In which I talk about Doctor Who... again

This is a fantastically long post. I'm sorry. But not sorry enough to not post it.

There's a meme going around. Actually, there are a lot of memes always going around. This particular one is The Doctor Who Challenge or 30 Days of Doctor Who. It gives you 30 questions to answer, one for each day of the month. Well, writing a little blurb about Doctor Who every day for 30 days really doesn't seem like a challenge to me so I'm going to answer every question right now, at 11:09 PM on a Wednesday night. Yes, I do work in the morning and no, I don't care that I'll be tired. I want to do this dumb "challenge" and write about Doctor Who. 


Disclaimer to hard core fans pre-2005, I apologize. I'm slowly making my way through the older episodes, but 99% of my Doctor Who experience has been post 2005 era. 


If you haven't seen any of Doctor Who, first of all, start watching it right now. Second, this does have a couple big spoilers, especially in "Saddest Episode" so don't read that. The rest are pretty mild. 


1. Favorite Doctor 


Easy. David Tennant. Number ten. He wasn't my first Doctor, but he'll always be my Doctor. Like many fan girls I quickly fell in love with the tenth Doctor's charm, wit, and oh so skinny physique. Then I started finding out more about David Tennant (as fan girls so often do) and found out he was a total nerd. If I was a home wrecker, I'd wreck his home. 

2. Favorite Companion


A little less easy, but still fairly simple. Donna Noble. I know she gets flack for being abrasive, but I still love her.

First of all, Catherine Tate! Come on! She's had a horrible introduction to American audiences, but it's because of the miserable writing staff on The Office. She's hilarious.

Second, she is the first companion in the post-2005 era who doesn't fall in love with The Doctor. This is my biggest pet peeve with the Russell Davies years. Rose, the tree lady, Madame de Pompadour, Martha, the maid on the Titanic who is apparently a famous singer, the girl in Planet of the Dead, Captain Jack, EVERYONE freaking falls in love with The Doctor. I was fine with Rose and Captain Jack can do no wrong in all honesty, but it really does get tiring when every single person he meets falls head over heels. It makes me wonder if Davies is secretly in love with David Tennant. Anyway, Donna is the first and only companion (minus Rory) to not fall in love with the Doctor at some point. Amy has a blip and I appreciate them not exploring that further. She and Rory are a very close second to favorite companion, but I realized it's the ensemble of Amy, Rory, and the Doctor that I love so much. I like them all independently, but I love that ensemble. 


Third, I really do like her character. She grows so much over the course of the fourth season while still keeping her spunk. I just all around like her a lot. Thus, single favorite companion is Donna. 

3. Least Favorite Companion


I'm sorry to say this, but my least favorite companion is Martha. And I really do hate saying that. She's a doctor, she's smart, brave, selfless, and just all around awesome. She only has one flaw, and yes it has to do with number 2. She's constantly pining after the Doctor. One kiss (that he prefaced with a "this doesn't mean anything"), and she spends a year of her life complaining and whining because he doesn't like her. GET OVER IT! I place full blame on Davies. Because, let's face it. If she was better written, Martha could have been a badder ass than she already was. 

4. Favorite Villain


Hands down, the Master. No one else can pull off being that bat-shit crazy, lovable, hilarious, and mad scary at the same time. I hope he comes back soon.

5. Favorite Alien

Weeping Angels. I watched Blink in my basement with the lights off by myself. I didn't realize it was going to be the single scariest episode of the show. Every time they come back my blood pressure goes up (in a fun way).

6. Favorite Special Episode


The Waters of Mars. Those Martians were the second creepiest monster at that point (third now with the Silence) and the episode in general was brilliant. I still get chills when the Doctor says that the laws of time are his and they will obey him... Apparently I get chills when I think of the Doctor saying it too. Also, it has this part:

7. Favorite Season


Even though David Tennant is my favorite Doctor and Donna is my favorite companion, I'm going to say my favorite season is 6. Overall I like Steven Moffat's writing better than Russell Davies' and season 6 was phenomenal. You've got The Silence, 'The Doctor's Wife' (episode written by Neil Gaiman!!!), Rory being a complete bad ass right before he cries after meeting his baby daughter, River Song's story, 'Let's Kill Hitler'... the whole season is amazing.

8. Least Favorite Season


My instinct is to say season one, but there are too many awesome things in that season. I know a lot of people don't like it, but I appreciate it so much when I go back now. Every good scifi show is campy in the beginning, it's got Bad Wolf, Captain Jack, Harriett Jones... okay, maybe the list is a little shorter than I thought.

