To *ANDREA, my SISTER and BEST FRIEND:

You are so Vibrant, full of life, and sparkling with ENERGY. You live Without Boundaries! Through your eyes, the WORLD is a Beautiful, Amazing, Adventure! Thank you for sharing your Vision--

*SISTERS FOREVER*

♥ Love, MARCI ♥

So, people who are knowledgeable about RPM-related forums ♥ Would you be willing to assist me? Here is the issue: last week, I made an illustrated post titled Dillon's pack at the_morphin_grid. It included an offhanded comment on my part about Dan Ewing finding Milo Cawthorne cute.

digitalruki was curious to know where I'd heard this, and here is what ran through my head: I think I saw it in a forum. My only recent exposure to Power Rangers forums has been via the inclusion of current forum topics posted to the spandex_report (DW --> spandex_report_feed), therefore mention was likely made there of a Dan Ewing "interview"*.

Unfortunately, I've been back through the last four months or so of the Spandex Report, and I don't see any forum topics labeled "Dan Ewing Thinks Milo Cawthorne Is Cute," and apparently nothing less will jog my memory. Does anyone else remember seeing something like this? Further remembered details below :)

*I put "interview" in quotes because if I recall, Dan Ewing was simply asked (and agreed) to describe his castmates in six words or less, and then to describe their characters in six words or less. The (less than) six words he used to describe Milo Cawthorne indicated to me that he found him attractive (though he phrased it less tastefully than that).

weekend beauty ~

♥ black raspberry and vanilla ice cream
♥ outdoor amphitheaters with stone benches and grass floors
♥ perfect summer evenings with warm breezes and fireflies
♥ dogs who drop their toys in the water and fish them out again
♥ firetowers that everyone's allowed to climb
♥ clear days when you can see all the way to the islands
♥ pale corydalis in the cracks of glacial boulders
♥ blue sky and sunshine

( also, these pictures of a mass stingray migration, by sandra critelli )

Also, random moment of routine beauty ♥ I tend to throw all my colors in together, and I'm no fan of the dryer but clotheslines are like work, so that leads to drying racks that look like this. ( The t-shirts suddenly struck me as so pretty that I got my camera. )

( gem and gemma - that's not pancake batter, silly! )

If you're not watching RPM, these two people are adorable twins who are (as marcicat points out) quite possibly insane after traumatic lives of incarceration, experimentation, and later global destruction accompanied by more imprisonment and torture. (Oh, Power Rangers. How far you've come.) They like to destroy things, perhaps understandably, and it's difficult to tell whether they still experience empathy since they only display one emotion: happiness. Not contentment, or satisfaction, or a sense of peace, just unrelenting manic happiness.

I love them. I want to hug them and give them lots of pool toys and turn them loose on a sandbar somewhere. (Just for a day!) Admittedly, part of the reason I love them is that they don't actually listen to anyone, which I'm sure is largely a result of their tragic emotional scarring, but another part of the reason is this: "Gem and Gemma left me this note," Dr. K says, and then proceeds to read it.

( more pictures, with spoilers for 'prisoners' )

*starandrea: Who was it in Ninja Storm who said, "I thought the red one was supposed to be the leader"?
marcicat: I don't think it was in Ninja Storm; I think it was in Dino Thunder. But I don't remember who it was.

**"How did you figure that out?" "Someone had to, or we'd be here all day."

Dude, I thought I got a lot of dreamwidth invites last time! Dreamwidth gives out batches of invite codes every month or so, because obviously they want to encourage everyone to give the site a try, but they usually only give free users more codes if you don't have any left from the last round.* (Because otherwise they figure you're all set, right?)

Apparently this is not true of paid users, though, because I now have seven invite codes, which is a little ridiculous ::amused:: So, hey, if anyone else wants to try out a free dreamwidth account, let me know! ♥

*ETA: tptigger and sgpr_fan say this is no longer true! So basically anyone you know with a dreamwidth account should now have more invite codes than they know what to do with ::grin:: Yay dreamsheep!

ETAA: I'm going to send mine to dw_codesharing if no one wants them in the next few days ~ dw_codesharing is a lovely community where anyone who *doesn't* know someone on dreamwidth can come by and request a free code, and because demand so far exceeds supply, it's a wonderful place to send invites you might have lying around unused! ♥

Oh my gosh, this is the game! ::laughs:: The game Andros and Zhane play in the observatory, and once on the Bridge with Saryn, and the one the twins' arcade game is named for!* I used to play it on the English room screensavers in high school--I used it as a reference for the Space game out of nostalgia because I think it's important to remember things, but I thought it was long defunct by now.

