Today: lysimache's new netbook got here, and, yes, it is just as shiny and princess-filled as you'd think. She painted her nails with a nail polish entitled "Princesses Rule" for the occasion; I think she should take pictures for comparison. Maybe we'll even figure out how to take pictures with the webcam. (The webcam has a Mickey Mouse logo, yes.)

I put on some of the anti-virus software everyone recommended (thanks, people!), but I am apparently Not Allowed to buy a Three Wolf Moon skin. Pout. (I'm not just being ironic; I, uh, do actually like the art. But okay, yeah, I'm mostly kidding.) Perhaps if we ever get another netbook. Then also I could try Ubuntu.

So today mostly we have played with the netbook and read some Latin (have I mentioned we are reading Livy? Mostly he is writing about the mythical founding of Rome and I had no idea everyone involved was an Epic Badass.) and watched more Life on Mars UK. But right now I should probably stop typing because my wrist is killing me. Stupid mystery tendonitis.

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Hello internets! This post is coming at you, live from sineala at Dreamwidth! I have missed you all very much!

You, uh, might have noticed that I haven't posted for two weeks. If you are on Dreamwidth, you might remember seeing this news post a couple weeks ago, about how the auto-crosspost feature had a seriously weird interaction with the importer, in which if you had "default crossposting" checked and went to import, all your imported entries ended up crossposting. I, um, discovered this bug, and you get exactly one guess as to how. So, yeah, I was refraining from posting until they sorted it out, and it appears to be sorted (or at least the extra two thousand LJ entries are gone now), so yay.

This is also a request to be encircled on Dreamwidth. If you're reading this on LJ and you have/use Dreamwidth -- mind being in my circle? I've found some of you, but not all of you have the same names. Help?

I am not planning on turning off LJ comments; at least, not yet. While I enjoy the idea of having centralized comments, it is my impression that most people would not bother to grab an OpenID account just to comment, but I could be wrong. And I like having comments more than I am bothered by not having them in one place. I think.

I have a bunch of backlogged posts to make -- seriously, I've been sitting here composing posts -- and I've been playing around with making a fannish webpage again (are those too 1996?) with an account I made at Nearly Free Speech, which seems like the best cheap webhost ever, seriously.

Also I have asthma now. Apparently you can just develop it. Whoop whoop.

Anyway. Couple of Yuletide pimping posts, coming up in a jiffy.

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So lysimache's got some kind of Evil Death Cold and I think she's given it to me. Mostly we are sitting around rewatching bunches of Inspector Lewis, which is, you know, awesome, and not requiring too much brainpower once you've already seen all the episodes once. (We went through Father Ted this weekend.) My throat, it is disgusting.

I am also appalled by LJ's recent decision -- now with more ads! -- and I keep resolving to switch to Dreamwidth. I have about thirteen more months of LJ to tag. Which is, unfortunately, over a thousand entries. Why did I post so much?

I have also been playing Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor on my DS. I like the SMT games, but I hate strategy RPGs, so I'd been putting this one off, but it turns out to be non-SRPG enough for me -- the only SRPG element is a movement grid. And I'm enjoying the plot a lot so far (am on Day 3); it's like The World Ends With You's angstier Crowley-reading cousin. Emo blue-haired teens are trapped in Tokyo and they have a week to live. But in this game, everyone is trapped, and they're beginning to suspect the government is behind it all, because they can summon demons through their DSes. (I assume later on I will be fighting God and/or angels and/or Lucifer, as this is SMT.)

The only thing annoying me about this game is the naming. SMT protagonists are traditionally unnamed, usually so that you, the (male) player can name him after yourself. This always makes me feel excluded. Many of the protagonists have unofficial names from manga adaptations and so on, but this guy doesn't have one. Grr. I was gonna name him Ethelred the Unready, but it didn't fit in the space, so I went with Gaius Julius Caesar, which is totally appropriate for Japan, right? Right.

Okay, so I was asleep and my mother was in the kitchen, which is next to my room. I was waking up and was about to get up, when I heard my mother scream, so I ran out to see if she was okay. She had tripped and done something to her ankle such that the bone touched the floor. So she got some Advil and some ice, and she didn't think it was broken because it wasn't swelling, and it hurt but she was okay.

Having ascertained that she was all right, I went to the bathroom. I was doing fine until I went to stand up from the toilet and realized that I couldn't. I felt really nauseated and dizzy and shaky and I was sweating rather a lot. I was leaning my head against the wall and for some reason I decided that a good thing to do would be to lean my head on the nice cool sink. Then suddenly everything was black and sparkly green. I guess I must have passed out; I don't know what else that would be. I remember opening my eyes afterward, so I must have shut them.

