Vox Lunaris 60.

I posted about this earlier under flock (mostly because I am still wary of posting publicly about work in any kind of detail), and I am kind of already worn out with thinking and talking about it, but I got laid off today. My last day at work is 12/15. (thanks again to everyone who's already been so supportive. I really, truly appreciate it, more than I can say.)

I guess I will have lots of time to write and bake holiday cookies.

fleurdeleo took me out for a tasty early dinner and I stuffed myself with nutella and banana crepes, and the food coma made me fairly sanguine. I am sure the real freak out is coming, but right now I am still in the "WTF just happened?" stage.

So my question (the first of many, I'm sure) is, those of you who have given up on having a landline and are only using cell phones, does that work for you? Especially while job hunting? I am trying to think of easy expenses to cut, and that is one of them, as the only reason I have a landline these days is for emergency internet purposes when the cable goes out, and I can give that up to save $40 a month (plus $24 on long distance I never use, and $19 on the back up dialup service I never use).

*

To cheer me up, romanticalgirl wrote me an adorable Frankentim ficlet: Five Finger Discount, which totally nails their season 4 car conversation dynamic. ♥

I did post a story yesterday, because what I really needed to write was a coda to 4.10 featuring girl!Sam. *facepalm* Ah, well, when the going gets tough, I write girl!Sam fic:

Quidquid deliquisti
Supernatural; girl!Sam/Dean; au; spoilers through 4.10; adult; 1,620 words
Sam can't throw stones.

It was much pornier in my head, but it ended up being more about the conversation than the sex. Funny how that happens. I also finally gave in and made a beggars would ride tag, so all the stories that go with that/use that as a background are tagged now. *facepalm* I am still stubbornly refusing to call it a 'verse, or a series. You can read any of the stories as standalones, I think, though possibly they make more sense if you've read the first story, because then you've got all the background I'm working from. I still want to write random casefiles with girl!Sam, too. I don't even know, guys, but I've given up trying to figure it out. It makes me happy.

*

I love the song "Keep Yourself Warm" by Frightened Rabbit (it was playing when I started writing this entry). I feel there is a story to be written in thse lyrics: I'm drunk, I'm drunk / And you're probably on pills / If we've both got the same diseases / It's irrelevant, girl. Possibly a Kara story I will never write. or maybe angsty Max/Alec?

*

The Office ( spoilers )

*

Meanwhile, I went to my manage icons page and saw this: Currently uploaded: 145 out of 195. 195! Woo! I misread the earlier post and thought they were capping it all - permanent account + loyalty icons and everything - at 150, so that was a nice shock. I know what I will be doing at work tomorrow. *snerk*

*

Twenty degrees and snow falling... Denver is lovely.

Thank heavens for warm scarves and gloves and coats and My New Hat!

i have found a new way to torment myself with stories i'm not writing! wordle.net can turn sections of a draft into pretty pictures.

( for example.... )

what do YOUR unfinished stories look like?

eta: i couldn't resist doing more!

Pushing Daisies

( spoilers )

Oh, show, I will miss you so much!

I watched Life, then, and I really do enjoy Crews and Reese's partnership, and I kind of love Ted a lot, but they need to get rid of Donal Logue. Also, I need to catch up on all the eps I missed.

And now it's L&O with Katee, and I am fading fast. I was at work late and I didn't sleep well last night, and man, I am totally going to bed when this is over.

***

US troops quartered on US soil -- where they may be called to respond on active duty against Americans, in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. Is that something we want?

Whither goest the stock market? A comparison over the past years back to 1826.

The Texas indictments against Cheney and Gonzales have been dismissed.

A former Guantanamo prosecutor, who has resigned as an act of conscience, is telling the truth about what he saw there, and it is making a difference.

I have no idea what the Somali pirates would do with 130,000 inflatable breasts that were apparently 'lost at sea'. I'm sure someone can come up with an idea or two.

Roger Ebert is a lot smarter than Ben Stein, and proves it.

Note to the Vatican: Jesus would like to speak to you concerning "love your neighbor as yourself".

