greetings from the left coast

I'm in all these places! Let's be friends everywhere.

• Goodreads. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it there, but I do! I've written a small handful of reviews, and updating my kindle read percentage fills me with a silly amount of glee.


• Wordpress. From time to time I'll link to posts there, if I think y'all might be interested. It's mostly thoughts on writing, which hopefully is far less pretentious than it sounds.


• Twitter. Note: I do not announce when I'm drinking coffee! Random updates, random retweets.


• Tumblr. Mostly, my photos. Lots of nature and beach stuff. (I, uh, kind of love the ocean.)


• LinkedIn. I haven't used it much yet, but I'm there.


• Amazon. Enough said.


• Dreamwidth and LiveJournal. Of course, if you're reading this, you likely already know about both of these.

See you around at some of these exotic and highly specialized locales. And as always, may the odds be ever in your favor.

Oh, my heart.

Tonight, lostinapapercup and I watched No Exit. You know the one, from Season 4 of Battlestar Galactica. I only have myself to blame, but my heart, my heart, my heart. Paige, how many times have I watched that episode? How can it be that this show still moves me to tears? It's really one of my favorite Sam episodes for so many reasons, and one of my least favorite for all the other reasons. It's so beautifully acted and so painfully written.

I had to do something to refocus after that so I posted a few favorite photos from last month's Cali excursion to my photo tumblr. Got kind of scattered, downloaded a freebie from iTunes/Starbucks I've been carrying around for a week or so (Soundgarden, Halfway There, I like it and I'm pretty sure that's not just because I live in the Pac NW), and now I'm trying to get the redesigned allegedly easier-to-use version of iTunes to do all the things it used to do for me easily. I'll crack that damn nut eventually.

By the way! If you're new here, hello! I have a tag called introductions are in order. I'm really not the best at tagging my posts, but I do try to remember to do it. I'll write a new introductory post when it's not nearly bedtime, or when Jack Johnson finishes singing, whichever happens soonest.

Also: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, jules1278!!!!

muji asked me about my current favorite TV shows. This one's interesting to me, because for a long time I didn't watch any TV shows regularly. But lately I've picked up a few, so here goes.

1. Breaking Bad. Do I need to elaborate? It's brutal, but it's amazing. The acting and writing are just top of the line all the way around. Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul are the most dysfunctional odd couple on TV. If you haven't watched, don't start now, catch up first on Netflix. It's probably the best show on TV right now, in my estimation.

2. Hell on Wheels. This one starts up again in a few weeks, and I'm looking forward to it. It's not the most evenly-paced show out there and the first part of the first season was sometimes achingly slow, but it picked up. The characterization is beautiful, and it has Colm Meaney -- always a plus -- and the attention to period detail is outstanding. Anson Mount plays a mean protagonist, and did I mention it's got Christopher Heyerdahl? In a way, all the characters on this show are minor characters -- the railroad is the star -- but for a historical/period piece, it's gripping.

3. Game of Thrones. I know it's on hiatus, and I know it's impossible to follow if you don't have some sort of foundation in the books, but it's lush and crazy and well-imagined. I don't necessarily agree with all the changes HBO's made from the source material, but I'm keeping an open mind. Season 1 was better than Season 2, in my opinion, but then again Season 2 has Jaqen. The acting is pretty beautiful, even if we have taken to calling Joffrey "Draco Junior." I miss Sean Bean, though.

4. Downton Abbey. Also on hiatus until the fall. I love love love Maggie Smith in this show. She's enough of a reason to watch it -- her character is fantastic -- and in Season 3 we get Shirley MacLaine too. What's not to like?

Those are my current favorites! There are a few shows I won't generally turn off if they're in my line of sight (Chopped, House Hunters International, HIMYM, and sometimes BBT) but other than that, I'm not much of a TV watcher. I did watch all of Legend of Korra when that was on and enjoyed the hell out of it. I keep thinking there are more shows I should watch, but TV's generally not on my radar screen. I tend to find it a distraction more than anything most of the time.

I'm putting off working on stuff by letting myself get distracted by the Red Sox and the entire internet.

And this meme, courtesy of scribble_myname:

Comment to this post saying "FIVE!" and I will pick five things I would like you to talk about. They might make sense or be totally random.

Then post that list, with your commentary, to your journal. Other people can get lists from you, and the meme merrily perpetuates itself, hopefully for the rest of eternity!

(I don't really care if you say "FIVE" or let me know some other way. Just for the record.)

I got the following list of things to talk about:

1. literature
2. friends
3. favorite beverage(s)
4. "real" life
5. photography

( I'll start with literature. )

I'll cover the other stuff a topic at a time. Thanks, M!