Between Impossibilities

So, um, I don't know how many swimslashers are left lurking around here. But I have to say that this has inspired me more than anything else in the last year. I just don't know that the world is ready for Melo/Michael. OR IS IT.

Thanks to scrawl42 for pointing the link out to me.

Oh, hectic week. I got back from Phoenix (where I had a WONDERFUL time with horizon_greene) on Tuesday and had to rush to get ready for school tomorrow. So, because I don't want to think about that anymore before I go to bed, and because I think the trip to Phoenix and the two basketball games while there inspired me, here's a Nuggets picspam.

Starting here:



With AI's "come hither" thing.

( and so on. )

The AU is done and off to beta.

( mini melo picspam. )

( five celebrities )

Which leads us to: ( a melo picspam! all new pics from this summer. melo shirtless and inked; angsty!melo; VERY intense kobe/melo; melo/kobe/lebron; melo/lebron )

Firstly, a VERY happy birthday to horizon_greene. It seems like the time I've known you has simply flown by. Is it really almost three years? Are the Olympics really only a little over a year away? It all comes full circle, in the end. But in the meantime, I'm so thrilled that we've been able to go on this amazing fannish adventure together through two fandoms, with the latter allowing us to have some truly unforgettable experiences in both Denver and Phoenix.

Anyway, may this next year be as positive and as profitable for you as this last one was, and may all your birthdays be as lucky as this one. ;)

Much love.

( Game 1: in which we learn that AI is an ass man, actually. )

Tuesday, my lecture on the EU devolved into a discussion on David Lynch films. By which, I mean, whatever. I don't know anymore. But I finished a revision on my latest Patrick/Pete feat. Ryan Ross, with a gratuitous mention of William Beckett fic. It is not happy. It reflects my, um, general disillusionment.

Um. What else was there? Oh. Nuggets 115 - Jazz 106.

That clinches a playoff spot AND gives the Nuggets the winningest road record IN THE HISTORY OF THE FRANCHISE. The highlight of this game was probably when Eddie kissed Nene. Okay. I could be wrong about this, but around the 4:30 mark of the 4th quarter, Nene dunked, and Eddie spun him around in a headlock/hug, and I swear to god it looked like he kissed him on the top of his head.

What's not cool, though, is George Karl talking. Usually, I watch the AI and Melo interviews and then listen to the rest of the post game on the radio. This inevitably means George Karl talking. Watching him is bad enough, but being forced to just listen to him? It's god awful. Seriously, the man sounds like an obscene caller. Just a lot of deep breathing in between chuckles and nonsense.

Anyway, I've been discussing the possibility of Kobe/Raja or Raja/Kobe with horizon_greene . It's an intriguing idea.

Speaking of fic ideas, I think Eddie's hair and Melo's gum chewing shenanigans will be a part of the next Melo/Eddie/JR (AI?). Totally can't help myself there. Like, Eddie says, "Here," and gives Melo a ginormous piece of grape bubbleyum (because that's what he's always smacking on, obviously), and Melo wanders off onto the court and JR and Eddie proceed to make bets on whether or not Melo can actually chew gum and shoot free throws at the same time. He can't, and JR loses and has to admit to Eddie that he loves his hair, and that it is AWESOME, MAN, especially that part that sticks up in front there.

Nuggets 115 - Lakers 111

What I loved about this game?

1. Eddie. Also, his hair. I can't find a picture of it, but he was rocking the faux hawk tonight and I can't take him seriously when his hair is that out of control.

2. Melo trying to chew gum and shoot free throws at the same time. Where did he get the gum? I'M LOOKING AT YOU EDDIE.

Scotty interviewed Melo before the game, and that was amazing. Melo was wearing his favorite red leather jacket, and when Scotty asked him about his improved offensive rebounding, Melo said, "I have a nice, big body and I know how to use it."

HA.

The only thing I can say about AI's interviews is that they are MARGINALLY better than Shawn Marion's.

Anyway, the Nugs are on a 6 game winning streak, and in the last week and a half they've beaten the Lakers TWICE + the Mavs and the Clippers.

Steve Kerr says they're the team to beat.

( AI thinks that deserves some noise )

Blah. Snow.

Because I'm stuck here and bored, I dusted off the old PC and made some icons.


