fishpatrol

1. 8 Dreamwidth codes, if anyone still wants one:
( here! )

2. I watched Bridesmaids the other day, at the suggestion of a friend who's not even into chick flicks. I suppose Bridesmaids deviated slightly from the usual type of chick flick, even though the overall storyline was still very much in line with typical chick flicks. The humour was certainly much cruder than I'd expected (and the ending was a bit OTT and unnecessary ;;;). It was entertaining enough -- and I think it even passes the Bechdel Test! ( cut for spoilery comment )

3. I started watching Happy Endings because my usual 20-minute sitcoms are on hiatus. I didn't go into it with very high expectations, but it's surprisingly entertaining! I went through about six or seven episodes today. ;;; (as an aside: I find it tiring to watch more than two 42-minute episodes back-to-back, but somehow, watching six 20-minute episodes back-to-back is no problem at all...) The characters are fairly likable (and Penny looks remarkably like Genevieve Cortese...) and it's not all about how members of the group have all dated each other and/or want to date each other, which is quite refreshing.

4. I love recording podfic, but editing is no fun at all. For some reason, I can't record/speak for more than a minute without stumbling! However, when I was reading the first chapter of George's Marvelous Medicine aloud to my housemate (don't ask why), I was able to read through it just fine, with minimal stumbles. :|:| I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

5. I went on a Dresden Files fic kick for a little while (I blame lemniciate -- Inception and The Social Network were her fault too!), even though I'd only read, like, five chapters of the first book. I found it difficult to get into the first book (which is why I stalled after chapter five), but I decided to give it another shot and try the audiobook this time. It's read by James Marsters, who does a fairly good job, but I'm finding that he breathes too deeply, too much. XD;;; I think I've been spoiled by the numerous awesome podficcers in fandom!

6. I need an online nickname! I'm 'fishpatrol' on LJ/DW and 'fishling' on a couple of other sites, but neither are very good names to call me. I used to go by 'Meemo' (back in my meemobunny days), but I feel like I've outgrown it (but those of you who knew me as Meemo back in the day can feel free to continue calling me that :)). postingwhore calls me 'JJ' and cantarina1 is trying get me to respond to "Patty" (WHICH MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL OKAY; but sure, I'll respond to "'trolling" XD).

7. A friend from Boston invited me to go visit her in August, and hopefully I'll be able to go at least somewhere in August since I'll be done my comprehensive exams by then and will be in dire need of a break. If I fly out to Boston, I'd like to visit some of the surrounding cities as well (I haven't been to NYC or Washington DC in over ten years). Do any of you guys live around the area and/or are planning to visit that area and want to meet up and hang out/be fangirly together/visit museums (BECAUSE MUSEUMS ARE COOL)? I promise I'm nice and won't bite (I won't bite even if you want me to because human flesh is kind of ucky D:)! :}

1. I keep writing up LJ entries in my head, but I guess they are of very little use if I don't post them. ;;; postingwhore kindly nudged me to remind me that I haven't posted in over three weeks. I want to post more regularly, but I keep getting distracted by other things! Also, school is still kicking my ass, big time. If I posted more regularly, I suspect my entries would be filled with things like: "And today, I tried reading fifty million articles and write up a paper in one go and I realized that it was a Very Bad Idea."

I did my Presentation of Doom back in April and I thought that was going to be the major hurdle. It was a pretty massive hurdle, but now I'm inundated with all the work I've neglected and I have supervisors and collaborators emailing me with stuff like, "Where is the data/write-up/analysis/study design" and I'm all, "D: D: D: *hides and procrastinates more*" My way of dealing with stress is to read fic and let me tell you, that is a terrible coping method.

2. MEME!

1) Comment to this and (if you want) I will give you 3 (fictional) people.
2) Post this meme to your LJ with your answers.
3) Provide pictures/text descriptions and the names of the 3 people.
4) Label whom you would shag, marry and (push off a) cliff.

postingwhore gave me: Dean Winchester (SPN), John Sheppard (SGA), Atobe Keigo (PoT)

These were tough choices! But it did give me an excuse to go through my SPN/SGA/PoT picture folders and ogle at all the pretty. I also realized that I have very few pictures of Dean (if Jensen were on this list instead of Dean, I suspect my answers to this meme may be very different...).

( ...and onwards! )

3. The keynote speaker at last week's conference talked about some really interesting research about the psychology of scarcity and how people can be "money poor" or "time poor". ( ... )

4. The topic of marriage comes up more frequently now that I'm often with people who are several years older than me. One of the fifth year students expressed her surprise when I told her than I'm not particularly invested in the idea of marriage for myself. ( ... )

5. So, despite my antisocial mannerisms, I had a lovely, brisk walk with cantarina1 around the neighbourhood. That was a particularly efficient and healthy way of "hanging out" (as opposed to huddling together in front of a computer screen, as we often do ;)). If we make this a regular thing, perhaps I'll be able to shed a layer of padding around my middle that I've picked up during my semester of thinking-about-going-to-the-gym-but-never-actually-going.

