knbarnes

Five things:

1. Book rec! Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. It's funny and heartbreaking and even a little genre blurring. At first, the narrator reminded me of Jessica Darling (UGH), but after about four chapters of her occasionally snotty narration and the five (on average) literary references she makes per sentence, I got used to it and learned to appreciate her. I'm crap at summarizing novels, so I won't even try (especially with this one, as it's really long and involved and I don't want to give anything away), so if you're interested, I linked to its Amazon page.

2. I'M GOING TO KILL MY MOTHER. At dinner tonight she was talking about how Obama needs to become the president so African American boys will have someone positive to look up to (because apparently he's the only black guy worthy of being a role model, according to my mother) so that they won't impregnate girls and not stick around to be the father. I was like... um, okay? She started making up all these statistics, I finished eating and left the table, and then she somehow turned that topic into a personal attack against me. How I think I'm superior because I got to college, how I "don't lift a finger unless it's holding a fork" (which is actually kind of witty--she must have read it somewhere), how I've lived a cushioned life and don't deserve the things I have. Then she starts going on and on about how when she was my age, her mother wasn't cooking dinner for her; no, she was having her parents over for dinner to eat with her and her husband (not my father). Which was a great thing to bring up, as he abused and cheated on her until they got divorced, which only happened when he decided to leave her. So by that time, I couldn't just keep taking the onslaught of YELLING without responding (I'm learning to use self control when it comes to her, as evidenced by my lack of entries complaining about her this summer, but I'm not that good), so I said--and it may be bad, and I know I shouldn't have said it, but seriously, it's all I said the entire time--"Yeah, you obviously made some really brilliant choices when you were my age. Please, teach me how to quit college and marry a lunatic so I can be like you." And then she ran outside and started crying. Jesus.

3. This probably won't come as a surprise after number two, but: OH MY GOD I WANT TO GO TO BACK TO SCHOOL RIGHT NOW. I'm still waiting for the management company to call and say my apartment's ready to move into. Apparently the old tenants (ha, spelled that "tennants" the first time around) only moved out a few days ago.

4. I may want to move back to Ann Arbor, but I really, really don't want to pack for it. To the degree of infinity.

5. What with all the night scenes and everything, watching Buffy on my MacBook really reveals how extraordinarily dirty and smudged the screen is. Ew. Nothing ever gets the stuff off, either, because it's that weird material. Do any fellow Mac users know any good tricks?

ETA:
2b. My mother just came and apologized to me, saying, "Sorry, I'm just having a melt down." Uh, yeah, NO KIDDING.

6. I forgot to mention this, but as a further example of why today sucks: I woke up this morning and promptly vomited. Three times. No clue why.

AHH I'M SICK.

Yesterday morning I was fine. Yesterday afternoon I was feeling a bit faint, but it was warm, so I brushed it off and got myself a beverage. Then my throat starting and boom! It was all over. I am now an invalid.

My last few days in town were alright. I saw Jacob and Masha and did an obscene amount of loitering. I did not accomplish everything I wished to.

Oh man, maybe this cold will distract my body from PMS. That'd be awesome.

Tomorrow I have to do laundry and pack, and Wednesday I'm off to school. Eep. I have syllabi and everything, and someone from the library called and asked me if I could cover for them tomorrow, which obvs I could not because of the different state issue.

HELLO! How are you all? It feels like ages since I've spent any sort of substantial time around here. This summer's just been sort of crazy. Well, not crazy, really. Just kind of internetless. (I have so much flisty stuff to catch up on.) Last week especially, as I stayed with i miei nonni for a few days, and then my family and I took a little vacation to Traverse City over the weekend. It was actually the first time I've ever really been on the west side of Michigan (when using your left hand as a map, like us Michiganders do, Traverse City's on the nail of your ring finger), and it was gorgeous. We went to the Sleeping Bear Dunes and, despite the nosebleed I suddenly got while climbing to the top (yes, I am that lame), it was absolutely breathtaking. (I'm referring to the view there, although apparently they reach four hundred feet and happen to be made of sand, which likes to move when you try and walk on it, so my lungs had nearly exploded when I finally got to the top.) Before I start sounding like a cheesy guidebook, I'll just leave it at this: I've discovered a new respect for my home state and I think you should all come visit the myriad natural splendors of Northern Michigan. Or any part of Michigan at all, really, since about fifty percent is registered as state park. (Kindly ignore the stuff about Kwame and our economy that's overflowing with fail. And the Tigers bullpen.)

Another, less breathtaking (as least for me) Michigan tidbit: MICHAEL CERA was filming a movie in Ann Arbor a few weeks ago! Which is where I live! Except, of course, not a few weeks ago. This is my life and its unhappy coincidences. We were supposed to randomly run into each other at Borders and fall madly in love. Or I was supposed to sell him Vans Old Skools (because those are the shoes he wears and I sell shoes to people) and fall madly in love. Either way, this story is supposed to end with us falling madly in love with each other, but it's still just a little too one-sided for my liking.

