Went on FB yesterday and my friend said that if my life was a movie I'd be played by Joey from Dawson's Creek.

*blinks*

I never knew she hated me so much. *points to icon*

Also, finally read Shutter Island since I saw a giant movie poster of awesomeness when I went to see Mao's Last Dancer. After reading all the Kenzie books, I needed a break from Lehane and thus distracted myself with other genres. Leonardo Dicaprio and Martin Scorcese again. I think they're trying to defeat the guy love ratio of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp but they have catching up to do. After reading the book, I actually think Leonardo Dicaprio is well cast so I'm looking forward to that one. Book was an intense read with an ending that left me with a couple of bloody, black eyes (what can I say, Mr. Lehane makes me get attached to his characters and then he's sadistic enough to make me enjoy watching them get pulverised). I still prefer the Kenzie & Gennaro books over his others. Wish another one would come out...*begs*

Other books I've enjoyed while I've been away:

"Frenemies" by Megan Crane. She compared the hot male character to Sark and also made geeky references to fans that get pretentious over Buffy costumes at halloween parties (season four hair should not be worn with season three leather...heh). The fan geek in me squeed. Ultimately more about friendship than romance, this book cracked me up and reminded me so much of that period when you grow apart from highschool/college friends while still hanging out with them. Very fun summer chicklit read.

"Benighted" aka "Bareback" by Kit Whitfield. No, it's not porn as the Australian title would have you believe. If you like your paranormal thrillers, you won't find a better written one than this gem. I love this book because it's not just porny, violent paranormal romance which is par for the course in the genre. This has multilayered themes and takes a wonderfully grey stance on the morality of power and the necessity of violence(both lunes and 'barebacks' do very dark deeds in the name of what they believe is right and sometimes just because they can). I love the whole concept of normal people being the minority, the way she has distorted and challenged religious history as she incorporated it into her mythology (Inquisition and 'witch' trials in particular) and that the weakest population is actually seen as the most violent and dangerous by the majority. Fascinating themes. It has everything you want in the paranormal genre but it was written by someone with a gift for constructing poetic prose. Buy it now.

"Company of Liars" by Karen Maitland. I've honestly never read anything like this before. It's all sorts of weird and wonderful. It's biblical and brutal and who doesn't love this level of schadenfreude? Key words: medieval, plague, godly wrath, extremely gruesome death, and a creepy little girl who really doesn't like liars. The complete lack of sentimentality for this period was refreshing but it also made the read a stomach twister at times. I loved that she didn't impose contemporary morals on the characters, it makes some of them hard to sympathise with but heightens the tension in the book and was a brave, well executed choice.

( The great laptop search mission...never ending, never ending...*is confused* )

Currently having a bit of a sickie. Sure, I had a headache this morning but I could have gone in. Instead I chose to stay home because I'm so frustrated and annoyed, I couldn't be bothered traveling on the train for two hours to deal with everyone there. Sometimes you just need me time. The frustration and stress largely comes from my current subject hell in my uni course. It's all by correspondence so I can work full time, so I have to upload my assignments on this thing called EASTS. It's fucking useless. My second assignment was returned to me with a 30% grade. WTF??? Yep, EASTS only uploaded a third of it so I guess I should be happy I had almost perfect marks on the third they marked, right? I wrote to my course convenor and he, thankfully, agreed to mark it again on the full copy I sent him.

Some of the stress faded although I was still unsure the marks I needed on my major assignment because I have yet to receive revised assignment two marks.

Then I received my third assignment back and two sections were missing from that too. WTF????? This assignment was worth 50% of my grade and I was given 18% for it. Who knew you could get marks that low, right? The marker was a sarcastic bastard and left horrible notes all over it largely related to all the work I hadn't done and thus his inability to comprehend the part he did mark. He didn't stop to ask WHY he was marking a document called 'part two' and where was 'part one' anyway???

I wrote to my course convenor again, thinking it might not be his fault and I couldn't really yell at him if he was still remarking assignment two graciously. That would be unwise, but I basically said WTF in a nice way. He wrote back to me and said he didn't know why I had received it yet since he had not sent them back. Um...hmmm, here it is in my hand with bitchy commentary, it's not a hallucination. He said it must have been a postal error. Well, a postal error didn't MARK IT. Right?

