Usually on this journal I either don't talk at all, or talk about Dumbledore. :P But in the last year I've taken to watching television, and now I watch two shows regularly and a couple others semi-regularly. It's a new and exciting thing for me!

The two shows I watch are Heroes and Gossip Girl. The one I plan to talk about here is the former, although I'll gladly geek out about the latter if anyone is interested. I just...somehow doubt it. ;) (But OMG Gossip Girl is hilarious. Especially if you're acquainted with that culture. I love it!)

Anyway, on to Heroes! ( Spoilers for Heroes 'Out of Time' )

And that's all for now. I'm getting really excited for this season!

I know a lot of people have expressed dismay that Jo didn't take the opportunity to reveal Dumbledore's sexual orientation in the books themselves, waiting instead for the question to be asked. I've even seen her referred to, not by any of you but by other prominent fandom members, as a "coward" for only coming clean once the books were over and she was safe on her stage in Carnegie Hall. While I think it's silly to call her a coward for something I consider quite courageous (cue capslocked "DON'T -- CALL ME COWARD" moment :D), I did wonder whether it wouldn't have been more courageous, and cooler in general, to have made it clear in the books.

( Cut for those of you who are sick of this whole thing )

It just gets better!*

"I thought it [R/H] was obvious, but apparently there are Internet wars about this," she said. "And they get very vicious." Rowling said she was unaware of the shipping wars for years, until someone suggested she take a look at the fan sites. "It was scary!" So many readers wanted Hermione and Harry to be a couple, Rowling said, that "I got hate mail ... from adults! Not people your age. You at least understood."

God I LOVE that she can trust the kids to understand. They don't have multiple Ph.D's in literary criticism and post-deconstruction-wutevre to distract them from the anvils.

*OK, just kidding, this isn't actually better, because it's always been more obvious than words can say. But it's satisfying. :D

I don't even know how to express how happy I am that Dumbledore is gay.

SO SO SO SO HAPPY

Is it wrong to feel that this almost makes up for Remus and Sirius never getting together? I mean, it would have been so easy to let them be in love and she didn't and that was so disappointing to me -- but DUMBLEDORE! YAY!

I'm also pleased because I totally underestimated her -- I wrote in a comment to michelle_ravel a while back that "I don't think JKR would necessarily defend the ship in an interview, but she totally meant us to contemplate it," and boy, did she SHOW ME. Go her!

I wonder if she really would have told us years ago, though. I don't want to touch the marketing/image side of things, but it would have been sort of out of nowhere without Grindelwald for context.

Yay yay yay YAY

Now that I've broken my silence, I might as well get going with the infectious memes.

( Movie meme )

Also, check me out as a blonde here. I'm playing Rapunzel in Into the Woods this weekend -- my first forays into musical theater since high school! Wish me luck. Or, if you're superstitious, a broken leg.

Well, I'm back from Tanzania, and I have a few pictures to show you from when my friends and I went on safari. This was only one week out of nine that I spent in Tanzania, but a full write-up would take ages, so I'll leave you with a glimpse of the savanna instead.

Teaser:


( Serengeti National Park (elephants, giraffes, zebras, ostrich) )

( Ngorongoro Crater (lions galore -- and more!) )

( Baby elephant in Lake Manyara )

I have many, many more pictures, but I won't subject you to them now! For those of you with facebook, you can see the best ones in the latest four albums here.

In other news, I hear BNFs have been having less fun of late. Wish I hadn't missed all the excitement! Funny coincidence: Yesterday, after reading up on the plagiarism stuff, I found a "Still not king" mug with a disgruntled Aragorn on it at the local Goodwill. I couldn't resist it, and for 99 cents I had to buy it. If anyone wants a "Stupid Ring, stupid Quest, stupid Fellowship" mug with Boromir on it, I can pick it up for a pittance and sent it your way!

