Posted on

Today’s Happy Things:

  1. Waking up to a new chapter of First Lord’s Fury on the beta list.
  2. Making fresh almond milk for my cereal and to go with my morning vitamins, sweetened with dates and a dash of vanilla.
  3. Getting hit with a really intriguing fic bunny.
  4. Out of the blue, suddenly remembering what Jim wrote in my copy of Turn Coat.
  5. Getting an equally spontaneous phone call from my mom, who was on her way to the movie theatre, wanting my opinion on whether to see Star Trek or Wolverine. I voted Star Trek.
Posted on

A number of my friends are participating in the Happiness Meme, and I decided I should, too! It’s simple: Post about something that made you happy today, then rinse and repeat for eight days. I’m a very happy person, so I’m going to challenge myself to five original happy things per day.

  1. Lunch in Bryant Park. The boss let us go out for lunch today, so I snagged food from a street vendor and found a table on the grass with a few coworkers. As I ate, I took my shoes off and luxuriated in the feel of the grass between my toes, then afterward, I lay down on the grass and basked in the sun. Mmm, Vitamin D!
  2. Jim Butcher validated my one-sided, unrequited Hendricks/Gard crackship! Well, evidence was already there in canon for those that wanted to see it, but it’s nice to see it reinforced.
  3. Really fantastic Amazon customer reviews a coworker just sent me: Three Wolf Moon Shirt and Tuscan Whole Milk. I love the internet.
  4. The fact that my smoke detector has only gone off once since I cleaned my oven on Saturday. It used to happen nearly every time I cooked anything.
  5. The satisfaction in banning an obnoxious forum troll.

Runner up: Gorgeous Doctor Who fanart.

Posted on

Your result for The 3-Variable Funny Test…

the Wit
(52% dark, 27% spontaneous, 11% vulgar)

your humor style:
CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARK


You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you’re probably an intellectual, but don’t take that to mean pretentious. You realize ‘dumb’ can be witty–after all isn’t that the Simpsons’ philosophy?–but rudeness for its own sake, ‘gross-out’ humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.

You just have a more cerebral approach than most. Your sense of humor takes the most thought to appreciate. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart – Woody Allen – Ricky Gervais
1663872520735005819.gif

Posted on

Ganked from everyone – the BBC supposedly says most people have only read 6 of these books. Here’s how I measure up!

Bold those books you’ve read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn’t finish.

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – J.K. Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare — I’ve read or seen unabridged onstage (alphabetically) Comedy of Errors, Hamlet, Macbeth, Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, The Twelfth Night, a handful of sonnets, and the Reduced Shakespeare Company. :D
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams (complete “trilogy”)
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck (and I was one of like three people in my year that actually read the whole thing. Most people stopped at 200 pages. Not that I’m bitter.)
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – C.S. Lewis
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis (why is this on here twice?)
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – A.A. Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – L.M. Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — I’ve read a few, but by no means all
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery (in French)
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

Total read: 31
Total partially read: 18

Wow. I’m actually embarrassed that I’ve gone without reading so many of these. Who are these people who have read fewer than six, and can I direct them to the nearest library? I’m amazed anyone can graduate high school without reading at least six of these. Heck, I’m surprised people can get through childhood without reading nearly that many.

Posted on

Let the “Year In Review” memes begin! So what if I’m a week late. :D

Books and Graphic Novels Read in 2008
(wow, this is pathetic)

  1. Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Jeff Lindsay
  2. Sex, Time, and Power: How Women’s Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution, Leonard Shlain
  3. Persepolis I, Marjane Satrapi
  4. Embroideries, Marjane Satrapi
  5. Persepolis II, Marjane Satrapi
  6. The Gun Seller, Hugh Laurie
  7. Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership, Madeline Albright
  8. Watchmen, Alan Moore
  9. Superman: Red Son, Mark Millar
  10. Buffy Season 8: The Long Way Home, Joss Whedon
  11. “Backup,” Jim Butcher
  12. Dealing With Dragons, Patricia Wrede
  13. Searching For Dragons, Patricia Wrede
  14. Calling On Dragons, Patricia Wrede
  15. Talking To Dragons, Patricia Wrede
  16. The Secret History of Moscow, Ekaterina Sedia
  17. Butcher Bird, Richard Kadrey
  18. Welcome to the Jungle, Jim Butcher
  19. Havemercy, Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennet
  20. Princeps’ Fury, Jim Butcher
  21. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1, Alan Moore
  22. Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox, Eoin Colfer
  23. The Middleman Volume 1: The Trade Paperback Imperative, Javier Grillo-Marxuach
  24. Y: The Last Man, Vol. 6: Girl on Girl, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
  25. Y: The Last Man, Vol. 7: Paper Dolls, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
  26. Y: The Last Man, Vol. 8: Kimono Dragons, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
  27. Y: The Last Man, Vol. 9: Motherland, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
  28. Y: The Last Man, Vol. 10: Whys and Wherefores, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
  29. The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss
  30. “Last Call,” Jim Butcher
  31. “The Warrior,” Jim Butcher
  32. The Warrior’s Apprentice, Lois McMaster Bujold
  33. “The Mountains of Mourning,” Lois McMaster Bujold
  34. “Curses,” Jim Butcher
  35. Nation, Terry Pratchett
  36. The Wordy Shipmates, Sarah Vowell
  37. The Queen’s Bastard, C.E. Murphy
  38. The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
  39. Turn Coat, Jim Butcher (Jim finished it December 31st! Handy!)

