It's been quite a while since I posted here about stuff I'm enjoying, so I'm gonna give it a try.

Every so often I find myself in the position of being caught up with all of the shows I care about and very much craving some new and brilliant TV show. Netflix Instant, Hulu Plus, iTunes, and YouTube have been helping me out with this little dilemma of late and as such I've been trying a lot of new (or new to me) shows.

Being Erica (available on Hulu Plus, except possibly the last season which can be found on YouTube) - This show is sort of misleading, because it markets itself as this kooky relationship comedy with a time-travel twist, but it's actually extremely nuanced when it comes to characters and relationships. The premise is that Erica, a woman in her late 20s whose life is in shambles, stumbles upon a unique therapist who has the power to send her back to moments in her past to change the things she most regrets (or, more often, to change her perspective on those events). Time and time again I found the therapy to be more insightful than I expected (like - legit GREAT advice about life and relationships), the characters to be extremely well-developed, and overall for the situations that Erica found herself in to be surprisingly relate-able. Erica herself grew realistically as a character and was extremely sympathetic. Also in the plus column: the show is very LGBT-friendly, features main characters who are Jewish (and not just as a talking-point, but while exploring actual traditions and feelings towards them without feeling preachy or shoehorned-in), and the show seems to reference Dan Savage as a baseline for a healthy sex life.

My Mad, Fat Diary (available on YouTube) - I recently watched the full first season of this show (I have heard there will be a second season as well) and thoroughly... enjoyed it? I don't know if enjoy is the right word, because it is frequently full of uncomfortable, serious, or embarrassing situations (often all three at once) and hard truths. But it feels real, and it feels insightful. Plus I can't quite help enjoying those British accents. Based on a real-life diary of a teenager, it definitely feels authentic to the experience of being a teen, even if you aren't quite in Rae's situation. I know in particular, I related a lot to Rae's friendship with her "best friend" Chloe, which felt so familiar to a friendship that I used to have that it gave me goosebumps. Overall, very well done. Plus, fantastic 90's soundtrack.

Madoka Magica (available on Hulu Plus) - I went into this 12-episode anime knowing basically nothing except that it was an anime with 12 episodes called Madoka Magica so probably had to do with magic or something. My expectations were not high, and since I often watch things that aren't of the best quality (just to have something to watch or fill the time), this didn't bother me too much. What I found completely blew my mind. Not at first, mind you. The first few episodes presented a world in a specific way. It set up your expectations and for the most part, stuck with them. Then it did something that was shocking and reframed your expectations. And a few episodes later, it once again took those expectations and completely confounded them. By the end of the show, you have something you completely didn't expect, and it's something that is WELL worth your time. Saying much more than that would be akin to spoilers, but I'll say this: giving up before getting at least halfway through would be a waste. And if you're anything like me (and a few friends of mine that I showed this show to recently), getting past that point makes it hard to stop watching anyhow. Also, the art is gorgeous, the characters are nuanced, and the 12 episode run tells an entire story with a satisfying ending.

Girls (Season 1 available on iTunes) - I'd like to preface this by saying that I've currently only watched Season 1 because it is the only one available through legal means. HBO - please make your content available in ways other than purchasing cable - I will pay money for it, I promise! Anyway, Girls is interesting and funny and in some ways feels very new and fresh. My only real gripe is that pretty much all of the characters come across relatively unlikable - but remarkably, the show actually acknowledges this. And despite being unlikable, there's something about every character that is still relate-able. It's messy, like life, and uncomfortable, like life, but also entertaining. One of my favorite things about the show is that it really shows New York City, and not the glamorous, polished NYC of Sex and the City or Friends or How I Met Your Mother, but the unpolished city, the one with grungy streets and alleys and sort of gross subways, but also the one with so much potential. And it highlights some of the inherent contradictions of being in your 20's, where you don't know what you're doing but haven't quite realized that no one really does, where the very adults who have sheltered you for so long suddenly expect you to figure it out and sort of throw you into the deep end, and where survival feels a whole heck of a lot like drowning most of the time.

I believe I heard something about The Hunger Games through an article listing books to try now that the Harry Potter series is complete. Ender's Game was also on that list, so I figured I'd give the book a try and downloaded a sample on my Kindle. (Can I just say, by the way, that I am completely in love with my Kindle? I'm spending way, way too much on books, but I'm also reading so much more and discovering lots of awesome stuff.)

