inquiry and bloodlust

Back from Disneyworld! Jaime and I were at the very lovely Beach Club for three days to celebrate 2 years of remission and 7 years of awesome togetherness. It was a blast. We hit up Epcot in the morning of the first day - for the record, there's a coffee stand near Test Track that has great apple fritters. I picked up a Duffy on the way to World Showcase. He doesn't have any outfits yet; I'm thinking baseball uniform to start with. Next time. Despite my moral reservations, I tried veal while having lunch in Italy, and damnit, it was delicious. I still can't approve of purchasing it for home consumption, but on special occasions, I suppose I can let the gruesome-factor slide. We then spent our afternoon cavorting about the Florida Mall (where I scored some scarves and jewelry from H&M as well as a veritable motherlode of Lush goodies) before heading to the House of Blues for dinner and mother-pluckin' Jimmy Eat World, y'all!

Okay, so I really really love Jimmy Eat World. This was my third time seeing them in concert and they just get better and better. Seriously, check this stuff out. Mind-blowing, yeah? Oh, and by the way, the bespectacled gentleman whose scantily haired but exquisitely cheekboned head you can see from 0:12-0:14 in this video would be Jaime. My short self was on the other side of him. I screamed my lungs out and bopped and sang and ended up walking away with a Jim Adkins guitar pick, which made me just about explode with glee. ( Blather about inspiration lurks behind this cut ).

Aaaaanyway, Epcot had extra magic hours on Friday night and we were thirsty after the concert, so we sprinted in long enough to grab a Fanta and ride Spaceship Earth before we passed out. Saturday was the day of Kingdoms - first Magic (where I purchased a Minnie apron that I've been wanting for a while now and matching Minnie and Mickey mugs and we got Ezra as our ghost FUCK YEAH) and then Animal. Fun fact: The Flame Tree has the best ribs in the entire fucking world. You have to eat with purpose, because the sheer touch of lips may cause the meat to fall off the bone. It's that tender. Mmmmm. Scoped out some animals, fist-bumped for the Dinosaur ride photo, and oh! Bought a big Carnotaurus doll. It's so lifelike that Benny is wary of it. Completely serious - he jumped when I wiggled it, growled at it, attempted to sniff its butt, nudged it with his nose repeatedly and in various locations, and (this is the kicker) barked at it when he managed to get a moment alone with it. And Benny is not a barker. So yes, this doll is the most badass doll ever. Love.

Saturday afternoon was devoted to visiting Benny at the pet resort. We took him out to the dog park; he made friends with a pup named Mojo and ran around like a maniac until he flumped. Saturday evening, we gorged ourselves at a seafood buffet (where I drew Adventure Time characters on the paper tablecloth in crayon) and then wandered around our hotel and over to the Boardwalk, where we encountered a very odd fellow. This guy walked up to us, a girl lingering behind him silently, and said that we were the fifth people he'd asked this: "Do you respect your elders?" Jaime said yes and the guy asked him why. "Because they have more life experience," Jaime explained. The guy seemed to like that answer - he and the girl told us they'd heard "because they covered for us when we screwed up," "because they respected their elders," and "because we got our asses beat when we didn't." Everyone chuckled; it was odd, but not too odd. What happened next took it there - he asked where we were from, and we told him. "Ahhhh, the big [initial deleted to maintain my mysterious persona]," he said. He seemed familiar with the area. He then held out his umbrella - a large black-and-white striped affair - and asked Jaime to hold it. Jaime did the logical thing. "No," he said. The guy insisted; "No trick," he said. "Free umbrella! Just go with it."

And that's how we got a free umbrella. It's a really nice one, too, with a carbon fiber tube and Mickey golfing on the canopy. Retails for over $40. It's officially Jaime's, since not only was he the one it was directly given to, but also I have my own umbrella which I am quite content with. Weird night.

Side note: This morning, I saw a guy in maroon skinny trousers and a slim-cut leather jacket carrying a rainbow striped umbrella. I want to be his friend.

