Floating Leaf

surreysmum rocks my world. She wrote this lovely A/L drabble for my birthday... totally charming and sweet little thing. If you haven't seen it yet, go check it out at legolasaragorn, or at aragornlegolas. It's all the more precious because it evokes a hot summer night, which right now seems to me like something out of an alternate universe indeed (four months of Chicago winter will do that to ya - and I suppose Canada isn't any better ;P).

( I even think I might have a soundtrack to it.:D )

They say it's Aragorn's birthday today.:) Not that I need an excuse to go through my LOTR caps folder, but... here are a few that make me shiver.



( two more under the cut )

So... I have finally caught up on what the whole big 'tinhat' controversy was all about. Not that anyone cares what I think - I am not delusional, at least not about that.;) But this is my personal journal, and I feel like sorting this out for myself, so... here goes.

( My take on the apparent fandom split. )

Tagged by ancabell:

Pick 10 people and give them the "you made my day" award. If you're picked, you are charged with picking 10 of your own.

Since my human interactions are somewhat limited, especially of late (my brain is in deep hibernation, it seems), not everyone on my list will be an LJ-friend - and not every reference will have to do with something specific. Mostly it's just people who have been in my thoughts in recent days/weeks, for one reason or another.

ancabell: for the lovely little thing she just wrote, and for putting me on her list.:)

baileymoyes: for being the never-drying fountain of gorgeous, clever, romantic, funny & sexy Viggorli fic that she still continues to be after all these years. *worships*

gairid: for the response to ancabell's challenge... and for being my "vampire connection".;)

mellacita: for always finding some interesting, thought-provoking stuff to post (like links to Perceval Press, which I don't visit often enough).

namarie120: for being my main source of updates on Viggo - among other things (it is not possible to sum up this amazing woman's merits in one sentence, so I am not going to try :P).

ptychu: for saying something in a recent email that made me feel VERY appreciated. She knows what.:D

romi: for being the absolute darling that she is. And for reposting some rare, cute, old & nearly forgotten piece of Viggorli fluff that made me very nostalgic for Romi-fic in general. *wistful sigh*

slesia: for sending me a Valentine when I thought she was irretrievably lost to RL and I would never hear from her again.

stormatdusk: for being cute & funny and making great icons - as seen above.:D

And finally, my good old friend D. - for still being there. ( Read more... )

In other news, it appears that I am still losing weight... veeery slowly. About a pound a month, lol. The day-to-day changes are barely noticeable, but the overall tendency seems to be DOWN. And that's a Very Good Thing.:D

I witnessed something unbelievable and disturbing today, as I was driving along one of the busy city streets just north of downtown. There was an elderly woman standing next to a parked car, right by the curb. Suddenly the car started moving, backing up right into the woman, who was knocked off balance and promptly fell down on her face, arms spread out to the sides. She was right behind the car, so her legs were actually under it as it kept backing up... it seemed the driver had no idea what happened at first, but as soon as he realized there was some commotion behind him, he pressed down on the gas pedal and was gone faster than anyone could blink. With the woman still lying face down on the street. I was stopped at a red light directly across them, so I had a good view of the whole incident - though it happened so quickly I barely registered what was going on before it was over. Fortunately, there were a lot of pedestrians around, and at least three people jumped up to the victim's side right away. The last thing I saw was someone helping her sit up - she didn't seem badly injured, probably just in shock from the fall - and then, within a few minutes, I heard the ambulance. Granted, accidents happen all the time, all over Chicago, and this wasn't the first one I've ever seen - but how can anyone not even look behind once as they start backing up out of their parking space, knock a pedestrian over and then just drive away leaving them in the dust???... This is completely beyond me. The woman could have been dead, for fuck's sake. He could have driven right over her legs or arms as she was lying there (as far as I could see, he didn't, but it was a close call). How in hell is anyone supposed to feel safe taking a stroll down the street in broad daylight after seeing something like this happen?... I just can't believe it. I thought things like that were done only by 'bad guys' in the movies. Well, here's a reality check from just a few blocks down, right in the middle of 'home sweet home' Chicago. So if you were, like me, under the impression that only moving cars are dangerous for pedestrians... think again.:/

In other news, there is some fierce Arctic wind rattling my windows as we speak. Again. I've so had enough of this jolly winter season it's not even funny anymore. I swear internet is the only thing that keeps me barely interested in staying alive right now. My flist, emails from friends, updates on Viggo and the slash - if not for that, I would just crawl down into some deep hole and let shitty reality screw itself over and over, which it can do well enough without my eager participation. I just can't seem to care much about the world at large right now. *shrug*

So, like I mentioned before, it's been almost a year since I moved into this apartment. And, apparently, it was high time for a major plumbing disaster.:/ Yesterday, around noon, as I came out of the tub, there was water all over the bathroom floor. And while I was mopping it up, wondering where the hell it came from, I heard loud banging on my front door. I barely had time to throw on a flimsy nightie and a robe before the plumber guy from the rental company used his key and came in. It turned out that my downstairs neighbor had called him, because the water was leaking through his ceiling (and I never heard the neighbor knocking on the door, because I was in the bath - not that I would have gotten out to answer the door, anyway). So, after assesing the situation, the plumber had to bring in some massive vacuum-like machine and clean out the mess. He said that this type of drain clean-up should be done routinely about once a year, to prevent leaks - but nobody told me that when I moved in. I also found out that his previous anonymous visit had originally nothing to do with my dripping kitchen tap. He had come here to check the kitchen radiator, which, according to my downstairs neighbor, was leaking through his ceiling as well (which I had no slightest clue about). And while he was doing that, he noticed the dripping tap - so he came back the next day to fix it too. Well... that certainly explains why my garbage bin was moved out of its usual place that day. *headshake* As well as tells me that no one reads the emails people send to the rental office. Well... I guess I'm sort of lucky that I live on the top floor, then - the poor guy downstairs (who I'm sure must hate me now) is the first to know about my plumbing issues, and by the time I find out about them, they are already being (or have been) fixed.:P

