Vacation @ MindSay 
fun
Portland, OR (Baby!)
Well, my fine friends, I am back to work today and figure that it must mean it is time to blog about my trip.
Portland was awesome.
End of blog.
Just kidding.
If you've EVER read my blog before you'd know I couldn't stop at so few words. The more the merrier seems to be my mantra.
Elena and I got to Portland Thursday morning. We figured out the light rail and headed into downtown to try and find the hotel.
Here we are on the light rail, playing with the camera. My camera has a "smile feature" on it and Elena wanted to see if it worked so I wasn't smiling. But the picture took anyway and so that's the documentation of our first few moments in Portland.
We then switched to a trolley which took us to the front door of our hotel. The hotel was very nice, friendly and helpful staff. We had a suite which was a bedroom, living room, bathroom, kitchen, and office area. It was really great.
After getting the lay of the land, we walked out the front door of the hotel to this view:
That would be the Willamette River, dividing the city of Portland. We walked a couple of blocks and found a restaurant, Stanford's (evidently a chain in the Pacific Northwest, but a very, very good one, IMO) where we ate our first lunch on the patio.
In order to not kill you with details, can I just say that this trip was the best food of my life? I won't go into detail, but each meal I had (save for the midnight pizza from Hammy's.....terrible) was better than the one before. We did American Grill, Steak, Mexican, Pizza, Thai, and hotel breakfast while we were there. All awesome. Love Portland food.
So lunch was good and then we stopped at a market to get some essentials (i.e. beer and pop) and then went back to the hotel for a nap. Truly, I had had very little sleep the night before and after drinking all day and then traveling, I was exhausted. Luckily for me, so was Elena. We relaxed for a bit and she napped. I went to the pool and swam for 2.5 hours. (What can I say....love the water!). Okay, actually only swam for about an hour, the rest of the time I sat in the jacuzzi and read my book. I was in heaven.
Eventually, we got all dolled up and headed back into town to find the Tugboat Brewing Company. This was a place I had researched where you could go for "a beer and a book". Does anything sound better? Not to me-nor Lane.
Tugboat was a hip, cool little place. Fantastic beer...I tried their IPA and Lane had a guest brew. It was pretty dark in there, so reading didn't seem a truly viable option, but the board games....we played Trivial Pursuit. The original edition. I'm such a dork that I thought that was some of the most fun we had.
The first one is the bar. You can see the books lining the walls. They're just there for anyone to use. The second pic is Elena at our table, right below the shelf with the board games.
After the game (which I barely won, btw) we headed back to the hotel (because it was getting late and we didn't want to miss the last trolley). We were hungry when we got in and learned that Hammy's delivered to the room and every day until 4 am. Good to know. So we had pizza delivered but it didn't get there until almost 1 am. No big deal except for the damn time difference which meant our bodies thought it was 3 am. No wonder we were so friggin' tired!
We finished our pizza, it was just okay. Not really terrible, but pizza around here is pretty damn awesome, so that's a lot to live up to. This was edible, just not inspired. Then we crashed.
I set my alarm to get up the next morning because I wanted breakfast. I know from experience (I work nights) that eating so late only makes you MORE hungry in the morning. Lane had little interest in being up, so I went down with a book and ate myself a nice hot breakfast.
That morning, we headed out to tour the downtown branch (Central Library) of the Portland library (aka Multnomah County library system). The library itself is beautiful, with a ton of interesting features. I could spend hours talking about the hours I spent inside the library, but I am trying not to bore anyone. So here's a couple highlights:
The first one is me outside the entrance (Vanna White-ing it up!) and then Lane at the interior doors. The quote above the door says, "I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library." and it is by Jose Luis Borges. This library is so busy we had to stand there for several minutes trying to get a picture where no one was going in or out of the doors. I had a nice talk with the information desk librarian who told me that this is the 2nd busiest library system in the country. 1st is Queens in NY. Judging by what I saw at just this one branch (one of 17 in the area), I have no trouble believing that. Way to go Oregonians! Way to use your library. I am so proud.
Those are just a few of the pics I took within the library. We got to visit the rare books room and I saw a 1613 ed. of the King James Bible and a cunieform tablet dated 2350 BC (yes, B.C.!) that was a carved receipt for oil. The tree is in the children's area and made entirely from bronze. Carved mostly with animals (see the bear I am cuddling) and some other odd artifacts. The black marble staircase is hand carved with words of inspiration ("hope" is visible, believe, dream, create, inspire, and transcend are the other ones I remember but are not pictured.) Alice In Wonderland was a treat carved into the wall (one of my fave books of all time). They no longer use the card catalog (does anyone?) but they still have it on display, still full of cards. And Lane was completely entranced by the stacks of sheet music. A true music lover, she was delighted to find herself wandering among some unusual gems.
And that--pretty much--was our trip to the library. For the rest of the day, we wandered around the city for some shopping, drinking, sightseeing, drinking, food, drinking, and photo ops. And did I mention drinking?
Portland at night, in the rain. Pretty, hmm?
See?
Kelly thought this was funny....anyone else?
