The Sea of Insanity

R'el just put a bunch of photos on Facebook of our weekend in NYC

You can see them here!

Ever was cute. Next I should read The Host, but I've also got The High King's Tomb and Victory Conditions that are new and as yet unread.. Plus a number of books that I've borrowed from people (no, I haven't forgotten that I still have them).

And this 'what to read next' dilemma mostly reminds me how much I want more Thomas Pitt novels, but I want them on audio book so I can listen to them at work. And I don't want to actually buy them if they're only going to last me eight or ten hours and then be abandoned for the next one! The local libraries have several more on tape or CD or download, but they're scattered books through the (very long) series, and I'll have to constantly switch from audio book to hard copy, and the hard copies aren't nearly as convenient to my work schedule.

I am sad. :(

Does anyone know of a good audio library where I could look into getting them? I've looked at a couple of websites, but nothing promising enough; my brother-in-law subscribes to Audible, but I go through these way too fast for only one free download a month, and, again, I don't want to buy them if I don't absolutely have to.

Great. I'm caught up again in another book, and it's a constant itch to know, as I work, that the book is only eight inches away, and I could pick it back up at any time. Except that I need to be working. >_<

I finished Red Seas Under Red Skies last night, and it was good. I'm ready for there to be another one.

After the last page of Red Seas, since I was still in a reading mood, I picked up the next book on my "read these immediately" list, Ever by Gail Carson Levine (being ahead of The Host because of its comparatively short length and commitment requirement), and read a bit more before going to bed.

And then this morning I had half an hour or so to read because the server was down and I couldn't get into my files.. and now I'm caught again. ^^; Especially because I feel that Something Big is about to happen, and I think I know how it's going to come about, and it's only inches away....!!!

Let's see if I can last til lunch.


EDIT: Nope.

Gaah, I need an icon! ...but not til I start drawing will I get one. Mrph.

So I consulted a superhero-savvy friend about a couple of the issues I've been running into with the Muse world (for instance, if my heroes are saving people and stopping crime around the City, how is it that the general populace doesn't know about them?), and his answers led me to an exciting discovery, which solves another problem I'd been having (how far do my heroes lend their services - the whole world, or just the City?):

( Icaria is just one area of the world )

I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!

So.. I saw "Iron Man" last night with my brother, and I'd like it to be known that I'll be happy to see it with any of you, as well, since nobody else could come last night.

To put it frankly.. the movie was AMAZING.

The pacing was great - I wasn't bored or distracted for a second of the film, and there was never a dull moment. The special effects were amazing - you've probably heard from tons of people that the way they handled the suit was incredible. They're not kidding. Watching the suit move was luscious, and watching its progression was fascinating.

The music was awesome, too - lots of good rock that just.. fits and enhances the spirit and the personality of the movie. There's one part where Tony Stark is building, and his hammer hits the metal right in time with the beat of the music.. Great detail.

And then there's the dialogue.. Remember how I said there's never a dull moment? A lot of that had to do with the brilliant dialogue. I never knew what Stark was going to say next, and I hung on his every word. Witty, clever, hilarious, unpredictable.. And I must point out that Gwyneth Paltrow's character, Pepper Potts, was extremely well done as well; I'm usually super bugged about the lead female in movies like this, but she was perfect. She was a whole character, but with such a subtle stability that was brilliantly understated and doesn't call attention to itself. She was perfect.

Can I say also, I LOVED the last scene, the press conference. I adored the way the movie ended. I couldn't have been more delighted.

You all need to go see it. And I'll go with you. And then I'll remind you that you have to stay through the credits, because there's a SWEET EXTRA afterwards!! (SHYEAH!!!!!!)

My Twilight wallpaper at work has been temporarily swapped for Iron Man.

See what happens when I leave town for a few days and don't check the Twilight news...??!?

WE HAVE A TEASER!!!!

Links from the Lexicon, hosted on MySpace.
(But since my work internet blocks MySpace, I had to look it up on YouTube.)

We also have a POSTER!!


(Sorry for spamming your fLists, people.. But this is Important Stuff!!)


EDIT: Also, Stephenie Meyer made the Time 100 list of influential people. Here's the page.

( Monday )



PS~ Stephenie Meyer's new book The Host comes out today!!!! My coworker Kim and I are going to Walmart at lunch to see about picking up a copy. (I didn't want to have to choose one particular store to pick it up at, so I didn't bother preordering it. I'm kind of glad - I probably would have ordered it from Borders at the Riverwoods, and I'm nowhere near there anymore, so it would have been pretty far out of my way.) I'm also going to find a copy of Gail Carson Levine's new book Ever, which comes out today, too! ^____^ (YAY for NEW BOOKS that I've been waiting for for MONTHS!!!!)

