Confessions of a One-Track Mind

Mb collected me at oh-dark-thirty last Monday morning. We went to the food bank (and were out by 8:45, so you KNOW we got there early!). From there, we went back to her place, where I stayed until Saturday afternoon.

I'm greeter at church in a few hours, so I won't be up very much longer, but I wanted to catch you all up a little.

For instance, when I checked my mailbox, there was a package from dine, with an excellent vintage tablecloth. Incentive to unfuck the dining table, I hope.... Thanks, hon!

I spent some of BigRed's GC from WalMart...got a new hairbrush and some hair tint. The dark blonde tint is absurdly subtle, but it covers my grey and is less washed-out looking than my natural color, so it was worth the $3.

( TV chatter, cut for the spoiler-phobic: )

I still haven't got the new microwave squared away. It's on my to-do list. Haven't talked to J since the great canasta-meatloaf debacle. Need to find the sticker for my tag and stick it on, lest I get in trouble.

Okay, I need to get my ass to bed....

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If your ears are keen, you may have heard me squeeing. This evening, after Mb and I went out for "coffee", I came home to the new Entertainment Weekly in my mailbox, and thumbing through it, I found out that Alphas will be back on SYFY in a few weeks. Happy, happy! (I'm also looking forward to the "Dallas" reboot as a guilty pleasure.)

Then to really knock it out of the park, I heard from GK, who went to the Comic Expo in Albuquerque today. According to her, "I met Adam Baldwin today! Got about four or five minutes, just him and me (and his aide). I got to shake his hand (twice), he looked me in the eyes and took his time. I was one of the first to see him on the first day of comicon so he was still fresh, i guess. I told him all about you and got him to sign an 8x10 made out to Fluffy! I also told him you liked Clancy Brown and he laughed and said how cool he is, that they know each other. SO! happy early birthday, I have pic in protective rigid 8x10 cover (also wore an "I (heart) Jayne" pin and he said, "I like your pin!". So that's yours too. :-) I'll bring on it June 21st...." Now all I need is a nice frame---and a suitable place to display it! Although..."I told him all about you"?! Oh, to be a fly on the wall for THAT.

Quotes around coffee because I never touch the stuff, and it wasn't all she had, either. Heads up, their new Real Banana milkshakes? Really have chunks of banana in them. It was divine, although butter pecan is still my favorite. Had that with bacon-chili-cheese fries and was blissed. Enjoyed the time with Mb---lately she's had stuff going on, so we haven't seen much of each other. It was nice to just sit and schmooze---and get out of the house for a couple hours---I haven't been anywhere since Monday. Sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in flypaper....

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Mb agrees with me that the haircut is BAD. I was at her place last night---A/C, fabu! and we took advantage of her local pizzaria's two-fer Tuesday deal. (I've been craving pizza for weeks; I earned it.) It was a good night for to stay in and schmooze---it started raining fish just after we got in with the 'za.

I commandeered the remote for "Secrets of the Museum", which I really like. Asked Mb if it was geeking her out too much, she said no, it was kind of interesting to listen to while she was gaming on her computer. I told her watching this kind of thing is why I have such an array of trivia accumulated in my brain.

Had a dream, something about my dad being a junkman and bringing in a bunch of stuff. I was trying to find a big metal frame that I'd seen, to turn it into a room divider. Couldn't find it. There were several very old wheelchairs, and then I saw a really cool ironing board. I'm not sure how the mechanism worked, but when it was set up, it had a vertical pole beside it with horizontal bars so you could put hangers with freshly ironed garments on them. It was chrome-plated and really shiny and I'm lusting after it even now. I should invent it, if it hasn't been already.

*yawn*

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We had welcome rain this afternoon. I, mad woman that I am, went out and stood in it for five minutes then came in and took a (cold) shower and washed my hair.

It cooled things down a smidge, by which I mean it's "only" 85F.

