So, I really really want to get back into figure skating in a big way. I've been dreaming about it several times a week, and have been watching in on TV a lot recently.

I quit skating spring of 2004. YouTube started up Feb. 2005. And now, suddenly all those figure skating programs that you want to watch over and over again are just clicks away! Man do I ever love technology. (also: Yagudin's "Gladiator", and Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz: WATCH AT 3:35, OMG)

Also, with the internet you can now find important testing/competition info that was somewhat unavailable before, as well as dance patterns! Not only that, but Videos of those dances being performed! (HOLY CRAP THAT MUSIC BRINGS BACK MEMORIES). The dance looks so easy after watching pro ice dance... but man, those knee bends were a bitch. Especially when you have a knee that doesn't really bend.

Man, I can not tell you how helpful it would have been if video cameras and camera phones were as commonplace back then as they are now. Because not being able to see whether your technique sucks and having to rely on feedback from others? Sucks.

I would kill to have a video of my program to the "Star Wars" theme. OMG I was a nerd even then.

ETA:

IF THERE IS ONE VIDEO THAT YOU WATCH OUT OF THIS WHOLE ENTRY IT SHOULD BE THIS ONE!!!!! I will never forget the moment I saw this for the first time.

Bear in mind that he is an OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST. *dies of hilarity*

ETAA: Holy crap!!! Evgeni Plushenko returned to competition this year? I didn't even know! He's preparing for the 2010 Olympics... oh man, the bar just got raised. Lately it seems the calibre of Men's skating has been somewhat less than usual. What I watched today, there was only ONE DUDE who actually did a quad. For a while there, everyone and his dog had a quad. Frick, Alexei Yagudin and Evgeni Plushenko each did TWO in the long program at the '02 Olympics.

More Kijiji personal ads. Because I am inexplicably entertained by them:

"Any U of S students need help making ends meet? maybe I can help. Looking for occasional meetings. Absolute discretion"


Lol!! Might as well say "Prostitute wanted for part-time position. Please send application."



Also, have I mentioned how much I really enjoy Lady Gaga? A popstar with real talent who I'm not embarrassed to say that I'm a fan of.

Because yes, I'm secretly into Pussycat Dolls and Britney Spears and Girlicious (somewhat). But I'll be damned if I'd ever post that on Facebook/LJ profiles, lol. No no, there it's all "Blue Oyster Cult, AC/DC, Rob Zombie" etc. AHAHA.

So, I'm bored and procrastinatey. Naturally, I begin looking at personal ads on Kijiji for the amusement factor. Seriously, read the "casual encounters", they're hilarious and horrifying at the same time.

But it got me to thinking. If I were to write a personal ad, what would I say? What are my requirements for a person?

1) Moderately nerdy; Won't run for the hills upon learning of my fannish ways, preferably would join in.
2) Touchy feely is acceptable, but no "OMG I just want to take care of you and give you everything a beautiful princess like you deserves, you soft and gentle female you." *shudder*
3) Doesn't mind my mood-swingy ways and occasional rantiness (both the angry and enthusiastic varieties).
4) Not a frequent drinker, but willing to get plastered with me once and a while (yes, this is necessary, lol).
5) Won't be offended by my heathenistic, atheist ways. Also, can't be overly superstitious.
6) Punctuates/spells decently. Or rather, "has decent written communication skills." After all, we're talking written personal ads.
7) No yappy dogs. Er, like actual canines, not the dude himself.


The absolute must is #2. I don't think I could stand that. I'm no delicate flower! And yes, as I write this I have "I Like It Rough" by Lady Gaga stuck in my head.

And #4, dammit! I ain't no constant partier, but gosh darnit sometimes a girl just wants to get shitfaced.



So folks, what moderately random qualities do you enjoy in people? What pet peeves do you have that would be deal breakers? What idiosyncrasies do you have that could cause compatibility issues?

Funny, I just remembered that I had, for several months, broken my fanfiction addiction. I had forgotten this.

Because now? I'm up to my eyeballs in the stuff, and have been for a while now. Hell, I even started writing a fic for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles a couple months ago (although let us never speak of this half-written fic again).

Funny how October hits hard like this every single year. It's like "OMG SCHOOL STRESS" and I solve it with TV.

Escapism is truly, truly, truly my stress relief tool.

Ebaumsworld. First they brought you Diet Coke and Mentos. Now this.




Pretty cool.



And, while I'm posting random YouTube videos...



Patrick Stewart, you will never cease to be awesome.

