Strike Three

*smacks head*

Good news: Starfighter has been updated!

Bad news: I FORGOT ABOUT IT WHEN YULETIDE NOMS CAME AROUND. And it didn't make the list from anyone else either. Arrrgh.

Title: Diamonds, a Club, and a Couple of Hearts
Author: Flora (florahart)
Artist/Mixer: elanorofcastile
Beta(s): Several people have read bits and parts; lauriegilbert has been the most involved culler of commas and shortener of sentences (half of which I defied her about anyway).
Series: Reboot/ST XI
Characters/Pairings: primary pairing is Kirk/McCoy; however, there is a Kirk/Gaila scene and Spock/Uhura and Pike/Number One are referenced.
Rating: NC17
Warnings: mostly just smut (het and slash), AU.
Word Count: ~23,500
Summary: Jim Kirk is a hotshot new shortstop in the Constitution League. His team is young, but they have a lot of potential, and oh by the way, the team doctor? Is hot.
Notes: Written for startrekbigbang. Baseball AU in which all the characters are human, and the setting is some nonspecific time between now and 2258. Lots of nods to various baseball movies mashed up with lots of moments from/rearrangements of ST XI. Lots of other nods to things from the Trek canon (of any timeframe/reality) and para-canon, such as character names and backgrounds. Concept is inell's fault.
Art: here
Fanmix: here

• 19:41 apparently my grandpa on my dad's side passed away today #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

It's like...if you stay home on a Friday night, you must have eclectic tastes. Right? It's certainly not Loser TV for Losers, nooooo. ~_^

(I am kidding, really!)

Ghost Whisperer
I didn't watch the early seasons of this show, trying to tell myself I wasn't interested, but I have a hard time resisting supernatural anything. I mean, I watched Charmed for a few seasons, for gawd's sake! Plus, I have to admit, Jennifer Love-Hewitt is awfully...Lush. It's actually not a bad little show. Usually, the ghost is put to rest at the end of the episode, and any mytharc the series flirts with fits into the regular episode. Ok, the husband's not bad either.

Ugly Betty
Bright, colourful, wacky, fun! I'm a little sad that more people don't watch Ugly Betty. I love the entire cast; I can't think of one character I don't adore. *clings to it*

Medium
This show is smart, the family and characters are real, and NBC is staffed by fools. The End.

Monk
The first half of this last season, the show was cruising hard. The cases were almost nonexistent, and the "bits" were tired. But now that we're into the second half, it's like a light went on and the people involved realised that they only have a few episodes left to say goodbye to one of TV's most original characters. If you watch The Mentalist or Numbers, you have Mr. Monk to thank.

Psych
Oh. How. I. Love. This. Show. Shawn and Gus are a great team, and I love the premise, of a man so observant that people wouldn't listen to him until he began doing his psychic schtick. It's funny, it's fun, it's smart. I actually like Corbin Bersen for once. If you have no idea what Psych is about, then ask me more, because this is a show you should be watching.

White Collar
Jury's still out on this one. The SO likes it, but I have a hard time cheering for criminals.

Sanctuary & Stargate BSGUniverse
Um, we have bazillion episodes sitting on the TiVO. Does not bode well. The first episode of Stargate Universe was a huge downer, and people keep telling us it finds sub-levels from there.

So, who's home with me? ^_^

love, lore

So, I put up my first post to daily_deviant. For something I wrote quickly (having been obsessed with A Confusion of Will and Desire for the last two months), I'm pretty happy with it, except for the title, which is lame.

Title: Lost and Held
Characters: Sirius, Peter
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Castration, sex, cross-dressing, manipulation
Themes/kinks chosen: Eunuchs/Castrati, Costumes
Word Count: ~5,300
Summary: An accident gives Sirius and Peter a shared secret
Author's notes: November prompts included the theme "eunuchs/castrati". It's listed in the tags as "castration", which would have been a rather different story. I have been as accurate as possible with the theme, but do not guarantee all details are correct. ;-) Thanks to Clauclauclaudia for very short-notice beta work.

Link to post

This one was odd to work on. The themes for November were clamps, costumes, eunuchs/castrati, and symphorophilia (arousal by watching or causing destruction and/or death). "Costumes" didn't really seem like enough to me, and I hate clamps so much that it's hard for me to write about them. Symphorophilia would be easy ... but I wasn't in the mood for something that dark. So I wrote castration because I didn't want to write darkfic. Um....

Researching physiological details was truly weird. I found support services for castrated men, historical notes on castrati, and quite a lot about self-castration, either for practical reasons or as a one-use-only fetish. o_0

Writing Sirius/Peter was also weird. I'm generally a Sirius/Remus person.

This is going to be another one of those fics no one reads, isn't it?

Just a few points today:

• My final grade for school posted today and I'm ecstatic that it was a 98.5% it brought my GPA up to 3.8 which is still shy of honors but not by much. I can't even begin to tell you how great it feels to be done with school.


• Found a loaner Blackberry at work so I'm not without a phone this weekend. A new one's been ordered for me so it's only temporary but the poor thing is so old it has the Cingular logo on it. Hehehehe. It gets my email and I can get text and make calls so it's good for now.


• Mom finally caved and signed up for a 2-year contract with T-Mobile. She's been month to month for close to 10 years. I kid you not! In that time she's paid bills ranging from $140 to $210 but wouldn't sign a contract. I could not get her to budge. Today, she finally agreed and we got new phones and added the daughter to the plan.


• Tonight is family game night so we're waiting for orlando_mcnally to come home from his Poker gig to play. I should've taken a nap like I usually do. It's usually a late night.


• I'm going to search for silver and green Christmas decorations tomorrow. It's a Slytherin year. If you'd like to send me Christmas decorations this year in lieu of cards, I would greatly appreciate it.


• My medical benefits have gone up for next year but I had to choose the non-deductible plan. The plan I have now is $500 family deductible and we haven't even met that this year and it's NOVEMBER. Plan premium's gone up by $100 per month, at least I'm hoping it's per month and not biweekly or I'm going to have a coronary.

Off to finish plotting the Harry/Draco fic. I actually added 500 words to it yesterday! Yay me!

Okay, so yeah. We went to see Zombieland tonight. I was 500 words shy of daily quota (but am still ahead by nearly half of tomorrow's, thanks to yesterday's push,) and I decided that I wanted a real, grown-up date, with dinner out, and nice drinks, and, apparently, zombies.

It was laugh out loud, ridiculously funny, that movie. Predictable leik whoa, and probably the closest America will ever get to a zombie movie in league with Sean of the Dead. Zombies come from eating mad cows, apparently. Who knew?