Talked to GK yesterday...she wanted to ask what I thought of EW's Johnny Depp/Dark Shadows cover this week, and I kinda went, "Whoops!" Because, although she got a subscription for me a year ago and renewed it for my birthday, the episode of the missing mailbox kinda screwed it up. As I mentioned at the time, the post office started sending things back, including EW, leading them to cancel my subscription.

I had so much other stuff on my mind at the time that it never occured to me to mention it to GK. (I hadn't really missed it, truth be told.) However, at her request, I dug out a back issue, read her my account number, and she's going to follow up. Meanwhile, I need to snag this issue while it's still on the stands. I'm really looking forward to the new Dark Shadows, campy as it promises to be.

YouTube threw the new Spiderman preview at me while I was looking at something else, which motivated me to look it up on IMDb. Some of the casting made me cackle aloud. Campbell Scott, for instance, whom j'adore as Boris the Billionaire on Royal Pains (Returning June 6th).

I am fighting the good fight---and the urge to call for a pizza....

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I didn't actually get to sleep last night til after midnight. Then my eyes popped open around 4:30 and refused to let me go back to sleep. Swell.

That did give me a chance to get somewhat caught up on my DVR trove. Yesterday's Adam-12s (two eps back-to-back) were both from 1974/75*. One had a female!police!officer! riding with Reed because Malloy was filling on for Mack, who was busy on assignment elsewhere. She was played by JoAnne Pflug, one of those 70s names I haven't heard in ages. Lots of chauvinism and having to prove herself. Someday, I'm going to do some Adam-12 meta on then and now. It's coming; I can feel it.

The second ep featured Reed partnered with a rookie (again, Malloy was subbing for Mack...wait, that just sounds wrong), and I yelped when I recognized the kid as a baby-faced, 24 y.o. Mark Harmon. That's easily the youngest I've ever seen him, and he didn't even sound like I'm used to. According to IMDb, that was only his third acting credit, after Emergency and something called Ozzie's Girls.

I suspect there's an afternoon nap in my future, if not sooner.

o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o

* Depending on whether you believe the copyright date on the credits (1974), or IMDb (1975).

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I remember an episode of "The Flintstones from a million years ago, where the gang thought Fred had some kind of sleeping sickness, and they had to keep him awake for 24 hours, because if he fell asleep, he'd never wake up. (Except it was actually Dino who was sick, and he could sleep all he wanted---but I digress.)

Right now, I'm feeling rather Fred-like. Over the last few weeks in particular, my sleep schedule has run amok, to the point where "bedtime" has been around noon, and I sleep til evening. I managed to shift it around a little yesterday, to the point where I woke up before 7AM today. Now, I'm endeavoring to stay awake until 10PM or thereabout.

At the moment, my brains have the higher functions of a bowl of custard. I want to get horizontal and snooze, to hell with how out-of-sync I am with the rest of the world. I crave sleep. NOW.

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The more I see this commercial,



the more I want to try his gauchpazo and that organic mushroom risotto. He's a badass AND he cooks? Be still, my heart!

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Title: The Heat Wave
Authored by: vanillafluffy
Pairing/spoilers: Pete Malloy/"Mack" MacDonald
Rating/Work-safeness: Green
Approximate word count: 1400
Disclaimer: All rights belong to Mark VII Productions
Betaed by: The Goddess Herself, karaokegal
Summary: A while back, I posted that I'd started watching an old favorite series, Adam-12. karaokegal asked me if it was a slashy as she remembered it. I considered her question for a while, and had to say yes and no. Most people would ship Malloy with Reed, but to me, that kind of chemistry between Malloy and MacDonald was clear. I think they've got something going on the down low, and this is how it got started. Please bear in mind that this is set forty years ago, and attitudes about sexuality have changed since then.


