... Wait, how did I not know that The Secret Saturdays was back on? BECAUSE CN MOVED IT TO A DIFFERENT NIGHT AND HAS HAD NO COMMERCIALS FOR THE NEW SEASON. BOO ON YOU. Seriously, CN. You really don't want me to watch you. At least I finally figured out when Clone Wars is on.

asjidasp MUST CATCH UP. And probably tape it tomorrow; gaming is going to run late, though I hope not 'till 9... >>; We're starting at 3.

(Here, have Zak. I already used Drew last time. XD; AND CN, SEE FISK'S FACE? I AM MAKING THAT AT YOU. :P)

I just sent in the application for my first job. jfduiafnadfnaipfua

(Not to worry, really. There will be many more sent in before the year is out. Eek.)

Uh. Here. Have a spherically symmetric Perry. He seems to make me feel better, at least. XD;

Well, since I obviously looked at greenconverses':

Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper on their LiveJournal. Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper! Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on it!

( Under here! )

We started watching DS9 tonight, and discovered it seems to be all about the inappropriate touching. Also? Garak is totally insane. XD But we knew this, right? Also also, there is NO ONE on that show with a normal name. It's kind of entertaining; I'd never noticed before.

Have a new icon, BTW. THIS IS A PEN. Maaaaan, I need more icon slots. ;_; AND I ought to go to bed. ::zooms!::

Oh. My. Freaking. God. YES.



sdjnufduafuna. WHERE IS A TIME MACHINE WHEN YOU NEED ONE. BRB NEED TO GO TO FEBRUARY.

Just saw the Atlantis launch from the SSRB roof. I didn't know you could see the flames from here; that was pretty fantastic. XD

Back to work~

So~ A quick update while I scarf down some lunch. :D;

The past few days have been insane. STARS went well, though it required getting up early Saturday and Sunday. Thankfully I didn't have to help out with everything, so I ran away in the middle of the day to work on my research interests (and valeriebean is amazing for being so awesome and helping me!). I still have to add a bit more and finish updating my CV, but then I think I'm ready to apply for the first job on my list!

... Which also means I've got to get the rest of this data analysis done so I can, you know, GRADUATE. I made myself a list of goals for this week, since I know I have to get a bunch of stuff done due to being out of town for two days next week (but it'll totally be worth it~).

Yesterday I also got up early, but since it was to go to Epcot it was somewhat better. XD They give you a special ticket and a button that says it's your birthday, and absolutely everyone who works there that spots it will wish you a happy birthday. That was pretty darn cool. <3 Also, violet_lane and adamatari were awesome enough to come hang out with me, and we had lots of fun. :D I even got an Aero bar from England and daifuku from Japan, yum~ Plus we got lucky and were in the first row for Soarin', which is totally the best row. Also, I got my Brock fix~ Now I can't wait to take Jennie there next week!

Plus, I even made it home in time for Venture Bros, which was... special. XD But in a rather entertaining way, let me tell you. THEN I discovered a slew of new VB products on the Adult Swim online store, and... well. There went most of the money they're supposedly going to pay me for doing STARS. Buuut it was totally worth it for this and this!

Ooookay. Just about done with my sandwich, so time to eat my FIERY CHEETOS (because they are delicious if not horrible for me) and run to the Union for an envelope. Seriously, I've decided there need to be 30 hours in the day. At least. I need time to go running, darnit! I have this half-marathon thing to train for and it gets dark before I even get home from work! Plus, who doesn't need more time to sleep? ;D Or write PJO fanfiction, which I WANT TO DO and have no time for... like, ever again. D:

And finally, HAPPY BIRTHDAY hikariblue~! :D :D :D

Dear Cartoon Network,

Please stop moving your shows around. When you put them on at a different time than last week, I tend to miss them. Then I am sad. D:

- Ali-chan

Thank God for BitTorrent; I missed Clone Wars because it was on at 9 instead of 8 like it was supposed to be. :x At least, I thought they moved it to 8. It was on at 8 for the past couple of weeks, right? >>; Ben 10 was still on at 8:30, at least.

Anyway, BEN IS STILL A JERK. "Cope, schmope"? WTF, Ben. WTF. You try being made out of six different materials, kthxbye.