Months after I downloaded the sample, I was at the dentist's office, grumpy and having an awful week, and looking for something distracting to read so I would forget that any minute my dentist would be coming by and subjecting me to my 6-month cleaning. (Can you tell I hate going to the dentist? Because I really, really do.)

I was able to get through the sample of The Hunger Games (Book #1) while at the dentist's, and that was enough to hook me. That was a Thursday morning. Thursday evening I was already on to Catching Fire (Book #2). By Friday evening, I was finishing up Mockingjay (Book #3) and desperately trying to restrain myself from gushing about it ad nauseam to Brett, who can only put up with so much gushing of anything.

The basic plot is, in and of itself, pretty interesting, though I wouldn't exactly say original. Each year, 24 children -- mostly teenagers, but some as young as 12 years old -- are forcibly rounded up and put into a unique arena where they fight to the death. The entire thing is filmed as a reality TV show, and before the fight each of the children are given stylists and public interviews to win support from sponsors who can pay money to send their favorite players some badly-needed food or medicine or other supply.

The darker, more interesting side to this plot is this: why exactly do The Hunger Games exist in the first place? The answer is that the Capital -- the home of an oppressive, power-hungry government -- has instituted The Hunger Games as a way of keeping rebellion by the Districts in check. It is both punishment for an old rebellion, and is a way for The Capital to lord their power over the masses, to essentially say, "Don't fuck with us, because we can AND WILL get to your children." Creepy, right?

Even telling you all of this, I have spoiled almost nothing. Most of this you learn in the first chapter or two, and the rest is incidental. The real story lies in the experiences of main character Katniss, a tough, resourceful 16 year-old girl who, when her younger sister is chosen for the Hunger Games, volunteers herself instead. The heart of this story lies in Katniss's reactions to everything that happens to her and everything that is forced upon her, in how she is forced to fight to the death against children whom she'd rather ignore or befriend or protect.

These books may be mostly about children, but don't be mistaken. Good, innocent people die. The circumstances that Katniss is subjected to at times drives her to the point of madness and attempted suicide. She kills people and sees people killed on a whim, and the consequences of that aren't brushed aside.

There's a certain grimness and toughness and raw emotional core to these books that actually reminded me a little bit of The Walking Dead, though The Hunger Games probably not quite on the same scale. There's also a wonderfully-highlighted sense of contrast between the sparse, starving world of the Districts and the opulent, hedonistic world of the Capital... one that makes you think of our own world and how far off we really might be from theirs.

This series will grip you... will make you desperate to know how it ends. Be careful what you wish for, because the last book doesn't pull any punches... but you will feel satisfied when it is over.

Or mostly satisfied anyway, because I may have found a new author to add to my 'favorites' list, and it probably won't take me long to check out Suzanne Collins' other series, The Underland Chronicles.

And for those of you who disdain reading, they are making a movie version to be released in March 2012. I can't guarantee that it will be a good version (Lenny Kravitz as Cinna?? REALLY?!!) but I am hoping they do it some justice.

I consume a lot of media. TV shows, movies, music, books, games... any one of these things is what you're likely to find me doing if I'm trying to relax at home on any particular evening. Not all of what I consume is what most people would consider "good". Brett is fond of pointing out one of my guilty pleasures: The Secret Life of the American Teenager. (My only excuse for watching this, by the way, is that it's like a train wreck... I know it's terrible but I can't seem to look away. The acting is awful, the writing is worse, and sometimes I gotta watch to see how badly they're going to mess it up THIS time. Hey, better than Jersey Shore, right? Right? *crickets*)

Anyway, occasionally something comes along that absolutely GRIPS me... something where I am compelled to continue the story even at very inopportune times, and where the more I think back on the story, the better and richer it gets.

The Walking Dead is one of those stories. Brett convinced me to give it a try by showing me the first episode of the show, and then telling me the comics were better. I started reading issues on a Sunday evening, and I was completely caught up with almost 80 issues by that Thursday.

I was a bit hesitant to buy in at first. I thought the zombie thing had been overdone by now (though the series did start several years ago when the zombie fad wasn't yet tired). I've also never been much of a zombie fan. Sure, Shaun of the Dead was quite funny, and Buffy featured a zombie or two in its day, but the idea of zombies leaves me cold. They can't think or feel, you can't relate to them, and thus are only interesting as props.