Look, this movie isn't gonna change anybody's life, but it will make you guffaw at Woody Harrelson fan-humping *Secret Stealth Celebrity Cameo who's name I am withholding*'s leg in an epic geek-out moment. Or the four-gun funeral salute, with pause in the middle to reload the double-barrel. Or the Purel scene. Or the squeaky nose.

I'm just sayin.

And I'm also sayin, for a movie in which The Rules Of Survival play such a prominent role, how the HELL is it that when the Hummer rolls up on the gates of Pacific Playland, and pushes gently through as twilight gives way to dusk, Dominus and I were the ones who leaned over to each other and murmured "Rule one: Don't go at night. Rule two: Don't go alone. Rule three: Save the last bullet for yourself." Sadly, none of those rules made an appearance in this film. Though they should have done, as they were all broken at one point or another.

Still, I believe I will officially add Zombieland's rule two to the list from now on, as it bears keeping in mind.
Double tap. Always double tap.

I've been bored, so I bought some hair dye today. *G* Nothing drastic, but I did that tonight and have been messing around making icons for mcgarrygirl78.

( Clicky for pics of my new hair color )

I've been bored, so I bought some hair dye today. *G* Nothing drastic, but I did that tonight and have been messing around making icons for mcgarrygirl78.

( Clicky for pics of my new hair color )

So here is the deal, there was a recent post on spnstoryfinders asking for hurt Dean or something like that. Anyway, the topic interests me and there were a ton of links. I'm going through them. Some are really good. I'm still working through so there may be more to come.


We Belong Together by not_refined
SPN AU, PG-13
Wincest AU. Sam and Dean, growing up and growing closer together in the ordinary world. I'm not sure how I missed posting about this when I read it almost a year ago. But when I stumbled across it again I found it tore me up just as much the second time around. Hauntingly beautiful. Dean being fragile like this makes my heart clinch. I love how wonderful John is to both the boys in this. Anyway, I'm sure most people have read it as not_refined is well known for some really amazing stories. Like the Still Life 'verse. The damage done to Dean only makes him more beautiful. The innocence and struggle of life that make up the fabric of Dean and Sam's life in that story is breathtaking. These two stories just really touch something deep in me.


Nothing Dark by evening_spirit
J2 AU, NC-17
Jared thinks his life sucks (even if he denies feeling bad about). He starts college, which he didn't want and he swears he will not make friends there. But then he meets another student, a boy with emerald eyes, who draws and draws, and draws . . . Jensen is an amazing artist, he's mysteriously shy, and Jared finds himself fascinated to the point of obsession. Can anyone explain to me why stories like this are so immensely intriguing to me? I mean, yes, the writing is good and I like the characters and all that, but why is young, confused Jared and a 'damaged' Jensen so mesmerizing? (And I mean that in terms of 'damaged!Jensen', not as in someone with his disability being damaged, k?) Is it the childlike innocence that somehow can merge and weave seamlessly with mature, adult actions? I honestly don't know why, but stories like this always snag my attention. When they are written well then its a win-win for me - this was, btw, a win-win.


Of Black Dogs and ASL by smokeyhorse
SPN AU, PG, Gen
A miscommunication results in a hurt 10-year-old Dean and a heart-to-heart between Sam and John. AU - deaf!Dean. Schmoop! This is a short little thing, but it is absolutely touching and darling. Little Sam was adorably cute, Dean is more of a concept - and him being deaf is just plain interesting to me, and John is very John, but maybe he'll get a clue in this world. Anyway, I really really wish this were a larger 'verse. The author did the characters great and I love the emotion of the story.


Sleepless Night by prepare4trouble
SPN, PG, Gen
After being injured on a hunt, Dean tries to carry on as normal. Man, I think I might have actually sniffled on the last line. Poor Dean. My only complaint is that it is too short. I just got into it!

Wow, I wouldn't have recognize her if M6 didn't use the same voice for the dubbing. The daughter in the xmas episode of NCIS of season 6, it's Daisy from Bones.

Another MW/SM video from 7x03, I wonder where the "No, keep going" was. I think it's just after, Sean is laughing and the shirt is opened.



Michael: *do his joke* *wait for Sean's reaction.*
Sean: *awed* "It's beautiful."

Master, bless.

My most precious ones,

I am still waiting for the proof copy.

The flawed master should be released next week, hopefully early next week.

I am trying not to climb walls.

Fortunately, I am having dinner with my dearest wolfraven80, and this weekend I shall be sewing a few sets of robes to take my mind off the delay.



These will be robes of the non-trailing kind, to be worn over cassocks. I shall use polar (very warm), wool (warm and elegant), and a light polyester (for spring and summer).

I shall also update "Darkest before dawn" and catch up with robed_embrace. I am behind on so much it seems. I need to answer emails, there are letters on my desk (the cobwebs cannot be far off)... I want to compile No lasting city in the near future, the house requires a good cleaning... I have been wondering if I should write a press release for The flawed master and send copies of the book to local papers (do I dare?)... I need to prepare my Infinitus submission, and so on... Let us not even mention A Princely Calling.

First, dinner.

Your devoted
Logospilgrim, the quiet professor

drusillas-rain asked, "How long have you been writing? Have you written original fic? Can we expect to see more stories like Spooky Little Girl or was that a one-off? How do you and arionrhod collaborate together (the process)?"

I've written about our collaboration process before here, and even though I wrote that in 2007, it's still pretty accurate regarding our process. The only thing that's changed in the last two years is that we've moved toward writing more single POV stories than the alternating RP style.

As for more SNB next gen stories... We'd been kicking around the idea of writing one for a while, and we finally got around to doing it. "Spooky Little Girl" was a lot of fun to write, and we like the characters a great deal. Although we don't have concrete, specific plans for another next gen story, I'd say it's likely we'll write the kids again. Some of them proved to be quite... vocal about having their stories told, although I can't say when we'll get to it.

I wasn't sure if the first two questions were for me alone or for me and Arionrhod together, so I'll answer both ways.

I've been writing since I was old enough to hold a pencil. My earliest memories of writing is of writing what could be called Disney fanfiction. As I grew older, I branched out into bad hobbit, bad dragon rider, and bad wolf rider fanfiction, with a dollop of bad teen angst rhymed couplet epic poems thrown in for good measure. I've dabbled in original writing and had a few short stories published, and I got thisclose to getting a Regency romance novel accepted before the publishing company I submitted it to closed the Regency line. I've got a manuscript I've been tinkering with for years, and some day, I would like to finish it and try to get it published.

Arionrhod and I have been collaborating since August, 2004, and we've actually toyed with some original writing. We've played with the idea of turning the "Blood Bathory" concept into a novel, and we've done some brainstorming on a steampunk idea, but I think we need to stop getting distracted by fanfiction if we want any hope of finishing some original writing, either together or separately. There are only so many hours in a day, after all, and we're both busy with our jobs and relatives (and knitting! *G*), so if we focus on fanfiction, the original writing goes by the wayside and vice versa.