Is it bedtime yet? =_=

This totally useless and unintelligible post brought to you by the letters C and N. And also S, T, A, R, S. (There is no "f" in "stars".)

I do seem to be posting a lot again. ::useless::

( Spoilers for almost-the-end of 501st. )

afnafnalfa I think I have less than a hundred pages left. And I can't read anymore today, because I should get my butt to bed before I can't drag myself up at 7:30 tomorrow. Urgh.

Fail, world. Fail.

1) Wal-Mart did not have the 2-disc edition of the first Transformers movie. Ah, well. That's probably for the better. Now it'll go back on the Christmas list.

2) I've had a suspicion that maybe there's a plastic bag stuck in my car, as I've noticed this burning wax smell after about ten minutes of driving over the past week. Despite the fact that it was dark when I got back from my Transformers-less Wal-Mart run, I opened up the hood to check (I'll have to get under the car tomorrow or over the weekend when it's light). I did not see a plastic bag, but I did see A RANDOM TOOL AND POSSIBLE PART OF MY ENGINE that Jiffy Lube left lying around the last time I had the oil changed. That was maybe a few weeks ago; I hadn't had any reason to open the hood until now. WTF, Jiffy Lube. Do I just go back and demand to know whether this is a piece of my engine or some other poor soul's? Do I keep the wrench for ransom? Argh, I do not have time to go to Jiffy Lube and complain until... oh, never. Okay, maybe... um. If I skip a morning of work next week. Which I really can't do, actually. Boo. I can only assume that if nothing has fallen apart yet, then it's not horribly important. Maybe I'll try to take a look when it's light (again, uh, when?) and see if it looks like something is missing. I guess I could at least call and complain. And hold the wrench hostage. I checked the user manual, and the piece doesn't match anything I can find so maybe it's not even mine.

3) I got an email today from TFAW about the nifty Star Wars oneshot comic, "Purge". I went to go think about buying it... only to find that it's out of stock. Uh. Why are you sending me emails to buy it if it's out of stock probably before you even sent the email? Fail! Guess I'll go direct to Dark Horse or something.

EDIT: Okay, okay. Now it's back in stock. IT WAS TOTALLY OUT OF STOCK THIS AFTERNOON. XD; Down to 2/3 fail, Thursday.

... Right. Now to maybe work on an amat application and save my resume for tomorrow when I'm not as braindead. I don't have enough free time in between helping out with STARS to do any real work, but resume updating is something I can do and still feel productive. And maybe work up the nerve to see how Anthony feels about writing me a letter. Eek, I have to get up early tomorrow, too. ;_; And not forget to feed Scott's cat!

This amount of fail deserves a tag.

Mmm, it is a lovely 54 degrees outside today, yess~ (Well, the computer claims 54. My thermometer claimed 59, but either way, it was less than sixty when I left this morning.) I hope this continues! Pleeeease~ (Of course, it's supposed to be back in the 70s/80s by the weekend... I hope the forecast lies. D:)

I totally feel like it's Monday all over again. o.o; Probably because yesterday was the weekend I'm not going to get this weekend. XD; I totally meant to get up and do stuff, but alas, I got up just before Diana called at 3pm. (For the record, my dream appeared to include both Chad Dylan Cooper - WTF XD - and Ny Vollen. And Hannah Montana. Clearly I need help.) I did get some laundry done, though? And I went running! Buuut that's really about it for productive things yesterday; I don't know where it all went. D: I did go to bed before 2, as well, and I even managed to get up at 9 this morning! (Well, 9:10, but that's close enough!) Sashi actually seemed miffed and wanted me to stay in bed and stop getting up to turn off the alarm. XD;

Anyway... I should get back to finishing my cluster stuff so I can make sure I have enough labs printed and email people about getting stands for the lab on Saturday. I should also go take a tour of campus later to make sure I know where we're going for this scavenger hunt. XD;; Also, must talk to Vicki this afternoon - I found a postdoc that I might actually be good at, but the application is due in... nine days! Eep. o.o (Also must remember to register for AAS and get plane tickets to D.C.! And get a hotel at Disney. AND FIND A CATSITTER OMG. D:)

EDIT: Also! JAYNE HATS FOR TURKEYS! You know you want one!