Hi everyone! I am furiously packing and cleaning up so I can leave for Tanzania on Tuesday, but that doesn't stop me from filling out a meme, stolen from ladyvorkosigan. I can't say much else because I really do need to get back to packing, but I'll be in Dar es Salaam for nine weeks interning for a microlending organization, traveling a little, being delighted half to death by the elephants, and hopefully not getting into any trouble. Any questions, let me know. :) If you want a postcard, send me your address! I'll have two months to get around to writing postcards, so there will really be no excuse for not doing them.

LJ Interests meme results

1. broadway:
   I guess I was really into Broadway musicals at the time? I don't remember ever being particularly taken by the glitz and glamor of showbusiness, but I do like some musicals. Maybe I meant the street. I can find anything I could possibly need a few streets above and below me on Broadway, so that's pretty cool.
2. dark chocolate:
   Yum. Less interested now that my tastes have migrated from sweet to savory, but still, I won't complain.
3. french:
   Yes, I love it, particularly juicy things like the subjunctive. Mmmm. Better than dak chocolate!
4. italian:
   I guess I like this one too. I like any language I'm learning...I'm non-discriminating like that.
5. languages:
   In case you hadn't already figured it out.
6. music:
   If nothing else, this meme reminds you that even though you created your LJ bio four years ago, thus explaining the inanity, people are still looking at it today thinking you thought this stuff up a month ago. No one should put "music" as an interest unless they are John Cusack in High Fidelity or Bach. Who doesn't like music?
7. orx:
   Ooooh, they're so cute! I used to spell words this way, with an 'x' instead of 'cs' or 'kcs.' Hey, half of you used to do it too!
8. roman holiday:
   Still one of my favorite movies. I went to Italy for spring break with my boyfriend, and much to my embarrassment he insisted on reenacting the scene on the Spanish Steps where Gregory Peck walks past Audrey Hepburn, does a double take and pretends he's surprised to see her. I was definitely grumpier than Audrey. :D
9. sexy rent boy:
   Some friends and I used to refer to Orlando Bloom in his various roles as "sexy ____ boy," depending on the role. Sexy rent boy was in "Wilde" -- he only had one line but it melted my heart. This was before I realized he really only plays one role and isn't all that sexy. :P
10. spain:
    I went to Spain with my parents when I was little, and I guess I really loved it, although I don't remember too well. I've probably romanticized it a little since (helped out by a certain historical fantasy book set in Medieval Spain), but I had to pick anywhere to spend a few weeks on a moment's notice, it might be Spain. Plus, I love Spanish, don'tcha know? ;)

Enter your LJ user name, and 10 interests will be selected from your interest list.

I'm doing really well on a few of my new year's resolutions. For example, one was to spread less butter on my toast. Well, not only have I been waiting a moment or two before spreading the butter, so it won't all melt at once and cause me to add more (if you can't see it, you can't taste it, is my philosophy), but I actually haven't had toast at all since I've been back at school. This is impressive, as I have been known to eat nothing but toast for my whole dinner (only once!).

Nearly as shocking as my cutbacks on butter, I have discovered the joys of a good salad: something I had not thought possible in my college dining hall, only in restaurants and other people's homes. I've always been operating under the following assumptions: One, I hate lettuce. Two, I hate vinegar. Three, I hate all other salad dressings. Four, the only way to mask the taste of lettuce (and, like, get stuff to stick to it) is with salad dressing, which I hate. In the past I've sprinkled cheese on lettuce, or added some crumbled up hard-boiled egg and feta and chickpeas and stuff, and called it a salad. Well, it turns out the reason oil and vinegar is such a popular dressing is that it's pretty much the best thing anyone has thought of to make lettuce taste better. Also, croutons, raisins, and pumpkin seeds help immeasurably. Who knew? I've had salad with every meal since this discovery (which was, um, yesterday). I'm so proud of myself!

I've been told that I tend to talk a lot about food and fashion here. Sorry about that. ;) It's funny -- I'm a very picky eater, sticking mostly with white and yellow food for most of my life, and my everyday fashion sense is no less bland. I have grand ideas, though. I guess that helps.

