OKAY. SO. COMICCON 2010. WHO'S IN?

I'm going to ComicCon with a group of ontd_startrek GQMFs: thehazelbelle, xaverie, kinetic1028, cory1313 and her friend.

The seven of us are going to be crashing together. (Well, Xav will be staying with her grandparents but the rest of us will be crashing together.) We don't have our hotel booked yet - will be doing that in December most likely.

gleeful_t and ihateclooney will also be there.


And, since it IS ComicCon... WE NEED TO HAVE AN EPIC MEETUP.

Just think about it! HOW EPIC WOULD IT BE TO HAVE A HUGE PICTURE OF ontd_startrek GQMFS AT COMICCON? THAT'S RIGHT, FUCKING EPIC AS SHIT. Also, wouldn't it be amazing if there are cast members of ST there and we manage to get them in a group picture with all of us?

Any ideas for meeting, &c. are welcome! Just drop a comment! (Friend me, too, if you want, I'll friend back.)

I know that doing a whole lot will be difficult because A) ComicCon is HUGE and B) We're going to want to do different things. But perhaps dinner one night or something?

IDEAS, PEOPLE. I KNOW IT'S EARLY TO START PLANNING, BUT IF WE GET STARTED NOW THAT GIVES US PLENTY OF TIME TO WORK OUT LOGISTICS.

Tags: i fucking love this, resistance is futile, squee, trekkie

It's Christmas time! I'm late posting this.

If you'd like a card (and potentially a small gift) from me this year, please leave your address here! (If I've had your address, I have to get it again. I misplaced all of my addresses while I was moving.)

all comments are screened


:D

Copypasta'd from fbook again, but with all pics instead of just one.
THIS ONE IS EVEN LONGER BECAUSE I GOT MORE PICS. Strangely, a good number of them are ass shots...
WARNING: MOAR BEN FOLDS PICSPAM AHEAD. Under a cut, because omg, there are too many to not.


So last night I drove to Wichita, KS, to see Ben Folds at the Cotillion. Long drive, kind of frustrating, I didn't get near enough sleep last night, but it's definitely worth it. ♥

We had to wait outside a while to get in because of security, and it was cold and started raining - which was no fun at all. But once I got through security and got my ticket, I went around and took up position in the crowd that had gathered at the stage. Being short, I was frustrated because there was no way I was going to be able to get pictures from my current position so I wormed my way much closer to the stage.

It was just Ben and his piano last night, which was different from the other two times I've seen him this summer, but at the same time, it felt - at least to me - a little more intimate a concert setting. I liked it.

Opening for him was this Australian singer named Kate Miller-Heidke. She's been classically trained but does alt-pop singing. She's super cute, and very talented. It was really interesting to hear operatic shit in the middle of an indie-alt-pop song! She talked about how she admires Ben and his music, particularly his covers... and then covered "Toxic". Yes, the Britney Spears song. Complete with operatic singing. And then she sang a couple more songs, was like, "Thank you, I'll be over here if you want to get a CD"... and we waited for Ben.

And so Ben came out, and started with Free Coffee. He played some songs, and talked to us, told us about "Eddie Walker" before he played it, and we sang part of Effington. And he did Jesusland, which always makes me smile because that song is epic.

A couple more songs, and he told us about his new album, which will come out in March maybe. He said his goal is to wrap up in November, and then three months of kissing ass and then it's released. And the ass-kissing is the best part. xD I didn't catch the name of the first of the new songs but the second he played is called "Levi Johnston's Blues" - and it tells a story about the kid who knocked up Bristol Palin.

Then he got Kate to come back out on the stage, and they sang together. Ben sang some song about Kate in her red dress, and then they sang together. And then they did "You Don't Know Me" and Kate sang Regina Spektor's part. Ben also brought out two of his cameras because he's been doing a photoshoot of Kate's tour with him, crazy stuff like the excellent to the bad, &c.

