I am so tired of complaining about this to everybody and their mother, but oh god, my chest burns. This rash that I've got looks like it's getting better, but it's so uncomfortable, and I think it's partially from the cream that the doc gave me. It's econazole nitrate, and some of the side effects include burning & redness of the skin. I want to stop using it very badly, but I know can't. I am going to the dermatolgist tomorrow, and I'm hoping for something better. I started spreading aloe gel on it, which is soothing for like, three minutes.

In other news, I had a glorious day off, today. I'm completely caught up on TeeVee, and I started doing a bit of cleaning! Shocking, I know.

Who's watching Flashforward? Anybody?

I had my yearly review at Apple today. It went well, even though I had a really tough year there. A few months ago, I had what we call a 'touchbase', which means that my manager and I sit down and talk about my time on the job, what's working, and what's not. Last year was a good clusterfuck for me, and my monthly showed that.

However.

As terrible as my monthly was, it kinda kicked me the ass to do better. And I did, apparently almost right away, too. So I knew my yearly was going to be a little tough, it was actually much better than I was expecting. The part talking about my strengths was glowing, and the part with my opportunities ended with "Sarah has recommitted herself to her job" which made me SO HAPPY.

There's nothing like working your butt off, and getting that acknowledgement that you needed. Also, I got a tiny raise, (4%) which is nice.

In other news, I WANT THESE: Special Edition Neil Gaiman's Smoke & Mirrors - Special Edition Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere - Lisa Snelling's Neil Gaiman Poppet (I might actually buy the last one... Also, anybody sensing a theme here? And yet I have no Neil icons... hm, this is an issue.)

WHY AM I NOT INDEPENDENTLY WEALTHY SO I CAN OWN MY OWN LIBRARY?!

1. I've gotten my mother into Supernatural. She's a housewife, and complains that there's nothing on TV for her to watch during the day, so I set up the DVD player in the kitchen (the TV was always too old for a DVD player before) and taught her how to use it. And then I gave her my binder of 250 DVDs, opened it up to S1 of SPN and put the first disc in.

That was last week. She just started season 4 about an hour ago. I'm very proud of her, even if she thinks it's kinda silly (which you know, it kinda is... even if the boys are v. pretty).

2. I'm OBSESSED with Friday Night Lights. It's been streaming on Netflix, and when I finished that, I had to order season 3 from Amazon right away. Apparently, if you put hot boys in uniforms, I'll like anything. Including football.

3. I have a rash. I am miserable. I'm fairly certain it's a fungus, which is SO gross, because it's all over my neck and the underside of my chin. Last week, the doctor gave me steroid pack to take, and four days later, when it didn't get any better, and in fact, got a lot worse, AND I gave it to my coworker Justine, I went back and he gave me some anti-fungal cream. I feel very. very. very. Gross.

Ugh. I really just want to whine, lol.

meme: a sharing week

Seven days of sharing; this is day two.

day one. a song.
day two. ( a picture )
day three. a book/ebook/fanfic
day four. a site
day five. a youtube clip
day six. a quote
day seven. whatever tickles your fancy

Day Two: My birthday in July 1st, right smack in the middle of the summer. For my Sweet Sixteen, I didn't have a giant party in a hall, like most girls... I had a costume party. So this picture is my and (at the time) my three best friends. We had dressed up as Spice Girls, and I was Scary Spice. It was a great party, and I loved our costumes, but this photo is vaguely bittersweet for me. Of those three girls, I'm only still friends with one of them, Sporty Spice, on the right.

Day One: the song is Running the Dark, Alone. It's by MaryBeth, and it's one of her Dr. Who/Torchwood songs, about Jack Harkness. It's utterly brilliant, and vaguly spoilery for Torchwood, but I haven't seen it yet, and I wasn't upset by the song. It's beautiful, and everybody should listen to it.

I have had an amazingly busy & fun week. I worked from Monday & Tuesday, got sick on Wednesday, so I called out of work, and ended up with 5 days off. Of which, today is the last day. It's been AMAZING. I was supposed to go down to Dragon*Con, but last minute plans fell through, so I stayed up in good ole New York instead.

