la_belle_laide | Entries tagged with seasonal

Every year I like to post about the first time I hear the tree frogs. It was tonight, although others have said they heard them earlier, being out in the evening. (I was coming home from teaching Hula tonight.)

Also, there was a thunderstorm. Only a few days till Spring!

There's more to tell, but this is a happy post and I don't like to spoil it.

Wow so here I was going to revitalize my LJ, and really keep on top of updating it, and then I just let it sit for another few months. Sorry about that.

Anyway so yeah. Signed with the agent I really liked, waited for the revision suggestions to come in, and then got right to work. She sent them right before we went to Florida, but I got a good chunk done before, and finished up the rest the week after we got home. The week I came home, my agent moved from Sterling Lord Literistic to Donald Maass. I think that's pretty great, actually. Well, both are great, and like I told her on the phone, I was looking for an agent more than an agency.

I tried to send my revisions four times over the last week, but my email is for some reason effed up, and I had to drop box them to her yesterday. So now she has the revised version, and for some reason I'm sweating that more than when she read the manuscript for the first time. Because, what if I made it worse? What if I did the revisions and she reads them, and they're essentially first drafts of new chapters? (Well, not chapters, but a section here and there.)

So nervewracking.

But yeah, in the meantime, we did go to Florida, too: Me, my Mom, Callum and Meghan. We stayed at Port Orleans and we didn't rush anywhere or have to do anything specific and it was super nice like that. I mean we did have some fast passes, and it does limit you to which park you're going to be at any given day. I do sort of miss the times when you could be like, “Ehh, let's go to Epcot today instead,” but if you do that now, you miss your, like, ONE CHANCE to ride that ride you want to get on.

Callum went on his first rollercoaster! It was Barnstormer and he LOVED it. Laughed the entire way through, starting from when it begins its climb to the first drop. But then again, he loved the stupid airplane, too. Giggled and shouted “WEEEEE!” through the ascension. He kept looking at me and saying, “CAM-CAM!” Like, “Look, it's ME, Cam-cam, going way up in the sky!” In fact, a few weeks ago he even told me, “Cam-cam gonna go to work.”

“Work?” I said. “You have a job now?”

“Yey-uhh. In a few months.”

“I see. And what are you going to do at your work?”

“Cam-cam going to drive the airplane.”

Not even two and a half and he wants to be a pilot. He woke up this morning and said to me, first thing, “Cam-cam on the airplane. Way high up up up in the sky!” Which I guess means that he's still dreaming about it. So weird, toddler brains.

But yeah, he went on Barnstormer and he loved it. He loved all the rides, even the Haunted Mansion, and the parade, (“Woooow Mommy-and-Grammom-and-Momo, wook at DIS!”) but was less than thrilled with the characters. Which, I'm not too wild about those, either.

It also rained and stormed every day. In fact we got stuck in tropical Storm Erika's path, and our landing when we came in was delayed for like 3 hours. We had to circle Orlando forever before they decided to land us in Tampa, and then take off again to go to Orlando. That was the beginning of The Trip Of Wait, because every single day another thing went wrong where we got held up doing this or that. They even had us in the wrong hotel room when we got there. :/

But even with all of that, it was still such an excellent trip. So now we're actually thinking about going in on a Disney Vacation Club kind of dealie thing. You pay monthly for 5-10 years, and you get allotted a certain amount of points per year, and you can use them to stay in the villas. You also get discounts on annual tickets and dining. Getting it via resale saves thousands of dollars. And like, I know, those thousands of dollars we'd still be spending could be going in the bank, but honestly, now that I have a kid, I can't see just saying “Well, we're not going to Disneyworld anymore.” We're all pretty much going to keep going. Like, Meghan is 23 and Spencer is 26 and they've been going since they were 2, and they're also not going to stop. Same with Chrissie and Timmy and the kids. And every few years, you save up enough points to use a big villa where the entire family can stay; sleeps up to 12 or something. IDK, I'm thinking about it.

Well, tomorrow is Autumn, and I have to say, it's been such a beautiful summer that I'm anxious thinking that something has got to go wrong. (Well, to be fair, Sano and Haku got mad sick from their food, starting the day before we left for Disney. Tons of meds later and they are both fine, though the food wrecked their delicate intestines so much that they are on Tylan powder for life now.) I mean yes, something always goes wrong and nothing is ever perfect, but sometimes it feels so perfect that I'm like, What's going to happen to balance this out? Every week this summer we went to the ocean. I have this awesome little kid and an awesome literary agent and a job I enjoy. Isn't that just too much good?

But yeah, Autumn, though. Every year I'm always so sad when summer ends, but then I love Autumn, too. It's really just winter I can't deal with. Well, really just January and February, and that's only because we've gotten killed the last three years, with blizzards upon blizzards. I can't even deal with that. And having to stay in the house at night instead of going on a long walk and then sitting on the deck, enjoying the last rays of sun until 8 PM. God, winter is so hard! Ugh.

Here are some things I:m looking forward to:

Getting the next round of revisions done and going on submission. Rad.

Teaching some Hula classes at work. In Florida, I spent some time with Auntie Kau'i and she was like, “Are you dancing and teaching?” I told her it had been a while and she said, “You have to get back to it. Start over and don't stop again.” And I really, really want to, but it's so hard to find a space where you can just get a group of people together and dance. Now I have that opportunity at work and I can't wait to start.

Halloween, naturally. And the holiday season after that. I'm one of those fools who really loves the stupid holidays. All the lights and music and crap. I can't get enough of that.

Umm, and new TV shows. Isn't that awful and so dull of me? But I really like Sleepy Hollow.

And after that, next Spring, LOL. Winter is just long, dark, boring, depressing and pointless. And frigging cold and frustrating and icy.

Hmm, I don't want to speculate on anything else. In 2008 I cheerfully wrote in my LJ, “I wonder what will happen this year, and how much will be different next year!” And in 2009 my Gran and my Dad both died. Which I know has nothing to do with how I effing phrased things for pete's sake but anxiety is a bitchass!

Well, now I've still got about 45 minutes left of Callum's nap, so I'm going to sit down and read the new version of [Bad username or site: ”spatterdash” @ livejournal.com] 's wonderful novel.

And then wake Callum, take the dogs out, and IDK, go out for pizza. Maybe a walk later with Callum, Mom, Momo, Chrissie and her boys. (Oh wait no, I tell a lie, Momo gets home late tonight. Walk tomorrow then, when she's off from school.) And perhaps a bar of ice cream later.

This summer has been one of the best ever, and I'm going to miss it. Here's to an Autumn that's just as rad.

