Teh Voodoo Chil'e gave me these five words she associates with me:
"Dogs, Twitter, Writing, Asexuality, Demonology"
Dogs
Why would anyone associate me with dogs? I don't even own one. Oh, wait, I know: it's because I'm completely dotty on them. Big ones, medium-sized ones, bloke ones, unisex ones, even the less disgusting of the small girly ones – you know, the self-respecting small dogs who aren't called Frippzie Bunchkin and Booflewoofles and La Teeshah and Sparkles and Pixietoes, and who don't have yellowing curly hair around their eyes and mouths, and whose eyes don't pop out of their syringomyeliac skulls, and who don't growl and foam at stray air currents. But particularly the sensible ones with big brown eyes and flopped ears, coats of smooth black or wavy gold, perhaps going a bit grey around the muzzle, who sniff at your face and decide whether it needs a bit of a lick, who smell of dog, who groan in comfort when you do their ears properly and whose back legs twitch when you tickle the magic spot just above the flank. And also the silly ones who herd their tennis ball, jump into lawn sprinklers and proudly bring you half a tree branch covered in mud.
It's not anything untoward. I just really like dogs. I miss having them in my life.
I resisted Twitter for the longest time, but my Charming And Devastatingly Good-Looking Colleagues twisted my arm. Being someone who can't help creating in one form or another, I've gravitated towards using it for extreme short-form fiction. It's pretty fun squeezing as much detail as you can into 125 characters.
Writing
Like I said, I pretty much can't help creating, and because I'm very far from a visual person at heart, and thoroughly enjoy the feel of the English language, I write. Actually, I type: I can't write all that well. Another reason I don't indulge in other forms of creation is that I'm dyspraxic and ambisinistrous. I occasionally need help picking up a playing card or moving very small objects precisely, and I'm uncoordinated on an epic scale, and sometimes, just for laughs, I get these SUPER FUN manual tremors. Sometimes I'm fine, though.
I'm thinking of participating in this year's NaNo, if I can just get myself organised before then.
Asexuality
I've never been sexually attracted to anyone in my 27 years and have no interest in bucking the trend. No, I'm not sick. No, I don't feel I'm missing out. No, I'm not unhappy about it. No, I'm not in the closet and in denial (HA HA HA HA!). No, I'm not under a religious vow of celibacy (HA HA HA HA!). No, I don't just need introducing to more beautiful women in hats or long-haired girly geek boys who need my help. (These things are nice, in the sense that executive toys or pictures of lava flows are nice, but I'd quickly get bored of having any of them on my desktop day in day out.)
And no, I'm not going to sleep with you "to find out what I'm missing" or "because you can't dismiss something you haven't tried" or any other reeeaaallllly clever and original arguments, and if anyone is ever stupid (and blind/drunk) enough to try such a line on me I'll thoughtfully muse "you know, I guess I can't dismiss amputee fetishes without trying one. Hold still, I've got a Swiss Army Knife right here". (Y'know, besides, if I ever decide to try alcohol it'll be well-researched vintage, not any old White Lightning I pick up off a pub table, so to speak, and it'll be off my own bat, not because some genius knows what I like and it just happens to coincide with him/her getting laid.)
I will raise children one day, though. Preferably Rottie/German Shepherd crosses, or any mixture I adopt from a rescue centre. Hybrid vigour is the way to go, people. Please boycott pedigrees for a few more years until we see if the KC's new rulings (coincidentally coinciding with the BBC exposing the state of the UK's pedigree dog breeders) improve the lives of some of these poor animals.
Demonology
During the course of my earlier writings I made up some hellhounds (working on the irrefutable logic that talking fireproof dog = best thing ever), which meant I had to make up the rest of their universe (or cosmology, perhaps), which left me with some rather odd demons. There are demon hackers who do things like grow particular sets of horns to experiment with radio waves. There is an eight foot tall scaly bat thing called Fragrant Cherry Blossom. There is a hacker-geneticist called Mendel. There is a remarkably unpleasant sort called Bruce Thing who tends to get killed in quite a variety of painful ways. There are even succubi of many, many sexes and genders.