Then he told me that the assignment had been compiled and I should not stress about it, it would be returned briefly.

I have no words.

He did not reassure me that the mark I received was incorrect or that I had passed or whatever. Maybe I'm meant to assume it has already been marked twice because they inititally marked it without the first two parts (and accidentally sent it to me, just to boost my mood), and then found them and marked it again. But he just told me to calm down and WAIT. I am waiting. I've been waiting. I'm now waiting even longer than I should for two incorrectly marked assignments and I'm meant to calm down? I paid for this course upfront and I don't want to fail it.

I am very twitchy. This was the mood I woke up with this morning. I obviously can't be around people without biting someone's head off. And EASTS sucks monkey patootie. I am going to very much enjoy my "anonymous" course review.

Correspondence study was fine the last two semesters but now I'm realising how much more stressful it can be when you are completely cut off from your teachers. When I don't get to print and hand the assignment in knowing exactly what I gave them with no computer glitches in between. Even knowing, I could go to the office and talk to them face to face about any problems. I feel powerless not knowing if it's loaded properly until I receive it back. I miss uni campus. At least it had booze. :)

All in all, I think this is a PJ wearing, lounging like a lizard kind of day.

Hope you're all well!

Reuploaded old polar videos for ladygloria if anyone's interested. Click here in the comments section.

Hey, I just restored a draft I wrote about three months ago. Who knew LJ remembered things that long? I also think a gremlin might have taken over me because I don't recall ever being that interested in Jane Austen. *deleted*

Finished with EIGHT MINUTES to spare to get my major assignment in on time. What better way to return to the great land of fandom then to get a little NO-MORE-READING-SQUEE in. Well...no more intellectual reading. *Curls up with Frenemies*

Finally caught up with True Blood. Will have more free time shortly when semester breaks (let's face it after that gruelling assignment my brain may switch off for the rest of the semester in protest) so may even post very belated thoughts. Like how Eric is pretty but otherwise the show makes my brain hurt with the changes to the yummy ship I like. Ah, well. Pretty tops angst and he is very pretty. And tongue! Put it off for so long because I was always busy, or my roomie was always busy, and I promised not to watch it without her. She just went on holiday. Bwahahahahahahahahah. Mwaha. Texted her "Eric is shmexy and naked" and she cussed me out a bit but it was worth it. :)))))))))

Free time is awesome. Starting tomorrow, I read. Not even going to think of catching up on friends since that's impossibe. I'll just say I miss your craziness - no one in my life understands militant love like you do, or the craving to analyze TV. You don't know how hard it was to find someone that gave a damn about TV quality. People have LIVES. :)

Just a quick shout out to you all, hope to catch up with you soon!!! *kisses*

Wow...um. Huh. Just read an Alan Ball interview where he discussed that the Charlaine Harris books were all about Sookie/Bill and any other characters are secondary to their story. Huh. I didn't get that at all. Not sure what to say since he obviously loves their storyline and there's no way around that. If we ever get a "triangle" or an Eric/Sookie moment, it'll merely be part of the Bill/Sookie story. In a way, it's good to know that now and at least he isn't lying to us about the show exploring all options.

Maybe after the lastest book his perspective is not wrong. Sure, there are books where Bill is almost entirely absent but, heck, it could still be all about Bill/Sookie if Charlaine Harris intended for every other suitor in the series to lead Sookie back to her first and truest love *vomits*. I say this because I read the most recent book with this constant feeling of inevitable doom. I can hardly be irritated that the show is erasing Eric when it seems that's about to happen in the books too from this girl's perspective. Hopefully I'm just being cynical but here are my thoughts from the pretty disappointing Dead and Gone. ( Here be spoilers and lots of waffles!!! )

Carnivale is love. Finished season two and decided if I was a TV, I could die happy after that season finale. I was plodding along thinking with this great climax, I probably won't mind that the show didn't continue because all the themes seemed to come to a head and we did receive several great answers. It was a better place to end it then the end of season one, because at least our protagonist had actually met his arch nemesis at the end. I was screaming with joy throughout the whole marathon, refused to go to sleep even though I had to work the next day and I'm still a bit sick, I just HAD to finish it.

