July 2005 Archives

I've been tagged by Cheryl with this meme, and so since I am due for my next bout of procrastination, here goes:

- 10 years ago: Summer after my sophomore year. I was...um... swimming? Oh, yes, I think I was, because my knee had done one of its once-in-a-while explosions and I was doing physical therapy and such for it. I think. Wow. Have I no recollection of what this summer was like? I think I spent the time mooning over celebs in magazines and being generally girly, and reading. I was in the stage where you hang out with people who are nearest to you, because OMG, I'm so lucky, the people who live near me also JUST HAPPEN to be my best friends EVA! Yeah. :) We walked around the neighborhood, had sleepovers, and everyone seemed to hook up with everyone else, except me. I just wasn't a hook-er-upper. Wow. Notice my clever avoidance of the word "hooker".

- 5 years ago: I was coming up on my last year at Georgetown, now fully committed to abandoning my medicinal plans and going for it in journalism. During this summer I decided I needed to write a lot, which was a good move; I did a lot of free work for a theater review site which helped me learn how to write faster and how horrible it can be to put things that are totally bad into the public eye.

- 1 year ago: End of July 2004...um... OH, yes, Meg () and I had spent the weekend in Ocean City, NJ, with her family. We got into an accident at the Lincoln tunnel and it took like five hours to get there, and then we spent hours gazing running around on an empty beach, taking pictures of overturned canoes and trying to get a clear shot of the gorgeous way the moon was replicated in the water. I don't think there's a clear one. Here's one photo of the pink moon.

- yesterday: Oh what a terribly lazy day to use as an example. We had the "Stapleton Stumble"; three houses, all of them on a hill, three parties. Morning, mimosas and bloody marys over omelettes at the top house; midmorning, hard lemonade and pesto pasta at the middle; at night, lots of food and drink at ours, all night. I missed the morning one because I slept until one p.m. (ahhh), went to an hour of the second, and was only halfheartedly present at ours; for some reason I was low-energy and even a tiny bit of alcohol just made me want to sleep. But I love our house and backyard for these gatherings; it's very calm and low key, and someone starts a fire in the fire pit, John plays his keyboard, Jodi plays her guitar, and we all sit around bs'ing about work.

- tomorrow: Work! I'm putting the final push on a series, and goddam it is it time. I've been out of order in my head, because of HP, for the past few weeks, and now it's back to the real world and real other things to do besides frolic in castles and such. ;)

- 5 snacks I enjoy: Popcorn, Pirate Booty, cheese sticks, apples, marshmallows (was fairly healthy until this last one)

- 5 bands/artists that I know the lyrics to most of their songs: Bon Jovi (there's NOTHING wrong with it, don't even get me STARTED on that one), Dashboard Confessional, Stephen Sondheim, Michael Jackson, U2.

- 5 things I would do with $100,000,000: Buy a house, donate a big chunk (yes, I know everyone says that, but I would) to one of my favorite charities which is still undetermined (possibly donate to several, probably at least 10-20% would go on this), pay off my parents' mortgage and bills forever, pay my sister's law school bill, get an assistant.

- 5 locations I would like to run away to: Prague, Florence, Sicily, Hawaii, Paris

- 5 bad habits I have: Procrastination (ha! am doing it right now!), obsessiveness, temper (is that a habit? Hm.), short attention span (I consider this a habit because I can mostly control it and mostly choose not to), forgetting to spell check.

- 5 things I like doing: Talking, reading, dancing, writing, laughing.

- 5 things I will never wear: string bikini, something with which a bra cannot be worn, lace, bellbottoms, motorcycle jacket.

- 5 TV shows I like(d): "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "West Wing," "Angel," "Firefly" (SERENITY, baby, yeah), "Veronica Mars." There are more. I watch too much television. Why must I stop at five? Is this like a meme rule? OK, I break it now: "American Idol," "Survivor," "America's Next Top Model" (Oh, biggest guilty pleasure EVER), "The Sopranos," oh, god, and many more but I'll stop.

- 5 movies I like: Singin' in the Rain, Rear Window, The Shawshank Redemption, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Toy Story movies.

