Music is great, Starbucks is great...

( Family stuff, in case you come for the media and stay for the pie...mostly stories about Nora, my Ready-Made-Niece )

( Segue about dad...then it all comes back to church )

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( Friend stuff )

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Media stuff:
1) watched Gone Baby Gone. I'm so proud of Affleck, guys. Good on him. A restrained performance from Ed Harris, creative yet not overreaching direction, an actual not-phoned-in Morgan Freeman, and the inclusion of Wire and Deadwood regulars (Titus, call me!)...marvelous. I liked the book just a skitch better, but I suppose that's the way it goes.

2) anxietygrrl has been sharing some stuff with me. She thinks it's not making her sad, but it probably is. So I thought I'd show her a few select screencaps that made me pretty happy and smiley, in the hopes that sunshine on her shoulders, et cetera

( Some season 11 ER screencaps of joy...and one Psych screencap, just for comparison's sake... )

Okay, enough shenanigan and malarkey. I need to dl a certain episode of something. And then...do some...stuff.

I'm glad to be back to The Internet. It really is like Cinderella said: you don't know what you got 'til it's gone.

I was going to wait for piecesofalice to show her sunny face online and pressure her for a picspam, but...I couldn't stand it. I had to do it.

( Last night's ep of Psych, in picture form... )

The Kates had friends over for New Year's Eve. We ate Ray-Ray's fake-bake ziti, fondue (with Nutella!), and drank.

I have come to the conclusion that even in moderation, I am no longer built for hard liquor. Three or four Maker's and Diet Coke (give or take a few glasses of white wine and champagne) and my stomach is miserable this morning.

What? Oh, afternoon.

Anyway, it's not like I'm barfy. Just uncomfortable.

And it's continuing to snow (no reference to Rent intended).

So: perfect excuse to peruse the Yuletide New Year's Resolution list and start one or two lines of stories one will never finish, eh?

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Anyway: big props to my author, elsandry. Because it was my first year making a request, I didn't know how this thing works (goodbye, folks!) and gave her nothing with which to do much of anything. She had to come over to my not-linked-to-the-site Yuletide Letter, read my ramblings, et cetera. The result: awesomeness. She's clearly one in a million.

My story was "When Gus Met Shawn (And She-Ra)". kattahj, I hope that it did what you wanted for Gus, who clearly loves pop culture and sugar and Shawn (perhaps not in that order). I'm sort of embarrassingly into other aspects of the show, so...

But I love Gus and Dulé! It was fun to write! And I bought He-Man/She-Ra Christmas on DVD during my Black Friday shopping rampage, so I sort of robbed from RL experience.

Now that The Reveal is over, I also rec the story I was blessed enough to beta, piecesofalice's profane and lovely Al and Dan (but not Al/Dan...because eek) story, "The Most Faithful of Reminders".

Okay, I'm off to attempt to write Celia/Nancy for Weeds!

Or maybe just eat Maalox and stare at Anchorman for a while.

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Eek! Also, thanks, aj, for visiting our pad AND taking Kate and myself on a mini-tour of Devon! Yay! So much fun to talk fandom and roommate stuff and just whatevs with you. Sunday, man!!!

I'm not very big on the Christmas Wish List memes, but one of piecesofalice's requests interested me--because Christmas is, of course, about reflecting on what most benefits ME and makes ME happy--and afforded me the opportunity to harangue aj into making loverly cover art. Seriously, look at it:


So even without songs, this is already a rad fanmix, right?

But you get songs too! Sorry, it's my first, so it's probably a little weak on variety and...general...things. But it's the thought that counts, and my thought was, "After I force aj to make bitchin' cover art, I will dig through my Brit Pop and formulate...LIFE!!! LIFE IS AWESOME!!!"

Anyway, merry early Xmas, piecesofalice. Enjoy this with gooseburgers and eggnog made from bourbon and ice cubes.

( Tie My Hands: A Life Fanmix, featuring songs for Charlie, Dani, Ted...Even Roman! )

Hope this improves your night more than conflicted feelings about Hot Garrett Jesus.

Life and P-Run conflict? What's a sister to do???

O, Tim Gunn, guide me to make the right decision at 10/9 Central.

Word up, Yuletide person.

