riadsala

Not to be obvious, but I've got pretty nice tits. I've also been told by more than one person that I have very interesting eyes. They do that thing where the inside of the iris is a different color than the outside.

One physical feature I have that isn't in any way exceptional is my ankles. Don't get me wrong, they're perfectly serviceable, but they're also not anything special as far as ankles go. I bring this up because in LM Montgomery's book The Blue Castle, a book that I love wholeheartedly/maaaassively overidentified with, Valancy gets told she has nice ankles as part of her transformation from miserable doormat to beautiful wood nymph, and younger me was convinced that I also was going to grow up to have beautiful ankles. Of course, ankles aren't the source of titillation and desire today that they were in 1926, either.

I hope I can be forgiven for punking out on the post a day meme for Thanksgiving, and I hope I can continue to be forgiven for not getting back to it today either. See, I want to make my Christmas card post and making two posts a day seems mighty excessive in this day and age.

So, give me your addresses and I will send you mail! Let me know if you prefer extra-Christmassy or super-not-Christmassy type cards or what have you. Also, because of something shihadchick said, if you tell me where your misandry levels are at, I will do my best to combine the holiday spirit with man-murdering for your card. Comments are screened and all that jazz.

I'm an inveterate procrastinator and a terrible self-motivator. idk, I feel like people who spend a lot of time with me would be better equipped to answer this one. I haaaaaaate doing dishes and if I didn't live with two other humans I would pretty much never do it. This is borne out by the time I didn't live with any other humans and would just shove all the dirty dishes in the oven whenever anyone came over. I'm pretty judgmental, but I mainly only hang out with people who are judgmental about the same things, so that works out. I'm bad at making decisions, as a general rule.

Ugh, this meme involves so much talking about your feelings and like, introspection. I am not into it.

Here's a crappy work picture of the contents of my purse. First off: not pictured is at least a year's worth of pay stubs and receipts and accumulated useless papers. Also a tube of mints that I somehow missed.

Top row: my wallet, my kindle, an umbrella, a shopping list notepad, emergency tampon, nail file, hair clip and hair binder.

Next row: two fold-up-able shopping bags, my sunglasses, a little notepad/pen/mirror combo that was a gift from my grandma, two pens.

Third row: a USB to phone/kindle type USB cord, an LED flashlight, a packet of tissues, my birth control, a thing from my insurance where if I record how many times I go to the gym they reimburse my gym membership fees, a small mirror in a little gauze bag (also a gift from my grandma), a tiiiiny mirror and a mostly empty lip balm.

Bottom row: December SEPTA card, November SEPTA card, the earrings I was wearing yesterday that I forgot to take out of my bag when I got home from the gym, my keys, a 1 GB USB drive from when I worked at CHOP, a tiny Sharpie.

My cat hates it when she's on one side of a closed door and when people that are not her are getting fed. Eh? Eh? Pet hates, geddit?? :D?

But seriously folks, I hate when people walk too slowly in such a way that it's also difficult to pass them. Currently it's driving me nuts that my morning train conductor takes a total of four seats in the quiet ride car to do some sort of timetable thing, so I have to squish next to someone. In fic, the phrase "he went instantly, blindingly hard" makes me want to set the author on fire every time. Wearing turtlenecks or too many layers makes me feel squirmy and itchy all day.

People who touch their teeth to the fork when they're eating and make that horrible metal-on-bone scraping sound. Audio and visual being in any way out of sync. When a webpage takes more than 0.4 seconds to load. People who use anything other than the default font style in their emails. All men.

I can't really taste anything, other than a little morning mouth, I guess.

I can hear the heater running as well as the wind tossing the branches around outside. Not excited to go out there for yoga this morning.

I feel cinnamon bun toasty warm in my bed, except for my arms which are getting cold from typing. Also I feel like I really have to pee, which is warring with my toasty warmness.

I can see mostly the ceiling, my laptop and my knees under the blankets. A little bit I can see the two Cavashawn posters I have up over my dresser and my towel where it's draped over the radiator with my sports bra on top, where I set it to dry out when I came home from the gym Friday.

Oh, now I can hear my cat whining to go upstairs. Tough shit cat, I'm not moving yet.

It smells cold, which my phone is telling me it's in the 20s outside, so not unreasonable. I have a candle on my bedside table that smells like "Tahitian vanilla, spun sugar and coconut cream." There's also a reed diffuser on my mantle that smells like something weird. Oatmeal Rice Milk or something, I can't be assed to get out of bed and check.

