katekat1010

The music awards:

Shakira has women ninjas!

Good news on the work front: My tutoring job is going to give me 16 hours a week as of Dec. 1, which is great. It's an improvement.

The pay rate is good, and it gives me the required experience I need for teaching. (90 hours is the magic number. I'll have it by the end of December. Then I need a year of school for the teaching certificate.)

Unfortunately, it's not quite enough to live off of.

I don't have a car in car-dependent Maryland, so I'm having to ask "mommy" for rides to work, to interviews. I have all the time in the world to write -- yet can't find the space because I have to write around other people's schedules.

It's been four months and I'm getting the feeling she's burned out. As am I.

I want my life back.



Quantifying a life.

( When I drove across country to Seattle in 1996, I had a car. )

Aside from the degrees, how did I end up with less than when I started?

Mousie report.

Some of you may recall this post wherein a family of mouse babies took up residence in one of my fleece jackets (in a box that happens to be outdoors). I discovered this when I pulled my jacket out of the box, scattering mouse infants everywhere. I removed my other jackets, packed the box with newspaper, and used newsprint to scoop the littles back in the box.

A week later I discovered I'd missed four mouse babies, who'd fallen into a box I took inside. Noooo....

Then the temperature dropped and I thought the outdoor mousies were history.

Three weeks later ...

I'm happy to report that the mouse babies survived, and have moved on. But the nest is clearly there, and there are no apparent corpses.

Proof of life: the fleece jacket was not so lucky, sacrificed to the cause. The Mousies chewed a few holes.

Unless Rainy Pass can fix it.

People always ask me about Buddhism ... and I'm caught flat-footed. You should ask a good Buddhist!

Well we're in luck. And online, too.

Tulku Orgyen has offered to help anyone with any questions about Buddhism: http://twitter.com/TulkuOgyen

Retweet, tweeters.

And thank you, Tulku Orgyen, for letting me pass the buck.

The Olympics are coming! The Olympics are coming!

If you're like me (in years past) you probably tune in to these winter sports, oh, once every four years. You get a general sense of who the favorites are from the announcers and interviews, roll your eyes at the inspirational life story clips, and root for the home team.

Now you don't have to be in the dark. You can be knowledgeable long before the Olympics hit.

At least about figure skating. (Everyone, feel free to correct me. I'm not an expert, I've just been following skating to the best of my ability for a couple years.)

Right now the horse race is on. It's the Grand Prix. As we speak, world class skaters are competing in a series of competitions Russia, France, Canada, the U.S., Japan, and er, I think elsewhere. Right now they're trying to earn points to get to the Grand Prix final -- and prove themselves worthy of the Olympic teams.

You see, last March at the World Championships each country won the number of slots they'd have at the Olympics based on how their skaters did. (The max is three.) China was very disappointed to not win any for men's figure skating. In a real shocker, the U.S. women's figure skating only scored two slots as our current National champ fell apart.

But our men are doing fab. Evan Lysacek won the gold at Worlds and we have a "deep field," namely, many guys running neck and neck for the same titles.

Let's have a look at our boys.

The Americans.


The ever-hot gentleman, Evan Lysacek. (The belt buckle is Batman, with cable and bat-grappling hook.)

( Evan has the quad. He has the fire. He's a skater who starts pouring it out in the last 30 seconds of his performance.... )

Finally, there's Mabanoozerabadahblbrghf. Graceful, fluid, fun to watch. I don't know if he'll keep moving up, he's still inconsistent. But he has a musical sense that makes him figure skating eye candy.



Only three will make it to the Olympics.

Which three? We'll know at Nationals in Spokane, January 2010.


Tomorrow: those other guys, yeah, them foreigners.

( SPN: About last night.... (of course there're spoilers) )

The real "oh no"? SPN's not coming back until the end of January?

Oh no!

Wait, wait. Don't panic. There's still Merlin.

Dragging this SGA Santa story out of me, one sentence at a time.

I whimper at every NaNo post I stumble across. I stalled out early. Too much going on in RL, from temple, to work, to the job search, to WG not sending me my things, to the difficulty in finding time to write, to being several months out of the writing vein from having my life turned completely turned upside down.

This doesn't stop me from hoping that I can write something on this story once I get my mental pen to work.

Working tonight (yay!). I've also received my first paycheck.

Merlin fanart must-see.

