uisceros

So... Things.

Sometimes I forget LJ exists at all. Which is cool, actually, considering my huge ass internet addiction.

Work and stuff has been the focus of my life recently. Work is occasionally satisfying, and I like the people I work with. It's mostly good. I'm very close to being finished with my application for school in London this fall. I'm excited about that. So very very excited.

Fandom-ly, I've fallen into my weirdest fandom ever - The Big Bang Theory. Idk why people. It's not my type of show. I'm sooooooo not a half hour comedy person. I just really like the nerdification of culture, okay? Plus, SCIENCE!!!!! And if I am only one thing inline, I am a science nerd. Though not physics. There is a reason I'm a biologist and not a physicist. (BTW, biologists are the cool scientists, just to make that clear) I've also recently become obsessed with podcast. I listen to them driving to and from work (a 40 minute drive each way). Favorites - Nerdist (!!!!), WTF, The Moth, Doug Loves Movies, etc.

Otherwise, life is weird. I'm not unhappy, but I seem to be filling up some sort of emotional void with pretty things. In the past few weeks I've accumulated more jewelry than is necessary for a lifetime. I've also ended up with lots of plants, art, and electronics. Indeed, I am writing this on my brand new iPad that I'm insanely obsessed with. INSANELY. I carry it everywhere with me... My most annoying recent habit is buying art posters, but not ever framing them. So they sit in my spare room in their tubes, just hanging out.

What else? I really wish Big Bang would announce their concert dates already. I need to know, since I might be in London by then...

My friend at work had a baby recently, which makes me happy. I looooooooooove babies. Not so excited about older kids (3+) but babies are the best. THE. BEST. Still don't want one of my own though! (On an interesting note, I've found people are a ton more receptive to the idea of not wanting kids than I would have assumed. Not one person is like "oh, you'll want kids eventually", which makes me happy)

This is a really random entry... Please excuse random typing mistakes, I'm still getting used to the iPad keyboard :)

I don't know why I'm posting at 2am when I have to be up in four hours to go to work, but WHATEVER.

Life has been weird recently. Socially, things are good. In the familial sense, things are not good. Work is good, health varies between frustrating and fine... It's all pretty equal.

Since MU and Filesonic went down, I've been spending time working to bring awareness to SOPA/PIPA and ACTA. I've also been discovering new communities. I'm sad that a LOT of comms went down, and I'm grateful for the ones that stayed up.

Anyway, I have this weird stupid mashup of songs going through my head right now. Fleetwood Mac / Amy Winehouse / Cursive / Ben Folds Five / Carbon Leaf / Sugarcult. It's really weird, as you can imagine.

As for fandom, I've put Doctor Who on hold for a bit to focus on my new, completely weird and slightly embarrassing fandom of The Big Bang Theory. I can only justify myself by saying that I'm a HUGE geek, and a scientist, and I love nerd humor. I'm proud of myself for mostly understanding the physics stuff (or, at least the theory behind it) they talk about on the show, because I'm not a physicist for a reason...

Today is my birthday.

I'm weirdly okay. Usually I freak out, but I think because it's an even year, it's better (weird reason, yes, but I quite dislike odd numbers).

My goals for this year of my life!

( GOALS )

I'm thinking of watching a drama. Something Japanese and short. Something to get me back into the drama-world. I'll have to do some research though. I've been out of the game for a LONG time.

Today is my last full day in Europe. I leave Germany in a few hours, and will spend the night in France before flying out in the morning tomorrow.

( tl;dr - I fucking love to travel, even if it sometimes makes me want to cry )

Anyway, the moral of the story is, my trip was fun...

SO HERE ARE SOME PICTURES. (Haven't had a chance to edit them yet, so they're grainy and raw, but the best I can do with my simple little netbook)


You guys. LONDON. I loved it. Love, love, loved it. Except for the whole driving on the left side of the road thing, which I found very counter-intuitive. Still. It was nice to travel to a place where I could understand stuff that happened around me. Thanks, English!

( The rest~ )

I've been MIA for awhile, and there are both good and not-so-good reasons for that. The good is that I've been busy at work, the not-so-good is that I've been completely lazy.

The big news: I'VE FINALLY BOOKED MY TRIP TO EUROPE. This has been in the works forever. And I'm doing everything last minute. I literally JUST booked my flight, and I leave in 5 days.

