The bad: I majorly overslept this morning, and when I finally did wake up I felt crappy. And as I'm out of both Sudafed and Claritin I still feel crappy. Fizzgigg feels crappy too, poor little guy. Stupid allergies.

The good: I woke up with the next scene of DL 3.11 demanding my attention, so I got a good start on that. I'm just taking a break from it, then hopefully I'll be able to finish it (the scene, that is, not the whole episode) before I have to go buckle down and study. At least Survivor's not on tonight, so I won't have any distractions on that front.

Don't have much to say about last night's Angel. Funny, it's a great show, highly entertaining, but it just doesn't set my thought processes in motion like it's parent show does. Whatever happens, even if it's not something I really wanted to happen, I'm like, *shrug* whatever. I think Gunn hit the nail on the head for me when he called it a supernatural soap opera. That's exactly what this show has evolved into. Not that there's anything wrong with that, if it's done right, which Angel is. But the storylines are just so convoluted and, well, soapy that they just don't carry the same emotional resonance for me. It's really become a plot-driven show, whereas Buffy is still character driven, with the plots forming a backdrop for character development. For instance, it's not really about the First waging war and wanting to end the world. It's about Buffy's growth as a leader and how she handles the tough decisions, and how that affects the people around her. Whereas on Angel it all seems pretty WYSIWYGy and surfacey. Angel's transformation into Angelus didn't lead to deeper character growth for Angel or anybody else, save Faith. The Evil Pregnant Cordy storyline so far doesn't seem to be a metaphor for anything deeper, it's just Evil Pregnant Cordy, gee isn't that shocking and squicky. I'm not saying they don't have character growth. One need only look at Wesley to see that that's not so. But character development doesn't really seem to be the point anymore. So I guess it's a personal preference thing, but this is why as good as Angel is this season, I just can't see it as the superior show.

Wow, that turned out longer and rantier than I intended. Oh well. I'mma go finish my scene and then (after a time out for some yoga) hit the books. In the mean time, for everybody heading to Chicago or any other of the major Cons coming up, here's some conning tips a friend sent me. I have no idea where they originated, so my apologies to the source.

Tips for surviving a sci-fi convention