Done, done, done. Also, books, movies, a play and SGA.

[bironic]

I am all applicantated—sent off the whole stack of papers from the post office yesterday after picking up the last evaluation form on lunch break from my old internship boss at the eleventh hour, and now it's in the mail and I don't have to think about it anymore until the acceptance and rejection letters are sent out in April. There was no real sense of satisfaction in getting it done, though, just a vague relief that it's over; it could have been much better if I'd had the discipline to start it earlier and work on it more often, and I wasted a lot of time along the way, so I can't help but blame myself if I don't get in, but at the same time I'm proud to have put together what I did (or put it together at all), considering the mental state my job has reduced me to. And I keep reminding myself that I'm applying to a school, not a job, so the admissions committee should be looking for potential, not perfection.

Between that and the trailing-off of craziness at work now that the Big Project is complete (except for revisions and additional modules I've been told to consult on, which will never be finished), I have that strange feeling you get after finishing something you've been dealing with for so long that you can't shake the sense that you need to be doing something important when actually you're able to relax. With luck, the need to be doing something will translate to renewed participation on LJ including the delayed Memoryfest, among other things. And I'd really, really, really like to be able to write again.

I am reading actual books, so that's something: Asimov's The Positronic Man (the story that inspired the movie Bicentennial Man) on cassette tape on the way to and from work, and Naomi Novik's Temeraire series on krisdia's recommendation, which is utterly charming. Watched A.I. last weekend—creepy and weird, not what I was expecting at all, but interesting—and The Illustrated Man is on tap for tonight. I've always loved sci fi, but the recent desire to read and watch the android stories can be blamed on Leah's gorgeous, adorable SGA AI AU stories, Male Enhancement (The Soul and Company Store Remix) and its prequel, Muscle and Blood and Skin and Bones.

Since my dad sort of broke up with his not-girlfriend (a long medium-length and boring story) a week ago, he had an extra ticket to see a local production of Oliver! last night and nobody to go with, so I recorded SGA and went along, despite expecting three hours of pain. It turned out to be a very good production, and I didn't remember most of the songs from the only other time I'd seen it (I was…13?) and hadn't caught most of the subtext before, so it was like seeing half of it for the first time too. Who Will Buy? is such a sweet song; it's one of the only musical numbers I have an mp3 of. I also amused myself by imagining a Wilson/House dysfunctional UST fanvid set to As Long As He Needs Me (lyrics), and a team bonding or Sheppard worship vid set to I'd Do Anything (lyrics). Come on, tell me they wouldn't be cute.

So I watched the episode, "Spoils of War," just now and I don't have much to say about it beyond what sheafrotherdon covered, ETA: and what thingswithwings said in the latter half of her post ETAA: and what fiercelydreamed said in hers, other than that I continue to love our Wraith friend, John on his knees, the team trying to protect one another in alternately wrong-headed and brave ways, and Ronon manhandling Rodney.

ETA: post-ep fic: The Other Queen by sheafrotherdon

I miss House. Has anyone read any good House fics lately? Or written? I haven't been keeping up very well.

Comments

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm glad you're done with your projects! :D

[purridot.livejournal.com]

Memoryfest

YAY!!!!

Also: Congrats for sending off all those applications. You are inspirational. <3

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Todd. Heh.

Congratulations on getting everything in the mail! Once you've had a few days to relax, you'll probably feel more of the sense of accomplishment you're due.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

Yay for getting all the applications off!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I think this calls for a \o/

[bironic.livejournal.com]

It was just the one application (somewhat less inspirational?), but it's nice to be done with it.

And I'm happy you are excited for Memoryfest! It makes me more excited.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Eh, we'll see. For now, it's nice to be able to turn my attention to other things, errands and hobbies (which I just mistyped "hoobies") both.

Todd. Heh.

If only all those silly SGA fans with their Joe Mallozzi blog reading hadn't been calling him Todd (which I just mistyped "Tood" -- something's wrong with me today) since the week after he showed up, the moment would've been funnier. But I do love him.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It was just the one, but still: \o/

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

xx.) Memoryyyyyyyyfesssssstttttttttt!!!11!1!

xx.) I just added some Asimov to my Amazon wish list this morning. I've been going through the archives at thedailybook, answering all the polls and adding to my already enormous To Read list. Whee. Books. ♥

xx.) Since my dad sort of broke up with his not-girlfriend... "I don't have a girlfriend. But I do know a girl who would be really angry if she heard me say that."?

xx.) lulz. House fic. I kind of hated all my Wilson stuff for my prompt communities last month. :( But that was probably because it was almost all first-person responses instead of fic-style stuff. I need to do better for January. I'm failing already. XD All I have so far is a first-person reply to "When do you know it's love?" for au_muses. Faaaaaaail, fail, fail, fail.