Maybe we'll get the original muses in gear after we finish all our holiday fest writing!


Topic suggestions welcome here on LJ, here on IJ, and here on DW.

This entry was originally posted at http://scribbulus-ink.dreamwidth.org/510955.html. It's cross-posted to LJ and IJ, and comments are enabled at all three journals.

A few weeks ago, "Gryffie," more formally known as "Mr. Godric Gryffindor," known by a previous human as "Tigger," a beautiful, sweet-natured, social, affectionate cat, seen above as he slept on my hip in the wee hours of February 25th, 1998, had a change in behavior, hiding in corners and dark places. I gave him a few days to get over it, then made it my business to haul him out and love on him, and encourage him to re-join the family. At first, it worked.

The week before last, however, he began acting listless and torpid, and, the Saturday before last, I became concerned enough to want to take him to the vet. The vet, however, was not there, and would not be until Monday. By that Monday morning, I feared he would not make it through the day, and he was nearly dead before I could get him in to the Vet's office.

The next day, having had subcutaneous fluids and food, he seemed happier and peppier, and was sent home. "But wait," I asked. "What caused this? Did the blood work show anything?" Well, no, it hadn't, and the vet had no idea, but assumed that Gryffie had ingested some sort of poison, or that I had been inept in applying anti-flea drops, and poisoned him. I knew that wasn't the case, and knew that it was not an environmental poison -- my other three cats, after all, had no problems -- but there was no way of knowing what the problem was.

That night, lying in bed between my wife and me, he had a seizure, and, come the morn, it was back to the Vet for Mr. Gryffie. He was given Phenobarbital, and an antibiotic, and by Sunday, seeming much the better, was sent home again. Sunday night, another seizure, Monday morning, a return to the vet.

More Phenobarbital, a seizure-free night, more phenobarbital, another seizure in the night, and the Vet was now fairly confident that it would just be a matter of adjusting dosages, and that Gryffie would soon be home and happy. I spoke with the vet at approximately 6:00 last evening, and all was well. One more night to make sure the dosages were working, and he'd be coming home, probably, today.

This morning at 8:40 AM, ten minutes after his office had opened, the Vet called me to tell me that Gryffie had passed away overnight.

I can't begin to express how I loved that cat, nor how heartbroken I am to know he'll never again be coming home to me, never again leap onto me as I try to settle in for bed, before I'm quite in position to go to sleep.

Rest Well, Gryffie. I will always love and miss you.

Authors, I love you people. I really really do. You make my life richer and filled with intense emotions that leave me breathless. I am extremely appreciative of the time you take to not only write out a story, but spellcheck, beta and draft - meaning, I know a lot goes into a well written fic.

But PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, for the love of all things Holy and Winchester, if you are writing a multi-chaptered fic PLEASE either link the chapters on each page or have a master post with all the chapter links. Or hell, at the very least use consistent tags.

Because Dudes, having to go back and shift through a journal for the next chapter is.... *cough* Just please, it would be MASSIVELY appreciated.

Thank you, that is all.

With huge amounts of love, Peachus

* 3,000 words today. An entire action scene. I am exhausted, but I still rock.

* I officially adore Hairy Meg. I predict I may have trouble keeping her from upstaging the main characters if she keeps on being so very awesome.

* Cat piss flouresces AK green under blacklight. This has led to some innovative, and infuriating revelations around Mandala House this week.

* No, I have NOT checked to see what other bio-fluids flouresce, thanks, I've been writing, like a good girl!

* Forgot to remind Allyson to come and visit tonight. Woe. Although solitude did contribute to wordcount win, so... *shrug*

* saw Chiropractor. Made The Noise. Now have fierce adjustment headache. (And am planning to raid the final hold-outs from last year's broken-shoulder painkillers, so I'll be able to sleep through it while my neck and back get used to things being where they're meant to be again.)

* Am suspicious that the writers of Criminal Minds are setting out to deliberately nail each and every one of Clue's personal squick-triggers this season. *Huddles under the bed, shielding eyes with fists, and rocking quickly back and forth. There might be keening as well...*

* Brother Godric wishes it known that he is not a fan of NaNoWriMo, as it drastically cuts down the availability of lap and pettins.

* I have a venus flytrap. Alas, I no longer seem to have any fruit flies infesting my kitchen for said flytrap to trap. Hamburger will do for now, I suppose.

* And now, to bed. More words tomorrow. Avaunt.

So much for posting every day. Nothing to say, no time to think about fannish things. Just stagger from one meeting to the next and one job to the next. If I have to suffer through one more SWOT meeting (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) I will scream. Same people say the same things every year. BORING and POINTLESS.

Weather has been nice. No horrible diseases yet. Not watching any new series this season so don't have to worry about spoilers. Need a new book to read. The history I'm wading through now is too heavy for my brain.

Thursday Night is over-packed night. Between rushing home and the two TiVO tuners, I almost get to watch everything that interests me tonight. But I'm only going to talk about a few shows....

Bones
I really need a Bones icon! There was some criticism of the show last year. But this year has been consistently strong in terms of characterization and acting. I think the only character who occasionally suffers is Bones herself, and that's because it's hard to keep a character "obnoxiously innocent", which is how Bones started out, and how, some writers still try to write her. But that hardly matters when the other characters are so alive, fun, effervescent and cool-in-a-smart-way. And David Boreanaz has only become better and better in his role and FBI Agent Seeley Booth, who has become so much more than a wise-cracking tough guy in Boreanaz's hands. One TV commentator says almost every week that Bones is the most unappreciated show on television. Don't let Bones get by you.

Flash Forward
This show is intense, and it has a mystery that threatens to be somewhat solved by the end of the season (gasp!). It feels like Lost without all the baggage of 5 seasons. So why not check it out and get in on the ground floor of a fascinating show that promises an actual payoff come May?

Fringe
I'm one of dozens of people that I've read saying, "I watch Fringe, but Anna Torv bugs the hell out of me". Anna looks too much like Cate Blanchett on first glance, so I always end up doing double-takes. But...Joshua Jackson and John Noble...now those are two men I could watch read the phone book, so why not suffer the Blanch-ette to get a weekly double-dose of adorable men? One online friend calls it "The Walter Bishop Show", which is a moniker I could get behind. Oh, yeah, and there's a plot...just think X-Files with more dopplegangers and you'll be able to jump right in.