So the day starts off at 7:15 with Haku having a seizure. Of course, the one time Callum sleeps till the alarm goes off, Haku has to be up at 7:15. I kinda knew he could have one, because I ended up putting stupid Advantix on him, which is a neurotoxin. I hate using it and I only do it for like, three months of the year, when ticks are bad. But I did find a deer tick on ME the other day. And I had tick repellent on, too. Let me tell you. Flipping OUT. That is so unfair. And a deer tick, too, not just a regular old stupid dog tick.

I know he has the seizures and then he's fine after a long walk around the yard and his medicine, but it still never gets any easier to watch when he has them. It's just not fun.

But, aside from that. I'm happy to say that it's been about 75 degrees this whole week during they day, even getting up to 80. I had a feeling we were going to skip Spring and go straight on into Summer, so I wish there had been a few 50s and 60s in there for a month or so, you know, like in April. But April was all 20s to 40s. :/

But a hot day makes me want to get out there and do things, so that's what we've been doing.

The washer and dryer finally up and quit after about, what 20 years? So I went to PC Richards to pick out a new set, but they have to install a 220, blah blah, washer came today, dryer tomorrow etc. Callum had a total freak-out in the store when we had to leave without buying “ten bacuum.” (There were seven. We left without any of them.) He's been a little off the last two days, like really cranky and tired. Yesterday he was better than the day before, and today pretty much his normal self. He's never had a meltdown in a store before so I was like “whaaaaaat?”

So anyway, I didn't exactly expect the washer today, but I was, fortunately, home in time for them to come set it up. The whole thing took about twenty minutes. I am legitimately bummed out that I neglected to say “farewell” to the old washer. I was just in a giant rush because, wait, back up--

So I was awake mad early, and took the dogs out. As I think I mentioned, I've been trying to trap that bird-killing, yard-pooping, asshole cat that comes in the yard. So far I've caught a possum, and one raccoon three times. Stupid bastard was in the trap again this morning. Bro. Get out of the trap. Why so dumb? Then he was trying to swat me with his little garbage-paws as I was fumbling with the thing to release the door and let him go. I'm really tired of catching this raccoon.

After that little adventure, I decided to go to Home Depot to get a tomato plant or two, because the seedlings that Callum planted (well, I did it, but he helped by patting the soil and watering them,) are still too small and I want to put something out there. Turns out it is “garden week” or some nonsense which is the worst thing in the world, I mean I should not have been there. But I mean they had a sale. I accidentally plants. Not many, I mean, 4 for $10, that's not bad, and I got four. Well, six. And two hanging ones, but one is for my cousin for Mother's Day and the other is for my Mom for Mother's Day even though it's totally in Callum's garden.

As we were leaving HD with all our garden stuff, it's hot as BALLS and windy and my hair was blowing all over, and I felt something touching my face. Figured it was my hair. Until I saw my own shadow, with this big old eight-legged scrawl next to it, and holy balls the biggest spider was hanging out of my hair. A wolf spider, I think. But I'm a friend to spiders, so I pulled it off by its web and set it down. I just thought that was a little freaky though, I mean oh man, this was one big sucker and it was crawling on my face for however long.

So anyway, we got home and I put sunblock and this new kind of tick repellent on Callum and me, and we went out to plant the garden. I let Callum water it, which was kind of a mistake, since he's a toddler and decides to just up and drop the hose like, “Yeah, done here.” So of course I get soaked and he gets soaked. But the four plants got planted (I did buy two little flowers, too – not sure where to plant them yet,) and then we went inside so I could hose him down in the sink, get the sunblock and bug repellent off of him. And that's when the PC Richards truck showed up, of course.

But like I said, it was quick and easy. I'll probably spend all day tomorrow after work catching up on laundry.

The rest of the next week leading up to Callum's birthday is all kinds of stressy, with a Dr. appointment - just an annual, but also I need a prescription for a mattress without chemicals in it, I mean I just want to buy one because I want one for Callum, but you need a prescription to order one, I wish I was kidding,) and blah blah. I just hate going to the doctor, is all. I guess everyone does.

Callum's birthday was so excellent last year, the weather, the company, his own happiness – I hope it can be just as nice this year. And of course there will be tons of pics.

So I did mention, in that last post, that our clinic is under new management and I've been doing some desk work. Nothing major, just answering the phones, booking appointments, taking payments, that kind of thing. Basically the stuff I was doing before, only officially now and for more time. It's pretty straight forward stuff. I get to sit at the desk and wait for the phone to ring. I'm allowed to bring my laptop, so that I'm not just sitting there while the phone *doesn't* ring. And that's nice. I could load my first draft into google docs and do a lot of editing and stuff there, but then I'd have to copy and paste it all back into my Scrivener at home, and what if I make a bunch of small edits in different chapters? That just seems like a lot of work.

I guess I can call it a second draft now, in a way. I cut a chapter or two and did some minor line edits. I added a chapter here and there. But this second draft is more like a first draft than the first. It's clunky and crazy, with random notes to myself like “PUT SOME TENSION HERE FFS” and “DON'T FORGET THERE ARE MILLIONS OF DEAD PEOPLE, SO...” You know, it's just so frustrating because it took so much work to get that first novel of mine as sparkly as it is now, so much work and so much TIME. This new one seems a million miles away from that and I just want to kick it. At least when I wrote the first draft of the first one I was like, “This is genius!” But writing this one is constantly like, “OMG this sucks, you know how bad this is, there are notes everywhere and you just changed the main character's name for the fifth time, THIS IS TOO HARD, I CAN'T FIX IT.”

But I still go back to it every day, so.

Umm. What else did I used to write about in here? I forgot how much practice it took to write in LJ all the time.

The weather. It wants to be warm out. I can feel it really trying to be warm. Like, when you drive to work in the AM and you have the heat on, but then coming home, if the sun peeks out, you have to shut it off, and maybe even turn on the air a little, but only a little. And tons of rain, which beats the hell out of snow, thanks.

I want to have a garden this year. I've only done minor gardening before, like just flowers and the easy plants, berries and such. But this year I want to do a real, organic veggie garden. I don't know where to start. I mean, aside from Home Depot. Gardening seems pretty simple, but I know actual gardeners, and there are all these tricks about what to plant where, this goes next to that, this needs acidic soil, this needs more water than the other thing, and how do I keep the dogs from whizzing on it, etc. Also, how to keep ticks tf away from me because that's a huge issue for me.

I also want to build a little walkway to the pool. And, you know, actually open the pool.

I don't see how I'm going to do all of this, or ANY of this, in the two hours that Callum takes his naps. Although, with gardening, he could come outside with me. (But then there's that tick thing again. Unless you live on Long Island, or, IDK, maybe Connecticut, you can't possibly know just how bad the deer tick population is around here and how many people get Lyme and RMSF and those are two really awful things that you seriously do not want to have.)

