Thoughts on the Journey

When I think of snow, its usually connected with cold and wet. I grew up outside Philly where snow is beautiful but rarely soft. Soft snow makes me think of New Zealand and when it snowed in Dunedin. The snow was wetter and lighter, it kind of snuck up throughout the day in a way that felt differently than the snow I was used to at home. It still ended up cold but felt safe.

The meme is up here and after I finish writing my Yuletide, it will be wonderful to write other things.

I'm home after two full days including a memorial and potluck for an old family friend and spending time with a wonderful couple who are also old family friends. Its good to be home and having a quiet night in as a possible part time job chance might becoming reality later this week.

For now, I'm doing my first December memes though a day late and I'm open for ideas over here, also I'm planning on sending out holiday cards. If you'd like one and have recently moved, please message me with your new one.

just_ann_now asked A good place to eat in the town where you currently live (in
case I actually do make it over to the beach again, sometime!)

Now I adore eating out whether alone or with family so I'm going to answer this in two parts, the cheaper and comfy places that I love having lunch on my own or the places worth a treat.

China Garden-one of the local Chinese restaurants is an absolute favorite of mine and a lot of the community. Its run by a charming family, the food is always delicious and a good deal.

Notting Hill-the local coffee place where they roast their own beans, make delicious sandwiches and its right on Second Street, so you can eat and watch everyone go by.

Touch of Italy-these are a local set of restaurants that include an Italian deli, pastry shop and restaurant. The food is always generous and delicious, also some of the servers are cute.

Palette-a wonderful smaller restaurant that serves very local food and is owned by the best local caterers, everything is always interesting and fresh.

I could go on as this is a good area for eating out and constantly shifting.

I still have days open on this meme, leave me topics or fic prompts over here.

Before I start on the meme, I wanted to mention how amazing my yesterday was. I'd heard from my mentor that there was an opening at another local library, so my mom and I decided to drive out to get a look at it. The library was a little odd, because of a strange interaction but also a good one with the people at the desk. From that awkwardness, we decided to head to another nearby library and found out that they have an opening which I applied to today. It would be doing what I want to, not full time but enough hours that I could make it work with other options. I'm feeling rather hopeful.

For today, dodger_sister asked me favorite Christmas memory.

There are two memories that are tied for me on this and both happened when I was younger. The first one was when I got Kirsten, the American Girl doll for Christmas. I was younger than ten and I loved American Girl, I was slowly collecting all of the books for the original three. Every month, I think I would get the catalog and it was a dream catalog for me, I didn't expect to ever own one of the dolls since I knew how expensive they were. I remember in the kitchen and throughout those years, my parents explaining how much they cost and I came to accept I wouldn't get one. It wasn't always easy but I manaaged. I had friends who had them, but my focus at that point was on the books which felt possible. Kirsten was my favorite because we have the same birthday.

Then on Christmas Day, after we had opened most of the presents, my parents brought out another box for me. It was Kirsten, they hadn't put her under the tree, because the size of the box was too recognizable. That was one of the best Christmases and I still have her and many great memories connected to her.

The second one is from when I think I was a little younger, I don't remember how old but also elementary school. My brother's room was next to mine and he put a sign up telling me to stay out, he normally didn't do that, so I was confused. Then I found out the reason on Christmas Day when this tiny kitten, all white except for a black V on her head and the ends of her paws was brought down for me. She was named Mary and the first pet who was truly mine. Sadly she didn't live very long, but I loved her a lot.

I spent most of today in a grump without knowing exactly why and then cried about fixing my resume though I ended up making progress on it. I think that saying 'got up on the wrong side of the bed' really fit me today, because it felt like all the stress and awful of the past few months just hit me. Thankfully my parents were patient and we talked and I feel better, also we put up and decorated the tree. That helped me to feel hopeful about looking forward but this time of year is being tough this year. I have a few gifts to send out but I'm not doing my cards as normal because I don't feel up to it, so I'm doing what I can. Life is tricky but there is hope.

Now for the December meme which is still open. Today's prompt comes from in_the_blue who requested: You're stranded on a desert island and can only bring thirteen pieces of media (assume you have something to watch/play them on, because I'm nice and it's a luxury desert island). What books/movies/CDs/whatever do you bring?

To begin with, I'm thankful that its thirteen though it will still be very hard to choose and I might cheat with DVD sets.

1-Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold, because it always gets me right in the feels and helps me feel like maybe I can handle what the world is tossing at me. I miss my full collection of Bujold but its currently in storage. So if I have to choose one, its this one for how often I reread it.

2-Poirot Mysteries with David Suchet, it doesn't matter which particular set of episodes, they always make me smile.

3-Newsies and I'm going to cheat here and say movie and soundtrack, because both bring back my faith in the human race.

4-The Narnia books-I can revisit them multiple times and they make me happy, also boxed set, it counts as one.

5-TaleSpin DVD set, they always make me laugh.