Project Runway/Models of the Runway
Again, this is a show that could be on anytime...and on any channel! This has not been a great season of PR, but it was still good enough to be considered must-see TV, compared to a raft of other reality shows. Lifetime added a half-hour show after PR, Models of the Runway, which is about the model competition that's also always been involved with the show. Honestly, though, I don't think we need it. The models weren't as empty as you might think models are, but I don't watch PR for the model-bonding and cattiness, I watch it for the designer-bonding and cattiness. ~_^

And now I need to go make a Bones icon so I can replace the icon on this post with it later! I've been meaning to make one for ages, but I keep putting it off. Well, no more!

love, lore

Title: Cementing
Pairings: Hotch/Reid, Prentiss/Rossi
Rating: PG-13
WC: 1400
Summary: Certain members of the team deal with the changes in their midst. Coda to "The Eyes Have It".
Notes: Betaed by resolucidity and severity_softly. SPOILERS for "The Eyes Have It".

Series: This is part of a series of Season Five episode tags I've been writing.
1. Not So Alone
2. Weeping Endures for a Night
3. The Blink of an Eye
4. Trust and Regret
5. Something Pretty Wonderful
6. Hope and Bourbon
7. Shaking Things Up

( 8. Cementing )

A quick one, because it's been a long and busy day, and I'm running low on brain cells.

Lore asked, "I know you love Johnny Depp, but what made you pick that particular quote and title for your journal?"

This refers to my Insanejournal only, because I haven't transferred the title/quote over to LJ or DW.

For those who haven't seen it, the title is "Upsetting All the Buffalo", and the profile quote is "The story opens on these mysterious explosions. Nobody knows what's causing them, but it's upsetting all the buffalo", which is from Ed Wood.

I have a fondness for Ed Wood and his movies (ditto William Castle, king of the gimmick), and I went to see the bio pic (Burton directed; Depp played Wood) when it was released. A while back, I realized it had been ages since I'd seen it, and I was in the mood for it, so I rented it from Netflix.

There's a scene where Ed Wood is poring over random bits of stock footage, including a scene of a buffalo stampede and a scene of bombs going off, and he makes up a story on the spot about what he's watching and starts thinking about how to turn it into a movie script. I was vastly amused by the sheer badness of the story, but also impressed that Wood was such an enthusiastic storyteller, he'd make something up about anything and try to make it work, no matter how crappy the end results were. He wasn't a good writer, but he had passion, so it was the juxtaposition of something that's awful and funny and pathetic and yet somehow inspiring that struck me enough to preserve the quote.

It serves to remind me that passion and determination trump talent. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't use it, it's wasted and no good to anyone. Meanwhile, someone who's utter crap can get things done if they have enough enthusiasm and drive to do it. The mere fact that Plan 9 from Outer Space is still available, aired, and watched attests to that.

It serves to remind me that I need to get off my ass and upset some buffalo while I still can.

This entry was originally posted at http://scribbulus-ink.dreamwidth.org/510718.html. It's cross-posted to LJ and IJ, and comments are enabled at all three journals.

Over the course of 24 hours, six of you friended me, courtesy of the 'Karl Urban Friending Meme'. Hey, all y'all. *waves* I don't think I've I've ever picked up that many friends at one fell-swoop. Are we Urbanites just that friendly, or what?

Several of the my newbies have written long, lovely introductory posts about themselves, which is very nice. I need to write something today to fit into mywrisomifu, so how about an intro? ( Those of you who have been on this crash-cart for a while don't need to read. )

So I sat down to write last night, and wasn't doing too good a job at it when I got a phone call about my assignment for the church's Advent meditation book. It's due Sunday. WTH, gang??? Anyway, I'm thinking about Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. She was an older woman who got pregnant for the first time. I was older when I had my kids, which means she was probably my age. I'm not sure where I'm going to go with it....

Gave blood today at the college blood drive.

Wow, life is deserting me at the moment. And I can go home in 10 minutes. YAY.

I think that's enough blather for the moment.

Over the course of 24 hours, six of you friended me, courtesy of the 'Karl Urban Friending Meme'. Hey, all y'all. *waves* I don't think I've I've ever picked up that many friends at one fell-swoop. Are we Urbanites just that friendly, or what?

Several of the my newbies have written long, lovely introductory posts about themselves, which is very nice. I need to write something today to fit into mywritenao, so how about an intro? ( Those of you who have been on this crash-cart for a while don't need to read. )

So I sat down to write last night, and wasn't doing too good a job at it when I got a phone call about my assignment for the church's Advent meditation book. It's due Sunday. WTH, gang??? Anyway, I'm thinking about Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. She was an older woman who got pregnant for the first time. I was older when I had my kids, which means she was probably my age. I'm not sure where I'm going to go with it....

Gave blood today at the college blood drive.

Wow, life is deserting me at the moment. And I can go home in 10 minutes. YAY.

I think that's enough blather for the moment.

Talk about having a bad day! I was feeling achy yesterday afternoon and by 3 o'clock I knew I needed to leave the office if I was going to make it home in one piece. The aches are arthritic, I know this and I get them from time to time when the barometric pressure changes so not overly concerned but I know that if I don't get home, take some painkillers and lie down, I end up feeling like the Tin Man. Anyway, got home, took meds, crawled into bed and slept for an hour. Felt better and even got to watch the full Yankees/Phillies game (GO YANKS!) before my head started to ache. Took an ibuprofen and went to bed. Forgot that I'd left my unfinished coffee on my bedside table and fell promptly asleep.

Alarm goes off at 5:30 and my head is reeling. I can barely open my eyes in the almost black room (I keep all the curtains closed off real tight) and reach for the Blackberry to snooze the alarm. I do so, put it back in the cradle and go back to sleep. 10 minutes later, the snooze goes off and I decide that I should really just call in. Reaching for the Blackberry with one eye open, I find that I've dunked it in my coffee cup. Yes, I'm a dork! Panicked, I sit up fast which did not help my headache ONE BIT and take the phone into the bathroom where the light almost knocks me over. Migraine! Lovely! I try to dry it off with my hairdryer with cool air (thank God for that feature or I'd fry the phone) but it's no use. I can still hear a bit of the coffee swishing around inside. Dammit!

I try to wake my daughter up (as it's now past 6:10 and she needs to be at the bus stop by 6:30) and find she's in pain too. Lower back, beginnings of a UTI. She's had so many of them we can diagnose her without medical intervention, I kid you not. No fever but achy. I go back to my bed, wake hubby to help her and explain that I have to e-mail my bosses and let them know I won't be in today. While he helps her get into the bathroom and take a shower (usually helps her muscles that atrophy from her trying to adjust in her sleep to avoid the pain) I e-mail my bosses and the Telecomm lady to let know that the 3rd Blackberry I've had in 2 years, needs to be replaced AGAIN. Thankfully, she's got a sense of humor and knows my pain so she just laughed and said she'd order me a new one.

