Back safe and sound. Glad I managed to get away and see #chat peeps this weekend. Some good films at the fest, though a shame that some of the best content was screened on Friday night, when most people came to the event on Saturday. I was highly amused by "Hands Solo", a mockumentary about a Deaf porn star with a talented hand. Every time someone said the words 'hand porn' I thought fondly of Watson. ;) There were plenty of darker films too, and some interesting documentaries. Shorter films were a mixed bag as you'd expect at film fest, but I was rather taken with a Spanish film '12' which was sort of Groundhog Day with an older Deaf widower protagonist. One of the docus was an early 2009 one about deaf and hearing brains -- interesting and factoidy, and featuring a pd patch ;) Had to go and download pd (puredata) and open up some of my old files.

Still depressed so I'm trying to keep busy writing to take my mind off it. No one on my chat list appears to be online =P

So here's my latest poetry attempt. Ignore at your own interest.

( Warning for poetry... )

Home again, home again, lickety split. Where lickety split is defined as two long haul flights between Australia and the UK broken up by two nights in Bangkok.

Currently pushing the boundaries of my jet lag in order to get back to routine as quickly as possible. Where routine is defined as doing whatever occurs to me as something that might be good to do at that moment. I really must get more of a routine. I wonder where I can buy one?

The flights home went very well. I'm enormously proud of the fact that I did not use a single one of the valium prescribed to me for any of the flights. It helped that the flights were all nearly as smooth as [insert really smooth metaphor of your choice here], but it helped me regain some of my lost confidence in flying. I think the Buddhist monks on the first leg of the journey were also a soothing presence.

Also. Apparently we missed "DW: Waters Of Mars" while away. Now how did I just know that was going to happen? grrrrr

Current Mood: and hungry

The whole thing.

Cut just to today's addition.

So maybe it's time for a catch up on his virtual life. What kind of man has he become? The kind that wears expensive Italian suits and carries an annoying little dog...



( More picspam under the cut... )

Current Mood: busy

Category: Action, Drama
Rating: Gen
2nd Story of From the Ends to the Beginning

Introduction: Avon, Jenna and Wolf survive the crash. Something shocking happens.

Note: This is a very short chapter but one filled with some surprising (I hope) revelations.

Note2: Edited one bit because of confusion in references.

A day and a half left to go!

I'm wondering if any of you use rewards -- tangible or otherwise -- as motivation for writing, and (if so) what.

Some people I know promise themselves a reward after completing a large project, like a vacation day, a book they've wanted for a long time, or something else substantial.

For me rewards seem to work best on a micro-level, i.e. when I tell myself "write for 15 minutes, and then you can read badfic/check email/other cat-vaccuuming occupation." If I complete my Yuletide first draft by tomorrow evening, I may buy myself a froofy coffee-drink Tuesday morning, but that will be about it.

How about you -- do you plan to give yourself a reward if you meet your picowrimo goals?

Just heard some very depressing news so I'm not in a good mood.

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

Title: The bottle
Word Count: 228
Rating: Gen
Notes: An Alternative start to Series 3: Story inspired by "Shake the bottle, wake the Avon." produced by the advertising slogan generator here using Avon as the word.

( cut for length )

Current Mood: amused

Still dehydrated & have headache. *grrr* Am going to continue FAFFING about with Misfits of Science & hope to fic later. In the meantime have some fresh giraffes.

I have now submitted 1,015 giraffes. I'm creeping up on Canada which has produced 1099.

( 3 pics showing last night's giraffes, including a rocking giraffe that turned out quite cute and makes me smile )

I'm at Heathrow set to take a flight to Taipei (changing at Hong Kong) for a very brief work trip - I arrive Monday evening and fly out Friday morning (at 6am, meaning I leave the hotel about 3am - ugh). I'm in Taipei Monday night, then off visiting companies Tuesday and staying in Taichung Tuesday and Wednesday night and then back to Taipei on Thursday. The schedule is pretty tight, so not a lot of sight-seeing time, but I'm sure I'll manage to squeeze in a couple of bars.

I had never heard of W. H. Auden's Academic Graffiti, but now, thanks to Language Log, I know this limerick:

To get the Last Poems of Yeats,
You need not mug up on dates;
All a reader requires
Is some knowledge of gyres
And the sort of people he hates.


And also from the Department of Utterly Random Bits of Information, have a look at this completely fabby picture (Nächtliche Heimkehr - Coming Home At Night - by Franz Sedlacek), which I saw at an exhibition about Vienna between the wars this morning:




It is, of course, better full-sized, when you can see the look of horror on the young man's face, as he staggers in from his night of dissipation, a cheery "Hallo!" on his lips, only to find this collection of gargoyles (his family? His future?) waiting for him.

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

Here's today's prompt for you to post your updates and any excerpts and thoughts etc in comments.

I haven't posted for a little bit, though I've been updating the counter. :-)






I started a baby afghan, so my stitch count has jumped.

Current Mood: busy

The last Drabble of Boredom is for aurora_novarum, who requested: "Zhaan and Aeryn (season 1 don't spoil me!)--empathy and violence." Sorry it took me a little while to get to this one, but here it is.

Title: The Things We Hate the Most in Others
Fandom: Farscape
Rating/Warnings: PG at most. Maybe vague season 1 spoilers. (Nothing you need to worry about, aurora_novarum!)
Length: 100 words

( The Things We Hate the Most in Others )

Current Mood: accomplished

The whole thing.

Cut just to today's addition.

Rating: Gen
Genre: Drama
Description: The rest of the confrontation between Adrian and the Admiral after Chell's outburst.
Note: Added some details to flesh out the latter bit of the conversation. Marked in blue.

