The tune a lot of folks are singing this season . . .

Temperature by me is 19 degrees F. Windchill is 5.

I'm going to bed and pulling the covers over my head. Wake me when it's spring . . .

So has anyone seen The Princess and the Frog? I've been hearing good things about it. I would like to see it, and I'm thinking of making it the padawan's first in-the-theaters movie.

I have no idea what else is out there. Is there something else playing these days that should be a candidate for his first official movie?

By the way, my first was "Bedknobs and Broomsticks." It would have been "Lady and the Tramp" except at the last minute I got scared. My dad tricked me into going to B&B, but I ended up loving it.

What was yours?

Yule Can by Victor Quinaz

No music for the Yule Can due to RIAA -- no one can afford their licensing fees anymore and their lawyers go for blood.

Happy Yule nonetheless, no matter what your circumstances.

( Cathy and I have intelligent conversation. )


Things that sucked about 2009:

.......ok since life is actually short, maybe it would be better to make this a list of

things that DIDN'T suck about 2009:
- hanging out with thehoyden in Chicago in the bleakest part of winter! Seeing Tristan & Isolde, geeking out over the Robie House, fighting with Cathy about the merits of Tennyson on twitter in a french cafe, lol, watching Merlin, and having mandarin rose tea omg tea on a beautiful snowy February day. <333333
- getting to sing the Verdi requiem
- KIND SIR ACCALON :D
- meeting up with my pal Dave in D.C. in the spring and hanging out for the first time in a year! and seeing Monsters v/s Aliens in 3-d, lol, that was awesome. My Ph.D. is in daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaance!
- and then going to the Smithsonian for the first time everrrrrrr omg and seeing The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Milennium General Assembly!!!!!
- and completing the weekend with a COBRA STARSHIP/FALL OUT BOY CONCERT dkf;afjdka; with ansceal & her family/friends :DDDD
- and then topping it off with a leisurely sunday with alestar, who makes all excursions worth having
- Bones, Bones, Bones.
- the unexpected advent of American Idol, and the unexpected way it brought me, Kara, and Sam together jkfa;dfklaf;jk <333333333333
- Adam Lambert, generally, and also yeats, who just SHOWED UP IN MY LIFE AND STARTED BEING AWESOME. it's a little like what i imagine walking in on a stripper party in your bedroom must feel like. i am just like, what. wait. what did i - what-- WELL, OKAY, UNIVERSE, IF YOU INSIST :DDDD
- going home to TN in June to celebrate my grandmother's ninetieth birthday. 90 years. wow.
- David Archuleta's twitter, oh my god.
- NEWTON. *___*
- my fourth of july party, and getting to watch the fireworks over the harbor, right off my balcony. :) :) :)
- TOM FELTON'S EMO SUIT & THE LARGELY TRUNCATED BUT BEAUTIFULLY FILMED STORY ABOUT DRACO MALFOY AND ALSO BIRDS
- meeting arboretum! at long last! in D.C. in August! and doing a tarot reading for Touya Akira, lol, and seeing the Hope Diamond and getting totally lost thanks to our faily GPS systems lol, and it was basically all awesome.
- Doing the SETC conference again this year with mbeasi and my old friend C!
- going karaokeing with myrafur and sirkrunk741 :D
- Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, and Nick Frost on twitter.
- having my lame cubicle temporarily taken over by the confetti monster on my birthday :D
- re-discovering P.G. Wodehouse and discovering Nero Wolfe. Such unadulterated joy and comfort. <333333333
- Stephen Fry
- Friday Night Lights.
- getting like a bajillion snowflakes on international snowflake day, seriously, that just cheered me so greatly <3333333
- Yuletide, provided I manage to turn my fic in on time tonight ahhhh

Aaaaaand the #1 thing that hasn't sucked about 2009:
- club five hive revivaljuice ♥♥♥♥♥ :D aka Kara, Cathy, Val, and Sam. Without whom I would probably have thrown myself off my balcony right around mid-June, hopefully landing on top of Steel Drum Guy, My 2009 Arch-Nemesis. Next year will be your year, S.D.G. I'm watching you.

First snow of the winter happening now. Started midday but got heavier after dark. There are a few inches on the ground by me already. Cold too -- 23 degrees F, but the windchill is 14. Wind will get worse during the night -- 40-50 mph. Wouldn't be surprised to see single or even negative numbers for the windchill with wind like that. Snow is expected to be 12-18 inches by the time the storm ends sometime tomorrow.

I'd planned on being at a friend's Yule ritual tonight, but the weather put the kabosh on that. Too hazardous to travel in -- bad now and will be much worse later on, as the blizzard continues through the night.

It's a bit ironic, though -- deciding not to go to Yule ritual because of a snowstorm.