City street scene. I just liked it.
Random sculpture on the side of the road. No signage....
There was a whole series of bronze animal sculptures on one street. This is the bear eating a fish. We also saw beavers, ducks in a pond, and a deer. And my personal favorite:
Umbrella Man!!!
Friday night, we went to the Crystal Ballroom. Elena had been here before, and she said it is awesome. We were there on 80s Video Night, so the music was videos from the 80s and tons of people dressed accordingly and then it was just dancing. Their floor is wood, but it sits on millions (literally) of ball bearings, so it moves when you walk (or dance or jump) on it. It is a bit disorienting, but you adjust quickly. Except for the jumping. That was hard on my senses.
This sculpture of bicycles was just sitting on the corner. Random. No explanation.
Saturday morning, we headed out to pay homage to Powell's City of Books. Any true bibliophile could tell you about Powell's. It is the world's (yes WORLD'S) largest independent bookseller. The main location in downtown Portland (I think there are 6 total, not counting their web presence) is 77,000 square feet on one city block. 4 floors and over 1,000,000 pieces of inventory. At just the one store! It was amazing. We were in there for hours and there were still rooms I didn't even go into. I'd go back to Portland just to pay another visit to Powell's. I feel like I missed out and didn't get to see it all. Which is crazy since I am not exaggerating when I say hours. I think three, but I lost track of time and am not really sure how long we were in there for. I do know that Lane eventually gave up on me and went outside to read some of her purchases while waiting for me.
Powell's main entrance, by day and night.
The sign at the entry way, giving an overview of how it works and how to find what you need.
Yeesh, I might quit being a librarian to go and work for Powell's. I love, love, loved it there.
And lastly, yet another strange bronze sculpture with no signage. Two elephants in a park. We saw this randomly as we headed back to the hotel.
We were going back to get all dolled up for that evening's entertainment and the whole point of the trip, the Christian Kane concert.
I know that you're all dying to hear about it (that means you lovespirit) but you're going to have to wait ONE. MORE. POST.
This one is just too, too, long as it is.
But obviously we had fun, yes? It was great and my many thanks to Elena for going with me (and for that other thing.)
Vacation is so good. I miss it already.
Portland was awesome.
End of blog.
Just kidding.
If you've EVER read my blog before you'd know I couldn't stop at so few words. The more the merrier seems to be my mantra.
Elena and I got to Portland Thursday morning. We figured out the light rail and headed into downtown to try and find the hotel.
Here we are on the light rail, playing with the camera. My camera has a "smile feature" on it and Elena wanted to see if it worked so I wasn't smiling. But the picture took anyway and so that's the documentation of our first few moments in Portland.
We then switched to a trolley which took us to the front door of our hotel. The hotel was very nice, friendly and helpful staff. We had a suite which was a bedroom, living room, bathroom, kitchen, and office area. It was really great.
After getting the lay of the land, we walked out the front door of the hotel to this view:
That would be the Willamette River, dividing the city of Portland. We walked a couple of blocks and found a restaurant, Stanford's (evidently a chain in the Pacific Northwest, but a very, very good one, IMO) where we ate our first lunch on the patio.
In order to not kill you with details, can I just say that this trip was the best food of my life? I won't go into detail, but each meal I had (save for the midnight pizza from Hammy's.....terrible) was better than the one before. We did American Grill, Steak, Mexican, Pizza, Thai, and hotel breakfast while we were there. All awesome. Love Portland food.
So lunch was good and then we stopped at a market to get some essentials (i.e. beer and pop) and then went back to the hotel for a nap. Truly, I had had very little sleep the night before and after drinking all day and then traveling, I was exhausted. Luckily for me, so was Elena. We relaxed for a bit and she napped. I went to the pool and swam for 2.5 hours. (What can I say....love the water!). Okay, actually only swam for about an hour, the rest of the time I sat in the jacuzzi and read my book. I was in heaven.
Eventually, we got all dolled up and headed back into town to find the Tugboat Brewing Company. This was a place I had researched where you could go for "a beer and a book". Does anything sound better? Not to me-nor Lane.
Tugboat was a hip, cool little place. Fantastic beer...I tried their IPA and Lane had a guest brew. It was pretty dark in there, so reading didn't seem a truly viable option, but the board games....we played Trivial Pursuit. The original edition. I'm such a dork that I thought that was some of the most fun we had.
The first one is the bar. You can see the books lining the walls. They're just there for anyone to use. The second pic is Elena at our table, right below the shelf with the board games.
After the game (which I barely won, btw) we headed back to the hotel (because it was getting late and we didn't want to miss the last trolley). We were hungry when we got in and learned that Hammy's delivered to the room and every day until 4 am. Good to know. So we had pizza delivered but it didn't get there until almost 1 am. No big deal except for the damn time difference which meant our bodies thought it was 3 am. No wonder we were so friggin' tired!
We finished our pizza, it was just okay. Not really terrible, but pizza around here is pretty damn awesome, so that's a lot to live up to. This was edible, just not inspired. Then we crashed.
