In the deep freeze.

[merimask]

Oh wow, it's a frozen world outside tonight.  I stepped out with Kiba just a moment ago...the sky is clear and full of stars and cold, cold, cold.  The Northern Lights are playing along the horizon...they're soft and aqua-colored tonight (I like them best that way...the red freaks me out a little, it makes the sky look like it's on fire).  I saw a shooting star, it seemed to burn for a long time.  It was icy blue.  The snow is so cold it creaks and crunches underfoot like styrofoam.

Kiba of course thinks it's all great fun.  

Greg took me to see "Pan's Labyrinth" and I really enjoyed it, although it was a lot more bloody and violent than I had anticipated.  Also, a lot less subtle...it's pretty straightforward.  I want someone else out there who's seen it to talk to me about it, because I want to talk about it.  Maybe it only seemed straightforward...maybe I missed something at the end there.  Hmm.  I feel like there was a lack of depth...I think I was expecting more from this movie.  But still, the visuals are stunning and 11-year-old Ivana Baquero (she was "Ofelia") is an incredible little actress.  It's definitely worth seeing.  NOT a movie for children though.  I saw a few in the theater tonight and I think their parents are going to be dealing with kids afflicted by nightmares later. 

My brother called me earlier today with some astounding career news, perhaps for both of us.  Oh boy, I can't get into the details but I really hope (i hope i hope!) that my star really is finally rising.  His certainly is!  I'm so proud of my bro...his life is one big adventure.  I really wish Dad were alive for this part...things are getting so interesting for all of us and he would be loving it right now.

And speaking of my career...Cirque will be mailing that check next week (they "lost" my invoice...huh?).  Phone calls have been made, invoice re-sent (faxed it this time for good measure)...everything looks good.    All I want is for the whole episode to be done, so I can have my money and my bragging rights and another interesting addendum for the resume.  Really, is that so much to ask?

I'm so happy to see that Sesshoumaru is back in the Inuyasha manga.  *sigh*  He just makes me happy.  I have to say, I'm liking the New Improved More Motivated Sess better than Old Scowly Sess.   Besides, New Sess is good with children (obviously, as he has a travelling day-care going everywhere with him these days), and that just gives me the warm squishies.

I bought some really beautiful sushi plates today...from Target of all places!  They're colorful and have matching butterfly-shaped dipping dishes (for the soy sauce).  I made special extra-pretty smoked salmon sushi tonight for myself & Charlotte, and served it up on the pretty pretty plates.  I wanted to taked pictures (it was THAT pretty!) but alas we cannot find the battery charger thingy for the digital camera battery.  *sigh*  Thwarted!

Also, we took the tree out to the curb today, finally.  Packing away the ornaments and the lights is always a little sad.  It doesn't help that Char was glowering at me the whole time (she wanted to leave it up).   I like having the living room less cluttered, though.   It feels like a precursor to Spring (even though it's about 10 degrees outside right now!).  The days are getting longer again, I've noticed, and that's a good thing.   

 Aaand...that's about it.

Comments

[golden-meliades.livejournal.com]

My best friend's husband hurried me over to his computer a month or two ago to show me a trailer for Pan's Labyrinth, because he and I are both fantasy aficionados of the first class. (But in very different ways, as is obvious even in this little example.) He wanted to see it really badly. The minute I saw the trailer, I was thinking 'NO WAY am I going to see that.' It did NOT look like my cup of tea...too dark. I like my fantasy to either be light and fun, or at least with a truly good/moral main character to offset any horribleness and make me feel like the world might still be worthwhile.

But in my movies, I prefer light and fun, because I am not the least bit desensitized. I still feel like throwing up, just watching trailers for horror movies. Not because they're scary, but because they're so *disgusting*.

Yep, I've noticed the increase in morning sun for sure. I start my workout between 5:30 and 6:30 and have been trying to do it at the later time because then by the time I'm ready to get off cardio and onto weights, there is a little light and I feel less tired and depressed about having another 45 minutes left to do and still no sun in sight. But now by the time I get off the elliptical, it's light enough to see everything in my livingroom clearly. :)

Yay for cheque, assuming they don't mess up again. (Wouldn't put it past the buggers.)

I think we'll have an early spring. Even with a few very cold days, it has still been a very mild winter, and the ground isn't frozen as hard/deeply as usual...AND there is far less snow, here. So the snow will disappear sooner and the ground will thaw sooner too. Unless we have a very cold February, I can almost guarantee an early spring. My tulips will probably be popping up in early April.

Won't complain if they do. It's amazing how fast you wish winter was over. I wish it only lasted for December. But it makes me appreciate gardening more, if I am forced to take a break. Winter is when I get all my ideas :)

[merimask.livejournal.com]

"Pan's Labyrinth" is most certainly not your cup of tea. It's dark and quite scary, and even the "pretty" fantasy is a bit gruesome.

