I turned 28 yesterday. You'll all be happy to learn that I received enough birthday greetings and presents to delay my inevitable village-destroying wrath. The gods of Katy Mountain are appeased (for now). Among the birthday loot was a DVD set of Dark Shadows: the Revival, which was great. Remember that show? Here's a brief summary if you're like me and weren't allowed to watch it when it was on the air:

VICTORIA WINTERS: My name is Victoria Winters, and someone in this house is a vampire...

BARNABAS COLLINS: Raaaaaaaaa! I'm a vampire! I've been a vampire for TWO HUNDRED YEARS!

WILLIE LOOMIS: Wull, gee, Barnabas. I'll be your servant. You don't have to go killing people and stuff.

DOCTOR JULIA HOFFMAN: Barnabas, I couldn't sleep last night, so I whipped up a cure for cancer. Oh, and your anti-vampire serum is ready so that you can stop killing people (and maybe love me).

BARNABAS: I haven't eaten a McRib sandwich in TWO HUNDRED YEARS! I love someone for this!

DOCTOR HOFFMAN: It's me!

BARNABAS: Victoria Winters is my long lost love reincarnated... from TWO HUNDRED YEARS ago!

DOCTOR HOFFMAN: Hold the phone. What?

BARNABAS: TWO! HUNDRED! YEARS!

VICTORIA: My name is Victoria Winters, and somehow I've been transported back in time...

And then suddenly the series becomes amazing (I'm serious; it does), after which the season ends, and then THERE'S NO MORE. That's it! Aaaaaa!!

I also acquired Criterion versions of some of my favorite Kurosawa films, ensuring that I am more awesome than everyone else who watches movies. All of the above plus the Moroccan dinner at Marrakesh made for a lovely birthday indeed. The end.

P.S. - I said there'd be more about Thanksgiving, didn't I? Here you go:

Tags: 28th birthday, akira kurosawa, barnabas collins, ben cross, birthday, Cooking, cranberry sauce, criterion, criterion collection, dark shadows, doctor julia hoffman, dr. hoffman, DVDs, films, gifts, kurosawa, marrakesh, moroccan, morocco, movies, revival, studio city, television, thanksgiving, time travel, turkey, TV show, vampire, victoria winters, willie loomis

Yessss! YESSSSSS! I have done it! I've met the NaNoWriMo challenge! I bravely churned where no viking has churned before and something about hordes! IT SAYS SO!

No, you can't read my awesome novel. It's too awesome for you.

50,140 words in 29 days, folks. Bam! Eat that! And other remarks that could double as exclamations by exuberant television chefs! Yes, I totally printed out the PDF certificate. SHUT UP, IT'S AWESOME.

(Oh yeah, and Thanksgiving was great. More on that later.)

Tags: nanowrimo, national novel writing month, novel, thanksgiving, writing

Why haven't I posted in a while? I'm glad you asked, Bobby. I've been reserving my writing energy for NaNoWriMo. I'm 35,000 words of torture in! 15,000 to go! I've never written that much in my life! And no! You can't read it! Not when it includes lines like:

Which reminded me of my utilities. Were those paid as well? Surely not, I thought, but when I logged into my various accounts, I saw that all had been paid in full. I shook my head as if to wake myself from a dream. How had this happened? The obvious answer was that someone had been paying my expenses for me, but who?

WHO! HAS! BEEN! PAYING! HER! UTILITIES?? Find out when I've burned this manuscript in a bonfire!

Believe it or not, there's something worse than my writing. That's right. It's a Tab commercial.

You know, keeping your shape in shape has its rewards...

Tags: ad, commercial, nanowrimo, national novel writing month, novel, retro, soda, tab, television, tv, video, writing

When times are tough, I look down at my notes at work and remind myself to look at the bright side: not everybody's tasks include extending a stabbing.

Tags: photo, work

I didn't get a chance to post last night; I was watching election coverage with Doug, his roommate, and some psychics. (That story's not as interesting as it sounds like it could be.) So, here's my delayed response: YESSSSSSSSS!!! YES! YES! YES!

