Just about a mile from Texarkana

It always takes me a few days to recover from London... Not in an especially bad way these days, I seem to have gotten rid of the stubborn post-London depression that used to hit me, but still. The city takes a lot out of a hillbilly like myself who's not used to it anymore like I was.

But yeah, I had a really good time. Unzipped! was just awesome - four guys, stuck in a departure lounge after a week in Spain to celebrate their A-levels, waiting for their plane to be ready for takeoff because the transport carrying the little plastic milk containers had been delayed on its way to the airport (which made me giggle because I immediately thought of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and the ship that had been delayed because of napkins). Lots of laughs, rudeness, offensive language (and hand gestures) and great songs, like "Brits on Tour", "Why Do We Say 'Gay'?", "Thursday Night" and "Left Spain". The fact that Haydn's character made a My Fair Lady reference made me snort out loud all on my ownsies. Fantastic show. Seeing it with the girls made it even better.

Possibly my favourite exchange in the show, discussing whether or not Pete got laid:
- You couldn't bag a bag of beans!
- Or a cabbage!
- Potatoes!
- You couldn't bag a turnip!
beat
- You are so gay.
- Why are turnips gay?!
- They're funny shaped!

Although this was awesome, too.
- JB... You know earlier, when you were talking about 'who we are'. Did you mean, who we are as a group, or who we are as, you know, individuals?
- Well, Jordan, mate - you know - I can't remember exactly what I said, and, I'm pretty sure it was a load of bollocks anyway.

And there was a lot of shopping done. So much the guy in security frowned at me and complained that my bag was heavy. Well, screw you, buddy, not your problem. You're not carrying it. He might have heard what I was thinking, because he got all snippy and made me take of my boots when I went through. But hey, now I've got two new pairs of jeans and several new tops. God love Dorothy Perkins. Oh, and I got The History Boys DVD! I haven't had time to watch it yet, but I'm planning on sitting down tonight with a 'Do not disturb' sign on my door. I can't wait, been dying to see it ever since I read the play. I could still kick myself - or someone else - for not getting tickets to the show.

Oh, and, when you hear someone at an airport say on the phone just before boarding a plane, "Just one more hour and then I'm done. I can do it," you get just a teensy bit nervous.

Someone should so open a KFC over here. Yum. And Starbucks.

Still can't get CCR's 'Cotton Fields' out of my head.

Quick Supernatural note... Show, I love you to bits, you know I do, but please, please, you have to start letting there be fallout from dramatic episodes. I fucking loved 'Heart', damn, the ending was awesome, but what takes away from it is knowing that it's most likely not even going to be mentioned again. Same with 'Bad Sign'. Fantastic episode, so much potential, and no mention of it the next week. Please. Consequences. I'm begging here.

Quickie

Yay for free wireless internet at hotels!

Having a great time - awesome to see the girls, absolutely loved 'Unzipped!' and had a huge grin on my face for most of the evening (when it wasn't sad). Lovely to see Haydn again, and in something where he gets to show off his actual voice. Because dude, he is good.
The parental units loved Avenue Q, which admittedly surprised me a little. They're usually a bit reserved with praise.

Oh, and I gotta say, my haggling skills have vastly improved since Madrid, where I ended paying a higher price than the original one. A green leather coat from one of those tourist traps at Oxford Street, reduced from 499 quid to 299? Ten minutes and he offered it me for 100 quid.
And I resisted. Ha!
Might go back tomorrow and see if I can get it down to 75, though.

Proudiness

What? If 'truthiness' is a word, so is that.

So the exam last week apparently went well. Really well. Once again, study group does its job. Frida, we so rock.

Three questions A question and a half left on the 'theoretical grammar' exam to finish before tonight. I can do this. Well, except for the Dyirbal/Arrente/split ergativity question. That one just confuses me and the answer consists of rambling.

So, RENT and Lord of the Rings marathon next weekend. That should be something. Now we just have to set a day for the Supernatural (and Gilmore Girls) marathon as well, and it's all good.

---
Okay, the three ways we know of to mark the relationship between the different arguments in a clause are word order/the order of the phrases, case systems (the ergative/absolutive or the nominative/accusative), or verb agreement. Then we're supposed to discuss other possibilities. What other possibilities, dammit? Those are all I can think of!

WWBD - What would Buffy do?

Fyra timmar på akuten, vätska i mellanörat, spänd trumhinna, inget att göra, flyga på fredag.
Terrific.

