Until the Stars Are All Alight

So I participated in a secret santa over on beyond_dapper. And today was a bad day. And I don't know what possessed me, but I made a video of myself opening my presents.


So yeah. That's me. =)

Evidently, I am not as sneaky as I thought, and the whole office knows that Cody and I are not together.

On the bright side I took down the wedding pictures that have been on my desk this whole time. I am debating on how childish it might be to replace them with a picture of Darren. (Yeah, the eye candy would be nice, but that's probably not going to happen considering I already get teased a bit for my fannishness. Then again there's one girl there who has a frekaing JUSTIN BIEBER calendar so I don't know that anyone would have any room to say anything.)

Is it weird that I'm already mentally planning my NEXT wedding the same way I did the first one--you know, when it's lightyears before I've even met anyone?

Due to the nature of my work, I run into a LOT of names. I actually message my boss some of the funnier--by which I mean sexual--ones. We always get a giggle working the account for Mr. Butts. Or Biggerstaff, which is funny, Harry Potter reference aside--I can never bring myself to actually SAY that one.

But then yesterday I had a weird string of fandom-y names.

First was Carol Hudson. Lol, Finn's mom.

Then Richard Taylor, which doesn't sound like much unless you're like me and watched a metric butt-ton of the LotR documentaries--he's the leader of Weta Workshop, the company that did the special effects. (The fact that this sticks in my head even though it's been forever and ever since I've rewatched any of said documentaries...I don't know what to make of that, really. Not sure if it speaks to my mental faculties or my nerdishness.)

But best for last? I saw a Sarah Haggins. And I just lol'd and lol'd and lol'd to myself. One letter. One tiny letter. XD

It's official; I WILL be seeing Darren Criss live in concert at Six Flags St. Louis on July 21st. (I doubt anyone else here is; if so let me know because that would be kind of epic!)

It's going to be a helluva crazy day week. I'll be leaving work at noon that day and I'll have to go to work the following day, and I have to make up all four of the hours I'm missing. This is going to involve fifteen-minute lunch "hours" all week and coming in early 2-4 days, depending on when the bosses arrive to work in the morning (staying late is not an option, grumble grumble).

I may well be going to work on that Friday on no sleep.

WORTH IT.

No idea if he'll be doing autographs or anything, I will be taking as much video as I can (I'll need to dump everything on my iPhone between now and then; honestly it takes much better pics/vid than my digital camera, which is starting to show its age). I'll be taking something to get signed just in case. I bought pink sunglasses, lol.

If I could find a Dalton tie for stupid cheap (the cheapest I've seen is $15+shipping) I would very seriously consider going go in halfass Warbler cosplay. (I have a white button-down and gray pants; I think I could get away with skipping the jacket considering we're going to be outside and a concert would be "off campus." Lol.) I need to check the thrift stores on that--the actual stores seem to be fond of a very similar pattern that also has a thin white stripe which just won't work at all. =P

What all this means to my family is another post that is brewing. =/

There's a parking lot that I pass on my way to work, with a sign: ALL PARKING SPACES RESERVED. And I wonder to myself why the entire lot is so shy. They look like perfectly respectable parking spaces to me. (I know, I know, but it amuses me. I won't be going into standup anytime soon, lol.)

Also, the other day, I had to call someone from work, and got their voicemail (happens a lot, I could recite the message we have to give in my sleep). One person said "You've reached -phone number.-" Then two or three people chorused together: "SPEEEEEEEEAK!" Random Rent reference made my day! =D

So I have Klaine rolling around in my head a lot (I'm on the Klaine Train, I've been Klainewashed, I am a Klaineiac...love this fandom, no lie), and I ran across another reference to "Kurt loves scarves, I love Kurt" (a fandom thing, which stemmed from the canon line "Well, Blaine loves football...I love scarves"), and this old Sesame Street song popped into my head:


And now I kind of want Kurt and Blaine to sing it. For the lulz. (Not as a competition piece, but just, as a weekly assignment song or as a goofing around thing.) I am torn as to which of them should take which part, though--at first I was thinking Kurt for Bert, because lol the name and also Kurt is the more uptight of the two...but...BLAINE'S TRIANGLE EYEBROWS. IT'S THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO MOCK THEM MORE. BECAUSE WE LOVE THEM.

