I made half a dozen muffin-sized pumpkin pies yesterday with my leftover pie filling from the relatively small pie I made earlier this week. They were adorable and delicious and I think I'm gonna have one for breakfast.

Also, I finished my hat last night! (...then discovered a dropped stitch and 3 stitches under it that had come undone and had to work them in again. *headdesk* I don't think I'll be working in this yarn again anytime soon.) But yay, I love hats. Too lazy for pictures right now, but eventually I will upload some. It's a beret with a pattern of lace type holes spiraling out from the center. It kinda makes me think of sand dollars or sea urchins. Blocked it overnight on a big plate and it looks better this morning than it did when I finished it. XD

I apologize for being so antisocial lately and not getting in touch with anybody. I've been feeling a little under the weather physically and emotionally.

On that note, I AM FREE TOMORROW FROM 4-9PM IN CAMBRIDGE! Any Boston area folks want to meet me for dinner or something? (evening class = canceled)

I screwed up my hat. I followed the decreases on the pattern. I really should've taken it off-needle and tried it on before knitting the last 8 rows, and I knew that, but I was dead tired and knitting while unable to sleep and too lazy. So now I have to pay for it. The hat's too small at the very bottom. I have to undo 10 rows and do 8 of them over again with more stitches. I unknit slower than I knit, so undoing and redoing will take over twice as long as it took in the first place.

...This is what I'm doing with my antisocial mood. Watching TV shows online and knitting until my arms start to hurt. I just hate screwing up and having to redo things. Patience is not one of my strong suits.

I'm gonna go sleep for a couple hours. So tired. My sleep schedule really messed up right now. In the past little-over-a-week, I have gotten no decent nights of sleep. Currently, I'm sleeping 1-4 AM, then awake till 8, then sleeping till almost noon when possible, which it usually isn't. Last weekend, it was staying up till 5AM and getting up at 9, with no going back to sleep. I'm gonna be doing nothing thanksgiving break but sleeping, at this rate.

AAAAH, that was AMAZING!

Tonight was the first time in years I have danced with other people around.

There was a capoeira group at my school tonight as part of the international/multicultural series and it was so wonderful. I am so glad I went. I walked by it partway through and hovered in the auditorium door for a moment before perching gingerly on the armrest of a chair. It took me several minutes to settle in, ditch the backpack and the tupperware & the brownie pan I was holding, and take off my coat.

The spectacular thing about this performance is that it wasn't just a performance to watch. They invited any students willing to come up onstage, and were great about maintaining a balance between including and putting on the spot. It was perfect because while you were pulled into the center of the circle to dance, you weren't alone there. One of the experienced dancers was with you, so there was an interaction to base your movements off of. They didn't leave you lost. The energy was wonderful. Just getting a chance to move while drawing on the energy of a group, without getting too self-conscious, was so very much exactly what I needed.

I almost didn't go up there; I debated for 5 minutes and nearly chickened out, but I knew I would regret it and surprisingly managed to force myself out of the chair. Granted, it would have been that nebulous sort of regret that comes from not knowing what you might have missed; if you've never done something, you can't know how much you would have enjoyed it, how rewarding it would have been. And this may have been the most rewarding thing I've done in years.

I was grinning foolishly my entire ride home. I actually started crying when I realized just how much I had missed moving and being part of a group. I'm so overemotional right now, in all the best ways.

Edit: I am aware that capoeira is technically in the realm of martial arts, but for the purposes of this post, it is a dance. Yes. I've decided to define it as a wonderful combination of the two.

I've got dumplings sizzling in a frying pan right now, and surprisingly have managed to put a decent amount of them back in my freezer, not cooking and eating them all.

Brandon, wherever we get together when Prime's home, it would be good if it were at someone's house rather than out and about so I could use a kitchen; I have pork-free dumplings here with her name on them.  I'll make noodles too if you guys want.

And then once they're all eaten I have an excuse to go back into Chinatown to the grocery store again.  XD

New layout!  I love sparklers.  Took this picture a couple years ago.

And I finally gave in and upgraded to plus.  The debates for icon slots have already started.  It's the reason I never swapped out my old 6.  There were just too many I wanted to replace them with!

...Vienna Teng is in Boston the first week of December, for 1 night. I've been keeping an eye on her tour schedule for the past year, waiting for a performance I could make it to. She's with Alex Wong, and Over the Rhine, who I also like if not quite so much.

