* I know, I know, I suggested that I enjoy crazed last minute shopping. But I think I'm changing my mind. AARGH!!!!

* Saturday's party was an out-of-control rager. At one point we had 50 fookin folks inside the house - mainly the kitchen and dining area and omg. Crazy. The Viking had a HUGE bonfire out back and by one in the morning the bulk of the party consisted of single men staggering around the fire finishing the last of the beer. I no longer drink (waking up from drunken unconsciousness with an IV drip has that affect...) but being around ridiculously drunk people is always amusing. It was a great party and much amusement was supplied. The only weird thing was the required drunken girl kissing and naked fire dancing - I mean, that's obligatory, right? - but this was concerning because of two of the parties involved. The wife of our "contractor buddy" and the husband of D's best friend's sister....There is going to be blowback and fallout. Additionally, two drunken fools cornered me for an intense ten minute explanation of why I make a third man incredibly uncomfortable - it would appear that I'm, apparently, too beautiful for him to be in the same room with without acting the idiot, he is "overcome" by my presence. BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! And these young people today think folks over forty are boring.... ;)

* Yesterday was a total wash because of hangovers and torrential rain. It took me about...oh...three hours to clean up the empties, the mess, the disaster that was the kitchen. So, we then we laid on the sofa and watched Season 1 of The Office! Okay, flist, why has no one ever mentioned that this is the greatest funniest wittiest cleverest show ever written for the telly???????? I laughed so hard I could laugh no more. Carell is a comedic genius and the writing and subtle acting on this show is beyond astonishing. I've netflixed the rest of the five seasons and the original British series which looks to be equally unbelievably funny. I was charmed to the nth degree. Who else watches this show???

* I seriously seriously have so much Christmas shopping to do.

So today I write my beginners test for my liscence. So many jobs here require one now, that I might as well get the ball rolling, 9 months will pass in no time, and meanwhile I'm learning how to drive in the winter city roads. I'm not nervous...and my star chart says today is a good day to do tests. <3

After that it's on to my friend's house to pick up Lotus' head and hopefully with some visit time but I'm running on a transfer :( Tomorrow to pick up a camera to use for temporary. I have a feeling that I will be able to borrow this camera for awhile as my ex has WAY bettter recording equipment...I'm pretty sure this camera is just going to waste for him, so I am happy to be able to use it...believe me. And it's better than my last camera.

I'm very excited....I will be able to have my stories started again soon. I have lost a lot of my characters and things, but eventually they will all come back...and for now there can be excuses as to why they're gone. There may even be deaths....I wonder who will die? I -did- post pics of the dolls I have left, so it's up to you to guess who will remain alive :P

I'm not really sure who my Puki Mary will be...I'm sure she'll tell me when she gets here. I have a sort of Calvin and Hobbes feel for her though....

Thanks for the well wishes everyone, I feel better knowing that others are thinking of my family in this time right now...

My friend Eric is going to lend me a digital camera for awhile so I can start getting my dolly creativity back.

Last night is the first time in a long time that I wrote some of my novel. Not a lot, but a creative burst often spawns more creativity I find. Last night I wrote about Asmodeus, and I intend to finish it a bit more tomorrow after my chores.

And also....O_____________O

My fiance is buying me a Puki Mary for xmas!!!

* Am being asked if I would like a Kindle for Christmas - yep, Amazon can still guarantee holiday delivery for continental US buyers. I've got a day to consider....and I'm just not completely convinced. Would this cut drastically into my HUGE monthly amazon budget? Would it cut into my outrageous brick-and-mortar Barnes&Noble splurges? Would I actually stop buying books? Or would I try to replace the ten thousand books I have now digitally??? Am I going to use this? Or will I be using the touchscreen notebook more next year with the return to school - and that has Kindle for PC on it but no vertical rotation....talk to me, Kindle flisters!

* Thanks for all the support on my last post. Moving right ahead on that - I've been polishing a 15K angel fic and will share it with those who are interested before the end of the year! Goal! Also, armeleia and I are trying to move forward with the Idea of an online writers group. We want dedication and commitment - we want writers who are willing to read other writer's work and offer strong critique. We don't want to exclude reader-only folks, so there will be room for a small group of readers to join. Interested? Six to eight writers is probably the max. Four readers who are willing to beta and critique would be fantastic! And if there's someone who wants to join but also has the energy and time to devote to ring-leader - please raise your hand! Yes, writing is a solitary activity but I do think there's merit in a group process. Sharing and critiquing are valuable resources and moving away from the crack-fix of fanfic is vital but that can be done on slow withdrawal levels if a writers group acts as halfway house.

Interested writers:
zagzagael
armeleia
eveshka
thistle_verse
calalillith

Interested readers:

* Hosting a huge party this afternoon. House is sparkling and festive. Looking forward to it!