Now I'm pissed off about ticks.

Someone tell me what to make for dinner tonight.

As it gets close to the end of summer, I'm starting to realize that we only get, I don't know, maybe 7, maybe 8 ocean days per year. Not counting those times we go in the fall, or Spring. Those don't exactly count, because I'm really talking about those lush, humid, hot summer days when you can actually go into the water. So even if we went every other week, sometimes two weeks in a row, it only comes out to 6-8 or so days per summer. Really not a lot. Which is weird, because, sure, next year we can go again, but next year, Callum will be two. Two is really different to one. Babies and kids change so rapidly. With adult friends and family, you kind of don't change as much, so you can recreate some of those moments from the past. But I only have that handful of days at the ocean with a one-year-old. And then a handful with a two-year-old. Etc. It's weird and kind of sad, right?

Last week, we had our “pre-Disney” summer party. “We” in this case was: Me, CJ, my Mom, Spence, his gf Natasha (I really like this kid, she is a great girl!) Meg, Chrissie, Tim, Gavin, Mason, my Uncle Don, and his gf Jen. We used to do those parties with Gran and my Dad, of course. This was the first one without them. So it was tough. And the trip is going to be tough, too. But still, I'm looking forward to it so much! I'm stoked beyond the telling of it. It's two more months. And we'll only be there for 6 days. But that's enough, I think, with a toddler, and with boarding the dogs. That's really my biggest worry, actually. I know CJ's going to have the Disney melt-downs, and there will be INCIDENTS, and craziness, and I'll probably be way too emotional. But it's just really hard for me to leave the dogs for that long. And I still can't figure out who to get to feed my goldfish, The Doctor, while I'm gone. I have to square that away. Two months is going to fly by. EVERYthing is flying by.

Tomorrow I'm going out kayaking with Dragon. We're taking a sunset kayak tour. Which is super weird, because two years ago, right after I very very very first got pregnant, I went out kayaking on the 28th with Lady Chrysanthemum. I just thought that was weird, you know, the wheel turns and all.

Sunday is already Powwow day! Wasn't I just there a few minutes ago, with tiny little CJ in the Ergo carrier, and my best friend, Glassworker? I bought him a little T shirt, thinking it would be forever until he was big enough to wear it, and he's already worn it a bunch of times. And now CJ will be walking around and probably picking out his own stuff that he wants.

And then on Tuesday, a HitRECord friend of mine from England is coming to visit! Which, EXCITEMENT omg. He's an incredible musician (he did music for a poem that I wrote, and also wrote and sang the wonderful song “Adieu,” for HitRECord On TV, which, HI, we won an Emmy for that show! :D ) and just about the sweetest person.

And then I start teaching a Hula class on Mondays in September – hopefully. If more people sign up.

I took a Saturday off mid-September, too, to have a yard sale. Maybe I can make some Disney money.

Then October and Disney and then Thanksgiving and Christmas and then the loooooooong, loooooong stretch of winter that I can't even bear to think about yet. I'm still not over last winter ffs. I can't deal with another like that. It was too much.

I'm always afraid to say, “Who knows what will be different next year?” because, literally, the last time I wrote that in my LJ, my Gran and my Dad passed within four months of each other. So, I'm not going to say that. I am going to hope that the rest of the year (oh, let's get ambitious and say the next TWENTY years!) can be as good as this summer has been. Even though things change so quickly, can it still be this good? I am going to hope that I will sign with a really rad literary agent (I've still got two manuscripts out, and still waiting to hear back from either or both agents.) I will hope to have less anxiety in general about things. Or, really, to work on that a bit, because it's not going to go away on its own.

Oh, while I'm here: CJ has six teeth, four donor siblings (though I've only been in contact with two families,) and a handful of words and phrases. Words like: hat, out, ant, balloon (“umboooon,”) and “AT?” while pointing to something, asking me to repeat what it is. And the same phrases he's always used: “I did it!” when I tell him he's done something well, OR when I tell him not to do something for pete's sake, (or, “THEY did it!” when I tell the dogs they're good,) and “It's good-good!” when he's eating oatmeal, or when I tell him something is “yucky” and not to eat it. :/ He plays ball, and has an orange car that he loves; a fuzzy, pink rocking horse that he likes to play with but will not sit on; a Mickey Mouse train; a musical chair; various Lilo and Stitch dolls etc. But given the choice, he'll always play with a DVD, remote control, the air purifier, or my cell phone. He loves books more than anything—ANYTHING—and is obsessed with “Go, Dog, Go,” and “Beep Beep.” He likes anything that says “beep beep,” which he copies by grunting twice. And he likes bees, which he calls “DIZ!” because of the buzzing. And he does animal noises, too, and a Donald Duck voice. Sort of. ^_^

I should really update LJ more often, but I get so lazy. CJ goes in for a nap and I usually just sit there looking at Tumblr and reading the stupid, depressing news. I always say that, but I never do it.

Since it's on my mind right now, I'd better go check Amazon for a fish self-feeder or something, and maybe a timer to turn the lights on and off.

I will absolutely check in with LJ more often. Will absolutely try. ^_^;;

I should have written this 2 weeks ago when it happened, but here it is now:

THERE'S AN AGENT LOOKING AT MY FULL MANUSCRIPT.

It's crazy. I changed the name to something that was similar to the title I dreamed about a few years ago. Actually no, it wasn't even a title I dreamed of; it was a lottery ticket with a word on it. And last month, I came across a scientific theory that sounded similar to that word, and weirdly fit perfectly with my book. I thought, Well, wow! I really like that! And maybe changing the title will get me a few nibbles. So I did, and sent out a query letter, and FIVE MINUTES LATER she wrote back saying she would love to read the whole thing.

I've got to wait, what, typically 6 months for a reply on a full. But I'm really stoked. She didn't ask for an exclusive, so I can query some others in good conscience, too.

Also in good news, my close relative got some good news regarding some medical results today and I couldn't be happier.

Yes, it snowed yesterday and it is miserably cold and not at all spring-like. But that bit of good news, and having a request for a full, is really making me feel all the happies.

Last week I went out with Gold Dragon to see Winter Soldier. It was so dang good and we had a great time together as always. Gold Dragon wanted to hang out after the movie, but I'm one of those Moms now who can't ask anyone to watch my baby past 11. So I took a rain check and we're going to go out to a nice dinner some Sunday instead.

And tomorrow, my best friend Glassworker is going to come over for a hang out.
Work is fine (though my bosslady had a sad occurrence / health upheaval – she's fine now, though,) clients are generally nice (except the ones who book two slots and then cancel them both, leaving me with NO clients on that day, wtf, who does that?!) and I got a raise! Woop! I actually got it sometime previously, but my boss didn't tell me, and I didn't notice it because my paycheck varies so much week to week.

