The GoldenGait Bridge

My Disney birthday scavenger hunt.

2011-11-13T21:27:00.044-06:00

For my 29th birthday (today--Happy Birthday me!) The Husband, D, B, Eggy, and Cesar all met me in Disneyland. Not only that, but Eggy created a fabulous Disney scavenger hunt for me to complete while there! She delivered the scroll to me Friday night, and I had until midnight on Saturday to collect photographic evidence.

The scroll read (in her impeccable cursive, written on tea-stained paper with an actual ink pen): "If ye be brave enough, what follows be a treacherous search... a HUNT, if ye will. The only way to prove yourself is to use that small box of witchcraft that some call a "camera" and lock tight away that evidence of your worth... should you have any, Matey! Your task be to collect images of the following by the stroke of midnight ~ good luck, and BEWARE..." It was burned at the edges, and rolled into a scroll, which was sealed closed with red wax. (I love my sister.)

The shopping list:

#1: At least five Mickeys. I got flower bed Mickey, pretzel Mickey, bench Mickey, ornament Mickey, and balloon Mickey.

#2: Me with a princess, which actually I was able to get a picture of, AND satisfy the next request in the same shot:

#3: A stone Snow White. She's at the top of the waterfall I'm pointing to. :)

#4: Me in the Penny Arcade, scoring higher than 50% on the Kiss-O-Meter. I managed it on the first try, as did The Husband! No wonder we're good together. :)

#5: At least two travel posters. I got the lovely Coruscant poster in Star Tours, and in New Orleans Square there is a poster for steam boat travel.

#6: A marble sphere more than two feet in diameter. In Tomorrowland!

#7: A helipad. Found in line for Space Mountain.

#8: Dinosaur remains.

#9: Me obviously skipping down Main Street.

#10: A woman in a black and red dress. I got two!

#11: At least four original rides: I got Mr. Toad, Pinocchio, Snow White, and Dumbo.

#12: The word "laughing". I had to cheat on this one, because it was MUCH too cold to ride Splash Mountain, and that's where we knew this was. So I just took a picture of the scavenger hunt list, which, technically, was the word "laughing" written inside the park. :)

#13: Me in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle, wearing red princess lipstick. DONE.

#14: Me wearing a ring more than 75 years old. This one was impossible, but Eggy didn't know it at the time. There used to be a lovely estate jewelry shop in New Orleans Square which had gorgeous old pieces... It's been shut down and turned into a perfume store. :( So no ring photo.

#15: A car with "Badger" on it. This one was also a trick request: there do not seem to be cars in Mr. Toad's Wild Ride that have Badger on them. Cyril, Mr. Toad, Ratty, Weasel, yes, but no Badger that we saw, and we watched every car for a good 5 minutes pass us...

All in all, a very successful scavenger hunt, and an AWESOME birthday. Thank you again to everyone who joined me and participated in my childishness! <3

Your bloody face, and birthday mimosas.

2011-11-12T09:32:00.001-06:00

I am going to tell you a random story out of nowhere this morning. It popped into my head because we're staying in a hotel at the moment, and the air conditioning was blowing on me all night. My sinuses feel like a desert.

But back to the story. Several years ago my family and I went to Las Vegas in December. The day we arrived, before we hit the strip, we went to our hotel to wash our faces and change clothes. My sister had been complaining about how dry the Nevada air was, and had been obsessively applying Chapstick.

While she was in the bathroom washing her face, the rest of us were discussing what to do that evening. Suddenly we heard a squawk from the bathroom and my sister started yelling for us to join her. By the time the three of us ran in, she was in hysterical laughter. She had blood all over her face: dripping from her chin and running in streams down both cheeks. It was smeared gruesomely across her for head. We were all horrified; she looked like something out of a teen slasher flick.

Turns out, of course, there was nothing seriously wrong with her. She had managed terrible timing and the dry air had caused a nosebleed while she was washing her face. She had closed her eyes and scrubbed her whole face with soap, smearing the blood everywhere.

Thankfully, a little time cured the nosebleed, and a damp towel restored her from serial-killer-victim status.

Now, time to get ready! Since it's my birthday tomorrow, we're in Disneyland, and six of us are going to start the day off with fruit, croissants, and mimosas. Eggy made me an amazing scavenger hunt to complete in the park today as part of my present, and I'll post again later with pictures of all the silly things I have to do... :)

My cats are cuter than yours.

2011-11-06T16:07:00.010-06:00

The newest adventures of Westley and Buttercup: B-cup has decided the top of our bookcase is a great place from which to keep tabs on the happenings of our apartment. Either that, or she's secretly reading Twilight. Or Shakespeare, or the James Bond series by Ian Fleming, but considering she's our teenager, I'm assuming she's got a thing for Edward. (Because there's no way our cat would be swooning over a dude who turns into a giant dog, right?)

I love this photo of Husband and Westley. So cute. In case you can't see it, there's a toothpick Rob is holding in his mouth that Wes is attempting to steal from him.

Last weekend we woke up to pitiful meows and the sound of kitty paws scratching the bathroom door. Thinking B-cup had shut herself in there, we went to rescue her, but found her inexplicably at the TOP of the door, her back paws scrambling to keep herself wedged up there. She's either a parkour kitty master, or she's from Krypton. With the laser beam eyes she's exhibiting in this photo, I'm leaning towards the Superman theory.

I think he's beautiful. My cat is so regal. (Mommy Syndrome in full effect: MY child is the best, most beautiful, and smartest.)

And finally: aren't boxes just SO MUCH FUN?? She's like our own little Maru. Unfortunately, this also means she insists on squeezing into shopping bags and food containers WHEN THERE IS STILL FOOD IN THEM. So, yes, cute habit. But not always the most sanitary.

Another of her cute habits: Buttercup suckling.

Halloween headstone cupcakes.

2011-11-06T15:55:00.004-06:00

This year's Halloween cupcakes were headstones made from chocolate covered graham crackers (the Keebler elf variety, store-bought), and with white frosting I piped RIP onto them. Cupcakes with chocolate frosting were rolled in crushed chocolate graham crackers to make them look like dirt, and M&M bugs were also sprinkled throughout my little graveyard.

My first batch went to work, and people ate them. My second batch went to a party, where they sat, largely untouched. Same thing happened this summer when I made these guys for a birthday party. No one ate them because they said they were too cute to consume!

Which is just silly, because they go bad it you don't eat them. I can't take 24 cupcakes home and eat them. I made them for the party.

EAT MY CUPCAKES, PEOPLE!!

Halloween 2011.

2011-11-06T15:36:00.006-06:00

I'm so proud of myself! I made both of my costumes this year!

I went to two parties. The first was pretty low key, so I made myself a mask and went as the Phantom of the Opera-ting Room. :) I bought a half-mask from an art-supply story (they have them at JoAnns and Michaels), and pasted my OR masks from my week in surgery over the top. Turned out beautifully. Wore it with my blue scrub top, black pencil skirt, and a big black cape that I made from black fabric remnants I bought at JoAnns.

Next, I joined my sister-in-law as a Disney princess, but instead of doing Slutty Cinderella or the equivalent that they sell as pre-packaged plastic costumes these days, we got as close to the real thing as possible. She got her hands on an AMAZING full-length yellow Belle dress from Beauty and the Beast, and I bought fabric and ribbon and made (yes, MADE) a skirt, poofy sleeves, satin bow headband, and collar. I had the corset from a past pirate costume, so I got blue satin remnants from the fabric store bin and paneled over it. Voila! Snow White! :)

The Phantom of the Opera, gamer-style.

2011-10-07T13:54:00.011-05:00

Yep, I'm at it again. This time I "Weird-Al'd" The Phantom of the Opera's title song so it applies to the gaming community. I know, big dork. But it made me smile, coming up with this on my drive home from work today. The picture was just me goofing around... The mask is actually part of a Halloween costume for this year, but I haven't made it up yet--it's still blank white. Will post again once I've finished it for incorporation into my full costume. :)

Finally, a disclaimer: this has a bunch of stereotypes in it. I did not write every line of this with my husband in mind. Just most of them. The rest were included for the sake of rhyming, flow, and general hilarity.

The Hax0r of the Internets

In sleep he "firefights" / in dreams he games
He codes his website / in search of online fame
And though he dies again / now he is fine
The Hax0r of the Internets is there / by co-op revived

Come once again with me / to breathe fresh air
I beg you leave that cave / but you don't care
And when I turn from you / and hold my nose
It's cuz you have not showered in days / or changed your clothes

Those who have seen your face / draw back in fear
The hairy mask you wear / is a week of beard
There's laundry and dishes / and bills to pay
But the Hax0r of the Internets is there / pwning melee

In all your fantasies / you always knew
That in a past life / Master Chief was you
And in this labyrinth / with Guilty Spark
The Hax0r of the Internets is there / gaming in the dark

Stop, my Haxor of Internets!
Stop, stop; stop for ME!

Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary.

2011-10-02T17:21:00.009-05:00

Read carefully, because if you are a fan of music, theatre, or the arts--hell, if your only credit is that you have a soul--you need to see the 25th Anniversary of the London Phantom of the Opera.

Tonight's London evening performance was beamed live around the world into cinemas, and my mom and I were lucky enough to stumble on an announcement for it. We got tickets yesterday, and showed up at our local theater this morning (11am corresponded to the opening of the evening curtain in London). The surround sound as you waited for the performance to begin was magical: you heard the orchestra warming up, you heard the murmur of the London audience being seated around you. A vista of the filling Albert Hall was on screen...

Now, I love the show, and have seen it three times before. I figured this one would be pretty neat, but "neat" is not a strong enough superlative! Ramin Karimloo was phenomenal. Tears-in-the-eyes phenomenal. Along with a Gold Medal Phantom we had a Christine who is not only drop-dead gorgeous (my God, her eyes), but an amazing actress. She was in love, she was frightened, she was happy... There was a point during Music of the Night that she shed a single tear through closed eyes, and I just about died. Raoul was equally as good, and equally as beautiful. (Total baby, though--I'm two years older than him!)

After a performance with brilliant staging, the most detailed costumes you'll ever see, and an amazing orchestra accompaniment, Andrew Lloyd Webber himself stepped out on stage, gave a speech, and then brought the original creative team out on stage! And THEN! He brought out the original London cast, PLUS Sarah Brightman, Michael Crawford, and four past Phantoms. Sarah and the four Phantoms (no Michael) sang "Phantom of the Opera", and after Sarah was whisked away, the gentlemen (including longest-running Phantom John Owen-Jones) sang "Music of the Night".

Without a hint of exaggeration: every few minutes I got goosebumps all over again. Even half a world away, in a movie theatre, this was an absolutely breath-taking performance from start to finish. If you can possibly manage it, see this show!

(Or at the very least, buy the thing when it comes out on Blu-ray!!)

The centerpieces.

2011-10-01T15:21:00.012-05:00

Partly because I love details, and partly because apparently I enjoy giving myself too much to do, I decided that the tables at the wedding were going to be themed rather than numbered. Each theme would be one of our hobbies or interests. Not only that, but the centerpieces would be themed to match the title of the table. Great, but... how? (This is another reason I gave myself 18 months to plan the wedding: I knew I'd come up with ideas that would take over a year for me to figure out how to execute. And execute within budget parameters.)

One day the light bulb over my head lit up and I decided the centerpieces would be old vintage hardcover books, and the titles of the books would somehow all refer back to the theme of the table. Add in a few old hat boxes, small trunks, wrought iron decorative pieces*, and I had myself some vintage, slightly steam-punky, Old English library-esque centerpieces. To soften the look I added a garland of ivy to each, and two white hydrangea stems.**

The table themes: Family, Dancing, Movies, Theatre, Painting, James Bond, Disney, Golf, Hawai'i, Cars, Wine, Photography, Halo (the video game), Ironman (the triathlon event), Literature, Travel, Cooking, Podiatry, and Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

I had a blast combing used bookstores and garage sales for a year finding the old books I used, and now we have an amazing collection of really cool pieces! My favorites are the 1890s and 1900s editions of some of Shakespeare's plays (from the Theatre table). Most were only a dollar or so, and I didn't use anything over $5. Many we already owned (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings), and many more were borrowed from family and friends (vintage cookbooks).

The toughest table to find books for was the Halo table, since obviously no-one was writing about Bungie video games in 1950. So I got a little creative, and chose books with keywords in the titles: "Floods", "The Adjustable Halo", "The Hoosier School Master", "Chief of the Cossaks", "The Halo Wind", and "The Covenant: Vol. 2". The groomsmen were seated at the table, as they were the only guests there who would understand the references!

I was actually quite surprised at how many guests asked me why I had seated them at a particular table. Several told me before the wedding they wanted to choose their table's theme, and others at the wedding kindly explained which other theme would have been more appropriate for them and why. Point: missed. These themes were not for you! They're OUR interests! :)

Many guests commented on how fun the centerpieces were, and I heard later that there were even dramatic readings from some of the plays at the Theatre table! Yay! :)

Out of everything I designed and planned for the wedding, I think I'm most proud of the centerpieces: they're definitely my favorite. :)

*The hatboxes were easy to come by: Etsy.com and Ebay both have a ton, and they're relatively cheap. Trunks, hatboxes, and wrought iron decorative pieces can all be found at TJMaxx, Marshalls, Joann's and HomeGoods, as well. Not only that, but the hatboxes make great (and pretty) storage later: we put all our old dishes in them when we switched them out for our new china!

**If you want to handle your own flowers for a lot less money than the traditional florist will charge, go to www.bloomsbythebox.com and order them in bulk. The stems arrive packed in padded boxes to your front door delivery-style, like 1-800-flowers or FTD. True, mine came a day late (order them to arrive two days before your wedding, just in case, and then stick them all in vases in a bathroom to let them open prior to the wedding). But otherwise they were great! Beautiful flowers, and so cheap.

Finally finished the Thank Yous!

2011-10-01T15:03:00.005-05:00

It took me almost a month, but all the Thank Yous finally got mailed today!

Okay, so that's sort of a lie, but I don't have two guests' addresses, and until I track those down, two envelopes will have to live on my entry hall table. BUT! All the others went out: a total of 76 hand-made cards.

Why hand made?? That takes SO much longer! Why didn't you just buy a bunch of pretty pre-made ones?

I saved $80 doing it this way, and I've got such an arts-and-crafts streak that I really didn't mind that much. :)

I went to Paper Source in San Jose, which is a Mecca for DIY, crafty people. I looked through their pre-made cards, and was blown away by how beautiful they all were... and how expensive. :( One of the shop assistants saw me looking at the price tags with a forlorn look on my face, and was sweet enough to lead me into the DIY section, point out some 100% recycled paper and envelopes, and suggest a particular stamp that was very similar to the design on the pre-made cards I'd been looking at. What an angel. :)

I'm totally going there for our holiday cards!

Painting while under the influence...

2011-09-25T22:07:00.008-05:00

...of cold medicine. It's apparently a good idea, because I think my peacock turned out nicely!

Since Husband and I are both sick this weekend with the same cold, we dosed ourselves up with sudafed and ibuprofen, guzzled gallons of water, and went our separate ways yesterday. And by separate, I mean we were both in the same room, just performing separate tasks and ignoring each other completely. There's an argument for snuggling together under a blanket and watching movies for comfort while recovering from a cold, but there's also an argument for staying away from your significant other while the contents of their head is steadily oozing out of various orifices.

He plugged himself into Gears of Warcraft 3: ODST, and I decided to paint something.

This is mostly notable because I have not painted anything since February: seven months! I hadn't WANTED to paint since then, actually, and it was starting to worry me. What if I never painted again??

Okay, enough catastrophizing. :) No more melodrama for this post, I promise.

I started with the pencil sketch, as usual, and progressed to yellow, which is the bane of my existence when I don't lay it down first and then try to add it later over darker colors. White is even easier than yellow to layer! And the viscosity is somehow always different... same with orange... Though that might be the poor quality acrylics I use. :)

Then some orange while the yellow was still wet, and then the background blues, the bird's torso, feathers, and voila! Peacock painting.

Why did I pick this? I bought a peacock feather headband this week, and threw it on to keep my hair back while I painted, and things sort of progressed from there. :)

The hair.

2011-09-21T23:04:00.014-05:00

Every three years I chop off over 12 inches of my hair and donate it to Locks of Love, a charity organization that makes wigs for kids going through cancer treatment. Last October was my three-year mark, but I delayed my donation for a year so I would have lots and lots (and LOTS) of hair to make a substantial up-do for the wedding.

I wanted Big Hair. Not Texas Big Hair (sorry, Texas), but more like Vintage Big Hair. Scrolling through the hundreds of bridal hairdos on the wedding sites didn't provide me with one I really liked, so I went back to my original mantra: "Oscars, not Prom."

After googling Oscar hair updos, I found exactly what I'd been thinking about: Julia Roberts' style the year she won her Oscar for Erin Brockovich. Something big, but sleek--I didn't want massive curls piled on top of my head as if my teenage date was going to present me with a corsage when he picked me up from my parents' house that night.

However, as Jo (my amazing stylist) pointed out, this style was most likely all fake hair layered over a styrofoam base block, and was crafted over several days by a team of professionals in Hollywood who may or may not have also sold their souls to the Devil himself.

So I tried to keep my expectations reasonable. Especially when things started like this:

And then looked like this:

But somehow, magically, Jo the Hair Goddess twisted, teased, and pinned, and suddenly: exactly what I wanted! :)

Bulky, but not a bee-hive, without massive curls. :)

And now it's ALL GONE! I chopped off 11 inches and sent the ponytail off to Locks of Love.

I'm liking the short hair, but it's SO much more work! Styling gel, and flat ironing, and you can't just pull it back, and air drying is out of the question...

However, I think this may be the start of a beautiful friendship. :)

Then again, it's been less than a month, so the full realization of what I've done and the inevitable regret may not have truly set in yet. ;)

The dress.

2011-09-20T22:03:00.009-05:00

This is the first post of several I'm going to make over the next few days. Not as much for you as for me: I put so much effort into the details of this wedding that I feel the need to chronicle some things so I can look back on it later and remember how well everything turned out after all my hard work, blood, sweat, and tears. ;)

And where better to start than with the dress?

I had been engaged for a month--maybe six weeks, tops--when I found my wedding dress. I had an afternoon off, and I went to Stanford Mall, and found it in BCBG on the sale rack for $188. I didn't buy it, because *obviously* it was not a wedding dress. Wedding dresses are bought at a boutique, and you don't buy the first one you try on, and it's custom made, and it usually costs several thousand dollars, and isn't there some rule that it has to be super poofy with a train?

But couldn't stop thinking about it... A week later I took D (one of my bridesmaids) back to look at it, and she gave me the Shut Up You Have To Buy This Dress talk, so it came home with me.

I spent the next year trying to convince my mom that this really was It. The Dress. THE Dress. We did the girly thing (which was a ton of fun by itself, BTW) and went to several expensive boutiques, and tried on expensive things, and the more I tried on, the more I couldn't stand the idea of paying $3000 (or $5000!) for a dress that I couldn't eat or breathe in, and that I would only wear once. I'd actually have felt guilty walking down the aisle in something that cost that much. I would have been a sad, sad, guilty bride. I didn't want an internal corset designed to make me look skinny: I AM skinny. I may not have a great rack or shapely legs, but I've got the skinny thing. Might as well play it up, right?

Hence the no-poof, no-train, non-strapless (can't have the dress falling off my lack-of-a-rack chest now, can we?), non-custom wedding dress. Which I LOVED. I still love it! It was comfortable, I could move and breathe and dance without having to hold onto anything, and since the skirt wasn't four feet in diameter, I didn't have anyone stepping on me or leaning waaaay over when they tried to hug me.

The best part? I took it to a tailor, and for less than $50 he altered it so it was convertible: halfway through the night I snapped off the bottom half of the skirt, and it was suddenly cocktail length! Worked like a treat, and freed me up for the rest of the dancing. :)

Awesome dress. :)

The dark side of weddings.

2011-09-08T11:51:00.001-05:00

This is a public service announcement to all single ladies who might get married within their life time. Those of you who have already had your big wedding: feel free to stop reading. This is all stuff you already know. The comment section will most likely just be "I told you so!" from those who have come before me. :) I now pass it on to the next few brides, just in case no one has ever told you this before.

Everyone tells you "it's Your Day" and even the most level-headed, non-bridezilla starts to believe that eventually. What no one tells you is that (if you're part of the vast majority who cannot afford a professional wedding planner) leading up to Your Day you work, and work, and work.

You do not attend family dinners or brunches, you do not go shopping with your friends who are in town. You're too busy. You're reorganizing the seating chart, and finishing making the centerpieces, or buying additional place cards, or customizing your shoes.