6-Paul Creswick's Robin Hood with the proper illustrations.

7-40 Years by the Dubliners, because it has everything I need in a CD.

8-Women and Country by Jakob Dylan because it lifts me up.

9-Black Books, complete set because again I keep going back to them and sometimes its fun to laugh at how messed up the world is.

10-Clutch of Constables by Ngaio Marsh-if possible I'd just take all her novels as I never tire of rereading them but this is my favorite.

Now its getting hard to pick and it really is coming down to books.

11-Mark Twain, as much of him as I can carry but must include; The Prince and the Pauper and Huck Finn.

12-Diana Wynne Jones and again so hard to pick but one of those sets of books that includes Conrad's Fate.

13-Last, oh last is so hard but Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Ask me tomorrow and it might be a different list and this is really hard to pick.

I had a good day, I woke up and went to the local library for the volunteer appreciation meal. The food was delicious and there's such a wonderful community there, also my mentor recommended someone else to look over my resume. Then as a gift, I was given a small poinsettia, which made me smile.

Sadly there was a low point when I went to Starbucks before heading to see Frozen. I was sitting and reading and the couple sitting next to me was awful, everything they said was a variation on things used to be better and 'these people' covering migrants, young people, women and even soldiers didn't appreciate what they have. The bit that made me truly consider speaking up was how the man was going on about how in the 1950s suddenly housewives lives were so much easier they had nothing to do but spend their time lazing around all day. After all that was what it seemed like his mother was doing and that women might say they wanted equality but if offered a pedestal, they would hop right up. Somehow the woman he was with kept nodding and not disagreeing, I didn't get it but it did end. It made it hard for me to concentrate on my reading and those of you on Twitter saw my grumbling, because honestly wanting to be respected and paid well isn't being entitled. This shouldn't be that hard.

After I went off to see Frozen which was wonderful. I loved how the heart of the movie was the sisters and trying to fix a broken family along with helping a kingdom. Also the chant/singing at the start and end of the movie gave me chills and seemed almost Polynesian. I don't know if I want the entire soundtrack but I get parts of it.

lady_bols: Favourite TV shows, at least three, and why you like them. <3

Now for the question for the December meme, this is going to be hard one as I love a lot of shows. And the last few nights I've been dipping into Netflix Streaming which always reminds me of shows that I love but have forgotten so as with these others, these are the first few that I think of. If asked on a another day, the answer would be different.

Firefly: Created families and ensembles are some of my favorite things to see in a show and Firefly does them right. I also love cowboys and space cowboys are just better. I didn't see Firefly when it was on TV, but instead was introduced to it in New Zealand. Some of my friends there lent me their set and I marathoned all of them in I think two or three nights and fell in love. I adore all the relationships and thanks to Milliways have been able to see some of what else might happen. This is one of those cases where Milliways made me appreciate the show even more since the incredible players in Milliways expanded the world and added even more depth to what was there to begin with.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I started watching Buffy when it first aired but then stopped before getting reintroduced to it in college. I have a lot of good memories of watching Buffy life with friends and talking about how strange and wonderful it is. The friendships and loves feel real and while sometimes the plots are a bit silly, the heart is always there. Joss knows how to do ensembles. I've been reminded of Buffy mainly due to Tumblr where gifs of it keep appearing.

Elementary: I'm currently rather far behind on this show but I grew up watching Jeremy Brett's Holmes and I feel like this show captures the feel of the Holmses' stories. I love the push and pull of Joan and Sherlock as well as the sense that its actually happening in a New York City that I could visit. The mysteries aren't anything special but to me that's never been the point of the Holmes' stories, they're more about the back and forth of Holmes and Watson.

Teen Wolf: I marathoned this show because I was curious about where alexiscartwheel's Stiles came from. Then discovered it was on Netflix Streaming and lost a few nights sleep to it. I have a soft spot for shows about young people trying to grow up and find their way which Teen Wolf hits in a way I like. I appreciate the variety of families, how nothing is easily solved. It would be nice if the plots made more actual sense but Stiles and Scott, Scott and Allison, Mama McCall, Danny, Isaac, Derek and the rest of them make me happy. This is one of those shows that I would love to actually write some fanfic for as its all about friendship and love and family. I have a fanfic started crossing it over with Sleepy Hollow that I need to write more of.

TaleSpin: This is the show of my childhood from Disney Afternoon and I've bought some of the DVDs and would like to in time get the rest. Its a show about a created family set in a vaguely steampunk world and I love it. If I could ever figure out how to RP or properly write some of the fanfic in my head of it I would, but cartoon worlds are tricky to write.

There, that's the five that immediately come to mind and I feel like they give a good sense of the variety of what I watch. I do love reality TV shows but I don't come back to them as often as I do these.

I forgot to mention that I finally wrote an entry on my librarian blog that I've been meaning to since the start of November; Connecting through Art about the Film Festival I went to and a sculpture garden I went to after Thanksgiving.