18 posts tagged “weekending”

Okay I know that not all these shows fall under sci-fi umbrella but what's a little supernatural fantasy between friends, especially whilst I am waiting on Fringe.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: 'To The Lighthouse'
When we are watching T:TSCC I can feel Alex loosing patience with the slow as molasses character and plot development. I think the last few episodes have been pretty good. Not quite up to the powerhouse of last season but pretty good all in all. They threw in a few good twists. It turns out that it is not just Connors vs. Shirley Manson from Garbage there is a third party out there that have their own terminator which was able to hack into John Henry and a try to capture Cameron. Will the season finale have us finding out that Shirley Manson is one of the good guys?

Dollhouse: Echoes
Oh it pains me so much to write that I enjoyed yet another episode. Mythology of the show is starting to be set up. The Actives were investigating a robbery of some dodgy chemical at the university that Echo attended when she Caroline. The dodgy chem has been released into the student body and causes euphoria (and differing levels of sillinesss). The actives are apparently immune. Ho ho ho that's the last words of many a character before they are proved wrong, and low and behold Topher is proved wrong. The actives just take longer to succumb to the chem and I guess this finally proves that just because you wipe an active you don't leave some residual imprints waiting to be accessed by a trippy drug.

The best bits of the episode were when the drug got out amongst Dollhouse management. The scenes between Topher and Adelle were classic, and Mr. Lawrence apologising for trying to burn Echo.  I can't believe this show is actually getting better.

Supernatural: It's a Terrible Lie
After so many stand alone episode I was really cheesed off that we were getting what looked like another frakkin' stand alone episode. Well it was and it wasn't a stand alone. Dean and Sam are reborn in some warped reality where Sam is in tech support and Dean is director of marketing or something.  They both have no idea of their true identities but once weird suicides start happening at the office building they revert to type and start investigating. This episdoe was of course a test by Castiel's line manager, Zachariah. Trying to prove to Dean that regardless of how he lives his life he will always revert to being a hunter because that is what he is.

It was great seeing Dean has a yuppie - all power cleanses, and sharp suitss. Also funny that the Winchester brother's had to watch 'Ghostfacers' as a way of boning up on how to fight.    

Chuck: Chuck versus the Predator
I just love Chuck and his pals on every level. Love the super spy team who protect him. Love Ellie and Dr. Awesome. Love Chuck's Buy More family. Love that the intersect is in his head and that he flashes on stuff like a human barcode. Love super villians Fulcrum.

So if Thursday was a low ebb then Friday, by comparison, was  a Bacchanalian celebration of... well all things Friday.  I am sure that Bacchus would have approved of my splashing out on a shopping trolley and have a crazy dash round Wholefoods on Friday night. My gods I know how to live it up! As always my eyes were bigger than my belly and I bought way too many groceries so the trolley was pretty much weighed down, but it was a darn sight easier dragging that home than bags and bags of groceries. Alex was not impressed with the shopping trolley. Even though it is a stylish European one with a funky pattern he refuses to acknowledge it as anything other than a granny accessory.  I told him it was only $16 and he said "It is not the cost". I am sure he'll come around eventually, especially as the trolley allowed me to buy a gigantic jar of peanut butter. 

The weekend has been a pretty quiet affair; the Battlestar Galactica finale really set the tone. There was a fair amount of googling, reading reviews and contemplating on how Ronald D. Moore wrapped everything up. Still trying to get my head round everything and looking forward to the podcast to shed light on certain things. I can't say too much about season 4 of BSG because Mum has only just started watching this season and I am not allowed to give spoilers or else I risk losing my "inheritance". I've got a month until I go on exam leave and I really need to get cracking on my revision notes and aids. Trying to streamline what I take to London, and make the most of the next few weeks. Fun. 

Terribly mundane but such is 99.9% of life.

• Tidy and vacuum flat
• Tackle laundry mountain
• Make Nigella's chili topped with cornbread for lunch
  
• Visit farmer's market
• Buy tinned pears from local deli (why does Fresh Direct not stock this basic item?)
• Make Nigella's pear-chocolate sponge for pud
  
• Drop off dry cleaning
  
• STUDY (must break the back of Greek Architecture course)
  

It was to be a scholarly Sunday but someone spraining their ankle derailed my schedule. As much as I hate it when Alex works away from home it really does make me a more productive student. At the moment I appear to be drunk on company. I haven't grown tired of having my boy back to chum around with and cook for but the occasional weekend outing is good for both of us. Any how, I have managed to make more progress on my understanding of the second triumviral but it is sooo hard to separate Rome the tv show with Rome the reality (or at least the reality as told through fragments and shreds of evidence). 

