( They borrow each other's clothes! )

I find this just too cute for words.

Shore Leave is over for another year. *sigh* The weather was lovely, the guests were wonderful, selannia, jhava, bleukittie and I had a fantabulous time! And now, pictures!

( The Jason and Rachel Show! )

You guys have some powerful mojo. I asked for good vibes a couple months ago, and no tumor! Now I ask for good vibes for the issue at work, and I still has a job! \o/ \o/ \o/

Now I can relax and enjoy my vacation, Shore Leave, and jhava, who I will be picking up from the airport tomorrow afternoon.

Geez. I haven't been able to eat much for three days, and now I'm STARVING!

I have two important things to tell y'all about. First: I watched Torchwood tonight without having to download it! Did you know that for the very low price of $8.50 per month, you can stream British television on your PC? My British friend at the office hooked up with My Private Network, and then recommended it to me. Easy peasy, I can now watch all the British TV I want, without having to wait for downloads! And since I can plug the laptop right into the TV, I was able to come home from work, click a few buttons, and there was Torchwood on my television screen! \o/ Also, since it gives you a UK IP address while you're connected to it, you can also access content at those websites that normally don't allow access outside the UK. \o/ \o/

The other important thing is...well, I don't really want to talk about it, but suffice it to say that things are not good at work right now. I'm in a bit of a pickle, and I don't know what the outcome will be. But as tomorrow is my last day before vacation, I will likely hear something before I leave the office tomorrow afternoon, so if as many of you as possible can cross your fingers, light a candle, say a prayer, or whatever, I would really appreciate it.

Okay, for those of you who maybe didn't want to take the time to download the video I took of Albannach yesterday, I've posted it to youtube. The quality isn't as good in full screen mode, but for that, well, you'd have to go download the original vid. ;)



And more pictures:
( Aya helping Jamesie get dressed, er situated. ;) )

( Jamesie's hair has a wild life of its own. )

( Kyle is very intense when he's drumming. )

( And then poses for silly pictures. )

( Pretty Jamesie is pretty. )

Pretty awesome (if I do say so myself) quality video I took of Albannach playing at today's Celtic Fling in Pennsylvania. http://www.sendspace.com/file/wi4ljs
It's a .mov file, and will play in VLC. And the quality is good enough to watch in full screen mode, yay!

( Also, a few of the many still photos from today )

By the way, I took the still shots and this video with my new Canon Powershot SX10 IS, and I frakking love this camera. :)

Dear Universe:
What the flying fuck? Stop it!

Two cultural icons from my youth gone in the same day. One expected, the other a complete shock. Once upon a time, I had tons of blonde hair that I washed in Wella Balsam shampoo, because that's what Farrah used. And later, in her own Farrah Shampoo. I'm sad that she's gone, but glad that her suffering is over. As for Michael...well, I have mixed emotions about him. His music was a backdrop for an entire decade of my life. He moved like no one else, and his videos set a standard for everyone who came after. His life disinegrated into a side show of crazy, and I think he should have gotten a lot of help that he unfortunately never got. Maybe he's a peace now.

selannia and I have major plans this weekend!

First on the schedule: SciFi Friday night, where we will continue our adventures with Babylon5. I am so completely addicted to this show all over again. It is brilliant. And the production values got better with every season. And I love every single character. And incidentally, I discovered this week that Mira Furlan (Delenn) will be at Farpoint Con in February, so yay!

On Saturday, we are making our annual trip to the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse for
Can't Stop the Serenity. Besides seeing Serenity on the big screen, this year they'll also be showing Dr. Horrible! I love this event. A theater filled with Firefly fans, all watching together with beer and nachos. And all the proceeds go to Equality Now, Kids Need to Read, and the Al Wooten Heritage Center. \o/

And then! Sunday! We drive up to the Rennaisance Festival grounds in Pennsylvania to see ALBANNACH! They'll be on stage three times throughout the day at the
Celtic Fling & Highland Games.
I'm taking my new camera, and our little Flip video camera, so watch this space for 'Nach goodies soon. :D

And in just a couple more weeks, jhava will be arriving from the UK, and we're all going to Shore Leave! Anybody else out there going to be at Shore Leave this year? jhava, selannia, bleukittie and I will be there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Can this summer get any better? I DON'T THINK SO! :D :D :D

I've had some questions, so to those of you wondering, I was nowhere near the Metro trains tonight. I just got home a few minutes ago and saw it on the news myself, and it's quite a shock to see it all over the news. Metro accidents are very rare here in the DC area. Anyway, I'm good, but thanks for asking. :)

I know, what else is new, right? *g* I have my Cliche Bingo card to work on, and by the end of the week, I'll have my art assignment for the Merlin BigBang, and now I've signed up for Reel Merlin. But I couldn't help it! The first movie on the list was, "10 Things I Hate About You", and my brain went all asplody!