There are angels, too, which are different, and hounds of heaven, who are terrifyingly cool. Because I have a thing for ghost dogs and Wild Hunt mythology, too. Can you tell?
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Just getting that title pun out of the way so I don't have to use it anywhere else in my writings.
As I understand it, it's normal for creators to be pleased when their creations cause reactions in onlookers. I think that's meant to apply to negative reactions too, sometimes. It certainly does for me in this case.
I was talking to Vespy this morning before leaving for work, and mentioned in passing one of the worlds I built for our little interplanetary ding-dong known as the Twine Wars. The world is called Instar and it's... I suppose you'd call it on the unusual side for generic fantasy, despite being populated by humanoids with pretty few differences from your generic sapiens. They're not especially nice humanoids, but then, humanoids tend not to be, so this is all within the bounds of sensibility.
Anyhoo, I believe the term Ves used to describe lovely little hemispherical Instar was "fucked-up", and in response to further questioning from a fascinated writer he said its inhabitants, and I'm paraphrasing, creep him out. I was kind of surprised, especially as they're somewhat caricatures of a type of animal he likes, but I suppose it's not too surprising on the whole. Ves comes across as a pretty honourable, easy-going and sane sort of chap, while Instarrians, well, produced Weft. (Who is not a typical Instarrian, but rather an extreme worst case scenario.)
I'm rather delighted by this reaction. As long as everyone doesn't feel that way and avoid interacting with them, because then I'll just be sad that the silly-billies are all missing the joke. (Because joke it is. Right now the thing I find funniest is that my ethics force me to view Instar as the good guys for being neutral.)
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Um. OK, that was a little odd. I just got the strong urge to buy a mobi phone or other cheap camera so that I could start a Flickr blog of five-word food reviews.
I don't even eat that much bought/packaged food!
Can't even blame the water cooler for this one. (It's only 1.5 arm lengths from me, but I'm known to get crazy ideas during the couple of steps to it, which my brain appears to categorise as "my time" rather than "company time".) This one appeared while I was sitting at my desk eating a Sainsbury low-fat Moroccan butternut squash wrap.
Nice. Right side of spicy.
Can anyone reassure me that it's normal to be mobbed by low-flying ideas at any time of the day or night? (Either that or I'm turning into my mother...) Have you had many doozies while at work/at college/meant to be doing other things? Mine generally tend to be better subconsciously-thought-out than the whole tortilla photoblog thing...
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I gave blood this evening. They looked askance at me afterwards because I'm so tired-looking and kept me for a while for observation. When I didn't keel over (although one other patient looked alarmed and said I was going pale!1) they let me meander on home, which is only a short walk in any case.
(I felt like saying "You shoulda seen me this morning. And all day at work. And all week, in fact." I've been looking pretty dazed for a long time, however much sleep I get, and we're talking up to 9hrs a night which is more than enough for anyone healthy.)
I have a Penguin biscuit. Seeing as I p-p-p-paid in blood for it, I am going to keep and consume it. If I can stabilise my weight, anyway; alarmingly, last weekend I gained like a kilo and a half for NO GORRAM REASON, SRSLY, I'd REMEMBER if I'd eaten anything fun, JEEZ could we randomly LOSE weight instead ya think?!
So, tomorrow is a bank holiday, then it's the weekend and then I have a week booked off work. Which is good. I owe some things, including an art exchange picture and replies to some emails, and want to finish off that little Suitov-Mistake story shortly. Also, need a haircut. When it gets to this length it curls up cutely at the ends, which, while obviously extremely manly, is not quite the effect I desire.
Next Tuesday: GeekUp or Magers? What a hectic social calendar. Stay tuned as my divided loyalties yawn, stretch and then serenely do whichever it was they were intending to do all along.
