Can anyone from the UK explain the habit of signing off on letters, e-mails, etc. with an 'x' or an 'xx' or, when in a really effusive mood, an 'xxx?' Does this literally mean 'kisses' the way it does in the US, or is it just a cute flourish, or a little of both? Nearly everyone I've ever known who's from that part of the world does this, and I've always thought it's charming, but I wouldn't do it myself because here, 'xoxo' (kisses and hugs) is what you write in the Valentine you give to the boy you like when you're both seven. :) From the way it gets casually tossed around, though, I'm thinking it's more of a reflexive thing, like 'take care' or *hugs*. Anyone?

Since TC is away on her camping trip, I went to see "Taken" this afternoon. It was a pretty standard action movie (totally implausible, all the bad guys have accents, etc., etc.), but watching Liam Neeson be a complete badass was so entertaining that I didn't care. I've always liked him, but after this he may have to be my new movie boyfriend. I'm sure Natasha Richardson won't mind.

Also, is it just me, or is Helen Mirren getting a huge amount of work lately? I've seen her in two or three films in the last year or so, and she was in one of the trailers today for something called "State of Play." I love her and am happy to see her in anything, but it strikes me as funny that now she's over 60, she seems to be the default person to hire when Judi Dench isn't available. I wonder which of today's middle-aged British actresses is going to take over that position 15 years from now?

Oh yes, and another thing I did today: when I went to get my hair colored, the salon was offering free eyebrow threading, so I had mine done for the first time. It was more painful than I expected, but the results are really nice. The lady who did it even got a bit of an arch to appear, which is something I've never been able to achieve with plucking. I don't know if I'm up for getting it done every two weeks per her recommendation (for one thing, I don't have time to go to a salon that often) but perhaps when I get my roots touched up again.

TC (face down on her desk): Uuuuugghhhhh.
Me: Just one more problem to go. You can do it. Everyone is counting on you!
TC (starting to giggle): Like in Quidditch.
Me: Yes! Grab the Golden Divisor for Gryffindor!
TC (laughing so hard she can barely hold her pencil): Okay.
Me: ... And she's done it! Gryffindor wins the Improper Fractions Cup.
TC: Can I go start reading Goblet of Fire now?
Me: Be my guest.

While watching Prisoner of Azkaban:

TC: This movie is like an abridged version of the book with some things added in.
Me: You aren't alone in that assessment.
TC: I mean, Professor Lupin never explains who 'Moony' is.
Me: No, no he doesn't.

All criticisms aside, PoA is still my favorite of all the films so far. I know a lot of people didn't like Alfonso Cuaron's style, but it's really grown on me over time. I love all the clocks and pendulums and Lupin's phonograph and the Whomping Willow changing with the seasons. I don't even mind the Muggle clothes. It may not be the standard 'magical' Hogwarts of the first two films, but I'd go there in a flash if I could.

Also, as the end credits rolled:

TC: Of COURSE it's based on the book by J.K. Rowling! Who ELSE would be the genius behind Harry Potter?!
Me: *loves*

I have got to get my eating back under control. I was in a great, healthy groove up until the middle of February, and then as soon as we started packing to move, it all fell apart. I started getting takeout every day because I was busy and tired and all the pots and pans were in boxes, and then it all went downhill from there, and now I'm sitting here eating Oreos at 11 p.m. And I don't even like Oreos that much.

Luckily, I've kept exercising -- not as much as I should, but I managed three times this week and about that last week -- so I've only gained about a pound from all this. Still, it alarms me how easy it is to slip into bad habits. I've never been a serious overeater, but the closer I get to 40, the less it takes to make me put on weight; a cookie here and there won't do it, but cookies every day, plus pizza for dinner, definitely will. Argh.

In other news, TC is still blazing through the HP books: she started with the first one on Monday night and she's already a couple of chapters into PoA. I'm really happy she's enjoying them, but a little sad that she missed the excitement of being a fan when the books were still being published. She won't get to wait and wonder along with everyone else what's going to happen at the end; she'll just read right through the series and be finished. Oh well, I suppose she doesn't know what she's missing. (On a side note, she was musing aloud about the books on the way home, and she said, "Do you think that the teachers, like Professor McGonagall, went to Hogwarts when they were young?" And I said "Yes, I'm just about positive that they did. *g*)

It also occurred to me this evening that if this were the books, I'd be living in the epilogue -- my story would already be finished, my youth would be over, and I'd just appear as the parent of one of the kids about to set off on a great adventure. I was seriously depressed for a while after that. Haha.

TC is staying at my mother's house until Wednesday. I wasn't wild about sending her away for so long, but she's off school all next week and I haven't got that many vacation days, so off to Grammy's she went. I'm sure she'll have a wonderful time -- my mother is very good at "grandma" activities like baking cookies and making crafts, plus she's promised to take TC on a clothes shopping spree as a belated birthday present, and what 10-year-old girl wouldn't love that? It certainly sounds like more fun that what I'll be doing, which is going to work during the day and packing boxes at night.

