I am ensconced at evaine's in my pyjamas with a big mug of tea and the Storytellers: Matchbox Twenty DVD playing on the lovely big screen TV. :D My idea of a good night with a friend indeed! Flight last night was uneventful, save for a little damage to one of my checked bags, grr. It's along one of the back edges so it should be fine to continue to use for this trip, and then I'll prolly get rid of it/eventually replace it once I'm settled. Eh, as the mother noted, it wasn't a crazy expensive suitcase, so hardly the end of the world there, just annoying.

Speaking of annoying, it snowed all day today. Ew. It was weird to see all the existing snow that hasn't melted yet, actually, because it's all gone in Nova Scotia. We didn't do a whole lot today; I spent a good chunk of the morning asleep and then napped later in the afternoon, too. I feel a lot better for that after getting verrry little for the last few days. We *did* have a wonderful lunch at a boulangerie called Première Maison. OMG. I had a fabulous sandwich of Brie, pears and walnuts on a teeny individual baguette, warmed. *droool* Neither my ass nor my allergies would thank me but I could eat that every day. Mmm. And now, I am snacking on dill pickle potato chips, w00t. Also not good for my ass but they're my favourite and I won't be able to get 'em after this week, so whatever, lol. Tomorrow we're going to run some errands - I forgot to get my suit jacket drycleaned and I'm going to need that for interviews and stuff - and Ev's also going to let me drag her into Sephora, because they have a few stores in Canada now. Wheee! I'll have to be very careful about what I spend, but honestly, I don't normally spend nearly as much money in there as I do time playing with stuff and deciding what to treat myself with. *hearts Sephora*

In case anyone was curious, I feel like I'm just on vacation so far. I'm kinda thinking that won't change until later, possibly quite a bit later - like maybe not even until I actually start working again.

IF: it's Friday! IF: it's Febru-illie/ary! IP: it's payday! FL: for looking_spiffy! ;D

So, there's this band I love, who are doing a limited amount of touring right now for a half-album, which, being limited, means there's only a few Canadian cities and none of them are anywhere near me. After determining that, I proceeded to deliberately ignore all further news about the tour, because it's just depressing, y'know? I succeeded so thoroughly in ignoring it that it didn't even occur to me that hey, they might actually play in England. Enter a mysterious link labelled only that I might possibly be interested in what lay at the end of it. I clicked and discovered information that, well, occasioned a bit of a meltdown due to excessive squee. I didn't get a damned thing done last night for re-learning how to breathe, hee. And as of this morning, there has been purchased a pair of tickets and a USB wristband for the immediate plonking of a live recording of the gig, all at Ticketbastard's ((c) madandy) extortionate pricing, and I don't care that it's ridiculous because I've managed to miss seeing these boys on stage for the last seven years for one reason or another and Oh. My. God.

May 1st. Wembley Stadium. Matchbox Twenty. Me.

I don't have words, aside from another profound thank you to Jade. You rock beyond the describing of it. ♥

Regarding those Christmas tribute albums, they actually dropped yesterday and the Vitamin Records site has a couple of 30-second clips you can d/l. Green Day is here and Metallica is here. They're all recognisable as the original melodies (if just barely in some cases). Though I am cracking the fuck up at Master of Puppets. It's BOUNCY!!! Ahahahaha. I need to hear the whole thing and see if that continues because seriously, I think it'd be guaranteed to make me laugh every time I hear it and that can be a valuable thing in a song sometimes. :D

And no, I don't feel at all strange posting holiday stuff. Two months until Christmas, people. Two months. O_O And for those of us wot mail almost everything, there's about ONE month. Eep! (I will actually wait for November 1st to do my "Wanna card?" post, though. Heh.)

Lastly, Matchbox Twenty is a class act and some Charlotte DJs are not. :P Though, wtf is with all the food poisoning this year???