And in fact, that's precisely what they are used as in The Walking Dead. They're not even all that scary... at least, not individually. They move slowly and are fairly easy to dispatch of with a baseball bat. They're only really scary when they surprise you, or you happen across a large group of them.

By relegating the zombies to props and plot devices, rather than the stars of the show, The Walking Dead has done something really wonderful... it allowed the focus of the story to be on the people. In a way, The Walking Dead is actually a sociological thought experiment on how human beings would really react in a world where most of societal structure has completely disintegrated almost overnight, where the world is a whole hell of a lot more dangerous and where you are forced to lose so many of the people you care about, often in a way that is more emotionally devastating than most deaths because the person's body still has the appearance of life, still looks like that person you know and love, but has become a beast that will kill you without hesitation.

So how do people react in that kind of world? Unsurprisingly, pretty much everyone goes a little bit crazy. Some more than others. Sociopaths runs rampant as that crazy mixes with the breakdown of society. Brutality and murder are viewed in an ethical light that is much greyer. But at the heart of it all, this is a deeply human story. In a world where life is so much more fleeting, it is also that much more precious. The family and the people you care about are what you hold on to, and indeed, what keeps you going on when you witness or do unspeakably horrible things that make you want to give up.

This story, it never takes the easy way out. Anyone, and I do mean ANYONE, can die. There is a particular revenge scene... one that is richly deserved... but it is pretty much the most disgusting, most fucked up torture scene that I have ever heard of... and the fact that on some level you cheer on the person performing those acts is enough to make you question your own humanity.

And at the same time, this is a story of hope and perseverance and love. Because really, in a world that so closely resembles a living hell, what else do you have?

I can't pretend to know how this story is going to end, because it isn't finished yet. Some part of me wants to hope that this won't be a tragedy, that somebody gets out alive. But maybe it will be a tragedy. Either way, though, I know it is a masterpiece.

Recently, Roger Ebert has re-stated his claim that videogames cannot be art.

I must respectfully disagree. The following is a comment that I posted on his blog.

( Read more...Collapse )

So I'm trying to decide what classes to take next semester.

I only have 4 classes left... Finance, an MIS elective, a Global elective, and a Leadership Strategy/Capstone Workshop (the last of which must be taken in the last 6 hours of the program).

There are two Graduate campuses... one in Timonium, which is 10 mins from me, and one in Columbia, which can be up to an hour in rush hour traffic. Obviously I've been avoiding Columbia like the plague, and thankfully that has worked... up until now.

Thankfully there are two sections of Finance being offered in Timonium, both of which are with a professor with excellent ratings. I will definitely be taking that class.

The only Global elective being offered in the spring is in Columbia, and with a professor who got mediocre ratings. So... I probably will wait to take my global elective until summer.

There are two MIS electives being offered in the spring, one on a topic that looks mildly interesting with a professor who got very good ratings but that is offered in Columbia, and one on a topic that looks dreadfully boring/hard with a professor who got mediocre ratings (and I have heard poor things about) but is offered in Timonium.

Which to choose? Terrible commute once a week with no time for dinner but a relatively easy/interesting class? Or a likely terrible class with a quick and easy commute?

I think I'm leaning towards the terrible commute... but it's a really tough choice.

Silk Spectre

From the movie/comic Watchmen. I tried the costume on and... well, it looks good, but it's a bit on the daring side. Plus there's really no creativity to be had. And its easily the most expensive of the costumes because I'd need a wig and boots to go with it and the costume alone is $50.

lady knight

Notice the 3 background dancers? I found that EXACT costume in the Halloween store. (Actually I only noticed it was the same costume when I was watching the video today.) I look decently cute in it (I think) and I could be a little creative with it (add a sword, some jewelery, maybe a half skirt type thing), and it's only $30. But I'm not in love with it.

Kaylee

Fairly straightforward but a bit of creativity (green overalls, blue kimono-style shirt, and make the parasol). But I'm very meh about this idea. Cute-ish but boring I guess?




I would really love to be Princess Zelda but that's a really intricate costume and I don't have that kind of time!



So guys, what should I be? Help me out and vote! And add your own suggestions. As you can see, I'm not crazy about ANY of my ideas. (Though maybe if you give me some ideas, I will be!)

It's been a while since I updated this, so here's something.