My mother limped over and found me in the bathroom and helped me stand up. She said I looked really awful and pale and my lips were yellow. Great. Then we sat in the living room and she elevated her foot and I had some water (and then some juice and toast), while my brother mocked both of us.

What *was* that? I've never done that before. My best guess is that I was dehydrated, because the heater in my room had been on all night and I hadn't had anything to drink since dinner; I felt dry and thirsty and congested when I got up. Other than that, I don't know what it could be. Maybe I got up too suddenly or something.

So, yeah. I think maybe we're not going to go see a movie right now, as my mother cannot drive with her ankle like that. I think she is considering taking some leftover prescription Vicodan she has. I should probably shower and get dressed. Hope I don't pass out in the shower. Well, the day can only improve from here, right?

Hooray. I am at lysimache's safely. She got me flowers. Awww. :) I [heart] her.

(Also, I, um, can't hear much in my right ear and I haven't been able to since I landed, and this is sort of disturbing me. I would kind of like my hearing back, thanks. help, I broke my ear.)

No, wait, ill. I meant "ill."

I'm still coughing, and lysimache, with what is probably the same cold as I have, has it as fever and upset stomach in addition to the usual respiratory funness. Also the dog was sick and spent most of last night trying to induce vomiting. Bleh. We took her to the vet and she seems fine now, but still isn't drinking much. I hope she's okay. *worries* I also really hope I didn't somehow infect the dog. That would upset me.

I took a nap and dreamed that I was watching a news program, and we were all part of alternate universes connected by some kind of time/space travel. The reporters were doing a segment where they had taken a trip to an alternate universe-Earth where Washington DC had been destroyed by some kind of flood, and they were discussing how in their universe the technicians had been able to go back in time as soon as it happened and avert it. They were standing in some big green area next to a lake I was assuming contained the remains of the city. They were then interviewing an average guy from that universe, who was complaining about the horses they all had (as mode of transportation, though it was set in the present time) in that universe and how slow they were. I hear some people have normal dreams.

Now I sit here and watch the dog while Jen goes to buy more Tylenol. It's times like this I wish I could drive, so she could stay home. She's the one with the fever.

I think I'm getting a bit better. I hopeIhope. I hate my mucus membranes. All of them. And today lysimache is sick. I feel very bad for having infected her.

Yesterday I was IMing eruthros and discussing avocados, and she made me want to go get an avocado so I can have guacamole. Apparently lysimache has never had guacamole nor avocados and does not know what avocados look like. I find this amazing. I wonder if this means avocados are hard to find here. I still want one.

We also went to IKEA yesterday and bought socialist Swedish furniture (I always have to use "socialist" there), by which I mean that --

Hang on, the dog is eating my dirty underwear off the floor. Stop that.

-- Anyway. Jen bought a bookcase which, though not the very nice one she wanted, had the advantage of being the one that would fit in the car. She also has chairs and dessert glasses and a heart-shaped ice cube tray. IKEA is fun. And then we had dinner and came back and watched Velvet Goldmine. Hooray. I like that movie.

By that time it was 5 a.m., and I took NyQuil and was being very drowsy. Jen announced she wasn't tired, and proceeded to recite "The Owl and the Pussycat" to me, followed by talking about cooking and eating the rats of NIMH, a topic which she apparently finds hysterical. Then she regaled me with a selection of several of her very favorite Christmas carols, announced very firmly again how she wasn't tired at all, and promptly fell asleep. I [heart] her.

I feel a little better today; my cold is moving down, so I can sort of smell again. Hooray. Jen insists I am not going to get bronchitis and die, and I am inclined to agree, because I don't feel especially awful, though I am not at my best. Bleh.

And the shower works again! Yay! I need a shower.

today we sat around and watched 8 1/2, the Fellini film. It was very strange, and they left large chunks of the Italian unsubtitled, which didn't really help. I don't think I got it. But apparently I am a better person for having seen it.

Finally got to see Queer Eye For the Straight Guy last night, too -- where I'm from, we don't get Bravo on basic cable, so I couldn't have watched it. Heh. That was cute. But Boy Meets Boy just sounds*mean*, and it sounds meaner the more they advertise it. Boo.

NyQuil. I like NyQuil a lot. All with the painkiller and decongestant and antihistamine-y goodness. I also like having a girlfriend who is willing to buy NyQuil at 5:30 in the morning. I am quite grateful. I really really hope I don't make her sick.

I have spent the entire day asleep. I should probably go bck to bed. But first, dinner. Even if I can't taste it.