( Read more... )

( 4 pics )

( 12 pics )

( 8 pics of Julia butterflies )

( 4 pics )

( 7 pics )

Thanks to reading a lot of Shakespeare criticism, I have been able to identify two image clusters in That Stupid Story. (Awww, you know, the stuff like "clothes that don't fit" in Macbeth or "really unattractive food imagery" in Troilus & Cressida.) If you ever have a write an essay about it for Fanfic U (or possibly the Owl in Fandom) it's....jewelry! And people and things that have more than one name!

( self-pitying whine, feel free to ignore )

Actually, I sort of wrote this in bed this morning while I was trying to go back to sleep. It's for entropy_house, who asked for "Red Dwarf's Cat discovers catnip." And, hey, I don't think I've written this fandom before!

Title: Contact High
Fandom: Red Dwarf
Rating/Warnings: G. Contains catnip abuse.
Length: 100 words

( Contact High )

Current Mood: more or less awake

( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

I can see myself following this latest Guardian book club discussion, just because it's so rare to see a professor of English exercise his critical faculty on a fantasy novel. Entertaining.

Think he still misses one allusion though - the name "foot-the-ball" is surely a nod to the Northern slang term "heid-the-ball" for someone who's dangerously not all there.

OH has to use his leave in the run up to retiring at the end of December, so he's given up Fridays. Yesterday we went into Brum to have a look at the German market. It was cold, but dry so was just right for wandering round the town centre. We got a bit of shopping done, and no I haven't bought any Christmas presents yet. And had lunch in a very nice pub, The Old Joint Stock

1. Reply to this post (and ask me to 'me me me'), and I will pick five of your icons.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon squee. Whoo!

tarlanx picked these Icons for me to explain....


1.I can't remember exactly why I went looking for this pic. I needed something with a praying mantis and I found this and I just adored how tiny it was and how the person had staged the shot. It shows just how tiny we are in the grand scheme of things. I use it mostly with posts that i talk about the Lord working in my life. We are in His hands and we are so tiny compared to His power. This is one of the few I made. :-)

2. I forget who made this icon. I gave them credit at the time. I adore this. It's from the Episode "Home" of Stargate; Atlantis. McKay was showing that the readings were nonsense and he uttered the infamous Monty Python line, "Bing tiddle tiddle bong!" Which is from a wonderful Monty Python skit about nonsense. :-D

3. This is one of the very first SGA icons I picked up. It's my only just Teyla icons. It show her quiet strength and faith. I use this one a lot when I talk about my Faith. I am not afraid to be who I am and share what I believe.

4. This is from “Pride and Prejudice”. allisnow tweeked it around just for me. :-D I needed a Jane Austine icon and it is just so perfect for me. :-D

5.This is one of my new ones. :-D Nikola Tesla in full Vampire mode also showing off his ablity to manipulate electricity. Don't mess with the mad scientist/Vampire!! Gotta love that guy. There are days when I just get in that mood and I so loved the icon. Man is that guy a guy actor. :-D Plus...I have mad scientist/Vampires on the brain right n ow. Hee!!!!

Current Mood: awake

As you can see I have just spent some time placing about 1/2 the tubs from around Mum and Dad's garden into the greenhouse ready for winter - they have an anti-frost heater there, so they should all be OK come the Spring.

Current Mood: busy

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

Here's today's prompt for you to post your updates and any excerpts and thoughts etc in comments.

All right. I lied. Here's one more. This one is for vilakins, who requested "Rani meets the Rani," something that should certainly be written at greater length by someone who is not me.

Title: Definite Article
Fandom: Doctor Who/Sarah Jane Adventures
Rating/warnings: G, none
Length: 100 words
Note: Opinions of the Rani are not necessarily the opinions of the author.

( Definite Article )

Current Mood: relaxed

And another one. This may or may not be the last one for tonight... The boredom is ebbing nicely, but may well be back later.

Anyway, this is for izhilzha, who asked for "Ten and Sarah Jane. Fire and ice."

Title: The Weather in Your Eyes
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: G
Length: 100 words

( The Weather in Your Eyes )

Current Mood: grateful

Barrage of old fic posts is over; hopefully not too disruptive to y'all. Now I have a headache, I think I'll have a lie down. (sigh)
But at least I sort of accomplished something.
So now you don't have an excuse for not commenting on my fic. Well, less of an excuse, anyway.

Cross-posted to http://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/616110.html.

Current Mood: headachy

Apparently, my boredom is now leading to spamming. Sorry about that. But here's the first of the requested drabbles. This one is for snowgrouse, who suggested: "While going through a pile of ashes, Vila finds this funny ring with squiggly symbols on it..."

Title: Ring
Fandom: Blake's 7/Doctor Who
Rating/Warnings: G-rated. Spoilers for both shows.
Length: 100 words

( Ring )

Current Mood: less bored!

All right. In a first attempt to assuage my boredom, mistraltoes gave me questions for yet another iteration of the Best Meme Ever.

You know the one: name 10 characters without looking at the questions, then answer for them.

Characters:

1. Sydney (The Pretender)
2. Luke Smith (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
3. Ace (Doctor Who)
4. Aeryn Sun (Farscape)
5. Cat (Red Dwarf)
6. Servalan (Blake's 7)
7. Rygel (Farscape)
8. Patrick Jane (The Mentalist)
9. Dr. Gregory House (House)
10. Teal'c (Stargate SG-1)

( Questions! )


Thanks, Mistral! That was entertainingly cracky. Heh.

Current Mood: amused