1. Nothing Feels Like You by Little Mix. Love a song about finding a dude with the perfect shaped D. Many songs on this album are currently my jam, but I'mma limit myself to one.

2. We Own the Night by The Wanted. I am fully a sucker for all kinds of "I love everybody in this bar" songs. Also real talk, The Wanted cater much more to what I want out of pop music than One Direction. (aka NO ONE WANTS AN ACOUSTIC BALLAD EVER. PARTY JAMS ONLY.)

3. Somebody to Love by Queen. Brenna Rubdown posted this on tumblr recently and it reminded me that this is probably my favorite Queen song. (Though don't tell Brian May, but I'm pretty sure the first time I heard it was when Anne Hathaway sings it in Ella Enchanted.)

4. Bad Reputation by Joan Jett. This song is on my workout playlist and I never get bored of it like sometimes happens with songs.

5. Brave by Sara Bareilles. (Or alternatively Katy Perry's Roar, I guess). I am super into both of them right now.

6. If I Didn't Know Better by Scarlett and Gunnar on Nashville. Team Carriage House is constantly screaming about this show, and physically bought both soundtrack albums they put out so far with our own money.

7. Super Bass by Nicki Minaj. Like two years later and it's still pretty much my ultimate jam.

8. The Beating of a Lifetime by The Appreciation Post. I didn't know if I was going to find this one on youtube, but of course they put it up themselves. Did you guys know they're apparently putting out new music soon?

9. Candy Cane by The Loved Ones. I gotta admit, I picked this one kind of at random out of all the Loved Ones songs. Any one of them is pretty great.

10. The Smidge by The Hold Steady. il all Hold Steadies as well. I have a playlist that's just all of The Loved One, Gaslight Anthem and The Hold Steady and I listen to it at least a couple times a week.

At that one point where you've got one foot on the jet bridge and one foot on the plane, I'm afraid that the jet bridge will pull away suddenly and I'll fall onto the tarmac. I don't have this fear on train/subway platforms, though. I'm afraid of spiders/bugs being on me, which is a shame because as a kid I was always scooping up spiders and putting them somewhere else at like, Girl Scout camp or wherever. I'm afraid I'll forget not to jump if I'm standing at the edge of a cliff etc. (In a l'appel du vide way, not a suicide way.) I'm afraid that I failed to live up to my potential and that my not wanting to live an extraordinary life at the tip of the rabbit's fur is in fact just me not trying because I'm afraid to fail. I'm afraid of bothering people, or disappointing people, or people being displeased with me. I'm afraid of cold calling people. I'm afraid of sharing my opinions/feelings first in case other people find them objectionable. I'm afraid to put my hands in places I can't see. I'm afraid of bees. I'm afraid of scary movies. I used to be afraid of RL Stine books until eventually I actually read one. Sometimes at night I convince myself someone's in my bedroom with me, just standing in the dark watching, and I get afraid of that.

I'm afraid this is Too Heavy of a post for a Friday afternoon.

Ugh, this is hardest one of these, I'm pretty sure. One because I don't deal well with absolutes like "favorite" or "best" in the first place, and two because I don't really collect quotes on any sort of conscious basis. I like this quote from my dad where he says "Ehhh, I suppose I'm quite fond of you too" every time I tell him I love him on the phone. Then he makes a kissy noise and hangs up. Dads are the best.

I just don't know. This question is really stressful for me. See you all tomorrow. Bye.

Hello! Bet you never thought this was going to happen again!

So, it's me. I'm Caroline, I'm currently 27 and I live with quettaser and mmeguilotn outside Philadelphia. I have a stumpy little black and white cat named Flash Gordon who has to share her life with Beth's two great beasts, Havoc and Chaos. I've been in fandom since I was 13 and my two best friends showed me this website where people were writing stories about Mulder and Scully falling in love. (And also occasionally stories where Krycek raped Mulder and they cried about it. It was ff.net after all.) I'm not really in a fandom right now, so much as it's just that fandom is where I hang out on the internet.

I grew up mostly in Minnesota with one younger brother and then moved to Philadelphia for college. Now I have a degree in biochemistry that I use to great effect at my job as a paralegal for a medical malpractice lawyer. Is that enough for an introduction? I don't want to use up all the information about me, as I notice tomorrow I have to come up with 20 whole new facts.

Oh yeah, here's a picture from ~6 weeks ago.


( the rest of the questionsCollapse )

If you want a Christmas/holiday card (from me) leave me your info in the comments! They are screened.