Thing is, I don't have another phone. Hubby uses my T-Mobile phone and he decided to pick up a gig go play Poker during the day so he's off doing that while daughter and I are at home, achy without a phone. At least, I can e-mail people and post LJ entries like this one.

I swear some days I wonder why I even bother rolling out of bed!

And for those who need to know how to salvage your wet phone, enelya_oronar sent me this DIY link. Which I hope helps. Blackberry's submerged in rice can right now.

Oooh, so angry right now.

You're right, I'm wrong. I can accept it, I did apologize.

If you start acting all high and mighty, though, you stop being right and become an asshole.

And for a fucking parking spot, no less.

• 20:26 concert!! dec 16th. papa roach, shinedown, and hailstorm. am soooo going. XD cast should be off by then, so bring it on! #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

Well, tonight, there was a big load of nothing on until 10, but normally, Wednesday brings GLEE!!

Glee
I'm not sure there's anything I can say to make you love this show. It's like...a peppier Freaks and Geeks with singing. You either know how to roll with that, or you don't, you know? Me, I can rollllllll. It makes me a wiggly, happy puppy each week and as long as it stays on the cheesy side of soap opera, I'm there! The second the show starts to take itself seriously, the shark will have been turned on its belly for a good jumpin'.

Eastwick
OK, so I like an unrealistic girl!power show or two, and this one is due to be canceled at any minute. Still, I love magic, I loved the original theatrical, and it's not like there's a lot of other interesting shows on Wednesday. If Eastwick is canceled, Wednesday will become a wasteland with Glee an island in the middle. Sheesh!

Top Chef
I can't count on Top Chef being on a regular schedule, so I'm talking about it here, even though I don't count it when I talk about Wednesday being a wasteland. This season has been nice, but the strongest chefs have been obvious from the beginning, and now that we're down to the end, they're all still around. No big surprises here, but I adore Padma and Tom, so I'm always entertained, even with a sub-par season.

Finally, just to revisit V - The first episode ended stronger than it began. Plus, I know the SO is going to make me watch it anyway, so I guess I'll be hanging with it for a while longer. That final fight scene was awfully cool. Also, is anyone else jonesing for Lost now that they've seen Elizabeth back on the small screen? Hee!

I wish I could bounce back faster from this sickness. I still am coughing and dealing with congestion every day and I feel weak and run-down. I can only hope it was N1H1, because I don't want to have gone through all this just for a regular flu.

love, lore

As a Slash fiction writer, this is a cause I can TOTALLY get behind.
Protect those prostates, guys! We can't live vicariously through you without them!

As a Slash fiction writer, this is a cause I can TOTALLY get behind.
Protect those prostates, guys! We can't live vicariously through you without them!

1st & 10: He Did It Again! by cfriskney
J2 AU, NC-17
Jared is the hottest young quarterback to come down the line in a long time. Jensen is the trainer that wants to make sure Jared takes over for the Dallas Cowboys...but then all hell breaks loose and neither man is ready for it... Dude, I love me some fucking football. And the idea of Jared as a Quarterback for the Cowboys is just about the hottest thing ever. But really? What I enjoyed the most was Jared's confidence. There aren't a lot of sport AUs out there, just a small handful. This is definitely a good addition to the genre!


You're The Last To Ask by stangerine88
SPN, R-ish
“So you’re like that chick from X-men.” Dean says quietly. I kinda really liked this. Set in Season 2 and it really feels like it. Very early Sam and Dean. Which is nice. They have some angst what with Dean and his emotional issues and Sam having to deal with the psychic shit and running from the cops, but it isn't heavy drawn out end of the world type of darkness. For all that its a Wincest fic, I think the characters were really spot on and the plot followed well with how they interact with each other. I did giggle out loud at a some of the very brother-ish banter. And Dean's issue with people thinking they're a couple. (Boy just needs to get a clue - OF COURSE they're a couple!) So yeah, it is brand new but really felt like a flashback read - which I greatly enjoy!

Title: Office Boy
Author: snegurochka_lee
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~2,500
Warnings: EWE, probably. Also, see theme.
Summary: Harry watched the single bead of sweat slide down the side of Malfoy's face, slipping behind his ear and disappearing into his hair, and Harry's body gave a shiver at the thought of what was causing Malfoy's tension.
Notes: Written for the November theme of 'nipple clamps' at daily_deviant. Also, this is for marguerite_26, who was the most insanely tireless cheerleader and beta for my hd_career_fair story last month when I turned into a whinging snowflake of epic proportions and was wringing my hands over ever having been mad enough to sign up for an H/D fest. :) She suggested Harry/Teddy, actually, when I insisted on writing her a reward, but that shall have to wait for another day, because lo, now it seems my brain is all LET'S WRITE MOAR H/D OKAY. :/

( Office Boy ) - over at daily_deviant

I signed up for Yuletide today. WOOHOO!

Anyway, because else I will totally forget to write this...

I asked for Southland, Hunger Games, Castle, or Burn Notice fic, and this is my Dear Author letter.

( Hi! We share at least one fandom! )

I originally posted this at http://florahart.dreamwidth.org/996719.html. Comments may be left here or there; you can comment there with OpenID even if you don't have an account.

Just a big thank you and hugs to all who sent well-wishes on my having caught (and apparently caged deep in my lungs) the scourge of the ages; i.e. - h1n1.

I'm *still* badly fatigued and ill. I can manage sitting up a couple times a day and using the laptop, but most of the time I'm down and coughing my torso muscles into painful jelly. There is no energy for anything else.

I miss my flist. I hope to catch up eventually. For now... recovery.

I leave you with these words of wisdom: Letter to young American women

As many of you know, I've made the leap from print books to eBooks for my reading pleasure ever since I got my iPod Touch. I love reading eBooks and, like many out there, find that I can read them faster in electronic format than I can in print. I don't know why really. It should be the same regardless since it's the same number of words, the format is just different. I, of course, expect to pay a lot less for an eBook than I would pay for a print book and with the number of books I buy per month and the state of our finances right now, eBooks are much more affordable.

Yes, there's the debate over sharing eBooks and DRM and all that crap that, to be honest, annoys me to no end. Everything we do and are able to do with Print books should be made available in eBooks and dammit, if I want to swap books with my girlfriends, I should be able to do so at whim and as many times as I want. 9 times out of 10, my girlfriends go out and buy a book they share with me, so I don't see what the big fuss is. Okay, climbs down from her soapbox on that topic.

Anyway, winnett made a comment (thank you darling for getting my brain going) in an earlier entry of mine about wanting to hold a book in her hands if she's going to pay for it and it got me thinking... so... a poll!

View poll: eBook or Print Book?

Purplefluffycat asked, "If you were to meet Snape in real life (canon Snape or 'your' Snape, as appropriate) how would you react to one another? Do you think you could become friends?"