Tomorrow we are going to pay a visit to see our friends who had a premie baby, and I've baked chobolate gingerbread to bring with. In fact, I over estimated and baked a shed-load of chocolate gingerbread. Enough for us, them, the super at my work, my office and Alex's.  I think I am going to have to go into the baking business one of these days!
 

Alex is off playing golf so I am left home alone to study, drink tea and consume chocolate digestives, and I will be trying very hard not to think about how much I want to go to the movies. It has been a whole month since I last went - an eternity! My to dos:

• Wrap up two topics on Augustus
• Start my prep on the seminar on Virgil's Eclogue IV (the fun never stops!)
  
• Pack for London
• Use up the left over roast and make beef & barley soup
• Clear out the freezer
• Make a crumble
  

I've had a fairly productive day. Finished the latest McCall Smith novel, four loads of laundry, swapped my wardrobe over from summer to winter, two topics on Augustus, and a slap-up lunch of roast beef, cabbage, cauliflower and cheese, and the all important roasties. I didn't need to worry about making desert because I made an apple layer cake on Thursday night. Actually, I made two layer cakes because we went to see our friends who had a premie baby, and I felt compelled to feed them.  I was toying with the idea of going to the Met tomorrow since Alex is taking off to play golf but I think I am going to skip it to make sure I get caught with school work. I finally got my password to my school site so I am easing back into study mode. I swear the whole time I was cooking I was thinking about James Purefoy Mark Antony.

I over slept on Saturday. I awoke with such a jolt that I felt as if someone had ripped me from my slumber rather like Dean Winchester's escape from hell, and it has kind of kept me off balance all weekend. Well, it is either that or the nightmare that is Livy. I am really not feeling any love for the Roman historian at the moment. Slipping into school mode is proving to be an uphill struggle this year.  I am sure that once I get my login to the University of London's brand spanking new virtual learning environment opens for Classics I will be more into the school zone. That, and when I start getting up at 5:30am to study again.

Today I did manage to make it through book 1 of Livy's History of Rome, and I think I know the different between a legate and a censor so it's not been a totally wasted weekend. I also whipped up a batch of black and white cookies thanks to a recipe from Smitten Kitten.  I'd always seen B&W cookies in delis and bakeries in NYC but they had never really looked all that appealing to me. The ones in delis always looked especially sweaty in their plastic wrap, and it wasn't until Starbucks came out with a gentrified version that I developed a taste for these moorish delights.

Something very strange is happening at the moment it is Sunday night and Alex is still here (faffing about scanning book barcodes into his laptop). There's no packing of bags or me hanging on to his ankle to waylay him.  Alex has been put on a contract in NYC for the summer and it is going to take some adjusting to.  I wont have sole possession of the remote, or be able to wake up and shower when I want on the weekday mornings. On the plus side I no longer have to set up booby traps in the apartment when I go to bed (I can't tell you what they are as that would give away my second line of defense), and I'll have someone to talk in the evenings. There's even a chance that he'll come and watch me play whiffleball with work.

The day job was pretty good today.  I was out of the office for the most part with a group of volunteers painting at a community centre in the South Bronx.  I think everyone (volunteers and the non-profit) had a positive experience from the day, and it has left the volunteers wanting more. This is of course fantastic but more work for me. Good job that this aspect of my job is the fun part unlike anything to do with reports or powerpoint or the dreaded email.

But man all that hands on philanthropic stuff tires you out. I will be sleeping the sleep of the just tonight that's for sure, and then a weekend full of hitting the books, writing index cards and baking.  I am kicking off the office holiday gift drive on Monday, and I decided that a few baked goods would help things along.  Except that we have two offices particpating so I feel that I need to bake for both places, and then there is the super of our building... No rest for the wicked!

It is really exhausting being an over enthusiastic tour guide. Yesterday I did yoga in the morning then in the afternoon we set off for The Natural History Museum, then a walk through the park and then the Met. The new Greek and Roman galleries are amazing, and I look forward to spending  lots of time there. Today we took it easy with a trip to the cinema (Bourne Ultimatum) and a stroll around a bookstore.

One of the funniest things is that after five years I have acclimatised to these temperatures and don't think that it is actually that hot at the moment.  It is nice and warm in the mid to high twenties but no way as hot as it was in July and August. However, to my poor Mum it is sub-tropical and we have the AC blasting. I am sat here in a hoodie, tracksuit bottoms and Ugg boots shivering whilst Mum is just cool enough to stop her melting.