Not much has changed since my last real content update. I finished two classes (finally, thank god) and began another (Marketing) which I finished last night, and am starting another on Mon. I'm grateful for the weekend break because I am a tad burnt out.

One note of interest is that Brett got a new kitten! His name is Raz and he's awesome. Pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10430230@N03/sets/72157618293490182/

Celebrating my birthday this weekend with a few good friends and (hopefully) some sunshine, so that should be fun :)

Started and finished Six Feet Under (thank you Jess for lending me the DVDs!). Pretty good show, EXCELLENT finish. I cried. A lot. Now I'm re-watching them all, this time with Brett.

Looking forward to a vacation to Rehoboth in August. Things are really crazy and I will be very grateful for some time away and a chance to relax and read on the beach and play arcade games and spend some quality time with Brett. :)

Today I am 26. Every year I feel like new my age is so OLD, and then I get a year older and think "Ha! I thought THAT was old last year?" It's a strange feeling, for sure. I'm starting to think I should set goals for myself, like "start own business by age 29" so when I get to that age I'll feel better about being older, since I used the time well (assuming I accomplish the goal).

Of course, when I say I'm getting old at work, everyone laughs at me. And well they should. The next closest person to my age (by far) on my team is 29, and she's leaving in a few weeks! Everyone else is mid to late 30s and up. So I guess I have plenty of time and shouldn't worry about getting older. :)


I could talk about more, but it would be really mundane stuff, like "I really need to get the carpet cleaned" or "I really want to get a new computer but don't have the money". So I'll leave it here for now.

Au revoir, my friends! (Until next time!)

I can't stop listening to this album!

I've been really bad about updating LJ on what I've been up to! So here's the lowdown:

- I got better from my stupid viral labrynthitis illness (and also from the subsequent bad cold and back strain... boy was I a mess in February)

- I half-considered dropping out of grad school for several reasons. 1) I dislike both of my classes this semester (one more than the other by far), and 2) I am no longer going to be reimbursed for most of the classes I'm taking for the rest of the year. The class I really dislike is Risk Assessment... the subject matter is both too simple and too complex as presented, but it's really the professor and his arrogance/lack-of-teaching-skills that I dislike the most. Somehow I'm still hovering around a low A in the class anyway.

- Instead of dropping out, I'm sticking it out AND I signed up for two summer classes, to be paid for out of pocket (ouch), and I'm really excited about them. One's Marketing with what appears to be a good professor, and the other is all about e-Business technologies, which is right up my ally. So with a little luck, this summer will be less stressful than the spring semester.

- To add to the stress, however, work has really been amping up lately. It's mostly fun from my perspective, in that I'm creating and problem-solving and designing and basically doing what I seem to do best, but even good stress is stress, and there's a lot of it.

- In addition to the tuition reimbursement all but disappearing, my salary went down 5% and matching 401k contributions disappeared as well. This was across the board at my company. Given the economy, this isn't exactly a surprise, and given my already healthy salary, the hit isn't terrible. What is painful is the tuition cutbacks. To make a long story short, I'm trying to finish my grad degree by mid next year (probably end of summer) and in order to do that, I'll have to pay around $8k out of pocket, all of which would have previously been reimbursed. Well, this is assuming that tuition isn't coming back next year, which based on the economy and the way everything was phrased, I'm not counting on it.

- So basically, I need extra money. I've been looking into lots of different avenues, including helping my dad out with his website (www.frugalgolfer.com), student loans, and maybe refinancing my mortgage. I've been a little overwhelmed with my stupid classes (see above), work getting very busy (see above) and a recent trip to NYC (see below) to make much progress on any of these.

- Brett and I took a trip to NYC (planned long before my discovered money troubles and pulled out of separate funds) last weekend. Although we were very busy, a little sleep-deprived, and sometimes a bit cranky, we had a really good time. The best part by far was camping out all night to get standby tickets for SNL (which, even if you get them, is still a crapshoot), and then actually getting in to see the taping live! We also took tons of pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10430230@N03/sets/72157616594990659/ and got to see Sarah which was superawesome.

- The above NYC trip was to celebrate our 2 year anniversary. I can now officially say it's the longest and best relationship I've ever been in, and I anticipate it going longer and getting better and I'm so incredibly happy to have him in my life. Hooray!