(i'm just basically redoing last night's post, but with gusto!)

Me: MOM THERE WAS A FIRE IN THE APARTMENT NEXT TO ME BUT I'M OKAY!!!!
Mom: oh. did you manage to save your new keyboard?
Me: ...
Mom: I guess not?
Me: MOTHER, THERE ARE FLAMES AND EXPLODING WINDOWS! SHOWERS OF GLASS! MY FLOOR IS ENGULFED IN SMOKE! I AM CALLING TO TELL YOU THAT I AM ALIVE!
Mom: well, i was just asking!

I'm really kind of freaked out still. My apartment was undamaged, but the fire was literally right next door to me, across the hall, and in addition to that apartment being completely toasted, the apartments around and below it were both destroyed. and i don't even have water damage from the sprinklers.

the creepy thing is that about 2 months ago i started getting a really strong feeling about getting renters' insurance in case of fire. i'm the most careless person in the world, and have been renting for the last 10 years without needing/wanting renters' insurance. this was a really urgent feeling, though. which, okay, the fire didn't even affect my apartment, but IT SERIOUSLY WAS RIGHT NEXT DOOR and i am so amazingly lucky, and i'm even luckier to know that i would have had protection for the damage.

please, you guys, if you live in an apartment, get renters' insurance. it's really painless to do and it only costs like ten bucks a month, but it will save you so much worry and stress in the event of an actual fire, which i now know is scary enough on its own.


_______

i also wanted to elaborate on my fic rec from last night* because there've been very few Harry/Draco fics lately that I've enjoyed as much as this one. "Draco Malfoy's Travelling Theatre of the Strange and Spectacular" is an eyebrow-raising title, but it's also a quirky & oddball one, which fits the spirit of this fic to a tee.

This fic is completely charming and utterly hysterical, and also extremely, extremely hot. harry and ginny trying to inject sparks back into their love life is completely laugh-out-loud hilarious, and there is nothing more essentially harry/draco in the entire world than this:

"Blimey," said Malfoy, laughing. "You're terrible at sex."

Harry punched Malfoy in the face.

LOVE. Also i just need to emphasize again that the h/d is SMOKING HOT, and it's been a long time since i've been this enjoyably convinced that harry and draco can't keep their hands off one another forever and ever and ever.

oh, h/d, you are the ship of my heart.


*not the least because the author is getting a bit of a shabby treatment from ungracious commenters, and that kind of thing gets me very riled up and crusadery, as you all know; so please review this one if you can, and spread a little holiday gift exchange cheer. ♥

It's 17 degrees F here now, with a windchill of 5. Hope the rest of the winter isn't like this . . .

1. The apartment next to mine caught on fire tonight and destroyed three other apartments around and below it. No one was hurt and my apt. was miraculously untouched but HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS. It was such a close call.

2. THIS H/D FIC IS AWESOME AND YOU SHOULD READ IT RIGHT NOW.

I know I have been pretty quiet for the last month. Demands of a large family at the holidays and the limits of my disability have kept me too busy to do much else.

Chris and I continue work on the second Faewolf book. We have been asked to do some more interviews and guest blog stuff, which I will follow up on soon. I am also planning to start adding book reviews in the new year. uncledark and I often read the same books but have very different perspectives, so we we may do some of them as dual-reviews. I'd love to know if folks are interested in the reviews. Feel free to friend this journal (or go to the website www.dmatkins.net).

My family celebrates Winter Solstice as our major winter holiday. We honour the longest night of the year by gathering with friends in family through-out the night as a symbol of unity in times of darkness. We greet the sun at dawn with songs. So if you wonder what I am doing this Sunday night, know I am surrounded by people who love me and wishing you all well even as you sleep. So Happy Solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah, and joy in every day that reminds us we are all part of life's adventure.

50% off on FAEWOLF at Fictionwise right now: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b88313/?si=0

Another new review of FAEWOLF at NightOwlReviews: http://www.nightowlromance.com/nightowlromance/reviews/Review.aspx?daoid=5153

Dude. I've mentioned a few times on this LJ how much I loved cindy_pon's Silver Phoenix. Here's a link to my Amazon review.

Apparently Amazon has put the hardback version (which is gorgeous) on sale here for just $7!. And i'm not a fan of amazon, but i am a huge giant fan of Cindy Pon, and I love this book!!!!! So please please please go buy it!!!!!

OH HECK COMMENT HERE FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A FREE COPY!!! gosh it's only seven bucks I MIGHT AS WELL. I'll draw 3 winners next Fri. along with the ones from the FNL giveaway, which you should also enter for love.

seriously, i love this book. it's kickass postmodern YA feminism meets fabulous textured Chinese folklore and Cindy Pon's wonderful imagination. I love it. You will too.