I realize that I haven't been blogging a lot lately. It isn't that I don't have things to say, it's just that I don't have the mental wherewithal to string words together to form coherent sentences.

I mean, I used "wherewithal" in that sentence. Who says that?

Anyway, suffice to say this: I am tired. I am stressed. I have one month to the wedding, and suddenly everything -- even simple things like calling the hairdresser -- become massive acts of willpower. I want to pretend like it's not going to happen. I want to do things like watch TV and read books and chat online with friends and NOT plan a wedding any more.

Don't get me wrong. I'm totally psyched about getting married still. I'm just totally over this whole planning nonsense. It stopped being fun some time ago and I'm really just done with the whole idea.

Maybe I'll just give up on whatever else needs to happen and just show up on the third and whatever goes, goes.

Who am I kidding? That'll never happen. I don't have the guts. ;)

So anyway, don't think I'm ignoring you. I'm just crazy. And not that good, fun kind of crazy, either. Trust me, if I were writing on here, I would just be whining, and nobody really wants to read that.

Least of all me! =D

So never fear. I'm fine. I'm just not terribly coherent right now. I'm sure bloggage will pick up again post-nuptials -- I'll certainly have plenty to talk about!

it takes tu tu tango

So, in celebration of our impending nuptuals, last night Brandon and I dined at the fabulous Cafe Tu Tu Tango.

You know how you sometimes go to a restaurant and say, "Oh! I could make a meal just of the appetizers!" Well, that's exactly what you do at Tu Tu Tango. All they serve is appetizers. Everything from dips and chips to soups and salads to potstickers, empanadas, stuffed mushrooms, fried calimari, and mini pizzas.

Brandon and I settled on the Spanish antipasto plate, the beef empanadas, and the chicken and shrimp potstickers -- all quite delightful. We thought about ordering a fourth, but decided to go with the raspberry creme bruler instead; it was a bit disappointing. Very soupy and with a grand total of four raspberries, but it did have a good flavor.

Anyway, the restaurant is very fun. It's decorated like an artist's loft with art covering every surface (and almost all of it for sale). They have a huge patio and even some couches for lounging while you munch.

I want to get a big BIG group of people together at this restuarant, get a pitcher of Sangria, and have everybody order something different. I bet a party would just naturally develop.

Dearly beloved...

Exactly one month from today I will be Mrs. Brandon Renner. Til death do us part.

the film diva is back

Brandon and I bought a mini-dv handheld camcorder this weekend for our wedding and honeymoon. Meet the Panasonic PV-GS250.



It's one of the best consumer grade handheld mini-dv cameras and I cannot TELL you how excited I am to get my hot little hands on this baby and start shooting again.

i'm pretty sure that i ain't no hollaback girl

Two completely unrelated things.

1) Allison and I have been discussing the significance of the lyrics of the Gwen Stefani song, "Hollaback Girl." Neither of us is entirely sure what a Hollaback Girl is, but if Gwen doesn't want to be one, we're fairly certain that we don't want to be one either.

Thankfully, Charlsa's sister Aurora found this article which goes the distance to try to explain the song line by line.

[WARNING: this article contains many incidences of the "S" word -- because the song repeats it about twelve thousand times.]


2) I made the best damned chocolate chip cookies EVER yesterday. No. Seriously. EVER.

I have made my fair share of chocolate chip cookies in my life, but these are head and shoulders above any I have ever made before. I wish the technology existed for me to create an online repository to keep these cookies so that each and every one of you could partake of the blissful serendipity that is this particular batch of chocolate chip cookies.

Alas, it is not possible, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

In addition, I'm vaguely worried that I may have peaked. What if, being the best cookies I have ever made, they are, indeed, the best cookies I will ever make? Have I reached my cookie-making prime? Should I retire at the top of my game and always remember fondly the Best Cookies Ever (tm) while munching on the tasteless mediocrity of store-bought cookies?

Nah.

Who wants cookies?

Pimpin' Liek Woah

So, some of you may know this, and some of you may not, but my dad is an AWESOME artist. I just finished uploading 13 new drawings that he sent me to his online gallery at deviantart.com.