9. Favorite Master


This is where seeing only a handful of the pre-2005 episodes is making me sad. I've only known one master. Okay, two. Cause he regenerates in Utopia. So I guess I do have a choice and my choice is John Simm. I promise, I really am making my way through the earlier episodes (at least the ones available on Netflix instant)

10. Saddest Episode


Journey's End. Two horribly depressing things happen. First, the Doctor leaves Rose his human clone. He can't tell her he loves her because he knows he can't stay. Then he watches as the woman he loves hard core makes out with his human clone and he just turns and walks back into his Tardis. Good for Rose for getting the human Doctor, but the real Doctor has to leave it all behind. Again.

That's sad, but the second thing breaks me every time I watch the episode. Donna loses her memory. She doesn't remember anything she did with the Doctor. The DoctorDonna ceases to exist. She goes back to her petty life. Ugh, it's making me sad just thinking about it. Seriously though, I would be less upset if she had died. To go through what she did and become the person she was only to have it all taken away?! CURSE YOU RUSSELL DAVIES! Or maybe that one was Steven Moffat... All I can say is Moffat better fix this for the 50th anniversary.

Huh. It's 11:53 now. I just took me 45 minutes to get through a third of the questions. I'm thinking I'll continue this another time.

Saturday afternoon. What a wonderful time to continue this post and shirk my responsibilities.

11. Funniest Episode


I actually read through all the episode titles because I remembered hilarious moments, but I wasn't as sure about a single episode. Then I remembered 'The Eleventh Hour.' It's the first episode for Matt Smith as The Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond (Karen was actually in an episode in season 4), Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams, and Steven Moffat as head writer. Boy do they all make an impression (especially Smith and Moffat). Matt Smith's hilarity made seeing David Tennant's exit MUCH easier to bare. I wish I could post the whole episode because it really is fantastic, but here are some highlights.

Okay, so this clip isn't so much funny as it is awesome. Still give me chills!

This is some of the hilariousness: 

And this: 

12. Episode that Scared You Most

'Blink.' Hands down. Flat out terrifying. At least when you aren't laughing at lines like "This is my timey-wimey detector. Goes 'ding' when there's stuff," and "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint , it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff."

13. Favorite Theme Song


Season 4. It gets a little more rock and roll than the previous seasons.

14. Character You Like that Everyone Else Hates


I think this again will be Donna. But there are few characters that people don't like...

15. Most Annoying Character


Rose's mom. She's whiney. I don't really want to spend time talking about her.

16. Favorite Actor


I really can't say enough about David Tennant. I've seen him in several things since Doctor Who, and he's brilliant in everything.

17. Least Favorite Actor


Probably Noel Clarke who plays Mickey Smith. It could also just be Mickey's character, but I'm not a fan.

18. Favorite Actress


Alex Kingston. River Song. 'Nuff said.

19. Least Favorite Actress

Kylie Minogue. I guess she's an Australian singer and she was in an episode of Doctor Who. I hated her character (again, Davies' fault) and she really wasn't impressing me with the acting either. 

20. Favorite Writer

As far as head writers go, Steven Moffat is fantastic. His story arcs are longer and more interesting, his single episodes are scarier and more intense while hilarious at the same time, and it's laughable at how much better he is at writing female characters. (Still not great there, though. I personally have no issues with Amy or River as characters [although I know some people do], but he did a despicable job writing Irene Adler.) 

Even so, the one episode Neil Gaiman wrote was perfect. That man not only writes all the things, but he writes all the things impeccably. I highly recommend you watch his episode, 'The Doctor's Wife' as well as anything else he's ever done (American Gods, Sandman, Neverwhere, Anansi Boys, Coraline, Stardust, Graveyard Book... the list goes on and on). 

21. Favorite Couple


Before I started watching season... either 5 or 6, I saw a meme somewhere that had a picture of Amy and Rory that said, "Warning: Their story may be more interesting than the Doctor's." Turns out, that wasn't far from the truth. Amy and Rory are the best.

22. Favorite Friendship


While I love the DoctorDonna, I feel like the friendship between Amy and the Doctor is way more developed. I'm sure Catherine Tate and David Tennant are friends, but there's a special chemistry between Karen Gillan and Matt Smith that is really hard to beat. The writing helps too, Moffat seems to focus more on relationships than Davies did.

23. Favorite Doctor Who Spinoff


Well, I've only seen one, but I love it. Torchwood with John Barrowman as Captain Jack (one of my favorite characters). It's a lot darker and more adult than Doctor Who, but it's still excellent (at least the seasons in the UK. I haven't seen it since it moved to the States and I haven't heard great things - but I'll still watch it).

