one more miracle

Comment here and tell me something you did recently that you're proud of and I comment and tell you that you're awesome and I'm proud of you and shit. And if you see anyone comment and you know them (or understand why they'd be proud of that thing), then you comment to them and tell them why they should be pleased with themselves.

Go go go! I want to know about how wonderful you've all been! START BRAGGING! :D

Just watched last night's Glee. I still don't know how I feel about it! It seems to me like every character is on a yoyo - one week Rachel is hateful and petty, the next she is generous and lovable. Mr. Shue swings between bizarrely selfish/deluded and the most human, likeable character. Finn is likewise very up and down (and am I the only one who doesn't like his voice? It's not... strong. It just is. *shrug*). (Emma's the only truly consistent (good) one, and I do adore her, but she's also very strange, in a rather cartoonish imitation of a very serious condition.) I still feel very much like I'm watching abstract constructions of weird black humor, not people. It's entertaining, sure - I laugh, and I love the music, but I am having such a hard time CARING. Ah well. I'll keep watching, because damn those musical numbers rock, and OH KURT.

Last week's Merlin was EEEEASILY the best of the season so far. See? Just needs moar Morgana! She was all lovely and gaspy and big eyed and porcelain and ugh I have such a massive girlcrush. She's, um, not the best actress in the world, yet she still makes me care for her a lot. Idk! Merlin was rather faily again, but as usual, heart in the right place, yadda yadda. They haven't made Arthur very sympathetic this season though have they? Hrm. I did love the episode though. I like when they go outside Camelot.

Winchesters were tonight! Can't wait to download tomorrow! Right now - Castle! :D

Oh, the reason I was so behind on TV was that I had my first grad school test this morning. I think it went quite well! I don't know how he's going to grade, and there were some things I was a little uncertain on, but overall I'm optimistic. Which is good, because apparently grad school grades severely affect your ability to apply for grants in the next few years. Wut. o.O Well, it's not like grades have ever been my problem (coughtwotimevaledictoriancough) so I'm not particularly worried. :) What I am worried about is this big NSF proposal I have to write in the next month - urgh. Scary!

Anywhoodle. YES. Tell me about your awesomeness!

Merlin Rec!

Sometimes I Forget I'm Still Awake by paperclipbitch, Arthur/Gwen, PG, 4000 words, big spoilers for 1x12
An absolutely gorgeous, quiet little story about Gwen and her sadness, her complicated fondness for Arthur, and his complicated fondness in return. I can't say more because of spoilers, but if you've seen 1x12 you know what this is about. And it's beautiful. There are some lovely Merlin and Morgana moments as well. Just a wonderful story, and I hope the show does as much justice by Arthur and Gwen.

And now, The Hot People Meme! Basically an excuse to picspam prettiness. Who am I to say no? Going with the random sixteen number because 10 just isn't enough! :) I imposed a strict 5 pictures per person rule or else this would have taken me HOURS. (ETA: Okay, so it took hours anyway. WHOOPS. Pleeeease take a look? Haha.)

( Come see the pretty! Something for everyone, I promise. )

Wow, I... essentially wasted most of the afternoon on that. *FACEPALM* Ummm at least it's very pretty? Sigh.

It's been snowing allll day, it's quite lovely but keeping me from going and doing a couple errands. Classes start tomorrow and it'll be nice to have something to do. So in the meantime I'm basically just being a blob!

Lalala.

*EXPLODES FROM CUTE* The Merlin cast is made of PUPPIES AND HOTNESS. Shut up, you know it's true.

( Three large pictures behind cut )

I LOVE EVERYONE. *draws pink sparkly hearts*

I watched SPN last night. Creeeeeepy! And awesome in lots of ways. I actually caught some of the random culture references this time! Yay, Winchesters are back! We have some awesome episodes coming up and I'm EXCITED.

I have yet to watch the FNL FINALE (!!!!!! *flaps*) or the new episode of BSG (!!!!!!! *flaps more*), as I was busy hanging with my Michelle and Dierdre, since I'm back at school. (sigh) But they will be watched, SOON!

Know what I hate? Buying textbooks. Blargh.

Good morning flist! I'm nomming on Honey Nut Bunches of Oats and mango orange juice (seriously, NOM NOM) and chillin out in my peace frog PJ pants and MCR hoodie, blasting Flyleaf and generally just enjoying life.

How are you? :)

The problem with having glorious, lazy breaks is that life doesn't *actually* stand still, and you're always inevitably not doing SOMETHING you should be. For me it's grad school apps. I've got two left, both due the 15th, and both very annoying their own, special ways. Rar. I'm going to try to get Johns Hopkins done today.

I've been thinking a lot about Dublin lately... yes still. The amount of memories I have from that year is kind of staggering. It seems almost like every single day brought something new and exciting. From running across O'Connell Bridge in the rain with Dara and Paul, to touching a mummy's hand in the crypt below St. Michans with Ian, to drinking rum out of a watermelon on the cricket pitch at Trinity with Roisin and her friends, I could go on. Those are just the ones that pop immediately to mind. I miss it :-/

My baby Macbook is currently at the Genius Bar getting extensive (and expensive) physical repairs done. I dropped it and broke the hinge almost exactly a year ago, while I was at theaeblackthorn's place in Brighton, and ever since then the screen has only stayed upright very precariously. I think because of the broken hinges, the casing around the screen and the power button got distorted and started to crack open. So I think it was time to bring her to the doctor :-/ I'm using my dad's lovely iMac desktop at home until I get her back. She'll be like a new computer!