I really miss Kung Fu these days. I especially miss my beautiful training family. Empress went to another school way out west (and she works and goes to college full time now.) Snarklit moved to Brooklyn. Chrysanthemum still trains once in a while when she's around. Gold Dragon works full time, doing graveyard shifts at the hospital and then catching up on sleep. I just miss them. I miss the shape I was in, too. I'm still thin but I have no muscle and no strength. Boo.

BUT. Manuscript. Family member's health scare over. New coat of paint in the living room. Hopefully some nice weather soon. TAX RETURN. For the first time since becoming LMT, I'm getting a return!

I'm also doing the April poem-a-day thing on HitRECord. Most of them suck, but once in a while I've gotten something good, and it's forced me to think, and to write, every day.

And CJ has finally got one tooth that you can actually see now. Every few days he'll say a word or two, then he'll stop saying it. “Fish” (“dick,) “book” (“guk”) “egg” (“ehh”) and the other day he said “Haku” clear as day. He's got some good sign language, too. (Eat, milk, cousin, hello and bye-bye.)

His first birthday party is coming up fast. Though, that is slightly depressing because after that, Jo-chan goes to work and we don't see her until next Fall. Summers are nice, but a little lonely because we get so few people coming by.

Maybe I'll try to get Mom, Boychild's Momma and Boychild to come with us on our Monday Summer walks again. That was really nice last year.

But here I am already thinking of summer, when it's 40 degrees today.

Come on Spring, get it the eff together!

So I keep sitting down to write this epic story of something that happened to me in high school, but then other things keep happening (like I have to do laundry, or CJ wakes up, or I'm querying again, or write something for HitRECord instead, or whatever.)

In the meantime, here's a quickie-quick update:

CJ's finally teething, at nearly 10.5 months. Took him long enough! But that first tooth is poking through on the bottom. It seems to really hurt, too. He keeps hooking his fingers into his gums and pulling. And crying randomly, pulling his ear, rubbing his jaw. Aww. Teeth are so mean.

He has stopped saying “fish” to the fish, but says “egg” to the little egg-shaped lip balms I keep around. Still barks at the dogs, moos like a cow, and greets people with an enthusiastic, “Heyyyyy!” and a wave when they come in. He signs for “milk,” “eat,” and “cousin” when he wants to know where Jo-chan is. He can walk around holding onto things, and he dances when music comes on. Like, really gets down and funky with it.

Last week we were supposed to get hit with one last, HUGE Nor'easter storm. But instead of the predicted 6-8 inches, we got NOTHING. Except freezing weather and huge winds. But no snow. THANK YOU. It's still cold, but the smell of Spring is in the air, and it's a little balmy.

“A balmy Spring wind
reminding me of something
I cannot recall”

I think that's by Richard Wright. I remember reading it in college. Cece-Ann and I used to quote it all the time. Until eventually—because we were gross and scatological--”Spring wind” came to mean “when the dogs let one rip.”

I feel like I've been waiting forever for this Spring. Last year I was so damn pregnant. Then I felt sort of housebound after CJ was born (well, I was, I mean, I was too stupid to figure out how to take him and the dogs out to the park or whatever. And of course, they tell you not to take the baby out in public for the first 12 weeks or something like that.) And he was so colicky. Last summer is a blur to me. I never opened the pool, or cleaned up the yard, or anything.

Well, this year it's still going to be nigh impossible to get the pool opened or the yard cleaned without help. I'm just going to have to ask for help, that's all. The yard is a mess after this stupid winter. Tree limbs, hell, entire TREES down in the yard. (The neighbor's tree fell onto my shed.) Debris everywhere, too.

What I really want to do is get Havoc outside into a flight cage. As of now, I wake up at around 5 AM to put him into a carrier so I can cover him, otherwise he'll start screaming as soon as the sun comes up. Then no one gets any sleep. He'll obviously scream at sunrise outside, too, but at least he'll be farther away and maybe I won't hear him as much.

Maybe we'll go to the park today, if it doesn't rain. It's windy and cold, but not “I can't move my eyeballs” kind of cold.

Tomorrow I have to open the clinic early for a rich client who wants a 90 minute massage. Ugh, I hate opening early. But it must be done.

GOD DAMN IT, the crow just screamed and woke the baby.

He has to go outside. >_

This past Tuesday we had Fakesgiving. Everyone else in the family is going to be away in Disney for actual TG, so we bumped it up a week and a half. It was a little hectic because I had to work, and lots of the food got burned because it's pretty hard to do this whole holiday thing with an infant! But it was still brilliant. The only problem was that SB and his girlfriend weren't there, since they moved to upstate NY and couldn't make the trip down. I think it's the first Thanksgiving that I haven't seen him. And Timmy was working. :(

And now I've got all holiday music on my iPod and holiday stations in my car, because I am ridiculous.

Callum really, really loves this whole "eating" thing. He's very into yogurt and fruit. Not a fan of veg so far, but there's time for that.

Funny moment: My Mom talking to my uncle about cable vs. Direct TV and asking him, "You have Optimum, right? Do you have a big package?" and realizing what she was saying halfway through the last word and trying to un-say it. Chrissie and I laughed until we were in tears.

I have to work super early tomorrow, extra early, in fact, to squeeze in a 90 minute treatment and an hour one. My first client is a book scout but she's told me straight out that she left one of her doctors because she could tell she wanted to get published, and that she left a past massage therapist because she talked too much about herself. And she's really nice, so I don't want to put her off. And when I'm at work, I'm a massage therapist and not a writer. I'm there to do one job.

Though, god, it really sucks having an actual book scout right there, and not being able to ask questions or anything!

I had to take next Monday ant Tuesday off work, because my Mom has to work and I don't have anyone to watch CJ. To make up for it, I'm going in on black Friday. Once I come home, then I'll go out and get a little holiday tree for baby and me. :) I'm going to be even more obnoxious about the hols than I used to be. Ha.

I took Callum for his hip x rays today. First they tried to give me the runaround with the insurance thing, saying that it hadn't cleared with his primary care physician yet. Which is bulldoody, because I talked to this woman named Ellen in the office FOUR TIMES in order to get them to set it up. (Because the doctor there didn't take his insurance, so I needed to get prior approval, blah diggity blah.) She assured me that if there was any problem, she would call me back. When I didn't hear back from her, I called anyway to make sure. The first time she said "Oh, no one told me about this!" Which is crap, because I'd told her. Twice. The last time she said, "Okay, if you don't hear from me, everything is fine. I'll do it today."

Today at the doctor's office they told me, "We don't know anyone named Ellen."

They must have worked it out among themselves, because about fifteen minutes later they called me in.

