Work In Progress

It's icon meme time!

1. Reply to this post, and I will pick six of your icons.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon glee.

la_perkins  chose:



This is from the scene in The Shining where Wendy finds Jack's manuscript, which consists entirely of pages of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Sometimes writing feels just like that.



Ladies and gentlemen, Brendon Urie, of Panic at the Disco. This is from a  photo shoot taken during the "Open Happiness" video shoot -- it's a song commissioned by Coke, featuring all kinds of people, and Brendon's on it. I think he looks like a 40s film star here, thanks for ailleann23  making this icon for me, and making it B&W. I also think Brendon is just beautiful, and incredibly talented. I may have a bit of a crush.



Grover was always my favorite on Sesame Street. And here he's Super Grover! This is one of my happy icons.



I wanted a sadface icon, and who better than Dean? Although on first glance he simply looks nauseous, doesn't he? Hmm.



From Heathers, one of my all-time favorite movies. I've had days like that.

In honor of the occasion, a meme I stole from arliss .

My Favourite Season Is:

My Favourite Episode Is/Episodes Are:

I Cry Every Time:

The Religious Angle In Season 4:

The "Special Children" Storyline:

Ruby:

Bela:

Lillith:

The Episode(s) that Really Creeped Me Out:

My Theory On How The Show Will End:

( My answers back here.  )

Courtesy of la_perkins , who gave me M.

1. Comment on this post and ask for a letter.
2. I will give you one.
3. Think of 5 fictional characters whose names begin with that letter, and post their names and your comments on these characters in your LJ.

1) Fox Mulder (The X-Files). Oh, Mulder. Snarky yet earnest, completely woo-woo in so many ways, but also practical and matter-of-fact. Plus, you know, HOT. I miss your smirk.

2) Michael Steadman (thirtysomething). I was shamefully addicted to this show. Michael and  Hope were *my* couple, and Michael was so angsty, so trying-hard-to-be-grownup, I fell for him from the first episode. He loved Hope and Janie, but he never seemed romanticized to me--he had doubts and fantasies and the occasional resentment. Plus, you know, Elliot to deal with.

3) Monica Gellar (Friends). I do Monica's "I know!" voice all the time. I sort of hate the way they wrote her in the last two seasons -- my Monica isn't so shrill or so controlling, she's the girl who understood her cleaning obsession was a little weird, and kept Richard's drain hair after they broke up, and had to wear flame-retardant boobs to work.

4) Mary Lennox (The Secret Garden). In some ways, Mary's removal to Misselthwaite Manor was a nightmare to contemplate -- no toys! Very few books! What on earth was she supposed to do but be bored and cranky?! (Even in the '70s, there were Afterschool Specials and Barbies and 45s, you know.) Her initial rudeness was also sort of appalling, but fascinating -- I couldn't imagine growing up the way she had in India, having people dress her and cater to her every whim -- so I cheered her on when she discovered Colin and Dickon, and the garden. The ending is as perfect and nearly unbelievable as fairy tales are supposed to be, and I love it, and her, completely. 

5) Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty, Disney version). So smoothly, elegantly evil! Such a gorgeous, macabre wardrobe! (I mean, a hood with horns, come on!) She was perfectly, unashamedly evil. I sort of wanted to be her.

From zmayhem, and many others.

The rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name? Amy
2. What is your favorite food? cake
3. What high school did you go to? Westfield Senior High
4. What is your favorite color? lilac
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Jensen Ackles
6. Favorite drink? tea
7. Dream vacation? London
8. Favorite dessert? ice cream (only because I already said, um, cake)
9. What you wanted to be when you grow up? writer
10. What do you love most in life? (aside from the obvious persons) words
11. One Word to describe you? stubborn
12. Your flickr name? girl writer

Yesterday's thunderstorms blasted away the humidity, which is nice. It's cool tonight, although it is raining again. Despite that, I'm craving what my sister-in-law calls poor man's sangria -- cheap red wine poured over Fresca, with an orange slice. It's surprisingly tasty.

Sara has achieved nirvana. The little girl who moved in next door (and was in her pre-K class) appears to be around for the summer -- her mom is a schoolteachers, so. They ran back and forth between houses all afternoon and evening, and the favorite game became "fashion show," which involved them trying on each other's clothes. Unfortunately, I think a god deal of Sara's middle drawer got left at F.'s house, and will have to be retrieved. Of course, Sara's got quite a few of F.'s clothes here, too.

Winnie the Mutant Wonder Cat killed a mouse yesterday. Which is helpful, except for how she left in the living room for us to discover halfway through the day. Um, thanks. Nice job with the killing, since the mouse definitely looked worse for the wear.

Now for a meme! It's been a while.

Rules:
* Post 3 things you've done that you believe nobody else on your flist has done.
* If anybody responds with "I've done that," add another thing.
* Encourage your friends to paste this into their own journals to list the unique things they've done.

1) Rode on the turkey in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, dressed as a pilgrim, at age eleven. With a sprained wrist, which made the whole constant waving thing a little painful.

2) Scalped tickets to a Dead show at Madison Square Garden the night before I was scheduled to be induced with Jake. Deadheads are very considerate of a big round belly, for the record.

3) Had dinner with David Smith, husband of Susan Smith, who drowned her two children in South Carolina in 1994. (The publisher I worked for had contracted a book from him.) It was ... surreal.

This looks like fun. I haven't thought about high school in a while.

Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be.

1. Who was your best friend?
We were a group -- me, C, L, S, D, and M, more or less.

2.What sports did you play?
None. Unless required in that bastion of torture, PE.

3. What kind of car did you drive?
A Pontiac T-1000, a close cousin of the Chevette. Little, silver, manual steering and windows, but it did have a tape deck.