My itinerary is; London (5-6 days), Paris (3-4 days), Stuttgart (3 days), Paris (1 day). I fly into London, and out of Paris.

I have my accommodation set for London and Paris, but not Stuttgart.

I've been wicked busy doing physical planning for the trip as well - what am I going to wear? What am I going to bring? I bought a new bag (carry-on and purse all in one!!!), boots (if they ever get here...), and a netbook so that I can keep up with stuff on the go (I love the damn thing, it's tiny).

I'm scared. I'll be traveling alone to two places I've never been before. I can do it, of course, but I'm still scared.

The focus of the trip is mostly to visit London, and the school I intend to apply to this coming fall. The rest is just fun adventure stuff. I'm lucky that the hotel I'm staying in is in Bloomsbury, where the school is located. And only a few hundred feet from the British Museum, which will be AH-MAZING.

Anyway, more post forthcoming. (I know I bailed on the ParaKiss movie review, but we lost power for 6 days due to the October snowstorm, and then I lost intent)

I watched the Paradise Kiss movie last night, and I LOOOOVED it. I plan on writing a smallish post about it, because it was adorable. For awhile there I was obsessed with the anime and manga. How could I not be? George is like, the model of the self-involved arrogant men I love in fiction (less hot in real life). And Yukari? The girl who discovered she was a kickass person who made her own success in life, but had to grow up, and give up some things in the process? That's my kind of heroine. Add in that the movie starred my Japanese soul-mate Osamu (HE'S A FUCKING SCIENTIST WHO IS BOTH OLDER AND TALLER THAN ME), and the cutest spunky girl around who likes reading and cats, Keiko. Add in the ab-tastic Mr. Yusuke, and you've got yourself a movie I wouldn't miss for the world. (I need to start watching jdramas again...)

So, probable post in the future. For now, I'll leave you with this. Bitch. Is. Flawless.



Anyway, this season in western TV! I'm currently watching;

Recurring
How I Met Your Mother - Naturally.
Gossip Girl - Addicted.
Glee - Lost it's luster a bit. I'm mostly in it for Will/Emma.
Lost Girl - I watched half of the first season, randomly stopped watching it, and picked it back up this season. I don't know...
Bones - If it EVER comes back...
Doctor Who - It's off right now, but you KNOW I'll be in it as soon as it comes back.

New
New Girl - I love Zooey, but the premise is a bit lackluster. Still, she's cute, and I like funny fluff, so whatever.
Suburgatory - Randomly got hooked on this one day. Tessa reminds me a lot of Emma Stone's character in "Easy A", which is a good thing. Plus Jeremy Sisto, Cheryl Hines (OMG WAITRESS BUDDIES, YOU GUYZ!), and Alan Tudyk... I think I'm going to keep watching. Though I know from experience, growing up in a rich suburb of a major city is NOTHING like the show portrays.
American Horror Story - I would expect nothing but the most insane shit around from the same guys who brought me Nip/Tuck (which I love, and watched until it went in the shitter). I love the dreamy, crazy-as-fuck, exploitative feel of it. Nudity and sex? SURE. Brutal killings and maiming? ABSOLUTELY. Hallucinations and half dreamed occurrences? DEFINITELY. Seriously, if you watched Nip/Tuck, this show is following the same path. Not that that's a bad thing. I love love love love Jessica Lange, and hellllllo Dylan McDermott's ass... As someone who watched The Practice religiously, and lusted after Dylan McDermott for years, I can say I quite enjoy seeing him be morally compromised and naked once more.
Grimm - Watched the first episode, liked it. We'll see if I keep it.
Once Upon a Time - See above. I do think I'll keep this one though. I quite like Jennifer Morrison, and I also quite like that it takes place in the North East (though, of course, filmed in Canada). I guess if there's any place in the US that looks like it's from a fairy tale, it's Maine.
Pan Am - Okay, I'm ridiculous, insanely, immensely obsessed with this show. You have no freaking idea. It's my favorite of the season, and I just don't get the people who say it has no substance. I think it has a lot. You've got a girl in the 60's learning how to be her own woman outside of a relationship, you've got a bohemian who plays by her own rules and is not afraid to be herself, a lovely woman with a tragic past who embodies glamour and beauty, and a girl who grew up always feeling like second best, who ran away to live her life. I love it. Kate's my favorite character, but I love them all. And OMG is the girl who plays Laura beautiful. She has probably the most perfect, symmetrical face I've ever seen. I SO ship Kate with her CIA/Interpol contacts, and Laura with Ted.