Don't get me wrong here, this isn't actually supposed to be a complaint post. I did all of this myself because I knew what I wanted, and didn't want to order people around me to do it for me. I loaded myself with responsibility. Totally my own doing.

But this also creates a few more problems. By the time you're done and ready a few days prior to the event, suddenly everyone else needs to confirm things with you, and since you were the one who set EVERYTHING up, the only person who can answer these questions is YOU. So you get every phone call.

Once the day actually starts, while everyone else is having brunch and chatting and visiting, you're getting your hair done. While everyone else is at cocktail hour, you're taking pictures. While everyone else is eating, you're trying to stop by as many tables as possible to greet and thank your guests. You forget several, and completely miss many more.

It WILL be the happiest day of your life, and the most fun you've ever had. But you miss out on a LOT at the same time.

I need to set up dinners and coffee dates with a dozen people! I feel terrible that guests drove (or flew!) many hours from all over the country (and globe) to see me, and I might have said three words to them. If I was lucky.

If I didn't get time to see you, I'm so sorry! I'm so thankful that everyone came (we only had two no-shows out of 175 guests!), and I'm working on getting together soon with the people I didn't get to chat with!

I can't wait until the next wedding in my circle of family and friends so that I have a chance to party with you all! ;)

Minimoon 2011, Honeymoon 2012.

2011-09-06T18:58:00.002-05:00

The husband and I decided that since we don't have the available vacation time or disposable income right now we'd go on a short, two-day "mini"-moon after the wedding (so someone else could clean it all up!). We'll take our real honeymoon next summer after I finish residency.

Since we both love Disney, we hopped in a car Sunday morning and drove down to Anaheim to spend a few days celebrating with Mickey! As soon as we got there we stopped at The Mad Hatter store and bought bride and groom Mickey ears, and had our names and wedding day embroidered on the back. We got lots of "Congratulations!" and "Awwww!" while walking around the park for the next two days. :)

Thank you Mutti and Vater for gifting us Annual Passports to Disneyland! We're already set on going back for my birthday and bringing Eggy, Cesar, D, and B with us!

Wedding music.

2011-09-04T17:50:00.001-05:00

One of the very best decisions I made during the entire wedding planning process was to request two of Eggy's friends play during the ceremony and cocktail hour. The ladies are classically trained musicians, and invited a third musician to join them. What a beautiful trio they made!

Not only did they arrange the modern songs I requested, they stayed away from Pachelbel, Mendelssohn's wedding march, and other boring ones we're all sick of. During the cocktail hour they entertained the guests with The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix, among others. Best classical trio EVER.

Afterwards they joined us for dinner and dancing. Thank you again, ladies, you were PERFECT. I had so much fun visiting with you, hearing you play, and dancing with you both! Much love... <3

Day before the wedding.

2011-09-02T10:51:00.001-05:00

I'm working. Everyone else has time off, the family and friends have all come into town, and I feel like I'm not getting to visit with anyone!

I took one day off, and had a lovely lunch yesterday at the Wente winery with three of the out-of-towners, the fiancé, and my sister. Nice while it lasted, but now I'm right back to it! The rehearsal is tonight, and while there are breakfasts, brunches, lunches, and shopping trips all day today, I'm dutifully in my scrubs at the clinic.

Not that this wasn't my choice: I get paid for unused vacation days, so by working this week I'm ensuring I can pay for the honeymoon when we go next year. It just sucks in the meantime.

I'm hoping I actually get to spend some time with people this afternoon, evening, and tomorrow!

Is it too late to elope?

2011-08-26T22:40:00.002-05:00

I'm tired. I just want to marry The Guy. I'm sure the party is going to be fun, but at this point, I'm caring less and less and less about flowers, seating charts, and the right color bow being tied on the officiant's thank-you gift.

The funnest parts of the last month have definitely been the bridal shower and the bachelorette party. I won't go into details, but suffice it to say at my bachelorette party we watched my favorite girly movies, had a slumber party, and a few of us--at one point--jumped a fence and ran around on a country club's golf course when their sprinklers kicked on. I'm pretty sure that's when I got the bruises on my shins. I *think*. Could have been during other hijinx, but the fence-jumping is looking like the probable culprit. ;)

Dance lessons are going well, the outfits are finalized, the band and caterers and photographers are all set to go. The Guy is off with the groomsmen at PAX this weekend, and I'm just praying that he does not come home #1: with a tattoo, or #2: married to someone else (ie. a stripper).

PAX is pretty tame...right? Plus, there won't be any girls there. So I'm safe. Right? Maybe? :(

Less than three weeks!

2011-08-16T13:27:00.001-05:00

It's coming up! We've been engaged for almost a year and a half, so the idea of getting married has... not "gotten old", per se, but I've gotten very uses to the idea. Now it's actually here, and I'm getting excited again!

My bachelorette party is this weekend, which is going to be a good, old fashioned girl's slumber party. PJs and movies and popcorn and chocolate! :) Little Sister just came back into town, and I'm looking forward to spending all Saturday cooking up girly, chocolatey, fun food for the party!

Right now, though, I'm horribly bored. I'm stuck waiting for a delayed surgery, and it's looking like I'll miss the next case because I'll still be in this one... Bummer.

I have so much to do! I can't afford to burn an hour sitting in this doctors' lounge!

They're all set for the wedding.

2011-08-09T00:37:00.009-05:00

No seriously.

I know they're not coming. I'm not completely crazy. I just think they're cute, and as long as I had the camera out today...

Aren't they ADORABLE??

Shut up. Don't judge.

My little man looks just like a little ginger James Bond! :D

...God help us all when I have actual kids.

...You might want to specifically take the time to unfriend me on Facebook at that point.

(Quite serious.)

Engagement photos.

2011-08-09T00:22:00.009-05:00

When The Boy and I were finally able to schedule our engagement shoot, we decided to have a little fun with it. We took the usual, traditional shots as well, but these were the funnier ones. :) We decided to recreate scenes from Pretty Woman, Dirty Dancing, and--our favorite--The Princess Bride.

We had great fun dancing around in this gazebo in a crowded park on a Tuesday afternoon... We got some funny looks, but still had a blast. It also became glaringly obvious that we need some practice before the wedding! Thankfully our photographer was talented enough to make us look good in photos.

After the park, we headed up the mountain, which was perfect to play around as Buttercup and Westley! (See why we named our cats what we did?)

Baby cake!

2011-08-08T22:32:00.005-05:00

Went to a beautiful baby shower for the step-sister-in-law-to-be (blended families get pretty confusing!) this past weekend, and look what I made her! She's having a baby boy, and has his nursery colors all picked out and coordinated (she's amazing at design and presentation: you should have seen the wedding!). Far be it from me to mess with her color scheme. :) Brown and teal--though it came through more blue in this picture--three baby blankets wrapped around diapers. The top blanket is purchased, but the bottom two I made from pretty fleece I bought at a fabric store. While there, I picked up some ribbon and fabric flowers, as well as a wooden K, and painted little bugs on it. I figured that was more appropriate than little flowers. :)

New toy.

2011-08-08T19:41:00.009-05:00

Not for me, for my cats. My mom gave her grandkitties a present this weekend: feathers and a bell on the end of a stick. Pretty elementary, but bringing it home went something like this: "Ooh, this looks interesting..."

"Whoa! This thing is fantastic!"

"Weeeeeeee!!!"

Westley had much the same reaction: "Hmm. Feathers?"

"Holy buzzing birdies, Batman! This is awesome!"

"Rawrr!"

Thank you, Mutti. The present was a resounding success. :)

Why I was silent in July...

2011-08-01T12:12:00.003-05:00

I only posted once in July this year! This is why:

1. I thought I was done with the long hours of Chief Resident, but they were immediately replaced by the long hours of an ortho rotation. Awesome experience, but it was a surprise rotation! I was only notified about it two weeks before it started, so I felt somewhat unprepared. Add to that it was the first time the podiatry residents were ever allowed on ortho service at this hospital, and it was a little daunting... No pressure or anything, but the fate of this rotation depends on whether you impress them...

2. The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer was early in July, and while Eggy walked it, Mutti and I worked medical. Since my Fairy Godmother couldn't be here, I stepped in as an Honorary Blister Sister. We had a ball! The route was much improved from last year, and our team dressed our rest stop up like a racing crew pit stop for the walkers, but instead of a Pit Crew, we were the Tit Crew! Welcome to the India-"nipple"-lis 500! :) And, as we know, I'm in for anything that involves a costume, so I decked myself out and had a blast. The walk raised over $4.2 million for cancer research, mammograms for the underprivileged, etc. Thank you to everyone who participated!

3. The Fiance and I had our engagament photos taken! I know, a little late, right? We've been engaged since April of 2010, but with our schedules and a few rainy days, we kept having to push stuff back. We had several locations, and the most wonderful photographer, and while we've only gotten a sneak peak at the photos taken, it looks like the rest are going to be GORGEOUS if what we've seen is anything to go by. :) We'll make them all available to family and friends as soon as we get them! (Probably shortly after the wedding, since it's wedding season and our Awesome Photographer is flat out shooting other events!)

4. The Fiance and I went to our first ever San Diego Comic Con. So much fun! Doctor Who and Torchwood panels, Game of Thrones, Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy, American Dad, True Blood, Walking Dead, Chuck, Fringe, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, Glee, Warehouse 13, Eureka, advanced pilot screenings of Terra Nova, Ringer--and the costumes! My goodness, the costumes. I'd have gone for the costumes alone. :) The three of us all dressed up in proper Doctor Who fashion on Sunday, but earlier in the week I stepped out of my comfort zone and did my best impression of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Decently comfortable costume, which made it even weirder when I would pass a window or mirror and the bubbly, cardigan-wearing doctor from Hippie-ville California would catch herself looking like a VERY hardcore chick. ;)

5. A vicious head cold slapped me around a bit after Comic Con (Joy referred to it as the NerdFlu, which apparently a few other people took away as a souvenir, too), which wouldn't have been so bad, except mine decided to head to my chest, give me a massive asthma attack, and land me in the hospital this past Thursday and Friday. Not a comfortable feeling, and I'm still getting over it. I'm on activity restrictions, which drives me nuts, since the wedding is only 33 days away and there's STUFF TO BE DONE! But I'm taking it easy, as ordered, and am so thankful that I have a wonderful mom, grandmother, sister, and fiance who took turns babysitting me and making sure I sat quietly and calmly in a chair all weekend, even though they were super busy throwing my...

6. Bridal Shower! My godmother and a friend of the family threw me the most beautiful, girly, classy, PERFECT bridal shower yesterday! The tables were gorgeous, the music was lovely, the food was amazing, and everyone did such a lovely job. :) I've planned the wedding to be very non-girly, and so had politely requested the bridal shower be a little feminine. It was perfect! And the theme was great: considering I was having grandmothers and such, I didn't want a lingerie shower, and The Boy is the one who cooks, so a kitchen theme shower would be more for him than for me, so they chose a Month Of The Year theme, and each guest was given a month to theme my gift around! I got "April Showers" bath gear (with an adorable umbrella, too!), I got September wine gear for Crush season, I got Christmas decorations, I got spring picnic backpacks, I got 4th of July beach gear... It was all LOVELY. I've never had that big of a party for ME before!

So now I'm sitting at home, taking an additional day off from work and twiddling my thumbs, wondering if writing Thank You notes and designing wedding favors would still be classified as "resting"...

Chief: Week 18, and our family is growing.

2011-07-03T23:14:00.004-05:00

I'm DONE!

Finally.

::sighs in relaxation::

I celebrated my last day (Thursday) by having dinner with my family, and The Boy took me out to a nice restaurant on Friday. Saturday we needed to run some errands we'd let slide for awhile during our busybusybusy schedules recently. We went to PetSmart to buy some cat litter, and accidentally adopted another kitten.

Oops.

Actually, I brought it up, asking if I could get Westley a playmate once we have a house, or larger apartment. He said sure, why not just get him one now? I was completely shocked he was on board with this, but apparently I'm not the only one who's noticed that Westley is a little needy when we get home at the end of the day, and wanders around crying for attention a lot. I never pass up the opportunity to play with some kittens, so... They were having a big adoption event, and there was a female kitten there who was a little older than most of the others (four months as opposed to two months old), and had been recently fostered in a house with a one year old male cat, so we figured she'd be good with our little guy (who turns one year old on the 7th of this month).

And the final decision was The Boy's. I had it narrowed down to three of them, and I let him pick, since I picked Westley without him even being present... So now Westley has a Buttercup. :)

Now we just need a Fezzik, Inigo, Humperdink, and Vizini. I think the six-fingered cat is going to be the hardest to find, don't you? ;)

Happy Birthday, ladies!

2011-06-26T23:03:00.007-05:00

Two of my ladies had birthdays this weekend! I hope both of you had AWESOME days, and may your next year be filled with sunshine and pancakes!

I had a bit of fun myself while The Boy was cooking up a storm... He made thai chicken lettuce wraps from scratch, with three sauces, and it was AMAZING. So good. And it was quite the project. He cooked Friday night, started again Saturday morning, and cooked right on through the day, making the wraps and manning the BBQ through until dinner. He was definitely the culinary star of the day.

That said, I attempted a solid runner up position by supplying cupcakes!

I knew I wanted to attempt the Mad Hatter stack of cupcakes above, but I wasn't sure I could manage these cute little guys, too. I was pretty stoked that they turned out so well!

I'm now most of the way through my cupcake decorating book. :) But I think these two are among my very favorites of the cupcakes I've made up to this point.

Unfortunately, they were all so cute that no one wanted to eat them, and they remained intact until it was time to go home... At which time I took them all home with me. :(

But just look how cute they are!

Companion Cube.

2011-06-23T21:42:00.003-05:00

I painted this the other day. Not sure what I'll ever put in it, but it's cute, and I think it'll just live in the Man Cave.

I still haven't played Portal 2, but I plan to, once I have time... I've watched The Boy playing it, and it looks generally entertaining!

Now I'm painting a slightly larger TARDIS box. :) Will post pictures when I'm done!

Chief: Weeks 16-17.

2011-06-23T21:31:00.002-05:00

Let me out of heeeeeeeere!

I'm mentally DONE. I'm sick of being the receptionist, scheduler, nurse, cast tech, surgeon, and clinic physician all in one for the surgical service. I understand this is AWESOME experience, and I've learned a ton: lovely. But I'm tired. I've had a single day off in the last four months, and even then I still had to be available by pager.

I need a vacation. I'd like to have the freedom to drink more than one glass of wine and then fall asleep without the possibility of being woken up by a page. I don't want to wake up at 4:30am on Wednesdays anymore. I haven't slept well on a Tuesday night in four months, because my inner worrier always expects something to go wrong with the alarm. I figure I'll over sleep. In addition, I worry about presenting multiple patients in the morning surgical rounds, as it's generally a forum for my bosses to tear my preparations and assessments to shreds in a somewhat public setting. Wednesdays are Evil.

Except I was just informed that once I'm done with Chief, I'm going to be passed to another service that has just lost ALL residents and I'm going to be Patient Zero in testing out a new rotation for our program. To see if it works, and to see how hard they can possibly push the podiatry resident, and what they can logically expect us to handle without going insane.

So it looks like July is going to be rough as well. I hope they understand that well before this new rotation was a twinkle in their eye I had signed on to the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer and booked tickets to Comic Con! I can't be on call for them ALL MONTH when my vacation days have already been authorized!

Eleven has found her Ten.

2011-06-14T00:01:00.007-05:00

He agreed! We're going as Ten and Eleven!

Or, rather, Short!Ten, and Girly!Eleven. But whatever. :) Those who WOULD recognize us WILL recognize us. Or else just think we're super dedicated hipsters.

And don't worry, we still have the maroon Converse sneakers on order for him. We WILL have them.

So now we've got our outfits for at least one day. We're still working out the details of some other costumes. And we may be adding a third attendee to our little posse, so now we need triplet costumes!

Wesley is not a fan. He thinks Mommy and Daddy are generally ridiculous. Especially when Daddy tries to scan him with the sonic screwdriver.

...Does it matter that he's right? I don't think so. Geeks have the most fun. :)

Also: will it be particularly inappropriate if we kiss each other while in these costumes? Should the Doctor refrain from narcissistic activities? I'm sure there are certain shippers out there who would be all for it, though...

Chief: Week 15.

2011-06-12T19:59:00.005-05:00

I'm nearing the home stretch! Just three more weeks!

This was another week of lots of inpatients (Black Cloud first year resident is back on service), and a wild scramble to reschedule surgery patients due to cancellations and emergency add-ons. But we had a birthday (cupcakes instead of cake!), and we got out nice and early on Friday (due to moving the lecture to late Thursday night).

The Boy comes back tonight from his Boise Ironman! The cat and I will have to accommodate another body in the bed again. I think Westley will have a problem with this. He's been enjoying having a pillow to himself.

Prepping for Comic Con.

2011-06-12T01:29:00.007-05:00

Got one of my costumes all fixed up today! I got a maroon bow tie, and taught myself how to tie it (surprisingly easy).

The rest of the costume came together quite easily, because, amazingly, I already had a jacket with elbow patches, a pink stripe shirt, black pants, and a sonic screwdriver.

I swear I hadn't been planning it, it just worked out. :)

I'm currently trying to convince The Boy that he needs to accompany me as Tennant's Doctor. I've got him the suit jacket, and he's got his own sonic screwdriver. Maroon Converse sneakers have been acquired, and we even have fake black glasses. We just need to figure out how to make his hair defy gravity with a good hair putty and spray. :)

I just can't tell you how proud I am of learning to tie a bow tie in less than 10 minutes!

Speaking of The Boy, he competed in the Boise Ironman 70.3 today! Unfortunately, since the water was 48 degrees F, it froze most of the competitors, and he had to throw in the towel after completing his 1.2 mile swim, and 35 miles of the 56 mile bike. :( Then again, I'm so proud of him that he did what he did, and was safe enough to stop when his body rebelled. There's pushing yourself, and then there's endangering yourself, and I'm glad he stayed safe and quit when he needed to. Love you, babe. Next year you'll kick its butt! (Plus, he's already completed two halves as well as a full Ironman, so it's not like the boy has anything to prove. He's already shown himself to be a BEAST when it comes to these events!)

Now I'm tired, so it's time to let my hair down, undo the bow tie, and put myself to bed. And yes, in case you missed it in the photo above, my phone case is the TARDIS.

(And I'll possibly watch a little more Gilmore Girls before I fall asleep. ...What? Don't look at me like that. It's fun listening to how fast they talk. I'm nearing the end of Season 3, and I still love Dean AND Jess--though I want to punch Jess most of the time--and I can't get over the cuteness of Sookie after seeing her as Megan in Bridesmaids! PLUS: did everyone know Emily Gilmore was Baby's mom in Dirty Dancing?!)

P.S. I know, I'm lame taking pictures of myself in a mirror, but what's a girl to do when The Boy is out of town, and you don't know any of your neighbors?

I have three children and two dogs.

2011-06-05T18:44:00.003-05:00

Due to a family emergency, I inherited my three cousins and two dogs this weekend while their parents attended to other matters. The cousins in question are all ten and under, and two of the three are twins. The two dogs are part poodle, part retriever, and part triple espresso shot.

We've had a pancake breakfast, a successful lunch, and play time at the park. We got dressed appropriately when asked, and we've helped clean up after meals (well, some of us have, but more than I expected). We've had repeated discussions about how Halo, Gears of War, and Mortal Kombat are not appropriate for children to play, and there have been many a pout over the "no PG-13 or R movies" restriction (Die Hard and Kill Bill were most definitely NOT on the menu).

They played nicely with the cat, and are now patiently anticipating dinner, having been told they may not have candy as an afternoon snack while they wait for dinner. They're relatively well-behaved little goobers. :) I think I like them.

And at the same time--even when they're being perfect little angels--goodness they're a lot of work! They need to be watched, and they need to be fed, and then one of them is thirsty, and one needs help putting shoes on, while the other needs help getting shoes off, and I jammed my finger, and she's looking at me funny, and what does "stalker" mean? I'm still planning on having kids, but maybe just not three pre-teens right off the bat. I'm exhausted, and it's only been a day and a half. I have immense respect for their parents right now.

Oh no.

Tomorrow's Monday.

::yawn:: Can I go to bed now?

Chief: Weeks 13-14.

2011-06-04T17:54:00.003-05:00

Week 13 was pretty good... Interesting surgeries, clinics weren't TOO overbooked, and I got a chance to COMPLETELY rearrange the apartment. That was actually the most fun, and I'll post separately about it.