Oh, also saw a family with two adorable little boys while watching fireworks. The younger one had gotten a Yoda pin that day and just had to read it aloud and tell Jaime all about it. The mom laughed, while the dad kind of rolled his eyes and said, "We get this show every night." I told them, "Hey, it's been a long time since my brothers were that cute."

For our last day of vaycay, we returned to Epcot, as it is the undisputed king of parks. They have dolls of the catball thing from Captain Eo - can you believe that? Of course, I had to have one, which led to an amusing conversation with the cashier. She cooed over it and complained that everyone says it's creepy, to which I replied that Jaime told me not to get because, and I quote, "It's creepy." This then devolved into the respective merits of cuddling with a cat/butterfly/rat hybrid or a dragon. I campaigned for the catball, but only because there's no debate without two sides. In reality, I love Figment more; I mean, I walked out of that store with a fleece plush of said lovable purple fellow, so it's not like I played favorites noticeably or something. Dragon and catballs both have their merits.

... And I bought a rainbow zebra scarf, and we traded a castle vinylmation for the Jon from Carousel of Progress one and a duplicate Figment pin for one of the logo from If You Had Wings. Yes!

In the end, we made it home well before the Super Bowl (which I half-watched for the commercials and mostly ignored in favor of Puppy Bowl clips online) and Glee (which I will have a post about later... probably) and found ( one last souvenir... )

Best. Vacation. Ever.

Is anyone else watching the Golden Globes? I am so. Fucking. Happy.

Hope everyone had a good day yesterday, celebrating Christmas or no. I, for one, am a huge fan of secular Christmas - forget the Jesus stuff, let's all give each other gifts and eat like pigs and make merry! In that spirit, here're some neat things I've stumbled across on the web recently.

- I'm not a big fanvid person; mostly I enjoy (warning: P4 spoilers in these three) weird Japanese AMVs and genre-altering trailers and I stay away from anything too shippy. Well, I had to make an exception - this Puck/Kurt fake trailer. It's so well done. Want.
- CROCHET FAIR ISLE. Seriously. I need to start doing this.
- Penny Arcade got into the seasonal spirit in the most logical of ways.
- Tom and Lorenzo reposted their fantastic White Christmas Musical Monday. Go rejoice in the ambiguously oriented glory of old musicals.
- If anyone's interested, here are some recipes we used. Granted, we changed pretty much all of them, but they're all good starting places nonetheless. Season's eatings!

Prime rib with portabella mushroom/Cabernet Sauvignon au jus
Gorgonzola gold potatoes
Sauteed brussel sprouts with bacon
Chevre/chive/smoked provolone corn timbales

Chocolate cream pie
Pumpkin pie
Ambrosia salad

Martinelli's sparkling apple cider
Eggnog with Jack Daniels

Oh yeah. This is gonna be good.

Not to mention that I already made ginger cookies, linzer cookies, coconut macaroons, and mini pumpkin pies for the guys in my lab. The reason for the season is eassin'. I mean, eating. Damnable rhymes.

Happy 18th to my baby bro! Now stop growing up. Please.

Glee spoilers: Too. Fucking. Cute. Love them.

Alright, now let's get the Snowflake Day spirit going:

Step One
- Make a post (public, friends locked, filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fandom-related ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.
- If you wish for real life things (not fics or icons), make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.
- Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ so that the holiday joy will spread.

Step Two
- Surf around your friendslist (or friends friends, or just random journals, or holiday_wishes/wish_list) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part:
- If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use--or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free--do it.
You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call.
There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.

