The Cult of Lincoln

Tuesday, January 31, 2006



Bush: America is addicted to oil.
Me: *snorts loudly and chokes violently on canteloupe*

Hey, Mr. Tax Cut -- why don't you give tax cuts to families that buy hybrid vehicles? It might offset the tax cuts you give small business owners that buy SUVs.

Priscilla said at 8:48 PM

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I'm looking over the Oscar nominations list, and wow. This is the first year that no CG film was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film. Last year, all three were CG!

Priscilla said at 11:47 AM

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Monday, January 30, 2006



Hee!
Sam Seder hosts Political Science Theater 3000

This Tuesday night at 7, join Air America Radio's "The Majority Report" for Political Science Theater 3000. Sam Seder will be live at the Center for American Progress hosting a live panel before (and during) President Bush's State of the Union Addess.

After a spirited discussion, when "W" takes the podium at 8, Sam and the others will provide a running commentary about what is sure to be our clueless leader's latest mangling of the English language.

Panelists include authors of "Get this Party Started" Amy Sullivan, Chris Bowers, and Anna Greenberg, as well as bloggers Judd Legum (Think Progress and CAP) and Duncan Black (Atrios).

Air America Premium members can watch the whole thing live over the "internets" while everyone else can tune into your local affiliates or catch the audio at airamericaradio.com.
I think they're off by an hour, though. C-SPAN and Fox say it starts at 9.

And just one more week until new House! *does a little dance*

Priscilla said at 1:37 PM

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Priscilla said at 10:16 AM

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DUDE. The aforementioned "quick modelling job" for the professor I ran into at the Chinese New Year party? I'm getting paid $100 for something I banged out in less than 30 minutes. Being a DMDer ROCKS. I'm going to have to figure out excuses to hang out in HMS more often!

This calls for Firefly crackfic with Jayne and unicorns.

Priscilla said at 9:48 AM

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*snorts loudly* An actual question from the latest Zogby poll:

Which would you rather watch: the State of the Union speech live, an episode of ABC's "Commander in Chief," an episode of NBC's "The West Wing," or the episode of Fox's "The Simpsons" where Bart runs for class president?
  • The State of the Union speech live
  • An episode of "Commander In Chief"
  • An episode of "The West Wing"
  • Episode of "The Simpsons" where Bart runs for class president
  • None of the above
  • Not sure

Priscilla said at 8:32 AM

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Sunday, January 29, 2006



Bwaha, Halfrek was on Grey's Anatomy!

Priscilla said at 11:05 PM

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Saturday, January 28, 2006




Priscilla said at 4:17 PM

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Good gravy on a stick! Well, I know what the Potter fandom will be twitching about for the next few months... The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.

Priscilla said at 4:14 PM

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Friday, January 27, 2006



Who was one of few recommended to Disney by her faculty advisor for a Summer Internship?

1. She's sitting in my chair.
2. She's wearing my clothes.
3. Her name is Remus Lupin Priscilla Spencer.

I randomly stopped by Amy's after class to float my idea of a day trip to NYC next Saturday to see the Pixar exhibit at the MoMA. Next door, in the HMS lab, a Chinese New Year party was in full swing. Over some delicious Chinese food, I got to chat with Amy, Norm, and some DMD/CGGT students about resumes, ways of controlling the HMS Lab's mouse problem (suggestion: a Burmese python, a gecko, or some form of raptor), and the Disney/Pixar merger. I was also randomly comissioned by a professor to do a quick model and render of a carbon nanotube.

I'm now working on my resume, so that I'll be up for consideration for an interview with Disney. Bweeeee!

Priscilla said at 2:07 PM

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Neil Gaiman squeeage in my LJ! Also: listen to my audio recording of the event!

Priscilla said at 1:12 AM

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Wednesday, January 25, 2006



Is Andromeda (Black) Tonks' hair color canon? For some reason, I was thinking it was red, but with blonde and black hair already represented by her sisters, having a redhead in the mix would make me wonder about the haircolor of the Black family mailman. Unless, of course, Narcissa and Draco get their blonde genes from Miss Clariol.