BUT. There was awesome adventures anyway! My friend MaryBeth is a Wizard Rocker, or Wrocker, if you will. If are a Harry Potter fan, and you don't know what that is, you are missing out, let me tell you. She's a musican that makes music about Harry Potter, and there's a WHOLE genre of it on the internets. (Go to myspace.com/naginilove if you want to check her out, she's pretty good... ) Anyway, her friend Zoe is visiting from the UK, and she's also a Wrocker, so last Friday night, the two of them played a show in Brooklyn, which was awesome and super chill. It was Zoe first show in a long time, but she rocked it. I took some video, that I will be soon fashioning into something real to watch, I'll post it when I do.

Then we spent the rest of the week watching a TON of Dr. Who. MaryBeth recently got me into it, and OMG, I'm obessed. It's such a good show, I'm kicking myself for not watching it in the first place.

This past friday, we went to this recording studio that MaryBeth's friend John owns, and the two girls recording a joint album together, which sounds AMAZING. I can't wait for it to be finished mastering, I'm going to listen to the CD on repeat. It's half Harry Potter music, and half Dr. Who (which is called Trock [Time Lord Rock]). I also took video of that, it will be shared soon.

AND THEN, on Saturday we went to the Renn Faire. It was a day filled with sun and friends and meat on a stick and awesome. I took pictures!

( Click for pics! )


And then I spent Sunday and today recovering. It was a long couple of days, lol.

Anyway, I like this meme thing, so....

meme: a sharing week

Seven days of sharing; this is day one.

day one. a song.
day two. a picture
day three. a book/ebook/fanfic
day four. a site
day five. a youtube clip
day six. a quote
day seven. whatever tickles your fancy


Day One: the song is Running the Dark, Alone. It's by MaryBeth, and it's one of her Dr. Who/Torchwood songs, about Jack Harkness. It's utterly brilliant, and vaguly spoilery for Torchwood, but I haven't seen it yet, and I wasn't upset by the song. It's beautiful, and everybody should listen to it.

Danielle: lets just run away together
to romania
and become gypsys
*nods enthusiastically for the both of us
Sarah: ooh Instead of Romania, lets go to England and become recluse scholars
Danielle: oh good
i like that too
Sarah: we can get a little cottage
Danielle: awww
Sarah: and just line the walls with books
Danielle: YES
omg
this is making me jealous
Sarah: with a room with a southern view, with all glass
Danielle: i want this
with rich velvet
Sarah: that we can use for our art
Danielle: draperies
Sarah: and tapestries we make our selves
Danielle: with unicorns
Sarah:and mythical beasts

(This message brought to you by AIM and two forlorn and overly imaginative girls...)

So I've been meaning to make this post for a LONG time, but for some reason or another, I just never got around to it. There are a lot of factors to this, but mostly I just wasn't feeling very fannish, or very inspired. Between work and real life, by the time I got to the internet, I was just too tired to participate in much.

However. I have recently been reinvigorated. Thank you Star Trek, Harry Potter & Dr Who. Also, thank you friends who make me watch TV when I'm not sure if I want to.

So my last update was on election day. That was um, 9 months ago? So um, I could attempt to recap all of that, but I won't do that too anybody. Basically, life happened. I went to work every day. I took a trip to Maine to see rissaqjennings that was awesome; took a trip New Orleans to see my best friend that ended a friendship. Went to I-CON 28 and am now planning my trip to Dragon*Con. Hung out with all of my awesome friends, and recently re-evaluated who I considering 'awesome friends'. Also, am getting ready to start a Wizard Wrock band.

TL;DR - STUFF HAPPENED AND IT WAS BORING, PEOPLE.

Recently, I realized that I wasn't that happy with my life, so I decided to come back to the stuff that makes me smile. Fandom is that place, so here I am! I expect at some point in the very near future I'll be making graphics and stuff again. And maybe even doing a bit of drabbling once again.

