time and relative dimension in space

Oh, hey, it's a list of mostly-unrelated things. Haven't done one of those in a bit.

- I update my LJ once in a blue moon and mostly post about Doctor Who, using the same two or three icons. Therefore I obviously took advantage of LJ's birthday sale to buy a userpic package for the next year and expand my userpic storage to 393. OBVIOUSLY. . . . I maybe have an impulse-control problem.

- Working from home is going . . . well, it's going. I don't enjoy my job but working from home isn't any worse than working out of the office and in these current times it's a lot safer.

- Shortly before all of this this-ness happened, I started making arrangements for my first-ever trip to New York City to spend a long weekend seeing Broadway shows. It was going to be awesome, I was going to go with teh Niki, we were going to see four shows, we got amazing seats to Hamilton and Hadestown and very-slightly-less-amazing-but-still-very-good seats to Sing Street and Beetlejuice, I was holding off on posting about it here until we finalized the last couple of details about the trip and then all of the pandemic shit started happening and obviously it was not going to happen and it was just a matter of playing the waiting game until it was officially cancelled. I got the cancellation emails for all four shows last week. In light of everything else that's going on this is a very small thing, and one day there will be live theatre again and other trips to arrange, but I will admit to being disappointed nevertheless.

- So instead I used one of the vacation days I was going to use towards that trip and took most of today off work. Declan Bennett had a livestream concert for The Theatre Cafe/Leave A Light On and I got to catch it; he's one of my favorite musicians and he played some of my favorites of his songs, it was lovely.

- There is so much Doctor Who content coming out right now, it's incredible. I have not been able to participate in the watchalongs because they've mostly been arranged for times when I've been working, but I've read the tweetalongs afterwards and they're fab, and the videos and short stories and things being produced are amazing. Some favorites, if you haven't seen them yet, are Rory's Story, an introduction to The Doctor's Wife written by Neil Gaiman and filmed by Arthur Darvill; The Terror Of The Umpty Ums, a short story featuring the Thirteenth Doctor (...sort of) written by Steven Moffat; and Incoming Message From The Doctor, a short webcast starring Jodie Whittaker and written by Chris Chibnall. But all the ones I've seen have been wonderful. Also the suggestion that Neil Gaiman write a series for Big Finish starring the Corsair is perfect. Please do so.

- On my own I've also been rewatching New Who from Nine onwards via my collection of Blurays and DVDs, and including all special features. Which has been a bit of an education in how many special features I just never got around to seeing. I'm into series 6 now and a bit disappointed that I have it as 6A and 6B instead of the complete series 6, because the special features, comparatively, are rubbish.

- I've been pretty much all abut the comfort watches/reads, really. Doctor Who, obviously. But also I've been rewatching Derry Girls and Red Dwarf and So Weird and reading the Baby-Sitters Club graphic novels and the Iron Druid Chronicles and basically avoiding anything that is not escapist-y enough right now. New Amsterdam came out and said "We decided not to air an episode because it was about a flu pandemic and nobody needs that in their fiction right now" and you know what I am your target audience, New Amsterdam. I'm not rereading Doomsday Book anytime soon and that's usually one of my go-to rereads.

- I hope you are all staying safe and staying inside.

In case you, like me, need to distract yourself from the many ways the world completely sucks right now, here are a few recommendations for things that do not completely suck:

• Leslie Odom Jr. has released a Christmas album. In case you were unaware, Leslie Odom Jr.'s voice is made of sunshine and rainbows and everything good in the world.
• The Hamilton Mixtape is available for preorder, with four songs released now. Listen. Heal.
• • On a related note, there is going to be a second volume of the Hamilton Mixtape.
• Speaking of music, Megan Hilty, Dropkick Murphys, and Declan Bennett have all promised to release new albums soon.
• Imzy has moved into open beta, and it's a really nice place to have a calm conversation.
• There will be new Doctor Who in just over a month.
• American Gods has wrapped filming on the first season.
• Nanowrimo and Yuletide are in progress.
• We still have each other.

I continue to be terrible at being present on LJ, and I continue to be sorry. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things.

Some stuff:

♦ I've started using HabitRPG in an attempt to get better at doing things more regularly - writing, reading books, eating at appropriate points in the day, that sort of thing - and so far it's helping. ('So far', I say, on day four. We'll see how well it sticks...) Does anyone else use it? Tips of any sort would be appreciated.

♦ Karen Olivo is raising money for a solo album, which is something the world clearly needs, so if you have disposable income and want to support awesome music, the link's there. ;)

♦ The final episode of Psych is tonight, and I'm more upset about it than I was expecting to be. I know it's had a good, long run, and people are ready to move on, but I'm not really ready to let go.

♦ And then HIMYM is ending on Monday, and while my attachment to that show is a much more recent development, it's also pretty upsetting.