Priscilla said at 10:21 PM

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Woohoo! Good news for UK-based Dresden fans. The TV movie/backdoor pilot will be aired in Jolly Old! From TV & Satellite Week:
Sky One is working with Nicholas Cage's production company to make a new drama about a private eye with magical powers. British actor Paul Blackthorne, who has appeared in 24 and ER, will play the lead role of the sleuthing Chicago-based wizard in The Dresden Files, based on the novels by Jim Butcher.

And speaking of TV, I got my DVD Recorder today! *does a merry dance*

Priscilla said at 9:14 PM

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Were those the Lost numbers on Veronica's fortune cookie? I *LOVE* this show!

Priscilla said at 8:57 PM

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Last night, in my Crime Cinema class, we watched Touchez-pas au grisbi, which largely involved the fallout from a gold heist at ORLY airport.

My response:

Priscilla said at 8:42 AM

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New VM and Lost tonight! Whoo!

Priscilla said at 8:36 AM

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Tuesday, January 24, 2006



Hee! A big blooper reel for Buffy and Angel! Haha, David is such a DORK, I love it! And love to Alexis, as well.

Priscilla said at 12:07 PM

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January 27th is the Second Annual

LiveJournal Rabbit Hole Day!

Travel through time. Turn into an animal.
Flee from assassins. Talk to your goldfish.

Priscilla said at 10:17 AM

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My photos from Greece are finally up! Go see and let me know what you think!



If it's not too much trouble, I'd prefer comments be directed to my equivalent LJ entry, as they're more permanent that way. :D

Priscilla said at 1:18 AM

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Monday, January 23, 2006



Two weeks ago, the weather was in the 30s.
One week ago, the weather was in the 60s.
Last week, the weather was in the 30s.
Last weekend, the weather was in the 60s.
Today, the weather is once again in the 30s.

With no middle ground.

Hey weather gods -- MAKE UP YOUR MIND. *bundles up spitefully*

In other news, after a good night's sleep, I'm feeling marginally better about Little Shop of Horrors. I talked to one of the girls on the board, and she said that the Ensemble will only be called a couple times before Spring Break, and will basically only have a month of rehearsals. Therefore, I'll be able to continue to devote myself to Siggraph, my Independent Study, and pursuing The Boy. Win!

Priscilla said at 8:54 AM

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Well, I'm in the Ensemble. I'm disappointed, but after the shock of not making callbacks, I'm not at all surprised. It'll still be a lot of fun, and I'll be paying back the Theatre Gods for all those plush roles.

Hey look at all the Director, who had a lead role in Cabaret! Hey, look at all the girls that were called back that were also in Cabaret! I'm going to sleep before I get any more depressed.

Priscilla said at 12:19 AM

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Saturday, January 21, 2006



I've posted the first wave of photos from Greece! Hopefully, I'll be able to get the next few batches up tomorrow. This first bunch is essentially just pictures of me and Chungy, coupled with excessive silliness in regards to captions.

Priscilla said at 10:10 PM

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Friday, January 20, 2006



Huh. I thought I'd make callbacks, at least.

Ah, well. It doesn't necessarily mean I wasn't cast. I wasn't called back for The Pajama Game and I ended up with a principal role. Of course, that was accidental, as I had Jesuit rehearsals during the normal audition time and they misplaced my audition sheet. They had intended to call me back. Whatever.

I know that I've had more than my fair share of juicy roles, but still. Little Shop has been my favourite musical since I was eight. Somehow it never occured to me that I might not get cast.

I'll find out after midnight on Sunday. Nothing I can do now.

Priscilla said at 12:48 AM

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Thursday, January 19, 2006



Link ganked from DeeDee: Vatican Newspaper asserts Intelligent Design is not science.

Sure, Intelligent Design comes the closest to my personal belief system, but still. Mwaha! Bully for Ratzinger!

Priscilla said at 11:04 PM

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*chokes on fried rice*

Hilarious fanvid rec! Spike's journey of redeption to I Can Change from the South Park movie, by the same girl that beat me to vidding a Spangel "The More You Ruv Someone." :D

And dude! A handful of theatres (none near me, alas) are planning additional Serenity screenings.

Priscilla said at 10:44 PM

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For Katie Holmes' birthday, Tom Cruise got her a collection of all of his movies on DVD. How very Gilderoy Lockhart of the man!

Also? BEST COMMERCIAL EVER.

