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So, I'm in a small town now, 2.5 hours away from home, and working 12 hour days. Last week I worked 6 days. It looks like this week we're going to get Saturday off, so that's awesome, but still. It makes for looooong weeks. The first week there were some speed bumps in construction, and I'm the bad guy that has to tell them that they're either doing it wrong or have to try to do something different, but ultimately it's going well and the crew that I'm working with is awesome.
However, as pretty and as peaceful as it is out here, there's really nothing to do in the fall. Once the snow falls I'll be able to go cross country skiing and skating, but until then... there's nothing. There's not even a gym in town. There's no chain restaurants, which is nice because then everything is family owned, but they're not usually open very late. That, and I've already eaten everywhere. I'm now living on left overs and becoming an expert on how to cook things in a microwave.
So, I decided to watch some TV seasons on DVD that I've never gotten around to finishing. I started with Alias.
I never actually finished watching Alias. I LOVED it for the first 3 seasons, and was fully in the fandom. Spy!Daddy and Spy!Mommy and the eye-liner of evil... these were the things that I LIVED for. I remember my sister, father and I gathering around the TV religiously waiting for the next episodes, and then discussing them and making theories and speculating... my mom would be in the other room saying, "but I don't understand, whose side is she on? And who is Rembaldi?" Actually, it's much the same when we gather on Wednesday nights. "Wait, why is there time travel? Where is this island anyway?" ::shakes head::
But I was totally into that fandom. There's some fanfic under a previous LJ name of mine out there, but I'm not anxious to look that up again. I can't stand looking at my old writing.
Then, somewhere around the end of the third season we just lost interest. I think it was because we decided we like our version of the story better (Sydney would have a sort of Jekyll vs. Hyde thing going on: the more she remembered the more her other personality would take over, or something like that. There's definitely a 3/4 finished fanfic on a floppy disk somewhere that had that as the story line... I wouldn't even know how to retrieve it if I found it.)
But seriously, I can't stop watching them. Since last Monday, I've watched the first 2 seasons. I'm so brain dead at the end of a 12 hour shift that it's so easy to just put on a disk and watch a few in a row. I'm certainly not going to be able to do anything productive at that point. And watching it again is making me remember so many of the good moments from watching it the first time... mostly of my sister and I yelling at the TV, "It's the teeth man! 1 in 5!!! 1 in 5!!!" or "... can they do that?" at the end of the superbowl episode. (anyone following what I'm saying?)
And in watching so many of these episodes (especially in a row), you can really see a lot of the story telling and stylistic similarities between Alias and Lost.
In retrospect, I guess it shouldn't have shocked me that much when Lost jumped forward 2 years.
Actually, I'm finding that watching Alias is better preparing me for the final season of Lost than rewatching all the Lost episodes, which was my original plan. Somehow, though, when packing for this job I managed to fit in the first season of Alias, and not the first season of Lost. Dear subconscious, I was fine with watching Alias, but you could have just told me that it's what I wanted to watch.
This is the first day that I've actually had internet. I've tried a few different hotels, and while the one I'm in isn't the best, it's the only one so far that my computer has connected to. It's slow, and it's sketchy, but it's better than the one where I had to sit on the floor in the lobby to connect. Yes, this is how I rate hotels. Not proximity to the job site, not cleanliness or comfort, but if I can access the internet.
This is going to be a looooong project. And even if the project itself goes quickly, it's going to feel long.
Onward to season 3! (I wish I still had Alias icons)
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Woohoo! My dance program just started up again!
On Tuesday I got a little nostalgic when I arrived at the studio – I saw two teenagers scream in delight as they spotted each other from across the lobby and ran and jumped on each other. They were so happy to see each other after the summer off and so thrilled that they were in the same class again it made me want for those days when the start of school and fall meant reuniting with friends and everyone coming back from vacation.
But then I went into my modern class and my friend Tara squealed, ran over to me, and hugged me in the same way I had just seen those teenagers get excited.
On Wednesday I paid the drop-in rate for musical theatre, and was fiercely hugged by Holly, the girl that I had gotten to know rather well in the July summer class. She was elated and so was I, even though I’m not in the class permanently. It’s probably better that way... by the end of class the instructor was mad because we were talking too much.
