Merry Christmas to me! For, among other wonderful things about Christmas, there is a new Very Secret Diary! Yea, Theoden!

"Suspect Wormtongue has crush on Eowyn. Cannot blame him as Eowyn quite smoking." hehehe. (Lord, my brain is pathetic...)

"Where is the horse with no rider? No, seriously, where is he? That was my favorite horse." (Actually, that one kind of hurts. 8) )

"Who wields the flame of Arnor now, you poncy tosser?" Boo-yah, Theoden! ::maniacal laughter ensues::

Oh...you can have this too. I'd post it tomorrow (when it's more appropriate) but I won't have time.

Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice
Give ye heed to what we say
News! News!
Jesus Christ is born today
Ox and ass before him bow
And he is the manger now
Christ is born today - Christ is born today!

Merry Christmas again!

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, goodwill to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfrys of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, goodwill to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
"There is no peace on earth," I said
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, goodwill to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deed
"God is not dead nor doth he sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, goodwill to me."

Then, ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, goodwill to men.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Be you blessed in all you do, now and in the new year. May your gods look on you and smile.

(Hey, it's been stuck in my head all day. It should be stuck in yours too.
And if non-family members are reading this, wish me a good journey in London. I'll tell you all about it when I get back. hehe)

New Very Secret Diary! Yea!!!!!!

Happy Solstice, everybody! (Yeah, I'm a little late. I was busy yesterday.) And also, happy day after the Solstice! Yes, this is exciting also, because it's the first day of looking forward to spring. Isn't that wonderful? hehe

On a completely seperate note, Titus Andronicus is a freaky weird play. And I've only read it...not seen it. So much violence! I mean, in the last scene, 4 people die within 20 lines. They kill each other, straight down the row all in a line. I kill my daughter, I kill your wife, you kill me and my brother kills you. People barely have time to say anything; they're too busy falling over. It would almost be hilarious if it weren't so disturbing. Like most of the play, actually. I can sort of see why no one's ever heard of this one. I'd still like to see the movie with Anthony Hopkins and Alan Cumming, though. (Eee...Alan Cumming...)

Warning: Spoilers ahead...

Reasons to see The Two Towers
or Why this Movie Rocks my World

1. The Rohirrim - Are the Rohirrim not the coolest people in Middle Earth? I mean, forget about the Elves. I'll take the Rohirrim any day, with their semi Celtic Viking whatsit they've got going on. They throw spears at people and I keep expecting them to yell, "To Odin!" as they do it.
   
2. Grima Wormtongue - Eeee!!! ::jumps up and down:: So deliciously slimy! Mine, mine, mine. Mr. Dourif, I will be your creepy fangirl 'til the day I die, if only for that beautifully creepy (and yet somehow incredibly sad) scene with Eowyn. (You're playing havoc with my loyalties, though, because...)
   
3. King Theoden - I've always loved King Theoden. The best king in the trilogy, to my mind, and the one I would choose to follow. And he's so lovely in this. He's not a hero; he's just a man trying to do what's best, knowing that he's going to lose and trying anyway. You've got to admire him for that. And he gets to recite bits from the Song of Eorl. What could be cooler than that?
   
4. Lady Eowyn - Need I tell you how kickass she is? Even though she hasn't really done anything yet, she's still the coolest female character anywhere in Tolkein.
   
5. The Battle of the Hornburg - The Best Battle Scene I Have Ever Seen. In my entire life.
   
6. Gimli - Rock on, child of Durin! Dude, Dwarves are nearly as cool as the Rohirrim. This boy can fight, he's funny, he's wise and he explains the mystery of Dwarven women. Boo-yah!
   
7. Aragorn - Who is going to be a bloody great king one of these days. When he gets his sword.
   
8. Gollum - Schizophrenic, creepy and strangely, pathetically endearing. And he sings the fish song. Wonderful.
   
9. Gandalf - And his nifty battle with the Balrog. And his shiny new robes.
   
10. Ents - Ents! Walking talking tree people! That storm Isengard! Eeee!
    
11. Haldir - Yes, the swishiest swishy thing to ever come out of swishydom does really really cool stuff. And he has nifty Elven soldiers.
    
12. Pippin - He does stuff that is intelligent. Who'da thought?
    
13. Merry - Is a compelling speaker when he wants to be.
    
14. The Nazgul - Wraithseses! Wraithseses on wings!
    
15. Oliphaunts - 'Nuff said.
    
16. Easterlings - They just look cool.
    
17. The Black Gate - Again, with the looking cool.
    
18. Wargs - I always thought these were giant intelligent wolves. Apparently, they are giant hyena creatures. Incredibly cool yet nasty beasties.
    
