I'm not much of a pet person, but for some reason or another I've had birds, rabbits, cats, dogs, chicks, ducks and fish at different points in life (and an opossum, but not willingly). Of all the above, cats are undoubtedly my favourites.

So I've had nancy_downs' cat, Felicia, staying over for the past few days while she's out of town. This has provided me with one major source of amusement: some of my friends are terrified of/disgusted by cats, and have gone so far as to squeal and climb the nearest piece of furniture whenever the (tiny, very docile and totally adorable) cat enters the room. *snerk*

( Things I Have Learned While Baby-Sitting the Cat )

In other news, I've put together a list of 50 Merlin fic recs for kirrea. If you've watched the series, check it out! There's a shitload of crack, some angst, some smut, some drama...well, basically, a bit of everything. *grins*

I have not posted here about #amazonfail, Dreamwidth or Susan Boyles. Just for the record: 1) I covered the first one at Twitter on the day of; 2) I'll create a DW account on the 30th, as soon as open beta starts; 3) I have watched the video, I do think her voice is nice, but I honestly don't get why everyone's making such a huge fuss.

Oh, and afterthree and I are working on a not-very-secret project that we're having some fun planning. Ho hum.

So on December 31st, 2005, I was dating nancy_downs, and after watching the Copacabana fireworks she and I ran home because of a silly resolution we'd made concerning the 42nd minute of 2006. *grins* The next morning, I woke up to find that she had spilled a glass of water on my iBook—which caused me to be computerless for several weeks. (So. Not. On.)

And on December 31st, 2006, everyone left Vertigo soon after the fireworks; paradoxo_mental, dianaprallon and I got ridiculously drunk in about half an hour, and then we slept. (Meh.)

On December 31st, 2007, someone said right after midnight, "Hey, guys, have you realised that this will be our first year with no Harry Potter to look forward to?" *laughs* Depressing much? It was a quiet New Year's, for the most part, and there were very few people here. I passed by my grandfather's and he slapped me a few times, which was kind of dreadful. Oh well. (*sighs*)

On December 31st, 2008, my house was astonishingly clean and organised all afternoon—we all worked hard to get it that way. It got messier as the night went on, but for the most part the big problem was people's dirty feet after they came home from the beach, which we tried to solve by having everyone leave their shoes outside the apartment. Spilled beer and the occasional accident aside, it's really not so bad. (And our landlord can't even complain about the party—everyone's allowed to be loud on New Year's.) People drank quite a bit, danced loads, sang, jumped, and seriously—it was without a doubt my best New Year's yet.

The most iconic moment of the night was in all likelihood all of us coming home drenched in champagne after popping open more than 10 bottles while watching the fireworks. stheh and discreetly had a champagne fight and everything. *laughs* Or perhaps it was firstlightofeos teaching my friends the proper choreography to the Spice Girls' Stop Right Now while everyone sang it at the top of their lungs.

(Legendary. *grins*)

But I can't believe firstlightofeos is leaving in just a few hours *pouts* Damn.

My grandfather died today—well, yesterday, shortly before midnight. I spent all day at his viewing; the funeral will be tomorrow.

He was a wonderful parent, grandparent, mentor, teacher, everything; he taught me to read and write at the tender age of two, against the wishes of the whole family. He guided my literary initiation—from Verne to Dumas, Verissimo to Monteiro Lobato, Stendhal to Marquez. He was, by far, the person I looked up to the most, regardless of—and partly due to—his many character flaws.

He was obsessive, obnoxious, stubborn, chauvinistic (and an incorrigible philanderer to boot), arrogant, and a hypochondriac worrywart. He was lovable, kind, generous, creative, and unbelievably brilliant.

He lived a full life, and experienced everything he wanted to, always. He had a slow, painful death, which ended in several months' worth of alternating total dementia and quasi-comatose unconsciousness. It was the one thing he never wanted, but we didn't have a choice. When we realised it was coming, he was no longer in a position to make the choice we knew he would have preferred.

As I hoped, I have already forgotten (for the most part) the past year's medical torture that was inflicted on him. I remember him as he was before—his jokes, his impossibly encyclopaedia-like knowledge, the way he (unlike everyone else in the family) made an effort to demonstrate his affections, the way he could spin any story to make it sound fantastic and hilarious.

I sort of wish I didn't feel like a goddamn orphan knowing that he's gone, but the support of dianaprallon, nancy_downs, plasticiner, defexxx, deadcinderella, magnun and many others is a safety net I knew I could count on. I'll never be able to thank you guys properly—you know me *grins*—but I know you know how much it meant to me to have you there :)

I will miss you, grandpa, but I know you deserved better than the life you were being forced to live here. For many months now, the song Kite hardly ever failed to bring tears to my eyes because of you; now it's at last a song of relief for me—pain, sure, and longing, but mostly relief.

Rest in peace ♥

Happy Liza Doolittle Day!

I've been getting strange Trio-era plot bunnies all afternoon. I blame afterthree. Damn you, Chelle!

I'm on my way to the post office, to pick up a box of DVDs. Alas, there's no more space for them in the apartment; I've no idea what plasticiner and I will do about that.

