It's not a cry you can hear at night, it's not somebody who's seen the light...

I cut out the glass pieces for a bat today :D I will foil him and solder him tomorrow. He is purplely red and I enjoy him. I searched everywhere for easy Egyptian stained glass patterns to make Leah something though, and came up with zip. Poos.

I have finally started to like Amy Pond in Doctor Who. It only took a series and a half. At first she bored me and then she annoyed me and now I think she's okay. Mostly because Rory is there <3. I have mostly accepted Matt Smith as the doctor too. Don't get me wrong, he's brilliant. But it is all a matter of preference and he's not one of my favourites. Three and Ten still get those spots. And for me Smith is just below Tom Baker and just above Christoper Eccleston. But I don't dislike him like Colin Baker (FFFffffugh). I think one of the reviewers summed it up best when he said Matt Smith is a delight to watch and he plays the Doctor well, he just brings nothing new to the part. I agree, though I know there are others who do not. I just miss the depth of emotion Tennant showed on his face. Smith is much more into underplaying it, which is fine! I just prefer the other way. Though under the direction of Moffat, the entire series is different than it was under Davies. I miss having a connection to London. I also kind of miss when...like...storylines made sense. I love Moffat and even when Davies was at the helm his episodes were some of my favourite, but...WHAT EVEN?! His arcs are AMAZING but halfway unintelligible at times.

Also? I really want to hate River Song, but I don't. There was a moment a few episodes ago where she kissed Eleven for the first last time and her reaction- I started crying and then cursed at her for making me love her. Dammit.

And no one should ever let Richard Curtis write an episode ever again. That bastard always makes me cry. Well, okay not always because Blackadder didn't make me cry until the end of the fourth series, but I'm a sucker and the last shot of Vincent and the Doctor, just...man. AND Neil Gaiman's awesome episode made me weepy too. I loved it.

I was in the crappiest mood (hormones lol) and then suddenly I'm all excited and happy. Thanks a lot, body. You're lovely.

BUT I am going to learn to crochet tomorrow! So I can make scarves! I so want a Doctor Who scarf homg. And we're going shopping for wool so my mother can make me some potholders and dish cloths for our LFoD kitchen. Also I am looking at the easy patterns for stained glass so I can start more projects. I have this gorgeous triple shamrock pattern I will make for me, but I am going to make that one at the class. I can do the easy ones in the basement. My mother set up a workshop because she's adorable. We're also looking for presents for the niece and nephews as well.

And then my sister and her family get here on Thursday. And on Friday I might go to Sherlock Holmes 2 with Maliky and Travis which yayyyy! I am so excited :D

<3

I DID STAINED GLASS! And despite the fact that my hands shake like a mofo, I managed to complete my entire little butterfly in one class and she said it would probably take two. And the lady said it was really good! My shaky hands don't actually matter because you can always fix seams and grind the edges of glass so yay!

So next week I am going to start a stained glass shamrock. Predictable I may be, but husha your face. So now I want to make a little stained glass thingy for each of the housemates. Too bad I doubt I will be able to find an easy kakapo pattern for Alison ;) But I will find something! It's so fun too! I have no artistic skills so this is good. And you get to crack glass. >:D!

Anyway, Missoula with my Pants was awesome. We had a great time. We watched Supernatural and basically went out to eat at all the places we loved when we lived together. And we went to the Hickory Farms booth and Jayann bought a million sausages. Okay two, but they were huge. And I bought smoky cheese. And also mints. Anyway, it was a good time. And I managed to come home with like...dozens of candy canes. Stupid Wal-Mart.

But yay, stained glass! (I just wrote sainted. Dear LORD, Lara.)

Homg. So I went to the second dance performance because Jayann was doing her solo piece, which was gorgeous. All ribbony and painty and deep and beautiful.

The first piece was a ballet, choreographed by the head of the department. It was based on a Japanese folktale and it was set to the Crane Wife songs by the Decemberists, as well as an instrumental piece. And it was absolutely breathtaking. I love ballet so much and it was so well done. Gorgeous.

And now I am soooo tired and there are more earthquakes in the world and ew! The earthquake was apparently three minutes long. Our thirty-second long one felt like an eternity. Shit, I think after a minute you would start to believe it might never stop. Terrifying.

Focus on ballet and sleep, Lara, sheesh.

I'm in Missoula! Jayannpants lives here! She made cupcakes! She is a cupcake artist, I am not even kidding. She made lavender and lemon curd ones which homg. Her parents came to town and took us to breakfast at Paul's Pancake Parlour which sounds lame but dear GOD I love it so much yay.

I went to Jayann's dance performance and she was amazingly awesome. Beforehand, I had some time to kill so I walked around the University campus. I randomly went to the bookstore to see if my Laramie Dean was working so I could surprise him and make him make :O! face. He wasn't there, but randomly, my uncle Leo was. So I was like "Leo Gallagher! HEY!" and then we talked about my cousin Dylan who speaks Irish and is going back to Ireland in January. Leo was in Missoula for the Griz football game last night which they won so hard (GO GRIZ, RAWR). He was like "I haven't had a break in months so it was nice to come here and have some downtime." And I informed him that we were aware because we see him on the news every night. He's the county attorney, so he's always in the court...news...part. Anyway, it was nice and random to see him hanging out in my old University bookstore.

Also while Jayann was at nutcracker practice I was talking her teacher randomly and then to this man wearing a Vietnam vet hat who was in the waiting room who had overheard our conversation about New Zealand. He asked me "why are you in New Zealand, I've always wanted to go there" and mentally I was like "Lara, do not tell a Vietnam war veteran you don't like the US because of the blind patriotism..." So I kind of mumbled something about reasons. But seriously I had random conversations with people I don't know and didn't freak out.

