grandiloquence

Looking over my last post, I realised: I talk too much.

Too many words. So much time wasted when I could have been sleeping.

The public service is famous for putting things plainly and dumbing you down. I am an apt pupil.

So, I come to make this short post:

As you may have noticed, I'm not using this journal much these days. At the harassment of many (and the successful lure of Force Choking someone repeatedly), I've joined Facebook, but I still don't understand the hype. You can't do very much there except humour the cliques (in my case, the alum networks) and... force choke people. I saw someone throw a sheep at one of my friends. Creative.

But I'll keep this journal in case I need it in future, you never know. If you want to keep tabs on what I'm doing in fandom, you can find me at _bluebells. I'm pretty lazy with anything that's not sleep, work or obsessively cleaning my house at the moment, but if you'd like to friend: the more the merrier!

That journal has most of my (not original) fic, graphics, media, recs, reviews, etc. If it has to do with fandom, it's there and I try to keep general talk to an absolute minimum. I'll start moving over my fic from here if I ever get the energy. Some material on that journal won't be for everybody, so wherever possible things have been categorised and rated. Pray you, take note of it (I'm looking at you, uni friends o0!).

I'll still be using this journal to watch people (that's you!) and commiserate. USBs are not for the dishwasher, yo.

This post is brought to you by pure exhaustion and the desperate effort to stay awake in the face of going next door tonight.

If I had remembered to bring the external HDD with me I'd be making icons right now since I realised my icon deadline is just over a fortnight away and I'm seriously behind. It's sitting benignly on the dining table and there's no way I can pull myself up to get it.

Sometime in the next half hour I must remember to change clothes.

Work is still going well, my paperwork is finally coming together and I am so enjoying lolling about in a suit. I was planning to secure more work shirts this weekend until it became clear that the family is making an impromptu day trip to the snow field (not sure which one myself) on Saturday.

Apparently this year has seen the best snow season in almost twenty years. Or less. It sounded impressive on the news.

I haven't seen snow deeper than an inch in over ten years. I, do, however remember that it's very numbing and wet, hence I'm trying to convince Mom that we need proper gloves and shoes (Mage supports this from the point that there's no point going to the snow if you can't throw it at people; thanks for the warning). My sneakers are completely wrecked from paintball and work, they'd get soaked inside within a minute and I'd be sick all over again because this immune system is wee-ee-eak.

In light of this, Mom and I went shopping in our lunch break and bought some winter jackets and sweaters... we're doing that family uniform thing again, it reduces the care of what to put on in the morning and should hopefully make it easier for us to spot one another on the fields.

I'm looking forward to snow, but I can't even think about it as a reality with all the work to do between now and then. In the meantime, I really need to sleep.

Have I ever gone so long without an update? The last month has just flown by, so here's what happened.

Since I last left ye, fellow deviants, in LJ land I have been slaving to complete my degree. I've since graduated (yay!), left my old job and begun contracting 'til the end of the year as a federal departmental officer and, yes, that's both as vague and specific as I'm going to get.

I love my new job, granted, I'm only several days in, but the people are kind, funny and never hold back the help when I ask for it. I still have to go back and say a proper goodbye to my old workplace because the transition was sudden and I only had the chance to tell my boss directly. Still, give it a few months and I may be singing a different tune when the project we're working in is released to the public and I become the administrative interface. I *love* seeing the tools I used in class applied in the really real world and I think my HECS debt enjoys it, too. Omg, I have so many toys! ♥

I haven't hung up my degrees yet, although they are framed. My house has so much wall space and so few hooks....

My laptop has also been plodding towards imminent death in the form of unmountable boot volume, so I've been sniffing around for a replacement. I'm leaning heavily towards a Macbook Pro because they're pretty and have the power to deal with the multimedia programs I'll be plugging it with (I really want a 4GB processor, but that hole in my bank account can only burn so far).

As a plus of having a full-time job and (currently) not taking it home with you is having the freedom to do whatever you want when you get home. Like work on icon challenges you signed up for at one in the morning on a sleep-deprived whim. I've reached 51/100 of my icon challenge at heroes_icons100, YUSS-SS-SS.

After much nagging from friends, I've officially watched all the *new* Doctor Who. HERE COME THE DRUMS.

I've also seen a few movies:

Transformers :: I like Big 'Bots and I cannot lie! [3.5/5]
Somehow, beyond all reason, I can't recall a second of the original cartoon from my youth. But that's okay, because Mage bought the entire tin boxset and through sheer force of will I'll get through it.

I really enjoyed the movie, but see I love explosions, CGI-rendered-like-live-action robots and seeing the American military getting their asses handed to them while Mage gives me a play-by-play of the respective costs of equipment the aliens are destroying (what a nerd). The film shoots itself in the foot at the end with completely illogical military strategy, but overall it still carries itself despite one-dimensional character leads.

By the fourth viewing, I'd seen everything there was to be seen and fell asleep on my Mom's shoulder. In my defence, I was sick and it had been a long week.

Some Transformer-inspired ads:
[+] Mountain Dew :: The toaster stole my drink! Official sponsor of the film, I like this ad the best.
[+] Citroen (Dancer) :: The Citroen stretches (apparently even cars have muscles to strain) and boogies on.
[+] Citroen (Skater) :: The Citroen speed skates over a frozen lake to demonstrate itself as sleek and graceful, with excellent handling, etc., but beats its dancer compatriot hands down.
[+] Holden Astra :: People are their cars are transformers. We are one.


Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer :: Why so shy, Hubby? [2.5/5]
I went into this movie with *extremely* low expectations and the result came in just shy of that, so I was really pleased. I appreciated that the writers gave most of the characters a path for development and I couldn't argue against all the attention on Johnny (as part of my Johnny/Silver Surfer research towards dinner conversation ammunition), at least now I know why people are hooting for John/Reed/Sue on my flist.