( Malloy is indifferent to the gender of his sexual partners. He has a slight preference for women, but when you get right down to it, a hot mouth is a hot mouth and both sexes have them. )

Thursday night is my happy time. Between Missing and Person of Interest, I'm oh-so-thrilled. This week in particular, Missing made me squee. As I said to J, ( I love being right! )

Person of Interest wasn't amazing this week. It was good in that it tied up some loose ends, ( but )

Real life is not fun. I have a gigantic carbuncle on my right pinkie toe. At first, I thought I was getting a wart, because it was a small, hard bump that didn't hurt. However, it's grown to the size of a hazelnut, and I'm miserable. The skin on my whole foot feels too tight, and my bones ache.

After browsing WebMB, I figure it'll drain on its own, hopefully within the next couple of days. If it hasn't, or if it looks like it's doing anything alarming, I figure I'll find a walk-in clinic before next weekend. Or even the ER, although my healthcare plan is still "Don't get sick"---so I'm trying to let nature take its course. If there's one good thing that can be said about it, it's that I have almost no appetite.

In cheerier news, I've got a small smut fic written and in the process of revision. I'm at the point where I'm happy to have written anything, since I've been in a slump.

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I taped David Lynch's Dune and rewatched it last night for the first time in at least 20 years. I'd forgotten about what an amazing cast it has---and how gloriously CHEESY it is. Seriously, the voiceovers? Fraught with melodrama. DeLaurentis...I didn't notice it back in the day, when my attention was primarily focused on Sting (wildly overacting) in that splendid leather banana hammock, but the sets are fabulously Deco-inspired (not unlike Flash Gordon, whick I adore). However, I've also read and reread National Lampoon's Doon, which satirizes it all to a fare-thee-well, and I keep expecting someone to proclaim that Paul Atrades is the Kumquat Haagen-Daaz.

One of the digital channels runs a block of Dragnet and Adam-12 weekdays, and I've been watching avidly. A while back, karaokegal asked me if I think it was as slashy as she remembers...yes and no. I don't slash Reed and Malloy. I just don't see it. BUT. In my headcanon, Pete has something going on with Sgt. Mack MacDonald on the DL. The way I see it, Pete Malloy is a cocksman who will cheerfully go either way. He takes pride in his prowess with the ladies, but he also relishes intimate cameraderie with other men. Mack is married with kids in show canon, but IMO, he finds a guilty pleasure in surrendeering to Malloy---who tops the hell out of him. Locker room rendezvous, anyone?

I think Reed knows about Malloy's bisexuality, but doesn't suspect about Mack for a long time, because the idea is so foreign to him. At this point, I see Reed as smugly het. The longer he's on the job, the more strained his relationship with Jean becomes, which is not uncommon in his profession. When he becomes the senior man on the street, I think he's liable to cross the line with a willing partner. Since the series is set in the late 60s, another ten years and there will definitely be more women in the field. And you just know that those boyish good looks are going to mature into silver foxiness!

More later.

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I'm over at J's after a few days at Mb's...I'm looking forward to spending the night in my own bed, sans cats.

I'm also looking forward to LOST, and I'm really glad that the frackin basketball playoffs are almost over. I don't care for basketball to begin with, and even less when it messes up my viewing habits.

More soon.

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I nodded off for a late afternoon nap, and just woke from an odd little dream.

Background---this morning, I was joking with BigRed that I have descended to the point where I can only tell what day of the week it is by what's on TV. As in, last might was Alcatraz (Monday), so today must be Tuesday (Justified).

Which perhaps accounts for the dream wherein Timothy Olyphant was painting my garage. (Oh, it gets better.) I'd just taken a nap---why I was napping in my garage, IDK, but I was slightly surprised to see Tim there...since Walton Goggins had been there when I dozed off. Tim and his assistant were painting the interior of my garage.

Said garage didn't have nearly the amount of crap in it as my real garage. The color was RED. Really most sincerely red. The cabinets had been stained dark brown, and I was going for Mediterranean style.