( Sunday )

( Saturday )

So.. I didn't have time to write up my adventures as they were happening - too much going on! But I'm going to post them now. :) I need to scan a map of New York and highlight the places I've been so you can follow along visually; I'm sure it'll make a lot more sense. I'll try to do that tonight.

( Friday )

Well, I'm here! Writing from New York City, where I arrived safe and sound.

It's past 10:30 here, and even though I should be on Mountain time (8:30), it's been such a long day that I feel like it's 10:30. I haven't seen R'el yet, but she'll be home soon and we can make plans for tomorrow.

I was up at 7:30, got to the airport about 9:30, and left for my stopover in Denver about 11:30. I read Red Seas Under Red Skies while I waited, so it didn't seem as long as it was. We left late, and got to Denver late, so I had to rush to my next gate and didn't have time to get any lunch. Then our plane left Denver late because it was snowing (it was flurrying in SLC, but not like it was in Denver) - and they needed to coat the plane's wings with some kind of anti-snow and -ice stuff, just as a precaution. I was seated smack dab over the wing, so I got to watch them spray it on from a cherry-picker vehicle. It was orange, and turned clear after several minutes.

The flight felt long, and I was already tired of sitting from my first flight; I had been hoping to stretch my legs and walk around a bit during the break. :( But they showed a free movie - "The Great Debaters" with Denzel Washington, which I'd wanted to see. It was pretty good - I even cried a very little. And I read more Red Seas and started sketching Ajax's character design (all I know at this point is that he's quite large). We were late getting into LaGuardia as well, partly because of leaving late, and partly because of some congestion (I don't know if they meant the rain, or if there were other planes trying to land), which caused us to circle for about half an hour before we could actually land.

R'el had sent me a bus map, a subway map, a pop-up map, a metro card, and detailed directions to her apartment, so after I collected my bag, I headed out there. I hopped a bus from the airport and then transferred to the subway with no problems, except for not knowing which way to swipe the metro card. ^^; (How lame is that? But I'll get the hang of it.) I got off the subway and walked a few blocks in the rain (glad I brought my umbrella!), then called her roommate to check that she was home to let me into the apartment. They live on the sixth floor of a six-floor building in Manhattan. It's got two bedrooms, a tiny kitchen, tiny bathroom, tiny dining area, and a decent-sized living room. It looks oldish, and has a creaky wood floor, but it's actually pretty nice. Comparable to some of the apartments in Provo - better than a lot of them, I'd say, at first glance.

I dropped off my stuff and ventured out again, after 9, to find some dinner. Corrie had recommended a couple of places to eat at, and I went to a little place called the Park View Cafe and ate cheese fries. The waiter there was tall and blond, but I'm 75% sure that English was not his first language. I tried to place his accent, but couldn't come up with anything better than "Thermian" - and I'm 99% sure that that's not it. ^^; Anyway, the real adventure came when I got my bill and found out that they only took cash! I brought cash, but I had left it at the apartment in my purse in my backpack, only bringing my card, license, metro card, Corrie's spare keys, and cell phone. I hadn't wanted to deal with possibly having my purse snatched, and didn't even think about bringing the cash. Luckily, they were extremely gracious, and one of the other customers directed me to an ATM at a bank down the street, so I left my book on the table as collateral (to put them at ease as to my honesty) and ran out to get cash. Whoops! I felt bad about it, so I left a rather large tip. On my way back to the apartment, some Hispanic guy whistled and beckoned to me from down the street, but I was smart enough to ignore him. ;P (I'm not a *total* airhead..!)

Also, it was interesting sitting in that little restaurant off Broadway (the street) and thinking about Muse, and what superheroes actually do around the city, and safety and stuff.. and a fire engine drove by. ^^; And I walked by it on my way back to the apartment, too. I don't know what the trouble was, but I guess there's always trouble *somewhere* when you have so many people in such a small area. This weekend will be great for Muse. ^_^

R'el came home and we talked for a while, and talked about plans for tomorrow a bit. She leaves for work at 7, and I get to sleep in and then spend my day wandering New York until she gets off at 5 or so, and then we'll meet up with her boyfriend and have pupusas for dinner. I'll be armed with maps and a briefing on reading them (particularly the subway maps), and plenty of time, and lists of places of interest (which R'el had from a Singles' activity). I'm excited. XD

Well, dqbunny asked, and I've been pretty excited about books lately, so I'll play.

( Recent/Current Books in My Life: )


There are a good number of books that I need to read, but I tend not to follow my lists (shameful practice, rebelling against one's own to-do lists, but I can't help it!) - particularly when it comes to books. I'm extremely capricious when it comes to reading. ( However, some of the books on my list are: )


So... What are *you* reading?

It's another Twilight Tuesday on MTV, and they've put together a trio of videos that you need to watch. They've posed fans' questions to the cast, and gotten some really interesting answers.