19. The Uruk-hai - So...many...orcs...
    

Oh, and Frodo and Sam. Did I need to mention Frodo and Sam? They do stuff. They are inspiring. Frodo gets a little crazy. Sam cooks rabbits and talks about potatos. We love Frodo and Sam. But we knew that already. 8) And of course there is much more in the film than this. Such a good movie...I am very happy.

Must go see film again...soon...eeee...

In 9 hours, I will be sitting in the theater and The Two Towers will be starting. Bwa hahaha...

Went to the dentist for my biannual checkup this morning and was told that I have a cavity. One that, due to my wacky schedule, will not be able to be dealt with until after winter quarter. Blargh.

Not only does the dentist get to torture one psychologically (by having one sit in a cold waiting room and anticipate what's going to be done) and physically (the actual checkup, with the whirring noises and the little pick thing and the chair that puts one in a position that doesn't seem to agree with the law of gravity) but he also gets to add mental angst. I swear, every time I go in there, he finds something new and interesting wrong with me. Last time, he said, "Are you aware that the teeth on the right side of your mouth don't meet when you bite down? That could cause some jaw problems later in life. If you ever have pain in your jaw, you might want to have that dealt with." So now I get to worry about this. I don't want to get it corrected because it's not bothering me and it would require more years of braces (God, I hate braces!) but there's that overhanging spectre of "jaw problems later in life". Dentists pull that one out all the time. Everything causes jaw problems later in life. Or gum problems.

See? Dentists are inherently creepy sadistic people.

Also, my brain reacts to information about health problems by trying to give me symptoms that I should not actually be suffering. So, even though I did not know about this cavity until half an hour ago, by brain wants it to hurt because I know now. So there's sort of a weird undefinable semi-ache in the vague area where the cavity is said to be. I'm sure there's some sort of conspiracy between the rebel parts of my brain and the dentist to torture me as much as possible.

I hate visiting the dentist. I hate my brain. Blargh.

("Circumlocution," said Mr. Croup to Mr. Vandemar. "It's a way of speaking around something. A digression. Verbosity." Mr. Vandemar nodded. "I wondered," he said.)

I have talents that lie in unexpected directions, apparently. It has been discovered that I can, very quickly actually, make very creepy little cloth dolls. See, my mom admired my Marie doll (who is very creepy indeed...she belongs to Owl, you see), so I made her one. And my sisters liked that one, so I'm making dolls for them. I've basically made three dolls since I got home from school on Friday. They have button eyes and yarn hair and very sharp teeth. It's so much fun. I should start making them just randomly and handing them out to my unsuspecting friends and acquaintances. hehehe.

So, my dad and I went to Poulsbo to mail things from the UPS store. In this store, they have what is, quite possibly, the weirdest tribute to the old gods I have ever seen (besides those two kids who live in Poulsbo and are apparently actually named Odin and Loki). The UPS store had two big copiers in the front and one little one behind the counter. The two bigs ones had plaques one them, naming them Frey and Njord, respectively, while the little one was named Thor. Now, none of these seem particularly appropriate names for copy machines, being mostly fertility gods, but they're nice gods so I suppose you get help where you can. For some reason, Loki seems a more likely name for a piece of electrical equipment but I wouldn't really want to name anything that might spectacularly malfunction after him. 8)

I love Poulsbo. It remembers its Scandinavian heritage in the oddest and most unexpected ways.

Yea! Finals are over, I'm home for winter vacation and there are less than 5 days until Two Towers! 5 days!!! Eeeee!!

...I'm ok. And getting in the mood for Christmas, as well. I actually started singing Christmas carols of my own free will this morning. (Note: only the non-secular ones. I have some limits, after all.) And determined that I need to learn more wassailing songs and the words to The Holly and the Ivy. (And, quite possibly, some of the Cthulhu carols, to sing at unsuspecting passers-by. hehehe.)

("Circumlocution," said Mr. Croup to Mr. Vandemar. "It's a way of speaking around something. A digression. Verbosity." Mr. Vandemar nodded. "I wondered," he said. )

This is what I get for ordering stuff on Amazon with birthday money and not telling people what I've ordered. See, I got The Sorcerer in the mail today from my mom. Which is incredibly cool because, well, The Sorcerer and *mine* and eeee! But, see, I'd already ordered it! And silly Amazon won't let me cancel the order because it says that it is "shipping soon." So I shall have to return it, which will require me to pay for postage. But it is entirely my own fault for being secretive and silly about my obsessions and how I gratify them. But it means that I can buy other things now, so that's ok. hehe.