♦ I swear I had other things in mind that I was thinking, "hey, I should include that", but I'm both cold and hungry and have thus forgotten them all. Sorry. :/

I kinda suck at social media lately, and I'm sorry. :/ I think I've officially failed at my New Year's resolution to post here more often, even absolving myself of that whole land-of-no-Internet period. I HAVE TO GET BETTER AT THIS.

Things that are going on:

- Today I am relistening to old episodes of Animorphs: The Radio Drama (Uncensored!) because there are no new episodes because I feel like it. It's been a while. I'd almost forgotten how much I love these guys. I now kind of want to listen to them read one of the books while I follow along and annotate an e-book copy with their comments, but on the other hand that sounds like a lot of work for someone as lazy as me.

- Yuletide nominations start soon, and I am, indeed, planning to participate in Yuletide for the second time and nominations for the first time; SUPER EXCITING. (I may also have failed my write-more-fic resolution for the year. I don't remember what the exact wording of it was. But it hasn't exactly been a banner year for productivity.)

- It's almost time for first-run TV shows to come back! According to the app I depend on to tell me these things, Sleepy Hollow premieres in a week, Castle comes back in two weeks, Elementary comes back three days later, Once Upon A Time returns three days after that, and then a bit later Once Upon A Time In Wonderland and Almost Human premiere. So. That should give me stuff to post about. (Fingers crossed for greatness. Three new shows is a lot for me to try picking up at once; hopefully at least one hooks me, although it would be super awesome if they all do.) (Other new shows I am vaguely planning to try: Star-Crossed on the CW, because Robert Hewitt Wolfe on staff, and Girl Meets Boy, because Boy Meets World sequel, but I don't know when either one of them premieres). I am also super excited about spoilers I've seen for Elementary and Once Upon A Time; haven't seen spoilers for Castle, but fingers crossed there, too.

- It's still almost two months until NaNoWriMo but I'm getting nervous about it already. I have the bare bones of an idea and slightly more development on the two main characters; I keep poking at it and mostly coming up with things that aren't going to be useful (if they ever are) until I'm well into Plot.

- I am super behind on the marathoning-old-shows-that-are-new-to-me project (specifically HIMYM at the moment); for various personal reasons I kind of just lost momentum and haven't gotten back to it. I need to do that. That was a New Year's resolution, too. I need to accomplish at least a few of these things.

- In personal news, I'm still unemployed but have resumed trying to learn how to drive. So. Maybe that will be helpful.

- I apologize for the length of this post.

This is a multipurpose post.

> I watched season 3 of Eureka and have been intending to write a reaction post. Alas. That has not happened. Instead there will be this brief note that I felt fairly meh about it, though I'm not sure whether that's because of the show itself or because that's how I've felt about a lot of things recently. Either way I rate it a 5/10.

> I also watched this week's Continuum and intended to write a reaction post. Again. That failed to happen. Instead I will just note that I'm really interested to find out where the Alec & Kellogg plot is going.

> Tomorrow I move in order to start my new job the following day. I am SLIGHTLY NERVOUS about this, if by SLIGHTLY NERVOUS it can be understood I mean 'anxious and chewing on my fingers'. Hopefully it will go well. As I've mentioned before, it's only a two-month engagement, but the work seems like it will be really interesting. (And, you know. Filling up blank spots on my résumé. And paychecks. And possibly good references if it goes well.)
I don't know why my schedule will be like for this job, or for that matter what the Internet situation will be, so. Bear that in mind, I guess.

> It's just that I'm so bad at people.

> I'm pretty sure there were other things I intended to include in this post but now I can't remember them.

AWESOME THINGS:

- I have Internet back! WOO! And LJ is also back! Also woo! Stop leaving me, Internet access and LJ! I have dependencies!

- I now own a full-length black duster. We will not discuss the fact that it is early August, regularly reaching over 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, and also southern Virginia. The point is that I now own a full-length black duster and this makes me happy even if I can't wear it for a few more months. (It was $15 at a CHKD thrift store. I can't resist that, okay.)

- New Doctor Who trailer! It is almost the same as the ComiCon trailer but not exactly and those not exactly bits are EXCITING and AWESOME. PTERODACTYLS, MAN.

- I received a $25 B&N gift card from my Secret Santa for my place of employment's Christmas In August thing. NEW BOOKS! Now I just have to find time and a bus route to get to a Barnes & Noble!

- *meaningless flail*

So I kind of fail at LJ. I'm sorry! Work keeps changing my schedule around to make sure I have as little free time on as minimal notice as possible.