1 I responded with an interested "Really?", checked my pulse (well, tried to find one and couldn't, which is usual) and then pinched my fingertips to check their flush reaction and temperature. "Hmm, they are somewhat cold." This coming from someone who had previously been slouching with a head cupped in one hand, elbow resting on the table, drooping eyelids and generally appearing semi-conscious, may have been a socially inappropriate response. It's possible I was supposed to have been alarmed instead or go and lie down or ask someone to loosen my stays or something. Probably just as well I didn't whip out a Von Luschan chart and ask him to quantify "pale". Oh well, they're shot of me for another four months.
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My weekend was spent:
- Making music (fun)
- Taking cat to a Sunday surgery on account of a sudden rush of blood to the urine (cystitis; he's had it before. Not fun, but interesting)
- De-virusing computers and memory sticks (Slen is the prime suspect for this. Not fun, but I don't mind doing things like this with computers)
From the music, I learned that I am awesome, and the three of us (Slen, me and our mother, who helped with the later stages of the lyrics) are capable of unbelievable heights of awesomeness. (Perhaps mostly me and my mother on the lyrics; it might have been a quicker process if I wasn't determinedly trying to keep Slen's attention on it so he'd have a chance to contribute. Noodling his guitar and canoodling someone else were both vying for his attention.)
From the vet palaver, we learned of a place that has reasonable prices and a Sunday surgery, and found out a few more interesting things about cat innards from the vet, who made the time to chat to my mother in some detail. (Probably because there weren't any other patients there; that and she's good at getting medicos to talk to her in a non-patronising way, which I can't make them do, even though I'm intelligent and interested too.)
I also put a pill in the cat and held him for ritual emasculation (claw-clipping and eye drops for his cohnjuhntuhvituhs). And fed the neighbouring cats.
From the virus kerfuffle, I learned that ClamAV does not find the particular autorun.inf virus we had. On the advice of some pages I googled up (having identified the virus by myself from behaviour and a little investigation), I installed Avast!, which is spelled with an exclamation mark, and which found and removed the thing.
Avast! demands an internet connection to download its libraries, which means my mother's laptop (which is never connected to the internet as a matter of practice, but was infected by Slen's memory stick) is a little stuck — ClamAV Portable, as I mentioned, not being able to deal with this virus. I asked her to take the laptop into work and have their technicians look at it, because in any case they should be made aware of the threat, but I don't know if she'll do as I advise. Meanwhile, any USB drive connected to it is of course immediately reinfected.
Happy Australia Day and Invasion Day to those who mark one or both.
A programme called Terry Pratchett: Living with Alzheimer's is coming to BBC Two "soon"! At last, I've got some use out of the annoying TV on the wall that's turned on all the time with the sound down. (It seems his face is the same as his voice, in that I always recognise the man if I catch him out of the corner of my eye/ear, for example on a television trailer. Weird. Even my immediate relatives can't boast that level of recognisability to me.)
I keep watching Demons even though it's crap and Glenister's accent is beyond self-parody. There's one character called "Mina Harker", which annoys me almost as much as if someone were to make a character called "Irene Adler". (Which they have. Not long ago, I saw some kiddies' series to do with Sherlock Holmes and the Irregulars, and there was a murderous jewel thief character who was meant to be Adler. NO. JUST NO.)
There are some things that are guaranteed to be rubbish if done by pretty much anyone, and portrayals of supposed Mina Harkers most assuredly qualify. Don't mention That Film based on That Comic Book, either...
Oh, there has been one good thing about Demons: at the beginning of the series, the Monster of the Week was a demon named Gladiolus Thripp, which is quite possibly one of the best names ever. He was killed off in the first episode. BOO.
Oh, and I saw on Amazon that All Cats Have Asperger's Syndrome, while All Dogs Have ADHD. What is this popery! My brother gets a better genetic deal than me in EVERYTHING! (I'll have you know I'm an alpha dog, morally if nothing else. I think too much about food and too little about sex to be a tomcat.)