I love my parents, so very much. 8)

Every time I watch The Devil's Advocate on FX (which is actually pretty often, 'cause they play it all the time) 1. I wish I was not watching it on FX, 'cause I know there's stuff they're cutting and 2. I realize that I really, really love that last confrontation/explanation/Devil's monologue sequence. So very wonderful. hehe

(Does John Milton not have incredibly nifty clothes in this scene? hehehe)

::even more sheepish grin:: Found the tape on the side of the box. It hinges open. I feel even sillier.

::sheepish grin:: I cannot find a way to open the box on the action figure without destroying it. And I don't want to destroy it - it's a pretty box. But I want to get Grima out of the buggering box. I feel silly.

Watched so much Red Dwarf today. It was lovely. We saw Back to Reality, Demons and Angels, White Hole, Quarantine (and more) and we watched special feature interview things from LotR...so much fun. I swear, you put creepy music behind anything Christopher Lee says and it sounds ominous. (More Saruman in the next movie!) And I got pretty presents from Ann, because she was dispensing Christmas gifts tonight. We all got pyro starter kits (a lighter, a candle and two packets of powdered creamer) and she gave me an action figure. A Grima Wormtongue action figure! Eeee!

In almost exactly a week (minus about 2 1/2 hours) I will be in the theater, about to see The Two Towers. How cool is that?! I can't wait. 11:59 showing on the 17th, baby. I have my ticket! Bwa ha!

("Circumlocution," said Mr. Croup to Mr. Vandemar. "It's a way of speaking around something. A digression. Verbosity." Mr. Vandemar nodded. "I wondered," he said. )

Mmm...Rent. Wonderful. Beautiful. A few minor problems with mikes and the fact that we were sitting 3 rows from the back of the theater, but nothing to really distrupt my enjoyment of it. Mark was perfect, Angel was gorgeous and, even though Collins wasn't a bass, he sounded great. Really, what can I say?...except that I remembered why I was obsessed. Except that I remembered why I fell in love in the first place. Except that I really want my cds and when I come home, Katie, I'm getting them back.

God, but I love this play.

Updated the website. Now The List has a book counterpart and there is a stick repository. So that I can keep track of the many sticks needed in daily life. You may borrow my sticks, if you like. hehe


(Ye gods, the things I do out of boredom...)

The Kitsap Regional Library sometimes amazes me. They do not have The Village of the Damned (classic early 60s sci-fi with demon alien children) or the novel on which it is based (The Midwich Cuckoos...see why they changed the title for the movie?) but they do have 6 - count them, 6 - versions of Day of the Triffids (very odd novel by the same author about nearly everyone in the world suddenly and inexplicably going blind and then being attacked by walking man-eating plants), including the movie and 2 different tape recordings of the book. Weird. Though not as weird as my college library, which has movies like Vampyr and Children of Paradise along with all of the Alien movies. I love it.

My friends and I watched the last half of Goldeneye tonight. Which, besides being a James Bond film with Pierce Brosnan, also stars Sean Bean (the guy who played Boromir) as a gone-to-the-bad British spy and Alan Cumming (who is, quite possibly, the sexiest man alive) as a geeky Russian codemonkey with a truly horrid Hawaiian shirt and duct-taped glasses. Eeee...Alan Cumming...I now have the urge to break out my Cabaret cd. And watch Goldeneye from the beginning. And see more James Bond films in general. hehehe....

Going to see Rent tomorrow...Eeee....

Blargh on the period where one is too close to going home to get books from the library and far enough away from going home to want said books. See, I'd really like to go to the library and get dystopian novels (and movies) and things about geishas (thank you, Discovery Channel...home of stuff you watch 'cause you're bored and it's on) but I can't because I'm going home in a week. And I really should read Madame Bovary before my history final. But I don't want to read Madame Bovary. I do not like the protagonist at all, and neither does the author. It is annoying. I would like to read 1984 but I can't. I have to wait until I'm home. Blargh...

I suppose I could reread We. Hurrah for textbooks you keep because you want to reread them. hehe.

Yea! Presentation for history is done and did not go terribly badly, thanks to my last minute insights into the Dionysian nature of sexuality and its place in a totalitarian society. (It's really not as exciting as it sounds.) So I no longer have history class (except for the final), which is a thing worthy of much rejoicing. Yea! Again! hehe.

