Nym's LJ

Quilt squee

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:04:36 GMT

I'm so pleased with the progress of this rag quilt that I'm going to crosslink from here to my Dreamwidth blog, gosh darnit.

My new Best Spam Ever

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:11:46 GMT

Every now and then I get a new Best Ever spam/scam message in my inbox. They're usually penis-size-related, but this one's not.

Anti-Terrorist and Monitory Crimes Division.

Federal Bureau Of Investigation.

J. Edgar. Hoover Building, Washington D.C

Telephone Number : ( 202 )-324-3001

ATTN: BENEFICIARY

This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly completed an Investigated with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you are having an illegal transaction with Impostors claiming to be Prof. Charles C. Soludo of the Central Bank Of Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Aziza, Mr Frank Nweke,Sanusi Bello none officials of Oceanic Bank, none officials of Zenith Bank and some impostors claiming to be the Federal Bureau Of Investigation agents. During our Investigation, it came to our notice that the reason why you have not received your payment is because you have not fulfilled your Financial Obligation given to you in respect of your Contract/Inheritance Payment.

So therefore, we have contacted the Federal Ministry Of Finance on your behalf and they have brought a solution to your problem by coordinating your payment in the total amount of $800,000.00 USD which will be deposited into an ATM CARD which you will use to withdraw funds anywhere of the world. You now have the lawful right to claim your funds which have been deposited into the ATM CARD.

Since the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been involved in this transaction, you are now to be rest assured that this transaction is legitimate and completely risk-free as it is our duty to Protect and Serve citizens of the United States Of America. All you have to do is immediately contact the ATM CARD CENTER via E-mail for instructions on how to procure your Approval Slip which contains details on how to receive and activate your ATM CARD for immediate use to withdraw funds being paid to you. We have confirmed that the amount required to procure the Approval Slip will cost you a total of $200 USD which will be paid directly to the ATM CARD CENTER agent via Western Union Money Transfer / MoneyGram Money Transfer. Below, you shall find contact details of the Agent whom will process your transaction:

CONTACT INFORMATION

NAME: MR. PAUL SMITH

EMAIL : paulsmith1@gala.net

Immediately contact Mr. Paul Smith of the ATM Card Centre with the following information:

Full Name:

Address:

City:

State:

Zip Code:

Direct Phone Number:

Current Occupation:

Annual Income:

Once you have sent the required information to Mr. Paul Smith he will contact you with instructions on how to make the payment of $200 USD for the Approval Slip after which he will proceed towards delivery of the ATM CARD without any further delay. You have hereby been authorized/guaranteed by the Federal Bureau Of Investigation to commence towards completing this transaction, as there shall be NO delay once payment for the Approval Slip has been made to the authorized agent.

Once you have completed payment of $200 to the agent in charge of this transaction, immediately contact me back so as to ensure your ATM CARD gets to you rapidly.

FBI Director

Boys

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:02:37 GMT

I seem to be completely paralysed by the intensity with which Sheppard and McKay love each other in my ongoing story In the Blood. They scare me, and I've been stuck on re-re-re-re-rewriting chapter 5 for months. It's not right yet, and I don't know what will make it right - only that I'll know it when it see it. The 'action', such as it is, doesn't start till chapter 7, but I can't get on and post that (or finish the story!) until I've got the emotional groundwork right in chapter 5, which plays out in my head every time I stop concentrating on not letting it.

My brain's stuck in a chapter 5 groove and can't get out.

It really worries me that this is the most 'normal' and emotionally stable couple I've ever written smoochy fanfic about. I mean. Sheppard. And McKay.

SGU and SJS

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:38:52 GMT

I've been watching the new Stargate Universe and Sarah Jane Smith. Also halfheartedly following Flashforward and The Mentalist, and being tickled silly by occasional glimpses of the Murdoch Mysteries, in which the lovely and loveable Yannick Bisson is even prettier than usual. And mannered. And Roman Catholic. And a science nerd. *swoon*

For me, this is a lot of TV.

I'm enjoying Universe well enough, but it isn't "Stargate". Not yet. When they stop trying to be the new-new-Battlestar Galactica and find their feet, and get to show-not-tell with the characters past the intro stage, I hope they'll find room for the parts of the franchise that I love so much. It seems to have had plenty of thought and care and attention, and if they can sustain that it'll be great. I can't help thinking that either Sam or McKay would've had them sorted out by now, though ;)

As for Sarah Jane, I skipped the second series because I was so fond of Maria and her chemistry with Sarah Jane that I didn't want to get to know and like a new girly-across-the-road. Caught up with the current series so far, yesterday, and have only one thing to say: (but LJ won't let me post a cut tag for spoilers today so I've cut it till I figure it out, but is mostly Liz Sladen gorgeousness squee anyhow, which hardly needs spoiler tagging).

ETA: Also finally braved watching Doctor Who's The Unicorn and the Wasp, which I wimped out of last series because... wasp. WASP! I ain't afeared of spiders, snakes, bats, rats, cats, rhinos, maggots or anything else DW's ever thrown at me, but wasps... WAAAASPS! Forget hiding behind any sofas. When this baby first aired, I went and hid UPSTAIRS.

It was horribly, horribly waspy and I had to shut my eyes and cover my ears a lot.

Fixed my dreadful Doctor withdrawal, though.

Nose in a book

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:58:21 GMT

As previously mentioned (screamed, wailed, bitched) I don't like reading actual books. Not fiction ones, anyway. I'll spend hours over a knitting book or a cookery book, but when it comes to extended passages of text that my brain is expected to string together, I get befuddled by the brick in my hands, especially if it's a hardback brick. So, audio is my thing, strictly unabridged.