First off, go read linzeestyle's Matchbox Primer of Doom. Yeah, now. Because I said so. Any more questions? :P Seriously, if you've ever even sorta liked a song and thought you knew the band? Go read, watch, and listen (yes, there are songs, too). Worth the time. :-)

Can't quite get into writing anything tonight. This: a) sucks, and b) is and_ed's fault. :P Went to bed uber late but was awake pretty early, so by now I'm just kind of doing the staring into space thing, lol. Not quite ready to sleep yet though.

Went shopping today and I am pleased with the results, if now poor despite having been paid yesterday. *rolls eyes* But, Addition-Elle has just started carrying a couple of styles of their bras in bigger cup sizes, aka past what I call 'the WonderBra range' (DD and under, for the record), *and* they had a sale on. Dude. There is ONE lingerie store in this damn city that carries anything past the WonderBra range, and it is a specialty store. I had actually finally broken down and gone in at the end of July because the ones I own are thisclose to dissolving right off my body, and the reason I always put this off so fucking long was made clear with the first thing she handed me. Price tag: $316. Fuck. Me. I did not end up buying anything - they didn't actually end up having anything that fit as they'd just had a sale so their inventory was down. Regardless, I categorically REFUSE to pay three hundred goddamned dollars for a wisp of a thing that won't last longer than a year. My favourite one, that was discontinued (because most everything I fall in love with gets discontinued, natch), was $140. As was the one I had gloomily concluded I'd end up ordering from a store in Toronto that has online shopping. But, as it turns out, A-E's are $50 each and were on sale to boot. So while they are definitely not the most fabulously supportive bras I've ever owned, I got two of them for less than 2/3 of what a single would've cost me anywhere else and they'll certainly do. *fists of victory*

Oh and those of you built like my mother who can wait until Sears or La Senza or someone reasonable has a sale and can run in and buy 2/$25 or some damn thing? Bite me. :P

The other thing I got was makeup, as I'm nearly out of my favourite lipgloss and Clinique has a GWP on right now. I just ended up buying 2 of them to get over the minimum; I *know* I'll use them both! I did try the limited edition for fall eyeshadow though - the Black Truffle trio. mockingbird39, they'd be perfect for you - kind of chocolate-grey neutrals. Too grey for me, though. It's about the one colour I cannot wear. Silver I can do but not greys.

I'm finally starting to get used to seeing dark hair on myself. Though if this past week is any indication, I was a lot fucking smarter as a blonde. *grins*

So far, my extendo-weekend has been...uh, not very productive. *sheepish smile* Yesterday and today have been beautiful September days, though - sunny, warm sun, cool breeze, cool at night. Me likes. But I've spent the bulk of my time reading, sleeping, or watching stuff. Though I did do a buttload of laundry. And I consider the time spent flailing and squeeing last night about Matchbox Twenty's interview and new video to be important, if not precisely productive. ;-D It's...wow, I still feel giddy that it *exists* and they actually did NOT break up, in fact they're more of a cohesive band than they have been in forever. And then there's the fact that they fully acknowledged the political potential of the song and used it, overtly, to make a statement that is pointed but not blunt-instrument-to-the-head, which would never work for them. Billie Joe can get away with bitchslapping the audience but Rob needs to seduce and he DOES and oh, God, I love it.

Semi-relatedly, Rob's wife Marisol guest-designed a couple of adorable T-shirts for this site, Presents for Purpose. It's a very cool concept - portions of the price of every item sold on the site go towards a charity (which depends on the collection and/or the buyer's choice, depending on the item). Though the apparel is weirdly sized and only for teeny people. :-/ But, I did fall in love with this Golden Buddha necklace. Eeeeee so pretty.

I slept funny on my shoulder or something on Thursday night and the muscles over my right shoulderblade have been spazzing since; it's very annoying. It'd gotten a lot better by last night but it was really sore upon waking again so I must've ended up in the same position. *scowls* I might sleep on the couch tonight instead.