24. Favorite Quote


This is mean... There are too many amazing quotes from Doctor Who.

10th Doctor: "This is my timey wimey detector. Goes 'ding' when there's stuff."


10th Doctor: "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint , it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff."

10th Doctor: "I just wanna mate."

Donna: "You just want TO mate?!"

10th Doctor: "A mate, I want a mate."

Donna: "Oi, you're not mating with me, Sunshine!"

10th Doctor: "Come on, we can all have a good flirt later!"

Shakespeare: "Is that a promise, Doctor?"

10th Doctor: "Oh... fifty-seven academics just punched the air."

Cyberman: "We have 5 million Cybermen. How many are you?"

Dalek: "Four."

Cyberman: "You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?"

Dalek: "We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek! You are superior in only one respect."

Cyberman: "What is that?"

Dalek: "You are better at dying!"

11th Doctor: She's my Tardis. Except, she's a woman. She's a woman... and my Tardis!

Amy: She's the Tardis?!

11th Doctor: ...and she's a woman

Amy: Did you wish really hard?

11th Doctor: Shut up! It's not like that.

Tardis/Idris: Hi, I'm Sexy. 

11th Doctor: Still shut up!

Jamie/The 10th Doctor: Are you my mummy?

11th Doctor: Rory, take Hitler and put him in that cupboard over there.

Rory: Shut up, Hitler!

River Song: Well, I was on my way to this gay gypsy bar mitzvah for the disabled when I thought, "Gosh, the Third Reich's a bit rubbish. I think I'll kill the Furher." 

9th Doctor: And I want to find a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean, a specific one. I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving. 

11th Doctor: There's something here that doesn't make sense. Let's go and poke ti with a stick. 

10th Doctor: PHYSICS! Physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics... physics, physics, physics, physics...

Tardis/Idris: Biting's excellent. It's like kissing, only there's a winner. 

11th Doctor: Sorry, do you have a name?

Tardis/Idris: 700 years and finally he asks. 

11th Doctor: But what do I call you?

Tardis/Idris: I think you call me... Sexy. 

11th Doctor: Only when we're alone. 

Tardis/Idris: We are alone.

11th Doctor: Oh. Come one then, Sexy. 

Mickey: That old lady's staring. 

Captain Jack: Probably wondering what four people were doing in a small box. 

Mickey: What are you captain of? The Innuendo Squad?

And really, so many more. 

25. Favorite Doctor Catch Phrase

Allons-y!

26. Favorite Doctor Gadget

Does he have another gadget besides the sonic screwdriver? Timey wimey detector, but that's only in one episode... the 10th Doctor licks things a lot and Eleven tends to put things in his mouth... I'm sure there are more, but I can't place them. I'm going to pull an innuendo here and say the Doctor's tongue. 

27. Favorite Interview

My fandom has not reached this level yet. 

28. Favorite Gif

Probably one of the quotes above. I tend to skim through gifs and not care about them too much. 

29. Favorite Guest Star

Easy. Simon Pegg in 'The Long Game.' Even as a villain I couldn't hate him. 

30. When did you become a fan of Doctor Who?

Sadly, not until December of 2011. Since then, I have kind of exploded all the Doctor Who things. 

Geekery Abounds in Europe

These are some of my Geek pictures from Europe. It's missing several including the very best one, namely myself and the TARDIS at Earl's Court (consequently the location of another geek site - who here reads Neil Gaiman?), but it will come hopefully soon. That one was taken on an SD card that I don't have access to at the moment. But I'll add it when it comes. So hooray for me geeking out in Europe! Most of the references are from Doctor Who but IT Crowd, Danger 5, Hercules, Asterix, The Simpsons, and Midnight in Paris make appearances. 

For all you IT Crowd fans. I was under the assumption that the UK changed their emergency number to 011-8-999-881-99-9119-725-3

The next few pictures are from the Doctor Who prop museum in the back of the Who Shop in London (yes, I did spend 60 pounds there). These props are legit and really used in the series. I was crazy excited. The entrance to the museum was the TARDIS door. I got to unlock it with the key. I basically died. This first picture is one of the first Cybermen!

One of the consoles used in the series. 

EXTERMINATE!

Vincent Van Gough's outfit. One of my favorite episodes. 

K-9!

The coat used by Captain Jack Harkness. If I had stood in front of it a bit longer I probably would have gotten pregnant with Captain Jack's baby. 

One of Tom Baker's outfits. Who doesn't love the scarves of the Fourth Doctor? 

The sign at the entrance of the shop. I was happy. 

