$68 dollars in shipping costs, ouch - but at least all the holiday packages are sent now. Other than Christmas cards, this means I'm all done sending things out woot! Done shopping? Check. Done sending? Check. Tis the season to be prepared this year.

I am cutting down on a lot of my holiday animosity by trying to get things done well ahead of time. I figure a large part of why I don't like the holidays is the stress it causes. That I can do something about, and that's what I'm trying to do here. The other parts I dislike about it are all the commercial hype going on (which I try to just ignore), and that whole holidays associated with death thing. Don't know really what to do about that one, to be honest - I've kinda hated the holidays ever since that one year dad was dying from Thanksgiving almost all the way to easter. Man, did that suck. At least I can identify what causes my issues which I suppose is a good step.

Remember, if you want a card, sign up here with a screened comment or email your address to L@labarc.com.

Heads-up, in case it wasn't already obvious: I am in the throes of paper-writing and finals prep, and I will be rather scarce. I was letting Sunday updates slide in November, and for a little while longer at least they'll have to keep sliding.

I should be back in action after the 16th or so, though. I have one post in the queue about despair, which I've been brooding over for weeks. Also I should probably get caught up on comment and things.

Oh, before I go, djinni uploaded tons of awesome icon requests! There's a Ritchie in there, eeeee.

And now, I really have to stitch up the disparate parts of this shortish paper. It's only due... tomorrow? Yeah. Yeah I'm smart like that.

Stay awesome, my friends.

Title: Bush Theatre re-opens to unsolicited script submissions
Publication: The 5th Medium
Date: Monday 7th December 2009

Column description: Arts journalist Matt Boothman talks performance, playwriting and criticism from London's fringe, where theatre is both challenging and affordable.

Read the seventeenth instalment of my 5th Medium column here.

3:20. Wake up. Lunge out of bed to turn off alarm clock before Here Is The News gets past the line "They shall have stars at elbow and foot...." (Yes, my alarm clock plays brave Saint Saturn. What does yours play?)
3:30. Wake up again. Contemplate throwing cell phone at the wall, decide turning alarm off is a better idea.
3:50. Wake up again, this time from dream that I am late for my show. Look at the clock and realize why. Hop around getting dressed and complaining about trying to get into cold jeans.
4:05. Head out the door. Start car defrosting.
4:15. Actually hit the road.
4:26. Start planning extra time for defrosting into the next fourteen days.
4:45. start panicking that I will not be in Millersville until about 5:10.
4:50. Reach station parking lot. Listen to Thing One talk about how this is the last song unless "she's late."
4:55. Actually get let into studio. Discover computer logging is down (suspect Doc and Mama Rock broke it, as it worked for their show and then inexplicably didn't for Moar Caubel*), along with the webcam. Commiserate with Thing Two, feel sympathy for Thing One having an 8:00am class after a 3-5 radio shift.
4:59. Contemplate actually trying to learn Thing One and Thing Two's names instead of referring to them as: Mutt and Jeff, Thing One and Thing Two, Ren and Stimpy, Laurel and Hardy, etc. (Thing One is a government major, thing two is an english major. They are Freshmen. It takes all my self control not to go "Awww look at the little freshmen...")
5:00-7:00. Assorted babbling, from talking about Satchmo to displaying the fact that Larry Hovis could actually sing.
7:10. Drive to new parking spot.
7:15. acquire breakfast. decide to not buy breakfast on campus again or will go broke shortly.
7:20. Sequester self in computer lab with said breakfast and a mac. Internal equilibrium: rebalanced. All is well with the world.



Now I just have to remember to go by the station after class for council voting, and then it's home to Math Spam (oh goody) and possible Christmas cards.


*There are names on the programming grid that I wish so bad I could claim I'd thought up. This, and the sadly defunct "Golden Pony Power Hour," are the ones I envy most.

And here we go barreling into the last two weeks, folks. Updates are going to be sparse, uninformative, panicked, random and possibly unintelligent. I know this is not really any different than my normal LJ posts, but [I do not have sunglasses, but please imagine that I am putting the nonexistant sunglasses on like Horatio Caine right now] that's how I roll.






also who wants Christmas cards do you want christmas cards if so plz message me with your address k.

So, Handbrake 0.9.4 is out. Looks like there's lots of dependancy and other issues running it on Ubuntu other than 9.04 onwards. I have 8.04. I see three options:

( Cut for length/gibbering about Linux things )

Anyone messed around with doing this? I'm currently roaming forums/Google looking for advice re: point 3, though links to any specific instructions would be awesome. I know about this already (it's awesome, but note that 0.9.4 isn't available for 8.04).

Things which suck: having a headache so bad it keeps you from sleeping

I can't breath through my nose right now, and this is a good visual representation of what my writing brain is doing right now instead of actually working on homework:



Dear brain, I kinda hate you right now. >:(

WHY IS THE SEMESTER STILL GOING ON WHYYYYYYYYYY.

