So, a couple of weeks ago, UT Laura and I went to this steakhouse place. And this place loves Willie Nelson. Murals on the walls, albums hung up, decopaged collages on the tables. Texas Roadhouse <3 Willie Nelson.

So we're ordering, and I'm having trouble explaining to the waitress that I don't want anything with caffeine. Do they have Diet Sprite? No. Is their iced tea decaffeinated? No. Is their iced water just from the tap? Yes. (Ew. Austin's tap water reminds me of the water Lea Thompson pours Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part III.) Do they have bottled water? Let me go check. Ten minutes later she brings it back.

I had to remove the label as the bottle itself wouldn't scan properly.

Sometimes I wonder if my roommate is physically incapable of cooking without singing. Or, if she's incapable of cooking without singing while I'm trying to watch TV. Even in the other room, it's distracting. Like, I think God has gotten that you're praising Him already.

Why did they make Jack's hair so short this season? I don't like it. (Ha! Jane Espenson from accounting!)

So, my cousin and cousin-in-law sent me a Target gift card, and they (shockingly) didn't have BSG, so I picked up XF S2, newer, cheaper edition. But then I was like, I never finished watching S1, so I might as well start over. So I just got done watching the Pilot. And it's funny, because I never noticed it before (and it may just be me doing so much writing lately), but man oh man does the exposition fly early on. CC was like, I'll be sly. I'll have Scully exposit Mulder's backstory, and Mulder exposit hers! No one will ever notice it that way!

Heh, so I totally called in a noise complaint against the apartment next to me. Last night, 1:15, I'd had enough. They were so loud and rowdy that there was no way I was going to walk over and ask them to shut up already. The operator who runs the 24-hour apartment complex hotline said she was going to send someone over, and I stayed up a bit longer, reading, waiting for it, but I don't think anyone showed up. At 2am, I finally put earplugs in and fell asleep.

And people wonder why I hate people. (Actually, I don't think people do wonder. It's something you tend to take at face value. "I don't like most people." "Mmhmm.")

I had this bizarre pain in the middle of my hand, on the top of it, today. And I don't remember pulling anything or hitting it, although I must have. But still, I had this brief, millisecond thought of, "Is it stigmata?" Thanks, brain. You always quickly supply the best shots-in-the-dark.

So concludes my birthday. Thank you everyone for the assorted birthday wishes! They made me feel all warm inside, like a brandy sniffer, but not being all shaken.

Since I didn't get any school work done today, I have to work extra hard tomorrow. Bah. I'm looking forward to spring break; I'm feeling a little run-down. Writing two different things at the same time is hard, people.

So, I have watched a lot of shows with mythological underpinnings, some more blatant than others, but this is the first time I've seen someone pull a Kronos. So awesome.

Today was my absolute favoritest weather ever; about 55, windy, damp; it smelled like a greenhouse. I just wished that there was a nice place to take a walk nearby. There's the main river just north of me, but the path alongside it is right next to the street, with apartment buildings all over the place, so it's not exactly the great outdoors. So, I thought about going for a walk for about 30 seconds, then proceeded to watch TV and movies all day. "Yay! It's gorgeous outside!" *vegetate*

Why is it that when I decide to make something, something that suddenly sounds really, really good, and I get out the recipe, I'm always missing exactly one (1) ingredient?

I think I'm the only person out of all of us that hasn't watch any Olympics at all. I am just not at all interested in it this year for some reason.

So, I want to recommend Muse's "Butterflies and Hurricanes." I'd put it up, but unfortunately Laura bought it off iTunes. So, if you've got a buck. (Speaking which, Alyssa, what exactly are the Aqualung songs you're obsessed with?)

More pimping. I promise I'll stop now for a while.

Do you ever have mornings where you just can't get started doing whatever it is you're doing? I'm having one of those mornings.

Some pretty music for to download. They're from, um, a TV soundtrack.

My day: writing, groceries, writing, gym, writing, shower, writing. Nap. Writing, writing, writing. Internet break. The future: Writing. 24. Writing, writing. Sleepytime.

Although, if I finish my goal of ten pages today a bit earlier, I might finally get to watch Lost from last week. Yay! TV is a good reward, methinks.

My icon? Is pretty much what I felt like (and probably looked like) all day yesterday. I got up, started my computer back up from hibernate, and all the sounds sounded like they were very echo-y, like everything was getting run through a reverb channel. Through my headphones, through my speakers, through my laptop speakers. I fiddled with things, ran troubleshooters, ran a virus scan, defragged my computer, googled, did everything again...nothing.

I had to take an angry nap. (My day was also punctuated by CBS deciding to switch from the KU game to the UConn game. Not cool, CBS.) I got back up, and finally, at the end of my rope, did a system restore. And it worked. Huzzah! I have no idea what the hell happened, but my blood, it was boiling.

Today commences the week leading up to the celebration of my birth. A momentous time for me, as I am sure it for all of you. When I rule the world, there'll be parades.

ETA: Whoa. I published this, and went to make sure everything went up right, and I totally lost my BSG post. It's...gone. Blogger doesn't show it anymore in the edit posts list. What the hell? Has anyone else just had a post disappear in the great beyond after it had already been up before?

