Genex Reveal
Sep. 25th, 2016 02:05 am![[personal profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossing_hadesThese are the times... (1658 words) by Persephones_Keeper
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Raven | Mystique & Charles Xavier
Characters: Raven | Mystique, Charles Xavier, Pietro Maximoff, Lorna Dane
Additional Tags: Brother-Sister Relationships, Angst, Telepathy, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Hurt/Comfort
Summary:
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Raven | Mystique & Charles Xavier
Characters: Raven | Mystique, Charles Xavier, Pietro Maximoff, Lorna Dane
Additional Tags: Brother-Sister Relationships, Angst, Telepathy, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Hurt/Comfort
Summary:
He wants to reach out to her and beg her not to go, to tell his sister that he loves her and cannot bear to lose her again. Twenty years of pain and loss stand in his way.
Charles and Mystique after Age of Apocalypse.
Yuletide tagset musings
Sep. 24th, 2016 11:14 pmlikeadeuceThe Yuletide tag set is available, which I take to mean nominations are close to being final. Inspired by moetushie I've gone through the list and noted fans I'm interested in requesting. Asterisks are on the 3 I nominated and will definitely be requesting. I'm the only person who picked any of these fandoms which I guess is efficient/useful nominating, but hopefully someone will actually offer to write them too!
Books:
Armande Gamache series - Louise Penny. (Armande Gamache & Jean-Guy Beauvoir. I really love this relationship but I don't really know if there's anything I am dying to read that is not in the books. . .)
Book of Strange New Things - Michel Faber (Peter Leigh is the only nominated character but I'm really interested in anything set in this universe which is so weird and glorious and scary. Also I read the whole book without figuring out whether Peter is a good guy or a monster, and there's a lot to explore with that.)
Dracula - Bram Stoker. (Mina Harker)
Dublin Murder Squad Series - Tana French (Frank Mackey, Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy -- I want to know a million things about this history between these two characters.)
Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie (Awn Elming, Skaaiat Awer)
Life and Death - Stephenie Meyer (So I am very WTF about this counting as a fandom, since it seems like it's obviously part of the Twilight series but it's still tempting to ask for JULIE OF THE WEREWOLVES)
** The Magicians - Lev Grossman (Plum Purchas, Jane Chatwin, Janet -- I really want Plum's adventures after book 3)
Once and Future King Series - TH White (Lancelot)
Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold (Miles Vorkosigan, Ivan Vorpatril)
**Westmark - Lloyd Alexander (Justin, Stock, Theo, Mickle --Not sure which characters I'm requesting)
Movies:
Dirty Dancing - (Baby/Johnny/Penny)
Notorious - (Alicia Huberman, Alexander Sebastian, Devlin -- Happy someone who's not me nominated this one this time around!)
Theater:
** Henry V - Shakespeare (Boy, Duke of York, Henry V of England, John Duke of Bedford -- I have a few different prompts for this, I might just request 'any,' since they are all my nominations)
TV:
Grace and Frankie (Brianna and Nwabudike)
Killjoys (There are a ton of characters nominated for this show and I'm not sure what I want to ask for after season 2. . .)
Mad Men (Sadly Sally Draper is not in the character list but I'm sort of tempted by 'Five Times Bob Benson Lied and One Time He Told the Truth')
The Magicians (Penny/Quentin)
Mr. Robot (Dominique/Darlene, or Angela/Darlene or Dominique/Angela or ???)
Veep (Dan/Jonah or Dan/Jonah/Amy or Dan + Jonah + Amy running Jonah's congressional campaign)
We get 6 fandoms to nominate and I'm having trouble narrowing it down, obviously!
moetushie I've gone through the list and noted fans I'm interested in requesting. Asterisks are on the 3 I nominated and will definitely be requesting. I'm the only person who picked any of these fandoms which I guess is efficient/useful nominating, but hopefully someone will actually offer to write them too!Books:
Armande Gamache series - Louise Penny. (Armande Gamache & Jean-Guy Beauvoir. I really love this relationship but I don't really know if there's anything I am dying to read that is not in the books. . .)
Book of Strange New Things - Michel Faber (Peter Leigh is the only nominated character but I'm really interested in anything set in this universe which is so weird and glorious and scary. Also I read the whole book without figuring out whether Peter is a good guy or a monster, and there's a lot to explore with that.)