- I barely have any skin left on my palm.
- I’m not touchin’ that line with a ten-foot pole.
*snort*

Ow.

Why, why did that doctor claim regular antiobiotics weren't needed? This fucking hurts. I can't focus on my 'theoretical grammar' exam, and now I have to go to the doctor again tomorrow. Damn it all to hell, I don't have time for this crap right now.
Ow, ow, ow.

So stop your love on the road

I have a feeling the party last night wasn't good for my ear. Lots of fun - trying the water pipe was most definitely interesting - but bad. Seems like I'm now totally deaf on my left side instead of just almost deaf. No, Logan, I'm not losing my hearing completely, stop freaking me out! But I do hope that it proves to be extremely temporary, because this is a bloody awkward feeling. And it still hurts. Stupid doctor who wouldn't just give me normal antibiotics.

One exam down, one to go. I'm crossing everything that I won't have to do this one again - felt like the chances of having passed were pretty much 50-50 when I left the hall.

I bought shoes today. Pretty, pretty shoes that were actually my size, which doesn't happen often. You know, I think they're making the shoes larger these days. Size 37 used to fit my feet without problem, but the last couple of years even size 36 tends to be too big most of the time, and I sincerely doubt that my feet have already started shrinking... That's something I'd expect to happen about forty or fifty years from now.
It's not fair. I refuse to start buying my shoes in the children's department. Being a kid on the bus is one thing, being one in the shoe store another.

And once again with the timing

Trust me to come down with an ear infection the same week as the exam. It's probably been going strong for a few days, and I haven't been able to go to the doctor because I couldn't waste the time and miss out on study group. But with all the 'ouch' moments I've been having I couldn't put it off any longer and went today, and now I have a little arsenal of medicine to take - drops and two kinds of pills, three times a day. Awesome. I wonder what the odds are of them killing the infection before 2pm tomorrow so that I can focus on writing about the acoustics and phonetics of speech. And other fun stuff like psychoacoustics and larynx muscles.
I hate drops. That crunching sound that happens when they trickle down and hit the eardrum is horrible. Truth be told, though, I'm actually ridiculously relieved that it turned out to be just a simple ear infection - for a while I was worried that it was a wisdom tooth playing up. That wouldn't have been something you could solve with pills and drops.

I'm still stuck on whether that segment in the spectrogram we were trying to figure out earlier today was a lateral or a nasal. It was definitely a sonorantic consonant and my instincts are still saying it was an [l], but it could be either. Maybe [ŋ]?
And I have no idea why I can't let it go.

I got away with paying child's fare on the bus again today. Twice. Score!
That's another thing about growing older, isnt it? That you suddenly start being happy when someone thinks you're younger than you actually are. I remember it used to be the other way around not too long ago.

Great friggin timing

Damn it, damn it, damn it! (Notice how I'm not saying 'fuck'?)

I've been studying at the library the last few days, going through the questions we've been given, and now, packing to go to study group and go through it all, I cant find the damn papers anymore! A whole friggin pile is missing! The only ones I've got left are the articles, the spectrograms and the exam. All my questions and reading directions, gone. I must've left them there somewhere.
Damn it, damn it, damn it!
No, wait, this actually deserves a 'Fuck!'

---
Frida, I really do owe you that cup of tea.

Did you know her?

Inspired by Gustav. 50 facts/opinions about/from me, one that isn't true, and you get to guess which one.

1. Was born in the year of the Rat.
2. Am listening to CCR's Bad Moon Rising while typing this.
3. Got my first digital camera when I was sixteen and earned myself the nickname 'Paparazzi' within less than a year.
4. I get on well with my parents, most of the time, except for times when my father calls me lazy and complains about the fact that I'm studying something that will lead me nowhere.
5. Despite getting along well with my parents, I would really like to move away from home, but can't afford it.
6. Kept myself from reading Harry Potter until I was all of 21 years old.
7. I'm unnaturally afraid of msn and never use it.
8. I watch way too much TV. But quality TV!
9. Got Rupert Grint as one of my celebrity lookalikes on My heritage.
10. Am a master in procrastination, which this survey is proof of.
11. I very much appreciate a sarcastic and smutty sense of humour.
12. The first time I dyed my hair, it turned a strange sort of mix between pink and orange after a while.
13. I sing in the shower.
14. If I have to choose between Burger King and MacDonald's, I'll go for the latter.
15. Cried like a baby when I graduated in 2003 and still get a little teary when I hear Fame's Give Me Your Love because of the way the song was used at the graduation ceremony.
16. Grabbed the leg of a guy sitting next to me on the plane once, mistaking it for an arm rest.
17. I don't even remember the last time I turned on the radio on my stereo. I have no grasp whatsoever on today's music.
18. My friends mean the world to me.
19. Am of the firm belief that clowns are evil. Evil, I tell you!
    