Bliss. This place was pure bliss. I could have spent all day there. They had Buffy stuff too!

This is a Doctor Who/IT Crowd crossover. Upton Park is the stop you get off to go to the Who Shop. West Ham United is the football team Roy pretends to support in the pub. Did you see that ludicrous display last night? 

The Eiffel Tower where it was supposed to be - in Paris. Not as part of a pile of national monuments constructed in honor of Hitler. (Danger 5, anyone? ...anyone?)

These were a little too much like Weeping Angels for my comfort level. This was at Versailles towards the beginning of the trip and ever since then I was constantly looking over my shoulder. 

No Krafayis in the window! The Doctor and Amy really did visit Vincent Van Gough. 

I didn't stumble upon this building at midnight, but I was in Paris!

SANCTUARY! 

Why yes, this gargoyle on top of Notre Dame DID burst into song. 

Speaking of song, I had "Zero to Hero" stuck in my head for a while after seeing this. 

Speaking of Disney's Hercules, I think we all know how Venus lost her arms.

This is one of my favorites. This is a sculpture of a Ceasar in ancient Rome. Does he look familiar? Especially to those of you who watch Doctor Who? DOES HE LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THE NINTH DOCTOR?! The answer is yes. He looks exactly like the Ninth Doctor. Proof that the Doctor is real and Torchwood created the TV show to trick us all. 

Yep, even Winged Glory reminded me of the Weeping Angels. 

THERE'S AN ASTERIX PARK?! If I had known that, I would have made time to visit. 

Another stone statue scaring me to death watching over Chopin. 

These Weeping Angels were downright unnerving.

Again, scared for my life.

I ran from this one. 

At least these two are looking at each other...

What if David is really a giant Weeping Angel? 

There's got to be a giant Bart Simpson somewhere who could make good use of this giant sling shot tree. 

More proof that The Doctor exists. Who else would have the resources to take Sylvester Stallone back in time to pose for Rafael?  

I though I was finished with the Weeping Angels, then I walked into St. Peter's. These angels were the real deal. I walked away from them (backwards, of course) and ran outside to find...

Angels all over freaking St. Peter's square. 

My Time is My Own

Over the past two years I've kept a mental list of things I need to do once I'm finished with school. Well, I'm finished with school. I scampered off to Europe for three weeks and now I'm done with that.

My time is my own.

Technically I still have a job, but that job will be ending probably in July and if I don't find something permanent by then, I will have much more time on my hands. Plenty of time to do everything I want, right?

There's too much I want to do. Here's that mental list I've been keeping track of.

Things I need to watch and/or rewatch:
Whedonfest 2012 shows (Buffy, Angel, Firefly [on that one now actually], Dollhouse)
Breaking Bad
Treme
Awake
Eureka
Doctor Who (classic)
Doctor Who (new)
Hamlet (with David Tennant)
Lots of things in the theaters
Everything on the Geek and Sundry YouTube channel

Things I need to read and/or reread:
The Hobbit (sometime before the first movie comes out this December)
Lord of the Rings (I used to read this every year - it's been too long)
Lots of Neil Gaiman books (I've read The Graveyard Book, I'm reading American Gods, I have many more to get through)
Everything on my bookshelves that I haven't read (about a third of all the books I own)
A Song of Ice and Fire series (I didn't want to read all these until J.R.R. Martin was finished writing the last two, but they're just so good!)
Buffy comics (first I need to buy them - I only have season 8 volumes 1 and 2)
Firefly comics (the few that are written so far - the fact that this show was cancelled breaks my heart every time I watch it so I'm anxiously awaiting Joss to finish his vision)
The Guild comics
Dollhouse comics

Other things I want to do:
Start playing the clarinet again (and saxophone, flute, and piano)
Finally make brooches out of the jewelry I bought a crazy long time ago
Look for jobs all the time
Look for apartments after I find a real job
Start taking photos again
Start collecting items for Tenth Doctor cosplay

So much to do. Real life kind of blows.

I definitely have a type...

I do have a type.

1. Skinny, even lanky

2. British. I've never actually met a skinny Brit, but based purely on the BBC, I'd love them.

3. Nerdy. Not Star Wars Kid nerdy (although a love of Star Wars is kind of a must), but more like the whole geek chic thing. People like Joss Whedon, Felicia Day, Nathan Fillion, and Xander from Buffy. Wow, I am really intrenched in the Whedonverse.

Skinny, British, and nerdy are my trifecta. Not all of those attributes have to be filled (generally I'm good as long as you've got the nerd thing down), but I'm kind of helpless when they are combined. Add those to the scifi/fantasy genres and I don't stand a chance.

