I got gypped on my most recent bag of Lays potato chips. The bag clearly states there is Happiness in Every Bite and I've counted no less than 5 different bites in this bag that clearly contained no happiness whatsover. I'm pretty sure one of them was even borderline sad. I may write a letter.

This post is already 2 days overdue and I can't let another day go by without saying it:

Happy birthday, Justin.

Fandoms come and go and life gets complicated and distracting sometimes, but you are a constant in my life that I am thankful for every day. You picked me up during one of the worst periods of my life, when just getting up in the morning was a struggle and you helped me through it. Thanks for knowing pretty much all there is to know about me and loving me anyway. Thanks for giving me baseball; it's been my happy place for the past year and a half because you knew I needed one. Thanks for Timmy and Buster and Angelface and Stew. Thanks for torture and trophies and for answering 1,732 questions (and counting). Thanks for 11 years of being the perfect internet husband online and the perfect shoulder and ear in real life.

My life's better because you're in it.

I hope your birthday was amazing and joyful and everything good in the world that you deserve.


I will always be the Sally to your Linus.

Current Mood: thankful

Dear Windows Desktop Cleanup Wizard,

Thank you for your valued input, as always, but the icons you deem "unused" on my desktop are here for a reason, so no, I don't want you to take care of them for me. Much the same way I didn't want you to take care of them for me the last 20 times you offered.

However, if you're bored, you're welcome to go and monitor my apartment. I'm certain that with minimal effort you'll find a multitude of items that appear to be sitting around unused and in need of being "cleaned up."

Knock yourself out.

Pixley

Current Mood: logical

Some days Xanax just can't get the job done without a little help from Hershey's and a big ass set of headphones so I can't hear anything but Steven Tyler...who does the screaming for me.

I've been offline since forever, so I don't know if anyone has shared this yet or not.

Once again, CBS is offering a free 3-year subscription (18 issues) of the PRINT version of "Watch Magazine" to the first 50,000 people (US only) who reply before January 31. They did this last year and I was one of the lucky ones who filled out my subscription in time and I absolutely LOVE getting this magazine.

If you are a fan of H50, Vampire Diaries, NCIS, NCIS LA, Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, or any of the other dozens of good shows on CBS or its partner companies, you'll love the magazine. It's a really high quality. It's full of glitz, glamour, entertainment, style, food, etc. But it also has some surprisingly intellectual features that I've found interesting.

And it's always full of gorgeous pictures of CBS stars. Such as NCIS's Michael Weatherly, who was on the cover of the last issue. Behold (no really - watch this man's photo shoot and tell me he's not breathtaking. Guh.):



Act fast if you're interested! Once the word really starts to spread, those 50,000 will be gone in a flash. And spread the word to others who are in fandoms of CBS shows.

Here's the link to the free subscription page: CBS Watch Magazine - Free Subscription

Current Mood: helpful

Well that was -- as hoped -- a total non-event after a full day of being bombarded by Doomsday "THE BIG ONE IS COMING" weather reports. I am happy to report that we had approximately 7 minutes of hard rain, wind, and tiny hail and then it was...over. Yeah, I don't even know.

But I did everything I was supposed to, even when it didn't appear to be threatening. Better safe than sorry.

And now I can sleep without fear that I will die tragically in the middle of the night from an F4 tornado coming through my wall. So I will go do that.

Current Mood: unimpressed

It's never a good thing when two local news stations and the National Weather Service all send severe weather alerts to your cell phone within 20 minutes. And then when you click on them you see this...


...DAMAGING WINDS...TORNADOES AND LARGE HAIL WILL BE THE PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER THREATS. THE GREATEST TORNADO RISK AREA INCLUDES THE MEMPHIS METRO AREA...

Yeah, that little white circle, smack dab in the center where it says "severe?" That's my house! WHEEEE! : D

*head desk* I'm still holding out hope this is all a gross overreaction on the part of NOAA.gov.

But I'm also having flashbacks to Super Tuesday, 2008 and the 87 tornadoes that system spawned in 15 hours. And oh, look...it was *just* this time of year.

I've been largely absent from LJ for the past several months, but things are okay and I'm good and I will be back. For now, I had to come and post Clarabell, because I've never NOT posted Clarabell. Clarabell *is* Christmas.