Since I was on my own for dinner, I decided to try to recreate the two-tomato broccoli fusilli dish I always get at our favorite Italian restaurant. When I last had it (on Friday night, as it happens) I made sure to note the ingredients, which seemed simple enough: sun-dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, broccoli, tricolor pasta, garlic, olive oil, and fresh Parmesan. When I made it myself, though, it didn't come out anything like as good. It wasn't terrible, and I finished what was on the plate, but I ended up throwing away the leftovers rather than saving them for lunch tomorrow. I'm not sure what went wrong, although I suspect that I probably should have used the oil-packed kind of sun-dried tomatoes instead of the reconstitute-with-boiling-water kind. The really annoying part is that for the $20 I spent on ingredients, I could have gone to the restaurant and had the real thing, plus dessert. Oh well, live and learn.

In other news, TC and I saw Coraline the other night. I've been looking forward to it for months, and I know nearly everyone else who has seen it loved it, but I was vaguely disappointed. The animation was gorgeous, and I was pleased that they didn't pull any punches in making it really scary (TC had to hold my hand during a few scenes) but I was more bothered by the changes from the book than I usually am. ( spoilers ) All that said, I did enjoy it and I'm sure I'll buy the DVD when it's released.

I've also been reading Un Lun Dun, which is something else I have mixed feelings about. ( spoilers ) The writing itself is great, though. TC and I both rolled around laughing at the binja, and I love the book title Oh All Right Then: The Return of Bartleby. (Got to wonder how many 12-year-olds are going to get that reference, though. I didn't read "Bartleby the Scrivener" until I took an upper-division college course on Melville.)

Yes, I know -- whine, whine, whine, complain, complain, complain. :) I'll go pack some more boxes now.

From lanna_kitty:

( High school meme )

Meme from cynthia_black:

Name the first 10 fandoms that come to your mind. Your friends list is supposed to write which character from those fandoms you're most like, according to them. It's about the character you're most like, not the one you like the most!

I can already tell I'm going to have trouble coming up with 10, but here goes:

1. Harry Potter
2. Doctor Who/Sarah Jane Adventures
3. Primeval
4. X-Files
5. Star Trek: The Next Generation
6. The Dark is Rising
7. The Worst Witch
8. Peanuts
9. John Bellairs' books, any series (this one's a stretch -- has anyone but me even read these?)
10. iCarly (now I'm really getting desperate)

I took The Rainbow Cadenza out of the library once when I was about 12, and parts of it have always stuck in my head (mainly to do with the laser/light "music"), but I couldn't remember the title or author and was never able to find it again until now. Over the years, I half convinced myself that I'd just dreamt about it and then imagined I had read it, but it really is a real book! Amazing!

Looking at the summary and reviews, though, I have the feeling I wouldn't like it at all if I read it again, so I probably won't. Some things are better remembered than revisited.

So there I was last night, totally free to do anything I wanted, and guess what I did?

Go on, guess.

I ate a sandwich from Panera and then fell asleep at 8:36 p.m.

Dammit!

At least it was a good sandwich.

The Obamas are so sweet dancing together! *sniff*

Can you ask the kids in your life what they like to read about, and let me know what they say?

I'm looking for general topics, like "school" or "horses" or "time travel" or "magic." (As an example, when I asked TC this question, she said "animals that act like people" and "perilous journeys.")

Thanks!

While vacuuming around the litter box with a wand attachment, I accidentally vacuumed over some wet litter that had been kicked out of the box's opening. This turned the litter into mud (I use the clumping kind that looks like sand), and attempts to clean the mud up just caused it to spread. Now I've got a dessert-plate-size circle of grey muck that seems to have merged with the carpet fibers, which is a problem as 1.) we're moving out of here in less than two months, and 2.) it's disgusting. Any thoughts on how to remove it? Maybe one of those steam cleaners you can rent from Home Depot?

Now that the Yuletide authors' names have been revealed, I can fess up to having written iDo Lunch With Freddie, a Sam-centric iCarly story. I identify with Sam's messed-up family, having come from one of my own, and I've always thought that she secretly likes Freddie (TC doesn't agree with me, but what does a 10-year-old know about relationships?), so this was very satisfying to write.

Also, a thanks by name to eudaimon, who wrote my delicious Primeval gift-fic. I'm so looking forward to the third series now, and I hear there are going to be a whopping 10 episodes this time around, too. Yay!

( Merry Christmas from TC )

Today we went to American Girl Place in Los Angeles so TC could spend the remainder of her Christmas money. This AG Place is at The Grove, which is a schmancy outdoor shopping center just off the Miracle Mile, and which was crowded as all hell with other post-Christmas shoppers. TC is not fond of crowds or unfamiliar places, so as soon as we arrived, she became whiny and clingy, hanging onto my arm like a limpet and then complaining because I kept accidentally bumping into her. She moaned about the crowd and about having to walk until I reminded her that I had just driven 50 miles to bring her here because she had begged to come, so perhaps she ought to give it a rest. This seemed to make sense to her, because things improved quite a bit after that, and she had fun browsing when we finally located the store. She ended up choosing a Just Like Me doll (she already had Kit from our trip to NYC), this doll outfit and the Coconut dog set, which pretty much wiped out her Christmas funds.