Here are my trifecta of fictional men right now that encompass my trifecta of attributes:

1. The Doctor (Doctor Who)

The tenth to be precise. I know a lot of people like Matt Smith, but David Tennant will always be my Doctor. Best part about this, not only does The Doctor encompass the trifecta, David Tennant himself does as well. I know Scotland isn't really Britain, but it's all the same general area and any accent from across the pond is awesome.

2. Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Oh, Spike. My first real fictional obsession. He may not seem like a nerd, what with his fake platinum hair, leather coat, and fangs, but it's there. For sure when it comes to watching Passions, and before he was sired (just go with it), William was a total nerd. Also, I like to think that Andrew got him into Doctor Who during season 7. James Marsters, who plays Spike, is in no way British, and I have no idea if he's really a nerd. I might know if I celebrity stalked him a little more, but I'm just not interested in James if he's not being Spike.

3. Merlin (Merlin)

Merlin is the newest show (and fictional character) I've fallen in love with. The BBC produces some quality television. Anyway, Merlin epitomizes the medieval nerd. He's also super thin and the fact that he's British goes without saying. Colin Morgan is Irish which I'm still more than fine with. Since I'm very new to this world of magic and dragons and Arthur (at least the BBC's interpretation of it), I know very little about Colin Morgan. But come on. He plays Merlin for a living. He's got to have at least a bit of nerd in him. Best part about this, he's only a year older than me in real life whereas David Tennant is 42 this month and James Marsters turns 50 later this year.

When I get a real job...

The last day of class is April 20th. Graduation is May 3rd. My graduation trip to Europe from myself is from May 7th to the 27th. After that, it's time to (kind of) grow up and get a real job.

I'm actually looking forward to it. I have been for years. To have a salary, health insurance, to not have my parents claim me as a dependent... It's going to be great. Hard and probably really crappy financially, but I'm still excited nonetheless. So excited in fact, that I'm giving you a list of things I'm going to do once I get a real job.

1) I will live on my own. I don't know if this has always appealed to me, but it certainly does now. The older I get, the more I hate roommates. I could easily live with one or two friends, but I am SO over moving in with random people. I'm going to have my own place, with my own mess, my own food, and no one will ever annoy me with their country music or Biggest Loser marathons.

2) I will read like crazy. I technically have time to read while I'm in school, but I'm never motivated to do so. My life is so crazy that when I get home at 8 at night, I don't want to stimulate my brain any more than is absolutely necessary. That will be fixed once I have one job and work (hopefully) normal hours. I'll read the crazy number of books I've bought but never read and then I'll go out and buy more and actually read them when I buy them. That's a fantastic thought.

3) I will catch up on all the TV shows I've been meaning to watch. Treme, Breaking Bad, Torchwood, Being Human, Terriers, Boardwalk Empire, the original Doctor Who, The Sara Connor Chronicles, Louis, Twin Peaks, Nurse Jackie, and The United States of Tara, to name a few. I love television. I don't care if you judge me for loving TV so much because it's thoroughly entertaining.

4) I will buy a queen sized bed. I've been wanting to graduate from my twin for some time now, but I never wanted to until I was settled somewhere (in the past 7 years I've never lived anywhere for longer than a year) because moving a queen bed sucks a lot.

5) I will live in one place longer than a year. That's another fantastic thought.

6) I will buy real furniture. Right now most of my stuff is just a hodgepodge of things I've collected over the years. I think of all the furniture I have, I've actually bought just two pieces: a chaise and a desk chair. Unless you count a small lamp. That's not to say I don't have nice things. I have the coolest lamp in existence and an end table that just needs a coat of paint to bring it out of the 70s (thanks to my grandma for these items) in addition to a long, black dresser that I traded my sister for. Oh, and there's my TV too. Let's not forget that. If we're counting electronics, I've bought 3 pieces of furniture... and a PS3. But that shouldn't count. Neither should the TV - I don't know if that would be considered "furniture." Anyway, I'll buy nice things that match each other and decorate and make my living space look like a real person lives there.

7) I will start taking pictures again. I'll even save up for a digital SLR. I see some of my favorite photographs on my wall every day and it makes me sad I don't do that anymore. I wasn't great by any means, but I was always pretty proud of my close-up nature shots. There's also one of Arlington in the fog that I absolutely adore. It'll be fun to do that again.

8) I will start playing the clarinet (and maybe piano, saxophone, and flue) again. I miss playing more than any hobby I've all but given up since starting college (which is no small list). I never enjoyed playing solo as much as in an ensemble, but solo is absolutely better than nothing.

