I know my flist is filled with book lovers with great taste (buttered you all up enough yet? ^__^), so I thought I'd ask your help. My mom has spent years devouring crappy romance novels and has finally started branching out into series and mystery novels like Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar series or Judy Gardner's (sp?) FBI series. I want to encourage this trend as much as possible--I hate those Harlequin books. Unfortunately, I have no clue what/who is good in this genre--I'm a fantasy or action/adventure girl all the way.

Suggestions? Pleeeeease?

Two wars, an economy barely pulling back from a second Depression, health insurance & financial industry shenanigans all over the damn place, and America's real problem is....Adam Lambert.

To:  Peggy Noonan
From:  Me
Date:  12/20
Subject:  The Adam Lambert Problem



XOXO,
Char

Man, I need to find a more interactive way to learn Japanese...Typing the spoken lessons does help, but it doesn't help for the Kana and Kanji. What I really need is to take a class, so I'm forced to use it regularly, but I just can't afford that right now...Maybe after the holidays I'll ask for some help from my f-list *winkwink*

LOL OMG...My 'Gackt Stuff' file on my computer is 52.2GB!(Thank goodness my computer has a 700GB Hard drive XD.) But I'm moving it to an external hard drive anyway, because my computer has been slowing down a bit lately. So, I'm re-formatting and partitioning the new hard drive and it's taking FOREVER! I can't believe I have so much Gackt stuff! That's more than 10% of what I have on my hard drive, and that not counting the Fuurin Kazan (35.4GB) folder! It's almost as big as my music folder which is at 57.5GB...Crazy.

Speaking of huge amounts of Gackt stuff, I'm trying to download the new Nico Nico X-mas thing from artisticcrazy  and file #28 is "temporarily unavailable" >.< Does anyone happen to have that file? Would you be my bestest friend ever and re-upload it for me if you do?  NVM...It's all good now!

Gackt Icon Advent:

December 20th, 2009:

 

one last thing: Dear LJ...Fix the fucking line breaks! I'm tired of my posts looking like crap!

Inspired by this meta on default icons and LJ:

What effect does a person's default icon have on your perception of them or their posts?  How did my default affect your perception of me?

Aside from obvious 'Well, X is a Y fan' stuff, anyway.

Let's get caught up again...

December 18th, 2009:

December 19th, 2009:

I have a little question for everyone, too...
What is it about working in customer service that makes other people think we are uneducated? Today I had a customer tell a co-worker of mine, "Everyone is always angry at us! Everyone is so nice to you! I think I'll pretend I don't have an education so that I can get a job with you at Starbucks."
Uh, lady, maybe everyone is always angry at you because you say vapid, rude things like that...What really makes me angry about that is that all of my co-workers and I are either in school or have graduated and are just waiting for the job markets to open back up.
I will give the lady some credit, she called back later and apologized, but then she made a bunch of excuses about how it's because she was frustrated because she was in a class and in the middle of testing and it was just sooo hard and our job was easier. Yeah, well resisting the urge to give you decaf was really hard too...We work out tails off and we have to be nice and cheery and 'on' all the time. >< Thank goodness tomorrow is a day off!
On a more cheerful note:
 

( I really want these... )

I'm super happy and surprised that I've gotten any cards this year, since I didn't ask for any. THANK YOU SO MUCH, haraamis and just_ruth! I love them and you. Merry Christmas!

sukino.

YOU WERE RIGHT.  SHE IS FUCKING CRAY-CRAY OMFG IN THE CHILDHOOD SEQUENCE SHE EVEN LOOKED LIKE I USED TO JFC.

Man, you guys have no idea how happy I am to know that today is almost over. I don't generally like to be a whiner, but I just have to share how much Murphy hates me today...
( Let me tell you about my day... )

Hey everyone, hope you're having a great Friday! I'm getting all my Christmas stuff together and making out my Plan of Attack. Only...I don't wanna go shopping! >_<; It's scary out there--and COLD, too. My gift to you is sooo much easier!

~-~-~FRIDAY HOLIDAY MUSIC EXCHANGE~-~-~

If you'd like to join me, this is an open exchange and will continue every Friday from Black Friday (November 27th) through New Year's Day.

