i'm a pixel here, myself

The roommate's boyfriend is here for a week. I am not sure how I feel about this. I like him, really, but since he lives on the opposite coast, when he's around she doesn't do anything apartment-related. Since she pays (a little) less rent than I do, I find this unfair. And yet... she doesn't get to see him often. I am stymied.

Instead, I give you Jensen. And Jared. Sort of.

Jensen is a creature of habit; when Jared blows into his life like a hurricane, life becomes anything but routine. This popped into my head a week or two ago, and then there was discussion of friendship rather than sex, and. ::waves hands::

( and returns to Vancouver on Sundays )

We came home today. I feel all kinds of lame, but M made me feel better by pointing out that the amount of snow on the mountains we were considering skiing was negligible (it hasn't snowed up there in a week or so, and the last snow was only a few inches) and melting fast (a temperature in the 40s will do that), so he probably wouldn't have gotten much more skiing out of the week anyway.

So when I got home, I unpacked, made tea, started soup defrosting, and all kinds of cold-reducing measures (note to self: pick up box of clementines at Safeway tomorrow). Then I proceeded to go through several more chocolate things than I should have, especially with the weight I've been putting on in the last couple weeks (M's mom is an *amazing* cook, and skiing doesn't burn quite the calories one might think it does). Tomorrow I'm calling in sick and trying to kick this cold while running miscellaneous errands. I don't dare look at my RSS reader, as I forgot to unsubscribe myself from everything before I left. One might even say that coming back from a vacation is nearly as stressful as the time leading up to the vacation!

Anyway. In other news, my dear friend A (who is moving back to the bay area in a couple months! yay!) passed me along a job lead -- an actual human contact, this time. So I've got my fingers crossed for this turning into something useful. Positive vibe-type things would be nice, if you do that kind of thing. I'd kind of like to be changing jobs before my current one runs out.

And now, we answer yuletide feedback. And chug water.

a. yuletide story at 1k words with no end in sight and only six more days to write. Oops. Either that, or I end it where it is now, barely making the word count, and have the craziest final sentence in the history of final sentences.

b. It's not even noon and I've wanted to smack my boss twice. Also, my former coworker, who when she left did not leave me very good documentation. Attempting to use her files is like an exercise in project Russian roulette. If it works, it works. If it doesn't work, it fails spectacularly, taking several datasets with it means I have to keep wading through the swamp that is her old directory. Three more workdays until vacation. I'ma make a macro of that. Or maybe have it constantly in my clipboard for copy-paste purposes.

c. Christmas party this Friday with all my friends and our white elephant exchange. Help me come up with a gift costing less than $10 that will be humorous and useful!

d. There is no (d); I just want to go home. I think I've hit the maximum number of [Jigsaw Sudoku] puzzles a person can reasonably play in a day. If only I didn't find it impossible to write at work...

I have a Christmas tree a-glowing in the living room. Last year, it took FRJ and me about a day to get the tree properly settled in the stand, etc. etc. before we could trim it. This year, total time from stand insertion to finished trimming: under 20 minutes. \o/ Well, I say "finished trimming", but in a couple weeks at my Christmas party we'll be making more decorations. And cookies. Mmm, cookies.

Other than getting the tree, I did precious little today. Tomorrow we tackle groceries, cleaning, laundry, and the rest of phaballa's beta.

My tree is preeeeeeetty and smells wonderful. ♥

Ever have one of those days where you wake up and go "huh, it's December first, which means I leave for my parents' house in just over two weeks" and you freak out because you realize you have more things to do than paper to list it all on? Yeah.

To that end, some bullet points:

* phaballa, I will finish your beta sometime in the next few days, I promise.

* After that, I am not doing ANYTHING fandom-related until my yuletide story is done, because [HOMG eighteen days to deadline] (nevermind that elyn says seventeen; since the deadline is the end of Tuesday the 19th and it is midday Friday the 1st, you do the math). Expect a locked post in the next few days asking for a beta.

* The roommate's birthday is today. I do not have a gift because I am a sucky roommate. I suspect I will tell her that I'm combining it with her Christmas gift, but I have NO IDEA what I'm getting her for Christmas. Ha HA! I just thought of the perfect gift. Now to get it before tonight...

