Princess Sparklefists

Usually about a couple weeks from the end of an academic term (quarter, semester, whatever) I get overwhelmed by and/or stop caring about school and end up reading tons of YA novels and marathoning TV or anime. Now as a general rule I watch too much TV—it is my grad school procrastination tool of choice—but lately I am taking that to a whole new extreme.

d4ni kept talking about how great Legend of the Seeker is, and I was kind of "oh, whatever, it's just some syndicated swords and sorcery thing." And then I finally watched some. I thought the first episode was okay but a tad cheesy, and then I watched the second and OMG THIS SHOW IS SO AMAZING. I'm almost completely caught up on seasons 1 and 2 in only a week and a half because I just can't stop. It somehow has the absolutely perfect combo of magic, sword fights, hot people, bamfy women, pretty scenery, CRACK, and actual good vs. evil plottiness. And the fandom is full of frivolity and femslash and more crack.

My icon right there *points up* is Kahlan from LotS. She's a Confessor, which basically means she can kill you with her brain, or alternately her daggers, and she's on a mission to help the eponymous Seeker defeat the big baddie who's terrorizing New Zealand the Midlands.

You should all go watch! Really! Here are 10 good reasons to watch Legend of the Seeker and then I will shut up about it... for now.

This is an exciting week, because everything is new! First there was Chuck and ( spoiler ) Then there was Bones and Fringe finally returning from hiatus last night. I tried to watch, but the Princess had a friend over and they were talking really loud (in the same room) and watching YouTube videos, so I couldn't completely follow what was going on in Bones, and I just gave up on Fringe. Bones made me laugh though, cause the crime was in the Metro system, you know, the one my mother thinks I should write a book about. I wonder if the mysterious Rock Creek Metro station is like the Tube stations in Neverwhere.

As if that were not enough, there is new Ashes to Ashes tonight and new Doctor Who tomorrow. I've been totally out of the loop Whoniverse wise, but I saw a couple of the recent trailers and the episode synopses from the Radio Times, and now I'm excited for it! And to top it off, I've got two more episodes of Caprica to catch on Hulu and all of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has suddenly become available on Netflix instant play.

I am never going to get any schoolwork done. Ever.

A friend and former roommate of mine from college is in town for a law internship. I haven't seen her since graduation since she's been in South Bend and I've been... everywhere. We met up today and went to the National Zoo, where I finally got to see the famous pandas. ("Look at me! I'm a cute panda! I'm taking a nap!") Lots of the animals were napping, cause, hey, sunny afternoon, but we did see some that were more active, including two orangutans trying to bite each other and a cheetah digging into a meaty bone.

After the zoo we had a late lunch, and opted to sit outside, since it was pretty much perfect weather for it. Then we wandered around Kalorama and checked out some of the nice houses we'll never be able to afford to live in. (I'm going to be a librarian, after all, and she wants to work for the federal government.) It was great being able to catch up, and we both got to explore the city a little bit. Since she'll be here through July we're hoping to find some other fun weekend stuff to do.

I'm pretty wiped now. All the walking made my legs pretty tired, but hopefully I can get in at least a short bike ride tomorrow. Then I think maybe it's a reading day. And in four more days I'm head to Kansas City for a long weekend! :D

I came home tonight and turned on the local news, which I normally don't do, but I guess I should take advantage of the TV while I still can, eh?* Apparently there is absolute nothing happening in D.C. right now besides Inaugural Preparations. I heard all about Inaugural bridge closings, Inaugural Metro schedules, Inaugural port-a-potties, Inaugural weather, Inaugural balls, Inaugural traffic advisories... The anchor also read out comments from poster to the station's online forum, one of whom insisted that they should get over Barack Obama, who is a lying liar what lies, so what if he's black, and report some news. To the other extreme, someone said he'd be as devoted to getting downtown on Tuesday as the Governator was to killing Sarah Connor.

OMG YOU GUYS, BARACK OBAMA!

Also, they had a doctor on giving out great advice, like wear warm clothes cause it's supposed to be frakkin' cold. People with chronic illnesses were advised to stay home. As I shall, local TV doctor guy. As I shall.**

This morning I was listening to one of the local hip-hop stations, which is not my usual musical genre of choice, but they actual play music in the morning instead of making me listen to obnoxious morning show hosts. They had a commercial advertising the "illest party of the year" hosted next Tuesday by Barack Obama at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Joe Biden will DJ. Contact Governor Blagojevich for tickets, because he will sell you anything you want.

It's pretty crazy (in a good way) how excited people are about the Inauguration. It's actually cool. That's just amazing. It's not just the politically inclined who're excited, it's everybody. It really is a big party. :D



*I applied for a digital converter box voucher, but there's a waiting list cause the government ran out of money for the program. So it looks no TV for awhile after February 17. I'm certainly too cheap to just go out and buy the thing just so I don't miss out on more local news.

**My TV will still work then. And local news let us know about their all day coverage.