Morgana + Edmund from Narnia.

Startling how perfect they are together. I see trouble brewing right on the page.

*sings* They say it's my birthday!

Since it's my birthday, could someone tell me what the really good fics are from the SGA Big Bang? A few Merlin recs wouldn't go amiss either. ;)

octopon - Pirates of DarkWater fandom asylum. Completed!

gotham_gazetteCompleted!</i>

vagrant_story - Vagrant Story fandom asylum. Pending/WIP.

Please keep in mind that I will be retiring Vagrant Story and Gotham Gazette if no further interest is shown.

And,

Please feel free to join commedia; a personal project of mine, aiming to review and analyze comics (and other selected media) that feature DC Comics' The Joker.

It is currently a WIP because I am still going through my 500+ hardcopy!issues collection. I do not download torrents/scans.

Two important polls need to be voted on, as seen here explaining two routes the asylum's project can take. IE: spoiler free reviews, spoilerific reviews, etc. This asylum will continue to be WIP until further interest is shown.

I am also open to affiliating with other comic book and/or Batman related asylums, except for RPGs.

http://asylums.insanejournal.com/labyrinthfans/

For fans of either David Bowie and Jennifer Connolly and Jim Henson and Brian Froud.

I am Colleen (ninetieschic) on this and Sam will probably choose some outlandish un.. no doubt lol.

( Cardiff Hub: A Torchwood RPG )

I'm joining the posting frenzy at http://archiveofourown.org/, starting to upload my HP fics.


Now available:

Primer to the Dark Arts.
Harry learns he is to be given private (and secret) tutoring in the Dark Arts. His teacher? Professor Snape. Features ghost cats and cursed harps, spells that are supposed to go wrong and don't, a friendly sociopathic Death Eater. and Snape's naughty, naughty library. (Written 2002, post GoF.)

Cursed Artefacts For Sale.
Severus drags Harry to a Wizarding auction. "Collecting Cursed Artefacts is a registered form of madness in the Compendium of Wizarding Mental Disorders and Other Things That Make You Twitch," Severus said, "like most compulsions to collect. But it's very a popular one and I plan to beat everyone else to it."

( Merlin: spoiler, spoiler, spoiler, herein comes some spoilers. )

I love this show. And to think that if mom hadn't kept me up late I would have ... okay, I probably would've watched it Monday.

This week: the GRE.

I'm not ready for the math section. I haven't taken math -- I haven't so much as poked a stick at math -- in 20 years. But... I'll never be ready for it. So let's just do it.

Here are two story/art challenge communities for any of you who like to do such things.

First one is story_arc

Everyone has seen the various prompt communities. This one is for the writing/drawing of story arcs, or a multi-chaptered fic/picture series. Using the prompts, you work all of them into a single universe, as series of stories or artwork that relate to each other. Or, alternatively, into a single story, each prompt being used for a single chapter.

To some, that'll be easy. To others, it's a lot more challenging. You get a pick of prompts, and we welcome claims of all types. Pairings, threesomes/moresomes, single people, over all fandoms. Collaborations are welcomed, though we request that both parties join the com.

The second is mix_n_make

Everyone has that song that reminds them of a person, a fandom, a story or art idea just waiting to come forth.

Well, here at Mix n Make, we not only share that feeling, we encourage you to make the image in your brain a reality.

The goal: Make a playlist and write/draw what each song inspires of you. They can be as short as three songs, or as long as you want to make them. Not only can you share your favorite songs, but you can get those bunnies out of your brains and shared with the rest of us.


Come join us, we take all fandoms and original works.

