Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in missizzy's InsaneJournal:

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Friday, November 6th, 2009
5:48 am	This is just a bad week One pairs short program. That's all I've managed to watch. One. Got in a little before nine last night and was promptly hit by a headache. Napped it off until midnight and turned on my laptop, waited for the IceNetwork stream...only to hear, when the compulsory was nearly halfway done, that they couldn't stream it because the Japanese weren't recording it, and of course IceNetwork doesn't have its own cameras abroad. There is no excuse for IceNetwork ever claiming they were going to stream it; there's no way they wouldn't know they couldn't. I'm tempted to write a very strongly worded email. Not that it would have made much difference in the end tonight. Even when the stream came on for the pairs short, nothing but frozen image. Every ten minutes or so, the stream would try to unfreeze, and spend half a minute with the image not changing and the sound going to hell. I haven't seen it this bad for this long since last year. Right after Rena and John skated, someone linked to a justin.tv stream in which I was able to watch Ksenia Krasilnikova & Konstantin Bezmaternikh ripoff Totmianmina and Marainin's Liberstraum, but it broke just after they got their scores. I went back to sleep, turned on the stream with the ladies beginning thinking it had to have changed by now, but nope. Meanwhile, though I had avoided thinking about the men having just skated at first, I saw a post mentioning Johnny, and I broke. I had to know. ( And quite frankly... ) I see Sarah Meier just finished skating. New costume for the samba, too. I think she should have kept the old one. Current Mood: bitchy Current Music: still stream IceNetwork. Best skating stream I ever heard. (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
9:23 am	NHK Trophy Alternate title, "La, la, la, the men don't exist..." Like I'm not getting anxious despite my attempts to ignore... Ladies: Miki, Ashley, Yukari. I really hope, because that'll get Ashley to the Finale and make her a major frontrunner for Vancouver. I must have some singles skater there I can cheer enthusiastically for. Though first, since I'll be napping after the pairs, I hope I don't accidentally sleep through it! Also looking forward to: Sarah Meier. I wouldn't mind if she made the podium either(just not at Ashley's expense, please!) Pairs: Pang-Tong, Kavaguti-Smirnov, Denney-Barrett. Again I suppose gold could go either way, but that Pang and Tong beat K&S on the latter's home ice says a lot. Also looking forward to: Will Rena and John land that axel again? It looked so easy at TEB it's hard to call that a fluke, and if they get it here, it officially won't be. Ice Dance: Davis-White, Kerr-Kerr, Crone-Poirier. Hopefully with the second getting a high enough score to give them a chance at the Finale going into the score tiebreaker. Also looking forward to: Will Allie Hann-McCurdy and Micheal Coreno be able to save their careers with the magic of Shilband? Even if they don't, I hope to enjoy their tarantella. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
3:35 pm	I voted. This morning, after casting seven likely fruitless votes for Mark D, I walked to my childhood elementary school and cast a likely equally fruitless vote for Craig Deeds. After that, in order that I might do something more constructive, I headed for GMU to graduate school application business, filled out a bunch of transcript mailing requests, and now four of my six institutes will have the least important of three transcripts arrive first(well, actually, three, since one of them's Buffalo, which has my graduate transcript already), which two more sealed transcripts sit on my bed until I find a better place to store them. Tomorrow I prepare request forms for mailing to Sweet Briar and Buffalo. At least I have a five in six chance at getting out of this state for two years-though it'll be reduced to four in five if I can't sort out this GRE mess. UCLA has yet to receive my scores, and I can't fill out the normal request form without the codes that the GRE website won't provide due to faulty pdf files and apparently can't be found anywhere else either. I may have to call the ETS and yell at somebody. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 31st, 2009
