tv:
trueblood.
Just finished watching the season finale. GREATLY SADDENED! I knew some characters were going to be offed because, this is True Blood. It happens. I figured Debbie was gone and while I liked Jesus, we knew Lala couldn’t have his happy ending. But TARA?????? NO! I confess, I’ve never read those Stackhouse books by Ms Harris so I’ve mostly been flying by the seat of my pants here, but I was hoping Tara would turn into the Bon Temps Buffy of True Blood. After all that shit with Franklin? Come ON! And when she met up with Marnie? I was like ALRIGHT! It’s going to HAPPEN! HANDLE YOUR BUSINESS!

And then, not so much. Although I have a strong feeling that she’s coming back as a zombie. Every new season we get a new super-creature and with Arlene’s outfit it feels like classic True Blood foreshadowing.

So I’m excited and SAD and longing for next summer already. Also, looking forward to reading recaps. The one on io9 is particularly fun, especially the comments. Should be posted tomorrow!

books:
a song of fire & ice.
I’m currently on A Feast for Crows but I’ve been reading them on my Kindle lightning speed so I forget what happens in which particular book but IT IS GREAT. READ IT. THIS IS ME TELLING YOU TO GET THE BOOK AND SKIP LAUNDRY AND OTHER BASIC THINGS TO READ IT. WHO NEEDS SLEEP WHEN THERE IS TEA? Favorite characters are kind of hard to choose since they keep getting killed off but Arya Stark & Tyrion Lannister have my heart. Here’s to hoping they don’t die off!

I haven’t started watching the tv show yet [Game of Thrones] as I’m waiting to watch that with Andy on his R&R but I’ve been watching clips on youtube and reading on tumblr and damn near everyplace on the web. I’m so excited for it! Fans of the book love it and usually that is good enough for me. Fans don’t let fans watch bad shows without fair warning. [ala Dead Like Me's Movie... avoid and save yourself heart ache]

kindle.
Get yourself one. For Christmas or something. I never thought I’d like them because I like solid actual books but I LOVE this thing. Breastfeeding is way easier because I don’t have to rest a book on Cody’s head anymore. He never really liked that. Especially when I was working on the Eragon series. Plus the library of out of copyright books is divine. All free and most of them you’d want to reread anyhow.

life:
four year olds.
The Jasbaz was always the most wonderful little child from birth to age three. She got a bit more cantankerous, as is a child’s nature around that age. But FOUR? Going on FIVE?

Takes all my willpower to handle everything. Like how you do discipline a child after she shampoos her brother’s hair with refried beans while he was in his crib, supposedly taking a nap? I don’t… even… words fail. Eyes kind of flair up, brain starts this weird cackling laugh and I’m like I NEED TEA, TEA AND PATIENCE AND SOMETHING ELSE I DON’T KNOW WHAT. Everything she does is so random and artish that I feel like HEY STOP THAT but also kind of appreciate the insanity of it. I remember chewing gum and then sticking it on the bathroom door at my parents house in shapes thinking I was making something new and different. Parents were not amused. Jas is DOING THIS TO ME. KARMA! Or pent-up creativity. Which wouldn’t be so bad but you know what, I really liked my nail polish collection. I had it put up and away on purpose. I appreciate that you liked the colors but for fucks sake don’t paint the carpet and walls with it!

My friend was down from Chicago when that happened and we talked about it after and she was amazed at how I observed and wandered into the kitchen to make breakfast. Jas and I had a chat about it after but what does a parent do in that sort of situation? Beating her seems hyper extreme and while I love my nail polish and walls and carpet, screaming and acting like a banshee doesn’t seem appropriate either. It’s not like I leave this stuff out either. She searched it out, willfully. There was intention there.

wisdom teeth.
Getting all four done (hopefully) on Thursday. Not looking forward to that. A nice balm on the situation is that I get to hang out with a really great friend and have a medicated vacation. But really. A lady shouldn’t have to drive to Chicago to find an oral surgeon in network. Fuck you, Tricare Dental preferred networks. Way to ignore the entire center of the state.

It seems to me that if a preferred provider can’t be found within 100 miles of your house, there should be some sort of compensation made. I shouldn’t have to vacation to get my wisdom teeth taken out. Especially with kids and mi amor overseas. That is fucked up.

But the prospect of waiting is not worth it because I saw my xrays and there is no way I’m letting my upper wisdoms fuck up my other teeth. No way. My vanity has a hard enough time stomaching glasses and acne, the thought of adult braces and a retainer? No way. I’ve burned some CDs and we will get this handled by the weeks end, one way or another.

styleblogging.
Not sure if I’m going to keep with this or not. I like the idea but then I nitpick on my appearance as I sort through photos. Kind of like the old saying, I need to learn to love myself. So I am trying to keep this going because fashion is fun and probably in thirty years I’ll be sad if I didn’t document this time frame. Apparently it all goes downhill from here?! Not looking forward to that!

knitting.
Started a scarf for myself! Finally. It’s a lovely autumn colorblend with red, orange, yellow, green, and brown. Like fall leaves. =) I’m excited about it. Nothing special, just the knit stitch on and on and on. But I like it that way. I want to start cabling but I think I’ll wait for another scarf. I need something to wear for this winter and I’m running short on time.

website-wise.
I’ve also been thinking about removing most everything off caotica.org and reworking it all. I’ve been taking this web accessibility class and… well. I feel like I haven’t really evolved with the rest of my webbretheren. Most of them breathe php, javascript, and beyond whereas I’m still at the same level I’ve been for a few years now. And I feel like my site shows that. So while I love it, I have that fleeting feeling of REBUILDING and making things different and better. Because at the end of the day, I run this place for me. And right now looking at it makes me sad. I’ve tweaked my journal but all the rest is up for an overhaul. Whenever I find the free time, that is. I have homework PILING up. =\ Speaking of…

Also, I took off comments temporarily since I figured most of us chatter on fb, twitter, or through email. I’ll put them back after the semester is over. Fyi. =) If you have some ideas on the four year old situation, HIT ME UP WITH SOME ADVICE. Usually I don’t take it, but I’d like to hear it all the same.