Also, remember the man with the opaque black glasses? His name is Mr. Aldehyde. I don't know his first name. He may not have one. He's some sort of assassin and gets credit for being the first person to try to inhabit my brain whose natural weapon is a gun. We're going to have fun with him. 8)

("Circumlocution," said Mr. Croup to Mr. Vandemar. "It's a way of speaking around something. A digression. Verbosity." Mr. Vandemar nodded. "I wondered," he said.
And now I'm wondering if Messers Croup and Vandemar will get along with Mr. Aldehyde.
Mr Vandemar: Probably not.
Mr Croup: We're not overly fond of competition.
Mr. Aldehyde: ::smiles::)

You know what's probably not a good idea? Trying to serve dinner to a large number of people in a makeshift dining hall that's less than 1/3 the size of the old one. That's not a good idea. I think I will eat dinner in my room tonight...

Paper is done! YEA!!!! No more Bolsheviks, Communists, Lenin or Marx living in my head! Hurrah! It's all neatly printed with endnotes and everything. And I have to say that my printer has a much nicer "Printing started" voice than the one at home - mine's a tenor. hehe.

On another note entirely...does anyone else find this vaguely creepy? I mean, the idea is very nice and things but it creeps me out a bit. I think it's all the "ho ho ho's" at semi-random intervals. I found it somewhat freaky and decided to share it with you. Now go read The Hogfather. hehe.

So, I was reading The Man Who was Thursday and there's a lovely description of a pair of opaque black glasses. And I can see them in my brain - just the type of glasses for completely hiding the eyes. So know my brain wants a character who wears them. And I've no information about this person whatsoever...except that they wear nearly opaque black granny glasses. Silly brain...

The list below has now been expanded and put on the website here. Enjoy!

For Rhiannon and for general reference,
Things that Lead to Badness:

• Playing with the dead in any way - necromancy, vampirism, stitching together corpses to create a new race of artificially produced men, etc
  
• Invisibility (at least, invisibility that you can't come back from at will)
  
• Trying to take over the world
  
• Pretending to be God in any way
  
• Child vampires
  
• Immortality in all of its myriad forms (except for those who are born immortal)
  
• Mental powers (again, except when they've been had since birth)
  
• Magic rings
  
• Entering a room recently vacated by a spring-loaded cat
  
• Leaving the path
  
• Being rude to old people in the woods
  
• Not thinking through on the phrasing of wishes
  
• Not accepting crucifixes when everyone looks at you as if your about to die when you mention the castle your visiting
  
• Making bargains with the Devil
  
• Trying to outwit the Devil
  
• Talking to the Devil at all
  
• Volunteering to be the king of the day
  
• Last but not least, entering a room when the noise you heard was "just the cat"

Also, Things that are Signs of Things that Lead to Badness:

• SCIENCE! (beakers of colored liquid, dry ice, odd electrodes, etc)
  
• Excessive gleeful hand-wringing
  
• Evil laughter
  
• Maniacal laughter
  
• Evil, maniacal laughter
  
• People who skulk, lurk and have tendencies to wear black
  
• Strange people offering you crucifixes
  
• Crazy humming
  
• The prescence of Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney (Sr or Jr), etc
  
• Noises that are "just the cat"
  
• And so on...hehe

Adding to the list of things that have not gone my way of late, guess when the Powers that Be have decided would be the perfect day to paint my room. Why, the second day of classes next quarter, of course! So, the minute I get back, I must begin to prepare for painters even as I unpack. Ah, well. At least it's not the first day back, right? I wish they could have waited a week or two, but what can you do?

In happier news, I have now spent my birthday gift certificate to amazon.com and thus have Gilbert and Sullivan coming in the mail. And, with any luck, it will arrive before Christmas and I can take it to London with me. Bwa haha! I shall annoy all the people on the plane by mouthing the words to light opera and They Might Be Giants songs! ::maniacal laughter ensues::

...somehow, this leads to mad scientistness and evil. I'm just not sure how. hehe.

Jolly good, wot! Anyone for tennis? That'll be ten ponies, guv. You're the epitome of everything that is english. Yey :) Hoist that Union Jack!

How British are you?

this quiz was made by alanna

Boo ya!





Well, yeah. We knew that. hehe.

Guess what I got to do this morning at 6:22 AM? (I know the time, because I checked my clock when I got up.) I got to go outside because some bloody idiot who needs to be beat with sticks decided it would be funny to pull the fire alarm! Well, at least, I'm assuming it was pulled as there was no actual fire. Blargh. The perfect start to my day.