Around Thursday afternoon sometime I realized my throat was a little raw. So even though I’d had a pretty big lunch I had some clam chowder I’d brought along, and that made it better…but then Friday came along and I definitely had a sore throat. Saturday I was coughing too, although not so much that I annoyed fellow movie-goers as I finally got my parents to see Pirates with me. Sigh. Today I had a stuffy nose. Still do as a matter of fact. Wish it weren’t so. Silly sicknesses. I don’t know if this is some bug I picked up at work, a bug my dad picked up at his work (he’s not sick but a coworker is), a bug I picked up at Comic-Con (probably the most likely) but whatever it is it sucks. As I said, I saw Pirates for the third time, so the weekend wasn’t a complete bust…finally got my copy of the soundtrack as well, so that was nice music to work with during my next attempt at a Will Turner portrait, based on this picture (which I’ll attempt to scan sometime when it’s finished…need to find a scanner that works with this old a version of Mac OS) and played a little bit of guitar. Badly, realize. Still very much learning. One of these days.
Since I’ve got a slight fever of 100, I’m heading to bed shortly even though it’s only 11 pm. I hate being sick. Really. I also hate spam. No spam! It sucks! Goodnight…and don’t forget to comment on the layout! What do you think of the first Orlando-less design?
Author: etoiline
Well, you did ask for it…
StandardHere’s a picture of me and Cathy at Comic-Con after the masquerade. I’m not sure the entire story behind the dolls…I’ll figure it out later. Just so you know, I hadn’t pulled my jerkin down as far as it should have been for this shot. The whole costume tended to shift upwards if I raised my arms any…hopefully there will be more soon. I’ll let you know.
the friday five:
1. If your life were a movie, what would the title be? Aspire to the Stars (why not make it easy on myself, eh?)
2. What songs would be on the soundtrack? Music from other soundtracks 😉 Some John Mayer, DMB, U2, Michelle Branch or Vanessa Carlton, and a song or two I wrote/sang myself. James Horner or Hans Zimmer would do the score.
3. Would it be a live-action film or animated? Why? Live-action…I just can’t see myself as a cartoon.
4. Casting: who would play you, members of your family, friends, etc? Me I have no idea. I’m terrible at guessing who would play who. You’re not going to find too many celebrities that look like me. Any guesses welcome…for parents, nice venerable actors who everybody loves. Don’t know who that’d be though 😉
5. Describe the movie preview/trailer. Well, it would have something about how I struggled to be accepted cause I was smart when I was little, how I fell in love with reading, the *interesting* relationships I had, a big track and field section with the winning of a race set to U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name” intro…hopefully it would have something about how I helped the world of science and then published my own book. Or two.
So I’m terribly late. Sue me.
This or That–Extended Edition
1) DVD or VHS? DVD, if I can afford it.
2) Best Literary/Movie Villan: Voldemort (Harry Potter) or Sauron (LoTR)? I have to say Voldemort is a little more fleshed out 😉
3) Meat: rare or well-done? Medium-well.
4) High Speed Internet-Cable or DSL? I wish I had either one, but probably cable as it’s a little cheaper.
5) Women: 1-piece bathing suit or Bikini? Bikinis are cooler. Wish they made one-pieces that don’t make you look like a pancake or a 50s model.
6) To be fair–Men: Boxers or briefs? I have to say I like boxers on my men 😉
7) Beer or Liquor/Wine? Beer-ugh. Give me mixed drinks anytime.
8) Coke or Mountain Dew? Coke.
9) In honor of my 10/18/03 nuptials: Morning or Afternoon/Night Wedding? Oy. Afternoon, of course. I would be a horror if I had to have a morning wedding.
10) Carpet or Hardwood Floors Carpet, or hardwood with a nice comfy rug.
11) American cars or foreign? American.
12) Cutest TV Twin: Mary-Kate or Ashley Olsen? Um. Isn’t this a trick question?
13) Coffee: Caffeinated or Decaf? I hate coffee.
14) Thought-Provoking Question of the Week: Computers: Do they make life better or worse? Why? I think they make it better, as you can form more friendships…on the other hand, those friendships are rarely real. They do make life easier.
Go check out the new layout at Etoiline.com, ok?