Oddly, she hasn't been interested in dolls at all until now -- she played with Barbies and Polly Pockets up until about a year ago, but never lifelike dolls, and definitely not baby dolls, which she says are creepy. (While we were at the store, I threatened to buy a Bitty Baby and leave it on her bed to watch her when she sleeps. Muahaha.) She really does seem to like these American Girl dolls, though; when we got home, she sat on the floor with both of them and spent a long time dressing them and changing their hairstyles. It's a bit strange that she should finally get into dolls at almost 10 years old, but I have no problem with it -- all she's wanted to do lately is play Nintendo and do stuff online, so regular toys make a nice change. I don't suppose this phase will last long, given her age, but let her have fun as long as she's interested.

I'm not sure how many on my flist watch Primeval (lunatrixx, I know you do), but my yuletide gift this year is a great Nick/Stephen/Helen story called No Stone to His Memory. The bit that really got to me the most was the image of Nick living alone in his house and doing things the way he had always done them, out of habit -- jackknight's been gone for two and a half years and I still automatically sleep on my side of the bed, so I can attest that this is exactly how someone would behave in that situation. Anyway, if you're a fan of the show, head on over and check out the story; you won't regret it!

As for the story I wrote, it hasn't been read very widely -- which I expected, because it's in a fandom that's out of the demographic for most Yuletide participants -- but my recipient was really happy with it, so I'm happy too. I had hoped I'd be able to do an extra treat this year as well, and I actually did start writing something for the one other person who had requested Afterlife, but I was so incredibly ill on Christmas Eve that I got about 400 words into it and realized that it wasn't going to happen. I gave up at around 6 p.m. and then spent the rest of the evening blowing my nose, drinking hot apple cider, and watching Christmas movies with TC, who wasn't feeling her best either. Oh well.

Oh, and before I forget, a few days ago, TC was watching a DVD that had a preview for Arthur's Missing Pal at the beginning. There's a part in the preview where Arthur flings open the door of his house and dramatically shouts a single word to the neighborhood at large, and because I wasn't paying very close attention, I thought what he had screamed was "BLAAAAAAAAH!" I said to TC, "Why is he screaming 'BLAAAAAAAAH'?" and she said, through tears of laughter, "He's not screaming 'BLAAAAAAAAH,' he's screaming his dog's name, Pal. You know, 'PAAAAAAAAL!'" We both laughed until we were nearly sick, and ever since then, we've been turning to each other at random moments and yelling "BLAAAAAAAAH!" I'm sure this doesn't sound that funny to anyone who wasn't there, but I've had to stop twice while typing it because I was laughing so hard. It's the little things.

ETA: OMG, I just found the preview on YouTube. The scream is at 0:15. Probably still had to be there, though. *g*

TC and I went to see The City of Ember yesterday evening. She had not read the book and loved the movie; I had read the book probably three or four years ago, and found the movie sort of disappointing.

( Spoilers for both book and movie )

That said, it was still a big improvement over Igor and Beverly Hills Chihuahua, which were the last two movies we saw and which ranged from "steaming pile of suck" to "boring, predictable kids' movie." Even TC, who isn't a very harsh critic and enjoyed both of those films, said she thought City of Ember was better. I wonder if she'll be interested in reading the book now -- I tried to coax her into reading it a few weeks ago, even offered to read it to her, but she didn't want to for some reason.

From cette_vie and labellerose:

As was demonstrated in an interview with Katie Couric, Sarah Palin is unable to name any Supreme Court Case other than Roe v. Wade. The Rules: Post info about ONE Supreme Court decision, modern or historic, to your lj. (Any decision, as long as it's not Roe v. Wade.)

Loving vs. Virginia (1967): Declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute unconstitutional and ended all legal race-based restrictions on marriage in the United States.

Thanks, Supreme Court, for making it possible for me to marry the person I loved. Now how about making it possible for everyone else to do the same thing, even if that person happens to be of the same gender?

I started watching Life on Mars earlier this evening. It's interesting so far, but I'm having a hard time buying John Simm as a cop. He's such a pale, weedy little man, and I'm terrified that at some point in the show he's going to have sex and I'll have to see his pale, weedy little body with no shirt on. It might kill me. Perhaps he'll be celibate all the way through both series.

George was pissed off. He had spent a lot of money to get to Paris -- a lot of money -- and before they'd even been here two whole days, a bunch of white college kids had started throwing their furniture in the street and setting fire to shit.

He didn't like it. He lived uptown so he wouldn't have to see that sort of thing. And he sure as hell hadn't come four thousand miles to see it in French.

"What have they got to protest about, anyway?" he demanded of Louise, who had an iron grip on his elbow and was trying to steer him away.

"Quiet, George!" said Louise rather desperately. She had come on this trip to shop and eat, not to bail George out of jail for getting involved in a street riot.

"Why should I be quiet?" George's voice, always loud, soared to new heights. "I'm not the one who's running around dressed like a damn fool and singing about things that don't make any sense. Look at that kid up there. What is he, ten? Hey you!"

"Leave him alone," moaned Louise. "He's just a little boy."

"Well, I can see that," George retorted. "Yeah, you, kid! Get down here and let me show you what little people can do."