Distracted By Something Shiny

I just suddenly remembered that I woke up in the middle the night and made notes about a dream I had. So in the dream dugindeep and I were watching TV and a commercial came on for a new musical and I said, “Oh yeah, I heard about this, but I didn’t know they had made it.” It was a new musical that was going to premier live on TV and then, if it did well, it was going to become a Broadway musical.

It was a cross between Beauty & the Beast meets Jurassic World, that’s how it was billed. It was starring Jensen Ackles in the lead, but like as...idk The Beast? The Beauty? It also starred Chris Pratt, Emilie de Ravin, Will Farrell, Rob Schneider, Kristen Bell, David Bowie... ‘s ghost? Lin Manuel Miranda, Lauren Graham, Kevin Nealon, Matthew Fox, Joseph Gordon Levitt & Michelle Williams. Those are all the ones I can remember anyways.

At one point it had three SNL guys in a row, Kevin Nealon, Rob Schneider, and a faceless guy I think may have been Jason Sudeikis. They were old timey radio announcers and Joe DiMaggio had died and was donating his organs and so they were announcing every time another of Joe DiMaggio’s organs was placed with a recipient. “Joe DiMaggio’s liver! Dunduh. Joe DiMaggio’s spleen! Dunduh.”

Another line I recall in the musical, that was being sung, was...”This tastes like Chris Pratt fell...from a Sharknado.”

Jensen looked freaking amazing and he was singing and I turned to dugindeep and said, “I think I will die if I see this. Then I’ll be reborn again just so I can see it again and die again.”

She said, “You know you can just tell them you’re dying and it’s your last wish for you & your friend — I said *you & your friend* — to see this live. It won’t be a lie really, if you then do die from seeing it, right?”

So that happened in my brain. My sister says I took too many drugs in my goth phase.

My sister is feeling better and we were able to have the kids this weekend. It went really well. The little one freaked out a bit at bedtime, but we took her around and showed her where everyone was going to sleep and then she felt better. The Nephew was loads of help with her too. We took them to the mall - sadly, the Bouncy Place has closed down - and let them ride some quarter rides and play at the little arcade. He held her hand and chased after her when she would start to run off and helped her play on the ‘slide’ - it’s really a ceramic/metal hippo thing that kids play on, been there since I was little. It was exhausting as all get out, but a really nice weekend. Also managed to make it to Grandma‘s. She is nearly 90 years old and about to have heart surgery on Thursday and though the doctors approved her for it, I can’t help but worry. She says it’ll either go well and she’ll get a few more years with her great-grandkids or it won’t and then she’ll just go be with Grandpa. Which I find rather sweet and hopeful, I suppose.

I’ve also had a few dreams lately that I thought I’d share. ( Under the cut. )

Anyways, what’s up with all you guys?

So, yesterday I get a phone call from Little Girl Cousin wanting to know if she could borrow a dress. She came over to look through my closet and I asked what she needed it for. She has to do a presentation for History Class about a great historical woman. She picked Mary Seacole, who was a Jamaican born woman in the 1800s of Scottish and Creole descent. During the Crimea Wars, she tried to register to volunteer as a nurse, but was refused. Determined, she set up a ‘hotel’ behind the war lines that provided food and beds to the sick and treatment for the wounded. Anyways, I showed LGC several dresses and we decided on the brown and pink one. It is actually from the girl’s section, so looser fitting which is both more age appropriate - (she is ten now!) - and time period appropriate for her character. Soft, cotton, brown, flowing dress, with pink collar and a pink bow and a scoop neck. Because of the scoop neck and the loose fit, I also loaned her a white long-sleeve undershirt and a pair of black tights. I told her to keep in mind that for about the next two years, we would be roughly the same size and she could borrow anything she wants. Probably until high school and then she’ll be way too tall for my clothes. I got all excited thinking that she might wear one of my dresses to her first school dance or something.

Also, The Canadian Nephew has been having some stress because, as he is bilingual with English and French, his sister told him that they were not suppose to speak English at daycare. So the kid is all scared to talk at daycare now, because he always switches between languages when talking and is he afraid he might get in trouble. One of his little daycare friends - whose family is also bilingual and who speak English at home - invited TCN to his birthday party. This is TCN’s first birthday party invite - (he is 3 ½ now) - and I guess he was a bit confused about the language thing, because he was told this family speaks English at home, but this kid is from his daycare, where his sister has convinced him they are never to speak English at all. So the night before the party, my brother hears TCN crying out in his sleep and he goes in the room to find the little guy yelling out, “No! No! I only speak English!” Omg, my little dude was having a stress dream. I wish they lived closer, I need to give him a hug!