Here's a little preview:




The drawings in the gallery are illustrations for the novel-length fan fiction I've been writing over the last year. It's a family affair now, and honestly, I think his drawings might be the best part.

No need to have read the story to appreciate the art. It will friggin blow your mind, yo.

I'm going to stop talking like that and return you to your regularly scheduled bloggage now.

Peace out.

Reviews

I've updated with a new review of the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

I've also gone through and tagged all the entries in that journal, and I can suddenly see how these little tag thingies could be really useful. Hmmm...

Our invites have arrived!



Click the thumbnail to get a better look.

La la la la la la...

Smurfs: the movie.

I couldn't make this stuff up, folks.

no spoilers!

Some thoughts on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince -- WITHOUT SPOILERS!!!! (Except for one tiny one at the very very end.)

I liked this book much better than Order of the Phoenix. I felt it was a bit heavy on the explication, but for good reason I guess. There were more parts that I really liked than parts I really DIDN'T like, so that's all good.

I cried. This is the first time in all six books that I've cried -- and it wasn't necessarily at the point you might think. Only a very few books have ever made me cry. I've cried while writing things of my own, but again, it's rare. So that's a good point. =)

Reading this book was a very different experience for me because of my involvement in fandom. I eschewed reading my flist for the last three days because I was worried about being spoiled -- and a good thing, too -- Gun! I'm looking at you!! But I made it through without being spoiled.

The thing that was different, was that I kept thinking random thoughts as I read -- like, "Oh! This group will be happy about that!" or "I read a fic like that once!" Or "NO WAY! That's what I wrote!" (Ok, not too much, but certain small things I guessed correctly.)

Honestly, I've NEVER analyzed a book or series of books as much as these -- not even in school! And when I did finally hop on the internet when I had finished, I was bombarded by the craziness -- people are going NUTS! Either happy or disappointed, EVERYONE has an opinion. Within five minutes of signing on, I was chatting with FIVE different people at once while trying to scan my friends list on LiveJournal.

Craziness.

I have one friend whose first reaction was to decide to eschew fandom entirely -- "retire" as it were from writing and drawing Harry Potter fanfiction. I have a couple of other friends who are entirely re-energized and ready to go again.

As for me? I'm still digesting. I loved the book, and there is SO much fodder for fan fiction, so many stories left untold in this book alone.

However.

I don't think I will write another long fan fiction story. "Sect" has been fun, but so very draining. And it's a little silly now that it's all been made obsolete as it were. I don't think I'll be able to stay away from fan fiction all together. I'll have too many stories to tell, too many new friends to make, too many old friends to keep, and, frankly, WAY too much fun to be had. But I don't think I'll be writing the sequel to "Sect of the Serpent" that I had vaguely planned.

To tell the truth, I'm feeling that whole "kid scribbling with crayons" feeling again -- and I think that's a good thing. As I read, I realized that I'm REALLY (really really really) not as good at writing those wonderfully complicated multi-layered plots that JKR is so famous for. Then again, I also realized that the JKR that wrote "Sorcerer's Stone" wasn't as good as the JKR that wrote "Half-Blood Prince" either. What I mean is, I intend to improve, and when I've got five more novels under my belt, then we can compare apples to... well. Whatever. =)

The impulse that I really feel in these first few hours post HBP is actually to begin writing my OWN stories. I plan to finish my current projects, but I'm really ready to stop living in JKR's shadow and strike out on my own. She's been an excellent teacher, and I've learned a lot in my apprenticeship -- I've learned a lot of my strengths, and even strengthened some of my weaknesses. In fact, some of the nicest compliments I've received have been from the people who have told me how much I've improved since the beginning. Those are the compliments I cherish.

In any case, I think I'm ready to move on. "Sect" has improved my self-confidence in my writing and teased my muse back into helping me out.

My only problem is that now I have to wait TWO MORE YEARS to find out what happens next! *squirms and twitches* Oh well. I'll just have to read HBP a bunch more times and then -- back to fanfiction!

And? Zombies are now canon.

Does it get any better than that??