Tears.

Tears, and joy, and hope.

History is often noted in hindsight...this is happening before our eyes. I'm proud to be a part of it.

No matter what your political affiliations, if you are eligible and have not already done so, please vote. It is a privilege. Anyone willing to spend hours futzing around on the Internet can carve out the time to exercise their civic duty. We're writing our own history here, so please participate.

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

I am beyond pleased with this year's winner. Despite my apathy for most of the contestants, this might be the most invested I have ever been in a contestant through all seven seasons. It's a little...sad. But dude, he sang U2. What's not to love?

Looking forward to the Ugly Betty finale tonight...Betty/Gio for the win, please!

Finally, someone needs to tell the weather gods that it's time for Chicago to get up past 62 degrees on a regular basis. Eesh. It was a wretched winter, and it's been a mostly miserable spring. Summer, please! Of course, watch it go straight to 90 and humid, and then I can bitch about that.

So I've finally caught up with the rest of the world, and bought myself a laptop. My desktop was purchased in 2001, and is not only outdated, but practically full and therefore very, very slow. Of course, this also meant that I needed to buy a wireless router and get a network set up, since what's the point of a laptop if you're stuck in one place? Actually getting it set up was a bit more challenging than I felt it should have been, but it's all good now.

Because, you know, I didn't spend enough time on the computer *already*.

In other news, I watched the season finale of Numb3rs last night, and...meh. It certainly didn't pack the same punch that "The Janus List" did last year. ( Oh, Charlie )

Also watched the season finale of CSI, but I was trying to set up the wireless router at the same time, and I think I missed a lot of the details. That said, however, ( Oh, Warrick )

In a previous post, I made of the mention of the fact that perhaps watching CMM on OTH would inspire me to finally remember some of my Tristan-love and finish off "Unholy Alliance." Rather to my surprise, this was met with rousing approval by more than one person.

So...I went back and read the last few chapters, just to see where I had left off. And I noticed quite a few typos, which then inspired me to go back and print out ALL of the chapters, reread, and try to find the mistakes so I can correct them on my website.

Dude. It's over 80,000 words long. And it's not even finished. That's practically book-length. And sure, some of it is crap, but even after all these years, there are parts that I genuinely like. So why the hell can't I ever find inspiration to write 80,000+ words of "real" fiction?

Okay, so I'd have to come up with my own characters. And provide backstories for them. But is that really such a terrible thing? At least then I'd be less likely to be "out of character"? :) *sigh* I know that a big part of it is discipline. I don't make the effort to write. And I don't know how to find the motivation to start. NaNo doesn't do it...so what will? Gah.

Happy New Year to one and all! Despite the fact that I've been posting fics on a near-daily basis, I've been pretty much MIA since right around Christmas. I was on vacation with my family, and although I obviously had Internet access, I didn't want to spend too much time surfing the 'net and catching up on LJ.

A big thanks to everyone who sent holiday cards--I'm typing this at work, so I can't go check exactly who all of you were. But they were received and I loved them! I hope yours made it to you as well.

I don't really make New Year's resolutions, but I will say that this year I am hoping to get back into an exercise routine, eat better, and do some "real" writing (even though I can't seem to break my fic addiction). I also need to try and stop reading the WGA strike coverage, because it annoys the ever-living crap out of me.

I am very excited about the fact that I received Waitress for Christmas. Haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but yippee for Nathan Fillion hotness. Mmm.

Per a tipoff from pathstotread, I took advantage of Amazon's $69.99 price and ordered Angel: The Complete Series. Since I don't currently own any of the seasons on DVD, this was a pretty easy decision to make. :)

Watched Gossip Girl last night, which was partially interrupted by a phone call. I am so not a phone person. But a few things of note: ( Humphrey Dumpty sat on a wall )

By the way, for anyone who is interested, there is some truly stellar How I Met Your Mother Barney/Robin fic over at himym_fic. Most of them key off of the first-season episode in which the two of them go play lazer tag, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. :) It's a relatively small fic fandom, but most of what I've read has been good.

I really, really want to see 27 Dresses.

Life has gotten quite a bit better since my last post. My stress level at work has gone way down, and in the last three days or so I seem to have remembered how to sleep at night.