OK, I've sort of run out of things to say. I'm excited about my courses this semester (you will all shudder): Historical and Comparative Linguistics, Calculus II, Intermediate Macroeconomics, and Development Economics. Plus voice lessons and chorus. Where did this whole economics thing come from, you ask? Well, after two years of laughing and rolling my eyes at my weirdo friends who are way too into econ, I actually tried it out and kind of liked it. So I'm trying more! Don't worry, though, I haven't become a cold-hearted neo-classicist yet.

Happy New Year, everyone!

How about a New Year's resolution to actually update this thing?

Hang on while I remember how to do the LJ cut--

( The girly meme! )

In my defense, I do enjoy girly mixed drinks, sundresses, and wide-brimmed hats.

I had my Music 48 juries today, where they evaluate your progress in voice lessons over the last semester -- I know, I haven't mentioned anything about taking voice lessons because I haven't updated all semester -- sorry about that. But I am! And it's been really great. When you audition at the very beginning they decide whether to give you a 1/3, 2/3 or 100% scholarship, and I only made it to 1/3 (which was still good because I could have not qualified at all). But at juries today the music faculty voted to give me a 2/3 scholarship for next semester, which means a) cheaper lessons, b) more sessions with the vocal coach, and 4) participating in a recital at the end of the semester. So that's exciting!

I took my econ final today (the alternative date was the 17th, but I wanted to get it out of the way). It went fine, and now I only have 1 exam and 4 papers to worry about for the rest of the exam period! Yay. :P

I have 6 different kinds of cheese in my fridge (used to be 7 before we ate all of the gouda). And I have a blender for making crepes and/or milkshakes. And lots of pots and pans and knives and spoons and other cooking stuff. And 2 boxes of pasta for just in case. And Bailey's, also just in case. I love my room.

Also, some of my friends of I decided to study Swahili this semester. I now have a Swahili livejournal -- rafiki_tembo! There, if you speak Swahili, you can find out such exciting things as what I ate that day. But the prime attraction is really my user pictures. :)

OK, rafikini! That's all for now. I'll talk to you again soon, I hope.

I am in a wonderful mood now, because I just successfully completed my first fondue party ever! OK, so it wasn't really a party, just a small gathering of three people to take my new fondue pot for a test drive. But the fondue actually worked! And tasted delicious! I'm so happy. We used Gruyere, Jarlsberg, and a Sauvignon Blanc my mom took me to get when she visited (planning fondue recipes is the first time I've really lamented being under 21 here, because we never did get our hands on any kirsch"clear cherry brandy"wasser). And my new electric fondue pot worked beautifully and was so easy to clean. Yay. I can't believe it actually worked, and tasted as good as the kind Bree and I got in Paris. (I understand why restaurants charge you 15 euros for fondue now, though. That cheese is expensive).

And now for some memes.

( Questions from angua9 )

( Have you ever... )

Those memes are such mindless fun. Once I get tired of reading the whole meme over and over, I like to click on everyone's and skip straight to the juicy questions and see what they say. It sucks when people answer those ones really cryptically, and then you'd feel bad commenting just to get the juicy details so you never find out. Everyone who does this meme in the future should be really explicit, OK? (I hope no one thinks I do drugs now because of my evasiveness. I assure you, I do not!)

Here are the results of the musical meme -- with three left to guess, in bold.

1. Into the Woods - "Giants in the Sky," guessed by myra_menke. Except I've been listening to the CD a lot lately, and I lied, it's really "No More"
2. My Fair Lady - "I Could Have Danced All Night," guessed by prettyannamoon
3. Phantom of the Opera - ?????? (Hint: I love singing really high, when I can)
4. Oklahoma - ?????? (Hint: The romantic songs in this musical are actually not my favorites)
5. West Side Story - "America," guessed by hymnia
6. The Sound of Music - ?????? (again, not a romantic one -- I am split on the sentimental/comical divide)
7. Les Miserables - "On My Own," guessed by chicagoamy and prettyannamoon
8. Rent - "Light My Candle," also guessed by chicagoamy and prettyannamoon
9. Joseph and the etc. - Potiphar's song, guessed by prettyannamoon (I have no idea why I put Joseph, but I couldn't think of anything else)
10. Cabaret - "Cabaret," also guessed by prettyannamoon.
BONUS: 11. - Chicago (because I can't believe I forgot about this one before)