That is all.

I haven't talked about TV in forever, so let's give this a go! Because I've had a lot of Feels about TV lately. Mildly general spoilers, but nothing significant...

The Walking Dead - It was an entire episode about my two favorite people, Carol & Daryl! I think there are parts of it I will have to rewatch again, just cuz, I have a lot of feels! That scene in the safe house, where they were laying side by side on the bunk - they were just fucking teasing us! And the thing is, I don’t even know if I want them to get together-together. It’s one of those relationships that while I am screaming at the TV, “Omg, kiss already,” - although in this episode I really wanted them to just hold hands - I also don’t need them to kiss, because they are just perfect as they are. My sister said, “It really doesn’t matter if they get together in a sexual way or not, because they are together. Even if this is as far as it goes, this is them together.” And she is so right! And I still maintain that Carol did it on purpose to get inside the building and get a better look at what they were up against. She even said earlier in the ep, “What are we gonna be able to tell just from watching?” The other night I dreamed that I was writing a Carol/Daryl fic - “The Five Times They Didn’t Kiss And The One Time They Did,” and now I kind of really want to write it, but also I’m like, “I could never do it better than they do on the show.”

The 100th episode of Hawaii Five-O - My only complaint was that I thought it was going to be ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’, whereas it ended up more of ‘The Wizard Of Oz’ - you know, “…and you were there, and you were there…” But I still loved it! I loled so hard at McGarrett having to strip off the layers though, but damn that man looks good. And the scene where they find Steve, omg, the way Danny’s voice breaks on it! Steve was fucking breaking my heart at the end too! I got all worked up over this ep, talking at the TV more than usual - (which is saying something since I talk a lot at the TV during this show). And the music video at the end? I literally said out loud, “Omg, why are you doing this to me? I love you all so much, you fucking bastards.” I have rewatched that music vid a number of times already, thank you very much.

Sleepy Hollow - My 2 favorite characters on this show are Jenny and Irving. And my 2 favorite relationships are the realistic sister relationship between Abbie & Jenny and the broship of Ichabod & Abbie. So this episode had pretty much everything I love the best. Sisters! And Irving getting back in the game! And, even though not a lot of the broship, what we got was adorable - Abbie tucking him all in and shit. My sister says it was her favorite episode thus far. It also had the perfect amount of MotW and Mythology mix for me. The whole Rosemary’s Baby thing is a fricking awesome storyline!

So…who wants to talk TV?

It's like I'm dreaming fanfic, I swear.

Last night I dreamed about Spike, Dawn & Angel.

( Under the cut! )

Yep. That was my dream. I was sad when I woke up that it wasn't a real thing that had happened because it was so sweet - everyone was so sweet and in love. And then I thought how it really came off like a fanfic, except who would write a fanfic where Dawn was a heroin addict? IDEK, but it was glorious. My dream gave me a lot of feels, okay!

Let's talk about a crazy dream I had a few nights ago. It's been awhile since I wrote one of these up - I suspect it will seem even stranger on 'paper'.

It started with my family returning from vacation and my mom wanting me to go to dinner with everyone and I was like, "I just spent 3 weeks in the car with you people, I don't need to go to dinner with you too." I went in my room and there were suddenly these bats - (but they also looked kind of like owls, idek) - outside my window, pecking against the glass. I was freaked, cuz bats freak me, but I thought, "They can't get in, it's okay." But then they chewed through the screen, bursting through the glass. I screamed and ran out. When my dad went to check, the room was completely full of bats. They weren't scared of people, so they would perch right on you and you had to hold really still, because if they got startled, they'd bite and you'd get rabies and die.

( This dream also involves scientists, Harry Potter, my friend K, Teen Wolf and graphic TV sex. )

I rewound one more time. And then I woke up.

Yep. IDEK. The next night I had a dream that entailed myself, some kids I went to junior high with, the Leverage crew, the Friends, a smattering of X-Men, an evil military and some candy bars.

Being sick has sparked a lot of hospital nightmares. As I sleep, I can tell how sick I feel and that sparks medical thoughts in my brain or something. I keep dreaming about having heart-attacks, because the albuterol is making my heart race. And one night I dreamed that K died of a heart-attack, but before that we had hooked up, and I woke up unsure which of those two things was more disturbing. So any dreams I have these days that aren’t nightmares should be celebrated.

( My Fandom Dreams Under The Cut. )

Anyways, those were my dreams. Someday I should tell you all about the one where Stiles and I got together with the help of a serial killer.