I'm also quite proud of myself, because I finally joined the community center at the local park district. They have really nice cardio and strength training equipment, and I've gone 5 of the last 6 days. Right now I'm just doing 30 minutes on the bicycle, but it's a start. I can't help but think that the physical activity is helping me sleep better. I've been pretty down on my self-image for a while, and I'm hoping this changes that.

Went and bought FNL on DVD today, which I'm very excited about. One of my friends pre-ordered Heroes for me as a birthday gift, but it's being shipped to her house, so I don't actually have it yet. I also need to go buy House S3.

Two of my summer shows are on hiatus the next week or two (Psych and Burn Notice) due to the US Open, but since I love tennis, I'm totally okay with it. Fortunately, Greek is still around and still awesome!

It has not been a particularly excellent week. Work is continuing to stress me out something fierce, to the point of turning me into an insomniac. There has to be a way to turn my brain off that doesn't involve drinking 3/4 of a bottle of wine. No one wants an alcoholic Gracie.

On top of the work nonsense, I had some issue with my house on Tuesday. Oh joy, oh bliss. Is it time to pay the mortgage again yet?

On the plus side, Matt Nathanson's new album comes out next Tuesday (which I am totally buying as an early birthday present to myself), and he is touring in support of said album, so I have bought two tickets and will finally get to see him live in October. Whee!

I haven't forgotten the remainder of the crossover fic prompts--life has just been a bit too hellish for any serious amount of writing. As of right now, I have no plans this weekend, which sounds like the best thing ever these days, so I'm hoping to knock a few more off then.

I also updated my personal fanfic site yesterday, Manifested Delusions. I don't know that anyone ever goes there but me, since all of my fics from about the past four years are easily accessible through my "fanfic" tag. On the other hand, the fic site has pictures of pretty boys on it, so I guess that's something.

I'm continuing to mostly ignore the latest LJ kerfluffle. I currently have no plans to backup my journal elsewhere, or jump ship. I don't feel like I post enough to make it worth the effort. And really, if all the psychotic HP fans (who seem to be the primary targets of the scuffles with LJ/6A; this is not to say that all HP fans are psychotic) disappeared, I'm not sure that would be a bad thing. If that makes me a bitch, enh. Life goes on.

In other fannish news, I'm still dreadfully behind with both Psych and entourage, but I've been starting to dive back into entourage the past few days. It's not a show that I desperately have to see the second it airs, but I really love it when I watch it. I'm sure I'll feel the same way once I sit down to watch Psych again. I'm still enjoying Greek a ridiculous amount (and would someone write Cappie/Casey fic already?), I'm thrilled that Burn Notice has been renewed, because Jeffrey Donovan rocks, and I'm still watching Night Shift, even though some of the production values are eye-rollingly bad. (The totally fake outdoor shots always make me giggle.) Also, So You Think You Can Dance is still all sorts of fun, but somehow not quite as satisfying this summer as last. Possibly because there is no Travis. On the other hand, even though I'm not a Neil fan, I was totally enjoying his pants last night. I still think Danny is the best dancer on the show.

I haven't seen a movie since POTC: AWE, but I really want to see Becoming Jane, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and The Bourne Ultimatum (not necessarily in that order). I'm in desperate need of a movie buddy. :(

Despite actually sleeping through the night, I'm absolutely exhausted today. Work is going a little bit better, although still not great. On the plus side, I have all sorts of crazy potential fics rolling around in my head, thanks to the prompts I received on my last post. (Which is still technically open, if anyone wants to join the fun.) I have to say, I really want some of whatever you guys were smoking when you came up with those pairings!

Here's the first one, for better or for worse.

Title: "Texas Two-Step"
Author: angel_grace
Pairing: Dean Winchester/Tyra Collette
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 435
Spoilers: If you've ever watched either Supernatural or Friday Night Lights, none of this should be a surprise.
Summary: Dean is looking to relax, and runs into someone oddly familiar. Ficlet, prompted by halfway2home.
Disclaimer: None of this is mine.

( Texas Two-Step )

Work sucks in about 27 different ways, I didn't sleep worth a damn last night, I turn (gulp) 30 in 15 days, I'm disgusted with how much I weigh...

In other words, I need a distraction. Leave me a prompt, but with a twist--it has to be a crossover prompt. Please try and stay within fandoms with which I at least have a passing familiarity. But if you're up for, say, some Veronica/Peter Petrelli (or whatever), I'm game.