Bush wants to destroy full and free access to health care, even as we have it now, under the guise of religious liberty.

A little ignorance goes a long way in policy and politics.








Interesting pictures of endangered species -- including a salamander I don't want to meet in a dark alley and a transparent frog.

This was so not what I meant to write last night. *facepalm*

Quidquid deliquisti
Supernatural; girl!Sam/Dean; au; spoilers through 4.10; adult; 1,620 words
Sam can't throw stones.

Thanks to mousapelli for listening to my titling woes.

( let he who is without sin cast the first stone )

~*~

Feedback is always welcome.

~*~

I had this awful dream last night where someone on my flist sent me links to go look at a community that was rehabbing and woobiefying the Comedian because he's being played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. I threw up a little in my mouth. And then I woke up and was a little queasy at how plausible the dream was.

Night before last, I dreamt I went on a bunch of job interviews. *shudder* On the upside, I was apparently Pam Beesly in the dream, so I got to make out with Jim Halpert.

Speaking of whom, John Krasinski and Zachary Levi need to star in something together. Think of the adorable!

I don't even know. I was hoping to have fic to post, but as always lately, I have distracted myself from writing again.

*goes back to it*

***

Okay, now change.gov is posting Wordle "word clouds" of Tom Daschle's health care talk on their website.

I swear, it's only a matter of time before Obama starts posting memes, Biden begins to upload his chatlogs, and Rahm Emanuel starts to post self-insert RPF.

The fandom-as-relationship meme, gacked this time from minim_calibre:

(Is this about sources or about fandoms? Because my responses might be different. Um. And I added one, which I mentioned in my comments last time I did this.)

The one who seduced you and fucked you over and broke your heart in a million pieces and laughed about it: X-Men Movieverse, I think, even still. Because by the time HP killed off Remus, I'd already moved on. But I can't even enjoy rereading my XMM stuff. I get queasy thinking about it. And I've never even seen X3. I could also put Gilmore Girls here, because wow, I am STILL bitter.

The old flame you don't see very often any more but whom you still really enjoy getting together with for a few drinks and maybe a pleasant nostalgic romp in the sheets: HP. Firefly. BtVS/Angel. West Wing. Sports Night. What? I have a lot of fandoms!

The mysterious dark gothy one whom you used to sit up with talking until 3 a.m. at weird coffeehouses and with whom you were quite smitten until you realized ze really was fucking crazy: Veronica Mars.

The one you spent a whole weekend in bed with and who drank up all your liquor, and whom you'd still really like to fuck again although you're relieved ze doesn't actually live in town: Dark Angel.

The steady: Supernatural. It's not the healthiest relationship, but it's happy-making when it's working, and oh, boy, has it been working this season.

The one you repeatedly cheat on your steady with: Ocean's Eleven. Iron Man.

The one you find yourself too tongue-tied to do anything but stare at adoringly, clinging to hir every word: Battlestar Galactica. I really want to write BSG fic, but all my brain wants to do is go ZOMG KARA IS AWESOME. So.

The alluring stranger whom you've flirted with at parties but have never gotten really serious with: in terms of writing: Bones. I'd like to write Bones, but I just can't get motivated. Mostly because the show is giving me what I want re: Booth/Brennan. I still need to write that SPN crossover, though.

The one you hang out with and have vague fantasies about maybe having a thing with but ultimately you're just good buddies 'cause the friendship is there but the chemistry ain't: again in terms of writing: Chuck. I love watching it and talking about it, but I have almost no interest in reading or writing fic for it. Same goes for Pushing Daisies.

The one you think you might marry, but you need to spend some more time together: Friday Night Lights (though again, not necessarily from a writing standpoint) It was rocky last season, but wow, it pulled itself up out of that rough patch beautifully.

The one your friends keep introducing you to and who seems like a hell of a cool peep except it's never really gone anywhere: Life. I just never actually remember it's on.

The one you slept with on the rebound who still smiles at you, yet you have no interest in any more: House.

