constance: (relax.)
constance ([personal profile] constance) wrote2008-01-01 07:35 pm

Ring in the new

Wow, has it really been two weeks? I keep meaning to sit down and write, but either I am not having the time or the internets are not having me, and so I missed most of the holiday season. I do have things to say, but for now, I will just wish you all the very happiest of all possible 2008s.




Personal: Oy, it's all personal to me! Generally, though, I am in an excellent headspace these days, my friends. I am sitting in my study writing this on the clearest, windiest (the porch chairs are trembling!), most beautiful winter afternoon. It is the first day of 2008, after kind of a hard 2007. It is a good way to start.

Professional: I did have to go in to work this morning for a little while. On New Year's Day! It doesn't seem right that while most people experience a dead halt in all incoming work on the last week of the year, my own workload increases tenfold, and then for the server go down yesterday! Of all times! Working alone in an office, though, it carries its own subtle pleasures. The pleasures of the radio turned up loud, the pleasures of uninterrupted time. The combination of the two means that you finish much more quickly than you would with the phone ringing every ten minutes. And you know, if this is the worst I can say about my job, then I think I'll stick around for a while.

Medical: OMG, it turns out that all those soi-disant "Medical Professionals" who natter on about "eating a balanced diet" and "getting exercise" being "good for you" are right. Now that I am not eating at restaurants for every meal, now that I am working out, not only have I lost weight (which was why I embarked on this health kick in the first place), but also! My blood pressure is down. My cholesterol is down. I have more energy. I sleep better. And for the first time ever in a ten-year history of regular blood and platelet donation, they are not spinning my blood through a hemastat to determine whether my iron levels are high enough to donate. They just are! We all know it! I never thought the sight of a drop of blood sinking steadily in liquid could be so sublimely satisfying, but it is. And I thought I was healthy before, really, but now that I know what good health really tastes like, I'm not missing those cheeseburgers so much.

Dietary: I have preempted this one! Oh well.

Physical: Okay, is it just me, or are the worlds of the Medical/Dietary/Physical so interrelated as to be kind of hard to differentiate? Maybe better planning or more smartnesses would have yielded three separate answers on my part, but. I am not going back; you're just going to have to live with my one answer! Here's another thing, though, that I only now thought of: I must need new glasses, or possibly my middle age is settling more firmly over me, because I am sometimes having trouble reading tiny print. Don't tell anyone, though; it will be our secret.

Domestic: I am still so in love with my house that most of my other passions, and I have many enthusiastic passions, dim by comparison. There are the pets, though, who are at least as beloved, and the ones who survived the year are well, and one of my two New Year's resolutions is to get the dog into school. I think he'd be good at herding. Or agility.

Creative (fannish): Just a few things. None of them particularly wonderful, but I do love thinking about my house for Harry and Ginny, because I love thinking about houses. And Harry. And Ginny. And Harry and Ginny. (Also, I owe a couple of people stories and I haven't forgotten.)

Creative (original): I don't know whether I should be embarrassed or not to admit that most of my creative energies this year have been poured into this bloglike thing. Sure, there's the occasional project, but for the most part, this is what I like best, the internet and you and me. We work well together.

Literary: My favorite book read this year was, I think, The Yiddish Policeman's Union, but I was also most fond of Kafka on the Shore. This year I also read all the Mary Poppins books for the first time (hi, [livejournal.com profile] amelia_eve!), a truckload of comics, most of which were recommended by you, and William T. Vollman's Rising Up and Rising Down, among other things. I recommend all.

Cinematic: I don't go to the movies much any more, which means that there's usually some lag time before I get round to seeing a thing. But I loved Across the Universe and Grindhouse, and that one sequence in Waitress makes me want to be in love, and I thought Paprika was a kick, and I Am Legend hit me so unexpectedly hard, for reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture, that I had to go collect myself in the ladies' room for a few minutes. And I've got several movies all ready to watch (There Will Be Blood, American Gangster, Persepolis, Hot Fuzz, Sicko, Sweeney Todd, and so many more!). I was going to see them over the holidays, but did I mention being busy? It just never happened. It'll happen eventually.

And I'm wishing for a new Miyazaki film in 2008. I'm in the mood for another one.

Theatrical: What is this thing you call the theatre? I would've liked to have seen [livejournal.com profile] octoberstory in Amadeus this summer, but alas, no time to hit the midwestern theater circuit.