It turns out that it is, but other people also remember it fondly and so have actually written new things for to be playing it on! ::charmed:: So if you have the old Lunatic Fringe module from the After Dark screensavers, the screensaver won't run on anything any more but you can now play the game module on Fringe Player! And if, like me, you never actually had the screensaver but want to play Lunatic Fringe anyway, you can download the game module here ♥

(Just in case that was totally confusing, what I meant was: if you want to play an old-school (but in color!) video game about shooting space invaders, you need just three things: a macintosh computer, this game, and this game player. After you download and unzip those two files, all you have to do is run Fringe Player and the game will start! Or it will prompt you to find the game, but I just put them in the same folder and the player found the game on its own.)

*From Last One Back, in the observatory and on the Bridge, very briefly in Perfect Life, and then as an arcade game in News Wave.

"Oh, internets, I love you. I love fanfic. Sometimes I look around and think, 'I'm so lucky to be alive right now, in this time.' The entertainment is so good. I mean, I'm eating chocolate chips out of a bag!"
~Marci

*Andrea: And that is why you should always wear your glasses and take a stick instead of a toothbrush when you go out at night.
Marci: Oh no! Was there an animal?
*Andrea: There was something that went "GRRAH!" And of course Whinnie took off down the hill after it and I ran after her--
Marci: And you couldn't see--
*Andrea: Luckily it ran away and I marched Whinnie back. It was a good time.

Which I now feel obligated to document in my journal, apparently ::amused::

Maybe this is a good moment, while the adrenaline wears off, to comment on fear. I was noticing earlier this week the difference between things I am afraid of when I don't think and things I am afraid of when I do. Like, mold. There's something unthinkingly creepy about mold to me, and I don't know why, but I have an automatic flinch reaction that I can mostly control if I think about it. I was cleaning out my car throwing out stuff from my car and I had to keep being like, "Breathe, *Andrea, it's just mold."

Darkness, on the other hand, I've always been unthinkingly comfortable with until I saw that Dr. Who episode with the vashta nerada. Now if I think about it I get all creeped out before I step into a dark shadow, but if I don't, it's nothing. There's a particular curve on the way to the road that's very dark at night, and it sometimes makes me think "flesh eating dust motes" but just the other night I was running to the road to see the space station (fewer trees out there) and I flew barefoot and unthinking through the trees to the open space.

As one does, I suppose.

paperkat: You're so calm! You're like, 'Oh, someone just tried to kill us. Oh well.'"

I was thinking about the secrets to less stressful travel today, after earlier discussions of the Morphicon Pilgrimage of Twenty-Ten (tm), and it occurred to me at some point that A)as with Monty Python, there are very few situations in which quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy are not topical, and B)it makes sense that a travel guide should be like a life guide... as long as you remember that it isn't about getting to the end quickly or efficiently. It's about getting to your final destination enjoyably.

best way to travel:

1)assume that SOMEONE is always willing to help you
2)assume that EVERYONE messes up some of the time

The first is vital because of the second. You will screw up, but because everyone screws up, the world is not designed to revolve around getting everything right the first time. Most of the things you will try to do have been attempted (and successfully completed, at least eventually) by people far less competent than you. THE KEY TO SUCCESSFULLY DOING SOMETHING IS KNOWING WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO. There are lots of helpful signs along the way and a multitude of people for whom it is, quite literally, their mission, job, or pleasure to assist you. You just have to know what kind of sign you're looking for, and/or what to tell people who ask what they can do to make your journey better.

( essentials for reaching your destination )

( when bad things happen )

marcicat: I used to think you were really calm about dangerous things, but then I realized you just don't notice them.

addendum ~ the ever practical backpack

In many of the places you don't need vaccinations or survival gear to visit, the following things will keep you relatively comfortable in unexpected situations:

-photo ID
-small amount of hard currency
-emergency plastic
-communication device
-an article of clothing that will make you warmer than you are now
-shoes you can walk at least two miles in
-OTC painkillers
-water bottle

So recently someone told me something about upcoming work assignments, and my reaction made me clap my hand over my mouth. (Figuratively speaking, I mean.)