I apologize: this is my first year, and rather than give you a bunch of detail, I did one-word prompts. Which was dumb of me. Anyway:
( Cut for the fanficless people on my list )

In short, I'm very excited, and I'm sure anything you do will make me giddy with happiness. Hooray for Yuletide. Excelsior. Hooray for Hollywood. You rock.

A friend always,
Jessie

So I'm a little nervous. I got my prompts. Out of the four, I know one fandom well and one vaguely. Two others? Haven't even heard of. Yikes. I hope I do right by this person.

Edited for any potential NYR writers! Sorry I'm a bonehead.

I know a lot of you don't care about baseball, but you do care about me and my mental well-being. So if you would, please, keep Tedward "Ted" Lilly in your thoughts and prayers as he faces the D-Backs tonight.

Guys. Look at his solemn, sweet face. I'm not even requiring you to wear a ribbon or forward this on to your friends (yet).

Were you aware that one out of one Ted Lillies is in danger of not being cheered on properly? Shocking. But true.

Thank you for your prayers and thoughts and donations of soup, cheek patting, and bubble gum (he likes the pink kind).

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I have to say: these Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers are delicious, particularly the beef merlot kind. They have adult-sized servings of veggies! They have flavorstuffs!

I'm just saying, they kick the crap out of many Lean Cuisine options.

But not the paninis. Those things are flash-frozen crack.

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Normally I don't go in for loud humor (for example, Cheri Oteri = punch in face; Lewis Black = sometimes punch in face), but for some reason, Tracy Morgan shouting "SAMSON!" and shoving Kenneth and Prince Pee-Wee's "Thank you all FOR COMING TO MY BIRTHDAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" from 30 Rock delight me to no end.

30 Rock! It's on tonight! And don't eat my blood cookie!

Did y'all watch Weeds last night? Holy...

Anyway, let's talk about how awesome Showtime is later (I also enjoy Californication quite a lot, even though The Girl From The Nanny is a total lame-ass cliche of The Deeply Troubled, Brilliant, Yet Highly Sexually Evolved Teenager so prevalent in man-wanky programming...she says...humorlessly...like a feminist prig...), as well as talking about This One Episode of Judging Amy Where Sad Things Happen.

Let's take a journey away from the TV...to my room!
( Not a picspam about how hot Titus Welliver is in Brooklyn South, but you do get to see my Burt Reynolds purse...so there's that )

Richard Grieco at the Ugly Betty DVD release party. Where, one imagines, he frightened every little child who clapped eyes on him. Then he stole two muffins, two cups of coffee, and disappeared into the ether like The Headless Horseman in that Disney version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, leaving only the soul-aching reverberations of his terrifying visage.

Not Safe for Work, Shoot...Not Safe for Your SOUL.

That is Pennywise levels of nightmare, people.

My friend Aim was kind enough to text me not long after hearing Stevie B's "Because I Love You (The Postman Song)" on my hometown's AM radio station. Oh, the hilarity's just starting. Then, in a stroke of genius, Aim e-mailed me a link to the video.

1) Compare the pink tone of the video to that of my geigergrade Richard Marx icon. The early '90s? Apparently bathed in this color at all times.

2) What...is his hair? I'm so puzzled? Is that a Jheri-hawk?

THEN, after I told Aim I had a Richard Marx icon as pink as the Stevie B video, she e-mailed me back: Dude, all of those sentimental-tacky-crap videos from that era have that pink-tinge to it. Case in point: Timmy T's "One More Try" (with Portuguese subtitles!)

1) I don't know what is more marvelous: the mustard suit jacket/turtleneck combo or the white or extremely stonewashed (name of my '80s/'90s tribute band) jeans.

2) "Hi, my name is Timmy T! I'm very pink-tinted! And I am NOT Tommie Page, so stop asking me."

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A poll shall follow the posting of these pictures:
( Which of the following Cubs is the hottest? )

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( My boss is out of the office! A poll! )

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My boss is out of the office: a meme thanks to elspethsheir!
Leave your name here and I will tell you why it's awesome to have you on my flist!

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If the Internet gods were truly looking out for me, someone out there would have made screencaps of the Judging Amy boys in their tuxedoes. More specifically, of Richard T. Jones and Tim Omundson. More specifically than that, of Tim Omundson when his tie was undone, a shot of whiskey in his hand, making smoke rings with his cigar. ( Last but not least: Judging Amy! )