It was hard, because I had to hold him down for the x ray. Which beats having a stranger do it for sure, but it still sucked because I insisted on having him covered with lead up to his chin, and he hated it, and cried and wiggled the whole time. It was super not fun.

The x rays were inconclusive. From one position they looked perfect, (legs flexed and laterally rotated,) but from another, (legs straightened – though not entirely because I could not get him to hold still!) his right hip looked a little "off" as the doctor said. So we have to go back in 8 months and redo the x rays to see if it was just a today thing, or if the hip really is forming weirdly. If it looks off again, he'll need to go to the hospital for anesthesia and x rays with dye. He said 4 out of 5 things he looks for were perfect, but in that one position, he was side-eyeing it. Callum is definitely hypermobile though. The doctor actually tested my joints too, bent my wrist all the way back and forward, pulled it out, hyperextended my elbows and said basically said CJ could have some of the problems I've had, too. His right hip might also just fix itself within a few months. So I have to call in January to make an appointment for July (WHAT?) And then HOPEFULLY in July, everything will look normal. *fingers super crossed*

So he's not rushing him into a pavlik harness or spica cast. But if the hip still looks weird in July, then it's surgery.

I'm just going to keep taking him to the chiropractor and getting him adjusted until then, and hopefully everything will go the way it's meant to.

On a different subject, Saturday was very weird for me. I went to the store while my Mom was watching Callum. I had a basket full of stuff and was waiting on line. The cashier's light was on, but she wasn't there yet so I figured she'd come back in a second. She comes back, says, "I'm open," and this guy with two or three items jumps in in front of me. So I go to give him The Look.

AND IT'S MY EX BOSS.

He was all "Oh, hi!" like nothing ever happened. OMG how I hate social situations like that. Ugh, so terrible. So we had to have this awkward, stilted conversation.

It was weird; I'd actually had a dream the night before that I had to work there again. That's actually one of my recurring nightmares. Then I thought, well, maybe it's a sign from the universe that I need to let go of the resentment and anger. It's not healthy to hold onto that. Someone wrongs you, okay, it happens. My life turned out the better for it, right? So forgive, and move on.

Then I was like "LOL NOPE. STILL PISSED."

Now I'm thinking, maybe I can stay pissed off from a feminist and social point of view (what he did was so trashy,) but be personally thankful.

Anyway, that was that.

Other news, let's see. Callum started eating small amounts of baby food. He is really into food. I hope he can stay that way, and continue to have a good relationship with food. I hope he'll like to try new things and enjoy mealtimes like I do.

I also seem to be in the middle of some stupid anxiety thing where I think that everyone around me is in mortal peril or is secretly terminally ill. I wish I could quit doing that. Those are intrusive thoughts and they are useless and need to go away.

Oh, and it snowed yesterday. WHAT THE HELL.

I've got most of my Xmas shopping done already. Bring on the dang holidays!

How did I not write about Halloween yet? It's been that busy, I guess. It's funny, really it's when my Mom has days off that I have the least amount of time to read or write. That's because she minds the baby for me during his nap, and that's when I get the chance to do things like laundry, cleaning, shopping, decorating (or undecorating,) cooking and things like that. When it's just me and him, he sleeps on my lap for 2 hours and I spend most of my time on the computer.

Halloween was really nice. Jo-chan was here. I was Morticia and CJ was Pubert Addams. My Mom had the day off. I answered the door for a few hours, then when Boychild came home from school and his other halloween activities, we all went out Trick or Treating really briefly, along with his Mom and Dad.

( pics below the cut. )

The whole thing was really low key, but nice for his first Halloween. It wouldn't do to take him to a bunch of things and overwhelm him.

Last night I went to see Taking Back Sunday, but that's a different post, isn't it?!

20 weeks (but 4 1/2 months going by the date) today! 26" and 14 pounds. 75% height and 25% weight- tall and lanky.

Callum is obsessed with his hands, can get his feet into his mouth, loves to sing, loves Mickey Mouse, loves books and being read to, laughs a lot, can sit pretty well with some low back support, and enjoys patting his dogs. Still can't roll over, and not sleeping through the night. (He wakes up between 5-6 for a feeding, and then around 7:30 or 8. We get up at 8:30.) Won't nap unless he's held.

In two weeks he has to go for x rays to check for hip dysplasia because his hips are very flexible and the doc thought that was unusual. (Might be why he's so late to roll over? Actually, he did it once or twice last month and then never again.)

But other than that, we're moving right along!

I took more hours at work starting last week. Work is the same as always – another new receptionist (we get lots of temps,) and some nice clients. Actually, I took a day off in 2 or so weeks so I can gat a massage for my birthday. Something to look forward to.

It has been hot as balls here. Yesterday it was 80, wtf. I am so mad at the stupid weather.

Today, our government is still shut down, and someone was apparently trying to shoot up Capitol Hill. This country has gone completely balls-up.

I miss reading, writing, and cooking. I miss Kung Fu like crazy. I know these are temporary "I miss"es and one day I'll get them back. I am still, thankfully, making stuff for HitRECord, and still querying when I get the chance.

Oh, and I'm going to see Taking Back Sunday next month. :DDDDD Huge yay.

For Halloween, I'm going to be Morticia Addams and Callum is going to be Pubert. Very fitting, yes? We'll probably just answer the door, but it beats last Halloween when the roads were still flooded, there was no electricity and there were power lines all over the place, and I was sick as hell. Last year I was trying to imagine what this year would be like. I can hardly fathom that it is here, complete with that shiny little face you see up there.

Last year on the 7th, I peed on a stick and got a + sign. That day, I went for a walk alone on the beach and thought, "This time next year, I'll probably be bringing a little baby on my walks with me." I had a sense that it would be a boy, too. I kept thinking "He."

Today I took Callum to see the biggest thing on the planet: The ocean. I dressed him in his little Aloha shirt and off we went.

It's best after Labor Day, when all the tourists are gone and it's free to park.

A nice lady took a pic of us, and we chatted for a while about how nice it was without the crowds. She told me her daughter was having a baby and she was so excited. ^_^

I walked on for a bit, and it was important to me to put some ocean water on Callum's feet and his face. I wasn't about to unstrap him and dip him in. The water was dang cold and it was too sunny. He can't wear sunblock yet so I didn't like to take him out of the shade. But I just wanted to put it on him, so I cupped some ocean in my hand and dipped his feet in that. We live on an island, you just have to feel the ocean as soon as possible!

It's strange because he'll never remember it, and he didn't even really understand it. It was just like, a loud, big blue wobbly thing that he was seeing, right? With no sense of how vast or how important it was.