Political: I AM READY FOR IT TO BE OVER. ONE MORE YEAR. I know, I know, that not much will change. But I keep hoping, against all odds, against all indications to the contrary, that this time they really, really will. What a sap I am.

[identity profile] trickpie.livejournal.com 2008-01-02 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
Happy new year! ♥ Hooray in particular for the Medical et al section/s.

[identity profile] tofty.livejournal.com 2008-01-03 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
♥♥♥♥!

[identity profile] octoberstory.livejournal.com 2008-01-02 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
HAPPY NEW YEAR! :D

[identity profile] tofty.livejournal.com 2008-01-03 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
To you too! :D:D:D:D:D

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_swallow/ 2008-01-02 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
Hey! I just got your card (well, it arrived at my house some time ago, but was set aside by my well-meaning parents and I finally found it). How sweet! Thank you very much.

And happy new year.

[identity profile] tofty.livejournal.com 2008-01-03 01:27 am (UTC)(link)
Hahaha! I'm glad you got it in the end, anyway! :D

[identity profile] dahlia-777.livejournal.com 2008-01-02 06:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Happy New Year, sweetie!

OT: have you seen BSG Razor yet?? Someone got it for me and it's great. I won't say any more though until I know you've seen it. Bring on S4!

[identity profile] octoberstory.livejournal.com 2008-01-02 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I v. much agree re: Razor and S4!

[identity profile] tofty.livejournal.com 2008-01-03 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
ME TOO :O

[identity profile] tofty.livejournal.com 2008-01-03 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
I HAVE! Just a couple of weeks ago, as a matter of fact -- I loved it too, and found the hybrid's revelation about Starbuck to be especially frustrating given that Ron Moore has suggested that season four might not ever air in its entirety. WE HAD BETTER FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS, DAMN IT.

*weeps tears of blood*
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[identity profile] tofty.livejournal.com 2008-01-10 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
WELL DO THEY? You cannot say something like this and then just leave me hanging!

[identity profile] dahlia-777.livejournal.com 2008-01-13 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Haha! Most of them I think.

Scarecrow - hell YES. Especially after reading that Nutkin story.
Hell House - yes, can totally see the prank war getting out of hand. In fact I'm sure I've read a fic along those lines. Will let you know if I remember it.
Provenance - Hmm. Maybe. Bit of a stretch considering Sam gets off with someone else at the end. Jealousy possibilities though.
Playthings - DEFINITELY.
Born Under A Bad Sign - !!! XXX !!!
Tall Tales - make-up sex!
What Is And What Should Never Be - comfort sex!
Bad Day At Black Rock - Dean would need cheering up so probably.
Red Sky At Morning - Possibly... though Sam showed distressingly little jealousy of Bela. Btw I read an interview with Kripke that said he had most regrets about that ep from S3. (Despoilered version here (http://community.livejournal.com/spnfencentral/121468.html)). I get his explanation but I loved that ep anyway.
A Very Supernatural Christmas - Enough said.

[identity profile] amelia-eve.livejournal.com 2008-01-02 09:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Hi indeed! I'd love to hear more about what you thought about Mary Poppins. They are major comfort reads for me, even though I find them more quirky and uncanny every time I revisit them.

I think it's my ongoing attraction to the magical outsider. I carried my parrot head umbrella just yesterday!

[identity profile] tofty.livejournal.com 2008-01-03 01:58 am (UTC)(link)
ongoing attraction to the magical outsider

Oh, yes! But Poppins differs from Certain Other Magical outsiders in that she has a decidedly strong opinion of herself. I love that in her, actually. And I love the fact that Michael and Jane just kind of accept the things that happen around Mary Poppins as a matter of course; well, they would, wouldn't they?

I love the idea of you with your parrot's head umbrella. *beams at you*

[identity profile] amelia-eve.livejournal.com 2008-01-03 03:47 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, she's wonderfully cocky, isn't she? But as you well know, a nanny must demonstrate authority from the get-go or there's no hope at all.

She also shows a lot of ambiguous qualities -- rather like Dumbledore or the Queen of the Night. I appreciate her edginess.
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[identity profile] ainsley.livejournal.com 2008-01-03 03:54 am (UTC)(link)
Belatedly, happy new year! May it be magnificent.

[identity profile] tofty.livejournal.com 2008-01-04 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you, and you too! Hope you have lots of extra spoons at the end of every day. *hugs*
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[identity profile] ainsley.livejournal.com 2008-01-06 07:39 am (UTC)(link)
That's the best hope EVER.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3