Question for the Whovians: So the new Doctor Who is finally airing in the US, on the Sci-Fi Channel. Hurrah! And presumably, judging from the choice of Doctors in their layouts, we're going to be getting new episodes. Are they going to air all of the last season before going on to the new season, or starting with the new season, or some other bizarre permutation? Is there going to be a delay between the UK airdates and the US?

Priscilla said at 10:17 PM

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Dude! Jane Espenson has a blog!

Priscilla said at 10:14 PM

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Flubbed a bit on the singing portion, but I feel I did quite well on the acting portion and when they tested my range. I'll find out if I made callbacks Friday after midnight!

Priscilla said at 8:30 PM

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*snorks* My Crime Cinema professor's accent cracks me up. He's very French, but he tries to speak with an "American" accent, overemphasizing his R's. The first day of class, I couldn't help but hear Spike's "I'm a friend of Xandurr's" whenever he spoke.

Today, he spoke about the French silent film Les Vampires. He said "Vampires" the American way, with the long "i" sound, but instead of emphasizing the first syllable, he emphasized the second, which to my fandom-addled brain reminded me of Andrew. The greatest moment was when he made reference to "Irma Vep, leader of... The Vampires" in exactly the same intonation Andrew introduced "Buffy, slayer of... the Vampires" in "Storyteller." I'm too easily amused, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

And now, off to get ready for Little Shop of Horrors auditions! Bwee!

Priscilla said at 4:11 PM

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Whee! Sold another old textbook on Half.com! Total cash recouped: $155.89!

Priscilla said at 12:08 PM

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Wow, how psychological of me! I was being all petulant and frustrated about being deprived of My Shows, with the news about The Inside and the fact that last night's Lost episode wasn't up on iTunes until this morning. Even though I'd been so disenchanted with the show, my desire to watch the show to spite The Man was even greater. As a result, once I finally got to see it, I enjoyed it a great deal more than I probably would have in a different frame of mind. I am such a tool. XD

Thoughts:

First, Mr. Clean Locke wins for his "Who are we to tell anyone what they can or can't do?" comment. THANK YOU FOR SAYING TO JACK WHAT NEEDED TO BE SAID. Not your show, Jack! You were supposed to be killed off in the Pilot!

Second, Jin/Sun (or maybe Jin/Sun/Hat) is SO my Lost OTP, pending Hurley/Whatserface. Charlie, stop being a moron and I'll give you a second chance.

Lastly, the folks on TWOP are calling for a ninja army. Mwaha!


In other news, I'm looking at DVD Recorders, rather than a VCR. Does anyone have experience with them? How important is it to get one with a hard drive?

Priscilla said at 11:41 AM

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A random email:

Hi, pspencer.

I equator of injuries a spangled the dangerous is doorhandle
She hook was veneration of firedamaged it nobody spin
Me pile bringing is hazel of stalwart a glanced
A black the spectacle donna it commissions she snowy
You card? of occurs the updated and atheists' or trashy
Not polyglot you adorns and cancer' me trotting guldens
No earth? is problems this bookkeeper of prostrated the bordered
If chicken we intertropical of underground a condensed is wizards
An plaster me does you spear she turmoil boning
Have cringed from of boom it opposed was escort
Was sheds not winced fatal a comforting or pleasing
And cretin path is remove of works an poorly

--
Best Regards,
Moreno Antonio


I'm not even going to ask. I'm just going to bask in the WHA?

Priscilla said at 9:08 AM

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Wednesday, January 18, 2006



*dances around the room in silent rage*

UK channel ITV4 starts showing Minear's The Inside this Friday. Unaired episodes I've been waiting for half a year to see. But as I don't live in Jolly Old England, Fox has said that there's no chance of it going to DVD, and there's no way it's going to be available on iTunes, I'll be Inside-less.

No Adam Baldwin, no Katie Finneran, no Peter Coyote. No amusing appearances by other Minear vets. No twisted psychological content, gratuitous gore, or dark humor. Also, I totally forgot Lost was on tonight. A world without BitTorrent is a world that SUCKS.

Priscilla said at 9:04 PM

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No new VM tonight. Woe! Ah well, there is a new Lost, and I guess this makes one more week before I start having to buy Lost off iTunes so that I can watch both.

