xans

Why yes, my love and I did just get back from seeing the Abengers movie. The short version: sooooooo worth seeing, especially in 3D. The long (spoilery) version: behind the cut.

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Also I owe my journal a post about some RL happenings and also a fanfic post that is being a bitch to write (I'm trying to write about Baal and he doesn't come easily for me.). So I should be writing again soon.

Maybe Alan and I are weird, because we liked the movie Watchmen.

Also, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. Still got to watch Defiance and Crank High Voltage...

Fin.

I love our new place, I really do. It's gorgeous here. When the weather cooperates. But it's huge and airy and warm, and just a great place to be in. Also? We can get broadband. Which is simply glorious.

There is one weird little thing, though. For some reason, when Joe or Heaven answer the phone downstairs, it disconnects the broadband. We don't have that problem with the phone up here, but it happens when that one gets used. And when the broadband disconnects, one must turn it off for 30 seconds, then wait two minutes after turning it back on, and restart the computer. Which is a complete pain in the ass.

So I told Joe they'll need to unplug the phone downstairs. I explained why on more than one occasion. However, it is still plugged in down there, they still answer the phone down there, and the broadband gets disconnected again. I know they need the phone. And it's a pain in the ass when they have come all the way upstairs to grab it, because then they never bloody remember to bring the handset back. Then WE get annoyed when the phone rings and they're out and we don't get to bloody answer it in time.

We just can't win.

And normally it's not that bad that we're sharing a house with them. They're relatively self-contained down there and we don't have to deal with them too much. But every now and then, they asked to "borrow" something, and then I have to remined them half a dozen times before it makes its way back. The box of cornflour never did come back, actually... I dread to get around to reorganizing the dvds only to discover how many haven't made it back.

And then, it's like, I hear them do vacuuming, I see clothes on the washline frequently, and yet if I go downstairs their lounge and bedroom is messy and cluttered, and there are dirty dishes in the laundry (which is their kitchenette). And they say they get ants down there? Zomg, dirty dishes and food scraps are the last thing you want to be lying around then. But it makes no sense, the sort of cleanliness mixed with complete lack of organisation.

Alan and I aren't neat freaks per se, but we like to keep our floors clear, and the clutter to a minimum, and clean as necessary. They've got heaps of storage space and the like, and yet they still manage to have things just lying around on the floor and furniture. It just... I have to remind myself that not everyone has my ingrained tidiness. I let mess build up sometimes, but eventually the OCD kicks in and I have to sort that shit out.

Anyhow... I am pretty happy here, things are mostly just fine... Gratch is happy as a lark, even if she did get into a fight couple weeks ago that got her a wee absess (I kept on it and thankfully didn't have to go to the vets to clean it up). Went to a fun family bbq up at Chris and Tarn's on Friday, where Jon finally got to meet his sister Cathy, and many funny photos were taken (and promptly posted on facebook, of course). And then Saturday night was the Christmas do for Alan's work, and DAMN that was a fine meal. More good times, but left me bloody exhausted by Sunday.

We also got around to acquiring and rewatching Transformers 2, Star Trek, and finally seeing a rather interesting yet slightly different movie called Inkheart.

Fin.

Am about to bake another banana cake. Mmmm....

My grandchildren :P Isabella and Danielle are at the standing up stage, almost walking without assistance. And just so cute.

Love, love, love my man. For putting up with me when I am moody and not sleeping well and just generally blah. And hating my body for its oh-so-terrible timing on the arrival of this month's period.

It's a beautiful sunny day. This makes me happy anyway.

Saw some movies I quite enjoyed... The Spirit, and Mall Cop, and I can't remember if I said we watched Fast and the Furious Four... plus renting out Underworld: Rise of the Lycans again so we could watch it properly.

Anyway... baking time.

Fin.

Jim Beam Rye and coke makes me happy. And I don't mean just the 'heading towards tipsy' happy, I mean happy, because it's a fine tasting drink. And I like that. And I like that my dad gave it to me for my birthday. But what makes me happier? Sharing* a glass with my darling man as we watch the movie Gran Torino. That was a movie we saw trailers for, but did not go to the movies to see. I'm still really glad we own it now. It's just a wonderful movie. It's funny and bittersweet and real.

*I first typed that out as 'sharking' which is a whole new typo-word I've not come across before. But part of me wonders how the definition would go for such a word. Hunting sharks? Pretending to be a shark? Chasing wo/menfolk in a predatory yet lusty manner?

Got three whole hours on Sacred 2 today, without it crashing, although I swear it came close two or three times. Not to mention three hours on that game, for all I didn't seem to actually do a lot, was, well, quite enough thank-you.

I didn't straighten my hair like I planned to, or do the load of laundry. Both of those can be done tomorrow, though. In the morning. Because tomorrow afternoon Alan and I are visiting the Southward Car Museum. That shall be fun.

