pretzelcoatl

Thank you for reminding me of this, demonlet. ♥

Here's another one for y'all:

It's a slow day and nutopian got tickets for both of us to see Harry Potter 6 (I still haven't seen the fifth one), so I might as well ask those of you into the Potterverse:

What do you think your Patronus would be?

Oh, and do this for me: ❝the HARRYPOTTER meme❞

And if you hate/are unfamiliar with Harry Potter:

1) Have you read The Chronicles of Prydain?
2) What would you say your favorite genre of book is? Style of writing?
3) Bees?

File this under "Things I Used to Regret But Don't Anymore": Why I decided that going into research wasn't for me.

( You can't test the ghosts of your past with ANOVA. )

So for a while, I had regrets. Mostly in terms of getting into grad school (I shot myself in the foot, didn't I?), but also in terms of academic curiosity (Why didn't I study this? It seems so fascinating? I'm such a disappointment.) and disappointing other people (They thought I would be so good at this, and now look how disappointed they look... Why did I screw things up?). Now that I've become more fascinated with prejudice and the biology of the brain and the reactions of people and all of these other topics, I feel like I should still feel regret.

...But now I don't. I realized that again today when I was talking with my coworkers about our process of getting here, and realizing that there must have been something that made me hireable enough despite how they only take 2% of the applicants. Or the fact that I wouldn't have gotten half of the interesting thoughts I've been getting if I hadn't worked here to begin with.

In a moment of depression, I deleted a post I made earlier this week which mentioned I had a thought: I am just where I need to be. There will be another day (maybe even later today, who knows?) in which I doubt how true this statement is, but for now, I am pretty damn pleased at how I've grown up to be the sort of person I wanted to be when I grew up.

Assorted stressors
Result in perfect dinner:
Mmmm, Count Chocula.

By request, a poll based on my dream I described earlier today.

Poll #1430265
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Is d2leddy Linda Carter?

Who would be a better superhero to rescue someone compared to the characters who failed to do so in my dream last night?

Ticky boxes.

In other news: I am in an LJ community which has prompts for writing short stories. I'm nervous, but excited at the same time. I need a shove to get myself writing again.

Last night I had a dream in which I was kidnapped. It was more amusing than you might think. I think.

It took place in this building I was in, and I was just minding my own business until I heard something suspicious and ended up going closer, but in a safe spot, to figure out what was going on. There was a woman there, and she was being abducted by a bunch of goons. I waited for the chance and I got the drop on one of them, and started beating them up to get them away from the woman. When I had the chance, I helped her get her hands free and her mouth freed, and she thanked me and ran off.

As soon as that happened, I got hit by one of the men, probably the leader, and was told that if they couldn't get any money for her, they'd try for me. I tried fighting them off but ended up being subdued, tied up, and thrown over the Head Goon's shoulder.

So there I am, slowly being carried away by someone, when I see that Batman and Superman are nearby and they're playing cards together. I struggle even more and shout through the duct tape wrapped around my mouth but they don't notice me. And then Wonder Woman comes out and sees me, and she looks dumbfounded. Hooray! I think to myself as I'm still being carried away. I make my best "HELP I AM BEING KIDNAPPED" pantomime.

Wonder Woman cocks her head to the side like a confused squirrel.

I shout through the duct tape again.

Wonder Woman shrugs and then brightly smiles and frolicks (yes, she frolicked) away.

I angrily visualized myself flipping her and the other heroes off as they took me down a staircase.

Next time I'm dreaming about the X-Men.

I have at least one plan for my birthday this year! Jeff Tweedy is putting on a concert near where my sister lives soooo I'm going down to Chicago and having dinner with her, then going to that. PLANZ!!!1 I still want to throw a party or something, but it's nice to have a good backup plan. :)

Question of the Day, inspired by the illustrious kristenred:

What are your thoughts on terms of endearment (i.e. hon, sugar, etc.)? Does it depend on who it is (i.e. someone you know vs. someone you don't)? Does it depend on the culture (i.e. if someone from the South does it, it's okay, but if someone from the North does it, you get agitated)? Does gender play a role? Does age? Or doesn't it matter - you get annoyed or like them either way?

In honor of today's XKCD and because I'm feeling malevolent as a result of work this week, let me find some of my favorite tropes pages.

Dark is Not Evil
Nintendo Hard
Let's Get Dangerous
Crystal Dragon Jesus
Personality Powers
Ravens and Crows
Psychopomps

And of course:

Crowning Moment of Awesome

You're welcome.

No Halloween costume I could ever conceive of can ever beat this.

As I said already, I didn't take many Art Fair at the Square pics today because really, there were a lot which caught my interest, but I figured I would show the ones I did take.

( A few lame pictures from today that are nonetheless cool. Yes, that is logically consistent. )

And if that wasn't your cup of tea, carnality reminded me of the existence of The Gun Show Comic.

( This is fantastic but technically NSFW. )

Things I found in my sock drawer while cleaning it out just now:

- An expired Chicago transit pass
- A bunch of tags and little hooks from socks/boxers
- A pair of chili pepper boxer shorts which don't fit me anymore
- Philosopher finger puppets
- Enough change to buy a horse

In other words, it has been a productive unproductive day. How's your weekend going? As soon as I finish taking care of my laundry, I'm going to have some coffee ice cream and either watch a movie or get past the @$#%#%# Challengingway dungeon in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.

And for those fellow gamer types: I have 2000 Wii Points. What should I use them on?