Also, did you know that every celebrity in existence ever has been on Sesame Street? Trufax.

My favourites include Andrea Bocelli, Johnny Cash, and Neil Patrick Harris. Also, Jack Black talking about Octogons is pretty good too.

The funny thing is, I actually remember Patrick Stewart's "B or not a B" from my childhood. I just didn't realize how awesome it was at the time.

ETA: Wikipedia, you are so useful.

ETA again: Okay, you really have to watch at least some of this: Smokey Robinson gets molested by the letter "U" while singing "U Really Got a Hold On Me"

All this compy sci and logical thinking is making my creative side want to stretch its legs a bit. I busted out the keyboard the other day for the first time in months. Nothing awe-inspiring. But it was a start.

Then, today, I started GIMPing. Not Photoshopping, because I haven't reinstalled it since my last laptop reformat. It was easier to download GIMP than dig out the Photoshop CD. Once I got used to GIMP, I was actually kind of impressed. There's a lot of stuff that's annoying about it, but it's also pretty powerful in ways that Photoshop is not.

Image editing. Another thing that I have not done in months upon months. FINALLY did a Star Trek icon. I even went as far as to make it the new default! My Supernatural "Carry on my Wayward Son" one had been default since... three years ago? Nearly as long as I've had an LJ, methinks.

One thing led to another, and I've now got a shiny new LJ layout. Nothing too fancy, and not perfected yet, but I'm pleased.

As my new header may indicate, I've been watching Heroes. A lot. The scene that the pic is from was just gorgeous. Also, it made me miss the style of wearing hoodies under blazers. I'm not a big fashionista, but I LOVED that trend. I hope it hasn't gone out yet, because DAMN. I particularly like it when Sylar wears hoodies under blazers. YES. A THOUSAND TIMES YES.

Dum de dum, 7:18 a.m. No, I haven't gone to bed yet. Yes, I slept until 2:30 p.m. yesterday/today/whatever. Yes I've been skipping school and sucking at life. D'oh.

So, I'm teaching my first CMPT 111 tutorial tomorrow. And although I feel semi-calm, there's definitely a part of me that is FREAKING OUT. Especially since I'm really not prepared right now. I thought that there'd be a lot more guidance from the profs as to what we're supposed to go over... but it's pretty much left up to us. OMGAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Also, I really want Beatles Rockband.

Also, I just watched the season premiere of Supernatural.

( Spoiler )

Also, I can't get the soundtrack to A Very Potter Musical to download.

Also, I was thisclose to writing "I am Sylar" on my arm last night, after much alcohol consumption.

...

And now I'm going to go prepare for my tutorial tomorrow. And then have a meltdown.

Also, the mood selection on LJ never seems to accurately reflect my true mood. I really was hoping there'd be a "terrified" among the choices, but I had to settle for "distressed".

Sorry, I'm being spammy today...

So, YouTube videos. Interviews with Chris Pine and Zach Quinto.

Why do I love Zachary Quinto so much? Because dude. Have you ever seen a more articulate guy? Have you ever heard such beautiful use of vocabulary?

When asked about how he formed his version of Spock in comparison to Leonard Nimoy's:

"Well, I think there are physical attributes that are inextricable in terms of this character, right? Like, there's a framework that's a little more structured with Spock than with some of the other characters in the film. So for me it was about finding my point of entry into those. This iteration of the character does not have as much command over the duality that's sort of at play within himself, and I think that afforded me a little bit of a window, but not much of one. There's a stillness and rigidity almost in the way that he carries himself and relates to people."

Duality. Inextricable. Rigidity. ITERATION.

Guh. Is there such a thing as a vocabularaphilia?

ETA:

"But it wasn't until I got older and was really able to understand some of the intellectual concepts that Gene Roddenberry was playing with in this series in an allegorical way that I actually got really ignited by it."

Plus this entire interview... oh man.



There's even one somewhere where Zach says something with ridiculously rich vocabulary, and Chris goes "Wow. That was quite the sentence." Also, Chris is pretty articulate himself.

LOVE.

Oh man.




OMFG, EDITED TO ADD!!!!!!!!!!:



AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Patrick Stewart you are a god. Man do I ever wish I could have seen Hamlet with him and David Tennant. Sigh.

Dear neighbours,

I'm sorry I'm stealing your bandwidth. But I hope you can forgive me, because it's bringing me so much joy.