There were some surfers out there, because the waves were pretty good. On our way out, I met this guy who said, "I love your umbrella!" and I said, "I love your surfboard!" I asked him how long he'd been surfing and he said about 42 years. He said he gave lessons and offered to let me have a go. I told him I'd been surfing a few times and had really liked it; that my son might want to surf someday, and if so, I'd want him to learn how. He told me where he works and gave me his email address.

Happy surfing, dude!

It's Sunday. Jo-chan comes back tomorrow, which is nice. I work early tomorrow and Tuesday, but it's not so bad. My clients have been really awesome to me. Yesterday I had my absolute favorite client, Betty, who is 90 years old. She bought some bibs and burp cloths and gave me a really sweet card.

Anyway, tomorrow after work maybe Jo-chan, Mom, Boychild's Mommy and I will do something together. And Boychild when he gets home from school. Then at night once Callum is asleep, Jo-chan, Mom and I will have a bit of ice cream and watch Merlin.

Autumn is around the corner! ^_^

ETA: I've been taking CJ to do one thing on every off day, before his long nap, just to get us both out of the house. Even if it's a walk to the bay, traipse through the woods, or grocery shopping. Note to self: If there's nothing else lined up, take him to those little local farm places and start collecting gifties for that one long-distance friend. You know the one.

Today is such a gorgeous day. LIke Bob Marley said, “Sun is shining, weather is sweet.” I took the dogs to the beach for a long walk, and I’ve been outside setting up bird feeders and putting my tropicals out for the season, scrubbing bird baths, re-arranging things, etc. just to be outdoors. Everything is so green and lush, and it smells like the ocean and apple blossoms.

The latest Hyperbole and a Half gives people a really intense look into what depression feels like. Reading it has made me so grateful that I’m able to enjoy days like today, and more understanding of people who can’t.

So, here's how the rest of my week went. I finished up my last (so far) day of work. I don't plan to take too much time off, because I honestly can't even afford to, so I only hope the clinic will still be there when I get back.

Then I had a doctor appointment, which are once a week now; kind of a pain. I had a different doctor, some dude, whom friends assured me was very chill. He was nice, really; looked at the birth plan I'd written up and agreed with everything on it, etc.

But here's what happened: he was running an hour late. The nurse who weighed me was pissy and in a huge rush. She didn't wait for the scale to stop tipping and she wrote down that I had lost two pounds. (Maybe I'd lost one, or just hadn't gained. Which is totally normal.) But then the doctor saw it, and he thought I measured too small, didn't look right or whatever. So he made me go back for another ultrasound 4 days later. I pretty much had a feeling nothing was wrong and they were just being stupid about it and trying to get some more money, but of course, you worry about things like this anyway.

But, I went back Tuesday and had yet another different doctor who was like, "Umm, why are you here?" Even the u/s lady was all "Everything is perfectly normal, what is the meaning of this?"

So now I'm super annoyed and I hope I don't get this doctor for delivery, because he seems to be an alarmist.

They also keep pestering me to get internal exams every week. (Sorry, TMI.) I keep declining. I think you only need maybe one, before the due date. They were really insistent and totally confused about why I was turning it down. The nurse was literally like "You're really not doing it? I mean... your pants are staying on?" YES, FFS. They were so insistent about getting all up in my puanani that I began seriously to suspect their motives. >_> Back away from the vagina, people.

(A few years ago, Jo-chan and I were trying to come up with some way to invent one of those spring-loaded boxing gloves that you could stick between your legs during an OBGYN exam. It would have a trigger or something that you could pull when the doctor went down there for a look. IDK, I still think that's hilarious.)

But enough about my crotch.

I was supposed to have new windows by now, but contractors across-the-board suck. I'm sorry to any contractors who don't. I don't believe in you; you're like Santa Claus. Not that I can actually afford new windows, but the ones in my bedroom (which is going to be the baby's room) are cracked. Like seriously cracked, completely broken, ice on the inside of the windowsill, black mold building up, can't-get-room-above-50-in-the-winter kind of broken. My Mom actually put it on her credit card, tbh, paying like 50 bucks a month. Anyway, originally they were going to put a rush on it and get it done in the beginning of May, but, contractors, you know. "Beginning of May" means "end of June, maybe."

Oh, here's another thing. I have Havoc outside today. It's not his first time outdoors (I've dragged his entire cage outside a few times, to get him some sun, even though this totally panics him,) but it is his first time in the aviary. I figured, I'm not using it for a while, let's see if he can stand it out there. And honestly, he's been screaming so completely non-stop lately, I have no idea what's causing it but it's driving me insane. Today when I took the dogs to the beach he screamed so loud and so long that I could hear him from my car, down the block. O_O

So, I put him outside and set him up with a bath, perches, food, peanuts, and a toy. He was hysterical for about five minutes until he discovered his water bowl. Then he had a drink, got on a perch, and chilled out. He's nice and quiet now and I am a much calmer person without him screeching the way he has been. I think I'll put him out during the day, and bring him in at night. (He could stay out at night since I fixed the aviary all secure, but IDK, I'd probably be too nervous.)

Oh, and I had Sano's bloodtest done again this month. Once again, everything is normal. (*knock on wood!*) This is the first time in years he's had platelets in the spring. Haku is still having seizures on his new meds, so it's not a totally perfect situation, but Sano not being on pred is totally new. The only thing I did differently this year was give him coconut oil with his dinner, because I read some anecdotal stuff from people with ITP saying that it had worked for them. Very odd. I even started cutting down on his SUPER EXPENSIVE Chinese Medicine pills. Maybe I can get to the point of filling them every 40 days instead of every 20, saving over $100 a month. Let's hope.

As for the rest of today, maybe I'll do a little writing, maybe some recording for HitRECord, maybe some laundry. I've already had the dogs to the beach this morning for a nice long walk, and done lots of outdoorsy work and now my hips are aching again. Well anyway, won't be long now!

Sun is shining, weather is sweet. :)

So this was super nice. I mentioned in my last post that I'd made a little video for HitRECord to say what I planned to do with my check from them. I got this nice reply from Joe:

It always makes my day when he stops by to say something like that. ^_^ And yeah, whatever, I have screencapped all of his replies to me, just because they're always so kind, and sometimes really hilarious.

LOL tasteful.

It's not every day that you write a poem that JGL thinks is "fantastic and sexy." ^_^ Another time he said I was a "provocative and fun feminist writer."

For every rejection letter I get, I'm like, "Yeah, well, Joseph Gordon Levitt likes my stuff, so :P "

Welp, today is a week away from my baby shower. WOW, how did that happen? I'm looking forward to it, because I love any time I get to see all of my friends in one place. That happens so rarely. Obviously not everyone can make it, but a lot of people can and will be there. I just can't wait to see everyone. It's neat when your different groups of people can meet each other. Then you can show them off to each other. "Friends: This is my fantastic family! Family: Check out my awesome friends!"