( And that only proves, once again, that it's much better to live on your own than to share. )

Snagged from rainweaver13 and gairid:

The Ultimate LiveJournal Obsession Test
Category	Your Score	Average LJer
Community Attachment	22.58% You've got pals to cheer you up when you're down, but no audience to applaud you... Yet.	22.74%
MemeSheepage	26.32% Easily amused	27.78%
Original Content	46.77% Some stories must be told - and you're the one to tell them	37.98%
Psychodrama Quotient	12.05% Had a comment taken out of context once or twice	16.69%
Attention Whoring	27.27% You do a little dance whenever someone friends you	20.67%
Take The Ultimate LiveJournal Obsession Test and see how you match up! (By The Ferrett)

In other news, it's hellishly cold again and I just don't have any energy. I feel like my brain is frozen half the time. And even seven hours of sleep a night don't seem anywhere near enough. Plus, I have stopped losing weight. I've been pretty much hovering between 143 and 145 lbs for the past month or so. And I just don't have it in me to start some really intense exercise routine (the 20 minutes of Pilates I do every once in a while is just a stretch for stiff muscles, really, nothing more), or to get even more rigorous about my diet. Not right now. Right now I just want to survive until spring, lol.

Yeah, I am one of those people whose entire outlook on life depends on the weather. And Arctic winter makes me depressed. Or at least very lethargic. Why can't I just curl up in a warm spot, like a bear, and go to sleep?... and then wake up to sunshine and flowers?... *sigh*

I got a little funny story today. There is this elderly lady living in the studio two floors below mine - not that old, really, maybe in her fifties, but acting a little strange sometimes, as though she didn't have a very firm grip on reality. Maybe because she's lonely, and seems to have been so for years and years. When I first met her, she freaked me out a bit... and pretty soon I figured out that the other neighbors seem to be avoiding her too. She once came up to my door, for no apparent reason, and stood there rambling disjointedly for about a half hour or more, because I didn't really want to invite her in for a cup of tea, but also didn't want to be rude and tell her to go away. She always does that when we meet on the stairway too - just starts talking and talking like she would never stop, and I just stand there like the nice girl I supposedly am, politely trying to pretend I care what she has to say (I'm not the type to randomly talk to strangers for hours, it's always made me rather uncomfortable). Anyway... today she came up again, to ask about something I couldn't help her with - or maybe it was just an excuse to talk to someone, because as she admitted herself, I was the only one who opened the door (I had loud music on, so obviously she knew I was here - otherwise I probably wouldn't have opened either). So we stood there chatting for a while, and she complimented me on my hair (the intense red dye has washed out a bit, but it still looks nice). I smiled and thanked her, trying to appear grateful, but really just waiting for her to go back to her place and leave me alone. And then - I don't know... maybe the strain somehow showed on my face, because suddenly she said, putting a hand forward as if in defence: "I'm not gay. My husband died, see, I still have the wedding band... I'm not weird or anything". To which I smiled VERY wide and said: "That's OK. No problem whatsoever." Soon after that, she was gone. I locked the door and almost doubled up in helpless laghter. Yeah... she's not weird. Not at all. Not her. *headshake* On second thoughts, maybe I should have smiled even wider and answered: "Well... I AM." Maybe that would have scared her off for good. Next time she comes to pester me, I just might do that. *snort*

From namarie120:

Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands? - Ernest Gaines

We would like to know who really believes in gay rights on livejournal. There is no bribe of a miracle or anything like that. If you truly believe in gay rights, then repost this and title the post as "Gay Rights". If you don't believe in gay rights, then just ignore this. Thanks.

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

So, about that Polish website where you can look for old friends/acquaintances from school/college etc.... Two of my friends found me there, and sent me messages to get back in touch, before I even managed to decide how to approach them. Almost as soon as my profile was up, they were there - which means they must have actually looked for me. I feel almost embarrassed at how happy that made me. I missed them so much... but I guess I was too proud to try contacting them again after they stopped responding to my emails a few years back. I knew they probably never made a conscious decision to cut me off - just got entangled in their own busy lives - but still... I hate feeling like I'm forcing myself on anyone, and if my email remains unanswered for months, in most cases I will not trouble that person again. And then, after months stretched into years, I didn't even know if my contact info for those people was correct anymore... So I basically gave up on them (or rather decided they had given up on me, even though that was pretty hard to accept). And now they're all "here you are, where have you been, we haven't heard from you for so long". Well... duh. I was here all the time, waiting for one of you guys to give a sign of life or something. *blinks*

Anyway... we'll see what comes out of this. Apart from some of the friends I used to hang out with right before I left for the States five years ago, I also found a few people I haven't seen or heard from for much longer. Including the girl who sat next to me for most of elementary school, and who I probably had my first gay crush on.:) Yep, the one who still appears in my dreams pretty regularly after all those years. That's quite freaky, isn't it? Well, I'm not actually 100% positive I found her, because the profile has no photo attached; but the name (not a very common one), age and town of residence are all correct, so I suppose it must be her. I wrote her a message - I wonder if she will respond...

( In other news, my culinary adventures continue. )

And now, a special treat for the few select individuals who are actually still reading this: a Viggorli dream I had a few nights ago. ( Kinda Mary-Sue-ish - so if that disturbs you, stop reading now.:P )