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

Snagged from mellacita:






Mmmmm... nice. I loved that story.:)

And while we're at it, here's the whole awful truth: I am a fantasy whore and a hurt/comfort junkie, and I like my Orlando very young and innocent - though with a great potential for becoming slutty (under Viggo's practised hands, of course).;P Fortunately, there's plenty of fanfic to fit this pattern; however, if you know of any I might not have read so far, feel free to point me to it. The concept of "too much" is simply non-existant for me in this area.;)

Snagged from rainweaver13 and stormatdusk:

You Are Mint Green

Balanced and calm, you have mastered the philosophy of living well. Your friends seek you out for support, and you are able to bring stability to chaotic situations. You're very open and cheerful - and you feel like you have a lot of freedom in life. Your future may hold any number of exciting things, and you're ready for all of them!

Hmmm... I wish, I guess.;) This seems like a very idealized version of me, anyway. One that totally ignores my angsty side.:P

Though balance, freedom and general contentment with life are definitely among my highest priorities. It's just that sometimes it's a struggle to bring them about. But that could be true for anyone, I guess.

My quest to eat and live healthy is a very good example. ( Read more... )

God, what a day. We had a major conference call at work this morning, announcing a 10% cut in work force across all the companies owned by the same corporation that acquired us a few months ago. It's a huge organization, conducting business all over the globe. We are just a little black dot on the map for them, so to speak. And now they're supposedly in the process of unifying, integrating, cutting down costs and all that crap. So they told us some people would have to go. And let me tell you, the minute I heard that I was absolutely positive I was going to be the first one through the door. I mean, I had barely started there; they were hardly more likely to let go of someone who'd been there for years (like most of the people on our team). But they said that whoever gets laid off will know about it by the end of the day... and then nothing happened. So I guess our entire team gets to stay. Until 2009 at least, hopefully; since there are no other major changes planned for this year or the next. Or so we have been told. But what do we know, really?... *sigh*

( I still can't believe I'm actually supposed to still be there tomorrow. )

Okay. So akashaelfwitch has talked me into attending a Yaoi Convention in San Francisco on the last weekend of October.:D I got my vacation request approved by the boss today, and was just trying to book my flight. And guess what? I get a weird message saying that the security code on my credit card does not match that of the issuer. Whatever in hell's blazes that means. Needless to say, that is my one and only credit card, and I've never had a problem with it before. In fact, I used it just now to purchase a song from the iTunes Store - just to see if it works. And it does. So why does Orbitz give me crap about it? True, my bank changed the security code and expiration date on it back in July - but that was BEFORE I booked the flight to Toronto, and I had no issues with that whatsoever. Holy crap. *seethes*

Anyway. It's past my bedtime now, so that is all. I will try again tomorrow. If it doesn't work, then well... no trip, I guess.:[

Snagged from gairid:





Okaaay. Whatever the hell that means.:P

Back to work tomorrow. Don't want to. *sigh*

Didn't do anything remarkable in the two days since I returned from Toronto... other than spending 60 bucks at Whole Foods (again!...) and trying to switch back to eating healthy - as opposed to stuffing myself silly at various Canadian restaurants twice a day.:P Not that I regret said stuffing too much, to be honest. I was on vacation, after all.;)

But now I need to be a good girl again to minimize the damage.;) It would be kinda stupid to show up for next week's Weight Watchers meeting weighing MORE than I did at the previous one.:/

I sort of meant to say more about the trip... but I'm still feeling nostalgic and confused and don't really know what I want to say. That I have a stupid and embarrassing celebrity crush, just like I did when I was about twelve, and more or less every few years since then?... That I miss hanging out with REAL people who understand and/or share all my craziness, but somehow those precious people are usually just as far away as the unattainable movie stars?... That having your dreams/wishes fulfilled sometimes only makes you realize how much more you want and can never have?... Oh crap. This wasn't meant to be a sad, whiny post. I'd better shut up now. *sigh*