I do make exceptions, though, especially when I can find them in large print. Earlier this year, I got it into my head to complete my reading of the Sherlock Holmes stories by actually sitting down with The Hound of the Baskervilles. It's been so often adapted and lampooned and drilled into my English consciousness via the back door that I never actually bought a copy, or read it when I devoured the rest of the Holmes canon years ago. I failed wretchedly at following it in dead-tree form, so I let Sir Derek Jacobi read it to me in bed. WHAT A BRILLIANT NOVEL! I'm so sorry that I let myself not get around to it all these years. No TV or movie adaptation has ever done it justice - in fact, they've done it the gross injustice of rendering me disinterested in reading the book. The pacing, the mystery, the flourishes of characterisation, the atmosphere... Wow.

So, this set me off on a Sherlock Holmes kick, naturally. Mostly in audio form, but having refreshed my mind on the canon I finally braved my first ever pastiches - June Thomson's Secret (whatevers) of Sherlock Holmes books. In large print form, at least, the 'annotations' are a mind numbingly painful distraction from the actual stories, which are super fun. So, I've popped my Holmes pastiche cherry at last, and might actually get around to reading some of the ones I've collected over the years, only to stick in a box marked 'one day...'

While winkling the large print Thomsons out of my local library reservation system, I came across a book I've always wanted to read - Bending the Willow by David Stuart Davies. The used-book price for this tribute to Jeremy Brett and his work on the Granada TV Holmes is obscene, so I grabbed the library copy with both hands when I stumbled across it. It's... what I expected, perhaps a bit more sentimental and angry on the part of the author than I expected. Made me laugh and cry. And hold it very carefully because god, imagine the replacement value library fine if I got snot on it.

Audio Frenzy and Voicegasm (multiple)

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:49:13 GMT

Insomnia has left me listening to a lot of audiobooks and plays, recently. I used a couple of E-music.com audiobook credits to download Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: v. 1 read by Edward Hardwicke. I was tempted by those when they were out on cassette, but had a cassette-eating hi-fi at the time. If that fella read out the telephone book, there's at least a 50% chance I'd buy it and listen - I'm such a whore for a good voice-artist - but there's a special delight in listening to him as Watson. He's Watson to me in the same way that Peter Davison is the Doctor, you know? [ETA: That probably pins down my age a bit too accurately, don't it?]

Then I got caught up with Big Finish's Sixth Doctor and Charley stories. I wasn't expecting them to have so much chemistry so *fast*, so it's delightful stuff and I'm glad they've extended the storyline further than they first planned. Not sure I want to see it dragged out too far, though, or the Doctor's just going to kill her when it hits the fan. Colin Baker has brought out so many facets of the Sixth Doctor in his time with BF - different with each companion. Even when I'm impatient with the marketing and business side of BF (that'd be pretty much all the time since after Scherzo, what with one thing and another), I love them for the scope they give the actors.

I've been stockpiling their Stargate audios for a rainy day. Haven't listened to the Vala one because she's so pivotal to the story I'm writing that I'm worried it'll throw me, or send me off on a new Vala-centric plotbunny when I should be sorting out the woes of Sheppard and McKay. And I'm looking forward to the Lorne audio so much that I grin stupidly every time he shows his face on Sky2 repeats.

I have another emergency audio stockpile in the form of Michael Jayston reading P D James' Dalgliesh novels, and then... and then... and then when I'm ready for dessert there's the distant promise of newer (and older) Dresden Files read by James Marsters. If Hardwicke is 'my' Watson and Davison is 'my' Doctor, Marsters will, equally, always be Harry Dresden to me. Haven't been able to afford to import the newer releases, yet, let alone got my brain around the funky purchasing system as it pertains to my current payment options, and have been reduced to reading actual paper novels to keep up with Harry.

Ditto Pratchett. If somebody doesn't offer to pre-sell me the audio recording of Unseen Academicals very shortly, I'm going to have to pre-order the hardback.

This Will Not Do. Fiction books are supposed to talk to me. Preferably in a male voice that puts me in mind of a chocolate orgasm.

Braaaaains! And Torchwood, but not spoilery, just generalising.

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:24:21 GMT

So, my parental unit has got me addicted to Lumosity and its brain-training games. Which are much like slow water torture to somebody with CFS and its accompanying medication putting a timelag on the thought processes, let me tell you. I'm particularly keen on ~~the ones I'm good at~~ "Birdwatching" and "Word Bubbles".

I think I was the last person in the world to see Torchwood all this week, watching it at least a day behind on BBC iPlayer cuz it was on past my bedtime, long after my poor brain has given up for the night. I've enjoyed it as a drama; it was gripping TV and that's more than I can say for most of the BBC's current output, drama or otherwise. As a "fan of Torchwood, Captain Jack and all Doctor Who-related shinies", with all the added emotional investment and minority anorakness and nitpickery that gives me, I'm scratching my head and going WTF?, as I have been since series 1. I just can't get my head around what they're trying to do/create/be/say, who the heck their target audience was then/is now, and how it all relates to the rest of the franchise. If at all. If they even know themselves. That said, I hope they keep trying.

Sort of back in the land of the fannish

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:11:09 GMT

A few months ago I started an Open University maths course to see if I could conquer the basics of a subject that's made me miserable and held me back since my schooldays. I've always suspected that I failed to grasp how maths was taught at the time, rather than being incapable of grasping the concepts involved, and it turns out I was pretty much right. I can do this stuff! And indeed, I have. I've just submitted my final marked assignment and there's nothing left to do except a bit of personal review and 'where do I go from here?' work.

I wasn't expecting it to eat up so much of my online/fan time! It's been very rewarding, though, and it's the only 'break' I've ever taken from fannish pursuits that didn't leave me bored out of my mind.

Another Real Life situation that was already eating up a lot of my fannish energy before that has resolved itself, not for the best but definitely for good, so I'm hoping to get back to Stargate Atlantis and maybe some Doctor Who/Torchwood ficcing very shortly.