So I have a lot of emotions regarding the Kings winning the Cup last night, and I get real guilty about posting to tumblr too much (#normal?) so instead I will make an lj post. This picspam is divided into basically two sections: hockey players being adorable with their tiny children and Richards and Carter being married shitshows. Not a whole lot of thematic overlap there, but I bet you'll forgive me.

Most of these pictures come from tumblr, obvs, and One Girl, One Puck who is super hilarious all the time.

( Thanks for these, Getty photographersCollapse )

I'm sure everyone who cares about Richie and Carts already has Imp's Broken Bromance open in a tab, but if not, you should immediately do so. It's great. (Uh, if you have a great affection for the city Columbus, OH, be aware that nobody in this fic agrees with you.)

Because yesterday was Cup Final media day, Tim Panaccio wrote his own 4-part version for CSNPhilly today, which you can find starting here, but probably you don't even need to bother, since I've excerpted so much of it ( under this cut in order to yell about itCollapse )

Oh, and now Frank Seravalli has gotten in on the action too. It contains such paragraphs as

For the first time since that fateful June 23 day last year, Richards did not flinch when asked about the Flyers. The wounds are no longer fresh. When he returned to Philadelphia for the first time last October, he squirmed like a jealous ex-boyfriend, insisting the grudge match was nothing more than a "regular game."

Stunning.

I had a headache today and for once I successfully remembered to take drugs for it, so I spent the rest of the day feeling like a super genius for my ability to take care of myself. I am a functional adult, you guys.

The building I work in had its annual local businesses block party yesterday, so mmeguilotn and I went and availed ourselves of a bunch of free food and pens and bumper stickers. There was also free local wine or Bud Light Lime, so we of course grabbed some of each. I'm always so surprised at how decent Bud Light Lime is, considering it's, you know, Bud Light Lime. And fortunately, in stark contrast to last year, the restaurant attached to the building didn't burn down this time, so that's always a positive!

Ever since just_katarin posted this picture of Carey Price rocking the glass cutters, all I've been wanting is fic where PK discovers this sensitivity sexually. Like, hobviously he's aware of it since they share a locker room and everyone enjoys ribbing Carey over it, and sometimes when the two of them wrestle PK will catch him there and cause him to flail hilariously. But the first time they have sex for real, not just drunken handjobs, PK brushes his thumb over a nipple and Carey just about loses his mind, shuddering super violently. PK of course then takes extreme advantage, licking and biting at his chest while Carey thrashes around and generally loses the ability to think. And it goes on like that.

I started compiling this picspam when someone maligned Claude's taste in formal dress and then it kind of expanded to any picture of him in a button-down shirt. Please no comments on how embarrassingly gingersexual this entry reveals me to be.

( Lots of pictures of fancy suitsCollapse )

Hay lj, I'm currently sitting on my back deck, watching my cat watch birds and drinking iced tea + iced tea vodka, aka the the pinnacle of human contentment. I have never been more smug about my circumstances on a Friday night. I am so stoked for all the summer nights in my future.

Speaking of summer, now is about the time that all the year's big summer jams start getting released and I die of happiness because there is basically no music I love more than giant, bouncy, beat-ridden ultrahits. What are the songs you guys most love blasting at max volume in your cars/bedroom dance parties? Quality pop music is always something I want more of. (If you're thinking about telling me about One Direction, joke's on you because I already downloaded their album after hearing that one song on the radio once.)

In the last week I have on the same day seen The Avengers, which was vastly entertaining, and Pirates: Band of Misfits, which was very cute and Aardman-y, and spontaneously gone to the last Flyers game of the season, which was both fun and a bummer. I'm excited to see what new directions Avengers fic goes in now that there's an actual movie to go off. By which I mean the amount of time I have spent daydreaming about the Clint/Natasha Eastern European backstory movie is large.

Clearly Cabbie loves me because his podcast the night before I fly halfway across the country is with Scott Hartnell and Wayne Simmonds. I expect it to be full of gems.

Can we take a minute to talk about how the Flyers apparently think it is the height of hilarity to name hoagies after each other and then eat them in a sexually suggestive manner/joke about eating each other's meatballs?
( 'Eat his meatball sub' is now my go-to euphamismCollapse )

Hockey players are a fount of wit and refinement, you guys.

I have barely calmed down from the last Pens/Flyers game, just in time for there to be another one tomorrow. If things happen that could happen, but that I'm not going to talk about, I don't know what I will do with myself. Drink alcohol, I expect. I don't bet that it will be anywhere near as bananas as the last game, but then again, that's also what I thought after game 2. Let's just aim for fewer disciplinary hearings at the end of it.