I have SO MUCH cleaning to do. And not just "Oh, let me move this basket of clothes to this room and I'll get to them later," or your basic cleaning the toilet or wiping the counters and vacuuming. I mean like, shifting things around, scrubbing floors, all sorts of non-fun things like that. And tomorrow I have to go shopping for last minute stuff AND I have to work. That's TWO WHOLE THINGS I need to do in one day. What's up with that?

I just really want everyone to be comfortable on Sunday, have lots of space to move around, find everything clean and nice, and have a good time. And I neeeeed the weather to be warm and sunny. Weather gods, can we have that please? It is still so damn chilly here! We're supposed to be outside singing and dancing! Because yes, there will be dancing.

Mom offered Dad's old dresser for the baby. It's nearly an antique. Or, I don't know, maybe it isn't, but it's from the 50s or so. My Dad sanded it and painted it black in the 70s and it's really slick. I think that's such a cool idea, but I hate the thought of Mom giving up Dad's dresser. I think that's probably going to be tough. I'm a little torn.

I should stop stalling and start cleaning. There's just no way around it!

Auwe, the agent who asked for an 8 week exclusive on my novel (after 3 months exclusive on the first 3 chapters,) decided she didn’t feel “passionate enough” about selling it. >_<

Bleh. Oh well! Onwards and hopefully upwards!

I don’t think I’ll be giving any more exclusives, though. That came out to five whole months of querying that I’ll never get back.

Err, unless I was super duper into the agent I guess. :) Then I’d consider it.

Still, I think it’s a good sign that this is all totally subjective now. Like, lots of agents have said that they thought the writing was great, it just wasn’t necessarily their thing. And we know it has to be a perfect match.

AND I’M NOT OUT OF CAKE.

Actually, I don’t have any literal cake. But I do have girl scout cookies. ^_^

Then tonight, my accountant came by to go over taxes with me. Since I pay at the end of the year, I need someone to do all the complicated stuff for me, and I need to dig through every write-off I can find. Like travel, insurance, college loan interest, etc.

And then I heard the tree frogs outside. I have to document that every year. First night of the tree frogs. :)

HUGELY graphic heavy, okay!

This is gonna be a story in photos. :)

( The holiday season )

And that's the story, in pictures, of this holiday season!

So it's obviously been a really crappy week in terms of the big picture. The whole Sandy Hook thing went down Friday which is pretty devastating and unthinkable. Most of that I've dealt with on my Tumblr. That's where I keep most of my non-personal, great-big-world, social issue stuff. (And my fandom stuff too, really.)

So it's kinda hard to get that incident out of one's head long enough to focus on one's own life. But I am fortunate in that I can just go to bed sad and angry, whereas those families will probably never sleep again.

The holiday season carries on. I finished my gift shopping relatively early, and am just waiting on two more gifts which haven't arrived yet. My tree has already stopped sucking up water but it looks and smells really nice. Jo-chan is here 4 days out of the week and my Mom's got her tree up and even some lights.

Tomorrow is my anatomy scan ultrasound, so of course I'm a little nervous. It's to make sure Puglsey has all his parts and nothing looks unusual. Of course, at times like this, one wonders what kind of world one is putting children into. How do you know they'll ever be safe, when you can't even send them to school anymore? And then there's the worry about, how do you know you're not going to raise the next mass murderer? I know that good parenting and noticing signs and things like that has a lot to do with it, but events like this make it seem like it can so easily go wrong.

But of course, that kind of thing doesn't show up on ultrasound.

I had some good news about Haku. I was talking to Wizard Vet (or Genius Vet, whichever) about adding a new med, because the seizures are piling up again. We talked about Zonegran and that seemed like a good thing to try. Stress: try, because it's a hit or miss thing. The first thing to do was test his bloods to make sure that he's still in good shape. His liver values are slightly high (at 218 – last year they were 178,) but Wizard Vet said that's actually a really good value for a dog who's been on pheno for so long. She said usually they're in the thousands. That's because I keep him on mega doses of Milk Thistle every day. His chloride was MAD high, and that's a kidney value. Normal is 125 and his is 147. It doesn't sound like a big jump, but it's a small window. However, she said that's from the KBr, and if the Zonegran works, we can reduce the KBr.

Zonegran is CRAZY expensive. Like, $500 for a hundred pills, and he gets two a day. Fortunately, ZONICIMIDE is only $30 and is the exact same thing, and the pharmacy in town can fill it. What a huge load off my mind, let me tell you.

Guess I'll have more to post about tomorrow. Or at least, when I feel like posting what goes on tomorrow. :)

Rainy Friday, day off, finished laundry. Eating chocolate, wrapping gifts and watching Brick.

The scene were Brendan Frye beats the hell out of Brad Bramish is one of my favorite movie scenes ever.

Stuff I did in the first trimester:

Gagged a lot.
Ate poorly, lost weight.
Slept a lot.
Randomly became allergic to henna (massive hives.)
Watched Lawless in the movie theater (the day before the then-zygote "stuck," I think.)
Watched Looper in the movie theater, while eating grapes and trying not to throw up.
Played Resident Evil 6.
Wrote a Halloween story.
Got a laptop for my birthday.
Worked, but not a lot, because work is very slow now.
Made videos for HitRECord.
Worried about molar pregnancy, Downs Syndrome, the NT and trisomy tests.
Ignored a mandatory evacuation. Went without power for 5 days.
Went to my friend's wedding.

Stuff that happened:

BARACK OBAMA RE-ELECTED.
Gay marriage passed in Maine, Washington and Minnesota.
Senate elections good for women, people of color, and disabled.
Hurricane Sandy!
Nor'easter the following week.

YES, so, the election! Oh man, I could not be happier with the way things turned out. I was sweating this one big time. I was 4 years ago, too, but this one seemed more vital to me. We needed to elect Obama twice. It had to happen.

I watched the elections with my Mom and Jo-chan this time. Four years ago, it was with Glassworker, but she was at work last night. This was Jo-chan's first time voting and I really wanted it to go her way, too. It's a great feeling when you win on your first shot. :D When they called the election, my Mom had gone into the shower, but Jo and I got up to dance and scream. She was moonwalking and I did the Eleventh Doctor's dance before going out onto the porch and screaming "YEEEAAAAAAH!"

It was good. I woke up a few times during last night and went, "OBAMA? YES, OBAMA! *relieved sigh*" and then went back to sleep.