Tim was trying to do some kind of stained-glass technique for a mural on the back of the garage door, using a can of spray paint. He wasn't satisfied with the results and painted over it, remarking that he would just "freehand it in". He asked me to please get him something to lean on, and darn it, I jumped up to oblige and woke myself up.

What the fuck, self? Okay, so the last thing I watched before I fell asleep was some DIY show where they were remodeling a laundry room---mine is at the far end of my garage===and one scene had them painting it---beige!---but how did my sub-conscious morph it into that?! *marvels*

Mind you, I don't know WHO he was. It wasn't Raylan, it wasn't 47, it certainly wasn't Thomas Gabriel or Seth Bullock, and I don't *think* it was his character from Catch and Release. I'm pretty sure Tim himself doesn't randomly commit acts of spray paint in strange women's garages.

So who was my knight with a paintbrush? IDK, but somewhere in my labyrinthine synapses, he's waiting for me to come back with something for him to lean on to steady his hand while he paints. Poor guy's gonna have to keep waiting; I never have mastered the technique of going back to a previous dream.

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Still house-sitting.

Still no glasses.

Still haven't gotten to see One for the Money.

Still no sign of ANY of the things I had ordered and shipped here: books, LUSH, fabric swatches.

Still being driven crazy by the fence company, who tried to force me to pop for a survey. Funny how speaking with the owner and demanding my deposit back made THAT go away. Permit should be issued shortly; Monday is supposed to be installation day, but we'll see.

J has invited me to a play on Saturday: State Fair. I'm not familiar with it beyond thinking it's Rogers and Hammerstein---and I may be wrong about that, but am too lazy to look it up. She loves the theater but doesn't care to go alone. I like theater, too, and free is good.

Have been watching reruns of CSI: Miami---some so old they still have Tim Speedle in them---and was delighted to catch the two that introduce Kyle Harmon as H's son. What can I say? I cougar the heck out of the kid, I'm still annoyed that they wrote him out.

Currently reading 11/22/63, the latest Stephen King, where his time-traveling protagonist is going to try to stop the Kennedy assassination. It's about 800 pages, and I'm barely halfway through. That's okay, I've got it for a couple more weeks. Also read Hothouse Orchid by Stuart Woods. Not exactly a mystery or a thriller, but still fairly engaging.

I'm on the schedule for hospitality at church on Sunday. It's a voluntary thing; I signed up enthusiastically when I came into money, and this will be the third time in less than six weeks. Time to ease up and make other contributions, I think....

That's about it. TTFN.

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Yesterday, I ran around with Mb. Long day! Lunch, the ASPCA thrift store, Home Depot, followed by Target, WalMart (where Mb was looking for a new coffeepot---one of her cats killed her glass carafe) and Aldi. Then back to her place, and I hit my WalMart on my way home.

The ASPCA thrift is one I've been wanting to visit for quite a while. Being a Saturday, it was fairly busy, but I liked it and will go again. I got a great piece of fabric, 3 yards of a sturdy cotton with a classic red and white Hawaiian hibiscus print. Not sure what I'm gonna DO with it, but I'll think of something! Also got a couple bits of bling---two brooches and a bracelet. One pin was a leaping gazelle or impala, the other is an abstract thing that looks like Liberace's boomerang. The bracelet is plain chain and destined to be an extender for a necklace that's much too short. (I don't do choakers, but I got one with a pretty charm for Christmas.)

At Home Depot, I made my first investments from the card pwcorgigirl gifted me with for Xmas: I got a box of Mr Clean Magic Erasers, a tube of Super Glue, and a bag of concrete. Had a bear of a time with the bag---60 pounds of concrete is surprisingly dense and heavier that it seems.

I think what I'm going to end up doing is digging out the old mailbox, getting the hole to a size where it will accomodate the new one, putting it in there and shoveling the concrete powder into the hole a little at a time and wetting it down. Because frankly, I can't lift the damn thing out of my trunk, so that's the only way I can think of to do it.