Current music: Power Quest, Into The Light, of which there are no words to describe the wonderful uplifting cheesiness.
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Well, a little year-end status report seems appropriate.
Way back in December 2007/January 2008 I thought I'd have a stab at writing a poem a week throughout the year. I made it to half the total, 26. You can read them here. That total includes some I'm genuinely proud of, such as the sonnets (Railing is my favourite; here are some kitties too) and Wefty's little apology/self-hatred/guilt trip/mourning poem (I don't care that it met with general apathy and criticism; I'm proud of it), as well as some lighter ones I wrote to amuse colleagues and others.
Plenty about dogs, too. A late favourite of mine is Country Road Meeting... not exactly light, but definitely enjoyable to write, and hell, I find it funny.
What did surprise me, and is one reason I'm laid-back about the poetry target, is that I suddenly started artsing again. I honestly never expected to use my Wacom tablet for anything serious again, after going through a particularly horrible time of hating my 'art'—and this was serious; I can't tell you how severely without scaring you—and generally thinking I'd never make another visual thing. I can't explain why I was able to pick up the stylus again, or why I did so, but it's been fun. The first thing I painted was a giant crow made of insects, which won me pictures of Weft as a furry in return. (It's impossible to explain to those not in the know how incredibly funny this is.) I laid into some huge projects, too, including a parrot, an elf (half) and a grandmother.
Other artwork included owl, dog with furry (I like this one a lot, probably because of the boar piglet), red panda (I should definitely do more of those), dog jumping, dog-in-costume, Egyptian wolf, sketch wolf, inky-style sceptical demon and human (warning: human).
Here also are some (sort of) kitties for you cat-loving epic(fail)ures.
A lot later in 2008, we set a deadline for "the end of the year" to start our epic Profusion project, formerly the 'Great War', which we've now retitled to 'The Twine Wars' to make it a little more distinctive. And all right, I left it until the last minute, and yes, technically it was 2009 in NZ already, but nevertheless, for readers in any time zone west of Finland's, the very first Twine Wars posting did indeed go up before the end of the year.
Which is nice, very nice. My major characters aren't yet in play this early in the storyline, but I can already tell I'm going to have fun with Paraskive Taxidies ("parra-skeevuh tax-ee-dee-ess"), my viewpoint character for this region, who is also one of my comparatively rare female characters.
If Weft would stop cuddling Sweetoff and get in character, I have prequel short stories to write for both of them, long before they met. I might even have yet another stab at drawing one or the other of them, too.
I'm also fatass again after going nuts over the holidays (sigh), but that is soooo temporary. Diet starts tomorrow. Well, technically today by now, but I'm finishing this can of lychees before bed, because DUDE LYCHEES. OM NOM NOM.
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The work email poet-pirate strikes again...
Context needed. Someone in Religion sent around a blank-verse invitation to come pub crawling for his leaving do, mentioning bars called Odder and Long Legs. (Jabez Clegg is another bar along Oxford Road.) I'm still on holiday leave on the date in question, so:
Pub Crawl RSVP
With deep regrets, etcetera,
To turn down such a lyric lure
I find myself away that day
Upon a quest obscure;
For secretary's siren song
Informs me I have leave to burn
And must essay some holiday
Or lose it, in my turn.
So raise a glass for absent Herms
And happy quaffing, one and all:
Be odd, be clegg, be long of leg -
The better pubs to crawl.
(Oh, and I'm well aware the last line can be interpreted in more than one way. "To crawl the better [of the] pubs" or "The better to crawl pubs".)
That takes me to 26 poems, half my target for this year (52). I'm quite happy with that, especially because I've also started digi-painting again in the meantime, which I hadn't expected to do.