The one who's slept with all your friends, and you keep looking at hir and thinking, "Hir? How the hell did ze land all these cool babes?": SGA

The one your friend has fallen for like a ton of bricks and whom ze keeps babbling to you about on the phone for hours, and you'd be happy for hir except you just know it's going to end badly: Heroes. Well. It kind of already has, no?

***

And I know it's not funny, really, but the more I read about the whole Plaxico Burress thing, the more hilarious I find it. He used Harris Smith as his alias in the hospital, and told them he got shot at Applebee's. (source) I can't even... I don't have words for that level of WTFery.

Apparently Mad-Eye Moody was right and you shouldn't shove a loaded gun into your sweatpants: YOU COULD LOSE A BUTTOCK!

***

[eta] From the AWESOME files: ZOMBIE HAIKU:

Zombie Haiku by Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle
into that zombie plagued night.
And take the shotgun.

*dies*

***

I just saw this on the feed for change.gov (i.e., the website of the office of the President-Elect). Link to the full story here.

President-elect Obama has championed the creation of a more open, transparent, and participatory government. To that end, Change.gov adopted a new copyright policy this weekend. In an effort to create a vibrant and open public conversation about the Obama-Biden Transition Project, all website content now falls under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License: [...]

Change.gov has incorporated additional features designed to make the Transition more accessible and its content more open and re-useable. For every video posted – from the weekly addresses, to press conferences, to speeches, to “Inside the Transition” pieces – there are links to high-resolution QuickTime video files beneath embedded videos (these are also available via the Transition’s podcast), so that the video can be saved to a computer and edited at will. The Obama-Biden Transition Team is continuing to explore ways to use new media to create a more transparent Transition. This is part of an ongoing planning process to create a 21st century government that is more transparent, participatory, and effective.

(I wonder if Obama and Co would like an account with the OTW's Archive of Our Own? *g*)

I'm in Denver. So far, the hotel is absolutely charming.

It was snowing this morning in Indianapolis. Winter wonderland and all of that... I am in such a holiday mood now!

*yawn*

But first, I sense an impending long winter's nap... well, at least until morning.

G'night, lovelies!

I realize I never posted about last week's Bones. ( spoilers )

Then tonight I watched Pushing Daisies. I am still incredibly SAD that it's been cancelled, because its AWESOME CANNOT BE TEXTUALLY RENDERED. ( spoilers ) I am going to miss the show so much - it kind of hurts to watch knowing there is so little left - but I will be looking forward to the dvds.

And then there was Chuck. ( spoilers )

***

I can't believe it's December already. Wasn't it just February? What the hell happened to this year? I guess that means it's time for the monthly wrap-up.

Top 5 songs - November 2008

5. Handle Bars - the Flobots

4. Dilaudid - the Mountain Goats

3. Devil's Playground - Gram Rabbit

2. Deep Red Bells - Neko Case

1. It's a Shame About Ray - Lemonheads

~*~

Monthly writing round-up – November 2008

Riddle Me This
Supernatural; Dean and Sam; pg; 1,020 words
Sam and Dean meet a sphinx. Hijinks ensue.

I've never been too good with names (but I remember faces)
Supernatural; Sam and Dean; pg; spoilers through 4.08; 8,330 words
Dean's glad that Sam is focusing on the case and not what Dean can't or won't say about what he remembers.

Angel Radio
Supernatural; Dean/Anna; spoilers through the promo for 4.10; adult; 2,545 words
"The world could end tomorrow."

Tale as Old as Time
Supernatural; Dean; g; no spoilers; 1,880 words
"You're the one who's so great with kids, or so you keep telling me."

A Moveable Feast
Supernatural; Mary, John, Dean, Sam; g; 2,675 words
Five Winchester Thanksgivings

Opposition Research
Supernatural; Dean/Bela; adult; 1,080 words
"You know, when this is over, we should really have some angry sex."

Considering all my bitching about not being able to write, it was a pretty good month. I guess I am just frustrated with a number of my wsip, and also, I keep forgetting to forward myself the catchallathon document so I can work on that. I am pretty happy with these stories, though, especially "I've never been too good with names," which turned out almost exactly like I wanted it to, even though I didn't realize that while I was writing. Thanks again to everyone who's commented. I really appreciate it, more than I can say.