Dracula - Bram Stoker. (Mina Harker)
Dublin Murder Squad Series - Tana French (Frank Mackey, Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy -- I want to know a million things about this history between these two characters.)
Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie (Awn Elming, Skaaiat Awer)
Life and Death - Stephenie Meyer (So I am very WTF about this counting as a fandom, since it seems like it's obviously part of the Twilight series but it's still tempting to ask for JULIE OF THE WEREWOLVES)
** The Magicians - Lev Grossman (Plum Purchas, Jane Chatwin, Janet -- I really want Plum's adventures after book 3)
Once and Future King Series - TH White (Lancelot)
Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold (Miles Vorkosigan, Ivan Vorpatril)
**Westmark - Lloyd Alexander (Justin, Stock, Theo, Mickle --Not sure which characters I'm requesting)
Movies:
Dirty Dancing - (Baby/Johnny/Penny)
Notorious - (Alicia Huberman, Alexander Sebastian, Devlin -- Happy someone who's not me nominated this one this time around!)
Theater:
** Henry V - Shakespeare (Boy, Duke of York, Henry V of England, John Duke of Bedford -- I have a few different prompts for this, I might just request 'any,' since they are all my nominations)
TV:
Grace and Frankie (Brianna and Nwabudike)
Killjoys (There are a ton of characters nominated for this show and I'm not sure what I want to ask for after season 2. . .)
Mad Men (Sadly Sally Draper is not in the character list but I'm sort of tempted by 'Five Times Bob Benson Lied and One Time He Told the Truth')
The Magicians (Penny/Quentin)
Mr. Robot (Dominique/Darlene, or Angela/Darlene or Dominique/Angela or ???)
Veep (Dan/Jonah or Dan/Jonah/Amy or Dan + Jonah + Amy running Jonah's congressional campaign)
We get 6 fandoms to nominate and I'm having trouble narrowing it down, obviously!
A thank you and a market haul
Sep. 24th, 2016 10:50 pmumadoshiThank you to everyone who commented on my hair pic! Enough of you did that I'm finding going through and replying individually a bit overwhelming, given that all replies would be "Thank you! I'm delighted with it!" So: thank you!
Kas sent me a bunch of the photos he took yesterday (I haven't uploaded any yet), so now I need to choose which one(s) will work best as a userpic (elsewhere).
scruloose brought home a lovely haul from the market today! Two pints of raspberries (really good, but we should eat as many as possible tonight, because those are not gonna last); a pint each of blueberries and peaches (fingers crossed for the peaches; no need to worry about Nova Scotia blueberries!); blueberry tarts and a peaches & cream tart; Chinese noodles for lunch; a Greek thing he didn't remember the name of, but which involves phyllo pastry, a LOT OF CHEESE, and we think bechamel (he only brought one piece home since we hadn't had it before, but more will be called for, and we'll have to learn its name); plus a bunch of our more usual provisions.
Kas sent me a bunch of the photos he took yesterday (I haven't uploaded any yet), so now I need to choose which one(s) will work best as a userpic (elsewhere).
scruloose brought home a lovely haul from the market today! Two pints of raspberries (really good, but we should eat as many as possible tonight, because those are not gonna last); a pint each of blueberries and peaches (fingers crossed for the peaches; no need to worry about Nova Scotia blueberries!); blueberry tarts and a peaches & cream tart; Chinese noodles for lunch; a Greek thing he didn't remember the name of, but which involves phyllo pastry, a LOT OF CHEESE, and we think bechamel (he only brought one piece home since we hadn't had it before, but more will be called for, and we'll have to learn its name); plus a bunch of our more usual provisions.
Linkspam: fannish/geeky, social justice, misc: Tori Amos, other misc.
Sep. 24th, 2016 10:27 pmumadoshi(I'm clearly getting to the point where I'm gonna have to do another ALL THE MISCELLANEOUS STUFF linkdump under a cut. It's gotten ridiculous.)
Fannish/Geeky Things
Sarah Kurchak wrote "How ‘Ghostbusters’ Holtzmann has become a queer, autistic hero".
