Step 1: Arrange your library by Artist.
Step 2: Starting at the top of your library, hit each letter of the alphabet and write down the first song by the first artist whose name starts with that letter.
Step 3: Post all 26 songs to your LJ - no matter how embarrassing or revealing!

A: A-Ha "Take on Me"
B: The B-52s "Cosmic Thing"
C: Cadence Weapon "Lisa's Spider"
D: Daft Punk "One More Time (Aerodynamic Remix)"
E: E.M. Forster "Mr. Andrews"
F: The Faint "Birth"
G: Gael Garcia Bernal, Sacha Bourdo, Alain Chabat & Aurelia Petit "If You Rescue Me (Chanson des Chats)"
H: Hal "Worry About the Wind"
I: I'm From Barcelona "This Boy (feat. Lonely, Dear)"
J: The J. Geils Band "Centerfold"
K: Sari and Mari Kaasinen "Me Kaymme Joulun Viettohon"
L: La Bottine Souriante "Reel du forgeron/ The Blacksmith's Reel"
M: M "Belleville Rendez-Vous (Version Française)"
N: Nada Surf "There is a Light That Never Goes Out (Smiths)"
O: Richard O'Brien "Overture"
P: P.Y.T. "We're Dancing"
Q: Queen & David Bowie "Under Pressure"
R: R.E.M. "First We Take Manhattan"
S: Sade "By Your Side"
T: T.S. Eliot "Lovesong of J.A. Prufrock"
U: U2 "Pride (In the Name of Love)"
V: Vampire Weekend "Mansard Roof"
W: Andrew W.K. "Party Til You Puke"
X: X "Los Angeles"
Y: YACHT (feat Christian Kindschy) "I Love a Computer"
Z: Tom Ze "A briga do Edificio Italia com o Hilton Hotel"


I've just finished uploading all music to iTunes and fixing the duplicates and all... my computer was converting WMAs for hours yesterday. So hooray! Music meme.

I have to go get a new driver's license today. I lost my last one on the trip home.

I'm back in the US!
I'm really glad to be home, but wow, I really miss the UK already. I like the way life moves there, the way everything looks, everything.
BUT last night I got to have a massive burrito from my favorite burrito restaurant (HOORAY) and I love love love seeing my Mom and my cat and my ridiculously ancient dog.
And now I'm sitting on my bum watching Mythbusters, which I missed a lot. I love this show.

My luggage tried to kill me - often - for most of the trip home. I have some big bruises, and I'm sore. I had to re-pack my baggage twice to make the weight limits - once at Heathrow and once at Newark. And I got in right under the wire for my flight in Newark... then got to the gate to discover it had been delayed an hour. I got back to NC around 12:30am Tuesday night.

I saw Sweeney Todd on the plane. It was pretty sweet, though hella bloody. I love Tim Burton. Oh, and the guy who played Anthony? Beautiful much? I had one of the those "omg he's pretty as heck and I recognize him!" moments... he's a model who did one of my favorite editorials. And that voice... Also on the plane I watched "Sean the Sheep" (love that show) and listened to the Laura Marling and the newest Kings of Leon CDs in full (have I pointed out that I love Virgin Atlantic).

Today I'm going out to replace my cell phone - my old one just about snapped in half right before I left the US in January - and to get some new flip-flops and the new David Sedaris book (joy!). Also, I'm going to try driving for the first time in six months. Hopefully that will go well, as I have to drive 2 1/2 hours tomorrow to get to my dad's for 4th of July celebrations.
Looking forward to seeing my dad et al. I spoke to my little sister on the phone yesterday and my GOSH has she grown up. She can really carry on a conversation. I can't wait to see her! Six months is a long time for a 4 year-old.

Erm, yes. Home! I'm looking forward to this summer. I've missed being here, and I have some things to look forward to. Beach, thesis research, working on hobbies.

We are having a snowstorm! Which is weird. We never really get that much snow in Asheville.
It's BEAUTIFUL.

