I always have profound spiritual moments -- when I have them, that is, which isn't as often as that first part of the sentence would make it sound -- in the most mundane places while doing the least profound things. Which I suppose is the way it is for most folks, because God's funny that way. He likes to get us where we live.

I had a long day. Not a bad day, just long. I stayed up much later than I should have last night, and spent the day feeling very tired. I was unprepared for some of my classes, because, like I said, I let a lot of stuff slide over the weekend, including some reading for Research Methods, and a worksheet for Abnormal Psych. Turned out not to be that big a deal, but right before each class I got to experience the Big Panic as I remembered that I was supposed to do something for that class and totally forgot, which is never fun. Also ran late this morning, so only had time for one cup of coffee, didn't have time to go for the Student Union's bad coffee because I was too busy experiencing Big Panic between classes, and every single soda machine in the building was out of order.

Sleep deprivation I can handle. Caffiene deprivation, on the other hand, is never good, even under the best, most well rested circumstances. I couldn't even buy a bottled water to wash down my Slim-Fast bar, and so I had to starve, too. Yeah, I know. Wah. Shut up. I was hungry.

I felt some relief when I finally quit dickering and made the decision to drop out of the internship program. It's just too soon, I don't know yet what I want to get out of it, and it's one too many things to take on right now. I should have dropped it last week so I'd have gotten a full refund, but when it occurred to me that I could just drop it I went and talked myself out of it. Then I ended up stressing about it all weekend. I finally decided last night to just drop it, and then I slept ever so much better, even though I waited too late for a complete refund.

So while I was looking for a working soda machine I picked up an add/drop form (the Social Science department is, conveniently enough, one floor above admissions & enrollment. My Ab. Psych. professor is, conveniently enough, also my student advisor, whose signature I needed on the form to drop the program. I had the form all filled out and ready for him to sign at the end of class, and then he said something about a quiz on Thursday, and I scrambled to write that down in as many places as I could so that I can't possibly forget about it, and then I put my things away and strolled merrily out of the classroom and down the stairs. I was almost outside before I remembered the form he needed to sign, but when I got back upstairs he was no longer in the classroom, and he wasn't in his office, either. So actually dropping out of the program is going to have to wait until Thursday.

So since I'm going to drop it anyway, I didn't go to my internship class, which would have been next. Instead I went home and ate lunch and drank a nice, cold, caffienated beverage, and walked Fizzgigg. I probably should have then taken a nap, but instead I read e-mail. Then I went back for Research Methods, for which, as I said, I'd completely forgotten to do the reading, but that worked out okay. It being our first real class discussion, the professor was pretty cool about not calling on anybody.

After class was, of course, my bi-weekly visit to the chiropractor (these sessions should be winding down soon), which was very busy, and it took me over half an hour to get out of there, whereas I'm usually only there for about ten minutes. I was so tired that I dozed off on the traction table. That was a little embarrassing, but it was a much needed nap.

So on the way home I was actually feeling much better. A little frazzled, and still a little sleep deprived, but otherwise okay. I took the country roads out of town as far as I could, until I was forced to get back on the highway to cross the lake. It was a pretty day. I switched the radio from the local alternative rock station to the local Christian alternative rock station (I tend to go back and forth a lot between the two), and heard these lyrics: She's an angel and she's got a / song for singing and she's got her / dancing shoes on and she's more than a [something] or a star on the walk of fame

The lyrics paused for a few beats, and I thought to myself, "that's pretty," and then they continued...

She's the reason Jesus came

And just like that I broke down crying like a baby. A very relieved baby who'd been very frightened and was just reminded that her Daddy's taking care of her and everything is going to be all right. And suddenly all of the fear that's been building up since I sat down in my first class melted away, and I knew: I'm going to be able to do this, because I'm not doing it all by myself.

I just signed up to join Buffy The Journal Slayer, even though I really have been making a concerted effort to refrain from blogging about Buffy. Really, I have. Believe me, there could easily be so much more Buffy stuff here than you've been getting lately (and no, all of the non-BtVS related James Marsters posts don't count). If you like the (comparatively) Buffy-lite format, well, enjoy it while it can, because a mere five weeks from tomorrow, that's all gonna change. Hell, not even that long, because in four weeks it'll start over in syndication, and I'll get to see all the episodes I missed. Whee!

Anyway. Terrence should probably run and sign up, too. So probably should Eleni.

Link found via Schmuck Bait

Hmm. That could give one the impression that some sort of favors were performed to earn my own special listing(s).

And why are only ten links (besides mine) allowed on the sidebar? Obviously the purposes of your list o' links and my list o' links is quite different. My links page isn't there for y'all's benefit, it's there for me to use. Much easier to launch my daily visits from there instead of having to pull up my bookmarks or type in addresses all the time.

Anyway. I had all kinds of crud keeping me down and not posting the last several days. PMS, allergies, headaches, apathy... my blogs are the least of the things I let slide. It's not that I did nothing. There was much e-mailing and reading and writing and obsessing over stories and my favorite story subject, and that's always fun, but dude, I really gotta budget my priorities more wisely, or I'm going to mess around and get myself into some deep doo-doo.

That said, I'm off to Sonic to get myself a big-ass cherry Coke, then I'm coming back home to write more fanfic.

Where is my mind? - Wil "Wesley Crusher" Wheaton's got a weblog, folks. Yes, really.

Thanks, Terrence, for making my day.

Gah. My brain is so fried. I've been reading all. day. long. And I've still got one more essay to read for Social Problems and about 10 pages to go in my Abnormal Psych text reading before I'm done, and that's just for this week. I just don't think I can do any more. My brain is fried, it's not going to process any more important information tonight. I'm really not sure whether my professors expected us to have all of the reading done before class tomorrow, but with my history it's better to be safe than sorry; but really, if I get called on in a discussion over the parts I haven't read yet, I really don't have a problem saying "look, I've got four other classes besides this one, all of which had reading assignments. I read like some kind of reading machine, but I still didn't manage to get that far, because my brain can only process so much information in the space of a single day, and besides, I also have a life. I'll read the rest tonight, okay?"