It'll probably be longer before I get back into the habit of reading Livejournal, though. I never was very good at keeping up with that!

I have a Dreamwidth account, and I'm thinking of using it to blog about creative things other than/as well as fandom, but since keeping up with LJ defeats me, I'm not reading there at all and don't plan to start at the moment. (Mostly, I just wanted to grab Nym before anyone else could, and give them a bit of startup money.)

Writing meme stoled from luthien

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:14:40 GMT

A writing meme!

What's the last thing you wrote?

The last thing I wrote was a chunk of my current WIP. The last thing I completed was a short "Stargate Atlantis" fanfic called "Clear Daylight.

Was it any good?

I liked it.

What's the first thing you ever wrote that you still have?

There's a lot of my old school stuff in the airing cupboard. Lots of fiction in there. I don't know how much of my very early fan fiction still survives. The earliest thing I've come across lately is "Beauty and the Beast", "Doctor Who" and "Star Trek" in an exercise book that dates to around 1988.

Was it any good?

For a beginner with zero life experience, it's not too bad. It's still painful to look at with older and better educated eyes.

Write poetry?

Not really. Only as required to get through school, and a couple since. One fannish, one not.

Angsty poetry?

Nah. Illustrative and a bit snarky/tongue in cheek. Even when I was six.

Favourite genre of writing?

Hurt/comfort fanfic, I s'pose...

Most fun character you ever wrote?

Character who's the most canon fun: the Doctor of "Doctor Who".
Character I've had the most fun writing about: Severus Snape of the "Harry Potter" books.

Most annoying character you ever wrote?

That's a hard one. I enjoy writing characters who frustrate and annoy me in canon - they're the ones I have the questions about and want to explore (as opposed to writing because I fancy them, like them as individuals or because I really identify with them). If writing about a character became too annoying/unenjoyable, I'd probably just stop.

I wrote Mel from "Doctor Who" in "Beautiful Stranger", and enjoyed it a lot. She seems to annoy everybody, but the Big Finish audios have rescued the poor woman from being the screaming cardboard-cutout-companion of the 80's. I first heard the 'new' Mel in the "Doctor Who Unbound" audio "He Jests at Scars", and was just blown away.

Best plot you ever wrote?

All my stories have a pretty loose definition of 'plot', which I tend to regard as a framework for allowing the characters to gaze deep into their own navels. I like the plot of my current WIP a lot - if I can pull it off, I think it'll qualify as my best.

Coolest plot twist you ever wrote?

The little one in "Brandy and Ashes" (Doctor Who/Torchwood). It's simple and not structured so that it comes as a shocker, but I think it's a gut-punch anyway. I love time travel/grandfather paradox/self-fulfilling-screwedness as a plot device.

How often do you get writer's block?

I get big spells where I can't write, these days, but I don't think it's writer's block. I get stuck in a more writer's blocky way when I need to write - or, more often, revise and rewrite - something that daunts me, or when I've mucked something up further back in the story and haven't noticed it on a conscious level, yet.

How do you fix it?

Wait for it to pass, or look back over what I've already completed to see if there's something there that's subconsciously holding me back or ringing alarm bells about an unseen obstacle ahead.

Write fan fiction?

Nothing but :)

Do you type or write by hand?

Both, but at the moment almost all typed. I prefer to write longhand then type it up and edit/revise at that point, but I don't have the luxury of that much writing time, now.

Do you save everything you write?

Not any more. I did, until a series of moves and inaccessible old-WP-format discs broke the chain. Now I don't bother. I save everything I complete, and sometimes bits I edit out but might be able to reuse. And a WIP never dies. I've got one or two WIPs on here from over 12 years ago.

Do you ever go back to an old idea long after you abandoned it?

Oh yes. It usually involves going back to an old fandom, which is always fun.

What's your favourite thing that you've written?

Today it'd be a toss-up between the aforementioned SGA fic "Clear Daylight" and DW/TW fic "Brandy and Ashes". Ask me another day, get a different answer!

What's everyone else's favourite thing that you've written?

"Shattered" in the "Harry Potter" fandom, I should think. (And I never even finished it properly!)

Do you even show people your work?

Not always. Sometimes I just write for myself, especially in a fandom where my ideas are too unformed or generic to bother turning into real fic, or where the subject matter is too challenging for my mood at the time.

Who's your favourite constructive critic?

I'm ashamed to say that I can't remember the names of the fen who gave me the most help in this department, pre-internet when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, or in my first couple of internet fandoms. Con-crit was a labour of love when it involved posting bricks of paper - even handwritten - back and forth in the process. Not much easier on early pay-per-minute dial-up.

Anybody who says anything helpful to me about a story is instantly adored, but Luthien's done way more than her fair share of finding my sillies and smoothing out my bumps over the years.

Do you have a web site for your writings?

For my most recent fandoms.

How many writing projects are you working on right now?

Actively, just one - the Stargate Atlantis WIP "In the Blood", which I've been writing for the best part of a year, now. Every now and then I pull out "Drive" ("Petshop of Horrors" manga) and do a bit of the revision work that it needs to escape WIP status.

Do you want to write for a living?

Absolutely not.

Have you ever written something for a magazine or newspaper?

Yes. I've even been paid once or twice, and once invited on the strength of my reputation. (They... er... didn't say WHAT reputation, exactly.)

Have you ever won an award for your writing?

Yes, I won a local writing competition when I was 18, and was invited to become a member of the judging panel a couple of years later. I was only able to do that once, but it was such a thrill to read *all* the entries in a competiton, instead of just the ones that passed the final cut.

Ever written something in script or play format?

Yes. I co-wrote a play at college. Also, script format was a part of my writing process for quite a while - to just let the characters 'talk' on the page, getting to know them. I do it in my head, now. I'm less paranoid than I used to be about keeping hold of a character's 'voice'. Usually, for me, when that slips away my time in a fandom is over. I'm not as scared of that as I used to be.

