tortoisegirl

30 Day Meme
Day 07 → A photo that makes you happy



Yeah, I know this one's a cop-out too because lol, a macro. Does this even count as a photo? And small fluffy animals, who's not cheered up by small fluffy animals? Soulless people, that's who. Boy am I tired. /half-assed reply

30 Day Meme
Day 04 → Your favourite book

This one's easier.



The books I like best are the ones that evoke emotion, and this book hits a lot of them. There are a ton of characters and it can be tough to keep track of them, but many of them are brilliant; Yossarian in particular is one of my favorite characters every. It's full of the dark humor I love, and the non-linear plot is very well done. It's a sad book, I think, though the tragedy is cleverly disguised and is not so bad by the end :)

Runners-up include Pride & Prejudice, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Lord of the Rings trilogy, Watership Down.

30 Day Meme
Day 02 → Your favourite movie

This is a hard one, because I'm very casual about movies and don't really think about them enough to develop favorites. V for Vendetta blew me away when I saw it in theaters, though, and it's one I find myself rewatching all the time. And hey, I love Natalie Portman and I love Hugo Weaving. I have read the comic (after seeing the movie) and I love them both, but as different entities. One of the things that drew me to Watchmen before I really knew what it was was the fact that it came from the same source as V for Vendetta.



In other news, I'm reading John Winthrop's "A Modell of Christian Charity" for school, and it includes this section about the Biblical figures Jonathan and David:

"Jonathan a valiant man endued with the spirit of love, so soon as he discovered the same spirit in David had presently his heart knit to him by this ligament of love; so that it is said he loved him as his own soul, he takes so great pleasure in him, that he strips himself to adorn his beloved. His father's kingdom was not so precious to him as his beloved David, David shall have it with all his heart. Himself desires no more but that he may be near to him to rejoice in his good. He chooseth to converse with him in the wilderness even to the hazard of his own life, rather than with the great Courtiers in his father's Palace. When he sees danger towards him, he spares neither rare pains nor peril to direct it. When injury was offered his beloved David, he would not bear it, though from his own father. And when they must part for a season only, they thought their hearts would have broke for sorrow, had not their affections found vent by abundance of tears."

So...he ships this, right? Way to sneak Bible slashfic into your sermons, Winthrop.

I can't stop watching this video. I'm not sure why, since the song's nothing special and I only find, like, one of the guys in it attractive, but idk. I think it's the bright colors and the inexplicable lack of clothing. And the sense of humor about it all :D (At least I think it's supposed to be lulzy...they can't be serious in this, right?)

Probably NSFW by the way, for bare ass and explicit ice cream.



( Annnnd, since I'm a terrible bandwagon jumper... )

House-sitting at my dad's new place until Wednesday, and it's so quiet and niiiiice here. I was going to spend today walking around the neighborhood to see what around but after a long day yesterday and a long week ahead it was just too nice to laze around all by myself.

And about my long day yesterday! I took the train down to Washington DC for the day, which is something I'd been wanting to do for a while just to see the city and be touristy. And I got to spend most the visit with sandoz_iscariot! We got to do a lot, though I didn't take many pictures and many of the ones I did take didn't turn out well. I'll share what I've got.

Well first of all there was a little timing fail on my part in that there was a Glenn Beck rally going on that day. There were some teabaggers on the train with me, extolling the virtues of Sarah Palin (thankfully not for the whole ride), and sandoz had issues getting to the metro because it was so packed, but we weren't near the Lincoln Memorial rally site and didn't encounter them that much. Based on the t-shirts I saw their rainson d'etre of the day was "honor" - reclaiming or restoring the nation's honor. Which, now that think of it, makes me think of Zuko from A:TLA more than American patriotism. So, lol teabaggers, lol.

Anyway, onto the good parts.



The above building is one the Smithsonian's buildings. We didn't actually go to this particular one (I just thought it was pretty); we went to the Natural History Museum. It was very large and very crowded, but for exhibits we visited the oceans, dinosaurs, mammals, gemstones, and birds.

( Long post is long )

Got an email and a phone call this morning from an adviser telling me that my capstone course was canceled. The big thesis-paper course that I need to graduate. A week before classes start. I've gone through panic mode and now I'm waiting to hear back from a professor I emailed about getting into another, filled course. Worst case scenario, I end up with a topic I'm not interested in and an inconvenient schedule.

It could ultimately be a good thing. I signed up for the course I did (Post-Colonial Studies, wtf I know nothing about that) because my first choice was full and this gives me a legit reason to beg to be let into the full course. I just wish it wasn't happening this late.

*refreshes email*

Yesterday's cure for boredom was to cook, specifically things I'd never tried making before. And I took pictures because...idk, everyone needs to see the shit I make, or something.

( Another food post. )

What a disappointing week. Things keep getting worse.

But anyway, it's been about a month since I got my tattoo redone so I guess it's time for some pictures. I don't think it's entirely healed yet; it's still shinier and sharper than I've seen in other black-ink tattoo, and since I actually want the faded, blown-out look there's still a ways to go. It'll happen eventually though.



( Take two )

So we already know the current Old Spice ads are awesome and full of diamonds, but holy shit, now Isaiah Mustafa is doing personalized video responses to comments on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and blogs.


http://twitter.com/OldSpice






There are dozen of them! I've never been so enamored with an ad campaign before!

And, um, I may have already @replied to him on Twitter. Pick me, pick meeeee!

Uh, happy late birthday America.

So the 4th of July happened, and there were fireworks and water ice and sunburn. I was cat-sitting at my dad's over the weekend because poor geriatric Stripes can't eat on his own and needs to be hand-fed. Poor kitty is so skinny now. He's still very good at waking me up at 5am for his food, though.

On the 4th I went to the Art Museum area for the street fair and concert and fireworks. Saw a few breakdancing groups, a guy who was doing flips over the heads of volunteers, and one guy with a GIGANTIC python who was charging people to drape it around their shoulders and take pictures (idk...snakes for America, I guess). It's also interesting that, considering the holiday, there were very few American flag around. I think I saw only two vendors selling them and very few people carrying them, even the mini ones. Glow sticks and coloring flashing accessories were far more popular.

Anyway, I pushed my way through the crowd to get a fairly good view of the concert stage. The Roots were fantastic. They were really into it and good at working the crowd, and the music was the kind of upbeat funky stuff you want to hear at a summer holiday party. The Goo Goo Dolls were the last act (there was some other band before The Roots, but idk who they were and they only played two songs). I don't know if it was bad planning or what, but the whole concert was running behind, which delayed the fireworks, so by the time the Goo Goo Dolls were on I just wanted them to get on with it and get to the fireworks. I left the stage area to find a better view for the fireworks shortly they started playing, but the concert ended up being an hour and a half longer than scheduled. When the Goo Goo Dolls came back on stage for an encore some kids near me booed, haha (I didn't boo, but I was fucking tired at that point and just wanted them off the damn stage).

The fireworks finally went off at 11:00, and they were shiny and colorful and wonderful, and there were some weird music choices happening in the background. Afterwards I practically ran back to City Hall to get the subway before the masses of people clogged it up too much. It was a good day, if unreasonably hot, and I'm glad I took advantage of the free concert. Yay America!