Book blogger Shaina Reads posted briefly about Litsy, which is now out of beta for Android and available in the Play Store.
"Labors of Love: A Review of Manga in America". [Women Write About Comics]
"Joss Whedon Has Launched A Campaign To Get You To Vote — And Not For Trump". [Buzzfeed]
Social Justice
"On white feelings, jokes, and when white people just don’t get it (which is too often)".
"It’s Time to Get Over Your White Feelings and Start Taking Action for Black Lives".
Miscellaneous: Tori Amos edition
Next month a two-CD set of Tori Amos' Boys For Pele is being released for the album's 20th (!!!) anniversary. There've been similar releases for Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink, and I've yet to pick either of those up because neither of the second discs had songs I hadn't heard...but Pele's does, according to the breakdown on the Amazon.com listing. It looks like the first disc is the original album order (if I'm remembering correctly that a later release...let me see...I think traded the original "Talula" for the Tornado Mix and swapped out "In the Springtime of His Voodoo" for one of the ten bazillion "Professional Widow" remixes. [There are so many "Widow" remixes. I believe there's a CD that's almost, if not entirely, full of them. And "Widow" is probably my single least-favorite of Tori's songs up until about 2000.]). And on the second disc, I'm about 99% sure I've never heard "To The Fair Motormaids Of Japan", and I definitely haven't heard "Sucker". Everything else, other than mixes, is familiar. But I'll be pouncing on it.
(Amazingly, between the two discs there are a mere three versions of "Professional Widow", and one of them is the "Merry Widow" version, which I do kinda like.)
This link popped up in my YouTube sidebar when I was listening to YANTA a while back: "The Vocal Range Of Tori Amos". [YouTube, ~15 minutes] This uses vocal clips from all over her catalogue and range. "Tori's voice is distinctly cooing and warm, going effortlessly up to the mid and upper fifth octave as well as down to surprisingly very chesty and resonant singing in the lower third and even second octaves. Tori has shown a preference for using her head register for most of her singing, with more 'belted' notes become less frequent over the years, although she occasionally does so in live settings. Surprisingly, Tori's vocal range doesn't seem to have diminished in the slightest over the years, even if upper fifth octave notes aren't as frequent in the past decade. This seems to be a decision to preserve her voice for live performances."
(There's a second installment here, too.)
Also, I may have linked this before, but it's one of my favorite Tori-related videos ever: "Tori Amos Piano Shopping 1992". [~22 minutes] (1992, when Little Earthquakes came out. She was so young, and so thoroughly in her "ethereal, quirky girl" phase, but her answers to the interview questions are still thoughtful as well as fun. Also, she just sort of noodles around on the pianos the whole time, which I love.)
This is an older article (2007), but I found it really interesting: "Tori Amos: Inside Her Martian Engineering Studio" discusses Tori's studio (obviously), recording equipment, remastering, and assembling her The Piano collection.
Miscellaneous
"From Hiroko to Susie: The untold stories of Japanese war brides". [Washington Post]
"Broadway Musical ‘Allegiance’ Starring George Takei to Screen in Cinemas".
"Horses can communicate with us - scientists". [BBC]
Viakass, "Parenting by the Books: ‘On The Banks of Plum Creek’".
Fannish/Geeky Things
Sarah Kurchak wrote "How ‘Ghostbusters’ Holtzmann has become a queer, autistic hero".
Book blogger Shaina Reads posted briefly about Litsy, which is now out of beta for Android and available in the Play Store.
"Labors of Love: A Review of Manga in America". [Women Write About Comics]
"Joss Whedon Has Launched A Campaign To Get You To Vote — And Not For Trump". [Buzzfeed]
Social Justice
"On white feelings, jokes, and when white people just don’t get it (which is too often)".
"It’s Time to Get Over Your White Feelings and Start Taking Action for Black Lives".