- 5 people I'd like to meet: A month ago I would have said J.K. Rowling (properly, that is) ! AGH! OK, so, um, is Eleanor Roosevelt on everyone's list? We'll make her a standby. Rosa Parks, Eddie Izzard, my grandmother again, Stephen Sondheim, William Goldman (one of the best writers there's ever been ever).

- 5 biggest joys at the moment: My memories from this month, my upcoming vacation in the Rockies (whitewater rafting!), comfortable pants, my new computer and the contentedness that comes with knowing things are going as they should.

- 5 favorite toys: My computer again (named Titania, for let's get Shakespearean for fun), my booklight, my dvd burner, iPod, thing that connects iPod to my car so I can listen while I drive (best buy EVER)

- 5 tagged: Like Cheryl said, what five people have blogs they update, read this one, and would be willing to do it? All right: Kathleen (), Aimee (), BK () (I would say Rebecca but she's already been tagged by Cheryl), Meg () and Polly ().

(By the way, Miss C, I am ready for the Colorado Scrabble. Yes I am. All those two letter words - I'm learning them. Hah. I'm studying for vacation. There is something seriously wrong with us.)

So, there are a gazillion things to say here. A lot. (Hey, LJ people, so you know, when a big entry comes up from me on my livejournal uncut, it's because I'm posting via my site, which crossposts automatically. Just so you're aware. No idea how that makes your life different, but, you know. Full disclosure.)

Soon there will be pics of London and Scotland - if David and Kathleen don't veto certain ones. Hehe.

But the thing that I must share immediately is a snip of conversation Cheryl and I had last night. We planned our big SCREAM-N-SQUEAL about canon night - because it's been six LONG, HARD months of not being able to talk about it - and she came out to SI and stayed over so we could talk the night away (though we instead shared a bottle of wine and almost fell dead asleep on the couch at 9:30. Right couple of wildwomen!). And we started talking about Ron's patronus, and got really funny. Keep in mind there is some paraphrasing here and this was conducted under the great influence of this awesome red wine that a friend of mine makes in his apartment.

[Cheryl has kindly remembered more of our conversation! Good. The wine got me.]

---

Cheryl: A Jack Russell terrier.
Melissa: Yeah.
Cheryl: So it kind of makes sense because Jack Russells are loyal and you know, Ron is nothing if not loyal. But still, it's small and - yip yippy.

Me: Ooooh, I'm a dementor, I run at the sight of a small yippy dog! AGGH!

Cheryl: [with hand motions] Yip yip yip!

Me: I am wearing my big black cloak of doom and can suck out a man's soul and - AGGH! It's a small yappy type dog! [Eddie Izzard lovers, the rest of this conversation is done in a really bad impersonation of him.]

Cheryl: [sniggers]

Me: I - I am trying - to suck the soul - and - goddamn it - I suck the - I can't get the dog - off my robe - I shall suck the soul but the dog is stuck to my robe - be gone, yappy dog, be gone!

---

At which point we just sort of collapsed. And had more wine.

We finished HBP about 10 this morning and are in a cafe just trying to absorb.

WORD, guys. WORD. Holy fantastic.

London, it seems, is done. In two days I managed to get all my clothes everywhere and I've had to repack. Now onto Scotland. The cab comes in an hour.

It's almost 4am, and now I might as well stay awake and sleep on the plane/at the hotel when I get to Edinburgh, so as to be awake for the book. The book. THE BOOK.

We were total dorks tonight. We toasted at midnight. Counted down, toasted various people as the seconds ticked away to 24 hours - and just as we got to "To Jo," the numbers turned. One day left.

In the past two days Kathleen has laughed so hard that she laid herself down in the middle of the street (I have pictures) because she couldn't move; I got lotsa LUSH (I mean. Duh.); we have met the amazing Marta, Miss Pince, Leaky programmer extraordinaire Nick Poulden, and Lounge mod Torill, all of whom are varying levels of awesome; I have seen the best card ever, in the card the the Lounge moderators have been sending around the world for six weeks; the blisters on my feet have blisters; I got shoes; I got tan; we participated in the two minutes of London silence; charged ast one of the vigils on our way to a show; walked for about 14 hours straight, and laughed until tears too many times to count. It's been a good holiday so far!

