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This week's thefridayfive is: Don't Fall For It

1. What do you like or dislike about autumn?
LIKES: Temps getting colder, crisp night air, getting darker sooner, getting to set the clocks back an hour, Halloween/Samhain takes place, the gorgeous changing leaves all around, the sound of fallen leaves crunching underfoot, migrating geese flying overhead, frosts cut down on my allergies
DISLIKES: No snow (but as I don't expect snow in this season, I'm not disappointed *loves fall for what it is*), having to worry about squirrels running across the road as they burry nuts

2. Have you raked leaves into a pile just to jump in them?
Not just to jump in them. I've raked them because they needed to be raked and then jumped in the pile. However all of my pile-jumping experiences have been let-downs. The piles are never as huge and soft as they should be in my imagination. Plus, at an early age, my parents made me paranoid about getting stabbed by small sticks hidden within the piles so, I gave up on the jumping. I've raked a lot of leaves, though.

3. Have you ever carved a pumpkin and how did it turn out?
Sure. I make one nearly every year. Even when I was in college some of my clubs had pumpkin carving. Mine is never very good (even if I use one of those design templates). I just don't have the cutting abilities. I love ripping the insides out and then baking the seeds and eating them, though. And one year when I was a kid I dried all the seeds and used them in pretty art projects. But my pumpkins... look deformed and sloppy even when I try really hard. *pouts* I'm just not an artist.

4. Have you ever eaten anything made from pumpkins other than pie?
Ummm... my boss' wife made chocolate and pumpkin cake a few months back. Very nummy. And I think I've had pumpkin bread. And, again, I've eaten the seeds. So I guess my answer is 'yes'.

5. Where is a good spot to see the leaves change color where you live?
The Blue Ridge Parkway!!!!!!! I lived about 15 minutes from it in college and I miss it so! It's several hours away here, but WELL worth the drive (my family used to do a leaf drive every year but we won't this year for certain because of gas shortages). The trees in the Blue Ridge Mountains are well known to be breathtakingly beautiful when they change colors. As for even closer to home... there are a number of parks in my area (Hidden Pond, for one) I like to visit to see the colors. And there are plenty of pretty trees in my neighborhood as well.

Everything

I had my flu shot today. Arm hurts. Owwwwwww. It'll go away in a day or so; it always does. And, luckily, I'm not one of those people who feels sick after getting one, so I'm good to go.

I'm going to see Stay tomorrow. Hopefully I won't get scared out of my mind! But even if I do, hey, it's Ewan. Can't be that bad ;-) Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be playing at the theater I want to go to. This ALWAYS happens. GRRR! So I can't do recycling at the same time *pouts*

I watched Powder this morning (for the second time). I love that movie. Definitely one of the best movies I've ever seen and totally makes me feel in the Jedi spirit :-)

Speaking of Jedi, I posted a Star Wars fic on the sneezefic list Thursday morning... only a year late ;-)

I watched Blue Juice. Am thinking of buying it. In addition to wet!Ewan there was lovely screw-up!Ewan that inspired me to write a Sirius fic. And I got my first really strong attraction for a woman during a few of Catherine Zeta-Jones' scenes. A completely straight girl just isn't supposed to find that sort of thing so damn attractive, I don't think *blushes furiously* I mean... not that I'm... not really... but DAMN! *blushes more* And, yeah, Ewan's in that movie, too.

The caps tried so hard tonight. We'd be SOL without Vechy, I swear. And Olie. They're the only two on the team who do anything (well, not really, of course, but that's how it seems). I totally need to write a Strokes fic with Jamie now... it's been nagging at me for a week and wants to be written. Every time I watch hockey I think about it. lol

I started gift fics for the song competition. I don't know when I'll have them done but I'll work hard at them! I want them done before I have to get to work on holiday gift fics.