After being at home proved to be too distracting, I took my books and went to Java Dave's and ordered a bottomless cup, after which I felt compelled to drink my money's worth. Since with a regular cup of coffee you're entitled to one free refill, I had to refill a third time, even though I really didn't need a third cup of espresso at 9 PM. Also, before JD's I went by the drug store and picked up my Ritalin, and I took one, figuring I could use some help focusing on the text, and also that it was early enough yet (7-ish) that it would wear off by my bedtime. Then after JD's I went by Sonic, and instead of ordering the cherry limeade I'd planned to order, I got myself a great big cherry diet Coke. So I'm pretty caffienated right now. Somehow I don't think I'm going to make it to bed at a decent time tonight. I suppose I could spend the time between now and my inevitable post-caffiene crash finishing up my reading, but honestly, if I have to look at the words "sociology" or "Freud" or "psychopathology" one more time tonight, I will turn violent.

I'm not even to the second day yet and I'm already asking myself, "15 hours? FIFTEEN hours?!! For the love of Mike, what were you thinking?"

I really need to get myself a system. I have so, SO many things to keep track of now it's not even funny. The one thing I really miss about my old job is my Outlook calendar, specifically the task list, with all of its bells and whistles and reminders that made it nearly impossible for me to forget to take care of whatever was on the list. My current computer has a Works calendar, but it doesn't have a task list. The best I can do for now is my online calendar, which has a task list that I can set to e-mail me reminders, but it being online, I have to wait for a page to load for every task I want to set up, and it's a pain in the ass.

I want an electronic planner. One of those handheld thingamaboppers. I think it's finally extended beyond merely wanting one to needing one, and soon will become needing one desperately. I think I'll ask for one for Christmas. I need to start researching them to find one that does everything I need it to do that's affordable enough for my mommy to buy for me. Or to at least pay half.

Anyway.

Over on the MBTV Buffy Boards, I've started my third topic, The Philosophy of Fanfic, and it has yet to be shut down by the moderators, and seems to be going strong. It was inspired by the Barbelith article I linked the other day. It's turned into quite the discussion, and seems to have attracted all of the smart people, so now I'm too intimidated to go back and post in my own thread. I hate when that happens. But it's an interesting discussion, and not necessarily Buffy centered. So check that out.

In a different Buffy vein, look at what's new in the world of tiny plastic characters! Yes, finally, Xander has his own action figure, along with Cordelia and a vamped out Spike. I'm going to have to get Xander and Cordy. I think I can live without the vampy Spike, especially if his hands are as useless as the pretty Spike's hands. Again I must ask, why would you package an action figure with all kinds of cool tiny plastic weapons, and then fashion his hands so that he can't grasp a single one? Yes, I'm still bitter about that. Anyway, I strongly suggest that you don't purchase said figures from Another Universe. They screwed me over in so many different ways. Of course, they are under new management, so maybe they've improved. However, I'll be getting my figures from Powerstar. They may not have a very impressive site, but they tend to have excellent customer service. I'd have linked to their pictures in the first place, but any time you link to inside pages you get kicked back to the front page.

I'm off now to tackle my impossibly huge to do list for the day.

Oh, one more thing: Terrence pointed out the other day that my links were difficult to see. As in, he couldn't see them at all. I was going to assume he just never wears his glasses and/or contacts when looking at my site and let it go, because clearly the links were a whole shade darker than the regular text, but then I decided, better safe than sorry. So I've brightened up my links and hopefully made them easier to spot.

Just posted Episode 10 of War! This one'll put a tear in your eye, unless you're Pete, in which case it'll probably put a huge grin on your face.

I'm all better now. Whatever I had was apparently a 72 hour virus, pretty much down to the minute. Friday night around 11:00 I suddenly started to feel like hell, I ran a fever all weekend, ached in all of my joints and felt tired all over, and then last night around the same time I suddenly felt fine. Weird. And, thankfully, just in time for school.

For today, my friends, was my first day of school. Yay me. I, of course, completely overdressed for the occasion. It's not like I dressed up, but I wore a skirt and a matching top, whereas everyone else wore jeans, shorts and tank tops. But I didn't care. I'm not dressing down to fit in with the teenagers. Although today will probably be the last day I wear a skirt to class that I don't have a job interview or something afterwards. But if they thought I was overdressed today, just wait until the weather cools off and I break out the leather pants.

Anyway.

First up was Social Problems Seminar 1, which looks like it will be interesting, but I've already got a lot to read between now and Thursday. Same with Abnormal Psychology, which was next, and which looks to be utterly fascinating. Any class that starts out by showing you graphic, up close and personal footage of brain surgery isn't likely to be too boring, I figure. Lots of reading to do for that one already, too. Next up was my internship class, which was mainly filling out paperwork. Lastly was Research Methods, which looks to be the least interesting as far as subject matter goes, but the professor seems pretty cool, and really enthusiastic, so he should be pretty easy to pay attention to.

My online Intro to Business course started Monday. I printed everything off and exchanged e-mails with the instructor, but I haven't really done anything with it yet. I figure I'll work on that course on the weekends.

I got to the Student Union early enough for breakfast. They did not have a breakfast bar. They had some plain bagels and cream cheese, and some boxes of cereal. I had half a bagel and a coffee. The coffee wasn't too impressive. I think I'll either be taking my own or stopping at Java Dave's in the mornings from now on. At least I gave the Student Union a chance, though, right?

After my classes I went to the chiropractor, which was actually pretty nice after sitting in classrooms all day. I think I've got three visits left before he's supposed to x-ray me again. The pain isn't completely gone yet, but these days it's barely noticeable, and is actually non-existent as long as I don't move a certain way. Compared to how I felt two weeks ago, that's cause for rejoicing right there.

And now I'm off to get some of that reading done before Witchblade comes on. I'm lying, I'm going to sit here and catch up on my blog reading, and then I'm going to get pages ready to upload to Dancing Lessons. But I already started on the reading while I was at the chiropractor, so see? I'm not procrastinating. Much.

I'm sick. Details when I'm not anymore.

Eleni's got a new design and a new address. Go have a look-see.

Dammit, you sick freaks! Michelle Trachtenberg is 16 years old! You are not going to find authentic nude pictures of her on the web, and you most certainly aren't going to find any of her here! Quit following your fucked up pedophilia searches to my site. This is Harriet the Spy we're talking about, for criminy's sake!

You will also find no pictures here of DBZ characters, Howie Long, Terri Hatcher, Alexis Denisoff, David Boreanaz, Charisma Carpentar, Buffy, Willow or Tara, clothed or otherwise. So quit looking here for them.

To the person in France searching for "song from buffy the vampire slayer episode the chocolates with Giles and Joyce," the episode's English title is "Band Candy," and the song is "Tales of Brave Ulysses" by Cream. You can find it on Audiogalaxy.

