My Weekend (Plus Cards)
Dec. 8th, 2008 01:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccastareyesI've been moody recently. Possibly because I've been bad about taking my meds. I have an anxiety disorder, and generally unless I take my meds, I get this kind of bull-in-a-china-shop feeling when in any sort of social situation, that any sort of action is going to break something. Yeah, this ain't fun, and it's usually distinct from my PMS symptoms (which is mostly just crying at anything). On the plus side, I don't get any of the other fun symptoms of SSRI withdrawal, the anxiety just comes back and if I try to restart, I go through a week of being tired, just like when I first went on the meds.
Anyway, my weekend was fun. Friday was the Christmas party at the department, and in addition to an excellent dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, bread stuffing, salad, tofu stir fry and pasta Alfredo, not to mention dinner rolls, tea and little chocolate cake things, and Santa Claus*, there was karaoke. There was the standard mix of people who were really good (I didn't know Kassie could sing like that, and Babs did a Shakira song in Spanish.) and songs that were hilarious (the first years (or someone) did "White and Nerdy" and Carl made Drew (who was leaving the Submillimeter Instrumentation group for the Extragalactic group) sing 'I Will Always Love You', complete with ad libbed segment about leaving the group). Dr. Bell was once again the only professor that sang, though he did talk a researcher into singing. (Sadly the researcher had forgotten that the lyrics to the song he picked were pretty full of sex. By that time, the only kids in the room were Dr. Bell's, who are in the range of 'probably understood most of it, but their parents wish they didn't.)
* People's kids get presents. It was very cute.
Saturday was the anime marathon. We ended up watching some Azumanga Daioh thanks to scheduling failures (i.e. Azumanga is the standard of 'crap, no one bought the DVD', since it's the most episodic thing anyone owns), and finished off Kino's Journey, the first story arc of Twelve Kingdoms**, and the first season of Gurren Lagann. We also watched Victorian Romance Emma, which was cute, but slow, and about a maid in Victorian Britain and her relationship with her employer's old student, Code Geass, which I am torn between 'WTF' and failing to maintain my suspension of disbelief. (I can buy the mecha. Not so much the Britain takes over Japan, re-christens it Area 11*** and turns everyone into second-class citizens, and they do it in the near future.)
** What is it with anime based on books and pacing problems? Twelve Kingdoms joins Crest of the Stars (hell, the entire Kin of the Stars series) in my list of series where a good writer should have really changed the pacing. Slayers and Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya don't have this problem, perhaps because the writers take more liberties, and there are also more 'filler' episodes. Then again, Haruhi has the weirdest broadcast order because the filler all was set after the main five-part story arc, so the studio decided to broadcast it in a weird order that makes about as much sense as the Cardcaptors series.
*** Come on, the British are more creative than that. At least name it after a king/queen, or drudge up an old name from back when they did have an empire.
I also saw Detective Conan again, which is okay. The movies were decent -- "Fire Tripper" was an old Rumiko Takahashi movie about a girl who is propelled back into the feudal era which was interesting, but the romance was weak****, and "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" was a low-key movie about the trouble with time travel. (The main heroine suddenly got the ability to throw herself backward through time.)
**** And, spoilers, I kinda wonder about any series where the heroine decides to stay in the past/in a backwater country/etc. for True Love. Because I think I'd rather talk my True Love into coming back to a place where there's indoor plumbing and advanced medical care. About the only one who ever pulled it off for me was Cordelia Naismith, and ended up leading a lot of the woman's movement there.
Sunday I had the NaNo TGIO party, and did some painting and finished my Yuletide story, or the rough draft. And now I am at work, making plots.
Also, on Friday, I am sending out Christmas cards. If you want one, comment and check to see if I have your address.
Anyway, my weekend was fun. Friday was the Christmas party at the department, and in addition to an excellent dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, bread stuffing, salad, tofu stir fry and pasta Alfredo, not to mention dinner rolls, tea and little chocolate cake things, and Santa Claus*, there was karaoke. There was the standard mix of people who were really good (I didn't know Kassie could sing like that, and Babs did a Shakira song in Spanish.) and songs that were hilarious (the first years (or someone) did "White and Nerdy" and Carl made Drew (who was leaving the Submillimeter Instrumentation group for the Extragalactic group) sing 'I Will Always Love You', complete with ad libbed segment about leaving the group). Dr. Bell was once again the only professor that sang, though he did talk a researcher into singing. (Sadly the researcher had forgotten that the lyrics to the song he picked were pretty full of sex. By that time, the only kids in the room were Dr. Bell's, who are in the range of 'probably understood most of it, but their parents wish they didn't.)
* People's kids get presents. It was very cute.
Saturday was the anime marathon. We ended up watching some Azumanga Daioh thanks to scheduling failures (i.e. Azumanga is the standard of 'crap, no one bought the DVD', since it's the most episodic thing anyone owns), and finished off Kino's Journey, the first story arc of Twelve Kingdoms**, and the first season of Gurren Lagann. We also watched Victorian Romance Emma, which was cute, but slow, and about a maid in Victorian Britain and her relationship with her employer's old student, Code Geass, which I am torn between 'WTF' and failing to maintain my suspension of disbelief. (I can buy the mecha. Not so much the Britain takes over Japan, re-christens it Area 11*** and turns everyone into second-class citizens, and they do it in the near future.)
** What is it with anime based on books and pacing problems? Twelve Kingdoms joins Crest of the Stars (hell, the entire Kin of the Stars series) in my list of series where a good writer should have really changed the pacing. Slayers and Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya don't have this problem, perhaps because the writers take more liberties, and there are also more 'filler' episodes. Then again, Haruhi has the weirdest broadcast order because the filler all was set after the main five-part story arc, so the studio decided to broadcast it in a weird order that makes about as much sense as the Cardcaptors series.
*** Come on, the British are more creative than that. At least name it after a king/queen, or drudge up an old name from back when they did have an empire.
I also saw Detective Conan again, which is okay. The movies were decent -- "Fire Tripper" was an old Rumiko Takahashi movie about a girl who is propelled back into the feudal era which was interesting, but the romance was weak****, and "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" was a low-key movie about the trouble with time travel. (The main heroine suddenly got the ability to throw herself backward through time.)
**** And, spoilers, I kinda wonder about any series where the heroine decides to stay in the past/in a backwater country/etc. for True Love. Because I think I'd rather talk my True Love into coming back to a place where there's indoor plumbing and advanced medical care. About the only one who ever pulled it off for me was Cordelia Naismith, and ended up leading a lot of the woman's movement there.
Sunday I had the NaNo TGIO party, and did some painting and finished my Yuletide story, or the rough draft. And now I am at work, making plots.
Also, on Friday, I am sending out Christmas cards. If you want one, comment and check to see if I have your address.