Does anyone have any experience with downloading TV shows legally from iTunes? How much does the resolution suck? How soon are new episodes up after they air?

Priscilla said at 8:28 AM

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Highly amusing link, ganked from Peg: Make You Happy Tonight

Priscilla said at 8:16 AM

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HOLY COW! They found The Scream, more or less undamaged! I was sure that it would have been lost forever at this point. Let's hope the paintings are actually recovered soon...

Priscilla said at 8:06 AM

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It's come to my attention that the MPAA and NBA are going after people that fileshare TV shows now. I've already heard of Penn students (one is a close friend) that have been served their first and only warning. And she wasn't downloading movies or music or TV episodes that have already been released on DVD, we're talking episodes from CURRENT seasons, from shows that aren't yet available for legal download, like through iTunes. Shows that are on NETWORK TV, not cable or some other specialty channel you have to pay for, which I agree would be justified. While I think this is UNBELIEVABLY STUPID, I also don't write the laws. Therefore, it's off to Best Buy for me! I'm getting a VCR!

Priscilla said at 7:36 AM

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Happy Trogday!

I looked for Rebecca's claymation Trogdor and didn't see it. Woe. XD

Priscilla said at 7:26 AM

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Tuesday, January 17, 2006



Why do people take the time and effort to submit stuff to "What's in a Name" when the same information is ALREADY THERE?

Priscilla said at 11:28 AM

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Monday, January 16, 2006



YAY, BLOGGER IS WORKING AGAIN! *knocks on cheap faux-wood paneling*

The temporary downtime has prevented me from sharing my usual twaddle, but in a surprising shift, Ko has unwittingly compensated for my absence by posting four entries in the past three days, when they're usually weeks apart! One unmissable post contains a handful of quotes from a hagiographic article about Ronald Reagan that reads like the result of a Harlequin romance Mad-Lib.

She also wrote about the shooting a few days ago, the second shooting in as many weeks and as many blocks from my dorm. The first was Christmas day, right across the street at the Philly Diner. The second was a couple blocks away, outside a 7-11 at 38th and Sansom. Ko was awake when it happened and heard the shots, then watched as the area swarmed with police vehicles. Both shootings happened at about 3AM, when only morons are out, but it's still highly unsettling. Especially as I can see into Philly Diner from my dorm room window.

But that wasn't the only thing noteworthy that happened this past weekend! Rebecca came down from New York to spend some time with me, her boy (Tom), and her brother (not necessarily in that order/priority. XD) Saturday night, she and Tom joined me and Ko for dinner (not at Philly Diner) and the requisite gab session afterwards. Tom and Rebecca are adorable together, and a splendid time was had by all. The next afternoon, Erin (our hall advisor) organized an outing to see "Brokeback Mountain" and Rebecca joined me.

Today, I went to see a lecture with Rob Cook, VP of Research and
Development at Pixar. The word of the day is "gurgle."

Links: Jimmy Kimmel's Lost: the Musical (thanks to Voodoo), Self-proclaimed vampire running for governor of Minnesota (thanks to Xionin), and MAN has Peter Jackson lost weight.

Priscilla said at 7:12 PM

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Saturday, January 14, 2006



Woohoo! The 6th Annual Harry Potter Valentine Project is up and running! Subs are due February 12th.

Priscilla said at 8:05 AM

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Thursday, January 12, 2006



Dear Lost,

Stop making me loathe Charlie! At least I don't hate Kate anymore, and Shannon isn't around to detest. I guess it balances.

No Love,
Me
P.S. Hurley + Whatserface = OTP.

I'm definitely at the point now where I'm watching Lost out of habit.

Priscilla said at 8:20 AM

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My classes haven't presented me with much of a workload as of yet, so I caved and watched the first handfull of episodes from Season 1 of House, as it has come highly recommended from every person on my friends list and their dog. My diagnosis? SO MUCH LOVE. So much love that I spaced and totally forgot about the new episode of Lost tonight. But who needs Lost when you have a show with snark, incredibly blue eyes, convincing American accents, and the occasional leper? Nobody does, that's who.

Priscilla said at 12:14 AM

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006



*snorks* Apparently the Chinese characters on the back cover of the Serenity visual companion translate to "If you don't buy this book, your friends will think you're a stupid inbred stack of meat." So much Josslove!

