The Slayers

Okay, it seems like I have to cut this year's advent series short, because with preparing the launch for my webcomic (on New Years) and all the other stuff, I found that I simply don't have time to write a short story a day.

Um, sorry everyone.

I talked with my mother this morning. She informed me that her sister, the youngest of the five siblings, passed away on Wednesday. From what Mom said, it was both sudden and kind of expected. She had Downs Syndrome and rapid onset Alzheimer's.

The funeral is tomorrow. We could, in theory, go, but I think we won't. The drive would take us nearly three hours each way. Mom won't be going, and from what she said, it's mainly for the people from my aunt's group home.

GIP.

Because it had to be done.

Image and text from here.

(Yoinkable with creds)

Ugh, I don't feel so good.

( Advent 03 )

Here's the list of books I've read in the last few months about which I've not managed to write comments. Most of them are manga, but a few are novels (kids' novels but novels nevertheless). Please feel free to ask me questions about any of these. I might have something to say in response to prompting.

( The List )

A few months ago, someone gave me these questions for that five questions meme. I didn't write down who, so I've forgotten (If it was you, please drop me a comment so I can edit this).

( The questions are mostly fandom/fanfic related )

I'm supposed to offer to ask questions of those who want it. I can't promise to be inspired or prompt, but I'm willing to try.

The modifications we've made to our current couch are helping my leg a bit but are giving me back trouble. This has led us to conclude that we really have to replace the couch. We're working on clearing the basement enough to move this couch downstairs so that we can try to sell it. This Saturday is going to be dedicated to couch shopping. At least this time we have a better idea of what won't work.

This means that we'll be selling the current couch. Please, anybody local (or who knows folks local to Ann Arbor), ask around if anyone you know is looking. It's a black Tylosand sectional. We have four pieces, three long and one short, so that it corners to run along two walls. I can provide more exact dimensions if anybody's actually interested.

Scott and I haven't discussed price at all, partly because we haven't worked out how much we paid originally. The couch is a year old, and we're not sure what that equals in depreciation.

Feel free to pass on my e-mail address if you know someone who's interested. We want this thing gone quickly.

OKAY. So, Black Friday was actually pretty anti-climactic, which was just fine with me. However, EVERY DAY AFTER IT HAS BEEN NOTHING SHORT OF HORRIBLE OMG. People, seriously. Just. Just go away. GO AWAY. :|

Also, I wasn't able to get a lappytoppy like I had planned, which was a downer. I was bitter, not gonna like. Still, it ended up being a good thing. I mean...I really don't have that kind of money to spend.

So I bought a PSP (whaaaaaat, I said I didn't have that kind of money to spend - the kind of money a PSP requires is much lower okay!) and one little game.

( Spoilers for Cloud, Tidus, and Cecil's Odysseys, as well as general DISSIDIA gameplay )

In other news, I have been quietly freaking out over Yuletide (WHAT WAS I THINKING) and wrangling tags (ugh, wait, why did I choose a fandom where everyone only has a first name?!). LIFE IS EXCITING.

Oh, hey, fic recs.

Allure of Honey, FF: Dissidia fic by Sinnatious. Cloud winds up in an outfit he swore he would never wear again. Crossdressing. Everyone/Cloud.

This fic. THIS FIC. I lol'd A LOT. Poor Cloud. <333333


Made for Much, FFXII fic by Original-Elfkin. Balthier is tired of the Westersands. Tired of the heat, tired of the sand stuck in every place, tired of his itchy 5 o'clock shadow. But a puzzle involving Vaan presents an entertaining distraction from his troubles. Pre-slash BalthierXVaan.

Another one that made me laugh, plus I really, really like the characterizations. I guess lulz are my main source of entertainment, what can I say.

This post originally made at Dreamwidth.

Things learned:
1. One edit is never enough.
2. Reading things aloud really does catch errors, even if it takes a half hour to read one 3,000 word chapter (that's 100 words a minute).

But, it's done. I finished my first multichapter fanfic in years -- I have a few, but the closest to done any of them are is 'rough draft'. Yes, I take this as Serious Writing, for all that it's fun stuff on the Internets.

Anyway, I present a Fullmetal Alchemist Space Opera AU focusing on Winry and Sheska. Because clearly I don't care if anyone actually reads stuff I poured blood, sweat and tears into.

Okay, so this one sucks, but I have a lot on my plate this December so some of these will suck because I don't have time making them better.

( Advent 02 )

The period of time from November 1st until I go on my holiday break always stinks, with the exception of Thanksgiving. I had a lovely time, by the way. I visited my aunt, and we had 17 people for dinner (my aunt Maryjean, her husband, two sons and one grandson, my uncle Bobby, his girlfriend, one daughter, one son-in-law and two grandkids, my uncle Donny, his wife and their two daughters, and my uncle Jay. Plus me.*)

( Read more... )

1) Post a list of up to 20 books/movies/anime/TV shows/video games/bands [fannish etc.] that you've had an obsessive fannish love or interest in at some time in your life.
2) Have your f-list guess your favourite character/member from each item.
3) When someone guesses correctly, strike through the item and put the name of your favorite character next to it.

1. Final Fantasy VIII
2. Final Fantasy XII
3. Avatar: The Last Airbender
4. Psych
5. Lost
6. Phineas and Ferb
7. Slayers
8. GetBackers
9. Star Trek AOS
10. Gundam Wing
11. Pirates of the Caribbean
12. Petshop of Horrors
13. Yami no Matsuei
14. Harry Potter
15. Junjou Romantica
16. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
17. Zombieland
18. Final Fantasy VII
19. Final Fantasy III
20. Scrubs

:D

This post originally made at Dreamwidth.

