Twenty-Six Mostly Unrelated Statements
The nice coffee shop downtown is showing a collection of batik landscapes that is just gorgeous, and wonderfully suited for capturing the country around here. I want one; specifically, I want one of a particular hill west of here, which can be had for the low low price of $475. That's a significant chunk of change, but I can afford it; I can even talk to my "no spending money on frills ever!" brain cells by saying I'll use my Christmas check from my parents. And yet, and yet. I didn't talk to them today about how to contact the artist, and the show will be over by the time I'm back in town. I can certainly do that after I get back-it's not like they won't still have contact information, I'm sure they will-but… I don't even know. I'd have to talk! To the artist! And for some reason my hindbrain is convinced that I will somehow come out looking stupid in this exchange.
2) I am aware that this is ridiculous.
3) On the plus side, I got over my "but what if I look stupid" fear in order to confirm that M and I are going to Yellowstone for our 30th! Yay me. Now we just have to, you know, set it all up.
4) I should also talk to S and see if we're still on for Greece next fall, what with her having gone and gotten engaged. It seems likely to me that engagement is the kind of thing that might use up some of your vacation time. (They haven't set a date yet, but one assumes 2006 sometime.) Also I suspect marriage and stepmotherhood may have some impact on her availability for travel.
5) As of today, I have sent out all my Christmas cards. Go me! I'd gotten out of the habit the last few years.
6) I hadn't realized how stressed out I was by the two ficathons until they were over. Next year, No Overlapping Ficathon Writing Periods!
7) Once I'm back home early next year, there will be editing of the OT3. So those of you who have it for beta and haven't said anything, I'd love to hear from you early January sometime!
8) After that, snake!Jack and then I really think I'd like to take a stab at the VM/SG-1 crossover. That's going to be tricky, though-Veronica Mars is such an arcy show, and Veronica's characterizations change, so I'd have to be very clear on when in the VM timeline I was setting the story.
9) The only good part about driving back over the mountains from Seattle after dark is that the city is really extremely pretty at night as you come down I-5. Well, so long as it isn't raining, anyway.
10) I had what appeared to be changing-weather joint aches yesterday. I'm twenty-nine! That ain't right.
11) cesperanza's recent interesting and worthwhile posts on Brokeback Mountain have reminded me that at heart, I am still the eleven-year-old who felt that the introduction of literary analysis into her life was an attempt to make her not like reading anymore.
12) Again, I am aware that this is ridiculous.
13) I've been thinking about wanting things recently, because I don't have a lot of things that I really want--even things/activities/whatever that I do because they're supposed to bring me pleasure, I tend to be kind of eh about. I totally want to go to Yellowstone, and Greece, and Lakefest. I also apparently genuinely want a house. How this squares with a desire to move to a more urban area in the northeast, er, um. (At least I don't want to go to Manhattan, though I am seriously considering Boston, since I have two long-time friends who moved there in the past couple of years. Also my favorite aunt lives down in Hull. But EXPENSIVE! And I don't work in a particularly high-paid field.)
14) So in the course of feeling all protective of My Team RE: SGA is easier to identify with than SG-1 because the SG-1 characters aren't dorky enough, I came to the surprising realization that I cannot at all imagine Jack in The Storm/The Eye. Does Jack ever do the Rambo thing? Am I forgetting an instance? The closest I could get was Paradise Lost, but even there Maybourne was at least around. Jack's not actually a big fan of working alone, is he?
15) Also fannishly, Sam/Rodney is on the extremely short list of Pairings That Almost Always Piss Me Off. (Please note that this does not mean that the writers involved piss me off.) Buffy/Spike is also on this list. Extrapolate from this as you please.
16) I get to buy some new outdoorsy layery clothes for Yellowstone yay! But if I say I'm planning to buy a fleece jacket, someone stop me. I already have three. Though they're all meant to be outer layers, rather than for the middle… no, no, someone stop me. I'm totally buying warm pants, though.
17) I really haven't been watching TV at all recently, beyond keeping up with TAR and Veronica Mars, both of which are now on hiatus. I'm looking forward to Sci-Fi Friday's return, though, particularly BSG.
18) Why did Northwest add a Minneapolis-Detroit leg to my flight tomorrow? I didn't want to stop in Minneapolis!
19) To do tonight: Pack. Laundry?-probably not, I can use my parents' for free Christmas Eve. E-mail D RE lunch Christmas Eve, unless I misunderstood and he'll be around next week. E-mail S? Probably should, since I said I would in the Christmas card. Copy Vividcon DVDs for M, God I hope I have blank DVDs at home-I think I do. Put necessary fic onto thumb drive-ADW, Bigfoot w/C's comments, maybe snake!Jack? Pay bills. Go through all waiting e-mail, since I won't be back until the 2nd? Set alarm for 4 AM SOB!
20) Again RE Yellowstone: If we stay in the park, there are no televisions. On the one hand, what's up with that? On the other hand, full credit to them for making a stand on "go outside, for God's sake!" Besides, I have a laptop with a DVD drive, so.
21) I have way too much holiday-related food right now, and I'm honestly not sure what I'm going to do with it all, seeing as I'm leaving on a plane tomorrow. Bring it home and put it in a cookie tin for the trip, I guess.
22) I have recently had a frozen juice concentrate revelation. After all, often when I buy juice at the store it's from concentrate anyway, right? (I'm just not a foodie.) So why not buy the concentrate myself, thus creating less trash, spending less money, and having to carry less weight up the stairs to my apartment? I'm BRILLIANT!
23) I'm fascinated by the way that the question of whether or not to drill for oil in ANWR has become a way for representatives to Establish Environmentalist Credentials. I'm against it, for what it's worth, but it wouldn't be my first environmental policy priority. As it is, though, it's been established as The Thing For People To Fight About RE Environmentalism, which seems… odd.
24) Also, it is clearly a mark of something about my brain that having to drive out to the landfill to drop off my recyclables makes me wonder how the value of recycling balances out with the damage done by driving out there, whereas I don't think twice about, you know, flying across the country twice in a month.
25) I'm very glad that the days are getting longer. I'm just gonna keep reminding myself of that, okay? Dear brain: I SWEAR to you the days are getting longer.
26) I need a nap.