So, did you miss me? (LIE TO ME PLEASE!)

Four years ago, I was sitting in much the same spot, in front of my computer and my television, frantically refreshing my browser while CNN played on my TV, a chat window open with a few friends, keeping me sane after my first presidental election. Last time, close to the same time as it is RIGHT now, I was watching my TV in dismay, completely unbelieving that Bush had been voted in for a second term. But then I was only 21, young and only caring about politics in a very vague way. It stunned and upset me, but I knew we'd move on, and we'd live through it.

Well, we lived through it. Four years later I have friends fighting in a war I don't believe in, boys who love each other, and can't get married, a cousin who lost his job in the stock market crash, and a father who's afriad he might lose his. I work for a retail store, and I would have to be worried about my job if a real recession hits.

This time, it's real and it's close to him.

Now, I'm sitting in my bed, my TV on and my laptop working overtime, with a chat window open and facebook and my blogs and my friends blogs as we all waited to find out the results of the election that will be in the history books. One day, my children are going to read about this, and I can say that I was there, that I helped and voted and actually made a difference. I helped to make history today. What an amazing feeling. CNN said "We're going to remember where we were on this historical night." And that's so true (though my answer to my friend Tara was 'In bed? Blogging?').

I have coworkers whose facebook status is things like “I’ll keep my freedom, my guns, and my money. You can keep THE CHANGE.” VOTE MCCAIN-PALIN 08." Romans 1:16. and feels like Americans just f#$ked themselves over by electing Obama. Socialism is not the answer. and even prays that McCain and Palin win. If not, America will get what it asked for. Hope they're ready for the consequences.

But as I sit here watching Obama's speech, and I can't be anything but hopeful. How can you not be, listening to somebody talk about how they want to fix this, how they want to make this country united and respected again. And gods, how do you not love Michele Obama? She's the definition of class and eloquence, and he's kids are SUPER CUTE. They're getting a puppy, yay!

This night I have cried, but not the sad tears. These are the tears of a person who believes again, who can't stop smiling and giggling.

I'm having a party on Inauguration Day.

HE WON HE WON HE WON

I'm crying, I'm SERIOUSLY CRYING, PEOPLE.

andnowI'mhavingapanicattack

*deep breath*

I was FINE all day, despite being nervous nervous, but as soon as I got into my little voting booth, I suddenly realized "OMG, THIS IS IT," clicked my little Obama lever (and then down the rest of the party lines), got into my car

AND PROCEEDED TO FREAK OUT.

We're going out tonight, for my coworkers 21st birthday, to a bar where we can chill and watch CNN like crazy people. Well, where I can watch CNN like a crazy person. It's either that, or sitting in my bedroom watching CNN alone.

God, can it be over already, please?

Hi everybody and welcome to November, and guess what?! It's time for Christmas Cards! Usually, I like to make my cards by hand, so I like the get an idea of about how many I'm going to need to make. In order to make this SUPER easy for me, I made a Google Poll, instead of an LJ poll, because this will email me when there's a new response, and I won't have to jump between LJ and IJ for results.

Click here for form!

No on Prop 8
Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.

Guys. GUYS. I LOVE MY COMPANY.

No matter the drama that goes down, no matter what people say about Apple Geeks being nerds, or the fact that I'm an Apple Fangirl (hee!), this is the reason why I work for my company.

Oh my god, you guys. I basically (almost) have had the best weekend ever. All week, I'm been working with my friends MaryBeth & Dan on their Wizard Wrock music, (check them out over at myspace.com/naginilove! I even made them a music video!)

Anyway, it was a crazy week getting CD's made and t-shirts and editing videos and all kinds of stuff that go with being a Harry Potter geek and loving Wizard Wrock, and all so we can get ready for an awesome fun weekend of even MORE WROCK!