I got more than I bargained for in the last ten minutes and wanted to CRY. Sigh. I wish more people liked the shows I do then Carnivale would have had more success than True Blood. Cest la vie, TV world.

I'm so, so, so glad I waited for years after the show was over to try it. I would have been so upset when this was cancelled if I'd followed it every week and speculated in a community environment about it. I also would have probably been one of those scary people fighting hard for a show to come back, in whatever form, just so that I know what happens. lol At least four years on, it's pretty safe to say, the cast, crew and creative teams have moved on and this gem ain't coming back. Sigh. I would be so excited if I heard there was a Carnivale movie; I don't think it would work as well in a book series, since information is so often conveyed visually in the show, but I would still buy it. I doubt it will happen though which sucks.

The bad thing is that now all the boards are gone (Basically) and I have no one to talk to about it except my roomie. She watched it with me and agreed it was awesome but doesn't really go into deep discussions and finds me funny when I get that interested and start asking a bunch of philiosophical questions and wondering what happens. She just says it was canceled, nothing happened. Grr. lol How can she not care when great TV (great storytelling - period) is so rare these days.

If anyone did watch it and can recommend a good fanfic that continued on from the last episode, I'd be much obliged. I'm too nervous to put a toe in there and it seems like all the fanfic archives are dead and gone except for ff.net (and I don't understand how a story true to the show could be ON ff.net considering all the sex, swearing and other creepy things that happened on it).

I'll probably pop online in a couple of weeks with some Carnivale icons because they were really difficult to find too. Carnivale web community, where are you?? It must be true that the best shows, have the last need for 'fanfic' intervention, and thus the least dedication to the online space because I was so surprised that the community was so dead already. Four years isn't long, considering the Roswell boards.

Oh and briefly. I have new love for Nick Stahl who is not my type but is quite perfect for this character and magnetic in the role. Clea Duvall, who I've always loved...*squishes* Never become a Hollywood starlet, you are class and grace and I wish I could have seen what you did next with Sofie's character because...dang.

Real life factoids:

- My new internet connection is so fast that I forgive it for taking so long to function. I've never had a connection so fast!!!
- I'm also sick with a water-cooler bug. I don't care! I just had a snotty, tissue-cushioned Carnivale marathon that made me feel better. :)
- I had to make up a research question for my Information Management major assignment and I "manufactured" a fantasy novel concept that required background research. I did my first REAL research into that vampire story that's been kicking around in my head since highschool. I actually named one of my characters and feel like I accomplished something. I knew I'd feel more creative if I wasn't studying English. Stupid contrary brain... It was amusing to interview a librarian about abattoirs and concentration camps in connection with each other though, I think a lot of people believe I'm going to become a serial killer in my near future. :) At least I didn't ask specific questions about slaughtering techniques...I did find this art book by Sue Coe called "Dead Meat!" that was very inspiring. Very macabre vegetarian perspective into the meat industry and since I'm a visual writer, I found looking at those images send my brain into a dark, disturbing twirl.

Fandom things that I noticed were awesome during my livejournal hiatus: ( Carinvale, Dead Like Me, Across the Universe etc. )

It feels strange to get into shows when they are over and done with but I also feel it's better for me too. I know the show is cancelled, there's no anxiety about that any more, there's also no suspense and gritting of the teeth and speculation between seasons. That stuff can kill your appreciation for a show especially if you picture the story going in one direction and it disappoints you. Nonetheless, I miss having a show to follow with people.

I'm going to watch True Blood which I just realized has a new episode out. But I doubt I'll squee much unless Eric suddenly has a bigger role. (See above point about disappointment...heh).

Since I'm basically loopless at the moment, does anyone know any new shows I should think about considering?

WHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Hallelujah! I thought I'd never get the internet.

Who am I? Nobody cares any more? I thought so! But I must squee anyway!!!

Internet woes....the hits that kept on coming!

