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I went to happy hour last night, which was quite fun, even if I drank and ate more than I usually do.  On the walk home I caught up with roomie3 on the sidewalk, and we got to walk home together!  Then I drunk-wrapped some presents, and my doorknob fell off again.  I didn't even have the heart to fix it this time; I'm so sick to death of the thing.  Either the screw I've been tightening is completely stripped, or someone is working at cross purposes to me and loosening it again every time I tighten it.

Tonight, I have a birthday party, then a concert.  Tomorrow I have dress trying-on, and possibly shopping, followed by the office Christmas party, then my cousin's holiday party.  And it's supposed to be snowing and sleeting.  Oh, and guess who isn't done Christmas shopping yet?  Yeah, that'd be me.

Sunday I have a house meeting with the roomies, and...Something else I'm supposed to be doing.  *shrugs*  I've forgotten.  I hope it's not important.

So, anyway, I'm gonna be dying for some solitude soon.  And while I'm having my solitude, I'll write my extremely last minute Christmas cards that no one will get until New Years.  Who wants one??  Comments screened, please give your address in comments if you'd like a card.

 A couple of years ago for Christmas, I made up a CD of not-exactly Christmas music.  Songs that were 'wintery' or 'december-y' or 'joyful and giving' without mentioning trees or religion or Santa.

So, when I was working on playlists for mymagritte's birthday/Halloween/Day of the Dead party, I started thinking about not-exactly Halloween music.  There are some really great songs with gory or violent lyrics, supernatural imagery, etc.; it's almost too easy to pick.  I started out with almost 200 songs for the party, and it took me a good long while to get the number down low enough to fit on 2 CD's.

So now I'm wondering of my flist; when you get sick of hearing "The Monster Mash" or "White Christmas", what do you listen to?  Or, do you not believe that there are alternatives?  Just listen to lots of Goth stuff?

My 'alternative' Halloween/Day of the Dead choices:
Maxwell's Silver Hammer - The Beatles
I Can't Decide - Scissor Sisters
Red Rain - Peter Gabriel
Living Dead Girl - Rob Zombie
The Devil Went Down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels
Murder She Wrote - Chaka Demus & Pliers
Metro - The Vincent Black Shadow

Friday's dinner party involved more wine than was entirely healthy, and conversations on such topics as Israeli military service, home schooling vs. non-schooling, fanfic, polyamory, and jewelry making.  So, a typically weird evening with my friends.  I left after midnight, and strange conversations continued on the ride home.  It was during a rant about the canon of Joss Whedon's vampires that I attempted to say that 'X' idea was more pop-psychology than anything scientific, and what came out of my mouth was 'pipe-psychology'.  Which derailed the conversation utterly, in our laughing attemps to define the new term.

Shopped until I dropped pretty darn literally on Saturday, then took a nap, then was out until almost 3 dancing.  I managed to pick up a 150' hose, a broom, and various and sundry small items we were in need of.  And, all without a car.  Yes, I carried the hose on the Metro.  Still, oddly, not the strangest thing I've ever transported via subway.  That would be a dolly full of wood, which was then used to construct a prairie-style dining table to seat 12.  Luckily for everyone involved, I wasn't the one making the table.

Today I did not mow the lawn.  I didn't do laundry, either.  Doing the dishes was about as productive as I was willing to be.

So now, to sleep.  Hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend, and more to share tomorrow, I'm sure.

Even though a bunch of people le bailed, it was a great party.  Two water fights, lots of grilling, lots of eating, random chocolate cake showing up just in time for dessert, dancing, singing, assembly line kabob assembly, the late-stayers all working together to get the crap in from the yard, mymagritteshowing up early and rocking the decorations...Well, and lots of other stuff.

Sunday I lay on the couch, ate leftovers (there isn't a whole lot left), and watched Angel Season 1.  It rained, I stayed dry...nothing better.  Today, the decorations come down after work, and the leftovers will likely be history.

Many thanks again to A & C for decorations; K & MD & C for tables, extra chairs, and tiki torches; MC for sound equipment, and J for wearing a hawiian shirt (and I only had to threaten him for a month!).

I'll upload a couple of pics, when I get the chance.

Which is my new generic post title for the moment, after realizing that I've used 'So...' or some variation 4 times.  *Note to self: Must work on creative titling.  I was doing well, for a while there.