The best moments of last night: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: barack obama, election, john mccain, mccain, obama, president

Halloween was a fine time, and my Bonnie Parker costume went over reasonably well despite the lack of a gun or bullet holes. I don't have any photos of myself to share just yet, but I do have a blurry night photo of my neighbor's troll doll.

At least, I think it was put there by my neighbors, but I could've sworn I saw it move by itself a few times. That... that's crazy, right? I mean... DOLLS! Moving by themselves! HA! HAHA!

[EXPLETIVE]

Tags: bonnie and clyde, bonnie parker, costume, doll, faye dunaway, halloween, photo, troll

Up past me bed time. I was making a cake, see.

No reason. I just always wanted to make one of those fancypants cakes with the fondant and whatnot on top. Anyway, it's Halloween, so mine's bleeding. Happy Halloween!

Oh, and it's mint-chocolate-raspberry with marshmallow fondant and hel-looooo diabetic shock in case you were wondering.

Tags: blood, cake, chocolate, Cooking, fondant, food, halloween, holiday, mint, raspberry, vampire

Halloween is coming! HalloWEEN is coming! It's this Friday, and I've just put my costume together. I'm going as Faye Dunaway playing Bonnie Parker who's just been shot but before she's been shot as much as she was. So, it's like Bonnie Parker with just one or two bullet holes instead of twenty-five or whatever. As portrayed by Faye Dunaway. I'll... probably just tell people I'm Bonnie Parker. Because they'll probably have to ask. And they'll be like "Who's that?" and I'll be like "Bonnie and Clyde?" and they'll be like "Oh. Where's your gun?" and I'll be like, "Couldn't find one. Isn't it a sad world we live in?" and they'll be like, "Yeah. Did you try the party store in Hollywood?" and I'll say, "No, I didn't think of that," but it'll be next Monday by the time that comes up, so I'll just tell them I'll have to remember that next year, and then maybe they'll do that double finger guns thing. Yeah. So, anyway, I'll take pictures.

That's me! Except it's Faye Dunaway.

Tags: bonnie and clyde, bonnie parker, costume, faye dunaway, halloween

I saw a dead coyote on the road this morning, and it was a pretty gruesome mess. :( I don't want that image stuck in my head, so I made a new one.

Tags: coyote, death, dr. seuss, drawing, driving, get back ky-ote, ky-ote, roadkill, seuss

..Bingo Business Bacchanalia...

Doug and I went to San Francisco this past weekend. It was his umpteenth visit and my second, though - as I told everyone who asked - it may as well have been my first. All I really saw the first time I went to Shaky Town was the backside of a music venue and maybe a bread bowl. I was dating a bass player at the time. What can ya do? But this time I wasn't there for somebody else's gig, and I actually enjoyed myself.

San Remo Hotel room

We stayed at the San Remo, an adorable 1906 hotel with few modern conveniences and dark, spooky hallways. I'm not ashamed to admit that I asked Doug to wait for me in the hall as I went to use the restroom one night (there are no private bathrooms in this joint, but there are pull-chain toilets!). They say there's a ghost girl who roams the halls and "tries to get into" one of the rooms. For some reason, the thought of a ghost trying and failing to get into a place night after night creeps me out more than if it just whooshed right through the wall all, "Hey, what's up? Just passing through."

Chinatown

Other adventures of note: riding a cable car, milling about at Fisherman's Wharf, lots of good food and some really bad food (avoid Steps of Rome at all costs), spotting locations from Hitchcock's Vertigo, and meeting some very cool people.

I took lots of pictures with my cell phone and my Minolta Himatic G, but most of my film photos turned out blurry and faded this time¹. :( I'll show 'em to you anyway, though:

Flickr Set

1. Update: Just realized the exposure meter battery was dead. ARGH! [↩]

Tags: doug, fisherman's wharf, hitchcock, photo, san francisco, san remo hotel, Travel, vertigo