Thursday night, anxious

[cleolinda]

Hmm. I think I'm slipping into my old coping tactic, which is, essentially, avoidance, couple with epic napping. Basically, once my annual winter depression started up senior year, I crawled into bed and started failing classes. This was probably the low point of my entire life--not so much in what happened but because I caused most of it by refusing to deal with what started it. So, you know, here I am all over again, and it's clearer than ever that my default reaction to adversity is to hide and hibernate (hidernate?). And it doesn't have to be. A habit is a learned thing, after all--growing accustomed to a repeated action. So I'm just going to have to "cowboy up," as my aunt puts it, and put in some quality work on these annotations as quickly as I can. I have had so many chances in my life to really step forward and choose the better, stronger, happier path (and if you want to know the truth, the weaker path is a cul-de-sac, metaphorically speaking), and I almost never do. I can do this, and I can do it now.

Linkspam:

Torch rerouted away from S.F. protests; Anger after few in San Francisco see torch; Bush presence at games gala uncertain; China says foils "terrorist" plot to kidnap Olympians.

Raid on Sect’s Temple Detailed; A dark history repeats for religious sect.

News Corp in talks to join Microsoft on Yahoo bid.

Biologist Rupert Sheldrake stabbed at lecture.

New clues at Stonehenge dig.

Frog without lungs found in Indonesia.

Ice-cream stick ship sails for England.

Awful Facebook Invitations [Things We Actually Like].

invisible boom box serenade; "Sumday u will save lotsa ppl, meet sum robotz, an den become a doosh."

Does Steampunk Smell Better Than Other Subcultures? Strangely, I don't think there's any mention of BPAL here. Because that's totally what I thought they were getting at.

A 40-Year Acid Trip, From Literary Axe-Man And Heroes Creator.

The 'Worst Fake Rap In A Novel' Award Goes To Tom Wolfe.

Dick Cheney's shades reflect a strange being.

Why Superman Will Always Suck [Comics]. "Heck, Superman's arc in Kingdom Come isn't even anything deeper than 'America has forgotten me and I them, and we need to restore faith in one another.' Wow - real interesting. While you're doing that, Batman will be over in the corner, contemplating suicide."

Neil Patrick Harris: Say no to Britney!

No 'Secret': CBS cans show after one episode.

Ferguson tops O'Brien in viewership for first time.

So... pretty much all of American Idol Gives Back last night was pre-taped.

Almost half of the charges dropped in Hollywood wiretap case.

New stills: Bolt, The Edge of Love, Funny Games, Get Smart, The Princess and the Frog, Rapunzel, Up, Yes Man, Quantum of Solace, The Prisoner: Or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair, From Within; Tropic Thunder (posters); Eagle Eye.

Alvin and the Chipmunks Tops Sweeney Todd. For shame, y'all. Although I can see how a kids' movie might have, by definition, a larger audience than a musical about serial murder and cannibalism.

Confirmed: Extract of Deathly Hallows, New Illustrations in Book for Prince Charles.

"Twilight" Author Stephenie Meyer Talks J. K. Rowling; Behind the Scenes on 'Twilight', the Vampire Romance for the Ages.

New Zealand Post Office Unveils Prince Caspian Stamps; Moviefone Launches 'Prince Caspian' Character Guide.

Bale Spotted on 'Public Enemies' Set.

Julie Christie, Orlando Bloom and Shia LeBeouf Join 'New York, I Love You.' "New York is a collection of short stories, part of a 'Cities of Love' anthology that was begun by Paris, je ta'ime. New York will reportedly be followed by Shanghai, and then cities in South America and Africa."

The One Enemy Indiana Jones Never Expected To Face [Morning Spoilers].

Sneak peek: 'Hancock' Another superhero with issues?

Agnes Bruckner Joins the 'Vacancy' Prequel.

A Few Scraps of 'Wolverine' News -- New Cast Member Added.

Rob Corddry is Ari Fleischer in Stone's 'W.'

More Bad Buzz for 'Incredible Hulk.'