Also, happy birthday, bazcat89!

Today is Bono's birthday! I hope he had an awesome day ♥

Hourglass voting ends tonight. Ho hum. I still have a few fics to go, but I'm pretty sure I'll finish in time; I hope other people do, too. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the results! I do so wish oxys_kai_moros wouldn't be away for the weekend, but oh well—we can wait until Monday. *takes a deep breath*

In other news, there will in all likelihood be a new Shoebox chapter next week. And of course I'm NOT EXCITED. NOT AT ALL. The possibility doesn't even give me an irresistible urge (*snerk*) for CAPSLOCKING SHIT. SQUEE.

Arthur (dianaprallon's two-year-old son) is sick—it's so frustrating. He looks sad and tired most of the time when he has a temperature. (You can tell he's really tired when he can hardly sing along to the Potter Puppet Pals video The Mysterious Ticking Noise.) Powerlessness sucks. Grah.

Mother's Day starts in a few hours, so... queenofbabble: I know you've been insanely busy, and that we hardly ever get to talk these days, but I hope you get life sorted out. And stuff. :)

I joined ontd_twilight a couple of weeks ago. I'm still not sure what to make of the Twilight fandom. I wonder if they will ever run out of wankage; it's amusing that they haven't already, considering that the books have considerably less wank fodder than, say, Harry Potter. And Smeyer herself is so mockable and ridiculous that just ... I don't know, I don't get it. And it's starting to get less entertaining to point and laugh, because the wank gets repetitive and boring. Also, I'd had enough of ship wars for a lifetime long before I read Twilight.

I'm also rather excited with the last few episodes of Grey's Anatomy, which pleased me more than anything since Meredith on morphine in very early season 3.

I have this song stuck in my head, thanks to anokam.

Arthur's taken some Tylenol, and is looking perkier. Yay!

I find it amusing that anyone who saw me in the past few weekends would have concluded that I have a boyfriend. I don't, not technically—Romulus is Diana's boyfriend, but my interaction with him is both hilarious and highly uncharacteristic. ...On the other hand, the same outside observer could have concluded just as easily that I'm dating dianaprallon. It makes perfect sense, of course, all things considered, but it's still entertaining.

You know that music meme that's been around a million times and yet people still do it somewhat frequently? I myself have done so about three times already. So.

( Here it goes again. Guess the song, etc. You know the drill. )



I'm so pure and innocent.

Oh, and bazcat89 asked me to join an anonymeme, so hop on over if you have anything to say about me :)

I've been watching a few episodes of Six Feet Under with Romulus, Diana and Sirius today, and it just...the affection I have for this show overwhelms me from time to time. It's just so brilliant, so perfect, so fucking real. Never mind that the last ten minutes of the series finale definitely rank among the best TV moments of all time; the whole thing is just mind-blowingly good—characters (even the annoying ones), romance, pop culture references, jokes, fantasy sequences, settings, deaths, everything.

If you haven't watched it yet, give Six Feet Under a try. Watch two or three episodes, and I swear it will be very easy to understand why this show is my off-the-charts all-time favourite (and that of firstlightofeos, nancy_downs, deadcinderella, plasticiner and many others).

Eh. I ended up neglecting the top fives in that meme. I may get back to them someday. In any case, here are my top ten SFU-defining quotes:

1. "This is fucked up."

2. "Are you familiar with the psychological term 'projection?'"

3. "You can't take a picture of this; it's already gone."

4. "Why do people have to die?" "To make life important."

5. "I wish that just once people wouldn't act like the clichés that they are."

6. "What do you think? You can do anything, you lucky bastard, you're alive! What's a little pain compared to that?"

7. "You sit in such judgement of the world... How do you expect to ever be a part of it?"

8. "Truth and relationships don't make life easy. They make it possible."

9. "No mistake you guys are undertakers! You take every fucking feeling you have, put it in a box, and bury it."

10. "There's a lot more insanity in the world than people realise. Sometimes I'm surprised it's just not total mayhem out there."

It's Labour Day weekend and quite a few people are coming to Vertigo. I'm very happy about this, and for some reason feel more sociable than I had in a long time. The apartment's insanely stocked up with all sorts of beverages and junk food; it's very nostalgic, and reminiscent of when my life used to be like this every day. Good times.

There are always background issues, of course, and every other day I seem to come across an insane yet completely true bit of gossip or secret that totally shocks me. Nevertheless, everything seems...almost right in the world. I don't know, I just feel—aah. Content. Or something.

... I swear that's not even the residual blood in my alcohol system talking.

( Small TV-related rambling; tiny spoilers for House, Doctor Who, Grey's, Scrubs, Brothers and Sisters )

And while I'm on the subject of Doctor Who and stuff, I have to mention that David Tennant's role as the lead character in Casanova is insanely endearing. One can hardly credit me for coverting poor firstlightofeos and _thirty2flavors to Who when Tennant clearly does the job on his own with remarkable ease.

I took a silly quiz I saw in inksplotched's LJ, and look!

You know the Bible 100%!

 

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
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I'm so shocked.

Also, almost done judging my Hourglass categories. Yay for not having procrastinated too much!