in my life

I've been back from North America for a week that's been chock full of events, which is partly why I'd set my return date for August - a bachelorette party and birthdays and goodbye parties and my dad's 60th bday (which, thank you for all of you who helped me either record messages or cajole strangers across the US and Canada to record birthday messages for him!).

And I am posting to mark for posterity and with great happiness that tomorrow evening my cousin is getting married, and it's a combination of strange and exciting and emotional. This is my cousin from my mom's side of the family, which is the side we grew up close with, in neighboring towns. My cousins from my dad's side are all older than me and have been married for a while now, and my sisters and I have always had a more distant relationship to them due to age differences and geography. (This is the part where you guys are allowed to laugh, since the ones who live farthest away are still less than a two-hour drive away from my hometown; just over an hour with the new roads, really. But my mom's side live ten minutes away! So. An hour drive is far okay everyone [here] knows this.)

Anyway - O, the bride, is a few years younger than me, the fifth youngest of us six cousins, and the first on this side to get married, which means my 86-year-old grandmother gets to be in at least one of her grandchildren's weddings, which just by default makes me happy, that she'll get to experience that. I don't think she's ever put pressure on any of us to get married - certainly not on me, and I'm the oldest - but I'm really glad she'll get to have that experience anyway.

Weirdly, I guess I'm kind of used to the fact that my cousin's not a baby anymore - I guess at some point you just get used to all these milestones in people's lives happening. The last time I mentioned her was in this post from almost ten years ago where I was clearly shocked she was, like, almost a grown up or something, but it has since sunk in.

It's going to be a Friday night wedding, which already tells you it's not very religious here (and not, technically, legally binding; they'll fly to Cyprus to get married over the weekend for the legal part), and it's going to be at a music club and involve some kind of concert. Which means two concerts for me this weekend, since sisters and I are also taking my dad to Regina Spektor for his birthday, a day later.

And that, I believe, will cap my August of, uh, Things Happening.

MEANWHILE, I've been spending the past few weeks on and off (mostly on) listening to The West Wing Weekly podcast and I am 1) in love with it, 2) specifically in love with Hrishi Hirway's voice and entire being, and 3) highly recommend any West Wing fans (and esp if you were in the fandom) to listen because it will give you feelings, man. Starting at the beginning is pretty great, but you can also listen to episode 1.6 (Mr Willis of Ohio) for Josh/Donna feels, episode 1.10 (In Excelsis Deo) for Richard Schiff crying feels, and episode 2.22 part II (Two Cathedrals) for a little bit of Sorkin talking about the Passover Sports Night episode which I know is of interest to some of you :-) Anyway, it is a lovely podcast with great banter and both love and criticism of the show and I just want Hrishi to narrate my entire life basically.

Also I filled some prompts yesterday for a meme! It was basically 'send me a ship and a line and I'll write the next five' meme, but more importantly it was the first writing prompts I've actually filled since, I want to say, 2015 or something, so yay for that. Writing something at least! Fills are here (MCU, DCU, GK). Now if only I could translate that to actual decently sized fic hmmmmmmmmm.

It's sunny and windy and lovelylovelylovely outside, and my dog is happy, and I've just tasted my first peach. Season changes! I have a list of things nagging at the back of my mind, and it's almost impossible to let myself be troubled when the weather is like this, spring alive and present and rolling off my skin.

I went to The Caucasian Chalk Circle again yesterday, and liked it much better than the last time I saw it. ( theater )

I feel like, similar to many other events and holidays this year that I've experienced as regular work days, the day kind of sailed by me without leaving too much of a mark, which is unfortunate seeing as when it comes to Holocaust remembrance -- and next week, Independence Day and hearing first hand experiences of what happened here in 1948 -- time is slipping through our fingers. But anyway, I will share one poster that made the rounds here on Facebook, that I loved: this image, designed by an art student in Bezalel Academy, of an old man shadowed by a family. She dedicates the poster to her grandparents, and explains: The shadows in the road are of the family, who perished and are always with them, but it is also the shadow of their new family survivors. A normal family, just like the one they had, which is there to remember, to contain and preserve the heroism. You can scroll down for the English text. Wow, I feel like I haven't talked about actual issues for a while, and now I feel incredibly rusty and cheesy.