First Teaser Trailer for 'Quarantine.'

'Space Chimps' Trailer is Barely Survivable.

Hilarious 'Sarah Marshall' Music Video.

Exclusive Clip: ‘Son Of Rambow.'

Oddest Trailer of the Week: 'Who's Your Monkey?'

'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2' Poster: a BFF Hydra.

Rumor: Blue Sky Studios Adapting 'The Anubis Tapestry'?

'Baghead' Title Gets Left in the Dark?

Art Imitates Life Recalling Death at Ground Zero. "Closer inspection showed a few other signs taped to the fence. They said, 'Film set.' This remarkable evocation turned out to be a matter of stagecraft: an art-directed simulation for a location shot in the movie Julie and Julia, based on a book by Julie Powell in which she sets out to make every recipe in Julia Child’s 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking.' The brief scene on Church Street involves Amy Adams, as Ms. Powell, emerging from the subway and walking by the memorial-draped fence."

Comments

[last-archangel.livejournal.com]

"...the Vampire Romance for the Ages."

Oh, please. Excuse me while I go vomit.

[vampychick.livejournal.com]

Heh, that's pretty much exactly what I was going to say. Ugh.

[wearejustducky.livejournal.com]

Wow, I didn't know they were making a movie about Julie/Julia. I started reading it at the like fifth or sixth entry way back when it was on Salon Blogs (which doesn't even exist anymore!). And I read all the way to the bitter end.

It's amazing that she's gotten so far!

[erinya.livejournal.com]

Re: hibernating--I do exactly the same thing when really stressed. I'm still learning that the best way to deal with anxiety is try to accomplish small, bite-sized tasks to deal with the source. Don't look the monster in the eye, stab it in the foot. Or something.

Re: you can do this and you can do this now--yes, you can!

Also you are fabulous and accomplished and many, many people whom you don't even know love you quite a lot for your humor and honesty. Just saying.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Don't look the monster in the eye, stab it in the foot.

Heeeee, I like that. I kind of want a Cloverfield icon with that on it now, too.

[ponygirl118.livejournal.com]

Huh. We have the same coping tactics.

[thansunshine.livejournal.com]

i chill in the twilight fandom, but honest to god the books are flat out terrible sometimes. gjdsglsdj i hate all the hype, and comparing her to j.k. rowling. there is no comparison. jo writes convincing characters, steph just puts out all her pent-up sexual frustration through bella.


gjdslgjs ARGH.

[christwise.livejournal.com]

You'd think if she had pent up sexual frustration in real life she would let it out in her novel but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Grar.

On the other hand, I'm glad Robert is getting work and his manly grunting makes me all kinds of happy.

Question. Why are the vampires wearing what looks like ye olde time clothing in the fight scene?

[kosher-jenny.livejournal.com]

I will not wank on the Superman link I will not wank on the Superman link I will not wank on the Superman link...


Man, why does Disney have to tease us so much when it comes to the Frog Princess? If that still is any indication of what the rest of the movie will look like, then it is going to look freakin' amazing.

[skyblade.livejournal.com]

I gotta say, I'm getting a little worn with the cult of Batman. He stopped being relateable eons ago. (As if one could be expected to relate to a heriditary millionaire) At some point the message that "You can just work hard enough to become a pinnacle of human achievement that will never, ever be beaten" stops being an actual character trait and starts becoming a cliched fable.

Fans are just getting really tired with the "This character inherently sucks" business. It's kind of a pointless argument when someone like Daredevil has been published non-stop for 40 years.

[falco-conlon.livejournal.com]

Huh, the comments on the WTC article are interesting. At first I was all "Oh man yeah. I would be so moved by that. They should make it permanent some how" and then I read the comment from the person who lives there and did a completely 360. I can't imagine how hard it would be walking by every day, trying to move on from this tragedy that happened right across the street from you, to have all of that. I feel like it would be tiring.