When I was a kid, I was a big fan of "Brother's Grimm" fairy tales...I had a huge book full of their very graphic, very bloody stuff. Ever heard the tale of "The Goose Girl"? That was one of my faves...the princess is on her way to another kingdom to visit her (nasty) aunt the duchess. She's riding her magical horse Falada, who will protect her from harm, but the nasty aunt has her waylaid, the horse gets ~killed~, and they make the princess work as a goose girl. Every day she passes beneath the palace gates, and the head of Falada is nailed there. Falada eventually talks to the girl (she IS a magic horse after all, even if she's dead), and tells the girl how to kill the nasty aunt and escape to her own kingdom. So things work out in the end for everyone but the horse, you see. Poor Falada!

My point is, this movie is a LOT like a traditional European fairy tale. A lot of bad stuff happens and it's not at all pretty.

I'm actually liking the snow, because Kiba loves it SO much. It makes the season a bit more bearable. I don't even mind the cold so much...I think it's the lack of sunlight that gets me down, really. But that's starting to turn around.

[golden-meliades.livejournal.com]

The Brothers Grimm (the movie) isn't a very 'pretty' movie either. I was pretty 'meh' about it. As for the fairytales...I prefer ones where no one gets hacked up :)

Oh, I like snow too, if we have to have cold. (And we do have to have it, or our plants won't grow right. We don't have tropical plants, after all, we have hardy ones, and they NEED cold to perform properly.) But I don't like winter as a whole at all, not really. I like it as a brief break from summer, and that's about it. I just hate that it is so dark and confining. I get way more activity in the summer, I can work outside with plants, etc, biking...AND there's enough sun to keep me from feeling crappy.

[indigos-angel.livejournal.com]

I hear you on the living room clutter. We put ours up earlier to equal having it in our home for enjoyment, cause once Christmas is done, the tree is out!! I made it into the NY with leaving it up *mostly because we were gone until then* but I get irritated with it once Boxing Day hits.

!!!!!!YAY!!!!!! for the cheque from Cirque. They've finally put it through *intends*

And that is definite bragging rights. I can't wait to find out how your star is rising :)

[merimask.livejournal.com]

This year, we got our tree from the nicest little family-owned business. They cut the trees fresh on their own land and bring them to the lot right away...and they weren't kidding when they said our tree could last until April. That tree hardly dropped a single needle (but the SAP! Oy!). Nice people, too. They re-plant 2 trees for every one cut and they only cut a small number...once they sell all their trees they are done until next year. Nice way to run an X-mas tree business.

[rumdiculous.livejournal.com]

It's an iceland here. >:(

God, I want to see Pan's Labyrinth. But it's not out here yet...at least I don't think it is. From what I've seen on the commericials, I think I'll like it. Given my morbid nature of course....

Your Brother = oh so kewl! XD

Ha ha, Sesshoumaru seems to pick up all the orphans and stragglers doesn't he? But that is so cute.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

I think you'll love "Pan's Labyrinth". :-) Though, I have to warn you it's really dark.


OMG it's SO cold here. Kiba insisted on a walk today and he was just the biggest BRAT about it...I had to go out in 15 degree temps and I'm telling you, I felt it all the way to my bones. Once you get moving though, it's not too bad. I took him on a forest trail (because blocking the wind makes everything bearable) and he had a blast, scampering up and down along the path. We had to walk it twice because once wasn't nearly enough for him. I must have walked 4 miles in the snow today!

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Of course Kiba thinks it's fun -- he was *made* for this sort of weather! My late malamute and my current elkhound are just the same, nothing like a cold snap to bring out that giddy hyper "must run in biting winds and roll in snow!" streak. The poor little uninsulated pittie, OTOH, hates the cold and thinks snow is only good for eating; she'd rather stay inside on the nice warm bed, thanks.

(Um, hi, just wandered over by way of Resmiranda's journal, and have been busy admiring all the pretty shiny artwork and beautiful Kiba...please give him a tummyrub from his newest fan!)

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Hi! :-) Yay, another "dog" person. You're welcome here anytime.

Oooh...I love both Norwegian Elkhounds and Malamutes! They have interesting personalities (I think 'mutes are ~true~ huskies and all these other sled dogs are spitz-types, actually, right?). I'd looked into getting an Akita, but that breed in the USA is entirely unlike the traditional Akita that's favored in Japan and I don't want another messed-up AKC creation (just look at what's happened to German Shepherds!)

I used to have two Australian Shepherds which were SO trainable & tractable, so a dog like Kiba is like an alien to me (though I've learned how to work with his "husky-ness"), I just wanted my next dog after 15 years of sheepdogs to be a completely different experience so I wouldn't be expecting him to behave like my old buddies. That's worked out really well, actually, and so many of the "bad" traits that I was warned about in sled dogs (chewing, wandering, etc...) just haven't manifested themselves in him. He's a great dog.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

The elkies and mals and sibes and even the akita are all spitz-breeds, actually -- all very bright and independent beasties. (My last "family" dog before moving away from my parents was an utterly amazing akita/GSD mix, and between him and dim memories of my grandfather's Siberian husky, I've been a total sucker for all the northern breeds ever since.)