You especially need to watch the third video, particularly at the end: Rob responds to about a dozen "Will you marry me?"s. XD


Also, there's an official blog at Greetings from Twilight with a video message from Catherine (the director).


There's a rumor that we'll get a teaser trailer before "Speed Racer," but I don't know how reliable that is. We do know, however, that the "Penelope" DVD will have "Twilight" sneak peek footage as part of the extras. According to the MTV videos this morning, they're planning to give us at least a teaser sometime this summer.

Reply to this post and I'll:
1. Tell you why I friended you.
2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a colour, a photo, etc.
3. Tell you something I like about you.
4. Tell you a memory I have of you.
5. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
6. Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.
7. In return, you must post this in your LJ. (optional)





PS~ Two more days til New York!!!!

Checking the Lexicon's news today, they posted an interview with Jackson Rathbone (Jasper) that has some great lines in it.. I want to make icons!

I particularly want to use his answer to the question about describing Jasper's character: "Forged in war, born of death, saved by love."

There are a couple of shots of him in a couple of those MTV videos that I really like, and so I paused just at the right spot to get the right image.... And I can't get a screencap.

When I mentioned having trouble with my arm/shoulder last week (it's been better this weekend, but is giving me pain again today), they scrounged me up a wireless keyboard and mouse, so I could have them closer to the edge of my desk. Unfortunately, they came from our former art director's Mac setup, and this Mac keyboard DOES NOT HAVE PRNT SCRN!! I know Macs have a capability for screen captures, too, but I'm on a PC, and the keyboard buttons are remapped for PC, and there is no print screen button!

>_<!!!!!!!!!!
At least I've documented the link now, so I can go back and do it when I get home, on my real keyboard... Grrr......

(I also need to sit down and fix this Jasper icon by throwing in a couple pics of the "real" Jasper.)


Other fun quotes from the interview (credit be to the Lexicon!):

"Catherine is a bundle of focused energy. She knows what she wants and draws on her years of experience as a production designer to make sure every shot looks beautiful. Her directing approach is to make everything as real as possible, which compliments my views on acting."

"I had to learn to bat left-handed, so I tried for a week to do everything left-handed to get used to it. I was bumping elbows with people sitting next to me, it was impossible to write with spiral notebooks, the binding got in the way. I must say, I gained a lot of respect for you south-paws, it's difficult to do everything left handed." (Jasper is left-handed? AWESOME!!!!! I approve.) (<- also left-handed)

"To prepare, I've been getting in touch with my anger. I see Jasper fighting with himself a lot to live a life of newfound morality. His love for Alice is all that keeps him from being a vampire like James."

(Question regarding scenes he's looking forward to doing, if the other books are picked up:) "The beginning of the next film would include Jasper attacking Bella. That would be extremely fun, to give in to bloodlust for one moment. I can get scary when I'm angry, I've been told."

EDIT: Here's another fun interview with Jackson/Jasper, from the site Phases.

Hello from my new home at HQ. We moved over yesterday afternoon, which was something of an ordeal, but not too bad. I exhibited the "strength of Ajax" by proving the strongest person on my team, carrying boxes of books and scrapbook paper out to our cars, and by helping the men pack a bookshelf and three large office chairs into my boss's suburban. I was pretty impressive.

Also, I realized it's cool to feel strong, and I bet my Ajax could pull trees out of the ground - what a monster. But he wouldn't, because he likes trees; he works at a plant nursery as his day job. Maybe if he had to uproot a tree in order to replant it somewhere else..

Anyway, my team at HQ is situated in an island of desks in the middle of the room. My desk (table, really) is about four times the size of my old desk, and I also get a little filing cabinet, a phone, and a dresser/cubby thing to hold more stuff. I'm not sure what to do with all the space. I don't have any walls, so my posters are out.. I guess I'll have to find some figurines or something to express myself now.

This morning I had two meetings, a tour of the building (so I know where the bathrooms and kitchen and important people are), and an hour or so of computer trouble resulting in me having to manually restore my profile settings and re-register some of my software. I went to lunch at a tasty pizza place down here called Two Jacks, and now I'm finally settled down enough to be able to actually work.

It's kind of overwhelming, but it's a little bit exciting at the same time. It's weird being in the middle of a big warehouse room with fifteen other people at desks around the room, and it's weird taking the freeway to work instead of good ol' University, and it's weird to have so many different things going on in the company instead of just my little corner of the know.. But at least I'm not the only new person, and at least I'm still doing the same work I did before. I'm not totally lost.