All of my text books and school supplies have been bought, my classes are all paid for, and I've located all of the caffeine dealers closest to the Psychology department. Me, to school: Bring it on!

The bookstore allowed a microcassette recorder to be counted as school supplies and covered by financial aid, so I got myself a new tape recorder. Now I finally have a use for all of the microcassettes I liberated from the "toss" pile when my (former) office cleaned out the supply room a couple of years ago. Hooray for foresight! Okay, not so much foresight as packrat mentality and not being able to stand seeing perfectly good blank tapes get tossed in the trash just because nobody ever dictates anything anymore.

The grill in the student union was still closed and caged off, and I couldn't make out the menu from where I stood; but I saw coffeemakers, and what looked like a breakfast bar, so it looks like I'll be able to get both breakfast and coffee on campus. If it turns out to be awful, at least there's a Java Dave's close by.

In domestic news, Nibblet got her very first bath around 2:30 this morning after she accidentally fell in the toilet -- before I had a chance to flush it. The toilet freaked her out -- freaked me out too, because, ew -- but the actual bath she received immediately afterwards didn't seem to faze her too badly. Note to self: flush before standing up from now on.

How's about some links?

Just discovered the News & Oddities blog over at Buffy's Domain of Delight. She's reprinting the articles she finds -- some of which are pretty obscure and entertaining, as well as non-spoilerish -- directly to her blog. It may tread some murky waters in the swamps of copyright law, but it's awfully convenient.

Anatsuno pointed me towards an article over at Barbelith that she thought I'd find interesting: The Philosophy of Fan Fiction. What sets Dante and Shakespeare, both of whom have written derivative works about previously established myths, apart from the modern-day fanfic writer? Why is the latter so looked down upon? Why am I so embarrassed to tell people in the 3-D world that I write fan fiction, when some of my fanfic is the best work I've ever done? Deva's got theories. Go read them.

Since it's still much too early in the day for me to come up with original content, I'll jump into the meme pool and and answer a questionnaire.

1. Open up your CD player, what's inside?
   Lifehouse - No Name Face
   
   
2. Look in your VCR, is there a movie?
   Buffy the Vampire Slayer - "Becoming," parts 1 and 2
   
   
3. If there happens to be music playing right now, what is it?
   Tom Waits - "Somewhere" (from West Side Story)
   
   
4. What are you wearing?
   My jammies. I just got up.
   
   
5. Look down, what's the first thing that catches your eye?
   Staplesaurus Rex. He's eating Tiny Plastic Oz's tiny plastic guitar. Oz is fighting back with a tiny plastic battleaxe.
   
   
6. Turn on your TV if it's not on already, what network is it?
   The WB (Gilmore Girls was on last night)
   
   
7. Look out the window, what's the weather like?
   Sunny and too bloody hot.
   
   
8. If you were to hit redial on your phone right now, where would it call?
   The automated weekly unemployment filing system. I don't actually use the phone much.
   
   
9. Say "hello?" out loud, did anyone answer?
   Nobody with me but my pets. They ignored me. Stuck up little bastards.
   
   
10. What are you planning on doing next as soon as you get offline?
    Getting coffee, getting dressed, walking my dog, and going to buy school supplies. Not necessarily in that order.

Survey copied from alysha who got it from Melissa who got it from someplace that's else.

Way back when (I still had a job and was stuck at a computer and blogged twenty times a day for my own amusement), I said that redcricket.com was going to become one of my new daily reads. I never got around to adding them to my list of links, and then the post rolled of the front page, and when I remembered again that I had a new daily read to add I'd forgotten the name of the site (and, subsequently, the address), and I was too lazy to go through my archives to find it ... so anyhow, redcricket.com is going to become one of my new daily reads. This time for real.

Thanks for the reminder, Terrence. You've already been linked today from both of my blogs, so you don't get another one.

My Abnormal Psychology text book contains a copy of the DSM-IV. So far I've resisted the urge to crack it open and start diagnosing everybody I know. Mainly because I already did that when I discovered MentalHealth.com. Of course most of my diagnoses were pretty half-assed and meant for my own amusement, but I'm pretty convinced that Terrence's and my college roommate -- let's call her Suzie, because that's her name -- had (and most probably still has) Histrionic Personality Disorder. Which explains so, so much.

I wonder if I'll be one of those annoying Psych majors who goes around trying to apply what I've just learned in class to every situation I encounter. I bet I will be. I went through a phase after getting diagnosed with ADD where I was handing out ADD diagnoses left and right. "Oh, you're chronically late for work? I bet you have ADD." "You can't find that file? I wonder if you have ADD." "Hey, your socks don't match! You must have ADD!"

So, um, if you catch me doing that sort of thing once I get into my classes, feel free to tell me to please quit it right now.

It didn't just rain last night. It stormed, a violent, scary storm. No tornadoes, but even so the wind got up to 75 mph in my neck of the woods. I was all excited because great big tree limbs fell all around my car without any actually landing on my car, and I thought it was extremely cool that they landed so close without doing any damage, but upon further inspection it turned out that one of them scratched my paint. But considering that if the one that did the scratching had landed just a foot to the West it probably would have caved my roof in, I'm not complaining. Besides, we're all so very happy to have the rain that nobody's too upset about having to spend today cleaning up huge chunks of tree. Though, I would imagine that the unlucky few hundred people throughout the state who lost their power and are still waiting for it to come back on can think of plenty to complain about today.

Warning: The following is incredibly gross and not for whose with weak constitutions.

My kitten likes to sleep wrapped around my head at night, tangled up in my hair. Sweet, right? Except, you know, I just figured out that she still has worms. I'm not going into further detail. Suffice it to say, deworming the kitten is a top priority at Casa del Jean, and not just for reasons pertaining to her health. Can I get an "ew" from the audience? How about an "Oh my God, that is so nasty!"