I also woke up to a rather disorienting dream involving my ex. I was at a work function, but apparently also at work, i.e., went over to the party or w/e during my breaks, and just as my lunch was about to end, he called and was asking something about when we could get together because we'd agreed to be friends and I basically brushed him off saying I'd call him later as I was going back to work. And then when my work day was over and I went back to the party, he was there, hanging with some people I knew (in the dream; I don't recognise a soul other than him from RL), and at first I was all resentful and avoidy, pretty much stewing about it but staying away from him, and then he finally cornered me and brought up the same thing, that we were supposed to be trying to be friends. And I...let him have it, actually. I was very calm and very angry and I can't remember what-all I said but I know it ended with me telling him that I can't be friends with anyone I can't trust and don't fucking talk to me again. It more or less dissolved there, being as I woke up, but it was interesting to say the least. (We did, btw, attempt to be friends. It was short-lived and reaaaaallllly not a good idea in the first place. That dinner party remains the most bloody surrealistic moment of my entire life.)

Anyway, I sort of know where the base for that dream came from, b/c my bf here, C, had been getting closer to her ex-boyfriend and she swore up and down that she wasn't getting emotionally involved (yeah right) even though they were tentatively discussing trying dating again. And then she found out a couple of days ago that he's acquired a new girlfriend and she obviously was upset about it, since he wasn't even talking to her in good faith about all of that. So she's been texting me today about various *other* stuff and I know she's doing that instead of calling b/c if she calls, she'll end up talking about him and probably crying again and she doesn't want to. And the thing is, there really isn't anything I can say that I haven't already said a million times, and it's just not that comforting anymore, y'know? It isn't even that I think being friends with your ex is automatically a bad idea - my first love and my ex-husband were the only ones I *wasn't* friends with after the romance ended, but for the same reason: because I still had feelings for them. And in that situation, it IS a very, very bad idea, because it makes it horribly difficult to move on. *sigh*

On a brighter note, Doctor Who won a Hugo award! Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form): “Girl in the Fireplace” (Doctor Who) Whee, that excites me that it's getting that kind of high level recognition for good writing. :D

Speaking of DW, is it entirely insane that I really would like to buy a ticket for the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Hamlet next summer, starring both David Tennant and Patrick Stewart? Because...damn. Can you IMAGINE??? The tickets go on sale the end of this month, though - and to members first, so they might even sell out before the general public gets a crack - and I really can't afford to spend the money now anyway as the cheapest ones run approx. $50CDN but...daaaaaaaamn. Dude. I'd go just for Patrick; between those two voices, I'd be a puddle of utter goo. *wants to goooo*

Of course, that's also predicated on the idea that Stratford-upon-Avon will be a train ride away from wherever the hell I'm living next summer, and that is, in turn, predicated on there not being anything seriously wrong with me. Because if it turns out that it is serious, that it requires ongoing care or something, I'm not going to be able to leave the country obviously; not to move, anyway. The not-knowing has been somewhat paralytic in terms of achieving the motivation to get anything done, this weekend's distinct lack of sorted and emptied boxes included. Not long now until my specialist appt. finally, though, so hopefully I'll soon have at least the beginnings of an answer. And if it turns out that I need to remain in Canada, then I'll start investigating Montreal as my next option.

Well, that was a helluva lot longer update than I was planning, but I haven't said much of anything lately, so there you go! That's what's up with me. And now I need more tea. *grins*

Mainly to share this: Leave by Glen Hansard, from the soundtrack to Once (lyrics). The lyrics as read don't *nearly* convey the passionate anguish of the song. So, SO good. I seem to have an affinity for songs entitled Leave; MB20's of the same name was what turned me into a fan of theirs. :-)

I forget what else. I'm tired and dumb to still be up in that case. Someone went by me at work today that I don't see too often (works in a different part of the building) and said hey, you don't have any pink left in your hair! And I was like, nope, but thinking, no, nothing interesting left at all... *sigh* I am leaving it alone, despite the fact that it aggravates me far more than mere hair should. Or because of, really - my thinking is that if I deny myself the admittedly quick fix of fucking with my hair to make me feel better about my appearance, then maybe it'll help motivate me to do something about the not-so-quick parts that need some *real* work done. It's a theory.