This week my skin has not been as clear as it could be. My mother showed up at my door to pick me up for the weekend, and her very first words to me, after looking at my face, were "Masturbation causes zits."

Thanks, Mom.

For (hic!) the past (hic!) half hour (hic!), I (hic!) have had (hic!) the hicc-- (hic hic!)

I (hic!) mean I've (hic hic!) had the (hic!) hic-- (hic!), I mean (hic!) the hicc-- (hic!)

Never mind.

First on my list of Things I Should Have Checked Before Leaving The Dentist's:

My top retainer doesn't fit anymore. The tooth that the retainer hooks on, on the left front, is the one that has a crown on it now. When I try to put the retainer in it really hurts and it won't snap into place -- I can't push it up so I'm not biting on it.

Grr.

If this means I have to get new molds, I'll -- well, I'll be gagging for several minutes while my palate is pressed into whatever the hell that is they take molds in. This is my Least Favorite Dental Activity ever.

I'd better call them tomorrow, lest my teeth slip out of position and I'll have wasted several years and a lot of my parents' money.

I got a temporary crown put in today. It is yellower than the rest of my teeth. It's also one of the teeth that's more in the front of my mouth, so I guess yellow is better than gray and dead.

What's really annoying me about it is the fact that there's this little gap between the inside of the crown and my gums, and my tongue keeps poking at it, which keeps making me think it's going to come off, and also it's just annoying anyway to have strange things ruining the familiar geography of my mouth. (Can I say "geography" there? Too bad, I already did.

I'm hoping the permanent crown won't feel that way. Or hey, maybe I'll have gotten used to it. It took me a week to be able to talk while wearing my retainer without drooling or lisping, which only happened on the alveolar and palato-alveolar voiceless fricatives anyway. But I still can't do palatal fricatives with it in -- I make funny whistling sounds. It's probably a good thing they're not phonemic in English (though I get the voiceless one allophonically, of course).

You don't care, I know. Tough, it's my LJ.

Thanks for your words of encouragement regarding horrific teeth problems, people. I'm feeling a bit better about the inevitable now. It's kind of funny -- I had to have this icky surgery involving shaving off a portion of my gums, and attaching a chain to my tooth, so that this one tooth would be in proper position. And now it's dead. Ha. Okay, that's not actually funny.

Went and saw Harry Potter again tonight, with my dad and brother, at the local theater -- you know, the kind of theater where spilled soda makes your feet stick to the floor, they regularly have accidents involving the film stopping halfway through, and they still charge you full price anyway. Only movie theater in the city, though.

Having reread the book yesterday, I was enjoying the movie more this time, since I could compare. Cute that there was a ghost-student taking an exam as the three rushed into McGonagall's class at the end to tell her the stone was in danger.

Based on the stuff they left out, the next movie is going to be interesting -- like, how is Harry going to get to move out of his cupboard if he didn't do it this book? Ah well, they'll fix it somehow. I want to see if the deleted scenes contain my favorite unfilmed lines, or if they never actually did Dumbledore's four words at the banquet or his line about socks and the mirror of Erised.

You know, I really have to stop being transfixed by Snape when I'm watching this movie. Really. I embarrass myself. But ooooh. Snape Snape. Alan Rickman spiffy. Must find nice discussion list somewhere. Snape Snape Snape. I find myself oohing at Snape's various evilnesses as I reread the books, and I swear I wasn't doing that before Snape slash fanfic was pointed my way a couple weeks ago.

Oh yeah, and Oliver Wood. Ooooh. Nice nice. I feel extra dirty now; that guy had better be legal age. :P :)

I'm really hoping HP movie 2 does well enough that they'll film PoA, because I'm rereading it now, and I am reminded once again that it's my favorite of the books. I hope they find good actors with chemistry to play Sirius and Remus.

I feel kind of silly obsessing this much over a YA fantasy book series that isn't even my favorite. I suppose it's just more available. Hey, I'd be first in line at the cinema if they ever decided to film one of Diane Duane's Wizardry books. That would be so very cool. Not that they would. But it would be very cool. Though I imagine that once they get to the underwater stuff, or Dairine's space travel, or Ith and his dinosaur friends, that would be difficult to film. Also you probably couldn't make movies for adults with talking cats as the main characters, so there goes any hope of seeing the cats books filmed. They'd never do any of 'em anyway. *siiiigh* Oh well.

That reminds me, I should reread that newest YA one in the series. After I finish my HP reread, and then reread FotR and possibly the rest of the trilogy before the FotR movie comes out.