1) The jackass who lived in my new place did not disconnect their ADSL connection and I had to beg phone companies for weeks to cut it off because THEY DON'T LIVE HERE before I finally found a customer service person who was helpful (or it had finally lasted long enough that they didn't pay one of their bills - who knows?).
2) When it was finally connected it was the day before I went on study leave. I asked my new modem to be sent to my work address because I was not sure my roomie would be at home to collect it when it was delivered. Naturally it was delivered while I wasn't there so we waited until I could manage to get out there without failing my classes (did I mention I work a long way from home?). Although, the way things were going, I expected them to refuse to deliver it if I wasn't there to sign for it. Thank God they did not do that, I would have screamed.
3) I plug in the modem once I got it home and...drum roll...it doesn't work! Took hours to figure it out, but apparently they hadn't set me up under their company, but their wholesaler so everytime I type in @internetcompany.annoying.com their company thinks I'm putting in the wrong details and refused to accept my registration.

I spoke to customer service reps all night who were boggled by the fact my modem was not working when it was in perfect condition until I finally got someone senior who recognised the problem straight away. Sigh.

Goes to show you it's all about who you talk to. If you get someone unhelpful, just keep hanging up and calling back, eventually through statistical averages, you have to find someone useful, right?

I am so relived since I thought I'd have to move back into my mother's for a few days in order to post my assignments (they have to be submitted online).

After running around all day today, I'm not sure how well written my assignment will be since I basically lost twenty hours but I have the internet!! Who cares if I barely pass!! I have the internet!! lol

Drive-by post!!! Currently at the mother's waiting to pack more furniture. I have my own place. YAY! Can you believe that in this rental crisis, with people biting each other's legs off for a rental house in Sydney, the first house I liked and applied for (that's right my very first rental application at all), went through and I won???? I got struck by lightning luck!! The agent did give me a nudge though because he let slip that no one else had seen the property at all, it was just listed, and I was seeing it late Saturday afternoon. Which meant no one would be seeing it until Monday so if I got my application in on Monday and the owner was sweet it was all mine. My roomie was working flat out that week and hadn't even seen it when we won and paid the bond. Now THAT'S trust. I suppose she knows how anal I am and that I wouldn't get all excited about fixer-upper property (I may not lack imagination, but I am LAZY, lol).

Yay! Goody goodness.

Almost.

It does cut both ways since my roomie's lease doesn't end until the end of the month so I'm currently taking on the full rent by myself and that is tight to say the least.

On other things, I got to train in a couple of different and mind expanding things at work. Which is good. The job still has major low points but I'm not complaining at all. I'm happy to be stable at work at the moment even if I have to get up at six every morning (gah - HATE mornings).

I have no internet and it's a bit strange. I had no computer at all for several days. Getting bruises all over your body from being rammed into walls by couches just doesn't have the same meaning when I can't whine about it to my internet friends. Am I right? :)

I just wanted to say, I miss you all, and I'm doing my best to get hooked up so that I can catch up with you all and, hopefully, be able to research my dang university assignments online again. INTERNET I NEED YOU. Signing up with iiNet may have been a mistake, maybe I should have just gone for the standard Telstra and paid them a kidney for a decent, fast connection. Sigh.

I am stressed (in a busy, semi-positive life way) and in need of a fic. Has anything I read been updated in the last month?? Do you know?? I probably will never find them on my friends list now but if there are big names I should hunt for let me know. Also, right before I lost my internet connection, ContraVeritas went down. And I had just received an alert in my e-mail that Sage had updated "The Fallout". I still haven't read the last chapter. AHHHH! It's like the one dramione multi-chapter fic I still follow religiously. And I'm hanging. Does anyone have a copy of this last chapter? I am willing to offer fic snippets? Or write chapters?? I wants ittttt! Hook a fellow fanatic up!!

Must go, getting the glares, hopefully I'll talk to you all soon!!

Things overheard on a Sydney train:

He says: "Who does she think she is anyway? I introduced her to everybody who matters; she would be nothing without me. It won't take much to make her nothing again."

Wow. Who knew GG was right? Private school kids really are evil.

I'm not kidding. That's exactly what he said, captain to captain with another private school girl.

I gotta stop listening to people from the north shore. lol