[thansunshine.livejournal.com]

also, i am mildly surprised twilight doesn't have its own tag.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

You know, I keep debating whether to go back and tag the Twilight-related entries or not. On one hand, I don't have any interest in the books at all; on the other hand, it's vampires and Robert Pattinson. Hmm. I guess I should go ahead and put it on--I can always delete it later.

"avoidance, couple[d] with epic napping"

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

That sounds like my whole life.

[sneaky-minx.livejournal.com]

*hugs because you need it and totally deserve it, imho*

[word-herder.livejournal.com]

I will totally watch a movie based on Julie and Julia. Her blog was awesome.

[marginaliana]

Ahhhh the Facebook applications parody is so ridiculously spot on. Wow.

[genericzombie.livejournal.com]

I tend to lurk here and so I realize you don't know me, but I completely understand what you mean about avoidance and napping. [I'm just not so good at being honest about it.]

I hope things work out for you, I really do! With the annotations, with your cowboy-ing up, et cetera. :)

[sapphires13.livejournal.com]

The late-night comic hit a ratings milestone last week with his first victory over NBC's Conan O'Brien.

Yeah, well Conan was in reruns last week, so no wonder. Even I, a loyal Conan-lover was watching Ferguson instead.

[mustang-bex1126.livejournal.com]

I know I don't need to tell you that your entire fan base is pulling for you and believes you can find success, but I am going to say it away, because it's especially important to hear that you are loved, supported, and believed in when you're facing a task that seems close to impossible. Go Cleo, find the success and happiness you've earned, you deserve, and you've worked so hard for. Don't forget, a stumble along the road is not a failure, and doesn't require starting over- keep going and ride on.

[jwaneeta.livejournal.com]

I sent you an email at your livejournal account. I don't want to top it the Published Person or anything, but please read it.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I'm honestly not seeing anything--sometimes the LJ email is stupid. Could you try cleolinda at gmail?

[jasminelily.livejournal.com]

my default reaction to adversity is to hide and hibernate (hidernate?).

I have exactly the same reaction. There were times where I was stressed at work and didn't know what to do, and all that I wanted to do was to hide under my desk (and I actually did it a few times). And my senior year of college I basically became nocturnal.

Also, that ice cream stick boat rocks.

[jwaneeta.livejournal.com]

Torch rerouted away from S.F. protests; Anger after few in San Francisco see torch; Bush presence at games gala uncertain; China says foils "terrorist" plot to kidnap Olympians.

As an old San Franciscan, may I confess that I was just dying for a big punchup? I'm disappointed in the cutie mayor, although he did all a mayor should do. Feh.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

The thread on the relative odorousness of steampunk was a little dumb, I think. None of those comments had much to do with each other. The silliest was the first comment, which was something about how what steampunk had to offer the world was amateur scientists in garages. While that's certainly part of steampunk, it's also part of mainstream science and engineering. Most companies in Silicon Valley started that way, including Apple, Hewlett Packard, and Google.

Re: Pasted from your JG email

[jwaneeta.livejournal.com]

Would be cool if you screen this reply and the one below. ;)

[misachan.livejournal.com]

Add me to the list of people who hibernate under stress; when I was stressed out from apartment hunting all I wanted to do was sleep. It's especially bad if there's something I should be working on; put me on a deadline and suddenly I'm so tired.

[youngcurmudgeon.livejournal.com]

I hear you on avoidance, although I'm more likely to stay up late looking at stuff on the internet than I am to nap. (Er, hi.) What gets me through is having some outside force inflict a deadline on me, because then I get an adrenaline rush of "oh shit this is due in a week and I haven't done anything MUST WRITE NOW."

Or, you know, imagining the Disappointed Lecture I'll get from my mom if I don't do it. Guilt and terror! In any case, sending good thoughts your way.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I comment on your linkspam a lot, but here's some hugs for you today just 'cos I don't give you enough hugs. *hugs*

[troubleinchina.livejournal.com]

I'm going to assume someone else has already suggested this, but regarding the annotations and wanting to do them on one page - columns, maybe? I know in Word you can set the columns to different sizes. Alternately, doing it in invisible tables?

Good luck, Cleo. You're braver than you know.