But Evelyn wants to live at "Home"...*

[bending_sickle]

...a notion she will discover soon enought is better in the imagined ideal than in reality.*

*waves* I'm not dead! I'm also all caught up on my flist - except for today's and capn_mactastic's epic post, which I'm staring at right now.

So, a brief recap, because I'm all LotD-outed. I got to Toronto last Sunday, got new contacts and hit 'em up for new glasses on Monday, saw blizzardcake and katarinagram on Tuesday, walked the cemetary route with Mom on Wednesday, watched Gundam with lienne on Thursday and flew off to Chicago on Friday. Occasionally had to remind self that I'd wanted to go home. May not have worked at times.

Once in Obamaland, I snuggled my bro and went out with his girlfriend, her sister and her friend to a club called Transit, where I actually Did Stuff**. *eyebrow waggle* I danced, too, which was cool.

Then Sunday we had the most delicious hot dogs EVER at Hot Doug's and hung out at the airport 'cause girlfriend's sister's plane was 3 hours delayed.

Monday and Tuesday were spent haunting State St. and Michigan Ave. respectively, browsing through the most god-awful clothes in search for that one spectacular find. (Who doesn't have a party dress for $15? Or an awesome top for $5?) Got my present-shopping finished with, too.

I also spent a good long while talking to bro's girlfriend about important stuff and random stuff and it was really, really nice. And I've realized I like my brother better when he's with other people. Also, while happy to see him happy, feel a bit sad seeing him with Girlfriend because he used to be all friendly and playful with me when we were wee and we've lost that. He's actually said to Girlfriend that he doesn't know why he's so mean to me. Well, at least he knows. But no, in general he's been pretty good this visit. I'm still getting hugs, which is awesome.

Today I read chapter 1 of Obama's Dreams of My Father (*squee*) and spent an hour at the post office, chatting a bit with a lady who works in the law department of a unviersity and is a professional pianist, who's husband or father is "one of the best bassists in Chicago", so I felt pretty special. (She was, however, very vocal and bitter about the slowness of the line, which is Not Cool.) Postcard sent, I skipped over to Ribs 'n Bibs for that once-a-year-if-I'm-lucky dish of BBQ only to find it closed with no warning or excuse. So the three of us went off to a Korean place instead. Then I watched last week's Heroes on the 'net, because I can actually do that while in the states. Awesome.

And that brings us up to now. :)


Meme: Which Torchwood Character Are You?:

Which Torchwood Character Are You? Your Result: Toshiko Sato   You most resemble the team's sweet, unassuming technician. Brilliant, but insecure and lonely, you yearn for companionship but haven't got the courage to reach out to form deeper friendships, but you will sacrifice yourself for those you care about without hesitation. You give your heart away easily but are steady in your affections, and are often hurt by others who don't notice.
Ianto Jones
Gwen Cooper
Captain Jack Harkness
Owen Harper
Which Torchwood Character Are You? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Meme: What Kind of Roman Are You?

Your result for The What Kind of Roman Are You Test, for women...

Do you feel like a slave?

You scored 8% Slave! That's great! (Really.) Read on!

While being a slave puts you on the ground holding the ladder versus even getting to stand on the bottom rung, you’ve picked the best time to be a slave. Never before nor after will slaves be so well treated. Consider yourself lucky.

The Romans are well aware that their slave population greatly outnumbers them and that the side with the most participants would likely win if it came down to fighting it out. So they make sure you are happy and well treated. A satisfied slave is a quiet slave.

You were most likely a Greek, Berber, German, Briton, Thracian, Gaul (or Celt,) Jew, or Arab. You fell into slavery when a legion of Roman soldiers marched into your little village and ransacked it. You weren’t just slaughtered outright because you are a valuable commodity and can be sold for a tidy profit on the open market.

Once taken captive, you were marched off to Rome. Yes, marched. That means you get to walk the entire way. If you die on the way, no one will especially care, so you’d better chin up, and keep up.

Once in Rome, you’ll be kept in a slave pen at the slave market until you are sold. The sale itself will be a little degrading, but it’s worth gritting your teeth and bearing it because it means you’ll move from that horrid slave pen to a real home. And your chances of being in a good home are just that … good.

When you reach your new home, you’ll be given a little room in the slave’s quarters to call your own. You will be assigned a specific duty, and when you aren’t needed for that duty, you get the rest of the day off. For example, you may be assigned to be the mistress’ morning hairdresser. (Someone else will be the evening hair dresser.) Once you’ve combed and styled the mistress’ hair for the day, you have no further duties to perform and can goof off for the rest of the day. You literally have a one or two hour work day.

While it’s doubtful that you will ever see the rest of your family again, you’ll make a new family with the other slaves in the household you are attached to. And like all families, there will be some members you like, and some you don’t.

You really have only one goal in life … to please your master/mistress. This is not because of fear of punishment, it’s because your master/mistress is the only person who can grant your freedom. And freedom isn’t what bad slaves are rewarded with. It’s more like saving up for your retirement. Each time you please your master/mistress, you add a little good favor to your savings account. Then, when your master/mistress dies, their will might include the granting of your freedom. Now, if you work especially hard, you might not have to wait to gain your freedom until your master/mistress dies. Twenty years of loyal service often does the trick. And of course, you can always buy your freedom. It will take a while to save up the money, because you generally will not be allowed to earn it, but if you work at it, you can save it up in about twenty year’s time.

