Happy birthday to sallymn!

I'm sure you're having a great one!

Happy birthday to lost_spook! Have a good one!

And here are the links I mentioned, collected over the past weeks and presented in chronological order.

I'm all for the local campaign to stop kids smoking, but putting the messages on the back of school buses really didn't work that well.
One ad that misfired
And another

Some really cool yarn-bombing from a group of crocheters: the solar system.

Huge cats in tiny boxes - you know how they are. I have photos of Ashley in her birthday box, but in her case the sizes are reversed.

Snake on a plane! I love the last comment: "Until we find the snake, it's not good for business."

Self portraits in the Flemish style - an artist who whiles away long flights taking photos of herself in the loo with paper towels.

Cats imitating art - well, not really. I think they just looked for photos that matched a painting, but the three odalisques and the last two amuse the hell out of me.

South Miami Beach retirees 1982-85 - I love this: wonderful, wonderful characters enjoying life. The 4th one could be my grandfather complete with hat, and the woman blowing smoke out of her nostrils reminds me of my (now dead) keen smoker Aunt Joy; that's even her hairstyle.

Spitfires found in Burma! This is huge news for those of us who love old planes (and especially those so obsessed as a kid they were nicknamed Spitfire...)

And for the DW-fan crafters among you, a TARDIS shawl.

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

I meant to post something last weekend but I got a cold and my brain was as gummed up as my nose though I'm starting to feel better. I have several accumulated links, and also photos from our team-building tree-climbing exercises last week (before the cold hit), but for now I'll just tell you about Ian McKellan appearing on the news in one of my childhood towns.

I grew up all over the North Island, and one town I lived in (twice) from about age 4-7 and 8-11 was Stratford. Its main claim to fame is the 67 streets named after Shakespearean characters. We lived on Juliet, Ajax while our new house was being built, and Orlando, and the school was on Regan.

McKellan is raising money to rebuild a Christchurch theatre with a travelling one-man interactive show and he started his tour in Stratford, or Stratford-on-Patea as he called it. It was a nostalgia hit seeing him wandering about the streets (and being amused at the names, esp Regan)--and across the wooden bridge I used to play on. I'd walk along the narrow ledge on the outside, clinging to the railings while boys playfully hit my hands in the attempt to make me fall off. I never did, but the fall to the river wasn't as far as I'd thought back then; Greg was rather dismissive of the danger.

And man, I just saw in the Wiki article that Neil Volzke is mayor. I was at school with him (unless it's his father). :-P

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

Happy birthday to vjezkova! I don't have a beautiful animated card to send you like the gorgeous one you sent me, but here's a sweet ball of Ashley to wish you a happy birthday (and to say hello to her fellow tiger-cat, Tygr).


(Click to see her full size.)

Thanks to everyone who's wished me a happy birthday. It's been pretty good: some sun, brunch at the local authentic run-by-Mexican-family Mexican cafe, discovering a seriously good French brie (Brie de Meaux AOC) at the gourmet supermarket down the road, yummy dinner tonight (sole, salad, melty chocolate pots and butterscotch ice cream)--and a planned dinner tomorrow at Molten.

A wonderful and unexpected surprise was a parcel from England which arrived this week, a Doctor Who mug from kalypso_v, bought at Eastercon and inspired perhaps by my TARDIS icon on this post. :-D Thanks so much!

Behold: the mug filled with my Saturday morning cappuccino, made before we went to brunch.

First off, I needlessly wasted some of my ANZAC day off work worrying about the doctors' office message. It took me a while to track down who left it and what it was for, but it was all about a temporary prescription I got a month ago for an infected toenail. Dammit, practice nurses, I was thinking it was something serious. I'm not really annoyed though; I'm too relieved.

Anyway.

About this finishathon fic I have to write (which is B7-free incidentally). I need some ideas for aliens who showing their presence fairly subtly and mysteriously in WW1 England as then I can figure out what the characters are going to, you know, do. Hit me with anything you like, no matter how odd - well, the odder the better, really.

[Edit] I have my aliens now and lots of ideas for things they might do. Thank you all, I knew you guys would be able to help.

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

I just realised I haven't posted anything (apart from a couple of b7friday stories) for over three weeks (though I've been reading and commenting). I think it's a combination of several factors: working and having less time and being tired when I get home in the evenings, the general drying-up of fannishness on my flist, and so many people having left B7 in particular... I'm still there, interested and lurking in other fandoms even though I'm not inspired to write. What I do have to write though, and soon is a finishathon story, but more of that in another post in which I will ask for some suggestions so I know what to do with it.

Another factor is that I haven't done much lately that's interesting enough to report. Last weekend though we went to How to Train your Dragon, a live show developed in Australia using huge and magnificent animatronic dragons (like the Walking with Dinosaurs creatures) the actors could interact with and climb on, and fly. They have real personality and it was worth it to see them even though we were sitting on the side and didn't see them against the projected backdrop which provided the scenery. (And Toothless is the Sebastian of dragons, just saying.)

Today is ANZAC day, the first one we've had off work for three years due to it falling on weekends and Easter. Last night we watched The Desert Rats (staunch Aussies holding out against the Afrika Korps in Tobruk) in its honour and tonight we'll pick another of our war classics. There was also a flypast over the city this morning of five WW2 planes in formation, YAY!

I'd feel happier if there hadn't been a message on the phone last night to call the doctor as my blood test results had come in. I bet it's because they're worse and I'll have to take more drugs which makes me feel pessimistic about the future. Ah well, live in the present, I suppose.

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

Voting for the Finishathon is open.

If you'd like me to finish the story I posted an excerpt from yesterday, then vote for it (or one of the others) here. I need some people who know B7.

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

For morzsa:

!יום הולדת שמח
Yom huledet sameach!
Happy birthday!
Boldog születésnapot!

1. Go to page 7 (or 77) of your current WIP.
2. Go to line 7.
3. Copy the next 7 sentences or paragraphs and post them as they’re written.

"You Klein?" the woman said.

"Um, Vil Klein, yes." Vila had toyed with Del Klein, the two most common names in the Federation, but the first one made him think of Tarrant. Besides, picking a name he'd respond to automatically was probably a very good idea.

The woman leaned on the table, making it creak slightly. "You own the Lightning Bolt."

"Uh, no. The Lassiter Corporation does."

"I don't think so," the woman said pleasantly.

"Eh?"

"I'd say you and the Lassiter Corporation were the same person. See, a company would get pissed off at an employee not doing anything. But not if you were employing yourself."

Last week, a week that felt like a brief summer, I got talked into going to our company's "Big Bunk-Off" golf day for clients. I didn't play (though I could have if I'd wanted); we just schmoozed clients and provided them with cold refreshments at various holes around the course. The course is just down the road from where I live, but this is the first time I've been inside it; I've always played on public courses. (Golf, BTW, is accessible to just about anyone here but this course is members-only.) And wow, I didn't realise it was that big.

( Some photos )

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

Axle grease of a certain flavour
There is this black axle-grease stuff called Marmite that we like to eat (sparingly in my case) on toast or bread and it's different from the Marmite they have in the UK. Unfortunately. Because the only factory that made it is in Christchurch and has been closed because of earthquake damage. It will be months before they set up elsewhere and this news sparked off a panicked run on Marmite. Luckily we have an almost-full jar so I didn't bother. Telling people to eat Vegemite instead however doesn't cut it. It's a whole other flavour.

Weathery weather
It's autumn equinox though we never really got a summer this year; it seems like we went from spring straight to autumn, and this week has felt like winter. It's not cold but it's wet, grey, dark, and depressing, a preview of the long months of gloom unrelieved by any bright spots that is our winter. There are of course the usual floods and our house is leaking again. Sigh. It was surprisingly lovely last week though. I think that was summer (and I will post about Thursday tomorrow).