I've been doing a decent amount of writing and an outrageous amount of reading since the beginning of October. I've been reading fanfic daily and it's been better than good, it's really been great. I think reading so many gritty, romantic, yearning, epic love stories has certainly oiled my brain gears. And I'm grateful for that. The SPN fandom is one of the most talented and prolific 'Verses I've been involved in and has been a very worthwhile venture these past few months. And now, I'm finished with it. I'll still peek back in from time to time to get my wincest fix or to get my heart jarred and my mind blown....but I've read hundreds of fics now and got what I needed from it. Didn't even really know I was "in need" but there you go. Likewise, I've written tens of thousands of words for the fandom and that's been liberating in ways that I haven't even begun to fully explore yet and again, at this point, I think I'm finished with that, too. I see myself revisiting themes and lines and emotions and I'm pretty sure I've taken them as far as I can. The best part of this is that I've been writing Original. Writing fanfic this time around has somehow helped me push word limits and find a comfortable 2000 word range for myself that I haven't quite been able to reach before. Fanfic has also helped me "finish" and that's something that is heading the top of my Writing Resolutions for 2010 list. I'm at the halfway point in Life and it's long been time to move out of the Beginner's Energy and into a Completist Phase. I'm ready. And that, dear flist, is the biggest lesson in all of this - moving from one place to another and learning how to occupy that new place with confidence and aplomb.

I've been searching through several year's worth of Original word docs and it's been both heartening and discouraging. I cannot believe how many Originals have been started and abandoned....and my Skull Theatre is getting Artaud-like because all those characters are still strutting and fretting. The Angel story, the Satyr pieces, the reverse May-December, Jack and Jokul Frost, Alice and Hatter, the Woodcutter's Daughter, and this year's conjoined short stories. It's a lot of writing, a lot of stories, a lot of characters and arcs and scenes. And it's time to return to them and figure out which ones can be finished, completed. And then - well, then it's time to take some serious steps towards goals and dreams and I'm thinking I'll start with contests and anthologies. (It's very difficult to write this aloud but I do believe we need to speak our Dreams out to the Universe and be held accountable.)

And that's what I'll be doing in 2010.

No more fanfiction, very little dolls and photography, and minimal community volunteerism.

You know the rule-of-thumb that says you can only have five things going at once? Hold up your hand and begin counting from your thumb to your little finger. You've got to count yourself first, so that's your thumb. Then your family. Job. Then those things that individualize you. Get to chitting off around four or five fingers and you're filled up and that's about as good as you're going to be able to be. Go over five and life becomes very thin and very tense. So, I've got room for a few "me" things and those things are:  writing and American Sign Language.

I'm committed entirely to Deaf Studies and returning to school is going to take up a fair amount of time. And I'm committed to writing and polishing and finishing and that's going to take up pretty much the rest of my free time. I'm not abandoning dolls, fanfiction and the community entirely, but I am cutting back to the bone on those things.

So, changes to come. And I'm calmly excited about those changes. I'm hoping some of the flist will join me in massaging their own writing goals, I'm thinking specifically of a small handful of you who are writers and who are writers looking for motivations of their own. Wish we could make the fantasy of an online writing group a reality, but that requires more energy than we've currently devoted to it. Perhaps that's something we could make happen soon?

Whoa. I just caught "The Dancer Upstairs" and I'm floored with an overwhelming feeling of saudade. What an astonishing romantic lead Bardem is! Any Javier recs????

Title:  I Will Follow You If You Let Me Lead 4/4
1/4 HERE    2/4 HERE  3/4 HERE
Characters:  Dean/Sam, OFC
Rating:  NC-17
Wordcount:  3000
Disclaimer:  Only playing with what Kripke has shared. No profit, no ownership.
Summary:  S1. I love the wide-open possibilities of S1 - S3. So, in keeping with simpler times, here's a How It Might Happen Fic. Sam/Dean and a librarian investigate a ghost who is killing for love.
Author Notes:  A fun if somewhat disjointed fic outing for me - thanks for those who are reading! Totally appreciate that. Slainthe!

( I Will Follow You If You Let Me Lead 4/4 )

I havent posted on here in ages, just been so busy lately
So here are a few pics I'm managed to take and what I've been up to



( More... )( Read more... )

Yes, yes, me, too....seriously in need of one of them portable defibrillators. WOWZA!!! Viggo....Viggo.....Sean.....crawls.....I hesitate to even mention the places my mind takes me whenever I see....images of Viggo....and it's nearly Solstice, so I'm committed to using my sparkly tree....or believe me, we'd have Mortenson iconage.

* Got that lovely lovely gem from this astonishing post! Check it out.

* And a huge warm sloppy hug to all the flisters who sent me cookies! My favourite colour scheme and I am considering them snowflakes! *smooches* Even if rumour has it that it was flinging cookies around that broke lj yesterday. Heh.

* A story leapt out of my fingerbones yesterday and I'm sad it's not getting more reads....ah, well. And I'm nearly ready to post the last of my longish fic and then it's back to the anvil where the Original is still hot hot hot. Yay to writing!

* ASL last night. AmerSan!!! I love signed language!

* Still freezing cold here. The pipes keep freezing and I have to keep running hot water over them and it's a total drag. Another thing to add to the "honey-dew" list and the honey is not happy. Entropy always increases.....and life is a constant battle against the erosion, innit a bitch?

* Finished S2 of Sons of Anarchy and I hope to gods they haven't jumped the shark with that finale. Shite.

* Left me most favourite favourite velvet black maryjane pumps on the floor yesterday and the Little Dog ate them up.

* I'm so busy with minutiae that I might just have to stab my own eyeballs out. I hate petty crap. Hate it.

Title:  Kings of Bohemia
Characters:  Sam/Dean
Wordcount:  1200
Disclaimer:  If only they were mine....just playing liberally with what Kripke has generously shared.
Spoilers/Summary:  Serious spoilage through 5.10. Dean needs to be comforted.

'And there is no peace
No true release
No secret place to crawl
And there is no rest
For the ones God blessed
And he blessed you best of all' ~ R. Thompson

( Kings of Bohemia )