icepixie | Entries tagged with shiny

Tried watching Undercovers tonight. Really liked the married couple characters, but spies and I just don't get along. Con men are even more boring, but spies are definitely up there. Still, the Blooms were cute. Maybe there will be good short fanfic.

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Awesome gadget: Livescribe. I consider myself an excellent notetaker, but that would've been fantastic in some of my history classes.

However, this bright idea from the inventor: "[students could] receive a graded paper e-mailed back with handwritten and spoken feedback from the teacher"? Hahahaha. That would've been a terrible idea for me, anyway. My written feedback was courteous, helpful, and, well, teacherly. Any part of my running internal commentary on a paper that emerged from my mouth in the silence of my apartment or, worse, in the company of other TAs in our "office" was most definitely none of these things.

Current Mood: good
Current Music: "Winners" - K's Choice
Crossposts: http://icepixie.livejournal.com/734039.html

juniperphoenix made a podfic of my recent Northern Exposure story, "A Field Guide to North American Songbirds." Link to podfic.

I've never listened to a podfic before, so that was a very cool and interesting experience. Give it a listen!

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: "Panda Bear" - Owl City
Crossposts: http://icepixie.livejournal.com/702522.html

I think I finally found the Millay paper I want to write--in the conclusion of the one I did write.

CURSES.

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Here is my contribution to the annual retail frenzy: pretty, pretty shoes.

I have no reason to buy them--I refuse to wear heels if I can possibly get away with it, and anyway, these are suede-soled dance shoes--but I kind of want them anyway. I can't actually remember ever wanting a specific pair of shoes--I'm more of a "Oh, the sole is falling off my boot/tennis shoe/sandal. I should get new ones" type of shoe shopper. And then I look for something as closely related to my current footwear as I can get. But these are so pretty, and it's nice to imagine having an occasion to wear them--and perhaps also a sleek 1930s evening gown to go with them. (Not to mention the figure that would go with said gown. Heh.)

Alas, I have none of these things, and so no shoes. But I will pretend.

Current Mood: quixotic

New journal header: accomplished!

(That was the result of the "every five papers you grade, you get to spend twenty minutes fooling around in Photoshop" bribe I made myself. Worked fairly well, I'd say.)

I still can't figure out what I need to change in the CSS code to make the Previous 20/Next 20 links show up gray rather than blue, but I don't know that I care anymore. Actually, I may go back and make my other links various colors, because while monochrome goes nicely with the header, I'm already missing color. Hmmm.

I will say that CSS seems more intuitive than HTML. I was thinking it was scary, but it's really not that bad. Of course, I was just customizing an existing theme; rewriting one from scratch it probably a lot different. Still, not too bad at all.

Current Mood: accomplished

I discovered the Strange Maps Blog tonight, and am thoroughly in love. I'm particularly amused by this map of an anthromorphized Europe during the Franco-Prussian War. I'm not sure which part is more amusing--Switzerland as a locked-down cottage, England as an old hag holding rebellious lapdog Ireland on a leash, or Corsica and Sardinia joining together to moon everyone.

In other links, how cute is this? I'm tempted to buy some fleece and a couple googly eyes and make one for my own self.

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Flamboyant" - Pet Shop Boys

I bring you Hexiom and Honey Trouble. Honey Trouble is basically an easier version of Zuma. It kept me up until 3 AM last night, despite avowals of going to bed, because the bear is just so happy when you win and he gets his honey that I couldn't deny him the next level.

Hexiom, on the other hand, is maddening and I hate it. Er...I'm stuck on level 19. Tips?

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I have tulip bulbs! I bought twelve while at the hardware store yesterday. They had ones with black petals, but I decided I wanted pretty more than novel, so I went with multicolored. (I like tulips. I like them enough to dig in the dirt in order to have them in April. This is huge.)

I also have a shirt, although not really the one I needed to go with a skirt I have. I say booooo to the current trend for empire-waisted babydoll-type shirts (example). They look flattering on the mannequins, but get them on anyone more endowed than your average stick insect, and they promptly become comedy pieces. The waistline, which on the models goes under the boobs, sits about halfway up them on me. Maybe a third of the way up on patterns with a more generous fabric allowance above the waistline. HATE. I mean, there's a reason I gave up on the juniors' section several years ago. I am irked at shirts made for that body type infesting the sizes I actually can wear.

I also have no love for the current trend of long, long shirts. If I wanted the hem at my knees, I would've bought a dress, kthx. [/clothes ranting]

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Went for a walk and took pictures yesterday as well. Will post soonish.

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: "Stolen" - Julie Moffitt

I'm contributing to the study of galaxies, and you can too!

Above is a link to the Galaxy Zoo, where, after going through a short tutorial and taking and passing an even shorter test, you get to look at pictures of unclassified galaxies and classify them as spiral (differentiating between clockwise, anticlockwise, and edge-on), elliptical, or merging. It's actually kind of addictive. Maybe a lot addictive. Oooh, shiny...

Current Mood: enthralled

At work, people in my department communicate among ourselves primarily via Instant Messanger because we are spread out over a good third of what is really quite a large building. I recently caved to peer pressure, delved into the weird world of "WeeMes," and made one as my avatar.

The crossed eyes and lack of fingers still kind of freak me out, but I was won over by the unutterable cuteness of the dragon. (It blows smoke hearts. THE DRAGON BLOWS SMOKE HEARTS, PEOPLE.)

