Good grief, where did the holiday go? I distinctly remember having a hell of a lot of time (yes, I do believe "hell of a" was the specified quantity) to be having my fun. And now there's only a week left? And I have not finished with my fun! >_< Additionally, as valuable as I think my classes will be, and as grateful as I am for my job, I don't particularly look forward to the lengthy days of work ahead of me. (At least, not at the moment. I'm sure that later on I'll be glad of the productive and worthwhile manner in which I will be spending my time, but for now -- laziness prevails.)

Still, I'm thoroughly enjoying myself. Last night I got to see a few people I haven't in quite a long time, as we concurrently celebrated Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Boxing Day all at once. Great fun. XD What I've loved so much more about this holiday as opposed to the Thanksgiving break is that I've gotten to see and talk to more people down here (or in Texas! :D). Now I'm not so sure I want to go back. ^_^; I mean, I love and miss the people in Seattle, but ... It's not as if one can adequately replace the other, even for a short period of time (unfortunately, I might say, for the state of my emotions). Instead of picking one or the other, I just end up with more people to miss. :P "Give crowns and pounds and guineas/But not your heart away" -- I think that's become something of a mantra for me. XD;;

Anyway! On to less depressing things! Here's an interview with Dominic Monaghan; though it's a long piece, and the highlights are recounted here. It's hilarious. XD

//Wednesday, December 24, 2003//
01:05 a.m.

Greetings all! It's been a while. ^_^; I hope everyone's been enjoying whatever holiday/break they have. As for me, I've been having a deliciously lazy time, revelling in the fact that I have no responsibilities besides socializing and doing nothing. (Incidentally, have been doing a rather lot of the nothing, so I'm quite ready for more of the social.)

Also -- *points to sidebar* -- 'twas my birthday Monday, and now I'm nineteen! Which means that now I get to ... do all the same things I could do when I was eighteen! XD;; That, and I'm edging closer to leaving my teenage years behind. Eep. I don't want to be grownup. o_o

It was an enjoyable day, though -- there's really nothing better than coffee with a dear old friend. Or a chai latte with a not-so-old soul sister, such as the case may be. ^_~ A quiet day, but talking and coffeeing and shopping is really quite a good way to spend one's time. I also had reaffirmed the fact that, once one has given one's heart to pretty dresses, one never gets it back. :p Because, you see, you'd think that after graduating high school and leaving behind prom and the like, I'd have outgrown the formal dress shopping. But no. ^_^; I fell in love with this beautiful jade gown, elegantly simple and wonderfully fitting and absolutely perfect for ... well, you know, that thing where I'll need to wear a formal dress. Um. >_>

(I also checked my grades today, and let me just get it out of my system now: RAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWRRRRRRR.)

Besides all that, I've been catching up on reading. Seeing Return of the King has sealed my love for LoTR, and pushed the trilogy up in front of everything else on my reading list. ^_^; Besides fleshing out the movies I already love and stirring vague desires to attempt to actually wade through The Silmarillion, I've had the pleasure of sinking myself into some deliciously dense prose. A bit too dense for my tastes at times, but still, it's been fun. :D Maybe this will be enough to bring my errant muse back into line ...

... Or at the very least, give me some more nice dreams. :D After all, I've been having a nice streak of them based on topical matters; having finished Fellowship this morning, watched Pirates of the Caribbean a few nights ago, and just begun the X-Men: Inferno trade, I look forward to what my mind conjures up tonight. XD

//Wednesday, December 17, 2003//
10:59 a.m.

Whyyyy am I awake? I don't have work for another two hours, and I could seriously use the sleep time. I was dead tired when I got home last night/this morning (at ... 5:00, I think?), but then I just woke up and was AWAKE. o.o It's the damn movie, I tell you!! It just ... I can't ... damn, but thinking about it still gives me chills.

(Won't tell you my impressions of it, so as not to ruin anything ... But I think you knew that, barring some massive misalignment of the planets or something, I was going to enjoy the movie. Which I did. XD)

So, yes, we went to the midnight-oh-one showing of Return of the King last night. We arrived at the theater about five hours early, and they let us get our seats at about T-minus three hours. There were some cosplayers in line -- a Gandalf, a Legolas, a goblin, and a SIX YEAR-OLD PIPPIN OMG TEH CUTE. *_* It was great; people had books, games, GBAs, laptops, and a few of our group passed some of the time playing Munchkin. Geek levels were maxed out that night. XD;;

Watching this movie on opening night was wonderful, because the crowd was so into it. There was snarky commentary through the previews and such ("The Mask 2"? WTF!?), but when the movie started there was this respectful silence. With cheering and laughing at the appropriate fannish moments. XD And spoilers (vague as they may be) start here: [I could not even BEGIN to decide who 0wned me more. It was like, OMG Gandalf 0wnage! Then -- Sam 0wnage! (SAM!!! in general XD) But -- Aragorn 0wnage! And -- Legolas 0wnage! Of course -- Eowyn 0wnage! And -- Merry and Pippin 0wnage! Hell -- Men of the West 0wnage! XD;; I think Gandalf was the most fun to watch, though, because Sir Ian McKellan wailing on a cave troll is just TOO MUCH. XD

Anyway, story-wise ... um, *_*!! That's about the level of coherency I can muster right now. ^_^;; But I kind of liked the position I was in -- haven't read the books, yet still knowing certain major plot elements, so as to have some secure points to hold on to. Getting to watch things unfold without quite knowing -- the evolution of Aragorn, Merry and Pippin's respective roles -- was such a powerful experience. But oh ... I can't even remember all the things that made me cry; but there were a lot, more than any movie I can remember doing for a long time. Of course, the most poignant moment, for me, was everyone bowing to the hobbits. O_O!! And the end, of course ... when and how does Sam go with him??? XO

(There were also several inappropriate thoughts I had at some inopportune moments. But I won't share them unless people ask, so as not to ruin the film for people. XD;;)]

And that's it (for now). I have to be semi-coherent and go in for work ... And then I have a dinner for my birthday at Sushi Express! And then, hm -- I *do* want to keep reading Fellowship (and actually get to the Council of Elrond this time ^_^;;;), but it would be rather eerie to be back at the beginning again, right after seeing all that. Maybe in a day or two.

//Monday, December 15, 2003//
02:34 p.m.

You know, I seem to be cashing in in the dream department lately. And this last one was even better than the previously mentioned Indiana Rickman one, because there was nothing in the way of dignified British actors swinging around on ropes. (Okay, so maybe "dignified" is a strong word ...) No, no, in this one I was just dating Orlando Bloom. Which is odd, because I'm more of a Viggo/Aragorn fangirl than an Orlando/Legolas one. But, hey, no complaints here. XD And I think I can even trace the origin of this dream ... If I put my massive deductive reasoning skills to use, I *could* with some assurance say that it *might* have been brought about by the full-page picture of half-naked Orlando neechan has up above her desk. Maybe. XD

(Because, you know, I'm shan't argue that this isn't the stuff of which dreams are made. Mmmm ... teh smex.)

... There are those who might say that my brain has degenerated completely into frivolity now that my finals are over. I have no idea where they would get such an idea.

//Sunday, December 14, 2003//
07:00 p.m.

You are a Samurai. You have trained the majority of your life. You are
honorable, you follow your word. You spare no
one once in combat, but that is expected, for
your oponent would do the same to you. You use
a two-handed katana.

What type of Swordsman are you?
brought to you by Quizilla