Prologue: I'm not screening spoilers that are available from the trailers, so read at your own risk, I guess.

Watched Planet of the Dead an it was awwwwweeeesome! I mean, some of it was stupid (seer woman, gtfo of my episode, as well as the few random, unnecessary deaths), but most of it was great. Randomly hilarious one-off characters, sexy sexy banter, high-class thievery, the Doctor being bossed around, the Doctor bossing other people around, ( some more things that are more spoiler-y )

All in all, this was a romp of an episode, and while it wasn't up to Doctor Who's true standards of brilliance, it was GREAT HEAPS OF FUN, AND I ENJOYED MYSELF IMMENSELY.

Also, now that I've gotten back into the Doctor Who spirit, I finally looked up casting spoilers and OH MY FUCKING GOD, the companion for the Christmas specials is EFFING ( BEEEEEP SPOILERS )!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY LIFE = COMPLETE. I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL CHRISTMAS FOR THIS. WHEREFORE MUST I PINE FOR SO LONG A DURATION?

SO. A MONTH LATER, I HAVE A LAPTOP AGAIN. HP customer service is really good, but I cannot say the same for their incompetent tech support division.

In celebration of my return, have a Hikago art meme. Though I think I completed it in the spirit that art was a very vague term that can encompass tooling around in paint with my roommate's tablet.

( I think we can take away from this that I should never pursue a professional career in the visual arts. )

My life right now is a careening ball of awesome and crazy bouncing wildly between Christmas insanity, Havemercy modding, and Merlin love.

I barely sleep. It is like I went into fangirl finals right after my school finals finished.

BUT THE AWESOME AND THE INSANITY CONTINUES AND ON THAT NOTE:

Prelude: For the record and anyone who doesn't know yet, splintercat and I are not just co-mods of thremedon, we are also internet-married. We're even facebook-official. We aren't sockpuppets of each other, although occasionally splintercat claims to be able to influence me psychically.

So today we were up at insane hours of the night talking about, among other things, thremedon, internet memes and slang, and the state of our marriage. This conversation was ~*~epic~*~. I feel compelled to share these highlights:

( Cut for a medium-length facebook chat. )

In other news of instanity and love, roommate loweryourwand made me a Morgana/Uther fanvid for Christmas! With a Muse song! They are my sekrit OTP, and this particular gift is insane and angsty and also wonderful!

So, my life right now. I don't even know where my time is going. I haven't read my FList since the last time I posted. Which is not to say that I haven't been following the LJ. On the contrary, I seem to be around quite often. It's just that it's become a very specific following of very specific things. For example, the shit-ton of Janto fic I've been reading lately. And the fanmixes I've been downloading. And the communities and friends I can be bothered to check up on when I see them pop up on my Firefox alert for new FList posts.

So. I've been reading a shit-ton of a lot of things in the past month. Most of it is shoujo manga. Basically, any and every short shoujo manga that comes up in goosygirl_icons. That girl has fantastic taste. It has become a problem. A time- and bandwidth-consuming problem.

Also, I've been following Nodame Cantabile season 2, which, can I just say, ack. The picture quality in the second season has dropped off the charts. It still has great voice actors and a great story and its the quality and not the aesthetic that's changed, so it's bearable (not like, say, Antique Bakery, which I still haven't watched because the aesthetic quality of that anime is abhorrent to me), but still. It pains me in a the way that one might be pained to see their lover make a horrible faux pas. You love them, right? But you kind of don't want to be seen with them. Oh Nodame, you are not making it easy for me to spread this love I have for you.

What else, what else. Well, there was a lot of school stuff going on this October as well. I had midterms and an insane paper/presentation thing on Yeats whom, let me qualify, I have loved for years, but possibly never want to hear another word about ever again. I ended up dropping that Psych class and my life is a thousand times better off for it.

Over the past long weekend (Columbia closes up for Election Day weekend) I re-watched Torchwood, every episode of Doctor Who with Captain Jack, and also, incongruously, The Sarah Jane Adventures. Then Wednesday night I was cleaning out my gmail account and ran across arekuru's old rec of the Kimi Wa Petto drama, and randomly decided to start watching it. Such a wonderful mistake. I stayed up all night and ended up sleeping through my first class, but GOD, OH MY GOD, I LOVE KIMI WA PETTO. I've been rereading as much of the manga as I've been able to find online. God, no josei will ever be as great as this one. Love love love.

Oh and OBAMA GOT ELECTED. THAT WAS PRETTY COOL, EH?

This is me attempting not to make this into an insane tl;dr post, but I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their lives as much as I have been enjoying mine. If you haven't, I advise you to repeat the words "PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA" to yourself as many times as it takes for the awesomeness of that statement to sink in. :D

So... Natsume Yuujinchou is pretty darn cool? I hate the fact that I have this HUGE HUGE WEAKNESS for characters like Natsume. Lost characters who are just aching for a kindred spirit. I hate that I identify with these kinds of people, but I can't help but love them despite myself. AND OH MY GOD, MADARA/NYANKO-SENSEI, WHAT THE SHIT, WHY ARE YOU SO AWESOME?