What are your five favourite words?

I don't have any! It's when they're put together to make a rhythm or create an emotional effect that I love them. I'm deeply indifferent to individual words.

Do you ever parody?

No. Too busy with the straight fic.

What's your favorite thing to parody?

If I did, it'd be fanon, I suspect. Or a really well known book/movie/TV show, perhaps. Or some of my own repetitive themes and writing crutches.

Do you actually like that thing, or are you spitefully making fun of it?

I'd have to have a lot of affection for a thing to try a parody, because I'd need a lot of familiarity with it and I frankly have the attention span and tolerance of a housefly when it comes to fiction, fan fiction and fandom. I'd probably find room while parodying fanon to have a little poke at the segments of fandom who treat their internal fanon like holy writ, though. That sort of parody would be incomplete without that element of self-consciousness about how darned silly fandom can be, and how blind we 'insiders' can get to the way we're viewed by 'outsiders'. Spite? Hmm, not intentionally. Probably a bit too much self-satisfaction.

Do you ever write based on yourself?

Characters and situations, no. Ideas... yes, in a way. I quite often explore general ideas that bother or interest me through my fanfic, using the characters as a sort of devil's advocate.

What character that you've written most resembles yourself?

Hmm. *G* I think I don't focus on the characters who remind me of me, but I've written a small amount about Hermione ("Harry Potter") and recognised the younger-me there. Tegan ("Doctor Who") is a bit like me, but the one time I wrote about her, it was part of a challenge that called for her to do something that I feel is 'out of character' for her. And would be for me. I had to reinvent my concept of her to allow for it. So I'm not sure it counts!

Where do you get ideas for your other characters?

I very rarely write about original characters. If a story absolutely demands one, or more than a cameo for a very minor canon character, I start with the shape of the dialogue they need to have with the canon characters, find a tone of voice from that, mannerisms to go with it, then let them evolve outwards as far as needed. Which usually isn't far. Really, really not into writing OC's.

Do you ever write based on your dreams?

No, but sometimes I wish I could. I've had some stunningly plotty ones over the years - ones that almost made sense in the morning. Mostly "Doctor Who", in one form or another. If I ever hatch an original novel or short story, I wouldn't be surprised if parts of it came from one of "those" dreams.

Do you favour happy endings, sad endings, or cliffhangers?

I like bittersweet endings that combine closure for the characters with a sense of their story yet to come.

Have you ever written based on an artwork you've seen?

No. "Shattered" owed quite a bit to my "Harry Potter" themed Sims, though, and some of those were brilliant 'fan art' in their own right. Does that count?

Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?

Not obsessively - I trust myself to clean up typos later, if there's something I really need to get down in a hurry. If I notice a problem, I'll fix it on the fly, but I'm not constantly stopping to hunt mistakes when I'm in the mood to move forwards.

Does music help you write?

No. I have trouble concentrating around any kind of noise.

Are people surprised and confused when they find out you write well?

No. "Literate" or "articulate" would be one of the first things they'd say if asked to say something nice about me. They might not go intuitively for "and creative", though. People who know me personally might expect me to be strictly non-fiction.

Quote something you've written. The first thing that pops into your mind.

One day soon, it's going to be too late to say anything. She won't run fast enough or be good enough, and she's afraid to die. She can feel death there in her dreams, blood and venom turning her sleep to a nightmare world, so she sleeps less and less. Finding more places to wander she finds, slowly, that the Doctor stops finding her there. She can find her own way back now that she sees some of the subtle things that distinguish one corridor from another. A tiny crack in a roundel or a scuff on the floor. Strange, random ornaments, smells, feelings in her bones. She decides that the Doctor maps the world with way more than five senses, and things here begin to make sense to her.

When Tegan says as much, Nyssa only smiles. She knows about the dreams and says nothing, listens to everything. Does she know what goes on in the between times, after the squabbles and before the danger starts again? Tegan can never tell and doesn't really want to know. For all she knows, Nyssa has her own way of connecting with the Doctor. For all she knows, those times they're cloistered in the library or walking together in the stately gardens, they're not doing that at all. She doubts it. Nyssa is just a girl, after all. Nyssa is...

Nyssa is an alien too. Tegan notices it one day, out of nowhere and a soft surprise, like finding forgotten coins in her coat pocket or a new freckle on her arm. She gets the feeling that what makes Nyssa alien can all be learned, that they'd be more or less identical if you cut them open, but she isn't sure. Sometimes she feels alone just standing between the two of them. Nyssa and the Doctor, aliens speaking an alien language.

A rec

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:31:15 GMT

Luthien's posted her new Stargate Atlantis slashy ficlet Hot August Night, in which Sheppard and McKay are hot, and deft characterisation is a thing of beauty. HERE.

Is it seasonal, or what?

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:42:27 GMT

I've just had my apparently-annual Jack/Doctor Doctor Who/Torchwood short-fic plotbunny. It'd involve me watching the end of series 3 again to get the details right and I'm too much of a wimp. But at least I've been able to watch it more than just the once, unlike series 4 of new DW, or series 2 of Torchwood.

*tosses bunny on the heap and tries to write Stargate Atlantis smut with Captain Jack leering and Ten offering helpful notes*

ETA: Also a Tenth-Doctor-meets-Granny-Weatherwax bunny. Am terrified now.

Lots of 2009 so far, very little sleep

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 21:03:03 GMT

Just had to note that I greatly enjoyed ITV's new "Demons" - after the cringemakingly compelling "Primeval" from their side and "Bonekickers" from Aunty Beeb (and "Torchwood" too, at times), I approach new fantasy with my eyes half shut. "Demons" is more my cup of tea though. Fun, not trying to take itself seriously but not disrespecting the material or insulting the intelligence of the audience either. Nice one. Something to amuse me while I wait for the series of "Being Human". Borrowing much from "Buffy", and possibly quite a lot from "Men in Black". Especially the splatty bits.

