Amelia

really? in december

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:28:43 GMT

D. discovered our sink was clogged and leaking at 3am a couple nights ago. Plumber came today and said we have a clog behind a broken fixture that is in the wall. (We think the broken fixture predated us, but we didn't discover it until the clog.) So he has to cut through the wall. He's going from the dining room because it will be easier to fix than the tile in the bathroom (I have no idea where we would get matching bathroom tile, but I have some more blue dining room paint). It will cost at least $500 that we don't have, but I don't think we have a choice as it is our primary bathroom. Ug.

SYTYCD

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:31:45 GMT

Favorites: Ellenore: so adorable and talented and creative! Kathyrn: just beautiful, Russell: his movement is incredible, and Jakob, did you see the solo!

loremaster

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:11:35 GMT

In WoW news: I've earned the title of Loremaster!

Thanksgiving, muppets

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:59:29 GMT

Happy Thanksgiving! Love (and muppets!) to you and yours.

sick

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:19:40 GMT

I have a head cold and body aches. ug. Spent the day on the couch, watched Bride Wars*. Hope I feel better for the turkey tomorrow. Super glad not to be cooking.

Wow, the new Sherlock Holmes movie is unabashedly slashy, isn't it.

*a horrible movie, but not as bad as Love & Dancing and has the virtue of not losing anything when you doze off for a bit

baby and concert

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:33:40 GMT

The beginning and the end of last week were great!

Monday night I went to a concert with bayleaf, trixie, R., C., and bayleaf's roommate whose name I'm blanking on. It was a nice, chill evening. We had delicious plates of meat at Red, Hot, and Blue, then headed to the university. An Berlin opened and was okay (although whenever they talked they seemed very sweet). All American Rejects were phenomenally entertaining, especially the lead singer with his sparkly, writhing, tight-pants-clad, audience-insulting, self. The sound was bad for Taking Back Sunday and it was getting late for a school night so we didn't stay through the set. It was really nice to go out.

We're not seeing my family next week so Friday I drove down to VA to my sister's. It was great to see her and spend lots of time with Jacob. At 8 months he's zipping around crawling, and walking while holding on to things (coffee table, someone's leg, pushable pooh bear train). He's so happy! Lots of smiles and giggles all the time. He gets a little whiny when he's hungry or tired, but then you feed him and he's right back to Mr. Social. We figure it's from Dave's side of the family. Melissa brought Jacob in to wake me up both mornings and it's lovely to be woken up by this happy, smiley baby trying to ~~eat your face~~ snuggle with you.

We hung out and ran errands. It's more fun to do them together, and a little easier for Melissa because I could entertain the baby while she did things like get measured for a bridesmaid dress. I found curtains for the guest bedroom at Target. They're not *exactly* what I wanted, but close, and reasonably priced. They're also lined which is nice since we're not heating that room right now to save money. Dave cooked dinner both nights, it was a really nice, relaxing trip.

We're having Thanksgiving at uschickens's and I'm really excited! The food sounds like it's going to be epic and D. is making his MIL's baklava.

Dr Who Waters of Mars

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:06:42 GMT

Wow that was intense.

Have missed Dr. Who, but this is not the charming Dr. Who, this is rather the intense Dr. Who. Way to give Tennant the hardcore material before his departure.

I heart Adelaide Brooke.
(bonus: she has my name!)

eta: (reaction now that 2 minutes has passed after ep ended)
This did feel like a combination of previous episodes (sorry I don't know titles):
-the one where they're on the space station around the black hole with the devil-like thing (this was one of my favorite 2-part epsiodes of the new series)
-crossed with the one on the spaceship that's mining something from the sun that's alive and the brave female captain has to sacrifice herself
-crossed with the Bride one where we meet Donna and the Doctor goes batshit because he misses Rose and there's no human to quench his power hungry rage