Anyway. The book store should get my last text book in tomorrow, so I'll go buy it, along with some school supplies. Yay, school supplies! While I'm there I'll try to scope out the campus a little. I already know it pretty well, as I attended classes there right out of high school, and again in '96, but it might be helpful to see what's changed. I already know that the book store is not where it used to be, I had to stop in the library and ask for directions when I went to buy my books last week. Mainly, I want to learn if there is any place on campus to get a decent cup of coffee, or if I need to plan on leaving the house early enough on school mornings to make a pit stop at Java Dave's before heading to campus. The student union is right next to the building that houses all of the classes I'll be taking, but somehow in all of my previous sessions at this school, I never made it inside the student union. I went in there for the first time last week to get my ID and parking permit (which, by the by, was free; one of the perks of small universities), and it's pitifully small. The student union at OU was a huge building, practically a shopping mall, with a pretty expansive food court. The student union at RSU is a one room building with a lounge off to the side containing a TV, a couple of sofas and some video games (coin-op arcade machines, not a Playstation or anything decent like that); the rest of it is a single hall filled with tables and chairs, with the Student Services counter along one wall, and what looked like a small grill at the back. The grill was closed and caged off when I went in the other day, so I couldn't see what's on the menu, but I'm betting they serve coffee. Whether or not it's good coffee, I have no idea.

Since being declared a full-fledged four year university last year, they've started expanding and making a lot of improvements. New book store, new luxury dorms, new radio station ... here's hoping that a new student union is somewhere on that list.

That's all I've got for now. Before you leave, go read this.

Damn. The Buffy Shooting Script Site was issued a cease and desist letter from 20th Century Fox Television. That was always the first place I went for continuity research. At least Psyche's Transcripts is still up and running, guess I'll be using that now. But the fun thing about the shooting scripts was seeing all of the stuff that got left out of each episode. It doesn't look like Rayne has any plans to challenge the order or work something out with Fox, so I guess it's gone for good. Always sad to see such an entertaining and useful site shut down.

"Don't eat the phone book" has become a regular part of my vocabulary. My copy of the yellow pages is on the floor next to my desk. It's big and heavy and I fear I'll throw my back out yet again if I bend over to pick it up, and honestly, if I did pick it up, there wouldn't be another place for me to put it, because all of the available surfaces are already home to something, mostly stacks of papers. So the phone book resides on the floor, where Fizzgigg and Niblet both like to take turns chewing on the spine. Fizzgigg is five years old and way past his chewing phase, but there's something about the phone book that his little teeth just can't resist.

Anyway.

I attended CASA orientation today. I don't think this is something I'll be able to do. It's something I would like to do, but once you commit to a case you have to stick with it until the end, when the child has been placed in a permanent home. It's your job to provide a sense of stability for the child until then. I don't have enough stability in my own life to be responsible for something like that. Sometimes these cases drag on for years, and I'm in a transitional phase right now. I'm just not in a place where I can commit to something like this. I think I would love to do this once I'm out of school, but for now I'll probably fulfill my internship requirements by helping out around the offices instead of working as an advocate.

Hey! I just heard thunder! And it's dark outside! I think it's going to rain! Whee!

I received my tax refund today, so I spent the afternoon running errands and spending it. After paying the bill at my doctor's office, refilling my Synthroid and buying a few groceries, I think I have enough left over to pay my smaller bills. The larger ones will just have to wait until the unemployment checks start coming in.

On the way home from depositing my check at the credit union, I saw one of those "Got Milk?" billboards featuring a shirtless Malcolm (from Malcolm in the Middle) flexing his arm. After being squicked by the fact that he was shirtless -- I mean, was that really necessary? Couldn't they have put a tank top on him? He's just a little boy, for criminy's sake -- I started thinking about how the media describes that show as being about a dysfunctional family. Same with The Simpsons. Okay. I'll bite. On both shows, the parents are still together, still in love, nobody's an alcoholic, the children get disciplined when they need it without getting abused ... could somebody please explain to me where the dysfunction comes in? Maybe my vision's a little skewed from having grown up in a truly dysfunctional family, but both of those families look pretty together to me. No, they're not perfect, but since when does failing to emulate the Cleavers equal dysfunction? If you want to see a good TV example of what a dysfunctional family really looks like, go watch "Titus." Bart & Lisa and Malcom and his brothers all look like they've got it pretty good to me.

Anyway, again.

Late last night I posted Episode Nine of War!. Faith kicks some butt in this one, and Spike's got a sword. I'll tell you right now: Spike + sword = damn sexy.

Lines of "Star Wars" Dialogue If Obi-Wan Kenobi Had Been Really, Really Depressed

Link provided by best mate Terrence, for the sake of giving me a happy. Thanks, love. It worked.

Damn skippy.

Nobody's even looking at my new journal. That's just sad. Go look at it. You'll make me happy.

I wish I could be funny.

I mean, I wish I could write comedy, and be blatantly funny, on purpose, knowing that people will get my jokes, instead of what I do now, which is throwing in the occasional smart-ass remark that Terrence and maybe a handful of other people who share my twisted brand of humor might laugh at.

I want to be funny like Polly. Or like Sars. Or Pete. Or ... someone else who's funny. And it kind of bums me that I'm not. A humor columnist I will never be, alas.

This entry sucks, doesn't it? Well, I just can't be expected to be entertaining this week -- that is, if you ever find me to be entertaining in the first place, which I realize is entirely subjective. I just have too much to get done. I'm going back to school in one week. One week, people! I'm a-scared.

Cute chiropractor guy got married over the weekend. So let's just scratch him off of the crush list right now. Which is good, 'cause that was awkward anyway. My back is feeling much better. I still can't bend forward very far, and it still hurts like a bitch when I bend or twist in the wrong direction, but it's no longer constant, mind-numbing pain. So, yay for that.

Tomorrow I'm going in for orientation at CASA, which is where I'll be doing my internship. Not sure yet whether I'll be a full-blown child advocate, or if I'll just be assisting the advocates. I really hope it's the latter, because I just don't think I have the stones to do everything being an advocate would entail.

I have that song they sing on the boat in Jaws stuck in my head.

Anyway. Saturday night, my boyfriend -- okay, so he's not; but somewhere there's an alternate universe that revolves around me, in which everything goes my way, and there, he is. He just has to be -- is going to star in in the premiere episode of Strange Frequency on VH1. Go James! It's your birthday! What exactly is a "lowly guitar techie," anyway?

On a separate yet just as obsessively fangirlish note, Berkely Breathed has finally gotten his official site all put together and up and running. Alas, he does not have a Blog. So he's still not quite as cool as Neil Gaiman. But he's pretty far up there on the cool scale. I wish I could be funny like Berkely Breathed.

See what I did there? With the tie-in and the full-circle and ... um, yeah. Nevermind.