The "Doctor Who" casting news... heh. Didn't see that coming, and never wanted to be older than the actor playing the Doctor (being similarly-aged with Tennant is bad enough) but I suppose it had to happen eventually. Good luck to him.

And as for Terry Pratchett getting a knighthood, I grinned all day then celebrated by breaking out the CDs of "Going Postal" and "Making Money". I love listening to Discworld novels in bed, even if I sometimes have to hide my head under the pillow while I honk with laughter. (The bit in "Wintersmith" with the kitten and the chickens gets me every time.)

Real Life continues to be a pig (it was supposed to stop doing that when 2008 ended!) but I'm getting plenty of writing done in between. Chapter 5 of "In the Blood" is turning out especially smutty in the rewrite, when it was quite tame and angsty on the first go, so that's fun. I love middle-aged twue-luv.

WIP update - "In the Blood" (SGA, McKay/Sheppard, adult rating)

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 16:41:16 GMT

I've once more updated my Stargate Atlantis slash work-in-progress In the Blood with Chapter 4.

The menu post with details of the fic and links to all the chapters as they're posted is here.

Sky, Virgin, Stargate and shiny new toys

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:30:01 GMT

Sky2 (we got Sky back on Virgin Media last month after they quietly and sheepishly buried the hatchet and stopped wanking) managed to show Stargate Atlantis' S4 ep Quarantine and S5 ep Brain Storm back to back last night. Right after SG1's pilot. Gotta love how that would've played to the casual first time viewer.

With Real Life continuing to bite, suck and blow around here, we needed a cheer-up and got an Acer Aspire One mini-laptop/netbook. Brilliant little gizmo, feels more solid and sturdy than the Asus Eee's I've handled and has a sensible sized keyboard with almost laptop-sized keys. It's got a gig of RAM and 120 gig hard drive. I fancied the 8 gigabyte solid state disk option - heh, remember the Psion 3/Psion Sienna palmtops and their solid state memory?? - but decided I wanted to play large media files on here and went for quantity over quality, so to speak. I love the idea of solid state memory - a computer that you really can snap shut and shove in your pocket while you run for the bus. Next time, when the capacity's up and the price is down.

For my money (2.5%'s worth of VAT more than it'd cost today, grr) this machine with this Linpus Linux operating system is the most intuitive, most genuinely out-of-the-box ready-to-use computer I've ever used. Acer have it set up ready to browse, email, chat, view feeds, use OpenOffice suite, play vids (mostly - installing VLC was the first tweak I did), work with photos and music. It's based around Firefox but it's easy to install Opera or another browser if needed.

You don't need to know how to use Linux to use this thing, but the full interface is there behind the curtain if it's ever wanted. So far, I've only needed to open a terminal to install VLC, and instructions were easy to find online when a one-off external library issue complicated that a bit. Now I'm carrying avis of good telly around with me to watch whenever I like (which I could do on my PDA too, but only as much as a compatible SD card would hold.) The inbuilt speaker is absolute pants but with earphones plugged in, the sound's really decent.

I've carried my online/fannish life around on my HP Ipaq PDA for a good while now - stories, music, vids, wifi, ebooks and music - but it took a long time to get it working to suit me, and I lose it all every time the undeletable queued reminders build up and crash the sodding thing (about once a year, with several reminders a day). This little thing was indispensable within a day, without any fiddly synchronisation or software.

I put off thinking about a netbook because of the unimpressive battery life - this one can just about squeeze out 2.5 hours if it doesn't need the fan much and isn't using the wifi. I may yet get a higher capacity battery, but so far I haven't left the house with it and have been able to plug in to the mains whenever I need to.

I'm willing to bet that upgrading Firefox is a bit of a bitch on here - it's highly integrated, the way Internet Explorer is on Windows but until a security issue comes up, I'm going to bury my head in the sand on that one.

Power-wise, this thing is about as good as any basic/entry level laptop and I'm sure the XP version would work fine. Probably the better option if iTunes plays a major role in your life, for example. Definitely for serious gaming. For myself, I'm in love with the little lightweight Linux.

WIP update - "In the Blood" (SGA, McKay/Sheppard, adult rating)

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:15:28 GMT

I've (finally!) updated my Stargate Atlantis slash work-in-progress In the Blood with Chapter 3.

The menu post with details of the fic and links to all the chapters is back here.

Writing day

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:26:30 GMT

I'm officially declaring today a Nym's Going To Be Writing Day. Take that, Real Life. Hah.

Weak at the knees

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:32:11 GMT

After a couple of days in which I've risen to the occasion an Coped Magnificently with a difficult situation concerning an elderly relative, and been more active than I can usually manage in the process, I've gone to pieces over a silly conflict with an Ebay seller. And it's not even a conflict where there's unpleasantness, unlike the total whacked out nutjob of a seller that a chum of mine recently encountered there.

I. Can't. Handle. Internet. Wank. It makes me miserable and nauseous. Even in tiny, insignificant amounts like this. The only other thing in life that makes me feel that way is making phone calls. I can just about handle calling close friends, can work myself up to calling to make appointments if there's no other option (such as walking miles to do it in person) and have no problem calling my mother, thank goodness, but anything else? I'm a wreck for at least half a day afterwards, even if it goes well.

I think I may have a phobia of communications technology. Which is a real serious drawback in an incurable Internet addict, now that I come to think of it.

Darn.

WIP: [SGA] In the Blood - updated

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 11:06:27 GMT

I've just updated the copy of my WIP "In the Blood" with chapter 2. The menu post for the WIP is here along with warnings and details and stuff.

Toy

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:42:29 GMT

I just found out by accident that MS Word can 'merge' the changes from one copy of a document into another copy. And do it right. With clear markup so I can see where I've been on a different computer. Assuming I can easily remove the markup when I want to, this could be a Cool New Toy and help keep me from my usual tears of confusion while trying to edit big lumps of text.