It did get frosty last night, but I managed to stay comfy. Wore the ensemble I'd planned to church, and got some bad news: There's been a rash of thefts among area churches, and somebody pilfered our heating and a/c unit. We're insured, but it's still going to be a major pain, although as AI pointed out, "That's going to earn somebody some butt-ugly kharma."

Our guest speaker didn't show up---we figure he must've gotten his weeks mixed up---so a couple of the Buddhists pinch hit. Which was very nice of them...although one gal drove me to distraction---if I had ten cents for every time she said, "You know", I could've gone out for a steak dinner. It was a persistant verbal tic. Sometimes, she'd say it two or three times in a row. Arrrgh!

Movie night is next Friday. I'm really looking forward to it, partly because we haven't had movie night in a few months, partly because it's a Bogart classic, We're No Angels. Ah, Bogie!

Next month's discussion topic for CUUPs is suppossedly going to be "Dead Mothers", which wasn't what I expected when it was brought up. I *thought* they meant IRL, since most of the group is 50+ and is of an age to have lost a parent or two. They were talking about TV moms...okay, I can do that, too.

Now I'm home. And it's a funny thing; since I spent a few months having to make special trips to check my email/look things up/etcetera, I thought I'd be online contantly making up for lost time. Instead, I'm NOT checking my email every fifteen minutes. In fact, yesterday, I didn't turn my computer on at all! But it's so nice to have the option.

Glory be, I'm writing! I finally jumped in and started work on the idea I've had for Person of Interest fic. It's around the thousand-word mark and just getting started. Heaven knows how long it'll wind up---but I'm just happy that I have a plot taking root.

Have a good week, y'all! (I know I'm going to! Alcatraz debut Monday, Justified season premiere Tuesday, Royal Pains, White Collar and fresh PoI on Thursday. Yay!)

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They're threatening an overnight freeze and frosty temps this weekend. With that in mind, I washed my hair this evening, because I know I won't want to if it gets uber-cold.

I know what I'll wear on Sunday if it IS cold: the grey and black ensemble I wore to court. (It was a wee bit warm for it that day, but if it's in the 50s or so, it'll be fine.) Dress is cotton jersey, faux-wrap style, dark grey with black border print. It has a silky (polyester) overshirt, lighter grey with a black border print. They're not a set, but they go together well, rather like my zebra "suit".

Happily, I found my wide black belt, the one that's infinitely adjustable. I like to wear that to cinch my cranberry chenille sweater with black pants. I'm just sorry that my favorite black pants are getting a little faded---and roomy, but still wearable.

I was thinking about the living room curtain situation...I might have a solution, IF I dig around in the middle room. I seem to remember getting a lot of industrial-grade muslin---GK knew a photog who got it by the mile to use for backdrops---it was something like ten feet wide. Trouble is, I don't remember how much I got, or where, exactly, it is.

Person of Interst was excellent last night. I'm turing over ideas for fic. Haven't actually written anything yet, but at least the wheels are turning....

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Aside from the battle of Gettysburg with fireworks being held outside in the street, it's been a rather satisfactory weekend.

I didn't go anywhere yesterday; I stayed home, washed my hair and painted my nails. I completed and posted a story (SPN/SoA crossover), which was about 2/3rs done and demanded to be finished. Did some online shopping: Season 2 of Justified and an Otterbox case for my iPhone. Contemplated LUSH, but didn't commit to anything.

Was watching Aftermath: The World Without People (DVR'ed), til 11:58. Switched to network just long enough to note that Dick Clark is looking better than he did a couple years ago, switched back to Aftermath and finished that...I'm intrigued by those shows, although some of them are wildly at odds: I've seen one that says the Eiffel Towel probably won't last more than 100 years without us, whereas Aftermath thinks it'll outlast us by several hundred years. Hmm.... Found a showing of The Rock, which I've always liked. Connery and Cage for the win! Watched most of it and had the lights out around three.