Sesame Street's owners, though, seem...unlikely to let that shit fly, I would think. At least in canon. (Fanvid, anyone?)

I love snow. I don't love cleaning off my car in the mornings, or missing work. =(


( Memes. )


The website is just about half-built--I have one last piece of writing to put up, and I'm putting it off because it's epic long and I'm rereading everything as I post it. (I quite enjoyed reading one particular Digimon fanfic that I flat forgot I wrote. I remembered the story as having two chapters, but I thought the events of the first chapter were just split in half between them. Nope. Chapter two was three years later. Totally forgot about everything that had happened in chapter two. Kinda remembered as I was going along.)

Then to tackle art. I think there will be some sorting done; I'm not entirely sure I even want to post anything that's a colored-pencil drawing on paper, but that means I'll have precious little art to post until I, well, make more. On the other hand I could have a "this is really old and sucky don't look" page and then have more emphasis on newer stuff. (I have tinkered around with my colored pencil pics and it wouldn't be impossible to recolor, where the lineart is good, and I may with some of the ones that still mean a lot to me.)

Not sure when the site will actually go live; I have to buy a domain, yet, and frankly we're broke. I had been thinking I'd be able to do it this payday but this damn snow has screwed us out of several days of wages because neither of us can drive on it. Blergh.

On the creative front, I've committed myself to helping research an Animorphs-themed infographic--they've asked people to reread books and take down the number of times different things pop up, and I was rereading some of the end-of-series books anyway because I'm also wanting to write an alternate-ending fanfic. I've also committed to writing a character in a sort of Round-Robin kind of fic, also based on Animorphs--I've gotten fairly involved in the animorphs community here and I see these awesome projects being proposed. =D Oh, and they just announced the second fanart/fanfic competition and I'm going to try and enter that, but not sure if the inspiration is striking. (Yet? I don't even know if I'd rather write or draw...) And there's actually one other fanfic idea brewing but it would involve even more rereading and I think I want to get some of this other stuff out of the way before I think about it too much.

Also I've been sketching a lot, at work on my breaks instead of reading. Mostly trying to hash out a new character design--I finally got one I liked--for some original stuff, but the whole thing has a long way to go, so I don't want to say too much. Long story short, I'm taking a character I originally created for RP purposes and since she's the only thing that's really mine I'm having to recreate everything else around her. Not sure how much of the plot I want/will be able to reuse, but not sure yet where else, exactly, she'll make sense. (This also renders my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel--I won, thankyouverymuch--so many pages of wasted effort. But I'm going to try again this year.)

And I was looking at a couple of fanfics I had in-progress (trying to keep everything backed up, considering that the computer-grinding has gotten worse) and am now considering the idea that maybe some of these plotlines needn't be tied to a fandom--ie, it's a good idea by itself and I could probably execute it with all original characters. Needs moar mulling over, though.

TL;DR--going through creative upheaval, which kind of sucks, but is also kind of great considering how long it's been since I've really been creative.

In other news, I found out how one goes about making non-square-based tiled images, and I kind of did a mental facepalm when I read it. Then I proceeded to make myself a tiling desktop wallpaper. =)

Ugh. Just checked the road conditions map of Arkansas, and there's not a single piece in the entire state showing "clear." Epic.

Okay then. Going to bed.

I'm not sure why I've had this love/hate thing going on with LJ recently.