Basically this person said, "Person 1 and Person 2 will be working together. And you know what's bad? Person 1 hates Person 2." And I caught myself just before I would have said, "Well, I think that's a common sentiment."

I got as far as, "Well..." And then my expression did something that was probably very humorous, and I managed to conclude, "That's too bad," in what I hope was a very sympathetic sounding way.

Because I am totally sympathetic to incompatability!

Julianne: I haven't heard for sure that we're going to [do that], but I assume we will.
*Andrea: Well, it makes a lot of sense, so... that makes me doubt it.
Ryan: Yes! That's exactly what Aaron said: "That would make sense, so probably not."

::sparkle:: Tigger makes me feel so loved! (Note to self: bring tptigger a present!) I would like to second her priorities: the whole reason I go to cons is to see friends! ♥ I like themes like "science fiction" (Arisia) or "Power Rangers" (Morphicon) because they draw particular friends, certainly, but the themes themselves don't have a great deal of intrinsic value to me. All themes are good in appropriate company, and no themes are good without appropriate company!

Also, ISS flyby tonight from 2158 to 2200, max elevation 60 degrees with a brightness of -3.6! Sweet! There's a Russian supply ship following the station (much dimmer but visible to the unaided eye in dark skies, about a minute behind it now). The ship is Progress 33, angling to test a new automated docking system, which means that in a few days it will be close enough to reach out and touch the ISS. Seriously, were the supply ship carrying passengers, they'd be able to jump (properly suited and tethered, of course!) from ship to station on July 12. Glee! ♥

"Against the grain should be a way of life
What's worth the price is always worth the fight
Every second counts 'cause there's no second try
So live like you're never living twice"

~Nickelback, "If Today Was Your Last Day"

♥ Whinnie and I have gotten so good at coordinating eyedrops that tonight I was able to squeeze one arm in between the large piece of furniture she was sleeping under and the wall, push her eyelid back with my pinky finger, and squeeze a drop into her eye at the same time. She's so tolerant.

♥ My car is not waterproof, just in case you were wondering. The trunk leaks and the water sometimes runs into the back seat, and as a result, there's rather a lot of mold in some parts of the vehicle. I am irrationally afraid of mold, so this is great for letting me practice not freaking out.

♥ In addition to the RPM twitter roleplay, there is now also a Star Trek twitter roleplay! Because everyone loves a roleplay where you're only committed to 140 characters at a time! (Linked by b_dsaint, who is playing Spock!)

♥ I'm going to two whole conventions next year! With a bandana full of exclamation marks, apparently! I'll be rooming with my sister at Arisia, and also at Power Morphicon II if I can talk her into going. And I don't learn too much about it in advance.

♥ randysmith has made me want to go to 13 Falls again, so if anyone feels like an overnight excursion to the Pemigewasset this summer (probably next month), let me know! It's an eight mile hike in, over not particularly steep terrain, and the river is beautiful.

♥ We all attended an annual diversity training seminar this week at work, and then marcicat linked to this Star Trek story: Wrote the Book, by insaneidiot. It was amusing (in practice) and aggravating (in principle), the latter because all physical contact is getting swallowed under the "sexual harassment" label. (I worked at a camp where they were like, "hugging is an important part of the human experience, and we don't want you to not hug - just make sure you're never alone with a camper when you do it.")

( wherein *Andrea totally fails to talk about actual harassment )

*Andrea: ...and as my mom says, that's why we can't see the future.
Joe: Can you see the future?
*Andrea: Yes.
Joe: I thought so.

"This somewhat defeats the point of twitter, but... I just tweeted you. 'And every time I post to twitter, I have to go tell someone!'"
~Marci

"I tried to reassure myself that even though it took me seven days to write what I have so far, it would take a reader less than a minute to read it, and therefore the 'long boring part' wasn't really that long. It was not as motivational as one might have thought."
~Marci

"He tried to tell us their fish oil is really good because they include the oil from the brain and that's the part the bears eat first. And I was like, 'Okay, wait a minute. If the bear eats the brain first it's only because the head goes down first.' They don't look at the fish and think, 'Which end do I eat first? I'm sure I learned this in bear school...' No! They eat the whole fish! This is the same guy who told us we should eat the same things eskimos eat, and I was like, 'But we're not eskimos!'"
~Marci

The ISS is overhead every night this week. Capricorn full moon a couple hours after midnight tonight, and it makes everything sparkle. The stars, the ice crystals in the cirrus clouds, the twinkling planes with their glowing jet trails. The mica glints along every path and the wildflowers glow white while fireflies flash under the trees. The wind and the sound of the frogs through the rustling leaves. The wrens are all asleep but a barred owl is hooting off in the distance.