I may even bubble up with some more poetry before the year's out, if all my creative juice isn't spent on paintings and writing the Twine Wars opening.
edit: A few people have emailed me back with things like "Brilliant!", "You really are very good at writing poetry. Have you written a lot? Have you published anything? I'm properly impressed…", "I loved your poem back to [colleague] - good work!" and "Bravo!" Fun to get compliments and hopefully give other people a chuckle out of their afternoons. *danceydancey*
edit2: reply from sender:
"Its bad form to send a reply so witty
It make the author of the invite feel rather shitty"
Awwwwww... haha. (Don't worry - he didn't mind really.)
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"Me" questions in this meme refer to the person you got it from. In my case this is: Charlycrash.
01) Are you currently in a serious relationship?
I have lots of serious familial and friendly relationships, thanks.
02) What was your dream growing up?
I've never had any idea what I want to Do With My Life, only what makes me happy moment-to-moment. And that's weird to say, because most people for whom it would be true live lives completely opposite to mine. I don't bungee jump or go clubbing or take drugs or anything.
03) What talent do you wish you had?
I was thinking the other day of something I wished I could do... I can't remember. Maybe accents. Or general hearing acuity; I'd like to be able to tell what a schwa is or when something's out of phase. Hell, just not falling asleep to the sound of certain specific people's voices would be most handy in meetings and presentations...!
04) If I bought you a drink what would it be?
How would I know? If you know my drink preferences, it'd be something like grape juice with peach, lychee juice, melon juice or things of that nature, although I'm quite happy with apple. A virgin strawberry daiquiri if you're really trying hard. Please talk me out of ordering the carrot juice; I keep forgetting I hate it.
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I didn't get at the computer tonight, which sucked rather because I wanted to ask a couple of people a couple of things, not to mention making a start on one or more of the items on said list.
P.S. No, the entry title is not emo. It's sung by someone with a Sarth Afrikan accent at about 300bpm, i.e. is DragonForce and very happy metal indeed.
I did tweak the picture. It's more thoroughly shaded now. I really am rubbish at shading. :D I fixed everything except one detail that I couldn't face (it was laaate... well, early, and it would've involved fudging some fabric folds, and just no. I draw cute quadrupedal animals for a reason, dammit, and that reason is the evil that is textiles).
Salk really liked it, I think. But I really really have to get faster at this. I'm learning stuff each time, but I wish I could dash stuff off in an hour or two.
I have lyrics to finish for something else, and I've completely neglected my poetry (I was going to write one a week; it's September and I think I've written about 15 altogether this year). But it's all Something Creative, so all interchangeable... Except for prose writing, which I take seriously.
DragonForce tonight! I came into work in The Coat for the occasion. I like my The Coat. I wear the black walking boots and fingerless gloves every day anyway, but today it was the leather pair; biker rather than hobo.
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Pleasing: Coming up with a really obvious pun for your protag's ship's name, assuming everyone and pis dog will have used said pun before, Googling it and only finding 37 hits, mostly all not using it in the punny sense.
(I guess it helps that the pun only really works in the British pronunciation. Still... it's a lovely multi-level pun, dammit, and should get more exposure.)
Slightly alarming: Getting 6500 words into your short story, definitely more than halfway, and finding it has been breeding, and there is now at least one sequel, probably two, standing demurely in line. Tapping their feet.
I have an idea in my head of releasing parts 1 and 2 back-to-back, so although I hope to have 1 finished in a day or so, I may hang fire on it for a while. We'll see.
Meanwhile, I have so failed with the weekly poetry thing. XD I may try to catch up, but at this rate it's a bit like if Sisyphus had a pointy-haired boss, a wackstreme tremor and a cat tripping him up.
I will also try to catch up with blogs etc.
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Those of you who listen to audio books — or have made them, or recorded podcasts, etc — do you have any tips on recording them? This is for a relative who's hard of eyesight, but may be listened to by friends and family.