I think I react to cherry flavored Pull-N-Peel Twizzlers the same way addicts react to crack. I had some for the first time in a long time today and I was quite literally humming in rapture. And I've no  self control, either: I just keep pulling-n-peeling until my teeth are covered in artificially flavored red gunk and my internal organs implode due to sugar overdose. Because IT'S DELICIOUS AND I CAN'T STOP.

I love the Olympics so much. So, so much. I will watch any event, I don't even care what it is. And if I can't root for the US in a race, I'll just pick someone else to cheer for. (Usually whoever's wearing the best uniform.) There's only one problem: I want to set the world record in the 200-meter freestyle. I want to flip around on a blue mat to weird Russian music. I want to look really hot in a bikini and block a forceful spike.  (Especially the first part of that last one.) Basically, I WANT TO WIN SOME MEDALS. Why the hell aren't I a world-class athlete?

You know, it's been a long while since I've gotten all meme-y. So:

1. List your top seven character ships
2. Put all of them in order of your love for them; 7 to 1, 1 being your main fixation.
3. Name the movie/show/book that they're in.
4. Supply photos for said people.

A multimedia post of songs I am enjoying currently (done via youtube as to not have to upload things).

Tegan and Sara - The Con
The words. I'd snippet but I love them all.
( Read more... )

Amanda Palmer - I Google You
See, when two of my most favoritest people come together good things happen.
( Read more... )

Arcade Fire - Windowsill
I have no blurb.
( Read more... )

Maps - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Is there a time when I don't love this song? That would be a no.
( Read more... )

Patsy Cline - Crazy and Dolly Parton - I Will Always Love You
LOL, now I'm just switching things up. But seriously, more heartbreaking than most things ever. Additionally, why does no one break into earnest monologues during songs anymore? LET'S DO THAT MORE.
( Read more... )

I'm just soo.... frustrated.

Anyway, I've moved out of my apartment, which is probably for the best. There are people I'm worried about whether or not I can hang out with before I leave, but probably none of them will happen anyway so I should probably just avoid humanity.

ALSO TOM BRADY IS INJURED WTF WORLD TRYING TO KILL ME?

If only my being here meant I did not have to go to work. Work has been mad awk lately. MAD AWK.

At least the olympics are still making me happy <3 I managed to see the race last night even with the no TV situation at my Dad's house.

My girl won! See, I picked out Nastia Luikin first time I saw her in this olympics. I'm glad Shawn Johnson got silver because she got fucked on the Beam by the judges who were bitches. Overall I think the results came out right but I'm sure if Nastia didn't get it she'd be looking at that Vault score. But ahh, her beam was so wonderful. I love that routine.

And I'm just not getting tired of watching Michael Phelps win things. Can he swim all next week? Please? Complete mastery of a sport is just so rare on this level.

My actual life is boring and lame so I'm leaving it at this.

I was watching old olympic routines on youtube, this is my favorite.

Development Goals and Basic Accounts

Last week we updated our development goals for 2008. Generally we noted a number of cool enhancements and investments to LiveJournal that we are working on, including improved search, usability, and site development.

We also wanted to let you know how we hope to accomplish all these things, and how we plan on paying for them. In order to accomplish our stated goals for this year and beyond, we need to increase the revenue gained from both groups of LiveJournal accounts: paid subscription accounts and ad-supported accounts.

As of August 28th, all users will be able to choose to downgrade their account to Basic through their Manage Account page. Additionally, we will start showing advertising to visitors who are not logged in to LiveJournal when they are looking at Basic Account journals and communities.

Basic Account users themselves will not see ads on any Basic journal or community while they are logged in to their account. If you want more information about this, take a look at our new post on lj_2008 where we outline our reasoning.

Indian Flash Fiction Contest

In other news, we are excited to tell you we've launched "Quick Tales" LiveJournal's first initiative for users in India, in celebration of India Independence day, August 15th. "Quick Tales" is a flash fiction writing contest in which we're partnering with Caferati.com, one of India's largest online literary communites. The contest's winners will receive some great prizes and it is open to anyone with a mailing address in India. We hope that users with an interest in Indian writing or just India will watch LiveJournal's india_writing community. That's where the finalists and winners will be announced, so keep an eye on it towards the end of September! If you're in India then enter the contest - if your story is slick and quick (under 500 words) then you could be the lucky winner!

Meanwhile, back at LiveJournal Inc.

We have updated and redesigned our corporate site. The goal of the redesign was twofold: first, to update the look and feel (Dystopia users will appreciate it!); second, we want to provide a destination for prospective employees, partners, and members of the press where they can access important information about the company. Kudos to our design team.