Happy Autumnal Equinox Everyone!!!!

Despite Porthos looking really sad in my icon, I am not depressed. I love fall with all its beautiful colors and cooler weather, however I could do without the allergy attacks and sinus headaches that come as a result of those allergy attacks, hence the depressed icon. I am looking forward to all the leaves falling of the trees in their bright earthy colors and the mountains blazing burnished orange and red with the profusion of vegetation readying itself for winter.

So adieu to the summer, welcome to the fall!

( In Other News... )

So what I thought was the season two finale for Burn Notice was on last night. I haven't had time to watch the episode yet, since it airs at 11 PM in my time zone and I had to work this morning, but I noticed a news article about it in the entertainment section of my newspaper this morning and was happy to learn that USA has decided to split season two in to two sections. Episodes 1 - 9 aired over the last two and a half months, the show will be on hiatus and then return to air episodes 10 - 16 in January/February. So not only do I have The Closer to look forward to during the winter, when most primetime shows are airing reruns in preparation for sweeps, but now Burn Notice as well.

So far, I am only planning on following Bones, NCIS, CSI:NY, and CSI (only until William Peterson leaves) this season. Bones and NCIS are my guilty pleasures, I only watch CSI:NY in the hopes that either Eddie Cahill or Carmine Giovinazzo will take off their shirts, and I have always love the original CSI, despite its missteps in the last couple of seasons. I can't miss Grissom's departure!

My affair with Dr. Gregory House is continuing at a slow pace. I absolutely adore him, but haven't had the time to devote him a lot of my attention lately. Updates to come as the relationship progresses.

When you see this put an SPN quote in your journal.

SPN: Another show I don't watch but that all my friends do watch. I guess this means I am going to Best Buy tonight!

(As a sidenote, it might be to pick up the first season of House and not SPN, I haven't made my mind up yet.)

Just got through my third run of Firefly (does anyone listen to The Signal, by the way?), was going to watch the first season of Burn Notice to break up the sci-fi love, but I think I need to read a book instead. Too much TV might turn my brain to mush. I've been meaning to pick up a copy of The Art of Innovation.

A meme, gacked fromhandyhunter , who gacked it from marcyjo .

- Choose a singer/band/group
- Answer using ONLY titles of songs by that singer/band/group
- Tag 7 more people.

1. Are you male or female? Lady with the Spinning Head (Extended Dance Mix)

2. Describe yourself. Original of the Species

3. What do people feel when they're around you? Running to Stand Still

4. How would you describe your previous relationship? Staring at the Sun

5. Describe your current relationship. Dancing Barefoot

6. Where would you want to be now? In God’s Country

7. How do you feel about love? Love is Blindness, but it also the Sweetest Thing

8. What's your life like? Ultraviolet (Light My Way)

9. What would you ask for if you had only one wish? The Unforgettable Fire

10. Say something wise. Walk On

For some unknown, naive reason, I thought that being done with school would mean all sorts of free time I didn't have before. Apparently, that isn't the case, as I have been busy for the last several weeks. Work seems determined to fill in any gaps left by classes and homework. Any free time I have had has been eaten up by chores and errands left undone because of school. Hopefully things will start to calm down within the next couple of weeks, but the outlook is dim. All sorts of projects are coming down the pike, including the new database that I created finally being implemented. Can I just say that SQL seems to be much better than Oracle at keeping track of records. Perhaps my opinion is slightly biased by the fact that our previous database was written in Oracle and was problematic at best, but still. Coding seems to be so much easier in SQL.

However, I shouldn't totally complain, I have had time to do some fun things, trips to the lake, getting to watch tv shows and movies I missed out on and being able to read whatever I want before I go to bed at night. I have also had time to go to Borders and shop at Amazon.com, spending way too much money on books I have been dying to read. I even got a really nice edition of Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels, which is always a good read. I see something new in it, or a new facet every time. Plus, I have been able to really get into Firefly, which I highly recommend to everyone.

The best news of today though...the Bones season premiere is tonight.

Although well aware that I am much more than fashionably late in getting into this series, I just finished watching all the DVDs and felt the need to blog about it. First and foremost, the show did indeed live up to all the hype, brilliantly written and well acted, it will now take a place within my collection instead of being sold back to the used DVD section of my local FYE. It was so good, that I chose to watch all the episodes in a 24 hour period, instead of taking them slowly. (It helped that I have been running heavy database maintenance at work and entering a lot of information into said databases,  because I got to watch Firefly on my auxiliary screen while I was working.) Now I am looking forward to watching the movie, which I am sure will be just as good.

Anyway, I thought I would list my five favorite things about the show and see if I can spark any interest in a discussion. If I am rehashing things you "browncoats" have already gone over with a fine tooth comb, I apologize.

(3 - 5 are actually intellectual reasons I like Firefly, feel free to skip to 1 and 2, which are totally fangirl squeeing.)

5. The juxtaposition between Sci-Fi futuristic technology, the Old West and its associated lawlessness/cowboy code of honor, and Asian (specifically Chinese) customs, culture, and philosophy, created both an interesting and fascinating dynamic for the show. The ideals all fit together astonishingly well, and created a vibrant backdrop as well as a secondary character for the series.