MaryBeth aka Nagini had volunteered to play at Wrock for Dafur, this awesome event upstate that was a benefit concert for Darfur. We had a great time, Nagini featuring Alstor (our friend Dan) rocked it with some awesome music. We made some really good new friends, and I got to meet Andrew Slack, the founder of the HP Alliance. He was such a cool guy, and SO passionate about everything that he believes in, it's impossible not to believe it too. The event itself was really big, in a park right on the Husdon River that was really pretty. We had a great day, and raised a lot of money. It was really inspiring, to the point that I want to host my own house party.

We spent the night at the local Unitarian church, with the girls that ran the event, and the awesome friends that we made. There was a lot of giggling involved, and not a lot of sleep, considering we were with something like 12 teenage girls, but I haven't had that much fun in a night in a long time. I didn't even mind the 4 hours of sleep on a hard floor at all.

After that, we got in the car and started to drive the 2 hours to the local(ish) Ren Faire (it was the weekend of Magic & Mystery), and got horribly lost, which wasn't that bad, as we made it in time for Nagini to check in and get our passes for the day. We had a great time there, too, where Nagini and Alstor played two sets, and we did a little shopping and chilled out in the heat. At the end of the day, they played at the Pub, where they were the only people not singing bawdy chanteys, but were still much loved by all. It was probably their best performance all weekend, and very very awesome.

However.

We were getting ready to drive back home (a two hour drive, or so) when I realized my brakes weren't really responding the way they're supposed to. As in, not at all. So we pulled over, Dan called AAA, and we got towed to the local shop. I would like to point out that it's something like 9pm on a Sunday night, in a place were they still have Blue Laws, so there was no way we were getting it fixed then. We had to book a room at a hotel (spending ALL the money we made on CD's) and leave my car.

This morning, we called the mechanic, who told us that my brakes were rotted out, and I need a whole lot of stuff done to get it drivable, and here's the best part... THEY CAN'T DO IT ALL TODAY. Um. Awesome. Really. Right now, we're waiting on an estimate, so I can call my dad and hope against hope he can help me pay for it, as I don't think I'll be able to do it all myself. We're chilling in the hotel lobby, which has internet, at least. before deciding if we're going to take a train home or call Dan's mom to see if she'll pick us up. I had to call out from work, and Dan might miss his interview at Apple, but at least we're with each other, and we got to sleep in comfortable beds and shower, even if we don't really have clean clothing, at least my hair has been washed and brushed.

Guess what guess what guess what?!

I got a tattoo!

http://gallery.me.com/faile02#100024

Anybody that can guess where it's from gets a cookie!

(I figured it was time to post for mine.)

So, as I cannot afford to make it all the way across the country *sob* for Xie's Pridefest, I'll be having my own thing in New York.

I'll be with a bunch of my boys, including my quietly gay coworker, and (hopefully) my fabulously gay ex-boyfriend. However, if there are ANY QaFers who are planning on going, and would like to meet up, let me know! I would love it to be our own little gathering.

Here are my pictures from last year.: http://gallery.mac.com/faile02/100008


***

In other news, I really haven't updated since MAY? SERIOUSLY? I swear, I'm on this thing every day... I don't know why I haven't managed to update. I think a lot of it has to do with working with both people and computers all day. All I want to do when I get home is watch a movie or read and get as far away from the computer as possible. Not really good for my fandom life.

I was recently outed at work for writing gay porn. Specifically gay Harry Potter porn. My coworker dared me to recite some aloud (we were at Dave & Busters, in the bar) and I nearly peed myself, I was laughing so hard. He didn't think I would do it... Honestly, playing the HP fandom has made me incapable of embarrassment. Anyway, now I'm writing him some Harry/Ron, in the Gryffindor Common room, with the invisiblity cloak, and possibly an engorgement charm. He said he wanted freaky magic sex. I'm not very good with freaky magic sex, but I think that'll do it for him. Besides, it's been awhile since I wrote actual porn, I'm a little rusty.

I finally got Photoshop installed on my Mac. Expect a graphic meme in the near future.

Speaking of macs... I have this awesome MacBook Pro, with this awesome built in iSight (webcam).... Anybody want to video/audio chat one of these days? I promise it'll be fun! I'm fun to talk to, really!

