So it seems that I have nothing to say. Ironic, as I had a million and one things in my head to start off with, and none of them are coming to mind. However, that might be because my headache is all like, “BAM, I’m here bitch!” and I’m like, no. I will say though, that my easter eggs are…ugly. I will have to take a picture of them tomorrow and let your eyes feast on my creativity.

My sister got into Twilight, and although the book is there, I still can’t pick it up. :( I suppose that’s because I’m being rebellious of the whole, “Edward is so greatttt!!11!!1!” which is laughable, as I could name four dozen “greatttt” heroes, but I guess that isn’t the point.

The point is my sister read the book, and (drum roll) asked me for a book! This is enlightening, because I got to choose what book and I picked Night Play from the Dark-Hunter Series » (OK, that was a cheap plug, but whatever) and I think she will enjoy. I hope, anyways, as I love me some Vane/Fury/Fang/Aimee and I hope I can squee with her over them.

For anyone who didn’t know, Harry Potter was what got me into what I do now–Web Design. Something I love and hate, something I love as hobby, and love as a job. Something that has ruled my life since it’s been introduced to me, and something that has taught me far more than I thought I ever would.

Harry Potter…a series half of the world loves, half of the world hates. HP was introduced to me in fourth grade, when the first and second books were read to me. I love them, and I loved the mystery, intrigue and captivating world behind them. I love HP! When I found out there were going to be movies, I went to the first, and it is now a tradition in the family to go see every one. I’ve watched all the young stars grow up, grow beards and flash us nude photos (yes, I’m looking at you, DanRad!). I’ve seen the first three movies bomb their way into non-HP-readers hearts, felt the 4^th movie flop in my heart (WORST. DIRECTION. EVER.) and lift back up with the 5^th (BEST. MOVIE. EVER).

6^th movie? I’m excited. Because no matter how much I stray from HP, it always come back to this. Me getting all excited for the adventure our family will take this coming summer, angry at the push back HP got (and for as shitty as a movie Twilight was, that was a crap move, WB) and excited at the theme park that is right outside my city. I get to hear DanRad’s half-annoying-if-he-wasn’t-cheeky British accent, Tom’s perfect features, Emma’s stunning growth and Rupert’s manliness. WIN. (I won’t mention the other actors, I could go on for hours with that.)

It always come back to this. If I could make up a song on how much HP has changed my world, I don’t think it’d ever compare to the love inside me. Thank you, J.K. Rowling, because without you, I don’t know where I’d be in life. That’s sappy and a little sad, and yes, pathetic in a sense, but it’s the truth, baby dolls.

It was 2005 (…I think), and I was sort-of, kind-of getting into romance novels. I loved them, sucked all of them up like a vampire woken from the grave after 1,000 years and thirsting for blood. I couldn’t get enough! I did thriller, romance, historical romance, paranormal romance, you name it! If it had romance (of the sex kind, and Twilight is not of that kind), I was reading it. When I ventured across Suzanne Brockmann’s Navy SEAL series, I was instantly hooked. When I bought Hot Target, with the infamous character, FBI Agent (and openly, fabulously gay) Jules, I was even more excited with the series, because I felt there wasn’t enough same-sex relationships–much less people who were gay!–in Literature today.

I’ve always been a supporter of gay rights–having open-minded parents and a gay Uncle helps, hm?–but I had never explored how I really felt about it. I didn’t hate it, I just…didn’t know how I felt about it. In Hot Target, the sexual tension that happened between Jules, and his future husband, Robin (the main character’s brother) was…so intense. I read it from beginning to end without putting it down (back in the day when I couldn’t read a book in under six hours, but that’s for another day), and was very unsatisfied when I realised their story was not through.