Miscellaneous: Tori Amos edition
Next month a two-CD set of Tori Amos' Boys For Pele is being released for the album's 20th (!!!) anniversary. There've been similar releases for Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink, and I've yet to pick either of those up because neither of the second discs had songs I hadn't heard...but Pele's does, according to the breakdown on the Amazon.com listing. It looks like the first disc is the original album order (if I'm remembering correctly that a later release...let me see...I think traded the original "Talula" for the Tornado Mix and swapped out "In the Springtime of His Voodoo" for one of the ten bazillion "Professional Widow" remixes. [There are so many "Widow" remixes. I believe there's a CD that's almost, if not entirely, full of them. And "Widow" is probably my single least-favorite of Tori's songs up until about 2000.]). And on the second disc, I'm about 99% sure I've never heard "To The Fair Motormaids Of Japan", and I definitely haven't heard "Sucker". Everything else, other than mixes, is familiar. But I'll be pouncing on it.
(Amazingly, between the two discs there are a mere three versions of "Professional Widow", and one of them is the "Merry Widow" version, which I do kinda like.)
This link popped up in my YouTube sidebar when I was listening to YANTA a while back: "The Vocal Range Of Tori Amos". [YouTube, ~15 minutes] This uses vocal clips from all over her catalogue and range. "Tori's voice is distinctly cooing and warm, going effortlessly up to the mid and upper fifth octave as well as down to surprisingly very chesty and resonant singing in the lower third and even second octaves. Tori has shown a preference for using her head register for most of her singing, with more 'belted' notes become less frequent over the years, although she occasionally does so in live settings. Surprisingly, Tori's vocal range doesn't seem to have diminished in the slightest over the years, even if upper fifth octave notes aren't as frequent in the past decade. This seems to be a decision to preserve her voice for live performances."
(There's a second installment here, too.)
Also, I may have linked this before, but it's one of my favorite Tori-related videos ever: "Tori Amos Piano Shopping 1992". [~22 minutes] (1992, when Little Earthquakes came out. She was so young, and so thoroughly in her "ethereal, quirky girl" phase, but her answers to the interview questions are still thoughtful as well as fun. Also, she just sort of noodles around on the pianos the whole time, which I love.)
This is an older article (2007), but I found it really interesting: "Tori Amos: Inside Her Martian Engineering Studio" discusses Tori's studio (obviously), recording equipment, remastering, and assembling her The Piano collection.
Miscellaneous
"From Hiroko to Susie: The untold stories of Japanese war brides". [Washington Post]
"Broadway Musical ‘Allegiance’ Starring George Takei to Screen in Cinemas".
"Horses can communicate with us - scientists". [BBC]
Via
kass, "Parenting by the Books: ‘On The Banks of Plum Creek’".Four Weeks Left
Sep. 24th, 2016 08:10 pmsamuraiter posting in ![[community profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
femslashexYes, there are four weeks left in the 2016 challenge. You've got some time until stories are due on October 22, 2016 at 5 PM (PDT), but keep one eye on that countdown (seen here, with a time zone converter here).
If you've got one to share, don't forget to post a Dear Creator letter if you haven't already done so, especially if your request form is light on details.
There's also plenty of time left to sign up for pinch hitting and beta detail.
If you've got one to share, don't forget to post a Dear Creator letter if you haven't already done so, especially if your request form is light on details.
There's also plenty of time left to sign up for pinch hitting and beta detail.
Hurrah!
Sep. 24th, 2016 07:50 pmcrossing_hadesHal is back. I can return to regular internet usage! I had to default on at least three exchanges. Ironically, after I defaulted on genex, but I took a pinch hit, (when I thought Hal was coming home), so I did manage to write one shitty fic on my old, dying laptop. I'm sure you'll see which one it is if you look through the collection.
Now I just have a pinch hit for Darkest Night, crossovering, relationshipping, two assignments for femslashex, Marvel POC, and two assignments for Trick or Treat.
I'm going to die, right?
genex, but I took a pinch hit, (when I thought Hal was coming home), so I did manage to write one shitty fic on my old, dying laptop. I'm sure you'll see which one it is if you look through the collection.Now I just have a pinch hit for Darkest Night, crossovering, relationshipping, two assignments for femslashex, Marvel POC, and two assignments for Trick or Treat.
I'm going to die, right?