9) I'm going to (attempt to) build a DVD cabinet that looks like the TARDIS. Yes, I know how nerdy that sounds, but in reality it will be one of the coolest undertakings I will ever undertake.

Let's not think about how I'm going to pay for all of this. Or about the fact that I will have to start repaying my massive amounts of student loans. Please, let's not think about that.

I've always been in a hurry. My road instructor said I drove like I was in a hurry. I was in a hurry to get out of high school. I was in a hurry to finish college. I was in a hurry to get into grad school. Now I'm in a hurry to leave grad school. And I've always been in a hurry to grow up and move on. I think I'm perpetually trying to catch up with my siblings which will never happen since they're all so much older than me. At least I don't feel the need to catch up with them in terms of marriage and babies!

Ha. I just had a fun thought. On May 3rd I will have not only caught up with my siblings, but surpassed them all in terms of education :)

Embarking on Publication

Getting published is on my bucket list. I have an actual list and some of them are pretty silly since it's been an ongoing list-making process. Things like "make out in a cave" or "buy a house with a yard" haven't had appeal to me for years (probably about a decade with the former) so I've scribbled them out. Others, like visit Puerto Rico or go to The Daily Show will stay there until I actually do them. But at the bottom of the list (indicating the newest addition) is getting published.

I added this one towards the end of college. I was looking back at the four years previous and I regretted not working with any professor on any research. I have since rectified that in grad school and I'm actually working on two research projects, both of which will hopefully end in publication. One might not, but the other probably will. And guess what? My name will be listed as an author. I will submit a manuscript to a peer reviewed journal. I will present my findings at a conference in Boston. Assuming all goes well, that is.

Before all that happens though, I have to write an annotated bibliography. This is my second and like a moron, I put it off until the last minute. To keep up with the timeline for this conference in July, this needs to be done by Monday, meaning I have tonight and tomorrow to write it. I have eleven articles at this point and that should be good. Although inevitably as I read through the articles themselves and not just the abstracts, I will be forced to drop a couple due to their lack of any number of long research terms that I don't want to try and remember at this point, which means I'll have to find a few more.

Blah. This better be worth it.

Paper chain

Two of my friends in my program who I also work with did a great thing two weeks ago.

They created a paper chain counting down the end of school.

One for each week (way less daunting than one for each day).

At the end of the week, they write what they hated about that week and burn it.

I'm going to watch an episode of The Catherine Tate Show and make my own.

13 weeks...

12 if you don't count Spring Break (which I will since I'll be working my way through the "break").

My New Obsession

Doctor Who

Oh, the doctor. I haven't even watched all of it yet, but I still feel it worthy of blogging about. It's been playing on and off for the last forty-something years and the current series started in 2005. I'm really late jumping on the band wagon, but at least I'm on. Not only that, but I'm catching up. I need to before school starts cause I won't have any time after that.

(A few disclaimers before you get into this post. 1- I really like TV. So much so that I blog about it more than once. 2- I'm a nerd and a fangirl and I'm more than a few steps on the obsessive side of the scale. 3- My life while I'm going to school is constant school and work. During the breaks I give my mind a breather and watch a lot of television. If there's anything in these sentences that make you roll your eyes or sigh in a not endearing way, maybe you shouldn't continue reading.)

So let me tell you about how I jumped on the Doctor Who wagon. I vaguely remember seeing a couple episodes of the older series when I was young. However, there are a few things that lead me to believe that these vague memories are false. First, they had to have been reruns because the original series ended two years after I was born. Second, I can't remember where I watched them. Third, my family didn't get satellite TV until I was in high school. Fourth, my mind sometimes makes up things and passes them off on me as memory. Thus, I'm 99% sure I have never seen any of the older episodes. I did, however, know what Doctor Who was. Don't ask me why, but it's probably just in my genes. A love of scifi is pretty engrained into my family (well, at least two-thirds of us). Anyway, I knew that the new series existed, but I never watched it until I saw it on Netflix (and even then it took several months to watch the first episode).

That first episode was not impressive. It was campy (not in a bad way), fun, and I did like the character of The Doctor, but the character of Rose Tyler kind of bugged me and the villains that first episode were really just painful (mannequins came to life in that one). I watched the first episode and put it away for a couple of months. I was still in school and I didn't have a whole lot of time to get into a new show. After that though, it was like Doctor Who was everywhere. I remembered people I knew in the past who loved it, I met new people who loved it, and all of the "geek" boards I followed on Pinterest were constantly pinning things about Doctor Who.