~*~

I also updated unfitforsociety this morning with 22 recs for November 2008:

* 13 Supernatural
* 3 Dark Angel
* 2 Iron Man
* 2 Crossovers
* 1 each Friday Night Lights and Anne of Green Gables

~*~

the "Be Pete Wentz" meme:

1. Put your music player on shuffle
2. The first lines of twenty songs = a poem; the first line of the twenty-first song is the title

( breathe it in and breathe it out )

Huh. That's not half bad. I didn't write down the songs, but I think most of them are obvious. I suppose if I were more ambitious, I'd have uploaded each of them, 'cause it's not a bad mix, either.

It's only Monday. I do not know how I am going to survive this week. Wah.

~*~

Hi, folks. Many of you will have read back in October (on Making Light and other blogs) about Scraps (Soren) DeSelby (aka, baldanders), a freelance copyeditor who suffered a hemorrhagic stroke.

The most recent updates say that he's progressing in his convalescence (starting to walk again, etc.), but as he had no health insurance, money is a problem - and will likely continue to be for the foreseeable future.

I only know him by reputation, but many of his friends (and friends of friends) have been involved with fund-raising efforts to help defray the costs of medical treatment.

One of my own friends - sykii - is selling prints of her [quite wonderful] photos for the first time as part of this fund-raising effort. If you get a moment, please visit her journal (here), and see if you might be able to help out with this worthy cause.

I leave Indiana ungodly early tomorrow morning to fly to Denver for a week of project management training class.

*glares at 4am alarm setting*

*stares at ceiling*

Grar.

Oh my god, you guys, it is SO FUCKING HOT in my apartment right now. I am sitting here in my underwear with the window open, but the heat is still banging in the pipes. If I disappear, it's probably because I've been broiled to death. *fans self*

*

I was very happy to see the Giants did not, in fact, need Plaxico Burress to win. Let's hope that keeps up. I still am all WTF? about the whole thing. He literally shot himself in the foot leg. *shakes head* The depths of dumbness required for that are best not plumbed.

*

This week, Katee Sackhoff is on Law & Order. I may actually watch in first run for that. They're actually advertising her like she's a big star or something. I am a little confused.

I've mentioned the Chuck casting spoiler, right? ( casting spoiler ) Now if they would just get Lena Olin to show up as Chuck and Ellie's mom. That would be so BEYOND AWESOME.

*

You guys, I am having trouble writing. I am having plotting issues again. I was rereading some of resonant8's posts on plot, and other stuff about writing I've got in my memories, and I just...I find it really difficult to come up with an external plot that is complicated enough to be interesting, but not needlessly complicated, and something that doesn't rely on Sam and Dean being idiots to work. And obviously that somehow underlines or illustrates something going on with Sam and Dean, which is kind of the whole point, anyway. The plot is just a macguffin, but I'd like it to be one that keeps people reading until the emoporn hits, you know? I recently read something that, well, the whole problem could have been prevented if Sam had just done ten minutes of research, and since it's Sam, not only was it annoying that he didn't do the research if I thought of it, but it was out of character for him to not do it, since, hi, have you met Sam, the walking encyclopedia of weird? But there would have been no story if he had. Or the writer would have had to have come up with a way around the answer research would have given him. And that is the kind of thing I am really really bad at in my own stories (though I can sometimes spot them in other people's).

But I just had a conversation with angelgazing and she made some suggestions, and while it's a lot more complicated now (possibly more complicated than I can handle, as plot and I are unmixy things), I think it's also more interesting and it's got more of a story to hang the emoporn on. It might also take me a really long time to figure out and write, but it's not like I don't have a whole list of other thigns I want to write, too.

In my frustration with that last night, I ended up banging out (no pun intended) some snarky up-against-a-wall Dean/Bela smut:

Opposition Research
Supernatural; Dean/Bela; adult; 1,080 words
"You know, when this is over, we should really have some angry sex."

