Depends what I lost.

Lately, the first one comes to mind a lot.

"A peasant is not to be censured for his ignorance, but when he glories in it and draws its limit as a dead line for his betters, he is the least pleasing of all the beasts of the field." --Ambrose Bierce

"The aficionados who act like they know are the worst enemies of art." --Nicolas De Stael, from Shoujo no Utsuwa ("The Lady's Vessel") by Kenjirou Haitani

"Conformity and rebellion are simpleminded. Both ways are for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity." --The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

“Poor Brutus, with himself at war, forgets the shows of love to other men.” --Casus, from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

"She feels that, having been born for crime, she must at least commit it grandly." --Justine, by Marquis De Sade

Someone on Smackjeeves posted this link in the forums recently and it was fun to play with:
http://en.seoi.net/sokumen/?n=HABE

What might your name look like from a sidelong glance?

A little something for anyone who brings me the severed head of Alec Baldwin.

Most of my encounters are more like sightings, but it's probably better that way. Here are the most memorable:

- I once sold an extra Elliott Smith ticket to Joseph Gordon-Levitt on the way in to the show. (I'd see Elliott Smith in a Silver Lake dive bar occasionally too.)

- Christina Ricci sat next to me at in a cool place called the Fais Do-Do (a few blocks down from a vast ice-cream-truck graveyard).

- Ray Park, just after playing Darth Maul, called me about writing a film script for an idea he wanted to produce and star in someday.

- Carel Struycken, the actor who played Lurch, lived by a coffee house I frequented, and he used to drop by once in a while. Same with Patti Smith at a different place.

- I met the elderly Vampira (Maila Nurmi) while wandering backstage at a Tim Burton tribute.

- I visited Forrest Ackerman's house when he used to let people roam his museum-like abode ogling his collection of signed first-edition Dracula and Frankenstein novels and all the cool props he collected from hundreds of sci-fi and horror movies.

- Got trapped in a bathroom with The Queers. (Shut up.)

- Got trapped in a corner of a boring art thing with Good Charlotte.

- I helped Sleater-Kinney load their tour van once.

Some notable people I "met" on purpose at book signings and such include Anne Rice, Neil Gaiman, Bruce Campbell and Nancy Reagan, who is probably the nicest person in history.

"The Glide" -- The name of a surfer heaven/afterlife where the main character of my poor, forsaken vampire series goes when she dies about six issues into the series.

Summer. Always and only summer.

Cover songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdpkw3YafwA

Play

Right now I'm partial to these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVzljDmoPVs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRfuAukYTKg

Play

Play

I used to love going all-out for kids and people who like holidays, and I loved tracking down all the coolest presents. But to me, holidays are for other people. I've been mouldering alone in my crumbling New Orleans mansion surviving on rats for the last several years and don't have much contact with anyone who cares enough about any holiday for me to make an effort anymore.

I don't know anymore. Now "Gatorade" just makes me think of those nasty, sweaty, fumbling "Is it in you?" commercials. Not the best flavor association there.

Actually, you are a major reason for it, so thanks for being awesome.

I try to be on time, but fate always seems to have other ideas. Even when I set out ridiculously early (from my perspective), I still inevitably end up arriving at the same time, which is to say, a jaunty sweep of the big hand farther around the clock than I’m expected.

In fact, my lack of punctuality occurs with such regularity you could set your watch by it, unless of course you wanted the correct time. I therefore must conclude that fate has some special purpose in mind for causing me such delays. This is a good thing, since everyone needs a purpose, and I eventually came to realize that my purpose is to be Late.

--The voice-over narration accompanying the scene where my ghost finally strolls in at the end of my funeral.

For the record, that's the worst pickup line I've ever heard.

When the stars are right.

I've been stirring my pensive trying to come up with any Potterverse character who didn't eventually turn out to be a disappointment, and I can only think of one.

Sort me into Team Kreacher.

Kreacher outshines the rest of the cast in nearly every quality. For example, he's:

> More loyal than Dumbledore's army (Kreacher would have wisely palmed the wand from Dumbledead's coffin and safely hidden it away in reverence. Were any D.A.'ers devoted enough to retrieve and protect any of Dumbledore's prized possessions out of respect or simply so the Death Eaters couldn't use their power for evil? No. They went on summer holiday then promptly disbanded.)

> Better and more interesting vocabulary than Hermione (in regard to swear words and complaints)

> More romantic than Harry (who, while normally valuing looks over brains, was willing to overlook both and go for the easy snog-of-opportunity with his best friend's star-struck baby sister. Thanks for the trust and gracious hospitality Mr. and Mrs. W! Pretty superficial stuff compared to Kreacher's love for Walburga Black, which could not be overcome by old age, or madness, or death. Or species.

> More of a man than Snape (who, even as an adult, childishly clings to memories of minor bullying and a spurned crush from his long-ago schoolboy days. Most people grow up, mature, and forget about such things, but Snape becomes an emotional cripple with a perpetual butt-hurt disposition just from getting pants'd one time. Kreacher doesn't even wear pants, and you don't see him whining about it for 30 years. Snape's stalker-esque feelings that persist for Lily aren't romantic; they're not even about her anymore. In the beginning I thought Snape was cool, but as written it turns out he's just infantile, neurotic, self-absorbed and pathetic.

> Smarter than Ron

> More dependable than Dumbledore (who lazily chose to blow off his responsibilities and die when times got tough, leaving the struggle against the rising Death Eater threat to others less informed and less capable of nipping it in the bud, which of course led directly to the slaughter of untold numbers of innocent people. Thanks Dumbledore. If only he'd been more like Kreacher, who had the selfless courage to live on and return to Regulus after he was meant to die in the Horcrux cave -- bloated with far more liquid despair by weight than Dumbledore had. Bet he didn't blubber like a bearded baby through the whole scene either.)

> A better leader than any wizard (When faced with Voldemort's impending attack, within hours Kreacher unites and organizes a bunch of useless, bubble-brained, comic-relief house elves into a vicious fighting force. In contrast, it takes the limp-wanded wizarding community three books full of piddling about and running away just to fight back, and then only when the last of them, cornered in a school, run out of children to hide behind when the monsters come.)

Really, the list is endless. Kreacher wins wands down over anyone else in the cast except maybe the rapist centaurs (who rate an honorable mention just for the way they seemed to be annoyed to even be in the same book as these people).