Princess Sparklefists

So did you all notice that we're already more than a month into 2011? I'm not entirely sure how that happened. Valentine's Day is coming up soon, and a friend and I have decided to celebrate by inviting some other single friends over to eat pizza and watch action movies. Because nothing says Valentine's Day like exploding cars! :)

I've been watching A LOT of Buffy and Angel lately. I'm midway through seasons 5 and 2. I've really started to like Spike. In season 2, I didn't really get it why he was so popular, but I get it now. Mostly he's amazingly snarky, which is a great contrast from the frequent broodiness of the Buffyverse. Spike being forced to live with Giles and Xander last season was awesome, as are this season's Spike flashbacks. (Floppy hair! Hee.) Anya and Cordelia have also both become surprisingly fun, though I don't really get the point of Tara. She's... boring.

Unrelated, but how weird is it that it keeps snowing in the south? Actually, I feel like it just keeps snowing everywhere that isn't here. We did have one small storm, but that's it. Of course, that was enough to knock out the power at my house for two days—and we were some of the lucky ones that didn't have to wait four days. We did have heat, thanks to the next door neighbor's generator, and a nice outdoor refrigerator. Still, it was annoying.

I'm reading another terrible YA novel. If I manage to actually finish it (I think it is more horrible than The Eternal Ones) you can expect a review of Tiger's Curse to follow.

Today President Obama pardoned a turkey, a presidential tradition that made for a great Thanksgiving plot on The West Wing, with the help of daughters Sasha and Malia. I think my favorite moment is when he says "There are days when I'm reminded why I ran for this office ... and then there are days like this, when you pardon a turkey and send it Disneyland." :)

I hope everyone's enjoyed their first day of 2009. :)

Mine's been pretty slow. Last night I went to a party, so I slept in the morning. Then I spent the rest of the day doing important things like reading Georgette Heyer and switching out most of my LJ icons. My dad made stuffed shells for dinner, which were much yummier than sauerkraut.

CD101, my favorite Columbus radio station, has started their annual countdown of the most requested songs in the station's history. If you like alternative rock, I highly recommend it for the unique mix of songs. I always hear something amazing and unexpected. If you don't live in Columbus, never fear! You can listen live online.

Tomorrow it my last day of vacation, and there's so much to do. Clothes to pack, errands to run, "The Mind of Evil" to finish. And right now I think I need more Christmas cookies.

ETA: Guys, I have an important question. In addition to the books I've read list that's been chilling on my desktop all year, I've got a to-read list. Should I start that over for 2009 as well? I'm torn. On one hand, I want to read all the books ever, so I'll never actually finish the list if I don't purge it once in awhile. On the other hand, I made the list so I can remember titles, and if I purge the list I'll... forget. I can't decide!

ETA 2: Kit asked to see the list. ( Here it is. )

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade just Rickrolled the nation. That is all.

I hope everyone's enjoying the day off! (Well, the Americans and Canadians at least. Sorry, rest of the world.) Of course, the semester hasn't started and I'm unemployed, so technically my day off is just like every other day. :)

It's sunny and gorgeous, so I went for a bike ride. Eleven miles, and I don't feel like passing out! Woo, I'm getting better!! The trail was super busy because, of course, it's gorgeous outside and no one is at work.

I've got the day off from work and no big plans. Everyone I know is out of town, so I'm just hanging out by myself. It's nice and sunny, so I might go to the pool, and I've got a burger, corn on the cob, and watermelon for dinner. Yum!

For those of you where unaware, yesterday was my most favorite math-related holiday: Pi Day. (Are there other math related holidays?) March 14... 3/14... 3.14... get it?! I was introduced to the glories of Pi Day by my high school math department. None of my teachers ever gave special Pi Day assignments, but some did. My brother once had to write a poem about pi. Although I don't in general approve of having your older sister do you homework for you, I decided to help him out since it was a truly stupid assignment. (The poem is also truly stupid :D )

( Poem under the cut )

Yesterday is also to date of another amazing imaginary holiday: The Eve of the Ides of March. *cue spooky music* The Eve of the Ides of March is very simple. The Ides of March is March 15 (Today! Happy Ides of March!), so March 14 is your (or Caesar's) last chance to seriously beware. Gotta take those warnings seriously.