My long weekend--Memorial Day (the only day off I got in four months)--I spent sick as a dog. Head cold, with asthma irritation, and general aches and lethargy. No me gusta. I finished putting together my wedding invitations, made a preliminary table assignment chart for the reception, and organized my wedding centerpieces and took pictures of them all so others can set them up while I'm getting my hair and make-up done. Each table will be named after a hobby or interest of either myself or The Groom, instead of being numbered. The centerpieces are collections of vintage hardcover books about the topic. This is the theatre table. :)

So I ended up getting a lot done... But was still feeling generally terrible by the time Tuesday came along.

Week 14 was lovely, since it was only four days instead of five. We got new students, which made things a bit more hectic, and all of my surgeries decided to cancel on me for Wednesday for one reason or another, so there was quite a frantic shuffle to book people into the slots on short notice.

Since I've got four more weeks until I hand Chief off to Blondie, I've had to write up the preference cards for surgeries, and the schedule, and a how-to manual for her... I'm almost done! Yay! I'm so tired...

Justin Timberlake: Always a Good Idea™.

2011-05-22T23:12:00.006-05:00

I have a theory about Justin Timberlake. I think he's always a good idea. I explained this theory to my sister, who agreed whole-heartedly, and we have begun using his name as short-hand for something worthwhile. "I love this sweater. It's always warm and comfy and goes with everything: it's always a good idea. It's a Justin Timberlake sweater." One day I realized that I always THINK Chipotle is a good idea, and without fail I end up regretting the meal choice a few hours later when my tummy rebels against the burrito bowl. Thus, the term Justin TimberFake was born, used to describe something that SEEMS like it's always a good idea, but NEVER is.

My evidence:

#1: I think his music is fabulous and catchy, and there's never a time when I'm NOT in the mood to listen to his stuff. It's always a good idea. His more recent stuff is awesome, and even his debut solo album can be popped on at any time, and I won't skip to something else. I think it's funny that by the end of *NSYNC's career the band was basically Justin Timberlake and his four male backup singers, because they realized JT was the best thing they had to offer the world. Giving him a solo? Always a good idea.

#2: His work as a featured artist is great, too. He picks the top music makers of the moment and adds AWESOME to one of their tracks. BEP's "Where Is The Love?", Madonna's "4 Minutes", 50 Cent's "Ayo Technology", TI's "Dead And Gone", Ciara's "Love Sex Magic", and Timbaland's "Carry Out". Oh come on. Talk about Midas touch. Shall we feature Justin Timberlake in our next single? Why, yes, I believe that boy is ALWAYS a good idea.

#3: He has been in some kick-ass movies. The Social Network? Nominated for eight Oscars, won three of them, and a whole slew of other awards as well. Wonderful movie. Black Snake Moan? Sammy J, Christina Ricci in almost no clothes, and Justin Timberlake as her emotionally fragile boyfriend. Obviously worth a watch. Alpha Dog? His best performance, and a gripping, crazy movie even without his contribution. See this if you haven't. Are you seeing a trend yet? If Justin is in the movie, it's going to be a good idea.

#4: Saturday Night Live. Musical guest? Good idea. Host? Good idea. Digital short or anything else featuring Andy Samberg? Good idea. This season's finale was pure comedy gold. Go check it out on Hulu or NBC.com if you missed it.

#5: Pictures of him. The boy is gorgeous. Even LOOKING at him is always a good idea.

See?

Chief: Week 12.

2011-05-22T00:48:00.002-05:00

I'm so tired of this! Goodness. I had to call Mutti and have her talk to me for the last 10 minutes of my drive home on Thursday because I was afraid I'd fall asleep, and when I made it home on Friday I fell asleep immediately on the couch for two hours... Woke up again in time for dinner, but fell asleep again afterward, and I don't even remember Fiance moving me from the couch to the bed around 1am. And I slept all the way through to 11am! That's 16 hours total!

And I need to start training the next chief! She'll start in six weeks, and I need to write out an updated How To guide for her... the paperwork associated with this job alone can drive an unprepared person to self-harm.

Tomorrow is the graduation party for the residents who are heading out into the world, which is kind of bittersweet: I'm going to miss them! D, I wish I could keep you, and wherever you end up is going to be SO lucky to have you!!

For posterity.

2011-05-16T00:27:00.002-05:00

The problem with Facebook is that the stuff you post on your wall is fleeting, and there's no good way to look back at what you said two years ago... Hence my adamant refusal to stop blogging. It's more of a chronicle of events for me than anything. I like looking back at 2008 and laughing at my funny posts... At some point, I'll look back at this and (hopefully) laugh at this post, too. If I fail to see the humor in this a few years down the line, let me remind you, Future!Me, we thought this was cute at the time. :)

Doctor Who 6x04 The Doctor's Wife

2011-05-15T19:39:00.005-05:00

Fabulous episode! When we went to WonderCon to see the Doctor Who panel, Neil Gaiman was one of the panelists (he wrote the episode). We got to see a sneak peak at it, and I was SO excited to see the full thing. It didn't disappoint! It wasn't as tear-inducing for me as UBV thought, but having Idris' soul get sucked back into the TARDIS where she can no longer speak to her Doctor tugged a bit at my heart strings. What a wonderful idea! And she truly should be thought of as the Doctor's wife--she's the woman he's been faithful to throughout his life, and would choose above all else. I'm so glad they got that chance to bond in a verbal, more corporeal way. :)

And bond they did--I'm quite impressed with the chemistry they had once left alone in the Little Soap Bubble Universe. Her ironic question was adorable: "Are all humans like this?" "Like what?" "Bigger on the inside?" I also loved the fact that he called her sexy, and she thought that was her name. So cute when he got all bashful about it: he only calls her sexy "when we're alone..." "We ARE alone." "Well, then, come on, sexy!"

And did anyone else feel that Idris was very Helena Bonham Carter-esque?

Not that she was the only impressive one. I thought I disliked Rory, but the little twerp has grown on me. I quite enjoy the actor who plays him--Arthur Darvill--and thought he was very impressive in this episode during his moments as Aging!Rory, furious at Amy for leaving him alone again. Karen Gillan was equally good, and I didn't feel like the story suffered when we would cut away from the Doctor to see what new horror the House had dreamed up to torment the happy couple with.

Also? Can't tell you how much I laughed at Rory being the pretty one. Very cute. But the biggest burst of laughter came from the little piece flying off the rebuilt TARDIS console after they'd finished it. Hysterical. And last great line of the episode: the awesome Doctor retort to the House. "Fear me. I've killed dozens of Time Lords." "Fear ME. I've killed all of them."

Now... unanswered questions:

Was that Tennant's TARDIS? I thought it was dismantled? Do we get an explanation for that?
The only water in the forest is the river. I'm thinking that's River Song, and when she "died" in 4x09 Forest of the Dead, she was uploaded into the library main frame. So she is now the River in the forest. Right? But why do they need to know that, and when do we get to see them use the information?
Not in this episode, but still a question: can someone tell me what's going on with the Amy pregnancy? Positive, negative, positive, negative, positive, negative...

Chief: Week 11.

2011-05-15T11:44:00.003-05:00

An eventful--and relatively fun!--week!

Most annoying part of the week: I had set up a very topical journal club that pertained to two of the surgeries we were doing this week. A trauma came in, and I had to cancel both of those (elective) surgeries, and fit in the fracture. Unfortunately, that patient arrived for surgery on drugs, so they had to be canceled, too. By the time journal club rolled around that night, everyone asked me why I'd picked the topic I did: "Because we had two patients with this problem today!" No we didn't. "Oh, I had to cancel them so we could fit in a trauma case." What trauma case? "Oh.... um, I canceled that one, too." I looked a little scatter-brained. :(

And remember back in Week 1 when I said I had a little wart under the ball of my foot, and I was going to get rid of it before I finished my stint as Chief? Well, I dutifully underwent liquid nitrogen freezing every week for six weeks, and all it did was make the thing angry, and somehow bigger. (This is not typical--I believe it didn't respond to the freezing treatments because it was on the ball of my foot embedded in a thick callus). So when our department got a new toy (hyfrecater--basically an electro-cautery unit), I volunteered to be a teaching case so the bosses could teach the students and other residents how to use one. I'd used them several times as a student, so I knew what I was getting myself into...

Unfortunately, my bosses do such fabulous local nerve blocks that six hours later, when it was time to go home, my foot was STILL completely numb. My RIGHT foot. My DRIVING foot. And I live 35 miles away from work. All family members and co-workers otherwise occupied, no-one able to come get me... I finally found a safe way home, but as I went to sleep that night, ten hours later, my foot was still asleep. Completely. If I ever need surgery, I want THESE guys to do the anesthesia. Best nerve block EVER. :)

And that wart is NOT coming back. :) These hyfrecaters are awesome. Barely hurts anymore, either. Took ibuprofen twice, then stopped--no need for pain medication! (That said, everyone reacts to pain differently, so I don't want to tout this as a completely pain-free procedure.) It's healing nicely, too. Sometimes I forget what young, healthy, well-vascularized skin can do when injured! I spend so much of my time treating unhealthy patients with poor immune systems and no blood flow!

AND: Happy birthday to Psyrixx! My love, my one, my only... Congratulations. You're super old.

Shall I pick up some denture cream when I go grocery shopping next?

Adult diapers?

And do I need to remind you to apply for your AARP card now? Your memory just isn't what it used to be... ;)

Wedding hairstyles.

2011-05-06T19:24:00.012-05:00

Trying to choose... Tonight I'm having a Girl's Night In with Sister-in-Law-to-be, H-Ko (honorary Sister-in-Law-to-be), and their BFF, my wedding hairstylist. The purpose: figure out what the hell I'm going to do with this MOUNTAIN of hair I've amassed.

I actually TOTALLY want to cut it off. Bob the hell out of it. I cut my hair and donate every three years or so, and this past October was three years. But I've been told by my mother, sister, and most other women in my family that this is an offense punishable by death until after the wedding, SO...

How should I put it up?

It's too hot to leave down (besides, if it'd down and we attempt to curl it, it'll be straight again VERY quickly and have a flacid, sad look to it before I even say I do...), and I've always wanted one of those massive, vintage updos... Not prom curls, but a sleek, vintage look. I can't do that to myself. That said, I don't want to look costumey. I don't want it to look like I'm a cartoon.

Plus, this large of a hairstyle is going to get HEAVY. I don't want a headache by the end of the night. I don't want my hairline to recede because it's being pulled out and thinned by the weight of my hair...

The other problem being my part: I don't have bangs because of two ill-placed cowlicks (thanks, Mother Nature), and when my hair is pulled straight back from my face, it tends to look very severe. I don't want to look like a librarian on my wedding day.

I also might be overthinking this. I tend to overthink stuff.

Ah well. I'll take lots of photos tonight, and hopefully we'll come up with a workable style that satisfies all requirements!

And the day after the wedding, I'm chopping it.

Chief: Weeks 9-10.

2011-05-06T19:05:00.003-05:00

Last week was a little rough. Mostly because I feel like I put in a lot of work and didn't get much in return. On Monday I was (politely) volunteered by my superiors to help out at what I thought was a career fair the following Monday. Speak about podiatry with undergraduate college students, answer questions, etc. I thought there would be a booth. I thought it would be low key. I was told there would be no formal presentations involved on my part.

Friday I find out that it's a conference of college career advisors, there were going to be 500 of them, and "if you could send me your 45 minute power point presentation by Sunday night, that would be great."

Wait, what?

Not wanting to disappoint, I worked hard on a presentation highlighting the great things about podiatry, and stressing the reasons undergraduate kids might be interested in the field. I'm not wild about public speaking (I love teaching, but I'm still not completely comfortable talking formally to 5-10 people at a time, let alone 500), so I stressed a little, since my Type A personality really wouldn't let me take this in stride...

Monday I kicked butt at work and got everything on my schedule done in time to leave early and head to the conference, where...

...no one came to the talk.

Apparently I'm in a more unpopular profession than I thought. Out of 500, one person showed up for my second session. For over an hour my coresidents (who came with me in an amazing show of solidarity--I was SO grateful) and I sat and chit-chatted with a local podiatrist who was also there to talk. Safe to say we were all pretty disappointed, but the silver lining was that I very much enjoyed the company for that hour, and I got to go home a little earlier than I normally would on a Monday. :)

So, safe to say this week started off a little rocky, but things evened out eventually. We have five students this month, which is awesome: last month we only had one (who rocked, and worked VERY hard for us), and we were stretched a little thin. Now we've got a whole army of students! Very nice.

Highlight of the week was surgery on Wednesday, which went very well, and two of the procedures in particular I was VERY happy with. I tried to express to an attending how proud I was regarding the outcome and timing of the surgeries, and he said, "You know, you shouldn't be telling this story: the Surgery Gods are listening, and the next time you go in to remove a 'straightforward' foreign body, you're going to end up fishing around in there for two hours before you find it." :(

Oh well. I'm still proud. :)

Doctor Who 6x01 The Impossible Astronaut

2011-04-24T22:32:00.001-05:00

Hmm, I can see why Joy said she wasn't as impressed as everyone else... BUT I think it was an awesome Part 1 episode, and the Doctor Who convention is a solid, establishing Part 1 leading up to an AMAZING Part 2. Always happens. So I'm waiting with baited breath for next week. :)

I very much adore the play between the Doctor and River: "River! Make it blue again!!" Every time she calls him Sweetie it's perfect, and her coy sexual innuendos never get old. Her "I'm quite the screamer" reference was cute--very nice in an episode with a bad guy based on Munch's painting of the same name.

So this all begs the question: when does River meet the Doctor? As the "impressionable young girl"? Which one is HER Doctor? We're on number eleven, and there can only be thirteen total. If we just watched the Doctor die--REALLY die--then this one must be hers.

WHO IS IN THE ASTRONAUT SUIT? Who kills the Doctor? Himself? River? Amy? Can't be River or she'd remember doing it... right? She's obviously River-prior-to-the-library at this point, so maybe she's in the suit, knows she's supposed to show up and kill him, and... nope, my brain is too full of other stuff to work this out without more hints. I don't have enough space in my hardrive for this kind of complex math.

Mark Sheppard's a little faulty with the accent. If they were going to have an American character, there are plenty of actual American actors to choose from. Hell, they could have picked one up while they were THERE. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy, but I don't see (yet?) why his character is someone we should be excited about.

Best line from the episode: "...a pot of coffee, twelve jammie dodgers, and a FEZ." ::wiggly fingers::

Munch's The Scream monsters were definitely scary. I liked them. It looks like they get even scarier next episode. All we saw them do today was suck the life out of Joy and explode her. Poor Joy. (Nice special effects, though.) Real!Joy: I'm quite jealous. I'm still waiting for Doctor Who to feature a character with MY name. Only show I've seen so far with a Me!Character was Lost, and she was pretty minor. :(

On to next week! :)

Chief: Week 8.

2011-04-22T21:39:00.004-05:00

Woot! Almost half way done. Eight down, nine more to go.

Several emergency surgeries this week, but thankfully none after hours. Unfortunately, I think that's going to happen tomorrow--we've got someone added on. This means missing one of the family Easter dinners, which is a super bummer, but comes with the territory. Hopefully the case can be done quickly (for my sake, but more importantly, for the poor patient's sake!), and my Easter plans can remain intact.

I feel so bad for the patients admitted over holidays... Or their birthdays! It's never fun to be in the hospital, especially when you're as sick as most of my guys are. Add to that the inability to celebrate (or worship) with friends and family on holidays and things look decidedly gloomier. :(

On a happier note, I was given roses this week by a patient's wife! She said she was thankful I was her husband's doctor, because not only was I sweet and patient, but she felt I wasn't going to let her husband get away with anything, and she appreciated my aggressive stance on post-op behavior on his part. :) Gorgeous red roses from her own garden, and they smelled AMAZING. The kind of aroma that rose-scented stuff has, and you think, "That's not what roses smell like..." but you're used to the grocery store kind grown in hothouses... These roses smell like REAL roses. They made my day. :) Actually, I'd say they made my whole week!

Chief: Week 7.

2011-04-20T22:51:00.004-05:00

Showed up for the surgeries on Thursday at 715am, ready for the 730 start time, as per usual.

...The cases didn't start til 10.

I was super careful not to park under the tree that is shedding all of its leaves, lest I get build-up on my car that would make it even dirtier than it already is.

...A UFO smashed my windshield on the freeway and necessitated a trip to the repair shop.

This is how my week went. Nothing HORRIBLE, just a bunch of "Really? I mean, come on, Universe, REALLY??" moments. Made me want to take out my frustrations on the world Scott-Pilgrim-style, with animation and kung-fu moves.

But then the weekend came, and not only did I get to hang out with my lil sister, but she brought me cookies, I got to hike Mt. Tamalpias (haven't done that before), and had a taco night with her and a friend of hers on Sunday night, complete with Dance Central on XBox!

So it was a good weekend. Unfortunately, a few activities were cut short, but all in all, I got good meals, and fun times with friends! First time in almost two months that I'd been able to go out! Thanks, Eggy. :)

So... I know Mt. Tamalpais isn't Alcatraz, but I was on a big rock, so it seemed relatively appropriate to pose thusly.

I now have an incredible urge to watch The Rock. :)

Chief: Week 6.

2011-04-10T22:27:00.004-05:00

Oof. Another tough week: by Friday I was definitely happy it was over.

...Except it wasn't.

Saturday morning I got a page: there was a patient suspicious for a massive foot infection that the general surgery service had already seen. They passed him to us, recommending emergency surgery as treatment. An emergency surgery THAT DAY. Okay, sure, no problem. The first year resident on call was already on her way in, so I jumped in my car to provide back up. By the time I got to the hospital, the OR had been notified, and the estimate was...

One to five hours.

Can't you narrow that down?? One to five? Are we closer to one, or to five? If it's one, I'll stay. If it's five, I'm going to go run errands. If it's more than five, I'll go home and come back.

So we stayed... Thankfully there are computers with internet access in the resident room, as well as a big TV with a DVD player. First up was Down With Love, and when the movie ended and we hadn't heard from the OR, we called for an update...

An hour and a half.

Okay, that's fine, we'll start the next movie. Love Actually. When that ended and we still hadn't heard a confirmation time from the OR, we called back...

An hour and a half.

Grr. Okay, we can't call in the attending surgeon until we hear that the room is empty and being cleaned for our case. So we started French Kiss. Up until this point, I'd been regularly complaining on Twitter, so that I could obnoxiously share my pain and frustration with the world. Because if I was going to suffer, you all were going to, too.

Can we go NOW? It's been eight hours!!

An hour and a half.

Oh, for the love of.... Fine. Last movie available: Over The Hedge.

Finally, at NINE-THIRTY PM we finally get the call, and get to head over to the OR. We did what needed to be done (I'll spare you the gory details), and I was on my way home by 10:45pm. Walked in the door at 11:30pm, to the glorious smell of my fabulous fiance's gourmet dinner stylings: beef bourguinion, creamy mashed potatoes, and fresh salad with homemade dressing, with a glass of merlot.

Thank goodness for fiances!

Me vs. the Salsa Can.

2011-04-04T20:44:00.003-05:00

'Twas an epic war that was waged over the course of several battles, spanning the entirety of the clinic day. A glorious victory was obtained by yours truly by the time I went home. :)

So here's the backstory: several weeks ago a large can of salsa came to our clinic. I'm not clear on who brought it in, exactly, but it was a massive can of it--something that weighs 17 pounds and is bought at Costco to feed an entire class of middle schoolers on Taco Tuesday. Almost a foot tall, and approximately eight inches in diameter. A beast.

I wanted in. But, of course, we had no can opener, and no chips, so after several weeks of staring it down during each clinic day, I remembered to bring in two bags of chips and a can opener. The problem: my beau, in his infinite and snotty kitchen wisdom, recently replaced my (perfectly good) old can opener with a newfangled device that not only looks like a piece of modern art, but is about as useful as one. You might need a degree in rocket science to actually figure out how to use it properly.

Let me back up a bit. We got a new pair of students today. Our last pair, who we loved and adored, moved on to their next post, and we got two new ones today, both of whom are polite, and smart, and willing to work, which is awesome (especially after Match, when most students need a serious attitude adjustment, because they assume once they have a residency program they can stop doing anything useful at work). As soon as I finished giving them an orientation tour, I began my Initial Assault on The Can.

I could keep the opener attached for only a few centimeters at a time, and I was trying to see patients all day, too... The students watched me quizzically between patients as I would attack the can again momentarily, swearing under my breath at it. Eventually I got 3/5 of the rim of the can open, and got one finger under the rim--only to have it snap back down, spraying my torso with salsa. Which, in my line of work, makes my next patient assume I just murdered someone and didn't bother to clean the blood spatter off my chest.

Eventually I realized I am not a monkey, and have multiple tools at my disposal, and the students were probably not going to respect me in the morning if I continued smacking the can with the can opener and yelling at it. Utilizing a (sterile, pre-packaged) curette and osteotome, I triumphed, and snapped off the lid.

