Languishing in Obscurity

Adios, LJ world! I'll probably peek at my f-list once in a while, but I don't plan to post any more, so peace out, y'all. It's been real.

7/11/09. It's free slurpee day at the 7-11. It also happens to be my wedding day.

Dear Cristin,

I promise that at/before my wedding, there will be
*no slurpees (no 7-11 in town, oh noes!)
*no skank, meth-head North Alabama strippers
*no one wearing anything that says "bride" or "groom"
*no dumbass games
*no one who thinks it's a good idea to seat you next to her cousin with the Kleenex fetish
*no sermonizing
*no color that anyone describes as "sea foam" or "puce"
*a personalized flask, in the event that the reception is dry, with my favorite gnome's name on it
*nothing to stuff, tie, or fold
*and perhaps most importantly, no one in this dress:



Will you please be a bridesmaid in my wedding?

Why Helen is hanging out in the Big Apple (from the Mail):

Helen Mirren's busy in New York rehearsing a film version of The Tempest with director Julie Taymor - and the Oscar-winning actress will give us a Prospera rather than a Prospero.

Taymor's preparing her company of actors at a studio space in Manhattan and plans to fly her cast to Hawaii in November to shoot the island scenes, and finish filming in London.

... Gee, rough life, that. I'm thrilled about this project. Gender-bending, queer Shakespeare? Wacktastic director? Can't. Wait.

A rainy Friday morning sounds like the perfect time for me to do a little detective work. I knew I read all those Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie books for a reason...

How can this much fabulousness be in one place at one time without permanently altering the space time continuum? And how can I be oblivious to it when it's in freakin' Midtown?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

This photo just did :) Auntie Taye thanks Jennii for the fact that she is now grinning like an idiot. From the USC-Ohio State football game last weekend:



Seriously, there are no words. Unless you count HAHAHAHAHAH!

Helen Mirren has made my day two times out of the last five. Phaedra, anyone?

I'm off to ride rollercoasters for two days with my best friend. It should be a very good weekend :)

Sometimes that's what I feel like I'm doing, both intellectually and emotionally. Intellectually because each day when I begin doing research, I'm afraid I'm going to stumble upon someone who has already written the dissertation (or book) I want to write. (Had a close call yesterday -- from the title, it sounded like exactly what I have in mind, but turned out to be quite different.) Emotionally with one particular friendship, because we have the same conversation over and over, about why I'm hurt/alienated/etc., and things improve for a little while (this time it lasted for all of ten days, woohoo), and then ultimately go back to exactly the way they were before. No, actually, that's not true. Worse. Worse than before. My rationale to keep on keeping on has always been that this is someone I've known for a long time, but the returns on my investment are dwindling as badly as shares in Lehman Brothers. Meh, I can't even work up the enthusiasm to get upset about it any more. I'm just tired.

On a happier (?) note, some serious ass-kicking is likely to take place in my lit class tomorrow. A lot of you on my friends list are college students, and I was one myself not all that long ago, so riddle me this: what kind of jackass shows up for class 45 minutes late, with no book, and then proceeds to play with his/her iphone during class? Aww, HELL no. I ain't havin' it. So tomorrow: QUIZ! ::cue evil laughter::

My brain is very tired tonight, and it's way too early to go to bed. What's a girl to do?

Why have I never really noticed this photo before?

I'm having one of those days when I annoy even myself. I'm restless but totally unmotivated, and can't focus on anything. I've accomplished zilch today. If it were possible to do negative work, that would be what I've done today. Waste. Of. Space.

Clare, the photo you liked, dear heart, was from the 2007 SAG awards. Yes, Helen looked fabulous. Here are some more, just for you:



( Variations on a themeCollapse )

I'm having one of those days where I'm cranky and irritated and generally discontent with humanity, especially soaking wet humanity wielding oversized, pointy umbrellas on New York City sidewalks in the midst of the Great Deluge.

I believe that I, like Jane Tennison, have made an error in judgment. (No, NOT the same one she made!) Several months ago I became friends with someone who is relatively new to the city, and in fact to life on her own. She's a lot younger than I am, and very sweet and a little naive. Recently I saw that she was becoming very close to someone I've known for a while, a person who is charming and charismatic and, quite frankly, someone of whose motives I'm deeply suspicious. In short, I think this person is a liar -- not necessarily a bad person, but someone whose grasp of reality seems to be tenuous at best, and who lies a GREAT.DEAL. I gave this some thought, and the last time I saw my young friend, I warned her, in the gentlest terms possible.

Oops. I get the distinct impression I shouldn't have done that. I feel like I've been getting the cold shoulder since then. Maybe it's my imagination, but I doubt it. Oh, well. I suppose she'll find out for herself soon enough -- or then again, maybe she won't. Alas, no good deed goes unpunished.

On another note, my new teaching job is so much better than my last one that I'm afraid of jinxing it by even discussing it.

Your daily Helen (and Clare, in the unlikely event that you actually remembered to check in and are reading this, the paper still hasn't come, but when it does, I WILL find your photo!):


( Soft Target caps behind the cutCollapse )

I am sitting here in my apartment on a Sunday evening. My preparatory work for tomorrow is done, I've had a cup of real English black tea, my cat is curled up next to me (she's giving me the kitty stiff-arm, but that's immaterial), Helen Mirren is on my TV, and I find myself wrapped up in this total sense of well-being.

I've spent most of my day working on The Novel. It may never see the light of day as far as publication goes, but I'm trying to tell myself that it doesn't really matter, that that shouldn't be the point; and besides, who knows? Stranger things have happened.

How is it already September 7th? A month from tomorrow I'm flying to Texas. In less than a month I'm flying home for Tom and Rachel's wedding. What if my semester whirls by, and at the end of it I find myself with no prospectus and no conference paper? 

Enough of me. Here's your daily Helen:

  
( Roses are read, violets are blue/I'm about to f*ck up, so what else is new?Collapse )