Then Christmas Break came. Oh, glorious month (yes, I get a month off in grad school at the U). I was still working, but work is completely different. I suddenly had copious amounts of free time. I had decided to use that time to watch Breaking Bad. And it did start out that way. I watched the first season (all 7 episodes) and the first half of the first episode of the second season. My dad had been in and out during the first season and he had a question while we were watching 201 that made me pause it and explain pretty much everything that happened in the first season. If you've seen Breaking Bad, you know that explaining the first season (or watching it for that matter) is not clean or pretty. It's full of murder and meth and guts and all that jazz. While I was explaining a particularly gruesome scene (when the acid burns through Jesse's bathtub in case you've seen it), my mom came out of the bathroom where she was getting ready for the day and asked, "is it THIS show you're talking about?" She then proceeded to say how no one should subject themselves to something like that and she really didn't want me to watch it. At the time I figured I'd just watch it when she wasn't around or in my bedroom. I turned Breaking Bad off and played the second episode of Doctor Who. I still haven't finished the second half of that first episode of Breaking Bad. And I probably won't until I'm graduated.

Why wait, do you ask? Why wait to watch things like Doctor Who, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men? It's because of my obsessive nature. When I get into something I GET INTO IT. Hard core. When I discover a new actor I totally love, I watch anything and everything I can that they have been in. Same goes for directors, restaurants, bands, random topics of information... but perhaps the most intense I am with something is with a TV show. A good TV show has the great actors, the great writers, fantastic characters, and it lasts a long time. Even the short-lived 'Wonderfalls' of television last longer than a movie. What's wrong with a book, you may ask? Nothing, but I rarely read fiction these days. I get my fiction from TV and my non-fiction from books. Anyway, I become a little obsessive and I tend to shirk responsibility when I'm in that mode so I tend to wait until I'm not going to school to get into something new.

Anyway, thus began my obsession with Doctor Who. So far in this series, there have been three different doctors. The Doctor, just so you know, is the last of a race of alien called Time Lords and his body regenerates when human beings would die. Making The Doctor over 900 years old and allowing the show to be about the same man over decades and (so far) eleven different actors portraying him. The Doctor in the first season of the new series (Doctor number 9) was played by Christopher Eccleston. He was fine, but nothing really special. Plus I knew that he regenerated after only one season and that the 10th Doctor was considered to be one of the best Doctors in existence so I was excited to move on.

The tenth Doctor is David Tennant (pictured above) and he's The Doctor for seasons 2-4. Not only is David Tennant my newest actor obsession (David Tennant as Benedick or Hamlet, anyone?), David Tennant's Doctor is my new fictional crush. Since I was 16ish it's been Spike from Buffy. He's my favorite character in Buffy, my favorite character in Angel, and his picture was the background on my phone for a long time. My background has recently changed. I'll be the first to admit that "obsessed" would be a fitting word, but as my brother once said, "obsessive is what lazy people call the dedicated." Actually, Spike had a very special place in my fangirl heart for so long and I wondered what it was about David Tennat's Doctor (I have to specify because it isn't any old Doctor - it's David Tennant's Doctor) pushed him out. While trying to figure out what they had in common, I could only come up with a couple of things. First, they're both skinny and British. I've always had a thing for skinny guys in general, but give them an accent, and apparently you're set in my book. Second, they both wear trench coats. Spike stole his off the body of the second Slayer he killed in the late 70s, and The Doctor got his from Janis Joplin. Third, they both have really awesome (albeit slightly weird) hair. Other than that, they are complete opposites. I must be pretty shallow because nothing they have in common has to do with their personality. But I do understand why The Doctor won out in the end. Rebel vampire vs. an eccentric alien (who happens to look fantastic) who takes you traveling through time and space in a little blue box (it's bigger on the inside). Is there really any competition?

I've only seen a few episodes with Matt Smith's version of The Doctor. He's fun so far ("bow ties are cool"), but I still miss David Tennant a lot ("people assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly... timey-wimey ...stuff," and "it's my timey-wimey detector. It goes 'ding' when there's stuff"). Wow, those quotes are so much cooler when you say them with a British accent.

To sum up, I LOVE DOCTOR WHO and I'm so sad no one forced me to watch this back it 2005. Oh that's sad. What people have been watching for 6 years I will have caught up in about 3 weeks... Told you - obsessive.

Christmas Time

This isn't a post about the meaning of Christmas. Watch the Christmas episode of Community to get that answer. This post is just about things that I love about Christmas and this time of year.