I'm so behind all my other shows, what is wrong with me.

Anyway, I recently finished the Librivox recording of Pride and Prejudice that's done by Karen Savage. HEARTILY RECOMMEND. She has a smart English accent and she "does the voices," but not in a hammy way, which is just how I like it. And then I went nuts and re-read all my favorite P&P fanfic and also maybe Mr Darcy Takes A Wife. Oh self. You so trashy. Although I found it funnier this time around? I'm mildly disturbed saying this, but I actually enjoyed it more having read P&P just before it. Does that make any sense at all?

I have been listening to a prodigious amount of ABBA and ELO. I bought their greatest hits CDs with the last of my iTunes gift card money. ABBA is rather self-explanatory, but oh my God, Electric Light Orchestra. When put up against my recent hardcore classical music immersion after Nodame, their classical touches just send thrills through me. Also, my Dad stole my CD backup of the ABBA and has been playing it non-stop. This included hijacking the mix I painstakingly created for my mother's party, and telling everybody how awesome they are and how they should listen to them, which, I can't even explain how unnecessary that was in my pop-oriented family.

Actually, regarding the party, we were rained out of our usual outdoor location, which rather literally put a damper on things, but we made due at the house, even if it was in no way prepared for visitors. It also put a strain on the theme, seeing as we were no longer in the park, but everyone took that better than my mother. Half of them didn't even get what the theme was, hahaha. It didn't stop us from making them wear (New Years, plastic) top hats!

I also reread How To Marry a Marquis and Sorcery and Cecilia, and in my fit of Regency love, I dragged my mother to two separate libraries one day when our true motive for going out was to acquire a Personal ID card for me from the DMV, since I've given up even the pretext of acquiring a driver's license in the near future. We went to one library before the DMV which required doubling back, and then after the DMV we stopped at the other library which was 20 minutes out of our way. My mother is a saint.

So I acquired To Catch An Heiress, the "prequel" to How To Marry A Marquis, as well as Darcy and Elizabeth: Days and Nights at Pemberly, the sequel to Mr Darcy Takes a Wife. To Catch An Heiress was AMAZING. The ending didn't quite live up to the beginning or middle, but SUCH a beginning and middle! I had to put the book down multiple times because I was laughing so hard I couldn't read for my shaking. Most of those times involved something with Blake's butler who was HILARIOUS. I made a start at Darcy and Elizabeth, but I got 60 pages in with no humor, intrigue, or truly, anything of interest sighted which was about the time I consulted the reviews on amazon and saw that even people who 100% enjoyed the first were thoroughly disappointed by the second and I put the book down like a hot potato. Sigh. I've also acquired Mr Darcy Presents His Wife, which I'm hoping is at least marginally more interesting. Also, These Three Remain (twice in as many months!) and have been rereading favorite passages. My love of Dy only grows upon reacquaintance. And to round out the numbers, I also took out two Heyer books, even though they are in large print, which annoys me. They're Heyer; that should count for everything.

I've made a (very) unofficial goal for myself to have finished 15 books by the end of the summer. Just for reference, I've read 9 books so far: Aidan's Darcy Trilogy, Victory of Eagles, Pride and Prejudice, Mr Darcy Takes A Wife, How To Marry a Marquis, Sorcery and Cecilia, To Catch An Heiress. Don't think I don't see the running theme, it will be broken by Breaking Dawn whenever I get around to that. Speaking of, I avoided the release frenzy on principle, but I'm chafing at all the spoilers on my flist. I swear, when Deathly Hallows came out I barely stumbled over spoilers even when I was looking for them. What the hell, Twilight fandom.

So uh, yes. My week. There you go. OTAKON THIS WEEKEND! I realize I never posted about it here, but I semi-solved the problem of companions. Two of my friends are coming along, even though neither of them is any kind of anime fan. One is intrigued by the novelty, and the other's boyfriend is going to be there. Plus, I'm deep discounting their fare in the hotel since I'd rather have them there than be alone, so it is a cheap weekend away for them. I figure they can ditch me for a few hours if the endless parade of panels and merchandise begins to bore them. They have assured me they are up for a laugh, which is all I really care about. I'm excited! :D

I DON'T CARE IF I'M LATE TO THE PARTY OR SOMETHING, I'M DAMN WELL GOING TO SQUEE IF I WANT TO.

OKAY, ANIME FLISTERS (arekuru, I'M LOOKING AT YOU). I NEED YOU TO GO TO YOUR NEAREST DOWNLOADING STATIONS AND PROCURE THE FIRST TWO EPISODES OF ITAZURA NA KISS. LIKE, NOW.