Currently reading The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold, and will continue More Information Than You Require by John Hodgman as soon as I remember where I put it.

2008 In Fic

  1. (1/25) Feedback. Molly/Carlos.
  2. (3/19) A December Memory. Gen. Features Murphy and assorted relatives.
  3. (3/19) Explain the Bruise. Molly/Carlos.
  4. (3/19) The Long Way. I wrote it as Harry/Murphy, but I didn’t include names. Feel free to read whatever you want into it. :D
  5. (3/19) The Key. Gen. Features Molly and Harry.
  6. (4/09) Small Mercies. Mostly gen, but with some Michael/Charity. Features the whole Carpenter clan.
  7. (5/02) Learning to Drive. Gen. Features Harry and Ebenezar.
  8. (5/02) Something is Burning. Features Harry, Elaine, and Justin.
  9. (5/24) A Personage of Noble Rank and Title. Gen. Features Morgan and a bunch of fun cameos.
  10. (6/01) I Spy. Molly/Carlos.
  11. (9/11) The Body. Harry/Luccio.
  12. (9/14) Humidity. Gen. Features Harry and Murphy.
  13. (9/14) Injuries. Gen. Features Harry.
  14. (10/21) Off Guard. Sort of Gard/Hendricks, because I’m a very twisted person.
  15. (11/12) The Other Son. Mostly gen, with some Thomas/Justine.
  16. (12/20) The Landscape. Part gen, part Amara/Bernard. I’m in the process of revising it.

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted?
About what I predicted. Less than I would have liked. But then again, I only started writing fic in early 2007, and hopefully I’ll get better and faster at putting my words on paper as I continue to practice.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2008?
I certainly never imagined writing a Morgan-centric fic, as I figured that was Puck’s territory. Guess not, as she hasn’t even bothered to read it. :D

Did you take any writing risks this year? (See above for unexpected pairings, etc.) What did you learn from them?
I created a major original character in Judith and managed to keep her from becoming a Mary Sue! Huzzah! Another major challenge was writing from Hendricks’ terse (and frankly obscene) POV. I wanted to wash out my keyboard with soap afterwards. :D

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
I’d like to continue to develop my own original ideas and characters for a potential 3D animated short. Or maybe a musical. Or a musical 3D animated short.

My Best Story: I’m torn between A Personage of Noble Rank and Title, The Other Son, and Small Mercies. With Personage, I’m not only really proud of the story on the surface, but it’s so unbelievably chock-full of hidden details you’d go mad trying to find them all. Finally, I’ve written another story with the reread value of Cold Comfort! For The Other Son, I’m head over heels about the soulgaze scene. Whenever I came up with a new visual or some other kind of metaphor to enhance the scene, I was filled with actual joy. As for Small Mercies, I love each tiny moment independently, and strung together, they all make a pretty moving little story.

Story Most Underappreciated by the Universe: The Landscape. Yeah, so I don’t really consider it “done.” Yeah, so I’ve written all over it that I’m in the process of revising it, as the version I posted for Yuletide isn’t remotely polished. Still, I feel like only two people have read it. This is particularly disheartening, as I believe it’s the first non-slash story to be written in the Codex Alera fandom. That’s lame, guys.

Most fun: I Spy. It’s lighthearted and goofy and comfortable.

Most disappointing: Off Guard. I love all the non-sexy parts and hate all the sex, which is unfortunate considering I wrote it for a friend who requested smut for her birthday. And because all the sex stuff is toward the beginning, I don’t think anyone bothered to keep reading and get to the good stuff and the real reason I picked that ship. Alas. (No, Mom and Dad, you will NOT get curious about what I mean by this and read the story. This is off limits! :D)

Most sexy: The Body. Because insight and healing are sexier to me than any smut. Honorable Mention: Feedback, because it’s just so fun and carefree and silly. (A few months after I wrote the story, while smooching with my now-ex-but-then-current boyfriend, he told me to make sure I gave him feedback. It took me a full minute to stop laughing.)

Hardest to Write: Writing the aforementioned hated scenes in Off Guard was like pulling teeth.

