First of all, behold my brand new icon, made especially for me by the illustrious stormatdusk! Ain't she a darling?... *beams*

Second of all, a funny quiz snagged from rainweaver13:





Take the "How Do You Use Magic?" test! Written by Brimo

See?... I always knew I had a chance with Aragorn.;) I just need to somehow magically teleport myself to Middle Earth.:P

And that's it for tonight. Where in hell's blazes does the time go?... All I did was some cooking, and the evening is over. *sigh*

Time for an update, isn't it? ;)

So, today was our annual holiday party at work. Just like last year, there was a sumptuous lunch at a fancy restaurant, and then a prize lottery. I won a $100 gift certificate to some terribly snobbish restaurant chain!... LOL. I've never even heard of any of those places, they're mostly downtown (which is where I don't go unless I have to, or unless someone else is driving...;P) and probably too 'high-brow' even for me (I say 'even', because my coworker Mike likes to tease me about being high-brow, which I don't think I am, really - not in financial sense, anyway ;P). And I don't have the slightest clue who to take along for a very special $100 dinner.:P But the certificate is valid until September'08, so hopefully I will figure it out by then... lol.

( Though I certainly appreciate the irony of giving a lavish restaurant gift card to someone who is painstakingly trying to lose weight. )

Super Express news tonight, because the long weekend ended much too quickly, as usual, and I should be in bed by now:

1) The scale this morning: 147 lbs. I am dropping the pounds like a house on fire, LOL. Even though I had FOUR pieces of cake on Thanksgiving.:P

2) Spent the last few days shopping like crazy; not actually buying much, but walking a lot, which at least provided some much-needed exercise.:D

3) Had another extremely erotic Orlando dream this morning. Not Viggo. Orlando. And not WITH Viggo either. With me. WTF?... Well, we were sort of talking ABOUT Viggo - before we started, ummm... you know. I'll spare you the gross het details.;P But seriously, what is this supposed to mean???... *is puzzled* Not that there was anything remotely macho about him; all smooth face and lavish curls, and almost-feminine gentleness. Mmmmm...

ANYWAY... that's it for now. BEDTIME. *waves hastily and disappears*

Snagged from rainweaver13:

Lets101 - Free Online Dating

Center of attention??? OMGpleaseNOOO!... *hides under the desk*

Has the last word?... In my mind, maybe. Not that anyone needs to know.:P

Easily angered? WTF?... Yes, it's pretty easy to make me sulk or pout, but that's hardly anger, is it? And I would usually go to great lengths not to show it, because I'm dead scared of open conflict & confrontation. I'd much rather avoid someone or pretend nothing's wrong than have a row, thank you very much. Anger is very dangerous, as someone said recently in a movie.:D It makes people say things they may not truly mean, but once the words are out, it can be very difficult to forget them. Especially for someone like me. So if you do make me angry, I will most likely withdraw and wait for it to subside before we talk again. Because I like to mean what I say. But lashing out at me without a second thought is pretty much the only way to make me truly angry. And no, I will not lash back. I will sulk, and then get over it; but every time that happens, I will trust you - or like you - a little less. Until finally it's all gone, and only cold resentment remains. That's pretty much the worst case scenario, and it happened only once with someone I truly cared about. But that person was trying VERY hard indeed, and it took her years to destroy my faith in her good intentions.;) So if you do give a damn about the effect of your words and/or actions on other people, you are not likely to really piss me off. Not for long, anyway.:D

The rest is basically true. As for the 'good kisser' part, I'd like to think that depends on the intensity of emotional involvement with my kissing partner.:) I don't do too well in casual encounters; but then, casual encounters don't do much for me either, which is why I have been happily celibate for, ummm... *mutters incoherently* SOME years now. *clears throat* ANYWAY... if 'partner for life' is one side of the coin, then 'single for life' is the other, I guess. It's just the way the stupid coin fell down for me. *shrug* But that's all right. My brain is way too crowded with multiple personalities to ever let me feel lonely again.;P

I can't believe it. I just cooked a completely spontaneous, pure 'grand improvisation' fancy dinner, and it turned out delicious. I mean, usually if I want something more complicated than scrambled eggs, I need to follow a recipe. From a book. Or, to be precise, from my Weight Watchers cookbook.:) But today I didn't feel like poring over recipes, and I hadn't bought ingredients for any specific dish. I just had a lot of stuff in the fridge, left over from previous culinary endeavors.:) So my policy was to use whatever I can, before it spoils and lands in the garbage. I just never expected this would lead to a truly remarkable meal. I guess there is hope for me in the culinary department, after all.:P

( Okay... so here's what I did. )

In other related news, Weight Watchers at work is officially over. My final score? 12 lbs down. So I was actually very close to achieving my 10% goal. And now that I have my own scale at home, I can see the weight dropping in small increments almost day by day. It's tricky, though, because if you weigh yourself more than once daily, at various hours, the results tend to fluctuate a lot. For example, it seems normal to be about a pound heavier at the end of the day than in the morning. I guess I just have to pick a particular time for stepping on the scale (e.g. right after getting up, before I put on clothes, have breakfast etc.). Less confusing that way. Or I could still just weigh myself once a week - but it's hard to keep away from the scale when the numbers actually go DOWN.:]

Snagged from rainweaver13:

Link: The Brutally Honest Personality Test written by UltimateMaster on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Why am I not surprised?... LOL.