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

Welcome back! I'm sure that's all a major relief.

For your reading pleasure, here are a few lovely stories. Forgive the messy links -- I did this fast. I'm sure there's a lot of the current great stuff that got overlooked, but this is a start:

Hihoplastic’s “Straight to Center”: http://hihoplastic.livejournal.com/80169.html
House/Cuddy, and just gorgeous.

Phinnia’s “thirteen not so easy pieces”: http://community.livejournal.com/house_wilson/2063539.html#cutid1
House/Wilson drabble sets.

Namaste’s “Every Point Counts”: http://namasteyoga.livejournal.com/30527.html#cutid1
The latest in her football series.

Swatkat24’s “Sidekick”: http://swatkat24.livejournal.com/134893.html
Terrific and funny new team story.

Topaz_eye’s “Stars at Your Feet”: http://topaz-eyes.livejournal.com/95542.html
Lovely, deeply affectionate House-Cuddy.

Nightdog_bark’s “The Emperor of Nebraska”: http://nightdog-writes.livejournal.com/22256.html
An absolutely lush story. House/Wilson, established relationship.

And she also has “A Song to be Sung”: http://community.livejournal.com/house_wilson/2064523.html#cutid1
This is grown-up Ben, Wilson’s son from her story “I’ll Tell Thee Everything I Can,” crossed over Dee’s Jack-verse and simple_man’s Church-verse.

Deelaundry’s “Unicorn Hunter”: http://deelaundry.livejournal.com/96100.html
Charming and funny House-Wilson.

Shutterbug_12’s “Eden Sank to Grief”: http://shutterbug-12.livejournal.com/7500.html
A series of short pieces on House and Stacy’s history together. Link goes to the third of 12 she has planned.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you! I'll be upgrading to a new laptop this weekend, so I'm planning to dig into these while everything transfers and downloads.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hee. I'm deciding how to do things this year so I can comment more and save you the necessity of co-hosting (even though I know you volunteered!). Going a little lax on the posting frequency, and posting when I get home from work instead of first thing in the morning, may do the trick.

I have a few Asimov books (I, Robot, the Foundation series, and Fantastic Voyage) and am familiar with his stories, but somehow have never read any of them until now. I'm liking The Positronic Man a lot; he's covering most of the android/human/robot identity questions modern-day stories tend to ignore, simplify, gloss over or focus on one aspect of and pretend they're inventing. The book hasn't really aged, other than one of the robot laws in the story was passed in 2007.

Re: not-girlfriend, it was more a case of a few-years friendship where my dad kept telling her he didn't want it to be romantic and she kept agreeing but then trying to get closer again, and finally he got tired of her inability to stay within the boundaries he was comfortable with and broke it off. (They've done this before, though, so who knows if they won't start seeing each other again and start the cycle all over.)

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

I've always loved sci fi, but the recent desire to read and watch the android stories can be blamed on Leah's gorgeous, adorable SGA AI AU stories, Male Enhancement (The Soul and Company Store Remix)...

Heh. Opposite here --read that just last night as a result of a recent robot kick I've gone on. There's a vid I'd really like to make, if I could just find the right music. (And resolved my software issues, but that goes without saying.)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

In the ultimate battle of ThirdBlindMouse vs. Linux vidding software, who will be victorious?

What've you been reading or watching in your latest robot phase? (Did you like those fics?)

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

Did you like those fics?

They were very sweet. I do wonder how tied they were to the Stargate universe -- how important the Ancient gene is, or that this Rodney be that Rodney, this John be that John, etc. Not out of criticism of it, but because I've been thinking about that sort of thing in general -- mostly in terms of extricating good stories from weaker context (c.f. the second book of the Time's Eye trilogy).

What've you been reading or watching in your latest robot phase?

Besides for that, I've mostly been working on a list of sources I need to watch for the first time or rewatch and rip. I want to cover the whole history of robots on film, Maria to Buffybot. I might want to make two separate vids, one for the human impersonators and one for the walking vacuum cleaners, but I won't be sure until I find the right audio. There are a lot of significant film bots I've yet to investigate, too. Robocop, for example, is one I've never seen, nor have I seen A.I. I dread trying to wade through Bladerunner again (tried it once before, thought How can a movie about killer robots be even slower than the book?, and gave up). I did recently see the Terminator movies, so I'm not entirely behind. You know, I think the Terminators will go well with the Wives... *plots vids she cannot yet make*

In the ultimate battle of ThirdBlindMouse vs. Linux vidding software, who will be victorious?