FIC: Good Eats (GotG fic)
Sep. 24th, 2016 02:51 pmsnickficWritten for ![[livejournal.com profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
avengersfest! Schmoopy team gen. :D
avengersfest! Schmoopy team gen. :DGood Eats (2647 words) by Snickfic
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Drax the Destroyer & Gamora & Groot & Peter Quill & Rocket Raccoon
Characters: Gamora (Marvel), Groot (Marvel), Drax the Destroyer, Peter Quill, Rocket Raccoon
Additional Tags: Found Family, Food, Family Feels
Summary:Everyone has a favorite food from when they were young. Gamora just doesn't remember hers.
Sidetracks - September 23, 2016
Sep. 23rd, 2016 11:03 pmhelloladies posting in ladybusinessSidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag.
( Read more... )
Link to a hair pic!
Sep. 23rd, 2016 10:34 pmumadoshiTo summarize what I said on Twitter while posting the pic there, Kas came over after work and took a bunch of pics of me (I'm hoping to use one as an actual up-to-date profile pic in places like Twitter and Facebook, where my profile pics are at least seven years old), but I don't have them yet, so I caved and took a selfie.
Voila!
(I'm kind of amazed that shot came out as well as it did--I think I've only ever taken about five selfies total, and the others were all pretty terrible.)
It doesn't at all show what my current haircut looks like, becausescruloose brought up a high-powered light and I was sort of fanning my hair out to show the colors off. ^_^ Left to its own devices, from the front it largely looks darker somehow (odd, since there's still a lot of my natural color) and shows some of the turquoise/bluer color; my stylist didn't go super-heavy on the purple(s) because once my hair's closer to bob-length she's planning to put in a purple base color with the other colors streaked around it.
But this is the interim plan, and I'm very happy with it.
ETA: You can't really see my natural color very well in that lighting, but as I was just saying elsewhere, it's a medium brown and getting the oil slick color didn't require any bleaching or anything. It'll be a while before I know just how well it holds up long-term, but my stylist says that the dye she used usually holds up fairly well (and of course recommended washing my hair as infrequently as possible, and the cooler the water, the better), and that after we've done it a few times the color should last even longer between touch-ups.
(She also suggested washing my hair in the sink instead of the shower, so I can get away with cooler water than I'd be up for if it were all over me. I may give it a try.)
I scheduled my next appointment for early November, so we'll see how it looks then!
Voila!
(I'm kind of amazed that shot came out as well as it did--I think I've only ever taken about five selfies total, and the others were all pretty terrible.)
It doesn't at all show what my current haircut looks like, because
scruloose brought up a high-powered light and I was sort of fanning my hair out to show the colors off. ^_^ Left to its own devices, from the front it largely looks darker somehow (odd, since there's still a lot of my natural color) and shows some of the turquoise/bluer color; my stylist didn't go super-heavy on the purple(s) because once my hair's closer to bob-length she's planning to put in a purple base color with the other colors streaked around it.But this is the interim plan, and I'm very happy with it.
ETA: You can't really see my natural color very well in that lighting, but as I was just saying elsewhere, it's a medium brown and getting the oil slick color didn't require any bleaching or anything. It'll be a while before I know just how well it holds up long-term, but my stylist says that the dye she used usually holds up fairly well (and of course recommended washing my hair as infrequently as possible, and the cooler the water, the better), and that after we've done it a few times the color should last even longer between touch-ups.
(She also suggested washing my hair in the sink instead of the shower, so I can get away with cooler water than I'd be up for if it were all over me. I may give it a try.)
I scheduled my next appointment for early November, so we'll see how it looks then!
Fic: Housewarming (G, Dance Academy, Abigail & Tara)
Sep. 23rd, 2016 09:03 pmst_aurafinaTitle: Housewarming
Fandom: Dance Academy
Rating: G
Words: 1300
Characters/Pairings: Abigail Armstrong & Tara Webster
Warnings/Content: None
Notes: Set post-series. Forfandomgiftbox 2016.
Summary: Abigail is new to domestic living
Also at the Archive
( It all started when Abigail set the oven on fire. )
Fandom: Dance Academy
Rating: G
Words: 1300
Characters/Pairings: Abigail Armstrong & Tara Webster
Warnings/Content: None
Notes: Set post-series. For
fandomgiftbox 2016. Summary: Abigail is new to domestic living
Also at the Archive
( It all started when Abigail set the oven on fire. )
Fanfic Recs and Other Links for 23-09-2016
Sep. 23rd, 2016 05:00 amhavocthecat- And All Through the Dungeon... - Muccamukk - DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV) [Archive of Our Own]
- It's the Christmas-themed kink dungeon Ray/Mick story with surprisingly little kink that I never knew I needed.