A while ago, I moved most of the crap that I follow via RSS (lolcats, GraphJam, comics, etc) to Google Reader, which I love--it'll archive everything until I FEEL like reading it, and will keep track of what I have and haven't read and is just altogether much better for someone as OCD as I am. (Also, I can pick and choose what to read--if I want to look at lolcats and don't have it in me to see what they're mocking on Pundit Kitchen, or want to only read about sucky/funny customers but don't feel like seeing what offbeat brides are up to, I have that option.) There's about two more RSS feeds that I can and probably will move soon.

Theoretically, only having actual posts by actual people on LJ (and therefore having much less to read even if I don't check it every day) was supposed to make it easier to do. But no.

I just joined a new (and apparently quite active) community on here, of Animorphs fans, with a weekly reread, and I think that'll poke me to get over here more often.

But the thing of it is, even if I do get better about reading what everyone else is up to (and please, if there's anything I should know about/read do tell me/link me; if I didn't comment on something major it's a safe bet I've missed it), I don't really know what to post anymore. I feel like my Facebook status updates cover everything worth sharing, lol.

I'm using Twitter to update Facebook now, since Facebook doesn't support my new cell provider and Twitter does. However, if I'm at the computer I'll also update Facebook that way, so if you only follow my Twitter you're going to miss updates. And I don't ever actually go to Twitter. I could have fifty kajillion comments over there for all I know. People I don't know are following me and I have no idea why. I just don't really "get" the concept of Twitter as a social networking sort of thing; it's basically Facebook or even MySpace stripped down to nothing but status updates, and I don't see what Facebook was doing so terribly. (MySpace got a lot less interesting once it started trying to be Facebook, lol. I do wish you could customize your layout and such on Facebook, but at the same time it's nice because you don't have to see what kind of juvenile crap people will put on their pages given the opportunity. Your background is a bleeding heart with a knife in it, really? YOU'RE FOURTEEN. STFU.)

People keep asking me what I (and Cody) do all the time now that we're married. IDK. People seem to think that I magically have all this time to work on my creative outlets, but honestly, I barely have time to read. (I guess one could argue that I should spend less time on the internets, but usually, I'm doing something else while I'm doing that.) Part of it is not knowing where to start; I want to write AND draw, and I know I ought to start with finishing a chapter for my story with Michele, but I also kind of feel like I'm out of the groove and should write something less likely to be read by other people, lol, just in case it sucks.

Not to mention, I did finally clean out the Room 'o Doom, and Cody has his office/workspace/he hasn't really decided what to call it, but now there's like ten boxes in my office that need to be better stored/organized. And I don't really have the furniture or space to do it right.

Also, I'm toying with the idea of chopping some bangs into my hair, but I'm hesitant. I'm afraid I'll look like I did when I was 14, I'm afraid that the real reason I want to do it at all is that I can't dye my hair purple at my job, I'm afraid I'll burn myself when I try to flatiron them. Also, a woman I follow on YouTube just took the plunge and while it looks awesome on her I 'm kind of afraid of being accused of being a copycat, even though I had the idea before I saw hers. (I realize how silly this last one is, yes.) I'm irritated about the job thing, because it's due to the dress code. Most of the office wears jeans and t-shirts on a daily basis in direct violation of the written dress code, and me, who wears jeans maybe twice a week and generally dresses very well, can't color my hair a crazy color because it's "unprofessional." Nor can I wear a hat. I REALIZE THAT A BASEBALL CAP WOULD BE TACKY AND UNPROFESSIONAL BUT DAMMIT I JUST WANNA WEAR A CLASSY LITTLE BERET ON MY BAD HAIR DAYS GRAAAH GRR DIE. Okay I'm better now.

Speaking of Altering One's Appearance, I'm way more into makeup than I used to be (meaning I actually bother to put it on as often as not, and like learning new tricks, and makeup now qualifies as An Interest of Mine). I follow panacea81 and xsparkage on YouTube, and kinda want to try my hand at making makeup videos. The holdbacks there: editing is time-consuming, I'm not sure I could do anything as awesome as the people already doing it do, and I'm kind of afraid of comments to the effect of "fat cows shouldn't wear makeup u tard!" Yey trolls. At the same time, when I mentioned it on the Offbeat Bride forums, I got a lot of positive feedback (plz plz plz show me how to do X!). So if I went back and posted there I'd have some automatic followers.