Hoo boy. Here goes:

01) I would absolutely adore a Puck/Kurt fic that somehow involves Kurt being an awesome greasemonkey and/or the two of them playing old school video games together. Humor and fluff are preferable to angst, and a happy ending is a must.
02) High-res Final Fantasy VIII artwork, or at least the name of an artbook I could hunt down to get high-res artwork.
03) An Alexander McQueen scarf. My god, I'd kill for a McQueen scarf.
04) Shoes that fit a Taeyang. I'm having no luck finding any that aren't ridiculously expensive.
05) Squall/Rinoa fic recs. I've never had the guts to really dig through the (plentiful) bad to find the good, but I'd be thrilled to read something with them together that's IC.
06) Fabric remnants. I'm building my stash. :)
07) Motivation to work on my websites? :p Not sure how to get that, but I sure could use it.
08) A new 1280x1024 wallpaper for my laptop. FFVIII, Persona 4, DQ slimes, or Glee would be most loved right now.
09) Good instructions and patterns for a shuttle tatting newb.
10) The opportunity to pet a bat. Seriously, I love bats. I want to touch one.

I can be contacted at rinoaheartilly[at]gmail[dot]com. What about you, flist? What do you guys want this holiday season?

1) Create a graphic (200 x 200 max size) to represent your personal "candy". It should have your username on it, but otherwise can feature whatever you want. Make it something special since it's self-representative.

2) Make a post with the subject "trick or treat?". Put your "candy" somewhere in it, and be sure to repost these instructions.

3) Then, go around other people's LJs and reply to them with either "trick" or "treat". If you reply with "trick", they will give you an LJ dare that you have to perform before taking their candy. If you're too wimpy for that, simply say "treat" and take their candy.

4) List all your collected candies in your original "trick or treat?" post to show off your collection!

I debated for a long time what flavor I should make my candy and finally settled on this:



That's right - my dog Benny with a plush hedgehog on his head. You know you can't resist!

( And here's my haul so far... )

If you have a trick or treat post that I haven't commented on, drop me a line! I'll happily take a trick. :D

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Myriad.

The runners-up were "eclectic" and "amalgamation". I've used eclectic for years as a shorthand way of describing myself, so it's a bit nostalgic to me, and I like the science-y connotations of amalgamation. However, both of them imply drawing from other sources for the composition of the whole. I like myriad because it speaks of nothing more specific than innumerable aspects and possibilities. It's nice.

Plus, it was the name of one of my favorite teacher's dogs (because her eyes were speckled with all sorts of colors), so it's got that twist of nostalgia as well.

Back from vacation, in case you couldn't tell! Benny greeted us with doggy puke in the car and an accident this morning because we were too tired to walk him last night. Poor thing. At least he seems content and back to normal now. For his part, Jacks poked his head out and flicked his tongue when I said hello, then ambled about his cage for a while when Jaime went into the room. Either he likes us or he's attempting to ward us away from his territory. I'm gonna choose the former to go with. Aww.

Disneyworld was huge and fun and hot and fun and would take far too long to describe blow-by-blow, so here are a few highlights:

Monday
- On the Great Movie Ride, at the end, they show you clips from various "classic" films. A guy in the room behind us kept saying, not yelling, but talking loudly enough for me to hear clearly, the names of the films he could recognize. A clip featuring Barbra Streisand popped onto the screen. Without missing a beat and without a single trace of sarcasm in his voice, he said, "Tootsie".
- Jaime heard someone talking about "that drop ride, The Haunted House, or The House of Terror, something like that."
- We sat next to a large Triceratops and its baby at the T-Rex Cafe for dinner. I built my own stegosaurus doll at the end. His name is That Guy.