Fin.

I cannot believe this. Death at a Funeral. An American remake of the British movie by the same title that was only made two years ago. It's an utterly hilarious movie, I well reccommend it to anyone, but.... I just can't believe they're doing a remake of it, and so soon, either. Normally America remakes foreign films that aren't in English already, like Shall we Dance, which works brilliantly as a Japanese movie, but I'm not so sure about the English version... but what really makes me happy is that when I make this complaint to Alan, he knows what I mean because he's actually seen the Japanese version. I gotta thank my good friend Rhi for introducing me to that one...

But, anyway, my complaint is that the English Death at a Funeral was funny and fantastic, and it's way too soon to go and make an American version in the hopes that that appeals to a larger audience.

I've been having a bit of fun on imdb today, anyway. Cracked up because The Terminal was on tv here recently, and I caught the tail end of it with Alan and Joe... well, there's this chick in it that I thought I recognised, and asked, "Isn't that Uhura from the latest Star Trek movie?" And it is and that is hilarious because in The Terminal she plays an immigration officer who also is a Trekkie. She's also Anamaria from the first Pirates movie, which I didn't know.

Fin.

You know... give me a dream about being a jedi running around in a storm trooper's gear killing imperial troops and I'm happy. Gimme a hispanic/asian looking side-kick and, yeah, weird, but okay, still running around killing bad guys. Gimme Uma Thurman as a superhot princess to rescue ('cept she doesn't need much rescuing) and things are better. Put me in a house and find fucking scorpions in the bedrooms?

Wake me up in a sweat 'cause they're bloody scary. Thank you brain. Thank you so much.

Yay, I now have Death Proof.

Also, Bones is now on Sunday nights, so I can actually watch it, if I remember, which I didn't, when NCIS was on at that time.

Darling may be moving up in the world. May be moving further south, if all goes well.

Why work doesn't just, I dunno, change my hours on Monday from 2-10 instead of from 3-10? Beyond me. If we move, it won't matter anyhow.

Alan thinks I'd be more than capable to do the work to achieve the qualifications in retail that he's just completed. Reassuring. I should be a superviser, it would me work so much easier. Probably longer hours and the push to let work take over my life, though.

Ummm... Mum and Gary are coming to New Zealand for Christmas. I seriously wish I could get more time off work to spend with them, but NO LEAVE AVAILABLE they tell me and like I'm gonna find someone to cover those shifts? Wish I had a doctor friend to fake me a sick note, but that would be unethical. Eh, well.

I forgot one of my Aussie cousins lives in Rotorua now. I'm so out of touch with reality sometimes. My other cousin in Rotorua is pregnant. Christ (Alan's eldest) and Tarns are expecting the twins to arrive on the 19th, but like babies know that sort of thing. He just proposed to her on their anniversary, too. He was a real romantic about it, too.

Fin.

Thank you, thank you... :D

I had a wonderful birthday. Shopping with my darlin', then dinner at Gengy's with Ange and my darlin'. Gengy's is a mongolian place where you can choose the ingredients of your dinner and they cook it for you. And pancakes for dessert. It was very nice, and a lovely evening, really.

Ange got me Love Actually on dvd, as well as some chocolate covered coffee beans and jandal (flip-flops to you american buggers :P) shaped erasers. Alan bought me the Stargate movie and first season of SG-1 on dvd. My collection begins. Dad and Suzy gave me dark chocolate M&Ms and a CD, "The Pit and the Pendulum."

I also bought myself Chocolat, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a warm fuzzy zip-up hoodie from Jay Jays that was all of $20. Had a great time hanging out with Ange. Laughed as Alan just about tried to sneak dad and suzy's long-haired chiuaua Truffles home in his jacket. He was leery that Truffles would be like most little dogs, snappy and yappy, but Truffles is just a little cuddle slut. Mind you, I was all set to steal the cats, I swear. I miss Yoda and Pearl lots.

When I got home from visiting la familia in Hams, there was a parcel of goodies from my mum to go through, as well... clothes, of course, several bits of lingerie and a couple nice tops. Some really nice leather Mary Janes that are working out well as work shoes. They haven't cut up my ankles yet. :D Wild Cherry Pepsi and Vanilla Pepsi lip gloss. A really weird cow ornament, crab earrings, and a pretty celtic keychain... Penguin bookmark, wallet... lots of goodies, really.

It was a lovely time off with my darling. Adore him to bits, do I mention that enough? 'Cause I do.

Did a bit of shopping for presents for my mum and step-dad and brother. Dad and Suzy will take them in their suitcases to the States, hand them over to my brother who's visiting from Japan, and he'll keep his book while passing on the presents for my mum and step-dad. There's also a little wee gift for shiseiji: A NZ shot glass for her collection. :D

Fin.

