one more miracle

I ran a mile almost without stopping today! In ten minutes! Obviously not that great, but it's a huge improvement for me. I even ran a good portion of the mile on the way back too. Noticeable progress, yay!

I've been working my way through my Watchmen Director's Cut DVD. I sat down intending to just watch parts, but I never want to skip anything (except Nixon being a HUGE DOUCHNOZZLE with a ludicrously fake nose, lolz) so I've just been watching the whole thing. I realized that I know the movie so well that I completely notice even when there's just one line added to a scene. I REALLY like the extended first Watchmen meeting scene. Some adorable Daniel/Rorschach stuff there, and more of the Comedian being a hot asshole. Yum JDM, freaking yum. I also think Laurie's a stronger character with the stuff they've added. I just wish they added more Adrian stuff. :(

I've really got the itch to vid this movie. I've been wanting to vid for a while, but there isn't a source I'm particularly driven by. When I vid, I need to know the source intimately, scene by scene, shot by shot, so I can vid it mentally and then go find the pieces. That was totally true of Supernatural S2 and Buffy's Faith storyline, but there's no canon I know so well now. But Watchmen I definitely do, and a movie's totally manageable, AND it's incredibly visual and simply fraught with themes, so it's a great candidate. I'm going through my iTunes library for inspiration - it's a bit tough going. If you've got any ideas, let me know!

So after my brief love affair with the idea of getting a new Camaro, I have come to my senses (reluctantly) and chosen a much more practical and reasonable choice that's still a hell of a lot of fun. I present to you: the 2010 Mazda 3s Sport!



The new design is completely sexy and sleek and fun. And all the reviews say that the 3 is a joy to drive, that being a main goal of Mazda's designers. Great handling, a sporty get up and go engine with decent hp, improved aerodynamics. But it's also a sedan, so there's good seating and cargo room. It's a good balance for me. 95% of the time, my driving is just me, so having a station wagon feels so silly. This seems like an adorable and fun little car for zipping around by myself, but flexible enough to be used in other ways too. And it's completely affordable! The base model is only $15k, but the one I've got my eye on, the sportier model, runs about $19.5k.

Basically, I waaaaants! :D I'm planning on going to a local dealer and test driving it soon to make sure I really like it. Hopefully I'll be able to buy it in about a year or so!

I am SO GIDDY about getting to choose a car for myself, you guys. Soooo giddy. *beams*

OH! Super fun thing! Remember that band I've been rambling about, Drive A? (I still love the album! It's great running music too.) Well, I Tweeted the guitarist to say I love their album and can't wait to see them, and he replied! So I replied, and he replied again! Totally innocuous conversation, but it still made me giddy, hee. This is what he said:



&hisface;! I hope I get to meet them after the concert!

I have been so spammy lately. I'm sorry. :(

I got essentially zero accomplished this weekend... but I'm pretty much okay with that. I went to see Watchmen AGAIN tonight - yay! With my friends Fei and Rob, who hadn't seen it yet. There are still parts I can't watch (severing hands... *shudders*) but Adrian just gets more and more fabulous. I hope there's more of him in the extended cut though. Rob likes to refer to him as "the gay one" now. :P The movie definitely wears well - I still find it fascinating the third go round, but I am looking forward to the extended cut, for even more depth! (And probably even more violence - thanks, Zack :P) The sex scene, however, never gets less hilarious. I'm completely positive now that my favorite scene is when Dan punches the shit out of you know who and he just takes it. *sniff* Rorschach is the most relentlessly compelling character, though. I'm just bored of Jon and Laurie at this point, and Dan is cute but I'm not terribly invested. But Rooooorschach. I love when his little flashlight won't work, n'aw. And JDM is just perfection as The Comedian. The perfect love-to-hate character!

Tonight I also filed my taxes and am going to get $449 dollars in a few weeks. Scooore. That is so going towards my Dublin trip.

