the man who sold the world... on ebay

I have a shit ton of things to do, but all I can think about right now is that, in a week, I will be boarding a plane headed for MADRID. And then going to London.

I can't believe this is actually the first time I've mentioned this on my CDJ, even if I've told people I'm going on vacation over IM and stuff. But yes, I am going to be spending a week and a half in Europe. And I'm so excited! After a few days in Madrid, I'm returning to London, my favorite city, for the seventh time (wow).

So... If there are any Londoners on my CDJ who want to meet up, get in touch with me and let me know. Except I think Livi's in SCANDANAVIA. Why???

London is pretty much old hat for me, and I'll be hitting up my old haunts (the theatre, Fortnum and Mason, British Museum, the pub in which I drunkenly flirted with Australians) and trying to catch some things that I have somehow never managed to do (the Imperial War Museum!!!).

However, I am going to be in Madrid from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon, which is not a lot of time. Have any of you been there? What are the absolute MUST SEE destinations?

My parents are also talking about taking a day trip to Cambridge. Cambridge? I'm not sure.

( THOUGHTS ON TVD SEASON FINALE SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY )

Ask me questions/to do things/opinions/etcetc and I will answer them in a video!

For best answers, ask about TM, last round of Odds, or Reaped.

( reaped death bingo! )

partied with a deaf girl but that seems like years ago now

went back to some girls house but it was boring

have had a LOT
to drink
spilled dos equis on myself

it's not even good but $2 drafts, you can't pass it up

P.S. JILLIAN WAKE UP AND TAG ME

( initial thoughts on Virgie at the Reaped )

You can tell I'm stressed because I've been cooking a lot. It's not so much that I'm a stress cooker as that I'm a stress eater and I like to have good things to eat and ran out of guacamole so I was forced to compensate. So far I've made two large meals and a pan of cookie bars.

I'm probably the only person in the world who doesn't actually run a food blog and, when not feeling well, says to themselves, "COMFORT FOOD." And then goes and makes it. Yesterday, it was pouring and I was feeling kind of sick, and my parents were like, what are we doing for dinner, and I was like, fuck it, comfort food.

Everyone has a different idea of what comfort food is. For me, though, the ultimate comfort food is potatoes. It might be because I have Irish ancestry. Or because my mom always used to make mashed potatoes on cold winter nights. Or maybe it's because the wonderful, versatile potato is a potential vessel for so many different flavors and preparations. Baked potatoes with sour cream and chives. Mashed potatoes with gravy. Potato skins with cheese and bacon. Those soft, savory potatoes you get if you make a pot roast. French fries, of course.

Last night I made potatoes au gratin. And these things were fucking good. My mom was making food orgasm noises. It was intense. This is adapted from several different recipes I read because following any one recipe exactly is for squares. I served them with garlic-crusted chicken and tomato salad (AKA I chopped up cherry tomatoes, onions, and garlic, and drizzled them in balsamic vinegar. FANCY). But LBR, potatoes go with anything.

( I attempt to provide people with recipes again )

In other news, my mom and I are going to be gardening this year, I think. Except I have no idea what to put in this garden. I want tomatoes, of course, because who can ever have enough tomatoes. But what else? Cucumbers? Herbs of some sort? IDK, some fancier stuff? Does anyone else garden and have suggestions?

It's been raining for two days straight and I think that the rain has caused me to get a cold. WONDERFUL. I have 58105810 things to do and all I want to do is go to bed.

In fact I am going to take some cold medicine and do that, and then hopefully I will feel better. :|

ETA: Adding to "wow I fail today," I made shakshouka for dinner because I was craving comfort-y type food, and I managed to burn it. YEAH, I ruined a dish whose instructions are basically "throw stuff in pot, poach eggs."

ETA 2: Add to the list of today's failures "dropping a bowl of pudding and breaking the bowl." I DIDN'T EVEN MAKE THE PUDDING. FML.

I've been saying I'd tl;dr about Michael for days now and jillian was bugging me about it so I may as well.

( TEXT )

( Cut for Odds spoilers for today, in case anyone is reading their CDJ before their game flist, also maybe triggery for suicide )

And I need to tl;dr about Michael too but that will be later.

Leaving this here so mady can react to last night's Padmichael.

I was like, "Michael's life is the worst ever" today. He almost died and he's caught in the middle of an insanely complicated love spiderweb (POLYGON DOESN'T EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE IT) and is emotionally torturing himself over it because having people hate you enough to want you dead really does wonders for your self-worth.

Then Holly posted this on gamemaker's most recent plot calendar:

The weather in the Arena is hot, with temperatures in the nineties or above. The sky is smokey and completely covered with ash twenty four hours a day and is lit up only by the bright light from the lava and the volcano. Ash rains down frequently and there are frequent tremors. There are no animals for food or plants left alive that people can find. Basically it's hell on Earth.