On Thursday I was early for my jazz class, and so was already there when Megan came into the room. This time Tara and I both pounced, and she responded in the same way.
It’s not often you see adults get excited about things, and the other adults in my classes didn’t respond in quite the same way to each other. Maybe I wasn’t nostalgic about the days when I got to see friends again after a summer apart, because I guess that still exists. I think it’s the excitement that I was nostalgic about. I’m glad to see that it's still there.
***
I am SO SORE from not dancing all summer then doing it 3 days in a row. My quads and glutes are screaming at me with every step I take. And weirdly, the skin on the bottom of my feet hurt. I guess I have to build up those calluses again.
I wish I had more time and money. I'd take ballet, tap, hip-hop, and breakdancing too.
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I think I saw... ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) crowgirl13 do this. And I wanted to.
My username: My initials for my first two names are LA, which is what I went by in an abandoned journal. Ella seemed like a natural progression. Bee came from the B from Bell, which was part of a nickname. Maybe I should have been ella_bell. ::shrug:: I like ella_bee.
My journal name: "moving my hips like yeah." It's a lyric from "It's a party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus. It's an addiction. BUT also because I love to dance, and I felt that needed to be put down somewhere in my journal!
My journal title: "live while you can", which is a quote from my favourite musical of all time, The Drowsy Chaperone. "does she say 'live while you can?' or 'leave while you can?'" I picked live.
My subtitle: "dancing through life." Hmmm, apparently I already showed my love of dancing here. This speaks to my love of musicals too, then. Specifically my love of Wicked. Except not in the context of the song, because I look foolish on purpose, and I try at everything.
My friends page: "where the children play." Don't you kiddo's play?
My default userpic: my name. really original.
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I thought it was time that I change the way my journal looks, and I realize now that I've forgotten EVERYTHING about how to make my journal look good. It's been quite the time since I've done any kind of updating. I need some more icons.
Seriously. My profile said I was still 23. I'm now 26.
So I picked a style from a list, and maybe later I'll try to figure out how to further customize it. You know, in another 3 years. ::sigh::
***
You know you're from the prairies when you get SUPER excited the first time in a season you see a truck parked in a gas station somewhere selling corn out of the back. It's fresh picked, and tastes like the country and the great outdoors. I soak it in water for a few minutes (husk on) and then turn the grill up high and keep them there until the outer layer is black. It's the perfect fall late summer food. I've eaten corn every day for the past week. There's a guy at work who brings me fresh tomatoes and they taste like sunlight. My supervisor is bringing me zucchini on Wednesday. I love this time of year.
***
For work tomorrow, I'm going to ATV training. I can't actually tell you when I'll ever need to use it, but I got a helmet bought for me. I love my job.
***
I can't stop listening to Miley Cyrus / Hannah Montana. Yesterday I had a dance party with a friend in my living room. I know the hoedown throwdown and can teach it too, and I think better than the instructional video on youtube. You wish you were me. ::nods::
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09/09/09. yay!
On 07/07/07 I was in Ghana, at the mid-summer retreat for the volunteers. We took the day off to go Mole National Park, and I got really close to wild elephants.
On 08/08/08 was the beginning of the Olympics last year, and I got up at some ridiculous time to watch the ceremonies.
I don't remember anything before that.
09/09/09? I've decided it's going to be a creative day. I'm going to start and finish a fanfic when I get home. That's right. Whatever comes into my mind I will write. That's my goal.
Learn about the number 9!
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Have you ever gone back and watched a TV show that you used to be certain was awesome? I'm 26, so I grew up on Full House, Home Improvement and Boy Meets World. Actually? The shows are kind of boring. I mean, they are perfect for a kid: they have humour, and morals, and good family values, and everything else that's good for a growing kid, but they are really cheesy for adults. I see these TV shows and movies on now; they are usually on the Disney channel and full of good lessons and nothing too heart breaking. They are things like High School Musical (which I secretly love... okay, it's not a secret) and that Raven show (which I've actually never seen, and I'm okay with that).
( Wherein Ella tries to explain why she's nervous about the next generation... and defends her love for Hannah Montana. )
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I've decided I need to start posting more. Especially about the little things in life.