This morning I got up to find messages on my phone, but we had a small power outage (AGAIN) overnight, and now my messages are broken and I can't retrieve them. Which was awful, because I'd been waiting on my overdue Trisomy tests to come back. Let me tell you, I chased the doctor's office and even all the way up to the stupid testing company, calling them all about three times a day to find out what the eff was going on. Turns out, they had lost some of my paper work. So when I saw I had a message this morning, I knew they'd finally straightened it out.

I spoke to my favorite doctor and she asked how I was feeling. "Relieved," I told her, "since the election is over." She laughed and went, "Yeah, WOOO!" And then she told me that the tests were all negative, and that it was a boy.

Now I need to think of some boy names!

Other good news: Sunday my friend Jennel got married. We worked together at The Bad Place and were very close. Her Dad passed a year after my Dad did, and then after that we grew closer. We don't get to visit each other often, but we still talk on the phone and on FB a lot.

It took me forever to decide what to wear, but in the end everyone dressed in their own style anyway, and I shouldn't have been worried. Jennel, of course, looked gorgeous. The ceremony was small, short, and very sweet. Afterwards we all had a terrific dinner, and some dancing. It was lovely to be out there dancing with some of my old pals from The Bad Place, because there are a few of those girls whom I still really love. Also, we did Gangnam Style, which was pretty great.

Jennel had a memorial to her dad arranged, with a photo of her parents' wedding and the boutineer he would have worn. I thought that was a great idea. We stood around chatting about our Dads and getting emotional for a little while.

Another thing happened, which I'll talk about in a locked post.

And now, here we are with another storm on our hands. Everyone else seems to have snow, but we just have freezing rain and insane wind gusts. It is like, Silent Hill cold out there and it's only Nov. 7, wtf. I can't take this.

Also, since Halloween was more or less cancelled because of the hurricane, I've been jonzing like crazy for the holidays. I can't explain it. All I want is Thanksgiving, and then stupid holiday songs and lights, and shopping and annoying bells ringing and all of that junk. And I'm not the only one. Jo-chan is feeling the same exact way. We walk around singing Good King Wenceslas all the damn time. It's ridiculous.

Oddly, I keep flashing back to the holiday chorus shows I used to do in high school. That was always one of my favorite parts of the holiday season, going to the school at night, dressed up, (we always had to wear black and white,) singing all those Christmas songs and ending with Hallelujah Chorus. Mr. Roberts, the choral director, would invite anyone in the audience to come up and sing along. Mostly he got alumni and I remember looking at them thinking, "One day when I'm grown up and awesome and people don't hate me anymore, I'm going to get up here to sing with all the kids, and everyone who's mean to me now will be so jealous." How those people would even know, or care that I was for some reason back in my high school singing along with my old teacher, I never really thought about. It was one of those things.

That was a tangent if ever there was one. Anyway, so I'll talk more about the other thing that happened in a locked post. But maybe tomorrow, because I'm going to bed now. Obama kept me up till after 2 last night! Well, not Obama, but maybe Mitt Romney. I wanted to wait for Obama's speech, but apparently Romney hadn't bothered to write his concession speech so the entire country had to wait on him. :/

So, more tomorrow, then.

Kind of a fun two weeks, more or less. A little craziness/unpredictability at work, but apart from that, eggs in the soup.

I finished up my Hula classes. They weren't a rousing success, but the few people did attend liked them enough to ask for another session. So we are planning on doing some more in the Fall.

The Wednesday after that, I went kayaking with Lady Chrysanthemum. I've never been kayaking before, and I wasn't sure if I would be any good at it. My chiropractor has a kayak, and when I said that to him he said, "Can you sit? Then you can kayak."

It ended up being really easy. We (and a few other people we didn't know,) took a sunset tour at this lake in Southold. I cannot remember the name of the dang lake. But it was pretty big, and parts of it looked a little bit like those creepy Florida waterways, with little sheds hidden in the woods on the shores. Saw a great blue heron and a kingfisher, too, which was pretty much the highlight.

I'd love to get a kayak, and you can get them second hand around here for about $50 sometimes, but I'd have no way of getting it from here to water. My car is too small for that, and the rack to put it on the car is like $700 or something. Ridiculous!

Speaking of my car, I got the bill for my last payment on it. EVER. After five years, I own my car. :) That's $364 I don't have to pay every month.

Today I went to see (F)Lawless with a girl from work. She fangirls over Tom Hardy like me, so we decided to go and fangirl together.

It was a great movie, but so violent. Like, almost realistically violent, and the sounds were pretty grotesque. I cringed through a lot of it.

Things that annoy me that didn't used to: No real awesome parts for women. Women are just kind of there for the men. I have to give some wiggle room, since it was a movie specifically about three men, and roles shouldn't be shoe-horned into stories just for that reason, and it was about the 20s-30s. It wasn't one of those froofy "Let's glamourize everything about the roaring 20s bootleggers and their world!" films either. It depicted the racism of the time. Credit for that.

Everyone was really good in it. Even Shia LeBeouf or however you spell it, whom I normally can't even watch. He was good. I really liked Jason Clarke, too. I keep feeling like I've seen him in a million things, but when I go to his page, I can't find anything I recognize. Same with Guy Pierce, although I have seen LA Confidential enough that he'd stick with me. He was properly hideous. And his stupid hair, OMG.

I actually liked Tom Hardy's accent in this. When he was Bane, I was a little put off by whatever the hell thing he did with his voice. But here, I thought he was right on.

OMG I can't say enough about him. He does that scary thing with his eyes and I really like it when he's scary. I don't understand how people's clothes don't just fly off of them when they do a scene with him. My clothes would fly off. Just being honest here. If I was in a scene with Tom Hardy, my costumers would he working around the clock. "Oh no, did her clothes burst off of her again? Jesus christ."

It was a tad predictable in some ways (I knew who was going to die, just because that's the kind of character who always dies. But TBH I couldn't guess who was going to live.)

Welp, I'd definitely watch it again.

Oh, today's labor day, that's why I was off and going to the movies instead of work. Work tomorrow, though, 1-5. I know that seems like such a short day to everyone else, and it is. But it's about normal for massage therapy. :)

Well, here it is, September 3rd. Time to start thinking about Halloween, a little? I think so. :)

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Blather, rinse, repeat

Baby got backstory

Entries tagged with seasonal

Tree frogs and a storm!

Bit of an update

spring and garden kinda stuff

Bibble babble

Summer thoughts

Manuscript news. and news all around

Spring updates

Fakesgiving!

X rays, doctors, awkwardness, signs from the universe

Halloween recap

Fall updates

Aloha, ocean!

sun is shining, weather is sweet

A nice comment from Joe, and some baby shower stuff

Rejections and taxes and tree frogs

Holiday season 2012 in (mostly) pics

The season so far (and some Haku related stuff)

(no subject)

Lists and updates and other such

(F)Lawless