6. Now for something completely different: so, the other day, I came across a discussion about the importance of technical quality in stories posted online. Some of the people involved in this discussion were appalled that some readers would completely skip over stories that had grammatical mistakes and other errors. "The authors are writing these stories for fun!" they said. "They're even posting the stories for free, you entitled readers!"

As for myself, I have three general rules that I use to decide whether or not I will read any particular story (I would've sworn I'd written about this at some point in time, but maybe it's one of those in-my-mind!entries that I'd never gotten around to writing out and posting). I developed these three rules-of-thumb back in high school, during my Harry Potter days, when I realized that there was more fic being posted than I had time to read.

( cut for length. i haz ~opinions )

Tell me about what makes you click the "back" button!

7. I should post more often so that I don't end up spending 40 minutes trying to write up an LJ post.

8. Is Firefox 4 actually faster or does it just look Chrome-like, with no actual redeeming qualities?

eta: Adding more Lj-cuts because long entry is long. ;;;; [/spamming your flists]

+ Yesterday, my mom and I almost got lost in the woods during our hike. We took a couple of wrong turns and it was approaching 6pm (thankfully, sunset isn't until around 7pm) and we left my dad at the main park (and none of us were carrying cell phones) and I was starving (and of course the snacks were with my dad) -- but on the plus side, we got some great photos (and a good workout ;)).



( +8 )

+ In other news, I bought this drape/wrap sweater and I don't know how to wear it. ;;; Do I just let the long bits hang? The front bits are much too thick to tie together.

+ Happy Thanksgiving, my fellow Canucks! And now if you'll all excuse me, I'm going to go search for more pie.

I'm not the only one who hasn't been receiving LJ notifications in Gmail for the past few days, right? D:

Also, mmm, Melona~~~ :9

1. I currently have this picture as the wallpaper for my iPod Touch. Every time I turn on my iPod, my brain stops and stutters a bit while I ogle. (Ahaha, oh, self *facepalm*). Also, speaking of iPods, I just upgraded to 3.0 last night and now I find out there's a 3.1.3. What. D:

2. Yesterday, for the entire day, the only time I wasn't feeling hungry was when I was eating. I was practically starving, in between meals. It was the weirdest thing ever (and also, extremely uncomfortable).

3. I keep losing track of what day it is. I blame the lack of structured classes (which I don't mind) and all the TV shows that I follow going on hiatus (which I do mind).

4. Mac-savvy flisters: if I have a Time Machine full of files and programs from a Macbook running Leopard and I'm getting a Macbook that runs Snow Leopard, should I transfer only the files and then reinstall each program individually? Would it be a bad idea to transfer third-party applications like Firefox through migration assistant (so that I can retain all my settings and history? Mostly, I just want the history)?

5. How awesomely adorable is this?? Also, new Maru video, eee♥

1. I saw trailers belonging to the director/producers/actors/stunts people for Warehouse 13 today, on my way to the library. I admit that I would be much more curious about where they were filming if Joe Flanigan was a regular cast member. ;)

2. Canadian-flisters: do you guys have any recommendations for no-fee credit cards? My current one is going to be replaced by a different one (with a worse reward system) in a couple of months and I'm thinking of switching banks.

3. One of my housemates has convinced me that I absolutely need to go traveling during the summer of my first year. China doesn't seem to be likely this year (maybe next year), so I'm considering Europe, maybe one of those student tours or something. What do you guys think? I am very inexperienced in the way of traveling, especially on my own, so I have no idea where to start, even.

I once told myself that I would never succumb to the lure of Apple products. But alas, I just threw away a chunk of my savings on a Macbook and an iPod Touch. I was very, very close to buying a Lenovo ThinkPad, but Apple's customer service won out. If something breaks, I'd at least be able to get it assessed in person and not have it shipped off to God knows where. I plan to buy a large monitor so that I won't have to squint at the 13" screen at home. Apparently, you can run Windows on one screen and Mac OS on the other -- that sounds pretty awesome.

Mac experts on my flist: is it very taxing on the processor to run both Windows XP and Mac OS simultaneously? Also, what do you guys use to burn data CDs and DVDs? I'm currently using Nero SmartStart (with a registration code I found illicitly XD) -- I don't believe it's available for Mac? And what anti-virus and anti-spyware programs do you guys use? Or are Macs completely immune from viruses and spyware?

I can't wait to get my iPod Touch because my Meizu Mini busted itself again (I was trying to fix a problem by updating the firmware and then it just died). Thankfully my mother has agreed to loan me her teeny tiny Creative Zen player until my iPod arrives. Maybe I should keep a stock of those cheap little $10-$20 mp3 players as back-ups...

I had "DON'T PANIC" engraved on the back of my iPod, because yay, geeky sci-fi references. And also, I do have need of that constant reminder since I've been on the edge of a panic attack for months.