Like how we just had an office BBQ, and while I don't normally drink pop at all, I just drank 2 Dr. Peppers. Now I'm jittery and I can't concentrate. I just know I should be counting down to a 2:30 MAJOR sugar crash. It's like the first nice day in spring when everyone runs to the nearest 7-11 for a Slurpee, then after you drink the whole thing you feel sick for the rest of the day.
Or like how we had a house warming party last night (we moved into the house in April... better late than never!) and the husband decided that we need to buy a dozen dozen hotdogs. To which my friend responded, "Gross." (yay math jokes!) I'm not good at hosting things, I'm always afraid people aren't having a good time. The night before I had a dream that 4 people came to my party and I was dismayed because 32 people responded positively on facebook (that part is true). But THEN over the course of the night between 50 and 60 people were in my house so it was good. Our house is just under 1400 square feet in two stories, and everyone was on the main floor and inside because it was raining. I could barely hear myself think. But people seemed to have a good time, so I guess everything worked out. Even though we only ate 5 dozen hotdogs. I'll be eating hotdogs until Christmas.
Or like how my summer classes end today, which makes me sad, but the last 5 weeks have been really awesome. My musical theatre teacher has been giving me the hardest acting and singing parts of the class, and last week I hit notes I didn't know I could hit. We were singing some songs from Hair, and during the "Let the sun shine in" parts every single person was singing a different harmony. That's 8 parts, and it sounded AWESOME. (I guess some of them were the same parts, but in different octaves. Still, AWESOME.)
So I need to post things like that more often. I'm turning over a new leaf, people! More posting!
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I recently moved into a new section at my job. For the first four years after graduation we kind of do a number of rotations throughout different departments, so that at the end of our four year… uh… internship I'll say for lack of a better word, we know which department we want to work in permanently. The problem is that whenever you move departments, the person that is to become your new supervisor never has enough work for you. She assigned me a few things, and yesterday I finished them all and handed them to her and we talked about them and she said that she would go over my work and give me notes on Wednesday. I kind of stood there awkwardly for a minute before she said, "I guess you need some work to do, then... right..." and she kind of glanced awkwardly around her desk.
I said I still had some reports to write from my last rotation's projects (they are mostly done, but they need some fixing up) but it's BORING. And I'm going out for dinner/drinks with some friends later, and I just want that to be NOW. UGH. And it's a very important going out with them because we've been in the same dance class all year and now that the classes are over we're making the jump from being dance friends to real friends. I love it when that happens!
But right now I'm BORED.
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I promised myself that I wouldn't post until I had updated about my wedding, but I'm clearly really, really behind on that. Pictures WILL be posted, I promise! It's just taking a bit more time than anticipated. It's mostly because I keep forgetting when I'm at home, and I can't access any photo hosting sites from work. But it will happen, I swear!
But mostly, I just wanted to update. I wanted to say, "hey! I'm still here!" I'm trying hard to comment on people's posts, but sometimes I miss that too. Dammit.
But I am still here, more often than not, and reading everyone's posts. I was thinking about getting paid account again to force myself to update more... I'll use it as incentive! Like that gym membership I have... riiiight.
BUT married life is good, and owning a house is awesome, except it's WAY more work than I expected. I'm not sure what I expected, but I'm always cleaning something. And yesterday I dug up some weeds in my yard that were worthy of human sacrifice. FEEEEEED MEEEEEE.
I was going to post about some of the musicals that I've seen locally, but maybe I'll do that later. See, now that I've said it, it means I have to do it, right? Right?
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OMFG
I'M GETTING MARRIED IN THE MORNING!!!!!
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When everyone has been drinking, and someone makes a joke about females not being good engineers, poker chips make excellent projectiles.
He was taken outside and wa given a talking to. It was awesome.
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I was tagged by kiss_me_cassie. I was going to add pictures, but my work won't allow me to visit ANY of the places that I've stored pictures online. Bah. Maybe I'll repost later? Probably not, but it's nice to dream!
Association Meme: Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given. So, does anyone else want to play?
( The Association Game! )
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I am currently dressed up as Sarah Palin and telling people that they have to register to vote.
My boss is a circus ring leader.
We have a witch, and a knight and a cat and a pirate... and that's it. I want people to more in the festive spirit!