Be right back, buying myself a ticket.

Really, I'll probably wait a couple days until I have a chance to see if people wanna come with. But excuse me while I go grin foolishly over the fact that she'll be here at Berklee, a very manageable location for me. I have added excuse to go in that I need to review a concert for my music class anyway.



If I wanted to see one of her individual performances, I could drive down to NYC for the 9:30 show the night before she's in Boston, but my mother looked at me like I was crazy when I proposed this.  Until I acquire transportation of my own, which would hopefully happen by then but I have no guarantees, my crazy plans generally require Mom's approval.

I am somewhat tempted to tell people that all I want for my birthday this year is books.  I doubt my family will buy me volumes of Bleach, but regular books are a very common thing for me to want, so...


I'm asking for must-reads.  I'm a bookworm who will read just about anything, but I have a soft spot for fantasy.

Please refrain from ever prying up giant pieces of ice again.  Or if you insist on doing so, for heaven's sake be careful.  Crying in pain due to throwing out your back is not exactly how you planned on spending your evening.

No love,
Your Spine

I was bored and having trouble motivating myself to do anything... so I stole this from Jackie.

When we role-play, we tend to pick up a variety of characters. They could be ones that we like, ones that we want to experiment with, or ones that we just end up making from scratch. Eventually, we come to associate with (some of) them in one way or another. Out of all the characters (past or present) I role-play, pick out the one I am most like and tell me why you think so.

THE LIST:
Ty Lee (Avatar)
Orihime Inoue (Bleach)
Nana "Hachi" Komatsu (Nana)
Hana Inuzuka (Naruto)
Elphaba Thropp (Wicked)
Kazuma Kuwabara (Yu Yu Hakusho)
Shizuru Kuwabara (Yu Yu Hakusho)

No year's summaries from me.  With how introspective I've been lately, I think it would get a little angsty.  Instead, I just want to say  thank you  to all of the friends who helped me make it through the past year, both those I've known for years and those I've met more recently.  I don't know what I'd do without any of you... besides be a depressed and reclusive mess, that is.  I wish I could go through and give you all the more personal thanks you deserve, but I think the list would be longer than any of you would care to read, and longer than I have time to write tonight.

For all my stress today, the multiple near-crashes on the snow-roads from hell, the thinking I would be snowed in at my uncle's... It's a pretty damn good day.  Any day I get to see some of my best friends is wonderful, even if they are acting like immature five year olds or creepy pervs half the time.  *has actually punched both her guests (on the arm) hard enough to hurt a little tonight... which she never does*  XD  At least I wasn't involved in the catfights; I'm the mother hen of the household at the moment, despite being the youngest.  Seriously, I left them alone for 10 minutes to take a shower, and came back down to yelling about abuse and boobs having been touched.  Me:  "Stop it!  Dinner's ready, get your butts in the kitchen and eat!"  (We all love each other, really, even when I'm covering my ears and going "LALALA, I DIDN'T HEAR THAT!")   Aaaaaaanyways...

Happy New Year!  I wish you all untold happiness in the coming year, since you deserve that and more.


...I'll be up all night, as I'm being forced to go outside at sunrise and shout my wishes for the new year, so feel free to call and help me stay awake!  (...I'm pretty sure my cell number never got deleted from my facebook if you have me friended on there and feel like harrassing me~)

To make up for being whiny emo-Tri a little while ago...

I enjoyed leaving things for people on theirs, so I figured I'd put one up... If you search, you can find some interesting things. XD I laughed when like 4 results came up for tardis.




Christmas Gift Toy & MySpace Layouts at pYzam.com

Leave me a comment and I will reply with why I like you. If I don't know you, I'll either make something up or tell you why I like your LiveJournal. You must pay for the privilege by posting a message like this one on your LiveJournal.

Feel free to respond whether you intend to post or not!


Edit: This may be my favorite meme ever.  I like getting to tell y'all I love you, and the ego boosts and warm fuzzy feelings you've given me certainly aren't unwelcome either.  ♥

My evening:
...My brother & I both had coughing fits... and then we started singing... He started it?
N: "Anything you can cough I can cough better!"
T: "I can cough anything better than you!"
N: "No you can't!"
T: "Yes I can!"
With each of out can/can'ts punctuated by coughs, until my coughs devolved into laughter. XD


On another good note, I've gone from being a recluse to having too many plans. I'm being more social than I've been since... I don't think I've ever been this social! At least, not on my own efforts. I'm getting out of the house so much, my dog may even start to miss me!