I set my alarm to get up the next morning because I wanted breakfast. I know from experience (I work nights) that eating so late only makes you MORE hungry in the morning. Lane had little interest in being up, so I went down with a book and ate myself a nice hot breakfast.
That morning, we headed out to tour the downtown branch (Central Library) of the Portland library (aka Multnomah County library system). The library itself is beautiful, with a ton of interesting features. I could spend hours talking about the hours I spent inside the library, but I am trying not to bore anyone. So here's a couple highlights:
The first one is me outside the entrance (Vanna White-ing it up!) and then Lane at the interior doors. The quote above the door says, "I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library." and it is by Jose Luis Borges. This library is so busy we had to stand there for several minutes trying to get a picture where no one was going in or out of the doors. I had a nice talk with the information desk librarian who told me that this is the 2nd busiest library system in the country. 1st is Queens in NY. Judging by what I saw at just this one branch (one of 17 in the area), I have no trouble believing that. Way to go Oregonians! Way to use your library. I am so proud.
Those are just a few of the pics I took within the library. We got to visit the rare books room and I saw a 1613 ed. of the King James Bible and a cunieform tablet dated 2350 BC (yes, B.C.!) that was a carved receipt for oil. The tree is in the children's area and made entirely from bronze. Carved mostly with animals (see the bear I am cuddling) and some other odd artifacts. The black marble staircase is hand carved with words of inspiration ("hope" is visible, believe, dream, create, inspire, and transcend are the other ones I remember but are not pictured.) Alice In Wonderland was a treat carved into the wall (one of my fave books of all time). They no longer use the card catalog (does anyone?) but they still have it on display, still full of cards. And Lane was completely entranced by the stacks of sheet music. A true music lover, she was delighted to find herself wandering among some unusual gems.
And that--pretty much--was our trip to the library. For the rest of the day, we wandered around the city for some shopping, drinking, sightseeing, drinking, food, drinking, and photo ops. And did I mention drinking?
Portland at night, in the rain. Pretty, hmm?
See?
Kelly thought this was funny....anyone else?
City street scene. I just liked it.
Random sculpture on the side of the road. No signage....
There was a whole series of bronze animal sculptures on one street. This is the bear eating a fish. We also saw beavers, ducks in a pond, and a deer. And my personal favorite:
Umbrella Man!!!
Friday night, we went to the Crystal Ballroom. Elena had been here before, and she said it is awesome. We were there on 80s Video Night, so the music was videos from the 80s and tons of people dressed accordingly and then it was just dancing. Their floor is wood, but it sits on millions (literally) of ball bearings, so it moves when you walk (or dance or jump) on it. It is a bit disorienting, but you adjust quickly. Except for the jumping. That was hard on my senses.
This sculpture of bicycles was just sitting on the corner. Random. No explanation.
Saturday morning, we headed out to pay homage to Powell's City of Books. Any true bibliophile could tell you about Powell's. It is the world's (yes WORLD'S) largest independent bookseller. The main location in downtown Portland (I think there are 6 total, not counting their web presence) is 77,000 square feet on one city block. 4 floors and over 1,000,000 pieces of inventory. At just the one store! It was amazing. We were in there for hours and there were still rooms I didn't even go into. I'd go back to Portland just to pay another visit to Powell's. I feel like I missed out and didn't get to see it all. Which is crazy since I am not exaggerating when I say hours. I think three, but I lost track of time and am not really sure how long we were in there for. I do know that Lane eventually gave up on me and went outside to read some of her purchases while waiting for me.
Powell's main entrance, by day and night.
The sign at the entry way, giving an overview of how it works and how to find what you need.
Yeesh, I might quit being a librarian to go and work for Powell's. I love, love, loved it there.
And lastly, yet another strange bronze sculpture with no signage. Two elephants in a park. We saw this randomly as we headed back to the hotel.
We were going back to get all dolled up for that evening's entertainment and the whole point of the trip, the Christian Kane concert.
I know that you're all dying to hear about it (that means you lovespirit) but you're going to have to wait ONE. MORE. POST.
This one is just too, too, long as it is.
But obviously we had fun, yes? It was great and my many thanks to Elena for going with me (and for that other thing.)
Vacation is so good. I miss it already.
Life in a Northern town part II
Friday started with a Death Trek to the Fremont neighborhood. And when I say "Death Trek" I don't mean we wandered across an endless desert in 120+ degree heat or faced a blizzard in the Arctic wearing nothing but a smile. We did, however, walk down some severely steep hills whereupon it probably would have been more comfortable to walk sideways or even backwards. We're talking steep here, folks.
We did make it out alive, however, and walked down towards the Fremont Bridge in time to see it raise to let a sailboat underneath. Beyond the bridge was the unique, creative, off-beat neighborhood of Fremont...
Fremont is also home to the infamous Fremont Troll. According to the Wikipedia page, "The [Troll] was the winner of a competition sponsored by the Fremont Arts Council in 1990, in part with the goal of rehabilitating the area under the bridge which was becoming a dumping ground and haven for drug dealers. The Troll was sculpted by four local artists..." He was also featured in the movie "10 Things I Hate About You," which I totally do not remember and now need to watch that movie again to see for myself.