4. Someone finally realized that in the future, humans a not likely to speak the exact same version of English, or any other language for that matter, that we speak today. I loved the subtle nuances of phrasing, speech pattern, and dialect used by the characters. The language seemed to be such an amalgamation of different things. I picked up some Shakespearean English elements, cowboy and modern slang, Asian speech pattern, and Latin based language phrasing. It was both charming and striking at the same time.

3. While it is an old literary trick to put your characters in places and situations that they don't want to be in, unlike many of the popular shows today, this one didn't make it cliche. The characters of Firefly all represented some aspect of the human condition in one way or another, without trying to shove a moralistic or ethical point of view down the audience's throat. The way the characters interacted with their circumstances and one another was very compelling and easily drew me in Everyone had a story to tell, and each did an excellent job portraying that story without coming right out and bludgeoning the audience over the head to make their personalities, ideas, and desires know. It is the classic idea of showing instead of telling a story.

2. Malcolm - He has such beautiful, expressive eyes. The character was well defined without being pigeonholed, he had depth and dimension, enough cynicism to be convincing but, also enough faith in humanity, honor, and morals to be a true space cowboy. (Trash was my favorite episode, anyone care to guess why?)

1. Simon - I think I might be in love, I mean he is a wonderful brother, looks good without a shirt on, and is willing to learn and grow. (The phrase hot doctor comes to mind.) Who wouldn't love a guy who is very intelligent, but also totally clueless at the same time?

So, after being severely abused and berated for never having seen it by a alcyonev I finally watched Batman Begins. (I think I need a new icon, hint, hint.) I was pleasantly surprised by how good the movie was, for some reason I was fearing something like the one with George Clooney. Instead, it was well written and acted (with a few exceptions) and the story was fascinating. I now feel prepared to go and see Dark Knight this weekend and perhaps even Iron Man. I know everyone is going into shock, me actually going to see movies. I also took the advice that alphielj and pelirroja_ljc recently gave me and bought Firefly and Serenity. I think Dr. Who will be up next. So, you ask, why all the sudden interest in pop culture? Well, I am please to announce that I am done jumping through hoops, my thesis is totally complete, I have all the required signatures and I am taking it to the library today to be bound and published. This is the last official act that I need to complete in order to be totally finished with grad school. Henceforth and forever more I shall reside in Xanadu, where words like homework, thesis, classes, and of course research, no longer exist. Within Xanadu, I am allowed to watch as much TV and as many movies as I wish. I am allowed to read comic books, graphic novels, mysteries, and fantasy books. I will now have time to catch up on all the stuff I missed and work on my own projects, especially my writing, which frankly could use all the help it can get! Now, all I have to do is keep reality from encroaching to much and I am all set.

Last night I took my little sister to a lecture about the joys of reading to try and get her interested in books beyond the required school reading lists (don't get me started on how detrimental school reading requirements are to people). The lecturer was really fascinating and had such a passion for books that the audience was captivated. We went to Borders afterwards and each got several new books to read.

As much as I enjoyed the experience, I was a little disconcerted when illiteracy was discussed. I knew that it was a problem in the United States, but I was unaware of how much of a problem. So this morning I did a little research and found that a 2006 study conducted by the US government deems between 46% and 51% of the adult population functionally illiterate. What is even worse is that the number of functionally illiterate women are much higher than the men. Illiteracy of course limits the opportunities and creates a myriad of other problems, especially for women. I haven't gotten into the literature too much yet, but some researchers assert that their is a direct correlation between literacy and self-esteem and that many women who end up in abusive and self-destructive relationship suffer from illiteracy. I am not sure what disturbs me more, the subjection of a gender in what should be an advanced and enlightened society, or the fact that no one seems to be trying to do anything about it. I am not naive, I know that historically women have been given the short end of the stick, but I still think that we are not as powerless in this day and age as we have been in the past.

Anyway, I guess this post is really a question to see if anyone out there knows anything about this subject or of any programs that address this issue where people can volunteer to help out.

Summary: Jasper, Emmett, and a casino, what more could you ask for?
Genre: Humor, General
Characters: Jasper Hale, Emmett Cullen
Rating: PG

Summary: Jasper, Emmett, and a casino, what more could you ask for?
Genre: Humor, General
Characters: Jasper Hale, Emmett Cullen
Rating: PG

The last several of days have been very hectic, which is why I haven't posted in awhile My sister ended up going into labor about five weeks early  and I spent most of the weekend either at the hospital or watching her oldest son, which meant I wasn't on the computer very much. Thankfully, even after a stint in the neonatal unit, both mother and child are fine. Anyway, enough with the excuses, here is the next part of Emmett and Jasper's little adventure...