And it's definitely reflecting in my mood. I'm feeling so much better than I have in a really long time, and I need to put some music on so I won't feel stupid dancing around like an idiot. So for all my friends, both online and in person, I just want to extend a huge thanks, and let you know that you've made an immense difference in my life, and I love you.

Ha, see, I posted something that wasn't a meme or a stupid whiny rant. MUCH LOVE FOR ALL OF YOU. That is all.

"The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed."
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them. ;)
5) Asterisk those you own.


6) (added by Tri) Tilde (~) indicates books read out loud, primarily to younger sibling in her case.


( I guess that makes my 35 a pretty good number, even if a bunch of them are children's books... there are some on here I definitely intend to buy/read in the near future. )

I highly recommend The God of Small Things, but beware, it's a bit depressing.

A couple of you have already seen it, but awhile ago I decided to make a journal for icons, layouts, etc.

Tri's graphics journal: trichan868

Feel free to check it out and/or friend it, and to let me know what you'd like to see there. Requests are available to friends/RP buddies!

Except for X or Z... fine, I admit it, U or V either, and it's tied with J.

1. Reply to this post and I'll assign you a letter.
2. List (and upload, if you feel like it) 5 songs that start with that letter.
3. Post that to your journal with these instructions.

Okay, so here goes: K!

1. Kevin's Song (Goo Goo Dolls)~ I love instrumentals.
2. Kody (Matchbox 20)~ ...Is it wrong to put a smiley face next to a depressing song?
3. Konna ni Chikaku De (Crystal Kay)~ from the Nodame Cantabile soundtrack.
4. Kimi no Power to Otona no Furi (Ayaka)~ I love this one. Yes, the Japanese songs on here ARE quite fun, rhythm-wise.
5. Kryptonite (3 Doors Down)

Aaaand, from Jill: A!

1. Any Other World (Mika)~ A couple lines make this my theme song... I'll post lyrics.
2. Ashes and Wine (A Fine Frenzy)~ And as an added bonus, here, have another of her songs: Almost Lover.
3. As Long As You're Mine (from Wicked)~ No, I don't have an obsession with that play... 'kay, maybe a little.
4. All I Can Do (Chantal Kreviazuk)
5. Amie (Damien Rice)


( Any Other World lyrics... and a little rambling )
♥

Meme 1
Respond and I will:

1. Tell you why I friended you.
2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a color, a photo, etc.
3. Tell you something I like about you.
4. Tell you a memory I have of you.
5. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
6. Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.



Meme 2
Ask me seven questions. Not just any seven questions though. No, to keep it interesting, use the seven questions as per below - just copy and paste the following, replace the blanks with something you want to know/ask (e.g. 4. Donkeys or sandcastles and why?), anything you want, personal, silly, surreal or deep, comment away and I'll answer honestly as I can!


1. What do you think of _____________ ?

2. When did you last ____________?

3. __________ or ___________ and why?

4. What did you ______________?

5. What's your favorite ______________?

6. How would you ______________?

7. Who would you most like to ________ ?


~*~

Also, I REALLY need to start drawing again soon... the fact that minor photo manipulations and some icons is all the semi-artistic stuff I've done lately is rotting my drawing ability. Somebody please jumpstart my drawing hand! Need to finish a few, they've been sitting around unfinished FOREVER. I think this one'd probably be easiest.  Pencil's always been what I'm most comfortable with.  Must find my drawing pencils. 4B, dónde estás?

( First drawing on my To Finish list... Easing back in? )

Stella posted, & I have to admit, I'm interested in what people'd guess for the ones in which my preferences aren't extremely well known.

a. Post a list of 15 fandoms.
b. Have your friends list guess your favorite character from each one.
c. When guessed, bold the line, include the character name, and write a sentence about why you like that character.



You all know how indecisive I am, so there's more than one for a few of these!  If the series name isn't bolded, you can still guess for that one!




By the way, as I was typing this, a girl who looks like Orihime COME TO LIFE just walked in. She's pretty...