Priscilla said at 7:54 PM

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Huh. Rumor has it that Tim Burton's next project will be a screen version of the musical Sweeney Todd, starring Johnny Depp. I'd love to see Sweeney in Burton's hands, and I'm a great fan of Johnny Depp, but can Johnny Depp sing? And I mean really, really sing? Also, while they work well together, is anyone else getting a leetle bit tired of the increasingly incestuous Burton/Depp duo? This will be their sixth collaboration!

Priscilla said at 2:48 PM

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It sure would have been nice of my Crime Cinema professor to email us and tell us that he was in EUROPE and would not be holding class until after the 16th. And it sure would have been nice if the registrar hadn't doublebooked our classroom with Elementary Italian. Just saying.

Priscilla said at 2:39 PM

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What's up with all the sudden Discworld movie-age? First there's talk of Hogfather, and now there's news that Sam Raimi is making Wee Free Men after Spider-Man 3! The past few years have seen a dramatic increase in movies based on material with a preestablished fanbase. I'm betting that it's what this decade will be known for.

Anyway, yayness for high-profile directors and Discworld movies! Though I'm holding off on the squee until someone announces plans for Guards! Guards!. :D

Priscilla said at 11:15 AM

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Woo! Sold two more books this morning! Am now $110.89 richer! Net profit from original purchase: $1.79 + vast quantities of knowledge - shipping.

Priscilla said at 10:07 AM

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Priscilla said at 8:44 AM

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Monday, January 09, 2006



The times for Digital Figure Modeling got shifted around, and now I don't start classes until noon. I would totally hate myself if I weren't me. :D

Math 203: MWF 12-1, R 6:30-8:30 -- Proving Things: Algebra
FNAR 236: M 6-9, F 4-7 -- Digital Figure Modeling
CSE 320: TR 1:30-3 -- Intro to Algorithms
FILM 345: TR 3-4:30, T 4:30-7 -- Crime Cinema of France and Italy
Independent Study TBA

Priscilla said at 8:08 PM

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Good Omens fans should be pleased to observe that today's Dictionary.com Word of the Day is "ineffable."

Priscilla said at 3:30 PM

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Dude! I put last semester's textbooks on Half.com less than an hour ago, and already I have a sale! This is definitely the way to fly.

Priscilla said at 10:23 AM

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Sunday, January 08, 2006



The luggage delivery guy called around midnight, as I was getting ready to go to sleep. He said he'd be by in about two hours. I asked if he could just leave it with the front desk so I wouldn't have to wake up. I then called the front desk, who told me it would be fine, but I'd have to pick up the bag before 8AM. Fine by me. I set my alarm for 7 and promptly fell unconscious.

I awoke at 4:30, probably due to jet lag weirdness. I headed downstairs in my socks and Anne Taintor pajamas, only to find it hadn't been delivered yet. I called the bag guy, who told me he was a block away from my dorm. My timing rocks! I told him I'd meet him downstairs, and he said he'd call me if there were any problems. Instant dilemma. If I went downstairs, I'd miss the phone if he felt the need to call me, and it would wake up Ko. If I stayed upstairs, he might not be able to find me and call me anyway. I figured the best thing to do would be to meet him outside.

I blame jet lag for such a ridiculous decision. The temperatures were in the low 30s, and I was wearing light cotton pajamas. But Ko's sleep was at stake, so I ventured out into the cold, only to see the bag guy taking my suitcase out of the van (about half a block away), a cellphone glued to his ear. I started jumping up and down and shouting "I'm right here! Don't call me!" etc. Eventually he spotted me and we made the handoff.

The next morning, Ko told me that she didn't remember the phone ringing, so he must have been calling someone else, or maybe Ko's just a heavier sleeper than I give her credit for.

And now I have good bras and stripey socks and deoderant and all my favourite shirts and the various tchotchkes I picked up in Greece and the buttons for my purse and other assorted goodness! Hurrah!

Priscilla said at 9:30 AM

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Saturday, January 07, 2006



Grr. Still no word on my bag. They said it would probably come to Philly on the equivalent flight today, but by those standards, it would have arrived hours ago. I called US Airways, which was no help.

