magicalmartha | Recent Entries

Over the weekend, my parents helped me move a bed frame and a boxspring into the apartment so I don't have to sleep on the floor anymore. It's more comfortable and better ventilated, although floor space is in short supply. Luckily the apartment is established in such a way that I'm only really in my bedroom for sleeping; my desk, and computer are both in the common room next to the birdcage, in order to foster socializing and communal behavior.

I'm essentially moved in, only have a box or three left to unpack and it's mostly kitchen equipment. I've definitely been slower on unpacking my dishware because my boyfriend doesn't live in a cardboard box and has plenty of dishes and glasses. I'll get it sorted out eventually. I need some under the bed storage for my room, because my dresser is too small to fit all my clothes and my room is too small to unnecessarily take up floor space. And now I have a bed frame to fit things underneath.

Work is going excellently. I work primarily with two of the partners in the office, and today they both told me that they thought I was doing a fantastic job; that I had accomplished everything that had been asked of me in an exemplary manner, and just generally going above and beyond what was expected of me. It made me feel really warm inside ~~and maybe my Christmas bonus will be awesome~~.

( A saga of love and elves )

/comic nerdery

I am so far EXTREMELY impressed with the fall television line-up. Everything I know and love is back and strong (the season premier of House was one of the best episodes I've seen since second season) and if you're not watching Glee, you really should be.

I'm in for NaNo, guys. I don't know what I'm doing, but hell, why not? I have a couple of story ideas up my sleeve.

Current Mood: cheerful

I got sent to the Newberry Library to do some research for an attorney in my dad's office. The moment I stepped into that building, I started composing an entry in which I proclaimed my undying love for this big, beautiful building. It's white and marble and full of light, with these huge staircases that are so tremendous I just wanted to sit on them all day. The man checking IDs was friendly and helpful. I knew that somewhere, in the upper floors, the stacks were waiting for me. Plus it sits next to this lovely park I never even knew existed.

And then I actually tried to obtain the book I needed.

I should say, I knew I wouldn't be able to check out this book. I was fully aware that I would have to photocopy
the pages that I needed. I was armed with the title, author, call number, and page numbers. I figured I would walk in, pay my standard ten cents a page, and take the train home. But it was not to be. First, they issued me a day pass, rather than a long-term one, without explaining to me that that was what I was getting. (I still have no idea how to obtain a longer-than-one-day pass, even though I followed their website's procedure.)

To actually get the book I needed to submit a call number request and have it brought to me, and this was only after I had to wait to be assigned a seat in the reading room. Then it turns out you can only photocopy up to 30 pages out of one book. Which is fine, whatever, I'm sure there's some sort of waste prevention going on there. And then they wouldn't let me make my own photocopies, I had to fill out ANOTHER request with my page numbers on it.

THEY CHARGED ME FORTY CENTS A PAGE. FORTY CENTS. THE FEDERAL COURT DOES NOT EVEN CHARGE THIS MUCH. IT COST ME TWELVE DOLLARS TO MAKE THESE COPIES.

And seriously, the staff in the reading room acted like I was this huge imposition on them. Like making my photocopies was this MASSIVE imposition EVEN THOUGH it's THEIR JOB.

No one told me when my copies were ready, the guy at the register was a snot, and they took my card away when I left. Because writing "SEPTEMBER 23RD ONLY" on it was not enough.

I just felt like, the whole time I was there, I was treated like an inconvenience. And it's supposed to be this big-deal library, with fantastic archives and rare materials and I'm sure it has all that. But damn, are they stingy about letting you see it.

Current Mood: pissed off

I am so phenomenally frustrated with one particular person that I needed to take two minutes of my day to tell you about it.

1. I am a professional, and I have been nothing but sympathetic to your problem. Please stop treating me like a soulless corporate drone.

2. Your paycheck is being taxed by New Jersey because it is a PAYCHECK you EARNED when you WORKED IN NEW JERSEY. I understand that tax laws may be a new and scary thing to you, but this is simply how the world works.

3. The more you yell at me to fix your check amount, the less sympathetic I become and the more likely I am to transfer you to the partner in the office who is the least likely to take your bullshit.