I got a sunburn this weekend, and my nose is peeling. Charming.

Is anyone else watching Greek on ABC Family? I had caught the ads before it premiered, and decided to check it out, since there's not a whole lot else that I'm watching this summer. I'm actually enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. It's fluffy summer fun, but it's quite entertaining.

I finally bought the last Harry Potter book yesterday, and I stayed up far later than was prudent reading it. I'm over halfway through it, and I'm really enjoying it so far. The plot is moving along nicely, and I'm excited to find out exactly how everything works out. It definitely has a different feel than the previous books, but I think it's very well done. It's weird to think of the series ending, since I've been the teensiest bit obsessed with it for almost eight years now. I bought the first three hardcovers as a lark around Christmas 1999, having heard some of the rumblings about how awesome the series was. I think I read them in two days. Some of the books (particularly book 5) have been less enjoyable than others, but overall it's been a worthwhile journey.

Not too much else is happening in my life right now. I'm at t-minus 23 days until the big birthday of doom, but honestly, it's not bothering me too much. I've decided that I desperately need to start exercising and getting back into shape, but I haven't figured out how. I'm much too cheap to hire a personal trainer to kick my ass into gear, so somehow I need to find an internal motivation. Bleah. I'd rather watch reruns of The O.C., thanks.

Oh my God. I seriously need a drink. Or a new job. One of the women I work with just announced that once they make same-sex marriage legal across the nation, pedophiles will be the next group that gets pushed towards acceptance.

Because they're both "unnatural."

What. The. FUCK?!

How can she even begin to compare a consensual relationship between two adults who happen to be of the same gender with the psychological and physical abuse that characterizes a sexual relationship between an adult and a child?

I am completely astonished. I mean, I knew that she had some beliefs that I didn't agree with, as she is quite conservative and religious. But this just takes the cake.

I just adjusted the thermostat on my water heater. I feel very accomplished. I'm hoping that now I'll actually be able to fill the tub without running out of hot water. Screw energy efficiency! :)

Pursuant to my last post, which I cannot edit because I am at work and unable to access LJ directly, the moron is a guy I work with, not for.

I am a political anomaly at my place of business, the only one who votes Democrat amidst a sea of Republicans. Some of them are more rational than others, of course. As a rule, though, I don't generally bring up politics here because it causes nothing but frustration.

I've been reading online about people who are fixating on Obama's middle name (Hussein), or making the "Osama Obama" jokes. The prejudice this demonstrates is appalling to me, and I just can't fathom people being so idiotic. If you don't agree with his political views or how he votes in Congress, fine. But to condemn him for his name is absurd. Having the name "Manson" doesn't make a man a psychotic killer with a Christ complex any more than having the name "Lennon" makes a man a music legend.

I try to be fairly open-minded. Many of my friends vote Republican. Some of them weren't raised Catholic. A few even use Macs, and one or two are White Sox fans. :) But you know what all my friends have in common? They're not stupid. I don't care if you're black, white, brown, or purple; if you like kissing boys, girls, or both; if you were born in another country or if your family sailed on the Mayflower; if you're Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist, or atheist; or if you drive a Chevy, a Honda, or a BMW. But if you're stupid?

Get the fuck away from me.

For the record, when Imbecile Boy opened his conversational gambit with "So what do you think of Osama Obama?" I replied, "I think you're an idiot for calling him that."

He also thinks Obama is of Pakistani descent.

Oy.

(I don't generally post about politics or anything else of substance in my LJ, because I'm not looking to incite controversy or alienate people. Vote however you want, as long as you vote. Your conscience is your own, and I'm not really concerned with it. I don't dislike this guy because he's a Republican, I dislike him because he's an ignorant, bigoted homophobe who speaks to his wife like she's inferior and talks about his children as inconveniences half the time. His political affiliation is not really the point.)

The moron that I work for just referred to Barack Obama as "Osama Obama." Because he's clever like that.

Someone please shoot me.

Stayed home yesterday with a migraine, which has been threatening to come raging back for most of the day.

Just once, I'd like to be healthy in all ways for a decent stretch of time...

Dear Flist,

I need your help.

A friend's birthday is rapidly approaching, and I'm looking to make him a CD (or two) featuring only covers. I have quite a few (several of which I snagged from the awesome halfway2home, who just posted yet another in a comment to a previous entry), but I need more. If any of you would be willing to share, I would be forever grateful. My friend has pretty eclectic musical tastes, but some of his favorites are The Faint, Sufjan Stevens, and R.E.M. He also dislikes country, although he makes exceptions for what he calls "alt-country."