But I thought it was well done. Liked the crew and the interaction; I do love people in a crisis. Being trapped somewhere remote far from home with limits on your mobility (nowhere to run) and an infection thing that can get anywhere (at least it wasn't evil oxygen) is traditional scary (Aliens franchise did it best). And watching the Doctor define, stick too, and then transgress his self-imposed fuck-with-history limits was interesting. (I was doing okay with listen to them all die and then angst, but this was a good angst-pathway too and sets no. 10 up better for his death.)

recently edited with more ~~analysis~~ angst!

today's random pop culture thought: lady gaga

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:22:17 GMT

You know how in the late 90s there was a whole thing about who would be the next Madonna, Britney or Christina (ditto with Justin as the next Michael Jackson)? Well neither seemed to fit really, too shiny, Disney pre-packaged. It seems like the answer is Lady Gaga. Career born in New York clubs, propensity to shock just to shock, love of spectacle and imagery. Or not, I don't know.

WTF (polar bear?)

In other random links: When Harry Met Sally (stalker version)

Horrible Turn

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:12:58 GMT

From kass. A fantastic fan-made prequel to Dr. Horrible's-Sing-Along-Blog called Horrible Turn. Article about it here.

It's really well done and entertaining. Stay for the song and scenes after the credits.

yard work, making the bed

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:29:25 GMT

I did yard work today. Cleaned out the gutters and in the process learned that our ladder is not tall enough to access all of the gutters on the front of the house. So I climbed on the roof from the back and cleaned them out that way. Felt stupid (also kind of scared of heights, and no net here) but the gutters are clean(er). Also raked the front yard. Left the (larger) backyard for D.

Did a bunch of even less exciting housework. So a poll:

View poll: Making the Bed

Also: is House doing a episode with fangirls and a Whedonesque character? Am loving the 80s dance scene.

Battle of the Blades

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:28:54 GMT

Have you heard of this show? It's the reality version of The Cutting Edge. Dancing with the Stars on ice with figure skaters and hockey players! It is (of course) made in Canada, a point underscored by the glowing reviews of the judges eg "good, clean, dirty, fun!".

Article including clip and link to watch full length episodes here.

I know Halloween's over, but this gas mask showerhead creeps me right out (thanks Dr. Who!). Shampoo in the eye holes is kind of amusing though.

curtains

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:12:10 GMT

Housewarming last night was great, thanks everybody!

Found the perfect material for drapes in the guest bedroom. Unfortunately it's $118/yard. $1000 drapes in the guest bedroom (we have $20 drapes in the livingroom) hahaha no. But I'm still cranky about it.

SPN

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:22:05 GMT

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

Beep! HA!

But we really didn't need that much exposition for the metaphor, thanks.

eta: am a little worried about next week's episode

also: DVR is kinda awesome

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:17:52 GMT

I spent too long in ikea and ended up crying in the car on the way home, and walked in the house and looked at all the boxes and sobbed some more. It's all a bit much being alone in the house all day. I'm sure it will pass. Now I'm going to go self medicate with television and cake. Maybe take a nap, that might help.

Halloween weekend

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:12 GMT

Had a very nice weekend with my parents and sister (and family). We mostly did chores and played with the baby :) My parents were very nice about my crazy schedule and the fact the house wasn't put together and they didn't have a bed.

Activities:
-Friday morning trapeze, my parents came to watch :)
-Friday night curling (we were down 2 without hammer in the 8th and stole 3 to win)
-Saturday night Ravenchase (with zombies! Tons of fun.)
-Sunday afternoon got a flat tire driving my parents to the airport :(

House stuff:
-Fri. cleaned apartment with mom and dad, moved stuff to car; Sun. finished cleaning and moving stuff (including bikes) with D.
-got shower curtain, halloween candy, and bunch of home depot stuff
-bedroom: overhead light purchased and installed, bed put up, temporary curtains up
-livingroom: 4 bookcases put together, bunch of stuff arranged, dropcloth curtains purchased and hung (D. and I had a fight about how high to hang the curtains), this room is mostly done, just need to hang picture and mirror, install overhead light, and load bookcases
-diningroom: table in place, some boxes moved to attic, other boxes unpacked, really need to find a light fixture; we hate all the Home Depot options for this room
-kitchen: sort of put together (thanks, mom!), I just need to rearrange some stuff, also need to decide whether to massively cull stuff (might not be possible), convert coat closet into pantry, or revise plan for dining room
-basement: half is set up, tv stands purchased and assembled, big ass (50"!) tv delivered and set up, one endtable assembled, still need to deal with D.'s half of the room including bookcases
-no progress on office or guest bedroom