4. It's Friday night, where were you?
Either hanging at someone's house, drinking beer and smoking, or at a movie, or possibly at work.

5. Were you a party animal?:
We weren't a "party" crowd in the usual sense of the word -- usually, if someone's parents were going to be out, it was the six of us mentioned above, plus boyfriends and a few other friends. Same group, more or less, with beer and cigarettes and music, and very little drama.

6. Were you considered a flirt?
Not really. I had two long-term boyfriends, so except for a period in between them I was attached to someone.

7. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
Not after ninth grade.

8. Were you a nerd?
Hard to say. I was on the paper, and a good student, in terms of grades, but I cut as often as I could get away with, which was a lot since my teachers all thought I was an angel, and the crowd I ran with drank and smoked and had sex (not all at the same time. Usually.).

9. Did you get suspended/expelled?
Nope.

10. Can you sing the fight song?
I don't know if we had one. I'm sure we did, but I couldn't tell you what it is.

11. Who was your favorite teacher?
Paula Roy, AP English.

12.What was your school's full name?
Westfield Senior High School

13. School mascot?
Blue devil.

14. Did you go to prom?
Yup. We spent the day preparing by sitting on L's deck, mourning the fact that Bruce Springsteen had gotten married (the first time) that week, and making strawberry dacquiris.

15. If you could go back and do it over, would you?
Maybe not by choice, but if I had to, I would. I enjoyed senior year, and actually most of high school.

16. What do you remember most about graduation?
That it rained that morning, which meant the ceremony would be held across the street in the (damp, humid, gray) armory.

17. Where were you on senior skip day?
My friends and I had so many unofficial skip days (we considered the fourth marking period a four-day-week thing), we were probably in class that day.

18. Did you have a job your senior year?
An outside job? Yup. I worked at the mall in Short Hills, in the juniors department of Bloomingdale's.

19. Where did you go most often for lunch?
There was a place a few blocks away called Roots, a true corner coffee shop place, that made the best Taylor ham and cheese sandwiches. We were there a lot, or outside in the smoking section (which is long gone now). After I met Stephen in late December, I was at his house a lot at lunchtime -- he went to the community college and his parents both worked at the time. Good times.

20. Have you gained weight since then?
Uh, yeah.

21. What did you do after graduation?
We party-hopped a little bit, and ended up at L's boyfriend's house -- his parents owned a restaurant in town so they were always out late on weekend nights. (We spent many a night there.) I cried (shocker) and a few days later the six of us mentioned above left for a week at the beach together, crammed into a tiny little two-bedroom upstairs place just a block from the beach.

22. When did you graduate?
1985.

23. Who was your senior prom date?
Stephen! We didn't stay long, though.

24. Are you going to your ten-year reunion?
I went. It sort of sucked. Stephen had pneumonia and couldn't go with me, but almost all six of us went together. A lot of people stayed in Westfield or the area after college, so it wasn't much of a revelation -- a lot of people I bumped into on a regular basis.

25. Who was your home room teacher?
Walter Jackson, RIP, who was the journalism teacher. Once you were on the paper, that was your homeroom for the rest of high school (unless you quit the paper, obviously).

1. Yourself: tired
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife: patient
3. Your hair: cut
4. Your mother: warm
5. Your father: funny
6. Your favorite item: laptop
7. Your dream last night: weird
8. Your favorite drink: tea
9. Your dream car: Bug
10. The room you are in: living
11. Your ex: married
12. Your fear: bereft
13. What you want to be in 10 years? settled
14. Who you hung out with last night? Stephen
15. What you're not? quick
16. Muffins: yummy
17. One of your wish list items: house
18. Time: evening
19. The last thing you did: sorted
20. What you are wearing: sweater
21. Your favorite weather: crisp
22. Your favorite book: lots
23. The last thing you ate: cake
24. Your life: changing
25. Your mood: frustrated
26. Your best friend: far
27. What are you thinking about right now? dinner
28. Your car: Hyundai
29. What are you doing at the moment? this
30. Your summer: short
31. Your relationship status: married
32. What is on your TV? Friends
33. What is the weather like? wet
34. When is the last time you laughed? earlier

Someone elsewhere linked to this blog about favorite sandwiches. And who doesn't like a sandwich?

My top ten:

1) The grilled chicken on foccaccia bread with fresh mozzarella I used to be able to get at The Office. They took it off the menu, the bastards.

2) The tuna fish sandwich I used to get at a tiny little coffee shop in the town where I grew up. Just tuna salad on white bread with lettuce, but man, the tuna was so good. I don't know what the guy did to it -- it was slightly sweet, as well as tangy, and had just the perfect amount of celery and onion. It was also nice and wet, not dry at all. He died, and his family sold the shop. All my sandwiches have been taken away!

3) Cold leftover meatloaf on sturdy bread with ketchup.

4) Grilled cheese from a diner. There is no way to approximate the level of buttery greasiness at home.

5) Grilled steak and mozzarella on garlic bread, which you can sometimes get at New York street fairs. (And, you know, elsewhere, but that's usually where I had them.)

6) Cheesesteaks from a shop where we lived in PA. So. Good. Shredded steak, LOTS of cheese, perfect rolls.

7) Chicken salad on pumpernickel bread.

8) Peanut butter and jelly, baby. A classic, with good reason. Smooth peanut butter, though, not chunky.

9) BLTs. My husband makes the best ones. Perfectly crisp bacon, just enough mayo, and thinly sliced tomato. Delicious.

10) Because I apparently have the palate of a five-year-old, I also adore plain old bologna and mustard sandwiches. So yummy.