Never has salsa tasted so glorious.

Problem: this is near the end of the day at this point, and I need to package this thing up so we can enjoy it tomorrow. The lid can no longer be reapplied, I have no tupperware, and it's not transportable enough for me to set it in my car and take it home. I need to get it in the fridge, but how?

I found a gallon plastic ziploc that someone had brought cookies in last Friday, so I consumed the last cookie and slipped the bag over the can. Not big enough to go all the way around, so now it's sitting on top, like some kind of morbid, can-asphyxiating torture hood. I needed to seal it. A roll of athletic tape later, and it was air-tight and ready for the fridge!

I turned around, to find the students watching me curiously. "Yeah, I know. You're both going to go home, sign on to Facebook, and update your status to 'OMG. Most ghetto residency. EVER.'"

WonderCon 2011.

2011-04-03T18:00:00.010-05:00

So much fun! Granted, the title of the post should be "Doctor Who panel at WonderCon 2011," as that was the only part of the whole convention I was able to attend. On Saturday I was going to hit a Firefly lecture by some anthropologists discussing how it is an interesting mirror for the U.S. Civil War and how fringe societies operate after societal upheaval (I know, right?? Awesome!!!), but I had to be in three places at once, and the lecture had to be missed. Ah well.

SO. Must tell you about the panel. :D

Firstly, all four gentlemen were LOVELY. Absolutely charming. Funny, and gracious, and all massive Who fans. Those are my favorites: when the people who write and produce the show, and the actors ON the show are all fans from before this current gig.

Mark Sheppard said he jumped 35 feet in the air when offered the script, and couldn't say yes fast enough. (Also funny: when introducing him, Chris Hardwick added, "And really, why don't you just guest star on EVERY great science fiction TV show EVER??") Neil Gaiman talked about growing up loving the series, as did Toby Haynes, who said he hated to read and wasn't very good at it growing up, and the first book he read cover to cover without assistance was a Doctor Who book--the Daleks and monsters on the cover drew him right in. And of course Chris Hardwick (The Nerdist), was an awesome moderator, and quite the knowledgable fan, so all our questions got asked immediately through him. At one point he mentioned Neil Gaiman had the entire fourth episode on a thumb drive on his person at that very moment, and offered to hold him down while the audience searched his pockets for it. :)

But goodness gracious, some of the fans there have definitely broken from reality. My friends think I'M dorky when it comes to this stuff... No. I'm a functioning member of society. Some people when they first meet me would never even guess I'm as big a nerd as I am. I play it pretty straight. There were people at this panel who acted (not even going to comment on how they looked) like they had never held a conversation with another member of the human race before.

Couldn't ask for a sweeter bunch of people, though!

Lots of costumes: tons of fezzes, mostly Elevens and Tens, and a few sprinklings of Fives... was hoping to see a Two, but no such luck. Got my picture taken with an Eleven and his Amy bride, as well as a Five. My favorite was definitely the weeping angel, though, who would stand for minutes, still, letting people take pictures, and when someone got too close, taking a picture next to him, he'd shift and lunge at them. Great fun. He was kind enough to throttle me for my photo op. Very obliging monster, he was. The best was his entrance: he just sort of appeared. Suddenly he was just THERE, along one wall, next to an R2D2. A faraway shriek was heard across the ballroom: "Someone keep their eyes on him!!"

Best quote of the panel: Neil Gaiman explaining what he tells people when they ask if they need to know the full history of Who before they start as new viewers. "People think they need to know the first 47 years of Doctor Who to understand what's going on, but I say, listen: there's a blue box, and it's bigger on the inside. It can go anywhere in time and space, and occasionally even where it's SUPPOSED to go... And when it's there, bad stuff sometimes happens, but inside there's this bloke called the Doctor who comes out and he does his best to set things right. And he usually does, because he's AWESOME." ::audience cheers:: "Now, sit down, shut up, and watch Blink." ::audience goes nuts::

Chief: Week 5.

2011-04-03T17:59:00.003-05:00

Wow. Rough one.

Survived, but this week hasn't been my favorite so far. Not delving into my personal stuff, but on top of everything, I did full pre-op history and physical exams on EIGHT patients for our surgery day on Wednesday (this represents a large chunk of time and effort, as I spend an hour to an hour and a half on each of these pre-op exams). Five of them canceled! I only had three surgeries.

For those of you out there considering elective surgery in the future, please understand that when we say if you fail a drug screening your surgery will be canceled, WE MEAN IT. Swearing up and down that you're clean doesn't magically clear your urine of the evidence, and it tends to waste everyone's time. Also? If we've booked you for surgery, please show up. It's the polite thing to do.

The week ended on a high note though, with a great journal club (if I do say so myself), and a full breakfast in the residents' work room before clinic--we ate like kings all morning! Everyone brought in a breakfast food (pancake batter, eggs, bacon, sausage, etc), and someone brought in a grill, so we just made everything right in the office! Worked great, and kept the energy up all morning. Only bad thing about Friday was that we had to say goodbye to our two student interns who were both on their way to their next gig after a month with us. :( We'll miss you!

The weather also improved enough that I was able to sit in the sun by the pool and read after work on Friday! Couldn't have been more pleasant. The perfect end to the day was having my beau cancel his ironman training in favor of spending some quality time with me--he took me to dinner at PF Changs. Nothing tops a fiance-and-lettuce-wraps-combo. :)

Battlestar Galactica S4.

2011-03-26T14:52:00.003-05:00

Oof, this one was wild. But awesome. After the triumphant return to greatness in Season 3, Season 4 didn't disappoint, per se, but it definitely didn't match its predecessor.

I think the element I liked best this season was the internal conflict that eventually led to civil war between the cylon models. It's intriguing to see some of the individual cylons break from their line's choices, and I'm happy that some of them were willing to begin working with the human race in order to start fresh on Earth. Now that they can die, it's a whole new ballgame, and I find myself VERY invested in the outcome.

Cally died! That was a tough one to watch. Obviously there was going to be major issues between her and Chief--you can't expect the wife of a former resistance leader to just roll over and accept it when she finds out her husband is actually ONE OF THEM. But I just about jumped into the screen and strangled Tory Foster when she killed her. They set her character up nicely: her eventual, inevitable betrayal to side with the cylons was very believable. She makes a good pseudo-villain.

There were several down-sides to this season for me, the first being the heaviness of religion, though it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. It was worked in well, and while it got preachy at times, it was necessary: that's the whole point of Gaius' character now. The other aspect that made me squirm a little was that we had to endure watching patients die of cancer. It hit close to home, and I didn't like it purely for that reason. Just made me uncomfortable. The last aspect I didn't like was Starbuck's mental derangement as she searched for her way back to Earth. I like Starbuck as a hero, not as a shell of a woman. I need some quality time with her as a star before the show ends, please. Let her character go out on a high note.

I'm so glad they finally found Earth, but now what? We've definitely got some dissenting opinions within the ranks, and the hostile cylon models aren't going to stop... Hmm.

Chief: Week 4.

2011-03-26T14:33:00.005-05:00

Goodness, this one felt longer than the last three.

This was my last week with the previous chief resident on service with me, so from now on I'll be Chieffing without a safety net. True, it's more physically dangerous for me, but it makes the audience go wild. :)

Hours were somewhat extended this week, and our head Doctors are dropping like flies (illness, maternity leave, vacations, weddings), but my pinched nerve stayed settled for most of the time, so that was a blessing. Yesterday my trapezius decided to re-alert me to its presence, so that sucked. I think I might be spending each weekend in my Cone Of Shame for the foreseeable future.

Not only are we going to Comic Con in San Diego this year, but this week we got tickets for Wonder Con, too! It's in San Fran, and while the majority of it doesn't interest us at all, there's a panel on Doctor Who that we really want to see... Plus, an anthropology lecture using Firefly as a way to discuss the Civil War and cultures marginalized by internal societal conflicts. Sounds super boring to most people, but I'm totally jazzed about it. :) I think finding little things each weekend makes the week pass faster. Also next weekend: our official tasting for the wedding reception menu!

Speaking of the wedding, the invites arrived this week, and while I've got FOREVER until I need to address than and send them out, I'm happy that they're done. Goodness knows I have no time to be trying to design them now!

Okay, I'm so exhausted that even though I just got up, I'm considering a nap right now. Next up: Mutti's birthday tomorrow! HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY! <3

Chief: Week 3.

2011-03-19T20:05:00.003-05:00

Last year I had some major issues with a trapezius spasm, and after switching my pillow, taking muscle relaxants for a weekend, and doing nothing but lying still on my back for the better part of three days straight, it finally calmed down.

This week is the Broadway revival of the critically acclaimed 2010 smash hit musical My Flare Lady, the story of a young, lower class woman who has to deal with a flare-up of her chronic back muscle spasms. You might recall such hits as, "Get Me To The Couch On Time", "I've Become Accustomed To Her Pain", "With A Little Bit O' Drugs", "I'm An Ornery Woman", and my personal favorites, "I Could Have Danced All Night, But My Back Was Too Sore", and "The Pain And Strain Come Mainly From My Spine".

Okay, I'm a massive dork. Get over it.

But in all seriousness, it makes it a little difficult to be a productive, functioning member of the clinic when your neck, shoulder, and upper back are screaming from spasms, and you need to have fine motor skills for suturing, strength to lift the legs of anesthetized patients, and the ability to bend and crouch to perform biomechanical exams of your patient in their natural base of gait. ::sigh::

The working diagnosis is a pinched nerve somewhere in my cervical spine, which has been aggravated by hunching at a computer, sleeping with my neck in unusual positions, and overall stress through my shoulders. My wonderful mother, having recently discovered how hysterical it is to put a cone of shame on her dog, figured the same thing would work for her daughter: I've been in a soft collar for the last 24 hours. And, actually, it seems to be working. I still need to hold still and not attempt to lift stuff with my right arm, but I feel better today than I did during the last three days. Sleeping on the couch also helps, which is weird--most people get a crick in their back from spending the night on the couch instead of their bed... apparently I'm the other way around. :)

::brandishes a fist at the sky:: But with God as my witness, I shall never be painful again!!

Or, at the very least, be functional on Monday. :)

Chief: Week 2.

2011-03-11T22:43:00.003-06:00

Another one bites the dust!

Had an awesome week! We've got some great students right now, so it's a pleasure working with them, and even hanging around after hours to do didactic stuff is fun in its own way. I don't mind the amount of administrative work the job entails, and The Book (the scheduling calendar for surgeries and surgical clinic appointments) isn't as horrendous as I thought it would be... Granted, I'm only two weeks in. After four months I'm probably going to hate it.

My main issue right now is gas prices--we're at $4.05/gallon right now, and having to drive an hour to and from work is killing my budget. My gas card has taken a MASSIVE hit recently.

But on a happier note, I had a great Saturday: I took my flower girl, flower boy, and ring bearer (my cousins) to see Rango tonight. It was good, but definitely weird. They loved it, and quoted it all the way back to the car. My favorite part of the Cousin Date was the ride home, though: they all love Katy Perry and Lady Gaga, so we had a top-of-our-voice sing-along in the car after the movie. :) At seven and ten years old, they know all the words! It was a little disconcerting.

This next week at work is going to be a little uglier, though, since tomorrow morning Daylight Savings Time kicks into effect. This means getting up at 4:40am on Wednesday will feel like 3:40am. That's just WRONG.

But, exciting: we have Match on Monday, and we find out who we get for our next three first year residents! We're all waiting, our breath baited in antici--

....

....

....

--pation! :)

I'm making a dress!

2011-03-08T22:22:00.004-06:00

I want a nice, calm, purring bundle of warm right now, not a fuzz rocket attempting to break land speed records from one end of the apartment to another. My cat's crazy needs to take a holiday. Just get out of town for a few hours. Have some time for itself. The cat should stay, but the crazy should go. It can come back later when I don't have to get up at 4:40 in the morning the next day, and I'm currently trying to get some sleep.

In unrelated news, I've started a project with my mom. Last weekend I was at a fabric store that was having MASSIVE store closing sales... They had dress patterns for $0.25, and if you've ever bought a dress pattern, you know that's a steal. Eight for two dollars. I bought a zillion, just to have them--I mean, they were practically free. I bought over a hundred dollars worth of patterns and paid less than six bucks for them. The fabric was also all dirt cheap, so I picked the easiest pattern--a sundress--and bought a couple yards of two different fabrics so I could make myself something to wear once the nice weather arrives.

Of course, I'm great at hemming pants, but MAKING a whole DRESS? Time to call in reinforcements. Enter Mommy Sew-Master 3000, the most badass seamstress you can hope to have on your side of the fight against crime (well, crimes of fashion, that is). We quickly realized after spreading out the sundress pattern that not only had I bought the large size pattern (women's sizes 18-22), but we had not bought enough fabric for it. We were short a half yard. Never fear, we fixed it. (I think, knock wood.) Using all her sewing know-how and a bit of my plastic surgery flap intuition, we altered the pattern down to a size that will not, as Mutti put it, look like a muumuu on me. (If you know me, you know I'm not a size "22"--I'm a size "scrawny".)

We've cut all the fabric pieces, and now I just have to wait for her to get back from Spring Training this weekend, and we'll put it all together next Tuesday! I'll post a picture of the finished product, assuming it doesn't make us look like complete morons. :) Thank you for teaching me the finer points of sewing, Mutti! I'm having a blast!

Chief: Week 1.

2011-03-05T10:47:00.004-06:00

I made it! One week down, 17 more to go. :)

My poor co-resident is the blackest cloud imaginable... I empathize, because I had all the midnight ER admissions when I was a first year on call, too. One of our OTHER co-residents never admitted anyone from the ER after hours in her entire stint on primary call as a first or second year. How is that POSSIBLE? I had a run of six in five days last year, and most of my other admissions were similarly timed. :( Thankfully on second call it's not mandatory that I go in for the after-hours emergency surgeries, as long as the first call resident has it under control, so I got an extra four hours of sleep on Thursday morning.

Anyway, the hours are generally still as terrible as first year: Wednesdays I'll have to be up at 4:40am to get to work on time, and this week I didn't leave for home until after 8pm. But the day goes quickly, because you're busy, and you're working with awesome people. Nurses, co-residents, other staff--all total sweethearts, and we all take turns randomly surprising the clinic by bringing in cookies, or snacks, or bagel breakfasts. It makes for a pretty decent work environment.

Don't want to jinx myself yet, and I'm knocking on wood as I say this, but this whole Chief thing might be pretty manageable. :)

Westley "Finishes The Site".

2011-03-03T23:21:00.003-06:00

Psyrixx was flabbergasted when--after only working on it for fifteen minutes--Westley managed to completely Finish The Site.

Guys: am I insane?

2011-03-01T22:05:00.005-06:00

I need the opinion of all the guys I know (and, hell, those I don't know). As well as the ladies. Are polo shirts on men "formal wear"? Not in the sense of tuxedos and stuff, but if you put on a polo shirt, are you "dressed up"? More than casual?

What level of dress is appropriate for various occasions? This is coming from a girl who views fashion as art. I don't expect anyone to be as crazy as me (hey, some people enjoy arranging flowers, I enjoy arranging clothes; so sue me), but isn't there a level of personal pride that comes with stepping out of your house to go meet friends in clean clothes that fit you?

There are "work" clothes, and "not work" clothes, right? If I arrived to your home for dinner in dirty scrubs, that wouldn't be cool. Just like it would be odd and uncomfortable if--on a weekend when you weren't at work--you showed up to a casual dinner in a business suit. Odd.

So where do clean jeans and a polo shirt fit in? For guys? Is it "vanity" to wear clean clothes that are appropriate to the occasion? Like wearing deodorant, is it just good grooming? Or should you be able to show up in stains, or tears, or even kinda smelly, because these are your friends and they should like you for who you are and not how you look? Where is the line drawn? If you change before going to dinner, is that vanity? Are you just bowing to societal constraints and "rules" that are antiquated and unnecessary? Is taking pride in your personal appearance a 1950s value that has only been maintained by snobby elitists?

Seriously, opinions, please.

Sewing projects, Glee, and movies.

2011-02-27T12:59:00.006-06:00

Finally my scrubs will all be long enough! Well, most of them. I can't do anything about the official scrubs that I get from the machine at work when I have to be in their OR.

I spent yesterday ripping the hems out of all my (personal) scrubs and attaching scraps of fabric to the bottom of them. When you're 5' 7" and 5' 2" of that is leg, this is what you have to resort to.

Shout out to Joann's Fabrics, which provided super cheap scraps of colorful material to make my new hems. I kept thinking all day about the latest Brittany quote on Glee: "Does anyone know what an anthem is?" "The bottom of an ant's pants?" Almost as good as the principal announcing that the Glee club was going to perform the hits "Tick, and also Tock, by artist Kee-dollar-sign-hah." (Which, BTW, has been one of my favorite performances this season.)

Also watched the documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop, which I liked, and Starship Troopers, which was not nearly as bad as I remembered it being. I recommend the first if you haven't seen it. I still think you can skip the second. :)

Funny thing: I re-hemmed several pairs of the boy's pants the other day, taking three inches off the bottom so he doesn't step on his pants all the time. I should have saved the fabric, because three inches was the average length I needed to apply to the bottom of MY pants to make them long enough. Yin and yang. Who needs more proof that we're each other's perfect compliments? ;)

Westley and the weather.

2011-02-27T11:23:00.003-06:00

Westley is still the cutest thing on four legs, and has settled into life at our apartment quite nicely. I love having a kitty! Unfortunately, my sinuses do not. This doesn't mean I have to give him up, though, I'm just on a daily regimen of anti-allergy meds, and I wake up more often that not sounding like I have a cold.

Totally worth it. :D I love my little man.

There's nothing better than snuggling up on the couch with a book (or boring paperwork), and having him jump up next to me with a "Mer-OW!" to announce his arrival. He spins around for a minute looking for a good spot, and inevitably chooses to lie down on my (or Rob's) chest, staring at us adoringly, and completely blocking whatever we were working on.

And the snow? What happened to the snow? I was looking forward to quality snuggle time with the cat, watching the flakes fall outside my window. No such luck. The snuggling still happened, of course, but nary a flake was seen. It's been colder than hell here (wait, hell's supposed to be hot; bad analogy), but it's been all blue skies and sunshine for the past 72 hours. It rained just long enough for our pre-wedding engagement photo shoot to be canceled, and then got beautiful again. Thanks, Mother Nature. You better deliver on the date we rescheduled for, or I'm going to stop recycling.

OK, empty threat.

Starting Chief: Week 0.

2011-02-24T22:31:00.006-06:00

Every resident in our program gets to be Chief Resident--since there are only three of us each year, we get to rule for four months during our second year. You don't "win" or "earn" the spot, it's more a horrible, slogging, paperwork-laden rite of passage.

I start on Monday.

I'm looking forward to it a little: I enjoy our attendings enough that I've missed them over the last eight months (I've been at different surgery centers and on outside rotations). I like working with other residents, and this will be a slightly more social rotation than my last few.

However, I'm also dreading it. Wednesday mornings I'm going to have to get up at 4:40am just to make it to work on time. Every other day will be 5:40am wake-ups. I'm not going to get home until 8pm most nights. I'm a sleepaholic. This will be difficult.

I've been training this week, and while I'm not entirely up to speed, my lovely co-resident has been very patient; she set things up nicely for me to slide in and take over after this weekend. I've put in some pretty long days the last two days, and while it's true that I haven't taken over the full job and all the work it entails, I feel pretty good about how things have gone, and haven't even minded the long days--instead I feel strangely satisfied with how productive I've been. :)

Rather than four months, I find thinking about it in terms of "weeks" is nicer. Eighteen weeks to go. I can manage that. One week at a time. :)

**Addendum: My co-resident and I decided to cure each other of our warts by the time I'm done as Chief. Weekly liquid nitrogen treatments should get rid of these things pretty quick, but we're going to race and see which one goes first. We're both big babies, so I shoot the spray can at her, and she screams, and then she shoots me back, and I scream. Totally fair. I'm hoping mine's gone by April, since it's tiny. Then again, they're both tiny, and might be mistaken for calluses by someone who doesn't know better.

Little addition about warts: totally natural, extremely common, and usually no big deal for someone in good health. It's a virus, lives in the upper layers of your skin where your immune system can't find it to send its killer cells, and generally never turns into anything that can hurt you. You don't get them from frogs, and it doesn't mean you're "dirty". There's lots of ways to get rid of them, but most hurt a little, since you have to irritate the skin to involve your immune system in the fight.

Mine? It's goin' down. Game on.

Wedding progress!