Thanks in advance for all your help!

I had an epiphany last night of the perfect birthday gift for one of my best friends. It involved stealth and frequent flyer miles.

And then it all fell to pieces. I hate it when that happens.

I need another epiphany.

jcd1013 went a little crazy with the requests, but it's all in good fun!

Top Five Movie Kisses
5. Bridget/Mark, Bridget Jones's Diary: When they're standing in the snow, and she's in her underwear, and he wraps his overcoat around her? Oy. "Nice boys don't kiss like that." "Oh yes they fucking do." Hee!
4. Anne/Gilbert, Anne of Avonlea: "I don't want diamond sunbursts or marble halls. I just want you." What else is there, really?
3. Han/Leia, The Empire Strikes Back: Nothing like making out when the ship is broken. "I happen to like nice men." "I'm nice men." "No you're not, you're..." KISS! So. Awesome.
2. Kate/Doug, The Cutting Edge: Doug's speech before their final skate gets me every time, and the kiss is the perfect ending to the film. "Don't tell me we're not right for each other, 'cause the way I see it we might not be right for anyone else." "I love you." "Just remember who said it first." *sigh*
1. Keith/Watts, Some Kind of Wonderful: I fell in love with Eric Stoltz in this movie, and to this day, their "practice" kiss in the garage gives me chills, with his fingers clutching at her jeans...guh.

Top Five 'Ships
5. Rory/Tristan, Gilmore Girls: Admittedly, I don't actually care about this pairing anymore, but they were the 'ship that dragged me kicking and screaming into fandom, and for that they must make the list. Plus, they were so pretty!
4. Sydney/Will, Alias: TPTB pretty much killed this one dead, but it was my first love on this show. I'm actually kind of glad that Bradley Cooper got out when he did, because they were never going to do right by Will. At least he got to sleep with Syd once. :)
3. Veronica/Weevil, Veronica Mars: V/Lamb may have eaten my brain lately, but V/Weevil will always be the end game for me on that show. The sparks of chemistry have been flying since the pilot, and I'm just waiting for them to explode.
2. Mal/Kaylee, Firefly: I am rampantly UC when it comes to Firefly 'ships, but this is my favorite one. Kaylee and Mal are my favorite characters on the show, and I love their dynamic as it is. But I'd love it even more if they hooked up.
1. Pacey/Joey, Dawson's Creek: P/J for the win! Yes, I grew to hate the show, because it was lame. But in the end, all was right with the world, because Pacey and Joey ended up together. Season 3 was a beautiful piece of television history, and I will always love it.

Top Five Comfort Foods
5. Chocolate chip cookie dough
4. Butter pecan ice cream
3. White cheddar cheese popcorn
2. Chipotle steak burrito
1. Jay's barbecue potato chips

Top Five Things to do on a Saturday afternoon
5. Watch a movie
4. Read a book
3. Play miniature golf
2. Play with my godson and his brother
1. Watch the Cubs at Wrigley Field

Top Five Jobs you wish you had
5. Graphic designer
4. Walt Disney Imagineer
3. Photographer
2. Novelist
1. Mom

Top Five Jobs you did have
5. Baby-sitter
4. Games hostess, Six Flags
3. Games Training Lead, Six Flags
2. Engineering co-op
1. Engineer

I figure I should start the New Year with an actual post, instead of just affirming my state of aliveness with yesterday's VM-HP crack!fic.

I don't make resolutions, because I never keep them, but there are things that I want to do this year. I want to actually write, and not just fanfic. I love writing fic, but if I'm ever going to get that novel published and sell the movie rights for millions of dollars, I should probably actually start the damn thing. :)

I also desperately need to start exercising on a regular basis, because I am just not happy with my appearance or my physical condition.

Anyway, I hope that everyone had happy and safe celebrations last night. Happy 2007!

P.S. Bought myself the Bose SoundDock for my iPod. Ohmygodiloveitsomuch. To quote Ferris Bueller, it is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

P.P.S. If anyone else has been swooning over Christopher Gorham as Henry on Ugly Betty, SciFi Channel is going to be airing his old show, Jake 2.0, starting this Friday.