Important vocabulary
There is 'please,' and 'thank you,' and 'you're welcome.' There is also 'HELP!' As in, that which you should say when there is not a hope in hell that you personally will complete something by the known deadline but you happen to have team members who are available and willing to, y'know, help.

In other words, check your fucking ego at the door and get it through your thick head that no, it's NOT all about you - in fact, YOU are in-fucking-significant. What matters is the deadline. So open your fucking mouth next time.

Matchbox Twenty
So as was previously rumoured, Exile on Mainstream IS slated for release on October 2nd. (Go here to see the tracklisting and probable cover art, etc..) This is good to have confirmed. It's also good to have it confirmed that they do plan to tour. The not so good? Select US dates from January and then to Australia in March. Meaning, I cannot go. If they do add a handful of Canadian dates, I can tell you which cities they will be: Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal. Occasionally, Winnipeg and Quebec City will make the list. The only time bands come *here* is when it's an all-out massive tour, and this most assuredly is not. There is also the caveat that, if everything goes as planned (please!), I won't even be in Canada then, anyway. And if that's needed to be postponed a little bit, I still won't be able to afford to travel anywhere to see them. I mean, I've had this discussion with some of my American friends before, but for me to fly anywhere is a minimum of $600, purely for the airfare. Partly because air travel is generally more expensive in Canada, but mostly because I live out on a damn peninsula and it takes for-fucking-ever to GET anywhere.

Hello sinuses
The fact that they are doing a bit of construction at work is not helping anything - they are building an office for my new manager, because apparently the cubicle-walled one that they made my previous supervisor use (note the difference in level) isn't good enough. Which I agree with; it didn't have the necessary privacy. However, said new office, while so far restricted to getting existing cubicles dismantled and wiring done, will involve brand new drywalled and painted walls, and it is going up about ten feet from me. I'm already on a daily allergy med regimen so that it shouldn't hit me nearly as hard as it did when I had zero warning in the wintertime, but it's not going to be a fun couple of weeks. And the fact that I have to medicate irritates the fuck out of me, both because I don't want to take anything unless I have to, and because allergy meds aren't covered under any drug plans and it gets fucking expensive.

Additionally, with my mother gone, my dad's painting the window frames upstairs. They *really* need to be done, and at least he is doing it with the windows and everything open and with good quality, low emission paint that's relatively tolerable for me. Still, that means that all of my usual environments are currently some level of toxic for me. Except my car, which is only going to be toxic to my wallet (it's going in tomorrow, they didn't have an appt. for today - just drove the mother's).

Verdict
As predicted, the cranky continues. *scowls* I considered apologising for not posting anything that wasn't all 'bitch, whine' lately but I shan't because this is my journal, and I shall say whatever the fuck I want in it. And you shall have the right to exercise your scrolling ability if you so choose.

So. I heard Streetcorner Symphony in the bookstore today, which begat some frustration, and then came online to find that Rob Thomas has a new song. It's called Little Wonders, and it's streamable at his Web site. It's very pretty - soaring keyboards; earnest, sincere lyrics; an optimistic kind of message; and...