But the best holiday of all? March 14 is also my birthday! Unfortunately I had to get up early and go to work, as usual, but to make up for it I took a nice afternoon nap. (I'm old and frail now; I can take naps when I want to!) I got birthday cards from my Dad and my Grandma in Columbus and a package from my Mom in Phoenix. She wrote "Happy Birthday!" all over the priority mail box, just in case I couldn't tell what the package was. I opened it an found a darned pair of socks (mine), a book she already read (I Capture the Castle), and a CD she already burned for herself (Sara Bareilles). The "real" present, two cute new spring shirts, she hid under the other random goodies. Danielle bought me a toy sonic screwdriver, which is kind of awesome and hilarious. :D

A group of us went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City in the afternoon. It's not a huge museum, but there were some good things to see. I found a painting of St. Jerome--I apparently have a good eye for him, because I always pick him out immediately in every art museum. The impressionists are my personal favorite painters, and they had a few good paintings. Unfortunately the only Renoir wasn't hanging. :( We had homemade pizza for dinner and Cold Stone ice cream for dessert--calorie ridden, but oh so delicious. In the evening I was really tired, so we came back home and watched Marie Antoinette, which I really enjoy. So all in all, it was a good day.

I originally didn't think that coming home for Thanksgiving would fit into my plans for the semester, mostly because flights from Montreal to Columbus are pretty expensive, and partly because I'd have to miss several days of class. But at the last minute, I decided to do it anyway!

I was quite proud of myself for successfully navigating the public transit system to make it out to the airport (one metro train and two buses), which saved me the 40 dollar cab fare. I could've done without, er, lugging my luggage up and down the stairs at the metro, but I lived through it.  My flights were on time and unextraordinary, which is just the way I like it. Rachel came to pick me up from the airport, and she brought Murray! He was a little bit more interested in sticking his head out the window than in me, but oh well. He's a dog, he can't resist an open car window.

Yesterday Rachel and I made pecan pies, and I tried to make pie crust. I say tried because my crust was a dismal failure. I've only made pie crust once, one year ago, and I was supervised. I think I also used  a different recipe, because last year I used a food processor, but this time I used a mixer. At any rate, the crust was all crumbly. I finally was able to roll it out, but then it just fell apart again when I tried to put it in the pie plate. Oh well. One of these days I'll get better at baking. At least the pie filling turned out right! Pecan pie is great. Almost all the ingredients are some kind of sugar. Mmmm...

I can never talk about pecan pie without thinking of the movie When Harry Met Sally. "Waiter, there is too much pepper in my paprikash, but I would be proud to partake of you pecan pie!" It cracks me up and drive Rachel nuts. So basically, a win-win situation. For me.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, of course. Grandma, predictably, kept trying to get us to eat more food. Haven't had potatoes? You should have some potatoes! Do you need another roll? Have you had any vegetables yet? Fortunately, eating lots of food isn't a problem when all the food tastes great.

After dinner we visited with family, then I went with Rachel to her boyfriend's house. We all played Goldeneye on N64 on Phil's gigantic TV (it's seriously the biggest TV I've ever seen--Phil said it's 63 inches). I'm awful at video games. I think I lost almost every single round, but I did manage to kill Bond (Phil) once by slapping him. Who needs weapons?

It's so good to be back here. Dad asked me on Wednesday night whether it was weird being here, and I was a little bit surprised to find that it's not. It feels... normal. Which is strange, since I haven't actually lived here at any point in the last four years. Which is nothing against where I'm living now, because I really like it there too. I'm here until Monday, so I've got the rest of the weekend to relax a bit and maybe even do some shopping. School? What's that?