But sort of a problem.

Y'see, I leave for England TOMORROW. And being me, I've not run most of the errands that need running. Drug store, Target, bank... to get to those, I need to drive. To drive, I need the roads not to be covered in snow. QED - I need it to stop snowing, despite how nice it is.

Ahhhhhh. Pretty snow.

I've been watching a lot of Dead Like Me (finally - thanks Dom!). And... yeah. Eating? Trying to pack.

I started a blog for my travels, but I've not written in it yet. Set the Compass to Spinning.

Floofy Matt just appeared in my local newspaper.
(Or someone who looks just like him... In a picture of people watching a Kwanzaa celebration.)

I swear, the kid is magical and/or an alien.
(My mom proposed the second option, and I tend to agree.)

For those of you that don't know, Floofy Matt is this guy I know at school. He should not randomly be showing up in photographs in my local newspaper.


P.S. Happy New Year, to those of you on the other side of the world!!!

So! Summer is kind of... over. Tomorrow I go to my dad's, then he and I will head north Saturday. He is being left in Delaware to catch a train on Sunday (we are going to visit the highest point in Delaware... because he is my father, and this is what we do). I'll get back to dear ol' Wes sometime late Sunday. Then on Monday, my campus job starts, froshies invade, and I start getting geared up for the school year. AHHHHHHHhh. Classes don't start until the 4th, though, so I have plenty of time to adjust.

I'm not packed. I just started on my clothes about an hour ago, and I've not touched anything else. This is bad.


IN OTHER NEWS, I GOT A NEW CAR.

Like, a new-new car. It's a 2007 Honda Fit, it is bright blue, and I love it. I have dubbed it the Cardis, as it is tiny, yet huge on the inside. And blue!
( picture? picture. )

Today:
I picked up my last paycheck, had a remarkably non-unpleasant chat with my ex-boss.
Then I went and got some deodorant that doesn't smell like public restroom air freshener and the Vogue Fall issue - aka the BOOK OF FASHION OF DOOM. It is 840 pages - which averages to 168 pages per dollar. And it has the new Burberry ads with Patrick Wolf in them. NICE.
Then a friend from high school and I got lunch, discussed fashion, laughed, and had sexual tension (which he pointed out, which was amusing). I also questioned the purpose of life rather loudly in the midst of Atlanta Bread Co., which made an older man turn and look at me oddly.
Then my pseudo-step-brother went to see "Superbad." It was nice; I like hanging out with him. The movie was sometimes very very amusing and sometimes not, but I liked that in the end it was good-natured and actually rather responsible, in its way. And I loved the parts with the cops.
Then my mom and I went for a hike up to one of my favorite places around here, this beautiful heath bald with rhododendrons and rowan trees, and ramparts at overlooks, and a "picnic shelter" which is huge and built rather like a Viking lodge. It is all very Middle Earth and I like it soooo very much. We got there at sunset, ate a picnic in the grass, then stumbled back in the dark with no flashlight. My easily distracted, very old dog got to play seeing-eye, because she was on the leash in front of me, so I could tell when she dipped down or scrambled and figure out what was going to happen. The moon was ridiculously bright, but the trees were dense, so some places were quite dark. When we finally got back to the parking lot bats were flying about right above our heads, squeaking. It was really cool. And on our drive back there was a huge owl just sitting on the edge of the road; very odd, very pretty.
Now I am packing, burning CDs for my mom, generally getting ready to go. AHHHHHH.
Also, I just ordered some really cool shoes that have every potential to be really ugly. I got them for $15 after shopping around, and I am pleased. They were $25+ from Urban Outfitters, even on sale. YAY! They should be waiting for me when I get to school.
( the shoes? the shoes. )

I have officially developed an obsession with The Flight of the Conchords, by the way. <3s. I am kind of falling in love with both of them. Especially Bret, 'cause he's adorable and I know he is freaking gorgeous below the scruff. And he was that random elf in Return of the King that I got so distracted by. And those songs... Geez. The Foux Da Fa Fa (the French song - see icon), Bowie's in Space, and If You're Into It (see subject line) are my current favorites. And I love the video of the French song, because of the visual references and the food.
( video? video. )

Things I've done recently:

Went to see the B-52s live. That was pretty sweet. They are still super cool.