I just posted a bunch of new Spike & Buffy fanfic and/or new installments of old S/B fic over at Dancing Lessons. They're all very good, of course. I don't host fic that sucks.

I'm sitting here drinking my coffee (I found a bag of Starbuck's house blend that I was given Secretary's Day before last that still had about half a pot's worth of grounds in the back of the refrigerator; there's also a half a bag of some gourmet blend of a brand I've never heard of that came from I have no idea where, but hey, coffee's coffee. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, you know?) and ignoring my to do list for the day (go away, To Do List! I can't heeear you! La la la! It's Sunday, you can't tell me what to do!), and trying to remember who updates their blogs on the weekends. Because it's mildly frustrating to wait for a page to load only to find that it's a weekday blog. Damn me and my primitive, backwoods, 56K modem!

I did not go to church today. I haven't been to church since Mother's Day. Before that the last time I went was Easter. Before that the last time I went was ... um ... well, probably Christmas. I've become someone who only goes to church on major holidays. I wasn't going when I was working because that was just one too many days a week (actually, it would have made for 6 days too many) that I had to get out of bed on too little sleep and get dressed up and go be social. I didn't go over the summer because I got my sleep schedule all turned around and started keeping vampire's hours and there was just no way. I tried. I really did. Slept right through my alarm clock every time.

Today I woke up of my own accord at 8 AM, which for me is just freaky. I'd actually gone to bed at a decent time last night, and I was plenty rested. My back's still sore, but it's not incapacitating today. In short, there was absolutely no excuse for me not to get up and go to church; but I didn't. I just couldn't get motivated to get up and go.

This has got to change. I need to be in church. Every aspect of my life just seems so much easier to deal with when I go to church regularly. It's a weekly spiritual rejuvination that I haven't been getting lately, and my psyche is beginning to suffer for it. So I'm taking a stand, and setting a goal: Next week, I'll start going to church again.

Somebody please remember this entry and call me on it if you catch me sitting here drinking coffee and blogging come next Sunday morning.

If you like Sublime, you should go see what Andre's sharing.

It's semi-rainy outside. It's cloudy, at any rate. I think I'm going to go for a walk. It looks like nice walking weather. Still hate walking with no place to go, but I'm so out of shape right now, that dammit, I should go walk. So I will.

My search referrals frighten me. No, I'm not listing any of them here. That'll just start the whole cycle all over again.

Woo! I got an e-mail from Miss Cleo! Her assistant psychics are authorized to give me a free tarot reading. "Jean, we know more about you then you may think," the e-mail says. Which really only serves to fuel my paranoia, and started to creep me out, until I noticed that they apparently also know more about me than they know about proper grammar. Sorry, but I'm not trusting my fate to people who don't know the difference between "then" and "than."

Umm ... why yes, I did just write an entry about either driving or flying across several states to spend a weekend writing fanfic. Yes, I am completely serious. Yes, I do know I'm a geek, and I'm proud of it. Yes, I do realize that last bit places me even higher on the geek scale and puts me dangerously close to dork. No, I don't care. Leave me alone.

Looks like I'm going to a Mini-DL-Con in mid-September. Edith's having all of the collaborators for Episode 15 to her house in Nashville for a weekend of video watching and brainstorming and frantic writing. I'm not doing any writing on this one, so I guess I'll be there to do instant beta-readings and play continuity police and just be happy I get to play with the cool kids. And make coffee runs. Or liquor runs. Whichever. I'm just happy to be invited.

I'm trying to decide whether I want to drive or fly to Nashville. I'd immediately assumed I'd just drive. 10 hours sounds like an insane amount of time to spend behind the wheel, but really, after about the fifth hour I go to this zen-like place and start to really enjoy myself. Plus I assumed it would be cheaper; but out of curiosity I did a search on Cheap Tickets and found a pretty decent itinerary on Continental (one that uses big planes on every leg and none of those little prop planes -- don't know why, but those scare me) for $115, including tax and fees. That's actually less than I'd spend on gas if I drove. Of course, if I drove, I'd just put everything on my gas cards and wouldn't have to worry about paying for the trip up front. So now I'm all conflicted. I'll have to wait until I get some money coming in and can make some credit card payments before I'll even be able to purchase plane tickets, so I guess I'll wait until then to decide. Right now I don't really care how I'll get there, I'm just happy I'll get to go. Mini-con! Whee!

Damn skippy!

My back still hurts. And no, I'm not going to stop whining about it until it stops hurting. I stopped in the chiropractor's office today and took a spin on the traction table, which helped. I didn't actually see the chiropractor, just his assistant, and yesterday he actually told her that when I came in today she was supposed to administer some kind of therapy that I don't remember the name of, but it wasn't the traction table; but I was too tired to point that out to her, and besides, the traction table feels gooood.

Before the chiropractor, I met with a career counselor at the college (who turned out to be someone I went to high school with who was a year or two ahead of me, and now it's bugging me trying to remember her maiden name) and got signed up for my internship. Silly me, I have already forgotten the name of the organization with which I'll be volunteering; but I remember what I'll be doing, which is accompanying court appointed counselors working with children in child abuse cases. That should be interesting. It could also be pretty heart breaking and gut wrenching. They said I'll get a two week trial, and if it turns out to be too much for me to handle, I'll be able to get out and be placed somewhere else.

I also finally got my parking permit and my student ID. My ID photo does not make me look like I have Down Syndrome, I'm pleased to report.

After the chiropractor, I went to the unemployment office to finish my paperwork and show my two forms of ID. They said it will take about three weeks before I get my first check, which is bad, because I'm stone broke. My tax refund is supposed to go out this month. Please, oh please let it be soon.

I just ran out of coffee. That's not good. That's not good at all.

But here's something that is good: my poem Pretty has made the semi-finals in one of the $1,000 prize contests at Poetry.com, and it's going to be published in one of their anthology books, so that's pretty cool. The book costs $49.95, and I am welcome, but not obligated, to purchase a copy. I'll have to see if my mom wants to get one. I don't have enough of a burning desire to see my poem in print to spend $50 on a book myself. Just knowing it's out there will be satisfaction enough. Winning the $1,000 would bring even more satisfaction.