No more house stuff tonight, off to S. and J.'s to play rockband :)

update

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:00:38 GMT

Went to bed around 1am. I call that a win. Felt like I couldn't fall asleep, but really woke up around 4am with my arm hurting so much I cried a little. Denis gave me ibprofin, which didn't really do anything. Then we tried acetemetaphin and an icepack. This took the edge off the pain enough for me to doze until 6:15 when we had to get up to return the u-haul. Drove down to workstudy (rush hour traffic, boo), but with the state of my arm boss said go rest. This was great because I could return the cable box and go home and sleep for 4 hours (omg I love sleep).

Arm still hurts, but much less. Nothing's unpacked and I don't really care right now because I need food which Denis has gone out to procure. Still need to pack up a few things and clean apartment before fully dealing with house. If I'm feeling motivated I might go out tonight to find a shower curtain and temporary shades for the windows (hi nieghbor!). I'm really glad the internet is hooked up. Have to pick my parents up at BWI at 7:40am tomorrow.

moving update

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:52:09 GMT

S. came to help out, thank goodness. Still super stressful. We're keeping the truck overnight even though we're not supposed to, whatever. Called and told them we're bringing it in at 7am. Went to the apartment and threw anything that wouldn't fit into the car into it. That means there are still a couple closets and assorted misc. stuff to deal with at the apartment (rugs, lamps, shelf, etc.) It also really needs to be cleaned. Will have to deal with that this weekend when my parents are visiting (fun times).

Waiting for D. and S. to appear with truck at house, then we will do a quick unload.

Everything would be fine if I didn't have to sleep.

Moving sucks.

moving SOS

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:51:44 GMT

Got truck at 8am, movers showed up at 9am. Movers spent 5 hours loading the truck, then they had to leave. Denis and I have spent last 4 hours unloading truck. This would be fine except I screwed up and the truck was too small (even without all our books).

So we have 1/4 of a truck to unload, then another 1/2-1 truck to fill (although not with heavy furniture) which we need to drive back to the house and unload. Truck is supposed to be back by 9pm. I don't see how that's going to happen.

I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed. I thought movers would be fantastic, but when they had to leave before we were done (or even say, half way) it was disappointing. Denis and my unloading speed is much slower than theirs.

Local DC people, if you could spend any time at all tonight to help us load/unload or just provide moral support I would be very grateful. Give me a call on my cell to find out where we are.

Halloween Castle

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:04:17 GMT

Firefly costume reference on Castle! Daughter's line: "didn't you wear that, like 5 years ago?" AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!

Followed by a brief Buffy reference!

Mother lamenting son's descent into vampire lifestyle:
"He was just a normal little boy, and then he fell in love with art."
yeeeah

Belonging (Dollhouse)

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:49:43 GMT

The entire concept of Dollhouse is pretty dark, but s.2 ep.4 finally laid out that darkness with a starkness they've been dancing around the first season and a half (with the possible exception of s.1 ep.13 which is set in the future). Shitty moral choice v. shitty moral choice. Several plot points they've been developing for quite some time; it's nice to see them come to a head. I'm interested in seeing things advance further.

Also, White Collar is fantastic, totally slashy and threesome friendly :)

SECAC

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:48:17 GMT

At a conference in Mobile. E., a friend from highschool who has her Ph.D. in art history and a tenure track job, invited me to give a paper at her conference session.

I flew down Wed. Since E. is at the host institution she is helping to run things. I've been hanging out with her so we've spent a lot of time at the registration table. This has been a nice way to meet people and pass the time chatting. After Wed. night registration the Pearson reps (textbook sellers) took us out for a nice dinner. My filet mignon was amazing and the creme brulee was also good. We shut the place down.

