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I never know what to do in the wake of tragedy. An event that made such a profound impact on so many people in another part of the world should have a profound impact on me as well, shouldn’t it? CNN reported that the earthquake’s power was equivalent to that produced by the detonation of a million atomic bombs. Other scientists said it probably jolted the planet’s rotation. How can anything we do on a day-to-day basis even begin to compare? How can I follow up an entry, composed while speechless with horror, with some trifling anecdote or silly remark about fandom?

I want to say that life goes on and that we should continue to go along with our daily lives and that’s good, right? The afternoon of September 11th, after school let out, Chungy and I continued with the plans we had made the day before and took pictures of ourselves dressed as crazy old women for our joint blog, The Spinster Diaries. The weblog fell through, but the next year, she gave me a poster-style wall calendar with one of those photos. Though 2003 is long gone, I still have it hanging on my wall. And every time I look at it, I can’t help staring at the tiny orange datestamp in the corner, unassuming neon digits that read “9 11’01”, and I feel horrified.

Sure, stuff like this takes a while to sink in, but looking back on my blog entries for September 11th, I give the impression that I was more personally affected by the contents of my website being accidentally deleted than by any terrorist activity. Looking back, I’m appalled at the lack of sensitivity. So what do you do? How long to you wait until you can start thinking selfishly again, posting about how suprised and proud you are of your grades this semester, or linking to the latest fandom-related exploit, or griping about the price differences between Amazon and Barnes and Noble when you’re trying to support one over the other? Why doesn’t Miss Manners have anything to say on the subject?

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Wheeeeeee, I got to spend the day with Chungy, and life is wonderful! We watched the easter eggs on all the RotK, ate lunch at the Dream Cafe, then saw “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” which was fabulous. I really need to read some of those books! Perhaps I’ll see if they have them at one of my libraries near my dorm. I particularly loved the costume and set design, and I’m very pleased with Jim Carrey’s performance. Afterwards, we watched “Napoleon Dynamite,” which I had missed in the theatres. Too funny!

Over lunch, I explained to her some of the main plot points of Buffy, and then at the theatre, we discussed our Lost theories. Of course, as I explained several of my ideas, I started getting the impression that she had seen a lot less of the show than she was letting on, so at a certain point I refused to say any more and instead gave her the CDs I burned with the first seven episodes. Hurrah!

We also exchanged our gifts. Good lord, Chungy knows me far too well! She got me the DVD of Hero, which I was planning to get for myself with the Christmas money I got from my aunt.

And we’re getting together again on Wednesday! Hurrah!

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Saw Phantom of the Opera with mum, which was quite good. The visuals were so magnificently opulent that it would take a dozen repeat viewings to fully appreciate them, and the voices were much better than I expected them to be. However, I didn’t enjoy it as much as other movie musicals I’ve seen, mainly because it didn’t really offer anything beyond what the stage musical presented. Usually, movie musicals are either totally new (like NMBC) or offer a radically new spin or interpretation on pre-existing material (like Chicago or Moulin Rouge). Meanwhile, Phantom had fabulous visuals, but the script was essentially the libretto of the musical. I guess that should please the purists, and I suppose that was probably the intention, but I went in to the theatre wanting to experience something new and different.

I wanted a new spin. I wanted to not want to hit Christine in the face with a large fish. I wanted to be able to find it in my heart to ship Christine/Raoul for once, but nope, even on the silver screen, Christine/Raoul is duller than Buffy/Angel (oh, and that scene on the roof [All I Ask of You], where Christine and Raoul obliviously kiss, and then it pans over to the Phantom, seething behind the horse statue? Three guesses where my mind went, and the first two that aren’t “the last scene of ‘End of Days’ [BtvS 7×21]” don’t count. I wanted TheFirst!Christine to appear by the Phantom’s side and make some snide comment.)

And now I’ve gone off on a major tangent about an aspect I didn’t like, and I haven’t said anything about why I did like it. One of my favourite bits came in the form of Minnie Driver as Carlotta. Oh my good gravy, she was fabulous! Her mannerisms were comic gold, and her costumes were fantastic. Listening to the CD, “Prima Donna” is one of my favourite bits from the show, though it seemed a bit flat in the movie version, despite the frantic busyness and energy of the visuals. It really didn’t bother me that it wasn’t her singing.

Was it just me, or did the dancers in black in the background of “The Point of No Return” conjure major “Roxanne” flashbacks? Why is it that I can’t spell “conjure” properly on the first try ever since playing Conjur Woman in Dark of the Moon?

Uh… Meg/Phantom OTP? I’m going to go ahead and post this, as I am finishing this entry at 8:33PM, when it was dated 1:01AM, which is just silly.

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And so this is Christmas! Man, I cleaned up! More cute tops and sweaters than you can shake a stick at (including an Avenue Q shirt), Paul Kidby’s new Art of Discworld, James Fee’s Peleliu Project (a book I’ve been yearning for since senior year), a couple books on Broadway, the PBS Broadway special on DVD, a book of Edmund Teske photographs (which I lusted after with my mom in NY–she must have returned to the store without me and picked up a copy!), and to top it all, the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition trilogy.

Second to the LotR merriment, my other favourite gift was the one that was the most unexpected. When I got home from Philadelphia, we sent my sweaters and coat to the cleaners, with the knowledge that I could use some other coat lying around the house in place of my normal coat while I was in Dallas. My mom looked through the closets and found a coat she had bought last year, but which she never really wore, because she found it got to be a bit too small. However, on me, it fit perfectly, and is fabulously flattering. She said I could have it! It’s like my normal coat, but ankle-length and with two columns of buttons instead of one. I luuuuuuuuuuuurve it! And now it is mine, mwahahaha!

Also, for the first time, we opened the portfolio case Keith Carter sent us and basked in the glory of the “Spotted Apple” print we bought last summer in Santa Fe. Not sure where we’re going to put it in the house yet, but I can’t wait to see it framed! *drools*

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Auxiliary Backup Hobbit Christmukkahwanzafestivagnosti– *takes deep breath* –saturnalieid-ul-fitratheist-kids-get-presents-day! My holiday card is going to have to wait a few days, because apparently even at 2AM, there are no Christmas miracles where Maya is concerned. *thwaps software*

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YESSS!!!! There are more that share my delusion vision that Juliet Landau (Drusilla) would make the perfect Bellatrix! I am not alone! And to think that Moni laughed at me when I suggested it. Hah, take that! They laughed! They laughed at me! I’ll show them all! I’ll show everyone! MUAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!! *lightning strikes*

::cough:: Ahem.

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Does anyone know if there were new episodes of either Lost or Smallville last night? Judging from the absence of commentary on my flist, I assume the negative, but I don’t want to miss out on the off chance that I’m mistaken.