katia_chan's Journal

A lovely evening
This was just...nice. We met for a friend's 21st tonight, and it was a really pleasant evening. We started out with tea and cake, then went and had thai food (after getting lost, because I was the passenger of an idiot), and then headed over to the restaurant/bar. No one got even close to drunk, only two or three people even had something alcoholic to drink, and we had a very nice chat. It devolved into porn talk...as always. But I don't know what else you guys expect of me after this long?

...At least it wasn't just me?

Anyway, it was really fun. We left the restaurant in need of hijinx, and ended up just walking a few blocks in the rain. Friend and I waltzed outside of the "fantasy" store, and there was talk of finding a liquor store. That didn't happen, and so we just went back to the house and climbed up onto the roof via the fire escape, and shuffled around up there for a while. Kris and I do not like edges of heights, so we stayed in a little huddle at the middle. And when we finished milling around up there, we came back down and had tea.

There were awesome people there, people I haven't seen since highschool, and new people as well. It was good to catch up, and there's another day of watching Avitar in the mix somewhere in the near future.

And now, I think we're going kickboxing tomorrow, so I really need to get to bed. It's not as if I'm stringing two thoughts together in any sort of coherent matter anyway.

TTFN

Current Mood: content
Current Music: nada

Night reading
I shouldn't read at night. I have a problem when I read first person stories. I wander into the characters, and I feel like I get stuck inside of them. It's hard to separate myself, and it makes it hard to sleep. I don't feel like myself when I set the book down. I look at everything differently. It's unsettling.

Current Mood: a little surreal
Current Music: static on my speakers

Literature, away
Apparently I need more to do. I'm reading like a crazy person again, like at the beginning of the summer, after nearly a month of not touching a book. It's turning into an obsession. But it's this or something unsightly like studying for the grad tests, so I'll take my addictions in whatever forms I can get them. This is way more fun, anyway.

( Five Quarters of the Orange. )

There's really nothing else to talk about. Tomorrow I'll probably find something else to read, maybe write up some older reviews that I'm not so invested in. Dad's got the day off, and will be home all day, so I'm going to find something to keep myself busy, since he tends to drive me crazy when he's here all day and I'm not doing anything. I feel like there was something else I wanted to write up, but I have no idea what it is anymore. I'm not heading up north this weekend, plans and money didn't work out for Ally, but that's all I can think that would have been important.

TTFN

Current Mood: weird
Current Music: Lusty month of May - Camelot

Running on a wheel
If I can't get caught up on the old book reviews in a timely manner, I might at least try to run atop the sliding pile and keep up with the most recent stuff.

( The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, or, why books should not be judged by titles. )

Spent the day reading, and then went to see "My Sister's Keeper." Interesting book, interesting movie. It was a tear jerker, just as I was expecting, but an overall good one. I had my gripes about the differences between the book and movie, but I didn't expect to get everything from the film. The only thing I didn't like was that the grey was far less emphasized in the movie. The mother was made into far more of a psycho bitch, and that made the situation just a little more cut and dry than it should have been (or at least, as cut and dry as that story could ever be).

More on that once more people who want to see it have seen the movie though.

The rest of the week looks quiet. I might be going up to school-town this weekend, since Ally is heading up to see her friend. Haven't fully decided on that one though. And there really isn't anything else to report.

Oh, oh, except that I now have like nine plants, and the Jesus mint really is coming back to life! It's looking very leafy, if still very short, and there are baby shoots everywhere! I'm so proud of it, and have been almost petting it every time I go outside. My brave little trooper.

TTFN

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: something celticq

fruits of labor
A mostly good day, though it did not start off so well.

( Story cut for blood and the squeamish, and only getting written out because I don't really want to write it up later. )

So that was the horror story for the morning. The rest of the day was just fine. Spent a very nice afternoon with a friend, one I have not gotten to spend a decent amount of time with in far too long. We watched avitar (which I had yet to see, and wanted to, and *greatly* enjoyed,) and made a very nice tea out of my newly growing apple mint. It was awesome, though I wish I'd stayed longer, since the plans I had for the evening with other time-absent friends got canceled shortly after I got home and started prepping for them.

The downtime at home for the evening was nice though, since my body is performing a mutiny, and the painkillers have yet to kick in. Which they need to do soon, because we're getting up early to go to the farmer's market, and I'd like to be able to sleep. But I think someone might have turned off the AC, which is not conducive to sleep, or a cheerful or pleasant state of mind. Thank you family, really.

Off to make the attempt anyway. I might come home with another herb plant, let's just wait and see. Someone might have created a monster.

