I'm a slayer, ask me how.

I work 1-9 on Wednesdays and Thursdays so I didn't go on my computer when I got home, hence the not posting them. But I did do them! This might be a record for me when it comes to daily memes. :P



Taken in the teen section of our library right around closing so as not to weird people out LOL. June is Pride Month and, of course, GLBT book month. There are SO MANY great books with LGBTQ+ characters out now. I mean, not nearly as many as S/W/M but still more than there ever was when I was growing up. "What If Its Us" is still one of the sweetest first love romances I have ever read. I saw a girl with it in her pile the other day and I might have "SQUEE'D!" at her for her selection.



This is my post-interview face. I think it went well. I swear, when I go into an interview, all the adrenaline goes to my brain and it feels like I am in a trance. Then it is all over and I'm like "OMG WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?" I'm a little worried I might have been too casual - I knew everyone on the interview panel so it felt like I was just chatting with coworkers. But hopefully I hit on all the points I needed to. The thing that was so frustrating was that most of these were questions I had on my LAST manager interview. So I should have aced them...blah. Of course, I spent the rest of the day going over it all in my head. Luckily, I had a school visit about an hour later so that distracted me. But OMG SO EXHAUSTED! I went to bed at 10:30, UNHEARD OF for me. But I was just beyond drained.

Today is my day off! It's 12:30 and I'm still in my PJs. But I just finished my coffee so I guess I shall shower and try to do something semi-productive...like laundry. My favorite chore since the machine does the bulk of it and I just have to listen for the beep. :)

I've got a program on organizing digital photos at the library which inspired me to start scanning my physical photo collection and I found this little gem. It's my bedroom as my parents house, probably around 2000-2001 (judging by the posters on the wall). I stayed home for college and turned my bedroom into what I thought a dorm room would look like. No idea who decided to take this photo, but I'm glad they did.



How many random fandoms can you spot around the room? :P

Do you have any photos of your bedroom from your kids/teen/young adult years? Post them! Let's make this a thing!

trepkos asked "If you could only listen to five bands for the rest of your life, who would they be?"

I don't think this question was as hard to figure out as I thought it was going to be! While I enjoy listening to Spotify and finding new music, I definitely have a lot of go-to artists for days when I just need a certain something. My personal tastes lean towards bands that I can sing along with. I'm all about singer/songwriter and lean pretty heavy on the indie/folk/alternative styles.

So, here are my top 5:

5. "Weird Al" Yankovic



I've been listening to "Weird Al" since I was a kid and he always makes me laugh. If I'm going to be limited to 5 musical experiences, then having "Weird Al" in the mix guarantees I get laughs and also a wide range of musical genres. Because I wouldn't want to live the rest of my life without the occasional accordion solo during a polka based on overplayed top 40 hits.

4. Sting



I had a habit of stealing my Mom's music and Sting was definitely her guy first. But it is hard to deny his talent and ability to write catchy songs with smart lyrics. Always lots of good allusions in Sting songs. I could probably survive just on Ten Summoner's Tales for awhile, that whole album is perfect. Love songs, story songs and everything in between. If you have never heard it, hop over to Spotify now and make sure you listen past the "singles" tracks and get to those deeper cuts - the one about the seven brothers that save the town, the other about the nerdy guy trying to best the muscle-bound suitor, and the kinda creepy 'St. Augustine in Hell'.

3. Bastille



Another band that both my Mom and I like, though I think I found them first! Maybe? At any rate, we found them on our own and then both realized we liked them. Even saw them in concert!

It only makes sense that I would be a fan after being raised on music like Sting's. Bastille's lyrics tend to tell stories and also are full of references to other works, everything from 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' to 'Twin Peaks'. And I feel like they do work with an ALBUM mindset, which I also appreciate from bands nowadays. We are so used to streaming singles and thus a lot of groups just make albums of singles, but I feel like both 'Bad Blood' and 'Wild World' have a flow to the songs when you listen to them from start to finish. With only TWO albums out and neither of them new, Bastille was still my top band of 2018, so clearly I like going back to them when I need to rock out.

2. Paramore



Another band that I keep going back to. Hayley Williams' voice is so unique. And I love how they keep trying to grow and change with each album. If you listen to their very early stuff and then to the newest songs, you can see that they are progressing as musicians and writers. It's a scary thing for a band to do but it gives them a lasting power that I don't think a lot of their peers will have. The latest album, After Laughter, had this fun retro vibe, with hints of the 80s and 90s music that I'm sure they listened to while growing up, but it was still Paramore through and through. And, again, the stories in the songs keep maturing too. Hayley even pointed this out at the last concert we went to, prefacing 'Misery Business' by saying that it really isn't a healthy attitude and she has grown as a person since then...but damn it is fun to sing along.