20. I can still get away with paying a child's fare on the bus.
21. I have never shoplifted.
22. Most Swedish films I've seen, I've disliked. Only exceptions are Tillsammans and Den Bästa Sommaren.
23. When I get off the train at Liverpool Street Station, my first thought is always, "Home."
24. Ended up in the Red Cross' tent at a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert after being squashed.
25. Had Tiger Python around my neck when I was seven years old.
26. Have been to a gig on a boat.
27. I've gotten used to beer and even learned to like it after years of not drinking it.
    
28. Favourite is Corona or Sol.
29. Single gal.
30. Sometimes wish I weren't, like when I see couples snuggling together while waiting for the bus in the cold at night.
31. Jensen Ackles is hot, and a really good actor.
32. Chad Michael Murray is neither.
    
33. Got one unfair grade (in Swedish) and one extremely undeserved (in gym) in all my years at school.
34. I've already reached the point where birthdays become something you dread rather than look forward to.
35. I will never agree with the death penalty.
36. Although I actually did, at one point, in anger, when someone close to me was subjected to meaningless violence and suffered badly. Nothing like a hospital vigil to turn your opinions around, if only for a while.
    
37. "Belligerent" is one of my favourite words, for no particular reason other than that I like the sound of it.
38. Have fainted twice in my life, both times the day after my appendicitis operation.
39. Was the teacher's pet in middle school and hated it.
    
40. Before I got my new hard drive, the most played song on my iTunes was Jump Little Children's Cathedrals, played 42 times.
41. Once started singing Popular from Wicked during a lecture without realising it.
    
42. Scottish accents make me melt, as do Welsh, Liverpudlian and Irish ones.
    
43. Will likely fall for a guy who makes me laugh.
44. I've actually lost count of how many times I've seen We Will Rock You.
45. Voted 'No' to EMU.
46. Get very absorbed and, well, loud, when watching handball.
47. Been mistaken for a Brasilian.
48. I always start smiling when I hear Green Day's Minority.
49. People who use the "She/he acted/dressed in a provocative way" line in the defense of a rapist are scum.
50. The only two horror flicks that have really scared me are The Ring and The Shining.

There you are!

The plastic is coming!

I have to say, SVT has really been raising the game lately when it comes to television. First Veronica Mars, which while it isn't my thing personally, is still from what I hear a very good show; then Supernatural, and you know my feelings on that one; and now Doctor Who. I think this is another show I'm going to enjoy, judging from tonight's premiere. Crack, so far, but really cool crack.

Plus, this is at least one series where I won't have to get distracted by being shallow. As awesome as Christopher Eccleston is, I will never understand the calling him hot.

---edited to add---
And, something on the topic of SN... What Jared wants to see.
No, no, no. Jared, dude, seriously. Do not put ideas like that in the heads of evil geniouses like Kripke and Gamble. And Kripke, don't you listen to him. If you do that, end it like that, I'm gonna hunt you down like Snuggles. You hear me?

Top fifteen 'sniff' moments on TV

Here we go! No ranking. And I take no responsibility for spoilers.

1. Everwood, the Pilot: Father and son screaming at each other in the middle of the street. "- I wish you'd died instead of her! - Well, I wish I had too, you little bastard!"

2. Buffy, Becoming Part 2: Buffy killing Angel to save the rest of the world.

3. Supernatural, Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things: Dean finally admitting to Sam that he knows their father is dead because of him, and that he wishes he hadn't woken up. "I was dead, and I should've stayed dead. You wanted to know how I was feeling. Well, that's it. So tell me... What could you possibly say to make that alright?" Cue tears from both Dean and me. Dammit, Sam, hug your brother and tell him you're glad he's still there!

4. Gilmore Girls, Hammer And Veils: Lorelai confronting her mother about her reaction to Lorelai's engagement. "Why don't you care? Why have you never cared? No matter what has happened to me my entire life, you've never been happy for me, and that hurts, Mom, it really hurts!" Oh, Gilmores.

5. Supernatural, Everybody Loves A Clown: Dean beating up on the Impala. When he turns on his car, things are really, really bad. Kills me every time. Had there been ranking, this would've been number one. Sniff.