How do you like the reader to speak? Clearly? Slowly? Are audio effects (vocal effects, background noise/music) ok or annoying? Is it jarring to have a different speaker for the dialogue (or some of it)? I know enough not to attempt accents, but do you expect to hear the reader speak differently for different voices?
Anything else at all? I'm in a difficult position because not only do I hate my own voice for a few reasons, I also hate audio books, talk radio, radio plays... and so I know that most of the things that annoy me probably don't annoy the people who listen to such things.
I won't be abridging it, but I don't know yet what I'll do with all the poetry and song lyrics in there. Slen wants to record them, which means writing tunes for them and so on, but I'm worried that if I get him involved to that extent it'll take far too long.
(Cross-posted to novelwriters on LJ.)
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Well, most importantly, I learned that it's pronounced "droople". ;)
(Also that I'm in the minority by saying "micicle" where most people say "my-sequel". I can't resist it, though; it's too much fun to say.)
Other than that, while chatting to the organiser I brought up (what I guessed, from brief reading, to be) the main requirement I have of a CMS that could cause problems with Drupal's way of viewing the world. Thanks to having read through drupal.org in advance, I was able to convey this intelligently and ask the right sorts of questions.
*waits for disbelief to die down*
In brief, building on my last entry, this potentially problematic thing is creating sub-users as part of a user profile:
- a user can post as themselves (their main profile) on every type of node
- on some types of node, a user can post as any of their sub-users
- sub-users are switchable using a simple interface (with UI design issues here too, obviously)
- the switcher interface is only visible on the appropriate node types (this much I know should be easily done with *blanks and looks up the term* blocks or something similar)
- some site features are organised per user (user role/permissions, sitewide communication)
- some site features are organised per sub-user (though the main user gets one too) (blogs, 'profiles' which are also encyclopaedia entries)
For sub-user, of course, read "character". Aha, Ceiling Dog sees where I'm going with this.
I was told that I'm the first person to ask about this. Whee, I'm special! However, I'm also told that it should be possible, and that a module called Node Profile is what I need to look for.
Other random features I'll need — list may be updated as I think more:
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The Profusion redesign discussion is unfolding interestingly. Anyone with opinions, even if they're only the "I know what I hate when I see it" variety, please chime in.
As a whole different topic, the other night I started talking with Ree about what exactly I'd include if I were laying specs for a scalable writing-roleplay community sort of thing (à la SFV) to build from the ground up. The current plan is to stick with Discus because it's far better than any other forum software I've ever used. Indeed, if they ever release version 5 I'm prepared to pay for it (gasp). I'm only witholding my money now because they keep promising 5 then ducking questions about when it's due, and I don't like that.
Still, thinking along the lines of scratch-cobbled software is entertaining, if nothing more. I have half a site structure in mind. You can see where some webby2.0 and/or semantic elements could creep in (some variant of XFN among the characters! Generate your fecund elven prince's family tree! I'm buzzing at the mouth just thinking about all the fun) - and, by contrast, where you'd need to stamp down hard on arbitrary HTML and impose hard-coded limits on things like graphics. (People with more experience than me in horrid Sue-ridden huge-signature-graphic-using communities would have even more idea of What Not to Allow, I'm sure.)
Some flavours: the distinction between Pro and Twine (our encyclopaedia) would be much reduced, with background information a lot more closely integrated with the actual storyboards. Character personal 'blogs'. In-character discussion areas, with the IC/OOC line truly understood and reinforced and supported at a software level. Statistics (character last seen on #; click here to see all characters of this species; this character is currently in # active stories; # characters list 'sex' as their occupation). Oh, and an absolute ban on using copyrighted photos as PBs. So we'd need a supporting artist community - or an avatar generator...
Of course... actual members. Yah. Think small, Mutt. Think content, think customer service.
I saw an interesting plot idea on BRPS, of all places. I might introduce a storyboard like that, if I can find the interest for it...