Though I have not yet found my memory card of the ceremony, I can at least talk for a few non-complaining minutes about my baby sister being an officer now. \o/! ( pride! )

Ho shit I just noticed the cut scissors are gone! PRAISE the lord, thank you to everyone who raised their voices and were heard amen.

OKAY. In an effort to somehow get myself into writing again -- HOW do you do it, HOW -- I will do the hit counts meme.

( My top 10 AO3 fics by hit count )

I will leave you with the face of Patrick Kane. There's a tipping point in every fandom I've been in when characters transform from weird/ugly looking dudes to people I find extremely attractive. It happened with Xander, it happened with Josh Lyman, it happened with House, it happened with Kara Thrace, Adam Lambert, it happened with all of My Chemical Romance and all of Panic! at the Disco (Dallon included), and now it has happened with Patrick Kane, whom I could barely look at a few days ago because he was so weird and douchy and horrifying and now all I can see is this:

<--LOOK AT THAT FACE.

So yes, Dear Hawks, please don't lose tonight, I don't want to have to wait until next year to see you play again.

(sean_anam, I am absolutely counting on your presence in the audience to help like it did last week. BE GOOD, ALL.)

In honor of the fact that the next two days are going to be my last days alone at my apartment before my roommate comes back from abroad, allow me to celebrate by a nicely self-indulgent meme: prompt me with stuff, and I will record it! I can record a paragraph or two of text, snippets of songs (I know musicals and, uh, a bunch of stuff, I'll let you know if I don't know something), or just answer questions, and will be quick and not ramble.

Maaan living alone I will miss it ;___;

Apparently my earlier post failed to crosspost, so for those of you who missed it, relevant-House-fans-I-am-looking-at-you, my flail is here.

Today I had a tragically long day at work and only got home at close to 22:30 /o\ And my dinner was an enormous hotdog at the train station that an hour later gave me indigestion, TMI but THAT WAS FUN.

But I managed to catch some of the season premier of Polishuk, the political comedy about the accidental cabinet minister, which is fast-paced and actually funny to me most of the time, which does not happen too often in Israeli TV. And earlier this week I watched another new Israeli political drama called The Prime Minister's Children, which felt like it might as well have been called The Good Wife, but unironically: the series premier starts with the swearing in ceremony of the new Primer Minister, and his wife and two kids moving into their new residence in Jerusalem. The wife really want to be a PM's wife, doesn't want to live there, and we learn that the couple had previously been sleeping in separate beds, but now that they're the First Couple they have to keep up appearances, and basically, at least for the first episode, she actually is playing the part of the good wife :(. It's a beautifully produced show, though, and interestingly cast, and I'll keep watching if I get the chance. Bonus points for casting Alona Tal as the PM's daughter :-)

And also I watched The Good Wife. I can sum up my reaction with the following: ;________; D: D: D: ;__;.

Okay a couple of things and I am going:

1. Fic fest pimping: in_the_beginning, the Hebrew Bible Fanworks Fest, is having a special Shavuot round! here is the short kickstart post. You can post prompts in the prompt post, and prompt claiming will begin this Sunday, May 15th. Works will be posted on June 7th-9th, which just happens to be Shavuot, the date when according to tradition the first five books of the Bible were given to humankind seewhatwedidthere? :D

So if you've ever felt like drawing or reccing or meta-ing or writing fic about the Bible, or about Bible spinoffs like animated Dreamworks films or West End musicals or Hollywood epics or whatnot, this would be the time! You don't have to wait for Yuletide. (Also PSSST crossovers are not only allowed but squeed at.)

(also psst I am a mod, you can be nice to me and prompt stuff even if you don't plan on participating.)

2. annemari is having a, um, beautiful-people-vote-off thing, where every day you have to vote for the LEAST attractive boy and girl she posts until finally there is a winner. This is actually pretty horrible because most of the boys are Bandom people (but not all) and I have to CHOOSE BETWEEN THEM. Yesterday I didn't vote and then Ryan Ross was voted off. I BLAME MYSELF. So unless you also want to have guilty consciences over your favorites being voted off, you should vote. Bus mostly you should head over to that post because annemari compiles really pretty picspams.