Funny that I miss my bag more now, when I have plenty of clothes, than I did when I had nothing by the shirt on my back, the jeans on my tush, and a single sweater. I want my deoderant and multicolored socks!

Priscilla said at 6:08 PM

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Jon Stewart is hosting the Oscars. Excuse me while I *SQUEE*. I'm wary, yet absolutely thrilled!

Whedonverse meme! Comment here with your user name and then people can comment anonymously or not about what Whedonverse they think you would fit into best as well as who would be your best friend, arch nemisis, etc.

And to continue another meme: Don't you think Bush looks tired?

Priscilla said at 7:14 AM

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Friday, January 06, 2006



All sorts of fannish glee awaits me!

Blue Sun BioDiesel! Aaron points me to the first sign of Alliance domination. And horror--they're targeting the liberals first! And speaking of Firefly, I am positively gleeful about the Penn Movie Channel's shedule for January -- they're airing Serenity nearly every day. And Serenity won the BBC 2005 Film of the Year! Shabooyeah.

Next, Will tells me that Neil Gaiman is coming to Temple! Thursday, January 26, at 8:00 PM in Room 222 Temple University's Center City campus (1515 Market Street, entrance is between Market St. and JFK Boulevard). He's going to read from recent work, and I assume sign as well. I wish I'd known earlier, so that I could have brought my Mirrormask book from home! Oh well. I could get him to sign Anansi Boys, which I finally finished in Greece. OOH! I could make prints of some of my Sandman images and give them to him! Mmm, good idea, me! Vote in the poll and tell me what I should do.

In addition to Anansi Boys, I also finished Jim Butcher's Furies of the Calderon (quite nifty, but I'm not as big on High Fantasy as I once was) and John Hodgman's Areas of my Expertise (read it NOW). Speaking of Jim Butcher, we have the cover for the 8th Dresden Files book, Proven Guilty! Also, I'm trying not to dance around my room and squee over Jim's endorsement of my idea for the "name" for the fans/fandom. I took a leaf from the X-Files' book and jokingly suggested "DresdenPhiles," only to have the list rally in its favor! I've been in this fandom a couple months, and I'm already naming the fen! So amused.

Priscilla said at 5:47 PM

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I'm not surprised they lost my bag again. I barely made my connection through Rome as it is! In fact, I shouldn't have made it at all. I guess the whole Meteora pilgrimage thing earned me a mini-miracle.

Full story later!

Priscilla said at 4:51 PM

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Tuesday, January 03, 2006



Off to Meteora this morning! Athens was a bit of a bust yesterday--for reasons unfathomable, the Acropolis was closed. Fortunately, many photographic opportunities still presented themselves, and I found a very cute satchel-purse thing in a nearby market.

Priscilla said at 10:57 PM

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When I blogged last night, I'd totally forgotten that we'd gotten tickets to visit Aegina this morning. We were supposed to visit the island in our Saronic Island Hop, but the touring company visited Aegina after Hydra rather than before, as Chungy was led to believe, and we already had hotel reservations in Hydra and couldn't exactly leave.

So that brings us to today! Now, first off, Chungy and I have very different ideas of how one travels. She plans exactly how much time a certain thing requires and then crams in as much sleep time as possible. I, on the other hand, prefer to move at a more leisurely pace, and give my travel plans plenty of padding. In this morning's mad rush (we go by Chungy-time, to my chagrin), I realized that my digital camera wasn't in my big camera bag. I did a quick scouring of the house and quickly found it, juggled my stuff in order, and ran. It wasn't until we were on the train to Piraeus (Athens' port) that I noticed that my digital camera was still not in my camera bag.

I was fairly sure that I must have just left it on the bed when I was juggling all the rest of my stuff, but as I didn't remember seeing it in my cursory glance around the room before running off to catch the train. As we rode further and further from the house, blind panic and visions of worst case scenarios won over common sense. We scrapped our Aegina plans (my two minutes of searching had apparently pushed us into "we might not make the boat anyway" territory, cough cough) and went back to Chungy's cousin's house in Kiffisia, a Northern suburb of Athens, to put my fears to rest.