Tuesday
- Haunted Mansion twice in a row. Got Ezra at the end the second time, too. The weirdest thing happened the first time - when we walked into the entrance, both doors were open. I veered into the one that looked less crowded. It was actually post-stretching; I don't know why the door to the entrance was open, but it was, despite the room clearly being stretched and the door to the loading area also being open. We walked straight through and into the ride portion of the mansion. Second time went normally (and awesomely, natch).
- Bought a doll of the dog holding the keyring from Pirates of the Caribbean, holy crap, can't believe that doll exists. It's too cool. His name is Gus. He has a wonky foot too. It turns in all pigeon-y and makes me coo and hug him like an imbecile. At least I'm a happy imbecile.
- The right side of the log is where the water goes on Splash Mountain. That is where I sat. Splash Mountain also has the honor of being the first ride I made it through on the trip without even a twinge of anxious energy. It set the trend for the day, too, which was so very much appreciated. Thanks, Splash Mountain.
- Also, I'm totally the Brer Fox to Jaime's Brer Bear. We agreed on that point. It just works.
- Jaime burned his nose to a vibrant pink. I put SPF powder on it for the extra protection. And so it would look better. And because putting make-up on him makes me cackle with glee.
- I love Epcot. Not a unique point or a new thought, but it's always worth mentioning.
- We parked in Create 42. The greatest channel and the greatest number.
- We made the greatest Spaceship Earth video ever. I'm not even joking. Just look.
- I want that sweater vest my character wears in the Spaceship Earth video.
- Saw a teeny tiny baby seahorse in a tank at The Seas. He was hovering near the top of the tank, taking charges at the surface to try to break past the tension. So young, he was still transparent. I didn't want to stop watching him.
- Batted the fountain water by Imagination. Saw a girl take one in the head, too. Braver than I.
- A girl at Club Cool had the picture perfect reaction to Beverly. Her older brother tried it and (once he'd recovered) immediately prodded her to get a cup. She physically recoiled and doubled over when it hit her mouth.
- On that note, try the Beverly - it's delicious!
- Got my first ever daruma in Japan! I'm extremely excited about it, for some reason. I was a total dork and said, "Doumo," to the cashier too, but she smiled and said it right back. Didn't laugh or anything. So... maybe I'm a socially acceptable dork? In the context of Epcot, at least? Hm.
- Mango Green Tea slush is delicious.
- We ended up skipping Test Track because of the ridiculous line. It varied between 90 and 130 minutes wait the entire time we were there, and the single rider line? 40 minutes. To ride by yourself. 40 minutes.
- Captain Eo is weird.
- Extra magic hours are also weird, but when they let you stay at Epcot until midnight if you so choose? Epic.

Wednesday
- Met up with Kiri and his Gilligan crew (girlfriend Kaisa, sister Indi, and bff Ben) for the day. Nice people, all. This was the first time we'd met Ben and we were a bit apprehensive, but lo and behold? Great guy. Loud guy. Didn't bother me, of course. Jaime rolled his eyes at our combined loudness. It was fun!
- The safari lied. 45 minute wait, my ass. Took us over an hour and a half to get to loading.
- Kiri teased me about my blissful face in the Dinosaur ride photo. What can I say? Carnotaurus is my bro.
- The bat exhibit in the jungle trek is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. It was sweltering, and the bats kept flapping one wing to fan themselves. I wanted to take one home, but Jaime killjoy just had to remind me of Disney Jail like the killjoy he is. Killjoy.
- I spotted Park #4 Vinylmations at the Animal Kingdom entrance merch booth and did a double-take. Everywhere else had been insisting that they weren't supposed to put them out until later this month, but there sat an entire box of them, ripe for the picking! I was hoping for either the Epcot logo one or the Pirates of the Caribbean dog and got the latter. <3
- The tram attendant on the way out gave a spiel about making sure your child is not in the stroller when you collapse it. He then peppered the ride back with "Let me oooooout" in a low, strained voice.

All in all? A good, dense, happy trip. Can't ask for much more than that.

( For my own personal reference: To-Buy and To-Do )

So I mentioned in the post before this that my household consists of me and my three boys. One would be Jaime, who, if you're familiar with this journal, you're likely to be familiar with. Another would be Jacks, our adorable little corn snake, who I never posted pictures of. ( Let's remedy that! ) And the last would be... well, you see this adorable dog? You see the status listed next to his name? ( You know why that is? )

Dude. Pet ownership. I love it so much.

Speaking of additions to our household, we just bought a new TV. An HDTV, even. It hasn't arrived yet, but I'm already psyched about it. You know why? Because we got it so we can get a PS3. And we're going to get a PS3 so I can play FFXIII. Yeah, I know, I'm obsessed. At least I have a hobby that makes me happy, I guess? Right?

Snake. Dog. FFXIII. And, of course, Jaime. The home life, oh, it is sweet.