( + 10. melo, ai, melo/ai, and melo's pants. um. )

I'm glad it's Thursday. Also, I watched the second season of SGA and um. I must be missing out on something? It's alright for comfort TV, but I can't get into it. Also, *ducks* I'm somehow oblivious to the chemistry between Sheppard and McKay.

BUT. I've finally started watching BSG and omg. That's some amazing television right there. Almost makes me want to forgive SciFi for canceling Farscape. Almost.

As far as reading goes, I'm actually reading very little fic. I seem to have become a little ADD in regard it, and if a story can't catch me within the first few sentences, I give up. However, I did read that new book on America's religious illiteracy, and I've been randomly giving the quiz from it (with some of my own questions added) to my students.

Me: Where was Jesus born?
Peanuts: Jerusalem.
Me: So it's, "O little town of Jerusalem?"

Me: Name a sacred Hindu text.
Peanuts: Harold and Kumar.

Me: In what country did Buddhism originate?
Peanuts: California.

Me: Buddhism's Four Noble Truths?
Peanuts: Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you may die.

Me: Jainism's greatest contribution to the world?
Peanuts: Jane Austen.

Anyway. I'm also re-reading Judith Tarr's Avaryan Rising series. Because it's good fantasy. Even if Elian is a red-haired Mary Sue. And if you wade through it until the third book, The Fall of Princes, you get the m/m. HI. ESCAPSIM, ANYONE?

I'm also, as we speak, ordering a book on Allen Iverson. Just for fun.

Speaking of, here. Have, perhaps, the most compelling pic of AI ever in the history of ever. I want to write something about it. Something wistful and soft and melancholy. (I'll throw in some really, um, interesting Melo/Kobe pics for good measure.)

( kobe/melo, + AI, and Melo )

So, I finished Melo/AI finally. It's off to beta. :)

In the mean time.

( massive picspam featuring: ai's evil influence, melo/lebron, and several random nuggets )

The drug store by my house is closing, so they were having a 50% off sale. That meant, obviously, that I had to go and buy shit that I didn't need. Like purple, glittery mascara and a mango sorbet candle. The candle smells nice, and I figure that I can wear the mascara to the Placebo concert.

( melo and ai = love + three bonus tracks )

The family got together for dinner tonight to celebrate my mom's birthday. My brother came in late and he looked ... funny to me. I figured it was the light and I didn't say anything about it until he drove me home when I noticed something else.

Me: Dude. You smell like flowers. Jasmine-y.

Roo: Um. Well. I bought some lotion yesterday --

Me: *snickers*

Roo. I HAVE DRY SKIN, OKAY. Anyway, the lotion I bought was actually *mumble*self-tanner*mumble*

Me: What?

Roo: *big eyes* It's a self-tanner with added shimmer. Whatever.

That's right. He's slightly orange right now with bits of glitter around the elbows.

And, hey! Check this out. megyal wrote me something and it is a great big awesome cake made of Pete/Patrick in the Wild West. There are guns and saloons and Patrick is a badass. It is: many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.

( the story of the nuggets east coast road trip thus far: the triumph and the heartbreak. featuring melo in a variety of fun and perhaps compromising poses, cameo appearances by eddie and jr, and, of course, ai making faces. )

I can't even describe work right now. Long story short, though, I got to the north campus the other day and this man was sitting in my cubicle. That man (my colleague, not Dr. Bob Kelso) is the medievalist in the dept., and second in authority only to the dept. head, whom he hates with an all consuming passion. As it turns out, he's planning what can only be referred to as his coop dee grass (to use South Park terminology), and since I've moved up symbolically in the hierarchy, he needs my help to pull it off. Apparently.

So it was all very hushhush and "the raven stalks at midnight" -ish, when we were visited by the ghost of semesters past: The Sleazy Lit Prof.

Not kidding. Because I spend the majority of my time at the south campus now due to the Scheduling Mishap, I haven't seen him since before Christmas. But there he was, and he'd been on a bender and it showed. He was rifling through my papers, breathing scotch in my face and wanting to know just what the hell we were up to, when the medievalist said that we were discussing my future ambitions.

To which the SLP replied, "Well. I don't know about you, bucko, but she'll always be my Numero Uno. Not two, not three, but UNO. Ciao, y'all."

Anyway. Did you know that Melo wrote a book? And that it is adorable like kittens? Seriously. It's called It's Only the Beginning.