All right folks. I'm outta here like...like a tree that's leafed. Hah. Left, I guess. Soon, anyway.

So, let's end this ridiculous barrage of posts this week on a high note. In the past two days I've been either a step away from tears or a step away from laughs, and little things keep pushing back and forth over that line, mostly for good reasons. Yesterday when our forum mods showed me the good luck thread they made for me, I had to go to the ladies room and compose myself. When I saw the gear (won't say no more here) that Bel sent, I could not stop laughing. When I couldn't fit everything into my damn suitcase, it was like that little tip over the edge and I just wanted to cry. When BK and Kirky sent me an email from Will, today, with a pic of him wearing a shirt with a British flag on it, and the subject was, "Safe Trip, Auntie M!" I lost it. There's been a lot of that this week. It's a really intense place, up there, with all the thoughts.

But now, I'm done, all is packed, and I can take a deep breath and just enjoy what's coming. Thanks everyone for all your outpourings of love and support this week. It's been amazing. And deep breath, off I go. MWAH!

I walk around thinking, "I have to blog about this. I have to blog about that. This would be good blog fodder." Then I come home and sit here and don't remember a damn thing.

When I get to this level of busy, I do crazy things like this, like sit here and blog instead of work. The logic goes thus - I'll be up all night anyway. Logic! Hah! My bags are exploding and I've yet to consciously pack a thing (right now it's more, "throw that in; throw that in; throw that in"). God.

So I'll sit here and be on IM with Emerson ("What am I doing?" I ask him, "Procrastinating." "ME TOO," says he. "That's a kind of busy!" says I), and ignore the lunatic pile of things I have to do or how sleeping on the plane will not be a problem anymore, because I'll be sleeping just trying to walk into the airport. La. Going on. Some things:

• David called yesterday and his voice melted me right into a chair. I didn't know how badly I needed to hear it until I did. The last time he was here, I was literally rolling on the floor in tears of laughter while he grabbed my kitchen countertop and almost died of same, both of us trying not to wake up Mike but that was el futilo. Like that's a word. Anyway, he called and I was out shopping and just sank. He's having such a blast over there, I envy that kind of I'm-in-school-things-are-just-FUN kind of mentality. And I get to see him in like 36 hours! I shared with him some chapter titles of HBP that I THOUGHT were real but it turns out were not, and I am glad about that because I was so pissed that I got spoiled, and anyway, while we thought they were real he busts out with, "SHE IS NOT KIDDING AROUND ANYMORE!" in such a way that I almost spilled my coffee all over my new coffee-colored skirt. Fun.

• I heard from Kathleen and she is also safe and sound and so, phew.

• A while ago, TLC designer John and his mega troupe of sisters came out here for a weekend. They took me to see Mamma Mia! which was a ridiculous amount of fun. And then there was karaoke. We went to this bar, and I should have known, when we walked in, that it was a gay bar. But no, I did not. Until I looked up and saw the rainbow flag with the pawprint on it. Yeah, Liz. Rainbow. With a paw print. I took a picture but can't locate it at the mo; more pics are here, here and here.

• I had an absolutely divine July 4th. Actually perfect; it seems, from the calls my mom is getting, everyone did. (Pics here; my favorites are this group shot, which I didn't take; and this scenic one, which I did.)

  So on the friday, after seeing Mr. & Mrs. Smith (very funny, not a well structured or believable in even a surreal format story, but still funny), Cheryl and I hit the Cargo, and then picked up some stuff from my house, and got to NJ at 3am and went right to sleep after a short tour.
  