4. Yes, you are the person who started the class action. No, this does not entitle you to special treatment.

I need a better angry icon.

Current Mood: aggravated

I had a funk-ass horror dream last night... I don't remember everything, but the general gist was that there was a Prince, and his birthday was coming up, and I was some kind of minor hanger-on to his entourage. At one point we (the Prince and six or so of his buddies, and myself) killed a really massive squid/octopus/thing, and cut off all of its tentacles. I pushed the now-legless body stump back into the ocean, and then we retired to some pub to tell the Prince how awesome he was.

The next day, or at some point in the undefinable future of dreams, we go swimming or something, and what should come rising out of the depths but THE RAVAGED TENTACLES OF THE OCTOPUS. This is one of two scenes I remember very well, because frankly ocean where I can't see the bottom scares the bejeezus out of me. So the angry octopus comes rising out of the deep dark ocean, wraps what's left of his stumps around the Prince and drags him off to who knows where. There is much thrashing and shrieking from the entourage, but the Prince is totally drowned and dead.

A little later again, we're walking across some rampart dressed all in mourning, and I turn to look over the edge of the stone wall out into some kind of bay, and I see three really, really awful things:

1. A really, really big, chained outline of Cthulhu under the surface of the water (even in the dream, at this point I was like, well, never watching THAT movie again....) which is really evil and scary and people either don't notice it or don't care; I get the impression that it's a fact of this town's life because of the two other things I see;

2. A retainer poking a bobbing lump that looks like the Prince's head suffused onto the octopus' body out into the bay toward the Cthulhu shadow;

3. A tradesmen of some kind (I want to say a baker, but I don't know for sure) accidentally slip and fall into the water, and emerge with a literal target branded on his face. While we watch, he turns into a raving madman who, after people try and restrain him, rips off his own arms.

On waking, I realized that I can never watch that Cthulhu movie ever again, and that I probably shouldn't play the RPG even though I kinda want to.

Current Mood: creeped out

Ikea was predictably awesome. I procured a very nice glass shelving unit, to properly display my miniatures (and in doing so, hopefully get some more painting done on them), and also a duvet cover, pillow cases, and comforter for my bed. I have always wanted one of the sets that stores have on display - the made bed with the eight hundred matching pillows and color-coordinated sheets - because they always look so PRETTY to me. Well, now I have the beginnings of one, and if Ikea had had sheets with better thread counts I'd have matching sheets already as well. But this is why God invented Target.

I'm playing in a War Machine tournament in two weeks, and my goal was to have all 500 points that I'm playing with painted by then. I'm starting to doubt my ability to do this, because when it comes to painting figures I am SLOW. I spent two hours or so on my caster and he's only up to about half done, and I'm not even sure I like how he's coming out. If I really hate him when I finish I'll strip him after the tourney, but right now I've got enough to do. I've got several pirates to finish, as well as one of my character solos and (I'm sure) there are bits of my jacks that need paint. At least Billy is letting me borrow one unit, so I not only don't have to paint them but I didn't have to buy them yet.

/nerdery

Weirdly enough, the hanging-out dreams with ZQ continue. Last night I think we were, like, sitting on a sofa reading with the t.v. on. It's like my brain needs faux-relaxing time, and has decided it needs it with hot dudes.

(I'm totally ok with this)

Current Mood: optimistic

Since I moved back from Iowa, the mattress I was sleeping on has occupied the garage. It is a lovely, serviceable double that I've slept on for most of the past eight years or so, and I was thrilled when my mother said I could take it to school with me. Of course, when I did, my parents promptly bought a queen sized bedframe and mattress to put in my room, so that people could continue to use it as a guest room. This is the bed I've been sleeping on since I got home, since I obviously can't have two mattresses in one room.

I am in love with this bed.

It's squishy but not uncomfortably so, it's big, it's wonderful, I sleep soundly on it. Now that I'm moving out in a couple of weeks, I'd started resigning myself to transferring back to the double and readjusting my sleep habits accordingly, and frankly it was making me sad to know I wouldn't get to sleep on this mattress anymore.