It's something of a siege situation: they only win if I go away. Unfortunately, starving software out is not actually possible, and my men are getting demoralized. I'm hoping for a turncoat who will show us the underground passageway leading into the citadel. In the meanwhile, I'm making notes of video and audio timestamps and biding my time, waiting for my chance to strike.

They'll never see me coming. Because they have no eyes. *maniacal laughter*

[kimberlyfdr.livejournal.com]

I posted my ep commentary last night (http://kimberlyfdr.livejournal.com/303847.html), but I was very much happy to see Teyla and Lorne bonding. They are my secret SGA het pair :)

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

...and am familiar with his stories, but somehow have never read any of them until now.

Yes, that's exactly why I tossed some of his stuff on my list. I figure if I can quote things like I've read/seen them, it would probably be a good idea for me to ... you know ... read/see them. XD

[pynelyf.livejournal.com]

congratulations on getting those soulsucking apps done with! also, yay! asimov!

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

a Wilson/House dysfunctional UST fanvid set to As Long As He Needs Me

Oh, God. This thought is awfully familiar - I'm not sure whether I had it independently or actually saw/heard of a vid to it XD

I love Asimov's Robot stories - I think I've read (and reread) most of them, including the novels. I haven't read the Foundation series though. I generally find him a fairly unemotional writer, but The Bicentennial Man (which is what it is in my copy) was sniffly. Oh, wait, it became a novel too? I... didn't know that!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

So glad to be done with it -- but if I don't get in, I'll be doing a full round this coming year, for admission in '09. That'll be fun. How did you handle the stress of applying? Did it make you think you had absolutely no intelligence too?

Do I remember you telling me once about the awfulness that you expected Will Smith's I, Robot to be? Should I subject myself to it after I read the book, even if only for amusement's sake?

[bironic.livejournal.com]

wait, it became a novel too?

Do you mean a movie? I'd thought it was a novel first and then a movie. Here, if I understand things correctly, the book was Positronic Man and the movie was Bicentennial Man, with Robin Williams.

I totally thought of you while imagining those two songvids -- and I also wondered why that one seemed familiar. Maybe it does exist already...? Or maybe you talked about it once and I subconsciously stole it? :-/

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Hi Willow!

The Bicentennial Man was a (sniffly) novella, upon which The Positronic Man was based (thank you, Wikipedia!). Then it became the movie.

I'm pretty sure I would never have mentioned the horror of that thought to anyone (if indeed it was original at all, which I can't be sure about), but I remember there was a distinct period where I went around the house humming it to myself and alternately 'awww-ing' and rolling my eyes at the idea XD

Oh, and yay on getting your application in! LOL! I'd forgotten about Memoryfest, but if it's still on, I'm looking forward to it :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Still on, yep, and thanks! And, aw, I don't think it's a horror of an idea. And I'm not just saying that because I had it too. :) It fits them -- House treats him wrong, but Wilson will keep on loving and supporting him. Until the day it gets him killed.

The Bicentennial Man was a (sniffly) novella, upon which The Positronic Man was based (thank you, Wikipedia!). Then it became the movie.

I see! I guess this audio book is the novel, then. It's 6 cassettes, anyway, or about 6 hours, which... okay, I have no idea how many pages that converts to.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

LOL, no, it's not that it's "horrible" as such, because it certainly fits and all (especially during the Tritter arc, which is the era I associate it with) - it's just the sheer intensity of the sappiness that frightens me ;)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ha. Sap to wallow in -- but it would be grand.

Definitely Tritter era, or at least a Tritter clip or two around the lines about never breaking trust.

[no-detective.livejournal.com]

Yay, you have APPLIED YOURSELF! ;)

There's a fangirl shindig in the city next weekend; I'll email you the details. Are you free Saturday?

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ya. Nifty.

Whee!

[pynelyf.livejournal.com]

Sorry for not responding to this sooner...the email notification somehow got swamped and sank to the bottom of my inbox.

Applications definitely left me feeling dumber than a block. I don't think I did a very good job of dealing with the stress beyond trying to drown myself in work so I couldn't have time to think about anything.

As for Will Smith's I, Robot, the trailer alone had me cringing so badly that I couldn't even imagine watching the movie. But you have a better appreciation of the absurd than I do, and may be able to enjoy it's ludicrousness.