Speaking of three, my weight this morning began with a "2", oh joy! My goal for the year is to drop about 30 more pounds, which isn't all I need to lose, but it's do-able.

Today was church, of course. PJ did an interesting presentation called "Tales from the Slammer", anecdotes about his Buddhist prison ministry. There was a very nice baked ziti for hospitality. Oh, and ang5fam dropped in and presented me with some yummy vanilla soap and lotion. I've got to drop her goodies off, maybe tomorrow.

Had a fitful nap, then headed over to a New Year's soiree at the C's. Nothing too wild, just a couple hours of shooting the breeze with the usual suspects over nosh. One benefit: As I was departing, I noticed they have a new rug in the foyer. I've always adored the old rug, and expressed some dismay, with the result being they aren't going to trash it---I'm going to get it. This is serious motivation to pick up the living room---I've got to roll up my old area rug and make room for this one.

I watched Leverage, and the Jim Caviezel version of The Count of Monte Cristo will be on Ovation in a bit.

Tomorrow, Mb is having some work done on her car---we're both thinking good thoughts and hoping it isn't anything complicated or expensive---and we've made lunch plans. I also need to run around and check some of the places offering two-for-one glasses deals.

The ones I ordered...much as I love the fab frames, I've had an email from the company saying they can't fill my 'scrip with polycorbonite lenses, but if I change to such and such, I can get them for $11 more. I'm not too happy about this, and if it means I have to resort to boring frames, well, I will, because I'll be damned if I'll let them bait-and-switch me like that. The important thing is, I won't be squinting like a mole.

Happy New Year, y'all!

I'm baaack.

Did you miss me?

I sure missed youse guys, but it's all better now: I have an interweb of my own. (For how long remains to be seen, since the money won't last forever, but hopefully the dogs will.)

Anyway, I had a pleasant weekend. Christmas Eve, I visited first with CapeGypsy en famille at their place. She had a bonfire in the front yard, since her house is very small, and the weather was cooperative. (It was 80F and we were swatting mosquitos. Florida, gotta love it.) Next stop was ThunderBunny's, with her hub and, of course, Mb. Had pasta and something called a Jolly Rancher...yum. Exchanged gifts and watched The Hangover, which I enjoyed more than I'd expected from the premise.

Best part was Mb's reaction to her gift: I bought her a pin to replace one she'd lost at Disney, and she SQUEEE'd and gave me a full body hug. Thank you, eBay!

Oh, and did I mention J gave me an iPhone? She's calling it the company's phone, but she handed it to me on Christmas Eve, all wrapped up in blue and silber paper. It's made of awesome.

Christmas Day found me at church in the morning, then home, quietly playing with my new toy (having snagged a bunch of apps to entertain myself with before departing from J's).

Monday, I went and got a pair of New Balance trainers, on sale for $39.99, plus a coupon for an additional $10 off. My plans call for getting moving in 2012, and the cheap sneaks from Payless aren't gonna cut it.

Yesterday, I finally got my eyes examined---Mb driving, thank god!---because it was all a blur from being dilated. Got a scrip, though, and am searching online for some inexpensive new specs. (I'm correctable to 20/30, which is decent enough.) Spent the rest of the day at J's; Mb dropped me off and J drove me home. And I got more apps, natch.

Today the cable company came out and hooked me up. Between the first month and the past due balance, it was a chunk of change, but oh! The bliss of having more than two or three channels on tap is giddy! Plus, of course, the chance to browse yuletide---finally!

Tomorrow, I need to make some calls to set up appointments for people to come out and give me estimates for my fence. I'm really over everybody and his nasty younger brother traipsing through my yard! I'll be SO glad when the kids are back in school. Rotten little sods.

Tomorrow is also Person of Interest. It's been a couple years since I had anything to look forward to on Thursday nights, and I'm hooked.

I haven't forgotten about you, ang5fam. Hopefully, I'll get by there sometime between now and New Year's....

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