Lavendar-Blue Dusk

Weird subject, right? ;) This is just a ramble, and sometimes I hate coming up with titles.

I used to do a lot of needlework what seems like eons ago. Crocheting, rudimentary knitting, sewing, cross-stitch, needlepoint, even a little quilting. (I used to make teddy bears and various stuffed toys too.) I put the needlework away when I had cats who thought the whole thread pulling through canvas thing was just an invitation to sit on my lap and hunt the pretty strings. ;)
( cut because this got long )

Somebody shot our garage with a paintball gun. Not exactly sure when. I have a feeling it was really early Sunday morning, like around 5:00 a.m., because I heard the pop, poppoppop of either pistol shots or cherry bombs, both of which are illegal in my neighborhood, but I wasn't about to get out of bed to go find out which one it was. Today I got home while it was still light enough to discover Peptol Bismol pink paint up high on the front of the garage and the remains of a paintball pellet in the driveway. :/ Joy.

I'm hoping the paint will wash off with a hose, although it's too cold outside to hook up a hose to any of the outside faucets. If not, I guess either hubby or I will be climbing up the ladder at some point with a scrub brush or a paintbrush. *sigh*

Now, I had several thoughts about this (after the immediate WTF?? reaction wore off).

1. The paint is pink. Pink. Isn't that a wussy color for paintball?? "Dude, you shot me with a pink pellet! You lose points for that."

2. Our garage is a medium silver-grey color. The pink at least sort of goes with the regular paintjob. Thank god it wasn't neon yellow or day-glo orange. *shudder*

3. What kind of a whacked out person runs around at five in the morning on a Sunday with a paintball gun?? Shooting at houses?? Dude -- get a life.

4. At least the whacked out person didn't shoot out a window. This is just annoying. Replacing a broken window is expensive.

Hubby was out of town on Sunday, so I met up with loyaldreamer after she got off work and we went to see Catch and Release.

It's a good movie. Not great, but a good story about finding out more about a loved one after they die than you knew before and then coming to terms with not only the loss, but the realization that your loved one had a whole secret life you knew nothing about. Not in any sinister way, far from it. I'm not going to go into spoiler territory here so I won't get specific about the big secret, although I think the trailer kinda gives it away (if I remember right).

Every now and then I run across a story -- either a movie or a book or a short story -- that becomes so real to me while I'm immersed in the story that it's almost a physical shock to walk out of the movie/put the book down and resume my real life. Maybe it's part of being a writer, or maybe it's just part of the territory of having a vivid imagination. Whatever the reason, that was the reaction I had to Catch and Release. The characters were so real to me, they could have been my neighbors. People I know. People I'd like to know. They weren't perfect; the situations they found themselves in weren't played up to near-unreality for either laughs or tears. It felt real, which is about the best compliment I can give.

Catch and Release won't ever be a blockbuster. It doesn't have the elements of a blockbuster, or at least what's come to be a blockbuster in modern Hollywood. I'm glad the people involved didn't try to make it into something it wasn't because I think that would have spoiled the story the movie wanted to tell. I crossed the line into the world of the story, and even a day later, I'm still expecting to see Kevin Smith wandering around the living room in that beach-towel bathrobe reciting quotes from Celestial Seasonings tea boxes. ;)

Something tells me Will Turner is going to be a very dark, kickass character in the next Pirates movie.

For charly2004:



For me *g*:

( yes indeedy, just spent too much money on this... )

Every time politicians in the US want to curtail civil liberties, they blame it on the need to protect us from "terrorist organizations." Right. When I first heard about the Real ID bill, I thought it was a joke. It isn't. Welcome to the land of Big Brother.

How Real ID Will Affect You.

Back when I wrote "Future Perfect," I imagined a future some six or seven years from now when everyone would need a standardized ID card to get on a plane. I thought it was fiction. Apparently that fictionalized future is going to get here sooner than I thought.

Obviously should not follow up seeing Children of Men at a matinee with Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School at home on dvd. Am now a meepy mess. *sniffles*

Don't get me wrong. Both movies are outstanding in completely different ways, and I would recommend both of them highly. Just... you know -- bring the tissues.

But yeah... now I need to watch something fun. Maybe I'll haul out Pirates. Yeah, that'll do.

Now, these New Year's resolutions I could probably keep. Except, you know, finding a better soar38 because I don't think that's possible. ;)



Thank you so much to tiniowien and vock for the lovely Christmas cards I received this week. :D *hugs*

I had a cool Christmas. Kind of low key and laid back. My family and friends know me well. :) I got oodles of books and dvds and PSP goodies and fandom things, including a sinfully soft Jack Sparrow throw and a Pirates hoodie. *g* I expect to spend this weekend writing, since I'm still woefully behind in my 'zine story. (I will get it done, guys, I swear.) I'm also way, way behind in reading all the wonderful fics at vo_xmas and all over my flist. I'll get there.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Thank you so much for the wonderful cards from metamaura (cute picture!), namarie120 (cute bookmark!), alilacia (awww... cute story!), pyleanelf, sveta_111 (thank you for the traditional wish *hugs*), sarkka, nurseowens, jule1122, carynita, rhodynne (*giggles*), rae_isha (what a beautiful card!), elanna9 (wonderful picture!), claireyfairy1, chaosmanor, rifleman_s (twice! *g*), dissonant_dream, and lady_razzle. Whew! You guys made checking my mail so much fun this week! Thank you all so much. :D *hugs*

I was tagged for this by shegollum:

List seven songs you are into right now. Post these instructions in your livejournal along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

I listen to a lot of Christmas music this time of year. Instead of single songs, here are the albums I've been listening to:

December, Chris Botti
Wintersong, Sarah McLachlan
The Gift, Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel
Hymns, Carols, and Songs About Snow, Tuck Andress
Merry Christmas, Bing Crosby
The Carols of Christmas, Windham Hills collection
Greatest Holiday Classics, Kenny G.

I'm tagging whoever wants to do this. :)

And since it's almost Christmas here, I just want wish everyone a Merry Christmas, happy holiday, or happy Monday. ;) I wish you and your families peace, joy, and love. *hugs*

So this weekend wasn't as restful as I'd hoped. The snow yesterday turned the streets into skating rinks, which made getting anywhere a major deal. When people are chaining up their cars a mile from my house next to a golf course I drive by every day on the way to work, you know the streets are bad. :P

Today hubby and I did a little last minute looking around, sorta Christmas shopping. The first mall built in this town, the one I went to as a kid, is being torn down and rebuilt by its new owners after the first of the year. We strolled around the few shops that are still there -- bought a silly, dancing penguin at a curio/christmas gift shop, walked past sad-looking closed and empty stores down the mall to the last remaining comic shop in town. While we were there, a band in the center of the mall starting playing Christmas carols. I'd thought it was a brass band from the glimpses I caught while they were setting up. It turned out to be a tuba band. :) There was something very cool, very quirky, about that -- Christmas carols played on tubas by people of all ages in a mall that's closing down. We also went to what was left of Tower Records; that will be gone in another day. As if I wasn't feeling nostalgic enough this time of year.