runway, and Top Chef. I h8 u Hulu >:((

But apparently there will be Lost viewing parties in the cafe on campus come January. Yeyyy :))

I feel like craaaaaap :(((( I still have homework to do...but I'm too lazy...and I'm not hungry because I'm sick and because I eat too much here so I feel really fat :((

And the freaking on campus ATM is still broken from last week!! >:OO

My printer also hates me and my roommate. It is possessed!!

Recap: sick, fat, lazy, without TV, without $$, in possession of demonic printer.

Oh college.

I'm going to college tomorrow! Holy shit! I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for this, and while some things have changed from that initial need/urge to go (particularly the school -- I had never imagined myself at SLC as a ten-year-old, lol), mostly I'm still just as excited to get this whole thing rolling as I was then. Part of me is scared and nervous -- about making friends, mostly -- but because this is a totally new chapter of my life, I feel like anything I want can happen, which is very comforting.

I met up with my roommate the other day; she flew in from Guam to stay with an aunt who, ironically, lives fairly near to me in NJ so that she could get all her stuff together. She seems really cool and chill so hopefully we'll get along all right. No roommate horror stories, please!

Most everything is packed, although every time I think I'm done my mom mentions something else and I have to make a whole new box, lol.

College! Holy shit! Let's do this.

At the end of the summer I like to do a little wrap-up, so:

( Books I Read: )

( Movies I Saw: )

( Places I Went: )

( Things I Did: )

Some miscellaneous stuff:

-My boss gave me and Vanessa Visa gift cards as farewell gifts. Aww! On our last day working together, he was all "Come to my office before you leave" in this serious boss voice that of course he never uses. So me and Vanessa go in there, all WTF, and then he closes the door, which is even weirder because the office is tiny. At this point we're like "he's going to murder us," but he just told us how much he appreciated us being good employees and gave us the gifts. It was so sweet.

-SLC sent me an iTunes gift card for doing a survey way back when. Lol!


Hope everyone had a good summer :)