"Eek! I have to talk in front of all these people! The judge said it's ok to tell them if I can't talk in front of everyone. They'll let us talk to them in private. I should tell them I'd rather do that."

"But then everyone will know what a wimp I am. And what if talking in private in the judge's chambers is scarier?"

"So now what? It's almost my turn. What do I do?!"

"Just stay here and talk and ignore everyone else."

*sigh* "Okay, *fine*."




Don't know if that's considered progress or not, but there it is.

I'm nearly done with the first season of Supernatural. I'm on disc five and will be sending that back to Netflix tomorrow. My impression so far: overall story arc is fascinating, but they're taking too long to develop it; the one-shot story structure gets old quick and the formula is, well, formulatic; the actor is good overall but couldn't they have found two actors who actually look like brothers? I'm still enjoying it, but don't think this will be added to my fall schedule of "must watch" shows. I'll be happy to play catch up on dvd, if I don't get bored with it before then. Ordered seasons 2 and 3 from Netflix, so we'll see.

Chapter 18 of "Distractions" is now up!

Sador - Aragorn has luncheon plans of his own.



ION: Went to Jury Duty today and actually got in the jurors box for a change. I was the first juror to be dismissed though, darn it all to heck. Guess the lawyer didn't like it when I said how a judge had screwed over my cousin once. :D

I'm back and rested from my day with cookiefleck. I left early so we could go and get lunch before the show and do some sightseeing. I got there around 11ish and Cookie took me up to Hollywood and Highland, where the Grauman's theater, the Walk of Fame, and the Kodak theater are. She's like a hop, skip and a jump from all the fun. I took some piccies, which I'll post a few at the end. We saw the memorial to Michael Jackson while we were there, but couldn't see his star with all the stuff on top of it, so I didn't bother taking a pic of that.

We went to California Pizza Kitchen and had their thin crust Sicilian Pizza, which was delicious! All 185 calories/slice of it! Yummy! (A law went into effect on the 1st that all chain restuarants have to put the number of calories of their meals on their menus. The thai salad had over 2000 calories!)

Then we went back to her place to cool off a bit before going to see Fellowship! the Musical. The theater is this little place, 99 seats, of which cookie says there are hundreds of such theaters, and you were pretty much up close and personal with the cast no matter where you sat. We were in the middle, 5th of 7 rows. :D

The musical was hilarious! We were literally laughing from the second it started to the second it finished. It was more movie-based and ribbed on a lot of the movie "edits" to the books and some obvious fan gripes about the treatment of the books, but it was with love and appreciation for both movie and book. For instance, no one could remember who Merry was and kept calling him Murray (shirebound). Or when Gandalf told Frodo what the ring said, he sang the entire ring verse and the history of the ring, and poor Frodo was trying to mimic him so he wouldn't be left out of the song! And "it says all that on the ring?" :D Poor Sam! They got the fattest person in the world to play him, and they winked at the slashiness of the movies too. Boromir just looked demented, Pippin had an alligator backpack, and Aragorn was this aloof surfer-dude talking guy who no one could tell him what to do because he was secretly not the king. The Aragonth - the drummer and keyboardist stood up and struck the pose, and they had these remote control boats on wheels with the LOTR dolls in them! Arwen and Aragorn speaking Elvish was hilarious! "Ihgalskehia adhioa ahdoiwthao" was pretty much the gist of it. :D There's so much more, but you get the idea. Oh, and my favorite line ever has to be from this song-bonding moment they gave to Gimli and Legolas in the Mines of Moria:

Gimli: Your men look like women.
Legolas: Your women look like men.

LMAO!

They're even doing a sing-along version of the musical next week or something.

The musical is only for the FOTR. No idea if they'll ever do TTT and ROTK, but I sincerely hope they get around to it some day. I'll be there!

Then we went back to cookie's and I discovered I lock my keys in the car. So I called AAA and while we were waiting, we sat in front of her place chatting about the musical and other stuff.

The traffic was good both ways, but for some reason I got home in under two hours, and that's with missing a couple of my exits.

ETA: Sorry, forgot the pics!