You know what I need? this. XD

Well. Almost as much as I ABSOLUTELY TOTALLY NEED THIS. Now I just have to work up the nerve to order it, because hey, I don't have a sleeping bag. But it is kind of expensive... and I think even if I miss the preorder, there will be more...? But I waaaaaant it!

Okay, back to writing. I fear I may actually finish another chapter today, which somehow makes me feel less productive, not more. XD;

So far I am disappointed in this tropical storm everyone's been talking about. All it's done is made it HOT all over again when the weather was just getting nice! Boo. D:

This week is going to be totally crazy; the buses aren't running tomorrow for the holiday so I think I'm going to try to work from home. But I also got in late today (stupid pest control - or, well, stupid me, I really need to learn to not go back to bed even if I still have 20 minutes before I need to get up) so I'm going to stay late tonight to catch up, since I don't have to run. I had this weird dream this morning though, which I can only partly remember, but I think it involved Jake from Hannah Montana. Like, we'd accidentally body-swapped or something, and we kept trying to get back to our own bodies but nothing we tried worked. XD; That's pretty fail, brain.

Friday and Saturday is STARS (including a scavenger hunt and ahaha, I don't know my way around campus! ::diiies::), and Sunday is Disney. I'm actually really just looking forward to going to Epcot, plunking myself down in one of the countries, and sitting for a nice long while with a coffee or something. Since I'll likely either be by myself (or hopefully with violet_lane), I can take it easy and just enjoy the atmosphere, which I really want to do. :D Especially since I get in for free! And then hopefully I will get home in time for Venture Bros. XD

Also, to all you NaNo people posting snippets, I keep meaning to read everything you've posted up so far and I haven't gotten to do it yet! But I will! It probably doesn't help that all my spare time is spent plugging away at my own crazy epic PJO fic or reading 501st, which I am about halfway through and really don't want to put down. I'm going to be so sad when it's done (but at this point I am still hopeful that there will still be more to come!). Also, it really makes me want to write a clone fic. You know. In all my spare time. >>; (But seriously. I <3 Niner. Niner needs more love. Lots more. <3)

Okay, off to enjoy a few more minutes of "lunch break" before getting back to work. I want to have some final-ish tables by tonight, I can do it!

Wow. First of all, Clone Wars? I really have to hand it to them tonight. That was a fabulous episode. Not to mention hardcore. I mean, people were dying all over the place. There were larty gunships going down all over and Geonosians carting troopers off and plenty going down to blaster fire. Plus, they're usually fighting tinnies. I wonder if parents are really cool with kids watching troopers use flamethrowers on Geonosians. They may be bugs, but they're not robots, either. D: They've really stepped it up; I'm really excited for next week now!

Also, Ben 10? Finally found some good writers. Thank you. That was actually in-character, possibly for the first time this season that did not involve losing someone's left hand (because let's face it, that was ridiculous). XDD Kevin was so, so priceless~ ("Hey! No one knocks him around but me!") Though their "sneak peek" at Alien Swarm was a total bust - they showed the whole clip in the commercial announcing there'd be a sneak peek! Laaaame, Cartoon Network. Lame.

Oh, but speaking of Star Wars, I'm about 130 pages into 501st. It's like... nostalgic or something, because even though it's obviously a new book, I'm remembering sitting around the house last Christmas and reading Triple Zero for some reason. (Well, of course, it also makes me nostalgic for the good old days when certain people were not dead and there was no Evil Empire. D:) But I'm really enjoying it thus far, even if things are just kind of coming together after the setup, since a number of things changed when the Emperor took power. Plus, I just love Niner all that much more. And I really want to go back and read Hard Contact again. It makes me want to wear my Boba Fett hoodie around. XD And it's starting to get into temperatures where I can do that! Woo~ (Also? Carlyyyyyy, you need to read these Republic Commando novels. After Percy Jackson, of course~ ;D)

Plans for this weekend involve avoiding the football game (or, well, campus during the football game), getting a new futon cover and some stuffing for the pillows I'm making, because I only had enough to stuff one. XD But yay for $1.50 Wal-Mart fabric? I also need to take another look at job listings, and hopefully figure out this variability stuff that's still giving me issues. Oh, and read papers on cluster interlopers. I can't forget about those. I would also like to get the next chapter of PJO stuff out, because even though I only have the end of it written, I have plenty of stuff to fill in. Maybe I'll work on that in a bit. There are some contest entries that also need to be looked at. And apparently STARS is next week (Friday and Saturday, but thankfully not Sunday so I can still go to Disney~) so I have stuff to do for that, but nothing that can't wait 'till next week, I think.