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I think I've sat around basking in the "At last, I feel as though I can really call myself a writer without the need to include sarcastic single quote marks!" glow for long enough and need to create more low-grade fun. Problem is, there's nowhere (/no-one with whom) I can write at my usual haunt. And I'm certainly not ready to start any more long solo projects just yet.
I don't feel up to seeking another RP venue either. I dipped into a couple of the multiversal communities on LJ a few times, with a slightly alternative-universe version of one of my regular characters, but those comms move so fast that I don't feel up to that either.
Stupid me. If there's no polite opening for me to write, I'll jolly well make one. It's about time to boot the Unnamed Taverna anyway.
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Omfd I just rediscovered something. Poetriez!
( Read the rest of this entry » )Originally published at HellHound.net. You can comment here or there.
I’m having awful trouble choking down the prescribed quantity of water, and suspect my weight loss is suffering for it in these final couple of weeks of no-food-whatsoever-for-Muttly. 800 grams in a week… sounds so puny, right?
(Well, it does compared to the better weeks. Yes I damn well WILL indirectly gloat; you should just be glad I’m too lazy at the moment to coordinate new ridiculously cheap suit and shirts and my digital camera.)
They should make a stand-alone version of the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion character creation screen. It’s bloody marvellous. If only I’d got a screenshot to work, I’d actually have (admittedly rough and digitised) front, ¾ and profile views to show to people who ask me what Weft or Iceheart looks like. So sue me, I’m autistic and need such cheaty tools to visualise someone.
Iceheart’s quite obviously a black-haired Nord (duh) and I used an Imperial as a base for Weft, though we all know he’s really a Khajiit.
And no, by the way, I’m not actually playing the game except for watching one or the other of my bros and calling out helpful advice. But the face editor screen still kicks arse. Wonder if there’s anything similar out there… or alternatively, wonder how I can get a screenshot from the blamed game itself. Didn’t exactly have a lot of time to futz around with it, because Slen’s hopelessly addicted and wanted his fix.
I’m gnashing my teeth at the Jack comic riddles. I’m fine with things that require a little effort (or squinting) and a bit of inspiration. But when the answer depends on you guessing that an idiot forgot Apache servers are case sensitive or what-have-you, that’s just unfair. And this latest hidden picture one, I can’t get at all; neither of the possibilities I’ve spotted seems to work when I try inputting them.
Edit: ok, found the answer now thanks to people on the forums. I saw the correct hidden thing but misidentified it. Meh. I’m slow and/or it was far too obscure a puzzle; don’t know how anyone would ever guess that it was meant to be a close-up of a body part, even one belonging to an iconic character. *shrug*
Originally published at HellHound.net. You can comment here or there.
Shopping went ok for the others. We spent practically the whole day in Mcr. Slen got his Müttly Föe coat. I didn’t get any of the animal pressies I came for, though I got something small for work. We almost didn’t see the film because neither of them could “be arsed”, but then they actually rethought.
Spoiler for Eragon: SNAPE KILLS VERCINGETORIX. (Not really, obviously, but the film was an absolute ton of crap - I’d heard it was bad, but the reports had been much understated! - and I recommend you don’t pay money to see it, even to film pirates. …It was refreshing to hear goodies with English accents and a baddie American, though. And the waverer’s ‘accent’ was sliding all over the place, obviously an unwitting reflection of his loyalties.)
[It] is really, really sad that sex has become so idealized by our society that nobody holds any value in innocence and friendship any more.
–Nobleplatypus via Monakoza
Just a comment from an asexuality community I read; not by someone I know, but I thought it was nicely expressed.
And no, it’s absolutely not a snipe at anyone who slashes any of my characters. I rather like the not-terribly-serious speculation - after all, for example, I’ve been writing something into Weft from early days. But I don’t think anyone has completely identified what the something is yet. (Besides, with the way tiny bits of his backstory keep sketching themselves more clearly in my woozy brain, I may end up as confused as the rest of you. Forty or fifty years of oddjob assassination must leave you with a lot of stories to tell.)