I love this movie so much, and it doesn't even have a trailer yet!!! *dies*

New video on MTV




***

I didn't sleep well last night. DX I don't know if it was stress from having too many things on my mind, the two-to-four-hour nap I took yesterday after Church (I don't know how long it was.. I just know that I read Red Seas Under Red Skies for some length of time and then took a nap), or the entire package of Peeps I ate at 11pm while I was watching "Dan in Real Life" and playing WoW. Or a combination thereof. Ugh. I don't feel so great today.

Also, after having heard it *one time* last week, The Decemberists' song "The Mariner's Revenge" was stuck in my head all day yesterday, and while I "slept." Thanks, Fi and Ci. Thanks a lot.

So I haven't really mentioned it on LJ, but I've talked about it a lot lately.. It was announced a few weeks ago that our Support Team (the customer support people downstairs on the phones) is going to move to Headquarters in Spanish Fork. My team was told the same day that it's pretty much only a matter of time before we move down, too. We were sad, but were expecting it to be a while down the road.

Last Friday we were told that we would be moving down in a week. Instead of being the last team to move down, we're now the first. Support won't move for several weeks still. But I guess it's easier to make space for five people than fifteen.. And it's supposed to be a good thing for team cohesion, because the people doing the first part of the process are at HQ and they don't know beans about the second and third parts of the process, which is what we've been doing here. There's been a lot of non-communication between the halves, and my boss realizes that it will help to be all in the same building.

So my team has been (despondently) packing our office for the last three days or so, planning to make the haul south after Office Lunch today.

We got a call from my boss this morning with news: there's a gas leak at HQ. They heard a couple of big booms, and evacuated the whole building. They sent everyone home so they can get it fixed, and told us not to come down today. The move has tentatively changed to Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning.

Part of me is really digging in my heels about this move, mostly because it removes any illusion about us being the same small company that I hired on with last spring (can you believe I've been here a year?? I can't..) - we'll officially be part of Corporate Big-Business America, and it's rigid and cold and unfriendly there. (And no more Office Lunch every other Friday!! DX) But to be fair, I don't want to completely sour my outlook on the new situation before I've given it a chance, because there are good reasons for it. I just have to keep remembering that, and that it really might not be so bad. :(



In other news, I've been listening to Writing Excuses, the podcast by Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells, and it's been fun and interesting. I just listened to Episode 5: Heroes and Protagonists, and it's been helpful to think of their discussions in the context of "Muse".

(English majors: I feel that I have a good grasp of grammar and mechanics, but I'm always bothered by one thing for which I can't remember the correct treatment. If I'm ending a clause with a word in quotes (like that last sentence up there), does the punctuation go *inside* or *outside* the quote??)

It's an official visit! I just booked my flight to New York City, May 1st through 5th (Thurs through Monday). And now I'm suddenly really nervous (and a good bit poorer). I'm not sure exactly why the nerves - I'm sure I'll be just fine. But I've got all of Friday day to myself, and all Monday until I have to make my way back to the airport about noonish - my friend R'el will be at work/school. (She's doing her rotations there for med school.) I want to spend some time at the Met while I'm there; when I went with school, we only got a couple of hours there, and I spent it all in the armor section. Well-spent, yes, but there are other things I'd love to see, too. And the armor a second time. Man, I need to figure out how to fix my camera..

It's too bad I won't be there this weekend, when I'd originally tentatively planned to go - turns out this weekend is the New York ComicCon. :( I also found out last night that ItsJustSomeRandomGuy will be there, and he'll be revealing the first of the new season of Marvel vs. DC videos. Dang. (I know you likely won't be going, alphabet26, but I'm jealous for your opportunity anyway!)


EDIT: Oh gosh.. I just got a call from R'el, who says that she's got something going on at the same time that my flight comes into LaGuardia, so she won't be able to meet me there as we'd talked about. I'll have to navigate the subway to her apartment alone! I can do this. I can totally do this..

I should bring my kubaton.

Apparently it's become Twilight Tuesday on the MTV Movies page.. We've got a really fun article to go with that really fun news clip I posted yesterday. It has some juicy news.. like that other than Stephenie Meyer and her editor, Catherine Hardwicke (the movie's director) and Robert Pattinson (Edward) are the only people alive (or dead, actually) who've read what there is so far of Midnight Sun, Twilight from Edward's perspective. It makes me happy that Rob has read it!

The MTV poll of what to call Twilight fans is now closed, and the verdict is "Twilighters." "Twi-hards" was number two, and "Twilight fans" was number three. They released the results in another fun video featuring Rosalie and Emmett, Edward and Bella. Totally worth watching.

Also, Summit has released a couple of photos that were used in Entertainment Weekly last month-ish. They're from the ballet studio scene at the end, with Edward and James. I'm way excited for it. :D



In other movie news, I'm pretty excited about seeing "Hancock" this summer (and not just because of my superhero kick these days). Today I happened across an ad for this website on the movie that is pretty fun.