Because there's no other way Bela got the hand of glory out of his jacket pocket. And I am still bitter we never got any Dean/Bela angry sex in canon.

*

Seriously, I think I'm melting.

*

Simba is watching The Two Towers. He appears particularly interested both in the storming of Helm's Deep and the swooping of the Nazgul outside the gates of Gondor and the low destroyed city beside it. At least with him, I can hope he's considering them from an action and entertainment perspective, and not planning on figuring out how to fly. I'd have to worry about that with Pirate Jenny. Fortunately, Jenny's taste in movies runs to British films, or at least British accents. Put Hugh Grant on screen and she's *there*.

I dreamed last night of the city I knew
gone unwieldy and gray, hostile police
arresting everyone "on suspicion"
and taking them away in shuttered trucks
for long hours of questions. My dream self grew
tired of explaining in hope of release
and waiting for official permission
to go. When I was let out, I found bricks

instead of limestone, asphalt not cobble,
and no single thing I knew from before;
I searched without knowing my way, without
finding a friend, or my parked car, or signs
I could read. I walked so far, saw no one
to speak to, till I felt my legs wobble
and I leaned, caught my breath, stared at a door
painted in a wall, as if I could doubt
that it would open if I wished. The lines

of shadow grew; the green door creaked open
but I only watched as more police came out
and walked past me in ever-larger crowds
talking to each other, ignoring me.
The buildings around me grew misshapen,
as the darkness grew; I rose without
hope to move away, find some kindly shroud
to hide me from pursuit. I could not see

my way back to where I had been; I ran
on the asphalt barefoot until my feet
bled, until I no longer knew a reason
except to go somewhere safer, until
I fell, and struggled to start again,
hearing pursuit -- and awoke to hear sleet
above me on the glass, in the season
of bare trees and ice-slicked windowsills.

---

This is the last poem of November: iambic pentameter, rhyme scheme abcdabcd efghefgh etc., which (lacking other name for it) I think of as stairstep rhyme, or in a longer sequence, escalator rhyme. There is probably an official name for it somewhere. According to The Book of Forms, it might also be a modernized version of a medieval dream allegory or dream vision.

I'm not linking the major coverage on Mumbai because you can find that yourself, everywhere. But Suketo Mehta, who lived there for a long time and wrote Maximum City about it, thinks about the changes in Mumbai from its religiously tolerant past to the violence there now.

The governors of major energy-producing western states are encouraging Obama to adopt a national energy policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions -- and they have some ideas on how to do this.

Boingboing is thinking about peak population, in general and large ways -- but I like his quote from Kim Stanley Robinson about making birth control available: empowering women is the best climate change technology.

Jamie Boyle has a new book out: The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind. And, according to Boingboing, it's available online as a free CC-licensed download. From the book's preface: ( overreaching patents )

I realize this sounds like a silly headline: Nerf factory riot in China. It's not. Riots are breaking out in factories in South China, where workers are being laid off. And yes, this includes factories where toys for Hasbro are made.

Your Lame Duck At Work: Bush's Labor Department is trying to make it harder for the government to regulate toxic substances in the workplace. Obama is opposing this strongly. And, while we're at it, shouldn't someone who breaks laws -- such as George W. Bush -- be in prison for it?

Ann Coulter's had her jaw wired shut. I'm going to refrain from the comments; just consider them *all* to have been made already.

Firedoglake suggests a civil remedy for excessive executive compensation.

I have to wonder if they tried to test the properties of the world's oldest marijuana stash in the traditional fashion.

On Stan Rogers' birthday, it's entirely suitable that you should listen to him sing his most famous song, Barrett's Privateers. In case you're wondering about the history behind it, the song refers to the War of 1812.

The politics of Peanuts.

Vintage 'space age' illustrations. I think I remember seeing some of those covers from my dad's subscriptions.

Opposition Research
Supernatural; Dean/Bela; adult; 1,080 words
"You know, when this is over, we should really have some angry sex."

Thanks to amberlynne for looking it over. Written for the West Wing title project.

( 'You know, when this is over, we should really have some angry sex.' )

~*~

Feedback is adored.