Word count: 21,548. Nearly half of this was Personage. :D Not too shabby for a newbie writer who works 50+ hours each week!

Posted on

Chungy asked for Pushing Daisies in the meme, so here goes!

1. bake cupcakes for
Emerson! He needs cupcake-love. Then maybe he’ll knit me a hat or a cute pair of gloves in return, as I lose hats and gloves faster than an arcade gamer loses quarters.

2. trust with the keys to my car
Ned, I suppose. He gets in a lot of potentially car-damaging situations, but he does love driving, and he would have the best of intentions for keeping my car safe.

3. put thumbtacks on their chair
I can’t think of anyone in the Pushing Daisies universe that deserves this! There is so much love in this show, even the villains are too caricatured to deserve thumbtacks. Instead, I shall thumbtack anyone that ever considers canceling it.

4. have a crush on
*clutches Ned defiantly as Chuck and Olive attempt to pry me loose with a crowbar*

5. pack up and leave if they moved next door
That guy who lived in the sewer in the explosive pop-up book episode, simply because of the smell!

6. vote for President
Digby

7. pick as my partner in a buddy movie
Olive. So much Olive.

8. pair up
Olive and the Homeopathic Mood Enhancer Guy. F’reals.

9. vote off the island and into the volcano
Ditto #3. I love all the major characters, and the nasty minor characters already tend to get their just desserts. (Har!)

10. wheedle into fixing my MP3 player
Wouldn’t it be cool if Ned’s ability to touch dead things and bring them back to life applied to electronics? Though as my mp3 player is an iPod and Apple has an awesome customer service policy, this would not be a problem that needed fixing by fictional characters.

Posted on

Fandom creative awesomeness mini-linkspam:

Oooh, Feather is running another Dresden Files ficathon, right in time for Halloween. Now I just have to figure out what to request!

Tealin doodles Doctor Horrible, and it is love and win.

Aysha/Questionstar posts a quasi-tutorial of her amazing armor-making method. I wish my fandoms had characters with awesome armor, because desperately I want to experiment with some of these techniques.

Nerd Squee MiniSpam:

Amanda Palmer sings “I Google You”. Highly amusing! (Good lord, I hate it when people google me)

Deleted Iron Man scene

Dollhouse scenelet

Alan Tudyk interviews Nathan Fillion

Hot library smut!

Political Mini-Spam:

David Shuster pwns PUMA

Nifty Anti-McCain ad

And a meme!

Pick a fandom, and I’ll tell you which character(s) I would:
1. bake cupcakes for
2. trust with the keys to my car
3. put thumbtacks on their chair
4. have a crush on
5. pack up and leave if they moved next door
6. vote for President
7. pick as my partner in a buddy movie
8. pair up
9. vote off the island and into the volcano
10. wheedle into fixing my MP3 player

Posted on

Some of you may have heard that PBS is revamping their much-beloved series, “The Electric Company.” It turns out they were filming a scene in the basketball court next to my apartment as I was walking to work this morning!

No, I didn’t see the Blue Beetle. :D

Ficathonficduetomorrowhlagdhalgskjdfasj.

What American accent do you have?
Created by Xavier on Memegen.net

Western. Like Midland, Western is another accent that people consider neutral. So, you might not actually be from the Western half of the country, but you definitely sound like it.

And if you’re not from the West, you are probably one of the following:
(a) A Pittsburgher – the quiz can’t tell the difference;
(b) Someone from Canada (probably southern Ontario) who doesn’t have a Canadian accent;
(c) Someone from northern New England who doesn’t have a New England accent; or
(d) Someone from Texas or the Heartland who was born after 1980.
You are definitely not from New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Detroit, the Deep South, etc.

Take this quiz now – it’s easy!

Posted on

Because I am a sheep.

What Is Your Battle Cry?

Stalking out of the plains, attacking with a meaty axe, cometh Priscellie! And she gives a vengeful roar:

“I’m seriously going to punch you into the fourth dimension!!”

Find out!
Enter username:
Are you a girl, or a guy ?

created by beatings : powered by monkeys


For serious, you guys.

And BAHAHAHAHA!

“Mmmhmm, Abe the Babe… maybe not babelike in the traditional sense (he was definitely tall and dark, if not classically “handsome”) but a mind that was hotter than Georgia asphalt. You could ask him anything, and he would probably know the answer, which could be very convenient. Abe was pretty reserved — not so great with the romantic stuff, and he’d probably run and hide if you ever said “listen, we need to have a talk”. But his waters ran deep, possibly deeper than any other president. Maybe even than any other mortal. Ever. And we suspect that as long as you were gentle and non-judgmental with him, he’d totally open up to you. And when he did, and you saw the true contents of his heart, your mind would be BLOWN.”