Reboot and the Pernicious 25 Things

After much persuasion from people who know who they are so shall go unnamed, I've decided to reboot this here blog o' mine. I'm a member of Facebook, have been ever since, way back when, it was still just for college students. Seems like ages ago but it hasn't been that long, actually. Anyway, there is this meme going around Facebook, though it has dropped off recently thank goodness, of the 25 Things list. Basically sharing 25 facts about yourself with everyone you know. Seems like an easy way to reboot a blog so, here goes.

1. One of my life goals is to see every movie on the AFI 100 Years lists. Though that may be curtailed somewhat by my dislike of the horror genre but we shall have to see.

2. On a related note, I've become somewhat obsessed with Netflix and my queue on there. It has been a great help to the aforementioned life goal but besides that, I've realized I've seen quite a lot of movies during my time here on Earth and its interesting to see the connections between them. 

3. I am a science fiction/fantasy geek/nerd/what have you. Every time I enter a book store that is the section I gravitate to and I can't (don't want to) help it. Even in the worst apocalyptic stuff there's still a kind of hope for the future that I think is important. And an interesting look at society. The robots, spaceships, and aliens are sometimes just window dressing. That being said, where the frak is my flying car?

4. I've decided I'm very much the daughter of my parents and can accept it. My dad likes Star Trek:The Next Generation and is a classical musician. My mom likes Star Wars, classic rock, and books. I like Star Trek, Star Wars, books, and my music tastes encompass everything except rap, hip hop, and country which is a plague upon the planet. I am equally comfortable with Snow Patrol or Cheap Trick as I am with Mozart or Debussy. 

5. I seem to have a talent for finding creative, quirky TV shows just as they are on their final legs or have been off the air for a while. Cases in point, Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Veronica Mars, Firefly, and Battlestar Galactica (though I managed to catch this one in the final season, so go me, even though I'm heartbroken it's ending). 

6. The summer after my senior year of high school I made a quilt. It turned out rather well, if I do say so myself. Granted I didn't make it in the old school style, with a giant table and a crazy design, but I did clear out the back room to pin it together in the end and the sewing machine got a workout that summer like never before.

7. I have at least two dozen pillows that I made myself out of fabric I've bought. 

8. I am a rather good and eager baker but currently a pretty lazy cook. I really need to work on the latter.

9. My computer is now having hard drive space issues not because of documents or programs but because I have 24.83 GB of music on it. Which is 7,158 songs and about 17 and a half days worth. The plan is to have a job and get a new computer so this laptop can become a stereo. Bless you iTunes.

10. On a related note, I probably have more soundtracks on said laptop than other music. Or at least more of them than another one genre. The music is the first thing I pick up on in any movie or TV show. I blame Dad. 

11. My weaknesses include interesting fabric, interesting music, the written word, and classic movies. Seriously on the fabric thing. It's a good thing there aren't any easily accessible craft stores in the DC area without a car because I'd be in trouble. 

12. I studied abroad my junior year of college in Brussels and London. I didn't get to nearly as many places as I said I would so going back to Europe is a must. 

13. I have a talent (annoyingly so to the person in question) of getting my sister hooked on interesting stuff I've found. I think this is because we're similar in taste and just because I found it first doesn't mean she wouldn't have found it eventually. 

14. I'm trying to write a book. When I say trying, I mean I have a kind of outline worked out and it's kind of like that quote, "I'm writing a book, I have the page numbers down...I just have to fill in the rest." Except I have more than just the page numbers because I've written part of it already as my capstone. The problem is changing that part and adding stuff (like all the stuff I couldn't get to in the capstone) so it's a touch less academic and more interesting/snarky. Maybe not snarky, exactly, but interesting certainly. 

15. My favorite flower is the calla lily. Not quite sure why, maybe because May's flower is lilies of the valley but it is. 

16. I've always wished I could draw better than I can. My creative endeavors, however, seem limited to trite fictional attempts and sewing. Oh, and I guess playing the clarinet. Though I'm rather rusty on that these days. 

17. While I attend mass every Sunday and on all the obligation days, I don't consider myself particularly religious. When considering an issue I don't think about the religious argument or "God's" argument. I think of the social implications first. Sorry if that's going to get me in trouble in the end but I think He'd rather I decide for myself rather than rely on a stock answer for everything. Free will and all that jazz.

18. I'm kind of a pack rat. I save every museum brochure and ticket stub I've ever gotten. I have boxes filled with stuff like that. 

19. I'm a big Shakespeare fan. In Orlando there is a group that used to be called the Orlando Shakespeare Festival but is now something with Shakespeare still in it but now do other stuff as well. We (well, the family) go every year to whatever looks interesting. Consequently, I've seen most of the comedies twice now and most of the other plays. The cool thing was that they set them in different eras usually. Two Gentlemen of Verona set in the 50s with the cars and outfits but using the original text is something to see. Especially in an amphitheater.

20. On a related note, I have seen Twelfth Night at least four times on stage. Once at the new Globe in the way it was originally done, with an all male cast, twice at least with OSF, and once as a student production at Boston University. I think the funniest by far was the BU version. Whoever Orsino was, the actor played him like I've never seen before and yet, it made sense. And my sister and I still laugh about it to this day. Kudos to whoever he was.

21. I have a fondness for period stuff. Whether this be books or films set in "period" time doesn't really matter. BBC miniseries are quite useful in feeding this particular hobby. They really can do them like no one else.

22. My favorite author of all time is Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice is a work unparalleled. Well, perhaps it has/can be. I don't think so though. I think the best couples are those who banter. Probably why Much Ado About Nothing is my favorite Shakespeare play. 

23. I read the last Harry Potter book in about three and a half hours. Cover to cover without breaks really. I did that for the fourth book on, read them straight through the moment I got them. And each under five hours. Bless you Borders for allowing people to reserve copies and having midnight release parties. 

24. I think there should be a network, cable's fine, dedicated to rescuing shows that other networks carelessly discard. Despite my fondness for Bones, I'm looking mainly at you, Fox. Mostly for Firefly but also for Dark Angel. ABC's currently running close second because of Pushing Daisies. What is wrong with delightfully adorable these days? Cute guy who makes pies, can wake the dead, and has Jim Dale as a narrator? How can you go wrong?

25. I love old movies. Black and white, classic Hollywood actors, can't go wrong. First love among these will always be The Philadelphia Story, followed by Holiday Inn, Bringing Up Baby, Arsenic and Old Lace, and currently, The Thin Man series. 

Well, there you go Internet. My 25 Things. Do with it what you will.