It’s getting that time of year...spring cleaning for the Tivo. A whole host of cable shows just ended their runs for the season; Being Human, The Walking Dead, Justified, Hoarders, What Not To Wear (which actually does split seasons). Even Lost Girl only has two episodes left! How is that possible? This season was way too short. Also, it was very lacking in Hale. We wait until Friday to watch with The BFF, so I haven’t actually gotten to see the most recent episode he was in. Apparently my anticipation to see Hale is high because I had an in-depth dream about him this week that involved a lot of awkward flirting on my part - (mostly awkward because my family was in the room while I did it and we somehow thought we could stop the apocalypse by doing arts and crafts - idek). Anyways, regular seasons shows will also be coming to an end in about a month here, so I thought it was a good time to take stock.

( Reality TV Talk under the cut. )

So let me ask you guys that watch Downton Abbey, cuz my sister watches it and she just finished series one, but we Tivoed season three from PBS, so she would have it when she is ready. For some reason it only taped seven episodes, even though every episode guide and list that I have seen says, ‘Eight episodes and a Christmas special’. (six seasons and a movie!) I get PBS not running the Christmas special because it isn’t technically part of the season, but did they not run all of the episodes either? If you watch the show, how many episodes were there in series three?

Lastly, I keep thinking I am going to give up Arrow at the end of the season, but every time I think that, Felicity and Diggle do something awesome. Mostly I am just tired of the island flashbacks. We get it - he was stranded on an island and in order to survive he became a killing machine, thanks. Why did they feel they needed to show the island stuff to begin with? Now that they have though, they’ve weaved all this conspiracy into it, so they can’t give it up next season. Idk, I’m still wavering on this one.

For the record, I don't think I can ever bring myself to change out my What Not To Wear icon to any other reality show now. Just sayin, Stacey & Clinton are my scarecrows - I'm gonna miss them most of all!

I think I manage to keep it pretty spoiler-free here, but I’ll go under a cut just in case you don’t want even the tiniest bit about the movie upfront.

( Red Dawn, at last, at last! )

We also watched a movie that ceitfianna brought with her called ‘Stardust’. It was based off a Neil Gaiman book and it was really quite good. It was a twisty-turny fairy tale type thing and it had some amazing actors in it. I rather liked the surprise of Ricky Gervais, but my favorite was De Niro as the pirate captain. I actually kind of want some fic about him now, just fun adventurey pirate stuff. All the brother-princes were great, Michelle Pfeiffer was amazing as the head witch, and Claire Danes was both sweet and gorgeous as the fallen star. The whole concept of a falling star hitting earth and being shocked into human form was very cool. The humor was very fun as well and it had a look to it that almost felt like book illustrations. Just a good fairy tale adventure story and I highly recommend it.

Now, who was it on my friends list that wrote Stardust into a J2? Because I didn’t know this movie when you wrote it, but about 15 minutes into the show I thought to myself, “Oh! This is the movie that J2 was based off of!”

I saw both those movies in the same day and it combined that night with me dreaming about the kids from Red Dawn fighting off an invasion…of witches. Though I seem to recall that at least some of the witches were from Shrek as well because I’d been watching that a bit the day before. That’s just how my subconscious rolls.

It has been a suckfest this week. It started out really good when anyothergirl415 started talking to me about Without A Trace and I convinced her to try some Danny/Martin and then proceeded to spend the next day and a half reading old fics and watching old fanvids and just generally reliving one of my favorite pairings ever, ever, ever.

But on Tuesday we got a phone call from my dad that the doctors want to do surgery on his leg. They wanted him to get into this rehab ward last year and he refused to go. By the time he finally decided to do it, their options had shrunk considerably because the leg was in such bad shape - (infections have taken their toll). The thing about my dad is that he is in really bad health and weighs more than I would like to admit. He is high risk when it comes to both atheistic and post-surgery infections. But it is basically their only option and I understand his decision that this is worth the risk because his quality of life is so poor. Needless to say, there is a really high chance my dad won't fare well with this surgery and we are all bracing ourselves for that.

( Like a top that won't stop spinning. )

Plus side: I did finally manage to get my labwork drawn. I have been awake late every night which did mean that I got to watch Ferguson's first week at the new studio. I was also awake to see that JDM was going to be his guest, which somehow I hadn’t set to tape, so I caught that as well. The BFF came down early this afternoon so we could watch SYTYCD together just like old times. Also, she posted the first chapter of my birthday story, which deserves a rec post of its own so that it doesn't get lost amongst all of this crap I just threw at you. And she brought down the new S3 Community dvds.

In Sum: I started typing this post in the afternoon but didn’t get around to post it until 10:30 at night, and after several episodes of Community, I already feel the weight of this week lifting off me. Community: It heals all ails. Still...sucky week.