* I need to come up with a Christmas list for my parents, grandparents, uncle, and brothers, and I need to solicit suggestions from them. I am a sucky son/brother/grandson/nephew. But honestly, the things I want now are more on the big-ticket side, or on the "family can't get them for me" side: a macbook, a new job, etc. I tend to just go buy myself anything small that I want/need at the time. My baby brother told my parents he wants cash. Mom's response: "But I want to have something under the tree for you to unwrap!" His comeback: "I could unwrap a box of twenties..." Oh, my family.

* Big Boss is conferencing with Little Boss (formerly Invisible Boss and Visible Boss, respectively) about getting me more things to do. This is simultaneously good (because I am SO BORED OMG) and bad (because the documentation really DOES need to get done).

* Oh shit, I fly home in SEVENTEEN DAYS WTF.

* The recipe thing isn't happening this year because I am disorganized and frantic, and have had zero time to make any of the recipe suggestions submitted by y'all. I will try them, but probably not until well after the first of the year, when I've had time to properly collapse.

* dine and althea5000, I just found your requests for my a cappella album in my inbox dated forever ago. I'm sending you links to the online order form. Apologies for the delay!

( for my own reference )

Lunch: turkey and cheese wrap with mustard. Oh, god. YUM.

In not-as-good news, our furnace seems to be out, and any amount of relighting the pilot light is ineffective. Now I'm wondering about the plans I had to have people over tonight...

There's yet more of a boy update, but I suspect this whole thing should just be labeled as "ongoing" and maybe I'll give y'all a rundown when it's all worked out.

Working from home so I can field the interview phone call (my cell reception is crap at work) and what do I hear? My downstairs neighbors going at it. Loudly. Again. (Dear female downstairs neighbor: You do not need to moan at every little thing -- he can't be *that* good. xoxo, Drew) Um. I guess that means they won't still be going at it in an hour when my interview happens? ::crosses fingers::

And yes, my stomach is twisted in knots. More later.

The boy liked my pie. ::beams::

I, um. I haven't been around much, have I? I promise I'm still thinking of y'all, but other things have monopolized my time recently. The aforementioned boy, apartment living (with its ups and downs and "clean up your fucking crap off the kitchen table now, goddammit!"s), planning Thanksgiving with FRE, and of course FFXII. The weather here has finally taken a turn for the worse, and one of these days I'm going to have to deal with the planter boxes on the balcony. That promises to be a dirty and squelchy job. Also: the boy and I got all engineer-y and figured out how to re-light the pilot light on my furnace, so it's no longer ~58 degrees in my apartment. \o/ WIN.

The dentist this afternoon once again stuck me with enough novocaine to knock out a small elephant, but I'm starting to be able to feel my cheek again, so I probably won't die. Only one more trip to the dentist and I'll be cavity-free! This after some ten or so fillings, but that's not the point.

There was an a cappella thingy on Saturday, and we kind of rocked the concert portion of it -- from what I heard, we got the most applause. We've also apparently been invited to be the entertainment at the west coast college a cappella semifinals, which is a) a huge honor and b) scary as all hell, because the groups that perform there are... the best on the west coast. They spend 10-12 hours a week rehearsing, and these are going to be their three or four best songs. So basically we, who rehearse *maybe* three hours a week, are supposed to stand up to them? RIGHT. Man your battlestations! Of course, if I get to solo in front of a packed house at UC Berkeley, that would be kind of awesome. And we'll sell CDs. So conflicted!

I'ma make pasta and meatballs for dinner, and the roommate and I are going to watch the finale of PR s3. I feel like such an adult sometimes, but other times, like when I call M's mom to find out when we'll be returning from Tahoe, and she asks me if I need a ride to the airport for Christmas, I get all "oh gosh, I'm really sixteen". I really am competent, I swear.

Yeah, I'm in a weird place lately. :-/

Three things:

a. I spent the last hour being photographed. I hate being photographed. But if I am to be a successful Broadway star (oh, okay, fine, in order to audition for pretty much *any* theater, including local), I'm going to have to have headshots, which I do not have. So I hauled ass over to J's apartment and he spent a lot of time fiddling with the lighting and his super-ritzy camera and shot me for an hour. We're going to do the same thing in a week or so, after I've shaved off my goatee (I let it grow out while the boy was away specifically so I could have some headshots that were bearded and some that were not, since the boy likes me clean-shaven), and we'll see which are better. Either way, lots of photos of me (he shot some 300 tonight -- obviously, some of those are crap, but really, three hundred pictures of me! weird.) which will hopefully be not as awful as photos of me usually are.