( it sounds crazy, i know, to write a book about my life before i turn 21. but so much has happened to me so quickly, i sometimes feel like i'm 30. )

:)

( someone at the nets game got a little artsy with their camera )

One of my students asked me the other day if I thought that AI's press conferences were so bad because, secretly, he isn't wearing any pants during them.

I don't know why not. Anyway.

Nuggets 113 - Lakers 86

( there are too many pics of kobe under this cut. but, also melo, ai, and a certain sinister looking lithuanian in a chokehold. i mean, what? )

Also. KU plays tomorrow night.

rock chalk jayhawk KU.

It has been one hell of a week. My god. Melo is a dad, and it looks like I'm not going to be an aunt just yet, horizon_greene. *headdesk* So much drama because, as it turns out, February is a short month. Fucking genius.

Back to Melo. He and Lala have a baby boy named Kiyan. Melo has been a bit underwhelmed by it all, it seems. But so is Eddie. Bless the Nuggets announcers for playing into my fantasy world by tracking Eddie down and asking his opinion of Melo and Kiyan.

Scotty: "So, Ed. Any advice for Melo?"

Eddie: *scrunchy nose* "Um. Happy wife, happy baby?"

*pause*

Eddie: "OH WAIT. She's not his wife. So never mind." *scrunchy nose*


( nuggets picspam (including melo's tongue) mostly ai and melo and some melo/ai )

I have this fantasy, see, where Jeff Bzdelick quits coaching Air Force and comes back to the Nuggets next season. I'm convinced that Melo will never be at his best while being coached by Karl. Who is an asshat. Who threatened to bench Melo if he didn't start acting like a team player. Well, Melo scored ONE GODDAMN POINT in the second half tonight, and the Nuggets lost. Was that the game plan?

Anyway. It looks like it's about that time. Time for THE DANCE OMG. I'm going with the Hawks all the way, baby, because being a Hawk fan is hardwired into my DNA.

Also, I made some awesome cheesy, baked artichoke dip tonight. And enchiladas. We had them with mangoes. Slightly odd, but it worked.


*new icon curtesy of horizon_greene

There was a family thing last week, and my brother and I had to leave mid-day on Friday for Nowhere, Kansas.

We were about half-way there when it started getting dark, and I was reminded that, sometimes, Kansas has its moments.

( I also realized that I had my camera. So, here's my horrendous weekend as seen through the viewfinder - just places and things; no people. )

Can I have a "do over?" Like, start the year again, somehow? No? Alright. Well, at least tonight ended on a high note.

Melo made his big comeback, and he and AI did their thing.

( Like this. And then people talked about the brawl + racism. Because you haven't heard enough about that. )

So, I cut about three inches off of my hair yesterday. That's pretty awesome. Also, I finished an original fic that I'm thinking about posting here.

The only other thing that might possibly be exciting in my life is the Matisyahu concert on Thurs. I'll let everyone know how that goes.

But hey. I did ye olde character meme. I mixed and matched the most fucked up characters I could think of and my brain is utterly melted. We have:

1. Carmelo Anthony
2. Brendon Urie
3. Davey Havok
4. Dwyane Wade
5. LeBron James
6. Eddie Najera
7. Sam Winchestor
8. Boris Diaw
9. Christian Kane
10. Patrick Stump
11. Jake Plummer
12. Dean Winchestor


( And as a result? hooker!LeBron, Master Criminal D. Wade, Jake Plummer in numerous improbable situations, gratuitous mention and use of Laker games as deus ex machina, bandslash and incest )

I also saw Miami Vice yesterday. Oh, Colin. ColinColinColin. The accent kills.

So I've been doing a lot of reading. I find it's best when trying to avoid the more unsavory aspects of RL. That and turning your phone off.

I got through The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein, by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler. Essentially the life stories of Percy and Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and of course, the evolution of the both the stories that would become Frankenstein and, indirectly, Dracula. I'm a sucker for all things Byron. We should all know that by now.

- "At Percy's death Mary was just twenty-four years old. Her identity had always been defined by those around her. First, she had been the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin; then she had become the companion and wife of Shelley. Now she would become known as the widow of Shelley. Like her creature, she had no name of her own."

Also, I've been skimming Agrippina: Sex, Power and Politics in the Early Empire, by Anthony A. Barrett. I LOVE drama in the ancient world.

- "Claudius had vacated his throne, along with his earthly existence, before the end of 54. The last recorded victim of Agrippina before this happened was the mother of Messalina, Agrippina's sister-in-law Lepida, who re-enters the narrative for the first time since her daughter's suicide."