But yesterday I received wonderful news: my parents sold the beach house they owned part of! And we get to bring back all the furniture we had there! And by the way, Martha, do you want the queen mattress up there? No? Well, how about the one in your room now, and we'll just replace that one with the beach house mattress?

So I'm incredibly pleased, even though the room I'm moving into is not big and the mattress will likely take up 90% of my floor space. I love this bed and I get to keep it.

Continuing to enjoy Netflix. I watched Cthulhu the other day (made recently, not the old black and white one or the one from the eighties) and I have mixed feelings about it. It is very Lovecraftian, and it has a decidedly amateurish feel to the camerawork, which I think might actually be beneficial to the effect. I dunno. It's short, so at least if you don't like it, it doesn't last very long.

Priceless, on the other hand, is lovely and charming and satisfying. A very solid French romance with Audrey Tautou, who I think is gorgeous.

IKEA tomorrow, for to buy shelving. I love buying housewares.

Current Mood: pleased

I had a dream the other night in which Zachary Quinto and I were hanging out. Just chilling, no nudity or anything (much to my waking dismay...). We were sitting at a table somewhere, and he was doing a crossword puzzle, and I was laughing about how much better he was at it than I was. He was really a groovy dude, very laid back and fun to hang out with. I hope in reality he's as cool as he was in my dream.

At one point, I was like "where's Chris Pine?" And ZQ was all, "he was gonna come but I guess he couldn't." Which is only notable because of the two I am definitely more attracted to Chris Pine, so if he HAD been there I can only assume it would have been a very different sort of dream.

Saw District 9 tonight. It was...much better than I expected, but it was also much, much harder to watch than I expected.

( District 9 spoilers )

I did read two excellent books last week, both by Charles de LInt and both vastly different experiences. I liked Yarrow more than Angel of Darkness, and eventually I'll write about why.

I've decided I'm going to play in a WarMachine tournament coming up at a Chicago games store, so in preparation for that I have a buttload of painting to do and I also need to practice playing timed games. I know that I take too long to think about my turns, so I really need to work on konwing solidly what my army does, what I have to do to get them to do their thing the best they can, and how it all will play out in different games. I've got three weeks, so we'll see if I can get ready in time. If not, I'll at least have a fully painted 500 points and actual tournament experience, even if it's a losing experience.

Current Mood: nerdy

Lots of new and exciting things happening in my life. I almost don't know how to handle it.

First off, my new job has started with gusto. I spent last week training with the girl I'm replacing, and today was my first day on my own (well, as on my own as I can be in a law firm full of people ready to tell me what to do). I think it went quite well - I spent most of the day handling client calls about a case that's been settled, so mostly they just wanted to know when their checks were coming and how much they'd be for. I attended a small meeting about a case I've taken over as the assistant on, so I have specific things I need to accomplish by the end of the week. I also got the case file for a personal injury claim that one of the senior partners wants me to work with him on. All in all, I have a more or less established place in the firm with defined goals and projects, so I'm pretty confident I'll be able to handle it.

My second big piece of news is that I am, in fact, moving into the available room in my boyfriend's apartment. I am both excited and apprehensive. Not that I don't think we'll live well together, because we've talked about it fairly exhaustively and we're on the same page as far as living habits go, but it is a pretty big step. The good thing is that their lease is month-to-month, so if it turns out to be a total disaster I can just leave.

I spent some quality time with my sister over the weekend because she's going back to school tomorrow. It's really weird to send her off while I'm not even getting ready to go; I said back in May that graduating wouldn't really hit me until I didn't go back to school in the fall, and now I'm here and it turns out I was right. I'm not exactly sad about it, but now that I've got a real job and I'm moving out of my parents' house and everything, I feel sort of overwhelmingly grown-up. It makes me want to watch cartoons or play with my Transformers or do get a tattoo or something. Something juvenile or irresponsible.

There are a lot of good things about growing up. I just hope I don't forget how to be a kid, too.

Current Mood: thoughtful

Brilliant idea posted over at my alt account,

flights_of_fancy . It boils down to: gaming companies that make awesome games do not always write awesome stories. I can write awesome stories. Maybe if I send one some writing samples, they'll let me do freelance prose work on their next army book.