I've felt at least vaguely dissatisfied with everything I've read in the last few months. Some of these books might have gotten a more enthusiastic set of comments if I weren't having so many issues with anxiety and depression right now. I can't tell.

At any rate-- Take with a grain of salt.

( Atherton, Nancy. Aunt Dimity Vampire Hunter )

( Bell, Clare. The Jaguar Princess )

( Blame 1 )

( Bujold, Lois McMaster. Sharing Knife: Passage and Sharing Knife: Horizon )

( Chevalier d'Eon 2 )

( Demon Flowers 1 )

( E'S 1 )

( Eternal Alice Rondo 1 )

( Flint, Eric and Andrew Dennis. 1635: The Cannon Law )

( Flint, Eric and Ryk E. Spoor. Boundary )

( Godden, Rumor. Little Plum )

( Hana Kimi 22-23 )

( Hunter x Hunter 24 )

( Storey, Margaret. The Dragon's Sister and Timothy Travels )

There are a number of books I've read that I haven't written up yet. They're probably going to get an also-read entry with no comments or very slight comments. Some of them have been waiting since summer. It may be time to admit that they're not getting properly logged.

The LJ community fandom_stocking has started taking requests. The sign up entry can be found here: http://community.livejournal.com/fandom_stocking/38189.html

I haven't signed up because my brain is going blank when I try to think of things for which to ask. I also haven't yet seen anything that pinged immediately me as something I could write. I'm hoping there will be some requests coming along for fandoms I know well enough to write. I like the idea of giving people presents.

( Angelic Layer 11-15 )

( Eloise at Christmastime )

( Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid 8-13 )

( Handsome Siblings 11-15 )

( Handsome Siblings 16-20 )

( Kyo Kara Maoh 67-78 )

( Mai-HiME 17-20 )

( Mai-HiME 21-26 )

( Mamma Mia! )

( Monsters vs. Aliens )

( Moribito 8-17 )

( Primeval season 3 DVD 1-2 )

( Primeval season 3 DVD 3 )

( Shingu, Secret of the Stellar Wars 1-10 )

( Shingu, Secret of the Stellar Wars 11-21 )

( Star Trek )

It's the first of December, and you all know what that means, right? This is a continuation of #12 that I wrote last year. In other news, I got the Swine Flu vaccine last Friday, and I now feel fine, dad's still down for the count however.
( Advent 01 )

Oh, hey, good luck to my fellow retail slaves! TOMORROW IS GOING TO BE A BLAST. I'm going to make it worse for some poor bastard because I'm going to do some shopping before I have to be at work (at 6am omg). But damn it, one of those laptops WILL BE MINE. :|

This post originally made at Dreamwidth.

I think one of the things I hate the most about watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade is how my dad complains about the music. *G* However, I want to know why they're not singing happier songs. WHY ARE YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT LEAVING YOUR BOYFRIEND IN THE THANKSGIVING PARADE? :|

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate! We're not doing the whole "family getting together" thing. *SHRUG* It's just going to be the three of us, which is just fine with me. XD

This post originally made at Dreamwidth.

The bad news is that it's been starting to look like it for WEEKS now. Seriously. WEEKS. As in there were still Halloween things up when Christmas stuff started popping up on people's houses and lawns and such, and being TURNED ON!! There have been lights LIT on O Street for weeks now! I've seen the Twelve Days of Christmas decorations up for ages now too--and one store had a toy soldier lit up. South Pointe's been Christmased up already too. *shakes head* And Christmas music is playing intermittently on the radio--although there was a distinct WTF moment for me when a Sirius station billed as "love songs" was playing nonstop Christmas music. Um. Yeah. They HAVE a Christmas-only station! What the hell are they taking over the love songs for?!

Now, in Nebraska, since the weather is a game of Russian Roulette in November, it's reasonably understandable that people get things up early so they aren't trying to do it in snow. But having it up is one thing. Having it TURNED ON is quite another. Standard protocol states that Christmas decorations may be turned on and such after Thanksgiving, or on Thanksgiving night. That'd be TOMORROW, kids. Oy.

Anyway, after tomorrow, Christmas me up. I'll take it then. But when you see turkeys AND candy canes up at the SAME HOUSE... it's a little weird.

In the meantime, bright blessings on all your Thanksgivings out there.

Scott's back at work today. He recovered enough yesterday to transport Cordelia to Daisies, so I'm hopeful that all is well. We may never know what caused the problem.

Cordelia asked me not to stay for the Daisies meeting. That was hard (but necessary). Scott and I went home and watched TV for about fifty minutes. I imagine Scott got some amusement out of watching me make myself wait patiently for the right time to put my coat on and head for the car again. Part of me wanted to go back immediately so as not to be late picking Cordelia up.

I asked the psychiatrist today about borrowing her light box. There's a waiting list, so it will be two or three weeks before I get my turn. I'm hopeful that it will be helpful this year since I've been wanting light.

The pain levels from my leg are down. Sitting on the couch still hurts, but many other things no longer do or do at a level that's ignorable. I'm continuing the PT exercises and hoping that the improvement continues. Scott's starting to look at replacement couches, but I'm still hoping we won't need to go that far.