Work is a crazy place, filled with craziness; less said the better.  I have a feeling 'The Office Hellmouth' will be completed sometime soon.  Luau planning is moving along at a steady clip, and my new roomie (!) who moves into the long-vacant back bedroom at the end of the month will be by the house to visit tonight.  The reason those two tie together, is that I need to pass along the e-vite for the party, so she can invite her people.  Spent a ridiculous amount of money on decorations for this thing; I'm so glad I took my friends up on their offers to help buy stuff.  Yay, party decorations!

Also, I heard from an old friend today, kind of randomly.  We talked a bit, but we're both busy with work.  It was nice, though; and random, which is what I expect from my friends.

Any good ideas for luau music?  I've heard Don Ho, Jimmy Buffet, Bob Marley, and the suggestion 'just play lots of reggae dance music'.  Any other thoughts?

The office was busy with meetings, training sessions, lunches, etc.; but on the whole I was left alone.  

I've started getting my thoughts together on what needs to be done around the house, and how I'm going to decorate for the luau!! we're having the first weekend in June.  

The last weekend in June, is a road trip to see JAMES MARSTERS in CONCERT!  (Yes, I'm now one of those fangirls.  At least this will not involve crashing a $1,000 a plate dinner, or getting yelled at by the website administrator for my favorite charity.)  So, May and June are pretty booked.  Also, I'm going to try to get either up to CT or KY to visit my brother and his family; depending on finances and vacation days.

While trolling the web for luau ideas, I discovered this site; which has nothing to do with luaus, yet I love it more than is logical.

http://www.districttees.com/index.html

I apologize for referencing Ms. Spears, but that's the best song-type thing I could come up with this morning.  Deal.

The weekend flew by in a blur, and other than cooking and doing dishes, nothing much was accomplished.  Sigh.  The Barbeque on Saturday was forced indoors by the cooler temps, to make it a typical crowded house party rather than an outdoor/picnic event.  Still, it was nice, and I'm glad I went.  Glad I helped out with the food, even though I risked my fingers (okay, it wasn't that cold, but it felt like it).  Glad I saw people I didn't get to see all week.  Very glad I went out dancing with one of the hostesses, and a couple of Muskateers.  Little divey bar, bad neighborhood and hard to get to without a DD, and the DJ was inexperienced and made some bad calls (seriously, who spins new wave and doesn't bring The Reflex?) but on the whole it was a blast.  Must go back again.

I created another of my 'I'm bored, an' there are random ingredients in my cabinets' meals on Sunday.  Salmon-Couscous Curry.  It was yummy, and worth the effort I put into adding spices and things, even if I did stick a layer of couscous to the pot, so that I spent the rest of the day soaking it.  Was supposed to go downtown for Falafel, but I woke up still drunk, and by the time I took a nap and sobered up, I missed the call saying, 'are you okay, we're hungry'.  The sobering up process made me glad I didn't try to get on the Metro, though.  Which is actually more amusing when you consider that I left the bar, got a ride to the Metro, took the train home, then walked to my house, let myself in, turned off the lights, cleaned up the kitchen, put picnic leftovers away, fed and watered the cat, read for a while, had some juice...and then slept for a few hours, and woke up nauseous and needing more sleep.

So, today is that Monday you have every once in a while.  The Monday after the Sunday that you wasted recovering from the party on Saturday.  Or; what do you mean the weekend's over; I only used the one day?

Hence:  Ooops I did it again, I came in to work...

Back at work, after a somewhat hectic weekend of the Great Housing Search, a party, a club outing, and not a whole heck of a lot of writing.  My old stories did get approved for posting on Daughters of Sineya, which is very exciting, even if last time I checked no one had yet read or reviewed them.  I'm just going to avoid the inevitable sense of disappointment which comes from having no one read my stuff, by reminding myself that the bulk of the posters and mods for the site are in a different time zone, and that they'll likely get around to approving of me at some point.