So clearly there has been a lot going on. I can't deny that I'm a bit overwhelmed with it all... I have a 5 min presentation due tomorrow night and a 10-15 page paper due next week, neither of which I've started. I also have a big project due in about 3 weeks that I haven't started either. I planned to start all of it this past weekend, but I got trapped inside of a deliciously-lazy and unproductive pattern and accomplished nothing except getting lipstick stains out of an unfortunate batch of laundry.

My life will be so much simpler once grad school is all done.

I'm entertaining myself by looking up Celebrity Playlists on iTunes and seeing whose taste I agree/admire with.

So far: Rainn Wilson, Lewis Black, Ellen Page, John Cusack, Jason Lee, Jim Carrey, Drew Barrymore, and Sarah Silverman all have pretty decent taste. Kudos to them I suppose...?

I'm going to stop here actually. I could waste hours looking at these!

I thought it was about time I posted about what's going on with me right now. So here's the full story:

( Viral Labrynthitis, or, How I Learned To See The World Spin And Hate ItCollapse )

I would like to take just a moment and describe what has to be the funniest thing I've ever seen my cat do, ever.

So last night, Jen and Jess and I are hanging out on my living room, watching the Golden Globes and chatting, while Brett was in our bedroom, reading The Watchmen.

I hear Brett say something, though I can't quite make out what it is. Then, all of a sudden, a loud noise that sounds like something is falling... but the sound continues much longer than you would expect from just a simple "knocking over".

I stand up, but before I can go into the bedroom to investigate, out comes an incredibly speedy, white blur. (Apparently, Ripley had stuck her head into a paper 'Victoria's Secret' shopping bag, and when Brett told her to go away, she popped her head into the handle of the bag without realizing it and then took off.)

So she's zooming around the room at breakneck speed with a white bag attached to her by her neck. She runs around the living room to her favorite hiding spot, but since the thing "chasing her" followed her there, she continued without pause to run back into the bedroom, whereupon she turned right back around and ran out into the living room to her favorite hiding spot again, again without pause, and then finally into the kitchen in a corner where she froze, terrified, and I was finally able to take the (now torn in half) bag off of her neck.

Oh, poor Ripley. She was thoroughly spooked for the rest of the night. Still... it's one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. Jen and Jess and I were laughing about it pretty damn hard for a while there. :)

I got the DVD of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog in the mail on Monday, and I gotta say... 'Commentary! The Musical' is brilliant. I can't stop listening to several key songs, including 'Ten Dollar Solo', 'Heart (Broken)', and 'Better Than Neil'. And also 'It's All About The Art' and 'Ninja Ropes' and 'Zach's Flavor' and 'All About Me'. BRILLIANT, I TELL YOU. And hilarious.

I think I need a Dr. Horrible LJ icon, asap. (Edit: found two! Thanks Christa.)

"We're gonna pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick it apart, to find the tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, of a heart..."

"I'm better than Neil, in so many ways, it's almost unreal, oh sure he can sing, and piggies can squeal, it's not a big deal, I'm better..."

"It's all about me, it's all about me, it doesn't matter where I'm listed on IMDB, it's last, but in the meantime I think you'll agree, it's all about me..."

"They say Hollywood is heartless, and only the strongest survives, but I like it plenty, I gave Joss a twenty, and got back a dream and two fives, so here comes my, ten dollar solo..."

Whee! :)

Mostly I want to be either Katara or Starbuck, but I'm not sure anyone would know who I was if I dressed as Starbuck, and only the people I've gotten to watch Avatar would get the Katara thing. Also, I'm hesitant to dress as a pregnant teenager... I don't want anyone who hasn't seen me in a while to think it's real. Still, could be fun!

For reference, below:

Kara "Starbuck" Thrace


Katara


Juno


Kitty!

So, I was packing up all of my videogame stuff recently to sell on ebay, and I had a question about a storage case Brett owns. Basically - it's Nintendo branded, for NES games, and I couldn't find it anywhere on the internet so I was curious if it was rare. I decided to ask around, and ended up posting on GameFAQs about it. I checked back on it today, and the thread was kind of funny, because after answering my question (sort of) they commented on the fact that I mentioned a "boyfriend" but didn't specifically mention that I was female.

I decided to search under the username I'd used (etherealclarity, of course) to see if some enterprising soul could have found out had they wanted to, and I was a little shocked at how MUCH one could find out about me doing that. One blog came up that wasn't mine, but almost all of the rest of the links (except descriptions about ethereally clear music or views or something) were about me, and you could easily find out my full name, my age, where I work, what schools I went to, and even hear my voice by finding a voice post I did once in 2006 here on LJ.

