the girly who shall end all girls

LEONARD FUCKING COHEN IS COMING TO SEATTLE.

i just finished confirming my fan club membership, bookmarking the presale code page, and doublechecking my ticketbastard account so that i can be crouched over the keyboard ready to click "Best Available" at the earliest moment possible.

which makes me wonder: is there any living artist you would pay stupid money to see, even if you shouldn't spend the money? if you've already done it, was it worth it?

nytimes has a feature on Mark Driscoll

Driscoll fills me with rage in a visceral way that even Focus on the Family can't touch. especially because he's spewing his misogynist crap from his stronghold in my neighborhood. (fun. as an example, i was going to link his classic blog post about how Ted Haggard wouldn't have been doing a male prostitute if his wife hadn't let herself go, but it's mysteriously been taken down. thank goodness for other christians who don't care about copyright.)

therefore, i'm amused that what is upsetting me the most after reading the article is that an avowed Calvinist would talk about how much he admires Martin Luther.

i read all the damn Twilight books. even though they are awful. i literally threw the latest book across the room while shouting out a reference to the author's religion and a gender-based slur. and then i picked it up several hours later. and finished it. but not without "that's retarded" slipping out a few times. (and OMG "Union Lake" look at a map you stupid bint. shame on you and your editor.)

if you feel any desire to read them, please borrow mine and do not give that vapid woman any more money.

that said:
"...it was the best series starting with a teenage girl in love with a mysterious boy in her class that ended up with a teenage girl defending her growth-accelerated mutant hybrid baby from an ancient clan of evil vampires with her magical psychic shield that I ever read, THE END."-cleolinda

the toughest thing about Giftmas is holding onto presents until the proper time. i'm reasonably good at sneaking and plotting, but my enthusiasm screws me up. "item X is awesome! i want C to have it Right Now!" i gave him a present back in October because i couldn't stand to know that i had it and he couldn't use it. (a Sansa Rhapsody, glad i got it then since it looks like all the 8GB ones are gone now, for which he periodically continues to thank me. he uses it every day. score!)

is it creepy that i get an ego boost from seeing stuff i chose greeted with enthusiasm? (and a little sadness if i miss, or don't hit hard enough...last year's bottle of Tokaj is still untouched in the back of the fridge.)

i've never understood the fistfights with your friends thing. i remember watching A River Runs Through It and being thoroughly perplexed by the brothers breaking shit with each other's faces and then being the best of friends afterwards. i had no interest in Fight Club because of it. (i quite like the movie now that i've seen it. but i like it in spite of the fighting ritual.)

i do periodically play fighting games with C, and we both love it. we've also sparred a bit. (it's strangely sexy.) but it's never about working out our problems, it's just play. it could as easily be a racing game (except that i don't like them) or dancing.

where does that alchemy happen where shedding blood makes us bond? or is that a fabrication of entertainment? i think that it probably is not, since there tends to be some shade of truth whenever stories deal with human relationships.

( some BSG spoilers )

someone actually tried to ask me the question from Fight Club once. "if you could fight anyone, alive or dead, who would you fight?" the answer on the tip of my tongue was "you." i never did answer. but i wonder sometimes what it would have been like to take a swing. i expect i would have been the first person to run into a neighboring business to ice their broken nose and then get them to the hospital. it's who i am. i don't know how i feel about that.

last weeks' plant purchases are in the ground, after digging all the weeds out of the flowerbeds out front. i suspect that the one patch of random stuff is probably lemon balm - it looks like mint but smells like lemon pledge when bruised. i'm leaving it for now until i can see it flower and be more sure. (and then, tea!) the rosebush (or is it rosebushes? there are many canes in a formidable tangle) is absolutely loaded with buds and one random open rose.
we bought a grill today and strings of outdoor lights. i have one string up and we'll see if it becomes a new Rodent Highway for the squirrels that live in the garage. as i was digging today i kept discovering buried peanut shells. later when i walked to the drugstore i discovered why - a squirrel was halfway down the tree out front with a peanut half-in and half-out of its mouth. i told it that they were best consumed immediately rather than stored and that it should stop using my flowerbeds. it listened attentively until i continued down the sidewalk, whereupon it zipped back up the tree.

i have a mild sunburn.