Theivingly yours,
Cynthia



So, the new place I'm living in is so far quite awesome. Nice and big, plenty of sunlight in the morning (I've been getting up before 9 EVERY DAY (even on the weekend!). On the downside, we don't have internet/cable yet, but it should be coming soon I hope. Also, two of my roomies haven't moved in yet, so we'll see how that turns out.

School is fantastic! I like... look forward to going to it every day. *shock* I'm bored right now, and wish I had some homework or something to do.

Mostly these days, I occupy my time with Star Trek. So much fanfic, so little time. And I'm beginning to watch Heroes, too, just for Zachary Quinto. Because, umm, HE IS AWESOME. Sylar rocks my world. WHOO! I desperately need Star Trek fanfic crossovers containing Sylar.

I may need to bust out the Photoshop tonight, and make a shitload of new icons. The current collection just ain't cuttin' it. Because I still need a Star Trek icon, like YESTERDAY. More like, LAST WEEK.

Now, to go catch up on the last several weeks' worth of LJ posts...

ETA: What the fuck, el-jay? The friend's page only goes back 2 weeks? Am I gonna have to go through journals manually? Urngh.

Oh. My. God.

I didn't think it was possible, but I've just watched a television scene even funnier than Shatner buried under a pile of tribbles.

Star Trek Episode 312, "Plato's Stepchildren"
Summary: A planet of Plato/Greek fanboys and fangirls who have telekinetic abilities and can thus control the actions of others. Also, they are total assholes.

Seriously, people. Screencaps can not even BEGIN to describe how hilarious, ridiculous, and slightly horrifying this episode was. I literally laughed my ass off. I will have to go get it surgically reattached tomorrow. :p

Just a screencappy taste:

( SO UTTERLY CRACKTASTIC )

I can't believe this show was cancelled after three seasons.

Also, I need a Star Trek icon like, YESTERDAY. Soon I will have high-speed internet again and will be able to properly search for pictures. Also, I intend on watching every single YouTube video of Chris Pine and Zach Quinto. Also, I plan to visit SO MANY LJ COMMUNITIES and read SO MUCH FANFIC. And then I'm going to watch Heroes. And dig out my LOTR DVD's for Karl Urban.

After that, if there's time, I might do some schoolwork.

ALSO, ALSO!!!! In the new movie, when Kirk meets Scotty for the first time, Scotty has a TRIBBLE ON HIS DESK!!!! Which is probably totally old news to some, but I only found out about it yesterday. FTW!

1) This may be one of the funniest television scenes known to human existence:



It's particularly hilarious to me because you just know there's some production assistant up in the cupboard, chucking Tribbles at Shatner's head. And you just know that P.A.'s thinking "OMG I have the best job EVAR."

2) Uh, yes. Star Trek anyone? WHOO! Saw the recent movie a couple months ago, FREAKING LOVED IT, and have been getting into The Original Series now. As a kid, I never really understood what was going on, so I wasn't all that interested. Now I can appreciate it a lot more.

Also, holy crap, was the new movie well-cast or WHAT? Everyone's acting is just spot on. Subtle things, like an eye-roll here, a mouth-twitch there... it's so captivating.

3) Saw District 9 last night. Unfortunately, it was absolutely excruciating. This was partially due to the volume being too loud in the theatre. I balled up the paper wrapper from a straw and shoved it in one ear, and leaned on my hand to shut the other ear. Also, Peter Jackson, did you learn NOTHING from Cloverfield? Shaky cameras, while interesting cinematically, reaaaally take away from my enjoyment of a movie.

Other than that, it had some interesting social commentary on how humans are cruel and such. Mostly it was just depressing, repetitive, and completely lacked a plot.

4) While watching District 9, I found myself thinking about how much more pleasurable it would be to go to the dentist (I had an appointment today) rather than watch it. Then, at the dentist today, I found myself YEARNING to be back in that theatre...

IT WAS HORRIFIC. OH GOD I AM SCARRED FOR LIFE.

So, my teeth are bad. Really bad. And I knew this, but was scared to face it, so I avoided going for a long time. Finally went today and OH GOD IT WAS HORRIFIC. Much, MUCH worse than I'd anticipated (and I'd been experiencing anxiety about this for some time).

FUCK MY LIFE.

If my dentist gets her way, she'll be about $5000 richer by the end of it all. So I'm going for a second opinion somewhere else... because frankly, some dentists are more crooked than the teeth they treat. My dad's last dentist wanted to pull a couple teeth out and put in implants and do a bunch of expensive shit. His new dentist says those teeth are just fine.

