Ahhh... summer at last. Took all my fans out of the closet yesterday morning, dusted them and then set them up. I have a double intake/exhaust fan that goes in the kitchen window, a tall standing one that can be used in the middle of the kitchen or the bathroom, and a smaller rotating tower fan that usually stands by my bed. As well as a tiny "personal fan" for my desk - but that one sometimes gets used even in winter, when the heating is on full blast. And, of course, there is the air conditioner: the beautiful, new, efficient one that my dad bought me last year. Also dusted and humming happily as we speak.;) (Yes, it is big and amazingly efficient compared to my old window unit - but still not powerful enough to cool the entire place evenly... hence all the fans.)

Spent much of yesterday evening in my parents' garden, breathing in lilacs and lilies of the valley and watching a tiny little birdie take flying lessons from its mom (don't ask me what species of birdie it was, I am entirely hopeless at that sorta thing; I don't even know the Polish name for it, let alone the English one... lol). As well as chatting with MY mom, which was actually pleasant and relaxing, for once. ( Read more... )

Bullet point update, because that's all my grey matter seems capable of at the moment...

1) The weather keeps acting confused. It was really nice and warm for a few days, but then it got cold, wet and gloomy all over again.:/ Then the sun came out, but hasn't brought any warmth so far. I wore my winter jacket yesterday and today. Unsurprisingly, the heating in my building was turned off during those few warmer days - and I don't think it's coming back. It's nearly the middle of May, after all. Usually, they shut it off sometime in April. I have my little space heater on at the moment, but it isn't doing a hell of a lot to keep me warm...

2) I managed to injure myself in a really stupid way. I tore a strip of peeling dead skin off my left heel, exposing a raw, sensitive spot - which caused me to put my foot down sort of sideways for the next 2-3 days, in order to avoid putting too much pressure on that sensitive area. Which, in turn, resulted in somehow messing up my knee.:/ It doesn't quite hurt, but it feels slightly swollen, and decidedly less flexible than the right one. I can walk OK on a flat surface, but I am sort of limping while going up or down the stairs.:| By the way, this reminds me why I don't wear high heels; if I am unable to comfortably rest my body weight on my entire foot, my knees get fucked up. I'll be sure to keep that in mind as I get older... *scowls*

3) I just finished going through the entire discography of Charis Alexiou on Soundike.com. ( Took me close to a week. )

Ehhh... my brain is just not cooperating this weekend. I thought I had so much to say, and I was going to make a long post last night... and then it just didn't happen.:/ Could be because there was TOO MUCH going on through my mind. I am in a classic premenstrual state of frenetic mental overdrive and high-strung emotions, and I have those endless paralell monologues bursting out of my skull that just go *POOF* when I try to write them down.:/ If that makes sense. Or rather, I know it doesn't, but that's just how it is. *sigh*

So, first I wanted to write about how suddenly the weather changed and how absolutely lovely it was to walk outside without a jacket. Then I wanted to write about the movie I watched on Friday night, because it was epic, and Heath Ledger was in it, and he just absolutely blew my mind. But I just ended up going through his profile on IMDB, reading all the interview quotes, and getting all gushy and emotional and wanting to cry because he's dead. So then I just wanted to post some of the quotes, and talk about how awesome the guy was, and how he would have made an absolutely PERFECT Lestat if he'd had the chance. Because OMG I can't even. But then I got distracted, because my favorite mp3 download site had a promotion that ended this weekend, and I had been meaning to look for some new music... and before I knew it, I had acquired a brand new obsession. Voltaire. As in, Voltaire the musician. ( This guy: )

Well, for anyone who might care to know, my workplace was open for business today. And yes, the intersection I had mentioned is still flooded, but the buses are taking a detour, approaching our office area from the opposite direction. A little bit of a walk from where they drop you off, but it's manageable. So I got there only 30 minutes late this time.:)

You might also find it amusing that the weather has done another 180-degree turn since yesterday. It's absolutely freezing, with little snow showers every once in a while. And a nasty, biting wind that stings your face. Ahhh, what joy. *grits teeth*

Also, it seems that I live very close to one of the most flooded areas. The little neighborhood park where I go for walks sometimes, and a whole bunch of residential streets around it, are all under water. I've seen pictures online. It's going to be interesting to see if I can reach the local supermarket tomorrow to get my groceries...