In conclusions, I want to wear Kimmo Timonen sneakers.

So here's a fun story about me. When I was 11 or 12, I chipped off a good quarter of my front tooth on the bottom of a swimming pool, which was horrifying to me at the time, but it got fixed pretty quickly and I mostly never think about it. Except for today when I bit into a chocolate caramel at work and the false tooth part stuck to it. So now I have an appointment with the dentist on Friday, and until then I will have to try not to bite through my lip with my newly sharp tooth.

You may not have been aware of this, but the playoffs start tomorrow omg. I am not going to be able to handle it. It's weird, but I can't decide how well I actually think the Flyers are going to do. Like, two years ago everyone was happy when the Flyers even won a game in the first round, and last year they were the second seed and had just been to the finals. But this year, even though they technically have the third-most points in the conference it's not that hard to imagine them losing to Pittsburgh in the first round. OHHHHH WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?

Other than the games, though, my favorite thing about the playoffs is the blogs that various media outlets make some poor players write. They are universally super boring because a) hockey players aren't professional writers for a reason and b) the lives of hockey players during the playoffs is shockingly super regimented and focussed. I love reading them so much.

This year it's Matt Read's turn.
I even had to give a little speech before we showed a video for the crowd there.

I didn't even know I was going to talk, but as far as I know Lavi asked Claude Giroux who was the best speaker, and I guess he said me for some reason - I took public speaking in college and didn’t do very well.

Protip, Matt: it's because you went to college.

And here is Zac Rinaldo's.
With all of the emotions facing Pittsburgh, discipline will be huge. It’s always big in the playoffs, in every series. I think it works to our advantage. In the regular season, refs are usually calling the Philadelphia Flyers more than any other team.

It just means I can probably get away with a little bit more.

lol Zac Rinaldo. You're going to get your face pounded. And then suspended.

One week until I'm in Chicago! I am the most excited, even though I have to do every single thing at work before I go. mmeguilotn and I made some plans for some touristy things to do (the Field Museum, the Art Museum, Rick Bayless's cheapest restaurant) while Team Chicago has jobs and school and things, but we are more than open to being told what else we shouldn't miss. Otherwise we might end up just sadly wandering the loop Nick Leddy style.

I assume that everyone who's in hockey fandom knows who Cabbie Richards is, but in case you don't he is technically a member of the hockey media, but mostly he is extreme bros with most hockey players in the NHL. Like, he goes out looking for girls with them and crashes on their couches and everything, which means he knows the best questions to ask them when he interviews them. Youtube all his interviews if you haven't already. Anyway, he has a podcast now for TSN where he basically just calls up his NHLer friends and gets them to tell stories. He asks the questions we all want to know the answers to, like when Baldzlaf is going to finally shave his head and which month Joffrey Lupul would be in an NHL pinup calendar.

His most recent episode is with Dustin Penner and Mike Richards. And omg, you guys, if you care anything at all about the true love of Richie and Carts, you must listen to it. Richie's half starts around 36:30 if you don't care about Dustin Penner and his pancake injuries. Cabbie legit asks him if being in Columbus was killing Carter's soul. Other highlights include the exact circumstances of Richie learning about Carter to the Kings, lots of talk about Arnold, and a description of text conversations between Richie and Carts. Richie may be sullen and passive aggressive with most media, but Cabbie is his boy and so he can trust he won't write critical stories about him.

This is the iTunes link or you can listen on TSN.

This Flyers/Lightning game is going stupidly, so I've decided to talk to the internet instead. (In addition, really, who am I kidding.)

Can I just say, getting natacup82 to move in across the driveway from us will stand out as one of the shining accomplishments of Team Carriage House. We can go visit without putting on pants or having to finish our drinks, it is the perfect life.

Everyone should stop what they are doing and go watch this video of TPanotch meeting Fake TPanotch. If you're not a Flyers fan and as such have not has as much exposure to noted beat writer/professional grumpy old Italian Tim Panaccio, he has been covering the Flyers basically since they were invented and is somewhat crusty in personality. He and Pronger used to get into very entertaining verbal sparring matches before Pronger died (;_;) and his twitter is a highly enjoyable combination of Flyers news and updates on the kind of wine he's drinking the antics of his cat (also named Pronger). He has a distinctive way with words and his tweets can be very... idiosyncratic. FakeTPanotch is a twitter parody of such perfection that it is often impossible to tell who is real and who is fake. Check out this sporcle quiz for an example of their twitter stylings. So at the last Flyers home games the two finally met, and somehow managed to avoid the implosion of the known universe. I feel like this paragraph is not super clear because the Flyers have tied the game so it took me like an hour to write, but I have confidence in all your close reading skills.