Gen Con Indy was SUPER SUPER awesome. Billy and I got there early Saturday morning, so we had plenty of time during the day to walk around, check out demos, spend way too much money, and hang out with cool people (Like Sohmer and Lar from LICD! Billy brought them Red Bull and they were very charming). I was satisfied at the end, but next year I would like to go for the whole weekend and take advantage of the things we didn't have the downtime to do. For instance, they had a room with hunderds of board game titles that you could check out like a library and play with people, and this room was open 24 hours a day. I have a theory that Tsuro, played for hours on end, will eventually result in achieving Nirvana, so obviously I have to test this theory. It would have been interesting to attend some panels and speakers as well, and I definitely would want to get more demos in.

Cool things I did at the con:

- Bought the new Privateer Press faction book for the Retribution army. Couldn't buy the heavy warjack kit because they sold out on, like, the first day. Poo.
- Demoed and purchased Malifaux, a skirmish based war game in a western/horror/steampunk/gothic setting. I liked it a whole bunch, and the guys were really nice, and they're the company I want to write for. One of their characters wears a white furry top hat and stripped stockings. HOW CAN I SAY NO.
- Bought my own set of gaming dice. They're pretty and blue.
- Tried orange root beer, and decided it tasted too medicinal.
- Saw some fairly phenominal costumes, including some very classy WarMachine casters and an awesome Eldar farseer robe.
- Took pride in the fact that my nerdy tattoo is cooler than a lot of peoples' nerdy tattoos.
- Hung out with webcomic artists
- Played Tsuro, a brilliantly simply board game wherein you move your token along a path and try to run other peoples' tokens off the board. Plans to buy it are in the works.
- Watched Billy play Arcane Legions. Unsure about how impressed I am with it. The Chinese get dragons and stone lions, and the Romans get armored bears, which is pretty badass. Not convinced about gameplay yet, though.
- Watched Wizards of the Coast fail at running a Magic 2010 tournament, which is sad when you think about it; they really should have more practice at that.

It was a fun time.

Current Mood: satisfied

The receptionist in my dad's office got fired yesterday, and the partners in his firm were apparently all "Is your daughter doing anything? Because we like her. She's friendly and stuff." So all of a sudden I have a real job, in the real world, with a real salary and benefits and everything. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed about it, because even though this is exactly what I was looking for I sort of expected there to be an interview process and all of that, but I'm not looking this gift horse in the mouth. I'm EXTREMELY lucky that this happened, and SO excited about actually having the money to do things like move out of my parents' house.

Which I'm fixing to do in the next month or so, I think. My boyfriend lives in a three bedroom apartment, and two of his roommates are moving out, so I'm going to take one of the extra rooms (he has another friend who's taking the third room). I think it will be a good arrangement. It's something we've been talking about for a while, and I really like Anthony the other friend, and I think the three of us will co-habitate in a friendly fashion. Plus his landlord is pet-friendly, so Dizzy can come too with no problems.

I'm keeping the job at Borders, at least for the short term. I'll be working weekends until it taxes my sanity too much to continue - I didn't feel comfortable completely jumping ship, even though they haven't been the best about schedules and suchlike. The extra money won't hurt, plus I like the work and the employee discount will always be awesome.

GenCon is this weekend, which I'm SUPER excited about - Privateer Press is releasing the new faction book for the new WarMachine army, and the rules for a battle team-based game called Malifluer will also be debuting, both of which I'm extremely interested in. I am looking forward to being a complete and total nerd for a weekend.

Current Mood: optimistic

I feel like hell. My head hurts, my stomach hurts like I'm hungry but I have no interest in food, and I feel sweatingly hot and shiveringly cold at the same time. Last night I turned my fan off because I decided it would be better to sweat than to be too cold and too hot at the same time, and I woke up absolutely drenched. I've turned off the AC in my house prematurely because I'm having so many temperature issues. So now I'm overheated and sweaty again, but I also don't feel like I'm going to freeze my skin off. Also I am drinking LOTS of orange juice.

Suffice to say I called in sick to work today and tomorrow, which I hated doing but I really think I needed to. Being on my feet for five hours when standing up makes me dizzy, and also being around food when I'm pretty sure I've got the flu, seems like an EXTREMELY bad idea to me. So now I'm watching movies with Dizzy, who is happily trying to eat the keys off my laptop.

