http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2877

I haven’t been on LJ or DreamWidth for about two months. Um, did I miss anything?

I’m not sure if I’m coming back. I was basically forced off because my computer broke, but my computer has been working for a month now and… yeah. I’m really enjoying the free time that comes with not spending hours on journaling sites every day. I also think that removing myself from the obsessive lunacy of fandom has done wonders for my own sanity. :P

I miss you guys, though. I’m thinking of maybe trimming my reading list to just real people and checking in a couple times per week.

Part of it was post-Writercon burnout. Part is that I’m just kind of… done… with mainstream television. Canceling my cable TV was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. I’m not even angry about the myriad ways TV sucks; I’m just not interested in spending time on it anymore.

I’ve been cooking every day, working on freelance projects, getting my finances in order, organizing my apartment, taking long walks around NYC, going to museums (the Neue Galerie is amazing), reading proper books (currently on The Power Broker about Robert Moses), and downloading lots of 1970s David Bowie goodies.

(Proof that I’ve drunk the Bowie Kool-Aid: the other day I found myself listening to the Young Americans album with unreserved adoration. I’ve also been watching a lot of interviews and was surprised to find that I really like David Bowie. When I got into his music, I really was not expecting to find him likable as a person. I respect his intelligence, hard work, self-awareness, and courage to take wild creative leaps.)

But part of the reason it’s foolish to post here is that you guys are not the appropriate audience for my thoughts on David Bowie. It is really starting to hit me that in my heart, I’m not a TV fan; I’m a music fan who happens to get into TV fandoms in the off periods when I can’t find music that engages me. I’m not sure what the appropriate venue is, though; music fandoms tend to center around message boards full of pedantic fanboys with whom I wouldn’t fit either. I think the best answer is probably just to go back to being a solitary fan.

( The main reason I'm posting is to tell Cindergal that I am still watching Farscape as promised )

So... what have you all been up to?

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2853

I swear to god, you’d think I’m trying to choose the most random and obscure things to obsess over.

*goes back to sitting in the corner babbling to myself about David Bowie and Francis Crawford of Lymond*

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2817

( incoherence )

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2668

I’m in the middle of week three of the hundred push ups program, which means I did 71 push ups tonight. Owwwwwwwwww. I’m doing the half-assed knee push ups, but still.

I’m doing this mainly because I didn’t believe it could possibly work (me doing 100 push ups after six weeks? I’ve never been able to do more than 15) and because I really need to start exercising again. I was doing so well last year; I was up to four half hour workouts a week, and lost 20 pounds. And then I got depressed, stopped exercising, and gained back all the weight. Ugh. So this seemed like a way to jump start the working out thing also.

I’ve also been busy cooking. I’m still following the Vegan Cooking for One meal plan. I like cooking and having a homemade meal every night, but I’m getting sick of the bland and unimaginative recipes in this book. Mushrooms, potatoes, rice, spaghetti, onions… c’mon, at least throw in one interesting thing per week! How about eggplant or … I don’t know, kumquats or something. Blah. But I’m taking photos and going to blog it on SuperVegan, so at least it’s good for something. :P

I’ve been really busy with Writercon, but we don’t have anything to announce yet. I’ve got my fingers crossed that we’ll be able to announce a city and hotel soon, though! Meanwhile I’m learning Drupal and spreadsheets.

I’ve been reading “Hamlet” on the subway to and from work. I’m trying not to get too excited, but I keep picturing David Tennant and OMG CAN’T WAIT FOR OCTOBER.

I’ve been catching some TV here and there. I decided that I adore Fraser’s boss, Meg Thatcher (lol), and that I’d rather watch a show about her. She’s kind of like a female Fraser: older and more cynical, but incredibly socially awkward and with that core idealism underneath. Just, she’s interesting, with her heart protected under so many layers of caution and professionalism, and her default reaction to assume the worst of everyone and to push people away. The last episode I saw was “We Are The Eggmen” so this could change; don’t spoil me for anything that’s coming up.

The next Doctor/Master episode is “The Claws of Axos.” Anything particular I should look out for in this one? I’ll probably start it on Sunday.

jaydk came over last weekend for more Doctor Who. I made a whole batch of banana split cupcakes, and we had a lot of fun. She agrees that “Terror of the Autons” is way more entertaining than “The War Games.” And “Journey’s End” feels more “official” now that we watched it together–although I’m highly amused that we had to pause it twice so that we could get into extended arguments. Ah, fangirls.