Random Other
Sugar Rush - I watched the first episode the other day, and managed to spend HOURS marathoning most of the first series. Love it. And ANDREW GARFIELD! I keep randomly seeing him in things without knowing he was in them prior to watching.

So here's my tentative plans so far;

November 30th - December 7th - LONDON
December 7th - December 9th - PARIS
December 9th - December 11th - STUTTGART
December 11th - December 13th - BERN (or somewhere else in Switzerland that I haven't decided on yet)

I'd fly into London, and out of Bern.

I want to do touristy things in London, as well as check out the school I want to apply to.
In Paris I want to eat. Fancy lovely things I didn't get to eat last time I want there because of my budget. I also would like to see Versailles, but is that advisable in winter?
In Stuttgart I want to go to the Christkindlmarkt, and see the city.
In Bern I want to do more touristy stuff, and be happy that I get to visit a country I've never been to before, and that was the home of my great great great grandparents (I only recently discovered that I'm very distantly ancestrally Swiss, which makes me happy).

I plan on taking trains between everywhere. I'm a bit nervous about the London/Paris train though. I am not comfortable being in a tunnel under the water... Generally me and water do not mix.

New things~

- Well, it's definite - I'm going to be taking several pastry classes with a Master French pastry chef at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. I dislike cooking - 90% of the food I make is microwaved. However, I love baking. I especially love French pastries. I've been obsessed (obsessed) with petit fours glacé since I was a child, for some reason. So I'm so excited to take these classes - I'm going to be taking Petit Fours and French Macaroons, and (hopefully) Marzipan, Moulding, and Truffles. I already got the okay from work to rearrange my schedule for these classes. ~EXCITED~

- On the subject of classes I'm going to take, I am definitely going to sign up for a four week glassblowing class. Glassblowing is oddly hard to find classes for. LUCKILY there is a studio right in Boston. They have other glass classes (lampwork, stained glass, fusing, casting, etc), but I'm only really interested in glassblowing, because that shit is awesome.

- I'm determined to develop more creative hobbies. And since I'm interested in everything ever, my hobbies are spread all around the spectrum.

- This week is OCD Awareness week! McLean Hospital is hosting an event which I may be attending. Depending on if I can get someone to go with me. I haven't had an episode in a very long time, but it's still difficult facing your demons alone. I'm proud to be part of the OCD/Anxiety Disorder community, as I believe what we're doing is going to save so many people. This is a great pamphlet put out by the IOCDF that puts OCD in easy to understand terms. As I often mention, OCD is whitewashed by the media. It's not a funny/quirky disease. It's not even remotely humorous. Believe me.

- New obsession; Fab. OMG I love this site. It's like Gilt, or Hautelook. It's a discount/sample sale site, except this one is for design. I went through a period several years ago where I researched design obsessively. I love beautiful things. Design matters to me. Even more so now that I can afford it. I've already bought several things from their site; a beautiful pair of earrings (how much do I love that the brand is science-based?!), and this lovely iphone case. The stuff they have is amazing. Like THIS CHAIR, which is fabulous and gorgeous (and $2400).

- Trying to decide where to go in Europe this November/December. London and Paris are definite. I'm thinking Stuttgart or Nuremberg (I totally can't spell that in English...), and either Copenhagen or Bern. Bern is easier (and it would be nice to see where my ancestors came from), but I have this thing with Denmark. I blame 12th grade AP English and Hamlet. I want to go somewhere I've never been before.

... I think that's it. I forget if there was anything else...

You know how I said I wasn't going to start antiquing? YEAAAAAAAAAAAH. I am.
Though to be fair, one of the things I bought was a toy, so I'm not going to relegate myself to the old-person side just yet.

Things have been odd recently. Socially I seem to be climbing. I'm getting along better with my coworkers, which is majorly good. Physically I'm failing. I take antibiotics for my skin, and recently they upped the dosage. This is making me violently ill. Add in the fact that I seem to be fighting off some sort of illness for the past two weeks, and it's just blah.

~Other things~

- I am supportive of the Occupy Wall Street protests. I think it's amazing. Trying to change the government for the better is an amazing thing. I hope we will see a second American revolution, one focused on giving the power back to the public instead of the big corporations.