IS THIS WHAT NORMAL FEELS LIKE BECAUSE IT'S WEIRD AND NICE.

Oh, Donna Noble. <3 I can't wait to watch it all again with Alison!

/Doctor Who

I have to do Christmas shopping for my niece and nephews. I should figure out what to get them! On Friday I am going to Missoula to spend a few days there with my Pants. It's a very timely visit. Her cat, Cassie just died of kidney failure. I am so crushed. When I was roommates with Jayann, Cassie lived there too. She was the cutest little Burmese. Once I was eating buffalo wings and she jumped up, stole one of the bones, and ran away from me. I ran after her and Jayann laughed so hard as we both charged into the room, her scrambling away and me yelling. Cassie was awesome. So tiny and ballsy. I was so looking forward to seeing her again. Such a lovely little girl <3

My step-father has cleared out a large amount of the high wild grass just beyond the area of their backyard they turned into lawn. I finally asked today what the random flatted circle was for. Turns out he wants to make a...wait for it...seventy-foot wide shamrock out there. With wild yellow rosebushes at the edges of it.

Apparently in Belfast his...grandfather? I think it was his grandfather. Anyway some Gallagher dude dug up his wife's wild rose bushes and she told him not to because that was where the wee folk lived and they didn't like their home disturbed. He did it anyway. So the story is that the wee folk put a curse on the family. Something about first borns...something. Which apparently has seemed to have come true. So he wants to plant wild rose bushes for the wee folk. In a seventy-foot wide shamrock.

Just... <3

(This is what people do when they retire...)

I'm taking a stained glass class on Thursday, whoohoo. That'll be interesting to try out. One of my mother's friends is coming too so we'll have a good time. I'm going out with some of her friends tomorrow as well. My mother's friend Connie said "I hope we don't embarrass you". Well. Oh dear then!

When my brother had his bike accident and he was on loritab for the pain, my step-father was visiting with him to make sure he was okay. This was years ago, when my brother was keen on the girl in the apartment near him, Shalina. Shalina was over helping my brother out too, and Larry was telling Boy "you know, loritab is great for the pain, but it can bind you up." My brother, aware that the girl he liked was listening, stared at Larry to try to tell him to shut up. Larry took this as a sign he wasn't understanding so he said, "I mean constipation." My poor brother apparently then tried to kill Larry with his eyes, but it didn't work. The girl still ended up with my brother for many years, so that's fortunate!

So today Larry came up to me and in his jolly voice he said, "I made bran muffins. You want one!? They'll keep you regular!" and I kind of stared at him and then I ran away. I do wonder if he says these things to see the looks on our faces!

Just had a dream a tsunami happened in CHCH. I was in some...ocean-front school or something. I don't even know except my old boss Michael was there and he seemed to be in charge. I made mention of a wave that had been so big it had crashed into the building and reached our second floor windows. And then someone yelled "everyone look! In the direction of Hokitika!" And this massive wave was headed our way from behind, set to go right over us.

I yelled at Alison who suddenly appeared at this school (I have no idea what I was doing there...) to go higher so we raced up these stairs to the attic and held on while the wave crashed over us. Because apparently the building was made of adimantium or something as it was still standing while a bunch of other buildings were not. Then Jen, who appeared as well, decided to GET A BOAT that they had to PUT TOGETHER (it so would have leaked) that she and Alison were going to row to Hokitika to check on their family. The tsunami was still going, but they wouldn't listen when I was like "uhm. So I don't think that's the most brilliant idea you've ever had."

Then I went back down to the second floor where people were gathered, waiting for subsequent waves. People were calling loved ones, so why Jen and Ali didn't just use the phone is beyond me. Then Alina and I went outside as a wave crashed beside us. Because apparently we had to have silly ideas too. And we were like, "well, this sucks."

And then I woke up. Don't know what that was about, but I'm suitably disturbed!

PS I just tried to spell-check adimantium. Then I remembered it wouldn't be a real word, considering it's not a real mental. Wow, me. It wanted to change it to Byzantium. THE BUILDING MUST HAVE BEEN MADE FROM BYZANTIUM BECAUSE IT STAYED UP!

Everything is Doctor Who and nothing hurts.

I have been watching it...mostly non-stop when I can't sleep. Because <3. I love how many actors I adore guest-star on it! Leonora Critchlow, Ardal O'Hanlon (whom I correctly identified by his voice because there is no confusing Father Dougal MacGuire with anyone else), that man who plays Percy in Blackadder. And Mark Gatiss, of course. I'm just in awe of it. If only my former hate for David Tennant (and I still can't stand Barty Crouch Jr in Harry Potter 4) hadn't kept me from watching this sooner. I can be so daft sometimes ;) Today I was in the car telling my mother that David Tennant could basically act anything. He's mesmerizing. And I absolutely believe that.

Yeah, anyway. Real life also exists. I am heading to Missoula to visit my Jayannpants on Friday which means I will miss visiting with my mother's friend Peter. Whom she casually fucking mentioned happens to have known basically everyone from The King's Speech. He comes from an aristocratic South African family and he went to study abroad in England (kind of like one Avery Driscoll) and apparently through his family he knew the Mountbattens and the...others, and blahblahblah. It's probably best I won't be here so I don't have to fight the urge to ask annoying questions like "DID THEY WEAR CROWNS TO DINNER!? OMG SO EXCITED!"

And my parents continue to be hilarious and awesome. My mother wants to teach me to make stained glass things. With my shaky hands. I'll give it a go. Here's hoping I don't solder my face off! And Larry is making calls because he wants another horse. Apparently he annoyed some woman today because he...like...asked intelligent questions. How rude of him. How dare he know the right questions to ask! Pfft.