5:24 pm	Got home at 10 Thursday night, so there was little hope of seeing either the compulsory dance or the ladies' short; I fell asleep quickly and woke up with it already over, so I just got up and checked the results, which left me feeling really sorry I'd missed it. Meanwhile, when the pairs short started, the stream worked perfectly all through Shen and Zhao's short, after which I declared myself satisfied with it. Given how much it then proceeded to freeze during the rest of the day hours, including during Shen and Zhao's entire long(I've since watched that on YouTube), maybe I shouldn't have been so nice. By far my best memory of watching Cup of China will be very early this morning, when I managed to wake up at a little bit past two, and turned my laptop on and watched the ladies' free from Yan Liu on in bed. The stream began to freeze up a bit near the end, but it worked the best it the entire weekend. ( One thing did make me sad, ) With it over I went back to sleep, woke up a bit past six, ate a quick breakfast, and sat down to an atrociously freezing stream. I ended up enjoying the first half of the ice dance the most, because the stream worked best then. Though it held on for much of Faiella and Scali, which I was grateful for; I liked that free dance. I haven't been able to watch Tanith and Ben properly all the way through yet(I tried to stream on YouTube but it froze halfway through and wouldn't load further!), but for now, Faiella and Scali's free was my favorite program of the weekend. Now watching Mark D in his element on the Food Network. And I'm feeling hungry. Current Music: commercials (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
6:41 am	Cup of China Alternate title, "Omigod, someone wants my manuscript!" After breakfast I'll be doing some quick edits of the first page to hopefully make sure the editor keeps on reading, and then it'll be off and I'll have to wait again. This may be a little unfocused. At least I'm only dealing with three disciplines now: Ladies: Joannie, Rachael, Carolina. I continue to have a strange faith in Carolina, or perhaps just a belief that the judges will favor her. I do wonder what Frank's going to make of this; does he think he can get both her and Mirai onto the podium here(she'd love to score one over Rachael)? Pairs: Shen-Zhao, Zhang-Zhang, Volosozhar-Morozov. Though I certainly wouldn't mind Duhamel-Buntin sneaking in there somewhere. Ice Dance: Belbin-Agosto, Khoklova-Novitski, Faiella-Scali. In theory, this is the most predictable of the three. In practice, I'm terrified for Tanith and Ben. Current Mood: excited (Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
7:50 am	At least I got this done Title: A New Kind of Mid-Life Crisis Part: 11: Think I'll Go to Boston (Prologue, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) Fandom: The Cutting Edge/Jane Austen(sort of) Characters: Characters channeling Colonel Brandon, Mr. Bennett, Elinor, Marianne, and Emma Warning: Shameless use of national stereotypes in ice dance Musical Accompaniment: Nessa & George's Free Dance Music:Johannes Brahms-Hungarian Dances Note: This started out as a simple straightforward sequel to The Cutting Edge, but I waited too long to start it and it went a little...awry. ( The folly of people’s not staying comfortably at home when they can! ) Current Mood: cheerful Current Music: Augustana-Boston (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 24th, 2009
5:00 pm	This morning started badly. Deciding beforehand I didn't have the nerves for watching the men's free I slept in until it was already underway, and on getting up, headed immediately for breakfast, where I broke a glass; not a good omen. There was also the toilet acting up, and I followed the results via the ISU website until Johnny was next to skate, at which point I fled for the shower. When I got back, it had happened. By the time I'd heard Plushenko's result(I'd closed the ISU results tab by then), I'd decided on removing myself from all following of men's skating this season until further notice. I'll hear about various wins and losses, no doubt. But I do not care to pay close attention as Stephane endangers his body further, the rest of my favorites lose to skaters I like less, and Plushenko wins another gold he might not even deserve and will be an asshole about either way. I'll start following again at Worlds, hopefully. I did at least enjoy the pairs and ice dancing, but when I ran with my parents to the Hoffman for Aida before Meryl and Charlie skated, I thought it had better be good. Fortunately, it was. And old production, but still good. Unfortunately, during the third act the satellite signal gave out, and we missed a few minutes. But the rest of it was good. Though I did feel sleepy during the first act. Maybe I should have slept in two extra hours instead of one. I may choose sleep over the Cup of China and NHK Trophy. For now, however, I am going to download the vids of the ladies free and watch them unspoiled, and since I now have only three disciplines of skating to follow, I shall pay that much more attention to each of them. (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