Nin nin nin... Hey. Cathy.



I know it's not much of a sketch, and even if it was rendered beautifully, you'd still deserve more than Laharl and his Cupcake of the Damned, but I hope it will suffice.

I hear there was some big sports game yesterday? Something like that? Huh. (As a side note: Congrats, Saints! I'm not a football person, but I know many who are and were rooting for you guys. Good job. :|b)

Sunday was actually the least eventful day for me recently. Friday, I got an eye exam - I can see again! I may be more near-sighted than I used to be, but my eyes are healthy, and I can see! - and splurged... um... a bit. Well, we got some very nice tax returns, and ah hell, I bought the UD Alice Palette and a few cute shirts (plus a black Hello Kitty one that's not on the site anymore). I'm a bad person.

And it's not like I stopped with the frivolity there - oh, no. Thanks to the awesomeness of marilla82 and help_haiti , Jaime and I got to go to freakin' Disney World on Saturday. I was kind of good - in the end, I made it through Fantasyland without shouting out anything Fairy God-Morooka-ther inspired - and kind of bad - on top of the pricey but undeniably delicious food, I got a blind-boxed Mickey vinyl, two tiny washi ningyou on a swing and two maneki neko from Japan in Epcot, and (from Madame Leota's cart, how cool is that?!) a CD with the entire current version of the Haunted Mansion and some extra Happy-Haunt-approved tracks. I'm gonna have to do some serious donating/volunteering to counter this consumerism. Sigh. But it isn't like we do this every week, so I'm striving to not feel so damn guilty. Happy stuff... let's see...

Oh! Disney World itself was fantastic. :D We hit the Magic Kingdom right after it opened, and there were practically no waits. We walked right onto Space Mountain, for crying out loud. We also had the greatest Jungle Cruise guide ever, and Pirates and Haunted Mansion... well, they're always win. Plus, when we returned to the Magic Kingdom later that night, we encountered our future selves - a balding guy with glasses and a short chubby woman. They were laughing and playing with a light-up spinner toy. We talked to them a bit in line, though unfortunately when the ride broke down for a few minutes, they'd already been ushered inside, while we were left staring at the heavy mansion doors. We met back up with them in the loading area, though, and the guy pointed out what may have been the highlight of the day - he'd been given a pass for tracking wait times. Being stuck in line while the ride was down was going to lead to some pretty inaccurate results. Sucked for the cast members, I'm sure, but I doubt that couple was too bored during the wait. They did have a spinner toy, after all. Anyway, for lunch, we got fish and chips at this little place by the Haunted Mansion, and I discovered that malt vinegar is tasty. Who knew? After that, ye olde Kingdom was getting a bit busy and we were pretty content anyway, so we swung by Epcot, which was not too crowded. Test Track's wait was less than 20 minutes, while The Seas, Imagination, and Spaceship Earth had pretty much no wait time. The only fast pass we ended up getting was for Maelstrom, of all things. I guess it's not a secret anymore. Or... it's a secret that everyone knows... yeah... Dinner in Morocco - it'd been so long since I'd had some good chicken shawarma. I do miss Zankou. Mmm.

I just noticed that the Silversun Pickups song I'm listening to is called "Kissing Families". Hrm.

Let's see... there was something else I needed to say... something about... 6 years, maybe? And a Mexican guy. What was it, what was it...

Happy anniversary, Jaime. <3 And here's to dozens more, yeah?

* "What's that?" A kid presses his hands against clear plastic and stares, awestruck, at the display of fake shaved ice, bright green and orange and straw/cherry.

"It's not real," his mom says quickly.

"Huh?"

"It's fake," his dad adds, "and you already had cookies."

"But what is it?" the kid presses, and his mom blurts, "It's for adults."

A few moments (rife with confused grumbling from the kid) later, the cart operator hands us our cup of rainbow shaved ice.

"See?" the mom says. "They're adults, and they got it. It's not for kids."

We walk away chuckling, and she hollers after us, "Hey, don't laugh; someday, you'll lie to your kids too!"