Speaking of my Dublin trip, Expedia did it again - I selected a flight, and when I got to the confirmation screen it said "We're sorry, the price of this flight has changed [by FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS]." What the actual bloody fuck. >:(

A couple tentative leads for apartment hunting... this guy who rents out the house next door to his called me to tell me about the place. It sounds interesting, in terms of the facts, but location-wise it's much further from downtown than I want, and now that I've seen pictures I'm really kind of eh about it. But I did get an email from a girl who's looking for roommates, and I'm kind of intrigued because... she's a world-class figure skater. Like, she skated at Worlds this year and there are loads of videos of her skating on youtube (Caitlin Mallory, if you wanna take a look). She's really bloody good. She's almost exactly my age, but still a senior at Michigan because she's going to school part time due to skating, and she studies neuroscience. She seems really nice - not a fangirl or a geek, but friendly and liberal. Definitely someone I could live with, I think. I emailed her back, and maybe we'll talk on the phone sometime. Having someone to look for places with would be a big help I think.

La la, sleepytimes. <3

Happy birthday hebrew_hernia!! It's been far too long since I've seen you, lady. We need to fix that. Perhaps when we're both in the midwest! :) I hope you have a lovely day! ♥

I still keep flailing at my roommates about Michigan. I'm so HAPPY! I got home safe, obviously, but having had 4 hours of broken sleep last night, I fell into bed and slept for four more hours. I'm not *home* home yet though, still just at college, driving home tomorrow for spring break to see my daddy. Yay!

It will come as a shock to exactly no one that I have changed my header. OM NOM MATTHEW. I want to lick the dip in his bicep. ♥____♥ Go forth and drool ----> exsequar I also added two little interest buttons in my sidebar, for Matthew and Watchmen, and changed all the words around my journal to lyrics from "Unforgettable". My brain, she is eaten!

The book itself continues to blow my miiiiind. I do know I couldn't have read it without the movie providing audio and motion in my head, so I think I've done the perfect progression. As soon as I finish the book, I'll go see the movie again and get infinitely more out of it. I'M SO EXCITED.

Also, movie Ozy >>>> book Ozy. Just sayin'.

This comic made me giggle ridiculously, so I'm sharing. I can totally see Dan/Rorschach in the book, btw. They're such BFFs. And book!Rorschach makes me giggle all the time. Busting in on Dan while he's sleeping, then as he goes, "Thanks for the coffee and cereal." Hee! He just has these random moments of like... bizarre normalcy. I don't even know. And he's so twisted but at the same time arrow straight, getting pissy about things like missing gun registrations and graffiti. Ohhhh Rorschach.


Hee.

I have arrived safe and sound in Ann Arbor! I was ushered here in a swank black sedan from a limo service that I shared with a nice girl and my friend Andy, who goes to college with me and is also visiting UM this weekend. The hotel is lovely and classy, complete with old heavy keys for the rooms. The welcome pack is AMAZING - a white tote bag with the classy logo of the program, and inside was a white long sleeved tshirt (also with logo), a fat folder of information, a 1 GB USB KEY (?! seriously! ALSO with logo, of course), and apple juice, Sun Chips, and a Snickers almond bar. AMAZING. :D

So my weekend has started out in style, hee. It doesn't look likely to let up either! I'm excited.

My 6th floor room has a beautiful view across the roofs of Ann Arbor. While not as exciting as Seattle obviously, it's still a beautiful place, filled with incredible old houses and so many trees. It's a familiar sight, since I've been here dozens of times, but I've never paid terribly much attention to the city as a whole, basically going to my uncle's and then leaving. It's very different to look at it through the eyes of a potential resident!

I finished A Storm of Swords on the flight over. OMG. strikesoftly, come flail with me! WITH THE! AND THE! It had been winding down and then the end was a really awesome one-two punch. Actually even more than that. I am so pleased.

I also read more Watchmen and I maybe love it a whole lot. I loved the chapter about how Nite Owl (the original) decided to become a superhero. And Rorschach's journal just makes me chortle. "Possibly homosexual? Must investigate further." Heehee. ♥

Tonight is BSG finale part uno! *flaps* My hotel has Sci Fi so if I'm done with events by that time I'm TOTALLY watching live. Eeeeeeep. On that note, I glimpsed a guy's newspaper on the airplane and it said something about BSG's finale not being the end! Yay movies, or something! \o/ I am so not ready to let go of my Kara.

Andy and I are going to go wander around (it's a beautiful, clear, sunny day) so I'll leave you for now! I'll be back with further updates I'm sure :)

<33

For anyone who was a little "meh" on Watchmen the first time around, or isn't pleased with how it holds up to the book, please read this: An Open Letter from Watchmen screenwriter David Hayter

It's awesome, even if you loved the movie. I can't wait to see it again.