What I really want is some Italian ice, because it's cold and refreshing and not filling. But I don't trust myself to drive.

Current Mood: sick

I finally have a typical schedule at Borders this week, which is phenomenal. I'm on for 24 hours, which still isn't full time, but it's at least the same that everyone else is getting. So I'm not quite as pissed off with them as I was last week.

I've been feeling sort of off kilter these last couple of days, and I was really afraid for a bit there that I was getting sick. Thankfully, this does not seem to be true, as today I'm feeling quite well. Which is especially good this week, since I will undoubtedly be engaging in all sorts of shenanigans.

Well, probably not. But I could, since my entire family is now out of the state for the next week. My sister is up in Wisconsin with some of her school friends, and as far as I can tell they're basically planning on being drunk for the week. My parents are in the Florida panhandle, where my uncle has rented a house for the next couple of weeks - I declined to go because of work, and also because while I love my family, having that many of us in such a contained space is really a recipe for disaster. Or at least a couple of really good fights. So I'm holding down the fort with Dizzy and the dogs and trying not to be too lonely.

Work will help. So will Shark Week, and Billy, who said he'd keep me company.

New post at

flights_of_fancy . Maybe a better update tomorrow.

I set up a secondary account for creative/writerly stuff (since DreamWidth keeps chucking account codes at me, I figured I may as well use some). The journal is

flights_of_fancy , and I have no way of guaranteeing it will be worth reading, but I may as well put that out there. I would very much like to, at some point, go to Columbia here in Chicago for some kind of Associate's degree in creative writing, but I need to prove to myself I'm still decent at it before I make a go of that. And there's nothing like the false sense of guilt instilled by imaginary readers to get my writerly ass in gear.

In other news,

clemsblueruins and I are going to Comic-Con next year, come hell or high water. YOU'LL SEE. Never again will Miyazaki or Pixar deliver a panel where I am not in attendance! I shall not miss those glorious toy booths again! I will watch film clips, and fangirl over web comic artists, and squeal at the Marvel booth like every other nerdling on the planet. YOU SEE IF I DON'T.

In other news, I got a pretty slammin' haircut yesterday.

Current Mood: calm

Firstly: If you've been tagged, you must write your answers in your own LJ and replace any question that you dislike with a new, original question. (I'm too boring to change any questions)

Secondly: Tag eight people. Don't refuse to do that. Don't tag who tagged you.

Lots of pillows or just one?

As many as I can get my hands on. Since I moved it's been less; in my apartment, the pillow situation was OUT of control.

What kind of books do you read?

Most things. I really, really like science fiction, and good fantasy - although 95% of fantasy written today is crap. I also enjoy humorous essays.

What are your most awesome skills?

I'm really good at proof-reading, and also at making first impressions. I'm proving to be a decent war gamer, and I'm really good at watching movies. I'm ok at writing.

What's your occupation?

Barista

What's really creepy?

Dark basements, streets without streelights

Wat's your current fandom/obsession/addiction?

Warhammer/WarMachine, Dizzy the parrot

What food could you eat every day for weeks and not get sick of?

Ice cream, and also lamb

What websites do you always visit when you go online?

Hotmail, Gmail, Facebook, LiveJournal, DreamWidth, Twitter, and then my webcomics.

What was the last thing you bought?

Across the Universe

What was the cutest thing you've seen today?

Dizzy leaning into my hand to take a nap

Do you get cravings? If so, what do you crave?

Sweet things. Sometimes burgers.

What do you do to change your mood?

Listen to music, reread books that make me happy, talk to my boyfriend

What is your zodiac sign?

Taurus

Do you want to learn another language?

Honestly I have no desire to. I don't ever intend to be in a foreign country long enough to need it.

Five things you can't live without.

The internet, cellphone, sweatpants, pizza, and a driver's license

What is one song you could listen to repeatedly without ever getting tired of it?

"When the Day Met the Night" by Panic! At the Disco

What are you looking forward to?