The truth is that I still use Word because it lets me search and replace paragraph markers etc. easily when I want to turn a story into HTML, and that's quicker than hand-coding them. I tend to treat it as the enemy, cripple as many of its automatic 'help' features as possible, treat those stupid smart-quotes like plague-bearing vermin and avoid text formatting at all costs. Whenever possible, I use EditPad to type raw text into. But if Word's going to go and do useful things that make my life easier, now...

WIP: [SGA] In the Blood - McKay/Sheppard

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:06:53 GMT

The eventual length of the story looks to be about 120,000 words. Links to new bits will get posted here :) Last update: December 14 2008

TITLE: In the Blood
RATING: Adult
CONTENT: Slashy smut, angst and hurt/comfort.
SUMMARY: McKay's on medical leave, Sheppard's trying to figure out what it all means and the challenges of the Pegasus Galaxy aren't easy to leave behind. It might not be the ideal time to tell their unsuspecting families that they're a couple.
SPOILERS: It's picked up some annoying unintentional echoes with several bits of canon from season five, but isn't actually spoilery for anything past the end of season four. Could be spoilery for anything up to then, also for SG1 up to and including the first movie.
NOTE: Obviously, this story is still unfinished. I could drop dead tomorrow and never finish it. Bits of it are definitely going to change and rearrange before it's finally done. If that's going to drive you nuts, please wait 'til it's finished before reading ;)
CREDIT: This is the 'short' birthday smutfic I started writing for luthien back in the new year. (Oops) Also, she's been keeping an eye on the bits as I go and pointing out a lot of my silly typos and other errors. Thank you, luthien!

Uploaded:
Prologue: Bring Your Troubles Home (5475 words)
Chapter 1: Some Visitors From Out of Town (9000 words)
Chapter 2: Nothing But Mammals (11,500 words)
Chapter 3: Next of Kin (11,110 words)
Chapter 4: Indispensable (11,075 words)

Coming:

Chapter 5: On the Edge of the Sand
Chapter 6: Decline and Fall
Chapter 7: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Chapter 8: Catalogue of Cold Comforts
Chapter 9: Poison, In a Certain Light
Chapter 10: Fire Tests Gold
Chapter 11: Legal in the Pegasus Galaxy
???
???

They shoot bunnies, don't they?

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:27:28 GMT

As tends to happen when RL is crowding me with as much as or more than I can handle, I'm currently overrun with demanding and multiplying plot bunnies.

Almost all of them are Atlantis ones, all but one of those McKay/Sheppard slash. And 'bunnies' is right, because those two are at it like rabbits the second I set pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. I'm enjoying writing smut for this pairing - I haven't found the 'naughty bits' very titillating or even very interesting for a lot of years and fandoms before this, which tends to mean that I default to writing oh-so-serious, angsty sex scenes where nobody has a lot of fun. Least of all me. I kept wishing I could find a way to say with gen what I was saying with slash, and being grumpy when it never worked. Even Jack Harkness let me down, and you'd think he'd know how to have angst-free bedroom fun, even given a serious handicap like the Doctor.

I really enjoyed writing the smutty bits of the last fic I posted. Really really. Sheppard and McKay probably didn't have as much fun, but I had loads writing it. They're at it like teenaged rabbits in In the Blood, I've lost count of the sex scenes and I haven't even reached the happy ever after yet. And somehow, for all that it's a story about two middle-aged guys looking for happiness and some permanence and loads of orgasms together, it's turned out to be a lot about the women of Stargate too; Sam, Jennifer, Vala, Jeannie and her daughter, Katie, Teyla... even Sheppard's ex-wife and poor Dr. Heightmeyer have had a hand in shaping where the boys are at when the story starts, though I think they're both headed for the 'cutting room floor'. Elizabeth is important too, and Doctor Lam showed up for a bit. I've never written guy-slash with so many girls in it before, and I think I'm loving that too.

FIC REC: The Half-Life of Carbon by sheafrotherdon (SGA, Sheppard/McKay)

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:48:16 GMT

Another flying fic recommendation: The Half-Life of Carbon by sheafrotherdon - Sheppard/McKay slash - a rich, nail-on-the-head character study and the sort of understated slashy love story that turns me to hopeless grinning moosh, all in less than 2000 words.

FIC REC: Intentions by Cathalin (SGA, Sheppard/McKay)

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:59:13 GMT

I don't read a lot of fanfic these days, since it's more or less a choice between reading and writing and writing wins every time, but luthien just rec'd me a good'un:

Intentions by cathalin, an episode tag for "Tracker". Sheppard/McKay and a gorgeous Ronon.

Episode 'fix-its' aren't my thing at all, but this one is heart-rendingly well observed and packs a lot of character meat into a few thousand words. Gorgeous.

Creativity with a capital K

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:07:42 GMT

When RL gets in the way of fanfic, my creativity tends to leak out as cookery and/or charity knitting instead. Both are usually with the best value materials I can get my hands on but sometimes you just want something extra special and nummy! As a trial-run for a bigger gift project, I splurged on a few skeins of Colinette Point Five - a hand-dyed yarn I've heard a lot about but had never seen in the flesh before.

As it happens, I don't think it's going to be the right yarn for the larger project so it's a good thing I checked by making a scarf! It's gorgeous to work with, huuuuge yarn on huge needles for instant gratification, and very warm being pure wool, but it doesn't turn into a cloth with a lot of drape and I'm looking to end up with a big, snuggly blanket/afghan that tucks in nicely around the sides and keeps out the winter chills.