Alas, now I can't remember what else I was going to say in this update. I'm still trying to procure a fondue pot from somewhere (like eBay), but hopefully I will have one very soon. I'm so obsessed, it's ridiculous. Bree and I went to one fondue place in Paris and now I can't stop craving it! The good thing is that I expect to get at least one stellar fondue set as a wedding present, so for now I don't have to splurge -- anything will do for now. :P

Oh! I remember! I have a question for all the law school students on my friends list. (That's you, redwood7, themorningstarr, and anyone else who's keeping a secret). I'm considering taking a double-credit seminar on American Constitutional Law next year, which I've heard is a huge amount of work. Do you think this would be a bad idea, given that if I end up going to law school I'd only have to repeat the work anyway? Taking this class would also fulfill a pesky distribution requirement and let me take one fewer credit than I thought I would have to for my major/minor. (Basically, I need one credit in American politics, one in theory, and one double-credit seminar in anything. If the seminar is in American or theory that means I only need 3 more credits instead of 4). I could also take the normal one-credit class, but that wouldn't minimize the classes I have to take. :D What do you think -- do I not want to do this twice if I can avoid it?

ONE: Pick 10 musicals.
TWO: Post them and see who can guess which song of each musical is your favorite.
THREE: Once someone guesses right, bold that row and include your favorite song.
(p.s. my musical taste is not that classy)

1. Into the Woods - "Giants in the Sky"
2. My Fair Lady - "I Could Have Danced All Night"
3. Phantom of the Opera
4. Oklahoma
</b>5. West Side Story - "America"</b>
6. The Sound of Music
7. Les Miserables - "On My Own" (also "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" :P)
8. Rent - "Light My Candle"
9. Joseph and the etc. - Potiphar's song
10. Cabaret - "Cabaret"

I haven't updated in a really long time. I'm sorry. A few weeks ago I went to Paris for spring break with my friend Bree, which was amazing. I'm now obsessed with baguettes, crepes and fondue (we wantsss them, preciousss). We went to the best crepe place EVER. The whole trip we tried to budget and only go to 8 euro prix fixe dinners or 4 euro falafel places, but when we missed the prix fixe menu for this one we splurged and went anyway. It was SO GOOD! ( Pictures of our darling creperie and our lovely boulangerie )

Everything is good at school -- we get to start worrying about next semester's classes and the housing lottery about now, which is ALWAYS fun. Lalala. Okay, that's about it. I am sadly lacking in source material now that I have no silly boy nonsense to prattle on about. Any questions about my life for the past month, just ask!

I just made my first purchase-of-things-that-should-really-be-tried-on-in-a-fitting-room online! I feel terribly wicked and a little bit foolish, but I recently got some money from my uncle and grandmother for Chinese New Year's and I promised them I'd actually spend it on something instead of saving it up. I ordered a dress, a pair of casual flats (except in camel because I can't handle white shoes, they'd be camel soon anyway), and a winter jacket. I love buying things that are out of season and on sale, because season means nothing to me. If any of those say that they're, like, 87 dollars, don't believe them! They were less, I promise. Maybe only a little bit less, which might make me a bad person. ><

I have a horrible feeling none of them are going to fit, and I'll have wasted $7.95 in shipping on nothing. But at least I have three chances, and if I keep one and return the other two then all was not for naught.

Also, I went to my second live concert ever on Saturday! Not counting stuff like Bernstein's Mass and Mahler's 8th Symphony. Every year our school has a "Large-Scale Event" that they spend lots of money on, and this year we got They Might Be Giants. It was really fun and exciting and I feel like I'm entering into a whole new realm of being young, where I actually get to do cool things like go to concerts (not that a concert at Swat is the epitome of hip or anything, but we'll ignore that).

My first concert ever was outside of Florence this summer, and it was Blonde Redhead. I don't know why these are the bands I end up seeing live. If I had my way, I'd totally go to a Britney Spears concert instead. (Okay, actually, that's a lie. I don't think I could handle Britney in person, even really really far away). But I'm definitely not indie. I'd go see the Beatles and be a screaming fangirl among millions if I could have my way.