I should go bathe Fizzgigg. His eyes are all crusty and he smells funny. I've been putting off his bath because he's injured and so am I; but I think I'm up to it, and judging from the way he has absolutely no trouble tearing after the cats, I think he's up to it, too. But first I should finish a beta-read of a fanfic that I promised someone long, long ago, and I need to check on the progress of next week's episode of War!, and I need to write an entry for Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered, and I need to fill out some new scholarship applications over at Fastweb, and I need to finish the last installment of Future Imperfect, and I need to finish rewriting the first and last chapters of my novel and send the manuscript out to my wonderfully skilled and oh-so-helpful beta readers, and I need to clean my bathroom and do laundry and pick up all the crap that the kitten has strewn around the floor.

Yeah. I'll go do all of that just as soon as I've finished my "morning" web routine. Maybe I'll come back with some links.

Of course you realize, that's code for "I probably won't do any of that stuff today."

Oh, and one last thing before I forget: Happy birthday, sissy! Hope I haven't frightened you off with the cursing!

Feh. Freakin' Warner Bros.

Will Spike get his Slayer? - A non-spoilery video clip of an interview with James Marsters (requires Real Player). If you've never seen him out of character, this is worth the download, if only to hear what his real voice sounds like (in case you can't play the video, I'll tell you. He sounds a lot like Jeff Goldblum. Yes, really.)

'Shippers, take note: He says "unconsummated love," not "unrequited love." Conscious word choice? Purposeful distinction? Or am I reading way too much into it?

Yeah, it's probably that last one.

I'm watching Trading Spaces. Fizzgigg just went nuts when somebody on the TV opened and closed a screen door. It sounded just like our front door opening and closing. So now he's standing at the stairway door barking his little head off.

He's been doing a lot of that lately. The cats appear to be quite bothersome to him. Vanilla (the old bitchy kitty) still barely tolerates Nibblet (the adoreable pain-in-the-ass kitten), although she will deign to be in the same room with her now. But Nibblet likes to chase her, and she hisses, and they get into slap fights, and Fizzgigg loses it. I don't blame him. The cats are pretty annoying. He springs up out of his little bed and runs over to them, growling and barking and just generally being pissy with them. "Dammit, cats! Shut up! Just Shut. The. Hell. UP!" is what he seems to be saying. Poor little guy. By the way, his leg seems to be better. He still limps on it, but at least he's using it now.

So anyway, Trading Spaces. America's answer to (read: rip-off of) Changing Rooms. I started watching it out of curiosity, to see how well it stacked up against it's UK predecessor. The answer? It doesn't. Maybe it's just because Brits are just a hell of a lot more fun to watch, but Changing Rooms is a much better show. I think it also has to do with the way the two are edited. Changing Rooms is only a half hour show, it's fast-paced and much more suspenseful (yes, I said suspenseful. Yes, it's a decorating show. Trust me, there's suspense. Will they finish on time? Will they come in under budget? Will the people like what's been done to their house? Will somebody cry? Will Andy and Lawrence fight? Edge-of-your-seat stuff, baby!), and it's more concerned with entertainment value. Trading Spaces, on the other hand, is an hour long, and they feel it necessary to show you EV-er-y-thing, and, in keeping with the rest of The Learning Channel, they seem to feel it necessary to explain every step. Also, with the former, when they like it, they say things like, "Bloody hell! I'm completely gobsmacked! This is fab!" while on TS everybody's more likely to say stuff like "Wow, this is really cool!"

And yet, I'm hooked on TS. Not as hooked as I am on Changing Rooms, but still. It's a nice afternoon distraction. I can spend a whole hour making fun of it, and then switch over to CR as soon as it's over and see it done right.

I just started Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered, a blog/journal type thing all about my ADD. So check that out.

I was playing with my mom's puppy this morning -- well, not playing with her so much as holding her and trying to calm her down -- when she jumped out of my arms. Seeing as how we were standing over the very hard kitchen floor and how it was such a long way down for the little bit, I dove to catch her. Can I just say, ow?

Seriously. I think I hurt my back all over again. Just when it was starting to really feel better, too. It hurt so bad afterwards that I was dizzy and nauseated, and came very close to passing out. Thankfully my mommy was there to catch me and drag me to where I could lie down without hurting myself yet again. This was what I was doing when I was supposed to be getting ready to go see the chiropractor. Which I did. Yep, he said, I hurt myself again. Though he said it was all muscular damage this time, and not spinal, so I guess that's good. It still hurt like a bitch.

I was supposed to meet with a lady at the university this afternoon about placing me with an internship. I postponed that appointment till tomorrow morning. I just couldn't bear the thought of having to go sit in one of those uncomfortable guest chairs for however long it would take to get me placed. Plus I would've felt it necessary to wear something nicer than jeans and a tee-shirt and to look half way decent for the appointment. Considering that I spent the time alotted for showering and putting on makeup and fixing my hair lying prone on my mother's bed, crying and trying not to vomit, I decided it might be best if I moved the appointment back.

I have to go job hunt now. I have to get two resumes sent out before the end of the week. Something tells me I'll be doing it all online this week. Thank God for the Internet.

Fixed the links to aesthesia and Zippylog.

I've decided to stop censoring myself (as you may have guessed from yesterday's entries). Back around Christmas it came to light that several of my family members have been paying occasional visits to this site, and some of them were appalled at some of my more colorful vocabulary choices. Others were disappointed in my subject matter (too much talk about television, they said). I allowed their comments to dictate my entries, and do you know what? Suddenly blogging wasn't any fun anymore.

I'd lost sight of the fact that this blog is for me, myself, and I. It's not for you. Or you. No, not even you. So I'm going to write about what I want to write about, be it James Marsters's magnificent naked chest or my visits to the chiropractor or Star Wars or Batman or television in general or my classes or my faith or my general frustrations with the world. This blog exists for me to get it all out of my system. And sometimes the stuff that needs to be gotten out of my system includes cursing. Damn hell ass cursing!

Let's face it. I'm 28 years old. Sometimes I swear. Deal with it.

As to my brother-in-law's assertions that using swear words constitutes lazy writing and I'm intelligent and skilled enough to get my ideas across without being offensive: Thank you, but I'm also skilled enough to choose exactly the right word to most concisely sum up my thoughts and feelings on a matter and convey them with the maximum amount of impact. I'm sorry, but "I found it very upsetting that he behaved in such an insensitive and off-putting manner" just doesn't convey quite the same level of intensity as "He's a fucking asshole." Plus it's way too wordy. And, you know, sometimes the point is to offend.