1. White Christmas



The best Christmas movie ever. Hands down, no contest. Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera Ellen (if you think she looks like an anorexic dancer it's because she was - people shouldn't really look like that). This movie is watched multiple times during the month of December in our house and it never gets old. It's got music, dancing, comedy, romance... it's just so good. Here's a list of specific things I love about this movie (this is in no way a comprehensive list):

A. Bing's smooth, silky voice
B. Rosemary Clooney's smooth, silky voice
C. Danny Kaye's matching jacket, pants, socks, and shoes in "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" number
D. "Well how do you like that? Not so much as a 'kiss my foot' or 'have an apple'."
E. "We'll follow the old man wherever he wants to go,
      As long as he wants to go opposite to the foe
      We'll stay with the old man wherever he wants to stay
      As long as he stays away from the battle's fray
F. Vera Ellen's phenomenal dancing skills. Seriously, phenomenal (watch "Choreography" for specifics)
G. The fact that Rosemary Clooney was 26 and Bing was 51 when this came out (ok, I don't love that part of it, it just makes me laugh).
H. The fact that the first half of the Minstrel Number has absolutely nothing to do with the second half.
I. The best version of White Christmas ever.

To sum up, I love everything about this movie. Except for the fact that Vera Ellen was anorexic. Random fun little fact, Danny Kaye died three days before I was born. I always figured we were friends in heaven for those three days.


2. Christmas in Connecticut



Second best Christmas movie ever. Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan. I say that like they're both great actors I love when in fact, I haven't seen either of them in anything else. But I do love them both in this. It's corny and predictable, but I still love it. It's hilarious and Dennis Morgan is pretty dreamy... Not dreamy enough to marry after knowing for two days (spoiler!), but it's still a fun movie. And one of my favorite quotes is from this movie. When Barbara Stanwyck shows her Uncle Felix her new mink coat, Felix says, "nobody needs a mink coat but the mink." I love this not because I'm anti-fur (I have no strong feelings either way on that, surprisingly enough), but because it's hilarious and I love Felix. Do me a favor and borrow this movie from me. Or just get it for $7 on Amazon.


3. Chocolate Crinkles

I don't know why these are our Christmas cookies of choice, but they are. I don't think we make them any other time of year besides Christmas. But when we make them, boy do we make them. Dozens and dozens and dozens. The dough is actually chilling in the fridge now and I'm going to bake them as soon as I'm done writing this post.


4. Snow

Although a White Christmas is rare these days. Blasted climate change... :)


5. My mug

This is the coolest mug ever. Hand made, weirdly shaped, and beautiful. I bought it at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia on one of the many occasions we went out to Charlottesville, WV for the horse races. Anyway, Harpers Ferry is the site of a Civil War battle and has fewer than 300 residents today. It's super cute and quaint and has a lot of history and fun shops for tourists. One had some amazing pottery made by people all over the country and this mug caught my eye. I can't remember how much I paid for it, but it was way more than a mug would generally cost. I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of it though with all the hot cocoa I drink in the winter. This mug seriously is great. Also, it's dishwasher safe.


6. Ableskivers

Heavenly. Fun little bits of deliciousness from Denmark and pretty much the only way we celebrate that aspect of our heritage. They're similar to pancakes but way better. Usually we dip them in powdered sugar but we tried something different this year and it requires a back story. A couple weeks ago I went to a friend's house for dinner and turns out they had made ableskivers with a real ableskiver pan. This was the first time I had ever seen ableskivers anywhere but my house so I was pretty excited. Anyway, they made them with a cinnamon/sugar mix in the middle and I recommended trying this with my family because it was so awesome. Now that we know how to put stuff in the middle, I have a feeling we'll be trying a lot of new fillings. Ableskiver, after all, means apple dumpling so we should probably try them with some kind of apple filling sometime.


7. Paella

One of the many reasons I love being Quarter-Rican and our traditional Christmas dinner. Turkey schmurkey, ham schmam, goose schmoose. Paella is the only way to go on Christmas. My mom has a special paella pan (caldero) that she pulls out once a year. Puerto Rican rice, pork, chicken, and veggies, usually garnished with shrimp or shellfish. Puerto Rican food is 100% delicious (especially since sea food is more the exception than the rule) and this is the quintessential Puerto Rican dish. Mmm... I'm excited for next Sunday if only for this.


8. John Denver and The Muppets and Nat King Cole

   

My two favorite Christmas albums (although James Taylor, Christmas Belles, Bing Crosby, A Brasillian Christmas, and Parranda Navideña deserve recognition as well). These epitomize Christmas for me. To me, Christmas is synonymous with Nat King Cole and John Denver with The Muppets. They're both fantastic. 


Just to point out, the worst things about Christmas are the traffic and the Forgotten Carols.