AND NOW, MY NUMBER ONE CHOICE
----- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DRUM ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!! ---------

1. The Beatles



I fell in love with The Beatles back in Middle School and it is a love that lasts forever. In fact, I just had them on this morning because I needed something to start the day off right. There is a Beatles album for every mood, every time of day. They are always there for me. They were my first music based fandom. I don't think I've ever hit the same level of obsession as I did with them for any other band. I learned so much about life, love and music from these four lads from Liverpool. If you told me I could only listen to one band for the rest of my life, I'd have all of their albums in my arms before you could finish the sentence.

YOUR TURN! What are your top 5 bands/artists?

If you were wondering - Today is the day! Thank you all for the lovely birthday wishes!



FYI, the Google Photo Scan app...not as great as I was hoping. I think I'll just bite the bullet and scan them the old fashioned way. But I was too lazy tonight so you get this weird photo that looks like it was run through too many filters of me contemplating getting older and what looks to be maybe 8 years old? (I can't see all the candles and the photo is stuck down in the old album and I'm scared to peel it off).

I had a wonderful day. I always take my birthday off because it is the holiday of me. Yes, I am the center of attention today. At least, for myself, if that makes sense. I tend to "treat myself" for all of March because we should all celebrate our birthday all month long.

I slept until a little after 9am, rolled out of bed and had a cup of hot chocolate and then Tim appeared behind me with a card and a bag of goodies.

He got me two video games - Dishonored 2, which I have wanted to play since it came out but it kept getting bumped down my list, and Monster Boy for Switch, which is brand new was the biggest surprise!!

He also bought me HOTPOP microwave popcorn popper but unfortunately, our microwave gave up on it's mechanical little life on Friday so now we need to buy a new microwave so I can use my new popcorn popper! I am contemplating taking it to work with me to test it out.

My parents got me the new iPhone XR, which is great because my poor 6 was dying. This upgrade made a HUGE difference. I got the shiny red one and I love it. And then they bought us dinner, delicious gyros.

Bonus, the universe also decided it was a good time to celebrate and I won a giveaway on Entertainment Earth for a Legend of Zelda prize pack!


Now it's time to curl up with my Switch and see if I can at least get past the Monster Boy tutorial before bedtime!

xlovebecomesher.livejournal.com asked me "What is your favorite memory from UMBC?"

Random fact about me - I have a crap memory. Like, I forget EVERYTHING unless it is somehow tied into a fandom, I swear it is embarrassing. Tim will remember lovely little relationship things and ask me if I remember them and I usually have to strain to think if I do.

ANYWAY, so what do I remember about college?

Well, I didn't go away to school, I stayed at home and commuted. I was being frugal and I also wasn't ready to be on my own and I knew it. The idea of having to do everything by myself did not sound like fun and having to share a room with a stranger? Yeah, no. I had my own room at home, my own computer, TV and parents that were happy to keep me. So I don't have any wild nights at college stories.

That being said, I have two favorite things I remember from college. First, my radio show! Yes, UMBC had a radio station, WMBC, and the best thing about it was that it was streaming before streaming was a thing. Which was good because the radio signal itself did not go beyond the dining room that the station was situated next to. So I told all my IRL friends and online friends to tune in (this was pre-LJ for me, so online friends were AOL IM friends from high school and people I had met on Dave Matthews Band message boards).

I took an evening shift, I think it was 9pm on a Monday or something random like that, because it meant I could play whatever I wanted. It's not like anything I was playing would be controversial, but it was probably too mundane for the afternoon crowd. Sometimes I would walk through the dining area and they would be blaring some heavy metal scream-o. And then I'd roll in at 9pm and the place would be empty and I would do a themed show that included The Beatles and up and coming artists like John Mayer before he was John Mayer. I was really into the "little guy" music scene but I was also into chill singer/songwriters and also a big fan of NPR's Songs for Aging Children, which would always do shows where all the songs fit a theme.

One of my high school friends came by the station one night to hang out with me. He took these photos of me in the studio:



Damn, I was skinny!

My second favorite memory was finding out one of my professor's new Joss Whedon back in the day and I got to do that six degrees of separation. He was my favorite professor too. Let me write a paper on how having shows like 'Angel' set in Los Angeles shows that American culture still sees the West as a wild and crazy place to set out and find your dreams, manifest destiny and what not.

Anyone else have any college memories they are brave enough to share? Comment here or post on your own DW/LJ if you plan to ramble on as long as I did and include photos! :D

Well, it took me about two hours, but I got through all of your posts! Sorry for the drive-by "likes" and random comments that were later answered in posts I had not gotten to yet! You were all VERY CHATTY! That, and I haven't checked my LJ/DW at work as much because of all our computer shenanigans and this *threat* that the IT department is watching. Tim and I are thinking about buying some cheap little Chromebooks we can take to work with us for personal stuff, like email etc.