- ActRaiser (800)
- Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (800)
- Paper Mario (1000)
- Phantasy Star II (800)
- The three new chapters introduced for FFIV: TAY (300 apiece)
- Castlevania IV (800)

Plz 2 advise.

Dear beatonna,

Marry me.

Love,
Pretzelcoatl

It's a cloudy day outside, and I plan on going home, ordering out for food, and...

Poll #1427860
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Pick a story, any story.

I'm still working on the Tree Story, but I wanted to start writing the stories in the universe I've been mentioning lately, although I can't seem to narrow down which of these three (plus The Fool's story, which I will probably work on concurrently) I should start on soooooooooooooo... You are my guinea pigs.

And yes, slinksgirl, one of these days I will finish that piece of writing of you and Edward Norton.

• Post ten of any pictures currently on your hard drive that you think are self-expressive.

• NO CAPTIONS!!! It must be like we're speaking with images and we have to interpret your visual language just like we have to interpret your words.

• They must ALREADY be on your hard drive - no googling or flickr! They have to have been saved to your folders sometime in the past. They must be something you've saved there because it resonated with you for some reason.

• You do NOT have to answer any questions about any of your pictures if you don't want to. You can make them as mysterious as you like. Or you can explain them away as much as you like.

( My soul laid bare )

WAS IT GOOD FOR YOU

From here.

Okay, this is my last round of words. Let me know if you want me to give you five words that remind me of you, though.

From zenhansei, felldeedsawake, elspeth_vimes, whobyfire78, and maxiboom.

( Cut for length. )


I forgot to mention in my last post that I had a dream which was part-movie, part-"real life," I think. There was a movie (unless it was one of those dreams in which I'm someone else) in which a guy knew of the existence of these zombie/ghost things known simply as the Dead. They appeared at night without any warning, just suddenly appearing in thin air and killing their victims.

So at one point either I or this dude are together with other LJ people I'm sure I could remember but can't, and this one dude who is definitely NOT an LJ person says "Okay, listen, we're approaching the Apocalypse, and we're about to prevent it." And then heytherenatalie says "Uh, actually, there will be two Apocalypses, one more after this one." and the guy just glares at her and continues.

I don't know.

An Internal Dialogue About Dating and Attraction

Me: You know, I really should talk about one reason why I prefered to look at online dating instead of finding someone through an activity group or something.
Me: Oh really, why?
Me: Well, because despite what I posted yesterday about physically attractive people, I'm still not entirely sure what my "type" is and whether or not I'll be attracted to someone, so I'm anxious about never finding someone because of that.
Me: Hmmmmmmm. But you've never had trouble talking to people after events before, so why be anxious now?
Me: Because I'm not sure how I'll KNOW.
Me: But if you kept on talking to them and they kept talking to you, and you feel something, you're being attracted.
Me: ........
~~~~THE END~~~~

So instead...

Let's talk about Discworld, as a result of my conversation with popelizbet last night. Who are your favorite characters/what are your favorite books? Who are your least favorite characters/what are your least favorite books? Which character do you relate to the most?

(Edit: And in case you were wondering - Favorites: Librarian, Death, Vetinari, Granny Weatherwax, and Mrs. Cake. Favorite books are Men at Arms and Small Gods.)

And for those of you who haven't read the series... Uh. Free topic.

From this week's Free Will Horoscope:

Leo (July 23-August 22)
At the farmer's market, an escape artist performed in the middle of the street. As a crowd gawked, he had two big strong men tie him up tight in a straitjacket and 50 feet of chain. For the next 20 minutes he shimmied and contorted and bent over backwards. His face grew red and sweaty. There were no Houdini-like magic tricks. There were no puffs of smoke or magic boxes or mirrors or distracting assistants. He rarely spoke as the ordeal progressed, but in the end, after the last of the chains slipped off and he wrestled his way out of the straitjacket, he said simply, "Now I invite all of you to go home and use what I just did as a metaphor for your life." It was a supremely sexy performance, and I realized maybe it would help you with your current situation.

Who knew astrology was so kinky?

In completely unrelated news:

1) I feel like posting more stuff as Facebook notes, but I can't think of interesting topics.

2) I can't even think of interesting topics for my LJ right now. Hrm.

Because I was in a crappy mood, and kristenred posted a thought-provoking post on physical attraction, I humbly request you all to post pictures of hot people, whether they are celebrities or people you know (and love).

I'll start with the Idina Menzel Gambit.

...every time I hear about female friends who have SOs acting like assholes or dates who act like assholes, it makes me feel a bit more ready to dip back into the dating pool again.

Eh. I'll get to it.

I finished Professor Layton last night and I'm pleased at solving more than half of the puzzles by myself, even though I cheated and looked up the answers for the rest. Whatever I still love the game. Although I would have previously laughed at the phrase "Princess in a Box," now I know. Oh now I know that those words signify PAIN.

Crappy start to today. I overslept but managed to get a very quick shower and one contact lens in time, then scurried over to catch my bus where it was raining. Left my book at home (an older book of Celtic myths; I'm going to just skip through the history of the Celts because 1) it's boring, 2) it's probably outdated, and 3) the talk of ~the majestic Celts~ compared to "other barbaric tribes" is making me wanna puke) that I was going to read. Panicked when I thought I unintentionally insulted someone. Just generally am having trouble waking up. Need to get to the gym but forgot my stuff at home.

So. How are you?