After Kate left the stage a second time Ben did "Kate" and "Still Fighting It". And then "Bastard". Before he started playing "Bastard", though, he got up and told us that he doesn't do this song live very often, and he's done this five-part harmony thing once before with not-so great results, but since we'd been singing so well he thought he'd try it again. So he did, and it went well. It was a lot of fun! "Bastard" is one of my favourite songs by him, so I was excited he played it - he didn't in Fayetteville OR Chicago.

Then, he played a few more songs and then told us that he tried to go to this one place for breakfast but the line was too long, so they went somewhere else. And he noticed that nothing was open. So he did an ad-libbed/bullshitted song about how nothing is open on Sunday in Wichita, and as a result I decided to call it "Sunday in Wichita" for lack of anything else to call it. It was pretty funny.

He played "Dr. Yang", which he said he wasn't sure worked on just piano, but I think it turned out all right anyways. And then he did a piano cover of "Such Great Heights", which was really good! And, let's be honest, that I'm saying that is worth something because that song tends to annoy me for being overplayed.

For "Not The Same", he added a fourth soprano part to the three-part harmony, and as we were doing it before he started playing the song some people were off, and he said, "Stop fucking it up!" And then he played the song, telling us that he'd try to help the fourth soprano part remember their notes. After this, he left the stage. And everyone was going crazy, to get him back on the stage.

So he came back and did "The Luckiest", "Army" and "Rockin' The Suburbs" for an encore.

I tried to find him afterwards to get a victory picture. --Wait, what? Okay, it's like this. I tweeted to him that I planned to find him and challenge him to a piano duel, and he replied and said that his soundman could beat him in a piano duel so I might have to take him on instead. Someone who I've become friends with through Twitter because we're both Folds fans (among other things) told me that I should get a victory picture because I won the duel. xD

But I didn't find him, and then security was like "IF YOU'RE NOT BUYING SHIT LEAVE" so I had to leave and drive home. Also, I ended up with like 30 ass shots of Ben, but that's just what happened because that's where I was in the audience and I'm short.

The end.

( set list and pics under cut )

Tags: i fucking love this, music, squee, travel

BPAL's Yule update is live, and omggg... Some of these sound frakking amazing. Also the Miskatonic Valley Yuletide Faire.

But Men Loved Darkness Rather Than Light: Cistus labdanum, ginger, East Indian patchouli, pimento berry, oakmoss, saffron, smoky vanilla, sage, myrrh, and bitter clove.
Ded Moroz: Golden amber, white amber, redwood, teak, bois du rose, sage, tree moss, and snow.
Diable En Boîte: A strangely sinister, unnerving holiday scent: redwood, bitter clove, tonka, hemp accord, and tobacco with peach blossom, black currant, and red musk.
Hypothermia: Bone-chilling, heart-stopping cold.
On Darkness 2009: Black poppy, lavender, thick black incense, black amber, rose geranium, Brazilian rosewood, and benzoin.
The Season Of Ghosts: Bergamot, frankincense, rose geranium, ginger, lemongrass, and blood orange.
Sol Invictus 2009: Golden amber, saffron, heliotrope, hibiscus, citron, frangipani, frankincense, tangerine, mock orange, and orange blossom.
Mother Shub's Pfancy Pfefferneusse: Sugar-sprinkled pepper nuts with a bit of cinnamon, a bit of clove, a little cardamom, and a hint of nutmeg.
Old Man Ackerman's Instructional Toys: Educational toys for tots! Learn non-Euclidean calculus, catoptric theory, quantum physics, and the mysteries of Elder magic the fun way! An ancient baetylus floating within an array of bizarre trapezoidal figures, glimmering tubes, rusting spheres, and whirling gogs formed from peculiar metals, glowing tektites, strangely suspended lead mirrors, and eerie driftings of meteoric dust.

Season of Ghosts and Sol Invictus, I really want to try but I'm a little worried because they both have frankincense, which typically turns into that artificial-baby-powder scent on me, and DNW. But omggg, they're so promising otherwise!

lawls. WHY DID I SIGN UP FOR THEIR EMAIL UPDATES? IT MAKES ME WANT TO SPEND MONEY I DON'T HAVE, FML.
Maybe if I can set back enough by Christmas...

