sorry for the chainlink fence, but yay for baby fawns =)

Annd...so it's been, what, two decades since I listened to Thriller, but this seemed like the right time for it. Not to burden anyone, just two notes:

1) Holy-blue-hannah, the guy could sing. Yeah yeah, scandals and lawsuits and lies and slander and tabloid trash s'only gonna get worse now he's gone--bag that garbage--man, what a voice. The silk-velvet texture, the control, the intensity...he was something else.

2) I honestly had forgotten just what a trip it is to hear Vincent Price intone "to terrorize y'all's neighborhood." =)

So I finally got worried about the nagging chest pains I'd had for three weeks and went to see the doc. He heard my tale, checked me out, EKG and everything, and came to the conclusion (which I've suspected myself) that I've got too much stored on my upper shelf. That's right: it's not that I'm headed for a heart attack, it's not that some horrid malignancy is growing in my chest preparing to crush the life out of me, it's just that my goddamn boobs are too heavy.

So we talked about it and I pretty much have three options, soonest to latest:
1) Buy better foundation garments
2) Continue to lose weight (I've lost ten pounds, go me)
3) Eventually, have reduction surgery. Which I've considered before, since I think my insurance covers it if it's for medical reasons and you have your doctor's OK, and that I've got. And I'm sure my musculoskeletal system would breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Short-term, I guess I'll just go buy a corset. =)
But it is good to know it's not bad news.

Gave the travel agent the first (*gulp*) down payment this evening. Two weeks this November (beginning on Hallowe'en!) with Akiko-sensei and people from doll class in--deep breath--Fukuoka, Sasebo, Nagasaki, Hakata (tour of the doll studio and hands-on lessons from staff), Beppu (hot springs!), Kyoto, Hakone (!! I'll bring photos, I promise!), Mt. Fuji, Odawara, and Tokyo!

Whew! will be exhausted and broke but happy =)=)

My new Indian costume set sold for $400 on eBay!


Yeah, that was the Buy It Now price tag I put on it, but that was pure wishful thinking--I really only hoped to get $350 for it and I knew there was a good chance i wouldn't even get that. But whoa, wow.

Am a happy me! =)

.....this really, really makes me just want to get right out of bed and head off to work. Yes, it does. Not.
Ah hell, no use wishing for a four-day-weekend, but really, ugh.

*would rather stay here in bed with laptop and happy purring cat* *le sigh*

(childish whine is childish. I heart my job, honestly. It's going out in the sog I could do without.)

(it seems my alarm clock is faster than my computer clock. Does that mean I can stay here six more minutes...?)

shayheyred gave me Samurai Champloo, Ouran High School Host Club, and Saiyuki--five questions each. Oh, yum. =)--If you ask her for a set, let me know!

( Long anime discourse under the cut. )

---which says that it's an auspicious time to tell those I know about my current projects list. OK then:

--samurai kimekomi doll, with sake' dish. Gift for someone.
--Japanese model horse costume. Extensively researched.
--Saiyuki fic for Minus Wave challenge. Might get done this weekend.
--summaries of the last nine episodes of Saiyuki Reload (so I can start on Kuroshitsuji).
--pondering how to revamp Sitting Bull Indian costume and doll--originally done for auction but really not happy with it.
--refitting pair of doll hakama, obviously done in wrong scale, dammit.
--following early episodes of all the new spring anime series.
--planting new rosebushes and beautiful Japanese maple tree (Okigumo, "Floating Cloud").

===can't possibly get to all this in one weekend, but we'll see....

(more orange rolls this weekend, yes, definitely.)

I will say this just once, dude: you can grill the entire bloody Petrelli clan over a slow fire and I won't even yawn, but if you so much as CONSIDER hurting Hiro Nakamura...

(Heroes season finale next week. Commencing to worry.)