Went dancing.
Developed a minor crush on the big brother of my biggest high school crush.

Hung out with people from high school. (Yay!)

Found a good indie record shop in my town! Finally! Also, went to their 3-year-anniversary and bought loads of music for cheap. These musics are:
- of Montreal "Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer" LP. Double record. Bonus tracks. Fucking gorgeous. I've wanted this for a while now. Brand new, but it was 15% off.
- Cold War Kids "Robbers and Cowards" CD. Used, and then 20% off.
From their "basement sale":
- The Mountain Goats "Get Lonely" promo CD - full length, but missing all graphics, etc. $1
- The Crimea "Lottery Winners of Acid" EP thing. $1
- Mika three-song EP thing. I already have all the songs, but it is just so pretty... $1
- The Monkees "More of the Monkees" LP. $1 (My mom is so not okay with me buying this. The Monkees are her shameful adolescent band, much as I don't know, Good Charlotte are mine.)

So I spent about $30 and got all that. I was rather pleased.

Today I had my pupils dilated, my eyes poked, and a shot. Woo.

I am also cleaning my room, decorating, being lazy... I've had the last three days off and will have tomorrow as well.

I'm heading out of town in a week and I am so not ready. I can't wait to get to Wes, but I am going to miss being home a lot. I've had a better time at home this break than any of the ones in the past. I'm gonna miss my mom (and my animals) a lot a lot.


P.S. Could garyisnotamused be the funniest community, macro or otherwise, ever? Erm, yes. I jus' posted one, too. Jarvsex!

Tonight I made a meal of awesome. And it even involved me doing something I never have before, and not f-ing it up!

I am so fricking exhausted tonight.

Yesterday I spent hours with an old friend, talked life, the universe, and everything, and especially sex, and ate straight-out-of-the-oven gluten-free brownies (just like normal brownies, really) instead of lunch. BROWNIES. Now I am freakishly filled with sweet things and am kind of grossed out by the idea of baked goods, despite my constant craving for them.

I also went out and bought sequins, which I've been meaning to do for ages. My newest project is learning to sew them to things, for extra shininess. I already did one really cool thing with them, so I am pleased. AND I got glitter-glue. I have not interested with glitter-glue in years. It is wonderful and glitteriffic and sticky. AND I got the new Thursday Next book, which is awesome, of course. And now that I finalllly found my battery charger last night (so I have both my camera AND a way to use it), I can eventually photograph all my summer craftiness.

*points at icon* I think I am finally slightly getting the hang of text-only icons. Poncho! Hurrah!

I can't wait to get back to Wes. I miss it so.


EDIT: HOLY CRAP this is why I am afraid of bridges.

Okay. Harry Treadaway? FUCKING AMAZING. I mean, I already knew this, what with Brothers of the Head and all. But I just watched the first episode of Meadowlands and... yeah. The dude is remarkable.
I adore actors who can express so much through silence and body language. Gaspard Ulliel is that way, and so is Jamie Bell. And now I add both Harry and Luke Treadaway to that list. They were perfect at it in the movie - all those looks and motions, the way they touched and the way their eyes moved.
And in Meadowlands Harry is silent for most of the first episode, but he still had me sucked in. I was so sad I was watching online (oh, poor quality) and I couldn't even make out half his expressions. But the way he moved his hands... and the last scene he's in, hahaha. Funny and oddly arresting and a tiny bit sad in the same moment. Also, he has exquisite fingers.
I am getting SO obsessed, wow.

Offfffff work tomorrow, YAY!