"It was a clear Christmas Eve night in Tennessee. It was not so long ago as you might think, even though Clarabell was just a little calf when it happened. Clarabell was special, even for a Jersey calf. If she weren't special, how then could all this have happened?"


( CLARABELL. THE CHRISTMAS COWCollapse )

Current Mood: peaceful

For those who might be interested, Target has the complete season 1 and season 2 box sets of "Due South" for only $5 each. If you don't have them, there's your best opportunity. : )

I know I have a lot of cat owners and cat lovers on my flist. If you're not subscribed to Simon's Cat on You Tube, you're missing the cutest little cartoon kitty series ever.

( This is one of my favoritesCollapse )

The highlight of my day: Jeff Donovan's haircut. \O/

Michael's hair was back to normal in tonight's Burn Notice. Michael Westen should *never* have floppy hair. Just...no. I feel strongly about this.

And so it begins. It's currently 102 degrees with a heat index of 121. We are officially miserable for the summer.

I haven't updated in forever. I didn't purposely stay away or anything. Work was crazy for the past 5 weeks or so and I was also doing freelance work at home. I'm on vacation now. (YAAAAY!) More tonight. I'm on vacation this week and I have errands to run that didn't get done in the last month and a half. Hope all my friends here in the U.S. had a great holiday weekend. Using the patriotic icon today since I didn't get to use it yesterday! :)

Jeff Eastin tweeted about an hour ago: "How much slash will be generated if I post the Peter/Neal prom picture?"

It still kind of freaks me out when actors and writers publicly acknowledge, muchless encourage, the slashers. Having said that, Jeff Eastin is as close to an admitted slash fan as anyone I've ever heard of with actual production ties to a show. And if there's a person alive who has a bigger crush on Matt Bomer than he does, I'd like to see them.

I also got a kick out of these two tweets he made after last week's episode:

"Ratings in -- We did good last night!!" 

"I acknowledge the good ratings may be shirtless Bomer related."

Current Mood: amused

OHMYGOD! There is no way anything this cute actually EXISTS IN THE UNIVERSE!!!

No really. To quote my friend who sent this to me, "I'm pretty sure this is actually a Disney cartoon. That can't EVEN be real." And if you can't hear it squeak, you're missing half the adorable.

Seriously, people. WATCH THIS KITTEN! No matter how bad your day/week/life has been, this will make you melt in a puddle of rainbows and unicorns.

My hair has staged a coup. And I'm not talking about a "bangs-need-trimming, too-long-in-back, kinda-flat-on-top" isolated incident. No, no. This is all-out warfare. It's organized and precise. There is actual strategy involved. Like it all got together last night and decided it's taking me DOWN. I expect to look in the mirror this afternoon and find a tiny flag on top of my head where it has claimed victory.

I learned something last night: Sheriff’s deputies on official business waiting for you to open a door can not distinguish between "Oh, um...just a minute! (while I find the pants I'm not currently wearing because I live alone and it's laundry day)" and "Oh, um...just a minute! (while I flush all my cocaine, conceal my illegal cache of anti-aircraft missile launchers, and help my prison escapee boyfriend and/or pimp disappear through the back window.)"

Apparently, someone made a 911 call and gave the wrong address -- which was my address. But even after we determined it was a case of wrong information, the officers still had to come in and search my apt to be sure I wasn't telling them I was fine under duress. Which I'm thankful for. But the whole ordeal was a little nerve wracking. Also I'm pretty sure my neighbors now think I'm a drug dealer.

Lesson: Wear pants. All the time. Even to bed. Forever.

I've finally reached the bottom of my laundry hamper. I'm equal parts horrified and fascinated. Pretty sure last thing I pulled out (using tongs that that should now be detonated from a safe distance) was a circa 1983 "Frankie Say No War" T-shirt I lost in high school. Won't know for sure until it emerges from the dryer. Assuming it doesn't disintegrate.

This weekend I did something I haven't done in 6 years -- I started making a songvid! I have had this one perfect song in my head for MONTHS that just screeeeeeeeeeams H50, and it's gotten to the point that I almost can't sleep at night because I keep watching it play out in my head. I have - no lie - listened to this song 62 times in the past 10 days, according to iTunes, and I have literally identified every clip from 20 different episodes that I want to accompany every little segment of music.