Seeing folks in IC tomorrow

Say something to the person who tagged you:

Ashley: I'm excited you're going to be in Chicago next year so I can see you all the time!
Amanda: You're SUPER brave for moving somewhere you wanted to be, totally self-reliant. I'd never have the guts to do that all by myself.

Tagged:

delia ,

sandboxriot ,

dokkaebi , qichi, starsparkle333, fireflyrebirth, carveyfan 27, twilightmagi

Current Mood: sleepy

Dizzy is doing wonderfully; my primary concern was that he wouldn't eat, and so far he's eaten everything I've put in his dish. Favorites so far include blackberries, spinach, watermelon, and peaches. Zucchini, carrots, and tomatoes, as well as the pellets he gets in the morning, are liked but not voraciously devoured like the fruit has been. Today we're learning that the playgym (a little wooden structure with a ladder and a swing for him to play on while he's out of the cage) isn't nearly as scary as we thought on day one.

After some landlord tomfoolery, Irene and I have scheduled our apartment checkout for tomorrow, so I'll be in Iowa City for most of Friday. If anyone wants to come help me move stuff, or say hi, they would be most welcome - haven't seen you guys in a while!

Not much else to report. Dizzy is trying to hide in my ponytail right now, which is pretty cute - except for when he tugs on my hair. That's less than cute.

New blogpost, discussing my favorite book-to-movie adaptations:

literacynotoptional.blogspot.com/

Current Mood: productive

Meet Dizzy! :D

He's wonderful Hasn't shown any fear at all since I picked him up from the airport on Friday. We had a vet checkup yesterday to make sure everything was working correctly, and he only really got twitterpated when they trimmed his nails. He's eating, which was a bit of a worry of mine... The woman at the pet shop that I Tweeted about was mainly concerned that I was getting him too young, that he wouldn't actually be weaned when I got him and thus wouldn't eat the pellets or produce I offered. He's a little wary of the produce stuff, but we're learning slowly that it's ok - yesterday we learned that carrots and corn are AWESOME.

We also had bathtime, which was brilliant - once he figured out that the dish wasn't dangerous, he got right in there and was ruffling all his feathers to get wet. Birdie bathtime is one of my very favorite things. :D

Today I'm going grocery shopping to get some highly nutritious produce and beans for him; one of things everyone (including my vet) agrees on is that variety and a healthy diet are some of the most important things in conure care. Apparently the leading cause of shortened lifespans in conures in improper diet, so DIzzy and I are enacted Mission: Conure Salad today. I have a recipe for a really good bean/rice/corn mix and also a good salad combo for him that I'd like to try him on.

Work last night was fine, a bit boring. I am concerned about how many hours I will actually be getting versus how many hours they said I could get, but everything will change in the fall when a couple people go back to school, so I'm going to sit tight and see what happens. I'm the lowest person on the totem pole at the moment, so even if I try and scrape more hours I don't think I'll have much luck. But I have something which is better than nothing, and it fills the time well.

Current Mood: happy

I saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at the midnight showing, and I think I was disappointed. It is sitting a little oddly with me, since I realized I don't actually remember that much of the book; the sense I got, though, was that while I enjoyed the movie I saw, I think they made bad choices as to what scenes to leave out and what to include.
( Half Blood Prince spoilers )

In other news, my bird is arriving at the airport tomorrow around 2:30. I'm super excited; I made a vet appointment for Saturday, so I can meet the vet staff and they can meet the bird and make sure everything is ok, and so that if (God forbid) an emergency does happen I won't be taking him to a stranger. Today I'm going to check out a specialty bird store, to see if I can find a playgym for him, so he has something to monkey around on when he's out of the cage. :D

Current Mood: mellow

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Accomplishing Escapism

Muffling the Sounds of the Real World

Netflix is also awesome

I thought books were for reading....

HULK SMASH

I have had unpleasant dreams of late

Adventures in housewares

Beds for sleeping

GQMF

District 9

Fuck, when did I grow up?

Weekend of nerdery: Great Success

When it rains it pours, but I like this shower

I've caught the deathplague

Solitary week

(no subject)

I'm addicted to blogs

I was tagged twice, so I'd better do it.

Because I am obviously incapable of talking about anything else

I'm really bad about updating

My little dude

(no subject)

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September 2013

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