(I nearly sprained my ankle climbing up on his arm, too. Just thought you'd like to know.)
Following the encounter with the Troll, Lib, Mike, and I ventured further into the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle in search of lunch. My appetite had been momentarily quieted earlier in the day thanks to a stop at the Theo chocolate factory and their lovely samples of sugary confections. (I highly recommend the Chai Tea chocolate bar from the 3400 Phinney line.) Though by the afternoon hunger reared its ugly head once again. The lunch establishment of choice was Lombardi's, where I had THE. BEST. caprese sandwich EVER. I mean, fresh tomatoes, melt-in-your-mouth mozzarella, and peppery arugula layered in between a soft, toasted ciabatta bun. HEEEEAVEN.
Growling tummies yet again satisfied, it was on to the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. What are the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, you wonder? Glad you asked...
(In case you can't read that, it says, "The locks control the elevation of the lakes behind the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. This allows vessels to move back and forth from one water elevation to another. Notice how the water level of Puget Sound is lower than Salmon Bay. Freshwater of Salmon Bay meets the saltwater of Puget Sound at the locks. Depending on tides, there can be a 6- to 26-foot difference between fresh- and saltwater. We raise and lower water levels in the locks as needed to allow vessels to lock through."
Salmon Bay to the left, Puget Sound to the right... Biiiig difference in water levels.
The boats and ships are lining up in the lock...
The water level lowering was taking a while as everyone filed in, so the three of us headed down to the salmon ladders where the fish traverse up the ladders from the saltwater Puget Sound to the freshwater Salmon Bay to lay their eggs and then die.
Sorry buddy...
By the time we tired of the fishies the water levels in the lock had severely gone down and the vessels were able to go on their way to the Sound.
Fun, huh?
Now that we were thoroughly educated in the ways of locks we headed out to Green Lake Park for a leisurely stroll. The weather was absolutely gorgeous so all Seattle-ites (Satellites?) were out in full force - new moms jogging with their babies strapped into four-wheel-drive strollers, friends walking their dogs, kids on roller skates and bicycles, couples lounging on the lake shore, etc. I took a cell phone picture of a duck waddling across the walkway towards her buddies and sent it to Michelle, completely forgetting that it was around 9:30 p.m. EDT. Oops. Sorry Chel! Hope I didn't make you jealous with the bright sunny skies in the photo background. :)
By this time I was approaching 20,000 steps for the day and my feet were on fire. We trudged across the street to a Starbucks for drinks and then hopped on the bus back to Queen Anne.
This was the night that I found the trend I'm hoping to start in the local WC bars... board games in the bar. I don't think this would take off in places like Barnaby's or Kildare's, but Ryan's and Jake's would probably be good candidates. The Nabob was a typical low-key neighborhood bar where folks came to relax, bring their dogs (I saw an AmBull puppy and some sort of foofy dog), play some Scrabble or UNO, and munch on good bar food. Divine. Plus the place has a cool name... it's fun to say. "Nabob." :)
And thus endeth the third night.
Life in a Northern town.
I've been home from vacation for 2.5 days now and am still trying to acclimate my inner clock back to eastern time. The cats haven't been helping matters, waking me up at 4:30 a.m. when my body still thinks it's 1:30 a.m. Hopefully the sluggishness will wear off soon!
Though the lingering jet lag is a small price to pay for 4.5 glorious days in Seattle. Those claims of 24x7x365 rain couldn't be less true... or at least for August anyway. Bright blue and sunny skies were present for the duration of our stay and the weather hovered anywhere from the low- to high-70s.
Wednesday started off at the unGodly hour of 4:30 a.m. in Philadelphia. No one should have to be awake and functioning that early, especially when expected to drag a carry-on suitcase through dark streets and into an eerily-quiet train terminal, all while wearing flip-flops (might not seem too much to ask for a normal person, but I have a condition that prevents me from walking without stubbing my toe and/or tripping at least 50 times in as many minutes). The train ride to the airport and the flight to Houston were generally uneventful, and before we knew it Lib and I had arrived in the great state of Texas and were munching on delicious blueberry scones and sipping cafe mochas from an airport ice cream eatery. Two hours later the boarding call sounded for our flight to Seattle... it was all I could do to not jump up and down in excitement (though I may have bounced on the balls of my feet a couple of times).
Now, this was my very first time flying to the west coast; first time flying anywhere west of Dallas, really. Needless to say my camera's lens was permanently plastered to the plane window, much to the amusement of my seatmates Margie and Jim from Beaumont, Texas. Margie and Jim were visiting their daughter, Lisa, who has lived in Seattle for the past 15 years. They make the trek to the Northwest at least twice a year and always enjoy their time hiking and camping among the mountains. Though this time they were embarking on an Alaskan cruise midway through their stay. Oh, and they were very happy to hear I would be spending time in Queen Anne, as it was one of the nicer neighborhoods and close to the Seattle "hub." And I say all of this without a hint of sarcasm; Margie and Jim truly were a pleasure to sit with and made the almost-four hour flight that much more bearable. They also helped me identify several landmarks such as...