Other than skinny sock yarn or not-so-warm acrylics, Colinette has the best multi colourways I've found so now I'm looking at their Banyan, Cadenza and One Zero yarns. The recipient is a bit kinky for the Tagliatelli tape yarn, too, which seems to take the dye even better than the chunky stuff and is merino, so should be warm even though it looks like more of a summer-knits yarn. Looks like I might need to do a few more self-indulgent little trial projects...

For myself, I'm knitting a big plain red bed blanket from some shockingly price-reduced Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky I was lucky enough to score, and a simple black triangular shawl from Patons Fairytale Dreamtime 4-ply (the pure wool version).

Stargate Atlantis continues breeding slashy angsty plotbunnies as I knit. I'm reluctant to start anything new until I've finished writing In the Blood, which started life as a smutty gift fic and then missed several deadlines and then ate my soul.

Maybe if I post a snippet, I'll be motivated to get my ducks in a row and finish it. Or at least to procrastinate by buying more luxury yarn.

FIC SNIPPET - "In the Blood" - Stargate Atlantis - Sheppard/McKay slash that really needed to get finished before Season Five came along. This snippet is from what is currently calling itself chapter one. I think it may be lying about that.

SNIPPET FROM "IN THE BLOOD"

When they showed their faces at dinner, nobody could've guessed what they'd been up to, but Rodney felt weird anyway. Would've bet anything John did too with Maddy chatting away at him, thinking the world of him to the temporary exclusion of her uncle and her parents. If keeping up the soft smile and charm over his pasta bothered him, John didn't let anything show.

Unless he chose to, John never let anything show.

Rodney made himself popular by collecting the plates and taking them through to the kitchen while John and Kaleb between them tried to explain to Madison why she'd need to be a little older before they let her fly helicopters, and that there'd be issues with her joining the US Air Force.

"Great," Jeannie said, joining him with her hands full of glassware. "Yesterday she was going to be an abstract artist. I liked that one. Now she's a military pilot."

"Don't worry, we can lure her back from the dark side with calculus," Rodney said, fussing aimlessly at the dirty dishes. "And if that fails, there's always Chopin."

His sister laughed. He loved it when she laughed and it wasn't at him.

Rodney turned and watched her get busy around her kitchen, busy and pregnant and happy.

"I was hoping you'd play for her," Jeannie said, the smile still warm after the laugh. "I'm rusty."

"You suck," Rodney protested, folding his arms, stretching and curling his fingers in the crooks of his elbows. How long since he last tried to play piano? "Get her lessons."

"I did. She'd just enjoy hearing you play, that's all." The smile faltered, uncertain of the terrain ahead. "So would I."

Rodney shifted his feet, made himself busy with the dishes again. Soap, bowl, suds. Still seemed to work.

"Then... I guess... you guys are so starved for entertainment and culture that I'll just have to take you to a concert," he said, with what he hoped was tact and grace, but suspected was mostly nerves.

From the dining room, he heard John stumbling through the reasons why no, he couldn't help give Maddy her bath. Kaleb was letting him get himself in knots.

"Mer," Jeannie started, then overheard too and went to rescue the guest from her daughter. And possibly from her husband. Rodney was never one hundred percent sure about anything, with Kaleb.

Washing dishes got him out of any form of bath duty too, but the bedtime story was still his - his niece didn't even ask for John in his place, which was... sort of nice. Either that or she had some form of kid-intuition about what kind of dumb stories John would wind up telling her.

Madison was the spitting image of a younger Jeannie now, and that would've been hell on his nerves if Rodney hadn't known he was just visiting. As it was he could just nod and agree with her that the story he'd chosen to read was boring, and then bore her to sleep with anecdotes and a few personal thoughts on elementary particles, instead. She didn't seem to mind, curled up around her brown bear and twirling a strand of her hair with her finger, just the way her mother used to do.

"She reminds me of you," Jeannie said, as he closed the bedroom door.

"Oh, that's funny because I was just thinking how much she's turning out like you."

"She's never been scared of the dark. She likes the same foods as you, the same books. The way she looks at us, sometimes. It scares me, Mer."

"That she'll turn out like me?" He had to admit that wouldn't be all good. "At least she got your looks," he offered, flicking the curl of hair that'd come loose by her ear. "Genetics only goes so far. And anyway, you were left on my doorstep in a basket by evil space monkeys, so we're not even related."

Jeannie burst into tears, Kaleb showed up, and there was glaring.

Rodney felt terrible about it, even though he was almost completely sure it hadn't been his fault.

"She's pregnant," was John's wisdom, when Rodney tracked him down on the back porch, slouching on the damp wooden steps. "Probably not your fault."

Halfway between supportive comrade and devil's advocate, John grinned up at his moment of hope, killing it dead.

Rodney shoved John over with his foot and sat down.

"I want you to tell her about us," John said.

"What?" It took Rodney's mind a second to make the leap - a second and a glance at John's face, which was set in stone right now and picked out in the hard light of a security lamp. "Oh." And he bit down on the rest of what he felt like saying, processing it piece by piece to make sure he got it right, let it all sit and swell in his throat until he was ready to gag on it, because opportunities like this, with John, were rare. "In so many words. So to speak."

"Yeah." He didn't go into detail.

"So... how'd you break it to your brother?" Rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand, Rodney pushed down on disappointment, frustration, annoyance - constant companions, anyway, so he was used to dealing with them.

"It was more of a... an understanding," John said, slow and careful with the words. Weary and wary, the combination so familiar, so Sheppard, that Rodney worried less for hearing it. "I didn't exactly make him hear it and he didn't exactly give me his blessing. And that's... progress."

Jeannie called them from the back door, bringing two beer bottles and an apology. If she'd seen them, heard them, she'd learned a better poker-face than Rodney ever would, though it might've helped that she was red and all blotchy from the crying. He'd never been able to take that.

"What's he doing to you, Jeannie?" John asked, getting up and smiling thanks for the beer. "Want me to beat him up for you?"