b. Bless me, LiveJournal, for I have sinned: I listened to Fall Out Boy and might have kind of liked them. Can someone YSI me From Under The Cork Tree? I have no idea why I like them -- I think it's that they remind me of early Green Day, only with "oh no, my girl left me" instead of "I hate my life and want to blow things up". Frankly, I think the boys themselves are rather a mess (dear Pete Wentz: you are famous because your penis was on the internet; this is not something to be proud of), but their music sounds fun, and will undoubtedly be good for working out to.

c. There are new SPN promotional photos out and about. Yes, you know the ones. You've seen them linked all over the place today. The one in particular I want to draw your attention to is [this one], which literally *ate* my afternoon. I spent the whole thing looking at first Jared, then Jensen, then Jared again... and so on. For HOURS, people. aksdjfhasdf. I'm convinced Jensen was grown in a test tube somewhere. He cannot possibly be real. And Jared... just don't get me started on Jared. Because I'm not sure I could *stop*.

Dear downstairs neighbors:

STOP HAVING LOUD SEX WHEN I NEED TO GO TO BED.

Look, I'm all for sex. Even het sex -- not my thing, but hey, I understand some people like it. And generally I'm all for it pretty much whenever. But right when I'm trying to go to sleep? Is not an acceptable time. Wait until I'm asleep (I'm a pretty heavy sleeper), or go at it while there's lots of noise in my apartment (as when I'm watching things, or cooking, or something), but when the apartment is at its quietest? KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS.

xoxo,
Drew

Things what I did this weekend, by Drew, age 24 and 5 months:

* cleaned the apartment -- well -- for the first time in ages
* saw Little Miss Sunshine with the boy and enjoyed it despite the Sufjan song in the middle (the lack of vocals helped, as did the theater's THX so you could actually hear that there was bass in the background)
* mocked Sufjan a lot
* [thing that I'm really bursting to tell people, but shouldn't in a forum like LJ]
* went to the ( Folsom Street Fair )
* cooked and baked with the boy
* wondered where my weekend went

That's roughly in order, too. I know I've got things to do, comments to reply to, etc., but all I really want to do right now is play video games. Hmm. Not the most productive of attitudes, huh? At least it's almost lunchtime.

Here, have some ( pretty )

How was *your* weekend, friendslist?

Does anybody have music by the John Mayer Trio in digital format? I borrowed their live CD Try! from the library, but it's all copy-protected and whatnot, and that bums me out a lot. Come to think of it, so is my copy of Heavier Things, but I managed to find a download of that way back when. Hook a boy up?

E is mostly moved in; she's got bits of furniture strewn about the living room at the moment, because she's sanding and painting her bed and desk (fortunately not on the carpet), and they're starting to irk me, but other than that, things are going swimmingly. Having a roommate who was a friend already has been so much better than living with a guy I didn't know previously. We already know a lot of what we agree and disagree on, and can work around things better without the intricate new-roommate tapdance.

I've joined the gleeweek community, but I'm having a hard time mustering fannish glee, even knowing there's less than a month to go before the season premiere. And without fannish glee, I have no inspiration to write (or, really, read) anything. Maybe I'm just cranky. Or maybe things in my life that take a lot of energy to deal with (like the boy) have been more front-and-center lately. I miss the awesomeness of, like, November through May. I go through this kind of thing every once in a while, but it sucks to be going through it when everybody is bouncing with renewed energy and love.

In conclusion, ( clicky )

What CW ad do you think prominently hangs in the Castro St. MUNI Metro station?

Yep, it's a Supernatural ad. One of these days I'll remember to take a picture of it.

You know, recently I've been saying "I've been so busy; I'm going to take some time and chill," but that's a lie because this weekend I'm going to be doing the headless chicken dance trying to round up furniture for E, and then going to dinner Sunday night with a friend from high school I haven't seen in probably four years. Oh, and trying to figure out if it's possible to see the boy this weekend. Which would be nice, since I haven't seen him in two weeks. For once, perhaps I should try making good on the relaxation thing.

Of course, furniture hunting will require a trip to IKEA. Dammit. I mean, I love IKEA, but with six months of car insurance on this month's credit card bill, and my absorbing all of this current month's rent until E gets paid, I'm in no position to be buying anything for me. ::hides credit card::

I feel restless and ineffectual. That's it; I'm leaving early to go to the gym.