As we both expected, it was there on the bed all along. It had been covered up by the umbrella I decided not to bring. So instead of visiting Aegina, we'll be doing what I wrote we'd do in my blog anyway! Today, we take Athens! Chungy is going to take a short run while I pore over the travel books I finally have access to, now that I have my bag back, and pick out what we should see. Then I'll drop off my film to be developed, and we'll be off!

In a way, I'm glad this happened. I'm sure Aegina would have been awesome (I saw pictures of the Temple of Athena--I would have loved to visit), but it would have meant two hours of boat travel each way, and we wouldn't have had the opportunity to really investigate Athens. So yay for my absentmindedness and paranoia, and yay for Chungy's down-to-the-wire system of travel planning!

Priscilla said at 2:23 AM

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Monday, January 02, 2006



Bwee! Our day trip in Delphi was fabulous. The trip was much more structured and we didn't get any time to walk around on our own, but I still loved it. I just wish I'd had the chance to photograph in the nearby village!

The city was at the level of some of the clouds, high in the mountains, and the result was pure photographic glee. I can't wait to get my film developed. Delicious atmosphere! No wonder the city holds so much mystic significance to its inhabitants--the clouds practically writhed.

But first, the bus ride! Our tour guide was a native Greek woman with a relatively strong grasp of English, but there were certain words that she definitely didn't know how to use. The most amusing was probably her obsessive over(mis)use of the word "precise" when no adjective was necessary, ie "This road precisely connects Athens to Delphi," and "unique" when she meant "only," such as "Apollo's unique sister, Artemis." Also, she kept referring to things as "anonymous" when she probably meant "eponymous." (Mad props to her for attempting vocab I didn't even learn until a few years ago!) Additionally, she felt compelled to point out the most random things on the 2-hour bus voyage, the most noteworthy being a lengthy lecture on Greek aluminum production, and a repeat of the Oedipus myth at least four times. I found it hilarious, though somewhat distracting as I ploughed through Anansi Boys. Poor Chungy, on the other hand, was trying to sleep! She still has her cold, which I managed to skirt thanks to the powers of Echinacea.

First, we visited Delphi's archaeological museum, which was chok full of ancient goodness. It's one thing to see drawings and diagrams of the city's layout, but it's difficult to grasp the sheer scale until you realize that stone sphinx atop a giant pillar could eat you and your dog in one bite.

Next, we got to tromp around some of the ruins. I stood on the stage of their acoustically fabulous ampitheatre and wished I could remember my Eurypides. I took lots and lots of photos that I am positively gleeful about getting developed. One of my Christmas presents was the Lensbaby 2.0, and I've been playing around with the different aperture rings and squealing over what I'm seeing through the viewfinder. I think I'll get some of the film developed tomorrow instead of waiting until I return to Philly.

Tomorrow, Chungy and I finally investigate what Athens has to offer! Hurrah! Also, hopefully my grades will be posted tomorrow!

Priscilla said at 2:26 PM

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Sunday, January 01, 2006



Back from Island Hop #1! The weather was utterly perfect, and I got along quite handily without my bag. It's so nice to have it back, though! Apparently, it didn't make the connection from Munich, which is pretty silly, as that was the longest connection I had!

Spetses, while lovely, wasn't nearly as charming as Hydra. The people were rude, and there was very little to do, not to mention surprisingly few places to eat anything beyond a sandwich or an omelette, a far cry from the authentic Greek cuisine we sought. We ended up changing our boat reservations and returning to Athens a few hours early.

My New Year was surprisingly nice. After dinner, we crashed in the hotel room, intending to wait for midnight to approach before heading out to a bar. We watched bits of "Finding Nemo" dubbed in Greek and a chunk of Ralph Bakshi's animated Lord of the Rings. It was rather funny, as LotR had Greek subtitles, and Mordor's Greek equivalent looks to an English speaker like "Moptop."

All the bars were closed (?!), so Chungy and I sat on the porch of the hotel and just talked, which is the best way to celebrate the New Year I can think of.

And now I'm off to prepare for tomorrow's day trip Delphi! Happy New Year to all! Khronia Pola! Or my mneumonic, "chronic polio!"

Priscilla said at 11:51 AM

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All content © 2000-2005 Priscilla Spencer unless otherwise noted.
Title cartoon by Bruce Eric Kaplan, used without permission.

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