I'm a little creeped out, but at least you can't find my address or phone number.


On the plus side, I'm hearing rumors about a Veronica Mars movie. No point counting chickens before they're even greenlighted, but a little hope never hurt nobody, right?

Don't answer that. :-P

Brett and I stopped by Ikea yesterday and picked up two more shelf units for DVDs that match the other 4 we had. The result looks sorta as if the old collection got pregnant. Some of this was spurred on by the purchase of several new DVDs: Futurama Season 2, Across the Universe, Traffic (only $5 at Target!), The Green Mile, and Planet of the Apes (original, not Marky Mark version) by me, and The Goonies, Wayne's World 1 & 2, and something else (I forget what) by Brett.

I finally put a bunch of our video game stuff up for sale on eBay. Getting it all gathered together and doing the research into how to list everything was kind of a pain, but now that it's all done I'm having fun watching the items get watched and bid on. I'm glad to be getting rid of some stuff... it's really going to reduce the clutter in the living room, and thankfully I can still download most of the games we're selling on the Wii Virtual Console.

I picked up a book called Everlost the other day at Barnes & Noble, and was pleasantly surprised and impressed. Somehow I forgot how captivating YA fiction can be, and how much more fun it is sometimes when compared to adult fiction. The story is wonderfully inventive and the characters are lots of fun. I read the whole thing in one afternoon.

Continuing with my rundown of media, I can't get the songs from Across the Universe out of my head... seriously, amazing. And speaking of amazement, My Morning Jacket's new album is awesome. I've also been listening to St. Vincent a lot recently... great stuff.

Things are starting to get busy again. Brett starts school tonight, and my semester starts next week. We're going to have to work hard at making time for each other, but I think we'll figure it out.

In general, things are good. I'm itching for a little bit of adventure though. I got a recent money windfall, so I stuffed a big chunk of it in my travel/vacation fund... now I'm just waiting for the perfect opportunity. A smaller portion of the money windfall is not spoken for yet, and I'm having trouble deciding what to do with it. I can think of a few cool things, but none of them really strike me as great ways to spend the money. I want something that I know I'll really enjoy and have fun with, which honestly rules out most of my ideas, probably because I already have most of the THINGS that really add enjoyment to my quality of life (e.g. my iPod, my awesome TV, a great couch, a great bed, a computer that works, books, movies, games, etc.). What a nice problem to have, though!

By the by, if anyone needs a website built or knows someone who does, drop me a line. I could use a project, and my rates are cheap(ish) :)

Back from Rehoboth! Man, that was a fun vacation. Brett and I really had a great time... ate out, went to the beach, built a fantabulous sandcastle (the pics are on Facebook AND Flickr, for anyone who's interested), went to the water park (I actually went down a few of the slides... and they really pushed my limits, but I somehow enjoyed them regardless), kicked ass at some boardwalk games (including plenty of Guitar Hero), played with glowsticks on the beach at night, walked EVERYWHERE, relaxed and got some reading done, had some personal time with each other (*wink* *wink*), and enjoyed some awesome weather.

And let me tell you, I really needed it.

On the downside, I did get a painful sunburn. And I missed Ripley. (She's on my lap now, purring away as per usual.)

Now it's back to the grind of everyday living of laundry, dishes, work, school, and play. Oddly, sometimes play is the hardest part... when I'm working all day and come home, the last thing I want to do is try and think of something fun to do, and if it involves additional energy, then often it's out. Generally that only leaves 'watch TV/movie/Dvd'... and while I think there is much more merit in those activities than people tend to give them credit for (see this as something of an example, though I think it's nicer to video games than it is to watching tv), it does get kinda old after a while. This is even more true for Brett (the 'tv getting old' thing), especially when the two of us really want to spend time together and the only thing I generally feel like doing after work is watching something.

I need a good, solid hobby. I just don't know when I'll find the time for one once school starts back up.

Things to look forward to: seeing The New Pornographers in concert in a few days! Also, generally hanging out with people. And getting Labor Day off in a few weeks. And planning for Halloween. (Though I'm debating whether or not I should go all out with a big party again or do a smaller shindig or nothing at all. Probably not the last notion, because it seems way too boring.)