Had the second night of 4 hours of sleep. We had to get up early for registration. Gave my (mediocre, but finished!, paper) Thursday morning. I love presenting the first full day of the conference rather than the last. E.'s paper was great as was the other woman's in my session. One of E.'s undergrads enjoyed my paper and asked some great questions about how it relates to dada. E. and I went out for Thai food for lunch, then more session and registration time in the afternoon. We were exhausted that night so we got takeout (fried catfish) and watched Top Chef and Project Runway in our pjs.

Mobile is nice, smaller than I thought, and really friendly. At the airport the cab driver, who already had one passenger, told me to get in the cab too and only charged me half the price. The guy was also at the conference, and we chatted. I went to his session on the perils of artistic biography and it was really interesting.

Friday we got to sleep in a little. I decided to miss S.'s talk that started at 8am. Went to a morning session (Veilings, great paper on Roman textiles), then to the official conference lunch. E. and I sneaked out for gelato before heading into a semi-boring session (I was sleepy, we wrote notes to each other). Finished the afternoon with a Rauschenberg session (excellent talk on his Dante series for TIME). We went home to rest for a bit before heading for the reception. They went all out on the catering, lots of southern food: shrimp and grits, fried green tomatoes, fried pickles, other fried things, also more traditional party food (deviled eggs, fruit, veggies, spinach dip), and cookies displayed in glass cookie jars. Good thing we decided not to go out to dinner beforehand.

The final event of the evening was the keynote address by Joel-Peter Witkin. Often IMO when artists talk generally about their work it reminds me why we need art historians. He did the best thing; he showed his photographs and talked about them. He described the ideas behind the work, gave anecdotes about the shoots (these were the best), and shared some technical info. He was funny! (This is particularly amazing if you know Witkin's work.) His talk was supposed to be an hour. I didn't check my watch, although at one point I thought that it must be getting close to an hour. He spoke for a hour and 45 minutes, and it didn't feel like that at all, he was so engaging.

My freshman seminar (1st class I took in college) was "Offensive Art". We talked about Mapplethorpe, Serrano, etc. Witkin was the only artist from that class that affected me deeply and viscerally. I remember having a hard time looking at his books in the art library, but also not being able to look away. His work is so beautiful and the photos are very rewarding when you spend some time looking closely.

The Witkin talk and spending time with E. are by far the highlights of the trip. Since highschool I see E. maybe once a year (if that) for a few hours. I've forgotten how much we have in common, although being in the same field and coming from the same hometown that shouldn't be too surprising. She's farther ahead in her career than I am so it's been nice to talk to her about work stuff too (also work/wife/future baby "balance"--read sacrifice. E. is tenure track and is working on turning her dissertation into a book, but may end up moving to small town in AL and becoming a doctor's wife. I feel her on the less-than-ideal choices re: tenure track and babies).

Tomorrow E. has to be there at 7:30, but I am sleeping in. Her friend K. will pick me up (K. is super nice, teaching, working on her dissertation, and also plays WoW). I want to go to one session (there is supposed to be a paper on Hedwig and the Angry Inch, I hope that person is still presenting and that the paper is good). Then off to the airport and home.

I'm tired, but good tired :)

start of the season

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:18:59 GMT

I went to curling for the first time this fall tonight. Beforehand I was all grumbly about having to go when I have other stuff to do, but once I got there I was all "curling! I love curling! yay!" Brightened my mood considerably (especially after I got on to the ice and realized that I sort of remember how to do stuff). I'm vicing which is my favorite position :)

unironic Martha Stewart baby halloween costumes for people who didn't read Swift in highschool

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:13:57 GMT

My sister and BIL often call baby Jacob "turkey". So here's the perfect costume!

I just can't decide if it's:
a. hilarious
b. horrendous
c. just delicious

eta: There's a Maine version. Awesome.

Also, pie.