(tags: recs recs:slash recs:legendsoftomorrow )
Critical Role
Sep. 23rd, 2016 02:52 amsettiaiHoly fucking hell.
Did that just happen? I think that just happened.
(I'm so going to regret staying up until 3am when I have to get up for work in a few hours, but holy shit. I'm also so thankful that I picked this episode to watch until the end, all things considered.)
Nate, avoid Twitter and Tumblr like the plague or you're going to get so very spoiled.
Did that just happen? I think that just happened.
(I'm so going to regret staying up until 3am when I have to get up for work in a few hours, but holy shit. I'm also so thankful that I picked this episode to watch until the end, all things considered.)
Nate, avoid Twitter and Tumblr like the plague or you're going to get so very spoiled.
A true mishmash post: many items in (very) brief
Sep. 22nd, 2016 10:07 pmumadoshi--So many people voted in my poll! The results and comments are really interesting. *^^*
--Happy Equinox, whichever one it is wherever you are.
--Tomorrow, as long as nothing goes horribly wrong, is finally the day of putting oil slick streaks in my hair. I have no idea how it's going to look, in practice (other than "there will be purple and it'll be good"); good thing I trust my stylist so implicitly.
--We have chocolate cupcakes with orange icing because Kas loves us.
--"Icing" and "frosting" are one of those word pairs I should probably not use as interchangeably as I do. (Er. Meaning I should just pick one and use it consistently.)
--Allison Scagliotti turned 26 yesterday (which I know only from following her on Twitter) and (Hollywood's screwy casting habits, age-wise, notwithstanding) I'm vaguely sad because it means that, while she's probably still just about in a reasonable age range to play Georgia (who's 23 for most of Feed), TIME IS RUNNING OUT, PEOPLE. ("Vaguely" sad only because dreamcasting means nothing anyway. And I really, really want age-accurate actors, if at all possible. Big dreams, y'all.)
--Both cats have been quite snuggly/affectionate today, in their respective ways, and it's been good timing.
--So far this month I've read nine novels, which is rare these years, and I'm really happy about it.
--And that said, Casual Job resumes in three weeks. THREE WEEKS.
--Happy Equinox, whichever one it is wherever you are.
--Tomorrow, as long as nothing goes horribly wrong, is finally the day of putting oil slick streaks in my hair. I have no idea how it's going to look, in practice (other than "there will be purple and it'll be good"); good thing I trust my stylist so implicitly.
--We have chocolate cupcakes with orange icing because Kas loves us.
--"Icing" and "frosting" are one of those word pairs I should probably not use as interchangeably as I do. (Er. Meaning I should just pick one and use it consistently.)
--Allison Scagliotti turned 26 yesterday (which I know only from following her on Twitter) and (Hollywood's screwy casting habits, age-wise, notwithstanding) I'm vaguely sad because it means that, while she's probably still just about in a reasonable age range to play Georgia (who's 23 for most of Feed), TIME IS RUNNING OUT, PEOPLE. ("Vaguely" sad only because dreamcasting means nothing anyway. And I really, really want age-accurate actors, if at all possible. Big dreams, y'all.)
--Both cats have been quite snuggly/affectionate today, in their respective ways, and it's been good timing.
--So far this month I've read nine novels, which is rare these years, and I'm really happy about it.
--And that said, Casual Job resumes in three weeks. THREE WEEKS.
(no subject)
Sep. 22nd, 2016 11:54 pmaraliaswork is hard.
house is hard.
finally at least have found steroid cream (well, erin found it), so hopefully can fix hands. also - we have a shower. that's an improvement. but today i learned our sink was once fixed with duct tape... that has given out. so that will need to be fixed (admittedly the army of contractors are still here for more days, so there is a way out, but it's one more thing for their list - and a sign of home-owner woes to come) - and also that i was quite literally MAD to think that i would have more room in my new kitchen than i had in my old kitchen. we have no room! and so many mugs. three shelves worth of mugs. and there are three of us. each having to use upwards of 10 mugs a day...
i really like mugs, but really.
in good news, kevin was really happy when i gave him the three b7 scripts today. he said to me, 'do you ever think looking at these that you could be a script writer?'