And lastly, What I Did Wrong, John Weir. Just kind of funny, kind of sad, post-modern, post-gay (what does that mean, really?) stream of consciousness.

- ( She doesn't have a voice like money or an animal's nickname . . . )

But what's more exciting than literature? PICTURES DAMMIT.

( Melo and Lebron in Vegas. )

I have maybe two weeks of school left? We're up to the Renaissance, so I'll be doing ye olde Borgia PowerPoint, I guess. And we should finish the Reformation by the end of this week, because that's how we roll in the summertime, or whatever. Luther gets a whole two hour lecture all to himself.

Now see? I'm lying. He's gotta share that one with Calvin AND the counter reformation which means Jesuits. And if I know my classes, and I think I do, we're going to have a nice discussion of predestination with quotes taken directly from the King James. I'm looking forward to it.

What?

That student who quotes from the Bible? He also wrote a paper once arguing that women should not be allowed in combat. Based on their basic biological inferiority to men.

I have to say, unless you're, like, a Portland, Boston or New York fan, the draft went pretty much as expected.

The irony here is that the Nuggets only had one pick (49) because Kiki had traded them all away - most in an effort to get Kmart - which is why Kiki and the Nuggets parted ways. Of course, then, on draft night EVERYONE was treated to a Kiki!draftnight!extravaganza from Portland in which he traded away his entire team. More power to him and all the new little TrailBlazers.

I waited with baited breath for the Suns and the Nuggets to live up to the excitement of the early hours of the draft and . . . nothing. Particularly for the Nugs. They, very literally, got nothing. They drafted and then traded immediately.

In conclusion, the Nuggets have recently thrown some money in Melo's direction (which a local reporter is skeptical about, claiming that, what, with all of us still suffering through the Kmart debacle, shouldn't we reconsider before paying large amounts of cash to a kid who might *gasp* get fat and lazy and also has never understood the word "team"?) and made some empty promises re: remaining a playoff caliber team.

Toward the end of the draft I actually turned on a Rockies game and enjoyed it. Todd Helton is interestingly gritty, I must say. However, this game was not as interesting as the Braves game I caught last week - the one with all the little Brave-lets in the dug out wearing their hats upside down so that it looked like they had Mickey Mouse ears on. *squeezes them all* *especially Frenchy*

I'm going out tonight with Kris and a whole bunch of people from high school. I can't decide if this is going to be fun or an unmitigated disaster.

(Oh. And on the subject of Antoine Hood: he went undrafted, but he's at the Nugs summer camp, so all is not yet lost there.)

The other day, during my faster than light recounting of Alexander the Great's life (careful not to mention too much of the gay so as not to antagonize the studentlets) one of the guys who sits in the back tells me, a bit randomly, that Hannibal might be released some time this year. Only - and this is the good part - they did it in the style of The Passion, filming it in the original language.

To which I responded, "D'you mean Vin Diesel had to make a movie in which all the dialogue was in LATIN AND GREEK? Are you kidding me?" And then collapsed. If anyone can confirm this (about the movie, not that I collapsed), it would be totally awesome.

Also, is it weird that I find the previews for Miami Vice absolutely hysterical? I can not wait for that movie, man. Can not wait. And Casino Royale. I love a good Bond. Wahwah wah WAH wahwahwah. (That's me singing the bond song.)

Lastly, not only does Alonzo Mourning have the coolest name in basketball? He also has the coolest voice. No shit.

And on that note, horizon_greene and I recently had a conversation about Melo, LeBron and Dwyane Wade in which we concluded that:

1) Since LeBron just told Dan Patrick that he and Wade text all the time OMG, and Melo admitted years ago that he and LeBron have talked on the phone until, like, three in the morning, they must, therefore, all be HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS.

2) Since they are actually three high school girls, then the only logical conclusion is that they should have a sleepover. With Boris Diaw. Class of 2003, right?

3) At this sleepover they will watch scary movies and eat ice cream.

4) Boris will wear something in maroon silk and LeBron will wear his Superman footie pajamas. Melo will rock the big, old t-shirt. And Dywane? Bunny slippers. Just bunny slippers.

5) They will braid Melo's hair and catch him singing "You're Beautiful" in the shower, and LeBron will sing AND DO THE DANCE to "I'm a Maniac" since he has it on his iPod.

I've finished the last parts of the NBA series. It is off to beta, thank god.