I bought cheap glasses to go with my costume, but they're giving me a headache, so they're very rarely on. Still, lots of compliments.
I'll try for a picture later today.
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I accidentally signed up for nano. And I'm serious when I say it's an accident!
Ever since I found out about it I decided I would do when I graduated. I would sign up when I was done with university and midterm exams and final projects and the like. Even though I didn't do it, I also always tried to convince my friends to do it.
One of my best friends is always tempted and then laughingly yells at me for tempting her. The last few years she was doing her masters' in English lit. Now she's doing her Ph.D. So I'm looking forward to being laughingly yelled at again.
Last year I convinced another friend to do it. I actually convinced her, but then she gave up in the first week. It was also her first year after graduating from education, and was teaching in a high school class for the first time. So I don't blame her.
A third friend and I very seriously thought about it two years ago, but we decided if we did it, we would fail all the classes we were enrolled in, and we would do it when we became "real people". She graduated with me. I sent her the website yesterday. The email she sent back said, "WHY DID YOU SEND ME THAT????? Why????? Goodbye productivity." So, I'm working on her.
Well, I knew November was coming up, and I went to the website. I was curious about it and even more curious about the events that would be happening in my region. BUT you can't see the regions unless you're a member. So I think, oh, I'll just get a username and password and poke around a bit until I decide whether or not I actually want to do it. But then I actually signed up. Apparently, you can't just poke around.
I made a list.
Reasons why I SHOULD do Nano:
+ It's really cool
+ I've always wanted to write a novel
+ I spent yesterday afternoon at work jotting down notes about characters and plot, and I think it might be fun to write. At the very least, I think the plot will be the easiest of anything I've thought of to write.
+ I went to Chapters yesterday and bought "No Plot? No Problem!"
+ It will interfere with my gym time, which is another goal that I set for myself. I want to be more fit for my wedding (encompasses loosing some of the pudge I gained this summer and also getting a more toned back and arms)
Reasons why I should NOT do Nano:
- I don't have time as it is, never mind adding on a few hours of writing a day
- I need to plan my wedding
- The notes / characters that I jotted down are part of a romantic comedy type book, which I don't usually read. I'm much more of a non-fiction or political book kind of person, I know I can't write that in 30 days. Subpoint: because I don't usually read those books, I don't really know how to write them, either
- The things that I have are already very predictable, and I hate predictability
- it's easier to not try than to try and fail
Thoughts? How about from the people that have done it in the past, how long does it take to write 1667 words? What are your writing names (so I can look you up)?
Also, the website is really, really slow. Is it like that for everyone else?
I told another friend about it (she’s moving and travelling so she definitely can’t do it) and she said, "Don’t un-sign up! If you want to do it, freakin' do it! It's not like it's a challenge to cut off your thumb or anything, it's just to write. Besides, if you unsign up, then you'll just regret it for the whole month of November. Seriously." Which is also good advice.
How hard is it actually to do?
ETA: my username is predictably "ella_bee". That's all you need, right?
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Not yet another update -- damn, I gotta get on that -- but an interesting article I just read on the legality of fanfiction. It has a bit of a Canadian perspective, but I liked it.
So, enjoy.
http://lrc.reviewcanada.ca/index.php?page=Friction-over-Fan-Fiction
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I'M IN NEW YORK!!! I'm exhausted too.
So, my trip so far?
I got to Glasgow last Saturday and met my friend that's studying there. We toured the town, went up to one of the Lochs and I got to meet all her friends and see where she studies. We took a day trip to Edinburgh on the Tuesday and spent the day at the castle and the royal mile. It was pretty darn cool. I liked it a lot.
Then on Wednesday I went to London and stayed there for 2 days. I did all the typical touristy things (though I wanted to do more... alas! there wasn't enough time!) and I really hurt my knee. I already have some small knee problems, but a loose cobblestone almost took me down! I didn't go to the Tower of London and instead bought a knee brace and some anti-inflammatory. I'm still hurting, but it's better than before. I was also getting blisters from my shoes, so I bought new ones. It turns out that my shoes really must have not been good for my body, because when I switched I also had less pain in my knee. They are magical shoes.