'yes,' i said decisively, and then wondered whether i'd said that too quickly.
just realised the polite thing to say, instead of wittering on about how i did creative writing at uni, and how i'd like to write for big finish but less now there won't be any more blake audios, would have been - 'do you?' but i guess i didn't do that (i am terrible at giving back in a conversation - you;d think i would learn beftter but i haven't). i did offer to lend kevin my big finish, but he said he'd heard them. then i thought 'does he think i think they are all good?? many are bad!!!' but rather than saying this, i walked away - for my own sanity, and to protect kevin...
house is hard.
finally at least have found steroid cream (well, erin found it), so hopefully can fix hands. also - we have a shower. that's an improvement. but today i learned our sink was once fixed with duct tape... that has given out. so that will need to be fixed (admittedly the army of contractors are still here for more days, so there is a way out, but it's one more thing for their list - and a sign of home-owner woes to come) - and also that i was quite literally MAD to think that i would have more room in my new kitchen than i had in my old kitchen. we have no room! and so many mugs. three shelves worth of mugs. and there are three of us. each having to use upwards of 10 mugs a day...
i really like mugs, but really.
in good news, kevin was really happy when i gave him the three b7 scripts today. he said to me, 'do you ever think looking at these that you could be a script writer?'
'yes,' i said decisively, and then wondered whether i'd said that too quickly.
just realised the polite thing to say, instead of wittering on about how i did creative writing at uni, and how i'd like to write for big finish but less now there won't be any more blake audios, would have been - 'do you?' but i guess i didn't do that (i am terrible at giving back in a conversation - you;d think i would learn beftter but i haven't). i did offer to lend kevin my big finish, but he said he'd heard them. then i thought 'does he think i think they are all good?? many are bad!!!' but rather than saying this, i walked away - for my own sanity, and to protect kevin...
It seems like one of those nights
Sep. 22nd, 2016 10:20 pmdhampyresaOkay, I've been wanting to make that joke since forever and I keeping missing my chance, so here goes:
Get it? Because today's the twenty-second. (Possibly this is less funny if you don't have a cold.)
Fic I wrote forfandomgiftbox . Probably been done a million times before, but whatever. I hope I managed to make Leia's emotional arc clear, but eeeeeeeh idunno.
I have a cold and everything sucks. (I'm hoping that's why I've been feeling so down about my writing ability these past couple days.) Normal service will resume at some point, hopefully.
Get it? Because today's the twenty-second. (Possibly this is less funny if you don't have a cold.)
Cloak of Night (1988 words) by sevenofspade
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Leia Organa & Darth Vader
Characters: Leia Organa, Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary: After the second Death Star, Leia had an unexpected visitor.
Fic I wrote for
fandomgiftbox . Probably been done a million times before, but whatever. I hope I managed to make Leia's emotional arc clear, but eeeeeeeh idunno.I have a cold and everything sucks. (I'm hoping that's why I've been feeling so down about my writing ability these past couple days.) Normal service will resume at some point, hopefully.
Fitbit in the wild!
Sep. 22nd, 2016 04:03 pmselenayAs noted previously, I ordered a Fitbit Charge 2 (thank you, lovely work fitness credit) and it arrived on Tuesday. Which means I've now had a couple of days to play with it and assess it.
I have to say, it's a very nice, stylish item. The band I ordered it with is a nice shade of purple and feels very sturdy. It's a rubbery material that's sweat resistant, so great for everyday wear and working out. If I feel fancy, there's a leather strap I can order to make it look a bit posher for other times. The actual watch/tracker part is a nice size--not oversize on my wrist, but big enough to allow a fair bit of information to show up, and it looks rather less industrial than a lot of fitness tracker/smartwatches I've seen.
You can customise the readout on it, to do anything from showing a dial clock only to displaying time, date, steps, and heartbeat, and several combos in between. Tapping it allows you to view other stats, like floors climbed, calories burned, and how many times you've met a 250+ step minimum in the hours you track that. I rather like being able to see all that without whipping out my phone!