I've had my lovely Toshiba Satellite (named Juggie) since I first started university. It has, thus far, withstood the wear and tear of being dragged to classes and libraries. It died once and only once in my first year, but was recovered by a friend, no harm done. I love it like a second brain, but it is slowing down in its old age. I'm looking to get a new laptop as a reward for surviving the past four years of torture school and signing myself up for five more years of torture school.

So, the age old question: should I get a Mac or a PC?

I've never been big on Apple products (I don't like the idea of paying 40% more just for the brand). I've never had major issues with this Toshiba laptop or my previous one -- my main quibble with Toshiba laptops is that their battery life is too short. But I've heard the horror stories of people losing their data from hardware crashes and whatnot and I fear my luck with Toshiba laptops may one day run out. So if it is true that Apple laptops rarely ever crash (assuming that it's not, y'know, the result of reporting bias -- since more people own non-Apple computers, more non-Apple owners will report crashes, thus making it seem as if Apple computers crash less. Also, HP computers are probably driving up the crash rate. :P) and are mostly free from spyware and viruses, then I think it's worth spending the extra couple hundred bucks. I'm hoping to get a model that'll last me until the end of grad school without me having to reformat or, y'know, weep in despair as I lose all my precious data due to a hardware crash.

But on the flip side, there's no right-click button on the laptop. D: I really, really like the right-click function, okay? Also, all of the computers on campus, including the one in my office, are Dells, which raises compatibility issues.

But on the flip flip side, if I buy a Macbook through the school's Apple store, I can get a free iPod Touch -- I don't really like iPods as mp3 players, but the WiFi capability calls to me. XD

So, what kind of laptops do you guys have? And what kind would you suggest I buy?

I was trawling through cracked.com (instead of studying math because math ceased to be fun when the symbols outnumbered the numbers) and came across these two gems:

1. At some colleges, Quidditch is a real sport: College Quidditch. According to the founder, the Snitch is recreated by sticking a tennis ball into a sock and hanging it from the waistband of a cross-country runner. They...just...I can't even...*flails with fits of giggles*

2. Re-use your dog's hair! Sweaters and vests made from the hair shed off by pet dogs -- it's kind of ingenious...yet, at the same time, a teeny bit gross.
Speaking of which, I shed a lot -- back in the dorms, the vacuum cleaner broke because there were too many hairballs on my carpet. Wonder if I could crochet a scarf from my hair... >__O


On an unrelated note, I really want to buy this nifty little thing. Have any of you guys tried ebook readers? Are they really less straining on the eyes?

I'm a bit wary of ordering things from the States (or from anywhere outside of Canada, really) 'cause the last time I bought a set of DVDs from Ebay, I was slapped with a customs charge that was higher than the cost of the DVDs. :| I can't find anything online that tells me how custom fees are applied and how much extra to expect to pay. I used to buy manga from Ebay and various sellers on LJ and I was never charged taxes or customs fees, but I suspect it's because sellers labelled their packages as "gifts".

1. Wonder Boys will never not be delightful to watch (though their previous performance was a bit better). The dance moves! The slinky slinky hips! Hee! How cute are Sungmin and Taemin? And that boy from 2AM (I think...? 2AM and 2PM...are they two different bands? dear_whimsy??) has awesome facial expressions.

2a. So, funny story. Last week, people on LJ were saying how they watched SGA 5x19 and how alkdjfs;k awesome it was. Thing is, the episode is due to air on January 2nd. For a moment, I had thought that maybe I skipped forward in time! Yes, that would mean that I missed out on a week-and-a-half of vacation time, but maybe it would also mean that I had somehow finished all my grad school apps! But then common sense kicked in and I realized the episode was leaked online -- and of course I rushed to download it. I've watched it several times since because it is just that awesome. The downside was that I still had to do all my applications myself (two done, three more to go! or four more. IDK.)

2b. 5x20, the show finale (D:!!!), was leaked online as well. I kind of want to watch it, but at the same time, I really really don't (and not just because of the McKeller line). I never did watch the Season 10 finale of Friends -- I've watched almost every episode of that show at least twice, but not the finale. In my mind, if I don't watch the ending, then it hasn't ended! How's that for awesome logic?

3a. Does anyone know where I could obtain the Merlin soundtrack? I found a handful of torrents, but none of them had seeders. :(

3b. I haven't been actively seeking out Merlin fic, but I came across this Merlin fratboy!AU and it's pretty fabulous (check out the sequel too!). The thing I like about fanfic, compared to original fiction, is that no matter what kind of crazy setting you throw the characters into, they are still essentially the characters you know and care about (the assumption here is that you're reading good!fic ;) none of that fanfiction.net stuff). It's like going out with good friends instead of meeting new strangers.

7. I've lost my train of thought. There are cherries downstairs and I want to eat 'em.