Lyric
StandardOk, as you see there’s been a layout change! Hope you like it. Read all about it in the Layout section on the sidebar. You’ll also notice the 1,2,3 & 4 for navigation. There’s not so much content yet, but there will be soon! Yay! Comments please 
Take the Which Magical Person Are You? dolly quiz
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Comic-Con: the Big Deal
StandardSo, here’s where I’ll try to summarize my experience at the pop-culture behemoth that is Comic-Con. This will take me a while, so bear with me…
Wednesday morning, far too early for comfort, I rolled out of bed and remembered to pack everything last minute except my sandals. Not such a big deal but a bit annoying. Wore my contacts and a cute yellow v-neck. Sat on a plane for three hours, watched X2 for two and a bit of them, sort of to my chagrin cause I’d hoped to be able to sleep. Got to LA and was amazed by the palm trees. You don’t see those in StL. Also don’t see movie billboards on ever corner. Don’t see them at all, really. Nor on buses or bus stop posters…We drove around, had lunch (at California Pizza Kitchen, natch) and then we were on our way to San Diego. Bright bright sun. My contacts were really bugging me so thankfully I had some sunglasses…but apparently there was something really wrong with my eyes cause I could barely keep them open the next day. sigh. you heard about that, I believe…Anyway, preview night was cool. we got to see everything before the rush of crowds. A good thing, that…cause it got really crowded. Got some free stuff and bought some postcards…so hopefully my friends in far off places will be able to get a little giftie…
Thursday was a bit crappy as I couldn’t see most of the day. Spent the morning at the con and then came back. (Or did we? I can’t remember what we did in the morning.) I was a bit worried cause I realized I hadn’t contacted my partner-in-masquerading as to how we were going to get together at the con…thank goodness that worked out, thank goodness for the LotR_Costume group at Yahoo and thank goodness for Tammy. I slept quite a bit, didn’t have lunch, and woke up in time to go to *a* mall in San Diego, which shows you how big the city is. I mean, we have a downtown, but there aren’t nearly as many malls here…we were going to see Pirates that night but it was sold out. So we just had Pizzeria Uno’s for dinner, which is grand. Funny how I didn’t go to any place for food that they don’t have here, save the Pacific Fish Co on the ground floor of our hotel…went swimming that night (never managed to get into my new suit though, was saving that for the beach, and well…read on)
Friday was better. Found out how to get in touch with my masq partner. Spent the morning at Coronado Island. Didn’t see the famous hotel cause it was on the other side of the island and we didn’t want to walk, lol. Did find some souvenirs and had some really great ice cream. I stood on the shore of the Pacific, finally. If it had been a little nicer weather we might have tried to make time to swim, but it was even a little chilly if you can believe it. Went back to the con and bought a Legolas doll, lol. It was the TTT version with Rohan armour…he looks pissed off. Maybe he’s annoyed at the orcs. We met Jan again (person who took us to the mall) and went to see Pirates. Still good. Very happy. Will see it again…wonder if I’ll end up seeing Pirates or Seabiscuit first with my parents…one way or another I’m going to get them to see Pirates. Came back, without eating more than ice cream for lunch and chips for dinner to work with Cathy on the masquerade skit. We thought it was pretty funny. We did end up getting laughs, but more about that later…up far too late and stayed up later looking at the complete FotR and TTT movie card decks I bought. Yes, I’m just in it for the Lord of the Rings.