Wait. Dress your baby as a Watchmen character? I'm back to awesome or awful?

I sent my mom the first two costumes and she wrote back:
"Amy, that is sort of sick!!!!"

no, "love, mom" or anything like that.

house painting

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:34:08 GMT

OMG you guys so much house painting. The diningroom and livingroom look particularly good! A quick recap:

Friday night:
-so much taping I can't even remember all of it, also removed a ton of outlets and other stuff, spackled nail holes etc.
-primed diningroom, hallway, half of master bedroom

Saturday day:
-primed half of master bedroom, office, 90% of livingroom
-D. spent several hours going to Mt. Vernon to look at a mid-century modern Oman Jun Danish desk he found on Craig's list, came home and primed part of basement and finished the livingroom wall for me

Saturday night:
-scrubbed primer off body
-had awesome time at Mambo party

Sunday day:
-D. and S. went off to pick up desk with u-haul van
-I primed the spare bedroom walls by myself, and started putting the first coat on the diningroom

Sunday afternoon:
-A, J, and M came by. J. and A. traded off wearing D.'s big red shirt so they could help. M. looked cute.
-A. and I finished the diningroom
-All of us together did the first coat on the livingroom and master bedroom.
-Jem arrived with starbucks (awesome!)

Sunday night:
-me, D., S., and Jem did the basement, second coat on the dining room, and did the edging in the guest bedroom. S. was particularly helpful in priming and painting the first coat of the guest bedroom ceiling. We also did some finishing touches on the first coat in the master bedroom.

To do:
-second coats on livingroom, basement, master bedroom, spare bedroom ceiling
-2 coats on office, spare bedroom walls, hallway, part of basement
-take off tape, touch up, make decisions about trim

house and babies

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:31:32 GMT

I vacillate between:
-we're spending so much money OMG *hyperventilate*, and
-much of this stuff is necessary and some of it is a good deal and will likely save us money in the long run this is why we got some help with closing costs, and
-fuck the budget I really want that super expensive coffee table

Things done:
1. have picked out paint colors and purchased most of the paint (living room = mission tile FTW)
2. taping is progressing, I've done lots of the lower stuff, D. will do the higher stuff
3. we continue to take boxes of books over, a few at a time, we're hiding them in the closet away from the paint
4. have purchased expensive white chair for me, splurge item, it is so comfy and gorgeous, the money was justified by buying the floor model which was 25% off
5. have ordered two matching chairs for livingroom. Ordering custom upholstery made me feel more like an adult than buying the house. This took 4-5 trips to the store this week as well as multiple sets of swatches, and lots of discussion. Came down to two both were good, but mine looked better with the room colors (Denis's had cooler tones). This means if the chairs look horrible it's my fault. Also custom = nonreturnable. I don't understand why the swatches all can't be on the computer so I can see an image of them applied to the chair shape I want. Upholstery buying fail. On the up side there was a sale so custom upholstery actually cost less than the regular price of the chair with its standard upholstery (which I find deeply ugly). It will take 3-4 months to arrive so final verdict TBD.
6. Have electricians coming next week to fix wonky outlets and run wires so we have overhead lights in the rooms (no one in 50 years wanted overhead lights in their bedrooms or livingroom?)
7. Have chimney person coming next week
8. White chair delivery people coming next week

to do:
1. prime, paint, paint, paint
2. OMG move
3. decide on, purchase, and install(?) light fixtures
4. decide on, purchase, make?, and install window stuff (curtains, or at least blinds for now)
5. backyard stuff: have someone (Raoul perhaps) look at dead tree, rake yard, clean gutters, regrade dirt under deck (this sounds like tons of fun now that it's cold)
6. car stuff: I got a ticket in DC Wed. since the DC registration ran out Monday, took it to be inspected in MD, it failed and they didn't have the part, guy is supposed to call me today when the part is in, it's 1:30 and no part yet, I'm feeling like it might not happen today. Spending more money :( register car, get driver's licenses
7. make first mortgage payment

To brighten your Friday, a nephew Jacob pic: