I have a new favorite song: "Gravity" by Sara Bareilles.  Just downloaded the sheet music, but alas, there's no piano to play with.  And besides, it's 2:30am, and I'm pretty sure the other people in the house would appreciate me playing right now.  Lucky for them.

Reason this is my new favorite song?  Because I was introduced to it this morning while watching my recording of So You Think You Can Dance.  The dance is about an addict feuding with her addiction.  Mia Michaels, you're amazing:

Under the cut you will find my review for Christie Golden's first venture into a galaxy far, far away: Omen.


( apologies in advance for the typos that I'm sure are in here )

My J/J vig is now posted over at TF.N: The Morning After 

Hope you like it!

And now time to start on the Omen review.  Hopefully it won't take more than a couple of hours to type up.

So if the Qualifying List up in Resource is the final count, I received five nominations this year.  (Yay)  And now have to find excerpts to send in.  (Boo)  Anyone who has any ideas for the following let me know:

Canon: When Will You Realize
Romance: When Will You Realize
Underrated: The Definition of Duty
Vignette: When Will You Realize
OC, Female: Renna Fel in The Definition of Duty


Big thanks to you if you nominated me.  :)

The plot bunny bit, and I have to respect it for something this huge.  So pardon me while I go write a J/J fluffy, happy vig instead of posting the review, which will now probably get done on Thursday since tomorrow is jam packed for me.  *Goes back to giggling and writng because I'm a pathetic, little fangirl*

( Big ol' Omen spoilers )

I'm in chapter 22 of 25, and am planning on finishing it tonight. Will do my best to get my review up tomorrow.

Last night I dreamed I was Pam and I was getting married to Jim, I was even preggers.  The ceremony was at this old hotel we (everyone in the office) went to (one of Michael's crazy trips maybe?).  The only two things I remember from the ceremony are Dwight providing special music and singing some song about water and the fact that I woke up right before the ceremony ended.  Dang it.

First, look at the awesome icon crazyvictoria  made.  Loves it.

Second, speaking of Voyager icons, go be cool and vote in the tie-breaker for this week's challenge.

Third, I've added two friends to my f-list because they have Sims 3, make BSG characters for it, and post about it.  I keep trying to remind myself that it looks a lot like Sims 2 (which I have), but little attribute creep in that make me really want to get it.  But on top of having to pay for the game, I'd have to pay to upgrade my computer's OS, and I can't justify spending that much money, especially when my car is currently being repaired.  I myself have fandom neighborhoods in my Sims 2 (Star Wars, Star Trek, and BSG).  Maybe I'll starting posting about them.  *Looks at to-do list and five library books to read*  Then again, maybe I'll do that later.

Fourth, I'm in chapter 7 of Omen.  Nothing horrible or fantabulous yet.  I'll start posting a review tomorrow maybe after I do some more reading tonight.

A reminder for those of you who play over at TF.N--Beyond noms are due tonight.  The qualifying list is extremely sparse.  Go help out.

EDIT: We have a couple of ties that need broken over at voy_stillness , so if you haven't already, go vote for Challenge 119.

Of the three deaths I've learned about today, is it bad that the saddest one to me is of Lorena Gale?  If you don't know, she played Elosha on BSG.  And if you still don't know who that is, that's fine (although you should watch the show, but whatever).  When I got the e-mail from CNN this morning about Farrah Fawcett, the hymn "Oh Freedom" started playing in my head.  I hope that both she and Michael Jackson both find a peace that seemed to elude them here.

My Omen request came in this afternoon, and I just picked it up.  I knew it was under 300 pages, but it wasn't until I held it in my hand that I realized how thin it truly is.  I'm just happy I'm reading a new Star Wars hardback without paying thirty dollars for it.

As usual, I'll get a chapter-by-chapter review going as soon as I get going (which should be tonight after I go see a mechanic about getting the air conditioning in my car fixed).  I'll do my best to remain unbiased towards the new author to the Star Wars realm, but I make no promises.  I wasn't too impressed with her Voyager book that I read (granted, have yet to be impressed by a Voyager book).  And I'm not to thrilled about the person on the cover being a new character.  I don't want this to be another Karen Traviss/Mando-esque... thing to get my blood pressure up to unhealthy levels.  Why can't they put some of the new generation on the covers instead of people we haven't met?  Although, thanks to snarkel , I think I saw a blurb about there being two characters on the next Allston cover.  Could we finally be getting some Jaina/Jag cover love?  Please, oh please, let that be the case.  The icon possibilities would be endless.

Anyway, time to hop in the shower, then go into to town to once again have the inside of my car be cooler than the 90-some degree air outside of my car.

I left here on Friday morning for Nashville, TN.  The trip was supposed to take just under four hours, it took a little longer than that due to stopping for some T(aco) Bell in a town that reeked of manure without a single farm in sight (but on the upside, I did get to fill up at a gas station named Nervous Charlie's--totally went there just for the name).  Then the drive was made longer due to poor directions from Google Maps, which told me to turn from Street A to Street B and then into the hotel.  Sounds easy enough, but Street A doesn't connect to Street B.  And my hotel was actually located on Street C, which Google Maps never mentioned.  Do yourself a favor: only use RandMcNally.com for your driving directions.  Thus I spent 30 minutes driving in a one mile radius and confirming what my sister discovered a week ago (and what I was hoping to be a one time fluke): the air conditioning in my car is no longer functioning.  My car with black leather interior and nearly 100 degree weather outside.  I'll spare you the details of my sweatiness.

But I made it.  The reason for the trip you ask?  My cousin's wedding.

I got into the amazingly air conditioned hotel, and waited for my family to come back from the rehearsal.  Once they did, my Dad asked if we all wanted to check out some art fair in the park across the street.  While it sounded like fun, there was no way I was going back out into the heat, so my sister and I each took a bed, curled up, and alternated between ABC Family and the Discovery channel. 

That evening we did finally go to the park across the street where there was a BBQ.  Only slightly below seeing family on the list of things that were awesome was the dessert for the evening.  Some local place there makes the most amazing popsicles ever.  My favorite was Cookies and Cream, which was basically a frozen Cookie Dough Blizzard on a stick, followed closely by Strawberry which had plenty of actual fruit in it to make it incredible.

Yesterday morning, also in the park, there was a one mile run to honor the fact that the groom's family is made up of a bunch of avid runners.  Since I don't participate in such an activity unless being chased by someone with a weapon and since the temperature was already closing in on 90 at 8am, I stayed in bed.

We eventually did get up, and after getting in our greasy goodness quota for the day with a McDonald's breakfast, we began taking shifts for the hotel room's bathroom to get ready, which only took about three hours with the four of us.  We then made our way over towards Vanderbilt's campus and the beautiful Wightman chapel where the ceremony was to take place.  My personal dream wedding scenario is a beach for the setting with immediate family only for guests, then everyone can come to a big party later.  But if I were to do a more traditional wedding setup, I would easily agree to having something like this for the location.  It was gorgeous.

Once my sister and I familiarized ourselves with our station (we were the guestbook attendants), we went in search of Jennifer, our cousin.

I never cry at weddings.  And I didn't think I would cry at any point during this weekend.  I was wrong.

Jennifer is the closest thing I have to a big sister.  She's who I want to be when I grow up: intelligent, gorgeous, well-spoken, funny, and has a closet to die for.

Back track to a little over four years ago.  Jennifer had invited me out to Brooklyn (where she was living at the time), and on Christmas I took her up on it saying I would come out for spring break.  I'll never forget that week for as long as I live, and one of the reasons why is because that's where I met Warren.  Since Jennifer was at work, he was the one who greeted me as my taxi pulled up to the apartment the two of them shared with their friend George and Leo the cat.  We stashed my stuff away and the two of us went on adventure that spanned a good chunk of Manhattan where we later met up with Jennifer.  A couple nights later on a subway ride back to the apartment from a taping of Letterman, Warren and I ran into someone he knew.  He introduced me as "my girlfri--roommate's cousin".  The following night over Indian food, again when Jennifer wasn't around, he said he needed to explain the comment he made.  He then told me how he watched his friend and roommate at Harvard date Jennifer, and over time Warren fell in love with her.  But since the other guy and Jennifer dated for the majority of her time at Harvard, Warren didn't think he'd ever get a chance.  Then, lo and behold, Jennifer and the other guy broke up and a couple of years later, Jennifer wanted to move to New York and needed a place to stay and was reunited with Warren.

For the record, I asked Jennifer a couple of months later if she knew they were dating at the that moment in time when I was there for spring break.  She said no, so I feel kind of special knowing that they were a couple before she did.  Anyway.

I watched Warren's eyes light up as he told his bit of history.  I responded by letting him know that I was happy for the two of them, and that I hope that it lasted for a long time, but if it didn't and he was even the tiniest bit at fault, I'd break his kneecaps.

Fast forward to yesterday and to Jennifer walking down the hall towards me in her wedding dress with the light behind her making her gorgeous red hair shine with a huge smile on her face.  She looked positively angelic.  And it was obvious that she was on the verge of claiming something she's waited for.  It was that sight and realization that made me cry tears of joy.  Not many, but enough that I made myself walk away before I made her start to cry.

So, to my cousin Jennifer and my new cousin Warren, congratulations and mazel tov.  I can't wait to celebrate the highlights of your marriage, and I'll always be here if you need any help I can offer with the times that get rocky.  I love you both dearly.

And, if you want, you can read their wedding announcement in the New York Times.  The only thing I'm sad it doesn't mention is my Dad's new BFF, Rabbi Hayli who was his co-officiant at the ceremony.

If you play over at TF.N, don't forget (even though some of you may try to) that Awards are going on right now.  I'm working for Saga, and we've only had a few things qualify for voting.  Take a look at the nom list and see if anything looks interesting to you and send in your noms.  And if you're a Beyond fan, nomming starts tomorrow.  Before fans, I think your noms are due tonight.

This is the tie-breaker that will never end.  Will you please go vote for which icon you like better, even if you aren't a Star Trek fan?  Thank you.

EDIT: Tie was broken with a two-vote margin.  So no need to vote anymore, but thanks to those who did on my awesome f-list.

Guess what I saw today?  (Points to icon)  And, yes, it was fantastic.  Details tomorrow, need to go to bed now since I'm working 9-4 tomorrow.

Gakked from jade_skywalker 

Post an excerpt from every WIP you can find lying around.

( 4 WIPs under the cut )

Thank you Entertainment Weekly (and my sister for the free subscription) for pointing out that if you go to Coldplay's website, you can download nine tracks from one of their concerts for free.  It includes "Fix You"; therefore, you must go download. 

Second, I've taken over voy_stillness  and our first challenge back from a five month long break is up, and you should definitely go participate.

I know I said yesterday that I wasn't going to cross post between here and the photoblog, but this one turned out so pretty I can't resist sharing: