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I am stealing both these memes from
toko, since UNO, they are awesome, and DOS, if I spend any more time wrestling technology today, I might seriously damage something expensive and electronic. And I mean that in the jump-up-and-down-on-top-of way.
- The Hypothetical AU Meme: Take any one of the fandoms you know I write in (or think I should), and give me a type of AU (space opera AU, pirate AU, superhero AU, Ancient Rome, etc). I will then explain what story from your chosen fandom I would write for your chosen type of AU. For integrity of the exercise, you should probably stay away from AUs I have actually participated in.
- The problem with LJ: we all think we are so close, but really, we know nothing about each other. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away. Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you!

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Have you always needed a hearing device?
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What the problem actually is is that I can't hear sounds of a certain pitch/frequency. So, when I'm not wearing my hearing aids (which I've actually gotten out of the habit of doing, whoops), I sometimes can't tell which consonant sounds PEOPLE WHO DON'T SPEAK CLEARLY are making (p/b-/-d/t, m/n, s/f, etc); I can't make out song lyrics (compound problem of non-enunciation and sound reproduction); depending on the ringtones, I can't hear mobile phones ringing; depending on the tv/sound production of a show/MUMBLING ACTORS/etc., I might need subtitles to be sure of catching everything. Stuff like that, you know?
The reason I actually got hearing aids was that I was starting the Leaving Cert cycle, at the end of which I would not only have written and oral examinations in three different languages, but aural ones as well. And, see above re: sound reproduction, it was incredibly difficult to make out anything the people on those fucking CDs were saying. And, unlike normal conversation, I couldn't rely on lip-reading to help me figure out what was being said, nor did I have a few seconds' grace to try and decipher a series of sounds into an intelligible sentence in my head. (On top of which, trying to do that in a second, third, or fourth language - one of which you barely speak anyway - before even starting to translate is a bitch.)
Thus: hearing aids!
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Oh, one thing that drives me ABSOLUTELY BATSHIT: foreign exchange students. To clarify: not individual exchange students, but the large groups of 20-30 Spanish/Italian/French teenagers that come over as a class to improve their English, see the sights, and generally be an ungodly and obnoxious nuisance to everyone in the city. They physically cannot move or function in groups smaller than 15, nor communicate an anything under a shout (and I am not being hyperbolic; I mean actual, literal shouting). They stand in huge huddles that block the entire pavement in the very busy city centre streets and/or the precise doorway/corridor/whatever that you need to enter/exit. And then look at you like willfully stupid sheep when you try to politely communicate to them that you would like to get past. But when they need to get past, there is no such thing as pardon, pardon, excusez-moi; they simply barge right through - leaving not inconsiderable bruises with their multitudinous backpacks. They hold up buses because they stop on the steps to have (shouted) conversations about when/where they will meet later. They queue for 15 minutes in a deli and then have (shouted) conversations about how they don't know what they want what are you getting maybe I will have that at the front of the line. GOD THEY ARE JUST SO. QL;EWHRTEWKLADJW. OBNOXIOUS. I HATE THEM.
(Though I am not even sure this counts as a pet peeve either, since everyone I know in Dublin feels the same way.)
What else.
Oh, people who are Difficult in restaurants. You know, those people. The ones who want things that are not on the menu, or dishes that are on the menu except with a hundred fiddly specifications/alterations, or who send things back to the kitchen. I simultaneously want to slap them from the next table over, and to die of contact embarrassment. My mother is one of those people. (She also talks VERY LOUDLY AND SLOWLY to waiters whenever we are away, uses incorrect Spanish to ask for sugar with great authority, and does that thing where if you mangle your own English, somehow that will help the waiter to understand you, yes? It... it's horrifying.)
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Uhm... what's your favourite Starbucks Christmas flavour, if you have one? (...y-yeah, I'm already wishing the red cups were here. I've spent a regrettable large amount of time thee past few days thinking about them. Wah.)
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Internet pet peeves! *asks more*
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Positive question now :) What helps you get up on Those Mornings?
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... D: I sort of have to take it upon myself to remedy this. Eek.
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Re questions... How did the driving test go? :o
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Rome a la Marvel Comics, if you please.ETA: DISREGARD I HAVE A MUCH BETTER IDEA. Rome, the (optionally Irish, optionally Colin Farrell-featuring) gangster AU.
PS. In Bruges is coming back for wide release here -- I saw a poster today and my glee, it was abundant.
childhood...
Next question: What's your new favorite guilty pleasure (music or TV show)?