The Silver Surfer was... feeble, but cool and now bob_ette can't use the mercurial constitution argument against me. I will win this Johnny/Silver Surfer debate.


Knocked Up :: Just do it! [3/5]
I have a mother, right? Who enjoys chick flicks a mite better than twenty-four feet robots high on octane, so we went to see this piece to fill in a spare bit of time this afternoon. A bit dull at times, frequently linguistically autistic and despite the gaps in the developing relationship between the leads, I enjoyed it.

And some parts, I really enjoyed, e.g "[sob] I like Spiderman!"


Bridge to Terabithia :: Run like the wind, Bullseye! [4/5]
I loved this movie. Having not read the original novel and only heard that people were always in tears upon leaving the cinema, I stayed strictly spoiler-free.

And I cried, perhaps one tear (hey, that's Auckland museum!), but this was wholesome viewing and the first film I've seen with the entire family in a long time.


Now I really have to stop because I have to get up in the morning and at some time make a 'Prime Minister' icon of this one for all of us in the Commonwealth.

ETA :: I completely forgot that the new HP book came out today. I've read no spoilers or reviews, but I'm going to take a wild guess, just for fun, that 90% of the cast dies a shiny, green death. Or perhaps, a slow, noisy and contorting death. Or perhaps there's no war at all and Harry runs away to hide as a muggle and start his own rock band, but is heartbroken to discover that "Harry and the Potters" is already taken (no, srsly).

I was going to hit the sack about three hours ago and made the timeless mistake of bringing my laptop (currently operational) to bed with me, where I found this place.

Oh. My. God.

The apoplexy is eminent.

Have not laughed so hard since... uh... possibly since I read that fan-made Heroes slash primer which I've since lost the link to (dangit).

Here's a sample:



Go and be entertained. Those poor, poor animals...

Must stop looking at animals. Respiratory system r failing....

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This day completely got away from me. Since I last updated I finally finished the semester (HURRAH!), had delirious celebrations involving lots of food and sleeping in.

I just had to quickly hop online and say,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, link621

I'm ashamed to say that I was keeping track of the calendar up until the end of semester, and today's significance only hit me when I was filling out my time sheet at work today and wrote down the date. "Hmm, why is today important? ... Oh, yeah. Shee-ee-ep."

Rest assured, MY AFFECTION IS UNALTERABLE (ref: Maya). To a dear friend who I'd not have met without the internet, to a lady who encouraged me company in the cold dark of university blues, to my first and beloved partner in collaborative, delectable insanity, June the 21st belongs to you. I luff you and wish you all the happiness in the world. So, have a wonderful day and you'd better enjoy yourself!

(It's clocked over to the 22nd where I am, but I'm hoping the day is still relevant in Colorado. XD)

Okay, I just had to defer from my essay for a minute to share this vid.

[FV]: Phantom of the Opera/Star Wars Original Trilogy



It's a little scary how well the songs work. Once I stopped thrashing in my chair from the mental breakdown of PotO's love songs being given new lyrics, it's an impressive feat. Whatever male took Christine's part was struggling for a while there, but he made it.

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I missed the zombie madness!

And so did a lot of you by the looks of it, but this is probably a good thing considering how much work I've managed to accomplish in the past few days.

A few months ago there was a Zombie Walk in Sydney and it made the news. They're, ah, a little too convincing. Have I mentioned I can handle anything but zombies and dark water? Regardless, I would have loved to see the walk in person (and run screaming if any of them stumbled in my direction).

Zombies, Sylar and I currently have one thing in comparison: brains. We wants them.

I think if zombies invaded here, people would be banging down the doors of the Defence complex to get in and seek protection with the people who actually have guns in this city (one problem: space). Defence could set up post at the Chicken Stick's pavillion with a gatling gun (old-fashioned, but classical) and mow down the zombie masses for walking on the grass.

This evening I watched At World's End with my sister and my Mom who sat between the two of us -- I tried rearranging our seating at first so I would have necromage to cling to in my inevitable fits of glee, to which Mom said, "Cling to me." I ended up leaning over her for a lot of the film and waving at Mage, but a good time was had by all, though I really only wanted to cling when I recognised Groves. I was very tired when I walked in there and might have had hypertension by the end. Tiredness breeds overreaction, le sigh.

Did I like it? Oh, yes.

Did it wipe the floor with Dead Man's Chest like a dirty, used rag? Sir, yessah. Although, honestly, such a feat would not be difficult.

Some (not so) short thoughts post-film because there's already a lot of meta floating around about this and I've yet to read most/any of it. The below will contain heavy spoilers and assume you've seen the film.

» Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Wherein everyone has their own agenda and Barbossa Owns All! [CLICK]

If you haven't seen it yet, remember to stay after the credits for the special scene. If you have a weak heart like I do, you might want to stay for it.

Sunshine, I'm dyslexic and can't find the comment button on your journal. Follow the link above and we'll discuss there. :}

I finally got my hands on a copy of the Heroes season finale (1x23, "How to Stop an Exploding Man") and tried watching it while having a phone conversation with necromage who's halfway across the country. Distance means nothing!

So, as far as season finales go for a foundling series, I enjoyed it, although it felt a bit lacking. Maybe I can attribute this to all the comms I've been following where the excitement's been building during these last few weeks?

I liked a lot, I laughed even more and still found things to gripe about. Full reaction, questions and discussion beneath the link to writing journal.

( They call me, 'Mister Explodey'! [HEAVY SPOILERS] )

Ho ho ho, new Heroes episodes seized in under eight minutes!

I love the internets and DSL.

And now I should really go to bed and watch this episode tomorrow... Tomorrow....

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