~*~

I was the designated reccer for Supernatural this month on crack_van. Like most recs lists, crack_van is hit or miss for most people, and especially so in SPN, where so many of the reccers disappeared without making a full complement of recs for their month. I tried to make up for that by reccing a full 12 stories, plus 1 crossover and 1 vid. And I'd have recced more if the rules allowed it. *g*

all of these have appeared on unfitforsociety, where my recs live, but these are somewhat more expanded (and they all include excerpts) from those recs. I just wanted to have them all in one place for my own reference, as I'm sure I'll sign up again to rec soon, and I don't want to repeat myself.

Hopefully you'll find something you haven't already read, and something you like, amongst these 13 stories (and one vid). If you do, you should let the author(s) know. And as always, I am interested in knowing if the recs work for you. Now that the notes field in delicious is longer, I may start writing recs that consist of more than one sentence again. *g*

anyway, here are the recs:

Mockingbird by hiyacynth

( what I said about it )

~*~

Homing by sophiap

( what I said about it )

***

Tchaikovsky's Another One Bites The Dust by uschickens

( what I said about it )

***

i just got out when i did to prove the exit route was clear by minervacat

( what I said about it )

***

Hiding in Plain Sight by joosetta

( what I said about it )

***

I Got Me a Nice Little Place in the Stars by luzdeestrellas

( what I said about it )

***

Harvester of Eyes by gwendolyngrace

( what I said about it )

***

Like the Sea by caelumi

( what I said about it )

***

Plant Your Flag on a Fault Line by tripoli8

( what I said about it )

***

the quaint tragedies we invent by winter_baby

( What I said about it )

***

I Dunno Third Base by vee_fic

( what I said about it )

***

Beach Blanket Poltergeist by hansbekhart

( what I said about it )

***

We Could Be Heroes by missyjack

( what I said about it )

***

And the vid rec: Bricks by Luminosity

( What I said about it )

***

That was fun. *g*

***

From Roger Ebert: A movie I really want to see (even if the star isn't there) and an opinion that I agree with wholeheartedly.

1. Notice a vaguely-interesting recipe in Coastal Living magazine because the accompanying article included photos of bicycles decorated with garlands and sparkly beads. Oooh, shiny sparkly.
2. Email recipe to parents.
3. Survive intervening week or two of chaos.
4. Visit parents, who have survived their intervening week or two of chaos.
5. Encourage parents to try the new recipe even if we don't have all of the ingredients because we all only just barely survived the intervening weeks of chaos... Mom goes for it, substituting pomegranate-tangerine juice for tangerine juice, doubling the dried cranberries for the dried cherries, and using flour in place of corn starch. She skips the rind-grating and the sectioning of the tangerine since we have no actual tangerines in the house. Oh, and she omits the salt and uses low-sodium chicken broth, because this is an Extremely Extremely Low Sodium household.
6. Discover that this is The Best Interesting Gravy Ever.
7. Watch in pleased amusement, and chime in wholeheartedly, as the entire table agrees that we're doing this recipe again next year. It's awesome on turkey, and I'll bet it'll be equally amazing on chicken.

:-9

The original recipe is available online at http://www.coastalliving.com/ by searching the recipes for "Tangerine Gravy" or by going directly to this link (theoretically, anyway).

( Here's a copy of the recipe for posterity in case the Coastal Living site goes down... )

Enjoy!

Why were American and British tourists targeted in Mumbai? More links on this page to stories covering the battles between the military and terrorists at the hotels in India's financial center. It appears that nobody knows exactly who's carrying out the attacks; descriptions report men in their early 20s in jeans and casual shirts with guns. The BBC has reactions to the attacks. Also, in Thailand tourists are stranded as a possible coup closes the airports.

I'm thankful today for the many good things that have happened this year, large and small, for music and friends and Skiffy night and the fact that I'm still here -- and for you, all of you, who have been reading what I write on LiveJournal and here for the past five years. It has been a long, strange journey and we're not done traveling yet. Thanks for coming along for the ride, doing some of the driving on occasion and helping make sure that we're still on course.