And now we come to Saturday. Sigh. I missed Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry cause they were in the morning while Cathy and I were at Masquerade Orientation. Saw Dominic Monaghan as I was leaving the orientation. At first I didn’t realize his bodyguard was a bodyguard; just thought it was someone dressing like Agent Smith. But then I realized he was actually protecting someone. I saw the clothes first and Dom was just wearing a grey tee and jeans, and by the time I actually processed his face (he had a cute little grin going) I was walking past him. Did a double take, I can assure you. If I’d have been quicker on the draw I might have run back to him and asked for an autograph or picture or something, but I’m not that fast nor am I that bold. So I at least breathed the same air as a celebrity for a while…
Met up with Lammy and Ire (her sister) and Banica (her friend) in the Kevin Smith talk. Sorry Alex, no autographs. He was pretty damn funny. And after his talk it was the New Line panel, and that was exciting. We had to sit through a ‘Freddy vs Jason’ spiel (not gonna see that movie) but then Richard Taylor came out and started talking about LotR 🙂 yay! Andy Serkis talked a little as well. They had a great costume/prop demostration, there was a Galadrim elf, a Rohan warrior, Lurtz (the big-bad Uruk-hai, in full gear) and a hobbit lass. One of the armourers started making a sword. Some lucky person with the right ticket got to take it home. The hobbit lass had to be checked over by someone who really knew their hobbits…the aforementioned Dom. Later Elijah Wood and Sean Astin showed up, and they all talked a bit. We saw some behind the scenes stuff, Andy Serkis’ audition tape, and what we were all waiting for, the preview to RotK. It was only three minutes of the 12 that will be on the dvd in August (should I pre-order or wait to see if they have another giveaway like they did last year? Let me know!) but it still looked neat. I can’t believe the change Frodo goes through. And everyone says this is the best movie of the three, and the battle of Pelennor Fields makes Helm’s Deep look like a minor scuffle. We’ll see. Can’t wait!
Unfortunately I didn’t get to see anything else that day, really, cause by the time I’d eaten a (very) late lunch (about 4 pm) it was time to meet up with Cathy do practice the skit. But she’d gone to try and get Lij’s autograph. Don’t know if she ever even got it, but needless to say she was gone a pretty long time. Went to check in for the Masq and started getting dressed…put the ears on, did the side braids…had to wait a while for someone who knew how to do a fishtail braid so they could do the one in the back. No wig for me, too much trouble. Just me and my black hair, eh. At least the clothing was right! We had a pretty funny skit about the Lothlorien Beauty Care line, but I’ll spare you the details. The bad thing was that there were no mikes so dialogue had to be taped. And the tech people started the music before the mc (who happened to be Robert Englund of Freddy Kruger fame) stopped introducing us. So we lost the timing, but there were laughs at the end, so I guess we were either actually funny or they were laughing at the problems we were having. My quiver almost slipped off cause one of the buckles wasn’t in all the way…ah well. There was even a little Pirates tribute. The masq lasted most of the night, so I was very happy to get back to the hotel and sleep. Had to pack though…and there was the *sniff* moment when I remembered I had to go back to StL the next day.
So sunday comes, and we headed off to the con for one last time. Just walking around, trying to see some of what we hadn’t before, but still didn’t get to see everything. Lammy did manage to find a Pirates bag which she’d been looking for all evening. I wish I could have gotten some more free stuff. Alas. I’d just have to find someplace to put it anyway. I was sorely tempted to buy the deluxe gift set from FotR with all the character dolls in it…$60 which wasn’t too bad and I even had the money, but how was I to get it home on the plane? So I settled on the FotR Legolas doll. They’re so cute. This one doesn’t look so pissed off. I’ll keep them forever. Had to open them last night to see how all the little pieces fit together…too bad I didn’t have them when I was trying to make the costume!
We made the drive back to LA, and I felt bad that we couldn’t spend more time there. But I got the absolute last flight back into StL that you could get and it still be sunday night. The flight was a little bumpy but uneventful…there wasn’t even a movie, just CBS’s Eye on American which was a bunch of shorts from CBS shows. Didn’t watch too much of it, wrote some Moonstone instead. So the story is advanced 🙂 it’s sort of coming together.
I think that’s all of it. If you managed to read this far, congratulations. I don’t have anything for you. If you ever have a chance to go to CC, I recommend it, but just dress up for the con, don’t do the masq, unless you’ve got a big group. Bring lots of money and be prepared for your feet to hurt; mine still do. And try to stay longer than the con. I wish I could have. On the whole, I’m happy, I got to do a little theater, and sort of felt like an elf. If nothing else I’ll have a great halloween costume 😉
guess I should get back to work now.
PromoGuy’s Monday Mission 3.29
1. The other night my family took a walk while I stayed home to finish some chores. I knew they would be visiting some neighbors on the other block, but the longer they were gone, the more I got uncomfortable. As darkness fell and no one was back, my mind just went nuts with all these scenarios that could have happened. Of course, everything was fine and I was upset for no reason at all. But it is amazing how the mind can really do a number on you. Have you ever been in a situation where you were worried sick about something/someone and your mind played out horrible outcomes? What was the situation and what did your imagination come up with? How did it all turn out? Sheesh. A thinking question. Probably something like this happened while I was in college and I was worried about passing my classes and what would happen if I failed. I try not to worry. Sometimes it’s hard.