3. A version of Panic performing Carry On My Wayward Son with good audio. If you are not in Bandom, you will look at this and see Sweaty Eleventh Doctor Wannabe Fanboys Supernatural, Sings Karaoke. However, if you like Panic, you'll probably be going omg look he's so haaappy look at them rock those soloooos eeee :D, and also rue the fact that for the first time ever you want the camera to zoom out so you can see everybody's guitar fretting better, but ah well.

4. And okay, the thing that made my tragically long day end on a pretty great note was reading this on the train, so rec: The Sweet Spot (Bandom, Brendon/Spencer, 15,000 words, R). It's just arrgh so freaking sweet, with funny dialogues and character who care about each other and love and tease and it's a Harlequin story that has two tropes I love, one of them being Bakery-owner!Spencer (a trope in itself!) and the other being something best unspoiled though it's not actually a spoiler, just a trope I love. Summary: "Responsibility" should be Spencer Smith's middle name (except it's James). After all, not many people would sacrifice their lives to run the family bakery and raise their twin sisters. But now the girls are grown, and Spencer has to learn to put his own needs first! And Brendon, the Sweet Spot's newest regular, might just be what Spencer's looking for. But will Brendon's past get in the way of their present?

So one of these days someone should open up another harlequin_bands fest, y/y?

5. There is a meme and I am doing it here:
THE YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL MEME
my thread here

I'll finish with a philosophical question: if you have 15 mosquito bites and you have killed 1 mosquito, who counts as the winner, the mosquito or you?

Lest you think that I let a meme that includes some degree of self-pimping pass me by--

My top ten AO3 stories by hitcount:
( Ten AO3 stories + thoughts )

To make this not all about me, the fic trope meme! It's been fascinating for me to read why people like or dislike these tropes, hearing them talking about overcoming their distaste for a certain trope because an author they liked wrote it, sometimes being unable to explain it at all. I will do a very very sucky job at explaining them, but one thing I can do is rec :D Unfortunately for people who read this and care about my fandoms, anything I rec here will be something I've almost certainly recced before, so sorry about that.

ETA: oh god, what just happened. I just spent the last three hours writing this. There are already 40 recs, and I still have 9 tropes to go /o\ /o\ /o\ I'm just going to push off posting that other meme for tomorrow. /o\.

And then the accent meme and now I'm done:

Questions:

Your name and/or username
Where you're from
The following words: Aunt, Roof, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting Image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught, Orange, Coffee, direction, naturally, aluminium and herbs
What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

(a) BEATLES ROCK BAND FTMFW. I AM CHAMPION OF ALL THINGS VOCAL. I AM A PRETTY EXCELLENT MEDIUM DRUMMER. AND I AM AN ABOVE-MEDIOCRE MEDIUM LEAD GUITARIST. BUT MOSTLY I LOVE FAKE PLASTIC DRUMS. So fucking fun! And harder than it seems!

(b) Another lyrics meme, this time based on whichever lalala/nanana/etc lyrics I could think of off the top of my head.

1. sha la la la la la da, la la la di dah, la di dah
2. na na na na, na na na na, he-e-ey
3. lai la lai, lai la lai lai, la la lai, lai la lai, lai la lai lai la la lai, la la la la lai
4. la la la la la, la la la la la la, la la la la la la la
5. Rah rah ah ah ah, roma ro ma ma
6. rama lama lama, ka dinga da dingy dong
7. lai la lai lai lai lai lai, lai lai lai lai lai la lai, lai la lai lai lai lai lai, lai lai lai lai lai
8. naaaa na na na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na

Only one song here is really obscure, being from an animated film. Good luck :D Lol, I hope I remember what all these are later.

ETA: All guessed! Answers can be found in either the LJ comments or the DW ones. You all rock even more than Rock Band, the end. Anyone who hasn't seen the answers yet, feel free to keep guessing :-)

(c) Remix is progressing \o/ It really is. Yay.