2011-02-17T11:24:00.001-06:00

This week I've been super productive on the next chunk of things I needed to get done. I was so quick to plan things last year when we got engaged (April 2010) that there wasn't much to do for a few months. There are just some things you can't plan 16 months in advance.

We booked a bakery for the cake, which is going to taste amazing whether it looks nice or not. If the visual isn't all we hoped for, though, it's entirely my fault: looking through the glossy pictures the bakery provided us we didn't find exactly what we wanted. So we pulled elements from four different cakes and designed our own. Who knows what it'll actually look like? :) It's not even white. ::gasp::

We also just booked the band! Got a good deal, and we know we like them: we've seen them before and they put on an amazing show.

Next on the checklist: hair and makeup, my bouquet, and figuring out the menu (we've booked the caterer but still need to pin down the food itself).

We also need to figure out the daddy-daughter and mother-son songs. Suggestions?

Van Gogh's TARDIS.

2011-02-13T16:44:00.006-06:00

I finished it! I started it awhile ago, but I finally got my butt in gear and polished it into completion this afternoon. The driving force behind my new gung-ho attitude was the upcoming visit from UBV: it was commissioned by him after Doctor Who series 5's finale aired, and it took me until now to manage to deliver!

I finished it this afternoon, watching Season 4 of BSG. It felt very appropriate painting a spaceship exploding while watching a series about life in space. And now I'm super pumped for the return of Doctor Who on March 26th!

I'm a mom!

2011-02-06T22:54:00.007-06:00

Psyrixx and I adopted a kitty! His name is Westley, and he's a rescue from Safe Cat Foundation of San Ramon. Other stats: 7 months old, 7lbs 6oz. Massive motor, and likes to play fetch with his crinkle-ball toys.

I'm hoping I get to keep him.

See, here's the situation: I'm horribly allergic to cats. Calico cats, specifically. The only kind my family has ever owned. Over the years, however, I've had the good fortune to live with several white, ginger, and tuxedo cats that haven't bothered me at all. So this is something of an experiment. On myself. I'm being very Dr. Jekyll here.

I didn't take much medication for the first 24 hours: just a claritin. I wanted to check to see that my asthma wasn't an issue at all. If I can't breathe, that's a big enough problem that I'm not willing to risk my health--if this little guy gives me an asthma attack, he's going to have to be passed to the back-up adoptive family.

This was a very important part of the whole arrangement: if Psyrixx and I adopted a kitty and couldn't keep him for personal medical reasons, we didn't want to toss him right back to the shelter. My mom and dad, thankfully, are in the market for a second cat: someone for their Maggie (calico female 2 year old) to play with so she's not so aggressive and attention-starved. So if it doesn't work out with us, Westley is still going to have a totally awesome life.

The sinus problems have reached a max today--watering eyes, runny nose, swollen sinus canals, the works. But no asthma! Just in case, I added on my advair today to stave off any breathing complications, and am continuing to take the claritin once a day as directed. (PSA: never self-medicate, always ask your doctor before starting a medication regimen.) I ended up having to add in afrin nose spray, but I'm hoping I only need that for the first few days to get me over the initial histamine shock.

He's such a lover... When naming him we tossed around a bunch of seductive names like Lothario, Romeo, Cassanova (my personal fave--nickname Cass?), Don Juan, and Mr. Antonio Banderas, but we settled on Westley as we both adore The Princess Bride.

I've only had him for a little over a day, and I adore him! Fingers crossed for me that this works out!!

Addendum 2/7/11: He's eating today, and the litter box is no longer an enemy, as it doesn't face a reflective surface anymore. (I wouldn't want to watch myself poop, either.) The condo Daddy bought him is a big hit, especially during prime afternoon sunbathing hours. He seems to be getting more used to the surroundings, and the welcome-home I got today after work almost made having to leave him this morning worth it. :) He's such a sweetie.

Allergies at a manageable 20% today.

Here he is playing fetch! Except we've had to cut way back on fetch-playing today, since I realized this morning that he's given himself raw pads on the harsh carpet from all his energetic sliding around after that crinkle ball! Rug burn is no good. :(

Lie To Me S3.

2011-02-02T13:09:00.001-06:00

Such a short season! Why? It only ran 13 episodes. Has it been cancelled? I'd understand if it had: it has gotten pretty repetitive and silly over the last season and a half. The storylines are blatantly stolen (like the finale) from other sources, and Torres and--it's never a good sign when you can't remember a main character name in the third season--Loker are so one-dimensional. They don't even use them anymore. I still love Gillian Foster and our leading man, Cal Lightman, but that's not enough.

They need to give us something to hang onto if they're going the sexual-tension route with Foster and Lightman, or else we need one of them in a new relationship. A visible one.

They also need to let Emily be cool without steering every scene she has toward teen sex or her concern for her father's latest stupid stunt. She could be an interesting character.

As it stands right now, I use this show to fall asleep. Which is not a good thing for the show. I like it because it's predictable and his accent is soothing. Not a ringing endorsement, people.

Wedding photo slideshow.

2011-01-30T23:22:00.003-06:00

As close as I can figure it, I've put about 24 hours of time and work into this slideshow. And it's lovely, if I might add. :)

I've been to a few weddings that had these, and they're SO cute. They always seem to turn out well--I just never knew how much effort they required to get to that point! I have new respect for everyone who's created one.

I'm glad I'm done with it--it got to be a boring project after awhile, scanning in all of the photos one by one, combing through over 40 family albums picking out the best photos to use. Then came the arranging... Ordering and swapping until the flow made sense. And the scoring! Good lord. Music I liked at the beginning of the project I was pretty sick of by the time I'd heard it a zillion times...

But then, like seeing the baby after hours of labor, I was done, and it was beautiful. :)

I'm also super proud of myself: I did it ALL! With minimal help from Psyrixx! Honestly, when I started the project I thought I'd require a lot more hand-holding than I did.

I'll try to have it up on the wedding website later this week for those who want to see!

Battlestar Galactica S3.

2011-01-30T23:11:00.005-06:00

What a fabulous season! I was super worried about the series after muddling through season 2.5, but this was wonderful. I lost Psyrixx--he doesn't want to watch it anymore with me. Which is unfortunate, considering this is the best season yet!

Just during the season opener--a two-parter detailing the cylon occupation and inevitable human revolt on New Caprica--I laughed hysterically, I got misty-eyed, and I cheered. Full on CHEERED. Hands in the air, smile on my face, vocalized "Woo-hoo!"--the whole package. Talk about emotional investment! When Lee and the Pegasus burst back into the battle, I was overjoyed, and watching everyone jump away to safety while Pegasus was consumed with fire, taking out the cylon base ships as it went down in a blaze of glory...

This is what awesome TV shows are made of. :)

We had an interesting half season of Gaius living with the cylons (but I was bored by his eventual trial), we had a wonderful arc that drew out the suspense waiting to find out who the final five cylons were (I'll get back to this), and the main cast kept me interested in the day-to-day stuff. I even liked the will-they-won't-they cheat aspect with Starbuck and Lee.

And there were deaths! Ellen Tigh was murdered by her own husband (I'm convinced she'll be back, because I still think she's the final one of the final five), D'Anna and all her copies were put into cold storage, and Kat died a very heroic death! And STARBUCK! Did NOT see that coming, and was horrified, because I believed that they'd really done it.

Now, back to those final five cylons. I wasn't horribly surprised by Sam (he seems like a sleeper type to me), I liked that Tory Foster was one of them (she's been intriguing me this season, and I'm happy to see her get a larger part), but Chief was awesome. I think his journey coming to grips with this is going to be the most interesting. Col. Tigh is not my favorite character, so while his new self-loathing is sure to be a bumpy ride, I'm not as concerned with his mental well-being. Very interesting that three of the four we've met have been violently anti-cylon in the past--all three head members of the resistance on New Caprica!

By the finale I was happy to see Gaius still swinging in the wind despite being found not guilty. I was unimpressed with Lee's temper tantrum regarding his father, so I was happy to see him back on track by the end of the last episode. What I really loved about the finale was the musical build, and the fact that they used my second-favorite song of all time: All Along The Watchtower. Now, I know this has been covered by everybody, but originally it was a Bob Dylan song. Jimi Hendrix made it famous, and DMB has a pretty awesome version, too. But I think the BSG treatment may be my favorite! It was lovely, and done well, and by the time Starbuck reappeared (yay!!) I had forgotten where I was, and was completely engrossed in their world. I'm a sucker for a well-placed, strong musical element in a TV show. :) The cherry on top of all of it was the CGI pull-out from Starbuck and Lee past the colonial fleet, past the approaching cylons, out of the local star system they were in, through the vastness of space, and spinning to settle on Earth. YES. Next episode, please!

Battlestar Galactica S2.5.

2011-01-24T00:54:00.002-06:00

I'm so glad Admiral Cain got taken out so quickly, and I'm also quite glad neither she nor Adama decided to go ahead with their plans to kill one another. I started out the season thinking it was going to be an interesting ride, but compared to the first and second seasons, this one kind of muddled along. I hope season 3 is a little better. Though the way this season ended I'm worried about how they'll get us back on track!

It took a little while to get back to this show--I've been watching it with Psyrixx, and our schedules didn't allow for co-viewing of this for a few weeks (which is why I had to turn to Supernatural). Now we're back to it! :)

I was not a fan of Starbuck's downward spiral this season. I like her when she's the hero, not getting shown up by Kat. I was also not a fan of the Black Market episode. The beginning of the season was exciting, but the middle and the end tapered way off.

Ellen Tigh is a poor human being. She bothers me so much. I'm convinced she's a cylon, but I'm not clear whether she knows it or not--whether she's a sleeper, like the original Sharon was, or whether she has full knowledge of what she's doing. She's evil, either way.

I can't believe they killed Billy! I was upset with Lt. Dualla for cheating on him to begin with, and then they killed him in the same episode! What a horrible way to go. I hope Uhura Part 2 feels like a worm.

Speaking of Dualla, I'm not a fan of her relationship with Lee Adama. I also find that I'm not satisfied by the Anders/Starbuck romance. All of this surprised me, actually: I had no idea until the end of this season that I was a Starbuck/Apollo shipper. Huh. :) Did they really have to have them get married?

The episode "Downloaded" was the most interesting this season. At least for me. I liked seeing the day-to-day cylon activities on Caprica, and that Sharon was having massive trouble readjusting to life as a re-born cylon. But my favorite part was the reveal that Caprica Six has an imaginary Gaius friend, just like Gaius has an imaginary Number Six friend. Imaginary Gaius was wonderful to watch--he was so entertaining! The role reversal was very nicely done. Also in this episode: the human/cylon baby was given away, and we got to see Samuel Anders again! I know I said I'm not a fan of him and Starbuck, but I'm still a fan of his character.

So. Let's see where season 3 takes us?

Gilmore Girls S1.

2011-01-23T17:57:00.005-06:00

Shortly after the WB became the CW, we went our separate ways. I'd stopped watching Smallville, Charmed was gone, Buffy and Angel had finished their runs, and I had never been a Dawson's Creek, Gilmore Girls, or 7th Heaven fan. Last year I was horribly tricked into watching the first few episodes of The Vampire Diaries, which proved to be a gateway drug into Supernatural. Now that I'm caught up to the currently airing episodes on both shows, there is a job opening: I need something to play in the background while I do paperwork, cook or clean in the kitchen, work out (I know the routine well enough that I can Bar Method with Burr blissfully muted), or attempt to fall asleep earlier than my brain wants me to.

Since I can't quite bring myself to jump on the Dawson's Creek bandwagon, I've arrived at Gilmore Girls. I'm sure the last half of Smallville will eventually be promoted to this spot, too, but we're starting with the Gilmores. And no, it has nothing to do with my non-existent crush on Jared Padalecki. How dare you suggest such a thing.

But as long as we're on the subject: he's so little in the first season! My goodness! It's especially obvious now that he's hulked out over the last two seasons of Supernatural. Also? I find it amusing that his name is Dean on this show. I wanted to correct him when he said that--no, silly, you're Sam, your brother is Dean!

But back to the show that this post is supposedly about. Lorelai is an AWESOME character. I had no idea she was so good! She's a joy to watch, partly because of Lauren Graham's perfect timing, and partly because the dialogue is hysterical! Even when characters are fighting the lines are fast-paced and witty. I had no idea this was a SMART show. I mean, it's not CSPAN or The West Wing, but it definitely makes references that I'm sure go over a lot of heads. Pop culture, history, literature, music... Just stuck in there as jokes, but without the ba-dum-CH that a lot of shows feel they need following something witty. Just in case Joe Blow missed it. This show doesn't do that, and I appreciate it.

I also realize that this is a total fantasy show, because no town anywhere would be this fun, and sweet, and intelligent, and wacky, and pretty.

The non-Lorelei characters were fleshed out nicely over the course of the season as well. Emily became an interesting, three-dimensional character, and Luke rose right out of mediocrity to be the guy I'm pulling for. I'm not a big Max Medina fan, but I understand the need for someone else to come first and make the eventual--inevitable--Lorelei-Luke romance even better. Tristan also intrigues me. I want to see more of him and figure him out a little. But I think my favorites are Sookie and Michel. Their scenes are always hysterical. :)

And the daisies in the finale... awww. Melt a girl's heart, why don't you?

"O Death" variations over the years.

2011-01-22T11:54:00.004-06:00

There's an old Appalacian dirge called O Death that I recently heard arranged in a decidedly more modern way than I assumed it had originally been written. This, of course, caused me to research it, and this is the final result of a very disorganized 15 minutes of combing internet-only sources. I plan on running it all past PhD!Eggy, and we'll see how profound an eye-roll I get. :) Should be fun.

Most of the (completely unreliable) internet sources I've just read date the earliest known recordings to the 1920-30s era, but none mention an actual author or a firm time period for when it originated. In fact, most say no-one knows who wrote it. Some well-known names, including Dock Boggs, are thrown around when discussing the earliest recorded versions, and for the last 80 years it looks like quite a few other people have gotten their hands on it, and dozens of variations exist now. Just do a YouTube search for the song, and you'll come up with a bunch of recent, home-recorded versions by every traditional musician with Garage Band on their Mac, as well as a lot of uploaded older arrangements.

At this point you're probably wondering what song I'm talking about... If you're a fan of the Coen brothers, you've heard an a cappella iteration in O Brother Where Art Thou.

Turns out the song has really gotten around; apparently a serial killer in Wichita, Kansas even stole lines from the lyrics to use in a poem he wrote. It was spiced up by Jen Titus and used in Supernatural as Death arrives in Chicago. Other interesting versions I found in my internet combing include the Dock Boggs version, and the Ralph Stanley (O Brother Where Art Thou) version done live. Finally, the one that I found most entertaining was an arrangement by a girl named Lauren O'Connell. Don't know anything else about her except she's AWESOME. :)

Morbid song to be blogging about on a sunny Saturday morning, I know. I'll stop now! Time to clean this place up before we have guests over this afternoon. I plan on testing my theory that no matter what is dirty, it only takes an hour or less to clean it. We'll see if this applies to the entire apartment or not.

Supernatural 5x22 Swan Song

2011-01-20T18:59:00.010-06:00

Episode 5x22 Swan Song: the best love letter written to a car in the history of the written and spoken word. :)

This was the most wonderful episode. It even started off better than any other in the five seasons up to this point. As soon as Chuck started the narration of the Impala's backstory, I was suddenly nostalgic and pained that this could be the end of the brothers' partnership--and their adventures in their AWESOME car.

I've said in previous Supernatural season reviews that I love their car--specifically, that when Dean, Sam, and John got broadsided by the semi and the car was totaled, I found myself most concerned that the CAR wouldn't return. If John happened to be killed off, I wasn't horribly disappointed. So when Dean rebuilt the Impala, I was so happy; that car is definitely the third main character of this show. I love the creak of its doors, I love its grumbly engine, I love when they sit on it with their post-win beers and have their requisite heart-to-heart about whatever is going on at that point in the mythology. It's a wonderful part of the series. My favorite parts regarding the Impala were the flashbacks showing the legos and army men crammed into different parts of the car by the brothers as children, and the stories about the good times had in the car. When Chuck said they were never truly homeless because they always had that car, I was definitely misty. (I'm such a girl.)

This was a great pay-off for the overall arc of Lucifer being set free and attempting to use Sam as a vessel to bring about the apocalypse. There was a lot of build up getting us to this point, and the finale of this season could have been a massive let down. It did NOT disappoint! I was quite impressed, and very emotionally invested. Good job, everybody.

Oh, I cried when they all said goodbye in the alley to Sam--but they managed to make me laugh when Castiel forgot to lie and didn't tell Sam he'd look after Dean and Bobby. But it was Dean's reaction to the whole situation that wins the Supernatural Oscar for Best Actor. His anger/annoyance when Sam asked him for privacy to drink the blood was great, and his panicked tears when he realized Lucifer had taken over Sam and Sam wasn't in control--awesome. Fabulous. Five stars. Two thumbs up. You win. :)

Though I can't give all the credit to Jensen Ackles, because Dean was WRITTEN beautifully in this episode, too. After a lot of stumbles and falls along the way with his faith and his doubt, Dean showed up in the end. "Sorry. Am I interrupting something?" Even if he couldn't do anything, he could be present, and damn if he was going to let his little brother die alone on that field. The fact that he just drove up with no pretense in the car was PERFECT.

"Hey! Ass-butt!" I've never loved Castiel quite as much as when he said that. I was proud of Dean when he showed up in the field, but the fact that Castiel and Bobby stood by him too was wonderful. Best part of the episode was watching Castiel throw a molotov cocktail at Michael-in-Adam, and Lucifer-in-Sam's reaction. It's true, no-one is ever allowed to insult or hurt your family but YOU.

I find it very interesting how sympathetic they made Lucifer, and several of the demons (notably Crowley). In comparison, the angels (with the exception of our beloved Castiel) were--just as Dean said--generally dicks. I was worried they'd get preachy when they introduced the angels and God into the mix as a counter to the demons, but my fears were unfounded. They made both sides of soldiers so ruthless that I didn't find myself rooting for "good" over "evil," I found myself still rooting for the brothers. Both angels and demons were equally something to fight against. Even in the end, after Lucifer had done so many horrible things, he was the one who offered a truce to Michael, and suggested they step off the chessboard and not fight each other. I liked that a lot.

Bits and Pieces:

Loved the I-told-you-so from Lucifer to Dean: "I told you... this would always happen in Detroit."
I wasn't too upset when I thought Bobby had died, but I was very sad that Lucifer exploded Castiel. I was stoked when he showed up at the end again, but just "meh" when he turned around and brought Bobby back.
Horrific make up on Jensen Ackles in the end! It must be hard to act through all of that. But kudos to the effects department.
Chuck disappeared at the end! Why? Doesn't he get to finish out his life? I hope he was given a super cushy spot up in Heaven. Kinda sad to see him go--the character amused me. Though I guess he'd worn out his welcome as a plot device.

Agh... What happens next? And who was that Sam standing outside Lisa's house in the final moments of the episode? Real Sam? Lucifer-in-Sam? Ghost Sam?

Supernatural S5.

2011-01-18T16:26:00.013-06:00

I was right--at the beginning of the season they had a majorly hard time repairing the Sam-Dean friendship. I understand, though; the writers couldn't have one episode go by, the boys apologize and forgive, and POOF! They're back to their old selves, bantering and solving little Monster Of The Weeks like nothing happened. But by dragging it out they created a problem--by episode 5x06 I felt like they'd had the same argument and given the same apologies ten times so far this season. Time to move on!

Once they moved on, however, they didn't do it in a dramatic fashion, they went comedic. Really? Paris Hilton? This season stuck to the usual pattern of putting the amusing stuff in the middle, with the dark angsty stuff that helps along the mythology in the beginning and the end. "Changing Channels" was definitely an odd way to go, but pretty giggle-inducing nonetheless. I enjoyed them poking fun at the various shows (especially CSI Miami--Dean called David Caruso a no-talent douche bag!). And immediately afterward we've got a Supernatural fan convention? They really are out to William Shatner their fans here. We're not that bad! I mean, yes we are, but you don't have to publicly humiliate us all like that. Ouch. :( The one other problem I had with the convention was that it was a bunch of guys--those books would create too much of a Twilight-esque following for it to be that big a sausage-fest. I'm not saying it would be ALL women, but there would be some more in there.

Back to the serious angles. I enjoyed the suggestion that there will be a future cage match between the brothers, one possessed by Lucifer, and the other by the archangel Michael. Pretty biblical, and I'm glad they made it pretty-with-a-bow by outing Michael and Lucifer as brothers. I was surprised that they killed Jo and Ellen, especially in a battle that didn't end up gaining the brothers any ground in the overall fight. And their deaths didn't make me cry.