It's possible to set it to remind you to get off your ass and walk around a bit, if it gets to 10 minutes to the end of the hour and you haven't met your 250 minutes. Very handy, particularly if (like me) you're liable to get absorbed in a task for three hours and forget to move. It only does it for the hours you're tracking minimum steps (I have it set for 8 til 8) so you don't get reminded at night. I'm very impressed with the interface, I must say.
The Fitbit also gives me quick links to tracking certain types of exercise as I do them, and you can customise which exercises you have shortcuts for. When you're in an exercise mode, it will show you how long you've been exercising, calories burned, heartrate etc., which is all rather useful. It even tells you whether your heartrate is in a particular zones, which is incredibly helpful.
One of the reasons I wanted to get the Charge was for the heart rate data. I knew that, lately, the exercise I was doing wasn't working for me as well as it had been and I was pretty sure that being able to see my HR and know where I needed to push it to would help. I'm also a terrible nerd, so I was incredibly curious about my resting heart rate and those kinds of details.
(I like data. I like being able to see my stats improve over time. It motivates me to do more.)
I've done two exercise bike workouts since getting the Charge, and having that "Hey, I need to push my HR up to here, maybe some more resistance will do it" guide has already pushed me to work harder. Both times, I got my HR up into my target heart rate zone and it felt a lot more like I'd had a workout than when I was just pootling along maintaining the speed/resistance that I'd been using as my guide for the last six months.
It's interesting to me to see that my resting heart rate is lower than I expected and, overall, I seem to be fitter than I'd realised. I know that I've been doing the whole "getting fitter" thing for a couple of years, but I didn't have much data to show it was actually working.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the device, and I'm fascinated to see what new and cool data I'll be able to collect and get motivated by :-D Watch this space?
I have to say, it's a very nice, stylish item. The band I ordered it with is a nice shade of purple and feels very sturdy. It's a rubbery material that's sweat resistant, so great for everyday wear and working out. If I feel fancy, there's a leather strap I can order to make it look a bit posher for other times. The actual watch/tracker part is a nice size--not oversize on my wrist, but big enough to allow a fair bit of information to show up, and it looks rather less industrial than a lot of fitness tracker/smartwatches I've seen.
You can customise the readout on it, to do anything from showing a dial clock only to displaying time, date, steps, and heartbeat, and several combos in between. Tapping it allows you to view other stats, like floors climbed, calories burned, and how many times you've met a 250+ step minimum in the hours you track that. I rather like being able to see all that without whipping out my phone!
It's possible to set it to remind you to get off your ass and walk around a bit, if it gets to 10 minutes to the end of the hour and you haven't met your 250 minutes. Very handy, particularly if (like me) you're liable to get absorbed in a task for three hours and forget to move. It only does it for the hours you're tracking minimum steps (I have it set for 8 til 8) so you don't get reminded at night. I'm very impressed with the interface, I must say.
The Fitbit also gives me quick links to tracking certain types of exercise as I do them, and you can customise which exercises you have shortcuts for. When you're in an exercise mode, it will show you how long you've been exercising, calories burned, heartrate etc., which is all rather useful. It even tells you whether your heartrate is in a particular zones, which is incredibly helpful.
One of the reasons I wanted to get the Charge was for the heart rate data. I knew that, lately, the exercise I was doing wasn't working for me as well as it had been and I was pretty sure that being able to see my HR and know where I needed to push it to would help. I'm also a terrible nerd, so I was incredibly curious about my resting heart rate and those kinds of details.
(I like data. I like being able to see my stats improve over time. It motivates me to do more.)
I've done two exercise bike workouts since getting the Charge, and having that "Hey, I need to push my HR up to here, maybe some more resistance will do it" guide has already pushed me to work harder. Both times, I got my HR up into my target heart rate zone and it felt a lot more like I'd had a workout than when I was just pootling along maintaining the speed/resistance that I'd been using as my guide for the last six months.
It's interesting to me to see that my resting heart rate is lower than I expected and, overall, I seem to be fitter than I'd realised. I know that I've been doing the whole "getting fitter" thing for a couple of years, but I didn't have much data to show it was actually working.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the device, and I'm fascinated to see what new and cool data I'll be able to collect and get motivated by :-D Watch this space?