This will be kept public, so feel free to send others this way for the goodies! I'll put up two or three of my favorite songs--secular, general holiday tunes, or Christmas music--each week. If you wish to share as well, great! Here are a few sites that you could use:

SendSpace, MegaUpload, SaveFile, YouSendIt

In case you missed the last two week's post, they're Right here!, Here!, and Here, too!. Since this is the last posting before Christmas, I went a little hog wild!! I hope you enjoy them and in case I don't post before, Joyful Solstice, Merry Yule, Happy Christmas, and Belated Happy Hannukah!

http://www.sendspace.com/file/kcfh4p Much More Beautiful Person by Bowling for Soup
http://www.sendspace.com/file/c45f17 Star Song by Bowling for Soup
http://www.sendspace.com/file/g2ntjm I'm Gay by Bowling for Soup
http://www.sendspace.com/file/k0v5r6 If I Could Give You More by Harry Connick, Jr.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/nr33d1 The Annual Office Christmas Pary by Ray Stevens
And a couple from my old college choir, Rendezvous:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/3hlchz I Saw Three Ships
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ku6wja Deck the Halls
http://www.sendspace.com/file/0jfnd2 Sleigh Song
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gxzr6g Sheppards Rejoice
http://www.sendspace.com/file/9s8vry Wassail

Unfortunately, there's really no good way to ask your mom about her experiences with cocaine withdrawal.

Correctives

Fandom: Merlin
Rating: PG13
Characters/Pairing: Arthur, Arthur/Merlin
Warnings: Hurt/comfort.
Summary: Being sent to the dungeons wasn't the only punishment Arthur received for getting the flower to save Merlin.
Words: 5000

( read )

I'd basically pig out on all the things I've been craving for a while now to take care of the craving, so that when the calories do count again, I'm not jonesing so badly for something like brownies or fettuccine alfredo.

I have been in a straaange mood all day today...

( I blame this )

Which brings me to my next task, since I got distracted by a biiig project yesterday:

GACKT Icon Advent:

December 14th, 2009


December 15th, 2009


The second one was inspired by something else that I found on my f-list. An interview in which Gackt says some things that actually made my heart flutter a bit...Thanks to amaiakuyume for the translations:

( What GACKT said )
I've never felt closer to a complete stranger than I did after reading that...Which is odd, because I think it's really dumb for me to feel this attached to someone I've never met. It's just amazing to me that someone out there really feels that same connection to music that I do...It's actually very inspiring.

That brings me to what distracted me for most of the weekend. After posting my crybaby "what do I do!?" whiner post, I began to think on how I can inspire myself to begin working harder towards my goals. I want to tell my fear and insecurities to take a hike! So I remembered a project I started for a class a few months ago and never got around to finishing. For the class, we had to come up with a name for our business or band and research whether or not somebody had already claimed the name. My idea came back clear (so far!) and so I began to draw up the logo. The drawing wasn't required for class, so once it was lined out, I scanned it into my computer and set it aside until I could have more time to clean it up.

This was the result
( I'm no artist )

Oh! Before I forget...This is the last thing, I swear!

Namie Amuro's PV for Defend Love is on Youtube...
( A PV That Would Make GACKT Envious )

I'm getting really freaking pissed off with the ads that veil the screen and you can't exit out of for X number of seconds.

It's probably only for free acounts, since I never got around to buying membership, but still. I get really freaking pissed when I comment on someone's entry, refresh the page, and get a fullscreen pop-up I can't get rid of.

And I thought regular pop-ups were annoying. Argh! Aren't there enough ads on my page already?

First, I can't believe no one on my flist has posted this yet...this is totally FTW!

see more Lol Celebs

Second, I actually went to see "New Moon" with a friend from UWT last night. The acting has not improved, in case you were wondering, but it was amusing to once again compare Charlie Swan to my dad. (See this post for superficial comparison.) It wasn't worth the 9.50 I paid for the ticket, though--hanging out with my friend was.

Ironically, as I was preparing for bed about 1:15am, I noticed something running across the nieghbor's yard...a half-naked man. He was joined quickly by two other men, who I knew were living there, and stopped in my motion to call the cops to watch them run around there yard in their pajamas and bang on the deck with bats. Having just come from "New Moon", I wanted to grab some popcorn and enjoy them reinact the movie, only they were Mexicans instead of Native Americans. Oh, and they were hunting racoons instead of vampires, but still. Highly amusing.