So, um, there was some awards thing last night? I missed it because FRE came over for her last dinner chez moi and I was too busy trying not to bawl my eyes out. In the end, she beat me at Scrabble by three points and this morning I drove her and her boyfriend to the airport and continued trying not to cry. I'll be okay, probably. Just... it might take a while. It's hard letting go of a best friend who's more like a sister, and with the exception of her study abroad in Australia, we haven't been apart for more than a couple weeks at a time in six years. Now she's gone to Scotland for a minimum of three, and while I'll visit her over there I don't think she'll be back here that often. And the time difference sucks.

Still no internet at home. I've passed through despair and have moved on to the practical realities of where to get my fix. Work is still the big one, but I'm out for at least part of the day today and all of tomorrow, what with a doctor's appointment and New Roommate E's arrival, so I haven't had a chance to copy all of the *gorgeous* pics from the TCAs over to my LJ photo albums. I *will*, though, so don't worry. And yes, Mayhem fans, the pictures of him and Jared will of course make the cut. Because wow, Jared looks pretty damn good in them, doesn't he? I'm not yet at a place where I'm capable of talking about Jensen, for serious. Holy shit. THE BOOTS. THE SCUFFED BOOTS. AKFJSHGKJSFH.

Oh, and the next phone sex thing is... taking longer than I thought. Apologies.

I spent most of the weekend with the boy, so I'm a little slow getting back to comments. Thank you to everyone who said such nice things about hey central fix me up along the line; expect the next part within a couple days.

[Scharffen Berger] chocolate is amazing. So is having a boyfriend who will give you the unfinished half of his hazelnut chocolate bar. Mmm. I can also now say that I have been to the Castro, and I don't really see what all the fuss is about.

I'm really freaking exhausted right now, so I'ma take a shower and go to bed. Catch you all in the morning! You can leave things like pictures of Channing Tatum and arguments as to why the Castro is awesome in the comments, and I will ogle them or argue with you (respectively) when I get in to work.

A techie question: is there a way to get animated icons to stop in Firefox? In IE, you can hit the "stop" button and the moving images will stop as well. In Firefox, that ain't so. I love you all, but the animated userpics need to stop. I'm hoping there's a user-friendly way I can take care of this myself and not have to filter out posters with animated icons.

The boy is meeting the boys (my group of friends) tonight. I am simultaneously thrilled and terrified.

In totally freakin' bizarre news, I got an email today from a guy I haven't seen or heard from in ten years. TEN YEARS. He's hoping to "reconnect", but a) I googled his email address and he has an LJ full of potty-mouthed druggie talk, b) a lot has happened to me in the last ten years (including coming out and moving across the country), and c) I have no real desire to reconnect with this guy. I think I'm just going to ignore the email. But wow, was that weird.

As if to balance out the crappiness of my forgetting my mom's birthday and my woes with the phone company, my friend E (not FRE, another E) got the job she was out here to interview for! Which means she's moving here, and moving in with me! My roommat search is over, and it was exactly the result I wanted, if fraught with a few more trials and tribulations than I'd hoped.

Now to compile a list of logistical things to think about. Whee!

Still no A/C at work. This is not going to be a fun week. Anyway, with the heat and lack of A/C I went to the public library, but it turned out their wireless wasn't working, so I had to come home to do my work, which I'm resolutely not doing right now. Instead, I'm drinking water like a fiend and thinking about the popsicles that remain in the freezer.

Anyway, at the library I got out Neverwhere and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell because I've heard they're both good (yes, Caleb, I'll get to American Gods and Anansi Boys) and so now I have things to read! Yaye.

You guys, it's too hot for my brain to let me expend any energy being fannish. Susan has a "comment porn at me!" entry and I'm tempted to go play over there, but I risk overheating. I need a swimming pool. Filled with cool water and hot boys, obviously.

( further adventures of Drew and the boy ) I hate being confused.

Jesus. We're breaking all kinds of heat records around here -- heat records not touched since (in my area's case) the '50s, and in some cases since the 'teens -- San Francisco recorded its highest temperatures ever, breaking a 1917 record.

It's projected to get to 101 today, and I certainly don't have the cooling equipment to deal with that. I'm seriously considering filling my bathtub with cold water and just sitting in it for a long time. Maybe with a book. Yesterday the recorded temp here was 99, breaking a '50s record by TEN DEGREES. Usually you don't break heat records by that much at one go. Oof. Oh, and I'm helping a friend move today. FUN TIMES.

I met three potentially decent roommates yesterday. I will have to decide. And I keep forgetting to tell them about the whole gay thing, which bexone says should be obvious to anyone with eyes and a functioning brain, but I'm not so sure.

( boy update )