Speaking of biblical, the other TV series of late to take on some decidedly religious themes was Lost, and hey! Look at who we've got here, as Lucifer's second-choice vessel. Jacob! Nice to see you, Mark Pellegrino! It tickles my funny (ironic?) bone that the actor who played the God-figure on Lost--which also featured columns of black smoke and a brother vs. brother plot line--plays the devil on this show. And speaking of recognizable actors from other TV shows, hello to Mark Sheppard (from Firefly, 24, BSG, and Dollhouse, among other things).

...aaaaaand separate post for the finale. Boy, was that good!

Other bits and pieces:

The Best Side Character Of The Season Award goes to Castiel. Goodness, I love that guy. Hysterical. And yet he was a full enough character that it broke my heart when he lost his faith.
I wonder if we ever get to meet God?
I'm curious about the Colt: Lucifer said there are only five things in creation that it can't kill, and he is one of them. I'd venture a guess that God is another one of them, but I'm curious: who (what?) are the other three?
The future glimpse at UrbanWarfare!Dean felt very Dark Angel. Anyone else?
Loved 5x12 "Swap Meat." Goodness, that was funny.
The other big smile at the end of the season (as everything got very dark again) was Crowley's picture evidence of him taking Bobby's soul. Hee hee.
Best song usage this season: Jen Titus' "O Death" as Death arrives in Chicago in 5x21 "Two Minutes To Midnight." Gave me chills. I spent the better part of a half hour looking for this song to download, and was so happy when I finally found it! :)
Speaking of Death, Julian Richings acted the CRAP out of the role, brief as it was. Bravo, sir.

At the end of "The Real Ghostbusters" (the convention episode) Chuck states that "it's not really jumping the shark if you never come back down, right?" Ooh, be careful, Supernatural. My last season review post ended with much this same warning, and I'm going to repeat it here for this post, as I still have the same issues...

The often ridiculous nature of fandom.

2011-01-17T18:20:00.008-06:00

Added: This post was originally titled "Supernatural 4x18 The Monster At The End Of This Book" but after reading it, I realized it was more about being a fan of something--anything--than a review of the episode itself.

As I watch the fourth season of Supernatural, I've been jotting things down in a draft version of what will eventually be the Supernatural S4 post. When I got to 4x18, however, I felt the need to post separately. :)

I really had to focus in on the one episode that had me howling with laughter: "The Monster At The End Of This Book." This was like a big fat present to the fans, wrapped up in a bow. And not just any fans, but the hardcore ones. I mentioned awhile ago that the reason I started watching this show--that I had never heard of, due to my lack of television--was that after I perused fanfiction.net I saw that Supernatural was the only show to have more fanfic written about it than Buffy. Somewhere in the vicinity of 44,000 stories (beating Buffy's 40,000). This is also impressive because Buffy's had a good 13 years to amass that many, while Supernatural has had six. Those are some hardcore fans.

I'm well aware that being THAT into a show is pretty weird, and possibly borderline unhealthy for your overall mental well-being. However, I also feel that being ("obsessed" is such a nasty word, why don't we use "devoted"?) devoted to a show in this way usually heralds a creative and passionate personality, and that's not a bad thing. Well, I suppose if you were a serial killer and happened to be passionate and creative that wouldn't bode well, but... You get my drift.

Episode 4x18, "The Monster At The End Of This Book," was written for THOSE fans. There are little nods and presents for us slipped all through this hour. To the point that this episode may have sucked a bit for casual watchers of the show. Like Tron: Legacy, if you don't get half the jokes, you might not think it has a very good script.

I've always wondered what television writers and actors and others involved with the process think of these "crazies" out there who adore their product (or the fictional characters they lend their faces to) to the point of imitation and role playing. I wonder what they think of themselves, looking back on certain episodes; I know they must have their favorites, but are there any that they really cringe at, the way we remember projects at OUR jobs that we worked on, and were unsatisfied (or downright embarrassed) when we saw the finished product? This episode gives us a little glimpse, and good on'ya, writers, for having the stones to make fun of yourselves a bit. Self-deprecation and humility is definitely funny in this particular instance.

Example: When the brothers meet Chuck, the author, he mistakenly believes he has been causing the misfortunes that befall them. What follows is a five minute writers flame-fest of their own work.

"I burned your mother alive. And then you had to go through the whole horrific ordeal again with Jessica. All for what? All for the sake of literary symmetry."
"Did you really have to live through the bugs? What about the ghost ship?" "Yes, that too." "I am so sorry. I mean, horror is one thing, but to be forced to live bad writing... If I would've known it was real, I would have done another pass."

I would hope that the actors had fun during this episode. I'm sure with their recognizable faces they get fans bothering them all the time, and this was not only a chance to express some exasperation at that fact, but also poke some fun at the fans who do it. "Check it out, there's actually fans. Not many of 'em, but still, d'you read this? Although for fans, they sure do complain a lot." Their amusement-slash-revulsion (pun intended) at the Sam/Dean "slash" fans was downright hysterical--this is where the howling laughter on my part entered into the viewing experience. I'm sure my neighbors think I've been murdered. "They do know we're brothers, right?" "--doesn't seem to matter." "Oh, that's just sick."

But the episode wasn't all self-deprecating laughs and inside jokes for the fans. Chuck Shurley's heart-to-heart with Sam about his moral and ethical dilemmas was well-done, and the episode managed to advance the storyline a lot. We now know Lilith is going to die before the apocalypse, and that there is major religious implications for the Winchesters. This is the part I actually didn't like so much. While I adore Castiel as an angel, I was not wild about the fact that the Supernatural books will someday be known as the Winchester Gospel. Too much, pull it back. Or else rephrase--something about that scene bothered me a lot. (Though I liked Dean questioning the choice of Chuck as a prophet: "Him? Really?" "You should have seen Luke.")

Other bits and pieces that I loved:

They're muscle-bound and shirtless, with flowing hair on the cover of the book. I'm sure anyone who ever read romance novels appreciated the art. Joy, I'm lookin' at you.
The books started in 2005, the same year as the television series.
The comic book store clerk called them out on using rock musician aliases.
The publisher mooning over the fictional characters: "I mean, the best parts are when they cry!"
The book names are all episode names.
Just a little personal side note, but this episode is the second that mentions a town where I've lived and worked--Bloomington, Indiana. Shout out to B'town! First was Palo Alto. :)
Not a dig at themselves, but I did enjoy "It was too preposterous! Not to mention arrogant. I mean, writing yourself into the story is one thing, but as a prophet? That's like M-Night-level douchiness."

Also added: Then they continued to pick on us as fans! They actually got a little mean in their depictions in 5x09 "The Real Ghostbusters." I'll link to my review of the season when I finish it.

Found our bakery!

2011-01-17T00:14:00.003-06:00

D, you are a god-send. The bakery you recommended is lovely, and the Grand Marnier cake IS to die for, just like you said. DONE. Cake chosen. :)

Yep, this weekend we drove out to the only bakery in our area that would make any version of a chocolate-and-orange flavored cake, or a chocolate-and-coffee flavored cake, and were able to do a very abbreviated and unofficial tasting. Despite the lack of all 18 flavors present in their full tasting line-up, we think we've made our choice--the first one we tried, we LOVED, right off the bat. The prices are right, the designs we saw were beautiful, and I can't say enough good things about the way the cake tasted. I want to sleep in a bed made entirely out of this cake.

We signed up for an official consultation to discuss exact pricing, scheduling, and decorations in February, and I'm so glad we found exactly what we wanted with so little hassle.

Uh oh. Should I not have said that? I'll just go knock on some wood now.

More dancing.

2011-01-16T23:44:00.005-06:00

I've been having a BLAST with Dance Central and the Kinect system. There's a small amount of irritation due to the fact that I have to be standing in a recognizable position in front of the scanner to select things and navigate the menu (this is the system, for those of you who don't know, that has no controller, it just senses your body movements--like Wii without the little white plastic stick), but I'm getting used to it. There's also a few times that you swipe too quickly across your body and end up selecting the wrong thing off the menu by accident.

All of those cons don't do a THING to diminish the pros, though. I haven't played any games other than Dance Central, and I'm in love. So really, I'm not singing the praises of the game system here, just the game itself. For a former dancer who hasn't gotten to learn routines and dance her heart out in 3 years, this is a god-send. This is the equivalent of taking a dance class in your own living room, on your own time, in whatever unattractive outfit you feel like wearing. If you have an unpredictable schedule and can self-motivate, you're good to go. :)

I've buzzed easily through the first eight songs: Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," Cascada's "Evacuate The Dance Floor," Pitbull's "I Know You Want Me," Fannypack's "Hey Mami," Quad City DJ's "C'mon And Ride It (The Train)," M.I.A.'s "Galang '05," Lipps Inc's "Funky Town," and Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head." I got through the first four with minimal effort, and got gold stars (highest score level) on all of them within a couple tries. The next four took a little more effort, but not enough to make me sweat. More gold stars. I was slightly worried that this game would never present a challenge for me.

The third tier of songs, however--third out of six total--has given me a major work-out over the past two days. :) It's wonderful! I'm having to break the songs down and learn the steps, sometimes taking a few tries to get them right. It's actually more fun having to work for it than just walking easily through the songs and getting a perfect score. This weekend I mastered Wreckx-n-Effect's "Rump Shaker," Soulja Boy's "Crank That," Kool & The Gang's "Jungle Boogie," and Jay Sean's "Down."

I can't wait to put in another hour tomorrow! I'm a little tired-sore, but nothing HURTS; I actually feel energized. :) Bring on the disco, bring on the hip-hop, bring on the 80s alternative rap. I love it all, as long as I get to dance to it!

Supernatural S4.

2011-01-16T14:19:00.006-06:00

Wow! This was a VERY different season, but it still felt like it belonged. I thought it was a nice progression, even though the show started taking on some kinda sticky topics. It's one thing to have a series about demons, and monsters, and evil stuff, but it's something entirely different to throw God and angels into the mix, and flirt with some actual Christian lore. I can see how some people would be upset by this show.

That said, I'm still in. :)

I was really curious how they were going to rip Dean out of Hell after last season's finale, but I think this was a great way to do it. I thought the Back To The Future episode, "In The Beginning" was going to be iffy, but I loved seeing A.D. Skinner as the brothers' grandfather, and I loved finding out that they came from a family of hunters--on their MOM'S side. (I was also happy that after ignoring--for a whole season--the fact that Mary Winchester recognized the yellow eyed demon in Sam's nursery they wrapped that up and explained why. I was worried they were going to let it drop.)

"Monster Movie" and "Yellow Fever" were some of the only truly funny episodes this season. (Okay, the giant alcoholic, suicidal teddy bear was a bit of a laugh, and I addressed "The Monster At The End Of This Book" in a separate post.) Season three was littered with hilarity, but season four was much darker. I've said before that season three never got my teary the way the second season did, but after Dean's heart-breaking confession about his time in Hell, I was definitely wiping as many tears away as he was.

Actually, that episode and it's partner ("I Know What You Did Last Summer"/"Heaven And Hell") were probably my favorite of the season. I was worried about Sam after Dean and Bobby showed up and caught him with Ruby, but the awesome two-parter took care of that. It's a little weird thinking that Ruby eventually married Sam (IRL, excuse me, I should say Genevieve Cortese married Jared Padalecki), but hey--maybe that explains the massive on-screen chemistry between those two in these episodes. This show has never been shy with letting the leads hook up with guest stars (okay, okay, just Dean), but the Sam/Ruby sex scene was definitely the... shall we say "heartiest" of the series so far? It sure packed a punch. I also like the fact that they paired it immediately with Dean bedding an angel. Given the characters from the first season, I'm impressed by the gradual slide that brought the goody-two-shoes brother to a point where he entered into a relationship (dysfunctional as it may be) with a demon, and the edgy party boy brother to the point where he got himself "a slice of angel food cake" as one of the other characters put it, in a very sweet and beautiful way (as beautiful as it can be in the backseat of his car).

The other wonderful episode was "The Rapture," in which we get a Castiel-centric episode that showcased Misha Collins' talents. I was so glad they didn't kill him off in this episode, but two episodes later in the finale, it looks like he finally bit the big one. :( I liked him!

Wrapped up darkly, I have no idea how they're going to repair the Sam-Dean friendship. One of the episodes during this season was "Jump The Shark", and I'm really hoping that's not what they've done here.

Dance Central for Kinect.

2011-01-10T21:23:00.002-06:00

Psyrixx, in his quest to own every electronic toy in existence, recently bought a Kinect for our XBox system. I was immediately exasperated, because let's face it: did we REALLY need yet ANOTHER gaming system??

Turns out the answer is yes.

He has tried to get me interested in video and computer games. He even tried to get me into the iPhone games. I'm just not one of those people. For some reason I adore the Mah Jong Tiles game on my PC and can play for hours, but other than that, I do not respond well to video or computer games. I get irritated playing Halo because I can't work the controller as well as the other people in the co-op game, and I'll die because I'm stuck in a corner and an Orc or whatever it is tears my head off from behind. I get left behind because I can't remember how to jump over a log lying across the path. Psyrixx says not to worry, he's only as good as he is because he has been doing it for ten years. He's use to the moves. It's easy for him.

Jump to this past Friday, when he turns on the Kinect and demonstrates Dance Central for me. Let me remind everyone that I've been a dancer since I was five, and after ballet, jazz, tap, and hula lessons for so many years, I can imitate most movement pretty well. In under an hour I'd walked through the hard levels on four songs in Dance Central without breaking too much of a sweat, and was thoroughly enjoying myself.

I understand there are a lot of other great dancers out there who probably did the same thing on the beginner levels, but this was the first video game I'd played with Psyrixx where I had a natural gift, and definitely the upper hand!

Plus, such a great work out! I did a few tougher songs the next day, and by the time you get to the hardest songs on their upper levels, my muscles were definitely sore!

So, my final word on the matter is that yes, this is a fun video game. But I'm sorry, sweetie, I don't think it's a gateway game drug that will lead me down a path toward Halo and other games like it. That's what your guy friends are for.

Blog templates and cake flavors.

2011-01-09T15:17:00.006-06:00

Got bored with the simple black background blog template, so we're trying something new with the layout, and it'll probably change again soon. New year, new look? I'll settle on something eventually, but for the next few days to weeks the template will evolve and rotate around a bit. Don't mind me.

Also: I can't find anyone who will agree to make my wedding cake. I want a chocolate cake with Grand Marnier buttercream frosting, and apparently I'm asking way to much. This isn't even a huge cake we're talking about here: just an 8" round, three layer cake like you would get at any normal bakery. No tiers or anything (the rest of the guests are going to get the same flavor, but in sheet cake--much easier and faster to serve). I just didn't understand that you're not allowed to request things at these bakeries. They have a set list of things, and that's all they'll make you. Hmm. Okay.

I've got a lead on one single place in the entire bay area who makes the kind of frosting I want. I'm calling them on Monday, but if they're astronomically expensive, I'll just forget the whole idea and do something more "mainstream". No sense in crying over frosting. :)

Supernatural S3.

2011-01-07T18:56:00.005-06:00

Mystery Spot was hysterical. In a season where poor Sam is frantically trying to avoid Dean's death and being very dramatic and frankly a little whiny about it, the 11th episode--in which Sam gets to witness Dean's death 100 different ways, a la "Groundhog Day"--was a breath of fresh air. Pure comedy. The first death scene was touching, and I got a tad misty (might have just been my head cold, but still--), and the next one earned a WTF? look from me, and by the time the piano got dropped on him, I was in fits of raucous laughter. Awesome episode.

I'm coming to this series late. This particular season aired in 2008, and I'm watching it in 2010. (Whoa, wait, it's officially 2011. It's still early enough in January that I'm not on "11" autopilot yet.) So at first I was super confused why there were only 16 episodes in this season, not remembering that there was a writers strike at the time. Oh, yeah. :) So I can only assume that they meant to flesh a few things out a little better over the course of 22-24 episodes, got cut off at 16, and had to scramble a bit to wrap things up. All things considered, I think they did a great job. Given the circumstances, there were a lot of other shows that didn't manage to have as cohesive a finale, so kudos to whoever packaged this series. You did good.

One thing they didn't address very much this season, though they brought it up in season 2... Mary Winchester, their mother, recognized the yellow-eyed demon when she saw him over Sam's crib. Why? All they said about it in season 3 was that all of her friends had died. But then they never fleshed it out. Season 4 maybe? I'll be bugged if they never get back to this and just let it drop.

Favorites this season were the funny ones. #1: The aforementioned Mystery Spot. #2: Bad Day At Black Rock, which had me in hysterics, as poor Sam gets put through the ringer after touching and then losing the "lucky" rabbit's foot. When his shoe went down the drain, I laughed so hard I cried. Jared Padalecki did a great job with the slapstick.

No notable touching episodes, though, where someone's performance got me all misty. Ghostfacers wins the award for Least Favorite Episode of the season. Both Ruby and Bela were interesting additions to this season, and I'm glad they stayed away from having one of the brothers get somehow romantically involved with either of them. I enjoyed Jus In Bello with the siege on the police department, but was actually angry that Lilith killed everyone in the end.

Which brings me to Lilith. Interesting. Can't wait to see what they do with her next season. Also: how in the world are they going to bring Dean back from hell??? I was sad when he (very gruesomely) was killed by the hellhounds, but not as sad as when Sam died. Just wasn't as touching.

Now, how are we going to fix this situation?

Supernatural S2.

2011-01-05T17:36:00.003-06:00

I flew through the second season! I love this show. It's very cute. I love the Monsters Of The Week, and I still love the banter between the brothers. I've actually decided I like them a little bit more than I did after the first season. This is probably because things got a little darker in the second season, with the aftermath of their father's murder (suicide... what do we call that--just his death?), the turn Sam took toward the dark side when he was possessed, and finally his death and Dean's deal to have him returned. The over-arcing storyline was meatier, and both actors did a fabulous job with it.

Favorite episodes have to be #1: Simon Says, because of the fabulous geek jokes, #2: Crossroad Blues, because of the awesome music and scary visual effects, #3: Born Under A Bad Sign, because of Jared Padalecki's fun Evil!Sam performance, and the last five episodes of the season were just as good, one right after the other... The sophomore season was so much stronger than the first! I thought my heart was going to break watching Dean after Sam died. Oof. Kudos, Jensen Ackles.

I did NOT like Heart. That one should have been scrapped.

And I'm quite glad they finally got the Yellow-Eyed Demon. I'm glad he's gone, and they have a new pressing issue to take care of, instead of just hollow justice for their mother's murder. I can't wait to see how they find a way out of Dean's deal. One season until the demon returns for Dean's soul...

But one other question: why did their mother recognize the demon when she found him in Sam's room? Hmm...

Supernatural S1.

2011-01-02T03:07:00.003-06:00

Recently I went on a quest to find a new good science fiction show that I could chew my way through. Something with several seasons and good, solid characters. I started Battlestar Galactica, but Psyrixx wants to watch it with me, and our schedules haven't coincided much over the last two weeks, unless we were booked a family gathering for the holidays. So I went in search of another show that I could entertain myself with--something I could watch without leaving Psyrixx behind in the BSG department.

The way I found the show was kind of funny, actually. Nerdy funny, not "ha-ha" funny. I was perusing Fanfiction.net the other day, and saw that one of my first loves, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, had more stories written for it than any other TV show. This made me oddly proud of it, and to double check, I scanned through the numbers again, but this time I found one show that had a few thousand more (they were both well over 40,000, though--nothing to sneeze at in either case). Supernatural! Well, if the online fanfiction community deems it good enough to write that many stories about, it MUST have merit. And so it began. :)

I actually thought I'd like it a little more. And I also thought I wouldn't be able to watch it. I'm NOT a scary movie fan. I don't like un-smiling children that suddenly appear, and stare at you from the end of a long hallway. I don't like ghosts that seem to skip and stutter forward at alternating speeds. I hate screeching ambient music and faces that morph and distort demonically. That there should have been enough to keep me from watching this show.

But I managed to get through the first half of the first season during daylight hours only, and finally I started watching some at night... I figure it's good for me. I've always been afraid something is going to appear in a mirror behind me, and maybe watching it in CW-form, laden with cute boys and X-Files-meets-Buffy-type Monsters Of The Week will gradually desensitize me to the scariness of it.

Yes, I mentioned the boys were cute, and they are. Dean more so than Sam, but they're not really my type. I thought I'd really fall for one or the other (because I usually do), but there was no Booth/Spike/Damon/Sylar/Mal/Doctor10/Mulder moment. They're a little too frat-boy-esque, corn-fed, "cute boy" for me.