( Cut for pic spam! )

And now I reveal the answers! Between everyone who played, all the quotes were guessed except the third one. :D

May the Gourds be with you. - May the Force be with you. - Star Wars (pick a movie, any movie)
If you Gourd it, they will come. - If you build it, they will come. - Field of Dreams
It's a Gourd house! A Gourd house! - It's a mad house! A mad house! - Planet of the Apes (original)
I'm not a Gourd, I'm just grown that way. - I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way. - Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Once I was your Gourd. Now I am the Masterpiece. - Once I was the apprentice, now I am the Master. - Star Wars: A New Hope
You want the Gourd? You can't handle the Gourd! - You want the truth? You can't handle the truth! - A Few Good Men
I will not do this deed. The Gourd is mine! - I will not do this deed. The Ring is mine! - Return of the King (book, not movie. I don't remember what he says in the movie.)

Thanks to everyone who played! You all get a ficlet! :D

Saw Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs on Friday. I swear, these movies get more and more hilarious with each one they come out with. There was nothing I didn't love about this movie. The jokes were great for kids and grown-ups alike, and while some of it might be a tad scary for the wee ones, older children (5 and up) shouldn't have a problem with it. And to clarify this, since it took me a while to catch on they way they were drawn: the eggs Sid finds are raptor eggs, not T-rex eggs. These aren't the Jurassic Park dinos, that's for sure! So, two thumbs way up.

Also saw Forever Strong yesterday at my parents' house after the tea party. It's an LDS production but thankfully extremely light on the preaching. It's based on actual events, and is about the Highland rugby team in Salt Lake City (we have rugby in America?) who have won 361 of 370 games and won 16 of 29 national championship games. It's told from the POV this good-for-nothing who thinks he's a badass and is signed up by the team to learn important life lessons that turn him into a good ole boy. Cliched, but worth it. And yours truly Sean Astin has a supporting role as a counselor at the juvie center (apparently an extremely low security center) where Rick, the wanna be badass, gets sent to. There were actually a few big names/familiar faces in this movie.

I'm going to meet with cookiefleck today for lunch and a show!! We're going to see Fellowship!, a musical parody of the FOTR movie, done with love not mocking. So exciting! :D

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends! On this day, it's really important to remember what this country stands for and remember the men and women who both made this country and kept it safe these past 233 years.

I went with my parents today to a tea party they were having in Murrieta. Not a bad turn out for just one-week notice and very little advertising. There was a huge one in Temecula. There were only a handful of people who were rude or not supportive, everyone else either just drove on by or honked and waved to show their support. Without getting into political issues, it was an interesting experience and actually a lot of fun, despite it being 95 degrees. They're going to have another around Labor Day, so I'll try to make that one too.

ION, as I was working on my next chapter to "Distractions" the other day, I started wondering what it would be like for Aragorn if he had been king during the age of tabloid journalism. I'm writing this on the fly, so forgive any typos, grammatical errors, etc. :D

( Coming up on GNN (Gondor News Network): He says he's just a friend, but what is the real relationship between King Elessar and his hobbit 'buddy' Frodo Baggins? Valawefar has some exclusive photos that may shed new light on all those internet chat room rumors. But first... )



Don't stay tuned. That's all there is. Unless someone wants to pick up the torch. :D

We have reached the final curtain on the gourd show. It was a fun experience, one I'll look forward to again next year. Maybe I can start saving up for one of my own. :D Or not. :P Probably be cheaper to take one of those classes.




( I will not do this deed. The Gourd is mine!* )

Thus endeth the show!

* Bonus - correctly name the source of all the quotes I used for my cuts (the non-gourd versions) and I'll write you a ficlet of your choice. :D No need to give me the correct quote, just its source. Comments will be hidden until everyone's had a chance to play. The quotes are:

May the Gourds be with you.
If you Gourd it, they will come.
It's a Gourd house! A Gourd house!
I'm not a Gourd, I'm just grown that way.
Once I was your Gourd. Now I am the Masterpiece.
You want the Gourd? You can't handle the Gourd!
I will not do this deed. The Gourd is mine!

Nearly finished with the Gourd show. Thanks for putting up with all the posts. Just one more left after this.

The remaining pics are back outside in the exhibits. :D



( You want the Gourd? You can't handle the Gourd! )

Happy Birthday, dreamflower02!

Hope your day is full of hobbits and food and hobbits and cake and hobbits and presents, and did I mention hobbits? :)

Here's a little ficlet I wrote in honor of your special day! Enjoy!