In London I saw The Lion King and Billy Elliot. (Yes, I'm there for only 2 days and I see 2 West End shows.) The Lion King was pretty good -- the first 5 minutes were so beautiful that I was crying and had total sensory overload. I think I'll go into a full show revue when I get back to Winnipeg.
Billy Elliot was mostly enjoyable, but I wouldn't really recommend it. I don't know if it actually knew what it wanted to be... I felt like it was all over the place. But the dancing was good. And that's what matters.
I spent Friday travelling to New York, and it took the full day because I had to fly to Detroit and then transfer, and there was a huge storm in the area. This caused BIG problems because the boy was supposed to meet me in New York on Friday night, and his flight got cancelled. He didn't show up until Saturday at about 5:00 PM. So during the day I bought TKTS same day tickets to the matinee of Phantom of the Opera. I've seen it before, but I almost saw it instead of Billy Elliot in London, and since I didn't really like Billy Elliot I really felt like I needed a PotO fix. I loved it, but somehow I lost the theatre. I was on 54th and 8th when the Majestic is at 44th and 8th... and I missed the first scene of the show. I was pretty mad at all the people who were giving me wrong directions. "Oh yes, just keep going that way!" Stupid people. The show was good though. I was really happy that I saw it.
The boy left at 4:00 on Monday (just a few hours ago... I already feel lonely) that left him practically NO time to see the city! We went to Battery Park and rode the Staten Island Ferry (eating a hot dog, Dan Rydell style) and went to the top of Rockefeller Centre... we had fun, but I wish we had that extra day.
We also saw RENT, which was one of the purposes of this trip: to see it before it closes in September. The Roger was AMAZING and his "One Song Glory" REALLY blew me away. I've never seen a Roger so appropriately twitchy and tortured. It was certainly a shock, though, when later at the stage door I find that he's British. That really threw me for a loop. It was also the Roger's and Maureen's last show, so it was a really good audience. Also, I want my body to be able to move like Tamyra Grey's can. She was a phenomenal Mimi.
Tonight I have tickets to see Glory Days, which is show still in previews that I know nothing about. ::shrug:: It was the only show at TKTS that I didn't know... but what REALLY makes me a little mad at myself for was that there was Phantom of the Opera tickets there today. I could have gotten my fix today and seen Patti LuPone in Gypsy on Saturday, which was the other show that I was looking at. ::grumblegrumblegrumble::
Oh well. Maybe this show will be awesome. I just hope that it isn't a disappointment like Billy Elliot.
Tomorrow I'm not sure what my plans are. Probably shopping. Maybe walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. (did I mention that I have a love affair with bridges?) Then seeing a random show at night. Hopefully Gypsy. But I also think I'll try for the Young Frankenstein lottery. Mel Brooks is good and all that, but who I'm actually after is Sutton Foster. Yep. That's who I want to see.
Wednesday I'm off to see BRADLEY WHITFORD in Boeing Boeing. I'M SO EXCITED!!! There will be some serious stalking. I tried to stalk at the opening on Sunday, but my RENT tickets got in the way.
Then Wednesday night is Spring Awakening (again, SO EXCITED!!!) and Thursday I go home.
So, quite the whirlwind of a trip myself, eh?
Though I am getting tired. I love travelling, but when the boy left I couldn't help but think that I wanted to go home too. The feeling will pass and I'll be a super awesome tourist again, but for a little while, I'm worn out.
Pictures will come when I get home. Squeeing will occur when I successfully stalk Bradley Whitford and Mary McCormack.
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There is a goose that has taken habit to sitting in my back yard between 5:30AM and 7:30AM and squawking. Honking, bleating, or whatever else geese do, this one likes to do it aimed at my window.
I have an exam today. I was going to sleep until 8:30. But no. The goose has it in for me. and I am thisclose to keeping a bunch of rocks by the back door and chucking them at the goose if it continues tomorrow.
The real problem? I'm afraid of geese. The are VICIOUS animals. and I live right underneath their flight path in the spring and fall.
I'm so tired. I want the goose to go away.
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What is it about St. Patrick's Day that makes people believe that they have license to be idiots? Ugh. I hate stupid people.
Longer update coming. I'm actually going to catch you up on my life! Soon. I promise.
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