Summary: Jasper, Emmett, and a casino, what more could you ask for?
Genre: Humor, General
Characters: Jasper Hale, Emmett Cullen
Rating: PG

 I have to say that finishing grad school is not all that it is cracked up to be. Now comes the hard part, you have to start applying for jobs and hoping that someone thinks you have gathered enough valuable skills that they want to hire you. I hate my resume because feelings of inadequacey make me feel like it is all one big lie. Filling out applications isn't any better, you keep second guessing, is a masters degree going to give me the edge I need? Are they even really looking, or do they want to promote internally and are only posting the job externally because of federal laws? Can I really survive on the salary they are offering? It seems low for someone who has sunk as much money and times as I have in my education. 

Then comes my current job, which I won't be quitting until I have a better offer, yet I am so ready to leave campus that I want to quit today. Don't get me wrong, I have appreciated this job because I have learned a lot and it has given me training and skills I wouldn't have otherwise, yet I know it is a dead end for me and I need to move on. However, the job sucks, but I love the people I work with. So now I know why grwoing up is so hard. 

This really begs the question, why do I get all existential every time I come upon another bend in my road of life?

Sorry for not posting yesterday, things got a bit crazy and I didn't have any time to put up the next section.

Summary: Jasper, Emmett, and a casino, what more could you ask for?
Genre: Humor, General
Characters: Jasper Hale, Emmett Cullen
Rating: PG

I stole this one from singnovember and handyhunter. My handwriting is very embarrassing, but I decided to try it anyway. Did it in both printing and cursive, although at times I much prefer using my keyboard. Also, it didn't come out well when I scanned the document, so I tried photographing it and that was not much better.

Here's what you do:

1. your name/blog name/whatever you wanna be called
2. rightie or leftie
3. what letters do you like to write
4. what letters do you detest writing
5. write "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."
6. tag some folks

This is my latest offering to the world of Twilight fanfic. Some form or another of this story has been kicking around since February, but I feel like it is finally in good enough shape to post. This is an LJ exclusive as it isn't going up on any of my fanfic accounts anytime soon. Standard disclaimers apply and many thanks to my beta alcyonev and my cheerleader weareouisa. I enjoy all comments and criticisms, as long as they are at least somewhat constructive.

Summary: Jasper, Emmett, and a casino, what more could you ask for?
Genre: Humor, General
Characters: Jasper Hale, Emmett Cullen
Rating: PG

P

Now that I have time to catch up on all the LJ goings on, I am sure I will be posting a lot of memes. I stole this particular one from silly_bella but I saw it on alphielj's journal as well. I also took the liberty of adding a few books I think were left out and added commentary about some of the titles mentioned.

So I returned home late last night from my fantastic week long vacation. It was quite possibly the best vacation I have been on, not because of the destination or what I did, but because I really needed it. After all the stress I have been through with school and work for the past several months, the down time was fabulous. I cannot even began to describe how relaxed I am right now and coming from someone who was as wound up as I was, that is saying something. So what did I do while in California? Well, that is the best part, absolutely nothing!

First off, it was great to be home. Even though it wasn't Los Angeles, San Diego feels like home with the sun, sand, and yes, even the smog! Being able to just relax and not think about my thesis, or what was going on at work was really what I needed. Instead, I spent all my time  sitting on the beach, taking surfing lessons, hiking to the tide pools, exploring the city, and playing volleyball. On the days that were foggy and overcast I went sightseeing, on the pretty days, I spent all my time in the water. Deciding not to take my laptop was quite possibly the best choice I made. The only really bad thing about my vacation is that I didn't get around to reading The Host. Blasphemy, I know, but I couldn't help myself, it just seemed like there was too much fun to be had playing outside, something I haven't done in the last couple of months. Plus, I think I was completely burned out, so much so that even reading for pleasure seemed like homework. So I am going to start it this weekend. I will probably have it done by Monday.

Now that my life is in order, I am going to be starting some new projects. Of course I have to finish editing my thesis and submit it to the Dean's Office, but that is no big deal. I will be creating websites for a couple of friends, taking a trip to Washington, and maybe find a new job. Being at a crossroads in my life is disconcerting, but fun. I hope everything works out okay, because I am looking forward to graduation.

Today was the first morning in over two weeks that I didn't wake up with a sore throat, chest and sinus congestion, and muscle ache. I think the respiratory infection/bronchitis is finally on its way out. This means, however, that I now have to get back to studying for my exam, which I had to put off. Since I am now a couple of weeks behind schedule, I am now going to have to work double time to make up for it! Won't that be fun? I am not going to let it get my spirits down though, spring is finally here and the forecast looks good!

As many of you know, before I can firmly schedule my thesis defense, I must take an examination. Well, I started studying for it in earnest today, even though I am reasonably sure that I will fail. We are given thirty essay questions that we must have brillant answers for. Nine questions will be randomly chosen and put on the exam I am given. I have to choose to answer six of those questions (two from each section). Although this may not sound bad, it is really horrible, because they expect us to spend forty-five minutes on each essay and I am already having such a case of writers block when it comes to my thesis! I will probably take the exam April 7th, which means I need to study very hard until then and will have no time for anything else. Hopefully I will get through this and pass the test, but if you don't see me around for awhile, that is why.

I did find one really great site while I was researching one of the questions, it was a very random find in relation to what I was actually looking up. It contains online jigsaw puzzles that are a great distraction! This one is my favorite, it reminds me of when I lived in England.