I'm working this weekend, so I'm going to have to make Friday (a day off) count as my weekend. So Stay better be good! And I'm going to have to catch SNL this week because OMGWTF is up with me? *blushes*

Stay & Day out

Well, I woke up early and drove an hour in the rain to see Stay. The ticket-seller looked at me like I was crazy:
Me: *rushing slightly because it is 12:22* One ticket for Stay at 12:20
Her: What movie?
Me: Stay
Her: I'm sorry? What movie?
Me: It's called Stay. It's at 12:20... Stay.
Her: *stares at screen for a good 10 seconds* Oh. Can I see some ID please?
Me: Absolutely. I haven't been asked that in a long time. *passes over driver's license* Makes me feel young.
Her: Just one ticket?
Me: Yes.
Her: Here you go *passes me change, my ID, and a ticket*

Okay, I know it wasn't wildly publicized but I've seen commercials for the movie during all the major shows I watch. *shrug* Anyway, I understood her confusion when I got to the theater. It was halfway through one of the trailers and NO ONE WAS IN THE THEATER! It was dark, so I made a point of picking a seat, standing up, and looking around. But I was alone. Whoa. I don't like going to see scary movies alone! Since I wasn't going with anyone I'd been hoping that there would be a few people there at least so I wouldn't get so freaked out. But, no. Just me, a gigantic room of stadium seats, and a big screen filled, a dozen minutes later, with Ewan's face.

So I warmed up to the idea of having the place all to myself at that point. It was very intimate. Like a showing just for me. I actually squee-ed out loud when Ewan came on because, Hell, I COULD! (I did it softly just in case, though) About 10 minutes in, however, two people came in with drinks and popcorn. They sat way down in front on the side, though. It was a fun experience, though.

And the movie itself? Beautiful. I loved the style and the attention to detail. The Washington Post gave it a not-so-good review in the paper this morning, saying it left you feeling empty even when the weird plot was finally explained. But I don't feel empty. I feel like I just watched something beautiful. I LOVE when Ewan does small, artsy films like this. That's what I love about him as an actor. He's got good taste and can pull this sort of thing off. I loved the mystery, the attention to detail, and I was emotionally involved right from the start. The twist... well, not brilliant or remotely original but not entirely expected either and, MUCH more importantly, still enough to make me really think about the whole movie at its climactic moment. Parts were very clever. Parts were weird. Parts were mysterious. And there was only one brief part where I was terrified. It was NOT a scary movie at all as I'd thought. I LOVED the characters muchly. I loved the story-telling techniques and dialogue. The camera work and sets were brilliant and entertaining. And, of course I must mention it, there were a few LOVELY wet!Ewan scenes. *EG* Sorry, I'm a sucker for wet!Ewan. On a whole, for what it was, it didn't disappoint me in the least. And I thought Ewan was just fantastic in it. Maybe it was the fact that it was practically a private showing just for me, but it felt very sensual. The movie was short (an hour and a half) but it didn't rush anything because of how it was shot. It was slow and vivid and... yeah, sensual.

I really liked it. And I'm very glad I went to see it today.


I stopped by the JC Penny's Outlet on the way home. I have no money but REALLY need bras that fit me and I could do for a few more long-sleeve shirts. But they didn't have anything cheep enough. And there were no bras at all that I fancied.

I wish I hadn't filled up my gas tank earlier in the week. I'd been hoping to go to the other movie theater to do recycling so I filled my car up all the way at $2.79. But in the part of town where this movie theater is gas was down to $2.34 everywhere. I always get gas when I go all the way out there and here I was stuck with a full tank today. DOH! Ah well. Can't do anything about it now.

On the way home I stopped by the craft store and picked up a photo storage box. I want to have a special box for photos of all my recent trips. I think that would be nice instead of putting them in a shoebox to put in scrapbooks later. I also went looking for a nice Christmas ornament. I'm doing the Bookcrossing ornament exchange and wanted something nice. Something specific to DC, maybe. But nothing in the several isles of ornaments jumped out at me. Except for a few little silver stags. I wanted one last year and never bought it, so I went and did so today. *Snuggles Prongs* OMG when I move back out on my own and put up my own tree (which is in storage) I want it to look all fannish. It's not nearly as close to as wonderful as Lady Korana's sounds *is envious* but I'm working on it. heehee

So, yeah. That's my day so far. Excellent movie.