Update of No Particular Significance
It dawns on me I haven't really discussed any real life stuff in here for a while. Not because my life is actually interesting, per se, but, hey, I might as well engage with my electronic community at some point, right?
Travel
Spent a couple days in NYC with fadingembers, jaina and the fresh-from-LA sarcasticval a few weeks ago. Most of that trip's been covered in other journals so I don't have much to add other than it being a total blast and the discovery of the Chinatown bus as a means of transportation is an invaluable discovery.
Books
Finished reading Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher. Entertaining beach read and no doubt the man's got great world-building skills, but as fantasy goes, there isn't really anything new here. Oh look, another pseudo-medieval society with commonplace Magic Powers that is at risk from a pseudo-tribal society with different but also commonplace Magic Powers. Insert critical discussion of feminist and racial theory here. So, yeah, plot's got enough dangling threads for me to keep reading but it lacks the gleeful genre mashing his Dresden Files embrace.
Movies
Finally saw Hot Fuzz. *Not* a disappointment in the least as I start to nurse a serious crush on Simon Pegg and possibly Nick Frost as well. Also, also, I kind of want to read Nicholas Angel/Sam Tyler fic. Because they are cosmic twins, yo. And I'm sad like that.
TV
On Demand has provided me with the opportunity to see all of Jekyll without commercial interruption. Now, keep in mind, I like Stephen Moffat quite a bit, but he has a bad habit of setting up great set pieces without always having the plot to justify their existence. So, there was a bit of that going on. And the end sort of fizzled, like they had a couple of great ideas on how to resolve everything and rather than choose one of them and stick with it, they threw everything into a blender to see what'd come out, making the resolution more than a little shakey. Still, it had some great dialogue and definitely the best lesbian private detective ever and if this is a glimpse at Moffat as a show runner, it's not too bad for a first-timer. *If* he should take over Who after Davies leaves (and all of that is a mighty big IF, still), I'm not too worried.
Also, I'm re-watching the second season of Babylon 5 for the first time in years. Couple things have stuck out this time around. One, the Psy Corps stuff is dead boring. Maybe it's because I already know that Talia is going to leave, but the whole build-up now is just dull, especially when compared to Centauri/Narn war which is still a fabulous plot. Two, man, did it take forever to beat the shit dialogue out of Strazynski. Not as bad as the first season, but a good chunk of it is still clunky. Three, Peter David! Hee! I forgot he'd worked on this show. And that Harlan Ellison was a consultant, for that matter (I'll be honest here - I think Ellison is an ass, but still a pretty good writer, so I can give a slide on his participation).
Work
Spent a couple days last week absolutely convinced I was going to be fired for not drumming up enough business (I'm in sales, it happens). I wasn't and will hopefully have some sort of employment over the next six months, but I've realized that I really don't want to do this. Like, on any level. I mean I'm fine sticking it out for a year and exiting with as much dignity as possible, but this is most assuredly not what I want to do for the rest of my life. And I need to stop listening to my parents. Well, my dad. Whom, don't get me wrong, I love and get along with, but he tends to give the "Well, I think you'd do fine in sales/human resources/have you thought about nursing?" sort of advice and tends to ignore the fact that I have no interest in those things whatsoever and never have. Seriously, I nearly flunked basic physiology. That's a big hint that I likely won't do well in a medical field. And I say things like this to him and he's like "But it has structure!" and I'm like "So did school! But I didn't like that much either!"
Which is kind of ironic cause I've been flirting with the idea on and off of actually going back to school, but trying to do it right this time. Hindsight being 20/20 and all that, if I did college over again I'd get a writing degree. Or maybe history. Because at the end of the day, those were the courses I actually liked rather than the ones I took 'cause I thought they'd be useful in a still sort of related field.
I'm not sure where that's all going yet (because this is me and I'm a world-class procrastinator if nothing else), but I feel a lot more zen and less panicked about the whole situation than I have for a while, which at least feels like a step in the right direction.
Travel
Spent a couple days in NYC with fadingembers, jaina and the fresh-from-LA sarcasticval a few weeks ago. Most of that trip's been covered in other journals so I don't have much to add other than it being a total blast and the discovery of the Chinatown bus as a means of transportation is an invaluable discovery.
Books
Finished reading Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher. Entertaining beach read and no doubt the man's got great world-building skills, but as fantasy goes, there isn't really anything new here. Oh look, another pseudo-medieval society with commonplace Magic Powers that is at risk from a pseudo-tribal society with different but also commonplace Magic Powers. Insert critical discussion of feminist and racial theory here. So, yeah, plot's got enough dangling threads for me to keep reading but it lacks the gleeful genre mashing his Dresden Files embrace.
Movies
Finally saw Hot Fuzz. *Not* a disappointment in the least as I start to nurse a serious crush on Simon Pegg and possibly Nick Frost as well. Also, also, I kind of want to read Nicholas Angel/Sam Tyler fic. Because they are cosmic twins, yo. And I'm sad like that.
TV
On Demand has provided me with the opportunity to see all of Jekyll without commercial interruption. Now, keep in mind, I like Stephen Moffat quite a bit, but he has a bad habit of setting up great set pieces without always having the plot to justify their existence. So, there was a bit of that going on. And the end sort of fizzled, like they had a couple of great ideas on how to resolve everything and rather than choose one of them and stick with it, they threw everything into a blender to see what'd come out, making the resolution more than a little shakey. Still, it had some great dialogue and definitely the best lesbian private detective ever and if this is a glimpse at Moffat as a show runner, it's not too bad for a first-timer. *If* he should take over Who after Davies leaves (and all of that is a mighty big IF, still), I'm not too worried.
Also, I'm re-watching the second season of Babylon 5 for the first time in years. Couple things have stuck out this time around. One, the Psy Corps stuff is dead boring. Maybe it's because I already know that Talia is going to leave, but the whole build-up now is just dull, especially when compared to Centauri/Narn war which is still a fabulous plot. Two, man, did it take forever to beat the shit dialogue out of Strazynski. Not as bad as the first season, but a good chunk of it is still clunky. Three, Peter David! Hee! I forgot he'd worked on this show. And that Harlan Ellison was a consultant, for that matter (I'll be honest here - I think Ellison is an ass, but still a pretty good writer, so I can give a slide on his participation).
Work
Spent a couple days last week absolutely convinced I was going to be fired for not drumming up enough business (I'm in sales, it happens). I wasn't and will hopefully have some sort of employment over the next six months, but I've realized that I really don't want to do this. Like, on any level. I mean I'm fine sticking it out for a year and exiting with as much dignity as possible, but this is most assuredly not what I want to do for the rest of my life. And I need to stop listening to my parents. Well, my dad. Whom, don't get me wrong, I love and get along with, but he tends to give the "Well, I think you'd do fine in sales/human resources/have you thought about nursing?" sort of advice and tends to ignore the fact that I have no interest in those things whatsoever and never have. Seriously, I nearly flunked basic physiology. That's a big hint that I likely won't do well in a medical field. And I say things like this to him and he's like "But it has structure!" and I'm like "So did school! But I didn't like that much either!"
Which is kind of ironic cause I've been flirting with the idea on and off of actually going back to school, but trying to do it right this time. Hindsight being 20/20 and all that, if I did college over again I'd get a writing degree. Or maybe history. Because at the end of the day, those were the courses I actually liked rather than the ones I took 'cause I thought they'd be useful in a still sort of related field.
I'm not sure where that's all going yet (because this is me and I'm a world-class procrastinator if nothing else), but I feel a lot more zen and less panicked about the whole situation than I have for a while, which at least feels like a step in the right direction.