It wasn't flirting. Rodney had been watching for a good long while, now - watching the John Sheppard effect on female company. Jeannie was one of the ones who found themselves instantly at ease with him, talking like old friends from almost the moment they met. Maybe noticing, later, the careful distance John kept, or that his interest was...wasn't a pursuit, but not minding because by then he'd charmed them. Or else they'd shot him.

"Not his fault," Jeannie said, knocking herself against Rodney's side the way she did when she was half his height. "Sorry. Hormones, new meds, my head goes to some pretty strange places when I'm tired."

"I guess you have every right to be a walking cliche," he said, taking a beer he didn't want because she was the one offering, and they'd mastered the token-as-apology game a long time ago. "Does Maddy really remind you of me?"

"In a... little girl way," Jeannie said, and Rodney knew John was grinning without looking over at him. "I just thought, all of a sudden after you two got here," she said, watching John. "The world my kids grow up to live in... everything that's out there... everything you two are doing out there." It was awe, the prevailing emotion in her voice, but Rodney knew how that could spill over into tears, into terror or joy. Awe at the universe, the scope of it and the crushing momentum. He was hardly the first to be shipped home with... issues. "Caught up with me, that's all. I told Kaleb you called me the changeling child of a space monkey, though."

John coughed beer back into his bottle and turned away.

"Yeah, ever since you were old enough to throw stuff at my head!"

She hit him on the arm and stayed next to him, happy to join him in staring down the darkening garden.

Did they do it now? Rodney could feel the human geometry of the moment; Jeannie relaxed, glued to his side by emotions he didn't understand but didn't actually need to. Acceptance was all she wanted from him, right now and he knew that, wasn't just guessing and hoping for the best. John was amused, intrigued and fond, the light and laughter in his eyes for real, not one of his forgeries. A space between the three of them that he could fill and redefine everything.

But he wasn't good with words. They were all tired and apparently certain people were feeling over-emotional. And he didn't actually know what exactly he was supposed to tell her. What, exactly, to call it that would sound... that wouldn't sound too...

He cleared his throat, suddenly panicking at the silence and unanswered questions.

"I have some work to... I mean, if you're up to it, I hoped you'd take a look while I'm here. Nothing classified," he added, before she could remind him about almost getting her killed the last time. Before he could remind himself. "Just something I've been working on." And, because he felt he owed her even if the tears hadn't been his actual fault, "I'd really... value your opinion."

"I'd love to," she said, letting go and smiling the smile that meant she'd love to find all his mistakes and explain them in excruciating detail. "So, do either of you guys cook?"

"What?" John asked, exactly when Rodney did.

"Kaleb has a thing. Inviting guests to cook. It's how we first hooked up, and it's pretty cool if you're into it, so--."

"I microwave things that come in boxes," Rodney said, before there was too much information. "Sheppard?"

"I... make a mean sandwich," John admitted, cautious as if they were negotiating with an armed welcoming committee. "Sometimes with ingredients that would surprise and even alarm you."

"Perfect," Jeannie said, as if they hadn't both just admitted to being hopeless bachelor slobs capable of burning hot water. "Tomorrow night, dinner for five?"

"Uh--" Rodney watched her disappear back inside. "Okay."

"Kaleb has a thing." John was smirking.

"Bully for Kaleb."

"Suck it up, McKay. What's the worst that could happen?"

"You mean besides the mockery and the gastroenteritis?"

"We're a team." John slapped him on the back. Didn't take his hand away, and made Rodney shiver at the unpredictable intimacy. It was sad and twisted, but while they had all the time they could ever want to screw each other, to be with each other, he was sort of missing the urgency of having to steal every second they spent together. That way was so much easier. "We'll get through this."

A couple of beers later, when it was getting way too cold to sit out on the damp boards and Rodney was starting to think longingly of a soft bed and a laptop, John leaned over and kissed him. He snatched at it, like he'd been working up to it a while and had already spooked himself, but he didn't move away again. Rodney searched his eyes, couldn't find any answers in the poor light, and pressed the kiss back, gently, giving it a little hint of tongue.

"They might see us," he said, when John still didn't move back.

"Not if we go upstairs."

"We could do that." Rodney couldn't remember such an explicit offer, before. He'd been pushed against walls, dragged across a tent, grabbed in the dark and poked in the ass with a fully-fledged Sheppard hardon. Sometimes a word - now; please; Rodney - but usually just a touch, a look, a looming presence. He wasn't sure what to do about a simple offer. It would've been tempting to turn him down out of sheer contrariness, except he was still delicious and unshaven and Rodney wanted him. Badly.

"Let me give Jeannie my notes," he said. "I'll be right there."

Techy things

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:06:15 GMT

Google Chrome browser - loving it to bits so far, especially once I worked out how to put the home button on the toolbar. I use that a lot in IE/Firefox and missed it. My only issue with Chrome so far is that I can't make it not-show animated gifs and other migraine-inducing moving stuff the way I can with IE or Firefox. It's quick, its clean, and hey, my life was already more or less owned by the evil Google monopoly to start with. At least their ads don't jiggle, flash or make noise at me, thereby increasing the chances that I'll click on one by about a billion and two percent.

I've never really warmed to Firefox on Windows, though the new 3.0 version feels more comfy and useful and I've been doing a lot more with it since the release. IE is clunky and bloated but familiar and therefore easy to use. In two days, Chrome has kicked the pants off both of 'em as far as I'm concerned.

My web site (on its' third new host in six months, poor old bird) got a bit touchy with the all-at-once traffic from my recent story post, but it didn't keel over entirely, whatever Pingdom.com says. Am cautiously optimistic about this one (but paying monthly instead of annually even though it costs more, because there's only so many empty hosting accounts a girl needs).

I keep thinking that medium-scale reseller web hosting would be a great career for a housebound fangirl. Then I see what a pig's ear so, so many people out there make of it and I think again.