The storylines are good, but not fantastic. They're enough to keep me coming back for more, which is more than I can say for Sanctuary. I couldn't get through three episodes. I gave up. But Supernatural had a nice arc that was set up immediately, and I wanted to see them find their dad, and then I REALLY wanted to see them kill the demon that murdered their mother and many other women (in a seriously disturbing visual way that I sort of wish they'd stop showing in the recaps at the start of episodes). I'm in. Not as hook-line-and-sinker as some other shows, but I'm not going anywhere until I work my way through the entire series so far.

I'm actually amazed they've got so many seasons under their belt (six!), and with so few recurring characters. The brothers are IT, and the ensemble cast that usually fills out these science fiction series just isn't there. Still, they manage to carry the show nicely, and I don't get bored with either one of them.

Other notable awesomeness:

The music. Very fun. Little before my time, but I'm familiar with it, and enjoy it, and it's an adorable facet of Dean's character, just like his:
Car. I know I just said the brothers are the only two recurring characters, but I think I misspoke: the car is the third. There's a definite personality there, and when something dents it, crashes into it, or steals it, I'm as invested in seeing the vehicle recover as anything. When it was totaled at the end of the first season, I was more worried about IT than the three characters inside!
Their dad is The Comedian! It's weird seeing him as a loving father. I kept waiting for him to pull out a cigar.

Moby songs from the old south.

2010-12-29T23:46:00.004-06:00

I have one of the coolest sisters in the world. I'd say she's The Coolest Of Them All, but I haven't met EVERY sister in the world, so that would just be assumption on my part.

The point is, I learn something every time I talk to her. Especially about sociology and music, since she's getting her PhD in ethnomusicology. The other day I played her a song I had recently found (not a new song in the grand scheme of things, but a new song to me), and said "Doesn't this sound like the rhythm from one of those old-school southern blues songs or a chain gang chant? And kinda like Moby, too?" She said yes, it does, a little, and do you know why the song can sound like southern blues AND Moby at the same time? I did not, but she enlightened me...

Apparently when Moby was putting together his album Play he went to the Library of Congress and found old recordings done by the father and son ethnomusicologist duo John Avery and Alan Lomax. These dudes traveled the world, recording folk music and local songs that may have been lost forever had it not been for them--a lot of these pieces were from small rural areas, sung and passed down through generations, but dying out with globalization and technology. Some of the last people who knew these songs could not read or write, and had no way of preserving their music for generations to come. So, good on'ya, Mr. and Mr. Lomax. Thank you.

Back to Moby. Moby found the Lomax's recordings from their time in the South in the Library of Congress, and used the original recordings, looped, in his tracks on the album Play. Like this one of Vera Hall, used in his song "Natural Blues".

...I'm at the same time both impressed that he would take something with so much history and weight and create something contemporary and popular with it, and... not "disturbed", per se, but it definitely makes me view his songs in a whole new light now that I know that the voices aren't just over-processed people in a SoHo recording studio, but real convicts, or Alabama folk singers from the 1930s. I think I actually like them even more now. It gives the songs more depth.

Doctor Who 6x00 A Christmas Carol

2010-12-26T22:47:00.003-06:00

Michael Gambon is a decently big name! I'm surprised that they got him--or maybe I'm not. This is a pretty big series, and it's a pretty big day of the year to have a traditional special on TV, so I suppose it's actually quite a good move on his part to sign on to the Doctor Who Christmas Special.

Especially since this was pretty much THE BEST CHRISTMAS SPECIAL EVER IN THE HISTORY OF TIME AND SPACE.

And possibly one of the best Doctor Who episodes of the whole lot, second only to 3x11 Blink.

FISH ARE DANGEROUS! I'm in total agreement. The shark was well done--comically AND in terms of special effects. In fact, ALL the special effects were great in this episode. The little fish swimming through the electrically charged air were beautiful (I know, I know, it took a lot for me to admit that), and so inventive! I've been somewhat enamored lately with Battlestar Galactica, but now that I'm watching Doctor Who again, I remember precisely why this show should always top every science fiction Best Of list. I don't think it gets better than the Doctor playing Santa Claus in a sleigh, pulled through the night sky by a shark. :) The jokes were fast and witty, and the poignant parts were aplenty. Awesome episode. 10/10.

"What kind of tie is that?" "A cool one." I can't wait to make a joke along these lines between UBV and Psyrixx on my wedding day! The groom and groomsmen shall all be in cool ties. :) I also much appreciate the fact that he and Kid!Kazran busted out the fezzes for one of the Christmases.

Other fabulous bit and pieces:

I loved that the Doctor came down the chimney!
"You know, in 900 years of time and space, I've never met someone who wasn't important before..." ::pointed look::
"Guys, we have to leave quite quickly, I just accidentally got engaged to Marilyn Monroe."

Also? The "Coming Soon" stuff looked beyond fabulous. I'm in. Please hurry.

Battlestar Galactica S2.

2010-12-19T23:38:00.007-06:00

I was initially a little disappointed in the beginning of this season. With Commander Adama down for the count after last season's finale and Tigh in charge, I got pretty bugged pretty fast. Tigh and his wife were AWFUL. It drove me crazy that he declared martial law and did such a horrible job of running things.

Things started to pick up again once the merry band of outlaws busted the President out, and Commander Adama regained consciousness. Unfortunately, this was the point where Psyrixx lost all affection for the series, and decided it was "as bad as Lost": he didn't care about any of the characters, because they were all horrible, whiny people with no redeeming qualities. :( A few episodes later, after they "stopped whining", the series was again deemed "watchable". I, on the other hand, never lost faith. I'm still very much in love with the show. :)

The season finale, "Pegasus", made me very angry, since Admiral Cain was a massive turd the entire time, without a single redeeming quality. The episode was not entirely without merit, though. I loved that Chief and Helo immediately put aside all differences and prior competition and ran to the rescue of Sharon. I've also never been so impressed with James Callis' acting. When he went in to talk to the Number Six copy that Pegasus had as a prisoner, I got just as choked up as he did. That scene definitely tugged at my heart strings.

What's with the numbering of the seasons? Season 2, and then season 2.5? Oh well, can't really complain--on to season 2.5!

Robin Hood S3.

2010-12-18T17:37:00.003-06:00

That's the end? They killed Robin Hood without giving the viewers the satisfaction of seeing King Richard return to England? What a horrible ending to this series! Well, at least they killed a bunch of people and made it dramatic.

Awesomeness in the final season included the addition of Friar Tuck, but I was disappointed that Robin started making out with every chick that came along, right after becoming a widower.

Jonas Armstrong wanted to leave, viewership went down, I get it... But you couldn't have wrapped up the ending just a bit better? Why not bring the king home? You could still have killed Robin! I wouldn't have cared!

Battlestar Gallactica S1.

2010-12-16T23:34:00.004-06:00

Wow. I honestly don't know how I missed this one.

This is a fabulous series! No wonder it usually tops any well-written Top Science Fiction Series list.

Enough people insisted I see this show, so Psyrixx and I finally decided to watch it. Now we can't get enough. We're going to blow through the entire series so fast... The characters are immediately endearing, the universe they live in is well-developed and intricate with a real sense of deep culture, the actors are wonderful, and it's PRETTY. The series looks AWESOME. The dog fights are some of my favorite scenes--I love the trails the nukes leave as they speed toward the ships, the way the ships zap out when they perform "FTL" (faster than light) jumps, and we all know I adore a good explosion.

Sharon "Boomer" Valerii is my favorite. She breaks my heart when she cries. I had no idea she was in this series, and I'd just started watching Hawaii Five-O, so when she showed up here as Boomer it was one of those odd coincidences in life--like hearing the same old song on two different radio stations twice in the same 24 hours after not hearing for a year or more...

Starbuck makes me want to be more badass in everyday life. She's just plain awesome. :)

The one I don't like is Dr. Gaius Baltar. Every time he's onscreen he starts nuzzling his imaginary friend, and panting, and humping the air... I feel bad for the actor. He doesn't get to do much other than look panicked or horny. I'm hoping season two gives him a little more to do. And does he remind anyone else of Desmond Hume?

Funny random fact: my family dog's name is Starbuck (named after the first mate in Moby Dick), and seven years later, when my uncle and his family bought a dog, my five year old cousin named it Boomer (short for Boomerang). None of us had ever seen this series at the time. :) The kicker is that Starbuck is a blonde (golden retriever), and Boomer has dark brown fur.

Now, as I mentioned a Top Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series list earlier, I can't really finish this post without making my own...

Doctor Who
The X-Files
Lost
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Firefly
Alias
Star Trek (I know, there's been lots)
SeaQuest DSV
Fringe
Smallville
Sliders
Charmed
Torchwood
Terminator: Sarah Conor Chronicles
Dark Angel
Heroes
Vampire Diaries
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Roswell
Millenium

Granted, I've never seen Farscape or Stargate, and since I've just started watching Sanctuary today, I'm not sure whether I'll want to add it to my list or not. I need to see more than just the pilot. :)

Lie To Me S2.

2010-12-09T11:03:00.002-06:00

By the end of the first season, I was all about this show. I heard that some people got pretty fed up by the implausible story lines, but when the other series in my line up consist of alternate universes, vampires, and high schools capable of music-video-style full production numbers, Lie To Me isn't that big of a stretch.

The episode I was most excited to start watching in the second season was also the biggest disappointment, though. I loved Logan on Veronica Mars, so when I saw Jason Dohring was not only a guest star, but the sociopathic main episode villain, I was stoked! But by the end of the episode he'd kidnapped Lightman and was waterboarding him, killed him, brought him back to life, and then got caught by the FBI in the nick of time while forcing Lightman to dig his own grave. The next day, Lightman was back at work and no mention was ever made again of the torture, or kidnapping, or death. Whaa?

Other than that, I'm still enjoying it. :) Almost caught up into season three!

Three year Bloggiversary!

2010-12-08T12:54:00.004-06:00

The GoldenGait Bridge started on December 8th, 2007. Three years ago!

Granted, posting have been sparser (is that a word?) this year, but I still love my blog, and I plan to keep him around for a good long while. :)

Also? I love that there's a "print" option through Blogger, so if I ever want to make a hard-copy of all of this as a printed, bound diary version I can hold in my hand, I can. I've wandered through some of my old posts lately, and it's wonderful looking back at what was happening two summers ago, or my at-the-moment reactions to getting my top pick of residency programs.

Next up 2011: after Christmas I've got four months as Chief Resident, two short months to get the last minute stuff done, and then a wedding! :D

Bar Method and a Dickens Christmas Fair.

2010-12-08T12:27:00.004-06:00

I only just heard about the Dickens Christmas Fair at the Cow Palace auditorium. It's been going since the 1970s, and my mom and her brothers used to go every year, but no, I'm just hearing about it this year.

It sounds awesome! I'm trying to find a day to go, but my social network of friends have themselves very booked up for the holidays already. Only two weekends left before it closes! I'm SO getting a hot toddy at their Victorian England Pub. :D Even though I don't like them. ;)

In unrelated news, I got my butt kicked last night by D and her stupid, wonderful Bar Method. I was hoping my hula muscles would help me with some of it, but it was silly wishful thinking that in the back of my mind I knew was a total long shot, because I haven't danced hula in over two years. My triceps are also pretty angry with me today.

But I can see why this work out is so addictive (addictive, people, "addicting" isn't a word, thankyouverymuch)! The somewhat psychotically peppy woman who leads the class is toned to the point of unattractiveness, but her helpers in the background all look fabulous, and like totally normal people with awesome figures. For people who were dancers in their youth and lost the time to continue with it, you'd love it. Based loosely in a few ballet core positions, it centers (sort-of) around small, repetitive movements in tensed limbs, and after holding a certain muscle contracted for the length of time they ask of you, stuff is definitely burning.

My next "class" with D is on Thursday, so we'll see how that one goes. :)

Lie To Me S1.

2010-12-03T14:14:00.001-06:00

I've been watching Lie To Me lately, an just finished the first season and started on the second. It's fun! Completely ludicrous storylines, but the people are fun to watch, they're good actors, and the dialogue is generally witty. Plus, Tim's got an awesomely amusing accent, so I'm in. Does anyone else watch this show? I feel like I never hear anyone talk about it.

I love Emily Lightman, and Gillian has a wardrobe that rivals Bones' Cam for cute pencil skirts and dresses. I wish I had a job I could wear those things to, instead of my pajama-like scrubs.

I also need to go watch the Tim Burton remake of Planet Of The Apes: Tim Roth was the main bad guy General! I was unimpressed by the movie with the exception of The make up, and I remember being very scared of Tim Roth's evil ape eyes.

Something to do this weekend! :)

Superbones doodles.

2010-11-30T14:55:00.005-06:00

This year I went to my first podiatry conference: the Superbones West in Las Vegas. I went with five of my fellow residents, and it was quite interesting. I know--I should have been to a conference before now, but I always seemed to be on an out-of-town rotation when there were Chicago conferences as a student, and I was so busy my first year of residency that I couldn't imagine having time to do this. Plus, these things are expensive to go to, and my program doesn't give us any cash for these kind of expenses. There are days I wish I was at a private hospital program that provided meals, paid for the logging website, and gave us money to travel to conferences like this!

But now that I've been to one, I'm both looking forward to going to another one, and bugged that I'll have to do this regularly for the rest of my life. 50% of the lectures were great! Informative, well-presented, and topical. The other 50% made it difficult for me to keep my eyes open in the darkened ballroom.

The location was fun--Vegas--but it would have been more fun if I had money to go to a show. I'd blown my cash on the plane ticket and the hotel cost. I'm sure when I'm not in residency with educational debt up to my eyeballs I'll enjoy these little mini-vacations a little more.

The two best things about the conference were the Board Review sessions and seeing all of my classmates again! I got to visit with several people I went to school in Chicago with, and I hadn't seen them since we graduated. :)

Now, you're probably wondering what the pictures included in this post are. These were the doodles that kept me awake in the less interesting lectures. ;)

Wrapping paper.

2010-11-23T12:53:00.001-06:00

After reading a Facebook comment about a friend forced to wrap her own Christmas presents since she's home for the holidays early, I started to write a reply and quickly realized it was turning into an essay, so it got moved here. :)

The scary thing is I've been wrapping my own presents--and the rest of the family's--for years, since no one else in my family cares about being green and they all refuse to reuse wrapping paper. So I get to the gifts first and use the (neatly folded and stored) wrapping paper from last year.

Yes, I'm also the one who collects and organizes the wrapping paper after Christmas. Reusable pieces get folded and placed in a gift bag, and bows and ribbons go in another one. Torn/shredded paper goes in the recycle bin. Lately I've been trying to use more gift bags, since they'll last several Christmases. (Though there are some pretty pieces of paper that I've had around since the early '00s. I wrap my own presents in them because #1: I think they're pretty and I like having my presents in them, and #2: I know the paper won't get destroyed by someone else ripping into the gift.)

So. Now you know the extent of my Holiday OCD.

I'd appreciate you not calling the men in the white coats to take me away until AFTER Christmas. I can't trust my family with the present wrapping.

Comic Con 2011 ticketing troubles.

2010-11-22T12:38:00.003-06:00

The tickets for the 2011 San Diego Comic Con went on sale today, but when I tried to buy them, the site was down... Just like last year. I wasn't a part of the 2010 mess, but I'm hearing the buzz all over the Internet about how EPIC needs to be assassinated over the ticketing issues, since they didn't fix the massive bug from last year.

At the beginning of today I thought that this was the same EPIC that does medical records for hospitals. I've heard many a medical professional curse the day that they took away paper records and instituted EPIC.

Different EPIC. Apparently they both have some bugs to work out, though. :) For all you entrepreneurs out there, take note: apparently naming your company EPIC just invites the word "fail" to be used appropriately after it.

And consider this my official finger crossing that Psyrixx and I get tickets. :) I really wanna go this year! I hope they can get things ironed out on the ticketing front faster than they did last year...

New way to post!

2010-11-22T10:20:00.002-06:00

I couldn't access Blogger on my iPhone, and it was making me a little mad. It would let me get there and log in, but wouldn't let me write in the publishable field. I thought this was a very stupid oversight on the iPeople's part, because I'm sure a lot of people with iPhones also have blogs.

Took several months to voice this complaint to Psyrixx, who immediately suggested I just download an app for it.

Oh.

So here I am, posting from the app. We're trying something new today. If this works, I'm likely to start posting more often again, since this will enable me to do so while waiting for delayed surgeries to start. :) It's somewhat depressing to think how much of my life will be spent waiting for room turnover in the OR...

Firefly.

2010-11-20T20:39:00.007-06:00

Goodness, but I love this show. Didn't watch it while it was on--I completely missed it, actually. Had no idea it existed. Which is odd, considering how incredibly devoted I was to Buffy.

Psyrixx introduced me to the series a few years ago, after it was already off the air, but before Serenity came out in theaters. As soon as I finished the first episode I was hooked, and it was somewhat bittersweet, watching the rest of the 14 episodes--I knew there was a very finite life-span for this show, and it made me a little sad. However, I knew I had the movie to look forward to. :) So I gobbled up every episode in short order, and I've re-watched them several times since. This weekend I had nothing pressing to do, and since it was cold and rainy, I decided it was high time for another marathon.

It was an absolute tragedy that this show was canceled, and I love that Nathan Fillion routinely makes reference to how great Firefly was on his current show, Castle (which, incidently, I started watching solely out of loyalty to NF, and quickly fell in love with because of its own merits). The idea of a futuristic space society is not a foreign one, and yes, it's a little like Star Wars. But it's so very different at the same time, and very, very original, despite the few parallels that are easy to draw. I love that they use the term "shiny" as a synonym for "cool" or "awesome". I love that they swear and mutter and exclaim in Chinese, since this world assumes that the only two dominating cultures on Earth were America and China in the end. I love how girly and tomboyish Kaylee is, all at the same time. I love that Jayne named his favorite gun Vera, and was willing to swap her for Saffron. Speaking of Saffron, I love the ENTIRE EPISODE with her ("Our Mrs. Reynolds"). I love EVERY second of on-screen time for Nathan Fillion. The female characters are strong and intelligent, the dialogue is cute, fast, and witty, and the acting is fabulous. I love the ragtag bunch of characters, and I'll always gladly admit to being a total Firefly Fan. :)

Two of the episodes in particular really stuck with me. "Our Mrs. Reynolds" and "Out Of Gas". I've already made mention of Saffron and the episode where Mal accidentally gets married. The funny lines are abundant, and Christina Hendricks is beautiful and PERFECT as Saffron. It's just beyond hysterical to see Joan Harris make out with Richard Castle. When I first saw that she was on Mad Men, that was the only reason I had to watch it, but I held off... Joy eventually convinced me on account of the "prettiness", but initially I was on board because of a Firefly alum. These characters are so wonderful and endearing, I'm willing to follow them to the ends of the earth. I was excited to find Vincent Kartheiser/Connor was also a Mad Men cast member. Same with the Buffy cast: that's why I submitted myself to Dollhouse--Faith and Wash.

"Out Of Gas" was also wonderful, but horrible at the same time. I think the episode disturbs me not because of the danger to the crew, but the fact that ship was dead. You hurt Serenity, and it bothers me. Good job, Joss. Not only am I in love with all of your characters, but you even managed to make a fictional space ship endearing. It was also fun to see how Mal acquired each of his crew, especially Kaylee. The final moments of the episode were beautiful, watching the love-at-first-sight look Mal gave Serenity as he shopped for a ship. Aww.

The one last moment I wanted to mention was at the end of "The Message". In a director's commentary or interview (I'm hazy on where I saw it, so please don't take this as gospel) they mentioned that the final scene in the snow, unloading the body for the funeral, was shot the day they found out the show had been canceled, and that no-one had to act that day, since everyone was so devastated about losing something that they all cared so much about. Watching the scene with that in mind makes it even sadder. Not to mention the poetry of the voice over, the prettiness of the slow-motion snow, or the gorgeous score.

So, sadly, that's where Firefly ended. Serenity was great--I'm glad they made the movie--but I'd definitely give it up in a flash if it could have been traded for a full first season of the TV series.

And I might've been persuaded to part with my right kidney for a second season. ;)

It's my birthday and I'll buy if I want to.

2010-11-13T21:32:00.002-06:00

Happy birthday to me! Let's party! *<:-)

Actually, let's not, since no-one's available to party today. Let's do it tomorrow. Everyone free? Awesome. :)

Not only were the Jr.'s getting back into town, but so was Vater, and everyone had to be picked up at different times from an airport. So Mutti and I split the duties, and Psyrixx and I took care of Vater (welcome back!), and Mutti is in charge of the Jr.'s later tonight. No time for a big family dinner or party.