Tags: bpal

To the first... That answer depends on whether I could go back in time or not. Guessing not... idk really. And does it specifically have to be someone from my past? Because. Yeah.

To the second? Everyone.

Tags: final words, regret, sorry, writer's block

If we book the Holiday Inn San Diego-On the Bay, it'll be just under $300 a person for the 6 nights. This includes the base room rate, the $10-a-person-per-night for #s 3 and 4, parking and tax (based on what the Holiday Inn website says it is).

I plan on booking in December. If we can afford to do it before then, then I absolutely will book before then.

I'd toss out a guess to plan on spending $100 a day on food - I know it may not cost this much (especially if we bring our own breakfast or the hotel has free continental), but better to plan too much. And whatever you want to bring for shopping.

I personally am planning on this being around a $1500-1800 trip for me - this is registration, hotel, food, gas, and shopping expenses for me.

On the website we can secure the low rate by booking and paying ahead of time - there is possibly an option for not, but idk if the low rate is locked in doing it that way or not. We'll find out, haha.

Just let me know how whatever sounds! XD


ETA: On the Holiday Inn Express website, it says that taxi fare from the hotel to the convention center is ~$8. Just to toss that out. xD

Well, this is so far not an EPIC BAD Monday like last week. It's actually improved.

The vet's office called while I was in capital punishment and left me a voicemail, so I called back when I got out of class. Her ears are pretty bad still, so they're going to give me treatment for that to give her. They're going to do blood tests for feline leukemia and FIV and all that, since I don't know her vaccination/testing history.

And she may have food allergies. That figures.

I'll find out for sure what's up when I pick her up after class. Hopefully she will not be too grumpy at me, and hopefully whatever the issue is, it will be easy to resolve.


I'm more awake now. I've been up almost four hours, so I've had time to actually become cognizant rather than awake but not fully awake. xD

And as for hungry? I got a wee bag of chips out of the vending machine after class, I will eat them soon. And I will have tuna salad when I get home.

Today is shaping up to be a Monday of epic proportion, it seems.

Had to take Romana to the vet because she's been throwing up since Thursday evening (except for Saturday) and hasn't been eating as much as usual. That's a $100 deposit right there. Hope it won't cost much/any more than that. D:

Still fucking exhausted. I feel like I haven't slept in several days. I have - I've generally been getting 6 to 8 hours a night, but it still doesn't feel like enough.

I am completely broke until the 23rd, and was before the deposit at the vet. (Hoping that they can take credit card information over the phone, so I don't end up overdrawn.)

I actually made it to class on time, which is good. But we had a quiz today, and I think I have a quiz in psych of learning - and I'm completely unprepared for it.

I didn't eat this morning because I had to take Romana in, so I'm ridiculously hungry and can't eat.

Is this week over yet? D:

All right. I don't know what happened but LJ ate the entry I made originally.

Currently we're looking at 7 of us meeting up for ComicCon. 6 in the hotel:
Me (mana_katana)
Casey (thehazelbelle)
Pip (pippie_poppins)
Dana (kinetic1028)
Cory (cory1313), and her friend

Xav (xaverie) is meeting up with us there.

I need to know how many of the potential hotel-stayers are actually coming and whether you still want to stay in the hotel with us.
My plan is to book the hotel in the middle of December, and I will need half of the hotel cost at that point as I'm not sure if I'll be charged when I book or in July.

If there's anything else that needs to be mentioned, post it here!

It all came in yesterday. XD

Lord Ruthven: The father of all dandy aristocrat vampires: Aqua Admirabilis with polished boot leather and blood.
Sarah: Unholy mist congealing into soft, white flesh, with black marble, remnants of liturgical incense, wolf's fur, and black flecks of froth.