Another thing? I listened to Forget It by Breaking Benjamin, hitting reply on my stereo ALL NIGHT LONG. This snippet stood out to me the most:

It’s a crime you let it happen to me
Out of mind, I love it, easy to please
Nevermind, forget it, just memories
On a page inside a spiral notebook

The entire song (you can read the lyrics at azlyrics.com ») is them in that book. It’s such a tragic song in it’s own right, and yet explains away so many words that cannot be said. That, my friends and viewers, is how I ended up getting into slash (for those who don’t know: a same sex pairing). I started with Harry/Draco from Harry Potter (which, along with Arthur/Merlin from Merlin, will always be my OTP), Arthur/Merlin from Merlin, Jack/Ianto from Torchwood, Brian/Justin from Queer as Folk (that is a given, kthnx) and even L/Light from the anime, Death Note. Yes, I am so very…well, I obviously have too much free time on my hands.

Now, after I finish The Taboolistings » of course, I will endeavour to write the most angsty Arthur/Merlin piece of fic based off that song, because Christina » has me dishing out the most angsty crap ever and I need practise. Watch out, it’ll make you cry (and she will, too).

So, in apologies to her for befriending me and further making her life half a hell (I never I wasn’t a perverted, demanding and creative little whore…minus the creative, of course), I present to you, what I do after six o’clock:

Ignoring the crappy quality of the photo, this is me curled up at the end of my bed in my quilt (that you can’t see) on top of my comfy comforter and duvet, with Nay-Nay glaring at the camera because I had to move her off my papers yet again, with some Harry/Draco pr0n at my fingertips. In fact, I think those stories were HATING HARRY POTTER » (by oldnuf2nobetter) and Adrift » (by dysonrules)–yes, that’s right, I can switch Harry and Draco as tops because I am very versatile like that–which is rather fitting, given my pillow » at the “end” of my bed.

So it may not perverted or creative, or even demanding, but…damn it all, it’s fun to me!

—

I had a Bleach dream, AND MY FIRST ONE AT THAT. Sure, a couple of characters have been featured¹, but nothing Bleach-related, and it’s all-star cast consisted of Ichigo, Byakuya, Rukia and, for the shocker!OMG here, B’s wife Hisana.

And, before I start, I will be initialising the names, because I refuse to repeat each Japanese half of you² can’t really pronounce anyway.

So, B’s wife, which for anyone following Bleach, died before the actual storyline. She’s alive and very well in this version of Bleach (OK, it’s a dream, BUT STFU LET’S PRETEND IT’S A ~VERSION~), and I and B are battling it out. It’s a bit like the epic scene in season three, and I and B end up disintegrating, except a far-away voice explains that a part of each “soldier” is left behind, which H and R can therefore use to bring them back to life.

H and R do do that, and they are therefore…trying to bury themselves? They find these “plates” in the dirt, and sit on them. B ends up going back to his house with H, and I and R do something that involves B being pissed at I. I’m thinking it had something to do with two people “fooling around”³.

It sounds really fail-y, but it was very vivid, and very B-centred, which confuses the hell out of me. I don’t like B, and I’ve had no interest in his storyline, or H for that matter. It confuses me, and makes me question my brain and it’s functions. Do I love B secretly? Am I losing the love of Kensei and Hitsugaya for B? AM I REALLY JUST READING TOO MUCH INTO THIS?

—

On a completely unrelated note: I am building⁴ a script that is being a douche to my inner sanity. Dear Amazon EC2, I DO NOT LIKE YOU. Not Very Sincerely, Tess

1. « “Featured” as in “featured in a sex dream”. I’m not above mentioning I dream about anime characters and sex, but I am above mentioning whether several characters may have joined me or not in a Rangiku-like fashion. I have some dignity!
2. « And me too, admittedly.
3. « SEX, guys, sex.
4. « OK, not really building. I only have the config file, and the class file written up. BUT STILL, I have precognition, it’ll be a douche, mark my words.