****

And now, a poll! I had an arguement with a friend the other day, that people who tend to be more liberal more often use Macs. Obiviously this isn't the case of all lIberal people, or Apple would have a much larger market share, but I stared wondering how many QaFers used them, as we're some of the most liberal people I know. So. Poll for me!

Poll #1902
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

The type of computer I use is

Alright Friends List! As probably not unexpected from my post yesterday, I'm kinda whiney today. SO.

SHOW ME YOUR HAPPY PLACE! (I expect lots and lots of half-nekkid men spam.)

Here's mine:
( My happy place )

First, let me apologize to all the moms on my flist. This isn't really directed at you, just a general grumble on my part. I hope those of you who are mothers had a good day with your children/family.

( but for me, this is why I hate Mother's Day )

And yet, even after all that, still bought her flowers.

...In other news, I bought a plane ticket to Boston! I get to see my sister over Memorial Day weekend! Yay! I miss my (not so) little sis.

I'm broke. I'm so broke, it's not even funny. I'm not really sure where my money goes, I just know that it slowly disappears into the void that is food, gas, drinks, DVD's, and books.

Oh wait. Maybe that's where it's going...

Anyway, the point of this is that I'm in debt. Not terribly so, but enough that it's a little worriesome for me, as I want to move out by August. Today, my Dad attempted to take control of my fiances, which I wasn't too pleased with. I compromised with him, and instead I'm going to give him half my paycheck, instead. It's a pretty decent trade. On the week that I don't have to pay my car insurance bill, giving him half still leaves me with about $200 to play with. Of course, I need to save that too, because I want to be able to afford rent/security/random deposits in August, not to mention airfare to New Orleans to visit my friend Tara, and attempting to use the $500 that I spent last January on a trip to Denmark.

*sigh* I need another raise, please.

***

In other news has anybody seen Iron Man yet? If not, OMG GO SEE IT RIGHT NOW IT WAS AMAZING AND THE COMIC BOOK NERD IN ME FLIPPED OUT AT THE END. Also? Robert Downey Jr. has a smokin' body. His face doesn't do much for me, but good gods, is he built. And he wore a lot of wife beaters. It was hot.

Side note-- Stay for the credits. Believe me, it'll be worth it. I just near about fell out of my seat, at the little bit in the end. Gah, I want to see it again, it was so good.

***

I'm getting ready to head over to giventofly37's place, for some fangirl fun with my girls, but when I get back, I'm going to make a post about a QaF podcast. But seriously you guys, I REALLY need (at least) a few other people to help me out with this. Nobody is going to want to listen to me talking to my self about the show. I think a discussion would go over much better!

Okay, you people need to poke me when I'm not around for days on end, okay? I didn't mean to disappear, but um, hi? Sorry?

Aaaanyway. I've been using my brand-new MacBook Pro for the last week or so. It's so pretty and I love the new multi-gesture touch on it. (It's the same as the MacBook Air). Three finger swipe to go back a page? Yeah, I'll take it. It's so much fun. Also? Having a computer that works is always exciting.

With this new computer comes some awesome new skillz. Like a built in webcam and microphone. Do you know what that means?

Of course you don't, so I'm going to tell you.

It means it's Podcast time, people!

I now have the abilities to help create a QaF podcast, both with recording, editing, & hosting. Who's with me?! Anybody?

I recently loaned my friend S1, which she watched in like, two days. I'm excited to give her S2, and hopefully we'll be able to actually watch it together this time, though she's coming up on finals, so we'll have to see. But I'm planning on converting her... It'll be fun to have a newbie over here!

Also, can we just talk about how I'm completely and totally in love with Obama? I'm not really sure how or when that happened, as I always liked him, but the other day, I spent about 4 hours watching various videos of his. Like, I couldn't stop. When I'm in a bad mood, listening to him talk makes me feel better. I might have possibly downloaded the audio book of The Audacity of Hope (even though I own the hard copy) just because he reads it. You guys, I have an obsession. This might be a problem... I even want to buy Obama clothing!