For now, I'm wiped. I'm gonna slap my heating pad on and watch a movie, then go to bed. I've got acupuncture tomorrow morning, which should improve my general attitude towards the universe - provided I can get there, of course, which, under the circumstances, is not a given. Btw, my doctor's office is in a basement...

Again, the weekend slipped away before I managed to sit my ass down and make a proper post.:/ I hate when that happens. And I can't even say I've been extremely busy. In fact, I totally meant to post last night - except I decided to get the weekend cooking out of the way instead, since I "had the time", and then I watched a movie... and then it was late and I was tired. And today I decided that since I had done the cooking already, I should take care of laundry. But before that, I also decided to call my friend Dorota in Poland, since she had sent me a whole bunch of emails in the past few weeks, to which I hadn't so far managed to respond, and she was beginning to worry about my prolonged silence. So I called, and we talked for almost TWO HOURS... again. *headshake* Don't get me wrong - I love her to bits, and it's always nice to catch up, but that girl can TALK. She is one of the most chatty, eloquent, "wordy" people I have ever met. It's virtually impossible to end a conversation with her; we begin saying our goodbyes, and suddenly, in the midst of that, she's off on another 15-minute tangent.:D So yeah... that was a bit time-consuming.;) I've also exchanged a bunch of comments with VC people over on Dreamwidth. Which is always exciting. You know, when you're so pathologically nuts about a fandom, you want to TALK to people about it - and my friend Dorota, a sweetheart though she is, doesn't quite get my strange fascination with gay vampires, so I don't want to torture her with it.;)

Anyway... I have generally failed at LJ interaction as a result, but I will try to catch up a bit during the week. Now I just really wanted to post something before I go to bed, because, well... just because.:P Also, I have an idea for the next installment of the 30-day meme.

( Day 25 - A first, in great detail )

Wow... that was quite a busy weekend - for me, anyway (which is an obligatory disclaimer, I suppose, since I have noticed most people have a different definition of "busy", and might possibly interpret it as "relaxing"... LOL). Saturday included chiropractic appointment, grocery shopping AND an unplanned trip downtown to see a movie (more about that later). Sunday was spent mostly at my parents' house, doing the classic Easter binge.:) And today was supposed to be just chilling, sleeping in, taking a long, hot shower, cooking etc. - but somehow I decided I needed to add another shopping trip to the mix (possibly because my parents handed me some cash as a belated birthday present, LOL). So I only just had dinner now, and there isn't as much time left for LJ as I thought there would be... *sigh*

By the way, I had today off because I asked for it - it's not a holiday here, in case any of my European friends are wondering. Neither was Friday. We don't get any extra time off for Easter in this country. Or perhaps some workplaces with plenty of European and/or South American employees do, but mine doesn't. I just usually take Monday off if I am planning to visit my parents on the Sunday before it; otherwise I have to rush madly to get everything done, and that just defeats the purpose of a weekend for me, LOL.

But speaking of rushing madly - that's pretty much what I did on Saturday, having discovered Friday evening that they are showing Viggo's recent Argentinian movie at a theater downtown. This weekend only. It was a limited release, only in selected cities in the US, and when I first heard about it a while back, it was supposed to happen the week before (on the 22nd). So I simply assumed that if they weren't showing the film anywhere in Chicago on the 22nd, that meant Chicago wasn't included. But guess what? I checked the Chicago Reader website Friday at work, and there it was. Which almost gave me an anxiety attack, since at first I wasn't sure how I was going to fit in such a lengthy cinema trip into an already busy weekend (it's about an hour and a half, one way, to that downtown theater from where I live). But I HAD to fit it in, of course, and so I did.:D Hence the rushing, and quite a fair bit of angst, which resulted in poor sleep the night before, followed by a ridiculous degree of exhaustion throughout the day. But I did manage to see the movie, so it's all good.:P

In case anybody cares (other than meathiel, perhaps ;), the film is called Everyone Has a Plan, and Viggo plays a double role of two brothers with very different lives and personalities. ( Read more... )