TTFN

Current Mood: headache

*pulls out hair*
The people on my flist who actually have busy stressful lives will just shake their heads here and say that I do not know what I am talking about, but holy crap I need to do something.

Planting my new mint has been the most exciting thing I've done all week, and I'm definitely feeling of the stir-crazy. I've hit the point where I'm restless/bored enough that I actually don't want to do anything. And that is not a good place to be.

I think I'm seeing people on Friday, and thank the lord in heaven, but in the meantime, I do not want to have another pacy day like I had today. If anyone has any creative ideas for time-passing, I'm all ears. Little to no talent for anything crafty or culinary, but all ears.

...just ignore me, please. It's the hour talking.

TTFN

Current Mood: weird
Current Music: Avenu Q - Mix Tape

ganbatte, little mint!
The trials of mint growing continue. The plant has sat outside for a few days now, and we got hit by a major heat wave today. I don't know for sure, but I'm afraid this might have finished it off. I went to give it love, and all the leaves had completely dried and curled up.

Mom looked at it and said she thought it was done for good, and I should just throw it away and get a new plant at the market this week. But this little guy is my baby, and I *refuse* to give up on it that easily. So I went out, armed with scissors, and pruned the hell out of it. I also did research and figured out that mom telling me not to bother repotting it wasn't such a good idea. The internets say bigger pots are good, and little things you buy the plant in do not good growing pots make. So I am on a quest tomorrow to put the poor thing into a happier home, and hope that I can revive it. Despite all the dryness, the soil is still damp, so I'm thinking maybe my roots might still be living, and they might bring it back from the brink of death.

I know I'm probably fighting a lost cause, but I struggle on with the determination of those who make up for talent with enthusiasm. Until I have tried everything, I will not accept the fact that I somehow, without doing anything wrong, killed a very "easy to grow" plant in four days.

Also, think I may be done asking mom for advice. I've been the one reading the information, and she's about as talented with greenery as I am. So I don't know how much of my faith remains in her words of wisdom. I am taking the mint care into my own hands, and onward we will struggle.

TTFN

Current Mood: determined
Current Music: Queen - Killer Queen

Happy father's day to all
The weekend ended up being mostly of the good. A few little arguments about jobs, but nothing major. *crosses fingers*

Yesterday I went downtown and took a self-defense class, which was totally awesome. It was three and a half hours long, and we learned a bunch of different attacks, the most effective ways to elbow someone in the face, the best ways to knee them in the face, and how to get out from being pinned on your back or stomach. It was a very intense experience, and I got told that once I got going, I was a very aggressive person, which was especially true for the floor work. I have a personal space thing; if someone is on me, I very much want them to get off. And will do whatever necessary to accomplish that. But it was a pretty cool experience, and I do feel better prepared. We also got a month of free classes at the gym-thing where we took the class, so I'm thinking of trying kickboxing. Because that's damned good exercise, and it's pretty fun.

In other news, I finally have a desk! The neighbor was going to sell one at the city-wide garage sale, and dad found it, and it matches the room. So my harddrives and such are no longer being stored on top of my bookshelf, and I have a place for my printer...it is all of the good. Also, I don't have to spend all day on my bed anymore. Well, I do for a while, since I don't have a chair yet, but that's coming hopefully fairly soon. If I don't find one at the garage sale, I might splurge and get the really nice one from the store that is too expensive but is very very comfortable. Since the desk only cost $5...

Anyway, off to Mel's birthday open-house thing. I'm giving her hard syder, since it's her 21st...it makes me nervous giving her alcohol, but mom advised it, and said that at least there's very low alcohol content, so maybe she'll drink that instead of something worse. At the very least, it wasn't my idea, it was mom's.

TTFN

ETA: slightly sad news, we're not quite sure how, but the mint plant dried up. The soil is still wet, so I don't know what the hell happened. We think the air conditioning might have dried out the leaves. It's outside, and we're attempting to bring it back to life. Pray for the poor little plant.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: The Secret Garden

Go Green
Mom and I got into it again this afternoon, but what else is new lately. I'm irresponsible, if I want to be treated like an adult I should act like one, why isn't this piece of laundry hung up, etc etc etc. I sort of wish I could afford my own place...I can sympathize with brother wanting to move out.

But anyway, I have better happier news than that. Yesterday, at the outdoor market thing it was too hot to be at, I found a mint plant for sale. I wanted to grab peppermint, but got the wrong one, so I picked up chocolate mint instead. I am still very excited about this, and it's sitting on the window looking all green and alive. I don't know how long it will stay that way, because I am hopeless at gardening, but the interwebs tell me that mint is very hard to kill, so let's hope.