Speaking of Chris Pronger, he surprise showed up at the Flyers/Habs game the other night looking like this:



I am so pleased he is well enough to leave the house and sit in a loud, bright arena for any length of time, I can't even tell you. Also, look at his fabulous mane of hair. He looks like a pretentious English professor with his beard and his glasses. Even if he never does play hockey again, I am hopeful he will also not have to spend the rest of his days lying down in a darkened room.

Beth and I got to the arena last Monday and ended up waiting in line for an hour, which brought back many memories/flashbacks. We did get to watch two girls in a Poulin Hawks jersey and an old Lemieux Pens jersey get majorly side-eyed, though. Once we got in everyone was divided up via colored wristbands, and we headed straight to the bar. The fact that the drinks line was before the food line, plus the heavy hand of the bartender, meant that we were perhaps not fully sober at the start of the first event. I think this worked out though, because it meant we did not mind looking like fools.

( A description of eventsCollapse )

Look at this awesome description of the activities me and mmeguilotn will be participating in next Monday when we go to the Flyers "Hockey N Heels" event next Monday.

Hockey 101: Philadelphia Flyer Ian Laperriere and Broadcaster Steve Coates will be leading Hockey 101. This station will focus on the X’s and O’s of hockey. Learn about the different rules and regulations that govern the game and the sport, along with an insider’s view on how the Flyers put together the best team for you the fan! Learn everything you want to know about the Flyers and hockey to impress your friends or family!
Virtua Health: Flyers Athletic Trainer Jimmy McCrossin and Virtua Health Doctors and Fitness experts will lead the Virtua Health station. This station will focus on Heart Disease awareness, Osteoporosis prevention and nutrition tips. We will even show you a Hip-Hop dance that helps you shed some pounds! McCrossin will offer an insider's look at how the Flyers stay strong during an 82 game NHL season.
Locker Room Tour/ Flyers Wives Q & A: Get a behind the scenes look at the Flyers locker room! You will get an exclusive sneak peek at where your favorite Philadelphia Flyers prepare for home games at the Wells Fargo Center. After your tour, you will gain some insight about the life of an NHL family from Flyers Wives Kristen Laviolette, Doreen Holmgren, Rhonda McCarthy, Linda Mullen, Lisa Hanrahan, Elaine Reese and Nadine Coburn.
Women in Sports: CSN Anchor and Reporter Lisa Hillary will lead the Women in Sports station, along with Vice President of Marketing for the Philadelphia Flyers Lindsey Masciangelo. This station is designed to enlighten you about the different roles that women play in the sports industry. Find out about how they got their start in sports and their journeys throughout the world of hockey and television broadcasting as well as what it’s like to be a female professional in the sports industry today.
On-Ice Activities: Flyers Ambassador of Hockey Bob “Hound” Kelly will lead the On-Ice station. This station is designed to allow you access to multiple activities on the ice including a chance to shoot on goal, take pictures from the team bench and penalty box.
vir tu' Mini Spa: Sit back and relax and allow professionals from the vir tu' spa to pamper you. You will be able to select from chair massage, hand massage, Yoga session, and meditation. Also, everyone will be able to experience the relaxation of the aromatherapy bar. PLEASE NOTE: Services for each group are filled on a first come, first served basis. You can select your mini-spa experience at the registration table starting at 6pm.

I am genuinely looking forward to this, because even if it turns out to be condescending and terrible, it will still be super entertaining in a different way. My only sadness is that they're making us pay for our alcohol. :((( They did specify that we shouldn't actually wear heels, despite the name of the event. Although if they taught us how to walk on ice in enormous banana heels à la Mrs. Sopel, I would not turn down that knowledge.

I have been reading a lot of fic set in England recently, what with Sherlock, some Harry Potter, a little Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and getting super irrationally mad at characters who don't know how to make tea correctly. I mean, I know that the way I was taught to make tea is not the only way to do it, or even the only way British people do it, but let's be serious here, the milk goes in first. >:(

Unfortunately for you all, that is about the most interesting thing that is going on in my life right now. mmeguilotn, quettaser and I are a week behind on pretty much every show we watch, so I can't even talk about Top Chef or Revenge or Southland etc. Actually, we caught up on White Collar after the game last night, so I guess I could talk about how enjoyable and silly that show is. It's very enjoyable and silly, fyi.