Tomorrow I’m taking the bus to Atlantic City to see Stone Temple Pilots. I’m stressing about this, not only because it’s apparently a money-driven mess with a relapsed lead singer, but because I hate Atlantic City. This was the only show I could get tickets to (they’re not playing NYC), so I bought a ticket with a blithe “Oh, I’ll find someone to go with me!” Which never happens, of course, and I end up alone at 12:30am in an empty corner of a casino parking garage, waiting for a bus that may or may not show up, with no human being in sight. I feel like it’s tempting fate to keep doing this. I even looked for a hotel room thinking maybe I’d stay overnight and take a daytime bus home, but Atlantic City hotels are absurdly expensive. So, late night bus. I probably won’t get murdered.

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2613

DAMMIT, SPOILERS EVERYWHERE!

Mustnotclickmustnotclickmustnotclickmustnotclickmustnotclick…

I don’t know how long I can hold out! Now would be a really good time to go hibernate in a cave somewhere with no internet access.

Let’s talk about something completely unrelated to the SPOILERS THAT ARE CALLING ME. Hmm.

Oh! I chose some furniture.

( furniture and other random stuff )

More distractions; have some recs:

* selenak wrote a great post comparing "Midnight" and "Voyage of the Damned." (I could swear I read a good one somewhere comparing it to "42," also, but now I don't remember where it was.)

* lordshiva wrote the Doctor and Anya from Buffy! So much win.

* I adored the New York Times article about Russell T Davies. So far three people I know in real life have come up to me to chatter about it, too.

* I read this entire book about the 1977 blackout in NYC. I'm weird. I clicked on it while researching the history of Bushwick and ended up completely fascinated by the sociology, psychology, and history it explores. (Plus it's fascinating because I had a great time during the 2003 blackout--I got drunk in the gay bar across the street and bonded with my soon-to-be-friend Anne, who stayed at my place rather than walk home to Brooklyn.) It's amazing to compare how the various blackouts reflect the social conditions of their eras.

* I made this bread (substituting a mix of molasses and agave nectar for the honey) and it's delicious.

Do you have any recs for stuff that'll distract me from spoilers? Please share. :)

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This is a meme that's going around. I probably should've posted it yesterday, but whatever:

Lurkers out there, yo, today's your day. Whether you're a LJ-lurker or from someplace outside reading this journal, you are the reason this journal isn't locked by default. So, come out and say 'hi' or something. Tell me what you're doing here, how you feel, who you are, whatever. No need to be shy. Feel free to post anonymously!

I'm a bit curious about this, since I've been kind of friends-locking by default lately.

Robot soldiers. So creepy. Didn't these guys see "Terminator"?

I'm trying to think of 10 things I've done that most people probably haven't. Some of these things are kind of unmentionable, or depressing, or both, so I won't mention those. Let's see... what is there that is semi-interesting and suitable for public consumption?... I'm pretty boring, really....

1. Went to a different school every year for 6 years. (Most dramatic was going from living in the middle of the woods in Indiana and attending Catholic school to living in a tiny apartment 20 yards from the beach in Puerto Rico the next year. And going swimming pretty much every single day that year.)

2. Co-wrote, filmed, and edited a 10 minute student movie about zombies. (And a bunch of other silly amateur movies, but that was the best.)

3. Got a perfect score (800) on the verbal part of the SAT. I think I got a perfect score on the writing part of the PSAT, too; I got a National Merit Scholarship out of it.

4. Hung out backstage at music venues all over NYC--Irving Plaza was probably the biggest--and met lots of different bands (including the Genitorturers, Switchblade Symphony, Godhead...) all before age 20. And slept in Penn Station, multiple times, and went to school the next day.

5. Was in the front row of a Marilyn Manson concert in their heyday, against the barrier, getting purple bruises on my hip-bones and dodging body surfers. Met John 5 afterwards and got a photo.

6. Read thousands and thousands of Buffy fics, and archived about one thousand of them. (Well, probably most of you guys have read that many.)

7. Worked behind the scenes at a bunch of Buffy cons; probably the most amusing thing was Alexis Denisof running off in the middle of a photoshoot to go pee, and making an announcement about it to the line before he went.

8. Watched the three original Star Wars movies at least 500 times each, and can still recite entire scenes.

9. Was onstage for an hour in London in front of 800 people with a panel that included BtVS writer Jane Espenson. (paratti has also done this. ;)

10. Was on the front page of the local paper, in a photo and interview. (With 3 friends, after Columbine, trying to lessen the persecution of Goth kids.)

I haven't been reading LJ, um, pretty much at all, lately. (Profuse apologies, please don't hate me, etc.)

( warning: maudlin rambling; this is what happens when I don't have an all-consuming obsession to distract me )