I'm fairly certain I've failed in my attempts to get under the Swat livejournal radar, which is sad because I hate the idea of people reading this without my knowledge. But I think it's a little too late now and I don't want to lock all my entries, so this is open and even you stalxers can read it. Hi. :)

P.S. I'm really sorry to the people who left comments on recent entries asking questions which I never got around to answering. LJ was in read-only mode for a while and I finally gave up.

I just got back from my first jazz club ever! It's about two blocks from my house, but I'd still never been inside before. Matt came to visit me this weekend, and since his parents and sister were going to be in New York anyway to go to this show, they invited me and my dad along. It was extremely nice of them, and we got to see Cassandra Wilson live. She was great, and her drum player was SO COOL. He was just so happy and involved in the music the whole time. She was always smiling, too. :)

The visit was really, really nice. We had the best falafel in town, wandered around the village, had a picnic of fresh buffalo mozzarella and tomato (part of Matt's Christmas present to me :P) in Central Park, had dim sum in Chinatown, went to rilan's house for new year's eve and lania's for new year's day, and helped my dad buy a new stereo system for the apartment. Which is awesome! Our old CD player had started skipping a lot and sometimes even refusing to play CDs, so when the time finally came to buy a new one we just decided to go for something really nice. We now have amazing speakers and a CD player that actually works. But Matt left with his family a few hours ago, which is sad. I won't see him for soooooo long! Actually, no, the longest separation so far (not quite two weeks) is over, and I only have to wait until next weekend to see him again, this time at his house. So really I'm just whining for no good reason at all.

Until then my dad and I are going to our timeshare in Massachusetts, which we used to use all the time when I was little but I haven't been to in several years. I'm excited to take a break from constant activity and just relax, but I'm afraid I might be bored with no friends around, no city that never sleeps, and no internet! I'm also sad that I won't see my friends from home for a whole week, because I'll be in Massachusetts until Thursday and then in Pennsylvania over the weekend. We have to get together in the last week, or I will be sad. You better be reading this! <3

It's going to be a really good year. Happy new year, everyone!

( The ubiquitous new year's meme )

I love being online the whole time everyone is figuring out what is going on on JKR's site, instead of hours later when it's all common knowledge. I love figuring out how to open the door and solving riddles and hearing incredible announcements all by myself!

Also, I LOVE JKR! She is awesome and considerate beyond words. And she wished us a peaceful 2005. *tears up*

For the next 24 hours it will be CONSTANT VIGILANCE for me!

(For everything you need to know, go to TLC)

Pages written and handed in:
twenty-seven (twelve on the Czechoslovakian Velvet Revolution, fifteen on Canadian and Mexican border relations with the U.S.)

Pages still to be written:
four to six (on why "Estragos que causa el vicio" is secretly like Kill Bill. More or less. :D)

I would like to give a big old THANK YOU to themorningstarr, mollymcgonagall and acusa_dora for answering some questions for me about Texan border cities. It's things like this that make me really love the fandom -- for me it's not so much about Harry Potter anymore, but about getting to know people from wildly different backgrounds and giving each other our time even when we're going through crazy busy times ourselves. themorningstarr, I hope your finals are going well (or better yet, DONE)!

My favorite quote from my dad on smuggling to and from Canada:

"Back during Prohibition, in the 1930's, smuggling of alcohol was widespread (alcohol was never banned in Canada) and this is how some of the richest families in Vancouver made their wealth (including your cousins' great-grandfather, one of the Reifels)." It can be my little secret that I have family ties (sort of) to contraband liquor smuggling during prohibition. It's also my little secret that I quoted an article from the Chinese newspaper my grandfather used to work for ages ago in my paper -- that was fun. :)

Also, a question! Do any of you know Joanna Newsom? myra_menke sent me her CD, and I thought it was really weird at first -- but I like it more and more every time I hear it. That's the general consensus of everyone I've played it for, too.

Okay, so, this is kind of my fandom milestone, the only thing I've done annually in the HP fandom since I joined. Every time I wish angua9 a happy birthday, another year has gone by and I find myself in almost exactly the same place -- with some minor changes. ;)

Two years ago...