Reading… yaoi manga! I know some of you could take it or leave it (or just leave it), but I’ve fallen so in love with some of some (very old!) manga! Love Mode–originally released in 1995! I was five-barely-six at the time!–is my favourite so far, but I love Junjou Romantica and Crimson Spell as well! The characters are very intertwined, and in Junjou Romantica, one of the main characters is a writer, and it’s inspired the writer inside me. I think I’m finding my voice for writing, I really do.

Listening… nothing has stuck in my head in April, but I’ve been listening to Eminem a bit, as well as Lady Gaga, Placebo and “Hot Mess” by Cobra Starship (Christina » showed me this gem)–I’m so complex, gais!

Coding… Listing Admin », where I’ve been learning the joys of crossposting to Enthusiast, or just to a different server. It’s made me realise how lucky I am to have a shared reseller on DreamHost–I don’t have to worry about the different servers and MySQL variables!

Excited… for driving! I, Tess, at 20 do not have a driver’s license. I have my permit–for the last two years, no less!–and the Dad just got new tires on my car–that I’ve had for six years in November–so I’m really excited about getting it legal. Not only will the Mom have some transportation herself, but she can now teach me how to drive! Insert huge jump in the air here!

Making… DVDs…? I’ve made some DVDs for the sixth season of Bleach, which the sister has now religiously been watching as well! According to my calculations (half-assed accessing of the situation), Bleach is one of the few anime series that can be watched by anybody, even non-Anime fans (that would be the sister)!

Admiring… Milla Jovovich, oh em gee! My deep, deep love knows no bounds with Milla, but I’ve been enjoying having added to my Milla Jovovich collection of movies (A Perfect Getaway + Resident Evil), and re-waching them. (Did I mention the sister is also in love with Milla? I never said she didn’t have great taste, too!)

Watching… a ton of movies! The two latter above go under this as well, but the amount of movies I’ve been intaking is surprising. The Hangover (finally!) and The Men Who Stare at Goats are lovely, and the Mom and I have never laughed so hard. With the Dad working last Saturday, and the Uncle being out of the house for the weekend, the Mom, sister and I watched The Men Who Stare at Goats and laughed at hippy!George Clooney and unbelieving!Ewan, and stayed up until one in the morning watching The Hangover and laughing at sexy!Bradley, screaming!Ed and ridiculously-weird!Zach. Very, very well done movies.

Cooking… I cooked 15 Bean Soup¹ last weekend, as well, and the sister and I plan to cook the Mom carrot cake tonight. Or me, since I plan to bake it after she goes to bed, so we can surprise her tomorrow morning. Yaaay to staying up till three in the morning (it’s the thought that counts?)!

Taking a Photo Of… My new coffee cup!

The Dad got it for me after he got the sister one (the Mad Hatter)–I quite like mine, reminds me of…me? (That was lame, shush.)

1. « It’s yummier than it sounds! It’s made of fifteen different types of beans, kielbasa and ground sausage, stewed Mexican (or Italian/regular) tomatoes and cajun seasoning. It’s a cajun dish that the Mom and I have made into a hit. IT’S LOVELY, SHUT UP.

Reading… the manga Bleach, or really re-reading. All I can say for it is a) I love Nelliel, b) Ichigo is one of the best friends one can have, c) Ikkaku and Yumichika are the gayest of the gays for each other and I have an inkling their captain, Kenpachi, knows it and d) Aizen is one of the best villains ever written (he just won’t die, and he makes my skin crawl – that’s some strong feelings to be invoked by a fictional character!).

Listening… (according to my Last.fm stats, anyway!) Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Placebo and « Muse – thanks to Melissa », the song I Belong to You has been stuck in my head for the past three days, and I’m trying to attempt learning it on piano. MELISSA, IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT.

Coding… a Manga reader. Yes, you read that correct. Instead of working on Listing Admin », or poking at Media Admin – which, a month from today exactly, will be releaded – I am coding up something I’ll probably only use once a month or something. That’s how Tess rolls, yo!

Excited… for caffeine. I’m a boring person; I will never have a truly exciting life, so the most exciting thing for me is something with fucking caffeine right now.