Recently, I saw an online discussion about Sheldon** from The Big Bang Theory in which a lot of women chimed in, "I love him!", and a guy asked something along the lines of "Why do women love Sheldon so much, but not me? I'm like him, but I can't get a date!"

My first thought was, "Because he's fictional, and we don't have to live with him." I think the same applies to Snape, whether canon or fanon.

Also, I think I'm too much like Snape in certain, fundamental ways - especially if we're talking about meeting "my" Snape - and we'd clash. I suspect we could spend a few hours swapping horror stories about our respective teaching experiences and making fun of particularly idiotic students, though. On that topic, we'd probably be in full accord!

But for a long-term, sustainable friendship, I need a Lupin-type - a yin to my yang - which is, I suspect, part of why Arionrhod and I have gotten along so well for so long. We balance each other out nicely, and she's patient with my quirks.



**For those who haven't seen BBT, Sheldon is an anal retentive, arrogant genius geek who has no social skills and doesn't care that he has no social skills because everyone else is less intelligent than he is and therefore not worth his time and attention anyway. Things must be done a certain way Or Else, and despite everything, he somehow manages to make everyone around him conform to his quirky demands, probably because giving in is easier than arguing with him. He lives in Sheldon World and is quite happy there.

I know many of you are participating in NaNoWriMo this month and some of you may even think to submit your work for publishing (yay!) so I thought I'd share this link with you.

As seen on elisa_rolle's journal:

Get your NaNoWriMo work published at Ravenous Romance

Last year more than 100,000 writers participated, and every year one or two of them get published.

We'd like to increase the odds.

Ravenous Romance novels are 50,000 - 60,000 words. We love finding new writers. So, we'd really like you to write a 50,000 word novel for RR.

Although we publish just about every category of erotic romance, our readers are anxious for more M/M/, paranormal and menage. We'd love to see more science fiction erotic romance, or what we cal Futurotica. And, of course, we always love good contemporary and historical novels.

Our guidelines are up on our website: http://www.ravenousromance.com/images/stories/ravenousromancesubmissionguidelines.pdf

So, from Dec. 1 until New Year's Eve, send us your completed NaNoWriMo erotic romance, and if we think you're good enough, you might win a contract, as well as a $200 advance. Your novel will be published in 2010. Should your work be chosen, we'll interview you on the RR blog and the RR Ning, so you can share your story.

Should the submissions merit it, we'll give out first, second and third place awards, but every novel published will get the $200 advance.

We're looking forward to publishing your NaNoWriMo novel!

Send completed novels, with an outline and a author bio, to: submissions@ravenousromancecom."

Ravenous Romance is a publisher of e-books and audiobooks led by three longtime publishing professionals who see digital publishing as the new mass market. They launched www.ravenousromance.com on December 1, 2008 and have published more than 200 novels, anthologies, and short stories since. Ravenous Romance produces and sells the “Escape with Romance Collection” of trade paperback novels exclusively on HSN, and has licensed print rights to many of its other titles to traditional publishing houses.

It’s not yet 10:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time so this counts as Day Three.

I need one full-time job that pays well rather than a bazillion part-time ones that pay crappy. I got the Christmas cards up at the grocery store but have to go into Wally World before Friday to get them up there. Oh. joy.

I am trying to write a grant for my primary part-time job. I complained that I had no firm numbers and was told to make up something reasonable. Everybody else does. Which is true. So I get to guess how much it will cost to replace the roof on a 40 x 145 foot 1923 railroad depot with a steeply pitched hip roof and rotten soffits. No problem.

Not much progress on my real world writing for the same aforementioned job, mostly due to total lack of enthusiasm. I decided to go with Quark and save as a pdf so I don’t have learn a new layout program in a day.

On the fan front. . .zip. Nada. Didn’t even watch the new version of “V.” The DVR was set to record NCIS and I was too tired to change it.

Tomorrow will be equally thrilling. I get to attend an Economic Development Visioning Meeting. Kill me now.

I think I will think Snapish thoughts, rather than Econ Developmental thoughts, and smile evilly to myself.

Actually, there's nothing I'm IN LOVE with on Tuesday. I'm starting to become really burned out on So You Think You Can Dance and I'm beginning to question the judge's ethics, but if nothing else is on, I will probably continue with it, just with the sound down low.

Tabitha's Salon Takeover is back on Bravo at 10 p.m., though. This show is everything Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares ought to be. Tabitha is in charge of a needy salon for a week and she doesn't cajole the staff or wait for things to happen, she makes things happen. It's a great show to watch when the special snowflakes of the world are wearing you out.

So, in other news, I can't wait for 2012 to open just so I can stop seeing the commercials. Why, John Cusak, Why?!

We have V on right now, but I'm not holding my breath about it. Alan Tudyk is only listed as a guest star, after all.

I caught up on Storm Chasers on Discovery from Sunday night. Tornadoes are terrifying and all the chasers are pretty much testosterone-laden asses, but when they actually spot funnel clouds, it's just fascinating. If you're remotely interested, I believe the next new episode will have footage from a vehicle that survives going through a tornado. That's pretty much been the holy grail of this show, so this would be the episode to watch.

(V story break - she's a lizard, kid. Anyone who's seen the original knows that. Leezard, leezard, leezard!)

Rather than continuing to babble right up to the last minute tonight, I think I'll close and go answer some comments. Peace out!

love, lore

Okay, so one of the topics suggested to me was my coffee addiction. Yes, I'm completely, obsessively, unhealthily addicted to coffee.

My name is Minnie and I'm addicted to coffee!

I suppose the trouble started at an early age. When, still in my diapers, I would wander into the kitchen, hold my hands out to my mother and receive a bottle with coffee-flavored, sweet milk. Yes, I could easily blame my mother for starting this path that led to midnight coffee runs to the hospital, where coffee is free in the cafeteria. I'd knock over coffee stands just for a fix. And on those rocky nights, where I'd try to kick the habit cold-turkey, rocking myself in the corner, sweating and panting for a sniff of roasting java beans, I would cry out for help, asking the gods of decaf and caffeine-free drinks to just end my misery. To end my suffering and deliver me from the path of mocha-java unrighteousness. I cried out to the Bustelo gods and prayed... prayed the 23rd Psalm.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of instant coffee and day-old decaf, I shall fear no evil. For my Bustelo is with me. Thy creamer and thy sugar comfort me. Thy preparest a coffee cup before me in the presence of my decaf enemies. Thou annointest my espresso with sugar. My cup runneth over. Surely mocha latte and double-caf espressos shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of Bustelo forever. Amen.

Master, bless.

My most precious ones,

I am a tad restless.

I am waiting for the affliction to manifest itself (hopefully, I shall not be woken by pain in the middle of the night).