IDK. I guess I'm just going through an unproductive phase. Maybe I should go back to school...nothing makes one as creative as having a paper to procrastinate on. Lol. Actually Cody and I are batting that idea around, too, though honestly he'd probably go first (no way we could BOTH go back right now). Since we're married, OUR incomes are the only ones that would count for anything on a FAFSA, unlike before when our parents would factor in.

Another thing we're talking about/halfassedly working towards is getting a house. The rent got jacked up when Cody moved in here and basically every time we pay the rent we get this feeling of "dammit, there's money we'll never see again. WASTE!" I think I'd be okay in a condo sort of situation (still more or less an apartment and still having a maintenance guy take care of all outdoor chores etc) but Cody wants a house and I don't strictly NOT want a house. He's promised to take care of, or pay someone to take care of, the yard work, which I don't want to mess with. (If I was in a house alone I'd be the crazy lady with the knee-high grass...) So we're saving. We're poking at real estate listings. But we haven't taken the concrete step of trying to get a loan. IDK. It's going to be a while before we move, lol.

I had more to say than I thought.

So yeah. Got married. Was awesome. Pictures here and here. =) (You don't have to be on Facebook, or my friend on Facebook, to view them with those links, but if you ARE on Facebook and want to add me, add me. =) ) It's kept me busy for a while (I'm still working on thank-you notes), and LJ will only archive your flist for two weeks, so...yeah, I hate to do this to you all, but I'm declaring LJ bankruptcy. I'm reading the entries made in the last two weeks, and beyond that, well, if I missed something amazingly stupendously huge/important in any of your lives, leave me a link to any/all relevant entries in comments on this entry. (I've been ignoring LJ for a while before the wedding as well, I know--I don't think I've really blogged about my job much at all. But then, I'm not really supposed to. =/ According to Facebook, I am a ninja, since I can't put the name of the place, lol.)

So before I go back to bed--

Er. Cody and I have differing schedules and he often wants to go to bed earlier than I do. So I get in bed with him and we snuggle. After he's fully out, I'm free to get back up and stay up as late as I please. This has actually resulted in me staying up until his alarm went off the next morning once or twice, lol. And tonight he went to bed at like 9:30 and I fell asleep too, and woke around like 12:30. I probably would've stayed in bed had I not needed to flatiron.

--anyway. I started a new job. Like going on three weeks ago, eep. Way to neglect LJ. I'm working for a collections agency. I have a desk again, joy!

Yes, I have seen names I recognized. No one here on LJ, lol, but still. (I probably shouldn't even say that. HIPPA and all, since most of our clients--ie the people not getting money from people--are doctors.)

Not that it matters--thus far my duties have been data entry and mail sorting, checking up on other people's work and taking payments. I'm not in charge of the decisions like ZOMG RAWR WE'RE GONNA SUE THIS DUDE FOR OUR MONEY BLARGLE BLARGLE BLAH.

Officially, I'm training for several positions, and may or may not be put into a particular niche later on. I'm indifferent, really. I have a desk and guaranteed hours and don't have to wear a uniform. =) (I think the dress code is pretty lax as far as these things go--I've seen people in jeans and t-shirts. I'm more worried about them bitching about my makeup, honestly.)

And wedding plans are still rolling. We're 54 days out. Holy crap. That's almost, but not quite, two months. Eep. Must order purple paper!

Oh, and RSVP fail, family. 4 replies out of 80 invites? WTF?