Making… a couple of layouts! I’m a coder – I love cracking into CSS and HTML just as much as PHP.

Admiring… Muse’s ability to make me cry.

Watching… The IT Crowd! :D It’s a British sitcom, and one of the most genius things I’ve watched in a while. The IT Crowd – IT for “Information Technologies”, instead of “it” – is about the IT department in a company, and a woman, who knows nothing about computers, being their manager. Absolutely hilarious. ♥

Cooking… pork chops!

In this case I only marinated them, but I am fantastic at marinating almost anything. I’m also rather lame, because I get this whut? look on my face when I actually have to cook and/or marinate food. I’m sometimes so consumed with scripting that I forget I can do anything else! :P

Taking a Photo of… José, our red tail boa snake.

Snakes are very, very overrated, and I could go on a fifty-paragraph rant about it, but I’ll save the *facepalm* moment for another time. José – yes, named after the Dad’s favourite drink, José Cuervo – won’t get much bigger than he is now, and he’ll live a long time, as we didn’t power-feed him. I’ll have to upload more photos of him!

Usually I add a new “Just a Minute…” section every month, but I’m running on a low battery, and I’m just going to go before I no longer make any sense!

Reading… some fanfiction (nothing new there), and J.R. Ward’s new book, Lover Mine. Great plot, wonderful characters, horrible butchering of the gay ones. I still keep coming back, though, so the woman is doing something right!

Listening… to Lorene Drive and Britney Spears, because I love mixing genres, as well as spamming everyone with the genius that is « Blood Brothers (if I so wasn’t starry-eyed about it, I’d feel a little bad!).

Coding… Media Admin, and I. hate. Amazon’s. API. It’s one of the worst things in the world to get around – something I have yet to do, and if you know me, you know I don’t, and won’t, give up that easily – and never thought I’d think that about XML! GO DIAF, AMAZON API.

Excited… that the sister is back! She went to California (San Francisco) for three weeks to visit our older sister. She loved it in California – the pictures! – but didn’t love the sister. I needed someone to fangirl The Whitest Kids U’Know and The IT Crowd with!

Making… abstract art for a project, and its not as horrible as I first thought it’d be; it’s actually quite fun, and the colour options…!

Admiring… Trevor Moore. See “Watching” for further (fangirlish) details.

Watching… The Whitest Kids U’Know! OH EM GEE. I took my cable company’s, Comcast, advice – surprising; they’re a shitty company with even shittier advertising methods – and watched it on IFC, and have never looked back. It was created by Trevor Moore and Sam Brown, and it loosely based off of Trevor’s first show. Although all five boys – Trevor, Sam, Zach, Darren and Timmy, in order of hiring – write the show, Trevor’s the head writer, and I just marvel at his, and their, genius. Darren and Zach are my favourite, and Timmy makes me laugh so fucking hard; Trevor is the best at ridiculous-but-still-funny!wigs (and pants) and Sam with his ridiculously crass (but still funny) skits! While I wouldn’t suggest this for the squeamish or easily-offended, it’s some of the funniest shit I’ve seen in a while! Also, a quick shout out to Grandma’s Boy, the best movie ever made. Fin~

Cooking… brownies, because it seems to be all I’m good for. I admittedly passed on a few chances to cook, but I’ve been wrung out with coding – AMAZON. I’M LOOKING AT YOU HERE. – that I just haven’t felt up to it.

Taking a Photo of… Nay-Nay!

Nay-Nay goes through these daily rituals of randomly coming up to me, meowing and jumping up into my lap to cuddle. Most of the time she stays for twenty seconds before getting bored, but she actually let me take (really bad) photos of her, and cuddle with her, too. (My hand was trying to hold her head still long enough to get the shot. Alas, I was not successful. I have failed thee.) So, to make up for the quality, here’s a photo of a yellow grasshopper (and to remind you all I’m not a horribly bad photographer):

Feeling admittedly nostalgic – I remember the sister, the friend and I would collect grass hoppers, kill them and then throw them away because they stunk. We actually made a sport of catching them. …Which is kind of not-so-nostalgic, and more morbid. I couldn’t do it now, only marvel at how weirdly cute it looked.