Okay, I guess I should explain this a little more. This is a summary, adapted from ANN:

In the romantic comedy story, Kotoko, a high schooler in the lowly F class, finally tells a fellow senior named Naoki, an elite from A class, that she has loved him from afar since she saw him on their first day of high school. However, Naoki, a haughty "super-ikemen" (handsome male) with smarts and sports talent, rejects her offhand, saying he "doesn't like stupid girls." Fate intervenes when a mild earthquake ruins Kotoko's family house. While the house gets rebuilt, Kotoko and her dad stay at the home of her dad's childhood friend...whose son is Naoki.

But that is seriously only the half of it guys. Kotoko is cute and unassuming and everygirl, and Naoki is super cold, but there are already some pretty hilarious chinks in his armor, and KOTOKO'S FRIENDS ARE AWESOME. OMG U GAIS, KOTOKO'S GUY FRIEND, WHO IS TOTALLY UNABASHEDLY IN HEART WITH HER, SPEAKS IN KANSAI-BEN, IS CRAZY, AND SERIOUSLY COULD BE NAKATSU EXCEPT HE HAS THIS HILARIOUS YAKUZA HAIRSTYLE THAT MAKES ME TOTALLY UNABLE TO TAKE HIM SERIOUSLY, LIKE EVER. HIS NAME IS KIN-CHAN.

WATCH THIS SHOW FOR KIN-CHAN, GAIS.

Seriously, I have not had such a viscerally positive reaction to an anime in a LONG TIME. I HOPE THIS SHOW STAYS AWESOME, BECAUSE IF IT DOESN'T I WILL BE SAD AND CRUSHED.

ALSO, DUDE, I'M GONNA BE AT NYCC IN 12 HOURS. NEED TO SLEEEEP.

Sometimes I make this silent promise to myself that I will stop staying up until 6-ish every fucking day of the week, because I know it is bad for my health and my future and social life, but then nights like this happen and I know that while I may eventually cut down, I will never be able to give them up.

There is something so simple and gratifying about being awake in the middle of the night. Nobody expects you to be doing anything other than sleep. Whatever you choose to do with that time instead, it's all yours.

It just so happens that tonight (start time: 12:30) I watched Stranger Than Fiction with my roommate, A. This was only my second time seeing that movie, and while I enjoyed it that first time, seeing it again, with all the subtleness of its cinematography and graphic additions open to my notice, I realized for the first time that that movie is superb. Everything about it is superb. It deserves superlatives.

We had to break so that I could go do the radio show, and since Diana was off having her citizenship validated and suchlike, I brought A down with me and we had a lovely, lazy time cranking out tunes from 2-4.

Then we came back and finished the movie and I squeed some more about it, by which time A was heartily sick of me and went to bed which left me free to do a quick email check, where I learned that Drop Dead Gorgeous had updated with Chapter 10.

And then I read Chapter 10.

And then I lost my head. I went running down the hall the the study lounge--which was empty, thank God--and had a flailing FIT, in capital letters, complete with manic laughter and twitching and arm movements not seen in nature. AND IT WAS 5 IN THE MORNING SO I COULD DO IT AND KNOW THAT NO ONE WOULD WANDER IN AND SPOIL THE REVELRY IN MY MADNESS.

YES. And now I have a huge headache, but IT IS WORTH IT. YAY, 5AM.

WE KNEW IT WAS COMING. A SERIES WITH THAT MUCH HOMOEROTIC SUBTEXT, SOMEONE HAD TO BE GAY.

Congratulations, Dumbledore, you're finally out!

*rolls on the floor in triumphant laughter*

The thing that makes me just die, though, is that it's Queer Awareness Month here in the Columbia University community. I cannot wait to spread the awareness. Oh, this is amazing.

EMO MOOD ALL GONE. XD

I realize that I've joined more fandoms in the past two months than I have, basically, in any 8 week period of my life.

In order of conversion:

1. Oofuri. BATTERY LOVE OWNS MY SOUL.
2. La Corda d'Oro. I have this thing for classical themes in anime.
3. Jacob Black. I really don't understand why I read these books, but I will admit freely that I love him without reservation. He can imprint on me any day. ;D
4. Lovely Complex. BOUNDLESS AFFECTION.
5. The Bridgerton series/novels. Trashy, but this is me not caring.
6. Ikuta Toma. I ACTUALLY TRAWLED LJ FOR PICSPAMS.
7. Princess Tutu. See two. Also, this thing for meta. And fairy tales. Although I was a Ahiru/Fakir shipper from episode one, and now am now all kinds of bitter about that.

And I have pressures to watch Gokusen and Gankutsuou.

And I am going to my first Anime Club meeting tomorrow.

*hangs head* *points to icon*

Also, I'm thinking I should do 50books again. I'm thinking it is madness, but I want to do it anyway.

OMG IT'S OVER IT'S OVER OMG OMG OMG.

*TEARS* *CRIES BIG HUMONGOUS TEARS*

I AM UNASHAMED AND ALSO DEVASTATED AND ALSO SO SO VERY HAPPY.

DAMNIT.

OMG IT'S OVER. DDDDDD'X!!!