First, a quick recap of tonight's season finale of Srugim for those interested, following up on the plot I posted about earlier this week. ( Roei, Reut, my heart. )

Music! I have been in a music mood today. Not just because my fandoms for the past year have generally been music fandoms, but also because I read the Time Out interview where Ivri Lider interviews Tzipi Livni and guys, it turns out she's a drummer. How fucking cool is that? She's been taking lessons recently with Rockfour's drummer, and man. We could have had a drummer Prime Minister. I'm sure other world leaders play instruments too; I am somehow absolutely sure they could have had this epic jamming session and brought about world peace and that the fact that Bibi won the elections has robbed us of that forever.

Um, but anyway, lyrics meme! Because those are always fun. I put my iPod on shuffle and copied the first lines of every song, censoring the ones that started with the song titles because it was getting ridiculous. I didn't cheat and skip, so there are some repeat artists in there! Hint: my iPod has 8GB and has the entire Beatles catalogue on it, so if you don't recognize the song... chances are it's the Beatles.

So, guess away:
(   )
1. Who knows how long I've loved you / do you know I love you still -- "I Will"/The Beatles (jadelennox, sabra_n, hannahrorlove, goseaward, chocolate_frapp)
2. We were talking about the space between us all / and the people who hide themselves behind a wall -- "Within You Without You"/The Beatles (sabra_n, chocolate_frapp)
3. [NAME OF SONG] Lord we adore thee / God of glory, Lord of love -- "Joyful, Joyful"/Beethoven's 9th (ghoti, amproof)
4. Summer has come and passed / the innocent can never last -- "Wake me Up When September Ends"/Green Day (mardia, sabra_n)
5. Once I was a boogie singer playing in a rock'n'roll band / never had no problems burning down one night stands -- "Play That Funky Music"/Adam Lambert cover (chocolate_frapp)
6. [NAME OF SONG], I'm gonna let it shine -- "This Little Light O' Mine"/Bruce Springsteen performing (ghoti, fluffernutter8, goseaward)
7. Well it rains and it pours when you're out on your own / if I crash on the couch can I sleep in my clothes -- "The Sharpest Lives"/My Chemical Romance (aka, brimtoast)
8. Your day breaks, your mind aches, you find that all her words of kindness linger on when she no longer needs you -- "For No One"/The Beatles (jadelennox, sabra_n, hannahrorlove, chocolate_frapp)
9. Ziggy played guitar, jammin' good with Weird and Gilly and the spiders from Mars -- "Ziggy Stardust"/David Bowie (jadelennox, a2zmom, hannahrorlove, brimtoast, chocolate_frapp)
10. She got outta town on a railway New York bound / took all except my name, another alien on Broadway -- "Bright Lights"/Kris Allen performing (sophinisba,amproof, goseaward)
11. To sail away, to have discovered places / to see the secrets so few eyes have seen -- sabra_n correctly guessed it was from a musical. Anyone?
12. (percussion -- strings -- winds -- words.) Yeah, you see her, sitting there across the way -- "Kiss the Girl"/The Little Mermaid (mardia, sabra_n)
13. Born into Nixon I was raised in hell / a welfare child where the teamsters dwelled -- "21st Century Breakdown"/Green Day (manderkitty)
14. Dearest darlingest Momsie and Popsicle / My dear Father -- "What is This Feeling?"/Wicked OBS (aka, fluffernutter8, goseaward)
15. We're [NAME OF SONG] / we hope you have enjoyed the show -- "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)"/The Beatles (sabra_n, hannahrorlove, chocolate_frapp) -- you had to have known it was the reprise to guess this one, sorry :-)
16. Something kind of hit me today / I looked at you, wondered if you saw things my way
17. It's late at night and I can't sleep / missing you just runs too deep -- "Time For Miracles"/Adam Lambert (amproof)
18. Fools rush in, so here I am, awfully glad to be unhappy -- "Glad To Be Unhappy"/The Mamas and the Papas (lady_nimua)
19. Maybe you've heard of a terrible place where the scoundrels of Paris collect in a lair -- amproof was closest by guessing it was Disney. Anyone?
20. Now I'm of consenting age to be forgetting you in a cabaret -- "But It's Better If You Don't"/Panic! at the Disco (mardia)
21. Hey old friend, whataya say old friend, make it okay, old friend, give the old friendship a break -- "Old Friends"/Merrily We Roll Along OBS (sabra_n, amproof, dafna)
22. I took my baby on a Saturday bang / boy is that girl with you yes we're one and the same -- "Black or White"/Michel Jackson (sophinisba, friendshipper)
23. [SONG NAME] lose my dignity, will someone care -- "Will I"/Rent OBS (aka, sabra_n, amproof, goseaward)
24. [SONG NAME] yes yes [SONG NAME], if you don't take her out tonight she's gonna change her mind -- "You're Going to Lose That Girl"/The Beatles (sabra_n, chocolate_frapp)
25. He likes me / I think he likes me / but does he like me like me / like I like him -- "Mix Tape"/Avenue Q OBS (oddcellist, sabra_n, amproof)