...I was procrastinating on a French essay, and kept being distracted by SQ and the DM (who knows what the DM is? Raise your hands!)
...I was freaxing out about college decisions
...the lovely angua9 had a birthday!

One year ago...

...I was procrastinating on my Translation term paper, and kept being distracted by LJ
...I was about to have the last class of my first semester in college
...angua9 had another birthday! Funny ol' world, innit?

TODAY...

...I'm writing my term paper for Nonviolent Social Movements. I'm moderately distracted by LJ, a little distracted by SQ, and not at all distracted by the DM -- but mostly I'm just working.
...I'm a sophomore, and I have to pick my major soon. I'd rather not think about it.
...I almost missed my fandom milestone, but here I am, wishing angua9 a happy birthday once again! Happy birthday, Great Aunt ORX!

And this time, someone else gets her birthday wishes, too -- and I didn't even have to be reminded!

Happy birthday to anghockey!

Today you can have your carrot cake and eat it too; tomorrow we will be nemeses once again.

My mother, on looking at a magazine cover: "Who's that? Oh, Eminem. What's his real name -- Justin Timberlake?"

Things that have been eaten by me in the last 24 hours (give or take a few):

• turkey (duh)


• the best apple pie EVA!


• praline cheesecake


• pecan pie


• pumpkin pie (it was gross though. VICTORY IS OURS! uh, I mean...that was a pity)


• brownies


• chocolate truffles

Wow, I really like doing LJ updates about food. Remember those ones from Italy? Paragraphs and paragraphs about pasta, steak, red wine, fresh mozarella, unparalleled gelato, heavenly strawberries, delectable porcini mushrooms...

*gets carried away*

I don't really have much else to say, other than that I love pies of all sorts. I'm home for Thanksgiving break, with lots of final papers to write. • After Thanksgiving dinner I watched The Legend of Drunken Master with my old friend Rae Lyn. In French. (Because it was either that or watch it dubbed in English, which would have been unbearable). Jackie Chan getting really really drunk, kicking everyone's bum :) at kung fu, and all the while talking in French? Priceless. • There are at least four new Jude Law movies that I haven't watched yet, and that is a sin that will have to be atoned for very soon. • I watched The Triplets of Belleville for the second time with Matt last weekend, and now I've become obsessed with finding screencaps and making icons. Such an amazing movie! Anyone who knows of a massive store of Belleville screencaps should let me know. :P • Also, friends at home right now should call me, and hopefully I won't be in the NYU library doing research.

Have a happy Christmas shopping season, everyone!

What a dreary weekend. Not only is it finally shaping up to be winter, but there's a stomach bug going around campus that I'm still recovering from, and that all my friends are getting now too.

And I have so much to do this week. How am I ever going to do it? If my research and preliminary sketches for Macbeth aren't good enough, my Costume Design teacher will be a whiny bitch at me, because that's how she is. And she's mad at me for missing last week's class, even though I was stuck in the health center all night and they wouldn't let me out until dinner the next day. Also, Simone and I have to get all the costumes for our friend Katie's play that's going up this Friday, but Simone has lots of work too, so I don't know how much she'll be able to help. I wish Katie had let us know earlier that we were going to be solely responsible for the costumes, not that there was going to be someone else overseeing them like she had initially planned. It's an exciting thing to be in charge of, but we simply don't have the time for it.

And I hate being all alone in my room, off campus, far away from all my friends. It gets so lonely. I'm trying to clean up and do my laundry right now, but I just have no energy. Nobody but Matt ever visits because it's so far away, and I don't know what I would do if I didn't have him, because then I'd just be all alone all the time. Our hall life is basically nonexistent, which is kind of fine with me because I don't particularly like most of the people on my hall, but it's a sad change from last year.

Sorry for being so mopey. It's just been kind of a down week, and I wish it there were some happy break in sight. The work is not going to let up until finals, and then hurrah! I'll have three final papers to write. Sigh. I'm going to stop this now, and go finish cleaning my room.