7:36 am	Rostelecom Cup Alternate title, "I'll probably miss half of the week's event, but anyway." I'll definitely be missing whatever happens in the afternoon, between working as a volunteer for a radio station on Friday, and going to see Aida at the Hoffman Saturday. It's one of those weeks. Men: Sorry, Johnny's competing, so I'm too scared to make podium predictions. Though I do assume Plushy will win this. If he doesn't, Piseev will probably meet the judges in a darkened alley somewhere. Ladies: Miki, Mao, Ashley. More what I'm hoping for with Ashley, that she can edge out Leonova, who will get a big boost from the judges. As for Maoasova Asadakova, methinks Tatiana Antonlievna will have a good deal to answer for when her girl is not looking at all in shape to beat her countrywoman even on ice that could favor her. Pairs: Kavaguti-Smirnov, Pang-Tong, McLaughlin-Brubaker. Though I would absolutely love to see Pang & Tong see this one, I really don't see it happening. I don't know how much I'd mind if Bazarova & Larionov beat out M&B; I'd love to see the former medal, but maybe not at such expense of the latter. Ice Dance: Davis-White, Cappellini-Lanotte, Crone-Poirier. Though if either of the second two teams were just a little lower-ranked, I might predict Rubleva & Shefer to knock past one or both of them, and I do think they'll win at least a segment against them, but maybe not the competition overall. Current Mood: busy Current Music: Merrily We Roll Along-Franklin Shepard, Inc. (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 18th, 2009
3:27 pm	Romantic pieces After two days of watching the Trophée Eric Bombard in between preparing packages for mailing and mailing them, I did notice the stream had much better timing than last year; granted, there were a few times it unfroze just as a performance finished(especially annoying was it coming out of a long streak of images just as Samuelson and Bates finished), but it also seemed to know when I absolutely had to see. After much antics during the ladies free, it played Yu-Na's free skate without disruption, amid streaks of Inoue and Baldwin it at one point unfroze just long enough for me to get to see the throw triple axel(though I had to go to GoldenSkate to read about it before I could believe they'd actually gone and landed it again!), and it also showed me all of the Kerrs free. Just after Pechelat and Bourzat got their scores, however, it was time to run off with mom to the movies to see Jane Campion's Bright Star, and I figured I wouldn't have a problem finding Virtue and Moir's FD on YouTube later. It was the sensible thing to go watch: two hours versus four minutes, right? Not sure. Bright Star was very pretty to look at, and I kind of liked the two leads, but it didn't convince me at all. I knew it was based on a true story and I still didn't buy it. When mom started listing off what are less inaccuracies than blatant alterations to reality, I wasn't surprised in the slightest. I thought the Brown character stole a few scenes. Virtue and Moir's Adagietto, on the other hand...I just saw it now, and I'm kind of glad my first encounter was on NBC HD.. Romance you buy, beautiful skating and breathtaking lifts, all with the feeling that this will be greatness when it is skated on the great stage of Vancouver...much as I love Tanith and Ben, I am starting to really want these two to win that gold. The bits of their flamenco I saw stunned me too. Also possibly bringing the house down in Vancouver and Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison and their free this year. Contrast it with M&T's Love Story. I saw enough of both to concede that M&T won this round fair and square, since D&D were so rough on the elements, but D&D's was the program that shocked and moved me, and left me frustrated because the scratchiness messed up something that could be so great, and if they can make it more polished in February, it will be an earthquake in the Pacific Coliseum, and I really do hope a medal. And said medal might become a little easier, if S&S don't get their act together pronto! Seriously, has there ever been a worse performance from a pair of reigning World Champions? I can't think of one. Current Mood: mellow Current Music: Vienna Teng-Paper Cup (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
7:26 am	Trophée Eric Bombard Alternate title, "Getting this out quickly before I finish translating Latin and run off to class..." And my watching Friday will have to be disrupted by having to prepare packages for letters of recommendation, though I figure a constantly freezing stream will give me plenty of opportunities. The real question is when I make the run to the post office, as I must get there before four. Anyhoo, predictions: Men: Nobunari, Tomas, Brian. The upset that I can predict because I've been paying just enough attention, though I'm not assuming Oda will continue to beat Brian later in the season, and Tomas is even less predictable. Ladies: Yu-Na, Carolina, Mao. Reports of Carolina at the moment are very favorable, and footage of Mao from the Japan Open is not. Pairs: Savchnek-Szolkowy, Mukhortova-Trankov, Dubé-Davison. Unless Jessica and Bryce really do melt down...or M&T might. You never know with either pair. Ice Dance: Virtue-Moir, Pechelat-Bourzat, Kerr-Kerr. P&B do tend to come out ahead of the Kerrs more often than not, and I find it unlikely they won't here. Current Mood: busy Current Music: Passion-I Read (Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