- I feel divided on the whole GD pot scandal. On one hand, it's a relatively minor offense (from an American perspective - obviously it is different in Asia) that will not be made a huge deal of. On the other hand, REALLY GD? Unlike most people in my generation, I don't agree with the decriminalization of marijuana. It's a drug. It should be treated like a drug. Aside from my own personal opinion, IT'S THE LAW. You get caught with pot, you get in trouble, simple as that. ESPECIALLY IN ASIA. So what the fuck was he thinking? Did he learn nothing from the Joo Ji Hoon scandal? And I don't believe for a second he didn't know it wasn't a normal cigarette. The first time I smelled pot I was 12 years old, and even hugely naive me knew that I wasn't dealing with regular cigarette smoke. PLUS wtf is with him just taking a drag off a random fan's smoke? Like, who does that?! IT COULD HAVE BEEN POISON, GD! I don't buy that shit for a minute. He smoked some doob, and got caught. Which is dumb in and of itself, but then to make up THAT shitty ass story? Really? I do love GD, but that was a really stupid move. I have no tolerance for shit like that.

- I've recently become interested in radical holistic nutrition. I'm of the mind that what you put in your body affects every part of your health. I attribute my general good health and strong immune system to having been a vegetarian for 16 years (as well as proper supplementation). A lot of holistic nutritionists recommend a mostly raw vegan diet with no refined sugars. That is the ultimate goal. I don''t think I can do raw - I'm not a huge fan of food that's not warm, and I'm not sure vegan is right for me (I LOVE CHEESE), but I want to cut out refined sugars as much as possible. The problem? I'm a baker.

- Speaking of baking... I've recently become obsessed with cooking French pastries. Apparently there's a cooking school in Cambridge that offers one off courses with a French pastry master. I NEED THESE CLASSES. Bad part? They're only on Monday nights. I work Monday nights. I plan on trying to make some petit fours glace this week. I need some poured fondant..

- I also want to take a glassblowing class. There's a glass school nearby me, and I've been rather fascinated with glassblowing ever since I read a romance novel where one of the characters was a glass sculpture artist. YEAH.

Okay, that's it for now. Oh, and in case you're wondering why you're getting random really late comment responses from me, it's because I'm trying to not procrastinate on them any more...

As it is every year, the prelude to autumn initiates a sort of renaissance in me. I get weird nostalgic, and I want desperately to change myself.

Normally it's small stuff - two years ago I dyed my hair blonde, last year I revisited old childhood haunts. But this year it's different. I feel like I've regressed to the person I was at 15. I'm in love with all things gothic and witchy. Creepy/beautiful is my new theme in life.

My hair is dark dark brown (my natural color), teal, and hot pink. My eyes are smudged with black liner. I'm looking online for Victorian style boots (I was/am a Victorian goth). I'm starting to understand steampunk (which weirds me out, to be honest). Next thing you know I'll be pulling out my tarot cards and healing crystals... (Yes, I have tarot cards and healing crystals. Though let it be know that the tarot cards were passed down to me by my dad)

Guess who still might have her spellbooks! THIS BITCH.

This was a random entry of randomness.

Sooooo.... have some links!

OBSESSED WITH THESE PERFUMES. So very, very obsessed. The scents are sort of gothic, literary, and historically inspired. I bought a ton of them, including Ouija (which smells like dark wood and incense), Arkham (BEST FLOWER SMELL EVER), and Languor (dreamy opium and narcissus). Plus, how can I NOT love a perfumery that sells scents inspired by Bluebeard, Titus Andronicus, and John Keats? INCONCEIVABLE.


Melancholia is such a beautiful, insanely lovely and heartbreaking movie. I've been obsessing over seeing it for a few weeks now, and finally got to see it the other day. It's slow, beautifully shot, and filled with subtext and meaning. Basically it's my ideal movie.

Neil/Amanda. As someone who grew up in the Boston area, I've known about The Dresden Dolls since they came out. One of my best friends in high school loved Amanda, and I often heard about them through her. I wish I had been in that scene growing up, because now I admire her so much. Same with Neil, who consistently amazes me with his utter coolness. I'm going to donate to this (only 4 days left!), though I will not be able to go to their shows (damn you, west coast).

Uh, that's it for now :)