So, I really wanted to show this icon to a friend of mine only to discover that I haven't got it archived on my photobucket account, so, I couldn't. But I thought I'd ask if any of you might have it?

It's a sort of crossover of Stargate Atlantis and some Firefly/Serenity dialogue, basically about Atlanis Re: the Wraith and Michael, and Mal's pretty speech about the Alliance shifting back to the idea that they could make people better. It's rather cool, if kinda disturbing, because one doesn't like to think of the good guys being kinda bad guys, and all that.

I thought I'd ask, anyhow. 'Salright if I get nothing.

Side note, obnoxious people should know better than to be obnoxious in a library. Most library patrons get very snotty towards inconsiderate fuckers, and books are handy weapons when it comes down to it.

*nods*

The Mord-Sith glare is a good one for making them run, too.

Fin.

What an interesting weekend we had... Friday and Saturday being our weekend.

On Friday we came into town to meet up with Alan's sons Chris and Joe (my first time meeting Joe). I also bought this celtic triquetra necklace at Lotz of Potz... see if I can find a picture online of sort of what it looks like. ETA: Something like this only pointing down. And we had coffee at cafe cuba after chatting with the boys. Thought about seeing Sweeney Todd, but missed the afternoon screening and didn't want to wait until night. Had things that needed doing at home, like the dishes. And when he was preparing dinner, I was sitting on the floor sorting out my CDs while listening to Josh Groban (the CD is slightly fucked though. Maybe there were too many scratches on the one we copied, but the sound is off on some of the tracks... but plenty of it is just fine and his is a beautiful voice.)

Anyway, we were doing the dishes when Alan got a text from his youngest, Jon, asking if he could come see him. Jon's had to go to hospital since he had been having these nosebleeds that wouldn't stop, and he was falling over from blood loss. They've cauterized about seven veins in his nose, but they think the one that is not stopping is up too high in the nose. Have to cut in from the side and such. But the poor boy is confined to the bed, alone in Wellington hospital, his gf unable to visit (she having just had a minor op on her ovaries), and yeah... he wanted to see his dad.

Oh, I should mention that Chris had his boyracer car stolen, with his gf's computer and his cellphone in it as well. We were going to borrow Tarns' comp to attach Alan's computer as a slave and back up some files before reformatting it since his XP's gone caput. And Joe is staying with them at the moment because he just broke up with his gf. As I said to Alan, about all we need now is a text from Kathy saying, "Dad, I'm pregnant and I've broken up with Scott."

So Saturday we didn't go to the gypsy fair, buy my computer from Harvey Norman (more about that), and see Sweeney Todd. We went to Wellington, visited Jon, didn't see my friend Glenn (had hoped to), bought my computer from Harvey Norman (hang on, I'll detail that in a bit), visited Alan's brother Steve in Greytown and got his dragons back... it was an eventful day, and we did rather enjoy our weekend. And now I have my computer.

For now, it's name is Orlando. It was the first name to come to mind, but I may change it if someone can suggest something better. My other option is Mr. Burns. My account name is Bitchcakes.

Anyway, this is the info from the catalogue, for the curious:

HP Pavilion M9070A Media Centre PC with 19” Wide LCD
• Intel® Pentium® Dual Core 1.8GHz • 1GB RAM • 320GB HDD
• Dual Layer LightScribe DVD±RW SuperMultiDrive
• nVidia GeForce 8400M GS 256MB Graphics with HDMI output
• 15-in-1 card reader • Built-in wireless • Built-in TV Tuner & Remote
• Windows® Vista™ Home Premium.

All that for NZD$1798 (down about $400), plus we got speakers worth about $70 or $80 for $30, and then there was the 2GB flash drive they were selling for $26 that had been about $60. So all up I spent $1854 to get my baby. Lord, but I had that moment of nervousness of having it say DECLINED on my purchase, even though I knew I had to have close to twice that in my account.

And the Vista thing isn't too much of a problem, except that my darling gave me the Dungeon Siege game, and it's incompatible with Vista. We have no internet at home at the moment, so I can't just hop on and dl a patch so I can play it. Mostly the problem with having Vista at the moment is that it's not very good without an internet connection. ~le sigh~ We need to speak to the landlord, see about the kind of internet they have-if it's just dial-up or it is possible to get broadband out where we live, but it'll suck to just have dial-up. It's a little annoying that not only can they not sell me an XP disc, but that Vista comes pre-loaded onto the computer, so I don't even have a disc for that. Should I have a problem and need to reformat, I'd have to go out and buy a disc. That's just not cool.

Anyway, mostly I'm happy with my shiny new computer. It is a thing of dark beauty. That being said, it shows my priorities are straight when five minutes after getting home, I'm not on the computer loading some other game, but stripping the clothes off my darling for a bit of lovin'. And that he's letting me, instead of heading back out the the car to grab his tobacco and rolling a ciggy first. We're so in love with being in love with each other.

Fin.