I do concede my family's point that using such language doesn't portray me in a very "Christian" light, which is why I don't curse like a sailor. I try to save my cursing for when I really mean it. Which doesn't make it any more right, but as a Christian I've got much bigger things to work on at the moment than eliminating swear words from my vocabulary. And really, I don't see the point in substituting them with "less offensive" words with the same meaning. Darn, dang and damn all mean the same thing and serve the same purpose. Is it really better to use one of the former substitutes than to just say damn, if that's what you mean? I'm not convinced that it is. I suppose they are probably more appropriate if you're in the company of someone you just shouldn't curse in front of, but then I suppose it's better not to say any of the alternatives, either, if you can help it.

At any rate, this blog will contain swear words on occasion. Some of them may be pretty hard boiled. If you're offended by that sort of thing, then maybe this isn't a site that you should be reading. You are under no obligation to continue to read it just because we're related. So sod off.*

*That said, I have been gradually working British swear words into my vocabulary, which most Americans seem to find pretty inoffensive, even though they usually mean the same things as our more crass sounding American swear words. This is due to a combination of watching lots of BBC America and writing fanfic about Spike. They're starting to come pretty naturally to me now. And I just like them. They sound better, and they're ever so much more fun to say. Bugger. See? Fun! Bugger off, you poncey little tosser! Whee!

Spike chest! Chest of Spike!

JM.com has a preview video of the next season of Andromeda, including footage of James's manly chest. Oh, and, um, the rest of him's in there, too. And he has lines and stuff. I think. I was a little distracted.

Just posted War: Episode 8 over at Dancing Lessons.

Remember what I said earlier about Dawn & Doug? Well, nevermind.

Attack of the Clones. Yes, really.

*SIGH*

Previously considered and rejected titles were "Fuck You, Fanboys" and "You'll Shell Out Money For This No Matter What So Why Should I Bother Thinking Up A Decent Title?"

"Attack of the Clones" was apparently chosen because it sends the same message with a tetch more subtlety.

Update: No sooner did I hit "submit" than my claims specialist answered her phone. I was wrong, they're not going to send me paperwork to fill out, just information. I have to go back to the office within 7 days and submit two forms of ID, and of course I have to find two places to apply to this week. Not sure when I'll get my first check, but I qualified for the maximum amount, so that'll be helpful. Both of my big credit card companies are pissed at me right now because I'm late on payments. One, I paid online, and somehow the payment didn't get processed. The other one, I ended up changing account numbers and haven't set it up for online payments yet, and forgot that I needed to do that, and subsequently forgot to mail in my payment. Actually, the first one I'll probably just mail my whole tax refund to, and that'll get that one half way paid off, and then hopefully within the next couple of months I can just get that one knocked out and not have to worry about it any more. Of course, I probably should have paid it off months ago instead of buying the computer I'm currently typing on, but I love this computer so very, very much, so there are no regrets there.

Bah. Two years, people. Two years, and then I'll have a degree, and I can get a job that doesn't involve running a cash register or getting people coffee or doing other people's typing and filing and keeping track of other people's crap for them. Or, you know, maybe I'll sell my novel before then. Or, or maybe Joss will see my fanfic and be so impressed with my grasp on the characters that he'll give me a job on the show.

Hey, don't laugh. That's how Mere Smith got hired onto the Angel staff.

A girl can dream, can't she?

I'm on hold right now with the Oklahoma Employment Security Commissoin, trying to file for unemployment. I went down to the unemployment office, only to be given a little card with a phone number and told that it's all automated now. I completed the voicemail application, but now I have to wait for a customer service rep, or whatever they're called (compensation application specialist? Ah, here's the recorded computer voice to tell me now. Claims specialist. I knew it was some kind of specialist.) to complete my application. I've already been on hold for half an hour. And as I understand it, once this "specialist" completes my application, they'll send me a filing packet, so I'll have to wait for that, then fill out the paperwork, then mail that back and wait for it to be filed, before I can even hope to start getting any money. I sure hope I get my tax refund soon, because I have $2 and some change in my purse, and that's it. And that, my friends, is not going to cover the bills.

On a happier note, I borrowed my mom's credit card to go and buy my text books, but when I got there my financial aid had already been processed and the book store had it on file, so I didn't have to borrow any of my mom's money. So I've got all of my books for the semester. Well, all but one that they won't get in until a week from Friday. This is really something for me. I was always one of those students who didn't get all of my books until about a week after school actually started.

Also went to the chiropractor. He wants me to come in on Wednesdays now for traction therapy (in addition to Tuesdays and Thursdays for adjustments), and he gave me a bunch of stretching exercises to do. What he gave me looks a lot like some of my yoga positions, so I'm wondering if I can't just get back to my regular workouts. I suppose I should wait and ask him on Thursday. Wouldn't want to mess around and screw anything up and have to start over again.

Did I mention that the chiropractor's kind of cute?

Did I mention that I'm still on hold? Well, I am.

Ah. Now I understand what this search referral was all about.

Well, not really. But I'm closer than I was before.

Glad I could help to illustrate.

*SIGH*

I loved that show.

I just got back from a walk. I went about seven blocks. That's the most activity I've had since hurting my back. Truthfully, it's the most activity I've had since long before that, that involved moving just for the sake of moving. Seven blocks, and I was exhausted. I am so out of shape.

I hate walking just for the sake of walking. I hate not having a destination. I hate any kind of exercise that's made up of movement for movement's sake. Very few things are more boring to me. Fortunately, I walked by my brother's house, and my sister-in-law was out watering, so she tagged along to keep me company. That made the walk bearable.

I don't live within walking distance of anything. Well, there are two convenience stores at the other end of the neighborhood, but big woo. There's also a lake, but the parts that are within walking distance are too swampy to be of any use. I'm so envious of my friend Edith. I stayed with her a bit in Nashville earlier this summer on my way to Louisville for that BuffyCon that I never got around to talking about (what's there to talk about? 10 diehard Spike fans sitting around a house for a weekend watching Spike-centric episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and, during breaks, eating, drinking and being merry. Charades and karaoke were involved. Also learned that several intoxicated S/B 'shippers + 2 Spike action figures + 1 Buffy figure + lots of cameras = Action!Porn!Theater! Yes, I drove all the way from Tulsa to Louisville for that. It was totally worth it. But I digress.). Edith's house is in a beautiful neighborhood with trees and shade and a big back yard and it doesn't feel at all like it's in a big city. Yet she's within walking distance of all kinds of wonderful things. I was so impressed with her part of town that I added Nashville to the List of Places I Might Relocate To After I Finish My Degree.

