My family and I were supposed to go out to dinner last night.  Around 4pm my Dad disappeared into the basement - we figured to get some nicer clothes on.  Finally, as 6pm came and went, my mother and I now feeling more than a little hungry, I went downstairs to check on the old man.  "You ready to go?" I asked.

"Dan Wheldon died in a crash at the Indy race today," my Dad said.  He kept folding laundry and cleaning off his tool bench while he watched the after reports on television - replays of flaming wreckage flying through the air, conciliatory words, the usual cliches of grief and pre-emptive speculations into cause.  I walked upstairs in my little black dress and told Mom that I'd go get some take out instead.  When she asked why, all I could do was shrug and say, "Racing death."  She made that hideous sigh of complete sorrow and incomprehension that she usually only makes when GOP candidates allege that homosexuals are responsible for the downfall of the American economy, set down her purse, and went downstairs to try to comfort Dad.  The lady behind the register at the Chinese place asked if I was okay.  "Just fine, thank you."  I added a dollar to her tip.  But I wasn't fine, my Dad's still a little shaken today; it's never fine, and somehow, it keeps happening.

And I still love racing.

( Even if I sometimes wonder why... )

I've been helping my cousins renovate the upstairs apartment at their grandparent's house - lots of sanding, varnishing and joining.  It's been fun - I always find manual labor therapeutic.  Today we were coming home and J mentioned he was going to friend's house tomorrow to "fix that crib of hers."

A replied, "Oh, the babyslayer?"

I fell over laughing.  I do love those boys.

Other things of interest:

- I got recced on crack_impala .  Two weeks in a row.  I'm seriously blushing over this, but apparently now that I'm writing porn, I do it well.  Accolades are also due to callowyn , my coauthor on The Weight and my beta for The Many Forms of Comfort.  And to all the rest of you who helped and are such horrible influences on me.  =)

There was some other things I meant to say, but I've forgotten what they are, so I'll just amble off now - I think I need a nap.  It's that kind of a day.

I know, I know: it's nowhere near February 2nd.  But I just watched Window of Opportunity and have a big ol' smile on my face.  So, I have to ask: friends, what are your favorite Groundhog Day episodes of the various shows that you watch?  Rank 'em if you could.  My list:

1.  SG-1: "Window of Opportunity" - A perfect, perfect GD episode that only slows up when they finally break the loop.  I died a little the first time I watched it and saw them driving golf balls through the Gate.  And poor, poor Teal'c.
2.  Xena: "Been There, Done That" - Hee - the day when she decides to kill them all herself gets me every time.  Ranked below the SG-1 episode only due to the SG-1 episode's sheer power of awesome.  But as perfect as a Xena episode ever got.
3.  Supernatural: "Mystery Spot" - Would have been higher if it weren't for the slightly depressing ending (and yes, I know it was necessary for the arc) and also because I wanted to kill the two moving guys every repetition.  But otherwise, it has so many good lines I'm not going to quote any because then I'll wind up quoting the whole episode.  Oh fine - "Clowns or midgets?"
4.  ST:TNG: "Cause and Effect" - Probably the first GD episode I ever saw (and maybe the only one on this list that pre-dates the movie).  Gets mad points for how early it is, although the resolution only ever really made sense to Data.
5.  Buffy: "Life Serial" - Comparatively meh on this one - it was good, just not hugely memorable.
6.  Eureka: "I Do Over" - Okay, it's fine technically, but it sank the hell out of my ship (how sad is it that the only real OTP I have is Carter/Blake?  I don't even write fic for this fandom!) and so I have to say "boo!"

And though I watched every episode of The X-Files growing up, I honestly can say that I do not remember the GD day episode that TV Tropes mentions, so I can't rank it.  Which is really odd, because I tend to find GD episodes to be amongst the most memorable of any show's run.  So yeah - discuss, mention GD episodes from canons I'm not familiar with, do what you will.

My brain is much smarter than me sometimes.

I've been struggling with my MA report topic for a few weeks now - it's not in the field I originally wanted to work in but in one that I chose because I lost my old adviser.  The new one's the first guy who ever made philosophy make sense to me and this particular issue is a difficult topic that bridges five disciplines that don't talk to each other and use the same words to mean different things and oh, it takes place over 700 years and involves translating complex philosophical theories in and out of at least six different languages - which also use the same words to mean different things.  All of my outline attempts thus far have been way too philosophy - a field where I'm still a noob - and not nearly enough history.

Until I woke up at 3:30 this morning for a cigarette and then sat down and wrote an outline.

For eight hours.

It's seven pages long, single spaced, made up almost entirely of argument with references to some evidence but no actual citation.