In Canada, dentistry is a business. A very, VERY profitable one. And maybe I'm just bitter, but I think the industry takes advantage of people because they can. Fuck do I ever wish dental and vision were covered under national health care. Don't know why the hell they aren't. Arg. :(

5) School starts in less than a week! So excited! Also, am moving to a new place on Tuesday. With four other roommates. Could be fun times. It's in a great location, too. Can't wait!

I'm experiencing an unusual phenomenon right now.

It's called "free time."


My new semester is relatively slack. I've got an assignment due tomorrow... but I'm done it. HOURS AHEAD OF TIME. This has never happened before.

I've done 5 loads of laundry today. Basically every article of clothing I own. I've even folded and put away every single thing that's dry. This has never happened before.

And now I don't really know what to do with myself. Maybe I'll go to bed. At 9:00 p.m. This has (almost) never happened before.


The workload of last semester has changed me. I'm all productive and stuff! I sleep well and wake up early! And you know what? It paid off, because I got a freakin' 80% in what's generally known as they heaviest workload Computer Science course at my university. OH YEAH MAN. I AM AWESOME. AND NOT AT ALL EGOTISTICAL.


What other mundane occurrences have I got... watched the first season of Flashpoint, and have enjoyed it. Going to the lake again this weekend. Feel like dancing! The dial-up interet has even been relatively speedy today (THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE).

All in all, I'm content!

H'okay. One more day until the end of the Spring Session. Oh man. Last week was brutal... 3 huge assignments (well, one was not so huge, but I didn't have a clue what I was doing), my presentation (with a partner whose accent is so strong that I literally can not understand what he's saying 75% of the time), and a lab exam (only one of my three programs worked by the end... the other two were barely started). And now I've got two final exams tomorrow! Which I'm currently avoiding studying for. :D

Nevertheless, this last semester was AWESOME. School hasn't been this fun or satisfying (or frustrating) for a long time.

Also, I now can not look at a computer program without wondering how it works (or rather, without mentally figuring out how I think it works).


On to more fangirly things...

So, I've watched the entire season of The Listener now. I couldn't wait weeks for it to air, so I did *cough* download *cough* it. Rest assured, I will watch it on actual TV when it does air (since I actually can, for once!).

And you know what? I really, reeeeeeally like it. For the first time in a long time, I would go back and re-watch my favourite bits over and over, sometimes the whole episode.

Also, the season finale was AMAZING. And ended with a cliffhanger, so it seems they may be anticipating a second season.

Something semi-random that I loved... there was real, genuine snow. I'm not sure I've ever seen snow like that on TV before. Full-on character-slipping, piled-on-the-roads, fluffy, Canadian snow. It was brilliant.

Ok guys, I've got a new show to recommend for you.

It's called "The Listener", about a paramedic who happens to be able to read minds (whoo!). The main character, Toby Logan, has been a telepath his entire life but always tried to ignore it, until one day he realized he could use it to help people.

Maybe not the most original premise for a show, but I enjoy it. Toby's paramedic partner, Osman "Oz" Bey, brings great comic relief to the show, and I quite like him as well. Also, as you may notice from my display pic, the guy who plays Toby sorta resembles Jake Gyllenhaal and Jon Togo. Whoo!

No, it's not the most OMG ABSOLUTELY AMAZING show in the world, and hasn't necessarily been getting the best reviews, particularly from American critics. But, here's the kicker: it's not an American show.

That's right, folks. This show is actually a Canadian show. And it doesn't suck. And has been picked up by an American network. Which, you know, NEVER HAPPENS.

See, Canadians have the inate ability to instantly recognize whether a show is American-made or Canadian-made. Usually it's because the production quality just isn't there, which is a direct result of the budget not being there. But, for like, the first time ever, I actually WANTED to watch a Canadian drama, because it ACTUALLY looked GOOD. It is thisclose to passing as American. Except it's not!

So yes, I am totally biased because I would like to see it succeed. But, from an objective standpoint, I watched it and liked it before I even knew it was airing in the States. I hope you all check it out. I would really love to hear your opinions on whether it up to par with the heavy-hitting American dramas.

P.S. It has aired internationally as well... actually I think the season's already over in most places, yet we're just starting here.

( And now, some more in depth discussion about Canadian and American TV )

Anyways, I've kind of blabbered on long enough about this. I had more interesting things to talk about originally, but I kinda lost focus. Perhaps another time I will remember the things I wanted to bring up. For now, I gotta go. This laptop is way too hot on my lap, and it was over 30 degrees out today.

TTFN!