Anyway... back to work tomorrow, so I should be getting ready for bed. I'll post more later... maybe.;) For now, I hope everyone had a nice celebration - whatever you celebrated this weekend - and I wish you all WARM, SUNNY, welcoming SPRING weather (which, from what I'm hearing, hasn't been much in evidence so far). Well, it was sunny here today, but very cold. Way, way too cold for April. I still had to wear my winter jacket... *grumbles*

Well... time to shut up now. Good night.;)

I've been an absolutely lousy LJ-friend of late. I haven't left a single comment on anyone's post in the past week or two. There were a bunch of posts I wanted to reply to, but somehow I always thought I'd do it "later". Apparently, "later" is a mystical, unspecified term that leaves me in a state of confusion, because it magically turns from hours to days, then to weeks... without my conscious approval, I might add. I'm not one for spontaneity, in general - I like to have a set time for everything. But time is unreliable. It flies by ridiculously fast, on most days (except at work sometimes, when it drags like limp noodles... but that's another story).

What I'm trying to say is that I would really have no basis for complaining if some of my new friends decided to remove me from their journals due to lack of interaction. There would be no hard feelings on my part - some regret, perhaps... but I can't really, in all honesty, promise to be a better commenter in the future, since I'm not sure it's a promise I can keep. The way it looks now, I'm probably going to just comment on weekends, and only on posts by the very few people I feel a deeper connection with (those very few people most likely know who they are). Anyway... "quality over quantity" has always been my motto.:) So if it bothers you that I read, but never comment, don't feel obligated to keep me as a friend just to be polite.:P I generally don't mind people's lack of comments, by the way - I'm used to it, LOL - but I do realize everyone has different requirements when it comes to blogging/journalling and such. So I'm only saying this for the sake of clarification here, if needed.

I am addicted to this journal, there's no doubt about it. But I would most likely still write in it if no-one ever read it. I've always kept a journal, ever since my mid-teens, and for many years, it was a private little notebook hidden in a drawer. In other words, it's not a desire for an "audience" or "popularity" which makes me write. It never was. That said, it's nice to know if people relate to something I've written. But then again, there were far too many times I did relate to something other people had written, and never let them know either... so yeah. Interaction is my week point, a lot of the time. My brain is like a sponge: it soaks stuff up, retains it, but hardly ever gives anything back (maybe it needs a squeeze... LOL).

Also, I have apparently managed to get my body used to the new rhythm of always going to bed before midnight, because it is currently screaming "BEDTIME!" at me in a most demanding manner - despite having slept in this morning, and not having done anything particularly exhausting during the day. So whatever else I thought I wanted to say will have to wait till "later" - whatever that means... *sigh*

I wanted to post tonight, but I got swallowed up by Tumblr and DeviantArt. Again. So, instead of a coherent, verbose, informative entry (that would have bored you to tears, more likely than not), I offer you a brief, succinct graphic explanation of the basic difference between extroverts and introverts (which is, of course, extremely relevant to the general themes pursued in his journal). Found on DeviantArt. ( The artist's name is Ambelle1120. )

Well, a few more things before the weekend's over. The next week will be more of the same at work, so I may not feel particularly chatty in the evenings. Just saying.

Also, I do recall wishing someone had written a story that would include "missing scenes" from Interview with the Vampire. Well... someone did. I am reading it right now. ( Read more... )

And before I sign off for the night, here's my latest music addiction. Linkin Park. Yes, I know. A bit of a departure for yours truly. I never quite expected to like something that even vaguely resembles rap... LOL. But here it is, and it seems perfectly attuned to my emotions of late. You know, acting all calm and collected at the office all day, while there is a veritable storm of insecurity and frustration raging inside... it feels more or less like what this song is about:



At any rate, it feels good to be expanding one's musical horizons.:) Not that there aren't a few absolutely gorgeous ballads on their latest album, Living Things. My favorite one is probably Roads Untraveled... but I couldn't find a video for it. Anyway... I'll shut up now, and go to bed at a reasonable hour for once. *yawns*

Ugh. This is probably going to sound weird, but sometimes I am just so fed up with the human body and all its disgusting "natural functions". Why does everything have to be so icky? The older I get, the more sickened I am by certain unavoidable "facts of life". Sometimes I wish I didn't have a body at all. Or, you know, had a clean and easily maintained supernatural one that doesn't emit any waste, and bleeds only when it chooses.

Yes, in case you're still wondering what prompted this, I got my period last night. ( Read more... )