I’ve been rather down today. First of all I was feeling completely thrashed this morning - joints, back, everything aching, tired, freezing and (I was told) looking really pale. I got woken up in the most inept way imaginable by my brothers, only a couple of minutes before Bandmate wanted to kick us out, and they proceeded to hurry me up by repeating obnoxious noises ad nauseam. (”Maybe you could cut me just a little slack, would it kill you to be civil?” as the song that’s currently playing just happened to say. Heh.) So I was unhappy and grumpy all morning, just wanting to sleep and be warm.
Around midday Slen went off to London for a few days with dad. Having stayed up to talk to him because we seldom get an uninterrupted chance to do so (this occasion being no exception), I crashed into bed. I woke up still cold and less achy (though now my back’s starting up again, for which - well, thanks, spine dude).
At a low point this afternoon, I was really, seriously wondering why I ever come out of the safety of my own head to interact with the physical world when all it ever results in is injury and humiliation, neither of which I enjoy. (Printers that don’t print straight and a guillotine that doesn’t cut straight were some of the culprits. Does it count as “a poor workman blames his tools” if I whine about my tremorful hands?) Then I wrapped some presents, further confirming my ineptitude with all things tangibly extant. Paper too short, unevenly cut, sellotape mishaps, much loud playing of Gamma Ray’s Somewhere Out In Space album, which may have managed to help my mood.
I have to wonder if my body’s seriously trying to tell me something. I’ve been craving terribly specific foodstuffs, which is usually a heavy hint from within. (Egg and onion rice with peas and spinach is the most recent, even though I didn’t see anyone eating anything of the sort.) I suspect my body’s had enough of the not-eating-anything superfun medical regime and wants to do the food reintroduction quitezoonzoonernowplz. Patience, spacehopper. It’s due to end soon anyway, but I want to hold on and do these extra weeks since the doc said I could and since it’ll miss out difficulties with Xmas - much easier not to be able to eat anything instead of trying to calculate stuff while everyone’s all “roast potaters yay”.
Hmm, satsumas. Or is that mandarin? Yes, mandarin I think. With yoghurt. Also fresh raspberries. (See what I mean?)
Slen’s coat almost fits round my girth. It is too long for me, of course, but upon my name, it almost fastens! I may end up narrower than him! Which will be a very poor second to being as tall as him, but, well, genes. THANKS DAD’S SIDE, SCREW YOU.
I think I’ll be ok mood-wise, but I’m not sure I won’t still be ill tomorrow. We’ll see. If it isn’t my body rebelling, this not-quite-right feeling over the last few weeks may have been my immune system trying to fight something off. It’s awfully tempting to give in.
Originally published at HellHound.net. You can comment here or there.
I hate Wikipedia. <3
My number of noun classes just doubled (possibly more). And the number of dialects TRIPLED. All because aboriginal people are too damn cool. Bastards.
Considering I only wanted a quick alphabet for pronunciation purposes, forget spelling rules foisting themselves on me, I find all of this horribly unfair. (Though at least Eirhat is now a ‘legal’ name again, which is a relief, because I quite like it.)
Oh, and since finding out that a bunch of real-life languages really do have ‘animate’ and ‘inanimate’ noun classes, which I didn’t know when I was throwing around ideas for rocca languages, now I shall probably have to use that.
DO NOT WANT. I’m not a linguist, dammit, I’m not even interested in language structure and vile grammar - someone tell my stupid imagination that!
P.S. I’m over perving on the Alienware ALX now. Well, mostly. Well, ok, no. *goes back to stare at the spec a little bit more* (P.P.S. my sibling and bunnyfriend are bonkers and I ♥ them)
Originally published at HellHound.net. You can comment here or there.
Snog used the “well, technically it’s tomorrow here in Finland” excuse to open his pressie, so here it is! (Warning, the main one is 420k and big. I went overboard with the how-to-make-a-background-the-cheaty-way method I stole. *grins*)
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