This icon by katharynne makes me laugh almost as much as the one that says, "I reject your captaincy and substitute my own" by angel_elf_icons. In order to make this have some small amount of meaning beyond a GIP, I have included a reference to the Which Lolcat Are You? quiz ♥

starandrea is lion warning cat: "You are the good Samaritan of the lolcat world. Protecting others from danger by shouting observations and guidance in cases of imminent threat, you believe in the well-being of everyone."

ETA: I just took this quiz again and the only difference is that Lion Warning Cat is MOAR affectionate, excitable, and hungry today than she was then ::amused:: We really don't change much over the years, do we. "Jesus Christ it's a lion GET IN THE CAR"

compared to other people who took this quiz ~

# You scored 81% on Affection, higher than 96% of your peers.
# You scored 79% on Excitability, higher than 98% of your peers.
# You scored 47% on Hunger, higher than 50% of your peers.
# You scored 100% on Felinity, higher than 50% of your peers.

Oh my gosh, I love you guys so much. All the time. You make my life, I can't even tell you. You are all, ALL, so beautiful and special, I just want to hug you. Individually and together. Just so you know. Never doubt that you bring something amazing and unique to the world, just by being in it and by being yourselves ♥♥♥

I made this icon from a Newsweek cover (photo by Gus Powell) because it represents my entire childhood and also, I love it. "To boldly go... how Star Trek taught us to dream big." I just wanted to share that. Ooh, and the Air & Space museum has the Enterprise model in it! We weren't allowed to take pictures, but it made me happy.

( RPM-inspired anger )

( fluffy RPM commentary - supposedly, actually it's not really )

( moving on - kind of, here are some swear-filled Star Trek links )

...I'm really spreading joy and love today, aren't I? ::amused:: Best whale watch I've ever been on yesterday (Hi Solace!) with a group of birders and an awesome conversation with marcicat re: what kids believe ("I always say that people don't give kids enough credit for knowing the difference between what's real and what's not, but I may be totally wrong about that... because I still think that humpbacks are the rarest and most special whales, and it's all because of Star Trek IV." "Yes! Because they were extinct once, you know!" "Exactly!") and finbacks and baleen and fireworks.

"I think minke whale must stand for invisible whale," Marci said. And when someone told her that you don't see northern gannets around here very often she was like, "Really, that white speck out there? Because I'm not seeing it that well right now."

♥ bird sightings: northern gannet, northern fulmar, wilson's storm-petrel, common tern, cormorants, a sparrow that landed on my hat and then flew to Marci's shoulder!

It was fabulous. And then we had veggie burgers and salad and cranberry and chips, watched the Boston Pops on TV, watched Power Rangers on youtube, and I stayed up reading Star Trek stories into the wee hours of the morning.

back from ur oceans watchin' ur whales! (nappin' before ur bbqs & fireworks)

julnowrimo progress: 200 words o.O

♥

(icon = love! marcicat gave me a heart compass!

"follow your heart - it knows the way")

YAY! Whinnie update: she is awesome! (Oh, right, that went without saying!) But health- and vision-wise, she is also awesome, and this is why. We've been trying to stabilize her remaining eye for the past month and a half, and as of two weeks ago it wasn't looking good. The ophthalmologist put her on a human glaucoma medication in a last-ditch effort to decrease the pressure in her eye--and it's working! ♥

She isn't cured, but she never will be short of an experimental surgery that might or might not work. For as long as this medication continues to help and cause no overly ill side effects, though, she doesn't need the surgery to keep her vision. She's still on eyedrops seven times a day, but the ophthalmologist feels confident enough in the results that she's going to take a break from her every-other-week checkup and wait a couple of months before the next pressure check.

This is much better news than I was expecting yesterday :)

( In celebration, have some adorable furry pics! )

Also, love and good wishes for the woman I met at the clinic yesterday. We started talking about Anne McCaffrey and ended up swapping companion animal stories. ( with hugs )