So I just took this pan of orange rolls out of the oven, and OMG, they are so GOOD that I want to make like three dozen more and invite my whole flist over. Granted I do kinda pride myself on my baking skills, but wow, I can't believe I made something this yummy from scratch.
*beams* *eats another*

And in obsessive-labor-of-love land, I've just finished my first-look overview of the spring anime season--based on only one episode of each, so of course subject to change, but it looks like a good one.

Wondering what's out there but don't want to spend all day peering at the little black screen? I just did it for you. =)

Have just noticed that some of my "memories" entries are in journals that have vanished, notably moonsilverfic's. This is kinda upsetting, since I don't like to just copy others' stories onto my hard drive (maybe I should?) and have been relying on LJ as an archive. Perhaps I need to rethink that...

My hard-traveling photographer roomie evb, after numerous years and hundreds of miles documenting the punk/rockabilly scene on both coasts, has achieved a lifetime milestone--the first of her photos to be used as a band's album cover! Such a thrill! =)=)

You can see it in her LJ now. Woohoo!!

to atomagedevilman, a happy day and many more!

Just a brief note: I love this hour of the night. Ever since I was a kid discovering FM radio (ahh, dear WBCN in Boston, are you even still there?), this has always been the hour that genuinely meant you were Up Late, not just a 1 AM straggler from midnight but a real night owl who would be here till dawn. [[--cue Walter Fagen's "Kamakiriad"]]==Happy to be here. Hi, world.

Aren't these little guys great? they're "London" and "Nosfe" from the new "Monster Theater" series by dKillerPanda--Lon Chaney's lost silent vampire from "London After Midnight" and Max Schreck as Nosferatu, respectively.

I've left you out of the loop for a month or so now, so I'm thinking I'll write a batch of self-indulgently long diary type posts just to blab about my February experiences (Edgar Allan Poe celebration, KatsuCon, gardening, burgers--you know, stuff). They'll all be LJ-cut so you can decide how much of my blab you feel like reading on any given day. But...right now all we got is undead cuteness. Enjoy.

( close-ups under the cut )

I will be there, and hope for the chance to wave at a few of you.
My badge will say "angelynx-prime" but I'm still me. =)

So OK, the lovely city of Baltimore is having all sorts of festivities for their year-long celebration of the 200th birthday of favorite son Edgar Allan Poe. And we noticed back in December that one of the big events was to be held on my birthday, February 1st. As a Poe fan since childhood, I was overjoyed--dinner with Poe! best birthday party ever!--and we at once made plans to attend it. Roomie's tickets arrived, all fine. My ticket arrived on Saturday--and it said January 31st. ==Total panic.== What could we do with barely a week till the event?

--Well, the accompanying letter said "please check your tickets and contact me at once if anything's wrong", and it was signed by Jeff Jerome, Curator of the Poe House and Museum. I dispatched an immediate email explaining the problem (read: making desolate kitten noises about my wonderful birthday party being thrown into jeopardy =)). I was perfectly willing to buy a second ticket, mind, as long as it was for the right night, and I said so.-- This was Saturday night about 7 PM; I figured I'd hear back on Monday. Nope. I heard back from him within the hour (!) most graciously saying there was no problem, he'd assigned me a seat for the 1st and all I had to do was trade in my ticket-of-fail at the door. I was overwhelmingly relieved, and wrote back to thank him for saving the day.

Thought that would be the end of it, but no: tonight I got a second email. Our Mr. Jerome says that if I'll introduce myself when I arrive, they'll have "a special Poe-themed birthday present" for me. =)

So wow. Great big points to the City of Baltimore for knocking itself out to make its guests welcome.

wow, just wow.
at last.
*looks forward to the return of national self-respect*

Just thought I'd show them off. Such colorful little guys. =)

(Also, it's snowing like crazy. I hope all those people on the National Mall brought their hats and scarves.)

--I'm nearly 54 years old; I've seen my share of presidents walk in and walk out; not since 1960, with JFK, have I seen one come in with as much hope and joy as this one. I'm serious: if you're in America (or even not =), pay attention to this point in time, write down your dreams, remember how you feel now. This is a *huge* moment.