6. Desperate Housewives, I Know Things Now: Bree abandons Andrew at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. "- Mama, Mom, please don't do this. - I have to. I can't be around you anymore, I'm just not strong enough." Andrew may have been acting like a right monster, but I felt so sorry for him. And for Bree.

7. Grey's Anatomy, Losing My Religion: Izzie on the bed with Denny, crying, while the others are trying to coax her away. "An hour ago he was proposing. And now... and now he's going to the morgue. Isn't that ridiculous? Isn't it the most ridiculous piece of crap you've ever heard?" I cried my friggin eyes out. And I'm not even a regular Grey's viewer!

8. Buffy, Forever: Buffy explaining to Dawn her behaviour after their mother's death. "I've been busy because I have to. I have to do these things 'cause when I stop... Then Mom's really gone. *crumples*"

9. Supernatural, In My Time Of Dying: John's I'm-so-proud-of-you speech/goodbye. And even though those have been done to death, no pun intended, Christ if Jeffrey Dean Morgan didn't know how to deliver it. "- I put too much on your shoulders, I made you grow up too fast. You took care of Sammy, you took care of me. You did that. And you never complained, not once. And I just want you to know... *chokes back tears* ...that I am so proud of you. - Is this really you talking? - *stifles manly sob* Yeah. Yeah, it's really me." Because when John Winchester is being nice, you never know if he's possessed. And why didn't Sam get a goodbye like this? The bastard. I had a sort of love/hate relationship with John as a character... I loved him, but that doesn't mean I didn't want to yell "Shut up!" at him many, many times.

10. Everwood, Home: The final montage with everyone preparing for Colin's operation. Sniff.

11. Dawson's Creek (shut up!), ... Must Come To An End: Jen recording a message for her daughter to see later when she's older and Jen's gone. "Be sure to make mistakes. Make a lot of them. Because there's no better to learn and to grow, all right?" Fine. It was cheesy and sappy, but it was also really sad!

12. Heroes, Company Man: The Bennets on the bridge. Oh, he really does love his little Claire-bear.

13. The OC, The Metamorphosis: Summer's call to Seth. "I'm sorry I'm such a mess. It's just… I miss my friend."

14. The Office, #2.06: David pleading for his job. Poor man. So utterly clueless.

15. Gilmore Girls, Last Week Fights, This Week Tights: Jess hopes for reciprocation and gets it. All together now... Aww.

Phew. Okay. That took longer than I thought it would.
Agreeing, disagreeing? Anything I missed? And if you don't have any 'sniff' moments of you own, well... It's not my fault you're coldhearted!

Oh, by the way - overtone singing is awesome. I still don't get how you do it, but I think that's just as well. I prefer listening to it anyway.

The truth doesn't make a noise

- I am not aggressive.
- Oh yeah? She won and I told her I actually let her win, and suddenly she just jumped up and started kicking me. In the kidneys.
- Oh come on, mum, you didn't really - ?
- Well, I did win! He did not let me!

That's my family for you.

So, my laptop is finally all set up. I got a new harddrive yesterday - 160 GB, hell yeah! - and have now spent what seems like many, many hours re-installing all essential programs, transferring files and arranging music and photos. My eyes are tired, but I've been having a blast. I've also discovered the awesome iSquint that really really smoothly converts media files like .avi and others to .mp4. Watchable on your iPod. It's like heaven.

There's an overtone singing festival this weekend and I'm extremely tempted to sneak off to the concert tomorrow. The singing sounds peculiar and very fascinating. And kinda pretty, too.

For my girls who are going through a shitty time, I love you. Take care of yourselves.

And because the quote was too awesome to pass up on...

The loss of innocence

You know you're losing the innocence and joy of childhood when it's raining outside and all you can think is, "Thank god, this will get rid of all this damn snow." When you don't spare a thought for all the children who are most likely weeping with disappointment at their playground turning green and brown again instead of white. You don't feel bad for them when they come dragging sledges that will be of no use whatsoever on the damp grass. You just gloat and revel in white turning into grey and sinking into the ground, and look forward to the day when you can start wearing your favourite ballerina shoes instead of clumsy, worn boots.

So, I finally managed to book tickets to Avenue Q for our London trip. Middle of front row. Pardon my squeeing.

Hotmail is being stupid. I hate not being able to access my email, what if I have a funny youtube video from someone? Or an important email, or, god forbid, messages on myspace or LJ? Yes, I know that theoretically I could log on there, but really, that's way too much hassle unless there's actually anything new. Hotmail is being very inconsiderate.