I'd like to invite you to come share in these comms on IJ

beinghumanfic - Being Human - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
crusoe_fic - Crusoe - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
darkbluefic - Dark Blue - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
darkfic - Dark Fic - multi- fandom stories with a dark side - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
eastwickfic - Eastwick - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
fastforward_fic - FastForward - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
inplainsitefic - In Plain Sight - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
inthedollhouse - In The Dollhouse - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
lietomefic - Lie To Me - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
makebelieve_ij - Makebelieve - multi- fandom - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
minutefic - Minute Fic - multi- fandom - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
ncislosangeles - NCIS Los Angeles - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
promptsrus - Prompts R Us - multi- fandom - offers prompts for the curent fandoms as well as old and rare fandoms. Also many author choice prompts
psych_fic - Psych - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
rifts_anomalies - Rifts & Anomalies - multi- fandom - shows dealing with time travel and spacial rifts - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
riftsandanomali - Rifts And Anomalies - multi- fandom (This was a mispell, but...) - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
sentinel_fic - The Sentinel - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
theforgottenfic - The Forgotten - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
thelistenerfic - The Listener - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
thesuperheroes - The Superheroes - multi- fandom - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
timeschildren - Children Of Time - multi- fandom focusing on Dr Who and the various spin offs - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
torchwoodfic - Torchwood - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
uncle_fantasies - Man From UNCLE - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
whitecollarfic - White Collar - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
xfilesfantasies - X-Files - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons
xmenfic - X-Men - Discussion, general, hetero and slash fic & icons

multi_fiction - Multiple Fandom Fanfiction Archive.

Looking for a place to post your fanfic? Have an idea for a fanfic? Know of a fic that is so good it deserves to be recced? Well, multi_fiction is the place for you.

We accept fanfic, challenges, and recs in any fandom, any pairing. We are indiscriminate with a lot of things. Just follow our posting rules and everything else goes.

~~~~~~

t_31_bang - T-31 And Counting....Bang!

A mini-big bang asylum, we have a 31 day schedule. Included in those 31 days is time for prompts acceptance, sign-ups, writing, and then posting. You have 20 days from the moment sign-ups close to write 5000 words, that's 250 words a day, on a prompt you select from a prompts post.

~~~~~~

heroes_fiction - Heroes Fiction.

Are you a fan of the NBC television/comic book/online series Heroes? This is a fanfiction asylum dedicated to the entire fandom. Any type of fic for it is allowed.

~~~~~~

sanctuaryforall - Sanctuary For All.

Helen Magnus set up the Sanctuary Network for the Abnormals of the world, carrying on the dream of her father that they might have a place to go. At sanctuaryforall, that fandom is alive and well. We accept anything based upon the show/webseries, from fic, to music videos, to icons and news.

~~~~~~

startrek_redux - Star Trek XI (Redux).

The new movie has inspired a resurgence in the flagging genre. Fanfic, fanart, icons, fanmixes, everything your heart can think of is accepted here, so long as it is based in part upon the movie.

~~~~~~

alikelyscenario - A Likely Scenario.

Needing inspiration to write? Well, this is a table challenge where we give you a table containing a scenario and five prompts. Once you sign up for one of our 21 tables, you write five drabbles/ficlets/vigenettes/fics for the five prompts based upon the scenario provided. Curious? Come on over and check us out.


Fanfiction: dreams put to words. Come experience it with us.
alikelyscenario ~!~ startrek_redux ~!~ sanctuaryforall ~!~ heroes_fiction ~!~ t_31_bang ~!~ multi_fiction

Its that time again; keep in mind to always read the userinfo before joining an asylum. :)

graphix - a complete graphics asylum from icons to layouts.

ijelite - another complete graphic asylum (mostly icons & layouts)

iconism - an icon-only asylum

christians - a place for Christians and non-Christians alike to discuss the Christian faith and have fellowship.

addme - a place to meet other IJ users and gain a friends list!

My first Daily Deviant fic is up! I'm hoping to use the DD challenges to write short fics (which for me at present means under5K). So I topped it off a little at 5,175 words -- I'm still calling it a win!

For now I'll link to the DD post to keep comments in one place. At some point I'll archive the fic in this entry as a back up copy for just-in-cases.

Title: Clean and Filthy
Author: EntreNous (entrenous88)
Characters/Pairings: Severus Snape/Draco Malfoy
Rating: NC-17
Kinks/Themes Chosen: Costumes
Other Warnings: Cross-Dressing
Word Count: 5,175
Summary/Description: After failing to kill Dumbledore and fleeing with Snape, Draco finds himself in the middle of quite a mess.
Author's Notes: Many thanks to lesyeuxverts, who prodded me out of a kink-slump with a timely suggestion.


( FIC: Clean and Filthy (Snape/Draco, NC-17) )



I have to post links or just reposts of my HP Cross Gen and Ownficfest fics later as well. Mustrememberthat. And finish this other thing which is nearly finished, thank fuck, because good lord it's taken me forever. And for those keeping track at home, a proper NaBloPoMo entry cometh this evening @ LJ.