TV
What new things has Vilakins been watching? My sister was saying how funny Modern Family is so we tuned in and caught one character telling another that "I could care less" meant he did in fact care a little. YES! Then they got onto the whole "literally" thing. YES! YES! We were in! We've been eating that program up at one or two a night. I adore Gloria, Manny, and Cameron to bits. My sister was right: it's a very funny show despite the title which had put me off. I do take exception to the "modern" though as each of the three family units has at least one child which seems pretty traditional to me.

We also started watching New Girl which recently started here. I like it; let's hope they keep it up. But what will they call it next season?

There was also the first ep of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency which I loved. It had some great lines, the only one of which I can think of right now is "You stabbed my chair!"

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

On Saturday we went to the annual Pasifika festival. We missed it two years ago because we were out of town, and last year because it rained. This time it was grey (like most of our summer) and humid but the rain held off till Sunday. Maxx (public transport) wasn't running buses from Newmarket as in other years so we had to drive to a train station, wait ages for a train (most were cancelled last weekend; great planning, guys) and then a crowded bus, then all that in reverse going home. I think we spent more time in transit than actually there. :-P

Pasifika is held at Western Springs, a lovely big park with a lake. Various Pacific islands set up "villages" all round it so people can do a circuit visiting them all. They have dancers, demos, and lots of yummy food to try, the highlights for me being "te baan", Kiribati pancakes filled with fresh grated coconut and te kamamai (coconut syrup). We took coconut buns and Cook Islands poke (paw-kay) home with us. Poke is usually made from cooked bananas and coconut cream; we also got pumpkin for its rarity value.

( Three photos of weaving and dancing )

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

A couple of links that may amuse or interest you.

A possum whose eyes were too big for its stomach. And yes, that photo would be untouched: one of Greg's company's local clients stored some cartons of expired soy milk (So Good to be precise) out the back of their factory and possums broke in and drank too much to move when they were found the next morning. It must be something they do.

From Retronaut, a zoo-keeper's wife taking care of tiger cubs in 1944. Awwww.

Also Retronaut, Star Wars photoshopped into historical war photos. This is sometimes amusing and sometimes really a bit creepy.

And now I'm off to bed after a miserable and wet day in which I was forced outside by the necessity of buying cat food.

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

I haven't been very good at posting lately. Firstly I feel like a cup of tea and a nice sit down with a book when I get home from work (even though I enjoy it) and secondly I have this huge backlog of photos I have to download and then deal with. OK, I've done the first part, which is harder than it used to be because my old download program no longer works with my new PC so I have to manually create a library for each day. And I had photos going back to December.

Anyway, one thing at a time. I made Hamantaschen last week, using a new recipe, and I was very pleased with how they turned out this time (though the kitchen still looked like a flour bomb had hit it; rolling dough out isn't one of my top skills). I took some in to work since it's something people do there: cakes for birthdays or just because people have made something nice they want to share, and they all disappeared very quickly.

( Here's a photo )

Next up (well, maybe tomorrow): the Pasifika festival we went to yesterday. :-)

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

These were for the Jenna Stannis, Free Trader challenge on b7friday, all set pre-series.

( Five things that happened to Jenna Stannis )

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

Two posts in one day!

I don't much like the new LJ popular entries feature but a certain actor's name did leap out at me yesterday.
First images from the set of Star Trek 2. May contain Benedict Cumberbatch, yay! (When does that guy find the time for all the work he does?)

Then someone posted some old ads promoting the original series before it screened. "Where it goes, no program has ever gone before."
Star Trek first run ads

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

It's been that long since I posted? Over three weeks? I suppose I just haven't had that much to tell people.

There are three official days of summer left* and we've hardly had one. I'd say maybe two weeks of decent summery weather over the last three months? And I chose this year to make a sky scarf; here's far too much grey and white in mine. Oh well at least I'm not limp and sweltering like I was last summer and I can sleep at night. March and April are often very nice though so I'm holding out hopes for that and maybe a few days off.

* [Edit] I think we regard summer as Dec-Feb (and other seasons as three-month blocks) because school holidays force people with kids to take their summer break between Christmas and the end of January. Me, I go for February or March to avoid those people and get better weather.