Guh. That was probably pretty boring, but. Happy Friday everyone!

Welcome to day 3 of November and the end of DST! I just love watching the clock go from 1:59 to 1:00 over again. There's something very... master of space and time-y about it, maybe. :D;It does, however, severely limit my afternoon sunlight, which is distressing since it means I have to rush home earlier than 5 if I want to run four and a half miles before darkness descends. At least the weather finally seemed to figure out it was FALL, PEOPLE, and it's a lovely 71 or so outside right now. Oh man, I'm so excited. I really hope it doesn't get hot again. ._.;

So! Good luck to all those doing NaNo; I would be with you if I wasn't suddenly trying to finish up a PhD this year (because between writing and astronomy? We all know which I'd rather spend my time doing XD;). Although I'm beginning to think that despite the fact that I'm not doing NaNo, I may end up writing just as much this month. XD; I finally figured out how to do this interim scene in my PJO fic (ahaha, completely differently than it was originally supposed to go, and of course I figured this out as I was almost done with it so now I have to go back and rewrite it all). And as soon as the middle stuff is done, we get to the GOOD STUFF. >D I'm really curious to see what readers will think. There are at least a few people who leave consistent reviews over at fanfiction.net and I really look forward to seeing their reactions. But hopefully by GOOD STUFF I mean that I know mostly what's going to happen already, and I'm really looking forward to writing it. I mean, a big long scene between Percy and Hades? Total win~ Plus, Percy is turning out to have a lot more thoughts on things than I originally thought, and I really like that. Things I hadn't even thought of end up tying together ever-so-nicely, it's really pretty awesome. (Seriously, if I put this much energy into The Dead Prince it'd be a whole series of published novels by now. ::fail:: I really need to get working on that.)

At least I've also got a number of contests lined up for this month, and I want to get working on some original stuff for those as well. One of them even involves Greek mythology! And another I can totally garner inspiration from Firefly. That's not cheating, right? It's just inspiration!

As for the weekend, I spent my Halloween watching way too much HGTV and now I want to redecorate my entire apartment. ::dies:: Actually, the worst part is I may be actually thinking about it, albeit more along the lines of moving out some of the anime stuff and putting up some of the nicer stuff that's been sitting in my closet for years. I fear I may be ::gasp!:: acquiring a somewhat more grown-up sense of taste. I don't know what to say. XD But never fear, even if I were to undertake such a task, the number of Ryomas in my living room would likely only go down slightly. I mean, come on. Some of them would need to stay! It's really too bad I probably won't be here long enough to bother painting; my mom's been trying to get me to paint the place for years, but with the actual real possibility that I may be leaving within a year, it's likely not worth it. Still, now I'm inspired to paint my future place! Though the inspiration may not last until I next move... XD;

Then Sunday was Star Wars in Concert with Nathan and Scott, and that was really pretty awesome. That screen was HUGE! Plus, during intermission this woman came around and offered all of us pretty awesome seats on the first level not far from the stage, since that section hadn't sold out. Who were we to say no? The concert was really enjoyable and there were all these little kids and the exhibit was pretty awesome too. Then we had dinner at Outback and after we got home Nathan ended up stopping by around midnight for Venture Bros, which was a very... special episode. XD; Man, it's so weird to watch just one new one a week when I blew through the first three seasons like crazy!

Diana and Kevin had invited me to the Disney Halloween Party that night too, but with the ending time of the concert and the time it would take me to get to Orlando, it really wasn't quite worth it since I wouldn't be able to make the whole event. I would have really liked to go, but I think maybe it was better that I didn't spend the whole concert freaking out about when it was going to end and how I was going to zoom out of there and still be late, because that would've probably lowered my enjoyment of the whole thing. Next year, guys! Because clearly I have to go to the Halloween Party for the rest of my life~ <3 I may even try out the Christmas Party this year!