Imps:
Al-Shairan: His scent is fiery, bright and thick with sweet sinfulness: clove, peach and orange with cinnamon, patchouli and dark incense notes.
The Apothecary: Tea leaf with three mosses, green grass, a medley of herbal notes, and a drop of ginger and fig.
Baobhan Sith: Grapefruit, white tea, apple blossom and ginger.
Dragon's Blood: Powerful, commanding, blazing with strength.
Mad Hatter: A gentlemen's lavender-citron cologne unhinged by the feral pungence of black musk and a paroxysm of pennyroyal.
Midnight: Evening primrose, ruellia, flowering nicotiana, wild petunia, panani-o-kai, night phlox, night gladiolus, moonflower and the elusive scent of Nottingham Catchfly.
Pain: Wicked and vicious! A sharp, cruel blend of lavender and pennyroyal.
Scherezade: A master storyteller who possessed unfailing courage and compassion, a sharp, quick wit, and a true understanding of human nature. Saffron and Middle Eastern spices swirled through sensual red musk.
The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil: Whiffs of cinnamon bark, almond, and spikenard surround a perfect fruit, whose scent is akin to a tamarind, with the grace of a fine grape, as warm and rich as a fresh fig, glistening red like pomegranate seeds, and as crisp as an apple.
Veil: White sandalwood, lilac, gardenia, violet, orris, lavender and ylang ylang.
Yemaya: Her ofrenda is a bounty of melons and grapes, strewn with the petals of the flowers of motherhood, draped with sea mosses.
Zombi: Dried roses, rose leaf, Spanish moss, oakmoss and deep brown earth.


And they smell amazing! Except Midnight doesn't really smell like anything to me. Weird.

Tags: bpal

... and not post my mobile post.

Basically, it's this. we watched a DVD titled "The Third Jihad" in terrorism yesterday, and I borrowed it from Dr. H because it'll be useful for my research paper in that class. Brought it back to him today, we talked for a few minutes about various sources I might check out, etc. And I told him that I was glad that we had 15+ pages because I can't do short research papers. He mentioned that he'd had papers that were 50, 60 pages long in the past...

... so I basically just got the go-ahead to make my paper as damn long as it needs to be. Nice!

location: United States, Canyon
mood: geeky

I am so much not feeling class right now it isn't even funny. I'm just ready to go back to Texarkana, have my appointment in the morning and get my tattoo finished. Tomorrow! I hope Neil Gaiman will like it once it's complete.

Working on both of my research papers now. I have to have a rough outline for the one for Terrorism on Tuesday. I'm going to have a shit ton of articles to go through to narrow things down. O_O

I would write more but class starts in ten minutes and my mouse is going crazy and clicking things when I'm not even touching it. So... yeah.

Cheers!

location: United States, Canyon
mood: bored
music: Ben Folds Five - Hospital Song

Pretty sure it's Ben Folds - Jesusland

But it could be anything, really.

Tags: writer's block

Ordered some BPAL today. Wanted to get the limited editions before I run out of time. Literary Vampire ftw!

5mls:
Lord Ruthven: The father of all dandy aristocrat vampires: Aqua Admirabilis with polished boot leather and blood.
Sarah: Unholy mist congealing into soft, white flesh, with black marble, remnants of liturgical incense, wolf's fur, and black flecks of froth.

Imps:
The Apothecary: Tea leaf with three mosses, green grass, a medley of herbal notes, and a drop of ginger and fig.
Mad Hatter: A gentlemen's lavender-citron cologne unhinged by the feral pungence of black musk and a paroxysm of pennyroyal.
Pain: Wicked and vicious! A sharp, cruel blend of lavender and pennyroyal.
Scherezade: A master storyteller who possessed unfailing courage and compassion, a sharp, quick wit, and a true understanding of human nature. Saffron and Middle Eastern spices swirled through sensual red musk.
The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil: Whiffs of cinnamon bark, almond, and spikenard surround a perfect fruit, whose scent is akin to a tamarind, with the grace of a fine grape, as warm and rich as a fresh fig, glistening red like pomegranate seeds, and as crisp as an apple.
Zombi: Dried roses, rose leaf, Spanish moss, oakmoss and deep brown earth.


Also, I want to order The Hell-Gate of Ireland but I forgot to do it. Maybe if I have spare money before it's done.

The Hell-Gate of Ireland: Smoldering brimstone, bitter labdanum, clove, black musk, and copper-colored feathers.

Tags: bpal

I found out earlier today that Ben Bright, a friend of mine, and Clint Brown, who I went to church with, died in a car wreck Thursday evening.