8:11 pm	For the past three weeks, I've been Twittering my reactions to DWTS, but this week I didn't, so some various reactions here: Was facepalming all through Louis and Chelsie's dance, to the point that I was on the verge of voting for them this morning because I'd still rather have them next week than either Aaron and Karina or Micheal and Anna or Chuck and Anna, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I was that disappointed. Still secretly hoping Aaron and Karina will be shocked out; his arrogance simply does not play well. And I'm still bitter about losing Maks last week. Think Melissa and Mark were a touch overrated last night; Mya and Dmitri should've ended up ahead of them. Though I did enjoy all three Charlestons. Of course I can't think of the word "Bolero" without thinking of Torvill and Dean. Though if any dance was only going to have two couples performing it, they should've made both of them couples with dancing abilities. I suspect Debi and Maksim would've performed it; perhaps they should've waited until Tuesday night to make the assignments. Instead we only got one good Bolero, and it was to an odd choice of song. Still, I think I might have enjoyed Natalie and Alec's routine the most out of all of them last night. Between shirtless Derek and Gilles Marini in the audience, the cute sexy guy factor was up last night. (Comment on this)
Saturday, October 10th, 2009
5:37 pm	GREs and Tosca It was approaching 12:30 yesterday(it was really more like 12:15, when I entered the Prometric Testing Center in DC to take my GREs for the second time, which were supposed to start at 1. But it turns out they don't do these things quite as advertised anymore. On the good side, I did get seated and was allowed to start as soon as the paperwork was all in order. On the other hand, the controlling has gotten to the point of paranoia. My prep book told me to take ID and writing utensils, and to dress in layers, so I could dress or undress in accordance with the temperature. it was a good thing I didn't do the latter, as not only were we obliged to use their writing utensils, which I suppose is harmless enough, but those who were wearing sweaters were advised they if they wore them going into the room they would not be allowed to take them off. We were assured the room was a very regulated temperature. More to my annoyance was that after taking the three sections of the exam, we were obliged to face another experimental exam, given by the ETS purely for their own research purposes. Students exhausted from taking GREs should not be turned into guinea pigs. I felt that very strongly, especially as I just wanted to get out of the place by then. Only when I'd done their twenty extra questions was I allowed to view my scores: 630 verbal, 740 quantitative. Not sure how I got either, and I'd be a little disappointed at the former, but the latter will more than make up for it, at least if my writing scores is good. But that, of course, must be graded separately. It was a little past 12:30 today when I walked into the crowded theater at the Hoffman for the Met broadcast of Tosca,which also was supposed to start at 1, and discovered just about all the seats had been claimed already, some by large parties where only one or two people had arrive! I ended up in the second row from the back, next to an elderly couple with a copy of the New York Times commentary, and I learned from them that this new production was controversial. Opera is a conservative world, indeed, if Scarpia properly showing what a monster he is in ways that wouldn't raise eyebrows elsewhere is controversial. We were just wondering when the slideshow would give way to the house when we heard someone announce in the house that due to technical difficulties, the opera would start ten minutes late, and a placard appeared advising us that due to "extraordinary sun interference" the broadcast in North America would be vulnerable to being disrupted. Nonetheless, about five minutes later they went to the house and there was no more difficulty after that. I admit my perception of Tosca before this was shaped largely hearing Cavaradossi's death aria too many times. But the opera, taken as a whole, truly is beautiful. When I first listened to the Te Deum on CD, for an assignment, isolated from the rest of the opera, I was confused as to why I was supposed to listen to this section in particular. This