Speaking of Disney, I should check and see if the Food & Wine Festival is still going on; I think I'll go to Epcot for my birthday regardless, but that would certainly be an added bonus! And also totally randomly, Tyler and Valerie have decided we're going to Canada in May, so this should be exciting. At least it means I'll get to see pergamond! :D (I could probably fit my PS2 in my baaaag~)

And finally, because this entry is getting absurdly long, I don't know what I did but I must have slept really, really wrong because my neck is killing me today. All I want to do is go home and steal Sashi's heating pad. :x Ouch.

--

EDIT: Who did not tell me that the Imperial Commando book is already out? D: I believe a trip to Borders tonight is required.

Dude, it's 10:30. Why is the only other person I've seen in yet Conor? Where is everybody? D:

Somehow I drizzled 3 our of 4 positions for one cluster; I don't know how I even figured out variability on that last one with no fake epochs, but. XD; I'm doing that now, and remembering the PAIN that is Multidrizzle. Why is it when I give it an output file name, it just ignores it? DO WHAT I TELL YOU ALREADY. D:

Watched the new Tinkerbell movie last night; it was pretty cute, and Terrence is much cuter in the movies than he is in the book (literally XD). He looks kind of like a loser in the book. D: Though I really have to wonder... in the normal Peter Pan movies, Tink is just shedding pixie dust everywhere, right? So it never really made sense to me that they have to resupply every day and that they can run out. Tink certainly never seemed to run out, unless she was sneaking off to Pixie Hollow every night while people were asleep. >>; (Clearly I think about things way too much. XD)

I also got new running shoes, which were much more expensive than what I usually pay for shoes but they were SO COMFY. I kept trying to find something cheaper but every time I tried on ones that felt awesome, they were always the more expensive ones so I just decided heck with it, they're the only equipment I need anyway and I like my knees in functioning order, thanks. I'm looking forward to trying them out today; they should last me through the half-marathon. Now if only it would get less disgusting outside again, because last weekend was almost perfect (just a little warm) but then this week it turned AWFUL again. I really, really want to walk outside and not get drenched in sweat just walking from the bus stop to work. Apparently that's too much to ask. D:

... Wow, I sure do have a lot of D:'s in this entry. I'm actually doing just fine. XD; I even went to bed early last night! (And read a book! I don't like The Cronus Chronicles as much as Percy Jackson, but I am still thoroughly entertained. And I think the second one is better than the first, despite the first taking place in the Underworld.) But then Sashi was cute this morning so I didn't get up until about 9 instead of 8:30 like I planned. But that's okay - clearly there's no one in anyway! Where's my science officer? Scott and I are totally doing the matching Starfleet shirts today. XD He better show up!

Oh! Here he is~ Woo, office of Starfleet awesomeness!

Board Game Night must have been awfully wacky last night... Scott and Nathan have yet to show up. XD

Also, there is talk of wearing costumes to work tomorrow. I'm thinking something normal-clothes-ish, like Penny or my Star Trek shirt. Hm. Suggestions? :O Camp Half-Blood shirt? XD;

Okay, back to making my numerous little IDL programs into ONE BIG IDL PROGRAM OMG. I can do this! Then it's off to re-examine my variability criteria and confirm my optical-x-ray-IR matches. I want to have a giant table of awesomeness (or maybe twelve little tables of awesomeness) by tomorrow! (I'd actually really like to be writing, but since it's only 12:55 and I have at least five more hours of astronomy before I can feel good enough about myself to go home, guess I better put that one on the backburner. XD)

Dude. Frank just sent me this, which he saw on the way to the airport. Stealing billboards is totally legal, right? Because if that's still there when I go home for Christmas... well, all I'm saying is that it might not be by the time I leave. ;D

Squee~

Clearly today is not my day. I got up nice and early (8:45!) and proceeded to make myself a lunch even though as soon as I finished I realized I still had a lunch in the fridge at work. Oops. Then I COULD NOT FIND MY STUDENT ID. I have no clue where it is. As in, it is not where it should be and there is pretty much no way it could have gotten anywhere else, even though I looked everywhere else, too. I mean, I got on the bus to go home on Friday. Clearly I had it then. I'm guessing it must have fallen out of my bag when I went to put it away after showing it to the driver.