I tried to watch the Jim Carrey show Kidding but I'm just not in the mood for that level of darkness right now. I need things that feel like they will have a positive ending or some kind of optimism. A friend at work really liked it so I watched the first 3 episodes to give it a try but I just wasn't engaged.

ANYWAY, about to head to bed, but a few of you posted the thefridayfive questions and I want to start doing that too!

1. Do you make up a dinner plan for the coming week?
HAHAHA no. I'm usually stare at the freezer the night before, maybe two nights if I see something I want to thaw out and it will take longer, but that is about as far as I get.

2. Do you make up a shopping list and stick to it when shopping?
YES! I use the AnyList app on my phone to make shopping lists. I love it because you can also use it for recipes so you can all the ingredients from a recipe to the list really quick. But I am AWFUL at sticking to my list. I mean, I buy everything on the list, but I tend to slowly wander the store and look for any deals on things we use on the regular, like pasta or meats. I'm awful at this, so I try to not go to the store more than once every two weeks.

3. What is one thing that you always buy, but never put down on a list?
I put bananas on the list, but I don't really need to. I know we always need bananas because Tim and I take one to work and those bunches aren't very big!

4. Is there anything that you always think you are out of and come home with it to discover you already have a year’s supply on hand?
This week it is EGGS! I had a memory of making hard boiled eggs awhile ago and how that used up half the eggs...I failed to remember that I bought TWO dozen eggs the next time I was at the store...and today, eggs were on sale again so I bought another two dozen. So, yeah, we are having egg sandwiches for dinner one night this week.

5. Do you get your groceries delivered?
Nope. Hard to justify when the store is across the street from my work and there is another one right around the corner from my house. Plus, I buy a lot of fresh fruits and veg and I like to examine it first because I've had too many questionable items and I don't know how much the delivery services examine, say, the box of cherry tomatoes for bad ones in the mix (I saw one in the store today with MOLD on it!!!!).

Oh icons. They can say so much about us before we even make a post. So much of my LJ experience started when I began to make icons and share them. I met so many people that way because it was fun to look at people's creations and go "Oh hey, they are into the same shows I am!" and then you'd look at their LJ and then you'd become friends. It's the way social media should be!

ANYWAY - silverusagi and eowyn both posted icon memes this past week! They picked three of my icons each, so now I will give you the stories behind why I have them.

If you want me to pick 3 of your icons, let me know in the comments!

- Belle and her book. I do a lot of book reviews on my blogs, so I like to have plenty of icons with books/reading involved. And I think for a lot of people in my generation, especially girls, Belle is THE READER of our childhood. Plus, I love this part of the song, she is literally singing about reading beauty and the beast! And I made it myself :D

- I'm the Doctor! Matt Smith was my first Doctor. I had tried the first season and wasn't pulled in and sort of forgot about the show, but there was so much buzz when Matt started that I finally gave in and watched it. I loved that first season with him and Amy and Rory. It is one of the best seasons and I feel like I haven't enjoyed a season of Doctor Who as much since that one. So, yeah, he's my Doctor.

- White and Nerdy. It's a "Weird Al" song, a parody of "Rolling Dirty" I think (I have gotten to the age where I don't know most of the songs he parodies anymore). I love this play on the Wonderbread logo. I actually bought this as a t-shirt at one of the concerts but the white of the shirt got kinda gross in the armpits (TMI!!) I am a big "Weird Al" fan, as is my husband and we are both very white and nerdy.

- I Got Me Some Loot! - One of my LJ friends made back in the day. spitefairy was like an LJ hero of mine because she made awesome icons and had so many friends and was as super geek like me. This icon of Jayne from Firefly is a go-to of mine when posting about new collectibles. :)

- Got Stress? - my oh so clever play on the "Got Milk?" slogon but with Beaker. Who doesn't love poor abused Beaker? I am a huge Muppets fan and I really should make more Muppet icons because I love Henson stuff.

- One Girl - BUFFY! If you know anything about me, it is that I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer the tv series (let's not talk about the movie...or the comics...). At one point, I made a theme based on the artwork from the Dark Horse comic series that came out after the show ended and this icon was part of that. If you've watched the first season, you know Giles talks about how the Slayer is "One girl in all the world that can stop the demons" so that is where the text came from. But if you've watched to the end of the show you know that we are all Slayers.

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
I enjoy them both, but I find that egg nog really hits my tummy hard (or maybe it is just that Tim is too generous with the Southern Comfort when he mixes it). So I'd probably opt for some nice hot chocolate.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Santa does NOT wrap presents! (I realized how genius this was of my Mom after trying to wrap some of the larger, awkwardly shaped presents I have purchased for people over the years).

( with photos because why not! )