(There were also some Hebrew songs, so if anyone recognizes them...:

1ב. אני יושבת בבאר די לבדי / שותה קצת, מדברת הרבה עם עצמי . טלסקופים קטנים מדווחים לי על כל מה שקורה מסביבי
2ב. המבט שלך הוא אש קרה, אשה זרה, איך שאת מתבוננת דרכי
3ב. בהיכליו יושב שלמה, וי ללילי, וי ליומי / כל איש יודע מה שלמו אך אין איש יודע מה שלומי)

ETA: I'll cross out all the correctly guessed songs tomorrow, just to give people some more time to play.

Also, poll!

I am being mean and making this an either/or choice, but feel free to elaborate in the comments. I am taking it for granted that most people's favorite artists and songs have both amazing music and amazing lyrics that blend together amazingly, and obviously that's the ideal situation for everyone. But a couple levels below that, what does your brain prefer over the other; music or lyrics?

(Alternately, as was eloquently phrased in the comments by blackmare, what drives you more insane: dumbass lyrics or crappy music?)

2006, 2007, 2008, and now: ( fic round up, 2009. )

( Stats )

( Q&A )

I have Unseen Academicals! Hardcover, American cover (always, always uglier than the British), and only 399 pages long :(:(:( It has now automatically been bumped to the top of my books to read, once I start reading books again, and I don't know whether to be happy or cry.

It was delivered to me by a friend whose dad just arrived from the States, where it cost $15 through Amazon instead of the $40 it's currently available for here. It was delivered along with a candy-filled gift mug that says: "I DON'T PROCRASTINATE... I RESCHEDULE", which came from my friend's mom. Because lol, apparently my friends' parents now know me as Procrastinator Girl, being of course entirely accurate.

Tonight I made one of my favorite dishes in the ENTIRE WORLD: Mom's Corn Soup. I am not kidding guys, this soup* is one of my top desert island foods. This soup was my comfort food for so many years. It was what I asked my mom to make me on my 5th birthday, it was what I'd ask her to make me for my (midwinter) birthday almost every year and it was what I'd ask her to make me during rough weeks in the army, when I was miserable and it was rainy and the thought of the steaming corn soup that would await me at home over the weekend did a lot to lift my spirits.

Last night I asked my mother for the recipe, tonight I made it at the apartment, AND LO, IT WAS DELICIOUS. I'm planning to eat it spoon by spoon, make it last all week, omg my mouth is almost watering just thinking about it.

The truth is, though, that once I tasted it and realized that it was just as good as when my mom makes it, it... lost some of its magic. It's like rainbows: they're rare and unexpected and such a treat to stumble upon, but you wouldn't want to have a remote control that turns them on and off with a click. Mom's corn soup has now lost its mystery and its rareness.

But it's still damn fucking good, so here is the recipe:

( I believe they call this NOMNOMNOM )

*along with Grandma's Tongue with Mushroom Gravy and the timeless Toast With Avocado, Salt and Lemon.

...meanwhile, I have still not signed up for yuletide. I will, of course, within the next three days. And until that, That Meme:

Pick a paragraph (or any passage less than 500 words) from any story I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.

(And I'll just add, since it probably won't be brought up but I've wanted to mention it for the longest time now: in Whole New World, there's a line that goes: They might even toss him out of the House for considering to vote for a Democrat next time.

The only reason the word "house" is capitalized is that I wrote this in a rush a few hours before the deadline, on the tail of three years of writing House fic. I get so embarrassed every time I read that line now. That is all.)