Things of note:
- I have acquired new Torchwood, which I plan to watch tonight after I call my parents and reassure them as well that I am not in fact dead. I am not at all sure how I feel about it. I miss Tosh. Is it going to make me miss Tosh more? :/
- I have also acquired (finally) new Flogging Molly, which I am very excited to listen to once I get the chance. I want to listen to the whole album in one straight shot, since it's reportedly a concept album that all ties together? But I'll probably wind up having to break it down into smaller chunks to fit into my schedule. Boo.
- I have been challenged to write Harper meta for andromeda_fans! I am debating topics now from among the list of rambling Harper-related topics that meander through my head regularly. It will probably wind up being about either Harper's relationship to 21st century America or Harper's role in the series as the Fool. I'm not sure yet.
- I think I've decided that I'm going to buy an Asus Eee netbook as my next major purchase, although I'm not sure when that will be. One of the guys I work with has one and I've kind of fallen in love with it. It's so little and portable and durable! And then I would be able to, like, write on buses and in restaurants and whatever.

In conclusion: HI LJ I MISSED YOU ♥

A list of unrelated awesome things:

♦ Being Human has been picked up for a fourth series! I don't know what's going to happen but I am so excited I can't even you guys. I can't even. Also, curse you Peter Jackson and your casting decisions. CURSE YOU.

♦ I have a new mouse! This is probably not exciting to other people, but my old mouse was driving me crazy; it would double-click when I wanted to single-click, or sometimes it wouldn't single-click at all, and I gave up successfully drag-and-dropping some time ago because it just wouldn't. But my new mouse does all that on the first try and it's so nice to have a working mouse again! Also it is wireless. I've never had a wireless mouse before. It's nifty.

♦ Today's mail brought me a shipment of two Sandman volumes (specifically, A Game Of You and Fables And Reflections). OMG YAY. My dead-tree Sandman collection is coming along nicely. ;) Amazon gift cards were the best invention ever.

♦ Speaking of Sandman (I know, I said it was a list of unrelated things), BUT ANYWAY, Sandman crossovers started eating my brain awhile ago, and in my various quests to actually write one of them I have stumbled upon a Sandman/Andromeda crossover that actually seems to be working. OMG YAY. I miss finishing fic. ...of course, now that I've said that, I won't be able to finish it. Or I'll finish it and discover it sucks and vow never to let anyone else see it. But right now I'm quite liking it.

♦ Animorphs: The Radio Drama (Uncensored!) has gotten their site back up (and redesigned!) and added a couple old shows. Old to them, new to me, I mean. ILU, ARDU guys! You make me smile. :D

♦ Miss nikiness has returned to LiveJournal fandom! Admittedly it's Supernatural fandom which I am not in, but I'm just bouncy and glad that she's returning to LJ at all. YAY. :D

♦ I'm looking in to renting a local hotel room for a night. If I can manage it, that would be ~24 hours I could have totally to myself and omg it would be so welcome. The problem is finances, as the problem so frequently is, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to manage it.

♦ Kagerou, which everyone should be reading if they are not already, has just started a new plot arc that looks like it's going to be, frankly, AMAZING. And game-changing. And awesome.

♦ I switched the e-mail associated with this account to my GMail address, so now I'm getting my LJ notifs again. I hate not getting notifications in a timely manner.

What little, probably-insignificant-to-most-everyone-else stuff going on in your life do you think is awesome? SHARE THE AWESOME.

Hey, look, another random updates post.

☆ I posted that DW fic yesterday and am now too scared to look at the reviews. ...this is why I shouldn't let a year plus pass between posting fics, just sayin'.

☆ Matt and Karen are too adorable for words, omg.

☆ More news about the In The Heights film! Apparently they're going to start filming in August. Also we still have no casting news beyond Lin being in it.

☆ You know what show returns tonight? Glee. NEGL, I will not be watching it live. "Everybody Loves Hugo" will be airing at the same time! And very little trumps LOST in my live-TV-watching schedule. It is entirely possible that nothing at all trumps LOST in my live-TV-watching schedule.

☆ Certain Casting Spoilers for Glee are exciting, however.

☆ ...I swear when I started writing this post there were other things I wanted to put in this list. But as I can no longer remember what they were, this is now the last item. Ta.

☆ Some generous application of zipties later, I am now able to run my EHDs without worrying endlessly about the dog pulling cables out. Yay, zipties! Almost as useful as gaffe tape.

☆ ARD:U has updated their site with three more books. *bounces* I want them to update more regularly, man, all that time spent without those guys in my life makes me sadface.

☆ Thanks to the ~magic~ of MyCokeRewards giving me stuff for drinking as much soda as I would anyway, I am now the proud owner of some fairly nice wireless headphones. I love free stuff, it's awesome.

☆ Current DW spoilers being leaked are adorable and happymaking.

☆ Yesterday I wrote about a thousand words in Better Than It Sounds, which objectively speaking isn't that much but it got me up to the band breakup, which I have been struggling to get through for, like, a couple months. It's been a major writing block and I finally got through it and that is very yay.

♥