That is about all of interest I've got. That, and Doctor Who just keeps making me love it, over and over again.

TTFN

Current Mood: bored
Current Music: Kris

Someday, I will be old enough to organize my own damned room
We did some fairly major cleaning in here at the beginning of the summer, since I am a self proclaimed packrat, and so have a lot of shit laying around everywhere. I am also a packrat who likes trinkets, so that doesn't help in the slightest.

So, during this major cleaning, in which mom wanted to organize the dresser, we moved all my boxes (which I collect) onto the piano thing in the hall. They have now been there for a month and a half. I asked mom when we would be moving them back.

Mom: I don't know. We need to find a place for them.
Me: um, we cleaned the dresser. There's plenty of room there.
Mom: no no, none of them on the dresser. It'll clutter it.
Me: *not aloud, because I do possess some self preservation* and they're not cluttering the piano, which isn't even in my room?

So, I am annoyed. It is my crap, my room, and as long as they are not making it messy, I would like to be able to do with them as I damn well please. It's not like they're any cleaner on the piano, and they're sitting on the underside of an upturned piano bench, for God's sake. They look far worse piled up there. And I would be content to wait for shelves, except I've been without a desk for the last three years, and it took two years and my own initiative to get a bookshelf. I may instate some small rebellion and move a few of them in here, do it slowly and one by one, so that I can get my decorations back, the piano stops looking like a thrift shop for jewelry boxes, and my crap can be where my crap belongs.

I'm being petty. I know this. But it still bothers me. If she lives in the room, she can decide where the clutter goes. As it is, I live here, and so does the clutter, and we can exist in perfect harmony without her intervention.

Alright, I don't feel any less bitchy, and I've wasted everyone's time with pointless whining.

On the bright side, some blessed soul has finally turned on the air conditioning. Maybe I can sleep tonight.

TTFN

Current Mood: cranky
Current Music: Buffy

Wedding festivities
So, finally home and conscious again.

( And bringing a slightly more coherent account of the trip. )

And I was finally going to do a book review, but with distractions and all, this has taken over an hour to write. So you'll just have to wait a little longer.

Also, I've sent in job applications, and gotten the official "no" from the university job I already got turned down for. May these two things counteract each other somehow.

TTFN

Current Mood: restless
Current Music: the computer overheating

Long drives...
We left for the wedding this morning, driving with Andy's mother. It was pretty uneventful, except really freaking long. Ten hours is a little ridiculous, and it turned into 12 because we stopped to eat.

Not much else to say, hot and tired, and making plans for what to go see tomorrow, since festivities don't start until 6.

So, to sum it up, Iowa: corn, and confusing roads to find sandwich places.
Missouri: smells like flowers, is humid.

And that's about all I have to say so far. More details and freaking out about how my friend got married post-ceremony.

TTFN

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Andy nerding out

Girl have hammer?
1. My computer is going out of its way to piss me off. Inserting symbols in my Spanish downloads and having the internets continuously fail in many little ways. I did just renew its coverage, so technically I could take a large heavy stick to it...hm. Must think on this farther.

2. Plans for the wedding have finally been close to finalized. We're driving down to Missouri on Friday with Andy's mom, instead of Andy, to go to Josh's wedding. He is only 2 months older than I am; the entire experience is going to be a little surreal. But Em and Kris and I are sharing a hotel room, and things are turning out a little cheaper than planned, which is a relief to all of us.

3. I have fallen in love all over again with HMC. Am unsure where this is going to lead, except that it and Torchwood are prompting me to follow Shinju's lead and record things, except for with that Welsh accent that is ridiculously harder than it seemed at first.
3.1. There is something gramatically wrong in the point above. But I have a headache, and can't make my brain think of the right way to say it.

4. I lied. This is probably not technically considered a "real" post. I'm also still slacking off on those book reviews. But this is all I can manage with any sort of coherence for the time being.

TTFN

ETA: computer tried to eat my post. I can has stick now?

Current Mood: Cheerfully grumpy

Temptation
I've spent the last hour trying and failing to convince myself that I do not need to buy more books of fairy tales. There are many other books on my list, books I would get to far before a collection of stories.

But then I see the hardcover "Blue Fairy Book" by Lang, and the lovely French and English edition of Charles Perrault's stories, and, especially for the latter, I think "oo, educational!" And the battle goes on.

And I promise that someday I'll make a real post. Really I will.

Current Mood: nostalgic
Current Music: Nightwish

Pointless post is pointless
You would think I'd post so much more now that I have time. But I've been lazy in pretty much all respects. I owe a few book reviews still, and they'll come eventually. Though I should probably hurry with that, before my book list outstrips the time I'm willing to put into writing reviews.