I am also waiting for my proof copy of The flawed master... It should be here any day now. I feel like a nervous parent expecting the stork's imminent arrival and peering constantly out the window.

Deep breath.

Then, of course, once the book is available, another wait will begin... I shall be hoping that my scribblings are of comfort.

Ah, goodness.

Last sunday, I told Father John that the harrowing spiritual trials I endured in 2008 shaped the book in a way nothing else could have. The flawed master is about the mystery of faith, about the link between trust and faith... It is about the mystery of Love, about seeing with the eyes of the soul, and about how Professor Snape taught me to see God. It is about true love and the authenticity and peace only such love can yield.

A Princely Calling will be about the life of faith. Much remains to be shared. However, I shall wait until january to begin the work, otherwise I imagine I shall drive myself into the ground again.

Tonight, I shall try to be still. There are a number of things I need to catch up with, but I have not yet regained enough energy.

Your devoted
Logospilgrim, the quiet professor

I missed the chat, but not from much. And someone asked a version of the question I wanted to ask. I love how MW almost always find a way to mention McGee or Sean Murray.

Also, I didn't change the grammar or the spelling, it's copied directly from the chat.

Michael Weatherly:

Greetings from the NCIS spin-off - Dinozzo in space

Is "Bitter and Blue" the first time you've recorded a track for wide release? or do you have indie singles out there?

It is my first time on a CD or record or cassette or 8-track but i do have a website michaelweatherlymusic.com that has other songs on it if you want to listen

( spoilery question )

How much of you is in Tony??? It seems to be a pretty natural role. Are you alike?

interestingly I feel very much like Dinozzo some days and other days I wish he would go be somebody else. But I love him cause he is a toostie pop of a character. Candy coated outside with a nice chocolately center (or possibly gum)

( Cut for length, the only spoiler is from 7x01 )

Shadowycat asked, "How about pets? Do you have any? Have you ever?"

Yes. My very first pet was a black cat named Peter (as in Peter Pan, my favorite Disney movie when I was a Very Small Child). I was less than six years old at the time, so I don't really remember him well. My mother had 3 poodles and 1 shih-tzu (consecutively, not concurrently) while I was growing up, but while I played with them, they weren't really mine.

I didn't have a pet of my own until I was in my late 20s, when I adopted a tortoiseshell cat from the Humane Society, and she's still with me. There was some question about how old she was when I got her; the Humane Society people said she was around 6 months, but the vet said she was at least a year old. At this point, I can't remember whether I got her in 1996 or 1997, so I generally just assume she's 14-ish and leave it at that.

Sweetie is anti-social, only wants to be touched on her terms, and is very vocal about what she wants when she wants it; she's definitely not a lap kitty.

In May, 2008, I got a shih-tzu puppy whose name is Min-mei but whom I call "Ham Hock" because she's big (bone structure; she's not overweight) and heavy with muscular thighs. She's stubborn, vocal about what she wants when she wants it, and a born care-taker; she seems to know when people are sick and "hovers" over them.

( Pet photos )

( Well, I've cracked 4000 as of last night's quittin' time. )

And now, I seem to be reaching the bottom of my chai, and the days' minutes are ticking away while I dither, so it's time for me to Get Something Done, avaunt!

For those following along on cluewrites, I'm posting my daily words over there every night. As expected, I landed on Tempus Fugitive, though for NaNoWriMo purposes, I have not logged the 10,000 words I had done before November 1. All the text is on that site though, so there, at least, it's complete. And yeah, feedback is appreciated -- especially since it gives me motivation to keep plugging away at this day after day, yaknow?

Anyhow; cheers!

Just a short Hello.

So, I have a stat counter on my journal. And I sometimes go through to see if there is anything specific people are looking for - meaning, are there any specific tags that get clicked a lot. And for the first time I took a moment to look at what countries people visiting my journal are from.

WOW. I had no idea. On any given day there are people from all over the world dropping by. That is so cool!!! As someone who can neither read nor write in any other language (hell, you've all seen my typing. I do well just to get all the English words in correctly.'Do well'..., is that right? Anyway.), I find this highly interesting. And surprising!

So, if you've dropped by, even for a quick look, please feel free to say Hello! It would make for a very bright, shiny day!

oh - and from me to you:

Hey there, Sug. Glad y'all stopped by!

First of all, happy-making thing of the day (so far): There is a guy in my building who I often see walking his two dogs that look just like him. Heh. They're all sort of burly and stuff but the dogs look really nice. I like seeing them because they seem like a happy family. Lately, I've only seen him with one of the dogs, though, which made me assume... bad things about the other. :( But! This morning I saw both of them again! It just made me super happy that the second dog was okay and back and they were all strutting down the street together again. All is right with the universe. :)

Second of all, recs! So, back in the summer, my co-mod, dracofiend, had this cool idea of doing a Remix mini-fest at our infidelity comm, hp_unfaithful. So we did. :) Anyone who signed up had to offer two of their fics for remixing, and then the other participants could go through that post and just pick anything from the links that they wanted to remix. Not everyone's stories got remixed under this format, alas, but it was a nice, low-stress way to do it.

At any rate, we're all done now, and the masterlist is up, if you're interested in perusing. The remixes are all short and easy to digest over a coffee break. :) I posted my own remix last week, and then when I checked back at the comm over the weekend, I saw that both my proposed stories had been remixed by others! *dancey* And they are both super cool:

The Wedding Bell Blue Balls Remix by gryffindor_j (Remus/James, NC-17, 3,600 words)
While Sirius is off on an errand for the groom, Remus does his best to help the groom out in other ways.

*cackles with glee* This is a remix of my old Sirius/Lily fic, Nice Day for a White Wedding, which features blatant wedding day infidelity. gryffindor_j turned it around to show us just what the groom and his other groomsman might have been getting up to while the best man was having a turn with the bride. *glee* Sexy and funny and a wonderful complement to the original.

To Love, in Six Words (the Slow Drown Remix) by dracofiend (Remus/Bill, PG-13, 1,100 words)
Remus oughtn't be awake, but he is—because of Bill. Always because of Bill.

*clutches heart* This is a remix of my post-DH, angst-trainwreck of a Remus/Bill fic, Fifty Words Unspoken. dracofiend did amazing things not only with Remus's POV and the emotions of all the characters, but also with the weird structure I had in the original. I love how she's chosen six of the title words from each segment and woven them into a new form. Really beautiful and haunting.

Thank you so much, both of you! It was wonderful to read such cool remixes of my stuff. Eeee! If you read and enjoy, be sure to leave a few words of feedback for my lovely remixers. :)

A few small tasty tidbits...