  We spent the rest of the weekend sunning, swimming, playing poker by the bay, and trying to wring the identity of the Half-Blood Prince out of her*. We trained Nicky in the art of the puppy dog eyes - and his eyes are quite the puppy's. Little Joe started asking her common, normal questions and then switching stream, in the Ron-trying-to-ask-Hermione-about-the-ball fashion ("So, who's your favorite author? Who's the Half-Blood Prince?"). At one point he said something about the books and then followed up with, "Great, is that important in the rest of the series?" to which, again without missing a beat, Cheryl said, "That's an excellent question." After awhile she became sport. Sitting around at dessert, various family members passively encouraged the mafia stereotype to try and "scare" her into coming out with it; LauryAnn offered handbags (tempting); Joe finally resorted to offering a bet on the result of a Scrabble game. If he won, he got the name. Man, I thought she would crack. Her chances for beating the sixth grader were incredibly high, but there's always that slight possibility, and she didn't want to reneg on a bet. While comforting her for turning down an easy Scrabble win, I told her I was proud. But she fit in with my fam like a hand in a glove, and joked as if she'd been on our humor track for years. My sister and she talked a lot and she wants to hang with her more, even. And when we came back we were just wondering why the hell we didn't find more time to stay.
  
  The thing that made it so wonderful, though, was that there were about 50 people there, about 20 of whom stayed over, and it felt like there were maybe three people to take care of. There was some light cooking and cleaning and such, but for the most part over the weekend people just took care of their own stuff, which isn't in and of itself what made it wonderful. It just contributed to this free atmosphere where everyone had fun. We crabbed; we played poker; we swam; we ate a lot; there was always chatter and laughter; the weather was clear blue and hot and slightly breezy, so our skirts ruffled up in the wind; we had Scrabble games (hem hem) while the fireworks were blasting off over the bay, and daquiris in the pool (well, one of us did). After two hours there my whole body melted into this calm, lazy, relaxed stance, and stayed like that the whole weekend; environment and choice of company do that I guess. Ah, perfect.

• The moderators of the Leaky Lounge gave me such a terrific surprise today that it sent me to the bathroom in torrents of tears. They had made a thread called "Good Luck Melissa, We Love You!" with all these wonderful messages...I had to leave the room, because people at work started asking if I was all right. You know, crying at the middle of your desk, not good.

• I met up with Anthony the other night, who is less smoldery and more sinewy these days, doing lots of filming and eating really healthily. Oh, what a wonderful catch-up, in an open-fronted Malaysian restaurant, a leisurely walk back to the apartment, and watching of some stuff he had saved to show me. Doing visits like that feel like recharging, after such a long absence, and you always seem to walk away from them having so much new information about your old friend that you feel heady and full with more than food.
• I had a fantastic time tonight with Cheryl sitting in Prospect Park, eating a feast of celebration, doing Scrabble (and we had to pause, just when I was going to go in for a SECOND kill! Blast!) and eating chicken, and meeting up with HeidiD later. Then I ran home to see my sis before I take off; there was a worry I wouldn't get to see her and I couldn't let it happen.
  

Ah well. I must pack now.

*Not really. If she had started to say a name I would have sat on her. Though, if she had said what she said to a friend this week, it would have been even better. Someone asked: "Who is the Half-Blood Prince?" and she said, "Steve" without missing a beat. :djaf;dka

OK, this post is ginormous. Teaches me for not updating for so long. Guess I remembered it all after all.

Quick thoughts, am off to bed, am just in the mood to post, so, some random stuff:

-Things good and happy. HeidiD (aka Puffin) came out tonight and we kicked shopping in its arse.

-Emily - Pam - Connielane - holy hell. That's all I'll say. Email soon.

-Am transferring stuff constantly over computers lately and ran into some old stuff. Heh. Old stuff is always amazing. More on that in another post.

-TLC guy John came out here a few weeks ago with his caravan of sisters, and there was much karaoke and Abba and fun. Pics soon.

-I beat Cheryl Klein at Scrabble*. More on THAT on another post.

-Order of the Phoenix is a huge damn paperback. It's a brick.

-I can't wait to leave on Tuesday.

-Selective reading is incredible. How people can read certain things into texts blows my mind. Never fails.

-Oh, I'm going to Colorado in August with Cheryl and Ben, damn excited. Poor Ben. It might be the first time C and I see each other since book six. That's going to be a very boring weekend for him.

*She proceeded to kick my butt two times after that even though I bingoed in the last game. But she self-admittedly loses so badly that it was all such a big joke, that it had to be said nice and loud. She answered with, "I know something you don't know!" and did her evil laugh, so really, it worked out.