2. My Great Grandmother would turn her car around and drive an extra block, if a black cat crossed the road in front of her. I used to toss salt over my shoulder when I spilled some. Silly stuff, really. Are there any superstitions that you believe in, or just do out of habit? Do you feel like it makes a difference? I wore the same socks to every track meet. Washed, of course. Sometimes I’ll knock on wood or try to do things the same way that they worked…I try to think I’m not superstitious, but I’m sure there are things I do that show I am.
3. Spiders, mice, insects, blood, being home alone at night…some folks I know told me that those things really scare them. What frightens you? Falling off a cliff scares me. Failing scares me. Of course, I’d still like to try skydiving.
4. Has there ever been a time where you were too proud to ask for help? What was the situation, and did you ever finally ask? I hate to ask for help. I can never figure it out on my own though, so I should just get over myself and do so. I always have had a hard time asking teachers to explain things, cause I guess it seemed like I should be able to figure it out since I was “gifted.” But I think I missed out on a lot because I didn’t get to know my teachers.
5. Have you ever had, or do you have In-Laws (or the non-marriage equivalent) that you just don’t like or do things that drive you insane? What are some of the things they’ve done that almost drove you over the edge? I don’t have any in-laws yet. Hopefully the guy I marry will have nice parents and siblings. I want my kids to have the best family they can.
6. It has been said that you can tell how a man will treat his wife/girlfriend by watching how he treats his mother. Do you think that is true? I do. Because everyone is influenced by their mother whether they realize it or not.
7. But then, there is the other extreme. Do you know any men that are just a little too close to their mothers? You know the kind, they won’t make a decision on their own, can’t do their own laundry and so on? How did that relationship work out for you? Any stories to tell? Considering the fact that I’ve only had three relationships in my life and the boys there were perfectly young enough to still be mama’s boys, I don’t have any stories. I’m a bit of a parent-lover myself. I’m glad I have parents that care about me.
BONUS: Radio, what’s new? There’s something new on the radio? Gasp!
OCCASIONAL SUPER SECRET BONUS QUESTION!!!
8. What did you do last night after the sun went down? I was flying away from the sunset, leaving LA and coming back to StL.
I’m doing the Friday Five from Comic-Con!
1. When was the last time you cheated? If you consider getting game tips off the internet cheating, then I cheated the las time I played a computer game.
2. When was the last time you stole? I make it a practice not to steal. But if you really want to know…back when I was little I would lift a candy bar or pack of gum…til I got caught by mom. Needless to say I didn’t do it anymore.
3. When was the last time you lied? Egad. I don’t even want to think about it.
4. When was the last time you broke or vandalized another’s property? Hopefully not recently. I don’t hold with practical jokes and I don’t get drunk very often so it’s a bit difficult to find a reason to do so.
5. When was the last time you hurt a loved one? Too recently. And you don’t need to know about it.
well, I’m here
Standardin lovely San Diego for Comic-Con. I can’t believe we’re actually here. It seems odd that after so long of talking about it that it’s finally being done. Preview night was last night, there looks like there’s some great stuff there. Can’t wait to see celebrities
I’m really tired, which isn’t so odd, but my contacts did something to my eyes so that it hurts to have them open for too long. Or at least the left eye. So I can see out of one eye…I should get an eyepatch before we see Pirates tonight. lol. We’ll meet up with another Arrow for dinner and the movie
We did decide to get internet access, which is grand. I don’t understand why I have to clean out hundreds of spam messages…stupid spam. why do people do it? bleh.
I did a bad thing and didn’t arrange how to meet up with the person I’m doing the skit with. sigh. I don’t even know where she’s staying or what the name of her booth is or what her last name is…meh. there could be trouble then. eek. what if I had to do it by myself? and what if my eyes aren’t ok for the blue contacts, or any contacts for that matter? yesh. I’m not going to worry about that right now because I’m going to take a nap. Maybe when I wake up everything will be better.