I feel I would walk all the time if there were interesting places to walk to. Okay, yeah, when I lived in my apartment in Tulsa, one of the things I loved about it was that it was within walking distance of many of the places I loved, but I ended up never walking to any of those places, because I ended up never having any money to spend at those places. What good does it do to walk to your favorite coffee shop if you can't afford so much as an iced tea once you get there? But when I worked downtown I walked places all the time on my lunch hour.

The point? Don't know that I have one, really, other than that exercise is boring and I don't love living in the middle of nowhere. When I'm in a place once again where I can totally support myself financially, I'm going to live where I can walk to most of the places I need to go. Or to most of the places I just want to go. Preferably both. As long as there's a point to my exercise other than it's just being exercise.

Fixed the link to Blogging a Dead Horse (formerly known on these pages as "Theospyland"), and added a new (semi-)daily read, randomwhim, a blog & journal site by fellow MBTVer godam. She has pictures from Magic Mountain Con, which I was too poor (and, as it turned out, too laid up with a back injury) to attend. Poor little me.

Dawn's Buffy promo - I hope you guys have better luck downloading this than me. If anybody knows of another copy elsewhere, please tell me.

I've already watched the Spike promo about 20 more times today. Yeah, I know.

I'm going to have to sign up for unemployment. I'm completely out of money, and I have no job prospects whatsoever. I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this. I stretched my savings out as long as I could. Anyway, I tried to go take care of it on Friday, but I drove around for about an hour in the area where people told me the place was supposed to be, and never found it. Now I have an address, so hopefully my next attempt will prove more fruitful.

I was going to go do it today, but I have a chiropractic appointment tomorrow, so I'll do it after that instead. No sense in making more trips to town than necessary. Also tomorrow, I shall buy my textbooks and get my student ID. Then I can start getting discounts on movie tickets and stuff! Whee! (Wish I'd had one for PotA. Though the Chuck Heston cameo alone was worth the price of admission) I only hope that they don't make me look like I have Down Syndrome like they did in my student ID photo at OU.

I've added a few things to the writings section, most of which you've probably seen already if you frequent Dancing Lessons. I posted a very short story called Doors that I originally posted as a blog entry about a year ago. I uploaded it as a text file, and the lines aren't wrapping. I'll get around to fixing that eventually. I also added links to all of my non-DL Buffy stories. Out of all of those, I'm most proud of Future Imperfect. It's a futuristic sci-fi story starring -- who else? -- Spike and Buffy. It sounds cheesy as hell, I know, but it actually works. So go read it. I'm trying to get the last installment finished and up by the end of this week.

And if you don't regularly frequent Dancing Lessons, why the hell not? This is some good stuff, people. Better writers than me are involved in the project, writers who could very well give the Mutant Enemy team a run for their money.

In the current arc, Xander's become a Watcher, Willow's magic got so out of control she nearly killed everybody, Tara's dead, Amy's dead, Faith's out of prison and sharing Slayer duties with Buffy, Riley just returned and nearly had his ass handed to him by a de-chipped Spike after trying to bully him like in the old days, and Dawn has a boyfriend and the two of them are even cuter than Rory & Dean. Oh, and Dracula's back in town, along with Darla and Dru, and the vampires of Sunnydale are preparing to declare all out war on the humans. Well, the humans and Spike, 'cause he's a good guy now, and he's Buffy's boyfriend, which is as it should be.

There. Now you're all up to speed. The next episode will (hopefully) get posted tomorrow night. So check us out.

And I'm back.

That didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. But that's because I thought I was going to come up with a somewhat impressive (at least to me) looking design. Then I decided, to hell with it. I'm a writer, not a web designer. Let my words stand on their own. There I go putting pressure on myself to try and wow you with my writing again. Anyway, I think I like this look. It's simple, so it's got that going for it.

It's been a hell of a week, folks. My recurring back pain decided to recur a few weeks ago. Last Friday it was so bad that I couldn't walk. Hell, I couldn't even dress myself. My mom came home from town to find me in the bathroom crying because I couldn't bend over to put my pants on. So she dragged me to a chiropractor. I'd have preferred she dragged me to a doctor, because, you know, drugs, but what with me having no insurance and all, a chiropractor was more affordable, plus they'll fix me so that my recurring back pain will never recur again. At least, that's the idea.

Never been to a chiropractor before in my life. That first time ... that was quite an experience, one I'll not soon forget. I was seriously afraid the guy might break something; but he didn't, and by my third visit I was able to move about well enough that I went to the university and enrolled for fall. More on that later. So this Friday I went back, and found out that the man who had been treating me was no longer with the chain. So I had to let a new guy work on me.

Now, folks, the first guy was an old man, and not to be mean, but not a very attractive old man. This new guy was young and not unpleasant to look at. I could handle old unattractive chiropractor guy working me over, but this new guy ... well, let's just say that, while I may not be obese, I'm nowhere near in as good a shape as I would like to be, and you lay down on this little table in all kinds of awkward positions, and things spread, and it's definitely not you at your best. Plus there's the grunting and crying out in pain. Not exactly how you want to be seen in front of hot young chiropractor guy; but I sucked it up and went through with it anyway, and I'm glad I did, cause the new guy's got miracle hands! One treatment from him and I am no longer walking like I'm ninety! So that's a good.

Anyway. As I mentioned, I enrolled in all of my classes for fall. I actually still have two lower level requirements left to fill. One is Intro to Business, which I'll be taking online this fall. The other is Intro to Computers. Shyeah. I'll be testing out of that one. So I'm mostly taking upper level courses pertaining to my major. In other words, psychology classes. Well, two psych classes (Abnormal Psychology and Social Problems), a research methods course, and an internship. I have absolutely no clue what will be involved in the internship. It should be interesting. They're all on Tuesdays and Thursdays, beginning August 21. I'm somewhere in between psyched and terrified.

Lastly, I shall leave you with Buffy links. 'Cause there must always be Buffy links. It's the natural order of things. In case you're like me and have absolutely no reason to watch UPN until Enterprise and Buffy start up in the fall, and as such haven't seen the new promos they've been running for Buffy (starting October 2!), you may (or may not) be thrilled to know that they're working their way online. Three of them sprung up the very next day. The Xander and Anya promos are here ("You know, if her vocal chords aren't all decomposed and stuff." Bwa!), and the Spike -- yummy, yummy Spike -- promo is here. Enjoy.