Things are going well so far though. The grad party season has started, and I think we finally have plans close to settled for going down to Josh's wedding mid-June. I'm a little weirded out that my friend is getting married, but what's there to do. We all knew he'd be the first.

Lessee, other things to report...I get to go visit Jen in August! This has been an ongoing battle for years, and mom's finally relented. She's still nervous as hell, but I have my tickets, and it's going to be great. Busy month though, and plans for that segment of the summer have changed ten different times. But I quite like the arrangement now.

paniwi is coming at the end of July, and about a week after she leaves I'm tailing it up to Canada. Good times will be had by all. And then I can start plotting just how I'm going to manage to sneak back across the ocean to England. Look't me go.

( And now, look at me changing my mind, and giving one review: Snow White, Blood Red. )

I sunburned one shoulder at this morning's grad party. I didn't even have the luck to manage to burn everything equally. Now I look all lopsided.

TTFN

Current Mood: full
Current Music: the poor little Ipod struggling and pleading for a charge.

A nice sort of afternoon
Andy came over early in the afternoon, and we geeked out a little, and he's buying me cables so that I don't have to keep transferring mine from harddrive to scanner to printer. And he's getting them cheap, which is better. He's also getting me addicted to Tarja's solo work, the lady who used to sing for Nightwish. Pretty awesome stuff.

We left the geekery for...more geekery, and played a two and a half hour game of scrabble, which ended with very high scores, and very low self worth. As an english major and an engineer, we should be ashamed at some of the lame words we had to play. It was pathetic, and possibly one of the best scrabble scores I've gotten.

And then, to put the day on a better note, he fixed my phone. So cool! So texting is now a possibility again, to the few that do it. I'm very excited about this, since it's sucked not being able to answer people.

Off to finish dragging my way through Pride and Pred, and then finding the next book I want to read. It was going to be another Austin, but I think I need a break from her for a while. There's only so much ballroom and blushing I can stand in a week.

TTFN

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: the Polite alarm clock

GPA woes
What does it take to bring one of these F'ing things up?

I get all As and Bs, save for the one C-, which erases a previous F (nutrition,) and the stupid thing only goes up less than a point. What the hell? Something statistically seems really wrong with this, and I'm starting to get pissed.

If it's not worth trying to get this stupid thing up, why is so much based on it? It took me one semester to epically tank it, and it's taken 2 more years of pretty good grades just to get it back to where it was before I killed it.

Screw you, school.

TTFN

Current Mood: irritated
Current Music: American Idol

She's really going to whine about this again?
Perks of having an on-campus office job:
-No weekend hours.
-very short commute.
-bosses who are willing to work with school schedules.
-Done by 5 every afternoon.
-guilt free vacation during Christmas.

Cons:
-I have no job for the next 4 months.

That's actually the big one. I got turned down just five minutes ago for the better paying and more fulfilling job I interviewed for, but I still have the gopher job to go back to. Just...not until September. Which means I get to do the awesome job hunting thing again this summer. And I already have a headache from doing so.

My phone is also acting up. So for the few on the flist who text me...I won't be answering for a while.

TTFN

Current Mood: I was cheerful a minute ago...
Current Music: Trinity Blood

Have stress, will sleep now.
Turned in the last final this morning, then spent a very stressful five hours trying to clean the apartment. This process never becomes any better with time. And I doubt it ever will.

Spending the rest of the night with family now, turning in keys and getting dinner, then meeting Amy and co for drinks once she's done with play rehearsal, so we can say goodbye.

Then I will go to breakfast with friends tomorrow, and sleep for three days afterward.

TTFN

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: family being impatient.

It probably says something about me that my happiest icon is of slashy kisses
I passed the fucking nutrition class! My science lib-ed requirements are done! And I didn't even get a D! My happiness is beyond words. I could have found out last week, but I was convinced I'd failed, so I was afraid to look until I'd gotten some other grades in to make myself feel better. But it apparently wasn't necessary!

...And if you think the exclamation points are being overdone here, I did a freaking happy dance in the foodcourt when I checked the grades. Yall are getting off easy.

I only have one final left, and it's a take-home test, which I plan to finish this evening, since plans to go out have been postponed, and I have time, and I'm feeling spiteful and contrary to mom telling me to sit down now and get it done. Childish? Yes. But I've been up since 4, and sarcastic people are about to invade my house, which...looks like 4 college students who have been busy with finals live here. So leave me to my little rebellion.

I should go get shit packed though. I've got a lot to get ready, and not a whole lot of time left to do it.

TTFN

Current Mood: cranky and eccstatic, in turns
Current Music: radio

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