I think today I am going to work some on my Merlin video. Oh what a hardship :D

Oh oh, I just bought (another) copy of George R.R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones" because I started reading it at Meg's and was immediately addicted. I read it once years ago, but I am so excited to devour it all again. I gave my copy to Jeremy, because he expressed an interest, but I bet he hasn't even opened it :P Oops! Anyway, I'm LOVING it. Gritty high fantasy, come to meeee!

I just wanted to say a quick few words about 2008. All the economic shitstorm and what have you at the end here is casting a pall over the year as a whole, but it was really something special for me... at least at the beginning. The year was quite cruelly split in half for me, so it's hard to remember that Dublin really WAS part of this year. At the same time, it seems a million years ago, or that it lasted just the blink of an eye. Being in Dublin felt like taking a vacation from my own life, or conversely actually living my life for the first time. The memories are so vivid and gorgeous and intense that just looking at a couple pictures can bring everything rushing back and cause tears to prick at my eyes. The first three months of 2008 were easily the best of my life. It was the middle term (Michaelmas) of Trinity's school year, and I didn't have any labs to do, so I was free as a bird. I went to lectures and that was it. So I had endless expanses of free time which I used quite fruitfully. I was going out with my friends and having a blast at least twice a week, and during that time I was becoming extremely close to Kate, Emily, Cary, and Megan. I wasn't dating anyone (I was between Colin and James) so I was just... free. I cannot remember another time when I felt that happy and vibrant and alive. Then my best friend Michelle came to visit me in Dublin, followed immediately by my dad and sister, which was so so much fun. Niall and Laura's birthdays, St. Paddy's Day, Father Ted Night, going to Germany, Belfast, Cardiff, Brighton, and Oxford, endless hours of Guitar Hero, nights at The Pav or Fibbers or The Porterhouse or Doyles, throwing fantastic house parties, the PERFECT last week full of friends and joy... my memories are legion. Niall, Paddy, Lou, Dara, Barry, Bren, Niall C, James, Paul, Sinead, Sarah. It hurts my stomach to not be there anymore, but I will always treasure the memory and the people that are in my life because of Dublin.

*deep breath* Then I came home, and immediately had to start my lab job at my college. I was depressed but determined to make the best of being here... it only kind of worked. The school year started and I was thrust into some of the most intense and constant work I have ever had to accomplish. I also met Jeremy Moss. Oh yeah, and we elected a man that I truly believe in to the presidency. It was a weird, reclusive semester that is such a polar opposite to all that I just described about Dublin. I think I'm still trying to recover my equilibrium. But now I'm heading into my last semester of college, gearing up for grad school, and I don't even know where my head's at. Sometimes I feel impossibly old and grown up, sometimes I feel like a stumbling, naive little child. I'm both excited and scared of what 2009 will bring. I know that nothing will ever be Dublin again (though I do hope I'll make it back this summer) but I do hope that the growing I did in Dublin will serve me in good stead as I try to find my footing.

And that's enough of that! Dublin has been on my mind a lot lately... I think I just needed to talk about it some.

On a completely different note, I have been thinking a lot about vidding lately! I've made three music videos (Harry Potter, Buffy, and Supernatural) and I love all of them so much. I just don't have the tools anymore - the last time I did it I used my PC laptop and actually went through all the complicated crap to get Premiere working. But now I've got a Mac and I don't really want to go through the ridiculous process of downloading and figuring out Final Cut Pro. So I'm playing around with iMovie just to see what happens.

The idea I'm working with? A Merlin vid set to "I Just Can't Wait to be King". YEAH. I think Rob suggested it as a joke while he was watching with me and Michelle, and Michelle and I were like "....YES!" and now it won't leave my head! I started converting and organizing and clipping stuff last night. Who knows if I'll actually follow through with it! But it's just such an awesome idea, and Merlin has the really nice benefit of very limited source material, that I can't not *try*. Heehee.

A side effect of getting back in the vidding mindset is that I keep thinking of songs I listen to as potential vidding songs. I was listening to Pink's (I refuse to call her P!nk) latest album, and the song "Please Don't Leave Me" hit me as hilariously appropriate for Merlin and Arthur. ( Just read these lyrics! )
Seriously, it's lolariously PERFECT. Semi-emo, just like preshface Arthur, but the music has this fun bouncy thing going on that I think would go well with the show. And, my perfect little punching bag. Ahahaha. I don't even know. I just know that it's PERFECT. <3

A couple fun things from today - I chatted with Jeremy on AIM tonight! Just for about 15 minutes, but it was really nice cause I've been missing him. Also, I got a voicemail today from my uncle's sister - she works for the National Institutes of Health and their Graduate Partnership Program. My uncle gave her my CV, and apparently she's really interested, or else she wouldn't be calling, especially since their application deadline was in December! She said she's going out of the country but she's passing me on to someone else in her office, so I'll probably be hearing from them soon. I have no idea if anything would come of it (the GPP is basically where you enroll at a university for your PhD and do courses there, but then do your dissertation research with a mentor at the NIH) but it's still really cool that my CV was apparently that impressive. Gives me good hope for my grad school apps! Which I still need to finish, rar.

I am so relaxed and unstressed right now - I'd forgotten what this feels like. *HAPPY SIGH*