In other news I whacked my foot against one of the bed's legs on Friday morning and the agony almost floored me. I assumed I'd bashed my broken toe--but actually it's the one next to it. The broken one's bruises have almost faded now but its neighbour is deep purple. I think it's just a sprain though because it only hurt for a day or two.

Why yes, I'm a klutz, but I also have long prehensile toes which are excellent at picking things up but do get in the way sometimes. :-P

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

Happy birthday to katriona_s and kernezelda!



I hope both you Ks have a great day!

Remember the Itty-Bitty-Kitty Committee kitten who got adopted by Vorkosigan fans and renamed Miles (along with sister Cordelia)? There's a picture of him curled up beside the book Young Miles in this Itty-Bitty-Kitty Committee post. :-)

And I think I've either broken a toe or sprained it badly. OUCHIES! I did it at work when I slipped on some water in the kitchen and landed flat on my back (which I reported). I was OK but for that toe which must have hit the wall, I dunno. I suppose I'll have to go to A&E tomorrow and waste half a holiday-weekend Saturday getting it x-rayed only to be told to do what I've done and strap it to the next one. It's extremely painful to walk on though and I just want to check it's just the toe and I haven't damaged anything in the foot. :-P

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

I tell you, the Retronaut site is almost as good at eating up my time as TV Tropes because each page has more tempting links to follow and it's hard to break off and surface.

( Here, in no particular order, are some favourites )

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

I would watch this. Actually I'm almost tempted to write it.

Oh and re my previous post? The Soft Kitty came back into stock and I ordered it and the plush Enterprise. Yesss! [rubs hands]

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

First of all, today (Friday) is the birthday of Buzz Aldrin, Tom Baker, and DeForest Kelley (making it two doctors, no, three since astrogirl2 tells me Buzz Aldrin has a PhD). Many more good years for two of them anyway!

And here are two geeky plushies from thinkGeek which I rather fancy. Why yes, I've put my email in to be notified of when the first one is available again.

A soft kitty that sings the Soft Kitty song (from The Big Bang Theory)
A plush Enterprise which will go with my plush Kirk and Spock :-)

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Happy birthdays to capriuni, pet_lunatic, and altariel who is having a Big One.

I enjoyed Sherlock despite having a couple of issues.
( Spoilers )
That aside though, it was a vastly entertaining ride and I love the musical score. I look forward to the next two.

I also saw Tintin and enjoyed it a lot. Of course it was in 2D for me (since Greg can't see 3D and let me tell you, it was hard to find an evening 2D session). I liked that it diverged from the canon story because and added elements from other stories as then I didn't know what would happen next. I kept wanting to go back and watch bits again so I'll be buying the DVD. (And in other news on that score, we will be getting Blu-Ray capability in this house soon.) BTW that cat? Was so very Jasmin.

We also started watching Person of Interest, mainly because of Michael Emerson's presence in it. I rather like it; I'd rather see murders prevented than solved.

Last night we caught Eternal Law, a new British comedy-drama about angelic lawyers. Yes, lawyers who are also angels (not only a contradiction in terms, but I'd have thought a very limited way of helping people, but hey). I'm not too sure about this one yet but I figured that the British wouldn't get too soppy about the concept and they didn't. Plus, Samuel West! And Ukweli Roach is rather gorgeous and convincingly naive.

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

I wrote pitifully little in 2011 but I read about 80 books. I can only list 69 of them here because almost all came from the library and my on-line reading history isn't complete (for the first time ever): several just say "no information available". I have no idea what's missing. The Patrick O'Brian books I own, the entire collection bought second-hand, and I just inserted those at intervals.

I've bolded the ones I liked best, but really, I enjoyed all of them but one which I stopped reading fairly early on and therefore deleted from the list. I doubt I'll read as many this year I now have a Proper Job, but it's a good trade-off.

Feel free to ask me about any. :-)

( List of books )

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

It's 2012 here but the only fireworks are in my icon because the rain clouds are too low.



We do have champagne though, so cheers!

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.

It is new year's eve here which means that Sherlock is only a couple of days away so now might be the time to reveal a theory I have.

( Pure speculation )

Also posted on Dreamwidth, with comments.