BUT! Tomorrow we've got plenty of time, and Mutti's got a lovely dinner planned. Psyrixx made my birthday cake today, but I don't get to have it until tomorrow night... It's a flourless chocolate marbled cheese cake. With rum in it somewhere. It's going to be decadent. Sinful. Fabulous. I may get up in the middle of the night and sneak into the fridge to try some while Psyrixx sleeps. ;)

Which is another piece of news: we moved in together! Yay! No more commuting 90 minutes to see each other on the weekends! It's been lovely so far, even though the moving part kind of sucked. But then again, moving always does. This was no different, and it wasn't the worst move I've ever had, so I'm happy. We had awesome family members help with all of it, and while I ended up sore, and bruised, and battered, it went very quickly. At least it didn't drag.

Awesome birthday presents received, posted here for posterity so when I look back I remember: chocolates from several people (which I will hoard and probably not finish until after Christmas because it was all AWESOME stuff), fabulous black suede boots, a cream and sugar set, a talking Dalek card (thank you UBV!!), a koosh ball, How To Train Your Dragon, the new Richard Castle book... and I had the most amazing bargain shopping experience this morning at Macy's making my gift card stretch further than you can possibly imagine. :) Thank you for ALL my gifts! This has been a fabulous birthday! :)

But I've decided I'm not having any more. I'm done for a few years. We'll revisit the moratorium on birthdays in 2015. Thanks.

Ashland vacation 2010.

2010-10-04T10:11:00.005-05:00

What a lovely weekend! Thank you, Ashland, you were wonderful.

We started out Saturday morning with a drive through downtown Ashland, and then picked a restaurant to have lunch at before our first show. We ended up in the Standing Stone Brewery, and elected to sit on the back patio, since it was such a gorgeous day outside. We sat down, and each ordered a flight of their beer, so we could taste test 2 oz of each of their signature beers.

My phone rings. It's my sister, and I realize I never texed or called to tell my family that we got in safe and sound last night (we're big on that). So I answered.

"Do you know what you're ordering yet? The veggie wrap is really good."

....Eggy, what are you talking about?

"I like the veggie wrap. And have you ordered a flight of the beers?"

...Seriously, what are you talking about? How do you know I ordered a flight...? You're in southern California!

"Isn't the back patio beautiful?"

OMG, WHERE ARE YOU? CAN YOU SEE ME RIGHT NOW??

Eggy just laughed, and told me coyly that she has an extensive network of minions, and that she hoped we enjoyed the Standing Stone Brewery. It wasn't until later that I realized Psyrixx had "checked in" at our current location on Yelp, Eggy's boyfriend had seen it, and called her to tell her we were at their favorite Ashland restaurant. Eggy just thought she'd make some predictions and have some fun messing with me. Well played, sir, well played.

We finished our FABULOUS lunch, and walked over to see Hamlet, which was AWESOME. Hamlet was perfect from start to finish, the hip-hop Mousetrap was very cool (the whole play to "catch the conscience of a king" was rapped, with Stomp-style and pop-and-lock dancing accompanying it), and Ophelia was the best I've ever seen. Usually Ophelia bothers me, especially when she goes mad and starts burbling about flowers, but this one did a beautiful job (kudos, Susannah Flood). The King was deaf, so the silent conversation between the son and his father's ghost was very elegant, with the king signing his lines, while Hamlet spoke and signed back. When he would get his most angry at his mother or uncle in later scenes, he would sign as he yelled at them, too. A nice dig at them, signing as if his father was still in the room and should be included in the conversation. Dan Donohue rocked it. Out of the 5-6 versions of Hamlet I've seen, this was the best. Sorry Branagh, your reign is over.

Dinner on Saturday was quick, at Munchies, which we enjoyed before heading to Pride and Prejudice--our evening play--which disappointed. Neither Lizzy nor Darcy were interesting at all, Mrs. Bennet was not nearly annoying enough, and the frenetic pace they kept things at didn't lend itself to the audience being able to follow the flow of events. The only amusing character was Mr. Collins, and he was absent in the second half.

Sunday's play was Throne Of Blood, which is a stage adaptation of a Kurosawa movie, which itself was an adaptation of Macbeth. It was very minimalistic, and quite scary, actually. The witch was played by a man in Kabuki-ish make-up and a massive flowing white wig. His voice was auto-tuned high, except when his predictions were horrific threats--then his deep voice would growl through and the amplified bass of it would rumble through the whole theater. Psyrixx really enjoyed it, but I need a little more bulk in my theater. When it gets too minimalist-stylized, I don't connect with it anymore.

We walked through Lithia Park, tasted the water, and stalked the deer and squirrels that were present in mass quantities (Psyrixx commented that it was like being in a Disney movie, there were so many woodland creatures around us!) . The drive home was easy and traffic-free, with a lovely pause in Redding to stretch our legs with a walk across the sundial bridge at sunset.

Is the season line-up for Ashland next year posted yet?? :)

ADDENDUM: Yes, it has been announced, but I'm not as wild about it as this year's line-up, which had me having to choose between many that I wanted to see. I think the only two I'd be interested in next year would be Love's Labor's Lost and To Kill A Mockingbird. Maybe Pirates of Penzance. MAYBE.

Ashland Shakespeare Festival.

2010-10-02T12:10:00.003-05:00

Psyrixx and I are in Oregon! First time he's been to the Shakespeare Festival, though I came on a school Drama Club trip in high school. We drove up last night after work, and will head back down on Sunday, and in the meantime, we're planning on having a grand old time bashing around Ashland. I've already scoped out some great places to eat, we have our tickets to plays, and we're all set for a Weekend O' Fun.

The only thing I forgot (because I always forget stuff when I pack to go away for a weekend): my toothbrush. S'ok, we just googled Walgreens locations to go pick one up when we got into town. Nope, no Walgreens. Weird. Okay, just google CVS locations... Nope, no CVS either.

So... we're talking about a town with beautiful outdoors, a massive Shakespeare Festival that runs 9 months of the year, has an adorable city center with amazing restaurants and parks, AND it does not cram itself with large corporate giants?

Can we move here permanently, please? Seriously, forget the play today, let's go find a realtor...

True Blood, Glee, Mad Men, Vegas, and Sept!

2010-10-02T11:37:00.004-05:00

It's been ages since my last post! September was a busy month, since it was my month to be back at work on primary call and running clinics. The good news is that the black cloud reputation I had when I was a first year resident obviously didn't follow me to my second year, because it was smooth sailing the entire two weeks I was on call! No late night runs to the ER, no admits, no emergency surgeries! It felt very weird being able to get all my work done each day and not having to stay up until midnight, and even THEN not getting everything done. :)

At the beginning of the month, before I started the busy-ness, I kidnapped Psyrixx and took him to Vegas! Not to get married, though that's what a lot of our family members thought. ;) I found screaming deals on plane flights and hotel room, so I took him to the Lion King at the Mandalay Bay! It was phenomenal. So wonderful. And a good portion of the fun was in the kidnapping, too. I showed up at his work, grabbed him, shoved him in my car, and drove away with him. He had no idea where we were going, until we pulled up to the airport. Still no idea... I managed to get him all the way through security and to our gate without him knowing we were going to Vegas! :) It took until we got to the Mandalay Bay for him to figure out which show we were seeing, too. BIG surprise. We had awesome burgers at The House Of Blues before the show (seriously awesome, probably one of the Top 5 Burgers I've Ever Had), split a bottle of wine, and hopped an early flight home the next morning. :) Awesome quote from a drunk guy sitting near us at the House of Blues, after a friend told him to shut up and stop singing along with the bar's music: "I'm not off-key! BOB DYLAN is off-key!!"

Then came all the work, and the craziness of being on call--because even if things aren't absolutely insane and falling down around you while you've got the primary call pager, things are still pretty nutty... just at baseline. ::sigh:: So glad to be done with it.

While signing notes and wading through paperwork this month I managed to get through True Blood S3, as I finished S2 at the end of August. I'm just not as much a fan as I feel like I should be. There are one or two cute moments each episode, but I don't care very much about any of the characters, and I can't find anyone to really cheer for. I don't like Sookie--she can't be the hero of the story. Neither can Bill. Alcide was lovely to look at, but not enough of a main character to boost my loyalty to the show overall. I also like Jessica and Eric. But in general I'm a little creeped out by the blood and guts and gore and sex. I guess I'm just a little too Snow White for True Blood. I like the cleaned-up version on the WB better.

Speaking of the WB's version, The Vampire Diaries, season 2 premiered at the beginning of the month, and I've been rabidly awaiting each new episode every week. I love it. :)

Another show I've recently discovered is Glee. I like it, and dislike it. I understand it's bubble gum, it's contrived, it's auto-tuned occasionally (okay, a lot)... But it's pretty, and fun to listen to, and makes me feel better about the fact that I, too, was unceremoniously thrown in a dumpster in high school. (Wish I could go back and see those boys again: "Hi, I'm a doctor now, and super hot. How YOU doin'? Yeah, I thought so." ::classy exit:: Would be awesome.) I love the music, and the boys are all pretty, and I can forgive the 7th Heaven life lessons each week, because there are dance numbers. The most recent episode has sparked a major Lady Crush on Heather Morris, the girl who plays Brittany. Good lord, she's fabulous.

Also in September: Eggy's birthday!! We went bar hopping in Palo Alto on University Ave, by the Stanford campus, and goodness, there are some really cute places around there! I'd never spent any time there, but it's definitely adorable. Happy Belated Blog Birthday, Egg, and I'm so glad I got to celebrate on the actual day with you!! <3

Last but not least (you're going to think all I do is sit around and watch television, but really, it's just constantly on in the background as I paint, do paperwork, eat dinner, clean, or work out), I started watching Mad Men. It's pretty, but I get SO angry at the amount of smoking and drinking on that show, and it riles me up pretty badly on the feminist front, too. Grr. Glad I live now, and not then. The only think I'm truly in love with is the fashion. I'm trying SO HARD to reign in the urge to shop for vintage-style stuff right now. No money = no shopping!!

Alrighty, so that's what you missed on GLEE! Oh, wait, no, I mean that's what you missed in Libby's September. :)

Boys don't know how to play with hair.

2010-09-11T12:46:00.004-05:00

Public Service Announcement to the male gender: learn how to play with a woman's hair.

I'm quite serious. This is a skill that ranks extremely highly with us, and it's so rare that I've never heard of a man being able to do it. It actually might be impossible. I'm not sure. But what I DO know is that almost every woman alive knows how to play with another girl's hair, and would immediately be putty in the hands of a man who was able to do it. We all wish our male significant other knew how.

I've recently had this discussion with seven 20-something-year-old women, and it's unanimous. None of us have ever had a boyfriend who knew what he was doing, and we all agreed that it's possibly the most relaxing feeling in the entire world. I know men would rather the top spot on the Relaxing List go to something that more directly involves their crotch, but this is the way it is. Sorry, boys.

And I'm not sure guys understand really how important and desired this skill is. It's something that makes us melt. We become completely non-functional, to the point of not being able to type, write, finish a sentence, or keep our eyes open. We love it. It's like catnip for women.

Ladies, do you agree? Or was my sample size of seven a totally skewed bunch of girls? Anybody else wish they had a personal assistant to just play with their hair at the end of a long day?

ADDENDUM 10/2/10: After reading this post my fiance made it his personal mission to become the first man in the history of the world to be able to play with a woman's hair the way she likes it done. I am delighted to report that after just a few short weeks of training, he is now a pro. The problem is... now that I've admitted this, he'll be satisfied that he successfully learned how, and he'll stop. :(

Hair, Twilight, pineapples, and 80's fashion.

2010-08-31T22:23:00.008-05:00

Hey there... This is going to be a bit of a schizophrenic blog post. No real theme. Just funny things from lately.

First: Mutti has been registering our family with the Clan Campbell recently, which is kind of awesome--we can trace our ancestry back pretty far. Though since the Campbells are known as women-and-child murderers and double-crossing sadists, it's a dubious honor. Anyway, I now know that my great-great-aunt Isabella Campbell was ostracized in our family for having an illegitimate son. The son's name? Edward. When I have kids, I won't be choosing their names from current tween novel series... or, apparently, from my family tree.

Second: Psyrixx and I got a very generous gift card to Williams-Sonoma at our engagement party, and since his bamboo cutting board is cracking something terrible these days (it lasted three awesome years, though, completely untreated) and is a wee bit too small, we bought a new huge one with our gift card. I thought of Psych when I read what was on the gift card: "In colonial America, pineapples were often the focal point of table settings--a sign of the host's goodwill and lavish attention to detail. Eventually, the fruit came to symbolize hospitality itself. In the same spirit of generosity, this gift card is yours to enjoy." Aww. Never knew that. Awesome new factoid for the day.

Third: I can't decide whether I want to wear my hair up or down for my wedding. I have LOTS O' HAIR, and could manage a pretty bitchin' updo if I wanted to go that route. Plus, it would show off the drama of the dress's back and keep it out of my face during dancing and whatnot. But I hate the bald look I get from the front when I have all my hair pulled back and up. And half up makes me look 16, so that's out, too. I can't make up my mind.

Fourth: I cooked my first poached eggs tonight, and I'm super proud of myself, because all three came out beautifully. Yay me. :)

Fifth: I watched Soapdish with Eggy this afternoon, and we remarked on how many trends are glaringly back in fashion right now. The black wayfarer plastic sunglasses. The nude pumps. The plastic earrings, bracelets, and necklaces in bright colors. The leggings. Thankfully the massive teased hair has not made a come-back. (If you haven't seen this movie, you should. It's hysterical. Kevin Kline, Sally Field, Robert Downey Jr., Kathy Najimy, Elisabeth Shue, Whoopi Goldberg, Carrie Fisher, and an extremely young Teri Hatcher. It's fabulous--about the ridiculous drama behind the scenes of an 80's soap opera. Think As The World Turns meets Noises Off.)

Sixth: Yes, I know my birthday is two and a half months away, but I think Mutti and I ordered my present today. They are the world's loveliest boots. ::sigh:: I want them now. Maybe I can convince her I deserve them early...? In the name of fall fashion? :)

P.S. I may have just torn my ATFL. Or strained it. It hurts a lot. I may have to wrap my ankle tomorrow. :(

Proper use of the English language.

2010-08-30T20:34:00.005-05:00

My sister Eggy is a total English language purist, and a major grammar Nazi. I love it, because between her and Punahou, I feel decently confident that I won't make a complete fool of myself when I write or speak. I take some liberties with the English language to be sure, but most of the time it's for comedic purposes.

Because I knew she'd enjoy it, I sent her some funny quotes from Psych, which must be written by like-minded individuals who--like my sister--are peeved by the overwhelming misuse of much of the English language these days. These are great:

Juliet O'Hara: Detective Lassiter is literally on fire today.
Shawn Spencer: "Literally on fire" as in Michael Jackson in the Pepsi commercial, or as in a misuse of the word "literally?"

Karen Vick: It goes without saying, Mr. Spencer, that your father is in no way to participate in this investigation. He's no longer on the force, and his meddling could compromise the case in court. Do I make myself clear?
Shawn Spencer: Yes, you do, Chief. What isn't clear is why people always say "goes without saying," yet still feel compelled to say the thing that was supposed to go without saying. Doesn't that bother you?
Karen Vick: No, and frankly, I could care less.
Burton 'Gus' Guster: Now, that's the one that bothers me. Why do people say, 'I could care less' when they really mean, 'I couldn't care less?'
Karen Vick: Well, why don't you tell me how to properly say this? If you share any official information about this case with your father, or let him anywhere near any new evidence, then the two of you will have to find another police department to work for, and I will personally see to it that each of you is charged with obstruction of justice.
Burton 'Gus' Guster: You split an infinitive.
Shawn Spencer: Good catch, Gus!
Karen Vick: You two realize I carry a gun, right?
Burton 'Gus' Guster: That was perfectly elocuted.

So today I've decided that she needs to found an association: the American Society of Spelling, Punctuation, Language Usage, and Grammar. We have spent the better part of the afternoon with each other outlining the positive changes ASS PLUG would bring to our country at large.

Personally, I want to militarize, and have harsh punishments a la Gitmo for individuals who cannot properly utilize "your"/"you're", "their"/"there"/"they're", and "its"/"it's". I guarantee Facebook status updates will be beautiful examples of our fine language if an erroneous apostrophe gains you water boarding and electrodes attached to your nether regions.

The Vampire Diaries 1x13 - 1x22

2010-08-24T17:15:00.007-05:00

I am seriously impressed by Nina Dobrev and the differences between her Elena and her Katherine. She does a very good job.

...Oh, wait, this DOES get more complicated. If Isobel was Elena's mother, then not only could Alaric be her dad (wait, no, by 1x15 we find out that's not the case--Uncle John is actually Daddy John...what a messed up family tree...I think the thing goes in circles at this point), but this means Damon killed Elena's biological mom. Hmm. Strike that, TURNED her mom. Spider-webby drama. I love it.

I don't care much at all about Matt and Caroline. And I'm quite happy that Vicki is gone. Gettin' a little bored by Bonnie, too. I'm guessing Tyler is going to turn out to be a werewolf, since they've shown him against a full moon backdrop a few times now, and he's obviously something other than human--just like his dad. I was wondering how long they could resist before they brought a dog to the series.

I'm glad I finally learned how the brothers were turned. Obviously she'd bitten both of them during the course of her playtime, but I never saw either one drink HER blood, so I was grateful for Emily Bennett's explanation. I was also happy to find out that the rings can be made--by a witch. I'm assuming now Bonnie could turn trinkets into these sun-shields if she wanted to, but I suppose she'll have to come full circle before she's interested in helping any vampires on a permanent basis.

It's interesting how they've manufactured a sort of vampire kryptonite for this series' mythology. Love the vervain.

And then--agh! Uncle John is David Anders! Love to see Sark/Adam. He's fabulous. Always a good pseudo-villain. And speaking of pseudo-villains, Stephan's trip to the dark side after falling WAY off the wagon was interesting. And made Damon look even more like the cooler brother. :) I was sad when he hauled himself back up onto the wagon. I like the wagon Stephan-less.

So...everybody knows that the actors who play the adults on this show are the same age as the actors that play the kids, right? "Alaric"/Matthew and "Damon"/Ian top out the ages at 32 years old, while "Stephan"/Paul and "Uncle John"/David come next at 28 and 29 years old, respectively. "Matt"/Zach and "Tyler"/Michael come next at 25, "Aunt Jenna"/Sara is the same age as "Caroline"/Candice at 23, "Jeremy"/Steven is 22, which makes him OLDER than his older sister and her best friend: "Elena"/Nina and "Bonnie"/Katerina are both 21. The baby is "Anna"/Malese who is only 19. This all makes me feel very old, as I rank with John and Stephan. :( Sure, I'm the same age as the lead heartthrob, but I'm also the same age as the UNCLE. I feel like someone has officially kicked me out of the ingenue category. :(

The season finale was ALL kinds of crazy. Tyler AND his father the mayor are... what? Obviously Mayor Lockwood didn't know he and his son would respond to the device, or he wouldn't have allowed its use. I suppose they're probably werewolves, but did they know? Did Dad know, but not Tyler? I was bummed about Anna dying, though. She was cool. But goodness! What a cliffhanger. We get a Katherine-as-Elena/Damon kiss (could he tell as he walked away?), we have the murder (?) of Uncle John, and the suicide (attempt?) by the wannabe-vamp Jeremy. September 9th seems a little too far away at this very moment...?

"Oh come on. If I see something I haven't seen before, I'll throw a dollar at it." --As Damon interrupts Elena and Stephan in bed.

The Vampire Diaries 1x07 - 1x12

2010-08-24T14:09:00.006-05:00

Still lots of fun! :)

But I got a little sick of Stephan and Elena bouncing back and forth through the first 11 episodes: We can be together! No we can't! I love you! I'm leaving! You can't! I want you! We can't be together! You lied! I'm gettin' whiplash here.

Alaric Saltzman... Definitely intrigued. Want to know more... And then WHAT?? He could be Elena's father?? He's already slipped right in, being fatherly with Jeremy, and dating Elena's mother-figure. That was too nicely set up before anything was even revealed. Hmm.

Nice to see Gina Torres! I always enjoy Jasmine/Anna Espinosa/Zoe. :) Too bad she had to die. And did I mention I really liked Arielle Kebbel's Lexi? Again, it's too bad she had to die, but she was loads of fun for the one episode we had her for. I want to be friends with that girl.

And now I just feel horrible for both Jeremy AND Bonnie. Vamp magnets, the whole lot of them.

I really do enjoy the pseudo-love-triangle between Stephan, Elena, and Damon. The history of Katherine, and the family connection between the boys make it just unique enough that I don't feel like I'm watching Edward and Jacob fight over the teenage brunette. Ian Somerhalder definitely lucked out with the best role on this show: no-one else gets to revel in being unabashedly evil and yet have supremely touching moments looking at Elena when no-one is around to see him. If only his hair were a LITTLE better. It's almost there. Just not QUITE.