The Colorado River and Salt Lake
And Mount Rainier
Thanks Margie and Jim!
After landing and having a little snafu with our pick-up location (who knew arrivals had to be picked up at street level?), Mike had whisked us away in the Honda Element zipcar towards downtown Seattle. Lib and I clicked away on our cameras the entire time. Poor Mike didn't know what was in for him.
The inaugural eating establishment was the 5 Spot in Queen Anne. The restaurant frequentlly changes its menu to revolve around certain themes; this time it was centered on Puerto Rican fare. I had a "Top of the Hill Tostada," followed by tempura bananas with coconut ice cream. *slurp*
After dinner the three of us walked through some quiet neighborhoods in Queen Anne (with Libby and I "oooh-ing" and "awww-ing" over the multitude of cute homes) on the way to a great lookout point at Kerry Park.
We then walked to another lookout point for more views of the Olympic mountain range, Elliot Bay, and the marina.
And one of these...
Thus endeth the first day.
On Thursday, Lib and I were on our own to explore the city while Mike worked to bring home the bacon. Our first stop: The Space Needle!
A semi-shaky elevator took us up to the observation deck, 520 feet above ground level. And that's where I was able to see this:
Once we were back on solid ground we navigated ourselves down the city's steep hills to the Pike Place Market.
This is the infamous Pike Place Fish Market, home of the salmon toss. A customer would order a select cut of fish, one fishmonger would shout it to the counter, the rest of the guys would shout the order back, and then a fish would come sailing out of nowhere. I was able to witness a salmon toss, but sadly did not get my camera out in time.
Following the visit to the Market, next on our list of "OMG plaster a tourist bumper sticker on my forehead" things to do was to partake in the Seattle Underground tour in historic Pioneer Square. Here we "roam[ed] the subterranean passages that once were the main roadways and first-floor storefronts of old downtown Seattle." It was a pretty interesting tour... we learned about how sections of the city were built on sawdust, the history of the "crapper" (toilet) in Seattle, and how, after the Great Fire, the entire city was raised by 20+ feet.
Mike hooked up with us later that afternoon after the tour and we headed back to the Market because somehow Libby and I had missed seeing the original Starbucks location.
The three of us meandered down to the piers afterwards to take in the sunset glistening off of the water and making the mountain ranges glow.
Argosy Cruises offered an hour-long trip around Elliot Bay for $10.75. The marketing ploy worked.
The shipyards contained these gigantic cranes that looked like giraffes. So that's what I called them.
Once back on dry land it was off to the Market for another stroll and then up to Steelhead Diner for dinner. I had (half of) an awesome pulled pork sandwich that was as big as my head. We were seated right at the bar looking into the kitchen, so were able to see the staff prepare each customer's meal. It was like something straight out of "Top Chef," and I found myself trying to figure out the kitchen hierarchy by listening for "Yes, Chef" and "Yes, sir"... pretty fun! Service was a bit slow, however, and we didn't leave until around 10:00, after having been there since 7:30. No idea how I managed to get ready for bed once back at the apartment.
And thus endeth the second day.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will follow soon (hopefully)...
Leaving On A Jet Plane
My amazing boss managed to get me some time off on extremely short notice.
The upside: I am going to Portland!
Over Labor Day weekend, I am traveling to Portland (OR, not ME!) with (hopefully!) my girlfriend, Elena.
I haven't had a real vacation in too long to discuss. So I am thrilled to be getting away for a few days. I hear Portland is a lovely area, and I've never been, so that's very exciting.
There will probably be more to come on this topic, but for now, let me say this:
Christian Kane.
(lovespirit is freaking out right now, I can tell)
He is an amazing singer/songwriter/actor and he will be performing with his band at a venue in Portland on September 5. He is THE reason I am going to Portland.
All that way, just for him.
This is an interview of him by a morning show in Portland, done about a month ago. The interview is cute enough, but if you watch, he sings at the end (and one of my favorite songs of his, called "Different Kind of Knight")
I soooo cannot wait. Poor Elena, I am going to be an absolute nutcase when I see him.
I heart Labor Day!
The upside: I am going to Portland!
Over Labor Day weekend, I am traveling to Portland (OR, not ME!) with (hopefully!) my girlfriend, Elena.
I haven't had a real vacation in too long to discuss. So I am thrilled to be getting away for a few days. I hear Portland is a lovely area, and I've never been, so that's very exciting.
There will probably be more to come on this topic, but for now, let me say this:
Christian Kane.
(lovespirit is freaking out right now, I can tell)
He is an amazing singer/songwriter/actor and he will be performing with his band at a venue in Portland on September 5. He is THE reason I am going to Portland.
All that way, just for him.
This is an interview of him by a morning show in Portland, done about a month ago. The interview is cute enough, but if you watch, he sings at the end (and one of my favorite songs of his, called "Different Kind of Knight")
I soooo cannot wait. Poor Elena, I am going to be an absolute nutcase when I see him.
I heart Labor Day!