In my head? This sucker is already completely finished. All I have to do is actually put it together.

So finally yesterday I started and I'm so excited now I can't wait to get home tonight and work on it some more.

I'd TOTALLY forgotten what a rush vidding can be when you hit the perfect clip for the perfect line with the perfect tone and the perfect relevance and every hair stands up on your neck and then you just flail and think "THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME OMG I LOVE THEM!!!!

It's not a story video, and it's not Danny/Steve. This is a 4 person Team!Vid all the way and if I can pull it off and make it 1/3 as cool as it looks in my head, it's going to be my favorite thing I've ever made.

And then on top of that, I actually have a second video I want to (have to??) do after this one that is about 70% finished in my head as well.

Apparently, my fannish Muse has been on voyage of self-discovery around the world (or possibly galaxy) for the past half a decade, and has now decided to return home and poke incessantly at my brain with very sharp sticks until I again do her bidding.

Seriously, she's NOT going to let me sleep until I finish both of these videos. And they WILL be done. They must!

Having said all that? OHMYGOD I'd TOTALLY forgotten what a pain in the ass it is to compile all the individual clips that I need to work with. For one of these vids, the individual clips I need are so small and some are going to go by so fast that I can't pace them from within the larger episode; they've got to be pulled out into separate clips to be as flexible as I need. Otherwise it crashes my computer.

I think this must be what it feels like for a writer who can't manage to get the words out fast enough when they're just sitting there and you know what it's supposed to look like on paper, but it's taking FOREVER to actually get it out there in the way that matches what's in your head.

But I will prevail! Because this video WILL exist. It can't NOT exist. Or I will go insane. No really...I'm halfway there already.

Yay for vids! And for artistic inspiration! Or, in this case, possible psychotic breaks caused by artistic inspiration! FUN FOR EVERYONE!

Current Mood: artistic

Thanks for the wonderful birthday wishes today. And thanks mickeym and timespirt for the virtual party and gifts.

I had a really lovely day full of family and friends and gorgeous weather. You couldn't possibly win a lottery with a jackpot more valuable than that. I love you all!

It feels weird to know I'm a year older. I don't feel this old. Do you think anyone ever really feels their age?

I hope not.

My 68 year old mom -- who is the coolest mom in the world -- just texted me on her iPhone at 10:50 pm to tell me (again) that Bon Jovi is coming (again) and ask if I thought we could get tickets for under $100 each. She's willing to help me pay for mine if we can. LOL! It seems like he comes here twice a year these days, and I always hear it from her first. One of these days she's gonna get to go.

My mom and Dad have been married for 49 years but I'm starting to think she would leave him in a heartbeat for Jon Bon Jovi (who is currently displayed in an 8x10 glossy on the cover of her 3-ring binder of clipped recipes. She rotates them. Occasionally, in turn, it's also Patrick Dempsey, Timothy Olyphant, Taylor Kitsch, or Matt Bomer).

I wish could take her to the concert. She'd go in a heartbeat. But I checked on tickets. They're already sold out and being re-sold online for upwards of $350 each. No concert for us. And really, neither of us is willing to pay that to see anyone, no matter who.

I could buy a whole tank of gas with that much money!!

Current Mood: amused

I think Alex has been working out. A lot.

Tonight, his chest looked WAY more defined to me than it did 2 episodes ago. Ditto the arms.

Okay, honestly? This episode might be about renegade transvestite alien goat wranglers for all I know.

My brain shut down 15 minutes in and has yet to reboot.

I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO **DO** WITH THAT IN CANON!!!!!

Holy shit. I can't even process!!!!!

( Danny and Steve and important conversationsCollapse )

Current Mood: numb

The fraternaties and sororities at Tufts University clearly excel at being awesome.

Greeks to give blood on behalf of would-be LGBT donors

Volunteers from Tufts' fraternities and sororities will next week be giving blood on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in an effort to raise awareness of the fact that federal statutes prohibit some of its members from doing so themselves.

In other news, I need Monday's episode of H50 like OXYGEN and CBS needs to cough it up already, damn it!

Withdrawal is a horrible, horrible thing.