The Whole Truth and Nothing Butt - A follow up to Cheeky Took. In which Pippin explains some things, butt not everything. ;)

This is the last of the contest entries. This was around the time I started jonesing for something cold. The tent was super hot! Thank goodness there were snow cones near at hand. :D




( Once I was your Gourd. Now I am the Masterpiece. )

Just two more posts to gourd! I mean, go! :D

Two more posts of the judging tents and then we'll be back outside in the exhibits! :D

I think this is supposed to be a plant of some sort. Any other guesses?


( I'm not a Gourd, I'm just grown that way. )

In the next installment, the final entries in the judging tents!

I didn't get much written this last week, but thought I'd post the next chapter anyway. I like to have a good cushion between finished chapters and what I'm currently writing, for when the inevitable happens and I need to go back and edit things or move things around before I post. My Muses are stalling on the chapter I'm currently writing, so I've been trying to just let them take their time. *crosses fingers*

Anyhoo, here's Chapter 17 of "Distractions":

Luncheon - The hobbits host their first luncheon.

Continuing with my Gourd Saga, these are some creations that require multiple shots to appreciate them in their entirety. Enjoy!

These first few were part of the judging tents.

Noah's Ark:


( It's a Gourd house! A Gourd house! )

Part IV: more of the judging entries! :D

Today, me, Debbie and Ruth went to the Scottish Highlander games in Vista. It was another gorgeous day. We went to Mimi's Cafe on the way for breakfast. I had the stuffed french toast, with cream cheese and orange marmalade in the middle, and topped with strawberries, blueberries and strawberry puree. YUMMMMM!!!!

Then we went to the Gathering. I wasn't exactly sure where the park was, but it turned out to be the park where my family and I would always go to watch fireworks when I was a kid. It was packed full of Scots! I thought it was free to get it, but it actually cost $14, which I thought was rather overpriced. $10 would have been ok, and $5 even better. But we had a good time, all and all. We went through all the clan tents, listened a bit to the band that was playing old folk songs, and watched some of the bagpipe and drum competitions. We missed the dancing competitions, drat it, but my friends were starting to poop out at that point anyway. It was hot again and lots of sun this time. I'll probably be a tad pink in the face come morning but the rest of me is fine. :D

Didn't try any of the Scottish food, but we did learn quite a bit about kilts from one of the guys watching the band competitions. Ruth was thinking that the colors were for Xmas, or summer, or whatnot! LOL! I tried explaining it to her earlier, but apparently she didn't think I knew what I was talking about. ;) The guy was telling us how certain lines in the tartan mean certain things, like the white lines for military. He explained that the tartan is the material they make the kilts with, and that plaid is just the part of the tartan, back in the olden days, that they would throw over their shoulder after they finished wrapping it around themselves. So I've been misusing plaid all my life!

And you'll never guess who showed up!

( Peregrin! )

We next went into the tents where the various artists had submitted some of their creations for judging. The first tent was the biggest and longest and hottest. We were sweating bullets by the time we got out! Hence the snow cones.

All of the entries were amazing. Some were simply gorgeous, others cute. We got to judge them by picking our favorites from each tent.



( If you Gourd it, they will come )

Some of the gourds were so detailed, they required various photos to get the full effect. I'll post those ones next!

Ruth, Aida and I went to the gourd art festival today! It was the perfect weather for gourd browsing: dry, hot (I'd guess about 90) and sunny with a light breeze. The displays were thankfully in the shade, but shade can be a tricky thing. I swear I'm two degrees darker than I was this morning!

I heard a couple of people say that it was smaller than previous years and not as many food vendors - no doubt due to the economy. The food vendors were all local, but we went and ate breakfast at the Fallbrook Cafe before we went, so we didn't eat there. We did have to stop at one point and get something cold - snow cones! Yum!

We had a great time and I took way more pictures than I thought I did! It is truly spectacular what they do with something as simple as a gourd. I tried narrowing down my favorites, but there's just no way, and the pics I took are only about 1/10 of what was there!

So, I'm going to do this in parts, so you can see all the creations!

The Gourd Festival is held every year at Wellbourn Gourd Ranch in De Luz. It's about an 11-mile drive north of the main town center of Fallbrook. As soon as you drive into the ranch, you see rows and acres of vines, future gourds in the making: (Sidenote: Those hills in the distant background are the eastern edge of Camp Pendelton, so you can see how close I live to the base!)