ZOMG an update - random summer musings
Kitsune no Tora
Drinking: Coca Cola/water
Thinking about: My fanfics
Watching: FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Reading: fanfiction, thinking about finishing HP6
Annoyed with: My mother and the dog and the cat
Kitsune no Tora is feeling: a little out of it, neutral
Hello hello~ It has been a while. D: I even got bitched at for not updating this, who would've thunk it? XD
Lesse... um, nothing really of importance HAPPENED in the past... however many weeks, as it is summer and I don't have much to do.
Well, I did get married. Sorta. XDDD
I am now Taylor's Tuesday wife~ Happened Monday. XD Let's see if I can find the convo... Here it is:
thoughtless77: LISA
Lisa: WUT
thoughtless77: I am getting enough spouses for each day of the week
thoughtless77: so
thoughtless77: *gets on one knee* Would you be my Tuesday?
thoughtless77: *shot*
Lisa: 8D
Lisa: OF COURSE I WILL BE YOUR TUESDAY <3
thoughtless77: 8D I'll make sure you won't regret it! *blomps(
thoughtless77: **
Lisa: I won't~ *blomps back* <3
"Blomp" was a typo for glomp that I made a while back, by the way. We tend to use it anyway. XD I decided we needed to have names for each other, like how Mima calls Taylor waifu and vice versa, so since Tuesday is "kayoubi" in Japanese we decided on kaifu. :3 Is cute~
...Otherwise, I can't really think of anything monumental or anything. XD;
I opened my own checking account about a week ago, so now I has a debit card. With that debit card, I opened a Paypal account, so I can shop online and stuffs. :3 But I didn't have a whole lot of money in the account since my old savings account is under my mother's name and I can't remove the money and close the account without her prescence (sucks majorly), I couldn't do much with it. But I got my last check from work recently, so I went and deposited that and put the money in the Paypal, aiming to go scour Ebay or something and buy myself a little something something. Unfortunately it seems it takes 3-5 days for the transfer to go through, so I have to wait now. ;_; I wanted to get FF7~ And mebbeh FF8, if I can afford that as well. I WANT MY CLOUD AND LEON FUFFF. 8D I'll have to look again when the transfer goes through. :/
When I went to deposit my check, I headed to Borders as well, looking for the 19th volume of FullMetal Alchemist. But they didn't have it. D8 It was supposed to be out already! Lazy bums. DX But it wasn't a total loss - I decided to get the seventh Harry Potter book, since they had it in paperback. (I avoided buying it when it first came out since the hardcover was like, $35. D: Rip off.) I figured I would finish/re-read the sixth one (I never finished it because I hated the book, but now that I've seen the movie I might as well just read it and get it over with) and finish the series. We have all the other books, might as well finish the collection. XP I'll get to reading that eventually.
Most of my days this summer consist of sleeping, reading fanfiction, talking to Taylor, talking on the forum, and writing. Or attempting to write. :P I have about... I dunno 4 ideas going? They're all Rune Factory 2 fanfiction too, haha. XD It's kinda surprising - I haven't touched the game in about a month, yet I'm coming up with a bunch of ideas. It seems to be my ongoing fandom as of now, not even Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann managed to push it away for long. (Which is EPIC WIN by the way. KAMINA. LEERON. I LOVE THEM. <3 Simon is pretty epic too, especially when he gets older.) I'll list them~
Duplicity: Longfic that I'm currently posting as I write it. There are currently 2 chapters up, and I'm slowly working on the third. Pairing is Max/Ray~ <3 I'm a little stuck, though, but the idea just WOULDN'T LEAVE ME ALONE so I skipped past it and wrote a different scene. It includes a little plot twist for added fluff and angst. 8D I had to do a little bit of research (and no Taylor, the drink name is not a major part, although it is something I would like to have), which got me SUPER EXTRA EXCITED, so hopefully later tonight-ish or tomorrow morning/afternoon I'll manage to work out the rest in my head and write it down. What I wrote this morning when I first got up (putting a notebook and pen near my bed was a VERY GOOD IDEA) needs a lot of tweaking and adding to now that I've done my research, but I'm happy with what I got down overall.