Playing… The Spill Canvas – Our Song », which is the best damn song ever right now.

Reading… Gena Showalter’s latest book, The Darkest Lie, from her series The Lords of the Underworld, which was fabulous (and also happened to contain one of my favourite characters!). I also have be re-reading Jacquelyn Frank’s Shadowdweller series, which is just so… intense! The grammar is so great, the writing style feels so old, and… I’m just at a loss for words. It’s gorgeous. ♥

Listening… Puscifer! I’m such a Maynard fangirl, I’m surprised I just got into one of his many projects, but I love almost electronic feel to it! So far, I love the Drunk With Power (Version 2), Rev 22:20 (Dry Martini Mix) and The Undertaker (Renholder Mix) songs. :D

Coding… a little of this and that… I’ve been working on a secret project–three, actually!–which lean more towards CSS and graphic design, but since I managed to code a imagemap without the tag, I figure that’s worth my vacation from PHP.

Excited… to watch the latest season of The IT Crowd, aaah! The sister and I promised we’d wait for the season to end to watch them all – that’s how we do it! – and I can’t wait for it! *rubs hands together*

Making… icons! I’m not very good at them, but sometimes (mostly when I’m procrastinating), I open up my graphics program, and just go to town. I like to think of it as my way to relieve The Stress of Life.

Admiring… Homotography » (I promise the site is cleaner than the title hints at!) – introduced to me by Christina », unsurprisingly – and I just love this blog! As the subtitle says, it’s a site that has “photography with homosexual tendencies”, in both female and male tendencies (yes, I totally just referenced itself!). I just love the photography, really¹.

Watching… some delicious new movies, including Clash of the Titans, Remember Me (by force, and no, it wasn’t good) and The Book of Eli. I think I may be – wait for it – …picky. It just seems that the void inside me can’t be filled. When I think, “this could be a movie I can replay over and over and over and annoy the parents with!”, but alas, the last movies to fill that void have been Sherlock Holmes and The Wolfman.

Cooking… black beans! :D

I had no idea what I was doing when I was making these; the Mom called me, said “cook these, they’re kind of like 15 Bean Soup~”² and I was like, “…OK”, and there we have it. They were delicious, though, especially with the yellow rice!

Taking a Photo of… The Dad’s motorcycle! He had it in the shop for… well, over a year, and he just finished his course to get his motorcycle license (and scored the highest grade on the written exam – like the man needed anything more to go to his head).

And Nay-Nay, who was giving me a side glance so reminiscent of my own that I just had to post it. She learned from the best, after all (if you click the photo for the larger version, you can kind of see me in her eye).

Playing… Megan McCauley – Porcelain Doll ». I just recently got my hands on Megan’s 2007 album, Better Than Blood, and I just fell more in love with her, if that was at all possible in the five years I’ve been worshipping her. *hoards music player*

Remodelling… zee living room, courtesy of the sister and I!

Ignoring the crap quality of the photo, we moved around pretty much everything besides the TV (not pictured), because of the cable cord. We like it, though, because it opens it up quite a bit. :D

(The next “Just a Minute…” won’t nearly be so image-heavy, promise!)

1. « AND I SWEAR MY ICON FOR THIS ENTRY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY FEELINGS TOWARDS THAT SITE, OR THAT IT CAME FROM THAT SITE EVEN THOUGH THAT PARTICULAR EDITORIAL MAY OR MAY NOT BE THERE.
2. « “15 Bean Soup”, for those that don’t know the recipe, is ground sausage and kielbasa browned with celery and onion, and then cooked with the bean mix (fifteen different kind of beans, as the title says), stewed tomatoes and the Cajun seasoning that comes with the beans.