I love the tone of this quiz, btw. Reminds me of my coworker Mike and his twisted sense of humor. He likes to play my shrink, you know.;) Keeps telling me that I take life way too seriously and think too much, and that I would have never opened my mouth, even to say hello, if he hadn't spoken to me first. Which is true.;P (I can totally spend a day at work without saying a word to anyone - it's happened on numerous occasions.) He also likes to imply, totally straight-faced, that he's on a mission to improve my pitiful existence.;) Whereupon I usually tell him what I think about people who presume to know too much about their fellow human beings. We basically insult each other all the time (in very refined and politically correct ways, of course).:D Thinking of a clever and funny retort to his verbal antics provides just enough mental stimulation to keep me from dozing off in front of my computer screen...

In other exciting news, I finally got the bill for my sleep study. ( It was $800. )

Buahahahaaa. I don't quite see myself as dark and tormented... though I guess some people might. Or used to. Anyway... the artwork in this quiz is really cool.:)

Speaking of cool artwork... I know I was going to say more about the trip to San Francisco, and what I brought from there, but it seems that time is not on my side. One of the things I have promised myself as part of my new healthier lifestyle is to go to bed around 11 p.m., at least on weekdays; and if I start talking about all the sinfully good stuff I got at Yaoi Con, it's not going to happen.:D

So... just a very quick update tonight. I was astonished by the weigh-in results this morning - again. This time in plus. I lost almost a pound and a half. And I seriously don't know how, because I went over the extra 35 points by the fifth day of the week (thanks to my mother's Sunday dinner and a free pizza lunch at work :P), and I haven't exercised since last Wednesday. It does seem like there are no rules... but I guess the main thing is to eat healthy - most of the time, anyway - and apparently going a little bit over the line doesn't hurt, as long as you keep the general principles in mind. Anyway... my total is over 10 lbs now, and I think it's a good reason to celebrate. Ten down, twenty to go... LOL. Oh well... actually, I'll be perfectly happy to stop after another ten. I don't mind keeping SOME curves, provided they're in the RIGHT places.:P

Sooo... yeah. I'm back. Got here last night around midnight, spent today catching up on my sleep, email, flist and grocery shopping.:) Now there's just enough time left to post a quick update before the regular RL grind swallows me up again, starting tomorrow.:|

The trip was fantabulous. The journey itself - at least from here to San Francisco - is a different story, but that's a topic for another sordid post which would take far too long to start on right now. What matters is that I DID get there, and enjoyed my stay at least as much as I expected to - if not more. It was a very liberating experience. Of course, hanging out with LJ friends & fellow slashers is always a liberating experience; but this time it was intensified by being surrounded by hundreds of other people who were at least as pervy - and proud of it - as we were.:P I still don't know much about Japanese yaoi manga, but I know I would gladly attend another event like this - if only to soak up the joy, enthusiasm and freedom of expression that were so palpable throughout. It was, quite simply, a celebration of happiness and beauty. So many people were wearing gorgeous costumes it must have taken weeks to make; it didn't really matter to me that I wasn't familiar with the characters they were portraying. Just the spirit, the creativity of it was enough to make me walk around with a huge smile on my face - all the bigger for knowing that these were GAY characters who inspired such dedication and worship. Predictably, most of the con attendees were women; but there was a whole lot of gender-bending going around in all directions.;D And gender-bending ALWAYS makes me happy. *deep satisfied sigh*

Apart from the con itself, we had plenty of fun exploring the city, browsing some of its most glamorous shopping areas, sampling its culinary delights and just hanging out together. On Friday night we visited some absolutely stunning gift shops in Chinatown; on Saturday, we were taken for a ride by annie00732 - who lives close to San Francisco - to see the famous Golden Gate Bridge and Fisherman's Wharf; on Sunday, we had lunch with salixbabylon, then went out to see Eastern Promises again (fifth time for me... lol). We walked a LOT, and ate much less than we might have; and what we did eat was mostly light and healthy (sushi, Indian & Thai food, plenty of greens & veggies etc.). I suspect I might have lost a noticeable amount of weight. *bounces happily* Not that I was really thinking about it much at the time; but it's a nice bonus.;)

Anyway... gotta go now. Will post more about the trip as time allows. I did some shopping at the con, and there's other things I'm very excited about... but the day is almost over, and staying up past my bedtime is something I've had rather too much of over the past few days. It was all perfectly fine when I was younger; but now my body seems to need a very regular sleep/wakefulness schedule, and whenever I screw that up, it lets me know in no uncertain terms how it feels about that. And it's not a nice feeling. Not at all.:/

I almost forgot to mention I ordered the original Spanish DVD of Alatriste yesterday. I just couldn't wait any longer. It was about 50 bucks on Amazon; but, luckily for me, I had just received a $50 gift certificate for completing a health risk assessment survey on my company's website.:D What's more, the product description states it's supposed to have English subtitles!!! *flails* And yes, it's region 2 - but a good friend of mine has a DVD player set up for European stuff... so I guess I'm just gonna show up on her doorstep with huge puppy dog eyes - and even bigger bag of popcorn - one of these days.:P The DVD is supposed to ship sometime this week, so it might be already waiting for me when I get back from San Francisco. Life is good, my friends.:D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the sexiest forty-niner on the planet.:D