On the downside, you can expect harsh punishment for disobedience and if you try to escape your captivity, you can expect to die on the cross. You may think that you’d die in the Coliseum arena, but your chances of that aren’t likely. That punishment was mainly for criminals … thieves, murderers, and a handful (yes, handful) of Christians who refused to worship the Emperor. Remember, it was not a crime to be a Christian in Roman times. You could belong to any religion you wanted, so long as you also worshipped the Emperor.

All in all, you’d find that being a Roman slave would be very much like working for a large corporation. You had specific duties and hours of work and holidays off. Instead of having to pay an insurance premium, you got free medical care. Instead of being paid a pathetic salary that barely paid your living expenses, you got free room and board. The basic difference would be that as a slave you can’t quit and look for a new job. But hey, you can’t quit and look for a new job anyway, because there aren’t any open jobs out there anymore, are there.

* * *

Take The What Kind of Roman Are You Test, for women at HelloQuizzy

Links of the Day:
Heroes:
xkelorosiamano's Sylar/Elle Fanmix: Angels Fall First
zqfans' ZQuinto commentary of latest episode
for_the_fantasy's RPF Four days Milo Will Never Forget
sylarelle's Fanvid (Elle/Sylar) Split Me Wide Open
radon_'s Picspam: Zachary Quinto - *drool*
beerbad's Fanvid (HRG/Claire) Go back to Sleep
weloveheroes' Theory and recap

Batman:
thebloodyxxx's Fanmix: Everybody Knows You're Insane
batman_lulz's Recaptioning-A-Comic Comment Thread, TDK, Disney Style

Doctor Who and co.:
42number's The Sarah Jane Adventures Fanmix: Prince of the Infinite Skies: a Luke Smith Fanmix
rashaka's Doctor Who/Doctor Horrible Crossover Fanvid Recs (a Favorties selection here)

Lost:
danlotteshipper's Lost Fanfic: Little Yellow Houses
henrygalelovers' Promotional Photos
ack_attack's Daily Dose of Lost - 12/09/08 - Damn big brothers! (Not to be confused with Big Damn Brothers.), Guh-Inducing Photos of Josh Halloway and embedded Lost Sneak Peak
veryevilapple's Lost Fanmix: Well, Benjamin...

SPN:
pdragon76's Fanfic: Blind Spot
charlie_d_blue's SPN Postcards for spn_secretpost
kristallsturm's Wallpaper for leonidaslion's SPN Suit!Verse Fanfic Series

The Devil's Whore:
john_simm's The Devil's Whore Episode 4 Downloads and more links here and here
john_simm's Holiday Edward Sexy icons

Random Fandom:
xmorigins
X-Men Origins: Wolverine Trailer
lilyrose_icons' Your Spine Will Dissolve, a Jacob and Bella Fandmix (EP)
rex_dart's embedded Roxas-esque song and her as Axel - Awesome!
greygirlbeast on Tomas Alfredson's Låt den rätte komma in (2008)
ComingSoon.net's 49 Original-for-a-Motion-Picture songs up for Oscars List

Icons:
isis2015's Icons
iconzicon's Othello Icons, Wolverine Trailer Icons, Pride and Prejudice Mr Darcy icons
franken_stein's Big Bang Theory Icons
rockin_graphix's Wolverine Trailer Icons
duskicons' Holiday-Themed Icons
goldenrosalie's Icons - Including TSCC

Memes:
Which Creature of the Night Are You?
On active_apathy's
On capn_mactastic's and again
On cleolinda's
On phantmgreeneyes

Recipes:
versaphile's Recipe: Beef Stew
ack_attack calls for cookie recipies - Comments abound!
cleolinda's Wereworlf cupcakes

Random - Literary:
NGaiman's The Day the Saucers Came Poster, P. Craig Russell's adaptation of Sandman: The Dream Hunters - Video Interview Clip, Thursday, December 11 2008, wednesday, December 10, 2008 - Peter Murphy book comercial, Monday, December 8, 2008 - On human rights for fictional characters and a recent Australian ruling, on Jonathan Coulton's Monkey Shines Show, Tuesday, december 16, 2008 - Put buttons on your eyes, Coraline-style, with the internet!
qthewetsprocket's Watership Down Review
Time's Top Ten Books of 2008 - Yay Gaiman!
Douglas Adams' The Private Life of Genghis Khan

Random:
greygirlbeast's squee over Lady Sylvanas Windrunner, "the Banshee Queen", song - with embed
Square Root of Minus Garfield - Comic
active_apathy mixes up song lyrics


* LDeSoto re: Black Orchids by GSlovo
** May elaborate later ;)

Comments

[lienne.livejournal.com]

...I want to read this entry, but the HTML is preventing me >_>

[lienne.livejournal.com]

also, hi *squishes*

[bending-sickle.livejournal.com]

*squishes back* Html is fixed \o/

[lienne.livejournal.com]

So about this mysterious "stuff" that you did at clubs...

[bending-sickle.livejournal.com]

It resulted in something like "hockey", except with an i instead of an o... And a smidge of groping. I didn't do much other than stand there like a damsel in a vampire movie, but it felt damn fine :D

[lienne.livejournal.com]

Sweet! :DDDDD

[(Anonymous)]

!!!!!!!!!!

work it, girlfriend. that's awesome.

xxx
kit-kat

[bending-sickle.livejournal.com]

!!!!!!! is about the proper reaction XD I hardly recognized myself. Am such a hedonist.

[blizzardcake.livejournal.com]

where I actually Did Stuff**. *eyebrow waggle* I danced, too,
which was cool. <------- =D omg!!!! Must eventually get the details out of you ;)

*am excited; lots of cool liks to go through*