In other words, in addition to all of the other things going on this summer - cons, fests, flings, guests and road trips - I will be hanging out a lot with photoshop for the next couple of months, and making lots of new Merlin art. \o/

So far, I'm liking this "Diabetes DTOUR Diet" from the folks at Prevention. I'm eating five times a day, lots of very filling stuff, whole grains and nuts that are keeping the carb addict in me happy. The plan for today's lunch though...it had me worried. They call it a "mixed-up salad". After reading the directions, I called it yuck:

2 cups mixed salad greens
3/4 cup 1% cottage cheese
1/2 cup mandarin orange slices
2 Tbs. light Italian salad dressing
2 Tbs. walnut pieces

I was not really looking forward to this. I've never been one for cottage cheese in my salad, and Italian dressing with mandarin oranges, too? But as I was determined to just get on with it, and do as they say, I packed up all the components this morning, so that come lunchtime, I could just toss it all together and eat. And, HEY! OMG SO GOOD! Color me surprised! I had five roasted garlic Triscuits, too, and I am now quite full and happy. Go me!

You know, I hadn't actually planned to watch Merlin properly. I was just going to have it on in the background while I did other stuff, but...Colin's cheekbones in high def are just too pretty to look away. Also, I go all melty when he's speaking those Old English spells. ;)

And now, for the next best thing I've seen all day: my cliche bingo card! ( Let me show you it! )

Ideas! I haz 'em!

Just a reminder, in case there's anyone on my flist who doesn't know, Merlin premiers here in the US tonight on NBC. The first two episodes at 8:00 and 9:00 pm. They're very pretty. And there are dragons and unicorns and knights and magic. And Giles is king! \o/

In other news: once upon a time, in another life long ago, I ran a side business baking and decorating cakes. I don't do it much any more, but the daughter of an old friend is graduating from high school tomorrow, and they asked, so I spent my morning up to my ears in frosting.



No, her school colors aren't really pink and purple, but that's what she asked for. :)

And now I have a kitty who is wandering around my office, chewing on everything she can reach. I think I need to go feed her. ;)

The husband (who is home today) has emailed to let me know that he just signed for a package that arrived for me from the UK! I bet it's the very special item from evildrem! I am already dancing in anticipation!

Also, the book I ordered from Prevention magazine about a super high fiber, Diabetes prevention diet arrived, so I'll be able to plan my weekend grocery shopping, yay!

I have signed up for Cliche Bingo, because I completely love cliches! It's multi-fandom, and allows for ficlets, art, or vidlets, so is open to anyone and everyone! Go on, you know you want to join in. ;)

In other news, boss-lady sent out an email apologizing for the fact that even though she planned to finalize the hiring process by today, that hasn't happened. And as she's on vacation next week, I won't hear anything further until the week of the 29th. *sigh* Oh, well.

Happy weekend everybody! selannia will be over tonight for more Babylon 5. We're into season 4 now, and I am well and truly re-addicted.

Saturday was selannia's birthday! To celebrate, we took a road trip to Philadelphia to see Cinematic Titantic. For those of you who are MST3K fans, this is what those guys are up to these days. Basically, it's a live version of MST3K - there's a really bad movie up on the screen, while all of the MST3K peeps form a chorus of sorts up on the stage riffing through it, while we in the audience laugh our collective asses off. Seriously, I think I hurt something laughing so hard! Please to see selannia's weekend report with bonus photos here.

It rained a bit during the drive up. And by rained a bit I mean to say that it FRAKKING POURED. However, the trip back home on Sunday was sunny and beautiful, and we listened to Merlin podfic all the way. We stopped for Mexican food, went to my house where we collapsed on the sofa and watched a couple episodes of B5 before we had to return to RL.

And now I feel like digging up old episodes of MST3K to watch. :)

So...my manager left on long term disability a long time ago. It's been well over a year now. During that time, my team (there are three of us) have been pretty much managing ourselves, or going to our director with issues when necessary. As the director has had more and more work dumped on her from the VP and Sr. VP, it's finally been decided that she should hire a new manager for my area to help take some of the responsibility off of her shoulders. And...I may have applied. And have an interview on Monday. o_o Not really counting on getting it, as she's had like, 45 applications for this position, but...I am already here, so to speak. And mostly? I don't want to have to start reporting to someone new. So, fingers crossed, everybody. :)

Snagged from ithildyn: My LJ in LOL cat form

I spent another Sunday cleaning and polishing things. This week I hit the family room - cleaned and polished the slate around the fireplace, took the draperies down and washed the windows. Fluffed said drapes in the dryer to freshen and remove dust and cat hair. Cleaned the TV, dusted and polished all the furniture. And wrapped things up by mopping the kitchen floor, as it's adjacent to the family room. Am tired again. :)

Oh, and before I got started on all of that, I set the oven to do the self cleaning thing. I know it had been a while, but damn! It's a good thing I did it early in the day, before it got too hot outside, because I had all the doors and windows open, and there was still so much smoke that it stung my eyes! Yeesh!

I've felt the need to watch LOTR lately. I've been watching a disk or so every night (a bit less tonight, because tired) and oh. It's still so awesome and shiny and gorgeous and I love it more than just about anything else on my shelf. ♥

Going to go fall into bed now.