afternoon, I understood. George Gagnidze making a creepy Scarpia didn't hurt either. What a contrast to Marcelo Alvarez, the big Argentine Cavaradossi(and during his interview, he was specifically invited to speak Spanish to those watching in the cinemas in Argentina), who got loud applause every time he opened his mouth and displayed that passionate voice of his. By the time we got to that infamous aria, I didn't mind hearing it again; in fact, I was disappointed it didn't go longer! At first I was worried that Karita Mattila's two male co-stars were going to overwhelm her, but she just got stronger and stronger as it went on. She also spoke in Finnish during her interview, after Alvarez's. Poor Gagnidze; they interviewed him right after the first act ended, before anyone had told him that was an option, and when his English was pretty limited too(he did the interview with his voice coach for this production; they appeared to converse in Italian; I suspect that's a language a lot of people who work in opera use to communicate). And now this post has grown way too long, so I am off to make myself dinner. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, October 9th, 2009
6:35 am	Mom and dad have gone off to the conference while I attend a class and find out the vocabulary quiz isn't until next week, get literally walked all over by the cats as I'm trying to sleep, and run out to be out of the house almost all day again today as I take the GREs. Hoping to find the time to look over the verbal and writing tips one last time, but not sure I will. At least the weather's warm and getting warmer at the moment, though it doesn't feel like it right now at 6:30. Newly risen to the news that Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. If he sends more troops into Afghanistan that committee's going to end up looking very silly. Of course, Bush was nominated for the prize once by some right-wing national leader, but that nomination was justly ignored by everyone else. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
7:59 pm	Got up this morning and threw all my votes to Debi and Max, though I don't hold out much hope. Then heard about the latest tennis shenanigans going on in Beijing. Really wish ESPN was covering them. Or at least someone would upload footage of Andy smashing that racquet to YouTube; the photos have really piqued my curiousity. Finished translating this week's section of Caligula; so far it seems almost funny, but that's probably just to the modern mind. Continuing GRE study; really wish I had another week just to practice math questions, but instead running to the GMU career fair tomorrow morning. Somewhere within the period I also have the prepare for the vocab quiz. At least there's Tosca this weekend. I'll finally hear that damn aria in context! (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 4th, 2009
12:42 pm	Have begun sending queries to publishing companies about my novel. Oddly enough, the query letters have come much easier to me than job application the cover letters I've been sending for a year and a half now, though it was useful that the first one I sent was to a company that specified much of what they wanted in said letter on their website. The big problem is my lack of agent; most companies require you to have one. Meanwhile, I took enough of a break that I was finally able to spit out the last few lines of this: Title: It Would Be Back to Normal Part: 1: The Nissians Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space 9 Characters: original Disclaimer: Ah, yes, Paramount... Warning: brief violence Note: Takes place in the universe of the new movie, though I have decided that things on Deep Space 9 are still much the way they are in the Prime universe, except in such ways as I may find convenient. ;-) Takes place just after "Accession." ( The Dabo girl known to most people left in the galaxy as Storm had many talents, including the ability to let everyone know when she was in a bad mood. ) Current Mood: hopeful Current Music: David Gray-Babylon (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
7:40 am	More trouble preparing for the GREs. Now I've reached fancier math calculations where my brain is refusing to cooperate. Since it's for stuff that I doubt I got right on my previous GRE taking either, so I might still score slightly better, but my mistake-rate still worries me. My verbal score might be slightly better, might be slighting worse. My analytical writing I honestly have no idea anymore. Took yesterday off from studying since I spent half the day at GMU for more Life of Caligula. Apparently this week's translation gets into the fun part. Also a vocabulary quiz coming up, but apparently he will provide us with a list to study from this time. He claims not to have graded the previous quizzes yet, but I think he's got the general impression from us that we aren't going to do well. Overslept slightly this morning; woke up less than an hour ago to the news that Isabelle Delobel has had her baby! Finally! It's up to her now if she wants to run back to the ice quickly and try to get ready for SA and SC, or take her time and debut at French Nationals; the latter does look smarter, but these ladies do tend to favor the former. House cleaning today. Novel now only receiving tiny edits; I think it's more or less ready for submission. Quest begins this weekend to figure out who to submit it to. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