And in case I haven't said it around here, I am REALLY into makeup now. Like I actually bother to put it on damn near every day, unless I oversleep. I'm working on making video tutorials for YouTube--more on that later, when they actually are ready to go up. =)

Cody and I went out to the fair tonight. We didn't ride any rides because the tickets were stupid expensive--or at least they were once you realized that most of the good rides required 2-3 tickets to ride. (Seriously, $4.50 to ride the FERRIS WHEEL? I don't care if it WAS purchased from the Neverland Ranch like a year ago.) But we had a good time, and he won me a penguin. =) There was a woman who would guess your age or weight and I told Cody to have her guess his age. She guessed 23. XD (Which just goes to prove that people don't exactly see us and think I'm a cradle-robber, lol.)

Okay. Bedtime. Tata!

Filled it out and posted my reply there. Reposting. ^_^

1. This survey gets a little personal; can you handle it? I live for these things.
2. If you married the last person you texted, what would your name be? Um, Park. But that's only legal in a few states.
3. Were you happy when you woke up today? I was confused. I don't wake up well to an alarm.
4. When were you on the phone last? And with who? Uhh...my cousin Debbie last night, trying to find her at the fireworks display.
7. What are you excited for? Well duh, the wedding. =D
8. What were you doing yesterday? Not a lot...hung out indoors until almost dark. Too hot to do anything.
9. Honestly, who was the last person to tell you they love you? Cody, the FH.
10. What is the last thing you put in your mouth? Umm...tea? I don't remember. Nothing so far today.
11. Have a best friend? Yeah.
12. Are you scared to fall in love? I would be scared to have to do it all over again...
13. Do you think teenagers can be in love? Yeah.
14. Last person you wanted to punch in the face? Someone I'm not friends with anymore.
15. What time is it right this second? 2:49 PM, central.
16. What do you want right now? For it to be dinnertime, lol.
17. Who was the last person you took a picture with? Not sure. Probably Cody.
19. When was the last time you cried? I don't really remember when, but it was a good cry--the overwhelmed-with-positive-emotion kind of cry, not a sad cry.
20. Do you have a good relationship with your parents? Not really, but it's way better than when I had to live with them.
21. Do you find it hard to trust others? Ehh...no, not really. To my detriment at times.
22. How fast does your mind change? That is a rare and glacier-slow occurrence, lol.
23. I bet you miss somebody right now. Well yeah, usually, since not all my friends live in one town anymore.
24. Can you honestly say you are okay right now? I'll live.
25. Why do you think so many people cheat? In the words of Dr. Cox from Scrubs, "People are bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling!" I understand that sometimes people fall out of love, but I have no respect for someone who starts a new relationship without terminating the old one first.
27. What are you looking forward to in the next three months? Mostly wedding-related stuff. Trip to St. Louis, hopefully. Seeing Shelly and Josh and them meeting Cody.
28. Have you ever worn the opposite sex's clothing? Well yeah. Haven't most girls? (I find it fits me better since it's not built to hold boobs. XD)
29. When did you last talk to your number one top friend? Yesterday on MSN.
30. When is your next road trip? IDK. We're supposed to go to St. Louis at some point before the wedding.
32. How is your heart? Wonderful. =)
33. Have you ever felt like you were not important? Yeah, pretty much any time I try to get my dad's attention and we're not the only two people in the room.
34. Is somebody in love with you? Yup. ^_^
35. What are you planning on doing after this? Making the bed, going to McD's for dinner.
36. Next time you will kiss someone? Probably as soon as I post this. ^_^
37. Have you told anybody you loved them today? Yes indeedy!
38. Who do you not get along with? I can think of two people off the top of my head.
39. What does your third recent text say? Uhh...no idea. I keep my inbox/outbox empty.
40. What are you wearing right now? Black pants, blue-and-black sleeveless top. =)
42. When is the last time you had a grilled cheese? I can't even remember. I had a quesadilla last night, lol.
44. How did you feel when you woke up? Confused...