/existential angst

Title: Episode 003 Jiggery Pokery PLUS Poppy Corbett
Date: Friday 4th December 2009

Podcast description: Lively discussion of London theatre productions with journalist Matt Boothman (Plus One).

Download Episode Three of The Plus One Podcast here, or subscribe using iTunes.

Production: Jiggery Pokery: A Homage to Charles Hawtrey (Paul Hunter & Amanda Lawrence)
Venue: Battersea Arts Centre
Review Date: Thursday 3rd December 2009
Closing Date: Saturday 19th December 2009

Notable Crew: Paul Hunter, Director; Billy Hiscoke, Stage Manager; Cathy Wren, Designer; Jules Maxwell, Composer

Notable Cast: Amanda Lawrence, Charles Hawtrey (amongst others)

My review for the British Theatre Guide can be found here.

Dominic Maxwell's review for The Times can be found here.
Chris High's review for The Stage can be found here.
Theo Bosanquet's review for What's On Stage can be found here.

So there was a Charloft prompt about your character's pyjamas, and I'm still fucking freezing so COZY CLOTHES are on the mind, so here are TOO MANY WORDS ABOUT PONCE'S WARDROBE( Read more... )

Half remember a couple of dreams last night. One was that I was sleeping on the lawn, because I wanted to be outside in the fresh air and wind while I slept. I had a blanket spread out there, and I woke up to answer a text on my phone from someone asking if I was sleeping on the lawn again. And I texted back if that if you live in an area where crime's low enough isn't it nice to sleep where you can breathe?

The other dream was somewhat more disturbing - it involved being a girl at a girl's boarding school. There were these catty girls talking about vanity domains on the internet and one girl said "Oh, I'm not a domainist" in the same way one might say racist or sexist. I had an english class to go to, but I had to use the bathroom first. In the bathroom I discovered that there was a shower running and I pulled back the curtain because it was clear to see that there was no outline of a person in it so I could turn the water off. Face down in the water were two newborn babies (twins?). One of them was floating and the other was making some half-hearted swimming motions. I turned the water off and pulled them out and I remember feeling how cold their skin was and trying to revive them before they died. Don't know if that worked or not as I woke up.

I have to go to court with Steve early tomorrow morning over some incredibly stupid stuff. Teenagers are very good at getting themselves into stupid things. I am already stressing out about it, as it involves so many stressful things and I'm not really good with all that.

And today I got all kinda pissed off getting my oil changed. The yahoos that work there couldn't get the hood open so the guy comes to me in a completely condescending fashion and tells me that I have a 'problem' with my hood and I'll have to get it fixed before I got my oil changed. The problem was that despite the banging they did on my hood like complete idiots (which lucky for them they didn't do hard enough to actually dent anything- which also of course meant if a stuck hood WAS the problem it was unlikely to work). You have to stick your finger in to unlatch the latch, which took all of three seconds once I informed them. They were still smarmy and tried to claim I didn't understand it was some kind of spring or wire problem really - no, of course it wasn't them. Oy.

Our insurance finally kicked in, and it turns out that the doctor I wanted to go to does indeed take it - so Aus and I both have appointments for December 14th. I have a bunch of papers to fill out, and I've got to get our records transfered from the clinic and all but it's a step in the positive direction. It'll be really nice to see a proper doctor again. And I have so many other medical things that I need - dentist to get my dentures hopefully, eye doctor to get new glasses, gynecologist to get checked up and all... it's nice that we can get started on all that now.

Sandra Boynton is my new favorite person. Why? Because she got Davy Jones to sing about being a penguin. And she writes kid music that doesn't make me want to cry!



( Process of creation overview )

And, of course, The Uninvited Loud Precision Band.

*marches off whistling*

I've posted it a few places, but just in case you didn't catch it, I have in fact won NaNoWriMo, AND completed a novel tentatively entitled Look Not So Fierce. First of all, this means I have a big messy trainwreck* that is one part unintentional riff on Job, one part experimental-POV bildungsroman, and one part steampunkish horrorish fantasyish. Second of all, I guess I have a summer project again, rewriting THIS sucker. Third of all, I have proved that writing a novel is a repeatable achievement, which is a really good feeling.

But most significantly, I have broken the Odd-Year Curse. I just realized this and I am absurdly pleased.

Now I just have to finish the semester, and then... this holiday I'm going to have another pass at Quoit, and possibly work on other things like short stories, sketchposts, and the Terrifying Prospect of Trying to Get Published.



*Ironically, this year I've had a lot of requests from classmates to read it. LAST year I would've said "sure, I'll remember you when I need betas!" because last year's was a YA-ish fantasy romp with an allegorical ending, and unless you hate fantasy you'd have a hard time taking offense to it. THIS year, though, I hem and haw and go "I'll... keep you in mind..."