But boy oh boy, do I ever hear you on how alien it can be when making such drastic breed switches! After the succession of Akita/GSD to Alaskan Malamute to Norwegian Elkhound, I'd gotten thoroughly accustomed to dogs that were frighteningly smart, independent, and in the latter two cases in particular, definitely challenging to train. And then when I went looking for a second dog, the one that really clicked with the elkie was a pit bull...and she's a totally clingy cuddler who is, to be charitable, not terribly bright, but just RIDICULOUSLY eager to please. Four years down, and I still haven't entirely gotten over the culture shock...she even still looks so tiny and naked next to the double-coated snowbeasts I'm used to!

You're very lucky Kiba isn't a wanderer -- my mal was otherwise remarkably good as far as the chewing and the prey drive and the other usual warnings went, but he did have the wanderlust tendency in spades, and any unguarded door or dropped leash was an invitation to go exploring. Thank goodness he liked car rides even better than running loose -- he could keep going for hours and you'd never outrun him on foot, but he'd come back running at the sight of an opened car door.

If you like akitas, have you ever looked into jindo? They're a Korean breed, very very similar in appearance and personality to classic Japanese akitas, just a bit smaller. But the breed is still relatively obscure and uncommon in the US, and still under the AKC's radar, so when you can find them they're still pretty true to type.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

I've been lucky with Kiba and I know it. I had him "chipped" at the vet the day I brought him in for shots. I'm still glad I did it (because he is beautiful and I constantly worry about someone stealing him), but he's like an angel. You can prop the door open when bringing in groceries and he'll just stand in the door (getting in the way) wagging his tail and "talking". Pretty good for a muffinheaded 2 year old! ;-)

The car trick is a good one. I find that promises of treats will always bring Keebs back. I let him off lead all the time at the park/beach/etc, but I always have a pocket of little biscuits on hand for good measure. Something I NEVER had to do with the Aussies, but then, that's what makes Kiba an interesting individual. You sort of have to lower your standards of "obedience" with a husky.

I'm totally going to "friend" you btw...hope that's ok. :-) *tail wagging*

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Oh my, what a good little homebody he is! My elkie Zeus is at least food-motivated enough that he will return at the sound of a rattling cookie box...but Jake the mal, there wasn't a treat made that tempted him more than the chance to run off. (And getting the humans to chase after him seemed to be half the fun...I swear he'd slow down just enough that you could keep him in sight, and only picked up speed again if you were getting too close.) Biscuit the pittie, OTOH, is a little angel off-leash, doesn't even seem to notice open doors or gates, has perfect recall, and she'll do it all for no more than a pat on the head and praise. Such a change from the usual calculating "where's my motivation, and I mean the edible kind" looks I'm used to! But that's a sleddog for you...obedience is always such a conditional thing for them. I remember a joke that used to go around Sibernet-L -- "Tell $TRACTABLE_BREED to turn left and he'll do it instantly, tell a husky and he'll wait until he sees a gap in the trees."

(And friend away...just don't be too disappointed at how rarely I post. It's generally just the very occasional odd bit of music, fandom, or dog blather. Although there might be a two-out-of-three combo coming up soon as I have finally found a source for fansubs of "Ginga Legend Weed"...)

[rumdiculous.livejournal.com]

So...you were Walken in a Winter wonderland. XD

Oh man, don't you hate the cold wind? It goes straight to the marrow of your bones and hurts.

Hee hee, Kiba loves the snow. That's so cute.

OMG one another note, they had half huskey puppies at the SPCA. We were looking for kittens for a friend and visited the puppy section. They were mixed with Chow-Chow (i don't like Chows) but omg they were so fluffy and cute!!!

[merimask.livejournal.com]

LOL! I freaking LOVE your Fatal Frame icon...did you make that? It's hilarious. :-D

OMG husky-chow pups would be absolutely ADORABLE but I don't think you could manufacture a more headstrong mixed-breed if you tried. That'd be, like, a designer dog for people who want a dog that won't listen to them EVER. "Chuskies"...lol!

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Oh dear lord, yes. Sibe independence plus chow aloofness plus the brains of both, and you'd get a dog that would ignore all your training efforts while it plotted to take over the world, possibly by way of some sort of complex death ray constructed from the IMMENSE QUANTITIES OF UNDERCOAT it would shed...

[rumdiculous.livejournal.com]

Ha ha, no I found a few hilarious FF icons on this community. I like silly icons mocking the game because it would be too depressing otherwise.

OH.MY.GOD they were the cutest, fluffiest, fluff balls of poof. There were five puppies. Two were a light brown and white with tan streaks down their backs over light markings above their eyes. And three were black with dark brown streaks down their backs. I loved the dark ones, their faces were black. I don't think any of them had blue eyes though. And not one had a dark tongue. I kept messing with this shy little black one. He looked like a bear! And when I stuck my fingers in the cage, he would back away for a moment then paw at me. When I wiggled my fingers he would bark this adorable, pathetic, gruff bark. So cute! XD

Seriously, I don't think anyone could control those little jerk faces. But they are going to be gorgeous when they grow older. *sigh*