Haha, Showtime, is it possible for you to produce a show that does not involve random sexual interludes? I know, I know... totally impossible.


I forgot to post this.
But I would just like to point out that ABCFamily shows have the worst, most obvious product placement I have ever seen.

Tomorrow I am going to possibly hang out with both my best friend from middle school (we are still friends) and my ex-boyfriend from high school (we are also still friends), one after the other. At the very end of our relationship my ex-boyfriend cheated on me with my best friend from middle school. I find this to be a vaguely amusing situation. But then, I am easily amused.


In radio news, I got my beloved timeslot again for next year! Yay!

So let's see. It is 1am on the 5th... meaning my nation's holiday has just passed.
Which means Sarah got to see BIG SPARKLEY EXPLODING AWESOMENESS.
I love fireworks so much. They're all I love: beauty, sparkles, colors, explosions.

I spent the day with a friend from high school. Went to see Ratatouille, had dinner, had coffee, bitched about high school, chatted chatted chatted. Then we walked around downtown and ran into LOTS of people we knew, including a mutual friend, and his friend. Then we all watched the fireworks together, along with many, many other people.
( The disadvantage of being around other people... )
Then there was driving around looking for some place to hang out, going to my house, watching sketch comedy on YouTube (I am addicted to "The Whitest Kids You Know"), making my guy friend uncomfortable with talk of gay sex and finding out said guy friend really likes Doctor Who (yay!).


I may have found a job. Maybe? I am registered with a temp agency, and they seemed to like me at the B&B where I applied. And I have an interview at Belk's (a department store) on Friday. Good stuff.

I need to readjust to being around people. It is difficult... I have gone back to over-analysis, etc. Meh.

Tomorrow, I clean.

Weeeel, I got some of the best news of my young life today. It has yet to sink in. And I'm not really going to go into it, but suffice it to say there was something bothering me for a long time that has been resolved (I hope).
Um... yes.

Today I bought 4 different yarns and new crochet supplies, and ordered the last Harry Potter! Tomorrow I am going art supply shopping. Also today I had a nice time with my friend Mattie, listen to and told crazy stories, ran into someone we both know (it was awkward), ate a nice grilled cheese sandwich and carrot sticks for about $2.50 (oh, I love cheap lunches), and got a bit of a waxing for the beach (ow). And I got a really nice gift from Max in the mail. <3. AND I got my hands on the motherlode of "Nicholas Nickleby" screencaps, which was exciting. AND when I was waiting at a stoplight earlier today there was a dude dancing VERY MUCH behind the wheel of the car two back from mine. It made me smile. At the time I also happened to be rocking out to MIKA and singing and dancing myself, which somehow made it even more amusing. MIKA puts me in such a good mood.

And now, to bed!

Things I have been doing (a list mostly ganked directly from a comment I wrote to Zach):

- Looking for a job.
- Being really lazy.

- Turning 20. (Woot. Now I can have an existential crisis because OMG I am in my fucking 20s, and who knows where those will take me.)

- Watching too much TV (mmm, Mythbusters and Globe Trekker and Adult Swim). I also watched the end of the last Bob Barker "Price is Right." Now what will I do if I'm home sick?

- Reading a lot. I'm on The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault now. And oh, do I ever love that woman.

- Adding applications to my Facebook and messing with them a lot.

- Getting excited way in advance to go to the beach next week (because, you know, my life is so hectic and stressful right now, so I sooo need a break... from the TV).

- Hiking. Day hike among the rhododendrons with my mom and dog, overnight with my dad on the night of my birthday / eve of Father's Day.

- Fantasizing about all the British men I will have at my disposal in Britain.

- Staying up late.
- Being antisocial.
- Receiving and buying more books to read later.
- Crocheting bags and coasters/dog hats.
- Cooing at my fish (Dusty and Aurelia) and my cat and dog.
- Becoming heavily addicted to The Sims 2.