There was one of those wonderfully poetic and primal moments which comes of having a dog and cat in a small apartment together, yesterday afternoon.  I was laying on the couch, roomie and dog were in her room sleeping.  Cheyenne came out and lay down with me, to watch some TV.  Roomie (Kate) went to use the powder room, so dog (Nicky) came to investigate the other rooms, and found us on the couch.  He walked around the coffee table, passing inches from the no-longer-purring cat, with increasing speed and anxiousness.  He did it a few more times.  He stopped in front of the TV and stared.  He circled the coffee table again, pausing to sniff Cheyenne, who was still amazingly calm at this point.  He stood in front of the TV again.  Kate came out at that point.  Nicky came back close to the couch, and barked.  That's about when all hell broke loose.  The cat started hissing and scratching (she's a tough kitty), the dog whined and barked again, we yelled at both of them.  The cat then made a mad dash in the opposite direction of all the noise, while the dog was distracted giving his mom 'what did I do?' face.  When Nicky went to investigate her hiding place, Cheyenne bolted around the other side of the box she'd gone behind, and escaped back into my room.

There are lots of boxes all over the place, right now.  We're both slow packers, and there's lots of stuff all over the apartment, in little storage nooks.  Last book club/reader's circle in the apartment tomorrow night (sniff. sniff.) which means most of the packing is currently confined to non-public areas, although I did manage to re-create the leaning tower of Pisa with plastic storage bins in the dining room.  The most unfortunate thing I can see about the large pile of boxes, is that most of them were pre-packed; not a whole lot of packing up loose things went on, yet there is a massive pile.  They do make an odd art piece, though.

Better late than never, I suppose.  

Dinner went well.  Some of the people who RSVP'd were put off by the snow'en'ice, and declined last minute; others showed up last minute when other plans fell through, so we actually had more people than we'd counted on.  The food was good, conversation was interesting, if a bit strange with a different mix of people there.  All in all, a pleasant evening.

The cold from hell decided to make it's presence felt at work on Wednesday, and kept me home Thursday, where I spent most of the day on the couch under two blankets watching DVR'd shows that have been on past my bedtime (about 10) since I've been sick.  Today (Friday) the boss was out, and I was still miserable, but I went in, anyway.  I got yet another decongestant on my way in this morning, and it seems to be helping more than the one I've been using, although tomorrow I may take both of them.  One of the women in my office has been in the hospital with phneumonia, and I now live in fear of the head cold turning into a chest cold.

So, other than illness and the dinner, nothing exciting the last couple of days.  Better luck tomorrow, when I spend another day attempting to put together Chapter 11 of FAA.  Cheers!

I promised myself I'd write a Valentine's Day fic this year.  It's the 13th, and I've got nothing.  I mean, I have some thoughts...A proposal, perhaps, or a worst-date-ever.  Just nothing that's made it's way into my computer coherently.  So, I'll ramble a bit about what's going on in my life, instead.  And, if anyone has suggestions, feel free to...Suggest them, I suppose.

A bunch of my friends are coming over for dinner tomorrow.  There will be board games and lasagna.  A good way to spend the day, for those with dates, and those without.  And, bonus, I don't have to cook.  Because, if I did, I'd be doing it now, so I didn't have to run around like a crazy person after work tomorrow.

See, here's the problem with my ideas for Valentine's fic.  I'm working in an alternate universe, right now.  Technically, four alternate universes, but that's another story (or, you know, four).  And, it's April in the story I'm working on.  So, writing a V'Day fic would put the characters almost a year in the future, and be really confusing for the readers.  Should I bother?  I've read some really good stories putting Valentine's Day into the various seasons, but I haven't gotten an especially good idea of my own along those lines.  

I could go back to my X-Files stories, but I'd end up with the same continuity problems I'm having with the Buffy stories.  Plus, Moose and Squirrel; not so much with the hearts and flowers.  Well, there could be hearts and flowers, but it would be highly OOC.  

It's not that I'm against characters acting differently than they did on TV; that's the joy of fanfic, after all.  There are just some things that are wrong...Period.  Scully being girly; Tara being mean; Spike being oblivious to what's going on with people he cares about; Mulder being emotional, serious, and chatty all at the same time...I'm sure those of you who write get my point, and those who don't are utterly uncaring by this point.

So, I'm gonna try to get into bed early tonight, and wake up fresh.  People coming over tomorrow, after all.  And, it's still on offer; if anyone has a suggestion for the holiday debacle, I'm willing to listen.  I'm rather annoyed with myself about this, so it would really be helping.