People say it looks just like me. I went for as close a resemblance as I could get before my patience wore thin at the slowness of AOL's website, but I don't know that I'd call it just like me. The hairstyle isn't quite right, for one, although the glasses are remarkably similar for something chosen from such a small selection.

But whatever: a dragon that blows smoke hearts. And purple bunny slippers. Oh, yes. I enjoy this.

Current Mood: artistic
Current Music: "The Burnt-Over District" - Hem

I got a pretty skirt today. (I went for the black one. Liked the white a whole lot, but ultimately decided that black would be easier to find a top for, and lo and behold, the black blouse I bought yesterday goes very nicely with it.)

I'm in the process of getting together a week or so's worth of clothes I can wear to my job. The dress code is essentially no jeans/no t-shirts/don't be sloppy, except on Fridays, when jeans are allowed, so I have a lot of leeway, but...yeah, most of my clothing consists of, well, jeans and t-shirts. (And all my existing business-casual stuff is heavy and long-sleeved, because I got it for my internship at the Parthenon last January.) There's been some controversy over whether capri-style pants are allowed, so I'm going the skirt route until further notice. It is warm in that building, and in the print room, it can get up to 80F in the afternoons, so I'm trying to get clothing that's as lightweight as possible.

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Nearly 3,000 words so far on my Fraser and Thatcher go to the Yukon fic. I'm trying to do 300-400 words a day, minimum, again after falling off the bandwagon early this winter. Fell off the bandwagon on a lot of things this winter, actually; for a number of reasons, it was something of a winter of discontent. (Almost no writing, no interest in photography, lots of rejections from jobs I applied for...I got into a watching-lots-of-TV-and-sleeping rut. You might have noticed from the content of my LJ entries.) Spring has been good to me. I took pictures yesterday, for the first time since December. I'll upload them soon, so those of you still covered by snow can have a few flowers and budding trees to look at. *g*

I also have a new stuffed panda, which my mom got for free when she ordered something from this art store. They also gave her a really nice Chinese calligraphy set, again for free. It's really pretty, and has lots of little pieces to it. Neither of us really know what to do with it, but it's...nice to look at?

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: "The Bridegroom" - Anonymous 4 (comp. John Tavener)

Carnivale 2x05 and 2x06: Wow. Stuff happened! No, really, it did! (I know, I know. I wouldn't believe it either unless I'd seen it with my own eyes.)

( Spoilers, mostly for 2x06 )

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Discovered today that Fraser's half-sister is played by none other than Jessica Steen, who, apparently like all Canadian actors, appears to be contractually obligated to appear in at least twelve Canadian TV series per year. May I just say that...she doesn't look at all related to Paul Gross? Even only through one parent? Eh, whatever; Jessica Steen! I love her.

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( I spent much of yesterday reading Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio... )

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Finally, look at the pretty pastels. Pastels were pretty much the only medium I was ever really interested in during the many art classes I took as a preteen and high schooler. I love the way they can be used to make something either eye-poppingly realistic or dreamy and ephemeral, and it's great fun to spread them around with your fingers...kind of like finger painting for adults. Gotta be really sure what you're doing when you use them, though--once it's on there, it's not coming off.

Current Mood: content
Current Music: "Don't Talk" - 10,000 Maniacs

I just had a licorice-flavored cookie.

That's kind of awesome.

(Further research reveals that it was a pizzelle. Someone at Dad's work gave him a bag of them today. Mmmm.)

Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: "Blackbirds and Thrushes" - Laura Cortese

Eeeeeeee.

This catalogue was conceived especially for me, I think. I should go hide my credit card now, before I do something like buy this hat. (You know, with that extra $300 I just have lying around for hat purchases...I wonder if it might not be cheaper to learn millinery myself and make a copy of that hat!)

Yay for fussy Victorian things. Even if they are outrageously expensive.

Current Mood: enthralled
Current Music: "Sir Eglamore" - Kate Rusby

You've probably all seen it by now, but this game is pretty awesome. I only got twenty-five movies on my own, but then I found an answer key.

I finally posted something to my writing journal yesterday. Yay me!

That's...about it for excitement.

( Sparkly new butterfly ring picture )

Is tomorrow Supernatural the season premier? I saw the last two episodes, so I guess I'm caught up enough...

Current Mood: chipper

38 States?

I can't imagine it was ever more than an intellectual exercise, but interesting nonetheless.

< /geography nerd >

Current Mood: nerdy
Current Music: "Take a Dance" - Bare Necessities

Back from London! Swan Lake was SO. PRETTY. OMG. It was a very traditional production, and the sets and costumes were amaaaaaaazing. They went back to some of the choreography from 1895, when it was first sort of standardized, which meant a bunch of children got added to the swan maidens, making thirty-six of them onstage at one point in the second act. And I practically imploded during Odile's 32 fouettes. That was awesome.

Although I have to say, I didn't understand the story at all until we bought a program after the show. We never quite figured out who the evil owl/von Rothbart was, and it came as a big surprise to learn that Odette and Siegfried die at the end. (The leaping off what was essentially a stepladder and going by on a swan boat didn't quite communicate the whole death thing, I have to say, although probably I should've known beforehand, since it is Russian.)

We had a bit of an adventure getting to our seats. Our section was the only one not labeled,a nd ushers kept telling us to go different ways, until finally we figured out out at about 7:29 and thirty seconds. Oy. Covent Garden is beautiful, and has the best nosebleed seats in the world, but it needs better signage.

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We went to see Star Wars tonight for Ellen's birthday. Oof. ( Blech )