7:58 am	Just did my DWTS voting; this is the first time I've done it from the beginning of the series, because I want to keep Debi and Max running as long as possible. Though with 14 votes, I gave Louie and Chelsie a few, and tossed two to Aaron and Karina(how could you not? They used the Muppets!) and one to Mark and Lacey. And then when they displayed how I voted, much to displeasure, I discovered I'd accidentally voted once for Joanna and Derek, which was counterproductive to my purposes. The world of mouseslips supports the Hough-Ballas dynasty, even if I don't! Started studying for the GREs last night, wondering what made me think I might do better on the test now. My brain is so rusty it's not even funny; I can even do simply arithmetic without making stupid mistakes. It doesn't help that the cram book I bought has at least two identified mistakes. In the solution to one math practice question, halfway through the equation, they drop a four, with no indication of where it has gone. I may not remember much from my math classes, but I do remember that one of the primary laws of math is that you cannot do that. If you have a four, it must go somewhere! Right after that came an intro segment that informed me as an example that 12+14=36. I was so pissed I wrote a heavey "2" with my pen over the "3" but it didn't make me feel much better. (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 27th, 2009
7:38 am	Went with my mom to the annual Micheal Weiss Foundation show yesterday, and she liked it! She especially liked Weiss himself, Todd Eldredge, and Ilia Kulik. And the Kerrs, but everybody likes the Kerrs. There were a few glitches; it started late, the sound was bad, and Sarah Hughes had the flu and couldn't make it. But Armin M. really impressed me; this is my third time seeing him live and I think he's developing a new grace for himself. Other highlights included Dan Hollander pretending he was on So You Think You Can Dance(with me having the explain everything to mom in whispers!) and Brian Boitano showing he's still got it. I posted a more detailed account on the Figure Skating Universe this morning. Came home in the pouring rain, ate too much Chinese food, and went to bed. This morning I got up and watched a vid of Johnny's short, which I hope he'll perform better in competition. Still raining this morning. (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
7:17 am	Ah, the Nebelhorn Trophy. No Joelle, no Fedor, probably no TV coverage, and not even any results until I get back from GMU tonight(possibly in the rain; it's raining right now), at which time I'll have to check for results from Teach for America too, since it's not being posted until 6 tonight. I won't get the best interview time if I am selected. Might not even bother checking the JGP results this week. Tempted to find a stream to watching cycling this morning instead, especially because the bandwidth seemed good when I watched a vid this morning, but I'm still downloading more Kristi vids, and I've got a little studying left to do for the Latin exam this evening. I ended up translating way more than I had too this week, which at least gives me more time to begin studying for the GREs next week. Current Mood: grumpy (Comment on this)
Monday, September 21st, 2009
4:32 pm	Waiting for Dancing With the Stars to premiere tonight while downloading a zillion vids of Kristi Yamaguchi, but my mind is on the weekend. Will not only Fedor but also Joelle make it to the Nebelhorn Trophy?(if Azerbaijan drops the ball again they should try hopping to another country) Mom and I, thankfully, will make it to Ballston and an ice show. Also, has Isabelle Delobel had her baby yet?(I really hope she has and they just haven't announced yet. She's getting way overdue.) Translating more Suetonius and it's getting easier, but we still haven't reached the juicy bits yet, and there's a mini-exam coming up this week because the professor had a funeral to go to. Hope the metro does not act up that day. Last Thursday there was a huge delay as I was going to GMU where we all had to wait and crowd onto a shuttle between stations, and there was an even longer delay yesterday, when I ran out to get a book on the GREs, and apparently there was a fire in one of the stations! (Comment on this)