( May the Gourds be with you! )

Continuing in my next post, Part II.....

I also found some friends willing to go to the Highlander Gathering with me tomorrow, so expect pics of that too! :D

I think my monitor is going to die soon. For the last four years or so, it's been changing hues on me at irregular intervals. The screen will go from white, to soft yellow, to soft green. Now I'm getting these black lines that show up across the monitor and the screen is still changing colors, but more often and usually several different colors at once.

Hang in there monitor!

ION: Went to a happy hour at El Torito after work tonight. Actually left work an hour and a half early so I could spend more time with my friends, since I would have to leave early to come home and give my kitty her meds. Didn't drink, obviously, but it was amusing watching everyone else get drunk, and just fun to hang out and actually socialize for once.

This Michael Jackson thing is bothering me. I remember listening to his music and watching his music videos growing up. They were a big part of my childhood. Since his death, everyone is so eager to remember the good old days that they totally forget that for the last decade they've been berating everything he did and said. People are such hypocrits. Now, I like his music a lot, but I'm not going to pretend that he didn't get weird and that he didn't do extremely questionable things in his last 10 years of life just because of his untimely death. He was weird. His actions were questionable. Did I feel sorry for him? In a way. No one should have to go through what he did - if they're innocent. There's simply no way for anyone to know that. I tend to think all the allegations were just a slander storm. One person pointed a finger and ten more people jumped onto the band wagon because they saw dollar signs. But who really knows? How long until they make a made-for-tv movie about his life, to cash in on the very man they tore apart?

So on that happy note, I'll leave with a quote of the day to ponder. Ironically, this is one of the few songs of his they haven't been playing:

I've been a victim of
A selfish kinda love
It's time that I realize
There are some with no home
Not a nickel to loan
Could it be really pretending that they're not alone

A willow deeply scarred
Somebody's broken heart
And a washed out dream
(Washed out dream)
They follow the pattern of the wind ya' see
'Cause they got no place to be
That's why I'm starting with me

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change

Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett in the same day.

May they both rest in peace.

French Toast:

1 egg whole
1/2 cup - 1 cup milk (I really just pour until there's enough in the bowl)
cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
Sliced bread (I prefer 7-grain or 11-grain bread)

Pancakes:

I pretty much just follow the recipe on the box, except instead of 1 cup of pancake mix, I use a 1/2 cup pancake mix and 1/2 cup ground quick-bake oats (I grind them in the blender with the pancake mix). I find that the oats make the pancakes a little dry, so I'll pour in an extra dollop of milk/water for good measure. I also put in a drop of vanilla extract or lemon juice for flavor. The oats add fiber and make the pancakes fluffy and filling, and your kids will never know the difference.

Squash:

2 squash, any kind, cut into cubes (I like the Italian and Mexican squash the best)
About a tablespoon of water
sprinkled with ground black pepper, garlic salt and chili pepper to taste
a generous dashing of parmesan cheese
a handful or two of grated mozeralla cheese
heated over low flame for about 5-7 minutes

Jenny's blood sugar is up again and she lost a pound. So we're going back to 1 unit twice a day and I have to try to make sure she eats more.

I'm starting to watch Supernatural. At first, I didn't watch it out of protest, since stinking WB/CW/whatever they're called now, cancelled Angel for being too arch and seriel, and then they put Supernatural on the air, which is pretty much just Buffy for Boys. But since so many people on my flist enjoy the show, I thought I'd give it a try and ordered it off Netflix. I've just seen the first four eps of season 1, and I really enjoyed it! So I'll be ordering all the seasons now and doing my best to catch up for the next season.

And now... the next chapter of "Distractions" has been posted! My very rough outline is getting a bit more detailed and, as always happens, a few chapters longer. I just finished writing chapter 21, another surprise chapter that popped out at me when I should have been writing about something else. While I was trying to figure out how to get the next chapter going, switching around things and getting the timeline into better order, I had another little surprise, and so the story is now, as currently outlined, 30 chapters instead of 25, with a possible epilogue if needed. :D Not that you're complaining, right?

A Fable and A Table - Merry reveals how his master plan worked; the hobbits continue their renovation efforts; Frodo throws a bramble into one of Merry's plans

What's wrong with this picture? :P