I think I'm going to start a new website called, When and Where I Was Today When "I Can Love You Like That" Popped Into My Head.

Every now and then I am struck by how much I appreciate going to school in a place that doesn't smell of stale exhaust all the time. It's just gorgeous outside right now; 75, windy, sunny, beautiful.

Alyssa, I have a question for you (just out of curiousity): I am taking an antihistamine because my frakkin' allergies are acting up again, so I'm kind of idly reading the back of the box while I'm brushing my teeth. And in the warning section, it warns against drowsiness, but then says that it might cause excitability. How can it do both?

If I were rich and famous, I would hire Laura to just make me funny Paint things every day.

I actually sat down tonight and looked at what I had in my freezer and my pantry, and planned out meals for the week, and figured out that I can buy, like, four things at the grocery store tomorrow and still have plenty to eat on for the whole week. I need to do that more often. I just kind of go and buy things without really paying attention to what I already have. And yes, this is about as exciting as my weekend has been.

I did laundry today, and I kind of have this fear that when I'm pregnant, I'm going to end up craving, like, detergent and bleach.

I don't have enough RAM to express how hilarious, and bittersweet, that was.

Sniff.

Lovely, lovely, blah day. It's raining out, I'm caught up on TV, and I'm just going to only worry about enjoying AD tonight and not thinking about anything else.

I'm craving pizza right now so bad I could scream.

Yay, I finally finished my Lost outline! You know it's eaten your brain when you don't dream about the episode, no, you dream about writing the episode. I'm not there yet, but all the scenes are beat out, so I'm very excited.

Locke v. Rousseau. Ooo.

I also just finished reading The Argonautica for class, and that was probably the best translation of a play/poem I've ever read. Very clear, easy to read, but it maintained all the metaphors and the beauty of the language. The Argonautica is such a strange story, though; you have all these heroes on this ship, all these sons and grandsons of gods, and yet time and time again, the day is saved by Medea. It makes me wonder if that's the reason that she ends up killing her children and villified; they had to find a way to deal with this woman who should not have been as powerful as she was. It's an interesting lesson to educated Greek women; just be content with your lot in life. Try to enter a man's world, and you end up like Medea. (Or Clytemnestra. Or Ariadne.)

It's always interesting to look at myths and stories from the perspective of what they tell us about the society that created them. What Medea says about the Greeks versus what, say, Buffy says about us. Too bad (heh) we don't have a paper due in this class; that would be an interesting topic to explore.

So. Battlestar Galactica. People should watch. It's really good.

"Chuck Norris sleeps with a night light. Not because Chuck Norris is afraid of the dark, but because the dark is afraid of Chuck Norris."

So, when KU beat Oklahoma today (!), I felt the way I figure people feel when their children are first born: an indescribable, kind of supernatural happiness. I was excited, people.

7 - The 5th Dimension - "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In"

(From the Forrest Gump soundtrack. Good times.)

I hope come Tuesday I don't have to email my professors to tell them, "Shannon can't come to class this week. Now she dead from allergies."

1319 - Johann Sebastian Bach - "Prelude"

Both of you can pick different numbers, heh.

Something has just bloomed down here, and I have not had allergies this bad since I was in elementary school. I just called my mom to go, "Moooooom, what do I doooooo?" Ugh.

1013 - Gogol Bordello - "Immigrant Punk"

Chuck Norris likes to knit sweaters in his free time. And by "knit", I mean "kick", and by "sweaters", I mean "babies".

Laura's scan of her completed crossword puzzle, like, inspired me. To do things. And then scan them. I'm still working on what those things are, but I'm definitely inspired.

So, there's a fun meme running around on Livejournal, that doesn't involve a long survey, which I am always for. I have 2489 songs in iTunes. Pick a number between 1 and 2489 and I'll upload the song (unless it's protected, in which case I'll upload the next closest one that isn't). I will upload it even if it's embarrassing.

From TWoP:

I said it a couple years ago and I'm saying it again tonight, "I love Aaron Pierce"! Next to Jack Bauer, he's the man I'd want watching my back. When I grow up and become POTUS, Aaron's going to be the first man to ever simultaneously hold the number one positions at the CIA, FBI and Homefuckingland Security.

Aaron Fucking Pierce is the best. Honestly. Kick ass.

I loved that Glenn Morshower finally got an episode that he was an integral part to. Go Pierce! As one of the three original surviving characters, he deserved it.

Aaron Pierce really came through tonight. I always thought Aaron was THE MAN.

Speculative Season Six plotline: Aaron runs for President (slogan: Taking The Bullet For America), since he's obviously smarter than the current occupant.

I love Aaron Pierce so much.

Aaron, have I told you lately that I love you? You rock, dude.

Bill Buchanan is the rockingest head of CTU ever. Aaron Pierce is the rockingest Secret Service agent ever. They should be put in charge of EVERYTHING. First assignment: the company I work for. That may take them a couple of years to sort out, but then they can knock out world peace the next week.

Jumping all over the Aaron love train. Is it wrong to find a balding, red-headed, middle-aged man incredibly sexy?

"Charles, I'm leaving you. I've found a real man. And on a totally unrelated issue, Aaron is quitting."