Shine is as close as one can be to being literally IN HELL now. She is starving, injured, dealing with Gallus and his burns (YOU CAN SEE BONE) and there are still five people left to die if she's going to survive.

I can just tell that this week is going to be emotionally taxing no matter what happens in the arena.

I plan to elaborate on Michael's vaguely coherent chart of love sometime soon. Also, to tl;dr about Shine, but I may save that until the Games are over so I can include how things end for her in my thoughts.

In other unhappy news, Pansy is maybe developing a thing with Roger and then he's going to die. Great.

So, I was reading the DA freaking out about Michael, and I was like, come on guys, you know he's not dead. No cannon went off!



I also realized that even though Michael is like, please no one tell Cho how I almost died, she could totally see all those freaking out coin messages.

SHIT IS SO REAL EVERYWHERE THAT I CAN'T WITH THIS.

I am so sad that Livia is dead and Echo killed her. :( I wanted the pack to stay together and be friends forever. I guess at least we still have Glint/Shine/Gallus together, but it's just not same the same as the Merry Murderers. ;_; Instead Echo is hiding and the rest are frothing at the mouth to kill her.

Also I must say regarding this that I'm just glad it's over? I was HELLA worried that we'd have multiple days of Lime being crushed and trapped and slowly dying of thirst and blood loss, which would just be the WORST. Though Lily's death was bad. And I was kind of loving crazy!Lily, too.

In TM news, the Michael/Terry log Emily and I are writing gives me about a thousand feels, none of them good ones.

( also in TM news, this is a list of logs I have to do for the battle. comment if you want to do another! )

HOW IS MICHAEL MORE DEPRESSING THAN MY SEVERELY INJURED CHARACTER IN THE CHILDMURDER GAMES?


Seriously. He is the biggest Sad Trombone these days.


Inappropriate icon is inappropriate. Also, adding a gif for Mady.

Before I go to bed, To Do Tomorrow.

TM
-- Finish pcal
-- Adds -- LAST EVER. -- Sort of done.
-- Catch up on comments and shit, especially with Pansy.
-- Padmichael and Merry.
-- Michael's getting the shit kicked out of him this week.

GAMEMAKER
-- Shine/Lime showdown. Shine rolled a 4.
-- She's going to start hating the arena.
-- I'm grabbing Sarah to do a Shine/Gallus log.
-- Update all my private-locked lists.
-- P.S. How is Shine not yet dead?

OTHER
-- I have to go to the whatsathingy office to get my passport renewed.
-- LAUNDRY? (Haha this is not getting done today.)
-- Stop refreshing the holds page at thereaped for no reason.
-- I already have a Finnick tl;dr to write, because I have said all these things to xanthophiliac and now I have to remember them. YES I DO FIND THIS DISTRACTING.

ETA: Oh yeah, between Michael getting tortured (:|) and the inevitable nonsense that will be happening and battle rolls at TM and the arena literally BREAKING at Gamemaker I just cannot handle the levels of real that shit is getting in my RP life. ;_; brb gluing my hands to my computer.

My internet went caput last night as I was getting ready to start catching up on shit, which sucks. So I'm going to start doing that now instead. Sigh.

Secondly, I am going to be playing Finnick Odair at thereaped and I need a PB. Please send suggestions. I really CANNOT decide and no one makes me happy. HALP.

ETA: Oh yeah, he has bronze hair, is 21 years old in game, and he's like, a memetic sex god and is really, really, ridiculously good looking. This makes things impossible because who is handsome enough? Tumblr and I disagree on this point. And lots of people don't seem the right KIND of handsome.

( Meg liveblogs Game of Thrones season premier. Spoilers, obviously. )

insanes, creepiest April Fools joke ever, y/vy?

Today is a good day not to be relevant.

So, Shine committed murder today.

In fact, she stabbed somebody in the fucking eye. Which is grosser than I thought she would do but she wanted to do something different from Glint and the idea occurred to me and then I HAD to. Thankfully, Hayley went for it. Panacea went out the same way as Christopher Marlowe. She's in good company. I hope they meet on some cloud and are like, "effffffff."

That was fun. I don't think I've ever actually been the murderer of a PC before. I've killed plenty of NPCs (looks at the Muggle mass grave in Bellatrix's garden) but they don't count the same.

Tomorrow: have Pansy lament to Theo and her girlz about how awful her life is. Have Michael lament that, although Hannah's going to claim Honeybear as her cat and therefore spare him probably being Cruciated, Honeybear won't be around to sleep on his face. Have Scipio complain about how that nasty District Four victor offered him SEAFOOD after Merry's tragic death. Log Shine/Gallus (Gine? Shallus?) with Sarah.


Also, what is it with me and playing characters with eccentric pets? First it was Lucy Weasley and her triumvirate of mice, then James Potter and Snuffles the Niffler. Now I've got Michael and his stupidly named cat and Scipio with a whole collection of cats named after dead children.