So far it's not garnering as much interest as my Barrett/Kyle or Jake oneshots, but that's to be expected - Barrett and Jake are the top popular bachelors. There's like, NOTHING on Max at all, and... I think two fanfics (one of which is dedicated to me, lol) involving Ray that I know of. So sad, they're awesome characters. D:
Lifeless: Longfic that I got the idea for A LONG TIME AGO, and started writing A LONG TIME AGO, but it got pushed to the side by little oneshot ideas and Duplicity, which is a lot less involved than this will be. It will be an extremely long fic (at least by my standards, which is somewhere around 30 chapters), with the pairing being Jake/Kyle. I plan on writing the ENTIRE THING (or at least 80% of it) before I begin posting, so it got pushed to the side when Duplicity came along. But I really love the pairing, so it WILL GET DONE. Eventually. <3 It's a lot more difficult of a pair to put together than pretty much any other one, because of Jake's inherent hate of humans, so it's going to be more work. But I don't mind~ I already have a rough outline and a lot of things going, it's juet GETTING IT GOING that is the hard part. the first chapter is written (took me 3 different starts to get one I liked) and the second chapter is started (but I started over at over 1,000 words because I didn't like it, so it's down to like, 300). I've got a starting block, it seems, which probably means that until my oneshot ideas get pushed away/written and Duplicity is finished, it won't get done. My original ETA was late August, but even that is looking a little too soon. XD;;
Sweet Thing: Oneshot, Barrett/Kyle. Pretty much going to be PWP yaoi lemon, but it's not totally hopeless - it takes a long time before getting to the sex. XP As for the premise, just imagine a hot day and melty ice cream. ;3 *shot* I got it JUST STARTED on either Monday or Tuesday (can't remember lol), so that might be a little while, since Duplicity keeps SCREAMING AT ME "GET ME DONE GET ME DONE WRITE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE." XD;;
Untitled: Undefinte length, college AU. Yaoi lemon, of course~ Everyone will be involved at some point, but it'll center around Kyle, Barrett, Jake, Max, Ray, Rosalind, and mebbeh one other bachelorette, I dunno. XD I love the RF2 bachelors a LOT, it seems. XP Main pair will be Barrett/Kyle, and side pairs will probably arise, along with some love triangles. :3 And probably some kink. XD; I still haven't completely developed the idea or written anything - it will probably end up as one fic, but each chapter could stand on its own and doesn't follow a specific defined plot overall - basically a series of oneshots, all with the same premise and setting. We'll see how it goes.
Untitled: For some reason, I REALLY WANT TO torture myself and attempt a 100 themes. I DUNNO WHY, but I do. XD So I've been looking for lists that would fit the series (although I could do AUs for the ones that don't fit into the premise of the game). I found one that I like and bookmarked it, but I haven't fully decided to do it yet. I'll do it when the urge gets too great or I finish Duplicity/Lifeless, we'll see. It depends on if I want to distract myself because I get stuck or something, that seems to be helping moderately with Dupliciity right now.
....That's all I can think of right now. XD There's some old half-baked oneshots saved on my computer as well - almost all abandonded ideas for The Village Square's contest - so if I feel the need I might try and fix/finish those eventually as well.
At this rate, I'm going to have a loooooot of RF fanfics.... XD;; With RF3 coming out either at the end of the year or beginning of next year, that'll probably grow even more. XD ARGH ILU RUNE FACTORY <3
...That's all I can think of to talk about for right now, so goodnight, digital abyss. <3
Drinking: Coca Cola/water
Thinking about: My fanfics
Watching: FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Reading: fanfiction, thinking about finishing HP6
Annoyed with: My mother and the dog and the cat
Kitsune no Tora is feeling: a little out of it, neutral
Hello hello~ It has been a while. D: I even got bitched at for not updating this, who would've thunk it? XD
Lesse... um, nothing really of importance HAPPENED in the past... however many weeks, as it is summer and I don't have much to do.
Well, I did get married. Sorta. XDDD
I am now Taylor's Tuesday wife~ Happened Monday. XD Let's see if I can find the convo... Here it is:
thoughtless77: LISA
Lisa: WUT
thoughtless77: I am getting enough spouses for each day of the week
thoughtless77: so
thoughtless77: *gets on one knee* Would you be my Tuesday?
thoughtless77: *shot*
Lisa: 8D
Lisa: OF COURSE I WILL BE YOUR TUESDAY <3
thoughtless77: 8D I'll make sure you won't regret it! *blomps(
thoughtless77: **
Lisa: I won't~ *blomps back* <3
"Blomp" was a typo for glomp that I made a while back, by the way. We tend to use it anyway. XD I decided we needed to have names for each other, like how Mima calls Taylor waifu and vice versa, so since Tuesday is "kayoubi" in Japanese we decided on kaifu. :3 Is cute~
...Otherwise, I can't really think of anything monumental or anything. XD;
I opened my own checking account about a week ago, so now I has a debit card. With that debit card, I opened a Paypal account, so I can shop online and stuffs. :3 But I didn't have a whole lot of money in the account since my old savings account is under my mother's name and I can't remove the money and close the account without her prescence (sucks majorly), I couldn't do much with it. But I got my last check from work recently, so I went and deposited that and put the money in the Paypal, aiming to go scour Ebay or something and buy myself a little something something. Unfortunately it seems it takes 3-5 days for the transfer to go through, so I have to wait now. ;_; I wanted to get FF7~ And mebbeh FF8, if I can afford that as well. I WANT MY CLOUD AND LEON FUFFF. 8D I'll have to look again when the transfer goes through. :/
When I went to deposit my check, I headed to Borders as well, looking for the 19th volume of FullMetal Alchemist. But they didn't have it. D8 It was supposed to be out already! Lazy bums. DX But it wasn't a total loss - I decided to get the seventh Harry Potter book, since they had it in paperback. (I avoided buying it when it first came out since the hardcover was like, $35. D: Rip off.) I figured I would finish/re-read the sixth one (I never finished it because I hated the book, but now that I've seen the movie I might as well just read it and get it over with) and finish the series. We have all the other books, might as well finish the collection. XP I'll get to reading that eventually.