I honestly didn't know Clint that well because he's my brother's age -- I really didn't ever see him much once I got to the youth group and beyond, and prior to that there just wasn't a lot of interaction between the youth group kids and the younger ones. I've known the family nearly my entire life, though.

I didn't know Ben until around the time I graduated high school, and we were friends. I hadn't talked to him in some months - I don't even know why, lost his phone number or something. But on Thursday I, like, woke up thinking about him and couldn't shake it most of the day - I wondered how he was doing, what he'd been up to lately, that kind of thing. Now I'm wondering if that wasn't a clue that something was going to happen.

I was already in Fort Worth because I'd gone to see Depeche Mode last night in Dallas and elise_the_great let me crash with her. So I emailed my teachers whose classes I have tomorrow and drove to Texarkana because the funerals are tomorrow. On the way in, I drove through a bit of rain and after I came out of it I saw a rainbow. I wonder if God put it there as a sign that He's carried them safely to heaven.

So... I don't know how many of you are the praying type of person - but if you are, please keep the families of Ben and Clint in your prayers. May they rest in peace.

mood: melancholy

So I'm officially moved in, though technically I don't live in my flat until tomorrow. They'd written the dates differently on the paperwork they gave me vs what they had in theirs, and according to all of their paperwork I'm not scheduled to move in until tomorrow.

But. They cleaned the apartment for me to move in at 3 today. And Katie, Casey, Ashley and Addie came to help me move - and for that I am quite grateful. It only took us about 3 hours to move me in and get most of my stuff unpacked. I still have to shelve my books and DVDs and unpack my suitcases and set up my desk but all of those are things that I'm picky about and nobody wanted to do it wrong. xD

Also. Get ready to laugh. Do you know what I forgot? MY PILLOWS. OF ALL THINGS I COULD HAVE POSSIBLY FORGOTTEN. MY PILLOWS. GODDAMN. But, you know, one of them was ancient anyways. So we just bought me two new pillows. They were like $13. And they're soft. So, not bad, I say.

Uhm. Will post pics whenever I get internet. AT&T was dumdums and sent my equipment to my new address like a week ago and the apartment manager didn't recognize my name and sent it back. So I have to call AT&T back tomorrow and tell them they need to re-send it. But whatever.

The gas company is being kind of bitches about my gas. So I have no gas - idk if it's my hot water or my heat that's gas, but I'm honestly edging to the point that OMG, I just want to say fuck it and not even get it. I just find it irritating. They told me today that they're coming up with NOTHING AT ALL when they put in my SSN in the system, which frankly is bullshit. I'm a taxpayer, I have bank accounts, I have credit in some form or another. You can't tell me there isn't shit on me when you put in my number.

That aside, though. Everything is good in my flat. My windows face south, which is nice - means I won't get the west sun. I'm on the southeast corner of my building. My parking is covered, and it's like right across the aisle from my flat. There are also guest parking spots right near my apartment, so if I have anyone over it won't be a problem.

Anyways.

So I'm on the road to Amarillo. I won't have gas when I move into my flat tomorrow, not unless we put it in Mum's name. Lame.

WHY IS REMEMBERING WHAT YOU NEED TO PACK SO DIFFICULT?

D:

music: Depeche Mode - New Life | Powered by Last.fm

TODAY IS PACKING DAY. FML.

I have to find my big suitcase and the packing tape and put boxes together.

Luckily, I'm pretty quick with the packing so it shouldn't take me too long... but I'll be afk for a while, until I complete the tasks I set out for myself.



ALSO, MARGARITAS TONIGHT. IT'S KATIE'S BIRTHDAY.

I've had strangers offer to buy me a drink, but I have this thing where I don't accept drinks from people I don't know - even if I get the drink directly from the bartender. Likewise, I've never bought a drink for someone I don't know.

I guess because the connotation of buying someone a drink I've come to understand usually trends towards jumping into bed together later, and I don't do that. So I don't take drinks from people I don't know. I've let a couple of people I am friends with buy me drinks, but usually I just buy my own.

Tags: writer's block