45. Do you wish someone would call or text you right now? Eh. If I was really worried about it, I'd call or text them.
46. Do you crack your knuckles? Frequently.
47. What were you doing yesterday at midnight? ...more or less what I'm doing now. I might have been on LiveJournal, though.
48. What are your LEGAL initials? SES. Which reminds me, what's the legal initial for a hyphenated last name?
49. Who is the first "B" in your contacts? Hm. "Bank hotline." Lol.
50. When was the last time you laughed really hard? Uh...not sure. Probably last night.
52. Last awkward moment? Hm...definitely last Monday at work. I go into seniors' homes and help out around their houses, provide companionship, etc...well, we're doing "personal care" training at the office. We had to watch a video...let's just say they had a dummy for the female part, but NOT for the male part!! O_o There was a lot of nervous laughter.
53. Are you afraid of the dark? I'm afraid of being outside, alone, in the dark. But not afraid of the dark itself.
54. Do you have good vision? I wear contacts. So, no, not really.
55. Have you ever tripped someone? Not that I recall.
56. Have you ever slapped someone? Um...I think so.
57. Are you Irish? 1/8.
58. Do you use chapstick? No, I don't like the taste. I'm addicted to lipgloss, though.
59. Do you have any scars? Yeah.
60. Is there someone you will never forgive? When someone seriously gets on my blacklist, it isn't so much that I'm not willing to forgive and let go--I just stop having anything to do with them. What's in the past is in the past, but I will take steps to see that it doesn't happen again in the future.
62. Name the last person to text you? Kristy.
63. Would you marry someone eight years older than you? I wouldn't marry anyone other than Cody. =) But before that, 8 years would have been the max. (I'm fully for the half-your-age-plus-seven rule, and before Cody I was 22, so my range was 18 to 30, max.)
64. Can you go in public looking like you do? Well, I just came from church, so yeah.
66. What side of the bed do you sleep on? The left.
67. What is the first thing you will do on your wedding day? Eat. Eat something ridiculously sweet and decadent. Because I have been eating nothing but cereal before 5 PM for 2 or 3 months now.
69. Has anyone put their arms around you in the past five days? Yup. ^_^
70. Do you miss the way things used to be? Not really. Not enough to trade the life I have now, with Cody.
71. Has anyone ever told you they are in love with you? Lol, yes.
72. Song you are thinking of right now? For some reason I have Destiny's Child's "Independent Women" stuck in my head.
73. Want someone back in your life? I can think of a friend or two I'd like to get in touch with. I wish I had the address of the guy two guys before Cody, because I'd like to thank him for the advice he gave me when he broke up with me.
74. Will tomorrow be better than today? Maybe. No telling. I have to work tomorrow but not today so maybe not, lol.
75. What’s the color of the shirt you are wearing? Blue, with a black print.
78. Is there anyone who understands your relationship status? I think "Please Save the Date" made it pretty clear.
79. Are you a naturally happy person? Or is your happiness forced? I'm pretty darn cheerful most of the time, lol.
84. If someone liked you right now, would you want them to tell you? Well...no, not really. It would just be awkward, because there's no way they could compare to Cody.
86. Do you believe what goes around comes around? Oh yes.
87. Will your next kiss be a mistake? Nope!
91. Do you ever get good morning texts from anyone? Heck no. People know better than to text me before 10 AM.
94. Have you ever liked someone way older than you? I think the biggest age gap for someone I SERIOUSLY liked was like...4 or 5 years.
95. Do you think love lasts forever? Of course.
96. Has anyone told you they missed you lately? No.
97. Will you be in a relationship next week? I'll be seriously upset if I'm not! D=
100. Do you like being in a relationship? Oh yes.
101. Do you miss someone? Sorta.
102. Is there someone you don't ever want to be out of your life? More than one.
103. Is there a person of the opposite sex who means a lot to you? Just Cody.
104. Have you ever kissed someone whose name started with a B? Can't think of anyone.
105. What was on your mind mostly today? Food, sadly.
106. Who was the last person you spoke on the phone for over an hour? Cody.
107. Have you kissed someone in the past month? I've kissed someone in the last 5 minutes. ^_^