Most of my days this summer consist of sleeping, reading fanfiction, talking to Taylor, talking on the forum, and writing. Or attempting to write. :P I have about... I dunno 4 ideas going? They're all Rune Factory 2 fanfiction too, haha. XD It's kinda surprising - I haven't touched the game in about a month, yet I'm coming up with a bunch of ideas. It seems to be my ongoing fandom as of now, not even Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann managed to push it away for long. (Which is EPIC WIN by the way. KAMINA. LEERON. I LOVE THEM. <3 Simon is pretty epic too, especially when he gets older.) I'll list them~
Duplicity: Longfic that I'm currently posting as I write it. There are currently 2 chapters up, and I'm slowly working on the third. Pairing is Max/Ray~ <3 I'm a little stuck, though, but the idea just WOULDN'T LEAVE ME ALONE so I skipped past it and wrote a different scene. It includes a little plot twist for added fluff and angst. 8D I had to do a little bit of research (and no Taylor, the drink name is not a major part, although it is something I would like to have), which got me SUPER EXTRA EXCITED, so hopefully later tonight-ish or tomorrow morning/afternoon I'll manage to work out the rest in my head and write it down. What I wrote this morning when I first got up (putting a notebook and pen near my bed was a VERY GOOD IDEA) needs a lot of tweaking and adding to now that I've done my research, but I'm happy with what I got down overall.
So far it's not garnering as much interest as my Barrett/Kyle or Jake oneshots, but that's to be expected - Barrett and Jake are the top popular bachelors. There's like, NOTHING on Max at all, and... I think two fanfics (one of which is dedicated to me, lol) involving Ray that I know of. So sad, they're awesome characters. D:
Lifeless: Longfic that I got the idea for A LONG TIME AGO, and started writing A LONG TIME AGO, but it got pushed to the side by little oneshot ideas and Duplicity, which is a lot less involved than this will be. It will be an extremely long fic (at least by my standards, which is somewhere around 30 chapters), with the pairing being Jake/Kyle. I plan on writing the ENTIRE THING (or at least 80% of it) before I begin posting, so it got pushed to the side when Duplicity came along. But I really love the pairing, so it WILL GET DONE. Eventually. <3 It's a lot more difficult of a pair to put together than pretty much any other one, because of Jake's inherent hate of humans, so it's going to be more work. But I don't mind~ I already have a rough outline and a lot of things going, it's juet GETTING IT GOING that is the hard part. the first chapter is written (took me 3 different starts to get one I liked) and the second chapter is started (but I started over at over 1,000 words because I didn't like it, so it's down to like, 300). I've got a starting block, it seems, which probably means that until my oneshot ideas get pushed away/written and Duplicity is finished, it won't get done. My original ETA was late August, but even that is looking a little too soon. XD;;
Sweet Thing: Oneshot, Barrett/Kyle. Pretty much going to be PWP yaoi lemon, but it's not totally hopeless - it takes a long time before getting to the sex. XP As for the premise, just imagine a hot day and melty ice cream. ;3 *shot* I got it JUST STARTED on either Monday or Tuesday (can't remember lol), so that might be a little while, since Duplicity keeps SCREAMING AT ME "GET ME DONE GET ME DONE WRITE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE." XD;;
Untitled: Undefinte length, college AU. Yaoi lemon, of course~ Everyone will be involved at some point, but it'll center around Kyle, Barrett, Jake, Max, Ray, Rosalind, and mebbeh one other bachelorette, I dunno. XD I love the RF2 bachelors a LOT, it seems. XP Main pair will be Barrett/Kyle, and side pairs will probably arise, along with some love triangles. :3 And probably some kink. XD; I still haven't completely developed the idea or written anything - it will probably end up as one fic, but each chapter could stand on its own and doesn't follow a specific defined plot overall - basically a series of oneshots, all with the same premise and setting. We'll see how it goes.
Untitled: For some reason, I REALLY WANT TO torture myself and attempt a 100 themes. I DUNNO WHY, but I do. XD So I've been looking for lists that would fit the series (although I could do AUs for the ones that don't fit into the premise of the game). I found one that I like and bookmarked it, but I haven't fully decided to do it yet. I'll do it when the urge gets too great or I finish Duplicity/Lifeless, we'll see. It depends on if I want to distract myself because I get stuck or something, that seems to be helping moderately with Dupliciity right now.
....That's all I can think of right now. XD There's some old half-baked oneshots saved on my computer as well - almost all abandonded ideas for The Village Square's contest - so if I feel the need I might try and fix/finish those eventually as well.
At this rate, I'm going to have a loooooot of RF fanfics.... XD;; With RF3 coming out either at the end of the year or beginning of next year, that'll probably grow even more. XD ARGH ILU RUNE FACTORY <3
...That's all I can think of to talk about for right now, so goodnight, digital abyss. <3
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After that exchange, I am left only to believe that you really are
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