So then I had to hunt down $1.50 to get on the bus to go to work, which took a while because I have no singles except in my car for tolls, apparently. So half an hour later I managed to head out the door for the bus, only to see it pulling away from the stop. (This happens to me an awful lot. I think they have radar and they see me coming and book it. >>;) Also, it is back to being utterly horrible outside. Is it possible to have google percent humidity? Because we DO.

SO here I am, earlier than normal but still later than I would have been, and I have to head down to ID services later and get myself a new card (and pay them $15, boo). Too bad I think it costs extra to have them redo your picture, because my first picture is atrocious. XD And now I need a new card holder too, because wherever my ID is, my adorable chibi Ryoma ID case is with it.

If I go home and find it this afternoon hiding under something, I am going to be so horribly sad. XD On the slightly plus side, I did find the writing notebook I thought I'd lost. It was in my bag the whole time, ahaha. I just don't use that pocket, uh. Ever, apparently. XD

Also, I tried to tape Venture Bros over the weekend and apparently it was not on at the same time that the premiere was, oops. XD; At least I found it on the internets eventually! Gonna watch that tonight, I suppose.

Anyway, Vicki moved our meeting today up a bit, and I was so exhausted I never made it in yesterday, so I should get to work (the whole reason I tried to get in early) so I have something to show for myself. Pictures and a weekend update coming, probably later! Happy Tuesday!

--

EDIT: Hey, they did take a new picture! At least I've got a slightly less atrocious one now. :D;

So... this shall be a rambly entry on probably nothing useful whatsoever. XD; It has been a fairly busy week, what with my dad visiting over last weekend (which bled into Monday, which also included 7.5 miles of running, Heroes, and The Dark Knight) and pergamond and me trying to date random tennis players by asking them questions in a language that we do not understand. XD (Yesterday we made it all the way to the festival, and we totally got Ryoma to ask for our phone number! That was fabulous~ And then we started again at Rikkai, and Niou made us clean out the storeroom and we fainted - GO US - and it was hilarious because Niou came back and was all, "OMG I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT YOU OOPS". But at least it got us points with him. ;D) Today is a short run (3.5 miles) and an attempt to eat dinner with very little food in my house, and then early tomorrow morning (like, nine ;_;) I have to leave to get Frank from the airport in Orlando. Then it's a weekend of Disney, woo!

So don't get me wrong, I've had a fabulous week and am really looking forward to this weekend. But I am definitely also looking forward to next week when I should have a few days to sit around and do nothing but write in the evenings. XD The Ties That Bind is a bit behind, but I should have the next chapter out early next week. I had to sit down and think about this one scene I was writing, because at first I realized it showed nothing new (and was not required) but then got this inspiration to make it actually useful, which is good, but now I've got to figure out just how I want to do it. And after I've managed to pass enough time in-story, we get to the good stuff. >D I'm really looking forward to that. I also really need to write my Halloween entry for the fic battle, which I haven't really touched since Sunday when I was jotting stuff down in between downs. XD I'm still not sure whether there is actual conflict in the story, but we'll see. Maybe it can be just a meandering piece or something... Must think on that!

Aaaand I think that might be it for now. Gonna get some work done in the hopes that I really can graduate next year. We're going to assess where I am in December and make a more final decision, but as for now I'm going to work like I can graduate next summer. Plus, we just actually got some GTC data! Here's hoping it actually helps. XD

BUT FIRST. WHAT is up with the episode synopsis for Alien Force tonight? Dear God. XD We already did this on Venture Bros, people. ::dies::

adfjaofja Hubble Fellowship applications are due Nov. 5th WUT? I'm not ready to think about jobs yet. REALLY. I'm NOT. ;_; WHY.

On a totally unrelated note, I walked past this kid with a cast on his arm today. Written on it in big, green sharpie letters was "FML". I kind of snickered. Well, it's appropriate?

... Sorry. I really do seem to be posting an awful lot, lately. :x Hope everyone is having a lovely Thursday! And now I'd better get back to IDL. Meeting with the advisor unit at 1:30!