When I Am an Old Man and Live By the Sea by chash
J2, R
A sequel to I Saw Her Today at the Reception, featuring Jensen Ackles at the Williamstown Theater Festival In which they are BOYFRIENDS and Peachus *glomps* them..well, they *are* boyfriends and I wanted to *glomp* them, but whateva! (Oh, and yes, of course read the first one. Dude, its chash- you should read everything, duh.)


Bad Life Choices by bekkis
J2-ish AU, R-ish
College AU. Jared gets dumped by Sandy and feels pretty shitty. So he sleeps around a lot. And then he meets Jensen. Yeah, that's all I got. LOL, this is cute. Its mostly Jared being a great big MANWHORE. And, well as the title says, making bad life choices. He does, however, meet hottie Jensen and there is flirting. And also Cool Danneel!


Clear by vamphile
J2, G
Can you summarize a conversation that’s already this short? Yes - its called TRUFAX schmoop! lol, and it will put a smile on your face.

Oh, God....please let it be good.

I have said, out-loud in front of family no less, that I would happily fuck my TiVO if I could, I love it that much. Sad-sounding, yes, but in a year it has completely changed how I approach visual entertainment. Not having to worry about getting home in time for a show, or whether the VCR is going to get it, or planning a complex taping system for a vacation - well, it's huge. Now we talk in terms of watching in "real-time" or just "on the TiVO".

And look out, babolas, since I last waxed rhapsodic about the TiVO, we've upgraded ours to a TERABYTE hard drive. Dudes, there are over 450 programs in our deleted right now, WHOO HOO (the machine only deletes when it runs out of space)! Anyway, I thought since sweeps started last week, I would talk this week about the shows I think are particularly special.

Castle
If you're not watching this show, you should be. It's intelligent, witty, sharp and so much more than a police procedural. Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle, crime writer with an "in" at the NY police department, is nothing short of utterly charming and warm in a smart-ass way - Richard makes people want to talk to him. It's easy to see why detective Kate Beckett puts up with him week after week, even after he bases his next hit character, Nikki Heat, on her. Castle's home life is just as interesting as the cases he tags along on, but his daughter and mother's appearances are kept on the wise side of "just enough to want more".

Seriously, this is not snoozy old Law & Order here, and the writing for Castle is amazing. The cases seem fresh and interesting to me, and the characters are human. Stana Katic as Kate is not getting much credit for her role, but she's growing on me. She's not a stereotypical tv female, but she sure has great, happily slow-building, chemistry with Fillion. About the only "history" you might need to know other than the basic premise (crime writer goes on real cases with the inspiration for his latest hit character) is that Kate's mother was murdered a long time ago, and Kate almost burned out trying to find her mother's killer before she put the entire unsolved case behind her for good. This plot point doesn't come up every episode, so, see, this is a totally easy show to get into!

If you do decide you want to give Castle a try, or if you happen to be an old Firefly fan, watch the episode "Vampire Weekend" online.

Heroes
Yeah, I know, last season, it's done, it's cooked, it's jumped the shark, it's lame, over, lamented. What-EVER. Heroes is like nothing on TV right now, and it will probably be years before we see something like it again. The show has problems, but it also has hope, fun, action, and that OMG!-factor that keeps me hooked right in. Sometimes logic and characterization shifts too much and I roll my eyes, but I keep coming back to it because it's still different. I still love the characters. And I still end up going OMG!!! almost every week. Plus, Noah is dead-sexy, especially when he speaks Japanese. ~_^

Want to check back in on Heroes? Try watching Strange Attractors.

The Big Bang Theory
I hardly ever talk about half-hour comedies, and that's because most of them are pure drivel. Occasionally, one like Sportsnight comes along, bringing something new to the table, and BBT is one of those shows. It's not really 4 Men and a Hot Chick, which is what the ads sometimes makes it out to be, but, rather, it's a show about friendship, geekiness, and the people who can accept super-geniuses for who they are. If you've ever been into anything remotely nerdy, it eventually comes up on this show. I think all the characters are terrific, but I have to admit, I have a special place in my heart for super-smart, super-OCD Sheldon, who pings me hard as a "Snape". I do like my Snapes. ~_^

CBS is too uptight to put entire episodes online, but there are plenty of fun clips to be found here. If you want a truly nerd-tastic moment, though, I suggest Now Fetch Me Wil Wheaton.

We watch other shows on Monday - it's one of our most-juggled nights of TV even with the TiVo - but these are the ones I adore. Anyone adoring them with me?

love, lore

It's been a while, is everyone all right? Healthy, happy... in a post-Halloween sugar-stupor?

Firstly, I read a story yesterday that is utter madness and so completely enjoyable, it defies description. It's H/D and the last offering for the The Big Harry/Draco Career Fair, a really clever fest that puts Harry and Draco in unusual (for them) occupations. If you like to read well-written hilarity that touches on politics and the ridiculousness of bureaucracies, as well as delightful banter of a very British-y nature, then this is the fic for you. Seriously, it's soooo much fun! Little Red Courgette * giggles* You'll love it, I swear. Absolutely nothing squicky... unless you're adversely affected by vegetable puns.

( Couple of Movie Recs )

Keeping this one short because it's been a long, busy day, and I'm wiped.

World of Warcraft added a new holiday this year: Day of the Dead. My Blood Elf Death Knight was turned into a Mariachi skeleton and, after baking Bread of the Dead, earned a wee "macabre marionette" companion. Unfortunately, it sounds like the marionette is only active during the 2 days of the holiday. Alas.


( Mariachi Blood Elf )

Haven't done one of these for a while, so here goes!

Before anything else, bathtubgin and lovelybug are doing a sponsored firewalk to raise money for the Fawcett Society's Equal Pay campaigning. Please give generously!

If you think getting around London is awkward now, it could have been worse. Or better, depending on your point of view. The borough boundaries could have been based on hexagons. Somehow, it never caught on.

Incidentally, I may have to subscribe to that blog. I love maps! Especially weird ones.

I quite like charts too, especially ones like this - Total Eclipse of the Chart. It's a flow chart designed to guide you around Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart. I especially like the division of the various bits into 'croon' and 'belt'.

And that's off a blog also specialising in odd charts! *adds*

Speaking of geeky charts, today's XKCD is awesome. Even better, there's a large version that's fully readable. Sweet!

The acrostic is alive and well in California, as this letter of veto from Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California legislature demonstrates. Best bit is the quote from Arnie's spokesperson.

Someone has made an actual Ban Hammer. Classy.

However, I think the opposite of classy may be this. Someone out there has made a set of Robert Pattinson ladies' underwear. Complete with panty liner detail of RPattz's face. Oh. Dear.

At least it's fan-made and not official (or unofficial - they're not for sale at all) merchandise. Which does beg the question - why on earth did no one in HP fandom go there? You're not telling me no HP fen wouldn't have gone after a set of DanRad pants?