I turned it in.  The adviser didn't have time to look at it yet, but while we were talking seemed to agree with most of my ideas.

If it works: it's brilliant.  Emperor's new clothes type potentially revolutionary shit.  If it doesn't work, I'm a complete asshole.  That's how things shake out sometimes.  I really hope it's brilliant.  I don't have any other ideas.  Professor said to poke him if I don't hear back in ten days.

But for now, i'm going to sleep.  People whom I owe things: I'll get to them after a nap.

Spent the last two days catching up on all of Doctor Who since the end of series four.  My thoughts below:

( Lots of spoilery bits through the end of series five... )

So, Facebook, in its apparent never-ending quest to conquer the rest of the internet, is now cross-postable with LJ. You may have heard about this; I'm about the last person on my f-list to make a post about it, so I'm pretty certain you have. So, in the interest of full disclosure, here's my deal:

I personally have no use for this option and have further taken the step of changing the e-mail account associated with my Facebook so that there's no chance of software linking my LJ/DW posts with my Facebook/RL identity. There are a couple of folks out there who know a bit more about my RL than others (though there is only one who knows me in RL), and as I develop relationships with you wacky folks, I am willing to gradually share more. There are a few of you whom, if the opportunity presented itself, I wouldn't mind having a drink with. But the fact is: I like having a separate fandom identity, a place where I can occasionally bitch about my (frequently much wankier) RL and write silly stories and lust after fictional characters without fear of consequences and/or hearing about it from my family for the next fifty years. I certainly don't need my professional contacts to know exactly how much time and effort I spend thinking and writing about comic books, tv shows, and other things that they're not paying me to think about.

Long story short: I'm not posting anything from LJ/DW on Facebook, and while a couple of you know my real name, in fandom, I'm always going to be Morag. If I post something so absolutely dripping with brilliant wit that you feel the need to share it with Facebook (I know, I know, I'm just that funny and wonderful), then go ahead and share it, link it, whatever, but share it as Morag's, and don't sully it by associating it with the meatsuit doing the typing.

P.S. - If you've decided to move to DW, I'm moragmacpherson there as well.

ETA: I have no intentions of abandoning LJ any time soon (I just got it broken in), but I added the crosspost footer from DW so that folks can comment where they prefer. In general I'm better at keeping up with my LJ f-list than my DW circle, but I can work on that too.

Okie dokie, this is an exercise in gonzo journalism or a Lester Bangs-inspired indulgence.  iTunes is set on random, and I'll write about whatever comes up for however long as the song lasts.  We'll see if anything of interest shows up.  A caveat: there may have been a little bit of whiskey involved in the decision to embark on this enterprise, and it's still flowing.

( A thousand words about random songs )

And I think that lyric might have been it for me.  Wow, that's a thousand words of self-indulgence.  Fuck it, post it, be done with it - that's the joy of music, it's the catharsis. 

Ohmigod, does the Snoop Dog tribute to Sookie Stackhouse count as filk?  This is so fantastic, I completely lack the words.

In other words, they aren't pulling the punches on the Ho!Yay this season, are they?

Hey there, iTunes Randomizer - we've gotten along so well recently.  Honestly, your choices while I was grading were apt and fun and helped make that entire process slightly less painful.

Thing is: right now, I'm supposed to be adding a chapter to "A Girl and Her Time Lord" - you know, that slightly crack-y, emphasis on the humor and increasingly absurd and dire situations handled with quips and the Doctor's customary aplomb?  The least angst-y fic in my entire repertoire?  Yeah, that one.

So, please to explain the fact that for the last hour you have played the following:

( Angsty music contained herein )



I mean, okay, the James Booker isn't on its face depressing, unless you hear it as a elegiac (which you know I do), but from there on we have the introspective, bitter, and wrist-slittingly depressive - you put Modest Mouse next to Nine Inch Nails.  I cannot write humor on a steady diet of bitter existentialism.  The only thing it's missing is Radiohead - and ye gads, you're going to start playing Pyramid Song now, aren't you?  Yeah, that's right. 

I know for a fact that there are no fewer than 12 They Might Be Giants albums to choose from in my library.  Could you please work with me a little here?
 

I thought I was inured by the end, thought there was no mistake that could send me back to the liquor cabinet.  Then I read this:

The American Colonization Party [sic] focused on the enlightenment of Africans.  Converting Africans to that of American ways proved to be successful yet difficult when it cam to convincing Africans to move to American land.  Nevertheless, with locations such as Liberia founded, Africans would still become a part of the United States growing reformed change.

Seriously.  Now they're just fucking with me.