- Writing fan fiction of a children's book, which has been fairly well-received, which gives me far too much of a sense of accomplishment.

- Daydreaming.

- Seeing movies... The Science of Sleep, which was beautiful and fun but left me kind of sad, and Paris, Je T'aime, which was fucking awesome. I cannot get it out of my head, int he best possible way. One of the sections seemed half-gleaned from a short story I started, never finished, and still play with.

- Planning to spend gift certificates on yarn, crochet needles, and art supplies, and to buy lots of music.
- Talking to my dad about dating experiences and my mom about sex, which were two big steps in a good direction.
- Missing my friends.
- Figuring out what to read next.
- Writing.
- Smiling at the rain, especially when it comes while the sun is shining.

- Talking on the phone to a friend in Australia (hi Nic!) and on Facebook to friends in China and France. Oh, global communication. You thrill me!

- Getting a new pair of my favorite, extremely worn-down shoes, and a bright blue pair of sneakers.

- Feeling like a true Doctor Who fanatic now that I have TWO box sets. I got the Second Series for my birthday. Also, introducing my mom to Tenth Doctor by way of "New Earth." She and I are both fans of the cat-people.

- Having a closet / shelf system built along one wall of my room. Now I can unpack my clothes when I come home! It is really cool.

- Procrastinating doing the dishes.
- Getting hungry.

( A meme result that is interesting, but not nearly enough to make it into the main body of this update )

This Bright Eyes t-shirt reminds me of Patrick Wolf. I kind of want it.

In the last two days I have visited:
-6 coffee shops
-4 libraries
-3 book stores
-3 health food stores
-2 record shops
-2 bakery-cafes
-1 yarn store
-1 vintage clothing store
-1 pizza place
-1 vegetarian restaurant
-1 YMCA
and
-Craigslist
to post ads for myself, as a nanny.

Tomorrow I will visit at least:
-1 of the health food stores again
-2 more bakery-cafes
-2 more YMCAs
-1 more coffee shop
-1 more vegetarian restaurant
-1 YWCA
-1 museum
-1 movie store
to post more.

I have gotten 1 response so far, and so likely have 1 job lined up.
I have also obtained:
2 local free newspapers, 1 free skein of very pretty yarn(!), 3 beverages, 1 bagel, 1 flier for an upcoming concert, 5 conversations with people I know, 1 audio book of The Penultimate Peril, an increased knowledge of several stores and their products, the knowledge of the summer job whereabouts of 4 people I went to high school with, 1 magazine with Rufus on the cover (though I looked at at least 2 more), 1 compliment on a dress, several guys checking me out, 1 cat-call from a very unattractive pickup truck, 2 looks of "I've met you before," and several double takes as people looked past the sunglasses and realized that yes, it is I, Sarah.
I have also gotten very overheated. It is hot here.

Such is life. Now to read Jane Eyre and fall asleep.

Ugh, I am fallllinnnnggg asleep. Despite having loads of caffeine in my system!
I had a really nice time this afternoon spending time with my pseudo-step-brother, chatting about school and how f'ed up personal relationships generally are. It was a good time... he's my buddy.

There's little I love more than listening to the radio and hearing proof - dial tones, watch alarms, mistakenly cut-off songs - that the programs are going out live from the fingertips and mouths of real people. Hooray!
I'm listening to people I know talking about land conservation on a local radio program... it is cool.
Hum, wow, someone just said something... interesting. About how immigration and birth control must be fixed if we are to protect natural resources. Oh, people are so interesting.

Tomorrow I'm off to my dad's; seeing all my dad's family on Saturday then back and hopefully getting a call-back from Lowe's about maybe working there, and generally having a fine time. I hope.


Sleeeeeepy. That is all.


Oooh, no, not all. If anyone's interested, I've started what will hopefully be a series of updates over at dewey_decimator, my icon journal. And I just got an award over at an icontest (Here at jrm_stills... which is nice. So yay!


Now that is all.