OH MY GOD GO BACK TO YOUR FUCKING BAND RIGHT NOW! Right. Fucking. Now. Do you hear me??? Before Kyle ends up in Nashville with *or* without The New Left, and Paul gets so enthralled with indie piano rockin' that he forgets he was ever a drummer OR a rhythm guitarist, and Brian - OMG, wtf are you people doing to poor Pookie? And why isn't he in the PGA tournament yet, because it's been two freaking years. Two years, man. I love you but you are DRIVING ME CRAZY and if this is a single off a new album I...I have no words. afweklfrnmwekf%@#$^@! GO. BACK. TO. YOUR. BAND. I want Matchbox, goddammit. *turns purple and scratches furiously at all the shiny*

*wants to make a fangirl version of Bent because OMG sir I want to bitchslap you à la Paul so bad right now*

ETA: Well, at least it's not for a new album. It's for Meet the Robinsons. A Disney movie. *brain hurts* Thanks for the info, linzeestyle! And the near-identical, separately-induced rant. lol

Okay. I was challenged to write an MB20 slash drabble. And after the giggle fit wore off about how said challenge came about (and my ears stopped burning :P), it was really rather disturbingly easy to get into, lol. I thought about making it soft and pretty, given the prior discussion about not being into RPS so much, but screw that, dude! You asked for it, so you're getting full-on gay pr0n LOLOL. xD

Title: Breaking Me In
Author: Moi
Rating: Adult!
Pairing: Rob/Paul
Disclaimer: I own the words; the people own themselves.
Warnings/Notes: Slash; violence. Set during the filming of the video for Bent.

( Keep bending me until I'm completely broken inCollapse )

Ze room she is done.  And fucking bright it is too, LOL.  It has atmosphere!  I'm not sure exactly what kind of atmosphere, but I do know that I absolutely must find a way to put my silver alien bead curtain across the entrance to the room.  It's just too priceless. :D  I'll take some pix later in the week when it's dry and I can put my furniture and stuff back, and post them.  I have a disposable that I need to use up anyway as it's supposed to be developed by this month, lol.  I'm obviously demented because I love it.  It is such an in-your-face happy bright freaking colour, hee.

^Title is adapted from an old Alice Cooper song.  I've been having urges to listen to old metal and stuff today, except the damn stereo is attached at the hip to American Idiot.  I finally got it to play a different CD and then accidentally stepped on the power bar.  *rolls eyes*  Anyway, in one of the live Green Day mp3s there's a snippet of the opening riff to a Black Sabbath song, and that combined with the fact that the T-shirt I yanked randomly out of my drawer just to go to the store happened to be an old Crue concert shirt, got me feeling like that.  Don't ask me why I have More Than You Think You Are on when I'm in the mood to headbang, b/c I have no fucking clue.  It could possibly have something to do with the fact that I was a complete idiot and did not retain custody of the shared-ownership CDs when A and I split, lol.  I haven't replaced many of them, and I haven't really been in the mood I guess because I haven't d/l many either.  Besides all the Bon Jovi (and so not in the mood for Jon), the only thing I know for sure that I have is Alice's Poison, and that I don't want to listen to either as I don't want to go down that particular memory lane tonight.

After the abuse my hands have taken with the painting, I think I'll do my nails tomorrow and make sure I really got all the green off, lol.  But apparently just my fingernails, as my mother took my pedicure stuff. *pout*  Oh, and random revelation: I'd forgotten that if you put my hair up in a bun and let it sit like that, then put it to one side when you take it down?  It looks right awesome.  It actually kind of maximizes the effect of what curls are still clinging to life, lol.  So yay, less bored now.  We didn't have time to dye it before my parents left and I don't dare do it by myself, so it'll be another couple weeks for that yet.  God only knows I might change my mind again by that time! ;-)

Well, I had an absolutely gorgeous-looking post to put up on audiography with my Guide to Matchbox Twenty, but posting issues made it somewhat less pretty, lol: the spacing is all fucked up.  Nonetheless it got posted, complete with all the musical links, so I am heading to bed!  *smooches* to you-know-who-you-are for the help. :D  And for anyone who wants to see/read/download, go here.

Someone remind me why I thought it was a good idea to stay up past 3 a.m. tonight when I have to be up earlier than usual tomorrow, am going dancing tomorrow night after work, and actually have to be up before noon on Saturday???